surprise gift from the girls!

well, our plans have changed considerably. we were supposed to have Christmas here in pittsburgh and then travel out to minnesota for a visit with the abbott family. but when john called and asked us to come earlier so that he could see the boys before heading in for a possible second brain surgery, we jumped into high gear to change our plans so that we can head out on friday and spend christmas with the family. everything has fallen into place really well except for the dogs... we're working on finding someone to take care of them while we're away.

aaahhh. the dogs. last night, we got a surprise from our four legged girls, holly & georgia. ever since we got married, we've had the displeasure of hearing a rooster crow... ALL DAY. seriously. if it was only in the morning, it would be okay but that bird just keeps going all day!

you see, at some point over the summer, our neighbor decided to "save" this rooster from some terrible demise and bring him to live at her home. this bird would strut around her yard (2 houses down from ours) and often wandered his way around the neighborhood. now, anyone who knows me knows that i have a MAJOR problem with a rooster walking around the neighborhood. i'm terrified of birds - chickens & roosters in particular! i can't even say how much i hate that bird but i've been so thankful for our dogs because they seem to scare him away from our yard - and away from me!

last night, ed got home after working late and told me he saw something in the driveway just behind the house. we took a flashlight out and found what he suspected - a dead rooster in our driveway! somehow the girls got him and killed him. yikes! so, now ed needs to get it out of our driveway (i don't want to go near it - even if he is dead!) and we need to tell our neighbor the sad news. how's that for a little weird in our lives? :)

such a busy season

we're in the middle of a pretty busy weekend right now. yesterday we went to the church staff Christmas party and then rushed off to a surprise party for a friend. we had a great evening of good food and fun and laughter. today, i went racing out the door to pick up my aunt betsy (who is coming for the weekend) only to find out that her flight was delayed... several hours! unfortunately, this means we won't get to take aunt bets to see my friend, christina, in the show "a christmas carol". ed & i will head to the show and just pray that my mom will get aunt bets and bring her to us! i'm so excited to see christina in the show and thrilled to have this visit from my aunt!! hope its going to be a great weekend.

a quick update on ed's brother, john - he's doing really well, considering what he and his family are going through! it sounds like they still don't know quite how to handle this tumor, but we think he's in really good hands at mayo clinic! please pray for john - for complete healing! we're so excited to be heading out the MN just after Christmas. it's been a year since we've been out there (when we went to announce our engagement!) and it will be so good to visit everyone and the places ed & the boys love so well!

Taylor turns 12

friday was taylor's 12th birthday. he had detention during lunch on his birthday and decided that he prefers lunch in the detention room over the cafeteria (he had to eat in a conference room)... he's now trying to figure out how to get more lunch detentions AND include his friends!! i don't know if this is a good sign of his "turning lemons into lemonade" or a warning for his parents of what we have ahead of us!
anyway, after school he was pleased to find cards (with money!) in the mail and a gift from nicole (the little girl he babysits during our small group Bible study). we had to work taylor's birthday celebration around evan's soccer game (where ev played goalie this time before getting kicked out of the game for not having shin guards! oops!) but after the game, we started celebrating. taylor's meal of choice was "birthday burrito" and he got his own dish of refried beans (which was the ONLY thing he actually asked for on his birthday! weird kid.). after dinner we opened presents - of course he got legos and a stuffed animal (his favorites) but he also got big gorilla slippers, bath stuff (hey, he loves baths and with his long hair, he's the closest thing i have to a daughter. just kidding!) and a swiss army knife. so far, he & ed have had lots of conversations about what is okay with the knife and what isn't. he's being really responsible with it so far and he is thrilled to have it. after presents, we had oreo surprise (dad's specialty ice cream and the family favorite) - complete with candles! - and watched a movie together. since the next morning was saturday, i finished off taylor's b'day with his favorite breakfast (oatmeal & cheesy eggs) in bed. not a bad day.

(we decided that because things were so wacky around here lately and so many activities for us & everyone we know, we'll throw taylor a 1/2 b'day party in the summer for his friends. kathy & i had a party like that in the summer once - it was great!)
we had drew & taylor's band concert on thursday - tried to get pics, but honestly couldn't see drew at all and taylor was hidden by a music stand. they did really well. taylor says he messed up, but we couldn't tell. he's getting better about keeping a straight face and continuing! (you can see, though, that evan didn't think much of the music concert!) tonight is taylor's choral concert (unfortunately, we won't see him in this) and this thursday is noah's band concert - we can't wait!
i'm trying to get pictures to share when i can. (thanks, susie, for the camera! it stinks that it rarely works for me but at least we have one again! we're really grateful for that. and something tells me santa won't be bringing a new digital camera this year...)

results from MN

well, we heard good news and bad news from MN. john's surgery went well - the doctors felt they got all of the tumor out. however, the biopsy determined that the tumor was cancer. we're told that now john will meet with docs to determine the best plan of action. we're praying for john and the whole family. hearing about how the rest of the family is jumping in to help where they can reminds me of what a blessing it is to have married into the abbott family! ed & i so wish we could help too, but i'm afraid all we can do at this point is continue to pray.

football and lego club... busy fall!

last message for today... (don't worry, it won't be anything like this usually) since i've been thinking a lot about my mother-in-law today (praying for her a lot lately too!), i wanted to pass along some more pics of the boys.

here is most of our fall - drew & noah played football for the first time this fall... practice EVERY night for three months (6-8 PM... totally convenient) and games that went on forever on saturdays or sundays. no comment. actually, i LOVE football and i'm glad they played. it was great for them to be part of the team and have a responsibility to their teammates. and i love that they learned about football. they also got pretty good workouts (usually exhausted when they came home). when they did get to play, they did well. the coaches commented quite a bit about noah's ability and great attitude. there was question as to whether drew was "mean" enough to really get in and tackle hard... um, do we want to make him mean? i don't think so! they had fun, looked great in their uniforms and i think we're all glad the season is over. (i've already confessed my bad attitude... football was just a little more than i could handle in the first few months of married life. i survived it. i just hope i didn't discourage the boys too much!!)

before we even got to the end of football, we started into lego club with taylor. this is a really cool thing that he's been into for two years (drew did it a few years too but quit this year. he really needed a break after football!). anyway, the middle school team isn't sponsored by the school (like the elementary team was), so our church ended up sponsoring the lego team and "hosting" practices in the basement of the henning house (our youth building). the boys build "missions" out of legos and then take a lego robot and program it to accomplish the missions. it is a great project that builds up teamwork, problem solving and computer stuff. plus, taylor gets to build with legos - one of his very favorite activities! again, because we didn't have teachers to lead this year, parents were asked to help coach... so, there's ed - "lego team coach". (yeah, we're back to the goatee... it's starting to grow on me. good thing he's so very good looking!!) this was the competition on dec 3rd. taylor and his friend, ben (holding the robot), did an excellent job on their turn! we were so proud of taylor! (we're working on the wardrobe... and hoping he doesn't get confused for a "charlie's angel" with that long, beautiful hair!!)

now that we're done with football and lego club, we're on easy street with only evan's soccer right now. ed's asst. coaching that too. so far, the team struggles just to score (we don't even worry about winning the games!), but ev's having fun and gets to play with his best friend, daniel. i'll try to get pics of the soccer star soon. tonight is the middle school band concert. we'll go to hear drew play trumpet and taylor play sax. should be great! and friday is taylor's 12th birthday! should be a busy weekend!

praying for john

i'm still waiting for word about ed's brother, john, who was having brain surgery today to remove a tumor found just after thanksgiving. i've been thinking so much of john & dee, jess, shannon, gabe & nate these past two weeks. lots of praying...

Father God, i pray for Your wonderful peace for this family. i ask for your healing to work in john's body and for your protection of his brain from any damage caused by the tumor or the surgery. i know that YOU are able to make all things new and whole again and i ask that for john. please cover his family in a blanket of peace that passes all understanding. give them hope in Your healing power and allow them to feel Your presence right beside them as they wait. thank you for john & dee. for the way they have welcomed me into this family. amen.

Nerf Wars

i always knew i wanted lots of boys. (much as i love sarah, i think it was jeff & mitchell manway who convinced me of this!) i grew up playing house and office and school and loving every minute of it. but somehow i missed out on things like nerf wars. i was the "innocent civilian" who was shot by all four of my punks and i am STILL picking up little nerf bullets(?) EVERYWHERE, but i wouldn't trade this crazy experience for anything in the world. the boys were running around screaming all over the house. no place was safe. and it was great. when dad got into the game, it just escalated to a new level of laughing and craziness. who knew i'd love having nerf wars in the house? boys are just fun. especially these four. now, if only i could get them to clean their rooms...

evan turns 9 (nov 3)

opening presents on evan's birthday - the boys were home from school all day, so we got to enjoy a full day of celebrating ev. this was pretty much his one day a year to have his big brothers wait on him and do whatever he wanted. not a bad deal for a 9 year old. (notice the lovely wrapping job - Christmas paper, no less... wonder why i never have any when i need it? - AND the walls in the dining room... or rather the lack of walls!). ev was really excited to get his package from grandma & grandpa & uncle bill - lots of cool indian stuff and a VIKINGS sweatshirt (taylor was a little jealous... apparently no one else is allowed to like the vikings).

by the way, nov 3 was also my gramp's birthday! happy b'day!

getting started

okay, so i've been thinking of starting a blog for some time in an effort toward better communication with family and friends who are far away (since we are clearly lousy at communicating anymore!), but i'm not exactly computer-savvy. i thought about getting drew to figure it out for me, but my pride wouldn't allow me to stoop to asking our kid to work the computer for me. i think i've got it figured out. so, this is my first post. if all goes well, i will do my best to keep this updated with pictures and news. it may not be as personal as visits, calls or letters, but this is a "take what you can get" situation... hope it's worth it!!
i'm just going to assume that anyone reading this is passionately interested in the daily life of our boys, our ever-changing home (aka "the money pit"??) and the ramblings of yours truly. if not, feel free to move on to a more interesting blog. :) here goes...