picking a mother

You know if I could pick anyone to be my mom I would pick somebody with sparkly brown eyes and a big cheesy grin.  She would be a bossy booby but in the most wonderful way.  She would make the most amazing adventures for me and my kids. 

In the summer time, I would pick a mom that made up some crazy family camping ideas.  Maybe one year we would dress as samurais, we would sit around in our costumes around the campfire...the kids being ninja break dancers at twilight theater. 

Probably another year she would make a Renaissance wedding camping.  She would sew us all beautiful dresses and organize a trade booth and get a real live band. 

When my belly was big and bulging she would feel sorry for me and instead of camping, she would put on a circus.  My kids would suddenly be magicians and stilt walkers. She would paint circus signs and make a stage. 

 And in the winter time she would organize skating and skiing and sledding.  She would have a cozy beautiful place to come in and warm up...complete with Christmas mugs and a 24 hour hot cocoa bar and marshmallows.

 

If I could pick a mom, she would be one that every morning when I woke up, I would want to hear her voice.  I would never be able to hold back good news for more than a few hours, I guess because I would be positive that on the other end of the line there would be rejoicing. 

And when things got harried, I would call her too.  Because it's a sure sign of a great mother to be so full of compassion and empathy that tear drops could be caught even a million miles away.

If I could pick a mother...I think she would look like this.



Just read this in a discussion group today!

Very Exciting!!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> CONTACT:
> Chris Danielsen
> Director of Public Relations
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> cdanielsen@nfb.org
> Blind Man to Take to the Road
> at Daytona International Speedway
> Baltimore, Maryland (January 28, 2011):
>
>
> The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest
> organization of blind people in the nation, announced
> today that Mark Anthony Riccobono, a blind executive who directs
> technology, research, and education programs for the organization, will be
> the first blind
> individual to drive a street vehicle in public. Mr. Riccobono will be
> behind the wheel of a Ford Escape hybrid equipped with nonvisual
> technology allowing
> a blind person to drive it independently as part of a historic
> demonstration scheduled during pre-race activities leading up to the Rolex
> 24 at the Daytona
> International Speedway. The demonstration is set to take place at 11:30
> a.m. EST on January 29.
> Mr. Riccobono said: "I have been blind since the age of five, so I never
> got to try for a driver's license or drive a car without another person
> telling
> me which way to steer. The NFB's leadership in the Blind Driver
> Challenge(tm) has taken something almost everyone believed was an
> impossible dream and
> turned it into reality. I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel
> and demonstrating to the world that being blind does not prevent me from
> engaging
> in any activity I choose as long as I am able to get the information I
> need. This will be a truly historic occasion for my blind brothers and
> sisters
> and for America, and I am humbled and proud to be part of it."
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
> "The sight of a blind individual driving a vehicle without assistance from
> a sighted
> person will shake the foundation of public misconceptions about blindness
> and blind people by showing that even tasks that are thought to require
> vision
> are possible if a blind person has access to information in a nonvisual
> way. Vision is not a requirement for success. Capacity, imagination, and
> determination
> are all that is needed, and blind people have all of these qualities."
> Mr. Riccobono was the first director of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind
> and Visually Impaired, a state agency that serves Wisconsin's blind
> children.
> Since coming to the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind
> in 2003, he has spearheaded many initiatives, including educational
> programs designed
> to engage blind youth in the fields of science, technology, engineering,
> and mathematics. He currently serves as executive director of the NFB
> Jernigan
> Institute. He and his wife Melissa, who has worked as a school counselor
> and serves as president of the Maryland affiliate of the NFB, live in
> Baltimore
> with their two small children, Austin and Oriana.
> The NFB Blind Driver Challenge(tm) is a research project of the National
> Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute-the only research and training
> facility
> on blindness operated by the blind. The Jernigan Institute challenged
> universities, technology developers, and other interested innovators to
> establish
> NFB Blind Driver Challenge(tm) (BDC) teams, in collaboration with the NFB,
> to build interface technologies that will empower blind people to drive a
> car
> independently. The purpose of the NFB Blind Driver Challenge(tm) is to
> stimulate the development of nonvisual interface technology. The Virginia
> Tech/TORC
> NFB BDC team, under the direction of Dr. Dennis Hong, Director of the
> Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech., is the only team
> that has accepted
> the challenge. The team uses the ByWire XGV(tm) developed by TORC
> technologies as the research platform for the development and testing of
> the nonvisual
> interface technologies that allow a blind person to drive.
> For more information about the NFB, please visit
> www.nfb.org.
> For our digital news release about the Blind Driver Challenge(tm) and the
> debut of the BDC car at the Rolex 24, including audio and video clips for
> television
> and radio, please visit
> www.DigitalNewsRelease.com/?q=NFB_CarKit.
>
> ###
>
> About the National Federation of the Blind
> With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the
> largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in
> the United
> States. The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy,
> education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
> self-confidence.
> It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the
> nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of
> the
> Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the
> United States for the blind led by the blind.

Saturday Quote of the Week....

"I sucked miniwheats down my windpipe, and that has its price."

                     -Larry

Yay 4 my new camera!!!!

I got my camera today.

I soo could not wait.

This morning I was an online fed-ex stalker.

If only they had a tracking device on the truck...

You know the kind with the little red flashing light on the map?

I would have met them as they pulled into my driveway.

Anyways, I got it just before noon.

Right after baby paige arrived.

So I had some wonderful subjects

Although by the end of the day, I was as annoying as the paparazzi!

Guess they will hafta get over it cuz

I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA!!!!

orange ya glad???

My Baby is turning orange.

She is not using fake tan to get ready for summer

or indulging in excess bags of cheetos...

Blame it on the Gerber if she is lookin like our little pumpkin!!

Sweet Potatoes

Carrots

Squash

YUMMY!

Camera Funeral

Milo and I were clowning around the other day when my camera lens decided to jump in on the fun and act a little goofy.  It would stutter open and stammer back in.  On further investigation I realized that it was cracked...BOOOOOO

This was a different episode of clowning around.
Probably 2 years ago...Milo with a fat lip.
 I will post the ones we took from this week
when I get things up and running again!

You know what they say about breaking the camera???

He is CRAZY!!

Wonder which shot closed the deal???

He's a ROCKSTAR!!!

She's a BARBIE-GIRL!

She is just plain MAD!!

Anyways, I had a funeral for my faithful powershot and tried to be budget minded and survive without.  But I guess I you could call me an addict...I ordered a new one this week! 

Hope it gets here before I go into withdrawals!

Bowling

Saturday we went bowling for our friend Paige’s birthday.

I think it was everybody’s birthday on Saturday. 

When we got to the lanes there were thousands of people…ok maybe not thousands, but there were 12 birthday parties and way too many people!

It took us all a while to get acclimated to the high decibel rumbling, but once we got in the groove, pins started flying, and gutter-balls started dropping.

 

There was

the thumb-stuck-ball-launch,

the toddler-tapped-ball-creep,

the zig-zag-between-bumper-ball. 

There were catcalls, pop-dumps, and head bumps. 

Everybody seemed to have a great time, including Miss Paige who, in spite of not having her daily nap, never cratered the whole night.

Happy Birthday to one of our

bestest buddies!!!

O it's easy..

There are two things about Lionel Richie that I am sure of:

1. He was not a mother
2. He did not get an entire family ready to go to church

Maybe I am the only one that suffers from the dilemma of Sunday morning but mine usually go pretty crazy.

• Wake up and stretch….aaaaah its Sunday
• Lay around in bed way too long but finally get up          
• Down the coffee, ignore Saturday disaster
• Realize its getting late
• Throw all of my clothes out of the closet onto the floor noting repeatedly that I have nothing to wear
• Get mad and holler a few times

• Realize we are already late for Sunday School
• Sit down. More Coffee. Feed Face.
• Wipe table from Thursday afternoon
• Restart mildewed load of laundry….again
• Break up a fight
• Realize we are gonna be late to church
• Realize I have toothpaste on my elbow
• Realize preschooler isn’t even dressed
• Realize baby is missing her glasses
• Realize house is trashed
• Yell WE ARE GONNA BE LATE!!!
• Pile in Car

Oh yes…Easy like Sunday Morning…

Saturday Quote of the week...

We were driving to town to pick up the big kids earlier this week.  As we zipped past a man getting his mail out of his box, Milo piped up from the back, "That guy was a bird, cuz he had a beak!" 

Later I told him to tell his dad what he saw.

He said, 

"Dad, today I saw a guy that was a bird.  

I am serious and not even kidding, 

he had a beak!"

Josi

She is puny today.  Sore throat and stuffy nose have kept her on the couch all day.  Her usual excitement is taking a rest as she recuperates.  On a normal day she is my right hand man. 

Full of love and laughter she usually is found around our house playing with the baby or setting up some grand adventure for Milo.  She is the queen of Orange Julius drinks and homemade brownies. She can single-handedly clean the house, fix a supper, give the little ones a bath (way more than I could do when I was twice her age!)

Josi has always been the life of the party in our family.  Even when she was little bitty she was thinking up schemes and making everyone smile.  She was always climbing and flipping and swinging, with Levi keeping a close eye on her acrobatics. 

Once when Josi was about four she had somehow positioned herself upside down on Larry’s big recliner.  Her head hung off of the edge and her legs balanced up the back of the chair.  In a big rumble of body parts little Josi flipped through the air and landed spread eagle on the living room floor gazing up at the ceiling.  As Larry, and Levi, and I were jolted to attention she simply informed us…”Nothing Happened.”   It’s been our embarrassing moment recovery line ever since.

 

Get well soon, baby!

A few questions:

Is it ok to let your three year old lick his plate like a dog as long as he is eating his vegetables?

Does it mean that the new Xbox has taken over your children’s lives if everyone has blisters on their thumbs?

 

Is it ok to text the teenagers when you’re mad instead of yelling at them?

 

Do you love your youngest less if you never sanitize their pacifiers?

  Are hotdogs ok for breakfast?         

Would it be acceptable to line each room of the house with giant Rubbermaid boxes and just throw everything in them to clean up?

Could I take a vacation just until the two front teeth pop through?

 I promise I will come back!



I want SUMMER!!!!!!

I wanna see the bloomin' mountain flowers!

                                          

I wanna get a sunburn splashing at lake Mac!

I wanna watch the motorcycle show-offs and smell campfire smoke in my kiddos hair!

 

I wanna hang out in the sunshine and get in water balloon fights!!

Hurry, hurry, hurry up summa time!!!