Dementia

OK, sigh, I just finished watching "The Notebook". I have been meaning to watch it for years and finally did this afternoon while the kids were at school. I have been bawling my eyes out. I had to shower to settle down enough to get through the rest of the day and now my eyes are stinging up a storm. I don't think I have cried so hard from a movie (they're supposed to be entertainment - which in my book means makes one happy) while not pregnant. Titanic and Mrs. Potter both got me pretty good too but I was a pregnant hormonal mess.

Warning!!!!! Movie Spoilers!!!!

So back to "The Notebook". It got to me. I am now officially terrified of aging! It killed me to see the heroine of the movie suffering from dementia. Not knowing her husband, the love of life. Not knowing her children, her life's work. And then there were tears shed for the poor hero. Loosing the mind of his best friend and life long love. How awful it is for families that suffer through this horrible decease! They lose everything. Their life in essence. Every sweet memory they have collected over the years...all gone. I was sobbing gut wrenching choking cries of misery on behalf of this poor movie character who represents so many in the world. His beloved Ally recalls her life for 5 minutes only to forget again and be terrified by the presence of her spouse, yelling, pushing and begging for relief. How much more horrible the real life moments are for those struggling though things like this. I wanted to drive down to Dave's work and run in to tell him how much I loved him and could never live without him.

The poor kids walked in right at that moment. To their poor mother crying hysterically on the couch. Sara and Kate came to cuddle and comfort me. I couldn't compose myself for a while. I kept thinking about what if that were me. What if I am all alone in my older years. No memories of love and life. What if I don't know my spouse, best friend and true love when he is standing right there beside me. What if my children, my treasures and life's work are strangers to me. I can only hope with all my heart and soul that Dementia will not plague my family.

If ever I was to contribute financially to the research and cure of an illness it will be dementia.

Dad And His Daughters

With much anticipation the day for the Annual Daddy Daughter Dance had finally arrived. This year the theme was The Academy Awards. Our renters didn't have any daughters to send to the dance so I signed Dave and the girls up. We struggled a little more than usual finding a fun dress-up theme to go along with the spirit of the dance. I couldn't find any great fancy modest dresses, so the girls went as 1920's movie fashionistas. I am sad that I didn't think to take pictures of all the fun getting ready for the dance this year. We watched You Tube tutorials on 1920's hair-do's, did the works in the makeup department and had the girls looking like knock-outs in no time. I know everyone thinks their children are beautiful. But I am always astounded by my children's good looks. I never felt pretty myself, so seeing these girls, my offspring, looking so darn gorgeous makes my heart swell a little. So even though there was no light and there wasn't any great place for taking pictures we attempted a little photo shoot. I used an unused science display board for the backdrop and had Chase shine Dave's work room light at the board. One day I am going to have a studio and master "high key" photography! It is so easy to photograph girls that are giddy with excitement. They were full of happiness.

Dave had planned on taking the girls out to dinner before the dance. He went to two restaurants only to be told the wait was like 45 minutes. So after two failed attempts he took them to one of his favorite side of the road hamburger diners. When they got to the dance the organizers had a red carpet all ready for the girls to strut down. Several volunteer Mom's and siblings were lining the sides taking pictures as paparazzi (it reminded me of the birthday I had planned for Emily last year but used for the girls Achievement day award party instead). I snapped some pictures of the girls strutting their stuff. This one of Kate was my favorite. It is typical Kate, full of spunk with a closed-lip smile!I stayed for about 30 minutes taking pictures of Emily and Kate dancing with Dad. Pour Dave said his arms hurt for days afterwards from lifting the girls up in the air for this favorite trick of theirs!

I loved watching them spin and twirl around the dance floor with the fringes from their dresses going every which way. I swear the only time they sat at the table must have been for a quick food break. The twisted and twirled and even practiced some of the moves Dave and I are learning in our classes.

This year Emily's friend Kait and Kate's friend Vivian came with Dave to the party. I think they both spent half of the time dancing with their friends. Emily is getting old enough that she and Kait were more into being goofy at the dance than dancing their hearts out like Kate and Vivian. Of course they met many of their other friends that they have been missing desperately since our move to Puyallup. Partying with Dad coupled with a friend reunion made the night extra magical!

Kate's Perspective:

I felt so pretty and Mom was saying that I looked like a darling. My hair do was so pretty. Mom put the hot curler in my hair, it made me really nervous but when the curls were done I felt really good. When she put the makeup on I was really scared because I thought the makeup would drip in my eyes. The blush felt really soft on my cheeks. I liked that a lot. When I showed everyone I felt really good and pretty and they liked it. Dad gave me a rose, it made me feel really happy and excited that I got to go to the Daddy Daughter dance with it. Dad let me drink a shake in the car. I wish Mom was there to taste the really good french fries. This year I was really excited to pick up my friend Vivian. I liked when Dad swinged me up in the sky. I like to dance with Daddy because I love him and he gave me a rose so I felt good. Vivian and I danced together a lot. We had dinner with each other. My favorite thing they had to eat was a cupcake with red and white flowers on it. It was fun seeing Mom there to visit. We got a whole box of candy. I got to dance with my friends. Oh yeah that's all.

Emily's Perspective:

I had an awesome time at the Daddy Daughter dance! First we had to get ready. That was kind of hard because we had to hold very still for hot curling. Make up is really, really fun. Usually I don't get to put on make up. It was funny because Mom kept accidentally getting mascara goobers on us. I had to wait with the hot curlers in my head. It was really hard to hold my head really still but walk around. My dress and my outfit this year was really cool. It matched my sisters and had little flappy strings on it that went all around when I twirled. It was purple and I really like the color purple sometimes. My mom twirled my hair and stuck a million bazillion bobby pins to curl my hair all up. None of my hair was down. Mom took our pictures of course...duh! It was fun because I got to do my own really crazy poses. It was kind of hard because Chase was shining light in my eyes. Dad gave me a rose. We tried to go out to Red Robin to eat but we couldn't even get in the doors it was sooo crowded. We tried going to Olive Garden across the street next, they said it would be a 30 minute wait. But 30 minutes was all the time we had. So we went to a hamburger stand named McFruggals. I got to have a shake and some really salty french fries. After that we went to go pick up our friends. When we got to the Daddy Daughter dance It was really beautiful. It was all dark except for flashing balloons and the spot lights. There was a live singer so we danced for a while. Then we saw Mom taking pictures of us. My Dad threw me into the air. It was pretty scary, I went so high my feet were at his chest. My favorite memory about the dance was trying to learn how to do one of Dad's ballroom dance moves. It was kind of hard because we kept stepping on each others feet. But it was really funny!I really liked doing the "knot dance" with all of my friends. When you do the knot dance you hold hands in a circle all facing inward and then you try to turn around without letting go of any one's hand until everyone is facing outward. It's almost physically impossible but we did it! We found some free plastic dancing canes and present boxes with scarves in them. We ran around with the scarves on top of the canes and it was really fun. I really love my Dad because he goes to special things like the Daddy Daughter dance with me!

Somebody Has A Crush On ??????

DISCLAIMER- So in order to protect a certain child from utter humiliation and a life filled with constant ridicule from his/her peers. This post will not mention any names or provide any clues to gender.


One of my children has a secret admirer. I suppose it's not a secret admirer since they left a name on their Valentine gift, but a serious admirer none the less. At school during my child's Valentine party, cards and candy were passed around the room. This mystery person received a box of chocolates and a teddy bear carrying a rose. No one else in the room got any gifts even close to the grandness of this child's gift.

He / she thought to themselves, "Oh my gosh, this is humiliating!" It was right in front of everyone else when the admirer gave the gift. They said in a loud voice, "Will you be my Valentine?" My child grabbed the gifts, thanked the admirer and stuffed the teddy bear in their backpack.


Then nothing was ever said at home...until the next morning. I woke up and found the teddy bear sitting on the kitchen table. I asked one of my children where it came from and he/she said ______ got it from someone in his/her class and they didn't give one to anyone else! We have had a lot of fun teasing mercilessly. The mystery child has been a very good sport. I just can't believe someone has a crush on my offspring!


PS Chase says, HE never had a party! He also says Emma never had a party either!


PSS I have a very good feeling that said teddy bear nick named "THE LOVE PUPPY" is going with Dad on the next trip to the shooting range!

Feeling Loved!

Do you know what is really nice? Having a child whose love language is "words of affirmation". Every family deserves at least one child like this. Someone to always tell you how much they love you. Always hearing you are the best Mom in the whole wide world. A child who sings you goofy love songs they make up themselves. A little angel soul who writes you so many love notes, you feel guilty throwing some of them away, but where would you keep them all? In our family this is Kate. She is always the lover. And this year she came into her own with a new found understanding of Valentines Day.

She has been practicing secret songs for a month in preparation for her Kindergarten Valentine program. It is killing her that they are top secret. She attempts to sing one everyday and then either her hand flies over her mouth to stop herself or I have to remind her that they are supposed to be a surprise. Sometimes the wait seems impossibly long and she makes up new words to the melodies of the songs she's been practicing just so she can sing something to me.

She has been wearing outfits to school that she makes up all on her own trying to monopolize on this holiday all about love. Everything has to be pink or red. If the outfit is covered in hearts she can bear another color. But everything has to Valentinesish. She has even worn her golashes (red with pink hearts) to school everyday for the last two weeks.

Then the night of her program came. She was beaming with excitement. She and her classmates sang us songs, recited poems and hand delivered a special hand made valentine to their favorite person. She was so happy.

A few days later Dave and I heart attacked all the kids rooms. Within a few hours of being awake themselves the girls had recycled the hearts in their room and heart attacked our room. And then there was the hours worth of work all three kids spent cutting out tiny hearts to make confetti to shower me with when I woke up. It was a perfectly great Valentine day. But it never ended.
For the last week Kate has made literally dozens of Valentines for her family. I have kept some and others (because of the sheer volume of these sweet notes) have gotten misplaced. But how great is it to have a child that always loves you and tells you several times a day. She is a priceless gift.

My Valentine XOXO...

Dance with me handsome. Dance me through the night, dance your arms around me, holding me tight.

All of my life I have loved dancing. I started classical ballet in third grade. And ever since then it has been a part of me. I'm sure everyone has heard read the book "The Littlest Angel". The angel has a song in his heart that expresses his joy and happiness for the birth of the Savior. I think we all have outlets let our own personal happiness can flow through. Some sing, some are musicians, some are poets. For me it has always been dance.

If there is any one thing I have regretted in my life it was making mistakes big enough to force my parents into removing that privilege from my life. Still, when I hear music I see an invisible self dancing to it. When I do to the Ballet I see myself on stage and the patterns and movements pull at my own body. I dream about being a dancer still.

Having to stop early in my dancing career, I never had the opportunity to preform a Pax De Deux. That was my dream. The romance of it all still makes my heart flutter.

I actually had a crush on a guy in college just because he was a fabulous county swing dancer. Dancing is intoxicating. And I was so "in love" with this poor fellow on the dance floor.

Then I married Dave. He is the love of my life. The Mary Poppins of the Male world. Practically perfect in ever way...except he doesn't dance. So for the last 13 + years I have tried to persuade him to take ballroom dance lessons with me.

Watching all these new dance reality shows like Dancing with the stars and So you think you can dance, hasn't helped his poor case. I wanted it more and more! And then around a month ago Dave asked me if I felt like dancing. I could hardly believe it. So off we were that weekend to the Arthur Murray near our house. We did a group lessons and stayed for the "Dance Party" they were sponsoring to celebrate their anniversary. It was wonderful. I bought shoes that night and we signed up for private lessons! So we have had a whole month of lessons.

I think Dave enjoys it more than he thought he would. And I love it just as much as I knew I would. We are learning all sorts of dances, Waltz, Fox Trot, Rumba, Swing, Hustle, and Tango off the top of my head.

So this Valentine was a dream come true. We have a date every week. And we laugh at each other, step on each others toes, and have a great time grinning at each other as we dance across the floor.

Pictures...Finally!

I know I have been incredibly cruel to those of you who would like to see what our new house is like. There has been so much work to do. And I didn't want to put pictures up until I was happy with where things were at.

Dave thinks I am afraid you all won't like the house. Even worse he says that I must have some weird issue of being ashamed of it. Like I built it all up to sound awesome and it really isn't. I tell him he is crazy. I LOVE my house! But I guess the argument will continue until I finally post pictures.

We still have so many projects that we want to conquer / finish in the house. But now with the arrival of the greatest weather ever in a February we have shifted gears to working outdoors.

Everyday I walk through the house and sigh to myself with pure "house happiness". I finally have the kind of home I've always dreamed about settling down in. I must admit, I never thought I would chose a "ski lodge" style house, but it speaks to me. I feel so privileged to live in this little piece of heaven. So if you think it is totally weird and that we are crazy...that's OK. We'll figure everything out (like how to hang Christmas lights) with time. I can totally see myself as a Grandma in this house. Until we are 80 and can't maintain it and then like the owners before us start dreaming of moving to Arizona. (Hopefully never!!!)

The main floor:

Upstairs:
Sara's Closet-
The girl;s room-
Chase's room-The upstairs loft / library-The Basement-

Not pictures- bathrooms and the sunroom

Shooting with Dad

My dad and I went shooting with the Warmoths and shot some stuff from home. When we got there we had to load all the guns. It took a while because there where so many guns. After that we started to put everything up. We had all sorts of things, 2 teddy bears, 4 oranges, 2 jugs of colored water, 1 baby doll, a paper clown head, a dinosaur, a spray paint can, 2 clay targets, a snowman in a bottle, a TV, and the grand finally a keyboard.

We had tons of guns and I worked my way up, I started with the 22 caliber handgun, then the 9 mil. handgun, then the 45 caliber handgun, 45 caliber rifle, to the big shotgun!

My favorite was the 22 caliber handgun because it didn't have a big kick. The shot gun would have been my favorite other than the fact that it had a huge kick. One time when I was shooting my Dad's rifle it kicked me in the face. It hurt a lot at first. I thought I had broke my jaw. Apparently my Dad did to.

The best explosion was when we shot the jug filled with blue water. Brother Warmoth shot it with my Dad's rifle and it blew up. So badly that the whole bottom of the jug wasn't even there anymore. There were blue puddles everywhere.

The second best explosion was when we shot an orange. My Dad shot it with his rifle and it disintegrated. One piece even flew like 50 feet away, it almost hit Brother Warmoth - he thought it was a rock.