All About Meredith Grace

Meredith was "All About Me" this week at school She had to make a poster, which she did so creatively. She wrote everything on it and thought up all that she wanted it to say. What a dolly!! Everyone at school just loves her. And she loves herself too.. especially this week when it really is .. . All About Her!!!

Our snow day brought...

Outdoor fun
Baking yummy pumpkin bread
movies
knitting
Scrabble
jammies
chili
Christmas music
playing with our dolls
shooting dolls with guns
nail painting
a day of much needed relaxing

Snow, snow, snow!!!

The snow was predicted to fall heavy all night long. It did. The kids wore their jammies backwards to bed. An older, wiser, school pal had informed Marky that this was the surest way to have a snow day.
IT WORKED!!!
NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!
We needed a snow day. A day off. What a blessing.
I can't wait to see what this day brings.

Hurray for backwards jammies!!!

Life in Quick time

October, where have you gone?? September, where did you go? I can't believe that we are coming up on Halloween! When you spend the better part of 2 months not doing your regular "thing" the passing of time feels strange. Although the days have zoomed by, I have also experienced moments where I didn't think the clock was ticking at all. Too weird. I went to the doctor this morning, and his report was great. I am supposed to wean myself off of my air-cast and can resume normal activity as my foot allows. My heel is healing perfectly with the new, stronger bone visible on the x-ray. I am thrilled to be coming to the end of this mis-adventure. If I never encounter anything like this, I will be a happy girl. Who knows why this was how my autumn months were to be spent. Questions that may never be answered fill my mind. I choose to take what was good from the experience and use it for the purpose of thanksgiving. If for no other reason than to be reminded of all I have to be grateful for, it was all worth it.

We had a wonderful weekend. Friday evening I had the opportunity to speak for a women's event at our church. It was a honor and such a privilege to get to do it. Minutes before I spoke, I experienced an explosion of stage fright in my little heart, but with the encouragement of my friend Lara, I did indeed get up to speak. God has used the preparation that I did for my talk in my life so many times over the past few weeks. I studied Nehemiah's life and his spiritual disciplines; so much to learn from this Old Testament hero. I'm so glad that I was able to delve into his story in a deep way. Saturday, we went to a park in Loveland and took our annual family pictures. My dad is a really great photographer and his assistant (my mom) helps make us all laugh with her crazy antics. We got some really great pictures of our family. I have a wall in my house that displays these pictures and not a day goes by that I don't smile back at the sweet faces of the ones I love most. My most precious possessions. Everyone was a good sport with the amount of pictures that we took. Well, for the most part. Dad took over 200 pictures, so I guess you can't blame SOME of us for getting cranky. (Who me?) After our photography session, Patrick and the kids headed to Longmont for their annual "without mama trip to the hotel". Patrick earns free nights at the Holiday Inn with all of his traveling, and it was time to redeem them. Daddy and the kids have special things that they do together on these trips and it was so much fun to hear them prepare for their overnight adventure. Swimming, dinner at Red Robin, movies, jumping on the beds, staying up late, hotel breakfast - these are a few of the activities they were anticipating. Saturday afternoon, my sweet Maddie said to me "Well, I guess you could come Mommy, but you can't tell us what to do.". So, I stayed home. I went to a movie, cleaned up the house, went to Target, ordered take-out, slept in, did some crafty things, and missed everyone :). After they got home Sunday afternoon. Marky and Grandma Oman made invitations to Marky's birthday party. They had a fun time doing that together. The rest of the night was spent going to church, and getting to bed a little bit earlier than usual to make up for the late night Saturday. Monday morning certainly came sooner than any of us wished today, but it was just a perfect weekend in every way, so it was all good!

Gift

I made this apron for a friend last week. It turned out so beautiful... I wanted to keep it for myself! I still have some fabric so I could make a duplicate. It looks like chocolate. Yumm!
My friend Kelly really loved it - she told me that she's already worn it a few times. YAY!!

Buds

Michael with his 2 best friends - Daddy and Molly.

A good day

This morning, Patrick and I went to school for parent/teacher conferences. It is a joy to sit and hear the girls' teachers commend our children for all of the good that they are doing in school. Each one of them is so unique and special. They all approach school in different ways. I was a happy mama when I hear that for the most part the training that they are receiving at home is reflected at school. They all made super academic grades, but even more importantly is how kind and respectful and obedient their teachers said they were. We were quite proud of them. After conferences, Daddy had to go to work, but I took the kids to Sonic for lunch and to Target for a gift. It's been a nice day having the kids at home with Michael and I. Some days it is just too quiet around here without them!

Meet Max

Call it craziness, call it compassion, call it loony, call it what you will but I have added a new member to our family. His name is Max and he is a cute little doggie that I brought home from the humane society a couple of weeks ago. I saw his little picture on their website and just thought that he looked to cute to not live with us. Everyone (well mostly) agrees with me. Michael calls him "the new doggy". Max follows me around everywhere I go, licks anything his short tongue can reach, already is familiar with where he gets food and goes potty, chews, chews, and chews some more. He has gotten out of the backyard once, chased the kitty a few times, introduced himself to Molly in ways that only male dogs can, been challenged by Molly several times, but has generally been accepted into the Henricks family.

Let it snow!!

The weather outside is frightful... well, maybe not frightful but definitely COLD!!! We had our first snow today. It only lasted about half the day, but it was long enough to enjoy a cup of coffee while sitting by the fireplace. Michael and Meredith ran outside as soon as they saw the flakes floating down from the sky. Meredith raced to get her coat and said "I'm going to make a snow angel!" All day long I kept thinking of Marky up in the mountains at 9,000 feet elevation, hiking and doing the ropes course. Hopefully she wore all of the things she took with her!!! It's supposed to get even colder this weekend, perhaps with even more snow. Maybe Meredith will get to make a snow angel after all!!

Perfect

Maddie and I were baking little cupcake treats. We made the frosting, and after my taste test, I commented that the frosting I made just never tasted as good as Aunt Lisa's. Maddie said "It's alright Mommy, you can't always be perfect like Aunt Lisa." Good thing I love Aunt Lisa as much as I do!!!

And...she's off!

Marky left for eco-week this morning. She was really excited, a tad anxious, had a little cough, prepared with all things warm and comforting from home (blankie, long underwear, favorite scarf). It was really fun to drop her off at school with her sleeping bag and backpack, getting on the bus with all of her fellow 5th graders. I'm so excited for her for this opportunity to grow and succeed at life away from home. It will be so much fun to re-live it with her when she gets home... after she's had a nap and recouped, of course.

What's new here

Maddie just got glasses. She looks so cute in them. They are blue and they match her beautiful blue eyes so well. Hopefully her new glasses will help her see better and the headaches that she's been having will subside. We are now buddies with our glasses on :).

The things she says!

Yesterday afternoon I told Meredith that she was going to get to see Vicki that night. She was happy and then she asked "Where are you and Daddy going?"
"We are going on a date", I said. To which she responded with a crinkled up nose "Are you going to, like, kiss?" I told her, "We might". She crinkled her nose even more and said "Ew".

I swear, she makes me laugh every day!

Too cute!

Last night as I was putting Meredith to bed, we were picking out what she was going to wear to school today. usually we base that choice on the "special" she has that day. So she asked me what she had and I said "You have music tomorrow."
She responded with much drama and enthusiasm,
"THAT'S UNBELIEVABLE!"
And then she paused and asked
"What does unbelievable mean, Mommy?"

Today

October 1, 2009 brought...

• gratitude for a night out last night with my mom to Macaroni Grill
• wind
• leaves falling
• Michael got to play with his friend Xalen all afternoon
• a new doggy, Max!
• one more day until Daddy gets home
• tears regarding our upcoming flu shot appointment tomorrow afternoon
• tried a few moves without the crutches
  
• joy over our new doggy
• a good parking spot at school
• made a couple of hair appointments for clients for next week
• tried a few more moves without the crutches
  
• cold weather
• pumpkin latte

It always seems like October 1st begins the countdown to crazy in our family. In the days between now and January 1st, we have 3 birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, parent/teacher conferences, family pictures, and that is just the basics. There are some years that I am not fit to be around by January 2 (my apologies to my family for those years). I don't want this year to be one of those. I am going to really try this year to be Spirit-filled, and Simplicity-driven over the next few months. My family deserves nothing less than that. It will be such a joy-ful accomplishment to "finish strong" through these events. Because of our blended family situation, things like birthdays and holidays can be extremely stressful and avoidance or just plain stubborn will seem to be the only ways to survive. However, I want this year to be different. I'm going to make it different. Here we go!!!