Snippits.

I haven't posted in a while... a real post with real content anyway. And I'm trying to think of what we've been up to. Here are random bullet points.

• My parents came up last weekend and we celebrate their birthdays (yet, my boys received presents... I love how that works). We were able to eat at Mongolian BBQ for dinner one of the evenings. I love that place.
  
• We've received some encouraging news on Marc's job front...Praise God.
  
• We had Bible Study on Monday, but did not end up having it on Wednesday, which ended up being a good thing. (See next bullet).
  
• My AJ is one sick little man right now. Coughing something fierce with a good fever as a bonus. Praying that Andrew doesn't get it (Andrew is coughing somewhat, but that is the extent right now) and that it doesn't go to AJ's ears. You know it's bad when he turns down hot chocolate and waffles.
  
• I'm feeling very couped up right now. Too many days have passed without me leaving the house. But I'm not sure it's going to happen today either (see bullet point above.)
  
• I watched my "other" boys a couple days this week. Fortunately (I guess?), AJ was sick enough, that I didn't have to try to keep his germs away from the rest of the kids. AJ literally laid in our bed upstairs and watched Veggie Tales all day, while the rest of the boys played.
  
• Currently, I am in the middle of my annual "Defrost the Upright" day. We got the freezer only a year ago, and I set everything up last night before bed (removed food, unplugged freezer, inserted pots, & towels to catch water). I woke this morning, emptied the pots of water, moved the wet towels to the washer and it's pretty much done. I need to wipe it down yet and move all of our food in from the back deck, yet... but compared to before, this was easy-breezy.
  
• Today is Jammie Day at Preschool. Seriously, Andrew has talked about this day everyday for the past 7 days. He gets to wear his Christmas jammies, slippers, and take a little blanket. And, there is a possibility (still up in the air), they he is getting to go back to his friend's house after school... in his jammies! Oh, what a day for a four-year-old.
  
• I was able to borrow the rest of the Twilight series from my friend, Shannon. She was sweet enough to drop them off so I do not have to wait on the extremely long hold list at the library.
  
• I am only one basket away from being totally caught up on laundry. You don't even know what kind of achievement that is for me. (Have I mentioned I haven't left the house in a few days?)
  
• I "hid" some dirty pots and pans (and a plastic spoon) in my oven this week, then forgot about them and preheated my oven. Please tell me I am not the only one who has ever done that.
  

Well, they are random, but there you go. Snippits into what's been going on here. Have a great weekend.

Book Report: Twilight

I finally got the Twilight book from my bloggy friend, FarOutMom. I finished it yesterday morning... sneaking the final chapter in before running Andrew to school.

Truthfully, I struggled through the middle a bit. It got to be a little much of the, "I love you more. No, I love you more" feel. Plus, I might have had extremely HIGH expectations from everyone raving about it.

However, when the action started near the final third, I found myself not wanting to put it down. Overall, I enoyed it and I plan on reading the next one.... hopefully soon. (I have it on hold at the library).

Boys, I love.

Oh Sooo Guilty...

Hmmm... I took one phone call for about 8 minutes and left someone alone with something just too tempting.

This is Good.

Taken from Beth Moore's (and daughters') blog.

Today it makes no difference how anyone voted. God in His sovereignty has
appointed this day and our new president needs our prayers. "This is good, and pleases God our Savior."

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior.

1 Timothy 2:1-3.

The Red Carmel Marvel

I totally stole this from my sister-in-law's facebook post.... who, by the way, is also named Kelly Dykstra.

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Sammy Tempo

YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
K-Dyk (umm... not a fan of that one.)

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Butterfly

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Michelle Lima

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)Dykke (um....nope, don't like this one either.)

SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Red Carmel Marvel (oooohh, that's good.)

NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Harold Durwood

STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
Eternity Dove

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names)
Eileen Douglas

TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)

I can't remember her name!! I can picture her....but what's her name??

SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Autumn Daisy

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)Blueberry Watchie

HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Muffin Orange

WHITE

Sunday afternoon, I finally finished The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker. I am very pleased with it. The first two books, Black and Red, were fast-paced and action packed. The final book, White, slowed down a bit, but was still very good and wrapped up most things. However, there are still a few intentional unanswered questions and I'm just not sure how I feel about that, yet.

Does it make me curious and interested in reading more of his works to find my answers? Am I just supposed to leave these things to my imagination? Or am I frustrated that it wasn't totally & completely wrapped up with a bow on top? I'm not sure yet.

Overall, a great series and I'm thankful I read them. The metaphorical imagery (doesn't that sounds collegiate) was worth it if I got nothing else out of them... and of course, I got suspense, action, romance, and betrayal, as well.

Whether I ever get complete answers to this particular series or not, I will be looking into other works by Ted Dekker in the future.

Edited to add: In fact, even though there are already other Dekker books that look interesting, I just found out there are at least four more books that build off this trilogy... not necessarily part of the series and not necessarily spin-offs, but something of that general nature. Hmmm... maybe a place to find unanswered questions....

Layers, Layers, and more Layers.

It's been a while. On Monday, Marc took a last minute trip to Iowa with his buddy, who needed to attend a funeral. It was a nice chance for Marc to visit his family and friends a bit. And while we missed him at home for a couple days, I'm glad he took the opportunity to go.

We. on the other hand, didn't do too much. Andrew continued to have school and I continued to watch my boys along the my "other" boys and we really just tried to stay warm. It's been freezing here lately with negative temperatures.

Yesterday, Andrew didn't have school and I wasn't babysitting, so we hit an appointment downtown and then decided to skip naps and hit the Gardens. We obviously couldn't do any of the outside portion, but the Railway Garden, two rooms with a large train set up and two trolleys going, was still set up from the holidays. So we stopped in for about an hour or so before heading home. We cleaned the house and made snickerdoodles to surprise Marc when he got home yesterday evening.

This morning, was school and a few errands. I am just working around the house and making cinnamon rolls. Tonight we have a sitter coming over while Marc and I attend a little dinner party. Should be nice, although curling up with a warm blanket and my book sounds just as appealing. Stay warm.

test

RED

Man, oh man... I finished Book Two of the Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker on Saturday night. What amazing imagery. I can't wait to find out how this whole story pulls together. I've already started the final book, White.

Lazy Weekend.

On Friday, while Andrew had school, AJ and myself did a little grocery shopping before hitting the gym. It's just a two court basketball gym that is free on Friday mornings for young kids to run around during the winter months. It was busy!, but I think AJ had a good time doing something fun just for AJ while Andrew got to go to school.

After school, lunch, and naps, we all packed up and met friends out on a hill for some sledding. It was SO much fun. Unfortunately the hills consisted of snow covered ice, so getting back UP the hills proved challenging and I think we all have bruises to show for our effort. But it was worth the work. The whole gang came back to our house for hot cocoa and dinner.

Saturday we did a whole lot of nothing. If it weren't for a little dinner party with friends in the evening, it might have had a jammie day. We just hung around at home.

This morning we made it to church, but snuck out a bit early to hit a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. The boys had a blast. Plus, a while ago we got hooked up with CEC tokens and tickets from some other friends, so the boys were able to get "prizes" beyond what they "earned" (still junk). But they played hard, danced with Chuck E., ate pizza, cupcakes and POP!, and it wore them out.

We came home and took late naps. In fact AJ is still sleeping here at 5:30. I need to wake him or he will be up all night. Marc is over at friend's watching football playoffs and I'm trying to justify reading my book over cleaning my messy house... although I do have muffins to make for tomorrow morning. It's been a while since I wrote a "here's what we did" post. (or maybe I should call it a "here what we didn't do"). Have a great week.

It's pretty bad...

...when the preschool teacher accuses you of throwing off the whole day because you fed waffles to your son on a Friday.

Christmas Toys for the Boys.

Lincoln Logs!!

BLACK

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I am sleep deprived and my house is paying for it, but I have NOT been able to put this book down.

There are still two more books in the series. Maybe because we just finished a Season of 24.... but if you like 24, you'll like these, but from a Christian author.

Phew. Intense. It was another one of those books where I was interactive with it. I kept talking back to the book, or gasping/laughing out loud. I even dreamt about it... several times (didn't help I read it until I couldn't keep my eyes open each night.)

Now, I am torn. I have the first book of Twilight on it's way to me. I've been waiting and waiting to read this book. But there is "Red", "Black's" sequel that needs to be read. When am I supposed to do laundry??

Gifts from Andrew

Andrew did a little gift giving this year, too. First of all, he brought this home from school for Marc and me.

It was wrapped in this...

Marc also took him out for a little 'covert' man time this year (aka: Christmas shopping for Mommy). Marc told him that I need new slippers and Andrew would get to pick them out. Here are my old well-loved slippers.

And why I needed a new pair.


And here is the pair Andrew picked out... even with Marc's attempted persuasion for something a little less "Monster's Inc"-ish.

And I love them all.

I love it when...

...we get a whole 4 channels on our tv, but anytime anyone steps hard, jumps, sneezes, breathes heavy, thinks hard, or blinks... the TV turns off on it's own. But don't worry, it turns back on in due time... whenever it feels like it. Eventually, it starts back up again. There's no forcing it and talking nicely to it only works occasionally.

Isaiah 33:6

"He abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; He gives all this to those who fear Him."

(New English Trans.)

Santa was good to me.

Over Thanksgiving, my Mother in Law gave each of us girls a book by author Joanne Fluke. I got the Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. While again, this usually isn't my normal fare and it took me a while to get into it... I just had to finish it to see how the mystery was solved. Plus, as an added bonus... there were several complete cookie recipes sprinkled throughout the book. Who wouldn't love that?





Especially with my new Christmas present....

A Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer!!!

Happy New Year!!