Edwards Happenings

Bring Back the Woody!

2011-05-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

Last week my car died. It was no surprise as it had many signs of premature old age, and, honestly, it was a little heart-warming to see it carried off by the tow truck. The best part is we actually got paid by the salvage yard! I could not even give my last car away and ended up having to pay $50 just to get rid of it.
Now comes the not-so-fun part of trying to hide from greasy salesmen while figuring out what to buy. I always thought that station wagons were hideous and their owners must all be paid marketing staff, or actors from Leave it to Beaver, or poor college students who inherited what their parent could not pay anyone else to take.
Then I had a child. After nearly 3 years of trying to stuff strollers and the like into the trunk of a Focus, I decided hatchbacks were one of the greatest inventions ever and the bigger the better. The other day I saw it. A giant, orange, Volvo wagon, boxy and roomy enough to hold a captain, several shipmates and a full load of cargo. My first thought was no longer, "Boats belong on water, not land" but "Do you know how much I could fit in there?" I might have drooled.

My new dream car.

The Coolest Kid on Campus

2011-04-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

At least in my opinion :)

Tidbits from the last few months

2011-04-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I forgot my camera for Thanksgiving, had food poisoning over Christmas and no excuses for the last 3 months. I just do not have a lot of pictures which is my form of capturing memories - I don't do the journal thing and my memory is beyond its years in forgetfulness - so I will do my best to catalog our happenings these last several months.
Thanksgiving favorite moment was most definitely Abby and Lily skipping through the house hand-in-hand singing, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me".
Christmas in CA memories are a tie between Kristi following Abby all around the house, hands reached out saying, "Hug? Hug? Hug?" or possibly when Grandpa Glen modeled his new look:
We had a small, rather pathetic snowfall, but enough to enjoy.

Eugene and I left Abby at my parents and celebrated our 11th Anniversary in downtown Portland. We stayed at the RiverPlace Hotel which was right on the waterfront. This was our view one evening.
The place was great! They knew it was our anniversary and brought us a fancy desert and anniversary card to our room - how sweet!

Then, in February, we traveled back to CA to welcome this precious little fellow into the world
Is he not one of the cutest newborns ever?

Eugene has been buried in homework once again this semester. He is not teaching, but taking 3 classes on top of his job, so that keeps him busy. Abby and I have managed to keep busy as well with things like disc golf
and creating artwork (more on that later)
Oh, I almost forgot one huge thing - Abby is potty trained! We spent almost a year "encouraging" it with every possible trick. Eating and sleeping had been such power struggles I was trying to avoid that with the toilette. However, it got to the point where we knew it was time to push and the girl practically trained overnight. Who would have thought? She stays dry through naptime and sometimes even at night! I am loving the 3 less loads of laundry a week.

Oh, and another not-so-great thing. I cut Abby's bangs. I was just so sick of her hair always being in her eyes no matter how much I tried to keep it clipped back. And I butchered them. Which is probably one reason I have not taken many pictures lately :) I was immediately sad that I "ruined" her look for a while, but so relieved to have my daughter look like a little girl and not a shih tzu puppy.

Our most recent adventure was Cora's 10th birthday party - I cannot believe she is 10 already! It seems like I just held her in the hospital. My sister made this adorable disney castle cake.
And, one of the best parts is that Paul made it home in time! He has been on military duty for so many of the girls' birthdays and holidays and this time he got to come home just a couple days before - perfect timing! And, welcome home, Paul!

Eugene and I (along with half the campus) have both been quite sick with long lasting fevers. I am on day 2 of antibiotics for a bronchial and an ear infection. Thankfully we were not sick at the same time and Eugene was great at keeping Abby busy and then house clean. My mom also came down to help one day and another day I sent Abby down to the coffee shop with a student. Thank you all for the help! I just hope Abby continues to stay healthy. But, if she does get sick, that gives me an excuse not to post for a while again, right? Ha, ha. I really do want to keep up because this is our memories on paper (or cyberspace). Until the next post - good night.

Jingle Bells

2010-12-26T15:06:00.000-08:00

A Jingle Bells like no other, click to youtube link to get the full picture as this one is cut off a bit.

[AC] Advent Conspiracy

2010-12-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Every year I feel so torn at Christmas. I love getting a tree, decorating, baking, shopping, singing carols at church and having an excuse to eat a hundred sugar cookies! But, frustration over the commercialism, controversy and stress of "the holiday" also looms throughout the month of December. And now that our little one is reaching an age of understanding, I feel the tug-of-war intensifying. How do we raise our child to enjoy the season God created without forgetting why the season exists in the first place? Abby is currently a bit obsessed with birthday parties, so she fully understands when we tell her Christmas is Jesus' birthday. But, explaining it in that fashion has made me even more aware of the many traditions we perform that have nothing to do with our Savior's birth. The biggest stumbling block for me is gifts. We thought about eliminating the practice, but I also want Abby to learn the joy of giving. And, then I get all stressed trying to figure out how to not stress and focus on Christ - aahhh! A little while ago we discovered an organization called Advent Conspiracy and I love it! This promo video sums up exactly how I feel! (note - the video is a bit cut off on this post, but if you click on the Y in the lower right corner you can watch it on Youtube instead).

As well as providing a great perspective on Christmas, Advent Conspiracy teams with Living Water International to help provide clean drinking water in third world countries. "Lack of clean water kills more people everyday than anything." Their first promo video explained that Americans spend $450 billion on Christmas every year. And the estimated cost to make clean water available to everyone is $10 billion. Isn't that insane? If we just spent 2.2% less on Christmas than normal and instead gave that away, we could wipe out the world's water problem in one year! Think of what else we could do? Anyway, I just wanted to share something that really moved me. If you like it, check out the website or go to Youtube to see the many other videos they have. Or go to the Living Water website to see how you can give a giving gift!

Fall Wrap Up

2010-12-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well, blogger is acting up again and I cannot get the pictures to rearrange, so I will do this in backwards order. Here is a quick summary of our fall:

At Grandpa Great's birthday - aren't these two the cutest!

Abby made handprint turkey cards with me for Thanksgiving. I love that she is getting old enough to start "crafting"! And if you did not get a card, please do not be offended. Her attention span lasted for 4 cards. The purple scribbles you see on the orange turkey are writing. She is now into pretending to write things, make "lists", ect. Just don't ask me what it says.

Eugene hosted another amazing Lumberjack Games event. Seeing as all our normal babysitters were either at the event or putting their own children to bed, I let Abby stay up and go to the first part. I did not want to miss seeing the fruit of Eugene's labor. During the wrestling match Abby started clapping and cheering with the crowd. I then put her on my shoulders and she was waving her arms and shouting - so funny! I don't think she had a clue what was going on other than everyone else was screaming and cheering, too!

One of Eugene's RA's is a big Laker's fan (I am a little surprised he made the team!). I came home from work to find these pumpkins on our doorstep. Last night in the cafeteria he was trying to get Abby to say "Go, Lakers!" That boy better watch out or he may just get himself fired!

We have the most beautiful trees in the Davidson parking lot - they just glow when the sun hits them in the fall!

Abby has always been my little "helper" in the kitchen, but it is getting more fun as she is actually able to do some things now. We had a blast this fall.

trying to blow up a balloon she earned at the Church Carnival. Before attending I was trying to explain that a carnival is where you play games and get candy. Abby paused, looked at me a bit puzzled and asked, "we have to go potty?" She usually only gets candy for going potty in the toilette - I love how toddler minds think!

Despite what might appear from this picture, we had fun at a pumpkin patch! The rest of the pics are posted on my facebook page.

Helping me make applesauce

We love applesauce in this house, and I usually run out about half way through the year. I am normally not picky, but if you grow up on homemade, you just cannot eat the storebought. So, I just kept buying apples and ended up going through about 120 lbs! Now I need to find a place to store it all (not behind my couch where it currently sits)

Little Girl Bed

2010-11-18T20:58:00.001-08:00

I just realized that I never posted about a major milestone in our family - Abby's Little Girl Bed (whenever I tell our daughter she is a big girl she says, "No, Mommy, I'm still little."). I was a little nervous considering all the stories I have heard about rough transitions, but this bed has been a miracle worker. I wish we would have made the switch a year ago! Sleep problems? Solved! (mostly). We also purchased a timer for Abby's nightlight so that it will turn off when it is morning time. That way, if she wakes up early, she knows to stay in her room until the nightlight turns off. For us, this has worked like a charm!

When I first put it together, she must have spent a good 20 minutes climbing in and out and in and out and making it and climbing in and out . . . For the first couple weeks she would take about an hour to get to sleep - not because she was crying for her crib. Rather, she was giddy about her new sleeping arrangements and doing who knows what. This is one of those times I wish we had a video monitor. By the time she finally fell asleep I would go in her room to find her conked out and her bedding an absolute disaster.

She even shares w/ friends. One issue we did have at first was her blankets falling off in the middle of the night. I decided to purchase a top sheet to help keep the little mover from causing them to slide, but you cannot purchase a single top sheet for a crib/toddler mattress - so annoying! You can buy sets, but I already had all the bottoms and just wanted a top. If you are in a similar situation: Walmart sells twin top sheets for $4 so I purchased 2 and just cut and hemmed them to fit. Better than spending $20 on a toddler set of which you only need half.

I just had to post this picture of Nana's birthday - isn't it precious!

Have you seen my husband?

2010-11-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

He is thought to be roaming the upper gym fields and taking frequent trips to Lowe's, may be wearing flannel, a camouflauge hat with a built-in headlamp, is probably covered in mud and hay and may have a math book in his back pocket. I think he was kidnapped by these students who call themselves Lumberjacks:

There are a few times a year that residence life keeps Eugene working from dawn to dusk. Preparing for the Lumberjack games has become one of those times, however between being an RD, taking two classes and teaching one, I have not seen him much this whole semester. That is I haven't seen his face. I often spot the back of his head poking out from a text book. He was asked to teach another math class this spring, but turned it down. I am proud that he was asked to teach again and a little sad he had to turn it down, but I am even more proud that I married someone who knows how to say, "No" and prioritize our family time.

City Girl?

2010-10-13T20:49:00.001-07:00

This summer I have been having fun exploring different farms thanks to my new favorite website pickyourown.org. Not only will this website give you information on every farmer's market, u-pick farm, pumpkin patch, etc. in your area, it also has great recipes, canning/freezing tips and lots of other fun resources. All that to say, on Monday I adjusted my work schedule so that my friend, Tina, and I could check out Harpole's Produce. If you live in the area I would highly recommend it - you can find the info under the Marion County section. This was a raw farm, not commercialized in the least and kind of sketchy looking at first. But, it was so perfect! Run by an older couple and their daughter, you can either purchase pre-picked produce at their "stand" (I use the term loosely) or they will point you down a dirt path, past the cows, goats and chickens where you can pick your own. They do not spray and nothing is marked, so you just roam through fields and find something you want and pick it. I was in u-picker's heaven, however, I do not know my crops well and at times was never quite sure if I was stepping on weeds or plants. We found all kinds of peppers ($0.10 each!), watermelon, butternut squash, pie pumpkins ($0.25/lb) and carving pumpkins ($0.09/lb), beans, zucchini, crook-neck squash and ran out of time for the corn (12/$1!) and apples. I had a blast and the kids had fun too, however, I discovered we need to work on Abby's girlishness as she told me she couldn't help pick the beans because, "they're muuudy" (and then seated herself in the mud to play with the beans I had already picked). Check out the size of this produce!If you are still reading, I'm impressed. So, here is the city girl part. At home I am washing, cutting and blanching these giant beans (some were 8" long!) when a seed pops out of the pod and I think to myself "these are the size of lima beans". Then I realize, maybe these are lima beans? I quickly google green bean vs. lima bean, but cannot seem to figure out the difference. After closer examination I am pretty sure that I picked 3 different types of beans. I just finished up and am not sure what now occupies the middle drawer of my freezer. Can you eat the pod of a lima? I guess we will soon find out what it tastes like!

Stylin'

2010-10-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

Abby and I often take walks around campus in the afternoon. Lately she likes to "dress up" for the outing. She has recently sported her bumble bee outfit, fairy wings, princess dress and the above shown outfit. I am not embarrassed by her choice of clothing, however when people peer into the stroller she pushes around and see a stuffed dog instead of a baby, I feel a little odd. Especially when she is worn out and I have to finish pushing the puppy back home.

Luau!

2010-09-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

Last night Eugene had his first big event of the year - a luau with our sister dorm. I still let Abby dress herself quite often, and here she is ready for the big event:

Eugene had some Hawaiian students in the dorm so they authenticated the luau with spam sushi and island music.

Eugene and his RA's built this super cool slip'n'slide! The students competed for an unknown prize which turned out to be a bale of hay :)

And while I was busy taking pictures, my OCD child was organizing the ladder ball game.

Here is a little of what has happened since I posted last:

Abby has become a much more sound sleeper, so I had some fun taking pictures of her sleeping. It's nice to have these so during the times she wakes up a lot I can remember that she does sleep.

My parents came down and we went to the Salem Airport festival. As much as Abby loves watching airplanes in the sky, I was surprised that they kind of freaked her out close up. We were lucky to get this picture.
Students started trickling in at the beginning of August. Eugene was one of the head planners of the RA retreat and took more trips to the craft store than I took all summer. It was really weird to hear my husband ask, "I'm going to Craft Warehouse, do you need anything?" or "Do you have any Jo-Ann coupons?"

Abby helped Daddy sort and pack the supplies for the retreat. We went to the campground to hang out the first evening and then came home to pack and head to CA the next morning. Was I insane? About 25 travel hours just me and a 2 year old. She actually travels much easier now than when she was an infant and it was kind of fun to have a mommy/daughter road trip.
One of the reasons we headed south was to celebrate Kristi's first birthday.

So cute! She was a perfect little party girl.
Tara had a cookie monster/count theme and made these adorable cupcakes! She also made all the table wear by hand - what a labor of love!
Cooookieeee! Andy made the smash cake. Those two seriously need to open their own bakery.
I finally got to meet this precious little miracle. Born at 1 lb. 10 oz. she has had to be kept mostly at home to keep her healthy. But in August she got to join the party!

A week was the longest Abby had been away from Daddy, but sadly the drive took what felt like forever and when we arrived home, he was at the Dedication Dessert. But he left us a beautiful surprise on the table. Abby carried her flowers all over the house with her and still talks about the "surprise Daddy got us".
Shortly after arriving back in Salem Abby and Daddy both got sick. I am thankful for my super amazing immune system because I usually do not catch what they have.

We found this princess dress at a garage sale for a dollar and that has been one of the most used dollars I ever spent. She wears it all the time, telling anyone who comments that she is a princess.

We spent an evening at the state fair and Abby tasted her first cotton candy.

To avoid 2am fire drills, Abby and I headed to my parent's house for a couple evenings.

Eugene got (another) new bar-b-q and has already put it to good use. He is now very picky about who is allowed to use it. The first one flew off the back of a truck when the students did not tie it down (but they helped pay to replace it in quarters and dimes) and the last one was just cheaply made and moved too much.

Grandpa Terry gave Abby a princess cookbook, so I get asked almost daily to make something from it. Last week we made sugar cookies and I discovered that you can never have too many sprinkles!

Professor Edwards

2010-08-13T20:57:00.001-07:00

I didn't write this in my last post because I thought it deserved one of its own. A couple weeks ago we got a phone call from Eugene's math professor asking if he would be willing to teach a class this fall at Corban - how cool is that?! And for so many reasons. What an honor to be called and asked to teach when you didn't even apply for a job; it speaks to the amazing math wizness (I know that's not a word) of my husband. It's a foot in the door, a great addition to the resume and a little extra cash as we are trying to save for a car. And all unexpectedly. I am proud of and excited for Eugene!

Rejoining the Blogging World

2010-07-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

This is the longest I have ever gone without blogging - just haven't been in the mood. Sorry to our out-of-town family, which would be all of you. My short term memory resembles that of Dori on Finding Nemo, but thanks to my obsession with taking pictures I can tell you a little of what we have done the last two months:
trip to Bauman Farms with Aunt Ellie, finished helping Nana move, celebrated G-Bass' 60th birthday, Eugene was accepted into the teaching license program and is currently taking 2 classes, chilled at home for Father's Day, enjoyed a super fun weekend with the Price family and the Blair's (and enjoyed being around someone who shares my strange obsession with cloth diapering), trip to the Gilbert House, lots of playing in water in the sun, a fun visit from Grandpa Terry including feeding the ducks and a trip to Toys-R-Us, Abby's first fireworks, picked strawberries and made way too much jam (anyone want some?), Christmas in July with the Bass family, camping with the Price's and a trip to the Wildlife Safari village, a day trip to Detroit Lake with my fam and forgot to bring my camera (insert gasp of horror), took Abby to the doc for a blistery bottom, made some more fun cakes and decided fondant is too much work, picked some blueberries and am now in the midst of learning what it is like to parent during a fearful, defiant and somewhat sleepless stage wondering who kidnapped my nearly perfect little bundle of joy.
Here are a few pics from our recent adventures:
ok, so I'm too lazy to move them all down here so you already saw them in backwards order :)

I'm such a nerd!

2010-06-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

So, today I attended an all-day seminar on HR law and I loved it - never got bored. I think there might be something wrong with me! Anyway, Tuesday night we returned from a week in CA; here are some highlights:

Abby was loved on by both Grandma Sharon and baby Kristi, but very jealous of Grandma loving on baby Kristi! I think next trip I need to talk about Grandma having other granddaughters before we go. But, that didn't stop Kristi from loving on Abby!

Isn't she just adorable? Look at those little toes!

Abby received another birthday part and just loved it. She is still singing herself Happy Birthday. Grandma Dorothy made this really cool cake with a moving train going around! Abby loved it.

Opening her "mail"

Happy Birthday to Us!

2010-05-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

My Birthday was on Sunday and Abby's was on Monday. We had a little party for Abby on Sunday evening. Ever since Eugene's birthday Abby has been asking to make her birthday cake. So, you can imagine how excited she was when the day finally came to make the cake. And, lucky for her, I took the first one out of the oven too early so she got some extra munching.One of my favorite shows is Ace of Cakes. They make cake decorating look so easy and fun, I decided to try a carved creation of my own. Hahahahaha!

My friend Tina had a round cake pan, so that worked out well for cake #2. For cake #1 I baked a sheet cake and then cut and stacked. I quickly discovered that stacking more than 2 layers can lead to cracks and collapses. So, one cardboard box, some plastic straws and several sheets of tinfoil later and I slowly started building my edible structure.

Can you guess what it is yet?
The hardest step for me was covering the carved cake with the icing layer. After carving, it was so crumbly and the icing would not stick - very frustrating.
Can you tell what it is now?
Ta Da! This whole idea started when I found VeggieTales candy on clearance after Easter. I took a picture of the cake Saturday night in case I woke up Sunday and found Larry on his face. And this is how terrible I am - I wouldn't let the kids eat the faces! I had spent so much time on these silly cakes I just couldn't bring myself to let them be completely destroyed the next day even though I made them for the kids! I felt so bad afterward because I remember as a kid how cool it was to get to eat the fun things on a cake. Next time I'll make a simple, ugly cake :)
Abby enjoyed opening gifts
and digging into the much anticipated cake.
Since Monday was her actual birthday Eugene and I treated Abby to lunch at Flight Deck. She loves airplanes and had good time watching them take off while eating. After lunch Eugene left for a work retreat, so Monday was a girl's night. We enjoyed leftover cake and ice cream and ate dinner while watching Mary Poppins.
And now we are trying to convince Abby that she is two years old. For a whole year she has held up one finger when asked how old she is and old habits are hard to break.

The mind of a 2 year old

2010-05-20T23:09:00.001-07:00

I was reading Abby a nursery rhyme book tonight when she leaned over and said to the picture of the famous egg, "Hampy hampy, you drink milk from fridge. You won't fall down."
Huh?

Just One of Those Days

2010-05-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night Abby was having some internal plumbing issues and therefore woke up in the middle of the night. I've been getting spoiled these last few months since she started (mostly) consistently sleeping through the night around the end of February. Normally when she has a midnight wake-up she will then sleep in. But, not this morning as she loudly announced at 6:30, "I awake!" Our morning went mostly as usual - snuggles with a cartoon, breakfast, playing with blocks, getting ready for work when Abby burst into the bathroom, declared that she wanted to wear Elmo big girl underwear and promptly went potty in her little toilette. I fight back my frustration that she knows how to go potty in the toilette when she wants yet usually refuses, trying to remind myself she is not even 2 yet and I need to have patience. I help her finish, wash hands, and honor my promise to let her wear Elmo big girl underwear whenever she goes potty in the toilette yet having no internal faith that she will keep them dry and since we are headed out the door to work I quickly stash some rags in the diaper bag for anticipated clean-up.
At work we are both tired and grumpy. I remind her a gazillion times that she needs to keep Elmo dry. I'm checking e-mails with Abby on my lap begging to play "ABCDIT" (her word for an alphabet website game she likes) over and over and over when I realize I'm having trouble seeing. We go into the bathroom to wash my glasses and I show Abby the duck potty seat reminding her again that she needs to tell me when it's potty time. I go back to my computer, Abby still on my lap repeating "ABCDIT!" and trying to grab my mouse when I realize it wasn't my glasses but those silly hormones that haven't gone back to normal even though it's been almost 2 years since I was pregnant. Limited vision for me means bad headache coming within about 45 seconds. Just then I feel warm liquid filling my lap. I jump up trying not to get too mad and the assistant director comes in asking me to help with a potential new hire. With wet thighs I let her know I'm going home and will be back in a bit. I throw a diaper on Abby, head home, change clothes, go back to work and manage to squeeze about an hour of work in before heading back home for lunch.
While eating lunch, more annoying hormones and I start feeling really nauseous (no, I'm not pregnant). Just as we are finishing lunch Abby spills her juice all over herself and the floor. I change her into outfit #3, clean up the floor, empty and re-load the dishwasher, snuggle and read a book, down for a nap. I head back to work for 2 hours and return just in time for Abby to wake up.
After naptime we hang with Daddy for a few minutes, chop up some apples and put them on the stove for applesauce, bake a loaf of banana bread, start 2 loads of laundry, realize that now I am also really dizzy, play with blocks, have relay races in the lobby, cook dinner. After cleaning up from dinner, bread, and apples I lay down on the floor to play with Abby only to find my head still spinning and thinking I really need to make an appt with the OBGYN. So we play with some more blocks for a few minutes before Abby's plumbing finally clears. Change diaper, get ready for a friends birthday party and head out the door. Thinking that we will just pop over to my friends house for about 30 minutes and come back since we are all really tired and not in the mood to be very social, we then arrive to discover (unknown since communication was done via both spouses) this is a full blown big party and we can't just slip out. There are friends present we haven't seen in years, so I awkwardly try to be as polite as possible. We finally sneak away, coming home late and hoping to put Abby right to bed I realize I didn't put 2nd load of laundry in the dryer which had all Abby's blankets. I'm grumpy and snapping at Eugene, find some spare blankets, change Abby, read books, down for bed! I'm still snapping at Eugene even though he started another load of laundry and helped finish cleaning the kitchen. I put the apples through the sieve, start a load of diapers, fold laundry and sit down to work for an hour and make up for the missed time this morning due to potty training. Finish work, apologize to Eugene, start to blog and realize our memory card reader is missing so no pictures, get tired and finally head to bed about midnight only to be woken up again in about 3 hours - apparently all systems are still not cleared. I need to go buy prunes.
Thanks to my lovely husband who despite my bitter attitude let me stay in bed for a bit this morning while he got up with Abby.

For those who want it

2010-05-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

Just a week and a half until my little baby turns 2! We've been battling sickness for the last several days, so I hope she's feeling up to a little party by next weekend. For those of you who want a list, sorry this is a little late, but here you go:
*Bubble bath, fun bath soaps/body wash, bath crayons, etc.
*A backpack
*little gardening tools
*sunglasses
*stickers, sticker books
*post-it notes
*coloring books, color wonders, etc
*fingerpaints
*day passes to the Kroc, NW Kids Club, the Gilbert House, the Enchanted Forrest, the Zoo
*cooking mixes: Jiffy muffin mixes, cookie mixes, the small boxes of cupcake mixes, etc
*she still loves her Little People and Mega Bloks
*a bird feeder with birdseed for outside our window at work
*toothbrushes - she has this thing for brushing her teeth!
*hair bows, clips, etc
*24 month/2T pajamas
*children's music CD's
*children's music player
*one of those toys that you hammer pegs through a bench
*she likes cars/trucks, trains, airplanes, dogs, bumble bees, ducks, horses, most animals :), her baby dolls, Mickey and all his friends, Pooh and all his friends, Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Handy Manny, Elmo, Veggie Tales - pretty much anything. She's a very easy to please little girl!

Long, Backwards post

2010-05-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

I just downloaded a bunch of pictures to this post and was going to pick my favorites once I saw them together, but now for some odd reason I cannot delete them so just like this run-on, bad grammar sentence (sorry Mom and Tara!), this post is going to be very long and I'm being lazy and not wanting to re-order the pictures so it is also going to be chronologically backwards.

The students have all gone home. Eugene has been very busy taking finals, cleaning, organizing, getting the dorm ready for summer and saying good-byes. Abby enjoyed the day when one of the guys let her play with a sombrero they found while cleaning out the rooms.
What happens when you overdo it with your child? She asks to play in her crib and covers herself up with a blanket and pretends to take a nap.
Pajama Bowl! Thank you to those of you who donated to the event. More than $90k was raised for local foster kids! Cyndi, Cora, Elyse, Lily, Abby and I had a blast bowling. However, when you have a 1, 3, 6 and 9 year-old on your team it takes a really long time and eventually they start turning off the lights on you to kindly hint that the event has been over for a while and you need to go home :)

Many local places had donated prizes. Cora won a sand art kit. Elyse and Lily both won DVD's and I won 6 passes to the Portland Children's Museum. Looks like we'll have another cousin trip this summer!
Lily and Abby got bored of the bowling after a while and started entertaining themselves by playing with the air blower and spinning on the floor.

Since Abby wasn't strong enough to bounce the ball from one bumper to the other like the cool, older cousins she took it upon herself to cheer from the sidelines.

After we returned from CA, Dad Edwards was waiting for us. We had a great visit and really enjoyed getting to spend some time together.

Abby and I headed to Portland to help Grandma Cook pack for her move to Courtyard Fountains.
Grandpa Terry stays just down the road at Gateway park. We met him there for some duck-feeding fun!

There. Now we I am (mostly) caught up on posting!

Grandma's 80th

2010-04-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some highlights from our trip to CA to celebrate Grandma Dorothy's 80th birthday.
Kristi and Abby had lots of fun playing with each other. Saturday evening Gary and Teresa hosted a casino night for Grandma. Game tables were brought in and guests had fun "gambling" with raffle tickets to win some fun prizes.

The next morning celebration continued with a brunch. Abby got to play with Elmo which made her day.
After brunch we took a few pics of the cousins in their new matching dresses from Grandma Sharon. Can you tell they were both a little overtired from all the travel and partying? They both went down for naps right after these shots!

Still Procrastinating

2010-04-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

I keep going to blog about what we've been up to and then get side tracked by playing with picture editing until all of a suddon it's late and I need to go to bed. Good night.

Happy Birthday, Eugene!

2010-04-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

I love you lots and lots and am so thankful God blessed us with another year of life together!

Look at this cute one!

2010-04-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm going to go wash diapers now!

Picasa!

2010-04-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

Dad Edwards introduced me to Picasa tonight. I'm having so much fun! I should be washing diapers, but this is addicting :) Here is the before

and after!

I took these today when Abby and I met Grandpa Terry over at the lake to feed the ducks. I have so much to blog about right now, but I'm having too much fun playing with the pictures!

A Not So Shameless Plug

2010-04-13T22:50:00.001-07:00

A couple Christmas' ago I promised to take my nieces bowling. Since I have the memory of a 90 year old, that hasn't happened yet. My co-worker kept trying to convince me to participate in the Sleep Country Pajama Bowl, so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to fulfill my vows. Here's the scoop: Every year, Sleep Country hosts a pajama bowling party as a fundraiser for foster kids. You form a team of 5 people, raise donations, dress up in pajamas and go bowling! 100% of the donations go to various foster agencies.
So, Cora, Elise, Lilly, Abby and I are headed to Vancouver on 4/25/10 decked out in our PJ's. Want to donate to our team? Click here! You just need to know our team name - Clover Cousins! All donations are tax deductible and anything is appreciated - even $1! The Clover Cousins will be raising money for CCPC which, yes, is also my place of employment. We will be using the money for summer activities for our youth such as camping, fishing, bar-b-q's, etc. As the Sleep Country slogan says, "Not everyone can be a foster parent, but anyone can help a foster child!"

Victory is Ours!

2010-04-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

We made the drive back from CA in 9 1/2 hours - that is definitely a record since the little one came along and even a good time for post-marriage travel (I tend to need lots of pit stops). We had a great weekend celebrating Grandma Dorothy's 80th birthday. I'll post pictures later as Dad Edwards is going to show me how to edit pictures tomorrow - I'm excited!

Armed and Ready

2010-04-08T23:35:00.001-07:00

So, maybe that wasn't the most appropriate title considering my brother-in-law was deployed today to sacrifice yet another year of his life defending our freedom. But, I am considering this the eve of a battle, so to speak. Tomorrow morning we are headed to SacTown for the weekend. Yes, that's right, 1000+ miles with a 22 month old in one weekend. The car is packed with stickers, a coloring book, little people, a lap tray, a portable DVD player, books, a leap-frog piano, snacks, stuffed animals and other goodies I hope will entertain our little one. We will return victorious.

Earlier this week Abby found my stash of goodies. I told her they were for a car ride because we were going to go visit Grandma Sharon. She promptly threw her arms up in the air and shouted, "Hooray! Let's go!" and proceeded to the back door.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful day today. It started out this morning with a trip to Portland where we joined my family at my home church. Abby really likes the nursery there, so I got to enjoy an entire church service. Between teaching Sunday School every other month, traveling lots and having a young child, I could count the times I have gotten to sit through a whole service in the last 2 years, so this was a special treat. It was a great time of corporately celebrating Jesus' death and resurrection.
After church we all went over to Mom and Dad Bass' house for a delicious Easter dinner, some egg hunting and birthday celebrating. Aunt Ellie came down from Astoria and Grandpa and Grandma Bass came up from Springfield so we had a good family time. It was nice to all be together, especially since Paul is leaving soon for his 3rd tour of duty.
Here are some pictures from our day:

Abby helped Daddy unwrap his birthday present and eat his dessert.

Cora enjoyed her new book.

Elise enjoyed doting on Abby

Abby and Lily both talked Grandma into a bath - what trip to Grandma's house is complete without one?

So much excitement in one day is exhausting!

Eggs!

2010-04-03T20:36:00.001-07:00

We decorated eggs tonight!First we dyed them, then we very carefully added some little stickers.

Ta-Da!

And, only 2 eggs were cracked in the process.

Good Friday

2010-04-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
 the emblem of suffering and shame;
 and I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best
 for a world of lost sinners was slain.

 So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
 till my trophies at last I lay down;
 I will cling to the old rugged cross,
 and exchange it some day for a crown.

 In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
 a wondrous beauty I see,
 for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
 to pardon and sanctify me.
                             George Bernard, 1873-1958

²⁷Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium
and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and then twisted
together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a
staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked
him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. ³⁰They spit on him, 
and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.
³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his
own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named
Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³They came to
a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).

¹⁸Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each
side and Jesus in the middle.
¹⁹Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰Many of the
Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was
near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
²¹The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write
'The King of the Jews,' but that  this man claimed to be king of the
Jews."  ²²Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have  written."

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes,

dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with

the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless,

woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴"Let's not tear it,"

they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,

"They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing."

So this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶When Jesus saw
his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing
nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
²⁷and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on,
this disciple took her into his home.

²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the
Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." ²⁹A jar of
wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the
sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two
from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵²The
tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had
died were raised to life.⁵³They came out of the tombs, and
after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and
appeared to many people.

⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding

Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they

were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

³¹Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to
be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies
left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to
have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³²The
soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who
had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.
³³But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already
dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers
pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of
blood and water. ³⁵The man who saw it has given testimony,
and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth,
and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶These things
happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of
his bones will be broken,"³⁷and, as another scripture says,
"They will look on the one they have pierced."

Matthew 27:27-32, 51-54; John 19:18-37

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us."
                                                                Romans 5:8

So, Maybe Fashion Just Isn't Her Thing

2010-03-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

2010-03-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Abby received an Easter package from Grandma Sharon. This morning she fluffed the duck's hair and told it, "Hair so pretty".

Afternoon Entertainment

2010-03-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

Early this week our truck would not start. While Eugene put his manly skills to work, Abby acted as if she was at the NCAA Championship Game. There is nothing like watching Daddy fix his car.

We even had refreshments.

Turns out the battery died well before it's time. What's really cool is that we took it back to Costco today since it was still under warranty and they gave us a full refund even though we did not have the receipt. Thanks, Costco!

We're On Our Way to Grandma's

2010-03-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Abby and I headed to Portland to visit my family and wish Aunt Ellie a happy birthday! I told Abby we were headed to Grandma & Grandpa Bass' house and that she could pack some toys for the drive. What does a 1 1/2 yr. old pack? She went and got an insulated bottle tote and put her mini Beauty and the Beast book inside. Then she was ready to go!
At G&G Bass' house she played some piano solos,
and accompanied Grandma,and danced with Grandpa.
She convinced Grandma to give her a bath (what trip to Grandma Bass' house would be complete without a bath?) and chased the dog around and around and around. I wonder who was more tired today - Abby or the dog?

Do you know what these babies are doing with their faces in the paint trays?
They are eating, of course!

An Early Case of Narcisism?

2010-03-12T19:42:00.000-08:00

Abby lives in a community of hundreds of students and faculty that are constantly commenting on how cute and adorable she is and what beautiful strawberry-blond hair she has. Then she comes to work with me and has 50 more people telling her that she is so cute. Couple that with a mom and dad who also tell her repeatedly how cute and funny she is and you never have to worry about an inferiority complex in this child. Yesterday as I was carrying her up the stairs at work she pulled at her dress and told me "Abby cute!". I asked her "Is Abby cute" and she emphatically replied "Yes!". Today in the cafeteria a staff lady came up to say hi and Abby held out her hair and told the lady, "Hair so pretty." What do I do with this?

Girl's Day Out

2010-03-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Abby and I went to a triple baby shower (we tend to have lots of pregnant women in our Sunday School Class!). I dressed her up and if I must say so, and I must, I think she looked absolutely sweet!

And, yes, that is a black eye.
Oh, and thanks, Cyndi, for all the cute hand-me-downs!

Princess for a Day

2010-03-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

Last night we watched Cinderella. I wore a skirt to work today and all day long Abby kept fluffing my skirt and saying, "Sooo pretty! Oh, my! Sooo pretty!". I think she was trying to reenact one of the scenes where Cinderella admires her dress. I just reveled in the moment of my daughter treating me as if I was a princess :)

Bragging Rights

2010-03-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

Eugene has most definitely earned some bragging rights, but because he won't, I will. My smart husband scored a big 100 on his Calc 4 test this week. Yay for Eugene! He da man.

Role Play

2010-03-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

As Abby's vocabulary is increasing, her role plays are becoming much more advanced than, "Hi, Duck. Hi, Snow White. Hi, Duck. Hi, Snow White" On Sunday she had a rough time in the nursery and we ended up getting paged part way through church. That night in the bathtub she repeatedly put her little plastic princess on the side of the tub and told her, "be right back, k?" When I asked her where she was going she stated, "Sunday school". Traumatized? The princess was also put to bed and said, "I wuv you too". One of Abby's favorite things to do is when we walk down to the student coffee shop and buy a snack and eat it in the "big" chairs. She has become rather obsessed with the coffee shop and now every time I ask her if she wants a snack she replies, "Coffee shop?" The other day I overheard Mickey Mouse telling Pooh Bear, "Coffee Shop - let's go!" At tea parties, Snow White and baby doll are fed pot pies - what else? And tonight in the bathtub, the plastic princess was rescued from the tower by the walrus who carried her down to safety.

Why is this so Difficult?

2010-02-28T19:25:00.001-08:00

I need to vent. I just want to purchase a simple plain white long sleeve shirt and plain white leggings for Abby. White. Not pink. Not polka-dotted. No embroidery. Not footless tights. Not leg warmers. Not turtle-necks. Just a plain white long-sleeve shirt and a pair of plain white leggings. We live in the Willamette Valley and it gets cold here. Abby has lots of really cute dresses and skirts. Some days, tights are just not warm enough. I have looked at every store both in town and on the internet. There are pink leggings everywhere, but no white! I've even looked on Amazon and e-bay (I did find one pair of leggings on e-bay. Apparently there is only one pair in the entire world!). Oh, and when I googled it I also found a pair on Sax, but I'm not willing to pay $99 and the fact that there are people in this world who will pay $99 for a pair of toddler leggings makes me even more annoyed. The fact that someone would sell a pair of toddler leggings for $99 is just maddening - how much fabric is in those things? Those leggings that will be outgrown in a matter of months and soiled in a matter of days. So, if you want to make some money, here is my suggestion. Go into the business of making plain white leggings for toddlers. And plain white long sleeve shirts, too.

Family Movie Night

2010-02-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

Last night we had our first family movie night. Eugene went to rent Cinderella, but it was out, so he brought home Mary Poppins. Abby thought it was pretty cool when I spread a blanket and let us all eat dinner in the living room.Look out So You Think You Can Dance Season 22! Abby went nuts during the chimney sweep scene. She was still dancing on her tip toes this morning singing "Stepp'n Time, Stepp'n Time!"

However, we did not make it through the whole movie as it was getting well past bedtime. And, since Abby turns into a pumpkin after 8pm, we called it a night.

What we did today

2010-02-13T23:16:00.000-08:00

We began the morning by practicing our new face - it's somewhere in between grumpy and puzzled and just started appearing a few days ago.
We snuggled on the rocking chair with Giraffe and Teddy.
We read them a story.
For lunch, we made muffins and licked the bowl clean, down to
every
last
drop.
After lunch we used Daddy's hat to pretend we were super slueths.
then we tried it on the rubber duck for size
After nap we brushed Teddy's hair
and chilled in the crib for a while
Then we ate a snack outside
and took Snow White and the baby for a walk
We comforted the baby when she cried
and helped Snow White do the motions for itsy bitsy spider
She did such a good job she got a big hug
Then we showed Snow White and the baby the plane that was flying in the sky
We picked a daisy and acted like we had never seen a flower before.
then we went back inside. Abby fell off a kitchen chair and bruised her back. I am guessing that is why the rest of the evening was one melt down after another. But, we enjoyed some snuggles and sang to Teddy and Giraffe before going to sleep. Thank you, God, for days like these!

Did I miss Winter?

2010-02-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

62 degrees and sunny today! I think winter only lasted about a week this year here in the Willamette Valley. I vaguely remember being really cold for about that length of time. It is a welcome change. Usually I get really sick of the drizzly rain this time of year, but today we played in the sun!
What else have we been up to?

A new hairdo and bathroom cabinet! Just in the last couple weeks Abby has started to leave things in her hair for more than a few minutes. I am having fun! I also purchased a cabinet for our bathroom (since we have no cupboards, no medicine cabinet, no counters). I really like it and Abby has spent countless hours "organizing" it for me.
Snuggles with our little one:
A failed potty training tea party. A few weeks ago I attempted to potty train Abby. I read up on the weekend training and was shocked when it only took Abby about 2 hours to catch on. So, why the failure? I think the toilette just isn't her thing. After leaving her diaper free, she grabbed her crotch, said "potty!" and went in the toilette perfectly. But, that was it. The rest of the day she would tell me "potty!" as she was going but wanted no further part of the big white throne. I have decided to wait a month and try again. Any helpful hints?Learning her ACB's: Yes, that is how we say it around here. We bought Abby a magnetic alphabet set for Christmas. She is a little sponge when it comes to learning and could tell you most of her letters within a few days. I am not one of those obsessed parents that tries to teach her child to read by 18 months - she just picks up things quick! She can recognize her written name, as well as Mommy and Daddy. The other day I was working in the kitchen and gave Abby some paper to draw on. Next thing I knew she was laying in front of the fridge. She would say a letter and then very seriously scribble on the paper. Abby has also learned her colors, shapes, and can count to 5. She likes counting to ten as well, but it goes like this, "fwee, fo, sis, ten!"

Writing your alphabet is hard work!

Weekend Getaway! Eugene's mom flew up last week so we could have our first weekend getaway since Abby was born! Thanks, Mom Bakos! We took off to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I cried when we left, but did OK most of the weekend. It was so nice to have some just us time - no constraints, no hurrying back for nap time, meal time, bed time, etc. No going to bed early knowing I would be woken up soon after. The wierdest part for me was packing - it only took me about 10 minutes and we fit in one bag! We enjoyed some hot meals at our own pace, did some shopping and mostly just relaxed and enjoyed each other. The ironic part - their was a baby in the room next to ours. It was pretty annoying since we had waited so long to get away from nighttime and early morning crying, but at least we could stay in bed!Can you guess where we stayed? The clue is in the left of the picture.

This is the view from our amazing room. We stayed at the Elizabeth Street Inn and had one of these rooms:

Christmas with the Fam, Take 2

2010-01-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve we headed to Sacramento to celebrate Christmas with Eugene's side of our family. Abby packed herself.

Abby and Kristi were spoiled with lots of fun new toys and outfits.

And, both Dads got to figure out how to put the toys together!

Some snuglin' cousin time.

Grandma Dorothy is one of the most amazing cooks ever. But, apparently she needed some extra guidance and supervision.

Do not be fooled. Abby may look like she was being all sweet and helping Kristi find her pacifier, but really she was just trying to take it for herself!

We took lots of family pics this year and they all turned out so good!

Unfortunately Brian and Tiffany's new little baby girl, Blair, didn't have doctor's clearance to party yet. But, this last weekend she reached the 4 lb mark (or really close to it) and got to come home - Congratulations little one!

Uncle Gary won Abby over the night before when he pulled out the tickle-me-Elmo doll. They're friends now.

Happy Anniversary!

2010-01-08T20:02:00.000-08:00

Eugene and I have been married 10 years today! Wow. I am truly thankful for the man with which God has blessed my life. We enjoyed lunch together today and now I am alone as it is RA winter retreat this weekend. So goes our life sometimes! Thus we are holding off our celebration for a few weeks - more on that later! But, for now, happy anniversary, Eugene. I love you and am proud to be your wife. You are a loving, serving husband, a great daddy and wonderful RD!

Christmas with the Fam

2009-12-28T21:01:00.001-08:00

We spent Christmas with my side of the family. It was nice since we hadn't done that for a couple years. Christmas Eve had a visit to Nana and Aunt Ellie and then a relaxing evening at my parents' house. Eugene and I filled a stocking for Abby. She would have been perfectly happy if the first gift she pulled out was the only one!

After stockings we enjoyed our traditional family breakfast of ebil skevers (spelling?). It's a Dutch thang. Then we opened some gifts with my sister's family before heading over to her house to celebrate with extended family.

Gotta love the round belly and diaper bum!

Elise took on the role of gift passer-outer. My sister cooked a really yummy ham and some sort of corn and potato dish that even had Abby asking for more!

Abby and Lilly received coordinating tutu outfits from G&G Bass. Lilly had some prima moves to show.

Abby's day concluded with a story from Grandpa.

Some pre-Christmas moments

2009-12-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some snapshots of last week:

my singing Christmas fairy cowgirl

Abby likes to "help" me sweep, aka spread my dirt pile all around the kitchen.

Who Needs Toys?

2009-12-19T22:26:00.000-08:00

Abby has some really fun toys with which she loves to play. However, I am continually humored by how she entertains herself with non-toys. I used to think babies in the "old days" must have been bored before toys were invented. Then I had a child. Here are some of her favorite play things:The toilette paper holder. She loves this and will carry it all over the house if I forget to shut the bathroom door. It's like those toy stackers with the plastic rings.

pillows!

Garbage cans: I have to race to get a sack back in them after emptying or Abby will carry them all over the house. I really don't get this fascination.

Empty boxes - she climbed in here by herself

Mommy and Daddy's shoes

(clean) underwear - or anything else that will fit around her neck. I discovered this one day when folding the laundry!

dirt, rocks or anything else outdoors

Holiday Season!

2009-12-16T21:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights:

We got to visit Eugene's family in Sacramento for Thanksgiving. Aunt Tara taught Abby the hokey pokey.

Grandma Sharon bought Abby and her absolutely adorable little cousin matching pj's. Each time I put Abby's jammies on her now she pulls at them and says, "Gwa!"

Getting our Christmas tree. Here's a tip from the Edwards': Rather than pay for a tall tree and cut off lots of branches that you just paid for in order to fit presents underneath, buy a shorter tree and put it on a box. Cover the box with your tree skirt and voila!

First Christmas performance! When the little tykes sing at church for Christmas, the ones and twos get to come on stage and ring the bells. Abby rather liked being on stage and as each song was ending she clapped and shouted, "Yay!"

So, Eugene gave me a present of having a whole day to myself. No lunch time or nap time to hurry back for, I took off shopping! It was so nice to have fun running all over town without any time constraints and not having to keep track of a rambunctious 18 month old. I was at Macy's and saw a navy blue formal in a 2T. Original price tag: $80. Of course I would never spend that on a toddler dress, but it was 50% off and it also had evidence of a previous little owner. So, I took it to the counter and since it was the only one left in that size they gave me another discount and I got it for $32! Which is still more than I spend on my own clothes, but I couldn't resist. I plopped it in the washer at home and it came out beautiful. Since I have trouble getting Abby to hold still long enough for a picture - here is my splurge:

Ready for Christmas!Trying to fit in my decorative sled.

Oh, and I almost forgot. We had two more rough nights of screaming and throwing up and now Abby is back to her normal, happy bedtime routine. I am so thankful that it is over! I think I might need some counseling for PTSD!

side note

2009-12-11T23:06:00.001-08:00

how do I get that brown to go away behind our blog title - it's driving me crazy! I've tried going to Fonts and Colors and can't figure it out.

Up to our Elbows

2009-12-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

In puke, that is. Almost 2 weeks ago, Abby came down with an ear infection. She also decided she no longer liked going to bed and would scream hysterically when we tried putting her down. That is part of what made me take her to the doctor to have her ears checked. So, knowing her ears hurt I rocked her to sleep for a few nights. But, after the medicine should have been kicking in, she still became hysterical at bed time and started throwing up. She upchucked about 6 or 7 nights in the last week and a half (I lost track!). On the verge of an emotional breakdown I took her to the doctor yesterday to see if there was anything else wrong. I didn't think there was since after throwing up she would get all happy and run around the house playing while I cleaned up. Or there was the night she tried to help clean up and then for some random reason decided I needed the dirty puke-soaked rags draped across my back as I was still working on the carpet. How precious. The doc confirmed that this was just behavior and sent me on my not-so-merry way. I have absolutely no idea how to deal with this - give in at bedtime and end up with a child who can manipulate her way, or not give in and continue cleaning slimy white chunks out of my carpet (and hair) every night not to mention I'm not comfortable letting Abby cry that hard. But God uses those times when I have nothing left to do to remind me that He is, well, God and it might be best to give it over to Him. Our pastor spoke on Sunday about how we serve the God who can do the impossible - good timing. Yesterday my coworkers gathered around us in prayer and last night and tonight have been puke and cry free! Can I get an AMEN?! So, I know I'm behind on blogging once again, but I've kind of been busy. And, I know these pictures are fall and that is so yesterday, but I really want to share them because I think they are just so cute :) Oh, and I should mention, that Eugene has been right there with me cleaning up - he's a great husband, remember?"Helping" me make a fall display outside our door.

Abby had a particular fondness for this one pumpkin and kept bringing it inside. Apparently it was too cold for it outside.

Lumberjack Games!

2009-11-15T22:05:00.001-08:00

The dorm we live in now, Davidson, has an annual event called the Lumberjack Games. Eugene was a little nervous about running them. Justin, the previous RD, had invented them and done an excellent job. It was fun to see Justin, Sara and Sterling all visit that weekend! Eugene and his RA's worked really hard and the games were amazing! Everything went smoothly and seemed so professional and there was a great turnout. Men from each section of the dorm competed in the various events and the section with the most wins won overall. Then we made them the big steak dinner as their prize. I had difficulty taking good pictures due to the crowds, but here is what I got.

A two-man saw-off (I can't remember the official term!)

A drinking contest - they had to drink a shot of syrup, chug a big mug of root beer and then down another shot of syrup - disgusting!

What guys event would be complete without some sort of wrestling match?

An axe throwing contest

my cute husband!

a log pulling race

I'm bummed I didn't get to stay and see the log roll and log joust.

3 weeks

2009-11-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I let 3 weeks fly by without posting. The time has been filled with the lumberjack games, a couple baby showers, a visit to Eugene for Grandpa Great's birthday, apples, a full house of sickness and dinner for 20. I'll post more about the lumberjack games later. I've also been asked by a few different people about cloth diapering lately so I'm planning a post on that soon, too (I know you're so excited!) Here are some pictures from the last few weeks

We discovered Abby is a true Oregonian and loves the rain! At least she did before it got really cold. I need to go get her some galoshes, which, by the way is one of those really fun words to say. So much more fun than rain boots.

We did not do anything for Halloween, but I did put Abby's costume on from last year. She loved playing dress-up. Although it was big last year, I am surprised she still fit it! If I had known she would have so much fun we would have been playing dress-up much sooner.

Applesauce is the one thing I must make every year, no matter how busy and tired we are. And, I often end up buying a whole bushel mostly because it is just fun to say I bought a bushel of apples. Unfortunately, I only got through about 20 lbs before getting sick. Side note: having a fever and getting up in the middle of the night with a sick baby and then chasing around that 18-month old during the day, because even when sick she seems to have endless energy, is so hard! I really think motherhood should allow for sick days. Abby ended up watching a lot of the Wiggles because we both needed the rest. So, now she's even more obsessed than ever and I have cheesy songs running through my head all the time. Anyway, I hope to be feeling well enough to finish off the apples this weekend before they go bad!

Tonight we made dinner for the winners of the Lumberjack Games. Eugene made the most amazing steak ever - all the guys loved it and kept commenting on how good it was. We also made broccoli salad, fruit salad, baked potatoes, rolls and pumpkin and apple pies. I tried out this new crust idea I saw online and loved it! I thought the cookie-cutter cut-outs were much less stressful than trying to get the top crust perfect and it looked fun too!

Another side note, any moms know how to remove all the snaughty snail trails that now grace my furniture? If I wasn't readily available with a tissue or nasal aspirator, Abby seemed to think the couches worked just as well. Babies just don't get the hygiene thing.

Precious Moment

2009-10-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was working in the kitchen and Abby was doing her usual laps around the couch. I looked up to see her take a picture frame off our end table. As I was about to tell her, "No" she pressed her face against it and gave the photo of Mommy and Daddy a big kiss. My heart melted.

Pumpkin Patch, 20 lbs and Potties

2009-10-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we made a trip to EZ Orchards. I had not been there during October for several years and was quite impressed with the improvements. Abby loves pictures of pumpkins for some odd reason, so I was really excited to share with her one of my favorite parts of fall. However, she has this obsession with rocks, so the gravel right next to the pumpkins won out. But we got some great fresh produce and Abby get to pet some goats.
Abby reached two more exciting milestones. Last week she broke the 20 lb mark! Not that it really matters other than for some reason this was a big psycological relief for me. Each night I have been putting Abby on the toilette just to start getting her used to it. Tonight, she went potty in the toilette! I think it was pure coincidence, but I made a big deal and even called Eugene for a little parental rejoicing.

In love with Fall

2009-10-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love the fall. I love the cold, crisp, foggy mornings and the sunny afternoons. I love hot cider, pumpkins, baking bread and crunchy fallen leaves. When it starts raining I just want to open the window, curl up on the couch with a blanket and listen to the rain. And, from what I can tell it, a lot of my blogging friends share this passion, so I thought it would be fun to do a poll. What is your favorite season? Vote on the side and if you want, leave a comment as to why. Happy Fall!Pondering the greater questions of life

26.2

2009-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we headed to Portland. Saturday was my Dad's birthday so we enjoyed some family time. Then, it was an early Sunday morning as we headed downtown for Eugene to run the: He and his running partner, Randy, joined over 12,000 others as they ran all across the city - 26.2 miles to be exact.
When Tina and I met them with food at mile 12 they looked like they had hardly broken a sweat and were keeping up great time. Sadly, Eugene's leg cramped up around mile 16. BUT, my amazing husband KEPT GOING for 10 more miles and still finished strong. I am so proud of him!

Coming down the home stretch!

Enchanted Forrest

2009-10-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

continuing with our updates:

September 19th my parents treated us, along with my sister's family, to a day at the Enchanted Forest. This was a special day for a couple reasons. My brother-in-law returned that week from his second tour of duty in the Middle East so this was the first time our whole family had been together in a couple years. (Welcome home, Paul, and thank you for "working to keep us safe") Also, growing up we took many trips to this theme park with our cousins, so it was fun to relive some memories and pass on the tradition. I wasn't sure if Abby would be too young, but she had a blast.

more catch-up

2009-10-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

After we came back from CA, Eugene had his first all-dorm event with Davidson. We are really enjoying this dorm - the residents (I never know what to call them - boys? sounds too young. men? no, they are still in college) are just super nice guys. Not that Farrar men are not nice because they are and they are super fun and crazy. Davidson just has a different personality and it is super nice, polite and friendly. I think I have written super too many times. Anyway, Eugene grilled 80 hot dogs, I made two huge pasta salads, we put together 3 big bowls of fruit salad and I made 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies. Needless to say, my kitchen was a disaster! And, sadly, we ran out of food. It's hard to know how much to cook for a whole dorm!

I'm not skilled enough yet to cook for 60 people and keep my baby from adding to the mess. But, I think she was glad - she likes making messes!

After the bar-b-q the guys had made a slip'n'slide down the hill into a pool. Unfortunately the pool was on just enough incline to cause it to give way to the weight of the water. You probably cannot tell from the picture, but this was just after panic time trying to keep 1000 gallons of water from flooding Academic Towers!

We always read Abby a book before bedtime. Here she is stacking her end table full of books after the bar-b-q was over. I think she was trying to give me a hint!

The next morning we were blessed with a visit from Don and Lynn Aimes who were like a second set of parents to Eugene. After a road trip, big dinner event and several rough nights with the little one, I was so exhausted and wish I could re-do their visit! They are such wonderful people and we are always so edified after spending time with them.

Pit Stops

2009-10-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

After taking many trips to CA with a baby I feel we are becoming experts on play areas lining the I-5 corridor. My favorites have become mall play areas.

New Niece!

2009-09-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to try and fill in the last few weeks all in one post. Not only would y'all get bored, but this will give me things to blog about for awhile! I'll start with about 3 weeks ago when we made a quick trip to El Dorado Hills to meet the newest addition to the fam. Little Kristi is absolutely precious!

Seriously, so cute!

Abby kept herself entertained by stealing Great Grandpa's chair,

trying on Daddy's shoesand picking her toe jam? I've given up trying to understand the mind of a 15-month-old.

The drive continues getting easier the older our little one gets. We enjoyed the time with family and on the way home we were able to stop at Matt and Dawn's and spend some time visiting with our much missed friends.

A Quick Glimpse

2009-09-24T22:03:00.001-07:00

I know I am way behind on blogging and I don't have time to catch up right now, but here's a recent picture to keep all those Grandma's happy!

Re-Adjusting

2009-09-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

School is back in full swing, the campus is buzzing and the first floor water heater is broken. Today I boiled water for dishes, laundry and Abby's bath. Other than malfunctioning fire alarms and cold water, we are loving Davidson. Eugene's RA's are super great guys - they even dance to the Wiggles with Abby! Speaking of whom, I think it is time for an Abby update.
Just this week she has officially dropped her morning nap, so we are down to one per day. Around 13 months she started sleeping through the night about 5 nights/week which was heavenly! She was also eating much better. However, about a month ago (about the time students started coming back) she digressed in both eating and sleeping. I think it is just a matter of readjusting to people, eating in the cafeteria, etc. It is pretty discouraging, but I think maybe I have some more to learn about relying on God's strength and not my own.
Our perfect little angel has been replaced by this little girl who tests boundaries and throws fits when she doesn't get her way - how did that happen? However there are still many precious moments such as when she was twirling around the living room "singing" to her cassette playing Jesus Loves the Little Children.
A few weeks ago she discovered that her finger fits perfectly in her nostril. Thankfully that fascination only lasted a couple days. However, tonight as I was rocking her before bed she kept trying to fit her finger up my nostril and would giggle when I shook my head.
Everyone keeps asking if she is talking yet. The answer is yes, but not in a language anyone would understand. She has a few words: car, shoes, dog, I can't think of any others right now. Mostly she says a sound in a word such as "si" for outside, "sss" for cheese. She loves playing outside, going for walks, soaking herself in the sprinklers, "reading", figuring out how things work or fit together, scribbling, finding the bag of mini marshmallows in the cupboard when Mommy isn't looking, playing with pillows, peek-a-boo, rocking her dolls and stuffed animals and singing/dancing to music or the Wiggles. Despite the new attitude, I am absolutely loving this age!

My little Cinderella - she copies everything I do. Hmm, I could really use this to my advantage.

Still a little ham wearing Daddy's shoe

Daddy's new running partner

2009-08-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

State Fair

2009-08-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Abby and I met up with my parents at the state fair today and had a great time! In the more recent past I have not really enjoyed the fair, nor have I even gone the last few years. But, having a little one makes it so much fun!

Abby loves her Grandpa!

She thoroughly enjoyed the petting zoo

There was a tent for babies and toddlers filled with fun toys

What fair experience is complete without ice cream? Abby takes after her mom in that she loves the stuff and I could hardly get the spoon away from her.

On our way back to the car we passed a big outdoor play place with giant balls!

You may not know that just east of Salem was a large KKK headquarters. Thankfully, this is all that remains of Oregon's dark history.

Work Retreat

2009-08-27T23:05:00.001-07:00

The news on the work front is - I don't have to supervise anymore! I just cannot do it in 20 hours, at least not with a baby in tow. One of my coworkers will be taking over that piece of my job and this is such a relief. One of my last duties as a supervisor was organizing and leading a half-day retreat for our unit on Wednesday. I had lots of fun and Abby got to play in a park with Lincoln and eat cookies - she was in 15 month old heaven. The two of them found a stump with bugs which Abby then decided was a perfect chair. By the way, she is feeling much better now.

there were several birds' nests in the eaves of the picnic shelter and one of them had 3 little baby birds in it

the park didn't have fire pits, so I had the staff build a "fire" with sticks and construction paper flames

What do you think that little mind is pondering?

Welcome to the world, little one!

2009-08-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

Last week Tara and Andy welcomed their beautiful little baby girl into the world. I've stolen some pictures from their blog - she looks so cute! I can't wait to go and meet our new little niece. That makes niece number 4, plus a daughter of our own - there are a lot of girls in this family!

The adorable Kristi Marie Porter

AKA “Sprout”

Born August 15, 2009 at 1:46pm

6 pounds, 15 ounces, 18 1/2 inches

proud papa

so cute!

loving on mommy already!

Our little bundle of joy turned 15 months today. She also had her doctor check-up - not a fun way to celebrate! She is perfectly healthy and showed off for the doctor. She is 31 1/4 inches and 19 lbs. 7in. That puts her in the 76th percentile for height and the 7th percentile for weight. Not sure where she gets her height from! She is also quite the little social butterfly - not sure where she gets that either. Maybe she is adopted. Then came the evil nurse who gave her 3 nasty shots. Her legs are really hurting her and we have been listening to her moan over the monitor for several hours now. I this may be a long night.

she still loves "reading"

Abby loves singing Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes, but only ever points to her head.

Having a rough time with the shots. After giving her both Tylenol and Motrin she snuggled with Daddy while watching a Baby Einstein DVD.

And So It Begins

2009-08-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Students started trickling in on Monday, and so we begin the transition back to life with lots of people. Tuesday kicked off with a malfunctioning fire alarm. It went off 3 times in the afternoon and surprisingly did not seem to really bother little Abby. Keep in mind these are commercial building alarms, not your little house smoke alarm and we have one in every room and even in our entry way. Apparently if you are standing in the door way you wouldn't hear the deafening blare coming from the bathroom 18 inches away or the one from the living room or the one from Abby's room just on the other side of the wall. So, after a little work from Campus Care we went on our merry way.
Andrew and Kathleen stopped by on their way from Sac Town to the wonderful world of Gresham and we enjoyed some hang out time and pizza. We put Abby to bed and then got ready to enjoy our last night together before the next 3 weeks of insanity. About 8:15 the alarm sounded again. I scooped Abby up from her crib and ran outside. Eugene had run over to PVG for a moment and I didn't have the number for security so I took refuge at the Horton's. In true Christie's bad luck with fire alarm fashion, the sprinklers came on right as I was crossing the path to Balyo, but at least I wasn't standing in front of a busy road in nothing but my bathrobe this time - remember that story?
Abby had fun playing with Max and Lexi while we waited for Josh to come rescue us from the blaring sirens. Poor Josh recently had surgery and had just taken meds that did not allow him to drive so his wife had to bundle up their newborn and bring him over - bless them! Realizing the alarm was going to keep sounding until a technician could come out the next day, Josh gave Eugene the shut-off key. We came home and got Abby back to sleep about 9:30pm and Eugene and I enjoyed a movie together. The alarm sounded again at midnight, 3:45am and 9:30am and then started getting much more frequent. Abby and I hid out at work all day. It was finally fixed around 4:30pm. Then it was off to Brenda's last night for the kickoff bar-b-q. Wow, the excitement just started and I'm already exhausted :)

Daddy's Little Helper

2009-08-08T19:09:00.001-07:00

This whole child safety lock thing is getting a bit frustrating. The first kind we bought were too long, which we didn't discover until after installing and the door would not shut. So, then we tried the kind with the magnet lock. $20 and several more holes later we discovered our cabinet doors are too thick for the magnet to work. Grrrr. So now our only options left are the kind that go on the outside of the door - so ugly! Oh, well. Better an ugly cabinet than a poisoned baby.

How I clean my kitchen floor

2009-08-04T20:31:00.001-07:00

Duck Woman

2009-07-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

One thing I love about our new apartment is that Abby can play in the living room while I am in the kitchen. The other night Eugene and I were cooking and looked out in the living room to see this:

Reading at 14 months

2009-07-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it's a benefit of growing up on a college campus.

A Day at the Beach

2009-07-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

I had some trade time at work, so yesterday I took a day off and we headed to Lincoln City. We stopped at the outlets, had lunch at Mo's and then headed to the sand. Although the marine layer never burned off, it did warm up enough to have fun playing on the beach. Abby took a little while to warm up to the feel of sand on her feet, but once she did she loved it!

Check out the similar expressions in these pictures!

She only had to taste the sand once to be convinced it was not for eating.

Eugene dug a hole for Abby and she thought that was so fun!

So then he dug a bigger hole and she tried to bury herself in it!

Just Chillin'

2009-07-20T23:07:00.001-07:00

Wishful Thinking

2009-07-19T19:51:00.001-07:00

Rainy Day Fun

2009-07-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

This is the first time it has rained since Abby has been walking well (contrary to popular CA belief it does not rain every day in OR). She thought it was so funny that we were wearing hooded rain coats.

Eugene was writing his annual summer newsletter for the residents and we realized we had not taken a family picture since Christmas. So, thanks to Corey, we updated our album!

Loving Summer

2009-07-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Our friends have membership at a private pool so today we tagged along as their guests. It was great as there was no one else there! Abby loved the little pool, but took a little longer to warm up to the big one.

I was trying to sneak a picture of Eugene reading to Abby at bedtime, but she has become such a little ham that she won't stop smiling whenever the camera is around.

4th of July! We had such a relaxing weekend doing - nothing! Some friends came over Saturday evening and we sat out on the balcony playing games with fireworks off in the distance.

Abby loves to rock. At work, there is a baby rocker that has become one of her new favorite things to play with. Friday I caught her cradling and "singing" to the baby doll and then setting it in the rocker. It was so precious!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Super Baby

2009-07-03T22:08:00.001-07:00

Abby loves toddling around with something draped over her head, especially a towel after bath time. She has also played this little gave for quite a while of how fast can she wiggle out of my arms after bath and take off around the house naked.

Pig Tails and Overalls

2009-06-26T20:56:00.001-07:00

Does it get any cuter than this? Not according to this totally biased mom!

Her first counseling appointment

A Whole Month

2009-06-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

That's how long it has been since I posted last - wow, time goes by so fast. So here is a brief overview of our last 30 days. A few days after Abby's birthday we said good-bye to our out-of-town guests, did some more packing (to move), then packed for a quick trip to Cali. We headed out after work on Thursday, June 4th and spent the night in Medord. We continued the road trip Friday making it to El Dorado Hills in time for a yummy Grandma Dorothy dinner. That day we received the go ahead to move - only problem was we were 500 miles away! Saturday was filled with celebrations - a beautiful baby shower for Tara and then dinner to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Earl's 60th wedding anniversary. Sunday we enjoyed another Grandma Dorothy meal (gotta love those!) then headed home and were so proud of our little trooper who made it the whole way without crying - wow, what a blessing! Monday we got most of our furniture moved and then Tuesday it was back to work. With help from my parents and sister we were able to finish up moving and cleaning the old appartment. Although we will miss Farrar, we are absolutely loving our new place! Last weekend I ran a rummage sale for work, so I am really looking forward to this weekend of getting some time to settle in, hopefully hang curtains and all that homey stuff. Oh, and I almost forgot - we have a walker! Shortly before we left for CA Abby switched from taking steps "on accident" to purposely trying to walk. A couple weeks ago she really started to get it down and was doing the zombie walk. I think she now looks more like the drunken sailor, but still often puts her arms out in front of her.

Hanging out with Great Grandpa

first happy meal on the way to CA - we are learning where all the play structures are along the I-5 corridor

the adorable mommy to be!

Abby enjoys the new yard

In support of today's NBA Draft - thanks Grandma Sharon for the outfit!

One of Abby's favorate past times is "unlocking" things with keys. It does not need to be a key hole. The screws on Daddy's chair work great and tonight I discovered that my ear is fun to unlock as well.

Abby has turned into quite the ham. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what a camera is, but somehow she knows to smile big when I'm taking a picture.

She's One!

2009-05-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Abby was given lots of fun toys and some adorable outfits.

Grandpa and Grandma Earl made Abby a rocking horse

First cupcake!

The cake and cupcakes
Thanks to all who came - we appreciated sharing this special day with you!

Does Anyone Else Find this Disturbing?

2009-05-20T09:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was driving home and there was an inmate work crew on the side of the road - nothing unusual for Salem. But they all had weed whackers. Since when did we start giving prisoners power tools?

at work playing with my binder clips

the little playhouse at work - Abby just discovered that she can crawl inside and pull herself up in there.

We're Still Here

2009-05-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize it has been two weeks since I blogged and I apologize. I really don't have a good excuse other than I just haven't been in the mood. So here is what has been going on in our lives:
The students have vacated the building! The final two left last night. I actually feel a little lonely this time of year. But I do like having 3 washers and dryers for laundry, fewer cars honking (or screaming or barking or howling) as they drive by, no lobby full of guys to walk by in my pj's, no late night wrestling matches over our apartment, you get the idea.
Eugene had a student life staff retreat this week and returned home yesterday. Between end of the school year craziness and the retreat, we have not seen each other much. I am looking forward to this weekend and it is supposed to be beautiful weather :)
Two Saturdays ago Abby and I headed to Fairview and spent the day with my Grandma. We had a really good time and when I pulled out the camera to take some pics, Abby started giving Nana kisses!
Last weekend we celebrated Mother's Day in Gresham. My sister cooked a wonderful meal. In a few weeks we will be moving up the hill to a different (newer) dorm. I am sort of in denial as I have not even started packing!
Abby has started taking a few steps here and there. I think Eugene witnessed 4 yesterday, which would be her record so far. She is really into copying and helping. The other day I was putting my socks and shoes on so she went over to my sock drawer and started bringing me all my socks, one by one. She tries to feed herself with her fork or spoon, tries to unlock the door with my keys, likes putting lids on things, saying "Hi" into the phone and is rather obsessed with e-i-e-i-ooo.

Good-Bye Little Friend

2009-04-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Here are excerpts from Darian's blog last night and this morning:

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 5:04 PM, CDT

Although he sounds pretty bad, Darian is comfortable. He is now on oxygen all the time, and takes morphine every 2 hours, tylenol and adavan every 4 hours. As we approach this time in the journey-our hearts are sad, but know that a paradise awaits Darian. There is no easy way to say good-bye...and although many say there are no good-byes-we will have too soon.

Rest assured God knows this and will be with us-he will not leave us. Our hearts may break-but he is the great surgeon. So, lay your troubles and worries on him...and he will give you all you need.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 9:57 AM, CDT

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith Darian went to be with Jesus this morning at 2:20am. We're proud of you buddy. Give Jesus a hug for us.

My heart aches for his family. Things like this always made me sad, but after having a child of my own, it really gets to me. Between Darian and following the little Minnesota baby, Stellan, (who, if you haven't been following his story, got to come home!) I have been focusing on cherishing every moment with my family, even the 3am ones :) Each day truly is a gift from God and I don't want to take them for granted.

Good Food?

2009-04-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

I have pretty much given up on feeding my baby only perfectly healthy foods. We are now in a just get her to eat anything until she gets used to eating and old enough to reason with stage. So, I cooked up one of my childhood favorites - Mac'n'Cheese! She likes it! At least yesterday and today. Tomorrow it may become the worst tasting food ever. Today we enjoyed a long walk outside followed by play time on a blanket out back. I just love living on campus on beautiful days like today - how many people get to enjoy a 100 acre back yard!

Abby turned 11 months on Friday. She had a 5th tooth poke through and possibly a 6th but it is hard to check without risking the loss of an apendage. She loves climbing stairs, playing on top of the pool table and emptying drawers. She is becoming more and more interactive. She now trys to feed Eugene and I her food (does that really surprise anyone?) and hands us things as she plays. When she sees her Old McDonald book she says, "e-i-e-i-ooo". Tonight actually she kept repeating that over and over and over and over and over. She is starting to enjoy filling things back up that she has emptied - time to teach clean-up! At breakfast she will put her cherios back into the cereal box one-by-one, occasionally stopping to take a bite. Yes, a bite. Apparently if she put the whole thing in her mouth that might be considered eating and, well, we all know that just wouldn't do.Learning to share with her work-friend, Lincoln.

Decisions

2009-04-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

Abby's first birthday is just a month away. I had decided on a bug theme with this cute cake:
but my obsession with ducks keeps making me want to do a duck theme. I can't decide!

Our precious little girl just gets more and more fun every day (day, not night because nights are still not fun although they are getting a bit better). She has developed a deep love for her teddy bear - the giraffe is feeling a little left out lately. Although this morning when I went in to get her the bear had been chucked out of the crib. Not sure what that was all about. Her new favorite sleeping position is on her tummy with her legs tucked up under her and her little rump sticking up in the air. It's really cute. She can also walk while pushing a little walker toy thing. I have been trying to capture a good video of it but whenever she sees my phone she gets all excited and distracted.

Swimming!

2009-04-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Sara put up a swimming pool and invited us to come play. Abby and Sterling had lots of fun together.

I don't think there are many things cuter than a baby in a bathing suit!

Happy Birthday Eugene!

2009-04-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Eugene's birthday. Since he does not really like cake I usually don't make him one, but this year he was in the mood for chocolate layered cake. I was so excited to get to make a birthday cake, but I forgot to make it layered - oops! Here is a picture of my fun:

My parents stopped by on their way home to Portland and dropped off some birthday balloon. Abby thinks they are hers.Dad Edwards brought pizza over for a birthday lunch and then had to say good-bye as he headed for Canada for the summer.

Here are some things I appreciate about my husband:
* He loves me
* He does the laundry and helps clean the house
* His sense of humor
* He loves God
* He is a good Daddy
* He is dedicated to me and Abby
* He buys me ice cream
* He loves to learn
* His good looks :)
* He is kind-hearted

Easter

2009-04-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun dressing up this little cutie! Thanks to my co-worker, Summer, for this adorable dress.

She knew she was dressed up special and when Grandpa Terry walked in the door she held out her dress for him to see. The four of us headed up to Portland to spend the day with my family. I always enjoy a chance to visit my home church and Abby was kind enough to be happy in the nursery the entire service. The music was wonderful and the message very encouraging - a great celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection.

New toys for the grandkids!

Abby entertained herself for a long time playing with Aunt Cyndi's necklace!

giving Grandpa Bass a good-bye kiss!

My sister found a stuffed smurf for Abby and it came with a DVD. I had so much fun taking a little trip down memory lane and I think I enjoyed it much more than our daughter :) Thanks Cyndi!

a candy duck for me - thanks Mom!

Updates

2009-04-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the absence of posts lately. I haven't had time during the day and have been too tired at night! So, here is what has been happening in our lives. We returned from Sacramento the Tuesday of Spring Break. I was going to spend the rest of the week playing catch-up at work but Thursday I got a fever. It was actually good timing. Since Eugene wasn't working I was able to rest a lot. Abby did really good on the flight home; the drive back to Salem was another story. When she wants to be done traveling, she lets you know. Not much happened last week until Friday when Eugene got the fever and chills. Sunday Abby played in the church nursery while I got to sit through service for the first time in a really long time - it was so refreshing! Sunday night Eugene's fever was still there and spiked during the night, so Monday we went to the urgent care. 3 hours later he was being treated for pneumonia. Our doctor's office is located next to a lake so Abby had fun watching the ducks and geese. Monday night Aunt Ellie was in town so she, Abby and I were able to have dinner together. Eugene's fever finally broke Tuesday and he is feeling much better now but still very tired. Dad Edwards arrived in town Tuesday night so we have enjoyed visiting with him the rest of this week.

Abby is now 10 1/2 months. She cruises around more and more and just never seems to stop moving! She enjoys turning the pages while we read to her, playing with push toys, playing outside, riding in the laundry basket and playing with daddy's homework. She has learned that she can put off bedtime for a few extra minutes by giving me lots of kisses! She is slowly starting to eat a little more. We are starting to pick out what we think are real words from her jibber-jabber. I think she says dog and duck. She will imitate many sounds including snoring!

Abby's hair is getting much thicker and harder to dry with a towel. So, I decided to try the hair dryer, but that did not go over much better than the vacuum cleaner.

Hair Bows!

Last week I took Abby shopping for Easter shoes. I had so much fun and I'm not sure which I think is cuter - the shoes or the little shoe box!

Abby loves rocking the dog. Sometimes I catch her giving the doggie a kiss on the nose - very cute!

One of her new favorite things to do is to help me "sort" the laundry. She loves flinging things out of the basket and then flinging them all over the room. Here she is worn out after her hard work.

Helping me decorate for spring

We went on a walk today and stopped to play with the daisies.

I love spring and our campus is so beautiful this time of year!

Sunny Days!

2009-03-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

We are currently in Sacramento (El Dorado Hills to be exact) and loving the warm weather! So far when it has been sunny in OR I still have to bundle Abby up and lay down a blanket because the grass is muddy, but not here! Yesterday we enjoyed some playing in the grass, taking a walk and hanging out with family. On the flight down we were the annoying passengers with the screaming baby! Abby did great except for the ascent and descent when she completely freaked out and let the whole plane know. Maybe her ears were bothering her? We will see what happens on the flight home :)

Little Abby on the Prarie

2009-03-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

I have way too much fun dressing up this little baby! Thank you Aunt Cyndi for the adorable hat. Poor thing is kind of sick again. She has thrown up a few times this week and was not acting herself today. However she slept through the night 3 times this week so I am feeling better!

Halelujah!

2009-03-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

ABBY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT! Can you hear Handel's Messiah playing in the background? Mommy is doing a happy dance. Unfortunately Eugene did not get to benefit from the blessed night as he was up late with students, but he can take a nap later. Here are some pictures from the last few days.

This face says it all - very reflective of how our household has felt recently.

I had rocked Abby in the little chair. After I put the doggie back she rocked the dog. It was so cute!

After coming home from dinner last night Daddy made Abby laugh!

Tired

2009-03-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

"I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:12

I wish I could say that this verse reflected my heart. I want to be like the apostle Paul and learn how to "Rejoice in the Lord always". I tend to be quite the opposite - the glass is half empty type of person. My life looks more like Eeyore than Pollyanna. In fact some days I would like to see Godzilla meets Pollyanna. I am tired. I am tired of being tired. I am tired of having nothing left to give at the end of the day, which never really ends because I don't ever really get to sleep, just nap for a few hours during that thing some people call night. I'm tired of 3 times a day trying to get my underweight baby to eat without creating a power struggle that could last a lifetime. I could keep going but that would defeat the purpose of what I am trying to do here.

So, I read this verse in Philippians knowing there are so many people in much worse situations than me, people like Darian's mom, people who continually praise God no matter what they are going through. I wish I could figure out how to do that. Then I read the next verse "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Ouch - a little conviction! Jesus has given me the strength I need "to be content whatever the circumstances". I don't have to rely on my own strength, just claim the grace He has already given me. If I am grumpy it is my own fault! I can choose to be Oscar the Grouch or I can choose to be someone like Pollyanna (but not her because she really is annoying.) Maybe GusGus from Cinderella.So, this blog tonight is an exercise for myself to change my attitude. Here are some of the many blessings I have to be thankful for:

* I have a wonderful husband who loves me, takes good care of me, has done most of the housework lately, and bought me hagen dazs tonight! (the way to my heart is with ice cream)
* Abby - my little bundle of joy.
* Health - I and my family are all healthy
* Eugene and I both have good jobs that we enjoy and that are not threatened by the economy
* We have a home.
* Our families - they are wonderful, they love us, we love them, are you feeling all warm and fuzzy?
* We have been blessed with many great friends.
* A cafeteria that cooks and washes dishes for us!
* My Christian heritage - being taught that God loves me and that Jesus died for me is the best gift my parents ever gave me.
* We have enjoyed a lot of great comraderie with our fellow RD's this year
* Our church - I am always so encouraged on Sundays both from the fellowship and from the teaching.
* peanut butter
* It was sunny today and I went on a walk with Abby
* I live in Oregon and it is beautiful here!
* running water - I love my hot morning showers!

9 months

2009-02-27T21:30:00.001-08:00

Abby had her 9-month check-up today. Other than trying to eat the doctors stethoscope she did great - only cried for a couple minutes after her shot. She is still small (16th percentile) but she has stopped dropping growth curves so the doctor is pleased. Here are some pics.

This was my rocking chair when I was little. As you can see, now that she figured out how to move she doesn't stay still for more than a couple seconds!

She has really been into pointing lately. Her other latest fad is saying "whoa". Unfortunately "mama" didn't last more that a couple days. She prefers saying "dade" even to me.

So Big!

2009-02-24T21:38:00.001-08:00

Abby is 9 months old today. It seems like she has been doing something new every day lately. She loves to point, wave and say, "hi!", pull herself up, play peek-a-boo and keep mom awake all night (does that ever go away?). She still does a modified bear crawl and I think it is really cute! She uses the knee on one leg and her foot on the other, but she gets around that way quite well.

Another First

2009-02-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

Hard at Work

2009-02-20T20:16:00.001-08:00

My little helper. She was completely enthralled with my files today and must have spent a good 30 minutes playing with them.

A Learning Experience

2009-02-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

These are some things I have learned over the last several months:
1. little socks will clog a washer hose
2. a baby's stomach does not digest peas, grape skins, olives or little round pieces of plastic.
3. drive-thru's were a wonderful invention - bless that person!
4. you can do a lot of things one handed
5. the vacuum cleaner does not pick up everything (but a baby does)
6. vacuum cleaners are scary monsters even when sitting unplugged across the room
7. one-stop shopping was another great invention - thank you Mr. Fred Meyer!
8. my heart melts at the sound of ma-ma or little giggles
9. I should not have bothered with teething rings. Everything else in my house works just as well.
10. Waving is a full body expression.
11. Sleep deprivation is a method of torture used on POW's and mothers of babies.

Seriously?

2009-02-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

Apparently the peel tastes much better than the inside since she chewed on it the whole way home from the cafeteria.