A Reality Check...

We had an interesting wake up call the other night. We had a person hit the power poll that delivers power to all the houses around us (including ours) and it cut off power to our whole street and more. At first, we called the power company and they estimated the power would be off for about 2 hours. Of course, this happened just as we were putting Caleb down for bed (about 7:30pm). We thought "Okay, this shouldn't be too bad". We played some games by candle light and thought it was pretty neat for a while. THEN, once the two hours went by, and the house was getting slightly cooler, we wondered when it would come back on. We didn't want to go to bed without having it on because all the lights and TV and all that were still on and would need to be shut off. So, as we waited.....one, two, three, FOUR hours, the house got pretty cold. The temp was supposed to get down to 18 degrees that night.

We were starting to get worried.....the thermostat said it was 64 degrees in the house but it sure felt cooler than that. We were worried that Caleb would be too cold.....and what if the power didn't come back on......it would be REALLY cold then!

It got us thinking about the "everyday" things that we take for granted.....like heat! Yes we do pay our heating bill but it got us thinking about people who can't afford to pay their heating bill. Many are parents with kids.....we got a glimps of how it might feel to know your baby is cold at night and there is nothing you can do about it! What an aweful feeling!

Our heat DID end up coming on after 5 hours and 15 minutes without heat! Caleb did wake up but thankfully went back to bed.....his room is the warmest in the house! Praise God!

Anyway, just wanted to remind everyone to NEVER take the little things for granted....food on the table, heat in your house, warm clothes to wear outside, shoes to put on.....it is all a blessing!

We learned that once again just the other night!

Family Pictures

We had some family pictures done in October and I just thought I would post them all up here for all to see. We had some cute ones done of Caleb and I LOVE them! Enjoy!

A Child's Love...

I have been considering and pondering lately how great it is to be a parent. You have a little one (or maybe two or three or more) that love you no matter what....even if you havent' showered, done your hair, put on make-up....they love you! They love you for who you are and not for what you "might be". They love you just for being you. There isn't many people in the world today that can say that.

It seems that most people in our lives expect so much out of us...they value us because of our work ability, our ability to make money, our looks, our capabilities. Not our kids....they pretty much love us because we are THERE!

They love us because we wake them up with a smile, we give them food to eat, we cuddle with them, we give them little kisses throughout the day, we say "I love you" as much as we possibly can, we SHOW them our love in every action we do towards them. I think that is pretty special.

What an honor it is to be a parent. It doesn't come without hard days and struggles, but it is so rewarding.

Don't forget to cuddle your little one close today and tell them how much you love them....I am going to go do that right now! :)

Some pictures to enjoy....isn't he just the cutest boy ever!! I think so! :)

Tags and challenges...

Okay so one of my friends did this challenge on her blog and I thought it would be pretty fun....

Here is how it works: You go into your "my photos" folder and pull up the fourth picture of the fourth folder, and then explain what it's about.

The picture to the left is of my son Caleb and it was of our recent trip to Arizona to see my brother and his family. Caleb hadn't slept AT ALL during the plane rides so he zonked out SOO fast in the car! He was so cute.

I also decided to do her tag challenge. She didn't actually "tag" me but I thought since I talked about my WONDERFUL husband on here a lot, I would let you all know a little bit about him. Here is goes:

Husband Tag

1. Where did you meet your husband? I actually met Kirk the very first day I started school. I was homeschooled until 3rd grade and he just happened to be in my 3rd grade class. The rest is history :)

2. How long did you date before you were married? We started dating in the fall of our sophomore year (2000) in high school, got engaged just before our sophomore year in college (2003), got married August of 2004....4 years altogether.
3. How long have you been married? 4 years and 3 months
4. What does he do that surprises you? He will occationally set up a babysitter and take me out for dinner and a movie....that's my favorite!

5. What is his best feature? I love his stomach....weird but I do!
6. What is his best quality? His humility....that is what I have ALWAYS loved about him.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Not really....he calls me Ames sometimes but so does everyone else.
8. What is his favorite food? He likes a lot of food but I would say his favorite food might be steak.

9. What is his favorite sport? He loves a lot of sports but the favorite to play has to be basketball hands down!
10. When and where was your first kiss? I believe it was in September of 2001 at his parents house.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Probably just be home watching a movie on the couch.
12. Do you have any children? Yes, Caleb is now 16 months.
13. Does he have any hidden talents? He has very stretchy skin....he would be embarrased if he knew I was putting that on here :)

14. How old is he? 25.
15. Who said I love you first? I think we both said it on the same night.
16. What is his favorite music? He loves LOTS of music but probably something like Jack Johnson or that kind of music.

17. What do you admire most about him? His ablility to share his heart with a humble attitude.
18. What is his favorite color? Gosh, probably green.
19. Will he read this? Probably not.