Photo Hunt "Childhood"

Yesterday was Field Day for Ashley. It was also Field Day at her old school in Leander. After most of the events were over here in Georgetown, I picked her up from school and we went to Leander's field day so Ash could surprise her friends.

This picture was taken at Pleasant Hill with her old buddies. To hear the girlish squeals when they saw Ashley walk up, was just priceless! I chose this photo for the theme "childhood" for a number of reasons. These girls are childhood friends and have grown up together through the prime of their childhood. In just over two weeks they will all finish their last year in elementary school and I know silly faces like these will still happen, but I also know that they will eventually become few and far between. The look of innocence on their faces just makes my tummy flutter.

Where's The Poop

Yesterday, Alex and I ate lunch with dad, made a trip to Ready, Set, Play
and afterwards headed over to half price books to play a game of checkers and read a few books. Alex picked out this book called "Where's The Poop" and just had to read it. The next 5 minutes were excruciating. Trying to read this book in a quiet book store was more than I could take. "Baby Penguin, you need to go poop." "Silly momma, I already went poop and I feel much better!"
The best part is folding up the flaps, because yes, this is a flap book, and finding the animals poop. VERY realistic looking poop. Each page had me laughing out loud like a silly little girl. And then we get to the very last page, which is just one big flap with a picture of a door. You open the door and there's the little boy's mom sitting on the toilet, saying "Please close the door, I need privacy while I'm going poop." This book was just too much. After barely making it through the entire book because my sides were hurting, Alex informed me that we just HAD to buy this book. I refused. This was for a little boy trying to learn to use the potty and we don't need it.

Well, here we are almost 24 hours later and I'm realizing that we HAVE to have this book. So I look it up on Amazon just to see how much it is, and if it's worth ordering or if I should just go back to half price books, and then I see the reviews. I read all 12 of the reviews and now feel like the most adolescent mother on the face of this earth. Each one talks about how appropriate this book is and how well written it is with the amazing pictures and great message etc. Not one of them mentioned sitting in the bookstore laughing out loud with their 5 year old son. Ut oh.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

A poem for today

I Took His Hand and Followed

Author Unknown

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn't make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I...
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky

We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood...
My kitchen wasn't swept today
But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest,
Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill...
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,
That I didn't brush the stairs,
In twenty years, no one on earth
Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years, the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

Wordless Wednesday

The newest addition to the family

Just when I thought my heart couldn't possibly hold anymore love than I already have, an early birthday present from Dad and Ruthie arrives.

Here's my new baby the Nikon D40 DSLR:

I'm so happy I could just burst!

Ashley - 1 Mom and Dad - 0

Yesterday Ashley presented Mark and I with a Power Point presentation. She had us sit down while she stood next to her computer and literally gave us a full presentation. She had it memorized and was able to speak to us without looking at the screen. We were and still are in complete shock.

While I can't upload the actual PPT Presentation, I have created an album of the slides she made.

Ashley's Power Point

Lessons from the Obits

Sunday morning the paper comes. Only Sunday mornings. Mark Urben sits in his chair, his les pulled up as a sort of paper support as he creates his untidy pile of newspaper on the floor next to him. He usually starts with his favorite section, the glossy pages...where he weeds through dreams of sporting the latest electronic gizmos, forever searching for that non-existant sale on a flat screen plasma, which one day WILL appear. On that day when it shows up for next to nothing, I fully expect to see papers fly and skid marks appear on the floor marking his path from chair to driveway. After the glossy section, I'm not sure he reads much more, although, he does make every attempt at falsifying his interest in every other section of the paper. Some days I think his "paper reading" is his way of getting some much needed down time. Afterall, how could anyone sit and read the paper for FOUR hours straight?

At some point on Sunday I stroll by and scatter the mess even further in my atempt at finding the Metro and State section. You see, this is the only section I ever read. I know, I'm not fully up to date on the situation in our country, I don't know the latest news and politics of our city, but quite frankly, I just don't care right now. I'm too busy raising a family to get caught up in all that. Someday, when I've done my job at home, I will have more time to care, but for now, I will sit and read the obits. Yes, I WILL admit it. As morbid as it sounds, I love to read the obituaries. Why? I'm not exactly sure, I suppose it must have something to do with the stage of life that I'm in....this stage of trying to figure out what exactly this life is about, and what exactly I'm supposed to do with it. I'm learning. The obits are teaching. When I want to teach my children about "dairy" for instance, I do my best to expose them to as much information as I possibly can regarding "dairy".
I'm learning about life. I'm reading about life. Lives that hopefully have come full circle. I don't read them and weep (well sometimes I do), I read them and absorb what made up their lives. What interests did they have, how did they impact their little world? How were they special? And then I put the paper down, and go about my day with a greater appreciation for this day and a bit more enthusiasm for making it the best I possibly can. I smile at the sun shining and the noisy children. I slow down a little and absorb more than I would had I not taken the time to read about that strange face. I go out in to the world and maybe for just that day, I will see more unfamiliar faces and will be able to appreciate that they too are people just trying to get through this beautiful, yet sometimes rough life as best they can just like me. I don't know.