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One of the main reasons behind the switch was the opportunity for guest commenting, which Vox does not allow at this time. Instead of requiring an account as you currently need, all that is necessary now in order to put your two cents in is a valid e-mail address. In short, I am expecting a comment from you, especially Nana, for I know she reads the blog ;O).

So click on over. A new post awaits!

On Good Friday, as our house endured some furious rain and small pelts of hail, a mere 25 minute zip on the Interstate away, tornadoes were touching down, treating trees like toothpicks and moving cars like small marbles. Soon we discovered that the powerful element of Mother Nature had briefly visited the neighborhood of Thomas’s sister and her family. Once stowed away in the bathroom of their house for a just under two minutes, they emerged to find many homes around them equipped with new views, for entire roofs and/or entire sides of a house no longer existed. Their immediate neighbors once had a storage shed outside that was no where to be found, yet its contents were visible in nearly every yard around. Nice wooden privacy fences that once stood tall and useful suddenly became flat pancakes in the grass. Telephone poles and other debris covered the streets out from and into their home. Power was out and the sound of news helicopters and chainsaws began to fill the air. The images I was viewing on the news soon were visible in my living room via their digital camera. Safe and sound, our family arrived for what was to become a slumber party, of sorts.

Elizabeth brought some perishable items, and we crammed them into our fridge and freezer. The kiddos played like maniacs, and I began to develop sleeping arranges for our four sudden guests. Thomas began prepping our spaghetti dinner and everyone was just prayerful for those still discovering the destruction and thankful for our family’s safety, as well as the protection of their home and possessions.

As some of the aerial images from the events were flashed up on the television, Daniel had a great description of the scene: “Oh no! A MESS!”

A mess…..yes, certainly.

Tornadoes in this area are something we are accustomed to, or tornado warnings at least, for it seems like the weatherman is always reporting on something pending. There will be touchdowns, typically even in your city, but it is a totally different story when it is your home being hit, or the one next to you for that matter. Although it was not our home and neighbors, it was our immediate family, and it makes the events seem surreal. We were very grateful to be able to help them out and give them a lighted house, hot water, and fresh/hot food to eat. Daniel was ecstatic to have playmates. Overall, Jon and Liz are very happy to have a home to return to, and many in the area are forever grateful to still have a life.

After Daniel noted the mess being seen on TV, the news reporter of that station made a comment that “Good Friday” must now not be considered so good to many. Quickly, however, viewers e-mailed and called the station, claiming that instead of “Good Friday,” it is “Great Friday,” for the survivors had another day to live and just one more reason to be thankful during this Easter season.

SO true.

Today, I am tired with no specific reason why, for I went to bed early, sleeping until the last possible minute before Thomas headed to work. I know I have perfect reasons to be tired—growing a baby, caring for a toddler, CEO of a household, and teaching 2 days a week, but it is not really one of those specifically impacting me today. I am, for the lack of better words,  "blah." And, to be honest, the blah has made me treat my son differently.  I, like most folks, have a shorter fuse when in a bad mood, and the things we might normally do to pep me or him up are not viable options on bad weather days (going to the park, playing in his new sandbox, blowing bubbles outside, etc.).  We, therefore, hobbled through the morning until naptime. With Daniel napping, I really wanted to sit on the couch and watch some brainless TV, but a huge storm front is currently coming through, and the only thing on my non-cable television is the local weatherman’s storm warnings, Doppler radar images, and pictures of hail and funnel clouds.

Alternatively, I decided to check my GoogleReader. After reading a few blog posts, I came across one from a family we use to attend church with before moving. In fact, Steven and his wife, Michelle, taught our SS class, and they had a second daughter just a few weeks before Daniel was born. They were truly a wonderful couple. Sadly, my use of past tense is correct, for Michelle passed away very suddenly just over a year ago. I watched Steven live out my worst nightmare. As he attempted to juggle sudden single parenthood, a job as a professor, and extreme grief, he somehow stayed in one piece. His post I read today told of how he made a digital photo book of ‘08, in attempts to keep with the tradition his wife set of constructing elaborate, heirloom worthy, scrapbooks. Briefly, he mentioned what was in the book. Next, he took a moment to say what wasn’t: “So what’s not there? Well, there are no pictures of the days in January I spent laying on the floor, crying uncontrollably. There are no pictures of the nights I lost my temper and threw cups down the hall. Nothing to show how dead to the world I was some days, and nothing to indicate how lonely some days were (and still are sometimes).”

If that does not touch your heart, you might want to go and get yours checked. Reading this entry after being in my blah, tired mood made me think of how humans, mommies especially, tend to leave out details of a crummy day, and we fill our photo albums, blogs, conversations, and status updates with the things that make us and our family look good: smiling faces, awards won, promotions earned, milestones reached, but rarely do we admit, as Steven did, to the bad moments, the times when we do not have it all together.Everything is always "good."

So, in a sort of confession mode (1 John 1:9), here are some things that occurred this morning, which are out of my norm and definitely not scrapbook worthy:

• I did not show the interest Daniel deserved when he kept trying to show me things.
• I gave him time-out for not listening when I should have given him more time to respond to/understand my request.
• I put in a Veggie movie and sat next to him reading a magazine because that was easier than having to interact and take my “turn momma” after he growled, hopped, or clapped.
• I served a less than well-balanced lunch of milk, peas, and mandarin oranges in an effort to not have to fix anything else.
• I did not read him a book before nap, even though he asked me to do so.
• I yelled at him “Go to sleep!” from downstairs when he cried for me to turn on his light during naptime.

There you go.

And although I know none of you ever thought it, I am not perfect. I get angry and frustrated. I totally miss the mark, and my excuses for doing so are much less respectable than Steven’s. It is, however, on days like today, that I am thankful for the forgiving nature of a toddler. He will wake up and remember nothing of the unfair time-out and the unnecessary yell. Instead, Daniel will wake up and love me so much, thinking I am the best mommy ever. Isn’t that a relief! And, for the people that do remember ill-treatment, I am forever grateful to be covered in Christ’s forgiveness.

My plan is not to blog only Debbie Downer posts, but I do think there is something to be said for showing humanness, and I am certain that others of you have less than scrapbook worthy moments, which just might need to be shared.

Daniel and I did some baking this morning. I say Daniel and I, but he was not really interested. Rather than participating, he instead played with his “Choo-Choo-Tommy” pop-up play train that my mom got him for his birthday. She found it at a yard sale for cheap and finally decided to buy it for him once she discovered it folded up nicely, thus making it easy to store and keeping it from constantly being in the way. This is a good thing, for it is quite large when unfolded. Being that I was in the kitchen, Daniel wanted to be as well, so I had to work around “Choo-Choo-Tommy” and my son all morning.

 In attempts to satisfy my sweet tooth and yet stay moderately on the healthy side, we

opted to make these “healthier cupcakes” that I saw in a magazine (sorry, I can not remember which magazine it was). They had three options: good, better, and best. My taste buds really wanted the “best” option, so that is what I had planned to make. According to the magazine, “Cake itself isn’t terribly fattening, but 2 tablespoons of frosting tack on 140 junky calories and 20 grams of sugar.”  The best recipe called for you to swirl in Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread into the batter. I could not find it at the grocery store, so I just bought the Krogers version. When the cupcakes are finished, they have 17 calories and 2 grams of sugar. Not too bad, especially if you are officially tracking that sort of thing. I think that mine have a little bit less calories and sugar because I did not put an entire ½ tsp as called for. I just swirled in a little with a knife.

Being that I had run out of cupcake papers, I decided to use the rest of the batter to make the better option as a small round cake. After baking, you are to drizzle on homemade glaze= 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 ½ tbs milk, and ½ tsp vanilla. I had to add more milk because it was just a messy clump when I added the exact measurement of milk. These have 32 calories and 7grams of sugar when completed. I, however, did not “drizzle” the glaze, I just poured it on the top. So, this most likely has more than the estimated amount, especially varying due to the size of cake you cut. The magazine suggested topping with a blueberry or raspberry, but I do not have those, so I outlined the edges with strawberries.

 Once they were done, we, of course, had an almost immediate taste test. I thought the chocolate-hazelnut cupcakes were great! And Daniel seemed to agree. I think though, after his effort in the kitchen, I am going to start telling him the story of that chicken that made bread. No one would help her make it, but when she asked “Who will help me eat the bread?” everyone wanted in on the action.

He asked for more, and I wanted another, but we stopped with just one each, even though they are “healthier options.” I am sure dinner will be followed up with another. As of now, I have not tried the cake with the glaze, so I am not sure of its outcome. In all honesty, I do not really want any of it. I guess I will take it to work tomorrow or try to send it to work with Thomas. I am leery though because I am not sure of its taste. I would hate to offer it to others when it is not very good. Perhaps if the glaze tastes bad, I will just blame it on the fact it is “healthy.” :o)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the “good” version called for a specific type of non-trans fat frosting on each cupcake, yielding 82 calories and 13grams of sugar upon the addition of 1 ½ tbs of the frosting applied to the top.

 As for now, I shall go and use the rest of naptime to clean up the kitchen and be officially productive. When Daniel wakes, we’ll go for a run and play outside, for the weather has been clearing up as the day has evolved. After that, it will almost be time for Daddy to be home!

Damien, my world traveling engineer brother, tends to bring back neat little souvenirs to us once he returns home from his travels. As a result, Daniel has a closet sprinkled with shirts from foreign countries. Along with clothing, our little man is spoiled by receiving neat and unique toys from the places his uncle visits, such as a toy fire truck from Poland and a detailed wooden horse from Germany. Books are also a neat gift that Daniel receives. He has a picture book that is all in German, but the German words are right next to everyday beach and ocean objects, so if Daniel chooses for this book to be read, we can say each thing in English. Most recently, after returning from a trip south of the border, Damien brought Daniel a very neat picture book that has English and Spanish for each picture. These books we can work with, and we are always very grateful for the sweet blessings from our loving family. There is one book, however, that Thomas and I have begun to dread seeing Daniel choose at bedtime. Nothing is worse than when Daniel happily chooses this book for us to read:

It looks innocent enough, right?  Well, the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” applies here, for your assumptions of it being a great read would be sorely wrong.

For starters, it is from Brazil and completely in Portuguese. I know that this language has many similarities to Spanish, which I am familiar with, yet I can not decipher many words in this book at all. Being that the words are of no help, it would be logical to build off the images to help tell the story, using some simple inferring skills. It is at this point we encounter another issue: most of the pictures give you nothing to work with (see the horse and rock & chicken with book pictures), not to mention they are creepy (just look to your left!).

So, the story then has to come completely out of your head on a whim. Daniel has developed a new skill where he is aware of the amount of words on a page, and he can calculate how long you should talk in order to be reading all the phrases. If you appear to be cheating him of words, he will tap the page with his finger until you finish. Demanding isn’t he.

Another flaw: the book is l….o….n…..g... 111 pages to be exact.  Typically, with such a long story, we would admittedly flip a few extra pages with each turn of the page. However, a new part of little man’s bedtime story routine is that he holds the book, not you. You must, therefore, read each and every page, for absolutely none are to be skipped.

Recently, Daniel has been choosing this book each and every night, and we have endured its “reading.” As Thomas was taking him to bed a few nights ago, he made a comment about not wanting to read that book again. I, being the great wife that I am, quickly made it to Daniel’s room and procured the book in order to prevent the extended read for Thomas. Silly ol’ me just took it into the living room and placed it on the couch. Guess what I had to read the next morning :o).

A few more things that I do know about this book, beyond the frustrating things already stated:

1. The girl puppet finds a roach in her oatmeal and she and the boy puppet keep it, taking it to various other locations, for some odd reason.
2. A horse plays in a pile of trash that is stacked outside. The boy puppet collects a cup full of the trash and keeps it, for some odd reason.
3. Daniel really likes it,  for some odd reason.

I love to give gifts. I think part of that love might be shopping for the gifts to give and hoping for a deal, but, in the end, I think it is fun to buy, wrap, write a card, etc. and give it to someone else. So, when I checked my GoggleReader over the weekend and discovered Jessica (a fellow deal searcher and gift-giver) had found a deal to get a FREE Thomas toy from Toys.-r-Us, I knew that my little boy would love this gift, and boy was it at a deal! The hubby and I had plans to go and get him one during a little date we were enjoying without Daniel, but it turned out that everyone else had the same idea and none were left. It made me so sad. I had not told Daniel he was getting one, and even if I had, he would not have remembered that I was suppose to come home with one. I could have just bought him one and I would have had something to give, but it was the whole free part that was really important. I mean, if you have checked the prices, these particular ones cost between $11-13 dollars, so free is very good! On Sunday, after church, I put Daniel down for a nap and then headed to grade papers, for if I do not leave the house sometimes I will just occupy myself with laundry, dishes, the computer,  my husband, or my son, ultimately getting little to no grading done. As I left, I realized that I could easily get to another store, so I called to make sure they still had some trains left. Turns out, they did, but only 6 and all of Thomas. I was fortuantely able to get one of the reamining few, without letting my hubby know, so he was a little surprised too when I presented it to my little precious boy after bathtime that night. Yes, it was a little out of my way to get there. Yes, I graded fewer papers than I would have otherwise. Yes, I know I could have just bought one the day before and not worried about it, but just look at this little guy's face as he enjoyed his toy, as well as the brochure that shows all the other toy options. Tell me how I could have resisted that?
  

  And that, my friends, is why I love to give gifts.

Looks like Daniel, and the rest of our family for that matter, are not the only ones who love the "Eat Mor Chikin" restaurant :o).

 

We've been busy in the month of March, and more is still left to come. The busyness has been balanced with rest, so that has been nice.

For starters, Thomas has celebrated a birthday already this month. Being adults with families in different citiesbirthdays have turned into longer celebrations rather than just one day of fun. For the birthday person, this makes the commemorating extend for a week or more, which is always nice. On his actual birthday, Thomas took off for the day, which has begun to become a ritual for him.ically he does whatever he chooses on that day. His birthday fell on one of my teaching days this year, but being that the college I teach at was on Spring Break, I was able to join in on the fun, sans Daniel, because we took him to caretaker’s the two days I was off, just to keep him in the same routine. We had a mid-day date, complete with lunch at Thomas's favorite place and a movie he had been wanting to see. He and I accounted for 2 of the 4 total people in the theater. All in all, he had a very enjoyable birthday!

I was recently able to participate in something out of the normal daily routine. My cousin's church had a Ladies' "Spring Fling," and she invited me to attend. There were elaborate tables decorated in style (and these pictures are just from a few of the beautiful tables). I am not a crafty person, so seeing these cute, themed tables made me happy. There was a great turn-out and everyone was able to enjoy delicious food and quality conversations, as well as a great speaker......ME! When I was told about the event, I was thoroughly excited to just be in attendance, and then I was asked to be the guest speaker, which added to my enthusiasm. Anytime I get to talk about what the Lord is doing in me, through me, and around me, I can't help but be pumped. I truly hope the words I shared were absorbed with attentive hearts. Since the event, I've been decorating a table in my mind with all the items in my house. Who knows, I may have a mini-Spring Fling at my own home, just so I can use some of my beautiful items that have not seen too much use.......or daylight for that matter.

I took Daniel to get his picture taken recently as well. I have been putting this off for too long. He had not had an official photo shoot since he turned a year old, so this was long over-due. Upon calling for an appointment, I was able to secure a morning appointment for the next day. When we walked through the doors of the studio everything for Daniel's photo shoot was ready. There were also these adorable twin girls that had just completed their session. They had just turned 2, and their parents had brought along balloon bouquets to add as props. Needless to say, the balloons were the first of many distractions for Daniel. Eventually the girls' daddy took the balloons out to the car, and all kiddos erupted into tears. My little man completely refused to be happy with the staging done by the kind photographer, Matt. When we showed up, there was a rock wall of sorts in front of a spring backdrop. Daniel wanted to have a white rocking chair instead. In an attempt to get just one picture worth printing, I was willing to let him have about anything in the photo, which I soon discovered would include a mini-soccer ball, a stuffed cat, and eventually the rock wall from the start. Fortunate for me, the pop and blink of the flash bulbs made Daniel laugh, hence a few photos of good quality. Before I could even take Daniel to the potty, pack up his wardrobe, and call Thomas to tell him about the experience, my pictures were ready! After that experience, I will not go anywhere else other than Portrait Innovations. To top it all off, they were very appropriately priced. Add in to the mix some play-dates with friends, trips to the park, the submission of student projects for me to grade, visits with loved ones, a few days for me to be with gal pals, and other such events, you can see we've been up to much in March!

Recently most folks lost an hour of sleep, due to the time change of daylight savings. I

have been hearing some  complaints about the loss of sleep, but I am perfectly content to have given that 60 minutes away to gain the beauty of extended daylight. No longer will I watch the sun set as I teach. This now means that on the two days I work, I will be home with daylight to spare! Also, this puts us full force towards spring and summer, which make me very happy, for I am all about warmth and sun. I just read a friend's blog and she mentioned being "tired of the cold." She does, after all, live in Michigan, so it is logical that the continuation of winter would begin to drain her.....they just got 4 inches of snow over the weekend--sorry Dana :o(.

As for us, we are beginning to relish in nice weather. Daniel and I went to "play" today, which always means we are leaving the house and heading to a park. He was overflowing with excitement as we headed out this morning. It was a good time, minus the fact he wanted me to follow him each and every step of the playground. I am not really in the mood or condition to hunch over and crawl through tunnels. It began to get a little annoying with his requests for me to "come mommy," especially since I just wanted to sit and watch him play, not play myself.

When we got home, I noticed the cows across the street were out grazing. The view was captivating to me. I liked how their sable hair contrasted with the vibrant yellow buttercups. Once Daniel was down for his nap, I went outside to take a few snapshots. The camera did not capture the colors as well as they truly appeared to my eye, but I think they give a marvelous sign of spring none the less.