Meet Joe Frog

Since Joseph was born he has reminded of us a frog. His facial expressions resemble a frog so much to us. I caught him in a very frog-like mood and thought I would use this opportunity to introduce you to our frog:

Snap, Crackle, Pop

My Cup Runneth Over

With ice cream that is!!!

I do not like hot coffee! I think it tastes so gross. I will drink some fru-fru cold coffee drinks. But, I love me some coffee flavored ice cream. Strange, I know.

In Camp Lejeune, NC on base there was a convenient store that had an ice cream counter in it. They served a Starbuck's flavored ice cream called, Mud Pie. When I was pregnant and laboring with Samuel for the oh, 3 WEEKS, I had to have it ALL. THE. TIME. It was heavenly!

I hadn't had it in 22 months. My wonderful friend, Denise, got it for me at a store in Indianapolis. (Not to be confused with Denise, the wife of Patrick 'The Bishop'. I have two friends Denise and they both go to the same church we do).

We all joked that I might hate it now, because we all know how strange pregnancy cravings are, but let me tell you, It was even better than I had remembered! I can't believe I've gone this long without it. It's amazing how much I love this ice cream. It's such a simple concept, but boy does it make a girl happy!

I have tried to recently make it at home. It was very good, but after tasting the real thing, it does not hold a candle to it. You can go to starbucks.com and see if they carry this ice cream near you. It's very hard to find.

THANKS DENISE SO MUCH! You are such a great friend.

I wish I could figure out a way to get a weekly delivery. But, I suppose it's best for my waistline that I or someone else has to drive over 30 miles to get this ice cream. Why couldn't I be in love with apples?

Prayer of Hannah Blog

I don't know how I've failed to pass this blog onto my other mommy friends, but I just realized it's not in my favorite links section.

The blog, Prayer of Hannah, is an excellent resource blog for Christian mom's. Several mom's post to it and they have different topics each week.

Hope you all enjoy!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend. My mom visited from Thursday to yesterday. It was so nice to be with her on Mother's Day.

On Friday, Samuel and my Mom hung outside most of the day and we spent a lot of time just catching up. And of course, we made pizza that night.

First thing Saturday morning Andy took her and Samuel on a long hike while Joseph and I slept in. We went out for Japanese that night and then she took Samuel to Barnes and Noble to play while Andy, Joseph and I went to the new Expelled movie. It was our first movie we've seen at the theaters since Samuel was born. It was nice to get away.

Sunday we went to church and then just hung out at home. I was planning on making stromboli for dinner and strawberry ice cream for my Mom since I know she loves both. But, I totally screwed up and didn't realize we had so little flour left. I was not happy to say the least. (And living so far out there's no 'running to the store to pick something up') So we had some random meal instead. Then, the ice cream maker didn't seem to get cold enough because it wasn't getting the mixture any harder than a slush. So, I just had to put it in the freezer to finish. It was all a bummer, but amazingly life did continue.

Oh and my Mom brought an awesome frame for us with 6 different pictures of our family on Thanksgiving when we went to get our pictures done professionally. It was the first time our whole side of the family was together since our wedding in 2004. It's gorgeous! It was suppose to be my Mother's Day gift, but then she paid for my flight to NC, so basically I got pretty darn lucky this Mother's Day! It was pretty special being with my Mom on Mother's Day, especially when I don't get to see her much.

And of course it was so specially having not one, but two babies this Mother's Day! I could not have imagined life could be this fulfilling. I am so blessed. The boys gave me a picture frame of a series of three pictures documenting their recent experience where Samuel was trying to cheer Joseph up and bit his hand thinking that would make him happy, but instead only caused him to cry harder. They said in their card the pictures showed how much they both need me around! It was too cute. I'll cherish it forever.

Then yesterday we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. On our way there we had to stop because a train was crossing the tracks in front of us. So, I pulled over and positioned the car so Samuel could see the tracks more clearly from his carseat. As the train approached the conductor must have seen Samuel watching for it, so she opened up her side window and waved to him as she passed. It was so special. He is absolutely obsessed with trains and that just was the icing on the cake. That would have done it for him that day, but after that we headed to the zoo, and then out to dinner before we dropped my Mom off at the airport. We had a wonderful time! The weather was perfect and the zoo was not crowded at all. Samuel was so excited he could hardly control it. Joseph slept in the wrap the ENTIRE time. (I take that back, he did open his eyes for a few seconds to see a few dolphins at the dolphin show.)

We got so many great pictures this weekend, but I'll only bore you with these: