Full of words Wednesday...

I just realized today that I haven't posted for a week and a half...and I have missed it!! I love writing and documenting special things that are happening our family and it is hard for me to be away from that but I just haven't found time lately.

Dominic and I have been spending almost every waking hour working towards an opportunity that will be really exciting for our whole family. We feel that God has lead us to this place and I can't wait to be able to share it with you here....but there are just a few details that we are waiting on coming together and I want to be able to do a big "reveal" as soon as those are complete. I can say that I am so very proud of my husband and all he has done to prepare our family for this. It is exciting and scary and fun all wrapped into one!!

 

This has been a year of transitions and change and growing and we could not have gone through it with any grace if it weren't for all of those family members and close friends that supported us, encouraged us, prayed for us....thank you is not adequate enough ...but please know that we are so very grateful for each and every one of you and pray God's blessings for you all.

My grandparents, aunt Karin and aunt Naomi and my mom all came to visit on Saturday!! Did I take any pictures? Ashamedly, No... Boo on me!! But it was so nice to have all of them make the drive and spend the afternoon with us. We have wonderful family on both "sides"...we are truly blessed!

 I did manage to take a couple of pictures of Karlena in another pretty dress on Sunday...I got 3 dresses from the Children's Place late last summer online and because they were out of season each one was $3!! And the sizes I ordered are a little big so I hope they last through the summer!

Of course I didn't take her picture until after her nap and she had some serious bedhead going on!

Elijah wanted in on the fun a little too :) He was showing off his shoes here!

 Tonight at Awana it was "Favorite Bible Hero" night. When I asked Gabriel who his favorite Bible person was he said "Jesus of course!"  We had this costume that Dominic's mom made for Isaac years ago. She is very talented with a sewing machine and made this out of bed sheets!

Gabriel wasn't too sure about the "beard" that I put on him...but it helped finish off the costume I think! The wig is a men's adult size so it was huge on him....Dominic wore it one year in a Passion Play at our old church. We may need to give it a trim next year though! :)

My job is still going great...I work with a wonderful group of people and just feel like this is where I was meant to be. I am learning lots of new things every day and the days just fly by.  I thank God every morning for this blessing too!

Isaac is doing well in school - he is such a good kid and we are so proud of him. He wishes he could get a job for the summer....we might just try out at Menards...but in MN they typically won't hire you until you are 16.  

I guess that is about all I have for now...pretty random - but hopefully I will find some time in the near future so that I can sit down and write a little more! I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!!

So behind - lots of updates and an invitation!

I feel so behind in blogging lately. I have a review to complete, a post about Gabriel's new pen pal and pics of the kids from this weekend that I want to share and other news. But honestly I just don't have the time lately to post like I would like to...so I am going to throw a mis-mash together here.

I apologize in advance for the randomness of it all!

1) My sister Beth is pregnant again and I am SOOOO excited for them! She is due on the same date she was due with Isabel (May 8th) - only 3 years later! Can you believe that? So very cool. Please help me in praying for a healthy baby and pregnancy as the months progress. The only sad thing is that we don't live as close anymore so I won't be able to love on this sweet one as much as I would like. :( We will just have to make a few extra trips to SD this summer I think!

2) Yesterday I tried a lasagna recipe in the crock-pot. It was delicious and SO very easy.I found the recipe here at the Kraft website. I doctored it up a little, used 2 different kinds of cheese, some zesty tomato sauce and a sausage/hamburger combo. But I put it together before church and it was done when we got home. YUM!

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3) Gabriel has a new pen-pal! One of the blogs I follow was having a pen-pal exchange. He was paired with Reagan from TX! The idea is to send a little something each month. Gabriel LOVES getting mail so we thought this was a fun way to give and get something in return.

Here is Gabriel filling out his pen pal sheet and the things we sent off to Reagan...

And here is what he got in return! He was really excited about everything he got - thanks so much Reagan!! :)

4) I went on Friday to Gabriel's school to help with his Halloween party. I volunteered to make cupcakes to bring and decided on these...

They turned out pretty cute and the kids seemed to like them!

5) Then on Saturday after haircuts in the morning and a lazy afternoon, there was this trick-or-treating deal over at SMSU in the residence halls. Dominic took the boys over and Karlena and I stayed at home and then did some shopping at Wal-mart!

Here are Elijah and Gabriel in their costumes. Elijah has a different costume that he will probably wear tonight that is much warmer. Gabriel wasn't loving the mask - he said he couldn't breathe so we will know better to get a costume without a mask next year!

6) Karlena (who I don't have any recent pics of - after tonight I promise!) finally got her 2nd top tooth. She also took 3 steps before falling down a few days ago. She can stand alone without holding anything for a pretty long time now...so any day she will be walking everywhere!

7) Wow - have you stuck with me to the end here?! If you have THANK YOU - you are appreciated! I want to end this post by throwing out an invitation. We have decided to have Thanksgiving at our house this year. We are traveling home to SD the weekend before and decided it might be nice to cook a meal here and just relax and enjoy the long weekend.

But we want to open our home to you! So if you are in the area and don't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with - please let me know. We would love to have you over and be a part of our family. Seriously!

Have a wonderful week friends!

My Soapbox

If the title of this post isn't warning enough let me give another one here....

I have been writing this post in my head for weeks now. I hope that I can share my point without sounding like a "know-it-all". And I must also clarify that I am NOT perfect...yes I know shocker!! :) And so although I will be sharing my point of view on a particular subject it doesn't mean that in MANY other areas I fail myself.

That being said....let me tell you a little about a particular "situation" at Gabriel's school.

The school over the summer constructed this BIG parking lot in front of the school. It has lots of spaces available for parking and then there is a curb along the entire lot that is designated for drop off and pick up.

When school started they sent out a memo AND made those school-wide parent alert phone calls. They said that IF your child was being dropped off or picked up - from the side of the car closest to the curb that you could use that method. The curb is for parents that DON'T need to get out of the car and get their child.

If your intent was to walk your child to the door etc then you were to park in the parking lot and bring your child over that way. NOT park your car on the curb and block the line of traffic.

For the most part the parents get it. You know "the rules"...."drop off etiquette". BUT there are those parent that just won't follow the "rules". They won't pull ahead so all curb space is maximized. They park their car at the drop off curb, get out and walk to the building.

Every day I see this happening and I will be honest.....it irritates me to no end! Didn't they get the memo? The phone calls?

sigh.....

Boy if they would just do things the way that I do the whole world would run better right?! :)

In other soapbox relate-able news...

While waiting for Gabriel to come out of school yesterday I was watching the kids that were lining up for the bus. These are younger kids than Gabriel so either 1st graders or even kindergartners.

There were 2 kids in line next to each other and they were talking (I couldn't hear them) and then all of a sudden the bigger boy hauled off and punched the smaller boy right in the eye!!

I am not kidding you I almost jumped out of the car to give that kid some parenting "direction". I think one of the teachers saw at least some part of it and she seperated the kids and it looked like the puncher was repremanded....

But a moment later he was allowed to get on the bus.

Fighting on the bus is NOT allowed. We have to sign something at the beginning of the year acknowledging it and the consequences of it.

In MY opinion (and maybe I am off base) but I think the puncher should have been pulled out of line and his parent's called. I don't think he should have been allowed to get on the bus as though nothing happened.

But what do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts on this because I am not always right in my thinking.

If the puncher's parents had been called and had to make a special trip to pick him up....maybe the whole "it's ok to punch someone in the eye if I am upset" thing would have been squashed then and there.

But has this kid learned his lesson? My fear is that if he is being given the message that being a bully is "ok" - by not having any serious consequences at age 5 or 6...what will it be like when he is 12 and MUCH bigger?

Anyways....I have to go and brave the school traffic once again so I am stepping off my soapbox for now!!

Happy Thursday! :)