Changes...

Here it is almost February already...  It seems the older the kids get, the faster the days and years go by.  I can't believe that in October of this year we will have four teenagers in this house!  I am so thankful that our girls are reaching this milestone but, oh my goodness I cannot believe it!  Mason got his learner's permit this past month so the next thing I know, he is going to be sixteen and driving.  Delaney started her first "real" job (aside from being a nanny) about three weeks ago so she is earning some money and learning how the real world works.  She isn't a fan of taxes being taken out of her hard earned wages.  Join the club my dear...

We have been hunkering down during this dreadfully cold winter.  Who even wants to go outside in this cold?  Definitely not I...  I have been keeping busy with some household projects while staying nice and warm.  Back in 2006 Make A Wish did a basement makeover for Lauren's wish.  A wonderfully talented woman came in and painted a huge outdoor scene in our basement as Lauren's wish was to have the outdoors brought indoors due to the girls' heat intolerance and inability to go outside when it is hot.  Here are some pictures of her work.

The Bible verse is our family verse which is Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  Our favorite part is the huge tree and the little Lauren and Lindsey .  In the pic of the two girls, Lindsey is the one on the left and Lauren on the right.  Little known fact...Lauren is in a t-shirt and underwear in that picture.  For years at Jolly Holiday Lights in Des Moines, the picture below of the girls was on display during the event.  We always cracked up while going through JHL wondering if anyone noticed Lauren's lack of proper picture attire.  Look at those sweet little faces and those curls....how I miss those curls!

In the first picture above you will notice Barney and Baby Bop are the first people you see when walking down the stairs to the basement.  Now that the girls are 12, we decided it is time for a new look and Barney, Baby Bop and Zoe on the next wall have been painted over.  It was hard for me to do.  We are keeping the rest of the play room as it is as we can't bring ourselves to paint over the tree and girlies.  I also painted over the brick wall.  That was what I referred to as our Sesame Street wall.  I painted that as the basement was being transformed.  With Barney and Baby Bop gone, it just didn't look right anymore.  I must say though it does look a bit naked when you look downstairs and Barney is no longer greeting us.  The girls have gone downstairs a number of times since I repainted and have not said a word...

Speaking of the girls, they are doing pretty good.  Seizures are still occurring more often than we would like but, they have been healthy and doing well.  They seem to be a little more tired lately than normal, especially Lindsey.  They are keeping us on our toes with their mood swings and cracking us up with their funnies.  We are still waiting for the results of Lauren's genetic testing.  I am guessing they will come back late February or March.  We have a meeting tomorrow morning with Childserve to get them signed up for the Girls Weekend respite time.  They are going to be so excited when they get to go!  I...am going to be a nervous wreck.  My little babies...not so little anymore.  Thank you God for letting them grow up and become young ladies right before our eyes.  Blessed...

Technical Difficulties...

As I finally had time to sit down and put my random thoughts into words, I signed into my Google account to find that for some reason since my last post my browser isn't compatible with my blog.  My first thought is that maybe God is trying to tell me something...like maybe I shouldn't be blogging.  I can't design my blog the way I want...now I can't even type the darn thing.  Then I thought maybe I am just having technical difficulties like that Obamacare website.  But unlike the Obamacare debacle, I outsmarted my computer and switched to Google Chrome.  So alas here I am blogging again.  Then, my keyboard decides that for every letter I type, it needs to add 10 more.  Maybe God is trying to tell me somethinggggggggggggg.


We hope you all had a nice holiday season.  It's hard to believe that 2013 is in the bag already.  We had a nice Christmas.  We were able to spend some time with our families and had lots of quality time at home.  The highlight of L&L's Christmas gifts has to be their new air hockey table.  The girls have always loved playing air hockey so we surprised them with their own table this year.  Let me tell you, they are competitive and if you ever get the chance to play them, you better bring your "A" game.   Especially Lindsey... she takes no prisoners.  She really needs to work on her losing skills.  She could very well be one of the most competitive people I have ever met.  She does not like to lose and she always wants to go first.  We continue to work on those skills....  Delaney's favorite gift would have to be a new iPhone.  She has waited years to have one and it is a permanent fixture in her hands.   Mason's highlight seems to be a $3 stylus he uses to play games on his phone.  Just goes to show that sometimes the little things make a big difference in  your life.  Matt and I enjoyed watching the kids open  their gifts and seeing the eager anticipation on their faces.  As the kids get older, we treasure this time more than ever.  Poor Scooby didn't get any gifts this year.  Wait, I take that back....he helped himself to one of the kids' chocolate Santa.   His gift to us was the pungent smells that came out of him afterwards.  That dog is living on borrowed time as he has definitely used up all of his lives.

I am looking forward to 2014.  I am not making any resolutions because if I do, I am just setting myself up to fail.  I shall call them goals instead.  One of my goals is to clean my house of useless clutter.  I woke up today with the urge to clean.  Then I thought better with the kids still home for six more days.  That is really just setting myself up for failure.  If you are like me, the urge to really clean only comes every once in a while so I hate to not act on it.  Instead I will play with the kids and make more messes.  It is more fun anyway.

Well I am tired of fighting this stupid keyboard.  I have spent more time hitting backspace than I have typing. Today..it wins.  As I sign off one last time this year, Happy New Year to you and I hope 2014 is a blessed year full of good health and prosperity.