I LOVE teaching people how to do things - especially little tidbits on how to make their lives easier or more efficient. Google has done one better... and packaged it up as a Christmas Gift! I wish I'd thought of it first, but I'm glad someone did!
http://www.teachparentstech.org/watch
Virtual Christmas Card
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In an effort to be earth-friendly and economical, we've decided to save the paper, ink, and stamps and go virtual with our Christmas cards this year.
We love you all and wish everyone a safe and wonderful Christmas!
PS. Do you think Samantha is hoping we get a kitten or a gerbil for next year's Christmas card? :)
3 Years of Craziness!
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Our little devil is turning 3 tomorrow!
When Sam was a puppy (3-9 months) and destroying everything, all of the "experts" would say, "Oh, when she turns one, she will be a good dog! She will stop chewing and listen much better." When December 10, 2008 came and went and the only thing that changed was her age and weight, I was a little suspicious that we were doing something wrong. When we would explain our situations to the "experts" we encountered during this period of time, they would conveniently explain that dog's don't fully mature until two years of age. We often heard the promise, "When she turns two, you'll notice a huge difference!"
A year later, December 10, 2009 came and went. We had a two-year-old that chewed like she was teething, listened like she was deaf, and liked so few people, strangers must have wondered if we abused her. Neither one of us had a pair of socks without holes. We'd spent hundreds of dollars replacing dog beds. Our friends preferred to avoid our house if possible. But somehow, we found ourselves adoring this black beast as if she were Lassie. We stopped asking for advice. Occasionally I would find myself explaining away why my dog was being so bad. You know what the response was? You guessed it... "When she turns three, she will really mature!" We humored these confident statements and are still hoping those people are right! What else could we do with 100 lb monster that never seemed to sit down (my mother compares her to a toddler with ADHD). I started doing my own research. I was dying to know if there really was any reason to hope or if we'd just ended up with a very... bad dog.
Believe it or not, giant breed dogs are not supposed to reach psychological maturity at 3! There is hope for us after all! Tomorrow Sam will be three! We have made it through the terrible twos.... with only a couple disasters.... now it will be all downhill. At this very moment she is chewing a hole in her bed. Could this be the last hole she ever chews? One can hope.
Oh, and Sam just recently found her voice. I thought it would be fun to teach her to "talk." That backfired. Ask Kory. She won't do it on command, but when she wants something, she'll certainly tell you all about it!
Happy Birthday Samantha! You've added more craziness and joy to our lives than we could have ever dreamt possible!
Baby Sam
When Sam was a puppy (3-9 months) and destroying everything, all of the "experts" would say, "Oh, when she turns one, she will be a good dog! She will stop chewing and listen much better." When December 10, 2008 came and went and the only thing that changed was her age and weight, I was a little suspicious that we were doing something wrong. When we would explain our situations to the "experts" we encountered during this period of time, they would conveniently explain that dog's don't fully mature until two years of age. We often heard the promise, "When she turns two, you'll notice a huge difference!"
A year later, December 10, 2009 came and went. We had a two-year-old that chewed like she was teething, listened like she was deaf, and liked so few people, strangers must have wondered if we abused her. Neither one of us had a pair of socks without holes. We'd spent hundreds of dollars replacing dog beds. Our friends preferred to avoid our house if possible. But somehow, we found ourselves adoring this black beast as if she were Lassie. We stopped asking for advice. Occasionally I would find myself explaining away why my dog was being so bad. You know what the response was? You guessed it... "When she turns three, she will really mature!" We humored these confident statements and are still hoping those people are right! What else could we do with 100 lb monster that never seemed to sit down (my mother compares her to a toddler with ADHD). I started doing my own research. I was dying to know if there really was any reason to hope or if we'd just ended up with a very... bad dog.
Believe it or not, giant breed dogs are not supposed to reach psychological maturity at 3! There is hope for us after all! Tomorrow Sam will be three! We have made it through the terrible twos.... with only a couple disasters.... now it will be all downhill. At this very moment she is chewing a hole in her bed. Could this be the last hole she ever chews? One can hope.
Oh, and Sam just recently found her voice. I thought it would be fun to teach her to "talk." That backfired. Ask Kory. She won't do it on command, but when she wants something, she'll certainly tell you all about it!
Happy Birthday Samantha! You've added more craziness and joy to our lives than we could have ever dreamt possible!
Baby Sam
2 Weeks!!
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2 weeks down, a lifetime to go. As time goes on, my secret, well hidden, Type A personality is peaking through my disorganized facade. Now that the wedding is over, I desperately need something to count down. For the last year and a half, I've been counting down to this one day, naturally there is a void now that it is over, right?
If I counted the weeks we survive married life, would that be weird? It would be hilarious if someone asked how long we've been married and I answered, "Sixty-one weeks!" instead of "A little over a year." Oh the speculation that would follow that response! (If no one else finds this humorous, I know my little sister will.)
This brief but significant moment in our lives feels like a distant dream... vague and wonderful. My mother swears this was the first time she ever saw Kory and I kiss. How cool are those couples who experience their first kiss on their wedding day? (Kory ruined that option for us 8 years ago... )
The kiss that sealed the deal...
If I counted the weeks we survive married life, would that be weird? It would be hilarious if someone asked how long we've been married and I answered, "Sixty-one weeks!" instead of "A little over a year." Oh the speculation that would follow that response! (If no one else finds this humorous, I know my little sister will.)
This brief but significant moment in our lives feels like a distant dream... vague and wonderful. My mother swears this was the first time she ever saw Kory and I kiss. How cool are those couples who experience their first kiss on their wedding day? (Kory ruined that option for us 8 years ago... )
The kiss that sealed the deal...
Thankful.
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I've been married for 1 week and 5 days and I have never felt more blessed or content, ever. A coincidence? Maybe. It feels as though my life is in this perfect rhythm. The song Rhythm of Love by The Plain White T's (our first dance, runner up song) comes to mind. It's an overwhelmingly wonderful feeling.
This job and the solitary confinement it provides due to the 'nature of the business', gives me plenty of time to reflect on life's many blessings. I'm finding that taking a little time to acknowledge those things that are going "right" really helps to keep a great perspective on life! I'm really so fortunate. We all are. We just have to take the time to recognize it.
This job and the solitary confinement it provides due to the 'nature of the business', gives me plenty of time to reflect on life's many blessings. I'm finding that taking a little time to acknowledge those things that are going "right" really helps to keep a great perspective on life! I'm really so fortunate. We all are. We just have to take the time to recognize it.
Congrats... etc.
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Coming back to work after getting married...
First you get, "Congratulations!"
Then comes some rhetorical questions that are only intended to show interest...
"How does it feel to be married?"
"What's it like to be off the market?"
And finally, the personal tales of humor and horror around their wedding or the weddings they have attended...
"My wife's father stepped on her dress as they started down the aisle. She fell. When her dad lifted her off the ground, not realizing he was still standing on the dress, he ripped the skirt right off!"
"My first [husband] never came to the wedding. I never saw him again."
"When asked how long I had been married, I gave the sum of all my marriages. My current wife of a year wasn't too thrilled with my response of 'twenty two years.' We only made it to a year and a half."
"My wedding was perfect. I woke up drunk and went to bed drunk."
"We accidentally put the wrong address on our invitations. We had 200 guests waiting patiently for us at the church on the street over. That was before cell phones. We had our pastor, bridal party and our parents with us. All of our guests assumed we'd gotten scared and ran for the hills."
"We spent our wedding night in the hospital. I thought it would be funny if I took the less gentlemanly road with the cake... I smashed the buttercream icing in her face. All over her face. I forgot that she has a severe allergy to milk and we were supposed to exchange bites of the pie sitting next to the cake. She broke out in hive and the icing that got into her eyes made them swell up like she'd been attacked in a dark ally. I sure looked like a jerk."
It's amazing what people remember... and more amazing what they choose to share!
First you get, "Congratulations!"
Then comes some rhetorical questions that are only intended to show interest...
"How does it feel to be married?"
"What's it like to be off the market?"
And finally, the personal tales of humor and horror around their wedding or the weddings they have attended...
"My wife's father stepped on her dress as they started down the aisle. She fell. When her dad lifted her off the ground, not realizing he was still standing on the dress, he ripped the skirt right off!"
"My first [husband] never came to the wedding. I never saw him again."
"When asked how long I had been married, I gave the sum of all my marriages. My current wife of a year wasn't too thrilled with my response of 'twenty two years.' We only made it to a year and a half."
"My wedding was perfect. I woke up drunk and went to bed drunk."
"We accidentally put the wrong address on our invitations. We had 200 guests waiting patiently for us at the church on the street over. That was before cell phones. We had our pastor, bridal party and our parents with us. All of our guests assumed we'd gotten scared and ran for the hills."
"We spent our wedding night in the hospital. I thought it would be funny if I took the less gentlemanly road with the cake... I smashed the buttercream icing in her face. All over her face. I forgot that she has a severe allergy to milk and we were supposed to exchange bites of the pie sitting next to the cake. She broke out in hive and the icing that got into her eyes made them swell up like she'd been attacked in a dark ally. I sure looked like a jerk."
It's amazing what people remember... and more amazing what they choose to share!
A Moment in Time
Posted in on byWe are so lucky to have some VERY talented friends. At one point, I may have been open to the idea that we are just biased. It is easy to think the world of someone when you adore them. Our wedding proved to me that I adore my friends more than I ever knew and they are just are brilliantly gifted. Proof? The photo below is one that Jen, one of our BFFs, snapped while we were posing for another photo. When I saw this photo I got butterflies in my stomach. This image depicts everything I dreamed of in a wedding day from the naturally breathtaking setting, the adoring groom, and the undeniable joy that is us. Maybe that is why I am crazy about this image. It doesn't hurt that I've admired this friend for years. Jen is one of the most amazingly gifted photographers I've ever met. Thanks to her skilled photography and willingness to share, I will be able to remember our wedding day, as the dream come true that it was.
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