Thursday, January 26, 2012

Important Lines

Clara has been voicing some important lines lately that I MUST share with ya'll.

This first line she randomly chose to voice to a small group of ladies gathered for Bible study last night.  "Mommy was feeling yucky so she got something to eat."

The second line she has used at least twice, once when she had been told to make the announcement and once when she had not.

"Don't you know, Mommy's got a baby in her tummy?"

Yes, she's telling the truth folks!  We just found out about a week ago that we've been blessed with an addition to the clan!   We're thinking the due date may be around the end of August / beginning of September.  We're so blessed!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Wintry Song

Do you ever just feel the urge to sing... even when surrounded by mud and grey skies?  Well, something like that seemed to happen to Clara when we were out playing for a bit today.  Let me guess the mud and grey skies weren't bothering her much at all!  While she was in the singing mood... Hil was in more the exploration mode.

I did learn a lesson today, and that is, before you go to all the work of going outside... snow boots, snowsuits, etc... have somebody make a trip to the potty first!  We'd been out for about 20 or 30 minutes when the urge suddenly hit a little someone.  :-/  You live and learn!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Monday, January 16, 2012

Surface Rust

This is Stephen.

I recently wrecked my dear wife's car.  We got the same make and model, just a year older, with 20k less miles.  I used the rest of the insurance money to buy parts.  Here's the problem.  Before I bought the car I was thinking....that's a lot of rust.  But there is a saying here in New York that sellers like to say.  "Awww, that's just surface rust."  Meaning it's solid.  In fact, the shipyard I just came from saved money in paint by allowing the surface of the ship hull to rust which acted as a protective coating during the 3-4 years it takes to get the ship to float.  Before the ship is floated out of the dry dock for final fitting, the rust is brushed off and a new coat of paint applied.

I have decided that with vehicles (and trailers) that it's a different story.  Exhibit A:

The above is the old shock I removed.  It took me 7 hours to replace one, uno, ehud, ein shocko.  Why?  You would never guess this but it was because of surface rust!  It's not the inside rust that falls in your eyes when you are working, it's the surface rust.  It was not the rust on the inside of bolts that inhibited removal of the corresponding nuts, but the surface rust.  In fact, the surface rust was so bad, the threads had distinctive layers parting away from the original base metal causing three peaks instead of the preferred single peak.  I had to hacksaw both the top and the bottom, and then because I didn't cut the bottom close enough, I had to file down the about 7/8" diameter metal rod about 1/8" before I could break the bolt out of the hole.  There was no rust on the inside of the bolt.....that checked out OK.  This was all done on my back, in a parking lot, on a bed of ice.  The nice thing about ice for a shop floor is that your cardboard really slips out from under the car easily...at least until it gets saturated with water.



 This is my new jack that Gracie let me buy to get the job done.  Thank you, Honey!  My 3.5 Ton Napa jack is sweet!

During one of my many resting times....I mean, inspection periods....I got a picture of a random undercarriage shot looking at my emergency parking brake.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  I also broke a gas tank band.  I think that problem was actually due to inside rust in this case, but it broke because I was scraping the surface rust, so I actually attribute the failure to both.

The good thing about all of this is that I now have a great new jack, and my other car that I thought was really rusty is now suddenly seeming very low on the rust scale.  HA!

Rust, auto accidents, tsunamis, earthquakes, drought, famine, and theft.  Nothing lasts in this life.  Where will your soul spend eternity?

Thursday, January 12, 2012

What?

Here's a "cuteness of the day" for you:

I was looking at a book with Clara and one page had several different types of birds with their names.  I went through the names and came to "Great Blue Heron".  After I told her the name, the little lady piped up and said something along these lines:

"I don't like those ones.  They kill... they try to kill... they try to kill the baby Jesus."

It took a few seconds for it to dawn on me that "Heron" sounds very similar to "Herod", the king, who did indeed try to kill baby Jesus.

So precious!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Team Color and a P.S.

Some adorable team coloring that was going on this morning!  For some reason, sister didn't seem to mind the "help".  Too precious!  If only it was always like that!  :-)  




And a P.S. to my anniversary post:  Stephanie said in her comment that she hoped me had been able to do something fun for our anniversary.  Yes, indeed we did!  My hubby took me out to a Thai restaurant and we greatly enjoyed a DELICIOUS meal together!  And we took our friends up on the offer to babysit for us... so it was the first unchaperoned date we've had in quite some time!  :-)

Monday, January 9, 2012

The Couples

Stephen captured this preciousness on his phone this evening!  I just HAD to share!  :-)  The little lady really loves to get dressed up.  She's wearing my veil.  And the little man obliged long enough to snap a picture.  



And the parents of that adorable little couple celebrated FIVE years of marriage this past Friday!  FIVE years!  Wow!  Where did the time go???!!!  I have been sooooo incredibly blessed and privileged to be the wife of my Stephen!  Each day I experience his love, faithfulness, patience and leadership!    Stephen, I love and respect you... thank you so much for the honor of being your wife!


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A New Year... And A New Look





So a couple nights ago Hil got a new look!  These are phone shots, so not the best quality but they'll still give you an idea.  :-)  Daddy gave him a good buzz.  The new look reminds Stephen of Hil's cousin, Phin! 

 And this ought to bring back memories to my fam... as buzzes are what my brothers always sported when they were younger.

To my friend, Stephanie S., if you're reading this, Clara said Hil looks like Gideon.  :-)