Thursday, February 22, 2007

hawaii

aloha...a word that means so much to me. love, goodbye, hello, friendship, family, fellowship, warmth, and a piece of my life that i will always keep dear to my heart. we were stationed in pearl harbor, hi for 2 years. and even though we live in new england and have been away from hi for a few years, i can't seem to shake using the word aloha. its on my voice mail, in my emails and graces the end of my correspondence. so just in case you wonder why i always use it ... well that would be why. i miss hawaii so much and when i use this special phrase i do so that i may conjure the warm, fragrant breezes for the recipient.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

our friends from the single days

this past sunday we had the wise family out down from cambridge to visit. alston and ben have two boys - henry and spencer. i met alston back during my senior year, in chapel hill. she was also a witherspooner and so we had much fun after college up in dc. i had not seen her since i got married and before she was married to ben! they have relocated from the deep south to teach at harvard so naturally we are thrilled to have them near us. our kids had a blast with their boys. we even got to go to the park - although it was very cold and windy! i will post some pics soon. we are excited to spend more time with them. ben plays banjo and he was enjoying our ukelele. graham and ben jammed and we played our favorite song "kyrie is a princess, rhysie-pie is a fairy, ransom is a sailor..." and added verses about henry and spencer. we plan on going to the boston children's museum with them in a few weeks for rhys' birthday.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

warmer days

hey all - we went to the park today - it was in the mid-40's!! praise the lord for a warmer day! i bundled the kids up and we walked to our little park. we had a few near misses (you know rhys standing at the top of the play structure about to step off into air - oh and kyrie tried it too!). i nearly had a heartattack. but thank you to our lord who has set guardian angels encamped around us. (ps. 91). the park was 'crowded' today - most days that we have been there, it was nearly empty. i brought them home, fed them lunch and we all went down to naps at 1pm - which explains why i have a million emails to respond to - i actually took a nap. i needed it and was must refreshed.

oh and the big news today - ransom bit my booby so hard today it drew blood. yep - he is officially on probation. if he continues to do it i might just pump. poor little guy - mama is not putting up with that. no sir. i was so angry - that is the emotion. i didn't have the mind to flick his cheek b/c i was just trying to get him to let go. jaws of death. he only has two teeth. what is up with that? i flicked him tonight when he did it and he was highly offended. like - hello buddy you just bit my nipple!!

i am off to bedybye. the whole household is asleept - even daddy plaster.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

new blog name

i changed my blog title b/c my mama typed in plaster family and found a completely different family - i can't believe someone else has our name!! ohana means family - and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.

more freedom

we took the kids out today for the first time to the park since about 3 weeks (besides church and play groups). praise the Lord. we have fresh air in our lungs and sunshine on our faces. its still cold but if we bundle up we are just fine. the kids loved it and graham and i loved it. ransom slept until we got home. i love 'warmer' winter days!!! sanity!

Kill your TV

since we married, graham and i have felt that getting cable (the only way to get most channels in without static) was like moving the bottom feeder to the top of the food chain and we had better things to spend on our budget. so we decided not to get cable. we have only had those old rabbit ears, which for us has limited (greatly) our dependence and subsequent consumption of tv.

we didn't ever want to be one of those people who had a tv in their living room or even worse, who had their tv on non-stop. in hawaii we had it in our living room b/c of space issues. in sd we had it in our guest room/office and so it was not the main of our living spaces. we tried to read, talk, play games or just be able to create. graham plays the piano. i like to be outside, gardent, read etc. you get the idea. it was wonderful. we had friends comment both in hi and in sd how peaceful our home was without the tv blaring.

then we moved to rhode island not 6 weeks ago. our landlord had cable before us so we expected it to be turned off a few days after we moved in. we put our tv in a new tv armoire (with doors to close it) in the living room but we felt that since we weren't going to have cable it was ok and when we did want to watch something ie like a dvd, and entertain with friends over, that having it in the living room was the best placement.

needless to say, the cable was just never shut off. i kept expecting it to be but then as i gradually got sucked into tv-land i was lulled into thinking we had it forever. it was a constant subject of conversation between graham and i - should we call and have it shut off? i was feeling more and more guilty that i was letting the kids watch cable (although i was strict as to the content) and since it is cold outside and i am trying to manage 3 little ones and unpack and organize our home, i justified our indulgence. it is free - why upset the water glass.

and then last night happened. we were sitting in our dining room about to eat supper with the tv as our focus (whatever happened to lovely conversations over dinner and a glass of vino? or laughing with the kids and enjoying meals as a FAMILY?) when all of a sudden using the remote was fruitless - we weren't getting any channels. graham checked upstairs and i waited impatiently at the table. yep - no cable. well we said that is that. we couldn't make the choice to shut it off for ourselves so the cable guys did it for us. i ran out to wal mart to get some rabbit ears, but still we got a mere three channels with fuzz.

a pity...and then a FREEDOM. we were not going to run our lives around the tv guide channel! we are not tv junkies anymore. i feel so GOOD. we'll miss Law and Order, the food network, Fox news, and other fun shows but really are we truly going to miss anything? now that we are unpacking, all of our books, our 'old friends' as we used to refer to them pre-free cable days in sd, are being reshelved. they are our entertainment and i am so relieved for this present state of reality.

my dear friend susan has a bumper sticker on her explorer that says 'kill your tv'. i love that. i want one of those.

i was reading a friend's blog and she had a link to mothering magazine. in it i found a great link to an article on tv consumption/addiction that is fantastic. please enjoy - its from scientific american. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005339B-A694-1CC5-B4A8809EC588EEDFand also check out www.tvbgone.com - i think you will enjoy this site too:)

early morning

so its nearly half past 5 am in the morning (its a sat!) and i am blogging...i was up feeding ransom and i was sitting in the rocker 'writing' blogs in my head about various subjects:

my mama ... how much i love that she and i are so a like (sometimes i don't always like it:) and how she 'gets' me. i have been learning a lot about myself this past month or so since i have been keeping a new home here. i have to be busy being productive. she pointed it out - she is going to start bringing her knitting to home group b/c she feels like time is wasted if she doesn't get anything done - she said i am so busy these days that i need something to do - how funny i said to her and ironic and then i realized i am the same way. if i have a few hours by myself to 'kill' i will most likely have an agenda - a list. i have to hit all the items or i don't feel i was successful (at least some of the items). i am so used to have to get in a store and boom, boom, boom hit all the items, b/c the kids don't last long in a store and i have three to contend with. sometimes i am 'doing things' from the time i get up to the time i lay my head on the pillow without ever even sitting down for a 15 min break. i think that i need to change this. of course it goes against my very dna but i am going to start at last trying to sit and relax. and the next time i do have a free time to do errands i am going to use a little of the time to just BE. so thank you to mama for pointing out this characteristic that i share with you. its good to know oneself. i am enjoying this aspect of getting older - i am 29 now.

my kids ... i had THE BEST day with them (which i attribute to the prayers of my mama yesterday for me). rhys decided to start saying "yeah" when i ask her something - instead of just nodding yes!! then she said "please" with her sign and "thank you" a long with her sign. what a new thing, a new joy to here her communicate with her voice. this week she has been pointing to her self and saying "i'm barbie" - which is translated as "i am the princess" - she dresses up with her sister in princess clothes, old hats and these rediculous disney princess clip clop shoes. i have to contain my laughter when she walks in for a round of applause and approval. she is such a little girl now - not my baby. well sometimes she is my baby:)

my husband ... there is word in the office that the nwc has been taxed with finding a Lt. for an IA (individual augmentation) to iraq. (sorry to all you civilians who have to read this!) now there are two spots they need to fill. one for over a year (100 days in CONUS [in the states] training) and a year in theatre (iraq). the other for 6 months. since graham is the ONLY Lt at the nwc he is the one they have on their list. however, b/c of hardships (ie my brother dying, just having a third and so close together and my post pardum depression) he may be able to dodge it. his bosses are trying to send the request over to another part of the base. will you please pray for us. i got a little nervous yesterday when he brought it up again. with a twinkle in his eye he said part of him really wants to go and be a part of the adventure. (which i really find sexy and for which i am so proud to hear him say). he is learning arabic on the side for his master's degree and i know that there is an allure to it all. but then he would be gone at least six months.

my friend ... stacy gunter sent me an blog about valentine's day. the thing that is so amazing is that in her blog she talked about how she and her husband andy had decided a few years ago on vday that they were NOT going to get a divorce and that their love was worth it. two days ago i had just found a set of pics of her wedding reception from back in 1997 or 98. she got married in the middle of our sophmore year at liberty. we all were just kids. she was our first friend to get married. now they have been married not quite ten years. its a beautiful thing to see that the lord kept them together. and now they have a gorgeous little munchkin named ezra who is such a doll (yes ez is a girl!) my granola friend and her cute little family are going to do ywam in australia soon too. they are so adventurous - such pioneers. and we reconnected through my friend megan whose husband went to hs with andy. all through myspace.com - well at least that site is good for something:)

jesse my brother ... when i was changing ransom after i fed him this morning and we were giggling together and having a special moment i realized, as i said to him, that jesus took jesse but then he gave me ransom - how very true even his name is. and my little son (well he is a big 4 1/2 mo old) looked up at me with these big blue eyes and a toothy grin, and i decided that i couldn't wait to begin telling him stories about my little brother who became a man.

so that is my blog entry this sat morning before my little ones and my sweet husband wake up. i might just go back to bed or maybe i will make myself a cup of tea and light some candles downstairs and read the word. something i haven't done in a few days. something that i want to do more of and something that will be my sanity when the storm is raging all around me.

jesus you are the lighthouse that beckons me ... i lay all my burdens down at the foot of the cross.

Monday, February 12, 2007

potty training

I woke up this morning to Rhys whining at my bed trying to communicate something (she isn't quite 2). I looked up from my pillow, bed head and all and saw that she had taken off her diaper. Well that means that said diaper is either pee or poops and it is stewing somewhere in a dark corner - ugg. Luckily I found it later thrown up on the changing table - she is so smart!:) What I did find, however, was that she had peed on the floor in our room and Graham's brand new Bible was sitting in the puddle. Uh-oh. All is well though - we have it cleaned up. So then I asked her if she wanted a new diaper and she told me no. I then asked do you want to wear panties - and a big nod and a grin. So we put on Little Mermaid panties which she calls Barbie. (she calls everything that is princess-ish "Barbie"). I went in to Potty Training Mode. We have gotten Kyrie trained so I was remembering my strategies for this round. Ok get her in panties, give her a sippie cup and then take her to the bathroom after about 30 min. I told her to give me the sign for potty when she needed to go and then I got the potty ready for her just in case. We went down the stairs for breaky and about 20 min later as I was cleaning up their little table and chairs in our dining room, I saw that there was a puddle under her seat. So much for that rule of thumb!!:) So its back to diapers for now. Which is a good thing b/c then she had a very messy diaper -- I am sure all of you who are parents can relate, and sorry to those who don't have kids yet. Your time will come. But now, I don't dread potty training that much b/c I know that it does work for at least one of mine. And seriously folks, who ever heard of a kid truly learning in one day. Ridiculous.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Newport Mama

So here I am in Newport. We have been here for a month to the day exactly!! We love our new home. Its over a hundred years old but its been completly fixed up. It has so much light due to all the big spacious windows and that adds greatly to my positive mental health during the "dark ages" of winter here in the North east. Its so cold out my poor kids havn't been on a walk or played at the park in weeks. (probably more like 3 weeks). Mostly we are just getting settled - you know trying to unpack boxes, put things in their proper place, reaccess what needs to be organized - the usual in MOVING with the Navy. I don't mind moving but I have learned in recent weeks that I am much more of a perfectionist then I ever thought I was. This is hard to live out since I have three little ones. In the last few days I have been trying to consciously "let go" of a picked up house. Its been really a challeng but also liberating - so more mental then physical exaustion - ie not as much picking up but more looking to the Lord to help me control my urge to rant and rave about how cluttered things are with little plastic tea cups and plastic veggies strewn around my bedroom floor - which I still havn't been able to vacuum b/c we have so many boxes etc in here. I know - it sounds bad but I am exaggerating of course.:)

more later - dinner is ready!! Yeah for the Joy of Cooking I got from my good friend Leigh Rimmer!!! Pot Roast!!

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