Mommy's Sweetest Moment Ever

It was 19 years ago today that I married my knight in a shiny Bills hat and I have hardly regretted it at all! He usually tells the same joke about our marriage. "We have been married for 19 years ...and 7 of them have been fantastic!".  I let Andy know that the next time he tells that joke to a group of people that don't know us and surely don't get our humor, that my response will be "...yeah, those 7 years you were in prison were my favorite years too!" That ought to hush him up.

   All kidding aside, I don't think we could have found a better match. It's not that we are so alike or so very different but we balance out each other's strengths and weaknesses. For instance when I cry, he comforts me. When he falls off the treadmill on his face, I laugh hysterically and it takes his mind off the extreme pain. So, you get the point. .

  

OK I think I just had my best mommy moment ever today! The boys let me sleep in (ahhh sweet luxury) and when I awoke from my slumber I came down stairs to my first ever flower picked just for me by my baby boy! I really am a mommy now! I made sure to grab the camera and capture the moment before my little yellow dandelion wilted. Quinn was so proud. He had to check on it several times throughout the day. After his nap he checked it again and it was beginning to close up. We had the talk about flowers going night night and he seemed satisfied.

I love my boys...both of them. I am blessed beyond what I deserve!

Cooking With Quinn

Our book club has been reading My Life in France by Julia Child and it has inspired me to encourage Quinn's interest in cooking with mommy. He is very good in a classroom setting, has great focus and loves a challenge. He also has a close friend, Luigi, that developed his own brand of marinara at the tender age of 1...so why not! What could it hurt? The following is a sampling of dialog from our latest session including detailed translations for those that may not have as much culinary savvy as Quinn.

QUINN: "Quinny need a towel"

TRANSLATION: "Mother, remember that 2 cups of milk you gave me to pour in? It now measures about 1/3 of a cup..and...well, I told you I needed a towel."

QUINN: "Cheese flies way high!"                     

TRANSLATION: "Mummy, in a brief moment of excitement I flung the 1/2 cup of cheese you entrusted me with about the kitchen. Spoiler alert: you will later find shreds in odd places including various corners you rarely clean, your hair and a few in my Yo Gabba Gabba briefs."

QUINN: "Spoon is swimming in there"

TRANSLATION: "Oh, mom, I inadvertently and completely submerged the spoon in the liquid hot magma boiling on the stove. I fear you will need to fish it out with your fingers before we commence."

QUINN: "I pee pee on potty and get chocolate"

TRANSLATION: "Mother of my heart, I so appreciate the kind reward of M&Ms for my performance on the potty. So much so, I left 3 floating in the dish of cheesy potatoes we are preparing.....mmmmm chocolate."

Oh well, it all goes to the same place anyway. We will just enjoy our chocolate cheesy potatoes as both a side dish and a dessert. I applaud his generosity in sharing his reward and his flair for creative and innovative cooking. Maybe we will sign him up for the next season of Top Chef. I am going to go get the cheese out of my hair now.

Percentages for Dummies

The Christmas season left us well rested, well fed and well loved. I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that it is 2011 and my baby boy will be 3 in 3 days. He has asked for a birthday tree and a chocolate crocodile cake. I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff but I am willing to give it a shot. Thanks to the post holiday sales I was able to snag a $5 white “birthday” tree and I will have to wing the cake.

Being a currently fundraising future missionary, we have been doing a lot of measuring our progress by percentages. For instance: our mission is 40% funded for our monthly expenses and 100% funded for our transitional expenses …yada yada yada. The problem is that now my mind has been measuring daily life by percentages.

Heres what I mean:

100%- the amount I miss living near my friends and family…enough said

99.5%- The percentage I am sure my sister in law gave Quinn a VTech keyboard and DJ station for Christmas because she knew we would slowly be driven mad. It comes complete with a microphone (that is not actually sung into but inserted into his gob). There is also a way to record your singing and play it to a variety of musical genres including hip-hop, techno and reggae… over and over and over… . Let me try to explain what that sounds like. Get yourself a boiled egg. Now stick it in your mouth…that’s right…all the way in. Now, sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” as loud as you possibly can…now get yourself a fresh beat for background music....you got it! Thanks Melinda.

99.4%- Chance Quinn has of never becoming the next American Idol…but it could be much higher

76.9%- Percentage of possessions that Andy sold last summer that I actually know about. I should just be grateful I still have Quinn and both my kidneys.

33%- Percentage of necessary information given by Andy when he is explaining plans he has made for us. Yeah, he never quite gets why I don’t understand what is going on. It must have sounded better in his head.

8.4%- The amount of understanding Quinn has of the true meaning of Christmas. I asked who’s birthday was on Christmas. He said " Cheesus baby”.

2%- The chance I have to be the cool mom among Quinn’s friends. Since we became parents a bit later in life, I expect to hear when picking him up from activities “Hey, Quinn, your grandma is here!” This is also the percentage of excitement I have for turning 41 in a couple of weeks.

.03%- the amount of interest Quinn has in potty training…waaaaaa!!!!

Rebel Without a Complaint

 

Dressed and ready to party!



...20 minutes later



We just got back from Silver Creek, NY where we had the joy of celebrating Andy's parents 50th wedding anniversary! We had a ball! It made me realize how few of those celebrations my generation will have. Many people our age are on their 2nd and third marriages. It's kind of sad to think about how disposable marriage has become....wow I'm a real bummer, huh? Anyway, it was so good to see the family and enjoy the festivities together.

 Fall has come and it almost feels like it's about over! How the heck did that happen? The fall foliage has been ripped down and put in the clearance section in all the stores and replaced with Christmas lights, ornaments and synthetic trees...It seems a bit melancholy but oh well, bring on Christmas then!

We were able to do a few fun fall things even though we miss our traditional apple picking and pumpkin patch with the old Idaho gang.



There is nothing like a pile 'o punkins'!



Quinn dug deep to find the one he wanted



We have no complaints about life! Having a two year old is allot of fun. Especially now that he is learning a language that seems somewhat similar to English. Every day he comes up with something I had no idea he even knew!

 Here are a couple of my recent favorites:

When looking out the plane window and noticing how tiny the cars were below: 

"Lookie, we tall tall mountain! Hold On Tight"

When we got off the plane in Denver after leaving NY:

"Oh No! Quinn lost grandma!"

When pretending to be daddy while playing:

 "Quinn go work. Quinn got bible and more stuff. See ya! Back later!"

When I tried to interrupt him to change his stinky diaper:

Back up mommy!  Quinn reading book. Come On!"

When frustrated by a sneeze attack:

"Achoo!... Come On!!!... Achoo!... Come On!!!... Achoo! ...Come On!!!

Quinn was James Dean for Halloween. Not to be confused with the recently departed king of sausage, Jimmy Dean. Although Quinn does enjoy a few crisp slices of bacon on occasion.

 

"Back Up! Get near my candy and I will cut you with my switchblade glow stick. Come On!"



The Winds of Change

Summer is coming to a close. The days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping slowly and if you take a moment to notice, you can just barely smell fall in the air. Or maybe that's just wishful smelling. We had a very busy summer including lots of travel, a new job for Andy, an offer on our house and a move to Casper, WY.

The latter two happenings came about in the last three weeks, so I am still spinning a bit. Casper is a 2.5 hour drive north of Cheyenne in a valley the locals lovingly call Paradise Valley...Though I have only lived here less than a week, I have a couple of better names that I will share with you if you would please pardon the "snark". The first that comes to mind is "Wind Valley". I thought Cheyenne was bad. Before we moved to Wyoming, Trudy (of Trudy's Kitchen in Idaho City) asked why we were moving to Wyoming and was I aware that the women in Casper are usually (a) pregnant because there is nothing to do   (b) sporting some huge calves because they are constantly trying to fight the wind just to walk. hmmm. Ok, how about "Could You Please Shut Your Dog Up Valley". I probably don't need to explain that one. Then there is "Teeth Are Optional Valley". That too needs no explanation.

Actually, all snarks aside, Casper is great and we don't really care where God takes us. He always knows what is best for us, so we just go with it. So here's news: I am really trying to work on my complaining nature. Oh yeah, I know you are all laughing right now...well Ha Ha Ha! Mariah shared with me a statistic that the average American complains about 73 times a day.
My first thought was "yeah, that is sooooo true...glad I don't complain that much!"
My second thought:  "...well what IS complaining anyway. Can't you just make factual observations without complaining?".
My third thought: "...boy, why am I getting so defensive with my own thoughts..maybe I really DO need to work on my complaining nature."
My fourth thought: "you are so right, Genesis, you really do complain allot. By the way, why are you talking to yourself?"

One thing I have discovered is that not complaining is easier said than done. All I have to do is get in the car and pull out of the driveway and I am already at 53 complaints. So I have been focusing on the the things I am grateful for and in no way deserve. I have a beautiful son and a husband that loves God more than anything, a great family and fantastic friends, the closing on our house is next week, we have a very well furnished, very affordable apartment thanks to a Christian couple that wanted to house missionaries! We also have a new church in Casper and I already have 2 activities planned with 2 ladies I met this week. But more than anything, I am grateful that I have a loving God and am forgiven...even for complaining.

Before we could move we needed to figure out what to do with our beloved kitty, Salem. He is a sweet lap cat, loves to cuddle, adores Quinn and can catch a mouse in 3.5 seconds. He then smothers them to death by sitting on them...nice. On the other hand, he is 10 years old, will pee on any fabric you leave on the floor and has the worst case of kitty halitosis I have ever smelled, so I didn't have much hope of finding him a new family. Thanks to social networking and living in an area of the country with lots of ranches, Salem has finally gotten a good job! He is now a barn cat companion to a kitty-loving friend. His resume was perfect for the job: over 9 years experience, loves the outdoors and can survive the harshest of winters (he went on a 3 month walk-about in the dead of winter in Idaho City). He has a nice warm barn and a good friend to pet him. I will miss that kitty, and so will Quinn.

So here we sit in Casper: debt free, pet free and ready to get going in this final phase before our mission to Ireland. Andy has settled into his new job and we are continuing our support raising for the mission. Quinn adapts to new situations very easy and is having a good time in his new house. He is also very relaxed due to the fact that he has a jetted tub in his bathroom...seriously.

Awkward Top 10

I have been away from home visiting friends and family for several weeks and have found a new way to entertain myself. I have become addicted to a website called Awkwardfamilyphotos.com. One night I sat in the living room at my moms house laughing so hard I almost peed on my moms couch (which I haven't done for may years, so THAT would be awkward). I decided to compile a list of my favorite awkward family photos. Some of you may find a few of these images a bit familiar.

#10- Awkward Bros
This is what happens when you don't call your friends to tell them what you are wearing and you show up in the EXACT same outfit

#9- Drinking & Driving
bad mommy...bad, bad mommy

#8- The Over Zealous Birthday Party Guest
...Cora takes her parties very seriously

#7- The Licker
Mariah enjoys the taste of babies as well as the smell...it was a good year for both wine and infants

#6- The Gnome
when dad's good fashion intentions go bad

#5- Star Wars Convention
The inevitable light saber up the nose...it happens every year...

#4- Seriously, Mom!!!
I don't know why moms think doing these things to their babies is so funny...but it really IS!

#3- The Motley Crew
Don't be fooled, they always look like this

#2- The Birth Plan
It will be interesting explaining to Quinn that our nephew, Joe, actually gave birth to him...

#1- Border Patrol
We always feel safe at Grampa's house!

Still Kickin' in Cheyenne!

We are still kicking here in Wyoming! We are just over a third of the way funded for our mission to Ireland. Andy has accepted a job working for another pharmaceuticals company to keep us afloat in the meantime. This was not exactly the plan. We intended on relocating back to the other side of the great Mississippi, but you know how it goes...God had other plans. Andy actually tried not to get the job, he even told his boss our future plans to be in the mission field and that he may not be with the company long. No dice...they still wanted him. We are currently still working on selling our house and may have to move at some point to Casper WY for a short time. So this brings up an interesting point. Why is it that every place I swear I will never live, I end up living. When we lived in NY, I told Andy I will never live in Boise, ID and within 3 years we were there. On the way to Boise having never been west of Illinois, I said "at least we aren't moving to Cheyenne, WY", 10 years later here I sit in Cheyenne. I have been calling Casper "the armpit of Wyoming", and now...we may be moving there. Now I am about to have a panic attack because last year I was going on and on about never wanting to move to China. EGAD! Maybe I should start saying I never want to move back to Indiana, and we will magically end up there instead, but I am guessing reverse psychology doesn't work on God.

Tonight Andy and I went on a date and we got a new babysitter for Quinn for a couple hours. Emily is a great gal from the neighborhood that offered to sit to make a few extra dollars for the summer. She is an adorable 16year old that is very sweet and very responsible. What I need to mention about Emily is that she is about 6ft tall, blonde, cute as a button and works as a model in Denver. When she showed up at the door, Quinn was smitten. I think he actually pushed me out of the way to get to her. A transformation came over his face, his dimples became dimplier, his eyes had star shaped twinkles, and I thought I saw him trying to slick back his hair a bit and squeegee his eyebrows with his thumb and forefinger. Needless to say, he didn't even notice we left. When we got back Emily told us that he insisted that she put him in his jammies...come on, really?? When she left, Quinn ran to the door to open it for her, never taking his eyes off of her until she got home (she lives across the street) the entire time calling "Bye Ellie, bye Ellie" over and over. Sheesh.... Some of you out there have experienced Quinn's flirting first hand, it is something to see. You have seen the eye twinkle and the dimples he whips out like a switchblade so you know what I am talking about

So if you would, please take a moment to pray for Quinn and his parents that we will be well equipped for that magical time in his future called puberty. I can't talk about this anymore, I think I am going to be sick. I will leave you with this picture of "lady killer", please use it for inspiration as you pray for us.