Will it Bend?

"What are joints mommy?"

"Uhhh" (this is the sound I make when I'm thinking about how to explain something to a 4yr old--it happens a lot) "They are the parts inside your body that bend, they connect your pieces of bones together." (???)

"Like my fingers?" he asks as he bends and unbends his fingers.

"How many joints are in your fingers?" I ask him.

He and dad count "1, 2, 3, 4...", as they bend their fingers, opening and closing their hands. "15!" they decide.

"What if you bend all your joints at the same time!?" Mr. Baseball thinks out loud.

"Try it!" I say.

Bet you've never tried to bend ALL your joints at the same time!

The Very Tasty Caterpillar

Mr. Baseball has been helping make dinners on Sunday nights. Last month we made pigs in a blanket and a few weeks ago we tried a caterpillar pizza!

We rolled 12 little pieces of dough and Mr. baseball smashed them flat onto the baking sheet.

Brushing on the sauce. Fun!

And the best part: eating if for dinner!



The Student and Mr. Baseball found a few more delicious uses for the extra dough!

Here is the recipe.

Welcome Back Amy!

My sister, Amy, has been serving in the New Jersey Morristown Mission for the last 18 months, waking at 6:30 every morning to study and going out to share a gospel message all day. She taught many many people, all in Spanish. I'm sure the work was grueling but oh so rewarding as she saw so many hearts change. On Tuesday she was finished and my parents and sister were there at the Mission Home to pick her up. She's currently showing them around New Jersey, places she lived and taught, and playing in New York City a little bit too! Here's just a little of her last email to us and her testimony:

I cannot believe I am writing you my last e-mail as a missionary. This moment at the library brings so many memories and such mixed emotions. An e-mail will never be adequate to express how I feel or what I have learned in these last 18 miraculous months of my life. I would like to share with you what I have come to know with certainty as I have served the Lord with all of my heart:

I know God lives. I know that He is the Father of us all. I know that we lived with Him and knew Him long before we knew reality as we know it now. I know that He loves us and is always watching over our individual plan of salvation.

I know Jesus is the Christ. I know that He was chosen before this earth life to do something no one else could ever do. I know that He came and did that when He lived a perfect life, suffered for our sins in the garden of Gethsemane, died upon the cross in Calvary, and rose again the third day. I know that He loves us. I know He is at the head of His church today.

I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite and eternal. I know that it reaches far beyond the limitations we would place upon it with our finite minds. I know that the Atonement is for the sinner, and that because of the perfect sacrifice that was made, there is no child that will not be wrapped up in the arms of His mercy when all is said and done.........

I am humbled by the extraordinary privilege I have had of standing as a witness of these truths for the last 18 months and 12 days. I feel grateful for what I have learned and very small when I think about how much I have yet to learn. I know that the work will go forward with great power until the Savior comes again in glory, to rule and reign upon the earth. “Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123:17). It is my prayer that we may all move forward in the work of the Lord, led by the words of His prophets, doing His will cheerfully and with all our might. I bear witness of these sacred truths I have shared and most of all of the love of our Father in Heaven. May that love keep and bless you always.

Thanks for your great example Amy, you did it! Hooray and welcome home!


(Yes, that's an ice cream torch she's holding!)

An Apology to Facebook

Dear Facebook,

I must apologize for my hasty and harsh judgment of you. I thought I had no use for you; I did not wish to hook up with anyone or plan parties for sole purpose of consuming alcohol. I thought you were trendy, which is not really my style. I didn't need to make a list to know I have a lot of friends. I didn't want to poke anyone at all. I thought emails were sufficient for keeping in touch with friends. I laughed when my husband said he opened one of your accounts because he had to for a class. I thought I was too OLD for you.

I was wrong. Please forgive me.

My mom isn't too old for you and neither is my aunt, and I found so many friends I haven't sent emails to in ages. And I'm not feeling pushed into false trendiness, or even thinking about planning drinking parties. I only hook up with my husband who is one of my friends, the only one listed under my Relationship Status. I like to see what what lives my friends are leading now, what their kids look like and what kinds of people write on their walls.
I like you Facebook and I'm sorry I misjudged you. Just please don't poke me too much.

Love,
Your New Friend

Another nice thing about Athens: Brick Streets

You don't need to be a good singer to sound like one in Athens, as long as you're driving down one of the brick-paved streets downtown.

Case in point: Last Friday night as we drove down court street, trying to fit in our nightly song before going to Grooover's for a party.

"I-I am a chi-i-i-ld of go-o-o-od, and he-e-e has se-e-e-nt me he-e-e-e-re,"

And, if you happen to have a four-year-old in the back of the car, then you get a lot of extra vibrato in your giggling too.

Yikes!

Fantastic!