mothers

Real Mothers know that a child's growth Is not measured by height or years or grade...

It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother...

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

Thanks, Anita~how true!

spring break-day 3 outlet shopping

Livie, mady & mommy go to the outlets in ny…need I say more?

spring break-day 2 liberty science center

Well, today steven’s part of the family…hey, what’s one more?
Today was Liberty Science Center day-what’s to do here?

How about a good IMAX?-wild ocean, perhaps?

Sounds good.

What else? The solar coaster simulator…mom wouldn’t touch it with a 10-ft pole!!

Mady did some wall climbing,

livie did some swinging and building
ben checked out the gravity pull ratios on different planets
and kayt & steven tried to psych-out the height indicator machine.
Jake doesn’t know what he wants to do.
Then some mommy & me shots:
This is how jake thought our ‘together’ picture should look like…but if I pinched his little bumbuskie he actually smiled! Oh, mom, you’re so smart!

And ben didn’t feel very well so it was really pushing it to get even this little smile for this pic.
Mady diagnosed this patient perfectly…she discovered his illness.

Mommy’s patient? he’s dead.
We went into the ‘buildings’ section where ben did a high walk…uuuhhh, not for anyone else!
Mady, uncle marc would be proud to know that you can work a bulldozer (wait, I don’t think that’s what it’s called but-whatever!)
And an actual piece of bent steel from the twin towers. Pretty impressive.

end of day 2

spring break-day 1 the blankets

First of all i have a disclaimer: i did not come up with this one-thing-a-day idea... i was reading wubben's world and liv was standing over my shoulder and thought that was such a great idea. well, not to be outdone by miss artsy-fartsy fun-girl kathy, i decided to give it a shot. ok-here it goes...

Day 1 Craft Day.

Oh, what to do, what to do…so MANY crafts out there! They decided on making fleece blankets-just like the one kayt’s friend Ashley made for her. So off to Joanne fabrics we go. Options, options, options. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. This one, no, maybe this one…back to the first one. ‘but I saw that one first, and I don’t want her to have the same one as me’. ‘how about getting the same one (since you DO share a room and all) and making the back different colors?’ what a GREAT idea-never thought about that. Ok. Settled. But now for ben-which wasn’t as hard a decision. Bugs-no, spiders are better! Super-let’s go! 2nd thoughts, back to check one more time…mom gives the 2 minute call while standing at the cutting counter. Final decision-both do (adorable) monkey faces-one gets bright orange on the back, the other gets lime green. We thought orange was pretty cool for ben-and it matched! Done!

At home we laid our stuff out on the floor and put in the new Velveteen Rabbit movie and got to work.

Mom taught us to measure it out to make sure it was even, and to make markings where the border was to be cut.

Since ben didn’t feel very well he had no interest in the blanket. We tried the guilt trip thing: ‘we took the time to get just the right one for you’, 'mom paid good money for this’ (where’d we learn that verbiage?!) ‘you need to get up and do something-it’ll make you feel better’. (and that!) guess what? It didn’t work so we ended up doing his…until he was pulled in, that is. We knew it!! He saw how much fun we were having and, of course, had to do it too. So, end of our fun on cozy day one.

you go girls!

Softball season is here again!
Go Rockies! (Mady’s team)

Go Mets! (Livie’s team) we have no picture of her at the parade but we have a really good reason…her team decided that at 12 they were too cool to march in the parade. Alrighty then.

SOS!!

I’m putting out an APB for double zout candy. (be honest, how many of you read this like 3 times b/c you can’t believe it’s me asking for dutch licorice?) yes, it’s true. Ed gave me one for a sore throat once and that was the beginning of the end-or the end of the beginning-or whatever! Anyway, word on the street is that the company is going to d/c them. Eeek! They don’t have them at the big dutch store in Canada or at our local deSnoep Winkel. I’m going into full-speed-ahead mode to try to locate these. All you Lyndenites: please check the windmill and take all they have (oh please-I meant BUY them…maybe I’ll pay you back…on paypal!) oh yea, that reminds me to check on ebay-why didn’t I think of that FIRST?! But they’d probably come pre-sneezed-on by someone with cow pneumonia disease or whatever that new epidemic that they’re COMPLETELY blowing out of proportion on the news.

thanks mom!! (& dad!!)

today an elderly patient came in the office and i said, 'hi, mrs. ______'. she said, 'you can call me ____(her first name)'. i laughed and said thanks, but no thanks, my mom would wash my mouth out with soap.' she was put into a treatment room and i said to one of the girls i work with, 'oh, she's sweet'. 'really??!! she can really be difficult' she responded. ok, whatever, i thought she was nice. when she was checking out and we were kinda gabbing and she said to me, 'you're a sweet girl...and you can tell your mother she did a great job.' 'oh, i will', i told her...and i will!!! she DID do a great job in raising kids who respect authority and have consideration even for those who are difficult. i think all 4 of us pretty much give the ornery (sp?) ones the benefit of the doubt that they're really great people down deep inside and we just need to bring it out. thanks mom & dad for instilling in us to value people-right to the heart! i love you!!!!

FREEZE!

last night was one of those nights. livie, mady & ben laying on our bed just hanging out talking about all kinds of random stuff-"did you know that ____'s related to ___?", "why does my hair do this when it's raining?", "do you think the yankees will make the play-offs this year?", "can you wait 'til you go on our class trip with us to statue of liberty? you'll probably bring your really telephoto lens, huh?" (no response from me because NO! i DON'T want to go there again...we go there EVERYTIME someone comes into town or wants a tour-i love the company and i always have a good time, but if i see another close-up of what's in miss liberty's hand i think i'm going to jump off the island!), "you're probably going to want to lay on the ground and take my class in front of the statue looking up, right?" (oh boy, gotta quit doing stuff like that-they think it's normal ;\!!)...and on and on. but, i wouldn't give it up for anything (don't even TRY to tempt me with dark chocolate because i WON'T...-?...!!!!!). sometimes i picture shelves of all bottles lined up with memories and i can just take one at a time off the shelf and re-live it. sometimes it's accurate and sometimes (more than ever) it's not exactly how it happened, but i smile. and, i treasure these things in my heart.

i do wish i could freeze these moments, but then i realize that if i froze them way back when i started wanting too, i never would have gone forward and had so many more 'freeze!' moments. so, for now, i'm enjoying each day.

my favorite bookmark!

i just wanted to show you my favorite bookmark. i keep it in my Bible so i get to look at it all the time. my nephew, sam, made this for me after the last time i was in lynden. i miss him sooo much!!!

now, if only you could smell the orange strip! (duh, where it says 'smell this' with an arrow!-if you click on the picture you can see it better)

folding sox

my sister gave me this idea...pay the kids 5 cents a pair to match sox. mady's on to this like none of the others. she's probably made about $7-8 so far (2 wks. worth)...let's see, how many pairs of sox is that??!!

oh, but it's SO exhausting! they need a 'break' about every other towel!

but as for payment to help fold the laundry? they get to live here!

that was then, this is now...

i used to be single...now i'm very, very happily married

i used to wear a bikini, uh...not now!

i used to worry about my wrinkles...now i call them smile lines

i used to drive a red chevy vega...now i drive a red chevy suburban

i used to love taking pictures...still do, however, not with the black and silver square camera that you had to hold really tight or it would blur (stop acting like you have no idea what i'm talking about!!)

i would have never TOUCHED a piece of fish to eat...now i always order escargot if it's on the menu

i always wanted prince charming to come and sweep me away...he did!!

i used to hate it when my sister used to cross 'the line' on our double bed...now i (sometimes~when my kids are driving me crazy) wish we were old spinsters who got to spend every day together!

i used to play my loverboy album all the time...now i have one ;)
(ok-truth be told: i thought it was very cool, but my dad spied the front of the album-a guy's bum in red tight leather pants with his fingers crossed over his bumbooski-and he took it and cracked it over his knee...i was horrified! actually, good for him-i'd do the same thing today with our kids!)

i used to hate being so skinny and lanky...hmmm~how do i finish THAT??

i used to think my parents were SO stupid...now i wish i could have those years back to tell them how amazing they really are!!

i told traci i'd never blog...now i'm hooked ;)

is spring really springin?!

got words?

doesn't everyone love a good quote? well i sure do...just check out my house:

on the wall of the (informal) living room (those of you know i never know what to call that room! ;\) "Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

livie's beanbag

comes out for spring

mady's beanbag

wall by my desk in the kitchen

over our bookcase of photo albums

in our bedroom

"i love you not only for what you are, but for what i am when i am with you. i love you not only for what you have made of yourself but for what you are making of us. i love you for the part of me that you bring out"

on my wall mirror (thanks mom!)

on the boy's door

in the office...for now~currently looking for a home

girl's bathroom

on the girl's mirror: "do you know how beautiful you are?"

over our bed

the laundry room-duh!

in the hallway upstairs

over the sliders in our kitchen eating area: "Never forget who you are, Whom you serve"

and i just have to put a little note in about a girl i found on ebay (here's a link to her ebay store It's Written on the Wall: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Its-Written-on-the-Wall )

she's done a bunch of these and also a few for gifts and she is amazing to work with! check her out!

"best couins foreva!" liv & ash march 2009