Open Letter Friday & Completely Unrelated Picture

My first official open letter, I dedicate to my sister. 

Dear Kristin,

Can you please get your dog, Duke, to stop humping inanimate objects? It makes me feel uncomfortable. It also puts me in an awkward situation when my kids ask, "Mom, why is Duke shaking his bum on the chair... table... shoe... your leg... Eden... that Elmo toy?"

It's not cute. It's not funny.  Well, maybe just a little bit funny, but still... you can only watch a dog try to do the naughty with a stuffed animal so many times before it begins to lose its thrill.

So I think it's time to take away Dukes dog-hood or at least lock him up when we're at your house until Eden is old enough to defend herself.

Thank you so much for your consideration on this fragile subject matter.

Sincerely, your sister,
Ginnie

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• I know I have 3 other kids, but they're just not quite as fun to take pictures of right now •

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Keeping my baby 'the baby'

She's getting too old for a bottle. I realize that. 

But you should see how excited she gets when I hand it to her. 

And who am I to deny cuteness such as this?

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Competitive by Nature

The majority of my morning was spent debating with my sister, Kristin, about who had the messiest house.
Since I went over my cell phone minutes last month ($120 worth... ouch!)  this conversation took place via texting. We were sending pictures back and forth of each room in our house titling each picture as 

"The kitchen mess" 

"The laundry room mess"  

"The neglected-corner-in-my-room mess"

We even sent pictures to each other to prove who matched their nasty house the most. It wasn't pretty.

Meanwhile, my silent destroyer was on the move. I found her fully enthralled in the the bathroom and giddy with excitement pouring out cupfuls and cupfuls... and cupfuls of toilet water all over the bathroom. And if that wasn't enough, she had given all the kids toothbrushes and dog toys a bath in the toilet.

It was a special moment for me.

I ended the texting debate with this last picture titled, 

"My walking mess"

I think I win.

Messy house update: 5 hours later both of our homes are in the same disastrous state they started out in.

On the upside, we have managed to carry on an intense game of Words with Friends throughout the day.

And just for the record, I'm winning that too.

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Let's pretend I posted this a month ago

(because that's when I actually started writing this)

Picture from last September- canyoneering in Zion's

Do you ever feel like your going crazy? 

Not party-like-it's-1999 crazy or ... wearing-socks-with-sandles crazy.

but, like backwards-speaking, head-spinning, projectile-vomiting crazy.

Maybe I'm possessed. Maybe I've had one too many candy cane chocolate coated almonds. Or maybe, it's the fact that my van broke down and I will be van-less for the next week. Which means going anywhere as a family of 6 will be impossible. So in order to resolve this little problem we will vote off one member of our family for the week. Imagine something similar to survivor, except you don't get voted off the island... just the car. I'm hoping it will give the kids incentive to be especially good this week. 

Fast forward 6 days. The van is fixed and I go to pick it up. The mechanic looks at me and says, "I'm amazed this van didn't blow up on you.". I thought he was kidding. He wasn't. 

This was my loving text to Nate: 

Just picked up the car from the mechanic. He told me that we were lucky the car didn't blow us up. That's comforting. 

2 minutes later I sent another text: 

Dear Ginnie, I love you, but not enough to buy you a new van- one that won't blow up while you and the kids are driving in it. Sincerely, Nate 

5 minutes later this was Nate's reply:  

Dear Nate, Thanks so much for all you do for me and our family. I know you are working hard for us and it's okay, I can be patient and keep driving this old van until we can buy another one. I love you so much! 

Ginnie 

1 minute later from me: 

Wow, I'm incredibly sweet! 

Another minute later from Nate: 

I know. That's why I married you. 

There are two things I'm am sure of, 

1. Married life would be better if we just did the talking for our spouses.

2. Three things could possibly survive an atomic bomb: cockroaches, a McDonald's cheeseburger, and my minivan.

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Abs of Steel

I've been on the 3 Week Ab Plan for 3 weeks now and the results, my friends, are incredible.

What is the 3 Week Ab Plan, you ask? Well, first let me show you the results...

BEFORE

AFTER

I know, the results are hard to believe. I wouldn't believe it either if it weren't for the fact that my washer just broke down and I have had to do all of my laundry by hand with my abs doubling as a washboard. 

The 3 Week Ab Plan is simple. 

Why spend hours at the gym and count calories 

when you can just cough your way to better abs in 21 days?

I'm not talking about a petite cough or clearing of, what Nate likes to call it,  lung cookies. I'm talking about coughing so hard you might cough up a lung... or a kidney... or if you were pregnant, a baby. 

A cough so hard that it forces you to dry heave on the floor since there's no baby to throw up.

A hacking cough, where coughing without crossing your legs is just as dangerous as being a woman who has birthed multiple children jumping on a trampoline. 

A cough that is so intense it throws your back out rendering your body useless (true story).

I realize I'm not painting you very pretty picture, but folks let face it, just like crying or yawning, there's no attractive way to cough.

No worries to all my fellow germaphobes out there. I've been on an antibiotic for a few days now and I'm pretty sure I'm not contagious via blogging.

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Defying Logic & Reason

I did it! I finally finished off the jar of candy cane almonds that's been sitting in my cupboard... taunting me... each minute... of each day. And now I have finally rid myself of its minty, chocolaty, almond temptation.

For some reason I think that faster I eat it, the better off I'll be. All my friends on Facebook said I should just throw it away (insert audible gasp here). My parents did me an injustice when they taught me not to waste my food. But really, you don't understand, these were really good.

Now, all I have to show for that empty container of candy cane almonds is
an extra 4 pounds and an exciting new toy for my dog to play with.

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We New Years Eve-ed

How about a little dodge ball with your New Years celebration? 

Yes, please.

This was my family's after-breakfast entertainment portion for New Years eve.

Everyone joined in...

brother in-laws, sisters, nieces, nephews,

the young, and the moderately old.

One goal... to win.

The second... show no mercy.

It was intense.

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The evening portion of our night consisted of

pizza, home-made empanadas, hanging out with my brother's family,

playing games, turning the clock back two hours, watching the live feed of NY Time Square,

and tricking the kids into thinking they stayed up 'til twelve.

I have no guilt.

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Now the tree is taken down, the stockings are put away, and I'm ready for the new year to begin!

Even the best laid plans...

You haven't heard from me for a while, but I'm here. I might need to post a picture of myself just incase you've forgotten who I am.

Jealous of my beauty? You should be.

Just think how lucky Nate feels right now.

I found myself writing this post a while ago. I guess I wrote it for more myself than anyone else which is why it sat in my unpublished posts for a while. Tonight I was in need of this little gentle reminder...

(watch out, I'm going to get all serious on you)

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"Get on your knees and thank Him for His goodness to you, and express to Him the righteous desires of your hearts. The miracle of it all is that He hears, He responds, He answers, not always as we wish He might answer, but there is no question in my mind that He answers." Gordon B. Hinkley

There I was, the 2008 version of myself- 3 kids, a husband fresh out of dental school, a move across the country, living in my parents basement.

I had a plan. It was simple. Nate would find the job of his dream- steady and high paying. We would upgrade from a one car family to a two car family, and speaking of upgrading, we would get rid of our minivan that had faithfully made the 2,135 miles drive from Philidelphia. We would live with my parents only temporary until we found the perfect house to settle down in. And we would live happily ever after.

My plan couldn't have been further from reality.

The world that I lived in felt like such an unhappy one. Nothing was going the way I had planned it would. Which was really quite a bummer, because my plan was a pretty good one.

Instead Nate found a job that required an hour long commute one way. He worked long hours with another dentist, who in return paid us nearly nothing. I spent months trying to get a home loan figured out so we could buy a house, but no one wanted to lend us the money. What started out originally as a 3 month plan of living in my parents basement, turned into a year. I felt like I was treading water, barely able to keep my head above it. Gasping for air at times.

It didn't make sense, how could a plan that felt so right turn out so wrong?

That time became a time of prayer and faith, a time of being reminded that sometimes the plan that we have for ourselves is not always the best plan.

It was about mid-November, when a friend from dental school called and offered Nate a part time position in his office, which eventually turned into a full time position, which eventually turned into an opportunity  to buy into a partnership.

Things started to look up. We were able to buy a second car and after months and MONTHS of trying we were able to get a loan to buy our very first house. The kids started school and I began to find friends and feel like I was a person again.

I look back on that 2008 version of myself and feel grateful that I (but really we, both me and Nate) were able to push through it. I can see now that what we went through then were stepping stones to get us to where we are today. And whatever we may be going through today, will bring us closer to an even greater plan that Heavenly Father has in store for us.

And hopefully, one day, that plan will include getting rid of our sad little minivan.

But for now, I am reminded that faith is an ever continual process; that this life that we live is meant to refine us; and that our plans, no matter how amazing and perfect they may seem, are not always what we need.

"Faith in God includes Faith in God's timing"

Neal A. Maxwell

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Sweet Genius

This culinary masterpiece brought to you by Kaleb.

I believe someone's been watching a little too much Food Network.

Recipe for Banana-hana, by Kaleb

"You get a banana, then you cut it into two peices. Then get two tropical Oreo's.
Then ummm, break one. Then get preztels and smash 'em. Sprinkle it over. Then get Nutella.
Oh, back to the pretzels... put sugar in the pretzels (a half a cup).
Then it's DONE!!!"

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Pinkalicious Party

Let's pretend that my friend, Angie, didn't throw this party for her cute daughter, but rather I did...

because I'm a good mom like that.

And let's pretend that throwing a party like this doesn't make my head hurt from all the details and the planning.

And let's pretend that I'm not secretly jealous that I didn't throw a CUTE & very PINK party like this.

I stopped by the party to take some pictures for Angie, because if you're going to go to the efforts of planning a party like this it has got to be documented.

Everything was pink from the GIANT pinkalicious cupcake down to the cute scrabble tile pinkalicious necklaces. And my personal favorite- the pink and white striped straws and pink lemonade.

And staying true to the pinkalicious book, each guest ate a pickle when it was time to leave.

Now suddenly, playing pin the tail on the donkey doesn't seem quite as exciting.
Unfortunately, for my kids, they will never know a party like this unless they get invited to one.

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Dear party planners extraordinaire,
I live vicariously through you... keep it up.
Sincerely, Ginnie

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