A Good Daddy

Here's my Dad and Mom with my girlies.

I was sneaking chocolate chips out of my baking cupboard this morning. There are not many things better than chocolate in the morning before breakfast. I was walking around with the chips in my palm and they began to melt. This little event prompted a childhood memory of mine to resurface. The human mind is amazing. I haven't thought about this childhood memory for a long time, but it is still in there! I thought that I would write it down before I forget it for good.
When I was little, my Dad and Mom managed a storage facility in Allen Park, MI. So that is where I grew up! The houses that are usually above or next to a storage facility's office are the manager's housing. I spent my days until I was 11 at Stop N' Lock on Enterprise Drive. I have fond memories of this place, from rollerblading endlessly around the property, building snow forts on top of 10 foot snow piles created from the snow plows plowing the isles, watching fireworks on the roof, my German Shepherd, Edgy, who we raised from a puppy and was the guard dog of the place. He would pull me on my roller blades, it was fun.
There was a candy machine in the office with M & M's in it. I acquired a quarter, put it in the machine and got my M & M's. I ate all but one light brown peanut M & M (back when there were light brown ones). My dad had been outside for a long time painting a building, so I thought that it would be nice to bring him a candy. I held it in my hand, clenched, all the way over to where he stored his painting supplies. I opened my hand to reveal a mostly-melted M & M. He looked at me like, "Hmmm, I guess you want me to eat that." He did. That's a good dad. He knew not eating it would have hurt my feelings... Love you Dad.

Spring Fever

I love Saturdays when I get a load of things accomplished. I vacuumed upstairs right after I woke up and knew that it was going to be one of those very productive Saturdays. I proceeded to spend 3 hours outside (in the almost freezing cold) basically detailing our car. It was very satisfying. Our car's interior was covered in filth. There was still some trash in it from our Christmas trip to MI and back if that tells you anything. I began by just getting all of the garbage out of it, then vacuuming. After a good vacuum job, I noticed that the carpet in there was more than dirty. It had 3 years of dirt sunken into it. I borrowed an upholstery/carpet cleaner from my friend Tara and went to town on the filth. It felt good, let me tell you. The solution getting sucked into the dirty water tank of the machine was opaque, brown dirt. Ewww. I cleaned the seats and the carpets with this amazing machine, wiped down the dash and all plastic components.
Our neighbor walked past as I was doing it and said, "looks like you have a little bit of spring fever huh?" Yep, exactly. I am so sick of the snow, ice, rain, cold that I think I am resorting to pretending that it is spring. I ignored the fact yesterday that my hands and nose were numb b/c I didn't want to admit that it was really too cold for cleaning out cars. I am SO ready for spring, it isn't funny. It feels like it has been 3 months since Christmas, not half that. Hopefully the next 4 or 6 weeks won't go by as slowly as the last 7.
Then Adam and I decided to rearrange our house. This is something that I have been doing ALL winter. People come over to my house and say, "Oh, you switched your living room around (again)." Yep, I most certainly did. What else is there to do inside when it is too cold to even step outside? Well we did it again. We moved the computer into our room, the bookshelf that was in our room to the dining room/kitchen area, and the phone table out of our room to the same place. Satisfying. I just love having a new look in my house. Using what I already have and making it all look new and fresh again.
I also began re-upholstering our piano bench, but have yet to locate my staple gun that I loaned out to someone (I forgot who) so I can finish the job.
This is what you call Spring Fever. Projects, cleaning or crafty, being initiated all the time.

Valentine's

This Valentines day was unique. Talking to my friend Ruth Tuesday, she offered to babysit my kiddos. What! What about your Valentines Day? She gave me the excuse that her husband works Thursday nights so they wouldn't be doing anything anyway... Hmmm, how could I turn that down? I made her swear that they didn't have any plans and that having extra kids wouldn't put a damper on their special evening. If you know Ruth, of course she said, "Of course not!" So we did it, dropped that chillins off at the Goughs to play, paint, eat, run around like wild monkeys. They had so much fun there! What did we do? None of your business. Kidding... I made a special dinner and we ate it by candle light in a quiet house. Even the dogs were quiet. It was great. We had Red & Green Lasagna, Home made whole wheat bread, Caesar Salad and nice juice and sherbet floats that Adam thought of at the last minute. It was nice. I really wanted to make an appetizer and a nice side dish to go along with dinner, but you know, it would have stressed me out to prepare all that food, so I passed. Adam and I have been arguing for weeks whether we are going to get a Tohoe/Yukon or an Expedition when we get our next, bigger vehicle. We have been test driving each for a few weeks and there are things that each of us like about both vehicles. It has been a contentious point around here... we finally decided that we are going to nix both ideas and get a Toyota Sequoia. We thought that Sequoias would be way out of our price range, but we found that if we get a 2002 or 2003 with 60-80,000 miles or so on it, then we can afford it. We drove one of these babies earlier this week and we LOVED it. It drove better than both of our previous options. We trust Toyotas too. We have a Camry now and it has been a great car. Why do I share this in my Valentine's Day post? Because after dinner we both crowded around our computer and looked at Sequoias online. We were having fun, browsing the Internet for our dream vehicle without kids at our side. Lame, I know. We had fun though. It was nice to finally agree on a car! We went out for a few more calories at TCBY. Adam got a waffle cone with white chocolate mousse soft serve and I got a chocolate and Butterfinger dipped waffle cone with Rocky Road ice cream. You can tell who is more calorie conscious out of the two of us. Him. It was delish. And the ice cream there is like 97% fat free. I don't feel too guilty. I always find a way to justify eating lots of ice cream. We picked up the stinkers and had some good conversation with a few of our good friends. It was a good Valentine's day.

It's Official!

Our house is under contract! We signed the real estate contract Thursday night, so March 17th the deal will be closed! I can't tell you how much of a blessing it has been for us to have the house sold so soon. We are so grateful that we won't have to worry about if it is going to sell or not all the way until we move. It will be done and over with and we won't have the stress when we will be packing up and finding a new place to live in Michigan. The couple that are going to buy it are 3rd years here at the med school. He is doing a fellowship this year, so they will be here for at least 2 more years for rotations. We made a deal that in 2 years when we come back for graduation, that we will be able to come and see the house again. The whole thought of selling this house is something that I don't like to think about. It makes me really sad actually. In 30 days, this won't really be my house anymore. It will be someone else's and I will be renting it. It will be weird. That's why I choose not to really think about it, because I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. This is the first house that we have purchased and we have loved it so much. We have absolutely no regrets buying it and living here. It will be a really hard, sad day when we pull out of Kirksville on July 23rd for the final time, looking at the house in our rear-view mirrors. I will cry, hard, guaranteed. I am glad we have a few months left until that day. I will cherish every day, though I am really excited to move. Like you can see, I am back and forth about it all the time...

Adalin is 3!

Adalin's Birthday was Saturday! It was an awesome day! We woke up and all had Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes with Fresh Strawberries and Homemade Cinnamon Syrup. It was way good. Then we put-putted around the house, getting ready for Adalin's little birthday party that was held after her afternoon nap. She chose a Tinkerbell theme months ago and Grandma was so awesome to send from Michigan every Tink party necessity for the event, including plates, cups, napkins, balloons, a Tink banner and hanging Tinkerbell decorations, a Tink cake topper. I found Tinkerbell cupcake baking cups at Walmart, score! Adam had to remind me that the amount of lvoe we have for Adalin was not measured by how many Tinkerbell items we had for her. He's right. It was so fun though to be completely obsessed with Tinkerbell for a day. During the party each girl made fairy wands out of dowels, Styrofoam stars and ribbon. It was a really fun little craft! You can spot the wands we made in some of the pictures. We played Pin the Star on the Wand and Do as I'm Doing, with the leader wearing fairy wings.

Some things Adalin is doing now that she's 3:

- She seems to be the Alpha girl around here. She is always herding up her friends and telling them what to do next. She is definitely a leader. Sometimes she is a little too bossy...

- She loves her baby dolls, especially Baby Sara, her water baby that Grandma Allen got for her for her 1st Christmas. She carries that baby around like she is very real, feeds her, changes her diaper, holds her over the toilet on days when she is potty trained, puts her down for naps, goes to the imaginary store with her... you name it.

- She loves her (real) baby sister, Kira. It jsut fills my soul with happiness when they play together happily. You can feel the love that these 2 have for eachother. It is so cute. Adalin, of course, lets Kira know of everything that is coming next in their schedule throughout the day.

- She is a good little babysitter too. Sometimes when I need Adalin to go see where Kira is or to make her stop fussing, Adalin in on it. She loves to help.

- She still loves water. She loves playing in the kitchen sink, the bathtub, the shower...

- She says the darndest things. I need to write more down here. Some of the thigns she says are just hilarious. "Hilarious" is actually her newest word obsession. She says everything is hilarious. I keep reminding her the hilarious means funny, but she still uses it grossly out of context. It's hilarious sometimes.

- She loves her friends. She talks about them all the time and always wants to get out of the house and go over to a friend's house, or have a friend over. It's cute.

Rosebud Substitute

We were all on a giggly mood last night eating dinner and Adalin began talking about her body parts. You know, just how she has arms and legs and the usual things that normal people have attached. I asked, "Adalin, do you have rosebuds?" ("Rosebuds" are what begin to appear on the chest when a girl begins going into puberty. She obviously doesn't have these yet but, like I said, we were all in crazy, fun-loving moods.) She looks at me, utterly confused (because she doesn't know yet what rosebuds are) and says, "No, but I have butt cheeks!" Well, my almost 3-year old daughter, I guess that that will substitute you not having rosebuds just perfectly.

In Memory

The beloved prophet of my church passed away last night. Gordon B. Hinckley was a wonderful man. I loved him so much. He helped me through all of my teenage years and inspired me through rough times during the first few years of marriage as well. I have listened to his voice countless times in General Conference and other meetings, live or broadcasted over many miles. He always gave me hope that I could be a little better, a little stronger and a little closer to the Savior. He was so uplifting and inspiring. He is the perfect example to me of love, kindness, generosity, humility and hard work. He was such a good man, more than a good man, an extraordinarily wonderful, amazing man. I sustained him many times in my life as a prophet of God, I know he was and I pray that he will find peace and joy as he reunites with his sweet wife, Marjorie in heaven. I will miss him so much and will always read his words and remember him with great appreciation and love.

He gave us his testimony, "I hope that all of you will remember that on this Sabbath day you heard me bear my witness that this is God's holy work. The vision given the Prophet Joseph in the grove of Palmyra was not an imaginary thing. It was real. It occurred in the broad light of day. Both the Father and the Son spoke to the boy. He saw Them standing in the air above him. He heard Their voices. He gave heed to Their instruction.
"It was the resurrected Lord who was introduced by His Father, the great God of the universe. For the first time in recorded history, both the Father and the Son appeared together to part the curtains and open this, the last and final dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times.
"The Book of Mormon is all that it purports to be—a work recorded by prophets who lived anciently and whose words have come forth "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations" (Book of Mormon title page).
"The priesthood has been restored under the hands of John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John. All the keys and authority pertaining to eternal life are exercised in this Church.
"Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, the great Prophet of this dispensation. This Church, which carries the name of the Redeemer, is true.
"I leave you my testimony, my witness, and my love for each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." April 1, 2006, Sunday morning session of the 176th Annual World General Conference

I know also that the things that this amazing man spoke are true to the core. I will miss you President Hinckley.

Good Quote

I saw this just now on my Google sidebar and thought it was a great quote:

"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."

I mean, come on, who isn't like this?

A New Baby?

No, I am not pregnant.

I thought that I would write about how our Kira transformed into a different baby over the Christmas break... She seems like a whole new baby all of the sudden! She is growing up so quickly and it is so exciting to watch her learn and grow!
- She started crawling!
- She started to say "uh oh" and it is so cute
- Will say "mama" on command
- Is starting to say something that sounds like "dadin" which is Adam or Daddy
- Gives kisses, this is one of my favs
- Continues to wave, when in the correct mood, when you say "hi"
- She pulls herself to standing and is starting to "cruise"


Adalin continues to crack us up. She does everything we do. She loves to make us sit in front if her so she can "teach us" and loves to herd the dogs and Kira all at once around the house to participate in her already planned activities.
She wanted me to babysit her baby doll a few days ago and said, "Mom, can you watch Sara? I put everything you need in her bag. Just feed her if she gets hungry and pick her up if she cries. There are diapers in the bag so change her if she is poopy. I will be back soon. I am going to school to take a hard test" Or something to that effect. I see so much of myself in her, its weird. She notices that when I drop her and Kira off somewhere to be babysat that I worry a little and say things (like that) that just don't need to be said like, "Kira just ate so she shouldn't be hungry and she may get a little tired, but she should be OK." She watches my every move and imitates them all later.
She loves McDonald's too. Adam and I told her a few times when we drove past McDonald's that she can't have any (she requests it quite often) because McDonald's will make us fat is we eat there too much. So we had someone come and look at our house the other night and made a trip to the Wendy's drive-through and she says, "We can't eat here! This food is for fat people!" Hmmm, semi true, somewhat not. I guess its better that she understands not to eat that food too much b/c it will make you fat and have a little misunderstanding that not everyone who eats there is fat than to have no concept of what unhealthy food is. Lets hope that she doesn't blurt that one out when she walks in to her next fast food restaurant.

The New Year

It hasn't been a very good start to this year's blogging, obviously, since it is the 21st of January and I haven't written a thing yet this month. I think that I set myself up for disappointment. December was SO BUSY, and I kept saying, "After Christmas everything will slow down and life will be easier." Nope. Life has only accelerated these past few weeks and I am hanging on for dear life! We arrived back in Kirksville from Christmas and New Years in Michigan with my family to realize that it was past time to get the rest of our house painted and ready to sell, our finances back in line after a little too much spending over the holidays and that it was time to REALLY dive into planning the 2008 Fun Run in April that I am a co-chair for, start studying for boards, get the girls into the doctor, make some money...
So there is a lot to keep us busy, more than before, but you know, there will always be something we are late for, behind at or buried under.
The new year has made me think a lot about myself though and some of the goals that I have. The last year and a half of med-school has done something to me that I don't like. It's hard to put my finger on... There has just been a lot of stress. It has matured me but has also siphoned a little bit of life out of my character. I have been very worried about all of my responsibilities and my feelings and my schedule. This is partly because Adam is very focused on school, which he completely should be, so when he is studying, I focus on me and the kids, not so much on him and what he is doing. Needless to really say, a small gorge has formed in our family, with ME and HIM on either side. Bridging the gap is difficult! Something as simple as sitting next to him or on his lap and talking for 10 minutes bridges that gap, sometimes it takes a little more. Luckily, it isn't a permanent hole, it is one that just has to be looked after and filled with new dirt at the end of each day, or week.
So anyway, I haven't written b/c I have been trying to figure this all out. What do I need to be better at? (This is a hard question b/c it requires you to look outside your box and see your flaws, and even harder, finds ways you can be better so that they can be corrected.) How can I grow spiritually? (This is HUGE to me right now.) How can I find time to do everything that I have to do? How can I be a more affectionate and caring wife? Mother? How can I eat healthier? How can I resist sweets? How can I keep myself from getting sick every 2 weeks? Where do I find the motivation to exercise more? I need to walk to the dogs more, but don't want to... It goes on and on.
The fact that January 1st brought these questions is a good thing. I want so much to be better and to live better. I think that realizing the areas that I can improve is a fabulous start. I am grateful for the new beginning, even though it has been a hectic one. At least our muscles are more toned from hanging on to life with a firmer grip.