Drum roll, please ...

What a nice surprise we got yesterday! Christa and J and kids came home from Lincoln in time to join us at Mom and Dad's to celebrate. Unfortunately, poor Lexi had an accident about 20 minutes after she walked in the door, so here she is in her "revised" Christmas outfit ...

My brother Chris (shown here under his sweet wife Amy), as usual seeking to irritate and offend with his gifts, bought Lexi a drum set. Unfortunately for him, they were the hit of the day - provided us with many good laughs throughout the day! Notice Lexi's coordination - amazing! Ha.



Mason gets into the act with these next two - I couldn't choose between them because they're both funny! We labeled him "the quiet drummer" - you'll see why. Watch him straddle the little chair ... as the day goes on he becomes more and more obsessed with that little chair, and figured out how to straddle it for a long while without actually sitting on it ... good thing because inevitably when he tried to sit he was off balance and ended up tipping over! There's a great shot of Alex's back side in one of them too - at least it isn't mine (someone (you know your name) gets a shot of my rear end at almost every holiday ... time to pass the torch).





Lots of chaos and noise in the background ... just the way it should be! :)

Merry Christmas!

I woke up with the Hallelujah Chorus running through my mind this morning - Merry Christmas!

This is the first ever Christmas morning that Greg and I have woken up to a silent, empty house. VERY strange. A little sad. I'm sort of going through the motions of the season, waiting for my kids to come home so we can celebrate together!

BUT the important stuff about Christmas is not related to my particular circumstances, this year or any year, and so I am in worship and awe this morning of what we're celebrating today - that Jesus set aside his "God-ness" to become a helpless human baby, so that we could be saved! Hallelujah!

Dave's Lanes

This is a picture I took of Linda this weekend - pretty good one I thought! What does that have to do with "Dave's Lanes", you ask?


Well, Dave's Lanes is the name of the bowling alley where she bowls on a Monday night women's league in smalltown Wisconsin. I had the pleasure of accompanying her Monday night, and was SO reminded of what small towns are made of!! This place is a bar with 8 (or 10?) bowling lanes ... Linda bought a new ball at the beginning of the season and it literally has HUGE chunks cut out of it in a number of places from the fine-tuned machinery at Dave's Lanes.


I will say that Dave is a nice guy, though, as he handed out freebies like the ice scraper below (I didn't REALLY steal it - did you think I did?). The best one in the box was a mini-fly-swatter-keychain. I really should have gotten one of those but unfortunately it wasn't "mini" enough to fit either in my pocket or my purse WITHOUT keys!


I have some stories I could tell about foul language, 1980's hairdos, strong drinks, and one of the worst wedgies I've ever seen. It was hard to decide what to choose, but I'll leave those and instead opt for my favorite visual of the night:

Bathtub babies!

Here's a neat picture - actually two pictures in one - on the right is Lexi at about 15 months (last time we visited Linda) and on the left is a picture of her cousin Cassie at about the same age (Cassie is now 9). See any resemblance?!

Martha, dear Martha

Yesterday during my quiet time I read in "The Message" Luke 10:41-42, right after Martha complains that Mary is leaving her to do all the hard work in the kitchen while she (Mary) sits at the feet of Jesus. Jesus says: "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it - it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."

Anybody else find themselves (at this time of the year especially) fussing too much, getting yourself worked up over nothing? I know I do. Jesus gave a gentle, loving reminder to Martha (and to me) to keep the main thing the main thing - very good for me during this holiday season.

On that note, I have the blessing of heading to Wisconsin tomorrow to spend a few days with Linda and family. I am really looking forward to spending some time with her! I'll be home Tuesday, in time for a few days of rest (and focus on the "main course!") before the Christmas rounds begin here - we will get to spend Christmas Eve with Greg's family, Christmas Day with my family, and the day after Christmas with our children and grandkids, parents, and neighbors-turned-family Kirk and Brenda and boys. So much to look forward to, and yet I am really praying that I will keep focused even in all the delight of preparation and gifts and fellowship, that I won't forget Jesus, even for a minute!

Here's a couple of cute Lexi pictures:

Here's Lexi, finally carrying our poor kitty in a reasonable manner ... she loves the kitty so much! Every time (and I do mean EVERY time) she's here, she tells me, "Nini, your kitty is SO CUTE!!" and "I WUB your kitty so much!" Don't know how much kitty has been feeling the love though, since it was a two week project teaching her to pick the kitty up "nicely" - aka, not by the tail or throat. :)

And here she is with Brenda, fresh from a nap (Lexi, not Brenda :), soft and cuddly and warm and flushed cheeks ... when I took the picture, Lexi said, "Nini took a picture!" Brenda replied, "Yes, she took a picture of a pretty girl!" Lexi's answer: "Yes, and of YOU TOO!" Ha ... ha ... ha?

It's 4:30 a.m. ...

... and I am as wide awake as Mason looks in this picture! I wish I was sleeping but since I fell asleep in the chair at about 8:00 last night it's not surprising that I'm sitting here in front of the computer instead!

A couple of points of interest - note that I have added "Pipsqueak Photography" as a blog link on the left - this is my niece Shannon's new business. Check out her site, and ask me or Christa to see the pictures she took of Lexi and Mason - she's amazing!! Also, be sure to take a look at B.J.'s blog - he has some news about school that many of you have been praying about I'm sure!

I had the blessing of going to help a new friend get ready for a dinner party yesterday afternoon - there's nothing better than working side by side with someone to get to know them better. Today Christa and Brenda and I are going to make Turkey Pot Pie for our respective family dinners - without a doubt that will be a blast! We've started cooking together recently, and I learn something new every time. Of course there's the added bonus of sweet babies underfoot, warm and yummy smells surrounding us, some good music on the cd player, and ALWAYS hilarious conversation!

Brenda and I have each started a "read through the Bible" - we do our devotional time separately but we are reading the same thing, then we go walk together at the Mall and talk about what we read, what it means for us, how much God is teaching us, how amazing He is, etc. etc.! I am feeling better physically and more alive spiritually than I have in a very long time - my days are filled with praise and joy, unrelated to circumstances. I am so thankful for this, as many of you know this is the time of year I generally struggle with depression.

And Christmas is just around the corner! Although it's been harder to get in the Christmas "spirit" this year, since we are truly empty nesters and neither of our kids will be home until the day after Christmas, I have been utterly struck once again with the idea of Jesus laying aside His "God-ness" in heaven to become not just a man, but an infant, helpless, human, and subject to all that we experience in our lives and so much more ... His purpose in laying that aside was so that He could save us! The first section of Philippians 2 talks about this - right after Paul tells us to put the interests of others ahead of ourselves. Sometimes I think I'm doing ok with this ... until I read the next section and get reminded of what Jesus gave up, in heaven and on earth, to put my interests (and yours) ahead of His.

Well, that's my brain dump for this morning. :) I'll leave you with some of pictures of the kiddos busy concentrating ... I love Mason's little tongue sticking out in the second one!

For better or for worse ...

Seriously, I adore this man and his many hidden talents!! (I betcha I get a serious payback for posting this but I'm already pretty sure it'll be worth it! :)

In the Christmas spirit

OK so I broke down and did some Christmas decorating after all. :) Actually, the way it went was that Greg started getting the stuff out and then I couldn't help myself, I got into the decorating a little bit.



Wondering how I got that stuff up there? Thinking it was Greg who helped? NOPE!


It was definitely Brenda, aka SHERA, my superhero friend who has me walking at least three days a week with her, and as a result I'm feeling more energetic than I have in a long time! (Obviously not energetic enough to climb up above the closet ... maybe by next year?)

Weekend antics

What a fun weekend we had with the kids! Everyone was piled in our bed Sunday morning, including the kitty ... it was more peaceful before Mason and the kitty joined us. :)

Lexi was her normal hilarious self ... when J dropped her off, I asked her when was the last time she went potty. Her answer? "6:40!" Huh?

Puzzle time

Doesn't snowy weather just beg for hot chocolate and a jigsaw puzzle? That's what we did when I was a kid and had a snow day ... old habits die hard I guess.

This is Lexi's handiwork ... with a little help from me. She pretty much lost interest in the boring white middle section. :)

This one Greg and I started Thursday night and finished the 1000th piece Sunday night - Lexi kept asking me what was in the barn. I would ask her what she thought could be in there, and she would answer, "A cow, and some pigs ... but what's REALLY in there Nini?" I don't think I ever quite got her to understand it was just a PICTURE!

Snowblower heaven

This was the perfect snow for a new snow blower! By the time it was all over, we got about 9" of powdery, fluffy snow -
and Greg got to break out the new snowblower! He and my dad went in together and bought one this year.
Once our driveway was finished (didn't he do a nice job?) he went to do Mom and Dad's, then Christa and J's driveways too.

The snow is still hanging around here, but from the looks of the forecast for the week probably not for long. More soon!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

It's only 2 1/2 hours into this storm that's supposed to last all night, and we already have something like 4-5 inches of snow!! Greg came home early to try out his new snowblower - he's just getting started so no pictures of him yet ... maybe later. :)
This is the view out my back patio door...
And this is the view out my front door (think those trash men are still coming today? Me neither.)
This was the same tree yesterday, covered in ice!

I'll keep you updated with snowfall totals - never a dull moment in Kansas when it comes to the weather! You know it's been a WEIRD weather weeks when, while sorting laundry from only the past few days, I get down to the bottom of the hamper, and under the sweatshirts and long underwear I find shorts and tank tops!

Weather extravaganza

Nothing like the Midwest to bring adventure into our lives through the weather - maybe because there's not much else going on here?? (Besides ridiculous inflatable Christmas displays of course - see previous post.)

Yesterday (and for almost a week before) it was in the mid-70's, balmy and warm, had to have the ceiling fans going, didn't want to have the oven running or a crowd of people in the house for fear the air conditioner would be necessary. TODAY:

Freezing rain, snow expected overnight, and the temperature is now in the low 30's and falling rapidly. The heater is on. I'm making bread and soup. Love it.

10 days??

WOW!!!!! I can't believe I've let 10 days go by without posting. I guess Thanksgiving preparations consumed me last week, and then ...



These two cute kids came in from San Diego to surprise everyone on Thanksgiving day! Greg and I knew they were coming, but no one else did, so it was a very fun thing to see everyone's surprised faces when they walked in!! It required a bit of truth manipulating by me ... telling a sad story of how Greg got called away to fix a client's hot water heater when he was really at the airport picking them up ... and I had everyone fooled so well that it was kind of scary to think I was that good at lying!!

Anyway, they're still here, we've enjoyed every minute, and that's why I haven't posted in awhile!

Last night we went to visit the self-proclaimed "Largest Private Inflatable Christmas Display in America" ... it was impossible to get a good picture of the whole thing, so these will have to do. Let's just say it was ridiculous!! But, something for B.J. and Darah to brag about when they get back to San Diego, for sure!! Sea World's got nothin' on this display!!

New videos

First, if anyone hasn't gone to Shannon's website to see the video of Kylee dancing, do it now! HILARIOUS!!

This first one is of Lexi saying the verses she's memorized over the last couple of weeks - the first one, Daniel 12:12, "Blessed are those who wait," was actually taught out of necessity when she was carrying on like a fool wanting something before it was time to have it ... we talk about what it means a lot! The second one is our paraphrase of Colossians 3:20: "Children, mind your mommy and daddy." And yes, she does get rewarded with food at the end. Is that bad??



This is Mason yesterday, actually the last of four videos I took of him CHOWING DOWN on this yummy dessert Brenda brought over (recipe on her website - peppermint, oreos, can't go wrong there). Don't judge it by the mess on Mason's face, it's really good! Anyway Brenda and I get a little out of control sometimes and use the children as our outlet, if you listen carefully you can hear Christa the prude getting all mad at us just for having some fun!

The Battle

Well, there will be nothing humorous in this post, I'll tell you that now. Serious subject, sad day.

Christa and I, along with two friends from my church, went to an abortion clinic this morning to try to do some sidewalk counseling. There is a Christian pregnancy resource center across the street that had done a presentation to our Westbrooke women's group a couple of weeks ago, and she said that their greatest "need" was for people to show up at the abortion clinic. She said that several girls who had had abortions told her that if only someone had been standing between them and the clinic they never would have done it.

Well, I started praying, as did my friends. In my flesh, I did NOT want anything to do with this at all. I am not politically minded, definitely not an activist, hate confrontation, you name it, I don't have any of the qualities I would think necessary for protesting. But God really kept pulling at my heart, and finally, after talking to my friends and Christa, we decided to just go and see what happened. We all agreed that we didn't want to carry signs, we weren't going to yell, or say anything about them being murderers, etc., just be loving. Beyond that we had not a clue what we would say or do.

We arrived at 8:00 this morning - the abortions start at 9:00 but everyone has to be there by then and they just wait their turn. We were armed with a booklet printed by the state of Kansas showing pictures of a baby in-utero every two weeks of its development, and the only advice we had received was to ask them if they got the booklet (by Kansas law they were supposed to) and to ask them if they knew what their baby looked like right now.

There was a bodyguard there to escort the girls into the building - at first he was almost hostile to us, and told the girls to ignore us and not look at us, which is exactly what they did. So we went back to the van, prayed some more, and regrouped. Another car pulled up. Christa jumped out by herself and went to talk to the girl - the bodyguard guy actually backed off and let her talk! This seems like a miracle still - after that point we talked to the girls one on one instead of in a group while the other three stayed in the car and prayed, and the bodyguard truly walked away each time and let us talk to them.

The sad, sad, thing is that every one of them still went in to the clinic. Every one broke our hearts. We talked about how good we have been about "talking" about this issue, but none of us have ever come face to face with it before. We were all physically and spiritually ill when we left, but we are forever bonded together because of the experience. I kept thinking of the passage in 2 Chronicles - "Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on You." And the Battle is not ours, but the Lord's, and we KNOW it is His battle and the desire of His heart that these babies not die.

So, will I go back? I think so. My heart still hurts pretty bad tonight, I feel unsettled and unhappy, but not discouraged, because this battle IS the Lord's. I really believe (and so do the others) that if we could mobilize a literal army of people to go line the sidewalk between the parking lot and the clinic, not to say a word, not to hold signs, but simply to pray, with one or more "point" people talking to the girls as they come out of their cars like we did today, it would be powerful. They would hear the truth, then have to walk through the "gauntlet" of silence or maybe audible prayer - no hatred, no judgment, just love and conviction.

So that is the cry of my heart tonight ... that God will provide a rotating army of people to go visit that clinic every week. To those of you who knew I was going and prayed, THANK YOU! To Brenda, who watched Christa's kids so she could go - THANK YOU! She was awesome, and for sure she was God's instrument there today.

Boycott over

Well, I can officially post again. I was boycotting my blog until B.J. posted. Very mature of me, don't you think? Well, so what, it worked.

This is embarrassing. The chair I was sitting in was creaking and groaning - you can see why. Guess my butt's too big. Brenda, thanks for making me post this.
The back of Mason's head, after Papa sprayed him with water and did a little "styling" ... no real point to this picture, it just looks funny! :)
And Lexi's curly pig tails! I love them!
And my mother-in-law, Pat, talking to a group of eight young women Saturday morning at our first Kitchen Window class - we have another one Thursday night with eight more women, mostly older (or should I say seasoned :). The class is designed to share with each other about budgeting, shopping, meal planning, tips and tricks in the kitchen, essential kitchen "tools", etc. We had a blast!

Headline news: Brenda needs to get out more! says McDonald's employee

So Tuesday, Brenda and I headed for Toys-R-Us to do some Christmas shopping for her boys. (Somehow I came home with more than she did, and my kids are all over 20. Not sure what happened there.)

Anyway, we got there at 9:45, both of us being OCD and habitually early, when they didn't open until 10:00. So, being the coupon/sausage QUEEN (did you miss that pageant?), I suggested we go to McDonald's for some fortification since I had a buy one - get one free breakfast sandwich coupon.

This little lady who waited on us was probably 70+ years old, and her little Mickey D's vest was literally covered in metal pins ... like "Smile, God loves you", and every state she'd ever visited, etc. etc. I handed her the coupon, told her the sandwich and drink I wanted, and then noticed Brenda fumbling around in her purse for her debit card. I grabbed her arm, and told the little cashier to tell her "No!" SO this lady YELLS at Brenda, "SHE SAID NO!" and grabbed the debit card and handed it to me! Then she looks at me and says, "Thank you! It was good to have permission to get that out - I'm feeling very angry this morning!" (Much laughter as you might imagine.)

But ... we still need Brenda's order. Little angry old lady and I are waiting patiently, and Brenda's looking back and forth between us grinning like a fool, obviously having no idea that she's holding up the train. So I said, "Brenda! What do you want to eat?" And so she points at the coupon, then stutters a couple of unintelligible words (she might have even drooled a little). I gently tell her she has to PICK a sandwich and point at the menu board. The little lady leans over to me and says, "You don't take her out much, do you?!" And I shake my head, sadly, no I don't, and she says, "You really need to get her out more, even if you take her to Hardee's, that's ok with me!!"

By now Brenda and I are nearly hysterical with laughter ... quite a lot of entertainment for $3.20!

So, as my title says, I'm looking for volunteers to "socialize" poor Brenda and teach her things like proper coupon etiquette at fast food restaurants, etc. Beware that you may be embarrassed, but it will be worth the warm feeling of helping a poor soul learn how to function in the real world. :)

Love ya Bren, you know I do!!!!!!!!!! You knew this was coming, right? Too good of a story to pass up.

Frozen pea salad

Sorry B.J. - this is really good and I have to post it! We grilled a bunch of meat last night (it was beautiful here yesterday!) and put most of it in the freezer to pull out for easy meals and Greg's lunches. I made this little salad to go with what we ate for dinner - I halved it for the two of us so I would say this recipe serves four easily.

8 slices bacon
1- 10 oz bag frozen green peas, thawed and drained
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c chopped green onions (I used purple, didn't have green)
2/3 c sour cream
1 c chopped cashews
salt and pepper to taste

Cook and crumble bacon; set aside. Combine peas, celery, onion, sour cream and salt and pepper. Toss gently to mix. Just before serving, stir in cashews and bacon.

Yummy easy crunchy salad!

Went to the cardiologist today and my blood pressure was so good she told me to cut my medication in half and see what happens - no nasty side effects any more either!! Life is good!

Confidence!!

During a meal this weekend, Lexi suddenly announced, "I wanna sing sumpin'!" Although we suspected (rightly so) that the end goal was to get out of eating anymore of my yummy dinner, we said, "Wait wait ... let Nini get the camera!"



Wouldn't you love to be that confident in your singing ability?!

More bathroom humor

We've been tag-teaming with my mom and dad watching the kiddos this weekend while Christa and J are at a marriage conference in Iowa - hope they enjoy it as much as we did when we went!!

Yesterday Lexi disappeared for some undetermined length of time ... when I noticed she was MIA, I yelled "Lexi what are you doing?" From the bathroom at the top of the stairs came the sweet little answer ... "I'm Pwunging!!" Arghhhhhhh! Plunger in the toilet, water everywhere, big long talk about who's allowed to use the plunger (Nini and Papa), threats of a spanking next time ... you know the drill.

I do love that child.

I just realized how many of my posts are about poop and such. Hmmm. Wonder what that means.

Halloween hangover

I got to watch the babies the morning after Halloween -Christa had a doctor's appointment so I had to be there at 7:20 a.m. -
this is pretty much what I dealt with until she got home at about 10:00 a.m. To her credit, mommy set the ground rules -

one piece of candy after breakfast. Good thing, because I knew how to respond all 97 times when Lexi said "But Mommy said I could have more candy."

The funniest thing all day, though, (besides Kirk and Brenda's wedding video) was when Lexi announced that she had to go potty. I took her in there, thinking she was going to pee, and she started straining and talking at the same time: "I get caaaaaaaaaaaaaaannndy (grunt) if I poooooooooooooooooooooop (grunt)." This is a much better visual story than word story but it'll have to do because I couldn't resist. Happy ending: she definitely pooped, and Mommy was home by then and she did get more candy. All's well that ends well, I guess.

I can't put my arms down!!!!

Anyone seen "A Christmas Story" as many times as we have? Remember that poor little kid so wrapped up in the snowsuit, scarf, mittens, etc etc that he couldn't move, and if he fell, he couldn't get up? Well, that's what Mason reminds me of in his winter coat, and I think the pictures back me up. :)
I'll guess you'll just have to trust me that this is Mason, since you can't see his face, or even his hands ...

Random pictures

No real news from my corner of the world, so I thought I'd just go back through my pictures and see if there were any I should have posted but didn't because I forgot or something more entertaining came along. (Wow was that the longest run-on sentence ever?)







The first picture was during the potty training days ... I think Christa and Lexi just hung out in the bathroom the entire day but whatever, it worked! Glad that's behind us! Then there's my "little" brother Mike with Lexi - the boy can sleep anywhere, anytime. It's a gift. The huge cat is my friend Darlynn's - I can't remember what it's called but it's some special breed ... anyway it was ginormous!! The last picture is Eric on his birthday - judging by the painted toenails it is his sweet mother Brenda rearranging his face. :)