Loving Life

We've been having a pretty good Wednesday over here.  Here are some things that have made me smile today: Overheard conversation Abby was having with herself while playing with her little dolls.  She was making them fight over who was the tallest, while speaking in a very high little voice.  "I'm the tallest!"  "No, I'm the tallest."  "No, I am!"  "No, I'm the tallest!"  "Bam!"  "Hey, don't push your sister off the bridge!"  "Bam!"  "There. Now I'm the tallest!"  Not sure if I should be worried with the violence, but it was funny.  Ana got her first issue of her very own magazine - American Girl.  It's for girls age 7-12.  It has all sorts of craft projects, pictures, ideas for cooking, cute animals - pretty much everything she adores without the preteen smut in so many magazines.  She spent every moment not in school reading it this morning and letting me know what craft suppl

I woke up this morning to a very unexpected sight out my window. Normally, I work very hard at not complaining about the weather since it doesn't help make it any different.  But this was a very sad sight to my spring fevered heart.  Thankfully it didn't last the morning and now there are only a few small areas where the sun doesn't reach that have a bit of snow left.  Whew!  We got the initial results back from all the tests Ana had yesterday to try to figure out what was wrong with her.  A urinary tract infection.  This one was sneaky.  She's had them before and did not display the usual symptoms and didn't show up on the first test they did a week ago.  So she's on some antibiotics for that.  I think they are still going through with the remainder of her blood work to make sure they aren't missing anything else.  But she seems to be feeling better already and has eaten very well today.  Yea! I went into my room this morning and noticed an unusual lump on

Well, my weekend turned out differently than I had hoped.  I had planned to go out to one of my favorite restaurants (HuHot) with the rest of the leadership team for church.  This was to finally be our Christmas party together.  So we took the kids over to my mom's so she could watch them for the evening.  Yea!  However, approximately three minutes after arriving there, Ana threw up and felt horrible with a fever.  A change of plans was necessary.  I took the girls back home with me, David stayed on with my parents, and Aaron continued on with plans, though feeling much sadder about the evening.  The girls and I didn't do much at home.  It did give me a chance to clean up the house more.  Then everyone from the dinner stopped by after their meal out together brining ice cream to share with me.  So at least I got to have a small part in the evening's festivities.  Joey did his part to help Ana feel better too by keeping her company while she slept. Ana continued to have fev

Yea it's Friday!  That means I spent the morning at the coffee shop!  I love going there.  This morning I didn't eat enough breakfast at home, so I was ravenously hungry when I got there.  Oops.  I didn't feel like eating a pile of sugar, so I saw that they had toast there for 50 cents a slice.  I got two slices thinking that they would be thin nasty store bought slices of bread.  NO!  It was two thick slices of nice homemade bread!  Aaron saw my toast and started eyeing it with jealousy.  I told him that he would need to get his own toast because I definitely wasn't sharing.  I was way too hungry!  I very quickly devoured it and resisted the urge to look like a total pig and get two more slices.  I may have to indulge in their toast again on my next visit.  Since we didn't do normal school in the morning and Friday classes start at 10:00, I had the wonderful opportunity to sleep in a bit AND get a long workout in.  It was very nice.  I did a 45 minute weight/circ

I learned a valuable lesson today.  Never ask your 10 year old boy to help you with your dilemma when it's choosing between making cookies and not making cookies.  The boy will always side with the cookies.  He ended up making them mostly by himself (no bake peanut butter cookies).  He was quite proud of himself. So now we have cookies that we have to eat.  I know, it's a rough life I lead.  I spent the morning at the doctor with Ana.  She's been having a random fever for quite awhile now.  It usually shows up in the afternoons.  So far all the tests they did came back negative.  So now it's a wait and see type thing.  I usually don't take my kids to the doctor unless it's been going on for a long time (like this one) or they seem more than just normal sick that takes time to heal.  We had a nice time together with just the two of us.  David and Abby hung out at a friend's house.  David took his school work there and got that done for the day.  Abby happil

I have been enjoying reading your comments to me on various posts.  It really does brighten my day.  I got this one late one night.  It read: Anonymous said... every time I read your blog I'm amazed at what a sweet, patient, kind, loving husband you have! you are SO LUCKY!!!!! I thought it was super sweet, because naturally I agree with it.  I had Aaron come and look at it and he was pleased with it too and thought it was very nice that someone noticed what a wonderful man he was.  Later on in the evening as we were lying in bed preparing to sleep, I made reference to the comment again and things started to get fishy.  He seemed to know more about who the author might be than I did.  I finally realized that I was presently talking to the author of the comment.  An all out battle ensued.  Our bed is about two feet from one of the walls and we call that gap "The Pit of Despair" and try to randomly send each other there when least suspecting or when the other is being o

I had taken five nice pictures to share with you.  When I went to load them onto the computer, I realized that I had left my memory card in the computer while I was taking pictures, alas, there will be no picture for you to enjoy.  No, wait!  I just figured out that it went to my internal memory.  Not all is lost!!!  Oh happiness!  Okay, now that my crisis is averted, I will share with you some random things of the weekend that have made my heart happy.  1.  Friday morning, I decided to run to the coffee shop - 7.3 miles away.  It was a pleasant run, a bit dark to begin with, but it was nice to run there and feel ready to hang out with friends.  I wasn't too gross and smelly, or at least they didn't seem to be grossed out by me. 2.  Return visit to the coffee shop 40 minutes after leaving.  This time went with Aaron and Abby - much fun was had by all. 3.  a house that heats up without the heater being turned up.  Such delight to me!  I love warmth. 4.  a delicious supper

I have eating issues.  I get a little out of control when it comes to certain foods that borders a bit on psychosis.  When I get fixated on a certain food, that's all I want to eat.  Every day.  For every meal.  Unfortunately, I have a family that doesn't share that trait of mine.  It's very irritating.  I suppose having to cook for a family makes me a more rounded eater, but there are times when I'd really rather just eat my fixation food and let everyone else fend for themselves.  Here are my latest food fixations from the past while in no particular order.  Some are short lived - others have been around for a long time. 1.  "Cuties" (little mandarin oranges) - my fixation on them started last fall.  I buy two 2 lb. bags every time I go shopping.  It lasts our family about a week.  This is one of the only fixations my family, the girls especially, share with me. 2.  Avocados - a recent addition to my food fixation.  I think up ways to use them on everyth

Today it is nearly 70 degrees outside.  Awesome!  I LOVE warm weather.  I think the shivering season is almost over.  The girls are out celebrating right now by climbing our tree.  This is Abby's first time of climbing it by herself.  She's quite pleased with herself.  Ana is feeling better now.  That makes me happy.  I'm hoping Abby doesn't get it.  David only had his fever for a few hours, so I think he got rid of his germs too.  I finally remembered to take Abby to the preschool story hour at the library this morning.  I mean to do it every week but I completely forget about it until once it's over.  But not today!  Abby was very happy to go.  Ana quickly did all of her school work this morning so that she could go too and listen in on the stories and do the crafts too.  David and I sat at a table at the library doing school work while the girls took part of story hour.  It was kind of fun for a change.  Maybe I'll remember to do it next week too!  A change

Unfortunately, the bug has struck our house again.  Grrr.  David came down with a fever last night and Ana has one today.  So we took the day off from school to rest and relax.  Abby is so far untouched and has happily spent the morning with her new favorite activity - playing with her little dolls and a small bucket of water.  Now she has moved on to painting. David is feeling a little better today, but was happy to spend the day reading with a piece of tape on his forehead.  Ana is feeling worse than everyone else and is currently taking a nap on our bed. Joey could care less that anyone feels sick at all.  He is napping on his favorite place in the world - on top of the recliner chair in the sunlight. And I am dinking around and getting little projects done here and there that I haven't taken the time to do for awhile.  Maybe I can get more done if I stop messing around on the computer.  Maybe.

I struggle with liking the whole spring ahead time change.  6:00 felt really early this morning.  Not to mention dark.  I was quite happy to be running in the light in the mornings.  Now it is back to darkness running.  Hopefully it won't be dark for long.  I like to see the potholes in the road before I fall into them.  I saw Snow White lounging around in a cup full of water the other day.  It amused me.  She looked like she was having fun. This is an activity the girls enjoy greatly - filling up cups of water and playing with the little dolls.  I think they often have swimming lessons there.  Not sure what other things they do with the water.  They usually make a mess with it, but are pretty good about cleaning it up once they are done.  I occasionally have to remind them.  But it does bring several hours of entertainment to each day. Abby took a fall on Saturday while walking home from a friend's house.  It's looking better already.  She and Ana were walking home, wit

Good morning everyone!  It's a lovely, sunny, but somewhat chilly Saturday morning.  Instead of tackling my big to-do list, I am here blogging.  Aren't you happy that you rate above everything else at this moment?  I guess I'm more procrastinating than anything.  But I know I'll get it all done eventually.  Because if I don't, I'll have to stay up very late tonight doing it and I don't want to stay up late.  I prefer sleep.  Technically, I should have gotten more of my to-do list done yesterday.  But I didn't.  Why?  Well, many reasons, I guess.  The kids had their Friday classes, for one.  They didn't have them at their usual spot so I could go to the coffee house while they were there.  They had them at our previous church.  So Aaron and I took that chance to have a nice long meeting with the pastor there.  He still gives oversight to our church plant and provides much valuable insight, resources, and support to us.  We love him dearly.  So we had

It's a rainy, gray day here today.  I went for a good run/interval workout at the track this morning and when I got home, I wanted to do something different than our normal day of school.  But since we were sick a few weeks ago and missed a number of days of school already for that, we can't afford to take too many more days off (that is if we want to be done with school by late-mid-May when spring fever is RAGING in our midst).  So I decided to do something different today with school.  My original plan was to make a small batch of cake donuts to celebrate a new day.  But as I started getting things out, I realized that it would be more work than I wanted to do.  So I did the next best thing - or possibly even the best thing.  I loaded up our school books and the kids, once they had gotten dressed and had a small, somewhat healthier breakfast, and we went to the coffee shop to do school there.  They enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa along with a donut there.  I got a cup of coffee. 

Yes, I know, I apologize for those faithful followers who have been missing posts from me (my mom & mom-in-law).  So I will try to not fail you again.  Actually, my mom probably hasn't even noticed that I've not written in awhile.  She and my dad are off having a gay old time visiting my aunt in Vegas - at least that's what they told me they were doing.  They've been gone awhile and I'm beginning to think they may never come back.  Perhaps we'll start moving our stuff over to their house and take it over while they're gone.  Things here have gotten a little out of hand in my end and busyness has overtaken me.  But I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my newest blog post, so here's a brief recap of my weekend... On Friday, I got to enjoy my morning with fellow women at the coffee house.  I sure do love going there.  It completely makes my day.  It makes it even better when I can go there with friends.  I forgot to switch over to decaf for my

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted.  So I thought I'd try to catch up with our doings.  We had a tragedy strike this week.  Abby came to me in tears the other day when she found Prince Charming had been cut in half.  He is Snow White's Prince Charming.  Cinderella's Prince Charming is still intact.  He is awaiting surgery.  I must say that Abby has gotten every cent's worth of money out of these little dolls.  She plays with them so much.  She has a lot of these little dolls - not all are princess related.  They all have names and characters and are involved in all sorts of scenarios in her little play world.  I do need to fix Prince Charming soon as there is a shortage of males in her doll world.  I'm hoping a little hot glue gun action will keep him together. Well, Aaron finally succombed to the sickness that pervaded our house.  He had the fever and everything for the past two days and even stayed home from work those two days - he has probably miss