Snow

I finally have time to blog...

Phew, it has been a long week. But exciting non the less.

We are back at home and trying to get back into the swing of things.

Last week was an entertaining week. We got stuck in Oklahoma, no complaints from me, but a few from Paul. We were suppose to return to Colorado on Tuesday, but a blizzard in Oklahoma snowed us in. Yes, a blizzard in Oklahoma, you read that right. It dumped 8 inches and up to 20 inches in some other places. But the worst part was the snow drifts which got up to 5 ft in some

areas. Oklahoma was basically closed down for a few days. Even Walmart closed.

Needless to say, our flight was canceled. So we re-scheduled for Wednesday, and that too was canceled. We finally got a flight out for Thursday night. The one problem then was the roads. They were terrible to drive on especially with the rented car that only had rear wheel drive. We barely made it over to Paul's parents from my parents house, much less make it safely to Tulsa's airport 45 min away.

Luckly, a friend of my family, offered to drive us to the airport, who had four wheel drive. But it still proved to be a long journey, taking us 2 hours. We differently would not have made it without four wheel drive.

We flew out with only a few minutes of a delay, and made it into Denver. It fairly late because of time change and we still had a 2 hour drive home, arriving to Canon city around 1:00 am, 2:00 am Ok time.

The next day was a crazy one for Paul. He had to leave for winter retreat at 3:00 that afternoon. So when the girls and I got all ready we went to the church to help Paul with any last minute jobs he needed done for the retreat.

Paul, got back from a fantastic weekend with the kids on Sunday afternoon. He fit in a short nap before we went off to a Super Bowl party at a friends. Getting in late again we relaxed all day Monday. Then that night we went to a movie with some friends. We saw Sanctum, I would not suggest it. I hate movies like that... I like to leave movies feeling inspired or at least with some good feeling. I didn't leave that movie feeling anything good. But it was a well made movie, I will give it that.

Tuesday, The church office was closed due to snow, but Paul still had to work, so he locked himself in the bedroom to escape from a curious little girl who loves her Daddy. It snowed all day and was beautiful. But, it didn't keep us from going to see Spamelot in Co. Springs with some other friends. Awesome, show! It was a very funny show. I enjoyed it tremendously, something about being at a live show.

I love the theatre! It makes me want to be on stage.

Today, was a fairly normal day, and it looks like we will be getting back to the swing of things soon. However, Paul and I hope to improve how we swing things. But, I will save that for a later post... "Improving life skills"

Pic, I stole from someone at JBU.

Celebrating 25 yrs of ministry at Boulevard

We pulled off surprising my parents by coming in from Colorado to Muskogee and showing up on Sunday morning. They had not one clue and were so very surprised.

Let me start from the beginning.

A month ago I received a call from my sister Jamie. She said there is something I want to talk to you about Mom and dad. Thinking of what it could be I thought it might have to do with their wedding anniversary which was January 8th. However, Jamie was thinking of another anniversary. Their 25th anniversary of ministry with Boulevard. She told me I must call Lisa Able and talk with her about all they have planned. When I called her she began to tell me all of the wonderful things they had in store for my parents. One of which was to fly us down to surprise them at church on that Sunday. But we had a month to keep this a secret. I was not sure how were going to pull this off. But we did.

Paul and I flew in Friday night and the girls were such good passengers. We went immediately to Paul's parents house. We were going to stop by Tara's to say hi before heading into Muskogee, but Tara called with urgency to not come, because Mom was insistent that she come to see her gandgirls and to celebrate Tara's birthday, which was a few days before. So went went on to Muskogee. We stayed at Paul's house all day so not to accidentally run into anyone who may give us away. This was also a huge blessing to Paul's parents, because they were itching to see the girls too. It also happened to be Greg's birthday weekend.

Sunday finally came. We arrived at the church and waited for the cue to come in. When we did we were debriefed on how it was to go down.

Boulevard has two services. So at the first service Dad was surprised with the fact that he was not to preach, even though he had prepared a wonderful sermon for that day. Instead one of his really good friends came, who has a very busy schedule, but made room for this event, to preach. This come very unexpected to Dad and was pleasantly surprised to both hear and see his long, old, good friend.

But unknown to Mom and Dad, there was another surprise in store for them during the second service.

When one of the elders was explaining to those at the second service what had happen during the previous service. We, Tara, Ken, Jamie, Paul, Aunt Nada, Grammy, Uncle Carlos, and I walk in from the side with Piper, Miley, Haddie, and Eden leading the way. They were so very surprised, they had all their children there. It was a Success!

After church we had a lunch at Maylon's with leaders of the church, family, and a few friends.

Then we went home a relaxed a few hours, talking about the morning and with Mark and Carla Scott. At 5:30 we went back to the church for a banquet in honor of Mom and Dad's ministry.

There they were graced with many stories of Dad in his ministry. Jay then invited them to play "the price was right, couple addition." during which they won an Ipod and a 7 day cruise to the Mediterranean! This came as a huge shock to both Mom and Dad. They had no idea this was all planned for them. They both said they felt very loved and honored by all that happened that day. They also said they were just content with the first surprise of the morning, but that it just kept coming and were overwhelmed by the end of the day by the generosity of all who were involved. Thank you boulevard family for taking such good care of my family. Thank you for helping them raise us. Thank you for supporting my mom and Dad through their 25 yrs of ministry at Boulevard. Thank you for loving us!

I am in ministry because of my Dads great example and he is in ministry at boulevard because of you! THANK YOU!

a few of Haddie's favorites

Haddie has an addicting personality. Yes, she is always fun to be around and that you always miss her when your not with her, but this is not what I am talking about. What I mean is that she gets addicted to things and becomes obsessed with them. Such as Toy Story. She is in love with the whole cast and all the movies. She is especially fond of Jessie. She received a Jessie doll for Christmas from her Granny and has not put her down since. Anytime she gets a chance she asks to watch "Toy story" and gets so excited when either Woody or Buzz comes on. She even says "oh no, Jessie" when at the end of Toy Story 2 Woody is running after Jessie in the airplane. She is also addicted to or obsessed with snow and bath time. Also a new obsession is to the book given to her by her Granny. Is not just the book, its the fact that it is read to her by her Granny. Granny had recorded her voice reading the book. Haddie LOVES it.

Last night I went to read her another book and she whined, "no, no, Nana" (she gets confused sometimes between granny and her nana.) So I grabed the book that Granny recorded and said, "you want the book Granny gave?" Haddie was so excited! We opened it up and Granny's voice began to read the book. Haddie laughed and pointed to the speaker and said "nana," I corrected her with Granny, and then after each turned page and Granny began to read again, she would smile wide and say, "Granny!" so precious.

It makes me laugh, and I get tickled with her obsessions. But my favorite of late is with praying during meal times. She loves to pray and loves to remind us. Once we start praying she then repeats each phrase, such as "thank you for mommy!" "Danktu mommy!" "Thank you for Daddy" "Danktu Abigail" (yet another one of her obsessions).

She is so precious and makes me smile!

SNOW

I have always loved it when it would snow. An excitement rushes through me when I see that beautiful fluffy stuff falling from the sky. I get even more happy when I see that it is sticking to the ground. I become like a little girl on christmas day.The other day it began to snow, and each time I looked out the snow was getting thicker and thicker on the cars. We enjoyed a cozy day inside after church just enjoying watching it snow and build up on the ground and cars. Haddie was excited too, she kept climbing up on our couch to watch it snow. she would turn and say "oh no, snow!" She was actually really excited, she just thinks its fun to say 'no' and 'snow' together.

The next day we awoke with 8 inches of snow or more! Haddie was so excited she couldn't wait to play in the snow. So she and I got all bundled up to play outside in the snow.

Once we got out in the snow Haddie loved walking around in the snow that was past her knees. I then taught her how to make a snow angle. This made Haddie want to roll and crawl around in the snow. Mazie, our dog, liked the snow too. She jumped around and ate the snow. Haddie also liked to eat the snow. After around 30 min of playing in the snow. I was getting cold, so I knew Haddie had to be getting cold too. So I told Hadassah we needed to go in, but Haddie was refusing to go in without a fuss. So we played a little longer, until I bribed Haddie to come in with a Bubble bath. One thing Haddie loves more then snow, is a bubble bath.

Starting a bow buisness

I am in the process of starting to sell my bows. I started making hair bows just after haddie was born. I had bought several bows at a boutique in Joplin and got to thinking I could make these. So I began practicing how to make bows. I made several that I thought were GREAT, but looking back at them, they were not so great, but a beginning. I had to keep practicing over the year and half. Now I think I got it. Well, maybe.

I enjoy making them. It is relaxing to me to make bows. Which I think makes for a great hobbie. A hobbie I am hoping to make a few bucks off of. (or at least return my investment)

I am trying to build up an inventory so that I can take them to some local consignment stores in Canon City to see if they will sell them for me in their store. I am also going to be doing several craft shows this spring.

Paul is helping me create a web site, but until then I have a blog so others can check out the bows and prices.

If you know of anyone who would be interested in my bows, I would appreciate you passing the word along.

You can find me at www.myrtlegardenbowtique.blogspot.com

Christmas: without family, but with family.

This year was a very different Christmas for us. It was our first Christmas away from our family. First christmas in Colorado. I was hoping that by living in Colorado it would be a sure thing I would get a white Christmas.... but, nope, not this year. They say it is a 50/50 chance to get snow on Christmas and seeing that it has been a very dry winter for us it was no surprise to any one but me that there was no snow this year on Christmas.

Christmas Eve was wonderful and not so much out of my family tradition. We went to the Christmas eve Candle light service and then came home, read Haddie the christmas story (the real one), put the babies to bed, and then wrapped presents, stuffed stockings, and put the presents under the tree.

The rest of the night was not so fun for me, I awoke in the middle of the night sick and moved into the living room to finish the night in hopes not to wake Paul or get him sick too. Plane didn't work... he did't awake, but he did get sick.

Christmas Morning was fun in spite of Paul and I feeling sicky, but as a parent you have to push past the sickness most of the time.

Haddie was a pro at unwrapping gifts. Which made it so much fun. At her birthday, she would still needed help and then was too involved with the one gift, she didn't want to open any more. But not this time, she loved the unwrapping so much she cared less about the gift, that is unless it was one of her favorite characters, then it would distract her just enough to let Eden or one of us start opening our gifts. However, Haddie then would hear the sound of ripping paper and would jump in to help. She helped open almost all, that is all, but Paul's. He wouldn't let her help him.

Before we opened all the presents, we skyped Paul's mom and Dad so that they could see the girls open the gifts from them. Which is so neat. I love skype... it really can feel like they are right in our living room. They loved watching the girls and Haddie, as always, loved being the center of attention. (she is so my daughter)

We then skyped my parents and got to talk with them on Christmas.

After all the presents were out and wrapping paper was every where, as well as our stocking stuffers, we finally could relax in the mess and be sick... oh wait no, now we have two little girls fussing to eat and to open the boxes of toys (okay really only one little girl, Eden was content enough to go down for a nap).

We were suppose to go have lunch at a friends from church, but we were in NO mode to eat. So we called to postpone until dinner. Once it came time for dinner I was feeling better, but Paul was feeling worse. We would have called to cancel, but we had the ham, green bean casserole, and the deviled eggs. So we really had no choice. Paul was a trooper and did great, just didn't eat much. It was fun evening despite us not feeling well. It is always good to be with family, even if the family is not related through blood. Church family can be just as good. It is something I LOVE about the church. It makes me so thankful for our church here in Canon and very sad for those who are not apart of a church family. How do people who live away from family survive with out the support of a church family?

Don't blink or you'll miss it

Sitting on the couch reading Anne of Avonlea I lift my head to see my youngest sitting in her bombo reaching for a toy. She looks up curiously searching for a way to get to her toy that is fallen too far from her reaches. I laughed at her alertness. The look she gave brought me pure joy. My laugh continued as she searched around the room for what was making my sound. Finally her eyes found the object of her search. She looked at me with very courious eyes before a smile was spread wide across her face. No laugh come from that baby, only a big smile that took over her whole body causing her to fling back. This only made me laugh all the more.

Was it not last week that she would sit in her swing not caring what was around her. Was it not yesterday that she would lay on her back hardly able to move. Boy, it sure seems so. She will be six months on Tuesday. The beginnings of my favorite stage has begun. She has become a very curious one in the resent days. Grabbing everything that is in her reach and tasting all that she can put in her mouth.

I love how she can recognize me and is allows willing to give me a smile. I am only slightly jealous that Haddie is the only one who has got Eden to laugh a real laugh. But I sure do love how much Eden watches Haddie with such adoring eyes. She is the tiniest thing weighing in at 13.5 lbs, but a cutie none the less.

Haddie is such a great big sis. Most of the time she ignores Eden, but all the other times she is very helpful and sweet. She asks me "where's baby" if she is not around. Comes and tells me baby is crying, and will say "hush eddee, it okay." Haddie gives her many kisses and hugs, which Eden adores. She also will try and give Eden her passy if it is around. Most recently I asked Haddie give a toy to Eden, She did and waited very patiently for Eden to grab it.

I am enjoying my sweet babies, but I am making sure not to blink for I will soon miss this time.