last day

Happy Last Day of 2008!!

Monday Madness

I must tell you guys about this past Monday!! It was so crazy that all we could do was laugh...to keep from crying!

About 4 weeks ago the maintenance crew here at our apt complex changed the flood light outside our bedroom window. We noticed a huge difference right away. It was VERY bright in our room. Then about 5 days later Dan started sleeping on the couch. I didn't think anything of it the first few nights, as it is very common for him to fall asleep there while reading...About 3 days later from that he came into the bedroom at made a huge "AGGGGG!!!!" sound and then stormed out! I went out to see what was the matter, well apparently the new light had started to make this VERY LOUD noise. I had heard it, but it didn't really bother me. It sounds like "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR". Dan said it sounded like a jet was taking off in our room. I think it is pretty funny that this noise bothered him so much (they fixed it today). Actually it amazes me b/c he sleeps right through Calvin waking up in the night!! He claims that men and women hear on different frequency's.

Anyway-back to Mondays story-
Dan was asleep on the couch and I woke him up to go into the bedroom so Calvin and I could wake up(it was about 630am). Usually he will go into the room and fall back to sleep right away and not wake up until 10-ish. Anyway, he couldn't and got very angry. So he came back out and stayed up with us. Not the kind of start he wanted on his day off. (crazy event #1)

Calvin had developed this horrible rash on his neck. We discovered it Thursday, but the Orthostist was closed until Monday morning. I took him in around 930am and they fixed his helmet. He took out some of the foam and cut it a little higher in the back. He guesses that Calvin had turned his neck and the bottom in the back had scratched him and then it got infected a little. BONUS: Calvin got to go Helmet free all day!! (crazy event #2)

We also found out that the insurance ended up paying for the entire bill on the helmet!!! They had originally told us we were going to owe $500 on it. (crazy event/blessing #3)

As you may know we eat at Chili's a lot....So once again we headed there for the Monday Fajita Special. We were on our 2nd basket of chips and salsa when we decided we should feed Calvin before the food came. I picked up the bottle and walked all the way to the bathroom and proceeded to warm the water. Then I looked at the bottle and realized there was NO liner in the bottle!!!!!!!! BAD news. Lucky for me there was a Wal-Mart Market in the parking lot of the Chili's we were at. So Dan told me to walk over there and buy more liners. So I walked over there, and thought to myself "I am not spending $10 on liners when we have enough at home." So I bought a 94-cent bottle. Feeling pretty good about my bargain, I walked back to find our food hadn't come yet!! Yeah. So, I again went to the bathroom and fixed the bottle. I had given it to Calvin and you know how you watch them while they eat? Well, I noticed that he was doing a lot of sucking and the amt. of milk in the bottle wasn't changing. We figured it out that the hole in the nipple was to small. So, Dan started stabbing a fork through it to make it bigger. But it didn't work. So he did it again, but it still didn't work. Poor Calvin ended up waiting an hour and 1/2 for his bottle. He did great through it all, and was fine until we got out to the van. He cried the last 1/2 mile home, and when we got inside I made him a bottle and he ate 1 ounce then fell asleep!! (crazy event #4)

It was very nice out, so I took Hannah out to ride her bike while Calvin was "sleeping"...or so I thought. We were outside for about 35min, and when we got back in Calvin was crying and Dan was not happy. Apparently he had woken up about 10 min after we left and screamed the rest of the time. Nothing Dan did made him happy. And while Dan was holding him, he knocked over a couple books and broke the binding on one of them, wouldn't eat, and pooped! (crazy event #5)

Note that a couple other things(good and bad) happened as well, but because I can't remember them/am a good loving and respectful wife/I don't want you to think we are horrible parents/ect... I wont write them down. Plus, I would hate for you to think less of each of us! All in all, it was a crazy day!! It is amazing what all can happen in less than 11 hours!

And to top it off, Friday Dan had promised me I could see a movie Monday...Boy did he regret it. He was so tired and stressed out when I left. I think he thought I would just stay home after the day we had:)

Leia

Last week Dan and I bought Hannah her first pet. A fish! We had wanted to purchase her a turtle, but it is illegal to sell turtles under 4-inches in the USA. And we don't have room for the 7-inch turtle tank, so reluctantly we opted for the next best thing. A fish. Hannah named her new fish Leia (pronounced: Lay-uh) I know you are thinking, but that is a male Betta, and Leia is a girls name...Hannah loved the name. We thought Leia was a very pretty fish, and tried to enjoy her as much as you can a fish. But she(I am going to use "she" b/c that is what we referred to her...Hannah was obsessed with having a girl fish) didn't eat her food and than tragically died this past Monday night while we were sleeping. So Dan drove all the way to Indiana at 130am when he got home from work to attempt to replace the fish. They only sold female Betta's there, so he came home with a gray fish. And as you can imagine Hannah noticed it right away Tuesday morning when she came in for breakfast. Needless to say...it was probably the worst and longest breakfasts in the history of breakfasts!! "Where is my Leia? I want my other fish back! Why was she sick? Will my new fish die?...ect...ect..." than she would ask me all over again to tell her about it.
We told her the truth the whole time. It was actually a great experience for us. We were able to accurately witness to her using Leia as an example. We explained to her how God had created Adam and Eve in the garden and then they sinned and brought death into the world. And now all living things will die b/c we now live in a sinful world. We also explained that that is why God sent Jesus to earth to die on the cross for our sins! She completely understood and accepted what we told her and has been great with it ever since.
And it does help that our new fish "Tabby Jr. Princess Leia" is a spunky girl and eats like Bubby!! She follows us around in her bowl and will stare you straight in the eye. She loves to watch us. She is fun to watch eat too, b/c she will slurp up her Betta bits then spit them out to where they fly across the bowl. After seeing the way our new fish is acting Dan and I have concluded that our first fish was already pretty much dead when he bought it.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope you all had a great Christmas. We did.
Last night Hannah and I went to a Christmas Eve service at South East Christian Church. It was very nice. Hannah was a little too obsessed with her candle. "when can I turn it on?"..."If you ask me one more time you won't!!!!!" Other than that it was nice (Jen-you should go check out their nursery!!!!! It is amazing!!!!)

I made my first Ham today! I am a pro at Turkeys now so I decided it was time to try something new. The Ham turned out great but as we were cooling it the pyrex I cooked it in broke all over the place.
Also, I found out talking to my mom that we had not seen a $25 gift card for Calvin in one of his packages!!! So I had to dig through the trash to find it...it was on the very bottom of the bag. And actually had our friends not stopped by to visit last minute, I would have had lunch made an hour earlier and Dan wouldn't have been running so late to work, and he would have taken out the trash. PRAISE God!!-he was late to work, $25 is a lot to lose.

A BIG thanks to everyone (Family) for our presents!!!
Hannah had a blast opening them. This was the first year she has got into it. She opened them so fast I am not sure who bought her what, so our thanks in a general one this year...I'll do better next year!

Pictures to come!!

Merry Christmas!

...And here is the final picture.
Merry Christmas to all. May you find true Joy in Jesus' birth as you celebrate it with your loved ones.

Happy Birthday Jesus

Merry Christmas everyone!

Much love sent to all-from Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in Beffle-hem!!

(aka: Hannah, Calvin, and Rover)

Hannah and Calvin have been playing this for 2 days now. It is absolutely adorable. Today Mickey was the camel and she was riding him all over the living room. I am usually the angel, and Dan is the wise men.
Pretty cute!

First real snow

I know...try not to laugh to hard. But this is all the snow we have had so far. The temperature is pretty low this week, but no snow.






Bubby rolled over again this morning. Only he kept going!!!!!!!! It was So funny. Dan has always joked about this and it actually happened.

3 down...

Bubby got tooth #3 this morning...or at least it was in this morning. He has been working on it all week. We have been checking every day and I feel it now!!

Roll Bubby Roll!!

Bubby rolled over this morning!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah-we are SO thrilled at this. He only did it once, but that is a good start. It is amazing how hard it is to get those thunder thighs to move!

Christmas Gift Exchange

These are the 3 photo's I was able to get before my camera died. Last Saturday we had a Women's Gift Exchange at Church. All the women brought 4 items that they had either made, baked or bought. (mostly baked). Then we swapped them, ate tons of good food, and had a wonderful devotional from Jamie. It was a really nice time to just visit and share with one another. It was definitely a huge hit, and we very well might do it again!! (note: the "Big" girls even got to come to this event...and Bubby)

It's cold out

waterbuffalo anyone?

(for those of you in town)...Have you heard the commercial on WAY-FM, where they are asking you to buy an animal for a needy family on some remote country on the other side of the world? They tell you you can either buy a Chicken, a Goat or a Water Buffalo ect...and they will give it to the family and it helps them. Well, we were pulling into the complex after a stressful visit to Sam's on Saturday and they played that and all of a sudden Hannah busted out laughing and she couldn't stop!!! It was SO funny I started cry laughing. She just couldn't believe her ears that you could really buy a Water Buffalo for someone!!!! I am laughing even now, it was pretty funny, I wish you all could have seen her.

Tele-Bubby?

See any resemblance?
Just kidding, Calvin is much more cute!
Hannah had fun with this picture.

Floating Baby

Doesn't he look like a floating Budah?

Take 1

This is by far our favorite picture of Calvin!!!!!

Here is take one on our Christmas card picture. You'll have to wait until Christmas to see take 2...but trust me when I say take 2 is SO WAY better :)

No castle for Bubby...

Hannah: "I know how we can buy it for Bubby!! (it being a castle...complete with princesses for her) We can just use Daddy's credit card. HAAAA."

-And yes, she did the Haaa at the end! I laughed pretty hard. I had tried to explain to her that he was way to young and I guess she interpreted it as not having the money :) Kids are too cute sometimes.

Toys-R-Fun

One of Calvin's favorite things to do is to throw his toys on the floor. I have to constantly remind Hannah that it is a game he plays with her. She is always like "Mom, he doesn't like his toys!" "He does, he just likes you to play with him, and he knows you are a sucker for picking them back up...EVERY time!!"

Back by popular demand!

After Saturday's Party, several have asked for this recipe.

Hot Chocolate!

10 cups dry milk powder
4 3/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups powdered non-dairy creamer

In a large mixing bowl, combine milk powder, conf. sugar, cocoa powder, and creamer.

Stir till thoroughly mixed.

Store cocoa mixture in an airtight container.
Makes about 15 cups of mix, or enough for about 45 servings.

For 1 serving, place 1/3 cup of cocoa mixture(or 3 large spoons) into mug and pour 3/4 (6oz) cup of boiling water in. Stir to dissolve.

Side note: You may want to 1/2 or 1/3 this as it will make A LOT!!!!

Enjoy!!

Bath time

Splashing in the tub is SO much fun!!

weight check

Calvin is 20lbs and 15oz. Not as big I thought!!
I guess Penelope has him beat :)

Happy 6 Months Bubby!!

As Hannah would say...

"Oso's BIG boy"

It is her take on my baby talk. I can't beleive my baby is 1/2 a year old. Time is flying way to fast.

my head!

When we take Calvin's helmet off each night for his one hour off, he rubs head with his hands as if to say "Here is my head! My hair is so soft..." It is very sad to watch, but cute at the same time. I have "tried" to capture what he does, but he stops every time I get out the camera, so the clips are short and/or not very much of him rubbing his head. But I guess if you are a relative reading and watching these you wont mind just seeing him!!

And as you can tell, Hannah is his favorite person. The high pitched very annoying voice she uses gets him to smile every time. It is amazing.

Also, don't you like the WT brown jump suit? :)

who's is worse?

Dear Aunt Kara,

My thumb is WAY more "busted" than big sister's!!

Love,
Calvin

a restful morning

This morning Calvin let me sleep in 35 minutes. It doesn't seem like much, but really it was! It is funny though b/c I have developed this habit over the past 2 or 3 weeks. I/we (me and Calvin) wake up at 530am, I change his diaper, put away the dishes and then we sit on the couch/play on the computer from about 6am-730am-ish. So, this morning I had this thought of "O, no, I totally missed the early news".........LOL, b/c who cares!! I got to sleep in! It is amazing how programed we are to our schedules and how when we get off of them it really messes with us.
I have learned some new things this week. In the midst of all that is going on in the economy, people are finding peace and self fulfilment in helping the "animals". Twice this week, there have been top stories on animals (in the Today show). Apparently the celebrities are putting up a big stink about the elephants in the LA Zoo. Saying that they need to be in their natural habitat, so the are making the state of CA redo their cage area at the zoo!!!! That would be a whopping 1.4 million that could go to make our economy better!! Not to mention that now other zoo's around the US are taking out their elephant cages...So aparently our kids aren't ever going to see real elephants now.
Also, this morning there is a polar bear in Germany that is 2 today and is depressed and the zoo keepers want to relocate him to another zoo b/c they don't have the 10,000$ a year to purchase and feed his mate. So there were these ladies who had flown all the way from the USA to petition the zoo to keep him!! Ok there was 1/2 the money the zoo needed to keep him in their plane tickets...
Anywhoo-I like watching the news. I am very educated now:)

Merry Christmas!

This morning was our 2nd Annual Play Group Christmas Party!!
The kids had a great time (I think) playing with each other and making fun crafts together. They made "JOY" banners, PB bird feeders, turkeys, and colored. Then they listened to the Christmas story from the Bible and sang a song. And as they were leaving they exchanged gifts with each other. Personally I think it was even better than last year, but I may be biased.

I can't wait for next year!!

Molasses

Hannah is still into the number 80, but she has now added a new phrase into her vocab. "Molasses" -Everything is compared to Molasses now. "Is it hotter than Molasses out?" "Your slower than Molasses" ect. It is kinda cute. She even learned yesterday that Molasses is brown, it never ceases to amaze me what and how kids learn.

Today is the Play Group Christmas Party!!! Yeah. I am pretty excited. I think we have some really great crafts lined up for this year. Pictures to come.

Advance Congrats to Si and Anna on the birth of Judah...(as of 9am) He is in the process of coming!!

my kids are growing up...

Calvin is growing up! He is almost 6 months old. (next Monday) He can put his bottle in his mouth by himself, and kind of sit up. Not really, but I would give him another week or 2, and I bet he could do it. He has no desire what-so-ever to roll over though. I think he is too fat:) He is still doing pretty good with his helmet. And he is going on a whole week of sleeping through the night!! But in exchange for that he wakes up at 545am.

Hannah told Dan that she wants to be a construction worker when she grows up! And a princess too. SO cute.

I have been pretty busy planning our Play Group Christmas party Thursday, and then helping to co-host the Women's gift exchange at church on Saturday. I am very excited for each and can't wait!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Katie!!