My thoughts exactly

I came across a couple of things on the web that I just have to share with my faithful blog readers...they are just too good to keep to myself.

The first is a letter written to all the ladies on this season of The Bachelor. Now, in no way am I admitting on here that I do watch The Bachelor...but I really got a kick out of how this blogger put into words exactly what I think. Moms will especially appreciate this.

Secondly, I think that Jesus has a sense of humor and laughs loudly, as I do, when watching this video. I did a little research on this group and here's what Wikipedia has to say about them.



ZAP!

Life after Pink Eye

Until about 4 years ago, I didn't even know what pink eye was. Graham and I were first introduced to it when we worked at The Little Gym. I remember it clearly...one day I came home from work and noticed that my eyes were itching like crazy. The next morning I awoke to darkness- no Colorado sunlight beaming through the windows to greet me and no visible husband sleeping next to me. Just darkness...and goo- the kind that seals your eyes shut. Never had I experienced this before- not even in my childhood had I ever gotten the dreaded pink eye nor did I know that this was to be the first of many run-in's with the pink eye fairy. I went to the Dr. who prescribed helpful eye goo which was to be put into my eyes 3 times a day.

Now for most people, this probably wouldn't be a big deal. Well, I am not most people. I become very agitated, cranky and weepy whenever something even gets in my eyes. I am the girl who will stand in front of the mirror, crying, because 'it hurts'. When my wonderful husband (who doesn't have eye issues like me) suggests that we put eye drops in, I have been know to fall on the floor in a heap of pitiful-ness, hard to believe, I know. I still, to this day, have never been able to get an eye drop into my eyes and only recently have I been able (and willing) to put on eye liner. Somehow I was able to get the gel close enough to the eye in order to cure it and being the loving wife that I was at the time, I also passed the pink eye fairy onto my sweet, innocent, eye-drop loving husband.

Now fast forward a few years, G and I ended up keeping the tube of eye goo because we got pink eye at least another time before our time at The Little Gym ended. Last year, at about this same time, El showed the oh-so-familiar signs of having been visited by the fairy. We took her to urgent care (it was on the weekend) and they gave her eye drops which cured her. This morning we woke up and as the morning progressed, it was obvious that the pink eye fairy has not forgotten about us yet. Once again we trekked off to the Dr. who prescribed antibiotic eye drops for her. (We are now considering buying stock in the company that produces these drops seeing as how often we seem to need them) Is it bad that I am rationing the drops so that we can have enough when the fairy visits both G and I later this week?!?!

Also, in a completely unrelated story, I was taking a shower this morning while El was watching Angelina Ballerina and had just gotten out of the shower when I heard the most recent word that slipped out of one of her parent's mouths, "stupid". It is amazing to me how when I (or G) said that word, it really didn't faze me. However, when your sweet little 2 year old girl says it, it's just not so nice. I called out to her from the bathroom, "El, what did you just say?" To which she replied, "Peanut, Mommy!" I just had to chuckle to myself.

On a roll!

I know that Chris Brown and Elmo don't really satisfy my oh so faithful blog readers with the information and news that you want. So I decided to post (2nd day in a row- go me!) a video of El singing The Lord's Prayer. She was somewhat distracted during the recent taping of the song, but I think it's pretty cute anyway (She made up a little jingle about Grammy's house and decided to add it in just this one time). This is a song that is requested (and sung) about 6-7 times per day around The Shire. It sure beats Barney anyday and is so fun to hear her try to say "lead us not into temptation" and "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors".


Our Father from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.

Breaking the silence...

So by now I realize that I probably have one or two people (hi mom!) actually checking my blog (which is down from the 5 people who used to check) because all hope of an update is long gone. Sorry. I was talking to my mom yesterday and she was pointing out that she is tired of seeing the same post for the past few months. I would love to have the time and energy to put into posting something semi-regularly but it just seems to be a low priority in my life right now.

However, I saw Sesame Street this morning and had an idea. Whenever Chris Brown comes on to sing his duet with Elmo called, "Signs", I get giddy like a school girl and El and I proceed to try and mimic Chris' dance moves. It's a very catchy tune and I find myself singing throughout the day if I have seen or heard it. You have been warned.

Space

Have you ever had a week in your life that you didn't want to end? We did. It was one of those weeks that was total relaxation, no responsibility and totally other. I worked hard to earn this Arbonne Incentive trip to Cancun and it was so worth it! (Special thanks to Grandma Nancy (Mah-ma and Aunt Hil who flew up from TN to spend the week with her and MeeMee and Papa who took her for the weekend!) My lovely Arbonne Girlz

No dirty diapers, no schedule or meals to make, no cleaning, no work and just space.
Space...
to breathe in deeply, laugh, soak in the sun, take in the beauty and vastness of the ocean, and to discover. Now don't get me wrong, we are truly blessed people even in the midst of the 'norm'. From our precious daughter, to our amazing families, sweet friendships and our lives in general, we are truly blessed. But don't all of us need moments and times away?And I re-discovered that I truly love to spend time with my husband. Oftentimes our moments together are crowded out by other things; we really do need to make scheduled times to just have with and for each other. Oh, and it was really good to return home to our bubbly, energetic, lovely little 2 year-old, aka Elmo; more on that to come!!


I just figured out how to make digital scrapbooks and I think I'm hooked. You may take a look at the one I made for our trip, if you'd like.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Grapes in the Shire and Family

One thing that El has discovered this fall has been the grapes that are ripe and ready for picking surrounding our house. She has decided that her favorites are the "purple drapes" and she can sit at the base of the Concord grape vine, eating grapes for hours on end. You can imagine how this plays out in her bowels, but we won't mention that here on this clean blog-site. If you come to visit us right now, one of the first places she would take you would be to the base of the Concords. For die-hard grape fans like her, the grape is eaten seeds and all. However, most normal grape-eating people don't enjoy the seeds and spit them on the ground. However all grape eaters are accepted around here!

We had some great times with my brother and his family and my grandma came from Iowa for over a week to visit with all of us. Graham has been able to climb four 14er's with my brother and my dad made it up (and down) 1 of them. The following pictures are from the past couple weeks and will show you some of what we have been up to. Blessings!

A little lesson on how baby preying-mantis are made:

Oh, the frustration of it all:

Tree Monkey

I apologize for not writing much lately but frankly, I can't find the time to write anything profound or witty so I will default to just showing off more of our little girl. Videos are something I can get on here rather quickly and still satisfy your thirst for an updated blog. So here are a couple recent ones. Maybe things will slow down in the near future so I can write some more clever things as you have become accustomed to reading here....ha!


Untitled from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.



Tree Monkey from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.