George Washington

Washington cut the cherry tree down
That’s the legend they say
He did things for our country
In every possible way

His mouth had dentures made of wood
He could not go to school
But he always was a gentleman
That was his golden rule

He dreamed of being a sailor
The captain of his boat
But when he reached the age fifteen
His dream did not still float

He was made to be a general
Of an army all his own
George even carried messages
A long long way from home

He was married at Mt Vernon
To the widow, Martha Custis
She took very good care of George
While he fought for justice

And then one day in April
It was a day just filled with fun
We got our very first president
His name… George Washington!

Life is a song
Playing soft, sweet
melodies
It is soothing and joyous
But with a simple chord change
it becomes dark
and dismal
Only to resolve again
into a beautiful
resonate sound
We can improvise
to make it what we want,
and what we get
depends on what we give
Yes, Life is a Song – and
we are the singers

I will never forget the times that we’ve shared
Our long walks, our long talks, our many adventures…

The world was ours to hold,
And embrace it we did
We  had the innocence and jubilation of childhood and we
carried it with us every day

Round and round on the tire swing we’d go
Until we were dizzy and sick, and our feet wore paths in the grass

Or perhaps we’d start our won detective biz
And save the world from any pressing mysteries
And then we would run outside and
Entertain passing cars with a song and dance
Countless stuffed animal circuses and miniature carnivals
were staged in my room
And they were fun, even if our parents were the only ones
to attend

I will never forget the times that we’ve shared
I will miss the lemonade stands and the garage sales and
the lazy summer days when all we cared about was
ourselves and each other
I will miss the laughing and giggling for hours on end

But most of all I will miss you,
Because it was you who made those times so special, and
you who taught me how to be a friend
It is you that I love, and it is you that I will never, ever
forget

For a deliciously irresistible
friendship:

Start with a heap of kindness
Add to it a dollop of trust and
a pinch of fun.
Stir together with a mound of
unconditional love,
And you’ll have a wonderful
friendship to last a lifetime!!

Karli Jo (
Small, Cheerful, Funny,
Friendly
Sister of Cody
Lover of music, theater
and friends
Who feels love for friends,
happiness when taking
walks,
nervous when performing
Who needs God, family
and friends
Who gives smiles, advice
and funny stories
Who fears growing up,
going away, and
forgetting…
Who would like to see her
friends happy
Who lives in a brown and
tan house on Leroy Street
) Bryan

You’re leaving – I know it, but what can I do?
You’re hard to replace, I can’t find someone new
There’s a feeling inside me that’s empty and void
I’m sad when I need to be overjoyed

Now is a wonderful moment in time
You can reach all the stars, it is your time to shine
You know I’d be happy for you if I could
But sometimes it’s hard to do what I should

You were the one who was always there
Your smile would tell me just how much you care
You were my mentor, my friend, my big brother and such
But you’re leaving now and I’ll miss you so much

“Nothing can be forever,” the say
“He’ll be back now and then, he is not far away,”
I know this is true, that it’s not a big deal
But the heartache inside me is still oh, so real

For it was you whom I came to with issues and doubts
It was you who helped to work everything out
My big brother, you are, you’re my special friend
It’s hard for me when times like this end

I know you’ll still be there any time that I call
To show me your smile or pick me up from a fall
And whenever I need some good sound advice
I’ll know whom to call, I won’t have to think twice

I just want you to know what an impact you’ve had
These last couple of years, and that’s why I’m sad
You’ve changed all our lives for the better, you know
And we’re all gonna have a  hard time letting go

So remember to think of all of us here
The memories of friends are so precious and dear
And know that you’ll always be here in our minds
Because you, my friend, you’re a one-of-a-kind

We played
the day
away
everyday;
best of friends
laughing,
giggling,
plotting,
planning
to save the world from
anything and
everything,
watching the days pass
us by,
best friends forever.

Where is Yesterday?
It seems you look forward to the future
Only to discover that in a split second
Yesterday has vanished.

Where is Yesterday?
What happened to those names and faces?
For so long they were such an important
part of life and now they, too, have departed.

Where is Yesterday?
Does it know that I am reaching,
Longing to hold it again?
To embrace it so tightly
That it could never again get away from me?

Where is Yesterday?

The Colors of Myself
(circa 1995, age 14)

Part of me is red,
Alive and fiery
Jumping around in every direction,
Claiming the attention of all who are near

The other part of me is violet,
Composed and aware
Looking within for the answers,
And wanting nothing but pure and simple love

First, the good news. Thirty is the new 21. But the bad news is, I never really thought I’d make it to my thirties. I mean… I just never really thought past my twenties. I always knew I’d go to college and probably grad school. Then I knew I’d have a family. And I was pretty sure I’d do that all in my twenties. Perhaps I thought I’d die a horrible tragic death after that and everyone would talk about a life cut short (that’s the drama queen in me). But really… I just never saw myself go past 29. And then last year Nick threw me the “Forever 29 Surprise Party.” Part of me kind of took that as a bad omen that I might actually be forever 29. So, I’m happy to report, I made it through.

But I kind of have to think, “now what?” All day long the song in my head has been Tim McGraw’s “In My Next Thirty Years.” So, I’ve kind of been compiling my list of my next thirty years. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

• A few more triathlons
• Go on educational adventures with my kids
• Visit Washington DC
• Write (and publish) a book
• Learn to sew
• Travel to Australia… or Spain… or Cambodia. Ah heck… all three.
• Build my dream home
• Run for public office
• Go to law school
• Have a few adorable grandchildren

If I sat here long enough I could think of a million more. The possibilities are endless. In fact, they are so endless that I think I’m going to like this new stage. I feel like I have  a whole ‘nother 30 years to decide what I’m going to be when I grow up! And maybe by then I’ll figure it out. Or maybe I’ll just save that for my final third.

For my birthday today, my wonderful fabulous splendiforous husband took the day off work! I woke up to breakfast in bed and 30 balloons each filled with something he loves about me. I was also gifted an already-scheduled massage. I got to go to a leisurely lunch with a friend and then we went out for a date night dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. This Friday the celebration of me will continue with a date night with friends to Comedy Sportz. I am so truly spoiled and blessed. And to prove it, here is a picture of my balloon-popping helpers, because heaven knows I couldn’t have managed the task by myself:

And the even better news? Thirty balloons really isn’t that many… look at all that floor space left. I guess maybe I’m not that old after all.

There was one little thing that, although we factored it in, we did not adequately check our math. The little thing was, I was supposed to be giving BIRTH just three weeks before the production!

So, on December 18th, just three weeks post-partum, we took sixty local children ages 5-12, along with 120 costumes and sets and props and put on a WONDERFUL production of The Nutcracker. Somehow, despite numerous technical difficulties in a theater that wasn’t ours where we weren’t allowed to touch anything and where we only got to rehearse twice, and despite two of our leads PUKING on the day of the performance (one of them AT the theater), somehow it still just worked. It always does.

And I will never do that again (the whole, delivering babies right before hand).

For really really cool pictures of the performance, go to Steve Lents Photography.

Getting to the performance wasn’t too bad and I thought being there 30 minutes early would have given us enough time to get a cupcake at Cupcake Jones before the performance. Unfortunately parking was a bit of an issue and Mylie kept complaining she had to walk far. Once we got parked I had to carry and run with her to make it on time. The show was excellent, especially Miss Hannigan. It was hard to tell if Mylie had a good time because she just seemed to be tired the whole time. She also missed out on the cupcakes. Maybe next time.

For Nolan’s date night on Saturday we went with Karli’s aunts and uncles to Gospel Christmas put on by the Oregon Symphony and some local talent. This has been a tradition for her family for some time now but she was unable to come due to just having Oliver. Since Mylie got to see Annie the night before, I thought I’d give Nolan a try to see how he did at a performance. We went right after Mylie’s performance at Zoolights (see part 3) so he was already tired and the show did not start until 7:30 PM and went until about 9:30 PM. It also had a few extra encores. He actually did quite well the first half and even clapped many times but the second half he was very tired. He still stayed quiet and did a good job waiting. Folks around us were quite impressed with him too. He seemed to like the music but probably was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing.

[Show as slideshow]

 

 

For one last hurrah before the baby comes, Nick and I were able to get away for a kidless weekend excursion to Seattle. We are big fans of the reality show, So You Think You Can Dance, and although the tour was scheduled to come to Portland, the performance was on a Sunday. So instead, we hit the Tacoma performance the day before on Saturday! It gave us a wonderful excuse to get away on a much needed vacation.

The Cast of SYTYCD

Our two all-time favorites from the show - Kathryn & Russell

Um, coolest move ever!

More of Kathryn because we love her

It turns out, seeing the dancers live, though a lot of fun, wasn’t a whole lot different than just watching the Season Finale live. And it was a little creepy watching all the 30-something women around us screaming like teenagers for the 18 year-old boys. Nevertheless, we had a good time.

The best time of the weekend, though, was getting together with friends. We were able to stay with our good friend Katie and Zach, and had lots of fun catching up with them. We were also able to go out to dinner with other friends, and those things were what made the weekend really special. Especially when I realized how much harder it will be to get away with 3 kids.

Luckily, we did manage to make it out and back in between eruptions and ash clouds, and were better for it. Our flights both directions were canceled, but Iceland Air moved us over to British Airways, affording us direct flights between Seattle and London. It shortened our travel time by a few hours, which was great!

Our kiddos were able to spend some quality time with Nana and Papa Winters, which is a rare treat, and they were spoiled rotten, with trips to Chuck E Cheese and a back yard complete with donkeys to entertain them. And in the process, they learned to appreciate dear ol’ Mom and Dad a little bit more. Oh, yeah, and we missed them too.

So with out further ado, here’s the quick and dirty version of our trip. We have about 420 more pictures that we will be compiling into a book of our trip, so for those of you who care… you can come see it anytime. For now, we picked our top 38. The photos below are just thumbnails… you’ll have to click on them to see the full picture.

After seeing the changing of the guard, we had to hustle back to the train station to collect our luggage and then zoom over to the metro to take the hour-long Tube ride to the airport. We sweated bullets worrying that we wouldn’t make it in time, but somehow we managed to get there just as boarding was starting. Perfect! We had to wait to take off because the Ash Cloud was forcing all air traffic onto one runway, and then we  had to head out to the east, and skirt around the volcano to the north. It felt like we were being chased out by ash, kind of like Jeff Goldblum and the T-Rex on Jurassic Park. But we made it, and have LOTS of chocolate to show for it. We had a great time seeing what few sights we got to see, but generally had the best time just hanging out with our friends in Belgium, getting a true (albeit small) taste of what life is like over there. One thing is for sure, we got the travel bug, and hope to be doing much more of it in the future!

Are you sure about this, dad?

He’s down!

No wait, he’s up!

Race ya!

This is the most fun I’ve ever had… except for that time I got to jump in the mud.

My wonderful awesome spouse knew of my desire to remain 20-something, and so he planned a surprise party for me, with the theme of “Forever 29.” He did a wonderful job, and I really had no clue what he was up to. Truly, he is a really bad liar and I never expected him to be able to pull something like this off.  He even got friends and family to write favorite memories of me which he put together into a little book. Much awesomeness. We had a wonderful mesh of family and friends come to enjoy the day with us, and more who participated long distance with their messages. It was so much fun!

Waiting For the Party to Start

Nick also made a large poster of me that was a collage of pictures of my growing up years all put together to make my portrait (and yes, he’s talented… but he had software to help in the process… he’s not that talented). On the bottom it had big words printed to say “Karli – Forever 29.” I’ll admit, it kind of creeped me out and seemed a little like memorial. So, I decided that even if it would be cool to be 20-something forever, I think I’ll be happy to move on, because one more birthday means one more year I have been blessed to spend with all of you wonderful people that are in my life. But I still might tell people I’m 29 for as long as I can pull it off

P.S. Here is the mosaic using the program found at http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/

Mosaic Poster

Last summer I had a dream.

Okay, that is completely and totally inaccurate. Let’s start over.

Me as a Townskid in "The Music Man", age 7

When I was growing up, I was heavily involved in our local community theatre. In addition to participating – from age seven on – in their annual musicals, I would spend most of my summers in theatre camps there. And each summer, there would be a variety of teenagers that would assist the camp directors as apprentices.

I idolized those teenagers, and thought they pretty much had the coolest job in the world. And it turns out… they did. Because at some point, I got to be that teenager, and I got their job. And it just so happens that when I did, it was with a brand new director that had rolled into town.

Lois, the new Youth Theatre director had begun her own non-profit youth theatre in Portland just a couple years before she started coming down to Klamath Falls in the summers for theatre camps. Eventually (insert long story here), the whole operation moved down full time. So summer after summer (and occasionally during the school year) I worked for her through high school and into college.

To make a long story short… eventually I had to grow up and move on. You know, get a college degree… do that whole “get married, have a baby thing,” and I stopped going back in the summers to help. For her part, Lois grew her theatre program substantially, but eventually had to close it down when she moved back to the Portland area. She sadly hung up her hat and thought she had closed that chapter in her life, as I had a few years earlier.

But the show must go on!!

It turns out that both she and I (and our families, of course) moved back to the Portland area at about the same time. Of course, we’re on opposite ends of the city, so we didn’t get to see each other a lot. But at one fateful dinner party last spring, what started out at the beginning of the evening as “Man, wouldn’t it be fun….” turned into “Well, why the heck not!?” by the time everyone went home.

One thing led to another and, Northwest Youth Theatre is back in business baby!!

From our website: The mission of Northwest Youth Theatre is to educate and enrich the lives of young people by providing meaningful opportunities for them to explore the performing arts. Our purpose is to provide education and experience in the performing arts to children regardless of their past experience or training. We offer youth a variety of performing opportunities, through after school and summer day camp programs, and NYT classes are filled without requiring students to audition — we believe that by working on performance skills and team-building activities in the rehearsal process, every group of young people can produce an excellent program.

We’ve put in lots of hours getting it up and running again, but boy is it fun. We’ve enlisted the help of our loving, patient, tireless and wonderful husbands to assist us in such duties as website development and marketing. We have found incredible generosity from the Hillsboro School District, and especially Brown Middle School. And most importantly, we’re quickly finding the kids!

Photos by Steve Lents Photography

We started out in the first rehearsal of our Fall ’09 term with about 7 kids. It was disappointing, but we were hopeful. By our performance in December, we were up to 21. And a few weeks later when we started our Winter ’10 Term, we hit 40 students, and at this point, we’re a little worried about having to cap our Spring ’10 enrollment because in the 3 days that registration has been open, they’re already steadily rolling in. We’re excited, to say the least. Not to mention that the students we have are just about the greatest EVER. They are so much fun to teach, and are so full of energy.

The best part about this job, is it’s something I love. I feel at home here, and always have. And now as a grown-up, it’s even more wonderful because I get to share it with my own kids. Mylie has loved being in both productions we’ve done so far, and is already jazzed about the next one. We feel truly blessed that the doors have continued to open for us on this latest adventure, and look forward to all that is in store for us down the road!

Mylie as a Dog in "A Place in the Christmas Choir"

And P.S. Don’t forget to check out our super-cool website on which Nick has labored intensively as my slave.

And P.P.S. If you’re in the area, please join us for our Spring Performance of “It’s A Jungle Out There” and “At the Hop” on Thursday, March 18th at 7:00pm at Brown Middle School.

Here’s the recipe, if you’re interested:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

1.Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.

2.Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.

3.Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

From: The Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cook Book

We’ve booked our tickets and will be heading out mid-spring to visit our good friends who have lived there for the past two years. We’ll be making a couple stops off in London and Paris too, and anywhere else our gracious hosts tell us we must see. For a girl who’s entire international experience can be described as… Vancouver, B.C…. this is an exciting and welcome chance of a lifetime! ]]> http://wintersteam.org/winterskids/2010/02/11/and-the-answer-is/feed/ 5 http://wintersteam.org/winterskids/2010/02/08/where-in-the-world/ http://wintersteam.org/winterskids/2010/02/08/where-in-the-world/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:49:00 +0000 karli http://wintersteam.org/wordpress/where-in-the-world/ …are Nick and Karli going on vacation? We just booked tickets to here:

I’ve espoused the wonders of “Google Reader” on here before. Google Reader, or any other “feed reader” allows you to “subscribe” to your favorite blogs, being notified instantly of any new postings. And as soon as I caught the fire of a feed reader, I ran with it. One blog that I follow will link to a new blog that they like, and so I discover hundreds of new blogs. I am also able to cyber-stalk friends and past acquaintances by finding links to their blogs on my other friend’s blogs. It’s a wonderful system.

But here’s the rub. I am currently subscribed to 132 blogs. Yes, that’s right. 132. No wait, I just added another. Now it’s 133. And I’ve got them all sorted out in folders for different categories. I’ve got blogs on Digital Scrapbooking, Emergency Preparedness, Home Improvement, Education, Crafts, Penny Pinching, Family, Friends, Fun, Recipes, Religion, Politics, and blogs to tell me about when Google updates it’s feed reader. Seriously, it’s an addiction.

Now, of course, some bloggers are like me… their activity ebbs and flows, sometimes going dead for months. But, others make their living blogging, and so they post upwards of…well…let’s just say the number is infinite.

At first, I was really excited about all the cool information I was collecting. I got great deals, I got great craft ideas, found awesome recipes, and kept track of my family and friends. But as time went on, what I really started focusing on was how much I’m NOT doing. I’m not spouting crafts out my ears, like my friend Summer. I’m not an ace of cakes like Nick’s cousin. I don’t do educational activities each day like the chick on Chasing Cheerios. I try using coupons and save our family a little money each week, but it’s chump change compared to what the women on Frugal Living Online and Super Coupon Girl save. Occasionally I find the time to make my family a nice, well-rounded meal, but Annie at Annie’s Eats works full time as a Resident Medical Student, has a toddler, and still manages to create gourmet dishes from scratch AND blog about them – usually daily. I think I feed the kids fairly healthy food, but when I read the blogs at Super Healthy Kids it makes me feel like I’m practically poisoning them with garbage.

And then there’s the parenting skills. I’ve got a couple good blogs that post GREAT articles on parenting techniques. My favorite, Half-Full Blogversations, espouses such gems as “Emotion Coaching” and “Positive Parenting” and “Teaching Emotional Literacy.” They teach you how to stay calm when you’re angry and believe that rewards are bad for raising healthy adults. Sounds pie in the sky great, but when I try it out on my own kids – well, let’s just say the conversation doesn’t go quite the way they describe it. And when my kid gets more worked up the calmer I stay, I have to wonder what I’m doing wrong?

Growing up, I always pictured myself as becoming the kind of mom that did cool projects, that always had a stash of things to pull out of her hat to do. I pictured myself loving to spend time in the kitchen cooking with my kids. I pictured educational adventures abounding, and my children gathered at my knee singing in 4 part harmony. I thought I would be the quintessential Maria Von Trapp mixed with Martha Stewart with a little bit of Marie Curie thrown in. And that’s just what I see when I look at all these blogs. The culmination of everything I ever wanted to be… and I continue to fall short.

But wait… there’s still the life lesson. This Christmas, my wonderful and adoring husband gave me the best Christmas present ever… he published my blog into a book. It was something I have wanted to do for awhile, but… again… couldn’t find the time to fit it in. So, I got a little time to spend perusing the last two years of my life. And a light started to come on…

Then, as we’ve thought about our goals for this wondrously hope-filled new year, we’ve started to list our priorities. What is it that we want to make sure we fit in to each day? Turns out… all those things I thought I wanted to do are not even listed on my priorities list. Sure, I’d still like to get there some day. But what most of those people do… well, they specialize. They’re like a gourmet restaurant that knows what they do well, and they serve that up perfectly every night. They’ve got talent and they capitalize on it. Of course, I’m not saying these people can’t do anything else besides what they blog about. It’s just, that’s the only thing we get to see about their lives.

My talent? Well, from the day I was born my talent has been a desire to do EVERYTHING. And some of the time, I can make it happen. But as I grow older, I’m learning that “Jack of All Trades, Master of None,” is not just some meaningless adage. My list of things I want to do keeps growing bigger and bigger, and my time availability keeps growing smaller and smaller.

So, my goal for this year? I’m going to stop comparing myself to the blogosphere. I’m going to remember that what people publish is just a little tiny capsule of their lives… one that they choose to let you see. I’m going to remember that I’m just one person, and couldn’t possibly do the work of 133. I’m going to focus on my priorities, and realize that even if I yell at my kids, or never make a paper mache’ volcano with them, or let them watch TV for an hour every day while I sit at my computer, I can still keep my priorities in order. I can and will do the important things… I will read to them, I will spend a little more time with them. I will teach them the things that I AM good at, and I will give them the space to determine what they’re good at. I will pray with them, and read the scriptures with them. And, hopefully, I will teach them how to love, be loved, and how to love themselves. And maybe one day I’ll figure out how to do it all, and I’ll be that gourmet meal of a mom. Until then, I’m going to be satisfied with this delicious buffet line I get to dabble in and sample from.