April Fools!

Tomorrow is April Fools day! There is always a dilemma about what practical joke I can play on my hubby. Now I have a baby as well - should I play an April Fools joke on her? What could I do? Turn her diaper inside out. I think any joke I played on her would just be a reason to fuss.
Last year I made a spaghetti casserole using a springform pan and covered it with lots of cheese in an attempt to make it appear as a cheesecake. Then I served it to my husband as a cheesecake. Unfortunately he wasn't fooled. I do have an idea about tomorrow.
Here are two options I've thought of:
1. Putting food coloring in the milk to make it a different color
2. Putting a gummy worm in one of Erik's favorite Granny Smith apples
The jury is out on which one I'll do. Hopefully he'll be fooled!!! (I hope you're not reading this honey)

On another note, I'm up to my ears in grading! I gave two tests this week so really, it is my own fault. *smile*.

Hotels and Babies

I have discovered an obscure mathematical formula: hotel + baby = screaming
We took Jenna to Ironton last weekend to visit some friends in our EQ2 guild "Knights of the Riven Moon" and we decided to stay overnight at a hotel. Poor Fairfield Inn.

Erik had enought Marriott rewards that we were able to stay there for free. We probably should have paid them as Jenna screamed her brains out for half an hour at 2am waking up everyone in the entire hotel.

Other than that, our trip was a lot of fun. We had dinner at Applebees which was successful. Jenna ate well and we all had a good time. She even got to try cheesecake.

In other news, I have compiled a list of my favorite yogurts:

1. Blueberry crumble (Yoplait)
2. Cherry (Fruit on the Bottom)
3. Lemon Burst (Yoplait)
4. Mixed fruit (Fruit on the Bottom)
5. Apple cinnamon (Fruit on the Bottom)

I also discovered that even though I like coffee, I do not like coffee yogurt - YUK!

Buy American

I will digress from my usual comments about Jenna's ability to point out objects to a topic which is close to my heart. Buying American! From reading about GMs recent difficulties, it makes me want to buy American even more! I want to keep American workers working for America. Erik and I have always tried to buy American. Looking at labels of items to see the "Made in the USA". We have often spent more money on items just because they were Made in the USA. In fact, we were "Made in the USA" *smile*.

Shameless Jenna announcement: We went to Jen's for a playdate today and bug ate 2 cutout cookies!!! She is SO cute!!

And...Erik set up a computer for me in the kitchen!!!!!!! Yea!!!! I just need to install a wireless card and get a flat panel monitor - yea!!!

Google Desktop

I have downloaded the Google Desktop to my PC. All I can say is WOW - Where have you been all my life?? It is a thing of beauty. I have configured it to show stocks I'm watching, current news, web clips, photos of my cutie pie, the weather, and even monitoring my system. The essential desktop pack has a lot of great features including picasa - I've made cute collages of Jenna using Picasa. I may actually put the Google desktop above RSS feeds as my new favorite thing (thing meaning anything including my husband, chocolate, and Jenna). You can get it from google if you click the "More" link above the search box. From here you can download an essential pack of free google items!

Jenna has now realized that isf she hands a book to either me or Erik we will read it to her. She has been handing us the Bible, her colors book, an alphabet book, and anything she is in the mood for. Sometimes she wants to read books 3-4 times and keeps handing them back to us. Erik has gone so far as to hide books she wants to read often. She is definitely a reader - how cute! She takes after mommy :). Maybe she'll be a writer...watch out J.K. Rowling!!!

Happy Birthday Baby

Today is Jenna's 14 month birthday. I tried to take a picture of her with the white bear but she was too unhappy. I'll put this picture up on my website later. She was really cute with the bow in her hair though :).


We went to Sams today which was an exciting outing! Sams had a delectable array of free samples ranging from mozzarella sticks to beef jerky. Jenna loved trying these new foods.


Body parts Jenna knows:

1. Head
2. Eyes
3. Mouth
4. Belly
5. Feet
6. Hands

Maybe she will be a doctor - she seems very interested in anatomy. Then again, she does enjoy pointing out lights to us. Maybe she'll be an electrical engineer. No...we are still back to biomedical engineer! A perfect career for her!!

The beauty of words

I finished the Sword of Shannara last night - beautifully written book! Words can be so beautiful. Especially when they come from a 13 month old. Jenna is adept at saying the word light. She has added "out" and "outside" to her vocabulary. Maybe someday she will develop some prose titled the "Light of Shannara" (due to her fascination with lights).
We dined at Applebees tonight for dinner. It was the first time the three of us have been out to dinner for months. We had a great time and Jenna pointed out all the lights in the entire restaurant to us. You just don't realize how many lights are really around us.
Jenna did well at church in the nursery. We were able to listen to an entire sermon! Yea!

Cuteness limit

Is there a cuteness limit in the universe? Because if so, I think Jenna has broken it. She is a lot better now and has been on a mental growth spurt lately. She knows her head, mouth, ears, hair, and sometimes her feet. She points to lights and says "light" and she also can say off and on. Amazing!! She also filled out a bracket for the NCAA tournament, translated the Bible into Japanese, and made lobster thermidor for dinner tonight...oh wait, maybe she didn't do ALL those things. She does amaze me though! She hands books to us to read and keeps handing them to us to read over and over again. We've had to hide some books from her.
I think she'll be a reader like me. Speaking of readers, I'm now reading "The Sword of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. Excellent book!! I love it! In fact, I can't put it down and it is consuming my time. It has a lot of similarities to LOTR as well.

Other fantasy series I like:
1. Wheel of Time
2. Song of Ice and Fire
3. Harry Potter
:)
I got 83 on Quiddler and so did Erik - we tied!!

Patience is a virtue

This week has tested my patience. Friday we went to the Pediatrician and found out that she has rotavirus. Poor little girl! Today she was a little better but I couldn't put her down or she would scream uncontrollably. We are praying for her to get better soon!
I'm currently doing this Living Free Bible study by Beth Moore with some women from my mom's group at church. It is so refreshing and has taught me about pride. I especially need God now dealing with a sick little one. This poem is from the study - I think it is so powerful!

My name is Pride. I am a cheater.

I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because you demand your own way.

I cheat you of contentment....because you "deserve better than this."

I cheat you of knowledge....because you already know it all.

I cheat you of healing....because you're too full of me to forgive.

I cheat you of holiness....because you refuse to admit when you're wrong.

I cheat you of vision............because you'd rather look in the mirror than out the window.

I cheat you of genuine friendship....because nobody's going to know the real you.

I cheat you of love.......because real romance demands sacrifice.

I cheat you of greatness in heaven.....because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth.

I cheat you of God's glory....because I convince you to seek your own.

My name is Pride. I am a cheater.

You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you. Untrue.

I'm looking to make a fool of you.

God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry....If you stick with me

You'll never know.

82 today!

laundry...laundry...laundry...laundry

Jenna has a temp of 100.6 which indicates a fever - my pediatrician brother-in-law informed me! So she has a fever and bad diarrhea. She went through 4 outfits yesterday and 2 today so far. She also hasn't been drinking anything. I don't want her to get dehydrated. So right now I'm freaking out. And my mom is in Florida. Normally I would be on the phone with her constantly discussing Jenna's health.
Besides that, she has been doing very well with walking. She took several steps to Daddy and back to me. She has also been pointing at everything. It is SO cute. She talks to everything as she points to it. She's definitely a talker.
We reserved a hotel room for our mini-vacation to Ironton for the weekend of March 25. It should be fun as long as Jenna is better by then. I keep thinking, she'll be walking by then for sure. Of course she may not be!
So far it has been one week since I gave up chocolate. It has been going better than I thought. I thought I would have horrible cravings and start shaking :) but I haven't. Easter chocolate will be that much more special! Maybe I'll even lose the urge for chocolate - yeah right!
93 on Quiddler today. Erik got 98 and the high was 108. So I'm not that far off!

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes

Whenever we sing the "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" song, Jenna points to her head. She knows where her head is!! She also knows where Daddy's nose is as well as how to smack Daddy's butt (an important skill). So she is learning basic anatomy...med school here she comes!!!
She also has picked up the habit of pointing at things she wants or just to tell us about them. It is SUPER cute. She will point to a picture frame and I'll give it to her. Then she will talk to it and point to something else. We walk around the house doing this. Take the word "walk" with a grain of salt. I carry her around :).
It is currently day 5 of me giving up chocolate for lent. It has been hard but so far I have survived. Only 35 more days to go!!
70 on Quiddler today - not my best :).

Lights

Who knew that lights were so interesting? Jenna points to our lamp, then turns off the light switch, then points back to the light to indicate that it is off. She just loves turning the light off.
Erik and I were discussing our favorite fruits. Here is my first (tentative list) of favorite fruits:
1. Bananas
2. Strawberries
3. Watermelon
4. Pears
5. Clementine Oranges
6. Dates
7. Gala Apples
8. Blueberries
9. Cherries
10. David Cooper...oh wait, he's fruity but not a fruit
I only got 57 points today on Quiddler - very poor!!