A President’s Wisdom
I have long admired Abraham Lincoln, and was reminded of the many words of wisdom he left behind while looking through Whitebinder. In seventh grade I memorized the Gettysburg Address, and have always remembered it as being such a strong yet emotional speech. In eighth grade I toured Washington DC with my class and loved the Lincoln Memorial. It is beautiful, peaceful, powerful, and to me Abraham Lincoln sitting in that large chair is the epitome of presidential. In 2003 our family visited Washington DC and I took this picture of Hunter and Emma.
Here are some of my favorite quotes attributed to Mr. Lincoln:
“Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.”
“We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.”
“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.”
“Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
“The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.”
Read MoreRecycling
Save the water from washing your clothes to flush the toilet. Great idea, but do you think it would really catch on? I know that I would end up dropping a sock in the toilet when I emptied the washer. But then I guess it wouldn’t matter too much because that’s the same water the sock was just rinsing in. Ew, weird.
Yogurt cups that snap together for playtime after lunchtime. Clever.
After you open up the computer, the box is ready for play time. Instructions come inside the box for turning it into a house, rocket, etc. And no cutting or extra work for the parents. My kids already make forts out of cardboard boxes, so they would love this!
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Happy Easter!
Here are some pictures of our family on this beautiful, warm Easter Sunday. I thought it would be nice to include a little about what we are thinking about on this holiday:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0vQZQieI-I
Read MoreThe Spider Hunt
It’s about 1:00 am and I’m sleeping on the couch. Not because I’ve had a spat with my beloved, but because I always fall asleep on the couch. It will be around 11:00 pm and Rob will still be wide awake and settling into an episode of the Simpsons or How It’s Made, or he’s in the office on the computer and I’m trying to read on my own… I just can’t make myself go to bed even when I’m tired. I think it’s a weird sort of guilt I have because it seems wrong to go to sleep before Rob does.
Anyway, so Rob comes to wake me up as usual and we head upstairs. Our living room is open to the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. The kids love it because they can sneak out and watch TV if they’re really quiet (but we usually catch them), or throw things down to the living room from the railing like little toy parachute guys or dirty laundry. As I walk across the hallway to check on the kids I notice that there is a creepy black spider on the far wall above the windows and mention it to Rob. He immediately concocts a plan. “You throw some socks at the spider to knock it down, and I’ll stand in the living room with a wad of toilet paper ready to scoop him up when he hits the ground.” I’m so tired, but I say, “ok” because he is already grabbing socks from his drawer and rolling them into tight balls. I take a practice shot at the opposite side of the wall so I can see how to best get the little guy. It bounces off the ceiling before even hitting the wall. This makes me start laughing, and Rob is down in the living room going, “I think a practice shot was a good idea.” I give up on practicing and just start lobbing sock balls at the spider. He’s just a few inches down from the ceiling, so I can’t use an arc, it has to be a straight shot. This is harder than I thought. After several rounds of misses I am laughing so hard at my terrible aim that I’m not even hitting the wall anymore. Rob and I agree to switch posts. He remarks, “I wish we had our own videographer.”
He comes upstairs and hands me the five squares of toilet paper for the squishing job. I say, “I think I would have gotten a bit more.” But I don’t get more just to show that I’m as tough as my husband. He takes a few shots and misses too. I throw the socks back up to him for another round, and this time on the second shot he knocks the spider down. I run for the spider after watching it land on the carpet. I’m thinking, “I should have put shoes on! This guy is fast.” I start yelling, “He’s so fast!” And Rob yells, “Don’t go straight up and down, smear him!” Then, after a long three seconds, I successfully smoosh the spider without smearing him into the carpet, and show Rob my handiwork. Finally, I flush the remains and we both head upstairs back to bed and I say, “We could have won $10,000.00 if we had that on tape.”
Read MoreVisit to the West Coast
Chris and Tracy came for a visit back home to the west coast. It is home, right guys??!! We had a lot of fun together and got together with Nana, Papa, Great Grandpa & Dorothy, Jeanette & Dan, Tracy’s sister’s family… Lots of happy times together. Can’t wait to see you all again!
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