Our Road Trip South

Baby its COLD outside!

Today was fairly warm and sunny. The temp were above 0 and the wind wasn't kickin too bad. We just bundled up as much as possible in as many layers as possible and faced the day.

Our humidifier went out at work and by midday all my paper was sticking together with static electricity. My fax machine would kick out about 5 sheets at a time and when I peeled them apart they went "snap crackle pop" ok maybe not that sound but the sound you make when you peel socks or something off your clothes fresh out of the dryer when you forgot to add softener.

Tonight was a grilled cheese and tomato soup kinda night. I made a pot of pork chops and rice in the slow cooker but it turned to mush which I had and will take for lunch for the next few weeks. I can't seem to figure out how to make my crock pot cook slower...it was on low. I guess I will have to get a timer for it.

Hubs is working late tonight so its just me and the kiddos hanging out so now I can get around to catching up with my blogs. Jaiden's vocabulary has really exploded in the past week. She can now repeat almost everything she hears and can put together short sentences. Just last night as we were about to sit down for dinner she said "Come sit down!" She seems to be twice as sassy since we've been home from our trip too. She seems to be enjoying this new developement and trying it out as much as possible.

First Snow!!!

Its snowing...rather its coming a blizzard out. But we are only getting about 3 inches so the weatherman says. Right now everything is white and its beginning to look a lot like Christmas :)

Our road trip went well. All 1600 miles each way. I saw my Dad and he's doing better now that he's in the nursing home so he will be ok for a while. He was very excited to see me and Jaiden walk through that door. Its sad to see him like that and walk away knowing that there is not much that I can do. I just hope he knows how much I love him.

I'll post more later, I'm still trying to catch up. Today was a busy day getting errands run around town and rounding up all the Christmas decorations from the attic. I made some nice warm scarves today too out of some scrap fleece, it was a very easy project. I am thinking of making more as gifts. Mittens and gloves would be easy too and could be paired to match the scarves. They will come in handy for those bitter cold winter days.

Pray with me

My daddy is not doing so good. As I write this, he may possibly taking his last breath. I am going to try to go see him this week but I don't know how it will go... I am putting off that moment, hoping it will never come and yet knowing it will whether I go to him or not. He is not a church going man but he is a good man and he's been a great daddy to me. Please lift him up in your prayers and pray that I'll have the courage to face him for that final farewell.

*Jaiden Riley and her Pappaw David Riley last March when they met for the first time

11/21/07 **Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers throughout this past few weeks. I went to see my Daddy on Monday, he's skin and bones but his face lit up the second we walked into the room. He is in a nursing home and they seem to be taking good care of him. There was not a lot that I could do for him but just be there. Jaiden went with me and she was very excited to see her Pappaw again. I have some precious photos of them together and will post them when I get back home. As I was leaving his room during our second visit there, my dad said "Pray for me" I said "every second of every day Daddy"

Belated Halloween Pics

We spent Halloween indoors again this year. Last year we were in Germany and I just didn't feel like getting the kids out in the cold, this year was cold but not so bad. We did get out...and spent 2 hours in line at the Alerus center for a 15 min stroll through the maze of tables to get a handful of candy. There was about 1300+ kids in line ahead of us and at least that many in line behind us. Quite a colorful parade of costumes. Lots of superheros and princesses, some really unique and some just plain out adorables. We saw a real live Dora (that was my favorite) pirates and bears and zebras oh my! It was fun, we got there at 5:30, expecting to just zip in and out (I was thinking it would be a craft for kids thing) but instead we stood in line until 7:30 (way past dinner, we were starving!) we made it through the maze of people and out by 7:45, grabbed burgers at Culver's picked up Cody from work and headed home. Cody's friends were sitting out front of our house when we arrived home so he grabbed the bucket of candy and treated them. We had a couple other little goblins after that but we were pretty much done for by 8:15. The kids were happy (at least Jared was, Jaiden was a bit overwhelved by the whole thing) She did not want to wear the hat on her witches costume so she looked more like a princess (as she sometimes is...but sometimes she's the other)

Enjoy the pics, I'll be out of town for most of the month so not sure how much blogging I'll do. Have a great week!