A View of Lisa's World

music class

So I haven't finished up the images from the weekend, so instead I'll share this little ditty. The instrument is the Flutophone that is apparently quite exciting to receive once you reach the high level of first grade. He's been wound up about it for a couple of weeks and today was the music class where he would finally get his flutophone to bring home for extra practice. I would love to say that the following minute it is a wonderful representation of one of Todd's many talents, but sadly ...well you can see for yourself. What is not shown in the video is the bad note home from school that Todd received for misbehaving in music class today...not once, but twice. I swear this kid is going to make me old before my time.

Quick Note

Up too late yet again, but don't want to get out of the habit of a little more regular blogging. It was a nice weekend and I'm grateful for every bit of it. I have tons of photos to share and details on the way....from the last soccer game, to a fabulous evening out and some family time to boot. Looking forward to a good week...so far it looks busy but not overwhelmingly so...and I'm feeling halfway ready. Go me! But now to bed, because Monday mornings can be scary around here.

Day 3 dangnabit....

I guess it is still day 3....even if it is almost 1 am. I was going to pack it in, but wanted to try and keep up with my promise to blog daily....even if it is a quickie. Today was actually an awesome day...I had an inspiring meeting this morning and made some plans to do some photography projects with Todd's Jui Jitsu school. I also managed to hit many balls that were up in the air, back over the net so I am a happy (tired but happy) girl. I'm also grateful that the best sister in law in the world brought me an afternoon coffee so that I could keep going....and most of all I'm grateful that my fabulous nephew got good news from the spine surgeon and that we have 9 more spine surgeon free months ahead. Gee...that is quite a list for a barely coherent girl.

And because I didn't post any photos yesterday, here are a couple from a shoot last week. I'll be updating the photoblog with more tomorrow, but these tractor shots were a couple of faves!

Day 2

Man...it was really easy to find things I was grateful for today. It was a really full and busy day with client meetings beginning at 8 am and wrapping up with an evening Christmas shopping event at 9:30pm. There was some down time in between...and the Christmas shopping deal, while a great opportunity for me to promote my photography, was also a fun social evening with people I haven't seen in forever.

So I am grateful that I get to take pictures, and grateful for the people that want me to take their pictures...and grateful that this little business of mine is really becoming a business.

And I am also grateful for this "small town" and the people in it that I have known forever. People I never "met" because I've always known them. People that I don't see every day and that I haven't kept up with, but when I see them somehow that doesn't matter. I am grateful for the history that we share, for the connections I will never forget and for the ones that I just figured out existed.  I'm grateful for the botched home ec projects in the 7th grade and the giggles behind a teacher's back in typing class (of all places). I'm grateful for Winnie's Wonders, and sunflower seeds in the dugout, and cute little toe headed bat girls with rosy cheeks that are all grown up now (even though her mom and I haven't aged at all.) I'm grateful for ladies that worked in my school office (and still do) and women that I've seen around but never talked to long enough to realize that our dad's worked together and have been friends for 40 years.

Yep...easy to find things to be grateful for today...and I'll add a dash of grateful that I blogged a second day while I'm at it! Go me.

October

Well...October went by in a blur and the ole blog fell off of the "to do" list. I was feeling bad about it, but I think I'm done with that. Why feel bad for a month full of good things? (even the "probable H1N1 was a good thing since Todd recovered pretty quickly). We've had photo shoots, soccer and mohawks (real and imagined) and pumpkins of all sorts and sizes.

I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that it is already November..but I love this time of year. I love that November is all about being grateful (even if Starbucks and every other commercial outlet is trying to get me thinking about Christmas). I'm going to try (again) to get back on the daily blog kick until the end of the year....lets see if I can pull it off shall we?

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a busy weekend around here. It included soccer...

 

and then a birthday party for my favorite nephew.

Then today we went to check out Star Wars in Concert.  It was way cool...even if the grown men (and women) that showed up in full costume were a little creepy. Todd thought it was really cool and I thought it was really cool for him to see a live orchestra. 

Then tonight was the annual giant pumpkin loading. My grandfather had 3 pretty nice ones this year. I love that he is always so proud and wants the boys to get in the truck with the pumpkins.

 

and I got another shot with 4 generations of boys.

 

So back to work for me...I seem to have quite a bit to do lately, but it is all good.

R.I.P. Connect Four

Earlier this week Todd stayed home sick from school. I'm still not sure how sick he really was, but he did have a teeny tiny temp on Monday night so I let him take Tuesday "off". He and I played a little Connect Four, which was quite fun.

It is to the point these days when playing most games I do not have to make any effort to "let him win" as a matter of fact, I better be on my game because I get my butt kicked on a pretty regular basis.

He's a serious competitor...and finally learning to slow down and think for at least a millisecond before making a move.

And just like it was when I was a kid...the best part is when the game is over...

We've been playing all week...Todd and I...Todd and Daddy...even Mommy vs. Daddy but that gets a little intense!!

But we won't be playing any more. At least not until after we go to Target to get a new game. Any guesses why that might be?? Come on....you can guess...

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mmmm hmmmm

Apparently Pearl is having a tournament of her own, with the gofers or the raccoons or whoever else meets her in the yard where Connect Four is currently spread from one end to the other. sigh.

big events...

In the hub bub of my crazy days I've neglected to blog a couple of big September events. Ok...I've neglected to blog little events too, but lets not go there ok?

In addition to the Disney trip, we had an anniversary while we were gone...well, not quite while we were gone, but the day we came home. Even though we didn't really do any big celebrating, we did wear our Anniversary celebration buttons and started more than a few sentences with "10 years ago today..."!! It was really fun to be there in Disney, where 10 years ago I married the greatest guy ever. Maybe next year we will celebrate with more pomp and circumstance, but since we both agree that we'd marry each other all over again, that was good enough for me.

The day after we got back was Todd's first promotion in Jiu Jitsu. He's been training for about 6 months and really, really loves it. He told me the other day that he never wants to stop training. We'll see how long that lasts, but for now he is a white belt first degree...which means he doesn't have to stand last in line anymore (big stuff).

First there was warm up

Then he had to do his test against a yellow belt...he did great!

Then he got his stripe.

There is a whole album of various people flying through the air and writhing on the floor here.

Disney Report...

Sigh...we are back to regular life around here. Well not quite since we were totally late to school this morning...but we are working on it. I joked that I didn't know what to do without Mickey Mouse calling me personally as a wake up call. (he really does that you know!)

Overall the trip was fab...it is so great to get away and just BE together.
Following is our trip in photos...which of course I didn't take nearly as many of as I had planned. I can never quite get the vacation photo taking thing as smooth in reality as it is in my head.

I did take the yearly sunrise photo out of the car window...because God knows I don't see that very often. And I always heave a big sigh when I see the sign at the entrance because it is so true and makes me so happy.

Alex starts giggling the minute we get there, and only stops being happy long enough to direct us to the Matterhorn (again). That kid and his sense of direction is something else. Being with him and watching him shine is one of my favorite parts of our visits. (and watching him boss Uncle Matt around is pretty funny too!)

Early on in the trip Todd had to learn a little lesson about listening. He wouldn't keep his "hands and arms inside the boat" on the small world, so he spent the first Matterhorn ride of the trip sitting like this.

What a poor deprived little boy don't you think? He's a pretty good driver though...he was so excited that he could reach the pedal on the Autopia ride this year...but he couldn't quite put enough pressure on it...this meant that my foot had to be on the pedal and he would push on that...painful for me...but fun for both of us. I couldn't get far enough away from him to get a good shot (since we were in a tiny car) but I love the look on his face in these photos.

Speaking of driving and great faces...

This year Todd really wanted his face painted. I have to say it was pretty cool.

Until we went to the water section of the bugs land...

because after that it looked like this...

Also of note...I let my child ride the Tower of Terror. Uncle Huff and Iah shamed him into wanting to ride...and Geoff promised him questionable rewards but I won't go there. Anyway...he opted to ride. You may note that his parents did not ride, because we rode it once years ago and did not care for it much...there is a photo out there somewhere that shows just how much we didn't care for it...but I'm not sure where that might be (lol) 

At this moment I was wondering what I was thinking letting him go...

At this moment, he was wondering the same thing...and apparently telling Uncle Huff through gritted teeth "I'm not liking this!"

At this moment he was REALLY proud of himself and prattling on about facing his fears...

There is no photo of the moment at 10pm that night when he started crying about being afraid of lightening and dead people.

Here are a few more photos from our adventures!

I have no excuse...

Really. I could have blogged sooner, but I just haven't felt the urge...and besides I'm trying something new. The new thing is to not beat myself up for not feeling like doing something that is for all intents and purposes optional---gasp! It has been kind of fun.

I do feel the urge now to ramble...and so in keeping with the new- I can do what I want to do when I want to do it whether it is on my to do list or not- attitude, I think I will.

First Grade has been interesting so far. There has been some adjusting to the seriousness and discipline. And lets be honest, some adjusting to not being the center of the universe. But I think he has finally gotten the hang of it. There has also been some really great stuff...like a report today of his generosity towards some other kids while shopping at the "school store". Also this week he has started leaving his class after lunch and going to work with the second graders for the afternoon. He is reading and doing special projects with them which he seems to really LOVE . Both the first and second grade teachers think this is a good move for him so we are rolling with it.

I'm pretty proud of him...not only for the academic stuff but because of how great he handles himself sometimes. On day one of this switch he just got told to go from his classroom to another room in another building. So off he went and he "got a little lost". Instead of panicking or going back to his classroom, he asked for directions a couple of times (once to the right building and then to the right room) and "knocked on the door and then everything was fine". God I love that kid.

Speaking of school...I'm working on a photo project there and got this photo yesterday that I think is pretty cool.

It really doesn't mean anything...I just like it and was feeling like this post had way too many words and not enough photos.

Tomorrow is early morning soccer...my husband comes home after a week of being a rock star...and we get to start getting ready for vacation!!

I think I'll blog more about all of those things tomorrow...if I feel the urge...because now I feel the urge to try to beat Moriah and iphone scrabble...it has happened, but not nearly as many times as she has beaten me. I've got to work on that!