Cheri's blog

August 23 - Frankie turns 1!

2011-09-24T10:08:00.001-07:00

Frankie had two birthday parties. My parents (Grandma and Grandpa) came to visit in August and had to leave a few days before her actual birthday, so we had a party while they were here. Then we had a birthday party on her day with Nana and Papa (Dave's parents).

Pretty girl!

Birthday cupcakes!

Thanks for the presents Mama!

Such love!

Micah gets a birthday crown when they celebrate his birthday at school, so he made a birthday crown for Frankie. It said "Francess is 1" and also "Happy Birthday"

Grandpa was hoping to have Frankie walk while they were here. He claimed she took a few steps between the chair and ottoman, but she wasn't very stable. She started walking between Dave and I at the doctor's office 2 days after her birthday.

Frankie is 11 Months

2011-07-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

11 Months - where has the time gone? In just four short weeks we will be celebrating this little one's birthday!

Frankie has been eating everything and she really wants to feed herself with her spoon or hands, no matter what she is being served, whether it's jarred baby food, yogurt, or cut up fruits, veggies and meat. She loves to eat like her brother did (and still does) and she is most content when she's got her snack trap or a graham cracker or some kind of food in her hand. She has even snuck a few sips of her big brother's chocolate milk or raspberry lemonade. The second child always gets away with more than the first ever did, right?

Funny that I cleaned the tray before I thought to get a picture.

The tray and the floor got it even worse than her face!

I can't resist sleeping shots, but I hate waking a sleeping baby.

I just love the butt-up sleeping position!

Francess loves to walk using her little pusher. She is very proud of herself when she walks along. She loves holding our hands to walk also. I've noticed a bit of a blister on her big toes from crawling, so that's probably why she likes to walk with help. She also gets up onto all fours to move forward instead of her hands and knees, which is usually when she is outside because the ground hurts her knees or when she has a dress on that gets caught under her. Just in the last couple of days she has been standing for a few seconds without holding on to anything, so I'm sure very soon we'll be chasing her around the house. Actually, she already loves to be chased, she just crawls as fast as she can away from us!

She is really trying to talk. Her voice is super cute right now. She's using her high pitched scream less and less (which is FABULOUS) and stringing together cute babbling sounds that sometimes makes her sound underwater. She still gets very excited to see the cat and always very happy to see Micah. She loves looking at books, especially the ones with texture for her to feel. She likes to put things in places. She is pretty good at putting the toy coins into the piggy bank and she loves "working" in the kitchen with me, moving the lids from the container into the bowls.

Chelan 2011

2011-07-19T11:20:00.001-07:00

Dave's family has a few condo units on Wapato Point for use four times a year. Sometimes the whole family is able to go but other times no one but our family can make it. This was one of those times. We made it for a long weekend. We left Thursday afternoon after Micah was done with preschool. He had to miss the last day and the class pizza party, but the final day he did have at preschool was at a jump house with large blowup slides, an obstacle course, and a boxing ring, so he had a blast there and he was super excited about going to Chelan. Also, the day we left for Chelan was David's birthday so Micah was especially excited about everything happening that day. We had a few friends come and enjoy the weekend with us.

Micah and I playing mini golf

Brooke and I with Cece and Frankie, who had similar strawberry suits

The whole gang, Wolfroms, Pearsons and Smees

Micah loves swimming!

Emma, Heidi, and Braden

Micah and Braden reading from Micah's toddler Bible

Cheering on the dad's shuffleboard game

Preschool Program

2011-07-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

Early in June Micah had a preschool performance at the end of the school year. He was the star of the show! His teachers were hoping that he didn't have T-ball or some other sport that would take him away that evening. They wanted to make sure that he was going to be there because he knew all the songs and sang loudly and did all the hand motions. His teacher told me she knew if he were watching she could count on him to start the group singing. He took it very seriously and loved every minute of it! We got a video of each song but for some reason I can't upload the videos onto this blog. I'll work on that when I have time, but for now, here are some pictures.

He walked the June sign across the front.

How better to end the performance than to get the kids hyped up on ice cream sundaes right before they go home to bed!

10 Months

2011-07-18T10:09:00.001-07:00

Frankie is crawling all over, pulling herself up to cruise a little bit along furniture, playing peekaboo, waving bye-bye and trying to do signs ("more" is done like clapping right now). She gets very proud of herself with a sheepish grin when we cheer her on with her signs. She takes a big delighted intake of breath when she sees our cat. And she tries to call out for Micah in her own way ("MA DA" or some variation) whenever he's not around. She's climbing the stairs, which we only let her if we're right behind her because she has no sense of falling if she wants to take a break and plop her bottom down! She gets up to crawl on her hands and feet (instead of her knees) if something doesn't feel good on her knees or if she has a dress on that gets caught under her.

Easter

2011-06-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

I know this is a late post, but we had a lovely Easter with Dave's family at his parents house.

On the Saturday of Easter weekend we went to Micah's preschool for an egg hunt. They had eggs to gather, but they didn't stuff them so that it could be fair for all the kids. The kids collected all their eggs and then traded them in for a goody bag. They were also entered into a raffle for a number of different baskets. Last year Micah wasn't really sure what to do, so he didn't hustle out to collect a lot of eggs but this year he knew what he was doing and was determined to get as many as he could. Unfortunately he and another kid were going for a bunch of eggs on the ground at the same time and he got knocked over, which made his basket of eggs spill out on the ground and then a bunch of other kids came and picked up his eggs. He handled it really well, but when it was over he was sad because he only collected about 5 eggs. We assured him it didn't matter and had him pick up a goody bag and we also reminded him he'd have an egg hunt with his cousins the next day.

At preschool, ready to start!

Right before he got knocked over

Nana and Papa have the perfect yard for egg hunting!

The cousins

Frankie found the stash (after all the goodies had been taken out)!

Mother's Day

2011-06-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Micah really likes to "wash" the dishes. One day he asked if he could watch TV and I said "No, but you can wash some dishes!" and he said "Oh! OK!" and ran into the kitchen to pull a chair over to the sink. He washed the sink and did the dishes for me on Mother's day because Dave had told him to think of something nice he could do for me on that special day. What a sweetheart!

At preschool, Micah had made a card and brought home a huge cupcake that he had decorated to share with me. The card was really sweet and the cupcake was delicious! If you can't read the picture, the part that he told his teacher to type up says "I love you because you make me chocolate chip cookies, and hug me and read me a story at bedtime!" So cute.

9 Months

2011-06-03T13:48:00.001-07:00

I had every intention of keeping up with this blog. I wrote every day in December to try to get myself into a habit of sorts, but since then my habit has been once a month to keep up with the first year of my baby girl. Now I'm starting to miss the monthly updates, too. I have lots of things to write about but I'm going to start forgetting them if I don't get to it!

Frankie had her nine month appointment on the 24th and she was 16 lbs 9 oz (15th percentile); height was 26 3/8 (15th percentile) and her head was 18 in (90th percentile). She is crawling along best using her army crawl but once in awhile she gets her belly off the ground and crawls forward on her hands and knees. She is even starting to get up on her feet, pulling herself up on furniture. She is starting to cruise a little around the furniture once she gets herself up. She can get herself down but sometimes I think she is a little afraid and doesn't quite remember that she really can get herself down after pulling herself up to standing. It is quite a scary thing to figure out when you're that small I guess! She is still always very happy, but she likes to shriek at the highest pitch she can find when she's in her highchair and we haven't fed her quick enough. :)

8 Months

2011-04-23T22:45:00.001-07:00

Francess is 8 months. She is delightful. She cut her first tooth a couple days ago - her bottom right front tooth. She is getting around pretty well with her army crawl, and she gets so excited when she sees the cat that she does a little jump with her toes propelling her whole body forward. She loves when Micah enters the room and watches him intently. She must be carried facing out so she can see what's going on. She gets a big cute smile on her face when she is told No. She is starting to show lots of personality, which is so fun to see. Sadly (for Dave) she prefers her Mama, so when he tries to comfort her at night she cries pretty hard when she realizes it's him and she watches the door for me to come. She eventually calms down with him rocking her... it usually doesn't take too long.

This Easter weekend I am so thankful for a healthy family, beautiful growing children, and most importantly I am thankful for the love of Christ that gives me life.

Spring Sing

2011-04-16T23:35:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went to Micah's preschool church for a special presentation from him and his classmates. They had painted t-shirts and wore them for the song they did. Micah's shirt had a bumblebee on it. Some of the other kids had a butterfly and some had an octopus on their shirts. They sang the song "If I were a butterfly." One of the verses went like this: "If I were an octopus I'd thank the Lord for my good looks." Micah practiced singing it a couple times at home and on the way to church that morning. I thought it was very cute.

What a loving big brother :)

Happy girl!

2011-04-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

7 Months

2011-03-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by. Frankie is 7 months old. On Saturday, March 12th, Dave had gone to do some work at the office. Micah and I were playing his little travel-size Connect Four game, which highly interested Frankie. So, she pulled herself along on the floor to get to it. We had to call Dave at work to tell him "we have a crawler!" We haven't been able to keep her in one place since. She is army-crawling all over the place.

She's been a great sleeper for the past couple of months. She usually just wakes up once to be fed during the night. Sometimes it is at midnight right when I'm about to go to bed, or else at 4am. I am fine when it's just once like that. She's always up around 7am, like Micah. He has often been getting up more than her, having dreams/nightmares, going potty, asking for a back scratch in the middle of the night. It's kind of funny - we finally have a baby who now sleeps pretty much all the way through the night but our four year old has reverted back to infant stages!

Micah is really cool with her. He loves to read, so almost every morning they will both sit on the floor in her room after she's done nursing and he will read a story. Most of the board books in her room are easy and some of them he has memorized, but he's actually doing really well with reading.

Frankie is so sweet with Dave. He hasn't been able to be quite as involved with Frankie as he was with Micah because she doesn't take a bottle and Dave just doesn't have the right parts. But she still loves whenever she sees him. We tried out video chat on the Xbox one day when she was in her exersaucer and she got so excited that she jumped up and down and had a big smile. Now when he comes home she always has a big smile and gets bashful. In fact, whenever there is a man paying attention to her she kind of hides her face to the side and smirks a little. One time Dave thought she was trying to play peek-a-boo by turning her head away from him and then toward him while he had her on the changing table.

She is doing great with eating. She loves sweet potatoes and carrots. She is starting to enjoy bananas. She didn't really like the apple/blueberry mixture I tried to feed her and just yesterday I tried green beans, but she just spit them out. But she loves to eat. I'm thankful she eats rice cereal mixed with formula because I'm not a huge fan of pumping. Just a few weeks ago I went out for the first time in the evening without Frankie and Dave was home trying to put her sleep. Normally I have to nurse her. I was out for 2 hours when he finally texted me asking me to come home because she just wasn't going to sleep. Last night, though, I went out to the Sounders game with a friend. Frankie had a big dinner, I nursed her a little before I left and then I put her in her crib. She didn't fall asleep right away, but Dave rocked her and eventually she did. These are great first steps in finally being able to leave her with a babysitter and going out on a date!

6 months

2011-02-23T13:31:00.001-08:00

Today Frankie turns six months. It's amazing! She's already half a year old. She had her 6 month check up yesterday and is doing well. We started her on rice cereal when we were visiting family in Ontario, and now we can start trying every other kind of baby food. I'm going to have to look up how to do it... I think I remember something about starting her with vegetables instead of fruit because the fruit is sweet and she won't want anything else if we go with that first. And I think maybe I am supposed to mix rice cereal and breast milk with the food to water it down and get her used to it. She liked the cereal well enough when we tried that, so hopefully we'll have another good eater. Micah was never too picky, and even now he'll eat pretty much anything we put in front of him.

I do want to record my birth story with Francess and I figure the six month marker is as good a time as any since I didn't do it way back when she was born. So, if you are reading this and are not too fond of hearing these details, you may want to stop now.

I had to schedule a c-section because Micah was born via emergency c-section when some complications arose, but I still wanted to try to give birth naturally this time. So I scheduled the c-section for five days after my due date, hoping I'd maybe go into labor sometime before the date came. My parents were arriving a day before my due date and staying for about a week. For weeks, I had been having plenty of contractions. I was counting them, but they weren't bothering me enough to feel the need to call. There were times when I definitely had contractions that were strong enough to make me stop and breathe through it, but that wouldn't last too long. When my parents were here, we even went to the zoo with Micah and walked around a lot. I was hoping that maybe my water would break and I could get this baby out of me! But, looking back, I sure am glad that my water did not break at the zoo. I don't think we would have made it to the hospital in time!

So, August 23rd came, the day of my scheduled c-section. My parents said some prayers for us and sent us off to the hospital. When I got there, the nurse set up the monitors and could tell that I was contracting quite regularly and that I was already 5 cm dilated and almost 100 % effaced because she felt that she almost broke my water sack just by checking. They wondered if I'd like to have my water broken and try going into labor just to try doing a the VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I wanted to try that, so my doctor came in, broke my water, and then they moved me to labor and delivery. The nurse there told me I'd want to get up and walk up and down the hallways, and try moving about to help the baby get into position. I was also allowed to drink and eat something, so I ordered a sandwich from the hospital menu. When it came, not too long after I ordered, I took maybe one bite but I was not hungry even though I hadn't eaten since the night before. With the scheduled surgery I wasn't supposed to eat or drink anything at all for 8 hours ahead.

I decided to get up and "walk." I made it as far as the toilet in my room and started feeling like I had to push. David had gone out to the car to get our overnight bag, and he barely made it back in time! From the time they broke my water to when I was pushing was maybe about 45 minutes, and the nurses thought that was super fast. I don't know, I just knew I had to push and could feel that my body knew what to do. The nurse was concerned that I was going to push the baby out into the toilet, so she made me come back to the bed and she called the doctor to come. The nurse also told me to try not to push until the doctor got there, but that was very difficult. Since I was told to try to stop what my body wanted so naturally to do, I asked for the epidural. Actually, they HAD to give me the epidural since I was scheduled for a c-section, in case they had to the do the cesarean anyway. It was difficult holding still for the anesthesiologist, but somehow the guy got it in me and then I felt the sweet relief. I just wish I had had the presence of mind to ask for a smaller dosage of the epidural so that I could still feel a little bit. The epidural worked so well that I couldn't feel anything and I couldn't feel how to push. So when they had me try pushing again, I wasn't doing it right and she wasn't coming. The baby's heartrate would drop a little, so they would have me stop pushing and just rest for about an hour, letting my body do the work of getting the baby down into position, and then try again. This kept happening for about 4 more hours, until finally I was exhausted from pushing and waiting and pushing some more, so the doctor offered to try the vacuum extraction. I was so exhausted and just felt DONE with pushing, so I said if the vacuum didn't work I just wanted her out by c-section. They moved me to the OR and got the team all ready for the c-section in case this didn't work. But on the first try, Frankie came out!

2011 Trip to Ontario

2011-02-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful visit to Ontario at the beginning of February. We flew right when a huge storm was hitting pretty much every state in the east and middle parts of the US as well as Canada. Our original flight was supposed to go from Seattle to Chicago to Buffalo, but since Chicago was supposed to get hit pretty hard, we decided to change the flight. United Airlines switched us to fly through Washington DC. When we arrived in DC, all the flights to Buffalo were cancelled, so we had to stay the night and then fly the next day out of Reagan National airport, on US Airways instead of United. When we got on the plane in DC to fly to Buffalo, they decided that the storm would be hitting Buffalo right when we were to fly in, so they were going to redirect us to Philadelphia first and then go to Buffalo after the storm hit. My parents had been waiting in Buffalo for a few days, and hadn't seen much of a storm. We finally landed there in the evening but of course our luggage didn't make it. It was stuck in DC. US Airways was going to get it on the next flight to Buffalo in the morning and then drive it over the border to us in Canada. I was surprised. I thought we'd have to stay another night in Buffalo, but thankfully they brought it to us, much to my parent's relief as they were done with staying in a hotel and just wanted to get home. We were ready to get to our destination too! I was thankful our kids did great with all the travelling. Micah was excited about having to take THREE airplanes instead of just two. David's mom had watched for cancelled flights and booked a beautiful room in the Marriott Suites for us to stay the night in DC. We had a nice, luxurious night. Sadly, though, we were on PST and slept in past the time the pool was open so Micah was a little disappointed when Dave took him to go swimming while we waited for our next flight out of DC and found the pool locked.

I remember what it was like flying for the first time with a baby and how stressful it was to make sure he was good and quiet for the other passengers, and how much extra stuff you have to bring along when you have a baby. This time around, with two kids, I found it so much easier. I am much more relaxed as a parent and don't stress about a baby crying even if it disturbs the other passengers. It doesn't help anyone if I get worked up and stressed out, so I just stay calm. It definitely helps that David and I traveled together, because since there is a lot of cargo that comes with carrying a baby around, the extra set of hands comes in most helpful, especially going through security. On the way home, unfortunately, we had forgotten the stroller in my parents garage, so we had to carry Frankie in the carseat through the airport, but thankfully we didn't get stopped anywhere and had two easy flights home.

Micah and Grandma at the retreat

Uncle Greg and Aunt Amanda snuggling with Francess at the retreat

Micah showing his friends how his Leapster works

Movie time with Grandma and Grandpa, watching Micah's current favorite, Toy Story 3

Grandpa and Frankie

Grandma and Frankie

"We're gonna getchya Daddy, watch out!"

Shoveling the walkway

Rosy cheeks

While in Ontario, we had a great time visiting with my parents, playing in the snow, spending time at a family camp with close family friends, visiting with my grandparents, my dad's sister, and my close friends and all their kiddos.

My lovely girlfriends and all their kids. It's amazing how things change so much in just one year. All those babies weren't here the last time I visited.

Micah is reading a book to Frankie with Great Gran

Here Micah is showing Great Gran how his Tag reading system works

During the week we were there, Frankie really started being able to sit pretty well on her own. My mom noticed a difference from the beginning of the week to the end of the week. My mom also started feeding Frankie rice cereal for the first time while we were there!

He's one very protective big brother!

I am so thankful for these two cuties and super blessed to be raising them.

Five months, January 23rd

2011-02-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

I did so well in December, posting almost everyday about what we were doing. Now we're halfway into February already and I haven't posted since Christmas! Back on January 23rd I had taken a picture of Frankie's fifth month. What a delightful little girl she is! She's always got lots of big happy smiles for us.

Advent Day 24: Hang Stockings

2010-12-27T00:28:00.000-08:00

Today was a sad day because Micah came down with the stomach flu and was sick a couple times during the day, and the rest of the day he was just laying on his tummy on the couch watching movies. Frankie, also, because she had her 4 month shots the previous day, slept for a long time in the afternoon. They were both out of it, but it gave me a chance to get the house cleaned up since we were having David's parents over for dinner. They brought the dinner, and it was a simple dinner of cracked crab, salad, and bread. I made a cranberry brie for an appetizer and we had Christmas cookies for dessert. It was nice to have his parents over, and it might be a tradition for them to stop at our house first before they head up to David's sister house for the night on Christmas Eve. Micah had a little bit of chicken noodle soup, opened up his presents of new Christmas jammies and the book "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and then went to bed. Thankfully, he wasn't sick during the night, but he was still getting over the bug the next day. He was not his super excitable self on Christmas morning, but he did enjoy it. I'm glad he was starting to feel a little bit better so we could go up to David's sister's house and enjoy the time with family.

Merry Christmas!

Putting out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer

Micah and his pouty face, Frankie, and Nana. I have a better picture of Micah but decided to go with this one because it probably captures best how he is feeling! Right now he likes pouting for the camera (for reasons only a four year old would know though he couldn't articulate), so I kept it.

Someone dropped off a pretty baby under our tree!

Hanging stockings

Christmas morning!

Advent Day 23: cookies and lights

2010-12-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

I did what the card said today but not really with Micah. We were supposed to bake cookies and drive to see Christmas lights. I made peppermint bark and some other kinds that either had to be heated or that I wanted done quickly, so this time it was not with Micah. The lights drive was never really done purposefully. We did it a few times just around our neighborhood on our way in or out of the neighborhood. There are about 650 houses so we can see lots of lights, but nothing really extravagant because our houses are all so close together and no one has big yards with lots of trees to decorate elaborately. I had heard about a neighborhood that has great lights, but it just didn't work for us this time. We had Frankie's doctor's appointment on this day and Micah had soccer until about 6:30pm so we came home, had dinner and got the kids to bed. Good thing we don't have very many more days of this advent schedule because I'm getting tired of coming up with an activity and having to follow through with it everyday! It's been fun while it lasted, and hopefully we'll continue the tradition in the coming years.

Advent Day 22: Open a present and Read a Christmas Story

2010-12-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

We had a couple stories we wanted to read to Micah before Christmas, so we wrapped up a few to make it more fun for him. One was The Nutcracker. We had considered going to see the Nutcracker Ballet with his cousins in Seattle, but decided against it since it was a hard time for David to go and I wasn't about to try to take him and Frankie by myself. We've never read the story, so he (nor I!) would have a clue what's going on and I couldn't really predict what Frankie would do. So instead of going with them in Seattle, we saw that our city was also putting it on for a fraction of the cost. We thought we might go, but ended up not doing it. However, we got the book this year so we could read it and maybe one of these years we will see it and understand it.

Four and four

2010-12-26T21:47:00.000-08:00

On December 23rd Francess turned four months. I captured a photo of her, although it wasn't the best time of day. I should have taken it in the morning because she is always very happy and smiley at that time. This was taken in the evening, after a long day of seeing the doctor, getting her shots and being at Micah's soccer game.

Miss Frankie is doing very well. She is 90th percentile for her height, 50% for weight and 75% for her head circumference. We thought we might start her soon on rice cereal but the doc said we'll wait until 6 months and keep nursing as her main source of nutrition as long as she doesn't demand to be eating like the rest of the family.

This month will be the only time in their lives that Micah and Frankie will have the same number respresenting their ages. Micah is four years and Frankie is four months. Here is what four and four looks like:

Micah, you are such a fun, energetic and joyful boy. I look at you and can't believe how grown up you are. Gone are your chubby cheeks, you are now a long, lean and strong boy. You are so interested in reading words and in learning to spell. I look forward to the day you will be reading books on your own to your little sister. You are such a great big brother, caring for and kissing Frankie. You amuse me with your sarcastic humor (you must get it from your father), changing lyrics to songs like "Santa Claus is coming to town" (So be BAD for goodness sake!). You are a joy with friends and your enthusiasm is contagious, though your excitement can be a little jolting for those that prefer a quieter type.

You take music and actions very seriously, and your teachers say you can be heard above all the other little voices at preschool. You know what songs you want in the car, (and thankfully they are usually songs and artists I like), but you are a little too demanding sometimes and need to remember you are not in charge. You are very observant especially on the roads we drive and you seem to never forget certain ways we go. You love to include others, you share well. You are working on listening, but sometimes we need to light a fire under you to help you understand what it means that we're in a hurry. It has been sad to see you with the stomach flu for the past couple of days over Christmas, but even with that your spirit has stayed strong, you've fought through it and you have still had a great attitude and a smile on your face. I just want to squeeze you tight, you are such a sweet little man.

My dear Frankie Jane: what a gift you are to our home. If I had my way, I would keep you like this forever so I could kiss your chubby cheeks and touch your supersoft downy skin as I already do all day every day. You are so mild-mannered and easy going. You rarely fuss, and when you do it's easily remedied with feeding, sleeping or changing. Soon we are going to have to work on sleeping flat on your back in your crib. I have created a couple of bad habits that may be hard to break. I imagine, though, that you'll take it like a pro and stay mostly happy. You usually just go with the flow, wherever we are - swimming or soccer or driving to and from preschool. Micah is running us all over and you are just happy to tag along. You love listening to Charlotte Church's Christmas music in the car with the rest of us right now and if you're fussy you will usually quiet right down and listen. Will you sing in the opera? :)

You are always so alert. You don't like to stay sleeping too long if there is something happening around you, and you don't complain about being aroused from a nap because you like to observe whatever is going on. You crane your neck to observe big brother and give him gummy smiles and even little tiny chuckles to his peek-a-boos. I'm sure he'll always be your hero. You are beautiful and I absolutely love your babyness. You will soon grow and require discipline, so I am cherishing each peaceful, quiet moment and even the sleepless nights because there will be an end to this period of time and different challenges will come. I just ask for one thing: as we get you sleeping properly in your crib at night, would you please start sleeping for longer than 2 1/2 hour bouts? That'd be great, thanks.

Advent Day 21: Visit Santa

2010-12-22T00:17:00.000-08:00

This didn't turn out nearly as well as it could of. We thought Micah would be excited to see Santa, but it seemed like he didn't really care. David had something come up at work and he really wanted to be there, so we waited around at the mall for a while. Micah was happy playing on the play area outside Target for most of the time. When David got there we first went to eat, which turned out to be a mistake. We wanted to get pictures with a certain Santa, who has a nice, jolly look to him. But since we ate dinner first, during that time the jolly Santa switched shifts with another Santa, who had an OBVIOUSLY fake beard (one that moved when he spoke), looked like his belly was stuffed with a pillow, and just couldn't move. Micah has this thing right now about sticking out his lower lip whenever he gets his picture taken, so he did that for this picture too. They took two photos and somehow one turned out with a smile so we chose that one, but I think it would have been funny to choose the one with the pout.

We probably would have had a lot more fun had we gone on Friday with Micah's cousins in Seattle, who are really excited about Santa and might have helped Micah smile, and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. It's okay, though. After Santa photos we also took a couple seconds in a photo booth with the four of us stuffed in and took some family photo booth photos, which Micah thought was hilarious. :)

Reading: John 21:25

Advent Days: 18 and 19

2010-12-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

Again, I need to catch up. I'm sure it's okay that I'm not posting every single day because the 2 people who read this most likely are not rushing to their computers each day hoping to see what crazy fun we had. But it's a good challenge for me to try to keep my family updated on what we're doing, so I will keep it going for at least a few more days. David has been extremely busy with his work this month. Usually December is a little slower, but this year that has not been the case. So I can't have the laptop in the evenings to work on blog posts because he's doing something he deems a little more imporant. And usually in the evenings after I've fed Frankie and put her to bed I just want to veg out, but I have either been busy doing the dishes and cleaning up or wrapping presents. And besides, I would much rather do something downstairs near David than upstairs in the disasterous computer room that stresses me out just being in.

Day 18: Christmas Movie

Even though this day was a Saturday and we would normally plan something a little bigger to do with the whole family on weekends, we made it super simple because David was away the whole day working on migrating a server or something and he wasn't sure how long it was going to take. Which usually means for me to expect it to take all day. We missed Daddy, but still had a fun, simple day. Micah chose his Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas movie, which he had been obsessed with watching last year at Grandma and Grandpa's after he received it for Christmas. Earlier this month I said that Micah and David watched this Mickey's Christmas movie together, but I was mistaken. They had watched an old-school Mickey Mouse from the 80s, with clumsy Donald and his three nephews who tried to kill him with their snowballs. David loved watching it with Micah because Micah thought it was absolutely hilarious. I think David misses the cartoon violence because it just isn't quite like that anymore.

Once David got home I got together with my crafty friend (Lincoln's mommy) and broke out the sewing machine which hasn't been touched in a couple years. I had Frankie with me, so I didn't get a whole lot sewn, but with my friend Amanda back in town for a few weeks she renews my desire to get my craft on. :)

Reading: Isaiah 58; Matthew 6:16-18

Day 19: Family Game Day

After church we spent the whole day together, eating lunch, running some errands and then playing games, like chutes and ladders or on the Wii or Xbox 360. We all love games, so we had a fun time. Since David didn't watch the movie with us yesterday we also watched a short movie that we streamed from netflix with Jason Alexander (aka George from Seinfeld) who lent his voice for a cartoon Elf. I didn't know he's a broadway performer and he sang a couple songs during the show. Anyway, David made his yummy, extra buttery popcorn and we enjoyed a short movie together before bedtime.

Reading: Luke 11:1-13

Advent Day 20: Dress Up For Dinner

2010-12-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

This night we were going to have a nice family dinner together, and it turned out fine... but I made the mistake of letting Micah choose the menu. He wanted hot dogs for our nice dressy dinner! Next time I'll give him a couple options to choose from, but I made the best of it this time. We ate hot dogs by candlelight in our dressy clothes. Haha. I also made a salad, some star-shaped pasta with butter and parmesan, and cooked carrots. At least we all enjoyed spending a nice evening together. However, something unfortunately did not agree with Micah and he started feeling ill after dinner and actually threw up sometime during the night.

Reading: John 1

Advent Days 15, 16 and 17

2010-12-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

I need to catch up from the last few days. We haven't really been doing anything super exciting, so I'll just clump the last three days together. I needed a few days to take a break from the crazy activities we've been doing, and still I've felt super busy.

Day 15: Micah colored a few Christmas pages this day. He loves dot-to-dots and mazes, so I found some pages online and printed them out. The envelope that he opened had the card telling him what he could do, as well as the printed pages folded inside. A little something extra to find in his envelope made it a little more fun, but he lasted a whole 2 minutes coloring. :) (Bible reading today: Luke 1 and Jeremiah 32:17)

Day 16: He had his preschool Christmas production. Cute singing and actions, but we couldn't understand a word of their songs! They sent home a booklet with all of the songs they sang, so he's been doing them for us one on one, which helps to understand. We got video of this pageant too, so when we upload them to the computer I'll put them on here. I made up a plate of Christmas cookies to take to both of his teachers to thank them for their hard work and loving dedication to teaching our very energetic 4 year old boy. (Bible Reading today: Matthew 2:1-12)

Day 17: Today we met up with a friend who is back in town for the holidays and Micah played with his buddy at the BIG SLIDE that he asks about every time we drive by a McDonalds or Burger King that have indoor Play Places. We had gone once to this really big McDonalds Play Place with his buddy Lincoln and since then he asks to go there every time. We haven't been back until today when we went with Lincoln. He's probably going to assume we will only be able to go there if Lincoln is also there. So Lincoln and his sister Evan were there with their mommy, who had not met Frankie yet and was excited to see her. The boys were crazy on the huge apparatus and loved every minute of it. They were sweaty and red-faced when we left. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures from today. (Bible Reading today: Galatians 4:1-7)

Advent Day 14: Tree Lighting at City Hall

2010-12-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to City Hall at dinner time. Micah got to eat cookies and candy canes, drink hot chocolate, watch Santa turn on the lights and sit on his lap. It was actually kind of fun! We came home and had some homemade butternut squash soup.

Bible Reading:
Acts 15:22-31

Advent Day 13: Decorate Sugar Cookies

2010-12-13T21:19:00.000-08:00

I'm getting tired! Thankfully yesterday's activity was something we had to do anyway (the church's kids Christmas program) and Thursday will be another easy activity because Micah has a Christmas program at his preschool. We finally got to decorating the sugar cookies today. Looks like he didn't want his picture taken, but he likes decorating cookies, obviously because he gets to eat one afterward! Actually, maybe he's pouting because a little milk spilled. :)

Bible Reading:
Psalm 150

Advent Day 12: Church Christmas Concert

2010-12-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

The kids Christmas program was this evening. It was so cute. The 3 year old class sang Away in a Manger and Mary Had a Baby Boy (to the tune of Mary had a little lamb). Micah's class (the 4 year olds) sang Joy to the World. We have a video of it, and I'll get it on here soon. All I can say is A. Dorable. :)

Bible Reading:
Revelation 2:1-5
1 John 3:1-3

Advent Day 11: Gingerbread House

2010-12-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

We made a gingerbread house today. We skyped with my parents, and Santa came to visit our neighborhood. Micah got a little present and a candy cane from Santa. My mom was wondering how we have time to do everything when she heard we were doing gingerbread houses today. My answer at first was that nothing else gets done, which is mostly true. But also true is the fact that we haven't completed everything. The sugar cookies from yesterday did not get decorated today. We still have some dough to roll, cook, and decorate. But the gingerbread house was simple because it was a $10 kit, which I think, like my friend Shannon says, is worth every penny for the massive headache they save. Everything is included in the kit, and this year even the house was already put together. Micah got a little hopped up on sugar today. :)

Bible Reading:
Genesis 1
Isaiah 1:18
Psalm 51:1-10

Advent Day 10: Make Christmas Cookies

2010-12-10T22:33:00.001-08:00

We have already made a couple different kinds, but today was the actual activity on the card, so we made sugar cookies. Micah really enjoys baking. We only did one batch together because even though he tries to be careful, some angel heads or Christmas tree branches would break off. He likes to ... (I'm being very nice, usually it's "He MUST") do it all himself. He's four. We'll decorate them together tomorrow.

Reading:

Matthew 1:22-23

Isaiah 7: 10-15

John 1:14

Advent Day 9: Make Cinnamon Ornaments

2010-12-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

I got the idea to do this advent activity thing on the blog Not That You Asked. I have followed her since Micah was born because she and I gave birth to baby boys within days of each other. She is a very gifted writer and I love reading her blog entries, though I have never met her and I rarely leave a comment so she knows nothing of me. Her first advent day with her kids was to make cinnamon ornaments, so I copied this from her. They are super simple, and they made our house smell delicious for two days! It's just 4.12 oz of cinnamon and 3/4 cup of applesauce. You mix that together, roll it out and cut it into shapes. Use a straw to poke a hole in the top and then dry them out in the oven at 200 degrees for a couple hours, or lay them on the counter all day. Decorate, or just tie a ribbon through and hang them up! Micah enjoyed it. Dave hoped to eat them, and then thought 'what fun is it to make cinnamon ornaments if you're not allowed to eat them?', so we made "make Christmas cookies" day number 10.

My camera battery is dead and I don't know where the charger is, so I'm a little worried that the rest of my photo entries are going to have to be from phone.

Reading:

Isaiah 9:6-7

Revelation 19:1-16

1 Timothy 6:11-16

Francess

2010-12-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

With all this advent posting, and since Micah is the only one of our kids into the advent thing, I keep forgetting to post pictures of sweet Francess Jane! Here are some pictures of my cutie pie. (Oh, I have plenty, and of course I can't decide which is the cutest, so you get a few shots of the same thing!)

Below is a picture of Micah from January 2007 (when he was about 3 months old). I can't believe how much they look alike!

Advent Day 8: Write a letter to Santa

2010-12-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

I grew up receiving presents from Santa, but he wasn't a huge deal in our house. I always knew what Christmas was really about, but I loved the magic of Christmas with Santa. We are teaching our family that Jesus is the real reason that we celebrate Christmas, but Santa is fun. We will teach how the idea of Santa got started, with St. Nicholas. We will still have gifts from Santa under our tree and we will visit Santa for photos.

So today, we tried to get Micah to tell us what he wanted for Christmas to make a list for Santa. Luckily, when we had gone shopping a few weeks ago, we took some pictures of things he thought he might like to ask Santa for. So we went through those photos and also tried to get him to think of things on his own, and came up with a list. He wasn't really into it. I think he thinks he'll show Santa the pictures on Daddy's phone when we go to visit him.

Bible Reading:

Matthew 25:31-46

Advent Day 7: Watch a Christmas movie

2010-12-07T22:28:00.001-08:00

Today Micah was supposed to come with Frankie and myself to book club and then we were going to drive around to see Christmas lights, but last night he woke up with a bit of a fever and a headache, so we changed our plans. He stayed home from everything today: mom's group, preschool and book club. But, he got to watch Rudolph during the day with me and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas after dinner with Daddy. Our cards are getting a little mixed up, but he's really enjoying this advent season. We were reading a Christmas story last night (Bisquit's Christmas Eve) and halfway through the book he snuggled up to me and giggled and said "I can't wait for Christmas!" He's getting really excited. I am too because I'm excited to see the joy of Christmas through the eyes of a child again.

Bible Reading:

Exodus 25

Advent Day 6: Outdoor Lights

2010-12-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I have a smart child. We were having a nice, lazy morning today. We were reading Christmas stories from the boxes we had our Christmas decorations stored in, then we were eating some breakfast at about 10:15 and Micah said "After breakfast I'm going to get dressed so I can go to swimming lessons." I jumped up, looked at the clock, and said "oh! we have to get going!!" Swimming lessons start at 10:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays! Surprisingly, we got there just a little bit late. I'm glad Micah knows what days of the week he has swimming since his mom doesn't pay attention.

So we were supposed to do something else today, but I would have needed to go to the store and I didn't get there. It was a pretty nice day, though, and Frankie took a good long nap this afternoon, so Micah and I put up the outdoor lights on the house and one tree. When David got home, he put the rest of the lights up. I love when the lights are up. Probably the hardest thing for me being in the states is having to wait until after Thanksgiving (at the very END of November) to decorate for Christmas, put up the lights, and listen to Christmas music. David made a slight concession this year to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving since we got a little bit of snow. It put him in the Christmas spirit. If it hadn't been icy and cold, he may have even put up the lights. I just think the Christmas lights are so pretty. I'm glad we have them up!

Bible Reading:

Acts 20:35 (NLT) "And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

1 John 4:10 (NLT) "This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

Day 5: Make Paper Snowflakes

2010-12-05T23:52:00.001-08:00

We had a slight incident that prevented us from going about our normal Sunday activities. Getting into the car to go to church, Micah slammed the door on his finger. It looked pretty bad to us, so we took him to the emergency room. They took some x-rays and it looked like it had a tiny fracture, so he gets to wear a brace for the next couple of days.

I tried to take a couple pictures of him with his broken finger, but we were both laughing really hard at his posing for the photo. It did hurt him, but he's a tough kid and it doesn't look that bad anymore.

I'm glad today was an easy activity. We had to catch up from yesterday because we didn't decorate the tree yesterday when we were supposed to. We did that today. We also made paper snowflakes. I don't remember the last time I've made paper snowflakes, so I was thinking "how hard can it be? You just make some folds in a piece of paper and cut into it." Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. This was the first "snowflake."

Snowflakes really aren't rectangular, so I realized I should look it up online how to fold the paper. After looking it up, I found a good video tutorial and made a few with Micah before bedtime. Then I saw a friend on Facebook who was making lots of snowflakes today and looked at the tutorial she used, and I just had to make a few more after Micah went to bed. They turned out quite a bit better!

Today's Bible Reading:
Matthew 4:12-17
Isaiah 9:1-3
Matthew 5:14-16

Day 4: Decorate Christmas Tree

2010-12-05T23:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a busy day. We had our tree but David had some work to do and couldn't set the tree up earlier in the day, so we set it up last night and decorated the next day.

We watched The Grinch while we decorated, but once it was over Micah was totally into helping put the ornaments on the tree. I was surprised, because he usually isn't interested in them. There are ornaments that we've gotten for him each year. When we were first married I didn't like all the old ornaments that David had brought with him to decorate our tree, ornaments from his childhood. His mother had kept track of his ornaments from each year and kept them in a box for him to take with him when he got married. Now, when we decorate our tree, I kind of like some of the unique and cute ornaments that come out. I like how they bring character to our tree. Of course, some of the homemade (ie. the spaghetti-puppy-santa) ornaments remain in the box year after year, but there are some neat ones that Micah now likes.

Bible Reading:

Mark 9:33-37 (New International Version, ©2010)

³³ They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” ³⁴ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

³⁵ Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

³⁶ He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Advent Day 3: Giving Tree

2010-12-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

Today we went to our city hall and chose a gift tag off the Giving Tree. Our church has giving trees to choose tags from as well, but we thought it would be nice to chose something from our city (since the church we attend is not in our city). It didn't seem like there were a lot of tags to choose from, and it might be that a lot of people had the same idea and already got their tags. There were some choices of big ticket items, like a bike or a scooter, or a girl one for "anything Justin Bieber" but we chose the 5 year old boy who wanted Optimus Prime (the Transformer leader).

This was something David wanted as a kid and never got it. He and Micah will go out in search of it tomorrow to bring joy to the five year old boy this Christmas.

Today's reading was Luke 2:1-20

Day 2: Go choose our Christmas tree!

2010-12-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

Maybe some year we will go cut a tree down. I assume it would be from a U-Cut farm and not from the mountains (like in National Lampoon's Christmas vacation). But this year our card said to go out today to pick our Christmas tree and since we have friends who own a market and they sell trees there, we purchased one from Harbor Greens.

I love my family! Aren't they adorable?!

The Bible reading plan we are doing is from a Bible app we have on our Palm Pre smartphones. Here's a link for an article that the app hit a marker of 10 million downloads. It's a great app!

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/19/bible-app-hits-10-million-downloads/

(This reading was a little heavy for Micah to sit through so instead we read from his kid's Bible)

The reading today was Matthew 1.

Matthew 1 (New International Version, ©2010)

Matthew 1
The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Advent Day 1

2010-12-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

For the Christmas season this year I got the idea from another blogger to make it special by doing meaningful activities everyday. I have been meaning to do this every year since Micah was tiny, but I think this year is when it will actually mean something more to him and he'll get it. The activities might be something small like cutting paper snowflakes, watching a Christmas movie and eating popcorn, or baking Christmas cookies. Or it could be something bigger like picking out the Christmas tree, going to see The Nutcracker, or going to Zoolights.

Today was Day 1. The card in the envelope said to choose a favorite Christmas carol and dance and sing along.

He is going to be singing Joy To The World with his Sunday School class at church on the 12th so he's been practicing that song. We danced and sang along to the Veggie Tales version because I just got the CD for free from Amazon here (may only be good through today).

The card inside the envelope also has a Scripture passage relating to the birth of Jesus. Today we read Luke 2:21-40.

Luke 2:21-40 (New International Version, ©2010)

²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]}), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”^{b]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[b]}

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss^{c]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]} your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.^{d]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[d]} She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹ When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Advent Conspiracy

2010-11-28T11:27:00.000-08:00

Last year our church got involved with this idea called Advent Conspiracy. If you don't watch the video (but please do!), it's about giving more "presence" instead of getting wrapped up in the stress of the Christmas season. The website says it best:

"Christmas can [still] change the world.

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.

So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

Welcome to Advent Conspiracy."

I'm thankful for my parents' families, who have for years given to charities instead of exchanging Christmas presents. Whoever is hosting the Christmas dinner gets to choose which charity to give toward and presents the organization to the family. We also do a little five or ten dollar gift exchange and have some fun with that. There are so many opportunities to give to people in need during the Christmas season. This year Micah and I purchased some toys and hygiene items for Operation Christmas Child boxes, so we gave one for a boy and one for a girl. Our church took a mission trip this past summer to a village in Bolivia, so we are raising money to dig a well for clean water for that village. Our church also has "giving trees" that we can use to give towards to help families in our area, purchase things from World Vision for people in need, or help with the International Justice Mission. All are very worthy causes and powerfully help people who are less fortunate.

We're still working on what it means to us to spend less, give more, worship fully and love all. We have so much to be thankful for.

3 Months

2010-11-26T21:10:00.000-08:00

Francess is smiling a lot for us now, and has even started to giggle a little bit. It's pretty funny the things you do to make a baby laugh.

Snow!

2010-11-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 22nd brought a nice bunch of snow for our enjoyment! Schools and businesses shut down for the entire week. Everyone got a really long Thanksgiving holiday break!

This is as about as far as Frankie made it. As soon as I took her outside she wanted back in for her nap. I'm sure there will come a day that she will appreciate the snow. :)

Micah enjoyed himself.... on top of our bushes!

He met a friend. The night before, when it was perfect packing snow, Micah and Dave went out to cover the pipes and then they made a snowman. It was blustery, cold and dark when they made him, but he stayed standing until the day after Thanksgiving.

November 2010

2010-11-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

The leaves fell and blew around our yard, which is so small that it seems almost unnecessary to rake, but it's important to do. We had been putting it off for a while, but finally we went out and did it. It was a cold day, but it was a good thing we did it when we did because a few days later we got a bunch of snow. Micah had fun raking and then jumping into the pile we gathered.

Micah helped me rake the leaves

And he ran and jumped into the huge pile from our huge yard.

Frankie stayed warm inside

Brotherly love

2010-11-07T23:16:00.000-08:00

I don't think this picture can get any bigger - it's taken from my phone. But I had to put it up so you can see Frankie's cute smile and Micah's big hugs for her. Every morning he always wants to sit in the chair and hold her and he always asks me to take a picture. He loves his little sister and he's such a good, protective big brother. I love these little cuties. :)

***Edited: I did make this picture bigger!

October happenings

2010-11-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

Micah loved the pumpkin patch. We spent a few days there when we could in October. There were some beautiful, sunny fall days to enjoy there.

One day when we were there we met up with a classmate of Micah's from his preschool. It just so happened to be "Addie" Micah's most talked about classmate. I think it's a little crush. The past couple of weeks she's been on vacation and so his teachers tell me he asks about her all the time. I believe it because he talks to me about her too, that maybe the mountain we see is where Addie is on "baycation." She's actually at DisneyLand. She's a cutie, but I think it's a little too early for my liking.

Micah's preschool had a costume parade and concert for the parents on the Thursday before Halloween. It was the funniest and cutest thing to see all the little 3 and 4 year old kids dressed up in their costumes and singing their pumpkin or spider songs. They sang 3 verses of the itsy-bitsy spider and I just couldn't stop laughing. The first verse was "The teensy-weensy spider" and they all sang it in their highest-pitch voices so you really couldn't understand what they were singing until they got to "The middle-sized spider" when they used their regular voices. Then they went to the "BIG HUMONGOUS SPIDER" and Micah was so into it with his face and actions. He was front and center, loud and proud. He made everyone laugh when after one of the songs about little critters and apple fritters he said the teachers were the little critters. Micah dressed as a doctor for his costume parade at school. He also had a costume party for a friend's birthday party and dressed as the doctor then too. For Halloween he was a lion. Frankie was an adorable little pink kitty cat.

Canadian Thanksgiving:

These pictures must have been the calm before the storm. Here they are waiting for their food.

One of our (and our friend's) favorite fall traditions is celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with all of our friends. For the Americans that read this blog, Canada celebrates Thanksgiving the same way, with a huge feast - turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, yummy rolls, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and any other favorite dishes that I am forgetting! In Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday of October, which happens to be Columbus Day in the States. We celebrated a few weeks late so it wouldn't conflict with Micah's birthday party.

It is always super crazy but everyone loves it. This year we had 13 adults and (I think) 10 kids. I was slightly out of it with a newborn and may just be blocking it from my memory because of the chaos of it all. Our house is a fine size, but never feels big enough for that many people. I wish we had taken more pictures but I was stuck nursing my baby, or trying to keep the massive amounts of children from killing each other or destroying my home, or I was making sure all of the adults were getting hot food. It always stresses me out, but this year I made it as easy as possible. I made the stuffing in the crockpot, David took care of the turkey, I made a cranberry sauce and an apple crisp the night before, and everyone else took care of everything else. Actually, I also made a chocolate pecan sweet potato pie because the person who was going to bring the pies ended up not being able to come. I'm so thankful for my amazing husband who calmly took care of cleaning, setting up the table and taking care of the turkey while I was stuck nursing most of the day. I crashed into bed as soon as everyone left, but I always love having a little bit of "home" celebrated with my friends.

October 23

2010-11-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

I should have posted this a couple of weeks ago, but I suppose it's better late than never. Here is Frankie at 2 months. I did take this picture on October 23rd, I just haven't gotten around to posting it yet. She is getting bigger every day. At her doctor's appointment she was in the 90th percentile for her height and 60th for weight.

4

2010-10-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

My big boy turned four on October 7. He had preschool that day and got to celebrate with all of his friends. He got a special birthday crown and a card from his teachers. He was able to be the helper, so he brought the snack and got to help the teachers pass it out. He also had his first show and tell opportunity at preschool. I would love the be a fly on the wall during show and tell for preschoolers. When we asked Micah what he wanted to bring his first response was his crocs. He is so proud of those. The crocs he wore for most of the summer finally got too small and actually broke, so we had gone out to buy some new ones with him. He is not allowed to wear his crocs to school, so he wanted to bring them to show his friends. We tried to steer him in a different direction and suggested other toys. He eventually ended up taking one of his toddler Bibles. I just think show and tell is so cute!

Micah got a game based on the movie "Horton Hears a Who." It's a pretty funny game because you have to put an elephant trunk on your head, find a clover that you hid earlier, and hop, run, crawl, or flap back to the board before time runs out.

There is a story to this ice cream cake.

Dave's dad came over for dinner that night. We had a yummy home-made chicken pot pie because Micah loves the "bread" (the pie crust). I had gone out to the store during the day and bought what I needed. I even bought a cake mix but didn't have time to make it. Dave's dad didn't want to stay too long, and David actually came home from work pretty early, but since we didn't have a cake David decided to go out to Baskin Robbins to purchase an ice cream cake. There is a BR nearby, but they were closed because they have gone out of business (the owners retired) so he went to the DQ close by, but they don't have ice cream cakes. So he went to the next city to Baskin Robbins, and then the lady took a really long time writing "Happy Birthday Micah." David just wanted to get it and get home because he knew dinner would be ready, his dad didn't want to stay too long, and I would be calling soon.

Well, at least we got a cake for Micah on his actual birthday.

I couldn't possibly take pictures only of Micah even though it was his birthday. This precious little girl is just too cute!

One month

2010-09-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Frankie is one month old today. We had her check up at the doctor's office and she is doing well. She is gaining weight and is now 9lbs 4oz. It is amazing to me how a little person can grow by nourishment from my body alone. I am so thankful that she is getting enough. It was a much different experience with Micah. Probably some of that had to do with me not fully understanding what was required of me or how much it hurts in the beginning. Yesterday she started smiling at us for the first time that we could tell was in response to us. She is also starting to coo a little bit. Love that!

Frankie's name

2010-09-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Francess means free and Jane means gift of God. We are so blessed to have this baby girl, she is a beautiful gift in our family and we all love her so much! We had a long list of names we were considering, but Frankie was always one of the top on the list. I looked up a list of names from my mom's side of the family and there are Frances' in her geneology. Jane comes from David's side - Janey was his mother's grandmother. Originally Dave mentioned the name Frankie and I said "Oooh! I love that name, I had forgotten about it!" That was quite a long time ago, and from then on I kept coming across girls named Frankie - in books I was reading, in songs, in movies or TV shows, it just kept coming up! I recently read The Postmistress and the main character in that book was Frankie Bard. A lot of other books I read around the same time had supporting characters with the name Frances, Francine, or Frankie Mae

. Flipping through channels on the TV one night I saw an Elvis movie that was called Frankie and Johnny. The song they sing at the end is also called Frankie and Johnny. A TV show called "The Middle" has parents called Frankie and Mike. Amanda Peet named her first daughter Frankie. It was kind of funny how many times I came across the name!

Anyway we are just so thankful for our precious free gift from God!

Preschool!

2010-09-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

Micah has started preschool and he seems to be loving it. We have to drop him off and "be brave" they tell us so he doesn't get worried or sad that we're leaving. We're supposed to drop him off and just leave really quickly. He's never been sad or afraid that we're leaving him - he's had lots of opportunities in the nursery at church or in his Sunday school class. I'm just a little sad that I don't really get to know what he's doing during those 2 1/4 hours. But it's all part of growing up, right? I suppose it's inevitable, I'm not going to be with him 24 hours a day for the rest of his life!

Here's Micah and David choosing an apple on our preschool farm trip. Micah also got to harvest some vegetables, pick blackberries, and plant a mum.

Here's the big boy on his first day of preschool!!

Micah and Frankie having some fun together. :)

Sweet baby girl!

Francess Jane

2010-08-31T17:55:00.001-07:00

Frankie was born on August 23 at 8:20pm and weighed 8lbs 3oz.

new pictures

2010-07-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Swim lessons: working on back torpedo

At Lake Chelan in late June with cousin, Joe

Having fun in the sand

And in the water

My amazing friend Amanda came over for an entire day to paint our baby girl's room. She did an impeccable job! After taking our crib from storage to set it up a few days ago, we found out that it has been recalled. So, 3 weeks before the baby is due we're ordering a new crib. Perfect timing, right?!

Oh my goodness! 37 weeks.

Update on Micah

2010-07-24T10:00:00.001-07:00

Micah is a super fun three year old. He's very interested in learning. He counts to 100 all by himself and asks what comes after big numbers, like 1 million ("milliom"). He loves to tell time with the digital clocks around the house. He's been doing that for probably a year by now because we got an alarm clock that projects onto the wall so he stays in bed until at least seven-zero-zero. He also really likes when the "Sillies" come on, so he watches for the clock near the TV to turn to 3:00. The Sillies are America's Funniest Home Videos. He has been learning analog clocks from the Wipe-Off books that he has, but that's quite a bit harder to understand. He loves writing his name, or friend's names, or really anything that comes to mind. He asks a million questions about how to spell whatever comes to mind: light, ceiling, railing, TV. He recently drew an apple and wrote the word inside it on his magna-doodle.

Micah is very interested in the baby that is soon coming. He has no concept of time, but talks about her coming in 3 years or 3 weeks (probably the same in his mind). He received a little baby for him to practice with and loves it. He reads to her, sleeps with her and plays with her. He's always been very interested in other babies when we see them at church or at the park. Concerned when they cry, loves to push them on the swings, helps to feed them their snacks. I think he's going to be great helper. But I'm also trying to keep my senses about me and not be too shocked when he suddenly realizes that he doesn't get my full attention anymore. He loves spending all his time with me right now, so I'm trying to make him have some quiet alone time where he needs to find something to do by himself.

He's mostly a very good listener, but there are obviously toddler moments where he gets completely distracted from the task at hand and takes an exceptionally long time to do what he has been asked to do. I do not like repeating myself over and over again, so those times require some extra patience from me. He asks me over and over sometimes to watch something he does (like hopping on one foot or laying on his back holding something on his feet, which are up in the air) and if I'm busy with something it can be a tiny bit... annoying (is that okay to say about your child?)! He asks "what" a lot, even when we know he hears, and as I have already said I do not like to repeat myself over and over again. His "why" questions are still constant, but I'm glad he is curious about the world around him. He is a smart boy and soaks up everything he learns. If he starts whining or crying about something I can often laugh at him that he's going to cry about THAT and he recognizes that's not how he should behave and he'll change his attitude. He's pretty sensitive, too, because he got in trouble at swim lessons for splashing or jumping in when he should have been listening, and he came crying to me after being reprimanded, but he got over it pretty quickly and went back to his class and was happy as a clam.

Just yesterday Micah asked if the baby sister can see God. After thinking about it, wondering what he was meaning I eventually realized it was a pretty logical question since he understands God is inside each of us and since the baby sister is inside me she must be able to see God. I have always enjoyed every stage, but three and a half is just so much fun. His communication with me, his interaction, his ability to reason and understand, his independence.

Micah is fishing with his cousins on the dock at Lake Chelan in June

Getting close

2010-07-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'll need to get another picture up because I'm exactly 35 weeks today and have grown even more since that last picture! But I think I'll still post this because as you can see, I had a post from a few weeks ago that I just now posted because I didn't get the picture from my phone to my computer. Also, I'm never on my computer these days. I get emails on my phone and check Facebook on my phone, so I really don't get on my computer much at all.

Anyway, the weather has been fabulous lately and we've been enjoying a lot of sunshine. I am not going to complain as some others do about the heat because it's been cold and rainy for so long that I'm absolutely loving the sun and warmth. Micah and I have been hanging out at the park after swimming because the city puts on a play day at the park from 11-5 Monday through Thursday, with lunch and a snack provided. He loves going there after our lessons. The summer lesson schedule has us at the pool Monday through Thursday, so it works out perfectly!

I had an amazing shower with my church friends on Monday night and tonight I'll have another shower with my soccer friends. I am so blessed by wonderful friends! We got lots of really cute girly clothes and hair bows and clips. My friends had organized an activity for people at the shower to make flower clips for hair, and they are all so cute! The only problem will be in deciding which clip to use!

From a couple weeks ago...

2010-06-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much to say lately, as is obvious by my lack of posting, but I think I should try to keep up with it if anyone still reads. My family in Ontario would appreciate periodic updates, so I'm going to try to do better, especially with the changes coming to our family very soon. I'm now at 32 weeks. They did an ultrasound 2 weeks ago to check the placenta because at the 20 week ultrasound it was showing to be partially covering the cervix. If the placenta is fully covering the cervix at time of delivery the baby needs to be delivered by c-section. My doctor wasn't worried because it was only partially covering it, and he said that in most cases the placenta moves out of the way by itself. But they always have to check at another ultrasound, which is what they did at 30 weeks. The placenta has moved, so that is now not a concern. Also at that time they measured the baby as best they could and think that she's going to be a large baby, 9 lbs or so. Micah was 7lbs 8oz. Since Micah was delivered by cesarean because he didn't fit, the doctors are thinking I might want to consider doing another c-section. I had been hoping to do a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) but now I have more decisions to make. I may still try a vbac and if she has to be born by c-section, so be it. We'll see.

Micah had been in swim lessons and loving it. We are going on vacation to Chelan with David's family soon, so we're looking forward to swimming with him during the week. He's been doing a great job learning to swim, but he's still so little that he can't touch the bottom of the pool, so he gets a little scared when he's not near the wall or someone to hold onto. He'll be starting the summer swim schedule in July, which is four days a week. He loves having something to do every day. I've signed him up for preschool in the fall, too.

The weather has not been summery for us yet this year. We have had a few days here and there where it feels like summer might be coming, but most of the time it has been rainy and cold - in the 50s or low 60s most of the time. Today was finally nice - sunny and 70-something. Micah and I had a few errands to do in the morning and then we spent the afternoon working in the yard. We had been told by our HOA that we need to put plants in the front area between the sidewalk and the street. Originally the community had put in non-fruit bearing strawberry ground cover plants, but they were a pain. I think the HOA decided they didn't like them either because they have given everyone notices to pull them up and put plants there instead. So on Father's Day, David and his mom were out working on one of half of the area. Today, Micah and I were working on pulling the rest of the ground covering and turning the dirt so David could plant the rest of the flowers. It's pretty hard work with a big belly, but I love being outside on such a nice sunny day.

2010

2010-06-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Taken at 26 weeks

(I'm now about 30 weeks, so I'll get another picture soon!)

I guess it's about time I update my blog. I've been spending more time on Facebook, even though I don't update that quite as much as people would probably like, either. But, there are a few people not on Facebook that I know would love to see pictures and hear more about what's going on in our lives. So, the biggest news of 2010 is that we're expecting a second baby (finally!) in August! We're expecting a little girl! Hopefully I'll update with more news soon. :)

Micah's Birthday Party

2009-12-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

Micah's 3rd birthday party was train-themed.

Train whistles from the pinata.

There were plenty of train tracks to set up and destroy!

The train birthday cake

This cake was the easiest thing to make! I bought a kit that has silicone cupcake shapes and it tells you how to piece it together so you can make a train (or a rocket ship or a dump truck) and after you assemble and bake it, you decorate and voila! It's a train cake!

Micah with all his friends

Books I've recently read - short reviews

2009-10-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
This book was helpful in understanding what went on in the south during the 1960s, when black women were maids for white women. The maids did all the cleaning, cooking, and raising children. It's hard to imagine what any of the white women did, aside from being selfish and getting their hair done and doing things for the league they were involved with. The story focuses on a white women who has a desire to write about the things the maids deal with as black women in that time - how they are treated and how they live.

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
Pope Joan may or may not be an actual historical figure. There is some evidence to proove she existed and fooled everyone into believing she was a man who became pope. The Catholic Church has covered up and deny any evidence about it because it is shameful and embarassing. It was a very interesting novel. Joan's character was strong and very intelligent. I loved reading about her theological discoveries, her challenges and the debates she courageously spoke and thought about. Since the novel takes place during the 800s, there is some mention of the Viking attacks and brutality toward women, but I believe the author really took it easy on the readers.

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
Amazing book on how two totally separate lives come together through the power of God and how God can take those two lives and change them for Him. All through the obedience of one humble woman.

In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon
This is my second time reading this book. It has been at least 5 years since I last read it. The story is of a pastor's proposition to his church for any member that is willing to live for a full year basing every decision on following Christ's example and always asking "What would Jesus do?" when faced with a decision. Among the members of the church that agreed to take on the pledge were some of the most prominent men and women in their town. They had to sacrifice many things, jobs, families, securities, but it brought the people of the church closer together and saved many men and women from the slums. It's amazing to think how easily we live our Christian lives, without ever taking up our cross and following His example. This is a very practical book for thinking about what it really means to be a Christian.

Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Lots of good information in here about living as a "locavore". Barbara, the author, decided to leave the fast pace of Tuscon where food and even water is shipped in, to rural Virginia where they could grow or raise everything they ate for an entire year. Anything they didn't have growing on their small farm, they bought locally at farmer's markets. It's an amazing journal of the year they lived and makes it very compelling to start thinking more seriously about buying and eating things grown and raised locally.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Extremely thought provoking. The author talks about reasons why some people are more successful than others, either because of birth month, because of genius, because of 10,000 hours of study, etc. He talks about why Korean airplanes crashed more frequently than other airlines based on societal differences. It's very interesting in terms of raising kids and how to help them be successful.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

2009-10-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a joy watching you become a little 3 year old boy. I love hearing your cute little sing-song voice and listening to you stumble over sentences as you try to explain what's going on in that little brain of yours. I predict you to be either a sports commentator or a singer. It's fun to hear you give a play-by-play of what you're doing or what I'm doing, and I love that you always ask me what I'm doing. I'm waiting for the constant "why's" but in the meantime, I can deal with "what are you doing that for?" instead.

Your singing is awesome. I love how you get favorite songs that you ask to listen to over and over again. If I don't sing them quite right while practicing guitar you ask to have it on the ipod instead or you stop me and make sure I sing the melody correctly. I love hearing you sing to yourself in your bed or at the park or wherever the song pops into your head.

I am so thankful you are through with potty training. That was not a fun stage, but it didn't take you long until you got it. You were out of diapers by the end of the summer! Fantastic!

I love hearing you laugh. Love reading with you. Love seeing you learning and playing on the computer. I love that you can throw a Frisbee better than me. I love kicking a soccer ball around with you. Love teaching you to hit a tennis ball and I'm excited to play tennis with you one day! I love that you're not really interested in movies or TV and that you'd much rather pull up a chair to help me in the kitchen. I love that you help me with laundry and that I can check my email while you move the load from the washer to the dryer. You're a big helper with the vacuum and even with cleaning the bathrooms. Keep that up!

I love seeing you with your friends and with your friend's little baby sisters. One day you'll be a great big brother. You are loving and gentle with babies. If only you could learn that with the cat! It's fun seeing you talk and play with the cat like he's your sibling. I just hope the cat's limp is nothing serious. :)

I love you little man. I am so thankful for you.

Hope you had a great 3rd birthday!

Love,
Mom

Downhere's Christmas Album

2009-10-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Downhere is a rock group that formed at my college, Briercrest Bible College in Saskatchewan, Canada and I'm excited that their Christmas album is released today. It sounds pretty cool. I love Christmas music and I'm excited for their new songs and for the old classic songs that they have updated to make fresh. They always have awesome harmonies and theologically sound lyrics. Check it out!

Visit from Greg and Amanda

2009-07-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

We were so glad to have my brother and his wife here for a visit in late June. One of the days while they were here they took Micah to the zoo while Dave and I could get out to celebrate our 7th anniversary.

Micah especially loved the "green ones" - the jelly fish in the aquarium.

They went out for ice cream after the zoo.

Micah feeding ice cream to Aunt Amanda.

Chelan, here we come

2009-07-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I'm having problems getting pictures to upload, and we're leaving today for our family vacation in Chelan. We have had a great summer so far: a trip to the zoo, some fun in the sprinklers, a visit for Micah from Uncle Greg and Aunt Amanda, swimming lessons and ice cream! I will get more pictures up soon, but it will be another week at least.

Spring 2009

2009-07-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

I realize I am way behind in my updates and photos for my out of town family, so I'll do a couple of posts with just photos to let my family know what we've been up to these last couple of months.

Micah watering the flowers he and Dave planted for my birthday while I was out.

We had a couple weeks of really nice spring weather - warm and sunny. Micah got a taste of what summer would be like playing outside all day every day. Dave taught him to hit a t-ball.

He is very proud of his new Sounders hat. Go Sounders!

Dave probably won't be too happy about this picture! Micah found my lip gloss and tried to apply it himself while I was on the phone. :)

My Uncontrollable Obsession

2009-05-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

After reading Audrey's post on Prost Amerika about her obsession with the Seattle Sounders, I decided to write a piece of my own. Ladies out there, if you feel you have something to say about your love for soccer, write about it and email steve@prostamerika.com. They want to hear the women's voice and perspective on this beautiful game!

Allow me to indulge you for a moment into my out-of-control addiction: Soccer! I have always loved soccer, playing since I was very young. I remember being on co-ed teams and driving by high school girls fields and thinking "I can't wait to play like that!" I played in high school and helped lead soccer clinics in our town with Portuguese guys. I played soccer all four years of college, even captain of the team for three of those four years. I was named MVP of the league one year and our team was undefeated in every tournament. I even went to Ireland for a summer to play against other women's teams and to lead soccer clinics for young kids in Ireland. These days I would play every day of the week if it were possible, but for now I play only about 4 days (since I should spend time with my family).

You could say I've always had a soccer addiction. But the thing that is now getting out of control for me is my obsession with the MLS and the Seattle Sounders. Seattle is in the middle of their inaugural season in Major League Soccer. Apart from the World Cup and the Olympics, I have never watched much soccer because there was nothing on TV and no close team to cheer for. I'm excited that Toronto also has an MLS team, and I hope they win every game they play, except against Seattle. Aside from the Sounders being exciting, fast-paced soccer and having the best goalkeeper in the league, we have the largest and loudest crowds in the MLS, which helps to draw you into an unnatural obsession.

My passion for this team gives Dave easy ideas for gifts. My birthday a couple weeks ago was spent at the Xbox Pitch in Seattle watching the Sounders win 2-0. Yesterday was Mother's Day and again we got to spend it at the Sounders game. Dave's brother got season tickets three rows back from the field near where the players come out of the locker room. The crowd is electric and is making the rest of the league envious of our sold-out stadium with 30,000 in attendance. I'm so excited for this team. The players are super fit and they play exciting football!

Audrey's article about her love for the Sounders made me feel somewhat normal. When I am sad that they only play once per week and I'm counting down the minutes in between matches, watching the games that I've saved on DVR more than once after watching them live, and reading every blog and news article out there on the Sounders, I think I am a little too into this team! I had no idea I would get so passionate about this, and I think it has surprised Dave too. I have always loved soccer, but didn't realize a Seattle MLS team was missing from my life!

Easter

2009-04-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

I know I'm really late with this post, but I still wanted to post it for my family back in Ontario. Micah had a fun Easter. There is a video at the end of Micah opening his Easter present from his Grandma and Grandpa that had come in the mail.

Easter Egg Hunt at Nana and Papa's:

Checking near Uncle Dane

Found one in the shoe!

Micah got a new alarm clock that projects the time up on the ceiling with the hopes of keeping him in bed until at least the 7th hour!

Micah with his cousins Joe and Jack

Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa! Happy Easter!

My Spirtual Child

2009-03-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Dave has been making use of his electric guitar a lot lately in our worship services on Sundays. I'm really proud of him because he's doing an amazing job learning the songs and making them sound really good and also doing it in a worshipful way. With him practicing so much at home and listening to the songs in the car when we drive, Micah has learned all the songs as well. It's adorable how he loves to sing all these worship songs. He has his own name for each of them . His favorites are: "Then Sings My Soul" (How Great Thou Art by Paul Baloche), "Hojanna" (Hosanna by Hillsong), "Halleluia" (Holy is our God by Starfield), "Oh Praise the One Who" (Jesus Paid it All by Kristian Stanfill), and "At the Cross" (Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle).

I've also been listening to a CD in my car with hymns that have been redone and Micah loves some of the songs. It took me little while to figure out which ones he was meaning. He especially loves "Hoorise" (Arise my soul arise). The other one that I just figured out yesterday was "That thumb my got chew" which is .... can you guess? No? And Can It Be! Of course! You know the line that says "That Thou my God shoulds't die for me"? He took the first 5 words of that line and that's what he calls the song.

He loves to read his Toddler Bible at night and always asks to read the "Light" (In the beginning), the story of the Rainbow (Noah and the Flood) and then the "Owwies" which is Moses and the Plagues. Also, his prayers at night are SO cute. Dave is usually the one to put Micah to bed and he's been telling me everything Micah is thankful for, but I've gotten to experience it first hand lately because Dave's been out a couple nights in a row. Micah is still always first and foremost thankful for his 2 best buddies Ty Ty and Brady, but then he goes into being thankful for Mario kitty cat, grandma and grandpa, mommy and daddy, Daddy's computer, Mommy's computer, the TV Remote and the TV, the headboard for his bed, etc, etc. I wish I could remember everything, but at least there's a few.

The Grocery Game

2009-03-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

One of my friends talked me into trying out "The Grocery Game". I was a little reluctant at first because 1. You have to clip coupons; 2. You have to pay attention to prices; and 3. To have it work the best for me I'd probably have to switch grocery stores. I hate switching stores. I have 2 stores that I most often buy my groceries from and I am used to them, I know where to find things, and I mostly like the selections they have. Albertsons is the store I should switch to because they have the best coupon policy - they accept coupons from every other store as well as their own. It's right next to the other store I normally shop at, so it's not out of my way, but I don't like the store as well.

Anyway, the idea behind The Grocery Game is that it combines sales/club member prices at your local grocery store with manufacturers coupons that you get in the Sunday paper in order to get the best use of the coupon and the biggest amount of savings. It works best if you can spend a lot at first to stock up on everything. I haven't completely stock-piled everything, but for the first three weeks of using the grocery game I have saved a ton of money!

The first time I went grocery shopping I saved $33 on my $101 bill - So I only spent $68! Another bill came to $140 before all the sales and coupons, and I ended up saving about $65. Just yesterday when I went shopping I saved $88 on about $200, so I spent $114. I think I'll keep using it. I just don't want to get sucked in to using coupons or buying things I wouldn't normally buy because it's such a good deal.

There's a $1 trial for 4 weeks - and even my Canadians friends can punch in your postal code to see which stores are available in your area. After the 4 week trial, it's $10 for every 8 weeks. You get a list with all the sales items and where to find the coupons you could use. I've never clipped coupons before, but I'm getting a system going and I am enjoying it so far because we can spend a lot on groceries each month and to cut down on the cost in any way helps! It's also helped me to figure out meals and make a plan based on what is on sale. If you are interested in trying it out you can refer to me (cheri at mplx dot com) when it asks for the email of the person who referred you.

Ontario Visit

2009-02-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our fun visit to my parent's house in Ontario. We had a great time playing in the snow and hanging out with friends and family. Micah loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa. He ran right up to his Grandpa at the airport and gave him a big hug. He helped Grandma in the kitchen and with the laundry. He only wanted them to help with washing his hands - Dave felt a little put out since he was the last one Micah wanted. :)

Micah with his Great-Grandpa and Great-Granny

I know this will be fun for Micah for many years to come - sending laundry down the laundry chute.

Of course, helping in the kitchen means eating more than actually "helping"but he did pour and stir and wash veggies for Grandma.

We went on a weekend retreat when we were there with some close family friends. The guys had made an extra tall snowman, so the girls had to come up with something better. We couldn't make anything taller but we could definitely make something more fancy! So we made a Snow Sphinx.

While we were working on our Sphinx, the guys made a pretty cool shark and stuck a poor unsuspecting child in the jaws!

It was a lot of fun with the snow piled higher than Micah. We made a clearing in the backyard so he could walk around a little since it was way too deep for him.

Sleeping like a baby

2009-01-06T23:45:00.000-08:00

If he gets tired enough, he will fall asleep anywhere.

Within the last couple of weeks, Micah moved into a toddler bed, but he now understands he has some freedom to get up and move about. He knows enough not to come out of his room. There really aren't any toys except for a few books in his room for him to play with, but he will find something to do until he collapses. Nap time has been a bit of a challenge, trying to teach him to stay in bed and fall asleep, but sometimes it takes a good two hours for him to get tired enough to fall asleep. Sometimes I stress the issue of falling asleep and other times I just let him play quietly until he is REALLY quiet, at which time I go to check on him.

Here's what I find:

On the floor right behind his door, thankfully not close enough to be hit by the door opening.

Rocked himself to sleep.

Another episode of rocking himself to sleep, this time on the ottoman. I had been wondering if this would happen - he often lays like that, rocking back and forth but I didn't think he would actually fall asleep like that...

Wow, he actually made it to the bed (barely)!

Winter Wonderland!

2008-12-21T23:27:00.001-08:00

It has been snowing non-stop for over a week here! I anticipate it actually staying until Christmas, since we just measured and it's over 8 inches already and still coming down. Micah has been having lots of fun in it, and so have we! I have always missed a white Christmas since moving here from Canada. Western Washington completely shuts down when snow hits, but this time I can't make too much fun. It actually is a lot of snow and it's freezing rain. Even church was cancelled this morning! The roads are thick sheets of ice. The thing about western Washington is that we don't have the equipment to handle the snow since it is such a rare occurrence. There are very few snow plows. We haven't ventured out too much, except to play in the snow. We made a gingerbread house last night.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

We have been having a very fun December. Micah has been a big helper. He helped put up the Christmas lights outside, helped with the Christmas tree inside, and helped bake lots and lots of cookies all month long. This is going to have to be some quick photo posts because I need to go to bed soon.

Belated Halloween post

2008-12-02T00:15:00.000-08:00

I really should be going to bed right now and not about to type a new blog post, especially since I'm so far behind as it is. So maybe I'll just make it short and sweet, trying to catch up again on a few events. Halloween came and went, American Thanksgiving came and went and I haven't even posted any photos. I apologize to my family, especially, who probably wait on pins and needles for my page to load and get disappointed every time there is nothing to show for it.

Micah was a lion for Halloween. We had fun - he did his first trick or treating over at our neighbor's house and then we went to our church for the Harvest Party. He LOVED the giant slide and he had fun with the bean bag toss. He even won a mug for me!

We carved a pumpkin and scooped out the seeds and toasted them. We ate lots of Halloween candy. Well, David and I did more so than Micah (he didn't know what he was missing!). We are now fully into the Christmas season and we'll probably be going out next weekend to pick out our tree. Where did November go?

Canadian Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

All the girls: Kimber with Reese, Erica with Coco, Stephanie with baby :), Jaclyn, Maleah with Hallee, and me

Maleah and Erica with their babies and their homemade hooter hiders

Stephanie and Maleah

Myself and Jaclyn cleaning up the mess!

Canadian Thanksgiving happened for us a couple weeks late. I always love to do it even though I stress a bit before it happens. I love having people over and hanging out, but there's always a certain amount of work that goes into having people over. Planning the menu, shopping for the food, cleaning the house and preparing the food. I made a Sausage-cranberry stuffing recipe that I had seen in Wondertime Magazine and it was FABULOUS! I made it the day ahead, and it made enough for 2 9x13 pans, plus enough to stuff the 20lb turkey we had! We had a lot of yummy leftovers! We made the turkey with a fried pecan-bourbon glaze, also fabulous! The gravy even turned out perfectly! I wasn't planning on making mashed potatoes because there's always so much food, but when I happened to mention it to Dave a couple hours before the feast he was not too happy to hear that there would be no mashed potatoes! I had to run out to the store to get potatoes and a few of the other ingredients I needed for it. The potatoes were awesome, it was good that we had them. But... I had felt pretty relaxed most of the day until I realized I had to go to the store and make potatoes! I guess I can't blame it all on Dave - we did need some other things at the store too. But my friends say I'm a good wife and should be rewarded with a new pair of jeans or something!!

I had felt relaxed because everyone else helped out so much with the menu. Even the women that had newborns brought something! Erica has a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 month old and she made twice baked sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie from scratch, complete from sugar pie pumpkins! Maleah has three kids (3 and under) and made an absolutely delicious cranberry sauce! These women amaze me!

I am very thankful for my amazing friends and for delicious food!

October is flying by

2008-10-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to catch up on. October has been a busy month and it doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. In early October, I was thrilled to be able go up to BC to visit a friend that I've had since kindergarten and share in the joy of her brand new baby. She had her baby a couple weeks early. I had been planning to go there for her baby shower, but what better way to have a baby shower than with the actual baby! It was great to be able to go there and visit with my friends. Another friend from high school was there visiting her too. The three of us had all swam and played soccer together in high school!

The one thing I was very frustrated about, though, was the fact that I had FINALLY finished getting all the stuff together for my passport application to be renewed. It's been looming over me for about 2 years. I got everything assembled and photos taken for the special Canadian specifications and then sent it through the mail. I was excited to answer and sign for the passport document that came to my front door a couple weeks later, just before my trip to BC, but when I opened it I was really mad. It had been damaged by water. Seriously!? How often does mail get water damaged? I don't often send things like photos or even letters by mail anymore, but when I did, they never seemed to get damaged. Of all things, my PASSPORT documents had to be damaged, making me get new photos taken, and having to get all my documents prepared again. The last time, about a year ago, I had sent my application and then it was returned to me too because I hadn't checked the box about living in another country before 1977, even though I wasn't born before 1977. Apparently everyone needs to check that box and now I know!

Over the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, my parents came for a visit. We celebrated Micah's birthday while they were here. We had one family over to celebrate with us, close family friends of ours that my parents have enjoyed getting to know whenever they come here for a visit. We had a very nice evening with them! The whole visit with my parents was great. Micah loved having Grandma and Grandpa here, especially with Grandpa keeping him entertained in the back seat of the car and being silly with the purple balloon.

Birthday cake!

A good night hug to Grandpa!

He loved Grandma's story time and playing with blocks and playdoh with her. I loved it, too!

We went out the pumpkin patch and got a couple pictures, but unfortunately there weren't too many pumpkins there.

Soon to come, I'll fill you in on our Canadian Thanksgiving celebration. We did it a couple weeks late because of everything going on during the actual holiday. I have a feeling we're going to be doing it like that for many years to come since Micah's birthday is so close to it.

Two Years

2008-10-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Micah!

Two years ago today you were barely breathing and confined to an oxygen tent. Now you run circles around the kitchen, living room and dining room. You say 1, 2, 3 GO and race up and down the hallway. You run to the garage door when Daddy comes home. You walk to the park and push the stroller without help. You kick and throw balls with incredible accuracy and coordination. You can jump higher than Daddy! You are tons of fun because you have so much energy.

Two years ago you could barely see me and now you know who your family is living in Canada. You get excited to see your friends at church. You know all your body parts, you know your alphabet, you can count to somewhere in the teens.

Two years ago you had to learn to swallow and had trouble getting enough food to fill your little belly and now you help me make dinner and you eat everything that is put in front of you.

How was I to know how much I would love you? You have grown so much and learned so much over the past two years. Two years ago today I was scared and excited and unsure of what my life would be like with a new baby to take care of. I realize now that I have learned so much from you, a tiny little person, and I have grown in ways I could never have imagined.

You have taught me to have joy in the little things. You have taught me to appreciate spider webs and bugs. You have taught me to laugh at silly things. You have taught me to have patience when I think I need to hurry. Your little mind soaks everything up and it inspires me to teach more than what I think you're capable of because you continually astound me. You have taught me that I don't always need to say no. We can drive with the windows partway down, we can fudge a little on nap time to play a little longer with the blocks, we can eat a few more animal crackers or a little bit of cookie batter just because.

You make me proud when you kick or throw or hit a ball. You make me laugh when you laugh. You make my heart swell when you give me a hug and a kiss. I love it when you remind me to pray. I love it when you sing the last words of every line in Rock a Bye Baby and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I love hearing you try to say new words. I love spending time with you. You are a cool little guy and I'm so glad you're mine!

I love you, Micah! Happy Birthday dear boy.

Growing Responsible Kids

2008-09-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

Just looking at these pictures makes me want to bake some more! Mmmm chocolate chip cookies.

When my grandparents were here a couple months ago, my Gran told me it's a good time to start teaching him to do chores. A child's play is adult work. Micah has been helping with a number of every day chores around the house. He loves helping empty the dishwasher. He hands me silverware or plates and after each one he says "dank you". He helps load and unload the washer and dryer and then take the clothes from the laundry room to the bedrooms to fold and put away. He is usually really good about cleaning up his toys at the end of the day and putting them away. He really likes to sweep and helps when I need to throw away the stuff in the dust pan by opening the door to where we keep the garbage can. He loves helping with anything in the kitchen and now that I've taught him to stand on a chair by the counter, he will move it over and stand there every time I do anything in the kitchen. He likes to help weed, too, and will pull some himself (as long as they're weeds and not plants!) and he'll take the pile that I've collected over to the garbage for me. It's fun teaching him chores. I'm sure it will be even more fun seeing him do them on his own! :)

A friend of mine had a schedule for her 3 young boys during the summer. They had every couple hours blocked out for certain times - playing outside, playing quietly inside, chores, lunch, nap time, etc. Each child had a couple different chores that he had to do and it was just something small, but they all did them. They each had one chore they did completely on their own and one that they did with mommy. The youngest boy was 2 and he would vacuum the small living room carpet and help mommy unload the dishwasher. What a brilliant plan to teach kids responsibility! Do you have any ideas or plans for teaching your children? What worked for you?

Big Elpah

2008-08-28T20:28:00.001-07:00

I have been baking lately, and today Micah helped. He even called himself a "Big Elpah" because I told him he was such a big helper. He stood on a chair next to me and poured the sugar and flour and baking powder and soda and oil into the mixer and watched it mix up. He even tried to stir when it was too thick to mix. Grandma would be so proud! I baked it while he napped, but he got to try some of his yummy zucchini bread when he woke up. It's a delicious recipe, so I will share it with you!

Zucchini Bread

3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
2 1/4 c. sugar
3 tsp vanilla
2 c. grated zucchini
1 c. chopped walnuts

Grease and flour two 8x4 inch bread pans. Preheat oven to 325.

Sift flour, salt, b.powder, b.soda, and cinnamon.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in bowl. Add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into pans.

Bake 60 minutes at 325. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Triathlon

2008-08-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about me: Either I have a look about me that says I will not complete a race or I have steel screws in my leg that mess with the timing systems. Hopefully it's the latter. Well, hopefully it's just the timing systems and a freak coincidence, but it is rather irritating. I completed a triathlon on Saturday and absolutely loved it! It was a bit tiring, but SO MUCH FUN! A triathlon is a swim, bike, and run. I did a "sprint' triathlon, which doesn't necessarily mean there is any sprinting going on, but it does mean the distances are a lot shorter than normal. The swim was a quarter of a mile, the bike was 14.6 miles and the run was 3 miles. The timing chip around my ankle beeped and recorded my time each time I went through the transitions areas and started a new leg of the race, but the final (and probably most important) result was not read. The reason I think there's something wrong with me is because this isn't the first time it has happened. I got a big old "DNF" (Did Not Finish) on the Sound to Narrows 12K run, too, because my chip didn't read at the end.

Well, I am impressed already with the organization of the triathlon I just did. After the race, I looked at the results sheets but I couldn't find my name, so David went to one of the people who were organizing the race and asked about it. She said there were three backups she would check and worse case scenario, she would check with the photographer when he took my picture at the end of the race and get the time from him. I got a call this morning saying that the 3 backups didn't work, but she had already emailed the photographer and will wait to hear from him.

The race was in Issaquah, very close to where David's sister and her family lives. So we stayed the night with them before the race so that I wouldn't have to get up quite so early. The race started at 7am. I got there at 6, got my bike set up and then found my friend Emily who was also doing the race. We stood around for a long time waiting for it to start. It felt frigid that morning, I was shivering (which might have been a little of nerves) but surprisingly, once I stepped into the water it wasn't all that cold. It was a little difficult swimming because we were all so close to one another, so I swallowed a bit of water but didn't get any black eyes from elbows or feet. I got out, ran to my bike and got my socks, shoes, helmet, and shirt on took off for the longest leg of the race. The people who do these triathlons are serious bikers, man. They would pass me and then I would look up and they'd be GONE! I felt like I was standing still or something, but my legs were definitely not feeling like I was standing still! Thankfully there weren't too many hills - only 2 - and they weren't too steep. I got to the end of the bike race, loaded my bike back into the transition area and took off running. I saw my sister-in-law with her family when I came out of the transition area, but felt like I was moving at a snail's pace. My legs were pretty tired from all that biking, but I kept going and ran (jogged is probably closer to the truth) the whole three miles. I wore my watch for the bike and run, so I know how long it took and the chip recorded my swim, so I guess it took me about an hour and a half. I had so much fun, I'm thinking of doing another one in a couple weeks.

After I was done with my race, my nephew Jack did the kids triathlon. It was a lot of fun watching them! He did great, especially with having learned to competently ride his bike just a week before the race!

Happy Birthday Uncle Greg!

2008-08-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today is my brother's 30th birthday and in a week my Grandpa will be turning 80. My grandparents came to visit in between the last two vacations I just wrote about. We had a couple days to clean and do laundry after we got back from Ontario before my Grandparents flew into the Seattle airport from Alaska. They first went to Winnipeg for a church conference, then to Alaska to visit my grandpa's brother (who had driven an RV with his wife from Virginia or something) and then down to visit us. We had a great time with them. It's so nice that they are able to travel so well still. My Gran is 75 and my Grandpa is 80. They are still so young and active. My Gran helped in the yard a lot with pulling weeds or watering or transplanting roses. She also helped me make some delicious raspberry freezer jam. My Grandpa worked a lot on a book about his life which he'd been hoping to finish by his birthday party next weekend. Unfortunately the one picture I had taken when they were here was deleted because the camera battery was too low to save. I didn't get any pictures of this visit, but I have a picture from when they were here last year in April.

Chelan 2008

2008-08-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

The last week of July we took a trip over the mountains to Chelan, where Dave's parents have a couple of condos. His parents were on a cruise and the rest of the family was unable to use the condos, so we invited a bunch of friends to join us. We had 3 condos in total and we basically had a rotating door for friends to come and stay with us. It usually worked out that everyone was able to have their own condo. It was a blast! The kids didn't do quite as well as we were hoping with falling asleep at night, so we didn't get much chance to play games together, but we did have a great time at the beach, at the pool and at the park. We rented a boat one day too and had a lot of fun with that.

Braden, Tyler and Micah

Brooke and Matt Edwards, with baby Zack

Tyler and Micah learned some bad habits during the week!

This cute baby is Henry. We met up with a few other couples from our church who were camping near us at the same time.

Puzzles!

Ice cream!

Catching up

2008-08-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to catch up on my summer, I think I'll just add some photos for the next couple of posts. There has been a lot going on this summer, but it has all been a lot of fun! We had gone back to Ontario to visit family for the first week of July, which was great. We got to see a lot of friends and family during my dad's 55th birthday party the first weekend we were there. I hung out with some of my friends and also went on a date with David.

We celebrated our six year wedding anniversary at the end of June and so we went out to dinner and went to the Stratford Festival to see Taming of the Shrew while my parents went through the torture of watching their grandson. :) The three hour play wasn't my best choice of dates, especially since we had been getting very little sleep because Micah's sleep habits were so messed up from the time change. I had been so excited about the play, but Dave, not so much. In the end, I had such a hard time following the Shakespearean language that I was just about asleep by the intermission, but Dave followed it pretty easily and could fill me in with what happened at the end.

Me, my brother Greg and his wife Amanda

My dad's mom and Greg

Micah getting some story time with Grandma

Getting chased by my cousin Dan and his little son Owen

Busy July

2008-07-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous trip to Ontario to visit my family. Micah did well on the plane rides, and had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, but he did have trouble sleeping at night. The 3 hour time difference probably hit him pretty hard.

So we got back on Saturday and had to get right back into the swing of things. This month is so busy for us. Sunday we had two softball games back to back, and then this week we have a game on Tuesday night and Thursday night and another one next Sunday. My grandparents are coming in for a visit on Friday and staying until next Wednesday and then we have another vacation to Chelan next Thursday through the end of the month. Whew. If it weren't all about vacations I think I'd go crazy!

I will update more with photos when I get more time. Micah is taking a nap right now but I have to gather stuff together so I'll be ready to take him to Nana and Papa's house while we play our game tonight.

Summer with Daddy at the beach

2008-06-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, with 90 degree temperatures, while I was out with friends at a baby shower, David took Micah to the beach. Micah spent a long time throwing rocks in the water. They had a great time. When we all got home, Micah helped Daddy clean up the backyard patio and ran in the sprinkler, saying "Cold!" We had a nice barbecue for dinner and then went out for ice cream as a family. What a fun day!

Finally!

2008-06-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

Dave is finally on the web! He has been working hard these last couple of weeks in preparation for our trip back east to visit my family. He's got his business website up and running, a tech blog, and his own personal blog. I'm so proud of him! He's getting with the times. :)

Today was our 6th anniversary but we didn't do much to celebrate. After church we had a softball game in the afternoon, so we dropped Micah off at Nana and Papa's and then played in the blistering sun for a couple hours. We went back to pick up Micah and stayed there for dinner, eating out on their shaded patio.

At Nana and Papa's

2008-06-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

We had our first two softball games of the season on Sunday afternoon. Our team did great. We won both games... by a lot. While we were out playing softball, Micah was with Nana and Papa. Nana just got a brand new camera and had to test it out, so what better subject than a little 20 month old?

This is a mischievous look that, for some reason, I think we'll continue seeing a lot more of!

Micah and Daddy

Caught with his hand in the "cookie jar"

Doesn't he look big?!

Look! I can put magnetized letters on my head!

Don't we all wish we could crouch like this?

Here, I found something for you.

Papa with big boy Micah

He loves their gravel driveway, he is fascinated with rocks right now. Joen says David was the same way, and would save rocks in ziplock baggies and put them in the freezer.

Rocks still won't top his number one love, though. He'll spend all day kicking, hitting, and chasing after balls.

Weekend Fun

2008-06-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago my friend Kimber and I ran in the 5K race in Gig Harbor to kick off the weekend of festivities. I'm not really sure what the festivities were all about, but there was a pancake breakfast, a parade, and a whole bunch of other things going on that day. We had fun running the 5K, and then Micah and David showed up a little later, as did Kimber's husband, Matt, and we stood around and watched the parade. It was a fun parade. Micah mostly enjoyed it from the backpack carrier, but soon got antsy and wanted down.

As you can see from the winter clothes we are wearing, June was having some trouble finding the sun. This past weekend started getting a little nicer. I ran in another race just this past weekend in Tacoma. It was 12K (7.46 miles) called the Sound to Narrows. It's a really popular race around here and I was really nervous about it because I hadn't run anything longer than 4.5 miles since my half marathon a month ago. Also, this one was very hilly. I read on a crazy ultra-marathoner's blog that the Sound to Narrows is "referred to as one of the most difficult 12k's in the country and Matt Downin who is an elite runner for New Balance agrees with that statement." I didn't like the hills too much, but I am glad that I had trained (albeit only 3 miles at a time) with my friend Ketra in her hilly neighborhood because I didn't feel too bad during the race. There were two negatives though: 1. I didn't have a friend to run with and 2. I forgot my ipod and headphones so I was only thinking about how horrible I was feeling with the ache in my side and the racing chip digging into my ankle. But I am so glad I did it and I had fun, and I felt pretty good afterwards!

I went to check the results of my race and didn't see the time listed on the website, so I emailed the support team and they said the chip registered my start time, but not my finish time. My watch, though, said I finished at 1 hour and 10 minutes - about a 9:20/mile pace. Fine with me on "one of the most difficult courses in the country!"

David taught Micah how to roll down the hills. Micah loved it! He giggled and ran up to do it again and again.

Micah ran in the little Diaper Dash race for kids after my race was over. He's looking pretty determined (or distracted)!

A few new photos

2008-06-15T22:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted any photos of Micah and what we've been doing. I will get a couple up tonight and then tomorrow if I get a chance I'll write a bit about what we have done over the last couple weeks.

Here's Micah trying on Daddy's slippers:

A few of these photos are from April - the one day all spring that we had nice warm, sunny weather. Micah wanted to help out when daddy was washing the cars.

Happy Birthday my Beloved

2008-06-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

There are so many reasons why I love this man. Today seems like a good day to share.

This man loves his son and does an incredible job as his father. He is selfless and giving. He is calm with discipline and wise in teaching. He is goofy and quirky and his son absolutely adores him.

This man is a great spiritual leader. He loves the Lord. He is generous, always wanting to help those in need. He likes to pose questions that make you think.

This man is quick and witty and always makes others laugh. He is sarcastic and funny, and he gets away with it. He is a lot fun to be around. He makes others feel at ease.

This man is an intelligent businessman. He is trustworthy. He knows his stuff. He has great relationships with his employee and his clients.

This man is a strong and loving husband. He is thoughtful and caring. He always opens the door for me. He gives of himself in so many ways. He cares for me when I am sick. He loves me when I'm tired. He enjoys my company. He shares his life with me, the good things and the not so good things. He is enthusiastic about my latest hobbies and helps me achieve goals I never knew I had.

I am so in love with this man! Happy Birthday, David.

Calling All Cilantro Recipes

2008-06-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I saw the big thing of cilantro at Costco and picked it up. I like to buy fresh herbs, especially when they are called for in recipes I'm using (imagine that?). However, I usually only use a couple handfuls of the herbs and the rest spoil in the refrigerator. So, I'm not sure why I purchased the huge bundle of Costco cilantro except that we had eaten a yummy pasta dish that a friend brought to our home group last Tuesday, which had cilantro in it. So far I have made a couple blue cheese sauces with cilantro (I also got the big thing of blue cheese), I have made salsa and yummy guacamole. I have a recipe for a really good chicken and sweet potato chili, which calls for a little cilantro as garnish. Still, I may only use an eighth of the package. So, I need help! If anyone has recipes that call for cilantro, please, let me know!

Tonight we had steaks with a blue cheese sauce (with just a little too much cilantro), and artichokes. Micah had a little macaroni and cheese with carrots, but he really wanted what we were having - so we mixed his macaroni and cheese with the blue cheese sauce and he much preferred it that way. A kid who likes blue cheese and cilantro over regular cheese sauce? I hope I can accommodate his expanding tastes!

Free Music!

2008-06-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite bands is offering their latest CD for free download. Downhere is a band I know because they went to the same college that I did. It has been fun hearing their music on the Christian radio station around here and even seeing their faces on billboard advertisements! Their music is rocky, their lyrics are thought-provoking and their sound is melodic. Some of the songs on the radio these days is "A Better Way" and "How Many Kings". These are such beautiful songs. Another favorite of mine from this album is "Little is Much" talking about how the little things we do are great things when God is in it. I listened to that song many times on my way to work at World Vision when I was calling and talking to some very unhappy people about their giving. Here is the link to the free download. This is an offer that is available through the month of June to help get the word out about Downhere just in time for a new album to come out in the fall.

Little is Much

What is the measure of a life well lived
If all I can offer seems too small to give
This is a song for the weaker, the poorer
And so-called failures

Little is much when God's in it
And no one can fathom the plans He holds
Little is much when God's in it
He changes the world with the seeds we sow
Little is much, little is much

Who feels tired and under-qualified
Who feels deserted, and hung out to dry
This is a song for the broken, the beat-up
And so-called losers

Consider a Kingdom in the smallest seed
Consider that giants fall to stones and slings
Consider a child in a manger
Consider the story isn't over
What can be done with what you still have

A Better Way

I'm not alone, I really believe
You never go, You never leave
Here and now, You always stay
“I love you” could not be said a better way

It's everything You've promised
There's no greater love than this
From prophets until today
A man laying down His life for His friends
Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything
And “I love you” could not be said
A better way

I am forgiven, I clearly see
It's why You came to do all you did for me
Trading earth with heaven, You took my place
“I love you” could not be said
A better way

Because You redeem, I know what's to come
Everything I could lose here, You've already won
So You have my surrender, with passion obey
“I love you” could not be said
A better way

Oraganic baby formula

2008-05-20T14:47:00.001-07:00

We used formula when Micah was a newborn. We didn't use the organic stuff, but I knew some people who did. Here's a news article on how Similac Organic uses cane sugar to sweeten their formula. The article talks about how pediatricians say it's risky to give babies cane sugar because it can harm tooth enamel, babies might resist less sweet formulas or solid foods, and they might overeat, leading to childhood obesity.

I think a lot of things can lead to childhood obesity and the least of our worries is infant formula, but it's still an interesting article.

I know it's been more than a week since I ran, but....

2008-05-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

Bodies are amazing things. I am amazed at how my body could go from pretty much no physical activity to running 13.1 miles in a relatively short amount of time. I’m sure if I had pushed myself I had enough time to train for a full marathon, but that would have been a lot of stress on my body and a lot of extra hours of training. I’m glad I didn’t do one and I doubt I ever will, but I won’t say that I NEVER will. I’m halfway there at this point and could probably keep training the way I have and work towards a full marathon which is coming up in November in Seattle. My knees were sore from running the half and my muscles were a little tight the next day. My knees were only sore from the pounding on the pavement, which is quite common with street running. They were not sore from the surgeries I have had to fix my torn ACL.

I was always amazed at how I could keep going after the first couple of miles and feel fine. I don’t understand how the body works. With all the training we did, my heart was strong and my friend and I were able to talk almost the whole way through the race without feeling too winded. It is incredible how a body can work itself up to running for 2 hours straight without feeling too tired and sore. I have never really been a runner, besides running a bit of cross country in elementary school. I played soccer all through high school and college, but since having Micah I was only playing once a week, and that was only when someone was around to watch Micah for us. It’s amazing to me how I could start by running a couple miles, and then add a few more on to our longer runs each week. I was running 3 miles consistently a couple mornings every week and was a bit nervous about trying to add anything longer than that, partly because it was harder to figure out when I would be able to do it and partly because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do it if I didn’t have a friend meeting me each morning.

I was surprised at the race by how many people of all shapes, sizes and ages were there. There were some people with prosthetics, and even a man in a wheelchair who was pushing himself through the half marathon course! The older people that were running were truly inspiring to me! It makes me believe that absolutely anyone can work towards doing a half marathon!

William Tell Mom Sayings

2008-05-11T22:29:00.001-07:00

This is pretty funny. Some of you may have already seen it, but for those of you that haven't, enjoy... and Happy Mother's Day!

I survived!

2008-05-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Now that this morning is over I don't know what to do with myself. I have been training for so long to run a half marathon in Tacoma with my friend Ketra. Up until about a month ago, this half marathon was something in the back of my mind that I was possibly going to do. We were jogging in the mornings for short runs together and then we'd go on longer runs on the weekends. At first I was doing it to help get in shape but as we ran farther I started thinking I just might be able to run 13.1 miles. So I had May 10th in my mind but oddly enough, I felt like I had nothing beyond this date. I didn't plan a life past it! It's like I was planning on not making it through.

Well, we made it through! And we ran faster than we have ever run before! Our longest run up until this point was 11 miles, but we made it all the way to the end without walking. We ran an average of about a 9-minute mile, which is a minute faster than our usual pace. We finished the half marathon at just over 2 hours, which was about 15 minutes faster than we had planned.

The last 2 miles were tough for me. Ketra ran a little ahead of me at the end. It was especially tough because the last 3 miles were mostly uphill. Not the easiest part of the race to have hills! But we finished well and I'm so proud of us! It feels so good to have accomplished something like this! Like my friend Jill said, who ran the 10K this morning - we still got it! Happy Mother's Day to us!

Edited to add: My time was posted on the website yesterday: 2 hours and 2 minutes. I came in 27th in my age bracket and 343rd overall. There were about 1000 male and female runners in the half marathon. It being my first race, I'm fine with those results!

Baby Talk

2008-04-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Micah is saying a lot more these days. He's learning sign language better each day, too. He would probably be able to say a lot more if I knew more signs to teach him! He loves to have music on when he's in his high chair so he asks for it saying "eh duh" looking and pointing to the ipod on top of the fridge, so I learned what the sign for music was and now he points, says "eh duh" and does the sign. He tries to sign diaper change and he's trying to sign "I love you". It's pretty cute watching him learn. I have a long list of words he says, I'll try to capture them here:

His most recent words:
Bee = Bee (he's got a little windup toy)
Ooo-ee = Willie (his teddy bear)
Cuckee = Cookie (along with the sign)
behbee = Baby
GOLL! = GOAL!

He loves to sing, too. He loves the songs Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Old McDonald Had a Farm. He sings "Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba" (Up above the world so high) and "Ee I Ee I Oh". He also likes The Itsy Bitsy Spider and tries to make the hand motions. He listens to his toys over and over and over again if they have any of those songs.

His words that he has said for a while now:
Na na na na = no no no no
Papa = Papa (or any slightly older man anywhere followed occasionally by kissing sounds)
Kee Kah = Kitty Cat followed usually by a Maow (meow or Mario) and/or kissing sounds
bah = ball, help, please
mah = milk, phone
moh = more
mama, dada, dadee
eah = yeah
guh bah = good night, good bye, the end
dah dah deeee! = one two three!
geay = get it
cuppa cuppa cuppa cu-ckee = cookie monster (not sure why...)
na = banana (with sign) or tissue (to wipe his nose)

arms out = where did it go? where is it?
der dizz = there it is!

Eat Your Veggies

2008-04-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Micah has always been a great eater - in fact, he used to eat more than I could provide for him. I am waiting for the day when he will turn his head in disgust at everything I offer him. I know that a toddler happily eating broccoli and carrots and eggplant will one day come to an end. But for now, I'm a very happy Mama! I have recently made a Roasted Vegetable Lasagna that Micah absolutely LOVED. He asked for MOH in a low-to-high pitch frantic cry every time he finished what was on his plate. It tasted pretty good... for a vegetarian meal! Here's the recipe, if anyone is interested. I added more than the called for amount of cheese because, seriously, everything is better with more cheese! And it seemed to be a tiny amount.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

3 medium raw eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 medium sweet red peppers, chopped
4 small plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp table salt (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp black pepper (or more to taste)
9 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (or more)
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (or more)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a roasting pan, combine vegetables and garlic with olive oil. Bake until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20-25 minutes.
3. Place half of vegetables, salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup water in food processor and process until smooth.
4. Spoon 1/2 cup vegetable puree into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
5. Place three noodles over puree. Top with 1/2 cup puree, 1/2 remaining vegetables, 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, and 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers and then top with remaining 3 noodles, puree and cheese.
6. Bake until bubbly, about 40-45 minutes. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

Friday Date Night

2008-04-15T15:07:00.001-07:00

David and I went out for a rare date on Friday night. Dinner and a movie. It was SO nice! Dave's parents were around and willing to watch Micah, so we went to a nice dinner and then to the brand new cinema in Gig Harbor, which was really nice. The movie we saw was 21 - I absolutely LOVED it! It was very entertaining. The movies and shows we've been watching lately have been pretty violent or graphic, but this one had very little violence in it, for which I'm glad. It was just so nice to be able to get out and enjoy an evening together, just the two of us.

Reflections

2008-04-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about a few things lately. One, how lucky I am to have a husband around as often as he is and family close by who love and watch Micah occasionally, and Two, how blessed we are to have a healthy and happy baby. I'll tell you why:

At church on Sunday I went up to a girl who had been sitting in front of us all by herself. I'm so glad I did because I don't know if anyone else would have spoken to her. This was her first Sunday at our church. Her husband is in Iraq and she has two very small children - a 2 year old and a 6 month old. The father has never even met the younger child. The woman found our church through Focus on the Family. There were a few choices they gave her, so it sounds like she's going to be shopping around a little bit trying to find the right fit. She will fit in well at our church if she comes back because there are a lot of young moms in our church. I pointed out another girl whose husband had been in the military and who had lived on base where she lives now. She is not from around here so she has absolutely no family in the area and her husband is not around and it seems like there aren't any Christians in her circle of friends on base because she had to go to Focus on the Family to find a church to attend. She had her 2nd baby without her husband, so I'm thinking there had to be some support from others on base, but who watched her oldest while she went into labor? Who took her to the hospital? How is she surviving with 2 small children!? She is also going to school. I just can't imagine. I think it's tough when 2 days out of the whole MONTH Dave goes straight from work to his men's group for Bible study. This gives me some perspective.

Also, I'm thankful that my husband isn't gone all that much because I have other friends who have husbands that started a business almost a year ago and work really long hours. It's the time in our lives when our husbands are work hard trying to build their businesses or make their climb up the corporate ladder and the time in our lives when us women are having kids and wishing our husbands were around more to help with the kids or with things around the house. It seems like it's a tough stage of life (but I know I haven't been through many stages)! Those friends of mine are lonely and struggling and I've been trying to think of how I can encourage them, but I'm not very creative or thoughtful. People have said that even just hanging out with them for a couple of hours means a lot. Any ideas?

The second thing I've been thinking about is how thankful I am to have a healthy baby. I know Micah is a gift from God and I am so thankful and blessed to have been trusted to care for him and I can only pray that God lets me watch over him all my life. Some parents aren't so lucky. My aunt and uncle had to say goodbye to their precious son due to a brain tumor when he was only 21. At least they were given 21 years with him and they have the blessed hope of reuniting with him again in heaven. But how incredibly difficult to outlive your child.

There is a family who have a little girl very close to Micah's age and are dealing with a brain tumor as well. A friend of theirs, a girl whose blog I read religiously, wrote a very moving piece about their situation. I encourage you to follow that link and read their story. If there is anything we can do to help this family in need that they might be able to get the best care for little Emily and spare her parents the pain of losing her at such a young age, well then, let us band together and help, pray, do whatever we can to petition her case before Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals.