the reveal...

Our kitchen is finished and finally put back together! I worked furiously for a couple of days, getting everything put back where it belongs, changing some things around, as well as getting rid of a ton of things. Nick made a Goodwill trip Friday... it feels so good to get rid of things!

We are so happy with the way that the kitchen turned out! We had the cabinets in the two upstairs bathrooms done the same as well. We replaced our formica countertops with the granite about a year and a half ago and we have always wanted our cabinets to look like this, but our house was a spec and we didn't really have a choice. We knew that doing it ourselves would be a really bad move, given that they would be really expensive to replace if we ruined them. Luckily, a friend moved into a new house and had her cabinets throughout her house done like this to match her kitchen, and we were able to use the same person she did! We were never happy with the drywall island that is standard and Nick spent countless hours customizing the island with wood to make it look like a piece of furniture. He is so talented and I am totally impressed, even after all of the projects that we have done together. Now our house definitely stands apart from the 50 others in our neighborhood that are the same model!

Before (the island and you can kind of see the cabinets)

Daddy's big helper!

Just finished

Now... all put back together!

We have another busy week, but this time I'm starting with a clean house and all of the laundry done and put away! It's a great feeling and I'm hoping to get some scrapbooking done this week. We'll see, Ethan may have other plans, like he usually does, which is fine with me... I like the swings at the park too!

Just a note... this morning The Today Show kicked off another round of "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?"! I love this week in the show and am so excited to wake up and see where Matt is each day! I enjoy seeing the beautiful places in the world, most of which I will never see... they go to some pretty crazy places and have to do some pretty crazy things to get there... a lot of string pulling, I'm sure! That along with the tiny factor that I really don't like to fly... yeah, probably not visiting Patagonia anytime soon!

Happy Monday!
A

I copied the information below from Ryan's hospital care page. What a blessing that Ryan is doing well! The surgery took longer than nine hours... wow.

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy, happy Friday!
A

Ladies and gentlemen, the Rhino has left the OR!
Mandy and I just spoke with the surgeon. Everything went wonderfully. Ryan now has four chambers to his heart, functional mitral and tricuspid valves, a left pulmonary artery in the right place, and an open trachea. The surgeon did not end up moving the subclavean artery, but did move RT's aorta (sutured it out of the way). After careful analysis, the surgeon decided that the trachea would be fine without intervention. Of course, we will keep a careful eye on it. We should be able to see him in the next hour or so!
Thanks to everyone for the support and prayers. We made it!

Ryan in surgery...

Please pray for Ryan, the surgical team and Shaun and Mandy, as well as the grandparents and other close family and friends at the hospital. Ryan went into the OR at 9:00 this morning, Texas time.

Thank you.
Angie

happy birthday honey!

Today is Nick's 30th birthday! I am so blessed to have such a great husband and Daddy to my kids! Happy birthday honey!
It's been kind of a crazy day around here. I have a house to put back together while Nick is at work and school tomorrow. I am happy to report that our update is complete and I will post pictures later!

Happy Birthday Nick!
Happy Wednesday!
A

happy earth day!

I couldn't resist buying these shirts... especially Em's (it says "Can I recycle my brother?")! They didn't have any that would fit Ethan, so one of his regular green shirts works just fine!

I hope that you enjoy Earth Day, we sure are!

Happy Earth Day Tuesday!

A

ps... today is Nick's last day of being 29 :)

Ethan was being a little shy this morning and didn't want his picture taken!

monday madness...

I love Mondays, I really do. Even though Sunday is the first day of the week, Monday just seems to kick it off for me. Monday is usually my day to get a lot of stuff done. My house is usually clean and I usually have a great "to do" list that I'm rapidly checking the boxes on. Today, not so much. I think it might be the sawdust that cast a light blanket over my entire house during this project that we have been working on. I'm definitely looking forward to cleaning tomorrow (don't laugh) since we are done with the dust making... now somebody else gets to finish the work!
Thursday we went to the zoo. Em's school had a field trip to the zoo and Nick was a chaperone! He went with the class and rode the bus and he even had three little girls, including Em, under his wing. One of the little girls insisted on holding his hand the entire time that we were walking around. It was super cute! They really had so much fun and it was evident by Em's shirt... the only part of her shirt that was truly white was where her name tag was, everything else was a little dirty! Ethan and I met them there and we stayed a bit longer than the school so that we could get a look at the tiger and lions. Ethan was so fascinated and definitely did not want to leave. Totally honest... he was asleep before I even had time to put the stroller in the back of my truck and get in the driver's seat. I heard him startle when I shut the rear door of the truck. Poor guy, he was so exhausted and he slept for 3 1/2 hours!
We spent the rest of the weekend working on projects and we also spent some time with family.
I received an update on Ryan today. He will possibly have surgery this Thursday, but nothing is definite.
Another prayer request... Josh, a guy that also went to West Point with Nick, just found out that his dad has colon cancer. Please pray for his dad Polo.
And another... Nick's grandma Stoney went home this past week to be with her friend Rose who recently found out she had cancer. Rose passed away yesterday and she was Grandma's closest friend. Grandma is, no doubt, going to miss Rose dearly.

Happy Monday!
Angie

please pray...

UPDATE: Ryan did not have surgery today because of the risk of infection due to positive blood cultures. Surgery will likely be next week, as long as Ryan produces three negative blood cultures in a row. Please continue to pray, especially for Ryan's healing. Thank you.

Our dear friends Shaun and Mandy (Nick and Shaun met in college) have a five month old son, Ryan. Ryan is to undergo major reparative heart surgery tomorrow. Please pray for Ryan's healing, for peace for Shaun and Mandy and their families, and for the wisdom and guidance of the doctors. Thank you.

Happy Wednesday!
A

jam-packed

We have a T-Ball star on our hands!

Emily had her first T-Ball game Saturday morning and she had such a great time, did such a great job, and was a great sport! Every time she went up to bat, she got a great hit and made it on base (they let everybody run the bases!). She played in the pitcher position and caught several balls and made great "plays"! A couple of times I think that she decided she would bypass everybody else and just throw the ball home to get the runner "out". It was really sweet to watch all of the kids stop and think about what they were supposed to do next, especially if they ended up with the ball, looking to coaches and parents for guidance! Em is the only girl on her team, and she isn't phased a bit by it! Ethan also had a lot of fun at the game and really wanted to get in on the action!

After the game, we celebrate Grandma Stoney's birthday! She is Nick's grandma (Virgil's mom), and she is so very special to us! She turns 29 ;) today and she couldn't look better for her age! Ethan and I are taking her out to lunch today. As a tradition (five years in the running, with one missed when we were in CO), we take her out to lunch every year on her birthday and we look forward to it and love spending the time with her! We usually get a waiter that gets a kick out of singing to Grandma!

We got a Wii last week and we've had a lot of fun with that! We hadn't planned on getting one, but I was at Costco the other day and they had a couple so I decided I would snatch one up and get our family a little gift! Emily is not only a T-Ball star, she is a kick butt bowler! Ethan loves to play baseball and yells "strike" after every pitch that he throws!

We've had the "project" itch and decided to do a bit of "remodeling" in our kitchen! I will post before and after pictures once the project is finished! Let me just tell you, we are super excited for how it's going to turn out! When we lived in Colorado, we were always busy doing something with the house. We lived in an old house and did everything we could to update it and make it "us". We spent countless hours working on it together and we had a blast!

I suppose I should get off the computer and get something done! I have some must-dos that need done today, and then I intend on playing with this new kit that I received in the mail last week! So excited to use the creative part of my brain for a bit!

Happy Birthday to Grandma Stoney!

Happy Birthday to Julie!

Happy, Happy Monday!
A

six

Six years and it keeps getting better (insert exclamation point). Our wedding day was beautiful and we were so blessed to be surrounded by the people that mean the most in our lives.

I think that I over-used the exclamation point on my keyboard... it doesn't work anymore. Does that mean that there is one downside to being so happy? I'm going to have to fix that... I'm much happier than a mere . can convey.

Happy Monday
A

"Tagged" and more

Everybody gets those emails that ask questions about you, right? The get to know you kind that most people don't bother to fill out and send back (guilty here).

Well, I was "tagged" by a friend to write seven random things about me that you might not know...

1. I swam competitively for years, but hate when my face is wet.
2. I fold a stick of gum before I put it in my mouth.
3. I don't like "flimsy", non-crisp sheets... they make me feel messy.
4. I sit in chairs with my legs crossed... "criss cross applesauce" as they say now.
5. I really like Sonic drinks. A lot.
6. I dip my fries in mayo.
7. I want to work with children when my youngest is in school full time.

There you have it... seven things that you might not know about me. Now you do. I'm not tagging anybody, so feel free to leave a comment with something random that I may not know about you!

I was doing a little laundry earlier and was struck by the saying on a shirt that Em has. The message is so simple and cute, and I really had a bit of a perspective shift (I've been in a funk for a few days). I thought I'd share it with you as we go into the weekend...

Have a fantastic FUN weekend!

Happy Friday!
A

Note to self...

When your two year old "disappears" to the downstairs portion of the house for more than 60 seconds... beware... you may find him with a half eaten Klondike bar (freezer on the bottom... not so great with little ones that love ice cream!). Of course, I couldn't let him eat it alone, he would have gotten a stomach ache, right? Does a triple chocolate ice cream bar count as breakfast?

Happy Birthday to Tim... BIG 30!

Happy Wednesday!
A

Milestones...

Happy April! I'm not a huge fan of April Fools jokes... I don't like surprises either... boring, huh?

The first week of April holds many milestones for our family.

April 3, 2003 is the day that Nick left for Iraq. It's hard to believe that it was five years ago and I still remember every tiny detail like it was yesterday.

April 4, 2005 is the day that Nick, Emily and I, (pregnant with Ethan) left Colorado Springs and moved back to Arizona. We left the Army life and everything that goes along with it, our first home, and some very special friends. It was a very bittersweet day.

April 7, 2002 is the day that Nick and I were married! Six years and it only gets better! We will celebrate this weekend with "our day". We spend the entire day out together, and then we have dinner somewhere nice. This year we're up in the air... Ruth's Chris again or The Melting Pot?? Maybe we'll fly back to Springs to try The Famous or return to Mackenzies Chop House... hmm!
All of these days hold such meaning to us. If you were, thanks for being a part of them.

Happy Birthday to Elloree Grace Flippin, born at 2am this morning! Congratulations to Todd, Schelijn and Jack Greer!

Happy Tuesday!
A

One hundred...

Yes, it is Emily's score from last week's spelling test, but it also represents something else around our house these days... Ethan is on a "hundred" kick that Nick started with him a couple of days ago. Ethan will come up to you to give you a kiss, but then proceed to give you as many as he can with the biggest smile on his face. Usually he gets to about 30 and by then he and the kissee are both laughing too hard for any more. It is so cute and he loves to tackle us and catch us off guard! We love it!

Happy 7th Anniversary to Virgil and Barb!

(No, they're not "For Sale"... we'll keep them!)

Happy 1st Anniversary to Christian and Karla!

Happy Monday!
A

Our Kid of Character...

There's a bit of a story to this one, and I think it's worth telling to get the "full circle" story... Earlier this year Em took a karate class offered through the after school academy. We thought it would be a great idea for her to learn some self defense skills and also to learn some of the discipline associated with karate. Although we weren't impressed with the class in a whole, there were some things that we liked about it. We really liked that the instructor opened and closed every class with the definitions of "discipline" and "respect". We believe that along with being kind, our children should have respect for others, and themselves, above all... without respect it seems that many other character traits aren't given the proper basis for development. Even as adults we, (all of us I'm sure, but this is a personal biggie for me) have relationships where we aren't given the respect that we deserve. When somebody has no respect for you, they believe that they can treat you in any way they see fit... we are trying to instill in our kids that we need to be loving to others, regardless of the way they treat us. We want Emily to know that even though others may not always respect us, we should show them the respect we would like to be given. None of us are perfect and we all disrespect others at some point, and unfortunately we will continue to do so. I, personally, had a difficult time with this one until I realized that the only person that was getting "hurt" by my actions was me, and that I could, if nothing else, control my own actions. I've heard The Serenity Prayer countless times, but one day it just clicked with me and it changed my heart, and it has been a huge blessing to me. Ok, ok... back to the story... fast forward to March, six months after Emily finishes karate... I'm going through Emily's backpack Monday and there is a folded paper that says "To the Parents of Emily Kahler". Now some parents may think "uh-oh", and I'll admit that I did for just a second, then realized that if it was "bad" news, it would have been in a sealed envelope marked confidential and that I probably would have gotten a phone call. Not to mention, Em isn't that kind of kid. I opened the paper to read that Emily is being honored at an assembly for the "Kid of Character" recognition and that the character trait for the month is... you guessed it, RESPECT! I know that we are all proud of our children, but I was especially proud of Em for this one. We know that Emily is kind and fair, even when we're not there to remind her, we don't worry about those traits in her. Now we know that even when nobody is watching, and when she isn't being prompted, that she shows respect to others. She knows that this is important, in any situation, to any person and we are so proud of her for this! I know to some people it's just a piece of paper that most kids get in school, everybody getting one so that it's fair and equal and all... that's truly not the case, and to us it is so much more. To us, it's evidence that even though it may not always seem like it, our kids really do get it. They really do want to be the best that they can be, and they want to give their best to others. Such a sweetheart we have, and we are so proud of her!

We're going to celebrate with Cold Stone (she got a certificate along with her award, and honestly, doesn't it sound so good!?), and we are also painting the garage tonight! If you're in the mood to paint, give us a call, we won't turn down the help!!!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Happy, Happy Friday!
A

Egg Drop Success...

Emily had a project for school... package an egg (not hard-boiled or plastic) in a way that she thought would protect it from the drop off of the roof of the school building. She was given the task of brainstorming for packing material and packaging the egg, and she did a great job! Emily decided to use cotton, pillow stuffing, Easter grass and an egg carton. Emily was also very intent on making a parachute to put on her package! She used enough packing tape that it took me about 5 minutes to open the package after it was dropped off of the roof!

The Egg Drop was at 10am yesterday and it was so much fun to watch! The principal was up on the roof and would hold up the package, call out the kids name and... drop! All drops were accompanied by "Ooh, aaah, wow... I hope it survived!" coming from the mouths of several first graders! After everybody's egg was dropped, the kids grabbed their packages and opened them to see if the egg "survived". I think all Moms were prepared for some tears, but the ones that had broken eggs typically exclaimed "Cool, it's everywhere".

Emily's egg, we are happy to report, survived the drop! She was so excited and did not want to throw the egg away. She even grabbed it out of the garbage after throwing it away when I wasn't looking! Finally, I told her to throw it in the garbage as hard as she could to see if it broke... that worked, of course!

She was so excited when Nick explained to her that she was doing her first science project! It was neat to see her experience every part of the process and to have a sense of accomplishment that her egg didn't break! Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Wednesday!
A

World Tour...

Emily was on Spring Break last week and she had a blast! She had, what Nick dubbed as the "Grandparent World Tour"... spending the night with almost every grandparent! She also had "playdates" and one of our friends was over for a night. I used to watch Alex as a little munchkin and Em adores her! They had so much fun and were making Easter cookies in the picture.

The other picture is a day at the park with friends Zack and Abbie. She had such an awesome time and I had to drag her out of their door at 9pm to come home. If we hadn't had such a busy day the next, I'm sure I never would have won the sleepover battle! It was the perfect week for her and we all had so much fun!

Nick and Em are now preparing an egg for the "Egg Drop" at school. They have it packaged and ready for the principal to drop off of the school roof. She's had so much fun packaging that I don't think she even cares if the egg "survives".

Happy Monday!
A

Happy Easter!

We hope that you have enjoyed your Easter, celebrating with family and friends!
We have had a wonderful weekend, celebrating and remembering our blessings. Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and a love greater than we can fathom.
I will post some pictures later. We left our flash card in the computer and took the camera with us... not the best way to capture precious memories! Thankfully our family was more prepared!

Happy Easter!
A

Changes

If you know me well enough, you will agree that I like change in some things. Take my kitchen, for example. The walls in my kitchen have been 4 different colors since we moved in here three years ago. The blog design wasn't really working out for me, so I changed it. I'm sure it won't be the last time.

Emily seems to have inherited my interest in change...

Emily: "Mom, can we change my room?"
Me: "I would love to, just as soon as we find just what we want."
Emily: "Good (with a look on her face that some of you may know well... kind of closed mouth smile, half squinting one eye), because the butterflies are a little... (thinking)... boring."

So today, while '"little miss bored with her room" is spending time with Grandma Barb, Ethan and I have a mission... new shoes for him, a visit to the kiddie hair salon, and room decor that is not so "boring".

Have a great day! I hope you're wearing green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
A

Welcome Spring

This is the first rose in our backyard this year. I was outside with the kids today and there it was greeting us-I couldn't help but take a picture. It's been a cold winter for us here in AZ. I know most people would love the winter weather that we have, and I would love cooler summers that allow us to enjoy the roses in our backyard from our patio, not our windows. It's just a difference in location... we chose here and "cold" or really, really hot, we're happy.

I'm happy that it's spring. I love this time of year almost as much as fall, and I love to have my windows open. There's something about the breeze blowing through the house and the smell of a great candle-currently fresh orange! It puts a little spring in my step and makes me feel a little more energized... seriously!

If your neighborhood isn't welcoming spring yet, enjoy our rose... yours are coming... probably when we're experiencing 100*... not too long from now!

As for life without pacifiers... it was no big deal to Ethan. He's a superstar, I didn't give him enough credit. The first night he cried for seven minutes (Nick timed him, I was off playing bunco!), and he's been absolutely fine since! He caught his first fish last night with Papa Dana at our neighborhood lake! He was very afraid and wanted nothing to do with a 15 inch catfish!

Em is on spring break next week. She's got grandparent sleepovers lined up and is going to have a blast! I can't believe that 3/4 of first grade is behind us... wow!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Thursday!

A

Bargaining with a two year old...

Most days something small reminds me that my little ones are growing up... a phrase that Em will say, Ethan not sitting in his booster chair at the table, Em reading chapter books, etc. Today is one of those days that screams "He's not a baby anymore" at me. Ethan did something very brave today (and I'd like to say that Nick and I were brave also... we may be in for some sleepless nights!). Ethan "traded" his pacifiers for a big boy Spiderman bike! He decided that it was time for a "trade" and we took him to the store with a baggie of pacifiers and he handed them over, willingly! We are so proud of him, and he is too!

Maybe this tactic will work for other things... think he'll trade diapers for Spiderman underwear that easily!?

Please pray for an easy transition to bedtime with no "night-nights". Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday!
A