How can cucumbers be......

FROZEN! When I went to peel my cucumber for dinner tonight, I peeled the skin off to find ice below. How does your cucumber freeze like that?!

Thanksgiving

Brenna having fun during thanksgiving dinner with her cousins Sarah and Jacqueline.

Tobin began his day early with a turkey chase. He entered a 2 mile fun run with his friend from school. Tobin and his friend finished the race in 16:20 min. Wow!! May he continue to enjoy the good health and energy he does today. Noah was invited by his friends to play in a turkey bowl. Noah enthusiastically agreed, always up for some football. Brenna played on the sidelines with her friends and had so much fun. The weather was absolutely beautiful; it truly was like a summer day. We were in shorts and t-shirts for the first half of the day. I was able to take a wonderful bike ride through the neighborhood. It was great to exercise for the first time in a while and not have to worry about my foot. It was the perfect day and we hadn't even gotten to the food yet. We went to Andy's brother's house for dinner.

We have had a wonderful dinner. We have so much to be thankful for individually and as a family. We have definitely had a year that won't easily be forgotten. It is nice to know that through thick and thin, we can count on each other. In the lesser moments of this year, the moments where I have felt like I can't handle my life as it is in this place and time, my family comes through and I have one of those moments where your heart pounds and burns, because you have just witnessed the miracle of your children thinking outside themselves, for the greater good of the family. It seems something so small, but it's the actions that they take. For instance, it is Tobin inviting his little brother to play in the game of pickup football, or Noah coming over to cuddle Brenna because she has just fallen and hurt herself, or it's when Brenna comes over to me with a picture she has just drawn and wants to give it to me, while hugging me tight and saying, "You're my best Mommy ever," and it's my husband sending me a card from his last destination of travel. Because.... in those moments ..... I know that I have done something right and that my children are kind, decent and thoughtful children and that my marriage for all its external jolts and bumps of this last year is still strong and flourishing. Feeling the peace of doing something right helps me remember that although I haven't been able to influence the events of this last year, that those events aren't going to win anymore and that the sense of balance that we need as a family is slowly returning. How can I not be thankful for this blessing? Happy Thanksgiving everyone; I hope you find much to be thankful for. Enjoy the pictures from our day.

Tobin proudly holds up his race number and shows off his shirt.

Doesn't this turkey look absolutely divine? It was so juicy and tender and ohhh so worth the wait.

Brenna with her cousins Jacqueline and Erica. Brenna had a great time hanging out with them and I was thrilled to learn that Brenna let them straighten her hair.

Tobin and Noah with cousins Brett and Bradley. They spent their time playing playstation and jumping on the trampoline and didn't even come in for dessert! Happy Thanksgiving!

Twins

I just finished taking Noah and Brenna to the dentist to have their chipped teeth (one each)pulled. It seemed quite painless to me as Noah waltzed right off, seemingly without a care in the world and I went with Brenna who quickly jumped into the hot seat and immediately began inspecting the light above and the utensils around the chair. However, as we were waiting one of the dental hygenists came in and told me Noah was very nervous. Now, I don't know about you, but the "very" word catapulted my stomach into my throat and I realized I needed to be with my other child and not the bright, inquisitive child who had no gut instinct as to what was about to happen to her. I got up to go to the room next door and the hygenist told me not too. Darn it!! So, then the dentist came in and kicked me out and left me to wander the waiting room as I looked for xray vision to see through the walls to my Noah, where I didn't know what was occurring in his mind or his mouth. An eternity to me of waiting culminated in Brenna sneaking up behind me and garbling her words. I turned around to see a gauze pad tumbling out of her mouth. Brenna took a few minutes to communicate with me that she wanted to see Noah. I replied that we couldn't and we had to wait for him. And as the hygenist spoke to me about my wonderful darling and how well she did, Brenna snuck off into the room where Noah was! I couldn't believe Brenna had the courage to do what I had been wanting to do! By the time I got to him Noah, too, wore his guaze pad of courage bravely and confidently. The dentist told me he had done a fabulous job. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the last hour.

7 things you didn't know.....

1. I really do like eminem, the rapper. Yes, the one who seems to have nothing nice to say. One night I pulled up to a fast food drive thu window and had the eminem song "Loose yourself" blaring. The cashier gave me this funny look, so I turned down the radio apologizing for how loud it was: he replied, "no, that's not it. I just didn't expect someone like you to have the song on. What can I say, I like to work out to this song and it kinda caught hold of me.

2. I want to get a tatoo. Not a big one, just something small on the inside of my ankle. Something that means something. But that's just it, I can't think of something that would be that meaningful my whole life w/out it being cheesy.

3. In my next house, I want to decorate a bathroom with a panda theme. Some people love animals for certain reasons. And Brenna and I have watched the pandas on the webcam to really love them. But, the real reason I want pandas on my wall is because if you took the P in my name and the A in Andy's name and added an and in the middle, PandA.........sitting in a tree....you know the rest, it becomes a cute little symbol for us without being too cheesy obvious, except to you who read my blog.

4. I want to write children's books. My sister and I have kicked around having a book series where the characters are pen pals, but it hasn't developed into anything yet. I keep waiting for not the "right time", but simply any time where I'm not busy. Although, the book I have started writing is titled: "Things I want to tell my daughter, but she's too busy acting like me to listen." Catchy, huh?


5. I have a beautiful dress that hangs in my closet that I wore on my wedding day. I wore it to a luncheon we had afterwards. To this day, it is still one of my favorite dresses and hangs in there waiting to be worn again. But the usual has happened, being married weight, baby weight, emotional eating weight, etc. and so it hangs, lonely and waiting.

6. I sometimes wonder about reconciling God with science.

7. When Tobin was a baby and our only child and he would sometimes wake us up in the middle of the night. I always woke up instantly. But I was also working and sleep deprived. Can you tell I'm trying to justify what I'm abou to tell you? Sometimes, when I heard Tobin, but was simply too tired to get up, I would gently kick Andy's legs so to wake him up so he would hear Tobin crying out. He would always go get Tobin and take care of him. :)

More schoolwork

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share with you some of the artwork from the kids. They are always so proud of their schoolwork. Brenna's homework was to make a disguise for her turkey so we made a peacock together. If you look closely, you can see the turkey behind the plate. Noah made a self portrait and wrote a bcr describing himself. Noah describes himself as atheletic, funny and shy. I think it's so interesting to see what they choose; it's the closest thing to reading their mind.

Funny sayings are another way to get into their head. The other day, when Andy returned home from Spain, Brenna said, "daddy, it's a good thing you came home today, so I didn't have to miss you anymore."

High School Musical, the play

I took Brenna to High School Musical, the fall play at Northwest High School. We were originally supposed to go with two little friends of hers, Lauren and Madison, from dance class. Unfortunately, Lauren was sick, so we invited my friend Katie and her children, Delaney and Jaiden. Brenna and Madison sat together and sang every song amidst giggles and laughter. We have every version of HSM II on our tevo: the original, the dance along, and the sing along. I will often catch Brenna dancing and singing to the movie at home. It's fun when I catch her in the act, but she gets embarassed and stops. And then, I have to walk away with a smile on my face. Oh to be young again....

Oops! Alzeihmer's already?

I forgot to add the climax of Tobin's Halloween outfit! Are you sitting down? He didn't even wear the costume I got for him. Hence the football costume, which isn't really much of a costume. Now is that the epitome of a teenager or what!!