4.30.2009

"Our Father Who Art In Heaven..."

We are a praying household and have recently introduced a blessing before all meals to Madelyn. She loves it and will actually remind Kurt and I by clasping her hands if we have forgotten to say thanks to Jesus before taking a first bite (that's a humbling moment for a parent...when your 19 month old remembers to thank Christ before you do). Kurt always ends blessings with "In Jesus' name, Amen," which prompts her to very enthusiastically join in for the "Amen" which sounds a little bit like "Elmo" but we're choosing to chalk that up to pronunciation limitations rather than the possibility that she thinks we're praying to a red, furry puppet.

She's got the clasped-hands part of the blessing down perfectly, and it's so cute to see her tiny hands folded and sitting so nicely. She's still working, however, on the closed-eyes portion:

She reserves her angriest and scowliest expressions for Jesus. But we're pretty sure He understands.


4.21.2009

Tulips!

We're having a veritable Vitamin D fest here in the Pacific Northwest, for those of you who do not live here. The sun and warmth have graced our blinking eyes these last few days, and we have emerged from our closed up dwellings "like freaky science experiments," to quote a local radio station host. It has been said repeatedly, but it's no less true: one clear, sunny day in the Pacific Northwest is worth 364 rainy ones. Madelyn and I saw four mountains yesterday from the park. Four! One of them being Mt. Rainer which is a long long way away and virtually never emerges, so a big "Hooray!" for God for making some seriously beautiful scenery...

Sunday, we visited the Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon. Kurt and I had never been even though we've wanted to go for many years, and it didn't disappoint...tulips as far as the eye could see with Mt. Hood as the backdrop. Here are some photos. Enjoy!

4.11.2009

The Mystery of the Toddler Palate (and Happy Belated Easter!)

I've been meaning to write for over a week now and just haven't been able to find the energy. One of the three of us (you can deduce who) is still waking up regularly throughout the night... Nothing new to say about that. This post, therefore, will cover a couple of different topics.

I've been really into cooking lately. Well, not just cooking, but food in general and meals made with fresh, healthy, nutrient packed ingredients. And flavors...mmm, flavors... I've written before about Kurt's and my pre-baby proclamation that no child of ours would eat exclusively "kid" food and refuse to eat new and interesting things. I'm neither proud nor ashamed to report that the bottle of ketchup is still a regular fixture at our dinner table, but I also always give Madelyn an opportunity to try our dinner before relenting and making yet another PBJ sandwich. Sometimes, she utterly surprises me. We have been eating loads of asparagus lately, and the other night, she enthusiastically nibbled three whole spears Bugs Bunny style. The next night, she tanked a whole bowl full of shrimp gumbo. Shrimp gumbo! And then the next night, she refused to eat spaghetti with red sauce and parmasan cheese. No rhyme or reason. I have learned, however, that the presentation isn't lost on toddlers. Maddie got a butterfly cookie cutter in her Easter basket, so she had a butterfly shaped turkey and swiss sandwich for lunch today that she gobbled right up. We may be eating lots of butterflies in the next few weeks...

Our Easter was great, and we hope yours was too. Nothing too fancy or out of the ordinary; just a lot of good time with family and, of course, good food. We did a slightly different spin on egg decorating this year and made rice krispy treat eggs dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. Very fun and very yummy.

4.06.2009

A Sobering Realization

Just a quick heads up that from now on, you'll have to be a registered user and sign in with a name and password in order to leave a comment on our blog. Some despicable stranger left a comment on one of our recent posts that was nothing short of foul, gut-turning, and evil. It angers me in a way that is primal that people who would even think to do harm to a child even exist in this world. I have an idea what I'd like to do to all of them, so it's good for them that their souls lie with a Savior much more forgiving and merciful than me. At any rate, we know that only allowing registered users might not prevent these kinds of comments from happening again. But at least if it does, there will be some way of tracking the person.

We encourage those of you with blogs to do the same and to be careful about the contents of your posts.