Flyin' Away

Ok, I have problems with inappropriate laughter. I tend to laugh at things that would be funny if you watched them in a movie, but aren't funny when they are happening to you or a friend in real life. I've laughed in pretty much every unacceptable situation - not because I'm so overcome with emotion and it just emerges as laughter. No, it's because usually in the middle of some type of nonfunny event something strikes me as funny. Maybe it wouldn't be that funny normally, but when you aren't supposed to laugh, or perhaps it's something that is a bit off color and you don't want people to realize that your mind is in the gutter (happens more often to me than I'd like to admit) - that is when I tend towards uncontrollable laughter. I'm talking tears in the eyes laughter. I would share some of those stories but it would take too long and I think they are usually better told in person.

I brought this up because of a little incident today that had me thinking - "what kind of mom am I to laugh at that?" I didn't think about it for too long because Matt was laughing as well and together we both can't be that bad! Actually just picturing it makes me start laughing again. Just a warning - like I said before, funny stories are usually funnier when told in person and I am not that good of a writer to do it justice - but I'll try. Set the bar low....

As we left church today Ella was clutching her precious bag of pretzels that she got after much begging and pleading from the vending machine (we meet in a YMCA and have to deal with the temptations offered in the vending machines outside our worship room). We were late to church so our car was parked pretty far away and Ella was walking along behind Matt and Catherine and I was about 20 feet behind them. Ella tripped on a speed bump and fell (no I didn't laugh at that - what kind of person do you think I am!?). She started to cry - understandably. The pretzels fell on the ground - not sure if which fall, the pretzels or hers, made her cry more. Matt stopped to help her and I tried to catch up. A big gust of wind (I'm talking big...) swept up and the pretzels and the bag start flying everywhere. This upset Ella more so she got up and started running after them. I was impressed and in that split second I thought "wow, Ella is running fast!". What I didn't realize until a second later was that, no Ella did not develop lightening fast speed, but the wind was so strong and so fast that it was making her practically fly - right into the side of a car about 8 feet in front of her. There it is. I laughed to the point of tears because my daughter ran/flew into a car. It was one of the times I wish I had a video camera somehow permamentally connected to my eyes. Ella was completely fine - upset about the pretzels and wanting the wind to go away, but she wasn't scarred by her parents' laughter.

Anyone else have the tendency to laugh when you shouldn't? Willing to share? Post it on your blog or leave a comment - we all need some laughs on a Monday morning!

The Carvers

Tonight we had some good quality family time. We've had a busy week so I thought it would be nice to have a relaxing evening at home. Dinner, not takeout or leftovers or PB&J, but something I had actually cooked tonight. Of course that was just for Matt and me, the kids just ate chicken nuggets! After dinner we carved pumpkins and baked Halloween cookies. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? What it looked like was this....

Ella was so worked up she couldn't sit still during dinner. She galloped back and forth between the kitchen and the family room all excited about a project that her and Matt had been working on earlier. I was barely able to get her to sit and eat. Catherine was fine, she decided she liked ketchup and spent most of the meal dipping and licking - probably a ratio of 10 dips to one nugget. After Ella shoved a few nuggets in her mouth we went outside to "pick" her pumpkin out of the four lined up on the porch. Of course, she wanted the biggest one. Matt was a little sad because he wanted the biggest one. But he agreed to share it with her. So we got all set up at the kitchen table and after cutting the top off, prepared to scoop. I had the video camera going to catch Ella's first time cleaning out a pumpkin. It was eventful. I think she touched one seed. We were able to get her to put her hand in the pumpkin to find a piece of candy we hid. Then she wanted to use a spoon - she said the pumpkin was yucky and cold. I don't know where she gets that. I am not a wuss around her. I regularly kill the dreaded stink bugs that prowl around her room without flinching (me, not the bugs - I imagine they might flinch a bit when I squash them) and only freak out when one lands on me (who wouldn't?). I clean up the gross messes that inevitably come with having young kids. Matt actually does all of the above and deals with the worst of the worst (no need to mention). But for some reason Ella can't help scoop out a pumpkin - too icky for her.

That pretty much ended her pumpkin experience. The next 1/2 hour or so was Matt trying to carve the pumpkin while I was trying to distract Ella by involving her in cookie making. The cookie making which was peeling the pre-cut cookie dough off the little sheet of dough and plopping it on a baking sheet. I thought something that easy would be doable with Ella - but I didn't count on Catherine hanging on me, trying to poke her head through my knees and waiting until I look down at her and say "hello!!!" (she laughs hysterically at this) - it made the whole balance thing a bit more difficult. So our family night ended up being different than I thought. I'm not sure why I thought cookies and pumpkin carving would be great activities to a 3 year old and one year old.

Oh, and after Matt carved his pumpkin and wasn't happy with the results, I decided to give it a try. It's been years since I've carved a pumpkin and started to regret my design after a bit, but it worked Tonight I'll get a picture of both pumpkins and you can guess who did which one and which one is better!

Update: I didn't get a chance to post this until Sunday and I still don't have a picture - it's been a busy weekend. I worked a catering job yesterday and didn't get home until 2:30am. As I was guzzling diet Coke at 12:30am to stay alert I kept reminding myself, Christmas money, Christmas money! Needless to say, I haven't gotten outside to get pumpkin pictures....

Just pics

I love how most people post pictures that go along with their blogs, but I just can never get it together so I figure I'll try and post new pictures every week - just because I like them - no funny story to go along with them.


This is Ella after getting into my makeup. I told her to repeat after me "I don't need makeup, I don't need makeup"...until you're old like mommy!








On a hayride at Merrymead Farm.














The look on her face just cracks me up.









Catherine got a chance to snuggle on the couch with Ella's doggy - probably one of maybe three times she's ever gotten to touch Ella's favorite stuffed animal. Only lasted about 30 seconds before Ella but a stop to it!

Stay tuned for more pictures next week!

There and Back Again...

No, we didn't go dragon slaying or on any big adventure like that, but we did make our way to Grove City College (mine and Matt's alma mater) for the first time in probably five years. We made the trip to Clearfield on Friday - it always seems to take forever because we usually take a long break for lunch (never intended to be long, but ends up like that - even at McDonalds or Wendy's). We left early the next morning for GCC, leaving the kids behind with my mom and dad because it was supposed to be cold and we figured they would have more fun staying back. Oh, but we almost didn't go at all. Friday night my mom went to the emergency room with some severe back/side pain that she described as "worse than labor". She went through three completely natural births, two of those being breech, and still claims that labor wasn't that bad. So her pain threshhold is highly respected amongst our family and we didn't doubt that something must be wrong. When she went to the hospital (because it was Friday night and her doctor wasn't around) we weren't sure if she would have to stay or not. If she did, we wouldn't subject my dad to the pure joy of watching both Ella and Catherine alone. We were debating taking one of the kids and leaving the other behind so that Matt and I could still play in our lacrosse and soccer alumni games. Basically we ended by being up very late that night waiting to hear what was going on with my mom before we decided. It ended up that she had a very severe UTI and was able to come with some medicine.

So thankfully she was fine and we were able to go with no problem. It was weird to be one of the oldest people playing in the alumni soccer game because I don't feel old at all. I just felt like the girls on the team just look young. Did I look that young in college? Probably. We hadn't been back to GCC since they have built a new student union center, new classrooms and apartments. In some ways it felt so normal to be there but when we visited the newer areas it felt like a totally different campus - no memories of these places, not what I picture when I remember college. It was neat and the new buildings are beautiful and really add to the campus. I can't go back and show my kids where Matt and I would talk between classes before we started dating. I can't go back and sit in the booth at the Gee and remember all the ice cream I used to eat for under a buck. So even though the changes are an improvement I felt a little sad.

I tried to add these pictures to the previous post but it just wouldn't work. Figured it's been awhile since I've posted any pictures of the girls.
This picture they are partaking in their favorite snack - the cheese stick! I love how they sat next to each other on their own - no prompting from mom or dad.








Here is Catherine, so happy that she could get into the grocery bags, find an apple, get it out of the bag and start chomping. I didn't realize until later that she took a tiny bit out of every apple. That's definitely something she learned from Ella.









My messy eater. Often times her food doubles as hair gel. It works suprisingly well!



We went on a hayride today and enjoyed some fall activities - hopefully I'll post some of those pictures later today, tonight, tomorrow....sometime!

Hodge-Podge

It's been awhile since I put any wise and thoughtful words out into the blog world. And it will be awhile longer. On my mind now are just random thoughts and stories

Microderm abrasion -
My mother in law bought me this cool little home microderm abrasion set. You pop this little spongy thingy on to little plastic thingamabob (looks like a electric razor without any razor) and dip the sponge in this gritty cream stuff (you would think I would know more about the things I'm putting on my face) push the on button and circulate it gently on your face. Good stuff. Last night I used it for the second time. It felt a little different than the time before. Not so soft - in fact it kind of hurt my forehead and afterwards my face was a little red. I tried to pop the sponge off to wash it and it wouldn't come off - I pulled and twisted and it wouldn't budge. Wanna know why? Because I hadn't bothered to attach the sponge at all - I just rubbed a gritty piece of plastic on my face - I can't wait to see how that helps diminish the appearance of fine lines and give my skin a radiant glow!

Doggie doo-doo-
Our dog Goldie runs away all the time. This is a newer development - she used to be very good with boundaries and we never needed a leash. Now she is always on a leash which has become quite a pain for us. It takes her so long to go to the bathroom and she never pees and poops in the same trip. Noooo....she milks as many trips out of it as she can. Today it was raining and Matt took her outside for the second time - about 10 minutes of running back and forth and sniffing and circling - nothing. She wanted to go back outside a few minutes after coming back in. We made her wait to make sure she really had to go. But again, nothing. Keep in mind it's cold and rainy and not fun for any of us to be outside with the dog. An hour and a half later I took the dog outside again. Goldie goes crazy - jumping around, whining, etc - when she needs to go out, so much so that you can't ignore it (plus she's been peeing in the basement, so we really don't ignore her). Yet it's been two hours and she still has not pooped! Again with the running back and forth and sniffing until finally.....success! As Goldie is squatting (sorry TMI) I look up and Matt, Ella and Catherine are all standing on the couch (not Matt, he can see out the window without standing) waving and cheering her on. Has any dog had such a celebrated poo?! I doubt it....

I can't believe I spent so much time writing about my dog.

My kids....
Everyone is healthy again except Catherine's nose is still runny so we follow her around with tissues. She still prefers crawling but stands on her own alot and talks lots of steps. I keep thinking that walking will make her less clingy so I keep praying she gets the hang of it soon. She is the biggest mama's girl ever. Even more so than Ella (perhaps my memory is a bit fuzzy though). Catherine would rather crawl on me, snuggle, give me kisses and be held than play with our toys. Cute, but it does get a bit old. In the last few weeks she started this growly like laugh that Matt and I love. Imagine a "hahaha" but with a growl to it. She has also become a very picky eater, and I don't know how to work with that at this age. I offer her all sorts of things and she isn't interested. Any ideas? We do lots of PB&J, macaroni and cheese, eggs, oatmeal, grilled cheese, any kind of fruit imagineable, avocado. That might be it. She's a jealous little girl - I think it goes along with the whole mama's girl thing. She gets upset when Matt hugs me or snuggles up to me, which he does often just to torment her. If Ella is in my lap (usually because she saw Catherine crawling over to me and ran over and beat her to it...sisterly love at 2 1/2 is something else) Catherine will crawl up onto my lap as well and then try to push Ella away. But she is doing so well when I have to leave her in nurseries for church and Bible study. Such a relief to know she's not screaming while I'm gone.

Ella. I could probably do a separate post on her. What's new with her? Her latest obsession is the movie Madagascar. We watch parts of it twice a day - it is the only thing she ever wants to watch. I really like the movie but I can barely stand to watch it anymore. She gets so excited about it - we have to skip over a few scary scenes - she always laughs when Alex the lion bites Marty the zebra on the butt. Great. The things she says are so funny - becoming very expressive - when I ask if she did something it's "yup, I sure did." Unfortunately that's not often the answer to "did you put your books away" but instead "Did you rub shampoo all over your clothes?". One of her favorite little things is the clean plate dance that Matt will do with her when she eats all her food. No one but Matt can do the clean plate dance. Great bonding time for daddy and daughter. Bedtime prayers are a trip. When I ask who she wants to pray for she thinks that she needs to say her name first. Sometimes she'll go through a list of people and then say "wait I forgot to say Ella first" and then start over. She always prays for Goldie and Pokey (my parent's dog). It goes like this - without fail- "...and Pokey and Goldie...they don't have hands...they have paws....so they can walk." I have no idea where that came from. But she says it every night- now without pausing - just a long run-on thought. Also she had an ear infection a few weeks ago and had to go on antibiotics - you know the bright pink kind! Most kids don't like medicine and parents have to fight to get them to take it. Not my Ella. She loves her pink medicine. She rubs her tummy in delight after she takes it and usually asks for it a couple of times a day. "No, Ella, you cannot have more medicine" Somehow I never anticipated saying that.

I could go on and on and I already have. So that's all for now.

Sick and tired...

...of being sick and tired. I live in a sick house. Matt was sick a week and a half ago - then the kids got it. The typical runny nose, sore throat, stuffy head thing. It hits all of us differently. Both the kids have been tired and taking long naps but then waking early in the morning (the last few days we've gotten back to our 8am wake up call). I've been feeling it since Tuesday. Sinus pressure, swollen glands, stuffed up nose. It hasn't been that bad except I still don't feel better and it's been a good five days. I'm used to one or two rough days and then waking up and feeling much better. I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be the day.

Of course I didn't get around to posting this until Monday - I started it on Sunday. Thankfully today I am feeling better. Not up to running yet, but I'll get there.

Also, an update....last Tuesday I decided to get up at 7am and do some stuff around the house before the kids got up. I actually felt good getting up - I always do better when I decide to get out of bed, rather than being forced to by my kids. But throughout the day I started feeling worse and worse and ended up being sick for a week. Hmmm....any connection???? Perhaps I will hold off on those early mornings for the sake of my health :) Seriously, I enjoyed getting up (It was just once I know) and once I start sleeping well again I think I'll start doing it a couple times a week. We'll see how it goes.

So I haven't been blogging much because I haven't had the energy and now I have to go work on my Bible study for tomorrow so my other thoughts will have to wait.

Time to go to bed....

So anyone out there catch the premier of Grey's Anatomy and The Office this week? We are big fans of both shows so Thursday was an exciting night for Matt and myself. I liked both episodes - Grey's Anatomy made me shed a few tears even (Bailey saying sorry to Denny, Christina breaking down with Burke. I wasn't too upset with how things are developing with Jim and Pam on The Office -I'm sure Jim will be back and until then I think it's interesting having him at the other branch. If you watched either let me know what you thought?

So I really like to sleep. More specifically, I like to sleep in the morning. I hate hate hate to get out of bed in the morning. Even when my kids get up they come in bed and play around until I can drag myself up. I've been thinking for awhile how nice it would be if I could....here comes a really novel idea....get up before my kids do. I could get up at 7am and have an hour (usually) to either, clean, run, read my Bible...a whole extra hour in my day. But the thought of getting up at 7am just kills me. It goes against everything I hold dear - that one extra hour of sleep is so special to me. But I'm going to try. I'm going to try because I don't want to be a slave to sleep.

This is so hard for me to write because if I put it out their in the blog world then there is some small level of accountability. I'm not asking you to keep me accountable (please don't, I might get mad at you because I'm grumpy from lack of sleep) but just knowing that others know will hopefully be a motivation. I'm not sure when my first try will be. I'll keep you all posted. I was initially thinking tomorrow but I'm tiiiired. Ella has been waking in the middle of the night and running to the bathroom. So when I hear her door open and her little feet pitter pattering down the hall I am immediately awake. Then there is the other problem of going to bed at a decent time. See right now Matt and I are watching a movie - The Inside Man - and it won't be over by 11. We said we'd only start it but now it's getting intense and I don't think either of us are going to want to stop it before it's over. So I'll be up late....and then I definitely won't want to get up early. And then I have a meeting tomorrow night so I'll have alot to do at night and I won't want to go to bed early....it's a vicious cycle.

So I'll try and keep you updated. I'd definitely appreciate any encouragement and advice from anyone who has dealt with this. Especially if you are not a morning person.

Other things....
Matt and I watched United 93 this weekend. It was very good. Very hard to watch and very powerful. Even though you know the end of the story you'll find yourself hoping, praying that it might end differently. It doesn't try to be sentimental or overdramatic so you don't feel manipulated. I'm curious if any of you have seen it?

Also if any of you are fans of bananas check out the link on the right to Crafty Pumpkin's blog. Christina posted some recipes that look really really yummy. I think I'm going to make the banana oatmeal cookies sometime this week.

Ok, bedtime....

The List

Ok, so I've been meaning to put up a list of my confessions. These are confessions for the sake of making my self known and being vulnerable with my friends. Of course now that I sit down to type this I am really drawing a mental blank.

10. Most people would rather play online, read or watch tv rather than clean their house - I actually do.
9. This one is painful... I had a drawer FULL of wedding thank you notes that I wrote and addressed but never sent. There were also tons of pictures that were supposed to be mailed with the notes. They never got sent. I packed them in a garbage bag and threw them all away a year or so ago because I felt bad everytime I looked in the drawer. My wedding was seven years ago. It will be at least another seven years before I could let my mom know and pray that we could all have a good laugh over it...
8. If you read this you know this already, but I don't shower as much as I should. I would rather do other things with my time and deodorant works wonders.
7. I waste so much food because my fridge is too full and stuff gets hidden and then goes bad. I mean people are going hungry around the world I throw away whole packets of lettuce.
6. Sometimes (and by sometimes I mean alot of times) I don't want to be around Ella. I feel so guilty for it but she just whines so much and doesn't listen and is always fighting something. I love her so much but I don't always like her. I hate to put that out there because she is a beautiful child in so many ways but she is strong willed and stubborn and in a difficult stage.
5. I hate conflict so much that I will lie to avoid it. I don't know if it's the conflict that I hate as much as the potential outcome of the conflict (someone being mad at me or keeping things from me in the future).
4. I still get embarassed by my parents. Not often, but I occassionally get embarassed and act and feel like a teenager.
3. I am honestly insecure about my weight and how I look but I'm convinced that other people aren't because I think they look fine. Does that make sense? I can go on and on about the weight I need to lose and blah blah blah but when others do it I get annoyed because I can't figure out why would think that about themselves because they look good.
2. I do my weekly Bible Study half heartedly because sometimes I feel like it's busy work (lot of time spent looking up various verses, definitions, etc...) and I would rather just skip that and go to the applications...
1. I am envious of most people I know. I need to focus on being content in what God has given me and where He has put me but I often find myself dwelling on what is lacking in my life rather than giving thanks for how full it is. So I look at people that seem to have it better and easier (not just in a money sense) and want what they have.

Ok - so those weren't in any particular order and I really don' t know if I can publish this. I don't think there is anything that earth shattering but as I said before it's hard for me to be vulnerable. I hope you all still love me but I know that I can't worry about whether you do or don't (but I really hope you do :) - this honesty thing is the stuff of true friendships).

Over and out.....go Steelers!

Confessions....

Throughout the day I think about so many things that I want to blog about - it's like a running commentary in my head. And then 8:30 rolls around. And I sit on the couch and look at the mess that surrounds me. And then I procrastinate by picking up my laptop and spend way too much time reading other people's blogs and checking my blockbuster queue. I finally decide that perhaps I'll post something and then I have to remember what the heck I actually thought about five hours ago that was worth posting online.....

Something I was thinking about today was confessions. I happened upon a blog where a mom listed ten confessions - mostly about parenting and personal flaws/habits - things you don't want to admit, but when you do you find that alot of people can relate with what you've admitted. So of course I started thinking about what my confessions would be and as I do the thought pops in my head "I couldn't include that... so and so would think badly of me/look at me differently." I have always struggled with the fear of rejection and on the flip side of that I always desire to be liked and accepted. Who doesn't to some extent? But I think that I often allow those fears and desires to change who I am. To some people I might be willing to share my dirty laundry because I know that they probably match me with their own! With others, so many people that seem kinder, more virtuous, more attentive to their children, better housekeepers, more spiritual, more disciplined, I tend to edit myself and perhaps not reveal who I am and what I struggle with and how often I clean the bathroom. :) With a blog you can't control who reads it so I either edit myself for everyone, or allow everyone see "the good, the bad, and the ugly" (stolen from Clint Eastwood and the women who's blog I read earlier). It's silly and I know that God doesn't want me to be fearful of other's rejection or acceptance. I know that His desire is that I would worry less about what people thought of me and instead bring my flawed, internet obsessed, dirty house, lazy, selfish, lack of discipline-d self before His feet and just rest in His love.

All that over a silly list of confessions. I mean it shouldn't be hard to admit that I only shower when I really need to (ouch, that was tough to write and I'm being vague enough to let you draw your own conclusions.) and that when I was in a weekly women's Bible study I would cram a whole week's worth of lessons into the night before (well, I did have a 20 month old and a newborn last year - not sure about my excuse when it happens again this year!) or that sometimes I sit and read a book while my kids play around me because I don't feel like playing. After typing these I want to delete them because I don't want my friends thinking I am less of a Christian or stinky (OK, sometimes I'm stinky!), or a bad mother. But I'll be brave and I'll post this. And maybe in a few days I'll be braver and post some more confessions - and maybe some of you will too....

More than just cake!

I figured I should post a picture of the birthday girl and not just the cake! Poor Catherine is always such a happy baby and of course the night before her party she was feeling a little warm and then was just feeling crummy on the big day. So she didn't get to enjoy her party as much as I would have liked, but Ella did have fun "helping" her open the gifts and quickly claiming them as her own (Ella went as far as asking for certain new toys to be put away so "sis sis" couldn't get them). But Catherine not feeling well really wasn't our biggest problem - our biggest problem was that we lost power in the middle of the night (Thanks to Ernesto) on Friday and weren't sure if it was going to be restored until Sunday. We decided to go ahead with the party regardless and hope for the best. But this meant that I couldn't do any prep work with the food ahead of time because I didn't want to be opening and closing the fridge too much. Oh yeah - and no showers - which I had put off in hopes of running on the treadmill Saturday morning (no run either of course). But God was good and we got our power back 30 minutes before the party started so at least we weren't in the dark and I got a speed shower.


Anyway - here is a picture of Catherine after we brought her down. That's her friend Nolan looking on, wondering what the heck is going
on- he looks a little amused, doesn't he?

She did perk up through the rest of the night as the following picture shows. As soon as she had some ribbon and paper to play with. Overall it was a nice relaxing night - I can't believe I just described a one year old's birthday party as relaxing!

And eat it too...

Catherine's 1st birthday party was this past Saturday - only two weeks after her actual birthday, not too bad. I decided late in the week that I was going to make her birthday cake and went out and bought some cake making supplies (This started because I wanted to save money and not buy a cake - yeah right!). I decided to start simple -I bought a flower shaped cake pan (figured it could be used again for other celebrations) and a few tips to help with the decoration. I was surprised by how fun it was and not as complicated (remember, I went simple) as I thought it might be. So I had to post a picture of the finished product...

I have to say it was one darn tasty cake. I used Wilton's buttercream icing recipe and a Betty Crocker yellow cake mix. Definitely better (if not cheaper after buying the pan and stuff) than a store cake!

Good lookin' bunch...

This is a picture from a few weeks ago at a reunion with all my Grove City (college) friends. We've gotten together every year since graduation and this year we had 17 adults (Karen's - bottom row on the right - husband has a few weeks left before he comes home from almost a year in Iraq) and eleven kids. I just had to put up a picture of my beautiful friends and their beautiful daughters (Catherine was napping :( ). Love you guys!

I Love Legos....

I do, I really do. I guess I should say I really really really like legos since I've been trying to teach Ella about loving people and not things. This is hard because there are some "things" that she really really likes. We're also working on praying for people and not things. She tries to trick me sometimes and adds, toys or bike to her prayers and then recants, saying "no toys, no bikes". But I've decided we can pray for dogs (she loves to pray for our dog Goldie and my parents dog Pokie). Anyway, back to the topic at hand...legos. Ella got a farm set of the duplo legos (the in between size - too big to swallow, but small enough to be able to build with at a young age) for her 2nd birthday. She enjoyed playing with them from time to time but it was a small set and there wasn't too much you could do with it beyond the basics. My mother (who has sazed almost every toy that we grew up with) has a great collection of legos that she brought along on vacation with her. I realized that after dumping the entire box out the kids were occupied for a good amount of time. When we got home we bought a decent size set with a gift certificate and that's all Catherine and Ella want to play with. Oh yeah, and Matt too. Now we have enough that Catherine can destroy the little things we build for her while Ella still can be building some massive structure. I really love seeing her imagination at work - she builds stairs and gates and farms and towers - all sorts of structures that only slightly resemble what she calls them. But it's a great activity that keeps both girls active and entertained as well as Matt and myself. An added bonus is the plastic bin they came in for easy cleanup. I am in heaven!

Well I should go work on not equating heaven to earthly things such as plastic blocks....

Book Tag

Ok, so I got tagged by my sister in law, Chrissie - and I am so new to this whole blog world that I had to ask her what to do. Basically you copy and paste the questions onto your blog and then "tag" the people that you want to respond on their blogs. But they have to find it themselves....a blog version of a forward! I know this is basic to most bloggers, but again, me and most of my friends are new at this.

This is hard for me because it's all about books and I read so many books that I really can't keep them straight. I read books that I love, hate, mildly enjoy, struggle to get through, etc. All types of genres - mostly fiction and "Christian living".
1. One book that changed your life: The Bible - the only book that really can
2. One book that you’ve read more than once - I've read so many more than once but I usually read Francine Rivers' "Redeeming Love" at least every few years.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island - the Bible
4. One book that made you laugh - off the top of my head "Little Earthquakes" by Jennifer Weiner.
5. One book that made you cry - Mrs. Mike (one of my all time favs)
6. One book that you wish had been written - I'll tell you when I read it.
7. One book that you wish had never been written - I can't remember names but I have read books that should have never been published.
8. One book you’re currently reading - just finished the Breakdown Lane by Jacquelyn Mitchard
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read - Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
10. Now tag five people:
www.flimsydress.blogspot.com
www.sears-share.blogspot.com
www.considerthelilies.wordpress.com
www.christinacostain.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/mylifeat29

Frustrations in Parenting

The morning didn't start out too bad. Breakfast was good and I was actually able to run a comb through Ella's hair and pull it back before we left to go to a brunch with some women that I was in a Bible study with last year. There were alot of kids there - kids that Ella has played with and was very excited to see. But it ended up being a morning full of lots of whining and her being too timid to do much. Of course there were moments when Ella had fun - usually involving eating or chasing Catherine (who was having lots of fun). When I had to move the van to let someone leave Ella had to come with me so I just put her in the carseat and she sat in the car until I went back and gathered up my things, got Catherine and said good-bye to everyone - which took 10 minutes. And she was happier just sitting out there! Why? She is usually a pretty social little creature but lately she's been shying away and wanting my or Matt to play with her and getting whiny when we don't.

Then she decided she didn't want to take a nap and kept running to her door and opening it and crying and then running back to bed. Of couse being very loud the whole time to increase the chances of Catherine waking up. I had to go up about four times and put her back in her bed and tell her that she had to have quiet time if she wasn't going to nap. Finally it seemed like she was going to settle down and go to sleep. FINALLY I am going to get some work done and maybe some time to myself. 15-20 minutes pass and I'm feeling pretty good. But wouldn't you know it a storm rules in bringing along some loud thunder boomers (Ella's name). I was in the kitchen when I heard a yell and I knew that it was Ella. I found her upstairs sitting up in her bed with her blanket over her head, crying. She was upset and said "the thunderboomers were so so sad". I knew what she meant! :) In that moment all the frustrations of the day were gone and I just laid in bed with her and held her close - glad to be able to comfort her.

Now the rest of the day was still frustrating - Ella decided to pee on the potty while wearing her underwear - on purpose. But it was nice to have a moment to realize that as much as she drives me crazy she's just a little girl who needs her mommy to keep her safe.

Big girl bed...

That is the new thing in our household. We finally moved Ella out of her crib and into a twin bed. I actually bought the comforter for her twin bed a year ago because I wanted to paint and pick out accessories for her room but wasn't ready to switch her from a crib - I didn't want to have to worry about her sleeping changing as well as deal with a newborn. So we finally got down an old twin bed and mattress from the attic and set it up in her room. She was so excited - especially because it was the bed that her daddy slept in when he was little! Of course she was so wired that she had a lot of troubling winding down for bed. I think it was around 9pm (starting at 8) that she stopped calling for us (1st to get her special Curious George book to have in bed, then to turn on the lights so she could read- not gonna happen!) and settled in for the night. It's such a weird feeling to see her in that "big" little bed. She seems so grown up that it makes my heart ache a bit. No more diapers, no more crib - big aspects of babyhood are being left behind this summer.

I think someone is awake upstairs which is pretty unusual for my girls so I'll have to stop my sappiness and go check!

Thanks for checking in....

The 4400

Ok I know it sounds like all I do is watch TV because I like posting about shows I like - but I am the type of person who likes to share something I enjoy. Matt and I are about halfway through the second season of The 4400 and it is so cool. It keeps throwing us for loops but still answers enough questions that you don't feel lost (like you might when watching "Lost"). I highly advise picking up Season 1 at your local blockbuster or renting it online.

More Dance

So I finally got to watch the finale of So You Think You Can Dance - a couple of days late because I was on vacation and it was DVR'd at home. It's so nice being able to skip through all the stuff you don't want to watch. I loved all the dances. Aside from the Natalie Dimitry dance they were all ones I would have wanted to see again. I especially loved the Wade Robson group dance - definitely the coolest. I already knew that Benji won because I looked online (kind of figured...) My sister in law and brother were at our house Saturday night and I made them watch with me. My SIL was hooked after watching the dances and will hopefully watch next year. Anyway, here is a link to a good interview with Benji by another blogger. I think from that interview you can link to another one where he talks about possibly passing on the Celin Dion contract.

http://www.duckyxdale.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Back to the Real World

We just got back from a week long vacation with my family at Ocean City NJ. It was a great week - beautiful weather, beautiful place, time with family. It was Catherine's first time at the beach and she enjoyed it so much more than I thought she would. There were a number of times we had to grab her back before she was covered by a wave.
Here are some pictures from our trip....

Ella on her first merry-go-round ride. That was the tamest ride she went on....

Catherine and me on the beach- I actually don't want to post this but am having trouble deleting it and just want to publish this and go to bed...peace...