Blushing Bride

Leasie's bunny, Chocolate, was bred today! This is a picture of her with her wedding bouquet.

Chocolate was bred with Twix (I'm not kidding on the name, folks.) With names like that, it must be a match made in heaven. We know Twix's owner, Mrs. Turner, through 4H. She agreed to meet us half way from her house at a local high school.

We had a brief wedding ceremony in the parking lot:
"Twix, do you take Chocolate to be your wedded bunny for the next fifteen minutes?"
Twix: "Sure do!"

"Chocolate, do you take Twix to be your wedded bunny for the next fifteen minutes?"
Chocolate: "Yes."
"We pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Bunny for the next fifteen minutes!"

We put Chocolate and Twix in the same cage in the back of Mrs. Turner's car. And fifteen minutes was all it took.

Chocolate and Twix. In the backseat of a parked car. In a high school parking lot.

At least they were married!!

If all goes well, we'll have baby bunnies in 30 days.

What do you love?

Leasie is sick today. The fever, sore throat, feel rotten kind. We stayed home from church together, snuggling on the couch, in an uncommonly quiet house. At some point in the morning - somewhere between games of connect four and reading stories, I asked Leasie, "What do you love?" The idea was to help her think about something other than her aches and pains. The question prompted a wonderful exchange...here are just some of the things we love.

Playing outside on a warm sunny day
Reading a good book on a stormy day
Popsickles on a hot day
Cuddling - doesn't matter where or when
Singing at the top of our lungs to our favorite Broadway musicals
Dancing - and watching Leasie dance
Christmas morning
Hot chocolate and popcorn after a sledding adventure
Baby C - she makes us so happy!
Coloring Easter Eggs, keeping the eggs in the dye as long as possible
Cute, soft baby bunnies (Leasie's rabbit is going to have a litter in April)
Bare toes burried in warm sand (especially Myrtle Beach sand)
Afterschool hugs and kisses
Yellow taxis, smell of roasted peanuts, lights of Time Square - NYC
New clothes
Watching Leasie play her violin
Pizza and a movie on Friday Family Fun Night

The world is full of things to love. Sometimes it just takes a quiet morning on the couch, snuggling with my Leasie, for me to remember just how wonderful life is.

Enrichment Meeting

My current job/responsibility in my church is Enrichment Leader. Basically, I plan a quarterly activity for all the women (ages 18+). The activity can be social, service-oriented, or spiritual in nature. My very first Enrichment activity was last night...and it was a huge success!

The theme of the night was The Relief Society in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The focus was apropos to our current financial and war-time struggles. Rosie the Riveter was on all of our publicity material along with the scripture: "Wherefore, be not weary in well doing." My hope was that the ladies would feel uplifted and encouraged even in difficult times.

We decorated mini-stages to represent each decade. Then three women read stories about women who lived during that time. They shared how they overcame their trials/struggles by turning to the Lord.

We served dinner: soup in bread bowls and a salad bar.



Here's the 1940s girl in costume! (Click on any of the photos for a closer look).








Here's the 1950s stage - so fun.








Now I have to spend the next couple days reclaiming my house, which has fallen into disarray from neglect. And then I'll start all over planning the next activity which is scheduled for June.

Top of the Morning to ya!

When the Abbe clan awoke this morning, they found little green footprints all through out the house! The leprechauns had filled their shoes with candy and left Lucky Charm cereal.

We ate corned beef sandwiches for lunch (quite tasty) and enjoyed green cake with frosting for dessert after dinner. The only "green" treat that didn't get rave reviews was the pistachio pudding for the after school snack. Maybe it was the nuts?

I love any excuse for a celebration - just ask my hubby, who often has to roll his eyes at my enthusiasm. But when a holiday arrives, even a not-so-significant one, I quite enjoy making the most of it. Perhaps I just love an excuse to spice up the mundane or maybe I just like to eat cake.

Since it was a school night, we did not get to watch our favorite St. Patty's Day movies: The Secret of Roan Inish (gifted to me by good friend, Corinne) or Darby O'Gill and the Little People. But we'll watch at least one of them for our Friday Fun Night.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

Multi-tasking

With the arrival of Baby C, mulit-tasking has taken on a whole new level. Take Thursday afternoon for example. I was sitting on the couch surrounded by all 5. I helped Meya read "Dick and Jane," shouted out spelling words for Leasie's homework, provided feedback to T-man as he built a hot wheels race track, fielded questions as Madi read the last few chapters of Harry Potter 7, and nursed Baby C. AND dinner was cooking on the stove.

My brain felt like it was sumersaulting at hyperspeed in my head!

I've often thought that along with baby care classes offered for new moms, classes called "One-handed Meals" and "One-handed Driving" should be included. And for moms with more than 2 kids: "Multi-tasking Without Insanity" would be lovely.

T-man asked me the other day, "Mom, do you wish you were Curious George?" Hmmm, where was this going? "Why?" I asked. "Because then you could use both your hands and your feet to do stuff!" Yes, Truman. That would be lovely!

Signs of Spring

Here are a few signs that spring is right around the corner:

1. Purple and white crocuses are blooming in clusters around my yard.

2. We left our coats at home on Saturday and Sunday.

3. I've eaten three (yes, three) bags of Brachs jelly beans in the last two weeks.

4. I want to go shopping! (I'm loving all the cute spring styles)

5. Madi filled out her science fair project form tonight.

6. I filled hubby's allergy medicine at the pharmacy today.

7. I removed Baby C's snuggly liner from her car seat.

8. I started deep cleaning - attacked the kitchen cupboard shelves and conquered the fridge.

What's your sure sign that spring is coming?

Sneaky Photographer

My digital camera insisted that the memory card was full...But I'd only taken a few pictures. I plugged it into the computer and downloaded over ONE HUNDRED photos - most of which I had not taken. I gathered the children in a crimal-type line up. "Who's been taking pictures?" I asked. Truman stepped forward. "They're pretty good," I complimented. We viewed them on the computer and picked the best three to post. Do I have a clandestine budding photographer??

Snow Miracle

When I was old enough to pray, I prayed regularly for three things: 1) that my Dad would get a new job (he was in the army and looking for a change), 2) a baby sister, and 3) snow. The last item would actually require the biggest miracle because we were living in Mobile, Alabama.

The year that I turned five years old, my prayers were answered...my Dad got hired to be a Coast Guard helicopter pilot, my family adopted my sister, and it snowed. (I'm going to write a book about it someday). But for today, I just wanted to write about the miracle of the snowstorm. I had only seen snow in books or on TV. So when I finally saw it falling from the sky and tasted the cold flakes on my tongue, it was incredible. We did not own any sleds, so my Dad got out our slippery blue sleeping bag pads. We trudged to the top of the small hill behind our house and sledded down the hill again and again until the green grass showed through.

I think because I prayed three years for snow, that I still LOVE when it snows. It still holds a miraculous element for me.

On Sunday and Monday we enjoyed a huge snowstorm along with the rest of the East Coast. We made the most of it, sledding, drinking hot chocolate, making snow angels, and building snow castles in the back yard. As I listened to the girls say their nighttime prayers, I had to smile.

They thanked Heavenly Father for snow, and prayed for more. Just like me.

Little Things

I've decided that it's the little things all added together that can make a huge difference in a family. It's a whole lot easier for me to wrap my mind (and limited energy) around doing small things on a regular basis, than trying to tackle the huge, overwhelming, looming task of successfully raising five happy, loving, responsible children.

Here's what I mean by "little things": When I was school-age, I brought a packed lunch to school nearly every day. Each day I'd sit down at the long white cafeteria table, open my brown paper bag, and remove my neatly folded napkin. On the napkin was always a small, handwritten message from my mom. Some days her message was as simple as "I love you" and other days her message was more specific like, "Good luck on your test today." I could always count on her love notes, written with black marker on kitchen napkins. There were days when I tucked the note away quickly and headed right to the food, there were other days that her message sustained me throughout the rest of a difficult day, and then there were days when my mother's influential words directed my actions and decisions.

Like my mom, I write love notes to my children on their lunch napkins too. It's a little thing. But I hope all the love notes added together over the years will make a difference in their lives.

Another little thing...as I was growing up, each night and morning my family knelt together in a circle for "family prayer." We each took turns saying the prayer. I loved hearing my parents pray for me and my sisters by name. After the "Amen" we all put our hands in the center of the circle for a football-style cheer. We'd yell, "Sure Love Ya!" Again, it was just a little thing. But there were times when doing the cheer, I felt like we were the best family in the world.

With my own family, we have daily family prayer. And following the prayer, we do a "Sure Love Ya!" cheer too. Then about two years ago, the twins (who were enamored with Telletubbies) wanted to add a "Big Hug!" at the end. So we do that too.

Little things.
Love notes on paper napkins.
Family prayer.
Cheers.
Hugs.

Little things can make all the difference.