Adventures in La La Land

I can't believe I forgot to do one of these last week! Yes, it was Christmas Eve, but we didn't have plans until evening. I pretty much just sat around my house all day. Can't believe blogging never crossed my mind. So sorry to all my devoted fans! I guess this week will be a recap of the past 2 weeks. 1. Christmas was so fun with Lucy this year. She loved opening presents - at least for the first hour or so. I had to open her last few presents for her. She also loved all the treats. She ate so much candy. Haha. And we discovered her love of pickle wraps! So weird! On Christmas Eve at my parents' house, we had tables and counters full of snacks, but all she wanted was the pickle wraps. Crazy kid. 2. The day after Christmas, we unloaded everything and made room for all Lucy's new toys. Our house looks like a toy store. Haha. She got a lot of big stuff - a kitchen from us, a medical trolley from Chase and Lyla, and a nursery for her babies from my parents - I'...

I really don't think I'm going to make it to 7 things because our whole week can be summed up in two awful words: stomach flu. 1. I worked all day on Monday and Lucy was her normal self. We had spaghetti for dinner - something I don't make often because I don't like it. But Lucy loved it and scarfed it down. A couple hours later, she puked it up all over me, the couch, my white sweatshirt, and white blanket. 1st load of laundry. We put her to bed an hour later and she puked up the rest of her dinner. 2nd load of laundry. Justin went to bed and said, "Hopefully she's done throwing up now." Ugh. She threw up literally every 20 minutes until 4 a.m. Eventually I just started putting a burp cloth under her head. I'd jump up when she started puking, wipe off her face, and replace the burp cloth. She hardly even woke up every time. After a few hours of this, I started to worry about her getting dehydrated, so I got out the medicine syringe and started squ...

Another late one this week! So sorry. 1. I spent the day with Justin's mom in Frankenmuth/Birch Run today. We had a blast shopping all day and eating way too much delicious food. I've never been to Frankenmuth before - I didn't know what I was missing! Bronner's is pretty much the coolest place ever. Although I'd like to go sometime in the middle of the summer when it's not a complete madhouse! Haha. Thanks, Donna for a great day! 2. I can't believe Christmas is 2 weeks away! It really snuck up on me this year. I decided I'm going to buy Lucy an ornament every year that represents something she liked that year or something monumental that happened. Last year was "Baby's First Christmas." This is what I got for this year: A shoe! She loves shoes soooo much that I couldn't pass this one up. :-) When I showed it to her, she immediately put it on the floor and tried to slide her foot into it. Haha. Silly girl. 3. Justin and I wanted to ...

When I was a kid, we had a family friend who always hosted a birthday party for Jesus, and I decided I want to carry on the tradition with Lucy and her friends. I decided to start small this year and just invite a group of my friends who know each other - and all have kids Lucy's age (plus Kris and R.J. who's 6 months old :-)).  I sent out regular birthday invitations a couple weeks ago. On the line that said, "for:" I wrote "Jesus!" Haha. I asked everyone to bring a gift for Toys for Tots. As the kids get older, I'll explain how the wise men brought gifts to Jesus. Or maybe how we get gifts at our birthday, so we're bringing gifts for Jesus . . . who is giving them to kids who don't get presents. I decorated the night before with streamers and balloons, then woke up early on Saturday morning to get cooking. I wanted everything to be toddler sized, so I borrowed some muffin tins from my friends and looked up some recipes on Pinterest. The p...

Gonna have to make this quick. We're hosting small group in an hour. 1. Justin had the week off. He got so much done. You will all be pleased to know our antenna is now on the roof! Woohoo! (Although, technically it's not connected to the TV yet. He has to drill some more holes. Haha.) He also put up all the Christmas lights outside, which I love! We're so festive. :-) 2. We got our Christmas tree on Wednesday. I always have these expectations of picking out the tree as a happy family, singing carols with huge smiles plastered on our faces. It's inevitably less picture perfect. Justin wants a tall skinny tree, I want a short fat one. I don't want to pay more than $20. He wants a more expensive one. Lucy is cold and grumpy and clingy. Haha. We got it home to decorate and Lucy was completely enamored with the red and green stones I put in my vases. She wanted nothing to do with hanging ornaments on the tree. Maybe next year. :-) 3. When my brother comes home fro...

I haven't done a Lucy update in forever! Here's a late 18 month update. It's just going to be random bullet points as things come to me. And it's going to be long. She loves nakedness. Lol. Anytime she's naked or I'm changing my clothes or Justin is walking around shirtless or she sees people in swimsuits on TV or anything she gets a huge smile on her face and says "Nay-nay!" She always says it in kind of a sing-song voice. Cracks me up. She is such  a girly-girl. I really think it's innate in her because she doesn't see me modeling girly behavior very often. Haha. She is obsessed with shoes - hers, mine, anyones. She loves purses and necklaces and accessories. Her new thing is make-up. Aunt Libby beautified her once, and every time Lucy sees her now, she demands to play with her make-up. I gave her a tube of chapstick the other day and she rubs it all over her face - and mine - so gently. It's adorable.  I think I wrote in my last ent...

Sorry I'm late today. It has been a long, exhausting few days. 1. I had the whole week off which was absolutely fabulous. I got lots done around my house, and it was nice for Lucy to be able to sleep in and take it easy while she was so sick. In the past couple of days, she's definitely turned a corner. She's almost totally back to her happy self. Thank the Lord! 2. I wrote in my last post that I'd been letting her watch a lot of movies while she was sick. Well her new favorite is the Elmo movie. She's absolutely obsessed. I got a flyer in the mail for some toy with Elmo on it, and she carried the flyer around the house singing "La la la" (Elmo's song). So cute. But I'm going to need to buy her another Elmo movie because I'm already getting really sick of the one we have. Haha. 3. We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We rotate every other year between our families and this year was the VanderKoddes. The extended family is so big that we have ...

1. Lucy turned 18 months last week. I forgot to mention it in my last Saturday 7. By the time I was 18 months old, I was speaking in full sentences, so it's kind of odd to me that Lucy barely speaks. However, she communicates very effectively without words. Haha. She has her own little sign language that I have become very adept at interpreting. She nods and shakes her head for "yes" and "no." (Usually "no." Haha.) Her new thing is shrugging her shoulders to mean "I don't know" or "Where is it?" It's adorable. My favorite, though, is that she shakes her finger at Lola if she's being naughty. If ever Lola swipes at Lucy or climbs on the table or runs outside when I open the door, Lucy shakes her finger at her to say "Naughty kitty!" Haha. The other day, I stood on the couch to put something on a shelf and Lucy started shaking her finger at me! Naughty mommy. Haha. 2. Lyla (the girl I babysit - I know all the...

1. I went to Once Upon a Child this week to get Lucy some more winter clothes. I went in with the mindset of trying to get something besides pink, but left with one purple shirt and about 4 pink ones. Haha. There's just a much greater selection of pink, and the pink stuff is so much cuter! :-) 2. We were selected to do the Nielsen rating system this week. I loved it. Except it's very difficult to write down everything we watch with a husband like mine. He is a serial channel flipper. 3. It snowed for the first time this season on Thursday. I was amazed at how much accumulated! I really thought it would all melt when it hit the ground. I like snow the first couple of times. It's pretty and inspires the Christmas spirit in me. But it can go away after Christmas. 4. Speaking of Christmas, I got started on Lucy's presents this week. Yesterday, my fabulous friend Becky came over with a free play kitchen that her kids never use. I'm so excited! Lucy's going to l...

1. Lucy has a couple new words to report this week. I'm pretty sure she says "again" when we're doing something fun. The other day Justin, Lucy and I were playing Ring-around-the-rosie. She absolutely loved it, and every time we fell down she'd jump up and say "gen!" So cute.  But my favorite of her new words is whoa/wow! It's hilarious. Anytime she hears a loud noise she says, "wow!" The other day she was running through the living room and she tripped, but caught herself before falling and said "whoa!" Love it. I also love it when she says "oh." Yesterday we came in from outside and I sat down to take her shoes off. She started to run off before I got her coat off though, so I said "We have to take your coat off." She said "oh" - like "Oh, I forgot!" Haha. She's my fave. 2. She had a blast trick-or-treating. Her favorite part was walking between Justin and me holding our hands. She k...

I got this idea from a blogger I follow. She makes a list of her favorite things every month. So here are mine for the month of October. Some of these were favorites before October, but since this is my first month, I can do that. :-) [Warning: Project Runway spoiler at the end of this post!] Pinterest In case you don't know what pinterest is . . . It's a virtual pinboard. Anytime you come across something online that strikes you as useful or interesting, you "pin" it to pinterest. So all your favorite things are in one place. Plus you can look at everyone else's pinboards. I've gotten so many great recipes, nanny ideas, and home decor inspiration from this site. Check it out! Words with Friends If you know me well, you know I'm obsessed with words. One of my favorite games is Scrabble, but no one will ever play me because I dominate them. (Haha - I'm seriously not as conceited as I sound. I'm mostly kidding. ;-)) Words with Friends is basic...

Sorry I'm late today. We spent the morning at Golden Corral with my family for my parents' 30th anniversary - which leads to my first point: 1. We ran into some interesting characters at Golden Corral. Justin never lets me go there because he says buffets are for white trash people. (Sorry if that offends you. It offends me too. I love buffets.) As much as it pains me to say it, I think he's right. Today we saw one interesting fellow eating with blue latex gloves on his hands. But the worst was the old guy sitting right by us. When he first came in, I thought "aww, that's sad. He's eating all alone." A few minutes later, we heard a loud whirring noise. We surreptitiously glanced his way to see him pureeing his food in a food processor and feeding himself through a feeding tube. Why on earth would you go to a restaurant and pay for expensive food you're not even going to taste? So strange. I ate my food with my mouth and enjoyed it very much. Happy 30...

I'm sorry if you're getting sick of the recipe posts, but I figure people are always looking for new recipes, and this one was really good! It's actually from a book about freezing dinners ahead of time, but I just found it on a message board. Now, disclaimer . . . it sounds really gross. It's another one of those recipes with a very strange combination of ingredients. As I was making it, I was thinking No way is this going to turn out. It is going to be so gross and we're going to end up having peanut butter and jelly for dinner. But then once it was all simmering on the stove, it started to smell really good, and my faith was restored. So here you have it: Peanut Chicken Recipe By: Don't Panic - More Dinners in the Freezer Serving Size: 6 Ingredients : 4 boneless chicken breasts 1/4 cup sesame oil - - - [The only thing I could find at the store was "sesame seed oil" in the ethnic foods aisle. And it was $12! Yeah right! I just used vegetable...

1. I'm not sure I'm going to have too much to report this week because all I did was work. I know most people work 5 days a week, but I've been spoiled with my 2-3 day schedule, so 4 ten (+) hour days this week was brutal! Tuesday, I worked from 7am-9pm. It actually went surprisingly well. I did a craft with the kids and took them to the library and they took long naps, so the day went quickly enough. 2. Here's the cute Halloween craft I was talking about: I just painted the bottom of the kids' feet white and stamped them on a black piece of paper. Then I cut out some little rectangles to write the words on and had them glue them on. I drew the face on Lyla's after it dried. Chase drew his own face on. Cute! 3. I got to hang out with a long lost friend this week: Ali. She's one of those friends that I don't really remember how we met or became friends, but I'm glad we did. My cousins and I road-tripped it to her wedding in Minnesota a couple ...

I've been on a roll with new recipes this week. I won't have room for all of them in the Saturday 7, so consider this a bonus entry! ;-) Apple Pork Chops I wrote about this one on facebook, but in case you missed it, here's the story: I made these years ago and Justin loved them. Along the way, I lost the recipe. He just asked me to make them again, so I made it from memory. Apparently my memory is amazing, because they were delicious! Seriously though, there wasn't much to remember. This is all it is: Put some boneless pork chops in the bottom of a pan Cover them with a can of apple pie filling Top with prepared stuffing - I used pork flavored. You can use whatever. Bake at 350* for 40ish minutes. I did 42 minutes and they turned out perfectly! Cheesy Chicken Slop This recipe was from Pinterest, but it was really nothing special. I'll pass it on anyway, in case it strikes your fancy. Put some boneless skinless chicken breasts in a crockpot. Cover wit...

1. I finished Radical last weekend. I've been meaning to write an entry all week, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I write it in my head almost every night while I'm in bed. I just need to type it up! Here is my one sentence review: I hated it because it's so convicting, but I feel like it's rooted in Biblical truth. Stay tuned. :-) 2. I had a fabulous birthday. Thanks to everyone who made it special. I had a wonderful time stuffing my face all weekend. Friday we had Red Robin, Saturday was Qdoba, Sunday Olive Garden, and Monday Logan's! Wow. It's a good thing I don't believe in counting calories. ;-) Justin bought me some boots that I wanted, and  I got a couple American Eagle gift cards, an Olive Garden gift card, $50 cash, a scarf, mittens, and bracelet. I really wanted Justin to take me to the mall today, but it must have slipped my mind that today is a big Michigan sports day. I don't think he'll be leaving the couch. Haha. 3. Yes...

1. We went to Artprize yesterday. Justin and I both had the day off, the weather was beautiful, and we'd never been, so off we went! I've said this before, but it's funny that we live 30 minutes from GR, but almost never go down there. It really is a nice city. We didn't see too much. It was actually kind of hot and we were getting hungry, but the stuff we saw was pretty cool. I liked the recycled material sculpture of endangered animals outside the Ford museum. My recurring thought as we looked at everything was that it must take a lot of patience to be an artist. I can't imagine how long it would take to make some of that stuff! 2. It has been a really rough week around here. Lucy and I are both sick as dogs. We are snot factories. And in the past few days the coughing has set in. I despise  coughing. I have to be able to sleep. Ugh. The bad news is it's not getting any better. I think last night was my worst night of sleep yet. On Monday, I bought a bottle ...

I tried another pinterest recipe tonight: Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings. It was really good! It would be perfect for a cold, drizzly day - which today was not. But it was also perfect for a bunch of sickies - which we are. Here it is: Picture from bubblecrumb.com  Chicken and Dumplings 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used chicken tenders and threw them in frozen) 2 tablespoons butter 2 cans cream of chicken soup 1 can chicken broth 1 onion, diced 1 tablespoon dried parsley 4 G rands flaky refrigerator biscuits 1. Throw everything except the biscuits in a crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. (I work way longer than that, so mine cooked for 11 hours. Haha. Nice and tender!) 2. Shred the chicken. 3. Cut each biscuit into 9 pieces.  4. Stir biscuit pieces into hot chicken and continue to cook for 30 minutes.  More notes: I actually used a packet of Tastefully Simple Onion Onion instead of the onion and parsley. It was delicious! And I...

1. Lucy has been so clingy the past few days. She just wants to be held all the time. She has a runny nose and a little bit of a a cough, so I figured she just wasn't feeling well. This morning, I woke up with the cold. I understand now how miserable she is. :-( 2. I got all domestic this week and borrowed Kelly's food processor again to puree some veggies. I did cauliflower and sweet potatoes this time. Then I made homemade mac n' cheese with the cauliflower puree (recipe from Deceptively Delicious ).  It was delicious and Lucy gobbled it right up! Woohoo for veggies! 3. Our house was 64* when I got up this morning. I said I wouldn't turn on the heat til October, but I really don't want to do it the first day! I have to hold out longer than that! It's supposed to be 70* again next week. Maybe I can make it 'til November? 4. I reorganized Lucy's clothes this week. I've started putting away most of her 6-12 month stuff. It is obscene  how much s...

Niki and I were in charge of favors for ladies' retreat this year. I got this idea from pinterest , but re-wrote it for our event. This is a horrible picture, but I just want to document it in case I ever want to do something like it again.   It says: The Bible is full of candy references: Noah sent out a DOVE from the ark. Moses had  BUTTERFINGERS (he dropped the 10 Commandments, didn't he?) The Israelites journeyed to the land of MILK DUDS  and honey. [Apparently I ate that one before I took the picture. Oops!] Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:12 to greet one another with a holy KISS . There are even M&Ms  (Mary and Martha of course). So in that same vein, we hope you enjoy this year's ladies' retreat. May your rooms be filled with SNICKERS  and your hearts be filled with [ALMOND] JOY ! 

Ladies' Retreat was a blast as usual. We went to Maranatha in Muskegon, which is beautiful, and the accommodations are wonderful. Here are a few of the highlights: 1. Staying up until 4 a.m. both nights. Whew. 2. The most epic game of "4 On a Couch" ever. (And perhaps a little cheating!) 3. Niki almost hitting a car while frisbee golfing. [Sidenote: I'm sooo sore from said frisbee golfing!] 4. Finding out Jeannette's most embarrassing moment. 5. Getting to know a few people better. 6. Jill's jokes (Hey, Jose . . .) 7. Coming home to a baby who was happy to see me! :-) If you didn't come to Ladies' Retreat this year, you really missed out! We have so much fun, bond as a church family, and make great memories! It'll be the same time next year! Don't miss it!!

I'm going on ladies' retreat this weekend, so here you have the Saturday 7 one day early! 1. We received a huge blessing last Saturday. Someone close to us called and said she wanted to buy us some groceries and to meet her at Meijer. I thought she meant maybe a week's worth of groceries and was so excited. However, when we got there, she told us to spend $200! That's a month's worth of groceries for us. Amaaaaazing!!! Of course, two hours before the phone call I was crying on the couch because we couldn't pay our bills. God is so faithful. 2. I came across this funny story this week: Students from an advanced biology class were taking their mid-term exam. The last question was "Name 7 Advantages of Mother's Milk" worth 70 points or none at all. One student in particular was hard put to think of seven advantages. He wrote: It is the perfect formula for the child. It provides immunity against several diseases. It is always the right temperatur...

Well, I'm part way through chapter 3 of Radical   and my fears are already being realized. I hate it!! Listen to this: We already have a fairly high view of our morality, so when we add a superstitious prayer, a subsequent dose of church attendance, and obedience to some of the Bible, we feel pretty sure that we will be all right in the end. (pg. 32) Uhh, yeah, that pretty sums up my religious experience. So imagine my horror when Platt follows it up a few pages later with the verse in Matthew where Jesus says, "Not everyone who cries Lord Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven," (my own paraphrase) and says, Jesus was not speaking here to irreligious people, atheists, or agnostics. He was not speaking to pagans or heretics. He was speaking to devoutly religious people who were deluded into thinking they were on the narrow road that leads to heaven when they were actually on the broad road that leads to hell. According to Jesus, one day not just a few but many wil...

1.Last Saturday, I tried one of my pinterest finds: chicken bacon pasta . It was amazing!! Although it was definitely more work than I usually put into dinner. It's such a pain cooking 4 different things (chicken, pasta, bacon, sauce) and trying to get them all to be done at the same time! It was good for a special occasion though ( we had friends over).  I'll keep it in my repertoire. (Recipe at the end of this post.) 2. Sometimes I wish I had taken a different path in life. I would like to go back and experience what it would be like to finish college, get a use-able degree. Get a big time job and make big time money. I'm a quick learner. I could do pretty much anything I put my mind to. Be an editor, a writer, maybe even something practical like an accountant. I'd like to know what it's like to live on my own, get married when I'm older, have an expensive, extravagant wedding, a real destination honeymoon. Maybe travel the world. Buy an expensive house in a...

I feel like I haven't written much about Lucy lately. So here's what she's up to: She turned 16 months on Sunday and is just as wonderful as ever. ;-) She really doesn't talk yet. She has a few words: mama, dada, uh-oh, all done, amen, hi, buh-bye, and then shoes, Chase, juice, and fish (goldfish) - which all sound exactly the same. Haha. She makes a high pitched squealy sound for "kitty," but doesn't really enunciate anything. She doesn't do "moo" or "woof" anymore for animal noises. She does hiss when you ask what the snake says. And she definitely knows what the car says. She can point out her eyes, nose, tongue, hands, feet, and belly. She does motions to "If You're Happy and You Know It," "Twinkle Twinkle," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Goodbye Friends" (a song we sing at storytime at the library). She's terrified of loud vehicles. We live in the sticks where lots of loud truc...

1. Good news. I've been doing my C25K workout! You only have to do it 3 times a week, so I did Tuesday and Thursday and need to get one more workout in today. I do not enjoy it at all. But it's only 20 minutes. I can do anything for 20 minutes, right? I watch my Gilmore Girls DVDs and power through.  It absolutely kills the arches of my feet, which probably means I need new shoes, which is definitely not in the budget. And my hips hurt afterward, too. I'm an old woman. 2. We've been doing so well with not spending money this week. Until last night when I tried to make bacon in the oven and set off every smoke detector in my house. Dinner was charred, so we went to Wendy's. But we only spent $8.01. Justin is losing weight like crazy lately without much effort and he thinks it's because we've been eating out so much less. Amazingly, I have not enjoyed the same side effect! 3. Thanks to my bragging last week, I acquired some new "Words with Friends...