i heart bowling

In the last few weeks, I have had the privilege of bowling twice...after a loooooong hiatus. The first occasion was at the home of Mark and Karin Stroessler, where we did Wii bowling. Um, fantastic. Can't wait to do it again. And then, we went to actual bowling lanes last weekend with some friends (mamas from play group and their husbands...thanks for the photo, Meg!). We had a great time. My first game would have made my Oak Lanes coaches from Huntington cry. I didn't even break 100. But I redeemed myself a bit in the 2nd game with something like a 160. This one's for you, Coaches Bill and Steve.

no words

Jesus is alive, guys!

So, Easter was definitely a few weeks ago, but I am just now finding the time to share about our celebration. We had an incredible weekend with our friends here as we anticipated Sunday morning. We loved being at Jason and Jenny Ballard's place all night Saturday as we held a prayer vigil. And Sunday morning was an awesome celebration, complete with mimosas! Mercy understood things a lot better this year. In the days preceding Easter, she would randomly say, "Jesus is alive, guys!" Indeed, Mercy, He is. And on Sunday morning, during our sunrise service, Mercy exclaimed as the sun started to rise, "Jesus is coming!" (Well, she actually said, "Jesus is tumming," but close enough.) Amen, sister.

there were never such devoted sisters...

Grammy (Andy's mom, Mama Z., etc.) sent the girls matching shirts last week in an Easter package. They are adorable (the shirts and the girls, of course), so we had a little photo shoot Sunday afternoon. Oh, Mercy and Eden. They are so cute, I want to eat them. But I won't.

who needs to race, really?

we took mercy to an Easter egg race on saturday at grandrabbit's toy store, a classic wonderland for kids in boulder. mercy had fun, but she definitely didn't comprehend the "race" part of things...which is probably a good thing. she enjoyed picking up one little egg at a time and just looking at it. she also favored the broken eggs. cute. in the end, she had gathered a whopping $1.50 in coupons to grandrabbit's, so she had fun picking out some tiny markers and play foam at the store afterward.

here's to you, irene cara

So, Aunt Amy made Mercy the most fantastic leg warmers when she was visiting here in February. A few weeks ago, we took advantage of the early spring weather and invited Mercy to strut her stuff on the Pearl Street Mall. She gladly obliged without hesitation. And believe me when I say that we did NOT ask her to do any of these poses. It's the power of the leg warmer, people. It just makes you want to move.

In closing, I will say four things:

1) Andy dressed her. My husband is awesome.
2) My daughter really really really makes me smile.
3) Amy, it was a beautifully bold move and such an appropriate tribute to the decade we love. Thank you.
4) I am music now. I am rhythm now. (If you haven't rocked out to "Fame" or "What a Feeling" lately, you need to. Soon.)

And now, for the gazillion pictures of Miss Leg Warmers 2008...because picking two or three would just be plain wrong.

time, she flies

I can't believe it's almost been six weeks since my last post! We've had a busy last month with some weird health issues for me (which have apparently turned out to be a very messed up thyroid - fun) and a job change for Andy (he's now a Graphic Artist with Whole Foods - much more fun than a messed up thyroid!). The girls are growing like crazy, so I thought I'd post some recent pictures before they move in to their college dorms.

Mercy officially turned 2 1/2 last week, and Eden will be 7 months old this Saturday. What?! Eden is sitting up now and thinking quite seriously about rolling over. She's been eating rice cereal as well as homemade pureed sweet potato, squash, and carrots. Yum.

Mercy's rolling out long sentences these days and providing a great deal of the Zenz family entertainment. Some words she really nails, but others are her own little creation. Here's a sampling of some of our favorites: "dare doe" (there you go), "mercy wait up" (Mercy wake up), "you doin'?" (What are you doing?), "hold you" (hold me), "real tozy" (real cozy), "yesss" (very long and drawn out), "sums up" (thumbs up), "edie joWAYull" (edie joelle in a southern accent), "samich" (sandwich), "get see-yull" (get cereal), "doovy" (groovy), "I'm saw-yuh" (I'm sorry), "vedo" (video), "do den" (do it again), "nossnocerous" (rhinocerous), and "hittopottus" (hippopotamus). And as I was typing just now, she threw out these gems: "Mine wortin' real hard" (I'm working real hard), "Mercy tatin' a brait" (Mercy's taking a break), "my tatin' my sots off" (I'm taking my socks off), and "whoa. i pretty hot" (self-explanatory).

Oh, how I enjoy being Mercy & Eden's mom, and Andy's wife, and a friend, and a daughter, and a sister, and on and on and on. It's great to be alive, isn't it? Thank you Jesus, for each breath, and for the reality of knowing you as my risen Savior.

Here's to a wonderful spring tomorrow...and a meaningful, life-changing Easter celebration this weekend!

mercy hammin' it up while a patient eden looks on (really reminds me of the early 80's when amy and i always hogged the camera, leaving sweet, patient carrie in the background time after time)

excited that she looks her doll, groovy, after wearing braids yesterday

hi, smiles

a few weekends ago, we went to a festival called "frozen dead guys" in a nearby mountain town called nederland. very, very interesting experience. the food was completely naughty.

that's our girl.

own that rice krispie treat.

one of eden's first sitting up days

beautiful girl

eden's first bites of cereal (february 2008)

flashback: mercy's first bites of cereal (march 2006)

andy & mercy painting our bedroom (mercy almost 2 1/2 years old)

flashback: andy & mercy painting our living room (mercy almost 1 year old)

eden at (almost) 7 months

mercy at 7 months

babe, bets, and ninja kicks

so mercy has started calling me "bets" and andy "babe" from time to time. she doesn't do it disrespectfully (though i think she's picking up on the fact that we think it's hilarious); we think she's just repeating what we call each other. she also reminds us to "be careful" and "hold hands" when one of us is getting ready to leave the house. the other night, i was told to "be good for all the peoples" before i left for Bible study. always good advice.


the other day, we had a large piece of styrofoam that needed to be disposed of. before doing so, andy invited our fantastic neighbor garret to perform some ninja kicks on it. he happily obliged. they both had a jolly good time obliterating the chunk of styrofoam while the girls looked on with glee.

awesome.