lol

lol.....lol.....lol

It took me a while to figure out what "lol" means.  I'm the person who has to google phrases like that because I'm kind of oblivious to a lot of stuff and don't pick up on lots of details.  Let's blame it on 6 childbirths (which does make you forget lots of stuff), 10 years of teaching school and learning to filter lots of blabber to get to the important stuff, or living in a foreign country where I don't hear the latest lingo and don't watch hardly any TV.

So, for those of you like me, "lol" apparently means "laugh out loud".  (I just googled it to make sure, ha ha, i mean, lol.)  It is internet slang.  I guess it is just plain old fashioned to type in "ha ha" or "HA!".  Now it is "lol".

(on a side note - in Brazil it is "rsrsrsr" or "kkkkkkk" or "haiusdhaisuhdiausihus" - all of these mean laughter).

So when is the last time you "lol"ed??  Even though I don't consider myself a super serious person, sometimes it seems like I go too long without laughing (out loud).

HOWEVER - today I had some good giggles.

This video on our family blog makes me laugh everytime. Anderson made this by himself when he was 5 or 6 years old and it cracks me up.  I know it by heart and so does everyone in our family, but I can't watch it again without giggling.

Also, read this blog post.  Ansley showed me this this morning and I would have wet my pants if I hadn't been sitting down.

I love to laugh....ha ha ha haaa.....loud and long and clear! (a little shout out to Mary P.)

Anyway, I do love to laugh and I hope these little links have given you some giggles today, too.  If you have any funny links to share, leave a comment!!

Movie Recommendation: Oldie but Goodie

Oh yeah, I have a blog.

So, so much catching up to do on here.  I'll try to do better for the 3 of you who read this!

We have family movie nights at our house - usually on Friday night.  Since Ansley got home from Ecuador (yeah!) last Sunday, we watched a new movie that she bought there.

I had never heard of it.  It was called Iron Will.  It is an old movie - like Kevin Spacey is in it and he looks about 30.

It was about a young man, Will, who decided to race in a sled dog race in memory of his dad (and to save his farm and pay for his college.)  I'm not going to tell more because I don't want to give it away if you haven't seen it.

We LOVED this movie.  It was exciting enough that the big kids liked it, but not too scary or violent for the little kids.  No bad words or parts where you had to fast forward through.

So, if you are looking for a good family movie, this is a great choice!

Also, if you have family movie night too, you might want to enter a giveaway for a projector on this blog:  Whatever.  I can think of a million ways we could use this projector!

Awesome Book

I love reading and I love reading good books to my kids.  

I think that's mainly because I get to read the book again, too.

Here is one of my very favorites.  I used to read this to my 3rd grade class when I taught school.

Tonight I finished reading this to Anderson.  He loved it and I loved reading it again.

If you have boys, read this to them.  Girls would like it too, but it definitely has boy appeal.

I'm not going to tell you what it's about, but trust me, you will be drawn in and you will love it.

Falling Asleep?

We are an "early to bed, early to rise" family.

Kevin gets up at the crack of dawn everyday.  I am definitely more of a morning person than a night person. And our kids have always been ready for bed at a decent hour and gone to sleep easily, ready to wake up early the next day.

Except one.

He didn't get the memo about how the Blume kids are supposed to sleep.

He gets an extra spark in his battery about the time the rest of us are winding down.

Take last night for example.  Kevin went to read a few chapters of a book to Anderson while he was in bed.  After about 3 pages, Anderson was snoring.

At this same time, Garrett offered to read to Giovanni in his (Garrett's) bed.  After Anderson conked, Kevin walked by Garrett's room and listened in...  Garrett would read one sentence and Giovanni would ask a million questions about that sentence, the main one being his favorite:  "Why?"

Reading to fall asleep wasn't working.

Last week, Carys and Garrett had babysitting duty.  Carys needed to read a book for the next day at school, so she set Giovanni up with a bunch of his favorite books in bed beside her.

Good plan, and it made for some cute pictures.

How did it work out?  Carys ended up falling asleep reading her book.  Giovanni just left her there and went on his merry way.  Garrett had to get him to sleep later on.

Thanks for trying, Carys.

Running the Race

Yesterday, I completed my 2nd half-marathon.

I decided to sign up for it because I found out that if I don't have a race (or some kind of goal) on the horizon, I'm not motivated to run.

My time yesterday was the exact same time as the one I ran in December.  To the minute.  Weird.

However, this race was harder for me - for several reasons.

One reason is that I wasn't as diligent with my training.  For the first race, I was scared to death that if I skipped a day of training, I wouldn't be able to finish the race.  So I hardly skipped any days.

This time, I knew that I could do it, and I was a little more lax on the training.  Because of my lack of training, I was more tired during the race and my muscles and joints hurt more.  Not as much fun.

Another reason is that this race didn't have near as much support going on as the St. Jude Marathon did (which is what I ran in December).  Yesterday we didn't have crowds cheering us on, bands playing cool music, and lots of people running around us.  At times it seemed like we were running all alone ("we" being Kevin, our friend, Sergio, and me).  That made it harder.  We finished, but it wasn't as much fun.

I got to thinking about the race and how it compares to our Christian life.

How important is spiritual training?  Daily Bible reading, time in prayer and spiritual meditation.  How often do I fill up my "down time" with things that aren't necessarily bad, but aren't the best?  Do you ever find yourself in a spiritual "funk" and realize that you've been lax on your daily spiritual habits?  I know I do.  You will finish the race, but it will be harder if you don't spend that time training.  When will I ever learn this lesson once and for all???

Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. 

1 Timothy 4:8 (The Message) 

Also, how important is encouragement?  I know living in a foreign country and not having a lot of strong Christians around me to encourage me has been hard for me at times.  But, I got to thinking, how much do I take time out to encourage my fellow Christians here?  People who are very young in the faith and need encouragement as much or even more than I do.  I am going to make an effort to be more intentional about encouraging my brothers and sisters.  It makes the race easier and more fun!

So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.   

Hebrews 10:24-25 (The Message) 

Art Around Our House, Part 2

I love to create.  And I love it that our kids (some of them, at least) love to create as well.

Anderson has always been a great little artist.  He loved to sit and color when he was younger and now he loves to draw.

He, however, has his own ideas of what inspires him to draw.

One time it was drawing and coloring all of the logos for all of the soccer teams in Brazil.  He let me help him with that one.  Fun.

Lately, he is taking up advertising for Fanta.  Here in Brazil, we have Grape Fanta and Orange Fanta.  They also are having a contest for a new flavor - either maracujá (passion fruit) or strawberry.  Anderson loves to drink Fanta.

Here is his take on Fanta advertising....

I love that he invented the bearded guy (he isn't some guy on Fanta advertising here), and thought up different scenarios for him drinking Fanta.  The last one is a submarine (I think) and there are seats inside.  The bearded guy is sitting at a table getting ready to drink his orange Fanta saying "Alone".

Anderson is also very gracious to use his artwork to help me out with parenting problems.  One day, on a rare, rare occurance (HA), Garrett and Carys were fighting about cleaning up the kitchen.  Anderson was also supposed to be helping out.  His way of "helping" was to draw this:

Notice there are only two smiling workers in the second picture.  I know Garrett and Carys appreciated his non-helping, yet gentle, correction of their attitudes.

This picture remains on our fridge, and I must say that fighting during kitchen duties has lowered significantly.

Thanks, Anderson.

Art Around Our House (part 1)

Have I mentioned that I like wall collages??

I think I have.

Why?
1.  I have more small artsy things, than big ones.  To make an impact you have to put the small things together.
2.  I like lots of things - not just one or two things.  So, I get to use all the things I like.
3.  I like funky and interesting over traditional and predictable.

So here are some....
My cross collection:

In the dining room:
(I am going to probably change some of this soon and paint the wall.  I am thinking about yellow chevron stripes.  What do you think?)

Over the couch:

Carys's room (which you've already seen):

Tomorrow, part 2...