Quiet Weekend

The kiddos were with their dad this weekend so Eric & I got to enjoy lots of peace & quiet! I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and LOVED it! It's been out for awhile and was a bestseller but I never picked it up until now. Wonderful book and now I can't wait to read her next book. I took several naps (NO MORE GLUTEN!!) and hope I'm finally getting over my cold. When the kids came home, they were obviously exhausted so it was early to bed last night and will be again tonight. It seemed this morning like they were both getting my cold, so I'm hoping that another good night's sleep and some relaxing will help them too. We've fallen behind already on our Read the Bible in a Year plan, so we'll start catching back up on that tonight as well. This coming weekend is my sweetie's 38th birthday! John & Karen are coming up for dinner on Saturday night and we'll have cake & ice cream as well....We'll just have to see what else we can cook up for a fun birthday :). That's it from here! Oh, it's going to warm up this week too! It's going to feel just balmy when it reaches 30!!

Lots of Pictures

Just because they're pretty cute :)

Nana & Morgan at Jethro's. Great BBQ before the Drake game!

The kids and I headed to Des Moines on Tuesday (Dec 29) to celebrate Christmas with my family. Eric was sick, so he stayed home and we missed him! Mom took the kids to a Drake basketball game on Tuesday night and the boys got to meet a former Drake player, Adam Emmenecker, at Jethro's before the game. They were very excited!

We had fun hanging out with Laura's family and playing with all of our new toys! Will & Max got all the same presents with a decidedly Drake flare...Drake blankets, Spike the bulldog stuffed animals and books!

We had a quiet New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with lots of football and yummy food. John & Karen came up on Saturday to watch the Arkansas game (BORING but they FINALLY pulled it out! GO HOGS!!) on our new Christmas present. The kids got hand knit mittens, hats & blankets from Grandma Karen. Thank GOODNESS because it's been below zero far too much in the last few days!We're loving the new TV and BluRay player. Sunday was church and the realization that we had to get back to normal soon. The tree is down and we moved some furniture around too!

Morgan's new dress from Nana

2009 Wrap Up

What a year!
January 2009 - Eric found a jawbreaker in the ductwork in the van...Now where would that have come from? Will's JRA flared.
February 2009 - Will shoots & scores as he LOVES YMCA basketball.
March 2009 - We adopted our Compassion son from India - Vijaya Pandi. Soccer started with snow still on the ground.
April 2009 - Several trips to DM as we said goodbye to a dear friend and were blessed by his last days. Morgan turned 2!
May 2009 - My mom retired. We had a great visit to Des Moines with my family including my grandparents.
June 2009 - Will finished Kindergarten and started Summer School. Mommy worked lots of hours rolling standards. We celebrated our country's birthday with the Freedom Festival Parade.
July 2009 - We had a wonderful time at the lake with my sister & fam and my mom but missed Eric terribly. Will surfboarded!
August 2009 - Will turned 7! We took our ill-advised trip to Chicago but the CUBS WIN! Will started 1st grade, soccer and flag football.
September 2009 - Morgan rode in an ambulance. Thankfully it turned into a happy ending. Eric got a new job!!
October 2009 - I'm engaged to marry the man of my dreams. Thank you for loving me my sweet. We had a clown and a fighter pilot for a chilly Halloween.
November 2009 - Our 1st Thanksgiving together in DM at my mom's. Lots of good food and fun! oh, and shopping :)
December 2009 - Our 1st Christmas together engaged! My first Christmas without the kids. Grateful for so many blessings and looking forward to 2010.

We praise God for the blessings and challenges that he has given us and brought us through this year. We're grateful for the hope and promise of the year to come.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Praise God for His precious Son!

And the time just flies by...

It's been a busy couple of weeks! It seems like with last minute shopping, lots of time with the kids and snow, snow, snow the time has flown. December 8th & 9th we had a BIG blizzard with 12 inches of snow and very high winds. Rockwell hasn't closed in my time here (~10 years) but was closed on the 9th. We stayed inside, watched movies, baked cookies and fudge, and had lots of fun time together! Then came the sickness. First Morgan had a brief (Thankfully!!) bout with the stomach flu. She was sick once and then all was well! If only my time with it had been as simple. I had it for the next two days and didn't venture outside the house during that time. I finally started to rebound on Saturday only to have Will come down with strep throat. Finally, I think we are all well in time for the holidays. Yesterday, we wrapped packages and got things set up under the Christmas tree. The kids are spending Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with their dad, so I'm hoping that these couple of days are relaxing and restful for Eric & me, even if we will miss the kiddos. We're planning to have our Christmas together on Saturday when they get home and then will head to Des Moines to visit my family on the 28th. We saw John & Karen last weekend for dinner and hope to celebrate the holidays with them over New Year's weekend after they return from Vail. Eric & I are so blessed to have the Dec 24th - Jan 1 off from work. Yep, we're SPOILED!

SNOW DAY!

Today is a snow day and to hear the weathermen, the world might be ending as well. :) We are home in our jammies watching movies while Mommy's working some. I'm glad we don't have to be out in the yuck today! A few pictures from our weekend...

If you're gonna be a bear...

BE A GRIZZLY! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Making pumpkin bars...

I think Eric's not sure :)

Our outside decoration "Frosty" who became a sun porch decoration after he couldn't stand up in the wind.

Hanging out with Eric Loving movies in their fort on the floor in Mom's room

Dancing to the Wiggles

The thing about faith...

The thing about faith is it’s not about what you want. It’s a confidence that God won’t give you any challenge you can’t handle….you just don’t know what that limit is.