We're Covered!

Here you go, Dad. The snow pictures. It began a fine snow in the morning as Scott headed out for work and continued on into the evening, though it's now quit.

Also a couple pictures of our tree and my attempt at window art. It was a fun time-waster....

Finally, we have window coverings up! The kitchen will wait, but we now have privacy in the bedrooms and living room/eating area. That's nice. Scott did a great job hanging them all. He's finishing up the last of the blinds now. YES, it's very late for that. It's been a long day.

Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

In Our Loves

Ranne has said a couple sweet things lately. No pictures as our camera was left at friends' house for several days.

He was outside with Toby and I heard him yell and cry loudly, so went to check. He fell off his bike, which was in the grass. His arm had scraped a brick, leaving a red scuff all the way down his forearm, which reminded me how soft and small he still is. After lunch and waking him from a nap, he, half asleep, said, "I fell and hurt my arm on the dirt box. But, I know that God was with me; He's always with us. When I fell, deep down inside I felt his footstep."

Later on he said, "God is always with us. He's in our loves." At three, almost four, he still calls hearts 'loves'. I enjoy it and don't correct him, though he does know what a heart is.

We've had several such great conversations. He's just awesome.

A Sweet Ending

Please note pictures were finally added to the 'Falling Fast' post. So scroll on down.
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TRAINS! The dear Foldings, long ago, sent us a couple train sets. The motorized Thomas trains were the favorite, but have been put away for a while as the boys are too rough with them. The wood ones, however, go with tracks we had bought them the Christmas before. So in our house, trains are the latest 'big thing' and take up a good amount of time, daily. LOTS of little parts. Scott, as you can probably guess, likes making intricate tracks.

Much time has passed since the last post. I wanted to go ahead and just put up some sweet pictures. The red on our screen no longer works, so I don't really know what the photos look like or of what quality they are, but as far as I can tell, they're the best of what was taken.

Brendan and Sarah hosted several of us at their home for Halloween. It really was a blast. Dinner was GREAT; thank you Sarah (an angel of a hostess). Afterwards, the kids 'decorated' sugar cookies and had a walk down trick-or-treat lane.

Student Center work is progressing. The students are taking more and more responsibilities on themselves. The big youth area-wide will be hosted at the CSC in a couple weeks, so several guys are prepping to lead that event, which is absolutely insane with energetic teenagers.

There were, I believe, seven ladies at the last ladies study that was lead here in our home. We enjoyed Fondue and a lot of scripture. It seemed to go well. Though the study lasted a while longer than anticipated, the ladies really engaged and stuck with it. The study also led itself fairly well, so I was excited about that.

The boys are doing well. Toby and I are feeling generally puny, but it seems only a head-thing. They are a constant delight. Ranne's imagination is flourishing. The vents into the wall have become portals for all sorts of adventures and monsters. Bears occasionally need shot by their Dad and the like.... The other night they were very excited by the snake their uncle and aunt gifted them. Scott tied it around their waists. Here's a couple proud shots:

In this last one with the snake, Ranne is having the snake talk to Grandma and Grandpa. It didn't go too well.

Toby has recently taken to carrying this doll around the house that Nana and Papa gifted them. It's sweet. I think he's finally catching on that a baby is coming 'soon'.

Otherwise we eat, read, sleep, play. Here are some just plain sweet pictures, all out of order, I'm sure.
Quiet time. Look at those sweet, thick feet!

Toby's first nap in his big bed. We still haven't transitioned yet, waiting till after holidays. We're sad to let the crib go for him. Such a sweet babe still....

One of my favorite things to see.

Boys gorging themselves on birthday eggs and waffles with berry syrup and whipped cream that Scott fixed for me.

Lastly, a few changes. We bought a cabinet for our computer so that we could have open Internet use in the house, as well as make room for a guest room/nursery. Scott, crazy man, worked until 2am putting it together after working a 11-hour day. But, we sure like it and it's practicality.

And Scott's co-worker Garrett worked out a great thing for the CSC, having 3 beautiful and HUGE trees donated to the CSC. In that deal, we also bought a large, fully-established tree for 25-50 dollars. It waits in our yard for planting tomorrow morn. An ash that should grow fairly quickly:

And this was left on our porch by our generous neighbor Jim, so we could plant it in good soil.

More later, surely. God bless.

Leftover Sweets

Still no pics. Wow.

Well, before I forget, a sweet thing Ranne said the other week as we drove home from the church meeting. We were looking at the sliver of a moon out the windows and he excitedly remarked, "We're taking it home with us!"

After visiting Aunt Dora on Friday, Toby called out: Bye, Aunt Doree.

Goodnight all. We'll try to get those pictures up for you soon.

Falling Fast

Fall is quickly passing, much to my regret. It's definitely the favorite season: parties when parties are still fun, cold mornings, hot afternoons and fresh chili which the locals compare quality and hotness from restaurant to restaurant. Toby who dislikes any kind of weather, be it too hot, too cold, too windy, too rainy,... will more willingly play outside now too, which is GREAT.

A couple weekends ago, Brendan and Sarah had us out for breakfast to celebrate Toby and my birthdays. They cooked a wonderful breakfast for us, including extra donuts with candles, which was a blast. It turned into a really fun day as Scott let me stay while he worked on the house, distraction free. Sarah and I shopped for shoes while the kids napped, leaving poor Unky Bendan (Toby's title for him) with three overly tired and sleeping kiddos. They fed us lunch and dinner too! Amazing and generous. It was the first outing I've had in some time with no worries.

After the wee ones woke, we took them to a little 'pumpkin patch' run by a charitable organization who was advertising their services. The had a small hay-maze, pumpkins to buy, bean-bag toss, Mr. Pumpkin Head table, a trough of corn to dig in, and a horse to ride. It was torture to all the kids, separating from the corn trough. Ranne, in fact, was denied a horse-ride because of that. Bummer.

Scott preached the next day in Rio Rancho on love. It was very good and the church seemed really attentive. Afterwards we had lunch with one of their new members, Effie, and the youth minister and his wife. Effie said she was enjoying it so much she felt he ended it too soon and could have listened more. That's always nice.

This Friday we attended a Halloween party at our friends Peter and Casey's home. It was absolutely WILD, with over fifty people attending. Amazingly, none of the children took on any injury and the hosts' house remained intact, though the dogs were let loose once. After naps and dinner, Scott and I then took the boys to Golfernoggins. Ranne has begged to go back since that first time months ago. Ranne and Toby spent most of the time by the video games while Scott and I played. Very calm and nice!

Today, while Peter and Brendan helped with the new laundry-room AGAIN, Casey invited the boys and me over to visit. It took us 15-additional minutes to arrive as we waited on McCain to make his way to his rally near our house. We waved and clapped as they drove by. We played at Casey's for a couple hours before looking at the clock to realize time had flown and we were late to:

visit the local fire-station with our friend Kristine and her children. It was really fun! They got to see the trucks, a demonstration of the Jaws-of-Life, and collect lots of free stuff. Free stuff that included a bike, won by big-brother Ranne! SO exciting since he's been begging for one since seeing his friend Ethan's. I told him it was on the Christmas list, so he was upset every time I'd go to the store and return without it. He's sick with anticipation now. We need to find him a little (big) helmet to get him used to it now. We're grateful to Peter for that too, as he's picking it up for us to save us the 45-minute drive.

AND, the laundry-room looks like a room now! The drywall is in the interior; about half the Hardibacker on the floor; and, you'll like this John and Betty, the floor extends all the way across to the washer. The other day I nearly did a wipe-out, carrying a basket of laundry through there with half a floor. You must know, then, how excited I am about all this getting done. They've done such a nice, clean job too. Pictures will come soon.

Ranne things: he's said some awesome things lately, which I keep forgetting and forgetting to write down! GRRR. He's been talking a lot about God not leaving or forsaking us. He says things like, "Isn't it great that God gave me eyes?" when he sees something he really likes. That MUST have come from class, though we do talk about that too, just differently. On the way to Rio Rancho today, he was asking about how a car burns gasoline. After my explanation, he said, "Oh, like the water-heater burns gas." which his dad must have explained. His connecting the two was really neat though. THEN, we heard McCain's voice on the radio right after he drove by our car and Ranne said, "That's the man who was on the bus!"

Tomorrow we head out extra early to set up for class, have class, meet with the church, go home, eat, and then are out to Riverside for their services and another talk by Scott. It's so fun to visit these other families in Christ! I will repost this same posting with pics another day. I'm to bed!

Pumpkins at the Patch

The day before Toby was born, two years ago, we visited the McCall Pumpkin Patch with friends. We hadn't been there until the Frees came to visit at just the right time of year. We took a Saturday morning and made a good time of it.

The boys were ready to go!


First thing on arrival, other than the jumper pumpkin that scared the boys, was the toddler train. Ranne bravely went on his own and Toby took a ride in Dad's lap.






This is fun. The goats climb the platforms out of enjoyment. People lure them up there for tasty treats for their own fun too. A tin can for goat-
snacks is attached to a conveyor belt which is hand-peddled to the top.


Toby found a play house that was actually quite a hit, especially the plastic fruit and veggies for the little, hungry boy.


This was a blast for the boys too. They each picked out a duck from a bucket and tried to pump the water, with help, fast enough that the ducks were propelled down the gutter to the pool on the end. Very exciting for them. If you look at the first picture closely, their faces are lit!



Ranne's favorite part of the trip:


Perhaps one of my most treasured pictures: He was giddy to hide from us in the toddler-sized hay-maze. There were little holes throughout that let light in. The tunnels were just his size.


Very fun, this was, until I jumped and bounced both boys on their heads. Game OVER. "Pregnant Moms Not Allowed", a sign should have read.


This was adorable. Toby crawled over to me as the pillow bounced crazily. He stuck his head in my lap so I thought he was afraid, but big, muffled belly-laughs begun to erupt from him. After a few minutes he crawled off to lay there, letting himself be tossed by whoever was springiest.



Grandpa John Free and Ranne enjoying the patch.


A dangling spider Scott and John found, hoping my dad would identify:



GOODNIGHT!