Durable...

...beauty.



How many times have I walked passed this little patch of pansies? They line the pathway to our front door. The little English garden is dead/dormant...except for this remarkable beauty. The weather this winter has been dry... but at times, bitterly cold. How amazingly beautiful and durable is this amazing plant?

Allow me, if you will, to be sentimental. Seeing this flower, smiling at me in the morning sun, reminded me of the durable beauty of the women in my life. How many women do you know who endure bitterly cold trials in their lives while maintaining amazing grace and beauty? Life around them may be falling apart yet there they stand with a smile on their face, if only for the benefit and morale of their loved ones. In Austenland (not the book but the general genre of literature) men described women as delicate flowers requiring careful attention and handling, YUCK. Women are, in fact, flowers. But the kind that push up through frozen earth, the kind that emerge unscathed from under three feet of snow, the kind that may go unnoticed because they don't need to be carefully attended to, they can handle themselves. I am grateful for these flowers in my life.

Nothing worse...

...than a sick baby.

Though he's not a baby anymore, Cole has been sick for five days now. It's heartbreaking and exhausting at the same time. Is that so outrageous to say? He is super-cuddly when he is ill, he just wants to sit right on top of me and watch movies and doze. I enjoy his little bony body nestled against my side and I love the smell of his pina colada shampoo. I really don't mind his being sick until he turns his head TOWARD my face and open-mouth coughs all over me. It happens 100 times a day and each time I say "please cough into your elbow, not into my mouth." It quickly diminishes any revery I may be enjoying on the topic of motherhood. Sometimes being a mother is just kind of...gross. Then again...


No he's not watching tv...

...he's so sick that he's asleep...

...sitting up...with his hand in his pants.

I love this little boy.

If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet...

...you'd best teach it to dance.
George Bernard Shaw



That's the skeleton in our closet and he can certainly dance. Cole's X-ray from his 3-day hospitalization at Halloween. I came across it while putting out a HOT SPOT. I realized that my blogging decline started then and I never shared these funny pictures either.





Cole didn't want to leave the Children's Hospital despite the lung treatments, shots and exams. Why? He had his own personal Wii, unlimited yummy treats and concerned-mommy and daddy all to himself.

"Me got it...

... me get it." Do you know what this means? If you don't, you are obviously not fluent in FINNISH. I will offer you a pocket-size translator to the veritable lexicon of Finn.

"Me got it, me get it" -Finders keepers. Used to tease Cole.

"ench eyes" -french fries. Finn's preferred "vegetable."

"Me wuv you, you wuv me" - "Me love you, you love me." Said only to Momo when trying to manipulate her for more "nanny" or candy.

"doo doo hane" - Choo Choo train.

"I cared" - I'm scared. Used to think Finn was really empathetic, so sensitive. But really he was just scared. (Nothing scares him more than Uncle Marc...lol...so funny!)

"Me no wike gogs" - I don't like dogs. Said everytime he sees a dog.


Yes, Finn has a tattoo "sleeve." Thanks Daddy and Uncle Mo-gone (Morgan)

"You lift me and I'll lift thee...

... and together we'll ascend." I don't know who said it but I think it applies beautifully to marriage. Josh and I celebrated 8 years in December. I would like to say it was a perfect anniversary, it would have been except for the "unfortunate" incident of 2009. And that's all I am saying about that.

Let me share with you the two most intimate secrets behind our marital bliss...

He likes the leafy part of the broccoli and I like the trunk.

He likes the center of the brownie pan and I like the crusty edges.

That's why we work. I love you, babe. You are ascending much quicker than me,you might have to air lift me to your celestial plane.

My blogging avatar...

... check her out here!

Laena is my holiday-blogging avatar. She blogged about our extraordinary holiday including the 6-course holiday dinner presented by Laena and myself. Please check it out and "ooh and ahh" about our splendiferous culinary offerings. It's the post entitiled "And a partridge in a pear tree."

Halloween costume ideas...

... for 2010.

We went to see Avatar last night, in 3D.


Mr. Saunders in his 3d glasses. Total hotness, he looks like Buddy Holly.

Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.

It has inspired our costumes for Halloween this year. Josh has decided that we should go as avatars and Joey and Anna Ocasio should go as our human selves. Thoughts?

(For those not on the "inside"... the avatars are monstrously tall especially when compared to their "short" human counterparts. Ocasios are like midgets...maybe smaller.)

Thanks Swede-o-ricans for the awesome mid-week date night. See you in 5 months for the Ironman 2 premier!