Jungle Jack and the VonTrapps

Last week my mom treated us (me, Joe, Ellie, Erin, my sister, and her husband) to an evening with Jungle Jack Hanna live on stage. He had the usual assortment of interesting and unusual animals, plus lots of information. He really is very entertaining to just listen to. What made the night for me though...

Throughout the night, various animal handlers would come on stage and he'd ask us if we recognized them, telling us they were from a very famous family. At the end of the show he introduced them. They were some of his neighbors in Montana and the great-grandchildren of Captain VonTrapp from The Sound of Music (Kurt's grandchildren, for those of you who are officianados). Of course, they sing (are about to leave on an international tour), and so we were treated to three numbers, The Goatherd Song, The Sound of Music, and the Rwandan National Anthem. Amazing, amazing, amazing voices!

Thanks, Mom, for a very special night!

What Bob Can't Do

It's funny looking back on this week in rewind...I must have been getting sick for a few days before I actually knew it. I look at these pictures and my primary memories are of being tired...

Continuing with the week in rewind...Our family celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday night because we were going to be having Erin's birthday party on Sat., the 14th. On this night, I learned what Bob can't do. I found that it is not possible for me, in three days, to have two birthday celebrations, a Valentine's party, and a "fancy" family Valentine's meal. Something had to give and this year it was the fancy meal. We had pizza - no, not homemade (unless Jon is really our Papa). When it came time to decorate the table, I gladly delegated that job to the kids who had been sent some inspiration from my aunt (in the form of fun napkins, placecards, etc.). They had way more fun setting a fancy table than I would have on that night. Aren't these places cute?? And they probably enjoyed the pizza just as much as they would have my fancy meal. So that was Valentine's Day, and even in our imperfection, we all loved each other very much that night.

Next year I'm going to try Cheryl's tradition of going around the table and sharing what we love about each person. And since Erin's birthday will probably be on the 12th next year, too, pizza may also become our new Valentine's tradition.

Laying Low!

Here is Ellie's rendition of where we were supposed to be tonight.

Our plan was to be enjoying an indoor water park at a reduced rate through my mom's school conference. The Lord's will for us, however, was to be laid low by some flu virus for the better part of a week. (Just be thankful you can't pick up our germs over the internet!) We're not complaining because we know we can trust His timing in all things, and fortunately, we could reschedule the water park for the second week of March. This has been a very big week, with all the birthday and valentine happenings plus all of us very sick. I'm going to blog it in rewind over the next few days. Not tonight....just looking at this bright screen makes my head hurt.

The Wedding of the Century and Other Stuff

I think most churches have a "Miss Donna Lou". She's the one who keeps everything running smoothly...secrectary, director of children's ministries, Sunday School teacher, Bible Club teacher, VBS coordinator, ETC. She does it all, and she does it with great love because, as a single woman, serving the Lord and His church has been the passion of her life. Yesterday, on her 60th birthday, Miss Donna Lou, became Mrs. Donna Lou when she married Mr. Russ, a match so perfect only God Himself could have orchestrated it. Do you know what happens when you live all your life in a small town, making the most of your singleness? You get A LOT of friends! I think about 550 guests were expected yesterday. It was a whopper of a wedding! The ceremony was beautiful with numerous musical performances. (It seemed almost like a concert.) There was even a kids' choir, which Joe and Ellie participated in.

The reception was great fun, with games done as only Miss Donna Lou could have. What a blessing! It was dubbed "The Wedding of the Century", and we are so thankful to have been a part.

Other happenings this weekend...Daniel's got some really yucky intestinal stuff going on. He's been tired, whiny, and clingy. Matt stayed home from the wedding yesterday to watch him, and I missed church today. He's actually starting to cling more to Matt now. He wanted him tonight instead of me. I guess my feelings aren't too hurt. Matt is a pretty nice guy to cling to, after all.

And everything's dripping! It feels like we're in Narnia and "Aslan's on the move." We can see grass, but of course we can't walk on it in its water-logged state. We took a nice, long walk this afternoon (on the sidewalks). We all enjoyed it, but Joe was ecstatic!

He's been cooped up too long, and has many "tiggers" to get out! I think our reprieve from winter will only last a few days, but that's fine. We still have one more snow day we need to use yet.

Feeding the Flock

We've taken up the hobby of birding this winter. Did you know that it's no longer called birdwatching? I guess that's politically incorrect or something. What we've really done is set up our birdfeeder and kept seed in it since the cold weather started. Since the bird feeder is conveniently located just outside our schoolroom window, and the birds are, apparently, more interesting than phonics, the kids have gotten really well-acquainted with our neighborhood flock. They've actually given titles to the birds. The male and female cardinal are the king and queen of "Feederville", and whenever they are spied, the kids call out, "Hail, King/Queen Cardinal! Hail!" (Did I mention our kids are weird?) The tufted titmouses (titmice?) are the prince and princess, while the bluejay is the knight. The juncos are the duke (pronounced "doo-yuke") and duchess, and the mourning doves are the pastor and his wife. The Bewick's Wren is the nurse/teacher and the plethera of sparrows? The commoners, of course. There's also a red-tailed hawk (the evil villain) who flies in and stirs up the kingdom every now and then. Our occasional squirrel is also on his side.

Ahhhh...with entertainment like this, who needs phonics?!

Pass the Lysol, Please!

I was going to write a real post last night, but I ended up nursing a vomiting Erin...all night. I think she's through the worst of it now. It's a bright, sunny morning, and I'm wondering, "Who's next?" Looks like it'll be Ellie. She's sharing the couch with Erin right now.

OY!!

The other day, one of our children (who shall remain nameless)


did this to the door of our van (the deep scratches are very difficult to do justice to in a photo) with a ski pole! By accident, of course!

Why a ski pole in August, you may ask. That was a part of the adventure.

I guess fire-breathing dragons can sometimes be blue with a Toyota emblem on the front!

Getting Wired

Again, we are discovering all the charm of our old house. We had called

an electrician to install some ceiling fans for us, (They had been sitting in their boxes for six years, and we decided, hey, it's time.) but when they came they found old wire that they could not reinstall a fixture on. Now, we had put new fixtures on some of this wire, not realizing that WE WERE TAKING OUR LIFE IN OUR HANDS! Anyway, they rewired the ceiling fixtures for the fans, and, in the process, found places where live wires had been stuffed down inside our plaster walls, where they smoldered by the highly-flammable lath. Praise the Lord we had not burned down! Our electrician highly recommended a complete rewire, and now we're in the midst of it. It's been interesting having my new friends Ryan, Kevin, and Darrell home with me and the kids every day for the past week and a half. We've also had fun figuring out which outlets and appliances are going to work on a given evening. It's an exercise in flexibility, so I guess that's good for me. I guess it's probably a little bit like living in a place like Africa where power is optional at almost any time. Today Ryan assured me they would probably be done by Friday, so I'll be able to show you all my new outlets, not to mention some new lights in convenient places. Yea for Edison!

Vintage

Sometimes "vintage" is a good word... Our computer crashed last month (first time ever!), and we had to take it to an Apple store where I had an appointment with one of their "geniuses" to see if he could get us back up and going. As soon as he saw our computer he told us that it was "vintage", and I thought, "cool". Then I learned that "vintage" is just a nice way of saying "if your hard drive is gone, we can't replace it". Thankfully, our genius came through for us and was able to repair our hard drive without losing any of our stuff (most of which wasn't backed up). He told me I should thank my lucky stars...I don't believe in lucky stars...It was the hand of God. He also told me to run, not walk, and buy an external hard drive, so that when this seven-year-old dinosaur crashes for good, all our "stuff" will be safe and sound.

My technological education comes in spurts, probably because I have no interest in "pushing the envelope". If it does what I want it to do, great. If it's not broke, I ain't fixin' it. Then it does break, and I have to get a bunch of new stuff in my head, just to make things work again. Fortunately, I found a very knowledgeable and helpful guy at Best Buy (Can you believe it?!) and he got me all set up with my new external hard drive. I just feel so up-to-the-minute. Please don't burst my bubble.

Mother of Four

So here we are one week ago...


This week has flown by, and I know it's because I'm having so much fun. Isn't it amazing how aches, pains, and exhaustion can be so insignificant when you are falling in love with a newborn? Daniel's labor and delivery were my easiest ever, (checked into the hospital at midnight and at 4:19 am, he was born) and he continues to be a delightful baby. He eats and sleeps, fusses when we change his diaper, and more and more now is staying awake for short periods of time. The jury is still out on his eye color, but he definitely looks like he fits our family mold. His brother and sisters are still enthralled with him, although Joe is ready for him to be big enough to play.

It's been such a blessing to have Matt home all week. He is definitely one of the most helpful husbands on the planet! We've also been well taken care of by neighbors, friends, and family. (You should see the list of thank you's I need to write!) It's made for a nice transition to a family of six. Then just when I'm starting to think, "This isn't so bad," I remember, "Oh yeah, I haven't cooked all week." Maybe next week will be the true test...

And those are the ramblings of the sleep-deprived for tonight. I'm off to bed (for a couple hours, anyway).

Camping

After church today we headed down to a nearby State Park where Matt's parents are camping for a couple weeks. Matt's brother's family came down, too, and it made for a really fun afternoon and evening. The kids swam at the beach with their cousin, Nathan, who is much-loved, then took a boat ride. After cooking a supper of "pudgie pies" over the fire, we had a surprising amount of fun with some rocket balloons. Last of all, of course, we made s'mores. (Found out that Erin prefers hers without marshmallows or graham crackers.) The perfect summer outing! Thanks, Grandma and Papa!

Cruel Parents

Tomorrow we will finish our two-week swimming lessons course here at our local pool, which our kids believe is filled with water sent via pipeline from the Arctic. We like the end of July for lessons because it's usually plenty warm by then, even for the 10:00 lessons. These past two weeks have been unusually chilly and cloudy, though, leading our kids to believe that we simply enjoy torturing them by sending them to lessons each day. I do feel sort of sorry for them because I know how it feels, but they've been pretty strong troopers with it all. Here's a couple shots of them looking their most pathetic this morning as they finished class. Keep in mind that Erin's class is only half as long as Joe and Ellie's, so she has a little more to smile about.

Something Had to Give

Well, the news that was never published on the blog is that we are expecting Baby #4. He's due any day now, and we're all very excited about it. Unfortunately, this pregnancy just zapped me of energy and clarity of thought. I'd never been pregnant at 35 before, and it's definitely different than just a few years ago! Actually, it wasn't so bad as long as I was getting rest, so I cut out the majority of my Internet activity. I hope to be back now, as I really have missed blogging and reading other blogs. Sounds crazy to try to make that commitment when I've got tons of sleep deprivation coming on...We'll see how it goes.

I plan to announce the baby's birth here, so check back if you're curious. He's due August 4, so I'm hoping he'll be born tomorrow...although it doesn't seem likely.

This is what my kids look like now. (My, haven't they grown since the last time I was here!) This is one of my favorite pictures of them now. They look good together, but I think the main thing I like is how still they are standing. We don't get a lot of that these days! I'll try to fill in more of our lives lately as the energy and inspiration hit.

Snow Day!

What a surprise! As a weather watcher (especially in the winter), I have never, ever been surprised by a snow day. I can see 'em comin', and I eagerly anticipate. Today just blew me away, though! I had given up hope to the point of not even watching the weather anymore and, lo and behold, we got a few perfectly-timed inches. So...I guess it can happen whether or not I'm watching for it...I'm not as powerful as I thought.

We had been holding onto a Bob Evans gift card for just such an occasion, so we all went out to breakfast, then spent the rest of the day playing (in various ways). It was snowing and blowing for most of the day, so Matt and Joe were the only ones hearty enough to spend any time outside. I think Ellie was probably the happiest in the whole family to have Joe around to play with all day. I love how much they love each other!

All the playing must have distracted Erin because when I went in to get her up from her nap, I found that she hadn't slept at all. I told her I wasn't happy about that, and she promised me that she would sleep tomorrow. When we came downstairs, Matt asked her if she had slept. She folded her hands and calmly said, "I don't think I can tell you that right now." She is just so funny to me!

At Last!

We have snow!!!! We got about four inches between 7 am and noon, so we got to go sledding for the first time this winter! The park down the street has some of the best sledding hills I've ever seen, and we hit them hard. It's so fun to see how much more daring the kids get from one winter to the next!

I love how bright and quiet everything is today. Yesterday our white fence was the brightest object around, and today it looks sort of dingy next to the snow.

Fun At Our House

No big snows yet to keep us entertained, but we're doing the best with what we've got!

A couple weeks ago, we discovered a great new game called Sticker Tag. The kids and I each took one sheet of stickers (the cheap, little dot ones) and chased each other around the yard trying to put the stickers on each other. No points, no winners, just lots and lots of running and laughing. It's so cool to see how they move at the different stages they're in right now. God grows such amazing bodies! (I really could barely keep going when I was chasing Erin. Her little run, combined with her squeals of excitement were just too much!) My kids have never been big on regular tag (I could only ever get them to play for five minutes at the most), but this kind of tag we played for an entire hour! I was a little sore the next day, but it was worth it for the fun we had...and for how easily they went to bed that night.


Then on Friday Joe had the day off of school, and he spent it catching up on playtime with his sisters. They raided the dress up clothes, and I found them acting out the clown scene from Dumbo. Erin was Dumbo, of course, as he is one of her passions right now. Joe and Ellie were having fun making her jump off the "burning house".


For me, it's also been great fun to see the sun again today after three days of rain. What a blessing!

Go Bucks!

I wonder what it's like to live in a state that's not Ohio tonight. At Wal Mart this morning, I think I maybe saw two people (out of many!) who weren't wearing their scarlet and gray, such is the hype about the BCS Championship against U of Florida. Our kids were all decked out in their OSU gear before they headed off to bed tonight. We let them stay up a little later, so they could see some of the game. They watched for about 20 minutes, which was enough to see both teams score one time. We're almost to halftime now and, as the announcer just said, "It's shaping up to be a wild game..." I know I'm an optimist, but this game hasn't really been what I had in mind.

The football game wasn't exactly what Erin had in mind, either. When she put on her sweatshirt today, and I told her she could wear it for the OSU ball game, she got all excited about going to the ball at OSU. Her visions of twirling to the music may have been dashed, but I think she was OK with it, when she got to practice tackling while we were waiting for the game to start.

Fun Book Game

Julia blogged about this, and I thought it looked like it could be fun.

The rules are:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog (or here in the comments if you don't have a blog), along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet. I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest!

I stuck to the rules and my nearest book is a kids' book that barely has 123 pages.

"A little distance away, Klaus leaned against the rail. Now that the Mayflower no longer pitched and rolled, Sarah dared to go over to him. 'Are you glad we're here?' she asked.
"Aye, Lass'."

And I do believe that's the first time I've ever typed the words "aye, lass".

My Slippers

I try not to be a clothing martyr, but I had to post this picture of my slippers. I think they're about ten years old, and they're obviously well-loved. I wear them all the time in the colder months. (I guess a better word for them would be "house shoes", but that sounds sort of dowdy.) They've got a cork footbed which is still just awesome, even after all the wear. The toes have worn through on top because I've spent so much time on my knees the past few years...not praying, but playing, (which can also be worshipful). I somehow misplaced these old faithful's on Friday and had to spend the whole weekend feeling out of sorts, like something vital was missing. I'm not used to wearing just socks. Alas, today Ellie found them for me on the shoe rack right where they should have been! Of course, I never put them there (because I always need them), so I'm thinking Matt must have tried to be helpful and put them away for me. How sweet. (Let me point out that this is far from being the first time Matt has had to pick up my shoes. I'm terrible about leaving shoes lay, and then I just don't notice them. I can walk around a pair of shoes for a week, then spend ten minutes looking for where I left them. Matt is such a good husband to still laugh about this.)

I have a strong suspicion that I may get some replacement slippers as a gift sometime this month. I'll miss these guys, but it will be nice to have slippers that keep even my big toes warm.

Blog? What Blog?

So I haven't been the most faithful blogger for the past couple weeks...something had to give. Hopefully, I'm back now.

We got our Christmas tree today...yippee! It's all decorated now and gorgeous. I think I suffer from Christmas Tree Lot Proportion Distortion Disorder (CTLPDD). No matter what the little measuring device says, I cannot judge the size of a tree when it's under the wide, blue sky. We get our trees home and either have to lop off two feet from the top to make it stand up in our living room or stand back and wish it were just a little closer to the ceiling. Our tree is definitely on the large side this year, probably in reaction to our tree being on the small side last year. I was looking for "bigger", and BIGGER I got. After losing count of how many hundreds of lights I was having to put on, I decided that it was way too big, so next year we'll be looking for "smaller"...which means, of course, that Erin will be able to put the star on the top while standing flatfooted on the floor.

As I was stringing the lights on the tree, I was listening to a Point of Grace Christmas CD and ended up hitting repeat on the song "Let There Be Light" about twenty times...

"Let there be light!
Let it shine bright!
Piercing the darkness with dazzling white.
Hope for the hopeless was born on that night,
when God sent His Son,
He said, 'Let there be light!' "

The joy of this time of year just seems to grow deeper with each passing year!

I'll try to post some pictures later...I'm not that far back into the blog yet.