school picnic 5-28-10

WBS

5-19-10

Women's Bible Study. Proverbs.

Hey, Steven! 5-27-10

Here I am washing windows. Even after I gave him Windex and a roll of paper towels for his birthday because he PROMISED to clean the water splashes from the pool off of my windows...

Feeling any guilt, mister? Didn't think so.

thought for week of may 30, 2010

Be great in little things.
~Frances Xavier

madyline aubrey

sweet girl. i love you.

Java With Juli

This article was in 'thriving family', a Focus on the Family publication, in the May/June 2010 edition. Convicting hardly begins to describe it!

Several years ago, while my dad and I were chatting, he asked, "Juli, do you know what the best gift I ever received was?" I listened as he explained, "Your mother gave me the gift of my children's love."

With tears in his eyes, my dad told how busy he had been while my five siblings and I were young children. "Your mom could have turned your hearts against me. Instead, she always spoke highly of me, painting the picture of a hero in your eyes. All six of my children love me, and I have her to thank."

I'll never forget that conversation. The truth my dad spoke is a constant reminder that my words and my attitudes have a lasting impression on the way my children view their father.

In my attempts to apply that lesson, I've found that a wife can talk about, and treat her husband, as either an incompetent dad or a wonderful father.

One evening, I had a work event to attend while Mike stayed home with the kids. There were plenty of healthy leftovers in the fridge, the boys had chores and homework to do, and I expected to find them in bed when I got home. Instead, I came home to stacked pizza boxes and Mike playing video games with the boys.

The moment I walked through the door, I realized I had a choice to make: I could focus on how my expectations were not met and complain in front of the kids about what should have been done; or I could highlight what a fun dad he is and let the kids see me thank my husband for spending time with them. My father's words came back to me, and I chose to follow my mother's lead.

Praising my husband doesn't mean that I ignore my concerns or stuff my frustrations. There is a time and place for us to deal with our differences in private. Giving the gift of my children's love to their father is the result of my having a respectful and loving attitude, even in the midst of parenting differences.

Maybe your husband doesn't play with the kids as much as you'd like, or isn't as involved in discipline as he should be. Even so, are you willing to frame him as a "hero" to your kids? Whenever you highlight your husband's efforts to be a great dad, you're nurturing a love that's as vital to your kids as it is to your husband.

today

today:

**sitting outside doing pictures**

**listening to my 'christian' playlist on itunes**

**listening to the waterfall**

**smelling my clothes on the line**

**feeling the sun on my back**

**drinking a fountain diet coke**

**just off the phone with my mom**

**knowing i'm blessed!**

off the hook

an honesty moment here...i'm completely stressed about this 365 life album.
there.
i said it.
not the picture taking part of it, but the putting-it-together part.
sooo...yesterday i found a website that will print my blog into a book!!! (http://blog2print.sharedbook.com)
i ordered one for 08-09 so we'll see how it turns out. it's exact posts and pictures from our blog. nothing fancy, and the format isn't all that great (i wasn't able to change it), but at least the memories are there. in print.
i'm seriously excited.
thrilled, actually.
completely relieved.

have a nice day and, hey, thanks for being happy with me ;)

chairs

what does one do w/a really cool but slightly blurry picture? intensify the colors. sharpen it.
and use the 'paint' technique in photoshop

way better!

statue of liberty 5-15-10

kayt and a few of her friends took the holland girls to the statue of liberty and ellis island last sat. and guess what?! she took her 'little' sister along. guess she's not such a little pain anymore...imagine that~she's actually kind of fun! kayt & liv
kayt, jenn & ange (friends since...pretty much forever)

deborah, gerdien, kayt, ange, jenn, matthea, liv, esther, marieke

bodies

'the leg bone's connected to the foot bone'... what did you THINK this post was about? last friday, may 14, hanneke and i (with no kids!!) went to the Bodies Exhibition in NYC. i thought it was going to be a little creepy because it's all real bodies...but it's fascinating! i'm glad she was with me to answer a few of my medical questions ;) it was all aspects of the human body from the skeletal system to the muscular system to the vascular system and everything in between. you kind of have to have a little interest in medicine and have a tiny bit of medical background for this, but if you do and you get the opportunity, definitely go! and FYI~we have a LOT of intestines!!!!

'twas a grand old flag

our poor old flag has seen better days~flew proudly for almost a year.

God bless America!!

ben & drew

it's always fun to have someone different over. my friend drita's son drew came over to play while his mom was at a meeting. short but sweet. they were playing catch and when i went out to see how they were doing, i found them here-lounging by the pool..."talking". you're welcome here any time, buddy!

ligretto

what's the (only) good part about matthea, gerdien and deborah (and hanneke) leaving and going back to holland? they left ligretto (card game) for us. how many hours they played this together with our kids, and matt, i'll never guess, but they had a great time! we already knew hanneke (my friend) and matthea (her daughter), and we had met gerdien (hanneke's niece) when we were in holland, but we got to meet gerdien's friend deborah too. the kids (our young people from church and school) loved them and, of course, didn't want them to leave. i think the feeling's mutual, from what i hear. what is it with dutch people and us? not to mention the dutch heritage we have in common, they're amazing people!! jake and matt are already talking about going to holland over christmas break. we'll see. SOMEONE will be getting their license and will be needing to buy a car in july...and then someone else will have a birthday a wk. later and will also need to buy a car so...there goes the casharooski!

thought for week of may 17, 2010

There's a little good in the worst of us, and a little bad in the best of us; so it never behooves any of us to criticize the rest of us.
~Mary Elizabeth Chapman

LOL to rev up energy

I went to buy shoes for Liv & Ben today and in my bag I found a mini-magazine. Here's an article i found:

"The more you laugh, the healthier you'll be. Laughter increases your heart rate, triggers lots of muscles to activate, and provides an immediate energy boost. Laughter can increase immunity by boosting infection-fighting T-cells antibodies. And the more chuckles, the more these antibodies seem to help healing. Laughing can also increase pain tolerance and decrease stress. Along with those physical benefits of a hearty ha-ha, laughing can reset the way you think, pushing out bad feelings and lightening your mood. So whether it's a funny YouTube video, your favorite show, or laughing with friends and family around the dinner table, it pays to lighten up."

and a laughing niece and nephew don't do a half-bad job either! ;)

alarms are...nice; 5-4-10

just to clarify, we have to have this alarm system because of our town regulations. so don't go thinking that we're some kind of rich, snotty, unreal people. hardly. but it really IS nice for this girl who is a little creeped out by not knowing who's coming and going. it's very scary to have your husband come into the bedroom upstairs when you're used to the 'beep beep beep' of someone entering the house and you have no idea there's anyone there. very, very scary...especially if you're in the shower~ANY WHOO... it's been out since the flood and i've missed it. this girly is not taking this for granted. she relies on it. she appreciates it. thanks, Vector Security!

caps...they hear me!!

re-reading this it should be named 'the un-ending rambling post'............

when i was a kid~i especially remember this from steps at the 'white house' on 48th street~we used to smash caps with a hammer. we'd go to Graafschap Hardware~a tiny old-fashioned store with build-in drawers for all different kinds of nails, etc. behind the cashier~yes, the huge cash register with the round keys~and Mr. Lubbers (my Mom's old boyfriend-oops, was i supposed to say that? sorry, Mom-it's out there!) knew where everything was even though it looked disorganized to us (if kids actually have an opinion about disorganization!!). any-hoo, i digress (obviously!!), we'd buy these caps by the box (red, white and blue). [these days we'd probably be considered hoodlums for doing this horrible thing like buying these 'firecrackers'...and the 'irresponsible' adults that sold them to us could end up in jail!!]. but back then it was a part of being a kid, parents deciding what was okay for their family (if they actually knew what we were doing...;) ), kids being able to make mistakes (GASP!), dealing w/the consequences of our own messing up, of hanging around with all boys (except karen, who was as okay with it as i was...just like playing house in the rafters of the new 'fellowship' building for church, but that's a whole other post...................;))

the whole point of this blog was to tell you what ben said to me today. we just got back from Five Below where he bought a new cap gun. he was showing me a cool thing that this new gun did. i thought it was for caps so i asked him if he used caps or if he was just pretending. his answer?
"yea, i used caps but they're on your desk for you to smell."

you remembered how much i love this smell! you remembered. you remembered!
FYI: these little things mean lots to your crazy mama.
thanks benny-main! i love you!

my praying mother

When i was a bratty teenager, my Mom gave me a bookmark with this poem on it. I was NOT an easy child, to put it mildly, but I always knew my Mom was praying for me. I kept it in my Bible for years but somehow I lost it. I'm on the hunt for a new one, but it doesn't matter~I memorized it a long time ago!

"I said a prayer for you today

And know God must have heard.

I felt the answer in my heart

Although He spoke no word!

I didn't ask for wealth or fame (I knew you wouldn't mind).

I asked Him to send treasures

Of a far more lasting kind!

I asked that He'd be near you

At the start of each new day;

To grant you health and blessings

And friends to share your way!

I asked for happiness for you

In all things great and small.

But it was for His loving care

I prayed the most of all!"

never, ever underestimate the power of a praying mother~it's been known to change lives!

i love you mom.

tues. may 4~yankees

One of the physical therapy groups that ed refers a lot of patients to gave us 4 tickets to the yankees! perfect! although kayt's a huge mets fan, she bucked up and her and jenn took the girls...she even bought a hat and t-shirt. hmmm...there's a rumor going around that she actually had fun and is considering joining us yankee fans~just sayin'.

GO YANKS!!

nyc-friday, april 30

MOMMY & KAYT ;) FEEL THE LOVE OF NYC ;)

took the girls to nyc for the day via nj transit. we took a double-decker bus tour, which ended up being great because we could get on and off whenever we wanted. went to: Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Macy's, Empire State Building, SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy, Site of the World Trade Center, Wall Street, Financial District, Battery Park South Street Seaport, Lower East Side, United Nations, Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, Broadway Theatre District and more. we ate pizza between little italy and chinatown, which was very, very interesting-people can be strange! and, of course, shopping on 5th ave. at night we went to carnegie hall and saw the Yale orchestra with some famous conductor...wealth of information, aren't i? fun but exhausting day.

OUTSIDE CARNEGIE HALL

TOP OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
CORNER WHERE THERE'S A FENCE OF ALL TILES THAT KIDS MADE~ONE FOR EVERY PERSON THAT WAS LOST ON 9-11.

WAITING FOR THE TRAIN IN RIDGEWOOD


ON THE BUS (Is that guy in the back taping US?) :)

i miss my sister!

oh, do i ever miss my sister. some days just stink and i need her. yea, i can call her and she'll make me feel better...by either sympathizing with me and telling me that everyone else is mean and unreasonable, or telling me i'm being stupid and to suck it up (as only a sister can do ;) ) but it's not the same as a hug and big cup of starbucks. for some reason, God has chosen to place her in Lynden and me in NJ. i really do know that His way is right and that there's a reason why, but it sometimes (usually) just doesn't feel right!! but then again, i don't need to know why. i guess i'll just be thankful today that i HAVE a sister and that i can still talk to her whenever i need/want to! so if you have a sister nearby, hug her, tell her you love her and thank God for her.

i miss you my dear, dear sister! i am thankful for you. i love you more than you'll ever know!!

sunday a.m. breakfast?

7 p.m. saturday night, may 9, 2010. thinking about breakfast for sunday am. but who will make the muffins? lily will! lemon poppy seed and crumb cake. great job girly~they were so good!

mixed up money

ok...what's wrong with this picture? does this bug anyone but me? HOW much effort does it take to put the bills all going the right way??!! i know, "let it go, lori...pick your issues". so be it~this is one of them.

our dutchies

these are our exchange students from holland. just how cute are they? seriously! i wish i could somehow put their personalities here...i know you'd love them as much as we do.

i know, i know, i know

been just a little busy lately-such a blogging slacker! i'm really quite overwhelmed with everything that's NOT getting done in my life BUT~people are more important than things, right? i'll start posting what's been going on...

it's baseball time again

this is absolutely my favorite time of year...baseball season. not only do i like the big leagues~but more than that i love spending my evenings watching the kids play town league. saturday kicked off baseball season in wyckoff w/the baseball parade...and then on to the games. yep~this makes me happy ;)

cooookies!

and not just ANY cookies...cookies on a stick!

love this photographic perspective (way to go, girls!)

and sugar cookies...who can resist?!

line-dried laundry in the spring...aaahhh

thought for week of may 2, 2010

Happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.  ~Roy Goodman