The Urge To Be Cool

Yo, there be a cool dude hanging out at my crib. He be Stylin' everyday, yo. What's up with that? He best fly back where he came from, because he is cramping my style. I think he be a poser or a wannabe, what do think?

Ian was playing with my bandanna the other day and he came up with this pose on his own. I had to take a photo, it was just way to cute... I guess the urge was strong to be a tough guy.



While he was fooling around his bandanna didn't quite do what he wanted and this was the photo that I got. He wasn't too happy I took this picture, because he looked lame.

Poor dude, being the boom diggity takes time...no lie!

Dancing Queen

Sashi: Mom, what can we do today?
Mom: Sashi would would you like to do today?
Sashi: I don't know, I am bored.
Mom: I bought you bubbles...would you like to blow bubbles?
Sashi: YES!
Sashi: Mom, you blow the bubbles and I will dance, ok?



Sashi: Mom, the bubbles tickle my face!
Mom: Oh, do they?
Sashi: Ya, but they taste terrible..ack.



Sashi: Mom, can I blow bubbles now?
Mom: Of course you can!
Sashi: I have a better way to blow bubbles mom, watch!



Sashi: See, this is a lot better than using your mouth...we get more bubbles.
Mom: *laughing* Yes, I see that you do.
Sashi: Quick mom take a picture of the bubbles!!



Sashi: Did you get one? Was it a good one? Let me see *Sashi looks into the camera*

Sashi and I had a fun day, I guess it wasn't as boring as she thought it would be...Yay for bubbles.

The Mysterious Movie

We get Netflix at out house. It was decided that we watch quite a few movies and this would be the most economical choice for our family. There is also an extra bonus, if you own a Wii you can download free movies off of it and watch them right away. OOooo...our family is stoked! We have been watching Veggie Tales, Abbott and Costello, action movies and TV shows all off of the Wii...talk about fun. Up until a couple of days ago we haven't ordered any movies snail mail. Hubby got an e-mail stating that a movie has been ordered and that it will arrive very shortly. Hubby didn't think anything of this, thinking it was me who ordered it. Ian and I checked mail yesterday and there was a Netflix red envelope waiting in the mail box. I thought who in the world got a movie when you can download free ones off the Wii??? I thought strange and went to see hubby at work. I said, "Funny thing there was a movie in our mailbox today." Hubby replied, "Yes, did you get a movie?" "Ahhhh no", was my reply. Hubby gave me a strange look and said, "Who got a movie if you and I didn't get one?" Hubby slowly opened up the red envelope and pulled out the CD. With a surprised look of amusement he said, "I think I know who ordered a movie?!" I took a look at the title on the CD and it said Mario Brothers Adventures. Oh! Ian has been playing on Netflix. "Ian, did you order a movie off the Wii?" Hubby asks. Ian gets very red in the face and says, "Yes, but I did it by accident.' 'I pressed the buy button by accident and couldn't go back." Hubby and I are smiling at Ian and tell him it is ok to get movies, but he needs to tell us when he is getting one. We also tell Ian that he has to watch his movie, even if it is bad. "Why?" Says Ian. We tell him, if we pay money for a movie then we need to watch it even if it is a dumb one. Ian is sad, but says ok. Lucky for us we solved the mystery.

P.S I flooded the kitchen today, but am too embarrassed to write about it.

Piano Torture And The Three Little Pigs

Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you the greatest piano player in the whole wide world, Master League! Watch as Master League plays a beautiful sonata without making a mistake!! Listen to the wonderful melodies effortlessly pouring out of the hands of a musical genius!!! Master League, Master League...wake up Ian. Ian you are day dreaming again. Ian stares at me blinking a little bit and then smiles up at me with a sweet smile. I can imagine this is what my son is thinking as he is drifting off during a piano lesson. Ian has an ear for music. When he was two years old he could hum the entire Rhapsody In Blue. As Ian got older he could hum out song after song of video game music....never missing a note. I thought Ian would benefit from learning how to play the piano. Ian took off right away, memorizing notes and timing. He would learn songs so fast that his teacher had to change books with him and put him in an older adult book. Then something happened. I do not know if he got bored or if he just has to work a little harder than normal, but now he is tired of piano. He desires to play music, but has to learn how to play cords and scales. He cries and pouts that he wants to play Beethoven and Mozart not drab little pieces of music. He complains and then doesn't want to try. I told him music is like learning a new language....you do not know Japanese right away. I told him he has to learn word, by word, sentence by sentence to know how to speak. The piano is the same way. Ian is sullen. He wants to please. He wants to learn, but oh how boring. In the mean time we hear cracking notes, ear piercing thunks and whimpers from a boy who has the love for music, but needs to learn the love of practice.



"Mommy, can you read me the story of The Three Little Pigs?" Sashi asks me. "Why yes I can, is my response." Sashi and I sit down in a comfy chair pull up a blanket, we open the book and start to read. "Mama, remember to use all the voices, ok?" Sashi tells me. I take a deep breath and start reading the adventure of the pigs and Mr. wolf. I talk of the mother sending the children away. I read of the pigs deciding where they want to live and how they make their humble homes. I talk of the wolf who is watching their every move. Sashi is silent the whole time listening. Then comes the part in which her little body tenses up..."And I will huff and I will puff and I will B L O W the house down!" I say in a rather deep and loud voice. Sashi leans forward just and inch or two waiting to see what will happen. Whooosh! The house is down the pig is running. Then starts the story again. "Mommy, will you read a little more slowly when the wolf comes to the house." Sashi asks. "Of course" I say. Then....I....Will....huff....and... I ... Will....puff....and.... I .... will....B L O W the house down!!!! OOOOOOOOOWHOOsh! Sashi's hands are by her mouth now, eyes are glowing with excitement, she is so excited. Down went the house and TWO little pigs are running!!! "Mom, the wolf won't blow down the brick house, it is strong." Sashi says with big eyes. "We will have to wait and see, I say." Well, as we know the wolf can't get in and he is blowing his head off and stomping his feet with frustration and the whole time Sashi is cracking up laughing and jumping up and down on the couch. She is happy that the wolf can't get in. "See, I told you mom...see!?" Then comes the boiling water and the wolf falling into the water and the wolf running away with his tail on fire. Sashi is so delighted that the wolf is hurt and running off and that her piggies are safe. "Mom, read it again!" "Um, Sashi can we read it again tomorrow?" I ask. "No mommy, I think it is best to read it again." Maybe she is right.

The Art Of Cleaning

My son has a slight problem he seems to be allergic to chores. He is quite good at talking his way out of doing things. I ask him to clean his room and he tells me, "I like it this way mom, plus I can find everything since it is all on the floor." How can you argue with this? I ask him to pick up his clothes that are scattered throughout the hallway and he states, "Mom, I am helping you by having my clothes here." I am puzzled by this answer and ask, "Why is this helping me, Ian?" Ian gets a big grin on his face and says, "I am helping you so all the dirty clothes are in one place...if I pick them up, then you will not be able to find them." Ok, he has got me again. What do I do about this? I am always so proud of him that he comes up with these very cleaver responses, but at the same time I worry about his future wife. If he doesn't learn to clean, golly what will his house look like once he is on his own?? I can imagine his wife asking Ian to please help clean up the house and Ian will sweetly reply, "If I clean up how will you get exercise?" Ack! I have to teach him to clean, but how? If you tell Ian to clean his room he will stand in the doorway to his room and just look at the floor. I can tell he is completely baffled where to start. I told him anything that is on the floor pick it up and put it away. This works for about 5 minutes, until he sees a Bionicle in the corner and decided it needs a new sword for some sort of epic battle. So I thought maybe I need to start with something a little more specific...like pick up the books on the floor. Yay! He does this with ease, then starts to play again. "Ian, you are not done yet." I say. I then ask him to pick up his clothes and put them in the hamper. Ian does this within two seconds and then picks up a book to read. "Honey, your room is not clean yet." I say. I then ask him to pick up his toys. Ian responds with a loud, "Mom, I am still playing with these and If I put them away I will not be able to find them." Again, he got me. I then got him!! "Ian do you like spiders?" I ask. "No!" Says Ian. "Do you like mice?" I say. "Why?" asks Ian, with wide eyes. "Well, if you do not pick up your room spiders and mice might come to live in here. .. they like cold dark spaces." I said. Ian looked horrified and said, "Mom, I think I need to learn how to clean so that my room is not a home for tiny creatures." Ian stated. Yay! I got him... At least for today.

Let The Sun Shine

OH WOW! We have been having wonderful weather these last few days. Today I took Sashi out of school early and she, Ian and I went down to Twin Lakes to go play in the sun and water. The kids had a BLAST! Sashi loved the water and got to play in the sand. Ian saw some buddies and he went running off and I didn't see him for about 2 hours. I really love sunbathing. I could lay out all day long, if giving the opportunity. I enjoy wiggling my toes in the sand and watching the bees buzzing by. I can't get over how hot it gets in Juneau once the sun comes out. I also can not believe how quickly Juneau residents strip down to their bathing suits when it is only 65 degrees. For the middle of the day Twin Lakes was hopping! The playground was so clogged with little kids, I found it a bit claustrophobic. Kids would run by nearly knocking down little babies, boys would climb the tops of the slides and peek at the kids coming down and little girls would huddle in a corner whispering about who knows what. This was a great day for the park. There was a tiny breeze that would give a little break to the heat. The sun would go behind the clouds just for a few minutes and then peek out and shine. We were hot, but not dying.
I love days likes these and I hope and pray for more this summer. Yay, to Mr. Sun!

Wishing For Clean Dishes

Help... I am dying under an awesome amount of dirty dishes!! Every time I turn around there is a sink full of putrid, slimy earthenware waiting to be scrubbed clean. Why? How?? What is this curse that is upon my house? We use paper plates for heaven's sakes! What in the world is going on? I loath dishes. I hate everything about gross, disgusting, green, brown, stinky, oozy dishes. I can live without them. I think I will start having my family eat out of their hands...ya...that is what I am going to do. Case closed.

Camping and Pink Cupcakes

AHHH summer is knocking on the door. The smell of skunk cabbage is in the air, the tourists are all over town, there are goats on the mountains, bears roaming around town, the air is warm and the kids are starting to wear their shorts..these are all sure signs that summer is aproaching. Another sign that summer is near are the camp outs. Ian and his daddy have been camping two times in the last 3 weeks. Ian is delighted that he gets to "rough it" in the woods with his friends and his dad. Ian's dad is not so sure he wants to be camping as much as is required of him. This weekend they went camping at Eagle Beach. Ian was so excited to be going to Eagle Beach that I could hardly do school with him on Friday. He would ask me two to three times in an hour when he was going to leave. "Mom, why isn't the time going faster?" He would say. Poor kid. Ian had everything packed at 12:00pm five hours before he was to leave! When it was FINALLY time to go...he ran out the door without kissing me and say "See Ya." It is funny the emotions that I was feeling watching my son jump into the car... I had great pride that my son was growing up and going on another adventure and I had deep sorrow that my son was growing up and didn't want to have love. As they drove out of sight I hoped that they would have a blast and that the bears would leave them alone.


The girls were left at home for the weekend. We could do anything...ANYTHING. What did we do? We made pink cupcakes with pink icing and yellow sprinkles. We had gross TV dinners and watched food network with each other on the floor. Then we had a nice warm bath and read four long books and got into bed. Sashi got to sleep with me! Oh it was all very exciting. The problem was...I DIDN'T SLEEP! I can't believe I didn't sleep. Dang it. I was worried about all sorts of silly things. My mind would not stop and just rest. I ended up going to bed around 12:00am and then tossed and turned most of the night. I was never so happy to see morning. When we got up we watched the stage production of Peter Pan. Sashi was enchanted by this....she would stand right up next to the TV and watch with an opened mouth staring at the real people flying across the stage! I could tell she wanted to fly. Sashi Then go to have her cousin come over to play. I think she had a great time with mom!
Ian and daddy came home covered in wet clothes and mud. Ian ran right to the shower and yelled in a loud voice, "Oh Yeah, I am finally warm!" He must have stayed in there for about an hour. Genji was so beat he took a shower an went to bed. He told me before he drifted off that the boys went to bed around 1:00am and got up around 6:00am. Hahaha...so much for sleep. I think it was a great trip because of the stories that were told throughout the day. Ian told of battles and wars and daddy stated that it was wet and raining most of the night. Ian wanted me to know that he went exploring in the river and got his shoes wet but it would be ok because he had his boots in the car. Daddy explained that the new tent worked really well and that it was wet most of the night. Ian told of the wonderful breakfast of french toast and sausage and daddy said that he had to take down a wet tent. It made me smile to hear of all the adventures. What a great weekend, even if it did rain. Lets hope for a warm and sunny summer.

Rabbits everywhere

My house has a little problem...it creates bunnies. It is almost like magic! I brought home one bunny almost 12 years ago, for my infant son and then that one bunny got a friend. My son was delighted that he had two fluffy little bunnies to play with. Then the Easter Bunny started to bring them every Easter. Oh the joy in this house!! Rabbits everywhere! My son spent many, many hours playing with his fuzzy friends. Over the years something happened that is quite mysterious...we started getting bunnies several times a year and not JUST on Easter. Now everywhere I look rabbits are in every room. They have the cutest little black, pink, white, and blue eyes. The bunnies come in different colors, black, white, gray, brown, purple, pink, yellow and multi-color. Wait, what? Oh I should tell you these are not real bunnies they are stuffed animals. This is why we have a slight problem.



My son adores rabbits of all kinds. He wants bunnies. He asks for them and will talk about what are the best kinds to have as a pet. He is happy with his stuffed friends, but he wants more. I think it is time to give in and get him a real bunny friend so that maybe this floppy ear obsession can stop. This is the bunny that Ian wants. The bunny he wants is a Holland Lop. These Lops can be kitty littered trained and make wonderful pets. Ian asks me almost everyday for one. He looks so hopeful that I will say yes. I want to say yes, but we live in a place that will not allow us have pets. It is the biggest drag ever. Ian wants to understand, but I think his little heart doesn't want to stop believing that he will one day get one. Awwww... I guess in the meantime I have to figure out a way to stop the bunnies from breading. There are too many freaking Rabbits everywhere!!!

A Simple Love

I LOVE Veggie Tales! I know it is a small, silly thing to love, but I do nonetheless. I sing the songs on a daily bases, I find myself chuckling at funny one liners and I want to watch the shows all the time. I love the Silly Songs With Larry. This is where Larry the Cucumber will sing you a silly song. The songs are silly but very catchy. One of my favorite are Dance With The Cucumber..here is the link to watch the video http://vodpod.com/watch/317295-the-dance-of-the-cucumber
I also love the song God Is Bigger Than the Bogey Man. Here is the link to this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCg994AA-ug
The videos have wonderful messages and are Biblical based. I found a website that has all the movies PLUS Veggie Tales Radio....eeee...so exciting!! I also found on this site a curriculum for children for teaching values ... COOL. I might have to try this for next year.
Ian and Sashi also love Veggie Tales, though Ian will not admit to liking it while his friends are around. I guess *sigh* he is growing up.

The Attack

I woke up this morning with the BIGGEST zit you ever did see. This zit is SO big that I can not look at my face without staring at this disgusting, white blob that is attached to my face. I thought it has to die now and I started to think of ways that I could kill it. I tried washing my face with sandy facial soap...thinking that I could scrape it off, nope. I then thought I could keep my face underwater for a few minutes allowing the zit to cleanse it's self...Nada. I got really frustrated and decided to pop the darn thing. So I got out my tweezers and went for the gross zit that I should name, because it is so big, and killed it!!! Wahahaha!!! Triumph is mine...or so I thought. What is this I see? Why is my zit coming back? No! This can't be right. I popped it, it should be gone. I looked in the mirror and to my horror not only did the dreaded zit come back, but it GREW! Now my skin is all swollen and red. I didn't help myself at all. I feel defeated. But, wait! I have one more attack that I can try....hydrogen peroxide. I giggle inside thinking that I can kill the little bastard. I dip my q-tip in the peroxide bottle and put the tip on my zit.. .. Ouch! Hurts! Stings!! Did I kill it?!? Nuts, it is still there. What in the world is going on? Why can I not get rid of this thing? This is the mother-of-all-zits....I guess I will have to name it since it might be with me for a while. Do you like the name Fred?

Bus rides and new adventures

Today I got to ride a school bus with 24 little screaming, pushing, shouting, non listening kids. It was a blast, let me tell you. It is amazing how uncomfortable school buses are. I had to sit over a wheel well so my knees were almost up to my chin the whole ride. I had a little boy would wouldn't sit in his seat to save his life standing to the left of me. I had to sit sideways the whole trip trying to get this active little guy to stay seated. He wouldn't. There were two little girls shouting at each other, like a couple of stray cats meeting each other for the first time. We couldn't get them to stop the entire way out. It was very impressive that kids can yell for such a long distance and not lose their voices. Oh! Where did we go for the field trip? We went to the NEW NOAA fishery building. This building is located by Auke Rec and Lena point.



This building is amazing. It was built two years ago and everything in it is new and bright. The NOAA people had so many activities for the children to do. We looked at sea life and got to touch real live star fish. We got to learn about many types of fish and what kinds are best to eat. We learned about whales and what happens when a whale washes up on shore. We got to see tons of other kids! I guess this is the "place to be" when it comes to Sea Week. I found out the building is open to anyone from 9-5 during the week. COOL. Ian and I will be coming back.
The trip back was a lot more relaxing. The kids fell asleep on the bus...Yay!!



Am I ready for the next field trip next week...you bet I am!!

The Love Of Old Things

I have loved old things for as long as I can remember. I adore learning and looking at old objects. I want to know from which era the object as come from, who used this object and how did we find it. I love looking at the object and staring at every detail of it memorizing what I see. I have a great fondness for old photographs. It doesn't matter who is in the photo...I will look and memorize faces. I love faces. I can feel how the person is feeling through the photo. I can tell that they are annoyed, bored, sad, happy, scared, silly or peaceful by their expressions. I love history. Learning about things of the past makes me feel alive. I adore learning about all kinds of history but my favorite times are between 1850---1940. I love the pioneers, The Victorian era, The Gibson girls, The Flappers, WWI, WW11, The Great Depression, old Hollywood, the music and the dancing. My love for these years came when I was quite small. I used to play with cut out dolls, that I made, and pretend they were pioneers. I would play for hours just pretending. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a Gibson girl. I would put my long hair up and try to put it in a bun. I never quite understood how women could keep their hair up all day, because my hair would always fall down within minutes. My love for old Hollywood started in Junior High. I went to a Buster Keaton movie and fell head over heals for slapstick. I ventured into different movies of the 20's, 30's and 40's...loving each and everything I found. I love how movies were simple. Some of the movies could scared your pants off, just because of shadowing and lighting. My favorite are still the comedies. I love to laugh. Nothing can make me laugh like Harold Lloyd, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and The Three Stooges. I think it takes more talent to make someone laugh then to cry. I have found another love...genealogy. I enjoy finding people. I feel so close to my family when I find out who they are and what they did for a living. I love having stories to go along with the faces in the photos. I love thinking about my family, of long ago and smiling knowing that they know I haven't forgotten them. I love old things. I do not know why, but I do.