Thanksgiving Weekend!

Holidays are always very busy time for our family, so a couple of years ago Matt and I made a decision to split up the holidays between our families in order to cut down on our travel time and make them a little more relaxed for us as well. So we spend Thanksgiving with my mom's extended family, and since Matt's brother Ben got married last year, we have spent Saturday with his family, Friday is our day, we set up decorations and enjoy some time together as a family. Then on Christmas it's usually reversed and we spend Christmas with Matt's Family and on New Years we celebrate Christmas with my family.
This year was no different, at least to start with, Thursday we went to Aunt Sharon's and had a good time visiting and playing with all the cousins who were able to come, it was especially nice to met my cousin Jeremy's fiance' Elizabeth, they will be getting married in January, in South Carolina so it was nice to get to see them since we won't be able to make it down there for the wedding. My cousin Jacinda and Joshua were also there from out of state and it was nice to see and visit with them. And even those that live here in the area, Thanksgiving is one of the few times a year we manage to get together so it was really nice to see everyone and catch up on what everyone is doing now.
Friday, shopping day, well actually we started Thursday as some of the stores had thier Friday specials online on Thursday, so there was only a couple of stores that we actually needed to go to to get a few items but those items were good enough deals that we set our alarms for 4am and (after sleeping through them) got up, grabbed the kids and rushed to the store. Unfortunatly we weren't early enough and missed out on some of the good buys... I really wanted to get some of those sheet sets but they were already out when I got there at 5:30 (they went on sale at 5)! But we were still able to get some good deals and Mysia was excited cause she got to go to the store in her jammies. When we got home I went and donated Plasma which took about 2 hrs. and Matt played with the kids and watched Rudolf and Frosty, when I got back I went online to order a few more items that had not gone onsale until Friday and we helped the kids decorate thier Trees for thier rooms. This year we got them the little (1-2 foot) Trees for thier rooms and pink and blue ornaments to put on them, we also got them some little clay ornaments which we put in our 24 days of Christmas calendar and they take turns getting a new ornament for thier tree each day. After that we ate lunch and put the kids down for a nap and Matt and I worked on getting the decorations up in the living room. That took most of the afternoon, Matt started working on the outdoor lights but discovered that half of the lights weren't working, so he gave up on that for the time being as I was needing to get ready to leave to go to a surprise shower that the girls were hoasting for Elizabeth, it was avery nice shower and she got many pretty gifts.
Saturday, unfortunately I had to work part of the day, with me only being avialable on Saturdays it makes it dificult to get hours, so I have to work when I'm asked to. I did limit my self to 2 o'clock though and that helped some. Ben and Ana came by shortly after I left for work and picked up Matt and the kids to take them to his parents house, they also got a bunch of stuff for Baby Elijah, stuff that Malachi has out grown, clothes, carseat, ect. After I got off work I joined them and we played games and celabrated Garry's Birthday (which was on Wednesday) untill about 6pm then Ben and Ana left to have Dinner with some friends and we headed out to the church to get the van before rushing over to my parents house for a quick supper and a couple of rounds of UNO, with my siblings and thier signifigant others, Adria's boyfriend Ivan was in town with his brother Tim, and Silas' girlfriend, Kristi joined us as well
It was a fun and busy weekend but we enjoyed every minute we got to spend with each of our families and look forward to getting together again at Christmas.
~Lydia

The Winds of Change

Well, it has come to our nation whether we wanted it or not, Change! and not for the better. It was heart wrenching to watch the speeches last night. As Obama made his acceptance speech I fell to my knees in Prayer and Tears for my country. For the first time in my life I am not proud to be an American, for the first time I questioned my ability to recite the pledge of allegiance. I listened in horror as thousands chanted "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" I thought of the days ahead and wonder just what they would hold for me, my family and my children. The fervor of the crowd reminded me of the videos I have seen of Germany when Hitler rose to power, and quite frankly it scares me, I wonder how soon it will be before Christians will be hauled away for speaking out against Homosexuality, how long will it be before my children are ripped from my arms because I chose to teach them the truths of God's Word and educate them at home, how long before free speech disappears? I must remind myself that God is still in controle and no matter what happens He will take care of me and my loved ones. As I morn my country taking another big step in the wrong direction, I can only pray, "Lord Jesus come quickly!"
~Lydia

The Lamentaion of America

America, America what have you done?
You've turned your back on God's own Son
America, America what did you do?
You've turned your back on God, now He's turned his back on you?
America, America what have you become?
Once a christian Nation, now you follow the "rising sun"
Babies are abandoned and left alone to die,
No one to see the tears no one to hear them cry!
Men marrying men - a most unsightful thing
and all of this in the name of Change!
Let's tax the rich to feed the poor,
let's take and take and take some more!
We can all get along, we can all agree,
as long as you think like me!
America, America, oh, why did you not heed?
The messages of warnings that God gave to thee!

Steppin' Out Quartet in Concert!

Well, I've done it again, I have been negligent in my blogging. But to be honest we've either been too busy to write or nothing interesting was happening. Malachi celebrated his first birthday with cupcakes and ice cream, family and presents, like most kids he loved the icing most of all.
I'm busy as can be baby-sitting, running a home, taking classes for Block, and work at church. Master's Club is in full swing and keeps us very busy.
Matt is busy with work, several free lance opportunities and his Quartet. Yes, he has finally done it, he has found three guys who not only love Southern Gospel as much as he does, but are good singers too. They sang at our Church's Old fashion Sunday a few weeks ago and then One of Matt's co-workers invited him to bring the Quartet to their church to sing for their revival. Which they did tonight, it went really well and the pastor not only want's them to come back but also wants to pass out their business card to other pastors that he knows. Not only that but the preacher who was there for the revival got thier information and want's them to come to his church sometime too.
Another good thing about tonight is that the church was so nice and we were able to do a mini photo shoot of the guys, and got some really good pictures for thier profile.
Yes, they have a MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/steppinoutquartet so go check them out. And if you'd like to have them sing at your church contact them at steppinoutquartet@gmail.com.

~Lydia

PS: I also learned tonight why Quartets usually travel alone... it is so hard to corral 2 kids by yourself. LOL

Vacation 8/29 -9/5

Well, Matt and I both took the week off and had planned on going camping, but because of finances being the way they are, we decided against it. We ended up staying home and doing a bunch of stuff around town.

Friday and Saturday we also went to SDC for some great southern gospel music, Friday was the Mark Trammel Trio and the Blackwood Brothers, Saturday was Gold City, awesome music both nights.

Monday, Labor Day we hung around house and played with the kids.

Tuesday was our Anniversary and Mysia's first day back at Co-op, we got up fairly early I got the kids dressed and made breakfast while Matt set up the tent in the backyard after he was done setting it up I went out a decorated it a bit, as we were going to spend the night in the tent and I wanted it to be a little romantic, then we took Mysia to Granny's to go to Co-op and Matt and I headed for the store I was getting an manicure and pedicure done at the nail salon and Matt was doing some last minute shopping we went home and put Malachi down for his nap and I showed Matt what I had done with the tent he liked it, we moved the tent closer to the house since they were calling for rain. We got dressed up so we could go out for dinner and a show, we dropped Malachi off at Granny's, they were back from Co-op and headed to Branson. It was starting to rain, it poured the whole way up there, a couple of times we found it hard to see the road. We ate dinner at the Plantation, it was good. We also went to see the Duttons (one of the finalists on America's got Talent) It was a very good show we loved it and since we had gotten such a good discount on our tickets we went ahead and bought a video (it was taped that night so we are in it, a nice memory of the fun we had) We drove home that night and tried to sleep in the tent it was a little damp in places and very muggy, so about 7 am we got up and went in to sleep on our own bed.

Wednesday we went and picked up the kids from Granny's, came home and got ready for church.

Thursday we went to the library and found a bunch of books to read and movies to watch.

Friday we went and had Family pictures taken at Sears it was rather hectic as we didn't have a suit for Malachi and had to go to several stores before we found one, but the pictures turned out great, as you can see. After we were done with pictures we drove out to Nixa to visit with my grandma and give her the pictures for her calendar and let her see our new family pictures. After that we stopped by both of my sister's places of work and let them see the kids, we got home rather late that evening, ate supper and crashed.

Saturday was Matt's quartet practice and I made some cinnamon rolls. We did some house-cleaning and got ready for church on Sunday. And Monday it was back to work.

Sometimes I think I need a vacation to recuperate from the Family vacation, since Mommy really doesn't get a break, since food still has to be made and clothes still have to be washed ect. Oh, well that is life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
~Lydia

A Day Outside!

On Saturday, after a full nights rest, I got up and moving. My chest pains had subsided. I made breakfast, and Lydia got the kids ready. We ate and then when outside. We ended up spending most of the day outside.

Lydia and I pulled out the box that contained her swing. I opened it started pulling out the pieces. I got scared at first... I couldn't find the instructions! After searching everywhere, I opened the seat and there it was. Whew...!

Lydia studied a bit for her H&R Block classes relaxed at her lawn table (under the shade of the umbrella) while watching the kids. Malachi played a bit in the yard, got to swing for a bit, and took naps inside. Since the weather was pretty cool, we just set up his baby monitor in the window during his nap so Lydia could tell when he woke up. Mysia played on her fort, had some fun on her swing, enjoyed her slide, and took some markers and drew on the cardboard from Lydia's new swing.

All of that time of their fun, I spent putting the swing together. It was quite a task! Toward the end, Lydia helped with the swing part, after I had gotten the frame put together.

During one of the breaks, during Malachi's nap, we ate ice cream!

After getting the swing completely installed and put together, Lydia got out the water hose and sprayer. She started spraying Mysia and Malachi with a mist. Mysia liked it and squealed in delight... Malachi screamed. He didn't like it at all.

Lydia let Mysia play with the water, while she gave Malachi a haircut. I needed one too, so Lydia cut mine as well. After I was finished, I took the hose and washed all the hair clippings off my head. Lydia then sprayed me, getting all the loose hairs my shoulders and arms. We ended up squirting each other. Mysia sure enjoyed spraying us!

I then got a cool idea... I put the sprayer at the top of the slide, and told Mysia to slide down it. She did.... she flew off about three feet! After a few times, Lydia added to the idea by grabbing the semi-inflated toddler pool and putting it under the slide. With that, Mysia ended up sliding out of the pool!

With our neat idea put into play, it was Lydia and I to have a turn. Hey... we had fun! During our turns, we each slid out of the pool as well! As the pool started to fill with water, it stopped Mysia from going to far. Malachi just stood nearby and watched. He did not go near the pool. When Lydia tried to get him in, he screamed.

We had a blast. And as it was nearing 3pm, we decided to pack up everything up and go inside. Mysia hadn't had a nap, and we wanted to give both kids a bath. Mysia was first, then Malachi. Mysia ended up taking a nap on the couch. Dsuring this time, my chest pains were still present, but not super intense. I rested a bit, and Malachi played.

We had been invited to our Sunday School Class's activity that evening, so we dropped both kids off at Lydia's folks! Lydia and I then shared a great evening with our friends playing games, eating great food, and enjoying fun conversation...

A busy day, but a lot of fun!

~Matt

More Severe Chest Pains!

Yesterday (Friday, Aug. 22), after biking home from work, I played with Mysia and Malachi while Lydia finished making supper. My upper stomach started to hurt, but I just pushed it aside, mostly thinking I was hungry or that food would fix it. While we ate it worsened... it felt a little like heart burn or indigestion. So at Lydia's suggestion, I took some Tums.

Had I thought about it earlier, I should have taken my high dose ibuprofen (800 mg). Why, you may ask... well, for those who didn't get to read my incident during the bathtub installation (the post is here), let me go into detail.

Tietze's syndrome, also known as costochondritis, is a benign inflammation of one or more of the costal cartilages. It was first described in 1921 by the German surgeon Alexander Tietze (1864-1927)

The doctor had told me earlier that it can be caused by stress, heavy physical activity, and lack of sleep. We believe my lack of sleep the last two weeks has taken a toll on my body! I hate that I occasionally get these pains. At times, like last night, the pain can be so intense that I collapse to the ground while having difficulty breathing. That's why, according to online reports, it is often mistaken as a heart attack. The symptoms are very similar.

I can usually tell when my chest is acting up, and take that strong dose of ibuprofen before it really gets inflamed. Unfortunately, I didn't catch it in time last night! So, I spent the whole evening in bed, trying to get comfortable, hoping the pain resides. I feel better today... so far

~Matt

My Birthday weekend!

As I mentioned in my last post after Daryn and Amber's wedding we went to Wal-Mart to look for my Birthday present. Since we have a yard now I have really been wanting to get a swing (for me) and we had seen one at Wal-Mart that was fairly reasonable, so we decided to stop and pick it up since Matt would have to find time to put it together before my party, a week away. Well we get there and start looking around and at first we were a little frustrated because when we were there the last time we had also seen a patio set, table and chairs that was on sale, nothing fancy just a decent round plastic table and some nice looking chairs to go with it, well they weren't in the same spot we had seen them before so we're looking around trying to find them and finaly give up and go back out to where the swing is set up. While we're waiting for some one to comeover and help us with that I'm looking around and notice that the table and chairs have been moved to directly behind the swing so we look at it and get it put on the cart. Then we find out that the swings are sold out, the only one in the store is the one on display. So now we have three choices, we can take it as is, all put together, which means we'd have to find some one with a really big truck; or we could buy it and let them take it apart which would take a couple of days and hope that they give us all of the pieces and nothing breaks; or we can go home and order it on line and use site to store shipping. After discussing it for a while, we deside to go to the new Walmart closer to our house and see if they had one there, and if not order it on line. Our Wal-Mart didn't have it, so we went home and I ordered it on line only to dicover that the site-to-store shipping wasn't avalable on this item and it was going to cost us another $80 to have it shiped to the house, I was a little frustrated, but Matt said go ahead and order it, so I did. Now we just had to hope it would show up in time, I had also ordered and umbrella for the patio table, that was sent site-to-store.
The week was pretty normal, I watched Aaron and tried to get the house cleaned up in preparation for Saturday. Friday night, my sister took the kids to spend the night with her while Matt and I had a semi date-night, we took Abigail with us to an English Country Dance held by some local home-schoolers. It was a blast! This is not a dance as most of you would think of dance this is old fashioned, proper dancing, like in Pride and Prejudiced, no touching other than the hands, and the guys have to be gentlemen and ask the ladies and the girls have to be ladies and not ask the gentlemen; they also had a rule that unless you were in a committed relationship (married, engaged, dating/courting) you could not dance with the same partner twice. The dances aren't to hard once you figure them out, but you have to go through the steps several times to get it, at least I do and then when every one's got it and we start dancing to the music it goes very fast. I think I have finally figured out why women in the 1800 were so skinny! It is a wonderful workout, and a great time. This is the second Dance Matt and I have been to and we can't wait till they have another one. It is a great social activity.
Saturday, unfortunately, my umbrella and swing had not made it in yet, but we decided to have the party outside anyway. Matt grilled some burgers and hot dog and my family brought some side dishes, Matt's family, including his brother who lives in Columbia, came to, but Ben and Ana had taken them all out to eat so they weren't hungry. And our friend Noah dropped by and ate with us too. We rushed dinner a bit because Ben and Ana had to go, they had to drop her niece back off at her parents and then head back to Columbia. We had the cake and Ice cream, which Ana couldn't eat, cause she's expecting and I guess is high risk for developing gestational diabetes, anyway she's not allowed to have sweets during the pregnancy. Then I opened my presents I got a nice frame and shirt from Garry and Vicki, my in-laws, and Wal-Mart gift cards and cash from just about everyone else, which was exactly what I wanted, now I can go shopping and get me some new clothes and other things I had been wanting. yay! Sunday was church as usual and we had our monthly Birthday- anniversary dinner which meant I got to go first in line, the food was delicious, as usual. Monday was my birthday, I relaxed a bit, caught up on my email and other computer stuff, took two test for my H&R Block training courses and passed both! yay! And watched the kids, Matt volunteered to take me out to dinner, I didn't argue and we went to RibCrib which is really close to us and one of my favorite places to eat, and then I went and donated plasma. My umbrella came in on Tuesday and I went and picked it up after my Class, and on Wednesday the shipping company called and said they would deliver my swing on Thursday or Friday, it came Thursday morning, Matt is going to try and put it together tomorrow.
I got to go get Malachi out of the kitchen cabinets, for some reason he really likes to play in them and make a mess. :)
~Lydia

A Wedding!

Boy am I tired! I have just spent about the last 10 hours on my feet, running up and down stairs, here and there. Mysia was the flower girl in our friends Daryn and Amber's Wedding and I helped get her and the other flower girl and ring bearer in the right spot at the right time and was a general gofer for the bridal party. Not that I'm complaining I enjoyed being able to help and the wedding was so beautiful.
The church was decorated with an iron garden arbor/gate at the door, it was decorated nicely with vines, white flowers, and daisies. Each pew had a bunch of tulle (both white and yellow) and sunflowers and daisies. On the platform they had 4 iron (hollow) pillars, inside of the pillars they had white tulle and Christmas lights, tulle was also draped across the top and bottom of the pillars and on the on the outside of the pillars was a sunflower chain,the effect was wonderful.
The Bride wore a strapless white gown trimmed in buttercup yellow with a very small train and exquisite detailing. The Maid-of-Honor was the bride's sister and she wore a calf length skirt of buttercup yellow and a white top with yellow detailing. The first bride's maid was also the bride's sister and she wore a chiffon knee length dress of the same color. The grooms sister rounded out the bridal party and wore a floor length chiffon skirt a top that matched the MOH and a silk, yellow jacket. The groom's men were a good friend of the groom and his two brothers, they all wore black tuxes with yellow vests and bow ties. There were two flower girls and a ring bearer, the ring bearer wore a miniture of the grooms men's tux and the other flower girl wore a floor length yellow gown in style much like the bride's, and Mysia wore a knee length dress with a sheer overlay and small roses hanging down the side.
The Ceremony was pretty traditional, with the exception that instead of lighting a unity Candle they had unity sand, they had 3 different colors of sand White - to represent the Christian foundation of their lives and marriage, Blue - to represent the Groom and Yellow - to represent the Bride, which they poured into a heart shaped vase. The White sand was poured in first and and then the yellow and blue was layered until it was full. The vase also had the couples monogram and the date etched onto it. The Groom had also recorded a song for his bride that was played during the ceremony. They also dismissed each row of guest themselves.
The reception was wonderful, since they had taken all of the pictures before the ceremony they were able to mingle with their guests and enjoy themselves. The beucay was caught by the other flower girl and the garter by her older brother.
The Bride and groom changed into their going-away clothes and ran to their car amid a shower of bubbles, the car had been tastefully decorated by the groom's brothers. The couple is honeymooning in Branson.
Many people stayed afterwards to take down the decorations and get the church ready for services Sunday. After that was done we headed home, stopping at McDonald's for some luper (that's Lunch and Supper) and Walmart to get my birthday present, which we were able to get part of but I'll tell more about that later.
~Lydia

VBS was good and we had three saved. The next week our Teens went to camp, they had a good time and many decisions were made for Christ. 8 were saved and many surrendered to do what ever God wanted them to. The girls played a prank on the boys that was really funny, they made some homemade Oreo's, but the filling was toothpaste. The boy's said it tasted pretty funny. I'm down to babysitting one child, part time, but I'm still busy, taking classes for the next year of taxseason, trying to teach Mysia to read and caring for Malachi. Speaking of Malachi, that little guy is growing fast, he started walking on Father's day and now the only time he crawls is if he falls down and needs something to pull himself up on.
Unfortunatly, when God does something good, Satan is also at work. A couple of our friends have been atacked recently, and we covet your prayers, with us, for them. It's hard to know what to say in these situations, because we want everyone we know to be praying, but we also don't want to be spreading rumors or add fuel to the fire. So just pray, pray, pray that God will get the victory in this situation, and that He will comfort the people involved.
~Lydia

Well, folks it been a busy couple of weeks and this week is going to be even busier, as we have VBS this week. But I wanted to take a few moments to write about all the things that have been happening in our lives. First of all I am no longer babysitting full time, the parents of my fulltime baby decided they wanted him in a different setting with more personalized care. But, God is good and he gave me a new family to sit for. 2 children, curently, number 3's due any day now, 3 days a week. This gives me a few days to take my kids to the park or the library, hang out with other moms, ect. Also the children are 4 and 2 so they are able to do things with Mysia which is a big help so she doesn't feel left out because Mommy has to take care of the babies all the time, I'm really enjoying the new "job".
We took a short vacation the last of June and went to the Laura Ingles Wilder Home in Mansfield, and hung around home. We also went to an English Country Dance, hosted by one of the local homeschool families. There was a great turn out and it was a blast, I loved learning the old time dances and had a wonderful time. It's a great workout, and I was out of breath at the end of most of them. We are looking forward to the next one.
Matt and I are going to become Aunt and Uncle for the first time, later this year (or early next year). Matt's brother Ben and wife Ana are expecting their first. We are all excited and can't wait to see if it will be a boy or girl, ... or twins. Mysia and Malachi are excited to get a little cousin.
Well, not much else to report. The kids and I went to the park today, and played in the water. One of our down town parks has a water fountain creek and water fall for the kids to play in. It was very beautiful, the kids are exausted and crashed almost as soon as we got home, leaving me to check email and update the blog in peace and quiet. I'm sure I won't get a chance to write anymore this week but I'll try and update it next week and tell all about VBS.

~Lydia~

The Power of Wheeling and Dealing

Ok to give you guys a bit of background on this. Matt and I have been sharing a AT&T Family (cellphone) plan with Ben and Ana for about the last two years. However, all good things must come to an end, and with them living in Columbia they wanted to change the plan so their numbers would have their area code and since we don't want to change our area code, so you see the problem. Anyway, today I called AT&T to find out what we're going to have to do to separate the plan. I had Matt look up Alltell's info because I wanted to see where the better deal was and if I could get AT&T to lower their prices to keep a customer. This is what happened:
I call and go through the whole automated system (which I absolutely hate) there is no question about transferring service so I hold for a customer service rep.
Rep answers I tell him the whole story only to get this response: "Well since he's wanting to change his plan then you will just have to get your own plan, and that requires the purchase of new phones, a two year service agreement, activation fees, ect."
I was thinking "now hold on that's ridiculous"
So I told the guy: "I already have a perfectly good phone. I mean if I have to do all that it would be cheeper for me to go with Alltell."
As soon as I said Altell he was like "I can transfer you to our wireless department they might be able to do something about that I can't do anything"
I said "thank you very much"
After waiting on hold fro a few minutes I again explained my situation to another lady who was like "oh no since you are already a customer you don't have to do a new service agreement just transfer the service to a new account. They might do a credit check but that's all . So have him (Ben) call and verify that you are going to transfer the numbers and then call this other number and they'll be transfered. No problems."
I was so relived I forgot to try and get them to change the price or minutes, I guess I'll try that when we actually transfer.
More Later
~Lydia~

Still waiting...

Malachi ran a fever for 2 days and then it was gone. Matt's chest pain got worse and he went to Urgent Care on Sunday, it turned put he had strained the cartilage and muscles on his breast bone that irritated by coughing or hard work, which he had been doing thinking it was congestion that needed to be loosened. This put a halt to the rest of our remodel and all we needed was the faucets and the doors to be installed. Fortunately for us, we have family and friends that are able to help us, and Matt's parents and Abigail came over on Monday and his dad helped him finish the bathroom the only thing we need now is to add some trim around the tops and sides. But at least we can take showers and baths at home again. We are still waiting for the air to get fixed, I think Matt said they should be coming Thursday morning to do that.
Malachi got his first big boy hair cut this last Friday, he looks so grown up now.
Mysia is wearing training pants to bed and working hard on learning her letters so she can learn how to read. If only Mommy could stick to her schedule, so we can get school done everyday. Well that's pretty much all that's going on at our house. So I'll go for now.
~Lydia

The Remodel!!!

Well, for those of you who don't read Matt's blog, I'll give a quick recap of how our remodel is going. In my last post I told you how we bought a tub and wall surround for our bathroom on Tuesday, well Friday came and no word on when it would be delivered so Matt called Lowes (see his blog for how well that went) and was told there was nothing to be delivered to us but that they would try to fix it and call him back. When he got off the phone he noticed it was really hot and muggy in the house so he went to turn on the air conditioning and close the windows. Within a few minutes he realized that it wasn't working and the fan wasn't turning, so he called his dad who gave him some instructions to check if something was keeping the fan from turning. Nope that wasn't the problem, but he discovered the breaker had been switched off he switched it on and suddenly there was a pop followed by a screeching sound and what looked like smoke billowing from the unit. So Matt turned it off and called the repair company, who told him someone would be out in the morning.
Saturday: the kids woke us up fairly early, to pouring rain. We got up and started getting ready, knowing we had a full day planned. Since Lowes never called us back Friday night Matt called them, while we were getting ready and waiting on the repair man to show up, the problem still had not been fixed they take his info again and promise to call back soon with a time that it would be delivered. Soon after he got off the phone he got call from the repair man saying he was on his way. When he got here we discovered that he wasn't going to be able to do much as it was still raining and he didn't want to take off the cover of the unit and expose the wiring to the rain and risk getting electrocuted, he left us saying it was probably the compressor but he would be by on Monday (Memorial Day) to find out for sure and get it fixed and someone would call us to set up a time. After he leaves Lowes finally calls back, they've figured out what happened, the cashier didn't put it down as a delivery (duh) and so they've fixed it and it will be delivered on Monday we just need to pay the delivery fee. Matt reluctantly gives them our bank info and pays it. While I fume in the background. With all the stressful stuff taken care off we leave to go to meet Matt's family at Grandpa Taylor's grave. We put some flowers on the grave and sang some songs, there was a military funeral going on across the way we wondered if it was a young soldier killed in Iraq or an older veteran, but it was interesting to watch and see them do the 21 gun salute and play the taps in his honor. After a little while we left, we were going over to Vicki's for lunch, but we had a few stops to make first. The first was Lowes and I went in leaving Matt and the kids in the car and headed straight for the customer service counter it was crowded of course being the holiday weekend and all, I'm waiting in line impatiently when a guy comes from behind the counter and as he's passing me asks if he can help me with anything I said "Sure I'm here to make a complaint about one of your cashiers this grabs his attention and he grabs a pad and pen out of his pocket as I tell him the whole story, I'm not ugly about it but I let him know that I am upset. He hurried back around the counter and asked for my phone number and within a few minutes had refunded our delivery charge with an apology for our trouble. Score!!
We ran to Wal-mart and the Library and then on to Vicki's where we had a wonderful cookout and a good time visiting with family. Matt called the repair company, since no one had contacted him and it turned out they are not open on Monday and wanted to send some one out that evening. So we gathered up our things and headed to the church to pick up the van and then home again. As Matt pulled into the drive the technician called saying he was on his way. When he arrived he looked at it and said he wouldn't be able to fix it that night but someone would be by on Tuesday to take care of it. Thankfully the unit is still under warranty because the labor alone is costing us close to $400 and the compressor would be another $400.
Sunday: we went to church, visited my Grandpa McAdoo's grave with the McAdoo clan, then we went home and crashed until time to go to church again.
Monday: Was rainy and wet, the kids woke us up at 7:30 after a quick shower and breakfast Matt went and started knocking the tile off the wall, my brother Silas came over to help and arrived just as the delivery guy was leaving. In a few hours he and Matt had it all knocked loose and the dry wall cleared out. Next they needed to remove the old tub but Matt was unsure of how to remove the drain so he asked my dad to come and help. They worked on it for several hours and finally got it out. Silas' girlfriend came over and they watched a movie and he made supper for all of us, we visited and then watched another movie.
Tuesday: Matt went back to work and then after work went to Lowes for more tools and floor boards, because when they got the tub out they had discovered that part of the flooring had to be replaced because it also was rotting. God was good, and one of Matt's coworkers had some floorboards left over from a recent remodeling project he had done so he gave it to us and Matt was able to finish the flooring last night.
Today we are going to Matt's folks house to get showers, that we desperately need and then Matt and Mysia will go to church Malachi and I will be staying there because since I started writing this he has spiked a fever of 103, and if it doesn't come down soon we will have to go to Urgent Care, so please keep him in your prayers.
~Lydia~

What a Week!! (5/22/08)

Thursday: we spent a rather slow day around the house cleaning and getting things ready for the party.
Friday: went grocery shopping and got ready for the party. We had 4 couples join us for some food and fellowship. The food was absolutely delicious and we had a blast playing another round of our getting to know you game and several hands of Apples to Apples and just sitting around and fellowshipping with one another.

Saturday: After a late night on Friday we decided to sleep in a bit. When we got up Matt mowed the lawn and ran to Aldis while I got the kids ready, we heard Matt's brother and sister-in-law were in town but since they hadn't informed us they were coming we had already made plans to go to SDC (Silver Dollar City, for those of you who don't live in the area.) We went ahead and drove to Branson and spent a wonderful day at the park with the kids riding rides and having a good ole time. We were exhausted when we got home so we put the kids to bed. However, since we have white sheets on our bed and our feet were black from wearing sandals, Matt and I decided to take showers before going to bed. As I was washing the bottom of my feet I leaned against the wall and CRASH down I went, through the wall. Apparently some of the tiles hadn't been sealed properly allowing water to seep behind it and rot out the dry wall so now I have a huge hole in my wall (Matt used duck tape and a garbage bag to cover it temporarily)

Sunday: was pretty normal except instead of coming home for lunch we spent the after noon with my sisters at the place they were house sitting.

Monday: Matt went back to work, and we had our State of the Family meeting that evening. And Matt helped my sister make some CD's that she had been wanting.

Tuesday: This was Mysia's end of the year party at Co-Op so Mommy, Mysia, and Malachi all went to co-op, after Co-op Mommy had to go to a meeting about setting up her classes for H&R Block. When we were done I was getting Malachi from Matt, to put him back in his car seat, he had been ridding shot gun with Daddy while they waited. As I leaned in to pick him up he flipped his little hand up and OUCH inserted his finger in my eye. While it was painful at the moment I hoped it wouldn't amount to anything. We went ahead and finished doing what needed to be done And that was going to Lowes to get the things we needed to fix the bathroom. It turned out to be cheaper to buy a set of surrounding walls that attach to the studs then it would be to get the paneling and have to put new dry wall in, so we bought a complete set, walls and tub, new faucets and new shower doors. We also got a board for the swing set that would make it possible to hang a baby swing for Malachi up. When we headed for bed my eye suddenly started hurting really bad, it kinda felt like I had a piece of glass under the lid, Matt helped me look and see if there was anything in there, nothing, so, hoping I could sleep it off I went to bed.

Wednesday: I woke up to extreme pain in my right eye, I could hardly get it open. After afew minutes of discussion with Matt about our options I called the lady I babysit for and told her due to the situation I would not be able to watch her son today. I also called the nurse on call who told me to call the doctor when they opened up which I did. My regular doctor was unable to work me in until late that afternoon so we went to Urgent Care where the Doctor told me that I indeed had a scratch on my eye, that according to him should heal within 24 to 48 hrs and to just use liquid tears to sooth the eye. We went to Walmart and got what we needed and when we arrived home I spent most of the day on the couch lounging around because my eye hurt so bad. We went to church that night. It was our award ceremony as well as the last night for Masters Club and we helped hand out the awards. There was a surprise for us as well, Mysia had participated in a Mailbox coloring contest and won 2nd place nationally for her age group, she also received a ribbon for learning her memory verses and first place for the coloring contest at our church. We are very proud of her.
Thursday: today my eye is doing a little better. It is very sensitive to light so I'm wearing an eye patch to keep it from hurting. hope fully it will be completely better by tomorrow.

Until Later
~Lydia~

Oral Surgery

Well, today was the day. I got all four of my wisdom teeth pulled. Ouch!
My day started when Malachi woke me up at 5:30am, he needed a clean diaper, a bottle and some cuddle time with Mommy. He went back to sleep about 6 and mommy went back to bed for a few more minutes. At 6:30 I woke Matt up and we got ready for the day. We left the house at 7 to drop Malachi off at Granny's (Mysia was already there from spending day at co-op with Granny) we made it there by 7:30, dropped off Malachi and said hi to Mysia and headed on our way. We arrive in good time and soon I was called to the back. They asked me a few questions, hooked me up to the monitors, started my IV, and the last thing I remember is the nurse saying she was going to put the oxygen mask on. I vaguely remember getting in some sort of seat (either the wheel chair or the car, not sure which) I sort of woke up when we stopped at Dillon's for Matt to fill my prescription. Matt said I told him to go to Dillon's and even corrected him when he got in the wrong lane! I don't remember any of it. haha
When we got home I went straight to bed and slept for several hours, when I woke up I needed my pain pills but have been doing alright since; no vomiting and no embarrassing moments while under anesthetic (at least that Matt's told me about), so all in all I'd say it was successful.
As to the rest of the family, Matt's taken the rest of the week as vacation to help me if I need it, and we may take the kids to the park or Zoo either tomorrow or Friday, we also have to clean house, good, because we're hosting this month's class activity for our Sunday School Class, Friday evening.
Mysia can recognize most of the letters of the alphabet now and enjoys being a big sister.
Malachi had an episode where he wasn't tolerating his milk well so he's now on soy formula, not my choice but it stays down. He get's tired of his big sister pulling on him all the time, just when he gets himself pulled up on something sissy decides he's in her way and pulls him down. However when sissy wasn't home by bed time last night he was quite miserable so we called Granny and had them get on Skype and use Granny's new web cam so he could see and talk to Mysia, he got so excited and squealed and giggled with her for a good 10min. Then he was ready to settle down for the night, slept all through the night to.
Well I've got to go, more later.
~Lydia~

My Baby's Growing Up!

Well, as the title says, Malachi is really growing up. I've been trying to get him used to drinking milk (2% mixed with vanilla yogurt) from a cup or bottle, since he was only nursing 2-3 times a day and I wasn't producing enough milk to stock pile for when I have my surgery. Anyway, he had been adjusting well, but when he woke up in the middle of the night (yes, the little stinker still wakes up at least once in the night)he wanted to nurse. Well last night he ended that, I tried to nurse him and he wanted nothing to do with it, then when I offered him his bottle he went to town on it, so no more nursing. Yea, now Daddy can get up with him during the night too!
He's crawling everywhere now and trying to pull up on everything, he has one tooth and the second is not far behind.
I'm glad to see him developing in a timely manner, but I do hate to see my baby grow up!
~Lydia ~

Mysia's first (and last) Tae-Kwon-Do Lesson

Yesterday evening after Matt got home from work we took Mysia to her first Tae-Kwon-Do lesson. She was really excited, in fact she had been excited about it all day. When we got to the church where the lessons were held she was so wound up that she started running back and forth across the "gym" floor squealing and laughing, however when the lesson started her enthusiasm waned and she was easily distracted, luckily Uncle Sam, who is training to be an instructor, was able to work with her one on one and she kinda got the moves, but about half way through she decided she had had enough and wanted to quit. I thought she did real well for her age and it being the first time, but Daddy, who was looking for an excuse not to take her anyway, thinks that she's just too little for it at this time, and after today I think I have to agree. Today I asked her how she liked her lesson and she said ok but when I asked her if she wanted to practice her moves she refused. So it looks like Tae-Kwon-Do is out, for right now, Daddy says we might try again in 6 months to a year. We're also considering looking for a gymnastics class that would be girls her own age, the Tae-Kwon-Do class has all age groups mixed into one class and Mysia was the only real little one there so that made it even more difficult for her and her instructors.
In other news, ...
Malachi started crawling on Friday and his tooth came in yesterday. Matt is a year older, and for the next four months can't razz me about how old I am 'cause we're the same age. And I am looking forward to the end of tax season, one more week and it's all over; at least 'til classes start this summer.
Well I've got to get ready for bed so I can get a little shut eye before Malachi wakes up!
~Lydia~

Growing Pains!

Well, Malachi and Mysia just keep growing and growing. Sunday night while I was getting Malachi ready for bed he reached out and grabbed the bars and pulled, he had done this before but this was the first time he succeeded in pulling himself to his feet. As you can see in the pictures he was really proud of himself.
Malachi is also cutting teeth. He has about 6 teeth just below the gum line which is making him absolutely miserable. Matt says it's the weather (my wisdom teeth are bothering me too) I just hope they come in soon (the solution for my pain is a little easier, I get my teeth out the middle of May).
Mysia is doing good as well. It always amazes me how well she remembers things. She does school 3- 4 times a week and is doing a fabulous job learning to write her letters and numbers, and most days she colors inside the lines and has an excellent choice in colors.
She is looking forward to starting Tae-Kwon-Do classes with Daddy soon.

Long Over-Due Update

Ok I know I am the most horrible blogger ever. But I don't have that much time anymore, heck, I'm doing good to get myself dressed, the laundry done and the dishes done. Much less spend time typing updates on the computer. :)
Anyway we did get our new Tv and we love it. It is so much better than our old one and the reception is better too, due especially to the fact that it's digital and so now we have all our channels in digital and a few more as well (PBS has 3 extra channels) We love it!
Mysia is growing like a weed. Sometimes she acts so grown up that I have to remind myself that she's only three and not as mature as she acts. She loves her little brother and likes to help mommy when ever she can. We're working on getting a better schedule set up so that we can add school to our morning routine. She loves to learn and is very creative, she also loves to sing and learns songs really fast.
Malachi is also going through a growth spurt making it hard for mommy to keep him in clothes. He can now sit on his own and runs his walker all over the house. He's not saying words yet but he talks to us all the time, we just can't under stand what he's saying. He's eating solid foods now and yesterday he grabbed the spoon out of his bowl and started feeding himself, I got pictures and video of him finishing his lunch all by himself.:) He's also cutting teeth, not so much fun for mom or him but hey that's life.
Matt's staying busy at work and church. He's driving a van now on Sunday mornings which he enjoys a lot, he's also working on some graphics for bulletins, tracts, letterhead, ect. But he is really excited about being able to use his talents for the Lord.
And me, well I'm just plain busy, tax season is upon us and that means I have no life. even though I'm only working one day a week, at HRBlock, I'm still way too busy, since I still have my daycare and family to care for.
For more about what has been going on in our lives check out our yahoo360 blogs and MySpace pages.
~Lydia

A new TV... finally!

Ok I know I'm horrible for not keeping this up to date, but seriously I have been busy.
Since we got our laptops I have been trying to figure out all of the cool new features, figure out how to manage my music for my MP3 player, and make as many back ups of my contacts as I possibly can. For those of you that don't know my cell phone broke about the time we ordered the laptops luckily we had bought the insurance through Best Buy and were able to get a replacement phone, but unfortunately I lost all of my Contacts that I had stored on my phone and for some of them that was the only place I had their number, hence the backing up of all of my current contacts. Also if you don't know if I have your number (or current contact info), email it to me at paaschfamily@gmail.com
Also since we got the laptops Matt decided to do a "little" rearranging of our house. It looks much nicer and give us much more room to live in now. We got rid of our big entertainment center and replaced it with a small(er) corner fireplace on top of which we will place our new 32" flat screen TV, which we will finally get to pick up tonight (more on that in a minute). Doing that allowed us to move some other pieces of furniture and make our living room alot less crowded.
Matt also figured since our laptops give us access to our computers from any where in the house it would be a good idea to move the big desk and the "main" computer to our bedroom where it would be out of the way (it was in the kitchen before) and I whole heartedly agreed. So now my Kitchen and living room are much roomier and homey, but my bedroom..., well the less said on that subject the better. But that's ok, since most people don't go back to my bedroom anyway.
Now to the subject of the TV, two weeks ago Thursday when we got our tax refund (not to be confused with the tax rebate , yet to be received) we headed off to Wal-Mart to spend said money. We had done our research online and knew exactly what we wanted and how much it would cost well, when we got to the store we discovered that it costs more to buy things in store, a lot more, the TV was almost $200 more and the sound system we wanted was $20 more so we said no thanks we'd buy it online (at Wal-mart.com), the funny thing is that we got FREE site-to-store shipping, the only thing was we'd have to wait 7-10 days. Anyway to make a long story short we got an email today from Wal-Mart and it's in so we will be going to pick that up later this evening. I'll close for now.
Lydia

Super Tuesday

For a Super Tuesday, yesterday was more of a slow day at work. So I had time to play around with some graphics. Nothing major, just sharpening my designing skills.

After work, I came home and Lydia and I (with Malachi) rushed to the polls to do our duty and right as a citizen... vote. It would have been a quick thing too, if a lady wasn't holding up the line because she didn't know how to draw a line in an arrow for her chosen candidate!

I'm just praying that through it all, God's will be done.

We then headed out to my parents house to pick up Mysia. (Mysia goes with them to homeschool co-op on Tuesdays) On the way, I called my mom and found out they were at my Grandma's house next door. So we went over there, and Grandma fed us supper. She had made bisquets with brown gravey, fried potatoes, fried apples, and sausage. As I had mentioned to them last night, it was what I called a "Classic Grandma Dinner". Growing up, this was a dinner that my Grandma always made when visiting her. No one else made it. It was something she obviously liked making, and did it quite often. Eating it brought back a lot of memories for me of the times we spent with them in Colorado.

While over there, we watched "Wheel of Fortune" and challenged each other with each puzzle. We all also got frustrated when the weatherman would cut in telling us about a flash flood!
We also tried watching the early predictions of the polls, but the scrolling bar for the weather kept getting in what the numbers were! Oh, and the media commentary of who the were predicting was also annoying!

Overall it was a good day yesterday.

Oh... remember I mentioned how warm it was here the other day? And how Mysia, Malachi, and I were outside without any coat or jacket due to the warmth? Well, I woke up this morning with it snowing and a dusting already on the ground!!!!

Thats Springfield weather for you!

Oh well, "Let it Snow!"

~Matt

PS Lydia and I ordered laptops, and it appears they should be in today! So I'm excited!

Wonderful Weather

My first blog entry! Wow!

Ok... I'm going to try and do this...

First off, yesterday evening was a blast. Mysia, Malachi and myself went outside after I got home from work to enjoy the nice warm weather. It's hard to believe that just 3 days prior, Mysia and I were playing in snow. But last night, we were outside in short sleeves!

Mysia played on her fort, climbing and sliding down the slide. She spent a good ten minutes swinging as well. I had Malachi strapped on me, and he was enjoying looking around. I'm hopping that the weather did us good.

There was one really good thing about going outside to play.... no bugs! We didn't have to worry about mosquitoes attacking us! That was great!

Let's see, we watched a movie as a family last night. Madagascar. A fun movie! Although not as good as "Over the Hedge" (in my opinion), it was fun to watch. Mysia giggled along when something funny happened. We may have to purchase the movie sometime.

After the movie, Lydia laid Malachi down on his stomach in our bed. He was very observant... looking around at everything. I got down and was talking to him... bouncing the bed, and he was gigiling and laughing. This was the first we really have heard him giggle out loud. Mysia came in and joined us as we had a family tickle contest. It was fun.

I guess we'll see what happens tonight!

~Matt

... and a funeral

As most of you know Grandpa Taylor (or as he's known to Mysia, Pawpa) was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer this summer. He had been slowly getting worse and worse over the last couple of months but on Wednesday, January 2,2008 Vicki called us and said he was failing fast and they didn't expect him to make it through the night, so we stopped by on our way to church to see him. It was really hard to see him like that but we spent a few minutes talking to him and Matt sang to him. the only response we saw was it looked like he was crying as Matt sang "Suppertime". About 1 in the morning we got the call that he had passed. Matt and I took the next two days off to be a support for the family. It was a very busy weekend for us. The visitation was Friday evening and the funeral was Saturday morning. It was a beautiful funeral, there were lots of flowers from the many lives he had touched and Matt, Ben, Sam, and Abigail sang several of his favorite songs. They did a wonderful job. We will all miss Grandpa very much.

3 Christmases

Oh, boy what a busy couple of weeks this has been.
Matt took the Friday before Christmas off and we took the kids up to Columbia to see Ben and Ana. It was the first time we had been up to see them since they had been married and also Malachi's first "road trip". He did great, slept the whole way there. We spent the whole weekend with Ben and Ana and had a wonderful time. Ana cooked a big breakfast for us each day we were there and also fixed lovely dinners. We spent most of Saturday just relaxing playing games and watching movies. Saturday night the drain in their laundry room over flowed causing a rather large flood in the kitchen and onto the dinning room carpet. That was a fun mess to clean up. HaHa. Sunday we visited their church, it was a beautiful little church and it was nice to see how active they are in serving the Lord. We left Monday morning, heading back to Springfield for Christmas. Ben and Ana headed back a little after we did but ended up catching up with us, as we had to stop and feed the baby. We all stopped in Lebanon at McDonald's to grab a bite to eat, we stayed for about an hour to let Mysia play in the Playplace and stretch her legs. We got home in time to change and get ready for the Christmas Eve. service at church. It was very nice and the whole Paasch family (minus Ben and Ana, they were celebrating Christmas with her family) sang together. When we got home from the services we let the kids open their presents. Then Christmas Morning we were able to sleep in a little before going over to Garry and Vicki's for Christmas there. We had a wonderful time opening presents and playing games. Vicki had Brisket instead of the traditional Turkey and fixings, it was delicious!
Then on New Years day we went to my folks to celebrate Christmas with them. We had a good time and got alot of wonderful gifts.
Lydia