For Lent . . .

I have been thinking a lot about Lent, because on my other blog I am celebrating Pancake Day (this week) with the age old tradition of using up eggs and butter before Lent. I know we don't celebrate Lent in my church, but it has made me think about what I would give up for Lent.

No TV? Sure! I'll just watch my shows on DVR when it is over. Not too much of a sacrifice.

Computer? I do the dance business from home, and blog away hours of my life, so for something I don't HAVE to do this is asking too much.

Chocolate? too easy- except for chocolate chips in my cookies I probably could give up chocolate all together.

Diet coke? really and why? I would suffer through the headaches for weeks- and the night shift would be miserable. And then I would just pick up right where I left off.

So, then I must reconsider the idea of lent. To give up a vice or a renewed vigor in prayer, fasting and alms giving. Instead of the idea of giving something up- the idea to add something.

Thus for Lent I am going to read the entire Book of Mormon. (Lent is actually a little more than 40 days because Sundays don't count- I'm not quite sure why not- seems like they would be the most important day but since I am only borrowing the idea with "holy envy" I won't complain). Starting Wednesday Feb 26th (Ash Wednesday) and ending on Easter I have 47 days. This is about 12 pages a day. I am borrowing this idea from a friend who recently decided to read the Book of Mormon as a novel. We read other 300-500 page books in a few days, but struggle to add scripture reading to our daily list of things to do.

So join me if you would like, or give up chocolate, either way I look forward to the beautiful Easter season!

P90X the review

Now that we have finished the grueling 90 days and we promised we would post pictures we are feeling a little sheepish about the whole thing. (For a little background A gave Dan p90x for his birthday, after seeing the infomercials all of the time about how to go from Flab to Fab in just 90 days. On the night of his birthday - Dan said "Okay Let's Go" and we have been sweating it out ever since. Even our kids got into the routine and would change into their "workout" clothes to join us for the warm-up or stretching. It was pretty cute when Kate would ask "Is it Legs & Back tonight mom?"

Did it work? Dan gives it a 7 and wants to do it again. A is just happy to be alive, and thinks she will try Turbo Jam this next time (a shorter daily time commitment and more dancing).

Was it worth it? Sure! It got us back into the habit of exercising, but it defiantly cut down on the amount of chocolate chip cookies Adrianne has made over the last few months.

Either way it was brutal but worth it. We spent the last 3 months together sweating it out in the basement. And even if we don't look a lot better- exercising and having fun together was worth it. We laughed right along with Tony's lame jokes and would say them before he could. And A would laugh every time we did Kenpo (especially near the end) that the guy in the back was still fat even after 12 weeks.

Our greatest accomplishments?? A can do 20 push ups and clap in between. And Dan is really good at Yoga.

the New Hot Dan!!

Dan's before picture.

Check out those guns!

A has nice arms. (sorry no before picture) She wasn't planning on doing this remember.

Dan thinks she always looks good from behind!

so there you have it! Hope you aren't disappointed.

Cookie of the Month

Many thanks to Kate who helped me create my February cookie of the month! She probably asks me at least every other day if we can make the kind of cookies that you frost. And I love to be able to tell her yes. She made 3 deep cookie sandwiches and was a great helped in the kitchen!

Milestones

In life there are obvious milestones, especially when watching your children grow - like learning to walk and talk. We celebrate sitting and crawling, potty training and sleeping through the night. And this week I have many milestones to celebrate. Some obvious and some a little more obscure but none the less have made me appreciate where I am right now in my life with my kids.

First worth celebrating was signing Meg up for preschool in the fall. Okay more accurately called playschool but it is two mornings a week for 3 hours. As I was registering her, there were moms dropping off their kids in their gym clothes. Gym clothes- could this be me? could I be so lucky? Most days I will probably be sleeping after working the night shift, but I am thrilled about having a little ME time again. I can read, clean , shop, take a yoga class - the possibilities are endless and is my enthusiasm.

The next great milestone has been playing games with our kids. This has been something that has evolved over time but they love to play games. Almost daily Kate asks if we can race. (Mario kart on the Wii) It has actually become one of our favorite family activities together. And it is really fun when the kids win fair and square.

And lastly of note, is when your kids are big enough to have a best friend of their own choosing. Annie has had good friends over the years and most of these friendship started because of proximity or I was friends with their mom. But Annie has a cute little best friend Laura. They are so cute together and it has been very tender for me to watch their interactions. Makes me reflect on the friends I had growing up and what great memories I have of them!

well goodnight, just tucked Meg into her "EE" watching and now it is time to race!

The Great Blog Divide

So the time has come that I have come full circle, which I have actually been doing a lot lately, and have decided that my reasons for going "private" with my blog have actually become more of a hindrance than a help.

For example we recently went to Mexico with Families helping Families to build houses. I posted about the experience along with some pictures. My dad wanted to share it with some of his friends who were interested in going to Mexico. Bummer the blog is private!! SO he either has to log them in or I need to send them an invite just to read one post (although I do hope the Merill girls will check back occasionally). And had I know the post was going to be so widely shared I would have beefed it up a little bit. (maybe a revised post to come)

Then fast forward to work when someone asks me for a recipe and I tell them it is on my blog. "Umm! I'm not an invited reader" AWKWARD! Not that I care who really reads it . . . sometimes it is hard to keep track of who actually reads the blog- some people never accepted the invites blah blah blah.

My reasons for going private in the first place were because I wanted to keep certain aspects of my life - like bare bum pictures of my baby- private. But as I have blogged more there are also things I would like to more publicly share- like my amazing chocolate sugar cookie for February's Cookie of the month! I mean shouldn't everyone enjoy these with me?? By then new years resolutions will be less steadfast (except for Paige and Ashley they are sticking to it) and more of you will be willing to try these with me.

So I have decided to start a new blog where I can share not so private moments of our life- fun crafts and activities we do with the kids and great cookies recipes. And on this "private" blog I can post our post p90x pictures and Meg's potty training moments. A great new soup- public (Sampsons- did you like it?) Pictures of our 10 year anniversary cruise- Private. See already you are catching on.

The reason I blog is to keep a journal of my kids lives because I don't write about it otherwise. This is my version of scrapbooking. So I am hoping that my private blog will become even more private where my thoughts and feelings won't need to be edited and my public blog will be even more fun and crafty and a better way to keep in touch with friends because I will show up on their dashboards and they will remember to check my blog!!

Happy Chinese New Year

Last night we celebrated the Chinese New Year complete with orange chicken, egg rolls, homemade paper lanterns, and fortune cookies (chocolate dipped of course).

And with the New Year (traditional or Chinese) come resolutions . . . we all resolve in some form or another to: lose weight, eat better, exercise more regularly, save more or spend less, take more time for ourselves, and focus on what is really important!! This year I have resolved to have lots of resolutions thus I more likely to be successful (at aleast some of them)!

I resolve to: give it my best. I typed out a little list but reading it back it sounded a little trite. As great as the ideas are it is hard to put into words my feelings of introspection about how to be a better person. I don't want to set the bar too high and fail at most of my resolutions before the months end. (Like saying I will do 100% of my visiting teaching- it just sets me up for failure 50% would be a more attainable goal) Thus I just resolve to be better- a better wife, mother, sister and friend and for the rest we will let the cards fall where they may.



So have yourself a Happy Chinese New Year. And don't feel like you missed it- The Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days ending with the Lantern Festival. The paper lanterns are super easy to make!! Our lanterns turned out so cute we might have to save them and have a Lantern festival dinner . . .

Families Helping Families 2008