Bennys, Butterflies and Blogs

Twas a good day today.

Got a lot done.

This is me muli-tasking.... eating lunch, taking phone calls, responding to emails, sipping latte, researching my camera, and hanging with my boy. (He asked me to watch Scooby Doo with him.)

It only lasted a bit till big kids got home from school.

Saw this today.

I love blue butterflies.

It looks like I am in worship, but I'm not. I would worship the one who makes blue butterflies.

The last few days, I have been thinking about blogging my past. It's a doozy. I feel like I am at this cross road...

...but I'm not for sure if I cross the tracks that the train won't smash me at some point. I feel I could cross with caution, but there are so many factors to take into account.

So I'll just park myself here... before the crossing, and wait to see if, and how, I can do this without having to get hit. The hard thing is that... It's My past. My history.

So someday hopefully.

Big brother found these funny looking plants today and wanted to get a closer look.

So we pulled over and captured the moment. Glad I did. He is such a sweetie!

Ahh the Breath of Words...

Listening to this song this morning.

A song I love.

When I checked the words... I fell in love with them all over again.

By: Christopher Cross -

ALIBI

It's a calm wind blowing on my skin,

And I've been dreaming again.

Now that we're all here,

We can share these notes and all this madness.

We can talk of innocence,

And of all the things we believe in.

Is it an alibi?

Is it the reason why?

Is it the way we really feel inside?

Set it free.

The magic of those nights brings me closer to that light,

That helps me see the path ahead of me.

I can feel that something.

A hint of mystery.

A trace of dare.

To live the truth I hide somewhere.

Daybreak,

In a place I've known before.

Will I find me behind that final door?

I can hear the footsteps of the past.

I can feel the thunder and it's coming fast.

I'm gonna spend some time with the moon.

Pour myself a glass of midnight.

Keep myself in tune.

Is it an alibi?

Is it the tears I cry?

Is it the way I see it through your eyes?

Yoga Girl

This is Susan... my star student.

She's 62 and has osteoporosis.

For the past year and a half, we have worked religiously twice a week to help her regain range of motion, loosen painful muscles, restore balance and focus.

It's working.

We thought that today we would take some pictures of her favorite poses...

or the poses in which she feels she has made the most progress.

She is an amazing artist... (thus the mats and frames).

Tension in her shoulders makes some poses challenging. We always take time to focus on her shoulders and found that the yoga ball is the greatest shoulder opener... for her that is.

Dancer is her fave. She loves how graceful it looks.

When I first started working with her, there seemed to be a stiffness in her body...

and emotions.

I have used lots of spine openers to find that "flow and bend" we are looking for.

I would normally have her looking over her left shoulder in this twist, but she looked so pretty like this... so I left it.

When we first started doing Upward facing dog, she had virtually no bend in her back.

It was a year into our practice together that I suggested the "Head Stand". She had never given it a thought before because she just didn't think she could do it. Well... she could, and she giggled the whole time at how much easier it was than she expected.

In "Pigeon", she insists on her back leg being straight instead of knee bent to the side. She likes the challenge and has made great progress with it.

In the beginning she couldn't hold her upper body up like this. We always went as far up as we could and then straight into forward fold. Today she can hold this pose for quite a while.

I've had so many older women say they can't do yoga. It just isn't the truth. ANYONE can do yoga. I would challenge anyone who thinks they can't do it to take at least 2 yoga classes.... then they can decide.

Courtney

Baby Bronson's day

Great news on baby Bronson today! See his link to the side. Thanks for the prayers and meditations for him. One day at a time. One step at a time.

It's monday.

Some things came up yesterday in a discussion, with an acquaintance that are bothering me. I don't know if that is why I am feeling so tired today, but I do know that the more I think about it, the more upset I feel.

I feel bad that people can so easily make big accusations without knowing the truth. The person saying these things has never even met the one they are telling these lies about.

I'm not one to come down on anyone. Yes, I would speak the truth, but it wasn't something for me to really hit this one head on...

My defense was weak as I tried to keep from creating any negative waves.

Even writing this, I can feel my blood pressure going up. It makes me want to cry.

I wish I could give straight details on this, but it's not about me.

I'm praying for baby Bronson.

His latest pictures are sooo cute. Go to the link on the side to see him.

Over the past 5 months, it feels as though this world just got a lot harsher. I've never been in a place to see so many people get hurt or die like I have lately... and that's people I do know and the ones I don't know, but have heard about. Haiti's situation came into the middle of it all and all I could think about is the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters etc. who have lost loved ones and the pain they are suffering. I've heard about the hundreds of babies left without parents... heartbreaking. Then yesterday, I was thinking about the children who are my own children's ages that lost their parents. Who is taking care of them all? How scared they must be. Why this has happened to them. How will it ever be all fixed?

We lost a friend to cancer only months before my brother's accident. After those days with Dave in ICU, I became sensitive to this subject. Then Haiti... then baby Bronson.

Today I'm tired... even after two cups of coffee. My mind is a blur. My focus is off. Seeing my kiddos after school will help. I will hold them... maybe watch a fun movie with them... play with them... and remind them, once again, how much I love them.

Courtney

Picture Jamboree

Over the past few days... I learned something new.

Webcam pics.

Never tried it before because I have a decent camera that does all the picture taking.

It turned out to be more fun for the kids than anything and because they get tired of me taking pictures, I decided to take all the webpics they wanted. Here's a few.

The first day, I was trying to see how this worked. My little guy made more faces then I thought he would. This one is my favorite.

I decided to show big sis to see what she would do, and of course out came some funny ones.

Then today happened. The beauty of it was... they all had props. I just told them to come look at the computer with me and this is how they came.

We were trying to get little brother to open his mouth, cause when he does, it's monumental. Of course, I end up the only one with an open mouth and we never do get the good shot of his "almost flip top lid".

For some reason big brother always ends up unable to be seen in the pics. Maybe I should keep him a mystery for fun. His new Darth Vader outfit was hilarious, but even more funny, his choice of weapon is a red foam bat instead of one of the multiple Light Sabers he usually carries around.

I was able to get my beautiful hubby in one shot. He is rarely in family photos. He says he doesn't know how to smile for pictures.... I guess we will just have to practice.

This is our little buddy. He requested to take some pictures with me and once he got going, he didn't want to stop. I tried to get Vader in there instead of me after the first couple, but he refused, however you will see his scary black glove in all the shots of our little friend.

One of these days, his mouth will be bigger than mine.

He said he wanted a nose picking shot. That's funny... he requests these almost every time we have taken goofy pictures with him. There's that dark lord hand.

By the time we were done, I felt frazzled and oh so done with taking pics.

They Named Him "Miner"

Today Ashley and I went shopping... with "The Boys".

Cousins and best buddies.

I enjoyed listening to their quiet conversation in the back seat as we traveled 15 minutes to get some decorations for my lil' studio.

It sounded something like this...

Luke: "I've got a little car seat, and you have a big car seat!"

Ben: "Yeah! I have big car seat!"

Luke: "Look! We're stopping now!"

Ben: "Yeah, stopping!"

Luke: "Yay! We are going forward now!!!"

Ben: "Yeah, goin foward!"

Giggles and discussion kept them busy till we got there.

At the store, they found a new friend... The owner.

Ben decided to call him "Miner".

Here they are showing off their cool toys they brought from home. A good 45 minute discussion.

Both tuckered by the time we were done... and I can't figure out how only one of them fell asleep on the drive home.