Mother's Day at IKEA

What are our kids doing playing, fully clothed, in a bathtub? Well, last week, on Mother's Day, we took a little trip to IKEA with the Kropfs for some fun times and shopping.
The kids had a blast playing in the mini homes set up throughout the store. The Mommies liked the low-priced home goods.
Brooke and I celebrate Mother's Day playing on a see-saw in the children's department.
Grant and Addie share a seat reminiscent of that scene in Sleepless in Seattle where Jonah and his friend listen to the Beatles... you know the one?
Just a random picture from yesterday- Addie is checking my ears. Last time we took her to the doctor, he told her he was looking for dinosaurs in there, and now she says it every time she plays doctor- "Mommy, there's dinosaurs in your ears!"

Today

Today it is 95 degrees in the shade on our patio.

Today I am using my rusty sewing skills to fix Greg's pants, and make Addie a little pillow for bedtime.

Today I sold a few items on ebay- I love ebay.

Today I am wearing all new clothes from my bargain hunting in Ventura- a new outfit for under $10- I love bargains.

Today I appreciated the helpfulness of loved ones who have suggested a corrolation between Addie's reflux surge and her grapefruit eating habbits. (For the record, she ate them mostly last week, and had the reflux start this week, but we are suspending grapefruit for a while just to be safe).

Today I get to start using the new PDA my husband got me for Mother's Day. Yippee!

Today I enjoyed this statement by C.S. Lewis: "Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."

News Potpourri

I see you!












Yes, we're still here, even though there hasn't been much on the blog lately. Our lives have been busy with lots of smaller, unreportable-type things:
Both cars having been in the shop over the last few weeks, so we've been living with one car most of the time. It hasn't been that bad, since Greg works so close to our home. Some days he is even riding his bike into work.
Speaking of fitness, Niki has started a low-key workout routine. If you know me at all in the area of physical fitness, you would be shocked to hear this. Usually I am pretty much against any exercise whatsoever, mostly because I am an uncoordinated spaz. But my neighbor loaned me a video I can actually do without wanting to cry, so I'm gonna try to make it a regular part of my life. We'll see how long it lasts. Can you sense my optimism?

And speaking of health, Addie's reflux seems to be acting up again. As of yesterday, anyway. We'll hope it will go away on it's own.... has it ever done that? Am I being foolishly optimistic? Maybe. Maybe it's the lack of sleep talking.

In other news, Addie has discovered grapefruit. And she really likes it. Here she is downing the juice after eating all the fruit parts.







Also, starting today, we have an extra kiddo at our house two days a week. I'm watching a friend of a friend's baby twice a week for the next month or so. This baby is a little shocking to me, since Addie was VERY high-maintenance, I can't believe a baby will just lay happily and grin at the ceiling.

And that's about all the updates! We'll try to do something exciting soon so that our posts are more interesting to read!

Story Time With Addie

Welcome to story time with Addie! Hope you enjoy the video!

Memory Lane

Mentioning the bee incident this week made me think of our first anniversary, and when I saw that Becky at Something Good was asking "How did you spend your first anniversary?" it gave me the chance to tell the story.



Greg had been on a trip to Uganda and barely made it home the day before the anniversary. He was pretty tired from jet lag. We had agreed I would plan the day, and though I had a lot of ideas, I simplified them because Greg was so pooped.

So we went to Santa Barbara for the day. I packed a picnic lunch and got directions to the Santa Barbara botanical gardens. Figured we could lay out a blanket, eat, and rest for hours. Well, when we got there it wasn't what we expected. It was more... desert-y than we wanted. So we ate, and left to find a prettier place to rest.

The problem was that it was also Father's Day weekend and graduation weekend and there was some big volleyball tournament at the beach. Every street was packed with traffic. We spent so much time in traffic trying to find a pretty place to spread out a blanket that we finally gave up, drove into a residential area, found an elementary school, and used their grass. Greg laid down and immediately fell asleep. And I... well, I had to go to the bathroom. I let him sleep as long as I thought I cold stand it, but eventually he was woken up with the urgent prodding of his wife, "Get up, get up, I need to find a bathroom!" So we found a gas station, and then more traffic, but we decided to head for the beach and try again. Nothing was going as I had planned.

We got to the beach, finally found a parking spot, and set out the blanket for some nice scenery. Uh-oh, I had forgotten my sunglasses, so I went back to the car. I returned and stepped on a bee. Barefoot. BACK to the car, and more traffic and now we're looking for a drugstore for some tweezers to get the stinger out. Oh my.

Niki's foot grows bigger and bigger as we finally find the drugstore. Greg runs in, returns, gets the stinger out and I dry my eyes. Do we try to fight traffic AGAIN? No- let's forget it. We have reservations at one of our favorite restaurants soon, let's just wait in the car till then.

Well, we got to the restaurant and got seated, then Greg's gut started acting out. He had eaten some bad bamboo in Uganda and gotten very sick, and now the remnants were coming back for more. So we are sitting in a nice restaurant and I've got my foot propped up on a chair and Greg's in the bathroom for most of the meal. We decided at that point to scrap our plans about the beach at sunset and just head home.

And this is one more reason I love my husband- because as we drove home, we started laughing. The more we thought about the day of disaster, the more we laughed. And we are so glad now that our anniversary turned out that way, because we will NEVER forget that day! (And I always laugh when I think about it)

Better than All Better

Yeah! We have finally won the battle with illness and injury! At least for now, anyway.

Addie and I started feeling better the end of last week, and by the time Greg's mom left on Sunday, we were well on our way back to normal. We were so thankful that Julie stayed as long as she did. She was a huge help in the worst of the sickness, but also it was really helpful to have her around as I needed a few days to get my strength back and be back in the swing of things.

On Sunday, we celebrated by going on a big outing to the nearby park. We had barely left the house in two weeks! After being there for about 30 minutes, Greg stepped barefoot on a bee and back home we went. We now know that Greg is mildly allergic to bee stings and will swell. So poor Greg had to be off his feet for almost 3 full days before the swelling went down enough for him to walk again. (Incidentally, this same EXACT thing happened to Niki on our first anniversary).

But now, we really are better. In fact, we are better than better, because Addie has really come out of feeling crummy and the last two days she has been... electric. It is really hard to find a word to explain the little firecracker she has been. She has been talking almost non-stop, is super-silly, and saying the FUNNIEST things ever. Last night after being kissed by mommy before bed she informed me that she was going to "wipe all the kisses off" her face. She also brought a blanket to me this morning and asked me to make her into a super-hero. Well, we've NEVER talked about wiping kisses off or super-heroes, so I don't know where this stuff is coming from. We will start taking fun pictures again soon and post something besides words- I promise!

Looking Worse but Feeling Better

This morning when I got Addie up and went to change her diaper, I spotted something surprising (that one was for you- Amy & TJ). Addie was spotted! Red dots were all over her tummy and neck. A few hours later, and they were on her face too. But by then, thanks to my mother-in-law and WebMD, we found out that it is Roseola, a pretty much harmless rash. It was actually great to find this out, because it explains the high fever and diarrhea she's had for the last few days. The spots are supposed to stay for a day or two and then go away on their own, no need for medicine. Yeah! We also did not have to go into the doctor again, which is GREAT.


So here's the back,











the face,

and the tummy.







The arrival of the bumps mean that the fever is almost gone, more good news! We can tell she is really starting to perk up and feel better. And as for me (Niki), I feel GREAT! So much better! What a relief!
Greg is still trying to fight away the junk and we aren't sure if he's winning or losing at this point. But at least two of the three of us are getting better!

Fighting back- with the power of Mommy!!!

Well, just when we thought it couldn't get worse! It seems when Addie and I went to the doctor to treat the ear/ sinus infections, when caught a stomach virus. So at first we thought our antibiotics were amking us sick, but it got more severe as the weekend went on. Then, all the caretaking exhaustion caught up with Greg and the junk caught up with him.

So when Sunday night came and Addie still had a very high fever that kept her from sleeping, Niki was doubled over with nausea and unable to help, and Greg found that the upper respiratory infection was gripping his chest, we started to stress out a little. We couldn't even take care of ourselves! Even with the best neighbors ever and nicest friends in the world, there wasn't someone who could take care of all of us and risk infecting their own family. So who ya gonna call?

A mommy!

Greg called his mom because she is in driving distance, and being a great mom, she hopped on a plane (Phoenix is a looooong drive). She got here Monday afternoon and boy were we HAPPY to see her! She has cooked, cleaned, rocked, and otherwise loved on us. Today she picked up a new perscription at the drugstore for me, went to the grocery store to stock our bare fridge, got quarters so we can do the laundry (we have a community laundry room), mopped the kitchen floor, and prepared all our meals. No, you cannot have her. She's ours and we're not sharing.

We would also like to publicly thank Brooke Kropf for dinner and doing our laundry, Lindsay Ballard for a dinner and picking up stuff at the store for us, The Myers family for going on a drug run for us, and the Murrays for offering a meal (even though Ashley, who is pregnant and doesn't want to get sick, said she would leave it on our porch, knock and run away).

It looks like we are starting to improve, though I'm afraid to type that lest I get my hopes up. Hopefully our next post will be filled with cheery news of health and happiness!

Things parents say...

As Addie was eating her Cheerios.. "Honey, don't color your cheerios with your crayons."

A providential decision

Greg here.

So.... we didn't get to go on the church Couple's Retreat, but it has turned out to be a providential decision.

By friday morning, Niki and Addie's antibiotic treatments did not dramatically improve thier disposition.
I felt like I was getting sick myself, so we decided at that point to wave-off going to the retreat.

Niki called the church office to tell them that we had to cancel, and were later informed that we will get our money back, even though it was such a late cancellation! Whew, that was so nice.

The rest of the day, Addie and Niki coasted with no real improvement, and maybe a little worse as Addie had a bout of the big D * (*see previous posts about this.)

We all slept the whole night, and it was as though the Lord knew I would need the rest.

By lunch time, Addie developed a high fever and more big D. After her nap, she perked up a bit, but Niki was still pretty out of it. By the way, did you know that there are pills, that if even slightly scuffed, render the pill to be the most utterly bitter-tasting substance on the planet. Niki does.

Anyhow, Addie now riding the break-the-fever rollercoaster while we hope that the antibiotics take care of business.

As for me, It looks like I have missed this round of the yuck. Other than a little stuffiness and achines on Friday, I have otherwise forded the great river of sickness for now.

Theology and Mucous

I apologize in advance if this post is strange, but it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm up blogging because I can't sleep thanks to the intense pressure in my sinuses. It is pretty dangerous to share my middle-of-the-night thoughts with the greater internet world, but hey, why not live dangerously.
We at the Spangler house are getting an opportunity this weekend to deal with our theology in the land of unexpected unpleasantness. What the heck am I talking about? Well, Greg and I are supposed to leave in a little over 24 hours to go to Couple's Retreat, our first overnight away from Addie, and it's not looking to likely that we'll be going. We're waiting till the last minute to make the final call, but yesterday's news wasn't great.
Addie and I have been fighting this ick for a week now, and fighting hard. We hit it with the EmergenC, the Zicam, the Mucinex, the Cough Syrup, the Expectorant, the Day-time, the Night-time... you name it. I even drank some magic elixir from our neighbor that tasted like I'd licked a tree. And I think I can still hear it... or maybe feel it... saying "Is that all you got?" I was determined to fight it off and not get on antibiotics because Addie and I have both had more than our fair share of antibiotics and our bodies need a chance to learn to fight on their own. Well, we fought, but we didn't win.
We went to the doctor yesterday. My doctor in the morning, her doctor in the afternoon. My doctor said, "Yep, you fought, but it's not going anywhere. Time for some antibiotics."
At Addie's doctor I expected to hear that she had a sinus infection and would need the drugs, but what I DID NOT expect was to be told, "Um, one of her ear tubes is coming out. And that ear seems to be infected." At which point I carried on the grand tradition of making Addie's ped think I'm nuts and started crying. Man, I was tired and that left hook came out of nowhere! Every vivid memory of the winter of '06/'07 came right to my mind- the constant doctor's visits, the crying, the screaming, the meds, the ear tube surgery... And to think of doing it all over again!
And that is why I say that we're dealing with our theology in this ugly land of infections. Because what do you do when you don't get the fun things you want (weekend away, health, sleep) and instead face a potential trial? You can get overwhelmed, have a huge pity party, and be a touch mad at God. And I'll be honest, there was some moments of that yesterday. But we sat down and talked about it. Is God good? You bet. Does he withhold good from His children? Nope. So how do I explain this? I back up, stop looking at myself, and start looking at God.
Yes, we're sick and miserable and tired, etc, etc, but also we're so blessed. Knowing that I have an eternity before me to be in God's presence, removed from sickness, what's a little time here? Just a blip. Even a fun weekend away, even at a church retreat, only has limited value. But serving the Lord with gladness where He has me- that has eternal value. Bringing praise as a sacrifice when it's not easy is a privilege.
I am so thankful for the promise of eternity because it gives us hope. When life doesn't seem so rosy, I'm so glad I can know that I'm not living for this life!
So thanks for letting me vent people. We look forward to keeping you up to date on the great weekend ahead of us- whether that's Greg and Niki at the Beach and Addie's fun time with the Kropfs, or whether it's a weekend together as a family loving and serving each other in sickness.

Finally, I leave you with a little story to sum up how we feel:
The other night, after we put Addie down to bed, we heard her over the monitor making more noise than usual. I asked Greg, "Is she crying?" Putting the monitor up to his ear he said, "I think she's singing!" We leaned in to hear better and heard our daughter singing
"God is so good,
God is so good,
God is so good,
Heee's goooooood to me."

Last Bunch from the Gardens

Well, I'm not too sick to post the last few pictures from our trip to Descanso Gardens. But you'll forgive me if I can't think of witty captions.
Addie in a tree.
My favorite family shot.
A spring bud- this is my favorite picture of the whole trip.
This is our new house, like it? Ha ha- it's actually the Boddy house, the former home of the family that first owned Descanso gardens.

Yucky

Well, the current events around our house are that Niki and Addie have been sick for several days now, and we're ready to get better already!!!! Greg is taking very good care of us, and being an A+ husband/ daddy. We're a bit dissapointed that today we had planned to go to Disney's California Adventure with the Kropfs, and now we are too sick to go. Oh well, God knows and has good things for us.
As if the rotten cough and cold didn't make her pathetic enoguh, Addie tripped in the kitchen on Sunday and knocked her forehead on the back of one of our kitchen chairs. It hit just right and made a great bruise. Here it is shortly after collision, blue to match her eyes...

And later that night, with some Oreo cookies on the face.

We decided to try breaking the rules and give her some chocolate (it's one of the few things the tummy doctor has told us is a no-no). Well, she woke up that night throwing up and had the big D (and I don't mean Dallas) for the next day. I don't think it was from the chocolate, more likely something the neighbor kids have too or maybe all the mucuos from the cold affected her. Anyway, I think I'll wait awhile longer before risking chocolate again.

Well, no more throwing up, but still a touch of the big D (I can't bring myself to type the actual word), and the cold is still in full force, and now the bruise is starting to yellow and we have seen some new bruising down by her eyes.

Very much like the rest of Addie's life up to this point, we're finding when it rains, it pours. We also know this really won't last forever and we'll all be feeling better soon. Hopefully very soon, because this weekend is the church's couples retreat and we've been looking forward to going for months! Addie gets to play with Grant all weekend and this will be our first overnight away from her! We're gonna hope for some calm seas in the near future!

Some of the Flowers

These shots are just for the flower appreciators in our audience- Melissa, Linda, Kim, Julie Michelle, etc.

Red Camilias. So pretty! They were blooming thick.




















A Peppermint striped Camelia.


Most of Descanso is, in fact, a camelia forest (they call it that, not me) that you walk/hike through.









Don't know what it is called, but sooo pretty. This was mom Julie's favorite.












These were called Angel's trumpet. They hung off big vines around one side of this fountain. It was beautiful. I was quite taken with them.

California poppies!

Addie's Train Ride

Last year, when we came to Descanso, Addie was just a shade too young to be allowed to ride the train...
So this year, not only did she go, but so did her parents and her grandparents!
As we started out, Greg, who was sitting in front of us, was told he couldn't turn around to take pictures, or he'd upset the balance of the train (which was made for the Pre-K set). So, he took this picture by holding the camera backwards over his shoulder and snapping the trigger!

We're going through a tunnel of green!
Addie was very happy with the whole experience.

Family Fun at Descanso

Addie spots some Koi in the Japanese garden
Greg and Addie/Meemaw play hide 'n seek. Remarkably, Greg couldn't seem to find Addie behind the tree!
A family game of "Ring-Around-The-Rosie" in the amphitheater
Kisses for the love of our life

We Got Tagged

Well, I’ve been tagged by Amy (http://amycoadventures.wordpress.com/). Even though I am in the throws of a rotten cold, I think I can play along with this fun game and come up with a few random and wierd facts about the Spanglers to share with you all. The hard part is limiting myself to just 7.

Here are the rules of the game…

1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here we go!

1) Greg and I went to college together but our first conversation happened on graduation day. (Unless you count "what would you like for dinner?" since I worked in the cafeteria in college, I probably served him dinner hundreds of times before we even knew each other)

2) When we were dating, Greg and I took a trip via Amtrak and rode 38 hours together in coach. THAT was a bonding experience.

3) Greg started out as a math major in college. He changed his major 4 times before settling on Communications.

4) One weekend during college, Niki had her hair died bright orange with stripes in order to be a hair model for a large beauty conference in Los Angeles.

5) For his 18th birthday, Greg went skydiving. His mom went with him. Maybe that should be a crazy fact about HER! Greg still wants to go back for more.

6) Niki has twin half-sisters she didn't know about until Junior High, and didn't meet until high school. Aren't they pretty?

7) In 8th grade, Greg was his school's Student Council President.

Just makes ya want more, huh? :)

I tag:

The Harrelsons http://www.theharrelsons.blogspot.com/

My cousin Heather http://kaemingk.blogspot.com/

My sister Kim http://www.kimistevens.blogspot.com/

Sarah Hughes http://www.sarahhughesblog.blogspot.com/

Greg's brother Mark & his wife Jess http://markandjesss.blogspot.com/

The Mumper family http://www.mumpfam7.blogspot.com/

Kirsten http://www.zeikle.blogspot.com/

Lilac Love

We all enjoyed the lilac garden at Descanso.
One sniff of a lilac and you're having a great day!
Can you smell it people?
Greg just stands in the midst of it all and basks in the goodness.
Hey- what happens behind the lilacs, STAYS behind the lilacs.

I think this may be my favorite picture of the year so far!

What a Weekend

What a weekend!
I (Niki) spent Friday night and Saturday at a local women's conference featuring Elyse Fitzpatrick. If you aren't familiar with her, she's a godly woman who has written many books and has a background in Biblical Counseling. Words can't express what a spiritual encouragement this conference was! Elyse spoke on the gospel and I found myself falling more and more in love with my Saviour! I look forward to her new book, arriving soon, called "Because He Loves Me." Based on what she had to say this weekend, I would highly recommend the book!

As if that wasn't enough, we were privileged to have a visit Sunday through Tuesday from Greg's parents.
We all went to Descanso gardens on Monday, which is about the best place on earth to spend a nice Spring day. The weather was perfect- about 70- and the flowers did not disappoint!
A lovely specimen in the rose garden.

A well-groomed patch of tulips, pansies, snap dragons, and more!
A quiet little spot by the fountain
Greg's parents under a cherry tree. Sorry that they're so small in the picture, but I wanted to capture the full grandeur of the tree!


Lots more pictures to come!

Needing Your Good Input

I'm coming to you, the people, for some input today. I'm in a dilemna. See, I'm doing a little purging in my kitchen cabinets and trying to decide what to keep. I have a little food processor (I think it was a wedding gift), that I've hardly used. How badly can I possibly need this thing if I've only used it a time or two in 6 1/2 years?
I find I can chop most things almost as fast with a knife (I've spent a lot of my life chopping and have gotten pretty quick now), and it's a lot faster and easier to clean a knife than to dissassemble and clean a food processor. But maybe there's some wonderful use for it I just haven't discovered because I don't think to use it. Maybe I'll regret it if I purge this thing! SO- what I need to know is:

What do you use a food processor for?

C'mon people! I really need you to tell me!

A Younger and More Appealing Option

So, I must confess, I have neglected this blog this week because I ran off and fell in love with a younger, more exciting option for online communication. Facebook people. It sucked me in. BUT I am back, and will not forsake the blog completely. I promise. But I do still love Facebook.

See, for many years I have loved to think about Heaven, and have been growing continually more excited about my eternity there. (I know, some of you are saying "what is she talking about here?" but bear with me). And Facebook gave me a little taste of heaven this week, which was pretty stinkin' exciting to me. Let me explain....

God has blessed me with the chance to know some really amazing people. A lot of them I met in college. Some before that, some after. But I had lost touch with some of said people, and that was sad. One in particular I had tried to find on numerous occassions, but to no avail. I thought about this friend from time to time, and missed her.

Then, on Thursday, I found her on facebook. Let me introduce you to Becky Casey (who is probably a little embarrased that I'm posting about her right now).

Becky and I became friends right away in our freshman year at Masters. I loved being around her because her love for the Lord was genuine and infectious. We giggled and moaned about boys and acted silly together and I especially remember walking to class with Becky and my other friend Becky (what can I say? It was a popular name in the late 70's) and listening to them talk about heaven. I hadn't thought about the concept much before their talks, and it was there my love for heaven began.

Anyway, I went to Phoenix for the first time to spend an Easter with Becky. It was there I made a pie for the first time. I still use her step-mom's pie crust recipe! We also went to the Grand Canyon that trip.

Who knew later in life I'd make so many trips to Phoenix? Every time we go, I think of Becky! I spent a Thanksgiving there with her family one year too.

I had great memories with Becky, but after graduation, we lost touch. And then when I tried to find her not long after, I couldn't!

What I wanted to tell her was who I married, because Becky knew Greg long before I did. They even rode with a group together all the way to Phoenix one school break! I knew it would floor her that I married him since she dissapeared long before we ever started dating.

And Thursday night, when we talked on the phone, I got to tell her. And man, it was fun!

Anyway, I've connected with friends from college, old roomates, even friends from highschool. They are all over the country and some all over the world. What a great week!

So what does all this have to do with Heaven? Well, reuniting with all these old friends and rejoicing to hear that they are loving and serving the Lord has been really great. And I can't help but think, if it's this much fun now, how great will it be when I'm reuniting with all my saved loved ones for eternity? It sure gives me something to look forward to!