more like wyatt looks like a kewpie doll, even without the photoshopping.

our friend cassie thinks tom might look a little bit like a kewpie doll. what do you think? (who else remembers kewpie dolls?)

what have i been doing? reading other people's blogs. it's so fun to have links to other interesting and artisitic stuff.
oh, and playing with wyatt. we pulled out the lincoln logs the other day. they're real wood. i want to put the whole set together, but he's not really into building. more breaking. so i had to hold my breath and count to ten when he destroyed the awesome tower i built over the train tracks, or when he tried to put the cowboy inside the bank and wrecked that too. maybe i'll build it while he's sleeping...

if you're looking for a really good blog, present company excluded, visit this one. this is my former co-worker, still good friend, and if she doesn't make you laugh out loud you don't have a funny bone. also, if you need a little touch up work done, she's the master. she taught me everything i know. (and i'm not talking about liposuction or breast aumentation)

$o.o1

the price of stamps went up again. i think the last time this happened was when tom and i got married. we sent out all these thank-yous but had to have the extra one cent stamp to add to the already purchased stamps. so now they're offering the forever stamp. you buy it for 41 cents and it will always be good, even when the postal service raises the prices again (and they will.) i listened to 'wad'ya know' on npr saturday and michael feldman said if it really is a "forever" stamp then you should be able to reuse it too. so if someone sends you a letter you should cut it out and either give it back to them or use it the next time you send a letter. i like this idea, except for the fact that we hardly ever get any mail with real stamps and right now i'm sending out baby announcements (yes she is already three months old, but in the grand scheme that's not that old). so it's off to the post office to get some one cent stamps, and maybe some forever stamps. check a mailbox near you. i dare you to reuse it.

sidenote: do you call him the postman or the mailman? (and no jokes about calling him "dad")

so i changed the background (again) because i forgot i left it on that white and ick, that's not very appealing, is it? but check out this header. is that a grape? olive? some type of leaf that has food attached to it? surely they're associated with food...maybe i should change the name of the blog to foodfoodfoodilovefoodilovetoeat.blogspot.com

you're wondering where i've been. did you look for me in the kitchen? it's been a rough two weeks and there's one more to go. and i will be honest, dear reader, i've fallen off the wagon. a week ago i realized i had become a maniac and decided to save my husband and children and start eating what america eats. cheese. and bread. and sometimes fruit with my meat. and it tastes good. it was gradual, this easing out of the cleanse, like i had my back to the door and while graciously bowing, i scooted out.

tom meanwhile still endures the cleanse, eating strictly according to the schedule and menu. that menu is created by me and is one of the reasons why i was crazy. grilling lunch, grilling dinner. chopping peppers for lunch. chopping onions for dinner. peeling and slicing carrots for a snack. going to the grocery store every three days. closing my eyes as the long-haired cashier at whole foods tells me the total. thanking the lord that sam's club offers organic salad in bulk. and in a container made of corn.

was cooking really what drove me to madness? no, not just the time in the kitchen, or the heat of the grill on muggy days. it was the money. and the lack of variety. and the fact that if we were in a time crunch, we really couldn't go out to eat, and certainly not fast food. how does a family function if mom is a wreck?

i'm not too proud to tell you that a lack of will and discipline was involved. i can omit sugar for a time. i can omit cheese for a time. i can omit carbs (nevermind they're sugar too) for a time. i can even omit sauces. but all these things at the same time? and then limiting my protein portions (don't worry, i upped it for the baby's sake). being allowed to eat as many veggies as i want doesn't really make up for all the other stuff.

surely i learned something from my week of "cleansing".

things i learned while not eating whatever i want whenever i want, by leah blake
1) i like food
a) i like to cook food
b) i like to eat food
c) i like to give food as a gift

2) i am not a scheduled person
a) breakfast, lunch and dinner always come first for wyatt
b)breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, second lunch, dinner and second dinner for cassidy always take priority over my stomach
c) tom gets to eat when i eat, unless it involves granola or eggs

3) beets are not scary
a) i know where the term "beet red" comes from
b) you can grill beets or bake beets and they're good
c) they're kind of like potatoes
d) if i were into textiles i'd use them a lot to dye things

4) i do not like lamb, sam i amb

a) not ground

b) not leg

5) larabars are amazing
a) fruit and nuts, what's not to love?
b) soy free, gluten free, dairy free, no gmo, no added sugar, unprocessed, raw, and kosher
c) you can buy them at sam's for less than $1.oo

6) eggs are better with cheese and butter
a) tom likes them with a side of potatoes
b) i like them with a side of toast
c) we both like them with a side of bacon

7) the grill is my friend
a) not much clean up
b) fast cooking
c) you can put anything on it

in short (don't you love it when people say that at the end of a long monologue?) i'm not on the cleanse any more and i'm really excited for tom and the other 7 people who are on it to be finished so we can eat cinnamon rolls and drink coffee. yum.

this is so sad but i just saw a really well-taken photograph of someone wearing a jean jacket with a hoodie underneath and jeans and i thought, i wish it were cool outside. didn't we just leave winter?

day three

all part of a complete breakfast. it's really hard when you wake up saturday morning and all you want to do is scramble some eggs, fry some bacon and drown your pancakes in sweet, sweet syrup and then you remember, i get to drink a shake this morning. 18 days left and i'm hungry. really the shakes aren't too bad. you add a supplement powder and a fiber powder and some oil to water and frozen fruit and you've got yourself some kind of smoothie. it's nothing to complain about. it's quite filling and once you add pineapple to anything it tastes nice. it's the lack of real food in the morning. no spoon, no fork. oh i forgot to mention but definitel no coffee. i repeat: NO COFFEE. we've got some broadway coffee sitting on the shelf, as well as some allegro coffee from whole foods, both birthday presents for tom. the timing was off a little bit on his 30th, that's for sure. now when i open the cupboard for a glass to pour my shake into i get a waft of luna in whole bean form. what am i learning from all of this? i miss cooking. i miss that complete meal with the right beverage and side and dessert. oh dessert. not that we aren't eating. just not very much. more on that later. (they say your energy increases on this thing but i have yet to enjoy that benefit.) with heavy eyes i'll dream of cinnamon rolls and black coffee...i shouldn't even joke like that.

day one

7 pills + 3 times a day = 21 stinky pills
they'll clean you out one way or the other

for unka jo

we serve up cute little burritos and tons of tortilla chips, so come on over... take that christiano ronaldo...this is what cute looks like with its shirt off...
so then the fish said to the seahorse...

the day i forgot

i'm in the midst of it, so i'm not going to forget it. yet. while wyatt is on the accelorated track for cuteness, his words are slow in understanding. he'll talk for hours but only he knows what he's saying. today he reached into the suitcase of toys and said "BALL" and lo-and-behold he pulled out the soccer ball! huzzah!

he says "atchoo" when i sneeze; in a semi-reckognizable way he says "what's this"; and is starting to say "sis" i guess. i think he might be saying "Jesus" a lot, so maybe he's already learning how to talk with the messiah. nice. but today was remarkable because he said it on his own and then produced the ball.

woodpecker
we have a beak-challenged woodpecker banging on our sun porch. it's not wood. at all. there are no termites living inside. it makes a very loud noise when he bangs on it and i think he'll eventually suffer a bent beak if he doesn't stop.

joe
he sent me pictures of his czech girlfriend, iva, and she's a looker. those darn skinny europeans.

food
the cleanse starts tomorrow. that means we're eating uber-healthy. no carbs, no fun. i won't be baking for 21 days. we'll see what that does with my free time.

stay tuned for some bathtub photos. if i can figure out video on this blog there may be some of that, too.

i promise

we're alive here, and kicking for that matter. just a little under the weather and recovering from the pre-birthday, birthday and post-birthday gatherings. yup, he's thirty. 30. three-zero.

oh, and the wizards won their first game, on the road at rfk. kc-4, dc-2. our new pick-up michael harrington showed us he's a starter and good ol' sasha showed us he's still got it.

my competition

happy 60th birthday emmylou (i know there are prettier pictures of emmylou, but this one is with a dog and who doesn't love dogs as much as their favorite country singer?)

a-1 trash man

it amazes me how fast wyatt's moods change. this morning started off rocky and i offered to trade places with tom. he's spraying a house today and thankfully he didn't take me up on my offer. an hour after wyatt's crabby breakfast episode the trash man comes and wyatt is enthralled. he crouches down to look out the window as the a-1 guy throws the bags into the truck. when the lever lifts the trash can, well that's the icing on the cake. and then usually there's a cute wave from the trash guy and wyatt just stares. maybe he's thinking, one day i want to do that...maybe he's thinking, thank you for taking my stinky diapers. whatever he's thinking, he looks darn cute while doing it.

k-who?

wyatt just barely fit into this get-up for the tournament, but it really doesn't matter, does it?

uncle joe

this is wyatt on the tail-end of being sick. i'd like to think that he was crabby because of said sickness, however, i think it has more to do with the fact that he does not remember the last time he saw joe (he was only 9 months, i think). he thought joe was hilarious, but only at a distance. when joe got his paws on wyatt i thought the world was going to fall apart...maybe next time wyatt will be more polite when his uncle comes to the states.

i almost forgot...

wyatt puked on brooks' foot, too. that makes everyone a victim of the vomit, except yuma. lucky dog.

in the last five days i've:

had both babies poop on me in the same day
watched wyatt projectile vomit while sitting on tom's lap
bathed wyatt at least 6 times in one day
washed wyatt's sheets a dozen times
reswaddled cassidy in the middle of the night more times than i care to count
gagged because of my son's poop
thrown up myself
rinsed some form of excrement out of every member of our family's clothes (except yuma's?)
listened to wyatt cry more than i thought was possible
watched wyatt eat a banana while dancing while sitting on tom's lap
let wyatt watch television (9pm and nacho libre was on...harmless, right?)
slept and not slept
asked for God's mercy multiple times every day

having sick babies is the pits.

look at the size of that mellon

um, where is cassidy, luke?

who are these people and why do they look like they're going to eat my daughter???

cassidy faith

PROUDEST PAPA IN TOWN
(the big cheeser)

she came at last, with a little help from the doctor and a lot of help from gravity. we went in around 7:30am after the beautiful snow fall and got things rolling. at first i was concerned we'd have another wyatt delivery because no sooner had the contractions started then the nurses ran in and made me roll to my side. ugh, those little heartbeats are so sensitive. it turns out she just wanted me to lay on my side and not my back. i moved from the rocker to standing to laying over the back of the bed. and that's when it happened. i went from a 3 at 9am, a 6 at 10:10am and the little girl (although at the time she didn't seem little at all) was born at 10:38am. seven pounds, barely seven ounces, crying and messy and a girl. i wouldn't recommend delivering that fast, and come to find out the doctor doesn't recommend it either, but there's no stopping it. THE T.BLAKE FAMILY
(no, wyatt wasn't in the delivery room when his siter arrived...)

i decided that we should be finished with the childbirth thing or the next baby will be born in the kitchen. funniest part of labor: we listened to johnny cash just like we did when wyatt was born. only this time during labor i didn't want tom holding my hand or anything of that sort. in fact, when i saw him tapping his foot to the music or singing along i shot him such a look of madness that he stopped cold in his tracks. i wasn't a very gracious laborer, i'll admit it, but i never called him names or blamed him for my pain (at least not that i remember).
we're pretty excited to be at home again with wyatt and yuma and brooks. it feels good. cassidy's a sleeping and eating champ and wyatt's got a special little smile he cracks out for his sister every now and again. he's more interested in her stuff than her, though. thanks for all your prayers and phone calls and meals. we really love seeing you guys and want you to be a part of cassidy's life. here's a little show of our new baby if you have a minute and want to do something other than work -- http://sorellimages.com/cassidy (the link thing wasn't working so i hope this works instead. it's a great site to check out anyway)
OH MY GOSH!!! SHE"S PURPLE!!!
(i'm just stoked she's out)

here's one for the scrapbook, eh? i think i'm screaming about how little she is, or that she really is a girl. when you know what you're having they don't think to verify or reassure you that she really is a SHE. but she is. and no, she's not purple anymore.

i can't believe i'm less than a week away from giving birth and i have cold. are you serious? as if sleeping at night were possible in the first place, now i have to fight nausea AND sneezing, coughing and peeing every ten minutes. sorry to complain, people, but this is why people say the last month of pregnancy is the hardest. and at this point, i agree. if cassidy is 40 lbs i don't care, just get her out. please. and heal my sore nose while you're at it.

and counting

just a quick little update...no, my water didn't break, yet. we did set a date, though, in case she needs a little prodding. assuming that she isn't as adventurous and eager as her older brother, she will be arriving sometime february 13th. i don't think she'll take her sweet time once she's been summoned and i predict a birthday of the 13th; who cares if she's a "valentine's baby" or not, as long as she's out! so any time you feel like praying for a healthy and easy delivery, go for it. i'mlooking forward to it, the delivery, and i'm not worried. i checked out shawnee mission on monday and they seem just as nice as menorah, except that kelley won't be there to take care of me. but this should be old hat, right?
anyway, i'll keep you updated and let you know if her birthdate changes.

1.26.2007

happy birthday paul newman. or paulito newmano. or p. brigando newman. whatever your name is, you look darn good for 82.

in case you weren't aware of my extreme liking of paul newman, here's a little catch up on why this man is great...

one- he's been in some of the best movies ever made (thanks to steph and brad for being watchers of great movies): cool hand luke, butch CASSIDY and the sundance kid, the long hot summer (william faulkner short story), the hustler, hud, the sting, the drowning pool (with his wife joanne woodward, blessed woman), the color of money, and the hudsucker proxy (the coen brothers).

two- if you haven't tried "newman's own" you're missing out on great food, some totally organic (like the chocolate chip cookies which makes them good for you). and also the chance to help paul's charity, the hole in the wall camps (get it?), expense-free camps for kids with life-threatening illnesses and conditions. they've raised $175 million dollars for charity in the last 20 years; all of the money they make on newman's own, after taxes, goes to charities like the hole in the wall camp.

three- he's got gorgeous eyes. blue eyes that dabble just a little bit in the green realm. he also has an odd nose, a little hooked at the bottom. almost beak-like some might say. not me. perfect. (which really reminds me of a man who is even dearer to me... who will be 52 years younger than mr. newman on 4.11.2007)

four- he tells terribly corny jokes. like this one: (in reference to newman's own steak sauce) preferred by 9 out of 10 cows. we steak our reputation on it. (again, this reminds me of someone i love who tells jokes so bad that i wouldn't be surprised if he tried to add this to his own arsenal)

also, who else would let people see an image like this except someone totally confident and wonderful, and a little humble, although still very sexy. curious?

but with a mug like this, you can do anything... even eat 50 eggs (free-range, i'm sure).
happy birthday.

c'mon over

i wish i could invite everyone over during wyatt's naptime. he is so stinking cute when he's sleeping and then just getting up. i just peeked in on him and he's standing up in his crib, leaning on the edge of the rails with his pacifier in his mouth and holding onto his soft grey blanket. then, pop, he spits his pacifier out and starts to talk. wow. he's got to be the sweetest poco pollo in the world.

short attention spans

i knew you guys would go quiet on a long post. the only time people comment is on a funny or scandolous post. so here's a little (actually a lot) of skin. can you believe there's a small child in there? and she was freezing her tookus off at the time, i'm sure. i was.

funny story: my sister sarah took these pictures. when i was pregnant with wyatt we had scheduled to shoot some pregnancy picutres on friday, november 4th. well, my water broke thursday the 3rd and we never got around to the big belly pictures. i'm glad we got to take pictures this time around, but i'm ready for the girl to come out so i can tie my shoes.

may this photo warn all of you having sex...this could happen to you...lord willing.

elephant knees

we talk about the church being the bride and Christ the bridegroom a lot, in churches these days. for me it's always been kind of a floating term; how can a group of so many people represent one entity? what kind of suit does Jesus wear? and what's the point of the whole analogy anyway? i understand the general meaning behind it. tom and i used it in our wedding vows: just as Christ is head of the church so you will be head of our family (or something like that. i couldn't remember it 3 1/2 years ago, you think i'm going to be accurate now?) but finally i think i'm getting the meaning of this Christ and the church romance.

i'm reading gary wiens' book, _bridal intercession_, and he describes what this relationship looks like. i'm not very deep into it yet, but with what mike bickle says in the foreward and then the first chapter, this is what i've gathered. (i'll just quote because they say it so well). get ready to be excited about praying:

"...prayer that grows not out of our place of need, but out of God's passionate desire to commune with us as his Beloved."MB

"As we approach the last days, nothing is more important than growing in our understanding of the ways of God, so that even when we find His strategies unexpected or confusing, our hearts can be firmly established in the knowledge of His goodness and trustworthiness."MB

whether or not you believe we're living in the end times, the point is we were created to talk WITH God, not just at Him. we're not supposed to have this list of things we want to say, but to find out what He wants to say, too. it's called conversation and i've never really understood that in order to be in "relationship" i have to listen to him. to sit and be quiet, or ask questions and then wait for an answer.

so then gary wiens says, "And so He has spoken to us in various ways, with the consistent goal of engaging us in a dialogue about life in relationship with Him. this dialogue is called prayer, and its primary purpose is that we might come to know the heart of the One Who loves us and understands who we are and what we will become."

he goes on to talk about how God wants us to trust His intentions, like i trust tom's when he does things for me whether or not i can recognize it's because he loves me. He wants to be partners with us, not just this God in the sky who gave us a really fat book; somebody we use to explain things away, or question when we don't agree with what's going on in our lives or the world. it's humbling to think that, like tom says, the Almighty God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, wants to talk with me.

and then gary says, "We begin to say back to God that we agree with His agenda and His strategies, not only for ourselves and the things that concern us, but for every situation outside ourselves for which He gives us the strength to pray." i might even add "the strength and FAITH to pray". i think there's so much power in that, because sometimes, no matter how much i love you people, i don't have the energy in-and-of myself to talk with God about your needs.

i know this seems really random, but it hit me pretty hard this week. i'm looking forward to having a cup of coffee with the Almighty God, Creator of the heavens and the earth today. i'll ask Him if He wants cream and sugar, among other things...

adat yeshua

well, it's friday and time for shabbat. last semester several good friends and family spent our monday nights at this messianic jewish synagogue studying our jewish roots, our history through the jewish jesus and lots of other wildly interesting things that we just never knew. so, if you've got your mondays and/or tuesdays free and miss school and want to know more of jesus and the jews (no, john wasn't a baptist, har har, he was an immersionist) then check out adat yeshua and the jewish roots institute of kansas city.
it's not the fanciest of websites, but it's one of the coolest experiences. if little girl cassidy weren't coming so soon i'd sign up, but tom and brooks and lots of other cool people will be there. and if friday is open then come on out to a shabbat service at 7:30. rabbi feldman is a brilliant man who loves the lord and loves non-jewish people, too. what a combo. as we used to say in the 90's, "it'll rock your world."

brilliance

my sister rachel teaches pre-school to little little children. she was in town this weekend and told me a story about two kids in one of her classes. they are three years old and they're alphabatizing words, and not just the first letter but to the second and third letter. is that wonderful or what? it makes me so excited for wyatt to start talking and reading and all that stuff. my other sister sarah got him a membership to a children's book club for his birthday and i love reading him those books. with titles like "how to dinosaurs clean their rooms?" and "i love my mama" who wouldn't want to read. if only i could get him to sit still...

just because

so like everyone else in kansas we became farmers of a sort this fall and grew grass. just two months ago our lawn was dirt and now look! once the leaves got picked up, guess what i found! i'm so pleased! i prayed so much, mostly while standing outside making sure the sprinkler got all the grass and god answered by dinky little prayer for grass. i can't believe those seeds sprouted into this. ahhh...
and this little booger is cutting more teeth and is so unhappy right now, cryin and trying to sleep and just all out pouty. it makes me thankful that he has been as easy as pie for 12 months. i can take a few days of utter sadness, as long as they result in teeth (although the dr. informed me they aren't the front ones, but the side ones, so he'll be sporting the ever-popular 'i got in a fight and lost my front two teeth' look. otherwise known as vampirish.)

a gambling man

we just watched the world series of poker's final show this week and i personally was disappointed that jamie gold won. i mean, c'mon, he was the chip leader from day 4 on and then when he amassed enough chips to put anyone "all in" and he'd still be able to kick their butts, he'd get the most amazing cards. sometimes he got pocket queens when the other guy had pocket jacks. or he'd play a 5-2 (what??!!) and then get a straight! so i'm not really thrilled with this victory, plus the fact that he talked so much about what he had, he never lied, he'd show his cards and the other players still didnt' figure him out. disappointing.

and seeing that i'll never be in the world series of poker (well, slight chance anyway) it's a good thing. i told tom i was 95% sure we're having another boy. turns out i was only 5% right. yup. not so good at reading the tells of my pregnancy, i guess i just get sick whenever i'm pregnant, boy or girl. to be honest, i'm not sure i believe it 100% yet. so i'm praying the lord will help my unbelief so i can start buying skirts. pink skirts.

a gambling man

we just watched the world series of poker's final show this week and i personally was disappointed that jamie gold won. i mean, c'mon, he was the chip leader from day 4 on and then when he amassed enough chips to put anyone "all in" and he'd still be able to kick their butts, he'd get the most amazing cards. sometimes he got pocket queens when the other guy had pocket jacks. or he'd play a 5-2 (what??!!) and then get a straight! so i'm not really thrilled with this victory, plus the fact that he talked so much about what he had, he never lied, he'd show his cards and the other players still didnt' figure him out. disappointing.
and seeing that i'll never be in the world series of poker (well, slight chance anyway) it's a good thing. i told tom i was 95% sure we're having another boy. turns out i was only 5% right. yup. not so good at reading the tells of my pregnancy, i guess i just get sick whenever i'm pregnant, boy or girl. to be honest, i'm not sure i believe it 100% yet. so i'm praying the lord will help my unbelief so i can start buying skirts. pink skirts.

the switch of summer

there are a couple articles of clothing i'm mourning in this wardrobe switch. it has more to do with the growth of my belly than the change in the temperature, but nevertheless (is that one word?) i have moved my normal clothing to the basement, keeping only a few flexible pieces (thank you low- rise jeans) in the closet.
there's a patagonia skirt that would be perfect for this fall that will be folded for at least 7 months. i have a great plaid levi's shirt that is getting a little clingy for my comfort, not to mention the baby is having trouble moving. and as i went through my closet i realized there are clothes in there i never wear. how do you let go of these things? things you've had since high school. t-shirts you screenprinted yourself. tanks that fit just perfectly, if a little faded. i think, do i need this? wil i ever replace this for something better? how many black tank tops does a girl need? fortunately the vietnam vets came around with their pink bags and now i have an excuse to clean out the closet even more.

no ikea

we went to dallas this weekend and i have one word -- ikea. here's the deal: if you've never been there then you have no idea what this place is like. it is a wonderment to behold. our friends, the gales, went to minnesota a while back and asked us if we wanted them to bring anything back for us. we politely declined, not really thinking it was a necessity. we had no idea.
we went to dallas (frisco, actually) to visit jason and shannon and their quickly growing clan. tom also caught a coffee conference that proved to be helpful. really, though, the ikea rocked our world. the organization of the place is beautiful. the concept of not loading your cart till you're ready to check out is brilliant. the price, too hard to turn down. so really, what i'm saying is, i'm thankful we don't have an ikea anywhere close to us, otherwise my house would be more organized than a library and we would be starving. and i would have tom to blame.

honey this is very good

while washing the dishes the other day i was overwhelmed by God's idea of babies. how did he come up with babies? he created adam, fully grown and eve, out of a rib, but babies are a totally different story. they grow. they crawl. they stand. they laugh. they eat. they smile. that's the most amazing thing in the world.

when wyatt wakes up he's usually standing at the corner of the crib, holding on and trying to chew on the railing. when he sees me he moves away a little bit and smiles. oh. he's so glad i'm coming in to get him up for the new day. i pick him up, his diaper soggy and his precious skin so soft. and he keeps smiling until i lay him down to change that diaper...and then he thinks it's time to go back to bed. i reassure him and change his diaper and we begin the adventure of life that changed everything i ever knew to be true about life. nothing is the same.

the inevitable

this is why you don't work when you have children: inevitably when you leave them with their grandparents for a couple of hours they do something they've never done before, like smash their face against the mesh of the pack-n-play until they've pushed their way to the top and are standing up. wow. i'm so proud of the little bug, i just wish he'd learn to sit down on his own now.

happy birthday

it's been a year since we started this blog and we've come a long way, and yet not very far at all. we started off with a blog about soccer and it seems we've come full circle. more soccer. we've had a baby in the meantime and changed jobs and hairstyles and churches. thanks for checking in, thanks for your comments. we hope you have a great year of living and blogging.

i'll admit, blogging has lost some of its lustre, the newness is gone and i won't say it's a chore, but as people drop off (luke) i get a little down about the point of blogging. but every now and again i get a kick out of hearing about people's lives, once they update, so thanks guys. hope you're all healthy and happy and looking forward to more americanas.

losers

this about sums up the united state's 2006 fifa world cup experience: laughable and frustrating.

i know this may sound like the easy way out, but "Deutschland! Deutschland!" i like jurgen and his metrosexual coaching. maybe in 2010 he'll be the u.s. coach. a girl can dream.

but i will give a shout out to clint dempsey. he did something no one else on the team did, he scored.

2006 FIFA World Cup

i wanted to clear up any misconceptions about our trip to colorado for the world cup (yes, i know it's in germany right now) and let you all know that we did leave the house during those ten days. a brief photo-journal of what we did in winter park...

harrison passed his astronaut classes by hanging upside down in the gyro-something
landon won "the most daring 4-year old" as he jumped on the bungey trampoline and sped down the alpine slide with his dad and on solo trips
susan and eric proved their bungey love while doing flips at the same time
i climbed the wall...
lauren climbed the wall...
and eric climbed the wall
tom and i celebrated 3 years of wedded bliss
landon rode the horse
landon and harrison battled the swedish warrior lauren...and we watched soccer.

north of eden

i love public radio. so much that the water i was boiling for mac-n-cheese just boiled to nothingness. i guess that's better than overflowing all over the stove, then i'd have to clean it. today they're talking about community gardening and it makes me want to go get a plot out at the park. but i know that i won't; it's so much work! i'm trying to get herbs to grow in the sunporch and even that is a chore. i tried last year to grow herbs in the good ol' soil and the dog trampled them. between the dog and the trees, there's no way we're growing anything except dirt in our yard.

it's not like i don't want to walk out to my back yard and pluck some lettuce and carrots and onions and mix them in a nice salad, or to have fresh salsa without going to the store. but who has time for that? i guess some women do, like miss galadriel. this is a formal request for galadriel to post some pictures of her garden so we can all "ooh" and "ahh" over them and be jealous.

i have to go repent for coveting her vegetables.

older now

it's true, i'm older now, may 28th has come and gone and i don't feel different. the date means nothing, right? it's nice when friends and family get together and eat in your honor, but really, i felt like i should celebrate my mom because she went to the hospital and got turned away before she was legitimately in labor. and i'm thankful she had me.
yesterday wasn't important because it was my birthday, nor was it important because it was wyatt's first time in the pool (although that is fun) but it's memorable (get it) because my sister found a gray hair on my head! that's right, my first gray hair, and it was long! i'm a little overwhelmed, because i feel so young, and yet thrilled because i am indeed getting older. so hats off to all natural girls who are willing to let their hair go gray. or silver. or white. in a month people won't be thinking about the color, they'll be distracted by the dreadlocks...

go outside...right now...can you hear the crickets?

Ferdinando & Justin

one of my very best friends came into town last weekend, a musican from nashville with a tweed jacket and a shirt that read "detroit was built for lovers." we tried to remember the last time we saw eachother and decided it had been almost two years, right after his wedding. realizing it had been that long hurt a bit. realizing in that time we talked maybe three times, one of those being when wyatt was born, hurts more. but he came bearing gifts and i was elated- ferdinand the bull.

an oversized copy of the 1936 classic, it's a special story for so many reasons. we first were introduced to ferdinand in college when we realized the cow on elliott smith's arm was really a bull. finding out that this bull is a peace-loving animal rather than a dust-snorting beast makes the experience even sweeter. and then when justin (the giver) got into hemingway his favorite aspect was, of course, the bullfights. but justin isn't a roll-over, belly-up kind of musician; he's the opinionated, out-spoken rocker. i was reminded of that as we sat drinking coffee and talking about jesus and music and friends. one day he'll have a messy matador and a fiery bull on his bicep, and hopefully i'll see it soon. it was a reassuring night, listening to him and laughing with him and knowing that some people never change, and some change just enough.