Happiness

This picture was taken by Hilary Anderson- Josh's sister. Thank you, Hilary! This blog is also a service blog. If you haven't heard of a service blog, it's because I just made it up. Let me explain it to you. I want to serve. I want to serve you- my friends and family. That is why I will be calling you guys up randomly- so I can know what is going on in your lives and how I can best serve you better. Besides the phone calls, you can also e-mail me right after a SERVICE blog is posted. In that e-mail you can tell me anything you want to. Label the e-mail SERVICE blog and I will tell Josh right now that he is not to read any e-mails labeled SERVICE blog. You can write down all your worries and cares. I will either a) listen to it with a gentle and caring heart or b) listen to it with a gentle and caring heart and try to do whatever the Spirit prompts me to do. This will be good. It will be a practice for me when my children want to express their concerns. I will know how to l...

Yesterday evening I went to the temple. I had an appointment scheduled with my counselor, but my morning was so rough that I knew I needed help from even higher up on the totem pole of those people who know. I wrote a crazy blog and decided that instead of publishing it, I would try to change my day so that I could write a better blog the next day. So, here is my blog- improved a lot from yesterday: Motherhood. Marriage. Family. These are the themes that kept coming into my mind yesterday as I attended an endowment session at the Washington D.C. temple. I had gone in search of help, in search of some divine guidance that would calm my fears and strengthen my resolve to do better and to be better. Instead of focusing on myself, I began to focus on others. That's what going to the temple, to do service in behalf of others, does to you. I started out thinking about the person whose temple endowments I was receiving for (I have already been to the temple to receive my own endowments, s...

I am going to the temple today. Wish me luck. This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Ethan in orange this time Jonah- the curious one. (I can't spell mischeivious) For those of you who guessed that Ethan is in blue, congratulations! You were right! Of course, if you knew that I almost always dress Ethan in blue and Jonah in red than that would have helped you also. Someone said something funny yesterday. Jonah was sick so I decided to take him home from Church after sacrament mtg. Ethan wanted to go too and since he was slightly sick and tired I said yes. Anyways, one of my friends asked her son, who is nursery with them how nursery was with Ethan and Jonah not there. He replied just Jonah was gone. She said "no, Ethan AND Jonah were gone." He said "There just two Jonahs." Somehow he thought since they both looked alike that they were both named Jonah and that it was really strange that people would mention "Ethan" occasionally. The poor kid has even attended joy school with them for the past three months. I will now be sending them to...

I generally don't blog on Sundays, but I am having a rough day today. It is 9:10 am and so far I have been woken up at 6:30 am with a crying Asher, had to deal with Ethan waking up at 6 am, wanting to go potty- even though he has yet to be potty trained (I will train him on Saturday), helping a sick Jonah (he has a fever) and had to deal with a fiesty five year old who is upset every day that TODAY is NOT Christmas. I yelled at her, sent her to her room, got the boys dressed and now I am in time out myself- in our guest bedroom, reading letters that were written to me ten years ago by family and friends. I came across a poem I want to put on the blog, but I checked my e-mail first and read an e-mail from an on-line group of Co-dependents- aka CODA. My therapist says I do not have co-dependency, I have differentiation. Well. I looked at the sheet they have online and it describes ME. ME. Megan Abbott. I am co-dependent! I don't care what anyone else says, even if it is my therap...

Everyone has posted about their Thanksgiving. Ours was wonderful as well! The weather was gorgeous- 73 degrees! The family friendly and helpful. The food out of this world! Happy Thanksgiving 2007! Here's our Thanksgiving in pictures. The challenge for you: guess which twin is Ethan! Let me know in your comments! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

This morning I awoke, somewhat anxious about Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I checked the 12 lb turkey that I put in the fridge to thaw on Sunday. It was still rock solid! After 2 1/2 days in the fridge! I started to panic. Josh calmed me down and we proceeded to read the directions on the turkey, which say to thaw it in a cold water bath. So, right now, we have a partially frozen, partially thawed hunk of plastic wrapped raw meat sitting in our sink. That reminds me- I need to go drain and re-fill the water. I'll do that right after I'm done writing- along with making the pie pastry for two pies and finishing the third layer of our Thanksgiving Jello. I'll try to post pictures later. Here's to a Happy Thanksgiving! May you all have a thankful heart this season, even if you find your turkey frozen on Thanksgiving Day. This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Here are some pictures of Elizabeth's missing tooth. She went to the dollar store right away (with her aunt and uncle Anderson) and bought a princess "jewelry" set. She loves jewelry. She's been dressing up ever since. The boys want to join her dressing up, so Ethan put on a red shirt and red sweats and said "I'm blood man!"- what a boy! Jonah put on three pairs of sweats (I had just bought them some at Target) and said "I'm a robot! What boys! I other news, I have passworded this blog. If anyone else did not get an invitation, have them e-mail me and I will send them an invite! I feel better about how secure my blog is now. This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott (see I can post my last name and have no worries about it!- hopefully!)

Happy Monday, Everyone! The Open House we had for our cousin Haley on Saturday went very well! Lots of people came, there was lots of great food and everyone had a great time! Our poor kids went to bed at 10 pm though, so they are still tired from the partying. Josh's sister Hilary and her husband Dave came to visit yesterday. We had a great time talking and laughing and they got to see Haley also. This morning Dave has been playing lots of games with Elizabeth and she's had so much fun! Yesterday, while she was eating an apple, her tooth started wiggling! She was so excited and kept saying "I can just keep wiggling and wiggling it!". I wrote "loose tooth" on the calendar for her. Little did I know that she would lose the tooth later that evening! (I will post pictures later!). She got a whole dollar from the tooth fairy and was very excited and began showing everyone. It was quite a fun experience for all! Also, we will be potty training both boys on Satur...

I'm up. Again. Asher is teething. He has two back molars pushing their way through and I didn't give him tylenol last night. He woke up screaming in pain. Poor little guy. Then, five minutes later Ethan woke up- wanting the hall light on. I turned it on. I try not to give in to any requests during the night, but hey- I was awake! We had an Open House for Haley last night. It was amazingly successful. Thank you, Ellen! Our home is wonderfully laid out for entertaining. We have a front formal living room, where the engaged couple sat and received guests, we have the kitchen close by and a freezer in the laundry room to store lots of extra ice. We have a family room with a fire place that was the "quieter room" for a while, until everyone found out about it and it became a noisy room also. And the BIG plus- a "downstairs"! The kids would arrive with the parents in tow and I would greet them and send them downstairs, even after hitting the refreshment table! Dow...

Thanks for the tag, Lariss- I'm not sure exactly what the rules of this tag are, but from my reading I got the understanding of "Top six facts" that you never knew about me. So, here goes: Fact #1. When I was 6 I was almost trampled on by run away donkey. (ie. Daisy- my grandpa's donkey in Idaho) Fact #2. When I was on my mission in Spain, someone threw eggs at us. (they missed! haha!) Fact #3. I am a twin. I have twins and I haven't decided whether I would like twins again or not. Fact #4. I let my kids watch tv when they are driving me crazy and I want to go online. (ie. right now) Fact #5. I'm addicted to shopping. Good thing we don't have a lot of money, or it would be all gone anyway! Fact #6. I hate going to school, even though I taught third grade for a year. I thought being the teacher would make school more fun. It doesn't. I do love reading and writing though. hmmm.. I previously forgot to tag other people, but these people consider yourselve...

Have you ever sat down to write your blog and you have no idea what to write? I will give you a cap- shot of what everyone is doing right now. Right now, it's ten to eight- I'm a morning person and like to get my blog written and out of the way, so I can clean house, do laundry, wrestle with the kids- whatever! Right now, Ethan is sorting my sea shells. I brought them out of storage three days ago to make sparkly Christmas ornaments and haven't done anything with them yet. Asher is running around in his pajamas, which are Christmas themed and are too big. His footed feet sometimes drag behind him. He never falls though- strangely enough. Elizabeth picked her own outfit this morning- a jumper with no shirt. I told her she needed a shirt. She came back with a long sleeve shirt over the jumper and said "it's like a skirt now". Now Elizabeth found the shells and Jonah is stark naked and Asher is now stinky and I better go. This is my blog. My name is Megan ...

This week I am posting pictures of all four of my kids. They're crazy, so they go under the category crazy picture Thursday! No, truthfully- I got up in the middle of the night last night with Jonah, who had a scary dream. This is unusual- because they have been sleeping through the night after I sleep trained them. It took five days, but I was proud of myself when it worked! Anyways, a thought just hit me- I am so thankful for the chance I have to be a Mother. I am grateful that I can be with these kids each and every day. If something happened to one of them, I never want to have regrets and think "I was so not aware of how good I have it." I am aware. We are so blessed. In therapy news, I've learned that I cannot be completely secure in an intimate relationship if I feel that I could not survive on my own without that relationship. I would feel overly involved with my significant other's worries or health issues- since my life would be (and I quote) "One h...

I was going through some of my old journals and came across a section entitled "Deep Thought". Remember those from Saturday night live way back when? Anyways, one of my favorites is: "Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's neck and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because what is that thing?" I know that's kind of morbid, but it makes me laugh, and laughter is a good medicine! In other news, I went to therapy again yesterday. It was a more anxious session, as my family has been experiencing more stress as I change and grow better. On Saturday I went to the temple with the express mission to find out who I am. I had a wonderful experience and then was admonished to go and serve other people. That's what we are here to do- serve others. I told my therapist and she said that I was right. There is too much focus on "finding oneself". You can find yourself and serve others at the same ti...

About a month ago I took Elizabeth to the mall, to get her first "real" haircut. I have enjoyed having someone else cut my hair, so I thought she would too. It was a very kid friendly place, so the boys had fun running around while she had her hair cut. Elizabeth was very brave. Her hair didn't turn out exactly like I wanted it to, so last week I took the scissors and chopped off even more- making her hair into a kind of bob. It looks very cute! I should apply for a job at that hair cutting place! What do you guys think? This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Christmas 2006 At a risk of putting myself out there, I am posting my Birthday/Christmas list online. For those of you who don't know, my birthday falls six days before Christmas. I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing yet. When I was little it was bad, because I would get combined birthday and Christmas presents, and thus felt jilted out of my present getting possibilities. Now, my husband will note what I want for "Christmas" and then get it for me for my birthday and then get something as a surprise for me for Christmas, which I enjoy being surprised by. As my husband does not read my blog, I have posted this same wish list on our refrigerator. Megan's Birthday/Christmas Wish List (not in order of preference or importance) 1. New set of scriptures 2. I-pod 3. Lladro 4. Wallet by Ju-Ju-Bee 5. New pajamas 6. A Beautiful house 7. A wonderful Christmas 8. A closer relationship to my Savior 9. A good therapy session. 10. A full day at the temple. 11. A...

Visit my new blog at www.pinkpanda.typepad.com! I will update that blog weekly, then post a link to it here. This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Wednesday we hit Chuck E Cheese. Right before we went, we stopped by Ross to pick up a coat for Asher. It's gotten quite cold. Finally- I guess! While there I got side tracked and also picked up a few jackets for myself. While I was checking out, I let Asher out of my arms to go play with the other kids. They were glued to the front doors- trying to look at Chuck E Cheese, which was right next door. I told them to move away from the doors and just after I did, Asher began crying- quite loudly!- his finger was stuck in the door. I didn't even see anyone come in- I must have turned away right after I told them to move. The door smashed his finger pretty good. The clerk offered a wipe and a band-for my bawling child. I managed to corral three toddlers, a stroller, two bags of clothes, a roll of christmas wrapping paper and a crying one year old into Chuck E Cheese. I debated whether to still go to Chuck E Cheeses, but the kids were so excited I didn't want to let them down. Th...

This was one of the funniest Halloween costumes I saw online this year! hee hee! So, next year I've decided that we will all be skeletons for Halloween. We will have the Daddy skeleton, the Mommy Skeleton, The big sister skeleton, the twin boy skeletons, the toddler skeleton and maybe even a baby skeleton! Who knows?? This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Jonah said something really funny the other day. I was handing out pieces of Halloween candy (it's almost gone thankfully!) and then teaching the kids what each type of candy was called *you would think that they would know that when they were born!*. I told Jonah that his piece of candy was a "Baby Ruth" (why I was giving him "the good" candy- I don't know!) and he said "It's only for babies?" At first I didn't understand. "No, it's for kids." "It's for Babies?" No, it's a Baby Ruth... Oh- a Baby Ruth! No, Jonah, it's not for babies, it's just called Baby Ruth. I'm taking the kids to Chuck E Cheese today. Wish me luck! Hopefully they won't run too crazy and wild and hopefully there are no sick kids that will get my kids sick, or wild kids that will beat up on my kids, since they are so innocent themselves- you know! Maybe I'll post pictures on Friday. Maybe not. Who knows...

A friend did a blog entitled "Happy" where she posted all the pictures in the month that made her happy. Last month I took 150 pictures. That's right! 150! I never do that. I did it in anticipation of posting a picture a day on my blog. As it turns out, my blogger service has a hard time connecting with my picture storage on my computer. Actually, my computer is kind of sick. I may be calling in some Computer Dr. to help! I have to go- Ethan's crying- I'll be back. In blog news, I have accepted the blogging design help of one of my on-line friends (www.thesparrowsnest.typepad.com)- so if you like what she will do with my blog and want it done to yours, she will be helping others more after Christmas! I am excited for a new face for Pink Panda. Also, I love my blog. It is my forum of expressing who I am, how I feel, etc. Unfortunately, others in my life are concerned about the impact it may have on our family, especially posts inclu...

Good morning! I had a great time on my night away last Saturday. For more info check out: www.pinkpanda.typepad.com. Have a great Monday everyone! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

I normally don't blog on Sunday, but I just recently got my back from my "night away" and wanted to write about my ideas while they are fresh in my mind. To start the day off, I headed to CVS to buy the kids each a small present for puttin up with their Daddy so long. I ended up with princess stickers, spider-man stickers, superman stickers and a stack of very cute cards I just happened to pick up to read and then proceeded to buy. I stopped off at Sears, which is close to the hotel to check out their Saturday sale, tried on some clothes, but decided to not spend any more money and left for the hotel. Oh, I also stopped at Trader Joe's for some Pasta and sauce and Toblerone- the makings of my dinner for that night. After cooking and eating and reading some of my mission journal- I had packed three journals, two co-dependency books, The Kite Runner and an Oprah Magazine for my trip- I decided that I was tired and ready for bed. I looked at the clock. It...

I wanted to post a picture of the kids, but blogger is experiencing problems. I tried to do it yesterday and it was experiencing problems also! Thus, a post with no pictures. This weekend I am taking a weekend away! Ok. It's only for one night, but it's starting Saturday at 3 pm, when I can check into a local hotel and ending Sunday at 11 am, when I can check out of the hotel. I am very excited. I've needed a break (ie. a solid night's sleep) for a while now! The boys are used to waking up at night and me putting their blankets on. Through my therapy, I've learned that I struggle with setting bottom lines- that's where in relationships you say- I'm okay with this, but I'm not okay with that. Thus, I haven't been able to say "I'm not okay waking up in the middle of the night for the past three months." or with Asher "I'm not okay with you sitting on the sink and eating my chapstick." Last night I told the boys that...