Movers4life

Summer 2010

2011-03-15T18:35:00.001-07:00

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Look what I discovered..........

2010-09-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

The following is for your viewing pleasure!! Yep, it is what you think it is..................a kitten. Were we looking for a pet-nope! For those of you who may not know, I don't really like cats (not to mention that my husband and son are allergic to some of them). Although this one was walking in the road meowing loudly, and, well, I actually felt bad for it. My little guys on the other hand................

Don't come any closer........

Yep that is terror on his face........

Feeling a little braver........oh, and where is M'C you ask......

Being VERY cautious! (don't forget to pause the music)

So, what did I discover........that my younger boys are TERRIFIED of KITTENS!!! My favorite part-M'C saying "I'm not scared!!" LOL!:0)

Baby Giggles!!

2010-09-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to record her giggles while I held the camera!!! Sadly I recorded it with my camera sideways, not sure how to flip it!! So turn your head and enjoy (oh and don't forget to scroll down and pause the music)!!:0)

Siblings

2010-09-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.

~Clara Ortega

Just a few of my favorite pics by: http://www.laurabellephotography.com/

Sweet baby girl

2010-09-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

"Nothing compares to the moment you were placed in my arms and I kissed your sweet baby face for the first time. Complete love and indescribable joy filled my heart from that day on."

http://www.laurabellephotography.com/

There's something...........

2010-09-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

about

a little boy

in bib overalls

that makes me smile!!!

Motherhood and Profanity......by Elzabeth Elliot

2009-10-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Found this on a blog and wanted to share it as well.......the following by Elizabeth Elliot:

"OK now, which one of you clowns put that bag of M 'n' Ms in the grocery cart?" The mother looks harried.Two boys, maybe five and seven, eye each other and race away toward the gumball machine near the supermarket door. There is an infant strapped to a plastic board on top of the groceries, and a two year old occupying the built-in child seat in the cart. The mother picks up the M 'n' M candy bag and starts toward the aisle to return it. The two year old screams and she relents, throws the bag in with the rest of her purchases, patiently waits her turn at the check-out, fishes five ten-dollar bills from her purse, receives her small change, and pushing the cart with the babies in it, herds the two boys through the rain to the station wagon in the parking lot.

I go with her in my mind's eye. Jump out in the rain. Open the garage door. Drive in. Close door. Babies, boys, bags into the house in how many trips? Phone rings. Answer phone, change baby, wipe muddy tracks from kitchen floor. Feed baby, put groceries away, hide M 'n' Ms, start peeling vegetables, take clothes out of dryer, stop fight between two older children, feed two year old, answer phone again, fold clothes, change baby, get boys to:1) hang up coats,2) stop teasing two year old,3) set table.Light oven, put baby to bed, stop fight, mop up two year old, put chicken in oven, answer phone, put away clothes, finish peeling vegetables, look peaceful and radiant--husband will be home soon.

I see this implacable succession of exigencies in my mind's eye. They come with being a mother. I also see the dreams she dreams sometimes--write a novel, agents call, reviews come in. TV interviews, autograph parties, promotional traveling, a movie contract--preposterous dreams. Try something a little more realistic. Cool modern office, beautiful clothes, make-up and hairdo that stay done all day. A secretarial job perhaps, nothing spectacular, but it's work that actually produces something that doesn't have to be done over at once. It's work that ends at five o'clock. It means something.I know how it is. I have a mother. I am a mother. I've produced a mother (my daughter, Valerie, has a two year old and expects another child soon). I watched my own mother cope valiantly and efficiently with a brood of six. ("If one child takes all your time," she used to say, "six can't take any more.") We were--we still are--her life. I understand that. Of all the gifts of my life surely those of being somebody's wife and somebody's mother are among the greatest.

But I watch my daughter and other mothers of her generation and I see they have some strikes against them that we didn't have. They have been told insistently and quite persuasively that motherhood is a drag, that tradition is nonsense, that what people have always regarded as "women's work" is meaningless, that "roles" (a word we never bothered much about until a decade or so ago) are changing, that femininity is a mere matter of social conditioning, that it's time to innovate. If the first-grade readers show a picture of a woman driving a hook-and-ladder and a man doing a nurse's job, see what happens to the conditioning. Abolish the stereotypes and we can abolish the myths of masculinity and femininity.

I hear this sort of claptrap, and young mothers often come to me troubled because they can't answer the arguments logically or theologically. They feel, deep in their bones, that there is something terribly twisted about the whole thing but they can't put their finger on what it is.

I think I know what it is. Profanity. Not swearing. I'm not talking about breaking the Third Commandment. I'm talking about treating as meaningless that which is freighted with meaning. Treating as common that which is hallowed. Regarding as a mere triviality what is really a divine design. Profanity is failure to see the inner mystery.

When women--sometimes well-meaning, earnest, truth seeking ones say "Get out of the house and do something creative, find something meaningful, something with more direct access to reality," it is a dead giveaway that they have missed the deepest definition of creation, of meaning, of reality. And when you start seeing the world as opaque, that is, as an end in itself instead of as transparent, when you ignore the Other World where this one ultimately finds its meaning, of course housekeeping (and any other kind of work if you do it long enough) becomes tedious and empty.
But what have buying groceries, changing diapers and peeling vegetables got to do with creativity? Aren't those the very things that keep us from it? Isn't it that kind of drudgery that keeps us in bondage? It's insipid and confining, it's what one conspicuous feminist called "a life of idiotic ritual, full of forebodings and failure." To her I would answer ritual, yes. Idiotic, no, not to the Christian--for although we do the same things anybody else does, and we do them over and over in the same way, the ordinary transactions of everyday life are the very means of transfiguration. It is the common stuff of this world which, because of the Word's having been "made flesh," is shot through with meaning, with charity, with the glory of God.

But this is what we so easily forget. Men as well as women have listened to those quasi-rational claims, have failed to see the fatal fallacy, and have capitulated. Words like personhood, liberation, fulfillment and equality have had a convincing ring and we have not questioned their popular definitions or turned on them the searchlight of Scripture or even of our common sense. We have meekly agreed that the kitchen sink is an obstacle instead of an altar, and we have obediently carried on our shoulders the chips these reductionists have told us to carry.

This is what I mean by profanity. We have forgotten the mystery, the dimension of glory. It was Mary herself who showed it to us so plainly. By the offering up of her physical body to become the God-bearer, she transfigured for all mothers, for all time, the meaning of motherhood. She cradled, fed and bathed her baby--who was very God of very God--so that when we cradle, feed and bathe ours we may see beyond that simple task to the God who in love and humility "dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.

"Those who focus only on the drabness of the supermarket, or on the onions or the diapers themselves, haven't an inkling of the mystery that is at stake here, the mystery revealed in the birth of that Baby and consummated on the Cross: my life for yours.

The routines of housework and of mothering may be seen as a kind of death, and it is appropriate that they should be, for they offer the chance, day after day, to lay down one's life for others. Then they are no longer routines. By being done with love and offered up to God with praise, they are thereby hallowed as the vessels of the tabernacle were hallowed--not because they were different from other vessels in quality or function, but because they were offered to God. A mother's part in sustaining the life of her children and making it pleasant and comfortable is no triviality. It calls for self-sacrifice and humility, but it is the route, as was the humiliation of Jesus, to glory.

To modern mothers I would say "Let Christ himself be your example as to what your attitude should be. For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as a mortal man. And, having become man, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death he died was the death of a common criminal. That is why God has now lifted him so high. . ." (Phil. 2:5-11 Phillips).

It is a spiritual principle as far removed from what the world tells us as heaven is removed from hell: If you are willing to lose your life, you'll find it. It is the principle expressed by John Keble in 1822:

If on our daily course our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

"Anything, if offered to God, can and will become your gateway to joy." Elisabeth Elliott

The Journey continued-Door County, WI!!

2009-08-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

Well, let's see....where did I leave off. Rules are overrated (see previous post), that's right. So, we arrived at our campsite in Door County, WI late that night. Due to the office being closed we had to follow a map to find our site. The campground we stayed at was beautiful!! Each site was pretty secluded with trees, it was such a great campground. Thankfully this time around there was much less hassle in getting everything set up. Although we did have a small scare!! As we were setting up we left Connor buckled in his car seat, this seemed like a good idea at the time. The bigger boys were helping us, until I went to check on Connor. In a very small amount of time Caden and gotten in the van before me and thought he would be a "helper" and handed Connor a magazine. Connor then proceeded to put it in his mouth and attempted to eat it! He must have gotten some in his mouth because by the time I got there he was choking and gagging! Long story short this continued on for awhile, so we had to wake up the owners so we could use their phone since we did not have reception. Connor finally stopped choking and coughing after what seemed like an eternity, and all was well. Ummmm............about that rule..............nah!

While we were in Door County we went and took part in a fish boil (which is a must:0); went to Ellison Bluff park which had limestone bluffs; saw "Cave Point County Park" which had limestone sea caves; took the ferry to Washington Island; and had some homemade ice cream! What was so unique about this area is that you won't see McDonald's or any other chain like restaurant or store there, it is truly getting away from everything. One of our favorite towns was Fish Creek, it was such a neat little town with fun shops and restaurants it was fun to bike around the town. Another thing I love about Door County is all of the sailboats, it is so picturesque!!
The boys hanging out at the campsite, we made campfire donuts for the first time they were a huge hit!

The Fish Boil! Check out the link and it explains what it is and why it started, very cool!!

The boil over!

The bell rings and everyone lines up!

The downside is that it has the bones in it, Big C was not too crazy about that although M'C liked it. Chad and I loved it!

Limestone bluffs

The catwalk, no I did not walk out on it. I ask you, how is that even fun!?!

Limestone caves

Oddly enough they are standing almost exactly the same, funny thing is I took a pic of when they first stepped in and they are standing the same there as well! Too cute!

Freedom from the front carrier;0)

Climbing to the top

The water was so pretty, and very warm!

On the ferry to Washington Island, we met some people on there that were from the same town as us. Talk about a small world!

We rode a "train" that took us around the island so we could learn about life on the island as well as other interesting facts.

They have an ostrich farm on the island, and als0 other exotic animals. Sadly, blogger will not let me add the ostrich pics;0(.The above pic is a Den Norsk Grenda (it has grass on the roof), the goats climb to the top and graze. There is two of these that were shipped in from Norway. It is super neat!

Biking around the island was fun, although we biked around 10 mi and it was super hot that day. It took a little longer than we thought, so we were racing back to catch the last ferry of the day, I do NOT recommend doing this!! Big C did great although he was very tired poor guy!

Schoolhouse Beach was amazing! They claim there is only five total beaches like this in the world. The entire beach is covered in these smooth flat limestone rocks. Please note: if you take a rock it is a $200 fine. Seriously!? We left the rocks.....

Our Ferry

Homemade ice cream! It was yummy!!

We took our ice cream and headed to sunset park! It was amazing!

Now you probably know what's coming...........yep, we drove off into the sunset!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, not really, but I just could not resist!!!

The last of our Sabbatical!! Road trip!!!

2009-07-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

So, last summer we took part 1 of our sabbatical. Our church gives pastor's a sabbatical after 6 years of being there, we split ours up (thanks to the Osborne's idea;0) and took 2 mon.'s last summer and 1 mon. this summer. We decided to make a big loop and hit the road this summer! We went to WI Dells, Door County, Chicago, Dayton OH (to see my big sis' and her fam'), Itasca (and camped with my other big sis' and her fam'), and then split our time up north to see both sets of parents and extended family! We have had such an incredible time, and feel so blessed and incredibly thankful for all the quality time we have been able to spend together as a family!! What we really loved about this trip was the wide variety, from touristy things to all nature/state park places. It was a trip that totally fit our family's personality and provided some great memory making opportunities!!

There were times when I just sat back and thanked God for giving me such a wonderful family, and for the amazing opportunity to create such fun memories! Do you ever do that? I find myself more and more trying to step "out of the moment" if you will, and count the blessings God has given me as well as to really cherish the "moment" I am in. I am going to spread out our trip over several "blogging days," so here is the first part of our trip!!! I hope you enjoy!!

Road trip baby!!!!!!!!!!!! We left on Father's day right after church! We left about 1:45, and it is only a 4.5 hour trip! We would get there in time to swim.......right!?!?

Hey, I had to make sure my kids know I was on the trip too, right!?!

We stopped at Culver's and grabbed a bite to eat, they had a custard eating contest for kids and their dads!! Big C got one scoop and dad received 3!! You can guess who won!:0)

Very proud of the t-shirt that he won!!

While at the dells we took the "Ducks tour." They are ready, Little C sat in the Kelty back pack!

They loved it!!

On a side note our tour guide was funny but went a little overboard, if you know what I mean! You know it's bad when your 5 yr old leans over and says "Mom, he's pretty funny, but you know when people tell a lot of jokes they are a jokester! Some people tell to many jokes though and then they're not funny anymore!" Well said!;0)

We stayed at Jellystone in the dells! So, due to many, MANY pit stops; we ended up arriving at our campsite around 9:30 that night (1:45-9:30, that's 4.5 hrs-mmm, no)!! This unraveled a bunch of fun, first they canceled our reservation due to a computer error, then our pop-up got stuck on the hitch, and finally we got everything set up by 11:30!! Not cool! Thus"Englund Camping Rule #1" came to exist! The rule is as follows, "We will arrive no later then 6-6:30 pm at our campsite." Yep that sounded good, we felt better, and then we went to bed!

We had such a fun time, they had a great little water park there, as well as lots of fun activities! We took part in the hay ride, and outdoor movie ("Yogi Bear" of course). It was such a family friendly campground, great for little and "big" kids;0)!! We loved it!! Above is the water slide/water playground at our campground.

Hot tubbin'!

Monkey see...............

Monkey do...................

(Kind have wish I would have tried, what was I thinking!!:0)

On the hayride!!
Chad suprised us with pizza that night (which is a big hit in our world), and we watched Yogi Bear and ate pizza.;0)
M'C being.....M'C!!! Love that!!:0)

Day 2-So we were torn between "Noah's Ark" and "Kalahari" we decided on the later due to it seeming more small kid friendly! We were so GLAD we did!! There was a heat advisory on that day, and Kalahari has both indoor and outdoor water parks and you are able to go back and forth between the two! We LOVE water parks, and this one rates as one of the best!! Big C struggles with heights a bit, and M'C has no fear at all!! M'C wanted to go on all of the "big slides", and they had a few "family rides" so he was able to go on those. Big C eventually warmed up after watching his brother, and came to LOVE a lot of the "adult slides!"

They had cookie decorating for the kids, it was a nice mid-day snack!

Love these swings!!

The water playground outside, it was super fun! They had lots of big slides, our (Chad and I) favorite was the "toilet bowl" slide; on this slide you rode on a tube and went down super fast it was tons of fun!! Sadly, Big C and I saw a man that became disoriented and started to "drown" after going down a tube slide (those are the slides that are completely dark and you have to lay flat), he was ok thankfully but we were a little freaked out!! Big C vowed never to go on a slide like that, and me being VERY claustrophobic had just went on one for the first time inside and thought I was going to die (really I did!!). The "lifeguard" said many people feel as if they are going to suffocate in those slides. Needless to say I was ok with Big C's vow;0)!

Above is one of the "family slides!"

We had a blast at the dells, but our time came to an end and we set out for our 4.5 hr trip. to Door County, WI with our "Englund camping rule" in tow. Well, it was in tow, until we came across this......................
Yep, this was the rule breaker! We had good intentions of keeping it, but before we knew it we were inside and signed up for a tour, the last one of the day!! We knew that our rule was not going to come to fruition!!

Sitting in box seats!

Notice how I am in the picture!! Yep, someone (Chad;0) was SO EXCITED that they ASKED if they could have the camera to take pics!!:0)

Don't walk on the grass, there will be a big fine and you could be arrested-really!! Well, that is what they told us after they saw M'C running on it!! Such great memories! We had awesome tour guides though and we were with a small group since it was the last tour of the day, so it was lots of fun!
Ok, for those of you who are sport's illiterate this is the Packer's coach Mike McCarthy!! Yep, not part of the tour in case you are wondering (or hoping;0)! It went like this....we are on the tour headed towards the tunnel the Packer's run out of when we stop, I hear my husband go crazy (really he did:0) and say "Look it's the coach!" He was so excited he could not think of his name, let's just say everyone else got VERY excited as well!! Chad goes up to him and asks if he can get a pic with him, he was on the phone and kept walking. As we watched though he stopped at the corner finished up his phone conversation and came back to take pics with everyone!! It was SUPER nice, and made some "people's;0)" day!:0)

My Dreamer's!!!

Hut, hut!!! The lines on the inside of the building line up exactly with the field outside.

All in all an amazing tour!! In life one must always make room for pit stops, it is in these pit stops that amazing memories may form!!:0) So, we jumped back in the mini van and hit the road.......rules are overrated anyway, right!?!?!

Our year thus far, in pictures......

2009-03-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well here is a a slew of pics to give you an idea of what we have been up to these last few months! From redoing our kitchen, to Little C's first cereal and sitting up, snowman and snow forts, to time up north with the fam', baking and biking, puddles, and more!!! Hope you enjoy what we have in store (sorry, I could not resist)!!!!;0) Now, in no particular order..........

Before........

After.........;0)

A snow fort!

My camera had a smudge sadly! They were very proud of their snowman!

Little man sitting up!

First cereal, he loved it! Although as you can see at first he was unsure!:0)

Baking cupcakes!

A racetrack up north, they both had a blast!

Bowling with G & G Englund!

Bowling with G & G Weinert, and Weinert jr's! As you can see we were on a roll (no pun intended;0) when it came to bowling that weekend!

The middle man was hysterical, "Come on ball, come on!!" Followed by him doing a little dance!

Bumper's have "nothin'" on him!!;0) He actually was getting pretty good!

Playing with the cousins!

Our first bike ride of the season!

Big C was actually stuck in this hole, I admit, I was laughing hysterically as he tried to get out!

The great thaw!! Puddles, here we come!!

Swinging away! Here comes Spring.....I hope!!!

Football!!

2009-03-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

Something we do a lot of!!:0)

More giggles...;0)

2008-12-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

Here is more of his giggles. He LOVES to laugh and coo at everyone, just looking at him will make him laugh! He is such an easy baby, and SO happy!!:0)

Little Man's giggle

2008-12-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, I finally got Little C on camera giggling!! Although it took me 4 takes because my camera kept dieing on me, thus I missed the really good giggles, bummer! Oh well, at least I got this!:0) You might want to pause the music on my blog. Enjoy!

God is Greater Party!

2008-11-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

So, every year on the 31st we take the boyz to the "God is Greater " party at a local church. It is tons of fun; there are inflatables, a petting zoo, lots of games, and a fun "show" at the end. Here are some pics of the night!! My little monkey, lion, and TMNT!

Showing off his moves!

The little monkey thought he needed to do the same (this is him kicking), monkey see monkey do!;0)

The tongue always helps, remember that!!

Waiting for the hayride, looking a little tired don't ya think!?

The petting zoo is always a favorite, for the big kids too!;0)

Family Pics!! Ahhhhhh!! Can't decide!!

2008-11-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

I am so excited that we got our family pics taken!! It was kind of a whirlwind deal, I had contacted her this summer but she was going to be out of the country and then finishing up her photography internship and would not be back until Nov. Thankfully she remembered and contacted me when she got back, so in a couple days notice we set it up and I VERY quickly planned!! we got the very LAST beautiful day, which was perfect!:0) This gal cam on some of our youth trips and what not, and has done other amazing videos and pics for the youth ministry as well!! I had such a hard time deciding which ones to put on here so I just grabbed a bunch, there are LOTS so it was really hard to decide!! Let me know whatcha think, and which ones ya love!:0) Ok, enjoy!!

First real giggle!! Yea!

2008-10-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

Big C and I were playing with Little C, and wouldn't you know it he started to giggle! It was so cute, and of course Big C was very proud that he was part of the reason Little C giggled. We got him to do it a few times, and then hew was done!! I love the first smiles and giggle's; it is so sweet, and so fun to see and hear! No video of that though, that will come much later. I'm just happy I got his smile finally!:0)

First Smiles!!!!!

2008-10-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

So, Little C started smiling a couple weeks ago, but as many of you know it can be impossible to catch on camera! Finally this morning I was able to grab my camera and get his cute little smile, he was on a roll!! M'C thought it was great and was right there in on the action, it was so cute he kept saying "Hi" to him like I was to get him to smile!:0) Enjoy!

A nice big smile!! He should be smiley, he slept all day yesterday!! No, really, I think he was awake for all of 5 min. It was strange, but hey he has a lot of growing to do:0)! Today I think will be the opposite, awake and happy it seems.

A little tongue action, all of my boys have done this, every time I take a pic we get the tongue it is so cute!

Sweet Baby!

M'C is 2!! Happy Birthday!:0)

2008-10-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe M'C is two, honestly there are times I look at Little C and think it is M'C (could also be that they look a lot alike:0)! We celebrated his birthday with family last weekend (THANKS dad & mom!!!), and now today had a mini party for him. Both times he wanted Spaghetti for a meal (his absolute FAVORITE), he did the spaghetti dance all day! It was so cute, when he sat down at the table tonight he said "Sgetti, sweet!" It was so funny! It has been so fun to listen to him talk, he is so patient, if you don't know what he is saying he will say it 200x (no, really) until you figure it out, never getting frustrated (me, on the other hand, wanting to give up:0)! He is our go-getter, constantly going and doing, a mover and a shaker! Aggressive, you bet! He always knows what he wants and has no problem expressing it:0)! He is also so sweet, LOVES to laugh, and is very affectionate! Big C is his hero, and he loves the challenge of doing whatever he does (no matter what it is, much to my dismay at times:0) I am so excited to see him grow and develop, and watch how God will use these great personality traits to glorify Him!

M'C in the hospital!

1st Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday M'C! He LOVES Elmo, if you can't tell!

Thanks Auntie Tiffany for a fun cake!:0)

Black eye and all!

Stealing a taste!

The fam! Hey, check out the TV, yep it's the Vikes' game during the B'day party of course! That my friend's is every little boys dream, he to will be there soon!:0) It was awesome my Great aunt was cheering as well as others! I think that makes it so fun, good times were had by all!:0)

Big C and the cousins were just as excited as M'C!

Boz is his other love!:0)

Pic with G & G Weinert!

The Great Grandparents, they are leaving for AZ soon! We will miss you guys!

The Big 5!!!!!!!!

2008-09-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this blog is about 2 months late, I started it but never finished it!! Hey, better late than never right?!:0) In some ways it seems like yesterday that Big C was born, and in other ways it seems forever ago! Big C was the biggest baby I have had yet he was 9.2lbs and 22 in long! Yep he was huge! I had to be induced because I was not even dilated, a week past my due date! Big C was such a happy baby and was so easy going, a trait he has kept! Joy is how we describe him, he has such a great sense of humor, and finds life and people to be a never ending adventure! Psalm 118:24 "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." I love this verse, I sing this to my boys in the morning many times when I have to wake them for whatever reason, Big C is the type of kid who rejoices in everyday life occurrences! My prayer for him is that he will keep this joy for life and love for people, and use it to do great things for God! For his b'day we celebrated it with family as well as had an all boys party for him. 10 little boys made for a busy, yet fun birthday. We took them to our local park where there is a "splash park," as well as a park. They had a blast playing football, racing, playing in the water, and also at the park. All in all it was a great birthday, I can't believe I only have one more year and then he will head off to Kindergarten, which I know he will love! Enjoy the pics!

The computer that had Big C's birth pictures died, and of course I do not have a scanner so this is him at a month old!

The big 1st B'day!!!!

Bob the Builder party for turning 2!!!!!!!!

Celebrating 3 with Grandpa W!!
4th b'day, celebrating with Grandma W! Happy 5th Big C!!!!!!!!!! An awesome Transformer cake Auntie Tiffany made him (above)! For his party (below) he also had a transformer theme(of course) with decorations! We celebrated my mom's, cousin from Oregon, and his birthday together. Everyone was back for a family reunion this summer.

On his actual birthday he chose french toast as his birthday meal.

The all boys party (except for me:0)!

McDonald's, yum!

Cake time!

I love how they are almost on top of each watching-classic!:0)

Playing football, and a race (below)!!

All in all it was a good 5th b'day for him, with lots of fun memories!

A great couple of weeks!!:0)

2008-09-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

I am actually blogging AGAIN, hey I think this breaks my "not blogging streak"! Actually I have a VERY bad sinus infection/cold so I have pretty much have not moved (as much as one can with 3 boys) all day, oh well tis' the season!! It has been a great couple of weeks though!!! My mom came and stayed with us and helped for about two weeks, which was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! It has taken me a little longer to recover due to being very anemic, but I am feeling much better now!!! Thanks mom, I don't honestly think I could say it enough!!!!! It was so cute, M'C started getting up between 6-6:30 everyday, which at first REALLY worried me!! I finally figured out when my mom left that it was because he was SO excited to see Bop Bop (not sure why, but that is what he calls Grandma-too cute!!)! Every morning the first thing he would say is Bop Bop, and I would tell him to go find her (not until 7 of course:0). Needless to say he does not get up that early now that she is gone, I guess I am not that exciting! LOL! We have had a couple of weeks of firsts, first hair cuts, learning to tie shoes, bath's, and first outings! All in all it has been great, enjoy the pics!!

First outing! We walked to the school baseball field and played kickball, it was a blast!

Which way Bop, Bop!?!?

Yea Papa!!

We received a visit from some of the Great Grandparents as well (above and below).

Brothers!
Learning to tie his shoes, he is working very hard at it!

First Bath, he loved it!

All clean mom!!

First haircut, it took me FOREVER to want to bring him in, but I finally had to!! I just did not want to ruin those curls, I don't think I need to worry about that though-they are here to stay (YEA!)!
He did so good, they were shocked!! Although I have to comb his hair everyday and get tangles out so he is very used to it!:0)
Pick a treat!!
Fall apples!!
I can't believe how much he is changing in such a short time, luv those little cheeks!!

Sweet Baby!

Welcome Baby Englund #3!!!! It's a Boy!!

2008-09-11T11:55:00.001-07:00

He's here!!!!! He arrived on 9/09 at 11:33 am!! Little C is now officially M' C, there is a new Little C!:0) Little C weighed 8 lbs 1 oz, and is 19 in long, and was discharged at 7 lbs 10 oz. The labor went GREAT, I was not happy that I had to be induced but it could not have gone better! I had tons of contractions the day/night before but sadly they did not do anything:0(! I went in dilated to almost 4 and was about 80% effaced. I arrived at about 7:30 am that morning, and they started the pitocin at about 8:30 am. Anyone that has been induced knows that it takes a little bit for it to get into your system and start working. Thankfully it did not take that long and my labor started at 9am and 2 1/2 hours lated Little C was born! I was VERY happy that I only pushed for 13 min-Yea!! Thanks to all who prayed for a safe and healthy delivery, I was able to do it naturally and was VERY thankful! He is so sweet, hope you enjoy the pics!:0)

Dilated to 8-Yea, almost done!!

He's here, blonde hair and all!!

Yep, that's relief!!:0)

Such a sweet baby!

Life is good!:0)

He has been VERY alert!!

Grandpa and Grandma W!!
The fam!!
Our boyz!!:0)
He is a VERY proud brother, and was so happy because he wanted a boy!:0)
Deep in thought- hmm, will he be taking my toys!?;0)
Time to go home!

Tuckered out!!
I love his little cheeks!
We're home!! M'C was so excited we were home!! Too cute!
Too sweet!!

We're gonna be great friends!!

Checkin' out the world!:0) He has a little rash but thankfully it is starting to go away!

Camping, Camping, and more Camping!!!!!!!!!:0)

2008-08-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally am putting the rest of our camping pics on here! We went to Itasca, a resort in
Detroit Lakes, and to Duluth. It was an absolutely great time, and of course tons of fun memories were made! We feel very blessed to have had this time together has a family! I put a TON of pics on here from all places, so hope you enjoy!:o)
Hanging out at the campsite in Itasca!

The best part of camping is the meals I think!! It was fun to cook bacon and pancakes and be able to grill all sorts of good stuff!! I am so excited for my boyz and there memories of this very thing!;0)

Yep, he's chillin'!

Headwaters!

Cousins joined us there!:0)

Walkin' down the river!

Waiting and watching brother and dad walking down the river (see below)!:0) Too cute!

I have been up the tower many time, but there was NO WAY I was going up this time while Chad carried Little C up there, so we both stayed below and let the big boyz go up!:0) We had so much fun at Itasca we went back after we were done camping, it is one of our favorite state parks!!

Water Carnival in DL!!!

Grandpa and Grandma W's new puppy!!

Water Carnival parade!!!

County Fair in DL, hangin' with his cousin!! We went to three County Fair's this summer and the State Fair is calling!!:0)

Onto the resort in DL! Big C is so proud of his trench, he was saying YES! as I took this pic!

Canoeing at the resort!

Going fishin'!

Here fishy, fishy!!

Big C going down a hill and over a jump, yep gave me a heart attack!! That bike got a ton of miles put on it, we did a ten mile loop twice at Itasca and Big C biked the whole way!!!

Onto to Duluth!! We went to Gooseberry Falls one day!! The boyz had a blast!

Swimmin' in the falls!

Split Rock Lighthouse!

Pebble beach, Chad teaching Big C how to skip a rock!

Betty's Pies! This place is a MUST visit, homemade and VERY good!!

Big C swimming in Lake Superior!! Very crazy!:0)

Ship coming in

We got to see the pirate ships sail in, we lucked out with that, we had no idea they were coming there that day!! The ships were so neat to see, we could not believe how many people were there!!! This one just shot off a cannon (blank)!

Gordy's Hi-Hat is a must go to!!! Very cool and good!! It's like an old soda shop!

We topped it off with their shakes made the same way for decades! I had yogurt! Yum!!!

Well, that is all for now!! I can't believe how fast this summer went, but it always seems to slip by! More to come, but not of camping!;0)

Kickin' Summer off!!!

2008-07-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well, here is what we have been up to! From learning to climb trees, riding without training wheels, t-ball, 30th surprise party, cousins, camping with friends, and a trip to CO!! Warning pics are NOT in order of actual events!:0) This is how are summer was kicked off, and we have been going non-stop since! Chad is on sabbatical this summer so we have been traveling around and camping which has been a blast!!! Pics coming soon!!

Very proud of both achievements!!
Oddly enough he was not taught to ride without training wheels, he just jumped on and started riding (God knew I might have been slightly dreading teaching him. LOL!!)

Some played t-ball-others were wanna be's!:0)

Cousins, oddly enough they are all in plaid shorts and have almost the same shirts, this happens a lot (scary, yet very funny)!

The big 3-0 Party!!!
My sister and brother-in-law from OH surprised us and came, it was so great he was surprised and so was I!!! Englund Fam-above and below!

The Weinert fam!

3 pregnant and one done!:0) In order of due date's from left to right!

Camping with friends!

Dirt is always fun!

Cousins!

Colorado trip!! My mom and I went to CO to take my Grandma back it was a very FUN trip, although I had sores all over my mouth which was a BIG bummer! It was great though!
Big C and Great Grandma, her very first s'more and he got to make it for her!!:0)
Cousins!
Little C's first marshmallow!

Grandma thought it was a must that we take the boyz to Space Aliens on our way home, which was a huge hit of course!! They were running laps they were so excited!!

Alright, that is all for now!! To be continued......

No you are not seeing things!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know, it's a miracle you say!! So, after finding out I am expecting I had (notice the past tense-finally) some serious morning sickness (why they call it that I'll never know, just the morning that would have been nice), the stomach flu thing twice, my migraines have picked up in severity (oh, yea good times), and I now have a VERY bad cold with a sinus infection. So, now you know where I have been- no where!! Ok, that's not true we have been busy welcoming G & G back from Mexico at the airport, Little C got his first real owie falling down the stairs-VERY sad:(, finding out my oldest sister and her husband are expecting their first baby YEA!, coloring Easter eggs and celebrating Easter with family, and lastly taking a week off which was much needed!!! Ok, so have fun with the pics, I'm a fanatic you know!

Little C loves to sit with daddy!

Welcome home, we missed you!

Very sad, look at that owie, poor guy!

Easter fun with the fam!

Ok, I got carried away!!

Yes, my favorite thing!

Ok, so Little C doesn't really like food-I know weird-but he found something he does like!! See mom!!

Cousins and Grandma!:0)

All tuckered out!!

I found him out cold on the basement floor-so sweet!

Lucky mom!!:0) LOL!

Check this out!!!!!!!! You'll LOVE it!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's right!!!!! We sent this e-mail to G & G's last night, to share the news!!! This is why I have not been blogging, I have been too nauseous!!!! Although it is now subsiding, YEA!!!

Sledding.....we love it!!!!!!

2008-01-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

So the first pic is of Little C, he was sick this last weekend!! Poor guy!:0( Monday we went on a hike, and on our hike we disovered a GREAT sledding hill!!! We were gone for about 2 1/2 hours, it was a ton of fun!!

The fact that Little C is laying there and NOT MOVING is AMAZING!! Poor guy!!!!!
Heading out to our hiking trails!!
Due to the fact that we left Big C's sled at G & G's house, we improvised when we discovered the hill and used the little one!:0)
What a great hill, and a perfect day for sledding!!!! It was SO warm!

Yep, I took my turn! To bad I did not fit in the sled!:0( Didn't Big C do a good job taking the pic!
Little C went down too!!! This was all Big C got in the pic! LOL!!
Puppy love!!
Wearin' down on the hike!
It was a great time! They were out cold for nap time!!;0)

Christmas Happenings!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

I know I have not blogged in FOREVER so I will try to catch up! We started off our Christmas with Chad's parents which was a fun time! Every year they put us up in a hotel for fun! As you can see Big C had a great time, he was very excited he could swim in the deep end!:0) We then spent time with his extended family as well, which is really neat because all of his cousins and aunts and uncle's usually make it every year!

He was a fish!

He figured out that if he wore his skates he could REALLY play hockey!
All of the Great grand's with Great Grandma! Yes Little C looked like this for every picture,

this was mild, very sad!
Singin' for us!

We continued north to the W'side of the family and spent a week there. It was a great time, I think one of the best parts was having everyone together opening gifts and just observing all the business and fun that was going on-it was great!!! Every once in awhile you would hear a yell from a kid, and sometimes even see a dance or two!:0) It was nice that all of the of us were able to be there! Another funny memory is that every year we take all the grandkids in to get a picture taken, oh yea, 7 kids 5 and under it is a good time!!! This year we went in with a plan and got a great pic, good times! Sickness also hit the group, you'll have to check out my mom's blog she has some great pics! Lots of games played, food eaten (at least by those who were not sick), and fun times were had!

This was the only pic I could get before Little C escaped!

The 3 youngest grandbabies playin'! Look closely at Little C, yep he is trying to eat the dog bone-VERY gross!!
Getting ready to open gifts!
My parents:0)
All the grandkids!
Cousins!:0)

We then continues on to North Dakota to my sister and brother-in-law's house! Fun was had by all! I will blog about that later!:0) Overall we were gone for about 2 weeks and felt very blessed to be able to spend it with family!

More Christmas fun......

2007-12-17T16:54:00.000-08:00

So Sunday Big C and his BUGS classs (Sunday School) did a special music for church their own little program. They all did super, and of course there were some classic moments! Big C was sooooooooo excited and kept asking when it was "his turn" to go up in front!!!???
Tonight we let the boyz open up an early Christmas present, we will celebrate our own family Christmas at our house tomorrow before we leave to go North. They opened this particular present early due to needing it for our M.O.M's group tomorrow! The boys got Hullaballoo by Cranium, if you have not played or do not own this game it is a MUST!! Pads are scattered around the floor and a little box gives directions such as touch your nose to the yellow square, or skip to a blue triangle, etc. It is great for reinforcing or learning shapes, colors, following directions, etc. and is tons of fun in the process!!! The game will eventually tell them to freeze and will pick something like the piano and if you are standing on that you win. You then get to take a bow, or do a funky dance it's great! Big C loves it and was thrilled to get it, Caden liked the box:0)

The little boy grabbing the microphone at the end said "Any

Questions!" Classic!:)

Great game!
Funky Dance!!!!

Christmas fun.........!!!!!!!!:0)

2007-12-14T14:07:00.001-08:00

Here is what we have been up to!!! Christmas shopping with Grandpa and Grandma E. and Uncle Brian at MOA (one of our favorite places to take people), decorating our Christmas tree (a little late due to putting in our new floor), and baking a cake to celebrate and remember the real "reason for the season" Jesus birth!:0) Tons of fun was had by all!!!

I thought Little C would cry, but as you can see he was fascinated!!! The MOA Santa is very good with kids!!!

The boyz riding bumper cars at MOA!

Little C went on his first ride, he LOVED it!!!!

Egg Nog! MMMMM!:)
As tradition has it (or so he thinks) lights were put around his bed!;)

Night flash! Yep he was having fun, looks sleepy huh!?

Decorating the cake!

LOL!! Ok, it is VERY messy(he did not want to wait for writing:0)

but he LOVES it! MM,MMM, GOOD!:0)

One of the BEST Christmas songs (let's face it all Christmas songs are great)!!!!!

2007-12-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

So, my sister introduced me to this song last year, and let's just say we were all in tears lisstening to it! It is such a great song, so moving!!! Wow, Mercy Me puts out the most impacting songs!!! If you have not heard it (or if you have and just LOVE it like I do) take a listen!!:0)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow........!!!!!

2007-12-04T17:18:00.001-08:00

So we are getting dumped on with snow-it's GREAT!!!!!!!!!! Big C has been outside everyday, he LOVES it!!!!!!!!! Tonight Dad and Big C went out, and as you can see boys will be boys:0)! At the moment we have gotten about 9 in. total from the last couple of days, we'll see how much more after it is done snowing. White Christmas, YEA!!!!

Snowball fights, good times!
King of the Hill!!!

Nothin' like a warm cup of cocoa after the snow!:0)

Here We Go.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-12-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

Alright so it has been FOREVER since I have really posted, so I have a ton of pics and I am lumping everything together! RU ready?:0) The week before Thanksgiving my sister and brother-in-law came and spent a couple nights with us. We had the PRIVILEGE of watching their three boys while they went and met with some friends who had recently lost their baby. If you think of it please pray for this couple (their blog is on my blog roll-Sara). Of course their boys were perfect and we had a blast. Noah their middle son who is two was very funny, after we put him to bed he kept calling "Auntie Niiiiiiki," well how could I resist that so he had to have a few more stories while I laid next to him! (This is also the nephew who claimed while at his home in ND, that after denying that he pooped in his pants, claimed it was Auntie Nikki who pooped! LOL!) Good times!:0)
Thanksgiving was a blast, I was so busy eating that I did not take any pics!! What was I thinking!!!! I did get some pics of our B'day celebration though!! My cousin, myself, and my niece all celebrated our b'days together, fun was had by all!!! We then were able to go cut a tree down as our annual tradition requires, and Big C was very excited that he helped to cut it down!!
Following all of this we had our "Old Fashioned Christmas" with our church, which is always a great time!! This year we had some youth help so we sat with the youth. Tradition has it that the tables are all decked out in great and creative themes that are all different. Our tables theme was Cd's, very appropriate!! Lastly, we had new flooring put in our house which we are VERY excited about!! It took about three days for a friend to put in so we had some great organized chaos, but we are so happy with the results!!! On to the rest of our projects!!!;0)

Now here are the pics.....

Cousins!!!!
Birthday celebration!!! My sister-in-law made the cakes, I should have taken a pic of the meal, tradition has it that on your b'day you get to pick the meal!!!! I had my favorite, cheesy potatoes, with turkey hot dish (not sure what it is called-thanks mom!) and my niece picked spaghetti!:)

The birthday girls!:0)

Uhhh, Grandpa aren't you supposed to be putting ME to sleep!!???

Traditions-I luv em!:0)

"Old Fashioned Christmas" HMM, who is that out of bed!!?? Look closely!!

Little C wanted to be like the big boys, it was too cute!!! This is also the before pic of the carpet and linoleum.

Ta-da!!!! After!!!:0) Now to paint the trim-yuck!:(

Way to funnny!!

2007-11-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to qtpies I found this guy, and he is VERY funny!!! He reminds me a LOT of Brad Stine!!This is for all of you who grew up in the church!!! I thought this one was hilarious!!!!!!!!!

You have GOT to check this out!!!!

2007-11-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

My sister blogged about this on her blog, you HAVE to check it out!!! Amazing!!!

Announcing.......................my Grandparents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-11-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how excited I am to announce this!!! I have been waiting for them to arrive in Arizona so I could announce their new blog!!:) You will have to stop on over and check out their blog (might want to tell them who you are:0), I know they would love to hear from you! Have fun getting to know them, they are wonderful people who love the Lord!:)

First Snow!!!!!!!!

2007-11-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

Ok so we did not even get enough snow to cover the ground, but there was patches and that's what matters!:) Big C woke up looked out the window and came flying into our room to say there was snow and he MUST go outside-"I've been waiting for this for a loooooong time!!!!" So, he threw his clothes on and out he went "To play snowballs!"!:) He and Dad had to scrape snow off the car to get a snowball, but it was worth it!:) Have to get snowballs somehow!:)

Who can hit the car!:) As you can see there is not a lot of snow!:) LOL!

Check it out!!!

2007-11-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have another artist that I like! He is new to me, Jimmy Needham, he has a great blues/pop sound! It is so different than what is normly heard on christian radio I think! Check out his myspace and listen to "Fenceriders," actually they are all good, but Fenceriders is the first song that I heard of his. He is a man who is out to move a generation into being bold for Jesus, no longer being luke-warm, and having a heart to reach the lost!:) Let me know what you think!:) Check out his write-up!!! WOW! Amen!!!!!

"I was rescued as a sophomore in high school. My first breath was on a Monday. My friend told me about the liberty from sin he had tasted. That evening in my room I turned from my wrongness and to sweet Jesus. Freedom ensued shortly after. As a toddler, I would belt out oldies tunes my parents listened to on the radio. Guitar was secondary. I never anticipated or planned for the instrument and the voice to meet but then again, I never anticipate anything the LORD does. Their first date was my high school talent show. The response was surprising. What made the night greater was that I had covered a Christian song. Knowing that I had the ability to bring glory to my King and really enjoy the music I played as well got me excited!

The Christian life is freedom and joy, even in the midst of trials. I am slowly realizing this. I find the most joy in knowing Jesus more and letting others know about him. My heart for this music ministry is two fold: that those who do not know Jesus would be shown very plainly the gospel of grace. With all compassion and conviction my heart is inclined to reach the lost. My second mission is this: that my generation who are professing believers would no longer be luke-warm. There is a phenomenon of supernatural apathy and a lack of vigor from a majority of American believers. We have bought into Satans lie that God just wants us to be happy. So we seek only to please ourselves, never looking to the lost with a broken heart, praying but never acting. This cannot be the Lords will. My music serves as an open invitation for Christians to become real, passionate, and zealous for the Gospel, which is the power of God for salvation. For the time being, one avenue by which I get to serve my King is music. And I'm going to continue down this path until the LORD calls me to something else or stops giving me songs.

The goal I am pressing toward is to make Jesus Christ famous while I am here on earth. I'll be going home soon enough so by the LORD's grace I will continue to abide. Only what is done for Christ will last. All to Jesus, forever!"

God is Greater!!!!

2007-11-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

On the 31st of October every year we go to a "God is Greater" party at a local church in town! We do this as an alternative to Halloween. We go every year and meet friends at McDonald's before we go, gotta love traditions:0)! It is such a great time though, each kid gets a pound of candy at the door, followed by being entered into a giveaway with great prizes for their age group! They have inflatables, tons of games, petting zoo, and a show for the kids! This year the show was a "clown type" act, the kids LOVED it and laughed hysterically, each year during this they have a salvation message as well! It is a great time and a wonderful alternative! Sadly we did not win the prizes (of course this was very distressing to Big C, but a good lesson:). This year Big C was a Vikings player (he has an old Chris Carter jersey that he got for Christmas last year, so he has his name on the back which he LOVES), and Little C was a puppy! A good time was had by all!!!
Go Vikings-he is a HUGE football fan!

"How much is that doggy in the window?"
Chad was very proud-I guess Big C has a good arm and
great aim!! I see a future:)!

Looking at the cow-the cow tried to eat him, he thought

he was hay!! LOL!

Everything is OOOH in our world-as you can see!:)

A wrap-up with the show! Good times!!!

Beautiful day!!

2007-10-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

We had a beautifl day today!!! The temp. was mid to upper 60's, so we took a trip to the park to enjoy our last nice day (or so they say).

Some like to go through the tunnel, others....

like to go over.
Some like to go down slides, others....
mmmm, I see a pattern!:)
Race ya to the slide!:)

More birthday fun (see first post below)!:)

2007-10-28T13:09:00.001-07:00

We went north this weekend to celebrate Little C's 1st birthday! Friday night we were at Grandpa & Grandma Weinert's house and had a big party with extended family, it was also my great aunt's birthday so we celebrated that as well! We had so much fun, my sister-in-law made an awesome 1 cake with balls on it (he LOVES balls, he will choose that over any other toy)! It was a fun day! We also went to Grandpa & Grandma Englund's house and celebrated with them along with extended family as well! We had a really fun time, and Little C seemed thrilled to have more cake!:) It was birthday fun all weekend long:0)!

What have I been missing all this time!

Family fun! Big brother to the rescue!

His second love-music!:)

Cousins!:)

More cake! Yes!

Good times!:)

Happy 1 year Little C!

2007-10-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

When I gave birth to my first son I went through a 2 year journey where I was going from doctor to doctor trying to find out why I was in so much pain. It was then that the Lord laid onto our hearts attributes of believers. For my oldest it was Joy, through that struggle my prayer was that we would never lose our joy and Big C was a constant reminder of that. Joy oozes from him, and we pray that he will continue to share the joy that we know comes from the God of Joy! Due to finally being dignosed and being on an incredible amount of drugs we were not sure if it was even possible to have another baby, and if it would make my condition far worse. That, is where we truly discovered HOPE! I feel so blessed to know a God who is truly the God of hope! The verse below was so encouraging for us, and 2 1/2 years after our first son's birth I found out I was pregnant! It still seems like yesterday that I was feeling his little feet kicking inside my tummy, and then before I knew it there he was in our arms. Little C is a constant reminder of hope for us, and our prayer is that he will grow to love and serve the God of Hope! Happy Birthday Little C!

Romans 5:1-5

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

Life....:)

2007-10-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

If only we never had to get out!
She'll never know.....
Snow-where are you!!???

Free Me!!!!

Music-Songs I love!!!

2007-10-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

OK, so I HAD to blog about this. If you LOVE music like I do then you have to check these songs out. The first one is "In Better Hands" (Not sure if this is new, or new to me) by Natalie Grant, and the second NEW song is "How you live" by Point of Grace (on their newly released cd,you can listen to it on their myspace). Both of these songs will make your heart soar as you listen to these positive, encouraging songs! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE them! Let me know what you think!? Or, if you know of any new songs that you LOVE! Isn't music such a wonderful thing!?

Fall Fun

2007-10-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

Let the fall fun begin!!! Last weekend the boyz and I went up north to my parents to celebrate my nephew's 5th B'day! We had a blast! We also went to the pumpkin patch, it was great!! The kids went through a corn maze, played in a corn(not sand:) box, went on a hayride and train, and did some pumpkin chunkin (they used a slingshot with pumpkins and such). Everyone had a lot of fun. The boyz and I also went on a little hike this week, there is a great nature park just down from our house and it has trails (when I say trails I mean grass and dirt not paved;) that go on forever (so I just discovered). The boyz had a great time and we played "I spy" for different colors! Big C has a good friend that comes over about over about once a week so today we mad oobleck (cornstarch and water)! I LOVE that stuff and so do they, it is such a great science project! Alright that is what we have been up to!

Birthday Boy!
Grandma and Gradpa with grandbabies!
The corn maze (my sister's sister-in-law went as well)
Yea for Hay!

Nature hike

Chekin' out the river

Looking for animals with his binoculars:)

Peek!

Oobleck, yea!

GREAT Book!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

So, I have been reading "Love Letters to a Child," by Tracy Fink. The author is the principal's wife from our town. This book is a must read if you are a parent or grandparent! Basically it is about journaling about your kids! Everything that is written in the journal has to be positive and encouraging, and you can write whatever strikes you about their character, or what God is laying on your heart about them (in a positive way), and so on! It is a way of documenting their growth spiritually, celebrating their character, and affirming who they are (each kid has a seperate journal). What is so great is that I know many moms who are doing this, and they say their kids run to see if anything new is in their journals (teens and kids) because they are so encouraged and feel so loved by it! I just think it is such a cool idea!!! Tracy gives a lot of examples in the book of her own entries to her kids, as well as tips about what to write, how often, and so on! I know life is so busy, but she makes this very easy with helpful tips! What a awesome legacy to leave your kids! Not only that, but amazingly encouraging for kids as they go through those times when they are struggling with different things in their lives to be able to pick up this journal and remember how God as worked in their lives and to see how they have grown and changed! As you can see I LOVE this book! It is also an easy read (not very big, and grabs your attention)! Check it out-you'll be glad you did!:0)

P.S.
I took Big C out and let him pick out his journal, and he picked Little C's out too (go figure:)!

I'm Back-I think!!!:)

2007-09-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! What a crazy, but great Sep. I am having!!! I have not blogged in FOREVER and I really have missed it!:( So, in the beginning of the month Chad's parents came and stopped in on their way through, which was a lot of fun!:) We, also went to the State Fair!!! Yea, it was a blast as usual, we got there around 1 pm and left a little before 10 pm!!! Our kids were troopers, and they loved it!! One would think that you would not see anyone you know with so many people there, but we always manage to see a few, which is a blast!! We then went to the Duluth area over labor day and met my grandparents, parents, and brother and sister-in-law with their kids for a picnic! We had SO much fun, and then my brother's family and my family stayed the night in the area and hung out the next day! What a great way to end our summer!:) Shortly after that Big C started preschool!!! He was so excited, and is loving it!! He is able to go with one of his best little buddies (who is pictured below)!! He goes 2 days a week and LOVES to do projects, play on the computer, and of course play on their GREAT playground!!
I also started school-again!! I am seriously on the 30 yr plan-not that it bothers me at all!! I consider it a hobby at this point!:) I cut my load WAY down so it really is more of a hobby!:) I also took on a position at our church! I am a co-coordinator of our children's ministry! I love it so far, it has been a little bit of work getting the structure into place (we are using 252 for those of you who are familiar) but VERY rewarding!:) It is only 12 hours and the hours that I work are hours I was at the church anyway every week (except now I am getting paid!), so it works out great! I am SO excited to see where God is going to take this program from here on out, I feel so privileged to be used as a tool for His kingdom! Alright that is my update for now!:)

Australian Battered Potatoes!! Our Favorite!
We visited the oink booth!:)
Sweet Martha's cookies, and all you can drink milk for $1
I love the state fair! (Don't you Kim-LOL:)

Labor day! weekend! Great Grandma and the great grandkids!!
All of us-except mom-she is taking the pic!

The Girls!!
Mine and my brother's fam!
Preschool-Yea!

Big C and his buddy!:)

Wordless Wednesday- I can Pump!

2007-08-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'm 4 now!

2007-08-28T14:37:00.001-07:00

It was great! Big C came running in and told me I must come see right away! I of course went running out, and he went and jumped on the swing and started to pump! Big C was so excited that HE had learned how to pump and no longer needed to be pushed (wow, what a bummer) ;0)! He went on to explain that, "One day I was 3 and the next day I was 4, and all of the sudden I could pump! It is because I'm 4 now!" Amazing isn't it, lol! It was great!

I had told my son last week that a package was coming for him in the mail, wow, big mistake!! Everyday he has gone out to get the mail, and when the package was not there he would ask me when it was coming?! It was cute though to see him anticipate the arrival, and to learn that sometimes we just have to be patient! My sister and brother-in-law sent my son a book (they always give the nieces and nephews books, it is great!) for his birthday, they do not just get any books but my sister will hunt for books that we had and LOVED when we were kids. This year they got him "From Castles in the Clouds"by V. Gilbert Beers. It is about Maxi and Mini Muffin along with Bible stories (there are multiple stories in this book). They use the stories about the Muffin family to help our children understand what the Bible stories are saying. Anyway, it is a great book!!! I don't think it is in print anymore so she has located them on Amazon (correct me if I am wrong)! Big C loves books, although I am not sure who was more excited about this one, him or me! It was fun to read him the stories though and look at the pictures (I always thought the pictures were so beautiful as a kid), and reminisce about my childhood!

Pray for Little C!:)

2007-08-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sooooo, little C has been basically not eating for two weeks. Not totally, but he went from eating 3 meals plus oatmeal before bed, and nursing or bottles mixed throughout the day. Now he eats 2 meals, breakfast and oatmeal before bed and has only one bottle a day (along with diarrhea). So you are probably wondering why I let it go on so long? Well, he started out with a really bad cold so I at first blamed it on that, he then started getting 2 more teeth (at the same time of course) so I thought maybe that was why. I finally called my doctor today and she wanted to see him. Long story short they will be running a bunch of stool tests on him (good times will be had by all), and if those are clear then they will maybe start him on Zantac. Little C has a VERY sensitive stomach (genetic sad to say); I could not eat any dairy, broccoli, or lettuce while nursing. My theory is that he is getting a stomach ache when he eats, thus he does not want to eat. Now we will wait and see what the tests say, and then go from there. I am not worried, but I do feel bad for him. He is still very smiley and happy, just a little more sensitive and wants to be held more (can't blame him:( So, if you think of it, please pray for him and that we can get it all squared away quickly.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

On a side note: Check out my sister and brother-in-law's blog, she started blogging 2 or 3 years ago (she was the first one in our family, and the first time I had ever heard of it) and then stopped a little while back, but has now started again! Yea! So, let her know you stopped by!:)

Good Times!

2007-08-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

So, the last couple of days I have been suffering from a severe cold/allergies. My youngest has also has a cold, poor guy! I had "neb" him at my parents because colds always settle in his chest (since his RSV). He was so good while we used it! I am now on allergy medication so hopefully in the next day or two I will feel like functioning again! I was glad though, my husband had his 10 year class reunion this weekend and thankfully I did not get real bad until after it was over! It was a fun weekend though! My parents watched the boyz at a friend of ours cabin so we could go (thank you , thank you to them)!! I was glad that I knew a lot of his friends from high school, I feel for those that come and meet everyone for the first time. I love the fact that we are both from the same area and know a lot of the same people, it is great when we reminisce! The last pic is Big C with his shirt on like pants and he had his underware on his head, he was laughing hysterically on the floor when I took this picture! Good Times!:)

Sweet Moments in Life

2007-08-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

So, I have had the privilege of staying at my parents house for the last 1 1/2 weeks. It has been so relaxing!:) I was able to capture one of these sweet moments! Here are my boyz playing! Big C is showing Little C how to use the toy!! I love these moments as a mom; yea there will always be those moments when they don't get along or whatever, but these are the moments you remember and love!:) I have great memories of myself with my siblings and am excited for my children to have the same! Family is so important and has shaped my life greatly, my prayer is that it will also shape my children's lives in their walk with the Lord.

Announcing!!!!! My mom!!!!!!!!

2007-08-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

My mom is now a blogger!! Yea! Come and join her journey into this new world of blogging and on their Timeless Travels!!! My mom is one of my best friends, she is young and one cool grandma!!! I have learned so much from her about life, my Christian walk, a healthy and godly marriage, and about being a mom. I feel so blessed to have my parents, and am grateful for the influence they have had on my life and the influence they will have on our kids lives!:) Ok, I will stop, but let her know you stopped by (you can leave me a comment also:) she would love the visit!:)

Wordless Wednesday-Grandpa & Grandma Camp

2007-08-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Part 2: The Random things in life!

2007-08-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Update-so we have had some sleep and are looking less scary (I know you are thinking "what's the difference?"). Humor us!:) LOL!! We are parting ways today, she is going home and I am staying (our central air is broken-not good). So, I am staying here through the weekend!! My husband has his 10 year class reunion, so we have another busy weekend! For those of you that know me, I finally chopped my hair-yea!! What freedom (and a time saver) it is to have short hair!! Alright, enough randomness, although it is fun to share the random things in life isn't it!? Check out my sister's blog in the future, I think she is on a roll now!:)

Yea! New haircut!!

R U ready for this??!!! Before pic!

2007-08-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

ok, so my sister and I are sharing our blog knowledge (which is not much)-but hey, knowledge is power right!!?? So, this is the before pic-before what right? Not sure!! The fact is we look really scary because it is night time!!! Go ahead finish screaming!:) Click here to be a part of the fun!:)To be continued.......

Summer weekends!!!

2007-08-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! It has been a little while since I have blogged!! The days have just been flying by, we have something every weekend it seems!!! It is ok though we have been having a good summer!! So, I am going to go over what we have been doing for the last week!! The first weekend in August we were up at a cabin by the lake in our home town. It was great, we did some swimming, tubing, fishing(Carter:)),biking, and relaxing!:) This past weekend was our anniversary, our 5th!!! Yea! I feel so blessed to me married to a man who not only loves me, but is a man who loves the Lord and is committed to serving him! We had a great weekend!!!! We were up at a cabin (the same one from the weekend before) with no kids, in 4 years we have not had a weekend like that other than when we were doing youth ministry stuff (and that does not count)! Our kids were with Grandpa & Grandma W at "Grandpa and Grandma Camp"! All of the cousins were there and they had a blast!!! What a blessing!! What memories!!! We came to get our boys and celebrated our oldest b'day with Grandma!! They had a blast!

The first weekend- Carter was feeding the duck!

Oh yea!! We caught this one with a marshmellow!!
We went out on the boat with G & G E. and Uncle it was a lot of fun!

2nd weekend-On their way to Grandpa& Grandma Camp, yea!

Grandma holding our youngest on the left and cousin.

All of the cousins except one (the youngest is a few months-he stayed with mom), they all made G&G camp t-shirts with their handprints and they also decorated them!! They all looked so cute!!!

We also celebrated our oldest 4th b'day and Grandma's b'day (her age will remain a mystery:)!!

Our oldest opening his presents with cousins and grandma!!

He is opeing a fishing rod there!

G & G got him a scooter!! It was a hit, he looooves scooter's!!! He has a friend that had one and he has been wanting one ever since!! It was a great day!!:)

Wordless Wednesday-Brothers!

2007-08-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Viewer Discretion Advised!:)

2007-07-30T15:39:00.001-07:00

Yep, that is what you think it is!!!! What you are thinking is exactly what I was thinking!!!!AHHHH!! I spared you many pics but could not help blogging about this!! I had my son in his booster with tray (not the highchair for which I am thankful), and came upon this scene! I don't think any of the poop stayed in his diaper!! Not cool!! I carried him to the bathtub, and this is what resulted (mind you, some of it had gone down already)! Very gross, it dripped on my floor all the way their and there was a ton in his clothes!! I ask you, how can one baby poop so much!?!? He is very big for his age, but I did not think this big!!! AHHH(did I menetion that already)!!!
Yep, this is what he did while I cleaned it up-poor guy!!!! Well, after cleaning it all up (by myself) I had that "I will never be clean again feeling," you moms know the one I am talking about!! Yep, good times!:)

Summer Fun!!

2007-07-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

I thought I should blog about what we have been up to! It was my hubby's B'day last Wed., and we had a beach day with our Youth so we celebrated it there. It was great a lot of them had black on with signs about getting old!! He turned 29, but everyone is giving him a hard time by telling him that it is his 30th! The cake above is a man being pulled into a grave, very funny (thanks to http://qtpies7.blogger.com)! The cake below is from my parents- a beach-very appropriate:)!
I love summer, and even more when one is a kid!! Childhood is great! My youngest prefered to watch from the swing-it was kinda cold!
Watch this mom!!!
Mom, I just want to eat these not wear them!:)

We are working on bonding!:) My youngest gets frusterated that the puppy is always in his space (this is my bubble:0)!! Let's face it, his head does kind of look like a ball!:) LOL!! The joys of summer!:)

Wordless Wenesday-Childhood!

2007-07-25T08:30:00.001-07:00

Our new addition "Bell of the Ball"-Bella is here!:)

2007-07-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

As you can see we decided to get a puppy!:) After taking a test and doing a ton of research for the past 6 mo or so, this is the dog that was the perfect match for our family! I had been looking for one during this time , but Wheaten's are hard to find in MN. I finally found 3 from SD, but they were brought to MN to be sold! Yea! Bella is a "Soft Haired Wheaten Terrier," she will not get incredibly large somewhere between a Springer spaniel and a Cocker spaniel (if that helps). Wheaten terrier's do not shed (hypoallergenic), and are not yippy. Both boys were very excited!!! As you can see she is so cute, and as an adult she will look like a mini sheep dog. Our youngest (baby) screams when he sees her, it is super cute!!

To dog or not to dog, that is the question!

2007-07-18T13:26:00.001-07:00

Part 1: Ok, so it is like this-the first pic is of my oldest son (who is now almost 4) with our first dog! I know she was a beautiful dog, we named her Skyler! The problem is that we were told she was a purebred lab (I know we were blinded by puppy cuteness). Turns out she was part German Shorthair, and if you know anything about this breed you will know that they are very high strung! Long story short, she destroyed many things, NOT GOOD, and we had to get rid of her! The good new is that she was adopted within one day! Yea!!!!! (We really did love her though!)
Part 2: So you are probably wondering who this is?! Again it is my oldest son (who is almost 4 now) with puppy #2! Out of the goodness of our hearts we decided that since we had to give up Skylar for adoption, we should adopt a puppy to give it a home!! Great idea,huh!! Ok maybe not!! This is Patch!! Very cute!! We liked him, he was very sweet!! He had a nasty barking habit and was frequently let out of his kennel by our neighbors!! Not good! Long story short, he was let out my someone by accident (not a neighbor) and he ran away!!! So, there goes Patch!! He was picked up but to get him out it was going to cot 3x more than what we paid to adopt him!!! So this might sound harsh, but we had to leave him!!:( Good news is, he also was readopted!

So to my point!!! My oldest son's b'day is coming and guess what he wants!? Yep, that's right-a puppy! It has been 3 years and we have somewhat enjoyed not being tied down, if you will. Although I do like dogs, I probably would be ok if I did not have one! The flip side is, I remember saying as a kid "I'm glad those aren't my parents, I would hate not having a dog!" I don't want to be "one of those parents", and I loved having a dog as a kid, and am grateful my parents allowed us to have one(despite the fact that my dad was not an animal lover:0)! So, you see my predicament!!! What to do, what to do!!! hmmm? (on a side note there will be much research into the right breed for our fam along with training-I believe this is very important-that is if we go through with it:o)

Wordless Wednesday

2007-07-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

It seemed very appropriate (see "Mystery creature":0)! My first WW! Yea!!

Mystery creature! AHHHHHHH!

2007-07-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my son came in crying from outside by our dog house, he said there was something in it! I told him it was probably a cat, and mu husband went to look, he also claimed that there was a "white something" in it! I went and looked, but it was gone by the time I got there! So yesterday I was looking in there and saw leftover squirrel parts, mmmm, I thought the cat got desperate! Wrong!! My parents were in town, and my mom and I were going to go for a walk, I went in the garage to get my stroller, well, check out what I found!
Ok, so all I saw was a pointy nose and a looong rat like tail!! Let's just say there was a lot of screaming and running! My mom and I took off and told my oldest to RUN! Yep, we left him and were out first-my son was sooo scared! Poor guy, and we were laughing our heads off!
So, after calming him down and finding out it was not a rat but a possum (It looks like maybe a baby) that was curled up in my stroller, we were given many ideas on how to get rid of him! I was told to shoot it and beat it with a shovel (I DON'T think so!). My Grandpa told me to walk it in the stroller to the end of the driveway and let it go. Good idea, but I did not want it finding my yard again! (I know you are probably thinking about how cute it looks-IT'S NOT!-)LOL!
So, my mom and I came up with a plan of action! No one was willing to help, and if I wanted someone to come and get it I was going to have to wait (that was NOT going to happen):). My husband was at work and said he did not like possum. Like he has had so many encounters with them:)! LOL! So we decided to walk it in the stroller about 3 blks to some woods and release it! As you can see I was not enjoying it (it was hissing at me with its sharp teeth showing)!
Yep, I walked it just like that the whole way! As my mom and son laughed hysterically(you didn't see them volunteering to help push:)! :)
Here we all are on our way to release it in the wild! When we got there it jumped out and went in the woods! It was GREAT, we laughed about it the rest of the night!:)

Teeth yea!!

2007-07-12T11:47:00.001-07:00

So about 3 weeks ago my youngest had 3 teeth break in at the same time!! I felt so bad for him, his mouth was soooo sore! I treid to get good pics, but this is as good as it gets!:) On Mon. he had one more break through, so they are all coming in all the way together! I'm hoping they don't all keep coming-poor guy! He has been a trooper though!:)
Still smiling!:)

4th of July

2007-07-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here are the 4th of July pics! We went up North for a long weekend! We joined my family at Itasca State Park in the afternoon, and then went and saw the fireworks with my brother and sister-in-law and their family. We also went to the "Lakes Country" and spent some time with Chad's family and worked on getting things ready for our move there. We had a great time!:) Hope you enjoy them!

You can't tell, but we were getting eaten by horseflies! AHHH!
The fireworks! Doesn't everybody look excited!:)
My oldest's first sparkler! Yes he is in his boxers!:)
The "Lakes Country!" He was super nervous at first! I think it has something to do with other first timer's crying!:)

Grandma & baby!

After getting full from eating all the sand, he decided to play with his toy!:)

Must See!!!!!!!! My brother-in-law made this video!!!!!!

2007-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.viddler.com/explore/level3media/videos/1/

Colorado Vacation

2007-07-03T12:21:00.001-07:00

Here is our trip for the summer!! My Grandma (Nikki's side) was turning 70 this year so we had a mini family reunion! We traveled (yes by mini van) out to Colorado (all 14 hrs) to Fort Collins, CO! On the way down we had our sanity (I think), and we took 2 days to get there! Here is the great state of Iowa!! We were the envy of all!! We traveled through Iowa and Nebraska to get there!!

Go Iowa! (It really is a nice state) Yes, even a dinosaur at a rest stop is exciting when your are traveling through Nebraska! (Are we there yet?)
We finally arrived Here are my sister's (Kim & Todd) kids and our boys!! It was plaid shorts day!! They will look back and thank us I'm sure of it!:)
Here are our boys with their 1st and 2nd cousins! Yea there are a lot of boys!! We are missing my Brother's (Bobby & Tiffany) 2 girls! They all had so much fun together though, it was great!
Here is the Grandma! Happy Birthday (Great)Grandma!

Here is me with my sister's and cousins!! Sorry, the one with the spouse's did not turn out! We are missing my brother and Curt (cousin) they were unable to make it. It was so fun to see cousins and meet their kids, we had a great time!
Grandma and Grandpa with the boyz!
We decided to go on the tram at Estes Park!! Yes it is as scary as it looks. I had to show this picture so all would understand why I sat on the floor the entire ride! My oldest pretty much almost gave me a heart attack! Does he look scared? Yea right!:)
Here is us at the top! We are in the middle of a red ant home! Not good! It was a quick picture!
There is our little climber! He had to go to the top of every rock formation on our hike!

I see a future climber!:)

My youngest was determined to get his brother's lemonade, he thought it was hysterical!

The boyz!! It was so beautiful in the mountains! We had a blast!
The last stop we made was Focus on the family!! we had so much fun! The have a great kids area (Adventures in Odyssey), and it is all free! If you are in the area it is worth seeing! God has blessed this ministry greatly! We also went and saw the Air Force Academy- the chapel was amazing!

Well, this concludes our trip! we drove back in one day! Yes we are crazy! It took us 18 hours , and we actually stopped in the cities and stayed with Chad's brother at about 12am, so technically we did it in 2 days! It was a great trip with a ton of fun memories!

We're Bloggers!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well we have finally decided to join the rest of the world and blog!!!!!! Welcome to the 21st century-I know!:) We are currently living in MN. Chad is the currently a Youth Pastor and has been there 6 yrs! I am a stay-at-home mom with two beautiful boys (see above:) ), whose ages are 3 (4 in August) and 8 mo. During the school year I stay busy with preschool, ECFE activities, helping with the Youth Group (I don't miss a thing:0), being a part of our church's moms group, and much more!:) Back to why we are blogging! We have decided to make a change, Chad will be leaving the church, and will be the new youth pastor back in our home town!:) Although we are very excited about the move, it has been a huge emotional roller coaster! We love our church family and it is very hard to say good-bye to them, and even more so to all of our youth!!! We trust though that God will bring someone to take our place, and to love these youth just as we have! We thought it would be fun and helpful to those in our lives if we blogged about our up coming move , and everything else that is going on! So here we go!:) Bear with us!:)