Valerie is such a blessed lady.  She already has two beautiful children and due to have another one in just a few weeks.  She wanted to do a maternity shoot with her third baby because she hadn’t done one before.  Lucky me!  It was very different from any shoot I have done so far, it is also my first maternity shoot ever.  I was able to use a lot of different techniques, which was super fun for me.  Good luck with the new baby, may he be a great blessing to your whole family!

Again, just like my first wedding, I posted a lot of the pictures but I just can’t help myself.

For a time in 2007, Corinne Bailey Rae rivalled Amy Winehouse as Britain’s foremost young soul star. But while Winehouse squandered her talent, Rae’s was put into mothballs in the spring of 2008 when her husband, Jason Rae, died after overdosing on methadone.

Monday night was the Leeds singer-songwriter’s first public performance since his death, performing songs from her understandably delayed second album The Sea, which is released on February 1. Although the venue was not full, a nervous but poised Rae, her curls cascading over a simple black top, was clearly among wellwishers. “This is the first time we’ve done the new songs with strangers,” she said as she took to the stage with her guitar and a five-piece band. “We’re not strangers!” came a voice from the crowd. Mbt walking shoes

Her languid tones and sun-blushed soul-pop had once positioned her as a female counterpart to Finlay Quaye, but it soon became clear that Rae, now 30, has undergone a tidal shift towards a more raw, less manicured sound. Jason, who was also a musician, was never mentioned directly, but she has acknowledged that most of the songs on the The Sea, whether they were written before or after his death, are soaked with his presence and absence. Mbt trainers

Backed by plangent riffs and cymbals that crashed like breakers, Are You Here, one of the songs written shortly after Rae’s loss, was a spiralling elegy in which she eschewed lyrical enunciation in favour of elemental anguish. I’d Do It All Again swelled with Jeff Buckley-style vocal flutters, sometimes small and bruised, sometimes huge and searching. And Love’s On Its Way was more powerful still, as Rae closed her eyes, raised her face to the lights and spread her arms wide to channel a burst of turbulent mysticism that evoked Van Morrison circa Astral Weeks. Afterwards she blinked and looked out, dazed, as the applause rained down.MBT shoes  

Detours into jazz-funk (Closer) and after-hours rock (Paper Dolls) were less convincing, albeit spirited, but her compelling new direction was showcased once more in The Sea’s title track, which was originally written about the death of her grandfather in a boating accident. Absently strumming an auto harp, Rae intoned fatalistically about an ocean that “cleans everything, crushes everything, takes everything from me”.

Her voice was as limpid as it was in the early days, but it was now borne on deeper, darker currents. When she picked up a tambourine in the encore and performed her breezy breakthrough hit Put Your Records On, it sounded like the work of another woman. 

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Last night, when the kids were in their beds reading books, I heard a sniggering come from Liv’s room. She then ran into Bai’s room holding a book and a few seconds later, I heard Bailey laughing, too. Then the two of them went into Dayne and Hannah’s room and more sniggering followed. Sniggering is always seen as a suspicious activity so I decided I’d better see what was going on.  

Liv was showing the others the pictures in a Pamela Allen book called “I wish I was a pirate”. It’s a picture book for preschoolers and we’ve had it for a couple of years now, but it hasn’t been read for a long time. See if you can work out what they were laughing at. Here’s what the cover looks like:

Here’s a page in the book that also made them snigger…

And here’s the illustration on the next page…

Maybe my kids have a naughty mind already, but none of them paid any attention to the boy walking the plank with the crocodiles in the water below him- which was what the text was about on this page of the story. They just couldn’t stop looking at the boobs!

I don’t know about you, but I was quite surprised to see a picture of a naked woman in a children’s book- especially in a Pamela Allen book, as she is one of the most respected and most popular Australian children’s book authors. I know pirate ships used to have things like that on the front of their ships, but surely the pictures in this book don’t have to be historically correct? In other illustrations they made it more suitable for children- in one drawing the pirates are sitting on an island, cooking  jelly babies kebab-style on a stick over a fire. So they avoided showing a dead animal with a stick through it over the fire, but they didn’t avoid showing a naked woman on four pages AND the cover?! 

What I can’t believe is that when this book was in the process of being made and the artwork was getting approved by the publishers, didn’t ANYONE think it might not be a good idea to show naked boobs?! Why didn’t they cover her chest up? Why not at least give her a seashell bikini?

Its a very sad day when we need to start censoring children’s literature!

Grabovski & co. let another one get away

Can we just throw in the towel already? Seriously, wouldn’t the world of sports be so much better off without Toronto’s crew of embarrassing franchises? The Leafs carried the torch tonight at the ACC, managing to lose 4-3 to the Islanders in overtime despite out-shooting them 61-21.

The Leafs battled back from a 3-0 deficit, clawing away after Vesa Toskala left with an “injury” late in the second period after giving up goals on three consecutive shots. The Monster faced six shots the rest of the way, coughing up the winner to Josh Bailey in overtime after a turnover gave the Islanders an easy give-and-go right on the doorstep.

Phil Kessel, Wayne Primeau and Niklas Hagman all scored for the Leafs, with Hagman’s tying things midway through the third. Kessel had 12 of Toronto’s 61 shots, but had his best scoring change (well, I guess his second-best, since he potted the best) deflected from about a foot out a minute or so before Bailey’s winner.

Of course, the NHL’s ridiculous points system will reward the Leafs for again losing in overtime, the seventh time Toronto has picked up a dirty point in 22 games this season. At 4-11-7 and tied for last in the league, the Leafs are in Tampa Bay to face the Lightning Wednesday.

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about my weird nocturnal experiences- making 6 cups of coffee at 4am, waking up freezing because at some point in the night, I turned the air-conditioner on (with the remote being in our en suite bathroom) and waking up wearing clothes I didn’t go to sleep in. Well, last night was just as weird.

When I woke up this morning, I went into the kitchen to put the kettle on and make some coffee. That was when I noticed our big green mixing bowl was on the bench, full of water and with popcorn kernals floating in it. The kids had eaten popcorn in the afternoon yesterday and the bowl, with about 10-15 unpopped kernal things, had been left by the sink. But now it was on the other kitchen bench, full of water.

I stared at it for a few seconds, wondering why it was like that, then I remembered that I had dreamt last night that I filled the bowl with water. Only the evidence was right in front of me that I didn’t dream it, I actually did it! Why the hell would I do something like that?!

Then Bailey told me that wasn’t all that happened last night.

She said that she came out of her room sometime in the night and found me in the kitchen. I then attempted to cover up a box of Roses chocolates with my hands, as if I didn’t want her to know I had them. She asked me what I was doing, to which I mumbled something she couldn’t understand. She thought there was something in my mouth, such as a chocolate, but she couldn’t tell for sure as I kept my mouth shut tight after that. I know eating is a fairly common thing that people do when they’re sleep-walking, but there weren’t actually any chocolates left in that box, Matt had eaten the last one in the evening last night and that’s why the box was on the bench- it was empty. So why would I hide the box under my hands so Bailey couldn’t see it when it was empty?!

After that weird moment, she told me she thought she was going to chuck and she wanted to get in my bed. I told her she couldn’t because it was “full” (although there wasn’t anyone else in there other than Matt and I!) so she could sleep on the lounge instead. When she was lying down in the lounge, she heard me still in the kitchen so she called out to me to ask for a spew bucket. I mumbled something in reply, then went to my room. She apparently waited a while, then said out loud to herself  “She’s not coming back out, is she…”  lol. Nope, I’d gone back to bed and left her to fend for herself!

Apart from a vague recollection of Bailey telling me she felt sick, I don’t remember doing anything that she said I was doing!

So what’s going on with me? Could it be my tablets? I’ve been at this dose of 60mg a day for about a week now and when I had the other night like this, I’d been on the 30mg a day dose for a while, too. I’ve googled MS Contin and Sleepwalking and can’t find anything saying that the MS Contin could be the reason for the sleepwalking and the same can be said for my RSD causing it.

In a way this is all really funny, but once the jokes wear off, it’s a very worrying situation. I could have easily poured those two jugs full of boiling hot water onto my feet instead of into the bowl and it’s worrying to know that burning myself, or another dangerous action, could have happened really easily.

I’m also frustrated with myself for not giving Bailey the attention she needed. Normally, as soon as one of the kids wake up and need me, I wake up too and I’m right there 100% to look after them, no matter what the time is. On numerous times I’ve woken up before they’ve even come into my bedroom- it’s that maternal instinct coming into play, I guess. What happened last night is very out of character for me and I’m feeling very unsettled about it. I see my GP next Thursday, so I’ll talk about it with her and hope that nothing else happens in the meantime.

To make things clear, as some of the material you’ll find here is very light-hearted, this is an actual news report. All quotes are original. I welcome comments below.

Gay Christians Criticise ‘Hate’ Bill

Dan Bloom

Senior gay and transgender Christians have attacked a pro-discrimination law which was defeated four times in the House of Commons and criticised by the European commission.

The clause, which allows “criticism of sexual conduct” on religious grounds, was kept in the Coroners and Justice Bill in the dying hours of the last parliamentary session despite being defeated in the House of Commons. Justice minister Jack Straw retreated after lords voted to keep it for the fourth time on 11 November.

But the comments from within the UK’s gay Christian community put pressure on the mainstream church, after the European commission wrote to the government last week to say its discrimination laws were “broader than permitted”, effectively forcing churches to end bans on homosexual staff.

Pastor Kieren Bourne of the Living Springs church, Bath, had a sex change operation in 1999 and is part of a small minority of gay or transgender Christians in the UK. He said: “I think it’s appalling. It seems to me that the church is being allowed to get away with discrimination when every other section of society is not.”

Brought up in New Zealand, Rev Bourne, 51, moved to Bath 14 years ago but was surprised by what he perceived as a less liberal atmosphere in the mainstream church. He joined Living Springs, a branch of the 95 per cent gay Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).

“Having the opportunity to question the appropriateness of [gay sex] should be open to people, but without being critical of the individuals concerned.”

-Patrick Whitworth, rural dean of Bath

Now living with a woman in Bathford, Avon, he said the pressure put on gay Christians by employment bans and discrimination leaves many feeling forced out of the mainstream church, and into organisations like the MCC.

And although the minority church, which was founded in 1968, holds tri-annual conferences – the next is in Acapulco, Mexico next year – it does not have the same political weight as other organisations. It has fewer than 15 churches in the UK and the Bath branch has only 13 full-time members.

One of these, Bill Fraser, has been a full-time churchwarden in Bath for five years. He first contacted the MCC last year after announcing his sexuality at an annual parish meeting. But he stayed in the mainstream church to “fight from the inside”, following the example of controversial gay American bishop Gene Robinson.

Another, 64-year-old lay delegate Jenny Bailey, was a long-time member of the Church of England when she began attending the MCC. She revealed her sexuality to her vicar in 1997, and said his hostile reception made her feel pressured to leave.

She said: “I did not feel my personal preferences were relevant inside the church. He said they were. He seemed to think I was going to walk in holding hands with another woman.

“Just a few weeks after that I had a serious accident and broke my ankle into about seven or eight pieces. Nobody phoned to check up and see how I was. I thought, ‘Why am I kidding myself?’. They didn’t want me.”

“I did not feel my personal preferences were relevant inside the church. My vicar said they were.”

-Jenny Bailey, lay delegate, Metropolitan Community Church

But Ms Bailey, who was married for more than 22 years before realising she was gay in her 40s, also issued words of caution about restricting free speech. She said: “I want it for myself, so why should I not want it for other people? It’s up to them, and it’s their personal opinion. But they should not be able to impose it on me.”

While the MCC argues anti-homosexual readings of the bible do not reflect its meaning, the mainstream church in Bath is more traditional.

The Church of England rural dean of Bath, Patrick Whitworth, said: “From the church’s point of view it is not God’s view. So having the opportunity to question the appropriateness of it should be open to people, but without being critical of the individuals concerned.”

Meanwhile a group hosted by the MP Clare Short will meet at the Commons this Tuesday to campaign against similar clauses in the Equality Bill drawn up by Harriet Harman, Labour’s deputy leader.

The bill is designed to ensure greater equality between people of different gender, race, religion and social class. But the group argues religious ‘opt-out’ clauses could be added as the bill progresses to the House of Lords.

On Saturday afternoon, I took Liv to a friends’ pool party at an indoor swim centre (yes, I drove and got out of the house, woo-hoo!). We decided we’d take a few different swimwear options for Liv to choose from when she got there, so she could see what the other girls were wearing and wear something similar (within reason). She didn’t want to be the only one wearing shorts or the only one in a one-piece etc and it’s always better to give Liv a few options than to make her agree with your opinion! She ended up choosing boardshorts and a swimwear singlet top (which were the ideal option so I was happy about that), but I was amazed to see how many girls- not just her friends but also other 7-12 year old girls that were at the pool- were wearing provactive and revealing swimmers.

Below you can see the type of swimmers that about 70% of the preteen girls were wearing at the pool on Saturday:

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think there is EVER a reason why a preteen should be wearing something like that! And as for the top, it shows so much chest it may as well not even be there! 

Here’s another one that’s made for 7-12 year old girls:

 Who in their right mind would let their pre-teen daughter wear that at a public pool?! I’m far from a prude but dressing your daughter in a skimpy string bikini with teenie bikini bottoms is just inviting child predators to zero in on her.

And check out the tiny bikini top on this set!

I was shocked and saddened at how provactive some of the swimsuits were and that parents were happy for their daughters to wear them to a public pool. Even the one-piece swimmers were revealing and were a lot like this:

This one is so provactive as it draws attention to the cleavage area (which should NEVER be a focal point on young girls) and it goes ridiculously high  at the hips. I can’t even look at that for long because it sickens me that that style of swimwear is designed for girls so young.

Matt and I recently looked at swimwear for Bai and Liv in a few different stores and it was near impossible to find swimwear that was suitable. The one-piece swimmers would either go very low in the neck or they had big chunks taken out of them over both hips, showing way too much skin, and the bikinis were just like the ones I’ve shown here. Bailey and Olivia both have two-piece swimmers now where the tops are similar to singlets and the bottoms are like normal undies (like this one only all one colour), but they’re getting too small for them so it’s time to buy new ones. It was near impossible for us to find anything suitable for their age groups but hell would have to freeze over before I buy them skimpy swimmers!

So here’s a plea to all the mothers out there: If YOU choose to wear revealing swimmers like the ones I’ve shown here today, then you go right ahead. But don’t dress your preteen daughter like that. For one thing, you’re teaching her that it’s ok to wear totally provactive clothes- and that will bite you in the bum once she gets to be a teenager and wants to go out partying with next to nothing on- but you’re also giving paedophiles a free show and a reason for them to approach your daughter. 

Maybe I’m the only one who feels like this and that’s why there are so many revealing preteen swimsuits in the shops and hardly any modest ones, but surely I’m not the only one, am I….?!

Yesterday was a crazy day. At lunchtime, I took Hannah to the shops to get a birthday present for one of Liv’s friends, only to find that when we got back to the car it had a flat battery. I’d had the air conditiong on full blast on the way to the shops and I didn’t know I had to put the air on the economy setting and let the car idle for a while before turning it off. But to make things worse, it was a massive 45′c in the sun and we were close to melting as we waited for Matt to come and rescue us. He had been working outside in the sun all day, climbing around on a big truck while fixing the crane on it, so it took him a while to get to us. Luckily I’d bought Hannah and I new drinks before going back to the car so we were able to keep up the fluids, but our faces were pink and sweaty and our clothes stuck to us.

I was SO glad I’d gone to the small, local shopping centre rather than the big one that’s miles away though, because the whole process of waiting for Matt then getting the car going still had us waiting in the 45′c heat for almost an hour. But it was a funny sight to see Matt’s crappy little Charade jumpstarting our big 4wd!

He got the car started but said if I turned the ignition off, we wouldn’t be able to start it again without jumper leads, so instead of going home for a while then getting back in the car to pick the kids up from school, I had to pick them up on the way home and leave the car running in the car park.

So while Matt was charging the car battery, I tried ringing the school so they’d get the kids out of class and be able to meet me at the school office. Only that didn’t go as planned either, as my mobile phone battery ran out while I was talking to the Office Lady! When I finally got to school it took them ages to find the three kids as all the computers and half of the air-conditioners the school had had died in the heat, so all the school kids were mixed up in different air-conditioned classrooms.

I have never been so glad that I turned the air conditioning on first thing in the morning, because when we got home the house was beautifully cool!

After that, everything was fine until after dinner. A massive storm was brewing and the sky looked green. It was still around 39′ but you could feel the pressure changing. When it started, the electrical storm was amazing. It was was right on top of us and the lightning lit up the whole sky every few seconds and the rumbles of thunder almost made the house vibrate. Then, in the middle of it all, the power went out.

We had candles etc ready so we all sat in the lounge and waited for the storm to go and the power to come on.We even let Larni in the house as she’d just had a bath and she, like most dogs, freak out during storms. An hour later, the power still wasn’t back on and the kids were getting bored as they couldn’t go on the computers, the Wii or watch tv.

 Bailey suggested we played a game that we had fun with on our trip down to Melbourne last Christmas- the “When I go on holiday, I take…” game where you have to add more things to the list alphabetically, such as “When I go on holiday, I take an apple, a beanie, a carrot etc etc. But Matt suggested we change it slightly and make it “When there’s a storm and the power goes out, we can’t…”

We didn’t do it alphabetically as that would have been too hard, but everyone had a go, even Hannah. Liv only had two turns as she decided to write down what everyone was saying instead. Here’s our list of what we came up with and who said what:

When there’s a storm and the power goes out, we can’t… do anything (M), watch Wizards of Waverly Place (B), watch tv (O), cook mash potatoes (in the microwave) (K), play 101 Brainy Kids Games (a computer game we have) (D), watch the Christmas lights sparkle (M), play computer (B), play basketball on the Wii (H), call Grandad (K), cool down (with the air conditioning on) (D), blow dry our beautiful hair (M), listen to Lily Allen (B), vacuum Liv’s room (K), jump on the trampoline (because they can’t go outside in the storm) (H), print colouring pages (D), charge the remote control helicopter (M), have a cup of tea (B), see what you’re doing when you go to the bathroom! (K), get anything out of the fridge (H), know when it’s bedtime (as you can’t see the time on the computers or microwave (D), iron Bailey’s underpants (M), pour ice down Daddy’s back (because you can’t open the freezer) (O), skype Gran and Gramps (D), chat to friends on MSN (B)

They came up with some great ideas and I was really surprised that Hannah could understand the concept of having no electricity.

The power finally came back on at around 9:30pm and we were very relieved we could turn the air-conditioning back on. Today is meant to be another scorcher- upwards of 41′c. Liv’s got a pool party to go to and I’m considering taking her so I can get in the pool too!

By Joe Dyton

Last night, we were treated to what looks to be the last new episode of “Grey’s” in 2009. Seven weeks seems like a long time to go without a new episode, but I won’t complain too much since we did get nine weeks in a row of new shows.

As for last night’s show, it looks like this season of “Grey’s” is going to be feast of famine. I’ve applauded the show for weeks now for writing tighter episodes with fewer storylines. Then last night, the show is all over the place again. While I thought it was good, I just felt there was too much going on, especially with three holidays crammed into 60 minutes. I wasn’t a big fan of so much time being shoehorned into one episode; I understand they wanted to get everything in before the hiatus, but if that were the case, this probably should have been a two-hour episode. Several of the storylines were meaty enough to stretch last night’s show another hour.

One of those storylines that could have used some expansion was Mark finding out he had a daughter. This might have been one of the biggest reveals in the show’s history and I don’t feel enough attention was paid to it. Every time one of Mark and Sloan’s (this won’t get confusing at all) scenes came up, it felt like an after thought. Heck, this story could have been a whole episode and that would have suited me just fine. Anyway, I liked this plot twist a lot especially since Lexie isn’t much older than Sloan. The only reason I’m not more upset about the lack of time this storyline received was because it doesn’t look like it’s a one-and-done plot. With Sloan pregnant and having nowhere else to go, it looks like she’ll be bunking with Mark and Lexie for awhile. Good times.

While Mark getting a visit from the stork was underplayed, I thought the Cristina/Owen/Teddy triangle got the right amount of time. It’s a stroke of genius to give Cristina a mentor who has history with her current boyfriend. One of my favorite scenes was when Teddy and Owen finally just put everything out on the table and it concluded with Owen saying he loved Cristina. It was nice to see a character on this show not cave in for a change. I also thought when Cristina confronted Owen about any possible feelings he had for Teddy was good too. I’d say his answer was pretty convincing, no?

Oh, the poor Chief. I disliked him for a better part of last season and going in to this year, and now I just feel sorry for him. It’s funny, for the first few years of the show, I felt Richard was more of a background character, and now that he’s been brought to the forefront, he’s gone from a statistics-obsessed number cruncher to an alcoholic. When this story arc plays out, the writers owe him some happiness. I did enjoy this storyline though; I liked his scenes with Meredith. It was great to see him offer her mentoring, even if it’s more or less an attempt to keep her quiet about his recent fall off the wagon. I am curious to see how much further the Chief is going to fall with his alcoholism, because that’s what it is, not “selected depression,” or whatever he tried to mask it as. It will make for interesting TV the rest of the season. I can’t help but wonder why Joe keeps serving him though; he obviously has a problem and Joe cares about the Chief enough to have paged Meredith. Why not just cut him off after one “club soda”? That’s what baffled me the most. I will say that James Pickens Jr. played a good drunk though. The scene where he was wobbling near the jukebox was funny and depressing all at the same time.

So, Mark’s storyline was the most intriguing, Cristina and Owen’s was the most satisfying and the Chief and Meredith’s had the most potential. But for my money, the strongest as far as writing and performances go was the stuff with Bailey and her dad. I couldn’t believe she didn’t tell her folks she was divorced. My heart broke for Bailey when her dad told her he was ashamed of her for putting her career ahead of keeping her family together. I can’t imagine too many pains worse than having your parent tell you they aren’t proud of you. And the scene of the night had to be Bailey’s “My child is happy and healthy” speech. Not only was it terrific, but it lead to some comically awkward moments for everyone else at the dinner table. This storyline also lead to the most underrated part of the show, the look on Mr. Bailey’s face when Callie told him she was dating women. Classic. And I think I remember reading we’ll get to meet Mrs. Bailey, somewhere down the road, but I have to confirm that. If Mr. Bailey is that tough, I can’t wait to see what Mrs. Bailey is like. I was just happy to see they were able to part on good terms.

As for the medical stuff, I liked the girl who was surviving without heart case (shades of the Wizard of Oz?). I was a little surprised Teddy was willing to take her outside so she could enjoy the snow, but nothing these doctors do should faze me anymore, right? I was glad she was able to get a heart, although it stunk that it came at the expense of someone else. Like Teddy told Cristina, this isn’t a celebration. Talk about a sobering moment. I thought that was interesting because on this show, we usually only see the happy side when they’re able to land an organ for a patient. I guess it’s easy to forget sometimes that someone else had to die for that organ to become available. Maybe we should change Teddy’s name from Dr. Altman to Dr. Killjoy.

The other medical case delivered my favorite moment of the show, when Derek, Mark and Arizona offered to pay for the equipment needed to successfully perform their chronic bleeder’s surgery. It also led to one of the best exchanges of the show: Mark: I have a daughter I might have to put through college. Arizona: Have you met her? It’s amazing how this show can keep things light in the most dire situations. OK a few random thoughts, and

I’m hibernating until January…

*Am I the only one who yelped repeatedly when Lexie cut off part of her finger? That was awful. They could easily had her stop cutting and said, “Ouch” and we would have known what happened. Ugh. One of the best parts about “Grey’s” is it forces me to eat dinner early on Thursday nights.

*To satisfy our “Grey’s” cravings during the winter hiatus, a series of webisodes called “Seattle Grace: On Call.” Here’s a link containing more info: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Greys-Anatomy-Debuts-1012347.aspx

*Lines of the Night”…

-”There could be a gaggle of Sloans.”

-“(Ellis) escalated my drinking too.”

-“When you started dating women, how long did you keep that from your family?”

-“That’s my problem, I’m nobody’s (w)itch.”

 -“New Year’s Eve is a organ-palooza.”

 -“Love me some Hunt.”

-“Mark, your kids are bickering.”

-“Don’t play the race card with me.”

Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. I hope you all enjoyed the show. Enjoy the hiatus, have a great day and wonderful weekend!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

Like most families, our Christmas Tree is covered in ornaments made by the kids during their years at playgroups, preschools and school. Every Christmas, when we get the decorations out, the kids love seeing all the decorations they made in the years before and deciding where on the tree their decorations will go.

Because I wasn’t taking Hannah to any playgroups last year, we have very few decorations on the tree that she has made. So, as it was my turn to do the craft activity at our playgroup on Monday, I decided I’d kill two birds with one stone and get all the playgroup kids to make some Christmas tree decorations!

I had a browse through various Christmas craft website and settled on doing a Christmas Tree design. Which, in hindsight, seems a bit silly (a Christmas Tree decoration to hang on a Christmas Tree) but never mind. I found a good Christmas Tree shape on Google Images, then printed it and used it as a stencil to cut out 20+ cardboard trees. I then bribed my wonderful husband into going down to The Reject Shop to buy some sticky stars, fluffy balls, glitter and paddlepop sticks that would be used to decorate them.

Our four kids wanted to make one as well, so on Sunday afternoon they got creative and here are their trees:

Starting from the left, Hannah’s is the first one, then Bailey’s, Dayne’s, mine (I had to test them too!) and Hannah’s other one that she made at playgroup. (Liv also made one but it’s on the other side of the tree and she didn’t want it moved.)

The playgroup kids had a ball making them on Monday morning. There was glitter all over the place- especially when a couple of toddlers taking the lids off the glitter container and tipping the contents up all over the table, but that’s half the fun, right? There were even comments like “Who brought this today? This is great!” from the Mums, which was nice to hear.

So now, thanks to me being on the playgroup activity roster, we have a bunch of great looking Christmas Tree decorations that will (hopefully) be on the tree for many years to come!

By Mychael Urban / MLB.com

11/16/09 3:24 PM EST

OAKLAND — A’s right-hander Andrew Bailey got the call from New York at 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday and was told to “keep it under wraps.”

He assumed, however, that it was safe to let his parents in on the secret: His rise from Minor League obscurity to Major League limelight turned historic when he was named the American League’s 2009 Rookie of the Year.

“My dad couldn’t believe it,” Bailey told MLB.com by phone shortly after the announcement. “He had been reading all these articles about who had voted for who, and everyone kind of thought Elvis [Andrus of the Rangers] was going to win. So when I told him, he was like, ‘No way. Are you kidding? Really?’

“When I called my mom, she just started laughing. And then she started crying.”

Andrus, Texas’ acrobatic 21-year-old shortstop, finished second in the voting, which was carried out by selected members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Bailey, 25, posted 26 saves — no other AL rookie reliever had more than two — with a 1.84 ERA, also the best among AL rookies. He was listed first on 13 ballots submitted by two writers in each AL city, second on six and third on five to score 88 points, based on a 5-3-1 tabulation system.

Andrus, who batted .267 and led AL rookies in hits (128), runs (72), triples (8), total bases (179) and stolen bases (33), placed first on eight ballots, second on six and third on seven for 65 points — one point more than Tigers righty starter Rick Porcello (14-9, 3.96 ERA), who was first on seven ballots, second on eight and third on five for 64 points.

A’s lefty starter Brett Anderson finished sixth in the voting, picking up one second-place vote and one third-place vote.

“There were so many rookies who had great years, it’s an amazing honor,” Bailey said while scurrying to the airport for an afternoon flight to Oakland, where he’ll be featured at a press conference Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT.

“And I think it’s really cool that we had two guys in the mix, with Brett being kind of a darkhorse. He had an incredible year, too.”

Bailey is the second Oakland closer to win in the past five elections; Huston Street won it in 2005. Other closers elected were Gregg Olson of the Orioles in 1989 and Kazuhiro Sasaki of the Mariners in ‘00. Yankees pitcher Dave Righetti was a starter when he won the award in ‘81.

“I kind of thought Andrus was going to win, too,” Bailey said. “He was awesome, and he plays every day.”

Including shortstop Bobby Crosby’s honor in 2004, this marks the third time in six seasons that an A’s player has won the rookie award and the eighth time overall, tying the Yankees for the most winners in the league.

The National League’s Dodgers — Brooklyn and Los Angeles — hold all-time bragging rights with 16 ROYs.

Moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen at Double-A Midland at midseason in 2008, Bailey didn’t just make a successful transition to relief work. He made the transition look like a breeze.

After dominating during the second half of the 2008 season at Midland, he following suit in the prestigious Arizona Fall League and did the same in his first trip to big league Spring Training.

Named to the 25-man roster in part because projected closer Joey Devine was out with an elbow injury that resulted in season-ending surgery, Bailey was handed a low-stress role in the season’s first several weeks but steadily climbed the ladder of responsibility.

He picked up his first save in early May and eventually took over as the full-time closer, converting his final 21 save opportunities dating to June 17.

“We didn’t give him the job,” pitching coach Curt Young said in September. “He took it.”

Named the Athletics’ lone representative at the All-Star Game in St. Louis this summer, Bailey broke Street’s Oakland rookie record for saves and posted a 6-3 record with a 0.88 WHIP and 91 strikeouts against 24 walks in 83 1/3 innings over 68 appearances. Opponents batted .167 against Bailey, who surrendered 47 hits

“Andrew,” said A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki, “was amazing.”

Bailey, who is sharing an apartment with his fiancée, Amanda, in Hamden, Conn., this winter, said he was “shocked” when he got Monday’s big news.

“It’s kind of hard to believe still,” he said. “It’s crazy. There’s about 100 people trying to get through on my phone right now, so everyone’s pretty excited about it. I really tried not to think too much about it after the season because it was out of my hands. All you can do is put up your numbers and hope that’s good enough.

“I guess this means it was. It’s incredible. I’m still shaking.”

In consideration of the previous discussion about doctrine and summaries, here:  The other thing is guilt. I’ve written doctrine for a lot of things. I’ve covered a spectrum of issues and essentially figured out what I actually believe about things. Good stuff. It’s foundational, essential legwork if I’m really going to live my life for this and mean it. And I am. But in all of that, I don’t really have a theology of guilt. This is my fault, but it’s also someone’s fault. Why don’t I have to? Why isn’t it important? It’s not need-to-know knowledge like the characteristics of God. But when I feel it and I’m not sure what’s going on, it sure feels need-to-know to me.

The thing about guilt is that because I’m not sure how to process it, it tends to come and go without too much fanfare. It feels uncomfortable and so I escape it, like I do with uncomfortable things. Escaping is something I do skillfully. They do not pay me, so I cannot adulterate the title “professional” but my expertise in the area far supersedes anyone who has sought and achieved sponsorship for escapism. Escaping guilt doesn’t need to last long. Guilt fades with sleep, with social setting, with scene change. Guilt gets swallowed up by life. It recurs and I hate it, but I hit “repeat” and run from it again, always in ignorance.

When I read about the conscience I enter into a discussion of guilt, but still wonder if any of them are for me. Guilt creeps in when we violate our conscience. We know when we’ve disobeyed rightness like a child with a mouthful of gummy worms face to face with an angry Mom minutes before dinner. But that’s not the kind of guilt I’m worried about today. I screw up and I feel guilty. Seems fair.

But what about false guilt? What about when I don’t screw up and I do feel guilty? And I’m not talking about a little pain-in-your-stomach kind of gummy-worm-eating guilt. I’m talking chemically unbalancing force attempting to hurtle you into a physiological and mental state of depression from regret. Days of this. Worse, nights after sleepless nights. For weeks, maybe. Months? And then some rest. And then all of it crashing down on you again for some number of dark days that all blend together. Horrible.

I find that guilt is always just a question. Never does comfort follow. Or assurance. Or any answer at all. Just a weighty question and a void. And I wonder how much of it is consequence for some sin, some negligence or failure on my part. I sometimes think this haunting is my due condemnation. I mean, I’m not sure, but my God is not a God of torture. That’s heresy. He is just, but I do not know Him like this.

And I can live in tension, but this is My Healer we’re talking about. My Provider. Who comforts me when I’m a hot mess and puts my crushed self back together. He challenges me, yes. But this whole question plus the void plus the pain pressing guilt in on me doesn’t seem like a formula He would be into. Which leads to a bit of a scary thing for someone like me…I think there is something evil about false guilt in this particular sense that I’m imagining/experiencing it.

One year ago today, I began my battle with guilt because I somehow thought that I had the power to mess up everything God had planned for gals that I felt were in my spiritual care. I woke up every day in deep apology to my Savior for severely failing Him. My soul became callous to forgiveness. I thought He had put me somewhere, in a season of life I didn’t really ask for to begin with, for a purpose, and I had failed to achieve that purpose in the worst way.

I honestly don’t know why God let me be a youth leader. Fact is, I don’t know a lot. Probably not enough to guide these beautiful girls in their walks with the Lord. That time in my life was actually a very painful season for me, and youth leading had everything to do with it. It hurts to fall in love with people. To hurt when they hurt, to worry about them, to want to make all the right choices for them. When my heart breaks for “my girls,” I wonder if God feels that way about us. Maybe He was trying to give me a slice of His heart. I love them, even though they’re all off at college caring about whatever college kids care about. If love is tangible, I don’t do it well. But I’ve never wanted more out of this life for anyone as I have for these three Daughters of the King.

In this year, I’ve learned that guilt isn’t right. Maybe false guilt is evil, I don’t know. But it sure ain’t right. Everything that went down went down right, because more than anything, I believe my God is in charge. Nothing gets by Him. Nothing surprises Him. They crucified Jesus, His Son…but it was okay – remember? And so is this. It is okay.

To you, Bails.  Loved you with all I had, girl.
Elise. Jess. Katie. Thinking of you today.  Love you, dearly, gals.  So dearly.

It was recently suggested to me on Facebook that everyday from now until Thanksgiving I should update my status with something different that “I am Thankful for…”  Well, if you know how great I am at remembering to update things, you’ll understand why this could be problematic for me.  So instead, I am just making the comprehensive list today.  That way I won’t screw up and forget to update my thankfulness for like 4 days in a row and feel like a big, forgetful, ungrateful failure!  By my count there are 11 days until Thanksgiving:

1) My AMAZING family.  How was I so blessed?

2)  The equally amazing group that I am privileged to call my  friends.  My family is stuck with me, you guys volunteer!

3)  That somehow I was gifted with a positive outlook.  I can’t imagine life without one.

4)  All things Coach, including the 4 recent additions to my collection.

5)  Annie at the Impulse counter at Macy’s.

6)  Incredible books like Her Fearful Symmetry and Guernsey Literary…Society, and funny ones, too, like Pretty in Plaid.

7)  Grande Caramel Brulee Lattes at Starbucks.

8)  A crazy dog that keeps my life interesting.  Every day.

9)  Taylor Lautner.

10)  My treadmill at the YMCA with the “in-dash” TV.

11)  Better things falling together.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!  I am Thankful for YOU!

Congrats! The Oakland A’s finally won something this year!

Bailey emerged early this season as Oakland’s closer and totaled 26 saves with a 1.84 earned run average.

He was listed first on 13 of 28 ballots and garnered 88 points in the voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins won the NL ROY award.

From MLB.com:

Bailey, 25, posted 26 saves — no other AL rookie reliever had more than two — with a 1.84 ERA, also the best among AL rookies. He was listed first on 13 ballots submitted by two writers in each AL city, second on six and third on five to score 88 points, based on a 5-3-1 tabulation system.

Andrus, who batted .267 and led AL rookies in hits (128), runs (72), triples (8), total bases (179) and stolen bases (33), placed first on eight ballots, second on six and third on seven for 65 points — one point more than Tigers righty starter Rick Porcello (14-9, 3.96 ERA), who was first on seven ballots, second on eight and third on five for 64 points.

A’s lefty starter Brett Anderson finished sixth in the voting, picking up one second-place vote and one third-place vote.

 Christopher Bailey has been promoted from creative director to chief creative officer at Burberry. He joined the company in 2001 and has been pivotal in steering it back towards success after it became the label du jour of the Chav culture and WAG world. Who can forget those photographs of Daniella Westbrook and her baby in head to toe Burberry print? Although cringe-worthy to most those photos encouraged hundreds of imitations of the great British classic beige print, from hats to dog baskets and even acrylic nails!

Bailey has been credited with transforming the brand back into a global label. A huge part of this transformation has been the reduction in the visibility of its distinctive check pattern. Burberry returned to London Fashion Week in 2009 after a ten-year absence and featured mainly muted pastel colours, only handbags gave a nod to the check. The latest advertising campaign featuring Emma Watson has also given the brand a lift, with her sophisticated and classic English looks, she is the complete antithesis to the perma tanned chav followers of 2000.

Speaking of Bailey’s new role, Angela Ahrendts said “the Burberry brand today is more cohesive than at anytime in the company’s history owing much to the clarity, consistency and purity of his amazing vision.”

In June of this year Bailey was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth for services to the fashion industry. No doubt there are many more awards to come as he continues in making Burberry a global successful brand.

Bailey doesn’t bark!

In October, in honor of Halloween and my love for pets, we had a pet costume contest.  I have always loved looking at all the funny and cute pictures. Therefore, figured this would be fun for others too!

We asked contestants to send a photo of their pet with a brief description.

Bailey was the winner!  The adorable bumblebee is a 3-year-old teacup Pomeranian.  He has been featured in our November newsletter which went out to over 1700 viewers, AJ Designs’ blog, and mommy won a 20% coupon to any item on AJ Designs

Thank you all contestants who entered the contest.

EB.1.4 - Grey
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New plaid form fitting liner with plastic tongue
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Boot only for customization

Call ESP on 01243 532828 to pre-order yours now…