in full retreat

In about four hours I am headed off to whidbey island to a mysterious, but rather famous Bible camp. Famous in my current circles at least.

At said camp, Terri and I and other women will finally be able to stop and "smell some roses". Not sure if there will be actual roses but I can tell you one thing I WON'T smell...diapers :) My sweet hubby and sweet babe will share another Father/Daughter weekend...pray that they are blessed without me meddling in their affairs to wipe off dirty hands or killjoy in general :p

Oh I am even taking a wrist watch so I can keep my phone away. Revolutionary.

Big ferry, little girl

Marcus' students gush over Bradie for extra credit

Sorry Julie! Since you seemed to be on Bradie's "list" that day you are not pictured here :( I do however have a picture burned in my head of you cursing your way down the zip line. Maybe I'll contact a sketch artist or something and we'll work it out.

Enjoy!

Who needs Consumer Report?

When you have Bradie recommending her favorite things :) Leading off today, Bradie absolutely loves this headlamp found at your local Recreation Equipment Inc.

Next all fashionistas must have in their arsenal a homemade crochet hat. Very granola glam!

And of course, our current playtime favorite...Balloons! Nothing is more versatile for bouncing upon, hugging, even runny nose blotting!

Maybe it's the Dimetapp talking but...

Another lunch at Dave and Jody's had me pining for this beach on the Oregon Coast. Ahh, luscious. I love these Spiros. They are super neat folk. And there are many of them to choose from. At my church they come out of the wordwork. Or rather they are the wordwork :). I was telling Jody today about how I was slightly weirded out at first because it seemed like everyone was related. But maybe I am a bit jealous. Jealous maybe because I am still a little non-commital about Lynnwood, and they all seem so at home. But mostly I have hope. Maybe God is calling us to let our roots sink deep here, maybe not. But because of people such as these, Lynnwood/Edmonds is more than a place on a map with overpriced real estate, it is a place that could potentially be a real home to my little family.

Are Picasa and Blogger still in a fight?

Hopefully they are over it and this picture will post. Bradie is 2 months and one week in this photo.

I am fifteen no longer

I have known this fact for sometime but it just became true this evening when I played three volleyball matches. So three matches, plus four advil, minus the square root of the three burritos (hey, they were small) I had for dinner equals 26 years of age. Welcome to the new math.

Oligochaeta- thanks Wikipedia

Today Bradie became an enemy to the animal kingdom. Actually, she mutilated a worm. I hoped her descent from a vegan lifestyle would occur in the partaking of a chicken breast or even a burger but instead she found a small earthworm and crushed it between two fingers. This move also officially deems her a kid.

Bradie's Song

She sits in her high chair lazily eating graham cracker pieces and playing make believe with the bowl they came in. Her sing song babble is quiet but not quite under her breath. I lean in to lift her tray out of place and smell her baby hair which is sweet but also like nothing, like clean water tastes. In her ear I sing "blue jean baby, LA lady, a seamstress for the band..." I go on and sing other verses out of order and probably off key, but she doesn't care. Out of her chair now, she sways to them anyways and joins along in that same lilting voice.

remember

Here's what happened to some of the women that had been following Jesus that first Easter Sunday....

behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;

5and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?

6"He is not here, but He has risen Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,

7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."

-Luke 24: 4-7

That's what I'm talking about! Happy Easter everyone!

I am diverse, and not just a pretty face

Here are some sweet vacation shots (except for the bike helmet, that was before). As you can tell Bradie had a fabulous time being doted on by her Grandma and Grandpa. She even got Grandma to go down the slide with her in the park! Work it, Bradie!

I am into doing a lot of "stinker face" right now. Sometimes it happens when I am critically thinking about the arrangement of shapes and colors on my Baby Leap Pad. Other times I make this face while whining and barely saying the word "no".

Chillin' Spokangeles

Well Guillotine was quite fun, but much more so was the new game we learned, Quiddler. Its like Scrabble meets Gin...very fun! Marcus even went down to Uncle's to buy it. Today we ate at Scalawag's with some gals I used to work with and looked at the falls at various vantage points. The river was rushing with a fury I've never seen before. I think Bradie summed it up from her stroller when she said, "whoa!"

It's been a pretty easy, relaxing vaca so far. Right now I am on my second Michael J. Fox movie of the day, Back to the Future II. The folks have an HDTV, a wireless hotspot for a house and a laptop always charged up for use, so Marcus is in "nerdary" heaven. They also have boundless grandparent energy to play with my daughter who goes and goes and goes. I actually feel pretty good at the end of the day and that has been a blessing.