Last week

A quick review from last week, above, my friend Katie's family and ours went to Chuck E Cheese this last weekend. The adults HATED it, the kids like it, most of it... although one of Katie's boys did get some tokens stolen out of his shoe. Horrific I tell you ,that place is horrible on the weekend and mildly tolerable during the week. I will NEVER have a weekend birthday part there. Ever. Only if I was rich enough to rent the place for a private party, hahahaha, that won't ever happen either. Not pictured, her 1 year old, bun in the oven and my bun in the oven.

My 22 week and some days belly. I have been told I look bigger in pictures, than in real life. But I feel like Jaba and I'm doing the dreaded pregnancy walk. One cool thing about this? I got that shirt a couple weeks ago at Target for $2.50. That's right. For one cheesestick at the state fair, I got a shirt. Ever since coming home after christmas to our wet basement, I have been slowly but surely cleaning out and organizing, goodwilling, trashing, paperwork cleanout etc; Cleaning out closets and prepping Isabelle's room and closet for her brother moving in. Mitch is hard at work on bunk beds. I can't wait to get it all set up!!! And all the crud in our house organized and a lot gotten rid of. I HATE clutter and excess. Our house is small and I don't like filling up spaces I worked so hard to clear with more stuff. I am a neat freak to some degree, ok a high one but I try to compromise with the people I live with. I think it's good for kids to not have every possible toy, or toys too soon they end up destroying. It makes them be more creative in my opinion. That's all, I'm off to whip up something define for supper, like frozen pizza.

What a week it's been

I can't even look at this now without welling up. Last Wednesday morning I got a call from Dad that my 95 year old Grandpa had been in a one car accident the night before. We're guessing he didn't realize he was coming up on a roundabout and crashed right into it. He was in bad shape, the doctor's couldn't believe he was 95. He was ornery and stubborn man at times but when something like this happens, all you really remember is the good. He passed away this Saturday afternoon and what a relief for him and for those watching and thinking of him in the hospital the way he was. It's crazy to think we saw less than a month before and that would be the last time here on this earth.

I remember him teaching us kids how to climb the hay bails all the way to the top of the barn, giving us a quarter every time we saw him, he was funny and sharp. The memory that sent me into the major out loud ugly breakdown cry was trying to tell Mitch about how when I was 8 and I had a solo in our little kid's praise program how he in grandparently fashion told me " you did the best ". One the memories that makes me laugh is after us kids had stayed a few days they brought us back into town from the farm and we went to mcdonalds then to a park with a tornado slide. There were these two bigger boys up there that wouldn't come down. Grandpa asked us why we weren't going on it, we told him why. So he climbs that slide in his cowboy boots and hat the next thing you know you see two boys sliding down that slide.

When Grandparents die it's like a piece of your childhood goes with them, an end of an age. How wonderful it is to know they knew Christ and we will see them again. Ok that's all I can do or this lump is not going to go away...pressing onward and upward.

"The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route." ~Spurgeon

Pictures Now, Details later.

LINK :)

Girl's Nights and The 4th

Our 4th consisted of a cookout at our house with Mitch's folks and sister. Then later the fireworks. The kids loved them of course and Isabelle told " It's ok Mommy, don't be scared" and patted me as I jumped at the loud ones. I can't help it! What took us 10 minutes to get there, took us almost an hour to get home. The traffic was AWFUL. The things you do for fond family memories, I tell you what... Did I mention I had to tinkle quite BAD even before getting into the van to go home???

In other news, I have gotten to have lots of fun girl outings lately. With my two sis in laws on my side when they were here and this last weekend with my other two wonderful sis in laws on Mitch's side! Soon I will get to have another night out with friends. So unlike my normal schedule, everything at once but I'll take it!! Structured schedules will take shape soon enough.

Family and Father's Day Weekend

We had a GREAT time with my family visiting!! My mom has been able to stay for this week as well which is awesome. We had a lot of fun together. We played lots of the game Settlers Of Catan... I think I spelled that right, it was Mitch's and my first time playing and we really enjoyed it. It was just nice to have all the time to ourselves to just enjoy each other's company and conversation. Mom and I bawled when they all left. Last night Mom and I had a girl's night and went out to eat just us. THose chances for us are far and few between. So click the picture for more from the weekend!!

Mother's Day

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I forgot to put these up, I'm sure you were all wondering... all two of you read my blog... maybe the two of you who actually do could vote on my may 13th post hmm?? I need some feedback!
Mother's Day weekend, Linda had the kid's friday and saturday night and we all got together on sunday for lunch. The weekend was so... nice and relaxing.. I missed my babes the whole time but it was nice to just have worry about myself for a change... I even painted my toe nails...
click pic

Until We Meet Again...Grandma Valeda

I thought would share this picture of my mother's mother, my grandma who died this year. This picture actually came from a friend of Aunt Diane's that did this for her, Aunt Diane then had it framed to give to my Grandpa, and my mom had told me about it and how much she loved it so this was her birthday present (matted and framed in an archival frame from kodakgallery, much better deal than what snapfish or flickr offers fyi :)) from us 3 kids. Mom's birthday isn't until Feb 13th but if everything would've taken as long as it potentially could it would've gotten there closer to her birthday rather than today. :) But, I was thankful I got to be on the phone with her when it arrived since I couldn't be there in person. If you click on the picture you can see the words better. It was the song she wanted sang by my cousin Steve at the funeral. And Mom told me today she was just thinking about one of the times she was taking care of Grandma at Aunt Sandra's and Grandma was still well enough to play the organ that her and mom sang that song together as she played. I thought that made it even more precious. Oh and Mom did realize that there is an "N" in her name that doesn't belong, I didn't typo it in the blog entry title. :) Here's a portion of the song:
My heart can sing when I paused to remember,
A heartache here is but a stepping stone,
Along a trail that's winding always upward,
This troubled world is not my final home.
Until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I'll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the Saviour,
Until the day God calls me home.

Christmas and Winter Pics

I'm being lazy this time and not messing with facebook to upload tons of pics at this time anyway... it wastes my time I end up babysitting the computer for a whole day trying to get them uploaded so here are highlights. Above is the Kongable family at Linda's sister's Lana's.

Here are all of Grandma Irene's great grandchildren, Grace, Evan, Easton, Mason, Christian, Isabelle and Sutton. The 3 little boys with the matching sweaters are all brothers, about 19 months apart. (brave momma!) Grace, Mason and Isabelle are 4, Easton is 3, Christian is 2 and Sutton is 1. Christian's birthday is april 8th and Sutton's in april 7. Almost an exact year apart.

They both hammed it up for me, good job little cuties.

Mitch made a little fun of his "thweater" but I really liked it on him, I bought it, he's wearing it. :) I really like this picture of the two of them, and they coordinate.

Love this one of Isabelle!! I have a hard time getting her to relax and show her cuteness on camera so I really was glad to have gotten this!!

Christian's first real time playing in the snow, and even that day he ended up getting stuck in a drift and throwing the HUGEST fit ever. He wouldn't let Isabelle help him and his mitten ended up coming off, he was screaming, rolling around in the snow... it was quite the ordeal...

That's all from me for now!

Whoa... Christmas Is Almost Here?

Well we are back in Iowa, we left the red, orange and GREEN trees of Texas for rolling snow covered hills last week. We have not been home a week yet and I've been catching up this whole time!! Paperwork, unpacking, you know the drill of the household duties. Anyway so it was one heck of month in Kansas in November. A lot going on!! Tom and Mara got to stay a few days for Grandma's funeral and that was wonderful to get to spend time with them!! ( Isabelle said yesterday after looking at pictures from the wedding, I want Uncle Tom to come stay at our house for a long time) It was really fun getting to spend time with Bethany this month too we had really never gotten to just do nothing ( or horrific saturday walmarting :)) together. Oh yeah, they (dan and bethany) were married Novebember 30th in TX. :) Her dad is a pastor and married them. He also did Tom and Mara's ceremony and those were my favorite wedding messages and vows I have ever heard, very touching and biblical. I'm a big baby and yes I cried. I'm working on pictures, dial up you know...I am wanting to find highspeed internet for under 30$ a month that stays at that price, I don't want phone or cable tv though. If anyone has any suggestions let me know... maybe I've missed some of my options. I'm sitting here not really knowing what to type because it would be too much info... we got through the trip with no puking yea!! We crushed dramamine and put it in pop or juice for Isabelle and that seemed to do the trick. A lot of driving.. 11 hrs from Hutch to TX where the wedding was. The Lord's hand certainly did carry us through each day because it was a lot of work traveling but there was no way I would miss my brother's wedding!! Mitch has a nasty cold he came down with Friday night... one of those that didn't really get bad till Sunday morning. I can't believe how fast time is going!! When we left after halloween things were green and we weren't wearing coats... we get back and it's full force winter with snow on the ground and lows in the single digits and Christmas is 2 weeks away????????? Mitch will deer hunt the 2 saturdays before Christmas then Christmas extravaganzing begins....why can't we space this out into Jan and Feb?? It's overkill junk going on then nothing in Jan and Feb, except my birthday, our anniversary, and valentine's. But those dont' involve driving south. :) I'm having quite the random thoughts here so I apologize if I'm all over the place. It was really sad for me to leave, I wanted to go back home and you know be a wife ;) but it was hard leaving my parents and family....it doesn't get any easier, I pretty much just relegate myself to the fact that I will be hugging my parents while crying when saying goodbye. It was hard for me to initially step foot out the front door for the last time for a while...Mom had to say " you can do it" :)
So if you all could just pray that all of my family and extended could move to Iowa that would be great. :)
Wedding Pictures

Congrats Dan and Bethany!!

All I have to say is I am blessed with great sister in laws!! ( I have four now and I couldn't ask for better) Dan(my youngest brother) made it official this weekend and we are so happy and excited for them!! Bethany is a sweetheart and I'm blessed to have her as another sister!

The wedding is Nov 30th. This Nov 30th in Texas. So it's going to be pretty crazy but exciting as well!!

In other less glamorous news, Christian continues to potty train like there's no tomorrow. I'm shocked, I can't take credit, he is just getting it. I thought it was going to be long and drawn out. Mom said Tom potty trained in a week and I couldn't fathom that. Until now, I'm amazed. He wore a pull up to church and told me he had to potty and he actually went on the toilet at church, and he was dry till we got home and he came home and used the potty, met me on the stairs with the potty bucket with a special poo present, he pooped on the pot again today and I'm so thankful!! I can't believe it and it's encouraging admist our busy life right that God's caused Christian to catch on. Oh did I mention he was dry saturday morning??? Maybe the difference is this time I prayed about it instead of forcing my agenda for a change... who would've thought.

Here is a random funny thing Christian said last week. He was at the table and kept throwing down his napkin and I was distracted and kept picking it up. Finally he was whining " my napkin!!!" I said, you threw it, you need to get down and get it yourself. " I'm not going to play anymore MOM! You're not FANCY!!!!"

Also he has retained something Mitch told him a month ago I guess and Mitch was impressed when he brought him one of hot wheels and said " it's a dodge charger" He loves cars way too much. It's definitely his thing. "see my race car? it's really fast."

Big Ol Texas Wedding

I'm finally blogging after getting home last wednesday! I don't know where to start, do people really want me to recap the whole trip to Tom and Mara's wedding? I guess I'll type and see where this all goes. :) The wedding was Sept 7th. We set out on Thursday driving to Chicago, it rained on us steady the WHOLE way. :) And it was chilly, like jacket and jeans chilly. We got to our hotel near the midway airport and ate an early supper. We then decided to go swimming, the fairfield's pool was under construction so we went across to the courtyard. And let me say, the walk back across the street was Cold in my suit, wet in the rain to boot... The kids would not settle down to sleep till we came to bed at 10 and we had to seperate them because they kept poking at each other and giggling. :) The kids slept good through the night, and I woke up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep knowing I had to get up at 5 am anyway. Our flight left at 8:05am and we had to be at the airport by 6:30. We fly non revenue thanks to some buddy passes from my cousin who flys for southwest so we fly on the space left over and plan our flights according the loads. Checked bags are not garaunteed so we fit everything into our carryon's and that's quite a task with the rules now days, but we are thankful, we did check a carseat base for Isabelle, that did get to Austin with our flight but we did get it back before our flight home, go figure, but I'm not complaining that's forsure!! Anyway so if you can picture us going through the airport and security....4 suitcases, a dvd player, my huge purse, 2 backpacks and Mitch carrying Christian's carseat on his back in a carrier....Anyway, amidst all the navigation with that load in tow, the flight was wide open, and the kids did really great on the 2.5 hr flight. They did well on the ride backtoo and we discovered that Isabelle could not only carry her backpack on her back but also pull one of the suitcases...

grrr I just realized this didn't autosave my whole commentary on the wedding.... I HATE dialup. I may just need to do something about this internet situation....

so the wedding, beautiful venue, Mara looked like a model in her chic dress. Isabelle did great as a flower girl! Walked all the way by herself and tried to keep dropping petals once she got up to me and didn't want to stop. Cried a lot at this wedding, ahh sweet love. :) So great to see everyone! Love and miss my family so much!! Extended included, I was so thankful for this fun time to see everyone. It was great meeting Mara's family too!

I've been in the long tedious process of uploading pics on facebook+dialup= no picnic. I have to be here babysitting it, only doing a few pics at a time so as to not get logged off, ridiculous. So if you check back you may see pics you didn't see before, if you have that kind of time. :) Take care all and I will write more later and keep working on the pics.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41221&l=1dbb3&id=520472082

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41885&l=be41c&id=520472082

2 albums

Click The Pic

Our Big Fat Wedding Weekend

We are back from Trevor and Alexa's wedding. The weekend started off with us leaving at 4:30 on Friday and we got back home at about 8:45 pm Sunday night. It was a nice wedding, we are so happy for Trevor and Alexa, she is such a sweet girl and we are happy she is in our family now! Mitch's cousins Lauren and Evan were back in Iowa, along with Shelly, Evan's girlfriend, she is a such a sweetheart. They all were really nice help with kids since Mitch and Linda were out of commission for large chunks of time.

In other big news, on Sunday they also were shooting clay birds and I shot a gun for the first time in my life... it's hard, hard to stand right, hold the gun up, let a lone right, aim right. I asked for the a lightweight version and I guess that's what I already had that was fatigueing my forearms. It was so humid out and I thought let's just get this over with, so I shot, I missed, what a shock. I tried one more time, Randy said, you have to think you're going to hit it or you're not going to. Ha real funny. I'm just all sticky holding up a gun with trembling forearms. So he threw the clay disk and Audrey shoots, and HITS it! And not just a knick, it actually went into pieces, I was so proud of myself being the weenie girlie girl that I am that I tried it and I hit it. Randy asked if I wanted to do it again and I said, no thanks, better stop while I'm ahead... :) Plus my arms couldn't take much more of holding the 20 gauge shotgun that's supposed to be light.

And for the Christian's funny words segment of the post...

He wakes up at 6:30 am last week, and I'm not getting up that early, sorry, so I tell him to go back to sleep or be quiet and play in his room, (he's gated in and yes he can climb it but he usually wipes out on the other side which is a detourent) So he's whining at the gate .... Can I get up now? I need Daddy... I need Izzy... I pooped... I'm stinky.. so I go into check and he's laying by the gate and says I need some friends....and by the way he wasn't poopy. Anothert thing he says that makes me laugh is when he's mad in a "tone" I'm not gonna PLAY! huh!

That's all from me for now!

Congrats Tom and Mara!!

Tom and Mara got engaged yesterday on Tom's birthday! A pretty great birthday I would say!! I will say this week went especially slow, knowing the big day was coming. It's been hard acting dumb for the past few weeks during our conversations, since I tend to be an information vomitter but it was really important to Tom that it be a surprise and it was! My brothers are so special to me and I'm thrilled Mara is officially now destined to be a part of our family. After the first time we met her Christmas of 2006 and her and Tom left, I told Mom " I miss Mara" she said she did too. She was so sweet, real, funny, very open to talking about things of the Lord. She just fit. So I could go on and on but I'll stop for now. Needless to say we are thrilled, blessed, and praising the Lord for giving my dear brother a woman who truly loves Christ more than anything, thus truly loving my brother and it shows.

Grandpa and Grandma!

Christian had his 2 year old appointment last week and he weighed 22.1 lbs -5% and I am very proud to say...32'' and he is officially back on the growth chart at 5%. Uneventful other than that, she asked me how his talking was and I told her well this morning he said to me,' I can't do it now'. So I think she was ok with his talking progress.... he says everything, and repeats everything, for instance today, he heard Isabelle say stupid and picked up on that right away. That's music to my ears.

I went 3 weeks without an anxiety attack. It was a wonderful break and I knew it wasn't garaunteed to last but I was so thankful for the break. I am reminded that while life changes from good times to hard times that God's faithfulness does not change, nor what He requires of me to remain faithful as well. I keep reminding myself that His strength is made perfect in our weakness and His grace is all suffient. The hard times in our lives are to be a testimony of God's amazing grace sustaining us. I've read a couple blogs of christian women, losing their babies and how God gives strength upon strength and their love for Him is deepened.

I did have a bad attack last Thursday, it's so hard to know why, I think many different things can trigger them. I had coffee in the afternoon which was dumb because I can't handle caffienated coffee. I felt weird and irritable almost right away. I was up all night and usually I can get to sleep by the time Mitch leaves at 6am but I think knowing I had to get up for Christian's apt made it hard for me to settle to sleep, I've never had one not go away, I had to get up and still felt horrible. I was SO thankful my parents were here! My mom watched Isabelle and my dad asked me if I wanted him to go with me. That was so nice. I wanted to cry. I had him check my pulse and it was 108 but it would slow down then go back up, weird. Also what's weird is once the dr was leaving the room and I was getting ready to check out, I could tell it was lifting. It's so weird because two nights later it happened again and Mitch came to bed late and I asked him to pray with me and we just talked about it and he held my hand and it went away by 1 am. I don't get that. Caffiene, blood sugar, hormones, stress, I don't know. I really try not to freak out. I pray, I know what's going on. So all prayers are still welcome! It certainly does keep me running back to the Lord. I will probably know more at the end of the week what I'm going to do after my endo apt.

In other updates, my dad left Sunday morning and we had a great time. I miss my parents so much!! It's hard to not be sad even while with them thinking about how much I'll miss them when they go. Mom is here for the week and she has been a great help with the kids and cooking. And of course now instead of talking to her all day on the phone, I have her in person! She also got to go to our church and she really enjoyed it and is so happy for us to have finally found a good church! She got to meet a few people, including the pastor and his wife. Well I should probably not waste anymore time down here. Mom is up stairs cooking right now and Isabelle is asking to help her as usual! She told me that Papa Bill went back home but he will be back, but.... that makes me sad. Christian woke up today and he heard a vehicle outside and said Gandpa??