Killer game....

I wish I had some picture to share, but it was a killer basketball game last night.

Double overtime and they won by 1!  Yea!   Nick made the first basket  and played intensely leaving it all on the court...I lost track of the baskets he made.   Tad is an eighth grader getting to play with the BIG guys now....and he got a 3 pointer and a 2 pointer last night in the little time he got to play.   He is fearless as well.

So proud of both my boys..and so fun to watch them on the court.   Hoping to get some videos later today from another mom who recorded some of the game.

Hello September

September 2nd. 

No crisp mornings (yet)
No swirling leaves or need for sweaters...the weather thinks it is still summer...

but it's not...

at least not in my mind as I packed up four kiddos for their first day of school.

a little different this year....

they packed their own lunches, picked out their first day outfits (except for the littlest one, I can influence her still) 

my oldest even drove them to school (with me in the passenger's seat)

but the smiles were the same, the excitement, the wanting to get their early to hang out with friends before it all starts... the new backpacks and shiny school supplies not yet lost....

and the picture taking mom.   As I snapped the first day photos....a time honored tradition....I thought with my oldest just one more year of first day of school photos (unless he let's be follow him to the first day of college...lol)

oh the joy of back to school, and fall and basketball and football...leaves soon to fall, sweaters soon unboxed, new things to learn.

and i celebrated with a pumpkin spice latte on my drive into work.

Hello September!  We love you!

Olivia "Ollie" Eighth Grade

Anthony "Tad" Eighth Grade

Mary Elizabeth "Mei-Mei" Fifth Grade

Nick "Knickerbocker" Junior

What I've been watching this "winter"...

What have eye been watching?

My little kindle and I have been snuggle-in-the-bed, under the quilt buddies this winter...using Amazon Prime...I have a few TV series I like to watch, and movies.  

I also have some of my "alone" time going to the movie theatres.  It is an escape that helps to just chill and enjoy.   I love going by myself.   The dark theatre, big screen, popcorn smell...and the story immersion.    I have heard some people say, who really like movies, that they can't go to the movies by themselves.   I think that is so sad.   To deprive   yourself of something you enjoy, if no one can go with you.   I actually enjoy going alone.   Like reading a book, and it is just me and these characters....   :)   I like that.  No thought of: will the other person like it, or a bad scene cringe...and a snort if you laugh out loud, or duck a punch in a action scene....     If you have never tried a movie by yourself...be brave...try it!

so some of my winter watching has included:

Catching Fire




















The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug (Of course)

Lone Survivor

Frozen

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit

and on my Kindle:


The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey (Extended Version)

Red 2

The Internship

All of the Narnia films

Now You See Me

Forest Gump

Proof of Life

TV Shows:
BBC Downton Abbey, Season 3

BBC Sherlock Season 3

Elementary

The Mentalist

Grimm

Covert Affair

Haven

Castle

Beauty and the Beast

Falling Skies

Warehouse 13

Emma

Wow...and I know that isn't all if it.   I guess that is a lot of watching.  :)  Some of my favs in there though.

January is here...but winter is no where to be found

 Here it is January.   No snow, no rain, no need for sweaters...no winter in site.  :(

Seeing that fall and then winter are my two favorite seasons (in that order), this camper-ette isn't too thrilled with no winter...  really.

But at least we have basketball....

and knitting....

and Pinterest....

and movies.....

:)  at least we have that.

I have been doing a lot of "dumb" knitting.  Knitting that does not require much brainpower, forethought or planning...no following a pattern, just clickety-click click, knit knit purl purl.  The calming act of knitting.

I was knitting at a basketball game last night.  Talking to the momma beside me, I talked about how I knit in lines, waiting knitting.   I knit in the Starbuck line.  I knit in the grocery checkout line.  I knit waiting to pick up the kids from an event.  I knit at stop lights.   Waiting knitting.

She looked at me and asked if I had ADD.  Is knitting a symptom of ADD?

Scarves, cowls, hats, ....knit knit knit.....and no need for a sweater in sight.

My car (Suburban intermittently called Hootie)...is in intensive care.   He has been at Otis Automotive going on the third week.   Too many times I get the message it is fixed, only for it to become crippled a block or two later...and limp on back...two times on the back of a tow truck!  Silly.  Embarrassing.  Stressful.   So I have been renting a mini-van for the last two weeks.     Ugh. 

Christmas was good.  Pricey, but good.   I took three weeks off...YES!   Lots of crafting and wrapping and secrets!  :)  fun....



Nick in Red, air bound
 

And now we are all about basketball.   All four of my minions are on teams....with Ollie and Mei on the same team, Tad on Jr High Boys, and Nick co-captain and starting point-guard on varsity.  Friday nights can get a bit hectic...but fun.   Tuesdays are just Varsity..so that is good.

I have been a year in my new job....same company, different division, at Intel.  And I still enjoy the work I am doing so much more than when I was in IT.   Learning lots every day.


and so, we sit at the beginning of 2014, ...... which I have mixed feelings about....

In the words of Forest Gump, "That's all I got to say about that!"

I am weary of facebook.   Facebook has made SOO MANY tiresome changes over the past few months that it is practically impossible to connect with who you want to connect with.  ALL I ever see is this junk stuff from some place or another that I liked once upon a time.....sigh...so protest protest. :)  Perhaps I will return to blogging....and pretend facebook does not exist.   I will put {thelist} on here, maybe...and there it will sit.

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a fun and yummy Thanksgiving
boardgames..specifically RISK and DixIT
"new" (to us) red leather chair
presents hiding, or on their way in the mail
a surprise in the toe of my stocking, when unpacked from last year
a picture of a pickup with a tree on my wall (Thank you)
time off
at this very moment, not feeling stressful about anything
first game of the basketball season tonight!
putting up a few decorations....taking it slow :)

{thelist}

Lean in....

Mark said it right....   I read this yesterday on Ann's blog about control freaks...(eh hem...me)...and it so hit the mark...(no pun intended, since it was written by Mark Buchanan) that I had to make this little pic with the quotes.

It is now my desktop background to remind me.  

"Here’s what I’ve learned: Every impulse to seize control — is the Holy Spirit’s invitation to practice self-control.
Every nerve jolt to freak out, melt down, start yelling, fly into rage or panic is a divine cue to slow down, breathe deep, start praying, and lean into God.
Every instinct to control something is God’s nudge to control myself."

Help me remember that Lord.

a wounded heart in common

somedays

all a wounded heart can do to keep beating

is read Ann

"That maybe being the mama I want to be isn’t so much about being more, but trusting more – trusting more in the God of Hagar and Ruth and Hannah, the God who sees the angst, who nourishes the empty places, who hears the unspoken cries — and answers.

That godly parenting isn’t ultimately about rules — but having a relationship with an ultimate God and His children.
" - Ann

...as I read Ann, I see someone like me....wounded heart, loving her kids, and failing them often. No super mommas here. 

Whether it is thinking I am helping, and out of my own pain, hurting instead...or just being so broken that I act the opposite of what I would hope...  there is only one person I think I have found who gets it and still hopes, and still moves forward and still turns to God and still hugs her kids and hopes that the wounds can be tended...

the momma-inflicted wounds....

hurt people hurt people, even when they don't want to.

so, like so many on planet earth, we walk around with wounded hearts in common.


as I walked the hallway at work this morning, I thought, Lord, could we start it all over.   Could we act like just today I found out about you and accepted you...and just today I am starting a fresh life with you.  And just today grace is pouring down for the first time, all around and over my kids.

and I can start loving well

loving with grace

oh how I wish we could...

the taste of fall

it's mid-July, but I tasted fall today...

you know how sometimes a certain smell, or sound, music, or taste, can make you feel like you are in another time...or season?

this morning, as I was walking to my car from starbucks, on the way into work, it was a cool 65 degrees with a breeze, I took a sip of my iced vanilla latte and I felt fall.... almost a skip a heartbeat feeling....

summer is fun and spring is pretty,
winter is tucked in, but on top of the leaf pile is amazing fall.

I love fall.

the air, the season, everything about it....
it is always a time of creativity, and nesting, and homespun inspiration for me. baking, and secrets, back to school and sports games....

love it....

today as I savored my moment of fallness, I felt its good. Its all good.

I was thinking of my dad, "papa" to my kids. 

I had just shared a bit about him with someone....
this someone, not knowing papa, having never met him, still listened in respect and kindness and blessed him. :)

blessed papa already over there....

and a few minutes later, as I tasted fall....my heart ached fresh at missing him. We may get on with life, on this side papa, but you are carried around in my heart, as you are living life on that side.

so much about your time on this side I cherish...fondly handle in my mind, turning it over again...smiling bittersweet.

It's ok to have tears and touch the lovespots like bruises...tender.

love you papa...loved fall with you....

and I pray their are seasons in heaven....so we can love some more falls together....
hey, wouldn't it be awesome if it was fall all the time there?