happy birthday, mommy!

today is my mother's birthday. she's, well, seventy-something-ish.

(that's her in the cute white hat!)

she's amazing. so vivacious, and vital to my life. she loves my husband,

feeds my kitties when i'm out of town,

and cares so wonderfully for toby at a moments notice.

and boy, does that kid adore her. he constantly asks

when he can go to nana's house. just the other day,

he said that we needed to go over to her house so he could

tell her something. i said, what do you need to tell her?

he replied, just wait 'til we get there and you will see.

apparently, i'm not cleared for their top secret conversations.

she's always been supportive- even when i was being a spoiled

youngest child that needed to change from ballet to tap to

gymnastics back to ballet then on

to whatever else caught my fancy that month!

she knew when to discipline, and when to cuddle,

how to be strict, and how to be lenient when fitting.

she's accomplished so much, and never looks for recognition,

even though there are thousands that owe her a standing ovation..........

happy birthday, mommy- love, tt shaun shaun

we wish you a merry christmas!!!

you better have a merry christmas- 'cause, apparently, toby will sock you if you don't! just kidding- he's just very excited about the hand motions!

the gym

i've been working out. a lot. i started slowly, a couple treadmill sessions a week. then, i got a trainer, upped my sessions to 4 per week. then, said trainer tells me to come twice a day in order to "really get this off". awesome. it's december, which, for musicians, is like april for tax people. insanely busy. and who would get excited about going to the gym twice a day?!?

i came up with a compromise, in that i could do 3 times over 2 days. here is the resulting schedule:

sunday, late at night, cardio

monday, noon, weight training and mini elliptical session

tuesday, early morning, zumba dance class

tuesday, late at night, cardio

wednesday, noon, weight training and mini elliptical session

thursday, early morning, cardio

thursday, late at night, cardio

friday, noon, weight training and mini elliptical session
saturday, no gym, but activity, like hiking, or tennis, etc.

count 'em. that's nine workouts a week. i figure i can keep this up til my birthday. give it a good solid push, and see what happens. of course, now that i've put it out in the cyber-universe, i'll really have to keep it up.

but today, i got the best surprise, a big smile to end my time. santa came to join me on the elliptical machine right next to me!!!! he usually tries to keep a low profile this time of year, but allowed me to snap a quick photo. not the best quality, but, heck, it's santa! at the gym!

birthday ideas.

all right. i know i have some very talented friends that read this blog. you are all smart, and creative. so here's what i need.
i want to throw my adorable toby an incredible birthday party.
since he's a january birthday, i usually get lost in the holiday stuff and then when i come up for air, it's practically a week until his birthday. so i figure out all the details, and we have a nice little gathering. mostly family, with maybe a couple friends.
but this time, he's turning five. that's such a big deal, and i really want to make it awesome for him.
he's such a cool kid. completely nuts and full of more energy than i've ever seen. he's happy all the time, gets excited over the littlest things, and is a grateful little person. sure, when he's upset, he's really upset. but that is truly so rare.
he is all boy. loves cars and trains and airplanes and babies. yeah, babies doesn't really fit, but he does love them.
so, friends and family, you have the comment portion of this post to tell me your best stuff. locations, themes, what worked (or didn't) for your kids parties. things you thought of, or enjoyed by others, or even read about online or in a magazine and thought, "that's a cool idea"
let the creativity flow...........

Christmas, really?

let's get something straight before i start. i love christmas. seriously, i start listening to christmas music in july, am ready to put up my tree in october, enjoy every minute of crowd fighting/shopping, have my cards addressed and in the mail by dec 8th. i purposely wait until after matthew's birthday, so as to give some priority to the occasion.
not this year. it really snuck up on me. and i wasn't ready for it. i just put up the tree on wednesday, still don't have all the decorations on it. put three whole strands of lights outside, and the two wreaths are up. i am starting to address my cards today, and have vetoed putting up the christmas village this year.
no cookies have been baked, though that is partially so i don't have to hear them calling me to them and the milk. and only about a quarter of my shopping has been completed.
i'm not really sad, just not as excited as i usually am by this point. yet.
you see, this year, i was expecting to decorate a new house. not happening. waiting until may for the new house. i think subconsciously i didn't want to decorate our same house again. i know, i need to be grateful that i have a house. i am. i'm just mourning the idea of my idealized christmases that i have been waiting to have room to create. next year.
again, not sad, just not excited.
i should get back to said cards. they won't address themselves. i'm sure my usual christmas spirit will kick in eventually.
maybe the cookies? a little sugar to liven me up? fake it til you make it? no, it will come. it will.

happy birthday, gooksy!

i already apologized for not getting this up yesterday, so let's all pretend that it's still sunday, december 7th. sunday being why i didn't have the where-with-all to post this. my husband's 33rd birthday! i let the boys off the hook with coming to first hour of church so they could have a special daddy-toby breakfast at ihop. they look pretty happy about it..........
then after we all got home from church, we polished of the last of our turkey in barbeque sandwiches. matthew and i watched a movie, we all just kind of hung out together. matthew said he didn't want anything special this year. he was a little disappointed with the lack of cards this year. but he did get a couple good phone and facebook birthday wishes.
now, avert your eyes, everyone except matthew:

i love you, gooksy. i'm glad that we have;

stayed committed to our marriage,

joined forces to raise our gorgeous, loving son,

had a shared vision for our present and our future,

put in the work to stick together through the muck,
enjoyed all the blessings in our life together,

had fun on the journey, so far...........

happy birthday, matthew!

lizard face!

so, matthew and his brother, mark, have this thing called lizard face. it involves smiling very big, pulling one's cheeks very high on the face, forcing the eyes into squints, then darting the tongue rapidly out, as a lizard might do.
i don't know where it came from, how it started, or why they do it. but as young teenagers, it came to be. they don't do it as much anymore, since they live with their wives and children now, not each other. but, we are doing our part to pass on the grand tradition of lizard face. here is one of toby's first attempts: