Day 90

Happy Birthday John

Infatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Conners.

Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway.*

~Judith Viorst

*I am so lucky that John's as sexy as Jude Law, as smart as Bill Gates, as funny as Jim Carey, and as athletic as Matt Hasselbeck.

Day 89

cousins

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.
~Gail Lumet Buckley

Day 88

The beautiful Pacific Northwest


I am sure it is a great mistake always to know enough to go in when it rains. One may keep snug and dry by such knowledge, but one misses a world of loveliness.

~Adeline Knapp

Day 87

Late Sunday night I realized I hadn't taken a photo yet...oops!

Before I was a Mom...
I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom...
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Spit on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts...
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom...
I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom...
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.

Before I was a Mom...
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom...
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

~Author Unknown

Day 86

Chance's ESP


Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
~ Jimi Hendrix

Day 85

Thank You Christina!

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.

~Author Unknown

Day 84

Good job Coby!!

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

~Albert Einstein

Day 83 (part 2)

(I realized, after I posted Day 83, that I hadn't actually taken the picture of my mom...Romi did. So I am going to go ahead and leave that on the 24th but also add another photo...that I took on the same day.)

My nephew Isaiah

While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about.

~Angela Schwindt

Day 83

Happy Birthday Mom!



I Love You Enough

I Loved You Enough....
to ask where you were going, with whom,
and what time you would be home.

I Loved You Enough....
to insist that you save your money
and buy a bike for yourself
even though we could afford to buy one for you.

I Loved You Enough....
to be silent
and let you discover
that your new best friend was a creep.

I Loved You Enough....
to make you take a Milky Way back to the drugstore
(with a bite out of it)
and tell the clerk,
"I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

I Loved You Enough....
to stand over you for two hours
while you cleaned your room,
a job that would have taken 15 minutes.

I Loved You Enough....
to let you see anger, disappointment
and tears in my eyes.
Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I Loved You Enough....
to let you assume the responsibility for your actions
even when the penalties were so harsh
they almost broke my heart.

But most of all,
I Loved You Enough....
to say NO
when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all.
I'm glad I won them, because in the end,
you won, too....

~Author Unknown

Happy birthday mom!! and thank you for ALWAYS loving me enough!!

Day 82

ok...it's official...I am obsessed with the sky. but how can you not take a picture of this?


Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.

~Babatunde Olatunji (I also heard this in the movie Kung Fu Panda)

Day 81

Coby playing third base

Winners live in the present tense. People who come up short are consumed with future or past. I want to be living in the now.

~Alex Rodriguez

Day 80

Alderbrook Resort in Union, WA

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.

~ Mark Twain

Day 79

Alderbrook Resort in Union, WA
I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.

~John Burroughs

Day 78

Grandma got Coby this hat from her New Zealand trip


Kids grow up so quickly. Smudges on the sliding glass door get higher and higher, until one day you look, and they're gone. All that remain are the memories.

~Jan Blaustone

Day 77

John's finally home from his business trip

A Father's Prayer
Lord I'm asking for Your help

To raise my little son.

Give me strength and guide me

Cause I know that You're the one

That sent this angel to me.

A little slice of heaven here on earth.

A greater love I'll never know.

So take these rugged hands of mine;

Help me to understand

Just what it is I need to do

To raise this little man.

Help me build a boy that knows

It's You that holds the key

To all that heaven holds for us.

Show him Your love through me.

~Mitch Speed

Day 76

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May your blessings outnumber

The shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble avoid you

Wherever you go.

~Irish Blessing

Day 75

Coby doing homework in my pink Snuggie

Life is like a blanket too short. You pull it up and your toes rebel, you yank it down and shivers meander about your shoulder; but cheerful folks manage to draw their knees up and pass a very comfortable night.

~Marion Howard

Day 74

sunrise 7:51 AM

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.

~Erich Fromm

Day 73

Gunnar's new smile

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.

~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Day 72

Thank you Romi

(self portrait)
I know exactly what I am supposed to do. I am now the big sister, and I have taken on the duties of teaching this little boy how to play fair, how to be a gentleman, and how to love.

My life changed when he was born.

I now have someone to take care of and love. I have someone to follow me around and someone to taunt my friends. I have someone to fight with constantly and someone to get in trouble with. I have someone to tell my secrets to and someone who will laugh and cry with me. I now have someone to grow up with who would love me forever, no matter how many fights we get in. I now have my little brother and I am proud.

I love you little brother!

~Big Sister

Day 71

Happy 14th Birthday Chance!

A Boy Is
Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood we find a delightful creature called a boy. Boys come in assorted sizes, weights and colors, but all boys are the same. Boys are found everywhere ... on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older brothers and sisters tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the hope of the future with a frog in its pocket. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly, or else he becomes a savage, sadistic jungle creature bent on destroying the world. A boy is a composite ... he has the appetite of a horse, the digestion of a sword swallower, the energy of an atom bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the lungs of a dictator, the shyness of a violet and when he makes something, he has five thumbs on each hand. A boy is a magical creature ... you can lock him out of your workshop, but you can't lock him out of your heart. Might as well give up ... he is your captor, your jailer, your boss and your master ... a freckled face, pint size, cat chasing bundle of noise. But when you come home at night with only the shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with the two magic words, "HI, MOM!"

...Author Unknown
I can't believe my little boy is growing up.

Day 70

* Mithing Tooth*
I'm having trouble thpeaking,

thinthe I lotht my middle tooth.

Jutht yethterday my tooth wath fine --

today it wiggled loothe.

At firtht I thought it thilly,

when my tooth fell out today,

But no one theems to underthtand a thingle word I thay.

I athked my mom to clothe the door,

she said "I cannot make it.

The door does not like wearing clothes;

it's happier when naked."

I athked if I could have a mouthe,

I promithed I would feed it,

"Another mouth to feed?" she athked,

"I'm certain we don't need it!"

I wonder if you underthtandthe thircumthtanthe I'm in.

I told her I wath feeling thick.

She thaid "you're looking thin."

At latht she thaw how mad I wath,

Ath if I may thtop breathing.

She laughed and thaid she didn't mean it --

She wath only teething.

~Author Unknown

Day 69

When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard.
My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.
When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away.
My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back. When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen.
My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don't know them, they make up their own.
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.
My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that.
My kids say, "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss Mommy and Daddy."

When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets.
My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.
I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
I wish you Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions!!!

~Author Unknown

Day 68

Coby...alone at the line (he made the shot)
All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.

~Magic Johnson

Day 67

snow in March

You know the old saying about beautiful people marrying beautiful people and talented people marrying talented people? That morning I concluded that Uncle and Aunt were two ugly people and therefore perfectly matched.

~ Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan pg. 11 (one of my favorite books of all time)

Day 66

Chance

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?

~Henry David Thoreau

Day 65

boys

Deciding whether or not to trust a person is like deciding whether or not to climb a tree, because you might get a wonderful view from the highest branch, or you might simply get covered in sap, and for this reason many people choose to spend their time alone and indoors, where it is harder to get a splinter.

~Lemony Snicket

Day 64

my neighbors crazy tree

Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.

~Salvador Dali

Day 63

folding laundryThe obvious and fair solution to the housework problem is to let men do the housework for, say, the next six thousand years, to even things up. The trouble is that men, over the years, have developed an inflated notion of the importance of everything they do, so that before long they would turn housework into just as much of a charade as business is now. They would hire secretaries and buy computers and fly off to housework conferences in Bermuda, but they'd never clean anything.

~Dave Barry

Day 62

I love this man

Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.

~Karen Ravn

Day 61

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

~Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Day 60

Azaleas in my front yard

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.

~Luther Burbank