I feel so organized!

Even though we still have a long way to go, we have made tremendous progress on the office/craft room. We have about 8 paper bags full of burnable papers, 3 huge bags of garbage, and a large box full of donatable items. I even have a box of stuff for my friend Holly. She is always making themed baskets for different people and I am donating to her cause. Whohoo Holly!!
While Gordon and I have been extremely busy, the kids have been entertained by Jacob and Anna and it has been great. We took a break to go to the Nuthouse for dinner (yes, I know, our place is really the nuthouse.) When Gordon gets done feeding animals we are going to all watch Speedracer together. Maybe we can wear the kids out even more than they are!

Back again

I didn't post yesterday. I spent the day on the couch with achy bones. I didn't feel all that great and my body just ached. Maybe it was sympathy pains for Tiff going thru the after birth contractions. I don't know.
Anyways, I am back!! Today the kids don't have school due to flooding in the area. They didn't have school yesterday either so they are getting restless. We invited Jacob and Anna over for the day and they are going to spend the night and we will take the boys to basketball tomorrow. It will be a fun day for the kids.
Gordon and I will continue cleaning and organizing the office since I took the day off yesterday. More later...

Attack of the pack rats!!!

Ok, so not really an attack of the pack rats; more of attacking the pack rats! Today, Gordon and I have decided to start tackling the job of cleaning out the office/craft room. I am a pack rat. I admit it! It isn't so much that I keep a ton of craft stuff. More like I didn't have enough storage room and bins to put it all in so it just gets thrown around my craft room. Gordon and our friend Greg built shelves in the closet at the beginning of summer 08. I just haven't gotten around to doing any clean up yet because there were so many other important things to do. Like swim in the pool with the kids, play with farm animals, gardening, and lots of other things that sound way more fun than cleaning and organizing.
Anyway, today became the day. We have been working since this morning and are making good headway. I also am dealing with an upset stomach, so it is making it go slower than normal. I sure hope I don't get the stomach flu. It has been going around. I think I am done for today, but tomorrow we will be doing more of the same until we get it done.
Wish me luck!!
BTW, if anyone wants to come and help, my door is always open!

Amazing...

Yesterday I got the exciting opportunity to be part of my great friend's labor and delivery. Since you all know that my children are adopted, I have never been part of that process. I was thrilled when my great friend, Tiffani, told me a few years ago that she wanted me to be present for the birth of her twin boys. I was amazed and excited. But guess what...they were born when I was in Portland (three weeks early!!) I thought for sure I missed my opportunity, but Tiffani is a fertile Myrtle and got pregnant again. No, it wasn't planned.

So, Sunday night, I off-loaded my children to my friend Jennifer's house and I went to spend the night with Tiffani and Marty so we could go in early to the hospital. We didn't actually get admitted until 11:30am so things were a little bit behind what we thought they would be. Tiff was induced at 2:30, but things progressed slowly. After a very long day, Andrew Martin Stauffer was born at 11:39pm. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. I got to briefly see him before he was taken into the nursery. He was having labored breathing so they wanted to check him out. Turns out he has an air bubble pushing on his lung and it needs to work its way out, so they have him on oxygen. He is fine and beautiful and I can't wait to hold him!

Tiffani and Marty-I love you guys. You have no idea what an amazing experience that was for me. To be a part of something that most women take for granted, was absolutely a gift from heaven to me. Tiff- you are my hero. You are so strong and awesome. I love you! Welcome baby Drew!!

Bowling day

Today after church, we went bowling. Our good friends, the Roosma's, invited us to go bowling. That was their kids' Christmas present to our kids. Of course, the adults got to play also. We had two lanes, one with bumpers and one without. I wanted to play on the lane with bumpers, but I was told I had to "buck up" and be an adult. How rude!!!

We played two games and had a blast. I decided that I won both games because the object of the game is to get the lowest score, right? Ok, so maybe not. I pretty much was just the entertainment of the day! Sierra and Evan had a blast and both did really well. It was a fun time by all.

Thanks so much, Bill, Jenn, Jacob and Anna. We challenge you to another round sometime soon!

That kind of day

Do you ever have one of those days where everything goes wrong? I seriously thought I would be starting out 2009 in great style. I would get the house cleaned up from Christmas, start working on cleaning up my office/craft room, get all the laundry done, maybe even be adventurous enough to organize my kitchen cupboards.

Yeah, right!!!

I started off my morning taking care of animals. Since it snowed again last night, I made sure the animals all had a sufficient amount of water. I drug two 5 gallon buckets worth of water to the pigs. As I turned around to set the bucket down, two of the pigs fought over the water bucket and knocked it over. All righty then! More water coming up! (I can't wait for butcher day.) Then I labored thru giving the cows hay and cleaning up all the hay on the ground just to have Buttercup toss her head and knock a whole bunch of hay back onto the ground. All righty then! More hay cleanup! The goats were good. Thanks goats! As I walked out of the barn to go to the chicken coup, I noticed water all around the ground by the big yard hydrant that waters the cows. It didn't look right, so I turned off the water. That means hauling more water to the cows also. All righty then! The chickens had no food, no water and barely any shavings in their nesting boxes, plus 26 eggs already laid for the morning. I fed, watered and collected eggs and then gave them more shavings in their nests. I turned around to put the shavings away and heard a scratching noise. I turned around and one of the chickens was up in a nesting box trying to get comfortable to lay an egg and was throwing shavings all over the place. All righty then! No more shavings for you today!

Do you think I am done yet? Nooooooo. I come into the house and one of the dogs had pooped on the laundry room floor. I got tissue to clean it up and bent over to pick it up. As I was bent over I heard a noise. I looked upside down between my legs and see Puma, the little dog, peeing on the floor not even 2 feet from me! All righty then! Cleaning up pee!

Since then I have been cleaning up the house. Every time I turn around the kids have another mess! I think I give up. I'm going to go watch a movie with the kids and veg for awhile.
CALGON, TAKE ME AWAY!!!!

To all my friends and family

After prayerful and thoughtful consideration, I have decided to renew all of your friendship contracts for 2009. I hereby declare my signature at the bottom of all your contracts! Just remember the fine print...

Be the type of friend or family member that you want others to be to you. Make God proud every day. Love with every fiber of your being.

I love you all. Cheers to a great friendship in 2009!!!