When things go wrong...

I noticed it had been a while since I last wrote. I guess I have been lacking inspiration lately. Life suddenly got stressful and busy. We were cruising through life, la-de-da, and BAM!!! Things blow up in our face. Now to reassure you all, we are all healthy (for now, at this point I expect anything to happen) and we have a roof over our head (and it doesn't leak, though I wouldn't be surprised if that started either). I know things could be worse, I really do...and I know challenges in life are an opportunity to grow and learn. But in the moment, it really bites.

Here is a question for the cosmos - why is it that right when you can't afford for something to go wrong - it inevitably does? It reminds me of when I lived at home and every time my mom washed her giant van that took several people to wash, it would rain the next day, without fail. It was a joke that if we needed rain, we should just wash mom's car.

Or like the day some one's health insurance lapses between jobs or whatever, they have a major accident. As my dad always said, "When one thing breaks, everything breaks". I can't remember a time growing up when only one major appliance broke at a time, it was always the car and the AC, or the washer and the refrigerator.

Now that's all fine and dandy when you have the cash to spare. "Sure honey! We have the $1200 to fix the car and the $400 to buy a new washer! Let's hop in our unbroken, nice car and head down to Lowe's and get ourselves a new washer. And while we're at it, lets buy a new matching dryer. Hey, maybe we could look at getting our deck replaced too!"

So if anyone has as answer or theory to my original question: "Why is it that right when you can't afford for something to go wrong - it inevitably does?" I would be happy to hear it. I guess the best thing for me to do would be to stop whining, say a prayer (and maybe cry a little) and get to work...

Goodbye old friend...

Our desk-top computer of three years died the other day. Luckily, we have my lap-top, so we're not totally out of commission. The most unfortunate part of all of this, is that all of our photos are on that computer. The computer person in Ryan's lab is going to try to pull all of our stuff off of the hard drive (they did it for us when our first computer died three years ago), so hopefully the photos can be saved. We have been backing the pictures up, but haven't for several months. So let this be a warning to all of you - BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS OFTEN!! This computer was not supposed to die yet, it should have lasted another two years - but you never know. So, seeing as how I have no photos on this computer, I don't have any to share just yet.

Now we get to add a new computer to our list of: a new car, new carpet and many home improvement projects that our yet-to-be-received tax return is magically going to buy. Let's hear it for broke student families all over the world! Hooray!!!

Little Bo-Peep

Last night, Claire's school put on a play with the kids in Kindergarten and 1st grade. It was called "E-I-E-I-oops!" It turned out very cute and was only about 30 minutes long - the perfect length. Claire was chosen for a speaking part; she was cast as Litttle Bo-Peep. Her teacher had a dress that was one of her girl's that they used for dress-up and didn't need that was perfect. So I borrowed a cane from a good friend and made a hat to match the dress. It all turned out very cute - she by far had the cutest little costume (it also helped that she wasn't dressed as a farmer or farm animal like everyone else). After the play, a lot of the sheep (the Kindergarteners) wanted a picture with Claire and introduced her to their parents. It was all very cute. Claire was very pleased with herself and really did a great job with her song and lines. Afterwards we celebrated by getting donuts. It was a fun evening. Here are some pictures of our two cuties.

Happy Birthday Claire!

Claire had her 6th birthday last week. I still can't believe I'm a mother of a 6-year-old! Claire has been an absolute joy to have in our family. She had a rough entry into the world, but she came perfect and beautiful. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures of Claire in her first two years of life. She was always so busy and happy as a toddler - she made me laugh a lot!








What a sweet girl! Hopefully the next 6 years will go a little slower!

Birthday Fun

We had a busy weekend - Claire had her birthday party on Saturday. From what I can tell, it was a success. We had the party at home in the backyard. The kids just played and played - we had a silly string fight as the big finale. Our yard was covered in silly string by the end; thankfully it dissolved in the rain. We had eight kids come, which was the perfect number. They were all friends from church and school. It was so wonderful to have a place in our home where we could have Claire's friends over. In the past, we have always been in small apartments or apartments that weren't very accessible.


Thankfully, my good friend Amy was at the party with her camera. She took some awesome pictures - to see a very cute one, click on her link "Playing House" on the right of my blog page.


A few weeks back, we went to Chuck E. Cheese with some friends. The kids really enjoyed themselves.

We had a nice, but stressful Easter Sunday. The kids loved hunting for eggs (while it was snowing) and eating candy. I've limited the amount of candy they receive - and it turns out that William didn't like the type of candy I bought anyway- it worked for me! Church was filled with all sorts of "exciting" events, leaving us stressed and upset when we left. We had dinner at our good friend Stephanie's home right after church. As usual with anything Stephanie cooks, it was delicious. We came home and I fell asleep for the evening (maybe trying to block out most of the events of the day). Good times!!

Silliness

I have been in a creative dry-spell lately: note the lack of interesting blog entries. So instead of waiting for some fabulous bout of creativity and inspiration, I'm just going to post a bunch of silly pictures from our daily life. So without further ado, here they are:

Claire got her feelings hurt, made this picture and hung it on her door.
That's Claire frowning in the middle. I think she was trying to evoke sympathy from us.

This photo didn't turn out, but the story behind it is that Claire was annoying Ryan with a balloon while he was trying to work in our bedroom. So he got upset with her and told her to leave. So she drew this and taped it to the bedroom door. That's Claire smiling and holding the balloon and Ryan saying "No Claire".

This is the first thing I see of William in the morning: bed-head, sucking his lip, holding his "bee" and asking for "qua-quit juice" (chocolate milk or hot chocolate - whichever we have).

A few weeks ago, we had a big snow storm. Well, the next morning, our yard was COVERED with deer tracks, and a raccoon had made an attempt at our trashcan. Well, the deer tracks led to my little bushes that I had planted last summer. The stupid, hungry deer ate half of each bush!! This is all that was left of one of them. Notice the stripped branch.

Ryan had bought me a birthday cake and we ate it a few days late. William was so excited about the cake that he stood on the chair, and did a little jig while shouting "Birthday cake! Yea!!"

I have successfully washed my shower liners in the washing machine in the past, but this one didn't make it. Ryan couldn't figure out what it was when I pulled it out of the washer.

Our trashcan that we C-clamp shut - yes, those are raccoon paw prints covering it.

Ryan putting Crisco on the post of the bird feeder. He was attempting to keep the squirrels off. They get up there and shovel out the bird seed, only eating the few types of seed they like. They can empty the seed from that thing onto the ground in minutes. The crisco did make it hard for the squirrel to get away when Ryan came after it with his air-soft gun, but it didn't work as well as hoped.

So there you are folks, a little silliness from our household. I hope you are all having a great day!

Down down baby!

For those of you who know my little Claire, you know that she is a thinker. Here is a close example of a conversation Claire and I had in the car today:

Claire: Mom, when you were a little girl, your name, Susan, didn't really fit you. It's the name of a grown-up lady.
Me: Really? Why is that?
Claire: It's just a silly name for a little girl, but it fits you now. I'm worried about my name. It's a good name for a little girl like me, but when I grow up, I don't think it will fit my body.

Where did she come up with this? I don't know. Claire then went on to say some cheers I can only assume one of her little friends from school learned in a cheerleading class or camp. This is the gist of it:

Down down baby, I can move my body.
Down down baby, I can call my mommy.
Down down baby, I can do karate.
To the left, to the left.
To the right, to the right.
etc....

Then there was the lemonade chant, which I will not include - it was equally silly.
So I asked Claire, where did she learn that? She replied that her best friend at school taught her and that I could apparently never learn it because it was too long and hard to remember. I asked her why it would be too hard...she begins to tell me, but decides not to. I fill in: because I'm not smart enough? Claire thinks for a minute and says, "No, I don't think that's it. I just haven't taught it too you yet." Oh, well excuse me! Funny girl.

I was working in the living room when I hear William yelling "I need get down!! I need get down!" It wasn't a call for help, just an informative call. I went into the dining room to find him standing on the kitchen table. He's never attempted to break the "no standing or climbing on the kitchen table rule" until now, but thought he would make it all right by informing me that he did indeed need to get down as he was breaking the rule. I told him to get down, which he promptly did (only to climb up a couple more times - each time yelling "I need get down!").