Something Missouri-ish?

Next week I'm going to Oklahoma City to be in the ACDA National Honor Choir, and they have asked that (if possible) everyone bring something from their state to swap with everyone else.

The Problem: I can't really think of anything Missouri-ish! Second problem...there are 300 people in the choir. So I need 300 Missouri-ish things in less than a week! If ANYONE has ANY ideas for a cheap...I mean, inexpensive....something I can take that represents the lovely MO, let me know by commenting on this post!

At first I thought we could take little dogwood trees for everyone, but I'm pretty sure it would be quite difficult to get 300 for free. Then I thought about Cardinal baseball keychains or something, but they're very expensive and I don't want to pick a fight with a Rockies fan. Maybe tiny MO flags? Or a cd with the Missouri waltz on it? How about a postcard with a picture of a cave? Excuse me, I ramble.

It's the choir members from Hawaii's fault. They're bring shell necklaces for everyone and suggested it would be fun if we all did the same. Maybe I could take, like, rock necklaces. Or clay necklaces. Or something else we have a lot of in Missouri.....hmmm. I'M DESPERATE!

Clarissa and I invented a new game! It's called "Stab a cereal box with a fondue stick." It's great fun! You take a fondue stick/skewer/shish kabob stick/chopstick and a cereal box (without the bag of cereal inside). Set the box up on a kitchen counter, and, making quite certain that no small children are around, stab the box. You have to be careful you don't stab anything except the box, examples being the countertop, your hand, your sister, etc. Clarissa and I had a downright jolly time playing this game, until Meredith walked in and wanted to do it too, of course, and we had to stop.


Disclaimer: I don't actually recommend playing this at home. It's rather dangerous and childish, don't you think?:) Anyway, if you feel the need to try this, do it in your backyard while the younger ones are napping. Or just don't do it at all. It does make you look quite silly.

I can't wait for some consistantly warm weather!

Edelweiss

I don't think I've posted any pictures of my kitty, Edelweiss, yet. Clarissa posted some on her blog, so sorry if this is old news...
Eating out of Sally's bowl...Sally is my beagle, of which I have no good picture because I can never get her to hold still:)

This one is kind of cute

The thing that I LOVE about this cat is that she is so easygoing. As you can see, she just lets Meredith pick her up and is very laid back.

So cute:)

This is my other kitty, Joshua, that we lost when we moved. He was a good, calm, snuggly and very very fat cat.

What I'm doing these days...

You've heard of people going to the Louvre and sitting there all day copying? I always though that would be so neat! Instead of buying a plane ticket to France, I "brilliantly" (and by "brilliantly", I mean "why didn't I think of this before, I'm so slow") thought of copying from a book on art! Wow! What a revelation! Um, yeah.

Anyway, I checked out a book on Van Gogh from the library. This is actually the second time I've had the book, but I enjoyed it immensely the first time, but the library sent me a letter and I had to take it back. ALL THAT SAID, I found a painting that I didn't notice the first time I had the book. I've decided to copy it. It's coming along rather well.

This is Van Gogh's work, not mine...lol:)

When I'm done, I'll scan it a my dad's office and post a picture of it. I'm not going to use the same colors he used; I'd like to make her hair more brown and I'm not loving the pink dress...pink isn't a favorite color of mine. If I made her dress golden yellow, it would match my room nicely. Decisions, decisions!

Watch this!

Here's a link to a clip of "With Cat-like Tread" that I like. Just kidding, I LOVE it. I have a great respect for those Pirates...imagine dancing like that for that long and singing like that for that long! Honestly, I get so "into" prancing up the aisles and looking silly and doing the circle (at the beginning of "Climbing Over Rocky Mountains") that I have to tell myself to breathe so that I can sing...guess I'm just a wimp:)

Anyway, I applaude these guys:
With Cat-like Tread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Wj2yMuTIU&feature=related
ps. I haven't seen our guys sing AND dance yet, but I'm sure they'll be as amazing as these guys:)

I took this picture of a dogwood a couple years ago at our house on Lariat Ln. I miss all of the dogwoods, especially this time of year when spring is coming and the leaves are beginning to form. We don't have any dogwoods at our new house; maybe we can sneek over to our old house and steal one!

Something to think about:)

I read James last night, and I thought about something that I wanted to share. So here goes...
Verse 2...We've heard it repeatedly throughout our lives.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of any kind..."

Do we actually do that? Do we consider it a joy to face trials, because we know that the testing of our faith developes perserverance? It's quite a challenge, actually. I encourage you to read James, even if you've read it hundreds of times before. His writing style is very different from a lot of the Bible, and I really enjoyed it. I hadn't read James in a while, and I think it's my favorite book now:) Isn't it wonderful we have such an amazing God?

Just FYI...

In case anyone is a knitter or is learning to knit or knows a knitter, etc., here is a website that has a huge directory of knitting patterns. Some of them are really cool, so if you are feeling a little uninspired or you can't figure out what to do with that random ball of yarn, this may take care of your problem!

Knitting Pattern Central: http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory.php

and Clarissa had to get in on the fun...

...Clarissa has a blog now, too: www.classyclarissa.blogspot.com

Mom's Blog

HEY just wanted to let you know that my mother has a blog and I don't believe that anyone reads it. I told her that no one read it because it was boring, so I helped her pick a background from www.thecutestblogontheblock.com and now she has a pretty blog! The address is www.mom2five.blogspot.com and even though she doesn't update it very often, you might want to check it out:)

"I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny."
-the Cat in the Hat

I just thought this was fun quote:)

????

Alex Goff, shooting a random passing van with those annoying flashing sci-fi gun things. This was during It's a Wonderful Life:)

Frustrations of a Knitter

As I was walking down to my room in the basement today, I discovered...

..that I left a "trail"...

...that ran through the basement...

...and, the tell-tale sign that it was me, under my door...

The culprit!

And all of the yarn, rolled up in my hand:)

Matthew's latest vocab

Here are some of Matthew's latest words:)

"Burp" - Daddy taught him that one
"Hey hey!" - my bff Courtney is responsible for this
"Ach-hoo" - it's SOOO cute when he says this!
"Guys!" - if we're ignoring him, he'll yell "guys! guys!" until we pick him up and include him in the conversation
"Tractor" - he points at tractors in a book he has:)
"Opa!" (he pronounces "A-po!") - a Greek greeting that my friend Courtney is also responsible for...lol
"Happy!" (means "happy birthday") - we tried forever to get him to say "happy birthday" but he will only say "happy". He'll say it at appropriate times, though. So cute!

He got his hair cut for the first time today. I'll have to post pictures! It's SO cute! He has so many curls in the back. Looks like I have no hope of haveing a dark headed sib; Matthew's hair is very blonde and curly:)