Good to eat without dying!

So little Marty showed me something that is useful for all of us to know. He showed me 2 thumbs up and said that means Good. 2 thumbs down means Bad. The he proceeded to show me 1 thumb up and 1 thumb down and he said that means "good to eat without dying".

A bit befuddled, I asked him what he meant and he repeated...it means good to eat without dying. I questioned him a bit longer, trying to understand what in the world he was talking about, but getting no more information out of him, I just shrugged and went about my day, albeit a bit confused. Several days later I hear him talking to his dad about the word "edible". Apparently at some point awhile back LM asked Marty what "edible" means. His father, quite eloquently, replied "It means good to eat without dying." That's where it came from.

And so there we have it. Good to eat without dying.

Vacation is over!

Well the holiday break is coming to an end...after a bit of a lull with my wierd allergic reaction at Christmas, we got back into full gear playing and visiting with family and friends during the rest of our vacation. Alicia and Aaron came to visit us for a few days which is always fun...here is Lish rubbing it in my face that she whooped my butt at Rummikub!

We went bowling while Lish and Aaron were here and the kids had a blast! The lightest ball they had for use was 8lbs, but MBJ didn't mind throwing the 15 pounder every once in awhile...Here he is modeling his rockin' new Hurley sweater! The wild man had a great winter break, but boy, is he ready to go back to school. A little man can find a bit of mischief with too much down time....just ask EB!

On New Year's day we went for a visit to Grandma Sue and

Grandpa Harry's house. A dip in the hot tub on a freezing winter

day is always a welcome event!! It was like 20 degrees out, there was no way I was making that jaunt across the patio in a bathing suit...but Marty and the kids enjoyed it!

We were so glad to have the opportunity to visit with our friend Jana and her son Tyler while they were in town visiting (from New Zealand!)...the kids played at the Wonderpark and got to choose many great prizes with all of the tickets they won playing games...Great teeth Tyler! And I'm not sure we have any of those army guys left that were so valuable that day ;)

After visting with Jana and Tyler we drove over to perfect north slopes and finally got to ski for the first time this season. Emma picked right up where she left off with her skis and had a blast riding the hills. MBJ took a bit of time to warm up to his skis...but over the course of the evening, he was back to shooting down the hills with me yelling "why don't you try turning once in awhile?" as I skied after him. And by the way, my new skis ROCK!! So much lighter and easier to turn than my circa '99 Rossies :)

And tomorrow is back to school for both kids, and back to work for us. Happy new year!!

Bonus time

Did you hear about Randy Pausch on GMA back in September? Some of you have heard me go on about him and how cool I think he is. He's a man in his mid 40's who has had an amazing career and is a professor at Carnegie Mellon, he is married and a father of 3 young children, and he's dying of pancreatic cancer. He gave this amazing "last lecture" which has been all over the media so if you're interested, you can see it online. I think about him a lot and actually check his updates on his web site. He is still healthy and doing what he can, which is a lot. The amazing thing about this man is his zeal for life. He is fit, active, involved in everything he's dreamt of doing, he celebrates life in a way some people never bother to even think of. I don't pity him, I admire him.

Marty thinks it's depressing when I focus on things like this, but I like to take it like Randy offered it... life is what you make it, so go for it! Randy and his wife refer to any extra time he's earned from drug treatments as "bonus time". And yes it's trite...but what would you do if you only had a day or a week of life left? Isn't every day a bonus? I think about stuff like that. I think it's important to think about stuff like that.

I'm happy to report that I wouldn't be doing anything differently. If funds were unlimited, I might be doing what I'm doing in a variety of locations, such as Alaska, Hawaii, among others...but I'd be spending my time with my family as I am right now. I wouldn't be working on a research project or a degree, I wouldn't be working on anything except being with the people I love.

Snow Days

Well, unfortunately we missed meeting with our friend Sarah and her family at the Indy museum today. The roads were not clear and we felt pretty certain that traffic would be gross, considering everyone loses their mind in the tri-state area when there is precipitation about...hence turning a 2 hour drive into a nightmare.

So instead of another day of play, Marty went back to work and I shooed the kids out into the yard to play. They made it about 40 minutes before LM dumped snow down Emma's back and she came in to tell on him (and get warm). I'm still surprised it didn't occur to her to return the favor....I remember mega snow/ice fights with lots of plotting and revenge and little to no tattling. That was far more fun :)

But it would have been a nice day to hit the slopes. I've been thinking of Jami with envy today as she is out finding her skills on the slopes in PA. I cannot wait to hear what you ladies thought about your adventure in snow boarding!

Hopefully we'll ski this weekend. I have a pair of very lovely new skis I am eager to ride!!!