This makes me want to bust out the decorations. Don't worry, Dean, I won't. Enjoy! PS, if these guys ever come anywhere near Tallahassee I want to see them!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Conversations
This is the conversation I had with Tommy while we were cleaning up his Play-Dough.
Tommy: "Mommy, is that God making the thunder out there?" (we've come a long way from the Mr. Brown conversation)
Me: "Yes, honey, it is. He is watering all the plants and bathing the animals."
Tommy: "He doesn't want to hurt me though?"
Me: "No, he loves you! God loves you so much! And do you know what he wants you to do? He wants you to be obedient to Mommy and Daddy."
Tommy: "I think he just wants me to play with Play-Dough. God loves Play-Dough."
Tommy: "Mommy, is that God making the thunder out there?" (we've come a long way from the Mr. Brown conversation)
Me: "Yes, honey, it is. He is watering all the plants and bathing the animals."
Tommy: "He doesn't want to hurt me though?"
Me: "No, he loves you! God loves you so much! And do you know what he wants you to do? He wants you to be obedient to Mommy and Daddy."
Tommy: "I think he just wants me to play with Play-Dough. God loves Play-Dough."
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
It Really IS Delicious!
I read a post by my friend Jenna a few weeks ago that had a fish recipe. I'm always game for a good recipe so last night I tried it. And oh my goodness, it was really good! Give it a try.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
My Little Sponge
This past week has been nuts for me and I'm just glad to be home making my shopping list and doing laundry while Tommy sleeps. I was at the wedding of one of my good friends from high school (pictures will come when my other friend sends them to me), and it was great to have a mini reunion with a few great friends that I've had for a very long time. In fact, the bride is the one I've known for the least amount of time and that's only been since early middle school. Anyway, it was a great time, but exhausting, as I drove back to Tallahassee from Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday with Dean and Tommy and then left Sunday morning to go to Orlando for the wedding, only to turn around right afterward and go to Gainesville to stay with our friends Shane and Lindsay. I'm beat!
But one of the things that I randomly started thinking about since I've been gone and back is how to continue to teach Tommy. It's amazing to me at not even three years old how much he knows and is learning and absorbing. Sometimes things I didn't want him to absorb! But I figured this weekend that it's probably a good time to get him to begin learning Bible verses. So I looked up a couple of websites on scripture memorization for children and didn't get a whole lot of help. One had good intentions, using scriptures that go with familiar children's tunes (complete with clip art for each one), but I sang them myself and for the life of me couldn't figure out how to fit "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". So I gave up on that rather quickly. But I did find this article that at least reinforced in my mind that this certainly can (and should) be done. We'll work on it. Now I just need some verses. If you have any ideas, let me know!
But one of the things that I randomly started thinking about since I've been gone and back is how to continue to teach Tommy. It's amazing to me at not even three years old how much he knows and is learning and absorbing. Sometimes things I didn't want him to absorb! But I figured this weekend that it's probably a good time to get him to begin learning Bible verses. So I looked up a couple of websites on scripture memorization for children and didn't get a whole lot of help. One had good intentions, using scriptures that go with familiar children's tunes (complete with clip art for each one), but I sang them myself and for the life of me couldn't figure out how to fit "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". So I gave up on that rather quickly. But I did find this article that at least reinforced in my mind that this certainly can (and should) be done. We'll work on it. Now I just need some verses. If you have any ideas, let me know!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Who Says There's No Wildlife in the Big City?
It may surprise you to learn that I'm not exactly a fan of reptiles. Or of any animal with creepy feet, for that matter. Anyway, since I left Fort Lauderdale almost 10 years ago, they have become inundated with iguanas. It's not unusual to see these giant lizards (some more than 3 feet long) running across the road or even sunning out by the pool. My parents frequently have them basking on the roof of their shed in the back yard. But that still didn't prepare me for what I saw when I opened the blinds in my bedroom the other day. I have to admit, I grew kinda fond of the little guy though. I named him Elliott.
Live from Fort Lauderdale
We're on our third full day in Fort Lauderdale with Mima, Papa, and Mima Pat, and so I just wanted to take some time to fill you in on some of our activities.
Tommy experienced his first trip to play in the sand at the beach (at least to his memory) and it was a great 20 minutes. Then we were rained out. But that's ok, we just got our sandy feet in the car and headed to Miami to visit the Miami Children's Museum, which was a huge hit. I think Tommy's favorite part was the Publix exhibit, where he got to put on a Publix vest (just for you, James) and play with all the plastic food. He was terrified of the giant fire truck but wound up giving the museum 2 sticky thumbs up.
We have made it a ritual to head to the "duck park" every night when we are down visiting my family. It's a great little walking park with tons of ducks (which freak me out a bit), ibis's, and coots. He has had so much fun running around chasing all the birds and playing. When he's bigger I'll tell him the story of how my friend Jamie and I were riding our bikes at that park and she wasn't paying attention and rode right into the lake. Good times.
As you may know, Tommy is completely fascinated with trains. And south Florida is full of them. So whenever we come down here he gets so excited to see "Gordon thundering by"... Gordon is one of the Thomas the Tank Engine characters, in case you aren't with it in preschool culture. So yesterday, we took him on an actual train to Islamorada Fish Company, a restaurant that's about 15 minutes from my parent's house and then back again. The whole thing took about 3 hours because we didn't realize the trains don't run very often in the middle of the day. But Tommy couldn't have been more excited.
Today we got up and went on a "sapari" to Lion Country Safari. It was really great! It rained, which actually made the animals more active. Basically the animals run loose in their designated habitats and you get to drive through the middle of them for 4 miles. It's pretty incredible and scary at times. Today we had a 3,000 pound rhinocerous running next to our car and then decide to cross the road right in front of us. We all had our blood pressure rise as we realized that he could have easily gotten spooked or angry and flipped our car. Or at least rammed into it. A few minutes later, we had to swerve to miss a zebra in the middle of the road. Very cool. And Tommy even got to ride Britney Spears-style in Dean's lap in the front seat. Not too shabby!
Tommy experienced his first trip to play in the sand at the beach (at least to his memory) and it was a great 20 minutes. Then we were rained out. But that's ok, we just got our sandy feet in the car and headed to Miami to visit the Miami Children's Museum, which was a huge hit. I think Tommy's favorite part was the Publix exhibit, where he got to put on a Publix vest (just for you, James) and play with all the plastic food. He was terrified of the giant fire truck but wound up giving the museum 2 sticky thumbs up.
We have made it a ritual to head to the "duck park" every night when we are down visiting my family. It's a great little walking park with tons of ducks (which freak me out a bit), ibis's, and coots. He has had so much fun running around chasing all the birds and playing. When he's bigger I'll tell him the story of how my friend Jamie and I were riding our bikes at that park and she wasn't paying attention and rode right into the lake. Good times.
As you may know, Tommy is completely fascinated with trains. And south Florida is full of them. So whenever we come down here he gets so excited to see "Gordon thundering by"... Gordon is one of the Thomas the Tank Engine characters, in case you aren't with it in preschool culture. So yesterday, we took him on an actual train to Islamorada Fish Company, a restaurant that's about 15 minutes from my parent's house and then back again. The whole thing took about 3 hours because we didn't realize the trains don't run very often in the middle of the day. But Tommy couldn't have been more excited.
Today we got up and went on a "sapari" to Lion Country Safari. It was really great! It rained, which actually made the animals more active. Basically the animals run loose in their designated habitats and you get to drive through the middle of them for 4 miles. It's pretty incredible and scary at times. Today we had a 3,000 pound rhinocerous running next to our car and then decide to cross the road right in front of us. We all had our blood pressure rise as we realized that he could have easily gotten spooked or angry and flipped our car. Or at least rammed into it. A few minutes later, we had to swerve to miss a zebra in the middle of the road. Very cool. And Tommy even got to ride Britney Spears-style in Dean's lap in the front seat. Not too shabby!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Leaving on a Jet Plane
As I look up at the clock on my computer, it's 2:54. Tommy and I are leaving for Ft. Lauderdale tonight and we need to leave the house by 4:00. He's sleeping, I haven't packed, and I'm sitting here blogging with my towel still on my head from my shower. If Dean were home he'd tell me to blog later and go get ready now. But he's not (love you, babe). What's going on in Fort Lauderdale, you might ask? Well, if you recall, my family lives down there and so we'll be there for a few days. I had visions of going to the beach and the park down the street at least twice a day... until my mom informed me this morning that it's supposed to rain all week. So gotta come up with a new plan. I do know that one of the items on the agenda is to go see Dean's great Aunt Toni and cousins Cheryl and Emily and learn to make "Noni's famous ravioli's". These raviolis are no joke. It's an Inserra family recipe that was passed down from Dean's great grandmother, who used to make them and bring them to the local Italian restaurant to sell. Those raviolis put her daughter, Louise, through college. And now the recipe will be handed to me. No pressure or anything! I'll keep you posted on our trip. And if you're nice I might even make you some raviolis when I get back. Gotta go pack!
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