A Phelps Family

Quick Update

2011-07-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Leaving in 2 days, cleaning, packing.
Tomatoes have psyllis and pumpkins have squash bugs.
Baby's learning to crawl.
Big girl lost almost all of her mermaids and ponies.
Soccer dad is distressed over the dodgers.
Baby sits up all by herself.
Mommy is feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Booboo and Dodger finally have no fleas!
Soccer Dad is hiring an assistant.
Big girl loves swimming in her pool.
Fireworks tonight, Happy 4th!
Looking forward to family, friends, and camp.

My Shiny Porcelain Sink

2011-06-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

My sink is finally clean, Hallelujah! I'm going to shout it from the rooftops! I've been searching for a way to get the stains out of my old porcelain sink since we bought this 50's ranch house, complete with the original 50's sink. It was once a beauty, but is well past it's prime, with a crack and multiple stains.

I ran across the following website and followed the directions exactly:

www.flylady.net

Dear Friends,

I want you to smile from ear to ear when you gaze upon your shiny sink.

I have heard every excuse in the world. Even old sinks can look new again with a little elbow grease.

Here is how you do it:

BE SURE AND RINSE WELL BETWEEN EACH STEP OF THE WAY!

Take all the dishes out of the sink.
Run some very hot water into the sink. Fill to the rim. Only do one side at a time. Then, pour a cup of household bleach into the hot water. Let it sit for 1 hour. Now, pull the plug with a pair of tongs. If you don't have tongs, then scoop some of the water out of the sink into the other sink and use your hand to pull the plug (wear gloves and don't get the bleach-water on your clothes).
Rinse your sink well.
Use some cleanser (Comet, Ajax, or Baking Soda) and scrub your sink. Ensure you rinse ALL of the cleanser from the sink.
Take a sharp edge and clean around the rim of the sink, just like you would clean dirt out from under your fingernails.
Clean around the faucets too. You may need an old toothbrush or dental floss.
Now, get out your window cleaner, I use Windex, and give it a good shine.
If you still don't like the way it looks, then you could try some car wax. Just know in your heart that you have cleaned it very well now and it doesn't have to be perfect. Our perfectionism is what got us in this situation in the first place.
Every time you run water in your sink, take your clean dishtowel and dry it out (I lay out a clean one, every night with my before bedtime routine). Before you know it, you will be doing this everytime you leave your kitchen. The rest of the family will too. No more water spots. You will have a clean and shiny sink.
Don't have a fit if someone doesn't take as much pride in your sink as you do. It is very easy to fix. You have already done the hard part. You will never have to go through this process again. Daily maintenance will keep it looking this way all the time. Nasty hurtful word are not as easy to repair. Just be sure and tell your family what you are trying to do. They will think you have gone crazy.
If you don't have a dishwasher, don't worry. A dishwasher is just a dirty dish disposal. Clean out a place under your sink and put a dishpan in there. Teach your family, that instead of putting their dirty dishes and glasses in the sink, place them into the dish pan. Get into the habit of putting your dishes away as soon as they have been washed and are dry. No more leaving the dish drying rack on the counter or in the sink. Put it away under the sink when you have finished. If your old one is nasty, you may want to soak it in the sink full of bleach water at the same time you soak the sink or go buy a new set.
To insure that your family remembers this, put a note in the sink. It will get their attention and remind them where to put the dishes. Be patient! They have never been taught either. It is going to take some practice.

Now if you have a stainless steel sink, I recommend all of the above directions with one extra instruction added: after you soak your sink, rinse well, and use SOS pads to scrub it. This will buff the finish. It will look like new.

If you still can't get it to shine after the Windex, put a light coat of lemon oil or olive oil on it. I mean just a tiny bit on a cloth and rub it. This will make you smile. Some people have had very good results from Bar Keepers Friend.

Go Shine Your Sink!
FlyLady

I've been hiked upon

2011-06-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

I now know what it feels like to be a fire hydrant, and it is not pleasant, but rather humorous when the one who is doing the hiking is 2 years old. As I was showering with my big girl this morning, she informed me that she was Dodger, our four year old mutt, and then proceded to hike her leg on me. Ha ha! Anyone else ever had this experience? At least we were in the shower. She also hit her Little Mermaid in the process, but don't worry, she washed her up afterward.

Brooklyn, 2 year old, Dodger

Interviews

2011-06-17T20:02:00.001-07:00

Soccer Dad is reviewing and interviewing applicants for the new assistant soccer coach position at the school. I believe he has it narrowed down to two or three, whee!

Feeling a little jealous, I decided to conduct my own interview with our big girl. Here's how it went:

What is your favorite color?
Green, purple, purple.

What is your favorite animal?
Elephant

What is your favorite food?
Eatmeal (oatmeal)

What is your favorite breakfast?
Cheesy Eggs

What is your favorite lunch?
Peanut butter samich

What is your favorite dinner?
CHICKEN! (very excited about this one)

What do you want for your birthday?
A Giraffe. A cake with a giraffe on it.

She also informed me that she ate an elephant ear at the zoo that tasted like oatmeal. Yum.

Just finished packing for our mini camping trip and am off to bed.

The important things in life

2011-06-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

The other day Soccer Dad decided to have a deep and meaningful conversation with our two year old and asked her, "What was your favorite part of the day?" Expecting her to reply that her favorite part of the day was seeing her adopted Grandma, Fefe, who she hasn't seen in 1.5 months, she said, "Cheesy eggs", which is what we had for breakfast.

Thinking he'd outsmart her this time, he asked her, "What was your favorite part about seeing Fefe?" She said, "Peanut butter and crackers." Fefe always gives her snacks.

Later that week Soccer Dad and I walked into the living room to find her eating a fist full of Goldfish crackers on the couch (you know, the ones full of food coloring that Mimi doesn't want to buy, because they're bad for her, but then she remembers that her job is to spoil the grand kids, then goes crazy with the junk food?) Soccer Dad asks our daughter, "Did you just help yourself to those?" Big girl says, "I did." "Did you ask if you could have those?" "I asked Jesus."

If Jesus told her she could have Goldfish, then who are we to stop her?

Ramblings

2011-06-08T08:16:00.000-07:00

My big girl and I were having a conversation about her little friend, we'll call her Hannah, when she told me, "Mommy, Mommy, Hannah's mommy's name is Mommy too, just like yours!" Then she moved on to Soccer Dad, "Daddy, Hannah's daddy's name is Daddy too!" Too cute, can she please stay this precious forever and ever? I'm so glad God blessed me with this little person in my life.

"Bapa's so cute"
"Bapa's silly"

-Big Girl

I have the most wonderful hot dog song stuck in my head (thanks Mimi). Let me sing it for you...

Hot dogs,
Armour Hot Dogs,
What kind of kids like Armour Hot Dogs?
Fat ones, skinny ones,
kids who climb on rocks,
tough ones, sissy ones,
even kids with Chicken Pox!
Hot dogs,
Armour Hot Dogs,
The kind of dogs kids love to bite!

Okay, I'll stop now.

Soccer Dad is going to install laser beams on top of our fridge.

What?

You want to know why?

I lied he's not actually going to install them, but is drawing up plans to install them, well, he's not doing that either, just wishes he could to keep those furry felines off. Their hair, leaves, dirt, etc. keeps dropping down into the ice and shelves of the freezer, gross! Not to mention the fact that their tails and paws have been closed in the door multiple times, good thing their not lizards.

Hot dogs! Armour hot dogs! I'm really done this time. This is how my brain works, I'm thinking of what I'm typing and suddenly the song strikes out of nowhere.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

May 2011

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

Egypt

2011-06-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

We were finally able to skype with Soccer Dad this afternoon. He's very ready to come home and we're even more ready to have him home. He did say that he rode a camel and that Egypt was a bit disappointing after being in the Holy Land, not as much significance. He's also not feeling 100%, which makes for a rough trip home. His wake up call is 4:45 Friday morning, 9:45 Thursday night our time. Only a three hours to go, whoopie! Yes, we're counting down! Hopefully he's sawing lots of logs as I type. They will then leave the hotel around 6am to catch the flight. I'm sure he'll probably have accumulated 3,000 photos to show us all. I'll share them with you after I recover from the pain of uploading them.

3 Days

2011-05-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

We've had no word from Soccer Dad yesterday or today. He arrived in Egypt yesterday morning and changes hotels tonight. He comes home in three days (Wahoo!) and Mimi goes home :( The girls, the garden, and my tummy tum have all grown while Mimi's been here. She feeds us well, always has. Baby's rolling over both ways, eating baby oatmeal, and spitting out peas. As long as she likes green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, and olives, I'll be a happy camper. I need someone on my side, since the other two seem to have similar taste buds. My big girl misses her daddy like crazy and has informed me that she has big girl feet. Big feet are definitely something every lady should be proud of.

We're off to feed the relatives dogs and hope they eat their food instead of us...

Israel Day 5

2011-05-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

Visited the Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount, which is now controlled by Muslims. Went to the Israel Museum and the Nativity Church, built above the site where Jesus was most likely born. Saw the Herod caves, the Shepherd's field, Dead Sea Scrolls, and site where Pilate sentenced Jesus. Last night in Israel. Most relaxing day yet. Took nap today.

-Soccer Dad

Israel Day 4

2011-05-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

Most tiring day yet - toured the old city on foot. Visited the Mount of Olives and two of Jesus' possible tombs. Had communion in the garden tomb and was honored to do the scripture reading. Have had all kinds of Mediterranean food - fish, hummus, felafel, Jerusalem bread, etc. Plan on riding a camel in Egypt. Taken over 1,500 photos.

-Soccer Dad

Israel Day 3

2011-05-27T12:33:00.001-07:00

"Morning at Qumran, site of the discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls. Then Swimming/floating in the Dead Sea and covering in mud for the health of the skin. Onto Bethany and the tomb of Lazarus, and Church on top of house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Into Jerusalem for view of city and old city, the mount of the temple. Finally to Bethlehem to shop and get to new hotel."

-Soccer Dad

Israel Day 2

2011-05-26T12:24:00.001-07:00

"First thing this morning on the Jesus boat on the sea of Galilee. Where Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water. Mount of Beatitudes, Capernum, and Mount Hermon. Baptized in the Jordan River along with 20 others from Chowan.

Walked all over where Jesus ministered, great day"

-Soccer Dad

Israel

2011-05-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

A message from Soccer Dad, his first full day in Israel:

In Tiberius at the Caesar hotel on the sea of Galilee. It is beautiful. Today we went to Cesarea and Herod's palace, Meggedo or Armageddon, Nazareth and Cana. Great day, tomorrow we will travel on and around the Sea of Galilee and do Baptisms in the Jordan River.

Something to Crow About

2011-05-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

Not to keep going on about the critters in our midst, but I think it is necessary to to tell the you about our friendly neighborhood birds.

A few days ago, as I was taking clothes off the line and holding baby sis ( I know, I know, quite the multi-tasker), two fighting birds flew into my feet and fluttered about for a few seconds before flying away. Needless to say, I let out a "yop!"

Even more frightening than that, as Soccer Dad was making his specialty, BBQ chicken, some birds did the same to him, except in his rear end. To make matters worse, our nut dog, Brooklyn, who likes to chase the birds out of our yard, decided to attack the birds attacking the rear end of my beloved hubby.

A Day in the Life of Mrs. Phelps

2011-05-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

5:58 Baby's awake
6:00 Baby's asleep
6:15 Toddler's awake, so is Soccer Dad
7:00 Baby's awake
7:05 Watch bible verses with Toddler and feed baby
7:30 Make oatmeal with Toddler
7:40 Start Laundry
7:45 Breakfast, feed baby
8:10 Dress
8:18 Run
8:38 Return from Run, push toddler on swing
8:45 Put baby down for nap
9:00 Hang laundry
9:30 Start another load
9:45 Kiss Daddy bye bye, Dress toddler, dress self
9:56 Baby's awake
10:00 Feed and dress baby
10:30 Leave for work
11:30 Head home
11:35 make lunch for toddler
11:45 Baby nap
12:05 Eat half sandwich, put toddler to bed
12:10 Baby's awake
12:15 Put baby back down
12:16 Toddler's up, take potty, put back to bed
12:19 Baby's awake
12:20 Toddler's up
12:25 Toddler's up
12:28 Make lunch for self and Soccer Dad
12:30 Soccer Dad's home, Toddler's up
12:35 Make bread, Eat lunch
12:55 Feed baby, start this post
1:10 Spend Bible time with Soccer Dad
1:20 Kiss soccer Dad bye, play with baby
1:35 Laundry, laundry, and more laundry, talk with Mom
2:00 I've lost my memory during this half hour
2:30 Put baby down for nap
2:45 Toddler's up
2:55 Finish bread
3:00 Laundry, talk with Dad
3:15 Baby's up
3:17 Feed Baby
3:15 Swing with toddler, pick lettuce and radishes
4:00 Start dinner
4:15 Talk with Mel
4:45 Finnish Dinner
5:00 Pick up Toddler from next door
5:15 Eat dinner in garden
5.....lots of other fun and exciting stuff that you probably don't want to read and I don't have time to type, cause baby's up at 9:53.

Dead ant, dead ant

2011-05-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ants, ants, ants, ants, Ants, ants, ants, ants la la la la la la CHARGE!

You know you have too many ants in your house when you ask your two year old what she's doing and she says she's watching the ants walk by.

Ahhhhh, ants, please go away. Soccer Dad has sprayed the outside perimeter of our home and smooshed and wiped them away several times on the inside with no avail. I know they've probably been invading this house since the fifties, when our house was built, but who are the ones paying the mortgage here?

Even if there is not a speck of food in the kitchen they still come and drink what little water they can find. Poor little thirsty guys.

Okay, I'm done with the ants now.

Aren't you glad you just wasted a minute of your time reading about our little invaders?

Now I'm really done.

Dinner Prayer

2011-05-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

I pray Booboo, Dawder
I pray all animals at zoo
I pray polar bears
I pray Uncle planter of trees (she didn't say that last part)
I pray our food
Amen

And Elpunts too.

April 2011

2011-05-14T19:30:00.001-07:00

Cousins, cousins, cousins!

2011-04-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

The cousins (oh, and auntie and uncle too) arrived yesterday evening, along with the whole soccer team, the assistant coach, and wife, for hot dogs and burgers on the grill, yum! Needless to say, we had a busy day yesterday. In the a.m. we had my bitty baby girl's well baby check up, went grocery shopping for dinner, came home, prepped the house, made dinner, then everyone arrived, all while taking care of the babes................(taking a moment to breathe).

We've been having a blast and are looking forward to the rest of our time with them. Tomorrow we have soccer and our Easter fun day at church. As of now, all of the kiddos are in bed and as Mat's punishment for whacking me in the head with a poopy diaper we're watching "The Shunning", by Beverly Lewis. Goodnight, and goodnight.

Guess Who?

2011-04-19T12:10:00.001-07:00

We're going to play a little game called "Guess Who"? Can you guess which photo is My firstborn and which is the second-born? If you know their names, please don't use them. They also go by my toddler or my baby.

Baby #1

Baby #2

Wanna play? Just leave me a comment and I'll leave the answer in a few days or something, pretty much whenever I get around to it. Funny, neither girl liked this outfit, I wonder why...

Picnic Anyone?

2011-04-18T05:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday evening my toddler and I decided it was about time we had a picnic dinner. I just love the sound of the word picnic, I think it has something to do with the "P". We packed up our basket with sliced apples, bean salad, and some good ol' southern fried chicken...yum.

Even Sissy was excited!

Once we got the baby changed, the baby fed, the dogs on their leashes, the girls in the stroller, a map of the earth, a week's worth of clothes, and the key to the town (well maybe not those last few), we headed out.

Our destination was the soccer field, fenced in to let the beasts run wild. We only had one potty break detour, a pretty impressive feat, all things considered.

Wild beast #1

Upon our arrival, we snarffed down our grub-a-dub and went on to play soccer, pet a hamster, or practice photography skills, whatever the case may be.

All in all, it was a wonderful, yet exhausting evening.

P.S. Maybe I should explain the whole hamster thing. Two of the women's soccer players bring their little guy out occasionally and let him run about the field in his ball. My toddler was in love and wild beast #2 only tried to eat him once. Don't worry, she missed.

Bapa!!!

2011-04-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

My little toddler was ecstatic to have a visit from Bapa last week. He came in Tuesday evening, while she was at soccer practice, and stayed for a week. Soccer Dad let her stay up extra late to say goodnight to Bapa before bed, and my little jackrabbit hopped all about the room with excitement before she actually made it over to give him a hug. If she could read she'd say, "I no jackrabbit, I bunny," such a wild child.

Looking at Aardvarks & Elephants

Bapa got our garden beds all ready to plant, practiced his lumberjack skills, bought us plenty of "groceries", and spent lots of time playing with the girls. My baby was generous, as usual, in sharing her smiles, and my toddler generous in sharing her dirt, sticks, and ponies. It was an absolute delight to have him here.

On a side note, I just threw a package of candy corn, I mean "Jesus Promise Seeds," at my hubby's head to test his reflexes, no warning, sometimes I just like to do these things, and he's punishing me by making me listen to the country boy band. Rascal Flatts, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about. Next time they're on just listen, or better yet, watch, and try and tell me that they don't sound like a boy band.

Any-hoo, we had a wonderful time with Bapa and can't wait to see him, Mimi, and possibly G & G in Guy, ahem, July (sometimes I think like my toddler speaks).

March 2011

2011-04-16T09:59:00.001-07:00

That's our House

2011-04-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

Dog hair fluttering about like snow,
Daughter's bouncing to and fro.
Dust bunnies line the walls,
Sneaking out of bed (AGAIN) into the hall.
Work binder with a sock hanging out,
Dirt is clinging to the grout.
Black footed girl gets in the bath,
After her good ol' worm succotash.

Holes in the couches,
Bites on chairs,
Why is she wearing Dad's underwear?
Smell of bread baking (oops rose too long, now it's sinking),
Laundry flapping in the breeze,
Daddy always has to sneeze,
Dogs are eating up the scraps,
Ants are crawling through the cracks.
Baby is getting sleepy,
Mom, those leftovers look kinda creepy.
That's our house,
Where we spend the day.
Don't you want to come and stay?

February 2011

2011-03-18T12:41:00.001-07:00

Green Eggs and Ham

2011-03-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat.

And I would eat them with a goat...
And I will eat them in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.

They are so good, so good, you see.
So I will eat them in a box.
And I will eat them with a fox.

And I will eat them in a house.
And I will eat them with a mouse.
And I will eat them here and there.
Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!

I do so like
green eggs and ham!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am!

Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A little Plot of Paradise

2011-03-16T05:58:00.001-07:00

We are finally starting our garden! Every year that we've been married, I've wanted to garden, but we've moved so often that it has been impossible. Sure, I've had an array of indoor plants that traveled place to place with us, but nothing is like going outdoors and sticking my hands into the wormy soil.

I grew up gardening with the best of the best, my dad, although he may disagree. Needless to say, some of my favorite memories were being outside with him planting seeds, weeding, and harvesting. The best times were eating sweet 100's and berries straight off the vine. I can even remember as far back as when I was three years old and I was playing in his garden with my blue balloon, while he was working away. I accidentally let go of my balloon and my dad stood there with me while I cried and watched it float away.

Until this year I did not realize how much there is to learn about gardening even before planting a single seed. My dad is still teaching me from all the way across the country about composting, companion planting, and much, much more. So far my wonderful hubby has fenced off the garden area from our wild beasts, built two raised beds, and while I type, is digging up the grass to transplant elsewhere.

It has been super easy gardening with our two year old who loves dirt baths, worms, and anything that grows, but not so easy with our two month old who seems to prefer the indoors. I'm hoping that will change as she grows. Yesterday Abby declared to me that she was all clean after literally rolling in the dirt and becoming as brown as she could possibly be. She also went on a very serious worm hunting mission and found several other treasures along the way. At soccer practice she even got in trouble for trying to eat dirt "like a worm." Oh my child!

According to My 2 year old

2011-02-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

"I want to bite the sun" -2 year old

"I need to ride a motorcycle" -2 year old

"My elbow needs to go potty" -2 year old

"She is so impressionable" -Soccer Dad, "I so pressable" -2 year old

During Bible story time:

"I want walk on water with Jesus too" -2 year old

"I no want die on cross" -2 year old

"I want take care of animals on ark" -2 year old

Dance Me Daddy

2011-02-12T08:00:00.001-08:00

January 2010

2011-02-01T15:03:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2010

2011-02-01T11:33:00.001-08:00

1 week New Baby

2011-02-01T09:58:00.001-08:00

Baby number 2

2011-01-31T17:12:00.001-08:00

Ready for the babe

2011-01-31T10:36:00.001-08:00

Baby Shower 1

2010-11-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

We had our first baby shower one week ago today, which our oldest had a blast at. Click below to see Photos.

Baby Shower 1

Baby Sister

2010-11-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

Less than 6 weeks to go! I'm getting a little anxious with all that we still need to accomplish before baby sister is born, but we are all very excited for her arrival. Soccer Dad has finished sanding our daughter's new chest of drawers and now all we have left to do is paint it :) We picked out a pale pink (she helped) and I think we'll do the knobs white. The paint that we purchased to touch up the crib and baby's chest of drawers, was found spilled in a puddle on the garage floor last Sunday. Of course, it happened on a Sunday. Luckily the dogs had just dragged the bag off the shelf, only one can spilled, and they did not track doggy prints all over. I'm just happy it wasn't the pink paint :)

As soon as we can get the chest of drawers painted, we can move our oldest's current chest of drawers, which matches the crib, into the nursery, start washing all of the belongings. We're replacing the three sets of navy blue panel curtains with something much lighter and airy. The nursery is currently rather dark and drab. Imagine all four walls with wood panneling, wooden closet doors, wood floor, and navy curtains. Great for a hunting lodge, but not so great for a nursery.

We have our church shower tomorrow, yay! We'll be able to figure out what we still need for baby after this and get everything put away. Phew! Our first shower was marvelous and Our oldest had so much fun opening all the presents and eating chocolate cakcake. I'm sure she'll have just as much fun at the next.

We're still in the process of picking out a baby name. We've narrowed it down to two. We wanted to pick before going into labor, but at least we've got it narrowed down to two names, instead of ten, like last time :) Our oldest thinks we should name the baby big guy and the baby in her tummy is named little guy. Her imagination has really been developing lately. A few days ago she was pretending that I was Garfield and Soccer Dad was Skeeter. Meow!

Christmas Cards

2010-11-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited to take our picture for our Christmas cards this year. We have a pretty funny idea, as long as we can get our toddler to cooperate :) I'm not sure if we'll attempt to get the dogs in the picture too...probably not, the cats may feel left out!

I'm going to be using Shutterfly to order our cards this year, they have a great selection and you can even save 20% with the promotion they have going on right now. Here are a few examples and you can find more here: Holiday Cards

It's super easy to upload your pictures, we've done this for ordering prints, plus they offer 50 free 4x6 prints for new members, which we took advantage of! To upload pictures click here: upload pictures or go here to sign up as a new member: Sign Up! After ordering, your prints arrive in the mail, which I found to be super convenient.

Shutterfly also offers many other items such as cards, calendars, invitations, etc. Not only do they offer traditional calendars, but also desk calendars which are currently 20% off.

So now for the really good part! My fellow bloggers may be able to grab up 50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly as well! All you need to do is hop over to Shutterfly and register. It only takes a minute and you might be able to get your holiday cards for free!

I hope you all go sign up and spread the word to others that might be interested!

I provided this post for Shutterfly and will be receiving 50 free photo cards for sharing my review.

Blessings

2010-11-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

We've been so blessed since moving to our small town and I've especially been noticing it since we've gotten pregnant. Most recently, we really needed another dresser or chest of drawers and I felt like I prayed and prayed, and nothing was coming up. Last weekend we were driving by a yard sale and we happened to see a chest of drawers. Soccer Dad hopped out and asked and the husband said he would like to get at least $10 for it. Whoopie! It needs a little TLC, but now we can finally move our Toddler's chest of drawers, which matches the crib, into the nursery. Which means I can wash the baby's clothes, put them away, and get the rest of the room set up. Phew, I feel like it's coming down to the wire. Our toddler is also super excited about her new dresser :)

We were given a "like new" two seater stroller, which was originally purchased for $200 something. Yay, God! Our toddler also loves the new stroller and that she'll get to ride with baby sister.

Work and church both want to throw showers for us, what a blessing for our second baby!

Biggest of all, God has provided a house, church family, and friends. It took a while to start making friends (over a year), but it's finally happening.

Our cooking adventures

2010-10-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

I've had several friends and family who've made subtle comments about how I haven't been keeping up with the blog. I find that when I haven't posted in a while, it just gets harder and harder to create a post, because there is soooo much I have to share and I get overwhelmed and decide to wait longer. Makes sense right?

I don't think I've posted since we were in Oregon and while there my lovely sister-in-law kept talking about Dave Ramsey. I've always leaned toward Suze Orman's financial advice, but I was curious about what Mr. Ramsey had to say. I waited for weeks for his book to be returned to our library, but when it was around 3 weeks late, I decided to fall back to old faithful, Suze Orman and read "The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom." This resulted in revamping our budget, other financial areas of our life, and our eating habits.

My toddler and I have been baking and cooking many more recipes from scratch, which I've had people asking me about so I've decided to share a few of my favorites with you here. She does love to help with all the cooking, including whisking, beating, cracking, dumping, pouring, and even on occasion stirring with her toes. If you see an item of interest, just click on the link

1. Mayonnaise : don't forget to pasteurize your eggs before creating to avoid salmonella. Pasteurizing eggs is also great when cooking or baking any recipe that involves an uncooked egg. When making Mayo, please don't add too much salt, it is also a bit of a different color than store bought mayo.

2. Pita Pockets : time consuming, but turned out great!

3. Pumpkin Bread : My new favorite pumpkin bread recipe! Recipe calls for 1c honey, but I use 1/2 c honey and 1/2 c apple juice and recipe turns out great. Honey is a bit expensive for our family to use that much in one recipe.

4. Tortillas : Amazing! My whole family loved these and they were so good straight off the griddle. This website is written by a Mom whose family is debt free and has many great reads.

5. Wheat Bread : The best homemade bread recipe that I've ever used. I make the dough in my bread machine and bake the bread in the oven. If you scroll down the page, she'll tell you how to do it. We use this bread for about half the bread we consume monthly and it is fabulous. The recipe calls for 2T brown sugar, and we've made it with 2T, 1T and no brown sugar and all three tasted great.

6. Yogurt : My toddler loves this yogurt! The recipe calls for 1/2c plain yogurt, but we prefer to use 1/2c vanilla yogurt for a bit of added flavor. Yogurt CANNOT be frozen and thawed. We also use 1 or 2% milk and add 1 packet unflavored gelatin. This results in a nice thick yogurt that is easier for Abby to eat. When using the gelatin, refrigerate for the gelatin to solidify. I also love this website for her other crockpot recipes. She will list a regular recipe, but also a gluten free version, as her family does not consume gluten.

I've been using 1/2 wheat and 1/2 unbleached flour in all recipes that call for flour and our family has been perfectly happy with the taste. I usually always leave out all sugars and replace with honey, apple juice, or apple sauce. Agave nectar is also supposed to be a great alternative, but it's more expensive in our stores.

Let me know if you try any and how they turn out and I'll continue to post recipes that I find to be wonderful.

To church on time

2010-08-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

It seems as though every Sunday morning since I was a kid there was always something, should I say someone, trying to prevent us from making it to church, at least on time. I'll not mention any names, but I think we all know who the culprit is. This last Sunday was one of the worst as far as pee-pee and potty is concerned.

On Saturday, our toddler peed in her car seat, as seems to be the trend lately. I washed it and hung it out to dry, so it would be ready to re-install on Sunday morning. I packed up her snacks, drink, my purse and the cover, and put it on the table. At some point when I wasn't looking, she pulled the cover down off the table and left it on the floor. I happened to find it a few minutes later with dog pee on it, ahhhh! Our little squirt man has picked up the bad habit of peeing in the house.

At some point during the weekend one of our kitties urinated on something in the laundry room. I swept and mopped the floor on Saturday, took absolutely everything out that could be removed on Sunday, wiped it down before church, and the room still stunk!!! Our toddler has also decided that she needs to use the potty chair all by her big girl self. She occasionally misses the potty and this send a lovely aroma through the bathroom.

While cleaning the bathroom, I noticed how well behaved and quietly our toddler was playing in her room. I popped my head in to see what she was up to and found that she had ripped up four colors of play-dough into pea sized pieces all over the floor. Yay...another thing to clean up before church! Once this was all picked up, we managed to make it out the door and to church on time.

I've learned my lesson, all I need to do is shower an hour before my normal time, as I did on this Sunday, then I'll have time to clean up all of life's little disasters. It turns out that the cat had relieved itself in Mat's shoe when it was sitting in the garage and Mat placed his shoes in the laundry room to dry, where the smell was multiplied 100 fold by the heat of the dryer. Stinky!

Anyone have any other Sunday morning stories?

Our Babies

2010-08-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

I've begun feeling the baby kick quite often within the past few weeks. The biggest difference I've noticed between this one and when I was carrying my firstborn, is the intensity this one has. My firstborn was always wiggling around and I was constantly feeling little flutters and quick movements. When the current little one moves, s/he means it! I don't feel the baby as often, but the kicks are very strong, possibly a future soccer player! Soccer Dad has even been able to feel the kicks on several occasions. Other than that, I seem to be carrying the baby the same as the first. My allergies have been much worse and I've had more skin problems (my wedding ring doesn't like me). I did find out that my Aunt had the same problem with her ring when she was pregnant as well, phew, I'm not such an odd ball.

Our other baby isn't such a baby anymore! She's already two, I can't believe it! She watches mommy get ready for work everyday and wants to be just like me :) She puts makeup on with me, plays with unplugged curling irons, and picks out her own clothes, which she changes about 5 times per day. She especially loves all of her pretty dresses. Last week she noticed that I had a different pair of earrings on that I don't normally wear, and she wanted to wear earrings too! Normally I hang bracelets or rubberbands on her ears and she's satisfied with that, but I remembered that I have three pairs of Grammy's clip on earrings. She was so tickled to wear her great grandmother's green sparkly clip-ons, that I couldn't get her to take them off until bedtime for two days in a row. I know how much those earrings pinch, but she's a tough little thing and didn't seem to mind. I hear her calling me now, have a fabulous afternoon!

Watermelon Festival

2010-07-31T11:00:00.001-07:00

One thing I love about small towns are all the little events that the whole community gets into. The Watermelon Festival started on Wednesday went through Saturday. We live within walking distance from the Fest, and were able to make it everyday except Wednesday, wahoo! In preparation for the Fest, watermelon flags and banners, begin popping up all over the place, even at many houses. My aunt took me out for lunch on Wed. and the special included watermelon salsa, Yum! It was organic and 100% homemade from the owners garden outback.

Our first try at the Fest was a flop, we arrived, and not five minutes later, there was a severe thunderstorm warning announced over the loud speaker. Luckily we had just purchased dinner and were seated under a large tent. We did have to move to the inside of our table, because the wind was blowing the rain sideways and it was pelting our backs. We stayed under the tent for about 30 minutes during the downpour, then walked home when there was a break. There were no complaints about the rain though, because we were very much in need of it. The lights only flickered once during our meal :) Our toddler had a fabulous time upon arriving home, donning her rain boots and stomping in many a puddle.

Our second and third visits to the Watermelon Fest were fairly uneventful. We wandered through the craft fair and carnival zone, ate free watermelon, and had some yummy homemade hot fudge cake. We were both expecting there to be more homemade crafts and homegrown produce, possibly some watermelon, for sale, but it was mainly like any other fair with a few small town touches.

On Saturday, we took our toddler to her first parade and passed the 5k racers on the walk to main street. She loved the clowns and bands, but was a little nervous about the large and loud motorcycles. Things were wrapped up on Saturday night with a fireworks show, which we could hear loud and clear from inside our house. Luckily, our toddler stayed sound asleep, but poor Boo boo was a little terrified. Apparently the cats were happy with us on Saturday as well, because I awoke this morning to find another bird on the floor of our bedroom. At least this time it was dead.

Sam's Club Winner

2010-07-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

Our Sam's Club gift card winner is Pixie, who is planning to give the gift card to her starving student :) Congratulations! I guess it was pretty good odds, since only two entered the giveaway.

Rain!

2010-07-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord it's finally raining! We've been praying for rain for weeks, especially for the farmers. This is just another way that this small town is different from So. Cal., not a bad different, just different. In So. Cal. EVERYONE has sprinklers or some system of watering, other than relying on the rain. Here, the farmers, homeowners, and the whole town relies on rain. Our yard, the University's lawn, and the crops are all brown. The corn stalks are turning into spikes and the cotton plants are wilting. Hopefully these showers will bring a little life back to the plants.

It's also great to have a break from the heat, not only for us, but also for the wildlife. The birds have been spending their time on Mat's practice field in the sprinkler and Abby and I saw a big bull frog in a pipe, where there was about one cup of water. We didn't realize the frog was there, so Abby was happily dumping fist fulls dirt into the pipe, when the dirt started moving. She came up to me with a very alarmed look on her face, so cute! We got out a water bottle and rinsed the poor little fellow off and Abby learned to say "ribbit." On our drive off the field (yes we park on the field) Daddy showed us an empty turtle shell. So many learning opportunities!

Reminder: Only 2 days left to enter the Sam's Club gift card giveaway!

Updates

2010-07-25T11:24:00.001-07:00

Want to know what's going on with the Phelps Family without checking the blog to sometimes see an update, and sometimes not? Maybe you forget to check and would like a reminder. Enter your email address in the box to the right and you'll be sent an email whenever there is an update.

I look forward to sharing more of our lives with you! Don't forget to enter the Sam's Club gift card giveaway!

Giveaway - Sam's Club

2010-07-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Sam's Club and General Mills have provided me with a $25 gift card and one $25 gift card to giveaway! To enter the giveaway, leave a comment letting me know why you want the card by Wednesday, July 28. I'll announce the winner on July 29.

More great news! If you're new to Sam's club, they are offering $20 Gift Cards to new Members who join by August 1. Sign up or renew a Sam's Club Collegiate Membership and receive a $15 gift card. Must present a valid student I.D. and university e-mail address at the time of sign up to qualify for Sam's Club collegiate membership.

Looking for a place to collect Box Tops? For an easy solution, head over to your local Sam´s Club from Aug. 11 through Aug. 31 and earn more cash for your school. At the Sam´s Club Back-to-School event, you can get a head start on your collection and find 6 Box Tops on participating General Mills products. With your favorite Box Tops for Education brands at a great value, Sam´s Club is your one-stop destination for all your back-to-school supplies you need to send your kids off to school with confidence!

In addition, Sam´s Club is giving you the opportunity to earn even more Box Tops when you upgrade to a "Plus Membership." From Aug. 6 - Aug. 13, or while supplies last, visit the Member Services Desk of your local Sam´s Club and upon payment for your Plus Membership, you will receive a certificate for 150 Bonus Box Tops! For more information on how you can take advantage of the Back-to-School event at Sam´s Club, visit www.samsclub.com today!

*Sam´s Club and General Mills have provided me with a Sam´s Club Plus Membership, a gift card, information, and this giveaway through MyBlogSpark.

Oregon Adventures

2010-07-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

We had an absolutely fabulous time while in Oregon. We were away for two weeks and crammed as much in as we possibly could. We were able to go camping twice, see both sets of Abby's grandparents, among other family and friends, attend a family reunion, celebrate birthdays, hear my brother in law preach, visit a winery, go to coast, and much more!

Our first camping trip, two days after we arrived, was to "the lot" where Mat grew up camping with his family. Five of us stayed in Mat's parent's trailer, and Mat's aunt and uncle met us there and camped in their own trailer. Mat especially enjoyed this trip, even though Abby did get sick with a fever.

Camping at the lot

~Click on any image to see more photos.~

We returned from our first camping trip on the 4th of July and after showering and doing some much needed laundry, we headed over to a BBQ (not pulled pork) at Grandpa and Grandma Phelps' house. Mat's Aunt took Abby out to see and pet the horses, but Abby was much more interested in the kitty. We were originally planning on watching fireworks somewhere, but once we returned home, we were exhausted and stayed in and listened to the booms instead. Just as fun, right?

Tide Pool at the Aquarium
Mimi and Bapa arrived on Monday, the 5th with bundles of home grown fruit...yum!! I ate as much as I could before we left. We had Mexican food on Tuesday (I miss it so much!). The remainder of the week was filled with a trip to the coast for retirement house hunting, breakfast with Grandma Brown, a visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, a joint birthday party for Mat and Abby, and a haircut for my mother and I by Mat's cousin.

Abby loved the Aquarium, especially the tide pool where she could poke all of the sea creatures. Abby had a wonderful second birthday party, where she enjoyed sneaking finger fulls of cake before it was cut and was so excited to open her presents.

Baking the Cake with Grandma

On Saturday, Abby and I both attended our first family reunion. We had breakfast with the family and saw some relatives. Abby tried to play with the big girls, but I don't think they understood that she was trying to play with them by giving them leaves and dirt. Mimi and Bapa had to leave for home on Saturday after the reunion. It was a very sad departure full of tears, but we were so blessed to have their company for five days. The only way it could've been better was if Danny and Elody had made it up. Boo hoo.

Crater Lake
Sunday we headed south to hear our brother in law preach, then on to Crater Lake. On our way down, we were able to make a last minute stop to see some dear friends staying in Eugene. It was so nice to spend several days in a row with Mat's sister's family and for Abby to play with her cousins. Crater lake was amazing, most likely the deepest blue body of water that I have ever laid eyes on. We stayed at a lake outside of the park and the mosquitoes were terrible! Mat took Abby swimming in the lake, later to find out that it had blue algae. Whatever that means! Don't worry, they weren't infected.

We returned to Mat's parents on Tuesday, packed, and flew home on Wednesday. We also had the pleasure of seeing one of Mat's high school buddies and his family on our last night.

As much as I LOVE the west coast and our families, it was great to return to our home and pets. Ahh, it's always nice to sleep in my own bed after a time away.

New Baby, New House, New Doggies!

2010-06-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a super exciting and busy time for us these past few months, as we have purchased and moved into our first home, adopted two new dogs, and are expecting a little one in December.

I am just past my first trimester and the baby is due December 27...please not Christmas! We would really like to have another girl and boy, so any healthy baby would be a blessing. We have not decided on a name yet, except that the middle name of a boy would be "Dean." Abby has decided that she, Mat, and myself all have babies in our tummies, she is so precious. The morning sickness and total exhaustion have let up quite a bit, and I am looking forward to setting up the nursery again. I have placed the ultrasound photos someplace safe, which I have yet to find.

We moved sometime in late May/ early June, that time of my life is a bit of a blur. We are finally getting settled into our house, and still have quite a bit of work to do on it, but it will have to wait until we get the new heat pump paid off. My dear friend Melissa was visiting during the moving process and was a huge help in cleaning the old place, moving, cleaning the new, and watching Abby. When we moved into our house, it smelled a great deal like a wet dog, most of which is gone, but I fear it will not fully leave until we throw out the carpet. Shortly after we moved it began to get very hot outside and it took two weeks to have our heat pump installed. Needless to say, Melissa was an angel, and babysat Abby for Mat and I in our smelly, hot house, while Mat whisked me away to the beach to celebrate our 6th anniversary.

Our New House

Backyard

After seeing photos every week of the dogs up for adoption at our local coffee shop, we decided to go "look" at the dogs. We wanted Abby to grow up with a dog that she could play with and not think it normal for a toothless pom pom to growl at her on a regular basis. For some reason we thought getting another dog would also take some of the Abby pressure off of squirt. We ended up with a yellow lab/boxer mix named Brooklyn who came with the offer of her shepherd mix pen mate for free. We decided just to go with Brooklyn and a few days later adopted Dodger as well (see if you can figure that one out). Dodger was a little rough around the edges and needed more training, but is wonderful with Abby, the cats, and squirt. Brooklyn was incredibly easy to train and is wonderful with Abby. The cats and Squirt don't like her, as she thinks they're toys.

Brooklyn

Dodger

We are headed to Oregon for Mat to officiate one of his high school friend's wedding and to see both sets of grandparents. We'll be with Mat's family and extended family for two weeks and my parents will be visiting for 5 days. While away, Abby and I will both have the honor of attending our first family reunion. Abby will also go camping for the first time, see her first fireworks show, and celebrate her second birthday. Mat will also celebrate his 28th birthday, I know, just as exciting. Abby is now calling Joy's parents: Mimi and Bapa, and Mat's parents: Banana (formerly Nana) and Grandpa. Don't worry Nana, Abby is very fond of Bananas.

Click Here to see Abby's 22 - 23 month photos

There is not a doubt in my mind that our little Abigail has entered her wonderful and sometimes terrible twos. Abigail has sometimes begun throwing herself onto the ground in "tragic heaps", as Aunt Jolynn likes to say, when something goes wrong in her little mind. She says around 97 words and often uses two word sentences. She loves her babies, purses, stomping around the house in her dress shoes, and she adores "The Little Mermaid" and "moomies" (movies). From what I can gather, Abigail would prefer to be a dog, as she has attempted to eat grass, chew on a chew toy, drink the dog's inside and outside water, eat dog food and treats, scratch herself with her back foot, and lick her "paw".

For all who may see her in the future, we are no longer giving Abby candy.

I thank God for our many blessings daily and would covet your prayers, as we have decided to begin volunteering with the youth at our church upon our return from Oregon.

Love and blessings to all!

We have a winner!

2010-06-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

Our dear friend Jessica is going to school and Mat found that to be a noble cause, so she is the winner of the Jiffy Lube gift card.

21 Month Photos

2010-05-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Abby's new 21 month photos have been uploaded. To view them click here or on the link on the right sidebar.
We are currently babysitting one of Abby's 9 month old friends and she just doesn't understand why he is taking a nap and she can't go in there with him. It's so tough being an almost two year old.

Please continue to keep my grandpa in your prayers. He has been moved from the hospital into a nursing home and still has the feeding tube and tracheotomy in. We are hoping that he will recover to the point where he will be able to go home and care for himself with the help of others.

$35 Jiffy Lube Gift Card Giveaway

2010-05-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

I have been provided me with a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card to giveaway.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on our blog about why you should be the winner by May 31, 2010! Let's get creative! Mat will choose the winner on June 1, 2010 after I anonymously read all of the submissions to him. :) Be sure to leave your name and address so we can mail the gift card to the winner. If you would rather email your address, you can do so at matandjoy@gmail.com.

Did you know that in the United States the average age of cars and light trucks on the roads today has reached a record high of 9.4 years? That means it’s more important than ever to take proper care of your vehicle.

With the informative Web site www.MotorOilMatters.org (created by the maker of industry-leading brands Pennzoil and Quaker State) you can easily locate key information about how quality motor oils can help prolong your engine’s life and improve overall efficiency, as well as help answer other questions you may have about motor oil. In addition, the site offers a fun, educational game for you to play called “M.O.M. Knows Best” where you can put your motor mind to the test with an interactive quiz.

Did you know?

According to a recent survey from the Automotive Service Association, more than 54 percent of customers who take their vehicles for service and repair are women

Using a high-quality motor oil in the right grade can help maximize fuel economy

Low-quality oils that do not meet industry standards or the vehicle manufacturer’s requirements could cost consumers in the long run by potentially damaging the vehicle’s engine or possibly voiding the manufacturer’s warranty

Another reason to look to a high-quality motor oil – like Pennzoil and Quaker State - is that it is designed to meet the demands of today’s engines

A $35 Jiffy Lube gift card will cover most of the cost, if not all, of a conventional oil change at most Jiffy Lube locations (please click on the following link to locate your nearest store:
http://www.jiffylube.com/findlocation/storelocator.aspx).

MotorOilMatters.org and Shell Lubricants provided me with the gift card and information was given through MyBlogSpark.

Home buying

2010-05-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

We've had SO much going on in the past two months that I've neglected our blog. As usual, it's the first thing I forget about. Instead of writing about everything that's been happening, as I was originally going to do, I've decided to break my writing into various events in our lives, otherwise this might turn into a five page essay! Yikes!

In early April we decided to look into buying a home, partly because the first time home buyers tax credit was ending in April. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! To make a long story short, we found a place we liked and decided to make an offer. After a few negotiations, our offer was accepted and we moved forward with the home inspection, bank loan, and everything else involved with buying a house.

It was and still is a new and exciting process for both Mat and I and we're looking forward to hopefully moving in at the end of this month. We're still waiting on a finalized closing date, and waiting for the current homeowners to do the agreed upon repairs.

It has been so amazing watching God work out all the big and little details in this process. I firmly believe this would not be happening if it wasn't for Him!

20 months/Easter photos

2010-05-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

New photos of Easter and Abby's 20th month of life have been uploaded. Check them out here or click on the link on the side.
I'll have a new update about our crazy lives up later this week. Hopefully things will slow down in August. Ugh...So long away!

Meeting with the Pastor

2010-03-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

We met with Pastor Josh yesterday and we both were very happy with our time. His theology, mission, and vision are all biblical and he is very open to change and suggestions. It sounds like there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer, as with any church, and now we're praying about where God wants us. With our passion and experience it would be really easy to jump into youth ministry again, especially since this group is about the same size and makeup as our last two groups were, but we don't want to do it just because it's comfy. It would be amazing to be able to just be volunteers though.

Another thing that we were very happy to hear, is that the church is open to possibly integrating contemporary music into their existing service, or starting a new service, maybe in the evening. We would really like to see some of the college students in the area get involved with a church. We also learned about the Sunday school classes that the church offers. We're going to try out the "young" (mostly under age 50) couples class. I miss being in a small group, it feels like I'm missing a toe (was going to say leg, but I don't think it's that severe).

Abby also had a wonderful time in the pastor's office, as she always does when we are someplace new. She wandered around the office, pulling books off the shelf, poking the ceramic lion, spilling snacks EVERYWHERE, and trying to squeeze between the couch and coffee table. She's just not as small as she used to be, and I don't think she realizes that yet. On Tuesday she was digging through her "too small" clothes and found her old favorite shoes and brought them out for me to put on her. We tried and tried, but her little foot wouldn't fit and she just didn't understand. The same thing happened when we were trying on sandals today at the store. She insisted on jamming her foot into this tiny sandal, silly girl!

There are a few coming events that we're really looking forward to at church. The Saturday before Easter there is some sort of fun kid's day and I'm not sure, but I think there will be an Easter egg hunt, which should be very fun this year, with Abby at her current age. Then, on Easter Sunday, there will be a graveside sunrise service, breakfast, Sunday School, and church. I so miss the sunrise services that we used to be a part of when growing up. There was always something exciting about waking up while it was still dark, putting on warm, grubbyish clothes, and heading out into the cold to hear about Jesus! Breakfast always tasted so much better when we ate after such a celebration with family and friends. I'm excited about this Easter, because the church has a grave yard directly behind it, which is where the service will be. This is especially meaningful since the very first Easter took place in a grave :)

"They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: "Glory to the Righteous One."
-Isaiah 24:15-16

Spring

2010-03-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

Mat and I discovered a new playground the other day, which is amazing considering how tiny our town is. It is within walking distance and has a sandbox, which Abby loves. It was behind what we thought was a children's program building, so we weren't quite sure if we were supposed to be using it, but you try telling Abby she can't play on the playground that we're walking right past when she's pointing and saying, "ohh, oh"! Needless to say, we went and played and had a wonderful time.

Last Tuesday a friend and I took our chillens to the same park and apparently the children's program no longer occupies the building and we even have access to the trikes that are in the shed, Yay! The fence around the park was recently removed, opening it up to the public. i guess we never noticed the fence before.

Last week it was warm enough to go out to the park and on other outdoor adventures, but now that it's officially spring, it's been cold and rainy. It's supposed to clear up by tomorrow, just in time for kids soccer practice :)

Potty Training

2010-03-16T09:13:00.001-07:00

We began potty training the little munchkin about three weeks ago and she is doing fabulous! She has her own little potty chair, but prefers to use the "big girl toilet". She calls both #1 and #2 Bopo and raises her brows and squints her eyes when saying it. She also wears "big girl panties" whenever we are home. She still has #1 accidents but has only gone #2 in the potty chair for the last two days. We've taken her out of the house without a diaper twice and one of the times she peed on the Men's Soccer locker room floor, te he he. Daddy and Mommy are so proud of our little girl who is growing up too fast!

19 Month Abby photos

2010-03-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

We have 12 new Abby photos. Sorry it's only 12, but the good news is, I've already started taking pics. for next month. Click here to view her 19 month photos. Below is one of my favorites.

We are headed to a beach city on Saturday and Mat will be going to north on Sunday. It will be Abby's and my first time to the beach city and we are taking the car in to have a recall fixed, couldn't be more exciting, huh? I was going to take her to the park while we were waiting, but there is a 100% chance of rain, bummer. While on our mini adventure we will also be going to AAA, the mall, and Mat will be recruiting. All of the things we don't get to do in our po-dunk town. If we're lucky, we might even make it over to a Target or Trader Joes.

Abby is currently trying to dress squirt in her pants that she recently removed from her legs, and succeeded in getting them to stay on his back. He has become the most crotchety old dog since Abby has become mobile.

Mat is at a short day of work today, Spring break starts today for students, so that means no practice! We had a small turnout for our first day of the youth indoor soccer program, so he's in the office working with the city trying to get the dates pushed back to allow more time for registration. I'm hoping that will go quickly, then he can come home and we'll finally be able to fill in the writing on the support letter shell that's been stowed away in our computer.

Another Excuse

2010-03-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

This time my lack of posting is my fault, not hubby's. I've been spending all of my computer time helping Mat type soccer addresses and creating a fund-raising letter, Yay! I actually really do like doing that kind of work, weird, I know. He's hoping to raise enough money to buy game day shirts, warm-ups, and more! I don't know much about soccer (even though I'm married to the coach) or athletics in general (even though I work in the department), but I wanted to do something to help him out, because he's so busy. After all, the guy is making lunch for us right now. Grilled tuna, yummmm. Squirt is getting so excited, because for some reason he thinks he's getting food, that he's started barking, and Abby's napping. Oh, that dog!

The past week

2010-02-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

So much has happened in the last week, I don't even know where to begin. I guess I could start with Mat's new favorite sport, curling, which is currently on the tube (yes, we still have one). During this Olympics a new love has blossomed between curling and my husband. I actually don't mind watching it as much as some sports, but I prefer ice skating. Mat has finally finished his two classes and is on his way to a 4.0 in his graduate program. He is going to be taking an additional soccer class, outside of school, in Florida. The class is a week long and he will earn his National Diploma from the NSCAA. This is thankfully during the same time that my parents will be here visiting. Mat's new class begin on March first, but he will only be taking one class the next quarter.

Abby has mostly conquered her bow-bow (pacifier) addiction, which we began weaning her off of about a week ago. She still uses it during naps and at night, and I must say that I don't see this ending any time soon. She struggled and really missed her bow-bow for about the first four days, but now she hardly asks for it at all. We were hoping that without it constantly being in her mouth, she would begin to talk more. She now babbles non stop, and is saying more words, more frequently. Her favorite word is Uh-oh. Sometimes she throws her cup on the ground just so she can say uh-oh. I think she's really begun to enjoy her English words and sometimes she'll say a string of as many words as she can think of and in no particular order. "Mama dada Bubu hi uh-oh." Or, she'll just walk up to Squirt's face, "Bubu, Bubu, bubu, bubu." Abby calls Squirt Bubu, it is much easier to say, and it's what Mat and I call him the majority of the time. As well as she is doing learning her new words, there are some words where she's stuck in her ways and won't even try to say them correctly. Mama has four meanings, depending where she puts the emphasis, Mommy, Grandma, All done, and one other word I can't think of right now. I've tried having her say, "all" and she says, "Ma", then I'll say, "done" and she'll say, "Ma". We've also been working on potty training, but I'll save that for another day.

The pets are all hanging in there. Garfield is more annoying than ever, that cat just doesn't know how to shut his little kitty mouth. He is constantly meowing. We do love having him around though, because he is the only of the three pets who lets Abby maul him. Skeeter sleeps next to my head every night and has developed the new habit of drinking out of the sink, I guess it's an improvement from the toilet. Squirt is still terrified of life in general. Besides his normal issues of rotting teeth, no hair, old age, and low thyroid, he is constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time. Flying objects and Abigail's body gravitate toward him. He spends as much time as possible sleeping and has even been know to sleep in until noon.

I've been busy trying to save all the money I can using coupons and shopping strategically. We're on a very strict budget trying to get all of our debts paid off. I'm enjoying my job in the Athletic Department, someplace I would've never in a million years, imagined myself. It involves time on the computer, organization, and numbers, three things I enjoy. Abby and I are still going to our weekly coffee group, where we've made some new friends. I'm especially enjoying having Mat back, since his classes have ended. It seemed like for two or three weeks I never saw him, because he was always drowning in school work. God has been so good to us in providing for all of our needs, some of our wants, and allowing us the privilege of caring for his child.

Mat's life

2010-02-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

Mat is finishing up his final papers and presentations for his online classes, thus I have not had much access to the computer. As soon as he is finished, and hopefully when his new class starts, I'll be able to post more often. He is only taking one class next semester, instead of two. He's been quite the busy guy. He's a student, a husband, dad, in the process of starting up an indoor youth soccer program, and soccer coach. Many have asked what he does in the off season. He has weightlifting four times a week, study hall twice a week, miscellaneous tests and compliance paperwork, recruiting, scheduling games for next season, and much, much more! In between all of this, he's trying to squeeze in watching the Olympics. We love our busy guy!

Thrifty Thursday

2010-02-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

I've discovered some wonderful sites to grab free coupons during the last few weeks. Some are even the coupons that are found in the Sunday papers.

Redplum
Enter your zip code, select your coupons and print.

SmartSource
Enter zip, select coupons, print.

P&G eSaver
No more clipping, coupons are downloaded right onto your shopper card.

Coupons.com
Sign up for 131 free coupons, plus local coupons.

Mysavings.com
Random free products and coupons

Abby News

2010-02-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

Abigail's has figured out that if she pushes the dining room chairs around the house, she can get into practically anything and this is one of her new favorite things to do is. She usually pushes her chair around the kitchen and draws on shopping lists, does dishes, or plays with the water in the teapot. She's such a great little helper.

Abby and I had some new friends come over today. Abby's friend is 17 months old and they played peek-a-boo, hugged, shared sippy cups, played in the princess castle, and ate snacks together. We met them last Wednesday, at our weekly coffee Mommy and baby group. Hopefully it is the start of a wonderful new friendship :)

We've been having quite the nightly adventures when Mat goes away to weightlifting/study-hall. Last night Squirt puked three times on the same rug and on the couch. The cat puked in our bedroom. Abby and I found squirt standing in the middle of the street in the dark...did I mention that he's black? And last, after Mat was back home and in bed, around midnight Squirt puked on our bed!! Ahhhhh! We've spent all day today trying to get our bed back in order for sleeping purposes tonight. The last load is about to go in the dryer.

Mat and I have been slowly trying to wein Abigail off of her pacifier. We noticed that she talks a whole lot more when she doesn't have it in her mouth, and we're hoping that this will continue. We started out by only giving it to her in the house and in the car. She is now used to that, so we've moved on to only giving it to her in the car and while she is sleeping. She doesn't like this process so much, but she's not putting up as much of a fuss as I thought she would. It also helps that she's easier to distract now with little things, such as spaghetti noodle boxes.

Have a wonderful evening!

18 month Photos

2010-02-11T12:48:00.002-08:00

New Abby Photos have been uploaded. There are images of our first snow, lounging in the sink, and much more. Click the pic below to view more.

My child usually likes to try new foods, but lately she's been a little picky about the look of things. Take lentil soup for example, it took her two dinners before she would actually eat it, and even then she was suspicious. With this knowledge, I don't know why she likes to try eating dirt/sand. On four or five different occasions she's tried to taste one or the other and promptly spit it out or had me scrape her tongue. This afternoon, while were were walking about Squirrel Park, Abby squatted down and full on began eating the dirt. I'm not just talking about a little taste, but two fist fulls went into her mouth and she was crunching on it all the way back home. I tried pulling some who knows what (possibly moss) out of her mouth along with the dirt, but couldn't get it all out.

Thrifty Thursday

2010-02-11T12:48:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Thrifty Thursday #2!

Everybody likes to get something free, right? So, this week I focused on freebies, some of which are samples, but still free.

Free Powerbar sample
Register with powerbar.com to get a free PowerBar Gel Blast sample. Don't know if it's yummy or yucky, but it's free!

Free 20 oz. Orange Julius
Sign up with Orange Julius and receive a coupon for a free 20 oz. Julius fruit or Premium Fruit Smoothy. Yum! I was sadly unable to use this coupon, because I could not find an Orange Julius within a reasonable distance.

Box Tops Coupons
Sign up to receive a FREE Box Tops for Education coupon booklet with $10 in savings.

Freeflys Samples
Freeflys Samples is a fun website with MANY free samples listed in different categories, such as, "Food", or "Children". The only bummer is that you have to sign up to view the samples.

Almost Free Bar-S Hotdogs
Many stores double coupons, and if you are able to find one of these stores, this $1 off Bar-S coupon will give you two packages of hot dogs for around 39 cents each. That was the deal we got at our local grocery store.

These were a few of my favorites from coupon hunting this week, hope you enjoy!

Desitin Anyone?

2010-02-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

As I was on Facebook this afternoon, I heard my little daughter making some noises from her room, which indicated to me that she was up from her nap. As I was finishing up on the computer, I noticed that she was suddenly silent, which usually happens when she falls back to sleep, so I decided to let her "sleep" a little longer. A few minutes later, I heard her making some happy noises, and went in to get her. I found her sitting on her bed, quite proud of herself, and holding the Desitin in one hand and rubbing it into her face with the other. Oh my! After my inspection of the messy Missy, she leaned back, crossed her legs and let out a content sigh. Daddy very promptly retrieved a baby wipe to clean Abby up. By the condition of the changing table, I could also tell that she had it to get to the Desitin.

This story strangely resembles a tale I heard of Abby's cousin. The following is a message from Abby's Aunt: "Cousin T was up all night Sunday crying and finally we determined he had and ear ache so I took him in on Monday to the doc and he has an ear infection in both ears, but he slept 12 hrs last night so that was really nice. Then after we got home from the doctor, we ate lunch and I laid Cousin T down for nap, then I got a phone call and Cousin T got quiet so I assumed he was sleeping, about 15 minutes later I went into put Cousin L down for nap and lo and behold the little monster was not sleeping but making a royal mess with the container of butt paste. It was everywhere, his whole face, in his hair, all over his clothes, on the floor. Let me tell you that stuff is greasy and not the easiest to get out, I've found baby wipes is actually the most effective method."

I guess they must be related.

A Church to Call Home

2010-02-07T17:37:00.000-08:00

After our fifth Sunday visiting a local church, we think we may have finally found our church. It is a traditional church with a young pastor, only 25 years, straight out of seminary (it's weird that I'm calling 25 young). He and his wife live in what we are assuming is the parsonage on the other side of the lawn from the church. Mat is going to schedule an appointment for us to meet with him sometime this week to discuss the church's core beliefs, mission statement, etc. We also mentioned to him that we may be interested in getting involved with the youth. I really miss youth ministry, I think even more so than Mat, because he's still able to do a form of youth ministry with his team. One of the main things we were looking for in a church was a pastor that preached from the Word, and he definitely does this. Today, his first fourish minutes of the message was a medley of scripture that he quoted from memory. He is currently going through 1 John and uses scripture throughout his sermon.

We really enjoy how friendly the people of the church are, but they don't hold a candle to the friendliness of Brookside, the super-dooper friendly church. Abby seems to enjoy the nursery, she knows exactly where the baby dolls are and goes straight to them every time. This is the oldest church in town, founded in the 1700's. The church does not have a website, but below is a picture of the current building.

1842 ------------------------------Current

How to Create a Blog

2010-02-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

I’ve been asked several times how to create a blog. In this post I will take you step by step through the process. For those of you who already have a blog, I would just ignore this post, because it may be rather boring.

1. Create a gmail account. If you don't already have one, I think it's easiest to first create a Google email address by going to www.gmail.com and clicking the white button on the right side of the screen that reads, "create an account". Follow the steps to create your account. If you already have a Gmail address, skip to step 2.

2. Create a blog. Go to www.blogger.com and click the big orange "create a blog" button on the right side of the page. This will take you to a new page where you must Create a Google Account. If you already have a gmail address, or you have just created a new one, click on the blue underlined "sign in first" at the top of the page. If you see "Sign up for Blogger" at the top of the page, then you are in the right spot.

3. Sign up for Blogger. Fill out the "Sign up for Blogger" form and click the orange continue arrow at the lower right hand corner of the page. Be sure and check that you agree to the terms of service.

4. Name your blog. Select your blog name and address. These are usually identical or similar on most blogs. Click the orange continue button.

5. Choose a template. Choose the template that you feel best suits your site or that you think is perrrty. Don't worry, you can change it later. Before selecting the template, you can preview it by clicking, "preview template". This will show you an enlarged example. I chose the "minima" template. After you have made your selection, click the orange "continue" arrow.

6. Your Blog has been created. Hooray! You've created your blog, now click the "start blogging" arrow to start blogging.

7. Layout. You will then be directed to a page where you can publish your first post if you would like. I would suggest that you hold off on this for now and click the "layout" tab as seen below.

Once you have clicked "layouts", as seen below, you can choose to change your "page elements", "fonts and colors", "edit html", or "pick new template".

"Fonts and colors" lets you change exactly what it says, fonts and colors, but I'll let you do that at a different time, because it is very self explanitory. I wouldn't even bother with the "edit html" option, because that will be way too confusing. The "pick new template" option takes you to the same page we were at earlier when you chose your original template. There are a few more options available if you would like to browse those at a later time. Right now, we will focus on the "page elements".

8. Page Elements. Everything in this section is broken up into neat, easy to navigate boxes. We'll start at the top and work our way down. In the center of the page, you should see a large gray box with a blue strip across the top titled, "Navbar". Click the word "edit" on the right side of the blue strip. Here you have the option to change the "Navbar" configuration. I chose "tan". Make your selection, then click, "save". Under the Navbar you should see your title, and this can also be edited by clicking the word "edit" In that box.

9. Add Gadget. Below the title, the same length as the title box, is an "add a gadget" box. We're going to ignore that box for now. Below and to the right of the add a gadget box there is a column of smaller boxes, please see below.

The top box is also labeled "add a gadget". Select this box. A new box will pop up, where you will be able to scroll through, and read about different gadgets. If you see one you want, feel free to push the "+" button to add it to your blog. I'm going to add the "search box". As I said, to do this I press the blue "+" button, as seen below.
This will take you to a new page where you can make any selections or de-selections that you would like. I de-selected web, because I only wanted the search box to search the blog that I'm creating. After you make your selections, click the orange, "save" button. There is now a "search this blog" box listed under my "add a gadget box". I'm also going to to add the "labels" gadget following the same method as above. When a gadget is added, it is automatically placed at the top of the list, but can be moved by clicking and dragging the gadget to the desired location. I reorganized my column to the following order: Search this blog, About me, Labels, Followers, and blog archive. Feel free to edit the other gadgets as you see fit, by clicking the blue "edit" to the right of each gadget. Don't forget to edit the "About Me" gadget and add in a little information about yourself to allow your readers to get to know you. Before moving on from this step, you must click the orange "save" button on the upper right. If this is not done, you will lose all of your work.

10. Postings. We are now ready to create your first post. Click the "postings" tab, which can be found in the same line as the "layout" tab, please see below.

This is where you will go anytime you would like to write a new post. There is a box at the top where you can type in your title, I would always recommend using a title, it makes searching a little easier. Below the title is where you will type the content of your post. Below the content is a place for lables. I would also recommend using labels with as few words as possible, and always using labels for searching purposes. Each post can have multiple labels. After you have typed your post and are happy with it, click the orange "publish post" button at the bottom left of the page. You can always edit your posts later. After publishing, you can click "view post" or you can wait until the next step where I will tell you how to view your blog. If you decide to view the post, use the browser's back button to return to this page.

11. View Blog. At the end of the row of tabs with "posting" and "layout", you will see the words, "View Blog". Click these words to view your blog. Here you will see the address of your website, please see below and are able to navigate your blog. To return to the your blog layout (see #7 above), click "customize" in the upper right corner, to the left of "sign out", please see below.

If you would rather "sign out" or create a "new post" this can be done by clicking those words in the same row as "customize".

Edit Posts. After clicking "customize" and returning to the layout page, click the "posting" tab (see #10). In the row below the "posting" row, click "Edit Posts". You will be redirected to a page where you can edit any previous posts or drafts that you have written. From here you can also delete and add labels.

Sign Out. To sign out from your blog, click the words, "sign out" in the upper right hand corner of the page, please see below.

Sign in. After signing out and when signing in, you will be at the blogger start page, found at www.blogger.com. Go to this address whenever you would like to access your blog. To sign in, type your gmail address and your gmail password. After signing in, you will automatically be directed to a the "dashboard" page. From here, you can get to "new post", "edit posts", and "layout" by clicking on any of them in the box titled, "manage blog", please see below.

Hopefully this should be enough information to get you a great start. If you have any questions or would like to leave me a link to your blog, please leave it in the comments. If you are unsure of how to leave a comment please go here.

Thrifty Thursday

2010-02-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

I found some grrreat coupons and I thought I'd share my favorite's with you just in case you're interested. I might make every Thursday Thrifty, but only if it's not too boring. I'll share my favorite finds from the week, maybe. Below the coupons are a few Abby tidbits that I thought you might enjoy.

Free Gallon of Milk:
Enter to win the Got Milk free milk for a year give away and they will email you a coupon for a free gallon of milk with a $100 grocery purchase from any store, any brand of milk.

Free Coupon Booklet:
Sign up with Eat Better America and they'll send you a book of coupons in 6-8 weeks. I'm not sure what's in the book, but I thought I'd give it a try.

Free Tuna:
Click Here and print the $1 off coupon, good for any Starkist Tuna pouch (that's the technical name). We used our coupon at Wal-mart on the cheapest pouch, only 97 cents, making the tuna free!

$2 off White Cloud Toilet Paper:
Sign up with White Cloud Promotions and print a two coupons, one for $1 off and one for $2 off. After much research and reading consumer reports, this is what we've found to be the cheapest, yet still two ply toilet paper. Hurry, this one expires 2/17/10.

$1 off Desitin:
Go to desitin.com, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and print the coupon. Nothing to sign up for! I know most of you don't personally use desitin, but we think it's great, cause it's the only thing that works on Abby's rear.

As I was writing this post, I saw a stream of White Cloud T.P. running down the hall. Ahhh, our precious dollars are being waisted away by our precious daughter. She certainly is a cutie patootie. A few of Abby's favorite's:

-Foods: Peanut Butter on a spoon, graham crackers, uncooked pasta, grapes, fruit cocktail cherries, whatever mommy has on her plate.
-Drink: Juice = water, orange juice, vitamins, which she pronounces as "Ice"
-Bath Time Adventures: Soaping up her belly, sucking the water out of her toys, waving bye bye to the water, inviting the cats in with her.
-Books: Prodigal son, good Samaritan, baby faces, Animal Baby
-Entertainment: LOVES washing dishes, is currently enjoying shoving play-dough up her nose, coloring (only on things she's not supposed to or things mommy and daddy are using), anything outside.
-Toys: Car baby, baby, remote control from Sarah Light, Squirt
-Things to do that she's not supposed to: climb on the dining room table, climb on the coffee table, try and pick up squirt, kick squirt, feed squirt, dip anything into the toilet.
-Ways to mimic mommy: put makeup on, puts baby powder in her hair, shaving legs, clipping nails, laundry
-Ways to mimic daddy: blow nose, dancing, pig noise
-Little habits: turning on the angel night light from Charlie (our homeless friend), putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket and clean ones too, finding diapers and laying them out across the floor.

Dinner time!

Toothpaste Race

2010-02-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

Well the Toothpaste Race has finally come to an end. I'm sad to announce that Mat was the winner by 26 uses. He's such a faithful toof brusher! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was supposed to use Mat's toothpaste 20 times to make up for the amount that he used mine while on vacation. I finished my tube and was only able to use his seven times before it ran out, and I mean it was dry as a bone, I made sure. In the time it took Mat to use up his tube, I was only able to use 2 and 22/23's tubes. I know, it's sad, but at least Piglet is a boy to make up for it :)

I had asked if anyone had any good homemade granola recipes at the end of a post a few days ago. Nobody, not even my mom left me a comment with a recipe, and Mom, I know you have a good one, because I've tasted it. I found one online at that I'm going to give a whirl at. Here it is, if anyone else wants to try it too. I'll be sure and let you know how it tastes.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted I'll use Smart Balance
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt We'll leave out the salt for Mat's heart
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup raisins

Directions

In a bowl, stir butter, honey, cinnamon and salt until well blended. Combine the oats, coconut and walnuts in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Add butter mixture and stir to coat evenly. Bake at 275 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes. Add raisins. Cool, stirring occasionally. Store in an airtight container.

I will also be leaving out the coconut (mat doesn't like it), raisins, and walnuts. I wanted to try a pretty plain recipe to start out with and this one caught my attention because it doesn't use sugar, but honey instead, yum! I might try adding in a little vanilla too.

If anyone as another recipe, or tries this one out, let me know!

Remember how I told you I was going coupon crazy? Well, here's a coupon for $1 off any Quaker oatmeal and it doesn't expire until 4/30/10. We'll be able to get at least two uses out of this. It does require you to already have installed or to install the coupon printer. Just follow the prompts and save it to your computer.

Abby and I are off to make some granola, Good Evening!

Chuck-O

2010-02-01T16:59:00.000-08:00

Chuck is on tonight! Eeeee! We're about to start watching, now. It's officially my favorite television show. Abby's in bed and Mat is making cookies...again! We went coupon crazy today, and our best deal was making seven cents on a bag, yes I said bag, of tuna. We had a manufacturers coupon for $1.00 off and we went to Wal-mart where the tuna was only 93 cents. Yay! I should've saved the website that I found the coupon at, but I didn't. Oh well, I guess I'll learn my lesson for next time. I just caught someone sneaking cookie dough out of the bowl...

Our snow is melting and our first and only winter storm is over with. We're a little sad, but mostly sad that abby didn't enjoy it like we thought she would. We took pictures, but not too many, since all she wanted to do was eat the snow. She fussed on our walk to and from the school, but once we returned to our yard, she was happy eating snow again. She's such a cutie-pie. I do have to say that in her defense, it was sleeting, blowing sideways, and hitting her in the face when we went out.

Remember to keep Haiti in your prayers.

Mr. and Mrs. Bourne Prejudice

2010-01-30T14:31:00.001-08:00

About 1.5 weeks ago Mat made the sacrifice of watching Pride and Prejudice (2005) with me. To make up for his suffering, we are currently in the middle of watching the Bourne trilogy, which I fell asleep during last night. Surprisingly, slumber did not overtake me while watching Pride and Prejudice, even though it was the same time of night. My Pa thinks it is absolutely amazing that my mother and I have the ability to catch some z's during the middle of action packed suspense films. After this happening repeatedly during various films, such as Bond vs. Sleepless in Seatle, I've come to the conclusion that it all has to do with where the viewers interests lie. I just don't understand you men, because who can resist, "And how are you this evening...*kiss* Mrs. Darcy? *kiss* Mrs. Darcy... *kiss* Mrs. Darcy... *kiss* Mrs. Darcy." Or even better, "you have bewitched me, body and soul/and I love, I love, I love you, and I never wish to be parted from you from this day on"

Today, I finished watching the last 30 minutes of Bourne Identity, that I slept through last night, and I must say that I did enjoy it. We are all set to watch the rest of Bourne Supremacy tonight, after Abby goes to bed. But honestly, his girlfriend was already killed, so what is there to look forward to? On a side note, I asked Mat which movie we watched last night, and he is currently standing behind me spelling B-o-u-r-n-e I-d-e-n-t-i-t-y. After he finished this, he began talking to Abby about the malleability of her play-doh. Is there something wrong with this picture? So all you guys...what is it that you see in those action films anyway?

P.S. Hubby made din din tonight and it was excellent!

Permanent?

2010-01-29T16:08:00.001-08:00

This last Sunday, as we were readying ourselves for church, I was amazed at how quiet our little Abigail was being. For those of you who don't know, a quiet Abigail usually means trouble, but it is nice when I'm busy doing something, like getting ready for church. I went in the office and what do I find, only a little Abigail having a good time. She had 10 or 12 pens out of the pen cup and had created a lovely drawing all over some papers and other objects laying around on the desk, such as the printer. Not to worry though, only one of the pens was a permanent marker, and she only managed to get one black dot on her shirt and some stripes on her hand.

As I head back into the bathroom, I think to myself, "I'm glad that mess is behind us, as usual, Satan is up to his old tricks again of trying to stall us from going to church." Now, as I'm putting the finishing strokes of mascara on my lashes, Abby is playing quietly on the floor next to me. Usually I hold her in one arm, while putting makeup on with the other. For any of you who have ever put on mascara, you know that this is done rather close to the mirror, with all concentration on the brush, because heaven forbid a poke to the eye! Once again, I find myself thinking, "wow, this is so nice that I've been able to get ready without my girl clinging to my legs." As soon as I look down, I notice this strange white powder substance in Abby's hair, wait a minute it's on the floor, and her hand, the scale, all over! It's baby powder! I often put baby powder in my hair on the days I don't wash it, and as I said, she's usually always in the bathroom "helping."

Surprisingly, I didn't learn my lesson the first time, and as I was filing some paperwork in the kitchen on Tuesday, I noticed that it was terribly quiet in the house. Upon arriving in the spare room, once again, I saw my little artist with all of her pens and markers out, but this time drawing on the desk. I took a picture, so you could see how talented she it, but it was taken after I had already removed half of the masterpiece. The green is permanent marker and the black is pen. After doing a bit of research, I found that pencil erasers (you know, the little pink bricks) remove "permanent" marker from wooden furniture. Hooray!

The results are in!

2010-01-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

After one long week, the polls have closed and Piglet is a...Boy! We had 12 people vote, only three of whom thought he was a girl, which leaves remaining nine votes for boy. The following are a few of the more, hmm, shall we say, interesting posts:

"Piglet is a boy! Little known fact: every character in Winnie the Pooh, with the exception of Kanga, is of the male gender."

"Piglet seems to be "Pretty in PINK". My vote is female!!"

"BOY. duhh."

"Ever since I was little I thought Piglet was a boy. These were Christopher Robin Milne's toys so I think most of them would be male with the exception of Kanga. Also in A.A. Milne original stories Piglet was always referred to as a boy. And as for the pinkish like clothing Disney is the one that put Piglet in these. A.A. Milne's Piglet is in a green jumper. I do feel that Piglet was made to appeal more to girls then to boys though, especially where Disney's marketing is concerned."

To view the rest, go here.

Thanks to all who participahyte;o (how Abby spells participated).

I've got bread baking, dinner planned and done (leftovers), and a semi-clean house, so I'm off to go play outside with my babe. It got all the way up to the 60's today, HEAT WAVE! We need to take advantage of it while we still can, the high tomorrow is only supposed to be 39.

Have a wonderful evening!

Last Chance

2010-01-27T05:39:00.000-08:00

Today is your last opportunity to vote on the Gender of Piglet! If you haven't done this, and would like to, click here. We'll tally the votes at the end of today, so far we have three votes for "girl" and four for "boy". Thanks to all who have participated thus far.

Abby's fever seems to be gone this morning. She's much more lively and sitting on the floor reading a book to herself. She went three nights straight, sleeping through the night on her new twin size bed. Hooray! Last night she did wake up briefly, because she had lost her bow-bow (pacifier), but she was able to fall back asleep on her own, even if it was on the floor.

At the age of 27, I've finally figured out how to cook scrambled eggs, ha ha. It turns out that I've been doing all wrong. The key is to cook them over medium heat, not medium-low, who knew? Anyone have any good homemade granola recipes? If so, please leave it in a comment, I'd like to try my hand at that.

Abby Growth Stats

2010-01-25T17:39:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest on our girl:

Height: 33 Inches, 90th Percentile

Weight: 24 lbs., 25th Percentile

Head: 75th Percentile

Please pray for her, she currently has a fever of 101.9 degrees.

Why our baby does not watch TV

2010-01-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

Some may be wondering why we have never let Abby watch TV. During one of Abby's first few doctor appointments we were given a paper that said television viewing was bad for the brain development of children under two years of age. Today I decided to do a little research into why this is so.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, "Children six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media (1:58), about the same amount of time they spend playing outside (2:01), and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes)." This being said, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests "children under 2 years not watch television and children over 2 years watch 2 hours or less per day."

In a study published in the April 2004 issue of Pediatrics claimed, "hours of television viewed per day at both ages 1 and 3 was associatedwith attentional problems at age 7." I was told by a friend that this "reprogramming" of the brain is caused by the fast images flashing across the screen. Eisla Sebastian agrees, when she says that the overstimulation of the brain "has to do with the fast-paced images flashing constantly across the screen, which interfere with the brain's development."

This is just a quick overview of what I found. To read more, click on any of the links within the text, or do a search of your own, there is plenty of information out there.

My 18 Month Old is Waking During the Night

2010-01-23T16:30:00.000-08:00

The Abby sleeping saga continues and after much reading, I've decided to to diagnose her problem as separation anxiety. We decided to give her one last chance of sleeping in her crib before we switched it out for a big girl bed. Last night we put her down and used the pray and tip-toe method after laying her down, hoping that she would sleep through the night. Alas, this did not work, but, not to worry, we had a backup plan...muah ha ha ha. We had set up her pack and play (modern words for playpen) in our bedroom right next to my side of the bed. Once the clock tolled 10:30, and of course we had just fallen asleep, we heard the cries of a wee one in the next room over. Mat went in with her and attempted to put her back to sleep, but to no avail. He brought her in our room and she stood crying in her pack and play with my arms wrapped around her. The night before, she slept with us, but it killed my back, because she insisted on sleeping on top of me. Once her crying stopped I held her hand while she stood in her pack and play and I reassured her that I'd be right there next to her. I then fell asleep holding her hand, while she stood fighting sleep for a little over an hour. She popped back up about 3 times to make sure I was still there and immediately laid back down and fell asleep.

After last night's escapade we finally broke down and packed up Abby's crib and moved the twin bed into her room. I found myself a little sad, my baby is growing up, and to make matters worse the only sheet we could find was black. For some reason, I couldn't stand my baby sleeping in black, even though black was my favorite color when I was her age...weird huh?

While doing research on how to handle Abby's sleeping issues and talking with others, I was given MANY suggestions. Here are a few, maybe they will help others.

-Bring the child to bed with the parents
-Have the child sleep on a mattress on the floor next to the parents bed
-Read to the child until she falls asleep
-Lay in the child's bed with her
-Play music/a movie in the child's room
-Use the cry it out/Ferber method (let the child cry herself to sleep, going in and comforting her every 5 or more minutes
-Let her cry as long as you can stand, then go in
-Let her cry herself to sleep and do not go in (SO harsh)!

The cry it out method never worked with Abby, and besides, a wise old homeless man once told us, "that baby needs to be rocked." So, this baby wearing, rock her to sleep Mommy can not find it in herself to let the babe cry until sleep claims her.

On a happier note, we finally got paid today! After compiling a large shopping list and withdrawing the necessary funds we headed off to the grocery store to buy some much needed food. I continue to create our grocery list based on the next ten meals that I've planned out. I still intend to post these meals/lists eventually ;) We're attempting to stick to a much tighter budget for the foreseeable future, which includes planning out all our meals and buying only what we need. It's more work to begin with, but is much easier when it comes to the day to day deciding of what to eat for dinner.

I'll be sure to let you know how Abigab likes her new bed.

How to leave a comment

2010-01-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

We love receiving comments, and if you would like to leave one, here's how:

At the bottom of any post, click the "comments" in blue writing. This will take you to a page where you can tickety type away inside the "Post a Comment" box. Next, in the "Post Comment" drop down menu, select "Name/URL" or "anonymous" if you do not have a blog. Last, click "post comment" and it will be posted after we approve.

Travelocity Vs. Onetravel

2010-01-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but as we were driving home from Abigail's doctors appointment, we saw a man walking down the street with a Boa Constrictor draped over his shoulders, just like a scarf. He was walking down the street nonchalantly with his scarf flapping in the breeze...so bazaar!

So far in the piglet race, as you can see, the girl votes are winning. Anyone out there think Piglet is a boy? If so, comment here, before it's too late!

I found a new-to-me tavel booking site, which has rates comparable to Travelocity.com, and sometimes even lower, called Onetravel.com. I usually always book my flights through Travelocity, but now I'll be checking Onetravel as well. You've still got to watch out for those fees at Onetravel, but I've found that they're clearly posted when booking travel. On the bright side, Travelocity is boasting "No Fees" on flights now. Needless to say, we'll be checking both sites when traveling to the home of the man of the house in July.

We had someone ask about our race for the finishing of the toothpaste. Well, the two titans of toothpaste, Joy(Colgate) and Mat(Crest) are slugging it out to the end. The tubes are being squeezed and rolled until they can no longer produce the wonder paste of teeth cleaning glory. There is no doubt that the winner will be declared within the next few days, yet it will be difficult to declare anyone a loser, for all shall emerge with whiter, cleaner, and God-willing healthier teeth. Goodnight and good luck.

Is Piglet a boy or girl?

2010-01-20T17:27:00.000-08:00

Before Abby was born, Mat and I decided to decorate her room with the classic Winnie the Pooh theme. Since then, we've been in this argument about the gender of Piglet. One of us thinks Piglet is a girl and one a boy. So, we think that you should take a vote to decide! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think and we'll tally the votes in one week. If you don't have a Blogger account, you can still comment and check "anonymous" at the end. We're not going to tell you which of us thinks s/he's a girl/boy, and Mat, no voting!

Good News! We think the cat is out from under our house, Yay! We haven't heard her all day today, and Mat had the hatch open most of the day yesterday. Hopefully she got out yesterday, and didn't die under there, that would be stiiinky. Poor little kitty mow mow. Since the cat is out from under the house, this means that it's got to be something else keeping Abby up between one and two hours a night, ugh.

The last two nights, Abby has climbed out of her crib and cried, pounded on her door, played her piano, etc. We have tried rocking Abby every night, but she just lays there in our arms, bright eyed and bushy tailed, pinching our noses, waving, sticking her foot our face, and popping out her pacifier to say, "Hi". It's so hard not to laugh, because she's so stinking cute, but it gets a little old in the middle of the night. After a few nights of this, excuse me, I mean two weeks, we decided to let her try and cry a while in her crib since the rocking thing wasn't working too well. During this "crying" time, she decided to be a little monkey and climb, climb, climb. Last night, the second night of this, when we were at our wits end, Mat was about to go in and try his hand at laying her down, but when he poked his head in, she was asleep on the floor with her blankie and sippy cup, awwww.

Luckily, Abby's 18 month appointment was today with her new doctor, who we loved. She suggested that we wake Abby from her nap a little early and maybe move her to a toddler bed, or a twin without the box spring. After cleaning out mountains of ear wax, she discovered that Abigab had some fluid build up which may have been left over from an ear infection. This made sense to us, because she had a super high fever about two weeks ago. The night time waking may have been a result of pain from the ear infection, and turned into a routine. Now all we have to do is break the routine, ha ha ha! Easier said than done.

Have a wonderful night or day and don't forget to let us know about Piglet. If you're still unsure how to do this, click where it says "comments" in blue writing below. This will take you to a page where you can tickety type away inside the "Post a Comment" box. Next, click on the drop down menu and select "anonymous" if you have no blogger account. Last, click "post comment" and it will be posted after we approve.

17 Month Photos

2010-01-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

Our 17 month photos of Abby have been posted using Photobucket. It will take you to a different site than normal, but I have complete confidence that you'll be able to figure it out!
Click on the messy faced picture of Abby to the left or on "Abby Pictures" under links.

About a week ago, we noticed that our heat was not working in our back three bedrooms. After the maintenance guys did an inspection, they said that a cat had been under our house and had ripped up the air ducts, trying to get in by the heat. The guys returned the next day and replaced the ducts and also closed the hole that the cat was getting in through, and I thought this was the end of our problems. This morning, around 8 a.m. I heard a meowing that sounded like Garf, but I looked around the corner to see him and Skeeter on edge at the sound of another cat. I believe the meowing was coming from under our house, and now I'm thinking, "great, we have a pussy cat trapped and it has no way out." Mat went and opened the hole back up and put some cat food out, but so far, no sign of the feline. We are hoping that it escaped when we weren't looking. I guess we'll soon find out if we hear it again. I just hope it isn't starving to death under there :( Maybe we have mice or some other tasty treat that it's snacking on.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Our Sabbath

2010-01-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

I just sent Mat and Abby to the store to buy some produce for dinner, for the week, and almost as soon as they left, it began pouring, thunder, lightening, the works! My poor family!

We went to church today at a church we have visited once in the past. It was a good sermon, with a warm and lively church body, but we're still not used to the sole form of musical worship being to hymns. After church, Abby was completely exhausted. She was sitting in her high chair attempting to eat her chicken salad with homemade bread, baked by Daddy, when she began chewing on her arm. I wrote the following song for her (pretty talented, I know):

If you're sleepy and you know it gnaw your arm
If you're sleepy and you know it gnaw your arm
If you're sleepy and you know it, then your eyes will surely show it
If you're sleepy and you know it, gnaw your arm

Two weeks ago, we decided to take a sabbath, once again, every Sunday. For us, this means going to church, resting, and doing things we enjoy as a family. I don't know about you, but I don't particularly enjoy doing dishes or cooking with my daughter dangling around my knees and whining for me to hold her. Yesterday I made homemade chicken salad for lunch today, raviolis for dinner today, and Mat made the bread. It has been so nice to not have to cook, but still enjoy yummy meals.

I've got Abby's 17 month photos all uploaded to the new site, and I'll post them tomorrow.

New Photo Album

2010-01-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

We are trying to find a new online photo gallery, as we have run out of space again in our current Picasa storage. I think we've found one, with unlimited space, now I just need to upload all the photos. I'll try to get that done ASAP, so you'll be able to view Abby's 18 month photos, which are now all on the computer, but not online yet. We'll be sure you know when this happens, but it may take a few days with hubby's homework load and computer occupancy.

It was a balmy 59 degrees today and we were able to relieve some of Abby's cabin fever. We went to the park for about 45 minutes and had an all around fun day, minus the whole dish rack crashing to the floor and 3 pieces breaking. We are down to seven bowls and six salad plates, which isn't a huge sacrifice considering that only two of the three of us use breakable dishes.

Abby has her 18 month appointment on Wednesday, which means more shots...boo hoo. I never look forward to the times when baby receives shots. This always results in fussing, fever, and waking during the night. We'll also be missing work on Wednesday for this, leaving an especially short work week of three days, since we already have Monday off. Well, I'm off to play with the little one currently biting my pants for an hour before bedtime.

Phelps Fort

2010-01-14T16:08:00.000-08:00

Mat built Abby her first fort today. It was super cute to go into the spare oom and see a floral print fortress with my husbands legs sticking out the side and baby sounds coming from within. I just had to go in and see what all the commotion was about and I found Abby so excited to be inside her princess bouncy castle transformed FORT. At one point she was so giddy that she tried dragging squirty man in with her. He wasn't too keen on the idea of being picked up, but he did venture in and wonder around a bit.

Haiti

2010-01-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Please pray for Haiti.

Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. -Romans 12:13

Smarty Pants

2010-01-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

Today, as I was folding Abby's laundry in her room, she walked over to her diaper pile, snatched one off the top, turned to me, and pointed at her diaper...Woohoo, she's brilliant. Not only that, but without being asked, she picked up her pile of three socks and opened her dresser drawers until she found her Sleeping Beauty sock bucket and promptly deposited her socks into the bucket. Her diaper turned out to be only pee, but I think she's getting the idea.

As Abby and I were waiting for Mat to get home from work I found Handel's Messiah on You Tube, and Abby absolutely loved it. I think she may just like opera and classical music better than any other. Mat made fish tacos for dinner (I may post the recipe at some point), and while he was cooking, she sat on my lap and stared at the music notes moving across the screen. My husband, the baker, is currently making frosting for his white cake that is in the oven, and Abigail is at his knees begging.

Bath time...

A convienent ommission

2010-01-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentleman of the Jury, my lovely but sometimes over zealous wife has not been completely up front with you the people. while describing our "unspoken" race of the toothpaste tubes, she mentioned my dental hygiene and the need for improvement. while many of you may be sitting there thinking that you have not seen me in a while and are shuddering at what my mouth may look like, I feel inclined to fill you in on a few facts and details. Joy and I are both 27 years old and we have the same number of teeth, but that, my friends, is where the comparison of our dental records ends. I will not divulge on the specifics of her dental records (Braces, cavities, and retainers), I on the other-hand wish to shed some light on my dental record or brilliance whichever suites you. 27 years, 1 cavity, no braces, no retainers, no head gear, 2 wisdom teeth extracted, 0 days of work missed, 0 pain killers taken, and in general nothing but straight beautiful strong teeth. CASE CLOSED

-Mat

Potty Time

2010-01-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

We think Abby might be ready for potty training. Before we left for So Cal, she would run around naked, squat, look down and pee. She even did it on the toilet seat once, she was facing the wrong direction, but that still counts for something right? Now that we're home, she points to her diaper when she's about to poo and I ask her if she's going poo, like this, "are you going poo?" Not that you needed to know that, but anyway, she nods her head yes, which is very unusual for her since she's decided that her answer to everything is no, then I tell her to go get a diaper. She then makes a mad dash for her bedroom and brings back a diaper. I'm so proud of her as I write this! It's kinda funny, but understanding what we're telling her to do and actually obeying is a big accomplishment for the little tot. I also find it rather amusing that I feel the need to exaggerate and tell this story like it's happened more than once, because in reality it has only happened once, which was yesterday, but I'm very hopeful for a repeat today. On the bright side, she has gone to fetch a diaper, when I've asked her to, on more than one occasion (twice).

My mom is using her mypoints, which we love because we get free gift cards, to give us a giftcard to Target to buy Abby her first potty chair. I fully intend on using this potty chair myself to show her how it's done and because my bff said she would laugh at me if I did this. The things we do to make our friends laugh. I guess I could lie, since she does live 2,909 miles away, Nah, what's the fun in that? Want to sign up for mypoints? Let me know and I'll refer you, cause I get free points and may then beat Mat in our unspoken race of who can get the most points.

It's funny, I always seem to be in an unspoken race with Mat about something. Before we hopped on the plane in early December, we were brushing our teeth and I made some comment to Mat about how I need to finish my tube of toothpaste before he finished his. Yes...we use separate tubes, but that's another story. He looked at me and laughed and wondered why, and it was because I was trying to finish three tubes in the amount of time that it took him to finish one. I even had rules for myself that I could not brush my teeth more than normal, twice a day, and that I could not use more toothpaste than normal. Since then, he's been brushing his teeth more often, the nerve! He says it's not because of the race, but because he need to be better about his dental hygiene, which I agree, but couldn't he just have waited a few more months to come to this decision? Well, what did I do to ruin things for myself? Nothing besides cheat! I only packed my tube for our recent 3 week trip. Upon our return to our itty bitty kitty town, he informed me that he used my toothpaste 20 times and I told him I'd do the same :( I'll be sure to let you know who wins.

I've decided that finding all new doctors is officially the hardest part of moving! Ugh! Not only do we have to find new ones, but if one doesn't work out, then we have to try and search for another, and that's not exactly easy living in a town of 2000ish.

One last thought for the day: I'm thinking about posting recipes. My idea is to put together a list of dinners (maybe one months worth?), and create a shopping list for every ten meals. I've been looking places for heart healthy, fast and easy dinners. I'm also on a mission to use all the food in my fridge without letting any go to waste. I've found some good meals, but most are rather pricey and every meal is so different that I think some food would go bad. I guess if nobody else gets any use from them, I'll still have recipes written down, to refer back to, which I never do. Good idea or no?

We're Back!

2010-01-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

It's good to be back home after 3 weeks away. We had a wonderful time with family and friends, but it's always good to be home. Recap of our trip:

Flying, flying, flying

Abigail keeps bye byeing

Baby can say Papa,
But no grandpa yet, just Bapa

Dana Point is quite romantic

Fitting it all in is getting rather frantic

Christmas eve was a wonderful time
Anyone care for a glass of wine?

Gram got her picture with the tots

Babydoll anyone? Abigail has lots

Don't watch Tatum pee,
we don't want you to mimic he!

Going home is always nice
The pond has been replaced with ice

What is this? The grass is dead.

I can't wait to go to bed!

Phelps Family Vacation

2010-01-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

We've just returned from a whirlwind trip with the Phelps Family. Abigail was finally able to meet her new cousin, who isn't so new anymore, already nine months old! She also had fun with, fought, pushed, hugged, and played with her older cousin for the first time. They were previously too young to enjoy each others company. Click below to view pics of our trip to the zoo, park, pool, and other fun and exciting adventures (at least from the perspective of an 18 month old).

All of us at the zoo

The highlight of the trip had to be spending over 64 hours with the whole family :) I even seemed to grow a lovable two year old appendage on my hip. Mat and I had so much fun with our niece and nephew and we especially enjoyed seeing them interact with Abby. There was much pacifier swapping, sippy cup sharing and slobbering being done by the babies and sadly, Abby came away with a fever. Grandma was even able to get a picture with all three grandkids, even if Abby was throwing a fit.

New Photos

2009-12-29T07:56:00.000-08:00

We've posted Abby's 16 month photos and a few from our trip to the outer banks in North Carolina. The top photo gives a glimpse of what everyday life with Abby is like, always a fun and exciting adventure! Click below to view.

16 Months

East Coast

Mommy Blog Meme - Looking to 2010

2009-12-28T17:29:00.001-08:00

I decided to try out my first meme ever! This one happens to be located at momdot.com.

Want to join in? Go here to learn how and to view the weekly list Small Talk Six topics for 2009.

Today’s topic is “6 things you are looking forward to in 2010.” You can answer this with a list of 6 words, 6 phrases, 6 sentences, 6 paragraphs, 6 photos, 6 videos, etc . . .

This past year passed so quickly with Mat getting laid off, Abby's first birthday, Mat landing his "dream" job, relocating to from California to North Carolina, and relying heavily on Jeremiah 29:11.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. -Jeremiah 29:11

We are really looking forward to the following in 2010:

1. Abigail. Watching my daughter grow, mature, learn to talk, refine many of her skills, and have so much fun while doing it.

2. Mathew. Growing in Christ alongside my husband of five years and spending quality time with him and with our family.

3. Christ. Deepening my faith in and commitment to Jesus. We hope to find a church family to call home.

4. Materialism. Fully give up all traces of materialism in my life...I hope. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them.

5. North Carolina. Developing new or closer friendships.

6. Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Miss Mary

2009-11-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

"If I had money like you Miss Joy, I'd done go to the beauty parlor to get my hair done."

This comment really put things in perspective for me as I thought about Miss Mary's life as a single woman, whose job is keeping the Athletic Department clean, where Mat and I work. I am so blessed to have a husband, who has a full-time job, a beautiful baby girl, and a job myself. I really don't have money to get my hair done at the "beauty parlor", but it was interesting that she thought I did.

Athletic Department

Mat and I usually see Mary every morning when we go into work. She is such a hardworking sweetheart. We are both enjoying our jobs, for the most part. My job averages out to be about two hours a day, five days a week. I mainly shuffle papers from person to person and keep track of the athletic budget. I share an office with two other ladies, the men's golf coach, and the assistant director of compliance.

Soccer season is now over for Mat, and we are both looking forward to the off season. Mat's job will now involve more recruiting, which Abby and I can join him for, fund raising, scheduling games, off season training, and much, much more! Mat is thinking about possibly starting an optional bible study for the team. I think this would be wonderful!

Abby, Mat, and I have all had cold/flu/throw-upy yuckinees the past week. During all of this, Mat was away for two overnight trips within six days. This was hard on all of us, especially for Mat when he had to drive home six hours with a fever. Abby has learned to Moo like a cow, which sound like, "boooooo". She's also become surprisingly picky when it comes to food. I'm hoping this is only due to not feeling well. As I type, she is poking her cantelope and mushing her cheese, two of the foods that she still loves.

New Pics and Tricks

2009-11-14T18:07:00.000-08:00

We finally have our computer back after 9ish days of living without it! In the mean time, I've been catching up on reading, Mat's been busy traveling with soccer, and Abby's been learning new tricks such as kissing the baby in the mirror and suctioning her ear to my shoulder after a shower. I've uploaded Abby's 15 month pictures have been uploaded, Yay! To access them, click on the link to the right, as usual.

Baby Signs

2009-10-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

We started teaching our baby, Abby, sign language around nine months of age. She was a little too young for this, which I didn't realize at the time, so I gave up and thought she was just too stubborn. When she was around twelve months, I saw an 18 month old doing the sign for please before he was given food. After seeing this, I thought to myself, "hmm, maybe I should try and teach Abby again." I started out teaching her please before she could have her animal crackers or other snacks. At first, she wasn't too happy about it and made her emotions evident by throwing a mini tantrum every time I made her sign. Once she mastered "please", we moved on to the words "food" and "more". I thought the essentials would be best to start out with.

Abby began picking up sign language fairly quickly and uses the words she knows on a regular basis. As a parent, it makes communicating so much easier for me and her. She is now up to 11 words, at 15 months of age, including, "please", "thank you", "more", "food", "pacifier", "up", "taste", "milk", "hi", "hot", and "come", with a few more on the way. We are in the process of teaching her "water", "juice", "mommy", and "daddy". The only words she is verbally able to say clearly are "Mama" and "Dada". Signing gave her the chance to communicate where she would have otherwise not been able to.

I have found that she learns best when I focus on one word at a time and use the word as much as possible until she masters it. Of course, when she learns a word we get really excited and tell her what a good job she's doing. There are many sources to help out in teaching a baby sign language. I prefer looking the word up online, where it is free and easily accessible. Once I have a new word in mind that I would like to teach her, I go to the American Sign Language Pro (ASLPro) website and teach myself how to say the word in sign language. I then begin to use the sign language whenever I am giving Abby that object or doing the action. I will also take her hand and show her how to do it. Babies signs look different than when adults sign, so I'm always watching for Abby trying to sign. Now, whenever she wants her pacifier, I have her say "pacifier" before I will give it to her. She is now to the point where she comes up to me and does the sign for "food" if she's hungry, "all done" when she's finished eating, "up" when she wants to be held, etc.

I would encourage any parent wanting to more easily communicate with their baby to give sign language a try. It has made our life easier and has definitely been worth it.

Have any questions? Leave us a comment, or even if you don't have questions, we love getting comments :)

New Shoes

2009-10-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

We're still on our church hunt, and ready to find a home! We went to another new church today, but it is still not one to call our own. Abby had a wonderful time playing in the nursery, and they were even kind enough to change the poopy diaper that she had when we dropped her off, te he he. Or, maybe it was that they couldn't stand the smell...hmmm.

I feel like I haven't seen my baby all day. After church she went immediately down for a nap, actually she fell asleep on the way home and slept until two. Once awake, we swept her immediately away to Aunt Jolynn's and Uncle Randy's house for an evening of dirt, dishes, and dinner. Meanwhile, in the phelps family vehicle, daddy and mommy were off to Chesapeake for a little Best Buy, Babies R Us, and bread sticks. I know it's pathetic, we went to Babies R Us on our date, but it's not everyday that we're close enough to pop in, plus we had a gift card.

Abby at the Harrell House

While at Babies R Us we bought Abby two new pairs of shoes, because hers are getting too small and we wanted to keep her little tootsies warm. After bringing the baby back home from Giant Aunt Randy and Aunt Jolynn's house, she went exploring in the shopping bag and pulled out her new shoes. She was so excited about the new shoes, and couldn't decide which to wear, so she ended up with one fuzzy pink boot on her left foot and one dusty pink Converse like tennis shoe on the right.

The New Fuzzy Boot

Favorite Pastime

2009-10-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

Lately, Abby has been enjoying eating crayons. At some point she was coloring and sneakily hid a blue crayon somewhere where mommy and daddy couldn't find it. She's a little like a dog hiding it's bones, but I don't think she remembers where she puts things, she just happens upon them every so often, such as the case with the blue crayon. I thought she was to the point where she enjoyed coloring with the crayons more than eating them, but apparently she enjoys them equally. All this to say, I found her today with bits of blue around her mouth, pursed lips, and a refusal to open her mouth. When I was finally able to pry open her mouth, out popped the crayon, and down went Abby into a helpless heap on the floor.

Church

2009-10-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

We've been looking for a church since we moved, and still haven't found one that we feel like God is telling us to make our home church. So far, we've been to five, three Baptist, one Assembly of God, and one non-denominational. For the most part, the churches have all been very traditional. It has been difficult being away from our Brookside Family, please pray that we find a church soon.

**Quick commercial break: Garfield just snuggled up to Squirt and they're sleeping together on the couch. Sooo Cute!**

My aunt and I were shopping on Saturday and when we checked out, they asked for my phone number. Of course, I started with the area code, 909, and she almost wet her pants, because she was from Rancho Cucamonga, and moved back east to start a church. The location of the church is about 40 mins. away from our house, but we're still going to check it out. We've also been invited several times to join a Sunday school class at a local church for a 40 day program. We may go to that, not sure yet though.

Abby Antics

2009-10-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

During dinner tonight, our little Abigail began waving at the fruit fly that was buzzing around her high chair. I didn't even notice the fly, but I always have to remember that everything is still new to her. After dinner I was using the restroom and when I came out, I found the baby girl standing on the dining room table, in the dark, because she had climbed up there to flip the light switch off, her new favorite activity. I even had all of the chairs pushed in, so she had to pull the chair out before climbing up. What are we going to do with our little acrobat? I was reading "Where the Sidewalk Ends" to Abby, while she was having her bedtime snack, and I was reading a poem that went through various animals on a farm, as soon as the word, "dog" left my lips she was up and barking. She's a very good little barker, and an almost better meower.