Ahhh, spring is here!

Today is absolutely beautiful outside, and the birds are singing loudly. We made a trip to the garden store for our phlox, last year we waited a little too long and they were gone. I can't wait to plant them! Our crocuses are very happy, I've been keeping them sprayed ever since the deer incident. I'm anticipating our hyacinths being in full bloom this weekend since it is supposed to be in the 70's all weekend, and they are well on their way. Today I opened up several of the windows and let the house air out. It smelled so good to have fresh air in the house. I suddenly feel like cleaning everything too! I LOVE SPRING!

1st place!

Tonight was the Pinewood Derby for the boys that are in Stockade at church. This was Michael's 3rd year, and his second 1st place trophy. The first year he won a 3rd place trophy. Tonight his trophy was for the fastest car in his grade level, and for the most creative car. The car was cut and made to look like the racetrack, even with little cars glued on that looked like they were racing on it. (Dave thought of the idea) It was very creative if I do say so myself!

My Dad

Today is my dad's 75th birthday. Tonight we picked up my aunt and went over to my mom and dad's house with an ice cream cake. It was fun listening to dad tell stories of his childhood tonight. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Here are a few things about my dad that you may have already heard...

1. He was and is a great dad.
2. He has never stopped praying for us kids. (can I call us kids?!)
3. He had a beautiful vegetable garden when I was a little kid.
4. He says one of his favorite hobbies is finding and cutting up wood to burn in his wood burning stove.
5. He had polio and almost died when he was 6 years old.
6. The Drs. told his mother that he was going to be crippled for life after the disease...of coarse God had other plans.
7. For years now he has ministered to the elderly. He goes about 3 times a week to play music and read the Bible to them.
8. He takes very good care of my mom.
9. He's always been a hard worker.
   
10. I am so thankful to God for giving me the best dad in the world!

The Milk Can

On Easter Sunday when my in laws were over, my father in law looked at the beautiful can my sister painted for me and he said, "Hey we used to have a can just like that when I was a kid. I used to squeeze the cows milk into it." Little did he know that this is the exact can that he squeezed the milk into. My mother in law gave me this can when we cleaned their basement out last year. I told him that this was the can that he used, and I think he was pleasantly surprised! So there's a little history on the can.

Vegas Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures from my Las Vegas trip. The top picture is the staff in our office who went on the trip. My boss is standing next to me with the white purse. The other picture is me and another Hygienist in our office tensing (pronounced tenzing, meaning relaxing) our jaw muscles during part of the seminar. The seminar was on Neuromuscular Dentistry, which is how the bite (the way your teeth fit together) affects the whole rest of the body. If not right it can cause chronic migraines, neck pain, back pain, ear congestion, tingling in the fingertips, etc.... It was fascinating. This week I have begun to implement some of what I learned in our office. It's great to be able to help people that are in chronic pain.

A hard lesson to learn

The other day Dave looked out the front window and there were 5 deer in our front island garden where we planted all of our hyacinths and crocuses in the fall. He scared them off. I didn't realize it, but they evidently love to eat the bulbs or the greens of those flowers. Well, today I went outside to weed and noticed that some of the bulbs were pulled right out of the ground, while other plants had been nibbled right down to the ground. I was devastated. I called up the garden store and they said that I needed to spray them and our young cherry tree with "Liquid Fence". I wish I knew sooner, but I guess it's a lesson learned. I put the bulbs that were pulled out back into the ground so hopefully they don't die. I will wait a few days to see what flowers come out.

Off to Vegas

I won't be blogging for a few days because I will be going to Las Vegas with a few of my coworkers tomorrow. We will be attending a 3 day dental seminar at Las Vegas Institute. This is it pictured. I am not really looking forward to leaving my family for so long, but I guess I'll be learning a lot of new things, so that part is good. Thank God most of the seminars I have to go to are local. I'll be returning Saturday night at 10:00pm.

Here is the video. Thanks Tracy!

Cool Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8YXZTlwTAU

I came across this video the other day and have watched it several times since. It is just fascinating to me. The way God wired this guy's brain is truly amazing!

How do I download the actual video onto my blog site? I signed up to do that, but can't figure it out. ?????

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Acts 20:24

This was our memory verse for Community Bible Study this week. It really makes me think...how many times do I lose sight of my purpose in a day? How selfish I am with my time, and how busy I often get with the unimportant or meaningless things.

Please God, use me for your purpose, to give you glory and honor.

(Can you believe when I pushed the publish button, my filter crossed out Jesus' name?! I guess it's considered a swear word now. I had to turn off my filter in order to publish this.)

Melting.....

Our igloo now has nice big windows

Good bye igloo

Our igloo is melting FAST. It was 65 degrees out today, and the previous few days it's been in the 40's and 50's. Could spring be here?!!!

New Hearth

My hubby built the hearth to our fireplace this weekend. Could the stone be going up soon too?!

Ouch!

Well, when we returned from Florida we didn't have the snow tires put back on my car because we thought spring was too close now to do that. This morning on my way to Bible study, I made a left turn and my car slid to the right on the snow covered road, after I turned....right into a neighbor's mailbox. The mailbox is fine , but my car said, "Ouch" as the side mirror was busted. Boo hoo! Come on spring, where are you? It's supposed to be 40 on Saturday, I can't wait!

Uncle Dave and Alicia

NY Friends

The guy with the shovel, and the 2 girls in the pic are friends of ours from NY (the wife was at the beach too, but not in the pic). They are church friends of ours, and they have been staying in the same condo complex as us, with her parents. We have gotten together to play cards a couple of nights, and they also found us at the beach yesterday. It's kinda neat to have friends on vacation with you!

Be careful Steven, that hole may swallow you up!

Sandcastles

This is Dave's masterpiece on the beach today. The 2 little boys in the above photo are NOT our boys, but they were fascinated with Dave's handiwork, so they were our borrowed children for the day. They were adorable! Our 2 boys were busy digging deep holes nearby (see Steven in upper rt. corner in red swimsuit).

The difference in color between the 2 photos is because we are still learning and experimenting with our camera.

Junk food

So far we've eaten LOTS of junk food on this vacation. I'm not the one buying it, but unfortunately I have no problem eating it, ugh....I need some willpower.

Another Snow Day

We got quite a bit of snow in the night and this morning, therefore school has been cancelled once again. It wasn't long before the kids and Jake went out to play in all of the fresh snow. Here Jake hesitates in the small area we cleared by our sliding door, then he decides that maybe he'll just play by the door rather than hop through all the white stuff. After a few minutes he did venture a little farther into the yard, but he was barking at the door within just a couple of minutes. I think it's either too cold or too deep for him. He looked so cute playing by the door!

How Gross Are you?

Tonight on blogthings.com (a link I got from Priscilla's now deleted post) I took the "How Gross Are You?" test. I got a score of 20% gross, but then I retook the test and was a little more honest, I got a score of 28% gross. My husband took the test and got a score of 32 % gross, and proceeded to tell me that I am grosser than he is and that my score was really higher than his. Of coarse I begged to differ, we were actually arguing over who was grosser than who! He says that I don't replace HIS bath towel until it smells funky, (but I say he should replace his own bath towel before it smells...I do my own!)therefore I needed to check that question. It was actually pretty funny and we were laughing, so nothing serious...just a little fun. So how gross are you?

http://www.blogthings.com/howgrossareyouquiz/

I'm all confused!

This is the photo that my husband wanted me to use for my profile picture. I decided against it. I look way too confused. Thank you Kristina for teaching me how to do a profile pic!

Where have I been?

This morning when I went out to get our morning newspaper, I noticed this house being built at the end of our street. I took this picture from my front door. I was very surprised because I never saw them digging or building the foundation or anything, until this point. Where have I been? I do feel like I've been unusually busy these days, and am very ready for our vacation coming up soon!

Snow Day!

Well, today my kids got their turn to be home from school. I was very happy for them, and it's kinda nice for me too since I have the day off. This is Steven snuggling with Jake this morning. Brrr...it sure is cold out there!

No School...except for us

Today it was SO cold that the school districts all around us closed, but not ours. Our district won't close for anything! My poor kids. Well at least they didn't have to wait at the bus stop. Dave had to go out of town and I had to work, so I took them to my parents. My dad ended up driving them to school. What a great Grandpa! All after school activities were cancelled.

FRIGID Day!

Well today it is FRIGID outside, but Dave and the boys are still outside playing in and on the igloo. Dave says it's not that cold inside of it. The dog goes out for about 5 or 10 minutes at a time and then barks at the sliding door to come in and lick his frozen little feet. Tonight we will have chicken chili with friends and watch the superbowl in the coziness of our home!

"Dinner time, oh... forget it."

Today I worked all day and was starving when I got home. I wanted some nice hot beef stew, so that's what I made. I must have been anxious to eat because I served up 4 delicious bowls of hot stew, with a piece of crusty garlic bread to go with each bowl. I very quickly discovered that the veggies weren't cooked completely (grrr...), so back into the pot went all 4 bowls (the rest of my family hadn't tried theirs yet). Back into the family room we all went to wait. It was torture, and I felt like I starved my poor family! It sure was YUMMY when we finally got to eat, but I ate so fats (oops, that was supposed to say fast, but I thought the typo was funny) and so much that now I feel guilty.

Crazy Man!

My husband must be the only man on our street that snowblows his yard. This is him this evening, snowblowing more snow onto our igloo. It is bigger than ever! I wonder what the neighbors think when they see him out there with the snowblower...LOL! What fun my boys have!

Sledding

Dave and Steven get ready to take the plunge on their snow tube yesterday while sledding. I actually went down several times too, it was fun!

Fun in the Snow!

Hooray, Steven doesn't have homework, and he's going outside!
Jake LOVES to roll in the snow!

My honey digs another doorway, while Michael collects the ice balls.

Steven peeks out of his cave.

Jake chases a squirrel up a tree, and then tries to climb it himself.

Jake decides to wait for his little squirrel friend to come back down to play. No pics of me since I was the designated picture taker.

Steven doing his homework like a good boy.
This is what Michael looks like these days when he ventures outdoors. Dave has snowblown another "mountain" in our backyard. It was too dark for me to get a good picture of it, but boy are Dave and Mike having fun on it! Poor Steven has had quite a bit of homework lately, so he has been busy working on it, while they're outside playing.

Ice!

I worked all day today, so I couldn't get very good pictures, but we had an icey day today. My honey moved my car into the garage last night so I wouldn't have to scrape and scrape before work. In spite of the freezing rain, every single one of my patients showed up, and I had a very busy day!

Full freezer!

Tonight Steven wanted some ice cream, but after he got it he had a heck of a time putting it away. Evidently we need to start eating more of what's in the freezer. Stuff was falling out on him and he was shoving it back in. At one point, he had 1 hand in there and his leg in there. He was holding something in with his foot, and then he tried to slam the door really quick. It didn't work. I was laughing hysterically!

Snow Fun!

Well, we didn't get to go sledding, but the kids and the dog had a great time playing in the back yard tonight. At first today, the dog seemed unphased by the snow, but he sure was excited tonight when he got to play in it with the boys. He was like a crazy dog! Steven actually got too warm and took his hat off. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 40's.

Even more snow now!

It snowed pretty hard here today, and if you compare the two photos, you can see. I went to visit my mom and dad today, and it was like a blizzard on my way there. Hmmm....maybe we'll take the boys sledding tonight before it all melts!! Sledding in the dark is always fun!

Snow!!

This is the view outside my back door this morning. I think that's enough snow for sledding, Martha!

Cookies!

Well, we finally did it. We made Russian tea cakes last night and cut outs today. The Russian tea cakes are gone already, so I guess there is a benefit to waiting to make them.

Things that go woof in the night

This is Jake. We adopted Jake from the Humane Society almost 9 years ago when he was a year old. He's really been a wonderful addition to our family, and I can't imagine him not being here with us.
Jake loves to look out all of our windows here, since he can do so easily. This is evident by all the snooty marks he leaves all over them. Well, last night when Jake should have been sleeping peacfully in his bed, he was looking out windows instead. He woke us at 3:35 am with a great barking commotion. Dave, myself, and both boys flew out of bed and down the stairs to see what was happening. We looked out small windows on either side of our front door, into the front yard where Jake was looking. There in our front yard, stood three deer. They didn't seem the least bit fazed by all of Jake's antics inside the house. I will admit though, I opened the door a crack to scare them off because I feared we would'nt get any peace until they were out of sight. Needless to say, I think it was probably 4:30 am or so by the time I got back to sleep. At least I know if there was any mischief of any sort going on out there, he'd be sure to let us know. Now I need to go take a nap.

Christmas Geeks!

This is one of our unsuccessful attempts last night, at getting a family photo for a Christmas card. Forget the dog, he was as much of a pain as the kids. We finally did get a good picture. Our Christmas card had a spot for 2 photos (a smaller one next to the family one), so we put the photo of Jake curled up in his bed in the little photo spot since he was uncooperative for the family shot. Oops, I forgot to get rid of our red eyes before posting this photo!

Major Cuteness!

Yesterday after I took a shower and blew dry my hair, I noticed Jakie sleeping in his bed, which is right next to ours. He looked so adorable all snuggled up, that I just had to take this picture!