I love my ridiculous husband. We threw him a graduation party, and his only request from me was a "face cake." I was unsure what he meant, so he explained, "A cake with a picture of my face on it." Since I didn't get him anything else, I tried my darndest to fulfill his request. As seen in the picture above, the coloring is all wrong and the cake in general is pretty creepy. But there it is. Happy graduation husband. Our life is pure chaos at the moment. Good chaos. After 3 months and 4 interviews, Geico has offered Casey a position in their Emerging Leaders program! We are uber excited, since this was our top choice of the many many jobs he applied for. We got the news a little over a week ago, and will be heading out to Fredericksburg, VA June 12th. Yep, less than a month away. We have been glued to our computer screens looking for housing and moving trucks. And to make it all even more fun, here is a preview of my current two week calendar: Casey's graduation, Casey's party, Casey goes to VA for 3 days for interviews, Teach joyschool, Cubscout pack meeting, Teach sharing time each Sunday this month, Host bunko, Maddie's 3, yes 3, birthday parties, Make 3 stupid aprons to sell (I'm a little upset I chose to do this one), Host sewing night. After this week I will be able to fully focus on moving and packing and all the fun the goes with a move. But we are happy to be moving on to this next stage of life!

Earth Day Ideas

Today is Earth Day, and each year I try to make at least one change to be a better "earthling". Here are some ideas I found while browsing the interweb.

1. Go completely paperless. I have almost all my accounts set up for automatic deduction, but there's a couple that are still sending me statements and I just haven't taken the time to sign up for the paperless option.

2. Using compostable doggie poop bags. I usually just use grocery bags, but apparently they take 100 years to biodegrade. Dog Waste bags.

3. Maybe I'll look into this program for when I'm done with some old sneakers. I usually wear them till they're disgusting; too disgusting that I would feel bad giving them to a thrift store. I usually toss them, but this seems a better option. nikereuseashoe.com

4. Someday I'll plant a tree with my kids, but not this year.

5. Today we are going for a walk and picking up trash. We'll have to wait until this evening because it's going to be 100 degrees today.

6. That 100 degrees put a wrench in my going carless today. I think our only outing would have been to church, and it's a bit too far to make my husband and kids endure the heat. Maybe tomorrow we'll go carless.

7. And finally, we're going to make a craft from something in our recycle bin. I don't know what yet, but it won't be hard to think of something fun.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Easter

I had a very nice little Easter lesson with Maddie after church. I did the plastic eggs filled with different objects and scriptures to tell the Easter story. She thought it was very fun and exciting to open each egg, but when we got to the egg with the nail, she was instantly quiet and listened as we talked of Christ on the cross. We looked closely at a picture and saw each nail in his hands and feet. I told her it was okay to be sad when we think about it, but that he did it because he loves us very much. She was so sweet and said, "Sometimes when I'm sad, my eyes get a little bit watery." I'm not sure if she meant she felt sad today (I think this was her 3rd Easter lesson of the day) or just telling me that her eyes water when she's sad. But I'm so glad she's old enough to begin to understand the beautiful story of Easter and what it means for each of us. Happy Easter!

(Chicken Baby weaseled her way into most of our Easter pics this year)

Video Making

Here's what we've been doing with our free time. Very productive, I know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Swa_uAD-Js&context=C4d8693cADvjVQa1PpcFNCq58AZLf-92c9thtB75aarxrKBw_FLic=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I7qmfAW3ZM&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kU3o5z2iFA&feature=relmfu

William at 6 Months

My little Wills is 6 months. He's such a happy fun baby, and we can tell he's going to be a lot more active than Maddie was. He's not yet sitting up or crawling, but he likes to roll around every where. He loves to eat his peas, carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. I have yet to find a fruit he likes. We're trying to get him to take juice or water from a sippy cup, so maybe he can eventually drink milk from one since he won't take a bottle. He has two sharp little teeth on the bottom and has bit me a few times while nursing. I think my yelp of pain scared him enough because he hasn't done it since. He absolutely loves Maddie...and Raheem. We decided the best way to his heart is to pay less attention to him. Maddie and Raheem definitely pay less attention to him than Casey and I; I think that's why he's so desperate for their affection. He usually only wakes once during the night, but sometimes 2 or 3 times when he wants to be fun. He's getting better at naps during the day, but still rarely naps for longer than an hour at a time. He's a big boy, weighing 21.5 pounds and 29 inches. We love our little son, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait till he starts crawling around.

Running

I like to run. I hate my lack of motivation to do it, but I always feel better after a run. But here's my dilemma, I hate for people to see me running. It's not that I'm afraid I'm an ugly faced runner or that I fear looking foolish with my strides. It's a bit of the opposite. First, let me state that I do not envision myself as a beauty while jogging or that my form is perfect. The reason I hate when people see me jogging is because I feel that they are judging me. I fear they think I am trying to show off, that I'm only out jogging to show the world that I exercise and am in shape (which is certainly not true). I recently confessed my fears to my husband when he suggested I just run down McClintock. He, of course, told me how absolutely ridiculous I was. I gave in and ran down McClintock.
BUT today I prove my point friends. I went out for my bi-monthly jog, the weather was warm but I felt good, I was listening to my freshly made playlist. Biking towards me on the same side of the road comes an older lady. I make eye contact, smile, and what to wondering eye should appear, but a uplifted finger raised high and clear. Yes, she gave me the bird. And you know why? Here is what she was thinking, "Oh look at this lady out running. She thinks she's soooo cool with her fancy new shoes (I just got new sea foam green running shoes with some bday cash) and her hoity doity ipod, smiling like she's the best thing on earth." That is why I hate people to see me run.

February

February is our busy month, and I of course was sick during the busiest part. Valentine's Day came first. We had a family craft night followed by heart shaped french toast. The next day was Casey's birthday. We had a big family gathering the Sunday before, so on his actual birthday we just had cake and dinner with our little family. Then came my 30th birthday. Casey made me dinner (plus dinner for an entire week) and also threw me a wonderful party with friends and family. We're thinking of adding one more holiday to our February extravaganza: Leap Year; 30 Rock style. We'll see.