LOST REVIEW...

It did not disappoint...oh, except for that "All new 2 hour premiere." The only thing new about the 1st hour was Ben's voice and a slightly different edited "review" than the review I watched last night. But onto the second hour...BRILLIANT. I was a nervous wreck. I won't leave any spoilers for those of you who haven't watched it, but seriously, at one point I was grabbing Curtis' toes so hard he was afraid I would break them. (For those of you wondering why I was grabbing his foot, he was laying on the couch and his feet were nearby.) Anyway...thank you JJ Abrams for that nice break from reality tv. Well worth the wait.

A perfect Evening...

I went and got a starbucks so i can stay up for all of LOST.... could life be better?

My Little Mermaid.

Haley is a swimmer...seriously. After her first class, she got out of the pool and said, "Mom, this is my thing." So we let her do her thing every Tuesday and Thursday. She is doing a great job and my heart swells with pride watching her swim across the pool!

LOST

To Sarah, Kipp, Jen, Trent, Heidi, Kurt, Jen, Brian, Matt, Christie, and anyone else who is a fan of LOST that I don't know about (please comment so I know who is also a fan)...tonight is the long-awaited night. I wish you were all here so we could watch LOST together. I am so excited, and can't wait to talk about the show with you tomorrow!!!!!!

The Way I See It #257

I'm in a meeting...I like the quote on my Starbucks cup.

Love wins.
-Tavis Smiley.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

The New Kids on the Block have got back together....you can find out more on their website...www.nkotb.com

I don't think there could have been a bigger fan than me...this news has brought back fond memories of my sister, myself, and our neighborhood friends in Kentucky spending hours practicing their songs and their routines...and the money i saved up to walk down the road and through the fence to WALMART to buy their Cassette. Yes, I am old. And how I dreamed of marrying Jonathan Knight. I didn't think he was the cutest, but he wasn't as popular as the rest, so I thought I had a chance! :o) Anyway...I am curious to see what the future holds for NKOTB. It seems like the boy band era has passed...and this would be a man-band anyway....so i'm not so sure about it. But it might be fun to feel like a kid again...carefree summer days, in love with Jonathan, and working on my moves in the backyard.

LEXI'S BIG NEWS!!!!

This morning we were playing an Elmo story on Sesame Workshop which focused on Elmo going potty. So I decided today was the day to get the potty out. She was very excited and started laughing when I got it out of the closet. We then proceeded to spend the next half hour in the bathroom playing with the toilet. I "demonstrated" and she watched closely. There was a lot of lifting the lid, shutting it, and sitting halfway on it (with her clothes on of course.) She wasn't too interested in it after that, although every time she walked by the bathroom she would say "potty" without even glancing in...almost like she was just checking it off the "to do" list...like, yes, my potty is in there, now where is my babydoll?

Fast forward to this evening...we tried again before we had dinner...it was a no go. Then before bath time, Haley told Lexi to sit down and go potty...and she did as well. Then Haley said, "hey, Lexi is going pee-pee." Curtis said, "no, that's you" and she said, "no, i'm all done." Then Lexi stood up, and wadda you know, there was a puddle of pee. AMAZING! We were all excited, jumping up and down, and she was looking at us like we had 3 heads. She didn't quite understand the whole event. But we were super proud of her. Now we just have to see if we have what it takes to pursue this...it is such an undertaking.

In other Lexi news.... I was talking this morning to a girl (in our little kid art class) who was our server the other night at a restaurant called TUNA TOWN...which is an AMAZING sushi spot downtown HB that is owned by the lead singer of KORN. Anyway, Lexi heard me say TUNA TOWN, and she has been walking around saying TUNA all day. If you watch the OFFICE, you know that Andy Bernard calls Jim "BIG TUNA"...so I've been calling Lexi "little Tuna." I don't know, but it is just hilarious to watch a 20 month old walking around saying TUNA...TUNA...TUNA...

WHERE DO I LIVE????

I seriously think our house is going to get picked up and carried off in this storm like in the WIZARD OF OZ...this rain is starting to frighten me. Seriously... it's like we are in Oregon or something! (shot out to Jen.)

4 Years With Haley

Wednesday was Haley Beth's 4th Birthday. It's hard to believe we've already had 4 years with her....here's a few pics of her over the years...


Where it all began...



On Vacation at Walt Disney World


With her animal friends...


On the farm with Daddy


Meeting her sister for the first time...

What a blessing....

Tomorrow is her Princess Birthday Party. I'll update more pics soon.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY...

I've been married for 8 years... in 8 years my hubbie and I have had so much fun...here are some of my favorite moments:
Honeymoon in Hawaii
Moving to Vegas
Buying our first House
Getting a dog
Traveling to India, New York, New England, Florida & Hawaii again...
Having our first baby
Moving back to Cali
Working in a Church plant
Having our 2nd baby
Moving back to Huntington Beach...back to where it all started.

Through all the ups and downs, it has been a beautiful journey....

Our 8 year Anniversary was spent without the precious kiddos...walking downtown HB, having sushi, going shopping, and to see a movie (Juno)...and best of all...sleeping in without the munchkins waking us up...

Thanks for all the love and laughs my beautiful friend... I love you.

KT

CURIOUS GEORGE

My kids love this show...but i can't get over the fact that no one seems to notice or care that there is a little monkey on the loose in Manhattan doing "people" things. Seriously...George went to the drug store today to pick out cold medicine for the man in the big yellow hat. Maybe I am the only one who finds this strange...

THE ELLEN SHOW

To my readers (I love having readers)....

My apologies...apparently, I am not so hip on the ways of Hollywood. The Jonas Brothers taped on Thursday, but it aired today. I was not on it. So for those of you who tivod it looking for me...press delete. I am not there. But maybe you will see the girl we stood in line next to who arrived Thursday am at 2:30 IN THE MORNING to be in the audience of that show. She is a part of the throngs of 13 year olds aforementioned. But I digress...

No Jonas Brothers today... It was Kelly Pickler (and it will air tomorrow - Tuesday). But for those of you who tivoed it looking for me...press delete AGAIN. I was in the riff-raff room. (Where they put the people or LOSERS who didn't have enough seats to be in the real room.) But there are 2 good sides to that...no make that 3.

1. They encourage you to dance and "keep the energy up." Ellen decides if she will grace the riff-raff room with her presence by the energy that is coming out of there. So, my mom took that quite literally and was up on the furniture dancing. I know...you would had to have seen it to believe it. It was quite something...she definitely came out of her shell! I loved it.

2. Ellen apparently did like my mom's dancing and the rest of the "energy", so she graced us with her presence.. I suddenly came out of my shell as well, and walked up beside her and danced with her...I was seriously right beside her. And on a side note...she is ADORABLE. So super cute!

3. We have guaranteed tickets and get to go back and actually SIT in the audience on March 17th, so we have that to look forward to.

After the taping, we went to Universal City Walk and ate a nice dinner at the Daily Grill. It was a great day!

Strep Throat and the Jonas Brothers.

Lexi's has Strep Throat. 3 down, 1 to go. I am so worried about Haley getting it because this is her Birthday Week!!! Poor little bear.

We also found out last week that Lexi has an ear infection. This is her 11th one in less than a year. So we have an appointment with an ENT because she is going to have to get tubes. I am so sad, but at the same time a bit relieved. Because the poor little thing can not sleep at all when she has ear infections. And she just isn't herself. I think she has learned to live with her pain though, because it has become hard to tell when she has one. She is such a trooper.

On a much lighter note, I am going to see a taping of the ELLEN show today. It should be interesting because the JONAS brothers are there. If you know anything about them, you know that there will be thousands of little teenie boppers trying to get in to see the boyz. So, look for me amongst the throngs of 13 year olds.

Can't Decide 2008.

I love politics...I don't always understand them, but I enjoy following them. I go to sleep and wake up wondering what is going on in the race to be President. But I am having a really hard time finding someone that I support 100%. I wish I could combine different qualities of each candidate to create the perfect nominee. Fox News has the slogan 'You Decide 2008' ..but I can't decide. So if you're up for it...tell me who you are voting for and why I should consider your candidate. I'm curious....

MOVIE REVIEW

Curtis and I have NETFLIX since we don't make it to the movies very often. Tonight we watched FRACTURE with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. In the spirit of my friends JD & CELESTE and their movie rating system...I would like to rate this film - STRONG, and WEAK IN NO WAY. It was brilliant. If you like suspenseful dramas, it is a must rent!

Love My Girlz....

Just a few more pics from our time in Solvang

#4 Song Selected

(See Post Below if this doesn't make sense.)

#4 - LANDSLIDE - by Fleetwood Mac

And in case you were interested....my top 2 faves of 2007 were
1-Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol
2 - Hey There Deliliah - by Plain White T's

But to be in the top 5, you have to be around longer than 1 year to be "stayworthy"

totally trivial...

I am laying in bed and Curtis is listening to the song 'Time after Time' originally done by Cyndi Lauper... I have heard it done by several different artists each with a different style/arrangement. There is not one that I don't like. So, I would like to officially announce that it is now in my top 5 FAVORITE songs ever. Although, I now officially have 3 faves. In the #1 spot forever and always is (drum roll please).....
1 - FIELDS OF GOLD - by Sting.
2 - WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME - U2
3 - TIME AFTER TIME - originally performed by Cyndi Lauper - YOU MUST CHECK OUT EVA CASSIDY OR THE SARAH MCLACHLAN ARRANGEMENT

4-5...I'm not willing to commit yet...lots of songs I like...but I will have to think a bit before writing them down for the world to see. Any suggestions???

MISSION SPACE

Just another day of make-believe...

Haley took the shuttle to space and Lexi rode the train to Mars.

Haley's Hair Salon

In the midst of my strep/flu illness, my mom came over to help with the girls on Saturday while Curtis was at work. I managed to get out of bed to find Haley playing "beauty salon" with my mom. My mom has perfect hair...every strand is always in its perfect place...and that is important to her. Which shows what a trooper she is to let Haley style her hair. I think she looks kinda cute, don't you?

P.S. Mom, don't be mad I posted this picture!!!!

Molly Sue

This is my dog Molly. She was our first baby and now she doesn't get enough attention. She is the best dog any family could ever have. She is so sweet to our girls and they are so rough on her. This morning I poured her food in her bowl after her staring me down for 2 hours (her way of asking) - I finally got around to it. But then Lexi walked over and started playing in it. Molly politely backed up and waited for Lexi to move. She's so patient and so sweet... Everyone should have a dog like Molls.

Blueberry Muffin, A Bible, and A Pen

I finally got myself out of bed this morning. Curtis took the girls to church, so the house was nice and quiet. I went to the kitchen to get a muffin, and decided to spend some time in the Word, which led to some time writing....I guess there are advantages to being sick.

P.S. After my throat being in excruciating pain, my doctor decided I had strep and prescribed me penicillin and pain killers...it is definitely doing the trick! I should be mostly back to "normal" tomorrow. A super huge thanks to my husband and my mom for getting me through the last few days!!! Sending mad love your way....

INGENIOUS

Before we left town last week, we pulled Haley's bike in from outside since it was going to rain. When we got home, Haley came up with an ingenious idea. She put the her training wheel on her sit and spin so she could peddle as fast as she could. "Look at me Mommy - I am getting exercise!" If only I could be that motivated!

Wamp Wamp

I am stuck in bed with the flu. I woke up yesterday morning with an incredibly sore throat...it came out of nowhere. So I went to the doctor to rule out strep. It hasn't been ruled out yet, but my doctor was leaning toward the flu. By the time I got home yesterday, I realized she was right. I will spare the details, but it was a rough afternoon/evening.

I can't really sleep, so I've been catching up on tv...after watching my fare share of fox news, I have now resorted to Lifetime movies. The current film is on eating disorders starring Barbara Hershey. It's fascinating...not in a good way though. Here's hoping to getting well soon~

Road Trip to Solvang...

Last week we went to Solvang, a little Danish Community that is North of us and close to Santa Barbara. We had a good time, and Curtis especially enjoyed all of the familiar sites from the movie, SIDEWAYS.

Lexi had cabin fever on the way up to Solvang...it was a nearly 4 hour trip.

This was one of the restaurants from SIDEWAYS. We ate there as soon as we arrived in town. It was a very western restaurant (Curtis' parents would LOVE it! ) The food was served family style and we all loved it.



I love the sweet Danish Architecture throughout town.




Haley was intent on getting her foot in the clog.


PILLOWFIGHTS!



Of course we couldn't leave Little Denmark without having Danishes.

To my friends with kids....

As I have blogged before, I am the parent of one, possibly two, strong-willed children. In the midst of reading and studying the best ways to raise my kids in the midst of my inadequacies, I came across this prayer. It is everything that I wanted to pray but didn't have the right words. Now I do....

Lord, You know my inadequacies. You know my weaknesses, not only in parenting, but in every area of my life. I’m doing the best I can to raise my kids properly, but it may not be good enough. As You provided the fish and the loaves to feed the five thousand hungry people, now take my meager effort and use it to bless my family. Make up for the things I do wrong. Satisfy the needs that I have not met. Compensate for my blunders and mistakes. Wrap Your great arms around my children, and draw them close to You. And be there when they stand at the great crossroads between right and wrong. All I can give them is my best, and I will continue to do that. I submit them to You now and rededicate myself to the task You have placed before me. The outcome rests securely in Your hands.”

Marky-Mark

When we lived in Vegas we were lucky enough to meet Mark Hostetler...he is a best friend to Curtis and like a brother to me. He lived with us for several months and we still feel like he is part of our family. He came down for a few days last week and we celebrated the New Year together...and as always, we made room for him on the couch! Although, now we've officially upgraded to sleeper sofas, so he was sleeping in style! The girls LOVED Mark. Haley asked if he could spend the night in her room, but I had to explain that wouldn't be appropriate...although it was still quite cute! And Lexi ran all over the house saying "Maak, Maak." I think it is sweet that Mark's name was one of her first words!
Come back any time Mark...the couch is waiting for ya!

Fun with the Lyons

One of the saddest parts about moving away from San Clemente...in fact, THE saddest part, was moving away from our sweet friends, Kipp, Sarah, & Tanner Lyons. It's about a 45 minute drive now to visit, but we made it out a couple weekends ago and had so much fun hanging out and eating sushi together!


Sare Bear and Haley


The Boyz and Lex


Tanner is ready for SUSHI!

Baby Emily's First Christmas

This is a pic of Emily on her first Christmas....My sister looks amazing and motherhood definitely suits her.

Snuggle Time for Lexi and Emily..

Haley in her Raincoat...

Haley got this raincoat for Christmas and I took these pictures outside on Christmas day. It was such a beautiful, sunny day without a rain cloud in sight, but she insisted on wearing the coat. But she still looked precious.

A Season of Giving...

This was a tight year for us financially, so we bought presents with our budget in mind. We had made a deal with my side of the family to have a limit of $30 per person, a deal that I thought everyone was sticking to. Though we didn't talk that out with Curtis' parents, we assumed it was a tight year for them as well and they would be taking it easy on the gifts. Imagine our surprise when my parents gave us air tickets to Florida and 4 day passes to the parks and Curtis' parents gave us a LCD Flat Screen TV. I know that Christmas is about giving instead of receiving, but we were so sad we couldn't give more.



I mean seriously, it is like a bad tourist slogan..."I gave my kids an LCD TV an all I got was this lousy golf shirt."

So to our loving, generous parents....we can't thank you enough. Your generosity never ceases to amaze us.

Christmas at our House

I know many of you look at this blog for pics of the family and updates on the kids...so I'm gonna post a few blogs that have nothing to do with recyling, homeless people, or my spirituality. There is officially nothing deep here...just sweet pictures of our kids on Christmas Day!


Look what Santa brought the girls!

Ratatouille for the Wii.

Santa left some crumbs...

Lexi figured out how to unwrap very quickly!

Starbucks or People?

I recycle cans/bottles for 2 reasons. 1) to save the world, 2) for starbucks money...both are very important to me. I get made fun of it a lot, but it's just what I do. So the cans and the bottles start to take over the garage after a while. Since we are leaving town, I thought this morning would be a good time to take them in. So I leisurely went to Starbucks ahead of time so I could enjoy my drink in the car on the way to the Recycle Center.

When I pulled up, I was initially bummed because there were 2 other people ahead of me in line. I took a closer look and noticed that they were obviously homeless. The lady had a shopping cart, and the guys bike was resting over in the corner. They were both disheveled. As they were putting their cans in the buckets, I pushed the button that automically opens the trunk of my sleek mini-van. I took a sip of my $3.95 cup of coffee and got out of the car. I must be such a joke to them.

I started to unload all the cans and as I did, my heart was wrestling with emotions...what I wanted to do was get my $10 or so of Starbucks money, but what I needed to do was just give them my recycles. I stood there for a moment completely torn while they were talking about how they got 2 cents more a can if they crushed it at some other place. This is their world. My world? My world is drinking starbucks and going on vacation in 2 hours to stay at a nice hotel in Santa Barbara...what a joke. My stomach literally started to hurt.

When they were done talking, I asked them if they were together. When they said no, I said, "Would you all like to take these and just split them?" Seriously? Their faces lit up like my kids' did on Christmas morning. I can't believe I was thinking of keeping those to myself for a silly cup of coffee. I wished them a Happy New Year and hopped back in the car and drove off...thankful that for once I made the right choice.

God in His Sovereignty

I help create our worship services at church and when I'm leading worship I select the songs that we are doing. Sometimes it is a quick process and other times it takes significantly longer. There are times when I don't know why I picked certain songs, but it makes sense to me later. Tonight was one of those nights.

It's New Years Day and I scheduled a rehearsal for tonight. Crazy, I know. But I have amazing volunteers who stepped up and made it happen. But why would I rehearse on New Years Day especially since we normally rehearse on Wednesdays? Because, I realized last week that my husband was feeling the burn of his job and the stress of Christmas, and we just needed to get out of town and reconnect as a family. So we are leaving tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon, and are headed to the Santa Barbara/Solvang area. It should be fun. But to do that, I had to rehearse tonight.

Before rehearsal tonight, my daughter and I had another "challenge of the wills"...which left me depleted and not feeling like I was a good person, let alone a good mother. To reassure you, Haley and I are fine...we talked it out, we've loved and hugged, and she is at Disneyland (on a previously planned trip) with my parents. But back to this afternoon....It was pretty brutal, and it is hard to see the worst parts of you portrayed in your children. Ugly...ugly stuff.

Now, let's get to rehearsal. What I planned on being a time to learn parts and learn a couple new songs, ended up being a beautiful, cleansing, and healing time of worship for me. God is so good. He knew I would walk into this room broken tonight and he had me choose songs that I needed to sing. Songs that I needed to hear to remind myself of how constant and unchanging God is. Songs that brought to light all the hideous parts of who I am...but all the beautiful parts of who God is. He reminded me that I am his kid and I mess up just like my kids. But He forgives me. He loves me. I don't deserve it. And I know I'll mess up again. I'm quite certain I will walk in this very room, broken again....and God will pick me up, hold me in his arms, forgive me, and tell me He loves me, just like any good Father would.

Here are some of the words that God used tonight to speak to me...

Come home, Come home, you who are weary come home....Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling...calling o Sinner come home.

Create in me a heart that's clean, Conquer the power of secret shame, come wash away the guilty stain of all my sin. Clothe me in robes of righteousness. Cover my nakedness with grace. All of my life before you now, I humbly bring.

You're the defender of the weak...You comfort those in need. You lift us up on wings like Eagles.

God is sovereign. These songs weren't chosen by accident. God knew that I would be here on a Tuesday night, that I would need to hear them and I would need to believe them. I hope they will touch people this weekend the way the moved me tonight.