First Day of School!

Well it has been a while since I posted on here and for that I apologize. It seems like life has been running by me a mile a minute and I'm barely keep my breath! So, since I last posted we've had a few changes around here. The biggest one, Miriam started pre-school. So hard to believe she's that old already!!! I thought I'd share with you some of the pictures I took that morning. She is quite a ham when it comes to taking photos!

Pictures before school. She picked out the outfit herself! Well sorta, she just wanted to wear the jeans and tank top. I added the white undershirt because it was too cold for just a tank top!



I told you she was a ham!!!

Getting into the truck to head to school:


Getting out at school: (she's not excited at all...can you tell?!?!?! hehe)


Walking up to the school building: (It's a small private pre-school.)


Heading down the hall to the main classroom area:


Hanging up her new pink backpack that she picked out herself and TOTALLY loves!



Let me tell you she was SO excited to be going to school. A lot of the other parents were hanging around while their kids became acclimated and comfortable. I asked Miriam if she wanted me to stay for a bit or go. Without hesitation she said, "GO! See yah!" and ran off. Of course I made her come back and give me a hug and kiss goodbye...and then she was gone. She headed right for the toy closet she had seen at registration. It is almost the size of her bedroom (she has a small bedroom) and had floor to ceiling shelves full of toys! She couldn't wait to get back in there and play!!!!
It's been three weeks now, and she's still loving it and so am I. Don't get me wrong I love my little fire cracker, but it sure it nice to have a little quiet time three days a week where it's just Abby and me. If I'm lucky Abby will nap while Miriam is at school and I actually get some uninterrupted time. Which is what is happening right now and giving me a chance to post this entry! So, that is the one of the latest things that has been happening with us. Hopefully I'll get more chances to post on here now, but I wouldn't count on it as it took me three weeks to get this post up! Oh well....'til next time!

OK trip fun!

Well life has been crazy (never seems to get back to normal around here, only crazier!!!) and I haven't posted in forever again. So...I'm posting today about recent stuff...will catch you up later if I ever get around to it! hahaha

Fourth of July weekend we spent in Norman, OK as it is the hometown of my now sister-in-law Kelly Rose who married my brother Alexander July 5th. We all left the morning of the 3rd, Brad the girls and I in our car about an hour ahead of my dad, Jennifer, and Chris in their car. Our trip ended up being a bit longer then theirs due to us having to stop for the girls every couple hours and about a three hour planned detour to visit Patricia Davis, the wife of Brad's late Saddle School instructor Biff Davis. It wasn't a bad road trip there, just REALLY long! Abby had never been in the car for more then 3hrs straight, so she got quite grumpy about traveling after the first 5 hrs. We all survived it though. Had a wonderful visit with Patricia, once we finally found the house again....things had changed a bit and Brad didn't remember exactly how to get there. Unfortunately she lives out in the country so dial-up Internet is all she can get and was on the computer so we couldn't reach her to help us find the place. Brad did finally locate it and we got to visit for about an hour and a half before heading on to Norman. We pulled into our hotel in Norman around 2am on the 4th!
The next two days were a blur of catching up with relatives, airport runs to pick up relatives, wedding rehearsal stuff, a little pool time, and finally the wedding itself...which was nice. The wedding day was beautiful, following a night of rain on the 4th. Due to the rain the town of Norman postponed their fireworks, and so in the middle of my brother's wedding reception (which was both indoors and out) we got to see a beautiful fireworks display!
The next morning Brad and Jennifer left for IL as they both had to get back for work. My dad, Chris, myself and the girls stayed to take my brother Nate to the airport and then start a leisurely trip back to IL. We stretched the trip home into three days, taking a state a day. Monday the 6th we drove back across OK. Stayed the night in Joplin, MO in a hotel with a pool of course. Miriam and Abby both love to swim (I don't mind it myself either!) Tuesday we drove across most of MO, stopping just short of St. Louis for the night. Wednesday we went into downtown St.Louis and spent 6 hours running around The City Museum. It's an old shoe lace factory ten stories tall that they have turned into a menagerie of climbing structures (made out of scrap materials)/a museum/an aquarium/etc. We only explored three of the 10 floors inside, but pretty well covered all the outside climbing structures. The day pretty much consisted of climbing, sliding down slides, and then climbing again! It was a fun, yet tiring day! We finished our visit by climbing up to the tenth floor via various caverns and spiral staircases, and slid down the 7 story spiral slide!!!! We left there at 5pm (when the museum closed) and traveled back to our place for the night.
Abby was very glad to get home, and she wasn't the only one. I was happy to be home too. It was a good trip, but I think we are only just now finally recovered!
Here are a few pics from our adventure!


Daddy tossing Miriam into the pool!


Abby splashing with Mommy.


The happy couple.


Water baby Abby motoring around in her floatie.


Water Monkey Miriam "diving" into the pool.


Up in the crow's nest at the City Museum!


Part of the outside climbing structures, the crow's nest is off the upper left hand corner of this pic.


Miriam having a ton of fun on one of the many slides!


What happens to 4yr old girl after 6 hrs at The City Museum! This was only 5 minutes after we left the museum!!!


A VERY happy Abby, SO glad to be home!!!

Memorial Day

Growing up I loved both Memorial Day and Labor Day, for the same reason...it meant a three day weekend. I knew Memorial Day was a day meant to honor those who had sacrificed their lives for our freedom, but those people were just nameless faces that I really couldn't relate to. That all changed in the past three years. I now have way too many faces that aren't nameless and that leave my hear aching and heavy on Memorial Day. I'm gonna share these wonderful friends of mine with you this week of Memorial Day...

SGT Lester D. Baroncini
Born January 19, 1973
KIA October 16, 2006
Operation Iraq Freedom
He was our other cowboy. His family has a ranch in Southern CA. He only got to ride in the saddle Brad made for him two times. Ride on forever my dear friend....


1 LT Michael Cerrone
Born September 2, 1982
KIA November 12, 2006
Operation Iraq Freedom
Mikey, as he was affectionately called among us wives, was an amazing LT. He knew all his soldier's wives and kids names. I ran into him two days before the guys deployed...he promised me he would bring Brad home to me. You kept your promise Mikey. Thank you for all the wonderful memories, miss you!


Cpl. Michael J. Jaurigue
Born August 11, 1986
KIA May 26, 2007
Operation Iraq Freedom
Jaurigue, the quiet steady one. One of the first soldiers was in charge of training. Brad was proud of him. He never said much to me, but that one Thanksgiving I'll never forget his quiet smile of thanks for having him over and feeding him "too well".


Jonathon M. Cote
Born February 11, 1983
Died April 23, 2008
Operation Iraq Freedom
Cote I never did get to know very well personally, but I heard plenty of stories from Brad. He was in the company when Brad arrived, and helped Brad navigate the new world of an 82nd Airborne soldier. Cote left the Army before the 2006 deployment, but was in Iraq at the same time as Brad as contract security for military convoys. He was captured and killed by the insurgents.


Spc. Gregory Millard
Born April 29, 1985
KIA May 26, 2007
Operation Iraq Freedom
Millard...the class clown. He knew how to make everyone laugh even when they didn't want to. Yet behind that goofy grin was a hard core steady soldier. If given the choice again I know he would choose lay down his life for any of the guys.


SPC Harry Winkler
Born March 12, 1974
KIA November 12, 2006
Operation Iraq Freedom
Winky, the seasoned veteran. This guy had more crazy combat stories then anyone else. He'd served with the 101st before getting out and then coming back in and serving along side Brad. He knew what he was going into and was ready to serve and willing to give his all. I wish he didn't end up giving his all, cause I never got to know him in person. I'll always regret that. Winky left behind a wonderful wife and the cutest little man, as you can see below.


And finally...

SGT Clayton Dunn
Born November 2, 1984
KIA May 26, 2007
Operation Iraq Freedom
Clay (well I actually knew him as Dunn mainly)became Brad's best friend during the deployment. I only spent one afternoon with him before they left, wish we could have had more. From that one afternoon I could tell he was a man of amazing integrity who had an undying love for his beautiful wife, Haidy. He also had this little sparkle in his eye that let you know he had a great sense of humor as well. We lost a friend and a brother when God called him home. Clay left behind not only his wife, but his 6 week old daughter (pictured below a little bit older)whom he did get to meet briefly when home on R&R. Tragically he was killed on his first mission back after returning. You are missed daily Clay, can't wait to see you again in Heaven!


There were others we lost, but I didn't know them personaly. These are the faces I see every Memorial day, and many days in between. I now understand all too well that freedom is not free. These brave men (many younger then I am) gave their lives so that I could live in this beautiful country. I will forever be grateful and forever remember each and everyone...

life flies by...

Wow...I've been so bad about posting on here. It's been months since I really posted. My background was even still set for St. Patrick's Day!!!!
These past two months have been crazy months for us...
In April the girl's and I spent a week up at my dad's. My brother Nate was mobilized to Ft. Dix to prepare for a deployment to come sometime soon. Therefore we went up and spend his last week in IL just hanging around. We were also there to see him off, and for all the FRG send off activities. (FRG stands for Family Readiness Group, for all you non-military people. Basically it's a group that facilitates getting information to the soldier's families and does some social activities.) It was a little strange to be back in a military setting. Our really big even in April though was Miriam turning 4 years old! How to believe she's that old already. We had a small family party on her actual birthday, and then a big party with all the extended family and friends the next day (Saturday). I'll do another post with all the Birthday shindig details and pics. Needless to say we didn't have a free weekend all month! Two weekends Brad worked (one at NG drill, the other at Mediacom), another he had a guy's skeet shoot event, and the other one was filled with Miriam's Birthday.
In May things haven't been much calmer, in fact I would dare to say it's been even crazier! The church softball league started mid-month, so we had a practice the first Saturday of May. I get to play this year!!! I couldn't play last year because of being pregnant with Abby. I must say after that practice I was pretty down....I played like a girl!!!! For those of you who knew me in my sports heyday years you will understand just how distressing this was for me. Thankfully I was able to snap out of it and put in a performance at our first game that I could be proud of. I'll post about that later too. Then came a horribly emotional week for me. May 7th would have been my mom's 60th birthday, and the following Sunday was Mother's day. Needless to say every year the beginning of May is not so much fun for me... makes me REALLY miss my mom. The Saturday after Mother's day the girls and I again headed up to my dad's for a week. This time for a going away party for my Uncle Buz (dad's older brother) who is moving to Alaska in the beginning of June. That was on Sunday afternoon. We stayed the rest of the week so I could go to an Andre Reiu concert with my sister on Thursday. Our awesome brother Chris gave her two tickets for Christmas! We had a blast, thanks to our WONDERFUL papa who watched my girls for me!!!! Poor guy got run through the wringer too. First thing he said to me when we walked in the door after the concert was, "Becs I'm nominating you for Sainthood!" I'll post more about the concert, and why he considers me a saint candidate later. We rushed home on Friday to be back in time for Valley High school's graduation ceremony. One of the young men in our youth group was graduating. We're so proud of Joe and all his accomplishments! (he got a full ride theatre scholarship to the local community college!)
Then came Memorial Day weekend. Brad had to work for Mediacom on Saturday, we had a graduation party on Sunday for a family friend who's basically family, and then memorial day itself. I will be posting about Memorial Day next...not something I can just put in with everything else.
Well...that's pretty much the last two months of our lives in a nutshell. We'll finish this month by celebrating Brad's grandparent Davis' 60th wedding anniversary!!! Their actual anniversary isn't until June 5th (if I remember correctly), but this weekend is the only time everyone was free to come celebrate. The family is all coming in from their corners of the US. Well actually the Davis family is rather small, so most of us are local...just a son and grandson (to the guests of honor) living out of state (NY and VA respectively). Not going to be a huge gathering, but still all the family will be there which will be a special treat.
Okay...this post has become long enough, but I wanted to update everyone on our lives. We hope you all have had a wonderful spring, hard to believe it's summer already!!!! My how time flies....

Sorry...

I realize it has been a while since I have posted on here and I'm sorry. The month of March was crazy for us and I felt like I barely had time to breathe, let alone sit at a computer and blog! I promise I will have some posts soon with new photos and news! Until then...

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
~an old Irish Blessing

Weekend Widow

Three hours ago I called Brad to find out if he had found out what the schedule is for his National Guard drill this weekend. Much to my dismay I was informed he is going to be "in the field" for the weekend, so he had to report at 1900 tonight (Friday) and won't be back until some unknown time on Sunday. This means he left in a whirlwind about an hour ago, after having arrived home from work just a mere 30 minutes prior, leaving us no time to connect or for Miriam to even process that Daddy is gone for the next two days! This week has been crazy, and now the weekend will be crazy too as I try to single parent without losing my mind! AHHHHH!
On the bright side I was able to just cook up some chicken nuggets and fries for dinner without feeling guilty! Miriam thinks I'm a great mom, cause she gets chicken and fries for dinner!!!! Still, I'm left feeling a little lost and lonely. I know what he is doing is very honorable, but being left a weekend widow while my hubby is a weekend warrior (Brad hates being called that...when he was active duty they made fun of the weekend warriors...but he is one now) is just no fun at all. *SIGH*


~Update...I got a call at 9:30 last night from Brad...he was on his way home! There was a change of plans and they aren't going to the field after all. I'm guessing the higher ups didn't want to be out in the field for the predicted rainy weather. So, I'm not a weekend widow after all, Brad will be home at night...albeit it may be late at night!

It's a rainy day, it's a rainy day!

Every time it rains this song runs through my head. I was delighted to find the video on YouTube, so I could share it with Miriam. I hope you enjoy this little trip down memory lane as much as I did!!!!

kids are so funny!

Just a quick little blurb about a funny comment Miriam made this week. A little background first though. My youngest brother Chris started working weekends and no longer attends church with my dad. It was his choice since he is now 19 (gosh where did the years go) and thus he chose to make himself available for the weekend schedule. Since not everyone will work weekends he pretty much is scheduled every Sunday. Anyway...
We are in the car driving to a dr's appt and Miriam is prattling away in the backseat as always. I must admit I only half listen to her rambling. She goes on and on all the time and about half the stuff only makes a quarter sense. (did I confuse you with that sentence? read it slowly and it will still confuse you, but it really does make sense! hahaha) This time however she loudly declares that "I need to tell Uncle Chris that!" I was a bit startled because we are headed to my dad's/sister's this weekend so she'll be seeing her Uncle Chris, but Miriam doesn't know this. So, with my attention caught I asked what she needed to tell her Uncle Chris. The response caught me a little off guard, "That grandpa Garden's church is so much fun!" (I must insert here that Miriam goes to the nursery whenever we attend Grandpa Garden's church. A room with all sorts of cool toys and kids to play with. Pure bliss for my socially starved and toy depraved child...or so she seems to think!) She continued, "I need to tell Uncle Chris that Grandpa Garden's church is so fun, so that he'll go there again too!" I must say this amused me because I am a bit concerned about my brother giving up his "church life". So I encouraged her to continue talking this out with me...wanting to see exactly how she viewed his not going to church. I asked her if she thought that would work. Well...the kicker was this comment...which I totally love and think is just priceless.

"My daddy and I are going to save the world!!!! Then Uncle Chris will go back to Grandpa Garden's church and he'll see that it is fun and he'll stay there!"

Oh how wonderful the innocence of a child. If only it were that easy. In her eyes it is...with her daddy's help she can do anything, even save the world. And you never know...maybe someday her and her daddy will help save the world!

cooking/baking

I am a weird phenomenon it seems. What do I mean by this? Well...in my generation it seems that there are a precious few that really cook from scratch. We are a generation of convenience; i.e. eating out and/or cooking from a box or similar prepackaged prepared food. Until college I had rarely made anything instant (only minute rice which always ended up watery) or anything from a box . In fact my college roommate had to teach me how to make instant mashed potatoes! (I, in return, taught her how to cook a roast, roast a chicken, and do other "martha stewart stuff" as she called it.). Over and over again through the years I have tried making various "boxed" foods and some I have mastered sufficiently and some continue to be failures. Yes, it perplexes me that I cannot cook very well from a "box". It would stand to reason that if one can make something entirely from scratch that "cooking from a box" would be a breeze, but for me that does not seem to be the case. Brownies usually turn out just okay, cakes form this crazy mound in the middle while being super thin around the edges (yes I spread the batter out, even tried putting more to the outsides then the middle!), instant potatoes taste like anything but potatoes (more like paste!), and well...hamburger helpers I actually can do. So what brought upon this post? It was my complete, total, and utter failure in making valentine sugar cookies from a tube of pre-made dough! The grocery store I work at had Pillsbury sugar cookie dough in the mega tubes for 99cents! I had been planning on making roll out sugar cookies with Miriam for Valentines Day in the shape of hearts. I thought...why go through the trouble of making dough when I can buy it for 99cents. Heck...the ingredients I would use would cost more then that! So...we followed the directions on the tube for roll out cookies, cut out our hearts and put them in the oven. What came out of the oven was NOT hearts! I'm used to sugar cookies being fairly think, slightly chewy, and "normal sized". These cookies were thin, extremely chewy (to the point of drooping when held), and a HUGE lop-sided circle thingy (they more then doubled in size outward)! I had followed the directions to the letter, except I cooked them about 3-5 minutes longer then they said (so they shouldn't have been undercooked!) because they just didn't look done to me in the time frame they gave. So why did they turn out so not right?!?!?! Well...being the cook I am I tried to mess with the dough, adding more flour since it seemed like if they were that flat, overly soft, and didn't hold a shape then that is what they needed. Guess I was wrong because what I ended up with was no better then before...might even say it was worse. The cookies were still flat, huge and not heart-shaped, and this time they cooked in half the time (thus I really overcooked the first sheet) and were crispy!!! So...I am still cursed when it comes to baked goods from a box...err tube. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my pride) I didn't take any pictures of the foray, so I can't share them with you. You will just have to take my word on this misadventure. I am off now to make some perfectly shaped sugar cookies from scratch. Ones that will be worth putting frosting on and making look all pretty, maybe even too pretty to eat...but that won't stop us! Of course now I don't know what shape to cut out since Valentines Day is past...hmmmm....

Thank you for your prayers!

I should have posted an update on Dani before now, but it has been a crazy couple of days in our house! I am VERY excited to tell you that she went home from the hospital today!!!!!! I'm not sure the drs are exactly positive on a reason for her issues. I know at one point they thought appendix, then Krohns disease, and in the end the decided it was just a severe GI tract infection. Guess it really doesn't matter so much as long as she is getting better and will recover fully. Looks like that is the case, so Praise The Lord!!!!

Please Pray!!!

While we were stationed at Ft. Bragg the Lane family became our mom and dad and siblings. They took a "cherry" soldier and his wife under wing and helped us find our way in the ARMY world. They also helped us transition from being a couple to being parents. LaDona, the mom, was even in the delivery room with us for Miriam. Well their 18 year old daughter, Danielle (that's her in the pic), is in the hospital and VERY sick. She's in severe pain that even morphine really isn't helping. She's been running a high fever and her heart rate and blood pressure are all over the place. I'm really scared for her. She keeps getting worse with more issues and the Dr's have NO IDEA what is wrong. (I wish there was a real Dr. House, so he could work his crazy "magic" and find what is wrong with her.) At this point it is all in God's hands, so PLEASE pray for her...that God will either work a miracle, or help the Dr's discover what is wrong so they can treat it. Dani is like a little sister to me. She's my Dani girl, my horse lovin buddy. I don't want to lose her...we've lost too many friends already. PLEASE PRAY!!!!

A little fun time at our house

COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So a week ago Miriam and I finally baked the gingerbread cookies I had mixed up right after Christmas. Don't worry it is a refrigerated dough, so it was still safe to use! I know it sat in the fridge for a month, which maybe why they turned out so soft and not crisp like I'm used to. Anyway...I had wanted to decorate them when we made them, but never got around to it. Brad hadn't really been eating them and I discovered why when he commented that they really needed some icing or something. (guess they just weren't sweet enough for him...though personally I agreed with him, but I was willing to eat them anyway) So yesterday I decided was icing day, and for once what I decided to do actually happened! I did most of them myself, but left the teddy bears and stars for Miriam to help with. Believe it or not...when she decorated them I just steadied the bag and squeezed it...she is the one that directed where the icing went. I think I might just have a cake decorator on my hand. If not that then an artist of some sort...she has such a steady hand and an eye for design! Well here are some close up pics of our delicious designs!


My "word art" hearts

My butterflies (M helped sprinkle on the colored sugar!)

My "lacy" hearts

Misc heart designs

Miriam's creations...like I said a steady hand!
Oh...and she ate more M&M's and chocolate chips then went on the cookies!

Home again, home again, lickty split!

I started writing this post last week, but got busy with life and never finished it. So here it is...a couple days later. Sorry it's so long, just could not make it any shorter and still give the feel of the wonderful trip we had.

The girls and I just returned from a 6 day venture up to N. IL to visit family and friends. I got a chance to go swing dancing again, very briefly, but I danced. I so miss swing dancing. We spent two nights and two days (Thurs-Sat)with my sister. Pleasant days, despite my car being towed (I didn't realize you needed a sticker to park her apt complex lot, and she forgot as we are her first visitors to stay overnight.) and then a parking ticket because we parked on the street between the hours of 2am - 6am. Now tell me, where does one park if you can't park in the lot and you can't park on the street?!?!?! Oh well...she'll be leaving that complex soon and moving to a much nicer one, one with a visitors lot! While there I rediscovered the joy of reading. I can't remember the last time I just sat down and read a book. Thank you JenG for so graciously watching my gals so I could! I finished a book on Friday, and started another one on Saturday! I had forgotten how relaxing reading is. I'm definitely going to have to find/make some time to read in my crazy schedule.
On Saturday afternoon Abby and I left Miriam with Auntie JenG and headed to my dad's house. We spent a relaxing evening at papa's just hanging out. I finished the book I had started at JenG's while Abby charmed her Grandpa all over again!
Sunday morning we headed to church where we reunited with Miriam and a worn out Auntie! hahaha! JenG now completely understands why I'm usually tired and at my whit's end most of the time! Miriam was proudly displaying her new "tatoos". Auntie has a rubber stamp temporary tatoo kits which my daughter loved! This little activity my sister did with my daughter got me thinking about all the fun crafty stuff we used to do with my mom. I haven't done much of any of that stuff with Miriam...just had really thought about that fact that she is old enough for all that. They grow up so fast! Anyway, when we got back to my dad's I decided to go digging through our old art closet to see what I could find in the way of craft stuff to "steal". I ended up in a two day cleaning and organizing project, but the treasures I found were so worth it! So many memories are tied to some of this stuff! I found Hello Kitty pre-inked stamps that date back to the mid 80's...and they still work!!! I found some of those four colored ink pens. You know the ones that you push down a different "clicker" for each color...and they still worked (probably a good 10 years old!). I found lots more stuff that took me back down memory lane. Miriam and I are going to have lots of fun making stuff with the treasures I brought home, the best things we'll make are the memories.
Monday I got to go visit a dear friend of mine, Betty Harbecke. She was my spiritual mentor while I was in high school. Some one I trusted and could go talk to about stuff I didn't want to discuss with my parents. She is like a favorite aunt to me and being in her presence again brought me so much joy and peace. She is one of those wonderful people who just make you feel so at home and comfortable. We had a wonderfully refreshing visit. Miriam LOVED her toy room!
I was supposed to return home Tuesday morning, but due to the weather forecast back home decided to stay one more day and drive back when better weather was predicted. This extra day was a blessing because it allowed me to go visit my favorite Aunt who was sick over the weekend so we couldn't see her when we had planned. My Aunt Sis (her real name is Marilyn, but she's my dad's only sister...so the family calls her Sis, thus she's Aunt Sis!) has always been like a second mom to me. Growing up we spent most Christmas' at her house Christmas afternoon, or when we lived in WI we'd be there for a couple days! I was so excited to discover that, due to her being sick, her house was still all decorated for Christmas. I had so missed Christmas at Aunt Sis' the past five years! She is so wonderful she even pulled out her Christmas dishes to use, which she had already cleaned up and had ready to pack away! Needless to say being there, with my Aunt (and Uncle when he got home from work) in that house full of so many warm and wonderful memories was a balm to my soul. I can't remember the last time I was so relaxed, or felt so refreshed and okay with life. I was also a joy to watch Miriam bond even more with my beloved Aunt and make her own special memories much like my own. Much to Miriam's delight we ended up staying the night, which was unplanned. Time got away from us and suddenly it was very late and snowing decently. Oh the memories that flooded back watching my daughter bounce around the room absolutely delighted in her sleeping bag bed! And she got to participate in one my favorite memories the next morning. I remember cooking breakfast with Aunt Sis many many times...and always with cinnamon raisin toast. This time Miriam helped make breakfast...cinnamon raisin toast included!
The next morning we headed off for my dad's again. After a brief visit, and packing up all of our stuff that was there (it was only supposed to be a day visit to my Aunt's so all our luggage was still at my dad's) we headed home.
I must say it is good to be home. It is wonderful to see Brad. Miriam and I were both homesick for him by the time we came home. I must admit, she was crying for him by day two away...it took me a little longer to really long to see him. Abby even blessed her daddy by a big smile when she saw him.
This trip made me realize just how nostalgic I have become. I really really enjoyed my trip down memory lane. It was so nice to relax with people who know me and with whom I have bond of love that spans years of my life. What a joy to watch Miriam (and Abby to some extent) "discover"these wonderful people who have touched my life in special ways. I really wish my girls could have known their Grandma Garden, but since they can't I'm glad they get to know the other "mom's" in my life. And, I'm gonna do my best to do the fun activities my mom did with me, with them! With all that said I want to leave you with this thought...taking time and making special memories is the best gift you can give anyone. It is truly a gift that keeps on giving year after precious year!

We have a snow bunny!

Our cold, cold, cold weather lifted a little today. I'm not sure exactly how warm it got, but I'm guessing in the upper 20's. Because of it being warmer I finally let Miriam go out and play in the snow. She's been begging to ever since the snow fell Wednesday! Let's just say we had one happy and VERY cold little girl when we finally made her come inside! I thought I would share some photos of her fun.

Making snow angels


Throughly enjoying her new sled!!!!

Abigail Jane Davis

Since I am stuck in the room with the computer I figure maybe I should take this time to introduce the newest member of our family.

Abigail Jane Davis joined our world on December 5, 2008. She weighed a healthy 7lbs, 15oz and was 20" long. She is a spitting image of her daddy, except she looks more feminine! As you can see below..
.
Abby is on the left, Brad on the right!


Big sis and little sis meeting for the first time!


The whole family!

This Old House

We love our house. It was built in 1899 by Brad's great-great-great grandpa (at least the original part of it was....hope I have the correct number of greats in there!). Sweet story behind the building of it too. I've been told he built it for his wife as a winter home. She stayed here during the winter so she would not get isolated out on the farm. You have to remember that this would have been back in the days of the horse and carriage, so what today is a 5 minute drive to the farm would have been around a 20 minute carriage ride. Winters here can get pretty rough, as today (-12, with a real feel of -22 because of windchill) proves. Well great x 3 grandpa did not want his wife to be without the company of her friends throughout the winter, so she stayed here in town and he stayed out on the farm, traveling back and forth to visit her! I think that is a wonderful sweet love story. Anyway...we have an OLD house, and as most people know old houses are NOT weather tight at all!!! Today I am camped out in our guest bedroom with Abby as it is the only room (besides Miriam's bedroom) that is warm! (We have been using the guest bedroom as a master bedroom ever since Abby was born via c-section and thus stairs were an issue for me. They aren't an issue anymore, but we just haven't made the move back to the real master bedroom.) It is a good thing the computer is in this room or I would seriously be going crazy. I just have no desire to be out in the rest of the house freezing my toesies off and making my nose drip! Miriam has braved the cold and is sitting on the couch under a blanket watching TV. Soon her shows will be over and I'm going to have to come up with activities for her to do that will keep her in the warm parts of the house, ie the guest bedroom or her bedroom. It's gonna be a long day! Why don't we just turn up the heat you ask? Well we have electric wall registers for heat. No central heating or air in this old house. When you get an electric bill that tops $200 for one month...it makes you cut back on electricity anyway you can. Keeping all rooms in this old house at a comfortable temperature level is completely and totally cost prohibitive and needless to say pretty much impossible anyway. There is this lovely draft that runs through every room. It is mainly along the floors and up about a foot and half or so, but in certain areas it seems to just flow through a solid wall! It's sad when you realize that something you love, this house, really isn't working for you. We know this, we realize this, and we are slowly coming to grips with that fact that someday we are going to have to let this wonderful old place go. There are so many good memories here, so much hard work put into fixing it up, yet some day we will have to let it go. On days like today, with the frigid temperatures outside and thus inside, it isn't as hard to think about that some day coming. I will say this...where ever we end up living down the road I will make sure it has a BIG fireplace for days like today!

Mass Chaos!

Well, since I said I was going to use this to let you know what all is going on in our neck of the woods I might as well do that! Life in our house right now is INSANE!!! The house is mass chaos pretty much. We still haven't completed moving in...from the move from NC this past Feb (2008)!!! Add all the new baby clutter to that, AND all the Christmas mess and the result is...well...I'd post a pic, but that would be TOO embarrassing!
So, Brad and I had a long talk last night and decided we have to get down to business. We recognize that there is not going to be a quick fix to this, but that we are going to have to buckle down and focus on one small area at a time. This morning it has been under the kitchen sink cabinets for me. I must admit it has me a bit frustrated...no real convenient or practical way to organize this area without spending a bunch of money on fancy organizers. We had a large plastic single drawer under there with a small plastic three drawer on top of it. That was not enough room for all the misc hardware/tools/cleaning supplies, so I found another larger 3 drawer organizer that I thought I could incorporate under there. Of course...they don't all fit under there with the pipes! So now I just have the large three drawer organizer under there...and have to find a place for the rest of the stuff. I'm thinking I've made more of a mess then I have fixed! Argghhh... at least it is now clean in those cabinets (wiped down with bleach), but I'm probably going to go back to how it used to be. So, that's another morning of little accomplished...the story of my life!
P.S. If you are planning on coming to visit us, please give us at least 6 months notice so we can try and clean up for you! hahahahaha!

We'll see how this goes...

So...I have a number of friends/family who have a blog to keep people up to date. I realized after Abigail was born that I am horrible at remembering whom I've have or haven't informed about our life and it's many changes, thus this blog. I can't promise I will post every day, or even every week...but I will try to put the significant things happening on here. Maybe this way everyone can stay informed on life in this Davis house without me going out of my mind trying to remember who I need to call, e-mail, etc! I hope you all enjoy!