It's a Wonderful Life

I am sitting here at the kitchen table thinking about my life and just how good I have it. My wife isn't here - and no, that's not why my life is so good. She's out at a gas station somewhere in Michiana handing out free gas as part of GCC's 20 Days of Giving [follow along here]. It's nice to be married to someone that cares enough about her community to stand in 20 degree temps to spread a little love...

Rachel is attempting to play games on the computer. Allison trying to decide if she should help her as she walks around carefully with a baby doll she says is Carter's sister.

Tyler and Carter are pushing heavy machinery around the living room and keeping their eye on the TV to make sure I don't turn Dora the Explorer off.

The snow is gently falling outside even though you can't see it in the picture.

I have the Sunday paper in front of me and a cup of Starbucks coffee within arms reach.

It's the holiday season.

I have a great God, family and job.

I have a great roof over my head and two cars that have been working well this week :)

Like I said, It's a Wonderful Life!

Happy 36th Birthday Daryl

Today my husband turned 36. I was tesing him earlier this week that he is now closer to 40 than 30. Of course I can still do this because I have a couple more years till I hit that point. One thing I love about him is that age does not matter, his response back to me was "who cares, it is just a number".
I try to do something special for him to celebrate his Birthday, last year I took him away for the weekend. This year it was more important for us to be at church because today is the 20th Anniversary of the church. So instead of going away for the weekend we got away for the night. The Callenders took our kids for the night and we did dinner, a movie, breakfast in the morning and some other things in between those times. Oh how I love married life! Tonight after church our best friends are coming over to celebrate his birthday and tomorrow we will celebrate with the kids. I love it when the whole weekend is all about him. Birthday's were a big deal in my house growing up and I want to continue that tradition in our house.
Just so you are aware, I have the best the husband on the planet. He is my best friend and the one I cannot wait to go to bed with at night and wake up next to in the morning. He does what needs to be done for our family and because of this we never go without. He is a awesome father who loves his children more than he loves himself and they adore him because of this. I am so lucky I married him, we have had 7 great married years together and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us.
I love you hon!

Trick-or-Treat....a little late

Aren't they cute!

Princess Jasmine, aka Allison

Snow White, aka Rachel

Dalmation, aka Tyler

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating with Jacob and Abby, as we have done for the past couple of years. It was a little chilly but a fun time was had by all and we have enough candy to last us the rest of the year.

Window Washer

Yeah, I know it has been forever since I posted anything on this blog. I guess I have just been lazy or just too busy. Life seems to be going 100 miles and hour right now and I am afraid it isn't going to get better. Even though life has been crazy I was able to accomplish a project that I had been dreading doing but knew had to be done.
What was this project, you may ask? Well I spent the last 2 Sundays washing windows. Oh yeah doesn't that sound like fun. I started this project last Sunday and thought okay I will take one day and get all the windows done, uh that did not happen. It took me all afternoon to just do the windows downstairs. So I spent the afternoon today doing the windows upstairs. It is amazing how long it takes when you are cleaning the blinds, pulling the screens out and cleaning those and then cleaning the window sills and then finally cleaning the windows themselves. The window sills were disgusting, I am not sure how they got so dirty, but boy were they. The only nice thing about this project was that we have awesome windows that fold in so there was no going outside to clean windows.
As much as I hated this project I am glad it is done and I am glad that it won't need to be done for at least another year. All I can say is that I will be passing on the tradition that my mom started and one day this will be a great project for my kids to help me with. I'm thinking in another 5 years Allison can help. Then if I wait another couple years after that Allison and Rachel can take over the project all together....SWEET!!!!

Tammy & Me

Tammy and I don't take many pictures together - probably because we have three kids and by the time we get through taking pictures of them, the batteries are dead and the camera is begging for mercy...

But the other day there were other adults around and the camera came out for the sole purpose of making memories. So Tammy and I sat down and took a good one (if I don't say so myself). You know how you look at pictures of yourself and you can always find something wrong with them? Well, I look at this one and it just feels right. It's us - plain and simple.

We have had 7 great years together and I'm looking forward to many more.

Love ya Tam :)

Bullies on the Bus

I walked into the kitchen this morning to hear my daughter (Allison) describing how there were kids on the bus that were making fun of her. My first instinct was to ask, "What are their names and where do they live?" But I resisted the urge and listened as she explained that the bullying was done by older kids on the bus making fun of the way people dressed, and the way their hair looked.

How sad I thought that they learn that stuff at such an early age. How sad that my daughter has to ride a bus and endure that crap. How sad that there are kids that will influence in the negative rather than the positive.

But there was a ray of hope. My wife asked what she did when this happened and my daughter reported that she ignored it. Hooray for her - it took me numerous counseling sessions just to get some adults to realize the benefit in ignoring other peoples negative behavior.

Of course the problem remains. Even though she is able to ignore it I know it still hurts her. She is kind, loving and does care what other people think of her. To her the world is still ultimately good.

As I dropped her off at school this morning (at the butt-crack of dawn) I just sat there and watched her slowly walk through the big doors. Her backpack is wider than she is and it looks like it goes from her neck to her knees. But there she was - entering an establishment of learning. I just pray that the learning is positive and that the negative influence is in such small doses that her overall experience is good.

As I drove away - it was with a sad heart and a desire to go back and say, "Forget school - we're going to go hang out all day - just the two of us."

Of course that's probably the way God thinks about us too.

Happy 6th Birthday Allison Lynn

Today at 9:10am our eldest child turned 6 years old. Only 4 more years and she will be in the double digits, wow where does the time go. She started kindergarten this year and is loving every minute of it. She has even gotten a marriage proposal on the bus from a little boy named Nick, though she told me she had to wait till she was 6 to get married, so I guess this is the year :)
We are having her and Tyler's Birthday parties on Sunday, but she still got to do some of her favorite things today and spend it with some of her favorite people. They sang Happy Birthday to her at school today, she went to ballet, she got to pick what we had for dinner, Abby and Jacob spent the afternoon and evening with us, the kids had ice cream sundaes for dessert (Allison's had a candle it in), she got to watch a movie she has been wanting to see for awhile, she played outside with her friends and she got phone calls from some of her favorite people wishing her a Happy Birthday.
Like I said in Tyler's post, my goal is to write each of them a letter on their Birthdays so here it is or at least the beginning of it.

Allison Lynn-
Happy 6th Birthday Sweetheart. I cannot believe that you are already six. I still remember the day you were born and how little you were. From 5 pounds 6 ounces to 46 pounds, it is amazing what 6 years can do. I can remember looking at you when you were a baby wondering what you would be like as a little girl and now I find myself wondering what you will be like as a teenager. You have grown into the sweetest and cutest little girl I know, though of course I am totally biased. You have a heart of gold, right now you are growing out your hair so you can give it to people who do not have any hair. I am not sure where you came up with that idea, but you came home one day and told me what you wanted to do and you are determined to do it.
You are a typical first born, you want things a certain way and you want things to be right. You started kindergarten this fall and you love it. On thing that has been hard for you is that you are learning how to spell and sound words out and you get so frustrated when we won't just tell you how to spell a word. It has to be spelled exactly right or you are not happy. You love to learn and would never think of doing anything to get yourself in trouble with a teacher. You actually came home today from ballet and when I asked you how it was you told me it was "bad". When I asked you why you said because everyone was messing around and not paying attention, and you were totally irritated by this.
The older you get the more I see myself in you. You very easily get your feelings hurt, all it takes is me talking to you in a stern manner and the tears are flowing. You do at times get an attitude and I will hear the door to your room slam, wow do I remember myself doing the same things. Even though you look like your daddy, I look at you and see myself so many years ago. Your Nana always used to say that looking at you was like looking at me when I was your age, I cannot imagine what she would say now. I have found myself thinking about how proud of you your Nana would be, I just wish she was here to see you growing up.
One thing that I find very funny right now is you are very concerned about who you are going to marry and have asked me and your dad how you will know that you have found the right person and you are also scared to have your own children because it hurts to push them out. It still amazes me that at 6 you are already thinking about those things. You and Jacob Callender still have a little crush on each other depending on what day it is. All I know is that no matter who you end up with I pray that he will be your dream come true and that the two of you will serve God side by side for the rest of your lives.
I pray Allison that you will love God with all your heart and that you will follow after Him all the days of your life. I know that God has given you talents and a passion and I pray that you fling yourself into these things knowing the good plans God has for you. Know that no matter what happens to you in this life that your Dad and I will always be here loving and supporting you and that our home will always be a safe haven. Mistakes will be made along this journey called life, but you have a forgiving Father in Heaven and forgiving parents on earth.
I love you sweetheart with all my heart and soul,
Mom

Daddy and Allison's Night Out

Ask any child where he or she wants to eat and there is a 99% chance (not scientific) that it will be McDonalds. So that is where we went. She had a nugget happy meal in order to get the coveted Ariel toy. I had a number...well it really doesn't matter what I ate - there isn't much there worth blogging about :)

Next we headed over to the theatre and caught a full price version of Open Season (recommendation: make sure to catch it at matinee price). It was cute. But definitely no Lion King or monsters INC. I think she liked it, but if I ask her about it in two weeks she'll probably say, "Huh?"

And finally came the all important ice cream stop. Ally had Dirt and Worms at Ritters and I had...well it really doesn't matter what I had because anything there adds 1000 calories to your daily intake :)

It's hard to believe that Allison is 6 already. She just gets more mature every day. She still has her breakdowns but overall it's strange to hear the questions and comments that come from her each day. I can't wait to see what she'll be like at 16...

Rachel Can Ballet

Rachel and Allison have been doing ballet for the past month or so and today was the first day we were able to actually sit in a class and watch the fun. It was Rachel's class and I'm not sure I'd call it ballet - maybe running around in pink, or act like your favorite animal, or run, jump and kick.

But it was fun and she seemed to enjoy it so that makes it all worth it.

Here is a short video clip if you're interested : )

Apples, Steak, Rides & Fireworks

I'm typically not given to attending festivals or anything that resembles a fair for that matter. It just doesn't do it for me. But I was convinced to attend the Apple Festival in Niles, MI last week and I must say it was worth it just to see the kids eyes light up at the thought of having elephant ears, cotton candy and riding a few simple rides.

The adults went to indulge in the steak and potato phenomenon. But the kids had already been fed - so they stuck with the sweet stuff.

The kids rode the motorcycle ride (see pictures above) and then went through a Fun House type thing ($3 for 30 seconds). But all-in-all it was fun to see them happy.

The night finished up with a short and to the point episode of fireworks, some spitting rain and a quiet ride home - long live the Apple Festival!