38 going on 13

We saw "it" this week and "it did not disappoint. Yes, we are High School Musical people. I would have wanted to see it even if my children were not motivated. They just made it possible for me to not be embarrassed while purchasing just one ticket for a 38 year old woman. I still was slightly embarrassed when I got teary eyed during the movie, but only my sister knew that and she had her own moist eyes to deal with. But I don't care: I love these movies! I love them so much that we went directly from the theater to buy the soundtrack. Now the songs are echoing in my mind while I do jazz hands all over the house.

"All I wanna do is be with you, be with you..."

*Sigh*

Lest you TOTALLY mock me, I'm kind of joking about the sigh part...kind of.

She reads!

Since I'm a reader and all now, I would love to recommend a book to you that has been a source of both angst and delight in my relationship with God.

Whiter Than Snow

meditations on sin and mercy
by Paul David Tripp

The sub title may hint to why it has brought some needed angst in my life as I have had to own up to the fact that my greatest problems in life do not exist outside of me, but within me. I don't think there is any arena that I am more aware of this in my life than in my mothering.

This book is neither a traditional Christian book nor a devotional, but 52 meditations on sin and mercy that are intended to sing the tune of grace in our lives. This fall I have felt at times like my world is spinning out of control. But God has used this book to bring a bit of grounding in my life about the freedom and grace found in Him.

On the lighter side, I thoroughly enjoyed Meredith Efken's

SAHM I Am

Where Stay-at-Home Moms Connect

This novel about an email loop of stay-at-home moms is very clever, while also being encouraging. I found myself laughing out loud at times (that pretty much never happens while God is raking my soul through the above book) and identifying with so many things in the story. Especially since I have joined the wacky world of blogging.

One last recommendation I have for you is...

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. Just because I am reading actual books with covers and meaningful words inside doesn't me that I still don't love me some People! In fact, I just got a 3 months free subscription through Toys R Us. Let's hope that doesn't put the kabosh on the whole reading real books gig I've got going on. I kind of like it.

P.S. Don't "Click to Look Inside" above. I'm pretty sure nothing will happen.

Random facts rule the day

There are games in blogland? I love it! My friends Angela and Eryn tagged me and so now I am stressing about what actually qualifies as a random/weird fact. I almost looked up the word random in the dictionary to try and get some clarification. This is all ironic since I am one of the most random/weird people in the universe. Actually I prefer the word "quirky".

I guess that putting that much thought into this activity is the opposite of random. So here goes...
1. I have a co-dependant relationship with my body pillow. It started during my second pregnancy, but now has become a permanent fixture in our marriage bed and in my heart. My husband tolerates it(referring to the body pillow as the third party in our marriage) and has resided himself to only get 1/3 of the bed.

2. I love all things 80's. Actually listening to 80's music is almost a way for me to worship God because I am just celebrating down to my inner core. Most people don't consider "Come on Eileen" to be like a worship song, but I'm not most people.

3. I love fall for several reasons, but let's just highlight one. Three words: Pumpkin Spice Latte! (from Starbucks, of course)

4. I've never colored my hair. I will probably need to get going on that soon since the grays are starting to colonize on the crown of my head.

5. I listen to Radio Disney even when my kids aren't in the car with me. I'll admit, I like the Jonas Brothers!

6. I'm not much of a reader, unless People magazine qualifies. Ironic since I was an English major. I'd just rather watch the movie! But I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. I'm actually reading 3 books right now.

7. In my definition of random, at least one of the facts should be embarrassing, thus this last fact. I tend to sweat a lot at night. I think I sweat more than my husband. Now that's just wrong. It's significant enough that one morning my daughter came in to cuddle with me and I started to scoot over to let her lie down on my side. She said "No, thanks. I'll go to Daddy's side. I don't want to be near the sweaty Mommy smell." Lovely.

So, now I'm tagging Kristin, Hilary, Jenna, Mindee, Beth, Jana and Chris, Kala, and Julie. Have fun!

Someone had a birthday...

Can you guess who it is?
His Dad refers to him simply as "Action",
which suits him well.

He has one speed: fast. And one volume: loud.
Passion is his middle name.

He is...
1 part Sanjaya
2 parts Will Ferrell
And 3 parts Energizer Bunny.
Throw in a little William Wallace
And a lotta Jon Bon Jovi.
Add personality out the wazoo
and a tender heart beneath it all.
Put it all together and you've got a little Jack.

My baby (for now) is six.
Here he is, in all his shaggy Jack-ness...

in "action", of course!

I'm pretty sure this was not accidental

His favorite birthday gift was an amp for his electric guitar.
If you are thinking right now, "Are you insane?!",
the answer is "yes". But, here's the deal...
we are nurturing this rock star thing and
plan on taking the rock star gravy train as far as it will go.

Seriously, a verse I claim for him is Psalm 33:3,
"Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully,
and shout for joy."

Happy birthday, dear boy! You are loved!

am i normal?

wait, don't answer that. i know the short answer of course, but i'm looking for something more. we just finished the last of our home study visits. YEA! it was such a strange experience in some ways. the "best" was the walk-through our house.at first i decided that i shouldn't feverishly clean. my firstborn convinced me that it was more authentic to let her see the state the house is usually in. so i thought i could do it au naturale. but i couldn't.

an hour and a half before she arrived, i caved. i ended up feverishly cleaning. and it looked pretty good, if i may say so myself. i'm sure i would have had our social worker totally fooled if...
a) i didn't admit to her that i was sweating when she walked in due to the feverish cleaning
b) my dear daughter didn't blurt out as we stood in my picture perfect bedroom, "usually there are clothes thrown all over the floor and it's the messiest room in the house".

what was my point? oh yeah, am i normal?

so, throughout this process of the home study i find myself vacillating between two feelings. the first is that we are so blessed and i can't wait to have another little kollar on our team. this is a good team. we are still in love. we love our kids. we have a home that's happy, fun and full of grace and freedom.

the other feeling isn't as warm and fuzzy. it's goes something like, who are we to think we would be a good home for another child? this is a crazy house filled with crazy people (except bill, of course). by adopting aren't i just going to be "ruining" another little person? as a mom, i'm selfish, impatient and inconsistent and i don't have my kids floss.

it's not dissimilar to the dynamic that happens when i watch the supernanny. i spend half the show thinking "what's wrong with this family?!" and the other half thinking "what's that number again for the supernanny?" so i don't watch it. why be conflicted unnecessarily?


so am i normal? well, i think we all know the answer now since i purposely uploaded the above picture of myself with 5 chins...what sane person does that?

Please don't call the authorities...

My silverware drawer is overflowing these days.
Why, you ask?
I have finally determined that it is because my precious children
are all bringing home silverware from school
and it has gotten mixed in with our own.
Tax-payer silverware.
Stolen tax-payer silverware.
It's not all my fault, you know.
They are responsible for their own actions, however illegal.
I guess I have raised them and they are technically stealing.
And I haven't returned them yet, so I am technically stealing.
That's on me.
But please note that I am not sending plastic spoons with them
because I am green.
Actually, it's because I keep forgetting to buy them.
Now since I have confessed this issue to my little corner
of the blog universe,
I guess I better go fish through my silverware drawer
and pay my debt to society by returning them tomorrow.
Next order of business: pay my overdue fees at the library.

Addendum: the official count is 21 spoons and 1 fork.
Complete humiliation.

Barry Manilow on my mind...

It's not terribly uncommon for there to be a
Barry Manilow song in my head.
I'll admit it, I'm a Fanilow.

But there's a reason why there's a Barry Manilow song
in my head 24/7 right now.

"Time in New England
Took me away
To long, rocky beaches
And you, by the bay..."

Bill and I recently had the opportunity to go to Cape Cod
for a wedding he was officiating.
I have always wanted to go there and the Cape did not disappoint.
Even though it rained much of the time we were there,
it is a beautiful place.
And it has fun fringe benefits such as lobster
and New England clam chowder.
A highlight was the people we got to spend time with in the wedding party
as well as a high school friend who lives there.
I am now a big fan of destination weddings.
I hope any of you reading this who are unmarried will have one in a
really fabulous place and invite me.

An ongoing struggle was trying to get a picture of us on this little getaway.
I sort of had a problem
with figuring out the zoom on my camera. See for yourself...

He's cute alright, but not what I was going for

at least I'm in this one...somewhat
(my, what big pores you have)


I finally got enough sense to give someone else the camera!