Friday, February 29, 2008

It gots to be quick, but I thought you'd all like to know that mapquest now contains our address.

Lara has now had all writing utensils taken from her since she hid a bunch of crayons in one of her purses, put them in her room, and during nap pulled them out and drew pretty letters all over the wall. I'm glad I have some extra paint!! (Adena reincarnate - ? hmm... ;)

Julian is grabbing at things now. He tries to get them in his mouth, too, but with less success.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Megan

Well, I just talked to Megan. If you didn't know (which you probably didn't), she is in Texas because she found out on Sunday that her dad was hospitalized with double pneumonia and they were only giving him a 50/50 chance. She called today and let me know that he died yesterday! I was so shocked. But the big problem is her insane family and their complete inability to handle anything. I know she is prone to exaggeration, but I really don't think she is this time because I have met her family and seen how crazy they are. She basically is having to take care of all of the financial issues and everything, and her family just keeps giving her crap and being impossible. Her dad lived with her uncle, and he just keeps on telling her that they need to get his money, they need to get into his accounts and get it done. She said he had even taken money out of his wallet while he was in the hospital! And no one is being any help, you know how crazy her mom is. Anyway, she sounds like she's having a really hard time, she hasn't had the chance to mourn at all because of all of this. Please keep her in your prayers.

Monday, February 25, 2008

I'm stealing this from Anna's facebook page. One of her friend's sent her this video and I can only love it. Better better better, AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgrrQwLdME8

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Dang Hippies

I was listening to a live performance on the radio the other day. It was some folkish guitarist whom I had never heard of. His music was OK, good enough to not change the station anyway. As with most radio interviews/performances, he was giving description and reason and inspiration behind each song he played. He had one of those “yeah, man… totally” kind of voices: very mellow with some smoker gravel. He began talking about a song called “Love is the solution,” which had been inspired by an acquaintance of his who stated, “You know, you people (referring to music artists and other artsy war protestors, I presume) are always ranting about everything that’s wrong and are never offering any solutions!” I thought that was a valid question. Although I am not happy about being in a war and I have a lot of questions as to whether or not we should even be in war and what not, I certainly have no solution to end it, and it probably has to do with my unfortunate lack of knowledge in the area.

Anyhow, the song that he played was…. Eh… you know, like most anti-war songs, which is to say, not very good. And when I say “not very good,” I mean that many seem like they were written quickly and furiously, lacking a good bit of musical and lyrical commitment. I couldn’t manage to find the lyrics to this particular tune. I don’t think the guy is well known at all, but mostly the song was a list he had compiled of all the things and people we are supposed to love that will consequently end all hate and war: drunkards, criminals, foreigners, etc. During the first half of the song I just sort of rolled my eyes and thought, “Yeah, that’s the kind of response a person would expect when they ask a solution from the artsy anti-war person.” So, I just kind of listened, waiting for it to be over when one particular lyric hit me. It was added in such a fashion as to REALLY drive the point. The tempo slowed some and the lyrics were drawn out, as if to say, “this is the kicker, folks. Pay attention.”

“…love the sinner, LLLLUUUUUVVV the sin… love is the solution”

Well I was just plain bothered. Even outside of what we know about sin in the Christian realm of thought, that idea is just plain ridiculous. I can imagine watching a news report of a bank robber and searching my heart for some form of empathy. I could maybe visualize some kind of sad, abused and dirt poor existence that would drive a man to resort to stealing, and in that way come to find a love for a redeemable soul, “A sinner such as I,” if you will. I CANNOT imagine watching the same news reel and thinking, “I love robbery.”

At this point I am trying to figure out a way to expound on how a person could love a sin, and I am stumped. Maybe it’s because sin as an idea isn’t very tangible. It is only brought to life through action, at which point I can only think of specific sins. If we are truly “loving” sin, like gossip, theft, envy, etc; how on earth is that part of any solution? The people who are loving sin, are the ones doing the sinning and causing all that grief and strife and what have you. Loving them is what we ought to do. But loving their sin is no good end of war solution.

Maybe what this guy was really about was anarchy, because that’s the only sense I can make of that dim-witted phrase.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

We had a pretty good snowstorm here and I took Asher in it, all bundled up like the kid in A Christmas Story. He couldn't really walk on his own, only a few steps before he fell over, but he sure loved it. He didn't want to come in. Go look at the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21780284@N02/

Yes, that was an order.

I went to the neurologist yesterday and he is going to have my blood checked every 4-6 weeks, and I had blood drawn yesterday for the first check. It didn't hurt at all, and was really quick, but it left a big bruise and it hurts now. Wierd. But he really seems to know what's up so hopefully things will go better this time.

I think Asher is saying "quack quack". He has a little duck (I think you gave it to him, mom) that quacks when you press it's stomach, and he says "gehck gehck" (or something equally accurate). And he is starting to say Hello, and sort of says I love you (ah luh...ooooo). Who knows what's the deal with this kid.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Something in the trees...

It's story-sharing time.

A couple days ago I walked into Lara's room after her "nap" to find all the pieces to all of her puzzles on the floor, most of the toys from her toy box outside of it, books on and under the bed, the blankets in a pile on top of the bed, and the playdoh from at least 5 different tubs taken out, squished into a massive multicolored dohball, smashed onto the sheets and broken into many, many bits. So a few changes were in order, and words to the wise among you: don't leave more than 2 puzzles in reach of your two-year-old; DON'T ever leave play-doh in a box on top of his dresser, even if he's never messed with it before; and if you hear noises from his door during nap, go check on him.

She likes to make up people to talk about, or maybe she is talking about things I am not familiar with, but she recently decided an entity living outside the house was in the trees afraid of the cats, and that we needed to be nice to it. However, she was calling this entity the "f**ker." I think she must have meant something else, but that's what it sounded like. I kept asking her to repeat herself, but I never could figure out what she was saying- it just sounded like the repetition of a bit of profanity!! So we decided to just discourage such talk without making a big deal out of it, and she seems to have forgotten about the "f**ker." Hopefully for good. :)

She loves the baby, and she wants to play with him, but she wants to rub her face (and hair) all over his head, which does nothing but make him fuss. I really can't wait till he's a little older and can at least sort of play with her-- maybe when he can sit up, or crawl! Maybe he'll crawl early and start fighting back.

Good times.
Caryn

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Post-Valentine's Day Pigabration

So, you know how grocery stores will put all holiday items on sale the day after whatever holiday has passed? Well, today the singles had a spaghetti fundraiser to pay the thousands (oh yes, I mean thousands) of dollars needed to accomodate Jeff Slaughter, and we had everything together for the meal except for a dessert. So my friend, Katie, and I thought that we would just go ahead and go to Food World and raid the bakery section there. The minute we step through the door, though, we see these two tables with Valentine's Day cookies stacked on top with a sign that reads, "everything 50% off marked price." Yeah, we definitely served Valentine's Day sweets in all of their pink-frosted goodness at a spaghetti fundraiser.

And a very, merry post-Valentine's Day to you!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

I just wanted to say....



HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Hugs to all!!

Love, Mom :)

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

My Boring Life

Well, it snowed here last night (and today). Supposedly we were going to get 6-8 inches, but it looks like about one to me. I am currently trying to avoid the kid who walks around the neighborhood asking if we want him to shovel the driveway for $15.

I had my first OB appt. yesterday. We got to see the baby, they did a little ultrasound. He is CUTE. Well really he's a little blobby thing, but still cute. His arms were up by his head, and while we were watching he moved his little head to the side. And the dr. who examined me was from Niceville, she graduated from NHS in 1996. How weird is that. I know that a pelvic exam isn't generally the best time for small talk, but we had a good time.

I think you guys knew that Daddy was here a couple of weeks ago. I got to go to the Air Force Museum. Woo hoo. I swear, the smell of those old airplanes gives me a massive headache. Other than that we didn't do much, Adam and Daddy went to the museum alone on Saturday and spent the whole day there (I only had to survive 4 hours one afternoon). I felt bad for Daddy, I was pretty boring because I felt so sick all the time (and still do). But he was a champ and changed Asher's poopy diapers for me (he poops at 10:00 am, on the dot, every day). What a nice guy.

I also wanted to show you guys a couple of blogs that our cousins have...Bill(y) Farley is apparently in Italy for the semester and he and his girlfriend (she's there too) have a blog, it's pretty interesting. http://jessbillflorence.blogspot.com/ And Paloma has one too but I can't find it right now, so I'll get back to you with it.

There. My boring life. Eat it up.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Feelin' Blue

I don't know which of us read the Wrinkle In Time series, but, I thought I should let you know that Medeline L'engle Died this last September. I didn't even know about it until I "Wikipedia'd' her. It was sad.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Memberies

You know, it's sad, but the only truly outrageous happenings from our collective childhood I can think of are about me. Not as good fodder for sibling online chat, I admit, but I'd like to share a couple memories...

Me, arguing with a clown at somebody's birthday party in Panama. He was so annoyed that I was giving away all his little magic tricks that he played a little trick on me, the end result of which was that water, purportedly pee, came rushing down all over my hands in an embarrassing manner in front of a whole slew of kids.

Me, playing with Miss Debbie's pet alligator, which chomped on my finger and wouldn't let go. And after that grueling experience, I got yelled at by mom!! Unbelievable...

Me, stopping on the side of road at the end of Brewer Circle and kicking Shannon out of the car for not wanting to listen to Christian radio.

Me, rear-ending someone while I was driving to Bruner Middle School looking for either Adena or Anna (I don't remember which). One of you was walking on the side of the road, and I was looking for you, and the guy in front of me just stopped and I slammed right into him. Then I peeled out, took off and threw my french fries at him to throw him off my course, and he pulled out his Taser and shot it at the back bumper of to Roller Skate but it bounced off and hit the kid next to the car and an ambulance had to be called and the kid almost died and still has electrically-induced delusions and is on Zoloft...
(Okay, only the 1st 2 sentences were true. I wuz jus' trying to spice up my boring life a bit.)

Julian is singing my song.

Lovies!!
Caryn

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Memories

Sorry I haven’t been around. The boys and I (and once again, not Chad… how does he DO it?!) have come down with a cold; and this one is NASTY. Chad did everything yesterday, except for nursing Orion, of course. He changed diapers, went grocery shopping… the man even made me some chicken soup. It even tasted good! What a guy! Sage has been down with this thing for 4-5 days now. It’s so sad. This is the longest I’ve ever seen him sick. Orion is not doing so hot either. He can’t keep solid foods down, so right now I am only nursing him. He is also sleeping a whole lot, which is good, but he wakes up frequently because his nose is stuffy and he’s got a low-grade fever. Me? Well, I drank a butt-load of water and juice and Chad made sure I took every pill imaginable. Vitamins C and D, my daily, this yeast stuff (a whole other story entirely), some herbal bronchial support thing, and… I’ll even admit it, last night I took *gasp* Ibuprophen. Yes, it’s true. Today I am feeling much better, though my nose is all red and it’d be really great if I were capable of sleeping during the day. Right now all we’re hoping is that Chad doesn’t have to go through it, and that it will finally end for the rest of us. Ugh.

Onto other things…I’m starting my own little mini-series of posts. I will call them “memories”(I know, I know, my creative mind powers know how to cook up a good title). If any of you would like to write your own list, that’s great! I’ll do a jig in your honor.

The other day a bunch of random memories came into my head and made me laugh out loud. Here they are!


Caryn pinning me down and slapping me in the face (after I had intentionally
pushed her buttons to see if she could actually get mad. Well, just so you know,
she can.)

(hehehe)

A common line that Shannon used
that NEVER failed to make me laugh (even when I didn’t want it
to)

Shannon:*BUUUUURRRRRRRP!*
Me: Pig
Shannon: oink oink, baby!


A conversation that I overheard the evening after
St. Patty’s day.
Anna: Mom, today one of my friends at school pinched me
because she said my shirt was teel and not green.
Mom: SHA! It’s still GREEN!
That’s so stupid!
Anna: I KNOW!!
Mom: She PINCHED YOU?
Anna: YEAH!! She
said my shirt wasn’t GREEN!
Mom: That’s so stupid
Anna: I know. My shirt
is GREEN!


We are an oppressed people.