My college roommate commented on my last post and it made my day. Well, all comments make my day! I LOVE comments!  Lisa and I don't get to talk very often but I think we have some great memories from college. We talked on the phone last fall for the first time in forever, but it was like no time had passed.  Anyway, I was going to post about "my chair" when we got a new one, but I hope she would appreciate seeing it now :) That and I have no idea when I will be able to part with it. I think Bill wishes he would have thrown it out while I was on bedrest with Rori. That's when he disposed of my other college treasure--my 1990's macintosh computer, which we saw in a museum while we were in Washington DC. I'm still bitter about that one. 

When I was a freshman, I didn't have any furniture so my grandma gave me her lazyboy recliner. I love it because it rocks, reclines, and its the perfect size. It was a joke with my roommates that if I was home, my rear end was on that chair. I am not sure if anyone else ever got to sit on it while I was around. Like I said previously, it has my perfect rear end print. Sadly, it's on it's last legs. It is a complete eyesore. There are marker stains, a new rip in the seat, the arms are so worn there is no padding left--just wood under the fabric. Yet, it's been with me through college, being a newlywed, and rocked all of my babies. I have such wonderful memories of this chair

It has definitely seen better days. So, yes, Lisa, the chair is still alive, but I fear there will be a day in the near future, when I come home and find her on the curb, and all I will be left with are the memories...

Treasure Hunting

The only piece of furniture Bill and I have purchased for our house is our couch. Everything else has been given to us--and it's all in fabulous condition. Well, in fabulous condition except for my Lazy Boy recliner circa 1982 that has my perfect rear end print in it. I'm not calling my rear end perfect, but a print that fits my rear end perfectly ;) That chair is a whole other post--which I will do someday if I get a new chair... Anyway, about the couch. We were fairly young and inexperienced when we bought the couch. It is the world's stupidest couch. I regret buying it, but I refuse to buy a new one until everyone is potty trained, no longer spits up, and stops spilling. This couch shows watermarks--when we clean it, it leaves a ring where the water dries. The cushions don't come out so you can't flip or fluff them. You have to pull the back cushions out or you fall in the cracks. While these are all annoyances, nothing is more annoying than when you lose something in it.

The first thing we ever lost was the remote. We had been searching for days and then I wondered if it had fallen in the couch. We tipped the couch to the front and heard, clink clack bang. There was something in there. However, the lovely design of the couch included fabric covering the bottom. There is no way to get whatever fell inside the couch without cutting a hole in it. So we did. And out came our remote. We have lost varying things and gotten them out by tipping the couch and working to get the items to the hole so we can pull them out. Recently, Rori lost her cartridge game for her Leap.ster. We searched everywhere we thought it could be but couldn't find it. Bill never wants to tip the couch and look for something--he finds it inconvenient ;) So on Friday while he was at work, I tipped it. It's quite heavy, but I've been working out, you know ;)  I heard, clankety clack, clankety clack. There was no way that I could hold the couch up and finagle all the things I could feel through the fabric over to the hole (I haven't been working out that much!). So, I proceded to cut several slits in the couch bottom. It was quite the treasure hunt. I found an Ariel mini doll, a Snow White mini doll, a Lightning McQueen car, two barettes, my night face lotion that I had been looking for that Rori had swiped, the Leapster game, and a bunch of dirty kleenexes! Can I tell you how much I hate this stupid couch?!  Anytime something is missing, I'm pretty sure the couch ate it! Thank God we got hand-me down furniture in the rest of the house because if we had picked out the rest, with our skills, I think I'd have to burn it all and start from scratch!

Muffin Tin Lunch

I have been trying to add more variety in my kids lunches and make it a little bit more fun. My mom told me about Muffin Tin lunches. She read on someone else's blog that their kids will eat anything out of a muffin tin. You can google it and there's a huge muffin tin meal movement out there! I decided to give it a go!

Liam wanted blue yogurt and Rori wanted red so I tried to give their tins that theme. I tinted vanilla yogurt with food coloring, gave them each some ham, colby jack cheese, apple slices, red or green (they don't have blue) goldfish, and red or blue m&m's. They thought it was so fun and asked for muffin tin meals for the next day too! What I liked about it was that they got a variety of foods instead of the chicken nuggets or hot dog and chips that I tend to lean towards. We also just watched Jami.e Oliver's Food Revolution--you should totally check it out--and it really solidified the idea that I need to give my kids more nutritional foods. I'm hoping that if I can find new ways to present food, they'll get excited about eating it. I have also noticed that when they help prepare it, they're more excited about eating it. Can anyone give me some tips on getting them to eat their veggies?! 

On a side note--I am totally going to be updating my blog more frequently. I have been busy and exhausted because my sweet baby boy has decided that napping isn't his idea of fun anymore. It's been difficult and stressful for me to get anything done, but since this is supposed to be a way to document memories for my friends and family, I'm going to make it more of a priority instead of sitting on my rear end catching up on our DVR :)  

After Church

Bill and I have been attending our church for about two years now. Previously we attended a very large church that was about 30 minutes away. We decided to move to a smaller one closer to home because we wanted to make connections with people and have the kids meet some friends that they could grow up with. The first Sunday that we went to Sunday School we met our friends Dan and Anne. Anne, being very outgoing, made us feel welcome (Dan did too) and they, as well as several other couples had kids the same ages as ours. We were excited and felt at home immediately. Two years later we have joined their small group and made a wonderful group of friends. Now, every Sunday after church we go to McDonald's with Dan and Anne and their kids. Lunch is eaten, conversations are enjoyed, and mayhem occurs! It's great and we love it!

By the way, Anne is the one I credit for helping me lose the weight I've lost so far! She's my personal Jill.ian Michaels! She encourages me to exercise and eat healthy. Everyone needs an Anne :)

Juliana Update

I am sorry that I have been behind in my blogging--I ask for prayers for Juliana and then don't give an update. Unfortunately the appointment with the gastroenterologist did not go well. You can read Jenna's experience here . Basically they didn't get any answers--just more questions. The doctor wants Juliana to get checked out by a neurologist and also prescribed more therapies. He is concerned because her head size is bigger in proportion to the rest of her body and she is behind in some developmental milestones and he wants to have it checked out. Naturally this is very upsetting news. Unfortunately they aren't able to get in to see the neurologist until March 31. So that means that we all need to wait.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Phillipians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
We will cling to that as we wait. Please pray for peace for Jenna and Ryan in this time of waiting.