Visit with the Griffin Grandparents over Thanksgiving Break

Here are some random pictures from our time with Brent's parents over Thanksgiving. I didn't get too many pictures taken, but here are enough to give you a good idea of the fun we all had. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the adults playing Monopoly Deal, the card game. We played a couple of nights after the kids went to bed...it really brought out different sides to all of us that we're not used to seeing! It's a fun game--and not nearly as long as the Monopoly board game!
PLAY DOH!!! Both Hannah and Sarah love to play with play doh! Grandma Kelley bought them a whole bunch of new cans when she was here at the beginning of November, and then the Griffin Grandparents gave Sarah the ice cream play doh factory for Christmas! They loved it!

All of the Griffin men are looking thrilled here...obviously, they are looking more tired than anything! They gave Daniel an erector set for Christmas, and he and Grandpa set out to put one of the 30 motorized options together. Daniel chose the crane which took a very, very long time to put together! Daniel was the parts man--gathering all the parts together for the next step while Grandpa put the crane together. It's a great set, but it might turn out to be a better Daddy/Daniel activity rather than a Daniel-figure this out by yourself-activity for a while!
Praying together before opening Christmas presents. Grandma and Grandpa wanted to see the kids open the Christmas presents they bought for them which meant getting to open them early since we won't be able to be together for Christmas. Sarah squealed and screamed with delight when she saw her play-doh ice cream factory and cabbage patch doll baby. Hannah got a neat little art/drawing toy and a Lee Middleton Collectable doll (I'll get pictures of her with that soon) Daniel received the erector set and a Star Wars computer game that he wanted.
More play doh! Sarah could play with this stuff for hours at a time!
Wednesday was Grandparents Day at school. It was such a treat for the kids to have their grandparents there. This is the first time in 3 years that it's worked out for any of them to be here for it because both sets live so far away.
Daniel's imaginary castle they had to build to wrap up their study of C.S. Lewis' Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. Notice Sarah had to get in on the action!
A funny thing to notice about this picture...Daniel's pens in his chest pocket. He LOVES to wear shirts that have pockets at the chest so he can be like Brent and keep a pen in his pocket. Interestingly, Brent's dad does the same thing (not so he can be like Brent, though!) It's funny how something so little can be such a big deal to Daniel! I guess it makes him feel grown up?!?

playing catch up with the blog...

I've posted several of these things on Facebook, but have neglected putting them on the blog so now I'm playing catch up.

Hannah went to Artist Series with Brent October 2. My sister, Sheri, had given us a dress Claire never wore which was a perfect artist series formal for a 7 year old. Brent had never seen the dress, and Hannah had a great time playing it up to him about how beautiful she was going to look in it, and how surprised he was going to be by it. I must admit I had a few pangs as she built it up to him, and then as I helped her dress and fix her hair. I thought about her wedding that seems so far off...I know the time will fly by and I wondered if I would remember getting her ready for her date with daddy when she was 7 as I help her get ready for her big walk with daddy down the aisle...sappy, I know, but a bit of a pang in my momma's heart none the less!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the evening.

Brent refused to make a silly face knowing it would end up here on the blog...this is as silly as he would get!

Love those eyes! They were blue until she was about 18 months old...I was sure she was going to keep her blue eyes and dark hair, but they changed to a beautiful shade of green which is still quite stunning in my humble opinion! :-)
Can you believe the eyelashes on this girl?!? I'm so thankful that both my girls have very long eyelashes. Brent has really long lashes, too, but Hannah reminds me of my sister in these pictures, especially pictures of Sheri about this same age. I've always been envious of my sister's lashes...at least my girls got that Kelley gene since I couldn't have it show through on my eyes!
She loved getting all dolled up and was quite patient as I put ringlets in her hair. She was THRILLED when I put a bit of lip gloss on her, too...real make-up!!! A 7 year olds fairy tale dream come true

SNOW!!!

Yep...it snowed all day yesterday! Big white pretty flakes...all day long. The ground was warm enough that it pretty much melted as soon as it hit the ground, but about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, it started to accumulate, and then it froze. I was trying to figure out why this first snow looked so different than other snowfalls we've had the last 5 winters here in the Northwoods. I realized it's the first time I've seen snow on leaves! We've never had an accumulating snow before the leaves have fallen off the trees before. Most of the time I look at snow as it sticks to bare branches, but most of our trees still have leaves on them, so the trees are really pretty with the beautiful yellows and reds showing through the white snow. We've never had snow this early here before...I hope it's not a foreshadowing of the rest of our autumn!
The kids had to wait for Brent to open the car door since they were frozen shut. Hannah got a kick out of wearing her snowflake dress from last winter.
There's been heavy frosts several times already, but this is the first true ice and snow accumulation Brent's had to scrape off.
It was beautiful when it started yesterday about 10:00...but it was also sad...so very sad to think that we're already facing the snow. Winters are very, very long here...but add another month to it by starting so early is really, really sad...:-)

Some really helpful thoughts

I follow the blog of a friend from college who is quite a remarkable mom. They homeschool 9 children and she seems to do with grace! Some of my favorite posts of hers are called "Not Me Mondays." Each Monday she recaps events from the past week that are somewhat surprising, and she words them like, "I did not let my son eat earthworms" or "We would never allow..." It's really entertaining and encouraging to see someone being so transparent and admitting to things that others would never admit to. Here's a part of her post this morning that was a really good reminder to me and gave me some things to meditate on:

• If I believed, really believed, that God is in control then I wouldn’t worry about tomorrow, I would be content to wait on His timing.
• If I really believed that He loved me, I would not ask “why me?”.
• If I believed that He rewards obedience and punishes disobedience, I wouldn’t be tempted to take things into my own hands, I would be content to be obedient and faithful and allow Him to deal with others as He sees fit.
• If I believed that he was all powerful, I wouldn’t be tempted to fight for His honor and glory through means that He has not ordained.
• If I believed that He was all that I needed, I wouldn’t ask for more.
  

I'm especially convicted by the first one and the last one!

(Marsel...you would love her blog...it's full of great ideas for homeschoolers and unique ways to implement schooling into every day life!)

She loves to help me cook!

Sarah has taken to "helping" me when it's time to cook...anything...or she thinks I'm getting ready to cook...anything...somehow she manages to squeeze in between me and Hannah and get her chubby little hands into whatever it is I'm making...every time I'm in the kitchen...any time...it's not because she loves to cook. No, she has no interest in actually making the things to eat. She simply wants to get first dibs on the spatulas or beaters that I hand out for licking! I made peanut butter pie for Brent's birthday Sunday and she managed to snatch the whip cream spatula before I realized it. She also managed to get it all over her face. The picture's not the greatest, but it sure captures that mischievous glint we're seeing way too much of recently in her eye!

A Great Sense of Fashion

Sarah came to me the other day wanting to go on a trip. She was all ready for the adventure. She had her favorite things all ready to go: her bug boots (hand-me-downs all the way back from Daniel at this age but are still a couple sizes too big), her Dora back pack full of match box cars (her latest infatuation to keep in her back pack) and her baby doll on her back in it's special back-pack style carrier. She was quite the sight!

Can he really be 10?!?

I can't believe my boy turned 10 today! It dawned on me the other day that if he leaves for college at 18, our time having him home is already half gone. That's quite the sobering thought. How I beg the Lord to give me wisdom in knowing how to train him to be a godly man who loves the Lord with all his heart. My friend said something the other day that struck a chord with me as well. She said in reference to me rolling my eyes because I had to have Daniel pick up his clothes and things he left out when he left for school that morning, "His wife will thank you!" That wife is still years away, but I'm starting to get a glimpse of just how fast that time will fly! Oh that I would see each moment with Daniel as an opportunity from the Lord to disciple him and train him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

First day of school...

Hannah yawned right before I took a picture, and I laughed. Sarah decided she wanted to make me laugh, too, which is usually her response when someone laughs at anything. This is such a typical thing for Sarah--she is definitely our family clown!
Before the yawning episode!
Hannah loved her first day of school dress! I found it on clearance at Lands End. LOVE that site!!!
Sweet Mrs. Norris. We are so thankful to have her for another great year! She's one of my all time favorite teachers because she so clearly loves her students and instills God's Word in them consistently.
Such a pretty girl! and she's a bit on the sweet side, too, for the most part!

Such an ornery 5th grader! He hates to show his teeth when he smiles so I am always trying to get him to laugh so he'll have a genuine smile. He is just stubborn enough to try not to laugh no matter what I say!
Daniel's teacher, Mrs. Raught. She is the daughter of our pastor from Chicago. It's quite uncanny to watch her because she looks so much like him and has so many of his same expressions! We've not had her as a teacher yet so I can't mush and gush about her...yet! :-)
He's growing up so fast! He's really starting to mature in his thinking and his sense of humor. I loved teaching 5th grade because they could really think and carry on deeper conversations without having that 6th grade know it all personality. Definitely one of my favorite ages for kids!

A prayer request for sweet friends of ours

Please be praying for Adrian and Susan Smith. Adrian is the head of technology here at Northland, and they attend church with us in Norway. Susan was 38 weeks pregnant and found out that their baby died sometime this last week. I don't have any other details, but I can only imagine the grief and pain they are experiencing. I know the family would appreciate your prayers. And please pray for us as a church--we are really experiencing some tough times right now--all in the Lord's providence, but tough none the less!

Sunday Picnic

Brent had to head in to work right after church Sunday, and I made the executive call to skip the church picnic/baptism service at one of the area lakes. I choose my battles carefully these days. I decided I did not want to take a 2 year old who LOVES playing in the water to the lake to watch other people get in the water knowing full well I would not allow her to play in the water and battle that all afternoon by myself! The fellowship might have been sweet, but I'm convinced I would not have been able to enjoy it! So the kids and I took our lunch outside and had a picnic of our own under our weeping willow tree. We had a great time telling stories about when I was little and talking about school starting this week. Here are some of the better pics from that great end to the summer. BTW...it did officially end this morning about 5:00 when Brent finally came home from work and had to wait for the defrosters to melt the ICE off his windshield. Apparently he did not have an ice scraper in the car with him. That'll teach him, heh? We will now be carrying ice scrapers in the car starting in August. CRAZY!!!

A quick update on the database system

Not that anyone really cares much about databases and whatnot, but I thought you might like to know the Lord worked out some kinks for Brent, and they are planning on going with the new system. This is a huge praise, but a huge prayer request at the same time. They are working like crazy now to get it so they can be ready to register the students as they begin arriving this week. Please pray for wisdom for Brent to be able to see the problems, the solutions to them, and the understanding to deal with things quickly. This week is the culmination of 6 months of work on this project. Please be praying especially for this week.

You've got to be kidding me!!!

COOL AIR ACROSS THE REGION...COMBINED WITH LIGHT WINDS AND MAINLY
CLEAR SKIES...ARE EXPECTED TO LEAD TO WIDESPREAD FROST ACROSS
NORTH-CENTRAL WISCONSIN TONIGHT. CLIMATOLOGICALLY COLD SPOTS COULD EVEN FALL BELOW FREEZING FOR A FEW HOURS.

This is the actual frost warning for tonight. Yes...you read it right, but you might want to go back and read it again to make sure you read it correctly. It's August 30, and it could get below freezing tonight. Let's just think hypothetically here...if it were to get below freezing and there was enough moisture in the air...it could snow. Just looking for a bit of sympathy here, folks. that's all...just some sympathy over the loss of the summer that never was...