Saturday Breakfast

I made apple muffins for breakfast this morning. Delicious! You can get the recipe here.

After breakfast, Asa asked to paint. He got his wish.

Here are his finished products:
Judah also wanted to paint.

These are Judah's creations:

This evening James and I went on a date. It was pretty romantic. We first took James' first trip to Cargo Largo. He wasn't exactly impressed. Then we ate at Joe's Crab Shack. We've been there before but I don't remember so much dancing by the wait staff. It was entertaining! One waiter near us seemed to not have so much fun dancing. I wonder if he knew about that when he applied for the job. After the seafood, we went to a new Christian bookstore just down the street. We had a good time just being together without screaming children!

Asa is Three!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Asa's third birthday. I saw a recipe in Family Circle for cute monkey cupcakes so we decided to go with a monkey theme. I invited too many people for a little boy's third birthday party, but we had a lot of fun!

First we ate pizza:

Next we had some cake:

Asa loved it when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He screamed in excitement!

Blow out your candles:

Craft time:

Presents:

And finally a little video. We had chocolate chip pancakes the morning of Asa's birthday:

The Phoenix Sun

I hesitate to write about our stay in Arizona. It wasn't exactly a happy reason for a visit. However, it is always great to see family, especially when the distance is so great.
James' grandmother passed away Monday evening. James was with her along with his sisters, mom and grandpa. I'm sure grandma felt very loved. The next few days were busy with making arrangements. However, there were also lots of stories. Stories of young love and hard times during World War II. It's amazing to think of how different life was just a few decades ago. At the funeral, James did the eulogy; his sister sang and I played the piano for her. She sang "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin. She was telling us that someone had asked him to write a song to be sung at funerals to comfort families and that is the song that was produced. It was the perfect song to sing for Grandma.
In difficult times, the love of our family and friends gets us through. Although we were hundreds of miles away from my family and our friends, we felt loved. We appreciate the encouraging words and prayers so many offered.

Our Latest Adventure

Written 2/6/10:
James Grandma & Grandpa Stephenson live in Phoenix. It’s always great to visit them in warm, sunny Phoenix. Grandma hasn’t been doing very well recently and it’s become evident that we need to make the trip out to visit her. As I write, we’re loaded up in our van, driving through Oklahoma. It’s always a stress to get out of the house, but I felt like this time was one of the best. Our house is fairly clean, except for the living room and basement where the kids have destroyed everything! All the dishes are clean, all the laundry is done. It’s a nice feeling.
Written 2/8/10
Parts of the drive were very foggy. So foggy that west of Amarillo we couldn't see the lights of the wind turbines. The fog caused ice to form on the van's antenna. It was flopping back and forth like crazy as we drove. Texas has a night speed limit of 65. I rejoiced as we crossed into New Mexico and the speed limit went up to 75!
We've seen James' grandmother and it's sad to see her so frail. She has talked to us and was happy to see us. We had a great night of sleep last night. I slept for about ten hours. James and the boys slept for 12 or more hours! We're about ready to go visit Grandma & Grandpa again.

A Trifold Week

I have three goals for this week. The first encompasses the others.
1. Be productive- In general I need to do this every week. I struggle with laziness.
2. File our taxes- Cha ching!
3. Send out thank-you notes- It is sad how behind I am in this category. And Asa just had a birthday party so the list grows!

Oh, I'll add one more: blog about Asa's birthday party. It was a blast!