What's Been Going On

What's been going on is that we've been B-U-S-Y!

Here's a quick recap:

**Jason and I went on the marriage retreat while Abby and Leia stayed with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kenny.

**Jason bungee jumped on said marriage retreat. We're all thankful that (1) he has a good life insurance policy in place and (2) that he survived.

**We gave Leia to a good home. She is now living with Kenny and Debbie, a place that is far better suited to her than our home. I think I need to accept the fact that I'm not, as my friend Katie would say, a dog person.


**I started teaching a summer school session. (No pictures for this one. It's just another class).

**We booked plane tickets for Austin, Texas. It was quite a hassle working with Northwest, trying to use air miles, etc. We finally got the entire family on ONE flight AND we are sitting beside Abby, a pretty good thing if you ask me.

**We had Awana Awards last night at church. Abby is a Puggle (a little penguin, how ironic since she LOVES birds!). She got a certificate and an award. I'm still not exactly sure what she did to earn such a thing, but whatever, she's almost two.

This one deserves two pictures.


**Abby went to her first MMO gathering this morning. Of course, I had to go with her. We ventured to Partee Time (doesn't that sound fun!) She jumped on the bouncy toys and tried to run away from me. It's probably personal.


That's it for the Loopers so far this month. There are other things going on, but I'm too tired to remember them.

I feel the need to mention

I may have finally reached maturity.

I did not - hear me - did not watch American Idol at all this season.

Why is that such an accomplishment, you ask. You see, every season since the beginning of time, I have watched American Idol.

I'm the one who votes and prays and sneaks out of church early on Wednesday nights to make it home to watch one more contestant get the boot. I'm that girl.

This season however, I've found myself watching Dog the Bounty Hunter instead of aforementioned American Idol. Doesn't Dog do sort of the same thing that Paula, Simon and Randy (now add Tara) do during the season, search for obscure individuals with amazing talent?

I'm not even certain who these people are who are fighting for the win - Alan and Kris, maybe?

I didn't even have an American Idol status to put on Facebook.

The world will probably end tomorrow.

Well, I better get back to Dog. He's got to pray and go catch some (*&^% criminals!

Is it time?

Sometimes being a first-time mother is hard! I wonder if I'm disciplining Abby correctly and if I'm feeding her the right foods. She recognizes Little Cesars and McDonalds, which isn't all bad, right?

Well, today, right in the middle of my exercise routine - not that I minded being interrupted from knee lifts and leg kicks - Abby came up to me, patted her hand on my knee, and said, "Potty, Mommy, potty." I looked at her stupidly, not sure if she wanted me to go potty or if she wanted to go potty.

Let me interject here and say that she's had a fascination with the toilet for the past few months. She loves to put "paper" in the potty and watch it being flushed down. As a matter of fact, Monday, she came to me several times with paper to put in the potty while I was putting on my makeup and drying my hair. I finally followed her and realized she was bringing me kleenexes to put down the toilet.

Anyway, I walked her into the bathroom, took off her diaper and sat her on the toilet. She didn't cry. (Usually the waterworks start the moment her butt hits the porcelain). She just looked at me, no tinkling, nothing.

Then I got her up, put and dry diaper on her and she wanted to flush the potty.

I don't know if she's ready to be potty trained or not. Maybe you smarter, wiser mommies can help me with this one.

She'll be two in July. Is it too early?

Something for the Coffee Lovers

So I've posted before that I'm really trying to watch my weight (watch it go down instead of up in case you were confused), and I found a WONDERFUL television show that helps with just that. It's called Cook Yourself Thin. I know it seems like a stretch, but they have some wonderful recipes that are for things that I actually eat.

Most of my "skinny" cookbooks make things that I would never-in-a-million-years eat, so it is refreshing to find something that is healthy and desirable all at the same time!

Here's a recipe for iced cappuccino that I find absolutely delightful. I've modified it slightly, and it's only 200 or so calories.

1c cold coffee (I make mine really strong and put it in the freezer to cool off)
1c milk (they suggest skim; I suggest something with a little more fat content - it doesn't increase the calories all that much, especially if you leave off the whipped cream they suggest)
1tbs plain fat-free yogurt
several tbs of chocolate ice cream syrup
1c ice

Place it all in the blender and blend away. I then put mine in the freezer to make it more icy.

It is super delicious.

Oh and I have to share with you that while I was exercising this morning, I was doing pushups (a far stretch, I know) and Abby came over and got on her hands and knees and said to me, "I do it, Mommy; I do it". So sweet. Kind of like when I got on the scale Sunday morning and she looked at me, clapped her hands and said, "Yay, Mommy, good job." That's encouragement for sure!

I've Got Sunshine, Mommy

First let me show you the final product of our Mother's Day gifts. I know they weren't much, but they turned out pretty well.


Here's Abby giving Grandma and Aunt Debbie their gifts. So sweet. She would look at them and say, "Happy Mudder's Day".


Here are the beautiful flowers I got from my mother-in-law. I hope I can keep them alive.

Next, let me tell you what the princess said to me today.

I've been working like a mad woman this morning trying to get our office organized. It's not completely there, but it's close. The unorganized office space drives Jason crazy, so I thought it was time to tackle it.

Well, I've been working in here and trying to keep half an eye on Abby. She's been sitting on the couch and playing with her toys, being a really good girl, actually.

Somewhere around 9:30 she wanted me to sit down with her. I did and she looked at me and said, "Want sunshine, Mommy; want sunshine". I thought she wanted the beautiful picture of a sunshine that I drew her early this morning, but I was wrong. I told her to go get the sunshine, thinking she would come back with the picture. To my surprise she came back with this:



It's a Hallmark button that sings, "I've got sunshine" when you push it. As Abby carried it to me, she held it up and said, "I've got sunshine, Mommy; I've got sunshine."

Such sweet memories!

Mother's Day on a B-U-D-G-E-T

I was in a sort of panic yesterday when I realized that Mother's Day is tomorrow and we had no gifts and no money for gifts. As Providence would have it, Hobby Lobby is right beside the Hallmark store, and yesterday as Abby and I fared the terrible thunderstorms, I was struck with an idea - handprints. They're free and Abby has two of them.

So we trotted over to Hobby Lobby (everyone else apparently had the similar idea of handmade crafts for the holiday) and bought some Air-Dry Crayola Clay and string.

We made a tester yesterday, just to make sure that it would actually work, and this afternoon we finished the job with a few footprints thrown in.

I'm extremely relieved to know that all of Crayola's products are non-toxic. I found that out as I quickly read the container after Abby ate a piece of clay.

I'm hoping the project goes over well. I had great plans of using buttons and shaping each creation into a heart, but sometimes we have to do what we have to do. I've put the progression below.

Seriously though, Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and moms-to-be!


The medium


The inspiration


More inspiration


The semi-finished products

When Mom's Away (Giving Exams)

Abby and Daddy go meet Darth Vader!

Saturday I had to trek to NGU to give two exams. Personally, I think that Saturday exams should be illegal in all 50 states, but it's really not up to me, and in order to collect my paycheck, I have to submit to the authority over me.

Anyway, one of Jason's new friends at the bank (i.e. clients) told him about "free comic book day" and mentioned that some of the Star Wars characters would be out posing for pictures. Jason, being the Star Wars junkie that he is (and that he is trying to make our daughter into) had to go.

While I was sitting in a classroom, Abby was meeting "Vader" as she calls him.

Here's the amazing part of the whole story. Abby was TERRIFIED of the Easter Bunny. I'm talking screaming, grabbing-to-the-shirt, I'm-not-going terrified. You'll notice that I've not posted any pictures of that outing. There's a simple reason: we don't have any. Even now when we ask Abby if she wants the Easter Bunny to come to our house, she drops her head and says meekly, "no".

Jason tells me, however that Darth Vader was another story. He stood about 4 feet from Vader and Abby eyed him. Finally she looked over his direction and said, "Hey Vader" with a timid wave. She loves him.

My fear is that she's going to be drawn to the dark and handsome type. What does our future hold?

If you look in the picture, she particularly interested in his light saber. I'm not sure what that means either.

Only time will tell!

It's Not Fair!

I had a moment this week where I really wanted to raise my fist to heaven and scream, "That's not fair, God; that's just not fair!" I'm so glad that God understands our frustration and doesn't condemn us for it, but just like a good Father, he extends his hands and says quietly, "I know you think it's not fair, but trust me on this one."

We have some friends at church who have been trying to get pregnant for about 3 years. I understand the frustration and the disappointment (kind of) as Jason and I have been trying to get pregnant for 8 months with no luck.

Last month we got the joyful news - a baby for this precious family, due in December, the same time as their other little girl's birthday. We were so excited. They were excited. Celebration was everywhere.

This Wednesday they lost the baby. There aren't even words. When I read the message, I dropped my head to my hands and cried. Not fair! So not fair!

What do you say? What do you do? I pray for them. God knows what he's doing - Romans 8:28 - molding them into his likeness, but it hurts so very much.

I think the song by Natalie Grant is most appropriate here:

Our Hope endures the worst of conditions
It's more than our optimism
Let the Earth quake
Let the Earth quake
Our Hope is unchanged

Please say a prayer for this family if you think about it.