Isaboo I love you, yes oh yes oh yes I do!

 

Brave

I love Sara Bareilles. 

I heard this new song of hers quite awhile ago and then I didn't hear it again for the longest time. 

She just recently sang it on The Voice, which is one of my favorite TV addictions.

That reminded me of the song and that....

I love it! 

I thought I'd share it with you.

I looked it up on youtube and she has a music video for it!!!!!

Marley and I just watched it and WE LOVE IT!!!!

I hope you love it too.

Here it is again if you need help falling in love with the lyrics. 

The Seven Year Itch

It's been seven years but, there's no itch. 

I think THE biggest choice we make in our lives is who we marry. 

I picked good!

I picked for eternity. 

He is so loving and tender. 

So supportive.

I might as well just lay it all out there and I'm not even exaggerating.

He's:

Trustworthy,

Loyal,

Helpful,

Friendly,

Courteous,

Kind,

Obedient,

Cheerful,

Thrifty,

Brave,

Clean,

and Reverent.

AND

I love him with all my heart.

Happy Anniversary Nathan!

Well, Geez ...

There will be no pictures because I was given this assignment 5 minutes ago and without any instructions. Decide now if this will be worth your time.

Perhaps I will pursue this anniversary thread a little longer ( warning! mushy stuff ahead).

Seven years ago it was brought forth on this day a proposition that Becky and Nathan were willing to work together as equals in marriage.

We are now engaged in a great challenge of raising a family, finding better employment, serving in church, and cleaning house. At this time I would like to dedicate this tribute to recall what we have come through so we may rejoice in the happy memories.

In a larger sense I cannot take the credit for all the things my family does. They and I have received blessings from sources more mighty than I and more profound than I can utter. I realize the world may care little about what my family has accomplished but it matters to me and mine because it has brought us happiness.

It is seven years since I began this journey with Becky, and I do cherish it with the realization there is still more to come. We came to this place on a path that has led us through experiences and places we did not imagine ourselves being a part of. I do intend that it will not be in vain because of promises made in a temple marriage covenant that we will not cease to be, but will be a family together forever.

Happy Anniversary Becky! Thank you for your loving support and putting up with my inconvenient shenanigans.

If you have not yet guessed why this tribute is familiar, I have patterned this to some extent on the great "Gettysburg Address" given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863.

A Productive Saturday

Our anniversary is coming on Monday and we got some curtains for our living room to honor this anniversary. 

Here are the before pictures. 

Not matchie-matchie. 

All of our current curtains (except for these new ones) are hand-me-downs from various people; which I do not mind and actually love free stuff, but there are several reasons these old ones were not working for us. 

The curtains on the smaller window on the left were minty green and 84 inches. 

I liked the color but TOO LONG. 

We had to tuck them up on the window seal because the radiant heater is along the floor board area. 

If long curtains cover the heater it messes them up...both the heater and possibly the curtains too.

We never opened these curtains.

 The curtains on the right were canvas type, 84" curtains that I tried to modify and turn the other way. 

Turned out they were too short.

We rarely closed these curtains.

Really!

People could see right into our house at night.

It made it really hard to sneak around the house in my underwear!

Hee hee!

 When I put the "modified" curtains up and realized they were going to be too short, I never finished modifying them. 

 Here are the after pictures! 

I should have ironed them before I put them up. 

But, you can see how messy our living room is already.

Someday, soon, maybe Monday I will iron them!

 Some pictures of the curtains mostly closed. 

I love the length!

 I love how easy they are to open and close!

 I opened the side curtains so you could possibly see the true color of the curtains. 

The color on the packaging is listed as Taupe.

They are little bit shiny. 

And they have a damask pattern of the same color but a little bit different texture. 

 The color and pattern kind of make me feel like they might look old fashioned but, I love them!

I would describe them as a warm gold color.

And you all know I love damask.

I don't know why...I just do...it can't be helped.

 Curtains open.

Girls getting into mischief. 

Standing on chairs and heaters...oh my!

 I tried to think of a way for Marley to get excited about cleaning all day. 

So, I suggested we put our aprons on! 

 Then she promptly asked if she could take pictures.

So, she took pictures while I cleaned.

 I love this one! (below)

 Her brown eyes are SO dark!

 Here is project #2 we had (I wanted) to get done today. 

Organized the girly clothes.

 This is what Marley did to help. 

 And like magic it was DONE & SO BEAUTIFULLY ORGANIZED!

Right!?!

 I totally need to do a whole post, JUST on organizing these girly clothes. 

I will!

I have to say though that Marley folded all her laundry and her sister's laundry today...and put all her laundry away! 

She is a big helper and a hard worker. 

Good job today, eh?

A Hot Date

We got to go on a hot date tonight. 

We don't get out much all alone. 

The opportunity presented itself and we took it!

A hot date when you were dating or engaged is a lot different than when you have two kids with one on the way. 

Am I right?

We went to dinner.

Grateful to be alone. 

We went Christmas shopping. 

Mostly for stocking stuffer stuff. 

Wandered the store for at least an hour.

Bought nothing.

Ha!

Guess we'll have to sneak out again!

A milestone. And a dance.

I went to my first parent teacher conference today. 

My girl is getting so big!

It made me feel...

old

happy

and

grateful.

********

The previous post. 

It was a dance!

And that is exactly how they dance at the pow wows!

So, everybody won!

Marley goes to a school that was once run fully by the Sault Ste. Marie band of the Chippewa Indians. 

It is now a Public Academy, chartered through Northern Michigan University and also funded by grants from the Bureau of Indian Education. 

She has a language/culture class and she is learning Ojibwe along with various cultural things including dance. She also learns Ojibwe in her classroom but it's nothing close to a language immersion class. 

At the dance they taught about the drum or dewe'igan and it not only means drum but also heart beat. 

To show respect you always walk and dance around the drum clockwise.

They also taught about the shawl dance (now Marley really wants a shawl, I think we can do that).

And they taught about the jingle dress (now Marley REALLY REALLY wants a jingle dress, I don't know about that!) 

It was awesome!

Though Isi hid behind my chair for a little bit (not only was the drum loud the boys were singing/yelling too!) she did want to go out and dance, so we did. She tried real hard and sometimes Marley and her friends would slow down and dance with her for a little while.  If Isi saw them up ahead or pass us she would spread her hand wide in front of her and reach for them and yell. Of course, they couldn't hear her. 

She wasn't using the ear muffs so much to block out the drums as to play and be cute.