Ouch

Having a hard time moving today. My karate muscles are sore! I felt great this morning, just a teensy bit tight. By this afternoon, my entire core body was aching with every move. Ouch. Was it worth it? You bet! The whole karate experience is just so darn empowering, motivating, plain fun! It's truly awesome to watch yourself in the giant mirrors kicking and punching, bowing and jumping. Wow. Ouch :)

Curt took Camden to karate tonight where he was in top form, it sounds like. Because of his "black belt attitude" he got to lead the class at the end. He's really loving this, as you can imagine.

Food for Faith at church tonight - another major WOW moment. We had the best soup - homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. The boys' all-time favorite meal. And instead of the movies that we used to see, Bill, our youth minister, is interviewing folks about their faith stories. This week he talked to this magnificent man who cuts trees. He met this man shortly after he moved here last summer. Immediately they bonded through their faith and love of Jesus. Amazing is all I can say of this man's testimony! Wow. Wow. Wow. Motivates me to live a more spiritual life, to live it both inside and out. To make Jesus my priority. Everything else will just fall into place if I believe, truly have faith, and put the Lord first.

Thanks be to God.

karate

I had my first karate class today. Wow, what an empowering experience. Yes, I felt a little weird shouting out, but the kicks, punches, jumps - even the push-ups, felt so darn great! My body was actually DOING the forms and one-steps. I was not quite fluid, but I was DOING it! Wow. What an awesome experience. It was a bit of a workout, too. Gotta love combining my exercise with something so uplifting.

the return of Sunday Haiku

Today was perfect
church, walking, playing, my boys...
start the week off right.

PS - check out the free ficus bush we snagged today when we were driving home from church. It was tossed out in the alley behind Christ Episcopal, apparently a reject from a nearby office. I double dog dared Curt to snatch it. (Hey, garbage is for ANYBODY), and he did! We're pruning it and preparing to put it on the back porch this spring. What a great gift today!

HAIRCUT

Fumbling for something interesting to say.
Here's an acrostic of my day:

H - Haircut this morning, trading the weight line for choppy layers
A - Awake at 5 a.m., found myself in the guest room. Have no recollection of going there, but Curt tells me I kicked him for snoring last night and stormed out. Must have been in a pretty good sleep to have done that without even recalling it. Hope I sleep as well tonight!
I - Intent on spring...so I headed to TJ Maxx where I found some linen pants striped in springy colors and a pair of yellow cropped jeans - only 10 bucks a pop!

R - Raking this afternoon - all the dead leaves, vines, stems, etc. from the wildflower garden out front. Ah, decluttering in the yard. Feels so good. Found this beauty during our "excavation".
C - Catching up with best friend Jodie. So good to talk to her, always. She makes me laugh, makes me happy. Love ya, girlfriend!
U - Umbrella - it rained on our beautiful day. But it was more like a spring rain than a cold wintery one. It was OK. We had finished the yard work, and the boys were ready for a bath judging from the sounds of their arguements. Nothing like a warm bath to make everybody friends again. :)

T - Together - Benjy and Camden, best of friends much of the time, playing Star Wars, digging in the dirt, rolling around on the floor, chasing each other and screaming at the tops of their little lungs. At least they love each other....

TGIF

I just don't know why I can't get it together with this blog anymore. I used to be so excited to record our daily travails. Now I just feel too beat to care. In a small attempt to catch up, here's some snippets from our week.

Our caterpillars from Jodie are growing! It shouldn't be long before they cacoon themselves in their chrysales and we can remove them from the jar and house them in their butterfly house!

Camden got his new white belt with the black stripe at karate tonight to show that he's joined the Tiny Tigers black belt program. One day he'll be there!

Curt and I also joined the local ATA karate club. Soooo excited to learn this new skill, indeed a discipline. It's out of my box, as Curt said. But, hey, I never thought I'd be a lifeguard either till I actually went and did it. I don't know if I'll ever be breaking boards, but I'm starting, and I'm excited for the journey.

Benjy's feeling well - at last! He's been so pleasant, so kissy, so adorable, so FUN! He's been talking a lot, too. The other night Camden and I were trying hard to listen to Sponge Bob and Benjy would not be quiet. I actually found myself saying - "OK, Benjy, OK. Now be quiet!!!!!!" I shouldn't be surprised. You get what you ask for, I suppose.

I bought a new camera with my Christmas money, a 7 megapixal camera. I'm in love with its crispness, its new-fangledness, its amazing ability to focus when even my eyes don't! I got a batch of pix back from Kodak the other day and they were beautiful. It's all in the camera. Well, and in the cute kids. :)

I went to Gabriel Brothers yesterday - Mom, you would absolutely FLIP for this place! They get tons of clothing, shoes, household stuff from outlets, stores, and sellers - some of it's crap, but some of it's good stuff that never sold for whatever reason. I got a pair of Lands End blue jeans for $6.99 - in petites, nonetheless! I also got some tee shirts for the boys - Virginia Tech and UVa for Benjamin, and Lands End beachy looking Ts for Camden. Curt got nothing - sniff sniff - 'cause I ran out of time to search through his department. (You don't just run in and out...this store take some time for browsing.) I also got some awesome Dept. 56 Just Ducky stuff - a shower curtain, ceramic duck feet for the boys' toothbrushes, and even a duck lamp. Too cute and cheap, too! All in all, it was a good day to drop a few bucks for a bunch of cute stuff. I felt happy. :)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Hope your day's been good, Dad. You said you had a relaxing birthday when I spoke with you tonight. Ours wasn't exactly relaxing, but it was a fun day full of adventure for your grandboys. (Benjamin, by the way, is saying "Nana and Dad-daddy" when he talks about you two now!)

We finally made it to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh today. Soooo fun! We checked out the dinosaur exhibit, which is actually under construction now, so what we saw is only a piece of what will be installed in a few months. We also toured the Pennsylvania barns exhibit, the ancient architecture exhibit, and the ancient Egyptian exhibit in the Carnegie Museum of Art which is under the same roof as the Natural History place.

To see these places through the eyes of my boys is amazing, to say the least. When we saw the model of the Green Parthenon, we told the boys that the Greeks believed the Gods lived there. "You mean God lived there once!" Camden exclaimed. How do you answer that in a millisecond?! When we saw the mummy of an Egyptian child, Camden wondered, "How come the child died?" When we found the dinosaur excavation area, where kids are given goggles, brushes, and a chisel to dig for a casting of a real dino skeleton, Camden shouted, "SWEEEEET!" He and Benjy took off, strapped on their goggles and began digging away. They were there for a good 15 minutes, which is a lifetime in this place where every turn offers a new feast for your eyes.

I'm so glad we finally made it back here, where we last visited in May. We had come for a weekend then to scope out the area, knowing that Curt's job was about to move us from Ohio to here. We fell in love with the museum and downtown Pittsburgh immediately and vowed to make it back to the city at least once a month after the move. And we've made good on that vow. Granted, we've not done the museum thing each month (ahem, we've done Ikea two or three times!) But we do love driving into the city, seeing the Monongalhela and Alleghany rivers meet to form the Ohio River and all the fun places along the water fronts. Sometimes I even wish we lived IN the city, on one of those cool loft apartments above the department stores and such. But, once we get back home to the outer suburbs, I'm happy with my new little town. Out of the limelight. Out of the hubbub. Out of the way. Yes, we are in the best place of all. Close enough. Far enough away. Home.