Emmerich pushed me down the steps

Jenna lost her second tooth today. She didn't swallow this one so we have a souvenir to put under her pillow. She is very proud of the tooth she lost.

I babysat Nicholas and Emmerich the other day. Nicholas and Jenna play so well together and were taking pictures of each other with Jenna's camera. Sarah (or Sayah as she calls herself) on the other hand has some vendetta against Emmerich.

Several months ago I babysat Emmerich and I think baby Maddie (not exactly sure which permutation of the three kids I babysat but I know Emmerich was there). During this time, Emmerich pushed Sarah down the stairs. Sarah has not forgotten this and chooses to remind me often. She even carries around the Christmas card with Emmerich on it and says he pushed her down the stairs. I finally got a video. It cracks me up.

I've been doing better with gestational diabetes since giving up sweets for lent (shocking, that is). We've been more creative with meals and snacks. I had to get a picture of this dinner Erik made for me. Sometimes I think he missed his calling as a chef. He made little potato sausage sandwiches with a corn and fresh tomato salad. He made the girls' sandwiches in a shape of a smiley face.

Saturday is Erik's 35th birthday (Erik = old) and I think we might do iron chef. I know you'll be eagerly sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for pics from our latest iron chef :).

73 points on Quiddler today. Apparently "nym" is not a word. It really sounds like a word to me!

Sarah-isms

I've decided to list some of the funny things Sarah has been saying lately. She is always making me laugh:

1. Get my fring out my fring cheese. Translation: Please help me pull a string from my string cheese.
2. One time a bad person hurt Princess Giselle. Translation: In the movie Enchanted, an evil queen gave a poisoned apple to Princess Giselle causing her to fall into a deep slumber.
3. One time a bad person take my crown. Translation: Sarah lost her crown.
4. You a ghost. Translation: Sarah has an odd obsession with ghosts. She thinks everyone is a ghost, ghosts are taking things from her, and she constantly wants Mommy to put blankets on her head and act like a ghost.
5. I Snow White. Translation: I have a Snow White dress I wear CONSTANTLY and thus think I am Snow White.
6. I don't have eyebrows. Translation: ?
7. I don't like ______ (fill in the blank - peppers, vanilla, etc). Translation: Sarah likes to tell us what she doesn't like. And often.
8. I'm stuck on the roof. Translation: Sarah has climbed on something and can't get down (it is not necessarily a roof)
9. My froat hurts. Translation: I want a Halls Fruit Breezer so I'm going to tell you that my throat hurts even if it doesn't.
10. Mommy, I want you too. Translation: Mommy, I want you to hold me. She used to say "Mommy I want you." To which I would reply "I want you too". Now she says "Mommy I want you too."

While Jenna used to want to pray for Max and Erma's at night, Sarah's likes to pray for God, Nana and Papa at night. Very cute.

Even so, Sarah's language is amazing. She still has trouble with a few words (flower = "haachi" and orange = "eno"). But other than that she talks all the time....they both talk all the time....THEY BOTH TALK ALL THE TIME.

I'm hoping this is just a phase.

More snow, are you kidding me?

We have had to cancel our small group two weeks in a row due to snow. When I look outside all I see is snow. We are going to have a serious case of cabin fever come spring. Next week we are serving dinner at the Ronald McDonald house for our small group and I really hope we don't have to cancel!

Today is Fat Tuesday and tomorrow starts Lent. Trying to explain Lent to a 5 and 2 year old can be pretty tricky. It can also be tricky to a 34 year old.

This year God has hit me over the head. Last week God opened my eyes to a sin in my life that I have pretty much ignored.

Gluttony. "Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
for drunkards and gluttons become poor,and drowsiness clothes them in rags." ~Prov 23:20-21. Gluttony is listed together with alcoholism.

I ask myself - do I actually eat respectful portions of healthy food with a thankful heart towards God?

Ummm... no. I overeat - especially sweets. And now I've been hit with gestational diabetes...again. Instead of thinking, "this will give me an opportunity to focus on healthy foods for me and my growing baby." I grumble and complain. IT'S JUST SWEETS!

So for Lent this year I'm planning on giving up non-drink sweets. So I can drink mocha and hot chocolate but no sweet foods (except for Sundays which are not actually part of Lent ).

This will actually be more difficult than giving up chocolate since when I did give up chocolate I would still eat strawberry ice cream :).

I finally finished This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman. LOVED IT! I highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fans :).

87 points on Quiddler today. And "cloze" is a word. Who knew?

An Exciting Week for Us!

This week was filled with exciting happenings in the Cooper household. I know you are on the edge of your seat and can't wait to hear about it!
On Monday we had an ultrasound and were able to see the baby. The whole family was there and the girls loved seeing the baby. The baby was moving like crazy! Unfortunately I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes again so I need to test my sugar and watch what I'm eating. Really...I always watch what I'm eating (who eats with their eyes closed??), but now I have to actually pay attention and count carbs.

On Wednesday, Jenna lost her first tooth. The tooth fairy visited her at night which was a special treat. We decided on 50cents a tooth. Both of us received a quarter but with inflation :) we decided Jenna could get a little more.

My mom came on Thursday and Erik and I went on a date to Baja Sol. It is a Mexican restaurant with a salsa bar. Yum! Since our previous favorite Mexican restaurant closed we needed to find a new one.

On Friday morning Erik and I went to a spinning class and I actually survived.

Friday afternoon Erik got Lasik!! I had tried to prepare him by telling him about the procedure and the burning afterwards. I had burning in my eyes for a few hours and then I felt great. I just listened to my mp3 player. I remember on the way home from the surgery just wanting to get home as quickly as possible so I could rest. Well after Erik's surgery I tried to get us out of there as fast as possible. Erik had a big smile on his face and said he felt great. Then he said he wanted to stop at McDonalds for a double cheeseburger - WHAT?!?! So we did. He had burning for maybe an hour but his recovery was very quick. Not that I'm jealous....

We even played a game he was feeling so good. I did make him listen to "Magic Kingdom for Sale" by Terry Brooks to rest his eyes. He liked the book quite a bit. Erik doesn't even have red zombie eyes like I did. Which is fortunate since he wanted to eat my brains.

Now Erik can see. It's such a miracle!

33 on quiddler. I lost a "j" and a "v" but got to make the word "pattie". I didn't realize it counted as a word :).

Snow Day!

This weekend we had a huge snowstorm. Erik had to shovel twice but the worst part was that we had to cancel our D&D gaming time. I was so excited to see friends we hadn't seen (except online) in a long time but alas, the weather did not cooperate.

Instead we had a great time playing in the snow until Sarah got cold. After coming inside she promptly dumped her hot cocoa on the carpet. Nice.

Both girls obviously like to dress up. In fact, Bible study time is a good time for Jenna, Kate, and Paige to play dress up and have a good time. For some reason though, Sarah likes to dress down. She likes to wear play skirts with or without a diaper and boots. This does not bode well for her future.

In other news:

1. I have not felt the baby move in awhile and have become a worry wart. My ultrasound is tomorrow - hoping the baby is okay.
2. Erik is getting Lasik on Feb. 12. I got Lasik last year Feb. 13 - so almost a year apart! He is so excited to see. I forget sometimes that he can't see even though for most of my life I couldn't either!
3. Our Tuesday night Bible study is doing really well. We are studying Andy Stanley's "Taking Care of Business" dealing with being Christians in the workplace. It's a great study! Last week we had breakfast for dinner and this was the most well received dinner we've made so far (even better than tacos or homemade mac and cheese). Oh well - back to garlic chicken pasta this Tuesday.
4. I'm reading This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman and it is one of the best sci-fi books I have read in a long time. It is so complex I can't begin to explain it to Erik so he likes it too. I think I just might have to read everything she writes!
5. This was a wretched quiddler day. There was a Q,Z, and QU all of which were difficult to use. 60 points out of 107 - not good!
   
   

Smells Good!

We went to West Virginia this weekend to see Erik's parents. Erik helped them install a hood over the oven. He is SO handy - I really don't know what we would do if he wasn't. We came back home sans girls and went on a date! Erik wanted to go to this restaurant called the Pub at Polaris. It had lots of specialty beers YUM! . Erik got a fancy beer and a bacon cheeseburger with onions cooked in guiness. Luckily I found something on the menu not cooked in beer. Then we played squash and I played much better than I have been. Since I've been feeling better - my squash game has improved!

Erik and I just read Glenn Beck's book Common Sense. This was a very good book and a little scary. I hadn't really thought about how much in debt we are but the book laid out the numbers so we could see how far the U.S. is spiraling into debt. Proverbs 22:7 says "the borrower is servant to the lender". Our country is a slave to its lenders (China!).

The book also made a case against the two party system citing references to how both parties are corrupt. It made me look in more detail at third parties. Erik has always been a closet libertarian but I haven't. Erik and I have discussed this before, but Beck made the case that your vote is not "thrown away" on a third party candidate - vote for who you think is best, who has integrity. I like it!

Thinking about my prego salmon has reminded me that some things smell good when they cook (that dish really didn't smell that great)

Here is a list of my top favorite food smells:

1. Baking bread
2. Brewing coffee
3. Baking cinnamon rolls
4. Fresh tomatoes in summer
5. Fresh strawberries in summer
6. Baking cookies
7. Tomato sauce (especially my mom's)
8. Bacon frying
9. Sauteeing garlic
10. Fresh basil

Erik did not agree with my assessment as I had tomato items on the list twice and bacon wasn't as close to the top as it should be (in his opinion).

I did terrible on quiddler today - only earning 61 points and losing two n's and an r!