Happy Icy Thursday to Ye.

This picture is helping me focus today. this was last July 4th...and I'm hoping all of our icy, icy snow leaves very soon. I miss green, blue, beautiful sunsets, sitting out on our porch, crickets, even citronella candles...

This picture is also helping me focus...why? I don't know...because she's funny and a cute little person to spend my days with.

Tuesday, we got lotsa ice...we even lost power for one hour. gasp! yes, one hour. and thankfully, we were asleep for most of it. Nothing sweeter than the sound of your power and furnace coming back on. it was such an eerie night...lights flickering, transformers blowing, blue skies, spooked children.

As we lay in our new bedroom, all 5 of our kids were above us in the boys' new room, singing praise songs and other little ditties. it was a sweet moment until a few minutes later, singing ceased, Ethan was talking non-stop (we could tell it was him because his voice is changing and it's becoming very deep annnnd, he never shuts up) and David yelled "Shut UP"....

How's that for a mood spoiler? as if the kids weren't freaked out anyways...I kindly told him that might have been a little scary for them, way to ruin the STORM OF 2011 ambience that was flowing around, ya know? He felt bad then (good boy) and asked me if he should tell them they could talk...No, it's done now, you ruined it. Way to go, Pa Ingalls. just go to sleep. :) it was a funny moment. It's also quite funny to us that I'm the melancholy one right now and he's the cheered up, c'mon, we can do it one, lately.

Ya know, I might have a slight case of the mid-winter blues still going on...I will say this though, as I sit here at my computer, the SUN IS SHINING and it's quite gorgeous, making all the ice on the trees sparkle like diamonds. it's a little gift from the Lord, to remind me to cherish this day hunkered down with my amazing kids...I think I can, I think I can....I think I will. and yes, I got all that from a sunrise.

I certainly hope that your Thursday is a grand one...

room swap update...

Ahhhhh......deep breath.....

this is our bed. it's in the middle of everything. it's very.....Little House on the Prairie-ish.

this is the new color of our "new" room. It's been our room before, back in 2002...I'm wondering how I will fit David's ginormously BROWN Hyatt dresser into the new lovely turquoise/red/spa/bright/cheery room. Should I paint it? that's a blog post for another day.

So, tonight we are all a-jitter, as tomorrow is Ultrasound/Find out Day. It's been fun getting people's bets on what #6 is...and most people say BOY. which would be cool...It'd be fun and cute and wild to have yet another son. Who would he be more like? but mostly, and honestly, I pray for health and wholeness. for real. My girl quota has been more than met with Molly (and Melanie, but Mel was soooooo easy and laid back). Either way, it's an exciting night here.

I've got my bottle of Mountain Dew in the car, ready for our trip up....in hopes that bebe cooperates and shows us who they are. Pray for us, for we are anxious/eager and know that God is in total control of all of the situations surrounding this kid.

I'll be back on here tomorrow night to let you know...

Shellee, I know this is how we stay in touch and I'm so glad to hear that your baby girl is developing nicely. I know you are so eager to meet her. I am too! Thanks for your encouraging words on here in the comments and for your prayers. I hope you know we pray for you and your family too.

Hugs to you all...over and out....

We're still here...

to give you an idea of the walk from the house, to the cul-de-sac....upper right hand side of pic, past the guard rail 20 steps...ugh. with a squirmy Molly in your arms or whining Levi on your back

To say that we got some snow is, er, um, an understatement.

12.4 inches at the Indpls. airport. and it's safe to assume that we got that amount, if not more. It's supposed to start melting tomorrow and Sunday (30's) and then we get more on Monday. great. :) choose joy.

This is what we've been doing this week...trudging here and there in all this white stuff. It's not fun when you have little ones...plus, we park up in the cul-de-sac once we get a car or two out...and if you've been to our house, you know the walk from the house to the actual street is not 10-20 steps...

I hope to be back on here later with some pix of my lovely kids. sledding or schooling or doing what they do best. Hope that this finds you and yours doing quite well.


Happy Friday to you!

Levi's Big adventure and then some...

coming down the drive with Pa (in Uncle Tom's vehicle)

carrying his teddy bear and baggage....make that boy work for his fun!!

doesn't it look chilly here? it is. but the shining sun did wonders for my soul

Thanks, Grandpa, for getting me home safe and sound...

yes, she's cute, nope, my bed isn't made (it's sheet washing day)

she will love these years from now. won't she?

We got about 3 inches of snow last night (ick)...but thankfully, it's melting nicely today! buh-bye snow. Spring, you can come NOW. hurry it up!

Levi spent the night with my parents last night. He's quite the big boy and it's nice for him to get a break from all of us! Mom and Pa know how to spoil him right.

We are getting ready to head to Patria. Just wanted to get these pix on for my parents. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, stay warm and enjoy the last weekend of WINTER! I mean it, this is the LAST weekend of winter.

Winter blues

A view from our old back door on Anderson St, Lake Orion, MI
Dad, Me (grey), Tom, Andy (black suit), and Beck (green) building an incredible snow fort
February 2007: from this point and down...

I'm not complaining, just mentioning that I'm over winter. We had a little taste of spring around these parts over the past couple of days.

Here's an interesting Indiana day, rain, overcast, thunderstorm blows in, lightening, fierce winds, temp. still holding at around 50 degrees. In a matter of MINUTES, wind shifts from the south to northerly breezes...straight from Canada and all of those other really cold, snowy places on the globe...(this is where your teeth chatter, k?). Snow blowing, wind still whipping and roads icing over. It is so funny to me how many different types of weather we can get right here in the grand midwestern United States. Un-believable! Thankfully, our house is going nowhere...this house that David (and some other guys) built!

How are you today? Safe and warm? I hope so! Hang in there, friend, Spring is on it's way, the groundhog will do his jig really soon here!

Today was my first full day without any coffee...I can't believe I have to type that...but if I want to get better, lose weight, dissolve kidney stone, gonna hafta start making even better choices...boo hoo. good night.