Recent Favorite Photos

Robin in a Tree

Lit from Within

Work Day

Nothing like ending a long day of burning all of winter's downed branches (along with contributions of an old fence and several dead Christmas trees from friends) with a hot dog and smores roast...

Miserable Days

Our normally happy and un-complaining toddler has a cold. Not feeling well, the slightest things bring tears to his eyes. The following break-down was the result of the most gentle nose-wipe ever to happen on the face of the earth:


The brightest spot in his otherwise miserable day- I let him wear his cowboy boots, even though they are 3 sizes too large and make him walk funny.

He lost a boot a few times climbing around on the furniture, and came to me crying to put it back on. This sweet new obsession started with a short experience wearing his cousin's cowgirl boots while visiting at his Grandma Twist's house.

He later added his favorite Carhartt stocking hat to make his ensemble complete.

Even with his favorite clothes on, and favorite re-discovered puzzle pieces in hand, it still took a round of his new favorite song, "The Music Machine" (circa the 1970's!) to bring out the smile.

Family Visitors

We were blessed to have a visit this past week from Matt's Uncle Mike and Aunt Maddie Twist. We had three delicious family dinners with much laughter and bonding time. A highlight was watching our Boy and his 4 year old cousin truly playing with each other for the first time; up until now, they have really only played next to each other. Even if that playing together was quite loud and involved running around and around the connected circle of rooms in our house, chasing each other!

Group photo:


The kiddos sharing the end of the table:


Sittin' on the porch swing:

Do you have next Wednesday the 25th off?

Do you want to show your support for Pregnancy Resource Centers across this state?

Senate Bill 776 (SB 776) directs the Department of Human Services to collect data and study "alternative-to-abortion" organizations in Oregon and report findings to Legislative Assembly by December 31, 2008.

If it becomes law every pregnancy center in Oregon will be officially investigated by the state.

In addition, this bill establishes a toll-free number to investigate alleged complaints against pregnancy centers. This makes it possible for hundreds of complaints against pregnancy resource centers to be phoned in by supporters of Planned Parenthood and NARAL.

Planned Parenthood and the National Rights Action League have long vowed to close down pregnancy resource centers and this legislation is part of their agenda.

Planned Parenthood is the nation's number one abortion provider and annually receives millions of your tax dollars for its "family planning" services.

SB776, if passed, will put official state sanction on the political agenda of Planned Parenthood and NARAL.

Check out this site: http://www.no776rally.com/ for information on how you can stand with the PRCs of Oregon in their quest to care for women and teens who are in crisis pregnancy situations.

Bye Bye Highchair

A few weeks ago, we gleefully returned our borrowed high chair. For months we have been maneuvering around its large body in our small dining room. Now he has a "big boy" booster seat with a dishwasher safe tray, and a bonus: it is portable!

Steam cleaning high chair: 45 minutes of (gross) labor
Shiny new booster seat: $19.99
My dining room returned (almost) to its former glory: PRICELESS

Ridiculous

I paid over $52 to fill my tank yesterday. At the place with the best price in Sandy. Unbelievable; the highest price in town is $3.07. I think I'm going to start using milk instead. It's cheaper.

High Fashion

Circa 1978


Circa 2007

What's For Dinner

Stir Fried Szechuan Steak on Rice

1 1/2 cups brown rice
1 pound flank steak, trimmed
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
2 cups fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts

Cook rice, omitting salt and fat. Set aside, keep warm.

Cut steak diagonally across grain into 1 inch thick slices. Combine with garlic and crushed red pepper in a bowl; toss well to coat.

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch and sugar, then add soy sauce. Whisk until smooth. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sugar snap peas to pan, and stir fry 1 minute. Add meat mixture to pan, and stir fry 2 minutes, or until browned on both sides. Add soy sauce mixture to pan; stir fry 1 minute or until sauce is slightly thick.

Place a serving of cooked rice on each plate; top each serving with steak mixture. Sprinkle each serving with chopped cilantro and chopped peanuts.

Yum!

Joy

Folks in our congregation may have thought that I was brimming with joy at the thought of our resurrected Jesus. And I was. I greatly enjoy celebrating the redemption of our souls with fellow believers on Easter.

And it was a moving experience to be singing backup vocals in a room that was most definitely not designed for its acoustics, as the sound of our combined voices bounced around in a most satisfying way.

But the inspiration for that joy (bordering on giggles) was my almost 16 month old son blowing kisses to me from his Daddy perch in the middle of the congregation.

Music Everywhere

I know that it is normal for a toddler to love music and dancing. But it is the sweetest thing to see your particular little person find music in life.

Matt and I took our little Man on a walk in our canyon last weekend. He of course takes after both of his parents and loves the outdoors, so he was enjoying looking at the trees, playing with sticks and generally being in awe of all the new things around him. We had paused for awhile to enjoy the day, when Jack started doing his interpretive dance in the middle of the path. Puzzled, we looked at each other, wondering what had prompted this display. After listening for a few seconds, we came to the conclusion that he was dancing to the sound of the water rushing by in the creek bed several hundred feet away through the trees.

No Guts No Glory

Matt and I have been married 7 1/2 years. On Tuesday I saw part of him that I have never seen before. His guts. That's right, Matt had the rare pleasure of getting an emergency appendectomy this week, and the surgeon was kind enough to take a photo of his appendix before removing it. A little gross, to be sure, but I love every part of this man that is my life companion, so I didn't mind so much.

Reality

I have always heard it said that young toddlers are unable to decipher between reality and imitation, such as anything they might see during "screen time". For example, there is a commercial in which a sweaty man in a gym appears to be speaking directly to the person watching and even reaches out to share his headphones with you. Jack DOES NOT LIKE HIM! He apparently thinks that the man is talking to him, and he comes to me each time for comforting.

I didn't realize just how confused Jack was about screen "reality" until we were watching a slide show on the computer of photos from the last few months. When we got to this photo:

He studied it for a few seconds, made a tractor noise, then walked over to the French doors to see Daddy on the tractor. Only there was no Daddy outside and no tractor either. This was a bit upsetting to him, and required an immediate Mommy emergency diversion tactic.

Three Favorite Pasttimes

Going for a ride in Grandma Twist's wagon...

Singing and playing with color crayons at the same time; you can't get much better than that!


We have been keeping him in for the first part of our church service so he can enjoy the music. He is so joyful- grooving to the beat and singing out as loud as he can- folks all around him have big smiles and sometimes I can hear him all the way up front over the sound of the congregation and my own voice in my monitor!