Busy

We've been busy and I haven't gotten around to posting much, but here are a couple of shots of the kids before they went to "Crazy Hair Night" at AWANA the other night. We shaved Grant's hair in a zig-zag fashion because we were planning on shaving it off the next day anyway. He won a candy bar for having such crazy hair that night! :-) (He won't let me post a picture of the back, for some reason, but it had a zig-zag path straight down the back.)

Happy Birthday, Grant!

Here is Grant with one of the things he most wanted for his birthday ~ electronic Star Wars Battleship game!

Wow, Grant is 10! How did that happen?? The adorable little baby who made me a mommy is now a young man of ten. Dave and I are so thankful for Grant. We are so glad that God let us be his parents.

Grant is passionate about life and approaches each experience with gusto. We are never at a loss for what he is thinking or feeling because he talks constantly. :-) His feelings are full-tilt, whether he is happy, sad or angry. He is never just middle-of-the-road about anything. Grant is full of enthusiasm, he is compassionate and he is really good with little children. Somehow he is able to hold back a little and be gentle with them. He is smart, capable and funny. Dave and I marvel at the possibilities ahead for him as he learns to focus all that energy in productive ways. :-)

Happy birthday, Grant! You certainly make our lives exciting and we are so glad you are our son!

A boy and his bear...

Grant decided that he wanted to go to the mall with me a few days before his birthday, just like his sister had before her birthday. His Build-A-Bear needed a new sound box, so we had to bring it with us, too. Grant wanted to walk around with the bear in his backpack the way that his virtual self does on the Build-A-Bearville website.
We had a great time together. It was so good to just spend time with my son and to enjoy his company. Grant is so smart, articulate and confident. He shared a lot of things with me that had been on his mind and I was impressed with his perspective on many things. He is making wise decisions. Grant is a bundle of energy, always running to the next thing that catches his attention, and he is quite a good dancer, too. :-) (He is not shy about dancing wherever and whenever the mood strikes him!)

I know this time is precious and fleeting. How much longer will he want to walk around the mall with his mom, and bring along his teddy bear? I see glimpses of the young man he is becoming and it makes me proud. It won't be long. I hope our conversations will continue as he grows. I sure do love him!

Adoption Is Greater Than The Universe

Adoption is close to my heart. My brother is adopted and I grew up knowing that an adopted child is as much a child of their parents as is a child born to them. I guess I always knew that I would adopt someday. God put that in my heart before I had even become His child through adoption.

When I was about ten, I read a book about a family that adopted a little girl from Vietnam and the desire to adopt that was already in my heart grew and the idea that my child would look completely different than me took shape. All through my teen years and early adulthood that picture of the family I would have someday remained constant. Adoption was a part of the discussions my husband and I had when we were dating.

Now that I have my precious son and daughter, I look back and see that adoption is a theme that was woven into my life. God was preparing me to be the mother of my beautiful children, but He was also working in my heart as I was to be ~ incredibly ~ adopted by Him.

Happy Easter!

Have a blessed celebration of the most remarkable event of history!
He rose that we might find life in Him.
Alleluia!
He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

Fifty Nifty United States

This is a fun way to learn all the names of the states! :-)

History Lesson

The kids and I were reviewing a recent history lesson about the beginning of the American Revolution.

Me: Who rode through the streets shouting, "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

Katie: Don Quixote?

What?! Where did that come from?! :-)

A while ago we had read this book and both of the kids really got a kick out of it. Needless to say, our history lesson dissolved into laughter!

Have you seen this?

It is rather silly, but kind of fun, too. Go ahead...try it with your name!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Kim!

1. In her entire life, Kim will produce only a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.
2. Kim can remain conscious for fifteen to twenty seconds after being decapitated.
3. Kim was originally green, and actually contained cocaine!
4. Kim cannot jump!
5. The Church of Scientology was founded in 1953, at Washington D.C., by Kim.
6. Kim is the oldest playable musical instrument in the world!
7. Kim can not regurgitate!
8. It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same Kim.
9. The Kim-fighting market in the Philippines is huge - several thousand Kim-fights take place there every day.
10. Britain's Millennium Dome is more than double the size of Kim.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Grandma

Today we joined with family and friends for my Grandma's funeral. She was 91 years old. I believe she did have faith in Jesus and is now in His presence. She was a wonderful woman and the best Grandma you could hope for. I am so thankful for her.

When I was a little girl I remember spending the night with my Grandma and having so much fun as she helped me bake little muffins, put curlers in my hair for a pretend "permanent" and gave me hot cocoa with marshmallows in it at bedtime. On my birthday I always got a card from her, signed with her beautiful handwriting, always with a little birthday money inside. As I grew up, when I visited my grandparents we would always have a cup of coffee in the afternoon around four o'clock. Often "coffee time" and watching "Jeopardy" on television coincided. :-) There are many happy memories of time spent with my Grandma. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to know her and spend time with her as I was growing up and as an adult. What a blessing grandparents are!!

It was good to see my dad and other relatives who came for the funeral, as we are all spread out across the country and don't get to see each other very often.

We will travel home tomorrow.

Gotcha!

Today is Katie's "Gotcha Day!"

The actual day only comes around every four years since it was on a Leap Year that we got our little one. We usually celebrate it on the 28th, but this year we can celebrate on the 29th.

Katie is a delight and is so much fun. She brings a lot of "pink" into our home, as well as love, helpfulness, squeals, giggles and the reminder to throw back your head and give in to the laughter. We are so thankful that God gave us our girl!

Look who's back!

Yesterday, Katie's Kaya doll arrived home from the doll hospital. Katie was thrilled to have her back. The American Girl hospital took really good care of her and she is now in tip-top shape! It was a fun Valentine's Day surprise to come home and find Kaya waiting for Katie. :-)

I know there have been a lot of pictures of Katie here on the blog lately. That is due to the fact that she is a LOT more cooperative than her brother when it comes to getting her picture taken! But, I WILL get some pictures of Grant. I just have to catch him at the right moment and he will let me click away. :-)

What to do on those cold days

We've had some pretty cold days here lately. The temperature has hovered around zero, often dipping below that. And when you factor in the wind chill...brrr!!! Grant and Katie love to play outside in the snow, but on these especially cold days, we all stay snug and warm inside.

Katie has been enjoying the time spent inside by playing with her new doll house. She received some birthday money and while we were wandering around at an antique store, spied this cute doll house. It came with all the furniture in it, too. Since it was on sale, Katie was able to put some birthday money toward it and Mommy and Daddy kicked in the rest. I have been noticing doll houses at antique stores now and I have seen that the price is usually a little more than what we payed, but never includes the furniture. The furniture pieces are all sold separately, so I think we got it for a song!

Watching Katie play with her new doll house and all the cute furniture reminds me of when I was a girl and played with doll furniture that had been my mom's when she was girl. How I wish I had kept those pieces! But, I sold them at a garage sale. :-( Some lady sure got a deal that day!

We have more cold days ahead and the doll house will be waiting. :-)

Kate is Eight!

Today is Katie's 8th birthday! We celebrated with cake and presents yesterday and today we are off to an indoor amusement park and Build-A-Bear for the rest of the birthday festivities. :-)

Everyone tells you when you first bring your baby home that the time will go by faster than you can imagine, and before you know it, they will be grown up. It is so true. Yesterday she was a chubby little baby and now she's a young lady, (well, most of the time ;-) ). I see the young woman she is becoming and it takes my breath away.

Kate is so thoughtful and notices when someone needs help. She always asks me if I need help, even when she doesn't really want to do whatever needs to be done. And, she is really helpful. Before long, I can probably turn over the running of our home to her! :-) She is my right-hand girl, there at my side. Kate is also one silly girl, who can laugh with the best of them. She is fun, smart, capable, caring, beautiful and lovely. Her Daddy and I are so thankful that the Lord brought this delightful little girl to us and that we get to be her parents!
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We are home now from a fun day of celebrating Katie's birthday. Katie and Grant had a blast on the rides they went on at the amusement park. They went on that ride with the swings that spin around, but they flew by too quickly for me to get any good pictures. After crashing into each other with bumper cars, and a few other rides, they were ready for lunch, which we had brought along. Then it was on to the long-awaited Build-A-Bear factory! The kids each chose a bear and went through the process of stuffing, cleaning and dressing them. They were so excited about all of it and played with those bears the rest of the evening, and they are sleeping with them now.:-) I'd say Katie had a pretty fun birthday and Grant made out pretty well, too. ;-)

Dance, Dance, Dance

Dave and Katie had a lively dance session in the kitchen the other night. Dave is such a fun dad and the kids absolutely adore him. Katie is a real "Daddy's girl." :-) He spends special time with both Grant and Katie together and with each of them separately. He and Grant had built a race car together for the AWANA Grand Prix race the same day that these pictures were taken. Dave is really building strong relationships with the kids, which will hopefully translate into good relationships as they grow into the teen years and beyond.

Excellent Movie

Yesterday, Dave and I went to see the movie, "The Great Debaters." It was excellent. We thought it was really well done and very moving. I highly recommend it!

Here is a peek if you're interested:

Girl Time

Oh, I love my girl. Today, Katie and I had a whole day of, "girl time," which is what we call any time we do something with just the two of us. No boys. Well, today we went shopping and out to lunch, and we had a grand time. We shopped. We laughed. We ate. We went to Barnes and Noble to read and rest up for more shopping.

Katie is fun to be with. She is silly and sings songs all day long in "opera" style. She skips from store to store. She wants to try on every fancy, floaty dress in the store, but is a good sport about trying on all the boring jeans her mom wants her to try on. She shares her chocolate chip cookie. She endures the cold (4 degrees below zero!) on the way to the car at the end of the day. And she laughs and chatters happily all the way home. I can't think of a better way to stay warm on a freezing~cold day like today, than having girl time with Katie.

Co-op Nature Class

The homeschool co-op we are part of met today. One of the classes my kids are in is a nature class taught by a woman who works at a local nature center. She has done such a great job of teaching the class about animals and their homes this semester. Part of the class period is always spent outdoors. Today, the class went snowshoeing, and, since I am a parent- helper in the class, I got to go, too. We went on an hour-long hike in the snow. Fourteen 2nd and 3rd graders and 3 adults, traipsing around in the snow. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Lots of falling down and getting back up. Crunch, crunch, crunch. It was a fun, frosty-cold hike. :-)

This picture is of Krystal, Ellie and Kate during nature class.

Am I Old Enough?

Grant has wanted a pocketknife for awhile now, but we have told him that he wasn't ready for one yet. This Christmas we decided that he had shown himself responsible enough that we could trust him with one. On Christmas morning, he found a pocketknife in his stocking and exclaimed, "A pocketknife! I'm old enough for a pocketknife!" And then he looked at us and asked, "Am I old enough?" Ha~ha! You can tell what Katie thought of the whole thing by her expression of disbelief! :-)


A couple more favorite gifts that the kids received this year are The Dangerous Book For Boys for Grant and a bridesmaid outfit for Katie's Samantha doll, both from Grandma Dar. :-)

15 Years

Today is Dave’s and my 15^th wedding anniversary. Last March I answered the questions for this wedding meme on another blog and I thought that today would be the perfect time to post them here.

The Wedding Meme

1. Where and how did you meet?
We met when Dave volunteered with the youth ministry I worked for.

2. How long after you met did you start dating?
We were friends for six months before we started dating.

3. How long did you date before you were engaged?
We dated for a year before getting engaged.

4. How long was your engagement?
Our engagement was six months long.

5. What is your anniversary?
Our anniversary is January 2nd.

6. Describe your wedding dress:
White taffeta long-sleeved gown with some beading on the bodice and a medium-length train.

7. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?
White roses with baby's breath and evergreens.

8. Are your wedding bands engraved?
Our bands are not engraved, but I STILL plan to do this!

9. How many people came to your wedding reception?
There were about 130 at the wedding & reception.

10. What did you serve for your meal?
We served hors d'oeuvres and a delicious cake ~

11. What kind of cake did you serve?
I can't remember the exact flavors ~each layer was different~ but the top was chocolate with chocolate mousse filling.

12. Where was your wedding?
We were married in Boulder, CO.

13. How many people were in your wedding party?
Three bridesmaids, three groomsmen, two (child) candlelighters and a ringbearer.

14. Are you still friends with them all?
We are still friends with everyone. :-)

15. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?
Yes, Dave cried when everyone sang, "Praise To The Lord, The Almighty." (I did not cry, although I've cried at every other wedding I have ever been to! I was so happy & peaceful.)

16. Most special moment of your wedding day?
The most special time was when we got to our room at an English style B & B and slow danced all alone, still in our wedding clothes.

17. Any funny moments?
Funny moment was when Dave interrupted the ceremony to tell the pastor not to forget the kiss! He said, "The kiss, the kiss! Don't forget the kiss!" The pastor replied, "I'm getting to that!" :-)

18. Any big disasters?
The only "disaster" was that the ring bearer got a bloody nose that stopped right before he had to walk down the aisle.

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
Four days in Estes Park, CO. (It's quiet in winter) Then four days at Disneyworld.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you do differently?
There are a few details I would change, but nothing really important.

21. Greatest strength as a couple?
I think our greatest strength is our commitment to Christ and each other. We also laugh a lot. :-)

22. Greatest challenge as a couple?
My husband is laid-back and I want to make plans and get things done, so that causes some tension now and then. :-)

23. How old were you when you got married?
I was 33 when I got married and he was definitely worth the wait! :-)

Merry Christmas!