A Fender Bender

I am not a confident driver.

My future self will be the stereotypical "old lady" driver that annoys young people (They don't annoy me. I just sympathize.) I like the passenger seat.

I would have really liked the passenger seat yesterday, but Joshua is out of town and Rosalind doesn't have her license.

You see, folks down here run red lights all the time. Yellow does not mean slow down.

But I did. I slowed down and even stopped before the light turned red.

And got run into.

I was stunned. William was already screaming, I've been walking around on a sleep high (or would that be low? whatever the one without sleep is) and before I knew it the offending driver vanished down the street.

While I waited for the police to arrive and tried to shake off the shocked feeling, I checked the munchkins. When I asked Rosalind if she was okay, she looked at me for a minute and then pointed to a microscopic bruise on her leg from three days ago. She's fine.

Today as we headed to the library and came to a stoplight, Rosalind asked, "Car run into us now?"

Thankfully not.

Getting hit made me realize how blessed we were. No one was hurt. The damage to the car is (hopefully) minimal. We're alive. We weren't hit today.

Living is an awfully dangerous business (that will inevitably end in death), but we are held in the hand of an all wise God. And that is definitely something to be grateful for!


photo by longnshort

Memory and memories

Playing your first real, bona fide, "I can beat Mommy" game is quite a milestone. Rosalind just reached it. For the last couple weeks, Memory has formed a vital part of our daily routine.

And it's been so fun! Learning the rules took practice, but she's hooked now. Generally, she excels the first round (and does sometimes actually beat me "when I'm playing my hardest") As her attention span wanes with the second round, I win handily. Then we stop. A two year old can only handle so much.

I'm envisioning hours of family fun around a Scrabble board or playing Settlers of Cataan. Someday. For now, I'm loving Memory!

William is cutting his second tooth, but is such a chilled out trooper. At least most of the time. He mastered the art of squeaking yesterday, and regaled me with his happy noise from midnight to one last night. Accompanied by fingers scratching the sheets. (For those unaccustomed to this latter sound, it's frightfully near running your nails across a chalkboard.)

I cut his fingernails tonight.

They grow up way to fast! Enjoy each moment--even the squeaky ones!

Proud owners of a "new" van...

...which we have never seen!

Here's a picture. Isn't it cute? I can still hardly believe that we have a van. It all happened so quickly.

I woke up Monday morning with van shopping in the distant future. By Tuesday afternoon, the title was signed.

My not-so-little little brother Philip was searching Craigslist for a car for my less-little brother Erik, when he stumbled upon this well maintained '98 Toyota Sienna for $2000. That is a lot less than what they normally sell for, so he told my Mom, who called me, who waited for Josh to get home from school so she could tell him.

We were contemplating purchasing a bigger vehicle when William was born (Honda Civics aren't exactly family cars) but didn't have the money to do so and decided just to make it work.

Since then we'd been slowly setting aside money from Christmas gifts and various unexpected sources of income towards a van. We hoped to have enough by the time God blesses us with another child. [I'm convinced that three car seats will not fit in a two-door Civic, and Joshua does not want to part with it until it dies...even then, we might keep it just for memory's sake. ;)]

Anyway, we had a decent amount set aside, but weren't there yet. I thought we might be able to make it work, but could not decide if we should just wait. After several agonizing hours of talking and praying and thinking about it (and still not knowing what to do), my Mom called saying that the decision wasn't ours anymore. They and Joshua's parents were going to pitch in the rest for us. I was shocked and overwhelmed and so excited!

Within three hours, the title was signed and now I'm eagerly waiting to actually get to see and drive our very own van. :) I can still hardly believe it.

Thank you so much!

*Joshua is picking it up in two weeks.

Stream of Consciousness

or Incredibly Random Ramblings

I love shopping in the South. My first friend in Tuscaloosa was a cashier at Walgreens. We had just moved. Rosalind and I were finishing up our shopping trip when sheets of rain and pangs of homesickness hit simultaneously. The rain was coming down so hard we were forced to pace the aisles.

And then we met Brenda. She caught Rosalind's attention and her little eyes vanished in a smile. They played peek-a-boo around a big half-unpacked box and then we got talking. Since then, I've planned my Walgreen's trips for the morning, when she works.

But it's not just a single cashier that makes shopping enjoyable. Only the staff of the south side Wal-mart blot the general friendliness of my fellow shoppers.

Older men offer to help you load the trunk ("seeing as you have your hands full") and you know they're being gentlemen, not creeps. They leave with admonitions to "enjoy each day. Mine are in college."

The only thing I missed (shopping-wise) was Aldi. It only just dawned on me that there's one between here and Birmingham. If Google's directions had been accurate it wouldn't have taken more than forty minutes to get there. As it was...well. I got thoroughly acquainted with many streets that didn't house an Aldi.

When I finally found it, I went a bit overboard. But apples and oranges for 33 cents a pound and (deliciously sweet and juicy) pineapple for a dollar were too good not to fill up the cart with. By the time I pushed the 150 pound cart to the car (not to mention the twenty pound baby) and unloaded it, I wanted a chiropractor.

To continue the randomness (for anyone who happens to still be reading) I decided that reading about the health benefits of sourdough from half a dozen different sources in a month was enough encouragement to actually try it.

The starter bubbled and grew and smells delightful. It's been almost a month and I still haven't killed it, though I've yet to find a bread recipe I adore. Sourdough pancakes though? They're worth making a starter for!

It has been said (about law school, not sourdough starter) that "the first year they scare you to death, the second year they work you to death and the third year they bore you to death." So far, the second year prognostication is true. (I wouldn't mind him being bored next year.) He is going with a team next weekend for a Trial Ad competition. At this point, I'm rooting for them... to loose. :)

Actually, the ideal would be for them to go all the way to the finals of these rounds, do so well that everyone is convinced they should have won, and, due to marked favoritism, place third....thus avoiding another month and a half of around the clock practice. I think that's asking for too much.

I'm a big boy

Guess what! I have my very first tooth. I was such a big boy and hardly fussed about it at all. If I hadn't drooled on ten bibs a day, Mommy would have been even more surprised. Can you see it? It's so exciting to be big now. Mommy even let me have some yogurt--I think it's very yummy. Do you like yogurt?

Who's the chubbiest of them all?

William was lying on the floor cooing while I put away laundry. Next thing I knew Rosalind had lined him up with her dollies. It looks like they're the finalist in a "cuteness" contest. I think he wins both the "chubbiest" and "cutest" contest--hands down! What do you think?

Rosalind received this adorable little kitchen for Christmas. It's a good thing the cookies she serves us are calorie free--otherwise Josh and I would have put on quite a few pounds! If she makes real cookies one tenth as often someday, her husband will be quite happy. :)

William graduated to the high chair. We managed to squeeze another chair at the table for Rosalind. It's a really good thing her cookies are calorie free!

Mama--we being sweet

...you take a picture of us?

Sweet and more than a wee bit cheesy!

Sometimes the goodness of God can be simply overwhelming. I just love being mommy!

As a godly mother reminded me again, treasure these moments when they're little. Despite the sleeplessness and diapers and endless laundry, enjoy the time when they like nothing better than to just sit and look into your eyes and smile or climb onto your lap for a story.

A wonderful visit.

My sis and sis-in-law had been planning a trip down to see us. I was so disappointed when it didn't work out, but it did open up the door for my mom and four sisters to make the trek down.

We had such a great time. It was my mom's first time to visit. There's something so special about getting to show your mom where "you play house"!

Most of the time we did girl things like sit around and talk, watch chick flicks, make food, enjoy the munchkins, go on long walks and talk some more, but I just had to take them all down town on game day for a feel of Alabama football.

It was quite a walk from our home to the square, so after the crowds cleared we stopped on the steps of the library to rest and just enjoy the lovely day.

William was most definitely out numbered- especially since Joshua was in Atlanta most of the time for a trial competition.

Despite what the pictures might suggest, he didn't mind the attention at all! Here he is in the cute little outfit his grandma brought for him.

Lydia and Bekka came with roller blades and spent many hours skating around the parking lot...much of the time pushing Rosalind or Kathryn on the little car.

Of course, we couldn't let the opportunity for sister pics (or aunt and niece!) to slip by.

I'm so grateful God has blessed me with such wonderful family! We miss them already.

Beethoven and the ABCs

I like rechargeable batteries, but learned my lesson the hard way: buy name brand. I couldn't figure out why our camera wasn't focusing or taking decent pictures lately and then realized that even the new freshly charged off-brand batteries weren't strong enough to charge the flash. Bummer.

Thanks to some Energizer batteries, here are a few pictures of the munchkins. William looks like he has something up his sleeve.

And here is a video of Rosalind and William in which Beethoven's glorious 9th symphony is unceremoniously interrupted for a toddler's recitation of her ABCs.

Beethoven and the ABCs from Anna Christensen on Vimeo.

..and a family picture

It's so fun to see our little family growing!

Okay, not exactly a family picture, but we finally captured a smile.

Thanks Mom!