Happily Ever After!

My happily ever after began 8 years ago today! I'm so grateful to be married to a wonderful man whom I respect and admire. Disney's best fairy tales aren't even this good!

Our Final Day

Our final day in Disneyland was on Wednesday. It was a beautiful sunny day and was darn near perfect day in my opinion!

I'd always wanted to go on Mark Twain's boat, and finally got my chance!

Leeann got yet another chance to be 'on stage' if you will. She jumped right up to play bells for this man who was singing jingle bells. She did a great job!

All 8 of us with Mickey behind his house. I think he was filming a movie out back :0)

Leeann was steering Donald's boat.

A little family picture in front of a really, really tall beautiful tree in the middle of Main Street.

Another family picture.

And one more just for fun!

Okay, I lied. One more...

This is Leeann practicing taking pictures. She, once again, asked us to kiss for the picture! The following pictures are also some of her handywork.

This is an area just outside of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It's right beside Snow White's wishing well and just might be (in my opinion) the most beautiful place in all of Disneyland.

It's a calm, peaceful place and one we'll make a point to visit on any future trips to Disneyland.

And this particular spot is also very special to our family. This was the first place we headed to on our first day at Disneyland in 2007. We have a couple of pictures of our family in this very spot, as we prepared to meet Cinderella for the first time. Most notably, this is the exact spot where our first and favorite pictures were taken with Rob's mom, whom we affectionately refer to as Mee Maw in our family.

So much has changed in the 2.5 years since our amazing trip together. And so much has changed in our lives since her death last February. I wish more than anything that we could have shared these magical memories with her!

She loved her grandkids, and she loved Disneyland. Most of all, she loved getting to see her grandkids in Disneyland. I wouldn't trade those moments or those memories for anything in the world! Perhaps I'll have to dig up some of our favorite Disney pictures with her for my next post.

This is Leeann on Dumbo. It was our first ride and one of our last. Titus begged us to go on this one.

We ended the night by watching Fantasmic followed by the fireworks show. The fireworks ended with 'snow' falling from the sky. Magical! Rob was looking forward to this special moment for a looooong time.

I'd say it was the perfect ending to a perfect vacation!

And just for fun I had to snap this picture. One of my favorite pictures from our previous trip was of these two sleeping side by side. Sure enough, I still love pictures of these cute kiddos sleeping. It's the mom in me!

Daily Recap (as best as I can remember anyway):

Matterhorn (2x)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

It's automatically double spacing and driving me bonkers...

Mark Twain's Riverboat

Splash Mountain

Haunted Mansion (2x for the non-Splash Mountain folks)

Small World

Mickey's House

Donald's Boat

Shopping on Mainstreet

Ice Cream in the parlor

Picture Time (see above)

Dumbo

Peter Pan's Flight

King Arther's Carousel

Innoventions Dream Home

Fantasmic

Fireworks

16 rides/attractions and 17,308 steps!

Ariel's Grotto

We enjoyed lunch at Ariel's Grotto on Sunday. This time it was just our family. It was fun, and great to meet all of the main princess, but I'm not sure that we'd do this one again. The food was very yummy and the atmosphere was nice, but I'm not sure the experience was worth the price.

I say this for two reasons. First, we'd already met most of these princesses on our last trip. Second, you actually get more time with them, and get better pictures with them at Fantasy Faire. I didn't particularly like that they all came to our table right at the beginning of our meal. I think it would have been a little more magical if they'd shown up throughout lunch.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great experience, just not quite worth the amount of money the experience cost. Still, it was something that I really wanted to do with Leeann... it had been on my Disney "list" for some time, so I'm glad we got to do it!

From Rob's Camera

Here are some pictures from Rob's camera that I just downloaded tonight. I think they were taken over several of the days so you'll have to use your imagination to figure out where they fit in the Disney time-line.

Our nephew's Weston and Logan. You'll see that Weston's holding a map. This kid has some awesome map-reading skills! Seriously, he was our navigator and always had his map out, knowing exactly where we were at all times.

This is our other nephew, Landon, with a little toy helicopter that Rob decided to buy for him.

This was a little play area near an out-door eating area.

The kids loved banging on things. We more or less have a ban on toys that make noise in our house :0)

Logan and I on the chew-chew train. The Buhl family was all dressed in black and orange to support the Beaver's. Unfortunately, our support wasn't enough to get them to the Rose Bowl.

All of the kids seriously loved the bumper cars. This is a good shot of Weston about to run into Uncle Rob.

Do kids come any cuter than this? Seriously?

I think this was the day we left the park at midnight.

Still, we had to stop and see Mickey. He's legendary!

Goofy's Kitchen and Downtown Disney

I'm sorry I've neglected to finish blogging about our trip. These pictures are from December 5th, our first "down-day". We started off by having brunch at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland hotel. It was a blast! We sat right by the door where the character's entered and exited, so we got a lot of face-time with the different characters. Here's who we met:

Dale
Balloo

Goofy

We danced with him in the middle of the restaurant!

Jasmine

And Belle. I liked that she wasn't wearing her fancy gown, that was pretty cool!

Oh yeah, and Chip too!

This was a random picture place that was set up in the Disneyland hotel. I'm guessing they had photo-ops with Santa, but he wasn't there, so we took his spot!

Then we went walking through the other Disney hotels too. We wanted to see them in person. I'm not sure if we'll ever get the chance to stay in one, but they were all pretty cool. This pictures is from the Disney Grand Californian hotel. We sat here in their cool chairs and watched the fire for a while. It was beautiful!

Then we did a little shopping. I took Leeann to the Build-A-Bear shop and Rob took Titus to the Lego store. They each wanted to spend their spending money on gifts for the other person... it was precious! Titus got a big set of Lego people to share with Leeann, and Leeann made Titus a panda bear.

We went back to the Grand Californian to enjoy some Kettle Corn in the warmth instead of outside. We were sitting in a random corridor when all the sudden these four people started singing beautiful Christmas carols. It was really cool!

Here's Leeann and Titus with their bears. She got a pink bear and dressed it like Ariel. Unfortunately she didn't have enough money to purchase an outfit for Titus's bear, or he would have been dressed like Darth Vader! Oh well, he loves it just the same!

A Jedi Kind of Day!

When we walked out in front of our hotel this morning, this is what we saw. Did I mention we got a really good rate on our hotel?

In all reality, they were at the hotel next door. And, while we did get a great rate, our hotel is actually relatively nice all things considered.

We watched the Princess and the Frog's Showboat Jubilee today.

And we spent some time on Tom Sawyer's Island.

The kids enjoyed it, but Rob LOVED it!

Seriously, he was like one over-grown kid darting around the island!

My favorite kiddo's surrounded by loot!

We camped out for the Jedi show once again, in hopes of Logan and/or Titus getting trained to be Jedi's. With some valiant effort on our parts, Logan, Titus AND Leeann got to go up today!

This guy was having a whole conversation with Titus and he wasn't paying any attention at all. He was fiddling with his Light Saber. It was funny!

Leeann took Titus under her wing and was showing him the way of the Jedi before he got on stage!

Logan got to fight Darth Vader! Several times today he said that he's really glad he got picked to be a Jedi. We were too, because we didn't want to camp out for any more Jedi shows. Don't get me wrong, it's a good show, we've just done it a time or two... or four..l

Leeann took her job very seriously today.

The force is strong with this one! He was the last to fight today and everyone in the crowd was cheering for him.

Probably because he's literally 1/2 the size of the rest of the kids fighting today. See, he's the one in the front left about 6 kids over, leaning out looking at...?

Proudly displaying their training certificates! Notice Leeann's shirt it says "Princess Leia Rocks!" Aunt Suzy made it!

A Goofy Family!

We met up briefly with Jonathan, Jocelyn, Emma, Josiah and Lucas today. We got to sit with them while watching the parade! Rob went to college with Jonathan at WBC.

The kids all bought glow stick light sabers today. It took Rob about 2 minutes to decide that he wanted one for himself too. So, when they got back to the hotel they turned off all the lights and had a little light saber action going on. It was fun!

The princess was asleep (or at least pretending to be), but the boys had a blast!

And I had fun taking pictures of the action :0)

Daily Recap:

Matterhorn (2x)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Laughing Stock Comedy Show

Tiana's Riverboat Jubilee

Tom Sawyer's Island

Jedi Training Academy

Holiday Fantasy Parade

Pixar Play Parade

9 rides/attractions and 11,882 steps

Character Fun!

Today was a cold, wet, rainy, windy, icky day in Disneyland. We Oregonian's persevered however, and stuck with it until the cold bitter end. And, because of that we got to enjoy some awesome perks--like riding Soarin Over California twice, Toy Story Mania 5 times in a row, going through princess Fantasy Faire 3 times in a row and riding Splash Mountain twice--all with little to no wait! We did a few rides today, but mostly saw cool characters.

Leeann was demonstrating how to do the Toy Story Mania ride to Ariel who was inquiring about what rides Leeann went on today. So cute!

We ended up seeing virtually the same 3 princesses in Fantasy Faire the first two times we went through, but decided to hop back in line one final time and it paid off because we got to meet Tiana from Princess and the Frog! Her movie comes out this Friday, and we already got to meet her! The line is usually an hour wait or more, but we went through in about 10 minutes. Priceless!

Belle was great. We saw her three times within a half hour so she remembered Leeann real well, and was very, very sweet to her! She's my personal favorite :0)

Cinderella snuck in just as we were exiting, but she pulled Leeann over for a photo so we got a bonus princess that time!

After we met the princesses we scurried on over to Pixie Hollow to meet Tinkerbell and her friend Terrance. They were funny bantering back and forth. Tink asked Leeann what she's good at, such as drawing or coloring. Leeann thought for a second then looked up at her and said, "I'm good at helping people when they're hurt!" And that she is. She's such a sweet girl!

We decided to go on Splash Mountain today since we were already cold and soaked (and wearing poncho's). It was Suzy, Weston, Logan, Leeann and I. The kids did great... none of them were scared a bit! In fact, they begged us to do it again and since there was no one else in line the cast member let us stay on the log and go again. Brave, brave kiddos I tell you. I was not nearly as brave as them!

Today's Recap:

Soarin' Over California (2x)

Toy Story Mania (5x)

Turtle Talk with Crush

Disney Animation Studio

Train Ride

Princess Fantasy Faire (3x)

Pixie Hollow

Indiana Jones (Suzy, Rob and Leeann)

Jungle Cruise (Robyn, Weston, Titus, Logan and Landon)

Splash Mountain (2x)

Haunted Mansion (Rob, Titus and Landon)

19 rides/attractions and 11,874 steps

Disneyland--December 6th

Today was supposed to be a rest day, but we were given a couple of extra tickets so Rob, Leeann, Titus and I headed to the park for a 'bonus' day. Suzy and the boys spent some time with a friend of hers who lives down here. It was a pretty fun and relaxing day until the evening rolled around. There was a special event going on at Disneyland tonight and it was PACKED. We decided to head back to the hotel pretty early tonight.

It's crazy because I feel like we've already had an amazing fun-filled trip, and we still have 3 days left! I love Disneyland!

When we went back to Bug's Life Land today the first thing Titus did was run up to the stick to measure himself to make sure he was still tall enough to ride the bumper cars. This is one measuring stick he stands proud next to!
He loves this ride. Leeann and Titus were taunting each other in line, "I'm going to bump you so hard!" Of course they go like .5 miles an hour. Still, it's a fun ride because they get to drive cars! Um, I mean... bugs...

Posing for a picture with my princess.

When we got over to Soarin' Over California Titus begged me to take him over to the measuring stick to see if he was tall enough yet. In a 4 year-olds mind perhaps you can grow 4 inches in a day!

We came across Mr. Incredible just as he was taking off so we didn't get his signature or a picture with him, but we did get a picture of him!

Today's Recap:

Toy Story Mania

Golden Zephyr

Blue Sky Cellar

Ariel's Grotto (lunch with the princesses)

Flik's Bumper Cars

Lighting McQueen and Tow Mater

The last part of Hollywood Backlot

Monster's Inc.

Turtle Talk With Crush (Titus asked Crush a question even... "Where do clown fish live?")

9 Rides and 11,548 steps

More Disney Fun!

Last night Rob's great uncle Spencer went to dinner with us. It was such a special treat for the kids and I to meet him and for Rob and Suzy to see him again, as it's been many years. He lives down here and gave us a ride from the airport. I love hearing his stories, he's been on many grand adventures in his lifetime... I hope to hear more in the future, he was a lot of fun!

Today we met a special new friend... Minnie Mouse! All decked out in her Christmas best!

We taught Leeann how to use my camera today. She took this one of me after our Toy Story performance adventure. These next couple of shots are some that she took. We were trying to give her some opportunities to perfect her new skill!

She took some other pictures later (that turned out blurry, so they aren't posted here) and asked us to kiss again since we had kissed here. It was funny the way she said it, as if every set of pictures needed to end in a kiss!

Toy Story Mania!

Titus and I rode on Toy Story Mania today. It's the newest California Adventure ride and it was a lot of fun. We went there right when the park opened (along with several hundered other people who had the same bright idea). It was a relatively short wait when we first got there, but was a 40 minute wait by the time we got out. We'll try it again on another day. I was player 1 just in case you were wondering!

We met Woody!

The kids learned how to be toys in a little production with the little green army men from Toy Story. I even got to be in this one by banging a giant tamborine!

We were right in front of the show. I love being in the right place at the right time!

We also got to meet Jessie!

A Big Day for the Princess!

They both wanted to be chosen to be a Jedi so badly. They even had shirts (Suzy made these too!), but it wasn't enough this time.

Instead, the cute little princess was chosen. We were glad at least on of the kids got to be chosen! We'll try again to see if we can get the boys each a chance.

Leeann on stage, training to be a Jedi!

Darth Mal came super close to us. Scary looking if you ask me!

Leeann got to fight Darth Vader. It doesn't get much cooler than that!

This smile says it all. She was so proud! We were proud too, she did a great job!

Standing proud with her class of Padawan's!

And the princess dancing with the High School Musical Performance!

When you push your kids until after midnight you end up with this. He fell asleep on the shuttle and was out like a light. There was no waking this kiddo!

-----------------------------------

Yesterday was a just plain crazy day. There were too many people! We spent the morning and early afternoon at the park then came back for a good rest. Then we hit I-Hop for dinner and headed back to the hotel. Our plan was to push the kids as long as they could go. They were troopers—we stayed until the park closed at midnight!

Because of the craziness we decided that we’d skip the park tomorrow too (we had planned to skip Monday). Even though the hours are shorter during the week, it is so much more pleasant with fewer people. And, there’s a lot less waiting in-line which is more enjoyable for everyone!

Yesterday was a big day for Leeann. She got to be a part of the Jedi training academy and also got to dance in the High School Musical performance!

Here’s a recap:

Buzz Lightyear
Jedi Training Academy
Honey I shrunk the Audience
Innoventions home of the future (Suzy and I got to play Guitar Hero!)
High School Musical Performance
(A nice rest at the hotel)
Finding Nemo Submarine Tour
Tarzan’s Treehouse
Jungle Cruise
Tiki Room
Star Tours
Astro Orbitor
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Mad Tea Party

15 rides/attractions and 14,603 steps!

California Adventure!

Today we spent the day at California Adventures. We were 2nd in line to get into the park and got right onto my favorite ride--Soarin' Over California. They kids all LOVED it, though Titus was very, very sad that he wasn't tall enough yet. We were able to distract him with a visit across the way to see Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater though.

Landon thought this one was pretty cool!

The crew on King Triton's Carousel.

Titus on the Chew Chew Train in Bug's Life Land.

Suzy and Landon enjoying the ride!

Waiting oh so patiently for their turns on the bumper cars.

Titus was SO excited. He finally got to measure up next to a height requirement stick that said he could actually go on the ride!

Some ride in Bug's Life Land. It went in circles and made me feel sick. No more spinning rides for me!

For some reason Rob really liked this stick guy.

The kids enjoyed getting their pictures taken with the Bug's Life characters, but didn't exactly love the show. It was a little too scary for them.

But Playhouse Disney was perfect for them. They all enjoyed this one!

We got some ice cream and watched the High School Musical 3 show. Disney does everything so well!

Disney Day 2:

Soarin' Over California

Tow Mater and Lighting McQueen

Monster's Inc

Mulholland Madness

Golden Zephyr

King Triton's Carousel

Flik's Fun Fair

Flik's Flyer

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train

Princess Dot Puddle Park

Tuck and Roll's Drive em Buggies

Playhouse Disney--Live on Stage

Disney's Aladdin-- A Musical Spectacular

Monster's Inc. (Again)

Muppet Vision 3D

It's Tough to Be a Bug Show

16 Rides/Attractions and 9,703 steps. I'm tired!

First Day at Disneyland!

We were waiting on Main Street first thing this morning (they let you onto Main Street prior to the actual park opening) and we were listening to this fantastic quartet. I decided to see if I could get Titus a serenade, so I grabbed him and plopped him smack dab in front of these nice gentlemen. He got attention from several of them during one of their songs and lo and behold, they're very next song was a Birthday serenade!

(Take notice of the really cool Birthday shirt Suzy designed and made for Titus. It's a Micky outline with a party hat and a number 4 inside. Super cool!)

It was a fun way to start the day!

Dumbo!

More Dumbo!

My toothless mighty woman!

My jibber-jabber son. We have a picture of him talking on this phone from our last trip.

He loved it then and loves it now!

Leeann enjoyed it too!

Almost buddy. Almost!

Jail Birds.

This is what Landon thought of Toon Town :0)

Our First Character!

Two Characters!

A Goofy Family.

Cousins!

Titus LOVED It's a Small World.

We all did, actually.

It was all decked out for Christmas, including renditions of popular Christmas music in a number of languages. Rob's sister Shelly and her kids joined us for this ride via speakerphone!

Titus was using his bear backpack tail as a whip. Silly boy!

Leeann loved driving on the Autopia ride!

The boys had a blast too.

Titus has been looking forward to going on this one with daddy for months. His time finally came!

And as a special Birthday treat we went to The Rainforest Cafe. Hey, why not... it was a good break from all the over-stimulation (note dripping sarcasm)

Truly, it was quite good--a nice Birthday treat. We split a volcano for dessert. Yummy!

This is Sleeping Beauty's Castle all lit up for Christmas. Absolutely breath-takingly beautiful!

Leeann and I stayed at the park a few extra minutes. We gave Leeann a budget and let her choose a gift for Titus. This is what she came back with. They are rubbery Star Wars bath-type toys. A hit with all the boys!

Okay, and the girl too!

We had quite the fun-filled day today. From sun-up til sun-down we were on the go. And thanks to a little book we picked up "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2009", we were prepared with a touring plan. We chose a one day plan called "Dumbo or Die in a Day". It basically hits all the best rides for the 7 and under crowd in one fun-filled jam packed day. We decided to do mostly rides today since Wednesday's are the least populous days in the park. We tried to get all the potentially long-wait rides out of the way today and we plan to enjoy more shows and such in the days to come. So, here's what we did:

Dumbo (we were the 4th ones on the ride)

Peter Pan's Flight

Alice in Wonderland
Storybook Land Canal Boats
Roger Rabbits Cartoon Spin

Gadgets Go Coaster
Goofy's Playhouse

Disneyland Railroad

Winnie the Pooh

Pirates of the Caribbean

It's a Small World

King Arther's Carousel
Pinocchio's Daring Journey
Autopia

Jedi Training Academy

Monorail

Buzz Lightyear

17 rides and 12,028 steps. What a day!

Happy Birthday Titus!

Today I woke up in the bed next to my extremely handsome son in our hotel room. I jumped in his bed and sang Happy Birthday to him. Today's his Happy Birthday!

I don't think we're ever going to be able to top this Birthday for him. EVER! But, that's okay, we'll enjoy this one while it's here!

So now we're getting up and ready. I'm grateful that the gates don't open until 10 today. It made it easy to sleep in a little and not feel so rushed this morning. So your next update will be full of pictures from the Happies Place on Earth!

And We're Off!

**Today's Captions brought to you courtesty of my gorgeous, handsome, strong, intelligent and windsome husband.**
6:30 am ready @ PDX after a 4:00 am wakeup time! Bagels, scones and Rob with a latte.

You won't believe it, we flew to Long Beach in an Oregon State University plane. We also spotted a Universityof Washington and Boise State labeled plane.

Titus did not stop jabbering from the time he buckled until we landed.

Landon, Suzy and Logan brought up the rear.
Uncle Rob and Weston having a great time on Weston's first plane trip.

Beavers!

Titus thought the two straws from his "complimentary" apple juice looked an awful lot like light sabres.

The force is strong with this one.

Leeann did a mature job of sitting next to a stranger, Robyn planned well and place Leeann on the aisle.

I'm coiled like a spring, ready to pounce---"Mom, if you shove that camera in my face one more time...."

Rob's college friend Jonathan came to pick us up at Long Beach airport. A stretch Prius. Jonathan's friend peiced three wrecked Toyotoa Priuses into this six seat, Hybrid...thing....40mph.

"Hi, I'm Aunt Suzy---ready for Disneyland!"

Our accomadations

Room 2--cozy. "I wonder how that floral print would go in our living room?"

We took a stroll to Downtown Disney. About a 18 minute walk from our hotel. We posed for a few photos between the parks. The "California" letters are dressed for the holidays

We stopped at a few shops. The Lego Store was a favorite. A life size Darth Vader and 15ft tall giraffe, all made from legos were in the store!

Preparations Galore

Today we did some more packing and worked on some final preparations. Tomorrow we have no choice but to finish our preparations because we'll be staying in Portland overnight TOMORROW. Yes folks, this is really happening! This trip has been in the planning stages for more than 2 full years and the adventure starts tomorrow! We'll fly out early Tuesday morning and have the first day in the park on Wednesday.

It's still so hard to believe that the time is almost here! Yippie!

I'm going to try to keep a photo journal up on the blog as best as I can, so check back in regularly over the next week if you want to live our adventure vicariously through this blog! Can you tell I'm a little excited?

3 Days!

We fly out in THREE days! Can you believe it? Today we spent the day doing laundry (the last load is just about to come out of the dryer) and working on some last minute preparations. Tonight, we pack!

Oh, and mommy the tooth-fairy is going to make a visit to Leeann's room tonight. She lost her top right tooth this evening. Wow, she looks so different now that a top one is gone!

Well, I shouldn't stay on here long, because my stress level is telling me that there's still plenty to do!

Phones, Fires and More

I started a grease fire in my kitchen last night, then burnt a tortilla to a crisp and later turned the wrong burner on and started to melt a plastic utensil. My house stunk!

A really cute moment was when Rob, Suzy and I were all in the kitchen trying to deal with the fire (we were trying to squelch the fire, open windows and rescue the 3 other pots and pans cooking food on the stove), Leeann came downstairs after a few minutes with a my little pony, tiny sized bucked of water. "Here you go, this is for the fire!" she said proudly. Truly, it wouldn't have put out a match, but it was a sweet thought!

THEN, as Leeann was clearing the table she looked at me with her silly little look and said, "Look under the plate mommy!" Smashed between two dirty plates was my cell phone.

I told her it wasn't funny because it was getting my cell phone dirty and asked her to take care of it. Translated in the mind of a 6 year-old... wash it. Unfortunately I didn't realize she was washing it until it was too late.

Luckily, my new every two phone plan just left me eligible for a new phone as of last week!

Today though, I am unable to call out and that has caused me numerous problems already.

I LOVE my life, but sometimes it's just plain exhausting!

Age 3

Titus's days of being 3 are nearly coming to an end. On December 2nd (our first day at Disneyland park!) I'll wake up in hotel room with my handsome 4 year-old son. I still can't figure out where time has gone!

Here are somethings that I want to remember about Titus being 3:

* He still sleeps with his blanket every night. I'm not sure more than 5 nights of his life have been spent without that blue car blanket by his side. He also loves his purple bear named "Beary Bear".

* He smiles ALL THE TIME. Seriously, I'm pretty sure this kiddo is care-free. Fun is his only motivation in life!

* He's usually the life of the party. He doesn't know a stranger and the world is his toy box.

* He never stops talking. There's always a sound coming out of his mouth, whether he's asking a question, talking to himself, his cars, telling someone what to do or just making general boy noises (crashing things into each other, making gun or sword noises as he turns every household items into these things).

* He enunciates every word very clearly and emphatically.

* He likes people. This boy is an extrovert for sure. He wants to be where the people are, doing what the people are doing. Last night he put a pull-up on to go potty because he didn't want to miss any time playing with his cousins. He told me, "I had to go and I didn't want to go in my underwear so I put a pull-up on!" Oh, the logic of a 3 year-old.

* He loves playing cars, trains and lego's with his daddy especially. He's also into Star Wars right now.

* His favorite movie is currently "Tad and Lily go to school."

* Almost every morning when he hears my alarm go off, or he hears Rob get out of the shower he comes in for morning snuggle time. This is my favorite time of the day!

* He got glasses this year, and he loves to wear them because they help him see better.

* If I remember right from his last Dr. appointment he's 27 pounds and 37 inches. He wears 2t and 3t clothes.

* Leeann says, "I like when he snuggles me and I like when he stays in the lines when he colors. I like about him when he sits by me. I really like about him when he loves me and hugs me."

* Leeann is still his best friend. These two have honest, genuine fun together and rarely fight. I think they both like being around people so much that they don't want to fight so they won't get separated.

* He likes to help, though his attention span is super short. The kiddo is impulsive and just doesn't stay still! I consistently have to bring him back to a task time and time again to get him to complete it. He's not being defiant, he's just very easily distracted. I'm telling you, this kid is EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME!

* He still has great motor skills. He can run, climb, jump and fly off of things like the best of them.

* He knows all of his letters and their sounds, can count to 29 and knows most of his shapes without help. He can spell his name and loves to point out signs that have the same letters in them as "his letters". He can skip count by 5's to 100.

* He wants to type his own name backwards, so here it goes: sutit leeann (okay, so he wanted to spell Leann's name too).

* He loves to beat people. He likes to race out of the church parking lot to beat Suzy or daddy to McDonald's. He tries to get his shoes or jacket, or buckles on faster than his sister. Unless of course, she's going faster. Then, "It's not a race!"

* He likes to be read to and he enjoys flashcards for some strange reason.

* He loves staying at Aunt Pam and Uncle Steve's and Aunt Shelly and Uncle Church's houses. These are his favorite over-night destinations.

* He especially enjoys playing with his cousins Weston and Logan, my siblings Logan and Hope, and with Caleb, Desiree and Troy.

* He asks almost daily if we can go to the church. He thinks he owns the place!

Well, with that it's time to get Leeann off to school. I'll try to update this list as I think of new things throughout the day, so check back if you are interested in more Titus knowledge. Aw, I love this kid!

Legos!

Logan and Hope came down this weekend. So, on Thursday night we met my dad in Tigard and I got the distinct pleasure of introducing him to The Lego Store!

He was like a kid in a candy store! So, of course all 4 kids each walked away with a cool Lego set. Logan got a Star Wars fighter ship, Titus got a fire truck and the girls got a girly horse thing.

Well, we invited my dad down for dinner tonight, which we usually do when we have his kids. Since The Lego Store happens to be right on his way he decided that he needed to go back and pick up a few more things for the kids.

"Do you think they'd like a house?" he asked. So we talked for a while about what house they would like. I was assuming a house for them all to work on together and share. Nope. He wanted to get them each a house!

So, Daddy/Grandpa came in tonight with a house set for each of them. These houses are SO cool! We spent a couple of hours putting part of them together and finally dumped the kids into bed exhausted WAY past bed time. Such fun!

Several days ago Rob stated that he thinks this is going to be a Lego Christmas... and I think he's right. Our kids are LOVING Lego's right now. The best part is, they are educational and timeless.

So, for those of you who have my kids on your Christmas list, think Lego :0) Well, if you want to of course!

2 Weeks!

2 weeks from this moment in time I will be fastening my seatbelt preparing for landing in Southern California!

Silly Kids!

I let each of my children have 1/2 hour tonight to be in charge. I explained to them that they make the rules and can do whatever they want. BOTH of them chose to watch a movie! Seriously, I thought I was gearing up for some real kid-inspired fun... I must figure out a way to expand their imaginations!

The Gift of Giving

*Long, some-what haphazard post ahead, but once I started writing about God's provision I was reminded of more and more ways He's provided for us. My fingers could hardly type fast enough to keep up with my grateful little mind!*

I am especially struck today by the awesomeness of of gifting--both on the giving end, and on the receiving end. It's such a cool way for God to use people in other people's lives.

For us it's been a true tangible measure of God's provision in our lives. At just the time when we need it most, we'll end up being given a random gift. Sometimes it's money, and usually just enough to cover our current need. Sometimes it's money to simply cover a want (which is especially cool when it's something we've waited a long time for and wanted really badly but just couldn't quite justify). I'm amazed at how many times we're given a gift that is exactly what we've been wanting... and how could the giver have possibly known? God knew.

Other times we're given a gift that we didn't even know we needed--then quickly realized the need after the gift was given!

Sometimes even, we gift ourselves without even recognizing what we're doing until much later. Consider the bunk beds we bought for "big sister", so she would feel comfortable having friends stay over. Not to mention the dresser we bought for her and the room we had completely prepared. We had saved little by little to purchase the things necessary for big sister and we were quite bummed to think about the money we had spent on those things once we realized that big sister probably wasn't going to be a reality in the near future. Little did we know however, that we would end up being able to bring 2 foster kids into our home with no notice, and no preparation... because we had prepared for big sister. It would have been nearly impossible for us to have furnished a bedroom for them when they first came. The night we came home with them we had a box of things we might need waiting on our front porch including cereal and toothbrushes and some clothes for the kids to get us through until we could go shopping. God knew.

We have put nearly 10,000 miles on our car since we got it in May (due to weekly visits to and from St. Helens for the kids). That same 10,000 miles on our previous van probably would have likely yielded some significant (and expensive) repairs because of the mileage it already had on it. Not to mention we would have possibly been living in daily apprehension wondering what was going to happen to it next, how much it would cost us, and how we would transport a family of 6 while it was repaired. Thankfully though, we had the money to purchase Rob's mom's car at a generously discounted price that gave us the freedom not to worry about those things during an already stressful stage in life. God knew.

Speaking of cars, Rob's broke down when we first moved to Albany and a few people chipped in to partially pay for a replacement car.

We've gone to Disneyland twice and received some free tickets both times. People have paid for our meals, our gas, some clothes, Leeann's preschool, our honeymoon even! We've been given a number of timely gift cards (somehow I'm craving Starbucks just thinking about that!). We've received boxes of clothes for the kids and other goodies in the mail on numerous occasions. We've been given hand-me-down clothes galore! We've been given all sorts of hand-me-down furniture that has allowed us to have just what we've needed. Within a week of moving to Albany and posting a list of needs on the bulletin board at church we had a table and chairs, an end table, a microwave, a mattress, a couch and chair (though those were borrowed from someone who had them in storage), and a washer and dryer even!

When we had Titus I literally don't think we bought a thing. Or, should I say, the few things we did buy were because we had been given money or gift cards from others. A crib, strollers, carseats, a changing table and more baby stuff than anyone could imagine!

We've had a number of people give us the gift of labor. Some of our car repairs and many of our home repairs have been done by others at little or no cost to us. We've also had people come help out or give a hand out of the blue, or offer to watch our kids. Again, just at the perfect time.

Our adoption was paid for partially by a love offering taken at church and partially out of a clerical error on our previous year's taxes. Seriously, I believe God did that. I believe he guided our treasurer (who was in her first year at the job) to overlook whatever error it was. And also to catch it at just the right time. The difference was just enough to pay the attorney and remaining expenses for our adoption. And believe me, this was at a time that I had just finished college and our finances had very little wiggle room for such a big expense. God knew.

Speaking of college. How on earth did I end up getting to go to college? My family had always lived paycheck to paycheck and no one went to college. I received so many grants and scholarships and work opportunities that I am still flabbergasted by the fact that I was able to graduate college. God has even brought about some, um, unique opportunities for work that have allowed us to diligently pay down our remaining loans. Rob's are paid off and mine will be under $10,000 by the first of the year. It sounds like a lot of money, but it's so little compared to what they started out as. And, as always, God has been faithful to provide for even pesky student-loans.

We've gotten some really out-of-the-blue monetary gifts that were incredibly timely. I mean, incredibly timely. I am overwhelmed at the though of God stirring in the heart's of others to provide for our needs. I'm overwhelmed at the fact that those people would open up their hearts and their wallets, or give their time to meet someone else's need.

I'm overwhelmed at the fact that God works in our hearts to give in ways that we don't usually understand. Sometimes we just feel like God's asking us to give something. I like that. I like knowing that he's using us to provide for others in small ways. Just like he's used so many other people to provide for us. I feel like He's taught us so much out of the provision of others that I can't help but smile and wonder what God is trying to teach others when He stirs in our hearts to give to them. Of course, at this stage of our lives we've been given far more than we've been able to give.

Someday though, we hope to be able to give in HUGE ways. Like they say on the movie Robots, "See a need, fill a need!" I believe God is preparing us for that by asking us to give in small ways now. I especially like when He puts it on our heart to gift something to someone that hurts. I mean, I don't know how we're going do without this thing, or this money, but obviously God has a plan. So we give and God provides. Every time! Every single time!

This post only begins to scratch the surface of the cool ways God has provided for us in our nearly 8 years of marriage. Time after time, item after item, dollar after dollar, God has worked in and through people to meet our daily needs. I like being part of God's story.

A couple of things happened today that reminded me of the fact that God cares deeply about our pea-pickin little family in big ways. As I was pondering how grateful I am for His provision I thought I ought to write it down not only to share with you (and hopefully encourage you to consider the cool ways in which God provides) but as a way for our family to remember about all of the amazing ways God has provided for our needs. God is so faithful!

Whiskers

We play a game at our house called "whiskers". It's along the same vein as giving butterfly kisses or Eskimo kisses, but it's where someone rubs their chin on some else's face or arms and yells, "Whiskers!" It's especially cute when Titus does it because he really thinks he's hurting you (since Daddy's whiskers hurt when you do that). He does it with all his little might!

Anyway, I was just up in Leeann and Titus's rooms with them and I pulled my pant leg up because I felt something funny on my knee. Leeann looked at me with a puzzled expression and inquisitively looked up and said, "Mommy, why are you growing whiskers on your leg?"

Because it's almost winter time my love, it's almost winter!

Funny Girl

"Mommy, can we take the Dave Ramsey video to Disneyland with us?" asked Leeann. Only Buhl children enjoy watching Dave Ramsey for fun!

20 Days!

We fly out for our Disney trip in 20 DAYS! You have no idea how excited we are in the Buhl household right now. We've been planning, praying and saving for this trip since August of 2007 and it's almost here! DISNEYLAND HERE WE COME!

Jabber Jabber

I am amazed at how much my son talks. I mean he talks, and talks and talks regardless of who's around or if anyone is listening. And he just keeps talking and talking and talking and talking. Right now they're at the table doing school work and the kid just keeps on jabbering! About absolutely NOTHING! I wonder where he gets this from?

Kid Quote

I overheard Leeann saying in a conversation to Titus, "I want to be a mom but first I need to learn all the rules in all the houses. THEN I can be a mom. And I need to learn to cook all by myself with any help first." How cute is that?

At Dinner

At dinner tonight Leeann looked up at me and matter-of-factly said, "Dave Ramsey says sell the condo."

Then she went back to her food! We were talking about this with them the other day when we told them we rented out the other house and that we wouldn't be moving back into it for a while. We were talking about needing to sell this one, but for now we need stay here.

Isn't it funny the things they pick up? Perhaps we talk just a little to much about Dave Ramsey these days?!?!

But Mom!

This morning I laid Leeann's clothes out for her. She climbed out of the shower and walked into her room to find a purple long sleeve striped shirt and a purple vest on her floor where I set them out for her.

She came out in the hallway with a confused, dejected look on her face. "But mom, I've already worn those to school before!"

The poor girl has so many clothes (thanks Aunt Shelly and Great Grandma M!) that she didn't realize that she might occassionally wear the same thing more than once a year!

In her defense, she really probably hasn't worn the same thing twice because she still had her summer clothes out for the first month of school and we recently pulled out her winter clothes giving her a whole new set of clothes to choose from.

She wasn't being prissy or snotty, just honestly questioning if she was supposed to wear the same thing twice. Silly girl!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Rob's Birthday--34!

I've gotta say, I absolutely love this man! It's like each year just gets better and better.

Happy Birthday Rob, I love you more than you can imagine!

Harvest Party

(Click on the collage to make it bigger)

A few weekends ago we went to a Harvest Party with some families from NACC. It was a lot of fun and we got to do some cool things like play in a hay maze, have rubber ducky races, swim in a box of corn and shoot potatoes and corn cobs out of cannons. Oh, and we got pumpkins too. Leeann's was HUGE and Titus's was teeny.

Toward the end of the afternoon Rob's dad and brother came in on the train. They stopped by to see us for a few minutes before they took off to their annual Buhl men's football game. It was quite a fun weekend!

Disney on Ice

Last weekend Rob and I took the kids on a surprise date. We told them to dress up and then we loaded them into the car... they had no idea what was coming! We actually met Logan and Hope there because their foster family also had tickets, and we were taking them for the weekend, so it proved to be a terrific meeting spot!

Anyway, the kids had a blast, and so did we. We were excited to be able to give Logan and Hope a fun opportunity and to give our kids a little Disney preview. Not to mention, a much needed family fun date. Disney does stuff so well, it never disappoints. Speaking of, we are 33 days away from our Disneyland trip... I can almost taste it!

On the Mend

Titus has been awake most of the day and has been running around chipper as can be for the last couple of hours. I think we're on the mend.

For dinner tonight Leeann hopped up on the stool and peered through the opening to the kitchen cheerily inquiring, "Can we play restaurant?"

"Sure, why not. How may I help you?'

"May I please have just a bagel with some cream cheese and some water?"

"Sure, coming right up." I said.

"Actually, may I please have some juice? And, some pudding for dessert?" she asked, clearly testing her boundaries.

So, we played restaurant, and I was grateful for such a simple request from my beautiful customer.

Titus had a choice of juice, crackers, or both. His menu was a little more limited. He chose both, and appears to be handling them nicely.

We're now making some special crafts for Rob for his Birthday tomorrow. He's been at a Pastor's Prayer Summit since Tuesday morning. We're excited to have him back, and we're trying to think of fun ways to celebrate at home since we're still going to be on quarantine for his Birthday.
I'm excited to have him home after our crazy, chaotic, sick, couped-up couple of days!

Titus Update

Titus has a double ear infection which explains the fever and runny nose. The vomiting is likely due to a stomach bug. Double bummer for him. We're still looking for signs of dehydration, but he seems to be making a little bit of progress. He's even sitting up right now, and walked around for a few minutes today.

We picked up a whole stack of movies from a friend who picked Leeann up from school today. We got several that will help us learn the Disney characters better... we're down to just over a month until Disneyland! So, here's to another day full of movie watching and snuggling. I'm not complaining :0)

Poor Guy

38 hours later, Titus is still miserable, and seems to be getting worse. I was gearing up for an E.R. visit in the wee morning hours due to dehydration, but he was able to get a little bit of water down and produce a wet diaper just before the time I was told I'd have to take him in if he didn't wet. So, this morning we'll go into the clinic. I do appreciate that he wet last night as it is far cheaper to take him to the clinic than to the E.R.

He's still throwing up and unable to keep ANYTHING down outside of a few small sips of water at a time. It's all the strength he can muster just to keep his head upright for a few seconds. He's now to the point were he can hardly stand. He just kind of fell into me this morning when I was trying to get his jacket on to take Leeann to school.

So, the doctor's office is able to squeeze him in about an hour from now. I'll be sure to update you when I have any news. In the meantime I appreciate your prayers for this little guy, he's having a really rough time.

Christmas

Take my poll just to the right regarding how much you spend on Christmas presents. It's just for my own curiosity... I have no idea who votes, or who gives what answers. I'm just curious!

When the Pig Oinks

Last night we did a little bit of early Birthday celebrating and took Rob out for dinner and to shop for a new jacket for him. Titus was a bit warm when Rob took him out of his carseat and he made a comment that he thought Titus was getting sick.

He didn't touch his dinner and complained about being cold, so we let him wear both his jacket and Leeann's, and we didn't make him eat.

After dinner he chippered up a little bit and we went and browsed the mall and Rob found a jacket (which Leeann was distraught over by-the-way... how could we wrap it and give him something to open on his Birthday if he saw it now?)

We were headed home and decided to pull into Sonic for a slushie. Just then Titus started whining that his stomach hurt and he was hungry. I figured he could be hungry, but was more likely sick. I then verbally made my prediction that we'd see vomit before too long.

Sure enough, we hadn't even pulled out of the driveway and it was everywhere. Tear-the-carseat-apart disgusting! I thought corn was bad--try grapes! Unfortunately for Titus we still had a 1/2 hour drive home.

So, we cleaned up as best as we could, and I wrapped my blanket around him. He slept all of the way home and then he and his carseat both came inside for a much needed bath. It probably took me 20 minutes to disassemble that thing. I'm sure it will take the next two days to put it back together!

I'm grateful that he slept through the night, but he was up sick again early this morning. Leeann and I are doing our best to take care of him. I decided to keep her home from school as a precaution. So, I'm officially confined to my house for at least 48 hours after the last symptom... I'm sure I'll catch up on my blogging soon!

Leap!

I have to say, if you have kids or grandkids who are anywhere between the age of 0-6, you really ought to consider getting the Leap Frog Learning videos. They are SO good!

We have the Letter Factory which teaches all of the letters and their sounds in a really fun, memorable way.

We also have the Word Factory which teaches how letters work together to make words.

Then we have the Storybook Factory which shows how words work together to make stories (including punctuation and such).

We also have the Math Circus which teaches about numbers and groups of numbers including basic addition and subtraction.

Finally, we just picked up the newest one, Let's Go To School which compliments the other videos by teaching about letters and numbers too, but it also includes animal families, calendar, clocks, basic school rules and other things kids will experience as they go to school for the first time.

Anyway, they run about $10 at Wal-Mart, but I recently picked up the newest one at Costco for $6. I think you can probably find them on-line cheap.

All that to say, I highly recommend these. It's much cheaper than preschool, but covers all the basics in a really fun, creative, memorable way! And, I have no problem regularly putting my kids in front of these movies. That's how they all (including Hope and Logan) have learned their letters, sounds and numbers. Titus was spouting off his letters and their sounds as soon as he could talk!

There's my promotional plug for the day :0)

8 Years

Eight years ago, today, Rob asked me to be his wife and put a beautiful, shiny, sparkly ring on my finger. And, of course, I said yes!

It's hard to believe it was eight years ago, I remember the details like it was yesterday. We were so... young! Eight years together has brought about so many beautiful memories and so much joy in marriage that's it's almost enough to make me giggle like the 19 year-old college girl I was when Rob swept me off of my feet!

We're seven weeks away from being able to say we survived the proverbial "seven-year itch". I'll be honest, it has been a doozy of a year with the various life circumstances that we've had to walk through... but I can't think of anyone I'd rather walk through years like these with! I love you Rob, thanks for the shiny ring and eight wonderful years!

Scary Mommy Moment

Yesterday I went through the kids' clothes, put their summer clothes away, passed down ones that are too small and pulled out their winter clothes. While I was doing this I moved Titus's clothes over to Logan and Hope's room so Leeann and Titus's dresser wouldn't be so full. Titus was excited to have his own dresser when he was getting his clothes on today.

Well, this morning while I was doing Leeann's hair I heard an enormous crash and my heart sunk. I knew Titus was in that bedroom and I knew there was only one thing in there that could have made a crash like that... the dresser.

I ran into the room and experienced the scariest mommy moment to-date... my nearly 4 year-old pinned squarely underneath the dresser. I mean, it was flat on top of him, completely covering him. I pulled it off of him as quickly as I could and picked up him up. I sent Leeann outside to get her dad who was just leaving for work (and I'm so glad he went in later than normal today!). She ran out the door crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. I brought Titus out to Rob, shaking as we looked him over. He only cried for about 20 seconds then he was just kind of staring at me in a state of shock. So, while Rob tried to get him to tell him if anything hurt, I called his doctor. I wasn't sure whether to watch him, take him to the doctor, urgent care or the E.R. The nurse said just to keep an eye on him, make sure he's talking, drinking water and that his eyes are normal. Whew! By the time I got off the phone with her Rob brought Titus back in and he was talking, running and bouncing as normal.

I'm still a little shaky. It's one of those things that you think will never happen to your kids. I know that falling dressers and t.v.'s have led to peril for many young children. And it can happen... in the blink of an eye... just like that! I'm so grateful that he is safe and doing well. Let's just say, he's gotten an awful lot of hugs an kisses this morning!

For the record, he wasn't climbing on the dresser. He showed us that he pulled all of the drawers out, which made it tip over. Maybe that's why it turned out okay, because some of the drawers might have stopped the dresser from falling too hard too quickly. Scary, scary!

Financial Peace University

I'm really excited about going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University with our small group. There are 14 adults and a boat-load of of kiddos. I am SO excited to be going through this, and even more excited that we're getting to do it with other people!

In just a couple of weeks I'm already seeing the lights click on and people devote themselves to achieving financial peace through rocking the baby steps. We kind of got a jump start when we picked up one of his books 6 months ago, but now we have a weekly lesson that forces us to think through our finances more clearly each week.

I can almost taste the freedom, and I LOVE IT!

Reunion

I've spent the better part of my last couple of days trying to track down classmates since our 10 year reunion is just around the corner. And, well, it's hard to have a reunion without people!

I was class president my Senior year. I knew that meant that I'd be in charge of reunions for life, and at the time it sounded like just the kind of job I'd want! SO MUCH has changed in 10 years though...

I don't know how I would have imagined my life back then. But if back then, you had flashed forwarded to now... I would have probably spit my Sobe across the table in the Commons in utter disbelief. Me, working as a Children's Ministry Director, married to a Pastor for the past 8 years. Two beautiful kids and an utterly crazy, absolutely astonishingly beautiful life? Who'd a thunk?

The funny thing is, I've changed so much in 10 years. Yet, I can't imagine my classmates as anything other than what they were 10 years ago--because that's all I know of them. I almost shudder to think of how people will view me by default--because that's all they know about me.

It's almost a shame that we're so defined by our high school experience. There are no do-overs. You can't change anything (and oh, I wish I could!), and you can't get that time back. It is it what is. It's four years of our life, yet we spend the next 60+ years reliving the glory days every 5-10 years. As if any of us are remotely similar to who we were back then.

For the first time in my life I'm beginning to see why some people choose not to participate in reunions. I really am looking forward to mine in some ways. Yet, in other ways I dread it. Mostly, I dread trying to track down all these people that I have no idea how to contact! I've found 77, but I have 97 more to locate. Yikes!

As reunion time draws near you can't help but reflect back on those days. At least, I can't. Most people who read my blog didn't know me in high school, and I'm tempted to try to describe myself back then for you... but I'm not even sure where to start.

I wasn't popular (I was never invited to 'cool' parties and such), yet everyone knew me. I had a few really close friends, and toward my Senior year I got sucked into a pretty cool (cool in my book anyway) group of friends that all went to church together. I had a crazy home-life, and throughout high school pretty much raised myself. My mom moved away when I was 8 and my dad had periods of um, lack of sobriety if you will, which led to him being on an extended vacation for the last year and a half of my high school days. At that age I was too old to be cared for by someone else, yet too young to take care of myself.

So, in a wild effort to not be defined by my home life, I threw myself into school work and extra-curricular activities. I was class president all four years, in all sorts of clubs, and volunteered for just about anything that would be considered a worthy activity on my college resume (someone was going to have to pay for college), or that would get me away from home for a while. I played (or attempted to play) soccer for three of those years... but let's be honest... I'm not exactly athletic! I never partook in anything of substance. I was always busy. I probably had a boyfriend for 90% of my high school days. Again, looking for something else to pour myself into. See note above about things I wish I could change.

I was loud, and opinionated... and wanted to change the world. I intended to get into politics. Really, I think I wanted to be famous. Yet, I wanted it to be for something good and worthwhile. I wanted to be well-known, but in some ways I didn't care if people liked me. I've always had a very clear view of right vs. wrong and I wasn't afraid to share my thoughts. I always tried to be 'smart' and I was in comparison to many, but I was always deeply jealous of the really 'smart' people. Looking back, I realize most of those smart people had a lot of encouragement at home to do well, and probably had parents walking them through a lot of the difficult assignments and such. I was often operating on a whole lot of stress and very little sleep.

I regularly sought approval from my teachers, and tried very hard not to disappoint them. As much as I wish I weren't, I'm sure I was prideful and arrogant. I tried to build myself up so I wouldn't fall apart. I walked through life with a few defining philosophies at that stage. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, and what's meant to be will happen.

See, even before I knew the truth--that God had a plan for my life, I always imagined that someday I would look back and be grateful in some strange way for all the pain, hurt and drama. That some how, some way, some good would come out of the rubble. That perhaps I had to be on the road I was on to get to the road that I was meant to be on. And that when I got to that road, I would be grateful that the broken road lead me there. That's why I cling to my life verse, Romans 8:28, "For we know God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose."

Specifically, every time I went through a painful break-up, I thought to myself. Someday, I'm going to be standing at the alter, staring into the eyes of my husband, and I'll be so grateful that this didn't work out. And I was so right! I can't imagine myself living the life that I would have lived in any of those scenarios. God knew so much better than me. My husband is so much more than I could have dreamt about if you'd have given me 1,000 years to write my own love story!

I never would have imagined in high school that I would go from being defined by what I did, to being defined by who I am. I am a child of God, Creator of the heaven and Earth. I have slowly grown from who I was to who I am. And I'm sure in another 10 years I'll look back on today with even more marvel at how God has changed me over the years. God is so good!

Natural Consequences

This morning Titus got a good taste of natural consequences. Literally.

See, he's been told plenty of times to pee sitting down. He's not tall enough, nor coordinated enough to do his business standing up. And let's face it, I don't like to spend that much time cleaning my bathrooms.

Well, this morning, Titus learned that lesson all too well. Leeann walked in my room panicking, "Titus is peeing on the floor!" So I darted into the bathroom just in time to see him standing in front of the toilet peeing EVERYWHERE. It was going straight into the air... all over the toilet (thought not in it!)... around the toilet... on the floor... and worst of all...

...all over his face. I think he's 3 year old curiosity got the better of him and he wanted to 'see' what was going on. Instead he got it in his mouth and eyes and all over my bathroom. He spent the next few minutes spitting and wiping his eyes. I'm pretty sure he's going to heed our warnings of sitting down from now on.

For whatever it's worth, he said it tastes disgusting!

Facebook and Blogging

I know I've been a blog slacker lately. There really are many reasons, but none that are interesting enough to post about. But, one of the reasons is because I assume many of my readers follow me on facebook, thus making the need to blog regularly not as important. That's quite an assumption on my part though. So, I created a poll... just to the left. Take a minute to let me know if you follow me on facebook too.

If you feel really adventerous, leave a comment and tell me why you read my blog. I'm just feeling at a loss of blogging direction lately...

Make fun of me no more!

Rob has long made fun of me for being fearful of opening cans of biscuits and rolls. Well, I have recently discovered that there is a healthy reason for my fear! We have now switched to frozen rolls instead of refrigerated ones when they are needed and we don't have fresh rolls on hand.

I could have lost an eye, or, a tooth. And, I happen to like my eyes and teeth!

Poor Kid

Dust, trees, grass and weeds oh my!

Leeann had an appointment with an allergist today. She is allergic to dust, tree pollen, grass and weeds. Lovely eh? Have I ever mentioned that we live in the grass seed capitol of the world?

The tree, grass and weed pollen we can't really do much about. She's likely going to have to be on medication during peak outdoor allergy seasons, as her symptoms have gotten worse and worse over the years.

The dust mites however, are something that we need to do something about. The more she's exposed to the allergens, the more likely she is to develop severe asthma in the years to come. So, we're supposed to get special coverings for her mattress and pillow, wash her bedding in hot water 2-4 times per month, and take her stuffed animals off her bed or wash them frequently. She only has like 80 0f them on her bed!

It's also recommended that we take carpet out of her bedroom and get leather furniture. That's right, leather furniture... doctor's orders :0) Okay, he didn't tell me to get leather furniture but when I asked him if it would help he said, "Actually yes, it would help a lot". Hmmm, do you think insurance would cover that? See, dust mites eat dead skin so they get embedded anywhere dead skin cells are. Couches and beds are the worst places. They don't however, get embedded into leather like they do fabric covered couch cushions. We also probably need to get a vacuum from this century. Or at least one that's newer than 1970-something.

So, one step at a time we will start working toward dust-mite proofing our house for Leeann's sake. I'm sure one of my readers how a deep, chocolate-brown leather furniture set that they aren't using anymore right? And a Kirby or a Dyson, or some other high powered vacuum? Hey, you never know!

One loan down, one to go!

(Rob clicking the mouse to make his final student loan payment!)

I still feel a bit funny sharing part of our finances with the blogger world. But, we are so excited about our commitment to live a debt-free life that we feel we ought to share our excitement with our readers to potentially encourage or inspire some of you that it can be done. And better yet, it should be done. There's such a freedom in not feeling bogged down because of our obligation to pay a debt to someone else.

We started our quest to become debt free on April 16th, 2009. We started off with $20,819.79 in debt which included a medical bill, an ambulance bill, Rob's student loans and my student loans.

Five months later we've been able to pay off all but my student loans and our debt total is now $14,072.15! The most exciting part is that now we're taking the monthly payments that we were paying on the ambulance bill and Rob's student loans and we've rolled that into what we're going to start paying on my loans. That, combined with any extra money that comes in (including the potential sale of our condo), and we're realistically looking at being completely debt-free outside of our mortgage far sooner than we had ever imagined could be possible!

I cannot even begin to explain the freedom we're beginning to feel. In case you're wondering, we're following the Dave Ramsey Plan, which is delightfully simple, yet profound. This should be evidenced by the fact that we've been able to pay down as much debt as we have in a few short months on an average salary. It's a beautiful thing! So now, we continue to trek on and put any penny we can scrape up into getting my loans payed off. Then we're going to do a happy dance! Okay, that's not part of Dave's baby steps, but you better bet I'm going to squeal with delight and start doing the happy dance!