Crazy Blessed with Our Three Silly Kids

tooth fairies and other things

2010-01-15T10:43:00.002-06:00

This past Sunday morning after Sunday School Emily was showing me yet another loose tooth! I am amazed by this child with how fast she is loosing them, and yet there is no where for new ones to go!

Well that afternoon while Jon and I were working in the kitchen up the stairs ran Emily rejoicing that she had lost her tooth! WOW, can I tell you how excited I was to not have to pull that tooth out! I was as excited as she was to loose it, really excited!

Emily was so proud of herself, and little sister Eva was not to far behind her just as proud. Of course this all made Eva want to have a loose tooth too.

Apparently Emily was showing her tooth off to Camden and managed to really lose her tooth! So we went down stairs and looked all over for that tooth so her Tooth Fairy, by the way whose name is Cherry ... someday I will tell you that story ... could come to the house again. In a few minutes of combing the ground we found her tooth and headed up to bed, tucked it away in her treasure box given to her by Dr. Polly our dentist.

Thankfully the Tooth Fairy remembered to come that night, because a Tooth Fairy making rounds in the day just didn't make sense does it! (Really someday I will tell you the full story!) So anyway come Monday morning I am not sure who was more excited Emily or Eva, jumping up and down so excited that Cherry the Tooth Fairy had made her rounds that night (just bearly, but that is for us to know and hopefully not my almost 7yo to read on this blog)!

So it is fun to believe in something silly like this, to see her excitement and the fun it brings her! I am just glad that as much as she is excited for the tooth fairy to visit her that her relationship with Jesus Christ is even more important to her. Bring her more JOY, EXCITEMENT and so much more than the tooth fairy can ever give her! I pray that I continue, that We continue to grow this in her, and Camden and Eva!

just in case

2010-01-06T14:14:00.005-06:00

you missed these cute faces ... here are a few for you to enjoy!

I think sisters are great! Granted sometimes they make me rethink that thought ... but times like these are why I always wanted a sister, and am very thankful that these two have each other!!!

getting back into the swing of things

2010-01-06T14:07:00.001-06:00

Oh, it has been so long since I have found moments of time to indulge myself in blogging. I really do feel bad, but I had so many other things going on that I had to put in front of my "blogging" ... I really do miss it. I have a mind full of excuses for you that seem to justify it all, but I will save you and just try to find a few moments a week to start up again.

So a lot has changed since I last, truly blogged.

We traveled a lot this summer! Ray and Ruth took us to Colorado Springs, and I fell in love with the place, I truly want to go back there every year which I am sure will not happen! I took Emily to Georgia to see her Uncle Scott and had a lot of fun. And, I took Eva to Michigan to visit our best friends Lisa & Hannah.

Camden turned 8 this past summer, and he is already half way to 9! Eva turned 4 in October, and Emily is almost 7 so things are just really changing here.

Camden is in third grade this year and is enjoying chess club, reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Chronicles of Narnia. Emily is in first grade and she is just full of life! She loves school and really does want to grow up and teach Kindergarten someday. She too loves to read and dance. This weekend she has cheer leading camp and is very excited as this is her first year to do it. Eva keeps me busy, three days a week she goes to a preschool at a church in town and the rest of the time she is usually beside me. She is in her first year of Dance and is just loving it, she can't wait until Dance recital in May!

So that should catch you up a little bit, and I will try to post some photos about all of the above things that have gone by, and hopefully manage to keep you up to date!

Mostly I really want to do this for my Aunt Beryl as I know how much she enjoys seeing the kids and knowing what is going on. My Aunt is fighting Cancer and after a year will finally be seen at Cancer Treatment Center in a few weeks, I am praying for more answers for her so that she can feel better. I know God had great plans for her still! Love you Aunt Beryl!

Wordless Wednesday with Words

2009-09-30T13:32:00.001-05:00

Well Eva has had a high fever since Monday night! But you wouldn't know it when the fever is controlled by the right dose of Motrin/Tylenol! Here she is just about an hour ago while feeling better. She did the yesterday too, but as soon as the medication wears off we are back into the fever zone again.

These photos are of her fixin up her area so no one can get to her! She has a "secret" spot where she is the only one who can get in and out! She just makes me laugh ... hopefully you can laugh too!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

Eva's First Dance Lesson

2009-09-14T12:20:00.002-05:00

So the excitement has been building for a little while now with Eva knowing that she is old enough to take dance lessons from Dana just like Emily has. This past Friday we got out Emily's old tap and ballet shoes, the first pair did not fit ... but her second set did, THANKFULLY because I had a manic child on my hands until we found the next pair in the attic. After making sure the shoes fit, she was off to having me find Emily's old dance clothing ... which I could only find one the purple, the pink is hiding somewhere unfound at the moment! So I will be doing weekly laundry until I can find the pink one, or as Eva tells Grandma Helen "mom will just buy me a new one!" Oh, if only it was that simple. That night her and Emily danced for a good hour together all dressed up with there tap shoes on!

When Eva woke up from her nap Monday, I announced that she had dance that night ... and before I knew it she was stripped down to not much in order to get dressed and ready to go! We had a whole hour to go, and we were all ready. Tights, dance dress & hair pulled back ... but she was not happy when I told her "tap shoes are only to be worn at dance"! Thankfully she got over it quickly.

We headed out the door with brother & sister ... sister being almost as excited as Eva was! Dropping her off was so much fun ... all the girls ready for dance, half of them it was there second year! When Dana came in she asked her "when do I get on stage" and we just threw our heads back and laughed! Eva went right over with her cousin and got ready to start. I headed out and there was no looking back ... but wait, I did look back in about three times. Each time she had the biggest grin on her face.

The kids and I headed over to the Library to wait out the 45 minute lesson. And then walked back over to the community center to pick her up! Oh, she just loved it! She asked if she could go give Dana a good bye hug and she went up to Dana, holding my hand, said "thank you" and gave Dana a big squeeze. Dana then tells me that three different times that night, Eva stopped and asked "now when to I get to go on stage and dance" ... might be a long year! Dance Recital is not tell May honey!

Well, I am off to sleep, it is very late for me! Hope you enjoy the pictures ... I sure have! -beryl

Here is Eva being her normal silly self, playing a little hide and seek with the camera before class starts!

Eva's cousin that is her age is in dance with her this year! Talk about fun for both of them ... Eva also has one of her preschool classmates in class with her too. It was fun to see a lot of other faces we knew also!

Eva goes to preschool today!

2009-09-09T10:19:00.001-05:00

Yes, it is true ... my baby ... my little girl ...

went to preschool today!

She was beyond excited, we chould not get there soon enough.

Right now I am not sure who is more proud of Eva! Big sister Emily or me ... Emily didn't want to go to school today, she really wanted to take Eva to her first day of Preschool, then go to school! Both girls were giddy with the excitement that this day brought! -berylemily

First Day of School 2009

2009-08-26T09:24:00.001-05:00

Hard for me to believe but Camden is now a Thrid Grader, and Emily is a First Grader ... Thankfull Eva is got two more weeks home with me before she is a Preschooler! -b

wordless wednesday

2009-06-17T13:46:00.002-05:00

just some fun photos

2009-05-26T11:32:00.012-05:00

I thought I would share some photos with you. These are from a few batches that I took of the girls when I was working on my photo assignment. These ARE my favorites ... but I could only turn in two, one of them I will show you.

I just love this one of Emily (above) twirling around for me as I "freeze" her motion ... something about her looking away, yet so playful! I just keep coming back to it ... might be worth a photo frame if not for those darn weeds in the background instead of real flowers!

Okay, these next few are of Eva ... she really had a great time jumping and the expressions on her face are why I am posting quite a few of her! Be prepared for some giggles!

These two I was using a slower shutter speed to "imply motion" but I love how you can still see Eva's expression on her face!

A few photos with Daddy are always alot of fun!

The one on the right I turned in ... but don't you just love her expression on the left!

photo fun with emily

2009-05-18T22:02:00.007-05:00

I was trying to take some photos of Emily for my online photo class I am taking. As always I waited tell the last minute to try to understand the lesson. When posting my photos and reviewing the assignment I realized I did most of it wrong, I am totally bummed!

Here are some great photos that I can't turn in!

Can you tell she was in just the right mood for mom to say ... "just a few more photos" over and over again! She just loved the camera and coming up with these poses on her own!

it was a busy weekend!

2009-05-18T11:25:00.008-05:00

And here we are back into a busy week ... no rest for the weary! I shouldn't be weary though, I did have two BIG naps on Saturday and Sunday not part of my normal routine!

So what was so BIG and BUSY about our weekend well where should I start ...

I can begin with dropping Eva off at G&G Slechta for her "sleep over" since she has become the big girl she is for more than a month now of wearing underwear and no pull-ups! YEAH ME, or should I re-phrase that to say YEAH EVA! :)

***This photo is actually of her coming home, note it is the same outfit she came it ... child was determined that she was going to stay in it!***

So, I dropped her off with Grandma Helen and she was as excited as could be. She had her suitcase unpacked within minutes of being there. Toothpaste and tooth brush in her bathroom, CHECK. Pillow and fussy pink blanket on her bed, CHECK. PJ's laid out, CHECK. She was already to go, ahem, to stay! So, she waved me good-bye and on we went. G&G took her to Hu-Hot despite Gpa's attempts at asking her if she wanted Red Lobster or Olive Garden. Then they went to the grocery store and bought some powder sugar donuts for breakfast, and a few other things I am sure! After that, what happens at Gma's stays at Gma's other than I know I have pen stains on her favorite new PJ's and we had to wash pen off her hands ... wonder how that got there! *BIG SMILE*

***At Hu-Hot with Gma, and that good old cheesy smile of hers!***

***I assume this is in the morning, but for all I know it could be before bedtime too!***

As for the rest of us, after dropping Eva off we picked up Micah Gugel to our group for the night as it was Camdens long awaited turn at having a friend over for a night! Emily was quickly taken to Gpa Marner's till dad could get there and I went up to IC with the boys to take some of that energy out of them at the Mercer Aquatic Center!

I had not been there since, well we are talking back to my HS Senior days when I used to work at the IC Press-Citizen and I would pack my swim suit and go there to get in their hot tub after work some evenings. Oh how I miss that body ... I mean those days! It was really nice there, the boys played for close to an 1.5 hours and I even got myself into the Hot tub like old days and watched the boys from where I was at. I told Jon we will have to go back there with Emily again some Friday evening after school, it was GREAT!

We made the stop at Hy-Vee where not one, not two, but three employees did not know where the Pizza Sauce would be ... the fourth one pointed us in the right direction. And we headed home for some homemade pizza that Jon had ready for us. Emily was Jon's special helper in the kitchen, and she also got to cuddle in bed with me that night until Jon came to bed to try and off-set the feeling left out! They boys where up quite early, like crack of dawn early! Jon made pancakes, eggs and bacon ... Micah just wanted toast and bacon! HA, shows sometime the hard work is just not needed! But the eggs and bacon were good for the rest of us!

Emily had dress rehearsal for her Dance recital that morning so off we went to that ... it is always fun to see what they are dancing too before the big dance!

Micah stayed until after lunch, and everyone had naps ... even Camden who was not tired slept for almost three hours!

Then it was time to get Emily all ready for her recital. She likes to have her hair done, it is fun she says ... but she does not like make up. She was okay with me putting on blush and I did get some eye shadow on but I could not get lip sick on her. They really do need it under those lights, it is amazing how pail they become even with what makeup you do put on.

Emily danced great! I had some doubts that night for a little bit because that morning she just did not want to dance. But she did a 360 once they started practicing and remembered what fun it is! At practice she kept watching her teacher or the girl in front of her, and was off a bit ... which is okay she is only 6! But at the recital she did great she looked out and smiled! I was very proud of her!I really loved the outfits this year! They were so cute up there looking like little princess'!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-29T01:20:00.001-05:00

Flashback Friday

2009-04-23T22:47:00.001-05:00

So this one is for my Phoenix Family, well actually that would be Jon's Family ... but I love them so much that I think of them as my own! This comes from when we went out to Vegas for my brother Scott's wedding to Brandi. We took extra time to drive down from Vegas to Phoenix for a few extra days to stay with Jon's family there.

It was the BEST time ever, Camden turned two while we where there and they put a little "celebration" together for him. We spent a lot of time it the pool, it was triple digits every day ... about 117 degrees, we would step out of the pool and be dry instantly. We took Camden to visit the outside of the Ping Golf Plant, and visited Paddock Pools where Jon used to work when he live there, and dreamed of which pool we would love to have.

It was a really great trip, I would love to go back there again ... that is if I can survive a 24 hour drive with three kids now. So here are some photos from the night everyone got together to "celebrate" Camden's second birthday.

I have to brag here a little about Trenton, he was in our wedding 10+ years ago ... Now he plays guitar for the Jeff Deyo! :)

One last note ... since I believe it is finally time to start letting go of the girls baby clothing, this is one of my #1 FAVORITE outfits Emily wore, Eva did not see much wear out of it which really bummed me. Maybe I will hold onto this one just for memories ...

wordless wednesday drawings

2009-04-22T13:52:00.002-05:00

the pizza man

2009-04-21T21:28:00.000-05:00

Jon has really gotten into cooking lately, which is great for me ... I mean what mom would not see this as the best bonus ever! Though, if he starts doing the laundry I might have to wonder if he is looking to replace me ...

Next up on Jon's to do list is to make his own "perfect" pizza dough, right now we are just using Hy-Vee pizza dough you mix yourself. Here are some photos of him tossing his pizza and even giving Camden a try at it. He gets a really nice thin crust this way ... really good too!

He keeps joking about having a "diner" maybe we will one of these days! :)

Jon showing Camden how to toss the pizza dough ...Jon catching Camden's toss ... great save!Eva tried getting in on the tossing of the pizza, but was told she was still to young ... well at least she is still smiling!The proud chef!

pot stickers

2009-04-21T18:40:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago Jon choose to make Pot Stickers after watching Alton Brown's Good Eats show on Food Network. They were good, but I let him know that they were nothing that I would "crave" and ask him to make again by request. Jon has made them at least two time since then ...
... just so you know, I absolutely CRAVE them! They are so good, I can't stop eating them when he makes them! Your not invited over if he makes them because I want them all! :)

Okay, I will let him show off his talent and make them for you ... I at least would get to entertain again, which I miss those days so much! I remember when we where in our little apartment off of Aber Ave in IC and we used to have people over all the time, now I just entertain my kids I guess.

It's the peeps!

2009-04-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

I love them ...

What more can I say!

Easter Get Togethers

2009-04-21T15:10:00.000-05:00

Bear with me as I ramble on, getting a few things off this heavy chest of mine before I get to the good stuff, photos from this years Easter Celebrations!

Well, Easter has been a hard one for me ever since Eva was a baby. Jon had a pretty major surgery and was in the hospital that one year, and events happened that I guess just have left a bad memory that I should be able to just let go of and make peace with. For the most part I have, but for some reason I must be holding on to a little something of it still as I guess it still gets me just a little. I want you to know though, it is not Easter that bothers me it is getting together with family on Easter that just gets to me.

See, that year there was just bad storm after storm, and it was the same week that the tornado went though Iowa City when Jon was in the hospital too. Since I was home alone with three kids in this big house I had many unfounded fears piled upon me. I whisked my kids out of bed quickly to take them into my parents where I could feel some peace from the storms. When we got there it was just to much commotion for Emily's little stomach and she ended up vomiting. I wasn't going to say anything, as I knew what it was ... but word got around that she had been sick which turned into she shouldn't be around the newest member of the family that Easter, the baby was just a few weeks old so it was important not to expose her to anything like that if they didn't have to. So by the time we had left church and the hospital visiting Jon, and knowing we couldn't spend Easter dinner with his family I pulled into McDonald's and took the kids for their Easter dinner that day. There we were dressed up in our finest attire, all of us and we were eating McDonald's for Easter dinner. It hurt so bad, but the kids really did think it was the greatest thing to be doing that day.

I guess I am still selfish about it these days, when I think about it. I was so desperate to be held and loved at that time, and I just felt pushed away. Yes, I had my parents to be with, but there is something about needing my other family that day too. We ended up having an Easter dinner at my parents that night with their friends. And everything worked out the way it was supposed to, I grew from that moment ... learned somethings I needed to learn about myself. So, I am praying that I just let go of the most minor thing I might be holding onto ... I don't need to and there is no reason to. May it be washed away with these last tears of mine.

Okay, on to brighter things ... We had a great time with family this Easter. The kids went to the Marner's for Easter lunch and had the "candy hunt" in the back yard. We also had dinner at the Slechta's with my parents, and watched Camden devour the ham. All and all, I think I might be getting back to thinking it is okay to get together on Easter again.

So here are some photos from this Easter Celebration, starting in Sunday school where Jon and I teach the Sunnies class (2 years before Kindergarten, we let Eva join just for this day only), then on to the Marner's and then to the Slechta's.

Our Sunnies class, and Eva enjoying it!So this is Jon hiding some of the candy, and what it looks like for it to be found ... and retrieved before I show the rest of the photos!See Emily find the Candy.See Uncle Jeff try to get the candy.Okay, here they come, everyone out the doors to find the hidden candy ... note my daughter is out first! Who has the sweetest tooth?Eva finds some easy to spot "hidden" candy for the little ones.Emily looking for more candy ... what does she find?Camden, finding some of the harder to find candy ... finally the kids get older, we can get a bit more fun with the placement again!Eva, very proud of her chocolate bunny!I love this next set of five photos. Emily is pouting because she does not think she has found enough candy, even though we are about to go inside and evenly divide everything up!Grandma Ruth made Rice Krispie eggs ... and they were GOOD!Let the fun begin ... this is what sharing looks like on Easter!This could be a Wordless Wednesday photo, don't you think?So this photo may be blurry, but something about it I just love ...Another "priceless" photo of Eva. At G&G Slechta we got to talk on the web cam with Uncle Scott and see Mason and Aunt Brandi. It was quite fun for the kids to see Scott and Mason "LIVE", this is how G&G talk to Mason so he sees them on a regular basis.Easter gifts at G&G Slechta's ...New spring PJ's, they could not wait to wear them that night!New groovy girl dolls for the girls.And, Camden's wish came true a Groovy Boy!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-08T13:34:00.002-05:00

... well a bit of a flash back too ...

Grandpa Ron's Birthday Party

2009-04-06T21:05:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Grandpa Ron's Birthday on his Birthday this year! We got together for Grandpa's "famous" Chicken, and Grandma made asparagus and we even had fresh fruit, oh and I cannot forget the fresh bread and dipping oil! It was a feast to say the least. We finished of with some ice cream which made Eva very happy, she was upset that we did not make Grandpa a cake, but the ice cream made everything better! Here are some photos from that night.

This was the girls dancing in the living room before had, it was quite a sight to behold!

Eva was all set to help Grandpa open his cards and presents.

Camden sneaks in for a squeeze.

A happy Grandpa with three of his Grandkids.

Camden with the card he made just for Grandpa, he worked really hard on it!

Our shirt that we picked up for Grandpa, can't wait for warmer weather so we can see him in it!

Emily and Grandpa having a good moment together.

Camden showing off his card to Grandma and the rest of us.

Lets eat ice cream!

I am in a bit of a posting frenzy here, well not really but trying to catch up ... did you catch my post on Eva Cleaning or Eva's Doctor Appointment?

Eva's Doctor Appointment

2009-04-06T16:07:00.003-05:00

I have to say I am a little floored right now at the results I heard from the doctor. I took Eva in because of this fever, cough, lack of appetite and not drinking much ... but mostly the cough. I also mentioned to the DR that I have to repeat myself multiple times and was not sure if it was Eva being Eva or if it was something. Well first, she has some fluid in her ears to explain the hearing issues. Second, and what I am just "floored" by, was not expecting at all ... Eva has pneumonia, and not "walking pneumonia" ... it is just in her upper lungs which I guess is a good thing. I am glad I took her in, or at least called and the nurse said she should be seen. Otherwise she is pretty peppy when she is not over active and coughing, I probably would have let it go on a few more days.

So we are hoping that I will not be back in with Camden or anyone else any time soon, since this makes trips on Thursday, Friday and Monday to see Dr. Miller ... we just laughed as she came out to get us again today! Please keep Eva in your prayers, and me too ... I hope I can keep her calm enough as to not induce to many coughing spells.

Don't forget to check out Eva Cleaning, this truly shows how much "spunk" this girl has even when she is really sick! -b

eva cleans

2009-04-06T11:21:00.000-05:00

Eva is home "sick" today ... we thought maybe she had strep throat like Em did, but the 48 hr culture came back negative. Only her fever has persisted, and she has a horrible cough that is making her "gag" and she will stop breathing until she spits something up. So we are keeping her home and going in to see the doctor again this afternoon. Eva is otherwise her normal self, other than not eating and drinking much, at all ... but she still has some spunk in her!

While I was working in my office, Eva got up to go to the bathroom and I thought she had been in there for awhile so I thought I would check on her. As I got up she came out, and I asked her if everything was okay, and she let me know that she was "cleaning the toilet because it was dirty" ... my first thought was "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" and then it was just hysterical as you can see she choose to show me how she cleaned up the bathroom. -beryl

Time to wash our hands.

Trying to turn off the faucets, what a production!

This led to noticing that the sink needs cleaning too!

And while we are at it, might as well clean the step stool.

Update on Agape Flights

2009-04-03T12:25:00.002-05:00

Taken from the Agape Flights Website, I thought I would keep you up to date if you are interested.

****AGAPE MAKES UNSCHEDULED LANDING IN THE BAHAMAS****
April 1, 2009 - Eleuthera , Bahamas - At approximately 11:15 am Agape Flights was notified their King Air 90 airplane made an unscheduled landing in the Bahamas.

Pilots Jeff Yannucciello and Steve Koch were only thirty minutes from their departure airport in Eleuthera, Bahamas, when the airplane underwent mechanical failure. Fortunately, the pilots were able to make an critical landing at a small airport located in the north Bahamas.

“We were very lucky to be able to reach the airport and make an accurate landing,” said Yannucciello. “I really feel that God was watching out for us.”

This flight was one of 52+ flights made each year by Agape. Each week the King Air 90 is loaded with a shipment of mail, care packages and critical supplies that are delivered to missionaries serving throughout Haiti and the Dominican Republic .

“Agape Flights is very impressed with the pilots and their ability to land a fully loaded airplane under such extreme circumstances”, said Paul Prachar, an Agape Flights ministry leader. “We give all the glory to God.”

Both pilots are uninjured and have made arrangements to ensure that the cargo on board will be transported to the missionaries as soon as possible. A missionary partner of Agape Flights has donated the use of his airplane to continue the route to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Agape Flights is a non-profit Christian ministry providing critical relief services to over 380 affiliated missionary families in Haiti , the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Agape continually serves these families providing coordination and support in six critical areas of human need: supplies, education, community health, clean water, vocational training and micro-enterprise community development programs. Each year, Agape Flights touches the lives of over 1,500,000 men, women and children. Agape is thankful to be able to serve the needs of so many people living in poverty.

****Thursday, April 2, 2009 - 3:00pm****
An update for the followers of Agape's recent mechanical failure in north Eleuthera, Bahamas :
Dave Spangler, a missionary serving in the Caribbean, volunteered his plane to continue the route to Haiti.

On Wednesday Dave, Jeff and Steve took half the cargo load and dropped it off in Cap Haitien and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They traveled back to north Eleuthera to pick up the second load and delivered it early today. They are currently returning to the north Eleuthera.

Agape is coordinating a volunteer pilot to pick up Jeff and Steve on Friday. Agape mechanics will fly to north Eleuthera as soon as possible to begin work on the airplane.

Prayers for Agape Flights

2009-04-01T17:20:00.004-05:00

Please be in prayer for Agape Flights Pilots! I am taking this story from my Friend Travis' blog Created for His Glory ...

"Agape's plane took off this morning for its weekly run to the island. As they were coming into the area of the Bahamas, the right engine blew out. Pilots Steve Koch and Jeff Yannucciello were able to guide in the fully loaded plane and make a safe landing. PRAISE THE LORD!! We are again reminded of how precious life is, and how we are not to squander even a minute of it. We are also reminded of God's perfect plans for our lives. Agape ran a single engine airplane until the crash in December 2007, which spared both pilot's lives, miraculously. As a result, Agape insisted on a double engine plane when a replacement was purchased and had to wait a full year for the plane to be found, rebuilt, painted and declared ready for missions work. Because of this single decision, 2 pilots and all the cargo are safely on the ground in the Bahamas! His grace and mercy are incomprehensible. Please pray that the engine can be repaired in a timely manner. I have no idea about the facilities where they are. They did not make their landing at the usual airport being an unscheduled landing and all, so they are at the mercy of the local government and agencies. Agape is mobilizing all available resources and could possibly fly in the mechanics and parts needed on another airplane. We will keep you posted and we greatly appreciate your prayers for all that is going on right now. You can imagine everyone is scrambling. The pilots have families that will miss them and Jeff has a 3 year old and an infant at home whose mama is probably in need of prayers and reassurance! In spite of this, we are praising Him for His plan and willing to be used however He asks us.

We can't thank you enough for coming alongside of us in our ministry. We can't thank you enough for the prayers you offer up for us so faithfully too. We will try to keep you updated as we know more about what happened and how the repairs are going to be done and the timing of all of it.

**Update: The pilots were able to land the plane at an airport in North Eluthra where they knew someone with a plane (Dave Spangler), so that airplane will be used to take the cargo to its destinations in 2 separate trips. One was completed today to Haiti and tomorrow, the Dominicaln Republic cargo will be delivered. He is good!"

Camden's bear Birdie was on the flight on his first "missions trip," granted we are not at all worried about this little bear, as our prayers are going out to these two Pilots that are on this real mission. Please pray for them now if you would, and continue to pray for them. I will try to keep you updated too.

You can check Travis blog for some great photos of Birdie's visit before his flight, they really are showing him a great time, and giving Camden some great stories to tell and learn about! Thanks Prachars -b

Oh my goodness ... 100th post

2009-03-27T18:31:00.002-05:00

Note ... the girls are running freely upstairs doing whatever they want to, mostly singing and playing Barbies from what I can hear, and Camden is downstairs playing the Wii. Just so I can try to post some photos for you to look at. Hopefully no one will get in trouble during this time ...

Most the photos that came out are of Eva ... she was closet to me during the Spring Music Concert, and the most candid of course! I picked a bad spot to be in to get photos of my kids, though I could have gotten up and moved, but I did not want Eva to follow me ... that is my excuse I am going with at least for right now. I will let the photos speak for themselves if you do not mind!

just a few things

2009-03-27T09:57:00.004-05:00

Oh, it has been a week since I posted anything ... and it wasn't much was it!

I have been busy following two stories, MckMama's baby is in the hospital and it is very serious heart condition ... I have been spending much of this week on my knees, and in general anywhere praying for Stellan. You can check out her blog at mycharmingkids.net for more information.

The other prayer goes out to our family in Indiana going through an adoption as we speak, the baby girl was born Thursday morning and I am praying the should be signing the papers very soon. Please pray for Megan & Matt.

So that leaves me ... I have been having a rough week with my ears, which I have been praying for a friend Barb Wilson who is receiving a Cochlear implant today (which sounds like it went well). I saw my ENT doctor for the first time last week, and I just not sure if I have enough faith in his answers. It does sound like I have the very beginning stages of Meinear's Disease which I really was hoping this would all go away, but after three plus months I guess not. At some point I might elaborate on this, but for know I am still trying to process everything the doctor told me. As for my day to day struggles are getting easier, but it is not always easy learning a new way of handling pain. I am learning to push though the pain, which is not always easy and at times just really does not seem worth the trouble in the long run. Then I have reminders that I don't have it as bad as others do, like MckMama or Barb my troubles don't seem as hard, they seem very dull and why bother complaining to a doctor about them.

In other big news ... starting next week, Eva will only be going to Aunt Cheryl's (my daycare provider while I work) two days a week instead of four. And at some point she will be home full time, slightly nerve racking as I do work a full time job out of the house other than being a mom. This will tremendously help us out financially. Part of me is very sad to give up my freedom, but the other part of me knows I am gaining something I have been missing out on too. Lets just hope I can keep my job! So feel free to pray for me as I start this new journey as a stay at home mom again!

Well, I should get some work done. Thanks for letting me ramble ... soon I hope to post some photos from last nights Spring Music Concert Camden and Em participated in. And also some of Grandpa Ron's Birthday. -b

Flashback Friday

2009-03-20T19:08:00.003-05:00

Baseball sign-up is tomorrow morning.
Part of me can hardly wait for the season to begin, then ... there is another part of me that can!

MOPS Photo Fundraiser

2009-03-20T16:19:00.003-05:00

If you are interested please let me know! -b

Sweetea

2009-03-18T14:40:00.004-05:00

Okay, it IS a play on words but it was fun ... just like yesterday was fun to make Sweet Tea! It was a warm 79 degrees, and I just could not resist making some sun tea when it was that beautiful of a day outside. Of course today feels cold in comparison with no sun (well, it is just peeking out at the moment) and it is about 55 degrees, but I am not complaining one bit!

Jon made some "sliders" and potatoes to go with my sweet tea, it was a Yummy meal! -b

More, Crafty Me!

2009-03-18T12:31:00.006-05:00

So, I stayed up way past my bed time last night! I really don't even know what time it was when I finally saw my pillow, but I know I didn't sleep enough last night. Somehow though it felt a little rewarding to know what I accomplished.

I started back to work on the kids jeans that needed patched, even though it is getting warm and they have almost grown out of them! I got to work and had some fun with it again. I was about to call it a done job, and then sent Jon up to get his jeans since I knew it might be awhile before I got myself to set down like that and focus for that length of time! Here are a few photos of the kids jeans for you to see.

Can you tell I had some fun again! Camden asked why his patches couldn't be on the outside like Em's ... I said I could try, I just didn't think they would be that cool. He told me he though differently. -b

If you'd like to see my other Crafty Me projects check out these two posts:

http://marnerfamilyspot.blogspot.com/2009/01/crafty-me.html

http://marnerfamilyspot.blogspot.com/2009/02/post-for-sara-boys-and-jeans.html

Kindergarten & Arabic

2009-03-17T17:00:00.003-05:00

Really, this was to be my daughters thank you note to Uncle Scott, Aunt Brandi and Mason for her Target Gift Card for her birthday. Do you see what is wrong? This child is excelling in kindergarten ... no problems, but with being taught Arabic because of a grant our elementary school she attends has, I see one in this picture. I don't mean to hurt any ones feeling on this, but it is only slightly bothersome. She is very excited to learn other languages (including her excitement in learning Arabic as it is something fun and different, it is not something she comes home telling me she does not want to learn), she also loves it when Marianne teaches her little bits of German or when someone shows her Sign, she loved that in Preschool, and still does in Kindergarten.

Is this confusing my child? Is she writing right to left because that is how Arabic is being modeled to her? NO, I am sure she is just having fun with this new way to write ... it looks different, and I am not going to any board meeting to voice my opinion so this is not really my soap box right now. I guess if I continue to see it as an issue then maybe I will press on and find a soap box to voice my opinion from. -b

He made us proud!

2009-03-16T21:54:00.006-05:00

WOW! Camden came home with this paper in his back pack the other day from school. They had been each writing stories for St. Patrick's Day, and Camden wrote what he remembered it was about. I have to say impressive memory since we have not talked about it for awhile nor watched the episode of Veggie Tales that talks about it, but if you can read the following here is what he writes:

Leprechaun Day is a fun Holiday to celebrate. One time when I was watching Bob and Larry it was about St. Patrick and he got taken away with pirates and went to Ireland and when he grew up he became a minister and helped people of Ireland not worship things and other stuff. He helped them worship God and Jesus. Have you ever saw a leprechaun. Have you ever got gold from a leprechaun.

If you follow this link to YouTube you can watch a short about St. Patrick's Day from Veggie Tales. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCB5QhHVJA I really do like the lesson it gives, gosh I grew up never really knowing this until watching this on Veggie Tales with my Kids!

Not Me! Monday

2009-03-16T17:02:00.009-05:00

Wow, it is so beautiful here today! It reached an amazing 71 degrees outside, and we found some signs of spring when we looked around this weekend. We found a few blades of green grass, and some of my spring flowers have already "sprung" from the ground. Looks like we have another warm day ahead and then after that it might be normal into the 50's.

So it is Monday and I thought I might get back into the routine of Not Me! Monday. It might be short, but at least I will have tried, right! So, welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This week I did NOT have a youngest daughter that announced while at church that she peed at Jesus' house! Very happily too. Nope, Not Me! While I am on the topic this so called daughter of mine may have had an accident while playing outside in the garage. When I got home Jon did NOT tell her to show me what happened, when she did Eva did NOT claim the spot looked like Mickey Mouse! Sorry folks I couldn't take a photo of it ... I just was not going to be that die hard of a blogger at that given moment!

I did NOT have a child that choose to cut out his own photos from school before we even said that we would keep them. Silly me, I always keep track of what comes home from school especially our kids photos.

I did NOT have a daughter who after loosing her first tooth prepared for the tooth fairy by leaving notes/clues for the tooth fairy so that it could find her tooth. She did NOT have lots of questions about the tooth fairy the next day when she found money where her tooth had been. This is NOT the same daughter that just a few weeks ago told me the the Easter Bunny was not real only that Grandpas hide Easter Eggs.

We did NOT raid our pantry to go to a family grocery shower tonight. I did NOT find several things in my pantry that are past the expiration ... I however was nice enough to keep them in my pantry and not give them away! When at that family event tonight I did NOT find out that my husband asked his cousin Natasha "and who's baby is this". Really Jon, are you not in the loop? They go to our church, they are in our Family! WOW. I guess we have been back in the Sunnies room a little too long!

So what did you NOT do this week?

two stayed ... not by choice!

2009-03-13T10:26:00.005-05:00

That is right, read it again if you have to. Two photos sheets stayed in our house, $24 gone just like that ... no choice! They where all going back, I made up my mind I was saving our money for better things.

As I was tucking away the photos I noticed the girls had 5 sheets each in their envelopes but Camden only had 3. I was a calm mom, didn't have time to worry or jump to conclusions ... (This was so a GOD thing because I normally would totally flip out) ... so when Camden got home I asked him if he knew where the rest of his photos might be, and he claimed he did not know and then moments later he went off up stairs.

As I finished up a few odds and ends in my office he came in to get some tape, and I asked what he might need some tape for. "Nothing important Mom, just something for my room" Okay ... but as his fingers slip when grabbing the second piece of tape, and it is a really big piece of tape I stop and nicely said to him, "Camden bring me the pictures now please."

He had taped a sheet of wallets up with what double sided tape he grabbed before hand, as if I could return them that way! He was so excited to cut them up, I am sure he so badly wanted to share them with his friends, I don't know. I just wish he did a good job of cutting them, I can save them I think but I won't he needs the reminder of what happened. And he had also cut up the 5x7 sheet, so at least Grandparents can have a good giggle every now and then too!

What was I to do ... so many things where wrong, but I was so calm and cool. I just told him that Mom and Dad don't have $24 just lying around to pay for this, they where not ours to keep. He quickly told me that he would pay for them what ever he had in his piggy bank was ours. I said to him, wait until dad and I have a chance to talk this over, I think he should pay for something and we did choose to make him pay half ... I am just upset he choose to be secretive about it. To hide it from me, to not ask if he could do it. I feel like we are going down a wrong path here, and no matter what we seem to be doing it is not working. What are we doing wrong? Are we being to strict with our discipline methods, or not enough? Oh, boy!

I really need a mom's group that deals with the after preschool age! Is this my sign to start something? or get something going/find something?

Tooth Fairy Loan Needed

2009-03-13T07:43:00.001-05:00

Well, we have a proud daughter who pulled out her own tooth at school Thursday! She has been very excited to tell everyone she sees ... and get this "Mom, don't say anything, let me tell them" does my daughter know me ... so some of you I might have given it all away, but I am sure you can be excited for this girl!

Eva is quite the proud little sister too!

Can you tell?

Should they stay ... or should they go?

2009-03-12T16:42:00.007-05:00

Not the kids, the pictures of the kids ... I have to return the spring school pictures tomorrow. So that means I have to decide tonight what I want to keep/pay for. I really should just take the kids to Sears and have their photos done quick, but I don't know. These are $12.00 a sheet, I really was not expecting them to be so much!

So, here is my question ... that is if I am not asking to late. I will check before I send the kids to school in the morning at 8:00 am.

Should I keep them, Should I send them back and keep my money for better things, Should I go to Sears, Should I ... Help me, please.

I am leaning towards letting them go, but ... when will I find the time to get them all together for a photo shot?

Thanks for helping me choose! -b

Comfy Cozy Eva

2009-03-12T12:58:00.008-05:00

Well, those words (comfy cozy and Eva) usually go hand in hand weather she is sick or healthy. Though yesterday she was sick, but she put me to work as a MOM for sure with this fever yesterday. We have been fever free all day to day so far, which is good ... hoping to make it though these afternoon hours as we have not had any Motrin or Tylenol since bedtime last night.

I thought I would post a few of these photos of Eva's set up. I covered the chair up, and she has applied all the accessories other than I did set up the DVD player for in hopes that I can get some work done in the office. It is slow going today, that is for my office work ... but I am enjoying my Eva time! Though I have to admit I am catching up on my blog reading too.

Eva and her "best friend" goes every where with her, her groovy girl. And remember Grandma Helen, it is not a "baby" it is a "dollie"!

Eva is trying to play Sudoku in this photo ... every now in then she will call out to me to ask, "mom choose now 9 or is it maybe a 4" ... then after a few beeps "no mom it is a 2".

Hope you enjoyed these photos. -b

Miss Piggly Wiggly

2009-03-11T19:50:00.003-05:00

Oh, did you think this was going to be something with Eva? Nope, it is Em's loose tooth, can you see how loose it is. How soon will it be till this one falls out? I had a dream, at least I believe it was a dream that Em begged me to pull it out! And that she got ancy and pulled it out herself, so that part of it must be a dream, since she still has a loose tooth. -b

Just a few thoughts

2009-03-11T17:27:00.001-05:00

Well a week come and goes just like that these days, and no matter what I do I can't seem to slow things down! Eva was all excited to go to G&G Marner's today as that is what she gets to do every Wednesday and have both of them all to herself on most occasions. Though today I got the call about 11:00 that she didn't seem to be feeling all that well, and went to pick her up. By the time I got her home she was spiking a temp and I knew she was just out of sorts. Though once the Motrin kicked in about an hour later she was more than herself again ... couldn't believe I took her to the doctors, but glad I got her ears check. Poor thing, they swabbed her throat and it was negative for strep. So we just have to watch her fever, and I always get nervous with her when they get high so fast as last year she had that seizure because of that. So she seems to be more than better with Motrin/Tylenol controlling her! Can't keep her still, mom's gotta get work done!

Emily announced last night when I picked her up that she has a loose tooth, I almost cried! Really, I think I had a tear. Her tooth is quite loose, and I had many dreams about this loose tooth last night too. I am not sure now what was a dream and what was Emily ... but I do know the loose tooth is REAL!

My dreams have been crazy because I have been on a lot of powerful drugs the past few days, since Friday night, I have had a really bad Migraine that I just have not been able to shake. But, thanks to my Mother-in-Law Ruth and Sister-in-Law Cindy they have been praying for me and I have not had to take any meds today. I was set to go in for a shot this afternoon/tomorrow if I was not better. So PRAISE GOD!

Camden, well he is being a boy these days I guess. At school they have "refocus" forms when they get in trouble. And we have been seeing a few of them these days, and mom is not the happiest about them. It really is for silly things, but not so silly. Like the other day, he chose not to respect his teachers by not staying quiet in line. It really hurt when that came home, because he chose to lie about it/cover it up with a lie. This last one that came home was one of those that I was "really Camden" he chose to play tag in the classroom when they came back in from recess. Oh, I love this boy, for every challenge that we have to incur as little as these are right now I am so thankful for them, that I get to pour my love on this little man and help mold him into a Warrior for God!

Well, I have to go get Emily and Camden from G&G Marner's ... have a great rest of your Wednesday! -b

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-04T09:44:00.000-06:00

Not Me! Monday

2009-03-02T18:52:00.001-06:00

After several weeks off, I will attempt to be honest and bear all truthful attempts of being a Mom this past week! So welcome back to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT hear my oldest child tell me that he wore two pairs of underwear to school one day! WHY! Jon and I did NOT laugh uncontrollably that Camden did not know what to do with us.

I did NOT think it was a grand idea to take my daughters out shopping and to Olive Garden for lunch with Grandma Helen as a great treat for not spending any money while shopping. I did NOT have to take off several times in the restaurant because Eva felt all to comfortable in going to the bathroom by herself. I really did think I was going to enjoy this time, but Grandma Helen seemed to get many laughs out of it. While waiting for our food Eva did not yell off at the waiter serving the table nearby "Don't forget our food"! I just wanted to shrink down in my chair, who was this girl anyways, NOT mine?

I did NOT get excited last week when Target had Wall-E and Horton Hears a Who on sale for $10.00, I did NOT by them! I do NOT just love to watch Eva watching Wall-E because she thinks she really is "EVE" from the movie.

We did NOT have plans to make it to first service on Sunday. Jon did NOT let me sleep in (THANK YOU) and he did NOT fall asleep in the recliner while watching Horton Hears a Who with the kids. Thankfully we made it in time to teach second service Sunnies class.

I was NOT at all giddy to watch my dad being interviewed on TV! That was just awesome. I also did NOT just fall over happy to drive my mom's brand new car off the lot, and put the first 20 some miles on it! It was a good week last week!

Eva did NOT sing while going potty the following song "Who let the dogs out" ... we did NOT laugh ourselves silly in the living room listening to her.

Eva does NOT talk in her sleep, she does NOT sing "Happy Birthday Emily" in the middle of the night unknowingly.

The other day when using spell check on my blog I did NOT think something was wrong when it told me no misspellings found. How was that possible, I am one of the worst spellers ... I don't deny!

We do NOT take candy away from our kids Valentine boxes each time they get in trouble. Who needs a sugar fix, nope NOT me!

I did NOT get photos of my nephew in Atlanta GA playing in the snow this weekend! It was NOT fun to see him wearing Camden's old winter coat. Cute photos, thanks for sharing Uncle Scott.

Uncle Scott's birthday was NOT January 27th, and his Birthday present is NOT still on the freezer in the garage. NOTE: lets get it mailed this week!

Okay, on a real note ... Jon is on his third rolling layoff, and to say the least it is quite frustrating. Really, that is all I can say right now! Have a great week, we are hoping for a warm up!

Grandma's new wheels!

2009-02-27T18:00:00.004-06:00

She looks good in black that is all I can say! I think an Iowa Hawk logo would look so nice on that back window, what do you thing? Good for you Mom! Thanks for letting me put the first 20+ miles on it too. Look at the odometer it was only 15 miles when I drove it off the lot for her, fun! -b

Flashback Friday

2009-02-27T07:39:00.002-06:00

So here is one from three weeks ago (or maybe more) that I had promised!

I can't believe Logan is graduating this year ... our flower girl Britney, Jon's niece graduated last year. Time really has passed! Thanks again Logan, for coming out to be in our wedding 10+ years ago. I wish I could find a better photo, but somehow this is all I can find ... we had some candid ones of him, if I find them I will add them in. -b

Cousins = Fun

2009-02-26T18:30:00.003-06:00

Okay, I am on a roll here posting things that have been going on ... make sure you check out the other posts from this week! Now about Cousins and Fun, these three girls know how to have some "Girly" Fun at our house! I couldn't resist taking some photos, when I caught them taking their own photo shoot! I am so thankful my kids have cousins their age, and close! -b

One more, Tooth!

2009-02-26T16:54:00.000-06:00

This one came out at school, and he did it! Proud MOM I was when he told me last Wednesday (2/18) ... almost didn't believe him, but hard not to when this boy smiles! Check it out, another one for the books. Tooth Fairy is getting poor here at our house. -b

A post for Sara: Boys and Jeans

2009-02-26T16:05:00.007-06:00

I was not going to post this, but just for Sara ... I will!

So, my Em goes through jeans faster than her brother ... but he is starting to catch up. I decided to take my crafty-ness and try it out on Camden's jeans a few weeks ago. I made it more work than it really needed to be (can we say perfection). It was fun, and Jon wants me to mend some of his jeans now ... I figure I can do an assembly line here one of these days and just start popping these things out! It really is a lot of fun, well for me it is.

So I just turned his jeans inside out, and if you catch the rip before it frays out to much you are much better off, way easier than working around the hole. Camden likes them no complaints, and they are not on the outside of his pants like his sisters so not as noticeable. They washed up great to. I can get more descriptive if anyone shows more interest. -b

The supplies, and a before ...... and the after, guess you can't see it all that well. Here is the what the inside looks like! I know, awesome right!

Birthday Celebrations for Emily's 6th

2009-02-25T23:40:00.000-06:00

While I wait for my trial run of bills to print this late in the evening I thought I would take the time to post a few current photos from Emily's Birthday last week. On Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday and one as late as Thursday I started calling Emily's classmates to have them over after school to celebrate Emily's 6th Birthday with her. I thought lets get this together fast instead of waiting a few weeks and sending out invites, so we did it and she had six of her classmates over after school until as late as 9:30 PM was when I dropped the last one off. They all played so well together, a few fights near the end of the night around 8PM but nothing SuperMom and SuperDad could not stop! So here are some photos of her Birthday Parties.

We got Emily High School Musical 3 for her birthday present (actually Camden and Eva gave it to her). We planned on the girls watching this that evening during her party, but it lasted about 15 minutes and a few of them wanted to continue to play and the rest joined in. Poor Eva was so excited that the girls were including her, and she was just upset that they would not set still and be quiet for her to watch the movie, it was priceless.Emily with her birthday cake I made. I spent most of the night before up baking two batches of cupcakes to take to school ... amazingly not many came home!Okay here is all the girls minus one missing in action ... but they were having so much fun! They thought our house was a MAZE with the staircase the way it is. You can't tell to well, but they all have dress up high heels on!We let them make their own Pizzas! Remember last year when we bought Pizza Hut Pizza and it was a waste, this year we made our own ... and they had a blast doing it.Already to eat their pizza, and Eva was so happy to join them!Ice cream and cupcakes. Wow, a few of these girls know how to eat their Ice Cream ... and the rest of them just know how to eat their toppings and cupcakes! It might have been a messy time but so much fun. You can see Emily blowing out her candles on the cake. These are the few moments when they would watch the movie. See Eva in the lower corner, one of the girls joined her to share the blanket and it made Eva so happy. I picked these little popcorn containers up at Hobby Lobby for cheap, and thought it would be fun for the girls. I think it was when we brought the popcorn down, and they were finished that they got the idea to get up and move around.Saturday we took Emily out shopping just Grandma Helen and me, then met everyone else at Hu-Hot. We got her a new music CD, an alarm clock and a Digital Camera like Camden's.Birthdays at Hu-Hot, YUM! Cheesecake Ragoons, better than birthday cake.Emily's Birthday Party at Grandpa and Grandma Marner's she got to celebrate with Grandma Ruth ... we were almost a month late getting together for Ruth's birthday! Here she is on her new big girl bike from G&G Marner. Eva was pretty happy when we got home because this meant that Em's old Dora bike was for sure hers now!Birthday cake fun ... this one is Grandma Ruth's.Grandma Ruth gets to blow out her own candles!Emily's birthday cake. I went all out and got a Yummy's cake for her, even did chocolate icing (I don't do chocolate, but Em loves it). Would you believe she did not have one single bite of her cake, she just wanted ice cream. One of Em's favorite places to be, on Grandpa's lap!

Happy 6th Birthday Emily!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-25T15:45:00.000-06:00

Updates and Birthdays!

2009-02-25T12:34:00.003-06:00

Well, it has come to my attention that some of you miss seeing updates on the blog. I will be good, and not make this a Wordless Wednesday, but looking on it might be more like a flashback. I am so sorry to have put by blog aside for a few weeks while trying to play catch up in real life! Not to much to update you on, Camden lost another tooth last week along with getting an Ear infection. I couldn't even write off the ear pain to new teeth like I did when he was a baby, the Doctor confirmed his pain and was like new giving his sisters trouble in just a day after being on meds! As for my ears, well I am just dealing with it as it comes and goes, but mostly not going. My migraines have been so much better since starting TOPAMAX, and am very thankful for that. But I continue to just to enjoy each day as it comes. Hopefully I can do this post without work getting away from me. Aunt Beryl, I hope this adds to you feeling better! -b

Can you believe it, Emily turned 6 this past week. On 2/20/03 Jon and I welcomed our first daughter into our family. Emily is our little princess that will roll around in the dirt with the boys! We love to watch her dance and sing, she loves to make up her own dances and songs and preform them for us or all by herself. She is great at standing up for what is right and protecting her friends. She has a big heart, and such a pure love for everything. Her heart aches when you hurt, and she rejoices when you are happy! Just a few weeks ago when taking her up to the doctor's to get her ear's checked for an ear infection she noticed an ambulance outside someones home and immediately started praying for them not even know who they were, and as we got to the doctors office she saw a fire truck take of and again prayed right away! I was so proud of her, I LOVE THIS GIRL. God has some MIGHTY plans for this little girl, I pray Jon and I can continue to raise her up for God's purpose. I could go on and on about her, but then I wouldn't get my work done.

Here are some photos that I just couldn't help but share with you. I spent a few hours just enjoying myself all these old digital photos on our laptop ... WOW, I had forgotten how much she has changed. Hope you enjoy!

This is Camden, back when it was only he who ran the show! Now he contends with two little sisters and does quite well. He just turned 1 when I found out Emily was on the way, and it was all in God's great timing as soon after Jon found out he had Testicular Cancer and the Doctors told us the chance of no more children was little to none (but we know differently, that answer is from God was Eva). Here his is (below) 9 months later not really sure who or what Emily was!

Here Emily is before the C-Section!And here she is after the C-Section, Emily Elizabeth Marner! Perfect as her baby brother, less hair than he had and a chin that made me wonder if she would ever be as cute as Camden ... she sure did prove me wrong! Grandma Helen checking out her first grand daughter. At home with Emily, Camden proved to be a good little helper and a big lover to his baby sister!There is the last we probably will see of the pacifier, this girl was bound for her thumb and won.A trip to Canada for Grandpa Bedford's internment services, Emily never got to meet him. Here are some photos of Emily there with Aunt Brandi and Uncle Scott.Napping with Grandma Helen in Canada, can I say "sweet" still!My Grandma Bedford and Emily, the two Emily Elizabeth's together. This would be Uncle Bob and Aunt Beryl on the Right and my cousins Karen and Helen Anne and the Left.Our first family photo wear Chiefs apparel, might be our only one too!First Birthday Cake Face!

Okay, I could go on a lot longer with photos, but I really do have to work today. I hope to post more photos soon of Emily's 6th Birthday.

Being Blessed & Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-04T10:26:00.004-06:00

We are being blessed today in our garage by my husbands family! I can't take photos because I just can't explain to some men out there why I would need to for my "blogging" but when everything is all done I will show you! I truly feel so blessed to have the family I do to help us out by hanging sheet rock in our garage. Please pray with me a blessing on these guys who are helping and the family that is helping make this happen too! I am so thankful!

And look at my calendar page for Wordless Wednesday, how perfect! Thank you God! -beryl

Another Tooth!

2009-02-02T22:03:00.008-06:00

Well, I think this should be the last one for a few weeks at least. Camden does have a few more loose teeth, but I think the we can have a good rest after this one. It was just hanging there, not pretty to look at! Jon worked for a while again tonight, and so did Camden. We pretty much told him he was not going to go to bed until it was out. I broke his heart when I pulled it out since I had told him I would not pull it out, but once I was in there I knew the goal was in sight, and I wanted it out so bad I just took hold and made it my choice! And I won. I was in tears when my son was crying because I lied to him, trying to explain the betterment of the situation was hard. But soon we were giggles and I was forgiven. What a life lesson, how many times do we ask God not to do something, that we cannot handle it. But God sees the other side, and He knows we can get there, He knows the Joy that awaits us. We need to see past all our struggles and pain and let God work in us to make the change in us that He needs to. Thank you God for that reminder tonight!

Not Me! Monday

2009-02-02T21:14:00.006-06:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

As for me and my family have not happened this week. :)

We did NOT watch the Superbowl upstairs on the small TV with the comfy couches while we let the kids have their way in the basement with the big screen TV and playing whatever they might want to. Nope not us, we are much better parents than that! After I put the kids to bed you could NOT hear me jumping and screaming for joy when the Cardinal's got a touch down almost waking the kids. You also did NOT find me hiding under the blanket not able to watch the rest of the game.

When grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon I did NOT pick up 3-D glasses to watch Chuck during the Superbowl. Only Jon and Merlin ended up wearing them!

Saturday Emily did NOT have a birthday party to go to where I ended up staying because she was afraid of roller skating. I did NOT get out and roller skate with her and end up carrying her around a few times. I did NOT take a few joy rides around the rink to reminisce, no not me!

Tonight I did NOT pull out my son's tooth tonight after telling him I was just checking to see where the root was. We did NOT try for 30-45 minutes on Saturday night to pull his tooth out. I did NOT almost forget to say good night to Camden because I was to excited to blog!

I did NOT take my youngest daughter to get a "Big Girl" hair cut because she is Potty Trained! I did NOT just say a few weeks ago this was never going to happen. Eva did NOT tell everyone at the salon that she was getting her hair cut because she "pooped in the potty", no not my child! I do NOT have a child that hates her bang's so much that she will only where them in a pony tail. I do NOT believe she is a Who from Whoville!

I do NOT just love this photo of Eva ... do I need to say more!

I did NOT take the Tahoe through the car wash on Sunday. I did NOT turn my camera on and take a photo of my kids reaction to the car wash, what kind of blogging mom would I be!

I am NOT in love with the pants I fixed up for Emily! I do NOT just adore them, they are only a pair of jeans I know that.

So what did you NOT do this past week?

I think she is a Who from Whoville

2009-01-31T18:30:00.002-06:00

Sorry Eva, but this is all I can think when I see your cute little face with your bang pony tail. You are just to cute, you look like you could be a Who from Whoville! Does that mean we should call her Eva Woo-Who?

Emily's Dance

2009-01-31T09:01:00.002-06:00

Emily got to dance at half time of the Mid-Prairie Boys Basketball Game Friday night. Wow, was it a great basketball game too. We stayed for the whole game, and I was screaming and cheering for my old HS team! I love HS sports so much more fun that Pro Sports. But back to dancing and Emily! She was so excited, and could hardly wait for this night to come. Now we just have to wait a few more months until the big dance recital! She just loves to dance. If you can find her she is the one in the very middle of everything (on the hawks wing if that helps some). You can't hear the music very well (you can still turn the music off from my play list on the lower left hand side if you want to try to hear), and I was not very close ... it was a packed game, and I was third row from the top. Enjoy! -b

Eva's New Look!

2009-01-30T22:15:00.012-06:00

Okay, sorry to make you wait ... but here it is Eva's new look!

Just a hint ... she does not like it! Not sure if it is the cut, or just the bangs. I love it, the bangs are a little shorter than I was going for, but hair grows at this rate ... so we are game!

So, here it is the before, and the after.

And here are some photos to help tell the story of Eva's New Look!

Here goes those bangs!

And now they are gone sweetheart!

I think this is when she is starting to figure out her favorite thing has been taken away, oops maybe mom should have though the bang thing out a little more!
And this is the VERDICT people!

(this has to be an all time keeper of a photo!) We don't have to ask twice.

How about a pony tail Eva? Much better she says! So the below photos are what I had showed Kelly, and she did great job of doing something similar to this cut Eva used to have when she was 1 ...

I just removed Eva's favorite thing which was to sweep her bangs away from her face! But I wanted so badly to have this hair cut again, I forgot what Eva wanted! Shame on mom! -b

Take a look ...

2009-01-30T16:18:00.003-06:00

Eva got her hair cut!

Here is just a teaser, I will show you more later.

Flashback Friday

2009-01-30T09:20:00.001-06:00

I was going through some photos, and there was this one, and just like the day he was born I must have starred at him for a long time. He just captivated me, I could not take my eyes off of him ... I remember just being memorized by him! Guess some days I still am, don't let him know that. Not to give away next Friday's flashback, but it is something for the family in Indiana to Flashback on! We will see if I can wait till next week. Have a great Friday.

Crafty Me

2009-01-29T18:05:00.004-06:00

I got a little crafty today!
I have a feeling there will be more.

Emily has been wearing alot of holes in her knees of her pants ... and this is just too much fun!

Help Wanted: Tooth Fairy Needed, AGAIN!

2009-01-29T17:57:00.000-06:00

So it happened, once again without trying he lost another tooth ... while eating! One of my fears, along with sleeping. This time it was his upper front tooth, and it was ready to come out! Here is my best photo, captures the excitement! -b

Words for Wednesday

2009-01-28T09:39:00.005-06:00

So this was my Daily Thoughts & Inspiration from my By the light of the Psalms calendar today.

I Laughed so hard when I read it, I had to share it with all of you ... it is so me. I love to sing out loud, praising God to most of the music I have on my music play list on this blog while working in my office ... ALONE. No one can hear me, I can't carry a tune ... but I figure it must be beautiful music to God's ears I still have a voice! :)

Have a great Wednesday. -b

Wordless Wednesday

2009-01-28T07:46:00.002-06:00

Game Night

2009-01-28T00:43:00.005-06:00

Thanks to Uncle Scott, Brandi & Mason (really the thanks goes to Brandi) for our favorite gift this past Christmas! The Guess Who I am game, has been so much fun! I think it is the most fun played with Eva who will just set there and say, "Who am I ... I am the Crab" so, you have to be here to laugh as hard as I do! But if you know this girl at all you can just imagine the giggles. So here are some photos of the fun we had before I started supper tonight. -b

Happy Birthday Wishes!

2009-01-27T11:53:00.003-06:00

Wishing Uncle Scott a Happy Birthday!

Some how I could not find a photo of Emily with Uncle Scott, but here are some classics of Eva and Camden with the Birthday Boy! Hope you are having another great birthday celebration! We love you! -b & family

Thursday Thoughts

2009-01-22T12:45:00.002-06:00

So, I am setting here eating my bowl of rice for lunch and just thinking over things that are going on. I had a doctor's appointment today to talk with Minyon (my doctor) about my ears. I hope you don't mind if I let you know a few things. Call it "Blog Therapy" if you want!

The past month, well almost two months has just not been the best. From having days where I cannot get out of bed because I cannot even hold my self up, to days where the pain just feels unbearable. I have had more cluster headaches, and my migraines will last for days with no relief. My energy has just dropped off the map, but I keep up with my exercise routine thanks to my Mom. Appetite is minimal most of the time, but the weight is not coming off. I can't focus on things, my mind wonders easily. We went over these things and others, and I did my best of confessing everything so that when I left I didn't say to myself that I forgot to mention.

Nothing like holding back tear in the doctors office over not being yourself the past few months. It really bothers me that I feel like I do, and I did feel better knowing Minyon knows where I am at with it. So we are going to give it a few more weeks, I go back on 3/5 to revisit where things are at. I have three new medications along with everything I am currently on ... I feel like I can open my own drug store ... and hope things get better, that this is the answer. If not she said she wants to get me in for an MRI with the change and increase in my Migraines. And, possibly see an ENT specialist to further evaluate the Meniere's Disease. She also is running some blood tests to check on my Thyroid again as my numbers were slightly increased last April.

Part of me just wants everything to feel normal again, even though I have adjusted to most my days being the way they are. It is so hard to explain to everyone, I don't know how to do it. I look normal, so why don't I feel normal. I am glad I know how to push through the pain and move on, but I have had days where I know I have pushed it to hard ... but don't we all do that. I really don't know what to pray for anymore ... just that I continue to find time to draw closer to God through this. I know my body will never be perfectly fine until I am with Him.

Also, if I could take a moment to lift my Aunt Beryl up in prayer. She just found out she has cancer. They did a biopsy on a mass on her liver this past Monday. She also has a spot in her small intestine that could be cancer also. They are also looking at a hip replacement, but because of the Cancer they are going to make sure she does not have bone cancer. Please pray for Peace, pray for wisdom of these doctors she is working with. I am going to be working on getting my passport and the family's this weekend, as I want to be able to go with my Mom or if Aunt Beryl would need any help. They live in Canada. Thank you for your prayers.

Before I forget ... Camden has not lost anymore teeth since last Friday. I tried wiggling the top ones more, and boy are they loose ... they just don't want to budge. Wonder if the dentist will end up pulling them when we go for his next appointment. I will try to get some more photos to show you, life has just been a bit to busy with the kids back in school this week. Last week they only had school 1/2 day because of the cold temps.

Take care, hope the sun is shining where you are at ... it is a beautiful sunny day here, makes it feel warmer than it is.

-beryl

Tooth Fairy Coming Soon

2009-01-16T17:43:00.005-06:00

So, finally Camden lost one of his teeth! No this is not the first, but he has had four wiggly teeth for almost 6 months. Emily and Camden were up stairs playing spies, and next thing I know Camden is yelling I lost my tooth. Which he really did, as seen in the photos we are all trying to look for it! It was found and put in the tooth box his Dentist gave him and then tucked away in the family Tooth Fairy Pillow! So Tooth Fairy, will you please make a trip out in this below zero weather tonight to pick up this boy's long awaited tooth! Maybe we can make a four for one by the end of the night! Here are some photos! -b

Can you see the other teeth that are so loose, I think they are just hanging.

Flashback Friday Returns!

2009-01-16T16:41:00.003-06:00

I am dreaming of warmer days! Here is one that warms me up.

There was a tractorcade that we watched from G&G Marner's house. That is Grandpa Ray, and Emily and Eva ... Eva would have been just 1 1/2 years old. Ah, I miss those days a little! She still brings me the joy everyday though, but great memories of their cuteness at that age.

Enjoy, and stay warm! -b

What did I do ... Updated

2009-01-13T15:11:00.006-06:00

UPDATE 1/14: So I have learned my lesson ... don't touch photos in Google Web Album as it is directly linked to your blog! AHHHHHH. I got a few redone, but my older posts are just going to have to sit still and just be words with no photos for the time. My count is up to 16 photos I have found missing, and there are still more. Serves me right! Hope you can learn from my mistake. -b

Maybe I am losing my mind. Some how when playing with the Google Web Album feature, I deleted out some photos (actually a lot of photos, like 75 are more photos) ... not realizing it was connected to my blog. Hopefully I can put the photos back in if I did lose them, but it may take me a while to get them all back ... I have to remember which ones were where. Oh this will be fun! Just goes to show I am not always as Web Savvy as some think. :)

I have yet to locate any missing photos, the message it gave me was it could take up to 24 hours ... I guess we will find out tomorrow if they are missing are not.

Oh, I just have to laugh at myself. Any help!

Have a great Tuesday. -beryl

Not Me! Monday

2009-01-12T15:29:00.023-06:00

Well after two weeks off I am back with Not Me! Monday. I had a few things that happened in my time off, but would you believe I cannot remember them. I need to start a little note book of these giggle moments of mine! Thank you MckMama. You can check out her blog to find so many more people who just love to have a Not Me! Monday. -b

I always make sure my kids eat their breakfast, drink their milk, and put their things away before leaving for school. Therefore I did NOT find the following evidence in my living room the other week. I did NOT take a moment to photograph and try to figure out how many hours this had been out to age. Which by the way, it was NOT late afternoon when I discovered this. Nope, this did NOT happen in my house!

When taking off the Christmas tree decorations last week, I did NOT force Jon to take the tree outside right away. I did NOT want to miss the tree pick up on Saturday. Our tree is NOT still outside, it did NOT miss this pickup ... we would NOT be so forget to move it to the curb on Friday night. I also would NOT take this photo to prove it is still there, and just collecting snow today!

Upon having the tree out of the living room I did NOT find a huge urge to move furniture. When I came upstairs to help put the kids to bed, I did NOT tell Jon to remember he loves me. He did NOT figure out almost right away that I had re-arranged the living room. I do NOT just think this is the best layout! Jon did NOT try to move the furniture around after me trying to find a better layout, not he would NOT try such a thing! He did NOT have to move the furniture back to my way.

That is NOT a basketball hoop over my front door, I would never allow such items in my living room! Also, you will NOT find Fall decorations still hanging on my windows, and our table is NOT at all over loaded with pillows and blankets! I would never let it get to that point! :)

Last week we did NOT just have one of the best sunsets to look at. We do NOT live in Sunset Hills, and expect to see such beautiful sunsets all the time. This photo is NOT blurry, I can hold a camera still enough to take a photo. :)

I am NOT just now sending out our Holiday Photo cards. I am never late at doing this, it is not at all becoming an annual thing for me to do in January! Hope you get yours soon.

I am NOT at all excited at the thought that Emily's Dance is cancelled tonight, and Camden's wrestling is postponed till later this week. A family night at home, no rushing off to places! Nope, does not seem to excite me to have time to prepare a good meal for the Family.

I did NOT type this whole post with my winter coat on! I could have taken it off at any time.

Another Silly Eva Moment

2009-01-09T06:33:00.005-06:00

So, I am sure I will have many more ... Silly Eva Moments that is! She was just full of spunk last Friday. If you haven't checked out my other post please do so for another great laugh.

Okay, not sure how well you can hear her sing as there is allot going on when I tried to capture this, but ... it was just her being her.

Last Friday when we had Christmas with Mom & Dad Eva got these cute little Barbie dolls for Christmas from Uncle Scott, Brandi & Mason, and she just loves them so much. While Emily was busy opening her gifts, I caught Eva singing and playing with her new toy. Remember to turn the music off on the lower left hand side of my blog.

Leave a note, let me know you stopped by! -b

Silly Eva & Christmas with The Slechta's

2009-01-09T06:01:00.009-06:00

So this is Eva, my little sweet one. She just can be so silly, she got some Strawberry Shortcake movies for Christmas, and she is referring to the "Pie Man" who is the "bad man plot character" in the movie. Not sure why, but this was just all to silly, and just had to share it with you all. Remember to turn the music off on the lower left hand side of my blog.

We were celebrating Christmas at The Slechta's last Friday night, which would be my Parents ... and our family friends the Holton's joined us. The kids just love Auntie Marianne and Larry, she teaches them some German, plays with them, and just loves on them ... what is not to love!

Leave a note, let me know you stopped by!

Here are some photos of that night. -b

Passing out the presents! Yeah for me!

One of Camden's favorite gifts this year! A Hawkeye Jacket ... made Camden wish he was born back in the day's when Larry was a coach for Hayden Fry! Go Larry! And, thanks to grandma and grandpa for such an awesome gift. He also loves his new Keen Shoes that fit, and his new camera. I will have to post some photos of his for you all.

Emily with her High School Musical 2 Barbie Dolls, Thank You to Uncle Scott, Brandi & Mason! Emily just loves these! She also got an MP3 Music Player from Grandma & Grandpa ... and is loving it. And lots of new shirts to wear, so we can retire her "to small for her" ones.

A rare find ... a photo of me, not the best, but I just love this fun scarf! Thanks Mom & Dad.

Eva spending some quite time with Grandma Helen!

Auntie Marianne on the floor playing a German card game with Eva, while mom is trying to make gravy. Emily spies the fun and joins in. Where is Camden, off taking obscure photos of Christmas decor with his new camera.

The two silly ones playing together! Oh, they are both a Hoot. :)

Wrapping up a Year!

2008-12-31T12:21:00.011-06:00

Well, this year is one that has it's moments I would just rather do with out. Though with out some of those times we as a family would not be who God is shaping and molding us to be. And I have many wonderful moments to remember of so many great times with my Family.

1. We had two great family vacations this year.
~The first trip being the big Marner Family traveling to Indiana for the Swartzendruber Family Reunion. I love getting together with this side of the family, Ruth's Sisters and Brothers are a hoot to be around, and their Families are just a blessing to visit with. Jon's extended family, both sides are incredible you can't help to want to be surrounded by them!
~Our family trip to Kansas City. As mentioned before, this is one of my favorite cities to travel to. We had so much fun at the Zoo there, and had a lot of fun. Though we did learn that we should just stick to our usually places for food when traveling with kids!

2. THIRD DAY, SWITCHFOOT, JARS OF CLAY concert at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City. A weekend to just Jon and I. My parents had the kids, how awesome was that! Though we chose to come back early from our trip for Bailee and Paige's birthday party! Are we not just the best Aunt & Uncle to do that. I sometimes wish I was a bit more selfish and stayed down in KC, but family time is very important to us, and I am thankful for that. Back to the Concert though ... Best One Ever! I mean it, they all rocked ... and it was so awesome to Praise God and sing my favorite songs at the top of my lungs without anyone around me able to hear my voice! Oh, wait that is like every day when I am driving with no kids, or sometimes even with the kids! :)

3. Forgiving Jon! This is very recent, and I won't go into details, that is for Jon. Wow, I never new what it felt like to physically forgive someone. When your burden is so heavy that you feel as though there is no way to let go of it. Few of you may be able to relate, or maybe you are still there with your baggage, maybe you are adding to yours as I did mine. STOP! I mean it, let reality hit ... it will hurt but the other side is such a blessing. Granted it took almost a year of God working my heart, hitting rock bottom with bitterness in October to right before Thanksgiving ... but what a transformation within me and Jon! Our marriage has been so much deeper and better and wonderful the past two weeks that I just cannot explain. But everything has it's timing, and even though it took me a long time, I am so thankful for what I had to go through to get to here. I sometimes look back and wish I had someone to help me though it all, so if you are there where I was ... I will be happy to pray for you, with you and be there too! Remember, things aren't perfect, but we are working towards something like it. I know there will be hiccups, and I know there will be blessings too!

4. Emily's 5th Birthday ... I drove my self crazy with this one. The kids get a "big" party for their 5th, and Emily really had a big one. She invited all her pre-school class mates and a few extra friends. Our basement was full, and I learned a few things. Three hours can last longer than you know, I appreciated her preschool teacher more for the three hours she had these kids four days a week! You can buy Jack's frozen Pizza for the kids next time! We got Pizza Hut Pizza's, like 4 pepperoni and 2 cheese, spent about $75.00 on them and threw a lot of half eaten pizza away! Plus I will remember kids other than mine like cheese pizza. That was the first thing gone, and I was like WHAT is going on. By the end of the party ... I did think I wish the kids had more time to just be kids and play.

5. Camden's 7th Birthday ... If you ask him, he did not get a birthday party. I was a big talker that he could have one or three friends (even number thing) over for an afternoon and we could go to the pool and to McDonald's or something like that. Yeah, summer got away from me and it did not happen. Bad MOM! He did get to celebrate with us and our families, we did not forget it.

6. 10th Anniversary. Should have been more momentous, but it wasn't! Though I am thankful today for all 10 years, so it is on my list!

7. Jon's 36th Birthday ... I have a tough time with Jon's birthday it is in August and that just brings about memories of his cancer. I should be over it as he is Cancer free now, but I think this year just kind of went by. We celebrated early with his family, which was abnormal ... we are always late with those celebrations. Sorry, we passed it by!

8. I TURNED 30! And I did not hide like I usually do on birthdays ... I was happy to turn 30. Granted these days with my "illness" (if you can call it that) I would like to go back to 29 to know what normal felt like again! I would have liked a big party, it would have been fun ... but we cannot always get what we want.

9. Eva turned 3, if you ask her she is still two though. She had a great birthday! and it seemed to last forever in a way. Like yesterday, she finally opened her present from Uncle Scott, Aunt Brandi & Mason. Pink Lego's ... she is loving them too. It was just one of those times it was hard to get everyone together to celebrate. But she did have her own birthday party at McDonald's play land with three of her day care buddies. I got "best Mom ever" ranking that day for that trip from Eva.

10. Christmas 2008! Even though I was sad not having my own parents to be with us on Christmas, I did end up enjoying this year. We had a quite day with Ray & Ruth and family. It was so relaxing to just enjoy each other. I can only hope that we can continue to have more relaxing time with family on Christmas each year. We also enjoyed spending the day after Christmas with my side of the family (really its family friends, but they are like family). It was so much fun to see Leon interact and "play" with my kids ... not sure if I always missed those moments or if this was a first. It was just a perfect time, we could all enjoy each other and did not feel pushed at all. We could all enjoy each other, granted the kids had their moments, but best time ever I think they had at this gathering! This Friday we get to have Christmas with my parents, and I have two words PRIME RIB! YUM ... and I get to spend time with them too.

11. Another great thing to happen this year was a new coffee shop opened up in town called Great Awakenings! ... yes I did say in town, as in Kalona. She makes the best Carmel Macciotto ... good bye Starbucks. I crave coffee in Kalona now. So it has been nice to indulge every now and then!

12. Going to Aunt Cheryl's has become another blessing this past year. The girls go to Aunt Cheryl's while I work ... and this has been so great. She is right in town, and what better way to get to know your Aunt for the girls, and my Sister-In-Law for me. Plus they spend time with Uncle Jeff, and Amber & Brittney! So that is great ... the girls love it there. Days that I have the kids home, makes me very thankful to have Cheryl around ... I can get so much more done when I have just me in my office!

Well, I think I will end there. I am recalling many other great things to happen this year, but I must get other things done. Take care ... I will try to ad some photos later.

To Mom & Dad: Words from the kids

2008-12-24T20:34:00.003-06:00

Wordless Wednesday: Getting ready for Christmas!

2008-12-24T20:17:00.005-06:00

Not Me! Monday

2008-12-22T19:04:00.004-06:00

Ah yes, my weekly dose of Not Me! Monday. Thank you MckMama for this weekly confessional!

The following photo is NOT proof of what a child can do to oneself when trying to sled in the snow that has been topped with ice. Good think I tried to take Christmas photos earlier in the week. I have NOT been obsessing every time I am out with Camden that some one will think he is a child abuse case. My mom did NOT call tonight upon seeing this photo and wonder if he was really okay. BTW I did NOT pose Camden by the Christmas tree to make the photo look a bit "merry & bright"! No NOT Me!

Last week when putting Eva to bed and trying to explain something very important which at this moment I cannot quite remember ... Eva did NOT plug her ears as to not want to listen to us any more. Because of the situation she needed to be disciplined and we asked her if she new why she was being disciplined she did NOT say "because I had bad attitude" ... this did NOT make it difficult at all to carry through with the matter at hand.

I did NOT just finish getting the house decorated for Christmas a few nights ago. I am NOT contemplating how long I get to leave them up after Christmas now. I do NOT have all my presents to wrap. I would never leave them this close to Christmas to do so, or would I!

Well, I do wish you all a Merry Christmas ... may it be a wonderful celebration of the birth or our Lord Jesus Christ. And a very special blessing to those of us who can be with our family and friends to worship and praise HIM! Have a wonderful week, -b

Not Me! Monday

2008-12-15T14:34:00.007-06:00

Again, another week has passed by before me and in my newest tradition of blogging I will post all of my denials of the past week. MckMama started it all, and you can go there to ready over 250 more denials of truth, Enjoy!

I did NOT go outside on Friday to put up Christmas lights all by myself. If I did do so, it would NOT look like this, which BTW I did NOT take this photo just for my blog:

The following photos are NOT at all taken for the only purpose of putting it in my blog. This photo is NOT of my children wondering how long it takes to "re-grow" a Christmas Tree.

This is NOT just the cutest photo of our youngest, and I did NOT just have to show you.

This is NOT my oldest daughter being a "Tree Hugger", she did NOT just love hugging her favorite trees to show us how much she wanted it. BTW this was NOT my favorite tree also, that we really truthfully did not get!

This was not our youngest trying to "plant" her own Christmas tree!

As you can see we did NOT by any means enjoy our trip out to Barnes Tree Farm.

Quick Grandma, do not look. This is NOT a photo of your grandson holding the saw!

We did NOT go out to dinner afterwards, and leave our tree on top of the Tahoe. I was NOT at all nervous that someone would take it, that would just be silly of me! This is NOT what a dirty Tahoe and a Christmas tree look like.

I did NOT allow Jon to bring in the tree right away, in which I did NOT at all get in the mood to put these beautiful LED Lights on the tree, and then declare it bed time because I was to tired to put decorations on. Nope not me!

I am currently NOT trying to find time to decorate for Christmas still. I do NOT at all find this container of decorations "daunting" when looking at it.

Hope you enjoyed all the photos of our weekend events. Take care, stay warm.

Flashback Friday

2008-12-12T10:45:00.001-06:00

Merry Chirstmas! This is a photo of my brother Scott and I.

And, in case you need a reference point, who do you see?

Morning Drive

2008-12-09T09:03:00.005-06:00

This is the view of the highway near our house, traffic was backed up East and West due to "wet ice" and two semis getting stuck, took over an hour or more to get both up the hill. I braved the cold elements and ice so Dad could get some photos in the Kalona News. Am I not just a loving daughter to think "Oh, I must get a photo for Dad!"

Have a warm and cozy day inside, please!

Not Me! Monday

2008-12-08T21:55:00.007-06:00

Ah, yes ... another week past, where does the time go. Can you believe it is time for Not Me! Monday already. Just three more left in 2008! I have not been able to connect with MckMama's blog, but here it goes all on my own this week! Have a great week! ***I made it, and was able to connect with MckMama ... so check in on her, and ready up on some more Not Me! posts. -b

This past week I did NOT unknowingly try to make the traffic signal in the turn lane change to green by pressing my garage door opener! BTW, it did not work, just in case you wanted to try.

I did NOT forget to take my daughter to dance lessons, that would just be a waste of money. I did NOT feel great remorse after realizing that I totally forgot. Emily did NOT feel the pain of my forget fullness either.

My kids are NOT yet wondering when I am going to decorate the house for Christmas. I am NOT blaming my lack of interest on the fact that my parents will not be here to Celebrate with us this year for the first time. I am a grown adult with three kids ... most people are used to this by now, right?

I did NOT let my daughter convince me to let her friend spend the night last minute on Friday. During which I did NOT have a flashback to my younger "emily like" years of "tricking" my parents into letting me have a friend spend the night.

I did NOT try to tell myself the roads were to bad to go into town to exercise today. I did NOT then call my mom to let her know because I knew she wouldn't let me get away with such things! I did NOT have to get measured today. Because which I did NOT learn that I have lost 5 lbs Body Fat ... which could NOT have made me at all happy!

I did NOT ssh my children repeatedly during the HSM2 Pop-Up Edition on Disney Channel Saturday. Why do I need to know such silly facts anyways, plus I can watch mature shows on other channels other than Disney.

Well, this is all I really want to admit to for this week, hope you enjoyed a few laughs at my expense. :)

Flashback Friday!

2008-12-04T12:53:00.007-06:00

Here are some photos from December 2004. It was a beautiful day we picked our Christmas Tree at Dane's Tree Farm outside of IC ... something like upper 50's if not into the 60's that day! We were also in the process of building our 2nd house, which is our current house!

Eva Cooks with Jon!

2008-12-04T12:31:00.004-06:00

The kids love it when Jon lets them cook with him. They usually try when I am in the kitchen, but I am not good when I get to many helpers (ie. more than just me)! Maybe if this keeps up our kids will become great cooks and cook for us one of these days. Though hopefully not to soon, they can keep helping for a few more years, right!

So, here are a few photos of Eva's meal she cooked with him!

Did you know ... I love Socks!

2008-12-04T11:48:00.006-06:00

Well, to be exact I love knee highs and leg warmers for the girls ... but I do have quite the assortment of HUE socks in my drawer. I have never been that fond of tights with the girls, and used to love getting knee highs at Gap Kids for Emily when they would be marked down to $1.99, so she has passed down her socks to Eva who can wear some of them. The other week at Target I found what I have been searching for ... leg warmers! These are so cute ... I was about to take my old knee highs and cut the foot off and hem them to make Eva and Em some leg warmers, but now I have these. Though ... I might just do the latter too.

How cute are these things!

Morning time with big brother ... not ready to share the square!

Look who wins, mighty is this small one!

Doctor Visited

2008-12-04T07:49:00.006-06:00

Air 1's Verse of the Day

"Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD.

Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. "
Psalm 5:3, NLT

Well if I am going to be honest with you, I am not sure if I have more questions than I have answers now. I was able to squeeze into my Doctor's Office due to a cancellation, but was not even sure if I could make it do to the weather conditions. I agreed to the appointment and knew I had to give it a try.

My symptoms were quite better than they had been, though I was still having some fullness/pressure sensation in the ears, voices sounded muffled at times and there was still that dull ache in my ears. So I explained my symptoms, and we went over a few other things. Minyon does not feel that it is Meniere's disease, but more like vestibular neuritis. While Meniere's disease is Chronic, Vestibular Neuritis is not and therefore sounds like good news. I am to stay on my Hydrochlorothiazide (diuretic) for two to three months and then stop. If symptoms reoccur then I am to go back on the medication and notify Minyon. So like usual when I am telling my mom about this I think "what if my symptoms do not go away while I am on this, what then? Would that mean it is Meniere's and not Vestibular Neuritis, or am I dealing with something else?"

I also did remember to ask Minyon about my blurred vision on Sunday, best described as a "swirly distortion". Which her answer was Ocular Migraine with Aura. Which I have never experienced an Ocular Migraine before, but I suffer from Cluster Headaches and Migraine's. So now I am feeling like 30 is kicking me in the butt! Minyon wants me to start on 1 baby aspirin a day as people with Ocular Migraines are more prone to Strokes ... FUN!

So I have all these questions that I just have to set on. I hope that the pressure and pain in my ears will go away and not become my new "normal" but if it is may I have the Grace to live with it, handle it and not let it be a burden. As long as I can continue to carry out my normal tasks I am thankful ... if not, I pray that I will find great thankfulness during this.

Last week at MOPS Amy Hansen spoke on finding contentment when dealing with an long-term illness. I am very thankful for hearing her words, and while not having a physical long-term illness I took her words to heart and was working on applying those words to my relationship between Jon and I. Then just a day later I started suffering from these symptoms, while in all hopes this is not Chronic unlike Amy, I may recover quickly and not experience this anymore.

Thank you for all who have prayed over me these past few days ... I am truely humbled and blessed! Your support means so much to me at this time of questioning my health and what is happening. Thanks!

Trying to be humble ...

2008-12-01T13:32:00.012-06:00

So I will let you all know I could use some prayer right now. I really am in limbo not knowing what is going on. On Wednesday Night last week I started with some inner ear pain, and by Thursday morning there was so much pressure in my ears that hearing was difficult, and the pain was bearable, but at times very painful. I was not dizzy but felt as though everything was leaning to one side. And at times a very quite noise would sound very loud to me.

I did see a doctor at the Family Practice and she prescribed me with some medication to help, and gave me a temporary answer. We know my ears are clear and it is not an ear infection. The doctor I saw believes it is Meniere's Disease. Which does describe many of my symptoms. I am awaiting a call back from my normal doctor to be seen by her for further review or referred on to an ENT doctor for more evaluations and testings. My normal doctor is full already this week and currently does not have any openings, which my symptoms are not life threatening so I am somewhat okay with that thought. But I would like to talk to someone more about what this is or could be. I should have my call returned tomorrow or Wednesday, but could be next week.

Yesterday I had some blurred vision and that is not a symptom of Meniere's Disease, and I just do not feel like my vision is quite the same today. Not so much a blur, but not as clear as it was. So do I call the eye doctor, or do I wait for my normal doctor to call back? Is it related after all, or is something else going on.

I just need some peace about this, a little relief from the pain and some patience to know it is ALL in God's mighty hands! And it is okay to ask for help. I fear that others will think I am to needy when I ask, so I hate to, but this time I am. So hopefully I am not being "needy". I thank you for your time to pray for me, and will keep you updated when I can. -b

Not Me! Monday

2008-12-01T12:37:00.012-06:00

Another week has come and gone, and Not Me! Monday is here. I missed last weeks confessions, but no excuse this week as I have gone into withdrawal of not posting or checking any ones blogs for a week. If you are interested check out MckMama where it all got started for the rules on how to play.

It is NOT December 1st today, I refuse to admit that it could possibly already be December. I haven't even got a single decoration up for Christmas, and never even got out my fall decor this year. WHAT!

My favorite things about Saturdays are NOT the morning newspaper with all the inserts. So therefore my most Favorite thing about Thanksgiving is certainly NOT all the inserts in the newspaper! There are other things to be thankful for, really.

I did NOT start Christmas shopping Thanksgiving Night just before Midnight at the Outlet Mall with my best friend Lisa. We most certainly did NOT have the best time shopping in the wee morning hours of "black Friday". I did NOT only buy clothing at Carters, Oshkosh, Children's Place and Kohl's for my kids. I really hope Jon does not read this! I did NOT have to give up shopping before 8:00 because I thought I might have an ear infection. Jon did NOT have to take me to the doctors because I could not drive my self safely that afternoon. I was NOT totally bummed out when I didn't get all the wonderful sales that I wanted to for Jon for Christmas!

I did NOT take Eva to the doctors today because she begged to see Dr. Miller, and to show her how her ears hurt. I did NOT try to talk my daughter into staying up in IC for lunch with her dad. We did NOT return home for lunch, which rice was requested. Rice was NOT then interpreted by Eva to be Puffed Rice. She is NOT currently eating puffed rice, I only feed my children healthy lunches when they are not feeling good.

Last Tuesday I did NOT almost post a "Worst Day Ever" because it sure felt like it. I was NOT under to much pressure to do to many things ... I know how to not take on more than I can handle. Plus I am a mom that can multi task even in her sleep, right? :)

On Saturday my kids did NOT meet Santa. Eva did NOT ask for a "pink rockin guitar" which sounds like "pink robin ribtar" and make Santa and Mrs. Clause laugh. On Thanksgiving Eva was NOT asked if she had seen Santa yet, only to reply "He is not real, he is just in a movie". WOW, I was floored ... I did not know weather to confirm it to her, or give her the belief that it was real. I didn't get a chance to make that choice before everyone had her convinced he was real.

Eva did NOT pick this outfit out just for Santa, and she did NOT just have to have these sunglasses on just for him too. Her words were NOT "Santa will just love it if I wear them". By the way she did NOT pull this sweater out of the dirty laundry, after already wearing it twice that week.

Here is one from the week before since I didn't get to posting it ... I did NOT have the Tahoe overloaded with 8 girls to take to the Library for a craft. I did NOT have to ask someone to take Camden separately down to the Library because I could not find anywhere for him to set other than on the floor.

So here it ends for the week, really nothing much more exciting to admit to. I hope to post some photos soon.

Flashback Friday! Updated

2008-11-21T16:39:00.003-06:00

I can't believe I found these ... just enjoy the laugh.
I might update here later to tell you more about the photos. -b

Updated: So I remembered I had a Kodak account, and found these amongst the photos stored since 2002. The next few Friday's I will post more.
WOW, I could not believe that they were all still there.

These happen to be Camden with baby Emily just a few months old. I cannot get over how much she has changed her features. I had forgotten what chubby cheeks she had! :)

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-19T09:57:00.004-06:00

Not Me! Monday

2008-11-17T21:54:00.006-06:00

A quick try at my new reason to love Mondays ... all because of Not Me! Monday started by MckMama.

I did NOT allow my husband to help me by watching my two sick daughters last Monday. He did NOT come down with the same thing the next day. My son did NOT get sick Friday night, in which I really did not wake up in time to stop him from making a mess all over the floor.

I did NOT go shopping with my mom on Saturday, when my husband called to have me pick up an "inexpensive carpet cleaner" and assume he must mean something like the Bissell Little Green Carpet Cleaner which was on sale at Kohl's and mom had an extra 15% off coupon. I did NOT choose to buy this because it fell under what I would call "inexpensive" and Ladies it was on SALE! When I returned home my husband did NOT tell me that he just wanted the "cleaner" and by "inexpensive" he meant a few dollars. I did NOT spend the next hour cleaning spots in Emily's room and most of Camden's room just to prove it was worth the buy.

I did NOT leave my husband with our Sunnies Sunday School Class to go pick up a birthday cake at the grocery store. I did NOT decide while filling the Tahoe up with gas to take it through the car wash while I was out. I did NOT arrive back in time to look like I had not left at all.

I did NOT leave the house early for school one day just to take the kids to Casey's for donuts. I did NOT make myself feel better when I ran into my son's old teacher, who did NOT tell me she almost allowed her daughter to have chocolate ice cream for breakfast. She also did NOT confess to me that her son had spaghetti for his breakfast. They ate right, they where not going to school hungry, it truthfully was not about nutrition that day.

Now Monday is almost over, I will conclude what I did NOT do this past week. Now what did you NOT do? -b

Flashback Friday

2008-11-14T09:52:00.003-06:00

First Hair Cuts ...

While Camden had his when he was about 3 months old, and Eva was almost a year old. On the other hand, Emily was just about to turn two! Both Emily & Eva got their very first cuts from my beloved Shelby ... she is an amazing hairstylist! If you click on the photo, you should be able to view it in a larger size. -b

Eva's First Hair Cut (above)

Emily's First Hair Cut (above)

Almost a Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-11T23:38:00.000-06:00

Ah ... I miss warm, sunny days!
Should I add I miss cool warm nights too.

Okay, I had to break down and add a few words to this.
So much for Wordless Wednesday!

Not Me! Monday

2008-11-10T15:50:00.006-06:00

Once again, it is Monday ... and that means another round of a Not! Me Monday. Check out the many other people joining in today with MckMama the one who started it all!

********************************

I did NOT dress my kids in winter coats and hats only for them to go outside to tell me it was to hot outside. I did NOT call time & temp to find out it was a beautiful 64 degrees with a high of 70 degrees for that day. Why listen to the weather at night anyways! These kids did NOT put up a fight the next day when it was really only 38 degrees.

I did NOT take a photo of Eva getting her BP taken just for my Blog ... Nope NOT me!

I do NOT enjoy watching High School Musical 2 with my kids. I do NOT know almost every song to the movie. I did NOT continue to watch the movie on Saturday even after the kids had chosen to do something else.

I did NOT have Emily come in to tell me at 9:30 pm she had thrown up. I was NOT relieved when she stopped about 11:30 pm. I did NOT wake up at 3:30 am to hear Eva crying and find out she too was sick. I did NOT think we were in the clear when we all woke up, only to hear Emily sick again at 7:30 am. My laundry room is NOT full with bed sheets and too much laundry that I can't catch up. I do NOT have a gracious husband who stayed home to help me with these girls so I could get work done. I would NOT like to thank him at all!

Eva did NOT provide us with comical relief at 3:30 in the morning after being sick. Jon and I did NOT laugh with her as God truly graced us with some laughter which was what we needed to take care of her after just going through this with Emily hours before.

I do NOT have a love/hate relationship with my can of Lysol! My house and Tahoe do NOT smell of Lysol.

I do NOT wish at all that I had something much funnier to write on NOT ME! MONDAY ... really that is what I thought at 3:30 this morning. "NOT ME!"

I did NOT think I should start a "YES ME!" post ... and enjoy my YES ME! accomplishments for the week ... could that be funny too. Like YES I really did feed the kids Mac & Cheese three days in a row! Oh, I like MckMama's denial of truth! -b

Night Time Silly-ness at its Best!

2008-11-06T21:05:00.005-06:00

So this is Eva, at bedtime ... she is all to silly, mostly all the time.

I keep telling myself I will catch her on camera one of these days with her "Big Hug, Big Kiss" night time routine. Here is what I caught a glimpse of tonight. Not sure if it totally is captured the way we get blessed by it every night! -b

New do's all around!

2008-11-06T19:36:00.007-06:00

Tonight was the night for just Emily to get her hair cut, but this morning she did not want to go. I thought that is fine, Eva could use one so she will just go in her place so we could keep the appointment. By the time I picked the two up from Aunt Cheryl's Emily was back to wanting her hair cut again and Eva was stuck on getting her hair done too. Not the dilemma I was looking forward to for the ride up to IC. So on the way up to Kelly's Salon Trendz, I called to see if she had time to fit two kids in, not one. What an angel ... she fit both of them in on such a busy night. So Eva got her long locks cut ... not to much, but more than I was prepared for ... even if I wanted it shorter. Emily as always just looks cuter than ever, what am I going to do with this amazing beauty God graced her with? While Eva was getting her hair cut, Emily was busy making a friend with a 4th grade girl, she is so good at making friends! So here are a few photos. Oh, before I forget Camden got his hair cut too ... Jon just took him to "Great Clips" was all, he doesn't get pampered quite like the girls do. So kids haircuts all around was the theme for the night! -b

Play Date

2008-11-05T16:38:00.006-06:00

I was going to title this Wordless Wednesday ...

This is Eva with my best friend's daughter, she is over for a "play date" while her mom has parent teacher confrences tonight for her preschool class. Eva is having so much fun right now with her friend ... and watching them together is just to much fun! -b

Eva's Day at the Doctors Office

2008-11-04T21:39:00.004-06:00

So today was the day for Eva's three year well child check. She was so excited about seeing Doctor Miller, and could hardly wait. Plus the notion of not getting any shots was about the best thing ever. She was very talkative, and answered almost every question that Doctor Miller asked her. Plus she had so many questions for Doctor Miller too ... I have never giggled so much at a doctors appointment before! Here are a few photos of Eva with Doctor Miller's nurse Holly taking her BP, and some photos from our ride home after grocery shopping when she feel asleep snacking on crackers. -b

Looks like a comfy pillow right?

Check out the video of Eva sleeping ... I think it is just too cute, don't ask how I got it on camera though. -b

Not Me! Monday

2008-11-03T20:56:00.000-06:00

So, here I start again ... this week trying to get my Not Me! Monday in before the deadline. Please check out where all this got it's start with MckMama ... and join many of us who also take part in this FREE therapy at its funniest!

I was NOT flustered last week when I missed posting my Not Me! Monday by just a few minutes, how silly of me!

I did NOT break down last week and put the flannel sheets on our bed because I just could not take the coolness of our bedroom, which was by no means about 62 degrees at night. It also did NOT warm up the next day, and I just love sweating at night now! Because of this I have NOT enjoyed the first few days of November here in Iowa with the temps in the high 60's to mid 70's during the day. And even in the evening only getting down to the low 60's. No, I am NOT enjoying this one bit!

Last week I did NOT forget to help my son's second grade teacher create a class blog, I would never forget an appointment. I did not go to take photo's for the newspaper in the same classroom the next day because they got an "Apple Grant." I did NOT think that this "Apple Grant" was for an Apple computer ... how silly of me to not get all the info. I was NOT surprised when they talked about Apples from an Apple Tree and not awarding the class with a Macintosh Computer.

I was NOT at all happy to go off of Daylight Savings Time this week, who needs an extra hour of sleep anyways. I did NOT completely enjoy the fact that I had all three kids with full tummies, and one kid showered and myself showered also before 7:15 this morning. We did NOT spend the rest of our 30 minutes before school playing around in our bedrooms. But if we had this it what it might have looked like.

I also did NOT find the time to get all three kids to pose for a photo and smile, if I had do you think it would look like this one?

I did not work myself so hard Monday to Thursday that I ended up with Pneumonia, and wound up back in bed all day Friday, Saturday & Sunday. My husband did NOT make me take the kids by myself for their "Flu Mist" Shots, wasn't I to be in bed all day resting? This "Flu Mist" was so NOT the best thing ever invented, and everyone should NOT sign their kids up for this. It was NOT fun to just watch my kids set there and not cry and just take the "Flu Mist" like it was no big deal. What mom wants there kids to act like that?

On Sunday when I was home sick and home all by myself I did NOT get hooked on watching a TV Marathon of "Prison Break." I did NOT continue to watch it that afternoon when everyone came home, until the episodes were finished. I am NOT thinking about watching the new Episode that will be airing this week.

Last week I did NOT cook my kids frozen pizza to eat twice in the span of four days. I also did NOT try to make myself feel better the second time by serving it with something more nutritious by adding homemade apple sauce, and canned garden green beans. The kids did NOT disappoint me when they only ate a little pizza but all their green beans & apple sauce, don't they always want to eat pizza?

I am NOT at all ignoring those of you who have tagged me ... and I am NOT by any means trying to figure out how to answer those questions. You would think with so much time doing nothing while being sick I would catch up on my blogs ... but I will soon I promise!

Well here I draw to an end this Monday evening, in hope that I can make my link to MckMama before she closes her post. Check her out as her new baby is just an absolute miracle. Please also make it out to VOTE tomorrow! -b

No Tricks, just a good Treat!

2008-10-31T10:41:00.000-05:00

So, I did it ... once again I used my powers and made Halloween "costumes" for the kids out of everyday items. I am all for them being able to wear their costumes after this day. Usually I just go with Iowa Hawkeye or Chiefs Football Cheerleader/Football player Outfits for the kids. This year I went for something different. So the girls wore "dance outfits" with their wings from two years ago ... a purchase I got for them to play dress up with. They were Fairy Dancing Ballerina Princesses. I made Camden's outfit in less than 45 minutes. I Painted the letters EHS - East High School ... which would be from High School Musical, and the main character Troy Bolton's #14 ... and placed it in the dryer on the sweater rack and let it fast dry to be worn in just an hour. I really had forgotten Kalona was doing "Trick-or-Treating" on Thursday night this year ... so when I thought I had an extra day (*remember I am a procrastinator) I had less than an hour to create something for Camden. Not to mention I was just at the doctors office only to find out that I have not been taking care of my self, and have Pneumonia. My orders are to stay in bed and get healthy ... but Dad has me working today. Gotta do a deposit, and did I mention Payroll today! Oh, I have to much to do! I sure can pick the perfect time to get sick. Well at least last night was just down right beautiful, I actually was afraid the kids would get to warm.

Hope you enjoy these photos. -b

Late, but still Not Me Monday.

2008-10-27T22:13:00.000-05:00

So who's to say that after something as traumatic as almost losing a computer to some unknown virus you can't just get back onto another one and get going again. I must admit it feels a bit like after my first car accident, you don't really want to get back in and drive for all the fear that overcomes you with all the "what ifs" but you just realize if you're going to ever get somewhere you just have to get back in and drive. So here I am driving my self to start my Not Me Monday post late on Monday, even if it is to late to participate. -b

I was NOT so excited when asked to help read with my son's second grade class last Tuesday, who would consider this an honor? It did NOT make me feel so good that I totally felt rewarded when each kid read to me individually.

I did NOT feel the least bit happy when my son's soccer game was cancelled on Sunday when it was so windy he could barely stand up, not to mention quite cold.

I did NOT bribe my son with $1.00 to eat school lunch today. I was NOT surprised when he came home to tell me that Chili is actually good and he might let me make it some time.

I was NOT at all excited when I saw I have 3 new "Followers" ... that would NOT make me happy. Thanks to Deb, Marcie and Faith for NOT making me feel special at all. :)

I did NOT cry like a baby and almost hyperventilated as I realized my computer was infected by "Spy Wear". I did NOT just clear and delete almost all my photos from my camera memory card onto said computer before this all happened. My husband did NOT try to make me feel better by helping me to try and save what we could, calm me down and stay up with me to accomplish the major back-ups to my work programs. That would NOT be something he would be so kind to do, Thanks hun!

I did NOT make Taco's on Friday night and then figure out that I did not have any tortillas, therefore feeding my kids stale taco shells. I did NOT remind them I could be feeding them rice and beans like the Prachar kids! By the way, I was NOT out at Stringtown Grocery when I saw Haitian Rice & Beans and did NOT think 1. I could by this and send to the Prachar's or 2. Try to make it for my family, no I would enjoy eating it to much! Well, I might eat the rice same as the kids, Travis, how do you do it?

I did NOT fill the Tahoe up on Friday morning with gas at $2.48, then exercise and when leaving watch them mark it down to $2.38. I did NOT enjoy only paying $50.00 for a full tank of gas! I also did NOT see that gas was down to $2.29 on the way home tonight, I would NOT get excited over something like this.

I am NOT stressing out about getting my computer back tomorrow. I am NOT at all wondering if all my computer programs will run correctly to do subscription labels, payroll, and bill out invoices. I would NOT spend so much time pondering over something I can't control, WHY!

Well, I must get some sleep, I have a lot to look forward to! Have a great day. -b

Offline

2008-10-27T17:18:00.001-05:00

Just so you can keep me in prayer ... my home office/work computer was "attacked" last night. And I am in a serious need of prayer that I can emotionally over come the stress this is causing me. I think as of this moment I have a fixed computer, but will not know for sure until tomorrow morning. Thank God, for a local lady that deals with these things and has been working on it since 9:00 am today, and was still at 4:30 pm. I am overloaded with work, and do not have a computer right now to do that work on. I went into the news office today to help out with ads, since our ad person is home due to a surgery that was pretty serious. So it was good that I could help them, but I am stressed at the amount of work that will be facing me tomorrow, as we will be going into billing on Wednesday, and Payroll on Thursday. Hopefully I will be up and running back to normal here soon. -b

Under the Weather and Dreaming!

2008-10-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

I have to start with an apology if you have been regularly checking in to see if I posted anything new, I have been down with a bad cold ... and trying hard to rest. So I have spent most my Saturday sleeping, or should I say trying to. With all the kids running in and out of the house giving me updates on Jon working or asking if certain neighbor kids could play over at our house. Which of course was fine as long as they stayed outside away from me. But sleep was unsuccessful in the afternoon and I went to bed at 8:00 PM.

The girls were quite silly Saturday around lunch time ... and I do have the photos above to prove of their silliness. I cannot quite recall the reason for this silliness, but they can be so cute together sometimes.

I am down stairs watching Camden, Jon and Emily playing the Wii. So I thought I would blog some. I am trying to catch up on every ones blogs too, which seems impossible right now. I didn't know you could miss so much when you are offline since Wednesday. I am doing much better, but still not back up and running at full speed. Looking forward to a "Moms Night Out" tomorrow night, which is at my favorite place Texas Roadhouse. YEAH!

Because I missed doing another Flashback Friday ... here is what I was going to post, and missed. Look a few weeks late but I finally located Eva's photos from when she was born!

Eva with Grandpa Ray! I loved how the nurses would play with Eva's hair. She would always come to me with this "mohawk" style hair from the nurses running their hands threw it all the time.

The kids look so small ... Emily is almost 32 months (almost 3)! Camden would be 4 years old, wow I can't get over how much they changed, and how much they still pour out their unconditional love for this one.

Home at last ... or what we could call home, which was my parents place. We were in the midst of building our second home when our first sold fast and we lived with my parents for almost three months, half very pregnant, and the other half with newborn child! It was an emotional time coming home with a newborn to live in the bedroom I grew up in.