No title feels suffient enough

I had planned that today I would share our 

experience at the Farmer's Market yesterday.

Specifically about an amazing young man named Spenser and his wonderful parents.

But then, well, then, I heard some devastating news.

Growing up, we had a dear friend of our family, we called him Uncle Bunny.

Uncle Bunny was always there, even if we didn't live nearby he was there in spirit.

I remember being a kid and him seeming larger than life, just a fantastic man.

This morning, I heard that his 16 year old daughter died yesterday afternoon.

Nothing, nothing in the experience of being a parent prepares you for something like this.

That isn't the way that life is supposed to be.

It seems to go against the very laws of nature that children should pass before their parents.

Yet, we see it and hear about it all the time.

It just seems so very wrong.

It hits home when you think of it being one of your own precious children.

How can life go on without them?
How does the earth continue to turn, the sun shine and the birds sing?

Sixteen seems and is way too young for a life to be cut short.

I cannot fathom what Uncle Bunny and his wife, Elizabeth, are going through.

Cannot imagine the pain.

Uncle Bunny and Elizabeth,

My words seem so shallow, so...not enough.

My heart is broken for you, for the loss of your daughter.

Your precious child, your joy and heart.

Please know, that even though we are separated by hundreds of miles, that my heart is with you.

It's crying with yours.

I am so very very very sorry.

Since we haven't had internet this is what has gone on

It's Sunday night.

We have basically been without the internets since Friday.

Well, really Wednesday but it was spotty then and completely went out on Friday.

I've missed you.

Life continued on as usual.

I discovered on Friday that Abby's hair fits into pig tails.

She looks so much bigger and spunkier with her piggys.

She actually liked to have them in but this picture is hysterical to me.

She looks absolutely forlorn.

Aw, man, MOOOOMMMMM! Do you have to take my picture again? This is SOOO embarrassing!

In my head she says this in a really teenage-y, angst-y voice.

K was out of town again a few days last week.

The girls and I kept busy.

On Friday evening we went to a football game at my old high school.

My step-mom works there and her mom retired after working there for 35 years.

The girls had a blast!

My niece was there as well.

Adison found some girls her age to play with while the little three ran around and giggled the whole time.

Abby was so funny, she clapped every time the band played and others started clapping.

She was really into it.

Adison stopped by for a quick second to check in and to ask for candy.

She was in her element and really had such a great time.

We finally convinced the little girls to sit for a moment.

You know to re-hydrate and to let the adults take a breather.

We had a blast and then got blasted

We had so much fun this weekend!

Friday evening came and we watched our darling niece for a couple of hours.

She melts me, seriously.

It was so cute to watch Cameron and Abby play together.
They also like to hug a lot which lends itself to further melting.

Sigh.

Saturday morning Adison had her first soccer game.

The sports park that they had it at was really nice.

Adison's team lost {although they don't technically keep score, everyone does though}.

She cried because the other team was laughing at them for losing.

Sigh.

I was trying to come up with some real good words of wisdom.

But then my Dad aka Silly Papa said,

"Adison, this just goes to show you how to treat the other team when you win a game."

Way to save the day Papa!
I was going with,

"They are just not being nice."

After the game we went to the car wash, this was pretty much Abby's expression the entire time, she loved it!

We had a pretty busy rest of the day.

Then we decided to take the kids to the park.

{Consider this your warning, there are A LOT of pictures.}

Adison pretty much bolted and found some kids to play with.
Surprised, I didn't think so.

Abby had so much fun walking around.

I actually got Lee to stand still for a second to get a pic!

Abby kept collecting things to give to me.

Wasn't that sweet of her!?!

I loved her face in this one and HAD to include it!

Adison is such an amazing big sister!

I love her!

Abby kept cuddling with K while they were swinging, melted me.

Go Big Blue, Michigan!!!

Ainsley's sweet smile while Adison was pushing her.

Sisters!

After the park we had some dinner then headed over to church.

Our Pastor gave the most AMAZING sermon EVER.

It was about eternity and the Biblical view of it.

AH-MAZ-ING!

Needless to say, after we left I was so excited and giddy and pumped.

Sunday morning after lazing around for a bit we decided to take the kiddos on a walk.

Then had some quiet time before heading over for Small Group.

We had an amazing time, I love everyone in our group!

After that we had a few errands to run.

While we were waiting at the drive thru at Taco Bell {oh so healthy, NOT!} K and I noticed some clouds rotating.

Yes, we live in Tornado Alley.

So, I called my Dad to ask if we were in a tornado warning.
He said that we weren't and told me what to expect weather wise, mainly strong winds .

No biggie.

Not 10 seconds after we hung up it got WINDY!

So windy that the car started rocking back and forth and there was so much debris in the air that it was hard to see.

While I was watching the clouds K and Adison saw a construction sign go spiraling by.

The temperature dropped 24 degrees in a matter of minutes and it started raining big, heavy rain drops.

It was intense.

As we were getting home we noticed that the bad weather occured by our house too.

Our neighbor's house lost several shingles off of their roof.

They were in our backyard and even up in a tree.

Some trellis work on our front porch blew off, into the street and destroyed.

Before

After

Yes, this is what the wind did to it. Completely torn apart, it was all over our yard and the street.

I spoke with my Dad after we got home.

Apparently the winds reached 80 mph and a roof was blown off of a house.

Yikes.

I am just happy to hear that everyone is safe.

Now THAT was a busy, fun, crazy weekend.

How was yours?

'Twas the day after Christmas and our house was freezing...

As previously stated, we visited K's family Christmas Day.

We planned on coming back the next day around 1:30 so that we could get some food prepped for a Christmas celebration at my brother's house.

We get home, get the kiddos inside and K starts unpacking the car.

All of a sudden we realize OUR HOUSE IS FREEZING.

While I prep food, hubby starts fiddling with the heater.

In the meantime, the kids are cold, teeth chattering cold.

Hubby finishes unpacking the car and I start praying.

Please dear Lord, please let this be no big deal. Please, please, please.

K goes to the basement and figures out what is wrong with the heater, the ignitor on it isn't working.

Uh oh.

We decide to worry about it when we get back.

We have space heaters and a fireplace, we will be a-okay for the night.

We get back from my brother's, hubby checks the thermostat and it says it is in the mid-to-low 50's.

Brrrrrrr.

It was time for the girls to go to bed, they were nice and toasty with space heaters humming.

K just happened to know someone out of state that fixes heaters.

He told K that he too thought that the ignitor was broken and we should be able to pick up the part and K could fix it.

The next morning, after driving all around the city he FINALLY finds the part.

K, my hubby, fixed the heater and probably saved us over $200!

Woo hoo!