Where do I come from?

Annie has been working on a project for school for a few weeks now. She is supposed to write about a country where some of her ancestors are from...

So, one of her first questions was..."What am I?" Had to laugh at that...

We told her she is a mix of many different ethnicities. There is some Irish, Swiss, German, Italian, Polish, and some others, too...

She decided to write about Switzerland. The Wyss family (my grandmother's family) came to America from Switzerland in the 1800's. We started reading a short history about their travels (Thanks, Dad, for the book!), and were surprised to see that they came right through Toledo, Ohio which is very close to where we live now.

As we continued to trace the history to my great great grandma, then great grandma, then grandma, then dad, then me, Annie asked if her name was in the "Family Tree" book. I pointed it out to her and her eyes got as wide as baseballs and she asked the funniest question: "Does that mean I'm Swittish?"

We laughed so hard!!!

I love that she is figuring out bits and pieces of where she came from... mostly, we know she came as a blessing from God!!!

Love you all!

The Inspiration of the Olympics

I don't know if any of you have been watching the olympics, but we have, and we are loving it!!

We have been inspired in many ways:

1. Matt and I agree that we would LOVE to visit Vancouver someday. It just looks amazing!

2. Annie and Kaitie decided they wanted to learn how to ice skate! So, they started lessons today. Who knows? Maybe we will have an olympian in the family!

3. I want to try to ski again! It has been years, and I didn't even get off the bunny hill, but after watching, I want to give it another shot!! Especially since we have good health insurance!

4. Nash has LOVED the winter sports...he keeps asking if the games are on...

As my kids watch the olympics, I hope they are inspired that they can become something great!! However, I hope we can instill in them a desire to be much more than a great athlete... I hope they are inspired to live a life of Spiritual significance, and run in a race far more important than any olympic race!!

Thanks for your prayers and love for our family!!

A Day at the Park

I love the park!! I have loved to swing ever since I was a little girl!

Yesterday, after we dropped Matt off at his Massage appointment, I took Kait and Nash to the park. They had a blast! Kaitie has NO FEAR when it comes to heights. She marched right up to the highest slide they have there (which is VERY high) and went down it..no problem. Nash marched up, but then decided to march back down instead of slide down...he's not a chicken, just not as risky as his sister.

However, when it came to the bridge on the playset, Nash finally figured out that he could just run across like the bigger kids, while Kait would crawl across...she likes solid surfaces to walk on..ha!

Kaitie went across the monkey bars on my shoulders a few times...and said "I love being a monkey!" And Nash just kept running back on forth on the bridge gaining more and more confidence each time.

Then we got to the swings. These two LOVE to swing...and they love to swing HIGH in the sky! I put them both in and started pushing them... They are hilarious when they swing because they just laugh and giggle the whole time, the higher and higher they go. A lady next to us couldn't help but start laughing when Nash was belly laughing while swinging! It was great...

Yesterday, I remembered that i always want to make time to make memories, and that the park never gets old...even though I do!!

Love you all!

family Update

Hi all,

I just wanted to give you a family update...

First, Kaitie is doing AWESOME at potty training!  You can be proud of her just like I am!  She also has taken a great interest in cooking!  She always wants to be right next to me when I am making breakfast, lunch, or dinner!!  Can't wait til she starts cooking some meals..haha!

In other news, Annie recited Isaiah 40:28-31 in her school's talent chapel on Wednesday...she did a wonderful job!!  She is so smart!!  She had quite the head injury this week too...but she is doing much better.  She had quite the goose egg on her head, but she was so brave, and I am so thankful God protected her from a worse injury.

Nash is turning into a REAL boy..haha!  His sisters thought they could make him a girl by putting him in tutus, but now all he wants to do is play cars, trains, and growl... I love watching him grow up!  I just don't want him to get too big too fast!  

Matt is doing well.  He has had a plethora of meetings this week for different events, and is working on the details of our church's first Community Day, coming on May 16.  We're excited that 2 newspapers have expressed interest on releasing a story for the event...free advertising..YEAH!  He is working hard...keep praying for him!

I just got back from our first women's Bible study and it went great!  I am so blessed to have some ladies who work so hard and have such servant's hearts...  Now I am gearing up for Sunday's service as well as a Mother/Daughter banquet that I was asked to speak and sing for in Bellefontaine next week... 

All in all, we are doing great, and trusting the Lord always!!

Love you all!

laughter

hi all...

the other day matt and I needed a good laugh...SO we turned to one of our favorite comedians Tim Hawkins.  HE is a hilarious Christian comedian...  we laughed so hard when we watched his stuff... he has some VERY funny songs!!

It inspired me to speak on laughter at an upcoming speaking engagement I have..

I am going to be sharing about "Learning to Laugh Again"...  

It got me thinking about some things in our lives that weren't funny when we were going through them, but they are now...and then I realized there will be a day when I will look back at some of the frustrating things going on right now, and be able to laugh at them:

1. Kaitlyn pooping her pants--AGAIN--while I try to potty train her..

2. Nash making himself throw up when he gets really upset--and throwing up all over me!

3. Annie always deciding that she is starving to death or going to die of thirst when it's time for bed.

When I am in the middle of dealing with those things, it can be very frustrating, but even as I am writing them down, I am chuckling...

I hope you can laugh too!!

Love you!

Driving in the Grocery Store

Usually I try to go to the grocery store when Matt can be home with the kids, so I can get in and get out... I actually am not a lover of the grocery store...sometimes it feels like the walls are closing in on me...especially if I am crunched for time.

But TODAY I had to take kait and Nash with me to the store because it just didn't work out for me to go last night. I mentally prepared myself for a tough trip with episodes of whining and arguing...but my kiddos were WONDERFUL! They have these crazy grocery carts now where the kids can sit in a little tikes car and pretend to be driving the cart. They were laughing all the way through the grocery store...and then they were waving to everyone they saw and saying HI! The older folks loved it!!

As we were leaving, the man who was bagging our groceries gave them a sticker, and then we left... I was very proud of them... and I think we will definitely go driving in the grocery store together again!!

Love you all!

potty training

i recently heard a statistic that most child abuse starts around the potty training season...don't be alarmed.  I am not thinking about EVER abusing my children.  However, I am remembering the frustrations of potty training.  And even more so...because Annie was so quickly trained, I have had to learn great patience (thanks, God!) while potty training Kait.  

She is doing SO much better though.  I have tried and tried to find a reward system for her that would work...  She doesn't care much for prizes, or candy, or special treats.  But I FINALLY found something that works for her...and it's hilarious...PENNIES!  I got her a tootsie roll bank for Easter..well, the Easter bunny got it for her..  She loves earning pennies to put in her bank, so I have been giving her a penny when she pees in the potty and two pennies for #2.  In the last two days, she has only had one accident, and that was on a day when she was sick!  I almost hate to brag because I have no idea what tomorrow holds!!  However, i am SO VERY PROUD of her..okay, and a little proud of myself too.  I have stayed patient, with God's help!!

Thanks to all of you for your prayers for our family!  They help with every part of our lives...even potty-training!  

Love you!