Ahhh this makes me feel better about flying

From consumerist.com:

TSA CONFISCATES WATER BOTTLE, MISSES BOMB

Federal inspectors were able to slip a bomb past the TSA 5 out of 7 times, according to the Albany Times-Union. Here's the best part: One fake bomb was placed in the same bag as a bottle of water. The TSA opened the bag, took the water, and let the bomb on the plane.

The TSA spokesperson responded:

"We don't discuss the results because they tend to paint an inaccurate picture of the competency of our work force," she said. "The tests are designed to be incredibly difficult and TSA does anticipate a fair level of failure."

They seem pretty good at detecting Evian, though, don't they?

Happy Birthday Pictures

Here are some pictures of Asher from his second birthday!

Asher's turns two

Dear Asher,
Today you are two years old.
Two years ago, I did not know what I was doing. Two years later, I do not know what I am doing. But I know that I love being your mom. I love seeing you learn and grow and become a little person before my very eyes.
In the last year, you learned how to walk, how to feed yourself, how to run, jump, how to be a big brother, that you love the Wiggles, how to dance, how to go up and down stairs and how to talk. My how you love to talk. Right now, you are in a phase where you say everything twice. “Mommy, mommy?” “Apple, apple.” “Trees, trees!!!” You are also learning your colors and how to count. It is such an exciting time in our lives because you are literally learning something new everyday. And you experience such joy in the midst of learning about things! You learned how to say the word, “dammit” this week. That was cute. You also learned how to swing Lucy in her jumperoo. Also cute. And scary.

You are learning so much these days and your dad and I love watching it happen. We really love it. I know that we love it because as soon as you go to bed, the first thing that we talk about is you; what you did that day, what made us laugh and what made us mad.


Oh yes, you can make us mad. You are now a two-year old and you have been working on the terrible two’s for a few months now. Thank God for the Supernanny and for time-out. Or as you say it, “nime-out.” You like to hit and throw things and you are especially gifted at the tantrum. But, these things never last long. You usually just need a break and then the problem passes. You are pretty reasonable, but every now and then…
Looking back over two years, I can hardly remember life without you. I don’t really want to remember life without you. You are so much fun to have around and I haven’t met one person who hasn’t liked you. That is quite an accomplishment!
This next year might be more of a challenge because you are going to be officially moving out of “babydom.” We’ll say goodbye to your crib, diapers (hopefully), pacifiers, and sippy cups. You are already becoming a little man! It is hard to think of these things going away because as much as they bring you comfort, they bring me comfort. It is nice to know that you are safe in your crib, that I don’t have to wash pee and poop out of your clothes all the time and that you aren’t spilling everything. But, I know that I want you to become the person that you are meant to be and that doesn’t mean keeping me comfortable, that means giving you what you need when you need it. But I am sure that it will be hard on both of us.

It will also get harder because Lucy is going to be crawling, then walking and talking. She is going to give you a run for your money. But it has been so fun to see your friendship with her start to develop over the last few weeks. She can make you laugh harder than either your daddy or me. And she absolutely adores you. As soon as you walk past her, she just lights up with excitement. It has been really fun to be your mom and watch you learn to be a big brother. You are so good with her; I can’t wait to see more.
Asher, I love you and I am so proud of how we have made it together through these last two years. These have been the most challenging but most fun years of my life. I can’t wait to see you grow to a three-year old.

Quote of the Day

From Mary Poppins, the song "Sister Sufragettes"

"Though we adore men individually
We agree that as a group they're rather stupid!"

Firecracker 5k

Yesterday was a celebration of my favorite day of the year. At least, in Weaverville. For the uninitiated...it starts with the Firecracker 5k. It used to be a hokey little race with Nic Seig and David Dail running in pink bunny suits, smoking cigarretes and winning the dang thing. But now, it is a pretty serious race with over 350 participants. After the 5k, you go back home and cook up something to bring to the Annual Troyer Potluck. The Troyers get to have this little party because they live right off of Main Street Weaverville. So about 50 people come over and eat and then head up to Main Street because there are thousands of locals milling about with the requisite fanny packs, cigarette dangling from their lips and amazing conversations to overhear. Also, Tuxedo Junction is playing and they are possibly the greatest utility rock cover band in America. There are little kids dancing right next to rednecks getting their freak on, next to granny and grandpa doing the foxtrot. It is a little slice of America right here in our back yard. If Norman Rockwell was still alive...he'd be in Weaverville painting the 4th of July.


So yesterday, I got up early to go run the 5k. I was only doing it because I knew Natalie Knauer was and since she is bizarro Leslie and I am bizarro Natalie, I had to go run. I ended up hanging with Shaunna Wild who led me around town. She placed 2nd in her age group and I finished 3rd in mine! 26:04 ain't bad for a lady of two kids! Also, Asher ran in the fun run...I mean he only made it about 1/4 of a mile...but he was in his crocs and there were firetrucks and police cars everywhere so he got distracted.

We ended the day with fireworks in the grass behind the Troyers and it was lovely.

Earth Wind and Fire Love

Now, I love me some Earth Wind and Fire as much, if not more than the average person. But this video is just funny and weird. It is so Tokyo!

Also, do you think that the guy could have possibly come up with a little more choreography in the whole three minutes of the song?

new pictures

I got off of the Project 365 Train with the kids, but I am going to try to get back on it. Today we took some pictures with the Troyer girls who came over for a little playdate because Asher and I needed a break from just playing together. We were getting bored, so Hadley and Josie came over! It was great fun!

We busted out the baby pool, sprinkler, slide, sandbox and bubbles for a two hour festival of fun.

Here are the pictures:

travelling

We are heading to Colorado late next week and I am in need of some airplane tips with toddlers...I have found these so far:


Sleep in clothes--we had a flight that took off at 8 am and so we left the house around 5:45 am. Booo. It helped a lot to have the boys already dressed, down to the baby's socks and Robeez, and it didn't seem to disturb their sleep one bit. My older boy is potty trained by day but sleeps in a diaper so I just put his underwear on over his diaper and whipped the diaper off when we had time at the airport.

Use your carseat bag for more than just carseats. This is a high risk/high reward kind of hack, because if you're checking your carseat and it gets lost, you're in trouble. I gambled, though, and put our coats and blankets in the bag with the carseat--this meant I didn't have to deal with wearing them (we are always hot on the plane, it seems) or carrying them and worrying about losing one.

Double umbrella stroller! An absolute must, and gate-checkable. Hang everything off of it.

Once you get to your seat, immediately dole out snacks and customize the seat area to your needs. I like to stick a pack of kleenex, a pack of wipes, and a bottle of water into the seatback pocket as well as a plastic bag for trash. That way you aren't hunting around for these things when the inevitable messes come, and you have a central place for all the trash you will immediately begin to generate.

We aren't going to bring a stroller and will use the baby backpack instead in order to have two hands to manage the boy in the airport.

Are there any suggestions out there to make travelling easier? Or good toys/activities to pack for such a major trip?

Quote of the Day

"All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."

C.S. Lewis
--Mere Christianity

High School Phrases

I created a facebook account this weekend and let me tell you...it's trouble. I am finding it WAY more addictive that myspace has ever been. Part of the reason is that nearly every single person I know through Young Life and college are on facebook and it is really funny to see how high schoolers want to be known and be seen by people. My favorite item right now is how people will leave you a minute by minute detail of where they are all day long. One of my friends literally had this on her facebook page, "sleeping at Sarah's tonight, church at 10, home for lunch then to work by 1." Seriously? Who needs that much information?

But it brought me back to some funny memories from high school. Remember, I went to high school on Staten Island at New Dorp High School, so all of memories really are like a Saturday Night Live skit.

We used to use the phrase, "sweatin'" to describe if we "liked" a guy. We would say, "I'm so sweatin' him." or "He's totally sweatin' her."

I also remember my first week of high school where my biology teacher, Mrs. Spinelli (with the most unbelieveable New York accent you could believe) cussed out Angelo who sat behind me. No lie. She actually said, "You gonna call me a f-n b--ch in front of the class Angelo? This is gonna be one long f-n year." Yes, everything in that paragraph is true. Mrs. Spinelli. Angelo. the sentence. And yes, it was a very long year.

I remember Iris, the Samoan who wanted to fight me. And all I could do was run. I mean she was a Samoan and I was fast. Very fast.

Ahh high school. It is so fun to be a Young Life leader again and to walk alongside high school girls as they navigate the nonsense that goes on during the day to day in high school. I truly do feel like I just survived high school rather than having fond memories. It is hard to know whether that is due to my nut-job high school, if it was just me that felt that way or if my memory is skewed by time.

Nonetheless, I am so glad that I am not in high school any longer.

What memories do you have from high school that have endured???