Confession

Today is, what, February 5th?

I got home from my christmas vacation, what, Jan. 4th?

Ummm, I still haven't unpacked yet. There are suitcases laying on the floor in my bedroom. Anything we HAD to have, I have pulled out over the month, but left the suitcases still sitting on the floor.

When I get back from a trip, I often feel like life hits me in the face full-force; everything starts up again and I can't catch my breath, let alone finish up from my trip.

So today I actually unpacked (and I didn't stuff anything!) two and a half suitcases and two bags.

Maybe I'll go do that last one so I can be done with it.

Or maybe I'll go watch last night's Lost episode online (haven't seen it yet, don't spoil it for me)....

"Oops. We gotta work on this Communication Thing"*

This morning we noticed Bryce coughing and congested. About 5 minutes before school started.

As they're heading out to the car to go to school, we try to make a decision.

Jeffrey joins in. "Well, Bryce, is it communicable? If it's not, you're ok."

We decide to keep Bryce home to keep an eye on him, and send Jeffrey off to school.

The kicker:
While Rob took Jeffrey to school, Bryce heard Nathan cough at the breakfast table and quipped quite sincerely, "I think my cough communicated with Nathan."




*Will Smith in Independence Day (in the same movie Jeff Goldblum said, "Must go faster," a quote from himself in Jurassic Park)

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

Gesturing wildly and yelling "I didn't do it ON PURPOSE!" to a brother you've just unintentionally hurt,

isn't very reassuring.

And often incites more anger: "Yes you DID!"

Blue and Gold Banquet

For those of you not in scouts, a Blue and Gold banquet is essentially a dinner for the cub scouts and their families, in place of our usual monthly awards meeting (called 'pack' meeting).

The Webelos (10 yr olds) are in charge of the invitations. I created the front (see below), and my scouts will fill in the pertinent info on the inside (place, time, date), and address the envelopes.

I just love how the front of the card turned out! It will be printed in black and white on tan paper, but it's still going to look goooooood:

An Old Favorite of Mine--Pachelbel Bedtime

If you by chance haven't seen this before, I think it's a fun video, and near the end are a couple different spots where dad is able to feel how much he loves his little girls inbetween all the reality of whiny kids, and the end is precious.

My kids have actually not been too whiny in the last day or two (I mean, relatively, of course they've had lots of moments). In fact, they've been in "creative" mode. Within the last 24 hours they:

1) Completely dressed up like cowboys with hats, shirts, belts, boots, and their hobby horses that Nana made them (mind you, we only have cheap cowboy hats--the rest of their costumes they made up with regular stuff they own). Spent a couple hours imagining themselves in the wild west.

2) Created a first aid kit for Nathan, "just in case," and decided they need first aid kits in their backpacks for school. Even squeezed 1/2 tsp antibacterial ointment in an itty bitty tupperware container to go with their little first aid kit.

3) When I asked them at dinnertime to use my orange peeler to peel oranges, they turned it into a masterpiece of 'orange' jackolanterns. Instead of quickly completing the task, they used the peeler to cut out shapes and designs from the orange peel part of the orange, much like you might see in the book "How are You Peeling?", only some of my kids' designs were abstract.

Too bad Rob's got our camera, or I would have posted pics of their creative ventures.

Life is meant to be shared.

Ok, ok, if you're not going to comment on my deep, 'thinker' sayings, tell me what you think about the "random stranger togetherness" demonstrated in this AWESOME commercial.*

Maybe part of it is both the dancer and people-person in me, but something rose up inside of me as I watched this, and my smile just kept spreading, reaching out way past my face, into my heart (I know, cheesy). First amused, but then I could feel the happiness inside. This cute video really brightened my day.

Gee I love free happiness.**



*Don't let the word 'commercial' deter you from clicking on the link. The only time it resembles a real commercial is in the last 2 seconds where TMobil tries to infer with the words "Life is for Sharing" that if you buy their cell phone you will now have the market on sharing life in a meaningful way.

**Want more free happiness? As long as you headed over to Natasha's site "Becoming Something," add to your smile with this post. My FAVORITE is the newspaper clipping that recites how a cop called out "Marco," trying to inject humor into a police chase, and the suspect called out "Polo"!!!! Bwaaaahaaaahaaaaaa! Anyway, I may or may not start stalking Natasha's blog and spend hours readiner her archives....

More sayings/poems. They just keep jumping out at me!

I am on a poem/quote 'kick,' I guess. I have two new sayings that I really like. One was quoted at the beginning of this week's episode of Criminal Minds:

"There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues of society are created, strengthened, and maintained."
Winston Churchill

No pressure, right? But I do love the quote, right next to David O McKay's "The greatest work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home"

That's not my second poem, by the way. This is:

"There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it ill becomes any of us
To talk about the rest of us."

Yeah, I know. It's a thinker.

This was a little saying that was part of a handkerchief game (Called 'Drop the Handkerchief') on the school playground in Cades Cove, Tennessee around the 1930s. I read it in a sweet little book called "Autumn Winifred Oliver does things different," by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb.