This is Heidi with her great-grandpa Bill in 2004
This is how Grandpa looked when I was a little girl (this photo was taken in May 1973).

I never realized how young Grandpa & Grandma were, but I am sure glad I've has so many years to enjoy them! Happy Birthday, Grandpa! We're so glad you were born!

Family Night

It has been way too long since I posted, but really, not much has been happening. Rich & Addie took a fun little trip to Utah this past weekend (he had to photograph a bride, I didn't feel well enough for a roadtrip, so he took Addie with him). Addie stayed and played with her cousin Liam (thanks for watching her, Audrey) and had fun--I'll post some of those pix later. Daddy took ADdie to Build-A Bear on the way home and she was so excited to bring her new bear home and show us (of course she and Heidi fight over the bear every day now, but Heidi does have a little collateral--we went thrifting whiel they were gone and she found a "sparkle stick"--a baton filled with liquid and glitter--so sometimes they trade peacefully). I missed Rich terribly, especially every morning when Heidi got up too early and I was still tired and nauseated. But we made it through and had a fun fmaily night last night--we had an enchilada-and-friut salad dinner followed by a walk down to Washington School's playground and some hot cocoa at bedtime. Here are a couple of pix--Enjoy! Addie swinging
Addie with her special bear, Tinkerbell
Heidi sliding

PS: There are 3 new houses being built in our neighborhood--one two lots to our "south" and two facing the side of us on Summit street. Ahhh, the happy sounds of construction--still gives me nightmares and a nervous twitch!

How the Flowers Looked on Monday

The drainpipe had beautiful icicles on Monday afternnon...
...and this was our equinox sunset...the tops of the mountains were getting snow!

The snow melted nicely into the ground to water the daffodils, tulips, and aliums on the first evening of spring.

Today (March 23) it was so sunny and warm, we went out in cropped pants and clogs and weeded the flowerbed along the driveway and re-potted the geraniums from my bedroom window (a gift from Gramma Suzie Blatter, who is now on a mission in Croatia). We will try hard to keep the flowers thriving so they are still beautiful when Gramma Suzie comes home! Heidi ate dirt as usual, but it was refreshing and gorgeous outside. Hooray for spring!

Equinox

This is just one of a million reasons I love NPR. On Monday, despite "winter's last hurrah," I noticed little signs of spring and felt a little more hopeful and sunny, even though it was still very grey outside. Just before noon our time, the sun passed over the equator and the day and night were equal all over the world. For some reason, I just love the equinox-es(?) (equinocies?) and solstices. I am enjoying them more now that I live in a place where the seasons really change. So I am glad the earth is tilted--the seasonal change makes the year fly by and it gives me something to look forward to.

I took pictures of our flowers on Monday and I am going to keep taking pictures of them so I can show the girls how they grew in a photographic timeline-type thing. I hope they will still be around for Easter!

Blogging under the influence (BUI)

I am so tired, I worry how this post will turn out, but I had to comment on The Daily Show tonight. One of the long-standing issues between my "dream-boyfriend" Jon Stewart (host of the Daily Show) and me is his willingness to repeat and reinforce liberal stories & stereotypes. One of the stories he swallowed suprisingly willingly was the "There are no WMDs in Iraq" thing.

It was funny to watch him squirm tonight when he interviewed Georges Sada, a former general in the Iraqi Air Force under Saddam, who just published the book, "Saddam's Secrets." In the book, Sada shares first-hand knowledge of the transportation of WMDs and nuclear materials to Syria. Jon Stewart reacted to this news (which for the American left is earth-shattering--it's the basis of all the anti-Bush business) by first insinuating that Sada was confused and thinking of the 1990's, then practically accused him of lying ("I won't hug you as hard if you're lying to me"). JS even asked GS how he knew that, and GS answered, "Because I was second in command of the Iraqi Air Force" (um, duh). Why would he lie? And what's so surprising about the weapons being in Syria? That border was open well after the US invaded--who knows how many criminals, Bath party officials, AND WMDs are hiding there?

Although some of the information that Colin Powell presented to the UN (by the way, I watched that presentation live and took notes, people!) was later debunked or diluted, I never doubted that crazy SOB had weapons of mass detruction. Anyone with half a brain would realize he had over a year to truck that stuff out of there when he realized that George Bush was SO not kidding about the War on Terror (Saddam had from our invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 until our troops reached Baghdad in April 2003 to mess around with his weapons and the inspectors).

I guess what's so frustrating to me is that it's so easy to know (or even guess) the truth if you follow history and patterns and news stories. When I turned on the TV the morning of September 11, 2001, the first words out of my mouth were "Osamam bin Laden"--it's true, you can ask my husband. I knew who had done it, and not because I am some scholar or spy. It's common knowledge, and it was coming for 20 years! Likewise, for awhile, every time I heard somebody talk about the "hunt for WMDs," I would yell at the TV, "Look in Syria!" Again--I don't study the middle east or know much about politics, but it was OBVIOUS. I mean, Saddam was a lunatic and a meglomaniac, but he wasn't stupid. He knew we were coming and he covered his trail.

OKay--I took a whole unisom istesd of a half tonight ond my eyes are now crossing...I hope this is coherent adn I hope my lefty friends won't cry or hate me after reading it. I'm off to dream about Jon stewart and a host of other crazy things...maybe we;ll have a debate in my dreams!

PS: OB checkup today--I have not gained any weight, the baby's heart beat was crazy-strong at about 155 bpm, my bp is high (140/95), and they say the baby is about the size of a hamster now. Awww...

I Got Tagged

First of all, let me say too bad about the Wildcats and the Tarheels--two of my favorite teams are eliminated from the NCAA MBB tournament. Shucks...but great games to watch!

Becca asked me about THE FOURS

4 Jobs I’ve Had:
donut finisher (I hate donuts)
copy girl at quick printer
bra fitter and sales girl at lingerie store
copy writer /editor

4 Movies I Can Watch Over & Over
Raising Arizona
A Room With A View
Cinema Paradiso
Sixteen Candles

4 Places I Have Lived
Tucson, Arizona
Weatherford, Oklahoma
Provo, Utah
Pinehurst, North Carolina

4 Places I Want to Live
Paradise Valley, Montana
Tucson or Summerhaven, Arizona
A small town on Oahu
??? (I like where I live now and I would never leave the states)

4 TV Shows I Watch Regularly
(and by regularly, I mean “Shows I Tivo and then fast forward to get the story because I watch for an hour at night”)
The Daily Show (rarely miss it)
Scrubs (never miss it, thanks to tivo)
My Name is Earl
Biography

4 Highly-Regarded TV shows I have never watched a minute of
Desperate Housewives
West Wing
Lost
Gray’s Anatomy

4 Places I Have Vacationed
Washington, DC (Disneyland for nerds)
Disneyland
San Carlos, Mexico
San Diego

4 Places I would Like to Vacation
Europe by Rail
Scandinavia by Cruise
Every fall in Mexico somewhere on the Sea of Cortez
New England

4 Favorite Dishes
Grilled Hawaiian Kebabs with Chili & Rice
Any Fresh Mex with lime, cilantro & fresh corn tortillas
Montana’s Rib & Chop House Baseball cut steak with sides of mushroom stuffing and squash casserole
Chili’s Caribbean Salad

4 Sites I visit daily
All the links to your right…
Joh
Becca
Google Maps

4 Places I Would Rather Be
Tucson
A Mexican Beach (especially when it’s snowing here)
Asleep
Nowhere (I like where I live)

4 People I am Tagging
Jill
Brent
Lacy
Brooks

Winter's Last Hurrah

Tomorrow evening, spring begins...celebrate accordingly! For me, I'm just hoping this snowstorm brings water for my flowers and doesn't get too terribly cold. The storm is supposed to blow out tomorrow (right on time!) and hopefully we won't get too much more snow this spring!

Even though it's snowing, it sounds like the Posts and the Petersens got home to Utah alright. Will's family visited MAtt in Helena this weekend, and Jill was here with me all week. They met in Helena last night to caravan home, which, considering the weather, was a rather good idea. It was a very peaceful Sunday here, but we miss the cousins already! We're so glad they came.

We don't have a lot of news over here...the girls keep saying and doing really cute things that are hard to transfer to the blog. Heid's vocabulary and singing reportoire are amazing, but her expressions and personality are the things that really get to people. She is a hoot and a handful; although she gets into way too much trouble, I am having a lot of fun with her. Addie is growing up and becoming more and more helpful , communicative, and independent. She loves to help me do my "mom jobs" and tonight, she even made herself a baked potato in the microwave (it has a "baked potato" button") and put cheese and bacon bits on top! Tomorrow she has a play date with her friend Scott-- he's coming over for lunch. Last night after we visited Scott's family and made the arrangements, she told her daddy, "Dad, I have a date with a boy, and it's not you!" (whoa, there, sister...) Her dad thought that was pretty funny.

Enjoy the pictures of the past week (mostly taken by Jill--we were both so busy, we forgot to take very many) and leave us a comment or email! Have a happy Monday!

Heidi, Belle, Ally, Addie (& Jack behind her) eating pizza Friday night
Nothin' says "I'm Irish" like eating a big piece of pizza ;)
All the kids loved the pizza & Uncle Rich was (again) our hero!

On Friday it was almost 50 degrees outside, so at 4pm, we took the kids out to play and draw on the drive way with sidewalk chalk. They had so much fun! Here's Ally & Addie...see Ad writing her name?

PS: I have about 6 more pix to post, but Blogger is freaking out, so I'll post them when I can.

Addie, Ally, Heidi, Jack, & Belle with sidewalk chalk
Me helping the kids make a rainbow for St. Pat's Day

Ally
Heidi (& Jack behind her) running around like wild kids
Deceptively Darling Isabelle