Kristi's Baby Shower

Last night, several co-workers got together at Bosco's to celebrate Kristi's new baby girl. Kristi got lots of cute, girly clothes, some baby essentials, and a pack and play from the department.

And of course, I made some baby things as well.  =)

Several months ago, I made a hat for Kristi.  I thought, since Kristi's having a little girl, that little Molly might need to match her mommy.  *grin*

Kristi's color scheme is gray and pink, so I made a couple of gray and pink hats. I also made a pink blanket with a gray flowers. This was my first time adding flowers to a blanket, but I like how it turned out! 

Here are some pics I took before the shower as well. 

We had a nice time celebrating little Molly Rose!

Sweet Cici's

On Sunday afternoon, David and I took a break from our Plan eating and took the girls to Sweet Cici's to use a gift card we got for Christmas.

Sweet Cici's is a frozen yogurt shop where you can add your own toppings.

The girls had fun piling on their toppings.  David and I took it easy and split one with just a few toppings.

It was a fun outing and I think we'll have to repeat it really soon!

Healthy Eating

This week, David and I started a new diet based on the book, The Plan.  Actually, it's not really a diet, but really a new way to eat, period.  It incorporates whole foods into recipes and helps you isolate the foods that don't work for you.  By eating whole foods, we're cutting out sodium and sugar.

The first two days are all veggies, with salt free spices.  The third day adds chicken at dinner.  And after that, you introduce a new food back into your diet and see how your body handles it.  Even a healthy food could be a problem for you if your body doesn't process it well.   

We started out with flax seed granola each morning (good for digestion), with coconut milk.  Lunch was carrot ginger soup, steamed brocolii, and mixed greens with diced pears and pumpkin seeds.  Dinner was carrot/beet salad, and lots of veggies in spicy coconut sauce.

By the third day, it was broccoli soup with mixed greens, carrots, and avocado.  And then we added in cheese to the salad.  And our dinners have been fun.  We had chicken with apple bourbon sauce one night, chicken with apricot glaze one night, and Friday night it was time to test a new protein.  So we had steak.

The girls have been enjoying it with us too.  The only thing they've not been too fond of is sauteed zucchini.  But other than that, they're loving the new recipes.

We've increased our water, too.  A healthy amount of water is half your weight in ounces each day.  While I was reading the book, I increased my water intake (without changing my eating) and lost four pounds!!  After starting on The Plan menu, I lost 5.5 pounds in one week!  So far, the only food I think that might not work for me is potatoes.  I added it on the 3rd day and my weight loss stabilized.  David didn't do well with the coconut milk.  We've tested cheese, wine, steak, potatoes, and will test chickpeas soon (in hummus).  As we keep adding foods, we'll find out if there are any that cause digestive problems for us.  Soon, we'll have 40-50 foods that we can put in our regular rotation, that will work for us and keep us healthy.

I'm excited about this new phase in our life!

Cutie Pie

Cherish

Bathing Beauties

Daddy/Daughter Date Night: Bekah & David at a Concert

On Monday, David got this flier from a friend, announcing that Audio Adrenaline would be in concert on Wednesday.  He asked me if I thought Bekah would want to skip karate to go.

Um...YEAH!!

The new lead singer for the band, Kevin Maxx, is someone that David used ot manage when we first moved to Nashville.  It was really need to get to go to the show and hang out with everyone.

The concert was a benefit to raise money for Hands and Feet, an orphanage in Haiti that the band founded many years ago.

David and Bekah ended up sitting right next to Mark Stuart and his family.  Mark was the original lead singer for Audio A and his two children were adopted from the Hands and Feet orphanage.  In fact, they rode on the same plane back from Haiti on Sunday.  So they had a great time catching up after the show.

Kevin came right into the crowd and was trying to get people to sing along.  David encouraged Bekah, but she backed away!  Maybe next time!!

After the show, MXTV was doing interviews of the band.  Our friend, Sarah Ross, was conducting the interview.

And afterward, she interviewed Rebekah as well!!  Bekah got to share what her favorite parts were about the show!  She's so excited she gets to be on TV!!

I'm so glad the two of them got to go on this fabulous date.  They had such a good time and had so many things to tell me when they got home!

Not Your Typical Grandma

On Sunday, our community group is meeting, as it typically does on Sunday afternoons.  We generally have a food theme each time we meet.

This week the theme is Grandma's Cooking.  Everyone is supposed to bring a favorite dish that Grandma makes.  You know, the comfort foods: chicken and dumplings, cornbread, mash potatoes, yummy pies, etc.

I told David I was making cornbread muffins.  When he was concerned we weren't contributing enough, I suggested we also bring a pitcher of sweet tea.  "That's a good Grandma drink," I said.  "And people tend to forget drinks."

Bekah chimed in, "And we should bring some TAB."

David and I just laughed.

TAB may be her grandma's drink, but it's not a typical grandma drink.  But then, she doesn't have a typical grandma!!

Love you, Mom!  LOL!

Lydia Is on Cloud Nine!!

The Redmons' friend snagged this from a movie theater for them.  And Shelley was tired of it being in their garage.  Um, okay!  We'll take it! 

Lydia is on cloud nine!  Just loving this thing!! 

Now if we can just figure out where it will be permanently set up in her room, we should be good...

Being Picked On, Old Photos, and Lydia's Impression of My Middle School Years

Last week, I was helping Lydia with her homework, when she suddenly began this conversation:

"Mom, when you were my age, did you ever get picked on?"

"I started getting picked on in 6th grade..."

"Why?"

"Because I was kind of a nerd."

"Mom!  Don't say that about yourself.  You are not a nerd!!"

"Yes, I was.  Have you seen my school pictures?"

"Oh, wait!  Was that when you had the perm...and glasses...and you looked like this?"

Niiiice, Lydia!  Niiiice!!

It wasn't really as bad as all that, right?

Okay...maybe it was.  =)

Report Cards

The girls got their report cards this week, so I wanted to share them with you.

Lydia was less than enthusiastic about smiling with her report card this time.  She got a C in Math and was really disappointed.  But that's okay, because she worked really hard.  This is her best, and that's what we want - her BEST. This nine weeks covered so many topics so quickly that we were running to catch up.  She worked really hard and I know that she will continue to work hard this next nine weeks as well.

Here's the break down of her grades:

Science: 92 A

Social Studies: 94 A

Math: 79 C

Language Arts: 90 B

Reading: 90 B

Bekah's report card arrived in the mail last night and she was already in her pajamas when I asked for the picture.  But that's okay.  Always a good thing to get good news right before you go to bed, right?

Bekah got all A's and one B.  I'm so proud of how she's been so proactive and diligent in getting her homework every day.  We don't have to push her to get it done, and she's got everything neat and organized.

Here's the breakdown of her grades:

Band: 99 A

Math: 95 A

Language Arts: 94 A

Science: 89 B

Social Studies: 93 A

Congrats to both my girls for doing their best!  We are proud of you!

A Splash of Color

My friend, Angela, recently wrote a blog post about a really hard thing she's going through right now.  While in the middle of it, when she felt she was in a fog, she felt God was ministering to her through colors. 

The bright colors she observed in life, as it was swirling around her, helped her focus and brought her out of her fog.  The phrase she used was "God on parade."

Love that!

Well, I've been in my own personal fog, and it's been dreary and rainy and cold outside.  I wanted a splash of color.  I wanted to create. 

I took my Christmas money (Thank you, Aunt Judi!) and went to Michael's and blew it all on this canvas and some really bright paints.

And then I set to work.  I sketched the tree first.

Then I set to work.  Reds first.

Then yellows, bronze, and greens.

And circles.  Lots and lots of circles (which I made by using the bottom of a glue stick).  And the circles were probably the hardest part for me.  I SO have trouble with random.  But I think it worked out okay.

Then a layer of white.

Then the finishing touch of fillingin all of the tree.

And I love how it looks on the wall!

This has felt so good!  I needed this creative time and I love the punch of color in my home!

Crochet Frenzy

I've been crocheting quite a lot lately, so I just wanted to share some of my projects.

I found this Queen Anne's Lace pattern for a scarf and made this purple scarf for Aunt Judi for Christmas.

I made one in red for Courtney.

And then I had fun with this other new scarf pattern.  I made this one for Kathy.

I gave her a matching hat to go with it.

And I asked David's advice for what to make Michael.  (Because you know I can't make something for Kathy and not anything for Michael!)  David said I should make him a "manly scarf" in the Liverpool soccer team colors.

So here it is.  I hope it was "manly" enough!

I had a lot of fun making these!  Can't wait to get started on the next project.

Update from Haiti

David is currently in Haiti with a team from Conduit Mission.  They are helping the local pastor, Pastor Lafleur, host a crusade this week. 

Tonight the crusade in Jacmel, Haiti began. 

According to a post by our pastor, Darren: "Powerful first night of the crusade here in Jacmel. At least 2000 people for the first night. Lots of folks repenting and making decisions to follow Jesus. "

David wrote and said the worship was awesome and the whole crusade was quite a cultural experience.  I can't wait to hear more about it!