Sunday, December 20, 2009

Granny and Grandad's New Home

These are pictures of Granny and Grandad's new house. We are so happy for them... and for us - we get to go visit and enjoy their beautiful new home too! I'm putting these pics on here so we can share with the sisters scattered from North Dakota to Alaska and they can see the new house too! Isn't it awesome!!!

Pauly in Auntie Roo's old pair of glasses and playing in the same toy cupboard that all the kids have played in for years! He loved it!!! Doesn't he look like Chipmunk with the glasses?

Come on in... Isn't that a beautiful front door and Granny's new pinaner - So Nice!


Love this little window shelf! (Spare Bedroom #1 aka The Study, as Granny calls it. This is facing the front - you an see it in the piano picture a little...)

Spare Bedroom #2 (#3 spare bedroom - Guest Room and Guest Bathroom not pictured) I believe this is going to be a combo sewing room/kids room - They mentioned putting bunk beds in here for the kids to come visit. Perfect!


Old toy box in Spare Bedroom #2 - Don't you love that chair? I was trying to figure out if she would notice if it was gone... I decided she would beings there is only 2 pieces of furniture in this room so far... Love it!

Granny said! Don't take pictures of the mess! So this was my effort ... I could of done better but my baby was cryin'!

Gorgeous Cupboards and the new fridge!

Every girl loves a tidy laundry room. The washer and dryer were found on Craigslist for a Hot Deal! Go Granny!!! You know how I love Craigslist :)


Grandad's office aka The Cave where he as to go if he is in trouble :) That is what Granny said... so cute.

OMGoodness - Let me tell you about the Master! Holy Cow!
Okay two closets like this...

Two vanities like this...
a shower/tub combo...
a toilee (in it's own little tiny room w/ a door)...
And then this huge room with the awesome windows!
So awesome!
So thankful they have their new home!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Boys in Hats and Paul made me do it!

Aren't they adorable... (If you ever get sick of looking at pictures of my kids... SORRY! Go Away!!) A major reason I do this blog is so that Mimi and Papa can see glimpses of their grandchildren since we live so far away from each other and if I post a picture at least once a week (twice is better) for Mimi she is happy and if Mimi is happy ... well you know how it goes!

And that picture of me at the end! like I said Pauly made me do it... the things you do for your children huh! He got a kick out of it.

Lately I've been running around like a mad woman getting ready for our trip to where I grew up to spend Christmas with Mimi and Papa (my parents). It has been about 4 years since I've been home for Christmas so I'm jazzed!!!! & little Billy will be dedicated there the Sunday after Christmas in the Church where I grew up. We decided to do this so my grandparents (his great grandparents including my Grandpa Bill - who he is named after) can be in attendance which is extra special!

I am a little bummed that I decided not to put up a Christmas tree up this year... It was Ben and my decision since we will be gone - we just didn't want to deal with it... I think if the boys were a little older I would of just put up with it. I CAN'T wait to see my mom's house. They have been working on remodeling it FOREVER! and I haven't seen the finished product - not to mention, my mom is a decorating genius and it feels so magical walking in her home during Christmas! Just thinking about it makes me feel like I've been drinking gobs of coffee... all jittery and excited!

I will also be able to spend Christmas with my little sis and neice but not my middle sis :( and that makes us all sad BUT I might get to see her the week after New Years which is awesome! I love how God surprises you with this kind of stuff when you least expect it!

I wish all of you and your family a joyful and magical Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Billy says...

"Hi mama..."
"What's that mama?"

"I DON'T WANT TO sleep in my own bed tonight!"

I'm proud to report little man is now sleeping in the big boy bedroom with big brother. (Had to move him since he grew out of the bassinet already!)


What will I do with my BIG growin' boys?

Monday, December 7, 2009

A Christmas to remember... (grab a tissue)

Thanks Ma for sending this to me... So Good!!

MY boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.

Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.

Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.

He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.

Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.

If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.

I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded
Them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.

The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.

No luck.

The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn
Or do anything.. I had to have a job.

Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in t hat had been converted to a truck stop.

It was called the Big Wheel.

An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.

She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.

She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.

I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people.

I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night.

She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be
Asleep

This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.

That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel.

When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I
Averaged every night.

As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.

The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.

One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!

There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.

Had angels taken up residence in Indiana? I wondered.

I made a deal with the local service station.

In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.

I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.

Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.

I found a can of red paint and started repairing
And painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.

Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.

On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank , and Jim , and a state trooper named Joe .

A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine.

The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up..

When it was time for me to go home atseven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.

I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.

Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box.

Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!

I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.

Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and
canned vegetables and potatoes.
There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.

And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.

As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the
most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.

And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.

Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop....

THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:

1. "Yes!"
2. "Not yet."
3. "I have something better in mind."

You may be going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Merging Successful!!!

I have merged this blog with my family one as I only want to manage one blog... It was a little stressful but it was successful and now all of my posts on our family blog have been merged in to this blog in chronological order. Genius! There was a moment where it was stuck here... and I was stressed... and waiting... (look how tired I look) I need a shower! Tomorrow for sure - we've got church! At least I know I can only stink for a week at a time because everyone has to be tidy and unstinkafied for church... Stinky or not... I rock!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

One month old...




I sure can't believe this little man is 1 month old already. He is doing just great! He loves to listen to his brother and daddy play and wrestle and of course his most favorite... taking a nap on mama. He is getting chunky and so long! He is almost outgrown that bassinet. It will soon be time to move him to the brother bedroom. We'll see how that goes *wink* ;)



LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Search herHousehold