ski to sea, 2009

brooke on bike....

Whit Doizch

I've completed my 1st Ski to Sea event, and I even finished! I'm sorta kinda proud of myself. After the half way point, which I figure was the turn at the Texaco station on the Mt. Baker Highway, I was ready to be done. Enough is enough, people! Who ever thought to make the road bike portion of the Ski to Sea race 38 miles?! Last year the top finishing female completed the course in 1.5 hours. This year, I finished in a whopping 2.5 hours! I'll do much much better next year! Here are some pics from the day!

team photo: Whit Doizch, and La La La Doizch

Tired...

it's sorta kinda upsetting when you are even too tired to creep into a hot tubby, and would much rather crawl into a nice snuggly bed intead. at 9:07 p.m., no less!

i heard this somewhere

"like matter, love can't be created or destroyed. it's always right there in front of you."


and i liked it.

(now i can recycle the scrap of paper upon which it's scribed)

St. Pat's, and other thinks I've thought

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite days. Except, I'm not even sure why, really. It could be because green abounds, or it's like a preview to the much anticipated Spring Season, or maybe the Guinness, or Corned Beef and Cabbage (twice a year, I'm down with red meat).

As a teacher, it's especially fun. When I taught Kindergarten, I would start wearing my leprechaun shoes on March 1st, and I told the kids a story about catching a leprechaun when I was a little girl, and he gave me his shoes. I explained to them I was too young to know about his pot of gold, and the tricky leprechaun promised me his magical shoes if I let him go. 5 and 6 year olds really eat this stuff up. For homework on St. Pat's, I assigned the task of making a Leprechaun Trap, that had to come to school with the kids. You would not believe how elaborate and fanciful some of the kids (parents mostly) got. It seems that I am not the only one who favors this day. While the kids were on their lunch break I would have some 6th grade helpers come in and set off all the traps, leaving gold coins in each trap, AND trash the room. The look on those kids faces was priceless. They could not believe that a teacher instructed them to mess up the room- turn over desks, empty baskets, put green glitter everywhere. Yes, the janitor was not happy with me for a few days, but she got over it. Those little kindergartners ate it up!, fully believing that a leprechaun had come into the classroom. Oh to have the imagination and free spirit of a child again!

Now, as a 2nd grade teacher, I've toned it down a bit- I'm making Shamrock shaped sugar cookies (try saying that 3 times fast) for the kids to decorate, and we'll be graphing Lucky Charms cereal as part of our math for the day. I'll still be wearing my Leprechaun shoes though!


The little man is so very close to just taking off walking. He will let go of the stationary object he's holding onto and just walk across the room. He's up to about 7-8 steps consistently. Also, he really enjoys pushing the chairs all around the kitchen, and loves walking with his push toys, and riding his trike. AND~ he got another tooth, he's up to 5. No wonder he bit Grandma's toe last week.




Now, I'm off to make those cookies.

February 22, 2008 or 02-22-2008 if you're into numerology

The day that changed my life forever.

On the eve of Ellis' 1st birthday, I thought I would write a few thoughts floating through my head today. Warning- this is completely random.

364 days ago, I was chilling at St. Joseph Hospital, about to begin my next great adventure! You remember those Johnson and Johnson commercials, "A baby changes everything"?, little did I know how true that was. For 34 years I had been able to do what I wanted, when I wanted, as I wanted (within reason). Now my life focuses around Eb: his wake times, nap times, feeding times, bed times, his mood, his health, his growth and development. Even seemingly simple things, like arranging a play date with an older friend, become complicated due to different nap times. I am not complaining one bit, Ellis is the best, sweetest thing in my whole world, in case you were unaware of my feelings. Just lamenting on the changes in my life over this year.

Once upon a time I counted his age in weeks... 3 weeks, 7 weeks, then at about 16 weeks, Ellis stopped being a "weekly" kind of guy and graduated into the months. Now, he's 12 months, or 52 weeks, or 365 days, or 1 year old. What's next?? Back to months I suppose.

Now that the cake is frosted (it's a super cute train, will post pics later), the party space is reserved, the hors d'oeuvres are chilling, the gift if wrapped, the Cam Corder batteries and camera batteries are charging, and the goodie bags are stuffed, I think tomorrow's big day should go off without a hitch. I'm sure I'll wake up in the middle of the night and think of something I forgot to do, better keep note taking materials by my bed.

Now that Ellis is becoming a walker of sorts, he's getting more and more owies... I just hope the head bang he took today won't be visible tomorrow; that would be unfortunate for pictures. I can't wait to see what he does with that cake/frosting/candle. Yes, I'm throwing out my 'healthy food for baby' plan, for just one day- he's getting chocolate cake, with toffee crunchies, and cream cheese frosting. Total sugar overload, I am not sure what he'll do, other than get a major tummy ache I'm sure. Why do parents do this?

This has been the fastest year of my life~ how could so much change and growth happen in only 365 days?

flowers for algernon

well, not really. flowers for me, the momma. little ellis told his grandma that he would like to give me flowers for Valentine's Day. now i have a beee-u-tiful bouquet sitting on my kitchen table. ellis loves looking at them, he giggles his little 'telle tubby' chuckle whenever he sees them. i figure he's off to a good start as far as gift giving goes on Valentine's Day. thanks, ellis! (and grandma too!)

Closing doors....

Yes, the title sounds cryptic, or mysterious, maybe even suggests foreshadowing. The truth is, it's quite literal. Eb has learned how to close doors. As a momma, I've gotta say, it's super cute to see him crawl, no zoom, across the living room, locate the nearest door (usually the bathroom) and begin the process of closing it.

First, he sits right beside the opened door, and pulls it toward him. Then, he pushes it back to the fully opened position. Next Eb stands up, leaning on the opened door, and walks it to the almost closed position. At this point he sits down again and pushes it closed. He gets the biggest kick out of closing doors.

So far he's closed himself in my bedroom, and closed me in the bathroom. Remember, he is usually sitting right outside the closed door, so getting out can be tricky. Eb cracks up when I start to open the door a bit, then he immediately pushes it closed again.

Fun times at the casita!

the winner!

Well, actually Tracy was the winner, but Eb and I got to reap the rewards. I think I can take some credit though because I did introduce Tracy to the Faces of Bellingham site, of which she won the contest twice!



Last Sunday photographer, artist, and philosopher Lea Kelly came to the casita and snapped some pretty cute, poignant, adorable and insightful pictures of Eb and myself. I've got a whole entire CD full of great photo's but of course I can't post all 111 of them here. I'm planning on putting them on facebook if you want to see the best of the best.

Enjoy the preview!

5 days a week

yup, i did it! i finally worked a full week this week. let me tell you, it royally sucked, (i'm getting my 80's groove on). i was doing okay until this morning when i had to drop off the sweetest baby in the world at my friend Jess' house for the day. well, maybe it started last night when eb and i were snuggling in bed. i realized that we haven't been apart this many days in a row since, oh uhhhh dec. 12!

last month has been great- eb has really been developing, growing and changing in so many ways. he's nearly walking, in fact he took a step this morning. the little guy was helping me pick out my clothes for work by pulling out all of the sockies from the drawer, and he let go of the nightstand, and took a step toward me!

the week before christmas break i only taught 2 days, the rest were snow days. then 2 glorious weeks off! some mommies love it when school starts up again, but not this one. then, the week after break, i only taught 2.5 days- the rest were flood days. so, finally this week, 5 full days. yuck.

i'm sorta back to where i was at the beginning of this school year, when i missed him so much, every day. granted, it doesn't help things that today stupid irritating things kept happening all day long.

i'm back on my mission to try to figure out of i can only work 4 days a week instead of 5. these fridays are just the pits! of course i do have sick days saved up, maybe i could start using those? (Jess' idea, not mine!)

Lowe's, 7:30 a.m.

When a sweet little baby awakes routinely at 5:45, his momma is overjoyed to learn that Lowe's keeps early hours. However, that earliness comes with a warning: do not visit the 'paint technician' at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday.





Just take a look for yourself. I asked for this lovely shade of Urban Gold to compliment the Heirloom Red I'd chosen for the living room. See that little dot in the corner? That is the color the guy made for me, completely different. The really disappointing thing is that there are no refunds on tinted paint. It was just a mini sample can, so I don't feel too burned. It just means I have to go back to Lowe's, hopefully, I'll find someone capable of tinting paint next time!

just a thought

there is absolutley nothing more sweet than having your little baby crawl around the house, looking for you. and then when he does find you, he gives you that award winning, charming, chesire cat grin.