9:52

Week 9 at Picture Inspiration was observation. (Again, I'm a week behind. Good things take time, right?)
I'm always intrigued by Max's love of popsicles. I think it's because I have SUPER sensitive teeth to cold. Awful. Cool tap water hurts, any fruits or veggies right out of the fridge hurt, I brush my teeth with warm water... If I could get new teeth, or cut the nerves to all of my sensitive teeth, I would! So, to watch Max bite into and chew a popsicle is fascinating. It kinda makes my teeth hurt and yet, I'm a bit envious of his ability to do this.

And apparently it's OK to suck your thumb in-between bites.

Happy Friday, everyone.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
It's supposed to be 70 here on Sunday. :)

(I posted some thoughts early this week about how I've been feeling about blogging and photography lately. I think it was out there for the world to see for about two hours, then I took another look at it and hit delete. I'm glad I said what I wanted to say, but I think in the end I looked at it and thought, "My goodness, you sound so ungrateful." So, with a click of a button it was gone. Some of you saw it, read it, and responded. And most of you who did respond said that you felt about the same way. There was some comfort in knowing my feelings were shared. And your words were all so uplifting. Thank you all so much. Hugs, friends.)

sad boy.

He sat on the couch with his blanket and new, favorite dinosaur stuffed animal (whose long, Max-given name I cannot pronounce), watching Glee Encore.
About an hour before he fell backward off that couch, whacking the back of his head on the window sill. I didn't see it happen. I was in the room, occupied with my coffee when I heard the thud. I looked up and saw the light behind the couch moving around a bit. A little voice said, "I'm ok. I'm ok." He says this sometimes when he falls down - that should have been my clue. But I started in with my "mom" voice, "Max, get up. Let's not play behind the couch." His faced poked-up and there were tears. I went over to him as he felt the back of his head. And that's when I saw the gash. Bright red blood in his fine hair. I picked him up, handed him to my dad and grabbed a cold wash cloth for his head. I then ran upstairs to ask my mom to hurry and come look, while I grabbed some hydrogen peroxide.
A few thoughts raced through my head - should I call my mother-in-law (a nurse of 35+ years)? Should I call the doctor? Will the bleeding stop soon? Will he need stitches? How do I put a band-aid on his head with all that hair? (I know, I know - but that thought actually did cross my mind.) And at the same time I felt awful that my first mental reaction was, there he is again doing something he shouldn't do... I didn't think he might be hurt. I didn't actually see it happen.
I felt bad...and I hoped my immediate lack of concern didn't add to his tears and his pain.
There is nothing I want more in my life as a mother than for my child to feel completely accepted by me, his mom. Spills off the back of the couch and all.
My love is unconditional.

ranunculus love.

My mom bought these for me while we were at Trader Joe's yesterday.

They are sweet and sunny just like she is.

71.

Oh my! It was 71 degrees on Saturday. Perfect weather for a BBQ! And what good is a BBQ if you don't make smores after dinner?




My parents came to town Saturday afternoon, after a pit-stop at my brother's house on Friday. Max went to sports class, I washed my little red Honda, we played outside, husband BBQ'd, we ate far too many marshmallows and smores. Heck, we even toasted some Peeps, but they weren't that good.


Max thoroughly enjoyed every bite.
And I thoroughly enjoyed the warm, sunny weather. It was blissful while it lasted - we are back to rain, hail, wind, and cooler temps.

maggie monday. (i heart faces.)

The theme is pets over at I Heart Faces. And this is one doggie face I truly love (even if she drives me a little crazy at times.)

She's been given many names over the years, besides Maggie.

Maggie Lou (I added the Lou. Don't ask me why. It just rolled off the tongue nicely.)

Maggie Waggie.

Magster.

Magertons.

Magasaurus Rex.

Lickasaurus Rex.

Lou Ball. (She curls up in a little ball when she sleeps.)

Louie.

Louerton.

Lovey Lou.

Crazy Lou.

Stinky Lou.

I could go on and on...

Now she's just Old Lou.

8:52

Random.

A random photo of our table in the morning. Notice the sunshine. That's also a bit random lately.

7:52

The Shape of Surprise.

A surprise hail storm in the afternoon sent Max running to find his red fireman hat so he could go outside.

(I'm a little behind on posting my Picture Inspiration photos. This was for last week's theme.)

the snacker.

He's got the gene. The Meisgeier snack gene. It's real, folks. Chuckle all you want, but a bag of chips or goldfish or any other snackable food doesn't stand a chance when the Meisgeier men are around. Max, Eric and Opa are a force to be reckoned with.

You want some of those delicious Juanitas chips? You'd better sit down and eat what you can, while you can, before Eric gets to them. You want some goldfish? Fill a zip-lock and hide it cuz that bag of Extreme Cheddar Goldfish has Max's name on it. These men are professionals. And it's gotta be in their genes. I mean look at Max's technique - pinky sticking out. One goldfish in his mouth and he already has the next goldfish in his little hand. Indeed, that is not a Roth gene...but I've become a snacker cuz like I said, if you want any of it you've got to open that bag and eat it while it's still around! (I can blame my extra pounds on that, right?...)

Happy Snacking everyone!

(Thank you to all of you who sent the sweet messages about this post last Friday. D-Day One was Monday when I took my last injection. D-Day Two was today. D-Day Three is May 3rd. I have a two week wait. And I'm so not good at waiting. Any and all ideas for distraction are welcome.)

evidence of sun.

Every shadow is evidence of sun

And every tomorrow holds out hope for us

~Nichole Nordeman

maggie monday.

POW! The sun came out!



With a few lazy clouds...



And one old, tired, sun-loving Maggie...



"Welcome. Come on in. Can you reach the cookie jar on-top of the fridge?"

Hope you all had a great Monday!

tgif!

I'm thankful it's Friday. This week has been a blur, and yet has dragged on forever. It's been a week filled with injections, doctor appointments, trips to the pharmacy, waiting, more doctor appointments. (I'm guessing you can see where I'm going with this. Did you know April is Infertility Awareness Month? Yes it is. My timing is perfection.)
I've debated whether I wanted to talk about this on my blog. I sat down to write something yesterday - something cheery - but I was forcing something I wasn't feeling. When it comes right down to it I haven't been cheery at all this past week - my son and husband can attest to this. Yesterday at the store I almost broke down in tears for no good reason. That's what mega-doses of hormones will do for you, folks. Make you wanna cry while looking at Peeps among all the Easter candy and decorations. Not pretty.
I don't want to wallow or complain, but I do want to be honest in this little virtual place.



In other, more uplifting news:

• I picked-up the new Alison Krauss CD Tuesday and it is amazingly, gorgeous music to my ears. 
• I also purchased tickets to the Alison Krauss concert in June. Can. Not. Wait. It's the day after my birthday.
• Tuesday was Muffins with Mom day at preschool. It was so cute. The kids sang songs for us, introduced us, and gave us sweet little gifts. And the muffins were delicious! I would have eaten the rest of Max's muffin, but didn't want to look like a pig.
• We got a new bed Monday. I told my husband last night that I wanted a whole day to just sleep in that bed. It is that comfortable. 
• A wonderful friend watched Max today while I headed to yet another doctor appointment in Portland. I dropped Max off at 7:30. Yes, she is a wonderful gal and I owe her dearly for the early wake-up/drop-off.

That's about all I've got this Friday. All I'd really like to do now is go crawl in bed and sleep for a few hours. But my bed will still be there waiting for me tonight - after dishes are washed, toys put away, boys tucked in bed, DVR'd shows watched...
And the photos are totally random today. They are photos of the loved ones putting-up with me this week, and loving me despite my moods. (I haven't felt much like picking up my camera this week. In my hormonal state I'm convinced my camera is awful in low-light conditions, and that I really NEED a new camera. Yes, these are the kinds of things that will bring a girl in my condition down... I will laugh about this someday...)

details.

Details create the big picture.~ Sanford I. Weill

Dad had just mowed and edged the lawn. After watching for awhile, Max ran inside and grabbed his scissors. (And I grabbed my camera.) Max wanted to help. He was going to help edge the lawn with those little kid scissors. Of course it would take him forever, clipping a few pieces at a time, but he didn't care. He was focused on those two or three blades of grass he could clip at once. He was focused on the details. It was easy enough for daddy to cut large rows of lawn with a passing of the mower. A lot of grass clipped, quickly. While daddy was focused on the big picture, Max was concerned with the details. He didn't think anything of his small scissors versus the large amount of grass to clip. He didn't hesitate. (Ok, well his clipping didn't last very long.)

That picture has me thinking of the details. It's so easy to let the day pass working on the big picture - cleaning the house, preparing meals, caring for pets, paying bills, returning emails and phone calls. The big stuff that needs to be done, the stuff that keeps us going. But what about the details of the day? Holding hands, the extra story read at bedtime, the phone call to parents to really talk and listen, letting kids help with dinner even though it creates a big mess. Those are the details that create the stories in our lives. The story would be pretty boring if we left out the details, right? Woke-up, ate, went to school/work, had lunch, played/worked some more, ate dinner, went to bed.



Life is in the details - those details are the big picture.
You create the details in your big picture.
What will your details be?

As a journalist, the details always tell the story. ~ James McBride

reflections on the day.

My Thursday...
I let the dog out to do her thing and I noticed the reflection of the trees in the water. All that rain reflected back to me the sky from which it came, and the pretty trees getting ready to bloom.



Later in the day we headed to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) and then to dinner. My husband's college friend owns a nice little bar-bistro in Portland called Clementine.



The best thing about this bar-bistro: the big play area for kids. One area of the restaurant is kind of set-up like a doctor's office, with a train table and some books and a few other toys. We had that area of the restaurant to ourselves. It was a perfect family evening out. Max played. We enjoyed our drinks and dinner. Perfect. Max really enjoyed his drink as well.

6:52

Picture Inspiration Week 6. Seeing Double.

I had a tough time "seeing" reflections. But man oh man, once you start noticing them, they are everywhere. More to come.

And yes, the drink was delicious!

spring walk.

I took a little walk down and back up our ski slope hill (18% grade is steep, folks) Sunday afternoon. Just me and my Nikon. It was ever-so-lovely. Really.

If you haven't noticed just yet, we do moss and lichen really, really well here in the Pacific Northwest. It grows just about everywhere - trees, sidewalks, roads, bark, rocks, fire hydrants. I could go on and on, but I don't want to put you to sleep. And I do want you to come back and visit my little blog again someday.

the best-laid plans...

(Another random photo to go with my random post. Playing with my phone and sucking his thumb.)

My wonderful Friday did not go as planned. My plans looked a bit like this - Thai food, little boy in bed by 8:30, evening to myself to read and watch TV.
Here's what really happened - Max had a fit about what, I don't remember. There was lots of whining and crying and eventually he fell asleep on the couch. At 5pm. For an hour. No, I didn't wake him...I know, I know... Said boy woke up in a bad mood. Bad, bad mood. Husband left to go out with friends. A lot more crying. A soaked kiddo and couch (and it wasn't me or the dog.) And then a boy up till 11:30. We stayed up till 9 watching TV (bad mom, I know) then spent the rest of the evening getting him to stay in his bed and go to sleep. Naps for my son means a very long night. So why I didn't wake him - I don't know. Well, actually I do - I went upstairs and crawled into bed and took advantage of the break. If you can't beat em, join em!
That was my Friday.
I did get my Thai food Saturday though. And it was very yummy.
Happy Monday, friends!
A

tgif!

(Random photo to go with my random post.)

• I had a big long post all typed out about how we are staying home for spring break, and I have no idea what we'll do next week. And how I wish were going to Florida like the neighbors. But I deleted it. On purpose. You don't need to hear me whining...
• I haven't taken many photos this week. And I've deleted most of what I have taken. Again, on purpose. Bad lighting, bad composition. Really, truly just bad snap-shots.
• I haven't done my Picture Inspiration project for last week or this week. Procrastination at it's finest. This is what I kinda thought might happen when I signed-up for this class...self-fulfilling prophecy...
• Husband is going out with his buddies tonight (it's about darn time he do something fun with friends!). And since he's going out, I'm thinking of getting some take-out Thai food. YUM.
• Hubs is running a half marathon Sunday. Yay. Glad he's doing it and not me. Not that I have any desire to...
• Tomorrow I'm going back to my roots and putting a little of my natural color back in my hair. Brunettes have more fun! Yep, we sure do! Then I'm heading to the mall with a girlfriend. Not a bad Saturday.
• Next week is spring break. Did I mention that already?...Oh yeah, I did...
• And last but not least, while I have a million deep thoughts running through my head today, I don't really have anything to say, unless you have a few hours to meet for coffee.

TGIF! Happy weekend folks!