Frozen

On Thursday afternoon I drove home from work and marveled at a winter wonderland.  The ice storm that hit us Tuesday night created a beautiful glass-like coating on the trees.  Combined with the shining sun, prisms of light against the white backdrop of snow were everywhere.  I was itching to go to a park with my camera in hand and take lots of pictures.  Our winter has been unprecedented.  We missed the first two days of school back from Christmas break because of the wind chill.  Yes, the wind chill made it too cold for kiddos to stand at bus stops and everyone was warned to stay indoors.  However, as snow and ice left our streets slippery causing multiple delays and weather days for school, the school board got over the low wind chill and stopped canceling school for it.

This week we missed Monday and Wednesday.  We were sent home early on Tuesday. Because the roads were iffy, I missed Jazzercise all week.  So Thursday arrives, and I am surrounded by this amazing beauty.  I opted to attend Jazzercise rather than take pictures in the park.  Yesterday, I was busy getting Julia ready for the dance.  Today, I finally made it to the park with my camera in hand, and I got some fun shots, but I really missed an opportunity on Thursday - by the way, when I bemoaned the predicament of being torn between Jazzercise and photography, Julia commented that I will get another chance at photography next week.  She may just be right. Out of the mouths of babes.

Savannah grabbed a camera too and took to the park.  Her artistic eye is better than mine.  I will share my pictures first, then hers.

Savannah's pictures 

She took about 120.  I think I took around 40.

She took a selfie with a camera.  I love it, and this is not easy to do without a reverse lens.

This opportunity afforded Savannah an opportunity to play with the camera she will take to NYC on her school trip this spring.  I think she has caught my bug.

It was cold, and I am a fair weather girl, but it was also fun.  

An Enchanted Evening

Andy and Julia enjoyed the Father/ Daughter dance tonight.  The theme - An Enchanted Evening.  Preparations for the dance started weeks ago with the purchase of a dress from ebay. Unfortunately, the dress arrived and was too small.  We opted to shop around and found a great deal on this dress with a whole different look from Kohl's.  We had already purchased shoes to match the original dress and had to purchase another pair to match this one.  So, two dresses and pairs of shoes later...

Tiffany did her hair and kept saying she looked Spanish, so Julia struck a Spanish pose.

showing off the layered dress
She had sparkle, and I was thrilled to get her in red.  Julia looks good in it, but her favorite team wears blue, and they have a big rivalry with a team that wears red, so she does not embrace it.

Savannah had her hair done by Tiffany for her fifth grade dance.  She did not insist on doing it yearly.  Julia, on the other hand, has only had her hair done with my very limited skills twice.  She would probably insist on a manicure too if she thought she could get away with it.

The hairdo consisted of an intricate braid with a small bun.

Andy met us at the restaurant.

P31 girls and their dads at California Pizza Kitchen - yum!  This group of girls all participate in a mother/daughter Bible study on Sunday afternoons.  It is based on Proverbs 31 and is a great study. 

dancing the night away

look closely - she is indeed on her feet

silly trio

so pretty--These two girls stayed the night.  Sadly, S' (left) dad came down with the flu the day before the dance and could not attend.  I hope she still had a blast. They were so easy and really enjoyed watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.

This makes 11 years straight for Andy.  I really should dig out the pictures for every year and share them.

Flashback Friday

I am going way back on this one.

While cleaning out the basement for the new dryer (our attempt to not look like hoarders- sad but true because some of us who shall remain nameless are actually hoarders), Andy came across an old album of pictures from our trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon in June of 1994.  This trip may have changed the course of history for us.  Andy was a brand new college grad and had to wait until we completed this trip, which was planned for many months, before applying for jobs.  By the time he was able to put his resumes out there, he had pretty much decided not to pursue employment in his field which was print journalism.  He landed a job with the company where he continues to work to this day.

After visiting the Grand Canyon, I kind of felt like the Grizwalds on Vacation.  I saw it.  It was cool.  Check it off the bucket list.  However, after reviewing these pictures (believe me the actual prints are much more amazing than the scanned versions), I want to return.  I want to take the kids and go to the bottom and camp over night.  Andy and I always have had a love of travel and desire to do so, but we have made choices for our family that make travel a very rare treat.  This is the kind of trip that would be a dream come true for Wyatt.

married just under a year at this point

my parents

I know what you are thinking.  "It's gonna take a while to unsee that."  I couldn't resist.

majestic

All the kids includingAndy.

Jonathan, Andy, Tessa, Tara, me, Joshua, and Tiffany

a young Joshua

Jonathan and Andy (always an adventurous duo) walked to the bottom of the Canyon and back up to the top in one day - a very hot day, I might add.

They dipped their heads in the Colorado River.

Isn't he cool?!  He has always thought so.

Amazing!

Tiffany and Tara

My mom would have been approximately my age at the time of this trip.  It is hard to wrap my head around having a married child with a college degree at this point in life.

all my siblings and me except for Jonathan who was on his way to the bottom of the Canyon at this point
Tamara, Tessa, Tiffany, Tara, and Joshua

the girls!
Tessa, Tiffany, Tara, and me

Andy slipped away for a shower immediately after his adventure to the bottom of the Canyon and back, but Jonathan did not escape the "after" picture.

so pretty

Ah, to dream again…maybe someday.

The Random Pieces that make a life

Thus far this week:

We celebrated the Superbowl with about 20 teenagers, my friend Kim, and her two kids.

Zach asked to have a few pals over for the game.  Savannah opted not to have friends over because she actually likes football and knew her friends would rather hang out than watch the actual game.  So, we told Zach to ask his friends to bring a snack to share, and we would open the house to them.  They showed up, sat on top of each other in our living room and brought more food than they could eat.  Many refused to take the leftovers home, so now we need to have a party to get rid of the food left from the party.  Seriously.

I believe we had only one Seahawks fan in the bunch, but the Broncos fans had each other, so they still had fun.  I hope.  Originally, Andy and I were going to a party with plans to let Wyatt and Julia chaperone the big kids (nothing gets past them).  However, when we learned the number of kids coming added to the fact that it was a mixture of boys and girls, we cancelled our plans.  We still had a great time.

Julia and Wyatt entertained G and B.

B came because he loves football.  Unfortunately, he was too intimidated by the crowd to sit with the boys and watch the game.  Zach's buddy T is as good with kids as anyone gets, and he could not convince B to sit with him for the game.

Andy has been a Broncos fan since the 80's, and he was thrilled to see them go to the Superbowl.  We really tried to root them on to victory that night.  What happened?

 I confess that a Sunday night party had me worried.  I have to get up really early for work, and I am very stingy with my sleep.  As it turned out, the Superbowl ended at an okay time to still face down a five day work week (rare these days with the weather we've been having). Most of the kids left well before the game was over because our road conditions were quickly deteriorating with fast falling snow. As it turned out, I did not have to work on Monday.  We got our 6th snow day.  I am starting to think I have to say goodbye to June as this may very well be the never-ending school year.

Kim had to head home with her kids (a three hour drive) as she did have to go to work on Monday.  Unfortunately, they ended up stranded in town for the night.

Monday was a day of making progress on those New Year's goals.

The kids were forced joined me in folding and purging socks from three full baskets in the basement. I also sorted clothes and got rid of a bunch.  If every sock counts, I  may have already met my New Year's goal of purging 365 things from the basement.  Andy hit it hard last night and this morning.  He also purged a bunch of junk.  Woohooo!!  We have much more to go, but we also have very visible progress.

While folding socks we enjoyed lots of laughter.  I have been placing hearts with messages to each family member on their bedroom doors for the past few days.  I spent two afternoons last week preparing enough to last through Feb. 14 for each of them.  They are in random order, so yesterday's offering to Wyatt said "I am praying for your future bride."
Wyatt was offended.  Savannah said it sounded like said bride needs lots of prayer because she will be marrying Wyatt (later when repeating this to Andy, Andy jokingly stated that those extra prayers are for Zach's bride).  Anyway, Wyatt informed me that he doesn't expect to marry as he is not the marrying type.  He then revised that and said he will marry at 40.

Julia, on the other hand, has grand plans.  She plans to meet her future spouse on a mission trip in Australia.  She expects him to propose to her while on an elephant ride.

Who knew just folding socks could be so enlightening?

Later Julia laid down on her back on the couch and put her arms and feet in the air.  She told me that her pet hamster, Sadie, was in that position in her cage.  Julia asked if Sadie was dead.  I could not help it.  I turned so that Julia would not see me chuckle.  Julia thought it was funny.  She even googled what dead hamsters look like to be sure.  Julia took it well, but alas, poor Sadie is no more.  I have no idea what caused her to die so young.  She was only about 8 months old.  Fortunately, Julia does not intend to replace her.

Happy Chinese New Year!

This year we are not celebrating the Chinese New Year.  Our budget just won't allow it, and Julia wants to attend a birthday party for a friend. However, since I never really posted my New Year's goals (yes, I actually have some this year),  I will post those now.

1. I will not beat myself up and call this year a failure if I fail to meet these goals.

2. Read through the Harmony gospels. Ever heard of it?  I had not until I attended a conference a few years ago.  The Harmony gospels are the gospels in chronological order.  You can actually buy harmony gospels and not have to flip back and forth.  My Bible has a harmony reading plan in it, so I just marked it with a post-it and am working on that.  At the rate I am going, I may barely finish this year.  I need to kick it up a notch.

3. Finish the joy dare that I started 2 years ago.  Yes, that was a one year challenge, and I fell woefully behind, so now I really need to work on that. I would like to finish by March 2 which is the two-year-anniversary of the date I started.  However, that is unlikely unless I start coming up with five or more items a day.  I could probably do that but am trying not to repeat too much.

4. Save $1000.  I have a goal of being loan and credit card debt free in just under five years.  However, this last month combined with some known coming expenses mean a miracle must occur for that to happen.  So, I have scaled it back to at least getting $1000 in the emergency fund.  This is HUGE.  Why?  Well, I have spent about $1000 in car repairs in the last month, and the previous repairs were not completely paid off.  Just today, Andy went out and bought a dryer.  Our 18+ year old dryer breathed her last breath this morning.  It just started running cool.  Andy and I thought he could just replace the heating element and maybe the fuse.  While both items did need to be replaced, Andy discovered some singed places and rust when he opened the back of the dryer.  It really looked like fixing it was inviting a fire hazard, so the dryer must go.  The good news is that we got a lot of use out of that dryer. With four kids the dryer has often handled 60 loads of laundry a month, so we got our money's worth easily. Hopefully, the next one will be as good if not better.

5.  While this goal is not really official, I would like to exercise more.  I am off to a really good start on this one.  I splurged on a Jazzercise membership and made it to four classes just this week.  Prior to this week I made it to 2 or 3 a week, and I should be able to manage 3 or 4 most weeks.  In-services and appointments  do interrupt this plan.  I really tried to make my church's gym work, but the classes I could attend all hit at 6:00 or 6:30 which is not a good time to be away from home for a mom.  I do not do as well with solo workouts.  Jazzercise offers the opportunity to exercise right after Wyatt and Julia get home from school which gets me back home at about the same time as Andy - a much better schedule + it's just fun.  So, now I must decide if I will run/walk our city's mini-marathan.  I really want to, but I have not been running, and I only have 2.5 months left to train.

My original goal was to completely remove sugar and white flour from my diet rather than exercising more.  I realized quickly just how hard that would be.  So, I am now working to scale it back significantly and work off whatever I do eat.  I would really like to get to the point that something as sugar and flour laden as cake with icing grosses me out.  I have not had anything but water to drink for over five months now, and I think a soft drink would gross me out at this point.  I just need to get there with cake and brownies!

6. Remove something from my basement for every day of the year.  Yes indeed that does mean I need to purge 365 items over the course of the year, and I am really not doing well on this.  Having someone coming into the basement to install a new dryer and remove the old one should definitely kick start that.  I have two and a half days and will be hosting a party in the meantime.  Yikes!

I know goals are supposed to be laid out with small steps, timelines, and all that, but I am just going to try and run with these.  I can only be successful if I rely on God, and that is the biggest goal.