let the Games begin!

Meet the 2008 Olympic team of the best Olympic sport! Gymnastics!!! I thought I'd add to my sis Jen's post here.... by letting you meet the team! Big nerds, I know! We've been into gymnastics since longer than I can remember! Go USA!

Shawn, our national all-around champ.

Nastia, our national all-around runner up.

Chellsie

Samantha

Bridget

Alicia

a MUST read

There are a few (a lot) of "social issues" in this country that send me on a major soap box, and this book touches on several of them! I'm not usually into politics and that sort of thing. And never before have I used this blog to mention any of those, but I am very into anything that has to do with our health and cover-ups by the ones we should be able to trust in the name of money... (think water supplies, pesticides, airborne poison, autism, vaccines, breast cancer, etc... they're all covered here)

I ran into the public library to return some books this afternoon while my family patiently waited in the car. I can't enter a library without walking through the isles to see if a book catches my interest. Well, I walked out of the library with about 8 books on subjects that range from vegetables to cooking to vaccines to my book club book to juices & smoothies to THIS.

I couldn't wait to jump into it. I've been sitting on the couch since we arrived home a couple hours ago and have been devouring it ever since. I'm now half way through the book and may finish it by the time my head hits the pillow. It seriously makes me want to do something. So I figured the best thing I could do about it all at this moment was to tell all of you about it! A lot of the issues talked about in the book were issues I was already concerned about and being proactive about for our family, but I was astonished by countless others. And can I just make one recommendation before you read this book??

STOP eating Tuna! I knew about mercury levels when the whole thing came out about Tuna containing dangerous levels of mercury, but I innocently assumed that it would be taken care of for the safety of our nations consumers. Boy, was I wrong! (I learned there is nothing that can be done! You can't buy your way around the tuna problem! No options for "organic" tuna.)

To make an amazingly interesting chapter short... basically, mercury gets to our ocean's creatures by pollution that originates in coal-fired plants. "First, it pollutes the surrounding air, then, in an inexorable cycle, it drifts with the wind and rains down into the ocean water." So basically, once it settles in the sea, it begins to contaminate the smallest creatures first. The it quickly moves through the food chain... ending with the largest fish, like tuna, holding the largest levels of mercury. Yuck! You have to get your hands on this book! And the "good" albacore tuna is the worst, it holds 3 times the amount of mercury as the regular kind. It is disasterous to your health. Especially our children, babies, and unborn. SO..... not to be a bummer of a friend, but we Americans are WAY too trusting. The amount that the FDA says is beneficial for your health is absolutely not. "If American women follow the FDA's advice and eat a can of albacore tuna a week, a bad situation will be made far, far worse."

There are a few more major issues that I haven't yet gotten to in the book. The tagline on the front of the book states, "Startling new evidence about the real causes of cluster illnesses, birth defects, cancer, asthma, and autism."

I'm sure I'll have more soap boxes to jump onto after finishing the book. But for now, I think that's enough "food" for thought!

Aaron and Abie

As promised, back in May, here are some pictures of Aaron and his fiance Abie!

They are getting married October 18th, and we are so excited for the two of

them and can hardly wait to have another sister!

Below is a picture of the moment Aaron popped the question.

What a romantic backdrop, wouldn't you say?

so so so so blessed

Here are four reasons why:

happy birthday to gavin!

We celebrated Gavin's 6th birthday earlier this month with a Soccer Party! He invited some buddies to the park for a fun evening! He was more than energetic and was quite hilarious opening gifts... that's our exuberant boy! He thought his party was "Sweeeeeeet!" and "Awesome!"

The kids were so cute lined up on a picnic table bench to watch Gavin open gifts... they were mesmerized. I love it. I remember feeling so happy for my friends, as a child, when they opened gifts. And I remember that feeling when they opened your gift. I'm glad I get to relive that with my kids.

Gavin is a wonderful, energetic, fun-loving, sweet, kind, sharing, sports-loving kind of boy. He makes our home a hilarious place to be. He is starting to really grow up and Jeremy and I comment that we don't ever want his cute little voice to change. I'll end this post by sharing a Gavin funny from this summer.



In June, we went to Vacation Bible School at church... and every day in the "Jerusalem Marketplace" there was some sort of drama that took place acted out by adults in costume. Near the end of the week, it was getting intense. Jesus had been arrested and Peter (one of Jesus' disciples) was walking through the marketplace and was being asked if he in fact knew Jesus. (And we know that in the Biblical account, he denies knowing Jesus 3 times before the rooster crows....) But here's how Gavin took it:

"Mom! I'll tell you what happened!! That guy Peter? He said he didn't know Jesus, 3 TIMES before he heard the turkey!!!"

Drew and I laughed SO hard on the way home about it... after Drew corrected him and told him that it was actually a rooster, he said, " Oh, I didn't know that!" Then just a few days later... "Mom, a crow says cock-a-doodle-doo!" That boy sure has his birds messed up!!!! :)

fabulous summer

I just have to blog about my new-found freedom from To-Do lists. For the past 4-5 years, my life has been ruled by a huge, never-ending To-Do list, and I now have none! (breathing a huge sigh of relief) In the past I had a running list of things that needed to be accomplished for MOPS and other ministry involvements, etc.... even during the summer. I'll go a whole week or more now before I pick up my planner, that used to lay open on the kitchen island year-round.

The quote at the bottom of the picture to the right says, "Make a list - you'll feel better." That cracks me up! That is SO me sometimes.

Granted, I still make lists before birthday parties, a big cleaning project, events, and those kinds of things. I'm a list kinda gal... remember, I'm one of the strange ones who writes something down that I already did, just so I can check it off! (did I just admit that??)

I was just realizing the other day, how free this summer has felt. I don't care that the weather has been less than ideal, it doesn't affect me. I love rainy days because you can stay inside and watch movies, read, and play board games, I love snowy days because we have hot cocoa, light candles, and listen to good music, I love cool fall days where sweaters and sweatshirts make their way back into the wardrobe, and I love brown spring days because I know that green is just around the corner. What can I say, I'm easy to please. I love for things to change, so I guess Alaska is the perfect place for me. The weather doesn't stay the same for very long.

Pause.... Drew just came out of this room, it's 10:30pm and they've been in bed for an hour and a half... and gave this Mom a heart attack! He said in a wavery about to cry voice, "Mom???? Gavin is hanging from the bunk bed!" "WHAT?????", I yelled and ran in to see. And Drew said, "NO! Not that kind of hanging.... he was hanging like this!!!" (like a monkey from the top bunk rail) All I could imagine as I ran in there was that they were playing around with a rope or something, and Gavin was the bad kind of hanging from the top bunk! Situation solved.... I just have two insomniac boys who were both in tears because they couldn't fall asleep. The adventure never ends. Un-pause. :)

I am so thankful it is summer. But I am getting really excited, as you homeshooling mamas will understand, about the box (or two) of books that should be arriving this month for the next school year! So far, Math, History, and Language Arts are ordered and heading our way. But I'll be happy enough to tuck them away until the first week of September when we dive in for real.

I told the boys tonight after the above episode that we'd get back into the habit of reading a chapter of a book before bed... Right now we're reading a spin-off of the Little House books. When the boys were little before the girls came along, they each picked out 3 books before bed and we read and read... but now this Mama is a tad more weary at the end of the day and we read sporadically throughout the day but not as a routine in the summer. So as the boys were tearfully trying to settle back into bed, I asked them if we should start up a bedtime routine like we used to do. They both lit up and nodded. Oh, and we added bedtime music to the routine. All things we used to do, but let them slide away with life.

Well, goodnight... this long, rambly post has come to an end... but could you answer me a question or two??

If you have kiddos, do you have a bedtime routine? And what do you do?

and/or

Are you a list maker like me?