Leaving on a jet plane...

I'm leaving tomorrow morning, 6:05 am to be exact (I don't know what I was thinking when I booked that flight). I'm off to Denver for three days to attend a young clergy person conference.

I was nominated by the bishop to represent my annual conference (for all you none methodists an annual conference is a geographic region that shares a bishop).

I'm excited to meet other young people engaged in the work I'm doing. Plus I'm extra excited that we'll be focusing on social justice issues. It sounds perfect for me.

Now I have to go pack and go to bed.

Eli labels everything...

One of my favorite things about Eli is that he feels the need to point to everything in our house and either label it as "mama" or "dada"

For example books = mama's (I told Marcus he needs to read more so Eli doesn't associate books as something belonging only to female's).

xbox controller = dada's

Dr. Pepper = mama's

Any shoes that are black and running shoes = dada's

His shoe identification is actually something I find really fascinating. He's obsessed with shoes, he loves them and he always has. He loves to get into our closet and pull out all of the shoes which include about 15 pairs that I never wear. So he can't necessarily associate them with me from wearing them. Instead he has some sort of system in his head and he shows me each shoe and decides if it belongs to mama or dada. He's surprisingly good at it, the only shoe that threw him for a loop was an old pair of running shoes that belong to me. They're gray and black so in Eli's mind these were dada's.

(When Eli pulls out all these shoes Marcus gets a visual reminder of all the shoes I own and never wear).

Hats = dada's

He's so cute. The other thing he does is introduce Marcus and to each other all the time. When we're in the car he'll say, "mama...(pause a bit) and then say "dada"  The way his voice inflects it sounds exactly like he's say, "Mama I would like you to meet dada"

Silly cute boy.

Long Week...

This feels like a week that will never end and I don't even know why. Work hasn't been overly hectic (aside from a lock-in last night, so today has been the awful post lock-in recovery). I feel like I have so much to do and never any time or energy to get it done.

On Wednesday I leave for a conference in Denver for 3 days, next week I have another work obligation taking me to California, after that we go on vacation for 2 weddings, then annual conference. I just feel exhausted looking at the next month or so of our lives.

That's all.

Their 2nd Birthday Finally...

I finally have a second to post some pictures and a recap of their second birthday. Their birthday was on Mother's day this year which I really liked. I liked having the focus on them instead of me after all they are the reason I even get to be recognized on mother's day.

I had to work that morning and then right after we packed up our car and drove to our hometown (160) miles away for their party. We decided to do it that way since pretty much all of the family lives there.

The day was beyond hectic and tiring but we managed to pull off a little family birthday party.

We had a balloon theme, since balloons are pretty much their most favorite thing in the world.

My attempt at a cake. *sigh* I should have known better than to try and do it myself. It's suppose to be a bunch of balloons... eh I tried.

Eli & Emmy in their birthday shirts

Opening presents

Emmy was more into opening presents than Eli 

More presents

A new chair from Grammy

Both of them in their new rocking chairs

The cake

I was impressed because they both actually managed to blow out their candles. 

It took Emmy a little bit of extra time to get them out

Trying to get a picture of Eli & Emmy with their cousins. But it didn't work very well.

Going for a ride in their new wagon

This picture cracks me up. We went back over to my in-laws after the party and it was pretty late at this point. My in-laws are laying tile in their kitchen and dining room so the floor is a construction zone. Emmy was tired from all the excitement and laid down on the floor with her piggy. 

Happy Birthday Eli & Emmy!!

About a month old in this picture!

Her too

My babies turn two today! Such amazing little miracles. 

Just some things...

I'm too scattered and tired right now for a coherent post so I'm going to do bullet points.

• The reason I'm so tired is I've started exercising. Mostly doing the 30 day shred and yesterday I went running. Let me tell you that running uphill with two toddlers in a stroller is a joke. At the top of the hill I was light headed, dizzy, couldn't breathe, plus the sun was blinding me. I was pretty sure I was seeing the light and that was the end of it. Marcus walked up the hill and then said, "see I told you not to run up it." haha...

• Speaking of working out Marcus has been going to the gym and has already lost 8 lbs.

• I think I must take a lot of pictures of my children, because the other day Emerson had 3 of her stuffed animals and she was moving them to different locations in the room. Then holding Marcus ipod touch up and saying "cheese" it was hysterical and adorable. I imagine that is what I must look like moving them around, begging them to hold still and then saying "cheese" while trying to get a picture. They are so observant.

• Speaking of observant. Sometimes we empty out their piggy banks and let them put the coins back in. Good fine motor skill work plus it keeps them busy. Marcus flipped a coin today in front of them, which in toddler world translated to taking handfuls of pennies and throwing them up in the air. So much for that calm activity. 

• I became a certified candidate for ordination on Tuesday. Which means I've passed onto the next step. I was also approved to get my own church appointment should one open up. We'll see what happens but it was all very good news.

• The babies birthday is on sunday. We are not prepared and I've decided I'm just not a party planner. I see all these cute things that people do for parties and it looks so great. I wish I could just hire someone to do it for me.

• I think that's about it. Good night.

What I read in April...

Once again it felt like a slow reading month to me. (but it actually really wasn't now that I look at the list) I was so busy with Lent, Holy Week, Retreats, Easter, teaching classes, that I felt like I had no time for anything but work. Yet, I did manage to work some books in.

1.) Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love by Matt Logelin
2.) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (I LOVED this book which was a huge surprise to me since I don't consider fantasy to be a genre I enjoy).
3.) Love by Toni Morrison
4.) Matched by Ally Condie
5.) I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
6.) Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou
7.) Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou
8.) The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
9.) All God's Children NEed Traveling Shoes By Maya Angelou
10.) A Song Flung Up to Heaven by Maya Angelou
11.) The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

Did you sense a theme with #5-10? I get into these moods where I feel like I need to read everything by a certain person. I intended just to read Gather Together in my Name by Maya Angelou which is the second book in her autobiographies, but first decided to re-read I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and then I just couldn't stop. So I read all 6 of her autobiographies and I loved them. She's a fascinating woman. So much about her I never knew. I especially loved when her life crossed paths with Malcolm X in Africa. Malcolm X talks about all of that in his autobiography and I loved hearing about the same event from another perspective.

I had to resist purchasing and tracking down all her books of poetry too. A similar thing happened after I read "Notebooks" by Tennessee Williams suddenly I felt the urge to read everything by him. Marcus just rolls his eyes at me when I get into these moods.

Total books this month = 11
Total Pages read this month = 3431
Total Money saved by borrowing or reading what I own = $57.77
Books I bought this month = 3
Books read I already owned = 1

Total Books in 2011 = 45
Total Pages in 2011 = 13,248