Catch Me if You Can, I'm the Gingerbread Man

Where oh, where will the Gingerbread man be? Our friend Will E. sent us a gingerbread man to take on adventures with us. The poor man arrived in the midst of all our sickness (see previous posts). He managed to cheer Isabelle up, this is the first smile in 4 days.

She agreed to share her oranges with him, too. She was feeling generous, or else she really didn't want to eat them herself.

The gingerbread man sang along with Kevin as he practiced his guitar. I think he enjoyed the music, even dancing a little.

Finally he enjoyed a yummy lunch at Chili's with Isabelle, John Michael, and their cousin Olivia.

Stir Crazy!

From our last blog you probably realized that we've been shut in the house for nearly 1 week. Our sweet, loveable "big boy", as he likes to be called, is about to go CRAZY! He needs outdoor air. He needs wrestling with his dad. He needs dirt, a rock to throw, or a snow ball to make. This morning when he woke up, he told me that he looked outside and saw that the snow was melting (it was below zero this morning!). He so desperately wanted to go outside that this afternoon I gave in. I told him that he could go outside knowing that it wouldn't last too long. I told him to run laps around the house and I'd time him. To say that he was pumped would be an understatement. He quickly got on his warm clothes, winter hat & gloves and out he went. 2 1/2 laps down and he was sidetracked by the snow. He started trying to make snow balls & throwing them, but "ice" coating the snow makes that a bit difficult. So then he moved on to this . . .

a desperate attempt at a snow angel. . . .he did this at least 10 times, it was so cute!

With snow angels not working so well, he moved on to the swings - I felt very sorry for him. Boredom showed in the way he just spun in circles, hanging limply.

At this point he was throwing himself in the snow to see if he could make a dent. He'd quickly get up to see if there was any mark from his body.

Shortly after this photo he came inside - I think he was out for maybe 20-30 minutes. Enough to know that below it was too cold to play outside, but enough to burn some steam off & get some fresh air.

The Virus

Boy, what a week. Isabelle started 2 weeks ago with a week of dizziness & not feeling well. Everyone was fine for about 4 days, and JM woke up Sunday morning with the NASTY . . . it spread like fire to Kevin on Monday and then Isabelle on Tuesday. Whatever "it" is involves lots of trips to the bathroom & severe stomach cramping. It has been a LONG week needless to say. I am thankful that as of this moment, it has not hit me yet & I am fervently asking the Lord that it will not come my way. JM seems to be on the up swing today along with Kevin. Kevin is finally back to work. He does not not work, so it was weird seeing him in a fetal position in our bed all week. Isabelle is still not great today, and still dizzy so the doc wants to do a CT Scan in the morning. She had a terrible fall down our basement stairs right before Christmas and they are wondering if she is experiencing some effects from that. Our doc is very precautionary. I sure hope our insurance doesn't drop us b/c of all the med. bills we've had this year. WOW, what a year & what a week. Hope you are all healthy and well!

Kevin's duck hunt

Kevin & the Guenthers in Des Arc, Arkansas. This was their first day of hunting! There were thousands & thousands of ducks - a sight to see!

Happy New Year

Is it already Jan 14th? The first month of 2008 is almost halfway over. Wow, time does fly. I remember hearing my grandmother saying that and having no idea what she meant. Now I get it. We have had a much more restful start to 2008, than the way 2007 ended. Kevin had 4 snowstorms in December & was sleeping between each one. And we celebrated our Lord's birth in between the last 2 storms. It was a full month.

2008:

• Kevin spent 4 days in southern Arkansas with a good friend duck hunting. They had a great time, but it was freezing & he came home with poison ivy or oak, we aren't sure which. I'll post pictures in days to come.
• The kids & I enjoyed quiet, at home days gearing up for the start of school. As a kindergartner, Isabelle couldn't wait to go back to school & JM and I started homeschooling preschool this semester. There were some issues that caused Kevin & I to decide to bring him home for the next semester & he is thriving. He LOVES every minute of our time together - we have a letter of the week and he is constantly trying to find every word he can think of that starts with that letter. It is pretty cute.
• And me - I got caught up on sewing & scrapbooking over the break. I didn't get all the books read that I wanted to finish though. I was diagnosed back in November with vocal chord nodules - I have speech therapy 2 times a week & have to have 2 "1 hour" silent periods a day not including my sleep - this is very difficult to come by with a hubby & 2 little people in the home. They all understand and are trying to help me.
  
  There's the update on us. . . we pray you are having a blessed start to 2008. Check out Isabelle's latest words on "Arts for Orphans", the link is in the upper right corner.