Happy Birthday Daddy!

Chris is 32 now. He has been gloating the last month and a half that we are the same age. I am glad to say that I am younger now! We really didn't do much today which was nice. We went to church this morning and then off to Captain D's for lunch(Chris's choice). We didn't have church tonight because of the holiday(our church usually gives us two Sunday nights a year to be with the family). We had a friend over tonight for dinner. He is a pharmacy student and Chris met him thru BSF this last year. We had a nice time and Chris and I just ate it up...(we love having the ability to help out a poor college student) Enough of that side note. I was acutally able to surprise Chris for his birthday. I always struggle with buying gifts ahead of time because he watches the checkbook like a hawk so I could never pull anything off without him at least knowing I was spending xxx amount of money. I pulled it off this time though. I bought him a new LCD tv. I waited until yesterday while he was at work to buy it and I hid the receipt and hoped that he wouldn't check the online transactions until today. It worked. He even asked me after he opened it how I managed to keep this one a secret. I was very proud of myself. Daddy & his girls Chris & I(we are too excited that our Steffie can now take our picture-maybe now we'll have more of the two of us) The girls intently watching daddy.

Daddy giving Katie a kiss after opening his card.

Still eagerly waiting on daddy to open presents...they did really good keeping 'the secret' for 24 hours! I was proud of them.

Happy Birthday Babe! I love you.

Cooking with Mommy

Stephanie and I made Chris's birthday cake yesterday. She was quite the helper and stayed with it the whole time. I tried to throw in a few math lessons while we were doing it. I really enjoyed the time with her and I think she had a good time too. Sifting the flour

Adding the butter

Adding the flour

Watching the mixer do it's thing!

The chef! I let her lick the bowl despite my usual insistance that she can't have raw eggs(Chris almost died from salmonella poisoning when he was younger!)

Enjoying the fruits of her labor...

Every last lick!

The final product(iced by me of course)

We're making progress

I have really made a concerted effort over the last 2 months to make sure that we are eating more meals at home and less out to eat. I have also really been trying to cook decent meals instead of sandwiches etc. I have done a pretty good job and am even cooking for myself and the girls when Chris isn't home for dinner. I have noticed that the girls are becoming increasingly easier to eat dinner with. They don't complain nearly as much about the food and then don't take as long to eat. I have steadily been increasing their proportion size because I have noticed that they will not eat seconds when offered, but will eat it if it is already on their plate. Well, tonight we had a record breaker. I made this concoction tonight with squash, zucchini, noodles and spaghetti sauce. The girls ate every bite of their very decent size proportion. There was not whining or complaining and I didn't hear one word about how they didn't like squash and zucchini. As a matter of fact, they both exclaimed that they love squash and zucchini. I am not quite sure that they 'love' it, but we are certainly making progress and I don't feel like I am cooking just for it to be wasted by my two munchkins.

Sisters

When I went up to tun the lights out last night after the girls 'quiet time' Katie was a little fussy and started to cry. I told them goodnight and went on back downstairs. I was hoping that she would just stop and go on to sleep. I knew she was tired because she hadn't fallen asleep until 4 pm for her nap and then I woke her up at 4:30. I assumed that she had indeed fallen asleep because I didn't hear anything else out of her. When Chris got home last night he went upstairs to kiss the girls goodnight and this is what her found. I guess Katie had started crying and so Stephanie asked her if she wanted her to sleep with her. Obviously this is what Katie wanted. There have been several occassions that they have mentioned something in the morning that made me think that they had slept together or at least been in each other's bed at some point. I always brushed it off, but I guess now I know. I thought it was so sweet that Stephanie would comfort Katie like this. She got kuddos for this this morning.

What a Day!

Today did not start out so good. Well, let's just say yesterday didn't end so good and it continued to today. Stephanie fell in the driveway yesterday and banged up her knees, elbows and her big toe. This commenced with about 45 minutes to an hour of crying and of course fussiness the rest of the night. For those of you who don't know, Stephanie is definitely my drama queen. I tried to be really sympathetic and held her for about 30 mintues. I offered a wet paper towel, ice pack, bandaids, medicine, phone calls to grandma---you name it I offered it and nothing was good enough. When I asked her what she wanted she said that she wanted me to hold her. So I did! For about 30 minutes I was okay with holding her, but after that I was ready for her to be over it and let me up...I had things to do you know. Okay, so Chris got home finally and she did finally stop the major whaling(sp). We had dinner and then her friends came over and she bounced right from the dinner table up the stairs to play. I announed it was time for the friends to go home and for her and Katie to collect the trash to which Stephanie announced she couldn't because she was hurting. The next battle was the shower. I proceeded to make her get in the shower despite Chris's insistance that we should just let that one alone for tonight. I insisted she had to have a shower because she was filthy and her hair was terribly sweaty from all the crying. Needless to say, I put her in the shower and left only to hear her screaming of how badly it hurt. I need to add at this point that despite my patience wearing thin I was a bit sorry I had done this. So, I turned the shower off and got her out and proceeded to sponge bathe her since I was certain that going to be dirty was not an option tonight. I bathed her on the counter and then proceeded to wash her hair in the bathroom sink. Chris walked in and said how uncomfortable and awkward we both looked. Stephanie looked at him and said "I'm just fine with this!" We all just laughed and decided that at least the ice was broken at this point. The rest of the night went well and she went to bed without any trouble. Okay, Stephanie wakes up this morning and is at the top of the stairs crying and whaling again at how bad her knees hurt and she can't walk. (you know the stiff feeling of a scraped knee). I carried her down the stairs with the hope that eventually she would stop her fussing. So, she watches tv while I get dressed and then we proceed to the breakfast table all the while she is still moaning and groaning off and on. After breakfast I tell her that I will give her Motrin. I am still calm at this point and carrying her around and catering to her. We get upstairs and I brush her teeth and go to give her the Motrin. She tells me how nasty it is and I tell her to drink it anyway so it will make her feel better. I even gave her a glass of water to chase it down with! Well, we end with her spitting the motrin in the sink and me spanking her and then putting her on the floor and hitting the counter with the wooden spoon out of great amounts of frustration! This of course makes her more upset and she continues to whale. So, I do what I do not want to do and I call her daddy. I hate it when I have to admit that I can't handle a situation. So, daddy calms her down and as he says he pulls out his bag of tricks and tells her if she will take the Motrin that I'll get her milkshake. May I add that I by no means think that she deserves a milkshake at this point. We proceed thru the rest of the getting dressed routine and I carry her downstairs and get her shoes on and put her in the car. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I had to go to Bible study this morning and I am a facilitator so I was trying really hard to to miss it or be late! We get to church and I think that I have found my child again. She proceeds to get out of the car and says that she can walk now! Phew, she's back! Not so quick. We get into the church and I proceed to drop her off. She gets very upset because I had told her that she and A. would be coming with me because I didn't think that they would let A. go in the nursery since she was not registered(I was watching her today while L. was at a meeting). Stephanie, begins to whale again and pitch a fit. Thankfully, I go to church there and the nursery director just helped me push her in the door and then I tried to regain my composure to walk into Bible study. God is gracious though. I was refreshed and renewed when I left Bible Study. Stephanie stopped crying within 5 minutes and by the time I picked her up she was running down the hallway. I was glad to be over this part of my day. We'll see how bath time goes tonight!

Precious Babies

Just thought I would share this pictures. Chris took these the other night while they were sleeping(obviously).

Pre-K

Stephanie's first day of Pre-K was today. She woke up on her own at 8:30 this morning. I could tell that she was excited. She was extremely cooperative getting dressed this morning and didn't even finish her cereal, which rarely happens! When we got to school today, while I was signing her in, she went straight into her class. I had to ask her to tell me goodbye! Have I said lately that I really think she is growing up too fast!!

When I asked her what she had learned she told me that she had learned about the circle and that it goes around and around and never stops. It is so nice to be at the place where you ask them something about their day and they actually remember it! She must have had a good time because when we got home she was anxious to color one of her pages and do a few other "school" related activities. She even said while sitting at the table that she loves school. Chris and I both did too, so let's just hope this attitude keeps up!

Awana Update

Tonight was our first night of AWANA. I am helping in Puggles this year, the 2 year old class. So I am with Katie. We had 13 kids tonight. I am currently the only leader and then we have 2 Puggles directors. They have the 2 year old nursery volunteers in there to help, but we still need leaders. I heard that there were 50 Cubbies tonight and only 5 leaders. That's a lot of kids! Please pray that God will place a burden upon the hearts of his people to step forward and take part in the work of his kingdom. Tonight was a crazy night with games and just registration. For the first night in Puggles I think we did real well. All 13 of the 2 years old sat still and paid attention during story time. Amazing!!! All in all the night was good, I think, for the first night.

Bible Verses

Katie has learned her first two Bible verses over the last month or so. During our evening devotion time, we have a memory verse for every week. Her first verse is Genesis 1:1 and the second one was Ps 89:28. I have been so proud of her and so excited to hear her say her verses with such excitement. We are starting Puggles at our church this year which is part of the Awana program. This is a class for 2 year olds. I am thrilled that Katie will be a part of it and I will actually be a leader in that class this year. God just really tugged at my heart as I watched Katie learn her verses this summer and Stephanie all last year. I am excited to get involved and to see what God will do in the hear of these little children as well as my own life. Please pray for me that I will be able to share the message of Christ and that God will work in my own life to empower me to be who he has called me to be.

Devotion Time

Last night during our devotion time, we we learning about the famine during the time of Joseph. When we got to the part where Joseph's brothers come to Egypt to find food, Chris asked Stephanie what she would do if she opened the refrigerator and there was no food? She said , "Well, I guess if I had a car and could drive, I would go to Walmart." Chris then asked her what she'd do if there was no food at Walmart. She said, "Well, I guess I'd go to Krogers." I guess you can tell where we shop! We of course used this as a teaching lesson that that was what the brothers were basically doing...looking everywhere for food. This just gave Chris and I a good laugh. It was just so funny listening to her tell what she would do. She is growing up way to fast!

Finally! It's Done

Yes, I finally fixed the sprinkler system. After over 2 months of messing with this thing the war is finally over...and I won! I now have a very long(about 50ft) whole in my side yard, but aside from that (which will be covered up tonight) it is fixed. I do have to reattach the two heads that I moved, but that is a minor issue. So, it turns out that in one of my(or my sprinkler friend from work) digging quests to change out the heads on my side yard, I managed to cut the electrical wires which send the electricity from the automatic time to the system to turn it on. After digging the whole back up and finding the cut wire(a relief in itself) I mended that problem only to discover that it still didn't work. I ran a wire from the timer in the garage to the timer in the front and got nothing. Then I ran the wire from the garage to the hole where the wires were cut and got power. I'm not sure what happend, but somehow the wires between the garage and the side yard were fried/not working whatever. Anyway, I dug a very long whole from the hole in the side of the house to the hole in the yard under the kitchen window, bought the electrical wire and then fed the wire thru the hole in the garage to the hole on the outside of the house(actually my neighbor did this...I think that the complicated things got in the way of this simple task! Thanks, L). I pulled the wire and reattached and walah(sp). we have automatic sprinklers going off---after replacing the fuse that my husband discovered was blown. Job completed. Thanks for your endurance of my stories and complaints etc thru this whole process. My friend J. from work says now it is time to move onto another project. No thanks...I think I'll stick to the things I know how to do for awhile.

New Shoes

Here are the new shoes. Katie's are on the left and Stephanie's on the right. Aren't they cute?

No Nap

Since we went shopping today, Katie didn't get her nap. I decided that I would make the girls 'rest' until Chris got home(only about an hour or so). I sent Stephanie to my room and Katie to the couch. I put a movie in for Katie and my plan worked. She fell asleep. I'll wake her up in a few minutes and at least she'll have gotten enough sleep to make it to bedtime tonight.

Shoe Fettish

We ventured out today for a shopping trip. We were supposed to go to the pool today with our neighbor, but the weather turned out to be quite cloudy. So, we decided to take the three girls and go to Chik Fil A for lunch and then a few shopping errands. Steffie needed shoes and my friend was looking for party supplies for her daughter's birthday. First stop was lunch and then off to the party store. The same party store that L. and I were at when we were pregnant with A. and Steffie and Laura was backed into by another man as they were pulling out of the parking place...side note sorry. The girls were really good in the party store so we ventured out to Kohl's to do a little shoe shopping. Steffie needed shoes for school and L. is always up to shopping(she prefers to do it without kids, but who doesn't) Anyway, we get to the shoe department and all three girls are quite content because there are gobs of shoes to try on. Never mind that they are not their size or remotely in my price range. Needless to say I came away with four pair of shoes, two pair for each of my girls.. I know, I was only shopping for Stephanie, but I fould a cute pair of sandals for Katie for next year for $5 and then I found a pair of adorable sketchers for $12. Now she has two pair of everyday shoes for the fall/winter. As for Stephanie, I came away with an adorable pair or pink Munchin shoes and a pair of sketcher tennis shoes. I had a good time and the best part is that I can take my receipt back tomorrow along with my $10 coupon and get my money back...YEAH!!! Anyway, I just love shoes and it appears that my children do too so since their shoes tend to be cheaper, I will just live thru them...at least for now!

Good Friends

We went to the the Q's house for dinner on Saturday night and had a wonderful time. The girls were so excited to see K. and Mr. B. When we got there Katie was legs and arms were just a jumping with all her excitement. It was great to see them so excited about the visit. It was just a little over 2 years ago with this family made an unexpected appearance into our lives. S. started babysitting for us in May 2006 while we were in transition trying to find a new permanent sitter. Her mom, K, became our permanent sitter in August of that year until the following May. S. and K. have been such a blessing to our girls and the girls quickly grew attached to them as they to the girls. An amazing bond developed for all involved including Mr. B. and J(the dad and son of the family). Even after S. left for college and K. decided to go to college, we have kept in touch and try to see and talk to them as often as we can. S. still babysits some when she is home and as much as she can in the summers. The girls love it when J., who is 11, comes to play too. We had a wonderful evening talking and laughing together. The girls played hide and go seek with J. while the rest of us just talked. We can't begin to thank God enough for this wonderful family. They have blessed us in more ways than they will ever know and we are so thankful to have them as a part of our lives.

Stephanie & S.

Katie & S. playing the tickle game.

Katie, Mrs. K. & Stephanie

A Hard Lesson

Today we were faced with one of many of life's hard lessons for Stephanie. Tonight while at dinner I was questioning Chris about who was on the answering machine. He told me that my friend G. had called just wondering if we had accidentally come home with a certain ring that had been given to her daughter L. last week by her brother. This prompted the whole thing and here is the background... The girls and I went to G.'s house yesterday for a 'play date'. The kids all played really well together and G. and I were able to talk for most of the 3 hours...amazing, huh? Anyway, when we got home I discovered that Stephanie had returned home with some lip gloss in her pocket that did not belong to her. I immediately confiscated it and reprimanded her for taking things that don't belong to her etc. I then proceeded to question her about what else was in her pockets to which she exclaimed that all she had were her hair bows(which she did pull out and show me). Trusting her, I then dropped it. So, tonight when I heard about the phone call I immediately asked Stephanie if she knew where Mrs. G's ring was. This is a whole other story as I thought the ring belonged to my friend and not her daughter and that perhaps Stephanie had been playing somewhere she shouldn't have. Ok, sorry for the side track. Anyway, Stephanie tells me that yes the ring is upstairs. At this point I am very angry and I immediately send Stephanie upstairs to get it. When she returns I tell her that she has to call and apologize and then daddy and I will decide about her other punishment for lying to me yesterday about the contents of her pockets. Stephanie called and apologized thru many tears and then I got on the phone. G. was of course not mad and totally understood, but I was of course mortified. Side note...G. would not have particulary noticed the loss of this piece of 'play jewelry' except that her son had just been out of town and brought this back just last week as a gift for his little sister. You see, my girls have a tendency to fill pockets and pocket books with whatever they want and then I have to empty them later. This often happens while playing with the girls across the street and we always have to have 'the talk' about not taking other people's stuff. I'm not sure that this is always innocent as I am sure they are often trying to be a little sneaky. Anyway, this was a lesson that was very hard to learn for Stephanie and equally as hard for Chris and I to teach. Let's just say we were all glad to see this lesson learned over with...it would be nice if we didn't have to reteach it. Fat chance though!

Opa's Visist

My dad(Opa) came to visit this weekend. We had a nice relaxing weekend just enjoying each other's company. On Friday we took the girls to Jumpin Party Zone. I had planned for us to go to the pool, but according to the weather it was supposed to rain most of the day. As it turned out it was a beautiful day! We did go to the pool that night and the girls were able to show Opa all of their new swimming tricks. On Saturday, dad went with us to the ministry project. He helped me at the ball toss and also helped bag popcorn. For those of you who don't know, I'll give the story of how my dad came to be called 'Opa'. My dad was stationed in Germany for five years when I was younger. He and my stepmom loved it there and so when my step brother and his wife had their first child, dad and Yarbi picked Opa and Oma for their names. These are the German names for grandpa and grandma. That is how we came to have an Opa.

Ministry Project

Yesterday we participated in a ministry project along with several of our Sunday School class members. The ministry was thru Broad Stree Ministries and Miracle Making Ministries. They were having a block party for the neighborhood during which time there were games and activities, a devotional time and a time for the kids to be able to get school supplies which had been donated. We took our girls and had a great time helping out. Our job was to help with the games. I'm not sure what my game was called, but it was some sort of ball toss. The kids had to toss these plastic balls into these containers which were floating in a small pool of water. Chris helped with the potato sack races. Stephanie and Katie did a great job helping as well. They helped drag the pool full of water back to our station and helped to collect and hand the balls to the kids. The day was extremely hot but the girls were real troopers and didn't complain. There was even a water slide there which they were told they couldn't get on because we didn't bring bathing suits(and as we explained that this was not about them, but about serving others). This concept may not have quite been understood, but I am certain they understood at least a little because they didn't complain at all about not being able to get on the water slide either. We were so glad that we went and were able to be a part of this ministry. Please be in prayer for this ministry and the family as a whole. The overwhelming absence of fathers at this event was astonishing. Dads in the home and playing an active role in the lives of their children is a concept that is falling by the wayside. We need to really bathe the family unit in prayer and pray especially for those familes who are trying to make it without a father in the home. Stephanie dragging the pool over to be filled. Struggling to drag a pool full of water to our station.(the water hose wouldn't reach us) A member of our Sunday School class working at the fishing booth.

Katie comforting a crying little girl. Katie was so sweet and gave all the little kids hugs when they came up.