Logan's Calf

All You Gotta Do...

Is Ask:

Our church hired a photography company to come in and take pictures for the new directory. Of course, once they take the perfect picture(s) you're always tempted to buy, right? Right. But what if all you had to buy was the copyright, and a copy of your favorite picture? Is that an option?

We asked.

We received.

New Again

What?!?

I'm not sure where she got it...this sudden need to have her hand kissed. But I have to admit I thought it a bit bizarre when she asked me, in the grocery store, if "those two guys" could kiss her hand if they wanted...two random guys I'd never seen before. Not gonna lie: kinda freaked me out a little.

I mentioned to Seth that I thought he should offer to kiss her hand, and maybe this wierd little fettish of hers would dissipate...and he went above and beyond.

Friday after work, Seth stopped by the flower shop to pick up the above...because he not only wanted to be the first to kiss her hand, but also the first to bring her real flowers...roses, no less.

Vote for Parker!

You've all read about my friend Teresa, and again here, and once more here. Well, Teresa's cousin Abby's son Parker needs your help!

You see, Parker has been chosen, out of over 800,000 entrants, as a babyGAP finalist!

"Parker was part of a photo shoot in mid-November in San Francisco, and his photo is now online as part of the contest to be decided by the public. The contest to find the children to be the next babyGap and GapKids models is now open to online voters...four children will be chosen: a boy and a girl from two age groups. People can log onto www.gap.com/castingcall to view the finalists and vote. Voting ends December 15. Each winner will be featured in the windows of babyGap and GapKids stores nationwide early next year. They'll also receive other prizes, including an appearance on the Rachael Ray show January 28 when Ray will help unveil the winners as part of her show."-West Central Tribune

(The paper said it better than I ever could.)

Please vote! You can vote once a day with your e-mail address, but please don't enter with more than one, as that will disqualify both of your entries!

If you want to know more about Parker's SanFran experience from his mommy's perspective, check out Abby's Blog.

Get voting!

BFFs

Madison has this friend at school, a boy. His name is Brett. Brett and Madison are, as Brett's mom and I have been finding out, best friends. Let me share with you some of the cute conversations these two best friends have been having:

One morning when Syna was picking up Brett and his cousin Daniel from school, Madison poked her head toward the open car door and said, "Good bye Daniel. Good bye Brett, I love you." Without missing a beat, Brett replied, "good bye Madison, I love you." So after pulling her car away from the curb, Syna asked, "What was that you said to Madison, Brett?" To which Brett replied, "Yea, we're best friends."

On Halloween morning when I was getting Madison dressed for school, I noticed that her black boots were getting a little scuffed. She watched as I colored in the scuff marks with black Magic Marker. While at school, Madison showed Brett her doctored footwear and said, "I'm worried my friends will laugh at me because my boots are colored on." So Brett reasurred her: "If they do, I'll kick their butts!"

The fact that Madison has chosen Brett to be her best friend, is alright with me. As parents, I know we often worry about the company our children keep. But in this case, I know that Brett's parents have a lot of our same values, so this relationship is one I condone. Besides that, I think you'll agree that their conversations give Syna and I lots to chuckle about!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Today is Madison's 5th birthday! Here are some birthday party pictures for your enjoyment:

Smitten

Do you ever just find yourself so full of love for someone that you could just pop?

Sometimes I am stricken with the realization of how much love I feel for my husband. It just takes my breath away. How could I be so lucky to have found the man of my dreams at such a young age? The more I ponder and reflect on the many great qualities of my husband, I realize that there really aren't enough men like him in the world.

How blessed am I to have found one of the few?

And how doubley blessed that he loves me?

And then I look at our three gorgeous children, and I think, "we did that", and my heart swells again. And then I watch him with them: how he jokes with them incessantly, how he whistles while he tirelessly performs the mundane tasks of bathing them, and dressing them, and feeding them. How he takes them outside to play with them, or to take them to a park. How he loves them.

I often wonder what great thing I must've done to deserve such an awesome man. And then I realize that I don't. I don't deserve any of it. I don't deserve my kids, I don't deserve my husband, I don't deserve God.

*Sigh* What love is this? If I feel this much love for my husband, how much more so must God love us. He sent his son to die. For me. Maybe this feeling I have is a gift from God, to show me just a sliver of the love he has for us.

Big Boy...and other miscellaneous news

Last Wednesday was Mathias' 2 month check up. He weighed in at 14.5 pounds and 24 inches long! That puts him in the 95th percentile for height and 100th percentile for weight! He's HUGE! He's going to be a football player like his daddy. He also got three shots. Naturally, he didn't like that. He let us know.

We spent Friday night at Saturday visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Mankato. We went to the mall and the kids rode on their indoor carousel! They loved that, as I'm sure you can imagine!

Yesterday morning we skipped our regular Sunday School to attend a special Child Dedication class instead. You see, we've decided to dedicate Mathias to the Lord, and to publicly dedicate our lives to raising him (and, of course, his big brother and sister, who were also dedicated as infants) in a home that loves and honors God. The dedication ceremony will take place next Sunday.

Enter Title Here

Well, I'm back to work. But the good news is, I get to do it from home! I'm working for the same company, but now I work with a different boss than before as the "Purchasing Assistant".

Now, instead having to commute 10 minutes each way everyday, I can get my work done in the comfort of my jammies in my own home. I get the best of both worlds!

It does, however, have it's drawbacks. I had a processor call me back today...and I was scared to death my kids would start fighting, or screaming or something while I was on the phone. Luckily, that didn't happen...this time. I guess Mommy will really have to try HARD to teach her kids proper etiquette while she's on the phone.

So my day has gone a little like this:

7:30 Up and at 'em. The whole family was up and picking up bedrooms. Mommy put the first load of laundry in, and took two loads upstairs. (One from yesterday.) I put them away, all the while picking up things from where they DON'T belong and puting them where they DO.

8:00 I check my e-mail.

8:30 Breakfast! At this point, the kids were sick of picking up their room and entertaining themselves and they're hungry. I feed them and the baby, wash up the dishes and clean the kitchen.

9:00 Time to advance that laundry again.

10:30 Our first Lesson. I explain to the kids that there's to be NO talking while Mommy's on the phone. I need to make a few phone calls. But just in case the message doesn't sink in, I lock myself in a separate part of the house to make the calls. I get a hold of two of the processors and the third I leave a message to call me back. I also order long distance phone service because calling cards aren't the most convenient.

11:00 That darned laundry.

11:30 I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and give the kids small cookie cutters to make their own sandwich shapes. This goes over pretty well, so I take the stove apart to wash it.

12:30 Just after Daddy leaves to go back to work, the phone rings...it's the processor calling me back! I run into the dining room, making signals for the kids to be really quiet. They did, and I made a big deal to praise them for it, hoping they'll remember the positive reinforcement next time.

1:00 I herd the kids upstairs to go potty, wash up, and take their naps. Then I put away some more laundry.

1:30 I check my e-mail again, and for the first time this week, take a minute to blog :D

Bye Bye Brittany

For the past several months, my parents have fostered a girl named Brittany. So I guess technically, that's what she is: my foster sister. But Brittany has become more than that in those few short months. She's definitely more like a sister to me, and an auntie to my kids. We certainly love her as such.

Yesterday, my folks threw her a surprise going away party, because after this weekend, she's going to live with her grandmother an hour away. It was a great party, but all the while I was wishing it was for something else. Anything else. My parents have had many foster kids over the years, and we have loved each of them in a different way, but Brittany found her way into the deepest parts of our hearts.

We'll really miss you Brittany!

Liz, Me and Brittany

Halloween 2007

My two big Halloweenies


Kitty Kat and Batman

Locks I Love

Well, I finally did it...I cut a little over a foot off my head this morning. No, I did not have a foot growing on my head. A FOOT of HAIR! That's a lot of hair. And thankfully, it was enough to donate to Locks of Love.

I'm really happy with the results, and I can't wait to try different styles with it.I'll post a pic later. I'm not sure what Seth will think, since he liked my long hair so much. I want to see his reaction in person.

Two days later:

Smile!

So we finally captured the adorable-ness that is Mathias' smile. It took two of us, but here it is:

Indian Summer

Last night, we took advantage of the higher-than-average temperatures and went for a walk.

Our packing list:

6 PB&J sandwiches

5 Spring Jackets/Vests

4 Capri Suns

3 Kids

2 Blankets

1 Double stroller

1 Bike with training wheels

1 Bag of Doritos

and Good Attitudes!

A good-natured game of Tag

She's totally got me beat!

School Pictures

When ordering school pictures for Madison this year, we opted to forego the traditional prints we've all ordered as kids, and instead only buy the cd and copyright to the photo. Now, we can print as many different sizes of her photo as we'd like, as well as e-mail and scrapbook...





And post to my blog!

Facebook Junkie

Well, I finally caved and set up my own personal Facebook account. I hesitated at first, because the last thing I need is another online information portal to have to try to keep up. But after a little prodding from some friends and family, I decided to give it a whirl.

Whirl it up, because now I'm hooked. I'm only sorry I didn't start sooner. I'm saying this because this afternoon, I was able to catch up with an old friend. My friend Christy and I met as freshmen in high school and shared a love of music with each other throughout the next four years. We were in Fast Forward and On Call together as well as Varsity and Cardinal Choir, and Christy even played her violin in my wedding. We went to dances and football games and parties together, and had a shared "independent study" time that was more spent talking than studying. Well, through the past five years, we'd lost touch with each other. I started my married life and had kids, while she went to college to pursue her degree and career. She also got married and started her life with her husband.

Christy came over today after lunch and we spent two and a half hours catching up. We talked about jobs and relationships we've had over the years, as well as future dreams and goals for our lives. It was so refreshing to just sit back and laugh with an old friend.

And I have Facebook.com to thank for that.

Christy and her husband Chris

Colic

Well, just when I thought things were "back to normal", colic rears it's ugly head. My poor child, what more must he go through?!

I'd say Tuesday night was the worst. I think I bounced him around the living room and dining room for about 2 1/2 hours...and he was crying most of the time. The only thing that seemed to help was for me to hold him upright, facing away from me, and to rub his little tummy left to right. It was still uncomfortable for him, but at least it helped him to pass some of his pent-up gas.

Yesterday was my six week check up, so I brought it up to Denny. He prescribed a liquid Zantac, and it seems to be helping...which is wierd, because he's only been on it about 14 hours now, and I would think it would take longer to take effect...but whatever it is, we'll take it! Last night was sooo much better! PTL!

25th

Last Tuesday, my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Us kids (and when I say that, I also mean Seth and Amy) decided to re-do their bedroom. It was still the lavender butterfly motif Becca decided to decorate it back when she was in Jr. High. (It was her room at the time.) Since Mom was going to a conference in the Cities from Wednesday until Sunday, this was the perfect time to do it. However, since she wasn't leaving until after her anniversary, I decided that we should have the whole family over for supper Tuesday night...you know, so they wouldn't think I was a terrible daughter who forgot their 25th!

I don't have any before pictures, unfortunately, but here are the after:

Because I'm the Mom