Hannah on the Prophet, and Joey

This morning I was talking to Hannah about President Hinckley. I told her that he died so we have to call a new prophet to lead the church.
In response, she said, "We can call Joey. He's in New Hampshire."

Prophet Joseph Bates. He's cute, but is he ready?

NYC, here I come!

OK, so I live here, but that doesn't mean I get to experience the excitement the city has to offer that often, especially sans kids.
I am so looking forward to the next few days. Thursday, the one and only Julie of my life is coming down from Boston and she is taking me (and a couple of others) to the Martha Stewart Show. What a great friend! I wonder what's in store for us there?
Then on Saturday, I get to go to a Broadway show with Dan and his parents, followed by what is bound to be an indelible experience at ChikaLicious. It's been too long!
Then there are the sites, sounds, photo opps... again, sans kids! What fun!
(Thank you, in advance to my friends/sitters!)

W.O.W. - indelible

indelible \in-DEL-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. That cannot be removed, erased, or washed away.
2. Making marks that cannot easily be removed or erased.
3. Incapable of being forgotten; memorable.
dictionary.com

A sentence: The way he lived his life made an indelible impression on millions.

Some of these words I choose, I have learned at one point. I just don't think to use them. I have been thinking of my W.O.W.'s as the week goes, and I'm happy to say it is working. I know the words and I use them!
I dare you to use indelible this week.

Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

We will miss our beloved prophet. He was truly a man of God.

Saturday in Seattle

up at 6:30am PST (too early without my kids)
breakfast
get new baby nephew Logan up
photo shoot- snap, snap, snap
shower
more photos of baby- snap, snap
Rachel's turn- snap, and snap
drive to Kirkland
another photo shoot- snap, snap, snap
drive back to Bothell
Logan with mommy and daddy- snap...
snap...
snap
dinner
Wii tennis
Wii boxing
dessert
Wii bowling
Wii Rock Band (I will get better at drums!)
watch Miss America Pageant, just to see how bad it's become
get ride to airport
fly out at midnight, 25 hours after I flew in

the red eyes, sore back, and fatigue- worth it!

Hannah's "Possibilities"

The other night on the way in the building, Hannah picked up some political pamphlet by some weird .org. As I opened the 2nd door into the lobby, she show it to me and exclaimed, "Look! It's my possibilities!" Through the lobby, up the elevator, into our door, it was "This is my possibilities", "I have to take my possibilities with me", "Daddy do you see my possibilities?"

Hannah's "possibilities" soon ended up on the floor but as we left to go pick up Minna, she picked up the pamphlet and explained. "I have to take my possibilities with me."
When we met up with Minna again she exclaimed, "Look at my possibilities, Mama!" And then on the way home she said to Jane, "Jane do you want to see my possibilities?" Jane promptly crushed Hannah's possibilities. Hannah's exasperated response was "oh no! Jane broke my possibilities! I need a new possibilities!"

What does it all mean?

Lately, every time I enter the bathroom, this is what I see: vessels full, partially full, or overflowing with water. Hannah will find whatever she knows will hold this precious resource and she will fill and refill and transfer and transport until I come to cut her off. This common practice in our bathroom reminds me of the girl in the movie "Signs", who leaves glass after glass of water around the house. Later these glasses of water help to save her and her family from an alien invasion in her home.
Maybe Hannah knows something we don't...?

I have a question? #2

So, this week's question is adapted from a Question of the Day at work.

If you could have any job other than your current job what would it be?



For me this is really a toss-up because it would changed based on the day. But right now at this instance, living in the concrete jungle of Queens, NY I would probably choose something where I have to work outside in the wonderful and natural outdoors. My official answer for today is a park ranger. But it could change tomorrow. As soon as I get my next outdoor fix I'll probably want to be back in the city.
photo

My life today

Dan walks in the door from work and settles in after discarding his coat, shoes and bag. We say hello and the girls approach him with varying comments, questions or jibberish, as the case may be. Soon he is on the floor with them, playing and laughing. I enjoy the sounds from the other side of the room- the sound that little girls make when they are crazy about their daddy. I notice the noise die down a bit and suddenly I can feel Dan staring at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see- he's getting up and walking across the room over to me. He puts both of his hands on either side of my face, turns my head, gives me a kiss and says, "This is how I always dreamed my life would be."

As a wife, mother and homemaker, I am constantly striving to make the best life for my husband, kids and home. There is not much I do that isn't somehow related to how it effects their well-being. Throughout my days I wonder, is it enough, do they have what they need, can I do more, how can I make it better? It can be all-encompassing, but because it is out of love, it is not overwhelming. There is purpose. There is reward. There is fulfillment. There is complete joy.

My work is good.

W.O.W. - amain

amain \uh-MEYN\, adv.:
at full speed; with full force; with great haste
The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary

A sentence: The kids ran across the field amain.

I think my entire childhood was amain.

We have a winner

Actually, we have TWO winners. We had good laughs for all the entries, but we really couldn't decide between Marliese and Tom's entry for "Indian Superman Part 2" or Carrie Dyer's "Blue Kool-Aid" story. You will receive your prizes soon.

Thanks to all for playing, and for making us laugh!

"Make us laugh" Contest- Enter to Win!

We love to laugh! So send us a funny joke, photo, YouTube video, whatever. Leave your entry in the comments.
Whoever makes us laugh the hardest wins a box of photo cards or an 8x10 photograph, of your choice from my site.
Contest ends Tuesday, 10:00pm PST.
Good luck to all!

Photo of my nephew Jackson, by Rachele Valadez

Good-bye patchwork rugs, hello wall-to-wall!

This must be documented because our floors and the noise that emits from them into our neighbor's apartment below has been the source of much contention since we have lived here- approximately 2.5 years.
We loved our refinished hardwood floors when we moved in and bought a nice area rug for the living room and a runner for the entry way. Because of the excessive noise on the wood floors, we had to add rugs to each side of the area rug. Since then, our neighbor has continued to complain about the little feet that run and jump, and hands that drop heavy items only where the rugs don't lie (of course).
Alas, we had to bite the bullet and get carpet installed.
Here is the before and after:


And the after from a different view:


Even though we spent a pretty penny on the wall-to-wall (not to mention the money that went into the area rugs in the first place), we are very happy with it. We bought some peace of mind! It is so quiet in here, even when it looks like a gymnastics meet is going on. It is very soft, cozy and uniform, making our place look much tidier. I even got Dan to let me get couch pillows which he has generally been opposed to in the past. They really add a lot to our otherwise neutral palette, don't you think?

They make me like our couch much more. I do still want a leather couch, but we'll have to wait for that one...OK can I have one now?

I have a question?

I must confess that I've been letting Minna do all the blogging recently. She's really been doing a great job. So many people have asked me (in person) to pass on compliments to Minna for the "Days Before Christmas" stuff she was doing. And I concur, it really was more Christmas-y this year doing all these activities. The the real purpose of my merging back into the blog-fest that Minna has been so wonderfully cranking out is to start asking questions. My questions will be patterned after the wildly popular "Question of the Day" that I ask at work, except for the 'day' part. It'll be more like "Question of the Week". I don't want to overwhelm the 3 relatives that actually read this blog. So here goes:

If you could go back on life and do something you were always afraid of doing what would you do?



photo by Joe Shlabotnik

W.O.W.- parsimony

parsimony \PAHR-suh-moe-nee\, noun:
Closeness or sparingness in the expenditure of money; -- generally in a bad sense; excessive frugality.

Here it is in a sentence:
"I came very close to buying four delicate Lake chairs with needlework seats for $395 before parsimony got the better of me."
-- Susan Spano, "Roaming Columbia County", New York Times, August 31, 1997
(dictionary.com)

I'm not sure why I chose this word. Maybe because it made me think. Surely, it is subjective and probably different for everyone, but I wondered, what does excessive frugality mean to me?
to you?

Restless night

It's amazing how one of your kids can keep you up all night by crying and screaming, not able to be pacified in any way, shape or form, while you are frustrated and fatigued to the point of apathy. Yet you wake up in the morning crazy about them.

Yes, we are talking about you, Jane!

Weddings???

I shot another wedding today.
As easy as it was (only 2 hours of work after the sealing), I'm not sure...it's my thing.
I'm not writing them off just yet, just thinking about what I really want from my photography, and how hard I want to work!

One Tough Princess

Looks like we need to go in for Hannah's annual tat fill.

"My, Oh my!!!"

That's what I said today when I tried the Rocky Road ice cream I made last night. I didn't expect it to be so good, which is probably why I am writing about it right now.

Why have I made ice cream twice in one week, you ask?
For Christmas, I gave to Dan a "certificate" good for "31 Flavors of Homemade Ice Cream in 2008".
(Thanks for the idea, Ami. She made her husband 31.4 pies last year because, you know, pi=3.14)
Dan was unaware, until now, of the heavenly dessert (or meal, as I would have it) waiting in our freezer.
So, for my Dan, I have made a decadent, crunchy, squishy-marshmallowy, chocolatey frozen treat- chock full of goodness!
Will this get him to come home from work early?
I've baited the hook, thrown in the line...
Will. He. Bite?

For those of you with a great ice cream maker like mine, I just made the chocolate ice cream according to the Cuisinart recipe booklet except, I only used 2 cups of heavy cream and made up for it in whole milk. Then I crushed up some very tasty chocolate covered peanuts and added them at the end of mixing along with whole mini marshmallows. You can probably use marshmallow cream, but I like to bite into my marshmallows.
I let it freeze overnight.

On a side note: Dan said he would be willing to substitute homemade bread for the ice cream every once in a while. It looks like I'm going to gain only 30 pounds this year instead of 50.

On the Menu

The dinner choices for tonight were sushi and egg drop soup or mac-n-cheese with hot dogs.
Hannah preferred the former over the latter. I guess I need to cater to her sophisticated taste buds from now on!

Jane devoured the mac-n-cheese. I don't think she has taste buds...

Word Of the Week- W.O.W starts now!

In an effort to increase my vocabulary, I am going to pick a word to use for a week and try to use it, appropriately of course. This may bore [v. to make (someone) feel weary and uninterested by tedious talk or dullness] some of you, but my goal [n. the object of a person's ambition or effort] is not necessarily to entertain [v. provide with amusement or enjoyment] in this venture but to document [v. record in written, photographic or other form] these things so that I can look back in 20 years and remember [v. bring to mind something seen, known or experienced in the past] these times and say, "what the heck [excl. expressing surprise, frustration or dismay] was I thinking!?!"

My first W.O.W.
ebullient \ih-BUL-yuhnt\, adjective:
1. Overflowing with enthusiasm or excitement; high-spirited.
2. Boiling up or over.

dictionary.com

NYC, January, 60°, Lovin' it!

How could we stand it? It was so beautiful today, we had nowhere else to go but the park.

Hannah in "Another Evening Out"

We took a walk tonight to the foot bridge to watch for trains. Hannah was running way too far ahead (she was very excited to be out again!) so we called out for her to slow down and wait for us. She then yelled,
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME!" and she kept on running.
She did stop however, so that I could zip up her coat. As soon as I was done, she took off and said,
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, AGAIN!!!"

I caught up with her at the top of the hill and found her talking to a kindly gentleman of significant age. As I walked up to them, I heard her say to him, "I'm only 4" (???)(For those of you who don't know, Hannah is not quite 3 yet). Then she proceeded to tell him how many teeth she had...

After we watched a couple of trains go by, our new friend said good-bye. Hannah asked,
"Where are you going?"
"To watch TV"
"You're going to watch a show?"
"Yeah."
"Then you're going to put your jammies on?"

Funny girl.

Park in the Dark

It's after dinner, it's dark, it's 40 degrees outside. Do we really need to take Hannah to the park even though we promised her this afternoon, out of sheer desperation for her to take a nap, that we would go?
Yes, let's do it.
I was hoping the park was closed. Not a swing was swinging, not a slide was sliding(?). Much to Hannah's delight and my dismay, the gate was open. Hannah flew through the playground, and Jane, still outside the park with Dan, was anxiously trying to get through the iron fence and babbled excitedly as she saw Hannah get on a swing.
Oh, what giddy girls they became! Hannah had one volume (LOUD!) and she was leading us through the park like an over-enthusiastic activities director- "Come on, guys!!!" "Over here, this way!!!" We let her lead, and we, giving in, followed.
Suddenly, and without warning, I was having a blast! I was chasing the girls through the jungle gym, crawling through tunnels, going down slides (three of us at a time). Soon I didn't care about the cold, the time or who could hear us in our exuberance (I think we were quite loud, come to think of it). We created a great memory tonight and to think I almost let the opportunity pass...
It made me realize, how important it is to just be a kid with my kids, to laugh at the things they laugh at and to play the way they play.


(I was just thinking how funny it would be if I acted the way I did tonight during the day with a full playground and all the park moms and nannies staring at me...)

Changes

Our blog has been given a face lift. We liked the idea of having a family photo in our heading since all of us rarely end up in one photograph. My photo blog has a new look too. Is the white better than the black?

My purse is saved!

WARNING: The following text includes some raving. Please be advised.

In the process of looking for a crochet pattern to make my sis-in-law some slippers for Christmas, I came across a woman's blog post that has since changed my life. She showed how she made a purse organizer for her purse. As soon as I saw this, I began to marvel. I saw the heavens open and glorious light shone down upon me with a new hope that my purse too could be so organized! Her idea is simple (as in, why didn't I think of that!) yet revolutionary. My struggle with my bottomless pit, as I often refer to it, is seemingly over. As long as I have to carry diapers, wipes, and snacks as well as my many personal belongings, I will use this!
To those of you who have already discovered such a wonderful tool, all I can say is, why didn't you tell me!?!

Here is my "bottomless pit" before: (none of the little things can be found by eye or hand)

and after:

Hannah was trying to help me hold my bag open while I took the picture, and I have to say she did her best. The point is, now I can see everything in my big purse.

These are all of the things in my organizer: lotion, glasses, pocket brush/mirror, gloss/chapstick, wallet, cell phone, pen, planner, and an envelope for coupons or whatever, all of which can be found quickly and effortlessly.

Her pictures might give you a better idea.
If you are into crafty things, check out the rest of her blog.

First pics

Here is the beginning of what I'm sure will be many photos of our girls in the year 2008.

Hannah Ruth & Jane Opal