Adventures with Roderic

While celebrating Thanksgiving this past weekend, we were at my parents house. Roderic was outside with several cousins and Uncle Carson. The rest of us were inside enjoying pie. All of a sudden we hear Roderic's shrill cry and then Uncle Jason saying to the cousins, "And that is why we are not playing in the back yard."

You see, Roderic had been in the back yard - he says getting food for the fishes, Carson says putting sticks in Grandma's pond - and then slipped and slid into the icy cold pond. Thankfully, Carson was there keeping an eye on him and helped him to get out of the pond and into the house. It will be interesting to see how this experience will affect him in going near backyard ponds in the future. (Even Grandpa Gibby has a pond.)



When we woke up yesterday morning, Roderic was so pleased with himself for getting his own breakfast. What will he think of next. (Ryan had it mostly cleaned up when I got to the kitchen.)

New Baby, New Quilt

After returning from Russia, it was apparent that my friend was having another baby. She was 'forced' into sharing her news because her abdomen had popped out. I decided I could make her a quilt for her baby, so I called and asked what her favorite colors are. She replied, "What am I doing with these colors? Wearing them? Decorating with them? Eating them?" I told her, "Cuddling a baby with them." With that information she told me greens and purples because she would find out the sex of the baby at birth. I saw a stripy quilt at Quilter's Crossing that I thought I could do, so I decided that would be the quilt for this baby. It was really easy to piece. And with the help of Stacy's fancy embroidery sewing machine, I was able to quilt it with a fancy loop-de-loop stitch.

I am pleased with the results.

And once again, I embroidered a tag for the back. Still love my signature in thread! And don't you just love the material I found for the back of the quilt?

Now and Then

my baptism; my first date; my trip to Russia
(yeah, that first date photo should have a blog entry all of its own)

What You Wanted to Be/ Now Are:
age 8: a teacher
age 16: Environmental Engineer or Professional Genealogist
now: I am a mom!

Favorite Toy:
age 8: "Blair Aldo", my Cabbage Patch Kid
age 16: Rollerblades
now: my laptop

Favorite Game:
age 8: Alphabet game
age 16: Celestial Pursuit, not that I was any good. We just didn't own any other games.
now: Ticket to Ride

Favorite Color:
age 8: pink
age 16: forest green
now: I like the variety of colors.

Favorite Movie:
age 8: Condorman
age 16: The Fugitive (and any other movie starring Harrison Ford)
now: Wives and Daughters

Favorite Thing to Do:
age 8: Play barbies, of course I didn't own any at the time. The summer before, my one and only Barbie had gotten run over by the lawn mower (Cortney) because I didn't put it away. My mom wouldn't even let my aunt Luella buy me a new one for my birthday.
age 16: SING
now: sew/quilt, closely followed by reading blogs

Thanks to Heather for suggesting this trip down memory lane.

How to...

add a movie to your blog. (This is for you Heather!)

1. Create a new post.
2. Now you have a screen in front of you that allows you to type in your post. There is the "Edit Html" tab and the "Compose" tab. You need to have the "Compose" tab in the foreground.
3. There are 17 small icons to help you with posting (text size, bold, add hyperlink, center justify, bullets, spell check, etc).
4. Click on the one that is 16/17. It is right next to add picture. Second icon in from the right. The picture is a movie strip. When you put your mouse over it, a pop-up title appears saying "Add video."
5. Follow the instructions on the window that pops up titled "Add a video to your blog post."

I hope this helps you to be able to add home movies for all the world to enjoy.

Jesus Calms the Sea

Last week, Roderic came home from church very excited about a story he was told in Nursery. He has brought it up all week long. Yesterday, I told him that we had a movie that has that story on it (Finding Faith in Christ) and we could watch it. He was disappointed that in the movie, Christ didn't put his arm straight out like he was taught at Nursery, but put his arm to the square instead. (His attention faded soon after that scene because that is all he wanted to watch. As soon as the whole movie ended, he asked to watch it again.)

Tonight, as Roderic was in charge of the lesson, he pulled out the picture "Stilling the Storm" (#214 in the Gospel Art Picture Kit) and told us the story - in all of the glory of one sentence. "The boat is trying to sink and Jesus calms the sea with his arm like this." When we asked what Jesus teaches us by this story he repliled: "Be nice, be cheerful, be prayerful, be a lesson."

So if you're ever wondering if kids are listening during the lesson in Nursery, Susie & Tim, YES Roderic does (sometimes).

A conversation with...

Sabrina:

What is your favorite thing to do each day? Why?
I enjoy doing fun and interesting things during the day like playing with playdoh, reading books, ect.

What is your favorite game to play outside with your friends?
I dont have any favorites . I just like interesting and fun games.

What job do you want to do when you grow up?
I want to be an ASTRONAUT!

What is your favorite song to sing?
Pretty much any song.(almost)

What is your favorite thing to do in school?
Anything thats not discouraging

What do you like most about being 8?
What I like most is having more nolige on what I should do and what I shouldnt do.

What do you love most about your brothers?
What I love most about my brothers is I love and they love play with me.

What was the nicest thing you did for someone today?
During quiet time, I went into Roderic's room because he was screaming for you, Mom, and I played with him.

What do you think you'll be doing in 5 years when you are 13?
I think I will be the same in one way and different in another.

What is your least favorite thing to do everyday?
Unless I have help, I don't like cleaning my room.

What is your favorite toy? Why?
I DONT HAVE ANY MOM!

What is your favorite food?
Lots of fruits, but not dried, except raisins; carrots, broccoli, peas, spinach; brownies, Amish Frienship Bread; and a lot of other stuff.

What is your favorite subject in school?
MATH!

Election Day

I have voted in every election for the past 12 years. I remember being so excited to register to vote in my first election when I turned 18. Those election judges at Whitesides Elem. were so nice to me that night when I went with my Dad and sister. It was really neat to be an election judge myself in May 2001 and remind everyone to make sure there were no 'hanging chads' on their ballots.

I will admit that even though I've voted every time, I haven't been a fully informed voter every time. For example, in November 1999, shortly after moving to Boise, Ryan and I went to vote not knowing anything about what was on the ballot. In Idaho you can register at the poll, you just need a picture ID and a proof of residency, so we went to our polling place, registered to vote and then were given ballots with 2 seats to fill and one person running for each seat. It turned out that that election recorded one of the lowest voter turnouts in Boise history with 14.5% of registered voters voting. Wow.

Since then, we have done a much better job of becoming informed, although judges still don't have anything written on them, so I follow my mom's advice and don't vote for incumbent judges (sometimes). Usually, we read the voter guide in the Idaho Statesman, but this year, after reading their trivial amount of coverage, Ryan found a much better guide from the Boise Weekly. We are now prepared to vote. Are you?

Go Vote!