Sunday, June 21, 2009

In want of an exoskeleton...

...Or a nice, hard, protective shell; I'd always be safe inside. The first hint of danger, and I'd retract all of my soft, squishy parts into the safe shell for protection. Heck, with a thick exoskeleton I wouldn't even have to be on the look out for danger; my soft, squishy parts would always be protected.



We all have some form of shell, we all have ways we've learned to sheild ourselves from pain. Some might laugh and brush aside the cutting remarks of another; some might lash out first, never letting the other person get the upper hand; some might be a perpetual victim illiciting sympathy and compassion from those around them. "Shells" come in all shapes and sizes. You could turn to drugs or alcohol to numb and stuff the hurt. You could keep yourself constantly distracted to keep from feeling the hurt. You could hold people off at a distance, not letting them in past the crusty exterior you've worked so hard to construct. Sometimes, having a shell sounds nice and safe and easy.



Life is full of pain. You try something and fail. You want something and don't get it. You see loved ones hurting. Disapointments pile up.



Life is one big risk.

Only A Person Who Risks Is Free
Author Unknown

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas, your dreams,
before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk dispair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because
the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing,
have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they can not learn, feel, change,
grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free!




Is the risk and ensuing pain worth it? YES. Life is full of pain, but we are made to have JOY. Every pain, every heartache makes us stronger, gives us more empathy for others and teaches us how to be better and do better. It sucks. It hurts. It's a struggle and a fight. It's worth it, though. It's worth the pain to grow and give and learn and help!

Friday, June 19, 2009

What the kids and Dave did for 5 days while I was gone.

Dave, being the very nice, thoughtful and supportive husband that he is, insisted Brighton and I take a little vacation to visit my family in Idaho. It's been a few years since we have visited them and we couldn't afford for all of us to go, so it made sense for Brighton and I to fly out. I have never been on a vacation away from my kids except when I flew out to Colorado Springs last spring to try and find a house for us to buy. That wasn't really a vacation, though. This was. :) I missed Dave and the kids a lot, but I was happily distracted by my many wonderful relatives and their sweet and adorable kids. Dave is so great taking care of the kids and the home, I didn't worry about them once.

While I was gone, Dave got a lot of projects done and he and the kids had a lot of fun. One day, he took them to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo here in Colorado Springs. It is a great zoo with lots of fun stuff. We always have memberships to the local zoos and museums; for a family our size and for how often we like to go it just makes a lot more sense.
The girls got their faces painted. Fiona and Haven both have a flower on their cheeks, and Scarlett got her face painted like a walaby. Cute!

See how close that cute chipmunk is?!? I guess they saw it running across the path and they stopped to look at it. It spotted some yummy food stuck to the path and ran right over, within inches of the kids, to eat it! Too cute!

Here is Elijah in front of some cute animal, pulling a face. :) He looks so adorable in a ball cap!

The Cheyenne Mountain (click on title of today's post for their website) has a large herd of giraffes that you can pet and feed biscuits to. Above is Sebastian petting one.

Here is Fiona chatting with another. They are so cute and friendly!

Here's the gang, all decked out in sun hats. :) Brighton and I had a lot of fun visiting family in Idaho, but knowing what an awesome job Dave was doing with the kids at home made my trip even better!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Help me decide!


Sweety pie Brighton.
Elijah, who is also a sweety, was in a grumpy mood about something and I only managed to get a few pictures of him, but luckily this one was about perfect! So no need to decide there! :)

Sweet Haven.

Sweet Scarlett.

Sweet Sebastian. He is into ALWAYS having "thumbs up" in pictures!!! Funny, sometimes...but not ALL the time!!! Oh well. :) He's still a cutie. :)

Sweet Fiona.

I am trying to choose which pictures of each of the kids to frame. Which ones do you like best?

A toothful forcefully lost...



We were in Lowe's the other day. While looking at door knobs and locks, which took a lot longer than we had anticipated...why do simple things like door knobs cost so much?!...Dave was keeping Fiona and Haven happy by playing a game with them. It was some variation of London Bridges. Things got a bit wild. The kids got a bit crazy. Fiona's mouth slammed into Haven's forehead. OUCH! They both were crying. I was comforting Haven while Dave hugged Fiona. Then we realized Fiona's mouth was bleeding. She said her tooth got knocked out. As I was saying "what? Really!?" and stepping toward her, I stepped on her tooth. This was the next tooth she would naturally loose (she already lost her other top front tooth), but it was not really loose much at all...so it hurt! Dave made a comment to her that maybe the tooth fairy pays extra for teeth that are forcefully lost. And she did. :)