It's another girl!!! (P)

Surprise! Nick and Noelle had their second girl early this morning. Blair Francis and everything seems to be good. 7lbs. 6 oz. 21in. long. They had a scheduled c-section for the 10th. She wanted to make it through the weekend for Kristins wedding but was ready to go, so yeah!! Here's a picture from the OR. That definitely is a smile of a women who didn't have to push a kid out. ;o)I'm sure she's a little tired though, Blair was born at 2:46am. (oh, the masked man is of course Nick ;o)

Mommy, daddy and baby (P)

Because of Tommy's FD open house this weekend we might have to wait one more week to meet baby Violet. Brooke sent out some awesome pictures (that's where I stole this one) which makes it SO hard to wait!!

And the Bells Rang (P)

Our stretch of weddings over the last month ended this weekend with a "Grand Finale". My friend Kristin got married at the Basilica in Minneapolis and it was beautiful (almost as beautiful as the Bride ;o) I'm tired and should really be getting to bed so I will write more later. As for Tommy, this pretty much sums it up.

Rice Cereal (S)

For a Loop (P)

Just when you think you've got things figured out kids always go and throw you for a loop. Brady and I have had a rough couple of nights. He's either got a cold, is teething, or is hitting a growth spurt. It could be a combination of two or maybe all three. Haylie also is sneezing and has a runny nose, so I'm pretty sure it's at least a cold. We were going to visit baby Violet this weekend and decided not to take our germs on the road. Brady is not much to worry about but Haylie uses her, hand, arm, shirt, knee, pants, blankie, the couch, my shirt, arm, knee, pants, etc. as a kleenex. Even though we may have saved Baby Violet this weekend, it's only the beginning and it's bound to get worse. Mommy noticed a scratchy throat this afternoon. There is no escaping. Oh well, we've had a good stretch. At least Brady is now five months old, not to mention "healthy" in size. Hopefully we won't intercept anything that would put him in the ER/hospital this time (I'm speaking of Haylie's bout with RSV at 7 weeks old). Welcome to the unofficial start to cold and flu season!

I forgot how much fun it is to clean up pukey sheets too!

Isn't it Ironic?!?!

I was finally forced to tell my husband this weekend that I misplaced my engagement ring. It was left at his family's cabin upon our last visit a month and a half ago. After talking to his brother and having heard him say he saw it sometime that weekend, I was not worried and decided it could wait until his parents next trip up there (after all it's four hours away!) His mom and dad looked for it this last weekend as they were closing up the cabin for the season and said they could not find it anywhere. I really don't remember where I left it. The cabin is not frequented by many and all who go are family. If someone had broken in and taken it, I'm sure there would be other things missing and of course, sign of a break in. Now for the funny part. Over six years ago (two months after we were married, mind you)Tommy lost his ring in the lake while water skiing...or so we thought.
I get a call today,
My mother-in-law Beth:"Did Tommy's ring have an inscription in it from Colossians?"
Me: "yeessss?" (how does she remember that?!?!).
Beth: "They found it!"
Me: "They found it in the LAKE!?!?"
Beth: "No, it was in the boat. They found it as they were cleaning it up to sell it!"
Just when I was beginning to think it was fitting that both rings found their resting place at the Lake, Tommy's has to go and get found. Man, now I am in trouble! ;o) Actually I'm not worried, I have faith. Where ever it ended up, it's in God's hands. Now I guess it's my turn to go get the cheap silver band until mine pops up somewhere. How long will it take? Only God knows. ;o)
Colossians 2:2 (the inscription)
My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.
What can I say, I'm encouraged!! ;o)

Baby Violet (P)

Until I can getup there and take a ton of pictures, this ONE will have to do (courtesy Grandma Engleman).

An Act, Not a Feeling

Mercy, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender.

I was reminded by a friend that forgiveness is an act, not a feeling. It is within my power to forgive, but I will not be able to let go of the offense unless I am willing to have mercy on the offender. Once I find mercy for them I will then be able to forgive. Makes sense. Mercy is a noun and forgive is a verb.

So where do I get me some of that mercy….Oh ya. ;o)

Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in out time of need.

It's a GIRL!!

Haylie and Brady got a new cousin this morning. Violet Jane McConn was born to her mommy Brooke and daddy Chris at 5:41am. Sounds like family is well. Their baby girl is a healthy 7lbs. 14 oz. and 21 in. long. Can't wait to meet her, now we just have to figure out how soon we can get there!! ;o) Pictures will OF COURSE follow.

Hope and Hearts Run 2008 (S)

Getting Up

I'm blessed, I know it, I'm a morning person. It's hard for me to lay in bed and relax in the morning and sleeping in is anything after 7am. Since kids, I have learned to go back to sleep once in a while if I really need to. On the opposite end of things though, I can be a pooh if I have to stay up much past 10pm. Tommy is a night person. It's almost torture for him to go to bed before 11pm and it's just as painful for him to get up in the morning. The pain is usually mine however. ;o) His job requires some pretty early hours. Mixed with his late nights it can make for a pretty rough morning. He will set his alarm for say, 5am. It will go off and I'll roll over and tell him to get his butt out of bed and turn it off (it's across the room for good reason). I wait for him to get out of bed and then wait to see what he's going to do next. Most of the time he'll hit snooze and crawl back in where he then faces a groggy lecture from me about how I'm going to be PO'd if his alarm keeps waking me up every few minutes, or worse yet, prevents me from falling back to sleep altogether. Some mornings I can sense his struggle not to crawl back into bed as he stands there after getting up to turn it off. The snoozing can go on for up to an hour or more until he finally comes around to realize he's late. It then of course becomes my problem because I didn't get him up. Meaning I didn't actually stand him up and walk him out of the room because my nudging him and his responses to my "are you getting up?" are usually not remembered. Getting Tommy up is like waking a hibernating bear. You can imagine how much fun that is. ;o) Being a morning person, it's really hard for me to understand NOT being able to get up in the morning or really sleeping in for that matter. That doesn't mean that I'm not tired some mornings, because I am. But with kids you really DO have to get up and start functioning otherwise there's trouble, usually in the form of cheerios all over the floor or crayon on the wall. I don't even set an alarm most of the time because I know I'll get up sooner rather then later. I get a kick out of peoples alarm habits. Hitting the snooze a million times or even taking the alarm back to bed with them and holding on to it so they can just press the button when it goes off again! Oh, and how about the people who set the clock ahead 15 minutes or more so it SCARES them out of bed! I find it ridiculous. Of course most people would find me annoying, so I guess we're even. Well, it's almost time for me to go to bed, don't want to turn into a pumpkin ya know. Sleep tight!! ;o)

Lazy Days (P)

Our weekend was pretty laid back, at least for me and the kids. Tommy spent the whole weekend prepping, painting and attaching is pretty new fenders to his semi-truck. Brady, Haylie and I hung out with Auntie Sarah and grandma and grandpa Conn a little, but other then a couple of garage sales and a trip to the Chanhassen pool, we really didn't do much. The garage sales we hit were on our block so I got a chance to introduce myself to a couple of our neighbors. Most of the people on our block have kids that are grown, or nearly grown. One couple, pretty much in our backyard, has young kids, their youngest being a girl just about a year older then Haylie.

The school year begins tomorrow and I have a parents orientation in the morning for Sonshine Corner, a preschool at our church. Brady and Haylie will get to spend two days a week with grandma Conn this coming year and on those days Haylie will attend a class from 9 to 11:30. Perhaps we can pick up potty training again here in the next couple of weeks. We'll see if I'm ready for a second try. ;o)

I do long a little bit for the days of my youth, where a weekend as splendid as this one was, could have been spent laying in the sun and chilling with friends. Even though I did get a little stir crazy, I'm sure the time with my kids can never be replaced. Hopefully the next lazy weekend we get can be spent with dad.

The fenders look great, but just like when you clean or replace one window and you realize how dirty and run down the rest of the them are, I think Tommy is feeling the same about the rest of his truck. Winter project!!