Merry Christmas

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas, full of sweet memories and cherished times with family and friends. May you be full of joy in remembering that our Savior has been born.

I'm an Auntie! (again)

DaddyZabba's brother & wife had a baby girl tonight!

After only 3 pushes, BabyZabba was born December 17, 2005, 5:00pm
8 lbs. 15 oz., 20 inches long

In keeping with my tradition of no names here, if you want to find out her name you will have to email me!

Happy Birthday BabyZabba!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Could it be? One year ago I was a Mother of an infant. How could time go so fast?

LittleZabba is now One Year Old! We had her birthday party on Saturday and she seemed to have a lot of fun. She enjoyed playing with the other kids, she loved eating, and she completely loved her cake! I made cupcakes for the kids, a small cake for LittleZabba, and a cupcake shaped cake for the adults (it looks more like a chef's hat, or a mushroom to me, but oh well). LittleZabba destroyed her cake, the kids ate all the cupcakes, but the cake didn't even get cut..so I have a large cupcake that still needs eaten.

She was too cute with her cake. She started by eating the sprinkles one at a time, then dipping her finger in the icing, and only after I cut bites for her did she start to dive in.

We had a super day. Happy Birthday LittleZabba!

Quote of the Day

This morning BigZabba and I were talking about how decorating Christmas trees became a tradition. In the midst of having a very adult conversation about Martin Luther decorating a tree with candles, BigZabba says...

Another important thing to remember about a tree is that if you look at one and decide you want it and it is too big for your saw, you should call a beaver.

The Christmas Dilemma

TweedyGirl's post titled "What It's Really About" got me thinking about how we can make Christmas more about Christ with our kids. I have gone back and re-read her post many times and have read the comments to gleen ideas from others. I spoke with a friend of mine about this and she had some great ideas. In her family (husband and 2 kids) they give 12 gifts total, so each person gets 4 gifts. One of those gifts is then given away. She said that in the past they bought gifts for a child on the angel tree, but that didn't really have much of an impact since it wasn't a sacrifice for her kids. This way the kids get a gift and then sacrificially give it away. I really like that idea and may do that in the coming years.

In the Focus on the Family magazine there was an article about this very thing and they also had some good ideas. Their focus was on teaching children to be more grateful and generous. They suggested taking old or "forgotten" toys to a charity or homeless shelter the week before Christmas, sponsor a child in another country, and to have your child write, or draw for the younger kids, thank you notes for each gift received.

I know it is a process and each year more and more will sink in with my kids. My goal is to start now in teaching them these things so they will be grateful and generous kids and know that Christmas is a celebration of Christ and not of new stuff.

Me vs. The Can

I never knew how important a can opener was until the day came that I needed mine and it did not work. My can opener came to me as a wedding present and it has served me well for 9 1/2 years, but it has seen it's last can. Today I was happily preparing to make some fudge...getting out the ingredients, beginning to melt the chocolate, getting out the can of condensed milk, getting the can opener..oh no! The can opener isn't working! The chocolate was already melting so I had to somehow get the can open. So I got the other kind of can opener (the poke a hole in the can kind), and the milk was so thick it wouldn't come out...so I did what I had to do, and I destroyed the can. In the end, I won the battle of me vs. the can, and the fudge was made.
An interesting p.s. to this little drama is that I was on the phone with Lola later in the day and I told her that the one thing I wanted for Christmas was new can opener. She allowed me to rant for some time about my troubles with the can opener, then revealed to me that my Christmas present from her is a new can opener! My dear sweet friend had heard me complain one too many times about my lame can opener and decided to put me out of my misery. Thank you Sweet Lola. I'll make some fudge for you!

Journey to Bethlehem

This weekend we went to Journey to Bethlehem. A local church transforms their parking lot into Bethlehem during the time of Christ's birth. The town is complete with Roman soldiers, shepherds, camels, peddlers, and Angels singing of Christ's birth, you also see Mary, Jospeh & the baby Jesus in the stable. We were given sheckles at the entrance, and throughout the town there were things we could buy with our money, and occasionally a tax collector would come to collect the tax. BigZabba was wide eyed when Joseph & Mary passed by on their donkey, when the Angel Gabriel announced Jesus' birth, & when she saw baby Jesus in the stable. It was a fun & memorable evening.

1/2 Marathon Stats

Interesting fact - the top 3 female finishers in each age group, from ages 24 - 69, finished before me. The fastest 69 year old woman finished in 2 hours 9 minutes. So my claim to fame is that I finshed the race before the fastest 70 year old woman. Go me.

I Did It!

Lola and I ran that City of Angels Half Marathon today. I did well, & Lola was awesome. She finished in under 2 hours! My goal was 2 hours 30 minutes and I finished in 2 hours 18 minutes. BigZabba crossed the finish line with me! (I am feeling the pain now though...I am walking like an old woman!!)

Enjoy the photos.

Clever Shirts

While out shopping I saw two children's shirts at Lil Bogies that were just too funny..

"I take the joy out of shopping"

"I make eating out miserable"

I am no expert

After being at Sea World this week I was a little surprised to read that one of the killer whales (actually it was the jumping whale that I posted a picture of in my last post), "attacked" a trainer during a show. All the articles that I have seen about the event use the word "attack" many times, I even saw one called 'Revenge of Shamu'. Now I am no expert on orcas but I don't think that what the whale did to the trainer can be called an attack. She pulled him down and held him in the water with his foot in her mouth, & she swam around the tank with the trainer's foot still in her mouth, but she did release him. The trainer was taken to the hospital and had a broken foot. If this was an attack I think there would have been something more dramatic. Not to say that being pulled under the water by a whale isn't dramatic, but an attack...I am not sure. I saw a video of the alleged attack and the guy videoing the show didn't even know what was happening. He said, "I think the whale is being stubborn." A startling event, yes; a reminder that orcas are wild animals and not tame pets, yes; an attack..I think no.

So Much To Say

We just got back from a fantastic weekend in San Diego and a super trip to Sea World. I have lots of fun things to write about, but those things will have to wait until tomorrow. For now here are a few, actually more than a few, pictures of our adventure at Sea World.

BigZabba and a beluga whale

BigZabba petting and feeding a dolphin

BigZabba was picked to be the helper in the dolphin show!

The killer whale was actually playing with the kids. When they would run in front of the tank she would swim along side them and blow bubbles at them.

We ate lunch with Shamu!

The kids were wiped out after our day. The didn't even wake up when we carried them to bed.