manipulative thinking skills

Isaac had the most ridiculous poopy blowout today after his nap. I went into his room to get him up and there was just poop everywhere. Seth and Lilah were in Lilah's room playing with her new makeup. I started working on getting the poop cleaned up and was right in the middle of bathing a wiggling Isaac when Seth and Lilah got into a full on wrestling fight over lip gloss (I know, there's a lot wrong with that statement. But I think Seth was wanting to put Lilah's makeup on her for her). So I yelled from the bathroom that they were both to go downstairs to the playroom immediately until I could deal with them. I finished bathing Isaac and got to a stopping place on the poop clean-up and both big kids were still in Lilah's room.  I went in and told them that the consequence for their disobedience was that they would each lose their favorite toy for the rest of the day. It was easy to choose Lilah's favorite toy... she has walked around looking like a prostitute since Friday, so I took away her makeup. Seth immediately said, "mommy, my favorite toy is not Woody (from Toy Sory), it's Buzz. (Buzz was his favorite toy LAST Christmas, and while he still enjoys it, it has lost its luster and I know that) I told him I did not believe that Buzz was his favorite toy. So he said, "ok... but it's still not Woody, it's Wall-E (his 2nd favorite toy this Christmas) I took away Woody. I have to admit though that I was impressed with his thinking ability to choose to offer up the Wall-E because he really does love Wall-E and he knew that I just might fall for that one. =)

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. The kids are finally old enough to really get into it. We ate pizza and watched Polar Express together on Christmas Eve, read the story of Jesus and then set cookies out for Santa. The kids scurried to bed and Josh and I enjoyed the next few hours getting stuff set up... and eating cookies. =) The kids didn't wake up until 7:30am, which we though was pretty fantastic considering how excited they were. We heard Seth get up and tip toe downstairs... silence... and then the whispered, breathy expression that defines the magic that is Christmas... "wow." He ran upstairs and woke us all up and we all came downstairs to open gifts together. (except for Isaac, he had a cold and slept until 10am.That's why he is not in the pictures) The kids got some great toys this year and they have been totally entertained ever since Christmas day. We relaxed for the morning, ate some gluten-free pumpkin pancakes (interesting...) and then got ready to drive to Sidney for Christmas with the Newman family. We had a great time with nina and papa and uncle Dave and uncle Dan and Aunt Lauren. We really missed the Newman cousins this year and the kids were bummed when they couldn't see them at nina and papa's house to play with toys together. But overall, it was a great Christmas with family, celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We spent the month of December really discussing the meaning of Christmas because I really see Christmas as a teaching time. Dec 25 is the symbolic day of the year that we can truly just celebrate Christ's birth and ultimately the gift of salvation He gave to us... and the whole world stops for it. It's magical. And I won't minimize the importance of that. Christmas is ultimately a unifying holiday that brings people and families together for worship of the Savior. Magical. The kids do enjoy gifts from Santa and we spend extra time throughout the month learning the real story of Saint Nicholas and his ministry and that the gifts are all a part of the celebration to remind us that JESUS was born to bring us the greatest gift of all, salvation from our sins for those who call Him Lord of their lives. So, I LOVE Christmas and I love passing down the fun, meaning, and magic of Christmas to my children. I hope all of our friends and family felt the magic of Christ's birth this last week as well. =)

"An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an "extra" on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. The sheep would have been forgotten, and the shepherds would have slept the night away. But God dances amidst the common. And that night he did a waltz." --Max Lucado

You know your a doctor's kid when...

The other day we were visiting with extended family and they aked Seth what he wanted to be when he grew up. He replied, "A daddy!" And they said "yes, but what to do you want to do fo your job? Do you want to be a doctor like your daddy?" Seth looked at them very confused and said incredulously, " A daddy IS a doctor." (duh...) In all fairness to Seth, he barely knows anybody who's daddy is not a doctor. His papa is, his uncle is (the uncle with 4 kids), ALL of his friends from Columbus had doctor daddy's, and it is just now that he is old enough to encounter and remember the people who are not doctors. He just assumes that when people say they're working, they are at the hospital. =)

fun day at school

Seth's preschool teaher encourages parents and grandparents to share special talents and resources with the class. So Vicki offered to bring an ambulance from her work and do a demonstration with the kids. They LOVED it! Seth was beyond excited that his grandma was the special surprise that day and that it was such a cool surprise. Lilah got to come as well and demonstrate how the gurney works and both of the kids got to take turns driving around in the ambulance strapped into the gurney. Fun day! After the demonstration, the teacher commented that we must feel so secure having a grandma that's a paramedic and a daddy, papa, and uncle who are doctors, in case the kids ever get hurt. I agreed wholeheartedly and then just 2 days later we had to put th medical expertise to use when Lilah banged her face on the wooden arm of the couch. I wasn't sure if she needed stitches or if she'd boken her nose. Fortunately, I didn't have to take her to the ER to find out. We just popped over to the hospital to visit daddy and find out that she was fine. =)

2009 at a Glance

The year 2009 has been another big year for the Vicena family. We began the year with 6 week old baby Isaac and have enjoyed the adventure of becoming a family of five. In January, Josh was offered a position in a urology program up in Detroit, MI. We accepted and began preparing for the move from Columbus, OH to Michigan. While we were very excited for the new career oportunity and felt that it was an option that God literally dropped into our laps, the prospect of moving was diffcult. We spent the Spring months of 2009 soaking up every last minute we could with our wonderful friends in Columbus. In June we made the move (with some major help from family and some of the BEST friends in the world) to Michigan. We spent July and August enjoying the summer and getting unpacked and settled into our new house. August brought a fun chance to meet up with our dear friends, the Ross girls, at my parents' house for a couple of days. That was a major highlight for the kids and me as we were all pretty homesick for Columbus. Another major highlight was our big trip to Rochester, NY to see my brother, Ben, and his wife and kiddos. We had such a great time on our first big cousin vacation! Then we were greeted by my friends from college, the Linds and Galmarinis, when we got back to Michigan for labor day weekend. The big adventure in September was Seth beginning school. He LOVES it! And I love to see my big boy's excited face every day as he tells me all about his day at school. We enjoyed the Fall with some fun family get togethers, trick or treating, and time with friends. God has blessed us with some good friends from our ORU days here in Michigan and the Neufeldts have been huge for helping us transition to Detroit. We are loving the time we get to spend with them now that we live close! Another great weekend for me was a women's retreat I attended with my mom. We had a great time growing in the Lord, staying in hotels, going shopping, and then I was lucky enough to get to see several of my Columbus, doctors wife, girlfriends for coffee and dessert. That did my heart good and I needed it. (Thanks girls!) Thankgiving brought tons of excitement with Josh's sister visitng and my brother, Dan, and his wife surprising us with a visit. We jumped right into the Christmas spirit in December and have enjoyed just spending time as a family and talking more about the incredible gift of Jesus 2000 years ago. While the past couple of months have brought a couple mildly stressful situations; like Seth's possible dignosis of cerebral palsey, Lilah's first major facial injury, and Isaac swallowing velcro (yes, we are still waiting for that to pass)... it has ultimately been a blessed time with family. I am hoping the year 2010 brings many more joyful times together and that we contiue to get settled into Michigan and find our place here. We're still kind of working on that. The year 2009 wasn't the easiest year, but we learned that God is faithful and that He provides and that He works out every little detail. So Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends and may 2010 be a great year for all of us! Love you!

"Something good is going to happen..."

So as many of you know, I attended Oral Roberts University for undergrad. My dad attended the ORU med school back in the early 1980s and my husband and two brothers also attended ORU. Needless to say, I grew up with a little bit of Oral permanently lodged into my heart and mind. Oral Roberts started his medical school with a passion for "merging the healing power of medicine and prayer." This vision is perhaps one of the main reasons Oral is so revered by my family. Coming from a family of doctors and standing at the beginning of my husband's medical career, the idea that medicine and God's power go hand in hand is a concept Josh and I are passionate about. Oral began his ministry after his own miraculous healing of tuberculosis at age 17. He went on to pastor churches and host crusades where he reminded people that our God is a healing God. Oral Roberts was the first minister to bring the message of God's healing power and salvation to the masses through television. He's written more than 130 books and founded Oral Roberts University. Oral Roberts' ministry has forever changed the concept of reaching people for Christ. He has changed the world.  For anyone who has not seen the news today, Oral Roberts passed away yesterday at the age of 91. We are certainly thinking of his family and close friends right now who are grieving and missing their dad, grandpa, and friend. However, I have to see Oral's death as being an event of great joy for a man who's body was wearing out and who is now in his perfect, heavenly body with his Lord and with his "darling wife, Evelyn."

When I was a senior in high school and looking at colleges, I made a trip to Tulsa, OK to visit family and my parents made me tour ORU while we were there. I was not interested in going to ORU, but I humored them. I toured the gaudy, gold campus that looked like it was straight out of the Jetsons. It was designed to be futuristic back in 60s, but architectural style still has not quite caught up with the honeycomb details and pointed arches of the ORU campus. It's almost laughable. But then you drive by the giant praying hands and you get that gut-churning feeling... that one that tells you you have just entered someplace special. The ORU tour takes you through the prayer gardens and to the prayer tower where somebody is praying, 24 hours a day, for all the requests that pour into the ministry. You see the flame burning above as a symbol of the ever-present power of the Holy Spirit and you feel it even more, it's like electricity... it's not JUST someplace special... you can feel the actual presence of God. You know immediately that these grounds are almost sacred. Yes, it is a university where thousands of young people have goofed off, pulled pranks, stayed up all night cramming for tests, flooded the dorms to make human slip and slides, and done their fair share of complaining. BUT... it is also a place where young people gather in the prayer gardens for spontaneous worship times with just their voices and a guitar and a place where students would gather around to pray for a struggling friend in the dorm rooms. The grounds of ORU have been a place where students were trained to be a whole man; mind, body, and spirit, and where they could discuss their faith openly and share new ideas and challenge old ones. It's a place where young men and women learned not only their course material, but also how to take their faith into every man's world, whether it's the office, a hospital, their homes, or capital hill (and yes, ORU grads are in all of those places). The grounds of ORU have birthed vision...thousands of visions in young people who then went out into the world to accomplish the thing that God called them to. Oru has been the training ground of alumni who started too many ministries to name, many of which have absolutely changed the world forever. And when you think about all of it and the vision upon which Oral Roberts University was founded, it's difficult not to feel chills at the power of God on that campus, that training ground, that holy place. The heart and sould behind ORU can be summed up in the statement that God gave Oral many many years ago:

"Build Me a university. Build it on My authority and on the Holy Spirit. Raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is seen dim, My voice is heard small, and My healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well pleased."

Needless to say, I changed my mind about ORU that Fall day in 1998. I finished my tour of the ORU campus with the presentation about Oral Roberts and his ministry in the visitor center at the base of the prayer tower and God moved my heart, very simply... I knew that I was to go to ORU. I'm thankful I did. I enjoyed my education in Communications at ORU and learned lifelong lessons from teachers and friends that had nothing to do with the classroom. But isn't that what learning really is, afterall? So on this day after the passing of a man who committed his life to bringing the healing power of God to people, and who started a university that trained so many of us to "hear God's voice and to GO where His light is seen dim and His voice is not heard, and His power is not known" ... I want to say thank you, Chancellor Oral Roberts. Thank you for teaching us to "Expect a Miracle!" and to believe that because we serve a great God, "something good is going to happen."

Some interesting quotes from and about Oral Roberts:

"Oral Roberts was a man of God, and a great friend in ministry," the Rev. Billy Graham said in a statement Tuesday. "I loved him as a brother. We had many quiet conversations over the years."
Note: Rev. Billy Graham dedicated Oral Roberts University in 1963

"If God had not in his sovereign will raised up the ministry of Oral Roberts, the entire charismatic movement might not have occurred," said Jack Hayford, president of the California-based International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, in the statement. "Oral shook the landscape with the inescapable reality and practicality of Jesus' whole ministry. His teaching and concepts were foundational to the renewal that swept through the whole church."

Before his death, Roberts said, "After I'm gone, others will have to judge how well I've obeyed God's command not to be an echo but to be a voice like Jesus," the statement said. "As far as my own conviction is concerned, I've tried to be that voice with every fiber of my being, regardless of the cost."

Princess and The Frog

So this is just a very quick post as it is 1 am and I don't have time to really catch up right now (I will try to do that soon)... But I wanted to post this fast as a heads up to other moms of "princess wanna-be's" who might be planning to see the new Disney Princess and The Frog movie. We took the bigger kids on Friday night. I will start by saying that the story and characters, etc. were super cute! Really great concept infused with a lot of great cultural influence from New Orleans/jazz/etc. I LOVED that princess Tiana is one of the first Disney princesses who finds success based on the principle of hard work and not just wishing on a star... (or being pretty and having a nice singing voice). HOWEVER ..... the villain in the movie was WAY too much for us. I realize that there will certainly be lots of differing opinions on this subject and lots of parents will be fine with it. But we nearly walked out of the movie. The villain is a voodoo doctor who does tarot card readings, has voodoo dolls, and a talisman with the prince's blood. When his evil plot begins to fail, he calls on the help of his "friends from the other side" or demon like spirits. His payment for their help is the promise to give them access to all the wayward souls in New Orleans once he gains power. And when his plans goes completely awry, his blood debt is his own wayward soul. The villain's scene ends with his screaming, horror-filled face being dragged into the flames of what I can only assume must be hell. His gaping mouth of terror is etched into his own tombstone, leading Seth to ask the question "mommy,why was that pirate so sad on the hard wall?" Let me just say, I wasn't quite ready to explain the spiritual realm to that extent of horrifying detail to my 4 year old. We simply said that the man was very bad and made bad choices and his conequence was that he had to go be with the bad people and he was upset about it. I am hopeful that most of the stuff went over the kids' heads and that they won't even remember it. And like I said, I know that some parents would be fine with the movie. I personally felt like it was simply too real. This was no "bippity boppity boo" Disney magic or wave a magic wand and the villain turns you into a toad kind of magic. Voodoo is a very real witchcraft that a lot of people fully practice. It is a very dark, sinister, and evil kind of magic that is actually put into use by people and those people believe that it works and is real. True witchcraft is not somethng to be made light of in my opinion and is definitely not something I want my young children exposed to. I wasn't really planning to take the kids to see a Disney princess movie and then have to have a real conversation about demons and hell and fortune-telling afterwards. Just too much for us. And the kids found it to be scary, especially the parts with the "spirits from the other side." Needless to say, The Princess and The Frog will NOT be joining our Disney video collection. bummer.

holiday fun

So I thought I'd add a quick update following the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Josh was on call so we had to stay in Michigan, but we were lucky that family came up so we didn't have to be alone. Josh's sister was in town for the past couple of weeks from Tulsa. We loved getting to spend more time with Vanessa and the kids had blast getting to play with cousin Victoria. My parents planned to come up with my granddpa, so we were excited that we would still get Thanksgiving with family and the grandparents. It was my first time really hosting a big Thanksgiving where I actually planned everything and handled the majority of the cooking and housed people... the whole shibang! I started cooking on Wednesday and planned to have everything wrapped up that night when my parents came in because we were going to order pizza and all snuggle to watch the new Disney move, Up. (BTW, BEST movie out there right now!) So, I was in the kitchen finishing the stuffing and I was on the phone with my mom who was about an hour away from the house. Suddenly, the dog started barking and we hear a knock on the door. (odd, because we were not expecting anyone at tht moment) So, Vanessa opened the door and I hear gleeful screaming from all of the kids (including Josh) and then see Josh run across the foyer and leap (yes, leap) full body into another man's arms. As it turned out, my brother and his wife had driven all the way from Virginia Beach to surprise us for Thanksgiving. BEST SURPRISE EVER! So we got to have Dan and Lauren with us as well and it was awesome. We very much missed the other boys though. Dave is stll in China. He enjoyed mongolian barbeque for Thanksgiving (with dog meat, which is apparently kind of a specialty meat over there). And then Ben and Sarah and the kids were in NY where Ben was working most of the holiday. His first big holiday as a doctor... working... typical. We also celebrated Isaac's first birthday during dessert because half of the family was out of the country on his actual birthday. He enjoyed his carrot cake cupcake, aside from the moments when nearly suffocated himself by shoving icing up his nose. But once we cleared out his nostrils, he enjoyed his cake. =) We decorated the Christmas tree and the house last weekend and are full-blown in the Christmas spirit around here. We've spent the rest of the week just hanging with Josh's sister and now that she has headed back to Tulsa, we are gearing up to do our Christmas shopping. Not terribly exciting, but that's the recent happenings around here. Happy holidays! Here's few pics from the past week.

Isaac was not so sure about everybody singing loudly and staring at him during Happy Birthday.

Seth was in the Christmas spirit. We found him like this the night we decorated the tree.

And not to leave out Lilah... on her way up for a bath. She's ready if butt cleavage ever makes a comeback (not that we would let her out of the house like that) It's funny because the poor thing always looks like this. She just can't seem to keep that tucked into her pants, ever.  =)

One thing I'm thankful for

In recognition of this Thanksgiving holiday I would like to pay tribute to just one of the things that I am so thankful for. That would be friends. Great friends. The kind of friends who you can laugh with, cry with, go into battle with, and if need be, huddle together into the corner on the floor of your kitchen while you slurp down cold tomato soup in an attempt to hide from your children.  ...   So, this last weekend my very good friend, Ruth, came up for a visit... with her 3 children. Add that to my 3 and we had a very busy weekend with 6 children age 7 and under. It was fun and my kids enjoyed having some other kids around to play with. But anytime you get 6 kids together in a house for a whole weekend, things have a tendency to be loud and little chaotic. =) At some point around Saturday evening, I think, Ruth and I stopped really even trying to talk because we realized it was a futile effort that would result in being interrupted in exactly 3 seconds by some child who had been wronged, or hurt, or was about to be wronged or hurt. There are very few friends that are good enough to hole up with along with all of your offspring together. But Ruth is one of them. And I am thankful for those kinds of friends. At one point we had fed the kids their grilled cheese sandwiches and were out of chairs, so we sat on the floor of the kitchen and tried to have a conversation while the kids ate. Ironically enough, we were discussing how sometimes we felt that we had lost a certain sense of identity outside of being a mom. We love our children and are grateful to be able to stay at home with our kids. But there is a huge fear that we will have nothing to talk about outside of kids and mommyhood. Someimes you feel like you do very little of significance when you spend the majority of your day wiping bottoms and doing laundry. When we were young and we dreamed about what we wanted to do with our lives, we always knew we wanted to be moms and that we wanted to stay home with them.  But it never really dawned on us that there would be little else we would be able to do, at least for this phase of life. Motherhood is so all-consuming and sometimes you just wonder if making babies and taking care of babies was meant to be your whole exisistence. (By the way, your doubts, fears, and failures as a mother are also things that can only be shared with the dearest of friends. Just one more reason I'm thankful for the kinds of friends God has blessed me with) Anyways, We were expressing our deepest desires of taking a shower without having to jump out wet and naked to check on a screaming child, or of eating a hot meal, or finishing a conversation, or sleeping until 9am when Seth ran into the kitchen (yes, they had found us by this time) and announced with peals of laughter "Lilah pooped and it's EVERYWHERE! Is that so funny????" Ruth and I burst into laughter (mine might have been a little mixed with tears since the pooper was my kid), which Seth took as a validation that it was, indeed, so funny. In reality, that was the laugh of two women who had finally been driven past the brink and into the realm of insanity. I cleaned up the poop, we took the kids outside to play, and then made a trip to McDonalds for dinner before Ruth left for home. It was a great time with a "kindred spirit" kind of friend. That's a shoutout to Anne of Green Gables fans, which I am. If I am Anne Shirley, Ruth is my Diana Barry. If you have not seen Anne of Green Gables and have no idea what I am talking about, you MUST watch it. It's the best girl movie ever. So my kindred spirit friend and I survived, and 2 days, 3 boxes of mac and cheese, several pots of coffee, and I'll admit, one long island iced tea later, we are planning our next get together to be children free at a hotel in Toledo for some shopping and girl movies. =) Although, our kids barely survived, Malachi has a self-induced black eye from a bouncy ball and toy to the face, Seth has a nasty knock on the back of the head from a sword fight on the bed gone wrong, and Peyton has the winner of the hematomas for the weekend with a wicked goose egg right above her eye after falling between the benches at McDonalds. ouch... So here's to the many friends in life God has blessed me with who have been there, helped me create the best memories, and make every day more fun and survivable. Love you all!

Lunch with the kids

We are having kind of a lazy day today. Just playing and hanging out for the most part. So when lunch rolled around I had the time to try to think about a way to make a healthy lunch that the kids would eat. They wanted eggs so I decided to make them egg sandwiches. We had some steamed green beans for dinner last night so I chopped up the left overs and scrambled them into the eggs for the sandwiches. Seth HATES green beans. It's the one food we usually don't even force him to try anymore. So I was skeptical that he would actually eat this sandwich. He's not blind, afterall. It turns out he could be, however, colorblind. He gobbled down the sandwich. Loved it! Lilah even told him there were green beans in it. He said that she was not telling the truth and I just told him it was eggs, cheese, and mustard. And then he asked me what those "red" things were inside his sandwich. I said it was a vegetable and changed the subject. We have been looking for signs of color blindness in my boys because it is genetically very possible that they could be color blind, or more accurately, color deficient. All of my brothers are color deficient and the gene is carried on the x chromosome, so I may very well be a carrier. Seth's is not quite old enough to officially have tested for it, so we don't know for sure. But if red green beans are an indication... well, enough said. =) Seth and Lilah each ate an entire 2 egg sandwich, an orange, and then some pudding because they said they were still starving. They have grown into their big appetites for sure. Gone are the days of sharing food off mine and Josh's plates. On Sunday, they each ate a hamburger from McDonalds, 5 chicken nuggets and fries. On Saturday they each ate 4-5 pieces of apple breakfast cake and 5 sausage links. And we are cutting them off because they are constantly saying they're still hungry. It's crazy! So today I happily watched the kids scarf their sandwiches and orange slices and listened to them tell me stories about their imaginary pets. Seth has a pet lizard that peed all over the house yesterday and needs to be punished, apparently. And Lilah has a pet butterfly that poked her in the eye with a graham cracker and then climbed onto her sandwich, so she ate it.  hmmmm..... I just asked them to get better control over their naughty, invisible pets and dropped it. And just so that Isaac doesn't get left out... His newest thing is that everytime he wakes up in the morning or at naptime he lets me know by standing up in his crib and slamming it against the wall until I com get him. If Seth is the imaginative one, Isaac is his brutish, physical counterpart. Although he does seem to have something of a sensitive side because I often find him pulled up to the piano, playing the keys and singing along with his tune. cute. =)

yucky week

Our kids have been sick, sick, sick this past week. We're pretty sure they have had croup. Fortunately, Isaac has not seemed to catch it. He's the one it would be most dangerous for. Lilah is still really sick. Seth is feeling better. This morning Seth got up, washed his face with soap and water, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and got dressed. He then chastised me for still being in my pajamas at 9am. Yes, he's feeling better. =) It's been a rough few days though. Lilah got sick first and has stayed sick the longest. On Saturday Seth was feeling really badly and developed a nasty conjunctivitis. So Josh went to get eye drops that we had in the cupboard to treat him. We put the eye drops in and Seth FREAKED OUT saying that they stung. We were only able to get one round of drops in each eye. So about an hour later we had to put in another round of drops. Seth went nuts again and we were like "why is he freaking out about this? These shouldn't really hurt?" So Josh put a drop in his own eye and said it was horrible. He took a closer look at the bottle and realized he had been putting ear drops from Seth's last ear infection in Seth's eyes. No wonder. oops. Way to go Dr. Vicena. We felt terrible. It was a Bausch and Lomb container and Josh just missed the little ear picture on the side. I don't think Seth will ever let daddy live that one down as he has told everyone in the family about it and still talks about the stinging drops that daddy shouldn't have put in his eyes. lol... Other than that, the weekend has been pretty uneventful and has mostly just been laying around watching movies. The one highlight was yesterday afternoon. Lilah was having a particularly rough day yesterday and really just slept on the couch ALL DAY. She only got up a couple times to vomit mucous from the coughing. Seth was doing better so he went to the store with Grandma to get more ibuprofen. He came home with pink carnations for Lilah and presented them to her with a smile and a hug. Lilah was thrilled and hopped up immediately to put them in water. She gave Seth a hug and a kiss and felt so special. She felt like such a little princess and I thought it was nice that her first flowers from a boy were delivered by her very caring and sweet big brother. Precious mom moment. =) So, today we are all staying home for one more day and resting and then I will be wiping down and Lysoling the entire house!

apple pie

We were having some friends over last night from Josh's residency program and wanted to make an apple pie to use up some of the apples we have picked. I didn't really feel like a crumble topping so I looked online for a good apple pie recipe without a crumb topping and found this one on allrecipes.com. It had almot 900 reviews and was rated 5 stars so I gave it a shot. It was absolutely delicious. The best apple pie I've ever tried. So here is the recipe and a pic of my pie. I use the store bought roll out pie dough to make it even easier but I'm sure it would be even better with a homemade crust. Just thought I'd pass it along. =) Also, I tried a hot apple cider recipe from allrecipes.com that was fantastic and here is that recipe as well. I didn't have any cheesecloth on hand or whole cloves and spice berries so I just put all of the ingredients directly into the cider and used normal clove spice and allspice. But it was still great.

Pie: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grandma-oples-apple-pie/Detail.aspx

Cider: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hot-apple-cider/Detail.aspx

A serious medical problem

Ok, so I went to the Y to workout yesterday and took a cross training class which kicked my butt in an embarrassing way. I forgot to eat anything that morning so I got half way through the class and my blood sugar bottomed out and I had to walk out. Everything was going black and and I was dizzy and couldn't hardly hold my head up. A lady from the class had to run to get me a bag of fruit snacks to get my sugar back up. Embarrassing! Now you Columbus ladies who always wanted me to do Leah's class know why I wouldn't do it! But this is not my serious medical problem... Today my muscles are sore and I can seriously barely move. So I was having Josh rub out my back and the kids wanted to know why I was yelling (because it hurt so bad). Seth said, "Mommy are you ok? Do you need me to get you a Diet Pepsi? Do you need a snack?" (Can you tell my sugar drops freqentlyenough that my kids are trained to get mommy a snack or a coke when I'm laying on he floor?) I told him no that I was fine and just would like a hug. So he said, "Do you need a doctor? I'll be your doctor!" And he was off. He returned a few minutes later dressed in full dctor gear complete with his scrubs and little white lab coat and doctor bag. He asked me what the problem was and I told him that my muscles were sore. He scratched his chin and said, "Hmmmm... Let me check my patient schedule..." (which he did on his little clipboard and charts). Then he examined my arm and diagnosed my "serious medical problem". Apparently, I have eaten too many Twizzlers and one got stuck in my muscle. He put on his surgical mask and announced that he was going to have to give me a shot because this was major surgery. He performed the injections and checked to make sure they didn't hurt too badly. His bedside manner was outstanding I must say. He also checked my ears and said,"Oh my goodness! You have a Twizzler stuck in there too!" He got the Twizzlers out, thank goodness, and then checked his patient chart again to see that Pinkie Pie pony was his next patient. So, while I am very proud of Seth's doctoring skills... I did learn some disturbing things this weekend. I am out of shape and will embarrass myself if I attempt to excercise with people and I eat too many Twizzlers.

September catch up

So it has been quite a while since I've posted on here. I guess it's time... We've had a busy few weeks. At the beginning of the month we went on a vacation to NY to visit my brother and his family. Let me just say, Thank God I am a parent in a time where we have DVD players in our mini vans! A 9 hour road trip with 3 kids is rough, but I can't even imagine having to do it with no form of entertainment. Here's a picture of Lilah on the road trip with her head phones for the movie, her sunglasses, and travel pillow. I think I took this during the only 20 minutes of the trip when she actually slept. =) We had a great time! The kids had soooooo much fun playing with the Newman cousins. They miss them a lot. We enjoyed lots of fun time outside and beautiful weather. We went peach and raspberry picking, played at the beach, and celebrated Lilah's 3rd birthday. Aunt Sarah helped plan a special dress-up tea party for Lilah with the theme that Lilah requested of butterflies and flowers. The kids got all dressed up and we set up the picnic table outside for the party. Unfortunately, it was at the end of a super fun and exhausting week. So Lilah was pretty much spent and had gone into child demon/meltdown mode by that time. She fussed about everything and was nasty and the party ended with Lilah getting a time-out and then being sent to bed for the afternoon. I have included a picture for your viewing pleasure. =) But overall, we had a great time and miss the fam so much.

After NY we came home and enjoyed a couple of fun days with friends from ORU for Labor day weekend. Adam and Kim and Violet came into town and Aaron and Angie came as well. We had a second little "princess" birthday celebration for Lilah that went MUCH better and she behaved much more like a princess than at her first party. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed a cookout with friends and then the"sapphire girls" got to ditch the kids with the dads for drinks and a chance to catch up. Although we very much missed the 3 sapphires who were unable to join us. Liz and I get lots of time together now and we loved getting some time with Angie and Kim too.

The other big event this month was Seth starting preschool. He is LOVING it! I knew he would because he loves structure and people. Both are in abundance at school. He's having a blast and thinks he's being punished the 2 days a week that we don't get to go to school. He's learning about the body and has proudly displayed his macaroni/bones picture in the house for the past week. Lilah is really wanting to go to school too and misses Seth. She'll enjoy it next year when it's her turn. I just can't believe Seth is getting so big! The kids also started their first YMCA class last week where they get to do an hour of gym time (soccer, gymnastics, yoga, basketball, etc.) and then an hour of swimming. They LOVE that and Lilah feels very big to get to do that along with Seth. And I like it because I get to work out then while Isaac plays in the child watch program.

We also made a quick trip to Ohio for the kids to spend some time with Nina and Papa while Josh and I attended the memorial service for our friend's sweet baby, Eva Genelle. It was very important to us to be there with Dan and Jessica to celebrate Eva's powerful little life. We feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in Eva's life while Jessica was pregnant and then for a few weeks after Eva was born before we had to move to Michigan. I have posted a picture of one of the moments I got to cuddle Eva for myself when Jessica gave me the lucky job of holding Eva while she made a plate of food for herself. Jessica shared at the service about the significance of the butterfly symbol that she chose for Eva. It was very moving and I will, from this time on, forever think of precious Eva Genelle everytime I see the beauty of a butterfly. If you are not already on the site, I encourage everyone to check out the caringbridge site for the Clearfield family. It tells Eva's story and Jessica writes beautifully in a way that captures your heart. Please also continue to keep them in your prayers as the noise of everything is fading and life is settling in and they are needing an extra dose of strength and peace to handle the day to day right now.

That's all the big stuff this month for us. I will try to post a bit more regularly now. =)

pictures from last week

We've had a fun, busy week. We went to NY to visit my brother and his family. The kids had a BLAST with the Newman cousins and we loved getting to see Ben and Sarah. Ben happedned to be on a vacation as well, which meant we actually got to see him even though he's a first year ER resident. =) We went peach and raspberry picking, went to the beach at a fun park, had a cousin birthday party for Lilah's 3rd birthday and just hung out. Lots of fun. When we got home some friends from ORU came into town to visit so we had several days of fun time with college friends as well. We celebrated Lilah's birthday again with the second generation "sapphire girls" since this is actually the week of her birthday. Now we're recouping, getting unpacked, and have a busy week ahead with doctor's appointments and preschool orientation. Here's the link for the pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tojuls0/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmI2eC7z-yzfw&feat=directlink

fun, busy week

We are wrapping up a very fun and busy week. I left on Sunday for my parents' house with the kids so that we could meet up with our good friends, the Rosses. I told Seth and Lilah that we were going to go to Nina and Papa's house to see Brenna and Ava two days before we left. Seth was awake and waking up Lilah every morning at 6am until we saw them because he was so excited. It was like Christmas at our house! Erin and the girls came in and we all had so much fun. The kids bounced on the moon bounce, rode bikes, drove the power wheels Jeep, made sand castles and splashed in the lake, picked apples, played on the swingset, and played with toys. In the evening we let them each make their own individual pizza with their own toppings, which they thought was pretty fun. We sat on the deck and ate our pizza and watched the sun set over the lake. The we went down to the patio and roasted marshmallows for smores, popped popcorn on the fire and ate popscicles. Needless to say, the kids were a disaster. At one point we found little Lila hugging a pizza to her chest. =) We're glad we ate outside. Since it was clearly a bath night for all the kiddos, we let them play in the hot tub for a little while before bed. They thought the lights, bubbles, and waterfall were pretty exciting. Erin and I were on the edge of our seats the whole time because my Lilah seemed determine to drown herself. She could touch in the hot tub, but kept going under and just loved it. She'd be drowning under the surface with a smile on her face the whole time and then when we could pull her up she'd just be giggling. Lilah is wild and that's just all there is to it. I am terrified of the teenage years I think. We put the kids to bed and enjoyed some grown-up, mommy conversation for a while. lol... The next morning we all got up and had waffles and played some more before the Rosses had to head home. The kids had so much fun and Erin and I are already planning some more get togethers. Anybody want to meet us at Cedar Point sometime soon??? =) We spent a couple more days at mom and dad's because Josh was busy with a presentation. Now we are home and looking forward to a fun weekend as a family with Josh. I got my house put back together today and did several loads of laundry to get ready for our next big adventure next week. We are going to Rochester, NY to visit my brother's family and to see my newest niece, Emalyn Rose. We are very excited about the visit because we are all missing the Newman cousins a whole bunch. I can't wait to give all my nieces and nephew big hugs! And we're really looking forward to catching up with Ben and Sarah as well. I hear Lilah awake from her nap asking permission to come downstairs. Time to go!

Diva

Last night I went to a Children's Place outlet with my friend, Liz, and stocked up on clothes for the kids at super cheap prices. yay! I got a cute little dress with sparkly butterflies and kind of a chic, bohemian style for Lilah. So she found it in the bag this morning and insisted on wearing it right away. She loves it. I helped her put it on and we fixed her hair and she accessorized with jewelry. Then she walks into the living room and says, "Mom, I'm all dressed and pretty now. Will you turn on my music so I can dance?" (She is referring to the On Demand Beyonce music videos that she likes to dance and sing to). I obliged because I thought it was cute and watched my 2 year old in her sparkly dress "drop it like it's hot" for the next 5 minutes to Beyonce. I think I have a diva on my hands. ???

How do I explain that?

So the other day we were at a McDonald's playplace with my parents and the kids were playing. Seth was running around and making this horrid, loud, screeching, siren noise. I went over to him and told him to stop making that loud siren noise. He said, "Mom! It's not a siren!" So I said I don't care what it is, just stop because it was an irritating noise for everyone in the playplace. Seth responded loudly by saying in front of EVERYONE else in the playplace, "Mom! I can't stop! It's my mating call!" I don't even want to know what the grandfather with his 4 year old grandaughter thought of this announcement. In an additional note, one day earlier we were at a restaurant and Isaac was "talking" loudly and making lots of noise. Seth asked then if that was Isaac's mating call. I should have known at that point that it was on Seth's mind and would turn into an embarrassing moment sooner or later. As a backstory for this incident, my brother started working with Seth several months ago to make obnoxious noises and call it his mating call. He even trained Seth to hoot specifically at women when they walked into a room. In the past, it never manifasted itself beyond Dan and Seth hooting at Aunt Lauren. But now it's getting embarrassing. Thank you Uncle Dan! I will add this to the long list of awful and inappropriate things one of my brothers has taught my children.

Lilah

Conversation with Lilah last night after she ran into the kitchen to tell on Seth for doing something silly.

Lilah with a whiney voice: Seth (did whatever... don't remember what...).
Me: Lilah, you don't need to tattle about every little thing. Don't be a tattletale.
Lilah screeches: Mommy! I am not a baby frog!

On a side note: Lilah has not had an accident since Sunday. She has stayed completely dry and has even done all of her poops in the potty completely by herself. yay! =)

Seth's Big Day

So, as some of you might know... Seth has had kind of a preoccupation with death for a while now. Not like crazy, just very curious about great grandparents who have passed away and wanting to know about heaven, etc. So we talk about heaven pretty regularly when he starts to ask questions. Today he was asking about heaven and Jesus' house and wanted me to tell him all about it. So I told him what the Bible says about heaven and then I realized that all this time, I've never really shared with Seth what the alternative to heaven is... hell. So I told him the story (in a very simplistic way) about Jesus and Satan and Adam and Eve and our need to for forgiveness for the naughty things we do (sin). And we talked about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins and how everybody has a choice to make during their lifetime whether they will love and obey Jesus or not. Seth asked LOTS of questions throughout and I was shocked at his attention to the story and the details. I explained that when he was ready to ask Jesus to forgive his sins and ask Him to live in his heart and try to obey Him, that he could come to mommy and daddy and we would help him pray about it. He asked some more questions about the cross and sins and heaven and hell and then when the conversation was pretty much wrapped up, he bowed his head completely by himself and started praying "Jesus, I love You and want to obey You and live with You in Your house in heaven someday." I asked him a few more questions to make sure he understood what he was doing and then we prayed together for Seth's salvation. So we are very excited in the Vicena house today. We called daddy and Nina and Papa right away. I'll let Seth and Josh call grandma together tonight to share his story. Is his understanding of everything simplistic and minimal? For sure. But he has the basics and I believe today will lay the foundation for a strengthening and deepening of his decision as his understanding grows with time. I still remember the moment that I really understood salvation and what it meant for me. I was 4 years old and I thought about it for several weeks. I asked lots of questions and then came to a realization that I needed Jesus. I understaood that my sins were wrong and needed to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Granted, my sins were hitting my brothers and telling mommy and daddy the occasional lie. But I remember feeling a true sense of conviction about the things I had done that I knew were wrong. I went to my parents and asked them to help me pray. They talked with me about it to make sure I really understood what I was doing. I specifically remember my prayer. "Dear Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross and please forgive me for my sins. Please come live in my heart and help me to obey you. And thank you for boats." Obviosusly, my understanding of my faith was simplistic. But it grew as I grew. And to this day, I recognize that day when I was four years old as my moment of salvation. That was the moment I chose to follow Christ. So I know Seth's understanding of his own faith is minimal right now. But I am praying that this day has laid the groundwork for a life of relationship with and service to His heavenly Father. Seth's spiritual birthday: July 21, 2009.

Luke 15:7
"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

potty training

Now that we have finally gotten past the move and settled in, we are ready to start hitting the potty training hardcore with Lilah. So, today when we got up we put on big girl panties and that's it. No more diapers or pull-ups (except when sleeping). She's working very hard to keep Dora dry today. It's almost noon and so far no accidents! We'll see. =) I'm sure she'll have some accidents, but I don't care. I figure she'll do it a couple times and not like the way it feels and will eventually stop. I'm done with diapers! Well, except for Isaac. Wish us luck!

I wish I'd obeyed!

I was making dinner last and the kids were "helping me." We were having brinner (breakfast for dinner) and I was making pancakes. The kids like to pull a chair up to the counter and help mix the pancake batter. So we did that and then it was time to put the pancakes on the griddle. I warned the kids multiple times of the dangers of the hot griddle and not to touch it. So, I turned around to wash the fresh fruit to put on top of our wheat germ and oats pancakes, and Seth yelped. I turned back around to see him holding his finger with tears welling up in his eyes. He was trying so hard not to let it go because he didn't want me to know he had touched the griddle and burned himself because he knew I would make him leave leave the kitchen. I asked him if he touched the griddle and he said yes and then burst into tears. I put tea tree oil on his finger (it's blistered pretty badly today) and sent him off with his cold boo boo bunny to be with daddy in the other room. He cried and wimpered "I wish I'd obeyed!" I was reminded of a similar occasion in my own past when I was 4 and my mom was nursing my youngest brother. She had put her coffee in the microwave to warm up and the timer had dinged while she was still nursing. I ran to the kitchen to get her coffee out of the microwave (I was "helping"), all the while my mom was yelling at me not to touch the coffee. She just couldn't get the baby detached in time to stop me. I grabbed the hot coffee and started carrying it to her. Some of it spilled over and splashed on my hand and then I started dancing in pain, causing the rest of the coffee to spill over the edges of the mug onto my hands. I remember standing in the bathroom with my hand under cold water, crying, and and wimpering that "I wish I'd obeyed." I still have the burn scar on my thumb to this day.

Why the long stories about childhood burns? Because in each of these instances, the words following the disobedient act struck me. "I wish I'd obeyed." It's simple, childlike, and profound. How many times do we do things, even today, as adults, where the consequences strike us so painfully that the only thing we can think is "I wish I'd obeyed." Obeyed who you might ask? Well, for me, it is God. There are times when I hear the distinct leading and guidance of my heavenly Father and it is then up to me to choose to obey and follow that leading or to disregard it and do my own thing. Sometimes I choose to obey and when time has passed and I am able to see the big picture, I think to myself "Thank God I chose to obey!" And sometimes I make the wrong decision and experience consequences that cause me to wimper in my soul and cry, "I wish I'd obeyed." The thing is, as adults we can tell our children no to touch a hot griddle or to go get boiling hot coffee because we can see clearly what will happen. It's so obvious. And we tell our children the painful consequence that will be experienced if they disobey and it is utterly confusing as to why they will do the exact thing you told them not to do a mere 30 seconds later. It's so simple to just obey! And I think God must feel the same way. He has given us His words in the Bible and he speaks to us personally through his Holy Spirit when we seek Him. He guides us and directs us all the time. He must be absolutely baffled by the shear stupidity of our disobedience. I often hear myself saying to my children, "Why can't you just obey?!" And I think God must be saying the same thing to us sometimes. He has the big picture, we don't. He has the experience and knowledge to direct us away from something that is "hot" and towards things that are good for us. The scar on my thumb will be with me until my dying day. And unfortunately, the scars caused by disobedience can stick with us throughout our lives as well. Whether it be a broken marriage, a stressful home, financial devastation or debt, lost friendships, etc., the scars can run deep and the painful consequences to our sin can reduce us to crying out that "I wish I'd obeyed." Yet, in another shocking twist of stupidity, we often blame other people or even God for the negative consequences in our lives that are caused directly by our own actions. Really, it can be astounding how complicated we can make something so very simple. Just obey.

John 14:21 NIV
"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

So anyways, those are my thoughts for the day. I was thinking about it as I was checking out Seth's burn blister today. ouch! Thought I'd share. =)

sugar and spice and everything... nice????

So on Saturday we were at my parents' house and the kids were outside with Josh fishing on the lake. They LOVE to go fishing and play on the beach. Lilah picked up a rock and threw it at Seth's head. It hit him pretty hard and he has a good sized lump on his head. My brother, Daniel, said Lilah was laughing about the rock until she saw that he saw her and was on his way over to check on Seth. Then Lilah burst into tears and cried for 45 minutes. There is much speculation as to whether her tears were due to sincere remorse or fear of punishment. Fast forward to today... I was sitting with Seth on the stairs because he was upset that he had just bit his finger while eating a carrot. He was talking about injuries and said, "mom, this was like when I hurt my head with the rock at Nina and Papa's. Lilah threw that rock and I was just so busy fishing and didn't remember to duck. It was my fault. I should have ducked." Why is my BOY made of sugar and spice and everything nice... and my GIRL is made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails, and anything else destructive and aggressive???? I'm just saying, I'd like to know.


On a side note: Josh just called at 4:30pm and is on his way home for the day. He didn't get home later than 5:30pm a single day last week. Maybe my stinky house is worth the move to D-town and urology. =)

Michigan

So we moved last Saturday to Detroit Michigan. It was exhausting and awful as moves always are. But, was made MUCH easier by glorious friends and family who came out to help us. My two dearest friends, Ruth and Beka, proved themselves once again to be some of the best friends in the whole world. They found childcare and came to Ohio, with husbands and moving vans/trailers in tow, to help us pack and clean the Hilliard house and then drove 4 hours with us to Detroit to help us unload/unpack on Sunday. They took vacation time, as did their husbands, to help us out for a full 2-3 days. We also had my mom and one of Josh's friends, Jameson, and then two close ORU friends in Michigan (Nathan and Liz) who came to help. We were truly blessed with all the help and could not have done it without everyone. We have spent the past week unpacking and cleaning. Josh started work on Monday morning and is getting acclimated to the new program. It's never fun starting out somewhere new, but I think he will like it once he gets the hang of the new system. The new house is a blessing in space because it is pretty big and that is what we need with three kiddos... but we do miss our house in Columbus, our clean, carpeted, good smelling house in Columbus. Our new place is in a lovely neighborhood. But it was built in 1961 and seems as though it was actually frozen in time. The house has not been the best maintained. It has the old original wood floors that used to be under carpet. So they are unfinished and dingy and stained and scratched. I have made a new rule that the kids have to wear rubber gripped house slippers now because their feet are just black from the floor dust and they keep slipping across the slippery wood. Also, I keep finding nails and staples in the floors from the old carpet that did not get removed and I'm afraid one is going to find it's way into one of the kids' foot. The house is musty and stinks and I do not know how to fix that besides a dehumidifier. But it really stinks. Josh was gracious enough to let me hire a housekeeper to clean the house before we moved in because it was just dirty and grimey and severely needed a deep clean. That helped, but there is still quite a bit more cleaning to do. I am tired. My OCD tendencies don't handle these kind of situations very well because I can't shut my brain off to everything that needs to be done. I am unable to relax until EVERYTHING is clean and unpacked and hung and decorated. Sometimes I wish I could just have a more chilled out personality when it comes to that kind of stuff. My plan was to take my time unpacking and moving because it's not like I have anything else to do in Michigan. I only have 1 friend and can't even find my way to the grocery store yet. But, alas, my drive for order will not allow it as I feel on the edge on insanity every time I look at Isaac's new bedroom door covered from top to bottom in bumper stickers from 1965. Anyways, enough complaining. We're thankful for this new adventure and will find our place here, I'm sure. This weekend we drove down to mom and dad's house for the Fourth because we missed all the fireworks in Detroit (they do them in June). We are enjoying the day with family because my dad's cousins will be coming in and my brother is making a last-minute surprise visit from VA. We're just missing David who is now in Hawaii (yes, I'm jealous) and Ben and Sarah who are quite busy moving into their own new place in NY and having another new baby. My newest niece was born yesterday and I'm just dying to meet her. Her name is still to be announced and hopefully I can make a trip into NY sometime in the next couple of months to hold her and cuddle her. That's all the updating for us right now.

mobile

uh oh... I just watched Isaac scoot himself forward across the living room to get to the computer chord. He is congratulating himself by flailing and spitting gleefully. And now I have 3 to chase around.

Bedtime Story

I was tucking the kids into bed tonight and was telling them a bedtime story about moving to Michigan. I was talking about how the 2 birdies named Seth and Lilah who were moving to Michigan because they loved it so much were packing all of their toys in the big moving truck. The kids were each piping in throughout the story naming all the items they wanted to be sure to pack. It went something like this...
Me: "And they packed up all their toys..."
Seth: "like Buzz lightyear! And superhero toys!"
Lilah: "And dress up clothes and my Pinkie Pie pony!"
Me: "Yes, all of their toys and clothes and everything that they loved."
Seth: "Yeah! And Brenna too!"
Me: "no, Brenna has to stay here with her mommy and daddy. She can't be packed onto the moving truck.
Seth: (with a disappointed look and furrowed eyebrows) "awww... why?"

The Big Push Starts Today!

Me and Lisa, both sad about leaving



Friends from the Spouse Group


Seth and Lilah with friends, Brenna and Ava

So we are in the final days of being in Ohio as we get ready for the move to Michigan. I have procrastinated on packing as much as possible as I have chosen to live in a state of denial about the move for quite a while now. That time is over. I really have to face reality and get things ready for the move now because it's happening on Saturday, whether I'm ready or not. when I was in jr. high I had a teacher (Mr. Hunsucker) who used to announce every day when we got to school that "The big push starts today!" He was talking about Math and I never completely understood what "big push" he was talking about since every day was pretty much the same and I certainly never FELT like I had to work any harder at school on any given day (those of you who went to Christian Academy might understand what I'm talking about). But nonetheless, the phrase stuck in my head and I am now using it to psyche myself up to start REALLY packing and cleaning and doing everything that needs to be done to get ready for Saturday. So, tonight after the kids go to bed I am going to pour myself a drink, turn on girly dance music, and start packing my laundry/storage area and the rest of my basement. And then I am planning to get a significant amount of packing and cleaning done every day for the rest of the week. I tried to start packing hardcore on Friday night and started on a couple boxes. Then I got depressed and overwhelmed so I watched a movie instead. We are excited about the move to Michigan for professional reasons and are looking forward to more time together as a family (hopefully). But we are really going to miss Columbus and are especially going to miss our friends here. The Significant Others Support Group did a going away party for us and Lisa (who is also moving) yesterday. It was so wonderful to enjoy one last picnic with so many of the wonderful families who have made us feel so at home here in Columbus and who we have genuinely enjoyed sharing this part of our journey with. I'm so thankful for a group of women to learn from and laugh with as I continue to take on the challenges of motherhood. It's so nice to go somewhere with friends and know that if my child hits another child and I miss it, that another mother will handle it (and usually more gracefully than I would) who I can trust and who won't spend the rest of the day talking about how awful my children are. =) lol ...What a blessing it was to start our residency in Columbus. I sincerely hope that the friendships we made here will be maintained in the years to come and I know I will always look back at this time of life with great joy and many happy memories. We have a busy week ahead of packing and moving and saying goodbyes. And then we will be off to Michigan to start the next part of the journey! Thanks for all the memories, laughs, sometimes tears, and abundance of support and help all of our wonderful friends and family have provided us these past few years.

Big weekend

This last weekend was a busy and fun weekend. Two of my brothers graduated on Friday night. Ben graduated medical school from Wright State University and David graduated high school. The crappy part was that they both graduated on Friday night at 6:30 and 7pm in different cities. The family had to split and we all missed one of the graduations. I went to David's while Josh attended Ben's. The we had a joint graduation party for both of the boys on Saturday. But it was still a fun weekend and I am very happy and proud of each of the boys. We know quite well the accomplishment and hard work that medical school is and are wishing Ben and Sarah all the best during his ER residency in NY. David was his normal self by recommending a Dr. Suess quote as the senior class motto ("If you have brains in your head and feet your shoes, you can steer yourself any way you choose.") and listing his future goal post graduation as being a "rock star." Yes, we're very proud. Just this weekend David did finally settle on his next steps which are to attend a Discipleship Training School with Youth With a Mission in Kona, Hawaii. We are actually very happy about this because I think he will really enjoy and benefit from the experience. We're praying God uses the time to really direct Dave in the next phase of life. After all the graduation activities, we stayed around at my parents' house and hung out with family and friends. Our close friends, Adam and Kim were int town from California visiting family, so we hooked up with them on Sunday night and Monday. It was fun letting the kids all play together for the first time really since Violet's been old enough to play. That was fun and then Josh headed home to Columbus for a call shift while I stayed with family so that I didn't have to spend Tuesday and Wednesday morning alone. It was a fun and exhausting week. The kids had a blast playing with cousins and we enjoyed a little more quality time with Ben and Sarah before the move. Now I need to get my house cleaned and start packing for our own move. It's time to come out of the denial about moving stage and start getting some stuff done. =)

8 years and counting

Today is mine and Josh's 8 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe we've been married 8 years already. I have to say that time really does fly. And something about being married 8 years makes me feel old. And when I think about where we are in life right now and reflect on where we were when we got married, I realize how young and immature we really were. Josh and I got married when were 19 and 20. We were pretty young. I almost can't believe our parents let us get married when we did. We had so much growing up to do. At the same time, sometimes I think that is part of what has made our marriage successful thus far. We kind of grew up together. Josh and I never really had the opportunity to develop our own independant way of doing things. We sort of developed our style together and avoided a lot of the conflict sometimes associated with merging two different lives. We've certainly had our adjustments and some rough patches. However, I find that the longer we are married, the more I enjoy learning all the intricacies that make up Josh and the easier the compromises are. I respect him more and more every day and admire the man he is becoming. I genuinely enjoy his friendship and find myself falling more in love with him every day. He is a wonderful, loving husband and I cherish our time together. (God knows we don't get much of it!) lol ... And since we got married so young, we actually have a shot at hitting 50 years together and maybe even 75 if we take really good care of ourselves! =) Here's hoping... Love you Josh!

Mother's Day

This weekend is Mother's Day weekend. I'm not expecting a whole lot because Josh is working all weekend. My mom is in Virginia visiting my brother and Josh's mom is in Tulsa visiting his sister. So it will just be me and the kids this weekend and that will be fine. I took the kids outside today to play for a bit and eat lunch. Lilah spent most of the time collecting flowers. She carefully gathered them in a little bunde and presented them to me with a big smile and an "I love you mommy, you're my princess!" We put them in water and admired them on the kitchen counter. I think it's one of the most beautiful bouquets I've ever received. So there won't be much in the way of big outings or pampering this weekend... but I am constantly reminded of the beauty and love that God has poured out on me with my 3 precious children. They are always full of laughs and cuddles and they never go a day without proclaiming their love for me and that I am their mommy (although I'm not sure I would brag about that). I am also thankful for my own mom this Mother's Day. She has spent my entire life teaching me how to be the kind of mom I can only hope to be to my own children. So even though I will really be "working" all weekend for Mother's Day since I'm on my own, it will still be nice cherishing my 3 precious kids who make every day challenging and special all at the same time. =) And here are a couple pics of my babies. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!


Lilah wanted to wear a dress and then I found her later with her tutu underneath her dress so that it was extra fancy. She's my beautiful princess!

scatter brain

So, I locked my keys into my house this morning. again. I actually locked my keys into my car at spanich class a couple weeks ago. And then today I was leaving to go play at a friend's house with the kids. I had all the kids loaded up and ready to go and realized I'd forgotten my friend's house address. So I ran back into the house to get the address and ran right back out to the car with my address and no keys. I, of course, locked the door behind me. I called Josh to see if he had any suggestions because we do not have a spare key hidden anywhere and the one person who does have a spare key to our house (Josh's mom) was in Tulsa today. Josh suggested that I just hang out outside until he could come home at the end of the day because he was scrubbing into a laproscopic nephrectomy. I did not consider that a viable option because I had no car keys, no food, no drinks, and not enough diapers to last me 10 hours outside with 3 children in my backyard. I then got angry because I get tired of laproscopic neprhrectomys and other "big" cases taking precedent over my needs. "people are sick, I'm a resident, blah, blah, blah...." Can you tell I'm bitter? So I called my friend Laura (whose house I was supposed to be going to) and told her that I would probably not make it over as I was locked out of my house and couldn't drive my car. She graciously offered to load up her 4 kids and drive to Grant hospital to get the house key from Josh and bring it to me. This is not a quick drive because Grant is all the way downtown. So Laura brought me my house key and then hung out at my house with another friend, Lisa, so that we could all still enjoy some playtime and adult conversation. I very much appreciate Laura for sparing me a day in the sun with the kids and no food or drinks and having to pee in the backyard for lack of toilets. Thank you Jesus for friends in Columbus who are willing to help you out and be paid in McDonalds chicken nuggets!

Cali

So this last week was fun. My best friend's husband called a couple weeks ago and offered me the opportunity to fly into LA to surprise Kim for her 28th birthday. I arranged childcare and jumped on the chance to go to California and spend time with my best friend of 20 years now. (We were 8 years old when we met and officially declared our BFF status). I took Isaac with me and we made the long journey to Cali. Isaac did pretty well on the flights. He's a pretty happy baby and as long as you hold him all the time he doesn't have much to complain about. But I will admit that after the almost 5 hour flight from Chicago to LAX my arms were pretty sore and I was getting pretty cranky with my 20 pound lap baby. But he was pretty sweet and cuddly and performed with a big smile and belly laugh right on cue whenever onlookers would admire him and try to talk and play with him. So I arrived in LA safe and sound, much to my delight since I am terrified of flying because I am sure I will become another statistic in the next airborn terrorist attack. Adam picked me up at the airport and we drove to their apartment near Santa Monica. When we got to the apartment, Adam opened the door and asked Kim to come help him carry in groceries (His rouse for picking me up at the airport). Kim's reaction was classic. Kim got and up and when the door opened and she saw me she screeched, "What the hell??!!!" And then she cried with shock (and excitement at seeing my beautiful face... or so I like to tell myself. lol). It's actually kind of stressful to be somebody's surprise birthday gift. It dawned on me in the airplane to LA that I might not be what Kim wants for her birthday. What if what she really wanted was a new outfit or a day at the spa? I suddenly felt as though I should have prepared a comedy routine or a song or something entertaining to up my value as a birthday gift. Oh well, I hope she wasn't disappointed. =) We had a nice weekend. Another good friend from high school happened to be in LA also. So I got catch up with Joachim as well. We went to Santa Monica Pier and the mall where I got some great sale items for the kids, and then Pinkberry. Pinkberry is my new favorite frozen yogurt place ever and I wish they would expand to the mid west. The 6 hours in flight is almost worth it just to get Pinkberry again. Kim's daughter, Violet, was adorable and sweet and it was so fun getting to know her a little better. She was wonderful with Isaac and I think it was good practice for her to have some fun time with a little baby just in case a new sibling popped into the future sometime. I left LA on Tuesday morning and got back into Columbus late Tuesday night. Yesterday I drove to Sidney to get Seth and Lilah. We spent the afternoon with Sarah and the Newman cousins and then we spent the evening with my good friend Beka and her little girls. Beka and I had a slumber party and hot tubbed with her girls and our other friend from high school, Benj. Now I am recouping from the past week and am getting ready to head home once and for all. I am missing Josh and I'm sure the kids are ready to see daddy as well. Thanks Adam and Kim for a wonderful week!

Good weekend

So this last weekend Josh was home. Our plan was to relax, enjoy the beautiful weather, and maybe get some stuff done around the house. But Saturday morning I was perusing craigslist for rental houses in Michigan and came across a very promising post. We called the landlord and got more information and deicided that this house might be a GREAT option for us. The price was right and the house was big and in a nice area. Please understand that these 3 criteria rarely go together. A big house in a nice neighborhood is NEVER in our price range. This house is older and is a little outdated, so the landlord is renting it for a steal. We knew the house would go fast. So, we set an appointment to see the house on Sunday and loaded our crew into the van to make the trek to Michigan. She had already had 21 calls on the property and it had only been posted for the morning. We got in to see the house on Sunday and it would be perfect for our family. The landlord seems to have favor on us and has agreed to rent the house to us. We're just waiting for her lawyer to draw up the contract and will hopefully have it signed by the end of the week. yay! HUGE relief for us as that was a major issue stressing us out. We were preparing to live in a tiny apartment and all share a room up in Michigan. As long as the whole deal goes through... God is really blessing us with a home that totally meets our needs and many of our wants. What a blessing!

So we drove up to Detroit with the kids on Saturday afternoon and stayed in a hotel. I hadn't realized until we started the trip that my kids really haven't stayed in a hotel since they've been old enough to remember. They were so excited. When we got there, Seth said "Is this our new neighborhood?" When we got to the pool, he said "Will our new house have a pool in the living room too?" We were sorry to break it to him that we will never be wealthy enough to have a pool in our living room. The kids just ran around the hotel squealing with delight about having 2 beds in our room, having a bathtub in our room and having a closet made of mirrors in our room. I found this to be funny since we actually have a closet made of mirrors in our house. But whatever. At one point Lilah just jumped on the bed squeaking in her sweet little voice, "I'm so excited! I'm so excited!" over and over again. It was pretty funny and I'm glad the kids found it to be such and exciting adventure. Seth slept in a bed with Josh and Lilah slept with me and you would have thought they were both just the prince and princess of their little world, they felt so special getting to sleep in big beds with just mommy and just daddy. We went swimming and ordered pizza and watched cartoons until we fell asleep. It was a fun family night. The next day Seth said, "Mommy, thank you so much for taking me to a hotel. It was so much fun. Why is the hotel so far away?" He really thought we had driven 4 hours each way just to stay at the Ramada. But really, it was a pretty cheap way to do something special that the kids found so exciting because we got a great deal on the room on hotwire. We couldn't hardly eat dinner out for less and the kids thought they were royalty. =) And then to top it off, we swung by my brother's house on our way home on Sunday night to have dinner and playtime with the Newman cousins and my parents. The kids were in heaven! Good weekend!

Betty Homemaker

So anyone who knows me knows that I am not what you would call a "Betty Homemaker." This post is about as close to it as I'll ever get. I mean I keep my house pretty clean, but that's more driven by my OCD tendencies than any desire to maintain a perfect home. I cook occasionally, but I'm not great at it and I don't even care in the slightest that I'm not a great cook. I digress. I made my own baby food yesterday for Isaac. Don't get me wrong, I did not do this because I am a wonderful, loving mother who only wants the best for my beautiful baby's little tummy and nourishment. I did it because it's cheap. period. That's it. And we don't have much money. So I made the baby food and so far Isaac very much liked the peas. It's actually really easy. I just microwaved frozen vegetables for 5 minutes until they were tender and then pureed them in a blender with a little water. Then I spooned the pureed food into ice cube trays, covered the trays with aluminum foil and froze it. Tomorrow I will empty the ice cube trays into freezer bags to store the cubes for easier use. About 2 cubes makes a good feeding. You just microwave the cubes in a little dish for about 30 seconds per cube (approximately, maybe a little less). I did do a whole sweet potatoe that wasn't frozen. That had to be baked to get it soft so I could peel it and puree it. But the whole process for all 3 veggies that I made (green beans, peas, and sweet potatoes) only took about 20 minutes. I'll also do some squash soon, carrots, and some fruit. I often just mash up a ripe banana for Isaac and he loves that. Baby food can be expensive, and this seriously saves TONS of money.

Also, I found these edamame packets at the store the other day. They come in individual little bags of fresh, organic soy beans. And they have Dora on the bag, so my kids love them! =) Just thought I'd share for any parents looking for an easy, fun, and on the go way to get kids to eat veggies. You can buy a big bag that contains like 8 individual packets.