My new favorite song!

Andy and I sang this song in church this morning. It is our new favorite song!!!! The words to it are so great- God never fails us!!! Here are the words in case you don't catch them all in the video: Fail Us Not Failure doesn't phase You, worry doesn't win Loss doesn't leave You afraid to start again Our sin doesn't shock You, our shame doesn't shame You at all Mistakes do not move You, terror doesn't tame Death doesn't doom You to life in the grave Our suffring doesn't scare You, our secrets won't surprise You at all There is nothing above You, there is nothing beyond You There is nothing that You can't do There is no one beside You, there is no one that's like You There is nothing that You can't do Whatever will come we'll rise above You fail us not, You fail us not No matter the war, our hope is secure You fail us not, You fail us not, You fail us not Hatred doesn't hide You, evil doesn't ail Despair can't disguise You and tell You that You've failed Our doubt doesn't daunt You, our darkness won't defeat You at all You're bigger than the battle, You are bigger than the battle You are bigger than the battle has ever been! ">

Say What???

While watching a video about cowboys, Connor declared, "I wouldn't want to wrestle a bull. Only a cereal bowl."

Retry

I don't know why this video didn't work in the previous post, so I'm trying again :)

Brothers

Connor and Carson have something really special. They just don't always know it :) Somedays I have to remind myself that brotherhood is a gift too. Yesterday was one of those days. It was a snow day and the fighting and craziness started to drive me nuts after a while. I was going through some pictures and came across this video. I definetly took a jog down memory lane. What's funny, is that things haven't changed a whole lot from when this was shot- October 2005.

I love them so much!

Say what??

Kaelynn was looking at a Hoops and YoYo birthday card that has sound. She loves to open it and listen to them. One of our favorite things to do is go to the Hallmark website and watch the Hoops and YoYo e-cards. They are hilarious and we laugh and laugh. Anyways, she was listening to this and she burst into laughter and said, "They are funnier than pigs rolling in the mud." Where in the world??? In the middle of putting up the Christmas tree this year Connor stated, "This tree doesn't look very good." I said, "Well it's not done yet. How about you find something positive to say." He looked at me with a very serious look and said, "I am positive this tree doesn't look very good." Funny, funny!

A little help please....

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions! Why? Because I know that I'll fail 2 months after setting them. I have not been blessed with an ability to set goals and STICK with them. However, Andy and I are spurring each other on this spring to run a 10K in May. AAAHHH! Even writing that down scares me. I do not enjoy running, and have never run over 3 miles, but I CAN run over 3 miles so the 5K is out of the picture and the 10K is the next option. Andy and I did run this past summer and into the beginning of the fall, but then busyness hit and we took a hiatus. We're both back on the treadmill and I'm upping the speed and distance slowly, but surely. I don't want to fail this one! So I'm telling you all hoping that you will help me to keep going all the way to the finish line on May 22nd! I'll keep you posted!

Christmas (Part 2)

We made it down to Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon and got to spend a couple of days there with my family! The whole gang was there so we had to take advantage of the picture opportunity! We had a great meal of ribs and ham and all the fixings and then the kids got to open presents. Kaelynn and her cousin Emma. Emma will be 4 tomorrow!! Happy Birthday sweetie! Grandma made hats and scarves for all the grandchildren. Kaelynn got Disney princesses! They love wearing them! Auntie and niece bonding time. Ava loves to snuggle- especially if it involves her thumb and blankie!

Auntie Katie made these adorable aprons for the girls! SO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Go forth and conquer" is one of Ava's mottos at this point in life.

On Monday we enjoyed some hours at the Minnesota Zoo. They have some great indoor exhibits.

They also have a great aquarium!

There is an exhibit where kids can touch sting rays and sharks as they swim by.

We didn't touch this shark! It was huge and very much behind a lot of thick glass!

The water was a little too far away, but she was so close to touching a shark. Maybe when she's four she'll be able to reach.

Grandma gave the kids many crafts for Christmas so we were able to stay busy while we were there. The boys are painting bird houses and the girls are painting jewelry boxes. It was fun to see their personalities come out in their projects!

We had a great Christmas and were so blessed to be able to spend it with family! We love you all so much!

Christmas (part 1)

Happy New Year!!! We had a wonderful week of celebrating Christmas with family and friends. So wonderful that I will have to post two times to get all of the pictures on. We traveled to Grand Forks on Christmas Eve after our Christmas Eve service. The snow hadn't started falling yet, so the drive was pretty easy. We enjoyed some goodies and went to bed wondering what we would wake up to. We were predicted to get 18+ inches of snow. Christmas day was beautiful. The snow was falling and the scene through the new windows of grandpa and grandma's new sunroom was straight from a Christmas card.

We were given so many wonderful gifts. Among them were these Brett Favre Viking's jerseys which they are still wearing with pride :) They are quickly learning the up's and down's of being Viking's fans.

One of Kaelynn's favorite gifts was this baby. It eats real food and then pees and poops it out. It says all kinds of things and goes to sleep when it isn't being played with. Here are some pictures of her learning to feed her and change her diaper. Her name is Ashlynn.

We ate some wonderful meals of course. The kids and I decorated the traditional snowman Jello. We sure missed Krisanne's expertise with the decorating, but I think we did an okay job!

Grand Forks ended up with 23 inches of snow. We were planning on leaving on Saturday afternoon, but the Interstate didn't open until Sunday at 8:00am. So we left on Sunday, threw our dirty clothes in a basket, quickly packed some clean clothes and headed to Minneapolis to celebrate with the Rampi's for a few days. I'll post those pictures tomorrow! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!