Monday, March 30, 2009

More baby news

A new Ciarrocchi is on the way.

Check it out here.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

An update

Paul will not be going to CMU next year.

He is still feeling pretty disappointed about it. I think he doesn't really want to talk about it though.
If you think he should have told you himself, but he hasn't, that's probably why.

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Other News:

I went to Granger to visit Loree last week. I had a fun trip. Loree and the girls seem to be doing well. Loree made rice balls for us for lunch. Abby now insists that I need to make rice balls.

Omi has decided she wants to be big girl and has been going potty on the potty. I don't think I can find panties her size though.

We are having a passover seder at church next week. The teens are hosting it (which means that I am in charge). It is a lot of work! We made Matzo Balls this past Sunday. They seemed to turn out well.

We have come up with a list of household rules:
1. Always be kind to everyone.
2. Listen and obey.
3. Ask permission before getting anything out.
4. Be quiet when an adult is talking.
5. Food stays at the table.

so far they seem to be working out.

We have paid off the mortgage and now officially own our new house.

We have a new vacuum cleaner. It's a Kirby. It works really well.

My children are all wearing dresses and hopping around the living room. Abby tells me they are Yayiba girls and live in India.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Potty Training

This puzzle was one of my favorite Christmas presents from Don. The box called it an "impossible" puzzle because the pattern repeats and there are 750 + 5 puzzle pieces, where the +5 represents extra pieces that look like they should go somewhere but don't. They are there just to fool the person doing the puzzle.

I did a lot of work on this puzzle from when I got it to when I started my new job. It was a nice distraction. The firs step was assembling the babies.

The puzzle went away for a bit, then came out later. During that time I got some of the babies to match together, and then I worked my way through the field of gray. Believe it or not, there is a slight color variation. Eventually there was enough there to go piece by piece, and having a discard box helped make sure I wasn't repeatedly trying the same piece in the same spot -- as I joked with my visitors last weekend, it kept me from saying "It didn't work the last 3 times, but, it will work this time!"

A couple I knew from college randomly called and asked to visit last weekend. They like puzzles too. With their help, we were able to complete the puzzle, with the exception of 1 piece. It appeared to be missing. I later found it hiding under the slipcover of one of the chairs around the table. We discovered one last sneaky thing about the puzzle was that the actual puzzle did not match the picture on the box! The top part was a fairly good match (which had been a great help as I began to assemble the puzzle) but the bottom part had a slight variation.

The puzzle in some ways reminded me of the wedding planning. There were times I looked at the pieces and said, "There is no way we have all the pieces." (Don had got the puzzle second-hand, so, unless I wanted to sit there and count, there was no way of knowing we had all the pieces.) But, time and time again, the pieces fit together. Not necessarily in the manner I initially thought they would or should, but in the end it all works out for the best.

Oh, and if you look closely at the flowers, you can see a train in one of them. We noticed it when we were assembling the puzzle, but I am at a loss for where it is at the moment. Maybe I'll post again later with the location.

(P.S. -- Happy Feast of St. Joseph)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Overflowing with Joy

Abby is going to be baptized on Easter Sunday. She asked Pastor Mike today if she could be baptized. YAY!!!! He asked that I would help her to come up with a testimony to share. Anyone who would like to be present for this momentous occasion is welcome to join us.



Also: The party for Kathy and Don will be May 16th. I will sound out an email invite with more details later. And we are planning on doing a group gift for anyone who is interested.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Destination: Quebec

Specifically, Saint-Ferréol-Les-Neiges, Quebec.

There is a pretty church nearby:
http://www.ssadb.qc.ca/eng/1_5_photo.htm

And, we thought it might be a good idea to head north in July.

But now time for bed. More later.

Monday, March 2, 2009

baby news

Manda and Tony are expecting. Due in mid-september. To read more about it, click on the link to Manda's blog.

Thinking about babies always makes me so excited.

Though right now. Manda and Tony are naturally concerned for a variety of reasons. So please keep them and their precious little bundle in your prayers.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sleepy Mommy

We are all home sick this morning. I have been up since I think about 4 AM. Longing for the time when Paul wakes up well enough to watch the kiddos so I can go back to sleep. Isaac has an especially terrible cough. He also threw up all over me this morning. Fortunately it didn't get on the carpet, as clothing is much easier to wash.

I hate it when the children are ill because it exposes my weakness as a mother. No matter how hard I try there is often not much I can do to help. And it just breaks my little hard to hold them and not be helpful. At the same time, though, it is kind of an amazing thing to be able to offer them comfort just by holding them close.

Paul has not given up on CMU yet. He has one reasonable avenue for funding that he is still pursuing.

Our mortgage is almost paid off. First we had to wait for the pay-off quote to arrive. Now we have to get a cashiers check, because they will not accept a pay-off with a personal check. I suppose I could understand that if the pay-off was particularly large. But it isn't. So it would seem that the same checks from the same account I have been paying with for the last several years would be perfectly legit.

There will be a party for Kathy and Don sometime this spring. They haven't decided on a specific day yet, but it is looking like mid-May or early June. I will send out an email invite once details have been decided.

The other day I took Isaac out on a "date". When I asked him where he wanted to go he said "Walgreens". We ended up going to McDonald's, Meijer, and Salvation Army. At McDonald's there was a very sweet family with eight children. When I first came in there was a gentleman standing in line with a 7ish boy who was holding a baby. The man then proceeded to order 12 sandwiches (all from the dollar menu) 3 large fries, 4 large drinks (all drinks at McD's here are $1) and a dozen cookies. Then I looked over and saw his wife and there other six children. I wonder if we will look that someday. Anyway, I made a point of telling them that they had a lovely family, as I know a lot of large families get very negative remarks.

Isaac didn't really want to play at McD's; he was scared to play alone. But he was excited that I let him order whatever he wanted. But for him, the best part of the night was SA and the orange hat that I bought for him. He wouldn't even take the hat off to go to bed that night.

I have been taking the kids out on at a time, taking turns. Next week is supposed to be Omi's turn. So far she hasn't told me what she wants to do. (So I guess I better figure out what I want to do).