Contest Winner

My great friend Lynette held a contest. I won! I don't ever win anything- I don't enter many things, but I certainly don't win what I enter. The only other thing I can remember winning in my life was one time I entered a drawing to win a 10-speed bike (I was maybe in 5th grade or so??? Mom- help me on this one). I won 2nd prize instead- a big wheel. Still had the big wheel until last year when Ryan decided to ride it down my parents' hill and destroy it. :-)

But I did win this contest- a free full-session photo shoot from a very talented photographer! Sadie has been sorely neglected in the picture taking events in our lives, so she was the recepient of the prize! These three shots turned out good (among others)- I am considering getting one of them on a canvas to hang in her room- so I need your input on which one would look best hanging in her room. Thanks!

Fun in February

I am so excited! When I flipped my calendar to look at February, it reminded me of how many fun things we have planned! I think it will help to make spring get here more quickly to know that our February will be filled with fun stuff. I heard this morning on the news that our 30 year average of snow is 71.9 inches for this time of year. We already have 92 inches so far this winter- 20 inches above average!!!!! And we are just beginning February???? UGH! I think last year's total was around 107 inches. The weather lady said they are predicting a season total of 120 this year. Nice- only 28 inches of snow left to fall! haha

This weekend we will lay low. The Boeve girls are spending the night tonight; Ryan and I are going out on a date tomorrow night (woo hoo!); Sunday is the SuperBowl. Next weekend we are going to GR to dinner and Dr. Grins with a group of friends. I can't wait to laugh, laugh and laugh some more! The next weekend brings us to another night with friends- pizza and ice skating, and my parents are coming that weekend as well!!!! Yippee!!!! My mom is coming for a whole week and my dad is coming the 2nd half of the week. That last weekend they are here, we will go to Four Winds Casino. We went last year (was that last year or the year before?) and had so much fun. Ryan and I, nor my parents are gamblers, but it was a fun hotel, and it had a great arcade where we spent most of our time. And a weekend away is great anywhere, don't you agree? And finally the last weekend in February is our annual trip to a water park. This year we are going to Safari Joe's- much closer, and we found it cheaper than Great Wolf Lodge so we are going to give it a try. Hopefully it will be as nice- it looks it from their website. CANNOT wait for the fun times ahead!!!! I am hoping winter will be long behind us come March, but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed! But hey, now that I think about it, March has some fun stuff to look forward to as well.

I have been in a cooking/baking mode these last few weeks. I love to cook anytime, but with Ryan's work schedule, he is not ever home for dinner. So I have found myself not cooking big meals for just me and the kids. But these last few weeks, I have been a little stir crazy with not much to do, so I have cooked and baked. I discovered some new yummy recipes that I"ll definitely be making again. I have already made dinner for tonight, dessert too, and now just have to cook it.

Off to clean a bit before the boys get home...

Heavy Heart

I am saddened by the news of the California family who have all just lost their lives- the one in L.A. where the father shot and killed his 5 kids, his wife, then took his own life. He claimed in his suicide note that he did it because he lost his job and there would be no one to take care of his kids. So incredibly sad, but unfortunately with the way the economy is right now and the job losses that keep coming, I am sure we'll here more of this type of news. It is devastating. What would one do if all of a sudden he could no longer provide for his family? We have several good friends in this situation and others who may be in this situation soon. Please take the time to pray with me for all of these people in our nation who are struggling; pray that other doors are opened for them when one closes; pray that they seek a mighty God and not death; pray that their friends and family will rally around them in their time of need. We just got a letter today at work from our superintendent that the predictions for 2009 are worse than the were for 2008- not good news at all. Please pray- I have a hard time believing that any governing body, any one person, any stimulus package, etc. will change the course of the economy. I do believe that God can and will in his time- and until then, please pray for those affected.

Proud as Punch!

The day before Christmas was a snow day (thank goodness since we headed out of town anyway banking on one!), but that meant Brooks missed his day of making a gingerbread house. Ryan's dad was planning on being there with him to make it. Brooks' teacher rescheduled it for this past Friday, and Jim was still able to go. Brooks thought it was so much fun and loved that his grandpa could be at school with him. Here is a picture of the final product:

Too bad it isn't edible- Cobe and Brooks have been drooling over it since he brought it home! ;-)

The Grass is always Greener

I was just telling the gals at playgroup this morning about how curly Sadie's hair can get. I love her curls and wish that I had them. But sadly enough, even at her young age of 3, she wants straight hair. She also has very fine hair. When she tries to "flatten" it, or after she sleeps on it, the curls turn into a static mess! :-) So usually she looks like a ragamuffin, instead of a curly-haired little girl. haha Cobe was blessed with those wonderful curls as well. Both of them get them from Ryan obviously!

Here is a picture of my 9 year old "baby" on his birthday night with a cake that his grandma made him. His curls are very noticeable in my header picture.

And here are Sadie's luscious curls, but as you can also see in my header picture, that is how her hair usually looks!!!!

Happy 9th Birthday Cobe!

Hard to believe my oldest child is 9! He still is and will always be my baby! I wish I had some baby pictures of him on my computer, but I was not into taking pictures back then, nor was I into putting them on the computer- I'm pretty sure they weren't digital.

He was the tiniest baby- only 17 inches long. At the time, I thought he was adorable, but looking back, he looked like a tiny monkey. :-) We had such a scare at his birth. I was extremely sick with toxemia, so they sent me straight to the hospital to have an emergency c-section (he wasn't due for 5 and a half more weeks.) I don't remember much of the birth at all, and I guess looking back, it was quite a blessing that I was so out of it. Cobe wasn't doing well at all when he was born, but I was so sick, that I was unaware of the seriousness of it. He did not have any muscle tone for awhile, and he had fluid in his lungs. BUT- boy did he prove to be a fighter from day 1! He hasn't lost that fiestiness either- he is our little go-getter. He is still smaller than average, but boy does he make up for it in determination. Love you buddy- mom and dad are SOOOOO proud of you and all of your many accomplishments! Happy 9th Birthday!


Here he is on Thursday at his birthday party. All the rest of the pictures are from 2007-2008- he is growing up!

Winter Wonderland

Finally we could have fun in all this snow we have been getting! It has been coming down for days! But the drawback has been that we have also had sub-zero temps to deal with- not too fun to be outside. Today was a balmy 25 or so degrees with no winds, so it didn't feel too bad to be outside.



Last night we went to Fricano's with Ryan's family for pizza then to Kyle and Amanda's for Selah's birthday. We had a nice dinner and a good time at Kyle and Amanda's as well. Sadie stayed at their house for a sleepover, and we brought Justin home with us for a sleepover as well. We were woken up this morning at 7:30 by an automated phone call from church saying there was a water main break and that church was canceled. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up and went outside to shovel for the first of many times today. We were only supposed to get 1-3 more inches of snow today, so I thought I'd get the heavy-duty shoveling over with this morning and just have to quickly get the rest tonight. Well.... we got a TON more than 1-3 inches after I shoveled this morning. You couldn't even tell that I had shoveled. Ryan went out one time as well to get the driveway. The kids had fun playing outside in it. They went out several times throughout the day and made forts, trails, a racetrack, houses with rooms, etc. Brooks is so whipped that he is crashed on the couch sleeping. I just got back in from shoveling I hope for the last time! It isn't coming down now, but I haven't seen whether we are supposed to get more tonight or not. Here are a few pictures of the massive amounts of snow we have gotten. The news last night said we had gotten 86.7 inches of snow this season so far, and that was BEFORE last night's and today's snow, so I'd say we are well over that by now.



Here is a snow fort/igloo that Ryan made for the kids.

The piles of snow from our hours of shoveling beside the driveway.

A big snow pile in our yard from what Boeve has snow plowed so far this winter.

Our front sidewalk- the sides come up almost to Sadie's shoulders!

The paths we created so the kids could go out the front door to the bus stop.