Neener Neener :)

I took my engagement/wedding ring in for it's biannual checkup yesterday, and discovered that I am the envy of the Zales world.
The first clerk asked me if it was "The Zales Diamond".
(The Zales Diamond was an exclusive patented 8-sided solitaire which was discontinued in 2007 because the person owning the patent pulled it.  It has 82 facets, 24 more than a regular diamond cut making it SUPER sparkly :)
When I told her it was, all three clerks dropped what they were doing to come look at it.
I felt like I had brought in an original copy of the Constitution.
Two of the sales persons argued over who got to clean it.
They ALL looked at it under the microscope.
I was informed that none of them had ever seen one in person.
Talking amongst themselves, one of the sales clerks (engaged) said (sadly) she wanted this cut for her engagement ring.

Then, in it's sparkling beauty, it was returned to my finger, where it belongs.
It may be valuable, but to me, it's priceless.

Our Wedding Day, April 26th, 2008

Every Day.

I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord.  Apart from You I have no good thing.  Lord, you have assigned me my cup and my portion...you have made my lot secure.  The boundary lines for me have fallen in pleasant places;  surely I have a delightful inheritance.  I will praise the Lord who counsels me;  Even at night, my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me.  Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore, my body rests secure, because You will not abandon me.  You have made known to me the path of life;  You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand."

                                                                         -Psalm 16

Home Improvement Headaches

Why haven't I blogged about Hawaii?  Because, in the five days we've been back, we have been swamped in fix-it projects- none for which we "signed up". 

Prior to our vacation, we hired Home Depot to rip up old carpet and install our new carpet downstairs.  When they came for installation, however, they told us that the carpet was SO glued down (whoever installed it used 3-4 times the recommended amount of glue) that they wouldn't be able to remove it.  Thus, Chris and I are left to pick away at it inch by inch before we can get our new carpet installed.  Chris as been hard at work on that project, channeling his inner "Tim the Tool Man Taylor".  

All that yellow stuff...is glue.

Then, THIS happened.  Chris noticed some water leaking downstairs, and promptly investigated.  What we discovered were bubbling kitchen floorboards that oozed water from the seams.  Water damages specialists decided upon first response the problem was serious enough that the floors needed to come up.  And sure enough, the pad underneath was SOAKED.  A rupture in our dishwasher pump to blame, we're now dealing with water damage restorers, contractors, plumbers and appliance techs to remedy the problem.

The bubbling floorboards

The aftermath of our inspection.

Reality says "Welcome back from vacation!  Here's a swift kick in the pants."

Everything Chris Hates in One Recipe.

Technically, not everything.  But the only thing that would make this recipe worse, in his opinion, would be adding a smattering of diced tomatoes on top.

I, on the other hand, had a craving for stuffed mushrooms yesterday, so I whipped up a batch.  You should have seen Chris' reaction when I asked him to print up the recipe for me:  "Mushrooms!?  I'm not eating that!!"  No, darling, I would never serve you such a thing.  This one was purely for my enjoyment.

Compliments of my awesome friend Amanda, here's a simple recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms.
Or, as Chris would call them, "tiny balls of evil".

*1 lb fresh mushrooms with caps
*1/2 to 1 stick of melted butter
*1 cup bread crumbs
*fresh chopped parsley
*1 Tbs. oil
*1 crushed garlic clove
*1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
*1/2 cup white wine
*1 minced medium onion

Remove mushroom stems and chop.  Place caps on buttered baking sheet and set aside.  Saute' chopped stems, onions and garlic in oil.  Mix other dry ingredients.  Add them to melted butter and wine in a sauce pan and stir together.  Mold a small amount on the cap.  Bake 20 minutes at 350 F.  Eat the leftover stuffing gluttonously (whoops- that's just for me).

Eat warm, preferably in front of your husband as he cringes in disgust :)

Flying the Kid-Friendly Skies.

Keeping a thirteen-month-old busy on a 5 hour flight is no easy task.  It's not "fun" at all, but rather exhausting, always anticipating the next activity to keep her interested.  With the help of my parents on flight TO, and Chris on flight FROM, we certainly didn't make any enemies on the plane.  Here was our plan of attack:

Headphones and Dora.
Bottles.
Favorite Book.
Safety Guide in Seat pocket.  Open and close a thousand times.
Use Barf Bag as hand puppet.
Get extra peanut bag to use as percussion.
Open and shut window screen over...and over.....
Cheerios!  Cheerios!  Cheerios!
Headphones and Yo Gabba Gabba.
Walk back and forth on Grandpa's seat while he's in the bathroom.
Up and down the aisle (catwalk) waving to new friends.
Turn pages in SkyMall catalog. 
Point out the window and tell her to look for "puppies!" (Her favorite)
Giddy-up Horsie!
Play Peek-a-Boo with passengers behind us.
Push buttons on remote control (yes, I brought it with us).
Open and close Mommy's wallet, pull out credit cards.  (Chris is apprehensive about this skill being      learned so early!)
Cheerios!  Cheerios!  Cheerios!
Juice!  (Or whatever Mommy is drinking, which looks more interesting!)
Headphones and Blues Clues.
Forget the headphones, she keeps ripping them off.  Just Blues Clues.
Grandma's TicTac box as rattle.
Repeat all of the above several times...
Nap.

You're welcome, fellow passengers.
 What are your favorite airplane tactics for the kiddos?

Praise, Baby, Praise!

I've always known Kendall would love music...when I was pregnant with her, I remember feeling kicks and fist pumps when I turned on U2's "Beautiful Day" (yep, Uncle Dizz would be proud!).  And, since a few months old, she's been head bopping and wiggling to whatever music is in earshot. 

She's also a worshiper in training!  She'll know one day that it's more than music that gets her moving, but the joy of the Lord!  I love that babies have no fear of who may be watching, listening...they sing and dance as the music moves them.  It's "Faith Like A Child" in action.

While we were back in Stockton, we had the opportunity to worship at First Baptist with the His Little Feet choir, an organization started by our good friends Mikey and Christa Hahn.  Kendall, of course, could not contain her excitement. 



Looks like I'm raising more of a Pentecostal than a Baptist in this video :)

Don't Be Tardy for the Party!

(Karen, that blog title was for you!)
As you know, we celebrated Kendall's birthday this year in true Stavenger fashion...traveling from state to state and partying everywhere!  Just so I get it off my desktop before our fun vacation, here's a pictorial recap of the fun!   I'll be taking a short blog hiatus over the next couple of weeks to share in family vacation time, so check back in February as we return with a vengeance!

Have dress, will party!

Opening new wagon from Gma and Gpa Stavenger!

Celebrating with the Stavengers in Moorhead.

Tried on the frosting for size....

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for the birthday fun!

Off to California for her Gingerbread party!

We celebrated with a few close friends and family in Stockton on her actual birthday, Dec 23rd.

Karen added a beautiful cake to our table!

Greeting guests with Daddy.

Everyone was hard at work on their Gingerbread creations.

Amanda's Santa Claus was the contest winner!

Other fine contest entries...

Opening gifts...lots of adorable new outfits to sport!

A birthday cake made of donuts!

Got an eye on that cake!

If you missed it, here's what happened to that cake...

Thank you Grandma Donna, Grandpa Keith, Grandma Marcia, Grandpa Jeff and our wonderful friends for sharing Kendall's milestone birthday with us.  Your love and attention for our baby girl is the greatest gift to us!

It Happens in a Blink!

We celebrated Kendall's first birthday on December 23rd, and what a fun occasion that was!  However, I don't think the reality of having a one-year-old set in until we were bumped from the "nursery" at church to the One-Year-Old room!  In this "big kid room," they have an interactive singing time with the rest of the toddlers, and get a snack (yahhhoooo!).

The new year brings us to pause and remember how much we've taken in this year.  Our baby girl became a toddler right before our eyes!  And, in case you missed it, here is her whole first year in just under four minutes.  We love you, Kendall Mendall!

Introducing My New Album...

 This was a funny little challenge extended to me, so I thought I'd share it here :)

1) Go to wikipedia and hit random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2) Go to quotationspage.com and hit random. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3) Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” Third picture, no ...matter what ...it ......is, will be your album cover.

4) Use photoshop or similar (picnik.com is a free online photo editor) to put it all together.

Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado...

 

I can't figure out whether this album should be filed under "New Age Instrumental" or "Goth Rock"... 

Challenge extended to:  Deborah, Sarah, Angelo, Carrie, Kami, and whoever wants to take a stab at it.  Do it (on your own blog)...and report back!

Getting Out of the House

It's always this time of year when "cabin fever" starts to set in.  The idea of special outings is lovely, but the reality is that it's a pain in the you-know, especially when I look at all the layers I will have to throw on Kendall (who loves to rip off clothing, especially shoes, socks, and hats, dropping them to the slushy earth beneath us).  But, as I discovered last year, I am a much happier person by making intentional trips out of the house.  And now that Kendall is able to enjoy other activities besides strolling in circles around the mall, it's getting fun to look for extracurricular events around town.

MOMMY/DAUGHTER DATE:  Caribou Coffee Christmas Storytime
We LOVED this!  A friend of mine is in management training at Caribou, and organized a cute little storytime for the kiddos complete with free hot chocolate and a visit from Carrie Bou :)  Since Kendall was one of three kids in attendance, we got lots of personal attention!

The Canal Park Caribou Coffee has a perfectly sized loft for storytime, complete with couches!

Good listeners :)

Not so much a fan of sitting on the caribou herself, but with Mommy it was okay!

We ended our time with a kid-sized treat- hot chocolate, with all the messy fixings!

MOMMY/DADDY DATE:  Bentleyville Tour of Lights

Since losing our regular babysitter to Moorhead (thanks, Brianna!!), date night for us is a little bit of a scramble.  Fortunately, I got the name of a highly recommended babysitter from our church youth group, and Chris and I planned a night out!  We had a lovely dinner, then headed to "Bentleyville" at Bayfront Park in Duluth.  It's a pretty amazing Christmas lights spectacular, with the added luxuries of meeting Santa Claus, toasting s'mores, and sipping on hot beverages- all for FREE!  If you can brave the zero degree weather, it's worth the walk- but I'm glad I left the buggin at home :)

Resolutions

1.  Curbing the Soda Habit.   I've been great about this lately, and have given it up for long stretches in the past (usually during Lent), so I'm thinking...why not try ousting it from the diet for good this year?  I will, however, waylay this resolution on vacations and weekends at the Lake- it will make vacation *that* much sweeter :)

2.  Keeping Junk Off the Dining Room Table.  Somehow, our dining room table has become the mecca for all the random crap in our house.  True, it's mostly because I have two curious little hands that can't reach up there, but I think I can find other places to store the diaper bag, purse, grocery coupons, yadda yadda yadda, and keep the dining table available for....dining.

....After.

3.  More time during the day without TV.   Really, I think we could all do with a little less Dora in our lives.  (Speaking of which, where is all of the childrens programming that doesn't involve CONSTANT SHOUTING?!  I really miss Mister Rogers Neighborhood.  No wonder kids today are such spazzos.)

4.  And, finally, I have GOT to be more committed to this Blog.  I suppose YOU can help keep me accountable to this.  I'm not talking every day, but definitely more than last year (the stats are pretty pathetic, with only six months having more than 8 posts.  Blech!).

There you have it.  I these are all realistic and achievable, so I expect to be reporting success come next January.  How are you doing with your resolutions?

How to {Eat} a Cake.

How to eat a cake:  a pictorial chronology by Kendall Stavenger.

Carefully inspect the subject of destruction.

Note that Mommy's finger tastes markedly different this time...

After taste buds are pleased, look for more.

After finding the source of yumminess, proceed with eating.

Sometimes the finger method takes too long.  Really commit to the cake with both hands.

Make sure no frosting goes to waste!

Share with your loyal subjects.  "God loves a cheerful giver!"

Stop to pose for pictures on occasion.

Make sure more cake is on your face than on the plate.

Drop all remaining crumbs on the floor.

Finish it off with a good smear all over your face, and you've achieved first birthday cake success!

Breaking News!

Nope, I haven't forgotten about birthday and Christmas festivities, but I had to interrupt the stream of family photos to bring you this important news!  (And, by important, I mean total silliness.)   Our Pottery Barn Kids catalog arrived in the mail today, featuring Kendall on page A-1!  In case you aren't on the mailing list, here's a couple snapshots of the new addition to her baby book...

Yep, at age one, Kendall is a centerfold.

Popular Worship Songs 2010

Here's to a new year...which will hopefully bring some fresh, new, anointed worship songs for us to enjoy!  There are a few on this list that I totally love.  There are a few on this list that have "lost their luster," though I don't doubt the message and meaning is still worshipful.  What do you think?  Are there any of your favorites on the list?  Any that you feel should get the boot?

1	Mighty To Save	Fielding, Ben\Morgan, Reuben
2	How Great Is Our God	Tomlin, Chris\Reeves, Jesse\Cash, Ed
3	Blessed Be Your Name	Redman, Beth\Redman, Matt
4	Here I Am To Worship	Hughes, Tim
5	Everlasting God	Brown, Brenton\Riley, Ken
6	Revelation Song	Riddle, Jennie Lee
7	Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)	Tomlin, Chris\Giglio, Louie\Newton, John
8	Holy Is The Lord	Tomlin, Chris\Giglio, Louie
9	Forever	Tomlin, Chris
10	Jesus Messiah	Tomlin, Chris\Carson, Daniel\Reeves, Jesse\Cash, Ed
11	Your Grace Is Enough	Maher, Matt
12	Open The Eyes Of My Heart	Baloche, Paul
13	You Are My King (Amazing Love)	Foote, Billy
14	Shout To The Lord	Zschech, Darlene
15	Come Now Is The Time To Worship	Doerksen, Brian
16	Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)	Baloche, Paul\Brown, Brenton
17	In Christ Alone	Townend, Stuart\Getty, Keith
18	From The Inside Out	Houston, Joel
19	Hosanna	Fraser, Brooke
20	Lord I Lift Your Name On High	Founds, Rick
21	We Fall Down	Tomlin, Chris
22	God Of Wonders	Byrd, Marc\Hindalong, Steve
23	The Heart Of Worship	Redman, Matt
24	Beautiful One	Hughes, Tim
25	Your Name	Baloche, Paul\Packiam, Glenn