Under Construction

I think part of my recent aversion to blogging is that I couldn't stand to look at the pink snowflakes any longer! {Well, that and a very full month and a newly mobile child etc, etc. :)}

BUT, I do miss blogging and commenting and I feel the need to report on all the hilarious stuff that the girls are doing lately too.

Hopefully the new and improved Cowlicks and Curls will be up and running soon!

As for now, the kitchen and living room are clean, everyone is in bed and I need to get there too!

my perspective has changed...

i am still alive. my town is reeling from the tornado that ravaged it 2 weeks ago tonight. i'm one of the 1500 plus volunteers here trying to clean up. been forever changed. i'm so thankful for my life. for the lives of those in my family. i'm thankful for my home for my car. i'm thankful for the "stuff" that fills my home. (although right now, that "stuff"...primarily laundry is about to take over my home. will i ever get it all done?) i am so grateful to be a part of this community. sure...we are a little country here. sure, we don't have the most up to the minute news sources or technology. sure, walmart is like "it" here.... but after all of this there is not another place i would want to be right now. i have seen these precious people love on one another, and work their tails off. they haven't waited around for the gov't (although we are still hoping they might show up), they haven't looted or rioted. they have gotten to work and they/we still are. mena will never be the same. there is just no way. BUT, i do believe that it will be better. i know i will. i will always be proud of my home town. i will always love the people and i will always serve the God Who has redeemed us and Who is working in this situation and bringing good things out of it.

well, now i broke the ice. hopefully i can get caught up here eventually.

right now, i am doing most of my "blogging" on the Mena Disaster Relief Information Blog here. hopefully we will have some word from FEMA soon so that we will know which direction to go.

the girls are doing good. grace moves very quickly! sophie cracks me up daily. we got a pretty good report from the dr. this week on grace's ears... she still has some fluid, but it is no longer infected. Thank YOU, Lord! we were SO over taking antibiotics and all the yucky side effects of those. her dr. does have some concerns about some bumps on her chest/arm (that have been there since birth/we came home from Childrens). Grace has an appt with a Pediatric Dermatologist at ACH this summer. we aren't worried, but we do want it to be seen.

dan is good too. he is officially a "red neck" since he got some major sun last week working on clearing debis/chainsaw/tarp work. he has helped me a lot with the girls since i have have lots to work on. he also preached last sunday at a little church in wickes. he did a great job (what i heard at least). i spent most of my time wrangling a 15 month old who really wanted to be on stage with daddy or behind the piano with the pianist. :)

we're looking forward to celebrating "easter on six mile" this weekend. easter was really different this year. but worshipping amongst the rubble and then delivering about 1300 meals in our community was awesome.

He is the GOD of this city. He is the hope of these people and yes, better things are yet to come....

What A Difference One Year Makes...

I was browsing through some pictures tonight and found these from last year...


Sophie with Muncle Jon this week last year. Look at those chubby cheeks and short hair!

Sophie with Aunt Sarah Jo & Aunt Jac doing some "Walk Away The Pounds!" She has grown INCHES since this time last year! (Incidentally, Soph joined me for some Walk Away The Pounds this week and she kept up great for about a quarter of a mile. Then she said, "I'm hungry!", ate a banana and plopped down in the couch!) :)

Sophie (with her hair straightened) NOW. She looks SO grown up!

And SO tall!

Miss Gracie B. one year ago... all sweet and sleepy and snuggle in Aunt Nera's lap.

Grace in her favorite (and Mommy's too) swing!

And look at my walkin' girl NOW! I love her look of determination!

This girl melts my heart every day!



Well, they both do! They have changed and grown so much in the last year. I have too. I've been stretched and I have been blessed.

I have endured months, and I do mean MONTHS of waking up in the night over and over, 1000's of diaper changes, many sore muscles from lifting car seats and kiddos and more crazy messes than I care to remember! I've also enjoyed hundreds of slobbery kisses and snuggles and stories, and playing and laughter and blessings because of these little love-bugs!

This year has brought many changes to the people who grace these pictures. We now have TWO more babies to love! Nera has Arianna and Jaclyn has baby Ike. Jon is in College and by golly he is going to give meat another try! Woo Hoo! :)

Mammy with her four grand-babies!


Sometimes change is GOOD!

However... this...this NEVER changes! :)

It's Me again Margret!

i'm still here. still living and loving and cooking and cleaning.... and parenting and nursing (!) and organizing and garage selling and crafting and praying and parenting and dating (my husband) and exercising (that's a new one!) and still trying to learn to balance my life and my time.

the last couple of weeks have been full and sweet. my family was here two weeks ago. we visited a lot and laughed and tried to get out kids to cooperate and take pictures! actually they will be back next week when THEY MOVE MY MOM & STEP DAD HERE! wow! that's a biggie. i haven't lived in the same town as my mom since i was in the fifth grade. we are excited to have her close by and anticipating some (good) adjustments in our relationship at the same time. she will be living with in walking distance from me so i know we will get to see her often. :)

last week we had a garage sale and i am so glad that it is done! it was good though and i got my garage cleaned in the process and that makes me very happy! i am slowly but surely making my way through each room and organizing. a couple of months ago i was SO overwhelmed by my disorganized house that i was ready to move away and leave it all behind. thankfully, things are lookin up! i still have tub upon tub of sweet little girls clothes (and shoes and blankets, ect) that i'm really not ready to part with yet. one day... :)

mom (lisa) & i went to an aerobics class one night last week and we are definitely going back tomorrow. i am NOT a coordinated person, but i was actually able to keep up and i am inspired to keep the weight loss train rolling! nursing (and chasing kiddos) have helped me a lot, but now i need to start demonstrating some self-control in the "sweets" department and start toning up!

this week i am also starting the "Captivating" Bible study. i am really looking forward to being involved in this group and praying for the Lord to minister to my heart in the process. this period of lent is always a tender and pivotal time for me. this year I have my favorite lent devotional (The Christ of Easter by Calvin Miller- it is so, so good) and daniel and i are joining our church in praying for 40 days for our nation and the world. it has been very good so far and it has brought praying for the lost to the forefront of our minds and hearts again. i struggled a lot about what to "give up" for lent this year. i thought that blogging and facebook was probably the thing. i did this about three years ago and it was very good for me. i believe that this time though that a total internet fast is maybe not what i need as much as some guidelines to help me balance my time on the internet all the time. i may take a few weeks or days off, but i know that also doing some other practical things like moving the laptop from the living room will really help me in this. Lord, please keep speaking to me and making me more like You!

well, i guess that about sums it up for me! the girls are doing great. grace is taking lots of steps here and there! she doesn't just take off down the hall, but she is getting more and more brave. she is an absolute delight and daniel and i are loving the fun stage that she is in! so, so sweet! (well, except for during diaper changes!)

sophie is doing good too! i can see a light... :) we are having some really good days lately. we still have some tricky times and she definitely still needs a nap, but we are loving this stage too. her vocabulary is getting so big and she has the funniest expressions and faces (a lot like her daddy!), she loves to help me in the kitchen, and the thing she gets in trouble the most for is pushing her sister. :( She loves to type her name on the computer and the other day she wrote her name on our white board!!!! i was SO thrilled by this! she's a little s-t-u-b-b-o-r-n (like her momma) so she doesn't do too much "on demand," but we will keep working on it together. :)

ok, i was supposed to be in bed by 10 and i still need to clean the kitchen. (sigh!) i have been loving this spring weather and getting outside with my dirt-loving kiddos and my johnny cash loving husband (a new love for dan)! God bless and good night!

jennifer

(ps- i know that i need to change my background and update my blog list! hopefully i can soon!)

(pps- i have lots more pics to upload, but it isn't working for me tonight!)

Nap time is a go!

I think we finally have a good naptime routine here and it is making me SO HAPPY! It has worked 3 out of 4 days this week and a few last week so I'm thinking we are headed into a habit. I just keep Grace up a little longer, the girls and I start lunch at about 11:30, we have daddy's lunch all ready to go when he gets here. We visit some and dad eats then Dan lays down with Sophie in our room (he always gets a little nap at lunch anyway) and I nurse Grace and get her down. Then, then..... THEN I have about two hours (more or less) to myself! To clean, to read, to pay bills, to blog.

Honestly it has made our mornings better, our afternoons better, our evenings better... our house cleaner and that makes for a happy mommy, a happy daddy and happy kiddos!

Ok, time to make the most of this time and finish getting this house ready for company! We are so excited to have my mom, Junie, and my Aunt Debi here this weekend. Aunt Debi is coming to meet Mr. Ike and to photograph him and the rest of the fam. We are super excited! Sophie has been counting the hours to see Junie!

Have a great day!

My Princess

Sophie is LOVING her dance class! The week before last, Mrs. Viviana deemed that next week would be 'Princess" day and that the girls needed to dress appropriately. She had her son dressed in a suit and he opened the door for the girls. It was sweet, but I can say for Sophie that the best part was the cupcake after class! :)

My princess, last week.

There were a few girls out last week with sickness, so Mrs. Viviana wanted to give them the opportunity to have a Princess party too. So... we had a repeat party this week. Sophie didn't mind!


My princess this week. :)

MISS CHEEESE!!

The princesses danced together and it was TOO cute! So was the free-styler dancing. They all get into it so much and they all have their own style and moves that are adorable!

Sophie really was a princess yesterday. We had a great day. (I sure document the difficult ones enough, I need to remember the good days too!) She was kind, obedient and a lot of fun to be with. After nap time we made sugar cookies from scratch. Obviously she had a fun time with the sprinkles! They were yummy and they didn't last too long!

I love you my princess, Sophie! (Whether we have a good day or not!)

Valentine's Day 2008 Recap! (In Pictures)

I know I am behind, but I still want to document our Valentine's Day Celebration. We had a fun weekend filled with family, friends and l-o-v-e!

A little l-o-v-e decorating
A little l-0-v-e crafting for the girls. I found this tutu-shirt here (love her blog!) and I knew it was just the thing to get the sewing machine back out for! I finished them on Thursday night and the girls were tickled with them. They both looked super cute when they wore them on Friday. :)

Also, a little l-o-v-e candy making! I found these here and they were pretty easy to make (with Sophie & Dan's help) and they were pretty yummy. We made about 40 this year. Last week I bought a large set of V-Day sprinkles so hopefully I can make lots more next year.

We started celebrating by heading to a little get together Friday morning at my friend, Jerusha's house. We all had a good time visiting, playing, eating, and making cute crafts for the Daddy's.

Cheesy Gracie!

In the afternoon, the girls and I delivered all of our Valentines to our friends and family. We spent a while at the airport visiting with lots of loved ones including Mr. Ike. This is when my camera bailed on me. :(

In the evening we had the pleasure of having dinner and desert over at MiMi and Papa Don's house. The Neufelds were in from Kansas and we had a great time visiting with them! It was Muncle Baby's birthday, but unfortunately he wasn't feeling good, but we still got to hang out with Aunt Suzy! It was a wild and fun night. (As usual when all 6 of the kiddos are together!:)

Sweet Cousins... Sophie & Holiday

The boys... Justice & Fisher

So... this brings us to Saturday, Valentine's Day! We enjoyed a relaxing day at home. Dan let me sleep in a bit and brought us home some yummy donuts. I ran some errands, we gave each other our gifts and cards.

It was a great day...until we got about an hour out from going to our church's progressive dinner! It got pretty hairy there for a little while and we finally arrived at the church in a bit of a huff! Thankfully, it all worked out and we had a wonderful time with our friends as we traveled from house to house eating and eating and eating and laughing! :)

Here we are enjoying from Fettuccine Alfredo at Spinelli's

Here are our sweet and funny friends, Brandy & Chris.

And our sweet friends, Mandy & Andy who now have a brand new baby boy, Andrew!

As always, I wish I had taken more (and better) pics! We really did have a sweet celebration this year. It was definitely made sweeter by the sweet little treats for the girls by their thoughtful grandparents and great-grandparents. We are about through all the candy! Yay! It is time for a candy fast around here! :)