January

So, January, the new year was there when I woke up and I was hoping it wouldn't be as hard of a year as 2007 had been. The funny thing about a new year is that nothing really changes except for the number of the year, there is no magic page to turn and suddenly everything is different, better. The hard times come into the new year with us as we move along, thankfully God does too. He doesn't change either, He is with us always and that's a wonderful thing. His promises endure forever and He always gives us the strength, or simply carries us, through our dark valley's.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me: Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4

Another thing I expected of Jan. was our lives to calm down and be able to do some relaxing, I don't know why I haven't learned from my 30 some past years that this is NEVER true. Jan. 2008 has already been busier than Thanksgiving or Christmas was!

As far as business goes... The 3rd of January we went with a few friends and their children to a place called Planet Kid.

Here's Hider-man and Bed-bug having some fun. I don't know how to describe the place, lets see, noisy, crazy, full of children and a very large indoor "jungle gym". The kids played hard for 3 Hours and there was still lots of complaining when us mom's told the kids it was time to leave. Bed-bug came up to me during the playing time, took her thumb out of her mouth, said she sprained it and showed it to me-- it was red and starting to swell up and looked like it might be a bit crooked, maybe broken!(mother's paranoia). It wasn't very long until she went back to play so I figured her thumb must not be to bad, but she came back a little later and it looked even worse. We got a band-aid around her thumb so it wouldn't bend while she was playing and I had to sign a paper assuring that I wouldn't sue Kid Planet for what happened to Bed-bug while we were there. Thankfully one of my friends husband is in a particular area of medicine, he looked at Bed-bug's thumb and told me it wasn't broken, it was a good sprain and it would slowly heal up. Whew, Thank God! All in all Hider-man and Bed-bug had a great time with their friends and we mom's were the ones tired out, not the kids. Typical.

The weekend following that adventure Sports-guy and I went out to celebrate our 12th anniversary, we were able to have a full 24 hours to ourselves-- thanks Mr. & Mrs. T.! We went to a lot of different stores, ate at two different restaurants and we were able to watch a whole movie from the comfort of our own couch without having to pause it a million times! Very nice.

No time to breath, then there was a pair of parties to ponder! Bed-bug received 2 different party invitations on a Sunday,the first party was for a Friday & the second one was for the very next day--Party weekend for my little girl! The first birthday celebration was a purple pony party at the Thompson's zoo (not a real zoo, just what our friends call their place). After we arrived Bed-bug acted like a frightened filly and didn't want to play in any of the horsey games. She eventually eased up and trotted around with the other fillies and had some fun! Not long after that though I had to round her up and head her home.


Uh, A walrus pony? Those are pretzel sticks.

The next party was a bit like the first one, Bed-bug didn't want to join in the games at this celebration either. Then, just to reinforce that feeling in her, something happened... Everyone was given a can of silly string and told to spray the birthday girl after they were done singing "Happy Birthday" to her. (* Party tip- Do NOT let kids shoot silly string at each other while they are all sitting around the table that has the birthday cake, cups, plates and plastic wear on it! I won't go into details, just don't do it.*) At any rate, as the string war was going on Bed-bug and the girl sitting next to her both ended up under the table crying! After I saved my little damsel in distress she wasn't to keen to leave my side-- but you know, it's amazing how quickly cake, ice-cream and Sprite can change that attitude.
After those parties Bed-bug has been totally inspired to plan her upcoming birthday party and continues to add to the list of things I'm going to do for the celebration. Here we go!

Although we have been busy there was still time for cabin fever to strike. Will someone please turn Spring back on?

Hider-man was bored and had my camera, hi Pix!
Chewbacca's little sister?
We've been getting a lot of snow in January- a lot of snow for Idaho that is.The kids love it, Bed-bug likes to play in the snow and eat it--look out for yellow! And Hider-man always wants to build a good snow fort, which he has been able to do twice this month. Oh, and we can't forget about the snowballs everyone here likes to throw-- watch out!
One day Sports-guy took the kids to go sledding down the "mountain" at the college here in town. That day they had the whole hill all to themselves, how fun is that?

Here's Hider-man working on his first fort.


Bed-bug and Hider-man sittin' in a fort.
Here's Hider-man and just the beggining of the second snow fort
Saturdays were very busy for Sports-guy, he would go into Boise to work on a previously used church building we have since moved into and call our church home. A couple times Hider-man went to the big city with his Dad and helped out at the building.

The boys back from painting the church building. One of those Saturdays I sat down with Bed-bug and taught her how to sew by hand with the help of a kit we bought her for Christmas. She did so well, finished her first little bird and was so excited she made the second bird the next day. Now she is sure she can make anything with thread, a needle and felt! (She was planning on making gifts for everyone! She just finished a dog for Gecko to give him on his Birthday.)

Bed-bug sewing her first birdie.
She's sew proud!
We also had the usual appointments, violin lessons, covenant groups, roller skating, taking care of other children, joined a home-school Co-op, lots of different things with Gecko, things we had to cancel, the list goes on.

Another exciting thing happened in January, Sports-guy got a promotion at work, way to go Sports-guy, we're so proud of you for hanging in there!
So, at the end of Jan.-(February Eve!) here's hoping you all will enjoy this next month.

Filling in and Catching up.

Hello, "Farm-girl" here, I'm just learning how to "work a Blog" so forgive all the mistakes! The creator and original writer of this blog, "Sports-guy", has been extremely busy and worn out as of lately, as you can see in the picture below, so I thought I would try and do some filling in and catching up on our going's on around here. Bed-bug snuggled up to Daddy (Sports-guy)

OK, we'll have to back up to Autumn. The kids LOVE to play in the fall leaves, here's Hider-man the leaf boy. Followed by Bed-bug, now being a little leaf bug.
Spots-guy isn't as fond of the leaves falling as the kids are, to him it means a lot of raking and bagging, although, Hider-man has been doing that job as of lately. Good job Hider-man-- those aren't even leaves from our trees!

Also, in the Fall, "Gecko", (oldest son), moved back to ID , although he is not living with us. He is in need of abundant prayer.
Here is Hider-man, Bed-bug and Gecko together again.
(Hmmm, sounds like a super hero cartoon group)

Of course, we can't talk about Fall with out talking about football, more specifically Boise State Football. Although the team didn't win like they did last season we still cheer for BSU! So does our pug Pixie (real name) whether she is willing to or not.
Awww, cheer up chubby pug, it's just for the photo.

Much to my chagrin - did I spell it right?- Fall means that winter is just around the corner and I am not fond of that particular season. To be a bear and hibernate...ahhh. But then I'd miss out on chunks of life.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus
1Thess. 5:18

Boy, do I need to remind myself of that verse often. Speaking of Thanks, we had a quaint Thanksgiving celebration with Grandma D.S.. over. This was only the 2ND time I've made Thanksgiving dinner and it turned out to be better than the first time I "cooked" the dinner. Thanks be to God alone!

So,we move onto this winter. Christmas is the first thing to pop into many heads when thinking of winter. The day after Thanksgiving Hider-man wanted the Christmas tree up!
I told him that I wouldn't do it but if he could bring the tree upstairs and put it together by himself then by all means go ahead and do it. So he did.

Here's Bed-bug,Pixie and Hider-man in front of the tree,in November.

What else did we do in December? We home schooled and got ready for Christmas. Some days were too icky to play outside and we've had our episodes of cabin fever-- so, sometimes we get a little silly, like Hider-man here.* Here's Bed-bug ,having styled her own hair and is sitting in a cardboard box.

Poor Pixie, no one is immune to cabin fever shenanigans! Nice puggie tails.
When Christmas did finally come it was actually a white one! We had another quaint Christmas Eve celebration with Grandma D.S. This was my first Christmas dinner to cook and it was a flop! My poor family! Thankfully they took it all gracefully and Grandma D.S. said she actually enjoyed it-- she's so loving. That night we camped in front of the Christmas tree -- a tradition-- with our noise maker set to "outside at night" noises. After we woke up Sports-guy read to us from the Bible about the true meaning of Christmas, then Hider-man played us a beautiful Christmas hymn on his violin! Encore!


Then onto stockings! Here's Hider-man,Bed-bug and Sports-guy with their stockings.


Pixie: "Do I have a stocking?" She did, with a yummy treat in it. (Well, yummy for her.)


Then onto present opening. Here's Hider-man and Bed-bug opening some presents. While Pixie checks out the unopened boxes -- she really gets into other people opening presents, she gets as excited as a little kid and doesn't complain when she gets nothing! We should all be like that.


We then went and saw Gecko and had some gift exchanging. He made us a beautiful red picture frame in wood-shop. Here's Hider-man, Bed-bug and Gecko in front of the tree where Gecko is at.

We got to see many family members and lots of friends during Christmas and the days surrounding it which was the real treat! Thank you Lord for Family and good friends! May He bless you all!

Last celebration of the year, New Years Eve. Sports-guy and Hider-man stayed up past midnight, Bed-bug tried but she didn't quite make it. I didn't even try, I need the sleep and I know the new year will be there when I wake up.This picture of Bed-bug pretty much sums up how we all felt at the end of 2007!
So, onto 2008...we'll see what God has in store for us.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is it's own trouble. Matt 6:34

We Have a Winner!

We recently received a phone call from the local grocery store informing us that "Hider-man" won the Christmas coloring contest for his age group. "Bed-bug" entered as well, but unfortunately did not win (although she did a great job as well). Congratulations to Hider-man for a job well done (and thanks for sharing some of your prize: a stocking full of Tootsie Roll products!), and to Bed-bug, give it another try next year, you did great little one!