table for four, please

a post about....everything....

2011-11-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

Lots of things have been happening around here. Above are pictures we took of us going up with Granna and Papa to Yosemite for the day.

Below are some pictures of us carving pumpkins and enjoying 2 different Halloween festivals.

Below we have some pictures of Austyn's 2nd birthday. Can you believe he is going to be 2 already!?! My baby is growing up. We had some of our friends over to the house and had a little birthday party for him.

I feel like lots have been going on around here. There is so much to update. But not quite sure where to start. Last time I updated it was 90-degrees and still felt like summer. Now we have already gone through our 2 weeks of wonderful 70 to 80 degree weather and have hit fall. It's now cold with an average high of 50 -degrees. We are approaching living here in fresno for almost a year. And in case you were wondering, yes, we still love it here. And we love being home owners.

I decided after Penelope had another bout with her stomach trouble to have her checked out. I have a co-worker who has a gluten allergy and when I was describing Penelope's symptoms she was having a lot of the same symptoms. After talking to her Pediatrician and then going to see a specialist we got her tested for gluten allergy and we are tring to get stool samples to check many other things. The gluten allergy came back negative. Her stool samples are hard to get. (You can stop reading if this is TMI for you and skip to the next paragraph.) They gave me a little container that would catch any droppings. For whatever, reason she is scared of it. I begged, and bargained, and tried talking her through it. She sat on it to go pee a couple of times. She even sat on it while she watched a movie on the portable DVD player. And still nothing. Someone had the idea of putting saran wrap on the toilet and she wouldn't notice. Let's just say it didn't work. She noticed and there was a big mess. Then we drained the toilet several times in an attempt to "cetch it". In about 2-3 weeks of it, we caught 1. ONE! Ugh. I was hoping once she saw that was all she had to do the other samples (we need a total of 3) would come easily. But nope. I called the doctor, she doesn't have any other options or ideas. Just keep trying. Can't move forward until we have the samples. So we are hoping, praying, that we can get on with it already.

Russell took the kids to the zoo with some friends. And Penelope was climbing on something she wasn't suppose to and fell back and hit her head really hard. I ended up meeting Russell at the Children's hospital and a great friend picked up Austyn for us. She had a "mild" concussion according to the ER doctor. Looking back I don't really know what was mild about it. She had a horrible headache, nausea and vomiting. Through the night we had to wake her up every 2 hours to make sure she was ok. Being a nurse I know the reasons why we do things. What I am really looking for is if she is having a small brain bleed. What really happend to her is that she hit her head so hard that her brain actually bouced around in her skull and caused small microscopic connections between her nerves to tear. It was awfull for me. And probably something as she gets bigger that she has a small memory of but will eventually be no big deal. She of course recuperated fine.

We are going to vacation soon. yay! Can't wait. More details of that when we get back.

Clovis farmer market

2011-09-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

a picture after we cut Austyn's hair this morning. He held still just fine during the hair cut, but not so well after when we were trying to get his picture.

Below are picutres of the Clovis farmer's market on friday. I really enjoy going. And the kids have a blast.

preschool and water skiing, but not together...

2011-09-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

Finshing up our vacation we met my parents at Millerton Lake and went out on their boat. We ventured around the lake and went water skiing (something I haven't done in the longest time). My mom and I were able to get up and ski. Russ tried once but with his slightly injured ankle from earlier he decided not to push himself. Maybe next time.

my mom skiing

Russ right before we took off....the other pic wasn't much more than some water crashing. LOL

me skiing

Penelope driving the boat with Grandpapa

As for most people, come September, life has started as usual. Penelope has continued in Preschool. Her backpack zipper already broke, got to go back and buy her a new one. That's what I get for buying her a new one when she had been using a hand-me-down one just fine before hand. LOL. She is in a new class and happens to be in class with one of our friends from church, Declan. You can see him in the pictures below.

Penelope at her cubby hole
Penelope and Declan right outside ready to start a learnin'

walking among giants

2011-08-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

The family and I just got back from a wonderful vacation camping at the sequoia national forest. It was so wonderful, breath taking, great! We all LOVED it! Here are some of the pictures. It was so wonderful I want to go again and again.

the camp site

Russ making breakfast. Here we had french toast and eggs. YUM

on one of the shuttles that take you around the park.

we got a chance to see a couple of deer during our trip here. This one was at least holding still long enough for me to be able to snap a picture.

I believe the giant sequoia in the back is Sherman.

This hollowed out entrance is out of a fallen sequoia tree.

A picture of a the group we went on a tour with. Kind of gives an idea of how BIG these trees are.

Here the roots are exposed on one of trees that had fallen down. Penelope, Kayle, and Nathan.

the ranger who gave us a nature walk.

a sequoia seed.

this was our only real sighting of a bear. We were on one of the shuttles heading back to camp from an excursion out with the kids and at one of the stops spotted a mother bear with her 2 cubs. This to me was the perfect scenerio: behind steal and glass. LOL. We did hear our campers next to us saw a bear one night. I am glad to be back home where I don't have to worry about it.

Below are pictures of us at the camp site.

dirty boy

Here are pictures of Hume lake. It was a piece of heaven for Russ and I. We could have stayed there all day long. Ahhhhh.....

Below are pictures of Beetle rock.

okay. I could go on forever with the amont of photos I took. But I only showed you the good ones. LOL.

here I am

2011-07-30T23:56:00.000-07:00

Well it has defiantly been a while since I have posted. My life is slowly coming back together since the escrow, move, Penelope's birthday, our anniversary. We are settling into our new house. Pictures to come. The only rooms left to be painted are the bathrooms. I got a new light fixture for one and new towel racks that need to go in. So I can paint one of them. We also got a ceiling fan for our bedroom that we need to install. It seems like we don't get as much done as we try to squeeze into one day. Plus we are kinda of beat from everything we have done already. After a long day of work, honestly, I just want to take it easy. There are many more things we would love to do to the house. We are still waiting for our kitchen table to arrive. We put our old one in the dinning room and are eating most of our meals at that one. We also ordered Penelope's dresser. And there are several blank walls that I just haven't found pictures for. But I'm not rushing it. If I have to look at the picture I want to want to look at it. LOL. Overall, it is such a beautiful house and I feel blessed beyond measure.

We gave Lucy, our beloved dog, back to the no-kill shelter today. We were all very upset about it but we all knew it was what needed to happen. We will see how Penelope does with missing a pet. We might get a small animal like a gold fish or something. But for right now we are trying to just be a family.

For Penelope's birthday we had a small get together at our new house (had just moved in the weekend before). We invited a couple of friends over and Granna and Papa joined us. Penelope smiled the whole time so it was successful. Russ and I were able to slip away the following weekend for an anniversary date. We went to Fleming's for the first time. It was delicious! And then we saw a theatrical show at Second Space Theater. We saw 'Skin Deep'. It was hilarious and a wonderful date! We need to have those more often.

I'll have to go around and take pictures. I'll add it to my to-do list. LOL.

23

2011-05-23T23:24:00.000-07:00

My computer battery crashed without warning so I wont be able to finish my blogopic. Not that I was really good at it anyways. In bigger note we put a bid in a wonderful house. We have to wait till possibilly Thursday before we hear anything. But our funds might be redirected away from the computer problems if the house does go through. Keep me in your prayers.

21

2011-05-21T22:27:00.001-07:00

Today at the pool

20

2011-05-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

Um....well I didn't exactly meet my quota. Just skipped a whole week there. But I get an A for effort for coming back on here, right? I've been working a lot and sleeping little for my excuse. Does that get counted, good? And I know these pictures are about a week old too. I have taken other ones but they are with my phone and well, not as good.

We have good news! We met with the broker/ financial adviser and everything seems to be a GO! So we are officially "in the housing market". Keep us in prayer that God will help us find the place He has for us. Who knew that buying a house would have moments of anxiety. The times that I'm feeling calm I think of the song Big House by Audio Adrenaline. We only have the Veggie Tales version, which let me say makes for a very good mood. LOL.

14

2011-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

The view from Sonya and Trav's place (family and good friends). Redondo Beach.

13

2011-05-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday blogger was down so I wasn't able to post anything. We are down in LA and took some pictures today at Disneyland.

11

2011-05-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

pics that Russ took of the kids this morning when we were all running around trying to get ready.

10

2011-05-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

nothin' grand tonight for pictures. Just Russ and I at the end of the day. And of course Lucy. Though she hasn't learned to hold still long enough. She is learning to go potty outside, and to sit. We are working on her learning to "lay down".

Parent-Teacher conference

2011-05-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

At Penelope's preschool she had parent-teacher conference. Here is Penelope's Progress report and a picture I took of Penelope afterward. She was trying to get Lucy in the picture with her but Lucy never held still long enough. FYI Penelope is doing very good in school.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had a good Mother's day. I wanted Russ to cook on the grill, so we had to buy a grill. But other then that Russ planned, went grocery shopping for the food, and cooked a wonderful dinner. (We had thick New York Steaks, baked potato, salad, and Boston cream pie. YUM!) Also Penelope and I went to a nail salon and got our nails done. It was Penelope's first time. Here are pictures I took at the salon. Also there is a picture that Russ and the kids got me and a glass jar that Penelope decorated for me at school. Russ and the kids also got me another willow tree figurine. Overall I had a wonderful time. I hope everyone had a great mother's day. We will be celebrating mother's day with our family next weekend when we come down.

7

2011-05-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well I missed yesterday. Totally forgot to include my camera in my day until too late. Oh well, there is a learning curve, right? Anyways I have enough pictures today to make up for it. : )

We had a fun day playing outside. Later Russ BBQ'd on his new grill. See how pretty and new. And tonight we are watching "Marley and Me" to enjoy our small battles with our little puppy. Let's just say there is a learning curve for everyone. Lucy is not nearly as bad as Marley. We have a good dog.

5

2011-05-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Above are pictures from me giving the kids a bath this morning. Sorry, still no pictures of the doggy. I will get some of Lucy tomorrow. I promise.

4

2011-05-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the family around the breakfast table. We are having fun with the picture taking. Yes, Russ squeezed in a picture of me. But since I'm the blogger and I had bed hair, pj's, and no make-up: I didn't put it up. :)

3

2011-05-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

It's a picture of Russ and I after worship practice yesterday. We were both craving slurpees. Trying to find the 7-11 that carried the crystal light slurpees was difficult and finally when we did find one they weren't ready (not frozen yet). I ended up caving and getting the full sugar slurpee (which I did share with Russ) and Russ got some diet soda.

blogopic

2011-05-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of the kids yesterday after church. Penelope is in love with having a dog. So much so that when we went to the pet store to pick up a couple of things and saw other dogs she was begging me for another one. Ya, not going to happen. One is enough for this family right now.

Lucy isn't house trained yet. We learned that yesterday. But she is a quick learner and we are getting through it. We are starting to teach her tricks too. But of course right now we are starting with the basics. Overall Lucy is really good with the kids and both kids love her.

Russ' best friend

2011-05-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well, we took the plunge. Yesterday we decided to get a pet and after walking around the pet store and then visiting the local dog rescue shelter camping in the store we decided to get a dog. Penelope has been asking for a pet for quite a while. She's asked for a turtle, chameleon, bunny rabbit, fish, and even a pet snail. So after some deliberation our family of 4 is now a family of 5 with our addition of Lucy. Lucy is a catahoula, which is kind of like a hound dog. She will be a medium size dog. Right now she is the size between Austyn and Penelope. She is about 5 months old now. So she will get bigger but not too much (or so I was told). All the kids are very excited about our new addition. Penelope the most, obviously. Russ is completely embracing the idea of having a dog again. And I am looking forward to the running partner. She is going to be a great dog for that.

This I guess is the start of Blogopictionary for the month of May. I plan to take pictures everyday and post them up here for a month. What better way to start then Lucy.

Easter and stuff

2011-04-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

Above are some pictures of our Easter. Aren't the kids cute! We gave them some chocolate they got in the eggs from church to get them to hold still for the pictures. And you can see the mess and the chubby cheeks in some of the photos.

My sister and my mom came up and visited me on for Easter. We had a great time with them. We enjoyed a Easter dinner and Penelope and Cherrella colored some Easter eggs and Cherrella hid them for Penelope to find. (This all happened during Austyn's nap time.) This was Penelope's first time getting the idea of "Easter bunny" introduced by her Aunt. The other Easter egg hunts were purely just grabbing plastic eggs with chocolate inside. While my sister explained Penelope just pretended it was a game of hide and seek and proceeded to start counting...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Oh Cherrella isn't ready yet. She ended up counting with Grandmama up to 50 before it was time. It was hilarious to watch. I wish you guys were there.

An update on our house hunt: The previous house I show you we ended up not going for. Well we went for it but for a variety of reasons pulled out. Partly because of the price and the layout, but mostly because of God's leading. We went and looked at some houses with the Realtor and found some really nice houses. None of them were the "right" one. Not yet anyway. But the Realtor knows what we want and as June comes closer ( when I'm off the new hire probationary period) we should be able to see how things advance. The most important thing is that both Russ and I have a peace about this process that we didn't have before. I thank God for His leading.

Below is a picture of Penelope practicing her name the other day. I am so proud of her.

This might be the one

2011-04-23T16:30:00.001-07:00

Ok you guys know how this goes. Opinion wanted! Tell me what you think. Here's the pictures. The house has been sitting for about 6 months. So that gives us so availability in wiggling room. Plus as you will see there isn't any flooring done. We get to pick our flooring still. And the sinks aren't in and stuff like that.

one of the side yards. There is about equal size on both. And a tree on each side. One side we can decide to pave it and make it RV parking.

the front of the house. It's an off-white color with a dark brown accent. I think it adorable. There was actually 2 houses to choose from this size and I liked these colors better.

the stairs

this is one bedroom (2nd bedroom) probably Penelope's

This is the area in the kids room that would have the tub/ shower and the toilet would go where that disk is.

it's not tile in the bathroom. It's linoleum. But it shaped like title and I don't have to worry about scrubbing the grout.

Penelope smiling. She likes it too. But she says she wants us to buy a pink house. I don't think that is going to happen.

This is the 2nd bathroom. They still have to put in the sink and counter top. It will just be one sink though.

another bedroom. Notice it's just cement floors right now. So we get to pick our carpet.

another bedroom. One of these would be the guest bedroom and one would be Austyn's.

A little dusty but in the hall there are some cabinets.

a cubby area in the laundry room. We will probably put a laundry basket.

the washer and dry. It is upstairs.

hole for the toilet. LOL.

light fixture for the bathroom.

master bathroom will have double sinks.

the master bathroom tub and shower. The shower still needs the glass around it.

walk in closet.

master bedroom.

down stairs powder room. It comes with a pedestal sink

2 car garage

stairs again.

living room

living room. No fireplace, instead we just have a whole for our tv

from the kitchen looking into the dinning room into the living room
kitchen

pictures of the backyard. It's around a 6500-6800 sq foot lot. But because it's 2 stories it has a decent size backyard.

ok from the last house it's in clovis schools! It's closer to things. It still is in a developing area, but as good as we can do for our price range. It's a good starter home. We are going to try to get them to include grass in the back for us.

Ok this is the thing about price. The housing developer is offering us a better interest rate then we could possibly get from an used home. That is a significant saving. Plus the energy efficiency of a new home vs even a home that is 6 years old is significant. Heaven forbid we get a home that is 20 years old. We would have a high electric bill. But at this house they usually get 50-100 a month electric bill. So maybe it is worth going a little over what I want in cost if it is going to save us money other ways right. Especially when you are talking about interest, right? And electric bills can be $400 or more in a home that isn't energy efficient.

the issues
* is still in a developing area
* living room is normal size. But it's not large.
* 3rd and 4th bedroom are a little on the small size, but nothing we can't work with

Opinion wanted...

2011-04-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

side yard in the back. We could just put grass here. Maybe a hot tub? Or use it for extra RV parking? ( a big plus in a lot of houses here)

the back yard. It needs grass.

the ceiling fan in the living room.

the light fixtures in the kitchen and dinning room

garage with electric opener

#3 bedroom (probably Penelope's)

Light fixtures in the main bathroom

main bathroom

#2 bedroom (probably Austyn's)

Pantry

Laundry room
folding counter in the laundry room

master bedroom with a door to the backyard

master bedroom

walk in closet
master bathroom

master bathroom

master bathroom

this is a little nook in the entry way when you walk in the door
the hall when you walk in the door

the front walk way

the front of the house

the front of the house

this is the color granite

the great room
from behind the island looking to the great room

the kitchen

We have been looking at some houses from time to time. We stumbled upon this housing development in North West Fresno (Central Unified Schools). It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath. 1800 square foot house on a 7500 square foot corner lot. The pictures are taken on my phone and are in a little bit of a jumbled area. It's priced at $249,000. Brand new house the person who had it built pulled out. So it has never been lived in. They said they could defiantly pay closing costs and possibly negotiate cost of the house. They use a lot of energy efficiency in the building of the house so it is

The issues!
It's not a 4 bedroom
It's on the other side of town (about a 15-25 minutes from most friends/ church...a big issue to people not used to LA traffic)
It's a developing, up in coming area.
It has good schools but not as good as Clovis Unified

So anyways, opinions wanted! yay or nay?

quick update

2011-04-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted recently. I have been working a lot. Last week I worked over 60 hours. And they were asking me to work more. I told them no. LOL. Above is a picture that Russ took of Penelope playing in our little patio area in the rain. I've been spending all the time I can when I get home playing with the kids. Russ' seems to be doing really well being a stay-at-home dad. We are talking over schools and looking over ideas of hiring a nanny to help with the time that Russ might be in class when I'm not quite off work yet. I feel a lot better with that then having the kids in day care.

I've been baking a lot. I think about posting it on my other blog. But we always eat it before I remember to take a picture of it. Oh well. Maybe the next time. Having a lot more time on our hands now that for the post part our time off as a family we have just been a family.

Austyn has been growing. He's not really talking but he understands what we say. When we tell him no he does the cutest pout. He stick outs his lower lip and sticks out his belly and then looks down. It takes all of me not to let him get away with murder. Austyn has a horrible time sharing. He cries over anything that he wants if he can't have it.

Penelope is a chatter box. She doesn't EVER stop talking! And she's getting to the age where she says the most ridiculous things. After talking about it with her we decided to grow out her bangs. When I hold them back it is nice seeing her face again.

hilarious!

2011-03-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

I know I am done with the month blogging. But I had to post this: it is too cute! Penelope has show and tell at Preschool tomorrow. So tonight we started talking to her about it. And having her pick something and practice. This is what she did. It's hilarious!

Today was one of those days. The days that are a polar opposite of the days that I feel like I am walking right in step with the LORD like on day 24. It started with bible study this morning. We are doing Esther by Beth Moore. Today she talked about where Mordecai comes to Esther about coming before the King to plead for her people and the grip of fear that could overtake you. The thought of what we fear most in our life made me think of our recent life changes. I start worrying about Russ' school, not having a family up here, where the kids are going to go if Russ needs to be in class and I need to be in work, what happens in summer break, what happens when.... The idea that we aren't where God wants us to be crosses my mind, but that isn't the biggest deal. I know that if we weren't where God wants us to be He would tell us. And as Russ pointed out we had so many confirmations before we moved here. It's the details of the problems that I haven't even happened yet that I'm worried about. I know God will handle it. And I know that is what the study is all about, but it still consumed me today.

Overall, it was a nice day. I was off work and was able to take them to Bible study and to a park with a friend. I cooked dinner. The kids both ate fish, not the frozen fish stick kind, real fish! And I went for a run after bedtime. A good day, just keep me and my thought process in prayer. When listening to some of Penelope's kid worship in the car a song came on that quotes Jeremiah 29:11. I'm going to have it be my memory verse for the Siesta Scripture Memory verse, not necessarily because I need to memorize it but because I need to quote it to myself for the next 2 weeks.

28

2011-02-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

Well, that's it. Today is the last post. I made it kind of through a month (despite the 2 I missed). Russ will probably be happy that I don't ask him him every night "What did you do today? Anything new I can blog about?" It was nice to do it, but sometimes you wonder if this is interesting for anyone to read. Almost every post started with "Today" in the first sentence. And yet I had no other word to use. Because all I could give you is what happened that day. Also I had to stop myself from repeating "nothing exciting". I wrote that a lot.

Okay, onto today. : ) Austyn, the last couple of days started clapping his hands when we say "yay". We thought it was so cute we started saying "yay" all the time to see him clap his hands. When I was on the phone with Russ while I was on a break at work Austyn actually said "yay" with us. It is so adorable!

During this last weekend Penelope went to me randomly and declared, "I don't want to write my name." A little taken back I said okay and she like the attention span of a 3 year old was onto the next thing. We recently enrolled her in preschool. They told us in the orientation that they don't push the kids if they don't want to do something because they want learning to be fun. So I knew exactly where the declaration of not writing her name was coming from. She had been probably repeating that to her teachers all day. In any way, I stuck that in my memory for a better opportunity to address. So today she walked up to me. She found a pair of scissors. We don't own a pair of kid scissors so I wasn't happy with her holding them. She was very upset and she wanted scissors. She is able to work with scissors at school. Something I have denied my left handed child at home with both right handed parents. So here it comes: I told her I would buy her some kid scissors if she would trace her name. Sure enough, she was practices before preschool today. Now if only teenage life would be that easy. (In reading this to Russ, he said "well by then she better learn to write her stinkin' name") LOL.

27

2011-02-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

We're making friends! yay! We had another family over to the house tonight and I made girls plans on Tuesday. I do so much better when I have friends.

Church was good. Penelope went to bed late last night from having friends over and then woke up at 5 am this morning. So when we were getting ready for church she was a CRANKY to put it mildly. She fell asleep on the way home from church. (Thank God!) She had a good long nap. It was wonderful. We all laid down for a little rest. I love when Sunday's have family nap time.

While we were getting the kids ready for bed Austyn brought me a book. I like a well meaning mother went to sit down to read a book with him. Of course as a toddler he flipped through the pages quicker then I could complete a sentence on the page. He then took the book away from me and I was able to take these adorable pictures.

Here are some pictures of Penelope when we were getting ready for bed.

26

2011-02-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day. It didn't snow. Thank God, I don't know exactly what I would have done if it did. I never really lived in the snow. Visiting for a day, maybe, but not while it was actually snow-ing. I didn't know what to do when there was frost on my front window. But today the sun was shinning and the sky was blue. Don't let that fool you it was freezing outside. But the outside at least looked pretty.

Russ and Penelope braved the cold weather for a little outside. You can see it was sunny. Here are some adorable pictures of them outside. Of course, Russell is still in shorts.

I got a picture of the Princess dolls on the window ledge in the living room. I used this cool function on my camera. I loved the affect.

I took a picture of the front of our apartment so you can see where we live.

We spent the day cleaning up and taking it easy. Russ got a nap. We invited some people over for dinner and had a good time. They are new to the area also (been here for a little over a year). I made a pasta dinner and some dessert. But I also tried to make this recipe I found in a diabetic cook book. It's Cranberry Almond Biscotti. It turned out pretty good. It is made with real sugar, not a sugar substitue. But it is not a real sweet Biscotti. Plus! It is only 1 point in weight watchers. Note: I had a hard time cutting it into 24 pieces (I got 20 pieces out). It was getting a little crumbly in the middle because it was too soft. Over cook it a little. You want to dry out the bread as much as possible. Below is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup blanched almonds

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350'F. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet adn toast them in the oven until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. Place the egg, egg white, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until very thick and pale; the mixture should be thick enough to leave a trail on the surface when you life the beaters.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda onto a sheet of parchment paper, then sift the mixture again onto the whisked egg mixture. Using a spatula, carefully fold the sifted mixture into the egg mixture, then stir in the toasted almondsand cranberries to make a stiff dough.

4. Spoon the dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. With floured hands, form the dough into a neat log shape about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide and flatten slightly. Bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board.

5. Using a serrated knife, cut the log across, slightly on the diagonal, into 24 slices. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet and return to the oven. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. The biscotti can be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

each serving: 1 cookie kcal 71, kcal from fat 14, fat 2 g, sat fat 0g, chol 9 mg, sodium 30 mg, carbs 13 g, fiber 1 g, sugar 6 g, protein 2 g, carb exchange 1.

Also I realized that I really enjoy baking. It's hard since it has so much caloric count and my husband can't have a lot of sweets. But I might get back into baking. I feel so calm and relaxed when I bake. There is something special about actually forming the dough in your hands. Forming it into place. I need to do it more often. Maybe I'll try making some bread more often. Or maybe I'll just bring it to work and have them eat it. They should love me then, right?

One thing I realized is that I put a lot of stuff in storage that I figured I wouldn't use in the time I would just be in the apartment. I defiantly sized down from the kitchen I was in. So I don't think I had room for everything. But there are some things I am seriously missing. I had to finally get Russ to go get me a square 9x9 pan. The recipe called for a sifter- I have 2. But they are in a box somewhere. The biscotti turned out fine anyways and I don't really like sifting much (ask Jen Graham why, LOL). But a cooling rack, I'm taking out my tray from my toaster oven.

25

2011-02-25T21:50:00.000-08:00

Today was definitely not as up lifting in thought as yesterday was. But mostly over boring work stuff, so we shouldn't worry about that. I look forward to the weekend and being home with my kids. I am getting more use to working primarily and not being home. But I enjoy those days when I am home with them. Being just their mom for a day.

Austyn feel down in the their room and hit a side of Penelope's bed on the way down. Russ said he got a cut under his nose. He had to hold him down to hold down the cut to get him to stop bleeding. I haven't seen it yet, since the kids are both asleep when I got home. He is my rough and tumble-y boy!

I don't know what we are going to do this weekend. We don't have any plans. It's suppose to snow tonight and tomorrow morning. SNOW! When we first were looking at the surrounding area to think about the possibility of moving. I remember asking our Realtor if it snowed here? Her answer was 7 years ago. Thinking to myself, and knowing my luck, it will snow the first year that we are here. We will see, it is really only suppose to be a little to cover the ground. I guess we will take the kids out for a little fun if there is enough covering the ground. I'll take pictures too.

24

2011-02-24T22:06:00.001-08:00

Russ said Austyn had a hard day today. He was crying and crying over every little thing. In talking it over, we can't put our thumb on what it was exactly. But oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Today I have been thinking a lot about God's ordinance. He has so provided and been our authority in our life. It seems sometimes that He has destined our steps. He knew exactly what we needed, exactly where we were going. I know I still have quite a road to travel ahead of me, but there are some days where I am so sure that God is the one driving us there. Of course, there are other days when I sit down and think that it is all going to come crashing down around me. My father-in-law mentioned a scripture to me once and I have committed to memory in Beth Moore's scripture memory. (Memorizing 2 scriptures a month on the 1st and 15th of the month). In Proverbs 16:9 "We can make our plans, but God directs our steps" (NLT). He later explained that he looks at it with us still actively planning our lives, but bringing everything to God. We can still make plans for our lives. And to not just sit around and wait for something to land in our lap. But God comes as we make our plans and determines the steps. Opening doors or closing, telling us where to turn or to go straight, and with that we go with God where he leads us. I like how there is a difference in explanation of actions between us and God in the scripture. There is a difference between us making plans and God doing steps. The plans don't actually count for anything. Anyone knows, you can make plans for the rest of your life and that doesn't mean that anything really happens. It takes steps, steps that come from our Lord and Savior. I thank God for those steps. The steps that have brought us here today. The ones that will bring us where we go tomorrow.

23

2011-02-23T21:32:00.000-08:00

Let's see, what happened today? Nothing much. Well, I went running this morning. I really want to get consistently back into it. When I got home I helped get Penelope ready for preschool. I needed to trim her nails and so she talked me into putting a quick coat of nail polish on her hands. I was hoping that she would sit still while and let her nails dry while I did her hair. But she took that opportunity to apply another coat. And of course with the skills of a 3 year old she got a lot of her fingertips as much as her fingernails. While I turned my back to take care of Austyn she proceeded to paint the bathroom counter. It wasn't until she spilled it on the carpet in her room that I caught her over decorating. Thank God for Barbie nail polish. It must be water based because a baby wipe later it was all fixed.

Penelope had a good day of school. Russ said when he picked her up and two other little girls went and gave her a hug to say goodbye. She is making some friends, which is good to see. We were warned about the 2 week blues. The Principle said that sometimes kids that are really excited about school will get a little blue about the 2nd week and start missing home. So far she is doing just find. Happy to go and happy to go home. We are at a good place right now. We will see how next week is.

Austyn been dancing to music when it is on. Which entails him standing with his legs hip length apart and doing small squats. It's absolutely adorable! He was doing it from time to time at worship practice the other day. And it defiantly made people smile and point, but in a good way. : ) My sweet baby boy. Russ said he's getting the sharing thing as Russ tries to be the referee on who's turn it is.

Oh we tried the white wine from Fresno State. It's like a Chardonnay. Russ likes it. It is a little too dry for me. I feel like I'm drinking alcohol instead of a sweet glass of wine.

If only.....

2011-02-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

I was looking at more houses, because for the most part that is what I do. At least until I am tired of looking at them. And get frustrated that I am unable to move into my dream house at the moment. But here are some of the highlights I have been looking at.

Here is one that is high on my price limit. But it is so nice! Beside the fact of actually not seeing any pictures of the inside, the idea of this house seems wonderful. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath 2450 square foot on a over 16,000 square foot (which is HUGE). It's on a cold a sac. It has an extra office, laundry room inside, pantry, gas appliances in the kitchen, formal dinning room. Seeing pictures of the inside would ruin the picture of it in my head for sure! It's $239,500. The problem is that it has tenants living in it right now. And it probably doesn't need a lot of updating because it was built in 2005.

Here's another one that is very nice.

Here is one that is in our price range. AND it has a soaker tub. Ah...I can go there now.

22

2011-02-22T21:23:00.000-08:00

Well, today I went to work and came home. Nothing interesting happened to seem to mention. The kids were asleep by the time I made it home. Russell took the kids to the park. Overall it was a good day, just uneventful.

Well, with nothing else to talk about I guess I will talk about the shows we are watching this season on TV. The classics we have been following for a while are Survivor, Amazing Race, and Gray's Anatomy. We started watching American Idol, I like watching the original try outs but this year I really like the judges they have on it. So as cliche as it may be we are tuning in for that one. There is of course the occasional shows that we don't consistently follow but will tune in when we sit in front of the box. We mostly watch HGTV and Food Network. Of course it is hard to watch Food Network when you are trying to watch what you eat. That doesn't help curve your hunger cravings.

21

2011-02-21T22:21:00.000-08:00

Today we took the kids to the Pediatrician. They both did fairly well. We got their currents stats:

Austyn (@ 15 months) weight: 24 lbs 5 ozs (50%), height: 32 3/4 inches (90%)
Penelope (@ 43 months/ about 3 1/2yrs) weight 43 lbs (90%), height: 41 3/4 inches (95%).

They are both, of course, proving to be tall. They both got shots today and did fairly well. Austyn and Penelope are both going to need to have some more shots in 3 months so we will be going back. After we finished at the Pediatricians we headed over to the Lab to get some blood test done for Russ. And then we grabbed Subway and headed over to a new friends house for a play date. Penelope and Austyn had a great time playing with all the other kids in the big backyard. We headed back home in time for family nap time. I love family nap time. And then off again after dinner to worship practice for our church. We brought the kids with us to run around the sanctuary. It went well with all things considered. But the biggest thing was everyone there was very gracious to us having our kids with us. Today you would have never guessed they had shots, they weren't cranky at all. So basically it was an active day. Tomorrow I go back to work after a 3 day weekend at home.

20

2011-02-20T20:21:00.000-08:00

Today church was awesome! Worship was great. My parents were in town and invited us over for bbq so we headed over there after church. If anyone ever wonders how it is that I make so much food when you come over, you should have been at my parents house for the bbq. It was our family, the 2 of them, and one gentlemen and they must have bbq'd 5 chickens and 4 lbs of pork chops! Between that and the bake sale at church today I think I'll defiantly need to go to the gym tomorrow. LOL. I got this adorable picture of the kids outside my parents. It was cold at my folks house. It had snowed there a couple of days ago, but is all melted now.

18/19

2011-02-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't blog yesterday either, but it wasn't because I was working all night long. I was able to get off at regular time and didn't get called in. Yay! My husband and I were enjoying a relaxing evening so I didn't want to stop to blog. Sorry. I don't think anything happened yesterday that is worth mentioning. Russell enjoyed the soup I made. I, however, thought it needed some improvements. There was too much onion for me, it probably would have helped a little if I had sauteed it first as the recipe had called for. Also, it needed another vegetable in it. Something that wasn't a bell pepper. I realized that it mostly comprised of bell peppers. Otherwise adding the basil and Parmesan cheese was a very nice touch.

Today, after much deliberation, we decided to see Tangled at the 3-dollar theaters. I wasn't sure if Austyn would sit through it and didn't want to pay full price for the adult that had to spend the time in the hall with the baby. The 3- dollar theater was actually really nice. Even though we tried timing it at a beneficial time for Austyn, Russell ended up missing the later half of the movie. I thought the movie was very cute! Penelope loved the movie, but cried at the part where Rapunzel was brought back to be locked up in the tower. Afterward, we ended up walking around the Fashion Fair Mall. Only after working our way through the Christmas like crowds for an hour, did we realize that it's President's weekend sales. Oh well. We still enjoyed our time out. I've been looking for a good pair of everyday wear black shoes with a petite heal but that don't look too granny looking. Still haven't found the right pair, but while looking Penelope helped by trying on some shoes herself. She is such a girly-girl. Below is an adorable picture of her trying on some 4-inch high heel shoes. That she couldn't even stand up on! LOL.

We got back in time for us to eat dinner and for me to bake for the Women's fundraiser tomorrow. I'm making my peanut butter brownies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and my raz-ma-taz bars. I haven't made the raz-ma-taz bars in a long time and am looking forward to tasting one when the are out of the oven. But they are very good! Here is the recipe below:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup margarine
2 cups white chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 325-degrees F. Grease and sugar 9" square baking pan.
2. Melt butter in medium, microwave-safe bowl on High power for 1 minute. Stir then add 1 cup morsels, let stand. Do not stir.
3. Beat eggs in large mixer bowl until foamy. Add sugar beat until light lemon colored about 5 minutes. Stir in chips-butter mixture. Add flour, salt, and almond extract, mix at low speed until combined. Spread 2/3 of batter on prepared pan.
4. Bake 15-17 minutes or till lightly golden brown around edges. Remove from oven to wire wrack.
5. Heat Jam in small, microwave-safe bowl on High power for 30 seconds, stir. Spread jam over warm crust. Stir remaining chips into remaining batter. Drop spoonsful of batter over jam. Sprinkle with almonds.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or till edges are browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Makes about 16 bars.

17

2011-02-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today was my day off. Russ and I had doctors appointments--that went interesting. Russ and I both have to go back in a couple weeks. Russ for some blood tests and me for a complete physical exam. But we will be going at different times. It seemed like a very nice office though. My sore throat that is only on my right side is tonsil stones. The Nurse Practioner was able to get one of the larger ones out but I still have more. The prescription is gargle with salt water twice a day. Yuck! If it doesn't go away then I have to see an ENT specialist. And they will have to numb me because I have a very sensitive gag reflex. So salt water here we go. :P

Penelope has been desperately trying to prove that she doesn't need a nap anymore. However, failing as it may be, we haven't been able to successfully get her to go down. With the "nap strike" she isn't the most obedient child. Testing our limits is putting it mildly. She doesn't talk a lot about school. I think next Wednesday (she has Monday off for President's day) I'll talk to her teachers and get some details so I can talk to Penelope about her friends with their actual names, not the names that she has made up in the conversation that she can't keep straight. Ya, I'm going to be one of those mom's. LOL. All in her business.

Austyn keeps turning heads everywhere he goes. Russ went to Costco to refill some of his prescriptions with him today and he's turning heads everywhere. You know how he is, he smiles at everyone who is willing to make eye contact. He is so adorable. He is starting to dance to the music of his toys. He'll be a totally different hand full. ;)

I was going to cook dinner tonight and then cook soup to eat tomorrow. (I work late tomorrow, but that way everyone in the family eats a good meal). I was really craving fish and saw a good recipe for Mahi Mahi Tostadas. But after going to 2 different places and calling a couple more we finally landed upon this place called the "Meat Market" in Clovis. They had some really good prices on some different things. They didn't have mahi mahi either, we ended up getting some fresh Bass instead. It just for tostadas after all. Mahi mahi isn't "popular" up here or so people say, which is a bummer because it's my favorite fish. But while at the Meat Market we found some wine from Cal State Fresno's Bulldogs. At $6 a bottle I got it in white to just see. I think it's hilarious, especially with the big picture of the Bulldog mascot cartoon on the front. The Bulldog's are really popular out here. It's not abnormal to see people wearing their stuff around town. And I've heard they get more popularity then the minor league baseball team, the Grizzles, do . I have also heard that the wineries around here are more dry due to the soil. So we will see.

Anyways after all those delays we ended up going to Applebee's restraunt. But I did get seafood. And I'll make the Bass Tostadas some time this weekend. I did come home and make the soup. That is also a new recipe. I've been on a look out for a good minestrone like soup. It's one of Russell's favorite soups. This is maybe the 3rd or 4th different recipe I've tried. It's suppose to be in a dutch oven and cook for about 30 minutes. But I put it straight into the crockpot. And Russell just has to reheat it tomorrow along with bake some chicken, because beans isn't enough protein for him : ).

Here's the recipe with thanks from a Weight Watchers cookbook.
Italian Vegetable-Bean Soup

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15 oz) can no-salt navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes with basil, oregano, and garlic
1 (14 oz) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp crushed fresh basil
1 tbspn olive oil
1/4 cup (1 oz) grated fresh parmesan cheese

1. Heat a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and bell pepper; cook 6 minutes of until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add navy beans and next 5 ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes.
2. Remove from heat; stir in basil and oil. Ladle soup into bowls, and sprinkle with cheese.

Yeilds 4 servings ( 1 1/4 cup with 1 tbspn cheese) Cal 184 (29% from fat); fat 6g (sat 1.6g); pro 10.2g; carb 25g; fib 7.1g; chol 5mg; iron 2.2 mg; sod 808mg; calc187mg. Points 3.

I, of course, bypassed the "browning" by just throwing it in the crock pot. I read an article somewhere that talked about converting recipes to crock pot recipes, except I can't find it. So I'm guessing 30 minutes would be 4 hours on high. I'll let you know tomorrow how it is. Or maybe the day after. I work tomorrow from 11am to 9 pm. But then I'm on call from 9 pm to 7 am. So we will see what time I'll be blogging next.

16

2011-02-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

Today was Penelope's second day of school. It is the first day of probably 4 days of rain, so they stayed inside for the day. I'm going to have to talk to her about her schooling tomorrow. Russ has been picking her up so I haven't really received a lot of details.

Russell started saying to Austyn, "give me love" and Austyn will kiss him. Big open mouth, slobbery, kiss. LOL. Russell in doing laundry, noticed after taking the clothes out of the dryer that there was a red crayon in with the clothes. Half the clothes have red streaks and spots from the crayon. I looked online we need to soak all the clothes and rub WD-40 on them. (that's the prescription when I google it). I'll have to let you know if it works.

Russell and I both have doctors appointments tomorrow. We have the appointments staggered so someone can watch the kids while the other is at their appointment. I have had a bad sore throat since Saturday morning. So I'm going to have the doctor check that out.

14, 15, or something like that

2011-02-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I missed day 14. Can I use the excuse that I was loving my family on Valentine Day? Good, I think it's a great excuse too! ;)

Valentine Day was Penelope's first day of school. She was so happy about it. As soon as we get to her classroom she turns around to us and says "Bye, go home now". LOL. She did great at her first day of school. :'( My little girl seemed to grow up so quickly in a matter of a moment. She is doing 5 hour days, 2 days a week (monday/ wednesday). Tomorrow is her second day of school. My little girl growing up before my eyes. Here are some pictures of Nelly.

I had to work on Valentine Day so nothing really exciting happened from this vantage point. I did come home to a wonderful surprise. Don't I have a darling husband!

It might be a good thing that I didn't blog on the 14th because nothing interesting happened today. I ran off to bible study this morning before work. I can't wait to go to the Beth Moore Conference here in town. I would love to actually meet her in person. Do you think she will have a line? Do you think she does a meet and greet afterward?

Today I'm hoping to start my "life style change" for good. It's the day after Valentine, super bowl is over, it's time to get serious about bathing suit figure. I think I can get down to my desired weight in time for bathing suit weather. I guess it depends on how quickly it comes off and how soon it gets warm down here.

13

2011-02-13T22:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm only on day 13 and I'm wore out. I could never do this 365 days a year. The next Julie and Julia does not reside in this blog! Let me just tell you that much.

Well we just got home from going back down to LA. It was a relaxing trip but still had moments of busyness. Today we saw some old friends and let our kids play. It was really nice. Penelope was really excited about seeing some of her old friends again. But with that she had a hard time leaving them. Right before we left we had one more dinner with Dad and Mom Stade and that was another hard time leaving for Penelope. I hope she has a good day at school tomorrow. She needs something to really look forward to up here. It's those moments I hope she doesn't have any traumatic memories from this move. We will have to see how tomorrow go. The first day back is always a downer. We all mope around, feeling like a fish out of water. Day two back is better.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Don't worry I got permission to post this ;)

Penelope watching the Aladin show at Disneyland. A scene from the show down below.

MR. INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Penelope and Alton

Kaeley and Penelope

12

2011-02-12T22:39:00.001-08:00

Today we went to Disneyland with the kids. It was a fun trip, but a quick one. More pictures to come. Right now my computer is running slow and I'm afraid of asking too much. We went back to the in-laws and made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and corn for dinner. It was really good, everyone enjoyed it.

Here is the meatloaf recipe (developed with help from Saving Dinner cookbook)

1 large eggs
1/2- 14 1/2 oz diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup shredder Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 lb of Italian sausage (pork), casings removed
1/3 lb ground turkey
1/3 lb ground beef
1/3 cup spaghetti sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl combine everything but meats and spaghetti sauce. Add turkey, pork sausage, and ground beef until just blended.
3. spray large jelly roll pan with non-stick spray. Add meatloaf to pan and make into a loaf. Pat to remove any air spaces.
4. Cook for 1 hour. Top with spaghetti sauce (I had some left over Parmesan cheese I added too) and continue baking 15-30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I made it once with great reviews from the family. The second time around they loved it just as much. So I would defiantly say this is a winner. Right now I think everyone is looking forward to the left overs, since I made a 5lb meatloaf. Don't ask how big the original meatloaf was--that was completely consumed in one sitting. And that is a story for another time, when it isn't so late and my computer is acting more functional. ;)

back for a weekend

2011-02-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

Today we drove back down to LA. We still have Disneyland passes (they expire in May) and to try to get the most out of our buck we are trying to come down once a month. I also think it is good for the kids to come back. Austyn's eyes lite up and his arms went out when he saw Granna at the door. Penelope was so excited too. Plus she gets excited about all the other family. She loves playing with Emily. Austyn, even though there is a 9 year plus difference, plays his own way with the boys. I think it is helpful for Penelope to see friends that she knows again. Even as she is makes new ones. Hopefully I'm not scaring my kids for life too much ; )

We are going to try to go to Disneyland tomorrow. Today we just hung out and went out to dinner. Here are some photos I took of the kids today. I had time to try out my new camera and had fun checking out all the functions. I'm starting to get the hang of things on it.

Here are some pictures of us at breakfast on our way down.

Some pictures of hanging out. All the cousins together.

We went out to El Paso Cantina in Torrance for dinner. The kids both tried salsa (it's fairly mild there). Here are some pictures of them enjoying chips and salsa.

Driving around in the car gives Russ and I time to talk. We have a solid 4 hour drive down--we have lots of time! LOL Driving around our old home town, it's funny how we both get assurance that we are where we are suppose to be now. Fresno slowly grows on us more and more. And "home" slowly morphs into something new.

Day 10

2011-02-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

Nothing exciting happened today. I hung out with the kids, went to work, came home. Russ hung out with the kids, took the kids to the park and went to costco.

Austyn is talking more. He says "hi", "hot", "mama", and "dada". He is signing "all done" with his hands when he's done eating. You can see his personality come out more, as he's more affectionate. Russ says everyday during the day he comes up to Russ and puts his head against Daddy's head. He is really enjoying cuddling more (which is so nice for me). Penelope likes to imaginary play a lot. Today she pretended there was a castle in her bedroom. I try to take pictures of the kids but Penelope doesn't hold still long enough. And as soon as Austyn sees the camera he starts crying so he could hold it. Pictures of him crying aren't exactly the cute smiley little boy that I see and want to get across.

Day 9

2011-02-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

Today I called in sick. I woke up with no voice and shortly after the phone call went back to bed and slept half the day. It's so awesome that my husband is home and lets me do that. Thank you hubby! I am feeling better so will be returning to life as normal tomorrow.

In good news my camera DID come today! It is a bit more technical then my last one, so I'll have to read the instruction manual. The kids of course didn't hold still for me to take a good picture. But I got one. I haven't figured out where the stabilization mode is. My other camera was made by the same company so I know they will have that function it's just a matter of figuring out where. With the picture below I had it on some setting, accidentally, where you take multiple pictures and it sets it up in a landscape for you. Ya, I got to read the instruction manual. LOL.

the kids before bedtime. Austyn is still brushing his teeth. He likes his tooth brush. : )

Day 8

2011-02-08T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well today went well. I just got home a little bit ago from being with my mom. She is doing well and all the small things I was worried about happening never came to pass. She is resting well at home. I feel a little better at the end of the day with my sickness. The good thing about waiting around for my mom to have her procedure is that I had to sit around. I also have been feeling who ever is praying for me to get better soon. I know my husband is but maybe some of you out there too. It really does make a difference and I want you guys to know that.

My camera did not come today. I was wrong, it is going to be delivered tomorrow. Too bad tomorrow doesn't come quick enough. I tracked it on UPS and it is still is San Pablo, CA. Which at first I thought was San Pedro until I looked closer. And then I had to google it to find out that where in the world San Pablo is? For your information San Pablo is in the Bay Area of San Francisco.

Penelope did fantastic at her orientation. The teachers said she was really well behaved in class like she had all done it before. We were only there for an hour, so she wasn't really ready to go when it was time to go. She cried pretty bad when we had to leave. At least I know she will have a good time. Monday is when she officially starts I hope it comes quickly for her sake.

I almost finished the book "One in a million: Journey to your promised land" by Priscilla Shirer. It is so good. Each page has been a talk between God and I. It is a perfect read for this stage in my life. But I really want to quote you some part of it. I just have a hard time picking which one that gets the full affect of the whole book. There isn't anything I can take, but here is a good part I read recently.

"What situation are you in right now that's going to require a 'turning' if you're ever able to embrace the will of God for your life? What kind of changes is He asking for? And what do you expect will happen if you continue resisting this new direction for whatever the reason--inconvenience, fear of the unknown, distaste for the whole situation?

Paul speaks of how we are to 'run in such a way' not merely to survive the race but to run with purpose and persistence--to run 'that you may win' (I Cor 9:24). And the writer of Hebrews gives us specific instructions on how to do it (Heb. 12: 1-2):

* Turn--'let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us...'
* Set--'fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith...'
* Go--'let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.'

God was moving Isreal from one place to the next, preparing to put them into position where their hoped for destiny would be clearly within reach. But in order to go where God was leading them, they were being told to take dynamic action, to do things differently then they had before. They were being expected to believe that what He had called them to conquer next was worth every challenge. They were being instructed to march boldly out of safety into a new phase of following Him. Breaking barriers depended on it.

...Moments like these--times when God prepares us to go to the next leg in our journey--remind us why Sinai is so important. The intimacy God invites us to experience with HIm in our darkest, driest, dustiest seasons is not some isolated occurrence. It's not as though we're supposed to walk ahead merely remembering what it was like to be there when God met us in our pain and brokenness and reestablished our relationship. Like the Hebrews emerging from Sinai, we're not simply to march onward but to march onward with God. We're not to leave His presence behind us at the mountain. We will find ourselves lost and gasping for breath before we know it if we think we can move ahead without maintaining our continued connection with Him. The fellowship and faith garnered at the Mountain of God are designed to keep us from rocking off balance when the new possibilities (as well as the new obstacles) of entering our destiny begin to appear."

There is so much. For me to continue writing it in. I would have to write in everything. I hope what I have extracted out of the book has spoken to you and stirred you to grab a copy for yourself to dig through.

Day 7

2011-02-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

Day 7: Nothing exciting. Today, I finally got the cold bug that had been hitting our family. As the rest of our family is on the mend I am completely exhausted and under the weather. Ugh. I hope I get over this one quick. I have all those extra vitamins I am taking, right?

Exciting stuff that happened today? Um....I don't know if I got much for you. But tomorrow will hopefully be a interesting day. My camera should be coming in the mail! yay! We will be going to Penelope's Preschool orientation tomorrow. And I'm going to take my mom to a hospital procedure. So maybe something more exciting. For right now, I'm going to bed.

Super Bowl

2011-02-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

Today was a beautiful day! The high I saw on the car was 68 degrees, with the sun shinning great. So happy the gloom has been gone for a while. I could never live in Seattle. I need the sun. One month of gloom isn't too bad when you know the end is in site.

Unless you were on another planet today you would know that Super Bowl was today. Whether or not you watch it is another story. "We" watch it in some form, well, Russ really does the watching. I on the other hand watch when the comercials come on and really spend most of the time eating. We had a great time over at some new friends house. They invited us over and, man, did we eat! One of the things I made for the Super Bowl is my Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies (The recipe was developed with thanks from Jen Graham). Below is the recipe.

Ingredients
1 package of your favorite brownie mix (with ingredients called for in the mix)
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 large semi-chocolate candy bar

1. Mix brownie mix and preheat oven as described by your favorite directions, then set aside.
2. mix peanut butter and powdered sugar. If too sticky add more powdered sugar. Spread evenly on top of chocolate bar.
3. place half of brownie mix in prepared pan. Place the peanut butter/chocolate bar on top and cover with other half of brownie mix. Cook as directed.

** if you like it gooey eat it right away. But eating it after it has cooled is yummy too when you have a thick piece of chocolate in the middle.

Tomorrow back to "eating right life-style change". LOL.

house hunting

2011-02-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Today we ended up looking at open houses after a lazy morning. We went out to look at 4 houses. The first one needed A LOT of work inside and had a swimming pool (which we are trying to buy without). The second was Russell's favorite. And I do have to admit it was quite nice and if it was $30,000 less I would really like it too. LOL. It had new paint and new carpet throughout. It was built in 2004 and was on a large lot. The only thing it had going wrong with it is since it is a foreclosure a couple of random things were missing. One of the things that were missing is the dishwasher. When the previous owners took it out they broke several tiles in the process. And there was a little bit of mildew damage behind the dishwasher from probably a leak from the dishwasher, no sign of it coming from anywhere else. The third house we looked at was pretty nice but it had a very small backyard. The fourth house ended up not having an open house after all. Which was a bummer--I was really looking forward to that one.

Not a whole lot of interesting things going on today. We drove around a little and stopped by the store, made it home in time for me to cook dinner and give the kids a bath and send them to bed. Russ and I are sitting around a little exhausted. He's watching his recorded Jeopardy shows. LOL. We are not too exciting today.

I need to come up with something better to talk about on here. I don't know if our daily lives are that exciting. LOL.

Day 4

2011-02-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

This family has gotten hit by a small "cold bug". Penelope woke up with a little cough, Austyn has had a runny nose for a while, Russ says he feels a little under the weather, and my throat is scratchy. It's a very mild cold in this household so far. But I'm hoping and praying that we all get better soon. Did I tell you my vitamins came in the mail today? I'm super excited about that! I also got some vitamins for the kids so maybe they will get over their sicknesses before Superbowl. Superbowl is a great time when it involves socialization in this family. LOL. Meaning this family is full of people who love to just be around other people.--Somehow just being around each other isn't enough. ;) Anyways, because Penelope was coughing a lot this morning we canceled orientation at the Preschool. We rescheduled it for Tuesday. Doubtfully I'm going to most likely miss Women's Bible study, always a bummer when it involves Beth Moore.

I ended up hanging out with the kids before going into work. AND! I ended up getting off work early today! AWESOME! I went in at 11 and got off at 6! My kids were so happy to have me home. I miss being home with them. Since we had the evening to spare we ran over to Guitar Center, one of Russell's favorite places in the world, and browsed a little. We needed new strings for his guitars and a tuner (since we got rid of the piano). Since I have the tuner I also tuned the violin. I need new strings for the violin too but they don't sell them at guitar center. It's been a long time since I picked up the violin. I'm going to need a lot of practice before I can play in front of anyone besides my most forgiving husband. I'll have to work on the calluses on my fingers too; they need to toughen up some.

We are tossing up what we should do tomorrow. I really wanted to go to the snow. But we still have to buy snow boots for the whole family and a jacket for Russ. That would defiantly set us back some. I think it is suppose to be a beautiful day tomorrow (a high of 65 and mostly sunny). Trying out some of the trails with the hubby and the kids in a jogging stroller sounds nice. Maybe there are some open houses we can stop by at? We still haven't taken Penelope to see Tangled. Is that still in theaters? Or maybe in the 3-dollar theaters?

I do have to say Russ is really getting the hang of being home. He's doing well with the kids and taking them out, working around getting things done and their nap schedule. He is doing fairly well with keeping the house clean. I'm really proud of how well he's handled switching roles with me. And I respect him for that.

Day 3

2011-02-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

Well, day 3 started off as a hard start. Russ and I woke up to Penelope coming into bed with us at 4:30 in the morning saying she had a bad dream. Within about 10 minutes we realized it was much more then that. If some of you guys don't know my daughter has had some kind of stomach problems from time to time. It started when she was about 1 1/2 years old and after holiday meals only. She would be puke-y the following day like clockwork. After talking to the pediatrician it was decided it was most likely heartburn, from the holiday meals, that her small body didn't know how to handle. Over time it has come and gone. But is now less often after holidays and more spontaneous. Still about 3 times a year, maybe 4. The poor thing. She hates throwing up. She will deny that she feels sick until she can't hold it back anymore. All the while showing all the other symptoms of being ill. I'm not quite sure what it is that is making her sick. Personally I'm still praying and hoping that she will grow out of it. The only thing that has been tossed around now is that it might be allergies, but it isn't consistent. If it is anything else more serious I would hate for her to have to have surgery. So I go back to hoping she will grow out of it. She stopped being sick (sparing you the details) by early morning. But her appetite, I guess, was a little poor. She kept saying all day "I feel fine, Daddy." Ahhh, my little girl.

I officially signed up Penelope for Preschool. And the start date is February 14th, she is going 2 days a week on Monday/ Wednesday until they have an opening on Tuesday/ Thursday. Tomorrow we have orientation, we will go as a whole family before I have to run off to work again. She is going to be so excited her first day of school. My little girl is growing up. Russ and I keep joking around about her entering 1st grade, as she states to us.

Austyn took another spill. I haven't seen it yet because he is sound asleep by the time I got home. But supposedly he was running and stopped his feet before his body was ready to stop and down he went. He has a little rug burn under his nose. Right when his other bruises were healing he's got another. I guess I will have to get use to it. Hopefully he doesn't end up a dear devil and give his mommy a heart attack in my later years. LOL.

I went running today after work! I'm so proud of myself. I've done a work out video after work but not gone running. It felt so good though. I've been thinking a lot about turning 30 this year. I know it still is 9 months away. I think it has something to do about not celebrating the last 2 birthdays much. I feel like I should really celebrate this one. And then I think maybe I should get more face creams or start taking vitamins. (I did order vitamins.) People laugh at me when I talk to them about it. But I want to do something "to keep my youth" (for lack of a better word). And I want to celebrate somehow nice. Any ideas? What would you do if you could do something special?

Russell again wants to be not to verbal about his day. He states he's tired from the day. I set up doctors appointments for each member of the family this month. Very excited about the things I crossed off my to-do list today. Did I tell you I also ordered a camera? Our camera has been lost for about a month now. And I need pictures up on a blog. It makes it so much more interesting. Don't you agree? And of course we have to capture Penelope's first day of school!

Day 2

2011-02-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Today we went to another preschool to check out before I went to work. It was very nice, but I think the other preschool is going to work better for our family. So we will be enrolling Penelope in Bright Beginnings Preschool maybe tomorrow to start soon. The start date is to be decided still. I want to be there for her first day of school. But looking at the other preschool the church that it is located at is doing a 3-6 year old T-ball! It looked so fun! Russ and I are still debating it a little, because that would be a lot of taking the kids around to take Penelope to things. T-ball has an afternoon practice and Saturday game for every week for 8 weeks from April to May. It's only 8 weeks. But I'm not the one taking the kids.

I went off to work after that and Russ took the kids to the park. According to Russell, the kids got dirty and wet. Austyn likes going down slides head first. And Russ is informing me that he went down by himself. Oh boy. Well, either way at least they had fun today. Russ had fun disciplining Austyn about messing with the water cooler. Well, that is what I got from Russ about his day with the kids.

I had a good day at work. I met a patient who was a runner. He could run a quarter of a mile in 71 seconds (or something close to that), and he said he has slowed down with age. I asked him for some pointers for training to run faster and longer distances. He really inspired me. I was thinking about getting off of work and going running. And then I got off work at 9:30 pm and my feet and my legs hurt from being on them all day. Maybe I'll go running tomorrow before work. :/

I am thinking about letting myself have a pedicure if I stick with eating right for 2 weeks. I'm like a kid I do better with rewards. LOL.

All Russ is giving me for himself is "He is working on himself"

Blogruary

2011-02-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

Well here we go...I've always somewhat considered blog-a-day things that I've seen my other friends do. But never have actually committed. With moving away I feel like I should post more. Plus this month is the shortest month, so that makes it easier on me.

Today was my day off, and it seems that I try to fit everything I possibly can into a day off that I can. We are adjusting well enough. I miss being home with the kids. The kids seem to be just fine now with me leaving for work. It took Austyn about 2 weeks to adjust to that. After tossing up whether to enroll Penelope in dance class again or preschool, we decided to ask Penelope what she wanted more. She stated and begged to be in school. And then continued to say that she is going into 1st grade (her cousin, Emily, is in 1st grade). Russell tried to correct her to no avail, so we left her thinking she's going into 1st grade. I have 2 in mind, I toured one with her today and she loved it. I feel a lot better about preschools then the feelings I got from day cares. So we will have to wait till Austyn's 2 1/2 years old before he could go to this preschool.

Austyn climbed out of his highchair today and ended up with a big bruise on his forehead. He got a black eye from tripping while holding a cup and the cup lip hit the under part of his eye. He looks like he has been in a bar brawl. LOL. My poor baby. He sure is a toddler. But I guess he's a boy.

Russell is doing well. He is doing pretty good with the kids all day and taking care of the house. We recently got a program that goes over "fast carbs" and "slow carbs". If anything it will teach him more about a true diabetic diet. Hopefully we can start his schooling summer or fall at latest.

I am enjoying my career. Trying to work hard to loose the holiday weight plus maybe 5 or 10 more pounds that I didn't loose from last year. But I have a while before I hit the pool in a bathing suit. At least that is what I keep telling myself. I started a women's bible study today, Esther by Beth Moore. I've done it before but I don't mind doing it again. It's always tough being a women (the theme of the study). : )

Russell and I want to take our kids to the snow since it is so close to us about 1 hour away. Plus they got some snow outfits from my mom from Christmas. We went to Sports Authority today and got some awesome deals on some essentials we needed. The whole family still needs snow shoes, Russ still needs a jacket, and of course a sleigh. Plus I told Russ we needed some chains for our tires. And at that point he stopped in his tracks. LOL. I guess we will conquer that road when we get there. We still have to do more exploring of the area. There is a lot to do here. We are starting to remember more names of streets and their relation to one another, which helps a lot.

We most likely can't qualify for a home loan until I'm off the probation from being a new hire at work. We are still looking at listings. Now we have more time to save some money and get our bearings on the area. Of course in the meantime we are drooling over houses that we see.

We found a church that is slowly feeling like home. The people in the church have really welcomed us in and befriended us. Slowly we will find our nitch in the church in the mean time we are being blessed! :D

Off of us, I have a friend who gave birth today. Congratulations to the Loper family! They have entered into a family of 4 like us. So happy for them.

MMXI

2011-01-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

We met some friends and they introduced us to some other friends. Anyways, we were actually invited over to someone's house for New Years! Yay! We had a good time hanging out and playing games before the clock hit midnight. At which point Penelope turned into a pumpkin and was in desperate need for her own bed. LOL.

Here are some pictures from that night.

Penelope playing with some of the kids at the beginning of night a board game called Sequence. I took another picture of Penelope but she just kept telling me to "go away". By the way, we played the adult Sequence and it was fun. The women beat the men 3-0. Just sayin'.

Russ enjoying the game with the guys. Don't ask me who was playing. But I know it was football. And I learned at this point that there are a lot of different bowls. In my defense Russ doesn't remember which bowl it was either. LOL.

Paul and Kimberly

Robin and Gary (Robin is my co-worker in the OR)

Russ and I. Below is the best picture I have of Penelope. Sadly I just noticed I didn't take any of Austyn. He was asleep in the pack 'n play in the guest room by 8 pm. And I don't think I remembered my camera till after that. Poor guy, he's the second child. But there are going to be many more years to take pictures with him.

Family portraits

2010-12-22T21:11:00.000-08:00

I have a wonderful friend who took some amazing pictures of the family! She took some great candid shots too that I included. Some of them aren't in the right order but you can get the point. I highly recommend hiring her if you ever need a photographer.

We are doing pretty well adjusting in fresno. I made a friend at work who works in the OR at my work and she invited us to her church. Afterward we hung out at her house and the guys went and played Basketball. It was a lot of fun!

I really enjoy my work. People are really nice there. One of the hospital educators, who isn't into the Christian religion, stated she could tell there is a Christian spirit at this hospital. And then she stated, "You can tell the difference between people who believe in Christopher". She thought Christ stood for Christopher. I loved it! Right now I have been in a room a lot of the time studing and policies and procedures that I have to learn. Tomorrow I get my feet wet for at least half the shift. Woohoo! I have been burning the candle at both ends. I get up early for work and have several moments throughout the day where I am exhausted. My last time is right before the kids go to bed, but I am in need for the bedtime routine. And just as they fall asleep I get my second wind. Oh well, I'll get some sleep, hopefully....

Russell is adjusting to staying home with the kids. We are still waiting for his transcripts to come in the mail so we can get him on a waiting list. It will help the more we get out and get into a routine. We haven't quite figured that out yet.

Christmas time is here

2010-12-16T23:33:00.000-08:00

We got our tree up! See isn't it pretty. Yes it isn't exactly like the trees I have done in the past but this maybe took all of 1 hour to put up and together with of course the help of a little girl who put the decorations at only her eye level, no higher and no lower. It is a little more then the 3 foot tree I wanted to get that already had the tinsel on them. But those trees were really 1 foot at best and had a total of 3 decorations on them. So instead I got this. It made a little girl happy. Who, by the way, has been talking about a tree all this season. We might have to do a new Christmas tradition now that she seems to be old enough to help out. Austyn has been asleep so he hasn't seen anything yet but the lights, which he of course wanted to hold so we couldn't place them on the tree. At which point we took them from him to decorate the tree and he cried hysterically.

Penelope posing before the tree! LOL.

Here is the official picture of the tree:

Not a whole lot to report. We still have a little bit to unpack. But it's not been unpacked more out of procrastination then anything. We both love the new apartment. I think it is slightly bigger then our old place by maybe 100 or so more square feet but it seems bigger because we are all on one floor. Fresno has been treating us well. They are really nice here. The people I've met at the hospital are really nice. I'm just doing hospital orientation so far, but I'll start getting my feet wet on monday when I get to start orientation on the unit.

We tried to go to church wednesday, but the service was canceled for the holiday time. We ended up stopping by another church but haven't really found our new place to call "home". With the holidays around the corner it's going to be hard to get an idea on whatever church we "try out". Oh well....

In the mean time, Russell is learning his way around town a little. At least finding the grocery store, home depot, best buy, target, stuff like that. I am just learning my way around the hospital and probably just as confused as I was before going to the grocery store. Though I did find a Fresh and Easy. I love that place!

Journey

2010-12-02T15:36:00.001-08:00

I am recently reading a book called "One in a Million: Journey to your promised land" by Priscilla Shirer. At least reading several pages a week when I am have a moment of careless activity where I can just put my nose in a book with nothing else I can accomplish at the moment. However every time I pick it up it resonates within me. In one of the passages she elaborated about how God had promised a land of milk and honey. She thanked God of course for the milk. One of the choice "drinks" that could sustain infants and toddlers. Something that has so much nutritional value in one tall glass. However she was glad that God didn't stop there. That He didn't leave the promise land to simply a description of "milk". Because there are a lot of joyous things that honey bring. Honey, though it does carry some nutritional value isn't taken for its supplement to the diet. But merely for the outlook of flavor or enjoyment. He promised both a sustainability and a enjoyment. Bounds. Overflowing milk and honey.

With that said, as I enter into this new phase of my life. New town. New job. New people. New church. I follow God's leading to a place that He has for me. That from this vantage point seems as if the land I am to enter is flowing with milk and honey. The idea of all it has to offer I am holding onto with both fists. But when it comes to the 12 spies that went into the promise land. I would like to think that I am like Joshua or Caleb, firmly planted and sure of that providence. No wave in my faith. However, I fear I am not that firm. I don't think I am cowering away like the other 10 (which, sadly, for the most part are known as the other 10 spies). But somewhere in the middle. Somewhere in the middle, moving forward but all the time scared of the unknown and then scared of losing the unknown. So here I come LORD. The wavering one of little faith. The one who seems too scared sometimes to move forward but too scared to move back. Let me have faith like Joshua and Caleb. Let me be sure. Make me remember that one more assurance you already gave me. The so many answered prayers. The clear lighted path I am still scared to trot upon. Let me move forward, without being scared of the unknown or scared of losing it. Not in the middle, but standing firm like the two did that got the promise land for all it was, flowing with milk and honey.

We're moving

2010-11-26T13:11:00.000-08:00

(Above is one of the pictures from our annual family photos. But it seemed appropriate for the title of the blog.)

We are officially moving December 11th to the Fresno area (Central California). My parents have moved to the mountains above Fresno (Auberry) for about 4 years now, living there permanently for about 2. They offered to help us get into owning our own house up there. There the cost of a house is significantly cheaper then anything we could find in the south bay. After lots of prayer and people praying for us we decided to move forward and just see if something works out eventually. We debated waiting a year, waiting till spring, waiting till next summer. And in the end we decided to just put it out there, apply for some jobs and see what happens. It took me 2 months to find a job after being on maternity leave from Austyn and about 4 months to get a full-time position so Russ could go to school. But with this it was all a matter of a month. It all happened very quickly. But fairly early on it become apparent to us and several people around us that this WAS God. And I am not about to argue with God and His timing. So off we go.

Overall, this is so much more than I thought we would be able to do at this time in our lives. I didn't even imagine that we could buy a house right now. I know God is blessing us so abundantly. It's so much more then we could ever ask for ourselves. God is so good! We, of course, have always prayed down the road for God to let us buy a house and stuff of that sort. But it was far from do-able in the stage we were, in our minds at that time. When this came about. I was almost scared that my hopes would get ripped out from under me and I had to hold onto anything I could. As time has gone on I know that God is so providing this. I need to just stand and have faith. On our current trip up to the Fresno area we were trying to find an apartment (that we could stay in for 6 months to get our bearings on the city). Finally I was able to say on our trip up there that I KNEW God was going to provide our housing like He has provided in everything else. And sure enough within the first day of looking by early afternoon we were filling out the application of the apartment that we are going to move into in 2 1/2 weeks.

In the end I KNOW God has wonderful plans for us! Plans to prosper us, to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). It is so wonderful to know and be faced with God's perfect present to us. To say that, "Yes! Our God is so GOOD." All of this at times feels so surreal. The pure idea of this happening to us blows my mind. I'm just so thankful that God cares so much about me, about my family, and about anyone who truly seeks Him.

Austyn turns 1!

2010-11-26T13:01:00.000-08:00

Austyn is 1! Already! Can you believe it? Time surely does go by fast. We had his birthday party the saturday after his birthday at Eastview Park in San Pedro. It turned out to be a wonderful day, despite my concern of having an outdoor party in the middle of November.

Halloween

2010-11-26T12:57:00.001-08:00

For Halloween Penelope and Austyn dressed up like Minnie and Micky Mouse. : ) I'm going to try to dress them alike as long as possible. I think it is just too adorable! And Penelope wanted to be Minnie Mouse so that made it easy enough for Austyn. Here is a picture of them together. Afterwards we went to the Riviera with Travis, Sonya, and their son Evan. Then went door to door trick-or-treating in Redondo. It was Penelope's first time Trick-or-Treating or being exposed to any of that stuff. But it went quite well. I think it is tamer in some areas then in others.

Corn Maze

2010-11-26T12:00:00.001-08:00

(Here is my reckless attempt to get my blog up to date with the pictures in my camera)

Our family plus Russ' parents and our nephews and niece made our way to the Big Horse Feed Corn Maze. It's an annual tradition in our family. It's a fairly large maze. I believe it is the biggest one in southern California. You are trucking your way through corn fields with corn up to the top of your head. Trying to make it through the course. This is the first year we didn't finish, which is disappointing. But at least the crew gave it a try.

The kids had a lot of fun. Afterward we headed over to a restaurant and had a nice lunch before we took the 2 hour drive home.

There are a lot of fun activities there for kids. As you could see. : )

And of course the Stade clan goofing around.

the girls went on pony rides

Here are some pictures of the corn maze. I think we gave up looking for station 6 out of 10. The group made a quick decision and found the biggest break in the corn for an emergency exit. And then to take a break from walking the kids went in the jumper and then got their face painted. : )

The cousins minus Austyn who wouldn't sit down for his picture.

San Diego Fun Trip

2010-10-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Our family got to visit a dear friend from middle school and high school that now lives in San Diego with her husband. They are wonderful people and we had a great time. They have annual passes to the San Diego Zoo and had some free tickets and discounts to the San Diego wild animal park. It was all really fun. Here are some pictures of our trip.

The adorable couple! I look forward to hanging out with them again

Here Penelope is feeding some ducks and geese. But I'm sure they are called something more special then that. : ) After that we went for a bird show that showed a lot of cool and interesting birds.

Here is a picture of Austyn at lunch. We got him to smile. The other pictures of him at the different places he's looking so intense studying his environment.

Penelope feeding the lorikeets.

The wild landscapes where the wild animals roam.

waiting to go on the safari ride. Our friends helped watch the kids. I think their ready for one. Doesn't a kid fit perfectly in between them.

We got to get really close to animals. We walked around a lion enclosure to see this lion sleeping away. After a couple of minutes of watching her sleep she woke up suddenly staring us straight in the face. It was a little startling. LOL.

The next day we went to downtown San Diego, walked around, and went to a puppet show. Where we bought Penelope a marionette, which we are still trying to untangle. But it is so cute to watch her play with.

Disneyland 5K

2010-09-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Russell and I the Disneyland 5K earlier this month. It was awesome! We started at about the place where you go onto a tram from parking and then you ran through and around Disneyland, running through Sleeping Beauty Castle, and through and around California Adventure, ending there. It was like no other race! There was an array of different Disney music playing. There were characters that you can stop and take a picture with. It was AWESOME! (Did I say that already?) This was the first race that I got a finishing metal. Yay! Since I started I have been trying to get a finish metal, because lets be honest having a top finisher metal just isn't going to happen. There are people who finish the race in 15 minutes. That's 5 minutes a mile! That is like 12 mph!! And I'm in the class of 20-29. I can't compete with that.

Anyways I came in about 35 minutes. They had timers at each mile mark along the way and I was averaging about 11 minutes a mile (5.5 mph). So I probably was wasting about 2 minutes to get started with the crowds. But that isn't too bad. Russell came in at about 45 minutes. Which is great for his first ever 5K! That was the time for my first 5k too. He said he ran most of it averaging about 4 mph at 14.5 minute miles.

I can't wait to do the 1/2 marathon next year. The course for that also takes you into the streets of Anaheim and through the home plate of Angel's stadium. I can't wait to do that! I ordered pictures of this race since neither one of us could run and hold a camera very well. But my scanner has been broken for a while. So you will just have to come by and look at the scrapbook if you want to see the pictures. Let's just say Russell and I look like a hot couple there at the finish line. No I mean it we were hot and sweaty. : )

Church Luau

2010-09-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Every year we have been wanting to go to the Church Luau. And each year there is some conflict change. But this year WE MADE IT! It was a blast. I can't wait to go next year. It was amazing to see people being baptized. It's been a while since I guess I have been to a baptism. And the way the church did it was so meaningful. Here are some pictures of the activities.

Penelope and Katherine dancing (doing the dance moves from VBS) to the worship music. I don't remember if the worship music was actually playing some of the songs that they played in VBS or if they were just adapting the movements.

Theresa (Katherine's mommy) and me. She very graciously let us sit with her and her family. She is also training to run a 5K! Go Theresa!

the pastors baptizing someone. It was definatly a cool experience to be apart of. I was so blessed.

Palm Springs

2010-09-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our family vacation to Palm Springs. It was really fun and wonderful to get away. It was a expensive luxurious vacation but it was great to spend some family time. Russell who was a little hesitant to go to the middle of the desert, where it is extremely hot. I took charge to plan all our activities. We went to a water park, Aerial Tram, the outlets, El Paseo Shops and street, Temecula winery, Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, Downtown Palm Springs, Mini Golf, and the Apple Festival in Oak Glen. Needless to say the whole family had a great time. In fact Penelope was very upset to find out we were going back home and not to the hotel.

Oh, did I tell you, that we got a new car! Just in time for the road trip. And boy did it make a difference. We got the Toyota Sienna. It is beautiful. Russell traded in her Chevy Malibu and is taking over the Prius. *tear* I like that car. But man, you should see the room that we have in a minivan compared to a sedan. We had plenty of room to spare, instead of having every inch of free space taken with stuff. It was wonderful. And we took it for a good test drive. : )

Of course I can't show you each outing and activity but I can show you some highlights.

One of the cool things that we did, I mentioned above, was the Aerial Tram. Basically at the edge of Palm Springs near the mountain (at about 2,500 feet above sea level) and you take a ROTATING Tram up on cords to 8,600 feet above sea level. It was about 65 degrees during the day compared to the low 100's down below. We went for a hike and then had dinner. (A slight recommendation--go without the food. It was less then satisfactory).

Here are some pictures of fun in the water. Here is a picture of us at the water park.

Here are some pictures of Russell getting splashed by a big wave. He is the one on the far right. Ya, he wasn't having any fun. Look at the face at the bottom, complete misery. LOL.

I took so many pictures of everything we did. I took so many that my camera battery died the last day and had to buy a disposable camera for our trip to the Apple Festival. So here are a couple cute pictures of the kids. Because, let's be honest, they are the ones we love to see. : D

Oh, by the way we did Penelope's 3 year check-up. And she measured 39 lbs and 41 inches tall. The doctor said that she is about the size of the average 4 year old. (50% for a 4 year old is 40 inches tall.) So she is a big girl. She only got a flu shot and she didn't cry at all. She did great!

A couple of quick highlights for the trip. I got to pick grapes from a vineyard! I have always wanted to do that. We took a little bit longer then anticipated spontaneous trip to Temecula Winery. We thought it was rather close but ended up being a bit of a hike. Either way we got to one Winery before they closed and enjoyed conversing with them there. We arrived right as the manager harvester/ owner was leaving. I mentioned I have always wanted to pick the grapes and he willing let me have a go at it. Here is a picture of me picking the grapes. Plus, Russell reminded me that this year was a year that I was able to do a lot of fun things I have always wanted to do. Early this year, in spring, I was able to feed a giraffe.

I am glad I had the opportunity! One of those things you think about but never say a loud because you don't see it ever happening. I would love to actually ride a giraffe but I don't think that is done anywhere else but Africa. Maybe when Russell and I are empty nesters I will talk him into a trip to Africa. At this point I don't see it in our recent future. Here is a picture of the grapes I picked. The ones to the right are Sangiovese grapes, the ones in the middle are Cabernet, and the ones on the left are Petit Sirah. I imagined that the grapes would taste nothing like regular grapes. Well they do still taste like grapes, but you can tell the difference. You can defiantly taste the "wine flavor" that the grapes give in each grape. It was really cool!

Recent trip to DL

2010-09-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of a recent trip to Disneyland. At this point this is the only thing that we can attribute to Austyn contracting 3 day Measles (also known as roseola). (Being around large crowds.) At first I got really scared about it but later found out it wasn't as bad as measles. I had been working several days in a row when Austyn started having the fever. So Russell took Austyn to the doctor for me. But he is fine now. And we are on to life as normal. We still have to go back for his 9 month checkup, since he was ill when we brought him in. But his weight was 18 lbs 13 ozs. So he is a little underweight. At about 1 year they are suppose to triple your birth weight. He was born at 8 lbs. So he was some plumping up to do. With the vacation we just took, I would like to see how much weight he gained.

Mud Run

2010-08-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I did LA Mud Run at the Rose Bowl. It was actually 4 miles and since there is an obstacle course I didn't keep up with running the whole thing. But I ran most of it. During the second half of the race I realized that the first half had a steady incline which is why I was getting tired so quickly. That and it was HOT! Plus I had to crawl through mud. I finished in a horrible time of 1hr 2 minutes. Oh well...

I really did enjoy myself though. A friend of mine had done a mud run when I was pregnant with Austyn. And seeing pictures of her doing the run made me want to take up running after I had given birth. Plus I knew of someone who with wild ambition had considered doing a marathon. Which sounded like such a nice goal. I have adapted doing one in my life to complete my marathon career. I need to strive my running goal a little harder. I need something that is going to push me. But until I find that perfect 10K, I'm probably going to be doing it not as faithfully. Oh well, next Disneyland 5K in September.

Austyn's baby dedication

2010-08-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

We dedicated Austyn at our church, August 15th. It was really nice. It is always good to stand before your friends and family and remember that they truly belong to God.

I have been thinking lately about Proverbs 22:6 ("Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" NIV.) I have been doing the yearly reading plan with our church and am now in the section where the people of Isreal and Judah are being taken into captivity from King Nebuchadnezzer. It seems like all of God's chosen people can't pull themselves together for one minute to be, well, God's chosen people. Surely there must have been one family that trained their child right. Whether there was or there wasn't the bible makes it quite clear that we all have a free will. And my darling children let me know their free will all the time. When it comes to the important thing as living for eternity in heaven, I can not rest alone on my parenting skills to train up the child the right way. I need to rest in God. I need to always submit my children to God. Knock down heaven's door on their behalf. It doesn't mean that the scripture in proverbs isn't true. It is still very true. We should hold tight onto the promise from God. But also realize the constant need for a savior with our free will beings.

We picked out a life verse for Austyn: Psalms 18:32-36 NLT

32God arms me with strength;
he has made my way safe.
33He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
leading me safely along the mountain heights.
34He prepares me for battle;
he strengthens me to draw a bow of bronze.
35You have given me the shield of your salvation.
Your right hand supports me;
your gentleness has made me great.
36You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping

I am looking forward to seeing this life verse alive in Austyn, since I have been able to clearly see God's direction in the life verse that was chosen for Penelope. After the baby dedication we had everyone over for lunch. Overall, it was a really nice day.

VBS

2010-08-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

Right when the family was departing, VBS started at our church. We had a great time. This was mine and Penelope's second year, and Austyn's first. Penelope really got into it this year. We even got her the t-shirt and the worship CD which she likes to sing in the car. I helped out as the nurse. This is the second year that they have had a nurse and boy was there a change. This year there was a lot more "activity" for the on duty nurse. Next year I am defiantly going to have to organize and make a real "first-aid kit".

The theme this year was about Joseph from the book of Genesis. Most of the crew dresses up in full outfits. Each year I jokingly pick out which outfit I would want to wear and which one I wouldn't so much. LOL. But I am perfectly fine in my VBS t-shirt.

4 years of bliss

2010-08-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Russell and I were finally able to celebrate our anniversary without our kids. Something that is fairly difficult because we had a 3 day old for our first anniversary and July is such an active time of the year for us. This year we went down to Newport Beach and ate at the Chart House and then went for a gondola ride along the harbor. Then we went out for a nice cup of coffee in Belmont Shores. Next year 5 years. Can't wait to celebrate!

p.s. one of the added bonuses, I was able to fit into the dress I wore for our wedding rehearsal! Yay for loosing weight!

Disneyland

2010-08-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

We did acouple other days at disneyland with the family that was visiting. We had a great time. I hope uncle Tom doesn't mind if I post this. If you want to watch please pause the music on the lower right side.

Penelope's birthday Part 2

2010-08-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

For Penelope's actual birthday we took her to disneyland and got her an annual pass along with the rest of us. It was a great time. She got a birthday button and dressed up like Tinkerbell for most of the day.

Russell's family reunion

2010-08-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Russell's family had a family reunion as part of the celebration for his Grandma turning 80. Almost everyone was there. For a little get together they had everyone at Calvary Assembly for a pizza party.

Penelope's 3rd birthday!

2010-08-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

My baby girl turned 3! Wow does time go by fast. I'm glad to be out of the twos for sure. For the most part we have stopped with the tantrums. Every couple of weeks she will have a bad several days and she'll test her limits with the tantrums. But for the most part we are out of the woods. Which is so nice. We had her birthday party at Friendship park with about 40 people.

Independence day

2010-08-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

After the race that I run the morning of 4th of July we went home to get the kids down for a nap and then back out we went to Redondo Beach to visit Travis and Sonya. It was really all about their view. LOL. We really had a great time.

We really just hung out and ate a steak dinner from the BBQ. Evan and Penelope played happily. And Russ and I had uninterrupted (for the most part) adult conversation, which is always nice.

We sat on their balcony and watched 2 sets of fireworks. Plus a guy who right in front of us was lighting some illegal fireworks. His demeanor was so funny because he would sneak over to light it and then walk away so causally like all he been doing was taking a stroll. At least until 2 motorcycle cops showed up. But he escaped with them none the wiser.

4th of July Run

2010-08-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

My most local race was one along the beach of Redondo. This was the first race that I ran the WHOLE thing. Before I had run all must a couple of minutes. My timing didn't approve all that much but I still ran it all. It was really nice. Plus Travis and Sonya got to watch me pass by. They got some really cool pictures of Espanade full of people. Another great thing about this race is that they had you tie a chip to your shoe which kept track of when you crossed the start line and the finish line. Because there are so many people you are waiting through the muck to get to the start line. I finished this race in 34:56; a little over 5 mph.

my entourage

Austyn teething

2010-08-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

Austyn has been teething. And he has been doing quite well. For the most part he is just a little more fussy during the day and he might wake up one or two times at night. But he falls asleep pretty easily. Nothing that isn't doable to deal with. For practically a month he only had one bottom tooth. And then he popped out 5 more real quick. So I took a picture of his one tooth grin that I had gotten use to seeing. Now he has his two top teeth and four on the bottom.

Penelope's dance recital

2010-08-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. Since July was such a busy month everything kind of fell by the wayside. The next few posts are some highlights of our activities. This one is about her dance recital. She has been taking dance class (Tap and Tumble)
at the Dance Factory in San Pedro. I found out later that they are the old 'Stars' dance school that I use to go to. They had their recital at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and they did a tap routine to "I just can't wait to be King" from the Lion King. They were all dressed like little lions. It was so cute!

Hilarious

2010-06-25T23:06:00.001-07:00

Thought these were too funny to pass up.

Hint: turn the music off before you hit play (lower down the page to the right). : )

Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Disneyland passes YAY!

2010-06-14T22:04:00.001-07:00

Some adorable pictures of the kids at Disneyland. We have been having a blast. I am surprised at how much Penelope does not remember from Disneyland. And she is a lot more scared of the rides then last time. I'm hoping that it will just take time of her getting used to it. But there are so many fun things to do, we will do fine.

Father-Daughter Dance

2010-06-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

Russell and Penelope went to their first Father-Daughter Dance. The men's ministry at our church puts it on every year. It was so sweet. Penelope and I spent some time getting her glowing before hand. It was so sweet and heart breaking. I felt like I was sending my little girl off to prom. Geeze, they grow up so quickly.

5K at Huntington Beach

2010-06-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

I did another 5K at Huntington Beach. I had not trained one time that week so I didn't do as well as I thought. Plus I didn't have my ipod. So I did end up walking for about a quarter mile of the run. I finished at about 34 minutes and 58 seconds. Which is beating my last run by a couple of minutes. I have since then am able to run the whole 3 miles and am working towards the idea of a 10K. I think my final goal is to do a marathon once. By then maybe I don't need incentives to run races each month to keep me accountable. But there has been many times where I know I would have stop training if I didn't have a run coming up.

San Diego Trip (lots of photos)

2010-06-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I have posted. I have wanted to but have not had the time to do so. Since I last posted. Our little family went on a quick trip down to San Diego. Austyn has started to crawl, pull himself up on furniture, and babel and eat more foods. Penelope and Russell went to a father-daughter dance. I did another 5K in Huntington Beach, where I almost ran the whole thing. But now I am able to run 3 miles and am working towards 4 miles. 10 K someday. Just because I have so many photos I'm going to try to separate the posts so it doesn't sit as a draft too long.

Anyway here are some pictures of our extended weekend trip down to San Diego.

We stayed in La Jolla and at the Embassy Suites. On the top floor. Behind us is the view from our room.

Penelope and Russell relaxing on the bed.

We took a trip to San Diego Zoo.

Austyn in his stroller, anxiously awaiting to see all the wildlife.

Russ and Penelope at the Zoo

Penelope on our bus tour outside the new Elephant Odyssey

Plus I got to feed a giraffe. It was so cool!

We also went to a bird show. Here we are awaiting the start.

The birds would fly from all directions. None of their wings were clipped. But they were defiantly too fast for me to cetch with my camera. I have a lot of blurry shots of scenes of the audience. This is one bird coming in for a landing.

our family outside the Elephant Odyssey

We also went and toured the USS Midway

Russell and Penelope is the Midway Brigg (i.e. jail)

looking at the controls for the ship

Austyn in pilot gear

the view from one side of the landing of the ship toward the San Diego sky line.

We also spent some time at the Hotel pool. This was Austyn's first time in a pool.

the adorable girl!

After a fun time at San Diego on our way back we spent a little time at Disneyland. Did I tell you we renewed our annual passes? Ya, we totally caved! We only lasted about 7 months without one. We are hard core. LOL.

growing up

2010-05-07T16:03:00.001-07:00

Austyn is going to be 6 months on Monday! Can you believe that !?! Time flew by! We started feeding him, home-made sweet potatoes. I think next we will do rice cereal and then maybe avocados if they are in season and available. He is already army crawling around like a pro. Getting into all sorts of stuff. He loves eating paper. It doesn't matter if it is a little scrap found on the ground or tearing pages out of a book to eat. Ya, that's one of those things you need to be watching. He is also sitting up well now, with only the rare topple over. My 6 months doctors appointment is on Friday so I'll be able to give you his stats then. He is the most adorable boy! Below is a picture of him eating for the first time.

And who could forget about the princess. She is really getting good at smiling and posing for the camera, isn't she? It's always nice when they actually look at you when you take the picture isn't it? She is 2 1/2 months away from turning 3, can you believe that? I don't think I'm ready for my baby to get older. I'm so sad. They grew up too quickly.

donate life results

2010-05-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

I finally got my results back from last race. And I came in at 37:18 for the 5K. It was really hot that day and the race kept circling around the area so I lost track of where the finish line was. So next race I'm going to try to shave off 2 minutes and come in closer to 35 minutes. If I'm doing my math right I'm averaging a little under 5 mph. Cause I'm walking and running still part of it the more I train to run longer the quicker I'll be. My next race is May 30th in San Diego.

getting disciplined

2010-05-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well after working Friday and Sunday then having a family fun packed day on Saturday the house is in a less then par condition. (Even though Russell was able to fold laundry and do the dishes Sunday before I got off). In any case, my morning has been full of putting the crayons away that were in the bathroom and such. How did those get in there anyways? But today, the start of a week for me, has got me thinking about disciplines as I try to slowly get the house back in order.

Some of you might know that I have been struggling with my milk supply. I have been doing fine at home but at work it has been coming up short. After talking to a dear friend, who happens to be a lactation consultant, that I swear was heaven sent. I went off my diet and started taking herbs and doing all I can to get it going again. Yesterday was my first day that I felt I got a little bit of a handle. Even though my supply in the freezer is pretty much gone I'm at least getting the amount that I should be making while at work. I'm not saying we are out of the hole yet, so keep on praying. But while doing all that, I think I gained 5 lbs this last week because of all the extras I allowed myself. I kept thinking in my head that I'm not going to get this later so I might as well enjoy those french fries, chocolates, pizza, whatever. Geeze, did I enjoy it, a little too much. I'm hoping that the weight will come off easy. Maybe it's water weight from all the extra sodium in that food. That would be pleasing to get it all off in one week that it took to get it on. So either way I'm back to working on my diet. (At the same time monitoring my milk supply).

Also for a while now I have been shy to admit that my daughter watches too much television. So I'm going back to the APA recommendation of only 1 hour a day max. So far so good. My biggest problem is a habit I did when I lived alone so many years. I would turn on the television even when no one was watching it, so I don't feel alone in the house. Even though I made sure the background noise was news or something so it wouldn't be for Nelly it still added. If I get the yearning for it, I'm just going to have to put music on or something.

House in order, diet intact, kids getting healthy entertainment, I'm hoping for a good flowing day tomorrow.

FIVE K

2010-04-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

I did it! Well at least I finished. I did my first 5K, but my friend and I weren't able to run the whole thing but we did run a lot. We are planning another one May 1st (Donate Life 5K/1K Run/Walk). In any case it was so exciting to have people cheer you on. It was so energizing.

Easter

2010-04-23T21:56:00.001-07:00

Sorry this is a little late. But here are some pictures of our fun activities around Easter.

Here are some pictures of decorating Eggs with the kids. It was our first time doing it together. Nelly didn't get the idea of decorating the eggs in stages. First dying then stickers and what not. She was very upset with the dying was over. But she got over it quickly. I didn't know what we were going to do with them. We do a Easter Egg hunt with our church. Nelly had the great idea of giving some to her cousins, which I thought was very thoughtful. The rest I ate, after Easter, of course. YUM!

Here are some pictures of the Easter Egg hunt at Veterans Park in Redondo.

And for our family we have been doing the Sunrise Service with our church for 4 years. It is really nice. And I am starting to warm up to the idea this year that it isn't a complete ungodly hour...but close.

And of course, I think we are the only family. That after we go do church for the morning get into our sunday's best for family dinner. When we meet with Russ' family everyone else is getting comfortable we are all getting dressed. LOL. I thought about it this year, possibly not dressing up. But Nelly is really into wearing dresses and anytime it fits, well it's better then her wearing that gorgeous dress when we are planning a costco run and then the park, you know?

Baby Awesome

2010-03-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

Austyn recently turned 4 months (I know I'm a little behind). During the doctor visit he weighed 15lbs. 6 ox and 26.5 inches long. Of course he is in the 95% for his height and 75% for his weight. Yes we make tall children. LOL. Here are also some pictures of him lately. He has been turning over on both sides. He is positive that he is going to crawl and really he is only able to scoot a couple of inches mostly to chase after a baby wipe bag. (I think he likes the crunchy sounds it makes). He is almost able to sit up by himself but really needs some supportive pillows. He laughs all the time as you can see from these pictures. He is such a happy little boy and is his father's son. And a friend of mine kids mispronounce baby Austyn's name as Baby Awesome. So this is Baby Awesome's 4 month photo shoot from his mother. : )