A Thousand Words

If I had the time to type a thousand words about these pictures I would do it. If you had the time to read a post with a thousand words - you best find one of greater importance than my silly blog.

This will be a catch up post from 2011. I have a couple more catch up posts to do later in the week as well. First off....

Little Lady had her first taste of food. She's been a good nurser, but I suppose its time to attempt to feed her munchies. She didn't like it very well.

Gumming it, gumming it...

dropped it.

Take two - more gumming.

A whole lot of drooling!

I think the taste isn't helping matters.

All gone - more please.

What kind of day is an excuse for such goofy faces???

Mom's 33rd birthday of course!!! Stay tuned as there will be another birthday party for me in April. I'm actually looking forward to it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

Christmas Eve was spend with the Gebes Family. The red corner of the picture is the only prove I took of Blase being at the party. He was the official present passer-outer.

Rex and Darren opening presents.

Little Lady getting some help opening her presents from Aunt Lacy! Thanks Aunt Lacy!!!!

A boy's best friend - MONEY!

MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY!!!

We celebrated Christmas Day with the Bestgen families after a very long, tiring Midnight Mass. Brech Earl and Grandpa are resisting the urge to open presents before everyone was ready. FIGHT THE URGE!! DON'T GIVE IN!! You too Brech Earl! (heehee)

If only we all could have woke up looking so rested! Stephen's such a sweetie in the morning.

Grandpa and Uncle Loman (in the Buzz Lightyear pjs) with the kids before we opened presents. They lined up youngest to oldest.

Two of my brothers with Cormac. What a lazy Christmas morning! Just the way we like it.

Big Ana (Juliana) and Little Ana (Gianna)

This is one of my favorite pictures of those two Ana's.

The boys decided to sing:

We three kings of orient are

Smoking on a rubber cigar

It was loaded, it exploded

BANG (sound effects by Rex)

We two kings of orient are (minus Stephen)

Smoking on a rubber cigar

It was loaded, it exploded

BANG (again a little help from Rex)

I one king of orient are (minus both Stephen and Cormac)

Smoking on a rubber cigar

It was loaded, it exploded

BANG (Rex's solo)

God rest ye merry gentlemen.....

Paul and Kaylene checking out her new music book.

Andrew got diapers. He doesn't look too thrilled. Thank goodness it wasn't really diapers.

My second favorite pictures of the Ana's. This time in their footed pajamas. Juliana - I'm glad you are so comfortable with your choice of clothes. Not all of us could pull that off and still look cute. Most of us would just look strange!

Great Grandma Ingalls with Little Lady. She cuddled right in and took a nice nap for Grandma. I'd like to know how much it costs to get one Great Grandma to Horace on those nights when Little Lady thinks she shouldn't sleep. Maybe it would be easier to send Little Lady down to Grandma???

Mashed potatoes in a bag, in boiling water. This is a memory in the making. The other memory was in the making on top of the fridge. THAT bag of mashed potatoes swelled up and probably would have made a massive mashed potato mess in the kitchen if someone hadn't pointed it out.

Patiently waiting!!!

A little bit later in the day we all headed to Mark Park for a some ice fishing and....

the 3rd Annual Bestgen Family Dart Tournament.

Featuring:

9th place - Ante Up (Rita Bestgen and Jason Ingalls)

8th place - Farm Girls (Twyla Bestgen and Mauri Sobotka)

7th place - PB&J *Kickers (Paul Bestgen and Justin Ingalls)

6th place - Nana & TingTing (Juliana Bestgen and Kaylene Bestgen)

5th place - Winner Winner Chicken Dinner (Adam Bestgen and Karen Gebes)

4th place - Outlaws (Peter Sobotka and Darren Gebes)

3rd place - Jess 'N' Nators (Jess Bestgen and Nate Ingalls)

2nd place - Team Sally (John Bestgen and Andrew "Sally" Bestgen)

AND

the winning shot for the FIRST PLACE TEAM:

Lukewarm Rod

Luke Bestgen and Rod Ingalls

I think they should be renamed to the HOT RODS.

Everyone in the Bestgen family spent the night at Mom and Dad's or down at John's house at the sod farm. It was a full house and then some. Grandpa wanted a picture with all his granddaughters. We probably should have had Grandma get a picture with all her grandsons, but we didn't think of it.

Even though Bella (standing) is 9 days younger than Gianna she is leaps and bounds ahead of her when it comes to walking and standing. She's giving her mother fits with as active as she is. I have to say that she is darn right adorable when she starts getting into things. I can say that because I'm just the Godmother who lives 8 hours away. I'm sure if Gianna was into as much as Bella is I wouldn't be thinking she was so adorable.

Go Bella GO!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY TO CORMAC!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!

Yummy Spiderman cupcakes with sprinkles and tricky candles.

Wait - didn't I blow them out already??!?!

Money to buy a movie - too cool!

One of his most favorite birthday presents, followed closely by the games and the other toys and the food and the money and the everything else.

more cards and presents at Grandma and Grandpa Gebes' house.

WOW, its so much fun turning 7 just after Christmas.

Headed back to Sturgis - Bear Butte from the east. I just love how it looks. The butte looked so much more impressive in person.

I still haven't been to a place that I love more than my parents house at sunset. My favorite time of the day....well, maybe nap time is getting to be very close to the top of my favorite times.

We decorated gingerbread cookies. Brech enjoyed eating the candies off his man, but that was it.

Sweet smilin' Cormac and his smilin' gingerbread man.

That looks like sweet trouble if you ask me. If only that gingerbread man could talk - what things Stephen and him could come up with.

Rex is not the best picture taker when it comes to "Smile for the camera" poses. You should have seen the first one I took. Yikes.

My redheaded brother Loman and his redheaded gingerbread man.

We had just started getting pink eye so Blase decided he wanted a gingerbread man with pink eye. Yes, you can shake your head and smile. Goofy kid!

Speaking of pink eye - if you asked Brech he has blue eye.

All the kids, but Stephen, have gotten pink eye so far.

We also have 5th disease - at least Brech and Gianna do.

Sore throats, coughs, runny noses, ear infections...ya we got them too.

I am beginning to wonder if we left anything behind in SD for those dear people to catch?!

Here's to a healthier 2012 than its already been.

P.S. According Microsoft Word this post is exactly one thousand two hundred sixty words long. I suppose all of you knew this post would be over a thousand words. Sigh.

Are You Guilty?

There are two types of people I am thinking about right now. The people who make New Year's resolutions and the people who don't. Both types of people have something in common...they are both guilty of failing.

The person who makes a New Year's resolution is setting him/herself up for failure. I remember one year I was going to stop biting my nails. That lasted about 2 days. One year I was going to brush my teeth at least twice a day. That lasted 17 days before I was too tired one night. Some people say they will exercise. Some will want to learn something new. Others will try to break a bad habit. In most cases they are all excited to start, full of confidence, and sure to succeed.

The other type of person, who does not make a resolution, has already failed. The person who is satisfied with who they are and does not see the need to improve is, well, a very sad situation. I have yet to meet someone who does not need to work on at least one bad habit. Or maybe step outside their comfort zone to try something new, becoming a better person in the process. In most cases theses people are in a dull rut in life, seeing little value in bettering their situation.

I propose no one make a resolution this year. Why do something that you are going to fail at? Why even attempt to take a whole year to change something? Instead - take just today to change something. Everyday find something to improve or learn something new. If you take this one day at a time you will not fail. By not committing to one or two resolutions you have opened the door to whole new world of possibilities.

By taking this approach you will have to stop and take a good, hard look at yourself. For instance, if you examine your conscience every night you can see where you failed that day. Maybe you wasted too much time playing Facebook games in the evening. Maybe you ignored that pile of laundry that needed folding (for the 5th day in a row - yes I'm guilty!). So the next day instead of playing that game - fold the laundry! You have become a better person for that day. It is what we do with today that matters, not Day 258 of 2012.

If you aren't sure what you need improve on - ask a friend, ask your spouse, ask God. Someone will tell you. I am sure what you hear will not please you either. Its a very humbling experience to sit through someone telling you what you need improvement on.

I wish you a blessed year full of little daily successes. Do not give up. God blesses us with a new day every 24 hours. He gives us a bright sunrise to energize and inspire us. He gives us enough hours in a day to fulfill our obligations. Then, when we are tired, He gives us a beautiful, calming sunset to relax us into a peaceful sleep.

“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew.” St. Francis de Sales

Day Three of Unpacking

My grandma asked for pictures of the house. It was a mess. Its still a mess, but getting better. This is what we saw on Day Three of our unloading/unpacking.

Living room that will become the school room.

upstairs bathroom

Cormac, Rex, and Brech's bedroom

south side of the master bedroom

north side of the master bedroom

Our bedroom frame was too big to get down the hallway. We haven't decided what we will do about a frame yet. Sleeping on a mattress right on the floor is different and colder.

kitchen

stairs going down to landing/basement

family room with fireplace

Blase and Stephen's room

basement hallway to spare room and laundry room

currently used as a catch all room,

could be spare room,

most likely Cormac and Rex's future room

laundry room

my UPS man (united paper squasher)

A Day

Welcome to

IT'S

For those of you who don't speak Plains weather - that meant -10 degrees with the wind chill factored in.

Its a grand day to:

HIT A NEW MILEAGE MILESTONE IN THE MINI-VAN.

BUY A

IN

LOCATED NEAR HERE

ITS ALSO A GREAT DAY TO EAT AN ALIEN.

AND TAKE SOME TIME TO RELAX AFTER A LONG HARD WEEKEND.

I will now give you the brief run down of our past week. Movers packed or loaded Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They came back on Friday to get the 4-wheeler, lawn mower and trailer. Friday night we stayed in a hotel with the intention of leaving first thing in the morning. Saturday morning Darren got up and decided to work on the garage doors so that they were just right and we wouldn't have to come back to fix them. We were on the road by lunch time.

About 130 miles into the trip we ran into snow. At first it was just a normal snow. Not bad at all.

The light, lovely snow quickly became heavier and dangerous. Have you ever seen something horrible about to happen and you know you can't do anything about it? I learned exactly what that feels like. We were traveling about 35-40 mph, but there was a semi who decided to travel faster than that. As that semi passed Darren some how (wind? or snow? or ice?) the pickup and trailer started to slip and slide all over the road. It was also at this time that another vehicle was getting ready to pass Darren as well. We were headed west, but when this was happening the pickup's headlights were pointed north, then the trailer was pointed south while the pickup was facing west, and finally all straightened out headed west again. As fast as Darren was slipping from the driving lane to the entire passing lane and back to the driving lane I managed to yell "NO!" three times. It happened so quick. I started shaking and crying, followed quickly by the urge to puke and pass out. I had to follow Darren another 15 miles before we could stop at a hotel for the night. I have never been so scared and so grateful in all my life. I'm not ashamed to say I cried and cried. I watched 4 of my most precious treasures almost wreck just in front of me and there was nothing I could do. Luckily the boys who were with me were helping me pray a rosary at that very moment. We were on the third decade of a rosary for the intentions of safe travels for us and for no one to wreck around us. That helped keep me focused. We prayed Hail Mary's all the way to the hotel.

We drove all of Sunday since we didn't make very far on Saturday. It was much easier traveling. I was surprised to see no snow on this side of Minnesota. Here is a crazy picture of our first view of Moorhead, MN.

And this beautiful picture is of the "Welcome to North Dakota" sign. We were in such a hurry to get to ND that it passed us in a blur.

Technically my camera takes crappy pictures at night while moving. Well, it takes crappy pictures while moving period. A new camera is on my Christmas list.

We are here now and that is all that matters. The movers are delivering our boxes tomorrow. If we are suppose to get you a Christmas gift - you may get an unopened moving box with a bow on it. Its anyone's guess what might be inside. Wouldn't that make for an interesting Christmas gift exchange? Let's just hope you don't get the box with the cleaning supplies.

The Friends We Leave Behind

Brech Earl and the Three Movers

Once upon a time there were three movers, Ed, Chris, and Dylan. They packed the upstairs, they packed the basement. They packed the kitchen, school room, living room and finally the bedrooms. All was going well until the three year old got upset.

He looked for a toy.

"Dey packed da toys!"

He looked for a book.

"Dey packed da books!"

He ran up to his room and came out with a scowl on his face.

"DEY PACKED MY BED!!!" Huumph (arms crossed and a mighty fine glare on his face)

You have to understand that they didn't take anyone else's bed since the others had to be taken apart. Brech sleeps on a toddler bed. This made things just that much more confusing. They took his toys, books and just HIS bed. Poor fellow. Later that night, Brech was getting ready to go to sleep on his mattress that was on the floor when he asked for his bear stuffed animal. He never asks for his bear. So I looked for it all over the room. When I told Brech I couldn't find the bear he said, "Dem boys took my bear and put it in a box." He was pissed.

The next morning he woke up saying "Dey took my toys, dey took my books, dey took my bed, da boys took my bear and put it in a box," over and over again. He didn't smile at the movers the rest of the day. We probably scarred him for life over this move. He won't let anyone take his bed away again.

We had a car moving company come pick up the big van for us. When Brech noticed it was gone he was even more upset because they "took my van" too. After the movers had all the beds loaded Brech ran up to me and informed me that they had taken my bed too. I suppose he was looking for support for his "anti-mover" group. We have tried to give lots of hugs and assuring words. This is his first move. Sad, sad day.

The move has gone ok. The movers finished packing and loading almost everything yesterday. They have a few things to pick up this morning. We will be leaving our house this afternoon and on our way to North Dakota. I'm not sure how the kids are taking it. Its been a long, long week watching the movers pack everything and keeping the boys out of boxes and away from stacks of packed boxes.

This has been the hardest move of all of them. I don't remember having this much stress - but then again I didn't have as many kids to keep out of the way. On a side note, this move will be a great sacrifice to offer for my brother Mark on his 20th birthday. I'm emotional as it is, but add missing Mark in the mix hasn't been easy today. I guess I won't ever forget the day we moved away from our house here in Michigan.