The Friday photo dump

1. Kendall's 7th grade team after their 1st playoff game win Monday night. They were pretty pumped! They played again last night and lost by only 1 point in the final seconds of the game - it was so exciting and a great end to their season.

2. Russell getting his coach of the year award at the district playoffs last weekend, where four of his players made 1st & 2nd team all league. (Woot woot!)

3. ANNDDD his team won the district championship game! They play tonight to make it to the State finals in Baker City next week! I AM A BALL OF NERVES.

4. And this is what Russ has been doing all week: game prep. Apparently sitting as close to the TV as possible is necessary when watching game film ;)

A few weeks ago a stylist girlfriend of mine asked if she could come over and do me up pretty to take pictures for her bridal work portfolio - and to please invite some friends too. To this request I clapped my hands and said, "yay!", because I can be ridiculously girly and that sounded AWESOME, and then looked forward to this past Wednesday for two weeks. I invited these two lovely ladies over: Heidi & Mikayla, made grilled chicken salads with parmesan pita wedges for lunch, and enjoyed myself immensely. Kerisa (my talented stylist friend) isn't pictured but we had so much fun getting dolled up by her, she is pretty amazing! 

Closeups.

1. Help me Rhonda... Hershey's came out with coconut creme kisses. I didn't dare buy the bag because I knew exactly what would happen to it if I did! (see #4 below).

2. Our neighbor's subtle new lawn ornament. Smack dab in the middle of their lawn and literally as tall as their house. The good news is our house just got a whole lot easier to give directions to! 

3. Miley's favorite position in the car: copilot. She has amazing balance and never falls off!

4. I made the mistake of buying these last week. And then ate the entire bag (minus the three I gave my kids) in four days. I swear, Easter candy is my downfall!

Today at 3:30 pm we'll be at Clark park for a balloon release ceremony for Ryan while his funeral is happening simultaneously in Kansas at 5:30 pm central time. His favorite color was orange so we're going to fill the sky with orange balloons in his memory. I think it's a perfect way to end this week. 

Have an amazing weekend.

In loving memory

This past weekend was the worst possible weekend.

Long time friends of ours lost their 7-year-old son in a horrible auto accident.

The tears that have since been shed for this family can not be counted. After crying in the shower for the third morning in a row, I've come to terms with the fact that it doesn't have to be a close loved one or friend to hurt like it is.

We love this family as if they are our family... and the truth is, they are. They're church family. They may have moved out of state last summer, but they never moved out of our hearts. The rallying of support and love around them has been incredible and I am proud to be part of a church body that gathers around their own in such a powerful way.

But there is no way to truly imagine what they are going through. Please pray for them. While we rejoice that Ryan is in heaven with Jesus, and that he gave life to two others through the donation of his kidneys, he will be missed forever here on earth, and by no one more so than his family.

Psalms 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to those whose hearts have been broken. He saves those whose spirits have been crushed.

Monday Confessional - the spider in the bathroom

I'm not afraid of spiders.

But sometimes, when a particularly large and hairy one catches me by surprise after I glimpse it out of the corner of my eye, I will jump half a foot in the air and yelp like a girl.

And then I'll discover it's not a spider at all. It's a plastic octopus.

Bad octopus!

Friday photo dump

Blake's favorites. Mine too. Kindergartner reading is starting to happen for real around here! 

Field trip! (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry)

Cooper in the land of science is a sight to behold... I loved experiencing it with him.

Starbucks' salted caramel square, which I discovered today while treating myself to a coffee. 

(Grocery shopping deserves treats - write that down.)

I don't want to sound crazy here, but this maaay be better than the cranberry bliss bar. TRY IT.

Russ's work gave him a new phone and I was all kinds of spastic with excitement over setting it up for him

 and showing him how to use AirDrop and FaceTime. Weeeeee! Now we're phone twins!

So I went to Target to buy dress pants yesterday. Unfortunately the ones I liked were not on sale, and while 

$28.00 doesn't seem spendy for dress pants, to me it certainly seems spendy for Target. But then I found

this striped sheath dress and pencil skirt on clearance, which together totaled less than the pants, and the bottom

 line is that I've decided dress pants are over-rated.

(I just shared this exciting tale with Russ and the results were very disappointing: he actually wide-mouth

YAWNED halfway through. Why don't boys get excited over shopping deals??)

Happy weekend!

Awkward and Awesome (mostly awesome)

Awkward:
- The dive bomb I just took into a full-on reading binge. I don't know how people read just a bit here and there or a chapter at a time each night. What?! I CAN NOT EVEN. I HAVE TO FINISH IT! AND THEN START ANOTHER! And thus, nothing else gets accomplished in my life during these periods. At all.
- That moment when you realize you've just unwittingly embarrassed your child in front of their class and you can't undo it, so your whisper your apologies to them out of the corner of your mouth, cringe at yourself, and swear you're not going to be "that parent".
- All the crying that's been going on during the Olympics this past week. Oh, I don't mean on the TV, I mean right here in my living room. Give me one moving backstory and I'm done. Or a good commercial... that'll do it too!

Awesome:
- This movie trailer, based on this book:

I'm a sucker for inspiring movies based on real life stories!

- This great group of parents who just finished taking the pre-toddler class Russ and I teach at our church. It was a fun four weeks hanging out with them! And look at their cute babies!

^^Mike & Linley with Tristan, Tom & Nicole with Reagan, Kourtney (sans husband Micah) with Peyton, and Ryan & Annie with Timothy^^

- When your 5th grader still wants you to go on his class field trips with him so you get to spend the day at OMSI, and you have a stellar time at it too.

- My fine coachin' husband who was just voted league coach of the year by his colleagues, and whose team plays in the league championship game this weekend before entering the state playoffs next week. Crossing my fingers for another trip to Baker City this March!

Have an awesome day, everyone!

What I Wore Wednesday

Also titled: Jodi only wears two pairs of shoes this week.

No. 1

Old Navy tunic, Ross sweater, Fylo leggings, Matisse boots

No. 2 

TJ Maxx top, Loft sweater, Big Star jeans, Target booties

No. 3 

Loft sweater, Maurice's denim shirt, Target jeans, Matisse boots

No. 4

(option a)

TJ Maxx top, Gap jeans, Target booties, Walmart jacket

No. 4 

(option b)

Target cardigan, Old Navy scarf, same lacy top and bottom half as above

(Obviously I was a bit conflicted about which route to take yesterday. 

I ended up wearing the pink because it felt comfier. 

hashtag: youknowyou'regettingolderwhen...)

Happy Wednesday, guys!

A Dave Ramsey approved date night

Listen. We love a romantic and special night out as much as the next couple.

But we also love a good ol' date-on-a-dime. So this Valentines, with a $50 Claim Jumper gift card and a $25 Cheesecake Factory gift card saved from Christmas and birthdays, the choice was clear. A nearly free date!

First up: Starbucks. This is tradition... mainly because we love Starbucks.

Next: Dinner at Claim Jumper.

I am incapable of ordering anything besides the Jamaican jerk chicken sweet potato. It speaks to me.

Our gift card covered both our dinners, a shared appetizer, my drink, and our tip! We for real high-fived on the way out to the car. Dinner was followed up with a movie (we are huge movie theater fans) and since Russ saw Safe Haven with me last Valentines, I surprised him by picking Lone Survivor this time.

(This is called a Valentine's compromise... and trust me, it will pay off, ladies.)

I actually really liked it, despite the violence. It definitely tugged at all my patriotic heart-strings and made me grateful once again for all the men and women who serve our country!

Side story: the teenager running the ticket booth initially charged us $28.50 for two $10.50 tickets. When I pointed out that wasn't the right price, she didn't know why not until I said, "because 10.50 plus 10.50 doesn't equal $28.50." So she said, "oh I'm sorry", and rang up our total as $18.00, saying, "there you go, I fixed it" with a big smile. At which point Russ & l gave each other the look that says, "LOST CAUSE" and walked inside. This does not bode well for America's future, folks. 

Moving on. Dessert at the Cheesecake Factory!

Dessert and another appetizer for Russ :) 

Once again our gift card covered our food and our tip. Cheap Valentines date for the win! And like always we had a fabulous time out together. Valentines Day or not, extra-fancy or casual, we will always continue to date each other.

And now, Happy Presidents day!

End of the week photo dump

My new Scentsy warmer for my bedroom. I think it's darling!

After accidentally buying sugar-free hot cocoa mix (horrible aftertaste), 

I was forced to desperate measures, i.e., homemade hot chocolate. Which, it turns out, is AMAZING. 

Our amazing new antenna that's working awesomely. Cool looking, huh?!

snow buddies :)

Spending a lot of time riiiight here this winter. 

Blake and all his beloved friends say hello! 

We are addicted to asparagus. 

This means we eat the entire Costco bundle at one meal and I secretly eat at least 3 or 4 stalks before serving up ;)

Yesterday Russell surprised me at work with this special delivery. 

Or I should say he would have surprised me, if I had actually been at work. WIFEFAIL.

These three are my best Valentine gifts of all.

My beautiful date last night :) Russ had an away game so we're going out tonight. 

In the meantime, Sairaina and I had ourselves a lovely movie night and I introduced her to my

favorite movie of all time: Pride & Prejudice. she loved it! 

My mission to convert one person at a time to Jane Austen fan-dom continues... ;)

Tuesday confessions

(Since I missed Monday)

#1 Am I the only one who "organizes" their dirty dishes in the sink?

I realize it's a time waster but I can't help myself. Ever since my kids learned how to unload the dishwasher it's been their chore and now I'm so used to not having to do it myself that I refuse to. If the kids aren't home... the dirty dishes can wait in the sink... nice and organized :)

#2 I was singing the praises of our snowed-in family weekend on Sunday. By 3 pm that same afternoon however, I was ready to adopt my children out. So much restless energy! To top it off, Russell was no help whatsoever, as he has more energy than our entire household combined and kept trying to wrestle with me. (And I don't mean that as a coy innuendo. No, he literally wanted to wrestle.)

This sums it up pretty well. So when school was cancelled again yesterday I knew I had to do something. Something called BRIBERY.

"Children, we're going to have a good ol' cleaning morning. And if I'm happy with your work, I'll take you all to see The Lego Movie at the theaters."

Worked brilliantly. So much done! We invited Aunt Kelly and Hayden along to the movie and we all loved it (and Hayden's popcorn - that he very generously shared and I made the mistake of finishing off, not knowing he wanted it back, causing him to cry in the middle of the movie. My bad.)

Last night it poured all night and just like that all the snow was gone this morning. Along with my sweet little ones back to school. Hallelujah.

A very snowed in weekend

The makings of an extra-special three-day weekend include:

- the most snow we've had in years

- cancelled school

- cancelled everything

the Olympics

- a fancy new TV antenna so I can watch the Olympics! (thank you kind husband!!)

- a freshly stocked pantry & fridge

- board games

- movies

- sledding at the neighbors

- a little 4-wheeling

- homemade hot chocolate

- a warm fireplace

- church live-streamed right into our living room

In a word, it has been AWESOME.

^^our house on Friday - before another couple inches dumped on Saturday^^

 

^^And a friendly reminder: don't eat the yellow snow!^^

It's starting to melt now and the forecast for the week is non-stop rain (sigh... back to normal) so we're enjoying the last few hours of our winter wonderland and trying not to pout while Russell beats our tails at Qwirkle :) Over and out!