100th post

I'm celebrating my 100th post with a fun idea that I've seen on other blogs.

100 facts about me.

1. I'm 27 years old

2. I have a total love affair with books and reading

3. I'm a pretty fantastic water skiier

4. I aspire to be a fantastic snow skiier

5. I've been married almost 5 years.

6. I'm named after Stefanie Powers from the 80's tv show- "Heart to Heart"

7. My middle name is Ann, which is the same as my mom's.

8. I drive a Jeep Commander which I LOVE!

9. I'm a pretty crafty person. I love making, sewing, crocheting, crafting-- I usually have quite a few projects going at once.

10. We live in a state of continual renovation. Even between projects, we're thinking/planning for the next.

11. I'm addicted to couponing and saving money.

12. I have had more kinds of pets than I could possibly remember or list

13. I really love shoes- but not super expensive ones. I could never justify spending a fortune on a pair of shoes.

14. I adore travelling. There are so many places that I would love to go someday!

15. All three of my boys have birthdays on the 15th!

16. I'm terrified of balls. I refuse to play sports where balls might fly at my face!

17. I have the sweetest dog ever, Reggie.

18. I am just about to be confirmed in the Catholic Church

19. I'm extremely sarcastic

20. I'm pretty good at scrabble, but aspire to be even better.

21. I love visiting the zoo with my boys.

22. My favorite animals at the zoo are the baboons.

23. I love to dance, especially with Matthew. We're not especially good, but we have a great time!

24. I was 24 when I had Owen.

25. I used to be a teacher, but can't see myself ever teaching in a public school again.

26. I'm not entirely sure what I want to be when I grow up.

27. I hate being bossed.

28. I have a short temper, but a long attention span--- if I'm interested in what I'm doing... Otherwise, my attention span is shorter than my temper :)

29. I have the best friends anyone could ask for.

30. I really like McDonald's chicken nuggets

31. 31 is my favorite number

32. A fountain pepsi can make my day.

33. I have, hands down, the best. husband. EVER.

34. I really, really love my in-laws. I'm so lucky to have married into such a great family!

35. I dislike being asked about my favorite book/song/movie-- They change day to day.

36. I love going barefoot in the summer

37. I let my kids go barefoot and don't worry about it

38. I have an extremely overactive imagination

39. I believe that my house is haunted

40. I'm the youngest of two children

41. I admire my Dad's resilience

42. Seeing a movie in a theater without popcorn is a tragedy

43. My brain is my own worst enemy, especially at night.

44. I have degrees in Elementary Education and aquatics

45. I want to go back to school to study Spanish

46. I also want to become a lactation consultant (refer to #26)

47. Matthew and I love talking about what we're going to do when we retire.

48. I really dislike math.

49. I get bored easily

50. I have to make daily to-do lists to keep myself focused

51. I'm not easily embarassed

52. My eldest son can usually find ways to accomplish this

53. I have the best mom ever. I talk to her almost every day!

54. I love funny people

55. I think I'm pretty funny

56. Elephant jokes are hilarious... I didn't preface this statement with an "I think" because this is clearly a fact.

57. People who don't appreciate elephant jokes are not as funny as those who do.

58. I dislike people who are intentionally raising bratty kids

59. I'm a total tomboy, but I love getting dressed up every now and then.

60. I have an amazing marriage.

61. I don't like spending time with people who constantly put down or complain about their spouses.

62. I love photography and I want a dslr more than anything!

63. I'm a total night person. I despise getting up in the morning. My mom and dad are both the exact same way

64. I have been out of high school for 10 (!) years

65. High school was a low point in my life.

66. College was a total high point in my life.

67. I met my best friend and husband in college.

68. I prefer salty snacks to sweet.

69. I hate milk.

70. Seafood is my absolute favorite kind of food.

71. "That's what she said." never gets old.

72. I'm a total procrastinator

73. I wish that I stuck with exercising on a regular basis.

74. I have strong opinions about the food that we eat.

75. I don't enjoy being pregnant, but I love my babies

76. One thing that I do like about being pregnant is the way that I look

77. Matthew and I always tip well at restaurants. We have both been servers and know what a tough job it is.

78. I have a red kitchen and I love it

79. I love having our families come to our house. It's crowded and we don't have a dish washer, but I love it!

80. I don't have any tattoos- but I used to have my belly button pierced

81. My belly button piercing is how I got over my fear of needles

82. I'm a total clutz

83. I always get weird illnesses

84. I like to drive fast

85. I have the worst handwriting ever!

86. I love naps. I wish that I could take a nap every day.

87. I wish that I had more energy.

88. I like camping, but rarely get to do it

89. Matthew and I found out last summer that we LOVE deep sea fishing!

90. I'm fairly conservative politically

91. But I'm not opposed to gay marriage.

92. I adore horseback riding. I would ride horses everywhere if I could.

93. I was a good swimmer in high school. I could have been better, but didn't apply myself most of the time- kind of like most things that I did in high school. :)

94. I hate going to Wal-Mart

95. I love going to Target

96. Meijer and Menards are both on my perma-crap list

97. I'm dyslexic

98. I never had braces on my teeth, and have one crooked tooth to show for it.

99. I love being a mom more than anything.

100. I can't believe that I came up with 100 things to say.

A story about Easter

This is indeed a story about Easter, but more importantly, it's a story about the time that my three-year-old schooled me in Theology.

Last week, Owen came home from school his last day before spring break (and Easter) wearing a cross that he had made at school. He told me that he made the cross because of Jesus. I asked him if they had talked about the Jesus and the cross during school and he told me that they had. He proceeded to tell me, in detail, about the Passion as it was explained to him.

He said:

"The people told Jesus that he would have to die. They made him carry a heavy cross up a ramp." (Owen is OBSESSED with ramps- so I think that he may have added that part) "Then they nailed his hands and feet to his cross and made him hang there until he died. Then they stuck a stick in his side to make sure that he was dead. Then the people said, 'Hmm, let's go play a game."

The whole time that he was telling me this, I was nodding along with him and was secretly a little bit shocked with how many details he was recounting... Until he got to the part about the game... I stopped him and I said, "Owen! The people didn't play games, they were sad. Jesus' death was a very sad thing.

He was adament that, "the people played a game!" and that that was what Mrs. Hughes had said. I finally stopped arguing with him about it, and I was a little embarassed that he had all of these details right and then he had added that in there.

That night, we were with Sara and Todd and I was telling them about Owen's take on the Passion and they got a kick out of it. We kept trying to think of how he came up with that detail.

The next day, Todd went to work and was telling the story to another pharmacist that he works with- who also had a laugh. She enjoyed the story so much that she told a psychiatrist that she rounds with the story. He listened to the story and responded by telling her that Owen was correct.

What??

He explained that "the people" did indeed "play games" after Jesus was crucified... They gambled with dice, or "cast lots" to see who got Jesus' clothes.

After being reminded of this fact, we all remembered hearing about this "casting lots" business- but none of us were thinking of that detail when we heard Owen tell the story.

So yeah, that's the story of how my three-year-old schooled five educated, Christian adults in Theology.

It never ceases to amaze me how much I can learn from my children.

Happy Birthday Todd!!

Yeah, so I'm almost a week late with this- but we celebrated appropriately on the day, so I'm guessing that I'm forgiven. :) We celebrated an amazing person with a fabulous meal at Santorini's Greek Kitchen. I absolutely LOVE Santorini's. soooooo good! We also absolutely love Todd & Sara, so it was a good evening. :)
We also celebrated Baby Bean's 13th week! This week was shrimp week for Sara- so we made sure to order meals with shrimp :)

Sara with her Shrimp baby!

What we've learned about our friendship with the SarTodd over the past 5ish years is that 9 times out of 10- Todd and I will want to eat/do the same things and Sara and Matthew will want to eat/do the same things. It's actually pretty funny. Todd and I even shared a meal the night of his b-day! It's become a joke between us. Todd and I used to say that it was because Matthew and Sara were Catholic- but I sold Todd out on that one... (Sorry Todd)

After dinner we went back to SarTodd's to enjoy the cakewreck that Sara had made to celebrate Todd's day. It was a wrecktastic display of cakewreckery! :) The guy who "decorated" this "masterpiece" was so disappointed with his handiwork that he actually gave it to Sara for half price. It was a great story.


Happy Birthday Todd!! We love you!

Baby Shower

Happy 30 weeks Kelly!!

Last weekend we made the trek down south to celebrate Kelly's baby shower. It was a beautiful day and it was wonderful to spend the weekend with Matthew's family. Kelly had a great shower and received lots of stellar presents.

(I LOVE this one :)

The boys stayed home with Daddy and Uncle Stephen while the girls, (Grandma C., Great Grandma I., Jodi and me) all went to the baby shower. Steve-O and Matthew did a great job grilling ribs for all of us for dinner while we were gone!

On Sunday, Owen and Grandpa spent some time trying out Grandpa's new backhoe. Owen LOVED driving around in that machine and has been talking about it ever since. It was so nice to spend a laid back weekend with the Gessners!