Lamb of God

Rob Gardner has done it again. An incredible piece of work, with powerful music, scriptural text and talented musicians. A glorious combination to depict the Savior's Atonement and Resurrection.

The PREMIERE performance will be at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, Arizona on September 10th and 11th. http://www.spiremusic.org/2010/

I can ASSURE you it is a performance you do NOT want to miss. Ticket prices are extremely reasonable and if you check out this link: http://www.spiremusic.net/servlet/Detail?no=65 you can get a special deal on tickets to avoid the extra ticketmaster fees.

And if you needed just ONE more reason to persuade you - Greg will be among the MANY talented soloists performing. :)

Bring everyone you know. "Lamb of God" will change lives.

PS - If you are a blogger and would like to help Rob advertise, feel free to steal my image and go with it.

Pregnancy Ponderings...

(sorry my face is a flash of light from the camera... limited photographers during the day...20 week pic)

Why does drive-thru food seem so appealing while I'm out running errands? My daughter didn't even know what fast food was until I got pregnant. Now she asks me where we are going for lunch. UGH.

Why is my hair falling out like I'm in the middle of chemotherapy? With Emma I lost approximately 10 hairs from my head the ENTIRE time. Now I lose fist fulls. Good thing my lion mane can always use a thinning.

Why did I have to go to Macy's for a new and bigger bra ALREADY? Not even nursing yet. The cashier told me they were buy 2, get 1 free. No thank you miss. I pray I am only this size for a short while and I don't think I have room in my dresser for THREE bras of this magnitude. I'd have to rent a storage unit.

Why does my body REFUSE to work out the way it did before pregnancy? I used to swim 20-30 laps in the pool NO PROBLEMO. This morning I did 10 and I had to stop between every 2 to catch my breath and make sure my heart hadn't plopped out and landed in the water somewhere.

Why am I an already starting to worry about Emma becoming displaced with the new little one? I worry about her not feeling the same (you have 100% of my attention ALL the time) kind of love. I am the oldest of 7 kids, so I understand that more children is just fine and kids adjust and benefit... but I still worry. What will I do when we are stuck in the house all the time without much freedom?

At 20 weeks (half way there!) I am still grateful EVERY. SINGLE. DAY to be pregnant and appreciate the MIRACLE that I am. Emma prays every night that her baby brother will continue to grow strong and healthy and I share her prayer. Come on little guy... keep growing!

All things LIQUID.

(lkwd) noun

1. The state of matter in which a substance exhibits a characteristic readiness to flow, little or no tendency to disperse, and relatively high incompressibility.

Rain in Arizona is a rare, yet WONDERFUL event.

No really. Our annual average rainfall is 7 inches. For those of you that think that sounds like a lot... the annual average rainfall of my hometown (Lexington, Kentucky) is 47 inches. Do the math. We don't get much.

Inevitably, when the rain does come, a party ensues. Last night was no exception.

I showed Emma the rain, to which she responded, "I play in it, Mommy?". Why the heck not? It's like Christmas in August to Phoenicians. If you think I'm kidding... check out the glee on little Emma (and Greg for that matter) in the picture below. Priceless. And a little pathetic that she is so STARVED for rain that a little bit makes her this happy.

One saturated, but VERY happy little 2 1/2 year-old.

And speaking of liquid...

I FINALLY took the "plunge" and started potty training Emma on Monday.

After an $80 trip to Target, we felt ready to tackle our Goliath.

Here are Emma and Daddy making her "potty chart" to make progress.

Here is the bin of toys for bribery. Half of it was provided by my AMAZING sister-in-law Gina who struck some incredible deals at Target and needed us to take them off her hands. :) Thanks so much Gina! You can always take partial credit for Emma's toilet training. What an honor.

And of course, the princess underwear.

And MORE bribes. Mike and Ike's for staying dry. M&M's for actually going to the bathroom. And stickers for the chart to mark "trying". If you'd like a snack yourself, come on over and utilize our bathroom. Help yourself to a tasty treat as your "reward". I have to admit, that I've never enjoyed using the bathroom so much! Love telling Emma I just used the bathroom and then shoving a handful of candy into my mouth to "help keep her motivated". NICE. Should have started potty training when she was 3 months.

The progress has been good. She has used the potty many times successfully (pee and poo) and has only had one accident each day. She can't tell me yet on her own when she needs to go, so I have continued to set the timer for every hour to put her on the toilet and let her try. I hope that skill of identifying the "need" will come soon. To be honest, I haven't tackled naps/bedtime yet. I figure I'll wait until next week when she gets the day time down better.

Overall, it has not been as bad as I anticipated. Expect the worst and things can only get better... right? :) We've even run a few errands this week and she has stayed dry both times. A special THANK YOU to all the amazing suggestions from friends/family on the blog. It was seriously a HUGE help.

Here is the proud little diva. If you think she has a rash on her chin/lips... look again... she has just applied her own lip gloss. Don't think she'll be working at the Clinique counter anytime soon.

Emma's Announcement!!

And we are all so excited!!! Just what we wanted!!!

(Excuse her snotty nose - I couldn't see it when I was taking the pictures and was too lazy to take them again.)

Little Miss Sunshine

The sun is a wonderful thing. It can lift spirits, make things grow and bring light to all around.

Conversely, if you don't know how to protect yourself against the sun or how to properly cope with it's harmful rays, you can get burned.... BAD.

'Tis similar to our little 2 year 7 month old princess.

Emma is such a delight and absolute sunshine in our lives, most of the time.

But boy can she get sassy, bossy and just down right obstinate. I wish I could blame these characteristics on her father or grandma or ANYONE but my sassy, bossy, obstinate SELF. Darn those genes.

Emma LOVES to help me clean and so I decided to give her a spray bottle with water one day. She spent TWO hours cleaning up "messes" in our house and outside. With paper towel in hand she busily went through looking for dirt. She has done so multiple days since. Hope this momentum continues!

She's been having trouble obeying her leaders in our church nursery. We now talk about it a lot to help improve her behavior. But, I think we got to the root of the problem when she prayed the other night to "help my nursery leaders obey me". Greg corrected her and she went on with the prayer only to repeat the phrase 2 minutes later "please help my nursery leaders obey me". GEEZ.

We have a Disneyland trip planned in September. Almost every morning and afternoon when I get her out of bed, she is cuddling with her stuffed Minnie saying, "I'm going to see you September Minnie, OK?".

Poor child has had to experience her fair share of my morning sickness. She just hugs my leg, pats her little hands on my back and says, "you not feeling so well, Mommy?"

Greg and I were both in the kitchen a few weeks ago, she promptly ran in, wrapped her little arms around both of our legs and said, "Hi Family!"

I tell her all the time that she has the best Daddy in the whole wide world. So the other night she and Greg were lying on the floor reading books ands she turned to him and said, "I love you in the whole wide world".

She still LOVES books. Her new favorites are "Curious George", which she owns PLENTY of since my Dad bought her a huge collection when she was born. She has a few of her favorites almost completely memorized including "The Hungry Little Caterpillar" and "Take Me To The Zoo". The picture below is her reading to our friend Juliette. If she can keep this up, she'll be a great big sister.

Greg was singing around the house and Emma promptly exclaimed, "Daddy! You sing so good!"

She was attacked by some cruel spider a few weeks ago and ended up with about 8 fairly sizable bites. They became her obsession. She showed everyone she came in contact with. And I was asked at least 10,000 times a day if I had seen her bug bites. When they started to go away, she began to panic realizing that her attention getter was leaving her.

She loves to help me in the kitchen and frequently asks to sit on the counter while I cook or pull up a chair. Here she is stirring soup for dinner. (excuse the baby bump)

We read Cinderella a lot. When it gets to the animals surprising her with the dress Greg and I always read Gus Gus' line "Ha Ha Ha Happy Birthday" just like he says in the movie. When she finally saw the movie she was CRACKING UP when she heard Gus say the line himself. She made us repeat that part at least a dozen times, laughing hysterically every time. Now she asks me at least once a day about Gus Gus and repeats the line herself.

The other day she looked at my chin and asked, "what is that on your chin? A hair? You look like a pig." No lie. That came out of my child's mouth. Nothing like honesty from a kid, huh? I got to plucking that evening.

Greg went swimming with some friends, but because of an illness, Emma couldn't go. When she asked where Daddy was going, we told her he was going to a meeting. She looked at him quizzically and then said, "in his swimming suit? Silly Daddy. No go to meeting in your swimming suit."

Here she is doing Greg's hair in the bathroom. A favorite past time... for Emma.

Sorry this picture is sideways, but I just had to include it, because my daughter is going to turn into an apricot! She INHALES them. Will east at least 3-4 every morning and then beg me for more the rest of the day.

I have to remember the cute things she does, because otherwise I obsess over her stealing toys from other children and hitting and screaming NO at her parents. What's a Mom to do?

Adams Cousin Fun!

We have had lots of good times with our Adams' cousins this week! A few of them live here and we get to play together on a regular basis, but Jamie (Greg's bro) and Gina came into town from Austin, Texas so we have RAMPED UP the play time and had a blast with all 5 cousins playing together.

Last Wednesday, Greg's parents invited the kids over for some water time and boy did they have fun! My only regret was that my big bootie wouldn't fit in the pool. It was WARM outside sans water for the adults.

Anna (bummer her eyes were closed) and Emma.

Grammie Lou keeping Kasyn and Isaac warm after they left the water area.

Last weekend Greg's parents were kind enough to sponsor a family trip to the Squaw Peak Hilton in Phoenix. It is such a fun resort because of the incredible water park facilities including a lazy river, multiple pools and a water slide. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights and had such a wonderful time together!

Here are the girls making necklaces around 10:30pm. When cousins are around, bed times kind of go out the window because it's all about maximizing the fun. Anna is 5, Taytum is 4 and then there is the tag-a-long Emma. Sometimes she can fit right into the mix, but other times she steals toys and hits - reminding the older girls and her parents that she is still a roaring toddler. Maybe when they are in their 20's or 30's they won't notice the age difference as much? :)

Emma and Isaac who is affectionately nicknamed "Blue" - not because of his disposition. Most darling, happy child EVER.

Here we are at dinner together. It started to rain during our dinner and only one of the three tables had an umbrella to cover. Oops. It wasn't a down pour, so we enjoyed the cooling effect and tried to eat our food before it got soggy.

Our birthday party for Issac. He turns 2 in September so we took advantage of all the family together to celebrate. The kids went to bed around 11pm and the adults stayed up well beyond that. Evidently we got a little too crazy because we had a visit from Mrs. Security Guard telling us to keep it down. Seriously felt like I was in High School again.

Because my SIL Gina is so amazingly thoughtful, Issac gave each of his cousins a bday gift for HIS bday. Emma scored a super hot purple dress-up outfit. This is the FIRST in her collection and she is pleased as punch.

Thanks to Ray and Linda for the wonderful weekend. They were so generous to pay for everything and allow us to spend the weekend together at the resort. Unfortunately, Ray's lung cancer has taken a nasty turn for the worse and he was not able to enjoy it as much as the rest of us. But, we loved having him there, nonetheless. Keep Ray and Linda in your prayers. The next few months could be especially difficult.

Potty Training HELP Requested.

I told myself (and Greg... and lots of other people) that I would get around to potty training Emma as soon as my pregnancy nausea subsided.

She is 2 1/2 and consistently tells me when she is going pee and poo in her diaper. I knew she was ready while ago, but I also KNEW that I was NOT ready. When the smell of the "wrong" food can make you lose your breakfast - there is no stomach for bodily functions that may land on the floor for Mommy clean-up.

Well, I'm happy (and sad) to report that at 18 weeks pregnant, my nausea is improving and I feel that it's time to begin the MUCH dreaded potty training.

So, I NEED YOUR HELP! I know nothing. What were your best books/methods/ideas?

She has a little potty already - and I've been talking to her about using it like a "big girl" for the past few months. She seems quite excited. We'll see if that sticks.

P.S. - This is my 200th post since January of 2008. Go me.