different but the same

chin up, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

as she gets older, there's an increasing amount of time that i don't spend with sweet m. she goes to kindergarten, she goes to church classes and activities, she plays outside with her friends on her own. today i've been thinking about how i've been seeing her in different ways lately.
when she was little i only ever saw her from up close because i was always right next to her; holding her or only a few feet away while she played on the floor. now i see her inside a school bus while i watch inside the house. today i saw her standing at the pulpit in front of hundreds of people at church.
it's so strange and wonderful to look at her in these different ways.

father and child reunion

embrace, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

daddy gets to come home for lunch most days, and when little c. is awake and millie has not yet boarded the bus, this is a cause for celebration. these kids love their daddy.
almost every time little c. sees big daddy, he runs up and gives him a big embrace like this one. it warms my heart every time, but sometimes, i must admit, it also makes me a little jealous.

free rice!

ok, how cool is this website that lets you play trivia games and donates rice to the u.n. world food program for every right answer you get.
every right answer = 20 grains of rice, which might sound kind of small, but before you know it you've donated 3000 grains of rice, which sounds a lot more hefty!
there are lots of different subjects, like art, vocabulary, different languages, and i think even math and chemistry! i'm currently obsessed with identifying the artists of different paintings (trying to put my humanities degree to good use--it's been getting kind of rusty.)

via babyccino

pumpkin picking

pumpkin picking, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

tonight for family night we went to a pumpkin patch. it was freezing cold but the kids had a lot of fun. we got each of them a pumpkin and i got some small white pumpkins to decorate indoors with. they also had corn and watermelon and a small barn at this patch.
i wanted to take a lot more pictures but the sun was already setting, and i couldn't get any good light!

keep me hanging on

aren't little boys fun?

halloween ideas from down under

thank goodness for the internet. yes, halloween is celebrated down here, but it's not very big at all, and gets nowhere near the respect that it does in the states. in fact, i've even heard people trying to denigrate it as "an american holiday."

anyway, here are links to some cute halloween ideas for cupcakes and other recipes, plus some party tips thrown in:

the wilton website (cute cupcakes, cookies, and candies--all with halloween themes)

the hershey's halloween website

the food network halloween ideas

these are just a few, please feel free to share your ideas as well. we're trying to put together a fun little halloween kids party for our playgroup. any help is appreciated!

wonderwall

beginning of the plate wall, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

so we've been collecting these plates for a while now...and now we're starting our plate wall. there will be many many more when we're done!

p.s. someday our walls will be painted...i think a soft grey.

halloween bash, entry no. 1 (the tunes)

so we are throwing a small (but hopefully delightful) halloween party for sweet m. and some of her friends. in the coming days traveltwin and i will be posting some of our ideas about halloween parties.
tonight: MUSIC!
of course there are the classics that quickly come to mind when one thinks of halloween:
thriller- michael jackson (must have. if you can, learn the dance that goes with it :))
monster mash- bobby "boris" pickett
werewolves of london- warren zevon
spooky- (the version i have is by dennis yost (such a fun halloween-ish song)
witchcraft- frank sinatra
dead man's party- oingo boingo
the purple people eater- sheb wooley
i put a spell on you- screamin' jay hawkins
love potion no. 9- searchers
haunted house- jumpin' gene simmons
the munster's theme- jack marshall
out of limits- the marketts
twilight zone- neil norman

some from nene's playlist:
that old black magic- sammy davis, jr.
superstition- stevie wonder
the edison museum- they might be giants

some that aren't classics, but i think would work really well:
i want candy- bow wow wow
somebody's watching me- rockwell
people are strange- the doors
addam's groove- mc hammer
don't fear the reaper- (originally by blue oyster cult but the version i have is the caesars and i really like it)
weird science- oingo boingo
the ghost in you- the psychedelic furs
psycho killer- talking heads
black magic woman- fleetwood mac
lil' red riding rood- sam the sham and the pharaohs (esp. great if someone at the party is coming as lil' red)
it's halloween- the shaggs (kinda weird, but is says halloween a lot)

and finally, here are some that have nothing to do with halloween, but are great songs and either mention ghosts, monsters, vampires, or are creepy-sounding
is there a ghost- band of horses. love this band, love this song
walking with a ghost- tegan and sara. pretty good party music!
monsters- boy least likely to
vampire- antsy pants (from the juno soundtrack)
skin is my, and a nervous tic motion of the head to the left- both by andrew bird. he is a genius, and a lot of his music is kind of eery sounding. just brilliant.

"i am not my hair," says little c.

he says that because he has the misfortune of having his mommy for a barber. yikes. i'm not good (at all) at giving haircuts, especially to little boys, but i do think he looks a lot better with his hair quite short.

twin b-day

i love, love, love this picture of jo (on the right, people)! it doesn't seem like that long ago that we were there, celebrating our 21st, wasn't it? that makes me feel so old.

on her birthday, i would like to share just a few of the many gifts jo has given to me. i thought anyone who reads this might like to do the same.

without my sis i have zero fashion sense. this goes back to when i was 4 years old and would wear the exact same sweater over and over again until my mom pried it off me to wash it. my trouble goes back a long way. jo has always believed in more variety, more style, and more quirkiness too. she's got great taste!

jo has taught me a lot about compassion and thoughtfulness. she's been known to cry for others' sadness, even if she doesn't know them. she has a big heart.

one of my favorite things about jo is she's a great listener. i always know if i talk to her or share a problem with her she won't ever judge me or give me unwanted advice. she always lets me vent without repercussion. i love that about her.

well, i could go on, but i'll just say happy birthday to my lovely sister who i love and miss so much. you are a beautiful sister and friend to me.

happy birthday, lovely nene.

of course this is a christmas picture, and not one of us on our birthday, but i don't have any of us together on our birthday scanned into the computer. this is nene and me on a christmas morning, mid-eighties, ('86? '87?) oh so many moons ago.
nene,
back then (or even just a few years ago) i never could've imagined spending a birthday apart. now that our lives have changed and we live in our happy little homes in two different hemispheres, i'm glad that you have such a wonderful family down under to take care of you and have fun with on your birthday. but i'm selfishly so sad that we aren't together on our special day.
here are some birthdays from olden times that i remember:
1. our first surprise party, when we had no idea and the shock was so great, and there were kids from church and kids from school, and we got so many presents that i thought i was going to burst with excitement.
2. our seventh (i think seventh) birthday, when mom and dad took us to disneyland (our first time, and my only time!) and you had just recovered from the chicken pox but were still covered with scabs, and people must've looked at us strangely but we were having too much fun to care!
3. that party we had in high school, when we were juniors or seniors (my memory's bad) and so many kids came, (even some of the cool kids) and everyone had a really good time, and then the cops showed up because our neighbors had seen some kids in the front yard holding plastic cups (that really had punch in them) and thought we were drinking or something. that was freaky. and cool.
4. in college when pretty much the entire apartment complex threw us (and brentar) a party and there was music and tons of people and you gave me that cd you made for me (the first mix cd i ever got) and it was so amazing that i played it over and over and over and seriously, to this day, it's one of the best presents i ever got.

i love you, big sis. even though our birthday is hardly on the same day anymore (blast the time difference!) i will always think of it as our birthday and never as my birthday. and i can't wait till the one we get to spend together again. (let's throw a big party!)
jo

a song to make you happy.

so i've loved the shins these long years, that's no news story. and then when their latest album "wincing the night away" came out, i was really predisposed to like the song "australia," what with having the ties with australia that i am blessed to have. but then i heard the song, and it was bouncy and happy, and i really liked the music. and then i listened to the lyrics, and they were really good. then yesterday i stumbled upon this video. and what can i say, it makes me happy! i hope it does the same for you.

saturday at the show

saturday was our second year at the royal melbourne show (for americans, that's like a state fair). it was fantastic! j. enjoyed everything more now that he is nearly two, and we took him on some of the kiddie rides. we also had a good time eating chocolate from our cadbury showbag! here's some pics of the fun:


and yes, i managed to pick the only one-eared horse for j. to ride on.




the little lamb loved nibbling j's fingers. he didn't let it bother him though.

little c.'s photo shoot

charley harper

due to a happy accident, our kids are now proud owners of charley harper's abc's, a beautiful board book of animal drawings by the amazing modernist ilustrator charley harper.
i found out about charley harper a while ago and fell in love with his simple colorful illustrations. so i added the abc book to my amazon wish list. hubby thought he would purchase a book for me from my wish list for my upcoming birthday, and not realizing it was a children's book, bought this one. but i couldn't be happier. it's a gorgeous asset to my kids' libraries, and i'm so glad they have it!





get your own here

cupcakes and imperfect perfection

tonight sweet m. and her papa baked some cupcakes, and then she and i decorated them. she kept saying, "this is so much fun. i love this." and it made me happy to see how much she enjoyed everything she was doing.
while we were frosting and decorating i was thinking about how wonderful it is that kids just enjoy themselves and don't get caught up in trying to be perfect. sometimes i tend to worry about making things look just right, but i love how sweet m. just threw the sprinkles on and let them fall where they may. she wasn't worried about making them look perfect, and she helped me to remember that there is more than one right way to do things. i think they turned out just right.

where i live

haystacks at sunset, originally uploaded by jowrites365.

this was taken across the street from sweet m.'s school, maybe half a mile from our house. yep, i live in the boonies.
i apologize for the lack of posts lately. i'm going through a rough time, but i know things will pick up soon.
see you on the upside!

my little man these days

so many pictures of sweet m. lately, which is great. but i know you all are aching for a pic with little c. in it. so here you are:

this was taken while we waited on our front steps for sweet m. to come home on the school bus. i like this time of day because it's just me and little c., all fresh from his nap, ready to run around outside a little. good times.

memes. they're pretty fun.

One Word Meme: found this on meetmeatmikes from about a month ago.

1. Where is your cell phone? bag
2. Your significant other? downstairs
3. Your hair? blech
4. Your daughter? asleep
5. Your son? asleep
6. Your favorite thing? books
7. Your dream last night? unremarkable
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your goal? happiness
10. The room you’re in? messy
11. Your church? Jesus
12. Your fear? un-living
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
14. Where were you last night? home
15. What you’re not? skinny
16. Muffins? cinnamon
17. One of your wish list items? bicycle
18. Where you grew up? colorado
19. The last thing you did? read
20. What are you wearing? grey
21. Your TV? lost
22. Your pets? none
23. Your computer? mac
24. Your life? happy
25. Your mood? varies
26. Missing someone? nene
27. Your car? minivan
28. Something you’re not wearing? socks
29. Favorite store? anthropologie
30. Your summer? allergies
31. Like(love) someone? lots
32. Your favorite color? red
33. Last time you laughed? tonight
34. Last time you cried? today
35. Who will repost this? unknown