2009 Highlights Video

Early Christmas Tea Party

We did Christmas early this year and the girls are very excited about all the presents from their aunts. We had a hard time getting Sarah out of the tunnel Razzi sent her and Rachel immediately started this tea party. Tomorrow we are slated to watch one of the Shirley Temple movies the got from the Richers. Thanks family for thoughtfully loving our kids. Merry Christmas!!

More

Sarah is just learning how to to sign more. Its not quite the real sign but familes learn how to interperet their small children. The video is long and she only really signs at the beginning. The rest of the time I just think her and Rachel are cute.

Pumpkin Patch

Pre-Walking

This is a video we took a few days ago of Sarah. We will see if she will be walking by the time Grandma and Grampa come for Thanksgiving.

Hagerty Halloween Initiation

Rachel's First Halloween


Sarah's First Halloween

Razzi's Wedding

Razzi and Lonnie's wedding was a lot of fun. Very chilly up in northern Michigan this time of year but very beautiful. They picked a great place to turn Lonnie into Uncle Lonnie. It was great to see family and to let Razzi and Lonnie show us around one of their favorite places on earth. Sarah got ear infections the day before, but with some antibiotics was able to recover even though her parents took exposed her to lots of hot and cold transitions. She and Rachel were both troopers. It really is kind of fun traveling with them.

Rachel's Dad is still recovering from seeing her in a mini wedding dress and counts himself lucky that she still wants to dance with him.

One tradition that should be changed. Music at weddings needs to be brought down a decibel or two. Really...who decided that no one should be able to talk if it was time to dance. Maybe people wouldn't dance if the bass wasn't pounding through their chests but they probably would.

Sarah laughing

This is about 2 and a half minutes of Sarah laughing. So if you aren't interested in that, skip it. If you like laughing babies though, this is pretty cute.

Slide Slide Slip and Slide

Check out what I did for my birthday!



Just kidding!

106.8 degree day

We are experiencing record heat here in our neck of the woods. And the McDougalls have no A/C. So they came over and took advantage of the hose bib on the front of my house that we recently had fixed. Having little girls is something else. You will notice them referring to the mist setting on the nozzle as perfume. *sigh*

First Camping Trip with Kids

Play Video

We have been beaten. Ian and I both took a half day of vacation for a camping trip whose preparation time to trip time ratio was way too big. Upon arrival Molly started to get sick resulting in several puking episodes and the mosquitoes at this place were overwhelming. We were so excited about the views that we experienced on our way to the campsite that we were shocked by the kamikazi-like attack we experienced when we stepped out of our cars. Imagine 5 grown adults going into a frenzy trying to get their hands on any bug spray they could find. Of course we tried to get the kids covered first. But in the end there was quite the fall out. Alli, we now know, welts up in a horrifying manner when bit by these skeeters. She got one by her eye that made her look like she got decked in the face.

On the bright side, I have new camping gear. The kids slept great, and Rachel specifically enjoyed camping. On the down side we got to the campsite at 6PM on Friday and left by 5:30 PM on Saturday. A whole day earlier than we planned (and paid for)

Winners:
Mosquitos who got way more food in their first 2 hours than most get in a lifetime.
Kim and Kurt who decided not to go purely based on the length of the drive
Pat who left after work and did not take any vacation time.
Nicole who continues to declare " I LOVE CAMPING!"
Bruce - I had 4 goals, hike around the lake, a campfire, a nap and canoeing. I did not get to canoe since we left early. 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Losers: Molly whose whole trip was pretty much miserable. She even paid for a fishing license which did not get used, not to mention she was the one who anticipated this trip the most and tried the hardest to keep it going.
Alli: Welts
The kids who lost out on time on the water and a second night of s'mores.
Bruce and Ian who spent a half day vacation which equaled 1/6 of the entire time at the campsite.

In the end, there were some good pictures, and some quality time spent with friends which can at least be called an "adventure".

Might I add that I think the fact that I have to go to great lengths to get these music backed videos to your eyes is super annoying. I tried to put this on youtube and it stripped the sound track. LAME!!

So Big

Someone likes the limelight!

Here's moms garden Grandma

Since you do not get to see this in person, Grandma, I thought I would show it to you.

Sarah Learns to Crawl

All we could hear from the kitchen while we were working on dinner was, "You can do it! You can do it!:"

Also go to our "Link List" on the right hand side of the page and check out our YouTube Videos. I have posted some new ones there as well.

Summer Vacation Slideshow

We are going to try to add photos to this throughout our days with fun pictures. Lets see how well we do!

Pictures I like

We are half slacker and half dimwits. We lost our SD card with several months worth of pictures. Ever heard that parable of the woman who searches high and low tearing her home apart in search for a coin? Well rest asured I will open a bottle of wine and celebrate when that SD card shows its pretty little face. In the mean time, I am posting some of the cutest pictures we have taken lately. Also, you can click on the photos for fun comments that might mean something to family.

Baby Dedication

I was just trolling the internet and found that, although neither the Ranks or the Hagertys filmed our children's dedication, the 3rd family on stage that day did. How cool is it that I found it! I wonder how many other people's you tube videos I am in!

I will miss you Riley :-( You were the best first boyfriend a puppy could ask for! Bites and Licks, Kaya

Goodbye to A Grateful Man

Tom Bettger (Molly Rank's dad) died last Thursday in a tragic bicycle accident. Nicole and I had the privilege of spending time with Molly's family in Boise, Idaho this weekend. Throughout our time with them, there is no doubt that he would be easily described as a great man. From the family members he encouraged, to the refugees he ministered to, to the woman who cut his hair who he impacted, to my daughter who he lavished his affection upon, there is an endless list of great things he has done. But to remember him this way falls a tad short for me.

No, looking back, what defines Tom to me was not that he was a great man, but that he was a grateful man. Tom understood that he was blessed beyond anything he could ever deserve. As if his salvation was not enough, God blessed him with a beautiful wife who loved him dearly, children and a son-in-law who adored him, fantastic brothers, a sister and nieces and nephews who love the Lord and each other. He had been given the opportunity to share in the joy of doing God's work and for all of this you could tell he was terribly grateful. He did not do great things for the sake of doing great things. They were what overflowed from his grateful spirit.

To have him as a role model could be overwhelming if one felt like they had to do all the amazing things that he did. But you did not have to live with Tom for years to realize that he was not overwhelmed by trying to do good. He was just so thankful for everything God had done for him and wanted nothing more than for others to know how much God loves them too. In the news clip I attached there is a shot of him crazy in love with his grandson Graham. If that is not a look of a thankful man I don't know what is.

If I could take one thing away from knowing Tom, it is the richness of life that comes from having a spirit of Thankfulness. I suppose I will start honoring his memory by just thanking God that I was able to know him.

In the words of Ty Pennington, "Theres only one thing left to say: Welcome home TOM!! Welcome home!!"

And in the words of Tom himself, "If I don't see you in the future, I will see you in the pasture"

Tom, we will see you in the pasture.

(Visit Molly's blog to post a note of encouragement)

You never know what your kids will learn in Pre School

This is all video.

This first section shows off Rachel's new found love for acrobatics. She has been doing this for days. She just comes into my office and flips away.









The next section comes from this new trick she learned in school. She loves to make this clicking sound and loves teaching us how to do it. Although I feel like I know how to click with the best of them, however Rachel continues to instruct me. I suppose there is always room for improvement.

Gardening Fun

I know it's been a while, and I'm sure you're expecting photos of the girls, but it's that time of year again and I'm so excited about my garden that I've decided to show you what's been going on in the backyard...

Bruce and Rachel building me a pea tower

Sarah joined us outside as we worked

Brussel Sprouts Sprouting!

Snow Peas and Snap Peas!

Pac Choi and Lettuce!

Must Read

I know there are some of you who use my blog links as your own personal list of favorites. I know there are some of you that scan the list for folks you know and ignore the folks you don't. I know because I do the same thing to yours. But may I suggests that you visit the O'Brien's Blog. The writing is very entertaining and is presented in a wide variety of ways. Click here for the one that put me over the top when I read it for the first time recently (I know its an old post and some have already read it...I am behind).

Chase

I do not know why this game is called chase, but it is. I mean I can sort of see that there is something resembling a chase in this game but not enough to call it chase.. Anyway this is one of those videos that while I was taping it, I am trying to decided when exactly I should stop. I mean the game could go on forever and I want to be able to upload it to the blog. So as I was pondering this, it suddenly became clear.

1st Quarter 2009

Well I am now the most delinquent blogger of all our little crew. The Rishes and Richers made it through child number two without a glitch and I have not done anything since Sarah has been born. Oh well. Here is just a load of pictures and video. I am noticing that Nicole has been blogging, so some of these pictures will be duplicates. Enjoy!

Sarah's Birth
Because I put this to music, YouTube deletes the audio portion of this file which makes it lame. So download it here and play it in itunes or on your iPod. It shoulnt take very long. If you forgot your login info, call me or send me an email.

Rachel's Birthday


Rachel Feeds Sarah


Sarah Talking


Pictures

Rachel's 3rd Birthday

Rachel loved her Halloween costume so much that she decided in Nov 08 that she wanted a butterfly birthday party. I wasn't sure then what that would be like but it turned out okay. Rachel wore her butterfly dress (from Luli) and her butterfly wings (from Daddy). We got a butterfly cake from Brenda Panell, our babysitter's mother. Even Sarah decided to wear butterflies!

Rachel's birthday was Friday, Jan 23 but her party was on Saturday. Luli flew in on Thursday night to be here. It was a very small party and turned out just perfect.

Catching Up

Okay, so it's been quite a while since either Bruce or I posted. Life's been busy. Since we've returned from the east coast a lot has happened. I've been adjusting to life with two kids, trying to figure out my "routine". Bruce has been really busy at work. I've started working again. Rach11 turned 3 and I turned 30. My mom came to visit. And, last but not least, illness has been wreaking havoc in our household. In all these things there have been ups and downs. For me personally, life's been pretty good. For once, I'm actually taking time to appreciate the small things, especially when things don't go the way I expected.

Anyway, this post (and the next few posts) is to try and catch you up on our lives. I'm going to try to get photos and video up (even though I've never done the video thing before). Hope you enjoy!

We're Coming Home

We leave New Jersey tomorrow and will arrive home late Monday night. It's been a nice visit but I'm ready to be back in my own space. We've been gone two full weeks and I'm looking forward to figuring out my life/routine with two children. I'm a little nervous, but also excited. I'll let you know how I feel next week.