28

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

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

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

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

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

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.....

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.