Peanut Butter Jelly

If you haven't already heard the "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" song, you HAVE to click this link and hear it. It makes me laugh every time I listen to it. Mostly because Adaryll has been singing "It's peanut butter jelly time - - peanut butter jelly!" for months to Elias whenever he has PB&J (which is a pretty regular occurance!). And I had no idea it was an actual song until I heard Adaryll watching this youtube video last night. Now I can't stop laughing that someone actually wrote and recorded a song about PB&J (and the youtube video has over 6 million hits?!).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=s8MDNFaGfT4

Uh, Houston, We Have a Problem

An ant problem that is. As I sit here and type, I am randomly seeing little tiny ants crawling around my computer screen. This is not a joke. There is one going right up the side of the monitor and another one just prancing across a piece of paper laying on the desk. I know the reason they came- I had a ziplok bag of dumdum suckers in my diaper bag the other day and Elena brought it to me last night saying "Sucker!" The thing is, suckers are only for times when we are having to sit and wait and be still- like Elena's 2 hour allergy appointments or a long trip to Lowes. So instead of putting the baggie back into the diaper bag last night, I set it up on top of the computer hutch. Mistake!!! This morning I went to move the baggie and it was covered in sugar ants! Now, it doesn't get much more sugary than dumdums, but HOW DO THEY DO THAT?! Our computer hutch is about 6 feet from our front door and there was a steady stream of ants all the way from the door, along the baseboard, and up the desk to the suckers. Seriously, these things must have SOME kind of smellers or something! And now I am left to wonder when they will finally give up and leave. Notice to ants who read blogs: The suckers are gone!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Leave your caption in the comments section... (and, yes, that is a plastic trashbag!)

So Much To Blog... So Little Time

I have completely neglected my blog for several days, but life continued on with many blogworthy events I want to catch everyone up on! So, I am about to begin a blogging marathon, which- frankly- I think is really annoying when other people do. But tomorrow is Wordless Wednesday, and so I need to get all my words out tonight!!!

Great 8!

Adaryll and I celebrated 8 great years of marriage today!

As I thought about what those 8 years have entailed for us....

3 cities, 6 houses/apartments, 4 cars, 17 months of really difficult pregnancy, 2 PICC lines, 2 beautiful children, countless hours of laughter...

I was overcome with thankfulness for the man to whom I am married!

Thank you, Adaryll, for standing by me and being "on my team" in all we go through.

Thank you, God, for giving me Adaryll!

(Sidenote: We went to lunch at a Brazilian Steakhouse called Fogo de Chao, which was excellent! Indianapolis just got one if any of you Hoosiers are looking for something new and different!)

The Best $3 Elias Ever Spent

A few weeks ago Elias woke up and asked his typical "What is today?". When I replied, "Saturday" he asked if we could go garage-saling. After rejoicing at the bargain-hunter I have created, I gave him $3 to spend and we were on our way.
He found this Hot Wheels Mountain with a price tag of $10 on it. He politely asked the owner if she would take $3 and she said yes! (Who could refuse such a sweet 5-year-old?!) The time Elias, Elena, and Luke spent playing with it Saturday was worth more than what he paid!

Belated Garden Update

The pictures were taken on the right day (Friday), they just didn't make it to the computer until today. I have told several people that I feel like my blog is somehow my connection to the world. It is how I can still feel close to people I love who are far away. But Dan and Carrie and their little boy Luke, people who we love, were here staying at our house all weekend, so my need for blogging was not quite so prevalent! So, here is the belated update on the garden...

Left to Right: Carrots, Lettuce, Okra

Squash and Canteloupe

Tomatoes and Watermelon

Pumpkin

Corn (Ours will be knee high by the 4th of June instead of July!)

The lesson we talked about this week is from 1 Corinthians 3:1-2. Here is the text: 1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

We talked this week about how some of the plants are growing really rapidly and others are sort of stagnant. A couple of them (tomatoes in particular) look no different from when they first popped up a few weeks ago. Paul is saying that, as Christians, some of us are just like we were when we first accepted Christ. We haven't grown. We are like infants or babies still needing milk instead of graduating on to the meat. Our pastor, Tim Hawks, recently spoke about this and clarified that this "maturing" isn't about acquiring all kinds of knowledge and information. It is about how we act. So, do we act the same as when we were planted and show no growth like the tomatoes? Or are our lives a reflection of our growth in relationship to Christ, and so we act more like him as time goes by?

Smokin'

Some of you know how often Adaryll jokes about smoking this or that, but Saturday he REALLY got to smoke something! Dan (Elias' namesake, the best man in our wedding and Adaryll was best man in their wedding), Carrie, and Luke came in for the weekend and I'm not sure who had more fun- the kids playing, me and Carrie talking, or Adaryll and Dan smoking! Adaryll and Dan spent Saturday afternoon perfecting ribs for our holiday weekend meal. One word.... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Elena's First Haircut

Elena went to the "beauty shop" and got her first haircut last week. She did really good and pretty much just watched Barney and ate suckers the whole time. They really just trimmed it up and made it more even on each side, etc. It is so much healthier and easier to comb through now! Here are some pics...

Before

During

After

101!

This is the compass/temperature readout on my van. As you can see, this past Tuesday we were going West and it was HOT!!! Only being May, I figured this was photo/blog worthy...

100!

This is my one hundredth post! In honor of 100, I thought I would make a list of 100. I thought about "100 things I love about my family", "100 things I love about Texas", "100 things I love about Crocs" (yes, I am sure I could come up with 100!), etc. Deciding all of those things would take too much time and effort, Elias made a video instead...

Wordless Wednesday

You know the drill- I supply the photo, you supply the caption in the comments section...

Hello Opinionated

It all started a couple of weeks ago when Elena had a fever. I got her out of bed, took her temperature, and then realized we were NOT going to be leaving the house that day. So I asked her "Do you want to just wear pajamas today?". She excitedly replied "Jah-Mahs!". And so her first official Pajama Day began.

Well, you can guess what happened the next day. I got her out of bed and proceeded to pick out an outfit. As I brought the clothes to the changing table she began to insist "No pants! No pants!" I quickly realized this was not about actually wanting or not wanting to get dressed. It was a battle of wills. And those of you who know me well know that she was not going to win a battle of wills! We have a rule in the Jordan family- we wear pants when we leave the house. I see no good reason for that rule to change. Sorry, Elena, but you lose this one.

Knowing that it is important to let her exercise some freedom and decision making, I began that week letting her choose between 2 pairs of shorts. Once she picked, I would then let her pick between 2 shirts. But then we came to the shoes.

Elena has a worn out pair of Target white sandals that we got around Easter. She lived in them until I recently got her some new Crocs. The white sandals are dirty and scuffed and just not nearly as cute as Crocs (I know I have a problem and need treatment for my Crocs addiction). But Elena really, really, really loves those Target sandals because they have butterflies on them.

I may be naive, but I really think she just likes the butterflies! I wanted to let her wear what she liked, but-Hello!- there are some great, cute Crocs in the closet too!

Today I realized there was a way we could both be happy! We took a trip to the Crocs outlet and came to a compromise. Elena spent the next 15 minutes giggling at her toes saying, over and over, "Pretty butterflies!"

Goodbye "Dress-me-however-you-want". Hello Opinionated.

The End of a Season

Elias had his end of season tournament with the Mets this weekend. It was so much fun!

The first game was at 9:30am Saturday. We were tied at the end of the hour, so they went to a tie-breaker where you start with a man on 2nd and you already have 2 outs. We batted first, got our 5 runs in (Innings change with 3 outs OR 5 runs in this league. In this case, it would have been just 1 out as it was the tie-breaker) and they did not get any outs. So we came out to the field. They had 4 runs in and bases loaded. Our "pitcher" (who doesn't actually pitch since it is t-ball) got the grounder and beat the 3rd base runner to home by about half a second. OUT! And so we won!!!

The second game was at 3:30pm and we lost 10-15. These kids were the #2 team in the league I think. They were very gracious and the coaches were great. Elias made a play at 3rd base on that game that I have on video and will post below.

The 3rd game was at 5:00pm and we lost again, but this time in a tie-breaker. Same situation as the first game only we played outfield first and didn't get an out before they got 5 runs. So when they got an out on us the game was over.

After the 3rd game we had a hotdog cookout. One of the families on our team brought a big trailer smoker and grilled out for everyone in the parking lot. The boys has a blast!!

Here are the highlights of the weekend....

Elias gives me thumbs up in the dugout.

"Baseball Ready!" in left field

Running from 1st to 2nd

Safe on 2nd

Running from 2nd to 3rd

"Go Mets!"

End of the season talk from Coach Mark (as Elias and several others cry over their loss)

Big grill on a trailer!

Our AWESOME Mets!!!

Elias hitting and running to 1st (note: he forgets to "overrun" the base, so when the coach tells him to "go, go, go", instead of going on to 2nd, he does the circle he should have done to overrun the base. LOL)

Elias running from 2nd to home

Elias playing 3rd base. He fields the ball and touches 3rd (not so great camera angle as I was focused on telling him where to go with the ball!) The runner beat him to the base, but it was a good play nonetheless!

And so our season ends. I can't believe how quickly it flew by and I really can't believe how much Elias learned in such a short amount of time. We are so grateful for the coaches we had and the players we got to play with. We have loved getting to know the kids and parents and hope to see them all around the fields again in the fall!

Update on the Garden

Good news! Despite the beating by the hail, everything is still growing!

This week the most noticable change is the lettuce and the squash. They both have opened up quite a bit and suddenly have much bigger leaves (How DOES that happen???). We had a bunch more peppers come up inside the house, but there are still several little pods that have nothing growing at all (see last weeks Biblical lesson to hear what we are learning from the peppers).
This weeks verses are from Matthew 3.

1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear."

18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

I want for us to understand that it is not by our own intelligence that any of us comes to the Lord. None of us is smart enough to realize that we need Him. In fact, we are just too plain sinful to even recognize it! It is only by His grace that any of us are like the fertile soil and are able to hear and understand His Word. There is no way we can earn our way into fertile soil, and there is no work we can do to make someone else's soil fertile. Only the Lord, by his grace, can do that. It is our job to sow the seed, whether the ground looks fertile or not.

I would like to illustrate this to the kids this week by actualy having them sow seed on the sidewalk, rocky area, the grass (where it would get mowed down even if it did grow). And then we can compare that growth to the fertile soil in our garden. And we can begin praying that God would make the soil of our hearts fertile, so that the seeds of His Word would be planted and grow and bear fruit within us.

Carrots (left) and Lettuce (right)

Okra

Squash

Cantaloupe

Tomato

Watermelon

Pumpkin (turned REALLY green this week)

Sweet Corn

Bell Peppers (back) and Hot Peppers (front)

Psalm 5:3

Psalm 5:3 says "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."
Please join me in prayer right now for 2 things:
1. My little 2 year old friend, Chris, is having surgery today to put in a G-tube, through which he will be fed for the next several weeks or months. Please pray for his parents and for him and for the medical team they will be interacting with. His surgery is today at 12:30 Indiana time. (see link to his blog "Little Chris" and his mom's blog "Eric & Cathy" on my friends list)
2. We have a showing scheduled on our house in Indiana today between 10 and 12.

Laskadooahs

Tonight we had quesadillas for dinner. Just the simple Mexican 3-cheese mix melted between our yummy Costco cook-at-home flour tortillas. Elena ate a TON of it! About halfway through his meal, Elias looked up and said, "I really like these...... these..... what are these called?" I thought he was bluffing and really knew, so I said "Well, think with your brain and tell me the answer." He proceeded to put a hand to his forehead concentrating really hard. Then he said "Ooooooooh, yeah! Laskadooahs!"

Texas! Our Texas! All Hail the Mighty State!

The Legislature adopted "Texas, Our Texas" as the state song in 1929, but I don't think this is the kind of hail they were talking about...

We had a big storm last night! As we pulled the cars into the garage and out of the hail, this pingpong size hail landed in one of the cars. With my blog in mind, I hurriedly scooped it up and sent Adaryll to find the camera! We spent the next several minutes taking pictures of hail and debating about whether or not we should save some in the freezer (not sure why we would do this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time). THEN we went to the TV and found out that the main cell had passed, but that we should have been taking cover as there were several funnel clouds in our midst. That to say, I hope you all realize how devoted I am to bringing you the latest news in our lives down here in Hill Country! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Here is how we play this new game (thanks Amy P!). I post a picture every Wednesday and you participate by leaving a comment on what you think the caption should be...

Jordans give Hi-5 a High Five

Elias found a new show on Discovery Kids yesterday called Hi-5. It reminded me of Kids Incorporated (anyone remember that one? K! I! D! S! Yeah!). The opening song of the Hi-5 episode featured the 5 singers each dressed in shirts with a different flag on them. So I was checking them out- I saw an American flag, a Britain flag, and (you won't believe this) a TEXAS flag! I thought that was rather odd, but below is a picture of an actual specialty license plate you can get here.

Still, I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I had to look it up online. Turns out that one of them wears a USA flag and the others are Texas, Hawaii (looks like a Brittish flag on the shirt), Alaska, and North Carolina. Random! It was way cooler when I thought they were all countries.

Elena Accepts the Challenge

(See previous post if you don't know what the challenge was)

Have Fun Laughing...

Remember how I said Elias looks like a soldier boy with his new haircut? And then I said that he and I would learn the Soldier Boy dance and post a video of us doing it?
Well, we had about a 10 minute dance lesson before we filmed this. And we only took this one video. I kind of thought we would do it several times and then choose the best one, but I just really want to go take a nap now, so this one will have to do. All in all, I would say Elias did quite well! And since most of the laughs are going to be at the 31-year-old-white-mama trying to do a ghetto dance, I figure it doesn't really matter.
But here is the catch... Since I have faced this public humiliation for the simple task of making all of you laugh, I am posting a challenge to each of you. Let's just say that if you view this video, you are accepting the challenge. Go to www.Youtube.com, search for Soldier Boy dance, learn it, and post yourself (spouse, kids, pets, whoever) doing it on your own blog. Cmon- you really owe me a laugh now! If you don't have a blog, at least email Elias a video file! Note: I am VERY much expecting at least Ali, Corrie, Jenny B., Myra, Amy P., Amy T., Jen A., Jenna (or at least Brent), Cathy, Adaryll, Jennie (with Cindy & Kerry), Steph (with others from TPCC YA's), and ALL YOU OTHERS on my friends list to do this!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all of you moms out there!
And to celebrate, I have a gift for each of you. ("Really?!", you say) Don't get TOO excited. The gift is simple, but I think you will enjoy it. For Mothers Day, I am going to give you each (whether you are a mom or not) a good laugh. Let me rephrase, a REALLY good laugh.
Here is a hint: go back and read the post about Elias getting a haircut.
Funny video coming soon. Hope to post by the end of the day. :)

I'm Gonna Live Where the Green Grass Grows

Everytime I go out to check on our garden I start singing that Tim McGraw song. I am going to try to insert a link here so you can hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmRhCBeVnmc
The chorus says:
I'm gonne live where the green grass grows,
Watch my corn pop up in rows,
Every night be tucked in close to you.
Raise our kids where the good Lord's blessed,
Point our rocking chairs towards the west,
And plant our dreams where the peaceful river cools.
Where the green grass grows.
Ok, so we aren't exactly on a farm with acres and acres of corn and peaceful rivers. It actually sounds more like Indiana than Texas. But this song just makes me think of Home. And I just get this overwhelming feeling that that is where we are- Home. I just love it here! I'm not limiting God that He couldn't send us somewhere else in the future, but I just feel so at Home here. It IS Texas, afterall! And growing a garden and watching our 3 baby corn stalks pop up in a row just makes it feel all the more Home-ish.
So, here is the update on the garden.
Lesson from this week: 1 Corinthians 3:7 says "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." Paul is talking about how he "planted" the spiritual seeds in Corinth. He had told people about what Christ did for them and formed the church in Corinth. Then Apollos had come along and "watered" those seeds. He had taught the church more about what a relationship with Christ looks like and led them spiritually. But only God could make those people grow, or LIVE their faith. We are workers with God, but our work is futile if we don't recognize that, without him, nothing can happen.
We are seeing this in the fact that we planted lots of peppers (sweet ones and hot ones) at the same time that we planted the rest of the plants. All the peppers are still inside in the little starter green house. Only about 4 of them have sprouted. We planted exactly the way the package said, just as we did the other plants. We watered, just as we did the other plants. But some of them aren't growing. And you know what? There isn't a darn thing we can do about it! We just can't make them grow! Only God can. In the same way, we don't possess the ability to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled people by our own effort. Those are the fruit of the Spirit. And only a relationship with God can bear such fruit.
Here is a video of Elias explaining how everything is growing...

Splish Splash

We tried to go to our neighborhood pool this morning. (I know, I can't believe it is already open either- it actually has been open, and packed, for about a month!) Apparently you have to have a key, and I never got one, so I will have to find out more about that.
So we went up the road to this little public park with a fun water area. My verdict: WAY cooler than going to a pool with 1 Mommy and 2 kids that can't swim! The kids had a BLAST! And, I just have to say it- Man, they sure are cute!!! (Check out the pink shades. She kept them on the whole time until we got in the car, when she pushed them up onto her head!)

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

That is the sound of buzzers. Elias has been asking for a haircut the last few days. Actually, I told him he needed a haircut, so he has been asking for a haircut "just like Daddy's". We have buzzed him several other years right as summer began, and I was always amazed at how much older he looks with no hair. When I finished today, I told him he looks like a soldier. Now we will have to learn the soldier boy dance. THAT will be something to blog about! Coming soon- blog video of Elias (and maybe Mommy) doing the soldier boy dance!

So here are the pictures:

"This is my before picture. Let's put these on your blog, Mommy! Then everyone can see that I took a haircut" (not sure why he "takes" haircuts, but that is what he has always said)

"Before what?"

"I look JUST LIKE DADDY!!!"

"You aren't getting near these curls with those things!!!"

Aunt Jenny

Just a public note to tell Jenny B. (and everyone else who reads this blog) that Elias loves him some Aunt Jenny! He has talked about Aunt Jenny quite a bit lately, so I just wanted to post this picture and let her know that she is very special. :) This picture is from last Halloween when Adaryll and I were both sooooo sick with a stomach bug and Aunt Jenny came to the rescue to take Elias to Trunk or Treat. Can't wait for the B's to come visit us in Texas!

INCREDIBLE Recipe

We have found "our" grocery store here in Austin. You know, how you have to shop around for a few weeks to find the store you like (the layout, the service, the prices, etc). The store is called H.E.B. (you just say the letters, don't try to make it a word), which always reminds me of our retired pastor from TPCC, Howard Brammer, who signed everything H.R.B.

Anyway, we LOVE this new H.E.B. up the road from us. It is almost like a WalMart it is so huge. I was completely turned off by it the first time I went in because it was just so overwhelming.

We were there to pick up a few things on Saturday and they were preparing two different meals in their "Showtime Kitchens", which is like a little kitchen stage show where they make samples to try. One of the things they made was called TexMex Chicken Salad. We ended up buying all the ingredients to make it and had it for dinner Saturday (and lunch Sunday and today). It is soooooo yummy, I wanted to post the recipe!

TexMex Chicken Salad

3 cups cooked Fajita Chicken, diced (this comes in a bag already cooked in strips)

1 cup diced bell peppers (mix all 3 colors- HEB has a little package already chopped)

1 cup Pico de gallo (ok, I don't ever remember seeing fresh pico de gally in Indiana, so you might actually have to find a recipe for this and make your own. It is onion, tomato, and jalapeno I think)

1 Tbsp Fajita seasoning

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Mix together all ingredients in a large bown and chill until ready to serve.

I ate mine on tortilla chips. Adaryll ate his on Saltine crackers. Can also be wrapped up in a pita!