Photography

I usually get pictures done at Target for the kids however the copyright always bothers us.  We pay them to take pictures of us but yet we don't get to keep the pictures.  So we went to DaleLynn Photography to get pictures taken of the kids.  Here are some of the pics that she took - it was an awesome experience.  And we got the copyright so we can make as many prints as we want - yipee!

Right now I'm on a little hiatus since it is finals week and I've been spending all my free time grading and working on next session.  I'll have a Friday night class next session - bummer.  I'll also be teaching 5 classes (2 online) which is quite a lot for me.  Hopefully I'll survive. The good thing is that this is my last session before my break.

Yea....that's right....

8 weeks off!! No work!

Books I'm reading:

• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.  This book is for our Coo* book club and I love it.  The writing is good and I'm drawn in by the story.
• The Born Queen by Greg Keyes. This is the last book in a 4 book series.  I have about 75 pages to go and the main character was just killed.  I'm not sure if this is a red wedding kind of thing like Martin or if she is not really dead.  Either way - this book is great and I can't wait to finish it.
• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark.  This book combines two things I love: magic and Jane Austen's England. The tone of the writing and much about the writing is exactly like Pride and Prejudice (I daresay!).  I love it!  Plus it has magic.  Lots of neat magic.  There is also something in the undertone of Jane Austen and Susanna Clark's writing that is whimsical I daresay.  There are many places I laugh although in our day it wouldn't seem like a joke!
• Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst (I think).  This book started out great but I'm not enjoying it so much. The book is about replacing a food addiction with an addiction to God.  However the author doesn't eat sugar, bread, pasta, etc.  To me that sounds like she still has a food addiction.  Unless you are turly free to eat whatever you want and worship God - then you are still a food addict (imo).
• I'm probably reading 10 other books but can't remember them now. Isn't that sad :)

78 points on Quiddler today!

You love me

Happy Valentines Day!
For Valentines Day I wrote a poem to my love, my God.  I am not a poet and writer like my brother-in-law and friend so don't be too critical of me.

You Love Me

You created me, fashioning me in your image

You spoke to me, filling my heart with your beauty

You corrected me, guiding me when I failed you

You answered me, teaching me your ways are not mine

You rescued me, pulling me up from the sea of my depression

You caught me, dragging me down from my lofty pride

You died for me, cleansing me from sin's stain

You saved me, returning from the grave with new life

You changed me, purifying me with your fire

You love me, pursuing me with your unceasing love

void bringer()

I was inspired from reading Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings to write a little C++ program. If you have a C++ compiler handy (doesn't everyone??) feel free to run the code. No it is not spectacular but I wanted to do something fun! By the way - my code does have spoilers!

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

void bringer(void);

void main (void ){

//The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - loved it!
//Reading about the void bringers I just had to create a function void bringer().

cout << "What are the void bringers? "<<endl;
bringer();
cout << "\n\nThank you for playing!"<<endl;

}

void bringer(){
char option = 'x'; //x is my default
//keep looping until the user chooses a valid option
do {
cout<< "\n(K)aladin"
<< "\n(S)hallan"
<< "\n(D)alinar"
<< "\n(P)arshendi\n"
<< "Choose one:";
cin >> option;

switch (option) {
case 'K': case 'k':
cout<< "\nI will protect those who cannot protect themselves. Not a voidbringer. Try again";
//I loved this part in the book. Chapter 67. Oh my. It might be my
//favorite chapter in any book.
break;

case 'S': case 's':
cout<<"\nI'm a murderer. I killed my father. Not a voidbringer. Try again";
//We thought she might have killed him and took his shardblade
break;

case 'D': case 'd':
cout<< "\nWhat is a man's life worth? Not a voidbringer. Try again";
//Wow this chapter made me love Dalinar!
break;

case 'P': case 'p':
cout<< "\nRight on!";
//I didn't see this one coming
break;

default: cout << "\nPlease try again :)\n";

}
} while ((option != 'p')&&(option !='P'));

}

Bathtime for my Ducklings

I have stopped chewing ice. I knew it had to come to this. I got my crown on Tuesday the result of endless ice chewing and now I am giving up ice entirely.

Yes.

I am just drinking mildly cold water sans ice to prevent another broken tooth incident. We'll see how long I last.

Matthew is now taking baths in the big bathtub. Sometimes his sisters want to join him. He loves them. Just loves them! He is happy as long as he can watch whatever they are doing. He also loves bathtime.

Valentines day is Monday and my exciting idea for Valentines was not met with excitement by my husband. I wanted to do two iron chefs. He would go get a secret ingredient for me and I would get one for him. I thought it would be fun. Of course I'm teaching Monday night so it would have to be a different day. He didn't sound really excited about it though.

Erik gets me roses every Valentines Day. In fact, he has gotten me roses every Valentines day since 1994. So I'm looking forward to roses and chocolate (can't forget the chocolate).

I also posted a picture of the four batches of peanut butter cup cookies I made. These are a chocolate peanut butter lovers dream. I made them for our ladies spa night at church and for the guys board gaming night Erik is having. And I ate so much dough that I only ate cottage cheese for dinner because I wasn't hungry. Not good.

84 points on Quiddler today.

Matthew's friends

Matthew has friends, lots of friends. Here is a picture of Matthew and Tyson. Tyson is 2 1/2 months younger and someday they will be friends (as long as Matthew doesn't squish him!).

Matthew also has a lot of lady friends. Here he is in a playpen with three little girls. You can see what he's thinking....

On a different topic - I have been learning so much since reading What the Bible is All About by Henrietta Mears. I know I've talked about this before, but I'm really enjoying this. While I've read through the Bible a few times, I have not connected the Bible as one big story before. Mears describes the central theme of the Bible as redemption.

She also ties in all the books together to illustrate Jesus our Savior throughout the entire Bible.
Just a few examples: Exodus shows Jesus as the Passover Lamb, Judges shows Jesus as our deliverer judge, Ruth shows Jesus as our kinsman redeemer, Esther shows Jesus as our advocate, 1&2Kings show Jesus as our king...

The list goes on.

While all of this may be obvious to everyone else but me - I like it spelled out (I might be slow). I'm enjoying seeing Jesus in the entire Bible. Now I need to translate that and share Jesus with everyone else.

On another absolutely different topic. Really this is absolutely different.

I confessed to Erik a hobby that I would love to take up. He thinks I'm crazy. Yes crazy! I would love to be a bird watcher. I even picked up a book at the library about it. There are so many beautiful birds in our backyard and I'd love to learn their songs. I'd also like to catalog some of the different birds I see when we go camping. Someday we will go camping all around the US but we have small children so that isn't happening now. Then my glorious dreams of seeing birds can come true.

By the way- if you were wondering how my body wrap went, it was not a success. One of the women lost 3" in her waist and another lost 6". Sometimes it happens that after a body wrap you will gain inches. Yes - that was me. I gained an inch. Erik didn't understand why I paid them $20 to make me fatter. Such is life...

60 points on Quiddler today.

Kids!

It seems like birthdays have been going on for 2 months. Jenna had her birthday party with friends at Chuck E Cheese. The kids had a great time, but....

Kids....


Kids....


Kids!!!


Chuck E Cheese was wall-to-wall kids. There were 6 birthday parties going on at the same time Jenna's was. It was mass chaos, confusion, clutter, and craziness. Sarah wants her party at Chuck E Cheese next but I don't know. That was a lot of kids!






In other news:

1. We have been home bound for 3 days. The huge ice storm that hit (while I was driving home from work at 11pm) lasted for several days. Jenna's school was called off as well as my evening class. So we stayed home. I made homemade pad thai (something I've been wanting to try), chocolate mousse, challah bread, pork chops in a vidalia onion wine sauce, and pork roast. Yes - over 3 days. If the weather does not get better soon I will gain weight.
2. Speaking of gaining weight, my neighbor is hosting a body wrap party. I am getting my body wrapped on Saturday which is supposed to help me lose inches from my waist. Sounds like a scam temporary fix to me but I will support my neighbor. Can't take off years of chocolate with some saran wrap honey!
3. We are on chapter 67 in the Way of Kings. I can not wait. I CAN NOT wait to finish this book. This is pure torture waiting. I will survive though.
4. I just started reading Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst. It is a book about replacing food in our lives with God. Then I won't need to wrap myself in saran wrap.
5. I'm reading lots of other books now too. I can't seem to read just one book at a time.
6. I asked Erik to make me a chocolate lava cake and he did - what an awesome husband!
7. 73 points on Quiddler today

Princess on Ice

The girls had a fabulous time at Disney Princess on Ice! The tickets were expensive ($30 apiece!) and I wasn't expecting a great show but I was surprised. The show was really good and almost 2 hours! My camera didn't do it justice but you can somewhat see the stage with the huge castle and Cinderella and her prince ice skating. The show was great! The girls dressed up too. In the picture is Sarah, Jenna, Kate, and Paige. They had a wonderful time!


We will certainly want to go next year.

Maybe Matthew will come too. He is getting so big! At his last appointment he weighed in at 21lbs 6oz. Sarah weighs 28 lbs. She's 3. He is 7 months old and a porker! Here is a video of him enjoying the jumperoo (listen closely you can hear it groan under his massive girth).



My attempt to potty train Sarah by just putting her in underwear and "seeing what happened" failed miserably. For a few days I tried this. I think we are back to square one. Potty training is pretty terrible. Jenna maintains that Sarah isn't ready and I should stop forcing her to potty train. Why does my 6 year old have more wisdom than I do?

72 points on Quiddler today and I got to make the word "raiding".

Birthdays!

On Thursday Jenna celebrated her 6 year birthday while Matthew celebrated his 7 month birthday. It was a big day at our house!

Jenna requested a purple cake with purple frosting (shown in picture) and we celebrated with blueberry pancakes.

I took the obligatory picture of Matthew with his stuffed animal to show his growth (there is much growth!). He is soooo big and sooo happy. He is my joy.

The girls absolutely love him. Although he is not getting in their toys yet. Matthew loves to eat (shouldn't it be obvious?) and I snapped some videos of the girls helping to feed him. Here is Jenna and here is Sarah feeding Maffawu.

We met my parents, sisters, and Erik's parents at Ruby Tuesdays in Cambridge to celebrate Jenna's birthday and Dad Cooper's birthday. It was a great time and the kids did really well. Plus Ruby Tuesdays is yummy. That crab cake I had there was amazing! Crab cakes = yum!

39 points on Quiddler today!

My Ways, His Ways

I will post soon about Jenna's birthday and Matthew's 7 month birthday on Thursday. However I wanted to write about how God spoke to me. I'm reading this book called What the Bible is About in tandem while I read the Bible. It is an excellent summary and helping me understand several parts of the Bible I was cloudy on before. In fact, I've fallen in love with Samuel! What an amazing prayer warrior.

Something that has always tripped me up are verses like this " ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” ~1Samuel 15:2-3.

Why?

Why put to death infants?

I know God cares about babies, especially very early in pregnancy. So why order the death of these babies. It has always been a sticky point with me and caused me problems.

While I was praying about this issue last night, the verse "my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts" (paraphrased Isaiah 55:8) came to my mind. I believe God answered my prayer and spoke those words to me. I am not going to know the "why" in this life but God has his ways. They are far above my ways. Praise God for speaking to me about this!

Iron Chef: Sugar!

Sugar and spice and everything nice! That's what this Iron Chef was.


It's been a long time but we finally did Iron Chef again. I was so happy and Erik was so happy that I finally stopped bugging him to do it. I just love iron chef!


Anyway - SUGAR! Wow - can it get ANY better??? That was my secret ingredient. YUM!


I made 5 dishes

1. Sweet Sushi - ever since we made sushi over New Years when everyone was here, I've been a little obsessed with sushi. In fact, Erik made taco sushi the other day (no joke). Anyway, I made sweet sushi with extra sugar, cream cheese, and chocolate ships all wrapped in seaweed. It actually worked.


2. Cinnamon baked alaska - I made a sugar cookie base and topped it with cinnamon meringue. Yum! This dish was good but it needed some caramel or something else. I've also been obsessed with baked alaska. I made it for Tim and Jen a few months ago with a brownie base, but it was not successful since the brownies were way too hard. Maybe a sugar cookie base would be better.


3. Sweet pasta salad - this was Erik's favorite dish. I made pasta with a browned butter sauce then mixed in berries and citrus (including grapefruit which I do not like, but I added it to balance the overwhelming sweetness). This dish worked very well.


4. French silk creme brulee - I've made creme brulee many times. I'm not sure why I decided that in a rushed hour I was going to make creme brulee. I know you have to let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 8 hrs to set up. We do not have a blast chiller (I should put it on my wish list!) so unfortunately my creme brulee did not set up. However the flavor in this was excellent! It was better than my recipe for chocolate creme brulee however since I heavily modified the recipe for this iron chef I'll probably never be able to duplicate it!
5. Blackberry lime tart - ooooh yea! This was great! I made a sugar cookie base topped with a lime flavored cream cheese layer with freshly grated lime peel and topped that with fresh blackberries. The blackberry lime combination was so good! I'll have to remember it. I gave this dish a 9 for taste!

Overall this was a really fun iron chef even though I did have trouble with a main dish (yes I did make pasta). Erik and I rated the dishes the same at 15.2. This is a pretty average rating (apples were the highest rated iron chef and prego sauce the lowest basically due to the prego salmon - yuck!).

81 points on Quiddler today!

On My Honor!

Jenna is now a Daisy Scout. She had her Daisy scout investiture ceremony last Monday. Unfortunately I was teaching and unable to be there. However it went well and Jenna even remembered the girl scout promise and the make new friends song.

In addition, Jenna has lost her two front teeth. She is so adorable! It hasn't caused her problems when speaking. However the morning after she lost her other front tooth, the tooth fairy forgot to put money under her pillow. Luckily a potential disaster was diverted when the tooth fairy ran downstairs and pulled some candy out of the candy box as Jenna was eating breakfast. The tooth fairy was running a little late that day.

Right now I'm teaching C++ and loving it! I haven't taught programming in over a year. (I didn't teach for 3 months after having Matthew so I might be a little rusty). Normally I teach database programming or ASP.NET or VB.NET. C++ is very different yet so much fun to teach.

In other news, today as we were going to make pasta for lunch Erik noticed lots of white things in the pasta. OMG! Bugs!

I am not eating buggy pasta! We discovered 10 boxes of pasta (yes we have a lot of food stores) with little bugs in them. Apparently they are wheat weevils. That was nasty. Then the girls wouldn't even eat the non-buggy pasta. Maybe we should stick to pb&j.

I've already broken most of my New Years Resolutions and it isn't even February. I may have gone to bed only three or four times prior to 12:34am and we're already 15 days into January. I haven't been doing my Bible reading plan. I also have not exercised 3 times a week. This will greatly hinder my ultimate goal of losing my baby weight and getting back down to <=123 pounds. I'm just weird about numbers.

Anyway, maybe I should make New New years resolutions!

43 on Quiddler today!

The New Year!

Christmas and New Years was spectacular! We had 8 adults and 3 children crammed in our house for 4 days and loved it. We did a whole lot of gaming (awesome), went shopping, went to Caribou coffee, got to see Jon and Michelle (also awesome), made sushi, and had a merry time together.




Te celebrate our love for Harry Potter, I got invisibility cloaks for the brothers and their wives(I've stopped thinking of them as Erik's brothers)

and have included a *video* of the cloaks working. You will be amazed! You will also notice that I've even left the cat and various papers, etc in place just to show the authenticity (and I didn't feel like photoshopping them out).

So I'm not done with lists. (oh no... not again!)Here are my New Years Resolutions:

1. Send birthday cards to my family on time. I'm really bad about this. Really bad.
2. Finish my 100 day Bible reading plan. It is not the whole Bible but it is a good plan (it skips a lot of the begets).
3. Go to bed <= 12:34am.
4. Exercise 3 times a week.

I couldn't do more resolutions since I would break them immediately. These are my goals for the whole year. Hopefully I will stick with them.

Books I've recently read/am reading:

1. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson. Wow! I love Mat in this book and so many good things happen. This book focuses more on the good characters rather than the forsaken (and I care more about the good characters). David had mentioned that he thought Mat had gotten stale - I agree about this, but Mat was hilarious in this book!
2. The Revival of Song by Jon C. Cook. This is an awesome book by my awesome friend. I can't give too much away but this will be a great series. I'm looking forward to the next book.
3. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. This book is the third in the Inheritance series. While I like this book, there are several parts that he could have left out that did not affect the plot(to make the story shorter). He writes like Robert Jordan in that he puts a lot of detail into everything. I don't mind that much though - just takes longer to read.
4. What the Bible is all About by Henrietta Mears. This book takes each section of the Bible and gives a summary. It also summarizes parts of the Bible in short little easily memorizable sections. For example, she says the Bible is about: Generation (creation of the world), Degeneration (sin enters the world), Regeneration (Jesus comes to restore God's kingdom). There are a lot of cute little things like that in the book.
5. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. This book is getting very good and I'm so glad to be reading this with our Cooper Book club!

58 points today - atrocious!

The Prodigal Son- Win!

Christmas is magical for my girls. I love the anticipation, the excitement, and the joy they display when seeing the gifts Christmas morning. Of course opening gifts is also fun. They tend to love the cheap dollar store gifts as much as the expensive gifts. Matthew is just content looking at his hands.

I've included a picture of Erik's dad's train setup. It is multilevel and very cool. The girls get so excited they jump up and down when he runs the train. Sarah continually asks to see it, and Jenna likes to climb underneath the tables. Again, Matthew is more interested in eating his hands.

Because I love lists and this is the time we remember the birth of our Savior. I have composed a list of my top 10 favorite parables of Jesus.

1. The Prodigal Son. Luke 15:11-32. This is an amazing story. It really shows God's forgiveness. The song "When God Ran" by Benny Hester makes me cry every time I hear it.
2. The Persistent Widow. Luke 18:1-8. It tells me "keep praying." There are many things I've been praying for that I'm not sure will ever happen (ie, the end of abortion). But God says be persistent. So I will. Note: Erik empathizes with the judge in this one due to having a 3 and 6 year old (yes...you can have another snack just leave me alone).
3. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Luke 18:9-14. Pride can happen to anyone but a humble heart is what God desires. It is so easy to become prideful - we must constantly guard ourselves against it. (For those who read the Way of Kings - we need some humblespren).
4. The Good Samaritan. Luke 10:29-37. Not only is this a good story to show who is your neighbor, but it is a story telling us we should help those in need. Whether their car is broken on the side of the road or they are stranded somewhere. We can offer help.
5. The Lost Sheep. Matthew 18:10-14. This story is similar to the Prodigal Son in that it shows how much God cares for each of us. He is willing to go and find the lost sheep. He is the great shepherd.
6. The Sower. Matthew 13:1-23. Your heart must be open to hearing the Word when it is presented to you so that it can take root and flourish in your heart. Sometimes I think I need miracle grow.
7. Laborers in the Vineyard. Matthew 20:1-16. The laborers all receive the same salary even though some worked longer than others. This is good news for all of us - we are still valued by God even though we are not salting it up like Billy Graham.
8. Pearl of Great Price. Matthew 13:45-46. This parable is about the kingdom of Heaven. The pearl is worth far more than everything you own. Maybe you also need a bucket to carry the pearl. Hey I have one!
9. The Invited Guests. Luke 14:7-24. In this parable, Jesus tells his disciples to sit at a less honored spot when attending a dinner rather than taking the best place for themselves. Another parable about humility.
10. The Speck and the Log. Luke 6:37-42. This parable blasts all the hypocrites for their hypocrisy. I know I would be in that category too.

That's my list. Erik was dismayed to find that the parable of the Ten Talents was not on the list but I've never liked that one as much as other parables.

In a few days the brothers and their wives and Erik's parents will be here. I can't wait! Gaming and family and food! Mostly gaming!

45 points on Quiddler. I got stuck with the V and D!

McDonalds FTW!

Matthew is 6 months old. We took the obligatory baby/horse picture so you could notice his growth. He is HUGE! The outfit he is wearing is a 12 month outfit. The arms and legs are a little long but it is tight when snapping his onesie.

I also took some pictures of the girls in ballet. I'm amazed at the disparity between the classes. Sarah's class is doing basic jumps whereas Jenna's class does all these French-named moves (obviously Mommy doesn't know all the ballet words).

Erik and I have gone on an adventure the past two weeks. It has been a tough adventure - taste testing caramel mochas. We have gone to several places and bought a medium caramel mocha and rated them. Then we calculated the quality/price ratio to see which medium caramel mocha was the best. You will be surprised by the results (assuming you actually care).

McDonalds has the best taste/price ratio in both Erik and my opinion. What we were most surprised about is how good Caribou coffee is and how not good Tim Hortons was.

So now we have proof that if a cup of coffee is what you want McDonalds has the best deal in town.

I had been in the mood to do a taste test but all my ideas were shot down by Erik (really, what is wrong with getting a bunch of different apples and trying them to see which one is the best??)

81 points on Quiddler today.

My sheep and my angel

Unless you are ready for some SERIOUS cute do not click on this link: Christmas play featuring Sarah. Here is another one featuring Jenna. In this Christmas play Jenna was an angel and Sarah was a sheep. You will notice in the first video the only little kid dancing around and bouncing was Sarah. I laughed out loud! Jenna is way in the corner where it is a little dark. But you can see her singing in the second video.

Every year we make a gingerbread house together. This year we had a fun time and made a big mess which = fun time. See picture. Matthew should participate next year :).

With Christmas approaching I obviously was thinking of my favorite spices/herbs. I didn't include salt or pepper as a spice but looking back - maybe they should be.

1. Basil. Need I say more. I love all types of basil and think I should add it to every dish.... pasta, cheesecake, chocolate chip cookies - anything
2. Cinnamon. There's something about cinnamon and sugar together that brings you back home.
3. Garlic. I'm not sure if it counts as a spice but pair it with basil and some parmesan cheese and I'm in heaven
4. Rosemary. Rosemary foccacia bread - really is there anything better?
5. Cayenne pepper. I put this on my pasta. It add just the right amount of kick to relatively bland pasta.
6. Nutmeg. Nothing is the same without nutmeg and you only need a little for it to spice up any recipe.
7. Cilantro. I've made salsa with and without cilantro. Cilantro makes salsa yum!
8. Mint. Fresh mint really enhances about any dish - it's not just for dessert.
9. Dill. I just finished making shallot dill bread. It was so good.
10. Oregano. Pair this with basil and you've got a fabulous combination. Definitely a winner!

80 points on quiddler today!

Party on Sarah!

Sarah's birthday party at Recreations Outlet was a success. Several kids came to the party (along with a surprising number of Daddies!) and the kids enjoyed playing on all the equipment. Sarah loves trampolines and here is an action shot of her jumping on one. She also had fun pushing Emmerich and Grant in the tire swing. Yes all 27 lbs of her - pushing the other two kids!

Matthew has been sick. Early November we took him to the ped for wheezing and he had a breathing treatment and was given amoxicillin. On Tuesday of this week I took him back because he was wheezing. He was given two breathing treatments. These take 20 minutes. So I was crammed in this little room with 3 kids for 2 hrs. AAAAAH!

I eventually had to leave before they gave him the third breathing treatment (had to teach) but I was sent home with a prescription for albuterol. Yesterday I went to the ped and he had two ear infections. The ped said if he comes back with wheezing he will be diagnosed with asthma. My poor little guy.

I'm worried about him although I'm not sure if Erik is worried. For example, I called Erik on the way home from teaching the other night. Erik said as he was holding Matthew and he got worried. I immediately thought, "oh no - he was breathing ragged, wheezing, coughing, what happened??!!??". Erik finished his sentence to say he heard rumbling down below and thought he'd have to change a really nasty diaper. Really?? The baby is wheezing and you care about diapers? Oh my!

In other news:

1. I finished the Conqueror's trilogy by Timothy Zahn. This was a fun sci-fi trilogy. The story is easy to read, not bloody or graphic and you began to care about the characters - even the aliens :).
2. I am in the fourth book of the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone by Greg Keyes. I love this series and can't wait to find out how it comes together.
3. I am also reading Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. This book is something I've picked up numerous times but haven't finished. It starts out very bloody and the main character (Eragon) is a little whiney. However I do want to read it.
4. Besides reading we are also baking. I love holiday eating! The girls and I have been baking. Although when they bake mostly they eat the ingredients - yes they eat plain butter!
5. Erik bought me a new computer for Christmas. It is a wonderful gift - much better than the bucket I got him. However I have not copied over my data yet. In fact, I was looking at my data. I never copied it over from my previous computer. I just set up a mapped drive. Wow - that's laziness to the max. So rather than copying over all my data this time, I set up a mapped drive to my computer with its other mapped drive. I wonder how many times I'll do this.
6. 63 points on quiddler today - I lost the o and v.
   
   

Sock Money

Often I berate myself over stupid things I've said or done in the past. In fact, I go over these situations in my mind quite frequently. I'm not sure why I torture myself this way - you'd think I could let it go.

For example, in high school I was a nerd. Plain and simple. Glasses + braces + marching band + top academic student + spent nights reading sci-fi = nerd. Even so, I still wanted to impress the seniors especially the senior trombone player in marching band.

Well he was collecting money to give a gift to our band director. As he was collecting money I realized the only money I had was the money in my sock.

Let me explain something. Marching band uniforms are not absolutely flattering nor do they have a lot of pockets. So the only place I was able to store extra emergency money was my sock.

Oh yea....sexy!

Well without thinking, I flagged down the senior trombone player to give him my money for the band director and reached into my sock to pull it out for him. I handed him my yucky sock money and watched in horror as he gingerly held it with a look of disgust and said "umm...thanks?".

Oops.

53 points - terrible!

Gift Fail

So I'm officially the worst wife in the world.

I had planned on getting Erik the Google tablet for Christmas. However all of the reviews I read said that the cheaper ones (the ones I was considering) didn't work well. I thought I'd wait a few years to get him a good one.

Next I thought about getting Erik a nice sword. He likes swords, knives and other sharp implements. I found a replica of one of Drizzt's scimitars but it was a little expensive. I was looking for a replica of the sword of truth since we just read that book(or even a shardblade!) but couldn't find one reasonably priced.

So I bought him a bucket.

Booyah!

I found it on Amazon listed under "gifts men would like". After it came in the mail I realized that I bought him a bucket. Epic fail.

Today my present came in the mail. The box said "ibuypower". Yes. Erik bought me a new computer! It is a dual core 64bit Windows 7 awesome to the max computer.

And I bought him a bucket.

I'll trade my good wife card in now!

Edit:
Happy to oblige Jon!

Thanksgiving foods

Matthew turned 5 months old Nov.20. So I had to snap the obligatory stuffed animal picture. He is starting to grab toys and play with rattles now. He's so adorable! The girls now (especially Sarah) shove toys in his hands for him to play with. Play with this...play...PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Matthew.

Thanksgiving is coming up on Thursday and since it has been awhile since I've posted a top ten list, I've decided to write my top ten favorite Thanksgiving foods that we have at my parents house.

1. Sweet potato casserole - courtesy of Amanda - yum!

2. Rigatoni and meatballs - yes this is Thanksgiving food!!

3. Wedding soup - again, a staple at our house for Thanksgiving

4. hoho cake - duh

5. Stuffing - the only time of year I eat it

6. Turkey - surprisingly the side dishes beat the main event for me!

7. Rolls - my mom buys yummy rolls and I slather them with butter

8. Cranberry sauce - I am one of those people who does like the cranberry sauce in a can that you dump out and it is still in that shape

9. Mushrooms - my Mom has been sauteeing mushrooms for Thanksgiving. I just love them!

10. Salad - why is this on the list beating pumpkin pie? I like the salad and the dressing my parents have!

So that's my list. What is on your list?

I got -10 points today on Quiddler. I was left with QKDGZNR. There are NO words that can be made with that!

Yummy Oatmeal!

Matthew squeaks. We have come to this realization. Here is a video of him squeaking. In fact, he squeaks most of the time rather than crying. Erik thinks I might have spliced some pig DNA into him (he is rather chunky) but I assured him that no, Matthew's DNA came from us (whether or not that is a good thing....)

We fed Matthew his first taste of solid food.

Here is a picture of Matthew trying his first bite of oatmeal.















And that's what he thought of it:

















Tears. Screaming. Not quite so successful but we'll keep trying.

In other news:

1. Erik and I have decided to start P90X. This is a workout program in which you workout every day. Ummm....okay. We have 3 kids and I'm teaching 5 classes. We are trying but it isn't happening every day. Plus I like to shake it at my hip hop class.
2. Erik and I are really enjoying the Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
3. Jenna has been writing sentences like crazy. Just a few months of school has been amazing for her. She wrote "the prisess wor a long slevdress". She sounded it out herself and was able to determine the letters based on the sounds. I couldn't believe she did that. It was incredible! School has been great for her.
4. Jenis Ice Cream now has a location down the road from us. This will cancel out our P90x workouts.
5. I also have to post this video of Sarah and Matthew "talking". At least they get along!
6. 75 points on Quiddler today. I didn't realize SER was a word!