Every time I look at Will’s moose jammies do the moose face. You know when you put your hands on either side of your head with hands open and say “Moose!” (like my friend Kim and I used to do to each other)  I tried to teach him to do it. Isn’t he funny!

This year I wanted to try to take a photo each day. The photos didn’t have to be anything amazing, but would get me to think about photography each. I was doing great until I got sick last week, since then I don’t think I have taken any photos. So in an attempt to get back on the horse I am participating in Fat Mum Slim’s February Photo-a-day Challenge. I will post my daily photos on our Facebook page. Please like our page and check out the photos.

1. Lost in your eyes, Debbie Gibson – High School. I was a hopeless romantic and remember dancing around my living room singing this song, wishing I had a boyfriend to dance with.

original video

2. I’m Free – The Soup Dragons – High School Graduation. We used to sit in the high school parking lot playing this on our car stereos dreaming of the freedom that college would afford us.

3. Entire album of August and Everything After, Counting Crows – College. My roommates and I would listen to this over and over again while we studied, especially for the dreaded physics tests during sophomore year.

4. Forever Young, The Pretenders (from With Honors) – College Graduation. I remember sitting in my room packing up my stuff to move back home listening to this over and over again.

clip from movie

5. Climb On, Shawn Colvin – Post -college. After breaking up with my college boyfriend of 3.5 years, this song brought me comfort as I was trying to find myself and where I was supposed to go with my life.

6. Searching My Soul, Vonda Shepard (Theme from Ally McBeal) – Moving to Seattle. After moving to Seattle to start a new life, I would belt this song out in my car as I drove across 520 to my first job here. I would meet Jim a few months later.

7. World on A String, Frank Sinatra – Our Wedding. This was our first dance song and we actually had a choreographed routine. Unfortunately Jim forgot the middle of the dance, but no one noticed.

8. Greatest Hits, ELO – Early Marriage. Whenever we were in the car, especially on our drives back and forth to California, we would listen to ELO.

Mr. Blue Skies video

9. Beautiful World, Colin Hay – Becoming a Mom. A friend of Jim sent us this CD when Jack was born. It is a beautiful song.

10. Country Strong, Gwyneth Paltrow (from Country Strong) – Now. Even though I am not a country music fan, this song speaks to me. I think it reminds me of my upbringing and that I am a strong person who can do anything she puts her mind to.

Jack loves his stuffed animals. Red and Piggy (from Angry Birds) and Mickey have the cherished positions in his bed while the others are on top of the cab of his bed. He would have them all in his bed if I let him. There is nothing like your bedtime buddies.

Saturday night Jim and I went out to dinner with friends, so the boys had a babysitter. They hadn’t seen Megan, the babysitter, for a while. While I was getting ready to go, he came in and showed me several notes he had written for her. When we arrived at dinner I noticed the note below in my purse from him. Jim and Will got notes too. He wanted to make sure that we all knew that he loved us. How cute is that?

Early Sunday morning I woke up to a raging sore throat and felt awful. Needless to say, I spent most of Sunday on the sofa. Again, Jack made a personal note for me as he was concerned and hoped it would make me feel better. It certainly raised my spirits but unfortunately couldn’t raise rid me of my illness.

Monday I found out it was strep throat (thanks Oliver) and I started to feel a bit better with the help of antibiotics. Jack told Jim he wanted to make breakfast in bed for me, because “that makes moms feel better, like it does on Mother’s Day.” So this morning I didn’t get full breakfast, but I got orange juice and tea (the best Jim could do on short notice). He wanted to bring flowers too, but since we still have snow in our flower beds, there were no flowers to be found. So instead, I received in a vase a dry sprig from our Christmas wreath that is still hanging on the front of the house. What a good way to wake up.

Jack is truly unique and his sensitivity and care for others is such a blessing. I hope these traits will remain with him forever. His wife and kids will love him for it, as do the rest of us.

1. Watch our San Jose Sharks win their first Stanley Cup and University of Washington Huskies win another National Championship
2. Travel throughout more of the United States — see the Grand Canyon, Alaska, Chicago, Washington DC
3. See Will get his driver’s license
4. Meet my daughters-in-law and see all my grandchildren
5. Watch my boys graduate from college
6. Get my first of many books published
7. Own a horse that lives in a pasture next to our dream home
8. Go to graduate school
9. Participate in, or at least see, a flash mob live
10. Travel more outside the country — visit Iceland, stay in a hut over an ocean, go on a safari

What is on your list?

Saturday – Auntie Steffi, Unkie Paul, Oliver and Finley arrive to find scattered snow flurries. Luckily we were cozy inside watching football games.

Sunday – We woke up to about an inch of snow on the ground. The boys headed out to play in snow – round one. After round 2 of snow on Sunday we ended up with about 4 inches. More fun for the boys!

Monday – A morning of errands for some and more snow play. Then an afternoon of Xbox.

Tuesday – We were supposed to take the kids up to the pass for a little skiing (we were going to keep Jack home from school, but they ended up canceling school), unfortunately we woke up to the pass being closed for six hours. We reworked our plans and went sledding at Snoqualmie Ridge instead, since we had very little snow at our house. Sunday’s and Monday’s accumulations had melted.

Wednesday – No school again and bunches of snow. We took the boys to a small hill in the neighborhood to give the little boys (Will and Oliver) a chance to try out skiing. Unfortunately or luckily depending upon how you look at (airport closed on Thursday) it our visitors headed home.

Thursday – Ice storm. The storm was supposed to be over and instead it got worse. School was canceled again. We had freezing rain all morning and then more snow again in the afternoon and evening. Our power went out at 8 a.m. By 2 p.m. it was 58 degrees in our house. Luckily we have good neighbors who have a generator so we headed there for dinner and much needed warmth.

Friday – The power came on at 12:30 a.m. and the cable came on late morning, so life is almost back to normal. We still have inches of snow on the ground, but the ice is melting. Hopefully school will be back in session by Monday.

We will be back to our normal programming next week.

Photo Credit – Unkie Paul and me

Will looks so cute in his hoodies. He doesn’t mind having his hood up. We were finishing folding laundry the other day in my room and he was playing in the curtain.

• Snuggle time – The time right after my kids wake up from either the night or nap and are warm and snuggly. It just melts my heart to hold them until they wake up and wiggle away.
• Comfort me – When my child looks at me with tears in their eyes with a look that says you are the only one in the world that can make their hurt go away.
• Look of wonder – I love to watch their faces when they see something new for the first time; that look of wonder at the unknown and then the joy of the discovery.
• I understand – There is something amazing about watching my children connect the dots in their mind and figure something out. I can see it in their eyes.
• Reaching for a hand – Even Jack will still reach out to hold my hand as we are walking along. It reminds me that even though he is getting older he still needs me.
• Look at what I found – I have been shown so many surprises. Worms, robots built from Legos, sticks or leaves. These are life’s real treasures.
• Family movie night – We have so many things that pull us in different directions so we make it a point to have regular quiet family time. The boys love movie night, complete with special popcorn.

What are the things you love about being a parent?