Jesus Christ and Tinkerbell

I'm doing a talk for Awana tomorrow night and it involves cleaning up a pumpkin, pulling out the seeds of "sin," and talking about letting our light shine, how having Jesus in our hearts transforms us, and what it means to be a Christian. So, I wanted to attempt to carve something more than just a cross. Keep in mind, I've only carved one other pumpkin in my life, and it was a typical smiley face. The girls knew I was carving a pumpkin and wanted one carved to. They both immediately agreed on Tinkerbell. So, I spent hours tonight carving these pumpkins. I'm still praying that I will stay healthy and can give this talk tomorrow night and my other talk on Thursday morning at church. I'm excited.

"Fall" Continues

Those photos of Mikayla's spots actually were just the beginning of them. They got much worse. We have had one week of good health to be exposed to H1N1 on Friday. So, we're sitting ducks waiting to get really sick. Yikes. I'm trying to trust in God and let all the worry and anxiety about it all go, but it's hard for me. I hope I don't get sick, because I really am looking forward to talking at our church twice this week.

Anyway, we have had unusual weather this "fall." Random snow and tons of rain. Friday was especially weird as it rained all morning and turned into heavy wet snow. Around dinnertime, the power went out. When I called to report it, there was this recording that said, "The SW part of Rochester is experiencing a power outage, if you have any tips on finding the source, stay on the line. Also stay on the line if you are not in SW Rochester and have an outage. So, I stayed on the line and went I got through, the lady told me that the outage affected most of Rochester." Well, since I couldn't make dinner, and I thought I probably couldn't order a pizza (they might have lost power), it was peanut butter and jelly for dinner.

It got me thinking that I wasn't prepared for emergencies very well. My can opener was electric and most of our food had to be cooked on the stove or microwave. I was also glad for cell phones as our phones didn't work either for some reason. Anyway, I decided to enjoy the snow and make the most of it. I made the largest snowman I've ever made and pulled the kids around the yard on the sled. The weird thing is the next day it all melted and I have the chore of raking up heavy wet leaves. I let the girls put on snow suits to play in the wet leaf piles. We all were totally wet and dirty and the three of us had to have baths when we got inside. Here are some pictures of our temporary snow:



(Jen, recognize the hat?)




I also wanted to add that I absolutely love craigslist and freecycle. I had a nice CD storage unit that didn't really hold Cd's. I made due with it for several years. I saw a freecycle post for a free wooden CD storage tower. I picked it up and it was just what I needed. Then, I sold my old CD storage cabinet on craigslist. Nice. I'm trying to sell my old Roomba iRobot vacuum now. It needs a new battery which is $69 dollars. The batteries just don't last very long and I can buy a whole new vacuum (which I need) by the time I replace several Roomba batteries. I will miss it. I used the Roomba vacuum every other day!

Conjoined Twin Tomatoes

Forgot to post this. Two of my tomatoes grew together funny. Bad picture but you can still see it.

Sick Mikayla

Well, Mikayla has been sick for 3 weeks now. One week a cold, the next week an ear infection. She was good for Friday-Tuesday and BAM, spiked a fever again and now is covered head to toe in spots. The doc immediately knew what it was and said we're at the tail end of some virus that she hadn't seen since summertime.






On a happier note, Elyana cracked me up this week. I had to take her to my doctor appointment during her naptime. I told her when we got to the doctor office, mommy would buy her a treat (I figured if she was eating something, then less chance of misbehavior). She said to me, "A treat? Hmmm, maybe a pie."

Every Girl Is A Princess

This weekend Mikayla and I took our first ever girls weekend away together. We went to Appleton, WI to join my sister and her daughter at an benefit called Every Girls Is A Princess. After we checked in, a "princess" was assigned to each girl to help her decorate her wand, pick out and dress in a dress (that where donated), and choose jewelry (also donated). Then, each girl would get to go up on stage and be announced, "Here comes Princess ...." They'd get to sit in the royal throne for their photo, which was used to create an all about me type of book they worked on afterwards. Finally, they received a royal invitation to a very fancy tea party. Mikayla enjoyed it thoroughly. I think it's an incredible idea. What girl wouldn't want to become a princess for a day! Thanks Christine for inviting us!

On the home front, Nate took Elyana to the Mall of America Aquarium and Dora the Explorer rides all day Saturday. They had a blast and wore each other out. I got such a greeting when we got home late Sunday. It was good to each have some one on one time with our kids. I'm also glad that I had a chance to mow one last time before this snowy weather hit us today. Yuck, it's not even Halloween yet!

Here's Mikayla and her assigned Princess making her wand:


Here she is picking out her dress:


On the royal throne:


Sophia and Mikayla all dressed up:


At the royal tea party:


Royal cupcakes:


All of us with full bellies and happy memories ready to leave:

I Wonder, I Wonder

This is too funny not to share. I was just in our crawl space under the stairs looking for a spare binder I can use for a Bible Study I'm doing. For some reason, the only flashlight working under there was Elyana's Elmo light. You squeeze the handle and you hear the annoying Elmo laughter and the light stays on for 1 minute. So, as I'm searching, I have to keep hearing Elmo. The binder I was looking for was in a box of books that I have from my childhood. I came across a book I recall reading when I was learning about the facts of life, called I Wonder, I Wonder. Curious, I opened to the first page (maybe I missed something...Ha!).

It begins with a grandmother talking to her grandaughter, "You know...it takes more than high heels to make a mother..."

I start to crack up and the light goes out so I squeeze it again and now Elmo AND I are laughing.

I could use a laugh today. The Jones' are having everything breakdown lately. A few weeks ago it was the van, then the dishwasher. This weekend it is the hot water heater and the garage door spring. We are still scheduled to get our new sliding glass door in soon also. I wish I could grow a money tree. I'd use Miracle Grow soil and plant food. If blessed with such a thing, I'd share it, I swear...