flasback friday

State Fair 2006 ::

We're going to the fair today, so I thought it would be fun to re-live some fair experiences from years past. Have a great weekend!

Dreams

I had an especially weird and crazy dream early this morning, right before I got up {maybe even during the 10-minute "snooze" after our alarm went off the first time}. All day yesterday and all day today our house has been extra full as we're hanging out with 3 extra kiddos. My friend Allie's little man, Sam, and Vince and G-Rae, the 2 kids from the family that I've done daycare for the past few years have been here. Sam is here for 48 hours straight {since he lives on the other end of the world and coming to get him at night isn't so smart}. The other 2 go home at night. When you have a teacher for a parent, childcare gets a little extra tricky the week before school starts, since you need to "go to school" and your kids don't. So what is any good teacher to do? Call us! Thus we've been a 9-kid house.

Possibly that fact had something to do with fueling my dream -- a dream in which I "gave birth" {not in the normal way though . . . you know how dreams are!} to triplet boys! It also might have to do with the fact that we just got home from a WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, favorite-week-of-the-year week at family camp {which, hopefully, I will get a chance to blog about later} and there were 2 ladies at camp who were about 37 weeks, plus there was an adorable 4-week old boy there with his family, and a few other not-quite-as-far-along pregnant ladies there too. Also, I have a thing for babies! {in case you didn't know!} And, also, I have to add that there was a family at camp with 7 kids. Their oldest was a few months younger than Jacob and their youngest was a few months younger than Sara, so basically we had kids the same ages, they just squeezed one more in there than we did. I told them we had 4 girls and 2 boys and the mom answered, "So did we until we had the seventh one." I love being around other big families! They "get it" so much better than most people.

So, back to the dream :: In my dream I was sitting in a chair in a room with another woman {OB? Nurse? Produce manager? I'm not sure of her exact role in the whole thing}. Appearing, seemingly, out of nowhere {wouldn't it be nice if that's how birth really was?} into this woman's hands one at a time came these three little spheres which she then peeled, kind of like you would peel an orange, and then she handed me my baby -- which had emerged from the little sphere. None of the boys cried or anything when she peeled/delivered them, but that didn't seem any weirder to me than the fact that she was peeling them in the first place. As I held the boys one at a time, my thoughts went immediately to the fact that I would have to name them. Being that they came together, I wanted their names to kind of "go together" too.

My first thought was "John, Paul and Ringo", even though I'm not a major Beattles fan or anything. But I shot that brainstorm down quickly when I imagined introducing my kids :: "These are our kids, Jacob, Rebekah, Lydia, Joseph, Anna, Sara, John, Paul and RINGO." It just didn't work for me. Plus, there is also the fact that I'm bothered by rhyming names. Contrary to what many people think, our last name is pronounced "stall", as in the place in the garage where you park your car, or where you pee in a public bathroom, or when your car stops going . . . not like "stole" as if you think we take things that don't belong to us. So, anyway, Paul Stoll is not a good choice in my book. {On a related note, some of you know that my father-in-law is one of 17 kids in his family. Now I fully understand that if you give 17 kids a first AND middle name that you have used up 34 names, which is quite a few, and by the end there you could possibly run out of names you really like. But, guess what they named their firstborn boy? You guessed it. Paul Stoll. He was a wonderful, godly man, but I've always thought it funny that, when they had all the boy names in the whole world to choose from, they chose to name their first boy a name that rhymed.} I also considered naming the triplets "Alvin, Simon and Theodore" but decided that wasn't the right three-some either. Finally we settled on Peter, James and John, in the spirit of the catchy Sunday school song that many of you might know. So, I finally got a Peter, which is a name I've wanted to throw in the hat each time I was pregnant, but Kirb always shot it down.

Maybe I should get Joseph from the Old Testament to come and interpret it for me. Or maybe my Joe could do it. Or maybe I don't want to know!

Anyway, that was how I started my day!

And for you long-time blog readers, in the spirit of 'Thankful Thursday' I will add that we are not expecting any number of babies . . . just in case you were wondering. {And I know some of you were!}

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2503. clean laundry
2504. towel hooks up in the bathroom
2505. 8 years of marriage for Luke & Jenn
2506. 86 years of my grandma
2507. Joe and Vince together again :: a great reunion
2508. school patrols in training
2509. freshly mowed lawn
2510. coffee
2511. a glorious breeze
2512. the start of the fair
2513. birthday dinner {for 4 August birthdays and an anniversary}
2514. a good book and staying up late to finish
2515. the library
2516. fair-themed storytime at the library with "the littles"
2517. audio books
2518. family camp! our favorite week of the year!
2519. coffee and donuts to start the day
2520. school shopping with the 2 big girls
2521. hearing the state fair fireworks from our house


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2475. yummy brunch and a walk in Stillwater with my fabulous Bible study ladies
2476. witnessing a group of older ladies {70's, 80's even, maybe} leaving their weekly coffee date. ALL on bicycles. complete with helmets. totally made my morning!
2477. kids playing in the rain
2478. a cool breeze
2479. free back to school haircuts for 3 of our kiddos {thanks JC Penney}
2480. finally getting the word on Ev's surgery after a long morning of praying and waiting and praying and waiting and praying some more
2481. seeing Ev up and around again
2482. impromptu visit from out-of-town family
2483. glorious, amazing weather. i LOVE it!
2484. wearing jeans again
2485. feeling the warm sun on my back on a cool morning run
2486. life-long friends
2487. Carbones pizza {my favorite!}
2488. my 20th HS reunion
2489. how 2 decades can level the ground of life for everyone {or nearly everyone, anyway}
2490. organizing school supplies for another year
2491. Redbox {and free redbox codes make it even better}
2492. kids and oragami
2493. book club
2494. a 2 hour nap following a late night at the reunion
2495. Anna chasing a bunny in the our yard trying to catch it so she can keep it as a pet {thankfully the bunny was quicker than the preschooler! I'm not really a pet girl!}
2496. another good preschool home visit {our 10th home visit from Roseville Lutheran Nursery School staff. I can't believe it's our 10th time with a kiddo starting a year of preschool there! Yikes}
2497. 2 years of life for my nephew, Schaeffer
2498. 32 years of life for my sister-in-law, Jenn {Happy Birthday!}
2499. Monday morning coffee
2500. state fair week :: the fair starts in a couple days and we LOVE the fair! we love watching the preparations {since we drive by the fair grounds all the time, living so close and all}. gates closed off. trucks arriving. food stands going up. so exciting!
2501. a blessing-filled envelope from a friend in the mail last week
2502. a nice article about my dad in the paper on Sunday

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday {or maybe the one after that} for the next installment.

multitude monday {yet another two-weeker}

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2429. Joey telling me about his crazy dream
2430. dragonflies all over the place in the evening sky :: so cool
2431. Sara's face covered in chocolate after eating her pudding pop on a 90+ degree day all by herself -- Little Miss Independant
2432. falling asleep again when I had given up on sleeping any more for the night
2433. hanging up beautiful art in our basement hallway :: all done by our kiddos
2434. genuine gratitude from my kids
2435. a great morning of shopping in Buffalo :: great bargains!
2436. being "carded" at Trader Joe's buying beer for Kirb
2437. the boy pushing his mini cart around Trader Joe's belting out "Mighty to Save" without an ounce of concern that someone might not like the fact that he's singing in the grocery store
2438. lemonade stands
2439. kids occupied for hours and hours {see #2438}
2440. a fun baby shower
2441. night out with a friend
2442. dinner at IKEA
2443. IKEA shopping {with a gift card!}
2444. the farmer's market
2445. unexpected, encouraging email from a friend {Hi Katie! . . . thanks, you made my day}
2446. girls enjoying a birthday party at the roller rink
2447. an absolutely perfect weather day
2448. evenings at the park
2449. visit from Mel, Chad & the kids
2450. exciting news
2451. my Grandma's TV debut {she's toward the end, if you watch the clip}
2452. BopBop and Joe taking a bike ride
2453. Rebekah singing with and praying for Sara before she goes to bed :: to hear her pray that Sara would come to know the Lord makes me so joyful, grateful and blessed!
2454. my friend Jodi's little guy, Eli, on the news :: what a brave little man he is!
2455. a cool, beautiful morning run
2456. music and how it touches me so deeply
2457. lots of time to create -- it makes me feel alive and refreshed
2458. apologies, hugs and forgiveness
2459. Joe reading to me from "Farmyard Tales" until I fell asleep
2460. dancing flames and glowing coals
2461. decorating the basement
2462. a family walk
2463. the sounds of the night :: taking time to really listen and hear them all
2464. Sara's laughter
2465. finding videos on my ipod that Anna recorded of herself
2466. beautiful evening walk with my love {and Sara . . . we left the others at home with a movie!}
2467. seeing kids playing tennis in the middle of the street while out on a run {and the fact that I knew the kiddos made it even better}
2468. laughing as a family
2469. my mom :: she is such a blessing in my life!
2470. crafting up a storm and being totally caught up on orders for the first time since May :: that feels good!
2471. Smashburger with Rebekah
2472. "throwing away" Sara's nuks :: bittersweet, my baby is getting so big {unfortunately still not "big" enough to sleep through the night!! honestly babe, let's get that one nailed down already!}

2473. Joey's desire to be baptized
2474. my patient, loving, meal-cooking, dish-washing, kid-putting-to-bedding, hard-working, cute husband


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday {or maybe the one after that} for the next installment.