Little gems

When I asked Sarah what she's most excited about this summer her response was "camping." When I asked Jenna the same thing she said "being a 3rd grader and camping". Matthew, who has become a chatty cathy lately would probably say "lights." The kids love camping! This weekend we went to the Shelby/Mansfield KOA. The place was fantastic, the weather did not cooperate though. 

Last year this same weekend we contemplated swimming. This year we were wearing sweaters and coats. And our carbon monoxide detector broke in the camper so we couldn't use our propane heater (really carbon monoxide doesn't seem like a bad way to go). Erik went to walmart and bought boards and electric heaters. Matthew again escaped from the camper crib and was up until 11:30pm on Friday night!  So Erik fashioned a stockade to keep him in the crib. 

Matthew in the tunnel at the campground

Mothers day card crafts

 The most exciting part about the campground is their gem mine. We bought two bags of dirt, one that may contain emeralds and rubies and another that may contain other gemstones. The kids sifted through the dirt to discover treasures. Both girls have rock collections (I confess I have a rock collection too) and they had a great time searching for treasures. They found several really nice gems also. Matthew just dumped the leftover rocks.

Gem mining

We had a fabulous time at the campground and to top it off we got ice cream. You can see the kids (one scoop!) bowls of ice cream below. This is on the order of Nelsons in Minnesota.  I shared mine with Matthew but Jenna ate her whole bowl of ice cream! We had to throw away half of Sarah's - she just couldn't finish it :).

Just a little ice cream

A beautiful butterfly in our backyard! 

 Our first camping trip of the season was a blast. A chilly blast, but still a blast. I'm looking forward to camping this summer too.

48 points on quiddler today

Geeking out

I spent this week at the Faculty Symposium in Atlanta and had a wonderful time. It's great to meet faculty from all over the country to share ideas and network. There is a push for all faculty to have PhD's so I was able to tell everyone about my program and experiences. Lots of people wanted to talk to me about it so I felt popular. Considering I was the girl in school with the glasses and braces reading sci-fi books, being popular is a little foreign to me.  I feel ya Amy Farrah Fowler!

Columbus faculty at the Symposium

Pam and Me - she is from Fremont, California and my good friend!

I got home Saturday morning at 1am and that evening Jenna had a girl scout sleepover at the zoo. She toured the zoo until 11pm at night and rose early to do another round of hiking at the zoo at 7am. She is exhausted now and had so much fun. I'm sure she will crash soon.

Jenna's brownie troop at the zoo

On Saturday I took the kids for some family fun. We went to the pink moon cupcake bakery and the park. I love the pink moon cupcakes. I am unable to duplicate their yumminess. Their cupcakes are so rich and delicious - I love the buckeye flavor (chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting)

Sarah at Pink Moon

Back in college Erik and I would buy a couple packs of magic cards, make decks and play with whatever we got. Last night we did just that! We bought some magic cards and although we haven't kept up with the new rules or expansions, we had a blast. He played a green and white deck and I played a red and black deck. My favorite color is blue since I really like the merfolk and tim cards but the new expansion didn't have much merfolk in it. And we watched a Chronicles of Riddick marathon. Basically we geeked out.

66 points on Quiddler today

He is tough enough

Erik earned tons of manly points this weekend by completing the Tough Mudder. He did this as part of the annual "man trip" with his friends. The Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile course with 22 obstacles. The obstacles are challenging and filled with mud. It seems like boot camp. 

Erik loved it! He said it was more fun than the triathlon. We are planning on doing it next year together.

Island Hopping obstacle

Berlin wall obstacle - Erik said this was the hardest

"Erik" on the monkey bars

A bruise from his tough mudder

 He had a great time this weekend even though he has a few bruises and scrapes. Those are scars of manliness!

While Daddy was gone, Jenna and  Sarah drew pictures on the whiteboard. I though it was cute when Sarah drew a picture of Joel (the J is backwards). It says "A Joel".

Sarah's picture of Joel on the left

70 points on Quiddler today

Jenna the biker

Growing up one of my favorite snacks was "ants on a log". This consists of celery topped with peanut butter then topped with raisins (not real ants). Yum! We don't always have celery at the house (who does?) but we happened to have spinach. Jenna thought it would be delicious to make ants on a log with spinach. Tiny victory dance. For this I really should get a good Mom award. Who would have thought you could make ants on a log MORE healthy??

Obviously Sarah did not want "ants on a spinach leaf" and instead opted for the cupcake.

For you Mommy...no spinach for me

Ants on spinach

 Now that the weather is nicer we are back to walking home from school. I pull the wagon with Matthew and Sarah sitting peacefully to pick up Jenna from school. As soon as Jenna exits the building Matthew is giddy with excitement. He grabs her hand and walks with her the entire way home (while Sarah stretches out in the wagon).

Walking home from school

 Today we took our first family bike ride of the year. The most exciting part of it was that:

Jenna rode by herself!

Jenna rode to Handels ice cream and back. This is a 4 mile round trip and she did a great job. She was rewarded with cotton candy ice cream too! Sarah now moved to the trail bike on the back of Erik's bike and I only toted Matthew in the trailer. Nice! I'm excited for us to bike more as a family.

I think she's ready for pelotonia 

Jenna, Daddy, and Sarah biking

73 points on Quiddler today

My new brother-in-law

Congratulations Missy and Dave!

On Saturday Missy and Dave were married in a beautiful ceremony and a fabulous reception. 

Wedding collage

At 8:35 am (the wedding started at 3:30pm but we got there early for hair and makeup). Amanda's friend Jodi did everyone's hair and makeup. The girls were very excited to have their hair and makeup done and said they looked like "princess rockstars." Matthew would not take his sunglasses off so Missy and Dave's ringbearer looked pretty cool walking down the aisle. The church was a very quaint country church that might only hold about 100 people. With the flowers and decorations it was a beautiful, cozy ceremony. During the ceremony I cried - this time tears of joy!  Amanda, Megan and I had tissues hidden in our flowers. Dave and Missy were crying during the ceremony too. We really love Dave and are so excited he is part of the family now.

Missy looked amazing; whether it was Jodi's makeup or her inner glow she was radiant! 

The reception was so much fun. The food was unbelievable. We had roasted vegetables, pasta, scalloped potatoes, beef tips with mushrooms, and chicken. Then we danced the night away. Missy and Dave had a photo booth which the girls loved. The kids danced all night long. Matthew loved dancing so much we had to drag him away from the dance floor (literally kicking and screaming) at 10pm! I really loved the cookie buffet too. I ate two boxes worth of cookies - they were so yummy. This was a fantastic weekend and I gained a brother-in-law! Congratulations Mrs. Monhollen this is for you!

57 on Quiddler today

Chocolate cake tower

The day has finally arrived and Missy will be getting married this weekend. We are all so excited especially the girls who are ecstatic to be flower girls. They have been talking about it nonstop. Matmoo (that's what he calls himself) doesn't know what he is in for. He will be a fantastic ring bearer as long as he leaves the lights on in the church.  Last weekend I drove to Cleveland to meet Missy, Amanda, Megan, and Missy's friends at the Wild Mango Restaurant. The food was beautiful and delicious! I ordered seared sea scallops with crab risotto. Yum! Then Missy and I shared a "piece" of this chocolate cake. It was amazing!

Yes that is a piece of chocolate cake with spun sugar on top

 I am beyond excited that Missy is marrying a wonderful, Christian man who will soon be my brother-in-law!

Jenna had her second grade musical and her class was celebrating Mexico. The other classes celebrated Ireland, China, Iraq, and Russia. They sang a song in Spanish and even did a little dance. Jenna is the fourth one over in this tiny picture. She is almost done with second grade.

Jenna's 2nd grade musical performance

Erik and I both like computers. This can be a problem sometimes. Today I bought a Windows 8 tablet. I'm excited about it even though there is no start button anymore.

73 points on Quiddler today

My VIP

Sarah is now registered for Kindergarten in the fall and was the VIP (very important preschooler) of the week at preschool. She got to wear a crown all week (princess Sarah) and make a poster about herself. If you are wondering about the shot in the corner in which her tongue is blue - yes that is correct.  Below is the picture. It defines Sarah's fun spirit.

Sarah VIP of the week

Blue tongue

On the Monday of Spring Break we went to Entertrainment Junction in West Chester, OH. The kids loved the huge indoor model train layout and the play area. They especially loved the funhouse. Erik battled motion sickness but the kids and I had a blast! Then we went to visit our friends Julie and Randy and saw their two boys Nicholas and Nathaniel. We ate pizza and cookies and had a fun time visiting with them.

Entertrainment Junction

Funhouse

Our Coo* book club is now reading Queen of Men by the wildly famous author Joel Cooper. It's fun to read this book together and it has prompted more discussion than some of the other books we've read. I have already read the book but I'm excited to see what other people think of it. This is a great book and I hope he can publish it someday. 

The weather is starting to warm up and we've been outside every day. Erik even went biking today and I went running. It feels good to be outside enjoying the sunshine.  I feel like my friend Lynn is looking down on us and smiling.

77 points on Quiddler today

Never far from me

"When you are born you cry and the world rejoices. When you die the world cries and you rejoice."

This a quote from the eulogy at Lynn's funeral today. The funeral was nice until Joe sang and played a song on the piano called "Never Far from Me". He couldn't make it through the song and everyone in the church was sobbing.

I still don't understand, and cry every day, and miss her so much. Please pray for Joe, Lauren, and Jacob. Joe has amazed me with his faith and eloquence.

Some good things are happening to outweigh this tragedy. Erik's parents are closing on their house tomorrow and have received an offer on their current house. It looks like everything is falling into place for them to move here this summer.

Missy is getting married in a little over a week and we are all looking forward to the wedding. I am also going to the Bachelorette party this weekend.

At some point life will go back to normal just as it did when Scruffles died. Just when I think I can shed no more tears...I'm wrong.

Bittersweet

Lynn

Lauren and Jenna

I lost my good friend Lynn today. She passed peacefully around 10am. Lauren only asked for Jenna to come over so Jenna is there now, hopefully comforting her.  I saw Lynn on Thursday and she did not look like herself. She didn't know me and could barely talk. She was a true fighter and friend.

Fortunately, Lynn's parents are selling their house in Medina and moving here to help Joe with the kids. What a blessing that will be! 

I made a video for Lynn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlqIBdlZJBs

I love you forever Lynn!

My friend

By now I need to face the facts.

My friend is dying.

http://thelittlelump.blogspot.com/2013/03/remember-when.html

Last week I had a long talk with Joe and he was not himself. He is usually so hopeful about Lynn's cancer but he was so down.

It's just not fair. She only has a week or two to live right now. We can't lose her. She is funny, smart, beautiful, and so young. It's unbelievable to me. I've been crying since I read this last post, and the pit in my stomach is huge.

I will miss her so much!

The real March Madness

March Madness takes on a different meaning when you are chasing children around a field to gather Easter eggs from other egg-crazed toddlers. Sarah and Matthew attended an Easter Egg hunt at her preschool. Matthew was all about the candy in the eggs. He didn't even want to smile for the picture, he was too busy chomping on sweet tarts.

Sarah and Matthew at her preschool Easter Egg Hunt

 We colored eggs a few times too. Actually Jenna colored eggs and Sarah ate the eggs. She ate 5 eggs without coloring a single one. I think she just likes taking the shell off and then eating them.

Sarah and Jenna coloring Eggs (Matthew jamming to music in the background)

 We babysat Mclaine and Kael and colored eggs with them as well. Kael made a yellow and blue egg with "Go Blue" on it. His parents would be so proud.

Mclaine, Jenna, Kael, and Sarah coloring eggs

Kael with his "Go Blue" egg

For Easter our church is having a pancake breakfast and Easter Egg hunt. I'll be making a ham dinner for our family which will make our tummies very happy. We love ham but neither my parents nor Erik's parents like ham so we have turkey for every occasion. Sorry turkey, you're just not as good.

The first day of Spring was last Wednesday (and we are supposed to get a blizzard tonight). We are so excited for this summer. Erik's parents will close on their new house April 5th and are moving here June/ July. It will be wonderful to have them down the road. We have tons of camping trips planned and the kids will be going to some fun day camps.

Most importantly we booked our trip to Paris, France this fall. We will be staying in an apartment near the Eiffel tower. It will be fun to live as real Parisians do in an apartment.

88 points on Quiddler today

The blushing bride...or maybe it's spaghetti sauce

The bride

On Saturday, Jenna, Sarah and I went to Missy's bridal shower at Papa Bears Restaurant. The girls had a great time and were ripping into Missy's presents with enthusiasm.  Missy, Amanda, and I all got baked ziti with meatballs showing how alike we all are. We played only one silly game where we had to tally up the items in our purse in which each item was worth a certain number of points. Missy had 111 points of items in her purse and the person with the next highest score was 75. I think she has a little too much in there.  Overall the shower was a lot of fun.

Missy, Me, Amanda, and Megan - I couldn't take the glare out of this pic

As I've mentioned before, Erik and I are trying to make things on our own and reduce the number of chemicals we have. Erik made his own soap. We've also made our own dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent. Since dryer sheets are full of chemicals (which in turn is all over your clothes and sheets), we bought these natural dryer balls. They work well even though they are expensive. I've also bought some Norwex microfiber cloths for cleaning and bathing. Now I"m not using soap but just a microfiber cloth in the shower. We are just trying to reduce chemicals. So if I stink - that's why.

In the most important news, today is Pi day! I made pizza dough and we will be making our own pizza for dinner (pizza pi get it?). I also made a key lime pie for us too (Erik loves tart flavors). At some point I'll make a chocolate peanut butter pie for me.

88 points on Quiddler today. I made the word "cloister" too which is totally awesome.

Game Mechanics

Erik was in Boston for his birthday so we celebrated when he got home. He wanted a key lime pie, grilled cheese on sourdough bread, and fried pickles with hot sauce. Yum! He wants another key lime pie for Pi day this Thursday. We'll see. I'm in the mood for chocolate (I guess I'm always in that mood). 

Happy Birthday Erik!

 Lately I've been a little obsessed with Greek Yogurt. I had to snap a picture when I realized one shelf of our refrigerator was taken up by Greek Yogurt. Erik and I both eat Greek yogurt every day with honey roasted peanuts and raisins. Yummy! I've also made smoothies with Greek Yogurt and added peanut butter, bananas, and frozen strawberries. It's divine!

(Greek Yogurt)^6

To celebrate Erik's birthday we had a board game night. It's very hard for me to make a list of my favorite board games. It's like choosing my favorite chocolate chip cookie or fantasy novel or episode of Firefly. It's just all good.

So I made a list of my favorite game mechanics. This was also difficult since many games fall into a few mechanics (as you will see from my list below). I know I left some out and probably didn't categorize everything exactly. I used some ideas from boardgamegeek. I listed the game mechanic along with some games that fall into the category.  Of course a lot depends on my mood. Maybe my list will be different tomorrow!

1. Worker Placement - Agricola, Lords of Waterdeep, Stone Age, Caylus, Le Havre
2. Route/Network building - Ticket To Ride, Railroad Tycoon, Settlers of Catan, Transamerica, Thurn and Taxis
3. Hand/Resource Management - Agricola, SanJuan, Goa, Race for the Galaxy, Acquire, El Grande
4. Cooperative games - Pandemic, Shadows over Camelot, Battlestar Galactica, Sentinels of the Multiverse
5. Auction/Bidding - Goa, PowerGrid, Ra, Amun Re, Aladdins Dragons, Tikal
6. Role Selection - Puerto Rico, Navegador, Citadels
7. Tile Placing - Carcassone, Princes of Florence, Castles of Burgundy, Acquire
8. Pattern matching/Deduction - Set, Clue, Sleuth
9. Word games - Scattergories, Boggle, Quiddler
10. Party/Family - Taboo, Scattergories, Apples to Apples, Balderdash
11. Card games - Rook, Euchre, Pinochle, Magic the Gathering
12. Set collection - Lost cities, 7 Wonders, Bohnanza

85 points on Quiddler today. I like quiddler - it's #9!

My indoor tri

I survived finals week and have now moved onto a new semester. This semester I am teaching an onsite class on Tuesday nights, giving a live lecture on Wednesday night for one online class, a live lecture on Thursday night for another online class, doing online tutoring for C# Sunday nights, and grading/discussion threads/preparing for lectures on the other nights. My nights are pretty much booked this semester. 

But I still need to get in shape for the triathlons I'll be doing this summer. I started on Sunday by doing an indoor triathlon. Erik doesn't think it is a "real" triathlon. Too bad for him. I had fun! 

Last year I did the indoor triathlon with Kate and Tricia and we did it again this year with another friend from church MaryClaire. MaryClaire competed in Masters swimming when she was 40 so she is in pretty amazing shape. She was in a different wave from Kate, Tricia, and I so we had to take a picture at church later.

Kate, Me, MaryClaire, Tricia

Kate, Tricia's friends, Tricia, and Me immediately following the triathlon

I did so much better this year! I swam 15 laps (last year 13 laps) in 10 minutes, biked 14.4 miles in 30 minutes and ran 2.11 miles (last year 2.03) in 20 minutes. I wasn't sure how I would do since I did not train. All I've been doing lately is videos but apparently that has been good enough. We shall see how I do when I enter a "real" triathlon.

I finished the Hero of Ages book (the last book in the Mistborn trilogy). We were not supposed to finish the book yet according to the book club but books always pick up velocity towards the end and I can't put them down (sorry...can't do it). 

71 points on Quiddler today

Living on a prayer

Since we've had kids, we have not had any family living close by. In the past we have had siblings living with us or near us but not lately. Well that's all about to change. Erik's parents are in contract on a house that is 0.8 miles from our house.

0.8 miles!!!!

If we walk through people's backyards we can walk to their house. I'm so excited for them to be close and see them all the time (built-in babysitters! Yipee!).

My in-laws new house

The house is beautiful too. It's new, has 4 bedrooms, and a large basement for a train layout. It will be nice for them to work with Matthew also and help him talk more too. 

Matthew loves dinosaurs

 Sarah went to a bowling birthday party this weekend and had some trouble with the ball actually reaching the pins to knock any down. As Bon Jovi serenaded us over the loudspeaker, Sarah's ball rolled so slowly I think I saw some moss gathering. So I stole this nifty ramp Sarah could roll the ball down. Take that - you give love a bad name!

Sarah bowling

 I was the mystery reader in Jenna's classroom. I read 3 books to her class and passed out twizzlers. Mrs. Tolford took the picture below. I love Matthew's face in this picture and Jenna's posing. Having Sarah in the background singing or drawing would complete the scene.

Mystery reader

Only 47 points on quiddler. I could never make a word with the z and that's a 14 point card. What's the point of z's anyway?  Besides twizzlers and zebras.

My new toy

"sour" dough bread

I used my two starters to make sourdough bread. Well, it was actually just dough bread. While the bread was very tasty, it was not sour. I'm not sure why but neither one of my starters were sour. The sour cream starter was good and had an amazing texture. The other starter was a plain starter and the bread was average. So I made another buttermilk starter to see if that would be "sour" enough. I'll be able to make it soon and give my results. If I can't make sourdough bread sour I may just have to buy it :(.

Yea! A duck

I got a new toy. I bought a Bamboo tablet to annotate lectures and images. You can probably tell from my bread picture I drew on it with my tablet. Then of course I drew on a duck picture :). 

This tablet is very helpful for my online course live lectures. While I'm explaining the material sometimes I will annotate on my Powerpoint but it is clunky. I used my tablet last night to annotate on my powerpoint while explaining material and it worked beautifully! I just need it to annotate on Visual Studio and my lectures will be so riveting and exciting no one will want to do anything else!

75 points on Quiddler today. 

Words!

Matthew is not a man of many words. In fact, for most of his life he only said "uh-oh" and "hee haw" which probably only counts as one word. Last November he started saying more words. Below is an update of Matthew's words:

1. uh oh
2. more
3. hee haw (tick tock)
4. bubbles
5. pop
6. ball
7. eye
8. meh (milk)
9. eeya (cat - meow)
10. ch (cheese)
11. on
12. up up up (up can't be said just once)
13. dirt
14. wawa (water)
15. key
16. moya (money)
17. oo (open)
18. boy
19. snow

He is doing really well and imitates us quite a bit. I'm really happy with his progress!

I caught a picture of Sarah with her "sweetie pie" from the Valentines party from school. The sweetie pie was filled with candy and very cute. The girls had a 4 day weekend because of Presidents day, and Jenna's friend Paige slept over. They had a great time watching movies in the basement and eating lots of popcorn!

Sarah with her sweetie pie from her Valentines party

Jenna dressed up as Laura Ingalls Wilder

My little bumblebee

My wonderful husband surprised me Saturday night with a mocha from Starbucks. He is so amazing and sometimes will bring me a coffee. It is a little gift but I love it. But I gave up coffee for lent. Oops.

Our church had a speaker from Gospel for Asia on Sunday. It was so heart-wrenching to see these kids and the kind of lives they live.  I'm just amazed at what this ministry is doing for the backward castes in India. Christianity is sweeping through India. Praise God!

86 points on Quiddler today

I sulfur when you argon

Valentines day is so much fun for kids and big kids. I love decorating boxes, writing up valentines, and the best part...getting valentines. The girls tore into their boxes and meticulously sorted out all their valentines. Some were treasured (Sarah got Lego stickers that she loved) and the candy was quickly eaten. Erik bought me roses which he does every year. They are beautiful red roses! Jenna even bought ribbon (with her own allowance!) to tie on the roses to make them even more beautiful. To celebrate Valentines day, we all went out to Graeters and got ice cream cones..... yes cones. Graeters has the best ice cream cones. They have a chocolate dipped pretzel cone. I had peanut butter chip ice cream in a chocolate dipped pretzel cone. That's happiness right there. Sarah had difficulty with her cone since she doesn't eat it fast enough and ended up covered in black raspberry ice cream. Jenna had a blue face from her cotton candy ice cream and Matthew just walked around Graeters and played with the water faucets. 

Erik has become suzy homemaker and is making soap. He used bacon fat and lye to make soap for us. Now we can smell like bacon! The soap turned out great and I'm excited he is experimenting like this.

Erik's soap!

 I am also experimenting. Our house is like one big chemistry lab! I love to make bread and have always wanted to make sourdough. However it requires a starter which must sit for 2-10 days. I made two types of starters. A plain sourdough starter and a sour cream starter. I found a recipe for German beer starter that uses rye flour. I think Erik will like this one but I'm going to try these first two and see how it goes.

Two sourdough starters

Don't ask

Books I am reading:

1. We are in the middle of Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson in our book club. This is the last book in the Mistborn trilogy. I love these books and am glad we are reading them. Brandon Sanderson is a writing machine!
2. A Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond Feist is the last book in the riftwar saga. It's amazing how this series has progressed. Just like the protagonist each book gets more complex and interesting. I really like this series.
3. No Longer a Slum Dog by K.P.Yohannan. Our church is having a speaker from Gospel For Asia coming this Sunday. This is a book written by one of the missionaries and it is powerful. It has stories that melt your heart. 

This semester I have had little time to read so I'm going through my books slowly. I'll be submitting a paper to a conference shortly and once that is finished along with this semester's classes, I'll have more free time. 

Erik said I eat too much nutella so I decided to give up both nutella and coffee for Lent. Lent started on Wednesday so no nutella or coffee for me until Easter. Maybe I'll have nutella flavored coffee on Easter?

77 points on quiddler today.

RMD and nunchuck skills

We started our small group again this year and changed the schedule to the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays. This will be a better schedule as every week was becoming too busy for us. To kick off this year we served dinner at Ronald McDonald house. It was a fun service project and I took a few pictures after we served.  Of course it is difficult to get everyone in a picture since someone has to take the picture. After several attempts at photoshopping Candi in the picture I came up with the third picture below. Apparently I need some work on photoshopping. I feel like I'm doing everything right but I just don't have the skills. Maybe I have nunchuck skills but not photoshopping skills.

Jenn, Lynn, Callie, Me, Maddie, and MaryClaire with Candi taking the picture

And now with Candi

My attempt at photoshopping Candi in the picture

I came home from Ronald McDonald house to find Matthew rocking to Mary had a little lamb. He loves the keyboard and is always playing it. I could watch that video over and over!

Last week was midterm week and I barely survived my mountain of grading. This upcoming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. I love lent - a time of sacrifice is always so refreshing to me. I am trying to decide between giving up coffee or nutella. I drink coffee about twice a week but eat nutella quite a bit. I have been making peanut butter and nutella sandwiches for dinner when I teach. Who needs pb&j when you can have pb&n? So I'll have to decide by Wednesday.

76 points on Quiddler today