Anybody Want A Peanut?

Evelyn in baking mode, channeling Martha Stewart????
The view of Mt. Shuksan on morning of Ski to Sea Race.
Our crazy "Family Business" teams, 1 and 2 the night before our race!
Our crazy and TIRED "Family Business" teams 1 and 2 AFTER the race!
Spa day in the Sargeant household.
Finley and Evelyn waiting for me with Todd while I did a little Xcountry skiing.
Todd's 45th birthday in April! Happy Birthday Todd!
Evelyn and Finley ready to go home after Powder Pigs!
Our little student...
One of the first times Finley went up on the chair lift!
Pizza, pizza, french fries, french fries....

The kids and I have been watching "Princess Bride", over the past few weeks and I love the quotable quotes from that movie. I like this quote because of it's context in the movie. The two underlings rebel in their own way against the abusive boss man, Vezzini, by speaking in rhyme and making a game out of it, even as he berates and insults them. "No more rhymes! I mean it!" yells Vezzini. Fezzik replies, "Anybody want a peanut?" I think of it as a type of inspiration for life! Don't ever let 'em get you down!

Also, just watched Will Ferrill and Maggie Gyllenhall sp?, in the movie, "Stranger Than Fiction". Loving good fiction and literature I really enjoyed it. Kind of reinspires me to keep living the life I really want.

The more masochistic members of my family signed up for the Bellingham Ski to Sea Race this past Memorial Day Weekend. I being one of them. I completed the cross country leg in record time! Slow that is! LOL I wasn't last but close to it. These kinds of experiences just have to make you appreciate the role of pain and suffering in our lives. I'm not sure what that is, but one should appreciate them right?

Finley is literally counting down the days until school is over. Todd and I are gearing up for summer projects and little mini-vacations. Although with kids, is there any such thing as a "Mini vacation"? They all seem to take the same effort.

I am looking at programs to earn my teaching certification for elementary education. I'm so excited! I probably should have done this a long time ago, but in any case, I'm doing it now. Many things in my life have been leading me in this direction for a long time. I have been rebelling against my own skills and talents, wishing for those I don't possess while trying to discount the ones I do. I've loved being the art docent in Finley's first grade class and have enjoyed getting to know the kids and the teachers. And I've learned a lot about art history in the process!

Garden wise, things are very lush with all the rain this spring. My vegetable garden is sparse right now. Not much inspiration with the lack of sun this spring. Lettuce, radishes and carrots are doing fine though. Our wild salmon berries are in full bloom so hoping for some fun picking episodes for the kids. My purple clematis is blooming right now and the roses are close to blooming. Framed by spires of foxglove and surrounded by mounds of lady's mantle, my garden is finally starting to look like the cottage garden I dream of! Hostas are humongous and colombines are dainty and prolific. I love it. It's all in need of a little weeding but everything is so lush it still provides beauty and relaxation when I walk outside in the mornings and evenings. Having a little piece of earth is heaven...

Even in the midst of losing loved ones and acknowleging one's own mortality, there is such beauty in our lives. Todd and I don't get a lot time together but when we do we find our sense of humor still in tact, our desire to spend time together still there. It will have been 18 years of marriage this July and even though we do our share of driving each other crazy, I still enjoy his company. A good man...