maybe I did raise her right...

My 18 year old daughter has been reading the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer. I have read the first 3, but I kept my mouth shut about it because I wanted to see what she'd think of them.

She is nearly finished with volume 3 of the series. She reads during her lunch hour at work. I came to pick her up there last night and she hopped in the car and with total and complete frustration she looked at me and said:

"I HATE Bella!" (slight pause as she felt the relief of stating it out loud.) "She is so WEAK and fickle! She has no substance!"

Ahhh. That's my girl.

Things you think you'd never have to say to your children #36

"Just because everything you have on is plaid, doesn't necessarily mean that your clothes match."

quote of the week...

"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life."


--C. S. Lewis

request for prayers...

I know that many people don't venture near the computer on weekends, so I just wanted to post this now:

Starting tomorrow my husband, along with hundreds of other dedicated law enforcement officers, will be providing security for the Democratic National Convention in downtown Denver. I am asking that those of you who are praying folks, please offer prayers in whatever way you feel you can. (and if you're not praying folks, why don't you give God a nice surprise, I'll bet He'd love to hear from you)

I will be praying that all the threats and rumors will remain simply threats and rumors, and that both conference attendees and protesters will remain peaceful and level headed. I will pray that the men and women in uniform will be prepared, alert, and helpful in whatever situations they encounter while serving in this capacity. I will pray that people on all sides will remember that there are ways to allow your voice to be heard without violence. I will pray that Denver and its citizens will show the best of itself this coming week, and that when all is said and done, it will have been a good experience for everyone involved.

raising boys...

I never really wanted boys. [I never thought I wanted kids actually, but that's a story for another day.] I kind of looked at boys as loud, wrestly, superhero-obsessed creatures with which I had nothing in common. The idea of mothering boys seemed, on its best day, not much fun.
Now I have 4 boys. Thanks, Heavenly Father. Don't you just love His sense of humor?
So, I've discovered something. Boys are amazing. Boys are especially amazing to their mothers. My boys are very tender-hearted and kind to me. They all have been very tuned into how I am feeling, since they were little. And take it upon themselves to try and make sure that Mommy is doing well.
I remember when my my 3rd son was 2. He would climb up on my lap, take my cheeks in his little chubby hands, look me square in the eye, and say, "Happy? Mommy? Happy Mommy?" I get my screen name here from that little exchange.
My boys also have a great desire to please me. While my girls seemed to come out of the womb ready to do the exact opposite of what I'd like them to do, my boys are very pliable and willing. In fact, so much so that I must be careful. I have to watch how much I tell my oldest son, now nearly 16, about what I think he should do. Whether it be classes to take, clothes to wear, the kinds of things that aren't about right or wrong but simply preference. He will nearly always do what I suggest. So, I have learned to work with him in questions, asking him what he thinks, what he likes. I'll rarely say what I think he should do about things, because I don't want him to become accustomed to listening to a voice outside himself to decide what he is going to do.
I have found that raising boys is raising men, and I like the feeling of that. I like to think that my 4 boys will grow up to be the kind of men I'd like my girls to marry. I trust that my friends with boys are doing the same thing. My hope is that I will teach them to work hard, play hard, love God, cherish and protect the women in their lives, and teach their future boys to do the same.
They are still loud, VERY wrestly, and superhero obsessed...but somehow I'm okay with that.

Quote of the week...

"I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I'm doing."


~Marsha Doble

ballpark market...

So, I didn't love the Ballpark Market as much as the Paris Street Market. It was still lots of fun, I'm not whining or anything, but it was a tad (ok, lots) smaller than I was led to believe. Maybe it starts to die down as the summer fades.

I enjoyed most the chance to take

some pictures of lower downtown's buildings.

Still managed to have fun and find some things that needed to come home with us. Best find? Daughter's silver Claddagh ring. $10.

Quote of the week...

"The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us."

--John Williams

what the heck?

It is 6:19 AM on a Saturday and every stinkin' child is up at my house. I don't think they fully grasp the joys of the weekend, do you?

Good thing I am leaving to go to the Ballpark Market in an hour. I can just get them all hopped up on pancakes and syrup and then kiss them goodbye.

hey lady on the treadmill next to me...

...if you'd stop straddling the machine while adjusting your hair, Ipod, breasts, etc. and actually get ON the thing and I don't know, RUN...you might break a sweat.

Just a thought.

cute something...

On my paris market post, I mentioned that I found a cute something to come home with me. This re-purposed old window frame is the cute something. Just so you don't stay up nights, wondering.

Quote of the week...

"No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there is wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick."

--Erma Bombeck

a paris street market...

If you are ever in the Denver metro area on the 1st Saturday of the month, you should consider going to the Paris Street Market.

It is a fun way to spend a morning. I had a nice visit with my sister-in-love and found a cute something that had to come home with me.

New look...

I've been itching for a new blog template, and then my cool OTC (on the computer) friend, Awesome Mom, changed hers. I loved her template so much that I emailed and asked her if she'd help me switch mine out. And true to her name, she is awesome, and did it for me!

So, for the next little while, we'll be tweeking things.