no pictures of the blizzard...

When Brent got up this morning it was -14 actual temperature with wind chills at -45! They cancelled school because of the cold. While it is beautiful, you'll just have to take my word for it since I'm not about to brave the cold temps and frostbitefor a picture! Keep in mind it was almost 40 degrees above zero the last day or two...now we're -45!!! Thankfully we're supposed to be back in the upper teens tomorrow! Maybe, just maybe I'll try to get a picture of the wind patterns in the snow then...

You know it's a slow news day when you get excited about...

Hannah is shy...very shy...we've really had to work with her to get her to talk with adults. We role play, we practice, we discipline (she's also very stubborn!) but she still doesn't like the limelight. In fact last Christmas I made her a dress that I thought was beautiful...and she loved it, too. But people made such a fuss about her "puffed sleeves" that she begs me not to make her wear it because she doesn't like the attention!

One of the down sides of her not talking much is that she doesn't speak clearly. She's getting better about her shyness and her speaking now that she's in school, but one word that has given her fits is "the." She always says it "fa." The other day I noticed that she was reading "this" correctly so we set to work. Brent and I both sat down with her and through our team efforts helped her get her tongue going the right way and say it correctly. She's been practicing and practicing...since I told her we'd make cookies to celebrate the day she could say it right all the time. So today was the big day...she was able to show her teacher, Mrs. Pacyna, that she could say it correctly, and yes, we made cookies, too!

I know, I know...it's a slow day...maybe tomorrow we'll have pictures of the blizzard we're supposed to get, but for now, you get cookies about "the!" It's actually a pretty big deal around here!

I did it again...this could be a habit forming here, people!

I finished another book...yep! Read it cover to cover! That's TWO in recent times, folks! And it'a a biography, too (well--sort of!) I've been challenged to read more biographies, but I have a hard time because my brain just gets bogged down in details that I don't find the list bit interesting or applicable. I suppose it's just my lack of acadamia--is that even a word!?! I'm not intellectual enough to wade through all the extras to get to the good stuff...I need someone to break it all down for me and give the important information that I care about. Enter John Piper's, The Hidden Smile of God. It's a book that someone was reading for a counselling class here at Northland--and it caught my interest. It is a biography of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainard. It was right up my ally, too, because it gives enough details of their lives while not going into what they ate for lunch each day and what time they had a doctor's appointment when they were 27! And it made application, too...which is what I liked best. William Cowper, the man who wrote There is a Fountain, was incredibly depressed most of his life. Piper drew conclusions from Cowper's experiences with deep depression that help one counsel those who are struggling with the same things.

I need people to connect dots for me...Piper did that very well in this book and even might have encouraged me to pick up another biography that contains a few more details...recommendations anyone...but go easy on me...I am still a stay at home mom of 3 who doesn't have much intellectual stimulation on any given day and might just give up reading all together if pushed too quickly! :-)

Now I'm all inspired...oh great!

One of the down sides to sewing is realizing how much cheaper things would cost if you made them instead of buying them in the store. It can, if I were to let it, take some of the fun out of shopping because you realize how much the fashion industry is making at our expense. So I really try not to think about it especially since I don't get to hit the malls very much anymore...not much can dampen my spirits when I'm breathing in mall air!

This really hit home when we took the kids to Build A Bear over Thanksgiving break, and I saw how much they were charging for clothes for these silly bears! Hannah and Daniel had saved and saved their money to be able to buy bears with outfits so we let them each buy one outfit. But the bigger mistake came when I mentioned to Hannah how easy it would be for me to make other outfits for Abigail, her teddy bear named after one of our friends, the Farmers, little girls. (Interestingly enough she named something else lately and wanted to know the names of the other Farmer girls so she could use that name--she doesn't even really know them that well, either...go figure!) But ever since I told her that I could make outfits she has been after me to do it...and I mean after me!

Hannah only goes to half day Kindergarten so she and I have some good quality time together in the afternoons. So finally, I broke down and made her bear a dress today. It took some doing since I didn't have a pattern, but I think it turned out okay...not bad for having an almost 6 year old literally hanging on my machine asking a gazillion questions as I fenagled something on the fly that would hopefully turnout to resemble a dress! The fun thing is that I used this same fabric to make her a school skirt so she and Abi can now match for show and tell...oh to be able to get that excited about something so simple again! Perhaps I'll venture out and try something else for her bear from my ganormous totes full of scraps!

One last thing...Hannah was very concerned that people be able to see her ring she's wearing...it hardly shows, but I told her I'd make sure people noticed that she's wearing a beautiful flower ring! She's almost as vain as her mommy!

Confirmed, Plausible, or Busted!

It doesn't take too much of a Discovery Channel junkie to recognize those words are from Mythbusters, one of our family's favorite shows. Brent, Daniel and I love it, and Hannah would rather watch it in good company than be by herself, so we usually watch it as a family. So the kids were quite intrigued when I told them we were going to bust a myth! I have heard that if it's cold enough outside, water thrown into the air will freeze before it hits the ground. We tried it several different ways, but decided to stop short of blowing something up (much to the kids' dismay and not in keeping with true Mythbusters' fashion). It was right before church tonight so it wasn't as cold as it will be getting...it was about 2 degrees. Although the water was not frozen when it hit the cement steps, it was frozen in just a matter of seconds. It was quite amazing. Daniel and I decided that it's plausible--I might get up the nerve to go out in the morning since it's our last forecasted day of subzero actuals, and it's already at 9:30pm -3 actual! Brent told me he heard it had to be -50 actual before that would happen, so I hope to never confirm or bust that myth! Awww, the joys of living in the middle of the northern woods of Wisconsin...at least in the winter, we can always find an icicle to ward off the coyotes and mountain lions! :-)

CAKE!!!

I let Daniel and Hannah choose what cake they thought Sarah would like best from Family Fun's website, and they chose this doll cake. It was much easier than I thought--baking the base in my Pampered Chef Batter Bowl. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I imagined making clothes for the doll from frosting either. Notice the earrings and necklace with matching hairbow? I put those on to humor Hannah. The doll pick came with holes in her ears for earrings, and guess what? We don't happen to have Barbie sized earrings sitting around our house, so I had to get creative. She was pleased with the results and wanted to know who was going to get to eat them! Sarah didn't notice the accessories, but she did notice the cake was within reach, and she went for it! I was secretly happy they chose this cake...I always wanted one as a little girl!

It didn't take her long to dig into her cake, and true to "kid form" she went for all the icing first!

But it didn't take her long to figure out that the cake was really good, too! She was shoveling it in like a pro!
By the end she was playing in it more than eating it...I let her squish it around for a while, but then put a stop to it before it caused electrical issues by getting into the outlet above! No...it wasn't quite that messy...but only because I stopped her...she was definitely trying to figure out what else she could do with the fist fulls of cake since her tummy was full...Brent's engineering mind, my creativity...we're in for it!

Can my baby really be one already?!?

We always let the kids choose what they want for their birthday meal, and since Sarah isn't old enough to let us know, I persuaded Brent that she would say, if she could, that her favorite meal was in town at the new McDonalds that the older 2 kiddos have been wanting to check out (mainly because it has video games instead of a play place--exactly how that fits in with all the hype McD's seems to be pushing lately about kids getting off the couch and getting physical, I don't quite understand. They replaced the playplaces where kids run themselves ragged with sedate, sit still while you move only your fingers video screens...go figure...but I digress!) Even though her birthday was really Friday, we had a meeting Friday night, so we celebrated it Saturday, and she didn't seem to mind at all. Try that next month with our soon to be 6 year old and it'll be different scenario, I guarantee it! But we had fun at McD's and even let the kids play the video games...but not until all those healthy fries were cleaned off those cheese covered wrappers from those nutritious burgers that they weren't able to exercise off after they ate...
Sarah really is a very happy baby...we've been blessed with 3 very pleasant babies, but she does seem to be the most happy but yet most determined and stubborn of the 3. Brent and I both agree that behind that sweet smile is an incredibly strong will we're already beginning to clash with! We're in for it, for sure!

We bought her a "walking toy" that converts to a ride-on toy once she gets a bit older. She loved it and took off right away surprising us all...but then she figured out it was easier to hold on to it and walk on her knees instead of walking upright...she's a long ways from walking on her own...but that's fine with me. Once she's walking, it's a whole new ball game! Some one told me they knew of a mom of twins and also several other children. Whenever the twins would start to try to crawl, the mom would push them flat onto their tummies to keep them from becoming mobile! (no, it wasn't' my friend, Carissa--although she might have done it if she had thought of it!)

My parents gave Sarah this sweet little bunny with a giggle box in its tummy. Daniel and Hannah loved to make it giggle for her. She even gave the bunny a hug and some "luvin!" She's all girl!

Wow...I knew it was bad, but...

Fans take games seriously in Chicago, so I thought I understood how deep Packer Pride goes, but I had no idea! People bleed green and gold around here, let me tell you! And it doesn't matter what kind of season the Packers are having--people are D-E-D-I-C-A-T-E-D!!! I saw this story on my yahoo homepage this morning and thought you'd get a kick out of it...there sounds like an almost decent explanation at the end of the story, but it still makes for an interesting read!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_disorderly_fan

The snow has finally started...we're supposed to get 6-8 inches today so maybe I'll be able to get some good pictures of the kids before the windchilll dips to -38 this weekend! And I have to run...I have to get to town for some things before it gets too bad. Can you believe I just said that?!? I have been completely converted to a country bumpkin...I thought the day would never come...even fought it for a while, but alas, it has arrived...I'm a yooper...sigh!

This and That

So Dr. Olson changed the rule at Northland about no facial hair. The faculty and staff can have beards now, but they have to grow them over a break so they don't look all scruffy in the classroom. He changed the rule just before Christmas Break. It was comical how many men have grown beards and what not! It was the big joke during inservice this last week, trust me! Dr. Olson said that we were all going to take a vote at the end of inservice to see who gets to keep them!

Brent had a gotee before we met, so I had never seen him with one. He decided to grow one to see what I thought. I didn't mind it, but I must say I did like him with a full beard better. He has since shaved it, though, because it wasn't worth the extra trouble, not because he was "voted off!"

I had to catch a quick shot of this...they were actually playing very well together, until I took the picture that is! As soon as Hannah realized I was watching she started whining about Sarah being in her way...just couldn't stand to leave well enough alone, could I?!?

Around the house...

It's hard to believe that Sarah is just a couple of weeks shy of one year old! I was posing her for a picture to go in her "Baby's First Christmas" ornament and couldn't believe how big she looks! But then again she is big! She's crawling like a banshee (a word taken from my father-in-law--still not quite sure what that means, but I'll figure it out once I get my "little-red-wagon-fixed!) and standing at all the furniture. She's not quite cruising the furniture yet, but the other two kiddos didn't start walking until 14 and 15 months, so I'm not expecting too much from her--she is after all my daughter and coordination has never been my forte!

We've been pretty cold around here lately...happy to get into the double digits, but we're in for a warm spell this weekend with forecasted highs in the 40's! So Brent and the kids went sleigh riding for a bit after school today. Hannah fell off right away, but Brent and Daniel made it down the hill intact.

Look at where I get to live!!! For all of our family in the country in Ohio, this is not that big of a deal, but for all our friends living in the city, I'm sure you'll understand! Even after 3 years, I'm still amazed at times at how happy I am living as a country girl...truly a testament of God's grace making me content in His will...it also helps to know that our friends, the Alberts, who live just minutes from where we used to live in Chicago also had a coyote in their yard! Perhaps they're taking over the world and we don't realize it yet...the coyotes, that is, not the Alberts! My sister bought Daniel a tent for Christmas...it's meant for outdoor use, but given the current weather conditions it's found it's way to our living room. They've spent a lot of time playing with their new toys while sitting the tent.

I'll be back someday...maybe! :-)

Yes, Marsel...I'm still alive...I'm just so far behind on the blog thing that I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't know where to start...much like my diet! :-) I might just skip everything from the past month and move on with a resolve to do better posting. I know several family members back in Ohio check often to see what's happening with the kiddos (Hi, Great Grandma and Great Aunt Rosemary!) So I will try to do better...if it makes things any better, I didn't get Christmas cards sent out this year...please don't take me off your list...I love getting them and even sending them when I can get a family picture taken that doesn't have Sarah crawling away from every pose I put her in--The one little curl at the base of her neck just isn't as cute as her little nose all wrinkled up as she smiles! Hard to believe she's only 15 days from her first birthday! This past year has flown!!!

I'm making a resolution to do better at blogging...and we all know how well I do with resolutions--enjoy the next 3 posts because I'll have fallen off the blog wagon by then :-)