Laundry Day

I just want you to see what happens when I don't wash clothes for ONE day. Please note that I already have one load in the washer at this point. Come on, don't you feel sorry for me. Better go, I've got my work cut out for me today...

LifeBridge Land Update

Yesterday, Philip and Greg put up our signs on the land. I have pictures of each one and then how they are seen when you drive down the road. It's so exciting to see them up. We have wondered if the signs would bring any new people. It seems once you have land you are considered a "real" church at that point.

Sean, my boss, helped Philip and Greg build the posts that are holding the signs and another friend, Jay, helped them yesterday put them in the ground. Philip was so sore yesterday when he got home. Anyway, please pray for the church as we meet to figure out what kind and size of building we can build.

Fifth's Disease

If you've never seen fifth's disease, here is a picture. Eli came home on Monday from school and said that the nurse told him that he had fifth's disease. I knew Brice has had it before, no big deal! Well, Eli woke up on Tuesday and it was so bad his face was swollen. He has been itching pretty bad too. I let him stay home on Tuesday and told him yesterday that if he itched too bad at school to call me and I could come get him. I should have known better than that. Of course, I had been at work about 30 minutes and I got a call from the school. I did it, I gave him an out. Needless to say, I told him he had to stay at school today. I did send a note to his teacher though. I know he itches but I think he can stay at school. Once you get the rash you are no longer contagious. It is spread just like a cold virus and it can last for up to two weeks. He has gotten up the last two nights and asked for some Benadryl to help with the itching. Hopefully it will disappear soon. Fifth's disease is also called "slapped cheek". It does look like someone slapped him.

Smores

Friday night we made smores. It was cold enough to have a fire in the fireplace so we roasted marshmallows and made smores. It was fun. Eli decided he really just liked the chocolate. (takes after his mom) Brice burned a few marshmallows and tried to give them to Shelby. We snuggled up after the smores and watched a movie together. It was nice to just be at home and enjoy the fire and each other.

MS Snow

So, we woke up this morning with a light dusting of snow on the grass and places like the roof, grill and slide. About 30 minutes after we got up it started snowing and snowed about 2 hours. I know my brother is laughing at us getting so excited about this amount of snow. (he lives in Wisconsin where it was -9 this morning) My children have never seen snow so it was pretty exciting for them.

Brice had fun making snow balls and they did have a snow ball fight.

Eli didn't stay out very long. He was out there long enough to get really wet and really cold. He came in after about 20 minutes and got in the bathtub.

Shelby was the first one out. She was trying to wake up all the neighbors so they could play.

The neighbors built the MS version of a snowman. I thought he was pretty cute. The had to take a bucket around the street to gather snow from mailboxes and trampolines. They had to tear him down to have enough snow to make snowballs.

The aftermath... We don't have the typical "snow" clothes so everything was soaking wet. We went through all the gloves we had and tons of socks. Some of the gloves aren't in the picture. I had to wash them. Brice just came in and said, "It was fun while it lasted!" I'm so glad they were able to see snow. This is something they will remember for a long time. One day we will visit my brother in the winter and we can see what "real" snow is all about!

Happy Birthday Brice!

My "baby" cannot be 14! We had lots of fun celebrating Brice's Birthday. On Thursday, the 10th, the Thurmans came to town and took us out to eat. We went to a new restaurant in town, Biaggia's. It was very good. Then on Friday we had, at Brice's request, stuffed burgers. Brice wanted his stuffed with bacon, cheese, mushrooms and onions. We all pigged out. And then he wanted banana splits instead of a cake. We just had one for Philip's big day so we enjoyed the ice cream very much. Philip and I took Brice out together on Saturday. We wanted to start this tradition this year. We want to be able to take the kids out alone on their special day to a restaurant of their choice. Brice chose PF Changs. We were partied out by the end of the week. I can't believe Brice has turned 14. He is a good kid though and I can't wait to see how God works in his life.

Half Time Day

At school today Eli along with the other First Grade classes had "Half Time" Day. They celebrated being half way finished with school. The were to dress half way today. As you can see, we had half long sleeve and pants and half a head of messed up hair and half "fixed" hair. They had lots of fun learning about fractions in all subjects today.

No Training Wheels

Recently Eli has learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He was actually doing it a while back but hadn't gotten up the nerve to really work at it. We just decided to let him loose and not really work with him. We just let him do it on his own at his own pace. He can really ride fast now. He wants us to ride around the block with him all the time now. I went with him on Saturday, on Philip's bike. Once around was enough for me. I realized how out of shape I really am.

Happy Birthday, Philip

Yesterday was Philip's Birthday. He turned 41! I made him dinner and a cake. We had steak (fillets) topped with a cream sauce with shrimp, twice baked potatoes and sweet and sour green beans. I made a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing. It was all good and we were all stuffed. Even Eli ate almost a whole steak by himself. Eli didn't like the cake though. As you can see from one of the pictures below, he was upset because he wanted some cake but was afraid to try it. He later tried some and didn't like it. I think it was all in his head. We gave Philip some cologne, running shoes and a foot massager. He is always wanting someone to rub his feet so I thought this would be an appropriate gift. Now if we could just get the kids away from it long enough for him to enjoy it. Happy Birthday Philip!!! We hope you have many more!

Happy 2008

We have rung in the new year with a BANG! We just got back from spending a couple of days with my in-laws. We had a good time! We played lots of games and enjoyed being together. We are winding down our vacation time. I have to go back to work for a little while tomorrow. I have to check the mail and look for checks to deposit and probably pay some bills. Brice is going to go hunting with my boss, Sean, one more time tomorrow to see if he can have any luck even seeing a deer. So far, they haven't seen any while together. School starts back on Monday and soccer starts the next week. It has been so nice not having to be on a schedule and sit in carpool lines and take kids to practice. I've really enjoyed sleeping late. I hate getting up early and having to be "on" all day. Well, we hope you all have a great year! We can't wait to see what 2008 holds for us!