Thursday, September 28, 2006

Where in the World are We???

346 AM CDT THU SEP 28 2006
...FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 8 AM CDT
FRIDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREEN BAY HAS ISSUED A FREEZE
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 8 AM CDT
FRIDAY.
TEMPERATURES WILL FALL BELOW FREEZING TONIGHT ACROSS NORTH
CENTRAL WISCONSIN...WITH SEVERAL LOCATIONS FALLING INTO THE UPPER 20S.
A FREEZE WARNING MEANS SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE IMMINENT OR
HIGHLY LIKELY. THESE CONDITIONS WILL KILL CROPS AND OTHER
SENSITIVE VEGETATION.

This was staring me in the face when I logged on to my yahoo homepage this morning!
The low tonight is 30 degrees!!! Where in the world are we that it gets this cold
in September?!?

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Now he's all grown up!


Yesterday was Daniel's 7th birthday...I made him put church clothes on for all the birthday pictures and did my best to make him look presentable...but he still looked so little! But today I gave him a haircut and I'm amazed at how old he suddenly looks! He's got this strange collick (doesn't every little boy) at the crown of his head so I was trying to get it to stay down for church tonight. I stood him in front of the mirror in the bathroom, moussed him up, and took the blow dryer to him. And then the hairspray came out. I thought to myself, will he not be obsessing over his hair soon enough without any help from me?!? One of those sappy mom moments realizing that he's growing up whether I like it or not.

One of the things that Brent has reminded me of since the day he was born (Daniel, not Brent!) is that we are raising our children to be independent of us...to function as a godly adult without our help (someday!) I had a good cry as I realized that exact thing is happening....he's growing up...it won't be long and he'll be doing his dead level best to get his hair to stand up on end no matter how hard I try to get it to lay down! It's a sobering reality to think that 7 years have gone by...I can never get that time back (I can be really profound sometimes, heh?!?) But it's such a good reminder to be spending each moment I can instilling God's Word into my children and training them to depend on the Lord and not on me!

My baby is growing up!!!












It's so hard to believe that Daniel is 7 years old! It really does seem like such a short time ago that he was toddling around our home in Chicago, but now he's begging me to change this title so he's not being called my baby anymore! It reminds me of that book "Love you Forever" It's a kids' book that talks about the little boy's mom and how much she loves him even as he grows up...It's a goofy story, but sweet and usually chokes me up! My favorite line from it is, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be!" He may be 7 years old, but he still crawls into my lap from time to time (those times are getting fewer and farther between) and loves to cuddle! It's quite sobering to listen to him reason and start to use real logic in his thinking. He's getting to be very observant (just like his Daddy!) and notices so much. I'm reminded now more than ever the importance of showing him a mommy (he would prefer "Mom") who loves the Lord and wants to please Him. I know it's always been true, but I'm struck more and more each day that we're in the big leagues now...we've got a Christian Man in the works here who we are striving to train to grow into a godly man who serves Him with all his heart...quite a sobering responsibility, heh?!?
Daniel loved being outside on our deck talking with Brent while dinner was on the grill!







After 3 pictures with Daniel's eyes closed or half open, he decided to make sure that he had his eyes open for this picture so he could finally eat!






Between both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, and parents, Daniel made out with a lot of loot for his birthday! He was so excited to tear into the packages and see what he got! We let him decide if we would have cake first or open presents first...no surprise he chose the presents, while Hannah was wanting the cake :-)!




No trying to bug his eyes for this picture...this is pure surprise and excitement when he saw that Grandma and Grandpa Kelley had gotten him his very own croquet set. Daniel loves to play croquet when he visits Grandma and Grandpa Griffin...now he can play whenever...especially if he doesn't mind playing in the snow!




Daniel wanted steak for his birthday dinner so we splurged! We decided next year he was getting hotdogs since all he really wanted was A1...and oh yeah...he loves chewing on the bones!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

We're clearly watching too much TV!!!

Hope this is not offensive to anyone, but I got such a kick out of this I had to share it! Daniel's studying the 13 original colonies and how they got started as part of his school work each day. I was sitting at my computer (in the same room with him) during his Heritage Studies lesson today. You can only imagine my surprise when Daniel started holering out what he thought was the right answer to his teacher's question. He was trying to say "Virginia" but kept saying "Viagra!" I know he has no clue what that is...just a word he's heard on far too many TV commercials, but he kept saying it!!! I obviously corrected him each time, but he could not get Virginia out instead of Viagra! What's this world coming to when 6 year old boys know about Viagra!?! Time to turn the TV off!!!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

I need help...what do you think?!?

Wouldn't you know it would be a girl since Brent and I have no girl names that we both really like!!! We chose Daniel and Hannah based on the characters in the Bible, and although this one doesn't HAVE to be a Bible name, I'm thinking it's kind of weird to go against what we did with the first two. And of course we used the only two Bible names we both like on Hannah (Hannah Ruth)! We have teased about naming this girl Ruth Hannah, but Hannah doesn't care for that idea! So I'm trying to narrow it down (at least in my mind!) I've got to convince Brent that either Sarah or Charis (the greek work for grace) is right for our baby...which do you like better?!? I personally am leaning towards Sarah since I love how it sounds...these are our 2 daughters, Hannah and Sarah...both really "sweet" names...but I like Charis, too. Any thoughts? I'd love some feedback!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Well...the big news is...

We had our ultrasound today...and the good news is that they moved my due date up 5 days! So our new due date is Jan 28. And oh, yeah...they are about 85-90% sure that it's a GIRL!!! There was no evidence of "boy parts" but there was only slight evidence of "girl's parts" so that's why they are not sure...the umbilical cord got in the way several times...but they'll never say 100% sure either way. The best they'll ever say is 95%...so 85-90% is pretty good, in my book. The ultrasound tech said to go ahead and buy pink things, just keep the receipts! :-)

Dr. Ryan moved my due date because the baby is much bigger than average. My first ultrasound put me 5 days earlier so he went ahead and moved it since this ultrasound put me 5 days earlier as well. Even at the earlier due date, our baby is still 68th percentile, but this is no surprise since Daniel was 10 pounds 5 ounces and Hannah was 8pounds 11 ounces at two weeks early!

So all in all it's kind of anti-climactic...we kind of know, but not for sure! On the up side of having a big baby, the Ultrasound tech said I'd probably end up with another ultrasound to monitor the baby's size...perhaps we'll see more of our little one then!

Monday, September 11, 2006

I can't wait!

Can I just tell you how excited I am!!! Wednesday is our ultrasound and we're hoping to find out if there's a baby boy or girl kicking around inside of me!!! I'll be sure to post whatever we find out, but the suspense is killing me! And Daniel and Hannah are almost as excited as I am! We plan on making it a family bonding time, perhaps a quick trip to Walmart to buy something girl or boy after! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Sunday, September 10, 2006

It must be a Daddy thing!

It never fails...I'm in the kitchen fixing supper (okay...that part sometimes fails!) the kids hear the garage door open, they go running to meet Daddy as he comes in the basement from work, and the tackling ensues! Well...since he's been wearing suits to work once the new school year began, he changes first...and then the wrestling ensues! What is it with Daddies that make their kids want to tackle them?!? It's turning into a nightly routine. If it doesn't start before dinner, it definitely starts after dinner while I'm washing the dishes (sigh!) but I do have to say it's kind of nice to know they're having so much fun, and I get some time in the kitchen without the "help" of a certain 4 year old girl who loves to be under my elbows constantly! I'm told I'll miss that someday, but most days that's really hard to imagine :-)

Thursday, September 07, 2006

It's back....

No picture for this blog (for which I am glad!)

I was just thinking the other day how nice, and strange, that we've not been awakened during the wee hours of the morning (being pregnant...wee hours of the morning have turned into just that !!!) by the howling of wolves. That was a huge adjustment when we moved here--hearing WILD animals close by. Our neighbor tried to tell us they were coyotes, but we've heard both...wolves have very different howls than the yips of coyotes. And then this morning at 4:15, I bolted upright in bed because of this piercing, incredibly loud, sounding like it was right outside our bedroom window, wolf howl! And not long after that some sort of yelp from some poor animal...where in the world are we?!? I know, I know...right where the Lord wants us to be...but come on...do I need to experience the food chain first hand?!? Needless to say, I was awake for quite some time this morning wondering how Brent could ever seriously expect me to camp in a tent after hearing something like that!