Mindless Meanderings of Schroedawg

 For my birthday, I requested a camping trip to Salt Creek, which is one of my favorite places to just go and be outside. It's what we call the "mini beach", because although it is still the ocean, it is nothing like La Push or other parts of the Pacific coastline. Lucky for us, there was a break in the weather and it was beautiful last weekend! We enjoyed a weekend camping trip with our friends Steve and Nikki and our four pups. Only crazy things we heard in the midst of the night were stupid rodents of unusual size---aka raccoon---making quite the ruckus over the cliff below us, on the water edge. Otherwise, we enjoyed the view of Canada and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and each others company, plotting our next weekend getaway when we get back from Colorado. We were even lucky enough to get  our friends addicted to geocaching. :) Our campsite Madelynne's own Coleman  Chillaxin' Couldn't forget her ponies cuddling with the pup ...

The past couple months have been busy! I think it is always like this at the end of the school year. Thank goodness the home stretch is 5 days away. Almost done! Highlights of the past month have been... Maddy attending an official birthday party for her buddy Tucker. Tucker is one of her special buddies at daycare, who I think she liked because he reminds her of her cousin, Damion. I think I am stealing Tucker's mom's idea of having Madelynne's birthday at the park. Brilliant, if you ask me! Trying the pinata They all flocked to Ms. Christine because she had candy Eating some birthday cake Enjoying the swing  We've been invaded by tent caterpillars and thoroughly dislike them. They may be cute, but they have destroyed our poor apple tree (although it will come back), and they have made the trees in our area look hideous. But Madelynne loves them. Tons of caterpillars by our pier Other things we've be...

Twelve years ago I met this boy at a keg party with a thick New York accent who picked me up with, "Not all guys are like that", and a best friend making it known that I would marry this boy, no doubt in her mind. March 2001 We did long distance and visited one another every four months...this was before the invention of Skype and cell phones with texting capabilities. This was with phone cards, handwritten love letters, messenger, and care packages. March 2002 Riding this roller coaster was like searching in the fog for something solid and concrete. I wasn't sure where this was headed. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be. There were things that didn't end up right between us all the time and it was not easy. But we learned along the way to value one another, to truly love one another. To communicate. To trust. And most importantly, to find faith in God, and then put that exact same faith into us. Engaged: 2004 He proposed on my birthday, on ...

In teaching poetry and preparing my kiddos this week for their poetry presentations, we watched a few spoken word poets via pre-selected versions on YouTube. One video that stood out the most was from the 2012 TED talks from spoken word poet, Sarah Kay. The poem is a perfect depiction of having a child and advice that a mother wants to carry on to her daughter...If you have an opportunity, I'd check it out on YouTube and just watch the "If I should have a daughter" or the title of the poem is "B". Sifting through the poem, I extracted a few of my favorite quotes and a few recent pictures of Madelynne to accompany them. Enjoy.  "...Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away" (Sarah Kay, TED Talks, 2012).  “...Remember, your Mama is a worrier, and your Papa is a warrior, and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking f...

The timing of blooming tulips is never an easy one to determine. Out on the peninsula, where we live, everything seems to be behind the rest of the state of Washington. I remember when I was pregnant with Madelynne and we had to go to Seattle for a doctor’s appointment and all the cherry blossoms were in bloom over there, but none were really even beginning to blossom here. My co-workers at the time kept saying, “wait until after spring break” and sure enough, it was a full onset of blossoming flowers and trees. I have to say, as much as I have kicked, screamed, complained and cried about the move here, I am beyond blessed that God has really changed my eyes to appreciate and value the beauty of His creation all around me. Brad and I are adventurous and love to travel the coastline and hike in the Olympics, so I am often very, very thankful for His light leading us to this path. As we were driving on Whidbey Island, I said to Brad, “You know, my soul will always be in Wyoming, but Wa...