house

Well girls, it's official. Our house is on the market for $133,000. We've done quite a bit to it and we are really hoping that it will sell quickly and for a good price. We don't want to come down on it too much. We absolutely have to sell for at least $130 in order to break even on our investment by the time you take out realtor fees and closing costs, etc. It costs a lot of money to sell a house! So, anyways, we would really really appreciate you girls' prayers for us right now that this selling process goes quickly and smoothly as well as the moving and house hunting process. Hope you all are well. Love you girls!

another one on the way!

yea, I just heard my brother and sister-in-law in Seattle are expecting. That's 10 neices and nephews with two on the way. this safely puts me far from the expectations of having children in the next year. whew!

Ice Queen

So, as Steph mentioned, it is icy and cold here in OK. I'm getting really sick of it. I have not left my house in like at least a week. I'm starting to get serious cabin fever. And I have PMS, so I'm in a lovely mood these days being cooped up with my kids by myself with nothing to look at but a frozen tundra. We have read all of Seth's books and I'm seriously considering hiding them all because I just don't think I can read them one more time. Seth has 2 or 3 favorites. And while I applaud his recent passion for reading (or listening to me read), I think I might start losing my mind the next time I read "9 Fruits Alive". I tried to go to the library today to get some new books to get us through the next big storm, but they were closed. I might try again tomorrow. Seth and Lilah are doing well. Lilah is getting really fat. It's pretty cute. And she's the smiliest baby I think I've ever seen. Seth was a laugher (still is), but Lilah just coos and smiles. Seth has started really noticing Lilah and is taking a serious interest in his role as big brother. Last night after we put Seth to bed, Lilah was crying. Seth hadn't fallen asleep yet and could hear her. So, then I could hear Seth on the baby monitor in his bed saying "is ok Lala, is ok Lala..." He loves to give her kisses and never enters or leaves a room without greeting her or bidding her farewell. I've also recently caught him trying to wipe her mouth with her burp cloth the way I do and covering her up with her blanket and giving her toys. This morning while I was changing Lilah's diaper, Seth went and got her teddy bear and one of his diapers and tried to change the teddy bear's diaper. It was a pretty rough attempt. Lilah loves Seth too and has started smiling whenever she sees him. They are definately developing a little bond just the two of them. Lilah is close to rolling over. I think she could do it by now if she wasn't kind of lazy. She's not the most motivated baby physically. But that's fine with me. I don't have the energy yet to chase after two of them. I 'll give you girls the tip on getting healthy. Have a baby, then have another one right away... and just try to survive, and you should burn off a pretty considerable amount of fat fairly quickly. Also, you'll probably stop eating because it's no fun to eat when you have a toddler. Everytime I get a snack or lunch or breakfast or even a freakin cup of coffee, Seth is right in front of me with his mouth open like a bird begging like a dog. By the time I share all of my food with him I have very little left. And what is left is always cold or soggy or melted. I often give up and just throw my food away or I don't eat in the first place simply to avoid the annoyance of having Seth draped all over me grabbing at my hands and mouth. Although I have to admit, I'm still working on my extra plumpness from Lilah. The weight is not coming off quite as easily this time. So, I have started trying to work out at least 4 times each week. Nothing super intense, but I've been doing pilates and a couple different aerobic workouts pretty consistently. My motivation is that I have to be in my brother's wedding on April 14 and all the other bridesmaids are like a size 2-4. I'll still look like a mammoth compared to them, but I'm hoping to at least not look like a flabby mammoth. I'm also trying to cut out regular soda, just diet now. But that's about it. I'm watching my portions and stuff but I'm not dieting. I can't live that way. But I figure at least working out regularly should help quite a bit. So, I guess I'm kind of joining Steph, Ang, and Jen on the healthier lifestyle thing. Yay for all of us! I don't know that I will be joining Jen in the bikini though, too much flabby baby skin. I'll just be happy if I'm not too jiggly everywhere in my swimsuit by this summer. Well girls, that's that for me. Miss you all! Oh yeah, congrats on the new job for Nathan and the move and all that Liz. We'll be praying for you guys during this big transition. Steph, let us know if you need any help moving when you can finally get into your new place. Happy puppy adopting Jen. =) Love you all!

23 days

23 days until we hear of our little puppy being born! I just heard from the breeder today and they performed an ultrasound yesterday on the mommy. The pregnancy seems to be going perfectly and she is carrying 8-9 little pups! We have a guaranteed spot for a puppy but we are hoping and praying for a chocolate male. Please join with us in prayer for that :) Actually, Chris told me he was praying about our little puppy just the other day, and asking God to help the pup to be healthy, happy, and show us how to better love each other and our friends unconditionally. How sweet is that!?
It's been a while since i've posted, even on our personal blog so fortunately (or unfortunately) there is much to say! Here are the highlights in short form... Chris started a second job as a financial consultant for Primerica. He's currenly in training but will be going strong sometime in February. Christmas choir went really well and we've started rehearsals already for 2007. It's our goal this year to be up to singing once a month, whether that be a special song, or just with the worship team. I'm really busy with that. I've been scrapping a lot lately, catching up on 2006 events. Actually, I'm way behind and just finished Angie's wedding! Here at my office, December was a record breaking month. And we hit 4.5 million in funding at one of our banks, so they gave us a rebate, which i got a little piece of as a bonus, yea! We're going to Kansas City in a couple of weeks for training on Chris' job and to get away from it all and relax. Anyone know anything exciting to do in KC? eh, what am i saying, i'll probably sleep most of the time anyway. I'm good at sleeping. This monday night I'm leading worship at our women's ministry ladies night out (happens every year in January). I'm a bit nervous. Please pray that the women will have a wonderful time and be refreshed and ministered to. Speaking of church, it looks like we will be in our new building middle of March. Check out www.harvestbettendorf.org for details :) We are averaging over 1000 per sunday now and are really packed in there in the high school auditorium. My sister is pregnant with her third and they just heard they are having another girl. They currently have a boy and girl. This is the sister in Texas, Hanneke. She makes really cute kids. I think that's all the main points, I'm getting really excited about Seattle. I'm anxious to see all the sights and visit with all my friends! love you all!
Oh, one more thing... about being healthy... Chris and I have started the South Beach "diet". Chris lost 9 pounds during week one. I've lost 5 pounds now as week 2 comes to a close. But most importantly, we feel great, don't have any cravings, and my pants fit better! I'm so proud of Chris though too. He's been playing raquet ball at lunch with friends from the office, and swimming after work half of the week too. He's really dedicated to getting healthy. So there's my recommendation for a healthy lifestyle - South Beach! oh yeah, and my gut is shrinking! I'm excited for bikini season!

Love It

So I love the new look! It's fun to see pictures of everyone and remember how beautiful you all are.

I'm joining Steph on the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. If anyone wants to join in, let either one of us know. OR, if you have pointers on how to do it, i.e. self control tips, etc..., please let us know.

Ummm... i know i don't ever write, but you see, i don't ever feel like i have anything good enough to write. Sometimes i lay in bed at night and have these wonderful ideas of what I'm going to write in the blog, but somehow, between the bed and my computer the next day, those thought are erased. So I suppose you will have to just deal with the boring, non-exciting news of all is well in PA.

Love you girls tons and miss you lots.

Yay for the new look! :-)

So this is exciting...pictures on the page!

Just a quick update from the land of ice and cold weather - yes, Oklahoma.
Things are going pretty well here. The only thing that's on our plates is that we need to move and we can't. Stupid cold crappy weather. So our original date of Jan. 19, will be moved to Jan. 26 pending any other weather related issues. It's really just to icey to chance driving a huge truck into little areas, and we're supposed to get some more snow this weekend, so that put a huge damper on things.

Other than that, STILL working on trying to get some Thank You's out in the mail. Work is going well, although there are some changes within the company that I am not fond of. Don't get me started on that. :-)

Ang and I are trying to do a healthy lifestyle change to lose some of our plumpness. Hopefully we'll have good results. That's about all, I think.
Love to you all!

Yay for fun time wasting activities

Or, at least, I thought it was fun trying to guess whose survey I was reading before I got to the names. J

 

So … it looks like everyone is okay with doing a three-day weekend instead of two? Because I think an extra day would give us just the right amount of time to see everything, and still have some downtime for relaxing. So if it's okay with everyone, let's plan on doing the Friday to Tuesday stint. Of course, if anyone does need to leave early, that's fine too.

 

And based on responses (don't I sound so official), it looks like we'll try to keep the whole weekend pretty conservative in the cost department. Cheap meals and inexpensive activities, and such. Once it gets closer, I'll let you know specific costs for the different activities I'm planning.

 

If all the husbands do come that are planning on coming at this point (four of them!), we may just give them the house, and us girls will find a hotel or cabin to stay in.

 

I tried to talk Adam into making some invitations for the guys, but for some reason, he didn't want to. Oh well.

 

Since you all are paying for plane tickets getting here, I'll take care of the accommodations if the need arises. I'll start doing some poking around, just in case we do need to reserve something, since that is a popular tourist time and things fill up pretty quickly. How fun would it be to stay on a houseboat? Sleepless in Seattle, anyone?

 

Ok, well, hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Love ya!

 

Big News

Hey all...it seems to be that everyone is posting about their holidays, so I'll give a quick synopsis of ours. Our Christmas was wonderful. Nathan and I went into Boston and spent the night before Christmas Eve there. We stayed in the old Police Headquarters, which is now a nice hotel. We also saw The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. Christmas day was nice, and I accomplished cooking my first turkey! That was exciting for me.
In answer to the gift question, I'd have to say my favorite gift was also a diamond necklace from Nathan, which was also very unexpected. We were not supposed to really be getting anything for each other since we had agreed upon a joint gift of a camcorder.
Anyway, in addition to all this, Nathan and I have some big news. It turns out that we are moving in less than a month! A little bit ago, Nathan put his resume out there in Oregon and Michigan just to see what would happen, since we know we won't settle down here, and it could take him a while to find a job. Well, it turns out that there was a company in Ann Arbor, MI that was very interested in him, and who pursued him quite aggressively. To make a long story short, they flew him out for an interview this week, and made an offer the next day! The offer was awesome, and everything really just fell into our laps quite unexpectedly. Seems like God's always got the good stuff for your when you are least expecting it. Anyway, they want him to start in 2 weeks, so he'll be gone from here by then. I'll follow about 2 weeks later, since we'll need more time. So, we're a bit overwhelmed right now to say the least, but very excited.
We'll stay with my parents for a time due to the expense of buying out of our lease when we leave here. But we'll be shopping for a house as well as a job for me once I get out there. So life is more crazy than ever, but very exciting as well. So much to do, so little time! :)

Christmas went fast

Hey guys! I figured it's time for an update. Christmas went really quickly. It was a nice Christmas though. We just stayed in Tulsa. It was kind of fun trying to start our own family traditions and stuff, but it was a little mellow for my taste too. I'm used to being with so many people for the holidays. I kind of missed the chaos of my family. It confirmed my decision that we want more than 2 children though. Two kids is just too quiet. We need at least 3. It just adds that extra touch of drama to family get-togethers. =) But Josh's sister and dad came over Christmas day, so that helped spice things up a bit. Although, Josh only has one sister, so it was still pretty low-key. But Christmas was good and it was watching Seth open his presents. Unfortunately, Seth was sick Christmas day. He had a horrible virus with runny, stuffy nose and coughing and then he got an ear infection. He was sick all week and then Lilah got it the next week, as did me and Josh. I think everyone has it though. It's just going around. We did end up getting to see my family for the holidays though because my grandpa died the Friday following Christmas. So my whole family flew in for New Years. (The funeral was here in Tulsa) I wasn't super close to the grandpa that died. He had an aortic annurism (sp?). He had been in the hospital for Christmas with pneumonia, so we did get to visit a couple days before he died. I'm very thankful for that. We had a very nice visit with him and he was doing well and was released from the hospital on Thursday, and then died Friday. He was a Christian and was passionate about Christ and I'm grateful for that. So, we know where he is now and that certainly makes death easier to deal with. It was sad circumstances, but it was still nice having all the family come in. So, that's about it for us. The kids are well and I'm just catching up from the holidays. Josh takes his next round of Board exams on Jan. 18th. So, we'd appreciate prayer for that to go well. He's been pretty busy studying. Hope you all are well. Love ya!

Digging out just in time for the next one!

Hey girls!!

Things here have been, well, snowy. I haven't seen this much snow since I was about eight. There are the upsides to this snow, like SNOW DAYS!! We've had 6 so far this year. Whoever thought we'd have so many. Plus a longer Christmas break, we had almost 3 weeks off.

Christmas was great. We made it to Denver between the blizzards and fresh snow. Our backyard had no snow, while our driveway had a 4 1/2 foot drift. Nick did all the shoveling during the first blizzard. It was lovely having only one shovel. We did only do one side of the driveway and used his car solely during Christmas.

We heard there was a 12 foot drift of snow on I-25, but as we drove up to Denver we never saw it. The road crews did an incredible job getting the snow off the highways and a horrible job on our street. It took a long time to get our road cleared.

Christmas was fun at my parents house. Everyone made it home. My sister, Carolyn and husband Jason, who live in Canada, surprised my parents the Monday before Christmas. So....it was a FULL house. We broke the toilet, garbage disposal and my sister, Tori, wrecked my dad's car. To say the least, our Christmas was not boring.

My favorite present is a tie between a Nintendo DS from my mother-in-law and new pots and pan from my husband. I love to cook.

Kimmy I read your blog about cooking, and I just want to throw out that I would LOVE to cook during the Sapphire weekend.

I miss you all!! I hope you have a great January. If any one needs some snow...I can send it to you in a box. :)

New year, new hole in my head

January is such a sad, little month. Coming right after such an exciting holiday as Christmas, it doesn’t really have much to offer. Add to that the grey skies and rainy season, and I’m pretty much ready to move to Hawaii. Anyone else?

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Ours was spent doing a lot of traveling and visiting a lot of family. Miraculously, the bad weather everywhere didn’t affect any of our flights (although we were kind of hoping to be stranded in Philly so we could visit Angie and Aaron!), and we made it home yesterday morning safe and sound. Then we slept. Pretty much all day. Oh, how I missed our bed.

Now that the holidays are over, I can focus the part of my brain that likes to plan things on the Sapphires reunion. Because a tiny part of me is OCD, and also because sometimes I get bored at work, I’m going to send out a little survey for some ideas and suggestions for the weekend. I want to make sure everyone has a good time, or at least acts like they’re having a good time.

So I think my favorite Christmas present to get this year was … a diamond necklace from Adam. Not so much because it’s a diamond necklace, but because it was such a surprise.
Oh, and my new domain name: http://www.kimmysue.com/. Tee hee. Right now, it just points to my blog but maybe I’ll get creative and do something else eventually.

My favorite present to give was probably the little princess chair I bought for our Angel Tree girl – so cute.

How about you all? What were your favorite presents?


And here’s my delayed act of teenage rebellion in the form of teeny tiny, cubic zirconium. Not sure how long it’s going to last, but Adam is warming up to it.

Love you all mucho!