about tv...

American Idol is getting a little old. Just give it to David Cook. Love originality.
The office is totally a fave, you know its good when you watch a rerun and its just as funny or funnier than the first time you watched it.
The food network is just on like CNN in the airport. Gotta love it. Totally inspiring.

Thats just tonight.

Its nice to have a down-time night. Last one for a while.

(Espen updates later. He's just sleeping right now)

Chi-Town

Ryan, Espen, and myself just got back a few days ago from Chicago/Michigan. My birthday was March 30th and we got to celebrate there in Chicago. We stayed on Magnificent Mile and walked forever! My sisters Anna and Holly drove down from MI to meet us when we flew in, they stayed with us that night and we had a lovely meal at Cheesecake Factory. The next day (on Friday) we all drove up to their turf and stayed in a great house, watched the West Wing all weekend, played with Holly at her church on Sunday, froze (i wore my long underwear all weekend), Had a birthday dinner in Grand Rapids, visited Lake Michigan, and finally drove back to chicago to catch a flight back to Houston, bringing home a souvenier named Anna. We're glad that she is staying with us for a while.
(When we left on Thursday, it was about 80 and sunny, then we arrived in chicago--33 degrees and blowing snow! Crazy i know. Now we're back and I'll never see that long underwear again now that we're home.

-L

colorful

Just wanted to say that we had a very nice Easter. Some friends of ours invited us for an Easter dinner and they had an Easter basket for Espen....his first!
It was perhaps his first time to see a little bunny rabbit; his very own (not a real one of course--they poop).
What a great spring! This is such a great season. Everything is new and fresh and colorful....we're surrounded by gorgeous life.

-L

grain of salt

I'm a little hesitant about posting this particular blog but I just wanna say something about this. I've heard that many Christian's are put off and very offended by this...
Apparently Kathy Griffin, a comedian, recently won an emmy award and her acceptance speech was very very vulgar which i will not quote here; but she essentially said that most people who win awards at the shows come up on the stage and thank Jesus and she said that Jesus had nothing to do with the award she won that night...among other derogatory comments. I researched it a little and if someone heard ONLY what she said at the emmy's (which I'm sure she just used the platform opportunity for shock value) a christian or one who claims to love Jesus would be gravely offended. But I went to see articles and finally saw the Larry King show where he interviewed her; her point was that Jesus seems to be in the business of helping football players make touchdowns and basketball players winning a game in the last few seconds, and movies making $10 million on opening weekend, so he must not be in Dar fur and other places that really need him.
((Those of us that know and serve Christ, know that we serve a omniscient God, that He sees everything and is everywhere. He, like a good Daddy, loves to shower his kids with good things, and loves to give victories; But at the same time cares for those who are hurting and desperate))
I am not condoning her by any means but she makes a point --crude but valid. I'm afraid that many christian's are so quick to take things out of context. Too touchy about their Jesus. But why not use this to make opportunity for others who might be having trouble or questions with Kathy's behavior and comments. Help others understand that sarcasm is not always appropriate and can be appalling but God can be in artist's and ball players success--and war--and times of hardship.
I believe that so many issues that christians deal with are simply issues of balance. Kathy Griffin will be held accountable for her actions and so will we.

-L

Crossroads

I'm just sitting here watching one of the best sessions i've heard in a long time. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss together on CMT Cross Roads. And thank God for my Music HD channel.... and T Bone Burnett, he produced and played on this one. Great musicians, great gear, just a cool sound all together. You must see it. I have it on my DVR and must pull it up from time to time. I don't really know what else to say about it, but i had to tell someone about it.... I've already told Lindey about 800 times that i love it.

so... i hope you can check it out.

r

A BIG DAY FOR ESPEN!!!!!!

Today was certainly a big day for Espen. You may know this already, but he is sleeping 12 hours at night, and sometimes more. Today we have started Espen on cereal. He Eats a little bit after his normal meal.

SO.... i'll keep it short. Here's a video of his first spooned meal.




...AND, that's not all... Like the title says, it's been a big day. Maybe he was just excited and confident in having done so well with his first kinda-solid food, but as Lindey and i were not looking Espen was on the floor figuring out how to roll over. SO... we didn't actually see the first one, we just looked down at him because of a very high pitched excited squeel, and discovered he was on his stomach holding his head up.

here's the footage of the next try.




thanks for watching.

r

A trip to Taiwan and back...

Connor is staying with us for a few days so we took him to see Galveston today. We took the ferry to the mainland, went to the Strand and the sweet shoppe and walked a little. It was a beautiful day and we had fun. Towards the end of the day Connor and I played chess on the pavement where they have a giant chess board...I was about to beat Connor's pants off when a taiwanese camera crew came running up to us asking if they could "interview" us. She wanted to know how to play so we showed her every piece and how they work, then she started to play Connor, and he beat her very quickly. The Knight she kept calling the horse and acting like she was riding it every time she moved it. She kept saying she needed her horse because she was in Texas. Anyway, we asked if she was famous in Taiwan and they all said yes. Apparently she has a travel show which one of her crew members said its like a Rachael Ray type of show. So we will be on TV in Taiwan in a few months and they'll be sending us the dvd...can't wait to show it when we get it.

Enjoy the latest pics of Espen and our new taiwan friends...

-Lindey