Wild Date Night Weather

9:30 pm last night
3:00 pm today -- less than 18 hours later

Matt and I aren't good at making time to go out on a date without our lil guy -- we are doing good to get a sitter once or twice a quarter to go out on our own. So a few weeks ago I contacted a person who has watched Colin before, and planned a surprise, "kid-free" dinner outing.

It never fails that when we have her watch Colin, it will snow. And who would have thought it, just a few days shy of April??

We enjoyed our nice dinner and then headed out in the car. It was still just raining in our downtown area. Half way home, the rain turned to sleet, and then immediately to huge fluffy, blinding snow flakes. In the ten minute drive to get home, we were driving through 2, and then 4 inches of snow. Mind you, it was just raining when we had left the house to go out on the date.

There was so much snow on the hill leading up to our house that our 2 wheel drive car couldn't make it up the hill, so she spent the night in front of a neighbors house and we hiked on foot up the hill to relieve our sitter.

Fortunately she was able to make it home just fine, as she credited much experience from driving in the snow in Hungaria (whew!), but I felt just aweful that she had to drive home in the snow!

I took a picture last night around 9:30 pm, and then this afternoon around 3 pm. The difference is remarkable. Last night looked like a winter wonderland, and today there is ZERO hint of snow. the grass is fully green and the flowers are all perked up like it really is SPRING. So wild! I wouldn believe these pictures unless I had taken them myself.

Elliot Update

Just thought I'd update you on Elliot since we recently determined that his skin cancer returned. He had surgery on Friday morning to remove 2 tumors from behind each of his ears, and they also biopsied a place on his upper lip.

He is, once again, "conehead" kitty, with a lovely e-collar around his neck. He still manages to forage for food, however, and was diving for strawberry stems in the sink at dinner tonight. Some cats like steak, ours likes berries (!*?!)

We hope the surgery was successful in removing the area that was cancerous, so we will wait for lab results later next week. and as the vet said, he must be well rubbed and loved on for someone (aka, Matt) to have located those small tumors behind each of his ears.

Here We Go Again

I know, six posts in one day is kinda crazy, but I've been all bottled up with so much to say!

Tomorrow, Colin's best friend and beloved kitty cat, is going to the vet for surgery. We recently noticed 2 small skin lumps and Matt took him in for a skin check. Turns out the lump that they tested was filled with mast cells, so the cancerous tumor will be removed. They will also check on a small place on his lip, as well.

Looks like he will spend the next few weeks wearing an annoying e-collar, and most definitely the first few nights sleeping between Matt and me so we can make sure he is OK.

We will pray, as we did this time last year, that the cancer has not spread and that surgery will once again be sufficient. He's sure an awesome kitty and was Colin's inspiration for his first word, "caaahhhh (t)"

We will keep you updated as we, once again, wage a battle against kitty cancer. Go Elliot, go!

A New Adventure

In this coming week, I am embarking on a new adventure.

I have felt led, over the past half year, to volunteer as a leader for an organization in my community that strives to help new parents along this journey of parenting. The organization, Program For Early Parent Support (PEPS), brings together about a dozen moms and babies for twelve straight weeks with the goal of providing parent support.

This organization was a lifeline for me, as I joined a group when he was 4 weeks old. I was able to share my highs and lows of parenting with this group of like-minded women as we journeyed together through the struggles of sleepless nights, nursing challenges, and all of the other issues new parents face!

My group still meets for play dates, and is a valuable resource for friendship and parenting insights. We come from all walks of life, faiths, nationalities, socio-economic class, educational background, etc., yet we all share this common bond of having children the same age, facing many similar challenges. It's pretty cool, and I have been so blessed by this group of women!

Now it's my turn to give back. I am serving as a co-leader with another mom from my PEPS group, and we will lead a group of sleep-deprived, weary new moms through this 12-week journey. What an awesome privilege!

I was in training last weekend, brushing up on my "meeting facilitation" skills (we aren't counselors or educators -- merely facilitators...) so I think I am now ready.

Let the adventure begin!

Everyone Needs Compassion

Here in a few weeks there is an event in my community called, “Compassion in Action.” The event description reads as follows: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other luminaries celebrate compassion in action. During the event, programs and organizations will have booths to show how you can learn more about compassion, and how you can bring your passion and energy to your community.

I was invited to attend this event by a parenting organization with whom I volunteer. They are hosting a booth and have some reserved tickets.

I declined to attend, partly because I have family in town that weekend, but also because I KNOW the guide to having compassion in action. It’s called the Holy Bible, and it is the guide for all we need to know for living a life of compassion, as show fully through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I think it’s awesome that our community wants to teach young people about sowing seeds of compassion, but I would want to hear this message from someone who has a relationship with Christ. I, with all of my human weakness, am a huge sinner and often fail in showing compassion to others. But it is in and through Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, that I am able to love others and show compassion.

This worship song by Hillsong comes to mind when thinking of compassion, and I wanted to share it with you – our church began singing it regularly this past year. Yes, we all need compassion -- we all need the compassion found in the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

MIGHTY TO SAVE

Everyone needs compassion

A love that's never failing

Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness

A kindness of a Savior

The hope of nations

Savior

He can move the mountains

My God is Mighty to save

He is Mighty to save

Forever

Author of salvation

He rose and conquered the grave

Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as

You find me

All my fears and failures

Fill my life again

I give my life to follow

Everything I believe in

Now I surrender

Shine your light and let the whole world see

We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

Chief Puddle-Jumper

Today at Colin's school the kids played for a while in a blocked off section of the parking lot -- it rained early this morning, but the sun was shining, so it was an ideal "puddle jumping" day. And BOY did he love it! Most of the other kids weren't too sure of it, but he went after it with gusto and was being labeled the chief puddle-jumper.

Easter Weekend

Colin and Dad spent Saturday morning sledding up in the mountains. Colin was apprehensive at first, but by the end he was signing, "More, more!" I have it on video if I can figure out how to post videos onto blogger.

On Sunday we rejoiced that Christ is risen, indeed. Hallelujah!! We attended church in the morning and then Colin hunted eggs in the drizzle once we got home. He is holding his bunny rabbit Mr Potato Head in this picture.

What's an egg hunt in the PNW if you don't have any rain? Colin got all dressed up in his rain gear and found plastic eggs throughout the entire backyard.

Kickboxing with Jesus

So I haven't done many postings in March, as I have been catching up on sleep when Colin naps most days (rather than blogging.) I have committed myself to going to kickboxing class 3 times a week, and the 5 am wake-up time is just a killer when you don't go to bed at an early hour...the first 2 weeks I would just lay in bed when the alarm clock went off and have a conversation with God, "God, if you want me to go, you're gonna have to shove me outta this bed!" And somehow, for the first time ever, I'm up an out the door.

I am attending a kickboxing class at church, (our instructor is Tae bo certified with the one and only Billy Blanks) and there are many women who are not members of our church, so it's a great ministry opportunity. One attendee jokingly calls it, "Kickboxing with Jesus" since we listen to a lot of souped up, high energy praise and worship, Sonic Flood kinds of stuff.

The first class, as I was deep in the throws (literally) of some high cardio, we we're kicking and punching to this Smitty song. I never thought about exercising before as some form of worship, but it was awesome to hear these words as they pushed me through that first class.

You are holy (You are holy)
You are mighty (You are mighty)
You are worthy (You are worthy)
Worthy of praise (Worthy of praise)
I will follow (I will follow)
I will listen (I will listen)
I will love you (I will love you)
All of my days (All of my days)

You are Lord of Lords
You are King of Kings
You are mighty God
Lord of everything
You're Emmanuel
You're the great "I AM"
You're the Prince of Peace
Who is the Lamb
You're the living God
You're my saving grace
You will reign forever
You are ancient of days
You're the Alpha, Omega, Beginning and End
You're my Savior, Messiah, Redeemer, and friend

You're my Prince of Peace and I will live my life for you.
~~

I have to take care of this body I have been given so that I can serve the body of Christ. Simple as that!

Raking Leaves at Easter

OK. So I know we've all heard the funny little ads about how early Easter is this weekend (like the honey baked ham ad where the woman calls in and wants the guy to change Easter...), but seriously?

My oak tree is STILL dropping leaves! I was raking leaves up in the backyard yesterday (those might make for a good place to hide eggs under, though, on second thought...) all while I was thinking, is this really Good Friday?

Colin had his first Easter egg hunt with other kids on Thursday. We let the 2 yr and under kids start first, and then the older kids (for a total of 18-20 kids) joined in the fun, finding the harder eggs. Colin enjoyed his camo printed eggs, though Mommy had to hold the basket for him (too busy to hold it!)

The older children then enjoyed crafts and sharing of the story of Easter via resurrection eggs (I learn something new as a parent every year -- cool idea...)

Colin's Top Ten List

So I did a top ten things about me last week and thought it would be fun to do for Colin, as well, so here goes:

1) We have been asking Colin what various animals say. He’s pretty good with sheep, cows, and owls. Last week we asked what a dog says, and we got a funny, yet true response. We expected to hear, “Woof.” But he just panted, just like a dog does. We don’t even have a dog, so we’re not sure how he learned that one, but it’s very humorous.

2) He enjoys “Word World” on PBS. It’s one of the few kids shows I can tolerate (and actually kind of enjoy), so he watches it while I get ready for the morning. Come to think of it, I think the dog on “Word World” pants. Hmmmm, maybe we’re on to something.

3) In the mornings, he will sit and scribble at the kitchen counter while he listens to his Veggie Tales audio CDs. It’s amazing how he will sit and intently listen for almost 30 minutes!

4) When we take a drive in the car, Colin signs “more,” meaning he wants to listen to more Veggie Tales (See a theme here? I listen to singing vegetables all day long!) Fortunately we have a contemporary Christian music CD which has tunes he loves like, “Big House,” “Shine,” “Made to Love,” and “Smellin’ Coffee.” He squeals when a slow song, like “I Can Only Imagine” comes on – we have to hit skip!

5) Mr. Potato Head is a new favorite, which he discovered during our trip to Houston. He enjoys sticking the various body appendages in odd places.

6) He’s in a pasta mode right now. Pasta, ravioli, tortellini, etc with either red sauce or pesto are sure to be scarfed down. And rigatoni is oh so much fun to place on the end of his fingers while eating. He’s still a messy diner!

7) Orange “cuties” are out and strawberries are “in.” For snack time at his school, he snubs cheese and crackers/muffins/bagels, and he goes straight for the fruit. I quit feeding him shredded cheese at 14 months because it was so messy and he hasn’t liked cheese since.

8) His best friend is still our cat, Elliot, who grows more and more tolerant by the day. They even hang out together in the giraffe tent on occasion. He’s a brave cat to confine himself with Colin to such a small place.

9) With warmer weather coming, the backyard is becoming a fun place to play in. He especially enjoys collecting rocks from an area we are digging up and then transports them in the back bucket area of his tricycle. We still have to constantly watch to have him keep the smaller rocks out of his mouth. Does that part ever end? This teething thing really bites!

10) He’s starting to understand more abut saying prayers and he will now clasp his hands when we say grace at dinner and before bed. As sweet as that is to us, it must be even sweeter to his heavenly father.

Rodeo Fun

We just returned from a visit to Houston, which we timed along with an outing to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Our first day in town we were a little too late to watch the cowboys in the arena, but we did spend a few miutes watching Martina McBride live in concert. We were so late in arriving that others took our awesome 4th row seats, but we knew Colin would be too antsy to sit for long so we dared not kick someone out of our seats.

We spent some time in the livestock area and Colin went to his first petting zoo. The animals had been fed all day and were none too interested in our $2 cup of food. Such cute new baby goats, though!

We finished off our first night with BBQ from Goode company and a walk back through the Midway. Colin was just taking in all of the sights, sounds, and smells, as there was plenty of sensory overload!

He did get a cool black cowboy hat and flashing horse "necklace" which he has now worn for the past several days (Thanks Grandaddy!) I even let him wear the flashing horse to the grocery store this morning and I know the guy in line behind us was like, "What IS that?"

The following day we headed to the rodeo grounds again for the morning and Colin enjoyed seeing more animals, especially the "mooos" and the "baaaaaas." There were THOUSANDS of young girls around on our second day because the show in the afternoon was Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. There were girls wearing Hannah Montana t-shirts everywhere -- over 73,000 people attended her show, setting a new rodeo record.

It was so great to have a quick trip to Houston to visit with family and with some friends -- our lil cowboy sure did enjoy himself!

An Update from the Chief Home Improvement Diva

Greetings from the land of sawdust and cool window trim! It's makeover time at our casa!

I spent the past 6 months with my eyes peeled looking at other houses around town and gathering ideas to have the house painted...we have cedar siding which requires repainting every 3-5 years, and I decided to take this opportunity to get rid of the bland, dull beige color (did I mention the color was boring?)

I am not one to paint my house periwinkle (though I saw a multimillion dollar home recently that was oh so boldly painted), but I would like something a bit bolder. I have been eyeing up the newer craftsman homes with the incredible molding and thick front columns. The stone masonry on the front. The warm craftsman tones. Ahhh, just feels like home! OK; back to reality.

Now the trick is to turn a semi-cookie cutter late 80's home into one with a little more class and personality without making it look like we "tried too hard."

We have narrowed the colors down to three (we'll keep you posted) with a nice accenting trim color. The painter comes next week to paint a few of the colors on the garage so we can give them a test run...

And we all know that starting one home improvement project leads to another:

Yesterday we had the windows at the back of the house replaced (along with the back slider), and I can now open the back sliding glass door with one hand. Yes, new windows are none too glamorous, but the white vinyl look really brightens up the room -- hopefully it will help with the energy efficiency of the home, which will brighten up my pocket book, as well.

Today, a carpenter is placing wide trim around the windows at the front of the house (those windows were replaced by the previous owner for "curb appeal.") They are also replacing some rotten siding. Oh, even more glamorous, right?

And the shutters on the house? GONE! Every one of them. They were made of a plastic, hollow material. One hit from a baseball and they would have been toast! I can't believe I have lived in a house for the past 2 1/2 years with plastic shutters? This isn't a Barbie house, you know!

And you know it won't end with the paint job -- there's the brassy 80's lighting on the front porch and garage, as well as the golden brassy numbers on our house. And on, and on.

I've Been Tagged!

OK -- Lindley "tagged" me, so it's my turn to give you a random list of ten things about me. Here goes!

1) When I lived in Indiana I called my Grandma many afternoons when I was driving home from work, and especially when I would have to make a long drive for work down to E-ville. I could always count on that voice on the other end of the phone to listen to me and to offer me encouragement. A grandma's love is so special! She passed away while we were living in Indiana, and my first road trip after that was so hard -- who was I suppose to call now?

2) My beverage of choice is a non-fat, no water Tazo chai from Starbucks. Yep, I'm a Starbucks snob with my "have-it your way combo." At least it's not as complicated as my hubbies favorite (double tall, non-fat, extra hot, no whip, 2 pump mocha -- can a 12 oz drink really be this complicated?)

3)I played the tuba in the band from 5th-8th grade, and then switched to the french horn for one year. I never learned to read the french horn music, so I always had to listen to the guy who sat next to me. I was definitely NOT a serious band student, and always dreamed of playing something a bit jazzier like the Sax.

4) I am a Goodwill Shopping Geek! I love the thrill of a bargain. In my latest trip I found a few brand new kids books (79 cents a piece, thank you) and some glasses that match the ones that I bought a few years ago at Pottery Barn ($1 each). My best find ever was a bag of over 20 Fisher Price Little People for less than $3!

5) Starbucks and Goodwill, I know, I know, my sense of spending sounds a bit off to most, I'm sure. I'm also thrifty when it comes to audio/video entertainment. I have spent more on Veggie Tales DVDs/CDs in the past year than I have ever spent on CDs or DVDs combined in the previous 30+ years of my life. Seriously. We still use our VCR and our DVD player is circa 2000 or 2001. Tivo? Nope. Wii? Big Nope. Subscription to Net Flix? Yep.

6) I played quite a bit of round ball growing up. A LOT! Went to summer camps at WT, played in leagues in the off season, and even ran track in the spring for the sole reason of keeping Coach from "punishing" me in the fall for not having run track the previous spring (It's a mental thing...) It was worth it -- we won state in basketball my senior year. Pretty cool! Definitely a fun memory and a reminder of what the end result of hard work can look like.

7) I lived in the same house from the time before I can remember (2 or 3ish) until I graduated from high school, yet I have never lived in the same home for more than 2 years since then.

8) My favorite kind of vacation is a beach vacation. I didn't grow up at the beach (or even remotely near one, for that matter), but somehow since our honeymoon I am hooked! During the rainy season, I dream of sitting with Matt on the beach in a hammock or cushy beach chair, listening to Bob Marley, drinking a frozen, fruity drink, enjoying the sunshine, without a care in the world.

9) Later this month I am being trained to be a volunteer leader of a PEPS group. This program (Program for Early Parent Support) is an AWESOME way to get connected in with other new moms in the area. I will be co-leading this group of about a dozen women and their new babies sometime soon after training and lasting for 12 weeks. I still meet with my own group, and it's been a GREAT way to build a parenting support network.

10) I slept with a large Pink Panther from early childhood through my Soph. year in college. He got stuck between the bed and my wall and I yanked his arm too hard and his stuffing all came out. His broken stuffed animal body still lives in my bedroom dresser back home.