a lil' bit of me

"Ponderisms"

· I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned
that most people die
of natural causes.

· Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make
sure you are removing
a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If
it comes out of the
ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

· The easiest way to find something lost around the
house is to buy a
replacement.

· Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive
anyway.

· Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which
one can die.

· Some people are like Slinkies. Not really good for
anything, but you still
can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the
stairs.

· Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying
in hospitals dying of
nothing.

· Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder
these days no one talks
about seeing UFOs like they used to?

· Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

· All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It
pays no attention to
criticism.

· In the 60's, people took acid to make the world
weird. Now the world is
weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

· Politics is supposed to be the second oldest
profession. I have come to
realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the
first.

· How is it one careless match can start a forest
fire, but it takes a whole
box to start a campfire?

· Who was the first person to look at a cow and say,
"I think I'll squeeze
these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes
out?"

· Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken
there? I'm gonna eat
the next thing that comes outta its butt."

· Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the
freezer?

· If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there
a song
about him?

· Why do people point to their wrist when asking for
the time, but don't
point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom
is?

· Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get
undressed if they are
going to look up there anyway?

· Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on
all fours? They're both
dogs!

· If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that
Acme crap, why didn't
he just buy dinner?

· If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

· If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is
made from vegetables,
then what is baby oil made from?

· Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star have the same
tune?

· Do illiterate people get the full effect of
Alphabet Soup?

· Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's
face, he gets mad at
you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks
his head out the window?

· Does pushing the elevator button more than once make
it arrive faster?

· Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

You have got to be kidding me.

I just checked the website, there is no school tommorow either!!!

Honestly, I am not just bragging about my own kid, he is absolutely hilarious. His humour, his style. He is gonna be such a neat kid. (He is already but you know what I mean).

Anyway a funny from bedtime tonight:

Fern was tucking him in, and as he has been sick the last few days, with a high fever, I have had him in our bed. (I hate this cuz it definitely starts a habit) Here's how the conversation went:

Ben: "Dad can you sleep with me in my bed tonight?"

Fern: "no, sorry buddy, you are better now, its time to be back in your own bed."

Ben: "but Dad, I wanna have someone with me. A buddy. I don't wanna sleep alone."

Fern: "sorry Ben, I am in my own bed tonight"

Ben: "but it's not fair Dad"

Fern: "it's fair Ben, I waited along time for God to give me a wife, and I am going to sleep in the same bed as her"

Ben: "hey Dad, can you get me a wife?"

Fern: "when your older Ben, Good night"

Fern comes back to the couch, and this is when I become aware of the conversation. Ben is crying hard. And loud saying:




"I WANT A WIFE TO SLEEP WITH"

6 more pounds gone since October 4th!

13 in total since August 27th!

Slow going, but it's going!


Just keep swimming... just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming swimming.

My Ben wasn't feeling well, and so I was sitting in the back of the vehicle next to him. My Dad was driving, and Ben seemed to be zoning, so I asked him, "what are you thinking about right now?" and he said so naturally, "that I wanna drive".

Funny, the stuff you wouldn't know if you didn't ask!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brody would not look at the camera, and every time I pressed the timer for the camera, and ran to the gruop, I almost wiped out. I had the same bra strap issues in Rose's wedding photo's too.

 

Balloons everywhere!!

He is admiring the beautiful homemade card from Ryken!!

Ben is so affectionate to Brody. Even when Brody doesn't like it :)

He doesn't look all that excited, but he sure polished off his first cupcake!

The cupcakes were going to be froggies, from a cute thing I saw online, but I ran out of time, and so the kids decorated them for me.

Becka, (future babysitter I think) and Grace and little bear.
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Hard to believe, tomorrow my little bean will be one year. How fast did that go? It seems like yesterday, I was super anxious, wondering when he would make his appearance. We had a party for him today, it was great. Lots of friends, (well mostly his siblings friends, but he has a few,) He loved the balloons.

Nichole Nordeman was one of the big hits at the WOF weekend we went to. This song, I loved, and wanted you all to read it. Definately worth getting her new cd, Brave.


What If?


What if you're right?
And he was just another nice guy
What if you're right?
What if it's true?
They say the cross will only make a fool of you
And what if it's true?

What if he takes his place in history
With all the prophets and the kings
Who taught us love and came in peace
But then the story ends
What then?

But what if you're wrong?
What if there's more?
What if there's hope you never dreamed of hoping for?
What if you jump?
And just close your eyes?
What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?
What if He's more than enough?
What if it's love?

What if you dig
Way down deeper than your simple-minded friends
What if you dig?
What if you find
A thousand more unanswered questions down inside
That's all you find?

What if you pick apart the logic
And begin to poke the holes
What if the crown of thorns is no more
Than folklore that must be told and retold?

You've been running as fast as you can
You've been looking for a place you can land for so long
But what if you're wrong?

check out THIS

I was too tired earlier to post about how the tournament went, so here it is. There were 24 different karate schools competing. Big competition. Bigger then we have seen. Tons of people. Kids and adults. The kids are always first, with the big show stopper being the adult black belts at the end.

It started at 9am, and O went on at about 10:30. She was in a division with 10 kids up to 9 years old and up to purple belts. So she was on the lower end of belt rank and age. Her first event was kata, and she did great, but she went to fast (I am assuming nerves), and didn't place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

In weapons which was right after, she did great, and placed 3rd. She was so excited to get a trophy. She was beaming.

Her final event would be sparring. This is the hardest thing as a Mom to watch. I am so nervous when she fights, if I was a nail biter, they'd be soo short. Anyways, this was our first American tourney, and they do things a little different. For starters, 99% of the kids fighting had chest protectors, and face shields. We had never seen that before. This made me nervous.

She was due next to spar, and as she stood on the outside of the ring, one of the 3 judges, went over to her, and because I couldn't stand behind her, I couldn't hear what was going on. All of a sudden, I see him take her glasses off, and walk away.

My heart sunk. Her glasses are THICK. She needs those glasses to see, she doesn't just wear them for TV or reading, they get put on the minute she wakes up, and often when I go back in her room to fix her covers after she has fallen asleep, I take them off for her. It's like she doesn't even know she's wearing them.

I look over, and I see her countenance change. Her shoulders are hunched forward, and her confidence is gone.

The fight starts, her opponent comes in, and throws a punch, and I can see that O is having an extremely hard time. The other girl thows a round house kick, and she doesn't even see it coming. She got a good kick to her side. Opponent gets a point, and they reset. Only O is hiding her face behind her little sparring gloves. This girl is not a cryer. She absolutely hates for people to see her cry.

My heart breaks. It wasn't a fair fight, and it was unexpected. The judge goes over to her, and gives her the option of quiting. She gladly accepts.

Sensai goes to her, as I cannot enter the area, until its all over. Being in karate, they really encourage the kids not to "run and cry to mum", but to wait, finish out the obligation, and then go.

For probably 8 minutes, she is getting over from crying, and is sitting on deck, with her little shoulders heaving, from being kicked and crying. That was sooo hard. I was crying, trying not to look like I was. I kept reassuring her with my thumbs up, and our Little "its okay" sign.

She got over it, and was ok, and fun the rest of the day. Something I learned from all of this, I will be getting her a face shield so that she can always wear her glasses.

I will post a few funnies later, and my story from my event too. This has been a super long post, and I know there are skim readers out there!!!

Recieving her trophy, I was so proud. 

O snapped some shots of me practising in the staging room. I was soo nervous. 

These two played so well together, switched games, made up games. They were so cute. We took them for a late night swim, they had a blast, and we sat in the hot tub and relaxed. 

On the way home yesterday, we convinced Tania's hubby to make a little stop at the Premium Outlet Centre, in Lynwood, WA. I was BEYOND excited, as you can see from the look on my face, we hit some major bargoons, and 3 hours later we left with waaay too many bags! I will definately be going back there. 

She found out the other night that she made the leadership team. The blue gi is only for leadership, and she is the youngest on the team. We are so very proud of her, and can't wait untill tommorow when she competes in Seattle!!! Go Liv!



 

I like words. I like using new to me words. If I hear a new one I haven't heard before, I often try and find out how to use it in a sentence.

Fern has issues with this. He is ALWAYS saying "that doesn't even make sense, what are you trying to say?"

Or he says "just use regular words..."

Or "what does that even mean???"

I love it. In fact, I have been complimented, one time by a dear friend, who said "wow, you have such a vocabulary"

An example of a typical conversation I have with Fern, but was with sister #1
goes like this:

we had just woken up, at the hotel on the weekend for the conference, and we are both tired, as it was a late night (she is SUCH a talker JK) and a very early morning. As I stretch out, I say "man... I slept like a ton of bricks".
Jenn says "what does that mean? That you slept good or bad?"
I didn't even know what I had meant to say, I was eager to coin a phrase I guess.

Last night, Fern and I were talking in bed, and I said, "I am so happy that I haven't lost my INITIATIVE with exercise."
He says "try again"
I say "my AMBITION with exercise"
He says "why not just say 'I haven't tired from it yet"

Probably 75% of our conversations are like this. That and he ALWAYS has to give me advice, which most the time is not wanted. Some examples:

I ran into timmies the other day, while he waited in the van. There was a lady outside asking for money. I told her if she followed me in, I would buy her a coffee, or something to eat. She declines my offer, saying she just was in there and had a coffee. So on my way back to the van, I now had change, and so gave it to her. It was like .90c. Well he gives me this big talk about how my 90 cents just supported whatever habit she had. ARGH!

Or while driving, he'll say "speed up, this guys on your butt," or "your all over the road" or "when you start the van, does the cell just magically appear on your ear?"

A couple nights ago, we were sharing nachos, with melted cheese, and he says "you wanna try and eat them from the outside in..." ACK! Let me eat them the way I want to! So what if I look for the ones plastered with cheese!!!

I love my hubby so very much, but boy can he drive me crazy!!

I love it when I am up before my kids, I love just being able to do whatever I want, no one asking anything of me.

It was a nice 10 minutes, he just asked me for his dinner. (which means breakfast)

There's another tournament coming up, in Seattle this time. O and I are going down for the night, since the tourney will be 9-6. I am also entering in one event. I can't even believe it. It makes me want to throw up even thinking about it. I can't remember the last time I did ANYTHING in front of a crowd before. Acouple of nights ago, I was practising at the dojo, and there were 5 people in the room with me, all practising too. When it was my turn, I felt so nervous just doing it in front of them, I could have thrown up.
The room we were in was the smaller one, the one usually used for the small kids, and the floor is that spongy matt puzzle stuff. Well I go to pivot my foot 180 degrees, and my foot turns perfectly, but my sweet baby toe did not. It hurt! I tried to pretend like nothing happened, and when I did the same turn 2 minutes later, I did it AGAIN. So I now have my first karate related injury. IT's ugly, and painful to walk on. F is getting tired of hearing me say whenever he comes close, "watch my toe".








In other news, I am up waaay to early and can't sleep. This stinks... Rose I am waiting for you to get online!!! 

I forgot to mention a few details...

Jenn, is BEYOND crazy, while sitting in the passenger seat. At every turn, merge, lane change, she would throw her hands up, curl into the fetal position, (slight exaggeration here), and let out a soap opera worthy *gasp* of fright. I don't really think I deserved all the hollaballoo, I am a fine driver, when its light out, and not raining :)

Also, on the way back to the hotel the first night, ERIN aka crazy girl, was more than helpful with her navigational skills. I thank you. And for sharing your umbrella.

So, it turns out, I will do a mini update. We went to woman of faith. It was Friday/Saturday all day. We stayed in a lousy hotel. I had the munchies last night and we went hunting for something to eat, and found nothing. Aside from the lounge. I asked at the front desk if there were any vending machines, and she said, "yeah, it's 2 blocks down, called 7-11". NICE.

Was fun, lots of laughter, some tears, more laughing. All woman. Funny speakers, good music, fun friends.

Somethings I took with me from this weekend:

*Internet pics of a hotel, are not always accurate

*I shouldn't be allowed to drive downtown, at night, in the rain

*I shouldn't order eggs in a restaurant. Ewww.

okay but seriously,

*learned the difference between 'inconvenience' and 'problems'

*learned not to miss the little joys of everyday

*learned if you fall, GET UP, TRY AGAIN

*we can "plan" our lives, but life can get in the way of those plans, and that is ok


All in all, it was great. I would go again, and hope to next year!

It was nice to get to know Erin, the crazy girl. 

 

 

at Rickis this morning. What a story there, except I am too tired to tell. 

me and jenn, starving, NEEDING a starbucks. Restaurant that we were meeting at was closed, so jenn and I decieded to hunt for a starbucks. On foot, about 4 blocks down, we hit the mother load!!! 

Checing out of the hotel, waaay early. We were the FIRST ones ready, and the others were late.