Day 8 - a photo that makes me angry/sad

This entry was difficult for me.

I feel a little explanation should accompany this photo, because we look happy. I find this photo sad because it was taken during a very difficult time for Bill and me, last May 2009. Not in our marriage, per se, but in our individual lives, having to do with anxiety. This picture was taken after a Sounders game on Mother's Day, and our girls were with Grama and Papa. We weren't yet pregnant with Wesley.

This picture reminds me of a time in my life in which I strongly felt God's carrying me through each day.

Day 7: A photo that makes me happy

Day 6: 20 favorite things

In no particular order...

1. My morning cup of coffee

2. Oddly, getting up before the sun and having a few moments of quiet before the day starts (aka kid waking up, "MOMMY I'm all done sleeping!")

3. Rainy late summer days, before it's witch-titty cold outside

4. Going to church.

5. Sunny days so I can work on my tan and not be Pasty White Addie.

6. Pretty fingernails.

7. Snuggles with my girls.

8. Wesley falling asleep in my arms, and knowing my days of my son wanting to snuggle are numbered.

9. This amazing blessing of my house.

10. Starting school with the girls and getting to see them learn.

11. Old friends with whom I can talk to as not a day has passed.

12. New friends who are quickly becoming like old, familiar friends.

13. Mondays that feel fresh and new.

14. Fridays because we can stay up late and watch movies.

15. My uber handsome husband.

16. Cleaning. (yes I know this is crazy)

17. The rare occasions in which I don't care about cleaning and can just relax.

18. Red wine.

19. Listening to Podrunner and running, especially along the coast looking out to Whidbey Island.

20. Jesus, because he died for my sins and through whom I have these blessings I just listed!

Month 7

Holy almost September! Wesley is 7 months!

We had a very full August with a trip to Astoria for my high school reunion, another week without the girls in which Bill, Wesley and I did all sorts of adventures, and lots of playing outside!

We spent a week in Astoria, just me and the kids, at the beginning of August. Caley and Amelia had a blast going to the pool with Grama and I was able to get a ton of work done for the reunion. Wesley chilled with me, and we spent a lot of time walking and contemplating. We even saw whales at the South Jetty! Well, Wesley was distracted by nursing, but I saw the whales and it was so neat! On that trip, and since, Wesley has shown he doesn't care to drink milk unless it's the real thing. But thankfully he eats many solids now and won't starve if I need to be gone for more than 4-5 hours. While in Astoria we went to the county fair and saw lots of animals and ate some ice cream. Yummy!

Amelia's birthday was Friday of the week in Astoria. By then Bill had joined us (Dad's friend flew him) so we did a family morning in Seaside, and had a birthday party in the evening with Grama and Papa.

The following week we went to Jetty Island, a small man-made island off the coast of Everett. We had to take a little ferry, but it was well worth it to get to play in warm-ish water and nice sand. Our friends Ande, Mina, Max and Magnus, and Lauren, Evie and Beck came too. Magnus has the same birthday as Wes and Beck is about 10 days older.
Later that week we had a kid birthday party for Amelia, who by the way is about 95% potty trained (during the day!!!), complete with playdough, snacks and cupcakes. Wonderful, crazy, kid fun!
Wesley is eating a lot of solids, as I mentioned. He's a big fan of graham crackers, cheerios, peas, and soon we will try peaches, plums, and other fruits.

We are on the home stretch to Wesley's first birthday. I can't even believe it's already been 7 months. I love this little man so much, he's such a sweetie.

We love you Wesley!

Day 5: A Favorite Quote

"Common sense isn't so common." Mark Driscoll

Day 4: A Favorite Book

I'm not sure what my favorite book is of all time. For being a former English major, I don't read very much, except online things. This makes me sad and I'm hoping to change my amount of reading by making more time for it, to read both fiction and non-fiction.

However, I aspire to being a big reader and helping my kids love reading. I hope they know good books from "twaddle" and look to reading before other hobbies.

One of my favorite books is "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I never read these books as a kid and wish I had. I love how she describes their daily life and the care and attention that goes into everything they do. Within the first few chapters she intricately details how Ma makes head cheese. Awesome.

I've been reading the other books in the Little House series and am currently on "Farmer Boy." I hope to read all these series with the girls and do some coordinating homeschooling curricula. Maybe not to the extent of making head cheese, but at least learning about the process. So far Caley and I have read "Little House in the Big Woods" and she really enjoyed it, especially when we started watching the Little House TV show videos from the library. It's such wholesome entertainment, with good family values, I can't wait to read the books with our kids.

Day 3: A Favorite Television Program

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE the TV show FRIENDS. Love love love this show! Maybe too much. No...never!

I first started watching FRIENDS in high school, when it was just the reruns. At first I was really confused because I jumped into the middle of season 5 or so and missed the really early episodes. By college I had it down to a specific science what my Thursday nights looked like. Thankfully God provided a fellow FRIENDS loving roommate who didn't mind my obsession. We also loved watching over and over again the three taped movies we had, one being "So I Married an Axe Murderer." Really what more was there to do in Mercer Hall?!

Anyway...which FRIENDS character am I, you may ask? 10 years ago I would have answered Phoebe, but now I am a definite clean-freak Monica (wish I was as skinny as Monica too). I used to spend obscene amounts of time watching the episodes while folding laundry during Caley's naptime. Now I can't seem to find the time, which is probably a good thing. During my pregnancy with Wesley, I did watch more than usual, but that was because naptime wasn't the time I worked out as it is now.

I will leave you with a few of my favorite FRIENDS clips...

-Chandler quits the gym

-Seven

-Joey speaks French

-Joey on Pyramid

-Ross' sandwich

-Ross & Rachel drunk

-Pivot!

-Phoebe cusses

Day 2: A Favorite Movie

One of my favorite movies is The Notebook, starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. The Notebook is one of those movies I thought would be stupid, juvenile and predictable. I wasn't very interested in ever watching it until Bill rented it one night. (Usually that's how it works, Bill makes me watch some movie I think will be totally stupid, and I end up loving it. Unfortunately it doesn't work the same way when I choose a movie. In those cases it ends up being a waste of time and Bill complains.) We lived in the Lynnwood townhouse at the time, and I think it was before we had Caley. It turned out to be such a wonderful movie, especially one to watch with my husband (who really liked it too). We watch it maybe once a year, and if it were up to me we'd watch it more.

I think what makes it such a great movie is the chemistry between the two lead actors. I think they actually dated in real life, after filming the movie. It seems like most actors don't know how to act, which can be really frustrating given how much going to a movie costs. I don't claim to be a film critic, but The Notebook is worth your time if you haven't seen it. (I should also add that there are some "mature themes" and my kids will not be watching this movie until they are married.) haha

Day 1: A Favorite Song

I love music. One of my favorite pasttimes is working in the kitchen and listening to Pandora music. I love many types of music, some more than others, but some music I can't take too much of. When thinking of a favorite song, not my #1 favorite song (which I'd have to think about for a while), the one that came to mind is, get ready for it, Britney Spears' "Toxic." Didn't see that one coming, did you? :) Listen to it here.

There's something addictive about this song that gets my booty shakin' when I'm in the kitchen preparing dinner, or cleaning the bathroom, or driving (usually I avoid this kind of music when the kids are in the car). It just makes me smile and have fun, it makes my poop-smeared elbows not stink so bad, my messy hair not look so bad, and makes vacuuming a lot more fun.

30 days

I found this list online of blog ideas, and I thought it'd be fun to try. This is mostly for my writing practice. Read it, don't read it, I don't really care. These won't be done every day, but as often as I can find the time. Enjoy!

Day 1 - a favorite song
Day 2 - a favorite movie
Day 3 - a favorite television program
Day 4 - a favorite book
Day 5 - a favorite quote
Day 6 - 20 of your favorite things
Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - a photo of you recently
Day 12 - something you are OCD about
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a youtube video
Day 24 - where you live
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - your worst habit
Day 28 - what's in your handbag/purse
Day 29 - hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

The REUNION

For the last year I and two other high school classmates have been planning our 10 year reunion. It started actually back in high school when I ran for class president and lost. The guy who won never seemed to be the kind of "planner" person so I told my classmates, "You'll see in 10 years when he doesn't plan a reunion, I'll end up doing it." So last summer when Mr. President hadn't started any planning, I assumed the role.

I started by making a Facebook group for our class. It was very exciting to see people join and get excited about the reunion. Laurel and Scott contacted me and said they wanted to help, which was perfect because Laurel lives in Astoria and Scott is an organizational master and, oh yeah, I was having a baby in January.

After many emails, Skype meetings, Google documents, a trip to Astoria, and another week-long trip to Astoria, we pulled it off this past weekend.

Friday August 6 we had a barbecue at the high school which included a guided tour by the vice principal Mr. Jackson because the school has undergone major renovations and additions since we graduated. Everyone who attended seemed to like it and it was fun to see people's kids. Afterward there was a bonfire at the beach which I skipped out on because I was worried the car would get stuck in the sand and/or I'd feel uncomfortable around buzzed classmates. Instead Bill and I went on a mini-date a a local bar/restaurant. (I got a little buzzed...)

Saturday we had a no-kids, cash-bar, formal dinner at the Astoria Country Club. Being the planner and person most-easily talked into things, I even gave a little speech. Bill coached me a bit and told me to start with a joke, which I did, and it made the rest of the speech a lot less nerve-wracking for me.

"So the Stomper (high school mascot), goes into a bar, and he has a ship's wheel stuffed down his pants. The bartender says, 'Dude, you have a wheel down your pants!' To which the Stomper replies, 'Aye, matey, it's drivin' me nuts!'" Laugh laugh laugh OMG Addie Bales just said NUTS!

Saturday's dinner ran into a few hiccups such as the kitchen only making food for 40 people when we'd confirmed 65 were attending! Thankfully the kitchen staff was easy to work with so there ended up being plenty of food. And although we'd expected 65 people, 76 showed up! This was both good and bad, meaning we got paid more at the door than we expected, but also had to throw together two extra tables. Thankfully most everyone was understanding and patient, perhaps in part that the drinks at the bar were ridiculously inexpensive so people just visited and sipped on their Cosmos longer than originally expected. We also coordinated a class picture which was so fun! We also had trivia questions and raffled off several prizes, mostly donations from local Astoria businesses. We also had a memorial table for the only classmate who has passed away, Courtney, and on Sunday presented the vase o' memories and a few other things to her father, which he appreciated very much. Scott put together a slideshow of people since high school, which was very well-done. And nobody did anything embarrassing or got really drunk, which was my primary worry. A week prior I'd had a nightmare that I was standing on a scary ledge in the high school auditorium and broke the ladder and fell off of it. I'm so thankful that didn't really happen, I stayed on two feet the entire time!

Sunday we had a picnic at Coffenbury Lake and it was a low-key, less-attended event but I think it was a nice way to end the weekend. It seemed like over half (maybe even 75%) of the classmates we invited attend one or all of the events, which was really encouraging. It was also a blessing that the three of us planners were able to be reimbursed our initial expenses and our class was able to donate money to Astoria High School.

This was my big project for the summer (and the year!) and I'm glad it's over, and even more glad people had a good time. GO Fishermen!