Elmo Makes Music

Last Friday evening we took the girls to a live Elmo show at the Idaho Center. Ally isn't "into" too many things for any length of time, but Elmo has been her friend for several months. If you remember back to June, she wanted an Elmo themed birthday party. Since then she has slept with her little stuffed Elmo doll almost every night. Funny thing is, she hardly ever watches Sesame Street so she doesn't really know too much about him. I guess she just thinks that he's a cute little character.

Anyway.... the show was pretty fun. It was family night, so we got discounted tickets and had fairly good seats. All the Sesame Street characters were there and the costumes were very VERY realistic. The plot of the show wasn't very compelling to anyone over the age of six, but Sierra and Ally enjoyed themselves. Sierra pulled out all of her white-girl dance moves for several of the musical numbers. Ally picked her nose most of the time, but she did watch the entire show. (Quite an accomplishment for her!) In spite of the begging, we didn't get suckered into the $15 light spinners or the $8 balloons. Although Sierra told me that she positively DID want to get ripped off. It was a night that the girls will be talking about for a while.

Like I said....

F.Y.I.

Here's why you should always shake the pasta sauce BEFORE you loosen the lid. AAARGH!

The sauce was EVERYWHERE!!!

Pictures

I found the camera right where I figured it would be...underneath my seat in the car. Now, isn't that a clever place to hide it?! So here are a few photos from the last week or so. I went a little crazy with the uploading. Sorry.

Happy sisters in matching outfits yet again! I honestly don't purposefully buy matching clothes. Most of what they wear are hand-me-downs. It just happens to work out that way.

Sierra loves to hold Annie and "teach" her how to play with new toys.

Story time with the cousins.

We had to make our own turkey on Wednesday so that Marc could have his own huge supply of left-overs. (I know - I should have given you a better view of the bird.)

This is Ally's method of eating a baked potato....just go for it like an apple! (Don't you love the place mats that Carolyn made for the girls last Thanksgiving?)

The "Kid's Table" at Thanksgiving. Everyone is so grown up now.

And the rest of the Obenchain clan.

Sierra and Ally "taking naps" on Aunt Sue Herrick's chair after the feast!

Making Grandma's famous cinnamon rolls...or cinnamon lumps if you're between the ages of 2 and 4.

A Good, GOOD Day!

Yesterday was just one of those good, good days! It started with spending the morning with Susie and Annie, doing a little Christmas shopping and sharing one of my favorite lunches at Baja Fresh - nachos with chicken and pinto beans. Annie is such a sweet little girl, always full of smiles. She cut her first tooth yesterday and made us all very proud. It was so fun to see three little girl cousins sitting in high-chairs around the table and giggling with each other as they munched on their food. Sierra and Ally love their cousin and it is becoming quite apparent that the feeling is mutual. Annie is almost 7 months old and very aware of the world - such a fun age!

In the afternoon Susie watched the girls while I went to my doctor visit. I was anxious about my blood pressure issues but things are under control for now and no new tests were required. The best part was that I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the very first time!!! I am already 15 weeks along and have had all the pregnancy symptoms (and then some!), but there is something about hearing that little thumpity-thump that makes it all so real. I waited until I was in the car driving home to tear up with excitement.

And as if all that wasn't enough, I had a wonderful date night with Marc in the evening. My brother works for Channel 7 and often has the chance to get free tickets for various events. This time he scored two tickets to the Jim Brickman concert at the Morrison Center. Chuck works in the evenings and Mom and Dad were busy with a pastor and wives meeting, so the tickets fell into my lap. Just so happens that I LOVE JIM BRICKMAN'S MUSIC!!!! (Romantic piano stuff for those who don't know.) It was a beautiful concert and Jim is actually quite funny. There were lots of laughs about everything from his first piano teacher to the way he flails his arms and left leg while playing his music. Aunt Missy took care of the girls so that Marc and I could enjoy this relaxing evening together. Thanks so much, Chuck and Missy! We had a great time.

There have been lots of other good days in the last week as well...like Thanksgiving and a couple of days at the cabin, but they will have to wait for a post until I retrieve my camera from under the seat in the car. Hopefully I'll have a couple of good snap-shots to download soon.

Still Thankful

I'm at home alone this morning with a very unpleasant stomach bug. But, I'm still thankful! Mostly because of that handsome guy up there. He is always very helpful at home, but especially when I feel sick. (Which seems to be a lot lately.) This morning he got the girls up, dressed, fed and out the door for church...ON TIME! All I had to do was fix their hair. Daddy's fingers are never very good at that sort of thing. There are many days when I wouldn't make it without his help.

Catching Up

Okay - so this is turning out to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated. Not that I'm running out of things to be thankful for, by any means! But finding the time to sit down and write it out each day is just not quite happening. So rather than making up for the lost time, I am going to just pick it up whenever I can.

DAY ???

I am so thankful to have my mom and dad in Idaho this year! We could never have imagined living two miles away from them, getting together for Family Nights each week, hearing Dad preach every Sunday, going to Bible study with my mom on Thursday mornings, sending the girls for occasional sleep-overs, regularly raiding Grandpa's candy jar in the office, etc. It has been such a treat to have them around. We love you "Grandpa" and "Grandma!" We are so thankful that the Lord brought you close to us!!!

Day 8

I have recently started a habit of tuning into the first few minutes of the Today Show while I get my make-up and hair done in the morning. This week the anchors are traveling to the "Ends of the Earth." I also enjoy watching The Amazing Race because it features such unique locations around the world. So, today I am thankful for the beauty and diversity of God's creation! There are still so many places that I want to visit and things that I want to see, but here's my list of TOP TEN MOST AMAZING CREATED WONDERS (that I have seen):

1. The Grand Canyon in Arizona.
2. The glaciers in the Alps of Switzerland.
3. The sand dunes in Natal, Brazil.
4. The hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park, UT.
5. The wildlife in the Amazon jungle.
6. The night sky from Warm Lake, ID.
7. The giant Redwoods in California.
8. The coral reef in the Red Sea of Israel.
9. The white-water rivers in Montana.
10. The Everglades of Florida.