Gotta Have Faith-a-Faith-a-Faith

Sarah Thoughts:  This week, I found myself in a pickle with a fast-approaching deadline.  I knew that God had a plan and it would all work out, but as the deadline came at me like a freight-train, I was an emotional wreck, in serious panic mode.  In the end, it all worked out because God had a plan, but after the crisis was averted, it took me about 30 minutes for my heart-rate to return to normal.  Sometimes it feels like life with God at the steering wheel means constant stressful, emotional situations and I really don't enjoy feeling that way.   I avoid sports movies and movies about social injustice because I know they'll make me cry.  However, since God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere, I'd be stupid not to let Him be in control, so what's a girl to do?  I guess next time I need to take several deep, cleansing breaths, remember that He's the God of the universe and He will not let me fall and then hum a few bars from good old George Michael. 

Low- Wednesday morning, when I was SURE it was Friday...  

High- My sweet neighbor, Amy.  The answer to my desperate prayers!

Luke Update: For Luke, the legislative session is a time to make a little bling, get caught-up on post-season accounting and get ready for the upcoming summer.  We figured out that this will be Luke's 12th year guiding fly fishermen!  This week's big accomplishment was submitting all of the Coast Guard paperwork to renew Luke's captain license for the next 5 years.  It can take a few months to process so that was a big chore to mark off the list.  Next, taxes...  Ugh. On a more positive note, Juneau is making serious strides towards spring.  March is just a week away, we've had beautiful weather with the same in the forecast.  Towards the end of the week last week, it was still light after work so we took Dolly for evening walks.  Hopefully the same will hold true this coming week because the days just keep getting longer!  Bring it on!

 

Owen Update: I'm amazed at my little sponge these days and how quickly he incorporates new routines into his life.  He's a big fan of routines, as I think most kids are.  Owen's bedtime routine consists of: picking-up the room, changing diapers, putting on jammies, brushing teeth, reading 4 stories, saying prayers, giving kisses, and hopping in bed.  One night, as we finished reading stories, Owen's cuddle sleeve wasn't in his room with us. I asked, "Owen, where's your cuddle sleeve?  Let's go find it..." As we walked into the living room, I tapped my finger on my pursed lips saying, "Where is it?  Hmmmm...." Now, every night, as soon as stories are finished, Owen says, "Hmmmm.... Whisit?  Hmmmm..." and taps his finger on his lips.  Pretty cute.  Not so cute is his undying love for kitchen utensils.  I find those things all over the house!  After picking up a wooden spoon in the entry way, a spatula on the couch, a ladle in the laundry room and a serving spoon in the hall, I almost cried to see a pair of tongs in our closet.  

While having a snack in the living room, 

Owen figured out a new use for his stool. 

Haircut.  He seems to like them less and less...

Do we have a hippy on our hands???

Owen figured out how to make noise with the harmonica this week-

Very proud of himself (if you can't tell!)

walking through the couch-tunnel with fisherman gloves

homemade bullets

playing "peak" in the bathtub

Sunny Days Sweeping Those Clouds Away...

Sarah's Thoughts: I'm trying not to get too excited about summer with the recent sunny weather... but the fact of the matter is that the days are getting longer.  What is it about sunshine that instantly changes our attitudes and perspective?   Twenty consecutive dark and dreary days become a foggy memory after just one day of sun and I start planning my activities expecting every day to be blue skies. Is it hope springing into action or maybe the eternal optimist in us?  Do people who constantly live in the sun experience this phenomenon? We Woodruffs celebrated by heading to the beach for our Dolly walks on Friday and Saturday.  Not only did the beach provide a shade-free environment to fully experience the glory of the day, but also a snow-free walking surface, thanks to the cleansing high tide.  Sunday was a little overcast and its suppose to rain this week, but I was thankful for the boost of vitamin D. 

High- The little things- tulips from my valentine, phone call with my grandma, unexpected dinner date with our neighbors, finishing work on the never-ending website project, Owen's excited squeals as he tore through the couch cushion tunnel in the living room... 

Low- Dolly joined in the poop explosion action this week.  My favorite was the one I discovered and cleaned up at 5:05 am on my way to a work-out class.

Luke Update: Luke has been plugging away at the Legislature, with his sites set on summer. We were looking at a calendar the other day and realized that before long, the session will be over. Already, Luke has plans of cabin camp-outs, hunting trips and a busy fishing season.  He's casting lead bullets like there's no tomorrow and hopes to shoot a black bear with one of them this spring.  He's also been tying flies, ordering new rods, getting all of his Forest Service, Coast Guard, State, and now TSA ducks in a row for this year's fishing season.  Summer will be here before you can say "Jack Robinson" and by golly, Luke will be ready!

Owen Update:  Each day, we are seeing more of Owen's little personality-  it really is incredible to watch. Yesterday, after reading "Where the Wild Things Are" over and over at his requests, Owen was babbling and all of a sudden, I heard him say, " 'No!' Max said!"  Puzzled, I opened the book and read "The Wild Things said, 'Oh, Please don't go!  We'll eat you up, we love you so.' But Max said, 'No!' "  I was blown away!  I think it helps that "No" seems to be Owen's favorite word these days, but still!  That makes me wonder what other little phrases are hidden within all that babble.  

In other news, the poop report was negative... negative for giardia and solmanilla and all kinds of other lovely things...  I'm thankful that he doesn't have a nasty little bug, but at the same time, wish we had something to pin the excessive poop on...   He's had a little cold this week which translates into lots of crusty nose picking for mama.  But besides that, we've been enjoying our busy, crazy, precious boy.

Sleeping in his car seat.  

Notice the goldfish carnage all over his shirt.

Poor guy was just too tired to eat another bite!

Super Dolly!

Playing in the sand at Eagle Beach.

 

Owen really loves the dishwasher.  

He managed to wrestle the bottom rack

out of the dishwasher and pushed it 

all around the living room.  So fun!

Reading on the couch with Daddy.

He got pretty excited about violently throwing his head back, 

which is why his hair is sticking up...

Our Saturday walk out at Eagle Beach.  

(the rainsuit was protection from the muddy ground) 

Nothing in Particular

Sarah's Thoughts-  Our friends, the Padens, had baby #6 this week.  That's not only a lot of kids, but especially significant for me because #5 is just 10 days older then Owen (i.e. I could have another baby by now).  It seems like there's this unwritten law that when encountering the mother of a child in the 1 1/2 to  3 year-old range, you have to ask when the next one is coming. I've been getting this question a lot lately.  Luke and I have talked about it, we do want more kids, and I was even thinking maybe sometime soon-ish... However, after holding the tiny little Paden baby, I can honestly say I'm not ready.  He was so very sweet and precious but I have a precious Owen who loves his mama.  I don't want him to have to give-up being the baby.  I know this is a little selfish of me- my brother and sister are my two favorite people in the world and I want Owen to have that... but at the same time, we can wait a little bit.  While I was holding baby Orion, Owen was very excited and interested in him.  I know he'll be an excellent big brother someday... just not today.

High: The solid turd in Owen's diaper this evening.  Luke shook it right out of the diaper and into the toilet!  Oh Baby!

Low:  Tonight at Costco when I proudly presented the cashier with my coupons (I never have it together enough to use coupons) and he said, "Uh, these aren't good until tomorrow...  do you need to put some things back?"  Stink!

Luke Update-  Luke has been working hard to party hard.  He's already booked 5-6 trips for this summer, not to mention the 3 or 4 in the hopper.  He's been working his legislative job, but had a surprise day off on Friday.  Yipee!  He's also been hard at work on his lead bullet casting project.  Today I learned about how important it is to have the exactly right sized bullet, down to the 1000th of an inch.  There is a special picture on today's blog post just for Steve, Luke's dad which is evidence of that fact.  Luke is also talking about some upcoming carpentry projects for around the house... mostly new shelving and hooks, but I'm excited!

Owen Update-  Owen's word of the week is stool.  He use to love the vacuum cleaner and before that it was driving the car but now its anything that gives him a little more height.  We have this small stool in the kitchen that I use to reach the spices above the stove.  These days, it might as well have "Property of Owen" written on it. Luke and I are amazed at how mobile he is with that thing.  He pushes it up to various locations below the counter, depending on whether he feels like getting into the silverware drawer, or pressing some buttons on the microwave, or maybe just splashing in the sink a little bit.  He's fallen off of it 4 or 5 times, but it doesn't seem to phase him.  He's also become quite good at opening the dishwasher.  He stands on his tiptoes, pushes in the button and opens the door.  Nothing is safe. Oh, and speaking of stool, I'm taking some of Owen's stool to the lab at the hospital tomorrow so they can hopefully provide insight into his poop/lactose issues.  I'll keep you posted (I'm sure you can't wait)!

Hard at work "organizing" the silverware drawer.

I'm ON the PHONE!

All of a sudden, he was hanging out in the 

laundry basket with his slinky...

Apparently, I put too much jelly in his PB&J

What a nice group!  Homemade bullets, folks!

Waiting out winter

Sarah's Thoughts: My dear friend Lela passed on the "5 Things" challenge to me, so I am forgoing my normal blurb to bring you this special edition of Mostly Owen.  The idea is to write 5 things about yourself for each category... so here goes!

10 years ago: 1-Moving home from North Dakota  2-Watching my baby brother graduate high school  3-Preparing to be a school teacher  4- Wearing shades on account of my future being so bright  5- Dreaming of falling in love 

Past Jobs :  1- Lifeguard  2- Waitress  3- Graphic Artist  4- Wilderness Guide  5- Peach Harvester

Today's "To Do" list: 1- Figure out how to extract Owen from his poop-filled PJs  2- Hangout in the nursery during church  3- Work on the confounded website that has been the bane of my existence for the past several months  4-  Attend a dinner party at the Hooleys  5- Take Dolly for a walk

Favorite Snacks: 1- apples & cheese  2- popcorn  3- juice + 7up  4- dried cherries + almonds  5- hot chocolate

Places I've lived: 1-  Juneau. AK (obviously) 2- Grand Forks, ND   3- Tacoma, WA  4- Sydney, Australia  5- Auckland, NZ

If I had One Million dollars I'd...: 1-Own our house and another one in a tropical location   2- retire  3- learn how to do all kinds of artsy things like stain glass and pottery  4- Move onto a boat and sail to my tropical home and then around the world for a few years  5- Figure out how to cleverly make more money to support my expensive lifestyle because I'm obviously going to need more then a lousy million!

Luke Update:  As many of you know, Luke has a charter fly fishing business in the summers. Every year, he has 1 or 2 clients who want to tie their own flies in preparation for their Alaska fly fishing adventure, so every year, Luke has the tedious task of sending step-by-step instructions to these lovely clients.  Forever striving for increased efficiency and ways to put our sweet digital video camera to use, this week Luke had the brilliant idea of making a  "How to Tie the 'Sea Runner Special' " video.   When its finished, Luke will post this handy, informative, and aesthetically pleasing video to the Sea Runner website.  Very soon, even you can learn the secret of catching the coveted, ever elusive humpy salmon and the next time Luke gets the dreaded email requesting instructions on how to tie flies, he can copy and paste the web address of the video and move on.  Hallelujah!

Owen Update:  Every day, I look at my boy and he seems more grown up.  He's communicating more, has increased control of his body, and this week I caught him playing with toys like a big kid.  Last Friday, he was carrying these Fisher Price plastic turtles all over the house, pretending like they were talking to each other and climbing up the wall...  I think it was so remarkable because it was completely unprompted and original.  It's going to be fun to see that imagination take off!  Today Luke and I did the nursery during church and we caught Owen fighting with a couple other boys over who got to push the dolly in the stroller.  Interesting note: all the boys involved were from homes with no sisters, thus no dolls around...  Also, I've noticed a few new words:  occasionally, he says  "Anem" at the end of prayers and he's working on "See ya!" but at this point, its mostly just "See!"

Still winter... although we've been noticing more daylight!  

That's something!

Ready for school!  Only  3 1/2 years to go!

 

Pretending with turtles

Naked time with tractor

(it's been too long since the last naked picture, don't you think?)

Helping Daddy talk on the phone