My cousin Sarah's parents were in a terrible car accident Friday, March 19. Heavy snow in southern IA caused them to lose control of their car and it was struck by another car on the passenger side. Sarah has just posted an update about this all on their blog.
Her dad, who was driving, will be having reconstructive surgery for broken face bones this week. Please pray for a successful surgery and correction for his vision, as well as for peace and wisdom as he cares for his wife. Sarah's mom, who was in the passenger seat, absorbed most of the blow and is in ICU with numerous injuries. Small steps of progress keep being made, but pray that healing will continue. Marshall, Sarah and Norah live in NH, but were able to fly back to IA last week to be with her parents. They have returned back to NH now, so also keep them in your prayers as it is crushing not to be able to be there by her parents' sides all the time through this.
Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with you all, Sarah.
Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 28 -
Q: What does it profit us to know that God created, and by His providence, upholds all things?
A: That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
picture post 4...the train
The Northstar Commuter Rail, which was completed last November, has a station 3 blocks from our house, and runs to the new Target Field downtown, with only one other stop in-between. This will be FABULOUS to take to Twins games this summer, and also just to get downtown, where you can connect to the lightrail to go many other places in the cities. While Mom and Dad were up we took the train down to Target Field and back, just to take a look around the beautiful new stadium and have the fun of riding the train. The kids loved this so much! I think the adults had fun too...
So, all of you Twins fans out there, feel free to come stay with us and ride the train to a game!
picture post 3...guests
The week after we returned from the farm, our guestroom was very busy. We had 3 sets of guests come to stay with us in one week! Of course that meant a lot of washing sheets, but very worth it as we love to have guests come and stay with us. (hint hint to all of you out there! =)
Our first guest on Sunday night was my friend, D. I worked with her at the bank when we lived in Brookings. She had just returned from a week long cruise, and didn't want to drive the 4 hrs back to Brookings in the dark. So we had a wonderful time catching up and staying up way too late, and she left the next morning.
Our second guest on Tuesday night was S's dad, T. He had a turkey convention in town and chose to stay by us vs. a hotel so he could get some good quality Papa-time with the kids in the morning.
Our third guests on Thursday night were my folks (Mom, I didn't get any pictures of you while you were here!). My hometown highschool girls' basketball team had made it to state finals and my parents up to cheer them on. They lost the first game on Thursday, but Mom and Dad stayed with us until Saturday - once again, to play with the grandkids, of course.
Our first guest on Sunday night was my friend, D. I worked with her at the bank when we lived in Brookings. She had just returned from a week long cruise, and didn't want to drive the 4 hrs back to Brookings in the dark. So we had a wonderful time catching up and staying up way too late, and she left the next morning.
Our second guest on Tuesday night was S's dad, T. He had a turkey convention in town and chose to stay by us vs. a hotel so he could get some good quality Papa-time with the kids in the morning.
Our third guests on Thursday night were my folks (Mom, I didn't get any pictures of you while you were here!). My hometown highschool girls' basketball team had made it to state finals and my parents up to cheer them on. They lost the first game on Thursday, but Mom and Dad stayed with us until Saturday - once again, to play with the grandkids, of course.
And thank you to all our guests for watching the kids in the morning so I could take a shower - more morning showers in one week than I have had in a long time! I am sure you appreciated me smelling better too...
Friday, March 26, 2010
picture post 2...the farm
The kids and I went to the farm a couple weeks ago to spend some time with Mom and Dad. Despite the intense fog, gray skies and rain, we had a warm and wonderful visit!
Little C was Boppa's boy while we were there! No tractor rides this trip, but everyone sat on the tractor with Boppa, including little C.
Aahma had colors and paper and folders all ready for the big kids being that we couldn't play outside much.
The next best thing to playing outside on the farm? Riding bikes and playing soccer in Boppa's big new machine shed, of course!
Playing on Boppa's new iTouch is pretty fun too.
One of the great things about going to visit family is all the food and goodies that are prepared for you (I didn't have to cook once while we were there! =). G loved the cake Uncle L made, and we all enjoyed great Aahma meals and brownies and treats from the Edgerton bakery too!
Boppa and his boys
G helped Aahma make homemade bread while we were there...yummy!
Little C got in on the action in the kitchen too.
One of the kids' favorite parts of the visit was the plethora of people to read books to them. And I do believe the plethora of people, including "Auntie" A here, didn't mind at all.
The real reason of the visit was not for the atmosphere or food, although those are great bonuses, but see the people we love. Boppa, Aahma, Uncle L, J, and Auntie A, it was great to see you all and we love you!
The best part of the trip was coming home to dadda! And while we were away, my wonderful husband painted our bedroom a beautiful shade of tan (want the color #? sorry! this shade was a custom blend...of all the old tans and browns in the basement!). It looks beautiful, and I do have to say I think I sleep better with tan walls vs the old sea foam green...
Little C was Boppa's boy while we were there! No tractor rides this trip, but everyone sat on the tractor with Boppa, including little C.
Aahma had colors and paper and folders all ready for the big kids being that we couldn't play outside much.
The next best thing to playing outside on the farm? Riding bikes and playing soccer in Boppa's big new machine shed, of course!
Playing on Boppa's new iTouch is pretty fun too.
One of the great things about going to visit family is all the food and goodies that are prepared for you (I didn't have to cook once while we were there! =). G loved the cake Uncle L made, and we all enjoyed great Aahma meals and brownies and treats from the Edgerton bakery too!
Boppa and his boys
G helped Aahma make homemade bread while we were there...yummy!
Little C got in on the action in the kitchen too.
One of the kids' favorite parts of the visit was the plethora of people to read books to them. And I do believe the plethora of people, including "Auntie" A here, didn't mind at all.
The real reason of the visit was not for the atmosphere or food, although those are great bonuses, but see the people we love. Boppa, Aahma, Uncle L, J, and Auntie A, it was great to see you all and we love you!
The best part of the trip was coming home to dadda! And while we were away, my wonderful husband painted our bedroom a beautiful shade of tan (want the color #? sorry! this shade was a custom blend...of all the old tans and browns in the basement!). It looks beautiful, and I do have to say I think I sleep better with tan walls vs the old sea foam green...Thursday, March 25, 2010
picture post 1...new header
I have a bunch of posts running through my head from things we have been doing lately that have just not made it here. So rather than spend a week or more trying to catch up, I will just give you what you want anyway - the pictures!
PS. Someday I will have time to sit down and make the blog template and header look like what I want them too...but until that point in time about 3 years down the road, I'll just give ya new pics to look at now and then!
PS. Someday I will have time to sit down and make the blog template and header look like what I want them too...but until that point in time about 3 years down the road, I'll just give ya new pics to look at now and then!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
letting go a little...
For the past 4 1/2 years, my life has been dedicated to taking care of our small children. I am extremely blessed to be able to stay home with them and I love it. Not that it is easy or that our children are perfect, but I enjoy being with them and taking care of them. We have also been blessed with great family and friends and good church programs, so that when our kids aren't with us, they are with people we love or know very well. We decided not to enroll G in preschool this year because she really didn't need it, and we valued the time that she has to play at home with us and her brothers. BUT, as the time gets closer to her going to school, we realized that it was going to be a big deal for her to be at school all day with people she doesn't know well yet. And that we don't know well yet, for that matter. So I started looking around for a few things that she might be able to do on her own, and found some great preschool programs by our local nature centers. They are once a week for 2 hours, and focus on a nature theme. This sounded like a great option, so we signed her up. We love the nature center and G seemed excited to go.
Last Tuesday was her first class, so I planned on getting there 20+ minutes early so that we could meet the teachers, see the place where they had class and just be ready for when it started. But due to a last minute dirty diaper from W, turning around because G forgot her mittens and hat that I had asked her to grab (only 5 blocks from home, but still), and a stalled car that blocked a major intersection for 10 minutes, we barely made it there on time. She had enough time to hang up her coat, and say hi to her teachers before they whisked her off to start the first project. They had me fill out a form with emergency and health stuff on it, but then I was ushered out of the room before I knew it. There is a great kids area in the center that the boys and I were able to sit and play at a while, but I knew that the whole point of this was not to be hovering, so after 20-30 minutes, we left the building.
At which point W had a meltdown - "We tan't LEAVE, momma! WHERE's G??? We tan't leave wit-out her!!!! STOP the tar, MOMMA! Turn around!!!!!" Boy, I wasn't expecting that at all. And it is hard to explain to a 2 yr old that we would be right back to pick her up. We left though, and soon got to Target where he was distracted enough.
But I wasn't. I know it sounds dumb, but I was really having a hard time just leaving G there with people I did not know. She is one of our most precious possessions, and I just threw her in a room with a bunch of strange kids and teachers???? And then I LEFT too??? I thought, this is dumb. We are not doing this again. G will be fine and we will cross the whole school thing next fall when we get there and we will meet and get to know her teacher before-hand and it will be much better. We finished our errands and headed back to the center probably 30 minutes before the class was finished. Partly so that the boys could play some more, partly because I wanted to check up on her and see how she was doing. Well, they had just gone outside before we got there so all I could do was wait and play with the boys (who had just a blast with all the great toys and animals there). And then the kids came back. I was secretly hoping that G would have had a horrible time so that I could be justified in not doing this again...but instead I got this:
She was beaming from ear to ear, excited to show me her projects, bubbling about all that they had done in the class. And my heart melted a little...maybe this wasn't so bad.
About the class on foxes in G's words:
"It was pretty fun. I was kinda nervous a little bit at first, but then I just walked in and it was fun. First we did the stamps of fox tracks on a big piece of paper, and made fox masks. Then a dog and a vegetarian (veterinarian) came to visit. They came because dogs are kinda like foxes - they have claws, good ears to listen for sounds, good sense of smell, and one difference is that foxes don't do tricks. Then we talked about foxes and listened to their sounds on the radio. My teachers knew a lot about foxes. There are red foxes that are orangish-yellowish and gray foxes that are brownish-grayish. Then we got a snack. It was peanuts, dog bones, marshmallows and m&m's AND apple juice. You could have cranberry juice, but I never tried that before. I only ate some of the snack - one girl thought the dog bones were REAL dog treats, so I didn't eat them. Then we went on a hike outside. We found 5 or 6 fox trackses and fox POOP! But we didn't see any foxes. I had fun and I really liked it."
The boys said bye to the turtles and we headed out to go on with the rest of our day.
"Can we do this again, momma?"
"Sure, honey."
Last Tuesday was her first class, so I planned on getting there 20+ minutes early so that we could meet the teachers, see the place where they had class and just be ready for when it started. But due to a last minute dirty diaper from W, turning around because G forgot her mittens and hat that I had asked her to grab (only 5 blocks from home, but still), and a stalled car that blocked a major intersection for 10 minutes, we barely made it there on time. She had enough time to hang up her coat, and say hi to her teachers before they whisked her off to start the first project. They had me fill out a form with emergency and health stuff on it, but then I was ushered out of the room before I knew it. There is a great kids area in the center that the boys and I were able to sit and play at a while, but I knew that the whole point of this was not to be hovering, so after 20-30 minutes, we left the building.
At which point W had a meltdown - "We tan't LEAVE, momma! WHERE's G??? We tan't leave wit-out her!!!! STOP the tar, MOMMA! Turn around!!!!!" Boy, I wasn't expecting that at all. And it is hard to explain to a 2 yr old that we would be right back to pick her up. We left though, and soon got to Target where he was distracted enough.
But I wasn't. I know it sounds dumb, but I was really having a hard time just leaving G there with people I did not know. She is one of our most precious possessions, and I just threw her in a room with a bunch of strange kids and teachers???? And then I LEFT too??? I thought, this is dumb. We are not doing this again. G will be fine and we will cross the whole school thing next fall when we get there and we will meet and get to know her teacher before-hand and it will be much better. We finished our errands and headed back to the center probably 30 minutes before the class was finished. Partly so that the boys could play some more, partly because I wanted to check up on her and see how she was doing. Well, they had just gone outside before we got there so all I could do was wait and play with the boys (who had just a blast with all the great toys and animals there). And then the kids came back. I was secretly hoping that G would have had a horrible time so that I could be justified in not doing this again...but instead I got this:
She was beaming from ear to ear, excited to show me her projects, bubbling about all that they had done in the class. And my heart melted a little...maybe this wasn't so bad.About the class on foxes in G's words:
"It was pretty fun. I was kinda nervous a little bit at first, but then I just walked in and it was fun. First we did the stamps of fox tracks on a big piece of paper, and made fox masks. Then a dog and a vegetarian (veterinarian) came to visit. They came because dogs are kinda like foxes - they have claws, good ears to listen for sounds, good sense of smell, and one difference is that foxes don't do tricks. Then we talked about foxes and listened to their sounds on the radio. My teachers knew a lot about foxes. There are red foxes that are orangish-yellowish and gray foxes that are brownish-grayish. Then we got a snack. It was peanuts, dog bones, marshmallows and m&m's AND apple juice. You could have cranberry juice, but I never tried that before. I only ate some of the snack - one girl thought the dog bones were REAL dog treats, so I didn't eat them. Then we went on a hike outside. We found 5 or 6 fox trackses and fox POOP! But we didn't see any foxes. I had fun and I really liked it."
The boys said bye to the turtles and we headed out to go on with the rest of our day.
"Can we do this again, momma?"
"Sure, honey."
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
can we do something crafty, momma? PUH-LEASE???
while we are at the farm having fun with aahma and boppa, enjoy these photos from the craftiness last week...
water color over contact paper "G"
can't leave out "W and "C"
C enjoyed "painting" with water on his high chair
new art for all of our bedrooms!Sunday, February 28, 2010
a blessed February...
February was full of sick and snow. And being sick of snow too. There were a lot of gray and snowy and cold days which meant spending a lot of time inside. Which was ok, being that we all had a forever long nasty cold/virus/bug that really knocked each of us out at different points. Luckily we all kind of recovered the weekend before little C had dental surgery so he was cleared for that and made it through with flying colors. We are all ready for some sun and warmer temps...come on spring!!!
Little C watching big kids outside and wishing he could join in...
G & W playing in the snow with Dadda
Dadda with his little girlG notes:
- Way curious...asks a million questions. We've moved mostly past the "why?" stage though, more into a "how come..." stage.
- Loves coming up with all sorts of pretend play for her and W...they play SO nicely most of the time, but G really knows how to push W's buttons and bring out the 2 yr old fury too.
- Probably her favorite thing to do is crafts/coloring/drawing...
- Has really been enjoying story-time at the library - each week she loves to tell dadda all about it when he gets home and to check out either the books Ms. Roselyn reads or other ones she suggests for G.
- Loves her family and friends deeply and fully and we are so much better because of it
"Do you want to hear a joke?"W notes:
- SO into jokes! He has a few that he can tell spot on (I'll do a separate post on them soon!), but then some are just nonsense too. He expects his audience to respond with appropriate cues and gafaws and will tell you if you are not doing it right.
- "yep", "nope", "what's goin' on in here, guys", "that's wonnerful", and adding "very much" to everything has been how W has been trying to talk more "grown-up" lately.
- Also loves story-time, and has been breaking away from momma's lap and actually sitting up front by G, participating in the little activities and answers questions that Ms. Roselyn asks! Very nice to see him growing in that way.
- Has been having fun in Sunday School too - talks about it as "his school" with "his teacher" and "his friends"...and "I go to school WITH momma." Still won't sing all the songs with the kids, although he knows them by heart and directs us in singing them at home. Maybe he won't be the drama queen that his sister is!
"can I get that?"- Oh this little man! As you have read from previous posts, he had dental surgery at the end of this month. We knew what to expect since we had been through it before with Grace, but that still didn't change the stress and worry that comes along with any surgery. He is doing so well now though and you can tell he feels better too - his teeth don't hurt anymore!
- new words saying or signing: puppy, fan, no...
- climbs up and down the stairs proficiently now, and also is a walking expert! He definitely walks more than crawls now, and to show you his progress here is another video:
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
new front teeth...
Little C's surgery was very successful today. Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Dr. Darcy had to do 2 root canals on the top teeth on the left side of his mouth, but she was able to save all four teeth and put new crowns on all of them. They look great and she was really excited about these new crowns as they are stronger than previous options and still look nice. C's claim to fame now is that he is the 2nd person in MN to receive these crowns on his front teeth.
The whole process was very familiar since we have been to Children's Hospital with both W and G, but it doesn't get any easier. A waiting room attendant and a nurse recognized us ... S and I decided that was not such a good thing. But, we are very thankful for the great care that we have received for all of our kids.
We have had a very quiet afternoon at home with big naps and many cuddles, and C actually ate waffles for supper with us. He is looking a lot better and starting to get a little bit of his spunk back - chasing (although slowly) after his siblings this evening. We go back to the dentist in 2 weeks to check the healing, but other than that he can pretty much resume normal activity and eating!
Thanks again for all your prayers, we are feeling thankful and blessed tonight.
S & C
The whole process was very familiar since we have been to Children's Hospital with both W and G, but it doesn't get any easier. A waiting room attendant and a nurse recognized us ... S and I decided that was not such a good thing. But, we are very thankful for the great care that we have received for all of our kids.
We have had a very quiet afternoon at home with big naps and many cuddles, and C actually ate waffles for supper with us. He is looking a lot better and starting to get a little bit of his spunk back - chasing (although slowly) after his siblings this evening. We go back to the dentist in 2 weeks to check the healing, but other than that he can pretty much resume normal activity and eating!
Thanks again for all your prayers, we are feeling thankful and blessed tonight.
S & C
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)