Dinglehopper

At this point in his life Dane has never seen a comb or a hairbrush in action. I usually get ready for the day when he is napping in order to keep him out of the toilet and as you can see he has no use for a brush or even a comb. I had set out a baby comb on the counter because I was going to try and make his little fuzz stand up (it didn't work by the way). Poor little guy not knowing any difference picked up the comb and attempted to brush his teeth with it. I had the privilege of introducing him to a comb and showing him the correct usage. It didn't take him long and he realized the difference. He is a smart one. At least now he won't get caught "using a dinglehopper" so to speak on his hair--I mean teeth.

Happy Thanksgiving!

*sorry for the duplicate blogger wont let me select or delete pictures right now

What a day to be thankful for.

I am thankful for a God that is soveriegn and in control.

I am thankful for a husband who is amazing

I am thankful he is here with us today.

I am thankful for a beautiful little boy.

I am thankful for Spice Apple and Pear Pie

I am thankful for family.

I am thankful for our church family.

I am thankful that I know Christ.

I am thankful for a freedom.

I am thankful we can freely worship Christ.

This thanksgiving I am extra thankful for all the little things we have seen God do in our lives in the past few months.

Magic Baby

It seems every time we get in the car or go in a store this song is playing. It always leaves us giggling and wondering what exactly is "a little magic baby"? Could it be like whoops and now as a result we have made a little magic baby (I wish it was that easy-though not everyone does). I am usually picturing a little baby with a magic wand preforming tricks. You know 'a little magic baby' pulling rabbits out of hats.

Or could it be 'a little Magic baby' that is really good at basketball? All you have to do is buy this outfit and you can make your very own ' little Magic baby'.

I will save you the trouble of listening to the whole song, start listening at minute 2:40 to hear Keith Urban sing about 'a little magic baby'. And just ponder what exactly is 'a little magic baby'?

Race

the pictures are in reverse order. after the race is first and the before the race is last in the line-up.

I had coffee tonight and now I'm not tired. Andy has really gotten into running lately. I am so proud of him and all the work he has put into it and he actually finally can say he loves it. He has really gotten in shape too and I think he looks good if I do say so myself! Here is a little movie I put together of the Living History Farms Race. I think it would be a fun one to run myself. I have always liked the obstacle course type stuff. They had to cross the creek something like 9 times and climb muddy hills. The only part I am not sure of is being cold, the rest of it sound like a blast. Maybe next year if I can get the ambition to actually train for a race. I know I could do it the question is do I want to do it? The training not the race.

*don't try to find Andy in this video, because he's not. I was juggling fussy baby and decided to watch him in real time instead of through a little screen.

Daddy

It was so hard to get a video of him saying 'daddy', ironic because he says it all. the.time. I am not even kidding. I love how this little guy says Da Dee so very enunciated. Every time we walk by a picture of Daddy, which we have a ton of them up right now because we were all prepared for daddy being gone for a long time. So glad we get to see him every night, instead. I love how he loves his DA DEE so very much and it is ok with me that he doesn't even say mommy on a regular basis yet. I just love to hear his little voice trying out new words and what better one that Da Dee.

Of course for the video there has to be lots of prompting and they never say it quite as clear as usual but there you go. The other sweet thing he has been doing is talking on the phone. He calls it a 'hi,yah' every time he sees my phone he points and says 'yah', usually followed with a 'hidad' I guess that must be what I sound like when I am on the phone.

Last night we had a poop disaster. We were very quickly trying to clean up after dinner so we could run an errand. We look into the dining room as a one of the chairs is taking off around the corner. I notice a huge pile of mud. What in the world?! Did Andy track in mud when he took the dog out? Wait he doesn't even have shoes on. It must be... no way... how in the world could it have.... could that really be...what we think it is? Then we realize as the guilty party is pointing at the large pile of 'mud' tracked across the floor (yeah he stepped in it). We just stared at the pile and busted out laughing what else can you do we were stunned into laughter. What a sick mess. He was even wearing a one piece romper thing and it was hardly soiled.

Changes

Alas, Andy has started his new job today. A man's got to work, and I am glad he has that desire. Ok, I am actually really excited for him! It just means my day got a little more boring. I am not complaining at all. It is crazy to think we had a month and a half of uninterrupted time together. How often does a gift like that just happen? It has been fun having him home and getting things done around the house thinking we were going to be moving this spring. With the start of this new job it feels like we can move on from all the upheaval of the past month. We are truly praising God for taking care of us through all the decisions of the past year. I only wish I was a better writer so I could more accurately express the feelings and thoughts floating around in my head.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of him looking so sharp in his new suit this morning. And it is even more exciting thinking of him working bankers hours. Now off to find out what days qualify as bank holidays :o) Oh, yeah and clean the house- I have really fell off the band wagon on that since I was trying to spend every last minute with my man.

While the cat's away the mice will....

I was gone last week. Andy was also supposed to be gone at basic training last week. I thought the whole time I was gone he was working on getting a new job and preparing for a new job, and hanging out with friends. I was wrong he was doing a whole lot more. On my drive home he mentioned there was a surprise waiting for me. But wouldn't tell me anything else. Well there are many things that could be a surprise, like flowers or a clean house or just about anything. I didn't think much more of it with a 4 year old, 2 year old and 1 year old in the back seat there wasn't much time to ponder it. Well we got home, walked in the door and my keen eye for detail spotted something out of place. The shoe shelf that is normally in our closet was in the basement. Whaaat is going on? He wouldn't answer any of my questions. I went straight up to our room to see what was in the place of that shoe shelf and was absolutely amazed that our closet had been made over! I have been wanting to do this ever since we fixed up the nursery closet. See this post. These old houses come with some fun and interesting aspects but very little closets. This one had the standard rod and and shelves on the side that you could barely reach. And yes we do share it and neither of us store things in another closet, well we do switch out seasonal stuff that is in storage. Hooray for such an awesome and thoughtful husband!! I was completely shocked and surprised! Thanks honey for working so hard!

We all have something to learn

I have poison ivy.

My friend and I had done some hiking in the mountains, a bike ride/run and a few other excursions. On our hike we found this great spot for pine cones we were excited, what better way to be economical than to find free pine cones to decorate with for Christmas. There were also these beautiful white berries that looked just like the kind you can find at Hobby Lobby or Micheal's now we were on to something. One day last week she started getting red itchy bumps on her face that we thought were hives from something she ate. Then they started getting really miserable. I felt so bad for her you could still see her beautiful face under all the raised bumps and swelling, but it looked so miserable. She did look a little like two face, well not quite that bad. It wasn't until a day later when my face started breaking out with something similar did we realize that there must have been something we got into that gave us an allergic reaction. Allergic indeed. As we got back to Iowa she went to the doctor ASAP. We don't have insurance right now so I figured I would just wait for her diagnosis. You got it, it was poison ivy, she got a shot and a couple of prescriptions to help clear it up. So I figured I would google poison ivy remedies and see what I could do to help my face and neck feel better. As I was doing my research I came across some information that said mature poison ivy white berries. Uh, oh I though I quickly google searched images of poison ivy berries and it left not a doubt in my mind. I couldn't help it I just wanted to laugh hysterically. We PICKED poison ivy, put it in my jacket and took it home with us in a bag with our lovely pine cones. WHO actually picks poison ivy? Another piece of info that solidified this was that poison ivy is often found east of the rocky mountains along streams. Wow, that is exactly where we were, on the east side of the Rocky mountains by a beautiful little stream. How dumb can you get you may ask? And I must ask, did YOU know poison ivy has berries? I certainly didn't. I think I will buy my pine cones this year.

And now for the rest of the story...

I guess it is time for an update. As most of you know by now Andy is not leaving for the Army. Back up to last Sunday morning, I left with a friend for Colorado and Andy prepared to head to his hotel that evening. From there he would get up early and go to MEPS and get processed before they headed to Ft. Jackson later in the day. So yes, we said goodbye again only under slightly different circumstances so it wasn't quite as bad as the first time. I was awakened early Monday morning with another phone call. It was Andy calling to let me know they would not let him go to basic training that day, the Army doctor said his throat still looked infected. They made up a new contract for him to leave the end of April. That was his only option, wait 6 more months. Of course the Army doesn't care that he was on leave from his job so we have no income and no insurance expecting to be on the Army's payroll effective November 4th. What did they really think we would be able to do?
We said from the beginning of this whole process that we would pursue it until we could no longer. We didn't expect to get all the way to the end where we say goodbye and then have a cold and sore throat be a closed door to the military life. We had also talked about it after the first time they turned him away and knew it would not be wise to keep putting our life on hold hoping the Army would let him go to basic in 6 months. His contract was void because they did not allow him to leave on the said date November 4th. He would have had to sign a new contract to leave in April. Since he refused to sign it so he was under no obligation to stay in the Army.
We can see God's hand in this whole process and we feel we have made the right choice. That was all on Monday.
By Tuesday Andy had someone call him about a job opportunity, he sent in his resume and had an interview by the end of the day. Wednesday this bank was closed for the holiday and by Thursday morning they called with a job offer. He could have also gone back to his original job, but this offer was too good to turn down. We feel so grateful at how God has provided for us in the past few weeks especially. It is humbling to know there are so many people who are just struggling to find work and here God provided this job for Andy before he could even ask.
And yes, I am very excited to have my husband home with me!

It's been a nice couple of days

The weather has been great. Zoo trip. Walk to the park. Glad we had the extra time to hang out.

Happy 70th Birthday!

This old house is 70 years old this year. Built in 1939.

You can't help but wonder

This is the current state of our basement/laundry room. On Monday morning we had the plumber out to see why the floor drain was not draining. They left us knowing there was probably a broken pipe under the floor. We scheduled them to come out Thursday to fix it. It entailed using a jack hammer to breakup the cement and digging a hole and all sorts of other things. Sounds expensive doesn't it? Yup it is. Dane did sleep through most of the jack hammering. Seriously he is a light sleeper but they showed up shortly after he fell asleep and he slept for at least 45 minutes all the while we could not hardly talk to each other over the noise. He did wake up pretty freaked out though since it was still going on.
Anyway I would have been left to deal with all this on my own, I was prepared, really all I had to do was write the check and be inconvenienced for awhile but it is still stressful. They also found most of our drain pipe was clogged and were amazed our kitchen sink even drains at all. I guess I can't be surprised 70 years of muck is bound to build up over time. Think $$ signs just adding up. We are fortunate though that this is our first major home repair.

Leading up to the time Andy left we or at least I was hoping for some quiet non eventful days tying up loose ends. It turns out we were pretty busy up until tuesday, with Dane's birthday, my grandma's funeral and my family staying overnight on their way home, which was a nice surprise. Then the whole pipe situation.
When I first got the call that they were sending Andy home, I couldn't help but wonder I wonder why, besides the obvious reason. My first thought was most extreme like maybe his plane was going to crash and God saved him from getting on it or some other major catastrophe.

Then we have the latest headlines with the Ft. Hood Massacre that happened yesterday, now that is a little creepy and very disturbing. I can't watch the news coverage non-stop because it is just depressing. He is going to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, but still you can't help but wonder why a little cold stopped him from being shipped out the day it was planned. And I still don't know, maybe we never will. Or maybe God knew I would need a little extra time and support with all the seemingly little things going on in our lives right now, or maybe it is part of a bigger picture. What ever reason it is, it is all in God's hands and he has it all under control.

I don't even know where to start. Tuesday was horrible. It was a horribly emotional day. Knowing that at 10pm I would drive Andy to his hotel and drop him off and from there he would leave for basic training early the next morning. All day it felt like we were just sitting and waiting for 10pm to come around. Well I am not going to relive it, I don't really want to. It is too hard to say goodbye and I really dislike being by myself. I am sure whatever you imagine it to be if you were going through it yourself is probably what I was thinking and feeling.

I woke up the next morning wondering how Andy's morning was going and much to my surprise I got a call from him around 7am telling me that they were sending him home because he had a cold. What!? He didn't have any more details than that at the time. So I played out all the other scenarios in my mind as I was waiting. I was pretty relieved and excited to see him again so soon, but knew I really didn't want to prolong this event, or have to say goodbye again. We both just want to get the show on the road so to speak. It's going to happen lets just get it over with.

They (the army people) had him come in to sign a new contract with a new shipping date of April 20 something. He had been praying about it the whole time he was waiting which was like hours upon hours of doing nothing. He told them he wasn't going to sign it, not something 6 months out. They were upset and asked why. Duh, our benefits ended yesterday since the Army benefits were supposed to start yesterday and we need income to live. What exactly did they think we were going to do? So they made some calls and he is now leaving Monday and will be with the same group he was going to be with, just a different company, given he is well and no longer sick. His recruiter was pretty surprised at the events and said that was just a fluke thing that they send someone home who has a cold. I am sure they are being careful with all the H1N1 stuff even though the Dr. didn't even look at him just asked a few basic questions.

So what happens if he is still sick? That is yet to be determined as of now we are planning on him leaving Monday. Crazy thing his friend called this morning with a job offer. Either way we both have a peace from God and know whatever happens God is orchestrating it and in control. Being in God's will is always the safest place to be. When we started this whole process with prayer and careful consideration we had decided to persue it until we couldn't anymore, and would take that as "no, this is not what you are supposed to do right now". Knowing he would probably need an age waiver and a medical waiver for the metal plate in his ankle there would be a few hurtles to cross. Things went pretty smoothly up until this point.

Don't get me wrong there is a part of me that doesn't want this to happen at all and wishes life could stay the same, but on the other hand I want him to be able to "be all that you can be" (cheesy I know) and since he has a desire to fight for his country and a patriotic spirit then I support him and am proud of what he accomplishes. At this point I don't think I am cut out to be a lifer military wife, but we will see what the future brings, maybe I will love it.

I am glad I will at least be leaving town on possibly Sunday or Monday so maybe goodbyes will be a little easier or at least different than they were on Tuesday.