Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Oops...cant' forget this one...

Is this the same girl who was beating up Spider Man just a few entries ago? She's as much of an oxymoron as her momma is! One minute she's being rough and tumble and trying to prove herself as capable as the next person, and the next she's the ultimate princess wanting to be pampered and fussed over! Poor Brent...we're even adding another girl to the mix in just a few more weeks...just to keep him guessing! :-)

Christmas Morning

Just a fun picture of the kiddos after they had opened all of their presents Christmas Morning. We had a great time seeing what was in all the packages our family had sent to us all! How thankful we are for all that people did for us.

We also have to say a special thank you to our parents for all they did for us as kids on Christmas day! As kids, we had no idea how exhausting it was for you to put everything you bought us together and then play with us! By the end of Christmas Day, Brent and I were begging for a break from it all! It seemed we just got one thing put together, and they wanted the next thing out of the box and put together. And you all understand how trying it is just to get things out of the boxes nowadays! We have had a great time as a family, but we have never been so glad to see 8:00 come around on the clock so we can put the kids in bed and get a break!!! I'm sure there's a whole group of people out there that can totally relate, heh?!?

Monday, December 25, 2006

And so it begins...or continues...

Well...it's 3:48 AM!!! And I'm wide awake Christmas morning. Not because of my excitement over opening presents mind you, but just because I can't sleep! Yes...I know, it's the Lord's way of preparing me for the many sleepless nights I'll have in just about 4-5 more weeks, but it's still pretty annoying right now! I've been up since about 2:30 or so and decided to get up and do something rather than stare at the ceiling. Not much to report going on around here at this time in the morning, that's for sure.

I've officially hit the 35 week mark now. It's been a fun thing to watch my little "baby" move across the counter and finally be covering the "35!" I head to the doctor this Friday and begin my weekly checkups.

I also want to add a special "hey there" to my friend, Erin. Check out her blog on my links to the right....she's got some adorable kiddos. She's also another friend of mine that I've been able to reconnect with through blogging. Apparently she offends rather easily these days, so I want to say that it has been a wonderful time reconnecting with her, too! (I'm teasing of course, Erin... about the offending easily, not about how wonderful it is to have reconnected!!! )


Alright...that's about all I can think of at 3:56 in the morning...I might end up enjoying this time...our house has never been so quiet! Oh wait...I do want to say that the new google version that's out of Beta is almost identical to the old version. I've had no problems with it, and see very little difference. Most of the new features are ones that I won't use anyways, so go ahead...switch over...it's quite painless!

Friday, December 22, 2006

Just trying out the new google version...

Just wanted to see how different or how similar the new google version is now that I switched over.
The kids were playing in their spiderman outfits and decided to have a battle of the spideys...It was too close to call a winner. The judges are still counting the points...need I remind you that a certain 4 year old girl sent a certain 7 year old boy to the emergency room this fall?!? It might be too embarrasing to declare the winner! Yes...that's Hannah's foot behind Daniel's head!But Daniel was not to be undone...he managed to get the upperhand on Hannah and smacked her down pretty hard on the floor...even he was surprised by how hard her head hit the floor! But don't feel sorry for her...she had it coming! She is the epitomy of the phrase, "You better stop, someone's going to end up crying!"
And last but not least...no good wrestling match is ever over until Mommy and Daddy's socks have been conquered! It seems no matter how hard we try to stay out of it, the kids manage to pull us into the wrestling match by trying to wrestle our socks off our feet...however, they don't usually end up on Hannah's head like they did this time!

I LOVE THE BLOGGING WORLD!!!

I've been at this blogging thing for a while now, but it just seems to get better and better! I logged on this morning to see what was new on the good ol' web while Daniel was working on his school work, scanned a few news headlines (who need's TV news when you Yahoo and Google!) and then checked email. There was an email saying a "Josh" had left me a comment on our blog. I went to this blog to see who it was since I hardly recognized the picture :-) and found out a friend from the Chicago area had found our blog! I haven't talked with Josh for ages! He's the cousin of a friend of mine from Northland, so I've kindof kept up with what he's been doing, but it was so great to hear from him! He was my teacher's aid one of the years I taught, and we worked on the yearbook together, and he ended up being an usher in our wedding. I've been able to get back in touch with so many people and keep in touch with so many through blogs! I love it!

Brent headed off to work this morning despite the freezing rain that came down last night. I was lying there in bed when I heard him come back in about 15 minutes later (I know...I have a rough life!) The main roads were fine, but the back roads to campus were really slick, so he turned around and came home! Yippeee!!! Vacation starts a day early for all of us! Which also means I will probably get to go shopping this afternoon! Can life get any better than that?!? Well...it could I suppose if there were a mall for me to go to instead of just Walmart and Shopko, but I'm not thinking about that right now :-) It's a good day! :-)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Love My Family!!!


I often remember my single days and the longing I had to be a wife and mother. There were so many times that I wondered if the Lord would ever allow it to happen! Now I look at where the Lord has brought us, and I can't help but marvel! I am so blessed to have a loving husband and 3 children to nurture! (well...we're only nurturing 2 right now, but it won't be long til we're caring for 3!) God is so good to me!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Why should he love me so?

I have the best man in the world for my husband!!!(I know there are those of you who would argue that your man is best, but it's just not true :-) ) He took his one day off, Saturday, where he could do anything relaxing and spent it installing a dishwasher for me! The Lord provided the funds for us to buy a built in dishwasher, and I thought it would be simple to install! And for a man like Brent, it was...it was simple, and TIME CONSUMING!!! He spent literally all day Saturday tearing out the cupboard, running electrical lines, redoing plumbing under our sink, and hooking up the machine! When I thanked him, over and over again, he simply said, "Because I love you!" Let me tell you right now, that I have never done one single thing to deserve such love from anyone! Let alone such an amazing man! Again, I just have to say, "Why did he choose me?!?" I don't know, but I do have to say that I am so glad that he did!

Along those same lines, let me say how much I appreciate his careful attention to detail...I was watching him (and I must admit getting a bit perturbed at the care he took) as he cut out the cabinet where the dishwasher was going to be. And I even asked him why he was being so careful about something that was just going to be thrown out (or burned!) He told me he was trying to save the pieces for the trim. I thought he was off his rocker and walked away...but when the day came to a close and he put the pieces that he had so meticulously saved back in place, it looked like a professional job for sure! That's my man! Nothing shoddy about his work! :-) I, on the other hand, have been known to just hack away at things, and come the end of the day, it looks like our 4 year old had been at work!

More happy news...as if having a dishwasher after 2 years without one isn't enough...we're on the second half of my hundred day countdown! Only 48 days till our due date is here!!! The last 50 or so have gone so quickly, I can't wait to see how fast the rest of the days go! Can't wait to see our precious little Sarah...or whatever flavor of the week her delivery happens to fall on!

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Christmas--the Perfect Time for a Picnic!

The other night we had a great time at our picnic under the Christmas Tree! We turned out all the lights in the house and ate pizza on a blanket in front of the tree. Then we played, "Who can find the ornament that..." It was a sort of "I Spy" that the kiddos came up with! It was fun to see them get more and more creative with their hints about what ornament they were describing, and then they would race around to see if they could be the first to find it. It was a great family time! I think we may have found a new Griffin tradition...
It's not often I'll post a picture of myself on the blog, and this is not even a great one at that! That'll teach me not to wear makeup, heh? But I love this one of Brent, especially. I think it captures a side of him that most people never get to see...there's that little glint of something mischievous in his eye that says there's a lot more goofiness under the surface than most would ever imagine! I'm so thankful for my man the Lord gave me...there were so many single girls in our singles' group where we met...why he chose me, I still don't understand, but I'm so glad he did! I can't imagine life without him!

Sunday, December 03, 2006

It's beginning to look like a lot like Christmas...finally!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Kelley bought Daniel a starter set for a Lionel Train set for his 1st birthday and have added a train or accessories of some sort for each birthday. We've never had a place to set it up, or the kids have been too little until now! We decided we'd have at least this year (we'll have a toddler by next Christmas who will probably try to eat it!) to get it out and enjoy it under our tree! The kids were so excited when we ran a trial run of it on our kitchen table. It was the highlight of their Friday!

It's so hard to believe that it's December!!! We finally got our tree out and decorated which is helping start the Christmas mood, too. The kids had so much fun putting their ornaments out and were excited to see some of their favorite things in their ornaments. We buy an ornament for each of the kids that represents something that they have loved that entire year...or at least try to! Daniel has a Buzz Lightyear, Scooby-Doo, Veggie Tales, Hot Wheels, etc. and Hannah has mostly little dolls that look like her including Dora. But this year we found the perfect ones for them at the Hallmark store. Daniel has one that says, "Game On" and has little video game controllers on it (there's nothing that sums up this past year for him better!) and Hannah's says, "Fabulous" and has a little purse, cell phone, nail polish, sun glasses and lip stick on it (and that sums up Hannah totally, too!!!) Yes...Hannah's in a tank top in this picture. She went digging through some of her clothes and dressed herself again. She loved having a tank top on and didn't seem to care one bit that it was December 1!!! Vanity, vanity, all is vanity...she's so like her Momma!!!

Friday, December 01, 2006

I can totally relate to this, heh?!?

Robin, a friend of mine sent this to me today...I couldn't help bu laugh and totally relate! Thought you'd enjoy it, too! BTW...the doc's visit went well and uneventful. Everything's totally where it should be...still only gained 13 pounds! Yahoo...it might be easier to lose this baby weight than I thought if I don't gain too much more! And I've made it to the appointment every 2 weeks instead of monthly now...I think it will really help the time fly by...or at least that's my theory!

Did you hear about the teacher who was helping

One of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots?
He asked for help and she could see why.
Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots
still didn't want to go on.

With the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher,
they're on the wrong feet." She looked, and sure enough,
they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than
it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as,
together, they worked to get the boots back on, this time
on the right feet.

He then announced, "These aren't my boots."

She bit her tongue, rather than get right in his face and
scream, "Why didn't you say so?", like she wanted to.
Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting
boots off his little feet.

No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said,
"They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em."

Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But she
mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle
the boots on his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"
He said, "I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots."