This boy is obsessed with his Grandpa.

All in favor of a new big bookshelf???

EYE!

one more for grandma

the kitchen and living room

Our new sofa slip-cover

I Recant my Last Post

I couldn't help posting about this new, fabulous tote my Mother-in-law sent me today from her New York birthday trip.

I love it and couldn't help sharing.

Thank you Julie!

I have to say, maybe it's because of the busy summer lifestyle, the traveling, the moving, the playing, the dinners with friends, the beautiful weather, etc, i'm just not into the blog right now. Lame, yes, but such is life.

One last Summer trip to Oregon

Because my brother Matthew Frank is getting married this Saturday evening.

I love this hippy, fly-fishing bro of mine.

A Perfect August Evening

Tonight our family rode our bikes downtown to Coeur d'Alene Brewery. Here, we enjoyed a Vanilla Burboun Stout, a big bacon-cheddar-burger, and a salad and fries. wow, deliciously satisfying.

There are those nights when nothing sounds quite like a burger. Tonight was one of those nights, and I regret nothing about our night out.

On our way home we stopped by Friendship Square and let Colson get his wigglies out before bed time.

Speed-Wash

is not life so funny?

Today I wanted to wash the car, and the automatic car washes here in Moscow frankly, don't work. They have a no-touch policy and only spray your car with soap and water - not worth $6! I only had $2 in quarters today to do the do-it-yourself wash. I know from previous experience that this usually takes 2 applications, totaling $4 in quarters. Like I said, I only had change enough for one go-around. This was going to be the speed-wash of my life. I put my quarters in the slot with the spray wand in one hand, ready to go when the 4 minute clock started to tick down. Go! I was spraying and running around that car with all my might, then scrubbing with the big brush, up and down, up and down, side to side, running around in a frantic. I hope so badly someone was there to see. I was even laughing at myself when I looked up at Colson strapped into the back seat. He was also quite entertained and also laughing at my escapade. I scrubbed and sprayed until the last second, just finishing in the nick of time. I'm sure there are a few spots here and there that I missed, but overall, the car looks shiny clean. Not a bad way to save a couple dollars and a great excuse to laugh at yourself! You should try it sometime.

Welcoming the Landis Clan

And all of this is just the beginning...

Abandoned Blog

Yes, I know, my blogging definately stinks right now. We've been on vacation, which i could not write about because it was a suprise birthday party that took us to Oregon. We had a fantastic time laying by the pool, reading Harry Potter, playing chess, and watching cousins play until they dropped. It was fantastic!

and now we're back...but my blog isn't really back....

we're moving this week. i'm going to be a busy mama and will catch you up with pictures when life slows down.

question: if you knew you were going to move in a year, would you paint an apartment the color of choice under the stipulation that you would have to paint it back when you moved?

TTFN

Please Pray

23 Christian Koreans were kidnapped by the Taliban and are being held hostage in Afghanistan. They are being held threatened by death by an ultimatum that would free an equal number of captured Taliban prisoners. These Christians were in Afghanistan doing medical missions. Many of them are women, nurses and teachers, and I believe 2 hostages may already have been murdered.

Pray for justice. Pray for the release of these Christians. Pray that God would be glorified and the Kingdom of Christ furthered.

For more information, here's the story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/world/asia/23afghan.html?fta=y

Nothing says mid-summer like...

Peaches falling off the pits, luscious aromatic peaches, peaches tender to the touch...peaches in hot peach pie! I'm in love.

Messy Morality

Let me share with you what Winona Ryder has to say for herself regarding her feelings after getting caught shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills five years after the fact. After she abdicates the responsiblity of her sins by saying her pain medication made her confused, she goes on to say:

"I didn't have this tremendous sense of guilt," she adds, "because I hadn't hurt anyone. --Had I physically harmed someone or caused harm to a human being, I think it would have been an entirely different experience."

So this is our standard for right and wrong? "If I don't physically hurt anyone" I can do whatever I want without feeling too much guilt! "As long as I'm not poking them in the eye or digging my heal into their foot, I can cheat my boss, steal from children, lie to my husband, and practice injustice however I personally see fit." Without a moral backbone, which is what God's law provides for us, this is the type of thinking we inevitably will fall into. This is a clear example of where our Nation is going by abandoning the law of God. What if we all lived like this? And isn't it clear that too many of us already are?

(Now mabye the media mis-represented Ms Ryder. and I have to say that I loved her performance as Joe in Little Women. But this is beside the point.)

I cannot get enough of these two!

Another Beard Poem

...only this one is not written by my husband. It's in a children's poetry book that we really enjoy. This poem is particularly funny because prior to knowing about this poem, a friend of mine and I, would always resist the notion of beards because things get stuck in them, like insects, or mustard. What would happen if a man with a large beard was sucking on a tootsie-pop and accidentally dropped it. It would get swallowed up in his beard in the same way a sea anemone encloses around the touch of your finger. Just candy for thought; and now with the poem:

OLD MAN WITH A BEARD

There was an Old Man with a beard
Who said, "It is just as I had feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"

Edward Lear

Vintage Motorcycle

Colson has got himself into a stage of asking me to draw him things, like motorcycles (if you read this blog you know he's crazy about them), or a windmill, or the moon, or our stick-figure family (which is my favorite by the way). Today while he was napping, and while I had more than 15 seconds to get something down for him to see, I drew this motorcycle and had it ready for him when he woke up. I really enjoy doing stuff like this.

Death by Windex

You want war? I'll give you war! These tricksy ants thought they could get away with an invasion while Colson and I were at the pool! I did actually sort of feel bad when I lowered the nozzel of the Windex to fire and they started scambling. "There's no where to run now little anties! muah ha ha ha ha!" Maybe the ant army will think twice when an ant finds a lone Cracklin' Oat cereal under a certain high chair in my home. Or maybe I'll think twice in leaving pieces of breakfast until lunch.

Beard

My husband wrote this poem last year. I can't help but post it here:

Beard

One has never been as happy as I

When stroking my beard,

Smoking my pipe,

And drinking my beer.

But my bride despises going through the briers

before getting to the picnic,

and so I shave my beard,

Kiss my bride,

Smoke my pipe,

and lift my glass to the sky.

And say cheers to all the years

I won't have a beard.

Lessons from St Francis

Saint
Francis
of Assisi
gathered the birds
about him
and began to speak to them tenderly
God had given them air
wings
and trees
sing, he told them,
for song is the praise to God
from the hearts of his children.

I would be a much better woman, wife, mother, daughter, and friend, if I could live out this following prayer (O how I desire to be this to others):


"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon, here there is doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive - it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life"

-St Francis of Assisi

Lessons from Dumb and Dumber

It actually appears as if I've taken hair-cutting tips from this clip in Dumb and Dumber.

I'm so sorry Colson I made you look like Lloyd Christmas! I take all the blame. At least this happened before Jr. High: that would have been a true abomination.

Through the trial and error, finally, I have figured out how to develop that tossley, toddler hair that I love so much. Life is better for us all.

Where the child is, there the motorcycle is also.

Ode to the Campfields

First of all, our trip to Seattle was an enourmous blessing for our family because of the generosity and joy from the Campfields that was poured out upon us. They held us up for the weekend; and the food, fellowship, and laughter would have been hard to be topped. Basically, people, they dominated!
...and Colson can't wait for baby Camp to come out and play!

Jenni and I

Jenni and Jeremy

Family photo

Kelee's Wedding - and my Beautiful Friends

Jenni, me, The Bride: Kelee Kjack, and bridesmaid extraordinaire: Julie!

Western Baptist Soccer girls + Jenni...loved seeing old friends.

Sorry Julie, I had to. You are still a knockout!

Kelee getting ready to get her groove on!

The wedding was gorgeous. The bride and groom especially. And the reception was one to be remembered. Unique and classic!