Cast-free Callie

Callie girl got her cast off this morning. Hooray!

Last picture of her in her cast. She was oh-so thrilled. :-)


Cutting the cast off. This was after the "saw". She cried a little because she was scared, but then she calmed down. She's a trooper.


Daddy holding Cals while we are waiting for the results from the x-rays. She's in the clear and everything looked good!



Random picture of Noah who did well watching his sister. He was a bit concerned that they were hurting her, but we re-assured him that she was just scared of the loud noises and she wasn't actually being hurt.


She is still not used to using that arm, although she has moved it a little. We'll see what she does after nap.

Perhaps today we'll take down some Christmas decorations...

The plague

So, Noah's fever is on day 5 and still going. Dave looked at him today and could visibly see his lymph nodes. He called the doctor and we got in this afternoon. He has strep throat. At least we know now and can have him treated. He was still running a fever tonight when I put him to bed...but we've started the antibiotics and I gave him some more tylenol.

Callie has been having horrible diarrhea the last two days. Poor girl. There is no consistency to her poops...it's like water. She's pooped through two outfits already today and our house has that diarrhea smell. Her poor bottom is all red too. I feel so bad for her. She finally ate a little tonight, and the doctor gave us some pro-biotics to give her to help it. So far, aside from that, she's fever free...and I'm praying that she stays that way.

Please just pray that my kids heal, and heal quickly, in the next few days. We've been praying for them a lot, but more prayer is always good. Pray too for Dave and I to maintain, and just to feel God's presence with us. I know He is working this all out. Thanks so much.

Merry Christmas!

These are the "big" presents the kids got this year. Noah also got a Buzz and Woody. Callie got some new babies and a highchair, among various other things for both.

We are stuck at home today because Noah's running a 102 fever again. If it was mild, I would have maybe still tried...but 102 is kinda high. He's acting normal though (feuding with Callie), so it feels hard to stay at home and miss my family's Christmas today. The kid's took long naps and now I'm letting them watch one of our new movies from Christmas. It's been a quiet day all in all. Noah's still running about 100 degree temp after Tylenol, so it's still a good thing we're here. I have to keep reminding myself of that. I think my sister will stop by tonight on her way home and my parents are planning on coming by tomorrow on their way home too...so at least we'll get to see some of my family.

All in all, despite the sickness, it's been a lovely Christmas.

Merry Christmas (eve) Everyone!

I'm so excited for Christmas this year. Really, I am. We had our first Christmas last weekend with the Irwin side (Dave's mom's side). It was a lot of fun to see people, eat wonderful food, and let the kids open a few presents.

The holidays encompass so many things. It's great to see family. I love eating the good food...of fine, and the cookies too. I'm really excited for my kids this year. They're so much fun and I can't wait to see their reactions when they open their presents. However, the big thing that I'm excited to share with my kids tomorrow is the birthday party we get to have for Jesus. We're going to make Monkey bread (then stick some candles on it...it kind of looks like a cake right?) We'll read the story of Jesus' birth and then let the kids open presents. I'm really loving this tradition because it helps to remind me (and one day, the kids) what this season is all about.

Dave is finished at Thorntown. It was bittersweet his last day. He's really liked everyone down there and has fit in well over the last few years. It was difficult to say goodbye, I imagine. However, I know that he is enjoying the idea of having all his days free. We've talked of doing some traveling on his off days from the emergency clinic. Who knows what we'll do. Endless possibilities. :-)

Callie is obsessed with Dora. She also does not appreciate commercials. When a commercial comes on in between Dora, she laments loudly, "Dora! Dora!" and looks to me to fix it. Sorry kiddo. I don't like commercials either.

We made cookies the other day. It was actually a lot of fun. The kids were so into cutting out shapes in the cookie dough. They were machines. :-) Now, we are in the process of giving all of them away. Too much temptation sitting here.

Hoping all is going well for you this holiday season. Merry Christmas!!

My husband is the best

I was running around trying to get everything done to leave (possibly tonight) for the Irwin Christmas tomorrow, with two whiny kids at my heels. On a whim, Dave decided to take them BOTH with him to run errands. It's AMAZING how much I finished in that amount of time. I baked cookies, swept and mopped the kitchen, picked up, pulled out clothes for everyone for tomorrow, vacuumed, folded two loads of laundry, put EVERYTHING away. He even said that he was taking care of dinner tonight. Wow. Now I'm sitting here, and am not sure what to do with myself. Hmmmm. I have a pretty great husband. :-)

Two places at once

I wish. We've had the sickness plague hit our house. Noah came down with a fever Saturday. He was really out of it for Saturday/Sunday. You know Noah is sick when he just lays there and doesn't want to cause mischief.

He got better, then I started getting a sore throat. Tuesday night, Callie started running a fever and she had one all day yesterday and then a mild one this morning.

So, today was Noah's Christmas party at preschool. All the parents came and they decorated cookies. Dave had to work at Thorntown today (only 2 days left), so I decided to go and just bring Callie. Well, when she was still running a fever this morning, I decided that perhaps this wasn't such a good idea.

Dropping Noah off was so hard because the teacher was really disappointed that I couldn't come back. Then she said that the director could come and be a "substitute" for me. Ugh. I wanted to be there, but I didn't have anyone to watch my sick kid. Well, Callie's fever broke through the morning and she started feeling much better. I still debated, but since this thing is obviously contagious, I still stayed home with her.

When I went to pick Noah up, they were reading a story. I had to take Callie in, and so we sat and listened. It was really nice to be there, but I kept Callie on my lap the whole time. I was the only parent who had been missing, and I felt the loss of missing out on those moments with Noah. Right or wrong, I felt shamed/judged that I hadn't been there before (since clearly Callie was doing much better). Parenting is hard, trying to make the best decisions for everyone involved.

There will be plenty more of these opportunities, I know. I'm feeling emotional today and I probably just need to get over the fact that I just couldn't be in both places at once.

Hopefully, we're all on the mend now. We're really looking forward to the holidays this year. Noah and Callie are so much fun to buy for and I'm really excited to see their faces this year as they open presents. It gives me a new perspective on how Father God feels when he gives good things to us. He delights in us. That's pretty much how I feel about my kids.

Well, I'm off to finish cleaning while the kids are napping. Have a great day!

Kiddos

Noah

This is the conversation Noah and I had on the way home from church this morning:

Noah: My shoes are getting to be too small...my socks too.

Me: Yep, you're getting bigger.

Noah: Yeah, I'm getting bigger! When you and daddy get little, I will drive you. I will drive and Callie will sit up front with me. Then I can wear daddy's shoes!!


I love that someday (at least for now anyway) he wants to take care of us when we are "little". Someday soon he will fit into Dave's shoes. I hope he does...Dave is a great man and they would be good shoes to fill.

Another profound Noahism:

Talking about how much he likes his friends:

"All my friends are my friends!!" Yes, indeed. :-)

Day 1- Traveling and the First session

Dave and I left our house at 3:30 am on Thursday morning. We left with the rest of the team around 4:15 to get to the airport. Our flights were with Alan the whole way, but the rest of them was split up on different flights. We hopped a short flight to Cincinnati to await our long flight to Seattle.

Unfortunately, this was the morning of the FAA glitch. If you hadn't heard about it...that Thursday their system that records flight plans failed. Then their back-up system failed. They were trying to file flight plans by phone and fax. Needless to say, it caused a huge ruckus in the day's plans. Fortunately, our flight was only delayed about an hour (small compared to what the rest of the day looked like for flyers I'm sure).


We arrived in Seattle just in time to catch up with the rest of the guys who had been waiting awhile. We climbed in our rental and drove to Blue Sky where we met up with Steve. We got on the ferry headed over the sound to Whidbey island, where the retreat was being held. Another first for me: I had never been on a ferry with cars. It was only a 15 minute ride over there. Unfortunately, it was raining, so we didn't see much...except a seal. That was pretty cool. :-)


We were all exhausted by the time we got there. We had been traveling for about 12 hours at that point. Originally, Dave and I were to stay in a cabin with some other couples (since we were the only couple there). They dropped us off and we found this HUGE black spider where we were staying. Wonderful. A few minutes after Dave and I got settled, Tony called us and told us there was room for us in the farm house they were staying in. We decided to go so we could be closer to the team (and perhaps there wouldn't be as many spiders...) I'm glad we did.





It was beautiful. Intricate woodwork. A pass-through in the kitchen. Beautiful staircase. Just gorgeous.

The first session was a bit hard for all of us. It was starting at 7pm Seattle time, which is 10pm our time. I was exhausted by the end of it. I was a tad melancholy and really wanted prayer myself to be filled up enough to be able to pour out through the weekend. For some reason, I just wanted God to use someone to touch me in a profound way. That was my prayer as I went to bed that night...

Day 2- Friday

So, after feeling exhausted and unable to poor out on Thursday night, I woke up on Friday feeling much more refreshed. Matt came down the hall and handed me a note from his wife, Allyson, who is also a really good friend of mine. It was just what I needed. Inside, she had written 3 verses. I sat down and began to read them. God had totally answered my prayer. I had asked that he use someone to speak to me his truths. Just the fact that Allyson had thought to include a note to me was really meaningful. The verses she sent were like manna. They were exactly what I needed. So, there I was, in a house full of men (I was the only woman) sobbing my eyes out in the living room telling Dave how much God met me and how thankful I was for Allyson. Dave can handle me. It's a good thing none of the others came down and saw my sob-fest though.

As if to add an exclamation point to my wonderment of God, I walked outside and came across this view:

The picture does not do it justice. I have never in my life seen snow-covered mountains. I just stood there and stared. It was breath-taking. Purple mountains majesty, indeed.

After the first session, we had a lot of free time. A lot of the guys played basketball. I was told that I was going to have to play, but (thankfully) at the last minute, they made it a guys game. I was excused. :-)

Later in the afternoon, I rode with Kurt, Alan, and Matt into the town for a scenic drive. Dave opted to stay home and read.




I'm going to take this time and insert my perspective on this trip. I was the only female that went on the trip with 5 other males. I was a bit worried about this, not sure what to expect. Truly, these guys are all really great men. They made me feel welcome and a part of the group always. I felt like I was hanging out with my brothers (or what I would imagine brothers to be like since it was just me and my sister growing up). And I guess they are my brothers in Christ, so maybe that's why it wasn't weird.

God did lots of cool things in the sessions. Lots of people got prayer. God moved. It was really neat to see.

Day 3-Saturday

Saturday morning was our last session at the conference. It was really good and as always, God showed up.

Afterwards, we were invited to a couple's house who have a house on the island. It was beautiful!!! They lived right on the water and so I could enjoy the view, while standing beside a roaring fire. Perfect.

The couple have lots of grandkids, so they had lots of fun toys. The nerf guns were a big hit. :-)





Let's just say that a nerf war occured...and I was the reporter who got hit in the crossfire.

Afterwards, we hit Deception Pass. It's this HUGE bridge overlooking this beautiful scenery. I was not a fan of crossing the bridge because it was so windy. I had an irrational fear that the wind would blow me over the side. I digress. Anyway, it was really neat to see.

Day 4-Sunday

Sunday Morning started with church at Blue Sky. It felt very much like Clear River, which was nice when we were so far away. I ended up getting prayer at the end of service. It was exactly what I needed. We felt we knew people there too, since we had been at the conference all weekend.

Afterwards, we headed downtown to Pike's Place. It's this huge farmer's market that also has the people who throw fish.


It was such a cool experience. Dave and I enjoyed walking up and down and seeing all the different sights and smells. We bought some souveniers for the kids among other things. Anything I say just wouldn't really do it justice. If you ever get the chance to experience it, you should go.

After checking out Mars Hill (a mega church there in Seattle) for an evening service, we headed over to Steve and Shu-hui's house for some really good chili and good company. Steve is the head pastor at Blue Sky church and also oversees the other churches in our network. It was a really fun evening. Their kids are beautiful and really well-behaved.

We then headed back to our various host houses to crash before our EARLY morning wake up call and flights back home.

Cals

So, nice picture, eh?

Callie was reading books with grandma and when trying to get down, fell off the chair. Mom noticed afterward that she wasn't using her right arm and ended up taking her in to get checked out. Five hours later, they finally were able to leave the hospital with this cast and a sling. She had hairline fractures in both her radius and ulna. Meanwhile, Dave and I were on our way back from Seattle, so we were stuck in an airport/airplane while all this was going on (talk about frustrating to be so far away when this happened). Mom did great though and I knew that Callie was in good hands, so that comforted me.

She has a follow-up appointment tomorrow. I'm glad that I'll be able to go to that one so that I can ask any questions about what the next few weeks hold. Other than that, by this evening, she was back to business as usual. Smiling, giggling, climbing...there's no stopping her. Kid's are so resilient.

Anyway, it's wonderful to be home...and get to hug and snuggle my kids a little bit. We missed them a lot. I'll blog more about our trip in the days to come. Tonight, however, I'm about ready for bed.

Please pray that God continues to heal Callie swiftly and that she continues to remain "unfazed" by her new accessory.

Leaving on a jet plane...

Don't know how much time I'll have tomorrow to write. We are leaving for Seattle, Washington on Thursday for a few days. We, meaning Dave and I. The kids are going to be in good hands with Emi and the grandparents. Dave and I are going with our pastor to help with a church in our network's fall conference. I'm really looking forward to what God's going to do and excited for my first trip ever to the West coast. I don't think I've been farther west than Kansas.

So this week has been spent with all the nitty-gritty details of what to pack, what details to leave behind for everyone who is watching the kids, and the surreal feeling that I'm leaving the kids for the longest time to date. I know they're in great hands, but still, I have my moments. When Callie woke up from nap and came out of her room, I was just so struck with how much I love her. The same with Noah when he woke up. He said, "Mommy, I love you." He's such a sweet kid. I am so richly blessed. I will definitely miss them, that's for sure.

I've got as much as I want to do tonight done, so I'm probably going to wind down for the evening. Tomorrow will be another busy day...and hopefully some play time can be added in there with my munchkins. :-)

Please pray that we all have safe travel. That God would really show up at this conference and that people's lives will be changed. Pray for spiritual renewel (both for myself and the people attending the conference). I'm trusting that God is going to move.

Dresser

In Dave's fastest project to date, he has produced a beautiful dresser for Callie. We had searched all over for a sturdy dresser that wasn't $700-$800. We weren't overly successful, so he decided to just make her one. It really turned out nice. I think Dave even surprised himself with how well it turned out. :-) So, I spent the day today reorganizing Callie's room to accomodate her big girl dresser (I was using a 3 drawer plastic dresser in her closet).

Noah's response was perhaps the best. With wide eyes, "WOW!!! Daddy that looks so nice!!!"

In the thankful mood....

So, I have another thankful shout out. Yesterday we hosted dinner for people who are interested in our new lifegroup. As it is for people who have already raised their kids, we needed to do something with ours. Our dear friend Emi, graciously offered to take our kids. She took them to Monkey Joes for 2 hours, then brought them back here (we were still meeting), got them ready for bed, read them books, and tucked them in. God bless her. Again, I am struck by the community aspect. I am so thankful that we are a part of a community who takes care of each other. I would happily return the favor for her anytime.

The meeting went well and we are on our way to having a new lifegroup started up soon.

Dave continues his work on Callie's dresser. It's coming along nicely. He's just working on the drawer fronts now, but the rest of the dresser and the drawers are all assembled. He's really pleased with his project.

We went and cheered on our friend Sarah this morning for her swim meet. It brought me back a little bit. I swam backstroke in highschool...and that's what Sarah mostly swam today. We were really proud of her. She did a great job...and the kids were so well behaved. I was worried they would want to jump in the pool or run around. Nope. They sat there so nicely, with Noah holding his, "We love u Sarah" sign. Callie did great until Sarah came by to say "hi" during a break and held Callie. When she had to give Callie back to me, Callie pouted. Aside from that, they were little angels...it was glorious.

We're probably going to do family night tonight. Since Dave and I are leaving for Seattle next Thursday, I'm really looking forward to a fun night out with the kids. And that's about all for now.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for my friend Allyson. She is one of the women that I regularly pray with. She is a wonderful mom and has a beautiful family. She has such a sweet spirit about her.

This morning she called me up and asked me what I had planned for dinner. I mentioned nothing yet, but that a friend was coming by in the evening. For those of you who know our family, deciding what we will have and executing it are for some reason ridiculously hard things to do in this house. So, her next statement came as a surprise. She said, "I want to make you dinner tonight." It was so wonderfully random. We didn't "need" it. We aren't sick (beyond colds), we didn't just have a baby or any other reason that people normally bring a meal to someone. It's just a random Thursday. A random Thursday that I now did not have to cook a meal. What a welcome thought. We had recently had this awesome chicken dish at our last Clear Vision. She wanted to make it for us since she knew how much we liked it.

So, all day today I have been thinking about community. How thankful I am for Allyson and her understanding of being a part of a community. She blessed us so fully tonight...and it really inspired me to "Pay it Forward" so to speak. I really like the idea of taking care of each other in the community and this is just a nice, fairly easy, practical way to love on others.

So, thanks Allyson. It was AWESOME...I mean that...it really tasted good. It felt so good to put a nice meal on the table tonight. I'm so glad God put you in my life.

Wordless Wednesday- Silly Faces

Life

So, I've been slightly incommunicado this week. I've thought about blogging, but really wasn't sure what to write. It's been a week of trying to make big decisions and not wanting to do the wrong thing...but not sure what the right thing is either.

Recently we've had a deaf woman attend our church. It's been exciting and frankly frightening for me. I feel inept at signing and the burden of trying to interpret really began wearing on me. We had our church's Fall Conference this weekend, which was really good and much needed. The timing couldn't have been more perfect as I really needed to pray through what this may or may not look like in our church. Both our pastor and Dave said that ultimately the decision to continue or not continue this ministry rested on me (which made sense because I was the only one who could sign) As conference went on, I began to realize that it has been a long time since I've received prayer. It was not intentional, it just hadn't happened. So, a lot of the feelings of being overwhelmed with the possibility of adding another ministry onto my plate and being the only one to do it at that, was my breaking point. I just sobbed through the last prayer session. During that time, I felt God free me from expectation and fears. I decided to wait and see what this morning brought (although I was leaning towards not continuing at all). I interpreted this morning and it went much better than last week (I had the sermon ahead of time and was able to prep a little better). I also found out two more people that sign and one of whom has a HUGE heart for the deaf...so she is interpreting for this woman next week. God provided. To be honest, I'm still not sure what the future will hold. It's exciting to have this as a possibility, but I'm still unsure of the execution or whether now is the time. This woman is also plugged into another church and is only coming to ours because we have "interpreters". hahaha. She is so sweet and incredibly nice. It's been a good experience in many ways: Forcing me to practice my signs, giving me abilities to use sign, but also...learning my balance and boundaries and trusting God to take care of me (by providing another person..or two...to help carry the load).

So, that's what this last week has been for me. Beyond that, things with the kids are good. Noah's loving preschool. Callie loves Noah being in preschool, because she can play in the house without being tormented. Dave is building Callie a dresser, since we haven't found anything we have liked that isn't WAY expensive. He's loving his new project. I stayed for second service to help with prayer and to go to worship, since I missed that this morning while chatting with this woman. I came home to a wonderfully clean house, vacuumed, kitchen clean, dishwasher running, and two napping children. My husband is INCREDIBLE. I was dreading going home knowing that the house was a mess (we were all exhausted after conference last night) and this morning we were rushing to get to church. I didn't want to have to deal with the house when I got home from a long morning...and my wonderful husband totally blessed me by cleaning up for me. He's pretty fantastic.

And that's how I'll end this terribly long post...

The Golden Touch

First let me say how great my husband is. If I butter him up then maybe he'll forget about the second part of this blog entry. No really, last night he took the kiddos for a few hours so I can have some uninterrupted cleaning time. I know that sounds weird, but it's honestly relaxing for me to clean in peace without someone dumping a puzzle out where I just cleaned. I steam cleaned the carpets, dusted, and organized. I feel at peace today with the house.

Today, he took Noah with him on his man-date. He's helping a friend remodel a bathroom, which is actually a lot of fun for him. So, Callie and I were left to our own devices. We had nothing better to do, so we headed for the mall. We got there right as things were starting to open and there was a long line for Old Navy. I asked a woman standing there what was going on and she said that you could stuff a bag for 50% off if you were the first 50 and had an Old Navy card. Well, gee, I knew that thing would come in handy. I figured, what the heck...I'll wait in line and see what I can find. Well, find I did. The kids now have their Christmas wear (I'd been eyeing a dress for Callie there for awhile), and each got 2 new pairs of jeans (so 4 jeans for a total of $20). I got a few shirts for me. Dave got a new dress shirt for $1.50. Sweet deals.

I figured I was done after that. However, I had been wanting a pair of shoes at Payless, so I thought I might stop in just to see if they were on sale. As I walked in the lady said they had some deal where you got 50% off your entire purchase today. Well, hot dog, it was a good day to come to the mall. So I got the shoes I had been eyeing for half-price, a scarf, and 3 pairs of earrings (for $2)...all for a ridiculously low price.

After that, I just walked out of the mall. I figured I would quit while I was ahead. I'm super excited about the kid's Christmas clothes and their jeans. They both had growth spurts recently and were growing out of their old stuff.

So, now I'm just relaxing. I'm planning on picking up my book and enjoying the quiet.

One for the books

Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids each $5 for Halloween. We were at Target today looking at possibilities. Callie was looking at baby dolls. Dave handed her one to look at. Typical Callie is that one baby is not enough. So the following dialogue occured:

Callie: Ugh...baby....baby.....baby!!!
Noah: Callie wants another baby
Callie: baby...Baby...BABY
(Dave handing her another baby)
Noah: No, Callie wants the "chocolate" one!

All we could do is laugh since we haven't really ever talked much about different races. Needless to say this was not a quiet statement but rather exclaimed in the middle of the toy department.

God bless him.

Lesson: Watch what you say

I'm sitting here with Noah as my nose is running non-stop. I'm feeling miserable...and so I dramatically proclaimed, "I'm dying, ugh." Noah lays his head on my chest and sadly says. "I don't want you to die. Your daddy's friend. You can't die." Oops. My reply, "Mommy's not dying. She just has a runny nose. I'm sorry for saying that." "Oh? You have a runny nose? You're not dying? That's good. I didn't want you to die." Lesson to self: Save the drama for your mamma so you don't scare your kid.

This week in pictures

It's been a busy, but great, week.

Monday: I had a meeting for an ASL playgroup. They need people who can sign with little kids while they meet with the parents. They have more volunteers than kids I think...but at least it's an "in" into the deaf community here, which is something that I have been looking for since we've moved here.

Tuesday: Flu shots. Jury duty. All four of us got our flu shots and Dave had jury duty in the morning. He wasn't picked (or even interviewed...he was 3rd to the last on the list) so he came home at lunch. My flu shot knocked me out so badly that I went to bed at 7:30 on Tuesday night. Yowsers.

Wednesday: After sleeping almost 11 and a half hours, I was feeling pretty good Wednesday morning. Because it was such a beautiful day, we went to the zoo with some friends. It was gorgeous weather! We had a great time.

We even took the train for the first time. It was fun for a one time deal.

When we got home, I decided to plant some bulbs. Meanwhile, Dave raked leaves...and the kids helped.


Thursday: Noah had a field trip to the library through preschool. Callie and I joined him. I'm learning it's a bit chaotic to try and do that with two kids, but we managed. I think he actually might have done better if I wasn't there. He was really shy and clingy. In the afternoon, it started raining, so we explored with some fingerpaints.

Noah was much cleaner than Callie who dug into it with abandon. It was fun.

Our friend Sarah came over last night. The kids went gaga over her. They wouldn't leave her alone and peppered her with books and entertainment. Noah considers her one of his best friends and Callie yells out, "Sharah!"


After the kids went to bed, Dave, Sarah, and I played Uno Attack. Sarah won twice, Dave won once, and well...I was just there to make people feel good about themselves. :-)

It's been a good week.

A caught moment

These pics come just off of time out for fighting. They had to hug and make up afterwards...and then it became this game where they just kept hugging each other, dancing, and playing well together. Time out works.

Romantic Getaway

OK...so this blog is basically going to be a brag on my wonderful husband...be warned. :-)

Dave and I haven't been on a getaway weekend since I was pregnant with Callie, so we were due for one. We finally got it scheduled for this weekend. Dave set it all up as a birthday surprise for me. It was incredible! It started off with him dropping me of at a massage place. I got an hour long massage (wonderful!)...Meanwhile, he was checking into our hotel room and getting things set up. When we got the hotel, there were a dozen red roses that greeted me. Along with them, was a card, chocolate, and champagne...sitting on our jacuzzi tub. It was so amazing and wonderful.

For dinner, we headed to Dave and Busters. We've never been there before last night. For those of you who are not familiar, it's essentially a grown up Chuck E Cheese. We had a lovely dinner and then played games for a few hours. It was a lot of fun (and kind of nice not chasing kids around). We took our time and supported one another...when we weren't competing with one another (basketball and skiball) :-)

This morning, I was awake at...no joke: 6:45am. Wide awake. What?! Dave apparently slept horribly through the night. So we got up, ate our breakfast and then sat in the hot tub for a little bit.

Afterwards, we went shopping, which was a lot of fun. We went and explored the Castleton mall. In the afternoon, we caught a movie: Couples Retreat. Honestly, I didn't expect much out of it, but it was pleasantly surprising...for a Vince Vaughn movie.

We then drove home and had Monicals with the rest of the family.

It was such an amazing weekend. Dave and I talked a lot and held hands, and really just enjoyed each other's company. It was nice to be able to focus on us for a little while, without all the distractions.

So, thank you my love for providing the BEST get away. You're wonderful.

So, I'm sitting here on the couch, using Dave's laptop, my monkey's by my side watching cartoons. They slept in today until 6:57...an improvement. Heaven help me when daylight savings hits and they want to get up in the 5 o'clock hour. Ugh. Of course, the day they "sleep in", I slept terribly. Oh well, I guess.

Our washer broke over the weekend. It's some sort of electrical error...thank goodness it's covered under warranty. There should be someone to fix it today, meanwhile, there are partially damp clothes that need to dealt with...they'll just get a really good washing this afternoon. They are scheduled sometime between 12-4...so my afternoon will consist of waiting.

Noah was pretty funny last night. Dave had to go to a meeting and then place an order at the clinic, so he didn't get home right away. Noah wanted to stay up and say goodnight. I let him read in his room for a little bit. However, he kept bouncing out of bed asking if Dave was home yet. I finally decided that he needed to think about sleeping...so I told him it was time for bed, but that I promised that when Daddy came home...even if he was already asleep...that he would come in and give him a hug and a kiss. He replied, "Do you wanna hear my idea?" I'm trying not to laugh when I say, "Um, ok, what's your idea?" He said, "I wait up until Daddy comes home and then I run out and give him a hug and a kiss." As it turned out, Noah stayed in bed, but Dave did go in to tell him goodnight and he was still awake.

In other news, my dad came yesterday and took me out for a belated birthday lunch. It was really nice. He is getting around so much better.

Rainy day

It's been raining the better part of this week...at least steadily the last two days. A good day to make chicken and noodles and curl up in some comfy clothes and watch...Caillou. OK, everything but the last sounds delightful. However, the last is what is giving me peace and quiet currently, so I can't complain. Hopefully there will be a good movie or something on tonight.

Gotta finish making dinner...so this has to be short.

TDeZwaan Studio

So my friend Tiffany (actually the one who led me to Christ back in 8th grade) is starting off a new business. She has been handmaking bags (and other fun stuff) and now has a website set up. I have been wanting something personalized for Callie for awhile now and decided to have Tif design a bag for her. Here is the finished product.


Isn't it darling?? I love it. It's perfect as a small diaper bag...and will be really nice in kids church or at the gym childcare to let people know who's bag it is. Too cute!!! Click here if you want to check out her website. If you can't connect through the link, the address is: http://www.tdezwaanstudio.webs.com/

Thanks Tif!!

Birthday Fun

Monday was my birthday...and it was a pretty great day...Thanks in a large part to Dave and my friends and family who showered me with cards and gifts. I really felt loved. Dave let me sleep in and that was really nice since Noah had gotten up 5 times for Dave, once for me, and Callie had gotten up once. I woke up to him making chocolate chip pancakes. Yum. :-) He let me do whatever I wanted during the day. The only thing that I really wanted to do, not involving kids, was hit a particular clothing store that would take me a long time to browse. So, I hopped over there. When I came back the kids were fed and asleep for their naps. Dave watched a chick flick with me and then we took Callie to her 18 month appointment. She is a little under for weight (21 lbs). Noah was this way too around this age. The doctor wants us to fatten her up with butter, whipped cream, and carnation good start. Other than that, she is doing well.

Afterwards, our friends Jesse and Kristin came over, brought me a cool scarf for my birthday, and hung out for a little bit. They had to leave because Kristin had to go coach a soccer game. We had Monicals for dinner (big shocker) and my other friends Emi and Sarah came over in the evening. We just talked and chatted about life...and watched a movie.

It was a very nice birthday. I also got showered with a lot of nice cards and birthday wishes via facebook.

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday so special!!

Heather Smith Photography

So, as part of a birthday present to myself, I wanted family pictures done. There is a girl at our church who takes photos as a side job. (She's really talented.)Heather had some really neat ideas. Noah was a little uncooperative (His M.O. it seems), but we still got some good pics. I'm really pleased. :-)

Noah/Callie 18 months old at the Pumpkin Patch (almost 2 years to the date)