Sweet Visits

A quick visit with the Bement Family (sans Brian) - made me miss them even more!

The kids loved Jay's bedtime rendition of "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus": 

July 4th Weekend

Update-a-rama

Starting with Jay's fellowship matching. Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison: 

We're pretty bummed about it, don't you think?

Graduation!

Proud of you, Jay! xo

Public Dance-Off

One of my life-long dreams is to be part of a public stunt like this:



(HT: Ray Ortlund)

See also: The New York Freeze

The World's Fair and My Sister!

If you've ever been to Morton, IL, you know that the Morton Pumpkin Festival in September is the big thing around here. I mean, THE big thing. Native Morton-ites call it "The World's Fair!" A few years ago, the Punkin' Chuckin' contest was even featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Big stuff, eh? 

This year, most likely our last year in Morton, we will get to enjoy the Pumpkin Festival with a celebrity! The theme this year is "Christmas in the Pumpkin Patch," and the Chamber of Commerce called for entrants to design a logo for this year's festival around that theme. And my sister WON! I'm so excited - Em's logo will be everywhere - in the paper, on festival t-shirts, printed on the race shirts - everywhere! I can't wait. 

So here it is, a first peek at the logo for this year's Pumpkin Festival (though the colors aren't coming through quite right on this scan):

Go Em!!!

Potty Training

Jay and I were sitting at the table this morning, and Trey came out of the other room saying, "Giraffe go potty! Good boy!" 

We were glad to see that giraffe didn't attempt the big-people potty today.

Resident of the Year!

Last week we went to an Awards Banquet for the Med Students, and Jay was chosen by the Class of 2009 Med Students as Resident of the Year! The students chose him as the resident who "exhibited the highest combination of professional attitude, level of instruction, and constructive guidance."

What a great way to wrap up the final year of residency!! Proud of you, Jay!

Rainy Afternoon

The boys ate pizza in a living room fort on this rainy, Sunday afternoon. (And I got some time to myself.) Perfect!

More Weekend Pics

Frisbee, mowing, Easter egg hunt,

Checking blood pressure,

Reading!

Hey, those look cool...

Thanks Pop-o!

Happy To You

My Grandma Gail, parents, Andy, Luke & Em all came to celebrate the Easter weekend (and my birthday) with us. Not to mention the extra dog and cat in the house! It was so much fun.

Trey has been singing the birthday song since last weekend when his buddy Jack had a birthday party, so we tried to get him to sing it to me. He must have thought Jack's party was more fun.

My New Man-Crush

Hymn 72

Bless'd morning, whose young dawning rays
Beheld our rising God
That saw him triumph o'er the dust,
And leave his dark abode!

In the cold prison of a tomb
the dead Redeemer lay,
Till the revolving skies had brought
The third, th' appointed day.

Hell and the grave unite their force
To hold our God in vain;
The sleeping Conqueror arose,
And burst their feeble chain.

To thy great name, almighty Lord
These sacred hours we pay;
And loud hosannahs shall proclaim
The triumph of the day.

Salvation and immortal praise
To our victorious King;
Let heav'n, and earth, and rocks, and seas,
With glad hosannahs ring.

from The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts

A Notable Failure

He never went abroad to broaden him
and though he learned to read, he did not write
anything worth saving. Once, at a whim,
he scribbled something they hadn't got right

in the sand and erased it. Few could know
whether to credit any of the vulgar rumors
surrounding his birth in a shed. There were
whispers and a gap of thirty years.

Then more rumors trickled through the countryside
about the artisan's son turned wonderworker:
probably a charlatan - blasphemer to be sure. Wide-
eyed, some claimed he raised the dead (and healed lepers!),
before the Romans nailed him - as they nailed all such-
and the neighbors sniffed, "He didn't come to much!"

by Robert Siegel from The Waters Under the Earth

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

(by Isaac Watts)

The Many Faces of Trey

Well, some of them. 

Happy Spring

Why do I live in the midwest again?

Teacher of the Week

Billy brings his high school football players to mentor 3rd grade students every week, and those 3rd graders nominated him for "Teacher of the Week."

Take a look at the article!

Congratulations, Coach Cook! :)

Another Freebie

Willing to give your name, e-mail, and birthdate to Quizno's? They'll give you a free sub coupon. I just tried it... and it works! You have to use the coupon within 5 days, though.

I find this stuff at dealigg.com - lots of electronics, but sometimes I find gems like free coffee, free blankets, and free Quiznos!

And apparently, it's fashionable to be a conspicuous cheapskate these days. 

Free Download of Not For Sale

During the month of February, you can download the audiobook Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade and How We Can Fight It....for free.

I just downloaded the Mp3s, and it was fast and easy. Now the hard part: listening. But so important.

Listen with me?

YouTube Orchestra

I just found out that YouTube and London Symphony Orchestra are creating the first collaborative online orchestra. Winners chosen from the online auditions will be invited to play New York City's Carnegie Hall in April.

Such a cool idea... Trey and I had a blast clicking through the audition videos.

I found out about this via Abraham Piper's twentytwowords.com, since he is passing the word along about his friend who is auditioning and asking people to vote... which I did! 

Trey was in the room with me when I watched the video on Abraham's site, and he was entranced. Asked me to play the 'gi-o-vin' video eight times yesterday. So instead of sitting in front of the computer all day, I played Joshua Bell in the house and in the car. We'll see how long this lasts....

(I won't lie, I was daydreaming for a few minutes about having a violin prodigy on my hands....)

Deeeelicious

Em and I share an Allrecipes.com account, so we can put all of the recipes we find in the same 'box.' I think she found this recipe for Chicken with Asparagus and Roasted Red Peppers, so we tried it last night, and it was so good! Probably one of my favorites in years. (Besides her Chicken and Asparagus Bundles find). 

I served it with the chicken cubed and over whole wheat pasta. With only 190 calories per serving (sans the pasta), you can't beat it!

Braggin' on my sis

How could I not brag on her? (grin)

Em's drawing was chosen as picture of the month by jetpens.com!

I'm not sure if it will be featured for next month or in the next few days/weeks (you'll have to let me know, Em), but I'll post when it appears on JetPens.

I'm so proud!

One down, three to go

Dad, Mom, and Andy came to visit this weekend, and we had Christmas in February. Thanks for coming, guys! We had a great time.

Mom and I were looking at the kitchen with pastel green walls and partially peeling wallpaper, and I was sighing with frustration at one of the four rooms I need to get done/painted.  She decided that we should try and get something done while they were here, so with her kind-hearted help, we peeled off all of the wallpaper in record time. So we went to pick a color. I wanted a bold something-or-other, and started with this:

but the cranberry red looked so darn pink to me (not as pink as in the picture, but pink enough), that I couldn't handle it. So we chose again. Mom found this gorgeous herbal garden green (to which these photos are not doing a bit of justice), and I am really happy with it. The fam had to leave on Sunday evening, but I stayed up 'till 1 a.m. and finished. Feels real good to have a non-pastel-y kitchen! Can't wait until my curtains and decor are finished...

The kitchen is a total mess, I know. But after painting for hours and hours, do you blame me? Thanks for all your help, family! Love you!

Hilarious and disgusting

Have you seen the Cakewrecks blog?

I get a big kick out of heading over there once in awhile. The latest post is gross (cakes made to look like feet - ew), but some of them are really funny!

Brrrrrr

It was warm enough to venture out for a jog last week. Plus, I suckered Bethany into pushing the jogging stroller, so it was quite a nice outing. Love you Bobo!

Drastic measures

Sorry to interrupt the recent political climate at the Tuck porch, but I think it's time. Especially for something as important as this. 

We've had a bit of trouble with Trey's double cowlick (this is not static, it really looked like this when Trey woke up)...

... so we took some drastic measures. Baby's first buzz cut:

Nationalized Healthcare

This editorial at Pajamas Media had me seriously considering supporting the (seemingly inevitable) move towards nationalized health-care system.

This editorial at the same site changed my mind.

The one who states his case first seems right,
until the other comes and examines him. Proverbs 18:17

Thank You, Fiscally Conservative Republicans

(HT: The Cato Institute)

Whirlwind

Busy and wonderful last few weeks... Christmas, Trey turned two, we cruised the Caribbean to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Van's 65th Anniversary, and a sweet little boy was born and joined the family: Jackson Cook to Billy and Teresa. Lots in between, but here's to brevity! And, well, lots of pictures.

                                                                     

Jaedyn and Trey playing a game with Poppie on Christmas Day

Putting Trey's Christmas gift together

Baby's first blush! I couldn't believe it, but Trey actually blushed when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him at the hotel. There were lots of people around, and as soon as he heard his name in the song, he blushed like crazy! 

Trey with Mom-o and Pop-o Van

 

Jay, Sam, and Trey. Sam was too cute in the pool: "Help, Uncle Jay! I'm floating away!"

Trey loves his cousins!

The Tuck Clan

Jackson - so sweet!