Jonah's awesome cake made by my girlfriend Mindy 

Jonah and his pal David, playing at Chuck E. Cheese 

Molli and Chuck E. 

What a weekend.....Whew! I am so tired..... :)

Friday night we let Jonah invite a friend and we all went to Chuck E. Cheese's. Now, I have not been to such an establishment since my 5th birthday. I really had no idea that they still existed! Off we went..It was pretty fun. Tons of people there and Sydney really didn't understand what it was all about, but I think everyone had fun. Jonah had a friend spend the night as Saturday was his birthday. We headed to mom's for the traditional family party. It was fun. Jonah got his long awaited roller blades and promptly put them on and went blading in Grandma's basement. Noah is doing well, thanks to those of you who've asked. He was smiling and laughing yesterday which was good to see. All in all it was good 7th birthday(scroll down for pics!!) Seven years....man, my baby boy is 7......Unbelievable.

I got an e-mail today from my long lost friend. For those of you who didn't catch this in my comments, my first best friend ever, found my blog. I was so shocked. I haven't spoken to or heard from her since we moved from South Lyon in 1991. We were best friends in third and fourth grades. I was also in love with her older brother Geoff (all her friends were!) So many memories. I am again thankful for the Internet which serves many a good purpose, including reuniting old friends. Come to find out, SHE'S A BELIEVER!!! How awesome is that, to not only find and old friend but to discover that she is a sister in Christ. So cool. I am enjoying getting to know her again.

At our church we have been called to fast from March 1st till Easter which is basically the Lent season. Since I cannot fast from food (Although it might assist in my weight loss, the baby would not enjoy it, I'm thinking) I feel as though the Lord is asking me to fast from my computer. NNOOOOO!!!! I've asked for a sign, the computer exploding for example. But if this is truly what He's asking of me, I will obey. That would mean no blogging for a month.......oh boy.

Well on to dishes....make sure you check out the pics below!

My TEN FIRSTS
1 - First Best Friend :: Michelle Rimshas
2 - First Screen Name :: mandileigh
3 - First Pet : Cheers, the hamster
4 - First Crush: Daniel, kindergarten
5 - First CD :: Amy Grant Heart in Motion
6 - First Car :: 89 Topaz
7 - First Love :: Phil Blankenbaker
8 - First stuffed animal :: Cabbage Patch Doll
9 - First school :: Greater Works Academy
10- First summer job : delivering papers
MY NINE LASTS
1 - Last Alcoholic Beverage : hmmm,strawberry daquari
2 - Last Car ride :: to take kids to school
3 - Last Movie Seen :: In Her Shoes
4 - Last Phone Call : 2:52 PM
5 - Last CD Played :: Twila Paris
6 - Last Bubble bath :: oh brother can't remember
7 - Last Job :: Pampered Chef lady
8 - Last time you said I love you:: five minutes ago to Molli and Emma
9 - Last thing you ate :: bowl of honey Nut cheerios
EIGHT HAVE YOU EVERS
1 - Have you ever dated one of your best friends :: Yes, married him :)
2 - Have you ever been arrested :: nope
3 - Have you ever skinny dipped :: yes
4 - Have you ever been on TV :: yes
5 - Have you ever kissed someone, and then regretted it :: yes
6 - Have you ever had your heart broken :: yes
7 - Have you ever wanted a second chance with someone :: yes
8 - Have you ever had sex with a stranger :: nope
SEVEN THINGS YOU ARE WEARING
1 - pants
2 - shirt
3 - sweatshirt
4 - wedding rings
5 - slippers
6 - necklace
7 - scrunchy
SIX THINGS YOU'VE DONE TODAY
1 - dishes
2 - vacuumed
3 - made lunch
4 - played school bus
5 - watched Go Diego Go with Syd
6 - posted this on my blog
FIVE PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ALMOST ANYTHING TO
1 - Matt
2 - My mom
3 - Mindy
4 - Jocelyn
5 - my grandma
FOUR FAVORITE THINGS
1 - Chocolate
2 - chocolate
3 - chocolate
4 - chocolate (sorry having a pregnant day!)
THREE CHOICES
1. Black or White :: white
2. Hot or Cold :: hot
3. Chocolate or Vanilla :: chocolate
TWO THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE
1 - Go to Alaska
2 - Watch my kids grow up
ONE THING YOU REGRET
1 - not finishing college

I need help and prayers. The second month has started with a bang. Every day I am increasingly tired and nauseous. This happens every time, I was in denial about it this time. And yet here we are. My house.....oh my house. Now most of you know or have figured out that I am not Martha Stewart or little Susie Homemaker. But I do try and keep my house picked up. My house is disgusting. I have not been able to clean for a week. Every dish we own is dirty and don't even get me started on the laundry. I wake up every morning and burst into tears because I just can't do anything. By the time I get Jonah and Molli dressed and off to school, I can barely move. My husband is frustrated and rightly so. I just don't know what to do. We can't go another month like this.......

I was going to take pics, but I cannot let you all see how absolutely horrible it is. So please pray for me....I need some supernatural strength.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughts yesterday for Noah. He came through the surgery great. He was supposed to be in full leg casts for an unknown amount of time, but they just put leg immobilizers on him (braces, basically). So that was a HUGE praise. Molli, Emma, and I spent the whole day at the hospital yesterday with my parents and grandparents and my sister. Yes, the Waltons go to the hospital as well!! It was an exhausting day, but worth it to be there when he woke up. I spoke to my mom this morning and he was doing ok. She can tell he's in some pain. They were waiting to see the doc so he can give them a better estimate of how he's doing and when they can come home. So please continue to pray for a quick healing time for him as well as understanding and patience for him and my parents!

A few of you have asked how the baby is.....As far as I can tell, he's fine! I see the nurse tomorrow to be asked five million questions and give lots of blood. I'm anxious to see the doctor, I think it'll feel more real then. September still feels like years away!!! Thanks again you guys for your thoughts...Means a lot to me!!

Weekend Update and Prayer request

Lots going on at the Kurtz plantation.....

This Friday was Molli's Valentine "family" dance. They must call it a "family" dance as most of the kids in her school don't have fathers. So Matt, Jonah, Molli and I got dressed up and went. It was a blast. Imagine 200 4 year olds dancing.....hilarious. I, of course, didn't manage to get a shot of the four of us together....but they took one there. I'm just waiting to get it back, But here's one of Jonah and Molli before we left....
















Aren't they cute???

Now on to my prayer request. My baby brother Noah is having surgery tomorrow. He has Cerebral Palsy and can't walk. He's having surgery to cut some of the hamstrings and tendons in his knees and ankles to hopefully improve his legs. PLEASE be in prayer tomorrow morning as he goes in for surgery. My mom is worried, he can't communicate very well and she has NO idea how he's feeling about all this. He's a very independent boy and he will have to be in full leg casts for an unknown amount of time. So please be thinking about that tomorrow and I will update when I can.

I caved...again! We were going to wait until her 4th brithday in April, but as we were walking by the place in mall this morning, she said, "Mama, could I get my ears pierced???" So we did......isn't she cute???



Emma gets it done

Weekend is closing...darn. Sometimes I wish weekends would last forever, other times, I cannot wait for them to be over. We got snow this weekend which crushed my dreams that maybe we would go through the rest of the season with grass showing. Ah well.

I'm still feeling pretty good. Some days, I feel more tired than others, but I seriously cannot complain. The kids ask EVERY day about the baby. I pick Jonah up from school and he says, without fail, "Baby come yet?" *sigh* We REALLY should have waited to tell them! Jonah informed me yesterday that he "hates" the boy name we have picked out. "I'm picking a different name," he said. I informed him that Daddy and I get to pick the baby's name and that is the one we have chosen. I then tell him that if he'd like to think of a nickname for the baby, that would be fine. He walks away, thinking deeply. He comes back in a while and says, "I'm going to call him Buddy." Ok then.....

Well off to finish the chicken wings and put my football shirt on....GO STEELERS!!!!

Good grief I click my tongue a lot.....how annoying. Ok that was interesting... I promise not to do that too often!!!

So most of you have cleverly deduced that I am pregnant :) Indeed, it's true. And yes...Again. And yes, five children. I know, this rocks some of your worlds. But we are thrilled.....Jonah is so excited, it's almost all he can talk about. Besides his birthday which is soon. The kids are all convinced that it must be a boy, Jonah in particular who won't even discuss the fact that it could just as easily be a girl :) I'm feeling pretty good, starting to feel a little tired during the day, but thank the Lord, it's not too much!!!

I started blogging a year ago...wow. I remember getting something from Amy saying that she had started something called a blog. I had heard of blogs, my missionary friend had one. But I thought they were very sophisticated and only for people overseas to use. I decided to scope it out. It looked like fun so I dove in. What a year it has been. I found Mindy again after being out of touch for years and found many kindred spirits along the way. I must say, it's so cool to go back and see where you've been, what's changed.....awesome. I don't know how many posts I've made..Maybe I'll count later!

Well time to get dressed...

Another template :) Couldn't resist....

It was a fairly quiet weekend here. We just spent all day Saturday together as a family. Sunday was fun as we went to Mom and Dad's for dinner which was so fun. We do love being surrounded by family.

Wow, not much to report.....sorry for the boringness :)

Yes, another new template....My other one was too dark and it was sooo brilliantly sunny today, I just had to change it!

Tonight is bible study and I am SOO looking forward to it. Not just because it's a great study but because my children are crazy tonight. Especially my son!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!! CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!

So I pulled a brilliant move today. I had to pick Jonah up early from school so I had to go into the school. I couldn't find Sydney's shoes before we left so I had to carry her. (Editor side note: I HATE shoes, they are evil. SO are socks. Bring on summer!!!) As we were leaving the school, we started to cut across the grass. Jonah says, "Mom! We are NOT allowed to walk on the grass. You should not be doing that." I reply, "It's ok bud, it's just quicker. Sydney is very heavy!" No sooner had I said this to him and my feet slip out from underneath me as I am headed down this little hill. Of course there was the faintest bit of snow on the ground making it slippery, but I was in such a hurry to put Syd down that I didn't bother to slow down. I slid the whole way down the hill making my backside very cold and wet. Not only that, but Jonah's school is at a rather busy intersection, so all these people are rolling down their windows yelling, " ARE YOU OK????" Sounds like old times eh, Joce???? Just goes to show that you NEVER outgrow your clumsiness!

New beds and baseball

Last week my daughter discovered how to climb out of her crib. What's so extraordinary about that, you might ask. This child was climbing full sets of steps at 10 months old, scaling the kitchen counters at 1, climbing bookshelves at 14 months. She is a climber. So I fully expected her to figure out how to be free much sooner than this. We let it go for a few days, she would climb out and come downstairs and we would walk her back, over and over. Then she started getting so tired that she would fall out of the crib trying to get out. Thus we decided to take down the crib (*sniff sniff* traumatic for the mother) And we put her mattress on the floor. At first she was slightly confused as to where her bed was. But she saw her pillow and blankets and ran to them. The first night was a little rough. Their bedroom door shuts very hard, as in only Matt or I can open it! Which isn't all bad, it's kept her in there. On the other hand, when I have to get up at 3 AM to let Molli out to go to the bathroom....we're working on it :) She's getting good now about going to bed although we usually hear the Dora Talking House randomly, or Molli saying.."GET OFF MY BED!!" Molli sleeps on the top bunk! Yet another transition as my baby becomes a little girl :(

Ok, on to happier things.....it was so sunny and nice yesterday. The kids decided they had waited just long enough, so this is what we saw as we looked out the window at the playing....

















This was cute, but then we saw Emma who, apparantly, had been chosen to be the catcher....

I survived. Everyone showed up, I was very busy. I'm not sure why I promised a picture, LIKE I HAD TIME! My house was immaculate, that I am going to document in case it doesn't happen again for a while!!! Everyone was seated and awaiting dinner. I placed it proudly on the table and started serving everyone. I was so proud until everyone cut into their chicken, which happened to be not quite done. I was so embarrassed. My mom caught my tear filled eyes and mouthed, "It's ok, honey." We all took turns at the microwave :) Everyone praised it....just to make me feel better I think! I did however make a killer dessert that went over really well. It's called Heavenly Lemon Angel cake. It's basically Angel food cake baked in a deep 9x13 pan. Then you juice and zest two lemons and mix it with powdered sugar. You poke holes in the cake and pour that glaze over it. Top it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. HOLY COW!! It was fabulous, if I do say so myself. All in all, it was a great night. Everyone had a good time being together and I enjoyed being a hostess. We will definitely do it again! If for no other reason than it makes me really clean my house :)

So last night, I was exhausted, my feet ached. So I went to bed at about 9. For some odd reason, all I could think about was The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I have NOT seen this movie, I even closed my eyes at the previews. But Felecia had mentioned it and it was all I could think about. (Not that I am indicating in ANY way that this is Felecia's fault!) So I didn't fall asleep till about 4 AM so tonight I am wasted, as in tired. Lest you misunderstand me :) So off to put the children and myself to bed :)

Now I've done it... What was I thinking??!!! See we always go to my mom's house for dinner or games. Sometimes we go to Grandma's or Aunt Carol's.....So I decided that it was high time that everyone came here. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!? First, I thought I would just ask my mom, dad and Noah. Well then I thought, it would be nice to have Grandma and Grandpa over too. Well might was well have Aunt Carol too.....Then my mom calls and our friend Lisa is coming up for the weekend. That would make the grand total 13.....13!?!?!?!?!!??!?Oh boy. Suffice to say I am going to be cleaning my brains out for the next few days!!! Not to mention cooking. But it's going to be great, I love being surrounded by family and they won't get much closer than this :) I'll take a pic of my table and clean house before everyone arrives. I'd take a shot now, but I would be too horrified for you all to see that (LOL Mindy!!!)

I'm doing a Beth Moore bible study right now and it is knocking my socks off. It's the one on the tabernacle. Searching the old testament it is AMAZING to see all the correlations to Christ. One thing that really blew my mind, well two things. The first one was about Adam and Eve. Now, I've read the creation story a half a million times. But she drew a point that I had NEVER thought about. After Adam and Eve sinned, they were kicked out of the garden. They had sewn garments from fig leaves, but God decided to COVER the shame they felt from their sin with animal skins. Again, nothing new. Until I realized that God had to KILL an animal to get the skin. Blood had to be shed to cover their sin!!!! Awesome. The other revelation to me was the story of Abraham and Isaac. God provided a ram. The ram was caught in the bushes by his horns. Again, I knew this story inside and out, or so I thought. Bushes where Abraham was were almost completely thorns and the ram was tangled in them by his horns. Jesus is called in Scripture the "horn of our salvation". So this ram's horns were wrapped in thorns. The imagery is just incredible.

Ok enough procrastinating! House to clean :)

Home again, home again......I was really glad to see the blue house come into view I must say. The kitties were very glad we were home, at least they were glad I was home. Within minutes the kids were chasing them down!!

We had a great time with Matt's family. I had an awesome time with my "coffee/blogging" buddies. Overall, just a good time. I took my new camera and as I sat down to post tonight I plugged it in to download some pics. Well, I took a total of 8 pics. Oops.....I'm just so not used to having a camera yet!! But here are a few of the few that I took!!





Jonah getting a kiss from Maggie










My Emma Jane with her great-grandma Lois Jane





And my brother and sister-in-law, Ken and Robin, are going to be parents soon so we decided to ease Ken into fatherhood by just giving him a teeny taste of parenthood.......












there you have it, our mini-vacation!!

Mini vacation

Howdy from Detroit! Matt got a four day weekend and so did Jonah so we escaped to the in-laws. We're having a blast! Tomorrow I get to have coffee with my "blogging" buddies (although two of them were my friends before we even knew what a blog was!!) and we get to worship at our old church. The kids are having a blast with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kimmie and the dogs! I do miss my bed, but even a little getaway is nice :)

Not much else to report, there'l lbe a bigger post complete with pics when I get home! My new camrea is getting quite a workout :)

Tagged

Well I wasn't going to do this one, but then I read Melis's post and we have the same purse :) So then I had to.....here it is....




Ok, let's see, receipts, my driver's license, my phone card, my debit card, a family Christian bookstore punch card, my phone, a pen, my jcpenney portrait club card, a reeses white chocolate cup package ( !!) 5 marbles (what the heck???) All my insurance cards, tons of change, my petco card, holiday cash punch cards, my keys and advil. So there you go!

Yes another one

I found another one....He he. You know y'all been wanting to do another one of these things....

4 Things About Me

Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life:
1. Front desk clerk at a huge resort
2. Leasing agent at an apartment complex
3. Newspaper deliverer
4. Cook

Four Movies You'd Watch Over and Over
1. The Princess Diaries 2 (I know.....)
2. Love Actually (that movie is ALWAYS hilarious)
3. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
4. Return to Me

Four Places You Have Lived
1. Born in Brockport New York
2. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
3. Mancelona, Michigan
4. Milford, Nebraska

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. House
2. American Idol
3. Extreme Makeover, Home edition
4. Lost

Four Places You've Been On Vacation
1. Disney World
2. Washington D.C.
3. Virginia Beach
4.A million places up north

Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. MY blog
2. Everyone's else's blog
3. My bank account
4. Anything to do with our upcoming vacation

Four of Your Favorite Foods
1. Steak, smothered in fried mushrooms
2. Taco Salad
3. Ponsineta sundaes from Tico's in Lincoln, Nebraska
4. Anything chocolate

Four Places You'd Rather Be Right Now
1. Heaven
2. Sleeping
3. Vacation, anywhere away
4. My mom's house having dinner

OK, your turn.... :)

Thanks for all the response to my last post. It seems, mostly, that we all came to the same conclusion.

So how many of you made resolutions? I can't really say I made them, but there were some things that I committed to doing this year. So far so good. One of the big things for me was committing to having a quiet time every day. With four children under the age of 7, finding a quiet time is an adventure. I really hate getting up in the morning, so I felt the Lord challenging me to get up early and spend time with Him. So I set the alarm (and the coffee maker!) for 6 AM. I overheard someone this weekend who said, "How can I say I'd die for the Lord when I am not even willing to get up early to spend some time with Him?" That is exactly where I was. It has been so awesome, being in the quiet of the morning and sitting at His feet. I've just started another Beth Moore study that is just knocking my socks off. What an awesome God we serve!!

Another commitment was to fitness, gag..... Back to exercising 3 times a week. But more than that, not drinking pop (my favorite thing ever) and drinking lots of water. Also watching what I eat and not eating junk all the time. I've been doing fairly well on this one as well. Hopefully I can keep it up!

Well time to get the kids off to school.....Thus begins another day!

This and that

Pretty uneventful weekend.....Matt only had Saturday off. It was nice to wake up and have him still be home though.

Saturday we went and hung out at my mom's house. It's so nice to be able to do that. The kids love being there and it's great just having "grown up" talk with the folks. Here are some pics from that.....









Emma being silly






Molli and Noah playing house :)







So I got into a debate with a friend of mine about something this weekend. Tell me what you think. She casually mentioned something about her and her husband watching pornography together. They are both believers. Something about that strikes me as just not right and I told her that. So we went back and forth for a bit about it. What do y'all think??? Is it ok for believing spouses to watch pornography together?

yeah I know....

Yes, another new template. What can I say? I like things to change :) Actually this one is a tribute to my new love of coffee. Oh, I've always liked coffee. I'd have a cup now and then. And I adore cappucino. But lately I've actually been using my coffee maker. I'm hooked :) So there you have it.....

Nothing much new here, I'm afraid. The children have returned to school much to the relief of their mother. Monday and Tuesday were rough as they realized how sick they were of each other. Plus they crave structure and routine which you just don't have on vacation. Molli was so excited to go back, Jonah not so much :)

I'm busily planning our vacation. We didn't think Matt was going to get any time this summer, but it worked out that he does!!! So we are headed to New York, mostly for the big family reunion/party. This year my dad turns 50 and my grandpa turns 75, so we're having a big shindig. But as Matt gets a WHOLE week, we are leaving early and hitting several places along the way. We're going to start at Niagara Falls. I've been there tons of times, but Matt hasn't and the kids either, obviously. Then we are off to Darien Lake, which is a Six Flags park. Since neither Matt or I do roller coasters, we'll be fine! Then we're going to hit a few other places, mostly state parks with tremendous trails and waterfalls. I think we will also visit the Corning Glass factory as well. Then we'll end the week at my grandparents house, swimming and having a party. It's so much fun!! Matt has never had a job with vacation time before, awesome!

Well time to start the day.....

P.S. Is my font big enough to read or should I make it bigger???

2005

Here it goes, my lists for 2005....

Best occurence: hmm, that was a tough one. Probably getting our house and getting MY OWN ROOM!!!

Best moment: Sleeping in my own room.....

Best memory: Molli's face on the first day of school

Best month: May, when I got my OWN ROOM...(are we noticing a pattern?)

Best photo: Wow, really hard....

Sydney Crazy hair wins!









Best Line: So many to choose from....Jonah wins this one though. I picked him up from school one afternoon and I was so excited becuase I had found him several pairs of pants at the Salvation Army. As he gets in the car, I told him that there was a surprise for him at home. He got really excited and said, "Is it a baby brother?????"

The one thing I'm happy to leave in 2005: My silly old van!

There it is, my bests in 2005!

Christmas pictures

Here they are, the infamous Kurtz christmas pictures...check them out!

http://photos.yahoo.com/kurtzrus@sbcglobal.net

Crazy hair

Sydney has crazy hair. There is just no getting around it. It's growing and it's curly and thus, it's crazy. We all laugh about it.

So when my mom, my aunt, my grandma and I went shopping in Shipshewana we found this doll. It looked just like my Sydney. We called it the "Sydney crazy hair doll". She got it for Christmas from my mom. Here's the pic, tell me if you can see the resemblance!

Sneaky

I promised myself I wouldn't let it happen. No matter what, I wouldn't allow them to worm their way into my heart.

Then it happened. Matt came to bed at around 10 PM last night and said that he thinks Larry got out. I sat upright. "He can't go out, he's too little, it's too cold." Matt quick threw on a coat and went out calling for him. Meanwhile, I was worrying....What if some other big mean cat got him? Or what if he's lost and looking for home? Matt came back and couldn't find him. Now I'm panicked.....What will the kids say? I'm on the verge of tears as Matt renenters the house with a very cold Larry in his arms. I ran to them and scooped up Larry showering him with kisses and rubbing his favorite spot by his ears. I quick ran and got him some treats all the while murmuring loving things to him. I looked up and Matt was standing in the doorway with a huge smirk on his face. "These are the kids cats????" he asked smugly. Well they are....as far as the kids know :)

Sigh

I've just had about enough Christmas, thus I had to change my template, what can I say? The tree goes out to the curb tomorrow. You just get to that point, you know....When you are ready for the holidays to be OVER!

We had a blessed Christmas. It occurred to me sitting there watching the chaos that I am so blessed. Not only do I have 4 beautiful children and a husband who loves me, but I have two godly parents, 4 terrific siblings, two loving grandparents, an aunt who would fly to the moon for me if I asked and a fairly fantastic cousin. We were all together that morning.....It was great. Here are some highlights....(more to come as most of my pics I had to dump on my mom's computer!)


Sydney in her Dora chair with her Dora doll wrapped in her new blanket (thanks Mom Kurtz!) and watching Dora. Have I mentioned that I now hate Dora??!?!?!








Here's Emma with her Dora talking house.....Yes, more Dora....









Here's Molli and Aunt Kimmie looking at the Disney book she got...Thank the Lord, no Dora!








And last but not least, here they all are playing Elefun...a truly fun game for kids, but a nightmare for parents and vacuum cleaners alike :)

Countdown

Oh Christmas is so close I can almost taste it! Tomorrow morning Matt and I head out to finish up the rest of our shopping. We are firm believers in waiting till the last minute :)

Christmas Eve is always the highlight for me. We always dress up. I love the darkened sanctuary, the carols, my dad reading a Christmas story, taking communion with my family and finally lighting our candles and singing Silent Night. This year I have been asked to sing, which just heightens it for me. Not only that, but this is the first time that my Jonah will be able to participate in communion...... I can't wait.

Till then of course, there's cleaning and cooking to be done....So off I go! Merry Christmas everyone!!

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong......can you tell which one??

This is my friend's son....peeking at the kitties or, as he likes to call them, meow meows :)

An amazing day!

Today was...incredible. You wouldn't know, the way it started....

Sundays are always chaos at our house. Why this is, I'm not quite sure. but, by the time I got to church, I was flustered. Then we blew through the music for this morning. (I'm on the worship team) After that was over, I felt stressed and not particularly worshipful at all. Made it through most of the service. I went to sit down after we were done singing and Jonah was crying. I let it go because this is the norm on a communion Sunday. Jonah always gets upset that we won't allow him to take communion yet. I sensed however that he needed to talk so I motioned to him to follow me. We went downstairs and had a talk. I asked him why he was upset. "Dad won't let me take the bread and juice," he replied. "Do you know why you aren't allowed?" I asked. He shrugged. "It's because we don't want you to take communion until we know that you have decided to ask Jesus into your heart." I explained. He paused for a minute and then said, "What does that mean?" So i explained it to him. He paused again and then said, "Mom, do you think you could come with me after church to talk to Grandpa about asking Jesus into my heart?" My heart almost exploded. So after service, we sought out my dad. My mom was standing there too. "Grandpa", Jonah said. "Could you help me ask Jesus into my heart?" My mom started bawling. It was so awesome. And so, my precious oldest child accepted the Lord today....and the angels are singing!

Whew! Not that I can top that but here's some pictures from decorating cookies at my mom's house yesterday!

This is me before....man, my face looks fat :) And here's me now.....

My face still looks fat...oh well! :)

I am so excited

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! Today I got my Christmas present. A digital camera. I can't believe it!! I'm looking at it charging right now, counting the seconds until I can use it!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Tomorrow is the day. I'm going to get my hair cut. I haven't totally decided what to do. If it's disatrous, I will not post pictures!!! But it is just hair and it will grow.

Congrats to Mindy and Jayson and their new beautiful boy!! I'm so glad he's finally here, can't wait to meet him!

My camera is done...pics to follow!

How about this???

http://gallery.hairboutique.com/details.asp?ID=7228

Advice and congratualtions

I dreamt a lot last night. I spent the majority of the day yesterday reading a book. This always happens to me, I start reading something and I can do nothing else until I've finished. I did stop to feed my family, but I ate mine at the computer. This story captivated me. I related to the characters all in different ways, on different levels. The author is just beginning what I think will be a fantastic career. She paints word pictures that flowed through my brain all night long. I fell asleep retelling the story in my head and woke up the same way. So, in a word, bravo!

I'm going out on Saturday. My girlfriend Mindy convinced me to go with her and her mom to this place. It 's a beauty college where you can go and get special things done for cheap because the people doing are students. I'm have a spa manicure and getting my hair cut. I've never had a manicure before. Guess it's about time. I am getting my hiar cut. I haven't had it cut by anyone but Matt for a few years. I really want something different. Do you think this style would look good on me??? Check it out and let me know what you think...
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/4/46/180px-Mariska_Hargitay.jpg

I love this new template! I've been searching and searching for a Christmas one.....Thanks to Caz a million times over!!!

Nothing much new to report. The kittens are settling in well. The kids adore them, sometimes too much. Molli is sporting quite the collection of scratches due to her "enthusiasm". They've taken over my computer chair however. This makes being on the computer slightly more complicated! I had a whole conversation with my sister-in-law on IM yesterday standing next to the computer! So we are going to have a serious talk about my chair!

Well off to have coffee, hope you all have a good day!

Announcement

Alright, it's confession time. I knew that once it happened to most of you, it was bound to happen to us. I just can't control myself. What can I say? So here it is.....

There is a new member of our family. Actually two.....







Everyone...Meet our new kittens.



That's right, when the Kurtz's get a pet, we go all out. One kitten was not enough you see. " Mom, they're twins.....They can't be apart..." Of course I wasn't a tough sell, I fell in love with them instantly. And I'm usually not a cat person. So into our home they came. The kids are thrilled. These poor cats are sleeping now because the kids are all outside and it's quiet. No one chasing them or trying to keep them in one spot. Last night, I swear one of them was talking to me telepathically. He looked at me and I swear I heard him say, "How much longer till these children go to bed???" I looked back and replied, "I'm asking myself the same thing!" They are both boys, much to Molli's dismay. She was all ready to call one, Sleeping Beauty! Alas, we had to think of boy names. I left this soley up to the kids. Wanna know what they came up with? Bob and Larry. That's right, we have Bob the cat and his brother, Larry. The only way to tell them apart is that Bob has a extra toe on one paw. They are cuddlers and will make an excellent addition to our home! Sorry about the picture, some of us have yet to receive a digital camera! I took this shot with my web cam!

Now how many of you assumed I was pregnant?????????

Pics

Just because I can, here's some shots of the kids..thanks to Grandpa McGlynn for these!!

Whirlwind

Man, my head is spinning. Whew! Crazy, crazy, crazy! We are snowed in, literally. The kids have their first snow day of the year (Jonah and Molli cried!). I remember when we had snow days in High school and I wanted to go out with my friends. My dad always told me that if the roads were bad enough to close for school than for sure I wasn't going anywhere. Party pooper :)

Other news, Princess has found a new home. I decided, as I was cleaning 0ut her cage the other day, that the kids really have little to do with her and I do it all and she just sits there. The final straw was yesterday when Emma let her escape and we spent an hour trying to get her back into her cage from underneath Jonah's bed! So I listed her on our local Freecycle network. Last night, a very nice woman and her two sons came and picked up Princess. They have another rat so Princess will have a friend. Plus they like to train them/play with them constantly so that's good. My kids were very nonchalant about the whole thing, which I suppose was a good thing.....Now they're asking for a cat.....heaven help me!

Well what to do with my day? Maybe getting dressed would be a good place to start...or maybe not!

Roses

So this is my roses blog. Have you ever seen those roses to things in newspapres? A way to say thanks...so here it is.....

A rose to: Mindy Hubbard. Our van died so we were down to one vehicle. Which meant that we were getting our kids up at 2:30 AM and loading them into Matt's little car that has no heat and taking Matt to work because we needed the car to gets kids to school, etc. So Mindy Hubbard is now picking up my kids and taking them to school, EVERY DAY! What a blessing she is, so she gets my first rose.

A rose to: My husband, some days......man, I'm thankful for him!

A rose to: My mom. She never ceases to amaze me with her unconditional love and support.

A rose to: My blogging friends. Every day I write things on here and you all are so faithful to always take my side and give encouragement...roses to you all!

A rose to: Mindy Schoeberlein who I think just needs one :)

A rose to: Whoever invented the automatic coffe maker....God Bless you!

A rose to: Jonah's teacher, Ms. Mary. What a wonderfully perceptive woman she is. And she is just so perfect and just what my Jonah needs.

A rose to: my friend, Shannon Schauer who always keeps intouch with me, even though we never see each other

There it is, all my roses have been delivered for the day :)

From here to................................................here

My Molli,

Five years ago tonight you came into our lives. Our first little girl. It's been an adventure from the moment you arrived, looking all around and not making a sound, to now where it's all I can do to keep you quiet! What a beautiful and wonderful journey it has been so far. You are such a vibrant, exciting girl and I love you so much. Here's to another 5! (hopefully!)

My last post was such a downer that I decided we needed a little Christmas spirit. So here is our family photo. The only one, I must point out, with Sydney. It turned out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself. No smile from Syd, but at least she's not crying or sucking her finger!!! Click on the picture to see it bigger!

I've been up since 3:30 AM. Why are there just some things that we cannot push from our minds no matter how hard we try??

Some of you have written of struggles you have with family stuff. Why is it that family issues wound us so deeply?? We expect our families to love us uncondtionally, to uphold and support us, to rejoice with us, to grieve with us.....to help us. When we are met with condemnation and anger, it destroys us, more so than any other relationship I think. There is saddness in our house today. I feel heavy, burdened. Say a little prayer for us today, if you think of it.

On a brighter note, tomorrow is my Molli's birthday (it's also Zoe's...Happy Birthday Zoe!!) Parties always help lighten the mood, right??

Success

We did it! We made it! My mom braved her awful back and we went to the concert. It was so good....I am so glad we went. My mom handled it beautifully and we have a fabulous time together. Thanks to those of you who I know were praying that she would be able to make it through the concert!

Life continues to chug along at the Kurtz's. We have the tree up and decorated and the kids are getting excited about Christmas. It sure does have a different feel this year, because it's on Sunday. But cool too.

So last night (back to the concert because it was awesome and it's my blog) We were sitting, enjoying the music. Well in the Van Andel arena there are suites at the very top of the stadium where the rich people get to watch events. Well the suite above where we were sitting was full of rich teenage girls. They talked THE WHOLE SHOW!!!! Even when it was quiet, we could hardly hear SCC because they were talking and laughing. Finally, near the end of the show, someone got up and climbed up there and told them to be quiet, that just because they were in a box didn't mean that we couldn't hear them. They sort of quieted down. THAT IS SO ANNOYING!!! It happened to us when we went to see.........Well, a movie. This girl would laugh about every 5 minutes. Even when the movie was serious, she was laughing. I thought my mom was going to throw something at her! But how do you deal with something like that? I was like, I have paid good money to be here and I WANT TO HEAR WHAT'S GOING ON!!!! Either whisper or GO AWAY!

*deep breath* Sorry, that was just vastly frustrating! Anyway, just wanted to tell y'all about the concert! IT WAS AWESOME!

Disaster

It was going to be perfect. I had had it planned out for months. As soon as I had heard about it, I had formed a plan. But now....

I love Steven Curtis Chapman. I love his music, him as a person. Matt and I went to his All things New concert and it was amazing. So when I heard that he was touring with Mercy Me doing a Christmas concert, I just knew I had to go. Matt wasn't too thrilled with the last concert so I decided that I would give my mom tickets for her birthday in October. Then we planned it all out. We would leave right after I dropped the kids at school. We would spend the day in Grand Rapids, just the two of us. Christmas shopping and eating out. It was going to be great. The concert is tomorrow. I was so excited.

Then my mom went to the ER. She really hurt her back and can hardly move. So no concert. Although, I have the tickets! I have to go! I already spent the money and everything. I am so bummed......

Anyone feel like to going to Grand rapids tomorrow???

Next...

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day. We ate, talked, ate, watched parades, ate, did dishes, ate, played games, and ate. All in all a good day. Ken and Robin (my brother and sister-in-law) stayed the night which was way fun. Then I subjected my sister-in-law to the madness of Wal-Mart at 4:30 AM on Friday. I know those "Wal-Mart boycotters" are cringing right now, but I've never had a bad experience there. Anyway, it was insanity. People were pushing and shoving, not where I was of course. We were in and out and home by 6 AM. The trick?? Team shopping. Robin quick got into the layaway line while I went and got the stuff I wanted.That was great because while there were only 10 people in the line when Robin got in it, by the time I got there, there were 80 people in it! It worked beautifully. Uncle Kenny was brilliant with the kids who were up early as well. (Matt had to work, as if anyone is buying chips the morning after Thanksgiving!!) So we had donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast. Then we all got dressed and braved the crowds one more time to get a Christmas tree. So yesterday we decorated our tree and the house. It really feels festive now.

Anyone else have a good Thanksgiving story???

Thanksgiving

Well I thought I should post something very meaningful to celebrate this holiday. What can I say...hmmm? I could say something about the five kernels that the pilgrims put by their plates every year to remind themselves of how they had nothing and to be thankful. Nah, let me just tell you about yesterday instead.

Alright so just with our family alone we have 15 people for Thanksgiving. The Walton's remember?? We have two little old ladies at church who have absolutely no family so we're having them over as well. Then there's another gal who's a few years older than me and she's divorced. Her daughter is going to be with her dad all day so we invited her too. Then there's my brother and sister-in-law who don't have anywhere to be, so add them. That's 20 people.... So there I was, feeling so good about myself that we had included others on this holiday.

Then my mom calls. Here's the deal....

She was at work yesterday (she's the secretary at our church). A woman and her young daughter come into the church. They look somewhat dirty and lost. She tells my mom her story. They've been living in a cheap motel for the last three months. She has a four year old daughter and an 8 year old son who it turns out goes my brother's Noah's school and he has epilepsy. She was at her wits end. They couldn't pay for the hotel this week and the place they're moving into won't be ready until the end of next week. So they were staying in the car. All she wanted was a few dollars to do some laundry so her son could have some clean clothes for school. Now people come into the church all the time asking for money. There was just something about this family that struck my mom. Now a sidenote on my mother, she is an amazing woman, the most giving person I know. She also has an amazing gift of discernment. And she knew this woman was the real deal. So tomorrow we will have another three people for dinner. This family. When she called and told me, she thought I might be shocked. I thought I might be too . But the more she told me about them, the more I knew that this is EXACLTY what this holiday is about. My grandma has bought enough food to feed all the homeless shelters in the city, so it's not like there isn't enough. But if we aren't willing to leave the comfort of our families and friends and share the blessings that we have been given, than how can be truly be thankful? Sometimes we have to see what other's DON'T have to realize how blessed we are with the things we DO have. Jesus said, "What you do for the least of these brothers, you do for ME."

So my thanksgiving lesson is for myself. Bless others with what you've been blessed with and you'll both share in the blessing.

Nothingness

I haven't posted for a few days. But truly, there has been nothing worthy of blogging about. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving....tons of food and people. I love it.

Then of course we slam right into the holidays. Molli's birthday is first and then Christmas. Wow, can it really almost be the end of the year?!?!?!?!

WHEW

Matt's mom and dad are coming today. Now I don't know about you but on a daily basis my house is not clean. Not "dirty" just extremely messy. Well I knew they were coming today. So when Matt left for work this morning I got up and starting cleaning.

Something strange happened as I was cleaning the living room. "hmmmm", I thought to myself. "I think I'll rearrange a few pieces of furniture." Well that bloody thought snow balled and I rearranged the WHOLE room. Not only that, but I dug out the shop vac and cleaned the edges of the room, scrubbed the walls, vacuumed out the couch and dusted. Yes, I know....You're in shock. So a project that should have taken 2 hours maybe ended up taking me 7 hours.....Ugh. I HATE cleaning. But my house now looks awesome and feels clean. Matt thought maybe he had the wrong house when he came home!!!!

On a sidenote, I must say this. Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser is the most fantastic invention ever made. I'm convinced that it was made by a group of mothers. Never have I found a product that removes pen, crayon, marker..Anything from the walls, cabinets, doors, etc. It is so awesome. I even went so far today as to go to their website and left them a message thanking them for their wonderful product. So cool.

Well my cleaning is done (before you think I am superwoman you must know that my cleaning did NOT include my bedroom or the entire upstairs...We're just not granting access to those places!) I must some appropriate visiting clothes.

Back

Well, I'm back. In case you hadn't noticed :) SBC has proven yet again that the sqeaky wheel gets the oil.....grrrr.

We finished Lost. I HAVE A MILLION QUESTIONS!!! What's in the hatch?? Who are the others??? WHERE'S WALT?????? All of these questions are rhetorical....please don't answer them. Guess we'll just have to wait for the stinking next season. AHHHHHH!!!!!

Felicity is still awesome though....

Here's Emma's pictures that I had taken...they turned out so nice. More blogging later....

Totally random

Well it's been a while. I am yet again convinced that SBC is the anti-Christ. But I must not harbor ill will, hopefully we will have internet back again soon. In the mean time, I'll share this and that.

We're still making our way through Lost. I'm still LOVING it. It's so frustrating as we finish a disc to RUN it to the mailbox and wait another 2-3 days to get the next one. Ah well. In between Lost discs, I have discovered felicity. I vaguely remember when it was on TV, but I saw it at the library and decided to try it. I LOVE IT! Matt is truly sick of it, but I'm hooked.

On from my viewing habits......We went and had family Christmas pictures taken on Sunday. Ok, please remind me next year to do this in SEPTEMBER!!! It was total insanity. My kids looked gorgeous however and we finally managed to get them done. I'll post one when we get them back next week. Matt was not happy about getting them taken, but we haven't had a family picture taken since Sydney was born so it was high time. He survived!

Everything else is well. It blows my mind that Thanksgiving is next week, where in the world is this year going?!?!??! I'm so excited for the holiday though. Matt's brother and his wife are coming to stay with us and doing Thanksgiving with the Waltons at mom's house. It's too fun. Lots of noise, food, game, noise, people, noise......You get the idea! And then we launch in to Christmas starting with the highlight for me, the Steven Curtis Chapman/Mercy Me Christmas concert!!! WOO HOO!!!! So big stuff happening.

Well I think that's it for now, if you don't hear from me soon...Someone plan an assassination attempt for SBC....

Jail

It's finally happened.....I knew it would happen one day. I just wasn't prepared. I'm so careful, but it happened anyway.

I got pulled over.

I saw the lights and my whole stomach started churning. By the time I pulled over and rolled down my window, I was crying. Not just a gentle tear mind you, but full blown crying. "Matt is going to kill me!!", I'm thinking to myself as I dig for my insurance and license. I watched him get out of his squad car and walk towards us. As he walks up to the side of the car, Emma starts to cry. I turned to tell her it was ok, but of course I'm hysterical. "Ma'am do you know how fast you were going?" More tears.... "No, sir," I sob. Of course, I really didn't know, who watches their speedometer?!

Then it starts. Emma starts screaming at the top of her lungs...."I DON'T WANT TO GO TO JAIL!!!!!! I AM WEARING MY SEATBELT! PLEASE DON"T LET HIM TAKE US MOMMY!!!!!" The policeman gets very flustered by this. He leans in to reassure her that he is not going to take us anywhere. She cries harder, "NOT JAIL!" He mumbled some things under his breath and sent me on my way with a warning....Wonderful policeman. Emma finally calmed down as she watched him drive away, now secure in the fact that she would not be going to jail today.

My husband was furious :)

56 Questions

56 Questions that have no meaning or relevance to anything but they are fun.
UNIQUE
1. Nervous habits - I rub my eyebrows, saves money for getting them waxed!
2. Are you double jointed - No.
3. Can you roll your tongue - no
4. Can you raise one eyebrow at a time - Yes
5. Can you blow spit bubbles - Yes.
6. Can you cross your eyes - Yes.
7. Tattoos - No.
8. Piercing - Just my ears.
9. Do you make your bed daily - Yes

CLOTHES
10. Which shoe goes on first? Right, even though I'm left handed
11. Speaking of shoes, have you ever thrown one at anyone? Yes
12. On the average, how much money do you carry? - $0- I have a debit card - who needs cash?
13. What jewelry do you wear 24/7 - Wedding Rings, my manatee ring that Matt got me and my silver cross necklace
14. Favorite piece of clothing - anything comfortable, jeans

FOOD
15. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? Twirl it
16. Have you ever eaten Spam? I'd have to be starving
17. Do you use extra salt on your food - depends on the food
18. How many cereals in your cabinet - Had to go count...9!!
19. What's your favorite beverage -Pepsi
20. What's your favorite fast food restaurant -Arbys or Taco Bell
21. Do you cook - Yes

GROOMING
22. How often do you brush your teeth -At least once a day
23. Hair drying method - air dry
24. Have you ever colored/highlighted your hair -A couple of times, I went red, it was fuN!

MANNERS
25. Do you swear - No, oddly enough I still feel like crap and fart are swear words!
26. Do you ever spit - Only when I have a cold and lots of flem

FAVORITE
27. Animal - Manatees!
28. Food - Steak
29. Month - December
30. Day - Saturday
31. Cartoon -I detest cartoons
32. Shoe brand - anything cute!
33. Subject in school - English
34. Color - Purple
35. Sport - Football
36. TV shows - House
37. Thing to do in the spring - open windows, go to the park
38. Thing to do in the summer - Swim at mom's,go for walks
39. Thing to do in the autumn - put on a sweatshirt!
40. Thing to do in the winter - Shopping
41. In the CD player - lol, Christmas music, (don't tell my dad!)
42. Person you talk most on the phone with - Mindy :)
43. Reading - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, brushing up before the movie!
44. Do you regularly check yourself out in store windows/mirrors - nope.
45. What color is your bedroom - Casual blue, very nice if I do say so myself!
46. Do you use an alarm clock - No, but I have to have the clock on my side so I always know what time it is!
47. Window seat or aisle - Window
48. What's your sleeping position - My side while Matt is in bed, when he leaves, my tummy
49. Even in hot weather do you use a blanket - Yes
50. Do you snore - Matt says yes :)
51. Do you sleepwalk - No.
52. Do you talk in your sleep - No.
53. Do you sleep with stuffed animals -um, no
54. How about with the light on - No.
55. Do you fall asleep with the TV or radio on - I love to fall asleep with the TV on, Matt hates it though
56. Last interesting person you met - Misty and Sandy!

Sorry for subjecting y'all to another one of these, but I just love them!!

15 questions with Molli

I wondered just what my very intelligent daughter thought about some things...here are her answers!

1. Who is the president? mommy
2. Who is stronger Superman or Spiderman? Superman
3. Does our get good gas mileage? Nope
4. How much money does Daddy make? 18 dollars
5. How many years do you have to go to school? 18 years
6. How old do people live to be? 43
7. What is the best color to wear to an evening wedding? White, I mean pink
8. What is college? you go to school and do homework and stuff and projects
9. What is a republican?president of the country (????)
10. What do you think of stem cell research? I don't know what that is Mom.....
11. If you had one wish, what would it be? I'd be a princess, Sleeping Beauty
12. What is in a museum? books and makeup and letters and drink stuff and phones
13. What is rugby? college
14. Can Barbie beat up Ken? NOOO because Barbies are not real
15. What are the little blue buttons that you push to make doors open? they're for the wheelchair people like Noah

Molli's view of the world.....

Weekend update

We had a great weekend!! What a fun visit with the in-laws and it was so great to see Matt's grandparents. The kids enjoyed being away and speding time with family. Add to that my fun getaway and it was a terrific weekend!!!

Alas we are back to real life. Although I must admit that it feels good to be home. The kids seemed to slump back into themselves as we walked in the door. And I am looking forward to seeing everyone at church tonight.....

But the absolute highlight of my weekend.....FINDING MAPLE SUGAR CANDY AT CRACKER BARREL!!!! I was so thrilled. I thought the only place in the world to find that stuff was in Frankenmuth!!! So very awesome!

Here they are, the picture of my room. The color is called Classic Blue. I worked till midnight last night and all day today to get it done. My poor wrists were so bad (I have carpal tunnel) but now that my pain meds are kicking in, it's way better! I really like it. Depending on how the light hits it, it looks gray. Very cool. I'm rather pleased although I hate painting. Now Matt wants to know when I'm doing the rest of the house! :)














































So there you have it, my attempt at beautifying my home!

Tomorrow we head to Detroit to visit Matt's family. The kids are so excited about getting away. Please say a prayer for our poor van.....it's taken so many trips!! But the weekend promises to hold many fun times. Details when we return or even while we're there, they have a nice computer!!

Camping out

We're at Mom's again. For Pastor's appreciation this year, the church decided, in lew of giving my dad cash(he's the pastor of our church in case you didn't already know that), of getting them a trip. My parents got to pick the place and the congregation all helped send them. Really great idea, I thought. So they're gone and we're camped out at Mom's taking care of Noah. I was having flashbacks last night of our year in the attic as Matt and I slept in my parent's room with all three girls! Memories....Like the corner of my mind.....

I was so thrilled that House was back last night. Man, I love that show. And a brief update on Lost.....IT'S AWESOME!!! I'm so hooked. I told Matt last night that I want it for Christmas. It's one of those that I could watch repeatedly and not get tired of it. So cool.

And now brace yourselves..................I'm going to paint my bedroom. I got a gift certificate to do just that back when we moved in and there it still sits. So I'm biting the bullet while it's 65 outside and I can have all the windows open. I'll take pictures when I'm done. Pray for me, I hope I like the color I picked!!!