My big boy

The last few days we have been pummelled with snow. We are going to have 10 more inches in the next couple of days. Today I told Daniel that I would give him a quarter if he would go out and shovel the porch. He was so excited, he went out and did his very best and earned his quarter. What a sweet kid!

Winter Weather

This morning we woke up and looked outside to see near blizzard conditions. The wind is blowing 40 MPH with a wind chill of -10, as you can imagine it is blowing snow causing major snow drifts and 0 visibility. We found out a few minutes ago that our church services have been cancelled because of the travel conditions. I thought I would share a few pictures of what our major highways look like right now.

Monica Marie

Tonight at dinner Monica kept wanting food from off my plate. I decided to try bribing her by telling her that is she took one bite of her food I would give her a bite of mine. She thought about it and then took a bite of her food, and then reached out for a bite of mine. I handed her a piece off my plate and immediately she spit out what was in her mouth and began to eat what I gave her. I thought to myself, well my 16 month old outsmarted me, she will not do that again. So the next time she put a piece of food in her mouth I made sure she swallowed it before she got a piece of mine. A little later during the meal she was still struggling eating her food, and I had finished everything on my plate. I told her that she needed to finish what mommy gave her. She kept grabbing for my plate. I thought, well it is empty so there is no harm in letting her have it, then I pushed my plate over toward her. She then proceeded to put everything off her plate onto my plate. When her plate was empty she gave me back my plate. Yes, I was once again outsmarted by my 16 month old. She is so smart and I love seeing her thought processes. What a darling blessing from God our Monica is!

BLIZZARD!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Dear friends and family. I am sorry that I have neglected to update my blog for almost 2 full weeks. Right now I am sitting here at 7:40 in the morning with the smell of my morning coffee filling the air thankful for my warm house. We are having a blizzard outside and it looks HORRIBLE. I am feeling sorry for anyone who has to get out in this to go to work this morning. We are supposed to get about a foot of snow, with snowfall so heavy at times it could fall an inch an hour. I really do not plan on going anywhere today. Last night Brandon and Daniel went to the store for me so we can hide until the storm is over.

I thought it might be a good time to give brief updates on the kids. Daniel is 4 1/2 and goes to preschool part time. I would love it if you would pray with us as we decide what to do for him next year regarding school. It seems that his speech teacher does not think he is ready for a regular kindergarden and has suggested a program for those who have speech problems. In the program they teach the children how to read and write full sentences by the end of Kindergarden. This in impresses me since are able to do this in spite of the kids having these handicaps. Even though Daniel has this speech problem he has so smart. He is such a handsome loving child. He is a great big brother and is very kind an gentle with his sister. He is always helping her get drinks, finding her passy, and playing games with her. He has really gotten into super heros lately and all day he is pretending to be someone else whether is is Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Larryboy, whoever. And while he is pretending to be these characters I have to address him by the proper name. Usually I will call "Daniel" and he will say "excuse me mommy I am batman." What a sweet way to say it! I love this kid.

Monica 16 months and is growing bigger everyday. She has a lot of personality and is so much fun to play with. It is very easy to make her giggle and her giggle could melt a heart of stone. She is very persistent and knows exactly what it is that she wants. When we finally figure out her request she will start laughing in excitement. She is starting to love playing with baby dolls. She really loves her big brother and always wants to do everything he is doing. Thankfully he is gracious about having a shadow.

I am very blessed to have two healthy children. I praise the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be a mother. I do not take the fact that I was able to have two children for granted. I know I am blessed!

"While you were sleeping"

As we enter this week of Advent I thought I would post this video and these lyrics by "Casting Crowns."


Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night

Monica Pouting

Here is a funny video of Monica pouting because she is out of juice. Instead of coming to me and asking "more please" she decided to "play charades" and pout and see how long it took me to figure out what she wanted.

Monica's love for going to bed.

Monica is a silly child. When Monica gets tired she loves to go to bed and nothing excites her more than the possibility of being able to lay down in a dark quiet place. Now of course when she is not tired she throws fits and refuses to lay down. Here is a video of the Monica right before bed last night.

Let it snow!

Well even though Winter has not officially began it sure feels like it. We have had very cold weather and it has been snowing quite a bit. On Sunday it snowed around 5 inches. Daniel loves to go out and play in the snow. He waits all spring, summer and fall just for there to be snow again. We took him and Monica out to play in the snow on Sunday afternoon. Daniel had a blast, Monica was just not sure what to think.