Goodbye, 116 Jersey Road

Well, the time has come. We signed papers yesterday and it will officially close on Thursday. 116 Jersey Road will no longer be ours. I'm more "okay" than I thought I'd be. Not that I haven't shed tears, but I haven't for quite some time. I used to cry each time I went there. Now, I am just grateful for the time that God allowed us to enjoy that house and grateful that He has supplied a buyer.

We lived in this house for 4 years. Hannah was just over two and Jay was just 7 months old when we moved in. So, Daniel and Julia were both born while we lived there (although, I'm sure neither of them will remember living there). It was such a perfect house for us.
Oh, how I loved this kitchen. My husband surprised me in 2004 with new appliances (not shown in this picture).

My most fond memories took place in this room. The times we spent there with the living room PACKED with people...youth group, superbowl, church parties,family parties, youth group... :)

So, goodbye old friend. Thanks for the memories. (okay, so now I am feeling emotional)

Funny Statements

Just a short post to share a few funny things said by our kids...

Julia (in her surprisingly bossy two year old tone): "WHOBODY turned off the yights? WHOBODY?!?"

Daniel: "God created Adam out of the sand and Eve out of a ribbon from Adam."

Daniel: "Mom, my stomach just boiled two times. That means I'm hungry."

Julia in response to Daniel declaring that he had to go to the bathroom: "Huuur-weeee, Dandle, Huuuur-weeee!"

Daniel at Gertrude Hawk's: "Look, they have candy that looks like animal poop!" They were chocolate covered cashews. I guess they did sort of resemble the animal waste in the courtyard that I recently told the kids NOT to step on! :)

Little Bruiser

When we have retreats, meal time can be tricky for the kids. They often play in the stockroom or in a lounge so they aren't in the way of the meal preparation. Well, Saturday evening, after dinner was over and we were all busy cleaning, the kids decided to play in a lounge. They were being good and enjoying themselves. Suddenly I heard Daniel crying and rushed to see what was going on (primarily because he was being loud and the retreat group was having a worship session in the loft...not that I don't care about their cries, but generally it's nothing...trust me I'm not a negligent parent).
This is how the conversation with Daniel went...
Me: "Daniel, shhhh...the group is meeting in the loft. We have to be quiet so we don't disturb them. Now, what happened?"
Daniel: "I fell."
Me: "How?"
Daniel: "The lights were all off and I fell off of the chair and hit the floor."
Me: "Where did you hit?"
Daniel: "On the floor."
Me: "No, where on your body did you hit."
Daniel: "My face."
Me, after kissing his face multiple times: "Do you need to sit in the kitchen for a little while or do you want to go back and play some more?"
Daniel: "Play."
Me: "Okay. Wait, Daniel, why were the lights off?"
Daniel: "I turned them off."
Me: "Please don't do that anymore, okay?"
Daniel: "okay."

So, he went back to playing and I went back to cleaning. About 20 minutes later, he came into the kitchen of the dining hall where we were all finishing up. I took one look at his face and gasped. His left cheekbone was pretty swollen and he had a nice bruiser under his eye. I had no idea the extent of his injury when I asked him to be quiet and then dismissed him to go back and play. Here are pictures...

It was worse the second day...(like the face he made when I told him I wanted to take a picture of his bruise? Oh, Daniel!)

He's been really good about it. He has hardly complained about it at all. I think it must look worse than it is. (I have to admit, though, I wondered if it was more than just a ugly bruise.)

He is currently in the next room making up a song about how awesome God is and how He has healed his face and how nice that is of Him. Child-like faith...no wonder it is so pleasing to God!

Countdown to Florida

Our family is actively counting down to this year's trip to Florida. Not a day goes by that one of us doesn't make some reference to our trip. Hannah and Jay remember just about every detail of last year's trip. Daniel has some memories (primarily of the dark and "sooky" Haunted Mansion). Julia, obviously, doesn't remember it, but loves looking at pictures from the trip.

Here are some pictures from that trip. When I was looking at them earlier, I was a little surprised at how much older each of the kids look (the changes in Hannah and Jay surprised me the most).

Happy 4th Birthday, Daniel!

I always get so sentimental around our kids' birthdays....

Here is Daniel. He turned four today. He's so cute (and ridiculous)! He got a Superman/Batman punching bag. The first two pictures are me trying to get a cute birthday picture of him and him making ridiculous faces.
Here's a good action shot of him punching the thing. I thought this would make a good present for him (and for Jay, too) to play with since, with two boys, it's quite often Wrestle Mania in our living room!

This is Daniel's cake: the Batman symbol...

We (along with Grandparents, an Aunt and an Uncle) took the kids to ChuckE.Cheese for Daniel's birthday. They had a blast...running around, using up tokens like they crazy, coming back and depositing tickets they had won on the table...
At one point Julia ran up to me shrieking, "Mom! I'm FUN!!!" (the "having" is implied)


Here is Daniel's reaction to his new race track! He and Jay laughed so hard when the cars crashed....boys!
I need to get a picture of him "driving" his new FJ Cruiser as well. He loves the thing! He also got some toy dinosaurs which all four kids like playing with (yes, even the girls...they just talk girly or are "baby dinosaurs"...haha), and a toy that shoots these little discs which he plays with at least once every day (and surprisingly he still has some of the discs!).

Jay's First Love

If you ask Jay who he is going to marry, he'll tell you Sara Vnuk. My husband and I wholly agree with his choice and wish there was a remote possibility of that becoming a reality. The only problem with the whole thing is that she is 14 years older than he is. Yet he has faithfully claimed her as his future wife for about 2.5 years (a long time in the life of a five year old).

Nearly two years ago, she came to church one evening saying she had had a crummy day and could she take Jay out for ice cream (the only time she had to put her date's carseat into the car prior to leaving). So, Jay, knowing how things go, said, "Dad, I need some money to take Sara out for ice cream. The guy is supposed to pay!" My husband lent him $5 with the understanding that he would work for the money the next day.

They had a great time. Jay was a perfect gentleman, including not letting Sara handle the money even when it came time to paying at the ice cream stand.

The next day, Jay happily accepted his job of picking up sticks in the yard. He worked hard for an entire hour. Here is a picture of him by the pile of sticks which paid for his date.

Hopefully, by the time Sara is ready to get married, Jay will be shy about his crush rather than heart-broken.

Oh, and when the picture at the top was taken, Jay had sat down on Sara's lap and declared that no matter what, he was not getting up...EVER! :)

Happy New Year!

On New Year's Day, John's two sisters and their husbands came over just to hang out. It was so fun to be together. Tami and her almost husband, Hans, live in Texas, so we don't get the chance to be together too often.
We played Monopoly (I was the banker, Adam won) and ate snacks. Here is a picture of the six of us taken by Hannah.

Kids in New Year apparel from Grampa and Gram (complete with noise makers....urrggghhh!)
Silly girl.

Such a cute face!