Go go gadget arms!

Does anybody besides me remember this goofy cartoon? Anything that was out of reach for this quirky detective, he'd merely say the phrase "go go gadget arms." Then his arms would stretch out to grasp whatever was out of his reach. I find myself thinking of this cartoon sometimes when I use my feet to pick something up. You see my feet are like my go go gadget arms. I use them to pick up almost everything that is one the floor.

It's a special skill that I've developed. Jealous? You should be because I must say it has made me truly efficient. I'll be dusting or cleaning something up high while picking up items from the floor. I wonder if there are any multi-tasking competitions I could enter?

My new pastime.

I didn't get it taken quick enough, now it's a greenish-yellow color. But just know that at it's pinnacle it was an awesome purplish-black color.

Now onto my new pastime. While Nan and Bill were here Nan taught me how to knit (again) but this time I actually got more than one row done. My first project is a checkerboard scarf for Rubby.

In case your wondering why Rubby gets my very first item it's because she's the shortest member of our family.

Luke.

Luke was running out the door this morning and grabbed his Indian feather hat to wear to school. It's good too because this is his best angle to be photographed at due to a huge black eye he now has. He and the counter top went at it yesterday and the counter prevailed.

The process of being adored.

Hello, my name is Jamie and my husband adores me. Yes, adores. And it feels awesome. Last week in the mail I got a sweet love letter from my husband (mailed from his office). It expressed his deep love and affection for me, was kind and also funny. Just like he is; all the elements that make life wonderful and fun. An excerpt;

"I feel like I'm extraordinarily fortunate to have found you and ensnared you by sweet, sweet trickery, to be my wife."

See? Eloquent, loving and funny, the perfect combo. He writes me these letters from time to time and I keep each one and on occasion pull them out and read them. They always make me feel fabulous. He also brings me flowers every Friday, usually a couple dozen which I absolutely love. He has an amazing ability to give great presents that are thoughtful and insightful. He kisses me and tells me how beautiful I am. He pinches my bum and tells me when I'm being sexy. :)

When I'm cranky and can't be nice anymore he takes the kids, bathes them and puts them to bed. Then threatens them with the fear for their lives if they get out of bed and bug mom. Just love him for that! He won't let me open my own door and insists that our boys open my door for me everywhere we go. He takes me to parties that he doesn't want to go to. We hold hands when we are together.

When we go to bed at night we lay down and talk for a good hour or two about anything and everything. He takes me out to restaurants that I love and he doesn't. He allows me to be independent and do things that are important to me. We laugh every hour that we're together. He dances around the house for me.

Yes he is wonderful and I love him. We were talking a few nights ago about our marriage and how happy we are to have such a great one. A few weeks ago we had gone out to dinner with some friends and Chad's romantic ways came up (all the guys were silently wishing him dead).

Later that night while laying in bed chatting Chad said,
"everyone wants to be adored by their husbands but aren't willing to do the work to be actually adored, you are so that makes it easy."

I was grateful for the nice comment, it got me thinking about the process of being adored. And I thought I'd write down some of the stuff I do to make my marriage happy. When he comes home I try to greet him, (if I'm on the phone I get off right away) and go to the door to say hello.

A couple times a week I try to think of some of Chad's favorite meals and make them for him. If I can keep the kids from it I let him get the mail because he just loves mail (who doesn't!). I let him sleep in on Saturday morning. I wear red lipstick just for him. I lock the children outside and won't let them in so I can 'take five' and not be frazzled when he gets home.

I'll make him his favorite cookies on Sunday's. I'll take care of the babies when it's his turn; sometimes. I dress up and try to look pretty for him everyday (some days it just doesn't happen). I curl my hair the way he likes it.

I tell my kids no (mostly because it just feels so darn good) but I do this so that I'm not so emotionally/physically spent by the time he gets home. I want to still have energy left for him every night. I want him to know that he is my priority. So I adjust my schedule to reflect that desire. I nap each day so as to have energy to stay up till the wee hours chatting with my man.

Dad. Stop reading here. Do that for both of us. I try to give it up, frequently. And I put some effort into that. I do my hair, a little lipstick and other stuff (use your imagination). I'm quick apologize if I speak to him with tone. I'll listen to him play his guitar (sometimes). I'll mow the lawn so that he won't have to do it on Saturday.

Okay Dad, you can pick up here. I try to run our household proficiently so he doesn't have any worries. If I see he's stressed about something I'll try to build him up and make him feel better. The general theme here is that I try to think of him and thus he thinks of me (and it probably started the other way around). It makes for a really happy great life.

He's by far the very best thing in my life. Every year is better than the one before. That's not to say that we haven't had some really hard, challenging trials placed before us. Between raising children, health issues, work, etc. Life can be hard. Who knows what challenges this life has in store for us still but I know one thing. That we'll be getting through them together, loving each other through it all.

My favorite workout.

Lately I've mixed up my workout regime. We bring the ipod deck out to the garage, open up the door and the kids I rock out together. We dance, chase each other around, play basketball, try out silly dance moves and have an all around awesome time. We do this for about an hour and then I'm totally whipped, they're still all raring to go. We laugh and play together; and I think the whole time how great these days are that we have together.

Owen is a reader.

Owen read his first chapter book ten days ago. And one everyday since. He has gone totally crazy for The Magic Tree house series. This where we found him this morning when we woke up. He reads for a couple of hours each day and more on the weekends. We're so happy he's loving reading. Love you O.

And on another Owie note I had to post about Owen and his yellow days at school. There is a color system in place to help kids listen and do what they should. It's yellow, green, blue and red. Red means you have to go to the Principal's office because you've not listened to four warnings and done something so super bad, like punch someone in the face (Owen's definition). Blue means that you've had not a great day, you've had to be redirected two or more times. Green means that you had a great day with no redirection or interruptions, etc.

Yellow is something that the teacher set up as a goal for students who want to go above and beyond the normal good behavior requirement. You don't get it for simply not interrupting or doing what you should be doing all day, that would still be a green day (I get my info from small children, you know). No, to get a yellow is something that is hard to do and is only given out when the teacher sees a student going way above and beyond what is expected.

Owens teacher Mrs. Cady told the class at the beginning of the year about the color system. Owen came home and announced that he was going to try and be yellow everyday. Mrs. Cady warned the students that on average she gives out approx. five or six depending on the student for the whole year.

Well, just yesterday Owen brought home his twentieth yellow. I knew he was getting them way more than average and his teacher even called me about it. She said at one point she stopped giving them to him because she was giving them out to him all the time. That was something she wasn't used to. But then she relayed to me that it occurred to her that the behavior she wasn't rewarding with a yellow to Owen for would have most definitely been a yellow for any other student. So she resumed giving out yellows to our boy.

Some of the things he did to receive the yellows were; running over and pulling out her chair for her every time she sat down and insisting that he should open the every door that she walks through. Rallying the kids to all make a good choice and stop talking when they weren't supposed to be. Giving his non ripped pumpkin die cut paper to another student whose was ripped and was very upset about it.

This type of stuff exemplifies who Owen is. He is kind and wants to do good and help other people. He is so driven when a goal has been set. He makes life peaceful (when he's NOT teasing) and easier. He eases my burdens often. We are so proud of our sweet Owie. Love you son.

Rubby loves kitty, poor kitty.

Lily is obsessed with kitty. She carries him everywhere at her side, like you'd carry a book. I just realized that she is flipping me off in this photo. That's another one for my list.

What list you wonder? Oh just a little list I'm keeping of all the terrible things you do. Yes. I have such a list. And it's pretty long. Kitty would probably add items to it if it could.

You can't see it in the photo but Lily's sweet little chubby arms and hands have scratches all over them. Kitty is just trying to survive the love.

She just kept posing so I couldn't resist.

It was this 'love hug squeeze your gut's out' move that caused kitty to puke last Saturday. On the rug too no less. The downstairs is all hardwood and kitty manages to puke on the rug. That's going to make the list too.