Home Plate with the Hackeltons

Mickey Mouse?

2011-12-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

This little girl is now three! When she came down Sunday morning wearing this dress Howard told her she looked like Mickey Mouse.
At church an older lady came over and commented that Alexa looked so cute. Alexa hotly replied, "My don't look cute! My look like Mickey Mouse!". Is she daddy's little princess or what? :-)

It's a Girl!

2011-10-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Meet my niece, Evey (pronounced E-V) Magnolia! She is the tiniest, cutest little bundle. Alexa was totally taken with her and didn't want to stop holding her.

The cousins. (You try to get 5 kids to cooperate at this age when time is limited!) :)

The new family of four. So happy for them. Congratulations Peter and Kendal!

Last Vacay Post

2011-10-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

First off, my sister-in-law is in labor so I am excitedly waiting for word on whether I have a new niece or nephew (I'm thinking it's a boy this time). I'll be back soon with the news!

To wrap up our vacation...We spent the first 4 days of our vacation at the shore home of friends of ours. They graciously let us stay there and we had a wonderful time. We were two blocks from the beach which was great with the kids. Our house was beautiful. We were very pleased.

Chase's first reaction to the beach was to run screaming from the tide as it chased him up the sand! He can scream. Like a girl. And he did. The first day at the beach did not go well! By our last day there, we were able to take the kids out into the water as long as we were holding them. They loved looking down through the tide for sea shells that were being washed up.

We built the big sandcastle in the picture and relaxed on the beach. Alexa is not a big sand person so I took Tanner and her back to the house and she spent a long time playing in the kiddie pool we had while Chase and Howard got to play on the beach for a while.

It was a really great time. We visited an awesome zoo, spent a day on the local boardwalk where the kids rode on some carnival rides and relaxed on the beach and at the house. We needed the R&R and are so grateful for the place and the memories we made.

A little bit more about our vacation...at last

2011-10-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well things don't go as planned too often anymore! I have such good intentions but life so often interrupts my plans these days!

We've been fighting fall colds/viruses.

Howard is working end of year crazy hours.

I am a busy mommy trying to keep us all in some semblance of order. My time on the computer is most often what has to go to get things done so I am not anywhere near as up-to-date on here as I want to be. (sigh)

It's all good. I love this very crazy stage of life for us right now so I am trying to roll with it all.

Back to our vacation! We went to a "Please Touch" museum one of the days. The entire museum is dedicated to encouraging kids to learn through play. We spent over 4 hours with the kids here and they weren't ready to leave! There were just so many things for them to try and do! The very best part for them was the child size grocery store. There were aisles of foods they recognized, child size grocery carts, a seafood/meat counter, a bakery, etc. The kids were encouraged to role play by being the shopper, cashier, deli man, etc. At the checkout when they ran an item over the "scanner" it would beep like the real thing. Once you were done shopping all the items had to be put back on the shelves and you started over again. I think Alexa shopped her own cart and just about any other persons she could find. She was in heaven! It was such a great opportunity to let them be kids in a public place. We loved it and can't wait to go back again some time.

Day at the Park

2011-09-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

We spent one of our last days of vacation at a park we visit about once a year, as it's pretty far from us. We had just started our walk on the bike path when we startled a doe and her baby and a third deer. By the time I got my camera out and on they were all spooked but it was so cool. We were much closer before they ran but of course I didn't have my camera out!

The bike path winds for two miles to a small waterfall. Chase loved sending leaves, sticks, you name it down the small waterfall.

Chase rode his tricycle with the inflatable tires on this day. He did 4 miles on that little bike! We were blown away by his stamina!

It turned out to be a very breezy and cool day at the lake so Alexa complained about being "freezing". I had to wrap her in the baby's burp cloth to try and warm her up! Our little guy was dressed appropriately and was as smiley and good natured as ever. (Oh I love this picture of both of them!) :)

We just so happened to show up on a day when the local sail club was having a meet. You could hear the horns blasting and watch the boats line up and sail their way across the water in sprints. The kids thought that was very cool. We packed a picnic lunch and ate after our walk. It was just a fun, outdoors event for us.

Catching Up

2011-09-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

     It's been a pretty busy summer. These last few weeks have been filled with fun for us. I'm going to try and work backward through our summer season so that I can catch you up on our goings on through a series of blogs. We'll start with our anniversary I guess! Howard and I celebrated 7 years on September 18. Our anniversary came at the end of a week long vacation our family had taken. We went to a great Italian restaurant for dinner while the kids stayed home with my brother's family.
     Howard bought champagne that we tried later that night. Not our cup of tea. We've tried several champagnes over the years and haven't been impressed. I don't drink (ever) and so I do not like strong alcohol flavor and Howard just wasn't impressed with it. Anyone have a favorite they can recommend for next year?
     It was a sweet day for us. Seven years have flown by. We look at our three kids and just can't believe how much our lives have changed since we said our "I dos". Next up, our vacation!

He's...

2011-08-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

He's now a child of God! He made the big decision on Aug. 14. We have talked about this before but I tried to keep the pressure off about it because this needed to be his decision alone. After our regular bedtime routine he made a comment about Jesus living "here" and he pointed to his heart. I replied that yes, Jesus does live in our hearts but we need to ask him to live there and when he was ready someday he could do that. His reply was as serious and certain as I've ever heard him, "I'm ready now, Mom.". Wow! I tried to lead him in the most simple prayer possible and then we shared smiles, high fives, giggles and tears (mine of course!). The best part is the assurance I have seen in him that Jesus now lives in his heart.

I haven't shared much about our summer, we've just been sooo busy but this was worth posting on here!

New Website!

2011-07-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

Not for me, for my parents! They have been working on it for a while and it is finally ready. It presents itself so much better. The cabins are now named for grandkids or family and it makes it much more personable. Be sure to check them out http://www.MountainStreamLodging.com !

4th of July

2011-07-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

We made last minute plans for the 4th with my brother's family. We didn't plan an elaborate menu but made what we wanted to eat and shared it. It turned out to be a wonderful mix of picnic food. Soooo good!

The kids went swimming. The adults played pinochle while the kids all napped and badminton.

We had popsicles for dessert. With the heat they were the perfect treat!

The kids did some early evening sparklers and threw snappers in the driveway. After dark we did more sparklers and Howard set off small (legal*) fireworks he had bought. We then all trooped to the back yard to enjoy a neighbors fireworks display. *It is illegal in our state to set off fireworks that go off the ground.

He celebrated his first 4th and seemed to have a good time. He ate, slept and played in the grass. :) He got his first tooth on Saturday which made him feel much better too!

Summer Blooms

2011-07-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law brought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers for the 4th. It's brightened every one of my days since then. I'm sure it wasn't a big deal to her but it is a very big deal to me. :)

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

     We've decided the two older kids are big enough to start choosing their own gifts for us on Father's/Mother's Day.
     Chase and Alexa both put a lot of thought into their gifts this year.
     Howard is wearing the hat light Chase got for him. Chase had seen a commercial for a baseball hat with built in lights months ago and said that Howard could use one when he takes out the trash in the dark, etc. The hat has a night vision setting as well as two white light settings. Howard actually used it at work yesterday and really likes it.
     The kids picked out a NASCAR shirt for Howard together so he's wearing that in the picture although you can barely see it.
     Alexa said she wanted to get Howard a Winnie-the-Pooh bear for his car so that he would have it with him when he went to work (he's been working nights lately and the kids miss him a bunch). I couldn't find a small Winnie-the-Pooh so we settled on a bear with a Phillies jersey for his car instead. She was absolutely delighted when daddy left for work waving the bear at her!
     We celebrated on Saturday due to Howard's work schedule. We went yardsaling in the morning because that's what Howard wanted to do. We got a few good deals on some things we've been looking for and headed home for a day together. We had daddy food for dinner, ribs, corn on the cob, garlic bread and homemade Kandy Kakes.
     We are very blessed to have Howard in our lives. He is a wonderful provider, comforter, and friend. We are a family because of him, and I, for one, am so grateful.

Four Months!

2011-06-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

This time around the baby days are flying by. Our little guy turned 4mos. old yesterday! He is such a happy baby! Our days are full of smiles, coos and babbling which I can't get enough of. :)

He just had his 4mos. check up and weighed in at 16lbs 3.5oz and 26 1/2 inches long. He's a big boy! At this point it looks like we finally have a blue eyed baby. (The older kids take after daddy so it's about time one of them gets some of my attributes!:)) His eyes are the coolest blue and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom!

A Mother's Heart

2011-05-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

I know I have mentioned her blog before. I've never met her but I love her. She puts words to the feelings my heart so often can't express. I am often humbled, challenged and encouraged from reading what her heart is pouring out. On the eve of Mother's Day I read this and even now I understand the bittersweet she talks about. It's been said that once you have children your heart walks around outside your body for the rest of your life. Your children are forever pulling away from the moment they are born and it is wonderful and painful all at the same time. I would not trade it for anything.

Easter

2011-04-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of the few pictures we took for Easter that turned out okay. Wrangling three kids to sit still and look at the camera is near impossible anymore! Alexa was refusing to stand and it was raining outside so this was the best we could do. Oh well!

We had an Easter egg hunt earlier in the week in preperation for the bad weather. We hid eggs around the yard and the kids found loose change and mini candies inside the eggs. There was a chocolate bunny waiting for each of them on Easter morning as well as a sandbox from their Me-Mom and Pop-Pop. Once we get sand for the sandbox we will be set for outdoor play this summer. For dinner we visited Howard's side of the family, which was nice.

She...

2011-04-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

...is potty trained!

It took a full seven days but we made it and she is doing so well. We're so proud of her!

Cherry Pie

2011-04-18T12:00:00.001-07:00

We spent our weekend celebrating my baby brothers 25th birthday with my first sour cherry pie and ice cream. Yummy!

Smiles

2011-04-10T12:48:00.001-07:00

Had an impromtu photo session with the kids the other day. I LOVE this picture! I'm so blessed to get to be mommy to these awesome kiddos! :)

Tennesee Visit, part 3

2011-04-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

This is the super cool loft my parents have in their house. It overlooks their main living area.

This is my mom's new kitchen. There are labels on all the cabinets so that as we unpacked we knew where to put everything. (And people wonder why I'm so organized!)

This is a view from under their loft looking into the living room/great room.

I didn't take a picture of my parents deck because it was cluttered with moving boxes but it is HUGE! They have a full wraparound deck and a part of it is also covered. The kids had a blast running back and forth on it the whole time we were there.

Someone had just unpacked the box of kids books when I snapped these photos. I couldn't even get the kids to look up!

My parents house. The office is the small room off the right and the rest is their house.

We took a hike in the Cherokee National Forest. Absolutely beautiful! I would have loved to be able to spend a lot more time hiking. It's something I love to do and can't very much with the kiddos. The kids did great on the hike but tired very quickly.

This was the view at the start of our hike looking up the Hiwasee River. Gorgeous!

We had a 78 degree day when we hiked and the following day got up to 83 so we had some amazing weather while we were down there. Loved breaking out the shorts!

Chase started out the hike very hesitant and by the end was an accomplished pro. :) He was thrilled to take home two pinecones and a hickory nut that he insisted was an onion. (Oh I love what little kids come up with!)

     Alexa didn't want to hike at all and as soon as we were back at the car she climbed right inside. We have such a girly-girl and she definitely doesn't get it from me!


     It was such a bittersweet time with my parents. Tanner won't be anywhere near this size the next time we all get together so everyone was trying to soak up the time we had. I love how seriously Noni is watching Mom talking to Tanner.

I love this picture of Chase and my dad. We were taking a walk around my parents property checking things out.

This is a picture that will go in Tanner's scrapbook. It captures perfectly the emotion of the visit for me.

Tennessee Vacation Anyone?

2011-04-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

If you have any interest in visiting southern Tennesee why not consider Mountain Stream Cabins? (This is a shameless plug for my parents business by the way!)

You can get away from it all in comfortable, cozy cabins nestled in the woods. You can choose from 4 cabins that sit creekside or 2 private cabins that sit deeper in the woods atop the property.

Each cabin comes equipped with its own hot tub and a picnic table where you can enjoy even more of the outdoors in a semi-private setting.

Each cabin has a spacious wrap around deck just begging for you to cozy up with a book, cup of coffee or nature watching.

The cabins have a semi-open concept. There is a small bathroom with tub/shower combination.

The bedroom features a queen bed as well as a set of bunk beds that are both doubles.

The cabins each have a wonderful rustic feel enhanced by the wood detail and loft style ceilings.

The living areas are simple and comfortable. A few of the cabins also offer pull out sofas for added sleeping capacity.

There is a fully functional kitchen in each cabin offering you the ability to save money and enjoy all the benefits of home cooking while still getting away from it all.

So plan to book your next vacation to Tennessee. You can reach Mountain Stream Cabins through their website, http://www.mountainstreamlodging.com/ to get away from it all!

The family photos will be coming tomorrow!

Tennessee

2011-04-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

We officially moved my parents to Tennessee over the weekend. We drove 12 hours through the night on Thursday and got there at 10am Friday morning. It was such a busy but good time. We moved and unpacked a lot of stuff, took some time for a short hike, visited and explored the property. We made the 12 hour trek back on Monday night and now we are settling into our new normal. I'm missing my parents something awful. Just knowing I can't run down to visit or even drive an hour for a quick get-together makes my heart ache. Enjoy some pictures from our visit and be sure to check out their website http://www.mountainstreamlodging.com/. The hiking in the Cherokee National Forest is beautiful! I'll post pictures as I sort through them.

Family Outtakes

2011-03-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some outtakes from our last family dinner before my parents move to Tennessee. Our family is getting so big!

Church

2011-03-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

I said I was going to post more about the new church we've been attending soon and since I have a few minutes today is the day!

This has been a very difficult journey for me. I grew up in a non-denominational church. The church grew and evolved over the years but I sat under leadership that desired relationship with the Lord more than anything else. I stepped away from that church when I was older to try and find my own footing in the Lord. It was a time of rebellion in my life where I really needed to find the Lord for myself and not just because my parents believed a certain way so therefore I would as well.

By the time I came back to the Lord my parents were involved in a house church with several other couples. There was a very real hunger for something real among everyone and a genuine desire to grow in the Lord. The housechurch was a place of great spiritual growth for me. Because there wasn't many of us we all had to contribute and be a part of the meeting. We were able to ask questions during the teaching time and were also challenged to share our own thoughts or understanding of things. My parents led the housechurch and I have never learned so much from my mom and dad as I have within the last four years of my life.

With their imminent move to Tennessee we decided the time had come for those of us left at the house church to seek new places of worship. It has been such a frustrating time for me. I really wanted to plug into a place that was desperately hungry for the Lord's moving in their midst. A place with annointed worship, real people and leadership open to the Lord's moving more than anyone elses. After weeks of trying different non-denominational churches and coming away very disappointed I did an online search and came across a church with this particular passage as part of their mission statement, "We are a different kind of Church! Our Sunday morning service is a unique blend of traditional hymns with contemporary worship music, believing that people of all ages and preferences have an important place in the church. Matthew 13:52 states, "every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old." We believe in the priesthood of all true believers in Jesus Christ. Therefore we encourage members of the congregation to share what God, led by the Holy Spirit, has put upon their hearts during the morning service. This inspires a flexable, dynamic service where the Holy Spirit can speak from whoever He chooses. We are a church that believes in all the spiritual gifts and hope to be able to use them all for the building up of the body.".

I got choked up with tears and felt a sense of excitement well up in me! I had been praying during this whole search that the Lord would lead me to the right church. Even if it was full of only old people I wanted to be there if they had the real thing and were on fire for God! I truly didn't want to go into any place and stay unless it was a place I was going to be challenged and encouraged to grow.

My parents had offered to attend churches with me and our kids so that they could help with childcare whenever needed and also be a sounding board for me. We went for the first time back in November I believe and I've pretty much been going there ever since. The people were as warm and welcoming as I remember our old Fellowship church being. The pastor is one of the most approachable people I have ever met in his position. He has a true pastoring spirit. The awesome thing is that he believes other members of the body have the gift of teaching and so he encourages these men to be the ones giving the messages on Sundays whenever they have a word to share. The worship time is awesome! There is definitely an annointing on the worship there and many times it has turned into spontaneous songs from different members of the congregation. Love that! Oh! Did I mention that about 70-80% of the church membership is in their late 60s or older! I have connected immediately with several of the women from the church and am hoping to have those relationships grow as time passes.

We are getting ready to bid my parents goodbye in a few, short weeks and these wonderful ladies continue to offer me support and encouragement. I am so grateful for finding this place. My parents have been coming with me all this time and they too have been blessed and in turn blessed others in the body. It feels like they (the church) are on the verge of a spiritual breakthrough into more freedom in their body and I hope to be part of it. I'm just thankful that for now this seems to be the place the Lord is planting me and the kids. Hopefully there will be more to share down the road!

He's Not a Month Old Until Tomorrow...

2011-03-07T12:12:00.001-08:00

...but I just had to share his cuteness!

Blessings

2011-02-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

We have been so blessed by the outpouring of love from our family and friends since Tanner's birth and we're basking in it. My family has made meals for us and my mom has gone crazy with homemade gifts that we are thoroughly enjoying. I will get pictures of them up here shortly. :) Howard's family stopped by with gifts for all the kids. We've had neighbors stop by with diapers, small gifts for the older kids, clothes, etc. It's been very touching to see the concern and love from our neighbors. We do honestly live around some of the nicest neighbors we could ever have hoped for!

The church that the kids and I have been attending for the past few months has completely reached out to us and embraced us as family. One of the girls I've kinda "clicked" with made this great cheesecake for us. Some of the blueberries are already missing in the picture because Chase and I went crazy eating them off the cake right away before Howard suggested that I might like a picture of it!

This girl is also the one responsible for the beautiful lilies pictured here. The church family visited us in the hospital, had a flower at the front of the church the Sunday after Tanner was born to celebrate his birth (even though we weren't even there!). We have received phone calls, meals, visits and encouragement from this wonderful body of believers. I want to share more about the church in the future but for now we are just being blessed from all directions and so thankful for all the prayers, support, meals and gifts that have been sent our way. :)

Loving...

2011-02-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

...every moment we have with this cutie.

Brothers

2011-02-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

Before we had Tanner, Chase told us that he wanted another sister so that he wouldn't have to share a room when the baby got older. We took it in stride and soon after Tanner's arrival Chase came to me and asked if we could move Tanner into his room soon. I had to break it to him that he'd be sharing with Alexa for a little while longer. :)

I love this picture of "my boys" (still weird to think that I have sons, plural). The feeling is mutual between them from what we've seen and I'm praying for a special bond between them as they grow...

Chase has taken it upon himself to make sure that Tanner gets read to. He recites the baby stories that he remembers as he pages through the baby books. It is so cute!

He's Here!

2011-02-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

By now most people know we had a baby boy on February 8 but in case you missed the update here it is! :) Tanner Lynn was born at 9:20 am via c-section weighing 9lbs. 8oz, 22" long.

My recovery has been much swifter than I expected. Tanner has been doing an amazing job nursing and he seems to be a pretty contented baby at his point. We are so grateful for that!

The kids were beyond excited to meet Tanner. Chase has surprised us and completely fallen in love with his little brother. He's the first to jump up and tend to him if he starts to cry and wants to hold or feed him a bottle if given the chance. Alexa would rather watch him and talk to Tanner but she seems to be adjusting fairly well at this point. I will try to keep updating as best I can. The long nights/lack of sleep and c-section recovery don't make it easy to get on the computer (it's an additional flight of stairs for me to handle to get to the computer)

We are completely taken with our little guy. After my first night in the hospital I said to Howard that I don't know how it's possible to fall so completely in love with a baby you've only known for a few short hours. The amazing thing is that it doesn't just happen the first time, or the second...my heart has expanded exponentially each time we've had another baby. We are feeling so blessed right now!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-02-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

I had a great, low-key day with the family for my birthday. I woke up to the smell of waffles cooking (my favorite breakfast food). The kids and I came downstairs to fresh waffles, eggs and sausage. Such a nice surprise and so yummy!

Since I just feel huge anymore we didn't do much moving. :) Howard treated us to the Olive Garden for lunch where I had a delicious shrimp dish and just enjoyed family time. The kids excitedly brought out a cake at dinner time from Coldstone Creamery. It was a cookie dough delirium cake and my word it was sooo good! I don't splurge on stuff like that much with having diabetes so it was such a treat! Howard and I both relished every bite of it!

Now we are just waiting for our little one to make his/her appearance. I've had a few rough nights recently where I was having inconsistent contractions so I'm just hoping we can make it to Tuesday without any major episodes at this point! The baby's room is ready, the house is ready and (we think) we're as ready as we can be at this point. I am so eager to meet this little peach fuzz! I've been thinking all along we're having another boy but the only dream I've had about the baby was that it was a girl. Who knows! I truly am in the dark on this one so I am so eager to find out what we're having. Howard and I were just saying the other night that it really doesn't matter either way to us. We have been blessed with a son and a daughter and they are both wonderful blessings to our family. God knows best what will complete and complement us perfectly!

Icy Wonder

2011-02-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

Grateful to wake up to heat and electric this morning! We weren't sure what to expect with the big ice storm predicted.

I can't bend much at all so I shot a few shots of all the beautiful ice but nothing like I wanted to! :-)

Our neighbors gave the kids permission to go sledding on their hill so they took full advantage of the ice to try it out.

Alexa did it once and refused to go up again so I pulled her around the sidewalks and road.

We walked 1/3 of a mile around our place before the plows came through. I can't handle much more than that these days! It was pretty and we enjoyed our morning out. The kids are exhausted and napping and I'm getting ready for some hot chocolate. I love the beauty of winter days!

Thank goodness for brothers...

2011-02-01T17:48:00.001-08:00

...who are willing to dress up with you.

Thank goodness for sisters who are willing to play cars and trucks with you! :-)

Chase's Birthday

2011-01-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

Chase got a Thomas the Tank Engine themed cake this year. My first effort with a 3-d cake. I'm pretty happy with how it came out! Cream cheese pound cake with chocolate buttercream frosting covered in fondant.

He was super happy with it which is all that mattered!

I love this pic of Alexa. She wanted to sit next to her "Poppy" and she is resting her hand on him just to make sure he's near.

This is all the granddads with Chase and Howard working on putting one of Chase's gifts together. Alexa is just in the middle of it all watching videotape of herself on the camcorder.

Chase got homemade pajamas from my mom for his birthday. He loves them! At bedtime, as we were getting ready to read his nighttime story, he told me that I probably wanted to sit close to him so that I could keep warm. :-)

This is from Chase's actual birthday. We had leftover cake and spent the day celebrating our boy. Happy 4th buddy you are getting sooo big!

Wishful Thinking?

2011-01-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

Chase wanted snow for his birthday. While he didn't get out to enjoy it yesterday, we woke up to this winter wonderland of white.

I was supposed to be heading off to one of my many doctor's appointments this morning but got as far as the end of our driveway before the van got stuck. Our roads weren't plowed and the snow was deep. I was feeling bad about getting stuck until our neighbor with 4-wheel drive had to be rescued. We watched/rescued neighbor after neighbor with 4-wheel or all-wheel drive this morning as quite a few of them had problems.

The sun came out and the scenery got even more beautiful!

Howard's back needed a rest after all the digging and snowblowing.

Alexa refuses to go outside in the snow for the most part, so she spends her time watching her daddy and brother have fun.

All we seem to need to do is think snow around here and more gets delivered! We're expecting more over the next few days. We'll see what happens!

I'll have Chase's birthday pictures up soon!

You Know Your Husband...

2011-01-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

You know your husband loves your kids when he uses his snowblower to create a sledding hill in the backyard for your kids!

We're enjoying these snowy days!

Dress Up

2011-01-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

The kids got a bunch of dress-up clothes for Christmas and they've been having a ton of fun pulling things out and mixing and matching them up!

She only wears the hats for short periods of time so my window of "capture" is very brief!

I am completely in love with the headband. She is in love with the skirt; she wears it constantly.

My niece was over and of course, wanted to dress-up with the kids. She's helping Chase get into his fireman's outfit here. Too cute!

Winter days are for imagination and fun when we can't get out. So thankful the kids have this stuff to play with!

The Countdown has begun...

2010-12-31T11:03:00.000-08:00

My c-section has been scheduled for Feb. 8 so we are quickly counting down the days. I am officially 34 weeks today but really only have 5-1/2 weeks left because of the c-section. I feel HUGE and so ready to meet this little one. Howard and I have agreed on a name if it's a boy and we've narrowed the girls names down to two. We're getting there! Thanks to everyone who's already voted on what we're having. Everyone seems to think we're having a boy. Hmmm... It's going to be fun to find out!

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

Isn't this the perfect look of aniticipation on Alexa's face?

We spent Christmas day at home as a family for the first time since Howard and I have been married. It was such a nice relaxing day for all of us!

Chase got a cookie making set to go along with Alexa's kitchen and he's been quite into baking cookies for everyone since then.

Alexa took forever to unwrap her gifts. She carefully pulls off pieces of paper, takes her time crumpling them up nicely, walks to the trash bag and pushes it in and then comes back to start all over again. She was getting so frustrated with how long it took to open her gifts that we would get them almost opened and let her finish. It's very cute to watch the process.

Chase's big gift was a train table and his face was all the reaction we needed. He's been talking about this table for a good year now.

Alexa loves her new stroller and baby doll (in preperation for the real deal). She was so concerned about her baby being cold that I had to go get a receiving blanket to swaddle the doll in. She just wheels around like it's nobody's business and wears herself out walking!

The next two shots are just to prove that Howard and I were there. We actually let the kids take turns opening all their gifts first. Once the kids were playing with their new toys we had some time to open our stockings and gifts together without interruption which was a nice surprise.

Our family has a lot of Christmas traditions we follow but we are making a lot of our own as well. We have cinnamon pull-apart bread for breakfast Christmas Eve morning. For as long as I can remember my family has always had Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and orange rolls for breakfast Christmas morning so those were our healthy breakfasts over the Christmas weekend!

I am not a big fan of the traditional turkey dinner (hence, why I'm not a fan of Thanksgiving?). I didn't want to cook any big meal or have Howard slaving over something either so we talked with Chase about it and decided that our Christmas day dinner would be Bagel Bites and all the leftover goodies from our Christmas Eve get-together. It was wonderful! We ate food we don't normally splurge on and the kids loved it because it was their kind of food. Nobody dressed up, we just had a nice casual dinner together and it was great! Howard and I are excited to see how our Christmas dinner will evolve through the years as our kids get older. It will be tradition to be non-traditional and we're all for that! Yum!

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

We had a great family time on Christmas Eve. This year was the first year Howard and I decided to stay home with our family on Christmas day so my immediate family got together Christmas Eve night. It was a time full of food we don't usually eat (donuts from a local donut joint, yum!), visiting and gift giving.

My sister-in-law and I both got digital cameras so we were snapping each other taking photos. My new camera is super nice and compatible with all my old 35mm camera lenses so I'm super excited to start playing around with all the new functions!

My parents gave families with grandkids the gift of G.T. and the Halo Express on CD. It is an awesome way to learn scripture to music and my whole family can still recall a bunch of Bible verses thanks to listening to these shows as kids.

My niece, Nonah, was making this adorable face everytime someone would try to take her picture. It's how she thinks she's supposed to respond to a camera. So cute!

Alexa loves her Nee Nee so she was very happy to have her attention for a lot of the night. They were snuggling with her new stuffed doggy.

Chase was beyond excited about getting a scooter and helmet from Nee Nee and Poppy. He cruised around their apartment all night and wore the helmet for most of Christmas day as well.

My brother Peter's family.

Billy, unfortunately, got sick the day before so he felt pretty lousy but he at least rallied to spend some time with all of us.

Still a cute couple 30 years later!

Chase was able to eat donuts with the all clear on eggs and he thoroughly enjoyed his Boston Creme.

This was towards the end of the night and Chase just decided not to cooperate with the camera so this was the best family shot we got.

My sister-in-law made my mom and me aprons. Aren't they so cute! I was super impressed with her skills.

It was so much fun and went by so fast. We've been munching on some of the leftovers for the last few days which has been a nice treat.

Happy Birthday Honey!

2010-12-27T17:30:00.000-08:00

It wouldn't be fair to blog about Christmas until I at least acknowledged Howard's birthday. (He usually gets the short end of the stick with being born right before Christmas)

This picture is what happens when I only get one candid shot before things go haywire with the kids (sorry hon!). :-)

We had lasagna (my first attempt!), garlic bread, salad and ice cream cake for his birthday meal. Happy 35th birthday Howard! We're so blessed to have you! :-)

Christmas Happenings

2010-12-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

We are having such fun preparing for Christmas!

Two weeks ago I took the kids to our towns Christmas celebration. Howard had to work at the last minute and I wasn't sure I wanted to go it alone but we were all sick of being inside so we ventured out. I am so glad we did! The kids and I had a blast! There were stops all over our town that you could get to by trolley. We all enjoyed those rides around town. They had a scavenger hunt where you could go to various business around the town and collect stickers or stamps to trade in for raffle tickets at the end of the day. The tickets were then used to enter drawings for various prizes that local businesses had donated. Every business was handing out some type of goody and a lot of them had activities for the kids to do as well. The kids made Christmas cards, Chase decorated a stocking with his name and candy canes on it, we got tons of cookies, juice and popcorn.

We saw and voted on the local gingerbread decorating contest and Chase got his face painted, which thoroughly delighted him. We also watched an indoor train display that both kids loved.

We got to meet Santa at the fire house and Chase shocked me by declaring that he wanted to talk to Santa. This is my shy kid so I tried to prepare him that we could leave if he wanted but he was determined to let Santa know what he wanted. I wish I had my camera with me because his face looked so terrified and yet determined to speak with Santa! He clearly asked for two very specific things he's had on his mind for a long time and then both the kids got a goody bag from Santa.

Alexa's bag had a two pack of panda bear plates in it that she has insisted on eating from for breakfast and lunch ever since! She growls out the word bear until you understand what she's trying to say. It is so cute!

The final fun of it all happened yesterday when we got a phone call that Chase had won the coloring contest for his age range at one of the local businesses! If you could have heard him when we turned in his picture two weeks ago you would have melted. He was so innocent in his confidence that everyone would vote for his picture and he would win. :-) Amazingly enough he did win his age category and a $25 gift card to ToysRUs! We're so proud of him for doing such a great job!

It was a wonderful time for us all and the kids can't wait to participate again next year. We even found a local business we didn't know existed but that we will be making use of in the next few years. Fun times!

What are we Having?

2010-12-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'll get a picture of myself up here shortly to help with this one but check out our poll to the top left and vote for what you think the baby's gender is. (Nope, we still have no clue and you'll be waiting until delivery day to find out!)

Thanksgiving and Birthdays

2010-12-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Wow! I had hoped to be back on here before now but the holidays and birthdays are keeping me running!

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year before everyone arrived we got a little snow...we let Chase out to run around in it and by the time he came back in it looked like...

...this!

It quickly cleared up and didn't cause anyone trouble in coming. Six of the 10 of us were sick so it was rather low-key for our family. There was much joking that all the healthy ones were going to barge into some "healthy" house for dinner and leave us sickies by ourselves. It took 4 weeks for me to get over the craziness of whatever it was we caught. So thankful to be over it!

This little peanut had a birthday in the meantime. The big 2!!!

She enjoyed her birthday cupcakes on her actual birthday and then we had a small celebration with the grandparents on the following Saturday.

I made a chocolate cake with vanilla-almond buttercream icing. It was yummy!

Alexa's grandparents got her a princess table and chairs as well as a pink tea set. (Notice the pink sparkly shoes she's wearing? They're too big for her yet but she insists on wearing them around the house. She is every bit our girly-girl!)

Daddy has had to have many tea parties with his little girl already!

Alexa also graduated to a big girl bed in preparation for her new sibling. She is so proud of her bed and has done an amazing job of adjusting to sleeping outside the crib.

This one is just for fun. Chase, Lexie and Nonah were having some fun at Nee Nee's house when we all got together to celebrate my parents birthdays.

We're preparing to celebrate Howard's birthday this weekend and possibly see some Christmas lights so there will be more to post soon!

When Life Isn't What You Wished For...

2010-11-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

     I've had a bunch of people checking in on me and I appreciate everyone's concern and love. I really am okay, as is our family. There's been a lot of transition going on that I will try to explain so bear with me if this post gets a little long.
     I guess the best place to start is to share that my (Sarah's) parents shared with us that they had been praying about my dad leaving his job with Tastykake and venturing into something a little less physically strenuous for him and a with a little more ministry opportunity available for my mom and him. It was a bit of a shock at first because my parents don't do anything too spontaneous or adventerous. They are solid and reliable and for the most part I like them that way! :-) Without going into too much detail my parents felt led by the Lord to start pursuing a business where they can rent out cabins for people to come vacation in. Their dream is to eventually generate enough income that they can offer cabins to families in ministry who can't afford a vacation or to burnt out missionaries/leaders/couples who need to be refreshed and encouraged in their "walk".
     It was easier to be supportive when my parents were considering moving out west to do this. If you know anything about me at all I've always had the dream of moving out west. But after visiting out there they felt very clearly that it was not the direction they were to go and they started looking south. They've found potential in Tennessee which, in itself, places them far away from me and not in an easy-to-get-to drive with small kids. They listed their house and it sold faster than expected. They weren't supposed to be moving until the end of this month but due to some twists with their buyers they moved the end of October. It's pushed every button I lack when it comes to adapting to change. They are (hopefully) here in a rental until our baby is born. My parents have always been close by and so this is not an easy change for me. I grew up with grandparents who did not live nearby and I know how it affects relationships whether you want it to or not. Since their business and Howard's work will keep us apart for long periods of time I struggle to remain hopeful that my children will still enjoy the closeness to my parents that they relish right now. Our time with them is very bittersweet right now to say the least.
     Within a month of my parents dropping their bomb my brother and sister-in-law announced that they were listing their house with the hopes of moving out west by the end of next summer. (Did I mention that I don't take change well!) My little niece is close in age to Alexa and my dreams for them of growing up close and having each other disappeared out the window with that announcement. If my brother and sister-in-law end up moving west I am well aware that due to financial constraints on all of us it will be a long time before we see them again. And that's part of the struggle. With my parents one way, my brother another and us here family reunions are not likely. I support their dreams because we have our own too but it doesn't make the leaving and separating any easier. I didn't have any aunts, uncles or cousins close by growing up and I feel like I missed out on some really great relationships within my family as a result. My heart hurts over all this losing and despite so many words spoken with the best of intentions you can't understand unless you can walk in my shoes through the years.
     While all of this was going on my husband went through a period of 4 weeks of working nights. Night work always puts a stress on our family because our time becomes very limited. Because of the job Howard was doing we saw him for about an hour each evening as he was getting ready to leave. He'd come home around breakfast time in the morning and crash until he had to leave for work again. After the six days a week of nights for four weeks was over he went right into an insane schedule of 60+ hour work weeks. He's gone for six days out of the week long before any of us get up for the day and often comes home as the kids are getting into bed or after they're already down for the night. Because I am functioning as a single parent and Howard is run down from his job our relationship also suffers. We have no energy to try to connect after a long day(s) so we share briefly about our days and Howard either nods off or heads to bed right away after eating his dinner. I guess because of all the other stress going on in our lives (and pregnancy hormones!) this year the job has just become so much more unbearable. I feel so run down and we've been battling colds on and off again since the end of August! Traditionally Howard's work finally levels off after Thanksgiving but I confess that I'm not holding my breath. I try to explain to people who envy his four months of layoff in the winter that I would gladly trade that for a consistent 40 hour work week with weekends off any day! The other eight months of the year are taxing on all of us.
     Oh! Did I mention that while all this was going on my cat of 12 years started getting sicker and sicker. We've been through numerous vet visits and testing and got no answers just that our cat was a chronic puker. Things continued to escalate with him to the point that we were using baby gates to confine him to our kitchen and basement where we could clean up after him easier. A couple weeks ago Howard and I both noticed a very dramatic change in his weight and I weighed him only to discover that he had lost about 4lbs. in a six month period. For a cat that is freak-out type symptoms. I made the very difficult decision to have him put to sleep at that point. We didn't feel that Smokey was happy or healthy anymore. The vet sort of confirmed my suspicions that he more than likely was suffering from some sort of bone cancer that the tests we did wouldn't have picked up. So in all this mess I lost my companion when Howard works late or I'm an emotional mess. Anyone who knew him would tell you he wasn't a typical cat. He was loving to everybody and calm and very sensitive to me. While I have some relief over not having to deal with all his health issues I miss his comforting warmth in the evenings.
     I almost done, promise! Since my parents are moving away and they led our house church it has also prompted us all to have to search for new church homes. Our house church has been a place of great spiritual growth and challenge for me and I am hungry to be with a body of believers who are just as hungry as I am. Sadly, the search has been pretty frustrating so far and options are pretty slim so I completely have to depend on the Lord's direction in this area.
     The most amazing thing about this whole time is that I am well aware of the fact that I have not been carrying on in my own strength. There've been moments when I felt like my head was going to explode and I had the inexplicable sense that if I was doing everything in my own strenth I would have failed long ago. My faithful "Daddy" has been carrying me and caring for me. My walk with Him has been closer than ever and my hunger for Him is so unsatiable right now. I am reading all I can to encourage myself in the Lord and to keep my focus as trained on His faithfulness as I can. There's so much more I could say and many more little life details that have added to this crazy life we live but those are the main details of what I've been dealing with and where I am right now. We are okay and I'm trusting that the Lord will continue to carry us especially when life becomes more than I think I can bear...:-)

Ponderings

2010-10-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. There's a lot going on in my immediate and extended family right now and I'm not very good with change so the processing and adjusting has been very difficult for me. I will share more on this in the future but right now I just need time to come to terms with all the change going on. I think I've been semi depressed and definitely emotional lately and I just don't have the energy to put out much effort on here right now. I'll be back and hopefully better than before.
On a more positive note the kids and I are LOVING this fall weather. We collected some awesome leaves the other day, traced them onto construction paper and hung them up in our kitchen windows. I love fall. It's my favorite time of year. I love air cold enough that it feels so clean and when you inhale it almost burns going into your lungs. It occurred to me the other day that Fall to me is almost like the finishing touches on God's year-long masterpiece. Each winter he pulls out a fresh, white canvas and begins a new masterpiece. He starts with stark trees, bare earth and gradually progresses through the life and vibrancy of spring and summer, culminating in spectacular colors, bluest of blue skies and a world just singing with praise to it's creator. Awesome!

Six Years

2010-09-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

So Saturday was our six year anniversary. We both remarked the other day how we're starting to feel like the old married couple. Our friends are still getting married and just starting families and we're feeling like it's all so old hat for us...

I was trying to think of what I could share that we've learned this year about our relationship and maybe the biggest thing is our constant desire to be better spouses to each other. We don't want to settle for the status quo but truly desire to love each other better. It's so easy to say and so much harder to put into practice! What I did notice about both of our anniversary cards to each other was that we both commented about how, six years later, we still look forward to the end of the day when we get to see each other again. No matter how bad the day our highlight is still each other. :-)

As for what we did this year...Howard's parents came up Saturday night and watched the kids so that we could go out to dinner. The time flew by but we had great food and a wonderful time just lingering over a meal instead of rushing or being interrupted by our kids. On Sunday we left the kids with my parents for the day and went to a local burrito joint (did I mention my love of Mexican food!) for lunch and then played a round of miniature golf together. It was nothing serious, no deep discussions, just the two of us enjoying being together. We needed it, benefited from it and have great sixth anniversary memories to look back on. Howard and I both got hole-in-ones so that was pretty cool too.

Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine

2010-09-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

We took last Saturday and went to Strasburg, PA for A Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine.

Chase has been looking forward to this since July. I love this picture because it captures perfectly how a little kid feels when they have to wait in line for 20 minutes to do something they've been waiting forever for. :-)

The train ride was a short twenty minutes but Chase loved it. We saw cows, school buses, a donkey, a goat, miniature horses and draft horses on our ride. It was a very exciting twenty minutes to a three year old.

Alexa had fun too, although most of it was spent quite taken with the "babies" (children the same age or slightly older than she is) who were sitting around us. Check out her dimple! We still don't know who it came from although my Aunt Ruth has dimples so maybe it's a recessed gene!

We were in the William McFarlane car. It was quite spiffy and very nice compared to the train ride we took last year.

There were a lot of other activities for the kids to do. Chase loved the Cranky Cars which had to be cranked by hand. He rode this ride three times and loved every second of them.

He had fun trying to race away from daddy!

Howard and the kids are at the back of this mini-train. The train is about 86 years old and still steaming away.

This was one of the vacation days that we had planned this year. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. Chase got to pick out a t-shirt and he also got a Thomas the Tank Engine train whistle so that he can imitate the sounds of the trains we were around. He loves both and at bedtime the "poop-poop" of the whistle can be heard now and again.

Labor Day

2010-09-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

For us Labor Day meant a chance to have Howard home for a little while. He is in the midst of his busy season at work and our time with him is limited. He is often working six days a week right now and Labor Day weekend was no exception. That he had Sunday and Monday off was wonderful for all of us. We took the kids to a lake that I grew up around and Howard and I spent time together at once we met.

Chase and daddy were trying to spot the fish.

Lexie and I went off to find a good spot to watch the boats launching from the marina.

It was a perfectly beautiful day. The sailboats were out in force and the kids loved watching them all. We waved to everyone launching and they happily waved back making the kids feel like mini celebrities.

We took bread to feed the fish which Chase enjoyed chucking all over.

Alexa hungrily chowed down on the bread (which was going stale) instead of throwing it since she hadn't eaten much breakfast that morning. She was slamming the pieces into her mouth so fast she was barely able to chew!

We took Chase's bike and went for a mile walk/ride down the walking path before coming back for a little more lake time.

Yes, I'm starting to show quite a bit...:-)

We found a small hill that Howard and Chase were running up and down. Alexa didn't want to be left out and she LOVED having daddy run her back and forth.

We returned home for leftover hotdogs and shrimp on the grill. I'm the only one who eats shrimp and I relished it. I had marinated it in balsamic vinaigrette and then skewered the shrimp for grilling. Chase, who hasn't liked shrimp in the past, asked to try it. We gave him one and he proceeded to try to eat all of mine! He gobbled them down like candy so I had to guard my meal carefully! I was thrilled that he liked them though and I'll be making extra next time.
Chase keeps asking if I want to go back to the lake again and take his bike to ride. We'll be heading back the first chance we get!

Father's Love Letter

2010-08-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hit the four arrows in the bottom right to make this full screen. Take the time to watch the whole thing. Hope it blesses you as much as it does me every time I watch it. :-)

Goings On

2010-08-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a brief overview of the last few weeks:

Alexa inherited our smallest tricycle and although she can't reach the pedals all the way around she wants to ride and be pushed on the bike. Her face in the picture is very intense because she is learning the all important skill of steering. She over corrects constantly which is funny and frustrating. We pretty much trace an "S" pattern down the sidewalk as she figures out where to go.

This little man upgraded his wheels to two plus the training wheels courtesy of a great yard sale deal this summer. He's loving the faster speeds and brakes as he's not as brave as he likes to think! ;-) He is already getting better at balancing the bike too.

I had to throw this shot up because I found a pair of adorable sunglasses at The Children's Place on clearance for a buck. I couldn't pass them up!

I have to point out too that besides these adorable jammies she's got our peanut is starting to finally grow quite the head of hair! She's got one awesome curlique in the back and we're hoping for more!

We also planted a much needed shade tree in our back yard and Chase had a blast for a few days playing in the hole daddy was digging for the tree. I couldn't pass up the photo-op and got this shot of him looking half buried in the yard.

We'll be back with more photos and I will get back on track and start posting Window Seat Wanderings again soon!

A great outlook on life

2010-07-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

     I got a forward from my in-laws that I thought would be great to share. It's the way I hope I can look at myself as I get older. I don't know who wrote it or I would give them credit here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

     I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

     I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

     Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.

     I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

     They, too, will get old.

     I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

     Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

     I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

     So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

     As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore.

     I've even earned the right to be wrong.

     So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day(if I feel like it).

Announcing...

2010-07-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

I know it probably seems like we've dropped off the map but I promise you we are still here. I haven't been blogging much lately because...we are expecting baby #3!!! I've been so impatient to tell everyone but we were waiting until we were pretty much through the first trimester. It's been a doozy this time so I haven't felt much like getting on the computer at all. Also the reason why the slacking off on the blog. I am (finally!) starting to feel more like myself and since week 12 is official tomorrow we wanted to let everyone in on our joyful secret! Due date is Feb. 11, 2011. We are so excited to meet this final "installment" to our family!

Of Weddings and Wonderlands, part 2

2010-07-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

I just don't get on here as much as I mean to these days...

Catching up where we left off! We took the kids to Dutch Wonderland on the second day of our weekend whirlwind. Chase was so excited when we pulled up to the castle entrance and we told him that this was our surprise. We ate lunch first at the picnic area. The whole time we were eating the big kid roller coaster was running next to us. Chase could hardly eat, he just kept saying he wanted to ride that ride.

For whatever reason he's been talking about wanting to ride a carousel for the longest time. We were so excited for him when the first ride we came to was...a carousel! He thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Chase just kept surprising us. He was ready and willing to try everything at least once. He enjoyed just about everything he tried too!

We had been on a ride earlier where you had to steer the car so that it wouldn't keep bumping the guide rail running between the wheels. Chase was so cute because he was concentrating so hard on "steering" this ride not realizing this time it wasn't needed. Alexa rode it with daddy and Chase but wasn't too thrilled with it.

The kids both enjoyed this slide. Alexa watched people going down and kept giggling at them.

When we left at 5pm the thermometer read 93! The real feel was warmer than that and our little princess is not a fan of heat and humidity! She spent most of her time in the stroller sucking down water. I kept dousing her head which left her with an adorable mohawk the next morning!

Finding out that he could control the up and down motion of the bulldozer totally made his day!

Our trooper took a two hour nap through the park.

He got to ride the little kid version of the roller coaster he had seen at lunch. His arms were up on the way up but he wasn't so sure on the way down. He still came out smiling so we're pretty sure he liked it.

We got a chance to talk about the park and check out all the overhead views. Listened in on a Thomas the Tank Engine skit as we went by. Love my time with him...

Alexa woke up in time for us to ride the train that circles the park. It's so cute. They put down crossing guards over the walking path complete with clanging and flashing lights. The kids get to wave from the train like celebrities. We didn't even get to the entire park but the kids were so wiped (and us too!) that we knew it was time to head home.

Whew! It was an exhausting weekend but so much fun. The kids were so good about traveling and we were really proud of them. The family time was good for all of us.

Of Weddings and Wonderlands, part 1

2010-06-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

Whew! This was a busy weekend for us!

We attended my friend Sylvia's wedding in VA on Saturday and then hurried on up to PA on Sunday for a day at Dutch Wonderland with the kids. Lots of traveling, which the kids were great about, by the way!

This picture is of Sylvie's adorable nieces who served as her flower girls.

Sylvie's dad was the pastor of our church growing up so our connections run deep and cover as many years as I've been alive. The bride looked beautiful and very happy! Sylvie actually eloped a year ago and she and her husband decided to have a commitment ceremony at their one year anniversary so that all their friends and family could be a part of their vows as well. I'm so glad they did because it was so much fun to see Sylvie get married!

Someone from their church made the cake. It was so pretty and finding a passion for cake decorating in myself, I was quite taken with it.

(Sigh) How I miss seeing everyone more often. All of us out-of-towners were invited back to the newlyweds home for dinner and visiting. We know a lot of the same people so I was able to visit with a lot of "family" I don't get to see much anymore since a lot of them have moved away.

This is my sweet friend Mary (sister and matron of honor in the wedding). We keep in touch by letters and emails but how I wish we lived closer together. She and her husband are so much fun to be around and it's so much better visiting face-to-face rather than long distance.

We had a great time that ended all too quickly! I'll post more on the second leg of our journey soon!

Window Seat Wanderings

2010-06-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday I post about a book I’ve read that I think is worth passing on. I have a personal love for Christian fiction so that is my main focus but you will find other reads sprinkled in here from time to time.

I’d love to hear what you thought of a book I recommended or if you have a new one for me to try. So grab your favorite beverage and get comfortable, let’s get wandering!

I know every book grabs each of us differently but I hope you will enjoy this one as much as I did. I have such a soft spot for kids who are orphaned and it is a desire of mine to one day have some sort of ministry to them. This book spoke to places in my heart and I wept through a lot of the story (in a really good way!). I've cried through a lot of his books but this one struck a chord with me. The author actually supports an orphange in Peru that is the setting for The Sunflower. (You can find out more about his charity work at www.operationkids.org/lifestart/)

Just a week before their marriage, Christine's fiancé calls off the wedding, leaving her heartbroken. With hopes of helping her through a difficult time, Christine's best friend Jessica enrolls them both on a humanitarian mission in Peru, to work at an orphanage called El Girasol — The Sunflower. While working at the orphanage Christine meets Paul Cook, a successful and charismatic American doctor who has fled the States after one fatal day took away his career, his faith, and the woman he loved. Unplanned events lead Paul and Christine into the jungle of the Amazon, where Christine must confront her deepest fears, and she, and Paul, must both learn to trust and love again. Filled with powerful lessons of faith and hope, The Sunflower is an evocative novel about the redemptive power of love from one of the world's most beloved storytellers.

Summer Fun

2010-06-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

I know I've been absent lately and I assure you we are all well and doing fine. I've just needed to "unplug" for a while and enjoy my kids, the outdoors and spend more time with the Lord (more on that later!).

I love watching him at play. I can see it in his eyes while he's jumping. The feeling of greatness. That he's jumping higher and better than anyone has ever jumped before.

I can see those days in me as I look back at childhood photos. In a child's eyes, they are always the best and every possibility is theirs. I delight in it. I encourage it. I cheer him on.

Childhood only happens once. I want to give each of my children the best memories possible, especially when it comes to the simple, everyday things where their imagination can take flight.

Window Seat Wanderings

2010-06-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

I’d love to hear what you thought of a book I recommended or if you have a new one for me to try. So grab your favorite beverage and get comfortable, let’s get wandering!

Kristen Heitzmann is my author of choice today. I've only read two titles of hers thus far and thoroughly enjoyed both. The most recent title I read was Freefall. It was intriguing and the characters felt "real" to me. There was enough "whodunnit" action going on that I couldn't read fast enough to get to the solution. The ending wrapped up a little too quick and neat for my tastes but the overall story was really good. I'll be looking for more of her books!

When a young woman stumbles out of the Hanalei Mountains on the island of Kauai with no memory of who she is or how she got there, Cameron Pierce reluctantly agrees to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding her arrival. As pieces begin to fall into place, he suspects her injuries were no accident, but he's far from convinced she's an innocent victim. And there's that nagging feeling he's seen her somewhere before....

Now known as Jade, the woman begins to recall fragments of what led her to this place, and she realizes the danger isn't over. Jade and the cynical Hawaiian investigator attempt to reconstruct the threads of her identity, but the stakes are far higher than either expected.

Rita's Water Ice: Take Two!

2010-05-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

This was Chase's face the other night when we treated him to a Rita's Gelati. He loves their water ice but because of his egg allergy had never tried their ice cream (or any soft serve) before. He was so excited to be able to pick out his treat. We got this reaction after we got home and he was able to try it!

Window Seat Wanderings

2010-05-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

I’d love to hear what you thought of a book I recommended or if you have a new one for me to try. So grab your favorite beverage and get comfortable, let’s get wandering!

I'm changing things up a bit this week with a much more serious subject line. The book is I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy by Angie Smith.

     I've followed Angie's blog for quite some time and have been moved to tears quite often as she has shared her heart with others. Here is the book description:

     In 2008, Angie Smith and her husband Todd (lead singer of the group Selah) learned through ultrasound that their fourth daughter had conditions making her “incompatible with life.” Advised to terminate the pregnancy, the Smiths chose instead to carry this child and allow room for a miracle. That miracle came the day they met Audrey Caroline and got the chance to love her for the precious two-and-a-half hours she lived on earth.

Upon receiving the original diagnosis, Angie started a blog (Bring the Rain) to keep family and friends informed of their journey. Soon, the site exploded in popularity, connecting with thousands who were either experiencing their own heartbreaking situations or simply curious about how God could carry someone through something so tragic. I Will Carry You tells the powerful story of a parent losing her child, interwoven with the biblical story of Lazarus to help those who mourn to still have hope—to find grace and peace in the sacred dance of grief and joy.

     I've read this book just recently and found it heartbreakingly beautiful. Honestly, I cried through a lot of it. It was good crying because I could see the beauty even in the midst of all the tragedy taking place. Angie's got personal struggles that I can relate to and her writing is as intimate as if you were sitting in a room together having a private conversation. It's a good read for anyone who wants to be challenged in their walk with the Lord; who has lost a child; or who knows someone who has experienced the loss of a loved one.

Summer Preview

2010-05-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

We've had some warmer weather lately and we've all been eating up our time outdoors.
We didn't break out the kiddie pool yet but I set up the sprinkler for the kids yesterday.

Alexa hated the sprinkler; Chase took a little while to warm up to it and then had a blast.

She was much more content to sit and watch her big brother play...

which he did with much enthusiasm!

Window Seat Wanderings

2010-05-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

I’d love to hear what you thought of a book I recommended or if you have a new one for me to try. So grab your favorite beverage and get comfortable, let’s get wandering!

Today's book is "When the Heart Cries" by Cindy Woodsmall. I'm not usually an Amish fiction fan because I find the books typically romanticize the Amish faith and often overlook fundamental Amish beliefs for the sake of their story. I stumbled on this author shortly after our library got a copy of her first book "When the Heart Cries". The book was fascinating, riveting and heartwrenchingly real. I loved it and devoured the two subsequent titles in the trilogy.

Premise:

Hannah Lapp was born and raised in an Old Order Amish home, without electricity, a telephone, or the right to follow her heart. Without her parents’ knowledge, she’s been in love with Mennonite Paul Waddell for years. When he asks her to marry him, she accepts, even though to do so will cause her family to avoid her for the rest of her life.

Before Hannah and Paul reveal their relationship, tragedy strikes. In one unwelcome encounter, all that Hannah has known and believed is destroyed and she faces losing everything: her family, her fiancé, and even her faith in God.

Also in the trilogy:

When the Morning Comes

When the Soul Mends

Minivan Mom

2010-05-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

You got it! I am officially a minivan mom! I've been so apprehensive about this because my past experience with minivans was that they were pretty lame (no offense to you minivan owners out there!). There wasn't really any option for me but the Honda Odyssey as I love the way it looks and I am a Honda person through and through. Howard test drove the van a few months ago and agreed that it was the one he wanted as well.

The 2010 vans are so hard to come by now because Honda it getting ready to change the bodystyle for 2011. We had to wait for our new "family member" for about five weeks. Nothing like waiting on such a big purchase to make you get cold feet. I kept freaking out every few days as to whether this was the right decision for us. Howard calmly reminded me that we had planned on this for quite a while and that I'd be happy with it once we got it. He was right of course! I love the convenience of the van and we upgraded from a 4 cylinder to a V6 which is great for this lead foot!

The whole drive home Chase kept saying "I so happy! I really like this minivan! Mommy are you so happy? Daddy are you so happy? I really like this minivan!" The best part is that now when I say it's time to get in the van Chase bolts to get in it. He loves it and so do we!

Window Seat Wanderings

2010-05-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

Don't let the cover fool you! This is the older cover I own. The book was released with a redesigned cover not that long ago. I posted the older cover because it is the perfect example of why to not judge a book by it's cover.

This is a brief synopsis of the book:

Born to a royal family, Prince Nicolai has grown up with the knowledge that he will be heir to the throne and to his people's hearts. Having suffered the early and painful death of his first wife, the young prince agrees to an arranged marriage to fulfill an ancient statute that the heir be married by his twenty-sixth birthday.

He and his new bride, Shelby, live together as strangers for many weeks, but in time the prince draws closer to her. Yet it never occurs to Shelby, a commoner who married for the sake of her country but who secretly loves him deeply, that the prince's affection could truly turn toward her. By the time he comes to love her, she has walled off her heart to protect herself, and he must tenderly scale that wall.

When you have the chance check out the book and let me know what you thought. Happy wanderings!

Mother's Day Pictures 2010

2010-05-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

     We finally got the kids to take some good pictures with us. Well, Alexa cooperated. Pictures with Chase anymore are like pulling teeth! This was the best picture of the three of us. :-)



        I had to get a picture with each of my kids for their scrapbooks too!


                     He's getting so big but he's still my baby...


     Our budding photographer took this one of Howard and I. It's a little blurry and of course Alexa's in the way but it's nice to have a few of just the two of us so we appreciate Chase's efforts!


     It was a very nice Mother's Day. Howard got up and made waffles for breakfast. A favorite of mine and a rarity since they are so high in carbs! He and the kids took me out to a local Mexican restaurant, that I love, for dinner. Oh, it is so good! We then came home and went outside to toss a baseball together before the kids went to bed. Howard and I spent the evening playing games together. It's something we love to do and it was so nice to end the day talking and enjoying being together. It was a family sort of day which was just perfect considering what was being celebrated!

Mother's Day

2010-05-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite YouTube video of all time. If you knew me and my brothers growing up it portrays our relationship perfectly. I can't stop laughing when I watch it. Enjoy it and Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. We definitely "earn" our title!

B-I-B-L-E

2010-05-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Well, our peanut is 17 months old now! She's babbling more and getting down animal sounds which are so cute.

She's really into peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek.

She's got a mind of her own which we are quickly coming to learn the more vocal she becomes!

The best part is she is picking up skills as her older brother practices his. Chase has been learning the B-I-B-L-E song and sings it constantly. Alexa now walks around the house in her little girl voice singing "b-l-e, b-l-e, b-l-e". I got it on video tape and it is so cute! She's so proud of herself too. :-) I love when they pick up the good things!

Eggscellent!!!

2010-04-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

Guess what!!! Chase had his egg food challenge today and he passed!!! As of Monday we can give him anything containing egg and the hope is that there won't be any problem at all.
Howard and I can't even get our minds around this yet. He can eat donuts, and at restaurants, and picnics, and pasta, and we keep thinking of new things we don't have to avoid anymore!!! Yes, I've teared up, we both have. Chase has wanted to be able to eat like us for so long and all our vigilance has finally paid off. That and a whole lot of prayer! Thank you Lord for healing him! We are flying high in this household tonight!

Get Your Mower Runnin'

2010-04-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is the view from our house lately. The cold and wind didn't stop our little man from getting out and helping his daddy. We have about a 1/4 acre of land and Chase will plug along with Howard the entire time he (Howard) mows. We're talking up and down the yard with him, around the bushes, emptying out the grass clippings; Chase takes it all very seriously. The boy just loves yard work!

New Look!

2010-04-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our newly improved blog! I've been wanting to update the blog for a while. I just recently hit 105 posts, so I figured it was about time. You will have to excuse the changes that keep popping up as I play around with things. I have no computer experience with design so I'm playing and learning as I go. I've got some ideas to "spice" our blog up a bit and maybe even add some regular features so stay tuned and bear with us as we are under construction!

Update on the Diabetes Walk

2010-04-27T12:33:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from Saturdays walk but there was a great turn out of people for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundations "Walk to Cure Diabetes". I told Howard that it was somewhat surreal to be surrounded by people who either had diabetes or had a family member who had diabetes. I wouldn't wish the disease on anyone but it was nice to realize that I'm not so alone in dealing with it.

Since no one can tell you have diabetes (and you don't go around asking people if they do!) it can feel very lonely dealing with it. I was greatly encouraged just being out with a bunch of other people who face the same issues I do daily!

There were tables set out with food and drinks. Howard said that he got to feel how I must feel everytime we go somewhere to eat. All the foods were marked as to how many carbs they had (which is crucial to know when giving insulin to cover what you eat), the drinks were water or diet, the whole event pretty much catered to diabetics. I can't explain how it felt to be part of the "normal majority" group there.

Last year our walk alone raised $70,000 so there's a lot of hope to match or beat that number this year. Howard and I met our personal goal of $350 and actually passed it by raising $392! Thank you if you helped contribute towards our goal.

The most exciting news to me at the event was the new insulin pump features and the hope that five years from now the first artificial pancreas will be distributed!!! It will still be worn like an insulin pump on the exterior of the body and the beginning uses for it will be limited but the hope is that eventually it will sense insulin changes within the body and give the insulin needed or stop insulin from being delivered just like a normal pancreas does. They hope to eliminate the need for blood sugar testing as well as alleviate the symptoms of "highs" and "lows" that diabetics experience. This is such fantastic news to me! While it isn't a "cure" there is a lot of hope that this will be the next step towards a cure. For current diabetics it means so much more freedom, the hope of no hospital visits due to complications, etc. I was so encouraged about the research being done after talking with the reps present at the walk. Despite the rain and cold it was a really positive day for me!

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

2010-04-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Our family is participating in this year's Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes. As you know, I have type 1 (also known as juvenile diabetes) so as soon as I got the information on this walk I knew I wanted to support the foundation. Research about treating and preventing type 1 diabetes has come so far but there is a lot more research to be done to find a cure. This cause is something I connect with. If you are interested in joining our team for the walk on April 25, 2010 or would like to donate towards our team, please visit our team page
http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87664902 . Thank you!

Easter Girls and their Daddy's

2010-04-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this picture that my sister-in-law took of my brother Peter and their daughter Nonah with Howard and Alexa. They are just too cute!

Easter Pictures

2010-04-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

We didn't have the greatest luck with Easter pictures this year. By the looks of things a few of my friends had a few problems too so I don't feel so bad anymore. These are the "best" of our kiddos. :-)

He did what!

2010-04-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Chase must be going through a new developmental stage because he is just blossoming before our eyes. His language is improving, his imagination has just taken off and he's memorizing things left and right.

We took out Truckery Rhymes by Jon Scieszka from the library. He is the author of the Trucktown books and Chase just loves them. The Truckery Rhymes book is a take on a ton of old nursery rhymes with the wording changed to all things truck. Chase memorized 57 pages worth of rhymes and could go through the book reciting the poems or singing the songs, in some cases verbatim! Now he will tell us he wants to read to us and will proceed to tell us the stories he has memorized. Wow! If you ask him to make up a story it is amazing to hear what he creates and describes and so much fun!

Let's go hatch some...fish?

2010-04-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful Saturday here! We needed to get out this morning so we took the kids to our local fish hatchery. We bought some fish food and let Chase do the rest. He had such a blast!
The fish leap and thrash all over each other when you throw in food. They totally mesmerized Alexa who just kept pointing at the fish.

There are walkways all over and Chase was quite concerned that he get to all the fish and give them all food "to make them happy". He would say "Mommy this fish doesn't look happy I need to give him some food" and proceed to toss some food in. We made quite a few fish happy let me tell you!

The fish are so used to being fed that if you walk past them and they see your shadow they will all begin swimming along next to you in hopes of some food. It was a little eerie to walk with Chase while he tossed in the food. I would look behind us and we had these huge lines of fish just following us along and joining with more fish as we walked. So cool too!

The trees are blooming and looking gorgeous everywhere!

Chase already can't wait to go back. While we were riding home in the car he was telling us stories about what the fish were saying and how they were asking for him to feed them. So much fun for him!

3 Wheels

2010-03-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

Our little man has been impatiently waiting for the nicer weather so that he could get out and use his bikes. He has mastered the art of pedaling and has taken his trike out for a 1/3 mile ride already!

We promised him that once he learned to pedal he would be allowed to ride the bigger bike he got from his Me-Mom and Pop-Pop. He has anxiously awaited Alexa being big enough to ride in the back. Since he mastered pedaling we let him take Alexa for a spin. They were both delighted! I hear that he gave his cousin Nonah a ride this afternoon too, although I don't have the pictures to prove it! Way to work those three wheels buddy!

Look who's walking' now...Finally!!!

2010-03-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

It only took 15 1/2 months but she is finally walking!!!

In the middle of my workout this afternoon it occurred to me that Alexa was toddling all around me not holding on to anything! I quick grabbed the video camera and captured those first few steps she's been practicing for months!

These pictures were from the other day when I was hoping the nice day would entice her to start walking around. A girl's gotta have her shades!

Baking is bliss

2010-03-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

At least in this house it is. If I'm feeling stressed, overwhelmed, happy, excited, etc, I bake. There is something deeply satisfying about it to me. Our little man is my partner in crime. He's quick to grab a beater when it needs licking or a bowl needs scraping!
We're showing off our aprons in the picture above. My mom made me an apron for Christmas (at my request). I actually got it the beginning of December so that I could use it through the whole Christmas season. Chase watched me put it on frequently and sadly remarked at lunch one day that he didn't have an apron like me. I told him to ask Nee Nee and he did at the first chance he got. Mom found "Cars" themed material perfectly suited to a boy and got to work. Now we bake in our aprons, side by side.

A tip for baking. Did you know that you can cut the sugar in your baking recipes by 1/4 to 1/2 without it affecting the taste? I've cut the sugar in a bunch of my cookie recipes by half and we still love the way they taste! Since I'm a diabetic the less sugar/carbs in the recipe the better for me and everyone benefits from less sugar intake.

He's a master at cleaning up. Just don't ask him to stop playing in the bubbles or a major temper tantrum will ensue! :-)

Another baking tip before I go...Since we have a serious egg allergy in our family I am always looking for new substitutes for eggs. The latest one I tried was ground flax seed. I used it for the doughnuts we made a few weeks ago and in the chocolate chip cookies you see above. You can substitute 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed mixed with a quarter cup of water for one egg in a recipe. I like to bring the water to a simmer and then stir in the flax seed. I keep stirring until the mixture becomes almost like the consistency of egg whites. You can use this substitute for up to three eggs in a recipe. After that the eggs perform a necessary function. You lose the cholesterol from the eggs and up the protein and fiber in your cookies by substituting so it's usually a win-win situation! Flax seed is a strong binder however, so whatever shape your cookies are in when you drop them onto the tray they will retain that shape when baked. I recommend with cookies that you press them flat with a glass so they are more round and not too dense.

Out with the Old

2010-03-02T17:54:00.001-08:00

(Ugh, I haven't liked them (glasses) since the day I got them!)

And in with the new!

What do you think? I love them! Finally have a pair of glasses that I feel "fit" me!

For the child in all of us

2010-02-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

I am almost embarassed to blog about this but...Chase and I have been having so much fun with this I had to share. :-)

When my brothers and I were kids we didn't like the store bought car mats because they never had enough houses for all our cars and not enough of the stuff (stores, fire houses, etc) that we wanted. The solution was simple enough. We would draw our own elaborate mats and put them all together and voila! Magic! Well, not quite but you get the point.

A few months ago I drew my first "mat" for Chase and he is hooked. Every time the old one begins to curl up or get destroyed he will eventually come around asking for a new one. While I'm by no means a great artist; I enjoy getting out the markers and trying to come up with some new set up for him to play with. Better still is the hours of imaginative play he gets out of it!

Attitudes

2010-02-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

I'm just going to give a peek into my journal today because there's been a lot going on in my head (and heart!) lately.

So, I am sitting in front of my new/used desk. Howard's just used leather conditioner on the top. It feels like new life has been breathed into it and it smells like it too! I've just spent the afternoon cleaning and doing some soul searching while Overcome by David Nevue was playing in the background.

The last few days have been pretty terrible. Not outwardly mind you, but in my outlook, my attitudes, my heart. I'd love to say it might be PMS or some other malady but that would just be me trying to justify my behavior. I've come to realize I can't do that anymore. I've been miserable towards my spouse and there's no excuse for it.

I've been doing a lot of reading about past revivalists and evangelists lately, as well as, of all things, The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers by Amy Hollingsworth (it's worth reading if you ever watched Mr. Rogers Neighborhood by the way). Deep down there's been a discontent in me that I haven't been able to grasp. The books have been inspiring and uplifting and yet I kept walking away feeling like I was missing something I needed to understand in what I was reading.

Well, in the last few days I've been short with Howard even when I didn't mean to be. I've been easily irritated by things (life!) that dared to alter my plans. I've not been kind or loving or compassionate. I even recognized it in myself yesterday and still I couldn't seem to help myself. I'd be thinking that the next time Howard speaks to me I will be careful to speak lovingly. Then, he would enter the room and I would issue out some sentence or two heavily laced with attitude; for no reason!

This morning I had an eye doctors appointment. I got there a little early and decided to sit in the car, with our local Christian radio station playing, and pray for a little while about the state of my heart. Sanctus Real's song "Whatever You're Doing" started playing and it spoke straight to where I was.

I'd felt for quite a while like the Lord was trying to do something in me but I was struggling with this mess of my own making so how was I supposed to address something else wrong with me? Here's an abbreviation of the song (listen to the real thing when you get a chance!)

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something heavenly.

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly

Thank God for the chaos because I finally got it! He's been wanting to change my attitudes and all the chaos I was feeling was to get my attention and turn it towards the problem! He wants to give me so much more than chaos, as the parts of me I don't like anyway, the irritability, the cynycism, etc, create. If I'll let Him do this work of humbling and redirecting (challenging though it is!) I have the promise of a peace better than I know now.

Funny as it seems, in hindsight so much of what I read about "Mr. Rogers" has been churning this all to the surface.

In her biography of him, Amy Collingsworth included a quote by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov "Know this: You should judge every person by his merits. Even someone who seems completely wicked, you must search and find that little speck of good, for in that place, he is not wicked. By this you will raise him up, and help him return to God. And you must also do this for yourself, finding your own good points, one after the other, and raising yourself up. This is how melodies are made, note after note."

And yes, that points to another attitude I need changed. I simply see the annoying or bad things in another quicker than I see something good so I don't bother looking any harder. I think that it then becomes very easy to miss out on blessings the Lord may have in store for me, some easier to see right away than others.

Oh, by the way, I did repent in the parking lot of my eye doctor (who knew it would be holy ground today!). I asked for forgiveness and expressed a willingness to be changed. I know it's not going to be easy and possibly quite painful but maybe like this desk I'm writing on there will be a new "shine" to me and the sweet scent, not of leather, but of the inner beauty He is bringing out in me.

What happens at Grandma's...

2010-02-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

doesn't always stay at Grandma's...
Howard and I got a much needed afternoon out when my mom recently offered to babysit the kids. We (Howard and I) had a great time but returned to a very nervous grandma. Apparently she and Chase were running around their living room/dining room and Chase tripped and nailed his head on a dining room chair. We have so many close calls with this little guy that we are so grateful he makes it safely through as many as he does. We reassured my mom that we weren't upset and took the kiddos home. The egg is now a nasty green color but at least the swelling has gone down!

On a brighter note, my friend Lauren and I got together for Fastnacht day to make doughnuts. This is the childhood recipe I grew up with. They have mashed potato in them and when done properly taste delicious. The only sad part is that the oil wasn't hot enough when we fried them so they absorbed too much and lost some of their wonderful flavor in the process. It was still a good time. Lauren and I tried filling doughnuts for the first time. The fillings we made were excellent!

(Sorry I can't figure out why this picture keeps uploading sideways!)

We made Boston cremes, peanut butter cream filled, white cream filled, chocolate dipped and glazed flavors.

This boy is smart!

2010-02-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

I checked in on Chase the other night after he went to bed. Once he's been tucked in for the night, he often gets up and quietly plays with his cars in the dark or by the light of our hall light. We don't mind as long as Chase is quiet; he is always in his bed by the time he falls asleep. The other night I peeked in and saw this on his floor. He pulled his puzzles out of the box shown in the picture, sorted them by the shape they have on the back and put them all together! He loves challenges like this but Howard and I were amazed. He just turned three and he's breezing through puzzles like this. Way to go buddy!

P.S. When he woke me up crying in the middle of the night because his nose was all stuffy he stopped crying long enough to ask me if I saw his puzzles and gave me the biggest, proudest grin possible before dissolving into tears again. I gave him a big grin back and assured him that his daddy and I were very proud of him. :-)

P.P.S. I tried the color career guide again today and it is working again, if you tried to use it before. Below are my results. I'd be curious if you take the test what you get and if you think it is correct. My answers are spot on!

I'm a Creator first, keywords being: Nonconforming, impulsive, expressive, romantic, intuitive, sensitive and emotional...

and I'm an Organizer second, keywords, being: self-control, practical, self-contained, orderly, systematic, precise and accurate. (It's all me, totally!)

Snow!!!

2010-02-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

There are just too many pictures to upload separately so you'll have to browse through the collage below. We're having too much fun with all this white stuff! We got about 22" they're saying, at times 2" an hour. In some of the pictures you can see Howard made one pass with the snowblower and by the second pass the ground was starting to cover again! I took Chase on his saucer for a ride around the development this morning. Half a mile on snow covered roads was beautiful!

A little something fun

2010-02-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

This is just a fun doo-dad I found online. There's been recent hoopla about it because it accurately classifies CEO types. It pegged me to a tee in respect to my likes and leanings. Since it's snowing like crazy around here thought there might be others of you who want a little something fun to do inside...

http://www.careerpath.com/career-tests/colorcareercounselor.aspx

Merry (belated) Christmas to Me

2010-02-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

My Christmas present from Howard this past year was a writing desk. We were desperately in need of a place to store our papers and pens and everything else that drives my cleanliness OCD into overdrive. I hinted and out right asked for a desk but everything we had looked and liked in the past was way over our budget. Howard bought me a desk from Walmart knowing it wasn't really what I wanted so that I would have something to open on Christmas. Well, it wasn't what either on of us really wanted so we took it back and started scouring all the websites we could find. My sweet honey started going to auctions hunting for a treasure. I resorted to trolling Craigslist every day for a great deal. Finally, a few weeks ago I came upon this beauty and told him I'd found one I wanted to go look at. I think it was pretty much love at first sight. It has a leather top and lots of roomy drawers for storage. I've sat in front of it already and felt my creative juices beginning to salivate. I keep a journal and I can't wait to sit down as the mood strikes me and jot down my thoughts. It will be pure bliss seeing as how I used to sit on the floor against our bedrail with my journal on my knees (not easy to write that way!). I think it was worth the extended wait. Now we just have to find a matching chair... :-)

A few more snow pics

2010-02-07T12:03:00.000-08:00

Somehow I forgot a few photos yesterday...

Chase LOVED the snow plow. He would stop whatever he was doing to watch and wave at them. He would get a wave back and an occasional honk which he thought was great!
The start of our tiny luge track...

...rounding the banking at the bottom. He had a lot of fun with this and so did I!

My Birthday and a Snowstorm

2010-02-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

So, I turned 28 on Thursday. Yikes! I had all these expectations and we had plans and it all pretty much fell through. (Isn't that life!)

Birthdays were always such a big deal in my family and as I get older I realize it's just not as exciting all the time like it used to be.

By the time my birthday dawned I had been up for the third night in a row with one of the kids, Howard worked the night before my birthday and Chase is sick, so we pretty much all felt wrung out by the time my birthday rolled around. I received really thoughtful gifts from my hubby and kids and then we pretty much spent a low-key day together since no one felt energized to do anything.

The plan had been to go to Red Lobster for dinner but we got to the restaurant only to find that there was a long wait. Our munchkins are great diners but even they can't handle a long wait and then sit patiently at a table for an hour so we had to scrap our plans and head home to re-heated leftovers. Needless to say, my attitude became very poor. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself by the time we sat down to dinner. We started to pray and as I was thanking the Lord for the food and our family it just hit me that I had no excuse for my attitude! My husband tried to make the day as special as he could, all things considered, but sometimes things just happen beyond our control. It's how we react to the changes that defines who we are. At least I'm responding but I still have a lot of work to do on my response time!

Isn't Alexa's face so funny here! I don't have a clue what she was looking at or thinking!

Below is a collage of the first big snow we've received this year. Chase and I made a luge for his saucer, plugged the holes on his play set and created a pretty snug/warm little fort and Chase got out the sand toys for a time. Ever since I was little it pretty much always snows on or around my birthday so I was pretty excited to see the white stuff. My childhood is full of sledding memories and snow forts, snowball fights, etc. I love getting out in it and playing with my Chaser-man.

About a Girl

2010-02-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

I never wanted a girl. I can hear you all gasping at that but it's true. Maybe in some corner of my heart I would have admitted that there might be a teensy part of me wondering what it would be like. I would also have said that I'd rather have boys...until she came. Taking her daring first steps, crying dramatically when she falls and needing lots of reassurance to try, try again.
I've watched her big brother learn gentleness around a princess and how contagious joy can be...

I've learned how different two children can be and yet how intensely you can love both of them...

I've learned that I love dressing her in cute little outfits and finding the most adorable shoes for her to wear. That I can't stop kissing her cute little face when she's all dolled up or any other time...

I've watched her daddy become a pushover much like I was when her brother was born. I've found that daddy's of little girls are more tender with them than you ever thought possible...

And I will never forget the moment the doctors said it was a girl and I cried because something within me I didn't even know about was relieved. Or the moment I held her for the first time and she was so tiny and perfect and beautiful and feminine and mine. I never thought I wanted one but I don't know what I would have done without her. She is dainty and sensitive and full of joy but more than anything... she is my daughter...and I love her.

Tasty Treats

2010-01-31T12:13:00.000-08:00

I just figured I would share this little gem with you. It's quickly become a favorite in our household!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Ritz Cookies

You will need:
1 bag of melting chocolate
A box of Ritz crackers
1 jar of peanut butter
A pair of tongs
Waxed paper
Cookie tray

Line cookie tray(s) with waxed paper. Melt the chocolate according to directions in a bowl that you will be able to dip the crackers into. Once chocolate is melted spread peanut butter onto two Ritz crackers and put the peanut butter sides together to form a sandwich. Put the sandwich in the tongs and dip into the chocolate. Allow excess to drip off for a few seconds and then place cookie on waxed paper to cool. Repeat until you run out of chocolate. It is best to let the cookies cool in the open. The refrigerator will cause the chocolate to seize and they won't look nice.

Store in an airtight container. I usually get about 20 cookies from a bag of chocolate. So yummy!!!

Pic of the Day

2010-01-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

The kids love their uncle Billy!

Chase's Birthday, part 2

2010-01-29T13:30:00.001-08:00

Cake for lunch? All right!!! We sang to him and gave him a leftover piece of his birthday cake with a candle in it because we were taking him out for dinner.

Demonstrating "three" not two!

I had to get me some cheese with my boy. :-)

We signed up for the Red Robin birthday club for our whole family, which means every birthday the birthday boy/girl gets a coupon for a free burger meal and ice cream sundae! So we took Chase to Red Robin (they have an egg free menu for our boy, which has been amazing!) We didn't realize that Tuesday night was family night and that Red, the mascot, would be there. Chase has an incredible fear of all things costumed. Wouldn't you know that as we were walking to our seats Red walked right out of the kitchen next to us. Chase's shriek could be heard everywhere and sent Red scuttling right back into the kitchen! For the rest of the meal Chase thought Red was cool if he stayed at least 100 feet away from our table. In the picture above Red came out with the rest of the crew to sing Happy Birthday. If you can't tell our little man's eyes are locked on the bird. It took a little while to assure him that he could eat his ice cream and that Red wasn't coming back!

I'm three!!!

Oh, by the way, we were sitting on the wall next to the kitchen. All through our meal we heard them calling for runners. At one point someone yelled loudly for runners a seond time. Chase piped in as loud as he could "Runners!". Howard and I busted out laughing as Chase calmly went back to eating his meal. Kids are the best!

Do you...

2010-01-26T13:05:00.001-08:00

...know a child who really annoys you? Have a nephew or niece or grandchild you need to buy a gift for? Have a son or daughter who you want to get back at for all their childhood hijinks? I have just the toy for you...

...I present to you Mater the Funny Car!!! Let me make this as clear as possible. He is NOT funny!!! Shortly after hearing him play his maddening song and rock back and forth across the floor flashing his lights and bumping into things you will start coming up with ways he can "accidedentally" become broken!

This unassuming little truck was a gift from my mother-in-law. She did not hear the music or even know that it played music. It is believed that the display where she saw them had cut all the speaker wires for these sinister little toys. :-) Believe me, all four grandparents swiftly came up with ideas on how to make the music stop, when Mater began blaring his obnoxious little tune louder than is humanly neccessary.

We tried tape over the speaker, doesn't help. We tried finding a way to get it to run without the music, not possible. My dad resorted to sitting against the wall with his fingers in his ears so that he wouldn't have the tune stuck in his head! (I'm sorry I can't stop giggling when I think how ridiculous we all were acting Sunday night over this toy!)

Chase, of course, loves this little guy, music and all. Mater is banned from running in the kitchen unless we are all FAR, FAR away. And yes, we are already plotting which of our friends/families kids might enjoy one of these...so be very, very nice to us or it might be you! :-)

Chase's Birthday, Part 1

2010-01-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

We celebrated a little early so that Chase's grandparents could spend some time with us. There will be a part two when we celebrate his actual birthday Tuesday!

Chase requested a chocolate cake with almond buttercream icing and cookies and cream ice cream. (I sense there may be a career as a pastry chef in his future?)

This is my latest cake creation, Elmo.

The story behind the cake is that Chase came downstairs to the basement after his nap on Friday afternoon and announced that "Mmm, the chocolate cake tastes good". Howard tore upstairs where the cake had been cooling on a rack to find that Chase had pulled Elmo's foot off and proceeded to munch away. Chase is sooooo three!

He was super excited to finally be able to eat Elmo and blow out his candles.

Does it look like he enjoyed it?

The family enjoying cake and ice cream.

A new Thomas the Tank Engine book. Wahoo!!!

Mugging it with Me-Mom and Pop-Pop.

Chase puts the "cheese" in cheese with Nee Nee and Poppy.

He and we had a great time. Birthdays are so much fun, especially when somebody breaks out the cake and ice cream. Yummy!

Winter Improvements

2010-01-23T12:51:00.001-08:00

Every year when Howard is laid off we try to plan a few home improvement projects that need tackling. This year Howard informed me that he was going to tile our backsplash. It's something we've talked about for a long time and something I really wanted done. The first picture is the beginning of the project...

Chase set up his Jimmie Johnson chair to keep an eye on his dad. :-)

Howard had never done tile before so this was a learning experience. We're not known for making things easy on ourselves. Is it any wonder that I fell in love with one inch tiles! They were on a sheet which made them easy in large areas but the entire half wall that he is working on here required 1/8" cuts with a wet saw. Not fun!

I LOVE glass tile and when I saw this stuff it was love at first sight. (Happy sigh)

Howard did such an awesome job and I am so proud of him. It looks beautiful! If you need a before and after scroll back up to the top and then back down. What an improvement!

Yay!!! I love how new a house feels just with a little updating.

A Christmas Story

2010-01-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know this is a little late but I had to share what happened on Christmas morning in our house. No, no BB guns were involved! Sorry to everyone who loves A Christmas Story, I hate that movie.

Growing up in my family we always had Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and orange rolls for Christmas morning breakfast. They would be baking while we were opening Christmas presents. Yum! (My mouth waters just thinking of the smell...) It's a tradition that Howard and I have carried on with our own family.

This year though, I had a new recipe I wanted to try out on Christmas Eve morning. I baked cinnamon bread, we had a great breakfast and forgot about the oven. Come Christmas morning I pre-heated our oven in the midst of gift opening and before long a slightly smoky smell began to permeate the house. I got up to get the rolls ready and instead found a nice toasty fire burning away in our oven! The flames were high enough that they were reaching the bottom rungs of the oven shelves. I quickly turned off the oven and Howard and I watched until the fire burned out (which it did quickly or we'd have been calling the firehouse!). We left the oven to cool, continued our gift opening, although, now the house had enough odor that we kept wanting to choke on the acrid smell!

From what we can figure the bread I had made the morning before dripped some of the sugar/butter mixture onto the bottom of the oven and ignited. My wonderful husband cleaned out the oven, we ate leftover cinnamon bread and had our Christmas morning breakfast the day after Christmas and now have a story we can look back on and laugh about!

dreaming...

2010-01-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

She loves riding her bouncing zebra and her brother's rocking horse. Do you think there's any chance she's been bitten by the same "horse bug" as her mommy? Only time will tell...In the meantime she learned how to get on and off this thing by herself!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your Christmases were as enjoyable as ours. We spent a pretty crazy three out of four days traveling around to family. By the time Sunday night rolled around we were exhausted! We had a really great time with family and the kids were so much fun with everything.
Our constant yardsaling this summer netted this GREAT train set for Chase. He hasn't stopped playing with it since he got it!

With the help of Howard's sisters family we got Howard's parents a digital photo frame from the whole family. Steph sent in pictures of her family and we combined them with pictures from our family. It all got loaded onto a slide show that we played for them when they opened the gift. They loved it.
Chase's Me-Mom and Pop-Pop got him Lightning McQueen slippers which he is hamming up about below.

Us :-)

My family got together on Christmas Eve and of course we can't do that without getting a family picture!

We really did have a great holiday. The kids were given so much stuff which we are reminding them daily they are so blessed to have. Chase did awesome thanking everyone and waiting his turn to open gifts. This was the last year we plan on traveling on Christmas day. We are hoping next year to see family before and after Christmas and have Christmas day to relax and be together.

A Helmet Story

2009-12-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

The picture below is of Chase wearing his "helmet" for riding his bike. It is a mesh bag that holds all his Mr. Potato head parts. Out of the blue he decided he needed a helmet and this is what he came up with.

So...Daddy pulled out the motorcycle helmets and the boys hammed it up for me...

...And Chase hopped on his bike for some fun. :-) (We were laughing hysterically at the size of the helmet in relation to him and his bike!)

Snowflakes and Paper Chains

2009-12-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a little trip down nostalgia lane for you. Chase and I spent an afternoon a few weeks ago cutting out snowflakes and putting together paper chains. We've got the paper chains all around the house. We used to make them with my mom years ago and I thought Chase might enjoy getting to use a stapler. The house looked Christmasey before we put the chains up but now it looks downright perfect. It feels like kids are here celebrating too and I love the whimsical feel that creates!

Of other news, our peanut crawled up five steps by herself (daddy is standing guard outside the picture)! Of course we didn't then take a pair of car keys and keep flinging them up a few steps to see if she could do the whole flight (She can)! So Alexa is officially gated into our living room unless someone can watch her. And yes, she's clapping because she was so proud of herself. :-)

Christmas Lights

2009-12-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

We traveled about an hour away on Tuesday night to visit the Christmas Village. Talk about incredible. This first shot is blurry but it is of the view of the place as we came over the hill. The night was cold but we had a blast! There are over 500,000 Christmas lights, Christmas music playing, Rudolph, Frosty and Santa about, indoor and outdoor train displays and tons of little buildings like Santa's Toy Shop, Santa's Post Office, Santa's Fire House. Tons of windows where the kids can peek in and see scenes from the north pole. There are also story boards along the whole walking trail telling different Christmas stories. Did I mention that we had fun!!!

At the beginning...it took us two fun filled hours to go through the whole place!

The Nativity. Chase was so excited to see the same thing that Nee Nee and Poppy have in their house!

Alexa loved the trains!

:-)

The indoor train display was really cool. Chase didn't want to leave, he loved it. There were about 4-5 trains running at a time and a trolley car scooting around the town.

Santa and his jolly elf!

The happiest reindeer around!

A parting shot...

We've tried to add ornaments to our tree each year that hold significance from that year. We decided to buy a wooden train ornament from the Christmas Village and have that be our ornament for this year. The kids were just mesmerized by the trains. Chase was so proud to put it on our tree.

Snow!!!

2009-12-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

The pictures of snow that I put up in my last post are followed by this later in the evening. Chase had a blast running around in the snow for the next few days.

Our Christmas tree through the window...

How would you ever survive a snowstorm without your trusty mower?

She wasn't so sure how she felt about the snow.