Hannah Says...

The week and a picture

We had another really busy week that went by quickly.  I fully intended to blog sometime in the middle, but the days seemed to pass without me even noticing.

On Wednesday we made a big purchase...a car!  We had been borrowing my parents' old Tahoe and decided we needed to invest in something of our own.  Brent decided to look on Craigslist and we found a great used VW Jetta.  I was actually really excited about it because we have been wanting one for a while.  It's a 2001, in pretty good shape and we got it for a great price.  So, whoever is on Emmett-duty gets the Subaru and whoever isn't gets the Jetta.  I am having to get used to driving a manual again...

Thursday Rachael and Rogelio came home for a long weekend visit.  I spent the afternoon with them, and then Brent and Emmett joined us for dinner at my parents'.  We all settled in to watch "Wheel of Fortune" and Emmett decided to join my mom in the kitchen.  Or so we all thought.  A couple of minutes later I looked out the window and saw him walking across the pool cover!  It's a safety cover, so he was never in any real danger (I think it holds like a thousand pounds or something), but still not something he's allowed to do.  So we got him off the cover and he got a major lecture, and that next time would be a spanking!  I told him the water was a "big No-No."  So now he keeps telling me "Wa-wa BIG no-no."

Friday morning we went to Ellensburg for the Melhorn Cousins craft day.  We had a lot of fun decorating paper Easter eggs with various mediums including paint, tissue paper and stickers.  Friday night some of the family went to Red Robin.  As soon as we sat down, Emmett started asking for "pizza-pizza."  And since we had a coupon for a free kids meal, he got his own dinner.

 

(Here he is hard at work in his egg.)

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at my parents with the kids, doing some work, cleaning and a few errands.  All the while wishing it was warmer outside.

I was going to incoprorate many more pictures into this post, but somehow I didn't manage to.  Oh well, right?

A Little Bit of Spring

 

These little purple flowers are scattered over the lawn.  Brent is quite sure they are weeds, but I think they are kind of cute.  Last spring when I filled my flower pots, I found some bulbs that had been planted by the previous owners.  We weren't positive what they were, hoping tulips.  I planted them in the front of the house in hopes that they might grow.  This is what we found last week!

 

With the warm weather this afternoon, I am thinking that spring is on the way!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

   

   

We wore our green today, including beads!

March

March already although it feels like winter still.  I guess technically it is still winter, but there have been so many glimpses of spring that I am ready for it to be here!  This morning the field behind our house was getting mowed and I barely smelled the freshly cut grass through the cold air and it took me to a warmer place, for about a second.

Today feels like what used to be a normal day for us and I am savoring it.  Brent is working a day shift and will be home for dinner.  Emmett and I went to Bible study this morning.  I peeked in on him at the end and enjoyed watching him interact and play "duck, duck goose" like a big kid.  He has been so fun lately.  He's talking more and more each day.  A few days ago he looked outside and said "it's raining out dere."  I looked out and sure enough it was raining.  He also loves the Jack Johnson song "Upside Down" and calls it "George" because it's in the Curios George movie.  When I got him up from his nap today he said "have money" and showed me a penny.  Um, choking hazard?  I could go on and on about him, but I have a couple more things to share.

Here are a couple of really good recipes that I tried out last week.  Definitely keepers!

• "Re-fried" beans - So yummy, so easy!  I might try this recipe with black beans too.  I used most for my burritos and froze the rest.
• Burritos - A new favorite at our house.  I made them just as the recipe, but used the above homemade beans and used smaller tortillas.  (One benefit to living in Yakima is the plethora of fresh tortillas that are available!  Fiesta Foods has a really good selection.)  I made some with meat and some without.  Brent has been taking them to work and we have also enjoyed them at home too.  Seriously, so good!  I want to try getting creative, like using black beans and chicken? 

In some older news, Brent and I had date night Friday night.  We had a quick dinner and went to see "Taken."  So not my kind of movie, but it was really good.  I could hardly walk out of the theater because I was so tense the whole time.  It made me appreciate that my little sister, who is a world traveler, has always been safe and protected!

That's it for now, off to enjoy the rest of the afternoon with my little boy.  I promised him that as soon as I was done typing, I would play.

our life

I have been thinking a lot lately about our life.  Where we are right now is not somewhere I ever thought we would be.  Actually, I shouldn't say that.  It's a place that I had always feared.  And since Brent was working in an industry that has recently become fairly volatile, it was always in the back of my mind.  And I think that sometimes God will allow us to go through things that we think we can't possibley in order to refine us.  If we allow that to happen.  And I think we are.  I am more convinced everyday that we are exactly where God wants us to be.  He is providing over and over.  Not always in ways that I expect, but then He doesn't usually work that way does He?  Here's a verse that Abby sent me quite some time ago and I have been encouraged by its words.

Psalm 27:14

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.

(In a song version it says "Wait on the Lord and be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart.)

 

 

I looked back at my New Year's post and am kind of laughing because I am now forced to do many things on the list.  Like being better with $, talking with Brent about exactly where we stand with our $, meal planning (mostly because of our crazy schedules) and appreciating my time with Emmett.  And all the little things I used to stress over?  Not anymore.  Thanks Lord, for helping me stick to my resolutions!

 

 

I want to remember this

So, now that Emmett knows how to communicate pretty well, he will ask me for treats and such.  So, when I am feeling generous, I will give him one.  But I always tell him, "You may have one."  When I say this, I hold up my index finger, thus indicating the "one."  Now whenever he asks for anything, he will hold up his finger and ask for "one."  "One Mama, one cereal." 

He's also been getting medicine before bed the past week, for his hideous cold that is still lingering.  So tonight before bed he said "One medicine Mama.  I do it.  I dink it.  One."  All the while holding up his chubby little index finger.  I could just eat him up!