And... So it Goes

I just hate saying no

2009-07-13T14:25:00.002-05:00

Lately I've had about a billion phone calls from different charities, asking for my money. All of them have been great causes, and I've had to say no to every one of them. It's about to drive me crazy!

I mean, I don't mind getting one call every few months. It gives me time to build up the courage to say 'Sorry, we're just as broke as the next guy' or whatever. I can't give to everyone who asks, it just doesn't work. And I hate being put on the spot to make a decision like that on my own. It's not like I'm the one out there earning money to give away. I spend it to provide for our family, but any 'giving' I like to discuss with Keith. I can't do that when they call in the middle of the day.

What do you do when they call? Do you just hang up? Say sorry, but no? Give them $20? I don't really feel like doing this again. Maybe it's time to get call display....

We've had visitors

2009-07-10T14:19:00.005-05:00

We've been kept busy this week with guests, and it's been a lot of fun! Tuesday night, Keith's parents and Alyssa stopped by. We had a great evening outside with a fire and ice cream. Wednesday morning we all went out for breakfast and then said our good-byes. Keith's parents are out on the road for the next few weeks, exploring Eastern Canada. Hope they have fun!

Last night we had another special visitor. Keith's Grandpa Friesen stopped by for supper! He brought some birthday presents for the kids and they loved talking to him and playing with him. He even read a few stories with Bria. It was nice to have some time to visit with him, it seems like it's been too long.

Next week we'll have some people staying with us from Nebraska. That should be fun! Total strangers. They are heading out this way from one of our sister churches, so at least we'll have something in common.

And then in August, we might just have some relatives staying with us, but we'll see :) A lot of motivation to get the basement ready! Time to paint...

What's up with us anyway?

2009-07-06T14:41:00.004-05:00

I haven't really written any fun family posts lately, so today I'm gonna give it a try!

Hmmm... where to start. How about with the littlest Friesen. Bria is growing up way too fast. I know that's totally cliche, but it's so true! She's turning into my polite little girl too. She says Thank you for everything, and sorry Mommy, and it's just so cute.

She's also well on her way to being potty trained! She's been totally dry for a couple days in a row, though last night she decided to pee in her pants like 3 times in an hour. She knows what she's doing and she's just stubborn. I'll put her on the toilet and she'll say, "No pee Mommy". So I take her off, and she pees 5 minutes later. Oh well, it will come. She's not quite two yet.

What else is new with Bria... Well, I did cut her hair the other night. Just trimmed off the wispy ends. She now has a cute little bob. Might not be totally straight, but I honestly don't know if anyone could have cut it straight, the way she turned her head every two seconds!

Bria also loves to be outside, eating everything green in the garden. Rhubarb, sorrel leaves, green strawberries, green onions, you name it! It's kind of funny that she just grazes, but it's annoying that she eats all the strawberries before they get a chance to turn red. Little stinker.

Bria really isn't into learning the alphabet or numbers yet. She can say one, two, three, and ABCDEF. It'll come though.

Rowan, on the other hand, sounds like a little genius already! He knows all the letters, can recognize them if he sees them, and knows the sounds they make! I bought the leap frog Talking Letters and Talking Words DVDs for him a while ago, and he learned it all in about 2 or 3 days! Insane. He's always 'reading' signs and spelling the names out loud. He also asks me how to spell a word here and there. I don't know if he's remembering the actual order of the letters, but he does know some words.

Rowan will be turning 4 in just two weeks! Exactly two weeks. I can't believe it! He's grown into such a big boy. He got a haircut the other night too. He was starting to look really shaggy, and my parents are on holidays (Mom usually cuts his hair) so I took the clippers and buzzed it off :) Not too short, just right.

Rowan still loves trains, cars, and watching movies. I think we'll do a Cars themed birthday party. Any ideas for his first real birthday party with friends? I'm new at this :)

Rowan and Bria both nap in the afternoons still, so that's my quiet time to relax. In fact, I think I'm going to try for a nap today. I think I stayed up too late last night.

Oh cute little birdie...

2009-07-03T14:09:00.003-05:00

...why do you want to get in my house?

This adorable little yellow bird keeps tapping on our windows! It's been at it all day, and I have no idea what's up. I *think* it's just a wild bird, but who knows.... maybe it's really someone's pet!

What would you do?

2009-07-03T10:02:00.003-05:00

This is slightly embarrassing, but only because I took the picture before I made the bed :) This is our bedroom:

Boring, ugly, no style, nothing about it that I like. Minty green walls and ancient linoleum. Keith and I have talked about decorating our bedroom for years already, and still haven't done anything! Part of the reason is that we need bedroom furniture, and that can be a bit pricey :) But otherwise, we don't have much of an excuse for not painting and putting in new flooring.

So what would you suggest? The room is not very big, so I'd love to have as little furniture as possible. What colors? What type of flooring? We've talked about doing a darker laminate, but then I have no idea what color to paint.

Anyway, I'd love to get it done one of these days!

Vacation Post #4 ~ Charleston

2009-06-30T13:49:00.009-05:00

From Chattanooga, we drove to Charleston, SC. This was one place that Keith and I were both very excited about, for different reasons :) Keith wanted to see Patriot's Point, which was basically a war ship museum. I wanted to see the historical downtown and visit a plantation in the area. Thankfully, we were able to do it all!

We arrived at our hotel to find that they had upgraded us to a jacuzzi suite! That was pretty nice. We had tons of room to relax, and even two TVs... haha :) Actually that was kind of nice because it was pretty stormy while we were there. Lot's of thunder storm activity! We really were lucky that we even go to see everything.The first thing we did in Charleston was take a Carriage Tour. Now that was cool! The driver told us a lot of the history of the area, pointing out everything as we went along. When we had about 5 minutes left, it started pouring rain! The flimsy roof on the carriage didn't quite keep us all dry, so we walked around a bit soggier afterward.

This little building was called the Gun Powder Magazine I think. It's where they stored all the gun powder during the war.

We decided to find a place to eat right after our Carriage Tour, and stumbled upon this awesome little Italian pizza place! It was definitely authentic, and the pieces were HUGE! Yum!

From there we wandered through Market Street a bit, but didn't end up buying anything for ourselves, and I didn't take any pictures there! It was really neat, kind of like a craft market I guess.

Of course, the rain just kept on coming. We headed back to the hotel for a rest, and to wait out the rain a bit. Keith checked out the radar weather and found a small window of sunshine. That's when we went to Patriot's Point. I have to say, I was definitely impressed, even though I have no interest in that kind of stuff. Keith loved it, of course :)

First view of the aircraft carrier

Inside the aircraft carrier. I can't imagine sleeping on those cots!

Cookies anyone?

Ah yes, supper time :) We decided to try a seafood type place for supper. It's called Gilligan's, and was really good! They had these buckets set into the middle of the table to throw your trash in. Weird. We had a yummy drink in a coconut too.

The next morning we were heading out of town again, but stopped at Boone Hall Plantation on our way. We spent a beautiful morning there. I really enjoyed that place. It was amazing to hear the history of just this one plantation. Did you know that Boone Hall grew ingido? Yeah, and did you know that the way they made it into dye involved the slaves urinating on the indigo? Mmmhmmm. Very interesting indeed.

Definitely click on this picture! There was a huge list of all the slave ships that came over from Africa. It lists how many people started out on the ship, and how many were still alive when they landed. Amazing, and so so sad.

Keith and I both agree that Charleston is a place that we would go back to see again. There was so much more we could have done and seen! Maybe one day :)

An Interview with Rowan

2009-06-29T12:03:00.000-05:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wordless Friday? FIRE!!

2009-06-26T14:41:00.003-05:00

Vacation Post #3 ~ Chattanooga!

2009-06-24T14:17:00.009-05:00

Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to this. I had to step back after the last post and take a break due to some of the comments.

Maybe I should explain myself a little bit. There seemed to be a bit of confusion on my state of Motherhood. There was a comment about a 'bump' later on referred to as a 'baby bump'. These comments really took me off guard, as I don't see any baby bump in those pictures, and in fact, I miscarried way back in January. On our trip I was already being reminded of how big and round I should be looking right now, especially considering I would have been due in a month. The comments just made it sting a little bit more.

I want you to know that I was not offended in any way, just had to take a step back and deal with the emotions. I know that no one meant any harm, and I'm ready to blog again :) So, here goes.

Chattanooga is definitely a tourist area. There are tons of things to do, and it was really a gorgeous place, in the mountains. We asked our host, Nadine, what she would recommend doing during our stay. We figured the locals would probably have a better idea of what was worth it, and what wasn't. The things that she mentioned were Rock City, Hang Glider's Bluff, Sequoyah Caverns, and a cool ice cream place close to the walking bridge in downtown Chattanooga. We did it all :)

~Hang Glider's Bluff~
I don't think this place is actually named, but that's what Nadine and her assistant called it. The drive up the mountain was amazing, though I must say that my motion sickness kicked in a bit with all the curvy roads! I hadn't experienced that feeling in a long time.

When we arrived, we just sat down on the rocks and waited for something to happen. It was a clear, hot day. Perfect for gliding through the sky, right? Haha. Keith and I weren't actually brave enough to try it ourselves, but we did watch 3 guys run off the edge of the cliff. Crazy stuff!
There was also another way to get up in the air, maybe a little easier than running off a cliff. You could start down in the valley in a field, and a small airplane would pull you into the air and then release you. That was pretty cool too! We heard a few screams as the hang glider passed by us :)

~Rock City~

Wow, this place was gorgeous too! We didn't have much of an idea of what it would be like until we were in the midst of it. It ended up being a wonderful little hike through beautifully manicured rock formations. There were gardens along the way, awesome views, and a cute little Mother Goose village inside a cave.

~Ice Cream and Walking Bridge~

After Rock City we drove back into downtown Chattanooga. We parked our car and took the bus down to the Aquarium. We didn't actually go into the Aquarium, which was a bit disappointing, but we went for a bit of a walk instead. Let me remind you that it was clear, sunny, and incredibly hot! We walked to this bridge that Nadine had told us about. It was condemned as a driving bridge, but is still used for pedestrians. It was a lot longer than we thought at first :) And the ice cream place ended up being on the side that we started on, so we had to walk all the way back over the bridge before we got any relief from the heat!

The ice cream place was called the Ice Cream Show. And it was totally unique to us! Maybe you've been somewhere similar before. Basically you pick your type of ice cream, vanilla or chocolate. Then you decide what kind of mix-ins you want. I think I had raspberries, peanut butter, and brownies. Something like that anyway. Then the guy throws it all in a mixer, blends it all up, and serves it in a cone! Just like soft serve, but your own creation. I think they had around 40 different mix-ins to choose from. Yummy! It was the perfect place to stop on such a hot day. If you're ever in Chattanooga, make sure to check it out!

~Pool Break~

Yup, right after the ice cream, we headed back to the pool at our B&B. That was probably the smartest thing we did all day :) It sure felt good.Yes, I am wearing a bathing suit top :) It's just hidden by the pole!

~Sequoyah Caverns~

Nadine told us that instead of heading to the ever popular Ruby Falls, we would have a much better view of a cave if we went to Sequoyah. So we took her at her word and spent our morning (the next day) at Sequoyah.

Now, first of all, the place looked a bit run down from the outside. The pond was a murky mess, and there weren't a ton of people around. But we were reminded that this is a small family run business, and not some huge thing.

We ended up getting our own private tour! That was awesome. We could ask questions, take our time, and most importantly, hear our guide. She was definitely hard to understand at times, with a real thick hillbilly type southern accent. I loved it! Talk about back woods. She was awesome though. You could see her knowledge and love of the cave just oozing out of her. She had so many cool stories to tell of things she had discovered in the caverns, and we probably could have listened for a lot longer. We were in there for over an hour!

It's really hard to get good cave pictures, due to the lighting, but these are what we got.

Times are not getting any better

2009-06-19T10:48:00.003-05:00

If you live in Manitoba, you might have seen the Winnipeg Free Press from today. Apparently on the front page is a picture of Keith's uncle Del. Del is a farmer in the interlake, and just happens to be a neighbor to Keith's parents. We knew the farming situation was looking hopeless, but now there's a little proof for everyone to see. Click here for the Free Press' take on the situation, with quotes from Del. Say a prayer for these farmers. There really isn't anything they can do about it.

Vacation Post #2 ~ A little more Nashville & Chattanooga

2009-06-16T13:40:00.006-05:00

Before I continue, I have an exciting story to tell you. It starts off really bad, but don't worry, it has a happy ending!

Right before we left on our trip, we bought an extra memory card for our camera (you can see where this is going....) because we only had a 1 GB card, and we knew that wouldn't be enough. So, we took like 350 pictures, plus videos with our new card. Yesterday I was trying to upload them onto the computer, and nothing worked. I was SCARED!

I called my big bro who happens to manage a local computer shop. He says to bring it by and they'll take a look at it. Keith brought it there after work, and we were horrified to learn that the card was bad! As in, the pictures were most likely stuck on it forever. We could only view them on the camera, or hooked up to the TV. I seriously felt sick! Like we didn't buy trinkets and souveniers because we have pictures and don't like to crowd our house with 'stuff'. The pictures were our only keepsakes! AAHHHHH!!!!!

Just now though, I got a call from a friend of ours who also works at the shop, and he said they were able to save all the pictures!!!! So we will now have them all on a DVD. I'm soooo relieved, and incredibly grateful to the guys at Something Digital (yes, that's the name of the shop) for fixing our seemingly hopeless picture situation.

Whew. So now on with the post!

I thought I'd share a few more pictures from Nashville. I didn't post the outside of our hotel yesterday, not to mention the cool staircase and a couple others. So here's some more for you, from Nashville!

~The outside of our hotel at night~

~View from the balcony down to the lobby~

~The view from the main floor up the staircase to the 7th floor~

~A very cool room in the hotel which I believe was used for wedding receptions and the like~

After Nashville, we drove a little further south to Chattanooga. Well, sort of. We spent time in Chattanooga, which is in TN. We stayed in Georgia though, at an awesome B&B called General Woods Inn. It is run by a General in the US Army and his wife. Of course, she does it all, since he's never around, but there is no mistaking his presence in the house!

~This is part of the front of the house. I'll have a better picture tomorrow hopefully~

~The view of the driveway and front yard~

~Our bedroom~

The house is built in the Antebellum style and apparently is the copy of a house in Charleston, SC. Decorating pretty much every wall, table and shelf are medals, photos, letters from the US Government, etc. General Woods is a pretty important guy, from what we heard and saw. There were two different Time magazine cover shots of General Woods too. It was very impressive!

~Who wouldn't want birthday greetings from Napoleon~

~One of the Time magazine cover shots of General Woods~

Not only was the house gorgeous, but the yard was beautiful too. We drove up the long, steep, winding driveway to the house, and peeked aroung the back to find a pool. Since we were the only guests for those few days, we got the pool to ourselves. Nadine Woods was also an excellent hostess. She gave us great advice on what to see and do in the area. We were not disappointed!

Tune in tomorrow to hear about that :) By then I should have the DVD with the rest of our pictures!

Vacation Post #1~ From Home to Nashville

2009-06-15T15:28:00.011-05:00

I figure I'll try and post a little bit each day about our trip. Hopefully I'll get it all done and still remember what all the pictures are about!

We left Friday, May29th around 6pm. Not bad, considering the crazy day that it was! We drove only a few hours, to Fargo, ND. We spent the night in an aging Super 8, and endured the sound of the door slamming whenever someone would enter the building. Not cool. Thankfully it was just one night!

~The Welcome Building in Iowa~

Saturday morning we began our real journey. Our stop that night was in Mt. Pleasant, IA. A small town near the southern border of Iowa. We had a really friendly front desk attendant, who gave us directions to a cozy little Mexican restaurant for supper. It was so neat! I loved the colorful napkins on the tables, and the food was awesome too. Definitely not fat free :)~Fountain in the town square in Mt. Pleasant~

We decided to check out the rest of the town, since we had seen some gorgeous old houses on our way to the restaurant. We walked around a couple blocks and took a few pictures. It was a really pretty old town.

Sunday morning we hopped back into the car and drove to Nashville. We arrived sometime in the afternoon, at our GORGEOUS hotel! We decided to splurge on one nice hotel, just because. We chose the Union Station hotel in Nashville. They basically converted the old train station into a hotel, and it was a gorgeous building to begin with. We did have an interesting time checking in though. They gave us keys to our room, but when I opened the door, there was someone's dirty underwear lying on the floor, and I could hear someone breathing around the corner! I was very disturbed, and sent Keith down to get us a new room.~Elevator mirrors :)~

~View from inside our room into the 'hall' or balcony of our hotel~

We got to experience a bit of the night life in Nashville as well. Our hotel was only a couple blocks from all the bars. We had an interesting time trying to find a place to eat. Keith and I have never been in a bar before, so we weren't sure where to go, or what was good! After we ate, we enjoyed some live music, and tried to avoid the extremely drunk woman that was flailing around the dance floor. Seriously, I hope she was at least a little embarrassed by herself. It was awful.

~This is where we ate. I believe it was called Rippy's. We had live music during our meal too, which was fun.~

~Enjoying some more live music, trying to avoid the crazy blond chick~

Monday morning we wanted to check out Opryland. So we went to the mall first, and then to the hotel. WOW! Unbelievable. Is it weird that it actually made me kind of sad to think of all the money it takes to keep that place running? I mean, it's beautiful, and very fun, but it all just seemed a little wasteful to me. I think I'm just weird. Whatever :)

~All of this is indoor~

Tomorrow I'll post about our time in Chattanooga, and possible Charleston.

Hello from North Carolina!

2009-06-06T18:41:00.003-05:00

So, lucky me, I'm finally able to get online, after a week of being on the road! And it's been a super awesome week too. We've been through Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and now we're in North Carolina, hanging out at Travis and Andrea's house. I must say, it's fun to meet blogging friends! After knowing each other online for the past couple of years, we finally got to meet. Good times.

I'm sitting here trying to think about what to share with you about our trip. There's been so much, it's hard! We experienced the night life in Nashville, Hang Glider's Bluff in Chattanooga, a plantation in South Carolina, the historic parts of Charleston, the beaches, the Aquarium, etc. What do you want to hear about? Maybe I'll just leave you with a few pictures.

This computer really doesn't like me, so I only was able to load a couple. First one is at the Opryland Resort. The second is our room at the Union Station Hotel in Nashville. Enjoy! I promise I'll post more when I can.

Spring has sprung....

2009-05-27T21:52:00.005-05:00

The grass has ris.
I wonder where
The birdie is?

There he is
In the sky.
He dropped some
Whitewash in my eye!

I am no sissy;
I won't cry.
I'm just glad
The cows can't fly!

Nice little poem I learned a long time ago :)

Ummm... yeah. Usually pictures like this one make me smile.
But not today. I'm a little annoyed. My nice clean laundry was hanging on the line. I go to take it in, and I see this gross bird poop all over my brand new tank top! ArGH!!! And this isn't the first time this year that this has happened. Just on Saturday we had the same problem! Also on a new piece of clothing. Sigh. It's not going to make me stop using my clothes line though. I wonder why they can't just go poop somewhere else.

*This photo is actually from last Spring, in case you were wondering.*

My top 5 natural beauty secrets

2009-05-22T20:08:00.008-05:00

So, they're not really secrets, but I sure wish I would have known about them sooner! Really. With the hundreds of skin care products out there, they pretty much make you feel like you HAVE to buy something. And if that doesn't work, surely there's a miracle in a bottle just next to it on the shelf. Um... not.

It's no secret that I try to eliminate harmful chemicals in my house. I try to find natural alternatives for just about everything. If you read Glimpse, you will have an idea of some products I have tried and liked. Some things though, are not available for 'review' per se, and I'm going to share my list with you.

1. Oil Cleansing Method
This is something I learned about just a month or two ago, and it has been great so far! I don't do it too often, but at least once or twice per week. The rest of the time, I just wash my face with water. Here is the basic idea of what the oil cleanse method is.

~First, I massage organic extra virgin olive oil into my face. About 1/2 tsp or so. Massage for at least a minute or two, longer is better. (If you have oily skin, you need a bit of castor oil added to the olive oil.)
~Second, I take a nice hot cloth and put it over my face, letting it steam my face until it has cooled.
~Repeat the second step a couple times.
~Gently wipe the oil off, not rubbing hard at all. Gentle is the key.
~If you have naturally oily skin, you probably won't need any moisturizer. If you have dry skin like me, then you might need a light moisturizer.

2. Facial Oil Moisturizer
I've been using an oil on my face as a moisturizer for quite a while now, but I just recently found one that works even better for my skin. I got it from here. Depending on your skin type, you can find various facial oils. If you get breakouts a lot, you can add a few drops of tea tree oil to the bottle, or lavender oil. Both work really well.

3. Handmade Soaps
Right now I am using an eczema soap from Rocky Mountain Soap Company. It is very gentle and I even use it for shaving my legs. No razor burn :) I've used a lot of handmade soaps, and love them all! The more simple, the better though. I love The Lote Tree. They are my first love when it comes to soaps. And of course, Heritage Bath Essentials is local to me, so it's very handy!

4. Natural Shampoo & Conditioner
My hair just feels amazingly better when I use this shampoo and conditioner. I first got to try it for a review on Glimpse, and fell in love! It smells so good, yet not overpowering, and it leaves my hair super clean and soft. LOVE IT! You can buy it locally from Pure Anada. Which brings me to number 5...

5. Mineral Makeup
I have been using mineral makeup from Pure Anada for a year or two now, and I think it's awesome! It allows your skin to breathe, it still covers all those imperfections, and it lasts forever! You can go to bed at night without washing your makeup off, and not have to worry about it. It won't make you break out, in fact in most cases, it improves your skin because of the natural minerals. The colors are great, blend well, and a little goes a long way. And Candace is really the sweetest person ever.

What are your favorite natural beauty secrets?

Something like Spring

2009-05-21T14:49:00.003-05:00

So, it's finally finally getting more hopeful around here, weather wise. And maybe that's why I have been neglecting my little corner of the online world. Or maybe I've just been preoccupied. Did you know that it's just 8 days until Keith and I leave for our vacation? WOOHOO! Fun and scary all at the same time.

Funny little story about Bria. She's just super busy. Like don't turn your back for too long kinda busy. Yesterday I was grocery shopping with the kids, and as I was finished unloading my cart onto the counter to pay, I glance down (we have those fun little car/carts at our store) and see Bria ready to chomp down on a chocolate bar! One that I hadn't put in my cart. So, I found the wrapper, put the bar back in the foil, and payed for the silly thing. And then I ate it. It was yummy. Seriously. American's just don't know what they're missing in a Caramilk bar. Yummo. I haven't had a chocolate bar in ages.

Rowan has had some strange virus or something for the past few days. He didn't seem sick, other than a slight fever the other day. He was just super tired, cranky, and didn't want to eat. Like he was depressed or something. Then yesterday, he didn't want to eat his supper again, so I told him he needed to go lay down in his room until he was hungry. He went to his room and fell asleep. At 6pm. And we woke him to go to the bathroom around 10:30. He fell right back asleep and slept through til the morning! He's much much happier today, and I'm so glad. I was starting to really worry. He's normally a happy guy. It just wasn't like him at all!

And in other news. I got to experience baby wearing today, after a long time. Bria is just too squirmy and busy to want to be carried anymore, so I took advantage of the moment when Heather left her kids with me today. I put Keziah in the sling, and she promptly fell asleep. It was so sweet! I wanted to keep her, but of course, Heather said I had to give her back :( If I would've had my camera with me, I would have taken a picture. Sorry! So bring me your newborns!

Anyone wanna garden or mow the lawn for a couple weeks? If you really feel the itch to get your hands dirty, I'm sure there will be a garden full of weeds just waiting for you here! Haha. Come on over.

Playing and skirts.... play skirts?

2009-05-12T14:12:00.004-05:00

This morning we walked over to the church to join some friends for our twice weekly morning exercise. We usually do this DVD. Anyway, when the kids and I got there, there was no one else there! So we sat around and waited for a while. When no one showed, we decided to head on over to another church for Stay & Play. They meet at this church every Tuesday morning, so it's nice to have a place for the kids to interact with other kids. And it's nice to be able to just sit there and watch them, instead of dropping them off somewhere and hearing them cry.

When we came home, we walked past the mail box and picked up one lonely package that was waiting for us. It turned out to be some great fabric that I got from here. I will be writing a review this week, and sharing it over on Glimpse (with a giveaway!). Anyway, my sewing machine was pulled out right after Bria was in bed, and I whipped up this ridiculously easy little play skirt for Bria! I used some older fabric that I had lying around, just to see how it would work out first. Since I didn't have any ribbon for the hem, I just did a really easy hem and called it finished. Maybe once I have time to go to the fabric store, I'll find some cute ribbon for the other skirts.Once Bria is awake, I'll try it on her and see if I need to make any changes. Then I'll be diving into the new fabric! I also plan to make her a couple little dresses I think. Skirts and dresses are just so much easier than pants and shorts. Especially with potty training.

Anyway, I'm off to get a few more things crossed off of my to-do list for today! Have a great afternoon :)

How to make a little lion into a princess

2009-05-11T09:50:00.004-05:00

First of all, you need a crazy mane if you want to start with a lion! So here is how we accomplished that.
Of course, we cannot send a lion to church. It just wouldn't be right. We might scare a few people!
So we decided to tame her and change her into a princess.

And her big brother watched on and said 'cheese'.

Switching it up

2009-05-09T19:13:00.004-05:00

We've always had toys in our living room. It just seemed like the place to keep them. We also had a nice bookshelf in Rowan's room, since all the books on it are his. Today we decided to switch it up a bit, and here's what Rowan's room looks like now. The book shelf is now in the living room, and it looks great!

Keith is 26!

2009-05-06T19:20:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated Keith's 26th birthday. I prepared one of his favorite meals for lunch, and we had my family over cake in the evening. It was so beautiful outside that we spent the whole evening in our backyard. We even made our first fire of the season.

Crazy 8's!

2009-05-06T18:57:00.002-05:00

Shanilie tagged me for a meme. The Crazy 8's Meme.

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:

1. Our vacation at the end of the month... Woohoo!
2. When Bria is finally potty trained
3. Summer
4. This evening when Keith gets home
5. Meeting Drea on our vacation
6. Spending lots of time outside with the kids
7. Eating fresh fruit and veggies from our garden
8. Throwing out all the cake in my house and eating healthier :)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Got the kids dressed and ready to go for the day
2. Walked to the church to exercise with some friends (we meet Tuesday and Thursday mornings to exercise together and encourage each other)
3. Prepared a special lunch for Keith's birthday (mashed potatoes and meatballs is one of his favorites)
4. Cleaned my house so we could have my family over for cake in the evening (and we ended up staying outside the whole time!)
5. Baked a cake for Keith's birthday (lemon pound cake... he doesn't really like chocolate)
6. Enjoyed the evening with my siblings and nieces.
7. Ran to the grocery store to buy what I needed to make Keith's cake and lunch.
8. Cleaned up my kitchen like a million times!

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Fit into the clothes I bought last summer when I was a lot thinner
2. Find a bathing suit that fits me properly and doesn't cost an arm and a leg
3. Afford to eat super healthy
4. Finish our renovations
5. Get a good tan without risking skin cancer
6. Get a new kitchen
7. Give to all the million charities that call me
8. Take nice photos

8 Shows I Watch: (disclaimer... I watch very little TV. So these shows are ones I enjoy but don't see many episodes)

1. American Idol
2. CSI New York
3. CSI Miami
4. Law & Order SVU
5. Criminal Minds
6. The Mentalist
7. Flashpoint
8. Degrassi: The Next Generation (yes, I still love that show!)

I'm not going to tag anyone, because I honestly don't know who reads my blog enough!

It's been a long week

2009-05-05T14:45:00.004-05:00

I feel like I'm still getting back on my feet after a long long week. We headed out on Thursday to join Keith's family for the weekend. The kids did really well on the drive, even though Bria (the little turkey) decided she didn't need to sleep in the afternoon! It was really nice to be altogether during such an emotional time.

Friday afternoon we headed over to Blumenort, and the Steinbach. We had supper with Gerald & Kathy (Keith's Dad's cousin) before heading over to the funeral home for the viewing service. Keith and I really had no idea what we were in for, thinking at first that it would just be a small family service. Nope. It was an open service, and there ended up being a few hundred people there! Bria was totally insanely hyper. It was crazy! So I spent the evening trying to run after her and keep her quiet. Note to self.... never take kids to a funeral home again!

Saturday was the funeral. It was great to see so many people out to support the family and grieve the loss of such a wonderful woman. Many of the grandchildren contributed in different ways to the service. Keith and Tyrone read a tribute from the grandchildren. Justin, his girlfriend, and his uncle sang a couple songs. (And I just have to say, Anastasia, you have an amazing voice!) Alyssa, Michelle, Stacey, Keith, and I lead some congregational songs, as well as two special songs for Grandpa.

And I just have to mention that Rowan and Bria spent the day with their friends Camry and Averi. Thanks so much Amy, for offering to take the kids for the day. It was a HUGE blessing for us. The kids had a great time :)

The rest of the weekend was spent as a family, visiting, eating (can you say funeral leftovers...) and trying not to miss Grandma every second. Poor Grandpa. He sure is having a hard time. He doesn't know what to do anymore. He just seems lost without Grandma. I know it will get better with time, but right now it's just so hard to see him wandering around.

And, in closing, here's my two favorite little people, just being their silly little selves :)

It's Over

2009-04-27T08:44:00.003-05:00

The long, painful struggle is over for Grandma Friesen. She was finally released from her suffering yesterday morning, and while we are all going to miss her like crazy, we are so relieved that she no longer has to fight for every breath.

Keith and I had our chance to say goodbye on Saturday. We spent the day in the hospital with the rest of the family. We struggled with what to do... should we stay til Sunday, or go home? We had a lot of responsibilities here at home for Sunday, so we came home late Saturday night. It was a long drive home, that's for sure.

Keith and I were on stage leading worship when he got the text from Pat. 'It's Over'. We still had another 2 songs to sing, later in the service, and I questioned whether I should go back up and try to sing. See, Saturday evening, me and Keith's sisters spent some time singing for Grandma. One of the songs was 'It Is Well'. This was also our last song on Sunday morning... I made it almost through before I broke down and cried. No one knew that we had just gotten the news, so they probably thought I had gone crazy or something.

Grandma will be missed, that's for sure. I'll miss her love 'punches' that she used to give before she got cancer. When she was strong and full of life. The energy that she had was just amazing. Serving others so selflessly. I will remember how she opened her home to my family as if they were her own. I will remember how she used to cook three times as much food as we needed for a family gathering, and then send us home with all the left overs. We never left their house empty handed. I will remember how much she loved my children. They were her only great grand children, and I'm sure with their red hair, they had a special place in her heart :) (Grandma had the same red hair that Bria has). I will remember her faith, and how she prayed so sincerely.

We love you Grandma, and will be missing you. Say hi to Kate, and enjoy the beauty of heaven. It will be more beautiful because of you.

Update

2009-04-21T20:35:00.003-05:00

We have decided not to drive out today. Keith wasn't able to get any time off of work, so it wouldn't make sense to drive 3 hours, turn around and come back. It's SO SO hard to know what is the right thing to do! Every time we've visited in the last few months has felt like good-bye, so it's hard to think of doing it again.

Please continue to pray for the whole family though. Grandma Friesen is just really young, and should be enjoying many many more years with her children, grand children, and great grand children (our kids are the only ones right now). Instead, she has to suffer and leave us far too soon. Why? That is the question of the year...

Please Pray

2009-04-21T15:49:00.002-05:00

Keith's Grandma is really not doing well. We need to make the decision of whether we can go their tonight or not. It may just be our last chance to see her. Keith is stressed, because he doesn't think he can get off work. Please pray that it will all work out, as it's very important to us to visit Grandma one more time.

It's been so so hard for us to be far away at this time. We want to be there with her and the rest of the family, but we can't just up and go any old time.

Just a small update for those who don't know... Grandma Friesen was diagnosed with lung cancer early 2008. She has been fighting hard, but her body is getting weaker and weaker. We were able to visit with her just before Easter, which was nice. She had been at home since then, but was admitted to the hospital once again yesterday after her daughter noticed that she wasn't speaking or eating anymore. We aren't sure what happened, but she took a severe turn for the worse.