this 'n that

well, i thought we were through being sick, but it turns out we weren't. oh well! hopefully now the last of it is over! i pray it is.

we've been crazy around here lately: sickness, work, party-ing, cleaning, decorating . . . yikes! i'm hoping things will slow down just a tad soon. i just finished (yesterday) an order for 1,040 greeting cards. it's a corporate order that i do every year. i'm so glad to be finished with it. what i love about making cards is the uniqueness and thought i put into the design of each one, but when you make hundreds of the exact same card it gets a little old . . . but the check that comes along with it is quite nice so i put up with it! now for the next 11 months i can be creative again!

ok, so i couldn't help myself when i bought this shirt (onesie, actually, if we're being technical) for anna. she doesn't need any clothes, and normally i'm pretty good with the self-control in that area but #1 she is completely unBEETable and #2 beets are the only food on earth that i know of that kirbs won't eat. (actually he probably would eat them, but he doesn't like them!) so, when i saw it i couldn't just leave it at the store. as a side note: normally i'm quite bugged by clothes with words on them ("princess", "i'm naughty", "i love my mommy", "cutie", "my brother did it" . . . it all just irritates me). if other people like them, that's fine, but i don't like to put them on my kids, generally. but i digressed from my usual "rule" to get this sweet little shirt for my sweet babe! isn't it cute? and her daddy thought it was quite funny too.

here are a couple of pics of her taking a bath tonight. she is sporting the chapped cheeks look of winter (and the little cold she has isn't helpin' either!). i think she might be on her way to a head full of curls though, like her oldest sister! whattaya think? only time will tell, i guess.

joe has turned a little corner recently. i failed to notice exactly when it happened, but the other day i said to kirbs, "he is so fun and pleasant lately. i just love him!" that's not to say that i didn't love him before, but he has been quite the handfull for the past few months and i didn't always like him a whole bunch. i'm so glad to have turned this corner! what is it they say? 6-month cycles? i'm gonna try and enjoy all 182 days of this one!!! he is funny, polite, hilarious, a great helper, comedic, cute, (relatively) cooperative and, did i mention, quite funny! i'm just trying to enjoy every minute of it. he even cooperated and willingly let me cut his hair (usually i have to literally pin him down while he is contorting his body like mad to try and get away and kicking and screaming. and -- for some reason -- the haircuts never quite come out as nice as i would hope! hmmm, surprising! i wanted to trim him up because he's going to be in heather & roberts wedding in a few weeks and we don't want him to look shaggy when he has that fancy little tux on, now do we? also, he loves "helping" these days. he unloaded the dishwasher for me today and is always "picking up" the living room lately too (which means piling everything from the floor onto the top of the coffee table). also, his manners astound me. we're not rude people, but he is, by far, the most polite member of our family right now. it's pretty endearing . . . alright, i know, enough about him . . . but isn't he cute? oh and just one more sweet thing: his new favorite thing to do is to play with the (many) nativity sets we have out right now. the dialouge he comes up with is great. today the camel and the angel (who he would be sure to tell you is named gabriel) were flying through the kitchen on their way to talk to "go-sef" (joseph) (yup, he calls himself "go-ey" or "go" if you ask him his name. he is very consistent in his mispronunciations) alright, that's it. i promise! picture explainations: so, his outfit for most of last week (whever we were at home) was underwear and this tutu (with the arms NOT in the sleeves, becuase "they itch me!"). then there's one of him playing with the nativity pop-up book with the little carboard characters. he loves it. then there's him trying to escape from kirbs' clutches when we're trying to take a family picture!

yesterday marked the first day evelyn was back at school all day! she had not quite been able to make it all day up until now and either went in late or got picked up early. we are thrilled with this next step of progress. rebekah was excited that she even got to go outside at recess AND go with the class to gym. way to go, ev!

jacob was home sick today and we had such a fun time together. i gave him his spelling test so that he wouldn't have to make it up when he got back to school tomorrow. then he was feeling just fine by lunch time so we went to the y and played basketball together (while joe & anna were in kidstuff). i loved the one-on-one time with him. rebekah was home sick one day last week and that was a great day too. she asked me if she could have a tea party and i said sure so she got joe dressed up (in a button down and khakis . . . she changed him out of the clothes he was wearing which, i guess, were not suited for going to tea!) and she got dressed up and she dressed up elizabeth (her american girl doll) and put a blanket over an upsidedown laundry basket and served tea and mandarin oranges to the 3 of them. it was so sweet and cute. now there is a girl i should have around more often. she basically puts me out of a job. now, if only they were as sweet when they were all together as they are one-(or two, or even three) on-one. but, unfortunatly the minute you put them all together in the same building it becomes a fighting, screaming, hitting mass of angry, moody, crabby chaos. crazy, since they are all such sweet kids? oh, well. enjoy what you can!

ok, i realize this was a way longer-than-average post. thanks for putting up with it! i'm almost done. our family is trying to enjoy each moment of this advent season and reflect on what our God did for us thousands of years ago when he sent a sweet little baby to earth to live and die for me and you. it never ceases to amaze me. thank you Lord for your sacrifice of your precious, precious son for me. and my sons. and my daughters. and my friends and family and each of us here on this earth. your love is amazing!

happy advent, all! enjoy it.

bummer

well, i can't even tell you the last time i missed church on a sunday morning. but, alas, today i was too sick (more accurately too tired from the prior nights sickness) to go to church with my family. trust me, you don't want any details. they are not very pleasant!! anyway, i slept for the better part of 3 hours while my family was at church. i am feeling much better now and i'm hopin' to really get some serious amounts of stuff done this week, since all the sickness the past 8 days or so has left me behind on lots of things!
have a great week! i'm prayin' we didn't pass our nasty-ness on to anyone!

flashback friday

stoll kiddos in june of 2004

lydia (2), jacob (5) & rebekah (3)

poor anna!

sweet anna is wearing her 3rd outfit of the day and napping on her 2nd set of sheets. i wish this tummy bug would go back to wherever it came from and leave us all alone! thankfully it's coming out the backend, not the front . . . if i had to choose, that's the end i'd pick . . . be thankful for the little things, right?

honestly, slow down already!

well, i can't believe it but december is upon us. yikes! i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and found as much to be thankful for as i did . . . and that is TONS! oh the blessings!
we spent thanksgiving "up nort" with kirb's family. the more than 15 hours with 7 people in the van in a 4-day span wasn't the most fun i've had lately, but the time between the long road trips was good (mostly . . . with a hint of sickness from a couple of us, or maybe a few is more accurate). there was lots of energy and noise as 13 kids (11 & under) and 10 adults spent the better part of a few days ALL together. but it made for easy reminders of the things we are grateful for. here's a picture with all 13 of the kiddos and the majority of the adults too. we were ready to eat and happy to be together! kirb's parents are on the far right and beyond that i'm not going to bother telling you who everyone else is:

today i have 2 sick kiddos at home (and one no-too-sick). rebekah had to stay home from school (she was extra bummed because it is evelyn's first day back and she is missing it) since she spent yesterday afternoon and evening kneeling over the toilet! yuck! joe followed in her wake and started this morning . . . not so much over the toilet though, mostly all over the hallway! double yuck! anna is home too (since she has no where else to go) and seems relatively healthy with the exception of the especially gross, stinky mess i found in her diaper this morning! i'm hopin' and prayin' that the rest of us steer clear of it!
well, a happy, thought-filled, reflective, beautiful december (and advent season) to all of you! may the blessings abound in your life (and hopefully a lovely dusting of white fluffiness)!

flashback friday

once there was a boy who looked . . .

. . . like anna!

the first picture is jacob (at about 1) & his momma in the spring of 2000. the next one is a flashback (to) friday (ok, it was sunday the 16th, but i was trying to tie it in, so give me a break!) are they siblings or what??

happy thanksgiving

praise God from whom all blessings flow.
praise Him all creatures here below.
praise Him above ye heavn'ly host.
praise Father, Son & Holy Ghost.

we have SO many blessings for which to thank the Lord. we wish you a great day of remembering yours!

happy thanksgiving!

guess who called?

so, guess who called me this morning about 7:30 or so? give up? God.
really. i learned about this cool new thing where you can get a phone call each day with a little 1 or 2 minute devotional thought with a few verses of scripture. God has called for 5 straight days now. what a nice way to start off the day. (oh, if you don't get up early, just let him know what time you want him to call and he can call then . . . wouldn't want to wake you!!!)

thankfulness

today was our thanksgiving service at church (since thanksgiving is so late this year and next week is the beginning of advent already, we decided to have our thanksgiving service before thanksgiving rather than after). this service is, arguably, my favorite church service of the whole year . . . even though i had a nasty headache at the end from all the crying! (i cry most every sunday in church . . . um, you could probably take out the "most" in that phrase and it would be more true! but even more than usual today!). at the thanksgiving service we always have a few microphones at the front of the sanctuary and have time for people to come and share things they are thankful for. it is always such a moving service. i was touched by each person who shared this morning! also, kirbs did a bang-up job of singing "praise you in this storm" as part of the service and my good friend, shawna, brought a great children's sermon too (in which lydia made a long-winded, rather off-topic comment). i am so thankful for our wonderful church family. central is really a very unique place and, in my opinion, the best church around!! what a wonderful family of believers we are surrounded with there . . . people who pray for, support. love and encourage us through life. they struggle and rejoice with us and are behind us 100%. my kids have tons of extra "grandma's" and "grandpa's" there to love on them and the people of central truly are our family.

bff's reunited

well, rebekah got to see evelyn today for the first time in about 12 days. i don't think they've gone that long without seeing each other in quite some time!! often, rebekah calls evelyn the minute she gets off the school bus . . . after having spent the whole day together. so she was thrilled to have a little time with her friend. ev enjoyed showing off all her presents (and she has QUITE a few!). ev is doing well and will be back at school with her 2nd grade class when they return from thanksgiving break! praise God!

a preview

i think most of you know this, but just in case there is someone reading this who doesn't here goes:
when jacob was not quite 1 we wanted a family picture to put in our christmas card. we took quite a few and the one we liked best was of the 3 of us laying on our bed. the next year it was just the 3 of us again and we decided to try and recreate the picture since it had turned out so cute . . . and thus began an unintentional stoll family tradition of the bed picture. as one of the peterson girls (beka, i think) said one year "they did it on the bed again." and they found it extra funny when they read our christmas letter, after the comment about the picture, and discovered (for the second year in a row) that we were (again) pregnant! as a side note, that was the christmas letter of 2001 and we announced that we were pregnant with the little person that would turn out to be lydia in that christmas letter. no one, not even ONE person (except me and kirb) knew of our pregnancy before getting our letter . . . not even our parents! and since rebekah was only about 8 months old it was a shocker to most everyone. us included (although our shock came a few weeks before everyone elses . . . and not in the form of a letter). so, 2008 marks the 10th anniversary of the stoll family bed picture. 9 years and 4 more kids later, we're all still on the bed for the christmas picture. my mom (our photographer . . . THANKS MOM!) was worried the bed wouldn't hold all 7 of us, but since kirb has lost at least 1 kid's worth of weigh over the past 6 months or so (way to go, babe!) the bed held, and no one was injured. i think i counted 34 pictures that my mom took shooting for the big goal of 1 where all 7 of us are looking at the camera and appear half-way decent. here are some of the attempts:


in case you can't tell, joe has a piece of gum (which SHOULD be in his mouth!!!) between his fingers. you know how fun it is to play with gum? in the rest of the pictures he has returned it to his mouth! yeah!



and the winner is . . . .


honestly, did you think it would really post the winning picture here? you must not know me too well. no way! you'll have to wait for your christmas letter. and if you are a blog reader, the christmas letter will probably not be nearly as fun as usually since i have been posting the funny kid quotes on the sidebar for a while now. although there are probably a few that will make it that are not listed, so make sure to read them anyway! they're pretty much always good for a laugh or two!

flashback friday

i think this may be the least flattering baby picture ever in the history of the world! yikes! but it sure makes me laugh. anyway, that's joe (mohawk and all) at about 3 weeks!



and just so you know that he WAS a sweet baby, this one was taken about the same time. (may 2005) check out those cheeks . . . and the hair!!

she's home!

well, miss evelyn came home this afternoon! she is digging out from under all her cards and presents on her couch in the living room! yeah! praise the Lord!

evelyn update!

evelyn is doing better all the time (although a little slower than everyone would like). she moved out of the PICU yesterday onto the regular floor. that was WONDERFUL news. she got to see her brother and sister for the first time yesterday and hopefully she will be coming home soon . . . we'll have an extra something to be thankful for next week, that's for sure.
here is the caring bridge update that ing wrote yesterday. i loved it:

"The Top Ten Reasons It's Clear Evelyn is Feeling Better:

#10 -- no more screechy, witch-like, this-would-have-been-great-for-Halloween voice telling nurses and parents to 'shoo' and 'hush'
#9 -- conversations overheard between Evelyn and stuffed animals
#8 -- a complete description by Evelyn to the respiratory therapist as to what the nurse needed to do before she did 'her thing'
#7 -- giving mom direction as to how to cut the pizza triangles at the correct angle
#6 -- telling mom that she really needs to see Don (the guy that cuts her hair) 'to get rid of this rat's nest in the back of my head -- maybe he could give me little curls all over with the curling iron, too!'
#5 -- conversations overheard between Evelyn's stuffed animals (narrated by Ev)
#4 -- telling mom that she'll wait for dad to go for a walk (this has to do with the softer nature of the latter, believe it or not)
#3 -- the character analysis of Sharpay (from High School Musical) 'Mom, she really does not talk kindly to others! She does get nicer at the end, though.' (Do you have evidence from the film to support your ideas, Evelyn?)
#2 -- trying NOT to laugh when Hugh was there visiting for the first time (because it still hurts!) and telling Frances about the new names she picked for her stuffed animals
And the #1 reason ... lots and lots of smiles from the notes, gifts, food, warm thoughts, and prayers of hope, courage, strength, resilience, and healing. We thank you SO much for all you have done."

oh joe!

warning: parental advisory on this post. slightly inappropriate use of humor . . . just don't say i didn't warn you:

joey loves hats! he loves this hat. he's had it since he was a baby. i thought maybe this year anna could wear it, but joe doesn't seem to want to give it up. he wore it ALL DAY on friday . . . inside and out! and over and over, all day while he had it on, he kept saying:

"when i jump my balls jiggle!"

he's talking about THE HAT, you see it has little balls on top . . . ok, enough said! have a great week!