Our Week

The week has not been especially busy, but just a little stressful. Since not much has happened I will just post some pictures of what has been going on.

The kids enjoy helping to empty the dishwasher. It just happened that Becca was all dressed up on this occasion.

Micah playing his "computer". Not sure what is up with the sun glasses.

Sharing snack. Obviously this will not happen for much longer! :)

I also tried my hands at homemade laundry detergent on Friday. A fellow blogger (Thanks, Carey!) posted about her success and I thought that I would give it a try. If it works well it will save a quite a bit on each load of laundry! Here are some pics of me working on it.

Cute Kids

Just took this picture and had to share. Maybe love does cover all!

Blog Question

For all you long time bloggers I have a question. I am trying to figure out how to get my profile picture a little bit larger. I have tried about all that I know and I still can't figure it out. Can anyone help me out? Please leave a comment and provide an info that you can!

Thank you!

There Will Be No Dog

I do believe that it is official - we are not a dog family.

I have long disliked dogs. They drool, they jump on you, they bark, they lick you, they can knock you over, etc. Sometimes I can be a little scared of dogs if they are over friendly and especially if they are strays or unfamiliar to me. The kids have also never been real big fans of dogs. I think that Micah may have gotten knocked down by one along the way and now he is scared of them and that fear has been passed on to Becca.

This afternoon we were outside raking leaves before it rains this weekend. The kids were having a grand time jumping in the leaves when this very small and unfamiliar dog jumps our of our neighbor's fenced in yard and into the pile of leaves with the kids.

(Now this dog is small (like smaller than a cat), has a collar and appears to be well taken care of so I wasn't to worried.)

Needless to say, the kids fly out of the pile of leaves and superglue themselves to my legs. The little furry dog thinks this is great fun and runs circles around me and the kids. I finally get the kids positioned on top of our air conditioner and they spend the next 10 minutes laughing at this cute little dog play in the leaves.

I convince them that all is well and that they can sit on some chairs on our patio. Not a good idea. The dog, seeing that the kids are down, thinks that it is play time and starts running around the kids. Micah thinks that the dog is running after him and so he starts running and the now the dog thinks that it would be great fun to play chase!

Micah is terrified and is screaming for all he is worth and literally trying to climb up me. I try to calm him down, but to no avail. I leave Becca who seems to be okay with the dog and drag Micah in the house. I come back outside and now Becca is screaming and running away from the dog as well. I drag her inside, tell them both that this is ridiculous, take off their coats and shoes and that I will be inside when I am finished.

I finish my yard work with my new best friend following me everywhere. (I must say if we had to get a dog this one seemed like a good candidate.)

When I am finished I go to the neighbor's house and see if the dog belongs to them. It is actually a dog that they a watching while the owner is away and they had no idea that he could jump their fence. Good thing he stuck close to me!

I come inside and the kids still have red eyes and are still talking about the dog that chased them.... After that "terrifying" experience I think that it will be a long time before the kids want to get close to another dog, especially one that is bigger than a cat!

Wedding Pictures

Here are a few pictures from my sister's wedding last Saturday. They are not the best, but I wanted to get some posted before I forgot about doing it! Enjoy!

Decorating the reception site on Friday afternoon. I am sure glad that I didn't have to be up on the ladder! My dad is on the left, Brian's dad is on the right and Nick is holding his ladder!

The whole family! Not the greatest picture, but we hope that the professional one turns out better!

During the ceremony. If you look closely you can see me keeping an eye on Becca. Had to make sure that she didn't stray to far! :)

Micah and Becca after the ceremony. Trying to do something "normal" in a not so normal situation! :)

Wedding Success

The past two days have found me reflecting over the previous three days (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) and all I can do is sigh and smile. They days were a complete success topped with two people that we love dearly committing their lives to each other.

I have had several conversations with my mother over since the wedding on Saturday night and we cannot think of one thing that we wish would have gone differently. Probably the biggest difficulty we had was getting the white carpet runner to go down the middle of the stage and aisle on Thursday evening! :)

Nick and I were so proud of our children. We really didn't know what to expect and we had back-up plans in place in case they decided that the ceremony was not to their liking. We were surprised when both of our children remained on stage for the entire ceremony - Micah in his chair and Becca in her chair and standing beside me. They were beautiful and behaved beyond our expectations.

My sister was absolutely ravishing and my brother-in-law handsome. We had some concerns about my sister (when she gets worked up or anxious she can started to get a little nauseous and light-headed.) The last thing we wanted was for her to pass out or feel sick. However our prayers were answered and she felt better than any of us could have imagined.

The love between them was evident and it poured into every little part of the day. I wish that I had pictures that I could post. It seems as though I was to busy worrying about everyone else (my kids, my husband, my sister, etc) and helping where I could that I forgot to take pictures. Our professional photographer has already posted pictures on his website, but I really don't want to post that information here. Hopefully it won't take to long for me to get my hands on some pictures.

The love couple is now gone for the week and we have been told that we will hear from them in a week. :) Those of us left behind are knee deep in Snicker/Apple salad and are trying our best to catch up on sleep. However, there is not a single moment that we would trade. Congratulations, Brian & Melinda. We love you!

Calm

I am sitting here enjoy a few minutes of peace before I have to get ready to go. I am thinking that this might be my last few minutes of peace until late Saturday night. Why do you ask? It is the weekend of my sister's wedding! Yippee!! In a couple of hours I will be at the church helping to decorate and then it will be off to a bachelorette party for my sister. Tomorrow finds us running final errands and decorating the reception site. Then it is rehearsal and then...... Saturday! Yeah! The day we have all be planning and anticipating for the last 6 months.

So far I think that I have been able to stay on top of everything. I think that I have all the needed items (socks, shoes, earrings, etc.) for the entire family. At last check everyone's clothes fit and everyone was looking good! There has been a lot of planning going into this and I have several lists that I keep reviewing and updating! :)

As long as everyone's nerves can be kept under control everything should go as planned! Please pray that the weather cooperates and that every stay cool, calm and collected on Saturday. We are so grateful that this time has finally arrived!

Give me a few days after Saturday and I will try to post pictures!

Is Spring Here?

With two days in a row over 60 degrees, I am getting my hopes up that maybe spring is just around the corner. I know that is probably not the case and we will probably have more snow, but we are certainly enjoying these days. The kids enjoyed the day exploring and "investigating" our yard again!

Preschool Program

Earlier this week Micah had a preschool program and open house for the new daycare/preschool building. The program was very short. The 3-year-old preschool class sang 4 songs and then the 4-year-old preschool class say 4 songs. Our video camera ran out of tape just as Nick was getting ready to start taping so I ended up recording it on our digital camera. It was so short that I was able to post it here! This the 3 of the 4 songs that Micah's class sang. Micah is in the light blue shirt in the second row in the middle.

After the program there was ice cream and everyone could go view the new building. For those who have followed our blog, one of the first posts contained a picture of Micah standing in front of the new building when it was still only studs. Here are some pics of him inside the new building. It is a beautiful facility that should serve the children in this school district for year to come!

Shower Number 2

On Saturday we had another shower for my sister. This one was hosted by our Aunt Jo and included members from both my dad's side and my mom's side. We had a great time of giving the bride some recipes and advice and of course lots of laughter and fellowship! Melinda got a lot of great stuff, including 4 can openers! Apparently they will be eating a lot of canned goods in married life! :)

Becca helped auntie for a little while, but then she lost interest in all the gifts. Apparently they were not exciting enough for her! :)

Melinda and the moms again!

Melinda and her yummy cake. The same lady who is making the wedding cake made this cake. It was a little preview and very yummy. Mary we are looking forward to the wedding cake!

This is my cousin Lydia, Becca and my cousin's soon to be step daughter, Jaylne. They had a great time laughing and playing together!

Hard Lessons

There are things in my life that I look back on and wish that I would have handled differently. One of those occurred on Thursday afternoon.

I had to pick up Becca from the babysitter as she picked up her son from school. It was pouring rain at that time and I was unfamiliar with the parking lot and a smacked the van into an electrical pole in the parking lot. Not very intelligent. While I am not so proud of hitting the pole in the parking lot I am even less proud of my reaction to hitting the pole.

I pride myself in keeping myself composed and my actions and language appropriate. In my view that is one of the ways that I can be a witness to those around me.

So.... I hit the pole and I practically flip out. I really don't remember what happened, but I know that Becca was screaming at the top of her lungs and I was yelling/muttering something unintelligible to/about myself. Apparently I tried to park the car, but only got it into reverse and then shut it off. I then tried to start it again, but wasn't able to because it was in reverse. At this point I really thought that I had damaged the van. I am running between the driver's seat and Becca's door trying to decide if she is hurt, should I take her out in the rain, who do I call, what an idiot I am, etc, etc.... We go into the school, which is a Christian school by the way, and it is all that I can do to keep from saying some not so nice words at the top of my lungs.

Not that it is justified but I think that part of the reason that I was so worked up was that the location of impact on the van was very similar to the location of impact when I rear-end another car with our Mazda while I was pregnant with Micah. I think that in some ways I was reliving that event even though this one was not nearly as bad.

Fortunately my babysitter and a nice gentleman came to my rescue. Lisa took Becca and calmed her down (because I was in no shape to do that) and the nice gentlemen went back to the van and helped me to realize that the van was still able to run and that I could drive it home.

I was about halfway home when I realized that I had totally overreacted and there was really no reason for me to be thinking or verbalizing the language or the thoughts about myself that I did. What kind of example was that? Don't we study, learn & grow during the good times so that when the difficult times arrive what we have learned will just come without thought? We are working to train our children now so that when they grow up and face trials (or inconviences) like this that they will respond with grace?

Maybe that is to grand of an idea, but I know that I totally failed in regards to a dinged up bumper - I have a long ways to go.