Happy Birthday Papa!

A Few Surprising Quotes

Just to mention that I will soon get the pictures of our Schaumburg/Chicago trip soon posted. I just wanted to get these down.

Luke: "I'd like a cell phone." Yes, he's seven. I explained that he could barely use our home phone line. He wasn't easily deterred.

Libby: "Okay Captain!" "Yes, Captain!" "You go over there, Captain!" Apparently, the adults in our family are "captains," even Luke occasionally is called "captain." I have no idea where she picked it up.

Libby: "Look at my castle!" Said head pointed up, spinning slowly around with her arms held up high in the air in her bedroom as if we had just entered a new world....

Abby: "I was wondering what was in those covenants." Said as I pulled some cleaning supplies out of the laundry room cabinets. :)

Abby: "My brain just doesn't work like yours!" Said as I reminded her to pick up her floor for the millionth time.

Abby: "This lady says that if she had been doing this for the past 3 years, she would have saved 36,000 dollars!" Okay, you'll only get this one if you listen to Dave Ramsey's radio show :)

Morning Ballet

Those dance classes are paying off ;) She's got some smooth, musical moves; don't you think?

Thanksgiving & Trimming The Tree

So, we've had a busy week thus far. Not a huge surprise as each week seems to bring it's own uniqueness along with the usual standbys of classes & events. Last night we did go to children's theater production of "A Year with Frog and Toad." Ahhhh, I love those books! I highly recommend them if you have young children because they make both me and Mike chuckle as we read them. The kids loved the production. Even Libby sat in rapt attention. I giggled before we went because earlier I had told the kids that we were going to go to a play. Libby kept saying "We go to a play-dough" the whole way there. This morning she said: "We went to a play-dough last week." (we're still working on those time concepts and words with her.)

Alright, on to last week. We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving. It was just the 5 of us for dinner so I made only a turkey breast that I rubbed with some sort of rub mixture that I concocted the night before. It was pretty good - maybe I should have written it down as I mixed it? (eye roll inserted here) We also had onion-apple dressing, mashed potatoes & dilled carrots. Yummy! And sadly, not that much more work than my usual meals. Anyway, we ate well and then we had Paradise Pie for dessert. I recommend this one. I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin. Have you heard that there is a pumpkin shortage again this year? Anyway, I was impatient and didn't let the cream cheese layer cool in the pie shell (like some reviewers recommended) and the layers kinda mixed/swirled together but the taste was still 100% a winner.

After dessert we went to a friends' house and played games and chatted. That was so much fun! Played Sequence for the first time and didn't win - maybe next year.

Mike decided to rent Mario Brothers for the Wii so I had lots of fun reliving my childhood trying to save Princess Peach. But after awhile, the thumb hurt to I knew it was time to stop playing ;)

And of course, we also trimmed the Christmas tree. The kids are getting pretty good at it and have an eye for where to hang things. Of course, they all want to use the step ladder. I'll admit that I did a little swapping afterward. I sat there and looked and said "My children did this, it's beautiful." But then came to realize that those 3 red ornaments hung right next to each other were going to bother me the whole month of December if I didn't do something about it. You know how your eye automatically goes to the problem spot? Just like when you look in the mirror and have a zit? You totally look right at that zit. So, the red ornaments got moved.

Here are some pictures:

A Bounty of...

Quotation Blessings:

Abby: "There's nothing like a clean house, right Mom?" - said while helping me wash our blinds

Luke: "Thank you God for two parents who always have time for me." - said while we were praying together one night.

Libby: "I need to go POTTY!" ;)

Laughter:

Abby: "Do spiders go poop? 'Cause we have spiders in our house and I don't want to have to clean that up." Sense that maybe she's into helping me clean lately?

Mike: "Maybe I should be a hedge fund manager?" Me: "Um, I think your clip on sun glasses disqualify you from that." Mike: "No, my 1996 Accord with the bad muffler disqualifies me."

Irritations (or "Teaching Moments"):

Mean Lady at a department store: "They are IN the way." - Said to me as my daughters were shopping one morning with me. Seriously?

The numerous cups of fluid spilling. Oh and the fact that I always seem to plan a supper that has rice in it the same day I wash the floor. What am I thinking?

And the constant reminders that I am just not finished being "perfected" in the eyes of my Heavenly Father. Oh my, I've had lots of reminders of that lately.

A Bounty of Friends & Family:

I continue to be amazed at the many wonderful friends I have and my wonderful family both near and far. This Thanksgiving and through out the year, I know and count you as blessings from God. May God bless you as He has poured out His blessing on me. Happy Thanksgiving!

October Trip 09

We took a quick trip to see family in North Dakota this October. It was so good to see everyone and to get to just hang out. Mike got to go pheasant hunting for the first time and Luke and his cousin, Andrew tagged along. Abby had so much fun with Grandma - she just eats that "grandparent attention" right up! And poor Libby was sick with flu like symptoms the whole time but even she was glad to get to the farm and see all the animals (she's definitely my animal lover!).

Everyone was snapping pictures and true to form, I think we snapped the fewest of anyone. We are just not the world's best picture takers! Here are some though...

On the way there, we stopped at Scheel's because Mike felt a "man-urge" to buy some hunting equipment. There is a Ferris wheel inside that particular Scheel's (can you say that when it is the largest? - located in Fargo). Can you tell by the picture that Abby isn't so sure about this?


The boys played so well together. Here they are with their action figures:


The two sick girls. Can you see Libby's rosy cheeks from her fever? So sad.

Here's sweet but temperamental Grace and her uncle Mike!

And of course, Michael heard I took up running to stay fit. OF COURSE, he would challenge me to a race. I don't sprint! I lightly jog for two miles. Needless to say, Michael's iron will won him these races...(muttering to myself....next time.....next time....)

11 Years & A Wedding

Abby Turns Five

So, I joked when Abby was born about her name. You see, the Abigail in the bible ended up being a wife of King David's. She is described as being both beautiful and intelligent. "Of course, any daughter of mine would be such!" I would laugh. But truly, Abby is more beautiful and intelligent than I could ever have dreamed. I am so proud of her! Five is a big number - it is moving into another stage of childhood. I am thankful to God for the blessing of Abby (and all my children!) in my life.

A New Bug

This summer we "invested" (I use the term lightly) in a butterfly net for the kids. We've had lots of fun catching butterflies and moths. Oh, and they also use it to catch grasshoppers and crickets for the neighbors' lizard. So we're often looking (the nerds we are) at the plants for other insects. We came across this one and I don't think either of us recognized it as seeing it before. A quick Google image search returns that it is called a Candy Striped Leafhopper. And it is very common. But small.

The Knack

Luke really loves playing with Legos. And he really comes up with very well thought out little space crafts. I'm wondering when his tinkering is going to progress. He really wants to start building robots that actually move and stuff. Ahhhh, it probably is just a little while until we discover if he truly has "The Knack"

Running

I thought I'd let you all know my newest adventure - running. Running! Never in a million, gazillion years would I ever have thought that I would run any real length of distance (unless some wild animal was chasing me). "I'm not built for it" was my excuse. And frankly, I still don't think I'm built for it.

This summer I've been going on walks like 4 or 5 nights a week. My walk around the neighborhood is 1 1/2 miles long. Not long. Took me around 20 minutes. Not fast. Then one day, I saw that the sun was going down earlier and earlier each night. I realized that my walks were either going to have to start happening earlier or I was going to have to go faster. So I decided to try to jog some of it. I started out painfully slow, and thought I would only go until I absolutely couldn't go any further and then just walk. The only thing is, I didn't reach that point! I ended up running the whole distance! I was amazed! Tired and out of breath but amazed! So, I've continued to run. One day, the run left me feeling really good so I decided to up my distance. So now I'm running 2 miles and it takes me a little over 20 minutes to do it.

Maybe it is my age. I'm willing to go through a little more pain and have a little bit more patience than I did when I was, say, in my 20's (don't roll your eyes or laugh!). It's true! And being a mother has taught me that nothing comes without a little work. Maybe, some day, I can run a 5K race (that's 3.1 miles).

Abby's First Day of Preschool

Tuesday was Abby's first day of preschool. She was so excited and READY to go. She is reading almost as well as Luke (although not with the confidence). So, really, this is just play/friend time for her. It will also be good for her to learn to follow directions and classroom habits/rules. In the days preceding the first day, she was taking out math workbooks and working on them. She wanted to be ready! As we were taking the photos she told me that when they ask her what 13 plus 1 is, she'll know the answer. Ummmmm.....yeah, they're not there quite yet.....but I'm glad she's ready!

Luke's 7th Birthday

Luke's birthday was this past Sunday. I think he had a pretty good day ;) And then he got the next day off of school for Labor Day! And then, he got the day after that off due to a fever and cough :( But the weekend was filled with Star Wars imagery. The boy is obsessed and I fear that we are feeding the obsession ;) Of course, I remember when he was obsessed with knights and then dinosaurs and then....Wonder what the next thing will be? (he still likes all of that stuff too - just not obsessed with it).
Oh, and here we are singing "Happy Birthday." Notice how happy & proud Libby is to be singing along.

The Kitchen Magician

Mike and the kids have dubbed me "The Kitchen Magician" I laughed but then I saw this picture of me working in the kitchen and thought - maybe they see something I don't. What do you think?

The Last & The First

Yesterday was the last day of Luke's summer vacation. I decided we needed to have some fun so we went to two parks (one was new to us) and had Taco Bell for lunch (Luke's pick - not mine!). Here are some pictures:





Today was the first day of 1st grade. He's back now and I think the day went just fine! Whew! He did forget to take the stuff I sent in his backpack (an early assignment and a sock). Yes, that was right, a sock. I had no idea that the sock listed on the supply sheet was to be used for anything more than an eraser for their mini-white boards. So I sent in an old sock of Mike's that had a huge hole in the heel - I was using it for a rag. Apparently, they also store the dry erase markers in the sock - kinda hard to pack them into a huge, 13 shoe size tube sock with a humongous hole in the heel. So Luke had better remember to switch out the sock with the "new" one (this is one of mine that doesn't have a hole or a partner - hehehe). Here's a picture of the 1st Grader this morning:

New Concrete Stain

Apparently, dry Kool-Aid mix makes a great concrete stain.

:)

An Exciting Day

So, there are those days when you ask yourself - why did I get out of bed? But you know that in these little trials, your life is spiced up. God keeps us on our proverbial toes. And you know that something exciting happens when you say to yourself: "That will make a good blog post." :)

So on Tuesday morning, I went with my cup of coffee around the backyard. This is a common thing for me to do. We have SO MANY more bees then last year and it is fun to see them working. I also like to see if there are any butternut squash for them to pollinate and whatnot. As I was tramping though the garden, I noticed that an almost ripe tomato had fallen on the ground (the first ripe one of the year nonetheless!) so I went to retrieve it. Came back inside with my prize and washed it off.

Then it seemed as though a cell phone set on vibrate began to buzz underneath my shirt. BZZZZZ! BZZZZZ! BZZZZ! I looked down and actually saw my shirt moving away from my body with each sequential BZZZZZ! and was greatly disturbed by this occurrence. Then my mind snapped out the answer. BEE! Aaaaahhhgghhhaaaahhhh! BEE! What do I do? I grab my shirt and think about starting to hit the offender, whatever it may be but think wisely that if it is a bee then a good swat of the hand may very well put a stinger either into my hand or into my chest. What to do?!

At this point I've had enough sense to have trapped the offender into some kind of ball. I pick up the phone and call Mike at work.

"I think I have a bee in my shirt!" was my response to his "hello."

"It's just a bee." he calmly tries to tell me.

"What do I do!?" I reply....

"It's just a bee." Again is the answer

Great. Some help, engineer!

I think about letting it out outside but images of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh come to mind as Pooh gets chased by bees. I decide that it is a bad idea. I must do something else.

I go outside, still with the BUZZZZing! bee in my shirt "ball" and yell at Abby to get me a rock. A big rock. So she does as requested. (I'm still on the phone with Mike at this time). I take the rock and squat down next to the patio table and take the rock and smoosh the living daylights out of my shirt "ball." Precariously, very precariously, I open the ball to see what I've surely just killed. Yes. It WAS a bee. A BIG bee. It still was twitching so I again smooshed it for good measure and flung it along side the house.

Nothing like a bee under your shirt to get your heart beating fast.

After this, I decided that we needed to go McDonald's for lunch. It had rained the whole day previous, and I did not want to take the kids to a wet, muddy park so instead I figured they could play at the play area at the restaurant.

I got a flat tire on the way there. POP! It went as I hit a pot hole. The kids immediately informed me that something was not right, the car sounded weird. I did not respond to them as I was trying to see where my hazard light switch was. We did make it to McD's which was only a block away and thankfully, Mike was able to come and put the spare on for me. What a great husband! And thankfully, the kids had a great time playing there. And thankfully! I am not allergic to bees (that I know of) and I did not get stung. And I got a great little story to tell.

So you see, even on days where you feel like you shouldn't have gotten out of bed, God has plans in store for all those little trials that you face and you can still rejoice and be glad in it.

Pictures from July

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Here's a few thousand for you...

The beginning of a long drive to see Mike's parents - starts out pretty quiet with everyone looking at library books.
Things are definitely louder as Libby (and the other munchkins) discover the organ at Glenn & Vicki's house:

The kids got to do some romping out at Terry & Ann's house (Mike's uncle & aunt)

A snack picnic:

The girls love their Grandma!:

Fun at the pool:

Time to start potty-training!

Hmmm, what kinda flower is that butterfly on?
Quite the outfit, eh?

Quote of the Week

Abby said this on Thursday night:

"NO boys allowed in my room.......except Daddy, if he's tucking me in"

To give an update...

In case you don't have or don't read my cooking blog, I thought I'd pass along the url. The second post down is my experience at the Festival of Breads competition. Enjoy!

http://pressurecrock.blogspot.com/

The Songstresses

Libby loves to sing. She gets some of the words and the parts she doesn't know - she improvises :) Her current favorites are: Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the ABC's. She also dances as well :) She pretty much knows Abby's dance routine and follows along. In fact, I think Libby enjoys going to Abby's dance class just as much, if not more, than Abby. Yep, Libby is my musical one. In the above video, the girls are singing "All in All," a very commonly played Christian song.

Yard Pics