i ♥ second graders

today i laughed. my second graders are really funny. sometimes i forget that i love them, so i am always grateful for days like today that remind me to enjoy my students. we started a new theme in reading called "talent show". all the stories in this theme will be about talents. trying to build some background i asked my students to share with a neighbor what their special talents were. here were some of my favorite answers:

• i can pop my thumb knuckle
• i can burp the abc's
• i ride my scooter until dark (i don't think he understood the question)
• i can tell jokes and dance
• i do my homework
• i can ride my bike up to 1 mile an hour (i had him repeat this just to make sure i heard right)

they seriously crack me up!

running.

on sunday our pastor talked about how it is silly to say spiritual life. as in there is only one part of your life that is spiritual. we were studying the passage in mark 12 where Jesus explains the most important commandment. loving God. and not just to love Him but to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. this message changed my thinking. i love it when that happens, i can almost feel the tracks in my brain being moved and a new thought is there. it is lovely and reassuring to know that we can change like that isn't it? we aren't stuck...

anyways, this passage specifically has changed my running. random right? i never thought about running being an act of worship. i thought it was a way to get my buns in shape...literally. but the idea of loving God with all my life, with all my passions, with all my time, and every facet in between is brilliant. it wasn't that i was intentionally not sharing it with God, more like i didn't think he'd be interested. how ridiculous. he created my body, gave me the gift to run. although...let's be honest, he probably does shake his head at some of my running songs. 

so today i am headed out into the rain, a little jaunt to loosen my mind and body. and as i run i will acknowledge that it is a gift, and i will thank Him.

sweet potato zucchini bread

justin said this is his new favorite. he does tend to say that whenever he tries most baked goods, so maybe the average person would just give it a simple head nod. the recipe is from epicurious. my friend kristin told me about epicurious and i have never prepared a recipe off of there i didn't enjoy! 

Makes 1 loaf or a dozen muffins

ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar 

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1 1/2 cups grated peeled sweet potato

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

(note: i only used half the sugar, I also made muffins which don't cook quite as long. oh and, i didn't have any sweet potato so i just did 3 cups zucchini- next time i will use the sweet potatoes but substitute the white flour for whole wheat).

preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla to blend in large bowl. Mix in zucchini and sweet potato. Add dry ingredients and walnuts and stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on rack 15 minutes. Cut around bread to loosen. Turn out onto rack and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature.)

Let The Great World Spin

in truth i have read probably six more books since i finished this one. realistically i can't write about each of the books i read, or this is all i would blog about. i am a shameless book geek.

several of my latest reads (the help, olive kitteridge) have had a similar style as let the great world spin, the narrator changes throughout. different characters share part of their story to make a beautiful, layered tale. what i enjoyed most about this novel was the mixture of history and of historical fiction  woven together.  it was based in a very dark time in us history. the story is the retelling of a tightrope walker's travel between the twin towers in 1974, but also about grieving mothers of the vietnam war, watergate, recovering addicts, prostitution. maybe a little of a downer but i highly recommend it. i would love to hear from those who were alive in 1974 and if they recall phillipe petite and his walk across the towers. 

check out this indie film to learn more about phillipe petite and his controversial stunt http://www.manonwire.com/

earth day

how did you spend earth day?

here's what the scotts did...

not so pretty in pink

my pink bathroom has got to go. a bathroom should feel clean and relaxing. i believe a facelift is in order. unfortunately, ridding ourselves of pink tiles is not high on the "family to-do list" this spring or summer. so between now and...whenever, i will have to make due with collecting ideas and pictures, which my husband will tell you, i am maddeningly good at.

(this is a 1950's kohler add, just to get you thinking in the right time frame. justin and i would like the bathroom to fit with the rest of our all original 1953 home yet be fresh and contemporary.)

(the pink beauty in all its glory, i refuse to show the inside of my shower on the internet.)

(the sink. isn't it perfect?!? it fits with the 50's era but is so clean and hip. this bathroom console is by empire, and is a fraction of the price of pottery barn or restoration hardware's version)

(i want the tile directly behind the sink. this is from ann sacks tile, called luxor gray. it would be lovely for tiling inside the shower. it is modern yes, but also feels nature-ish.)

( this is benjamin moore paint. i love the color, timothy straw. not too green but not to yellow. an excellent companion to the luxor gray!)

(random i know, its a minor table from cb2. i thought it would be a superb bathroom accessory. however, mine is much to small to have extra things lying around.)

so that's it for now. a collection of pictures. i keep telling justin it would take a weekend to chip off all the tiles, but it would take a weekend to do a lot of things around the house. so i will impatiently wait.  

sunburned heart

i am still trying to wrap my mind around papa being gone. it is hard to sit still. when i am still i think about him and then i feel like i swallowed a melon and i gulp and gulp. i am so sad. today's agenda was to keep my mind and body busy, so i demolished the brick flower bed in front of our house. have you seen it? you know which one i am talking about? it was ugly and bare. i would give it the stink eye when i went past. today i took a sledge hammer to it. i hammered until i woke miss mack up from her nap and she was mad at me. i stopped for awhile. i went to home depot and bought out their gardening department and planted flowers for the rest of the day. my face is sunburned. my body is sore. and that is just how my heart feels too, sunburned and sore. 

if you would have past by in your car you would have done a double take at this crazed gardener/demolition woman. i was so serious, so into it. until i would look down at my ladybug gardening boots and a little smile would peak out. when you feel the corners of your mouth turn up after being serious for so many weeks it feels okay, like maybe next time you will smile with all of your face, and maybe then after that your heart can smile too. 

Garden Love

it was a beautiful day. i can barely walk do to my 11 mile run with miss brit. but running 11 miles in the sun drenched willamette valley is much easier than the rain drenched. i waddled (because i hurt) outside and worked on my garden. justin set up a station for me and i got to work planting my seedlings. of course i underestimated how much planting soil i would need. but perhaps my lapse in judgement was on purpose because i am always looking for reasons to visit the nursery. 

(getting started)

garden projects seriously bring me joy. in order to get this vege garden going we are having a huge section of our backyard disced. the tractor will come and dig up and turn over all the blackberry bush heads, the old stump, weeds, and grass. i am very excited. don't worry, before and after pictures will be posted. the dilemma i am now facing is how much to plant. i know i should start small, but small is boring. the lists of plants keeps growing. i have to take advantage of portland's wonderful growing season and how much space we have. not to mention i have a wee one needing lots of greens and yummy homegrown food. 

growing like a weed

in all the chaos of this last week i am a little behind on my posts. one reason i wanted to do a blog was to be able to mark milestones of mackenzie's growth. last tuesday we went to her fifteen month doctor check-up. any guesses on her stats???

drumroll please.....

height: 34 inches (99th percentile)

weight: 24.5 pounds (64th percentile)

(brrr... the doctor's office is so cold!)

(do you see where mackenzie kissed the pavement with her nose? poor baby)

(trying to pass the time waiting for the doctor)

(look at that face! doesn't it make your heart hurt?)

i have to ask for forgiveness because i kinda want to punch the nurse in the chops when she gives kenze shots. talk about mama bear instincts. 

The Thing Is...

the thing is i am not ready to say good bye. it looks as if i may not have a choice, and with that knowledge comes the weight of unspoken truths. i am grateful that the words i love you are not one of them. 


dear papa,
  thank you for making me feel special. i always thought that you and i had a bond that was unique unto us. i loved that you called me jessi-cat until i was twenty-five and that you still give me "love" pinches, thumps, and pats. it makes me giggle when you make me repeat, "i love you pop" two or three times until you say in your gruff voice, "i love you too" instead of the usual "okay, good" or "yeah" before i get off the phone.
 when my dad decided that he didn't want a relationship with me or my husband, it made me smile through the hurt when you said he couldn't come over to your house ever again. i don't think he had come over to your house since 1985 anyway, but still. thank you for walking me down the aisle at my wedding, i cherish that memory.
 you amazed me when grandma was so sick. each day would find you making your way to the nursing home to feed her lunch, even though her dazed eyes and drooping head were no longer truly her.


 i named my daughter after you. i named her mackenzie because you have touched my life. you have changed its course. you encouraged my relationship with jesus, sending me to camp and sharing in my joy when i gave my life to him. you have supported my every endeavor, without that encouragement and support i know my life would look so very different. 


the thing is i don't have anyone else quite like you in my life and i am not ready to say goodbye. i love you papa mack.

little miss sunglasses

mackenzie wakes up in the morning hyped. no caffeine needed. i love her screeches of excitement as she runs from room to room, checking to see if anything changed from the night before. this is another area that should be added to the "takes after daddy category". i refuse to say i am not a morning person, but i will admit that i am a bit slower to the party.


this morning kenze and i did a small photo shoot with her new sunglasses. she loves to wear them around her neck. she also loves when i put them on and whistle a little tune. mostly she just loves...

Our Trip

you know you're back to reality when your skin starts peeling and you're not sure what time zone you are in. or in contrast, you know you are on vacation because you are drinking in the sunshine and you don't care what time zone you're in. here are some pics to catalog our awesome trip. 

 

(the gang in cold rainy seattle, ready for 7 days of sun)

(one last look at our blinding white skin)

(first night on the ship...mackenzie who?)

(we were going to try to take "titanic pictures", somehow this is what we got)

 (the ship at night)

(our hog...i mean scooter in honduras)

(our ride out to stingray city and snorkeling caye caulker, belize)

(justin with his new pet stingray)

(sigh...)

(chacchoben mayan ruins in costa maya mexico)

(our waiter in the bahamas)

(back to real life, mom giving mike a 'stache, miami ready to head home)

it was a wonderful chance to relax and sleep and eat and eat and eat. i honestly never thought i'd be the cruise type but i loved every minute of it. however, i do not plan to be away from kenzie for a long time, i missed her like crazy!