An Ed Story

I came downstairs to find Ed in the family room preparing to go to hockey. He was taping up his ankles in hopes of avoiding painful blisters from his new skates. I got my snack and sat down to watch TV. Ed got up and started looking for his sock. He had one on and couldn't find the other. He accused me of sitting on it and I wasn't. He looked under the couch, in his bag, under cushions. I could tell it was driving him crazy that he lost it and he had it only a minute ago. How does that happen? He went into the kitchen and I could just barely see his reaction when he found his sock. He felt like a complete dope because he had put sock number two on over sock number one! No WONDER he couldn't find it! That's my Ed!

Feeling at Home

It had been almost a year since the last time we sat in Berean Baptist Church in Brunswick, Maine. The first time we visited after our move was last April and being there made me sad. I missed it so much. I missed the big pipe organ, the formal sanctuary, the niceness of the building, the familiarity of it all. We were there yesterday and this time it was different. As we sat there none of those things made me long to be there. Instead it was after church when several people stopped to say hi or give me a hug - that made me miss Berean. Ed & I were married there, our babies were dedicated there, we taught Sunday school and watched other people's children grow up before our eyes. The people were such a large part of our lives for such a long time that I think we will always feel like it's our home church. I do miss them, very much and it was nice feel so welcome and to know that they miss us too.

So Ed has started playing hockey again. He played in high school but hasn't played since. He found out about adult hockey at the Boys and Girls club and decided to do it. He's become a regular at one of the local sports stores and I always joke him that after he's been in to the store the young guys must say, 'Hey, the old guy who plays hockey was in again!' He's not the OLDEST one who plays on Sunday nights but he's definitely not the YOUNGEST either. We got home yesterday in plenty of time for him to play, they start at 9:00 p.m., so off he went to hockey and off I went to bed! It must be coming back to him because last night he had two goals and an assist! Today he is one sore pup! I keep threatening him that the girls and I are going to show up as his cheering section one night with a big poster that says, "Our Dad is a super star!!" He doesn't think I'm funny...

We are planning to try snow tubing this weekend. I'm a little nervous about zooming down the side of a small mountain on a rubber tube with my small child. Notice I said WITH because there's no way on God's green earth she's going alone!! I'm always afraid the tube will hit some sort of bump and the tube will go one way and I will go the other. This has happened to me countless times while sledding as a child and even as an adult! Sledding in the right conditions is probably my favorite wintertime activity. I may get some pretty good pictures I will post for you!

Lakisha is my favorite American Idol contestant! She's so amazing. If you haven't started watching, you must!!! It's not too late to get hooked. It will be interesting to see if this week's performances are any better than last week. Most of them pretty much stunk last week!

Mid 30's here today. Cloudy. No wind. The driveway needs to be cleared of the snow that fell last Friday. It won't get done today...or tomorrow. I don't know when it'll get done. Ed's too busy and I don't feel like trying to do it. As long as I can get THROUGH it in my pathetically, pathetic in the snow van, then I guess there's no need to hurry out there and get it done.

Have a great day!

Nothing in Particular

Blogger finally got tired of me saying I didn't want to upgrade and this morning I had no choice! We'll see if I have any trouble with this new version. I've heard mixed reviews!

So...it's school vacation week. It's Wednesday already and I feel like we haven't done a thing! It's been warm out (40 degrees yesterday) and there's plenty of snow to play in so we've done that. Yesterday we went to a play at the library and we're going to a different play tomorrow at the museum. Katie had a sleepover and Rebecca went to a friend's house and is having a different friend over tomorrow. That's really about it. Today I think we will run some errands, sounds fun doesn't it? Right now the three of them are playing together, very nicely I might add. I thought I was going to loose my mind after snow day number two last week because all they did was bicker!!! Fortunately that seems to have subsided, at least for now.

American Idol: I'm totally, completely hooked. BUT - if I hear one more disco tune or Stevie Wonder song !...

LOST: Interesting. Nice to see some of the puzzle pieces fitting together. Still lots of unanswered questions.

Survivor Fiji: Typical. Even though the show is pretty much the same from season to season I can't stop myself from watching!

Amazing Race Allstars: GO ROB & AMBER!

Uh oh! I hear yelling and loud noises upstairs. Maybe I should check things out. Gotta go.

Snow Day

Today is our second snow day in a row! The big Valentine's Day Blizzard of 2007 is officially over but the wind and blowing snow have made drifting a problem. I guess it's a big enough problem to cancel school in virtually the whole county. That's about 25 school districts, I'm guessing. The girls and I were outside in the middle of the storm yesterday afternoon. It was so much fun! The snow was blowing and the wind was howling but we were all dressed warmly and so we barely noticed how cold it really was! The girls stayed out for about 2 hours - I called it quits after about an hour. The snow was coming down too fast to bother shoveling. The girls did the front walkway but that's all we could accomplish. By the time Ed got home it was hard to tell anything had been shoveled. I love these pictures of Katie doing a somersault! She's so funny.

We aren't staying home again all day! We NEED to get out! I think we will head to Barnes and Noble and peruse the shelves and maybe have a yummy snack at their cafe. They sell a delicious carrot cake. By the way, our snowfall total comes in officially at 15 inches! WOWie!

Trust me, that is Rebecca peeking out of the hat and scarf! The big white splotches are snowflakes!

And Little Miss...She's winking because the snow is blowing into her eyes. She loved playing outside! Last winter she didn't enjoy it quite as much as she seems to this year.

My sweet Katie is 12 years old now. Her birthday was Saturday. She's such an awesome girl and I'm really proud of her. Never, in my best daydreams of motherhood (before I was a mom) did I imagine that being someone's mother could bring so much happiness to my life. It's hard too sometimes, really hard - but since it's Katie's birthday we're only focusing on the positive here! Sometimes when we're having a conversation I'm so amazed at the fact that she is so grown up already! How did that happen?? She's beginning to develop her own ideas and opinions on many things and I can see the impact of what we've been teaching her at home. My prayer is that she'll always have confidence in herself and what she believes whether, it follows the norm or not. I used to dread the pre teen and teenage years of parenting, but Katie is teaching me that it isn't something to dread, but rather something to enjoy - together. Happy Birthday to Katie!

Here's Katie and her soccer ball birthday cake that I made and Ed decorated. I didn't know he was so talented, hmmm...I may have a couple more birthday cakes for him to decorate!

Another Funny Allison Story

I was in the kitchen and Allison was in the family room. She was quiet and I was into whatever I was doing. A few minutes go by and Allison comes into the kitchen to tell me she was NOT running on the couch. She has been told countless times not to run, walk, hop, skip, etc. on the couch. It's a big sectional with lots of running space and apparently very tempting to a preschooler! I thought it was very interesting that she needed to tell me that she was NOT running on the couch, you know, in case I was wondering.
I said, "Allison, did you run on the couch?"
"No Mommy, I didn't run on the couch."
"Are you sure you didn't run on the couch?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"You know you need to tell me the truth. "
"I am."
"You know Jesus can see all the things that we do, even when mommy's can't see. Did Jesus see you run on the couch?"
"Yes, but WHERE IS HE?"
Priceless....
I really wonder if she understood my point about telling the truth. I don't think so. She's funny about the whole 'God is everywhere' thing so that's what she focused on! So much for a lesson learned!

Skating Pictures

Some pictures from our ice skating adventure:

I managed to snap this one while Katie was whizzing passed me!

Everyone has their own style and this is Becky's; holding someone's hand and the side rail at the same time!

Allison was so proud to stand up all by herself BEFORE we got on the ice!

A Skating Story

We went ice skating again this weekend. We had a great time! Katie is whizzing around feeling pretty comfortable on her skates. Her quote was, "I'm not into doing tricks. It's all about the SPEED!" Look out! Allison prefers to skate with Ed holding her under her arms. She's not so into trying to do it by herself. And Becky is making steady progress. Funny thing happened while she was skating. A boy from school was there and he is a really good skater. He said hi to Beck a few times and sometimes he'd skate up next to us, just look at her, and then skate away. That, in itself, was funny enough. BUT, Rebecca was very self conscious about her lack of ability and was all embarrassed. To make matters worse, I was taking a break with Allison and Rebecca was a little ways ahead trying to skate on her own. She fell. The boy from school came over and asked if she needed help. She said no and kept trying to get up on her own! He stood there for a few seconds, I think trying to decide whether or not to just help her anyway. She kept trying to get up, but by now she was CRAWLING over to the wall! Her face was all red and she kept looking at me and laughing! He finally gave up and skated away. You see, the thing about Becky is that while she was embarrassed and feeling ridiculous, she totally saw the humor in it! I was close enough to hear all of this and I could've probably gotten over to help her but she was handling it. Didn't we laugh afterwards - actually we laughed while it was all happening too!!

I'm totally into this show on the Discovery channel called Man vs. Wild. If you haven't watched it yet you HAVE to! It's SO cool! I won't even try to describe it to you, I won't do it justice. Check out the link - then WATCH!

LOST is supposed to be on this Wednesday! It's about time! Although, with this lack of good TV I have read some good books! I just finished Freefall by Kristen Heitzman. Excellent. Now I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife. That one comes highly recommended. I'm only about 30 pages in and am not really into it yet. I know it'll grab me here pretty soon!

We finally have snow covering the ground! We got about 4 inches Friday night. It's just so pretty! After ice skating yesterday we got our bundles on and went out to play! Our backyard has a nice slope to it that is great for sledding. The snow wasn't the snowman kind but we still played and had fun and when we were all done we came inside and had, you guessed it, hot chocolate! No snow in the forecast but it's supposed to be bitter cold with even colder wind chills, BRRRRR!