Tooth Fairies, Tornados, and Time with Friends!

Life has been eventful as usual here in our world. Let's start with the events of yesterday...

Madeline had a very loose tooth. Now, she's been wiggling this tooth for a couple weeks now, but yesterday, it was time. She knew, I knew, even Timothy knew...the tooth was ready to leave its home of seven years to make room for its worthy, slightly larger, replacement. Even though this is the fifth tooth that Madeline has lost, she was stressing. She wiggled it and cried and asked me if I remember if it hurts or not. She asked me to wiggle it but then would shy away when I got close.

So, I decided to get out the camera. Surely if I let the "queen of (at least my) camera" make a show of it, she'll settle down. Well, I didn't want to sit there wiggling for twenty minutes, so I asked Madeline to let me check how wiggly it was before I started rolling. Well, I gave it a wiggle....not a tug, I promise....and out it popped. The video shows the crisis that ensued. She is not breaking down because she missed catching it on film. No, her crisis is that she didn't realize it had come out until I showed her, and she was not emotionally prepared to be separated form her tooth.

You may think I'm kidding, but this morning when she woke up with a dollar under her pillow, she told me she misses her tooth and begged....literally begged....to trade her dollar back to the tooth fairy for her tooth, so she could have it to bring back "old memories." No joke.


Well, as most of you know, Madeline's tooth loss has not been the only newsworthy event in our small town. Last Thursday night a tornado swept through Nappanee and left much of the community in shambles.

Our Thursday night started out typically enough. I got the kids tucked in bed, and Mike ran to Chili's to pick up an order of mushroom jack fajitas for us to split while we watched The Office. (This is quickly becoming our Thursday night tradition.) After this Thursday, I can say that the antics of Jim Halpert are just not as entertaining when they are repeatedly interupted by Stormtracker/Doppler Radar/ Viper Weather Reports. Yes it was raining, and yes it was windy, but come on....it's date night at our house! As we sat in our living room at the conclusion of the show discussing our frustrations, another weather report came on, this one saying a tornado had been spotted. The cities in its path were listed, as well as the times it was expected to hit. "The tornado will hit Nappanee at 10:18pm" they said. I looked at the clock-10:16. I looked at Mike. We both ran to the kids room, scooped them up, and headed for the basement.

We were more than fortunate. Our home was untouched. God was certainly protecting our family as the winds ripped apart buildings less than a mile from us. For those of you who have been to our home, you know just down the street from us there are several fast food restaurants, gas stations, factories and other businesses. Here are some pictures of their current condition.




In addition to our safety, God blessed us in the fact that the kids have handled everything remarkably well. Timothy slept through the whole storm, including the mad rush to and short stay in the basement. Madeline woke when we brought her downstairs, but we were able to keep her calmed down by praying with her and remembering verses about God being with us and not needing to fear. She even remembered that I had told her once that the weather we get usually goes to Grandma and Poppy's next (in Ohio). She decided that it would be good for our family to pray for their protection also, since the storm could visit them when it left us. (I love that little girl!!!)


When we woke the next morning, we were without power, our water was running, but on a boil order (How do you boil water on an electric stove with no electricity....anyone? anyone?), Nappanee was declared to be in a state of emergency and Mike was pretty shook up over the loss of Taco Bell, but in reality we were blessed and happy to have gotten through it unscathed.


Mike's boss called and let him know that he didn't need to come in for the day, and we packed our bags and headed up to visit our friends Sang and Song in Michigan. (A trip we'd been planning long before this all hit.) Sang was my lab partner in organic chemistry and then we studied together again through physics and in preparation for the MCAT. When we introduced our husbands, they hit it off right away, and the kids have enjoyed the benefits of our friendship as well. (Translation: another adopted aunt and uncle to spoil them not-quite-rotten!)


Below are some pictures from our weekend. They have a home right on a lake, and it was beautiful! What a retreat from the stress of work/school/the storm. We grilled out, ate out, waded and boated on the lake, and just enjoyed our time together. Definitely something we need to do on a more frequent basis.

Here is Song with the kids on Saturday morning. The view from their living room is breathtaking. The fall leaves were amazing.
Madeline and Timothy on the way out for breakfast. I wish they were always this happy in the car!
Madeline teaching Sang a game she picked up at school while we wait for pancakes.
Some pictures of the kids playing down at the lake.



My husband is hot!
Out on the boat!

Well, this is what's been going on in our world. Hope you enjoyed the update.

Feeling grateful and very blessed!

-shannon

P.S. I just remembered that I should probably mention the letter I received from IU School of Medicine last week. I was accepted! Thank you so much for all of the prayers that are being sent up for our family. We are so blessed to be lifted up by so many. I know that your prayers make such a difference, and I am inexpressibly grateful for both your prayers and words of encouragement!

What a Party!
Well, Saturday turned out to be the event of the season...at least in our household! Saturday afternoon our friends and family got together and celebrated Madeline's birthday, and just enjoyed some time together.

We had quite the spread of food, and I think it's safe to say that everyone enjoyed the fruit of Mike's labor over the grill. There are countless reasons why I am fortunate to have married this man, and I have to say, having his mad grilling skills at my disposal definitely makes the list! Slow-cooked chicken, twice-baked potatoes, southwest eggrolls, chicken spinach and asiago brats...this man can cook, and Saturday we all reaped the benefits!

Madeline had plenty of friends to enjoy between church friends, school friends and cousins. Here are some of the girls playing in her bedroom before the party got rolling.
Timothy had some friends to run with too. Here he is with his buddy AJ, who is only a few months older, but fortunately for us, a good size or two ahead of Timothy. In fact, Timothy is wearing some of AJ's hand-me-downs in this picture. We're so grateful that Lisa dresses him so well =)

Madeline decided that she wanted a Tinkerbell party. So, plates, napkins, balloons and cake were all decked out with Tinkerbell. Here she is before blowing out her candles.
There's no way better to round up the kids than the promise of candy. Here's Madeline taking a whack at her pinata, and a picture of the whole bunch of kids making a mad scramble for the goodies it held.

One of the treats of the day for me was enjoying the favor of my "neice" Cora, who reached out for me every time I was around, and spent a good part of her time at the party on my hip! I sure love being loved =)

Madeline was very blessed to receive so many beautiful things for her birthday. She got lots of beautiful clothes,

a camera of her own,
some scrapbooking supplies,
some Tinkerbell figurines,

decorations for her highly fashionable crocs,

her own Bible, complete with her name on the cover, from Mimi and Papa, and lots of other nice things!
The kids enjoyed running around together and jumping on the trampoline. When things settled down a bit, Timothy did some reading for Grandma Elaine.
After everyone was gone, Madeline tried on some of her new clothes, and especially had fun dressing up like a pioneer girl complete with her new bonnet. She is looking forward to reading all about Kirsten and starting the "American Girls" series of books.
Since Madeline's birthday was actually on Friday, our family decided to have a celebration on Friday night before all our company arrived the next day. Here she is in the jogging suit we got for her,
and here in her new outfit and sporting her cool new roller blades!
We went out to dinner and had some fun at Chuck E. Cheese, here is little brother with a balloon from our night out,

and getting a hug from big sis!
Last weekend, some friends from church called and asked if we wanted to head over and visit a "Pumpkin Wonderland." Here are Madeline and Timothy with their friend Payton who they had lots of fun with that evening.
They got to go through a corn maze.
The whole family enjoyed some dinner together.
The kids put the back of their placemats to good use.

Timothy's hard work...
Madeline's masterpiece.....
Mommy's one track mind....
The kids had a great time and stayed busy til they hit their pillows that night. Everyone slept well and enjoyed the beautiful fall evening!
Well, there's an update....I'm off to study!

-shannon

Sunny Days and Field Trips...

Our family has been enjoying the sunshine during these first couple weeks of fall. I'm looking forward to the leaves changing colors and enjoying some campfires, but in the meantime, I took advantage of the fact that my kids were all dressed up and took a few pictures on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The arrival of fall means that we are looking forward to celebrating Madeline's birthday in couple weeks. She'll be eight on October 12th. I can hardly believe it! She's grown so much and is enjoying the second grade with many of her old friends and with a teacher that she loves. She is doing great in her classes and is becoming quite the little reader too! Today she brought home a sign that hung on her locker for the first couple months of school, and in addition to her favorite subject (science) and color (yellow) it listed what she wants to be when she grows up (a doctor and an ice skater).

My friend Mindy has been coming to our church for awhile, along with her little girl, Cora. Last Sunday after church we went up town to a Victorian bed and breakfast and enjoyed a Fall Tea with some friends from church. We had a nice time, and the kids enjoyed playing with Cora while the mommies were away. Here are some pictures that Madeline took.


In addition to tea parties, I've been enjoying many activities, usually just everyday stuff like physical chemistry and medical school applications (ha!), but today was a special day because I got to go to Kercher's Orchard with Timothy's kindergarten class. As you can see from the first picture, taken on the bus, Timothy was very excited about this adventure, and it looked like it was going to be quite a treat.
However, upon arriving, Timothy began to relaize that this was NOT Nappanee Elementary, and he was NOT sure that he wanted to stay! It started out as hesitating to join the group when we arrived, and quickly progressed to not wanting to walk because he didn't like grass and dirt getting on his shoes. Picking an apple? No way was he going to touch one of those wet, dirty apples hanging off a tree.
On the hayride, he wasn't so keen on the idea of me taking pictures, so these are my grand attempts.

Fortunately, there was a turning point...the gourd patch! Timothy LOVED the gourd patch! There were all shapes, colors and sizes, and he found a small orange gourd that reminded him of Jimmy Gourd from Veggietales, and it seemed to turn the whole experience around.
Here he is with the little group of boys I walked with for the morning, all of them proudly showing off their selections for the camera.
After the gourd patch there was a small corn maze, and that went over well too. Perhaps it was because there were scarecrows with riddles on them throughout the maze, and Timothy could stop and read the riddles to the other boys making them giggle to Timothy's delight.
When all was said and done, it turned out to be a nice trip, and Timothy wrapped it up by having some fresh apple cider back at school with his classmates.
Well, there's a bit of an update. We're looking forward to getting to see many of you next Saturday. Hopefully by then we'll have school pictures to hand out!

-shannon