Good News!

I found my ring! I'm so relieved.

I got my car back - the smoke smell has already faded some. I will be trying some home remedies to get rid of it. There was over a half a tank of gas in the car, which means that whoever took it didn't go far, which is weird (but good)!

We have signed a lease for one of our rentals, starting March 15th, very good! One down, one to go!

Life goes on!

What's Next?

I seem to be having a string of bad luck for the passed 2 weeks and I need it to stop now! I keep thinking "what could possibly go wrong next?" and then something else bad happens. So maybe venting about it here will stop the bad luck?!

• It started two weeks ago when I lost my wedding ring. Technically I lost my engagement ring, the wedding band isn't connected and I still have it. It somehow fell off my finger. I haven't found it yet.

• I went visiting teaching to a less active older woman. We've been before and she seems receptive and pleased to see us. When I call her she seems happy to set up an appointment. The next evening while Mike was gone her grown son called me and chewed me out! He was swearing and very angry and most likely drunk or high. He didn't like me, the church, his mamma's home teacher or the missionaries and told me that we all needed to stay away. Since he lives with his mom, I think I'll listen to him. I'd rather not run into him. After I hung up I locked all the doors!

• We found out this weekend that one of our tenants (one that pays us on time every month) is leaving, ASAP, without any notice. That is on top of the tenant that we are trying to kick out because they don't pay us. In March half our rentals will be vacant.

• Our car was stolen and our car seats as well. I found out on Monday that it won't cost almost $500 to re-key it, it will be almost $700. That's nice.

• Today Lilah locked herself in the car with my keys. It's not my car. There are no extra keys. I buckled her in, she grabbed the keys out of my hand so I let her keep them while I walked around to the other side of the car to get Madeline in. She hit the 'lock' button on the key fob. They aren't my keys, I don't usually have a key fob. Lilah eventually dropped the keys after hitting the lock button repeatedly, but never the unlock button. I was at Calvin's Kiddie Kollege - my phone was in the car. I was able to borrow a phone to call Mike, he called Pop-A-Lock and they eventually came and let me in, but not before Lilah screamed herself to sleep with me standing outside the car just helplessly watching her. I can see why she was angry at me.

However, I know that eventually bad things will stop happening. Honestly, it could've been worse and things are going to be ok. Maybe I'd better make another list of how good things are going.

• I'm pretty sure I lost my ring in my house. So it HAS to show up eventually, right?

• At least I got my visiting teaching done for February and I can still write and call this sister

• We've advertised both of our properties and we've had a good response and I think we'll have them both rented by April - we are hopeful.

• We got our stolen car back and only 3 of the 4 carseats were taken and the more expensive and newer one is the one that we still had.

• I'm thankful that our friends let us borrow their car and that the weather was mild and that Lilah was fine and that someone came and unlocked my car. Stupid key fobs.

• Oh and the snow storm that was suppose to bring another foot of snow tonight has changed it's course, it's only going to rain! =)
  

Maybe the blessings that come from this adversity will be amazing!

Wacky Wednesday and Berry Compote

On Wednesday it was 'Wacky Wednesday' at Anna Elise's school. She wore her clothes inside out, had lopsided ponytails and wore 2 different shoes. She was very excited to dress up. The kids at home also decided to dress 'wacky' and wore their clothes wrong side out as well. They all had a good time with it. On Saturday Madeline came out of her bedroom with her pants wrong side out - she asked me if I could help her fix them so she could put them on, she said "it's not Wacky Saturday". So now "wacky" is wrong side out!


Today for our weekly breakfast for dinner we had German Pancakes with berry compote on top. Lilah loves the berry syrup - she snagged my fork and flew the bites into her mouth like an airplane. Such a silly girl!


I also have to include this shot of Calvin. We caught him playing with some of the girl's toys. The look on his face when he realized that not only was his dad watching him, but had taken his picture was hilarious! Calvin is not easily embarrassed but this seemed to un-nerve him just a little!

GONE in 60 seconds...

...back in 60 minutes! So, our car was stolen from outside of our house sometime last night. We were enjoying a nice, leisurely Saturday with Mike home and nothing to do when Mike looked out the window and told the kids that "Momma isn't going to have a very good day today." I went running for the window, totally shocked as I looked up and down the street trying to find a reasonable explanation for my car to be gone!

We called the police and the insurance company and neither one of those was helpful. Mike decided to go driving around the area to see if he could find it. Sometimes cars are stolen so kids can go joy riding or whatever. I was irritated that he was going to waste his time looking, there was no way he'd find it. I ate my words. Mike found it. He called the cops, they came, looked at the car, filed another report and left. The didn't investigate, knock on any doors of the houses it was parked next to, dust for finger prints, nothing. USELESS POLICE! We keep our key to the car, in the car (looking back that seems like a bad idea). The car has a keypad to unlock the door. So we keep the door locked, we can get in with the keypad and we always have a key when we need it - no lost keys (that has happened) or passing keys back and forth. Whoever took our car also took our key and kept it. We had no way to get our car home. Mike called a tow truck and had it towed to the dealership. They will order the parts they need to re-key it on Monday. We might have it back on Wednesday - we'll see. Anyone want to guess how much it costs to re-key a car? If you guessed a couple hundred bucks you were WAY low. Try close to $500. Also, the joy riders smoked cigars in my car! It smells like an ashtray now. I think there were several of them and they threw my car seats out to make room. Luckily we had one of them strapped in so well they couldn't get it out, so I only lost 3 of the car seats. I went to Walmart tonight to replace them. Madeline will be thrilled - she is replacing an old yucky black and brown car seat with new pink one that has flowers on it (I couldn't resist - it was the same price as the ugly ones). Luckily we have friends who are loaning us one of their cars. I am VERY thankful that we got our car back, as I contemplated the hassle of buying a new car and having car payments again I was not happy. However, I am still really angry that somebody took my car and just threw my car seats out! I think we'll come up with a new place to put our car keys - when we have car keys again!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great Valentine's Day. It started with a valentine package from Grandma with a toys, cards, and candy for all the kids. They loved everything!

Then we mixed up, rolled out, and baked heart sugar cookies. After church we frosted them. The kids did a good job. Making sugar cookies isn't my favorite activity - but it went really well today.

Mike gave the kids a pot of yellow tulips, they wanted to each pick one, but we convinced them to leave the tulips in the pot and we could re-pot them in individual pots later.

As usual for Sunday we had breakfast for dinner, but today we had pink colored heart shaped pancakes with heart shaped sausage. I even managed to write 'Love' on Anna Elise's pancake with syrup.

It was a good day!


The kids with their loot from Grandma

Anna Elise decorated this cookie all by herself - she spelled it and everything!
Calvin and his favorite cookie.

Madeline busy at work with her cookies
She thinks she is sneaking a bite of frosting


Breakfast for dinner


Anna Elise wanted to take some pictures so she took a picture of their tulips
and a picture of me with my tulips
Aren't you glad this post wasn't about snow? I wish I could say we're done with snow - but I can't because it's still here and there is more coming tomorrow. I'll take bets on whether or not we have school or work tomorrow...

...and then there was MORE snow!

I've been complaining about the snow a lot lately, I know. There are lots of people with lots more snow than we have. But we aren't suppose to have snow! Calvin asked me the other day when we would be able to see our grass again. I told him I didn't know.

It snowed all day Friday, rained all night Friday night, and snowed all day Saturday. We got another 6-8 inches. Anna Elise's school was canceled Friday - she went to school for a half day
on Thursday - that was it for the week. Church was canceled again today. Anna's school is canceled tomorrow. I'm waiting to hear about my work tomorrow - I'd actually like it to be canceled, I'd rather stay home.

Today for 'church' we talked about the Liahona and the holy ghost. It was a lot shorter than usual =). Anna Elise and Calvin watched the Mark Mabry Reflections of Christ DVD, built a lego temple, and played a lot!

I've been singing this little song in my head all day, so I thought I would share it with you!
(sung to the tune of 'What Do You Do in the Summer Time' from the Primary Song Book)
So, what do you do on a long snow day, when all the world is white?
Do you snuggle in blankets?
Read lots of books?
or Put to-gether a puzzle?
Is that what you do? So do we!
So, what do you do on a long snow day, when all the world is white?
Do you drive your mom crazy?
Throw balls in the house?
or Play in the snow with your Dad?
Is that what you do? So do we!

Pictures from today's activities:

The snowman's hat that got snowed and rained on. It froze and then broke when she took it off his head!

Calvin trying to get the hat off of his snowman.

Madeline in her 'snow gear'. It was 'church' day and she insisted on a dress even if we couldn't go to church. We did manage to get some warm tights on her. She refused to wear bags on her feet. She was the first to come in - she said her feet were cold. Really?

Anna Elise and Calvin building their temple.

Lilah chillin' with her book and some blankets.

We put together Anna's puzzle

More Snow Days?

Virginia is such a wimpy state! VCU was closed on Monday - I wanted to go to work and they wouldn't let me! Anna Elise hasn't been to school all week. She finally gets to go tomorrow, 2 hours late. Guess what's forecast for this weekend...MORE SNOW!

Early in the week it warmed up and the kids were able to go outside and play. They tried to make snowmen out of the very dry and fluffy snow - it didn't work. The were able to use the heavier stuff that had melted and been shoveled off the walkway to make mini-snowmen.

We got some rain and a little bit of snow last night and it helped make some good snow - so Mike helped the kids make some 'real' snowmen this afternoon.

I got to go into work today for a few hours. It was a good day!


Calvin's mini-snowman




Anna's mini-snowman


The mini-snowmen in context, they are in the lower right-hand side of the picture


The real snowmen that Dad made and their little snow kids


The real snowmen with the real kids - Madeline wouldn't wear pants and her dad was in charge, so he didn't make her - I would have!