we all sing the same song

i have no idea who this woman is, but she must have been at my house today, or yesterday or maybe the day before...

the mom song

(click up there, mom)

finally, megs...

okay, i'm not sure about this... way back in the beginning of october, my "pal" tagged me (what kind of friend would put you on the spot like this?!). but because it isn't my turn on the Wii yet, and no one wants to watch Mamma Mia with me--i have the time (maybe not the courage) to respond to the challenge.

as i sit here click-clacking away, i have this major anxiety growing in the pit of my overly-full Christmas tummy with the facts that (1) i'm not sure that i can come up with 7 interesting things about myself, and (2) that i don't really have 7 blog friends... that's a lot of pressure, megs!

oh, speaking of meghan, she is this amazingly wonderful friend with whom i have been blessed. my husband and hers grew up together in idaho, and have remained friends over the years--thus meghan and i have become friends. now here is the one (two) best things about being friends with meghan... sweet pea and beans. she is the incredible mom of these funny, crazy and sweet little boys. i have great admiration for her, because not only is she a great mom, she is a great working mom. she has taught me to be okay with the fact that some moms work, and that those moms are still really good moms... anyway, if you want some giggles, you should check out her blog at sweetpeaandbeans... and keep your eyes peeled for her new creative outlet/business venture, Sweet Pea & Beans custom stationary.


let's get focused... here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog, and giving them the lowdown...

unknown? maybe. interesting? perhaps. all i could come up with? definitely!

1. i refused to marry dave. he had to ask me a couple of times before i relented.
   
2. dave and i lived in maine... for about two weeks--just part of the adventure!
   
3. i love books that are set in England prior, during and right after World War II--any recommendations?
   
4. i insist on being involved (if not in charge) of my kids' school valentine's day parties--because i'm an expert, you know
   
5. i love tea parties--going to the Brown Palace, having them at my home... whatever, i love 'em!
   
6. during a summer in college, i was a nanny. i was 21 and got to spend the summer in NYC, the Cape and just cultivating my love for the whole of the east coast, especially for the very cute boys with their very cute accents... thus the move to maine with dave, of course, without the cuties...
   
7. i surprised dave with an early Christmas present! we're going to florida to see the Cornhusker's play in the Gator Bowl--we leave the snow for the sun tomorrow!
   

now here is the rougher part, i've got to find 7 people to tag... well, these are the lovely ladies who i follow:

• scribbler... i know that megs tagged her, but... she didn't publish, so i'm retagging her
• marla... who i worked with in lincoln, way back before jacks!
• allison... who i stumbled upon, and left a comment--then this gal who has been called the "one of the most influential up-and-coming women online" actually sent me an email back! in awe, i am!
• jennifer... who is training for a marathon... i wish i had the discipline, so i appreciate living vicarously thru her!

um... yeah... so i could really only come up with these four gals who i felt slightly comfortable tagging. but this is the challenge to you reading my blog. either:

1. leave me a comment with something interesting you know about ME, or
2. leave me a comment with something interesting you want me to know about YOU!

don't be a blurker, leave me a comment!

i love my friends' kids

we have always known that mike is quite a cinematographer, but we had no idea he'd be putting warren miller on alert!

skiing with mike and rhys

and i'm so glad i don't have teenagers, yet...

the ghosts of Christmases past

the other day, the boys and i put up our Christmas tree...

i'm not sure if i've always been too preoccupied with making sure the bubble-wrap gets put back in the right Hallmark box, or whatever it is that i seem to stress over. because i don't think i've ever noticed that the boys were remembering the ornaments like they did this weekend.

some times i wish i was one of those gals who has it all together (as if!). you know, the ones who have inspiring halloween/fall/thanksgiving front porches, and whom probably have festively decorated their whole home with glamorously themed items... including their Christmas tree(s). there is something so beautiful about those trees, they seem so grown-up and elegant. and i want one!

but on the other hand, there are the decorated trees with reindeer made from fun-foam and traced little fingers. or the Christmas trees, interestingly, also made from tiny hands traced
on fun-foam. there are ornaments from school, that remind us of favorite teachers. we have ornaments from places we've been (like our new disneyland ornament) and trips we've taken, ornaments from when i was little, boxes and boxes of goodies from my mom and dad when they liquidated, and the ornaments we've started buying to build the boys' collection for when they have their very own trees. when the rubbermaid tubs were opened this year, it's a treasure trove of memories... and not just for me anymore.

it made me smile to listen to the boys talk about when they made the sparkly snowman in 1st grade, or that mrs. taylor gave them the snowflake last year. and they both commented on the hot wheel flaming hot rod ornaments they both got from their nana and papa when we lived in colorado--that was a long time ago!

and, this was also the year, when the boys took a good look at the ornament my mom gave dave and me for our first Christmas... as i am unpacking the boxes, i heard:

ryan: oh, look, here's santa and mrs. claus... and they are in the... uh, {giggle} jacks look at this...
jacks: {snort}
ryan: {giggle}
jacks: {furtive glance, snort}
ryan: mom...
me: yeah...
ryan: {giggle} did you know--
jacks: they are NAKED!
me: yeah, i know... nana gave it to me
both of them: {wide-eyed and belly laughs} NANA!


especially good memories this year!

miss ya, babe!

tj 4 cf

whenever a new restaurant opens in the big city,

people flock like lemmings over a cliff.

two years ago when the olive garden opened, you'd think something really great was happening! you couldn't get near the place for months! i mean, months and months! it opened in december, and still in march for jackson's birthday we had to wait for an hour (and them some!) because that's where he wanted to go...

for a pizza?!

however, when it's something i like, i.e., taco john's right by my house, i was just another blur of fur over the cliff for my potato oles... and here comes the beauty:

when we were paying and the cashier asked us if we wanted to donate a dollar for cystic fibrosis research... so, of course, i start crying because that's what i do when my crusty, grumpy heart is pierced.

so if you're in the mood for something fast and "west-mex", give taco john's a visit, and donate to the CF foundation... thanks!

piranhathon

it's that time again!

saturday is one of our fundraisers for our swimteam... and it's the hardest for jackson and ryan because they earn money for each length they swim across the pool.

now before you get your checkbook out to sponsor them ... remember, they swam hard last year: ryan, 70 lengths and jackson, 60 lengths .

if you're interested in helping out the boys with this, please let me know (email me) before saturday, and you will then be a proud reciepent of the 2008 speedo picture!! not something you'd want to miss out on : )

we thank you for your support!

i caught you!

you are a blurker...

i might not know who you are exactly, but i know you are lurking around our blog and aren't leaving us comments.

it's so easy to overcome your blurker-ness. next time you read our blog, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the post and click on comments. you can tell us what you think--nice things, tho, because we're all very tender-hearted at the hentzen house--of our blog, our little life, or that i use dashes and ellipses too often... thanks!

a skeleton and a... um...

... a caped jaundiced kid? an oopmahloompah? i don't know exactly...but he liked it, and that's all that matters... right?!

(but he still has a orange tinge to his face... after many washings!)

and jacks went old school with a skeleton.

so after i made the costumes all last week --and then seeing this face-- it occured to me that the costumes are just a vehicle for the candy... with a costume, you get free candy; without, you get nothing.

unless you're this momma, who (even without a costume) gets all of the snickers!

on a pumpkin hunt!

it has been a gorgeous fall! wonderful weather for being outside. and so off we went today, in search for the perfect pumpkins... aka the biggest pumpkins we can carry!

as show for you first by ryan...

and then by jacks...

and here is ryan holding my cute "little momma" pumpkin...

because sunday is the only day he doesn't work, it's our day when we get to talk to dave as much as we want whenever we want...

and here is jacks' happy, cute face before they heard that daddy wouldn't be home for halloween...

and then ryan's after he heard... the day kind of went downhill from there.

the proof!

we stood in the freezing cold and wind and waited for the mutt strut to start...

then we almost went back to the car when we found out it was a 5k rather than a 3k...

but i bought the obnoxiously expensive shoes that were guaranteed to make my body not ache all over...

and i promised jacks we'd do it together, and i shot off my big mouth about doing this thing...

the first mile was okay--we trained for that...

the second mile was grueling--we weren't trained for that, and we walked a lot of that mile...

the third mile hurt like hell, but the end was in our sights! we walked much of this, but did run the last bit and thru the finish line...

the times are abysmal: jackson came in first in his age group at 45:20... then me (also first in my age group) at 45:36, and then ryan at 46:21 (2nd for his age).

did i mention there were only 7 runners, and 150 dog walkers? but we set out to do it, and WE DID IT!

what do you mean this a 5k?

we completed the

5K

there was no 3K... just three long miles!

but we did it!

pictures on the way...

tapping into the maverick-ness...

there have been more times that i haven't voted than i'd like to say... yet, maybe i'm paying much more attention to the world that my kids are going to inheirit from us and i'm beginning to worry about their future... so here is my contribution into the realm of political-mindedness:

don't vote

please click on the link...

sorry about the confusion, mom! : )

mortality sucks...

{big sigh}

if only we could stay 33 forever...

accidental genuis... mayhaps

i so can't take credit for this, but my good blog friend, scribbling in san antonio,brought this gem to my attention... it's worth the 4 minutes! check it out!

and by the way, the scrib is wonderful... visit her blog too!

creatures of habit...

it's become tradition... and maybe we're boring, but every year when my parents come for their trip to idaho, we always go to jackson (just over the hill into wyoming). i guess it would be boring if it wasn't so much fun for jackson and ryan! watching their little faces light up when my dad pays an arm and a leg for the alpine slide tickets, and while dave signs their lives away to ride the said slide.

none the less, it's the nearest slide...

and snow king has a really good miniature golf course, if you can pull ryan from the video games...

and the view isn't too bad either!

a few days late...

and because the guys couldn't speak to their Auntie in Berlin...

we're sending lots of birthday wishes, and hope you are having lots of fun!

i'm so disappointed...

these are bullies...

so yesterday, as usual i drop the guys off at day camp... and the director/owner says, "can i talk to you all in the office?" it wasn't really a request.

so in we go, and she proceeds to tell me that the guys were caught making fun of another little boy for the way he talked. i was mortified! not my children! they have been raised in a very tolerant and open-minded home, where we've always said that the world would be so boring if God made everyone exactly the same. it's not easy, but i want my guys to be the kind of people to enjoy diversity and differences--especially when they live in cookie-cutter perfect idaho falls.

my jaw is still on the ground in shock, when i realize i have to say something. i didn't completely freak out, but in a very controlled voice i said, "i'm so disappointed in you guys..." and then ryan starts crying, and jackson (as stoic as ever) looks down at his feet not uttering a word.

then the kicker of the whole thing is that the said child "we" were bullying was the owner/director's own child. okay, i'm sure that i would never have known about the incident had it not been the spawn of the day camp director/owner. so my emotions go here and there with thoughts like:

• if it were my children who were teased, i would have told them to suck it up and realize the teaser was a jerk and move on... however, now i'm the mother of the jerks!
• then i go the other way, and my heart goes out to this little boy and to his mom, who is hurting from the sting my boys inflicted.
• and then i'm so angry with jacks and ryan over this for so many reasons like the little kid is only going into kindergarten, ryan still can't pronounce his R and W sounds... and they know how it hurts to be teased.
• and back the other way, boys will be boys, and kids tease each other. but that's just so wrong.

so now i'm the mom of bullies... nice.

picture from Eric & Caroline's wedding May 5, 2007

happy day!

happy birthday, dave!

happy anniversary, dave!

thanks for celebrating with me in coeur d'alene this weekend!

do you know CJ Box?

one of the best things for me when i have* to go to conferences is meeting the authors!



how many times have you read a book and wondered about who wrote this book... i often think about that when i read stephen king, because what would fuel someone to write like this? i also wonder when i stumble across a especially juicy book-- is this woman so deprived that she writes her deepest fantasies for the world. or conversely, is she writing autobiographical?



so anyway, here i am in spokane trying to be TALL next to this very nice guy, c. j. box. i'm so embarrassed that i haven't read his books--even though they have been recommended! he is from wyoming, and writes about the issues of the rocky mountain west. i think i have been leary to read him, because i seem to have this apathetic view of environment writings--please don't preach at me! i do care about the enviroment, but i'm not overboard like the the people who are saving water by peeing on their plants...



so anyway, i have been assured that i'm wrong about the author and what he writes. i got one of his books, free fire. this is the seventh (maybe) book in the joe picket series, but it's about yellowstone and this weird strip of land (the sliver that is idaho) where mass murders take place... you should check out the website.

and here is the view from my room here. that's the spokane river. dave is flying in today because he wants to do something special for our anniversary. what do you think about that?

yes, he is charming, but i really know he's here for the fly-fishing. it will be just like our honeymoon--he fishes and i read. i guess that's just the ABCs of us.

*have to go to conferences? not so much of a "have to" thing -- i love getting out of idaho falls and hanging out with other librarians... especially at the corks and cans events. highly recommend coeur d'alene's bar 6.

some times...

there are no words to express how you feel when you look at your kids... this is one of those times.