The Choice

Tonight at dinner LittleZabba exclaimed,

I choose obey!

Pomegranate Paradise

I stopped by Jamba Juice today. I went in and was surprised to see that there weren't any customers in the store. The woman who was working was quick to take my order, and even helped me make my choice. I paid and she responded with, "Thanks, have a nice day." It sounded odd to me because she said it like that was the end of our transaction, but I did not yet have my smoothie.

So I watched as she mixed, blended and poured my drink. She put in the straw, wrapped the cup in a napkin, picked up the cup and in her announcer voice, as if she is addressing a crowd said, "Pomegranate Paradise with vitamin boost". She proceeded to look around the store to see who would claim the smoothie. Wondering who she was looking for, I took a minute to look around in case I missed someone hiding in the corner.

I was still the only one in the store. Did she really forget that she took my order just 3 minutes prior? Is there some Jamba Juice rule that she has to yell out the name of the smoothie even if the store is otherwise empty? It was entertaining.

Glasses

I was in 5th grade when I first got glasses. I was really excited to wear them, I think mostly because my sister had them and I wanted to be just like her. I don't remember exactly when it happened but somewhere along the line I grew to dislike them. In highschool I got contacts and that changed everything. Not long after I got married I had Lasix surgery. That was incredible. I could wake up in the morning and see the clock right away. Fast forward 10 years and I now need glasses again, well mostly. The doctor was very impressed that after all this time (since having lasix done) my eyes are as good as they are. I noticed my eyes weren't as strong while driving at night, so that is mostly when I will wear them. But the funny thing is, I am a little bit excited about it. Give it a few months, maybe a year, and I just might hate them again. But for now I can be excited that I am once again a girl with glasses. (which is a very entertaining book for anyone who has worn glasses.)

Snow Day

This morning we decided to head to Mt. Baldy to enjoy playing in the snow. It was a great idea, but nearly everyone in LA had the same idea. We were in the car longer than we played in the snow, but we had fun making memories. Some friends from church joined us and we had a fun time.

Since we don't play in the snow very often we do not have proper snow attire or snow gear. That is why LittleZabba is playing in rain boots & a rain jacket, BigZabba is playing in "cowgirl" boots, I am running around in tennis shoes, and we decided to sled on a boogie board.


Regardless of our sub-par attire & gear we still had fun. We played in the snow until our hands hurt & threw just enough snowballs. We were too cold to make a true snowman, so BigZabba decided that we could make a snow puppy instead. Can you see the puppy in our sculpture? While trying to make the snow puppy our little friends, C & Z, decided they wanted to take big bites out of the snow puppy. BigZabba was very unhappy. Can you tell?

All told, we had a great time. It started to hail as we left and BigZabba described it as "just like rain, only hoppier." Not long later it started to snow and BigZabba stuck her head out the window to catch the flakes on her tongue. With that we headed home.

Cloud Cake

Courtesy of The Care Bears Party Cookbook

Cut a pound cake in half

Pour 1/2 cup OJ over the bottom half

Spread raspberry jam over the top half

Put the two halves together and pour 1/2 cup OJ over the whole cake

Top with whipped cream

Voila!

Enjoy!

Blast from the Past

Sis, Mom..anyone remember what year this was? Gotta love those touristy photo ops!

Family Portrait

Get the Glass

If you have a spare 15 minutes or so, this is a fun game.

It begins, maybe

This morning I have tried potty training with LittleZabba (she is 26 months). All morning she has been running around bare bum, with her babylegs on of course to stay warm. So far we have had no accidents, and she has tinkled twice in the potty! Maybe the lack of accidents has been due to the fact that the TV has been on and she likes to sit on the little potty while she watches. DaddyZabba thinks that this is a little early, but I am proud of myself for waiting this long with her. When BigZabba was 12 months old the potty training began (which I know is way too early, but I wanted to be the Mom that had her kid potty trained first), so this feels like forever to me. Who knows how long this will last. I am not convinced that she gets it, even with her two successes today I don't think she understands how it all works. the true test will be when she gets up to play...will she run back to the potty or make a mess. Thank God for hard wood floors.

First Impressions

A while ago a friend and I were talking about our first impressions of each other. It was very entertaining to hear her take on me before we "officially" met and got to know one another. She worked in our church's nursery at the time so she only knew me as LittleZabba's mom. She saw the things that LittleZabba had in her church bag and she sized me up based on that information. She thought I was a crazy organized Mom because of the containers that I used in LittleZabba's dinner. Now anyone that really knows me knows that I am a sucker for a cute container, and I am organized to some degree, but I think not to the extent that she originally thought. This is the one that I think is really funny..(I hope I get this right)...she noticed my short hair cut and thought that someone with hair that short has to be super trendy and trendy people are vegetarian, so she concluded that I was a vegetarian. Again, not the case. Next she found out that I had a business so she concluded that I must be so busy that I don't have time for others in my life, so we probably wouldn't be friends. And seeing as she is coming over for dinner tonight, again her impression was wrong.

I then told her my first impressions of her and I think all of mine were wrong too.

So what does all this mean? I don't know. Don't judge a book by it's cover. How do you make a good first impression if, at least in my case, all my first impressions were wrong? I don't know. Anyone have a funny first impression story?

Homemade

One day I found myself out of baby wipes. Being too lazy to take LittleZabba into the bathroom and use a washcloth to clean her, I looked up how to make your own wipes. Somehow that seemed easier to me than the washcloth. But anyway, my sister-in-law has been making her own wipes for forever so knew it wasn't a foreign idea. I googled homemade baby wipes and found a super easy "recipe". They work great, smell great, and they have to be cheaper than buying them.

If you are in a wipes emergency or just want to try it out, here is the concoction:
1 paper towel roll, cut in half, remove the core.
2 cups water, boiled, then brought to room temperature.
2 Tbs. baby wash
1 Tbs. baby oil
Put all the liquid ingredients in a plastic container. Put in the paper towels, let the towels absorb all the water. Turn the container upside down for about 10 minutes, until the liquid has permeated the towel roll. Pull from the center when you are ready to use.

Easy Peezy!

Stating the Obvious

Me: BigZabba, did you have a test today?

BZ: Yup.

Me: What was it on?

BZ: Paper

Revlon Run/Walk

I think I am going to sign up for this run. Ever since my Mom battled breast cancer, and won!, I have wanted to participate in a race in her honor. I think this is the one. I have also wanted to have a reason to wear my Save the Ta-ta's shirt. I think this would be a good time to break it out.

Anyone want to join me? It's only 3 miles. Come on, you know you want to. I am pretty sure Lola will join me. How about you DFM? Can I count you in? We could all get cute Save the Ta-ta's shirts. May 10, 2008

Messy = Fun

The girls wanted to do some painting. Out came the art box and the painting began. Before long there was a lot of abstract art happening. Soon they abandoned their brushes and started in with their fingers. Things got messy, clothes needed washed, but we had fun!

The Life You've Always Wanted

I have been reading, The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg. It is one of those books that you love, but you hate it too. There is so much packed into this small book that it is hard to read more than one chapter at a time. The first chapter is called, "We shall Morph Indeed" and it packs a punch.

The following passage is so convicting to me. I read it often to remind myself what I want my day to be like, and what things I can choose to do differently. Prior to this passage he talks about the different parts of his life he is disappointed with. He says, I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be.

Some of my disappointment runs deeper. When I look in on my children as they sleep at night, I think of the kind of father I want to be. I want to create moments of magic, I want them to remember laughing until the tears flow, I want to read to them and make the books come alive so they love to read, I want to have slow, sweet talks with them as they're getting ready to close their eyes, I want to sing them awake in the morning. I want to chase fireflies with them, teach them to play tennis, have food fights, and hold them and pray for them in a way that makes them feel cherished.

I look in on them as they sleep at night, and I remember how the day really went: I remember how they were trapped in a fight over checkers and I walked out of the room because I didn't want to spend the energy needed to teach them how to resolve conflict. I remember how my daughter spilled cherry punch at dinner and I yelled at her about being careful as if she'd revealed some deep character flaw; I yelled at her even though I spill things all the time and no one yells at me; I yelled at her -to tell the truth- simply because I'm big and she's little and I can get away with it. And then I saw that look of hurt and confusion in her eyes, and I knew there was a tiny wound on her heart that I had put there, and I wished I could have taken those sixty seconds back. I remember how at night I didn't have slow, sweet talks, but merely rushed the children to bed so I could have more time to myself. I am disappointed.

If you need a good book, I would suggest this one. It will change you.

This Date In..

1988 - This is going to be the best 21 Jumpstreet yet! We go to church tonight and mom plays the organ.

1991 - Well, so much has happened! Let me start from the beginning. (Boy name) has a girlfriend now, so the situation with him is just friends. We really don't talk much anymore. (A different boy name) is a bum! {I wish I could remember why I wrote that. I wasn't very nice!} It's like just because we aren't boyfriend/girlfriend anymore we can't be friends! {I was only 15 and wasn't allowed to date, so what was I doing having a boyfriend!?}

1993 - Well, yesterday we were robbed again! This time they took lots of stuff, my stereo, c.d. player, t.v., phone, leather jacket....{I drone on and on listing everything they took}. I can't believe some stranger was in my house and touched all my stuff. We have an alarm system now so that's kinda comforting. The thing that is really upsetting is that my scrapbook was in my stereo. All of the things that I wanted show my children are gone! All my certificates, piano stuff, diplomas, pictures, cards. All of it's gone. That makes me very sad! Sorry kids! {Look at me looking out for my kids 9 years before they were born!}

Target Madness

I went in to Target planning on getting Play-doh, that's all. (that was my first mistake) I walked back to the toy section where I saw madness. I saw women and carts and stuff everywhere. This was the day that Target's huge 75% off clearance started. I didn't know this. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn't think that the women would like me snapping their photo. There were many women who had 2+ carts piled high with a mountain of stuff. So much stuff in fact that their mountain toppled with every turn of the aisle. There was Dora stuff, Diego, Barbie, you name it it was there. All 75% off! It was insane. Stuff that was $10 was now $2, stuff that was $34 was now $10, it was madness. I walked out of target with a little more than Play-doh, but it was too good to pass up.

The whole time I was there I was feeling guilty for participating in this consumer driven machine, especially since I just watched this.

I did however keep my purchases confined to one cart, that counts for something, right?

Sweet Potato Pancakes

They were a hit too! It is really surprising to me that you can't taste the sweet potatoes in the food. They were quite tasty. Maybe now I will try something with broccoli in it, that seems a harder flavor to mask. We shall see.

Deceptively Delicious

I am one of the lucky ones..my kids actually eat their fruit and vegetables, but just for fun I picked up this book. I am always up for trying something new. This morning we tried out the sweet potato french toast and it was a hit. (even daddyzabba agreed that is was a winner) It was a great feeling knowing that BigZabba was going to school with a belly full of fruits and veggies and it was only 8:30am. Maybe tomorrow we will try the pancakes with sweet potato.

I Love Pioneer Woman

I know it looks like a bowl of meat, but it is a bowl of the most delicious meat you have ever had. I have made plenty of roasts in my life, but this one truly was the best. Pioneer Woman can't go wrong.

Crazy Times

For New Year's Day we spent time at my parent's house. We had a blast. My sister and her family, and her in-laws were in town. So there were 15 of us at my mom's house. We had a great evening together. We love the craziness!

Eating Habits

BZ- What eats cheetahs Mommy?

Well, I don't know, maybe lions.

BZ- Yeah maybe.

What do you think eats humans?

BZ- Sharks, lions, cheetahs. Well, a cheetah might only be able to eat half a person, then another cheetah can eat the other half.

Health Advice

BigZabba and I were watching Max & Ruby this morning. Ruby had some great health advice that I thought I should share with everyone:

"A heartbeat is very important if you want to stay healthy."

There you have it folks, keep your heart beating and you will stay healthy.

2007 Summary

188 blog posts
692 blankets sold
7978 digital photos taken
111 hours on a plane (vacation & work related)
1 new nephew
164.34 miles run
1 movie premier
6 trips (family outings--not work related)