My new wallpaper for my desktop

I've been playing around with some new plug-ins (thanks, Tricia!) that were free on the internet. This picture of Sarah sleeping turned out so sweet...I put it on my desktop as my wallpaper...this adorable face covers my entire screen! I think I'm going to try to do similar ones with my other kids...who will obviously be awake...and get them blown up for our new bedroom. I might play around with it some more and see if I can get one that's just as sweet with her awake...we'll see what happens!

One for the family

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There's nothing exciting really about this clip...no spit-up attacks at the end...just something so the family can see how much Sarah's growing and changing. She does smile and coo quite a bit on it, but nothing else...just my sweetie!

Tummy Time Trouble

I always put Sarah in the middle of this contraption when it's "tummy time," and somehow she always manages to end up like this! She wriggles and scootches herself off the mat all the time! I hope this is not a foreshadowing of how active she's going to be once she gets mobile!

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A great website to visit!

Most of you have probably already found this website, but for those of you who have not...you have to go spend some time at http://www.reviveourhearts.com It's Nancy Leigh DeMoss' website, and she has some amazingly helpful resources on her site...for free! Many of her pamphlets or notes to go along with her books are available in pdf format. My friend Carissa blogged about being able to get a free book from here so I went to see about that. I signed up for the book and was so excited by everything else I found. Nancy Leigh DeMoss is so practical and applicable (that's a bit redundant, heh?!?) to my everyday life...I really enjoy reading her books as well as listening to her radio broadcasts. Some of the things I found on her site that are especially interesting to me include:
• 23 great questions to ask your kids (interesting conversation starters that will hopefully lead to biblical discussions)
• 31 Biblical Virtues to pray for your children (I plan on using this not only to pray for my kids, but also as a list of things to focus on in my children's lives...it comes with Bible verses to go along with each virtue that I want to work with my kids on memorizing)
• 30 day husband encouragement challenge for wives (no explanation needed here...I am always looking for ways to let Brent know how wonderful he is and how much I adore and respect him!) How much do you want to bet that Brent goes to ROH and checks this out next?!? :-) Love you, Dear!

There are a ton more things that I want to look into on her site, but these are a few things that I want to start with. What are some of your favorite things on her site or other sites that have been a special challenge to you? I'm so excited to find this resource I had to let you all know about it, too! :-)

FINALLY!!!

I was running so late this morning for church since my alarm clock didn't go off...my real clock or Sarah...but I did take a few seconds to throw Sarah in her chair for a quick picture in one of my favorite dresses of hers. AND I ACTUALLY GOT A SMILE IN PRINT!!! I've been trying for weeks to get her to smile for the camera but have never been able to get one! I've still got to get one on video because they way her face lights up is precious. But for now...I'm thrilled to be able to show you how much she smiles like her daddy...she's got his little "smiling eyes" that squint up when she breaks out into a full smile. And just so you know...the Lord's still breaking me and my vain thoughts down....right after I got these shots of her, she spit up all over the front of her dress while I was frantically putting her in her carseat to leave. So I didn't get to show her off in this sweet little dress! That'll teach me to be so vain, heh?

Comfy Cozy!

Brent was trying to soothe Sarah last night while she was fussy so I could get the kitchen cleaned up before I fed her. I came in from the kitchen and found them both sound asleep! The sight was enough to melt even the most frazzled mom's heart! He spent many nights like this when each of our kids was first born so I could get some sleep at night. I'm so glad I got this picture so we can always have the reminder of how little our kids started out...and what a great Daddy he is!

Something that made me laugh!!!

My Mom-in-Law sent this to me this morning, and it made me laugh! Especially since a mom with 4 boys sent it to her! These are not things I've learned from Daniel...dont' worry! But it's worth a good laugh...and Jen, I don't think I'd let Jordan read this list...if he can have that much fun with a matchstick and silverware...no telling what he'd do with the clorox and brake fluid! :-)

• A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
• If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
• A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
• If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
• You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
• The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
• When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.
• Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
• A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
• Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4- year old Boy.
• Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
• Super glue is forever.
• No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
• Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
• VCR's do not eject "PB & J" sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
• Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
• Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
• You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
• Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
• The fire department inAustin , TX has a 5-minute response time.
• The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
• It will, however, make cats dizzy.
• Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
• 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.
• 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

Just in case anyone was wondering...I took Sarah to the doctors office today and weighed her on the digital scale there...she was 12 pounds 5 ounces (with her diaper and clothes on) so I figure she's really more like 12 pounds 2 or 3 ounces. That puts her right around the 65th percentile. Most people won't care, I know...but grandparents might! :-)So we're past the magical 12 pound mark that doctors say is when a baby should start sleeping better...I'm planning on having a talk with Sarah about that tonight! Although I can't complain...she slept 6 hours last night and then another 4 1/2...life is so much better for everyone when the Mommy is able to get some sleep!

Something fun worth trying with the kiddos...

Saw this idea on TV the other day while I was nursing and thought I'd give it a try. The kids and I did it today and it really worked!

Roll out pizza dough to 1/4 inch and cut out circles (I used my widest mouth glass) and then cut out a smaller circle from the inside to make a donut shape. Deep fry in oil that is 350 degrees or so for 30-45 seconds on each side until a light golden brown. Dredge them with a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture or pop them in a paper bag with powdered sugar and give it a good shake.

After we did it by the recipe, I smooshed all the scraps into little donut hole shapes without rolling them out again. They turned out much better--the rolled out ones were just poofs of air, but the smooshed ones were more cakelike. The kids had fun smooshing them into different shapes and shaking them in the lunch bags of powdered sugar...I wasn't watching Daniel too carefully who was eating one while he was shaking his bag...I turned around to a cloud of powdered sugar all around Daniel and the kitchen floor--he was shaking it while it was open--he can be so much like his momma sometimes it's scary! Next time I do this, I won't bother with rolling them out and trying to make them look pretty...they're homemade donuts...who cares if they look like real donuts!

Happy Birthday, Great Grandma Griffin!

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She's 6 weeks old today!!!

Our sweet baby Sarah is 6 weeks old today! It's hard to believe we've had her in our arms for that long already, but it's true! She seems to be tall...people keep commenting on how long she is. She's sleeping about 6 hours now at a stretch each night, so I'm only having to get up once to feed her...life is so much better when you get sleep :-) And she has started to smile at us! Life is better with sleep, and those 4:00 feedings don't seem so hard when she stops nursing to flash a big smile at me!

Brent was commenting the other day how different it is to hold Sarah than it is to hold Hannah. He was reminiscing how he used to hold Hannah the same way he holds Sarah now and how much Hannah has changed. So Hannah thought it would be funny to see what she would look like if Daddy held her the same way he used to. Couldn't let a photo op like this go by!

Amazing...and almost healthy!

My sister called the other day mushing and gushing about this recipe someone had given her. I thought nothing could be as yummy as she was saying and really only be 1 point on the weight watchers' point system...so I thought it would be something fun for "Hannah-Mommy Time." I have to say they are really, really good and super simple! And for all you pumpkin haters out there...the muffins come off as a "spice muffin" more than pumpkin...trust me!

a box of carrot cake mix
small can of pure pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie stuff)
1 cup water

mix all of this together, put in muffin pans, bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes

They make 12 muffins--but be careful...at only 1 point each, one can justify eating quite a few of them...not that I speak from experience or anything! :-) Now you know why I don't bake very often!

Our Little Girl is Growing Up!!!

Hannah's 5th birthday was Monday...it's hard to believe our little girl is 5!!! But then again, she acts like she's 15 most days! She seems so big and grown up compared to Baby Sarah, but then again I know it's all perspective...last night she came down with the stomach flu that's going around and she seemed so little and helpless!

Hannah was so excited about opening her presents! Her favorites were the princess suitcase from Grandpa and Grandma Kelley (she rolls it around the house with her everywhere she goes--she has all her favorite things in it that she has to have with her at all times!) a wallet from Grandma and Grandpa Griffin--complete with her own pretend credit cards (Grandma Griffin saved all the little credit cards that come in the mail as well as used up gift cards and put them in the wallet for Hannah to pretend play with--She loves having her own credit cards--especially the ones that have the mastercard or discover logos on them so she can be just like Mommy and Daddy!) and a red purse from our friend, Jessie Markham, that had some really fun things in it--like Skittles Bubble Gum! (The purse and the wallet made it into the suitcase--that tells you how much she really loves them!)
Hannah helped me make her cake--she begged all day to know when we were going make it...she loved putting on the sprinkles that she picked out, too!
She wanted Mac n cheese and hot dogs for her birthday dinner...we got off easy with Hannah...Daniel wanted steak for his birthday dinner! :-)

What a fun reminder!

This picture has nothing to do with the post, but was so adorable I couldn't resist! Hannah was so excited to crawl into bed with me yesterday and hold Sarah the same way Mommy holds her!
Now the real reason for posting...my friend Marsel reminded me of a man that goes to our church in Chicago. (I know we've been gone for over 2 years now, but it's still "our church"--and always will be!) His name is Mr. Rippberger, and he's everyone's Grandpa. He's the candy man--always giving gummy bears or worms out to all the children after the service. And he teaches the 4-5 year old Sunday School class. And he loves babies! He always used to play with our babies' "pudgey wrists" and tease us by asking us why we put rubber bands around our babies' wrists! How I miss Mr. Rippberger and his wife, Linda, who just have a way of making you smile when you talk with them! Leslie, their daughter, oftens posts comments to our blog...so Leslie, if you read this, please let your folks know we love them and miss everyone at New Hope...and we love you, too, Leslie...she's one of those down to earth people that you can just be yourself around! Sigh...I'm longing for a mall right now...I know, Brent, I agree, too...we're right where the Lord wants us...even though there's no mall! :-)

She's changing so fast!

I can't believe how quickly time is flying! Baby Sarah is changing so much each day! Her wrists are getting that baby "pudge," and she's getting that "Griffin Look." I'm not sure exactly what that means, but 2 people now have looked at Sarah and said, "Oh yeah, she's a Griffin, that's for sure!" I hope that's not such a bad thing :-) Daniel and Hannah don't look a thing like each other, but apparently all 3 of our kids have something in common as far as looks go.

Sarah is 4 weeks tomorrow...she's sleeping much better now, which means I am, too! Last night I fed her at 9:30 and was too tired to stay up until her 12:30 feeding. She woke up around 2:30 wanting to eat. She woke up again at 7:30 ready to eat...so I'm getting quite a bit of sleep...which is a good thing! God is so good to give us exactly what we need exactly when we need it...apparently I needed sleep as much as I thought I needed it!

BTW...Hannah said something funny the other day while Grandma Griffin was holding Sarah. Daniel and Hannah love to kiss on Sarah. Hannah had just given Sarah yet another kiss, when Grandma Griffin said, "You're going to wear a hole in Sarah's cheeks !" Hannah looked at Sarah in a funny way, and said, "Look she's starting to crack!" Hannah noticed the tiny little blood vessels that were showing on Sarah's cheek and thought she really was wearing a hole in her cheek from kissing her! Only a four year old would think that way!

Murphy's Law at it's best!

Just a simple thought to ponder...why is it that a baby will only make "ickies" in a clean diaper?!? Never fails...change a baby's diaper and she is sure to make a mess of it within minutes if not seconds...try it, you'll see!!! The results will be best around 3-4 in the morning. One of those things to make you go, "hmmm..."

Thank You!!!

A special thanks to both sets of grandparents who came and helped us while we were adjusting to life with a newborn! My parents came before we were induced and stayed for a week or so after Sarah Grace was born. Brent's folks came and stayed 10 days with us after my parents left. It was so nice to know that Daniel and Hannah were taken care of while I was figuring out the nursing thing all over again, and that the laundry was being done, and that I could sleep and know that dinner was taken care of for when Brent came home. They made the transition to baby-hood again much more bearable. Thanks Mom and Dad! What would we do without such wonderful parents? But could someone please tell me how to do laundry...it's been so long since I've had to do anything around the house, I think I need more help--when are you guys coming back?!?

WOW!!! That's Cold!

Windchills could get as cold as -45 tonight and into tomorrow morning!!! The actual this morning when we got up was -16!!! Who knows how cold it got during the wee hours of the morning! Yikes!

Family pictures

We went and had our pictures taken today after Sarah's doctor appointment. The girl gave us a CD of our pics we ordered so we could email them to friends and family. I figured posting them on the blog fell under the same category. (BTW...I checked the copyright on the CD and it said we couldn't print them at a photo studio or kiosk--so legally it seems fine to post them on our blog--one doesn't live with a computer programmer without having to check these things out!) Our family picture was an after thought--we had one more picture available so we had our family shot taken instead of wasting it! Wish I had taken more care getting ready this morning!
Daniel turned 7 in September, Hannah will be 5 on February 19, and Sarah is 15 days old. Where does the time go?!?