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.

Buttery Sweet Goodness

In my previous post, my friend, Anna, suggested that I make Jenna some cinnamon rolls. I took her suggestion literally and made these :)

It was kind of challenging because the recipe is quite a bit of work and is time consuming. I took a few shortcuts because it seemed like I had a dozen kids instead of three. There was crying, whining, temper throwing, and that was just me--imagine the kids! Anyway, as far as the shortcuts--the rolls didn't rise as much as I'd like, but now I know for next time.

I did do part of it while Rori was at school and had a helper

It was serious business--but not so serious that he needed to put down his sucker!

Then, after they were all finished, Bill came home. He surveyed my hard work and then proceeded to pick which pans were his

And now after having my buttery sweet goodness, I have to answer to her

There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters

My sister is my best friend. She would do anything for me and I would do anything for her. We are only 13 months apart and I think we are bonded as close as twins. She was my playmate growing up--she would play barbies with me and I would play G.I. Joe with her. (Thank God she was a tomboy so now I know a little bit about those things so I can play with Liam and Brendan!) I always looked up to her--even when the day came that I was taller than her ;)

She has walked with me along all of my journeys. She put up with my hissy fit when she got engaged (I was annoyed that some guy was taking her away). In fact, she understood it. I am horrified at the way I acted (sorry Ryan) but she didn't hold a grudge. I was her maid of honor. She was my matron of honor. She was at the hospital when we found out we would lose Faith, she was there when we lost her, and she and Ryan stayed at our house in the days following. The two of them would give us the shirts off their back if we needed them. In fact, I am pretty sure that she made a pretty big sacrifice for me. I think they would have had their first baby a little earlier than they did, but Jenna wanted to wait until we were able to have a baby. I think she knew that, while I would love her baby and be happy for her, it would be very difficult for me to watch her have a baby while I was grieving for mine. That was an incredible sacrifice and I feel selfish even talking about it, but that's my sister. Selfless.

My sister is incredibly strong. She has dealt with sometimes debilitating headaches for most of her life. She spent a great deal of her high school life in and out of the hospital trying to get them under control. She watched while I went away to college and she had to stay home because my parents wanted to make sure her health was under control (she was able to go away for her Junior and Senior years--where she met her hubby). She became one of the most beloved teachers in her school. If you check out her facebook page, you can see how much her students adore her. She suffered a brain injury several years ago that would probably cause most people to need to quit their jobs, was just another obstacle that she overcame.

Now, I am asking for prayers for her, her husband Ryan and their sweet baby girl, Juliana. Juliana eats very little. They have taken her to multiple specialists to try to get her to eat. Every calorie this sweet girl gets goes to her brain (thankfully) but she really needs more. Fortunately her head grows with every appointment, which means her brain is growing, but she is very small. The stress is taking its toll on Jenna and Ryan. You can hear it in her voice, and see it in her own physical well being. I have asked my sister what I can do to help them, but she hasn't been able to come up with anything. So all I can do is pray, which isn't nothing, but I feel helpless for them. The Bible tells us that the "Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." That verse has always given me comfort. When I just want to cry out to Jesus and have no words, I know that the Holy Spirit is crying out the words that I don't have. And He is doing that for us now. Jenna is taking Juliana to a specialist at Children's Memorial this Friday. She told me that she just needs some good news. Please pray that the doctor will have something positive to say. They really need to hear it. Pray that this burden of stress will be relieved, pray for a miracle!