The Incredible Edible Egg

So... you can scramble them, hard boil them or poach them. You can have them sunny-side up or deviled. You can put them in your salad or your burrito. You can make an omelet. However, have you ever thought about how you ate them after they were prepared? Abigail has a new technique.

The Lord is Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter!

Here are some photos of our last few days.

Did you know we're on twitter? If you want to follow random thoughts, insights, and Abigail quotes, look us up.  Mommacrafts and Decidedlife.  And, while I'm on it, have you checked out Jake's website?  He posts his sermons, articles, devotions and other Christian life writings there.  Abigail and I got to go with him to the mission last week, where he preached on "Who Put Jesus on the Cross?" It is the most recent post there: thedecidedlife.com.

 Playgroup. Tess is telling the Easter story with Resurrection Eggs.

 All the sweet kiddos.

Dying Easter Eggs.  Try explaining 'dying' to a three year old. It's tricky. That and, "Yes, that's the right shoe for your left foot."

Pre-glitter.  Abigail's "I'm too cool to look at the camera without sassing my mom" look.

 After the glitter. Abigail being silly.

 Hopefully the last time we do glitter. It's pretty though!

Family Easter picture!

(Yes, I've gained weight. No, I'm not pregnant. I'm temporarily on a drug that makes me gain weight and doesn't allow me to exercise. Before you feel bad for me, know that I feel better than I've felt for 4 years!)

 Self posed hands... too cute.

Finally got a real look by putting a rolly polly on the camera... By the way, this is a dress my mom made for me when I was a little girl! Isn't it beautiful!?

Looking for eggs! Something about this picture reminds me very much of myself!

Totally lucky, split-second shot!

She was a little confused as to why there wasn't candy in the eggs. There are only eggs in the eggs. Not even baby chicks.

We wore Daddy out!

We went to a park tonight and Abigail made a little friend. They tried to boss each other around.

Happy Easter to you all!

Happy Bear

You might see this one in a frame at our house :)

okay here are some more:

"Mad Bear"

 

"Dinosaur"

UPDATE!!

Abigail wrote her name for the first time! For some reason, it is not as intimidating to write on a mirror with dry erase markers as it is on paper.  We both wrote her name, one letter at a time.  What also helped was us learning that for Abigail, over emphasizing that she try is so much more important than the final product. We still praise good work and view the final product as important, but we've been over-the-top praising her for keeping trying things the past couple months.  I usually shy away from those seemingly feel good philosophies, but it has made a world of difference for Abigail (thanks Derek for the tip on learning styles)!

Busy Busy Busy

Well, in the midst of having my parents come to visit, building a marketing plan and new products for my baby, Studio H Designs, handling orders and trying to figure out a new website for Studio H Photography, reading and editing Jake's very interesting writing for his book, researching and caring for our health (most recently dental for me), and trying to be a good wife and mom and friend that cleans (hopefully more than once a month), washes, cooks, cares, teaches, talks, listens, prays, helps, and gives, in the midst of all this, we've had a fun couple of months that I haven't commented much on!

This month (technically Feb. and March) we:
- spent some great time with my parents, who came for my birthday and to deliver my new sewing and embroidery machine!! I have not gotten to spend much time with it yet, but it is near and dear to my heart already.  I am looking forward to figuring out the program that came with it for designing my own embroidery.

(Papa missed the funny face memo)

- had a craft birthday party for me and some of my girlfriends. I don't know why I've never thought of doing this before. It was a lot of fun!
- played in the snow and built a snowman

- had special days we got to spend with Abigail's friends Maren, James and Jonathan.

- all played catch together in the back yard with Abigail fully participating (using a Frisbee ring)
- went hiking at the Moss Rock Preserve for the first time (ummm.. Abigail keeps saying 'hunting' instead of 'hiking.' Are these my hunting shoes? Isn't this fun hunting?

- had a Valentine's Day Tea Party for our playgroup

 Girl's Table

Boy's Table

- went on a surprise (for me) date one night, Jake set up the babysitter and everything!
- watched the Olympics pretty much every night it was on (we LOVE the Olympics!)
- traveled to Huntsville to see a holistic dentist
- went to the Childrens Clinic for Abigail- she shut her finger in the car door! Jake is embarrassed that I insisted on us going, but most of the damage was not done to her nail, but the to finger between the nail and first joint... gives me the he-bee je-bees just thinking about it, so I won't go into it. Turns out there was not enough to stitch, so they put on an elaborate looking band-aid and gave me the peace of mind that everything would end up being okay.
- went to another dentist in b'ham after I thought I would need some root canals for pain I was having in my teeth (the dentist in huntsville refers out).  I'm very happy to say that my dentist says I have a very boring mouth! It just turns out that I'm a chronic clencher and I have a bruised ligament and need a mouth guard to wear at night- who knew? bruised teeth? We are praising and thanking the Lord for putting this particular dental office in my face, with their unadvertised free exam and xrays promotion and specialty in looking at bites.

Oh how I wish I could remember the funny things Abigail has said recently. Here are a few semi-funny things:
1. A few days after the olympics were over, Abigail went over to the TV and said, "I'll turn on ice skating for you Daddy." I just love that she thinks that was why he watched the olympics!
2. "Mommy! Come look at this bug!" "What kind of bug is it?" I ask. "Its the strangest bug I've ever seen! I think it's like a beetle!" This is so not as funny as when you hear it coming out in her little voice.  Turned out to be a stink bug, lying on it's back on her slide!
3. "Mommy, bring me something to climb on!" One of Abigail's favorite things to do right now is climb (and jump- I've heard these are typical three year old joys).  A particular favorite is a circling the living room (never touching the floor) going from couch to chair to ottoman to toy garage, etc. Other favorites: climbing trees, rocks/boulders and furniture.

And finally, too important for any list, is that Abigail has asked Jesus to live in her heart! 

Abigail and I have talked about her asking Jesus to live in her heart several times, but she has always wanted to wait.  On the 26th at breakfast she was talking about what to do when she's afraid at night.  She said, "I'll say, 'When I am afraid I will trust in you, I will trust in you, I will trust in you. When I am afraid I will trust in you. In God whose word I praise.'" This is a song from one of her CDs that also has a DVD with it, showing a little girl who gets scared at night and prays to God. Abigail sometimes talks about a shadow in her room and asks if it is going to come get her.  She never seems that scared of it, but knowing what we do about Satan, we always treat it seriously and pray with her and against the shadow.  That morning I reminded her that, besides singing the song, she could call on Jesus when she is afraid and He will help her. I also told her again about Jesus wanting to live in her heart and how he would forgive her of all her no-nos if she asked.  I asked her if she wanted to pray for those things and she said yes! So we prayed together, her repeating what I said (which is a big thing for her too- she doesn't like to be in that 'repeater' position, a pride problem, like her mommy and daddy).  That night we went out to dinner and got a special dessert in celebration!

A few days later Abigail and I were at my girls prayer lunch and when prompted Abigail told my friends Betsy and Rachael, "I prayed to Jesus guys!" I explained that she had asked Jesus into her heart. Betsy asked Abigail what Jesus said. "He said *smooch* (she made the sound), Thank you!"  Betsy later gave her a special heart necklace to remind Abigail of the prayer she had prayed.  When Abigail showed it to Rachael and Courtney she used words that we hadn't used with her in this particular situation: "It means I believe in Jesus." Oh joy! Please join us in praying for Abigail's 'new' faith, that she would grow ever closer to our Lord!

A few more pictures from the past month (my month photos are currently spread out on different harddrives and computers b/c of our Christmas trip and running out of space on our external drive and they are so disorganized I've been afraid to tackle the task of organizing, moving older pictures to DVDs, and editing and putting up the month pictures. I'm officially sorry to the grandparents!):

 (Abigail wearing a dress my mom made for me when I was a little girl!)

 

(She loves to play with coins and put them in her piggy bank, a good sign, I hope!)

 

(She made up her own Rumicub game- match the numbers!)

Family Portrait!

We recently went to see a very special portrait artist to have our family portrait drawn.  Well, Jake and Abigail were planning on going by themselves until I noticed what they were doing and I ran over to jump in. I was on the phone with my mom and just stopped talking to her and dropped the phone from my ear in all my excitement (I'm sure leaving her bewildered as to what happened to me). That might possibly explain the expression on my face..... I was very excited. And I will treasure this goofy picture for a long time!

Did you know that the pizza at Chuck E Cheese is very good? I was so surprised. Well, good for that kind of thing. Not greasy at all!

The way I've felt this year...

 

times 2... at least...