Thanksgiving in Texas

This Thanksgiving, we took Michael's week of vacation and went to Texas.  Our good friend, Jon, lives there and has been wanting us to come visit for awhile.  He has been here to Kansas City several times, including Thanksgiving last year,  so it was our turn to travel!  We got up early Tuesday morning and Liam told us his stomach hurt.  His face and lips were as white as a sheet which is a sure sign that he is not feeling well!  We grabbed a bowl for the car and headed out, praying that our day and week would not turn into a nightmare! ( Thankfully, he was MUCH improved by lunch and felt fine the rest of the time. ) We drove all day and arrived at Jon's house around 7:15pm-12 and a half hours after we left our house!!

On Wednesday we pretty much relaxed.  We did take a walk to the peacock farm down the road from Jon's house and we were able to find a few feathers on the road for our science notebooks.  We did a little Thanksgiving dinner preparation including making Bing Cherry Salad.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and Jon fried two turkeys.  Everything was good and we had a nice day eating and sitting around! Later, Jon and Kibbie took the three oldest kids to a 3D movie (Bolt) which they thought was great and Dresden even wore the glasses around for the next 2 days!

On Friday morning we all headed out to San Antonio, about 2.5 hours south of where we were.  Our three biggest kids wanted to ride with Jon and Kibbie so Michael, Megan and I followed in the van.  We went to the Alamo, walked over to Fuddruckers for lunch and then went to the Riverwalk, which was beautiful but kinda crowded and a little difficult to maneuver with a stroller!  After that we headed back to Jon's but decided to make a stop at IKEA just north of Austin.  Since there are no IKEAs anywhere near Kansas City, that was a treat.   We were all tired when we got home and we slept in on Saturday.  After lunch on Saturday, we headed to Waco to go to the zoo there, which was very nice, and then Jon took us out to eat Mexican.  Then we went to meet the family of Jon's fiancee and they have a Wii so that was a huge hit with the kids!  Alley and Liam boxed and bowled for quite awhile and Michael took a few turns, too!

We were originally planning to head home on Sunday but we really wanted another day to rest (and do laundry!) so we decided to stay til Monday.  We left Monday morning EARLY in order to avoid rush hour in Dallas/Fort Worth.  The kids slept, I slept some, Michael drove and listened to talk radio and we only stopped twice.  We made it home 11 hours after leaving Jon's.  We had a great time and we were glad to see Jon again since he will be leaving for Iraq in just a few weeks.

We always enjoy trips we can take as a whole family since so often the kids and I travel without Michael.  We also enjoyed doing some educational sightseeing (the kids had a stack of books about Davy Crockett and the Alamo to read on the way to Texas!) and just getting away from daily life and regular responsibilities for a few days. 

[caption id="attachment_385" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="The girls and Jade"][/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_388" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Jon, Kibbie and the kids."][/caption]

Thanks for everything, Jon and Kibbie!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 11th Anniversary.  It fell on Saturday this year, just like the year we got married, which was fun.  Michael had to work tonight so we actually went out to dinner last night.  We left the kids with my parents and went to the 54th Street Grill which neither of us had ever been to before.  Being that it was Friday night, we did have to wait about 20 minutes for a table but it was good food and it was nice to have a meal without being interrupted by the little people who surround us 24/7!  (Don't get me wrong...we love them dearly but sometimes we like to hear each other's voices!)  Right before we left my parent's house, my mom gave me an old note I had written to Michael before we got married, sometime during our engagement year.  She had found it stuck in a Bible study book on their book shelf and thought we might want it.  We each read it during dinner and it was fun to reminisce about that time so many years ago.

Today was a pretty normal day.  Michael had an early class at church so he was gone until almost 10 am.  Then he went to bed because he worked last night from midnight-6am and he was pretty wiped out.  Alley shooed me out of the kitchen and called Mimi to walk her through the process of baking shortbread cookies all by herself.  This was a plan they had cooked up last night while we were out to dinner!  She even snuck two sticks of butter home with her!  She did a great job and I was very proud of her for doing something like that all by herself.  Later, I took three of the kids to Wal-Mart with me to get a few groceries for the weekend since we are planning on going out of town this week and didn't need alot of food.  We've been here this evening, just enjoying being together.  I was folding a few baskets of laundry earlier and I was thinking about how days like today is what we were hoping for on that day eleven years ago when we said "I do."  We were looking forward to a home with children and sharing life together.  So, even though today was a low-key, normal Saturday, it was a good reminder of what marriage is all about-making a life and a home together.

American Boy

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I have to share something Liam said today that was funny..even though he didn't realize it!

Alley has been saving up money for several months to buy a doll.  The doll she has been planning to buy is a doll similar to American Girl dolls but made by a Christian company.  Yesterday she attended a American Girl Tea Party at the library right here by our house and she dressed up and she took my American Girl doll (now 18 years old) along with her.  So, this afternoon, she was wondering if maybe she should save up some more money and buy an American Girl doll since so many of her friends have them.  We began discussing the dolls around the lunch table and Liam, like a good brother, gave his opinion based on the limited American Girl knowledge he has but then he said, "But I'm a boy, so American Girl dolls aren't my cup of tea." Spoken like a boy surrounded by many sisters and who has been invited to many "tea parties" hosted by those sisters!  (He comes, but only for the snacks!) He really is a great brother. But never fear, when he is not drinking tea (or participating in one of Alley's plays), he can usually be found pretending to be Indiana Jones or trying to talk his sisters into playing football!

Teeth

Well, today I went to the dentist for the first time in probably three years.  The kids have dental coverage but I don't, not since the Army-days.  Anyway, recently there were a few teeth that were bothering me and I finally broke down and made an appointment with a dentist who grew up in the same church as my parents but whom I had only met a time or two in my childhood.  She is a Christian and as soon as I told her who I was, she hugged me!  She looked at the pictures of my teeth and at my actual teeth and said that it looked like two of my back teeth needed build up and crowns and POSSIBLY root canals, too, which she won't know for sure about until after she looks further in my next appointment.  They gave me an estimate of cost, including the root canals, and it is not a number I can easily handle.  They did say they give discounts to people who pay without insurance and since the dentist knows my mom and dad, she said she would help all she could but this is still going to be a HUGE expense that we were not planning for.  So....if you read this blog, please pray that God will provide for this.  It would help ALOT if I don't need root canals because they are each about $900 and the crowns are expensive enough on their own so please pray that it is not to that point yet.  I am going back Monday so hopefully I will know more then.

Thank you for your prayers!

Another One Post

I know this blog is a poor excuse for a baby book but sometimes its the best I can do!

Dresden has recently been talking more and more and she has gotten in the habit of saying "one" after the adjective and before the main noun of whatever it is she is describing or talking about.  For example, she always tells people she wants them to see her "pink one room".   She will say, "I want to wear my new one shirt."   She sometimes says, "I want another one cookie."  The funniest example was a couple of weeks ago when we met one of our new neighbors.  The woman was wearing a blue jacket.  Dresden had just discovered a pink doll stroller among our stored things and wanted to show it to the neighbor.  She ran into the garage to get the stroller but by the time she came out, the woman had walked home.  She said, "I want to show my pink one stroller to the blue one lady!"  So funny!

Megan is now 7 months old and is sitting up on her own very well.  She leans forward to try to grab things beyond her reach and often falls onto her stomach in the process.  I suspect it will not be long until she is crawling and then my life will get even more crazy!

Update Post :)

I know I haven't written much lately but I do have a good excuse--it is lots of work getting settled with a baby and three other kids around all the time and still trying to keep everyone clean and fed...BUT I am making progress.  Two weeks ago, my sister, Heidi, and her family came for a visit so that motivated me to work hard at getting as much done as I could to make the house look "normal" so she could see at least a glimpse of what it is supposed to look like.  There weren't many pictures hung when she arrived and there were still a few boxes left here and there but I finally felt like it was all coming together.  I have spent the last two weeks continuing to unpack and hang things on the walls in anticipation of a weekend visit from my Uncle Ross and Aunt Jane and my cousin and her friend.  (None of these out of town visitors stayed here but they all came by to see the house.)  So, little by little, things are getting done.  We still have to organize the garage and the basement but at least the inside is more livable now.

We did end up getting a new dishwasher and I like it MUCH better.  It is a black Maytag and it works great!

The laminate floor is almost completely done...all the boards are laid and there is just a little trim work that needs to be done.  Michael has worked very hard on that and he also installed a new ceiling fan in our bedroom and has done countless other little jobs for me, all while working and doing homework for a class he is taking at church.  We also got the bathroom carpet replaced with vinyl floor (thanks to my uncle) for which we are very thankful!  (I am definitely putting that on my Thanksgiving list this year!)

Yesterday we spent some time in our yard, raking, blowing and bagging leaves.  I think the kids actually had fun!  The weather was perfect for that and since many more leaves fell overnight, I am praying for some more beautiful days!

We have had a fun weekend this weekend.  It started off Friday night with our church's Reformation Celebration at church.  We struggle alot with the proper way to celebrate that day, as we DO believe that Martin Luther and the beginning of the Reformation are definitely worth remembering but we aren't convinced that celebrating it in a way that looks very similar to the way the world celebrates Halloween (a day that glorifies death and darkness) by having a party with costumes, candy and games, is the the most pleasing to God.  In and of themselves those things aren't wrong but it feels an awful lot like we are imitating the world and not Christ when we do the same things on the same day.  I wrote in more depth about this in my post on October 31, 2006, in the archives of this blog.  We decided to go this year because they were focusing everything around the Reformation, including the costumes.  We were impressed with the games they had and with many of the costumes we saw.  The kids had a great time, and most importantly they learned more about the Reformation.  Liam dressed up as Martin Luther, Dresden as ML's wife, Katie Von Bora, and Alley went as "A Mighty Fortress is Our God", a hymn page.  At this point we aren't sure what we will do next year and in the future.  More prayer and discussion to come!

We were invited to breakfast yesterday by my Uncle Roger and Aunt Janie at a local restaurant well known for good breakfasts.  The food was yummy and we had fun doing something we don't normally do.  Last night we gathered with my parents, all my Burton uncles and aunts and one cousin (plus her friend, who Liam thinks is great!) and my grandma for sandwiches and visiting.

We have some fun things coming up this month...we are going to see a play of the Wizard of Oz on Nov 21 and we are going to Texas for Thanksgiving to see our good friend, Jon, and his fiance who were here in Kansas City for Thanksgiving last year.  We are looking forward to getting away!

Getting Settled

Well, I thought I had a blog entry almost ready to post on here but I can't seem to find it...so I guess I will start over!

It has been busy around here!  We moved in 10 days ago and we are still far from settled!  There are still boxes in almost every room, no pictures have been hung yet, the laminate floor project is still being worked on but we are getting laundry done, meals cooked and some school done, too!  I am trying to get it looking much better by the time another 10 days passes but that will take alot of work on my part!  I have also been busy this week with various things involved with changing our address and our car insurance, etc.  I am now also having to wash dishes by hand since our dishwasher has decided that it would be a good idea to dump all the soap in the front corner and not actually USE it to wash the dishes!  Thankfully, our appliances are under a temporary warranty through our home inspector and so today a repairman came out.  He thinks it is the motor not pumping water at the right times but there is a possibility that instead of replacing it, they will just give us a certain amount of money to go towards a new dishwasher.  I was not really planning on getting a new dishwasher right now but since this one is about 10 years old and I wasn't really happy with it from the beginning, it might be nice to get something I will like better for a long time.  We'll see what happens!

We are really enjoying NOT walking up two flights of stairs all the time and it is SO nice to not have laundry piling up in the kitchen and so nice to let the dog out by just opening a door!  It is nice to have extra space and to not feel like we are always on top of each other.  Some things have definitely changed with the extra space and we are figuring these things out and making the needed adjustments.  For example, in the apartment, I kept Megan's diapers in one place...near the playpen, since the playpen was near the bathroom and in the living room and I always changed her and dressed her there after a bath.  Here, I am having to keep some diapers near the playpen in the family room and some in the linen closet near the bathroom upstairs so I can easily change her there after a bath.  Also, we now have 4 doors that we can enter or leave our house through and we are having to remember to make sure each door is locked before bed and before leaving the house.  In the apartment, we had one way in and out...the front door!

I am loving having a yard and a hose!  I washed all my floor mats from the van this weekend and let them dry in the sun and today I washed a shelf that was left here by the previous owner that I may use in my craft closet.  Having lived in houses all of my childhood, I am being reminded of how nice it is to have those things easily and readily available.

It's getting late but I'll try to post a few pics here...for those of you on facebook, there are more there.

MOVING!

Today is the day!  We are finally moving into a house that is big enough for our family!  We have had the keys for about a week and a half and we have been overseeing (and actually doing) various home improvement projects to try to rid this house of the 1970s feel before our big move today.  We have stripped wallpaper, pulled up carpet, watched a big painting crew paint almost the entire interior of the house, watched a guy remove old carpet and lay new carpet, and Michael has spent many hours on his knees installing a laminate floor in the family room.  It is all coming together and we are looking forward to seeing the finished product when we are settled.  Monday is the day I have set aside to clean the apartment and to walk down those two long flights of steps for the last time!  I have been thankful for a place to live and we made two years of memories there but we are very glad to be moving on now to a place with a backyard for the kids, a garage for getting the kids in and out of the car in bad weather, a basement for storage and protection in tornado weather AND 4 bedrooms/2.5 baths.  God has blessed us!

I wanted to mention something Dresden said yesterday...I took the stained glass tulip my grandpa made for me out of my window yesterday and seeing the hand-etched words on the back "TO TARA 7-2005 FROM GRANDPA BURTON" with a little etched heart, made me cry a little and Dresden asked me what was wrong.  I told her I was missing Grandpa and she teared up a little too and then that reminded her of her cousins who were here during the funeral and she she told me she wanted to go to Grant's house "to-now"!  So we now have "today, tomorrow, tonight, and tonow!"

I have to go get my day started, we are loading the truck in a few hours and I have lots to do!  I'll post some "before and after" pics soon!

6 Weeks

It has been six weeks since my grandpa passed away and I am really missing him.  In two days, I am taking my kids to Grandma's for lunch and we are going to eat the same meal we ate the last time we had lunch there with both of them, about 2 months ago.  It will not be easy to know that he is not going to come up the stairs from the basement and give me a hug in the kitchen and that he won't say, "You little sweetie!" to Megan this time and that he won't fall asleep in his chair after he helps Grandma clean the kitchen.  

I am doing okay most of the time but it is still never far from my thoughts and sometimes, unexpectedly, the grief overtakes me, almost in a different way now than when it was fresh.  I think that is because I am starting to realize how much life has changed and that it will never be like it was before ever again.  I am still thankful for the blessings from God in the midst of the loss but it still hurts tremendously.

This morning I was thinking about Grandpa and I was wondering if I got a good picture of him holding Megan when they came to the hospital to see her in March.  Then, just a few minutes ago I was looking through some pictures online and this one came up...a little gift from God on a day when I am missing my Grandpa.

[caption id="attachment_341" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Grandpa holding his 7th great-grandchild, Megan Hope"][/caption]

A Quick Update

I am taking a few minutes out of a very busy day-week-month- to write a quick update!  Things are on track, as of now, for closing on our new house on September 15, which is precisely why this month is so busy!  I have lots and lots of phone calls to make and boxes to pack and arrangements to make and paint colors to pick and the list goes on and on!  We also started back to school yesterday, which takes lots of my time.  I think the kids are enjoying being back in the routine even though they won't admit it !  We have a few new things we are using this year and so far, they approve!  It does prove a little more difficult to focus when there is a 5 month old baby squealing in the playpen while I am trying to teach but we're making it so far!

The plan now is to close on the 15th, have the house painted on the interior by a guy from church and his crew for about a week after that, have new carpet laid in the bedrooms, hopefully install laminate floor in the family room ourselves and move into the house by the 27th of this month.  We then have to clean the apartment and turn in the keys by the 30th.  As of now, I have not even packed one box, although I did buy packing tape yesterday!  I am also trying to keep food in the house, meals cooked and cleaned up, laundry going, school going, a baby fed and happy, as well as attending church and school activities and SLEEPING!

My short break is over so I have to get back to the kids and the books....keep us in your prayers!!!

Birthday Pics!

I know the last post was all about Alley but I wanted to post a few pictures we took of her birthday celebrations. She awoke to find a new bike in the living room and then she got ready to go out to lunch at a fancy restaurant with Mimi. I worked on her triple layer Red Velvet cake while she was gone! Then, we had cake and ice cream at Mimi and Grandpa's house that night with all of us and Great Grandma Burton, too. We had an official birthday meal for her on Saturday since she was too full from her nice lunch on her actual birthday to enjoy a good meal! I'm not sure if we have any pictures of that part but I think she had a pretty good birthday. She is holding up two hands in a couple pics, showing TEN fingers for TEN years...we told her this is the last year she can do that!

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Happy 10th Birthday, Alley!

Wow! What a lightning fast ten years! Ten years ago today, August 14th, 1998, Alley Caroline Branson was born and our lives have never been the same. She was due on August 23rd but when I went to the doctor on August 13th for my regular check-up, the doctor decided that I should be induced the next morning because she was "big, at least 8 lbs." I was young and inexperienced so I trusted him. We weren't even quite finished with our childbirth classes we were taking at the hospital. We went that night and borrowed a video so we could watch ahead and be ready for the next day! Michael, my mom and I headed to the hospital at 6 am the next day. I remember sitting there while we finished checking in and knowing that my life was about to change big-time and I am so glad it did! We didn't know then whether we were going to welcome a boy or girl into our lives but we were very excited, this being our first child as well as the first grandchild and great grandchild.

I had a funny doctor who made the scary experience of first time childbirth a little easier and thanks to an epidural, it was pretty much pain free. I even slept through some contractions! The doctor guessed the baby would be born by 1:00pm and the nurses thought it would be 3:00. She proved everyone wrong and came at 5:12! I was closely watching the scale to see how much this "big" baby weighed and was surprised to see that she was only 6 pounds 4 ounces! We were all amazed by her and were enjoying watching her but when the shift changed, the new nurse said she heard fluid in her lungs. They then took her to the NICU and hooked her up to some machines. They said she was okay but we didn't get to hold her. I pumped milk and took tiny little amounts to the nursery for them to give her with a dropper. I got to sit in there with her at night some. I finally got to hold her on Saturday morning but Michael didn't get to until Sunday morning. She was so tiny! She had a few other minor issues so we had to stay an extra day in the hospital but then she was cleared to go home. We were living with my parents for a few months then until we moved back to Bristol so we went to their house where my mom and sisters gladly helped with Alley and let me get some much needed sleep!

She got plenty of attention and grew quickly, even getting a little chubby. She had a few ear infections and almost choked on something once and scared us half to death but she was a real joy to us all. She has always been a "drama queen" and now she is teaching her younger sisters to be the same way!

I really can't believe she has finished a decade of life already. I know the next ten years will pass faster than these have and before I know it, she will be leaving our house to move into her own. It is my prayer that she will be a godly young woman who wants nothing more than to "walk in a manner worthy of the gospel". I know I don't have too many years left to help prepare her for all the tasks and trials that lie ahead so I know I need to depend upon God now and in the future...it's all in His hands, not mine, anyway.

She is a huge help to me, especially with a 4 month old sister around. She is talented in drawing and singing and she likes to read, stand on her head, put on plays with her brother and sister, and watch old Andy Griffith episodes. She doesn't like to do chores or schoolwork but she does anyway! She likes baked potatoes for supper, Cream of Wheat for breakfast (or pancakes), she likes to paint her toenails and fix her hair and coordinate all her accessories! She wants to learn to sew and just recently sewed a pillowcase as a birthday gift for Liam with Aunt Jana's help. She is a beautiful girl, inside and out, and we love her very much. We can't imagine life without her.

(In case you've never heard why she is named "Alley"...Alley was my maternal great-grandmother's maiden name and Alley was born the year my great grandma turned 90. My great grandma was the oldest daughter in her family, my grandma was oldest, my mom was oldest, I was oldest and Alley was oldest...5 generations!)

Last Day in Single Digits!

Tomorrow, August 13, is Alley's LAST day to be 9 years old!  On Thursday, she will be 10 years old!!  It is a big milestone to complete a whole decade of life and begin a new one that will be filled with many more changes. She is really growing up but I am not going to say too much now since I am planning a longer post for her birthday.  She mentioned earlier today that she only had one more day to be 9 so I thought I would commemorate that on here for her!

Grandpa Burton

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Monday July 28, 2008 was a day that I have dreaded for most of my life. Until that day came, I did not know what the calendar date would be but ever since I understood what death was, I have dreaded the day that I would lose my Grandpa Burton to death. I am still dreading losing my other grandparents and I know I have been extremely blessed by God to reach age thirty before facing a loss of this kind. He was 84 years old but his death was sudden and unexpected. This has been an unspeakably hard week for me and for my family but God is good. He has given us all strength to make it through these hard days and He has even helped me to see many things for which I am thankful.

* I am thankful that my Grandpa lived 84 years. He had a heart attack in 1992 and another scare a few years ago but he survived both times and he was able to live long enough to see his grandchildren reach adulthood and to see seven of his great grandchildren.

* I am thankful that he lived his 84 years fully up until the very end. The last thing he did was cut the grass on that Monday afternoon. He could still drive wherever they needed to go and he could still fix things and make things. He had an almost finished stained glass butterfly on his work table, lacking just three pieces.

* I am thankful for the 60 years of marriage my grandparents had together. Their 60th anniversary would have been on September 24 of this year, less than two months from now. They had a 4 day trip to Branson, MO planned to celebrate.

* I am thankful that Grandpa never had to give up the things he loved to do. He loved to sit in his recliner and take cat naps and work crossword puzzles but he could never sit still long. He was usually outside, in the basement, or helping Grandma clean up the kitchen. I heard he recently climbed up on his roof and cleaned his own gutters!

* I am thankful that Grandpa didn't have a long painful illness that caused him to suffer or to live his last days in pain.

* I am thankful that there never came a day that he didn't recognize our faces or my grandma's face and that he never had to move into a nursing home. He would never have wanted to be a burden on anyone.

* I am thankful for the precious memories we have, even though I always assumed I would have more notice when it was time to say good-bye. That part has been hard but I know God knows best.

* I am thankful that my entire family was together this week as we celebrated his life. During the funeral service, my sisters, three of my cousins, and I read letters to Grandpa that we wrote to him during the days before the funeral. They were amazing testimonies of a wonderful, godly man who loved and served God and his family. People at the funeral who had never met him felt like they knew him and wanted to be more like him when that hour was over.

* I am thankful for pictures and old photo albums who faithfully guard our memories until we need to pull them out during days like these.

* I am thankful that our family moved to Kansas City exactly two years ago to be closer to family and for all the little visits we had, especially our lunches at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We went there for lunch just a few weeks ago and Grandpa cut and served Liam's favorite, Cheeseburger meatloaf. I am thankful I didn't know that was the last time I would eat a meal with Grandpa or hold his hand and hear him pray.

* I am thankful my mom and dad sold their house in Bristol in time to be here in Kansas City for the last 6 months and that my dad stopped by for a visit with Grandpa and Grandma just an hour or so before he died.

* I am thankful my Grandpa got to eat catfish, steak, and chocolate in the last month of his life and that he was able to attend a patriotic service where he was honored with other veterans for their service to our country a month before his death.

* I am thankful that he didn't pass away ON someone's birthday, since we had 4 birthdays in the family in the 10 day period between July 26-August 4. God's timing is perfect. If he had passed away two weeks before he did, my dad would have been in Washington on business, a week before and my cousin would have been in Hawaii, a week later than he did and my uncle would have been in Florida on business.

* I am thankful that the air conditioning in my van didn't go out on our rushed trip home from Alabama, slowing us down by a day, and that it hung in there during the funeral days so I could get where I needed to be with all 4 of my kids.

* I am thankful for all the things my grandpa made for me over the years that will help keep him alive in my heart for years to come and that my children will have concrete reminders of him. He made a cradle for me 30 years ago and all 4 of my kids have used it, too. He made me a few stained glass pieces and a toybox and a keepsake chest. He recently made a wooden step stool for Dresden and my two nieces and nephew with their names on them.

* I am thankful for so many more things, too....don't be surprised if you find little things about him on this blog for many months to come. This is the first time death has hit me so close to home and it's going to take awhile to adjust to life with a huge hole in it.

* Lastly, I am thankful for the hope we have in Christ. Because of Christ, I know I will see my grandpa again someday and I know that my grandpa is rejoicing in being in the presence of Christ and resting in Him! I am thankful for the reminder at the graveside service that in this vapor of life, we walk through the valley of the SHADOW of death and that this separation is only temporary. Praise God for His unspeakable gift of Christ, enabling us to fellowship in Him for all eternity!

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Road Trip!

The kids and I, along with my mom, are on a road trip that is going to last about 2 weeks!  We headed out from Kansas City on Friday morning early and drove to Arkansas to visit with my uncle and aunt and cousin a little before heading to Alabama to see Heidi and her family on Sunday.  We were here all day yesterday, talking, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids and reminding them to "shut the door" so as not to let the HOT Alabama heat INSIDE!  We ate good food and had fun.  This morning my mom and Alley headed to Atlanta to see Jana and Kane and Mara Kate for a couple of days.  I was just there in May so it was simpler for me to stay here with Heidi and the little kids.  They will come back here on Thursday with Jana and MK in tow and to prepare for Olivia's first birthday celebration on Saturday.  Liam and Olivia are "birthday neighbors" and so on Sunday, Liam's 7th birthday, we will celebrate again.  ( I really can't believe he is just days away from seven but he lost one of his teeth this morning, so I guess that is proof!)  We will be heading back home next week, after a day or two of recovery from all the excitement and will stop again at my uncle and aunt's house for one last break before we return to reality!

Heidi and I are seriously contemplating taking all these kids out this afternoon to take advantage of the last day of a great sale and we have a few other shopping trips planned for the next few days, maybe with Uncle Jeph supervising the troops at home!  We have lots more meals to cook, pictures to take and memories to make and we are looking forward to it all!

Stay tuned...I will post pictures of the trip when I get back to my camera cord!

P.S.  Megan is getting pretty good at rolling over!

A Benefit of NOT deleting old emails!

My inbox in Yahoo has ALOT of emails in it...most are old and I will never need them again.  Some I have never even read because they are from some mailing list that I don't have time to keep up with.  I do need to delete most of them but hanging on to old emails came in handy last night.

Two and a half months ago, we bought a nice leather recliner from craigslist.  The couple we bought it from live way across on the opposite side of Kansas City, in a suburb we are hardly ever in.  Last night, we lost our remote control and Michael was reaching around behind the seat of the recliner to see if it had fallen in.  Instead he found a Comcast remote that was not ours!  I first went to my daytimer to see if I had written their number on the page for the day we called about the chair but I couldn't find it.  I checked my emails, searching for "recliner" and it came up!  I emailed them and they were very thankful that we had found it and that we contacted them.  Michael happened to be filling in at a bank very near their neighborhood today so I sent the remote with him and then emailed to let the couple know he was nearby.  They stopped by the bank and picked it up from Michael.

It was nice to know that we were able to get it back to them with very little trouble and they were glad to have it back...all thanks to me NOT deleting my emails!

[caption id="attachment_287" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="All the kids around the recliner"][/caption]

House Hunt Update

I haven't written much so far about our house hunting process but we think it might be finally coming to an end!  We have been looking for what seems like months...we looked some back in January with the hope of finding something and moving before Megan was born but we changed our minds and decided to stay put until early fall.  So, when my mom got her real estate license a few months ago, we started looking again at the same time that we were getting pre-approved.  We saw one house back in May and we both liked it but it needed some updating, mostly carpet and paint, and we weren't quite ready to make an offer.  We kept looking, continuing to debate the pros and cons of different houses and different areas.  We found one house that was foreclosure property and the price was great.  We knew it would need a little work but then we thought it had an offer on it so we looked some more.  We found 2 houses...Michael liked one better and I liked the other better!  After more talking, we chose the one I liked  :) because it really was in GREAT shape.  It was only 3 bedrooms and one living area but it was nice and we loved the location.  We made an offer on it but our top dollar was still lower than her bottom dollar and so it fell through.  I was very disappointed, partly because I loved the house and partly because I was getting really tired of looking!  I didn't want to be back at square one!  My mom and I went back out looking some more and after seeing 3 houses that I didn't like very well or wouldn't meet our needs very well, my mom mentioned the house we had seen in May.  It was still on the market so we went back over to look at it again.  It still needs paint and carpet and some general updating, like removal of old wallpaper in the bathrooms and kitchen, but overall, it is a good house.  It has 4 very good sized bedrooms, 2.5 baths (one right off the family room), an eat-in kitchen and a dining room, a formal living room and a huge family room.  It has a 2 car garage, a privacy fenced backyard, a deck, and an unfinished basement for laundry and storage.  The floorplan and space is very livable for a family with 4 kids who will all be getting bigger in the years to come!  The paint and carpet will need to be done ASAP but I think it will look great when that is done. The best part is that it is cheaper than many of the houses we have looked at.  We should find out today if the final offer has been accepted but it looks pretty good right now.  It is nice to know that God is sovereign and that He knows what is best for us even when we think we know.  He loves us and protects us and leads us and so often, we can quickly see that His plan is best. I don't have any pics yet but I'll post some as soon as I can get some.  I'll keep you posted!

Cow Appreciation Day

Yesterday, July 11, was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A.  My sister and her little girl dressed up as cows and went to Chick-Fil-A for a free lunch.  She posted the pics on her blog and of course, that made my kids want to get in on the fun!  So, we spent the next couple of hours figuring how they could dress up as cows.  We ended up cutting one of Michael's old black socks into "cow spots" and taping them on to a white t-shirt for Alley and I used black electrical tape and wrote out EAT MOR CHIKIN on a t-shirt for Liam.  Dresden didn't want any part of this for some reason so she had nothing.  I used more tape and put I LIKE MOOK on a little shirt for Megan.  I put mascara on their noses (not Megan) and off we went to Chick-Fil-A.  It wasn't quite free for me since Dresden and I weren't dressed up but the kids had fun and they enjoyed watching other people come in creative cow outfits.  Here's a few pics.

4th of July

This year we didn't make many ahead of time plans for the 4th. We were going to a cookout on Saturday at my parent's house so we were going to keep Friday pretty low key. That morning I was checking a few blogs and one mentioned going to a parade so I checked the website for our little town and saw that they had one starting at 10am. So, I told the kids we could go. We headed out and found the general area where it was going to be by following other cars. We had to park several blocks from where we needed to be so that was fun with 4 kids! The parade itself was not exactly what I had imagined, it was pretty much local politicians riding on the backs of convertibles waving and asking for votes in August! There were a couple of bands, old cars, new cars, horses, military tanks, lots and lots and lots of Shriners, and more politicians. We arrived with no chairs, no bags for candy, and a half full bottle of Cherry Coke that I grabbed. We sat down on the edge of the street, with Megan in her stroller, and waited for it to begin. The people next to us had chairs and little paper bags with the names of the kids on them to collect the candy that was thrown or handed out during the parade. We were very unprepared but we had fun anyway! On the way back to the van, Dresden fell down and scraper her knee on the sidewalk so that wasn't fun. The stroller was filled with empty candy wrappers and brochures and advertisements from all kinds of places and people.

There is a nice fireworks display very near our apartment complex every year and we can see it just fine by walking out to the road so we did that again this year but this time my mom and dad joined us. It was nice not to have to load up the kids and fight traffic to see the show. No pictures of the fireworks but they were beautiful![gallery]

Of Teeth and Toads

The theme of the last couple of weeks in our house has been "teeth".  Dresden had outpatient surgery to get caps put on last Monday, June 16.  Other than missing the first day of Vacation Bible School, she did great.  This Tuesday, Alley had a tooth pulled that had been bothering her over the last month.  She is still in some pain but hopefully that will go away soon.  Today, Alley and Liam were playing and Liam's loose tooth got knocked out!  The tooth was found, thankfully!

As for toads, or frogs in this case....I was feeding Megan and noticed that Dresden had removed her dress and was sitting on the floor.  I asked her what she was doing and she said she was a frog.  I said, "So frogs don't wear dresses, huh?"  She said, "No, frogs are naked."   I should have known.  :)

Dresden!

I really enjoy age 3! Dresden is talking more and more every day. She came to me and told me that the stove was hot, like this was an emergency! I told her I would come check it in a minute and she said," You gotta check it... I can't check it...I not a mommy...I Desden Faith." A few months ago she would get upset if anyone called her "Dresden Faith" and she would insist that she was "just Desden"! I guess her name has grown on her lately!

Book Review

Recently, we have been getting DVDs of old TV shows from the 80s from Netflix for the kids to enjoy some of the good ol' family shows we enjoyed when we were kids. We are currently watching Full House and I told Alley and Liam that Candace Cameron (DJ on the show) is a Christian and that her brother, Kirk, is a Christian, too. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across something on the internet about Kirk Cameron's autobiography that just came out. I requested it from my library and was interested to read more details of how he became a Christian and what his life has been like since his Growing Pains days. I just finished the book tonight and I really enjoyed it. I do differ from him on some points of theology but it was a real encouragement to see what God has done in his life over the last 20 years. He has been married to his wife for 17 years and they have 6 children, four of whom are adopted. He and his wife and children host Camp Firefly each summer in Georgia for children with terminal diseases and their families. He has taken a stand for Christ at times when it would be very difficult to do in Hollywood. His newest film is Fireproof , coming out in September, made by the same people who made Facing the Giants and Flywheel.

You can find out more about him, his book, Fireproof, his family and what he is doing now at www.kirkcameron.com.

Update....finally!

It is after 10 pm and I am tired (I was up until after midnight last night making sure the tornado watch was really over and then up again at 7:00am in order to get myself and 4 children ready to leave for the eye doctor by 8:30am!) but Megan is happy in her swing at the moment after a kinda fussy night so I am grabbing my opportunity to blog a little!

My last post was about turning 30. I must say that the anticipation of that big day was worse than actually BEING thirty has been. Just 8 short days after my birthday, our fourth child (and third daughter), Megan Hope, was born. She was my biggest baby yet at 8lbs 5 oz but she has been my best sleeper so far. I think that taking care of a newborn has kept my mind off the fact that I recently entered a new decade! Megan is a very sweet baby and gets lots of attention, especially from her big sister, Dresden. She has just started smiling recently and "talking" to us.

Since my last post, Dresden had a birthday. She is now 3 years old and quite the challenge. Yesterday, she did not obey as quickly as she should have and Michael was talking to her about obeying immediately. After he got done, I asked her who wanted her to obey. She said, "Mommy", and I said, "Who else?" She said, "Daddy", and I said,"Yes, but who else?" (trying to get her to say Jesus) and she said, "Uncle Jeph." (my sister Heidi's husband, who we recently saw in Birmingham.) I think she remembered Jeph telling my nephew to obey immediately!

Alley and Liam also recently started their own blogs. They were asking for blogs and as a homeschool mom, I did not want to deny them an opportunity to write when they wanted to so I started looking around for a kid-friendly blog site, not even knowing if what I was looking for actually existed. After a couple of tries on sites I didn't end up liking, we found zoobuh.com. They have kids email accounts and blogs for only $1 a month per child. It is advertisement-free and very simple and easy to use. Their customer service has been very good, too.

Liam lost his first tooth recently...a front bottom tooth. The adult tooth is coming in just like mine did...with very distinct "saw blades"! He has a few more loose ones that he is pretty excited about!

A couple of weeks ago, I flew to Atlanta with Dresden and Megan to take a week "off" from the craziness of housework, laundry, errands, etc. I went to see my sister, Jana, while her husband was out of town with his dad. While there, we all went to Birmingham to spend a few days with my other sister, Heidi, and her family. It was a fun week and both girls did great on the flights.

Today was a beautiful Kansas City day and we took advantage of it by taking a picnic lunch to our nearby park. The kids ate and played for awhile and then we stopped at the library and got a big stack of books for some summer reading. We are looking forward to soon having our own backyard to enjoy the pretty days. (We are house hunting, hoping to find something in time to be out of our apartment when our lease is up in September.)

Good news! I just realized, while uploading these photos, that wordpress has made it about 100 times easier than it used to be to post photos to the blog...I no longer have to resize each picture I want to use before posting it which SHOULD make it much easier for me to blog regularly! Now, I'm off to bed!!!!

The Big 3-0

This week I celebrated my 30th birthday. I was not really looking forward to this "milestone" birthday but I think anticipating it was worse than it actually was! :)

Alley and Liam started the day by bringing me breakfast in bed along with a very sweet handmade card. After that, we all got ready and I took the kids over to a friend's house so I could go to lunch with my mom. She took me to a well-known restaurant in Kansas City near the plaza that has been in business for about 50 years. I had never been there and it was a nice treat. After that, we went a short distance to an awesome kitchen store that has every kitchen tool and gadget you could ever need. My mom let me pick out a gift from there and I finally settled on a dark purple Fiesta-ware medium sized platter to go with a few serving dishes I already had. She also got me a pie crust shield (which will come in handy tomorrow morning when I make a quiche for our church Easter Brunch!). We picked up the kids and took them back to my parent's house and then I headed home to meet Michael. Our plan WAS to go to an early $2 movie and then to dinner but he got stuck in traffic on the way home from work and we didn't have enough time to make it to the movie...so, we decided to go eat and then stop at Babies R Us and Target to look at and buy a few needed baby items. We then went back to my parent's house for a yummy birthday cake. It was a full day but a fun day.

Here is a picture I took of a letter from Alley I found on my bed later in the day. I hope you can see it well enough to read it. (Homeschooling note: She spelled everything correctly on her own and her handwriting is neat!)

Valentine Riches

I know this is a bit delayed but I feel like that is how I am living life right now...a bit delayed.  Being 8 months pregnant and homeschooling two kids and taking a third to the potty several times a day leaves me little time or strength to keep up with all the other demands on my time.

Anyway, on Valentine's Day, I had a doctor's appt in the morning so my parents watched the kids.  On our way home from there we stopped by my grandparent's house to pick up the Valentines they had for the kids.  Dresden was asleep so I left her in the car and I stood just inside the door for the few minutes we were there to keep an eye on her.  Later, after we got home, she opened her card and she saw the corner of two $1 bills sticking out of her card.  She said, " Fit-ty dollars!!!" It was so funny!  I saved her money for her and today she came and asked me, "Where my fit-ty dollars?"  It will be a sad day when she realizes the truth but for now she feels rich!

Advent

I mentioned in a post from right before Christmas that our family was going to be participating in lighting a candle for advent at our church. We did it on Sunday, December 23. Michael gave a short testimony about the advent tree we use as a family during the month of December, which includes Scripture readings and putting felt cut-outs on a felt Christmas tree-shaped background. Then Alley read the Scripture to go with the candle we lit. She stood behind the pulpit, where no one could see her since she is shorter than the pulpit, and she read the passage PERFECTLY. Her voice was clear and strong and she didn't stumble or hesitate over any words. We were very proud of her and we received so many comments about her reading over the next couple of Sundays. One lady who was visiting our church that day even asked if she was homeschooled and I said yes. She said, "I'm a teacher, I can always tell the homeschooled ones." I thought that was interesting and it was an encouragement, even though I take no credit for her good job. Homeschooling is hard work and God is faithful to give encouragement just when we need it!

Mommy, I Love You

Here is yet another post about Dresden! It's not that my other children are not doing or saying things worthy of remembering but Dresden is at that indescribably cute age where she is saying and doing lots every day to reveal her little personality and her growing grasp of the English language. I want to record as many as I can here for my own benefit and you can read it if you want!

One of the things that she says often (and I mean MANY times a day) is, "Mommy, I love you." She says it randomly, when she thinks of it, even if she just said it 5 minutes before. She sometimes says it this way, "I love you TOO much!" She thinks she is saying SO much but that's how it comes out and it is very precious. She doesn't say it only to me, Michael gets a fair share of this as well, and even Alley and Liam and others hear it sometimes. I know she will outgrow this and I won't always get to hear her say this so sweetly so many times in each day so I am trying to remember it and enjoy it as long as it lasts.

She is a challenge in ways the other two never were and she taxes my patience many times a day but she balances it out with her sweet hugs and kisses and words of love! She is also speaking in more and more sentences and using bigger words and even displaying an "attitude" sometimes. The other morning she took a drink of water and then said, "Dee-licious!" Also, this morning, she was upset at Michael for correcting her and she stomped towards her bedroom saying, "I go my room!" I was a little surprised to hear that from the mouth of a two and a half year old! She definitely keeps us on our toes!

Christmas in KC

These are a few pictures from our Christmas this year.  At the top is Alley and Daddy riding in a pumpkin carriage on the Kansas City Plaza.  Alley has wanted to do this for several years and this year it was her Christmas gift from us.  Thankfully, this last weekend was warmer and they headed down there Saturday night.  They had to get on the list and then wait two hours until their turn!  But Alley says it was worth the wait!

The next picture is a shot of the famous Kansas City Plaza.

My Uncle Ross and Aunt Jane and Anna Beth came to Kansas City for a few days after Christmas to visit and we were able to spend lots of time with them.  This is a picture of the kids having fun with Uncle Ross and Aunt Jane.

Last but not least, Alley and Liam both participated in the Nativity Pageant at church.  Alley was a cow (I'm not sure if there were Holstein cows in Bethlehem, but...) and Liam was Joseph.  They both did great and had lots of fun!