Mel Day

So it's been a month now that Mel has been off on her Virginia adventure. And I am missing her, so I thought I would post a few pics from that last, fun Mel Day that we girls had together.

Of course, it was at Starbucks.

And in case you are wondering, yes. Mel actually asked them to heat her coffee to precisely 165 degrees. And they agreed!!

I love happy Jo :)

But even moreso I love happy Erin (can't you hear her laughing right now??) And the four of us. I love all of us. I think it's time to plan a trip to visit Mel so we can take another one of these photos and have another Mel Day.

Mel Day should be a holiday. Like Groundhog's Day. And really... what is the point of that groundhog again? In fact, I propose we rename Groundhog's Day Mel Day. It only makes sense. All in favor?

berries and... what?

Ahhh, yes. The joy of raspberries.
They fit on the ends of your fingers!
They make *great* projectiles!

Ahhh yes.

Even Better than the Original

Thanks to Carl, who sent me the link to my new favorite comic strip, Garfield Minus Garfield.
It's amazing how much funnier it is without that annoying cat commentary!

Not that I hate Garfield, or cats. Okay maybe a little.

YAY! YAY! YAY!

WAHOO!!! My new business site is LIVE!!! I am so thrilled to FINALLY be able to share it.... it's been *months* in the making! I hope it was worth the wait!! (I think so!!) :)

(click on the image above or go to http://www.speckledbirdart.com/)

Brains and erasers

The other day I was brushing Riley's hair, like I always do. But as I was parting his hair by the little birthmark he has on his head, I noticed that the birthmark was different. Bigger. Like it used to be a little 1/8 inch circle and now it is a 1/8 by 3/8 inch oval-ish shape. So, naturally, I freaked out. A lot. I called the dermatoligist that I saw when Violet had her eczema as a baby... he was so great with her, and I remember I could get appointments pretty quickly. I was of course hoping for a same-day appointment on Wednesday, but he wasn't in that day so I had to settle for Thursday. Of course I needed to stay off the Internet so I wouldn't obsess over the crazy things that it might have been. But I was thanking God I didn't have to wait even another day to see a doctor.

Thursday came and we got right in to see the doctor. He looked at it and told me that, even though it looks kind of different, weird looking moles are often found on the tops of people's heads. Nothing about it alarmed him, but he understood my concern, which was that I had no idea how long it had been there... it was as if it had appeared overnight. He said it was something we could watch and look for any changes, or if I thought Riley could handle it, he could just shave it off right now at the appointment. That way it would be gone and he could get it biopsied for my own peace of mind, and I would feel better. The trick was that I had to be sure to keep Riley very still so that he could remove the mole. That was going to be a challenge, since I had already told Riley this *wasn't* the doctor that had to give him shots like last time.

I had to think fast... because I knew that Riley would panic... and, indeed he did because he saw the things the nurse was bringing out and one of them looked Very Much Like a Needle. I asked the doc if he could give us a few minutes to prepare Riley, and he said that was fine. The nurse offered Riley some Nerds candy... one little snack sized box now, and another for when the procedure was all done. I took a moment to privately ask the doc what the procedure entailed and what kind of pain to expect... he said the only real pain was from the local shot, and that would be about three seconds... then he could shave off the mole in 20 seconds after that. So I prayed for the right words to explain this to Riley without making him freak... cause he was already starting to get teary-eyed from the thought of that Needle Looking Thing.

I sat Riley on my lap and I explained to him that the mole on his head was a little weird looking, and that the doctor wanted to take it off. And the way the doctor does this is by first pinching the mole with the Pincher (needle). And that sometimes hurts a tiny bit, just the way a pinch does. But it's only for the count of three... and we practiced counting to three so he could see that it wouldn't be that bad. After the pinch, the doctor would use his Special Eraser (scalpel) to Erase the mole right off his head. But that part wouldn't hurt cause erasing things doesn't hurt. I told him that the doctor would Erase for the count of twenty and we practiced counting to 20. And then it would be done! Riley was pretty close to being convinced, but he was still worried about the Pinch. So I told him that Target was right by this place and when we were done we could go there and get him something (I was thinking like from the $1 section). He said that he would be so brave that he should get Rayman Raving Rabbids for the Wii.

Um. OK. Whatever. (seriously! I never EVER give in to big ticket items like that! I obviously have extremely poor judgement under duress. Hopefully my kids don't read this someday and decide to take advantage of this fact)

So he was ready and so was I... the doctor came in and Riley asked him if he was sure the Pinch would only be for the count of three and the doc reassured him that, yes, it would be. So I held Riley's hand and the doc and the nurse did their thing. The Pinch was exactly the count of three! Then we started the Count of Twenty as the doc Erased off the mole... and right at Twenty, he was done! Riley was hoping for a band-aid on the top of his head, but he got a blob of antibiotic gel instead. And afterward we headed to Target where we found the game (on sale, thank goodness!) and some children's motrin.

And now it's done... we have been putting neosporin on it daily, but it's really just like a little scab now and you can't even see it under his hair. The doc will call me with results either way in about a week. I am confident that it will be fine :).

So today Riley was talking about the hole in his head and how we can see his brain if we look closely... but of course we would not want to eat his brains because they are covered in wax.

Clearly. Because you know how fattening wax is.

Man Cold

Thanks to my friend, Dana, who shared this gem with me...

(remember to pause the music on the right before watching)

What is this?

Seriously.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!!? Is this:
a) exercise
b) punishment
c) an average day in filipino prison
d) rick's PE class from high school
???????????????????

(before viewing, be sure to turn off my music player to the right ----->)

Tennis anyone?

I won four tickets to the Tennis Channel Open on March 4th at 5:30 pm, but I can't use them. Anyone want to go or know someone who might??? First person to email me or call me gets the tickets! :)

A little ambiance...

So Auntie Mel taught me how to add music to my blog! yay yay yay yay!!!!
You can see my happy playlist to the right ------------> and if it annoys you, feel free to hit the "pause" button. But it makes me very very happy :)

It's so haaaaaaard to say goodbyyyyyyyyye to yesterdaaaaaaaaay

So.
I have been sitting here for two days trying to figure out how to write this blog post.
Cause it's not that easy.
How do I find the right words?
How do I even attempt to summarize a twelve year friendship in a few words?

My dear friend, Melissa (whom I love), has moved away. She and her husband and family needed a time of respite, to reconnect and reevaluate the most important things in their lives. And so her husband has taken a sabbatical from our church and their family will be spending the next six months in Virginia at a pastor's retreat so that they can discover God's plan for the next stage in their lives. I am so happy for them to be given this opportunity... I know they needed it. Her hubby has worked tirelessly as an associate pastor for years... going on mission trips whenever possible, running the administrative side of church, and even performing weddings nearly every weekend. It's a tough job, and it can take its toll. Allowing them an opportunity to just REST and RECONNECT will be a wonderful thing. And doing it away from anyone that might distract them or pull them away from this time of rest makes sense. So for that, I am very happy for them... all of them. And Virginia is beautiful and rich in history and has fireflies in the summer. It will be an amazing time.

But, in the midst of all that is happening with them, my selfish heart is broken. Melissa (whom I love) isn't here anymore. I haven't been able to call her to discuss the ridiculous things that Mark & Mercedes were discussing on the radio, or email her the latest completely hysterical youtube video involving Matt Damon that I found (link not included because, naturally, it's completely inappropriate). I haven't been able to call her when I am driving even though I always call her when I am driving. My car rides are suddenly very boring. I don't get to ask her if she wants to accompany me on a Target run so we can walk the clearance endcaps looking for random goodness (like strawberry marshmallows!!! What the heck!!?!!), or chat with her online while I should be editing millions of photos. And Coffee & Massage Fridays will never be the same without Mel there. And Spring Break... sigh. Cause who's going to meet celebrities with me now? And who is going to give me the Best Birthday Ever??

Melissa has been like an extra appendage of mine. Not like an appendix or the pinky toe, though. Something useful, like the left ear. And even though I no longer have the left ear, it's fine... cause I still have the right. But every time I try to listen to something on the left side I get irritated cause it's not there and I have to move things around to make it work. That's how I feel. Cause I am constantly reminded that my left ear isn't there and I really thought it was the cutest part of my head. And people look at me funny when they see me cause I only have one ear. Or maybe they just look at me funny because I am not wearing any pants. Who knows.

Mel you are my Glinda and I am your Elphaba. Except I am not green and I can't sing. But you, my friend, have left your handprint on my heart and I will always, always love you and miss you.



I've heard it said
that people come into our lives for a reason
bringing something we must learn
and we are led
to those who help us most to grow
if we let them
and we help them in return

now I don't know if I believe that that is true
but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you...

like a comet pulled from orbit
as it passes the sun,
like a stream that meets a boulder
halfway through the wood...

who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
that we will never meet again
in this lifetime
so let me say before we part:
so much of me
is what I have learned from you
you'll be with me,
like a handprint on my heart

now whatever way our stories may end
I know you have rewritten mine
by being my friend...

Like a ship blown from it's mooring
by a wind off the sea
like a seed dropped by a skybird
in a distant wood

who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you...
I have been changed
for good ...

Riding lessons

We told Riley that once we removed the training wheels from his bike, they didn't go back on. But he didn't care. He wanted to ride FAST like Violet. He begged and pleaded with us for weeks to take them off... so, finally this weekend, we did.

He did a pretty good job pedaling, but he was afraid to pedal fast. And no amount of us reasoning with him that pedaling faster would actually make it easier would change his mind.
But still, on a few occasions, he did get going. And he even started pedaling fast! We were thrilled!
Except for the turning part. Which he didn't figure out just yet.

Or the stopping part.
He crashed a lot that day. Nothing big or painful, and we were always right there for him. But after this particular wipeout, he was done.
So his daddy walked him back to the house. He asked for us to put the training wheels back on his bike, and we reminded him that once they were off, they stayed off.
He wasn't too happy about that. I told him we will keep practicing and I just know he will get it.

But for now, he is happy watching Violet zoom by on her bike. We'll try again next weekend. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

From my kids' feet to yours.... :)

NYC Pranksters

I seriously think this is the most fantastic prank I have ever seen.
I so wish I could have been a part of it!!

Frozen at Grand Central Station

The Fake Mel

Inspired by Shontell and her posting of a random person in the place of an actual photo of Mel (of which I have an abundance, so this is entirely unnecessary - and while I am interjecting, I am quite surprised at the length, structure, and parentheticalness of this sentence), I am posting a random photo of someone who is not, in fact, Melissa. But my kids are pretty sure she is. Because naturally, she's a great singer, adorably cute, and a TV star. Of course it's really Mel.

Okay, it's Karla from Hi-5. Whatever.

Happy Birthday to Melissa,

my dear friend whom I love...

...miss you!

Lamentations 3:21-23 (New International Version)

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD's great love
we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Greatest songs of the 90s...

So I was watching The 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s on VH1 last night... it was awesome. So many great songs that totally defined my generation and my youth. But I have to contest the #1 song of my generation. While VH1 was pretty sure it was Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, I am sure they had just overlooked the actual best song, written in 1990...by my sister Liane, age 6.

Now you have to imagine her with a guitar in hand, holding it and strumming, just strumming, the whole time. And as a point of reference, the song was written about our dog, Smokey. I think it's pretty obvious what the song is about.

Here goes:

strum
strum
Smokey's gonna get
His ball-hangies off,
La laaaaaaa,
strum
La laaaaaaaaa...
strum
Smokey's gonna get
His ball-hangies off,
La laaaaaaaaaaa,
strum
La laaaaaaaaaaaaa...
strum
He is so excited
He just cannot hide it,
La laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,
strum
La laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...
strum
And when they are gone
He'll be nice and calm...
La laaaaaaaaaaa
strum
La laaaaaaaaaaa!
strum

See what I mean? Pure poetry. Poetry.
Nirvana had nothing on Liane.
strum
strum

A conversation between my kids...

Riley: Why did Jesus make bad people?
(insert momentary slight panic as mom tries to come up with a good answer that is age appropriate for a 5 year old)

Violet: Well, Riley, Jesus actually made everybody. Just some people choose to be bad.
(wow - good answer indeed! insert audible sigh and lump in mom's throat here)

Riley: Okay. So - do aliens really eat people's brains?
(HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA)

And finally... the update.

Here it is. The long-awaited update to our lives.
December...

It was a busy month, as Decembers usually are, but with my business really taking off and the kids highly involved in their activities, it was unusually busy.

Aside from softball three times a week and drill team twice a week, Violet was cast as Mrs. Claus in the school production of "The Elves' Impersonator," a story of a little elf who thinks he's Elvis. Mama Lali made her amazing costume. Everyone loved it and we decided to donate it to the school so that it can be used for years to come.


Then of course there were the class parties... our favorite was the gingerbread house making in Violet's class...

Riley had his friend party... his request was a sledding day in the mountains. It was a huge hit!

And then, it was Christmas. Christmas morning at our house is awesome. Everyone comes over for breakfast and brings all their gifts. Our entire living room floor was covered in presents!

Nothing gets opened until after breakfast and the reading of the Bible...

Breakfast was yummy waffles and champagne and fresh fruit and OJ and homemade whipped cream... mmmmm! We covered the ping pong table with tablecloths and it worked out great. Easily seats up to 16 people comfortably around one big table. Awesome :)

This was the Lego Star Wars Christmas for Riley. Funny thing was, by the end of the morning, Papa was assembling a ship by himself and Rick was assembling another ship by himself while Riley was playing Lego Star Wars for the Wii. It was very cute that all the boys were doing their own biy things.

The favorite gifts were, of course, the ones from Tinty and Luke. They always find the most interesting things for us from Korea. Liane and I got cool bracelets and little turtle jewelry boxes, mom and dad got this incredible detailed wood carving, the kids got a rad Wii game, and Rick... Rick got a samurai sword letter opener.

It's not Christmas without Party #2 at Tish's house... Tish gathered all the little ones around her for a Happy Birthday Jesus party, complete with singing and cake :)
Then, on the 28th, we celebrated Riley's actual birthday! He requested a waffle breakfast with "Kids' Wine" (sparkling cider), which we all enjoyed. After breakfast, Violet left with Papa & Mama Lali on her very first ski trip - they went to Pagosa, Colorado to go skiing with some family friends. She had a wonderful time, but Riley and Violet definitely missed each other while she was gone. I love that they have such a special bond.

And, since I didn't share before, the reaction to Riley's Star Wars room...

New Year's Eve was a rockin awesome non-party. We planned on just chilling alone, and then Liane & Carl had no plans so we invited them over for games, and then Kris & Mel had no plans so they came over too... everyone had to bring their own snacks and alcohol and there was a LOT of it. :) Mo & Jo even stopped by for awhile and we had a great time playing games (I will never EVER forget Mo playing Taboo!)... so much, in fact, that we almost missed the countdown! We turned on the TV with about 20 seconds to spare. I barely got the champagne opened in time. I made all our friends take part in the annual "throw water across the street" tradition where everyone takes a pan of water, representing last year, and dumps it across the street because it's a new year and the pan needs to be empty for all our new adventures! They were good sports, especially considering it was seriously cold out there.

So a few weeks ago I had realized that I had accumulated 15 of the 16 Southwest credits I needed to get a free flight. The only problem? I had to get my 16th credit before January 13, 2008. So I contacted Val and scheduled a trip up to Portland for the 10-12th. It was a short but sweet trip and of course Val kept the days packed with adventure! We went to cool breweries, a play (we even volunteered at the theater!), visited my cousin and her new baby, and stopped by the beach, even!

Since getting back from Portland, it's been busy. Still. At least all our decorations are finally down (don't you hate when you think you've put everything away and then you find something you missed???) and we have done a little rearranging of furniture. Big plans for 2008 in our house... wood floors (hopefully) on the ground floor, new front door (or at least doorknob and locks... ours keeps sticking), new front landscaping, and a totally cleaned out and rearranged garage with workshop for Rick. Well, that's the plan anyway. This weekend we were supposed to start the garage organization, and both the kids are sick. I took them to the doc (my friend Costa from kindergarten... talk about weird to have your friend since age 5 be your doctor!)... Violet and Riley have strep throat. I have a sinus infection. We are all on antibiotics now. And Rick just called... his throat is scratchy. haha!

Matilda

I know a few of you have been patiently waiting for these photos, so here they are! My cousin's daughter, Baby Matilda, is such a cutie pie! I am so glad i got to spend a little time with her when I was in Portland! :)

And of course, big sister Simone. I seriously wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home with me. I just loved her little voice and her creative spirit :)

Lots more photos of lots more things still to share... but I wanted to be sure these went up first :)

Stay tuned!

Okay.

I realize I haven't been posting much. And I also realize that the "busy" excuse is played out, even if it's true.

The sad thing is that I have so many photos to share...
Christmas,
Riley's sledding party,
New Years (well, thankfully there are no photos of *that* night, Melissa),
Portland,

and just so many updates and... things.
Really. I want to get to it all.

This long weekend is my weekend to get caught up. On everything. Laundry, the perpetual January house organization, garage reorg, misc photo editing, scrapbook projects (believe it or not, I actually have a few scrapbook assignments I am working on! And here I thought I was a has-been in the industry!!), the yard, the kids' rooms... all of it.

Too much to take on? Probably.
But it's me. And I am insane.

Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars...

Riley's room was never painted when we moved into the house, and we thought it was about time we did something fun for him. He spent two nights with his cousin Michael and we took that time to design his dream painted room.

We took out all the furniture and painted two colors on the walls - one was a very light grey-green and another a beautiful deep blue-green. Then we primed the back wall and began our mural...

And the room, finally done! You can't see the blue-green walls (they are behind me)... but at least you can see the finished mural. Carl and Liane were awesome artists. I could not have done it without them. And the black on this wall is actually a deep blue-black (called "Galaxy Black" - it's one of the Behr Disney colors). It is so cool cause you can see the blue-ish-ness at certain angles. Rick hung a couple of his ships from the ceiling and still has two more to hang (the Milennium Falcon and Slave 1) but otherwise it's pretty much done.

When Riley came into the room for the first time, he was totally speechless. It was so awesome! The best part was that he insisted that Violet spend the night in the room with him that night, so the two of them can have Star Wars dreams :)