Friday, March 30, 2007

Gone

Wendy's last day was today. Brody fell asleep in her arms before I had to leave for the Senior Center. She cried as she put him into the carseat for me. Then in broken English she told me that he will always have a special place in her heart. I had a little present for her since it was her last day. Part of the present was a framed picture of Brody. It seems kinda funny to give a framed picture of your child to anyone but family...but she cried when she saw it. She told me she had a special place for it at home.

As much as we're going to miss her...I'm so thankful for the time we had getting to know her. She has been such a blessing in our life. I'm also thankful that she's a sister in Christ and I can rest assured knowing that we'll get to spend eternity together!!!

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Better late than never

*EDIT* Cindi edited picture #1 & 3 for me. Don't they look great! I've gotta get photoshop!****

These are some pictures I took of Brody after his 6-month photo shoot with the photographer in Hutch. I thought they turned out pretty well....and they're much cheaper than the professional pictures!!!

Brody sitting on the chair that belonged to Sharon & Grandmommy when they were little kids.
Trevor wanted Brody to throw the rope for him.
This picture cracked me up! Remington is shaking his head and you can see his teeth and gums as he shook and his lips flapped! LOL!
Brody with his puppy.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Sound in the Night

The following is a video that I took last night. There's not any video...it's just sound. So turn your speakers up and close your eyes. At first you might think that it's katydids chirping in the night...but listen closely. It's frogs croaking! The fields are full of them right now because of all the rain. They are so loud...but they're fun to listen to! These are just some of the sounds you get to enjoy when you live in the country.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Weekend in Review

Mike and I were both craving sweets (Butterfingers to be exact) on Friday night. So we decided to take Brody to town to walk around the "lake" (it's really a big pond....but it's called a Lake! lol) This gave us a good excuse to stop by the grocery store for sweets on our way back home ;) It was a BEAUTIFUL night. There was a light breeze and walking around the lake was so peaceful and pleasant! We took the backpack and Mike carried Brody as we walked around the "lake". We tried putting him in one of the baby swings...but he's still too small. I held him on my lap for a little while and swung in the big swing. I know all of you can hear the creaking and squeaking that old metal swing sets make. Someday Brody will know that sound too. It's a sound that takes you back.....

Saturday we woke up to lots of rain. Luckily we moved the rec league soccer games to the afternoons this year. By 10 am the rain had stopped and the wind was blowing (which dried the fields out enough to play). I headed to the soccer fields around 11 am to get everything set up. The weather was beautiful for the first set of games (which I had to ref because we were one ref short)...but the clouds came out and the wind picked up for the last 3 hours of games! RaeAnn, Cheyenne, and I were cold and windblown by the time the games were over and we got everything picked up! KU played in the Elite Eight on Saturday night, so RaeAnn & Cheyenne came over to our house to watch the game. Brody and Cheyenne had fun playing together (for the hour before Brody had to go to bed)!

Sunday morning I woke up to a sore throat. Mike didn't want me passing it around at church...so I had to stay home. Sunday afternoon we laid around watching basketball and taking cat naps. Last night I had trouble sleeping due to the thousands of field toads croaking outside our open window, a random helicopter that flew over, a sore throat, Brody waking up crying, and dreams of gorilla warfare (don't ask!) lol! We (well...Mike) only had to get up once with Brody (because Brody had worked his way out of his covers AND his PJs! and was cold)...but we were both tossing and turning a lot. When I asked Mike if he was sleeping as bad as I was he replied, "I'm just using it to pray." There went my pitty party!

Friday, March 23, 2007

State Inspection

Yesterday we took a group of local school kids on a field trip to All-Star Sports in Wichita. I was a little worried about how Brody was going to do since there wouldn't be anywhere to lay him down for a nap. He did great! He slept in the car on the way there (I drove rather than riding the bus) and even took a little nap in the backpack while I was walking around checking on the kids.

The excitement of the day came as I was driving home. There's a small town that I drive thru on my way home from Wichita that is known for being a speed trap. I NEVER speed thru Nickerson. The cops there are ruthless. An 86-year-old woman that used to work for us got a ticket for going 32 in a 30 thru that town! Ruthless! So I was surprised as I pulled out of Nickerson and saw lights flashing behind me. I was talking to Mom on the phone and told her there was no way this cop was pulling me over for speeding and I had no clue why he was pulling me over! I hung up the phone, pulled over, and rolled down my window. The State Trooper walked up to my window, asked for my drivers license and insurance, and then asked me to roll my window back up halfway. He pulled out a device that he stuck on my window and then asked me to roll down my back window halfway. I had to take off the baby window shade (waking up Brody who started crying) to roll it down. He stuck the device to that window too and then proceeded to tell me that my FACTORY windows are tinted too dark!!! He tells me that it's a $96 ticket and I need to get it fixed! Then he went to his car with all my info. Five minutes later he comes back and gives me a warning. He reminds me again that I'm driving an illegal car because of the window tinting and tells me to get it fixed as soon as possible because if I get stopped again for it I'll get a ticket!

Is Kansas really that safe of a state where all the State Troopers have to do is stop young moms to tell them that their window tinting is too dark?!?!? I called my parents back and Dad asks, "Didn't they test that during your state inspection?" Nope. Kansas doesn't have state inspections (guess they know all the farm trucks would fail an emissions test!). So Dad looked it up on the internet and KS law requires 35% visibility on ALL windows of your car (not just the drivers window). Just thought I'd let all my fellow Kansans in on this so that you can hurry out and get your windows tested ;)

When I got home last night I told Mike, "You don't need to worry about getting a state inspection on our car. I took care of it today." He just gave me a confused look.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Rainy Day

Mike is on Spring Break this week (the advantage of working for a school district). The tech coordinator that works with him, Terry, is in the process of building a house out in the country. Mike's plan was to spend this week helping Terry frame up the house. Well....I guess God had other plans. Yesterday it rained all day....and there's rain in the forecast most days this week!

We enjoyed the rainy day to the fullest when I got home from work yesterday. Mike played with Brody while I took a shower and got comfy. Then we put Brody down for a nap, fixed a snack, and watched a movie! We haven't done that in forever! We watched "Into Thin Air" based on the book by John Krakauer about the deadly Everest climb of 1996.

After the movie, we made dinner together. Mike wanted to make empanadas. He found a recipe online and we made pizza empanadas and then peach dessert empanadas. It took a while to make them (mainly because we didn't have the ingredients I thought we had)...but they were yummy :)

Monday, March 19, 2007

Better than TV

A month ago Mike made a deal with me that gave himself incentive to exercise. He would drive over to the gym where I work 3 days a week and workout with me. After he did that for a month, he'd save the gas money and just go to the gym at his office. He said he'd use the gas money to pay for satalitte tv. The deal was that I would sign up for a dish in my name and I would cancel it if he didn't workout at least 3 days a week. This would be easy for me to do. As much as I enjoy watching TLC and Fox News...I can definitely live without it to save $40 a month!

So for the past month Mike has come to workout with me 3-4 days a week. I didn't want to mention that the 4 weeks had come to an end...so I didn't. On Sunday he told me that he wasn't going to get a dish. When I asked, "Why?" He said, "Because I love getting to see you and Brody in the mornings! I'm going to keep coming to your gym 3 days a week instead of getting a dish." I feel so special :) I have LOVED getting to see Mike every morning and am glad that he enjoys it just as much as I do.

In other news....Wendy just brought me a plate of the MOST DELICIOUS french toast that I've ever had(sorry Mike!) Just one more reason I'm gonna miss her....

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Onion Goggles

On Dad & Mom's blog, Dad wrote about their trip to Kansas. In one of his posts he said that Mom and I were "sitting on the couch laughing hysterically". Some of you may have wondered what was so funny. Yes...it was late (and we all know how silly Mom gets when it's late)...but we were laughing about something specific.

Mom was reading one of my Rachel Ray magazines and she came across this article: It talked about the best ways to keep from crying while cutting an onion. This was significant because earlier in the day I cut up a whole onion and was crying so hard I couldn't see!!! It was a strong onion! The article said that the onion goggles were the only effective way to cut up an onion "tear free". Mom (being the ingenious person that she is) said that rather than spending $20 on onion goggles....maybe swim goggles would work! We were crying we were laughing so hard imagining Mike walking in from work to find me cutting up an onion wearing swim goggles!!!! (You've gotta admit it makes you laugh too!)

Well....last week I had to cut up an onion. Mike was feeding Brody and didn't notice me disappear to our closet to retrieve my swim goggles. He turned around to tell me that Brody was done with his food (and ready to nurse) and found me cutting up an onion with swim goggles on. He started laughing really hard and asked me what in the world I was doing. I tried to tell him it was Rachel Ray's idea (anything she says about cooking is faultless in his mind)...but he still thought I was crazy! In fact...when I asked him to take my picture so that I could blog about it...he refused. I think his exact comment was, "Embarrass yourself on someone else's blog!" So I set up the tripod and took my own picture :)

You know what's really cool about this story? IT WORKS! The onion that I'm cutting in this picture is VERY strong! Mike was crying EATING it last night...but with my "onion goggles" on...it didn't even phase me!

So if you find swim goggles in my utensil drawer...you'll know why :)

Thursday, March 15, 2007

I Cried

I need to start this story by saying that Wendy's husband found a new job which will require him to do a lot of traveling. Until now, he's been the parent at home with their kids in the evenings while she works the late shift. Now that he'll be gone a lot...she knew her job was going to have to change. A few weeks ago she asked me to pray for her decision. She even came in and asked if there was any way we could hire her full time. I wish there was...but there's just not enough work/money for another full time person.

Yesterday the news came. Her employer approved a shift change for her (working 8 am-4 pm) which will allow her to be home with her children in the evenings. I am so happy for her family. She needs to be there for her children. However, I'm so sad for the rec. She has been an amazing employee. I have NEVER seen her without a smile on her face (even the day she tried to come to work with the flu!) She doesn't just take care of the children during aerobics...she LOVES them! She treats them like they're her family. She sings to them, plays with them, and has been teaching all of them Spanish! She takes immaculate care of our facilities. As soon as she started working here comments were rolling in about how clean/neat the facilities looked.

Not only is she an amazing employee, she is a wonderful friend. With the hours she'll be working at her new job....I'll never see her. It will be like she moved away. I'll be back home in Sterling by the time she comes in to work out. We have had a lot of fun together the past few years. We've laughed together, prayed together, and cried together.

Yesterday...I cried.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

7 months

I can't believe that Brody's already 7 months old! Where does time go? It seems like only yesterday we were heading to the hospital. Last night Mike and I were talking about how fast the past 7 months have gone by. Mike was saying, "Before we know it he'll be heading off to school, then to junior high, then high school, then he'll leave for college, then there will be some girl that he'll tell us about and be excited about us meeting, then he'll get married, then one day we'll get a call where he'll say, 'Guess what? We're pregnant!'"

What an exciting road we have ahead of us! It has been such a joy to watch him discover new things every day and I can see that the joy only increases. Right now I want to treasure each day (even if it's a fussy one) because I know that before long these days will just be memories...

Monday, March 12, 2007

Fireplace

I planned on doing a post about the fireplace. I didn't realize so many of you would notice it in the last post! Mike did an amazing job on our fireplace. Here's a picture of what it looked like before (at Christmas time). Here's a picture of the installed firebox:
This is what it looked like when Dad & Mom got here on Thursday night:
By the end of Saturday, Mike put the finishing touches on the fireplace. Now all that's left is for me to stain the wood and for him to install the access door (the hole on the front) that will allow access to the propane shut-off valve.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Fun Visitors

Daddy Steve and Namaw came to visit this weekend. We had a wonderful time with them. They got here on Thursday night (technically Friday morning!). We spent the weekend hanging out at the house, going on walks outside, watching Mike work on the fireplace, and lots of playing with Brody. Here are some pictures of our weekend:

Brody started scooting backwards this weekend. He'll do a pushup and then get into a plank position...then he'll get onto his hands and knees and scoot backwards. He hasn't figured out how to move his arms yet so that he can crawl forward. Taking a bath with Namaw.
Drinking water with Daddy Steve
Learning how to play guitar with Daddy Steve.
"Tastes good too!"
Rockin' with Mommy in front of the finished fireplace (in the rocking chair from Sharon!!!)



Thursday, March 08, 2007

200!!

This is my 200th post! I thought I'd post about someone that's special to our family.

This is my boss, Junior (playing racecars with Brody). It is wonderful to work for a Christian! Our work environment is very laid back and fun. Junior, RaeAnn, and I aren't just co-workers...we're friends. We share joys and struggles in our lives. We pray for each other and encourage one another. Each day as I leave work Junior tells me to "drive safe" (this makes my mom happy!).


When I told him that I was pregnant...he gave me a big hug with tears of joy in his eyes! He was all for allowing me and RaeAnn to bring our babies to work with us. I my mind I would either bring Brody to work with me or I would stay at home. I was unsure about how it would work (bringing a baby to work with me)...but it couldn't be better. Junior loves our children like they're his own grandchildren. He comes into work and immediately looks for Brody or Cheyenne! I can't tell you how many times I've walked into the office to find him laying on the floor playing with Brody. One day I even found him laying almost under the doorway jumper trying to put a sock back on Brody...while he was jumping!!!

RaeAnn and I are very blessed to work for such a godly man (even if his desk is a total mess! lol).

Monday, March 05, 2007

Nail Song

I tried Juli Beth's trick of singing a song to Brody while I trim his nails. It worked like a charm. He was not nearly as fidgety and I got them cut much quicker! It was a very busy day today. I left work late and missed Bible study. Then we had 5 stops to make in town before we could head home. I've been meaning to post all day and this is the first chance I've had. I really should be going to bed...but I just had to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY KEN!!!"

In other news...Dad & Mom are coming to visit this weekend!!! Brody's very excited! Nancy came over after church Sunday and baked up a storm. I think there are enough cookies that when Dad & Mom are here we could eat just cookies! Ok...I guess that wouldn't be too healthy. We'll have to eat some real food too :)

Friday, March 02, 2007

Dancin'

Wendy is a special person at our office. She cleans our facilities and babysits kids during my aerobics classes. She is from Guatemala and is very adamant about learning to speak proper English. She's always asking me something about the English language. She is one of the most positive people I've EVER met! She works 2nd shift at a manufacturing plant then goes home and sleeps for 4-6 hours before she wakes up to get her kids ready for school and then come in to our office. A few months ago she told me that she taught aerobics for 4 years when she lived in Guatemala! WHAT?!?!? I wish I'd have known sooner! I put her to work immediately teaching a Latin dance class. Everyone that comes loves it!

Her biggest passion and joy is children. She tells me that they relieve her stress (opposite of most people!) Yesterday she came in to teach aerobics and asked if Brody could go to her class. She told me that he likes watching her dance. I took this picture thru the window in the door. They told me that he was movin' his feet along with them :) It's ok Mike...I've heard they make football players take ballet ;)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Global Warming?


Have you noticed that we haven't heard about global warming as much in the news lately? There was a big to do in the drive by media about the scientists holding a summit about global warming...but that was before the EXTREME winter weather the nation's seen over the past month! I was surprised again this morning to wake up to find the ground covered with snow! Granted, it'll be melted by mid-morning...however,I was only able to drive 45 mph on my way to work because the snowplows hadn't plowed my side of the highway yet and it was thick slush! Sometimes I just have to laugh about this! It seems like God is saying, "You think YOU'RE the ones in control of the weather?!?!? Think again!"

Just to start a debate with some of the closet (or maybe not closet) democrats that read this blog...I couldn't help but laugh about Rush's description of Al Gore's green concert. Since I'm not a Rush 24/7 member I couldn't get the article off his website....but here's what he said (posted on a different website):

"If a tree gets planted in the forest and no one is around to give Gore credit, can it still reduce CO2?
In the press release about the S.O.S (Save Our Selves) series of
concerts, Gore and company announce that, “Live Earth alone will engage an audience of more than 2 billion people through concert attendance and broadcasts.” The sponsors are hoping that 3 million people will attend in person for one of the seven concerts held around the globe. For the sake of the polar ice caps, let’s hope the event promoters are being wildly optimistic. But for the sake of showing how egomaniacally deluded Gore is, let’s assume that the numbers are obtainable.

In 2003, the Rolling Stones became the first band to undertake a “carbon-neutral” tour. To achieve this feat the band estimated that the total emissions for everything--from the power requirements for the venue to the transportation to the concert--came to 13 kg/CO2 per fan. If Gore is able to find three million people to attend in person the fans would produce 39,000 metric tons of CO2.

Then there are those who will watch it at home on a TV or computer, both of which use about 200 watts of energy per hour. Let’s also assume that everyone is a conservationist and watches only one hour of the 24 hour concert. This would reduce the amount of energy used to 400 billion watts of energy (2 billion people using a 200 watt source for one hour).

In order to convert kilowatts of electricity (400,000,000 kw) to kilograms of carbon dioxide we multiply by .43, which gives us 172,000 metric tons of carbon produced simply by the viewing of this concert. Add that to the concert goers and you have roughly 200,000 metric tons of CO2 produced by this event.

To put those numbers in some kind of perspective consider:
The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than Zimbabwe produced in any month in 2003.
The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than the total daily
fossil fuel emissions for Austria, Chile, Finland, Greece, Iraq, Kuwait, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, the Virgin Islands, and a dozen other countries combined.
The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than the entire nation of Afghanistan produces in a year.

Presumably, Gore and company will buy carbon offsets to make up for the pollution the event will create. Since it takes an acre of Douglas fir trees (and 50 years of growing time) to offset 1000 tons of CO2, Gore will need to plant 200 acres of trees to make up for his concert.

Reasonable people might ask why they don’t just skip the concert and use the money saved on logistics and promotion to plant twice as many trees? The Zen-like response: If a tree gets planted in the forest and no one is around to give Gore credit, can it still reduce CO2? Apparently, the answer is “No, it cannot.” For the inconvenient truth is that Al Gore cares more about being viewed as an eco-savior than he does about actually acting in a way that might help us 'save our selves.'"