Our Story, God's Plan

Our First Family Ski Trip

2012-02-03T04:39:00.001-06:00

Although Brian, Josh and I have all skied, we have never skied together. It is something we have always wanted to do, we just haven't taken the opportunity. While we live in Europe, it seems silly not to, so we scheduled a ski trip with a local ski club that started the day after Christmas. The nice thing about the trip is that ski lessons were included for everyone. Brian is a good skier and wasn't sure he needed the lessons, but in the end decided he learned a lot and was glad he did them. Since I hadn't skied since my senior year of high school (just a couple years ago, right?!) I was happy to be doing lessons. Josh went skiing a few times on youth trips and would have a day lesson but he really enjoyed not only having the lessons but having a full week to ski! Ian and Ellie were in classes, too. Ian picked it right up - must be all that ice skating! Ellie learned to snow plow and even went down the mountain with us one day! She was worn out at the end of each day, though, and usually fell asleep in the car on the way back to our hotel (a mere 10 minutes away). We had a great week and really enjoyed our time. Since we were all in separate ski classes, we did take the last day of skiing to have us all (minus Ellie) ski together in my ski class because we decided it was a happy medium for all of us and my instructor, Paul, was a nice guy and let us do it. We had met another family at our hotel and the wife (Gretchen) was in my class, the husband (Jerry) was in Brian's class and their boys were in Ian's class and they, too, skied as a family in my class the last day. It was a great way to wrap up the week on our Family ski trip (otherwise we were apart most of the day). Here is a picture of Brian and I on our first morning on the slopes - right before we got put into our classes!This is a picture of me while on lunch break with my class. The views were amazing!This is a picture of the view from our room at the hotel (Gasthaus) we were staying in.Enjoying the sunset from our room.The first two days of skiing were beautiful! We were running a little late for our classes the second day due to traffic getting up the mountain and Brian and I were unable to find our classes. We decided just to enjoy some time skiing together and see if we could find our classes at lunch time.

We were able to get a picture together at lunch right before we left to join our separate classes.

Here's a picture of Brian and Ellie as they were coming down one of the sloepw together. I love Ellie's expression.This picture is of the kids watching a Tim Hawkins video on Ian's iTouch he got for Christmas. I love seeing my kids having fun together!This is a picture of a well-known restaurant on the mountain that serves donuts - either savory or sweet. They were delicious!

Here's a picture of the family waiting for our donuts to arrive!Here's a picture of me with the donuts Brian and I were sharing!Josh with his donuts.Ian with his.Here's a family picture of us on the slopes. It was cold - hence the reason I look like a pink stay puff marshmallow man!I took this picture of Josh outside the place we had our award ceremony for our ski classes.Ellie got a silver medal for her class. She did have other kids in the class they just weren't at the ceremony).

Ian got the gold medal for his class. For some reason the boy standing on the podium with him thought he'd gotten the gold, too, and wouldn't get down.

Yes, I actually got the gold in my class too - beating even the young ones that got silver and bronze!

New Year's Eve the village we were staying in had a little fire works display and celebration in the town center. We stayed for the fire works then left because it was dinner time and it was snowing a wet snow that was soaking us!

Here we are on New Year's Eve with the family I mentioned earlier. Our tables were right next to each other and we chatted every night. It was fun having another family to hang out with!

The kids would hang out in the stair well near the dining room with the iPad and play games because it had a better Internet connection there!

It really was a great trip and was hard to come home to see the whirlwind of Christmas still in the living room since Christmas seemed so long ago at that point! We are already thinking about and planning for another ski trip we enjoyed it so much.- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Sankt Veit, Austria

December 2011

2012-01-24T09:22:00.001-06:00

Yes, another holiday season has come and gone and I am only now blogging about it. I guess the upside to that is the fact that I took the time to just enJOY the holidays! It's all becoming a bit of a blur which is why I figure I should probably take the time to write about it before it is all forgotten! We spent Thanksgiving in Poland at a Christian mission there. Our purpose was bringing Thanksgiving dinner to the workers and their families. Our time there was tainted, however, with Ellie getting sick and us having to head home earlier than expected. We ended up spending the night in Dresden and were able to enjoy some of the Christmas markets there. The city is amazing and we look forward to going there again!Unfortunately, the month started on a sour note with Brian getting in an accident in his car and we eventually found out that our insurance company would total it. This disappointed Brian greatly as he really liked that car. As I type we still have yet to replace the car.We had a couple of work related Christmas parties to attend the first couple of weekends in December. It was our first time to have a babysitter here in Germany. I was given the name of a German girl in our village so we hired her. She is very sweet and it worked out nicely. Early in the month we made Christmas cookies to give to our neighbors. The kids and I had a good time making them and Daddy helped to ice them! Bella got whatever fell or dropped on the ground!

Ian also had his first hockey game here the second weekend of the month in Luxembourg. It was on Saturday morning and we had to get up pretty early to get there but we made it. Their rink is outside under a cover so it was pretty chilly. It was a good game and ended in a tie.

After the game, we explored the surrounding village a little then went to a Christmas market in another village on the German border (but still in Luxembourg). While at the market, Ellie rode a donkey through the town and I walked alongside with her and took pictures. She really enjoyed riding the donkey and wanted to do it again.

We finally went and picked out a tree and got it decorated. It seemed a little late for us but the timing just worked out that way for us!

On the 16th of December, Brian and Ian went on a bus with his hockey team to Mannheim to watch a German professional hockey game. They enjoyed the experience and Brian was glad to have along a couple of other American dads to chat with - one of them, in fact, graduated with him from the Academy! Small world!The next day we left in the morning to pick up Josh from the airport in Frankfurt. We got there in plenty of time and ended up waiting quite a while for him to come through customs and everything. It was so good to see him! We had already decided to go to the Christmas market in Frankfurt so we headed that way for Josh's first German experience! Unfortunately, Josh was fighting a pretty bad headache so we didn't stay very long at the market but we did stay long enough to enjoy some Gluhwein and German specialties like kartoffelpuffer (a potato pancake thing similar to hash browns and it's just fun to say) and schwenk steak (a seasoned pork steak that is quite yummy). We headed home for a little bit then went to a restaurant in a town near ours and had a nice traditional German meal. The next day we had church and then came home to enjoy a relaxing afternoon. I decided to go ahead and give the boys a gift my friend, Deb, bought on clearance thinking of my boys and sent to me - the big Harry Potter Lego castle! It took them just a couple of days but they got it done. (I need to get a picture of the finished product.)

That week before Christmas, Brian was working and Ian still had his evening activities so we had a pretty normal week. The kids did make a gingerbread house one day and we did take Josh around a little to see the local area. We did get some snow one day that week and it was enough to play in and make a snowman in but it was gone by the next day.

One night after Ian's hockey practice, we took the opportunity to do some ice skating as a family!

Brian ended up having the 23rd off so we decided to take Josh (and Ian since he wasn't with us when we went before) to Heidelberg. We walked around, shopped, ate and just enjoyed the day.

Christmas Eve we went to the service at our church then went to our friend's Tim and Jennifer's house for refreshments. We have been friends with Tim and Jennifer for a while (since 5 assignments ago) so it was fun to hang out with them and for them to get to see Josh. We came home and opened our traditional Christmas Eve gift - new pajamas! Then, sent the kids off to bed!

The above picture was taken at Tim and Jennifer's house.

Christmas morning the kids actually slept in a little bit! We then had a wonderful time of opening gifts and being together.

We got to relax for a little while but then we had to get serious packing for our ski trip that we were leaving for the next morning! I will write about the ski trip in the next post so that this isn't any longer than it already is! All-in-all we really enjoyed our time celebrating our risen Savior and His coming to earth as a baby. May we never take for granted the gift He gave us!

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Mom's Away, the kids will play, part 2

2011-11-06T15:12:00.000-06:00

The kids survived day 1! I slept in a little on Saturday, then put on a DVD of Bugs Bunny cartoons and went for a 5 mile run. Joy and I have been running farther and farther down the hill at the mid-way point as she increases her distance, but the extra quarter mile I ran today felt nearly straight DOWN. And the run back up was brutal. I think we'll have to change our route to get Joy up to 5 miles!

I made French Toast and bacon for breakfast, and Ian and I had the leftover hashbrowns from Rockers. We got everyone set for the day, then took Bella on a 2 mile walk. Ellie really wanted to run with Bella, and she probably ran/walked 500 yards or so!

We went back to the house, loaded some snacks, got gas at Landstuhl, got cat food at Kaufland (my comfort level for shopping on the local economy is improving), and went to the Speyer Technical Museum. It was about an hour away, and is just off the end of the Speyer Airport. The main exhibit hall is a former hangar, and outside is a Boeing 747 mounted about 60 feet in the air with a slide back to the ground! The interior of the plane has some cut away parts, and you can go to the flight deck/first class area, as well as the cargo hold. Ian and Ellie both liked it!

Ian and Ellie on the landing going up to the 747, with the old hangar in the back ground.

Ian under the 747. It's at a bit of an odd angle, and walking around in it makes you feel a little disoriented.

Looking to the tailcone of the airplane, Ian is standing in the cargo hold, with his arms where the seats would go.

In the distance was a beautiful cathedral. We ended up in that neighborhood looking for McDonald's for dinner...it looked like a great place to explore!

The lion was very random. Having an 11-year-old in drama class is a blessing and a curse.

Even though this jet was a MiG, Ellie liked it because the nose and the tail were hot pink.

Ian and I liked the U-boat. It was a post-World War II diesel-electric, from what we could gather. I didn't realize the front end was so blunt.

Ellie, of course, has as much drama as her brother. Here, they are being sucked into a giant turbofan engine. Oy.

I didn't realize the Soviets made their own space shuttle. This was a non-space flight version with jet engines for high atmosphere tests. Turns out, they did some great work on remote-controlled flight! And this version is far larger than the US space shuttle. The two Soviet BURANs went into space 25 times, until the program was curtailed when the USSR failed in 1989.

Ian (did I mention he's taking a drama course?) liked the Corvette. I liked the Mercedes 300 Gullwing coupe in the back, not to mention a beautiful Audi, a pair of Jaguars, and a Mercedes that used to belong to the King of Iraq.

We ended up closing the place, eating at McDonald's near the highway, and then heading home to bed.

Sunday was relatively routine, with Sunday School (I taught), church, lunch at a Holiday Bazaar on Rhine Ordinance Barracks that looked very similar to the one on Ramstein in September, and then a few chores. Ellie fell asleep on the couch, and I had to wake her up for AWANA back at church. Ian tried out a new evening course (not AWANA), and he now has a role in a drama the youth are putting on. Did I mention he's liking his drama course? One of our Sunday School classmates made a whole chicken with potatoes and carrots for us, felling sorry for us that Joy is away. I also taught the lesson on FELLOWSHIP and meeting the needs of the church through small groups, so perhaps my message hit the mark. Anyway, Ian and Ellie both made it to bed by 2100 (much later than I would've liked, but it took me 15 minutes to find Ian after church). By the time the lunches were made, and a long-sleeved blues shirt was ironed, it was 2200! I'm not sure how single parents do it.

Tomorrow, Ellie will go next door to her AWANA teacher's house for the day, while Ian is in school. I'll leave work a little early to get him to hockey, then we'll have more of the 7 lbs. chicken I mentioned above.

Somewhere, in there, I'll get Air War College and the honey-do list done...I hope.

Mom's away, the kids will play, part 1

2011-11-05T16:46:00.001-05:00

Joy and I have been going to a parenting class, and one of the things we need to work on is affirming our children, just as they are. It was shortly after this lesson that Joy felt led to fly home to see Josh in the lead of his play at Armstrong Atlantic State University. That leaves ME with the kiddos for a few days. In order to preclude all the usual gasps of incredulity, I decided I should try to put up a few pictures of how we're doing.

Friday, after dropping Joy off at the airport, I took the kids to base for breakfast at JR Rockers. We went home to rescue Bella from herself (she likes to sleep in, so she wasn't up when we left at 0600), and took her for a picnic at Burg (castle) Nanstein in Landstul, the largest town closest to the house.

We thought about exploring the castle, as it has been partially restored, but because there was a fee and we had Bella (who has no qualms about defecating on floors), we decided we could do that another day when Joy was around.

With the castle at my back, you are looking north at Ellie over the town of Landstuhl. Ramstein Air Base is off to the right about 4 miles, behind the tree to Ellie's right.

Now, looking nearly west, the rest of Landstuhl is nestled in the valley, below. The notch in the trees holds another small fort-like edifice that I presume was an observation post that could send signals to the castle. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and Ian's school is behind that ridge, farther to the left of the picture.

We did a 700 meter loop in the forest. Ellie walked for about half of it. Bella liked it a great deal. Ellie never misses a chance to take her blanket everywhere!

After the picnic, we went back to base for Ian to get shots. Otherwise, he'd be barred from school on Monday. We were able to opt out of the flu vaccine, though. Then, we bought a printer at the Exchange, so Joy can print her recipes and Ian can print his schoolwork. I've downloaded the iPhone app to be able to print to it...I wonder if I'll ever use it?

For dinner, Ian and I finished the chicken curry Joy made last week, and Ellie had salami and crackers while we watched the original Lion King on VHS. I'd really like to digitize the whole collection and be done with DVDs and VHS, etc. But that will take lots of time. Maybe after Air War College...

Rhine River Cruise

2011-11-05T16:08:00.002-05:00

Joy mentioned that some folks had gone on the Rhine River cruise in October, and the colors made it a spectacular trip. So, Joy did the research, I got us all up early, and off we went to Bingen, Germany, a port on the Rhine. We took the Audi so we could make good time, and use the Germany GPS, but as it was, we basically parked and walked on the boat as it was leaving...the Germans are punctual!

I was expecting something like the ferry we took at Sault Ste. Marie: an open-deck boat that was very loud. Fortunately, I found we were on a 3-deck boat that was glassed in on two levels. We had wait service and warmth on the cool fall day! We took advantage of it and had tea and apple kuchen (cu-ken, an apple cake) on the way out, and brats, chicken nuggets, pommes frittes (French fries!), and salad on the way back. The boat went about 2 hours downstream (North) towards the North Sea, and got off in St. Goar to look around. This is Joy, Ian, and Ellie with our boat in the background at St. Goar. The top deck was open air, but we didn't spend much time there.

We did have a minute before we got on the boat to snap this picture of a grinder organ player. The monkey is fake, but the rest of it is authentic!

This is one of the first castles North of Bingen, though I snapped this one on the way back upstream. There were nearly a dozen castles in various states of repair (or disrepair). We did jot down the name of one that is now a hotel. I'm thinking Joy and I might need a date, soon! Though I know Ian and Ellie would both love to stay overnight in a real castle!

This is Ian with the fall colors and a castle in the back.

When we got off in St. Goar to look around, we found this lovely old church. After taking this picture, we walked up the hill behind it, and down the alleys. It's tough to live on a hill...the kids really have nowhere to play because NOTHING is flat!

Joy has some other pictures to put up, but I can't edit her draft, so you'll have to wait for her version. I just know we are way behind, but with Joy in the US for Josh's play, this weekend, I have a minute to BLOG just a little.

The colors, though not quite peak, were lovely, and it was nice to just sit back and relax for several hours and watch the world float by.

Side note: I apologize for the formatting. Google has changed how the interface works, and I've got some work to do.

A Month in Review

2011-10-14T02:56:00.001-05:00

Yet another month has passed and I haven't been updating the blog like I had hoped. It didn't help that we finally got our stuff and we've been busy trying to get the house in order as well as enjoy our weekends and the beautiful weather while we could. I am posting some pictures from the past month to try and catch up on what we've done as best I can. The next couple of pictures are of the scenery we get to enjoy daily!

The next picture is of us with our landlords, Pirmin and Monika, at a place they took us to eat one Sunday. They are currently on vacation and we have missed them!

These next few pictures are at a big wine festival in Bad Durkheim. It is a huge festival with a big ferris wheels (you can see the pictures) and even a roller-coaster! Ian and I did the roller-coaster and I must admit that knowing it was a set up and tear down kind of ride definitely increased the fear factor a little!

This picture is of Ian eating a chocolate covered marshmallow at the festival. It was pretty rich!

These two pictures are of the before mentioned ferris wheel that Brian and Ellie rode. That girl has no fear but her mom stresses the whole time she's on these kind of rides!

I took the following picture to prove that Germans really do eat corn!

This is a picture of something you'll see at just about any festival. They are cookies with a message written on them. I haven't ever actually seen anyone eating one!

I saw this on our way home from the festival and had to take a picture. It's a brat and a bottle of wine with a glass.

One day, I was driving home and had to come to a pretty abrupt stop because four horses were in the middle of the road trotting along. (No human in site with them). By the time my camera was ready, I was only able to get this picture but at least I have proof!

The next few pictures I took at a fall festival at a place called Hirtschhof. The first picture is of flammkuchen that has become one of our favorite foods!

Here is Ellie with one of the pumpkin displays.

How about the great pumpkin?

This picture is of Brian and Ellie as they were leaving for the daddy/daughter dance.

While visiting a friend, she took Ellie and I to this place right by her house where we were able to feed deer! It was amazing to see them running over to us!

Eventually some goats joined in, too.

A couple of weeks ago our village had a little festival. Ian and Ellie really enjoyed the bumper cars.

Check out Ellie's expression in this one!

It's really fall and our apple and pear trees have been in need of harvesting so we finally got most of them. Here is some pictures of us harvesting them.

The apples!

Ellie in the apple tree - ready to go to AWANA.

I know there is more we have done in the past month but that
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Location:Germany

A Fitting Conclusion

2011-09-30T16:40:00.002-05:00

For the first time, Brian gets to write on this public BLOG! As y'all know, half of 2010 and half of 2011 were spent apart, as I was in Iraq and Joy held down the home front in Georgia. While the separation was awful, and not something I care to repeat, it is no secret that I had a GREAT time while I was deployed. I had an awesome boss, a series of great teams, a mission I could be passionate about, and freedom to go do the J.O.B.

There were several interesting things that developed while I was there, typically involving Iraqi insurgents and the Iraqi Army Aviation Command. As a result of how I got to participate in those events, and due to the contributions my teams enabled me to make, I was awarded the Bronze Star, today, by Lt Gen Gorenc, the commander of Third Air Force.

I had deliberately not mentioned the level of award (mostly because I found out only recently) because I wanted to be able to post the pictures and video here to share with all the followers. I did not mention that to Joy, though, and she might've mentioned it on Facebook before we could get the BLOG up-to-date. Added to that, I have captured the video on computer, but it's too big to post, and the software I have to edit it won't recognize the format the video is in. Add to that, the theater was really dark, and the picture above is the only one that really came out. SO, apologies to all that I didn't spill the beans earlier, and a promise that we'll keep trying to get the video up so you can hear the citation!

I don't know what will happen in Iraq as US forces leave, but I know that we left an indelible mark on the people with whom we worked, and they changed us, too. I know that the cradle of civilization has some cultural inertia to overcome, and I don't harbor any illusions that they will ever be a near-peer competitor, again. But there are some Iraqis who have tasted liberty, who know what freedom of expression is, and they are the ones who need to fight for their own security against an enemy that offers no retreat, no dialogue, no hope, no future, and no competing vision of any value whatsoever. The good guys in Iraq exist. I met them. I spent a year of my life with them, and my family gave a year of their lives to them. The Bronze Star is merely a representation of the blood, sweat, and tears that one family gave so the greatest country on Earth could share with the people of Iraq their chance to claim the inalienable rights of their Creator, namely life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I wish them well.

One month today

2011-09-02T02:18:00.001-05:00

It is hard to believe but we have been in Germany for a month today! We have been in our house almost two weeks and hope to actually get our stuff on Monday! Since the majority of our time here is spent in our village, I thought it appropriate that this entry should focus on it. Here are some pictures of our village. They were taken from a path outside the village so you can get a feel for its size and quaintness!

The followig pictures were taken by Ian from an upstairs window of the house one morning.

Here a some pictures of the kirche (church) in our village.

We have some of the most amazing scenery as we leave our house heading other places. It's pretty cute because now Ellie will say, "Look at the view, Mom. Isn't it beautiful". We are truly blessed and hope we don't take it for granted in our next few years here!

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Berg Hohenecken

2011-08-29T10:58:00.001-05:00

We have quickly found that there is LOTS to do every weekend and the hardest part is deciding between it all! The weekend before Ian's birthday it was a beautiful Saturday and we decided to take full advantage of it by visiting the Kaiserslautern-Hohenecken Castle for a small medieval festival that was going on. We had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up. Here's a picture of Ian trying to push Ellie up the first hill.

We passed this church on the way up and it had really neat doors.

We finally made it all the way up and the views were amazing and the castle ruins were really pretty neat. Plus, they had some cute rides for the kids.

Here are some pictures of us with the castle ruins.

Here's a couple of pictures of the views!

Here's the banner they had up for the day. We kind of think this is a banner they use for several things/years because there wasn't as much going on as it would lead you to believe!

Despite it's small size, we really did enjoy it.
From there we went to a car show that was happening in downtown Kaiserslautern.

Ian and I posed with a couple of the cars we really liked. When I lived here before, Porsches were my favorite although this is THE one, it's a pretty good alternative!
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Ian's birthday in Trier

2011-08-25T14:45:00.001-05:00

On Ian's birthday, we had to get up early to go to another base to get Brian's car he bought for our time here (an Audi S8). We decided to get breakfast at the other base since we had to leave home pretty early and it turns out their bowling alley has a good breakfast so we gave it a try. Ian was able to have chocolate pancakes to help start his day. Here he is enjoying them!

In order to make the most of our drive and wanting to make it a special day for Ian we decided to tour around Trier. Trier is the oldest German city and was inhabited by the Romans - even Emperor Constantine resided there at one time! As a result, there are still many Roman ruins that you can see. From the Porta Nigra (the old entrance to the Roman city) to the coliseum (now an amphitheater) to Roman baths and churches there is plenty to see!

The first church we came to had this really cool door. (My friend Julianne has inspired me to always be on the lookout for cool doors!). It is an Episcopal seminary and was founded in 1773.

I thought the inside was really pretty - I love the painted ceilings!

Ian in front of the Basilica, built by Emperor Constantine in the 4th century!

This is our "princess" in front of the Electoral Palace which adjoins to the Basilica.

Since we were in wine country it seemed the right thing to do to have a wine sampler at the restaurant we snacked at. It was yummy!

Here's the birthday boy and Brian at our table.

Ellie is enjoying some time at the restaurant.

We turned a corner in town and there this was! It is the Trier Cathedral (Dom) and it connects to the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche).

These are the pipe organs inside the Dom.

This is one if the ceilings. It is pretty impressive! An interesting relic that is at the cathedral is the holy tunic of Christ worn by him at his crucifixion.

Here are the kids enjoying some eis on this hot day in Trier.

Here it is folks - the Porta Nigra - the gateway to the city. Built in the 2nd century it is the biggest surviving city gate north of the Alps. We didn't get to go inside today but hope to come do it another day.

Because we were going to be out most of the day and because we didn't want to leave Bella all day in the house, we brought her along. She did a great job although we were limited in what we could go in and had to take turns at some of what we did go in but I think she really enjoyed herself and has since wanted to come with us every time we leave the house!

Brian wanted to get this picture because while he was in Iraq, he was a part of the dragon slayers and this is a statue of ST George slaying the dragon. He was very excited!

Here is the remnants of the amphitheater that dates back to around 100AD it is the oldest surviving Roman structure in Trier.

Here are Brian, Ian, Ellie and Bella as they are about to go out into the arena. We were imagining what it would have been like to be a gladiator and hear the crowds of up to 20,000 people as you are about to go out. Amazing.

We enjoyed our day in Trier and Ian said it was a good day and he really enjoyed it. I'm so glad. I hope he continues to enjoy the rest of our time here just as much!

The beginning of our European Adventure

2011-08-22T09:42:00.001-05:00

Yay, it worked, now I really can blog in an easy and much more enjoyable way! So, here it goes....
I plan to go back and tell about the rest of our summer since it was FILLED with travel and fun but I thought it would be easier to start with the here and now then work my way back as I have time. As of tomorrow we have been here in Germany for three weeks. I still can't believe it has been that long already although we did just move in to our house this past Saturday so it does seem that long in some ways! Here's a picture of the kids with Bella on the couch at our TLF.

We have yet to get our household goods so we are "camping out" in our house with loaner furniture and dishes. It hasn't been too bad and we are really hoping to get our stuff in the next week (it was supposed to be here July 31!). The downside at the moment is that it is fairly warm out and there is no air conditioning so we are having to get used to that. We just keep reminding ourselves that we won't need it (air conditioning) soon enough!
For those of you that don't know, I spent six years growing up in Germany so in many ways this is a coming home for me! Here's a picture of me with my old high school in the background.

I must admit there is A LOT I don't remember (it was 20 years ago) about living here and the one I'm the most embarrassed to admit is that I DON'T remember all the hills right here! It really is beautiful! The village we are living in is at the top of a hill and you have to drive some windy, scary roads but the views/scenery are amazing!! I hope to have some pictures to share soon.
One of the things I DO remember about living here is spaghetti eis (ice cream). Although the kids and I got to have some with friends one day, here is a picture of us taking Brian for his first one.

Ellie loves that she can have fruchteis (sorbet) at just about all the ice cream shops here! Here she is enjoying one!

There are definitely lots of things to get used to with living here and the lack of being able to get tap water at most restaurants is a little frustrating for a family that drinks mainly that! We have learned to ask for stilles wasser (water without bubbles) but even then it turns out it can be mineral with no bubbles so there are no guarantees. One of our first adventures out on our own we ate dinner at a donner kebab place - they are quite popular here! Here's a pictures of our drinks just to show you something you don't see much in the US.

Okay, you see Coke everywhere but probably not Fanta in bottles or Mezzo Mix! It turns out it is a mix of coke with orange flavor although I didn't really taste much orange!
Well, I am going to wrap it up for now. There is still much to share about the last three weeks but it will have to wait for another time.
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I think this might work!

2011-08-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

One more try with a new app I am using. If this works, we are home free!

I added this picture as a teaser for what's to come AND to try out the Watermark and see if it really works. If so, I am pretty excited!

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2011-08-22T07:16:00.002-05:00

I know, I know. It has been forever since I have updated our blog but I have been busy!! Plus, I have been unsure as to how to blog using my iPad so I am experimenting and we'll see if this works. If it does, I will, hopefully, be blogging a little more regularly because I do have lots to say and share! So, here's hoping this works!

I didn't see THAT coming!

2011-05-18T20:23:00.004-05:00

Well, I can honestly say that when I woke up this morning my day looked a whole lot different then it ended up being!! Last week Josh had to take his car to the shop for some problems he was having with his car. When he dropped the car off they told him they were about four days behind so they probably wouldn't even be able to look at it until this week. He went ahead and left it with them because he didn't feel comfortable trying to drive it home with some of the issues it was having. Well, they finally called him yesterday with the estimate of what repairs were going to cost. With all that needed to be done they said it was going to cost him almost $7000 to repair it and considering it's a 1997 model, it simply isn't worth that kind of money to fix it. So he was left with trying to decide what to do. To make a long story short, my mom and I were heading in to town to do some shopping and I took a drive through the dealership (the one he had his car at) to see what they had for sale and came across a Chevy Cruze that could be doable. Well, about 3+ hours later he walked out being the proud owner of a 2011 Chevy Cruze! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me so I took this picture with my phone. I will, hopefully, get a better picture tomorrow! (He had to leave from the dealership to help a friend with a project then go to work.) Whew. As I said, definitely not how I saw the day going and didn't end up getting the shopping done that we had set out to do! At least this way he'll have something reliable and will get better gas mileage plus be able to use regular gas (his other car used premium) all things that will help him save a little money in the week-to-week area. A car payment is a huge responsibility and I'm really hoping/praying he's going to do great at it!

In other news, Ian had his AWANA awards ceremony tonight and earned a few awards! He got his first book award, 2nd place attendance award, 2nd place uniform/Bible award, 2nd place overall points award plus a pin for missions done. I'm very proud of him and was happy I had my ipad with me as I still didn't have my camera on me but my ipad took pretty good pictures!

I still can't believe this is his last week of school and today was his last full day of school! He has a half day both tomorrow and Friday then he's officially done AND a SIXTH grader! Where has the time gone?!

Easter 2011

2011-05-05T20:54:00.012-05:00

Having just arrived home from our week at the beach, it was a little difficult getting back to reality and the fact that Easter was the NEXT day! Despite all of that, the Easter bunny managed to bring some goodies and we got to celebrate our risen Lord and Savior with family and friends.

Although I knew it would be difficult to do baskets and still make it to the early service (thankfully pushed to 9:30am instead of 9am) we had to, because my mom and I were scheduled to keep the 2 year-olds for the second service. So, I managed to get up a little earlier and get the kids dressed (all but the big kid) BEFORE we saw what was in their baskets. Then, they got to play with what was in their baskets while I got ready for church. It worked out quite well. Plus, mom and dad came so we could get some family pictures before heading to church since it would probably be the only time with all of us still dressed up! After pictures, we headed to church. The service was packed - all the way into TWO overflow rooms! It was a great message that focused on when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, and how that story parallels what God did for us with His Son, Jesus. Only, God really DID sacrifice His own Son for US so that we could spend eternity with Him. Thankfully, we know that Jesus conquered death and reigns in heaven with His Father and wants to have a relationship with US. It truly is amazing.

After the service, mom and I got ready and went to the two year old classroom. Well, we waited and waited but no one ever showed up so the director released us to go home. It's strange because usually the second service is packed but on Easter Sunday, the second service wasn't overflowing at all. Well, we appreciated that we got to go ahead and head home and get dinner together. My mom had spent the majority of the day before cooking and prepping for dinner, it just needed to be cooked and heated. We had ham, cornish game hen, squash casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, a pineapple casserole, not to mention the appetizers - artichoke dip, veggie tray, queso, and more. It was quite the spread and it was yummy. For dessert we got to choose between strawberry pie and peanut butter pie. I was so excited because I'd been craving some of my mom's strawberry pie and it didn't disappoint. Our friends Tim and Michelle and their daughters Andrea and KerrieAnn came for dinner and we had a wonderful afternoon. After we finished eating, we all watched Ellie's new movie Tangled. Shortly after the movie was over, Tim and Michelle and girls headed home. The kids and I stayed a little longer but left in time to get Ian showered and ready for bed since he had school the next day. It really was a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Oh, I don't know how but I almost forgot to mention the Easter egg hunt! My parents had filled around 55 eggs with goodies - not to mention 1 dollar bills! So, after everyone arrived, they let Ellie go first to get some eggs, then Ian, then the "big" kids (Josh, Andrea and Kerrie Ann). KerrieAnn was the only one fortunate enough to end up with a dollar in every one of the eggs she got! I think they all enjoyed the hunt and a little extra cash in their pockets!

Spring Break 2011

2011-05-04T22:20:00.003-05:00

I cannot begin to tell about all the fun my friend, Amy and I (along with our kids) had on our Spring Break trip. We rented a house in Emerald Isle, NC - it's about half-way between the two of us. We had a BLAST!! I created a smilebox album to share but please know this is no where near all the pictures we took plus it's a little slanted with pictures of my kids but it doesn't mean I don't love hers!! :) Our first night was a little exciting with the possibility of a tornado and we did loose power for a while but we had fun hunkered down in the bottom floor bathroom with one candle, two flashlights and the ipad - thank goodness for the ipad! The kids played games on it and kept their minds off of what was going on outside. Praise the Lord we only got high wind and rain with some thunder and lightning, nothing like what other parts of the state got. We kept updated on the weather from Amy's sister Nikki who works with weather for a living! She kept texting us as changes were made and when we were safe to leave the bathroom. One thing we learned from this week is that the state of NC does not have tornado sirens!! From there on out the weather was pretty good - a few rain storms but you expect that at the beach. The weather was in the 70's most of the time and we got a little sunburned to prove it. We had so much fun during our week together that we started contemplating and decorating a beach house we plan to buy together...names we've thought about are Dream Big and Amy and Joy's Idea!! We also sampled some of the local eateries and our favorite was probably Amos Mosquito's. A neat atmosphere and great food. The kids enjoyed making s'mores at the table! We had plenty of seafood, too, and also enjoyed meals at home. The best meal at home was definitely the grilled kabobs. YUM! Amy did a great job grilling those.
Well, I could go on-and-on but I won't. Enjoy the pictures!

This photo album personalized with Smilebox

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-27T20:34:00.007-06:00

We had a good Thanksgiving this year - busy but good. It started that morning when we went to my parent's house for a brunch for those of our small group that were here for Thanksgiving. It was really fun to sit and chat with friends in the morning like that! The picture to the left is me and my friend Michelle that morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everyone else and only realized as I downloaded my pictures that I didn't get any of my parents! Need to do better with that. (Never did see the parade - first time in YEARS!! Must not be Christmas since I didn't see Santa enter!)

After the friends left, my mom got busy putting together the side dishes she was making to take to my aunt and uncle's house that afternoon. I put Ellie down for a nap and Ian, Josh and I sat down for a game of Scrabble. My parents ended up leaving us at their house to head to my aunt and uncle's while we finished our game and let Ellie finish her nap. They ended up starting to eat without us. I finally woke Ellie up so we could go before the food was gone! We had a nice evening with my dad's side of the family. All of my girl cousins and both aunts and uncles from that side of the family were there. (Pictures to the left are me, Ellie and Aniston - my cousin Jocelyn's daughter and my cousin Kristin with her hubby Robert). It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day. We had a little fire in the fire pit, munched on food and just enjoyed some time together. It really was nice getting to be with family for the holiday. All of the food was fabulous but I feel pretty good about the fact that I don't feel like I over ate. So much to be thankful for and really realizing what it means to be thankful even when things aren't going the way I would want!

Me and the kids - Thanksgiving 2010

Hey, Y'all - Date with Ian

2010-11-24T21:15:00.009-06:00

Ian and I have, on occasion, watched the Paula Deen cooking show. Since we now live so close to her restaurant, The Lady and Sons, we've talked about going. Well, most of the time there is a line around the street to get in so we haven't done it, but with Ian being out of school this week I thought we should give it a try. Yesterday Ian and I headed down-town and arrived around 11:15. Not only did we find a parking spot on the street on the same block as the restaurant, we were able to walk right in and get a table! Thank you, Lord, for arranging it all for us! We had a table on the third floor so we had a view looking down at the street and did a little people watching. Saw quite a few people with cakes go by, still have no idea what that was about! Anyway, we debated on what to eat. We looked at the menu for a while to see if we'd rather get something from the menu or just have the buffet. We finally both opted for the buffet. (Next time, though, I think I'm going to try the chicken pot pie - it looked really good). It was just good ole Southern cooking and I really enjoyed the creamed corn. Ian was so funny as he got two salads!! I said, "Ian, you know all they had to do was chop up some veggies for your salad, they didn't cook anything." He said, "The blue cheese is homemade!" With the buffet you got bread (they bring you a plate of a hoecake and cheddar/garlic roll as soon as you sit down) and dessert (they bring out a platter with different ones and you get to choose). I had the peach cobbler and Ian had chocolate chip gooey butter cake. He loved it - it was pretty tasty. After our lunch, we went to the shop to see what all was there. We had fun just looking around. (OK, I did buy a Merry Christmas, Y'all ornament). Then, after that Ian wanted to walk around down-town a little because it was such a nice day. So, we looked around City Market a little then decided to head to Toys R Us to see if we could do a little Christmas shopping. On the way to Toys R Us we stopped at a couple of antique stores we happened upon. We were only at Toys R Us for a little bit then made our way home. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic on the way home which put a little bit of a damper on our day but other than that it really was a good day. One I don't think he or I will forget! Ian with the bread they bring out.Ian and I at our table.Me with some yummy sweet tea we shared.Chocolate chip-gooey butter cake.Ian in front of the store door.

Ian with the tree in front of City Market.

Princess on Ice Show

2010-11-19T22:13:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Ellie, my mom and I had the opportunity to go to the Disney Princesses on Ice show. Ellie wanted to wear a pretty dress and I decided to let her wear a dress I'd gotten for her a couple of weeks ago. You can't see them in any pictures but part of the reason I let her wear this dress is because she wanted to wear some sparkly gold shoes that I'd gotten for her. She looked adorable. She made me wear a dress that had a sash around the a-line, just like hers! Unfortunately, I never got any pictures of her with the signs for the show, but I did get a couple at the show. She sat for the whole thing and just seemed to take it all in. She said her favorite parts were Cinderella, Snow White and one other that I can't recall right this second. During the intermission we got a cute Cinderella "stein" that had a snow cone in it. Well, as yummy as that snow cone might have been, it was probably the wrong thing to get because when we went back in for the show, we were freezing! I sat her in my lap just so we would be warmer. It worked, thankfully, and we enjoyed the rest of the show.
After the show we went to the Tea Room in Savannah. It was cute that they set the table for Ellie with kid sized plate and silverware plus cup and saucer. I ordered her a pot of decaf french vanilla tea and she drank the whole thing. My mom and I shared a pot of a white tea called White Christmas and it was pretty yummy. One of Ellie's favorite things at the tea room was teddy bears that were placed around the room. She enjoyed picking them up and moving them around. She also really liked the orchids that came on our plates - that's why you'll see pictures of each of us with the orchids behind our ears! We had a fun day just being girls and doing fun girly things. (I have to say I think it's funny that Ian's still upset with me for not taking him to the show. I told him I didn't think he'd be interested in Princesses on Ice and he said, "Mom, it's on ICE!! I love ice!") Oh, well, he was in school anyway!

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Halloween Fun 2010

2010-10-30T21:26:00.002-05:00

Although Halloween is technically tomorrow, our county chose to do trick-or-treating on Saturday. I kind of like that it was tonight so that we were able to not be rushed. Ellie was a fairy thanks to cousin Gracie lending us the costume! Ian was a pilot thanks to Uncle Jon buying a flight suit for Josh a few years ago! So, I was able to get away without buying a costume this year. They both looked great and I made another scrapbook of todays festivities to share.

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I hope everyone else has a fun and safe holiday!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

2010-10-09T22:31:00.003-05:00

We made it out to a pumpkin patch today and although the "patch" itself wasn't what I was hoping for, it was good and we had fun. I made a Smilebox to share pictures from the time there. Ellie really enjoyed playing with all the playground stuff and although I know Ian is starting to get a little big for some of it, he's a good sport and had fun. Josh wasn't a fan of the heat and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. There was a corn maze that looked like it would've been really good but they said that up until last week, they hadn't had any rain so the maze was pretty short. The boys did do it though (after convincing Josh that he should do it with his little brother!).

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My story of pain

2010-10-04T07:37:00.003-05:00

Most of you may know by now but I decided perhaps I should blog about what's been going on with me the last few days. It has truly hit from out of know where. A week ago Thursday I went to my Zumba class like normal and during it my stomach started acting up. I made it through class and headed home. On the way home I began having some sharp shooting pains that almost made me want to pull over. I didn't, though, I stuck it out. The pains continued for most of the day but I made it through. Friday the pains let up a little but I didn't quite feel right and the same for Saturday. I had dinner with my friend, Michelle, on Saturday. She had her gall bladder removed last Christmas so I asked her what kind of pains she was having before that. She said, "Uh, oh. Tell me about your pain." We talked some about it and we kind of came to the conclusion that I should wait 7-10 days and see how I felt. Well, Sunday I was feeling better and by that evening felt fine. So, the week started and life was back to good (other than the fact that Ellie was sick and had strep). Wednesday I had a good day getting some work done in the house in prep for some friends coming to crash here that night. They didn't arrive until a little after 1am and I had to be up with Ian for school Thursday morning so I was a little low on sleep but feeling good. Thursday night I went to bed feeling fine. However, I woke up at 4am feeling uncomfortable. I tried to go back to sleep thinking, "If I can just get back to sleep, I'll feel better when I wake up." It's worked other times, why wouldn't it work this time? Well, try as I might, I could not get back to sleep. Ellie was in bed with me and I didn't want to wake her up so I finally got up. I came out to the couch and found that I felt best in child's pose (for those of you unfamiliar with that position it's a fetal position lying on your stomach, face down). After a while of doing that, though, my leg was going to sleep and it wasn't so comfortable anymore. I was hurting through my abdomen and around to my back (upper back). Ellie got up around 6:15am and came looking for me. She found me on the couch and lay on top of me. I was feeling a little better so I told her let's go back to bed because it's still early. So, we went back to bed. As soon as I lay down, though, the feeling was worse again. I tried to sleep but after about 20 minutes I got up and called my parents because I was just in pain. I talked to my dad and I finally made the decision to go to the ER. I don't like going to the doctor so for me to make that decision was a hard one! My parents came and my mom stayed with the kids while my dad took me to the er. Thankfully, I was seen right in and shown to a room. They ran blood tests, urine test and ordered a CT scan. All of my tests came back great - much to the doctor's amazement. He said everything looked so good he was almost hoping for something to not look so good so he could figure it out! The only test that showed anything was the CT scan and it showed early pancreatitis. What does that mean?! He finally decided to have an ultrasound done to see a little more detail. Guess what?! They came back clear! (Oh, and by the way, it's just not as fun to have an ultrasound looking for something to be wrong then it is when you're seeing your baby!) So, he released me but told me to follow up with my primary care manager on Monday or if my pain got worse or I had other symptoms (ie - fever, throwing up, etc) to return to the er. Never in my life have I wished for a fever just so I could figure out what's going on! He did give me a prescription for pain meds and nausea. So, I spent the rest of Friday on the couch. I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 7:45pm and woke up when Josh got home from work around 11:40pm. He asked me if I was going to stay on the couch or go to bed. I told him I'd go on to bed. I slept until about 7am. I got up, had breakfast and was feeling good. Ian and Ellie had spent the night with my parents and they were going to Ian's fall festival at his school. It was a beautiful day and I was feeling good so I decided to join them. Josh and I met up with them around 11am and we were there until about 12:30pm then we decided to go get some lunch. After lunch, we came back to the house and put Ellie down for a nap. I was still feeling good. Ian got invited to have a camp out in a neighbors back yard so he was busy and Ellie didn't get up from her nap until about 5pm. Then, we were trying to decide what to do. Originally (before all the not feeling good started) we were going to head into town for first Saturday activities but that didn't sound so good at this point. We finally decided to head to the mall (I had Gymboree bucks I wanted to spend). We got to the mall and Josh and Ellie were hungry. I was still feeling full from lunch so I didn't get anything. While they finished eating I went to do my shopping at Gymboree. That took longer than planned then we did a little more looking around. We ended up not leaving the mall until about 9:20pm. We were walking to the car and I started not feeling so good. It went down-hill from there. When we got home, Josh got Ellie ready for bed (with her crying almost the whole time) and I was trying to feel better. I went to hug Ellie and tell her I was going to bed, too, and that seemed to help her stop crying. I decided to take some of the pain meds and finally, while lying in child's pose again I went to sleep. When I woke up a little bit later, I was feeling okay and was able to change positions and slept the rest of the night. I got up Sunday morning thinking I would make it to church and I got Ellie ready but was running a little behind myself. My parents came to get the kids and take them to church. I did take a shower and was getting dressed but realized I really didn't feel that great and should probably just stay home. So, I did. I sat on the couch most of the day (did a couple loads of laundry) and was feeling okay. Not great but okay. Around 10:30pm I headed to bed. While I was laying there I started having pains through my chest and upper abdomen. Not fun. Couldn't sleep. I tried to wait it out (did I mention I don't like taking medication?) but finally around 2am I took the pain medicine again. I lay there trying to sleep and could feel the pain numbing but couldn't sleep! Last time I looked at the clock it was a little after 4am. I must have finally fallen asleep after that because the next thing I know I hear the front door open and Josh leaving for work. I got up at 7:11am (I thought the time was funny, don't ask me why) to see how Ian was going getting ready for school and have been sitting on the couch pretty much since then. I called my PCM and have an appointment for tomorrow morning. This just isn't fun. Other than the pains that creep up out of nowhere, I feel fine! I feel like I'm failing because I'm not taking care of my kids but I just don't feel good and there doesn't seem to be an explanation! Again, I'm almost wishing for a fever just so I could prove to the doctors that something isn't right. I've never experienced anything like this before and really hope it goes away soon. I'd like to get back to life as normal! Brian and I were talking about trying to see God's purpose in this. For me I think it's just a reminder that I am in His hands and life is precious! Plus, I'm really having to lean on Him during my times of pain because otherwise it's easy to feel very alone.
So, that was long and drawn out but now you know (probably more than you wanted to) what's going on with me!

Decorating for Fall

2010-10-02T15:07:00.005-05:00

To get ready for fall, I decided I wanted to do something different with my mantle. Here's the "before". I can't really explain why I love these stars, but I do. I got them when visiting my friend Amy in Texas. I originally got them for Ian's room but they've ended up in our living area in the last few houses. A lot of people who like "country" like the stars and although I don't consider my style "country" I do love the stars. Although the stars did look good over the mantle, I decided that there's a big empty space up over my back door/windows that the stars would look good in so I moved them there. I also had a gold mirror that I decided to paint black. (Imagine that!) After I got the mirror painted, here's what I put together on the mantle.

Josh helped me out with it and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. It's muted with pops of orange. Just right!

In the Mood to Re-do!

2010-09-22T19:58:00.005-05:00

Okay, so I know that I haven't blogged in FOREVER and here I am blogging and it's nothing about the family! I have gotten a decorating "bug". I got it before we moved from North Dakota but wasn't really able to do much about it. Now that I'm finally about as settled as I'm going to be here in Georgia for now, the bug has come back! I've been visiting some amazing ladie's blogs like the Nesting Place, The Inspired Room, Altar'd, Less than Perfect Life of Bliss and the list goes on. These ladies have inspired me to want to tackle redo-ing some furniture (like our cracked tile-top table) BUT before I take on a big project like that, I decided to start with something small like my spice rack. I've had this spice rack since we got married. It was something I'd wanted (because my mom had one and I figured I must, then, NEED one) and we'd found it (unfortunately I can't exactly remember where). I was so excited to have it and I've just left it the way we found it which is this:

Well, as we were moving in and I unpacked it, I told my hubby we should paint it black! He said, "Like right now or can we wait until we get moved in?" I decided, "Okay, I won't have you paint it right now." That was now almost four months ago and it has been sitting in my kitchen still looking like the above. I finally got it in me to do something about it today. I took all the spices off and headed outside with it. (It helps that the weather has cooled off a little and it was only in the mid 80's!) I got out my spray can of black paint and here's the finished product:

The lighting isn't the best so it's not a great quality but I think you get the idea!

Any idea what the bottom cubby's are for? Here I've had it for 12 years and never have been able to fit anything in them! I tried fitting the small spice bottles but they don't fit either. Oh, and in case you're wondering, it has taken me quite a while to get all the jars to match. In fact, what I've done is save the jars with the black lids and washed them. Then, I took the ones that still didn't match and switched them to the jars with black lids, added a label and voila - they are all matching jars now!

So, what I want to know is - do you enjoy redoing things you already own and giving them new life or are you one to just purge and buy something new?

Share with me your stories or pictures of things you've done, I'd love to see!

Guess who got their first haircut?!

2010-07-02T22:08:00.010-05:00

Yes, Ellie finally got her first haircut! I guess now that she's three it was time but I've been a little hesitant to do it because it's so cute long. BUT, it looks so cute now that I'm really glad I took the plunge and got it cut. Here are some pictures:
Here's the before:

During:

After front:

After back:

One with her big brother, Josh, that went with us:

For the record, yes, the hairdress curled her hair with a curling iron - those are not her natural curls but how cute is that?! What a big girl - a big girl that have I mentioned is completely potty trained and was by her 3rd birthday?! No pull-ups or anything anymore. She still occasionally has accidents (like when she sleeps in a little) but is doing great. I'm so proud of her! Now if I could just get her to go on her own without coming to get me first! Because she was doing so well, we did actually paint her fingernails for her birthday. That was the first time she'd had them painted because our agreement was that she could paint them when she was completely potty trained. Here's a picture of her cute little fingers on her birthday.
I am still planning to do a little photo montage, just haven't gotten there yet. It will happen soon!

Ellie is THREE today!

2010-06-12T06:46:00.005-05:00

We have been busy moving in so it's really snuck up on me, but my little girl is three today! I would like to make a little photo montage, but for now I'll just post a picture of her from this morning in her new rain boots. She's been wanting a pair for a while now and I found these the other day and thought they were pretty cute.

So, here's the birthday girl in her nightgown and rainboots - with boxes around to show you that we really are moving in still! Will put together more details about Ellie and her birthday later and share them. Happy Birthday, Eliana, we love you!

Trip to Georgia

2010-05-22T16:22:00.002-05:00

We've been home from Georgia for almost two weeks now and while I'm sitting in the TLF (temporary living facility) while Ellie's napping and the boys are at the airshow, I decided perhaps I should post pictures from our time there! I know I posted a few but I thought I'd share the rest of them. While we were there, I went and picked Josh up from college at PBA. It was nice and warm down in southern Florida and this girl that's been living in ND for the last couple of years got a little warm! BUT LOVED IT!!! Okay, I didn't love the sweat but I loved the feeling of being warm and having the sun soak into you. Getting hot just thinking about it! Anyway, after getting back from getting Josh we enjoyed some time at the beach and at my uncle's pool. It got so warm during our time there that the pool actually got a little more on the swimable side although I refrained and watched the kids this time! Here's a little scrapbook of pictures from Georgia.

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What we're up to

2010-05-22T15:38:00.006-05:00

Well, right now we are in the middle of move mode. The packers started this past Wednesday and finished Friday evening. Monday the driver will come do inventory and then Tuesday our stuff will be loaded on the van. I decided yesterday while I had some time that I should take some pictures. I always forget to and wish later that I had, so.... here they are!

Here's a partial view of the kitchen

This is the playroom
This is our "dining"area

This is definitely NOT my favorite part of the move but, hey, at least it's not ME packing all those boxes! We're very blessed to have someone else come in and do that for us! It's funny, though, because the packers never believe us when they first get there and we tell them we have a lot of stuff and it WILL take at least a full three days of packing. They always seem to think they'll be faster or that we don't really have that much stuff. Until it's 4 o'clock on Friday and they're really wishing they were done already! One of the packers said to me, "You knew all along didn't you?" I said, yep! This isn't my first rodeo!

An Almost Perfect Day

2010-05-20T16:13:00.003-05:00

I keep thinking about it and I have a moment so I wanted to write about a great day we had last week (a week ago today exactly). It was the day before Brian got home (although the kids still thought he was getting home on Saturday) and we had MOPS that morning. It was our last MOPS and it went really well and was almost surreal. Then, we came home and had a picnic lunch (in the living room - it was chilly and dreary outside) and watched some Schoolhouse rock videos. I put Ellie down for a nap then Ian and I had school time and it was a good day. Ian was in a good mood and it made school easy and fun. Then, Ellie got up and we enjoyed the afternoon playing. It's funny I can't even remember what all we did just that the kids and I were all in good moods and it made it an enjoyable day. That night when I put Ian to bed we finished reading "Little Britches" and both ended up crying. We had a good chat and prayer and it was a great way to end the day. It's funny, isn't it, that I didn't have to plan anything extravagant or spend lots of money to have a perfect day with my kids!

Look who followed me home!

2010-05-13T21:42:00.004-05:00

One day last week I went out for a run at my parent's house. After my run, I walked around my parent's cul-de-sac to cool down and was nearing their house when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see what it was and was surprised to find a mallard walking along in the grass beside me! He kept walking until some dogs in a house across the street started barking and then he stopped and looked around like, "I'm not going any closer." I said, "I completely understand" and kept walking. Well, I'd gone another few feet when I see a commotion out of the corner of my and look to see the mallard landing right next to me again. Well, he proceeds to walk the rest of the way with me to my parent's house and then walks up to the front door with me! I ran in and told Ian to grab a piece of bread and come out to see a friend of mine that followed me home! I grabbed Ellie and brought her out and the mallard kept pecking at my shoelaces and untied them. He didn't seem really interested in the bread but did keep pecking at it. At one time it looked as though he was trying to go in the front door and I had to tell him he didn't want to do that as we have two dogs inside that might want to do more than make his acquaintance! My dad said maybe he thought I was mom and I said, "Well, Brian does tell me I waddle!" Here's a picture of my mallard friend (sorry he didn't want to face the camera)!

Here's one of Ian trying to feed him and him going for Ian's toes instead!

Georgia trip

2010-05-01T07:01:00.006-05:00

We've been in Georgia for almost two weeks now. I haven't taken a lot of pictures but thought I'd share the few I've taken. The first pictures I took were almost as soon as we arrived in Georgia. I wanted to go to Chick-fil-a. If you know me, you know how much I love it and have missed it being in North Dakota! So, we had just left the airport and I looked up the closest one in the GPS and we went. Well, it was only after we'd been there a while and were amazed by the fact that it had a sit-down full-service section that I finally realized we were sitting in the ORIGINAL one! The sit-down section had waitresses that would come and take your order and it was more like a diner than a Chick-fil-a: you could even order a hamburger (don't tell the cows). Anyway, here are a couple of pictures!

One of the things Ian has really enjoyed being able to do while we've been here is go fishing anytime he wants (within reason). My parents have a couple of little creeks and all around their house that has a plethora of little fish willing to take his bait! The other night he and my dad had a contest - Ian was using hot dogs for bait and my dad was using lure. Well, Ian caught 19 and my dad caught 0. So, I think Ian won that one! Now they're saying they have to switch for the next one. The following are a couple of pictures of one of the fish he caught a few days ago. He came in to get me so I could see it.

Boston Trip 2010

2010-04-19T07:44:00.003-05:00

Our trip to Boston a couple of weeks ago was AMAZING!! I found a WONDERFUL hotel that I HIGHLY recommend to anyone going to visit the Boston area. It was in Cambridge, MA, on the campus of MIT and it's a renovated fire station. Breakfast is included (a prerequisite for our family) and so is parking (also quite handy in the Boston area). There's no pool or fitness center at the hotel, but you do get free passes to a center around the corner. We didn't have time to use it so don't know much about that! It's the Kendall Hotel and we really enjoyed our stay. Another nice thing about it is that you're literally a block from a T station which makes it really EASY to get into and out of the city.

Our homeschooling this year has focused on American History so we were really excited to see the sites in Boston of things we've read about. One of the projects I had Ian do was a "brochure" of things he wanted to see in Boston. Almost all of what he wanted to see was along the Freedom Trail so we tried to do as much of that as we could. The weather really cooperated and it was beautiful! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing Brian's parents as well as enjoyed that Josh got to come join us for most of our time in Boston. It was good to be together as a family.

Here's a slide-show of pictures from our trip. Enjoy!

Make your own digital slideshow

My Little Prankster

2010-03-11T15:38:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago some things happened that made me go, "Hmmmm" and then I figured them out! One night, we had just gotten home and I realized all of the blinds all over the house were up and we don't usually do that. I didn't think a whole lot about it until I was in my bedroom and we have one little window that I NEVER open the blinds on and they were open and I said to Brian, "Did you open the blinds?" He said, "No." Then I had a thought and called Ian into our room - "Ian did you open the blinds throughout the house?" He thought about it a second almost trying to decide how he wanted to answer then decided honesty might be the way to go and said, "Yes, ma'am." I asked him why but at the moment I can't remember his answer.

A day or two passes and we come home from the gym one morning and Ian's pointing to a couple of things that hang in the hallway and one was completely off the wall and the other was at an angle making it look as though someone had been in a hurry through the house. Ian asked me, "Do you think someone was here?" I just answered, "Maybe Daddy was home and was in a hurry." Again, I didn't think much about it.

Another day or so goes by, we are heading to the gym and I needed to fill up a water bottle to take with. I turned on the water at the kitchen sink and got completely soaked! Ian just starts laughing!!! He had pushed down the handle on the sprayer with rubberbands so that when I turned on the water, it sprayed out through the sprayer. He told me he got that one from AFV (America's Funniest Videos).

Well, after that incident I got to thinking about it and realized it was Ian doing all these things. I called him in and asked him if he'd done the pictures in the hallway a few days ago. He told me that, yes, he had. I asked him why and he said, "Mom, you get such a funny look on your face!!" Oh, MY! Now, I have to be ever watchful to see what might happen next!

Brian's Birthday

2010-03-10T21:50:00.013-06:00

We celebrated Brian's birthday last week. I felt pretty good that although I didn't have a "gift" for him, I had arranged some things! He had been gone the week before his birthday so I called his office and talked to Don (his right-hand man) and said, "This may be a little unorthodox but Brian's birthday is next week and I was wondering if I could arrange for him to have the day off." He said, "Oh, yeah. I can work it. I'll talk to the boss and get back to you." So, later that day he called me and let me know that it was a go. Then came the task of deciding when I would tell him. I decided to bring in a cake to his office the afternoon BEFORE his birthday and tell him then that he had the next day off. Plus, I had arranged a babysitter for that night (the night before his birthday) so we wouldn't have to worry about him getting up to go to work the next day. He was genuinely surprised not only by the cake but also by having the next day off. It was fun to have time together in the middle of the week like that!

So, first we celebrated by taking cake into his office around 4pm the day before his birthday. Everyone really liked the cake. (Ian helped pick it out - cause he's been eying it for a while in the cake book at the commissary).

Then, he and I had a date night. We went to the Toasted Frog for dinner. We don't get to go there often because you have to be above 21 just to enter so we can't take the kids!

We were going to go to a movie but decided just to do some "shopping" - able to just look around without kids in tow! For a birthday treat (early) Brian wanted to go to Coldstone.

The next morning we were both surprised when Ian brought breakfast to Brian in bed. He made oatmeal, put some grapes in a bowl, had a hard-boiled egg and juice - not to mention planes to accompany the breakfast!

He'd also changed Ellie and put on her "I (heart) dad" pajama shirt and a pair of matching pants. Plus, two bows that matched.

From there, I got to go to the gym by myself and when I got home Brian had made waffles! I know, pretty neat that he made me breakfast on his birthday! After that we got ready to go out for a hike at Turtle River. It was a good little hike and we enjoyed it (well, at least Brian and I did). Ian did think it was cool that we came across a spot where there was blood all over the snow - like a predator/prey incident had happened there.

After the hike, Ellie and I did a little sledding at the good hill there. Then, we headed home. We put Ellie down for her nap then the rest of us watched Escape to Witch Mountain. It ended right in time for us to head to Wednesday night stuff at church. We got the kids to their classes then we were able to have a little time to ourselves and did some furniture browsing. Then, we came home, got the kids to bed, watched Psych and called it a night! All-in-all I think he had a good day!

Brian's Office

2010-02-18T22:56:00.006-06:00

I meant to post these pictures a while ago but kept forgetting. I finally recovered them again and wanted to share. After Brian's recent promotion, he showed up for his first day back to an office covered in silver - silver aluminum foil that is!! It had to take quite a few rolls of foil plus a few man hours to make this happen! (Even the rock he has to hold the door open was covered in foil! Plus, I tried to show it but every coin in his coin rack was individually wrapped and replaced!) Made Brian feel pretty special. What's funny is that the rock and the handles on his chair are still covered in silver. It took him a few weeks to get the majority of it off.

Quick Updates

2010-02-16T21:41:00.002-06:00

I thought I should take a moment to share some of the recent goings-on of our family. A little over a week ago Ian broke his clavicle for the second time in his life! He was playing at a friend's house and they thought it was a good idea to climb onto the house's propane tank to climb onto a tree. Needless to say, he fell about 5 feet. He tried not to admit how hurt he was but finally they called to say he was really hurting. Brian took him to the emergency room and, sure enough, it was broken. Unfortunately for him that has meant no hockey - fortunately for us it has give us a little break in the middle of our very busy hockey season! He is doing better and will have an appointment this week to see if he's well enough to return to his "normal" activities!

This past weekend we were able to go to Minneapolis to pick up our "new" car - finally! It wouldn't start at first after sitting for a few days and a "shock" to it's system. It made the ride home safely despite heavy winds creating what we call "snakes" across the road making it hard to see the road in the dark! It was a tough drive but, praise the Lord, we made it home with no incidents.

Ellie is still doing really well with potty training. We've had no accidents during the day in weeks! We're still working on night-time but not pushing it too hard.

The next couple of months are going to be a whirlwind with activities, trips, and preparing for our move in late May.

North Dakota Pictures

2010-02-16T21:20:00.002-06:00

I have taken some pictures lately of different things and wanted to share them.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What a BIG girl!

2010-01-20T10:31:00.008-06:00

I have been wanting to post a little something about Ellie lately but hadn't gotten around to doing it but today, right now, seems like the PERFECT time! The reason? I think we've made quite the head-way in potty training! A little while ago I was folding laundry when I realized I hadn't seen or heard Ellie in a while which USUALLY means she's off doing something in her panties she's not supposed to. Well, when I went looking for her, I thought I heard her crying so I picked up my pace a little bit. I saw that my bedroom door was closed so I went in, found the bathroom door closed so I went in and there she was on her potty going poop all by herself! I am so happy - I'm still smiling as I write this! :) SO, as a result of this great achievement, she got to have her toenails painted - an incentive I've had for her from the get go (an idea I got from my friend Claire). The other amazing thing about this happening now is that she's actually been under the weather for the last couple of days! (Hence why she's still in her pajamas!)Here she is ready to have them painted:Here are her cute little toes all painted and pretty!

Another picture I've wanted to share was taken the morning before we went to Ian's outdoor hockey game. For whatever reason she decided to put on her princess skirt without anything else but her panties! Then, she decided to play us a little song on the piano! Definitely one to share with her future fiance'!

Other things going on with Ellie - she loves going to her class at church on Wednesday nights. She knows the ABC song quite well (we have her sing it while she washes her hands after going potty so we know she's washed long enough). She can count to 10 perfectly and can keep going after ten not so perfectly! She can recognize the letters E and L in signs and anything else she sees. She can spell her name "E-L-I-A-N-A, Eliana that's me!" She knows her birthday is in June and she knows all her colors and shapes and animals. I'm thinking I'm going to have to seriously consider really working with her on reading because I think she could do it! She's a sweet little girl, smart as a whip and keeps us on our toes!

Life in North Dakota

2010-01-10T17:39:00.009-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything about unique things we do in North Dakota so I thought I should do so now! As you know, Ian is playing hockey again this year. It's still with the Parks league but he's moved up a league so now he's playing actual games and even gets to travel for some of them! Yesterday was our first "away" game to Northwood, ND, and guess what?! Their rink is OUTSIDE!! We checked before leaving to make sure the game wasn't cancelled because the temp outside here was -1 (before wind chill)! It wasn't cancelled so we made sure we were bundled up and headed out! The sky was clear and it was beautiful out but BOY was it chilly! They paused the game every 6 minutes to let the boys go in to the "warming house". According to Brian, though, it was just out of the wind, not actually WARM! By the end of the game, the boys were ALL pink and Ian started crying in the car because his feet were finally thawing and it hurt. We told him he's a true NoDak now!

After the game, Josh asked if we could go to the Red Pepper - a local favorite. Since he was leaving the next day we decided to go (even though it really was out of the way). We went to the new one and it had some pretty neat items we got pictures of. Their "specialty" is the grinder sandwhich that Brian and Josh really like. Not exactly health food but it hit the spot!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-10T15:02:00.021-06:00

Well, I'm very behind (what's new, right?!) but I wanted to share a photo album I made using Stampin' Up! (R) My Digital Studio. I was having problems getting onto the normal site I use to make albums and decided to see if I could use my new software. I did and I think it turned out okay! The only problem is I couldn't figure out how to make it a slideshow AND make it look good...SO I just added each page as a jpeg file so you can look at it individually. Not quite what I was going for but it will have to do. The album doesn't encompass ALL of our holiday fun but definitely hits the hi-lights! Our holidays are officially now over since I took Josh to the airport this morning (at O dark hundred!). For some reason, saying goodbye was a little harder this time - perhaps because I know he's got a tough road ahead. Enjoy the Christmas pictures!

Ian and School

2009-11-29T15:26:00.007-06:00

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted anything about Ian's schooling. I think I've mentioned we're studying American History and that's been fun. We've both been learning lots and especially as some of our American holidays come and go (Thanksgiving) it's nice to know the WHOLE story behind the tradition! Ian continues to amaze me with his creativity that goes beyond his actual assignments. Let me give you an example. A couple of weeks ago he had to write a paper as a speech writer for George Washington based on a book he read "Phoebe the Spy" that is about a young black girl who saves George Washington's life by being his housekeeper and keeping her eyes and ears open. Well, he wrote his speech and didn't stop there. He came into the area where we were and opened up his box of scrap paper and started tearing and stapling away. I had NO idea what he was doing. Then, he digs out the hat we bought him while we were at Williamsburg, grabs one of Ellie's bows and Voila!

He is now George Washington ready to give his speech! Notice the paper is curled and the bow is in the back. AND he did this without us ever actually talking about the wigs the men used to wear - he just has seen all the pictures and created it from paper. Wow. I was VERY impressed!

Ian's favorite subject, though, is science because he LOVES all the experiments and hands-on stuff. So far we've been learning about electricity. We've been doing experiments with batteries, foil "ribbons" and light bulbs. He's really good at trying all sorts of different ways to make the bulb light up. We've also learned about magnetism and energy.

This is a picture we took when Ian first figured out how to make the bulb light up without any help! And, yes, the picture was from September shortly after his "hair cut!"

Ian memorized all of Psalm 103 and it was fun to hear him come back from church or Wednesday nights and say, "Mom, we were talking about ____ and they started giving us a verse and I thought, hey, I know that one! It was from Psalm 103." Then some of the other ones he's learned have also been timely - isn't God amazing?!

He also continues to be quite the playmate for Ellie. The other day while I was busy doing something, they were busy in his room and kept telling me not to come in. Then, they came out ready to "jog" with Ellie's jogging stroller! One day this past week they were dressed as a king and a princess. He wouldn't be able to do all of that if he were in school all day and Ellie wouldn't be able to spend all of that time with him, either!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T22:10:00.011-05:00

We have had a fun halloween just being able to hang out with friends while enjoying some festivities. Last year I wanted Ellie to be a ladybug but couldn't find one here that I wanted in time, so this year I was a little more proactive about it and found her not one but TWO ladybug outfits. She was able to wear both of them. One was a little more suited for warmer climates so she was able to wear it to the trick-or-treating that the medical clinic puts on here. Ian had a tough time deciding what to be this year. Everything he kept deciding on they didn't have in his size (even on-line) and there were a couple of things I just didn't want him to be. Finally one day after trying two stores for costumes he finally says, "What if I just dress up as a hockey player?" I said, "That would be great!" So, that's what he was this year. Here's a picture of him and Ellie at the clinic yesterday. Ian's not smiling because he said you couldn't see through his helmet!

Here's a picture of the back of Ellie's costume - just because I think it's cute!

Here's a picture of Ellie in her costume to actually go trick-or-treating tonight. This outfit is a little more suited to the cooler weather! This is her with our neighbor - ready to go!

Just in case you can't really see her costume in the above picture, here's one of her by herself!

For Ellie this was the first year she really was aware of what to do and she really enjoyed carrying around her bag of candy!
Well, it wouldn't be halloween without a costume for the dog, right?! So, here's Bella in her pumpkin costume. She did really well having it on she just kept pulling my arm off wanting to go! What a little ball of energy!! But, a cute one, though!

Fun Fall Photos

2009-10-28T21:50:00.005-05:00

I was heading home from town one day last week and was really appreciating and enjoying the bright flaming colors on some of the bushes right as I headed into the neighborhood. I remembered that Ellie had on a colorful halloween outfit so I decided to stop right then and there and get some photos before it was too late! Here are a few that I took:

What I love about these pictures (other than the fabulous colors) is that Ellie's not giving me one of the cheesy smiles she loves to give but it's a pretty genuine smile! In case you can't read what Ellie's shirt says it says, "Who needs a costume when you're already a princess?" A friend gave it to me and it's been fun during this time of the year!

Eliana and her paci

2009-10-19T16:54:00.002-05:00

Well, the day finally arrived for us to say goodbye to Ellie's pacis. We had planned to take them away after her 2nd birthday like we did with Ian but because she was still teething and really seemed to "need" them more than Ian, we kept putting it off. I did keep telling her that they were going to have to go soon because she is getting to be a "big" girl and we discussed giving them to a baby. Well, a boy in her Sunday school class, Jacob, must have a new baby sister because Ellie has talked about giving her pacis to her. Yesterday as we were getting ready for church she said, I give my pacis away? I asked her, "Are you ready to give them all away?" She nodded her head so we got them ready and put them in a plastic bag to take with us the downside was (we have four of them) we were missing one - couldn't find it anywhere! On the way to church, though, we realized we'd forgotten the bag BUT Ellie didn't seem to remember. When we got home from church she was in the play room and got all excited and came to show me she'd found the missing paci! I said, well, we should put it away, too! So, Brian put it in the bag with the others and hid the bag somewhere. After we got home from the pumpkin patch and tried to put her down for a nap she asked for her paci. I said, "Remember we gave them away?" To which she replied, "I want the yellow one (the one she'd found)!" I said, "No, I put that one away, too." Needless to say she cried for quite a while before she finally went to sleep and then we had to wake her up around 5 because we had some company over for dinner last night. Boy was she grumpy when we first got her up! Last night I put her to bed without her paci and wondered how the night would go. She did cry for a while before she went to sleep but I didn't hear her in the middle of the night and she wasn't up early asking for it, either! YAY! Today there has been no mention on the paci but at naptime she cried for TWO hours before she finally gave in and went to sleep! I will say, though, that she never asked me for the paci! I'm hoping that she'll be like Ian and after a couple of days of this, she'll get over it and not have to cry herself to sleep every time. So, we're definitely making progress and she's becoming a "big, little" girl!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-19T16:30:00.002-05:00

The kids and I were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch with MOPS on Thursday last week but we woke up to the ground being covered in snow so I said, "Think I'll pass!" I told Ian we would try to go over the weekend. Well, yesterday ended up being an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day and we were able to go to the pumpkin patch after church yesterday. Here is a slide show with the pictures we took. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Minneapolis over Columbus day weekend

2009-10-18T22:08:00.012-05:00

I'm a week late but I did want to post some pictures from our trip to Minneapolis over the Columbus day weekend. We realized on the way there that the last time we were in Minneapolis as a family was Thanksgiving! WOW!! Still can't believe that! We were so happy to be able to get away and enjoy some down time together! We left here Friday night and got home Monday night. Saturday we went to Ikea first then spent the rest of the day at the Mall of America. One sad thing we discovered while at Ikea is that Ian is now too tall to be able to go to the kids play area while we shop! Hard to believe he's getting that big/old already!

At Ian's request we had lunch at Bubba Gumps at the mall (see picture on top). The rest of the day we enjoyed going into various stores. Later in the day, we divided up a little and Ellie and I went to the American Girl store to look around and have some fun. While there, Brian took Ian to go ride the rides at the park. Ellie had fun playing with the babies and I ended up buying her her very own Bitty Baby to bring home! She has named her baby Amy (after going through a list of names with her she decided she liked that name) and she's pretty cute playing with her but still gives equal attention to Essie (the 1st doll we bought her when she was around 3 1/2 months old) and her "cat" which was mine that my dad gave me back when I was in college! We also got to have Ellie's picture with Dora! She loves Dora and wasn't afraid to hug her and have her picture with her!

Sunday we went to a nice place for breakfast in downtown St Paul then headed to the Children's museum! The kids had a great time there for a few hours then we stopped in at Mickey's Diner to have a milkshake (Mickey's Diner was shown in the Mighty Ducks and has been featured in various Food Network shows). After that, I did a little more shopping then the boys dropped Ellie and I off at our hotel then headed to the Twins/Yankees game - game 3 in the playoffs and the Yankees were 2-0! They were in the "nosebleeds" but had a great time and enjoyed seeing the Yankees win - plus the crazy fan that jumped on the field in the 9th inning added some extra stories for them!

Monday we started loading up the car and walked out to - SNOW!!! YES, snow!! It continued to snow for most of the morning. I just can't believe it wasn't even the middle of October and it was snowing! Pretty sad to see leaves on the ground (before it snowed) that were still GREEN - they hadn't even had a chance to change colors yet!! Anyway, after we loaded up, we went to the Minnetonka General Store - what a neat store! I loved it but Brian was a little disappointed (I think he was looking for a little more nostalgic sort of stuff). It had a lot of unique stuff that I could have spent even more time than I did going through! From there we went to the outlet mall and then headed home. While we were gone, Bella was at a doggy-hotel. I was a little nervous about leaving her at first but she did well and has done a great job adjusting to being back home.

Wondering

2009-09-29T20:47:00.004-05:00

Well, I am starting to wonder if, perhaps, I've missed a window of opportunity with Ellie and potty training. Last week she peed and pooped in the potty (not all day but once or twice each day) and now she'll sit on the potty but then she'll say I don't have to go. Perhaps I didn't push it enough or maybe I pushed too much?! We bought big girl panties hoping it would motivate her even more but it really didn't seem to do anything. We've talked about being able to paint her toenails once she goes potty all the time but, again, doesn't seem to matter. I did start giving her a gummy bear when she goes on the potty but even that doesn't seem to make her want to do it more - although she definitely wants it when she goes! Both the boys were almost 3 1/2 when they were potty trained so I didn't even have it in my mind - she's the one that started. I suppose we'll see. I did buy her some pull-ups today and we may try those tomorrow just to see.

The other day in the car (Saturday) it was just Ellie and I and she was being quiet. Then, all of a sudden she asks me "Are you little?" I have no idea what might have prompted her to asking me this or in what way she was thinking so I just said "Well, I'm short but I'm a big girl." I can't help but wonder what goes on in her two year old mind! She just amazes me with her vocabulary and her level of understanding.

Anybody have any ideas or suggestions on how to make a child STOP talking when he shouldn't be? That has been mine and Brian's biggest frustration with Ian for the last few months. He argues and talks when he really shouldn't and we'll tell him to stop talking and he'll just keep going or have ONE more thing to say. Hmph. I'm at my wits end. I feel like we're constantly telling him to STOP talking but I'm afraid that could backfire. We give him Bible verses and he prays about it but he continues. I pray I'm doing all that I should be to help him learn how to be obedient and not always talk when he shouldn't be.

Ellie's Learning!

2009-09-21T16:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday in the car on our way to church Ellie wanted some gum. I told her I didn't have any, we were all out. She sat there quietly for a few minutes then she says, "We pay gum?" In her 2 year old mind she put together that we didn't have any and we needed to buy some! Amazing!

Yes, we're alive!!

2009-09-16T15:17:00.013-05:00

Gee, the last time I posted it was a "catch-me-up" post and now I'm at it again! Life has just been crazy for the last month or so and although it doesn't show signs of slowing down, I have a moment to catch up!

Brian and I had the opportunity to drive Josh down to Florida for college. My mom came and stayed with Ian, Ellie, Downey and Bella - bless her heart! (Thanks so much, Mom!!) While we were in Florida we enjoyed a quasi-honeymoon and had a wonderful time.

His college is 9/10 of a mile from the ocean and, as you can see from the pictures, the water is beautiful! So far he is loving college life - but for some reason classes and reading are getting in the way of all his fun! :) He's doing ball room dancing and enjoys it. Although he went as a marine biology major, it sounds like he'll be changing it within the next couple of months.

Ian and I finally started our school year this past Monday and so far things are going pretty well. We're studying American history and we're learning all about the Native Americans. He's a 4th grader this year and a big nine year old. Still active as ever and will be starting hockey again soon. The picture I'm including of Ian was taken last week after a friend's birthday party where they did the tattoos. Well, if you look closely at his hair, you'll see a little "cut-out" in his bangs. He did that unbeknownst to me in order to show off his tattoo better!! Oh, my!

Ellie continues to charm and entertain although this week has been a little rough. I do believe she's finally getting the rest of her teeth and, of course, they all had to come in at once. So, she's cranky, has a runny nose, and did I mention cranky? She has gone pee-pee on the potty quite a few times in the last few days and we're really excited about that. She amazes people all the time with how well she speaks and she comes up with some of the cutest stuff. The other day in the car she was singing "Jesus Loves Me" and it went something like this..."Jesus loves me as far as I know!" She loves to sing and dance around and make you laugh.

Bella. Where do I begin with her? She's now over 4 months old and probably about as big as she's going to get. She's a bundle of energy and just doesn't stop. Still wondering how she's going to cope with the cold. We've taken her to the dog park in town a couple of times and she seems to enjoy it.

Our Life

2009-07-17T15:09:00.002-05:00

Life here in the northern plains has been quite hectic. Just when we think things might settle down a little, they pick right back up again. From work socials to kids functions and church activities, life stays pretty busy! I had every intention of being able to keep up our blog so that I would have a detailed description of all that's been going on but it just hasnt' been happening nor can I make any promises that it's going to get any better! It's hard to believe we've wrapped up a year here and have only one more to go. We have no idea where we'll head to next - especially since we never really get what's on our "dream sheet" so it always leaves things wide open!

I don't really know where to begin since I'm so far behind so I'll start with me! I have been busy - the Lord has blessed my Stampin' Up! (R) business while we've been here and I've been so thankful for it! I've met lots of great ladies and enjoy stampin' and getting to know them. I taught a 3rd/4th grade girls class at our church on Wednesday nights and had a fun time. I am on the steering team for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) this coming year doing hospitality. Thank goodness my friend Sarah is co-chairing that one with me and she lives up the street so that should be okay. I attend lots of functions with Brian and it's weird to be watching friends leave this summer - I'm used to being the one leaving since it has been a while since we've been on a base! I'm still getting used to the fact that my oldest will be headin to Florida for college in the not to far off future and I'm interested to see how the coming year goes with Ian as a result of that. In all honesty, too, I had a not too great event happen to me this past spring (please don't think anything too horrible just some issues with people) so it has left a bitter taste in my mouth for this place so I won't be sorry to leave next summer but I have been able to move past it a little and enjoy our time here. I've never been treated in such a way and I hope to never treat anyone in the same way as I was treated. But I digress...Life with three kids, a cat and a dog can be pretty stressful but I am thankful for the little things: nap time, bed time, etc! :) The Lord had a plan in sending us here and I just hope I'm learning and doing whatever it was we were supposed to do while are here!

Josh is getting really excited for college. I don't know if I'd said it before but he'll be attending Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, FL, majoring in Marine Biology with a minor in Graphic Design. It's a private Christian college on the beach - I told him we'll visit HIM for spring break! He'll be about 6 hours from my parents so at least he'll be able to go visit them for Thanksgiving and such. He just got his dorm assignment and roommates name so they're already facebook friends! (Gotta love technology!!) This week he's off at Sonshine Fest with a group of guys from church. They're camping and having fun - at least I think so since I haven't actually heard from him since Wednesday! In a little over a week he's leaving to go to Orlando to meet up with a friend of his from Alabama and his parents. Then, we'll head to Florida with him in late August to get him settled. I'm excited because I'll actually get to go to Florida and it's just going to be me, Josh and Brian so we'll be able to relax a little!

Ian is doing well. The event I mentioned about me earlier really affected his world, too, so it hasn't been easy but he's stayed positive and is doing well. We hosted a backyard Bible club this week and he enjoyed it and is looking forward to going to a camp soon that's sponsored by the same group. He has a friend who will also be going so that will be fun. He went to another camp earlier in the summer and had a great time so 2 in one summer is even better! We've pretty much finished up the school year and are just pushing forward into the next curriculum as time allows. He's started reading one of the new books (one thing about Ian is that although he can read well he typically doesn't enjoy sitting to read by himself but enjoys to sit and read with us) in the curriculum and it's a chapter book (he hasn't really read any by himself) and it's been fun to see him get into it. I've made him do 30 minutes of reading (when we haven't been really busy with other things) and he'll ask me at the end of the 30 minutes, "Can I keep reading?" To which I reply - you can keep reading as much as you'd like! I'm hopeful that he will begin to love reading more so we'll be able to get through this years curriculum without any trouble. He is grade level wise a little behind in math so I'm going to really work with him this year to see if we can push forward a little more. He just really doesn't have his math facts down as well as I'd like. He's been doing baseball and continues with piano. He'll be doing an archery "camp" later this summer and he's looking forward to that. If you think of it, please say a little prayer for him as he adjusts to life without his big brother!

Eliana. She is our little cutie - she brings a smile to all of us and we so enjoy having her around. She had a little surgery this week - had to have a tooth removed that somehow or other was coming in broken! I was a little nervous about the fact that she had to be put to sleep for it but she did really well and you wouldn't even know anything had happened. She loves to be with her family, be outside, ride her little bike, "run", see Bella, watch tv (much to my dismay), eat popsicles, and pretty much rule the roost! :) Schooling Ian with Ellie around is challenging and I'm really praying I'll figure something out to help it go a little smoother.

Well, I'm sure there was more I was going to say but this is already long and the puppy's whining and Ellie's crying to get up from her nap so I better run!

Our Trip to the Cabin

2009-07-13T13:17:00.004-05:00

Last week we had the opportunity to stay at Brian's uncle Steve's cabin. His cabin is in Hayward, WI, so it's about a 7 hour drive from here. We left on the 4th of July and were there by that afternoon. We had a wonderful time! We relaxed, fished, saw the fireworks, went out to lunch at the original Famous Dave's on Round Lake and a place recommended in the Food Network magazine (there's a story about that so stay tuned). It was such a nice, relaxing vacation and we really didn't want to come home! The story about the place we went for lunch is that I bought the Food Network Magazine while we were there to read while at the cabin. It just so happened that there was a letter to the editor by a man who says he's traveled across the US and he thinks the best hamburgers ever are at a place called Farmer's Inn in Hayward, WI. How crazy is that? So, we decided (being the hamburger eaters we are) that we should check it out. So, it's a little bit of a hole-in-the-wall but that's normally where the good food is anyway. While we were sitting there looking at the menu we just happened to hear the folks at the table across from us talking about the Food Network Magazine and a feature they'd done the previous month about the best places in the US for hamburger and the man commented that he'd written in a letter telling about this place!! SO, it just so happened we were sitting next to the guy who'd sent in the letter AND he and his wife live in CA but have a cabin in Hayward they come to for a few months every year and this was their first day back! How crazy is that?! Needless to say, Brian's hamburger wasn't cooked to his standard (he prefers medium rare and it was more on the medium side) and so we thought the burgers were okay. Mine was pretty tasty but not sure I could say it's the BEST I've ever had - just a fun story to share!

Here's a slide-show of our time at the cabin.

Newest Addition

2009-06-30T13:58:00.002-05:00

It's been almost a week since we got the newest addition to our family - Bella. She's a (as of yesterday) 8 week old Miniature Pinscher. She's a real cutie and is a really good puppy. She's been doing well with her crate training and house training although we're not calling her "trained" by any stretch of the imagination! We're working with the whole nipping thing, too, but she is a puppy and we know it's going to take a while! Here's a little postcard I made with some pictures of Bella!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Ellie is 2!!!!

2009-06-12T22:53:00.002-05:00

I know I'm way overdue in updating what is going on around here and I don't really have time to do so now either, but I did want to post a little photo slide show of pics of Ellie in the last two years. She's two today and we're having her little party tomorrow. I'll make sure to post pics of that, too!
Without further ado, here's Ellie!!!

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It's Here!!

2009-05-20T14:10:00.004-05:00

The week we've been talking about since last year about this time is upon us! Josh is graduating this weekend! He has his last day of school today. He was actually a little nervous about it - I think reality is sinking in PLUS he was driving the Catalina to school today and I think he was a little nervous about that, too! My parents arrive tomorrow night and then my brother and his family arrive sometime Saturday. The graduation party we're having for him is Saturday and then graduation is Sunday. Still no decision about college but I think we're a little closer. He's leaning toward Palm Beach Atlantic in Palm Beach, FL. It has Marine Biology as well as Graphics so he'll be able to do both! We're just waiting to get all the necessary paperwork in to make sure he's been accepted. We've already decided that if he goes there, we'll be going to see HIM for Spring Break! (LOL!) Here are a couple of pictures of him leaving in the Catalina this morning for his last day of high school!

Happy Easter - 2 weeks late!

2009-04-26T22:00:00.003-05:00

Yes, I am VERY behind on my posts but I didn't want Easter to completely slip by without posting anything so I am doing it now.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Yes, it's another scrapbook but it's the easiest way to share all of the photos. We were in Bemidji, MN, for Easter. We rented a cabin and enjoyed just being away. It was just what our family needed - especially with the crazy schedule in the next month! For those of you who don't know, Bemidji is home to Paul Bunyan and also the first city on the Mississippi! We had a wonderful Easter although I must admit it was a little strange going to a "new" church for Easter where we didn't know anyone.

We hope you had a wonderful Easter celebrating our risen Savior with your family!

SOOOO not funny!!!

2009-04-26T20:21:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it, I just really can't! Yesterday was a beautiful day. Josh had Prom and we were able to get some outside pictures - the sun was shining it was in the 50's and it was so nice. Then, about an hour ago it started to ... you guessed it - SNOW!!!!! I thought even if it did snow there was no way it would stick - boy was I wrong! Just to show you the difference, I'm posting the "scrapbook" I made of Prom pics for Josh, then I'll post the pics I took today of the snow!

Here are a couple of pictures of the snow at our house!

Too crazy!!

Josh Update

2009-04-18T12:05:00.002-05:00

It has, once again, been a while since I've had the time to sit and blog and I do have lots to blog about - it's just finding the time to do it that's the problem! After talking to some family members, I realized I haven't mentioned much about what is going on in the life of Josh - our soon to graduate senior! We still have no idea as to where he will head for college in a few short months, but here's a list of the ones he has applied to: Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI, Cedarville University in Ohio, Palm Beach Atlantic University in Palm Beach, Florida, and Northwestern College in St Paul, MN. They are all christian universities and part of the problem is not knowing where we'll be after next summer. He's pretty much ruled out Cornerstone although he really liked it due to the fact it doesn't have a graphic arts program. He's in between wanting to do graphics, something with science and theater. I think I pretty much have him convinced NOT to major in theater but he's not sure between the graphic arts and science. The one in Palm Beach is supposed to have a program in Marine Biology which is something he used to say when he was 7 that he was going to do and he's back to thinking about it again! So, that's the update on the whole college search stuff as it stands right now.

Although he isn't currently in any theater productions he is staying busy with a new activity - working! He started working at Coldstone Creamery a few weeks ago and seems to really be enjoying it. The job almost "fell in his lap" because the owner of the store goes to our church and helps out with the youth so he already knew Josh and didn't need to interview him! The owner also told Josh that if he goes away to college, he can still work for him when he comes home on breaks, so that's nice!

Josh is also gearing up for Prom!! It is a week away and his date's name is Amanda. They met through a mutual friend because she goes to a different school. We got to meet her when we went to help pick out Josh's tux. She's going to be wearing a pink dress so he'll be wearing a pink tie and vest. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes out.

If you'd like to see a sampling of his senior photos, you can click here.

Update and Cute Ellie

2009-03-28T09:36:00.006-05:00

Well, life is getting a little more interesting here. Effors to fight the flood have stepped up quite a bit so there's a couple of extra hundred people that we're housing, feeding, etc. that are here to help out. Josh missed school the other day on an excused absence to go help sandbag. Brian's working long hours and will be working through the weekend. All activities have been cancelled/postponed until further notice. The gym that we normally go to every day is closed because it's one of the locations that's housing folks. And with the snow/cold there aren't a lot of options of getting out and getting the kids out. I'm considering going into town today just to get out of the house for a little bit and mix it up! Needless to say, please continue to pray for our communities here - people have already evacuated houses and there are houses in Fargo that have already been ruined. So, families are going to be in great need.

All of that said, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of Ellie from the last couple of days that I thought were pretty cute. This first one she was just being cute sitting in her rocking chair and "reading" the little book.

This next one is a picture of her with her very first lollipop. The only reason we let her have it is Ian was having one for dessert and had gotten it from a bag in my bathroom (not normally there just happened to have a couple there). A few minutes later, Ellie showed up at the table and had gotten the other one that had been there. So, we decided to reward her efforts! She enjoyed it but I don't plan to make it a habit for her!

This last one was taken the other day when we were having a blizzard. She can be found like this pretty frequently.
Yes, that's the cat's bed but for some reason, Ellie thinks it's hers. She'll sit in it, put her toys in it, put her doll in it for bed, etc. It's pretty cute.

Update on our weather

2009-03-25T20:53:00.008-05:00

Well, we got a brief look at what spring in ND might look like and were lulled into believing it was really here, only to be back into winter weather that continues to come down!!! Having a bit of forethought, I took a couple of pictures yesterday to show you what it looked like...
This is the backyard yesterday - as you can see, the only snow really left was the big snow drift that had accumulated at our bird feeder.

This is our front porch - all of the snow was GONE!!! Amazing but true - also a reason the locals are concerned about flooding - it's all melting quickly!

So, after seeing what it looked like yesterday... here's what it looked like this morning!!!

As you can see, this is the backyard and all the snowdrifts are back where they were as if they never left! I just couldn't believe it!!

And, the front porch - the elephants are almost gone again!! CRAZY!!

All of that said, please be praying for our area. The president has issued a National State of Emergency for the Fargo area and now it's being moved up our way as well. Although we are pretty safe where we are, everyone who lives in town is uncertain what the next few days will hold and there's a lot of sandbagging happening to try and keep the flood from impacting everyone. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!!

What I did Today

2009-03-23T13:20:00.004-05:00

You're never going to guess what I did today!! I was really looking forward to my aerobics class today (I try to go Monday - Friday for the 9am class and I really like the Monday, Friday class: Body Sculpt) because I felt like all we did over the weekend was eat so I was really looking forward to working out. Well, we were about 10 minutes into the class and were doing an excersize with dumbells where you bend over at the waist (with knees slightly bent) and then back up. On the very last one, on my way up my back had SHARP, Shooting pains go through it and I even saw a few stars. Well, I was really hoping to just stretch it out and keep going but the instructor and a friend in the class both said I should probably stop and go get a warm pack to put on it. I went to the front desk to get one but all they had was cold so I was contemplating what to do while my back is still hurting pretty bad. I saw my friend Holly and she thought I should go to the clinic. We finally ended up calling Brian and he came to help me. We rounded up the kids from the fit 'n' fun area and drove to the clinic. I hate this! As I told Brian, I'd almost prefer I'd broken something so I'd feel justified at being in pain. I feel like I have a pretty high thresh-hold for pain so I really hate feeling like a wimp. We weren't sure they would be able to see me or not but after about 2 hours I was finally seen. And, of course, all they recommend is stretching and some muscle relaxers and pain medication. I also hate feeling like I've wasted mine and Brian's time! So, here I am at home laying on the couch doing some reading/blogging and email and probably, although I haven't yet, facebooking. Ellie's napping and Ian's doing some writing work. I had a nice warm bath and took some Motrin so I'm sure I'll be feeling good soon. So much for a good workout today!

Wanna know something a little bit ironic about all of this? Just this morning during my quiet time I was praying that I would be more compassionate. As I stated earlier, I have a high tolerance for pain so I expect others to have the same and I'm not always as sympathetic as I probably should be. Well, what's the best way to learn compassion/sympathy? To go through it yourself, of course!! Don't tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor or that he doesn't hear us when we pray! WOW! I almost felt like the passage in Daniel when it says AS Daniel was praying, the Lord sent out His angel (Daniel 9:20-23). How awesome is that!! When we moved to Alabama, Brian hurt his back and was unable to help with the unloading and all with the packers and I must be honest in saying I wasn't very sympathetic. So, now I know. It HURTS and you feel helpless because you feel like it SHOULDN'T hurt. Thank you, Lord, for giving me a lesson in compassion that I won't soon forget!

Huge Party Going On Tonight!!!

2009-03-18T22:23:00.003-05:00

You are probably wondering what the party is/was all about... of course I'm going to tell you because that's what blogging is all about!! Well, I don't know if I've mentioned it on here before or not but back in January I started teaching 3rd and 4th grade girls on Wednesday nights at our church. They're a good group of girls - albeit a little energetic!! Well, about a month or more ago one of them started bringing a friend and tonight right as we were about to get started the two of them came and asked if they could talk to me in private. I said, "Sure!" So, we went away from where the other girls were and the "regular" said, "Something I've been praying about is happening - "visitor" wants to become a Christian!!" Of course I was excited but also wanted to make sure she knew exactly what it meant so I went to our Children's director and told her and thought it would be good to sit with her and counsel her some. So, the three of us went into a separate room and we went through the plan of salvation and read some verses in Romans - "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (3:23), "For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (6:23), "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (5:8), and another verse in Ephesians "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the GIFT of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (2:8&9) Each time we read a verse we would talk with her about it and make sure she truly understood what this free GIFT was and she was really excited to have God with her in her life. I led her through a sinner's prayer and afterward she was happy and said, "Does this mean I'm a Christian now?" I think too many people think it's more complicated than that but it really does come down to a simple prayer of confession that you're a sinner and that you need Christ. I ask you to be praying for her, though, she comes from a broken home and lives with her mom who doesn't attend church. Now we need to be praying she'll be able to share her new found faith with her family! So, the huge party going on tonight is in Heaven! The angels are celebrating this new believer! It has really been a renewal for me as well - to really remember it is a gift and I can't earn it. Which means as a human I'm going to fail at things but His love is still there. Praise the Lord!!

Happy St Patty's Day (a little late)!

2009-03-18T21:37:00.004-05:00

We don't normally make a "big" deal about St Patrick's Day other than wearing something green but this year I was inspired when I found a package of "corned beef" at the commissary. It was ready to go, all you had to do was cook it. I've never made corned beef before and, to be honest, I haven't really been that fond of it but I knew Brian liked corned beef so I thought I'd give it a go! Although Brian likes corned beef he doesn't like the cabbage that most folks put with it so I came up with some other stuff. One thing I decided to make was somewhat of an homage to my friend, Amy, (who we used to celebrate St Patty's Day with when we lived near each other) and that was to make pierogies to go with it. Now, I'm one to know a good thing when I see it so I opted for the easier already made kind by Mrs T instead of making them from scratch (but maybe one day). The rest of the menu included green beans and salad plus I just had to try and make my own green beer. I couldn't decide if you add green or blue food coloring to make it green. Since it's "sort of" yellow I went with blue remembering of course that blue and yellow make green. Well, it turns out that's not the case for beer! It made it BLUE!! So, I had to use green food coloring. So, note to self for any of you who might want to do it in the future - use green food coloring! For dessert Ian and I made some cups of lime jello to top of our green meal. We had Irish music playing in the background and the only plates I have that have green in them are our fine china ones so when Brian and Ian got home from Ian's hockey practice, I had the table nicely set with our fine china AND our newely acquired silver (Ellie's inheritance from Brian's parents - it was theirs but they never use it so decided to give us her inheritance early!). When Brian got home and saw all that I had done he asked me, "So, when did we turn Irish?" Like I said, I was inspired and I went with it and we had a fun time making memories as a family. Now, the question is do you know the REAL reason we celebrate St Patrick's Day? As a Christian it's great to know that he was a real person who spent his life trying to convert the Irish to Christianity and the Lord used him mightily. IF you'd like to do some reading up on the history of Patrick and the Irish please go here.

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Brian's Birthday

2009-03-12T22:59:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm only a week or so behind but I did want to post a little about Brian's birthday. I feel as if it came up so quickly this year and I wasn't at all prepared! Well, I knew what his present was but I didn't have it for him and I'd been out of town the weekend before his birthday and our commissary is closed on Mondays so I didn't even have a cake ordered for him! Thankfully, though, we'd thought a little in advance and did have plans for his birthday. It just so happened that Brian's birthday was parent's night for Josh's school musical "Man of La Mancha" and we had dinner plans beforehand with some friends whose daughters were also in the show. We ended up going to a place called Sanders that I've been wanting to go to for some time now and it was a very nice dinner and we enjoyed the company very much. The show was also very well done and we had a great time. On the way home since he didn't have cake, we stopped in at Coldstone and picked up a pint to take home. YUM!!

I will say it was kind of funny, though, because at lunch on his birthday Brian and I were talking and he says, "Oh, you went to the commissary so I have cake!" and although I did go to the commissary and had intended to buy him a cake, they didn't have any that I wanted to buy. If you know my husband you know he LOVES store bought cake with buttercream frosting. He prefers it over me baking a cake for him!! I felt SO bad that I didn't have a cake for him but he told me I could still get him one! So, I went in and ordered him a cake. I wasn't actually pleased with the way it came out (I told the lady he loved frosting - especially the flowers and apparently I didn't specify the big roses with lots of frosting so I was a bit disappointed with their version of flowers!) but here it is:

Just in case you can't read it, it says "Here's your cake" "Love you". What's funny is the lady taking the order added the quotation marks I think so the people decorating the cake would know what to put but the person decorating also put the quotation marks!!! LOL!! It's about the saddest looking cake I've ever seen but it satisfied his need for cake!

Our Blizzard

2009-03-12T22:42:00.006-05:00

Well, I'm sure most of you have heard but on Tuesday of this week, we experienced a bit of a blizzard! Although I am very much ready for spring, the blizzard proved to be an unexpected gift from God!! Our schedules have all been pretty crazy/busy and we just haven't had a lot of time together as a family...so the Lord provided a way for us to have just that! Although Brian went in to work for a couple of hours, he was home by 1pm and then we had the rest of the day together in our jammies!! We read together, played Uno together and just hung out. It was great!! Here is a picture of the blizzard happening outside:

Please note that this isn't as bad as it was at times - you couldn't even see the trees at times!!

Here's a picture of the blizzard in the house:

Cute story about this one. At one point I wasn't sure where Ellie was and she was being quiet (which usually means she's in her room getting her blankie and paci) so I was looking for her. And Ian said, "Aww, she's just looking outside the back door watching the snow." So, I went to see her and it turns out she wasn't just WATCHING the snow, she was playing with some that had made it inside our door!! She also enjoyed eating some of it. Pretty handy if you ask me, didn't have to get out in the cold to enjoy the snow!

Here's a picture of our front stoop the day after the storm. It took Brian quite a while to get it dug out and he had some help from a friend with a snow plow! Oh, and don't let the sun fool you - although it's BEAUTIFUL, we only got up to about -20 degrees!! You can see one of my elephants, but can you see the other?!

Still Trying to Catch Up!!

2009-03-07T12:01:00.006-06:00

I would like to share a few videos we took at the end of January of Ellie so you can see how she's growing! The first one is at Ian's hockey game (he's the one in the white helmet and he's #8) and Ellie is cheering for him.

While at the same game, Ellie went down the slide all by herself on the playset in the hockey arena.

The last one is the same day but later that night at home and Ellie gets a book and is "reading" to Ian's clone toys.

Where has the time gone?!

2009-02-22T21:34:00.004-06:00

I cannot believe it has been a whole month since I've posted anything to our blog!! I'm sure you are all waiting for me to post...sitting on the edge of your seats wondering what new exciting thing I'll post next so I apologize for my delay! I have had the thought a few times that I need to sit and post but never got to it. SO, I'll try and give you a quick update:

Josh is currently getting close to "showtime" for the school musical. Funny story about him being in it is that he didn't even audition for it! In fact, they were a couple of weeks into rehearsals when the director approached him and asked him if he'd like to be in it! It's "The Man of La Mancha" and he's in the chorus but it's still pretty cool that they came to him!! The show runs March 3rd - 7th so it's coming up quickly! He just returned today from a ski trip with the church youth group. He had a great time on that. This weekend he and I are going to drive to Michigan for him to take a look at a college he's been accepted to there - Cornerstone University. He seems to really like it but I decided he shouldn't make any decisions until he's actually been there! He's also been accepted to Cedarville University in Ohio. So, definitely some decisions to be making! Oh, and a couple of weekends ago he and his science bowl team went to the state competition and came in 3rd out of about twenty something schools. He felt pretty good about especially since he was the Captain and in his words "Our best guy wasn't here because he was sick and the other teams that got first and second had some freaks (translation freakishly smart people) on their teams!"

Ian is doing well. He's been enjoying swimming lessons, continues with piano lessons and just wrapped up his hockey season on Saturday with a double header! Their team didn't do very well but he had a great time and we definitely saw some improvement in his abilities! We are looking at signing him up for a 3 week "half-ice" league that runs in March so he'll still be able to get some ice time! School is going well and we've enjoyed learning all about world history and he's coming along with his math and seems to really enjoy science.

Ellie is growing so much! Last weekend she ran a fever the whole time and we thought she might be teething but we were looking for a tooth next to her other top tooth and didn't see anything. Finally on Monday I decided to really take a look in her mouth and was amazed to find 3 molars had come in!! She doesn't even have all the rest of her teeth but she got her molars!! It does look like there are two other top teeth trying to make their way in and she's definitely not been herself today - lack of appetite and VERY clingy! So, we shall see! She says a lot of words and has become so animated! She loves to read books and have a tea party!

Brian and I continue to stay busy, too. His job keeps him busy and my Stampin' Up! (R) business has picked up in the last month so I'm very thankful for that!

Well, that should bring you up to speed! I'll see if I have any recent pictures to post with this! Oh, and please know I love feedback so leaving comments is acceptable!!

How we spent the day off

2009-01-21T14:50:00.009-06:00

I love three day weekends! This time I was especially glad it was a three day weekend because we were so busy on Saturday that it felt like another day of the week so having Monday off just helped it to feel more like an actual weekend!

Monday morning I got up and went to a body sculpt aerobics class and when I got home Brian had made french toast for breakfast! Yum! Then, we finally opened a new Wii game my brother and his family sent us for Christmas. We were waiting until we were all together to play so it was finally the day! It's called Outdoor Adventure and it's a lot of fun plus physically demanding! So, after just doing aerobics I was starting to feel a bit wiped out and it wasn't even noon! Then, we decided that since we are experiencing a little bit of a heat wave right now with temperatures in the 20's it was the right time to finally do the sledding we've been talking about! After Ellie had her nap, we got bundled up and headed out to Turtle River (the same place we went for Ian's birthday back in August) that's only about 7 miles from our house - we'd heard there was a good sledding hill there. The only sleds we have are a metal disc one that was Brian's and a plastic one we got for Josh when we lived in Ohio so we weren't necessarily geared up sled wise but we were ready to have fun. It turns out the hill is quite a nice little hill and Ellie and I were the first ones to go down on the metal disc sled. We started from the top and as we were going down I had the thought of "I hope I didn't make the wrong choice going down with Ellie first without having done it myself!" We got a pretty good speed going and went over a few bumps that made us really bounce and I was so afraid I would lose her! BUT, I didn't lose her - just her boot and my hat! She said she wanted to do it again, though, so we went a few more times (not starting from as high up after the first run). After about the 4th time down she conveyed she was done so Brian took her to the warming house. I was very impressed that she did it and then wanted to do it again so she's got some guts! The boys had a good time, too, and of course the hardest part of sledding is going back UP the hill! Brian had taken a bad fall while ice skating with Ian on Sunday at the outdoor rink on base so he wasn't as interested in doing too much sledding but did finally do a run right before we left. I'd brought along hot chocolate so we all had a cup then did one more run and headed for home where I had a nice pot of chili waiting for us! What a perfect North Dakota day! Oh, and yes, I was hurting the next day after the aerobics, the Wii game and the sledding!

A note about the pictures - it turns out Ellie's hat is on backwards so that's why it looks a little awkward. The photo on the left is a picture of Ian going down the hill!

Eliana

2009-01-16T14:17:00.004-06:00

Well, on Monday Eliana turned 19 months! I just can't believe how quickly the time is going. She's really starting to look more and more like a little girl and her personality is shining through more each day. She's a little on the stubborn side (can't imagine where she gets that from) and she is definitely getting more into the "I do it" stage!! She delights us daily with the cute things she does - from copying me doing aerobics to dancing to playing with Ian's light sabers. She is finally getting a top tooth and we're looking forward to that helping her eat some other harder to chew things soon. She's still as picky as ever but loves her carbs!! I've put together a little collage of recent pictures that I think really show off her little personality. Oh, and one more thing I love that her hair is finally getting long enough to put in little pigtails!!!

Make a Smilebox postcard

PS For those of you who might be having trouble seeing the pictures, press play on the smilebox thing and once the small pictures are up, just click on the picture and it will show up larger in the space where the "E" is!!

Laughing

2009-01-15T21:19:00.003-06:00

Ever realized just how good a laugh felt and then had the thought - when's the last time I laughed that hard?! I hope my dad doesn't take offense to this but in some ways I feel I'm becoming more and more like him and there's some good and some bad to it. You see, I love my dad, he's a very loving man who would do anything for his family (I know because I've pushed it and seen it in action). He's a man who loves the Lord and would do anything for a friend - all things that make me proud to be his daughter. BUT, I also find him a little hard to crack at times. He can be very serious and seem aloof although I'm sure that's not how he intends it to be. I sometimes felt (growing up) like he didn't laugh at the funny stuff or seemed to be harder on me than I thought necessary (don't we all think that about our parents). The problem is, that's how I see myself now! I see myself yelling, yes I'll be honest YELLING, at my kids more, getting frustrated with them more easily and not enjoying their silliness but instead wanting them to be more serious. Today was one of those days (as has the last week) where I thought I would pull my hair out with my kids. I had a couple of meetings to go to, a work-out to get done, schooling to do with Ian, a shower, a little bit of business to do, and the last thing I needed was silliness from my kids! (Yes, I hear the unreasonable-ness in my own sentence and am convicted of it.)
Sidebar!!{Unfortunately, Ellie wasn't being silly she was crying it seemed like all day for no apparent reason. After being in the house Monday, Tuesday and most of Wednesday (to go to church) due to car troubles (don't even get me started on that) I thought it'd be nice to finally be out (in our -50 degrees with the wind chill weather) BUT I think I was wrong. It made me more stressed!}
Okay, here's some of the things Ian did today. We're trying to head out to the gym so I had asked him to get dressed. I'm getting Ellie's jacket on, my jacket, my shoes and getting ready to head out the door when I see that yes, he's dressed and what is he wearing? Clothes... but what's on top of his clothes?!!! His clone-trooper Halloween costume! I must admit I'm laughing about it now but I wasn't happy then but I didn't have time to do anything about it. So, we went to the gym, a meeting and met Brian for lunch at the club all in his costume. When I called Brian about meeting for lunch I told him, I haven't had my shower or anything yet are you going to be embarassed? He told me he loved me anyway. I guess I didn't mention Ian's outfit and Ian ended up waiting for him at the door of the place and Brian said to me - I was prepared for you but not for Ian's full costume at the club! Next, we're home and did school and we're getting ready to head out again for another meeting and this time I asked Ian to take off the costume. We get to the gym (for a meeting) and I asked him to carry the baby bag and he asks, can I take in my clone? Well, I thought he meant one of his little figures he has so I said yes. Well, I got Ellie and hurried inside (did I mention the -50 with the windchill?) and I turn around to see Ian carrying his big clone trooper helmet, lightsaber and the baby bag!!! I almost fell I couldn't believe it!!
Brian just told me this story but while at the gym for the meeting (Brian was at the same one) he took Ellie and was going into an open gym area and told Ian to come with him. Well, I had Ian "watching" my friend's two boys at the same time for the same meeting (which in case you think we're horrible parents the meeting was only about 5 minutes long and they were in the Fit'n'Fun area playing) but Brian didn't realize it. So, after a couple of minutes he looks to make sure Ian's coming and he sees the two boys coming too and asks Ian, why are they coming? To which Ian replies, "Dad, I'm watching them!!" What a good boy. He really is.
If anyone's in need of therapy, blogging really is a way to be able to work out some issues!!! In fact, what's kind of funny is I didn't even start to talk about any of this I was simply going to mention that after my crazy day I rushed out the door to go to a movie with a couple of friends. During the movie I laughed so hard and seriously had the thought, "When's the last time I laughed that hard?" Now, after rehashing my day I've laughed a lot and cried a little too. Aren't we, as humans, amazing? I'll tell you something even more amazing - God can have a day like this with us, too, where he wonders what were we thinking and then at the end of the day still be filled with such amazing love for us that it's incredible!! Why? Why would he love us in that way when we are so undeserving of it? He takes such delight in us. Lord, I pray that I would delight in my kids in the same way and that through my love for them, they will see YOUR love shining through.

Update on our snow

2009-01-13T16:28:00.005-06:00

Snow drift in front of our front window.

Front porch.

I took some more pictures the other day and thought I should share them with you so you can see our scenery! I took these from inside looking out. Haven't been brave enough to get out and take a picture of the drifts. In the back yard there are about 2-3 feet drifts. One of the things that we've enjoyed in being here are the snowshoe hares. This summer when we arrived I saw one out of the corner of my eye when we were out walking and said to Brian, "What in the world was that?" He hadn't seen it but then he finally saw it and was like I don't know? The things are HUGE!! We thought they were jackrabbits but it turns out they are snow shoe hares and now they are white so that's pretty cool. There are a couple of them that must live around our house because we see them quite frequently. I'm gonna have to try and get a picture some time. As I sit here and blog it's snowing more so the snow is only getting higher!!

Sioux Hockey

2009-01-13T16:10:00.009-06:00

We had the opportunity two weekends ago to go to our first UND Sioux hockey game. The Ralph Engelstad arena is the NICEST hockey arena around. In fact, even pros are jealous of it! Anyway, we were excited to finally have an opportunity to be able to go! Ian was excited because now that he's actually playing he enjoyed knowing some of the positions and taking notes on some things he should work on. It was a great game and UND won in overtime so it was definitely exciting! We, of course, took some pictures!

Can you see the "You are now in Sioux Country" sign in the background?

We were way up in the nosebleed section so we had a good view of the whole arena!

Josh and Ian having a great time!

During the 3rd period, the people sitting behind us left so Brian took Ellie up there so she had some room to walk around. At one point she started cheering and saying "YAY" and dancing and it was just too cute! I wish I could've gotten it on video. She drew quite an audience!

Ian's Room Redo

2009-01-13T15:52:00.005-06:00

We have officially lived in North Dakota for six months now - I just can't believe it! Now that we've been here that long, we've finally been getting around to completing some of the tasks we set aside to get to one day. We had originally been "finished" in Ian's room but the more time I spent in his room, the more it bothered me. So, I had the idea to put one of his beds up on concrete blocks like my roommate and I did in college. Brian wasn't too keen on the idea and fought me all the way but I'm pleased with how his room turned out and Brian has even admitted it's pretty neat. Ian loves it and says it's his favorite room EVER!! Here are a couple of pictures!

He added the blanket to make the area underneath like a fort. His dresser and a new little cube organizer is under his bed. In the middle picture you can see Ellie kneeling underneath. His second bed is tucked in behind (under the window). The "Play" is on the wall across from the bed. It's from Uppercase Living and it's pretty cool - definitely give his room a nice touch!!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-13T13:38:00.004-06:00

I'm a little late in posting but Happy New Year 2009! I can't believe this is the year my oldest will graduate from high school! It just seems so crazy! I remember when he first started school and the thought crossed my mind of - what year will he graduate? I realized it was the year 2009 and that seemed a century away BUT here we ARE!! To celebrate the new year, a friend had us over for a get together. Kids were invited so we took Ian but left Ellie at home in bed with Josh baby-sitting. Don't feel too bad for Josh, though, he invited friends over and had quite a get-together of his own here at our house. Brian and I had a great time hanging out and watched the ball fall which means it's officially the new year!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T14:48:00.003-06:00

Here we are Christmas afternoon - I can't believe it's already come and half-way gone already! The boys are each enjoying their gifts - Josh on his PSP with a new game and Ian and Brian are working on Ian's new Lego Star Wars X-Wing. Ellie is napping although I may hear her waking up as I type. It has truly been a wonderful couple of days. Brian has taken the week to be off and accomplish some last minute Christmas stuff as well as just enjoy some down-time with the family.
Monday both he and I went shopping (separately) in the morning but had the afternoon to relax and do some gift wrapping. That night we had some friends over for dinner and enjoyed a couple of hours to get to know them a little better. Josh, however, was out having a movie marathon with friends! Tuesday he and Josh went had had some much needed "guy time" while I did some cooking and other activities. That evening we enjoyed a family dinner all together at the table - with the busy season it's been a while since that has happened and it was nice. We then were enjoying a family game of Rummikub when the doorbell rang and it was a group of carolers - all the Commanders and their spouses! What a lovely surprise!
Christmas Eve I spent some time in the kitchen and then realized I needed a couple of last-minute ingredients so we headed into town a little early for our Christmas Eve service so I could stop by the store before the service. What that meant for our family was having to get ready for church at 3pm! Not quite used to that! We had to wake Ellie up from her nap and although I had a beautiful Christmas dress ready for her to put on because we woke her up she was in no mood to change so we left her in the outfit she was wearing (thankfully it was a Christmas-y outfit). After a stop at Target we realized we were pretty early for church so Brian actually offered to stop and get us all coffee/cocoa - something that's never his suggestion! So, we went through the drive-thru at Cariboo Coffee and then headed to church. It was a lovely service but, unfortunately, it wasn't the candlelight service and we really enjoy that service but it was still nice. Once the service was over we headed home to some heavy appetizers - something we did last year on Christmas Eve and really liked. We'd invited some folks over but most had plans or just wanted to be home (which we can totally understand). We did end up with Josh's friend Chris and his mom (who works for Brian) and then a stop-by visitor, Colleen, who dropped by with gifts for us. Chris and Colleen are both in Josh's Calculus study group that meets in our home every Sunday afternoon and usually concludes with me feeding them all dinner. There's more of a story with that that I'll have to share another time or this post will be longer then it already looks to be! Anyway, it was kinda fun to have the group here and they all started playing games. It was a lovely way to spend the evening. Oh, our food was cheese fondue with bread and green apples, sweet and sour meatball, port-wine cheese with wheat thins and Christmas "wreaths" (similar to Rice-krispy treats but made from corn flakes and dyed green).
This morning the boys were happy to see that Santa had, indeed, come to visit and I don't think they were disappointed! Josh got a laptop, Ian got a Star Wars Xwing (mentioned earlier), Clone Trooper gun (nerf type) and a light up/sound purple light saber (we have termed this Ian's Star Wars Christmas), and Ellie got a travel magna doodle, lady bug tea set, cloth manger scene, and a cute dinnerware set she can eat on/with. They immediately noticed, though, that their stockings were not hanging with care! Turns out Santa sent them on a scavenger hunt to find them! I'll post later the hints and all that he left. It was a fun twist on our Christmas morning. We then opened our stockings, gifts from friends and family (THANK YOU EVERYONE!), and then gifts from each other. Brian's big/little present - I tricked him by telling him it was just a "little" something - was an Ipod Nano. I got some clothes (I wanted) and cool socks and pretty earrings. Plus, a hair straightener I wanted. So, it's been a wonderful Christmas for all of us! I hope it has been for you as well! I hope through all the gifts, food and good times together you take a moment to remember the baby born in Bethelem who gives us a reason for this season as well as hope for all year long! Merry Christmas to you All!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What I Have Done

2008-12-15T14:35:00.002-06:00

My friend, Amy, posted this on her blog, and since I have NOTHING (HA!HA!) else to be doing right now, I thought I'd participate!! I highlighted the things I HAVE DONE in Green. If I counted right, I have done 48 of these things!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars (camping as a kid)
3. Played in a band (does band in high school count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (pretty sure I watched one in Columbus, MS)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (I'm counting this because my mom and I sang a duet in church when I was little and I don't think anyone really wants to hear me sing solo!!!!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (in Singapore while safe in my house)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (going to East Berlin!!)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (I'm pretty sure so I'm counting it!)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I'm counting the ones on the Wii)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (my ancestors lived in Savannah, GA, and I was born there!)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (I've climbed the rock wall at the gym, sort of)
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (I'm pretty sure I did as a kid but I won't count it just in case)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (I used to love makind mud pies as a kid)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (No, but married to someone who has!)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (Stampin' Up! counts, I'm pretty sure)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (more than I'd care to)
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (I sprained my ankle bad enough to be in a half cast for a while)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (I'm counting going and rescuing Brian from a storm)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (I'm pretty sure yes but because I can't think of who, I won't count it)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Our North Dakota Weekend

2008-12-15T13:58:00.009-06:00

Well, the cold has definitely come to us here in North Dakota and to top it all off, we were expecting the worst blizzard they'd seen in 10 years starting Saturday. And, wouldn't you know we had a ton of things going on Saturday! But let me back up a minute to Thursday and I'll go from there (and include pictures as I go)!

Brian and I were able to attend Josh's performance on Thursday thanks to a friend volunteering to come watch Ian and Ellie for us. We really enjoyed the show and seeing him get to be the lead! All the pictures I tried to take of just him came out blurry but this one of all of them during the play turned out okay - he's got a pretty serious face going!

Friday night Brian and I went to his squadron Christmas party. It was well done and we had a good time.

Here's the run-down of our Saturday: Josh had the ACT at 8am, Ian had dress rehearsals for the church's children's Christmas musical at 10am and hockey at 12:15pm. Josh then had the final performance of his play that evening at 7:30pm. We were able to accomplish everything on Saturday plus finally get a tree before heading home that afternoon! The wind was definitely starting to pick up but the roads were still fine. I wasn't crazy about Josh still having his performance that evening and Brian taking him but it worked out okay and they made it home fine. (In the picture Ian's the one on the left in the white helmet.)

In my mind, a blizzard is getting dumped on with a bunch of snow and not being able to go anywhere. It turns out that a blizzard must just mean the roads are not able to be traveled on due to visibility. Because it's so flat out here and the wind is so fierce, it kicks up all the snow that is on the ground and blows it around so hard that you aren't able to see in front of you. That's how Sunday was. We were in road condition red which meant we were only able to be on the roads if we had to be at work or something like that. So, we stayed in our jammies all day, decorated the tree we'd gotten, finished decorating our ginger bread house, watched movies, did our advent devotional and had a nice quiet day at home. What got canceled Sunday due to the weather was Ian's first piano recital and his Christmas musical at church. The musical is rescheduled to this Sunday but I don't know yet if his recital is being rescheduled.

Here's a picture of our house today and you can see the snow drifts in front of our windows! The sun's out and it's simply beautiful - even if the wind chill is supposed to be near -40 degrees!!!

Great White North

2008-12-05T15:49:00.005-06:00

Well, I was beginning to think the saying "Great White North" was just a misnomer - until today! Don't get me wrong, it's been cold but today we are finally getting some of the white stuff to go with it. I took this picture about an hour ago (it's currently 3:50 central):
This I just took so you can see it's piling up quickly!

Ellie and Santa

2008-12-05T15:40:00.005-06:00

Yesterday the Community Activity Center had a tree lighting event where they had snacks, cider, the "official" tree lighting, kids singing carols, Santa, etc. Well, we arrived a little early so there wasn't much of a crowd and we were able to get Ellie's picture with Santa. I was surprised because Ellie actually held out her hands and went to him. Once she was in his lap, though, she wouldn't even look at him! Here are a couple of pictures. I remember when Ian was this age - he cried when I put him in Santa's lap so she did a great job!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T15:23:00.010-06:00

I can't believe another Thanksgiving has come and gone already and we're already into December! Even though I was trying to be "prepared" for the season, I'm feeling as though I'm already behind and stressed out!!!! Part of the stress is not having renters for our house in VA yet so that's an expense we weren't ready for. We are hopeful and know that God has a plan and we're trying to be patient and see what that plan is.

As for our Thanksgiving... it was quite nice. We left last Wednesday and went to Brian's cousin's (Deborah) house in Wisconsin. I've never been to Wisconsin so that's another state I can cross of my "been to" list! We arrived there around 8:20pm and let the kids run amuck for a little while then tried to put Ellie down but after an hour and a half nap in the car before we arrived she, apparently, wasn't ready for bed. She ended up staying up with us until we went to bed (at least she was being cute during that time and not screaming) around midnight and since she was staying in our room she went on to sleep when we did and slept in until about 7:30am (which is kind of early for her) but, thankfully, napped well on Thanksgiving. We got up on Thanksgiving and had a yummy breakfast made by JJ (Deborah's husband). Then, we watched the parade and relaxed for a bit and the boys went with JJ to register some deer he'd gotten over the weekend. Deborah and JJ live on 120 acres and it's beautiful! He hunts right out his back door!! Brian's uncle Steve (Deborah's dad) and Judy arrived around 12:30 and we had a nice afternoon while the final preparations were done on dinner. We had 2 wild turkeys JJ got, a "fresh" ham (not cured or anything - straight from the pig), some stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, bread, zucchini bread (made by me and it's Deborah's and Brian's grandmother's recipe), broccoli and carrots and some home-made cranberry sauce. It was all quite delicious and we were all sufficiently stuffed. After a nice dinner we decided we should go on a little walk to make room for dessert. Then, we came back and had a choice between pumpkin pie, banana cream pie or apple pie a la mode - YUM!!!

Friday we got up and prepared to head back into the "cities". We left JJ and Deborah's around noon and got to the Mall of America (after a stop at Ikea) around 2pm and had a light lunch knowing we were planning to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I had the great idea to get Ellie a smoothie (I make them for her and she loves them) since she wouldn't eat much lunch and I had them add a protein booster since she doesn't eat a lot of meat. Well, that was a mistake! After about 10 minutes she threw it all back up and it just kept coming. I bought her a new shirt after I thought it was over, got her changed and we were looking around again when it all started back up. So, I had to buy her another whole outfit!! (Thank goodness we were at the mall, right?!) It turns out the "protein booster" is made from milk!!! It just confirms for us once again that she is allergic to dairy!!! And, on her face where some of the throw up got she broke out!! It's really frustrating - especially since she doesn't eat much!!

Anyway, we ended up having a lovely dinner that evening at the Cheesecake Factory then called it a night. The next morning we went to Steve and Judy's for a lovely brunch then headed out to look at a couple of colleges for Josh - Northwestern University and Bethel - both Christian colleges. The Northwestern campus, although small, is quite lovely nestled between two lakes. We just realize that it's hard to make a decision about schools when you've only seen a couple and thought it a good idea to see some around here. This picture of Josh is at Northwestern on a bridge that connects to a little island chapel on campus - very picturesque even in winter!!

That evening we had dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant Steve and Judy recommended then headed back to the hotel. We got up Sunday morning and made one last trip to the Mall then headed home! Oh, I should mention that we woke up that morning to an inch and a half of snow! It was beautiful but we were glad to give it a couple of hourse before we got out on it. We arrived back here last night and there's no snow. Now, to get the fall decorations completely put away and get out the Christmas ones!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving - giving thanks for all of your blessings, we have so many to be thankful for!

The Kids

2008-11-17T21:15:00.002-06:00

Well, I don't actually have any pictures to post but thought I would do a quick post about the kids and stuff going on with them.

First, Josh found out last week that he got the lead role in the next school play entitled "Audience". It's set in London so he gets to practice his British accent! It's going to be a quick turn-around because the play is set for December 11, 12 & 13 and he has to have his lines memorized by this week and they just got the script last Thursday!! So, needless to say, he's busy. He's also started his practices for the science team and he sang with the youth praise band a couple of weeks ago.

Ian is enjoying our church's Wednesday night activities and is absolutely loving hockey. He's doing really well with his schooling and we're in week 12. We've been learning all about different countries and World History plus just finished reading as a family "Gladys Aylward." What a truly remarkable story about the way God works! He's doing well with his Math but his favorite is Science and he especially loves Fridays that are our "experiment" days!

Ellie is still growing. She's been a little under the weather in the last week with a runny nose and cough and the last couple of days a decreased appetite but we keep praying she'll get over it soon. One thing that Ellie started doing recently that really surprised me is whistling! I was whistling while taking her out to the car one day and I had stopped but I still heard a whistle - it was Ellie! Now she can do it on purpose and it's so cute! She is 17 months now and finally seems to be wearing about a size 12 months! She will cuddle dolls and stuffed animals and pat them while she holds them - simply adorable.

Me and Ellie

2008-11-03T12:53:00.002-06:00

If you haven't figured it out yet, I can be pretty cheesy and yesterday was no exception except that this cheesy-ness was a couple of years in the making! While I was pregnant with Ellie I did some clothes shopping (of course) and found an adorable outfit size 12mos that looked similar to something I had. I had to get it but didn't realize that she would be almost 1 1/2 before she would wear it! Well, yesterday was the day (unbeknownst to Brian) and he asked me what I wanted her to wear for church and I told him. He got her dressed and then a little while later when I came out dressed he was like "Oh my goodness!" Well, we had to get a picture so here is my cheesy-ness in full effect!

Thank goodness my outfit still fit!

Ian and Ellie on Halloween

2008-11-03T12:45:00.003-06:00

Just a quick note with pictures of Ian and Ellie on Halloween. Didn't get one of them together because Ellie wouldn't cooperate, but here's Ian as CloneTrooper Cody

and here's Ellie reprising her outfit as Pebbles again - ready to go with her bucket and her...crackers?! Yep, she wouldn't let go of the crackers! She did a great job and would try to say "Trick or Treat" and she would do her sign for "Thank you."

Earlier in the day, I took the kids over to the Medical Clinic because they were doing trick or treating there, too. One of the hallways did a fantastic job making it look like Candyland. Here's a picture of Ellie and I in that hallway.

Our First Snow!!!

2008-10-26T22:11:00.005-05:00

Yes, it's official we had our first snow this morning!! The wind was blowing like crazy last night - it was amazing to listen to - and we awoke this morning to snow blowing all around. What's weird about it is that yesterday was beautiful - I think we almost got to 60 degrees - so to wake up to snow was just amazing! It, obviously, didn't stick around but I was smart enough to get a couple of pictures before we left for church this morning since it was gone by the time we got home. Our temps only got up to about 36 today so much different than yesterday and the wind has been blowing like crazy all day! I was hoping it would at least wait until November 1 but according to all the locals it has been unseasonably warm for October so I guess I should be happy!! The other picture (not of our house) is the field across from our house.

Halloween Festival

2008-10-25T14:00:00.005-05:00

The base had a halloween festival last night and today indoors with games and stuff for the kids. Ian had his costume already - he's Commander Rex the clonetrooper but I haven't really gotten Ellie one. Well, on the fly I decided to put on her leopard patterned "sweatsuit" put her hair up on top and......

ta da - she's Pebbles!!!! Well, at least Pebbles that lives in North Dakota!! We got lots of comments on how cute she looked. I was surprised that she didn't mess with her hair at all. I really thought she would!!

It was also really cute because there was music overhead and she would just randomly start dancing. We tried to get it on video but this is as close as we could get and, yes, I'm sorry it is crooked so you'll have to tilt your head to the side!

Ian's Toothy Smile

2008-10-25T13:57:00.002-05:00

I don't think I've mentioned it, but Ian has lost most of his top teeth except for one permanent one he's had for a little while. It gives him quite a toothy grin. Here it is in all of it's glory!

Stress-Free Holidays

2008-10-22T21:20:00.003-05:00

Every year I realize I get to Christmas and didn't enjoy the season as much as I would've liked or as much as I did as a child. Some of that comes because I wait until December 1st to get my Christmas cards started (I hand-stamp all 120+ of them) or I'm "too busy" doing other things than to just enjoy some true down-time with my family and just BE! I love the holiday season and everything it entails - the lights, the gifts, the parties, the excitement, BUT more than all of that I enjoy what it's really all about - celebrating Jesus' birthday. I love birthday's and His is the best of all! I love reading the nativity story and trying to picture the scene in my mind, I love doing Advent wreaths with my family and reading the stories and scriptures to go with each one, I love reflecting on the past year and realizing how blessed I am. BUT, unfortunately, I don't always get to have those special moments because I get too bogged down with the rest of it. Now, I could do as some friends of mine have done and completely skip the rest of that stuff (all the material things) but because it's a part of what I enjoy about the season I just can't bring myself to do that. SO, I have a great little resource I want to share with any of you who might feel as I do. The place I order my Mom's Plan-It calendar from each year is a website called Families with Purpose and they have a free e-book called 8 Weeks to a Frazzle Free Christmas. I also happen to love to do lists so this is an even better resource for me! To download the e-book go to www.familieswithpurpose.com and click on the little banner that mentions it. The "book" includes worksheets and everything. I only printed out the book itself since I have places I put addresses and recipes and such but you could print all of it if you wanted! One reason I mention it now is that the 8 weeks started as of this past Monday - don't worry though, you haven't missed a lot and can still "catch up!" I hope it helps you to be able to have a stress free Christmas focused on the true meaning. (Leave me a comment if you decide to do it and we can check up on one another and share tips/ideas!)

The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-16T17:35:00.002-05:00

Ian, Ellie and I went to the pumpkin patch this morning with our MOPS group. It is literally about 2 miles from our house so it was pretty easy to get to. It wasn't the biggest pumpkin patch I've ever been to but it wasn't the smallest either. It was very quaint and had fun games for the kids and the weather couldn't have been better!! (Well, okay, I wish it had been a little warmer so Ian wouldn't have been wearing his coat - the color was all wrong! :)) Ellie didn't seem quite sure what to make of it and I couldn't get her to look at me for a single picture!! So, there aren't any OUTSTANDING photos but still some cute shots. LOVE this time of the year! I decided I should go ahead and create a little scrapbook with the pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Church and other deep thoughts!

2008-10-15T14:56:00.002-05:00

Unlike some of the blogging I was doing in Alabama, I haven't done a whole lot of "deep thoughts" in a while. I was pondering this the other day as to what might have caused this change and a couple of thoughts came to mind: 1. I'm a little busier now with homeschooling and actually trying to get my business going with Stampin' Up! (R) again. 2. Brian and I have a little more time together now (don't know how but it's true) so I can chat more with him about things. 3. I've gotten a little bit addicted to Facebook and spend entirely too much time on that (wow, can't believe I actually admitted that on here!!!). Anyway, whatever the reason, it hasn't happened as much so I find I'm "searching" for things to blog about. It's not that we're any less exciting now than we were mere months ago, is it?! No, it can't be! We're definitely just as busy doing things but it's funny because I still feel like the pace has slowed down and I think it has a lot to do with WHERE we live!! Maybe I'm not such a city rat after all?!?! Nah, I still love the thrills of the city but perhaps I enjoy visiting it more than living in it. Moving on....

We are now living in the land of a plethora of churches to choose from - as long as you're Lutheran. Since we aren't it's been a little bit more of a challenge to find where the Lord wanted us to be during our time here. We have visited four churches and it turns out that it's not a good idea to visit churches during the summer here because none of their usual activities are actually going on and you have to revisit them all again once school starts back to really get a feel of the place. We think we have finally settled on a church and we're starting to try and get involved. The name of the church is Faith Evangelical Free Church and it is in the process of getting a new pastor. Their pastor before had been with them, if I remember correctly, something like 30 years and just retired. The pastor they've hired is a younger guy with a young family and he's coming in from California. He's here and getting settled and should be starting soon. We're hoping (we heard him preach while he was out here for his "interview") that his youth and vibrance will really be just what the church needs. Ian, Ellie and I went last week for the Wednesday night dinner so that Ian could then go to the children's choir and activities. (One of the things he asked me about before we moved here was if he could do choir this year so it was one of the considerations when looking at a church). Ian really enjoyed the activities and I ended up helping the MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) steering committee get set up for their meeting the next morning. They convinced me I should go so I did the next day and really enjoyed it. It's now going to be a normal part of our routine and I'm looking forward to it (especially because most of the good friends I had in VA were friends I'd made through MOPS). Anyway, Brian brought Josh for the youth group and he really enjoyed that, too, so that was all we needed to know! We have really been praying about it and didn't really feel the Lord pulling us strongly in any direction but I think he's been quietly leading us there just through the people we've met.

Size in North Dakota

2008-10-15T14:45:00.005-05:00

I have to tell about something we got a huge laugh out of the other night. We ended up going to this little diner our friends had told us about for dinner Monday night and the boys asked if they could have a cinnamon roll for dessert. Well, we originally thought about letting them get one and split it but they both complained about having to share so we decided to let them each get one thinking that we could all share two of them. Now, we made this decision having not actually seen them and thinking they were of normal human size. We should've remembered we're in North Dakota and portions seem a little bigger here. I saw the waitress coming with them and just burst out laughing because they were the biggest cinnamon rolls I think I've ever seen. So, of course, we had to get some pictures!!!

Needless to say we all shared one and took the other one home for another time!!

Boys Night Out

2008-10-08T14:54:00.002-05:00

Last night, we got tickets for the boys to go see Stomp. I would've liked to have us all go (except Ellie) but at $30 a ticket, that adds up quick and, since Brian and I saw it a few years ago in Biloxi for my birthday, I decided the boys should just go. I knew they would love it. Plus, with only a year (maybe) left with Josh in the house I thought it would be something fun for the two of them to do together. I have fond memories of my brother and I doing stuff like that together before he left for college (he's six years older than I am). In fact, I remember us going dancing at a club one night (we lived in Germany at the time) - talk about being the envy of all my friends!!... But, I digress....

The boys had a great time at the show and came back telling us all about it. I hope it's a memory they'll take with them as I have mine!

Josh's Happenings

2008-09-27T07:46:00.006-05:00

I haven't really posted much about Josh lately so I thought it time I did. Josh has adjusted pretty nicely to being here in North Dakota. He's enjoying his classes and seems to be doing pretty well in them. A couple of weeks ago he tried out for the upcoming school play and landed a role! He's one of five guys and seven girls in a play called, "And Never Been Kissed." He was pretty happy to get the part and is enjoying rehearsals. The show will be Halloween weekend.

Last weekend was homecoming weekend. He went to the game Friday night with a group from here on base. Then, Saturday, he met up with a group of people at a friend in town's house. I (in a separate car) went with him to her house so I could meet her and her mom. (I should clarify that she wasn't Josh's date just the person inviting everyone to her house before the dance!) The picture to the left is one of Josh with a girl they call Simon (on the left) and Alex is the one on the right. Very nice folks and looked like they were all having a good time. I would've liked to stay longer but Ian was still on base with friends and I told them I would be back by 4 and it was already 4 so I had to go. Since I wasn't there when they took pictures (once they were all dressed up) Alex's mom was nice enough to take some and Alex posted them on her facebook so I have a couple to share with you (thank you Alex and Kim!). You may or may not notice from the pictures but I took him to get a haircut before he went to Alex's house. He was not at ALL happy with the way it turned out and he's been surprised how many compliments he's gotten on it! He says, "Why can't people compliment the haircuts I like?" Oh, well, as he said, it'll only take about 2 weeks for his curls to come back!! He had a fun time at the dance and it sounds like fun was had by all. Plus, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that they played other music than just rap!!

Last night Josh told me he had something kinda surprising happen to him at school yesterday. He was walking through the halls when his Biology teacher stopped him and told him that he had recommended Josh to another teacher for the Science team! Then, his teacher happened to see the other teacher and introduced him to Josh and the teacher asked him something like, "So, are you really a genius?" Anyway, the Science team would start at the end of October and the competition would be in February. What's neat, too, is his Biology teacher is a Christian and has made it pretty clear in some of the things he says in class - which is great when in a Biology class! I told Josh that based on this (being asked to be on the Science team) and his true abilities in the science arena that, perhaps, he should consider doing something with it as a profession?! I told him that God gives us talents and abilities and we really are designed to enjoy our work and wouldn't it be cool to be able to make money doing stuff we love (plus, what we were designed for). I thought it interesting that he came up with Biochemistry - he enjoys both biology and chemistry and he's pretty good at both of them. SO, perhaps it's something he'll consider rather than feeling locked in to graphic design just because of the things he's done in high school.

Well, I think that brings you pretty up-to-date on the goings on in Josh's life. Please say a little prayer for him when you think of him with it being his senior year and trying to make some big decisions. Thanks so much!!

Funny from Ian

2008-09-27T07:42:00.003-05:00

Yesterday during our school time, Ian and I learned about geese and how they "imprint" on the first thing they see when they are born. We just happen to own the movie "Fly Away Home" so we watched it after we were all done with school so he could see that it could, literally, be anything that the geese will follow. Well, later that evening Ian tells me a joke that he made up (unrelated to imprinting but about geese). He said, "Mom, why do the geese fly south for the winter?" The answer - so they don't get goose bumps!! I thought that was pretty cute.

Fun at the Playground

2008-09-17T08:04:00.006-05:00

Well, I haven't posted anything in a little while so I thought I would post some pictures I took yesterday while we were at the playground. It was a beautiful day yesterday so we had to get out and enjoy it! You'll notice the pictures seem to have a haze on them and I think I realized why - little fingers left marks on the lense! ARGH! Oh, well, it just makes my kids look all the more heavenly! :) I'm including a few of Ellie so you can see how big she's getting! I thought the one of her looking at the slide looks like she's contemplating something serious!

Quick Ellie Update

2008-09-03T15:46:00.003-05:00

Thought I would post a picture I took last week at a UND football game of Ellie. The reason I thought I would post it is you can see her tooth coming in (okay, you can only see it if you look at the big picture and squint to see her bottom gum area). Unfortunately, it does appear to be coming in crooked but at least it's her baby teeth and we can hope her permanent ones will be different!

Homeschooling

2008-09-03T15:21:00.005-05:00

Well, I thought I would put out an update about homeschooling Ian. We officially started last week and our first week went quite well. We've really enjoyed our science so far (Dinosaurs and the Bible) and we've been doing the read-aloud book as a family and we've all be enjoying it. All of us look forward to each chapter and finding out what happens and we've each used "voices" to spice it up so that's been fun. Math looks like it's going to be a little bit of a challenge but it usually is for me - not because I don't get it but because I have a hard time understanding why HE doesn't get it! So, I've been praying for lots of love and understanding with that.

Another concern I'd had was how it was going to work with Ellie and God has been good because Ellie has done wonderful! With the way our schedule is working out she sleeps from about 10am-12pm and we're able get almost all of it done during that time so I've been able to focus on Ian. I'm sure some of that will change when her nap schedule changes but so far, so good!

This week has been a little more challenging with the holiday on Monday. We had a tough time getting into it yesterday and then this morning I had some training to go to so we didn't school at all today but I suppose that's the beauty of homeschooling!

I'm attaching a picture of each child - Ian's first day of school, Josh's first day of school, and one of Ellie on Ian's first day of school (she put on the sunglasses by herself)!

North Dakota Adventures

2008-09-01T14:52:00.005-05:00

I keep thinking there are a few stories I want to share but they aren't specific to anything but then I realized they are some of our North Dakota adventures! So, I have a few of those I want to share now and I'll periodically share more as more come up.

The first adventure I want to share actually happened the day after we arrived here - the 4th of July! We were on our way home after the fireworks. We were on this stretch of open road (imagine that) that we believed was a speed limit of 70 the whole way. Well, after a little bit Brian starts to pull over to the side of the road and I was asking, "What's the matter?" and he says, "I think I'm being pulled over." I looked behind us and, sure enough, there were flashing lights coming from the car behind us. The officer came up to the window and says, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" To which Brian replies, "No, sir." He says, well you're doing 73 in a 55. Brian said, "Oh, we just arrived here yesterday and I thought it was 70." The officer says, "Well, there are these signs they're about "yay big" (using hand motions) - you'll see them if you're looking for them!" He ended up just giving us a warning but we still joke about the signs and our first and, hopefully, ONLY run-in with the local law enforcement!

The second adventure happened a few weeks ago. Brian is training to run a marathon in a couple of weeks in Ohio and because his knees started having issues the last time he tried to train he only does one big run a week. He was at the 16 mile run and he was getting all of his stuff together the night before when I asked him if he was going to take his phone with him and he said, "I wasn't really planning on it." I reminded him that he's always talking about safety and with as far as he was planning to go I felt like he should have his phone. So, although still reluctant he rearranged things so he would have it. He leaves EARLY to run before work and I sleep until my normal time. Well, the next morning I was awakened by the ring of the phone, answered it and heard the voice of my husband saying, "Joy, it's about to start storming, would you please come get me, I'm too far out to beat it home." So, I hopped in the car and went to rescue my husband from being struck by lightning. By the time I got close to where he said he was, it was POURING rain and lightning. I had slowed down to find him and finally saw him when he poked his head up from the ditch where he was croutched down. I finally got to be HIS hero (since he always seems to rescue me)!

Finally the last story I have to share isn't really much of a story it's just a point of interest. The boys got to go plow a wheat field a week ago. Brian has a lady that works for him who farms in the area and she invited us to join them on the combine. Well, it was later in the evening close to Ellie's bedtime so I stayed home while they went. They had a good time riding on the combine and thought it was pretty cool.

Ian is 8!!

2008-08-24T21:48:00.006-05:00

Well, after quite a while of calling him almost 8 I can now officially call Ian "8"! I asked him earlier in the week what he would like to do for his birthday and gave him a few suggestions and he finally asked if we could go fishing. So, we made plans to do just that and got our fishing licenses so we would be "legal." Also, when I asked him what he would like to do about dinner his first response was, once again (that's what he had last year), cordon bleu (I get it from Schwan's so it' not like I make if from scratch). However, I hadn't yet started getting anything from the Schwan's guy here so I told him I'd try but that he might need a backup plan. Well, I tried but the day the Schwan's guy arrived, he had no cordon bleu. When I told Ian he promptly replied, "Well, I guess we'll just have to go to Boston's that way everyone can just get what they want!"

With all of that said, here's an overview of "his" day. Woke up and watched his normal Saturday morning cartoons and played a little play station while Brian got the breakfast ready he'd requested - crepes. (I'm only now realizing a french theme...) After we ate he opened his gifts from us and got 2 games for his Wii plus another kind of controller for it. Then, he got ready for the day and while Brian and I got ready for the day he and Josh had to test out one of his new games. I packed a picnic lunch and we were on our way to go fishing. Although it was a gorgeous day - the wind was pretty fierce and the first place we went didn't have a lot of cover so it was a little chilly. That place also had pretty grassy water so everytime you cast, you got caught in it so it wasn't much fun. After a little bit we decided to try another place and this time there was enough cover that the wind was blocked and it was beautiful. There were lots of frogs around and we played with one for a little bit. The fishing wasn't great (only little fish around) so we had fun just enjoying the area. Since we were going out for dinner that night we brought Ian's "cake" with us. I say it that way because it wasn't a cake. He requested Golden Graham's recipe of "Indoor Smores" as his cake! We got some great pictures and decided to head home for a little bit before heading downtown for dinner. While we were home Ian went to play with some friends for a little bit and after about an hour Brian got a call from one of Ian's friends dads saying, Ian had a bad fall you might want to come get him. Brian went to get him and they were home in a few minutes. He was fine but, apparently, had fallen off his bike and landed on his head that was covered in a helmet so it didn't do anything but put a little scratch in his helmet! Praise the Lord he was fine. Then, we left for dinner. After we got back he opened up his cards and gifts from our out of town family, played Wii for a little bit then called it a night. He said it felt pretty good being 8!

He is quite a character and many feel he seems older than 8 and to be honest he is pretty independent and capable and thinks on his feet better than some teenagers I know. But, I have to remind him he's only 8 and he can't go to the store and swimming pool by himself even though he thinks he should be able to. And, yes, he has great ideas but if I've already asked him to do something he needs to do what I asked - not what he wanted! My neighbor told me he's like talking to a little adult and he really can be that way. It'll be interesting to see how this year goes with me homeschooling him! I plan to try and start tomorrow - say a little prayer for me that I will be covered in love and wisdom (because wisdom leads to patience)!!!

Have I mentioned...

2008-08-21T07:44:00.002-05:00

Ellie is walking??!! She doesn't do it consistently but she is definitely getting more and more adventurous with it! We actually witnessed her doing it for the first time the day after our anniversary but I finally got it on "video" yesterday to share with you. Also, her first tooth has finally broken the surface! I felt it (against much protesting) on the 14th but think it might have broken a little before that. She really is growing up! Well, I suppose since she's 14 months now that it's okay - we got to keep her "little" for quite a while. Oh, she is also trying to say some words - ball, juice, please are a few that come to mind.

Josh's School

2008-08-20T14:35:00.007-05:00

Well, Josh starts his Senior year tomorrow and he is really looking forward to it. He's been at a different high school every year of high school career and he's handled it all really well. Part of what has him excited about this year is the school itself. It's a school with history in that it opened in 1917. It's a really neat building in the downtown area and we went Monday to check it out and walk his route so he'll have an idea of where he's going tomorrow. We even got to meet some of his teachers while we were there so that was nice. He took some pictures of it while we were there and I thought I would share a couple of them with you. The one on the left is the "main" entrance. The center one is looking down a hallway on the first floor (there are four) and the one on the right is a picture of part of the cafeteria area. Should be fun!

A Field of Sunflowers

2008-08-15T17:34:00.005-05:00

Last week a friend took us to pick some raspberries at a field not far from our house. While we were there I saw a field of sunflowers and thought it would be fun to do a photoshoot with the sunflowers. So, although, I would love to say we just happened along this field today and decided to stop and get some quick pictures...I can't. It was a planned event complete with some fussing at the kids! Ellie, however, really wasn't quite in the mood so I wasn't able to get any good shots of her by herself but some of the others came out pretty well. Since there were so many, I've compiled a little slideshow for your viewing enjoyment!! I hope your summer days are filled with fields of sunflowers, too!