Girlie Fun

Well, after yesterday's post "all about the boy" I thought our daughter needed some equal time. She's been busy this morning, producing high fashion. I bought this paper doll kit at Joann's a couple weeks ago, and finally pulled it out this morning. Let me tell you, it was well-worth the $3 I forked over (yes, I used a coupon ;) It's a nice heavy-weight doll, and it comes with a pad of 48 pre-printed outfits (some of which have blacked out areas which are supposed to be trimmed off, which is why some of the dresses are less voluminous than others). We both had fun with it, and there are still a lot of dresses to go. And on a side note, I also picked up this little coloring thing - she's been painting these, and when they're all done we're going to string them together to make a mobile for her room. Crayola has definitely come up with some cool stuff!

Adorable Boy

D announced that he wanted "pointy hair" for school today - so I pulled out some hair gel and he was transformed into this:

(I particularly like the jean jacket with the collar up - and no, I had nothing to do with that detail!)

Breathe in, breathe out...

So what's the latest from the D house?!

Some fabulous things:

• We're finally beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel in regard to the house. The new paint looks wonderful (and I'm vowing to keep things "fresher" in our new place). Realtor will be coming early next week.
• We've been looking at places in South TX off and on for awhile now, but spent some time this week really researching and speaking to the realtor. Have narrowed down the search considerably, and we're getting excited about the possibilities. One place is on 4 acres and has its own fishing pier... how cool would that be?!?
• I've lost 10 lbs in the past 6 weeks!!
• Had a "craft sell-off" and was able to get rid of a good amount of my ridiculously large stash.

Some frustrating things:

• There are still 2 rooms that we've barely touched. And soooo much clutter still piled up. I have tossed, passed along, and donated countless garbage bags... so where does all this stuff keep coming from?
• We've all been sick. Both kids have ear infections, and I actually ended up taking our daughter to the ER on Saturday night when she was crying hysterically that her tummy hurt. (We still don't know exactly what was wrong, but the doctors were at least able to eliminate a lot of things, and thankfully she seems to be fine now). Hubby and I have been dealing with sinus issues and lack of sleep.
• Son is continuing to struggle with his behavior at school, and has a hard time staying on task when he's not interested. He gets particularly frustrated when sounding out words (just can't string all the sounds together) - we had a rather interesting discussion on Thursday night when he announced that he didn't need to know how to read ;)
• Daughter dropped our camera Friday, lens down. Thankfully this was our small "tuck in the pocket and go" rather than my beloved SLR, but it was still incredibly frustrating. Hubby spent several hours on it, seeing if it could be salvaged, but the gear mechanism had been stripped out and it ended up in the trash.
• Haven't even touched tax stuff yet (which is generally done by the end of Feb.)
• It looks like hubby will soon be headed to Europe for a 2 wk business trip.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind...

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed...

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:2-6, 12-14, 17

(A good reminder can be found here, as well)

Friday Funny

"When you're making crafts, you're spicing up the world
Face it pretty girl, you're craftastic!"

A year has passed...

Twelve months without Dad around. How could it be? We had a girls' night out last week with our table from MOPS. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, and I ordered a pasta dish. When it arrived, I just had to laugh and think of him.

Some background: I am a mix of mostly German and Scandinavian heritage, born and raised in Montana. We ate spaghetti, but frankly I'd had very little exposure to good Italian food. When hubby (well, fiancee at the time - we got married six weeks later!) and I graduated college our families celebrated with dinner at a local Italian place. I was feeling rather swank so I ordered shrimp scampi. When it arrived, there was a fork AND a spoon on the dish. Now what in the world was that spoon for?! I did know that I wasn't supposed to cut spaghetti, so I began twirling it onto my fork, managing a nice squeak on the glass plate in the process. Well, my almost-FIL (1oo% Italian, BTW) was sitting next to me and looked over at what I was doing and basically ripped the utensil out of my hand. I was stunned and unsure how to react. He then placed the fork into my right hand and the spoon into my left, and showed me how to properly load it :) I don't think he said a word throughout the entire process. I was a bit embarrassed, but what could I do other than continue with my meal?

You can bet that I never forgot that lesson - and I just have to smile whenever I see my entree complete with a shiny spoon. You may be gone, Dad, but you'll never be forgotten.

Long time, no post!

Still here, still plugging away on the house. Everything is taking longer than we had anticipated, and I must admit that I'm getting tired of the spackle & paint scene, but it really is shaping up nicely! We have ambitious plans for the week, and if we can get it all done, then that leaves us with only 2 more rooms to address. Whew! We still don't have an exact move date, or even a house picked out... I know several people have commented that they would totally be freaking out at this point, but the Lord has really given us peace on the whole matter. We're planning to head to TX in late April or early May to find a place, and then the move date is sometime between June 15-July 17. Can't believe how soon it will be here!

Saturday was a real taste of spring (67 degrees!), and while we weren't able to go play all day, we did open up every single window in the house. And can I just mention that we had a fairly substantial snowstorm on Monday? Yep, strange March weather.

No school for our district today, so I'm planning a few things with the kids. We're doing a library run, and I've also set aside some game-time. They've really been fabulous through this process, but I'm noticing they are both acting out a bit so I'm focusing a bit more on them today. On a final note, I thought I'd share a few images that the kids captured when I set them loose with the camera this morning: