Our Trip

We are finally home from our trip and I have been trying hard to figure out how to describe a trip of a lifetime. I just don't even know where to start. I feel blessed that the army gave back to us, after I feel like it's taken so much time from our family. I thank God for that bonus and my wonderful friend Shannon for mothering my children for me while I was gone. No one could have done a better job. Bella is still talking about all the wonderful things they did together. It warms my heart to know that they were so happy. Our favorite place in Australia was Cairns - that's the city that the Great Barrier Reef is off of. It's really the whole area around it that was amazing. There were rain forests and parks and waterfalls galore. We just couldn't get enough. My favorite day of the whole trip was snorkeling in the reef. I felt a little bad that Aaron couldn't go scuba diving, since he is licensed and it would have been the best place in the world for it, but he stuck with me and did not have a pleasant time. For some reason he got stung by five jelly fish, and bit by not only a parrot fish, but a barracuda as well -it was a small one. He was miserable, but I was in awe! The neon fish and reef were just amazing. I don't even know how to describe it. I wanted to stay there forever. It was like another world. I got to hold Koalas at the zoo in Cairns too, which was my second favorite thing about the trip. They are so sweet and they smell like eucalyptus - go figure:) That was always a dream of mine from as long as I can remember. We thought that the outback was amazing as well, but it was just so different. It was so hot and dry. The red rock formations there were very interesting and the life of the Aboriginal people was fascinating. Sydney was just beautiful. It felt like they took England and plonked it right down in the middle of the Caribbean. The buildings were cool and the foliage was tropical. The weather was perfect there - spring time with flowers blooming every where. We visited the big aquarium and took a tour of the town. We went to the famous markets and had a lot of fish and chips. We didn't enjoy Melbourne as much, but we spent most of our time on the Great Ocean Road tour that showed us all these cool rock formations in the ocean. We stopped at lots of parks along the way and saw the beach where they filmed that surf movie with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze - Point Break. I got some cool shells from that beach shhhhhh;) It was the most beautiful part of the ocean I've ever seen besides the reef that is. We saw wild Koalas sleeping and trees. Wow! I feel so blessed to have gotten to experience that! Our next stop was New Zealand and that was a trip with-in itself. It was only a three hour flight and a couple more time changes. We started in Christchurch, but we weren't there that long. It was a cute little town with a lot of galleries and artists. It felt a little like Ireland did. We took a boat ride down the river like in Italy. When we got to Queenstown, it had just stopped raining and we were greeted by the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen - it was enormous! We went on lots of tours there and got to see the places where they filmed much of the Lord of The Rings films. We got to take lots of trips up the mountains by way of the gondola. The view from that, was extraordinary. We could see across the lake to the mountains. Wow again! We ended the trip by paragliding off the top of Bob's peak. Aaron just had to do it and I'm usually up for anything, but the idea of crashing and orphaning my girls didn't sound appealing. OK, so who was the one that crashed on their first attempt off the cliff? Oh yeah - that would be me! APPARENTLY our chute only half-way filled with wind when we went running off the edge of the mountain. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmm.I couldn't understand my Aussi tandem jump coach. Their accents are so thick:0 "Negative, negative". Iyiyiyi I hurt my arm, but it was OK. I saw my life flash before my eyes as I was sliding down and clinging to every last pebble and blade of grass. (Sigh) My legs were shaking when we did our final run off the other side. Can you imagine? All of our 13 flights connected great and we only had one long delay, which ended up allowing us to feed wild wallabies in Alice Springs, so all worked out in the end and I came home feeling so relaxed. Happy healthy kids and we survived jet-lag. Thank you God!

Our 10Th Anniversary Trip

Hey all! We are just about ready for our trip now and I wanted to leave you with our itineraries in case we crash on one of the 12 or 13 flights we will have in store for us. OK we are flying from Chicago to St. Louis to LA to Sydney to Cairns (the great barriar reef) we are there for three days and then to Ayers Rock and Alice Springs for a day each and then back to Sydney for three days to Melbourne for two and then we fly to New Zealand and we will be in Christchurch, Queenstown, some smaller towns and Aukland for a total of five days. We leave Thursday for our trip, but we may be going to Chicago on Wednesday night depending on the weather. In case we don't see any of you before the trip - have a happy Thanksgiving! We love you all!

The Roath Family Christmas Exchange List

Names: Who you buy for:
Vickie- Kelly wants mixing bowls
Mike- Emily
Carrie- Cate
Lee- Chris
TJ- Vickie wants candles from Yankee candles Orange/mango or Christmas
scents or Bath and Body Works gift card
Meghan- Mike wants either a gift card to Home Depot or Texas Roadhouse
Jeff- Carrie wants a cardigan sweater size small any color
Kelly- Lee wants i tunes gift card or Frank LLoyd Wright calendar (@ the
mall)
Rick- John
Lynn- Jeff didn't request anything, but like video games and movies (Best
Buy Maybe?)
Chris- Lynn wants gift card to Sephora, Borders or fresh scented candles
Cate- Rick wants a gift card to Outback, Red Lobster or size M hoodie
Emily- Meghan Wants a gift card to Old Navy or Borders
John- TJ wants a gift gird to Old Navy or Borders

OK guys - if you haven't gotten back to me by now, I had to get this posted, so I can go on my trip and I won't be back until the middle of December. If John isn't going to be at Christmas then just let Mike or Carrie know and we'll adjust the draw. I won't see many of you for Christmas, so have a merry one and eat lots of turkey for me - love you guys!

My Craft Shows

Hey all - I wrote about my craft show and about my business on my Whimsical Creations blog, so if you want, you can click on my blog to the left of this post to find out how I did. It's been a while since I updated on the family, so here goes. Natalie just cut her 9Th tooth yesterday and 10Th tooth today, which to some may seem like no big deal, but for her it's huge! Most toddlers have their full set of 16 closer to 13 or 14 months, but Natalie is almost 19 months and she eats more than any child her age and can barely chew her food! We joked that for Halloween she was our Jack-O-Lantern. We are so happy for her. She is speaking small sentences now, but you really have to know her to understand her. It's cute though to finally have her communicating with us. I just wish she would stop her whining! This weekend she finally started watching TV. Bella at one year-old would sit and watch almost an entire episode of Sesame Street, but Natty just realized the TV does more than turn on and off and it was cute to witness. Bella was watching cartoons and Nat walked past the TV and then stopped, sat down, then layed down and put her hands behind her head and watched the rest of the show. I couldn't believe my eyes. This week we finally had to put a lock on the pantry doors. All day long she cries because she is hungry and if I don't feed her every half hour or sooner, she brings me cans and boxes from the pantry to let me know what she wants. I was getting so frustrated. I hate locks on the cabinets, but it had to be done. The other cute thing that happened in the last month was Natalie wanting to hold hands with Bella when we pick her up from pre-school. It brought tears to my eyes. Bella has been getting ready for her Christmas pageant at school and she has a speaking part that she's practicing and I can't wait to see it. She started Awana this fall as well and she is now in the cubbies class. It focuses on the kids learning Bible verses and she gets patches on her vest if she learns enough verses. She got three already and I'm really surprised at her memory. She retains the ones she has already learned and gets ready for new ones. I was never great at memorizing, so I'm pretty proud of her! She still loves school and her best friend Isabelle and she'll be in her first ballet class this winter. She talks about that a lot. We leave for our Australia trip in one week and I'm already worried that I'm going to miss the girls too much to enjoy myself. Please pray for our safety and for the the girls. Please pray for my friend Shannon who will be caring for the girls - she'll need it - they are so busy!

Halloween 2008

Hello to all the friends and family who tune in to read about our crazy family! We had a great Halloween at the combs household. Bella had her Fall Harvest party at school on Friday and I helped out with that. The kids were so cute. Thanks Shannon for watching Natalie Jane for me, so I could attend. Bella was so excited that she couldn't sleep during nap time, but she was still in a good mood for trick - or - treating. Natty on the other hand was a bear. She didn't want to pose for pictures in her costume and she wanted me to hold her the whole night. She did pretty good when we walked around the neighborhood. Thanks Aunti Shannon for coming with us - you made Bella's night. She was so proud to have you there. Both girls had so much candy it was falling out of their buckets! We walked for almost two hours. I did get to hand out candy for 10 minutes or so and it was nice to actually be in a neighborhood this year. I was pretty happy about that. This past weekend I did my first craft show and made out pretty well. This Saturday is the next one, so please pray that it goes even better than the last one. I'm even getting orders off of my blog store, so thank you for all who have been shopping - I really appreciate it. We leave for our trip in 18 days. Please pray that I'm not too anxious about flying for so long. I'm not worried about the sitting for 18 hours, but I am worried about crashing to my death. I don't want to orphan me sweet girls. I don't usually worry like this, but I would like to actually look forward to my 10 year anniversary without anxiety.

My stained glass blog store is now open!

Hey friends and family - I finally have my blog store open and running. I have projects posted that are up for sale and I can also customize those pieces to your liking in terms of color and size. I will be at Holy Cross Lutheran Church for the next craft fair on Nov. 8 SAT from 9-5. I would love it, if you can post this blog site on your family blogs, so others might take a look as well. I am getting orders by word of mouth, which helps tremendously. I'm trying to make this more of a career and hope that it will work out accordingly. Thanks for all your support - take a look, even if it's only for fun:)

Post Family Farm and more Post Family Farm

Bella had her field trip to the pumpkin farm this week and she had a blast. She got to go on a trip through the barn and see all the animals and got to pet a baby chick. Next she got to ride the pumpkin train, then we went on a hay ride where we stopped and we all got to pick a pumpkin. They had hot, fresh pumpkin donuts and cider and then the class put on a small pumpkin play. Bella was the pumpkin seed. Her favorite part was being able to spend time with her best friend Isabelle. She just adores her. My parents came up for a visit yesterday and the girls were so excited. We had a good time and we miss them already. Today we were back at the farm for our annual church small groups get-together. The kids rode the pumpkin train, played, and we went on another hay ride. We had more donuts and cider at the bonfire and then we called it a night. The best part of the evening was watching the kids reactions on the pumpkin train. Carlie was the cutest! What a babe! They were so proud of themselves. Natalie rode with Bella and she thought she was queen bee!

The Wedding

Well, Aaron's sister's wedding was tonight and all in all it turned out very nice. When we got to the church we realized that neither Aaron or I grabbed Bellas' dress, so Aaron had to go back and get it and was gone for an hour. The three hours we were at the church before the wedding getting pictures done, Natalie was throwing herself on the ground and was crying. She only wanted me to hold her and I was trying to get Bella ready and keep her from destroying her hair and dress. When it was finally time for the wedding, Bella had the hugest melt down of her life, because she wanted to sit with her cousin Ashlynn. The pastor had to come and get me from the front of the church, so I could settle her down. I think that conversation with my daughter took ten years off my life! I was determined not haggle with her or give her any altumatums. I finally got her settled down telling her jokes - she's the joke queen. I was very busy drying her tears and blowing her face dry. She walked down the isle without any problems or reservations, but she was very slow in dropping the leaves - a lot of people giggled. She is a very meticulous little girl. She sat next to me pretty well during the service and only whispered loudly a few times. Aaron was a groomsman and he looked handsome in his tux. The reception went very well and we had a good time. We all got a kick out of Bella's dancing. She looks like Elaine from Seinfeld when she dances - complete with some interesting faces:) - see photos. Natalie was a wreck with cutting 8 or more teeth all at once, but she did very well at the reception. Aaron is getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning to train his students how to survive in the woods and be a real army guy. Thanks for all of you who prayed that today would go smoothly. I'm just glad it's all over with!

Two Little Ghosts

Let me just say, that today was a very bad day! Bella who I always say is my easy, mostly compliant child, (except for the water issue) was awful today. I'll only share a couple of the naughty things she did today. UrgH! Bella decided that she wanted to act like Natalie, so I find both girls putting every pair of their shoes in the dog's water bowl, even Bella's new brown shoes. Water was every where. Natalie got into a bag of bird seed I had sitting out and Bella somehow broke her TV. So, I thought I would be nice and give her the TV from our bedroom, because we hardley ever use it. So I'm walking up the stairs with a giant TV in my arms when I smell a strong whiff of baby powder over-coming me. Then I see a streak run past me into the bathroom (Bella hiding) and a white cloud of dust coming from the nursary. After I put the TV down, I find Natalie sitting on a rubber-made container full of her next size up clothes completely covered in baby powder and she's rubbing her hands through it, it's all over the floor, the rocker, her teddy bears, the dresser, the stool and all of her toys. Bella had pushed the container up to the dresser to get the baby powder down and when I asked her what she was doing she replied "Natty and I were playing ghostists". Can I just say I don't think I'm ever getting that smell out of her carpet!

Help!!!!!!!!!!

O.K. guys any help would be welcomed. We have been struggeling with Bella over playing in her bathroom sink. For the last few months, she has been bringing water into her room so she can have tea parties and what ever else and we keep telling her that she can not take the water into her room. Well, then I started finding glasses of water under her bed. It doesn't matter if we give her sippy cups with water before bed, it's not about that. She is deliberately disobeying and lying about it to us. Everyday she promises she won't make a mess and then I go into her bathroom and find her cups all over the sink and floor with water in them. Every day I step in puddles of water in her room or on the bathroom floor. She takes all the kitchen toys and fills them up and even if I hide all the cups, she somehow finds more. OK, so my master plan was to turn the water off to her sink and make her use hand sanitizer instead of soap and water and I thought I was so brilliant coming up with this idea, but boy was I wrong. It appears my 4-year old is smarter than me. This is what happens. Bella tells Aaron when he's upstairs, "Daddy I need a drink of water" and Aaron says, "OK, you need to leave the room and I will get you some". Bella say's " Dad, I know how you can turn the water on - you just follow the pipes behind the sink where there is a knob and turn the water on" and she goes behind the pedestal sink and tuns the knob to get the water turned back on! Aaron said "how did you figure that one out?" and She said "because I am very smart". Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Bella is usually my good and obediant child. I hardley ever have issues with her, but on this particular issue, we cannot win. Any suggestions? Right now she's grounded from her room and has to sleep downstairs in the spare bedroom, but she's right next to another bathroom, so I don't know what to do. Please leave comments if you have any grand ideas. Thanks guys!

And then there was a princess......

Today Bella had her birthday party and she had a lot of fun. Everyone dressed up like a Disney princess and the girls made their own magic wands, which could have been very messy, but all the moms helped out tremendously and it went without a hitch. They played lots of games, but what Bella wanted to do the most was play with her friends without all that party fuss. I kept having to call her back from trying to jump on the trampoline and kept yelling at her to stop taking everyone upstairs. Ugg. Anyway, she had a princess cake and opened her presents a little earlier than I would have like.....maybe when I was actually in the room for example, but I know she was excited, so I tried to remain calm. She started this new sneaky faze, that is really making me a little disgruntled and I found her hiding behind the couch with the bowl of M & M's. Ugg again. The party was a nap time, so that was kind of difficult, but I had no other choice. I had a lot to do by myself since Aaron was down after his surgery. He did help with the wand creating, so I was thankful for that. She got an Ariel movie and she was very excited about that, so I decided that movie time was a good idea. You could mostly find Natalie following after me with her arms in the air saying "ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah" - you get the picture or laying on the ground crying. She was a big help. I hope all the girls had a good time.

Aaron's Surgery

Aaron had had surgery two days ago to repair a hernia and is still in a lot of pain. Because it was an outpatient surgery, we both thought he would recovery a lot more quickly. He needs lots of prayer that the pain will go away and that he will recover soon. It's hard to watch him hurting and there's nothing that I can do. I have three babies to take care of this week - in Aaron's words, and it's true. I am trying to get ready for Bella's birthday party tomorrow and take care of the house-hold duties and it's a little over-whelming. My to-do list is a mile long. Please pray that we get through this time. Thanks!

My Baby Turns 4

Last night I let Bella sleep with me and we had a sleep-over. She loves to wake up with me in her bed. I made her favorite breakfast and Aaron worked later last night, so he could spend the morning with us on Bella's special day. We went to the mall so she could go to Build a Bear and she made a doggy and put her on rollerskates. We had lunch and the girls rode all the rides that they put in just recently. They were cute in the little blue convertible. We had Bella's party with Aaron's side of the family and she was so excited. We got her 101 Dalmations and she was so cute when she opened it. She hugged and it and said "I've always wanted this!". Her aunt Carrie called to wish her happy birthday and she said "thanks for remembering me". Aaron and I ended the night by looking at photos of Bella when she was born. Where did the last four years go? Although I miss her being that small, I really look forward to seeing the young lady she grows into!

Today

I am: blessed.
I think: you learn more about yourself through times of struggle and sorrow.
I know: I'm stubborn.
I want: more children.
I wish: my friend Kristen could have her husband back.
I hate: waiting.
I miss: my oldest friends Jane and Aaron.
I fear: I will out-live my children.
I smell: fall in the air.
I crave: time to myself.
I search: for patience.
I regret: all the people I've hurt in my life.
I love: my family and friends.
I ache: when I think about how hard it was to create our family.
I care: about the salvation of my girls.
I always: thank the Lord for my children.
I am not: perfect.
I believe: it's not what happens to you in life that matters, but how you deal with it.
I sing: "You are my sunshine" to Natalie.
I cry: when I remember seeing Bella in the hospital nursery for the first time.
I fight: with my husband about who is right.
I write: all the funny things Bella says in a book.
I win: some arguments.
I lose: my mind trying to pick up toys everyday!
I hurt: my hands when I do stained glass work.
I care: about people who are hurting.
I never: like to hear gossip.
I confuse: euphemisms.
I listen: to my daughter's footsteps running upstairs when she should be in bed.
I can usually be found: cleaning my house.
I am scared: of bridges over water.
I need: God to get me through this life.
I am happy about: having a sister.
I hope: they find a cure for cancer in my life-time and that I don't crash to my
death on the way to Australia in November.

Bella"s First Day of School

Today was Bella's first day of school and what an emotional morning for me! When I woke her up, she jumped out of a bed and gave me a koala hug and was ready for the day. We quick got ready and her dad called to wish her well and asked her how she felt on her first day of school and she said "I'm a little bit scared, but a lot brave". I started to cry. We prayed together for her day and that it would go smootly and I cried even harder. We took pictures before we left and when we got there. When she walked in the class her teacher greeted her and gave her a little hug and showed her where her cubby was. She then had to put the whale with her name on it, into a fish bowl (her class is called the whales). Her teacher sent her to a table to have free time with the kids and she never looked back. She settled in all excited and instantly made new friends and I just watched my sweet baby growing up before my eyes. I tried so hard to hold it together in front of the other parents who were struggling to pry their crying children off of their shoulders. There were enough people crying in that room - yikes! I knew Bella wouldn't be apprehensive, but I was still proud of how she just settled right in and made herself comfortable -she is not at all shy, but she can be moody sometimes. I knew this day would be hard, but I miss her already. Natalie is loving having me all to herself and is having a ball. I don't want to take too much time away from her, but I wanted to write this, before the freshness of the day wares off. My sweet baby girl - I couldn't be more proud of her.

The Long Holiday

Well, we had a good Labor day holiday, but it was busy and there were disasters. My aunt and uncle came up from Texas and all the rest of my family lives down there, so we did a lot of shopping and eating out and we celebrated Bella's birthday - one of her three parties. She got everything she wanted and she was so excited. She told me she couldn't wait until we got home so she could open up her gifts. We got to Joliet fine, but when we were coming home from getting dinner out and we were on the highway, the car started to over-heat and then the police came and helped us out like five minutes later and then a tow truck one minute later. Yikes. They towed it almost to my parents house - they live right off the highway and we got it worked on a couple of days later. I hate spending money on car repair. Yuck! We were late getting home - we hadn't intended on staying so long. These next couple of weeks are going to be busy, like everyone else I guess. The girls enjoyed spending time with Grammy and Pop and Bella already misses them. She didn't want to come home with us:( Of course, she loves her Aunt Carrie and hero worships her. She gets the biggest reaction from Bella. I know how special aunties can be. I'm so happy for family and feel so blessed to have such a wonderful one. I wished we weren't all separated from one another by such distance. Bella managed to hurt herself everyday we were away and is covered in scratches and bumps. She had more than Natalie for a change. I'll be doing their pictures when ever she doesn't look like she's back from war! I hope everyone else had a good holiday weekend and school started off without too many hitches.

Out of the Mouths of Babes!

OK, this update is going to be a painfully honest update, because I owe it to Bella. Last night she got in trouble about six times: not cleaning up her room, ling that she did, bringing glasses full of water into her room and dumping them all over herself and the carpet - the third warning in three days, not going to bed when she was suppose to and not staying in bed when she was put there. Well, Aaron and I were frustrated with her and I was getting angrier and angrier and then Aaron and I got into it about that and other of life's frustrations, in front of her, while we were cleaning up her disaster of a room. The next day I was telling Bella how much I loved her and she was hugging me and she said "mom, if I give you a big hug, will you promise to never fight with Daddy again? I don't like the words you say when you fight with him". Then she proceeded to tell me if I would just wave my hands side to side "like this", she said as she imitated what looked like the hula dance. "Your anger will just go away". I'll have to remember that;) Out of the mouths of babes! That was quite a reality check for me. I have been battling with my Meniere's disease all summer and it makes me very tired, on top of which, the medicine I take to help me feel better does the same thing. Sometimes I just get so discouraged, feeling miserable so much of the time and I take it out on my family. I will definitely be working on that! Later after nap, she was having her snack and was talking about her snow globe she got for Christmas - it was only a very tiny little thing, but recently Natalie Jane broke it and Bella was pretty sad. Bella said "I really miss my snow globe" and I said "why don't you ask for one for Christmas" and she said "I don't think Santa does those". Natalie learned how to say no and Bella among other important words. She's showing a stubborn streak a mile long and keeps throwing small fits. It's been a taxing week with that little one!

Funny Little Girls

I always wanted a little girl - always - so let me just say that I am over the moon that I have two and one's with hilarious personalities as well. I feel very blessed and lucky although I don't really believe in luck, you know what I mean all the same. The other night Aaron went up to put Bella to bed and there she was already in bed with her helmet, knee pads and elbow pads on. Aaron asked her what she was doing and she said "they are for in case I fall out of the bed - I won't get hurt". What a funny little person. She's always so cautious and so safe. I had to fill out a form for her school asking questions about her personality, fears and likes and I asked her what are you afraid of and she said "I'm afraid someone will take me and I am afraid of bridges". Well, we tried to talk about stranger danger with her without scarring her, because she is such a friendly, sweet and trusting little girl, but She thinks about things well after our discussions. How much is too much? I just don't seem to know. The other fear she mentioned was funny to me, because it is my fear. I despise driving over bridges above water. I don't ever remember telling her about this fear and since she was born, I have made it a point to now speak about it out loud. I don't want her to have learned fears. I want her to be braver and more sure of herself than I was when I was little. Natalie is funny too, but in a naughty way. I could write a book about her naughtiness, but she's still cute and lovable, so that is how I get through the day - with endless kisses and hugs from this little person who continues to show us who she is every new day.

This weekend

Well, my parents came up to visit this weekend and we had a blast. Bella liked swimming in the hotel pool and even Natalie Jane got in! I finished a couple of stained glass projects I was working on, so I have a nice sense of satisfaction and Aaron and I got to go on another date this weekend! I'm excited to watch women's gymnastics at the Olympics and share it with Bella. Natalie learned that the remote does indeed change channels on the TV, much to the dismay of Bella:) I found naughty Natty feeding fat Bosley dog biscuits through the hole in the screen. She was going back for seconds when I caught her. I think she is his new best friend!

What a Great Summer

We were just taking advantage of this great summer weather with the girls and I was thinking of how blessed we were this season. The temp. outside has never been too hot for more than three or four days in a row when a nice cool breeze would blow in and it would be comfortable again. It has rained quite a few nights and we have not had to water the grass at all and it's now August 3rd! We have never had a summer like that. Aaron burned the grass accidentally with weed killer, so today we are trying to revive it, but I am so thankful that we got exactly what we have needed in the months when it is usually so hot you don't want to set foot outside for weeks at a time. We finished our softball season and we again are the league champs. We didn't come in first in the tournament yesterday, but I think most of us were ok with that since we didn't want to be outside in the sun for 8 or 9 hours. Five was enough for us. We had fun and that really in the end, is all that counts! Praise God not one of us got injured this season. Not even accident-prone me! We missed the annual family reunion on Aaron's side this year because of the tournament. We are looking forward to next years already. I am getting better at my glass cutting and that is also very exciting. Creatively it is very exhilerating to conquer another challenge that I thought I never would never be able to. I wish it weren't such an expensive hobby. You have to practice a lot to get better and glass and supplies aren't cheap. I'm so happy that Aaron's mom has given her time to help me learn this skill. I bet everyone can guess what there are getting for christmas:) Well, Natalie Jane said her first sentence! When my mom told her she loved her over the phone she said "I wub you". She said it back to me the next day and then I was sure she really did say it and it wasn't wishful thinking. She's such a sweet-heart. Bella is getting ready for preschool and we got all her form in and paid for the year and so now we are looking forward to what the school year will bring. I'm sure Natalie will enjoy having me to herself three mornings a week. She's a different kid when she has me to herself. We put the slide in the pool after church today and the girls took turns sliding into the water. Nat loved it! She learned to pull herself out of the water and get out over the big inflated side of the whale pool all by herself! She never seases to amaze me by her independence. We also learned this summer that the girls love freeze pops. All of these summer-time treats that we take advantage of will soon be a distant memory before we know it. Time goes by so fast! Ok, well I think I solved the mouse problem and I didn't have to do anything myself. I was painting the basement hallway a few days ago and I took the vent plate off to paint around it and I found a dead mouse. I think it's the one Zoe has been smelling in the vent, so I am thankful he died of his own doing and I didn't have to make that desicion for him. Whew! God is so good! Take care everyone.

There's a Mouse in the House

OK, bad day part two! All was well when Aaron called this morning from the airport to check in on us and I reported the everything was fine, but I spoke too soon. A few minutes later I kept hearing a strange noise upstairs and I yelled up to Bella and asked if Natalie was playing upstairs with her and she said "no, but Zoe is and she is ripping up my carpet. (Those who don't know - Zoe is our dog) Well, I go running upstairs to find Zoe tearing up the carpet with her teeth and claws. Apparently she smelled what I can only imagine as a mouse coming from our vent and was ripping the vent out of the floor along with our carpet and floor boards. (scream!) The carpet is burbur (spell?)and is a huge mess. Bella's room is the largest room in our house with carpet, so there's no way I'm replacing it. Ugggg! So after I clean up that mess, I go downstairs and notice there is a huge rainbow sized scratch on the wood floor by the toys - probably from Natalie and it didn't come off when I rubbed it. Ugggggggggggg again!!!!!!!!!! A little while later I'm trying to make lunch and hand Natalie her sippy cup, which she discovered did not have a leak lock in her cup and proceeded to put her cup upside down and walk around the perimeter of our kitchen table and dump the whole thing full of sticky milk all over the floor, so I flip out and start trying to wipe up and then Natalie slips in it and hits her head and starts screaming and I jump up trying to help her and hit my head on the table where I decided it was time for Aaron to be home before I checked myself into Pine Rest (cookoo). Later, Bella didn't shut her door and Zoe started ripping the floor up again. (she was finally let out of her bed for the day). It was my fault, but Aaron had just gotten home and it was chaotic.Well he's home now and I got to go to Bible study which I really needed and things are calm now, but given my love for animals, I've never allowed Aaron to kill any rodent or pest which has taken up residence in our house, so I'm not sure what to do about the mouse situation. Yikes.

More Weekends with Aaron away!

Ok, Aaron had to go away on short notice this time, and I had one of the worst Mommy moments ever. Thank you Jessica for taking Bella to dinner with you Friday and to the museum on Saturday. It was a great help! We had a house-warming party at Aaron's cousin's house and visited Aaron's parents where Bella got to swing in the coolest swing ever and she loved playing with Buster and Penny their dogs. We came home and Bella was letting the dogs out and I ran to the bathroom and come back running to crying, where aparently Natalie had climbed up on the table and fell off on her head and has a goose egg. Then she proceeded to hit her head two more times in a row on the table because she didn't want me looking at it. She was screaming, the dogs were barking, Bella was crying about not getting her way and I was trying to get dinner ready. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! I had a major melt down of the screaming variety and surprised everyone for a moment. They all just looked on at me in awe. Anyway, after dinner I tried to print something off the computer and Natalie was under - foot, so I put my glass full of Coke up on my glass shelves and a couple of minutes the top shelf gave way and all the glass shelves full of glass vases and my glass of pop caming crashing to the floor which Natalie decided was a good time to go running through it, as well as the dogs. This one I handled much better though. I washed the glass out of Nat's feet, which she handled just fine and then everyone went to bed! The end! Today was better, we had our church picnic and Bella got to ride horses and jump in the moon walk. Natalie was in good spirits and it was a beautiful day - a little windy, but cool. Thanks again to Beth and Randy for helping watch the girls and thanks to Trevor I was able to fill our plates and get everyone to their seats with little fuss. I just got to plant a bunch of things Aaron's mom gave me for my garden, so I feel like the weekend is getting better and the girls are napping so I even have time to rest before I start on my next stain-glass project. What would I ever do without my friends- God bless you all!

Fourth of July Weekend

Wow did we have a busy fourth of July holiday weekend! We went to Aaron's uncle's cottage for the fourth and had lots of fun with family, food and fire works. They were the best we have ever seen and we only had to walk across the street to the lake, so that was nice too. Natalie said "Grandma" for the first time which tickled Aaron's mom and she loved the golf cart ride around the lake that we went on. Bella continued to be a stick-in-the-mud by not going in the water or in the sprinklers at the sprinkler park there. (sigh) She loved playing with her cousin Ashlynn who is her age though and they had a blast together. She said during the fire works "when the last one goes off - we're out of here". Everyone admired her new earings and she ate that right up. Saturday we had a party at our friend Nikki's house and the kids stayed busy playing with all their friend's from church. Today we went out on our friend Jodi's megga boat. It was huge! We headed out towards Saugatuck and through anchor out and swam in the lake. We actually got Bella out in the water with her buddy Grace who is the same age. Randy and Beth went and they love kids, so they helped watch the girls. We got lots of sun and of course and ate way too much again. All of us girls fell asleep in the car on the way home. Happy fourth everyone - I hope you had a good weekend!

Summer Vacation

We just got back from spending a few days in Grand Haven. My sister rented a cottage on the lake and we stayed with her and had lots of beach time, shopping and good food. The girls wouldn't go in the water and one of the days was really windy, so we got sand blasted. Bella curled herself up in a little ball and wouldn't move. She can be quite a stick in the mudd sometimes:) We visited Saugatuck and shopped and ate some more and went to the mall in Muskegon and Bella got her ears pierced!!!!!! They couldn't do it two at a time, so when they went to do the second ear, she threw a royal fit. She did really well the first time and was kind of excited about her pretty earing, but that loud clicking sound didn't make her happy. I felt horrible holding her down, while they did it again. She looks like a little lady now.

Beautiful Christian Sister by Maya Angelou

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean livin''
I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain..
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow!

Father's Day 2008

I woke up today and the first thing I thought of was that it would be the first father's day that our friend Kristen's children would be without their dad. He died last week and we are still so very sad to go on without him. Because of this, I am more appreciative of Aaron and thankful to have him in my life. Aaron is passionate and youthful. He always dotes on me and the kids and will run out and get whatever I need or want. Everyday he makes me feel loved, needed and special. Bella adores him and as soon as he walks in the door she grabs his hand and leads him up stairs saying "come on Daddy - Let's play!". Natalie just wants give him kisses and touch foreheads to show her affection. Today I watched as he dressed both girls in their swimming suits and filled the pool with cold water and stood their with teeth chattering, playing in the pool with the kids. Now that's dedication for ya! Every day I am thankful that we are blessed to be parents and able to celebrate holidays like Mother's day and Father's day. We still thank God everyday for our little miracles. God is so good! So, dad if your reading this today Happy Father's day and to Dad Combs, you too. Thank you for being such loving, supportive, adoring dads, that we could grow up and do our best to make you proud. We love you - Lori, Bella, and Natalie Jane!

June 2008

Well, June has started out pretty miserable. Along with the oppressive heat and humidity which leaves us prisoners of our house once again, I have started feeling symptoms of my Mineres disease again. We are just praying that it doesn't turn into an episode. I havn't had one in a few months now - praise the Lord! On a sadder note, we lost a friend from church on Friday morning. His name was Ryan and he was a great guy. He had an awesome sense of humor and was a great testimony in Christ. He leaves behind a young wife and twin two-year olds. It breaks our hearts to see him leave, but we know he is in God's glorious kingdom and he no longer has to deal with sick lungs or cystic fibrosis. If anyone wants to donate money, just walk into any fifth third bank and tell them you want to contribute to the Sweeney trust fund. I don't know how they will make ends meet or how the kids will go to college, but I have faith that the Lord will get them through it all. Please keep them in your prayers. Our camera is still in Joliet with my sister, so we are unable to update pictures at this time. Natalie Jane has learned to blow kisses and throw small temper tantrums and growls when she gets mad. Hmmm....I wonder where she got that growl;) Bella finished gymnastics and loved it and we ended up getting a trampoline to help her learn all kinds of new tricks. Hopefully her fist E.R. visit isn't one of them. I have been busy with scrapbooking and other crafts and Aaron has been out of town a lot lately. Hopefully, things will slow down for us now. Hope all is well in each of your households.

Natalie Jane's First Birthday!

Thank you to all who made Natty's first birthday party a success. I appreciate all your help getting ready and leaving. Thanks also to everyone who made the long trip up as well. She loves her music machine and is a dancing fool. She learned how to shake her head no this last week and fed herself with a spoon. She's loving giving people high-fives and sings to music sometimes in baby language. Bella is my interpreter or so she says anyway. The first thing Natalie does when I get her out of bed in the morning is give me a big kiss. There is no better way to start the day! Bella loves her gymnastics class and is a real natural. She is so strong and can hold herself up on the bar or the rings perfectly straight or in a el position. She did all her jumps on drops on the trampoline perfect, the only problem was, the teacher didn't stay on her enough, and she tended to wander over to other things and distract others. Ok, apparently she is another little Lori. What goes around comes around. Yikes! Anyway, the babes are good and happy and we won our first softball game at church. I scored and ran lots of people in. Not one single strike:) Aaron's gone again for more Army trainning for two weeks and we are holding down the fort. Take care.

Spring Fever

Spring is suppose to be here, but it keeps going from warm to very cold. I have lots of birds now at my bird feeder and I'm so excited! Natalie's birthday party is coming up this weekend and our car is still in the shop, so it's making preparations a little difficult. I hope she's not too over-overwhelmed. She's been pretty emotional lately with her teeth continuing to come in. I can't believe where the year went. She's not my little baby any more. She loves to do the "so big" hands in the air movement and nod her head yes and say "yeah" and wave bye. She gives good kisses too, but they are a little wet. Bella is doing great and learning a lot more letters. This week we learned how to make letters with our bodies. She's really into Littlest Pet Shop animals and I have been collecting with her. It's actually kind of fun. Both girls love to play on their new swing set and Natalie looooovvvvves the baby swing. She giggles so hard it becomes infectious:)

Thoughts from the Combs family

Hello all to those who inquire about the Combs family. Things are great with the girls. Natalie Jane cut her second tooth today and hopefully she'll have a couple more teeth by the time her first birthday rolls around in three weeks. We all got to play outside yesterday. It was sunny and warm and dry. Natalie Jane loves Bella's Cozy Coupe and that's the only thing she can ride right now. Bella wants it because Nat wants it, and there you have it. I had my first bird at my bird feeder yesterday and I was very excited about that. The former owners of our house moved out of the salon last weekend and I moved Aaron's boxes in and it is officially called the "Cave". We can now park both cars in the garage. YeaaaaaaaH!