and headed over here:

themanyadventuresofsarah.blogspot.com

Please follow me and stay updated on our many adventures!

No, I haven't died. Nor have I fallen off the face of the planet. I've just sort of given up blogging. I'm kind of tossing around the idea of starting my own blogspot so I can mobile post pics from my iPhone, which takes less effort than sitting down to do this, but... I don't know. I'm just sort of over blogging. Sorry, world. I know you really care.

ANYway, we've been in our big new house for about 2 weeks now! It's great! The kids love their rooms, and I love having space and a big kitchen and family room... and big closets, too. That's wonderful. I um, also got a puppy last week. You can see him at myblockfamily.blogspot.com. He's cute and the kids are enjoying him. I'll be happy when he's house-trained.

Tristan's yelling, so I gotta go. I'll really try to blog again soon, here or somewhere!

:: Dan and Will are in STL, getting one last load of our stuff, and doing Dan's final hip-surgery check ups. They'll be driving home Sunday. Will's such a big, grown-up traveler boy. He didn't complain once during the whole 14.5 hr. drive out there. Such a good kid.
:: The kids and I played legos (built barns) and read books by the fire.
:: Tonight I'm making apple-blueberry crisp for dinner at my parents.
:: They have dear friends from Sanibel visiting, and we'll sit around and play games afterward.
:: I've done two loads of laundry and am going to watch a chick-flick tonight when the kids are asleep. When I'm out of Radio Factor podcasts, I listen to a soundtrack of my top-rated songs on iTunes while I fold laundry, and each song transports me far away totally different. I love it! (Yeah I'm kind of a geek-head girl.)
:: When the kids get up from naps we're heading outside to sled on the lake. I love it more than they do, I think. I have an obsession with geting outside every day, regardless of the weather. Kind of crazy, but it always works out ok. Sometimes the kids end up wanting to stay out longer than I do, despite their earlier grumblings.
:: We should be moving into our house within the next month. *eeeeek* I'm cautiously optimistic!
:: I stayed on top of cleaning enough this week that I have a fairly peaceful weekend ahead, I think, which is a great feeling.
:: I've successfully kept the fire roaring on my own (even overnight!) and am pleased with that. I'm thankful for Dan's hard work and the giant stack of wood on our back porch.
:: I'm excited for the future: for spring, for moving, for newness.; for warmer weather and more time outside.
:: I'm thankful for a cute crafty girl, who happily sits and cuts, glues and tapes pieces of (only) pink paper together. She'll be 4 in a couple months (!!) How is that even possible?
:: And I'm thankful for my cute, spunky two year old bundle of love and happiness. He is purely delightful!

I have wanted to read through the bible in a year for several years but I've never actually done it. Recently I found this and it has been so amazing! Every morning the reading for the day is in my feedreader, and there is also an audio link! At first I was just reading it, but I've found that listening while I read helps me to slow my reading down a bit (I'm a notorious speed reader) so I am actually retaining more. At first I was a little annoyed that my life is apparently so tech-y that the only way I can consistently get my Bible readings in is to do it on the computer... but... at this point in life, I'm going to take whatever works! And this is working for me.

In other news, Tristan's latest word is "hallelujah". Just a minute ago I was scolding him for taking his socks off again (he's recently discovered toe fuzz and takes his socks off several times a day to check for it) and he replied to my "Tristan! Your toes are so cold-- you need to keep your socks on!" with "Oh! Hallelujah!" I almost burst out laughing. He sounds so holy! It is a pretty hilarious response, you must admit.

gone to the library here! For the first time since high school. Yep, pathetic, I know, but parking's terrible, and it's just... not... worth it. Dan stayed with Will and Hallie at their gymnastics class at the Y and I walked to the library with Tristan. I got three books, two from my recently complied 2009 reading list and one to read aloud to Will. We already read the first chapter tonight-- he loved it. Tristan spotted the train table at the library and begged, "choo choo! peas, choo choo!" So next week I'll try to let him play for a bit. After all the other two are having a blast at gymnastics, so it's only fair, right? Besides, he's way too cute and asks way too sincerely for me to turn him down two weeks in a row.

PS: I have my reading list up on Facebook, if you're interested in checking it out. I am also actively recruiting suggestions for more books. Ideas welcome!!!

• The Rules:
• Link to the person who tagged you. My lovely friend April from St. Louis tagged me.
• Share 7 random/weird facts about you.
• Tag 7 people at the end of the post, and include links to their blogs.

• 1. I love playing games. Any kind, anywhere-- count me in!
• 2. I use a cleaning schedule and I love it. No feeling overwhelmed or so far behind! Yay.
• 3. I love things that are clean, neat, orderly and easily accessible. I can't wait till we move and I can get our house like that.
• 4. I am a fan of Apple products. I have an iPhone, an iPod and a MacBook Pro. I'm kind of a tech-geek girl.
• 5. I am a grammar/spelling nut. If you can't use English correctly... it bugs me.
• 6. I read lots of books. And anything else I can get my hands on.
• 7. I'm kind of over blogging. The whole "sharing my life with the world" thing has lost its appeal somehow. Hmm.

Anyway, I tag Kristin, Dan, Corey, Kerry, Emily, Abby, and Melissa! Have fun!

*cough* So it been awhile. AGAIN. Like a month, I think. Geesh, what is my problem!?

Anyway, what I've been up to lately:
--digging out from under the foot of snow that was dropped on us yesterday.
--keeping the fire stocked!
--picking paint colors for our whole.entire.house.
--picking carpet for the bedrooms
--making Christmas cookies!
--packing for our trip to STL in two days
--preparing for Tristan's birthday party, which was Thursday. He's 2! My baby is two.
--filling & refilling the birdfeeders. I think we have the cutest little round chickadees and sparrows around! (They certainly are well-fed!)
--playing Scrabble with my sisters
--planning for our big New Year's party!
--trying to figure out how to pack light enough that I don't have to check any bags for the trip to STL. (I refuse to pay the $15 bag fee, on principle. ) The problem is that I'm flying out along with the kids a few days before Dan, and I am not sure how this... is going to work. Hmm. We'll see.

Yes, I know it's been awhile. I guess you could say I'm officially taking a leave of absence from the blogging world! Things are really moving along with the house project, and I have been busybusy lately not only with that, but since we just passed the Thanksgiving holiday, I've busy with friends and family! Since Wednesday, I feel like I've only been home at night to sleep!

It's been good though. I LOVE the holidays, and we had a full house at Thanksgiving. After dinner, a bunch of us played Four on a Couch. I love playing games,  (games usually right now consist of Chutes and Ladders or Memory! It was so fun to play with adults. ) I made pumpkin pies (from my own fresh pumpkin!) and a corn & wild rice dish that turned out great. Today at nap time a bunch of us are going out quadding. Yay! And... in 24 (I think!) days, the kids and I leave for St. Louis, whee we will get to see all the friends and family we miss so much, for nine days!

Tidbits:
I have ditched knitting for the faster (and thus more satisfying and do-able) crocheting. I'm almost finished with a baby blanket, and then I'll be starting a scarf, my first project with an actual pattern. (ha!) We will see if it goes anywhere. Like I said before, if I'm not done by spring, it'll have to wait till next fall when I get the handwork itch again.

Tristan is talking more! This morning I called him a cheeseball and he turned and said, "chee... baw"! I was shocked! That was his first attempt at mimicking, though he does say stuff like "oo--me" (for excuse me) and "bye daddy" etc. He still uses his sign language, which is equally adorable. And he is also turning two in less than a month. (!!!!!!!!!!) Since when has my baby been a two year old??? This is craziness!

I've been out walking a lot lately, which has been wonderful. It is so nice to get out in the cold, crisp, fresh air (and burn a few calories as well!)

Welll.... that's about it. I need to go vacuum real quick. And... I'll probably check back in in a month or so!

 Today is my 27th birthday. So far, this is what it's looked like:
6:30 - Wake up and go downstairs with Tristan. Poke at the fire; realize it's dead and not worth poking at. Do my devotions while T plays with the train set.
7:00 - Will comes downstairs and is "starrrving", so I start breakfast. Hallie starts wailing from her bed, and I call for her to come downstairs.
7:30 - Round two of breakfast is in full swing. I am supervising this while checking my inbox, feed reader, and scrabble games on facebook.
8:00 - The kids unload the dishwasher while I put things away and reload it... Clean up the kitchen and turn off the lights.
8:30 - I announce a twist on our usual morning playtime-- Bath Time!! (We have family pictures scheduled later this morning.)
9:00 - The kids are clean and I decide to let them play for awhile while I neaten up the bedrooms. Everyone gets dressed in their pre-planned outfits.
9:30 - Coats, socks, shoes, etc. Out the door to the car. I am always amazed at how long it takes to get three kids' coats and shoes on. It's like 10 or 15 minutes! Seriously! (It's also    pouring rain, so have a long wet, trek to the car, avoiding the puddles.  The newly-dried kids' hair is now damp again.)
9:45 - I stop at my parents' to print a coupon for the pictures, and to pick up Abby, who asked to come along.
10:20 - After stopping for gas, we arrive at Penney's just in time.
11:45 - After a long [somewhat difficult!] picture session, we are headed home for lunch and naps. I think we got two pictures total where Tristan is actually smiling. Anyway...
12:15 - Lunch of leftover quiche/ pb&j, apple slices and baby carrots. We practice our Bible verses over lunch. They both have Psalm 23 nailed, and have about half of Psalm 103 down pretty well. I am really happy with how easy it's been to memorize this stuff with them! Will has requested that Psalm 24 be our next choice. I was thinking about doing something from the NT, and I like Colossians 3. When I checked it, out though, I ran into the whole "put away lust, greed, sexual immorality" etc. verse, and decided.... naah... I just really don't feel like explaining all that right now.
1:30 - Everyone is in bed, and Will and I read a chapter of Charlotte's Web. (We just finished The Trumpet of the Swan, which he loved; I started that one to give myself a break from Stuart Little, which I think we were on our third way through.) Anyway, after that my plan was to mop the kitchen, but I thought... "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! I will take a nap instead." So I slept till three when Tristan got up, and we've been having a nice quiet afternoon. I got the fire going again, and we're going to my parents' tonight for my birthday dinner. My plan is to get up early tomorrow to mop. We shall see.

I can't believe the election is almost here. I heard someone (PA's former AG, I think) has a lawsuit out against Obama b/c he supposedly was born in Kenya, not Hawaii... and his Hawaii birth certif has fake home birth info on it... I don't know. It seems plausible enough, but if it was, don't you think that some media would be all over it? I don't know. I'm sick of all the election hype. I am really sick of all the mud-slinging political ads. I am also fed up with friends of mine who think their candidate--either one fits here-- is God's gift to the American people. I am, of course, planning to vote, but really, neither candidate is going to change the hearts and minds of the American people. What about personal responsibility? The government cannot change the people. The evil that exists comes from within, and no one, McCain/Palin or otherwise, can root out that evil without the desire of the people to change themselves! Read this, written by Dan's brother,  who is a member of McCain's press advance team. He says it better than I can:

"... I disagree with the idea that a McCain administration can turn [America] around.

In my estimation, the winner of the Presidential election doesn't much matter, and neither does who is on the Supreme Court. The lives and minds of the American people matter, and we're the ones who consume and export all manner of lascivious media, abort children, overlook the poor and hungry, eat to the point of obesity, and live beyond our means in obscene ways... no, a McCain administration will do little to turn this country around, just as a Bush administration has done little to turn the country around, and just as a conservative court would do little to turn the country around.

In my way of thinking, the only thing that will help put our great country in good standing before the Creator is a citizenry composed of people who believe in making Christ eminent and living by the Gospel, which may cause profound changes in the way we live. It may mean driving an Accord instead of a Tahoe, or not driving at all. It may mean changing the way we eat, to help ensure all God's children have the food they need, not just those who live in North America and can afford for produce to be shipped in from other countries. It may mean making coffee instead of buying it, and using the money to support kids overseas (this applies to me). It may mean choosing to live in a McCottage instead of a McMansion, so we can afford our mortgage and not rely on a budget busting bailout.

Friends, I am confident that one President is not nearly as important as 300 million citizens. Let's work and pray for the life-changing Gospel of Christ to be made known to all people in America and elsewhere, and not just that a man named John and a woman named Sarah would be sent to a little white house in a big city called Washington."

Isn't that great?? I mean, ...seriously! The side of me with less discretion feels like stuffing that in the face of every political blabber who won't quit yakking about the amazing virtues and horrid vices of the four candidates. God is so much bigger than our political process, and so much bigger than whoever our next president is. I hope McCain wins, and I've outlined my reasons for that on here before, but if he doesn't, then.... life goes on. We can still still change our nation. We the people, with God's help, can change our nation. God is infinitely powerful, and good can still happen during an adverse administration. You know that oft-quoted Rom. 8:28: All things work together for good, to them that love God and are called according to his purpose.

Even if Obama wins?

Of course. All things.
Even what we see as a bad situation, God can take and use for good.
Of course! He is God, after all.
He can do anything, right??

So even while we're praying for a McCain victory, let's not also forget to pray for the hearts and minds of the people of our nation-- that the American people would repent and turn back to God, with or without a political win.

---------------
oh, and my "otherwise"!

Dan and I are going away this weekend! My mom gave us a gift certif to a lodge about an hour from here, last year for our anniversary. (Along with free babysitting. ) It expires next month, so I figured we'd better get on the ball! We leave Friday afternoon and get home Sunday. I can't wait to... sleep in. Eat when I want, what I want. Go for walks without a stroller! Talk without interruptions! Take a loooooong shower! And be with Dan--by ourselves-- for two whole days! Yep, as much as I love my kids (and you know I do!), right now I am just thinking... yay for getaways!!!