Singing

I have been away from choir for three weeks and it is just too long! It was so nice to be singing again tonight.

My iPod decided to play Eva Cassidy's version of "How Can I Keep from Singing?" for me on the way home.


How can I keep from singing?

My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear it's music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

While though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
And though the darkness 'round me close,
songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble sick with fear
and hear their death knell ringing,
when friends rejoice both far and near
how can I keep from singing?

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?

My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
How can I keep from singing?

How can I keep from singing?

Here it is on YouTube - I have no idea what the images are the person put on with the song.

Allerton

Another very fun outing in Illinois was to Allerton Park.

This is a place I used to go with my family growing up and so it was nice to go back there. We lucked out because we went fairly early in the day and it was still cool and overcast (but humid, of course) and I don't think we saw anyone else there the whole time besides the workers.

The girls had fun running around and looking at all the statues and plants. There is a polo field there and so we set them free to run, run, run in the grass. We don't have expanses of grass like that here in Colorado Springs.

Today

I'm feeling like I have to post this, but really today is the same as yesterday and as tomorrow will be. I miss Nathan no more on this day than any other. Today will look like a normal day for my family. I don't see a reason to make it different. I don't want to honor this day - I honor Nathan's life every day.

I do want to thank you all for reading this blog, leaving your comments and your support over this past year.

Ideal midwest summer night

Last Wednesday a cool breeze finally came through central Illinois and we had a wiener roast on Luke's parent's property. It had rained the day before and so the woodpile was a bit damp. It probably made it all the more fun because it took a bit of playing with fire to really get it going. The girls played while the fire was getting going and I took a little walk around part of the property where a narrow path has been mowed but there are woods on one side and alfalfa field on the other. There were dozens of dragon flies flitting about and one big dragon fly that was the coolest one I had ever seen. I crouched and watched it fly about. As I came out of the path we listened to an owl hooting in the woods.

Kathy (Luke's mom) and the girls went to the house and got all the food and put it in the back of the trailer of the John Deere and the girls rode back to the fire in the trailer. We cooked fresh corn on the cob in a pot on the fire and roasted hot dogs on a stick. The girls ate in the trailer. We finished off the meal with some s'mores and then played with the fire more. Julia had a great time throwing in some branches with leaves and watching the leaves explode in flames.

As it started to get dark the girls caught lightning bugs (we don't have those in Colorado Springs) and walked around the path. We put the girls to bed and Luke and Kathy went back to the fire. I went out after a while to join them and had to call for Luke after I got a little bit down the driveway because it was so dark I couldn't see where I was going. He rescued me with the flashlight and we sat by the glowing fire a little longer.

Here are a few pictures.

Home

I am home as of yesterday after being away for two weeks. It feels good to be home.

I am working on a few posts about our activities in Illinois. We had a great time.

BTW for those of you wondering about our landscaping - it is about 95% done. We are hoping for 100% by the weekend. When (if?) it is finally done either I (or Luke) will post pictures.

Into the woods

I am in Central Illinois visiting my in-laws with the girls. Luke will follow shortly.

I grew up nearby (though in a city) and my parents no longer live in the area. It is always nice to get back "home". Luke's parents live on several acres, most of it wooded. It is beautiful.

Tomorrow I will head to the Chicago suburbs for a Neuroblastoma Conference. It is a conference for families and Luke and I have gone to it before. A few years ago they added a concurrent session for "angel parents". That is what I will be attending. I am a little worried about how touchy-feely it will be- but I can always bug out if I want. I will see some families I know, which will be nice.

Happy Birthday

Luke is 35 today! We just passed the anniversary of our meeting 13 years ago. I met him 3 days before his birthday - he was just 21!

We have a few weeks of us both being the same age until I am older than him again.

We have been to the zoo this morning and are going out to dinner with out the girls tonight. A possibly failing attempt to make him a cake is in the oven as I write. Wish me luck on that - it is running over! (edited to say - I added the picture and yes, it came out!)

Results

The survey says?

Should I cut my hair?

Yes, it is too long!	9 (12%)
Yes, it is time for a change	33 (45%)
Yes, if that is really what you want	19 (26%)
No, it looks great long	10 (13%)
No, even though it doesn't look great it is interesting	0 (0%)
No, Lauren won't get to play with it anymore	1 (1%)

Votes so far: 72

Tonight's the night!

impromtu cleaning out

Julia was very, very sad last night. She wouldn't say why. She finally accepted her stuffed bear with a picture of Nathan on it to sleep with.

Today she asked to sleep in the upper bunk and so we got it ready for her. She picked some of Nathan's sheets and his comforter to put on the bottom bunk. I stripped the top bunk. It still had sheets on it from his sleeping on it that hadn't been removed. The pillow and pillowcase he had died on were up on that bed - we were going to put it on the bottom bunk. I tried to put a different pillowcase on it for her but it wouldn't fit and so she picked a different pillow - thank goodness. I has some serious reservations of ever putting my head on it again. It will hopefully find its way into the extra pillows and get mixed in with them and just be a pillow again.

I took down the basketball poster he had up there and put a princess poster. It already fell down though. I decided to take all his clothes out of his dresser while I was at it. My mother-in-law is going to make a quilt out of some of them and we will be going to their house soon so it was a good thinkg to get done. Lauren was confused by it though. She said that those were Nathan's morning clothes and that he would need them. I said he didn't need them anymore and Julia told her he has new clothes in heaven. Then she said very quietly "at least we think he is in heaven". I tried to reassure her that he is but I understand that she is concerned about it all.

So - it hasn't been the best morning - we have just had word of yet another delay in our landscaping and it will now not be finished while I am here. I have serious issues with that since there are several finishing touches yet to be decided and now I will not have a say in it. We also need to go to the DMV.

Great Weekend

We had an ideal summer weekend this past weekend. Luke got back from his trip late Thursday night. Friday morning we hung around home a bit and did some shopping. After Lauren's nap we went to a friend's house for a 4th of July get-together. The weather was perfect and the kids and adults hung out, inside and outside. Kids caught bugs and picked flowers and later did the slip and slide. I can't remember a single fight breaking out the whole time. We had lots of good food and drink and then went out front where the kids rode bikes, kids and adults played with water balloons and sat on the grass eating watermelon. There were lots of really good unofficial fireworks going off. We left before the official ones started and went to bed.

Saturday we went to the pool as soon as it opened. It was hot and sunny which is something it hasn't really been much yet this summer here in Colorado. It is a brand new pool at a club we belong to and it has a great shallow water area with a play structure as well as a deeper part of the pool, a lazy river and 2 waterslides. After we were there for a while Julia found a friend from preschool and another new "pool" friend and took off to play with them. She can touch almost everywhere in the whole complex and so could go off and play without much supervision. One good thing is that her friend wanted to go down the waterslide. Julia had been unsure about trying it until her friend was going. I went down before her and then she went and loved it. It was so nice out that we ate lunch there and spent 3 hours splashing around. We were all a little sunburnt despite plenty of sunscreen.

We came home and Lauren napped and I went grocery shopping. I suppose this is where the weekend gets less fun because Luke hurt his neck a little on the waterslide and he worked for a few hours Saturday and Sunday afternoons. We went to church yesterday morning and relaxed the rest of the day.

I have not a single picture from the weekend to share - we were too busy having fun.

June pictures

Brainwashing?

I took the kids to Chick-Fil-A the other day for some lunch and playing. It had been a while since I had been there. After a few minutes in the play area I realized that every few minutes a soothing female voice would say something.

They have this recorded voice trying to give these kids moral advice. It really is just every few minutes and fairly soft and soothing. Totally supposed to be subliminal in my opinion. The one I kept hearing was "Tell the truth, there's less to remember"

A little creepy even if I agree with what she is saying.

Sketched

Having fun using the "sketch" tool on Photoshop Express (online)

Chef Julia

Julia is really into cooking these days. Her favorite show on TV (of the 5 channels we get) is Lidia's Italy.

She will watch cooking shows for hours if we let her.

We have one meal that she makes for us. I got it out of my favorite recipe source, Everyday Food Magazine

Here she is making Chicken Parmesan. They don't have this recipe online and so I will post it at the end.


























2 large eggs
3/4 cup finely grated parmesan
1/2 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
1 1/2 lbs. chicken tenders
1 3/4 cups tomato sauce
4 oz. part skim mozzarella shredded (1 Cup)
8 oz. penne rigate (ridged) or other short pasta
1 package (10 oz.) frozen broccoli florets, thawed
1 Tbls. olive oil

Bring salted water to a boil. Heat broiler, with a rack set 4 inches from heat. In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup parmesan and breadcrumbs. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dip tenders in egg, then in parmesan mixture; place on a rimmed baking sheet. Broil until golden brown. 2 to 4 minutes a side.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Then top with chicken, remaining 3/4 cup sauce, and finally mozzarella. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, according to package directions, adding broccoli for final 30 seconds. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta and broccoli, and return to pot. Add oil and remaining 1/4 cup parmesan. Toss, gradually adding some reserved pasta water until pasta is lightly coated. Serve chicken with penne and broccoli.

Poll - To cut or not

Should I cut it? Vote in my poll on my sidebar ->

Oh - and ignore how much older I look as you look at my examples

Now - extra long



Nov 2005 - Medium


May 2004 - as short as I'll go (by the way - does this child really have half my genes?)



80's hair - not an option