Happy Birthday Dad!!

Well last week I posted about my Mom's birthday and now this week it's my Dad's birthday!! So here we go...my Dad is the greatest!!

Growing up as the only girl with 3 brothers I remember how much I loved spending time with my dad. Even though he worked all day long, he always came home ready to play with us and made sure to find out how our day was, etc. As a kid I remember him always helping others, whether it was offering to help with a project or driving someone somewhere who was having car troubles. He was always there to help! That's a quality that I absolutely LOVE about both of my parents.

The most vivid memory I have of my dad as we were growing up is seeing him on Sundays up front in church leading music. I thought it was THE best thing EVER when I got to sing for special music at church with him. And as frustrated as I would sometimes get while working on math with my dad when we were home-schooled, I do have many great memories of spending time together with him as he taught me the thing I dreaded most...fractions. :o) So Dad, I just wanted to say happy birthday and thanks so much for what a wonderful dad you are to us!!

P.S. It might seem odd that I'm posting what seems like a random picture of my dad, but I just think this picture of Peyton swinging with Papa Mike is so stinking cute!!

All I want for Christmas is...

one of these.












I've been having these fabulous dreams of spending my days all comfy and cozy in my basement office adorned in my slanket. Now all I need is my slanket - in moss green, of course - and some of these to add some excitement to my life. I'm seriously considering going to the mall and sitting on Santa's lap this year to tell him what I want. Never believed in him as a kid, but heck, never say never, right? Especially when there's a slanket involved. :o)

Wordless Wednesday - Giddyup!!

Okay, so I'm sure you've all done this with your kids, but we find ourselves spending many evenings giving "horsey" rides around the living room after dinner. The other day I look downstairs after I heard Carson yell "Giddyup Peyton!" and this is what I see...Peyton giving Carson a horsey ride. I was amazed given her low muscle tone and whatnot. Talk about a great physical therapy/strengthening activity at home!! :) Obviously when Peyton said "Switch!" and hopped on Carson's back that didn't work out too well.

Operation Christmas Child

We had a neat experience this week with our church youth group. I'm sure you've all heard of Operation Christmas Child - where you put toys, hygiene items, school supplies, etc. in a shoe box that is sent off for needy kids around the world. Well we have four kids in our youth group who have been adopted and received OCC boxes while living in orphanages in Russia. Several of the local TV stations and newspapers wanted to feature our youth group because Ted, Klava, Nadia & Kola (the 4 teens from our youth group) were asked to be OCC representatives for the Twin Cities this year. What a great way to give back!!



On Sunday at church during our last worship song all the kids starting from little itty bitty ones all the way up through highschoolers came streaming in to the gymnasium where we meet. Each child was carrying a shoe box that was wrapped up and ready to be sent abroad. They stacked them up front so people could see just how many boxes we'd collected. We had so many shoe boxes donated that each child had to go back and carry in boxes several times. It was so neat to watch the kids carrying in their boxes, so excited that they could help other kids who are less fortunate!! There weren't many dry eyes at the end of the worship song as people realized what an incredible outreach OCC is. I know I was balling like a baby!! :)

Operation Christmas Child has been near and dear to my heart since I got married back in 2000. Chad and I now have 6 nieces and nephews who have been adopted, so thinking that special kids like them could be receiving the gifts we package up each year just completely overwhelms me. As much as I'd love to be able to bring all these kids home to love them and show them what it's like to have family, I realize that's not possible. But by sending off these shoe boxes, hopefully these kids will understand that there are people out there who love them and most importantly that Jesus loves them.

This week is "collection week" for Operation Christmas Child, so if you want to be a part of this great ministry, check out the Samaritan's Purse website for details.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Today is my Mom's birthday and although we don't live close enough to get together to celebrate each year, I wanted to take a minute to tell her Happy Birthday and let her know how much she means to me. My mom is an amazing woman. She comes from a family of 8 kids, and I'm guessing that's where she picked up many of her organizational skills. She is the second oldest, so from an early age she had a lot of responsibility given to her. I remember as I was growing up I thought my mom was SO cool, and I was in awe of how she managed the house while homeschooling all 4 of us. Then I went through the junior high and high school years and didn't think she was QUITE as cool as when I was younger, but she was still pretty cool. :) Now that I'm all grown up and have kids of my own, I'm realizing more and more with each day that passes just how incredible my mom is. She has such a giving heart and is always the first to help out those in need. She's a great friend to me, and I can't imagine life without her!! Thanks for all that you do and all that you are, Mom. I love you!! Hope you have a VERY happy birthday - we're excited to be able to come celebrate with you (and Dad!!) next week over Thanksgiving.

P.S. This picture is from last year on my Mom's birthday when her and my Dad got to come down and use some free Vikings tickets we'd gotten!!

Who Knew

...that a weekend stuck at home could be so fun??? Last week Chad was off on Friday so we had a nice long weekend at home. I was a little worried how it'd go with all of us spending a solid three days together at home with no real "plans". Surprisingly it was a great weekend. The kids found some of the oddest ways to entertain themselves...it was really pretty hilarious.

First of all, they decided that walking around with ice cream buckets on their heads was ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL. They wandered all over our main level holding hands and bumping into furniture. Then Carson decided he's "help" Peyton so she didn't run into things...he held her hand and lead her all over the place making sure she didn't crash into anything. Once they got sick of that, they switched to sticking the buckets on their feet and "walking" around in them. We had some good laughs watching them.

Their next adventure was playing on the top bunk in Carson's room. For those of you who haven't been to our house (or who haven't seen Carson's room since we turned it into a "big boy" room), he's got bunk beds and the kids are constantly begging to go up on the top bunk. The ladder mysteriously went missing as soon as the bunk beds were set up (thanks for hiding it in the storage room, Daddy!!). Anyway, we were doing some dusting and the kids saw Chad climb up on the top bunk to dust off the ceiling fan. After they saw that, there was no going back!! They seriously played up there for over an hour. When it was time to end the top-bunk party, we had some VERY upset munchkins. I had to promise them that they could play up there again very soon.

We wrapped up the weekend by making cookies. The kids got to help use the mixer, then drop cookie dough on the cookie sheets, and lick the beaters of course!! Peyton has always been in awe of anything cooking in the oven, so she sat there for the ENTIRE 9 minutes while they baked. She's so funny!! Obviously the kids favorite part was EATING the cookies once they cooled off.

So, that about does it folks...our long weekend at home. Oh, wait - I lied. We did do one thing outside of the house (besides play in the snow, which you saw pix from in my last post). We bought a new (used) mini-van on Saturday - woohoo!! RIP 1998 Chrystler Town & Country...hope you find a new owner who takes good care of you like we did!! We're now sporting a 2008 Toyota Sienna, and lovin' it!! Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

P.S. Check out the vest Carson's wearing in the pictures...that's Chad's Snoopy vest from when he was little. Carson thinks it's THE coolest thing ever and wants to wear it over top of everything. HILARIOUS!!!

Wordless Wednesday - The First Snow

This past weekend we had our first snowfall. It wasn't much, but the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever! They had a blast making snowballs and throwing them at each other. I'm thinking this winter will be a fun one now that they're old enough to actually stand up in their snow gear!! :)

Election Day Flashback - 2004

I came across these pictures of Peyton from 2004 and I just had to post them. WOW, she's changed in the past 4 years!! Hope you all get out and vote today!!

P.S. Check out how blue Peyton's eyes were when she was younger!!! Now they're hazel like her Daddy's.