Big Girls don't cry

I know I have been mostly absent from the blogging world lately. No real reason. I've just been busy with other things I suppose. There are only so many hours in the day and lately it seems that those hours are becoming shorter and shorter.

I think I told you a couple of posts ago that I was getting Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies on DVD. They finally did come in the mail last week and I've done pretty good at getting my old bones moving and at least start to get into a habit of doing them. I haven't finished one yet but you have to start somewhere, right? :) Anyway, I'm enjoying having my jeans fit a little looser. And, it just kind of makes you feel altogether good, if you know what I mean.

I joined a new bible study group too. It's called bible study fellowship, which some of you are probably familiar with. They are all over the world and it's a 7 year study. Really, it's pretty amazing how in depth you go and it's a great way to get into the word. There is probably one in a church near you and they are at different times/dates of the week so if you are interested you should check into it. It's for men and women, by the way.

Saturday I'm throwing a baby shower for a girl at church. There is going to be a bigger turnout than I expected so I'm kind of excited for that. I'm actually making a 3-D duck cake (go to www.wilton.com to see it). It is really cute and I'm excited to see how my first take on making cakes turns out. I've never made anything but a regular old cake so it should be fun. I'll post a picture if I remember to take one.

OK, my husband is pushing me to go to bed. I have MOPS in the morning too so I really need to get moving. I hope you are all well and I will try to visit tomorrow.

Take care,
Amy

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen People That I Can Honestly Say I Am Glad I Am Not

1. Britney Spears...do I really need to explain?

2. President Bush...the stress would probably kill me

3. Hillary Clinton...my cheeks would hurt too much from that fake smile

4. Paris Hilton...prison stripes don't work for me

5. Angelina Jolie...I couldn't sleep at night if I stole somebody's husband

6. John Edwards...the people in his own state wouldn't vote for him

7. Rudy Guliani...seriously, not one win, just embaressing

8. Montel Williams...he's out of a job today

9. Dell, IBM, Intell...seriously must be hard to compete with Apple

10. Tom Cruise...seriously, the guy is just weird

11. Katie Holmes...because she is bound to him forever now.

12. The Bears...ugh, to be Rex Grossman can't be fun this year

13. Ted McGinley...every time this guy is on a TV show it gets cancelled. That can't be good on a resume!

For more, go to http://www.thursdaythirteen.com

Thursday Thirteen

In light of celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. day this week, I wanted to list 13 of the inspirational people in the history of the U.S. as seen by me, anyway. So, here goes...

1. Corrie Ten Boom, writer of the Hiding Place

2. Anne Frank, author of The Diary of Anne Frank

3. Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States

4. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt

5. Billy Graham, famed preacher

6. Jane Addams, founder of Hull House in Chicago-changed the way immigrants and the poor were treated

7. Thomas Edison, inventor that holds the records for number of US patents

8. Martha Stewart, I know strange but she inspires me to create and that's a good thing!

9. On that note, Paula Deen inspires me to not be afraid of the kitchen!

10. Rosa Parks, who kept her seat on that bus!

11. Dorthea Dixon-social reformer for the rights of the Mentally Ill

12. Bill Bright-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. He just started with reaching out to a couple of people on a beach and he turned it into one of the biggest ministries in the world.

13. And, of course, Martin Luther King, Jr, who inspires us all to be...well...better!

Talk to me baby

I am sorry for how odd this post looks. I have no idea why I cannot fix it to look straight, I just can't. I've tried multiple times but I'm just done now as I'm getting aggravated. Also, some of the paragraphs are spaced right and some aren't. Who knows why...the post is possessed I suppose. :) Anyway, it still reads the same and the pics are all in...so it will be fine...I suppose...So, on with the post...

Everyday I am blown away with the new words the peanut is saying. I have no idea where she is getting it all from. For instance, she realized there was a moon in the sky for the first time last night and she pointed up at it and said, "Sun." I said, "No, that's the moon." She replied, "Moon, moon, moon."



Then today, she was looking at her placemat that has Sesame Street all over it and said, "Cookie Monster." Completely correct too, by the way. Which is interesting since all of Sesame Street she wants to see is Elmo. I haven't a clue how she knew that. The even more hilarious part is that she insisted on 'feeding' Cookie Monster her bacon.


Then, there was a sun on the placemat and she insisted on putting her cup on it saying, "Sun, Sun!"

So yeah, this has been a week of new words. It's like that sometimes, she will come out with a ton of new words several days in a row and then suddenly it seems to dry up for awhile and then out of nowhere she does it again. This is definitely a fun week for words though! I constantly find myself trying to decipher something new as her little utterances turn into syllables, words and now sentences!


She's working on colors now. She knows blue and yellow usually. The other colors she likes to say the name of but doesn't usually pick them out herself. Pu-pa is a personal favorite. It's a work in progress.




We are also working on counting. She's only said, "One", a couple of times. She usually likes to start with two. And she's usually right when she's counting her blocks. "Two, three, five, eight, nine..." She could count like that all day. She really enjoys it.






The other thing she has been saying lately is "Cheese" when I go to take a picture. She's showing you cheese in the picture where she's wearing my blue crocs. Oh, that's her other big thing, wearing mommy's shoes. Yeah, she's ALL girl!





You know, there have been a lot of hard days with the peanut lately. She's is becoming more independent. Constantly asserting it with us and letting us know she wants to be in charge. She gets fussy and hates to go to bed at night. She's screaming in bed as I write this to let us know she does not want to go to bed right now! She loves water and will fight you to let her wash her hands for long periods of time in the middle of food establishments yelling, "SOAP, SOAP!!", she still won't eat anything new, I could go on...and on...and on...





However, the positives are far outweighing those hardships. I just know these days are precious and few as I watch my little peanut grow into a beautiful little girl. She's learning so much, developing her own thoughts and feelings, showing love in new ways all the time. I just have such a feeling of gratitude for the time I get to spend with her. And, it's all too fast, just too, too fast!!

Saturday Photo Hunt - Important

The most important thing I could think of...my Bible! I've had many in my life, I think my first was like in kindergarten. It was red, hard backed and King James. I got it from my church for starting school. This one is black, leather and an NIV. My husband gave it to me on the Eve of our wedding.

To participate or see more entries, go to http://thchick.com

We've only just begun

The peanut is a comedian. I'm not kidding. She's a 23 month old entertainer.

While walking through Burlington Coat Factory the other day I told my husband to take a seat while I ran and showed the peanut the toys. We were about halfway there when I hear her yell out behind her, "Michael, Michael, Michael." Hmmmm...I don't know where she learns these things!

Today she brought me a pencil and some paper and said, "Name." Even though she'd never done this before I knew exactly what she wanted. She likes for me to write down her name and the names of various other people for her to see. So I looked at her and said, "OK, what's your name?" She said, clear as day, "Erika." Which, is my sister's name. I said, "What is it?" She said, "Erika, Erika, Erika." After the laughter stopped, I asked one more time and she said, through a big old smile, "Lilla." Too smart this one, too smart!

I tell you though, I think the most adorable thing that has come out of this child's mouth happened about a month ago. We went to pick up my husband at work I saw him coming toward the car. The peanut apparently did too because she called out, "Daddy." Then, in the sweetest little voice I hear, "Cuuuute". Is that not precious?

House of Pain

So as you may remember from a few weeks ago, we lost our minds and got a puppy. Buddy, the wondermutt. That's him in the pic, clearly. He actually is a total lover and sweet. Besides the occasional pee pee on my carpet, this dog has really turned out to be a good one.


However, Buddy has not been without his problems. What I'm about to tell you, all I could think at the time was, "Oh why, oh why do these random things happen to me?"


So, last week I had a friend over for a visit. We were going along our merry ways when she said, "Um Amy, is there something wrong with your dog?" I looked back in the general direction where she was pointing and noticed his, um, thingy sticking out to what could only be described at an extremely abnormal extent. A good three inches I tell you. Yeah, I've NEVER seen anything like that in my life. It was obviously bothering the poor mutt as he licked it helplessly. Yeah, it was a lovely moment in our lives.

Anyway, we decided to call the vet who told us to get some KY Jelly and try to rub...yes, I said RUB...it back inward. Now, let me tell you that the thought of that to me just gives me the shivers. My lovely friend, Claudia, and God love Claudia, who just had a boy this past summer, (and so said she's used to looking at and touching the male anatomy) took the KY and really tried to work it back in. To no avail I tell you.

Fortunately, my husband was just arriving home so I sent him packing out the door with the dog in tow to the midnight doggy hospital where they proceeded to charge us $233.66 to get IT back in.


As can be expected, my friend looked at me and said, "Amy, why is it that whenever I'm with you weird things like that are always happening?"


Good question Claudia, good question.

Wordless Wednesday - Cindy Lu Woo?

Wow

What this guy says in this video is just stunning. It's controversial amongst Christians and non-Christians. It should be life changing. I know it is moving my heart even as I write to you. Please take the time to watch even part of it. It's something that really needs to be heard.

Saturday Photo Hunt - Delicious

My mom loves Marzipans, so every year at Christmas I get her a box of these delicious treats. This year the peanut also discovered their almondy goodness!

Auld Lang Syne

Did you ever wonder what this New Year's song means? I have. I mean seriously, it's one of those songs that you mostly hum, or better yet make up the words to and never figure out what it means. I promise, I thought it said, "And may old acquaintances be forgotten..." Yeah, I'm sweet like that.


Anyway, we've been really busy bees around this joint lately. Besides doing the normal running hither tither to and fro like anybody else during the holiday season, we've bought a new car for me finally, cleaned up endless puppy oopsies, had fun with all our new toys (and when I say our I actually mean Lilla's!), made tons of yummy creations and eaten even more, gained like 40 lbs, made a buck or two, spent all those bucks and even more, let the laundry pile up to the ceiling, kissed at midnight on New Years and just enjoyed life.

All that to say, I really have had good reasons for not being ever present in blogland for the past month.

How were your holidays? Did you make any good resolutions?

I actually enjoy making resolutions. I usually enjoy breaking them too, but that's another blog for another day. :)

I really do want to start excercising again. I am really not largely overweight, honestly, 10 lbs would about do me, it's just getting motivated to do it. I'm way too cheap to join a gym so it's almost always been work out videos for me. My problem is that I've never found one I've liked since Sweatin' to the Oldies. I'm so not kidding people. I really wish I was, but I'm kind of silly like that. It's low key and has great music, which is of importance to me. Unfortunately, they didn't have it for the DVD player so I haven't had access in ages. Well, that all changed today people. While over at my in-laws this infomercial came on for it. Holy cow, my husband was on the honker so fast...he understands you see. I have been pining for that old Richard Simmons for years. So, two weeks from now, Richard and I have a date. :)

OK, it's time for me to hit the hay. I can't wait to find out how all of your holidays went and what Santa brought you!

Amy