A Few Ramblings

Ellie burned her 3 middle fingers last night.  I was in the kitchen writing a list and I sat her on the counter while I did that.  She took the coffee pot off the burner (which was off) and was starting to bang it around so I took it from her.  The next thing I know she is screaming.  It took me a minute to figure out what was going on and it finally dawned on me that she must have hit the “on” switch for the coffee maker and touched the hot plate where the pot had been sitting.  I quickly stuck her fingers in cold water and she quieted right down.  She hardly even cried at all so I didn’t think it was that bad.  But a few minutes later I looked and those 3 fingers were blistered.  I felt so bad!  She must have a high pain tolerance because she didn’t seem to be bothered by them anymore.  Also, her 2 bottom teeth are in and I think she’s working on the 2 top ones.  The only way I know is because I can see them.  She’s not even fussy.  What a dream baby. . . I darn well deserve her.  Yes, I do.

We enrolled Bryn and Lydia in 2 classes at the local YMCA.  They started their gym class last night.  Conrad took them to that.  They played dodge ball and tug-of-war with about 15 kids.  Sounds like they had a great time.  Then, this morning, I took them to their first swimming class.  They absolutely loved that.  Each of those classes is just once a week.  I wanted them to be exposed to a few new things, plus I think swimming lessons are important.  And since Conrad can take them on Monday nights I don’t feel like I’m running all over the place.  I refuse to be one of those “stay-at-home” moms who is never home because she is living her life at break-neck speed trying to get her kids into every activity known to man.  Just a small pet peeve of mine.

This evening we are  attending an open house at the Catholic elementary school here in town.  It is highly unlikely that we will be sending our kids there, but we are trying to explore every option for our kids schooling before we decide on anything.  I’m not sure how I feel about them being surrounded by Catholicism when I have a lot of questions about it.  But, would I rather have them surrounded by the secularism of the public schools?  Our local schools are nothing to brag about and I have a number of concerns about sending them there.  For all you veteran parents out there, I would love to hear how you came to the decision you did concerning your children’s education.

I had a conversation with Bryn this morning that went something like this:

B:  Mommy, can I teach you a song?

M:  Sure.

B: “They’re big, I’m little. . . why can’t little guys do big things too”  Mommy, even though I’m little, can I do big things?

M:  Sure you can.  Just like David and Goliath.  David was little. . .

B:  (Looking very exasperated with me):  Mommy, there aren’t any giants around here.

Normal Life

You see, this is the problem with having a blog. What do you write about when life is just mundane and normal? I woke up this morning realizing it’s been a full week since I last posted anything, but to be honest, there hasn’t been much happening that’s worth posting. Here are a few tidbits of information from the last week or so:

1. My sister was in the delivery room when my cousin, Lisa, gave birth to her first baby. Hearing Kimmie’s reaction to it was so hysterical I thought I would die laughing. She is very squeamish when it comes to blood. She actually did better than I thought she might, but the best part was when she told me that at one point, in an effort not to pass out, she was doing more breathing exercises than Lisa. I just got a funny picture of that scene in my mind and it made me laugh. The good news is that Kimmie says it has not affected her desire to have children. I was afraid I would never get any nieces or nephews out of her.

Kimmie was here for the weekend which was really fun. I am convinced there is no one else in the world that can make me laugh like she can. Also, I am convinced that there is no one else in the world that could talk me into sharing cheesy, ranch, bacon french fries with her. Hello heart attack.

Later this afternoon my dear friend Julie and I are going shopping. She has lost 30 pounds since her last baby was born and now that I am back to my pre-Ellie weight (break out into “The Hallelujah Chorus” here) we feel we both deserve a shopping trip. She is taking a family vacation in March and we are going to Florida in May so our focus today is summer clothes. To be perfectly honest, it is so terribly cold and snowy outside that the idea of trying on shorts and t-shirts is very unappealing. But maybe I’ll change my mind in the store.

Birthday Reflections

Five years ago today my twins were born and thus began the biggest (and most sleep deprived) adventure of my life. I can’t say it’s all been fun and I won’t lie and say I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but when I look at Bryn and Lydia at 5 years old, I know that I am blessed beyond measure. In honor of this monumental day, I am reflecting on the last 5 years and offering a few of my favorite memories here:

1. 8 months old: I found both girls had crawled/rolled under the kitchen table. Lydia had the blade end of a pair of scissors in her mouth and Bryn was trying to grab them from her. Oh my. . .

2. 10 months old: They made each other laugh for the first time. It was so priceless. . .

3. 18 months old: They both got a nasty case of pink eye. I will never forget walking into their room on a Sunday morning and finding Bryn standing up in her crib with her eyes glued shut from all that nasty gunk. She looked my direction and said, “Peek-a-boo Mommy! Peek-a-boo!” Poor thing. She thought she was playing some extended version of peek-a-boo where you can’t see for hours at a time.

4. 2 1/2 years old: I took them both to Target to do a little shopping and both of them threw such horrendous fits in the store that I was forced to leave early to preserve all of our sanity. I count that day as the worst day I have ever had as a parent. I came home from Target and promptly posted both girls on ebay. I didn’t get a single bidder.

5. 4 years old: Their baby sister, Ellie was born. They came to the hospital and crawled onto my bed and we all snuggled with the new baby.

Okay, enough sentiment. I just might spend the whole day bawling if I keep this up. Today is a very snowy, blustery day in central Ohio and I am loving it. I have nowhere to go and nothing on the agenda that can’t wait another day or two. So with that in mind, I will bake. Cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies are a few of my favorite snowy day treats. Also, here are a few pictures from our very fun birthday party on Sunday evening.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey complete with a hand-drawn Eeyore by my talented, closet-cartoonist husband.

Party food

Bag races

Bulletin blues. . .

It’s Saturday night at 9:00 and I still haven’t typed the bulletin.  I think typing the bulletin is one of those things that fell to me because I am the pastor’s wife and I happen to type fast.  It is not a job I particularly enjoy and I often find myself doing it late on Saturday night.  This time, I actually have a good excuse.  I spent the entire day (and I do mean entire) working on details for this little birthday party we are throwing tomorrow for Bryn and Lydia.  They will be 5 on Tuesday (the 13th) and we decided this is a milestone birthday and deserves a party.  They requested a few friends and we turned it into those friends and their parents.  Additionally, Conrad’s parents are coming out and bringing along our niece who is a year younger than B and L.  So, before we knew it, this little shin-dig turned into a party for 18 people.

So, I spent my day baking individual heart- shaped cakes and getting those decorated (that part was really fun.  I poured a glaze over them that hardened so I didn’t have to sit there and frost all of those individually and then I used some decorating icing to pipe a little detail around them.  I thought of you, Rhonda, since you taught me some basic Wilton tips in the kitchen at Christ Church. . . oh for the good ol’ days).  My menu includes pulled pork sandwiches (which I made today and will just stick in the crock pot tomorrow. It had my house smelling yummy all day), cole-slaw, chips, and grapes.

The girls are insisting we play “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” and have bag races.  I’ve left those details to Conrad so we’ll see what he comes up with.  I’ll post pictures of the party sometime soon.  I’m sure you’re all waiting with baited breath.

Enough procrastinating.  Off to type the bulletin.

Getting to Know Me

Since the year is 2007 I considered coming up with 2, 007 things you might not know about me.  But that seemed a bit excessive so I think I’ll narrow it down to 7:

1.  I took 3 years of Chinese in high school.

2.  I grew up on a hog farm in the “thumb” of Michigan

3.  All while I was growing up I wanted to be a nurse.  Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m not.

4.  When I was a senior in high school I participated in a job shadowing day where I shadowed a labor and delivery nurse.  During that day I stood right next to a doctor while he circumcised a newborn boy.  I am grateful that all my babies are girls.

5.  I can count to 10 in 6 languages.

6.  I am not fluent in any language other than English (and sometimes even that is questionable).

7.  I once saw Ken Davis in his underwear.

Hello world!

Okay, I feel downright guilty.  I spend an enormous amount of time reading other people’s blogs (namely Rhonda, Robyn, David and Lisa) so I suppose one way to assuage my guilt is to join the world of blogging myself.  Maybe that doesn’t make sense to you. . . I’m not so sure it makes sense to me either.  Nevertheless, here I am and here is my blog.