Overheard at our house: Prayers

Stinky is learning to pray. He's beginning to understand that we pray for the things we hope for. One morning, as we finished famiyl prayer, I told him we couldn't watch the Wiggles, because we were leaving. He quickly folded his arms and whispered "wiggles." I grabbed a DVD and he watched it at Grandma's that morning.

As we were saying prayers tonight, we had this exchange.

me: bless daddy to come home safely...
Stinky: safely...
me: please bless Aidan...
Stinky: Get french fries...

Not so lucky this time, pally-boy.

We Made It Monday: Halloween 2007

Last year's Halloween was out first in the home we're in now- our first with a porch to decorate. WBH did a great job with our pumpkins. He likes to use his power tools on them, but I'm really impressed with the outcome. This year, he did a bunch featuring the logos for each of the derby teams on Funkins- so they'll last- and has big plans for the pumpkin this year.

The cute little devil costume? Yours truly knit that little bad boy for my little bad boy . Every. Last. Stitch.

Alter-Ego

Some of the New Bruisers got to do the demo bout this weekend- the black and blue team. I was on blue. It's been a crazy weekend, but tonight was fantastic. I'm glad our friends had as much fun as we did. I'm grateful to have a husband who wants this for me as much as I do. I'm so happy I get to be a part of this league.

My Famous Husband!

WBH's picture was featured in the prep football gallery on the Seattle Times website. Unfortunately, this picture gives only a very small example of his Spirit Gear. The mohawk is gone now- it's a homecoming tradition.

World's Best Husband

There are so many amazing things about the man I married. He's an incredible father. Even when he's exhausted (and with the hours he's putting in, this is most of the time), he still musters up the energy to play with Stinky. He encourages me to go after the things I want with more tenacity than I have. He is so supportive of the people and things he cares about. He's enthusiastically involved in his job. He helps at home, even when he's tired. He makes me beautiful jewelry. He's so creative and fun to be married to.

If I had to choose a way to describe just how I feel about him, though, it's always been beautifully summed up by Dory in Finding Nemo:

"No one's ever stuck with me for so long before. And if you leave... if you leave... I just, I remember things better with you. I do, look. P. Sherman, forty-two... forty-two... I remember it, I do. It's there, I know it is, because when I look at you, I can feel it. And-and I look at you, and I... and I'm home."

WBH, you really are the best. I love you so much.

Wordless Wednesday: Laundry Help

Weekend in Review

Saturday was a whirlwind, animal filled day. We started at the annual reptile show (not adding any to the brood this year, we just bought some food, and WBH got the chance to meet some people from the herp society). Stinky met a tiny horse- not just a miniature horse, but a dwarf miniature horse. He was adorable and cuddly, and apparently potty trained! Fortunately, he's being trained to be a therapy animal. Stinky's exuberance and excitement didn't phase Mini-Whinny's owner at all.

Then, we went to the zoo for the annual halloween event "ZooBoo." I love getting the costumes worked up at put together, but it feels like a lot for one day. I try to find other costume-wearing opportunities. This year, we think we've got the cutest cowpoke ever.
Pumpkin bowling was a hit with Stinky.
Yay for full family pictures!
And here's a look at why I'm the luckiest lady in the world:
I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend!

I Made It Monday: Butterfly

This is a project Stinky and I did together for the Butterfly Project at Holocaust Museum Houston. To represent the 1.5 million children that died in the holocaust, they are collecting 1.5 million butterflies. If you are interested in contributing to this project, Birds of Paper has the information at her site.

Forgive the horrible picture below, but these are the pumpkins I made using the tutorial from last week's I Made it Monday. I love pumpkins because you can extend their decorating lifetime between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Like Bart at the Blackboard.

I will not restrain my toddler with bungee cords.

I will not leave the dog outside all day in the rain, even if he does have it coming.

I will not fashion a Great Dane-skin coat and handbag ensemble.

I will not lock myself in my room and let the two of them have free reign of the house.

I will not run out the door as soon as my husband comes home, shouting "Haha, finders keepers!"

I will not skip derby practice to eat my weight in Ice Cream instead.

I will not put my child in the dog's crate, even if it is bigger than our bathroom

Even though I really, really want to.

I will post an "I Made It Monday" later today.

Autumn

That's me and my baby 11 months ago. Wow, how things change.

A friend and I were discussing the other day that autumn brings on some strong feelings. Not too long ago, really, 3-5 generations maybe, our ancestors would be preparing our homes for winter, seeing to the basic needs of food and shelter from the cold and facing months with no interaction with anyone but family. Maybe it's this history that finds me wanting to stay home with my family snuggled under blankets, cook food that's meant to be eaten hot, and make my home pleasant for our family. I think autumn kicks in the nesting instict.

I made a roast chicken today and did lots of laundry. It smells like fall at my house!

I Made it Monday: Fabric Pumpkins Tutorial (link)

Here's the deal: My house is too messy to take pictures of anything, and I'm embarassed. I spent a good portion of time this weekend creating fabric pumpkins for friends, family, and us, and they're pretty cute. What's not cute is the raffia scraps all over my dining room floor! So, for I Made it Monday, here's a link to the tutorial I based it on. Nice job, Nicole!

I'll take pictures of our fall decorations, and the pictures in Stinky's room (finally) once all of the stuff is shoved into one corner that I'll avoid with the camera. Kidding. Sort of.

I'm feeling fall, and I'm loving it. I made a mug of hot chocolate while I worked today. I am seeing colorful, falling leaves everywhere, and it makes me smile. I think I'm going to hunt down a few more sweaters soon.

Tagged!

Was tagged by Sweet Rachel to give you 7 random things about me.

1. I love celebrating. I don't care what it is for, ususally. Holidays? yup. Accomplishments? yup. Fridays? yup. Surviving a really bad day? Oh, yes.

2. I LOVE living in Tacoma. It's such a great place. There are so many things to do- every day that I drive I find somewhere new I want to check out, and best of all, all of it is 15 minutes away.

3. My three biggest vices/indulgences are Diet Dr. Pepper (3 today- so far. I'm thinking a night cap!), Laffy Taffy (bring me a small bag and it will be gone before tomorrow), and General Hospital. You can gage my stress by how much I'm partaking of these. Lately? It's a lot.

4. I might be addicted to my Google reader. Having all the blogs I like to read (and an offering of blogs I haven't seen yet) is soooo tempting and is where I spend waaay too much time.

5. WBH and I met on the first day of High School, and Ithought he was really cute- cuter than the guy who introduced us and later became my first boyfriend. I also overheard him saying he'd never date me. It took us nine and a half years, but we got it right, and he says crow tastes good.

6. I hate the word 'deserve.' It annoys me to no end when people say they deserve something. It's the attitude of entitlement that gets to me. "I feel I've earned it" is so much less grating.

7. I lay awake at night thinking of ways to outsmart stinky, and wondering how I got so lucky.

I'm not going to tag anyone- if you feel so inclined, please let me know you've done this one so I can read it!

Overheard at our house: all in the course of one morning!

WBH: "Stinky gets a straight jacket- it's just a coat that hugs you back."

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Rae: "Stinky, I said stop putting toast in my eye."

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WBH : "You remember Santa? He's the guy that brings presents to the little boys that keep their pants on!"

What a day it is going to be...

Wordless Wednesday: He Loves Me.

Roller Derby Explained- Awesome You-Tube

Hey! Lovely Tina asked about RollerDerby, and how it's done. This video explains it all with some fun animation. Enjoy!

I Made It Monday: A little different.

Yours truly made it. Made the team. I'm a Dockyard Derby Dame New Bruiser. I'm so excited!

You know what would be even cooler? If this picture where I look so cute didn't have food in my teeth. That would have been really, really, cool, too. Hmm... Photoshop, here I come!

Nevertheless, I am so excited to get the snot knocked out of me!

This post brought to you by Rock Star Energy Drink

I read somewhere that it's easy to stay home and take care of your children, it's just accomplishing anything else that's darned near impossible. Oh, today is that day. I'd like to think I've done pretty well today, but lately I feel like my life's theme is "Doing so much, accomplishing so little."

So, mamas that read my blog, have you got any advice on accomplishing anything other than playing with my kiddo. Because while I'd love to do nothing but that, we need to do silly things like eat and wear clothes. Call me silly, but I like it when those clothes are clean.

Wordless Wednesday