I just got my camera lens back from Nikon yesterday . . .too late for any Christmas pictures of my own. Bummer. I pulled this pic off a friend's myspace album. . .the kids attended her son's birthday party last week.

I get to pick up the car rental today, been driving the church van for a week now since no rentals have been available. My own car won't be fixed until late next week, however. Been getting mail already from attorneys wanting to know if I want to sue the everloving pants off the beast who caused such pain and suffering by broadsiding me in the slick ice and snow. Sorry, I just don't think I'm entitled to big money and causing hardship on someone else because of an accident. If he'd been drinking or grossly negligent, maybe, but not because of a relatively minor accident caused by icy conditions. I wouldn't want someone else treating me that way. I am, however, going to go to a chiropractor for the first time ever. My neck and shoulder are definitely knotted up, we'll see what they can do.

Congrats to my brother and his wife on the birth of their son this morning, Jaxson Keith Holland. I'm awaiting pics . . .

Looong time since posting, I've just been terribly busy. Plus, my camera lens is broken and is currently at Nikon getting repaired. Bad timing for the holidays, so I've snagged photos that other people have taken recently.

We had old-fashioned carolers at our Christmas Eve candlelight service. Baylea and Molly tried on the hats afterwards.

Cole being Cole, I guess. He also did this scary face to a girl in the pew in front of him during the service.

Goofing off in the church office.

Where was Connor during all of this? He fell asleep during the service, so I left him on the pew for about 45 minutes while we finished getting ready to go home. He missed the candles and everything!

New Shoes

Brett took Cole with him to a conference he's preaching at this week and tonight he forwarded me a video he took on his phone. Apparently, they went shopping and Cole got a new pair of shoes . . .he was so excited, can you tell? Preacher's boy's got some moves!

Cole loves to play Spiderman . . .here he is shooting his web at the ducks.

I love fall colors!

Last weekend, we went to the Franklin Cider Mill for fresh doughnuts and apple cider. Cole said, "This pumpkin is weird." Someone said it looks like he's holding a frog, but it was just a gourd.




He couldn't bite into the apple since his teeth are missing, so he settled for scraping the caramel off instead.

I've been a bad blogger lately. If not bad, at least inconsistent. Sometimes I would rather have photos I could post than having to come up with my own "entertaining" text, and since my camera battery charger was missing for awhile, I failed to keep up with the blog. So, here is a compilation of things that have been going on the past month:

• Our old house is finally back on the market. Terrible timing, yes, but it's been a year since we moved out of it and it's time to get it off our hands. However, it has been completely redone, correctly this time, and is probably in better shape than it has ever been since construction. Gloria has put in countless hours scrubbing and painting and getting it ready, and I've managed to help her on a few occasions! It has new paint and new carpet from top floor to the basement. I'm hoping it sells quickly.
• The kids are in full school mode. Connor is working on staying on task during writing time (his mind tends to wander), Molly is doing well on her work as long as she can find it, and Baylea fills me in daily on the drama of being a fourth grade girl. Remember the days when you couldn't be friends with someone because your one friend got mad at the other friend, and then she told this boy that and he told his friend this, and then she told that one girl that she was being mean, and . . .yes, I remember those days and I don't miss them. We keep telling Baylea to stay away from the drama and make sure she is friendly to all kids in her class at all times. Sometimes the meanest kids are the most insecure and they are just needing someone to be nice to them for a change. I pray that Baylea will be that person to someone else.
• We are getting plans laid out for our missons trip to Croatia next summer. It's looking like it will be an awesome trip, and we'll have lots of opportunity to witness to people and help out one of the local missionaries there. Keep praying that costs can be kept to minimum.
• Mandy, a friend I've known all my life, got married last weekend. From the pictures I've seen, it was a gorgeous wedding. It looks like it was lots of fun and my mom said it was beautiful. She heard that the video played at the rehearsal dinner contained a lot of pictures of us growing up . . .I would love to see it somehow. Does anyone know who has it?
• Things are great at church. Brett just finished a fantastic series in Philemon, and has now started a marriage series, which promises to be profitable. Discipleship is growing steadily and the only thing I can complain about at the moment is the rapid spreading, congestive head-cold bug that has infiltrated the toddler department. Everyone should start bringing their own boxes of Kleenex!

Not much else for now. I may post a pic or two later today, we'll see.

Mackinac Island

Last week, our family, Brett's parents, Lacey, and the Zalecki's took a trip up to Mackinac Island. We had a ball! We stayed at the Grand Hotel, played a lot of golf, ate way too much food, and enjoyed the sights of the island.

Dinner is a full blown occasion at the Grand Hotel. After 6pm, gentleman are required to wear tie and jackets, and ladies are supposed to be in their finest on the main floor. The service is awesome and you are made to feel like royalty . . .which makes coming home a difficult transition, haha.

No cars are allowed on the island, so there are horses everywhere. Connor always wanted to pet every horse that came by.

Cole said, "The horse is shooey, he needs a diaper." Takes one to know one.

Molly got to sit up with the carriage driver on the way from the dock to the hotel.

The upper deck of the ferry was windy and cold, but the kids really wanted to be up there.

This is our taxi. Since cars are not allowed on the island, you get everywhere by horse carriage, a bicycle, or good ole' walking.

Based on an "inside connection", we were unexpectedly given an upgrade to the Masco Cottage. It was beautiful inside! The cottage typically goes for $3000 a night, so we knew this was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Brett teeing off at The Jewel golf course.

The sunset was just so beautiful, God is such a wonderful artist. After dinner, Brett and I ran out to the 10th green and snapped this picture.

This is the country's oldest duckpin bowling lane. Cole scored higher than anyone by knocking down 8 pins in one roll.

Brett is at the end of the lane setting and resetting the pins.

I don't know where she gets her posing from!! I blame Miley Cyrus and all those other annoying Disney teen characters they shove down our throats.

This was looking out at the Jewel clubhouse from the porch of our cottage.

The road that leads up to the Grand Hotel

In the front lobby of the Grand

Main Street

Watching fudge being made.

Baylea the bookworm. She walked and read at the same time.

I should really quit taking pictures of myself, closeups are not my friend!

Connor gives the bear a high five.

Cole was not happy to be put so close to the bear.

We stopped at a Polish restaurant on the way home. While we waited for a table, we went to the garden area and the kids got together on the swing.

We could see a water spout starting to form. We watched it for about 20 minutes. It got a little larger and reached down to about halfway to the water, then slowly dissipated.

 

Lydia and Phil dropped by our house last night. They hung with the kids outside for awhile, then came in for Donkey Konga, luau leftovers, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Not too many more nights they'll have free, since school will be starting up soon. The kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline and jumping on Phil . . .come to think of it, our kids' freedom is winding down as well. Their classes start after Labor Day . . .where did the summer go?

Here is Baylea showing off her newly discovered talent. I have no idea where she gets here flexibility from. I just found a list she made for the trip to Missouri last month. It looks like she was worried about being bored on the 12+ hour drive, so she planned out activities to keep her occupied.

Things to Do on the Way to Missouri

1. Get comfy.
2. Watch 1 or 2 movies.
3. Get in the back.
4. Turn seats into bed (depends on what car)
5. Get comfy again.
6. Do NOT fall asleep.
7. Play grocery store game.
8. 20 questions game.
9. Talk
10. Read GBWR. (??? Not sure what book she's talking about.)
11. Alphabet game.
12. Another movie.
13. Laugh about stupid stories or jokes.
14. Spy on Connor.
15. Chit chat
16. Listen to Johnny Cash
17. Do hair with beady thing.
18. Do smart globe.
19. Shut up
20. Eat
21. Design hairdo
22. Alphabet game.
23. Johnny Cash
24. Listen to CD
25. Pillow fight
26. Grocery store game
27. Look for the arch
28. Drawing contest
29. Movies
30. Missouri maybe

Springfield by the Numbers

7 = days we were in Missouri
3 = times I ate at Tasia's (Brett ate there 4 times.)
1.5 = hours spent at Incredible Pizza before your mind starts going bonkers with the noise, the lights, the kids. . . .
3 = hours Brett and I drove to go to church on Sunday morning at KCBT.
9 = number of people we saw at KCBT who lived in Spfd once upon a time.
5 = number of rolls thrown at Connor at Lambert's
3 = number of rolls he actually caught and ate
1 = tornado warning, we were on the edge of the storm and watched the clouds roll east of us
2 = number of rainbows we saw
4 = times the kids went swimming
3 = number of good friends I met for breakfast at Village Inn (Mandy, Lori, Brittany)
12 = number of kids we have between us
32 = years I've known Lori and Mandy
3 = average minutes we waited in line for rides at Celebration City
2 = thumbs up for Celebration City -it's geared towards the younger crowd, lines are short or non-existent, it wasn't very crowded early on, we all had a blast there.
12 = time we pulled into our driveway, 14 hours after leaving Missouri

Molly had a final ceremony for her Brownies troop on Saturday. Each of the girls read off their favorite things about Brownies. Surprisingly, Molly is a little shy public-speaking wise and she read her whole paragraph while striking this pose.

Me and "Doofus". Later this afternoon, Brett and I spent 4 hours cleaning out the bottom of our pool. The previous owners had not lived here for over a year, so there was a good half a foot of leaves, dirt and muck at the bottom. We pumped out what we could, then had to bucket out the remaining six inches of water by ourselves. It was back-breaking work, and my legs are total jelly even today from the thousand lunges I did then. However, the pool is now cleaned out, the lining is scrubbed, and we will begin to fill it this week. Ahhh, the joys of ownership . . .the kids better stinkin' live in that pool this summer!!!!
Baylea is "too cool for school." She's ready for the summer . . .she did a great job on her grades this year and has recently taken to writing songs and poems.
There is a picture in existence of me hitting this exact pose when I was ten. I'll have to scan it and compare the similarities . . . or not.
Mr. C graduates from kindergarten tomorrow, which means he will be a full-time student in the fall . . .he's already saying he doesn't want to go everyday, mainly because it will cut into his Wii time.