So, What's New?

So it has been a while since I posted an update...so here it goes! We have been hanging out with some of the other people from the apartments lately. Most of them are building houses and will be moving out this month, but we are enjoying their company while they are here. I visit the ladies across the street a lot, I love them! Ann and Ms. Stewart live there and a nurse Benny is there during the day...I need to get a picture of Benny to post for next time! Jeremy is now qualified to stand watch at the power plant, so that is good news! It takes a long time to go through all of the training, but once you qualify it pays off. (yipee!) David has forgotten to hold on a few times when he is standing up and it takes him a few seconds before he falls down...he does really well walking behind the play car and stuff, so I don't think it will be too long before he is chasing Lana all over! Lana has really started to enjoy coloring more and she learned how to paint today! It was a bit challenging, but I think she had fun! She likes to walk everywhere by herself and she has been doing pretty well on the potty...she sits down and says "leave me alone ok?" and then when she goes, she runs out into the living room yelling "mommy, mommy, mommy..." until you go look to see if it "turned yellow" I am very proud of them both and my hubby! We have a very exciting week coming up...Alan and Megan and her parents are coming down and we are staying in Orlando in their time share...and we are SO excited!!!! Only 7 more days!!! I am sure to have lots of fun pictures from than soon! Love you all so much!!!!!

This is Ann from across the street...Lana has so much fun playing with her and her basket of toys! Here they are playing around with Ms. Stewart's walker! (Lana's shirt is all wet because she hasn't mastered the art of drinking from a cup yet.) :)
I have gotten to know some really sweet other women who have kids and have been able to hang out with them during the day sometimes. We went to Gainsville for some mommy shopping time and then took the kids to a park...what a fun day!
Don't you just love the Mickey Mouse ears? Jeremy's dad and wife Sandi picked this cute outfit out!
This is one of the sweetest people I have ever met! Ms. Stewart is sharing her cards with David and he is just fascinated! He gets so happy when he sees her!
Lana is a really good helper! She wanted to help David walk today so she moved the car slowly while he walked behind her...they were both so proud of themselves, they were cracking up! I love my sweet kids!!!!Here are the friends I went to the park with: Jennifer, Katja and Rebecca and then me, the loser without the sunglasses. (I sat on them and broke them.....again)

One Hundred Things About Me

Once again my sister-in-law Trista (team-meat.blogspot.com) has inspired me! She posted a list of 100 things about herself that others may or may not know...so I thought I would try too. :)
1. I love "love stories"... books, movies, real life...
2. I can't whistle
3. I want to meet the kids that we sponsor someday: Jose from the Dominican Republic, and Jean from Rwanda.
4. I feel guilty sometimes for having so much
5. I must admit there are many times I think I want more.
6. I love hearing birds sing
7. I wish I didn't date so much in high school and college.
8. I pray that my kids will know that God loves them
9. I pray that they will love God
10. I recently read a book my mom gave me (Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World) that inspired me to pray about any thing I worry about instead of stressing over them...I think it will take practice!
11. I loved going to my parents Bible study with my parents and aunts and grandparents and a couple of cousins
12. I sometimes miss dancing
13. I really miss our friends and the times we spent reading and studying the Bible and praying together and encouraging each other.
14. I have always admired my big brothers for their creativity and artistic abilities
15. I am seeing how beautiful it is that God gives everyone different gifts and abilities that makes them special
16. I regret not being Rob's friend in middle school
17. I loved being his close friend in high school
18. I would love to go on a cruise with my hubby and best friends someday
19. I hate it when I am judgmental and selfish
20. I sometimes laugh and have to turn away when Lana is whinny
21. I love it that Lana talks to her food
22. I never drank alcohol until my 21st birthday (I was with Jeremy)
23. I have never wanted to smoke anything
24. I believe that Love Wins
25. I can't wait until Lana's (and David for that matter) potty trained.
26. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a teacher.
27. I like snakes and lizards
28. I am afraid of sharks and I get a little nervous in the ocean
29. I still like macaroni and cheese
30. I sometimes get German and Spanish mixed up
31. I buy Lucky Charms for me and have Lana eat Cheerios
32. I talk to myself
33. I like being short.
34. I love staying home with my kids
35. I really miss working sometimes
36. I love how much Jeremy makes me laugh
37. I like looking at the stars and looking at clouds
38. I like to sing (even though no one really wants to hear it)
39. I like playing spider solitare on the computer (pathetic I know)
40. I love flowers, especially daffodil's and Lilies, although I hate gardening
41. I like watching movies with my hubby
42. I laugh a lot with my kids
43. I enjoy veggie tales
44. I have been proud of myself for cooking good meals
45. I love Florida weather
46. I think I would enjoy moving back to Michigan
47. I love dessert! Especially ice-cream!
48. I would rather be a passenger than drive
49. I am afraid to downhill ski
50. I don't like my crooked nose.
51. I love wearing my flip flops (or as Alan would say: "thongs")
52. I want to make a difference in the world...like helping rescue children forced into prostitution. (sadly, this is quite common in South Asia-check out www.ijm.org)
53. It always makes me smile when Jeremy sings to me. :)
54. Skittles always make me think of my dad. He used to buy them for me to have when I was done with dance practice.
55. I am so proud of my parents for going back to school and for always encouraging our own educations.
56. I love it when my mom laughs!
57. I loved all of our camping trips growing up
58. I LOVE garlic bread!
59. I love it when Lana sings!!! it is so cute!
60. I love it when Lana and David make each other belly laugh!
61. I can't wait until my kids can play with their cousins again.
62. Journaling helps me focus my thoughts, and often helps me pray.
63. I love old movies...black and white...musicals...I love it that there isn't anything bad in them.
64. When I drive places I get lost pretty easily...which inevitably makes me cry.
65. budgeting and managing money and investing isn't very interesting to me...I don't understand a lot of it and it either makes me bored or...makes me cry!
66. I still like hay rides :)
67. I have never been to a concert that wasn't "christian"
68. I laugh at myself a lot
69. I say "I'm sorry" too much, but for some reason I haven't been able to make myself stop
70. I loved growing up with two big brothers
71. I prefer fiction over non-fiction
72. I am directionally impared. Example: yesterday someone asked me if we used to live by the west coast of Florida and I said "no, we were on the gulf side".....once again #68!
73. I got detention twice for laughing and "disrupting the class"
74. In middle school I told on myself to my dad. He thought I was acting guilty so he said he talked to my teacher, and I confessed everything. (laughing and disrupting the class minus the detention bit)
75. I was often referred to as a "social butterfly" to my parents during conferences
76. I was always one of the worst athletes in my gym class...I didn't try too hard, but I don't think it would have made much of a difference. (I admit, I am still afraid of "the" ball)
77. I ran track one year at school. I think I may have been the worst on the team. They couldn't find an event that I wasn't terrible at.
78. I think gross hospital stories are pretty funny
79. I think Dumb and Dumber must be the funniest movie ever. It makes me laugh more every time I see it!
80. I can't do math in my head very well.
81. I am not really creative, I am pretty good at copying things. (this list for example!) I have found that I can draw copies of things pretty well, but I can't come up with original ideas.
82. I have thought about publishing childrens books, but I worry about the creative thing
83. I still think it would be fun to drive a hummer. (it would be most fun if I could drive it right over parked cars)
84. I used to hang out with my college friends at a funeral home. (one of them worked there... we actually had a lot of fun!)
85. I love how much Jeremy makes me laugh...I remember eating lunch with him in high school and setting my empty soda bottle on his tray and he scowled at me and swung his arm and launched it across the lunch room...I am laughing right now just thinking about it!
86. I love how Jeremy's grandparents read something from the Bible out loud everyday after they eat dinner.
87. I love rollercoasters...I would love to go to Cedar Point a few times a year!
88. I don't know if I will ever have the guts to bungee jump or to sky dive
89. I am stubborn. I remember going to bed without dinner because I wouldn't eat my vegetables. Now, I wonder where Lana gets it from?.....
90. I once trimmed Lana's finger along with her fingernail and I cried harder than she did!
91. I don't mind blood and I am used to watching someone put stitches in, but I almost passed out when I watched my hand getting stitched.
92. I was trying to cook Christmas dinner when that happened...the night was spent in the er instead....it took forever!
93. I loved spending time at my grandparent's cottage growing up, and swimming in the lake and going on their boat and ice skating.
94. I like going to casinos and playing at the tables ($10 minimum, or it scares me!)
95. I loved reading Rob Bell's book "Velvet Elvis" It inspires me.
96. I have the greatest family!
97. I actually have a bit of a tan! (miracle of miracles!)
98. I love it that David likes me best (for now)
99. My biggest fear is not being on the right path... I want to have confidence, but sometimes I am afraid of not going to heaven.
100. I pray that I will make people's lives better.

Lana and David

Here are a few fun pictures of the kids lately, enjoy!
David started walking behind Lana's Winnie the Pooh car today...he is really doing well!
For some reason watching all of the bigger kids play in the yard below our lanai is very exciting! Lana usually yells "hi kids" or something like that to the people below!
David was so excited and proud of himself today that he figured out how to walk with the car! He went all the way down the hallway! We are so proud of him!
Lana has always been a pretty slow eater...she would rather have all of her food talk to each other instead of eat it (much unlike her younger brother who shoves food into his mouth as fast as you can put it on the tray)... here she is talking to her animal crackers after she bites their heads off..."Hi, how are you? I good, how are you? I good too! Where your head go?"

Time flies when you're having fun!

Gramma and Papa were able to come and spend 4 days with us... I wish it didn't go so fast! We enjoyed the weather by going outside several times each day to go to parks or for walks or to go swimming. Lana talked their ears off and loved all of the attention! In true grandparent fashion they spoiled the heck out of Lana and David, but I don't mind! David unfortunately had a cold so he wasn't feeling great. He had one day where he was pretty grumpy and just wanted mommy, but the other days he was mostly happy! (thankfully!) He seems to be feeling much better already, so we are glad for that! Gramma and Papa thought it was funny that Lana's favorite phrase is "I do it myself!" She is definitely 2! She is so polite most of the time though, I am so proud of her! They are both such good kids! We will be looking forward to sometime when we can go back to Michigan for a visit (preferably when it is much warmer than 34 degrees!) We love you lots!!!
Every night we had such a great time playing games together! Mom and I lost all but one time, but we are blaming that on the wine! We miss our little tradition a lot already!
Dr. Lana is taking Gramma's blood pressure. This is of course after she gives shots! (that is always her first thing to do!)
Isn't this the best picture?!
Papa and Lana at the park...we had a lot of fun at parks while they were here!

more pictures :)

David LOVED all the attention and hugs he got from gramma and papa!
We went to a really pretty park on a very pretty day and had a great time playing together!
Here we all are! (visiting one of our nice neighbors, Ms. Stewart...she is 96 years old and has a fake marijuana tree outside her door! She has a great sense of humor, we love her!)
Our very happy family! :)
While Lana was taking her nap, David got lots of snuggles!