Funny kids...

We slept in until 8:00am on Saturday...Never in all my years as a person with no children would I call 8:00am "sleeping in." But having kids changes things! So, anyway, the kids ALWAYS come into our room when they wake up before us. And this Saturday, Grace came in to wake us up. After a few minutes, she told me, "Caleb and I were picking out our breakfasts. I picked oatmeal. Caleb picked chocolate chips." I said, "WHAT?! Where's Caleb?" She replied, "I think he's eating chocolate chips." So I ran to the kitchen to discover the pantry doors wide open and Caleb sitting on the floor in the middle of the laundry room (next to the kitchen) with an open bag of chocolate chips in his lap and chocolate smudged around his guilty little mouth. What a kid!

P.S. Watch for pictures soon! Our camera should be here today!

My first CVS trip!

I can't say enough about this blog! Seriously, if you'd like to save tons of money on toiletries (and other stuff), check it out.

Last night after church, I made my first trip to CVS. They seem to have a better program than Walgreens. I think the trip went pretty well. Here's what I got...

1 bag M&M's :-)
2 Glade sprays
2 Listerine Smart Rinses
2 Huggies baby washes
3 bottles of Pantene (2 shampoo, 1 conditioner)
2 bottles of Dawn dish detergent
1 Brut deoderant

After coupons and extra care bucks, this all cost $3.41. Woo-hoo! Not bad for my first try!

Unfortunately, the CVS I went to had a bunch of things out of stock that I wanted/needed, so I might try to visit a different one tomorrow or Saturday to stock up on paper towels, toilet paper, and toothbrushes.

That's all for now!

(P.S. Sorry about the lack of kid posts and pictures lately. Our camera died a couple of weeks ago, and our new one is in the mail. I'll definitely post pictures when we're up and running again!)

Good deals tonight

Our wonderful friend Sommer offered to watch our kids tonight so Luke and I could have some time to ourselves. What a blessing!!! Even though we mostly ran errands, it was nice just to be together without our little sweethearts to distract us.

So, here are the good deals I snagged today...

Four tubes of Colgate Total Advanced toothpaste for $.34. (Free plus tax.)
Two bags of Chex Mix for free.
Six jumbo packs of Huggies for $30, but it'll be $20 after I send in for two $5 rebates. That makes the diapers about $3.33 for each package. Not bad!

I'm a beginner, but it's still exhilarating in a way to walk out of stores with free stuff that we'll actually use. Fun! Did you know that when you shop at Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc. (which I never would have shopped at before, but can see the merit in it now), you can stack coupons?...Meaning, you can use a Walgreens coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon for the same item. Not only that, but you can use one manufacturer's coupon per item, so for instance, the toothpaste I bought was on sale Buy One Get One Free and I had a $1.50 off coupon for EACH tube. Without the BOGO sale, I would have paid 1/2 price for all the toothpastes (since they were originally $2.99). But using the coupons during the BOGO sale made the toothpaste free. Who doesn't love free?!

Alright, I know that it's been a long time, and I should write more about our lives, but there's so much more I need to be doing now. So, maybe later! For now, goodbye!

Toddler Hide-and-Seek

Today I experienced the game of hide-and-seek from a 2- and 3-year-old perspective. Apparently, toddlers don't actually hide themselves for this game, which is probably good because I know for a fact that neither of mine could be quiet enough to actually stay hidden for more than 0.0000000001 seconds. So this is how it worked...Grace told Caleb to stand facing the corner, and she helped him count to three while she hid the object to seek - her pink and white purse. After he counted to three and said, "GO!" (with her help), then he'd turn around to look for the purse, and she'd show him where it was. Then it was Caleb's turn to hide it and Grace's turn to seek. I helped him hide it (because when he did it himself, it was "hidden" in his hands!), and she turned around, and he pointed to where it was...What a crazy game - but they loved it!!!

And now they're laying under a "tent" I made for them out of chairs and blankets, singing "Jesus Loves Me" together and clapping. I love it when they get along. These are the days it's easier to remember that my job is such an amazing privilege.

Busy saving money...

What a waste of time!!! I've been online (dial-up!) for an hour and a half, trying to print some stupid coupons. Apparently, it's not going to happen. I really want to print these coupons for Colgate so that I can go to Walgreens tonight and get myself a free tube of toothpaste...

I've been reading this blog lately, and it is so useful and practical. There are many tips and tricks for serious "couponing." The people that actually do this stuff get most (all? some?) of their toiletries for free! They shop a lot at CVS / Walgreens / Rite Aid...My friend Larissa does this. I actually found out about it from reading her blog. She got 8 packages of diapers for $3 out of pocket at CVS. I want to learn to shop like that!!!

So, here is my plea. Family, friends, strangers...If you get the paper and don't use the coupon inserts, can I please, please, pretty please have yours? We just started getting the Press, and I am going to start gathering my coupons and ease my way into the super-savings. I would love your help! I'm excited about it, but also not too confident in myself yet. So don't make fun of me if it doesn't work for us.

And, I should say, an hour and a half is completely unacceptable for me! I just used up the kids' whole naptime (almost) and didn't even get one coupon to print! Not to mention that we've been so BUSY lately! Last week was insane, and this one's not too much better...Here's a synopsis of our days...

Last Monday, Bob (our cement guy) was here all day prepping for our flatwork. I had to wrangle the kids all day - but they LOVED watching him work.

Tuesday, Bob and a couple of other guys poured and finished the cement. Caleb LOVED the cement truck! And we all LOVE the sidewalk and two cement patios we now have! We also had a last-minute showing that night.

Wednesday was an afternoon doctor appointment, WalMart trip (thanks, Shannon, for coming with us!), and church.

Thursday was another last-minute showing, and my mom came down to stay with Grace during Caleb's surgery.

Friday was Caleb's surgery.

Saturday the entire Rumley clan was here. (We had a great time!)

Sunday was church, out to eat for Mother's Day, home, and back to church for a congregational meeting.

Yesterday was another last-minute showing.

And tonight we have a showing at 7:00pm.

WOW! I'm tired just typing all that.

So, I'd better go, now that I've been online for SO long!!! Pray for our house to sell if you think of it!

He's Waking Up...

Surgery went well, and Lacey is with Caleb in the wake-up room. After he snaps out of it, we will have another 1-2 hours in the hospital before we can take him home. Thanks for praying!

Caleb's Surgery Day

We're at the hospital now, in the holding area before going into the waiting room for surgery. Caleb is doing very well so far, and he looks incredibly cute in his little scrubs. The nurses are all doing a wonderful job with him, and the hospital is well-equipped with toys. He's currently playing basketball with Luke while I type. So...surgery should begin at 7:30am. Please pray that all goes well!

Our camera batteries are almost dead, but I got a couple of not-that-great pictures of Caleb in his little hospital outfit. Here they are...

Caleb in his tiger scrubs, sitting on his hospital bed.


Caleb driving a little truck around the unit before coming down to this holding area.

We'll try to update later! Thanks for your prayers!

Family weekend

This past weekend was a flurry of activity, but also a lot of fun! Luke, my bro-in-law Karl, and some other men from our church (and churches all over Michigan) went to a men's retreat at Lake Ann Camp. So, while they were gone, my whole family came down here to visit.

My parents and Alonna were so kind to stay with the four kids while Melissa, Ava, and I went garage saling on Friday. And M even took me out to Olive Garden for lunch - a WONDERFUL treat! (I love that restaurant and rarely get to go.) It was a great day with my sister! You know, when we were growing up, we fought like crazy. She's 3-1/2 years older than me, so we were just far enough apart in age for us to not "get" each other at all. My mom used to tell us what great friends we'd be when we grew up, and I never really believed her. But she was right! (Good call, Mom!) I'm so thankful for the friendship I can have with Melissa now!

And we spent the rest of the weekend eating, hanging out, and doing a little more garage saling with Alonna and my dad.

Lest I leave Alonna out of the discussion...I left home for college when she was six years old, so we didn't really grow up together. But it's been fun to see her mature and grow into a godly young woman. She's fourteen now, and it's crazy to think that she'll be out of high school and in college in no time at all! (That makes me feel OLD!)

And here are just a couple of pictures that we took this weekend. (I must be in the mood for black and white. Sorry if you were hoping for some color!)

The kids - from left: Karl(3), Emma(19mths), Caleb(2), Ava(6mths), Grace(3).


Sisters! Left to right - Melissa (the oldest), Alonna (the youngest), and me (the middle!).

Fun with Photoshop!

I took these pictures of sweet Ava today. She's nearing seven months old, and sitting up like a pro!

Sitting, eating, pooping...

Ava has been growing up so much this weekend! We started propping her up on the floor with cushions behind her a few days ago, and now she's completely capable of sitting up on her own. Granted, she doesn't always WANT to sit up on her own. But if she has a toy in front of her and isn't thinking about how she doesn't want to sit up, then she does really well. I brought the toy in this picture upstairs (from a box in the basement) yesterday, and she seems to really like it. It distracts her enough to keep her upright!


Today we fed her baby food for the first time - green beans! She's been a good eater for us lately. She gobbles her cereal right down, and today she ate half a jar of baby food (quite happily, I might add). I love her happy spirit - even when she's eating pureed vegetables! What a sweetheart!


And last, but not even close to least, Ava peed and pooped on the potty today! YES! Our 6-month-old pooped on the potty! Yay! True, she didn't tell us she had to go, but she started grunting a little, so Luke sat her on the potty...and she went! Good job, Ava! Maybe we can potty train Caleb and Ava simultaneously!

Annual(ish) Haircut

Well, folks, the time for my annual haircut came and went, and my hair was getting a little long for me. So, I had a very pleasant visit to Panopolous Salons on Cascade Road.

I've never really had a non-awkward haircut. The hairdressers and I always try to make conversation, but I've never really clicked with any of them. So it's always an awkward time. But, not this time! Yay! I had a very nice girl named Austen, who happens to be a Christian. Isn't it funny/cool how just that one fact can be the common denominator that begins a good conversation? Anyway, I had a nice, relaxing time while she cut my hair.


I didn't take a "before" picture, so here's the latest picture of me with my long hair. (It just so happens that it was taken while Caleb and I were "riding bikes" in the basement. Yes, that's Grace's little bike I'm on. No, it didn't break when I sat on it. Just in case you were curious.) : - )


And here's the "after!" It's not as dramatic as last time - which was over 16 months ago! Anyway, what do you think?

Doctor Visit

I really should be working on Base Camp stuff right now, but I wanted to do a quick update...

The kids all saw our doctor on Thursday, and all of them have some medical issues. First of all, Grace has been having problems with fluid behind her ears. She hasn't been hearing well, even though she's been on a nasal spray and Claritin for the past month. The doctor did a test in her ears and saw that her ear drums are not vibrating like they should. So, we are going to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist in May. She might have to get tubes put in her ears. Bummer.

Caleb is actually doing fine, except he's having some minor surgery on May 9. You'll have to email if you want more details about that!

And Ava didn't gain even one ounce between her 4-month and 6-month appointments. She's still 13lb 14oz. The doctor and I aren't TOO worried, mostly because Ava is built just like Luke. She's very tall and thin. She did grow height-wise, so she's up to 27 inches. (And her head grew, too!) She's just really skinny. She's on baby cereal now, and I'm trying to add some formula to it for more calories (like baby weight gainer). The doctor thought she might do better physically (sitting up, etc.) if she had more calories to turn into muscle tone. I really don't mind her being skinny, as long as she's healthy.

My close friend Kisha and I often marvel at the difference between Ava and her son, Logan, who is 3 days younger than Ava. Ava's not yet 14lb and is 27in, and Logan is over 18lb and is 26-3/4in! They're SO different physically, yet they are both adorable, happy babies!

Okay, that's all for now. I'm off to work on Base Camp curriculum!

How's your house?

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." Proverbs 14:1

I'm having a rare moment this morning where I'm actually up before the kids! So, I sat down, intending to read Proverbs 17. But this verse caught my eye, and I had to pause.

Last night in POD groups, we were discussing Colossians 3:18 - a verse about the wife's role in submitting to her husband. Of course, it's not a "politically correct" verse, but it is a true verse! And so is the one above. I marvel at the way the Lord created us to be.

Many women (especially unbelievers) find submission to be degrading, or like a type of slavery. But I disagree! There is such FREEDOM in knowing and practicing my God-given role and purpose. I love knowing my boundaries, as it were. It gives me the freedom to live as I was created to live, without the confusion and heartache of trying to "find my own way" in life. Praise God for creating me to be in submission to my husband! And praise God for giving me a husband who makes submission easy(ish)! : - )

My prayer is that I will be a wise woman who will build her house, not tear it down. I want that more than anything in life - to glorify God with my whole life by living out the life He intends for me!

Happy 27th, Luke!

Can you tell Luke was getting frustrated with me taking too many pictures of him? He makes a pretty convincing mad face, huh? : - )

Yesterday was the big day. We actually didn't do anything very out-of-the-ordinary. We had a yummy dinner, ice cream sandwiches, and gave him presents (a brown shirt and two CDs - seen in this picture).


We also took a walk after dinner. I took this picture on the way back to the house. Isn't this boy just a sweetheart?


And here's me with my sweetheart. Yes, I look tired. It was a long, busy day! But this is us, nonetheless! I think it's a great picture of Luke. Grace actually took the picture...good job, little photographer!


I hate to say it, but I actually got a better present on Luke's birthday than he did! He bought me a new laptop! YAY! I'm SO excited! Now I can get online and work on Base Camp without the computer crashing on me...Thanks, honey! You can see the specs here. (I knew what was in the box. I just made this happy/surprised face because Grace wanted to take my picture.)

By the way, the dentist finished my root canal today. Yay; it's done! Now I just need to get the crown done sometime. And my sweet friend Kathy watched the kids for me with very little notice. I'm so thankful for her and our church family; they take such great care of us!

Oh, and maybe my stupidity will brighten your day....I tried to back out of the garage on the way to my dentist appointment, not realizing that I'd left the garage door partially down. Just enough to scrape along the top of the van and get a tiny bit bent up. Lovely, huh? For some reason, the kids thought the loud noise it made was hilARious. OH, kids.

: - )

So many pictures to show, so little Internet speed...

Last Thursday, we took the kiddos to the GR Children's Museum in honor of Caleb's birthday. Our dear friends the Brewsters came with us. Even though it was insanely busy, we had a great time! It was a Bob the Builder theme, and there were so many hands-on things for the kids to play with and explore there. I'm excited to go back someday. (I'm trying to convince Luke to get us a membership, but I don't think it's working.)

Then, on Saturday, we took the kids to a playground in Kentwood. It was a beautiful day! Ava got to go down a slide for the first time, and Grace and Caleb had lots of fun playing there. They even made a couple of little friends. How fun!

Ava turned six months old on Tuesday! I wanted to get (and post) a picture of her, but she had a pretty crabby day that day, so no such luck. But we are still enjoying her laid back personality so much, even though she still isn't trying very hard to do things like sit up or crawl. Oh, well! I'd rather have a happy baby than a mobile one at this point in my life! We are planning to take her to JCPenney for six-month pictures tomorrow, and the Brewsters are going to join us again so we can get some pictures of Ava and Logan together! (Logan will be six months old tomorrow. They're just three days apart.)

Yesterday I tried to have my root canal (which started last Thursday) completed. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be. The dentist couldn't tell from the x-rays he took if there's a third canal or not. So, he put in a temporary filling and we're waiting to be sure there aren't symptoms of a third canal. Hopefully next Tuesday it'll be a quick appointment where he gives me a permanent filling. I'm getting tired of having to hold my jaw open for long periods of time.

Speaking of root canals, Luke is having one done right now. You'd think we Rumleys don't ever brush our teeth, but that's not true. We have good oral hygeine! It is true, though, that I hadn't had a set of x-rays done on my teeth in a good five years until the ones I got done in February. (No dental insurance, and then no x-rays while pregnant.)

Another bit of news...We have someone "interested" in the house, although they haven't made an offer yet. I think they're waiting for us to bribe them with a better price or extra "stuff" thrown in the deal. I'm not sure what we're going to do. I do find myself daydreaming about living back in the city/suburbs, though.

Welp, maybe I'll be able to post my beautiful pictures later. But, for now, buh-bye!

Our man cub is 2 years old!

Caleb turned 2 yesterday! I can hardly believe it was already two years ago that he was born. And what a joy he's been to us! He's always ready with a smile and a hug - or a run, jump, or clap. He's a bundle of energy, but we love that he's such a BOY! Right now he loves finding and smooshing bugs (with a tissue, not his bare hands), and he loves drumming and sports...oh, and cell phones. : - )

Our prayer for him will continue to be that he'll grow up to serve God wholeheartedly, like the Caleb in the Bible.

Happy birthday, Buddy!

Friday Fun with Friends Day

We were excited to have our friends over on Friday - Sommer and Maddie, and Kisha, Tayler, and Logan. We had a fun time doing lots of Easter activities in anticipation of the coming holiday. One thing we did was finger painting with colored pudding (just vanilla pudding with food coloring in it). The kids had a lot of fun, even though most of their papers didn't dry well. (Thanks for the idea, Amy Buskard!)



Caleb with a finger-full of edible "paint."



The finished artwork. Caleb's is first (in the front), then Grace's, then Maddie's, and then Tayler's. Good job, kids!



The kids decorating some Easter eggs.



Tayler stuck her blue Easter egg in her mouth. Can you tell? : - )



A plate of pretty Easter eggs.



Ava Joy and her friend Logan - 3 days younger than her and probably 3 pounds heavier!

More pictures!

Happy Easter from the Rumley family! We're celebrating Christ's sacrifice for us this weekend.

Happy Ava playing with the Resurrection Eggs.

Smiley Caleb, almost 2 years old.

Beautiful Grace, 3 years old, but looking like she's 13.

Picture post

We had a fun time visiting the Liabenow side up north last Sunday. The Sunday evening church service was done by the youth group, and Alonna was the main actor in the play. It was really well done! Alonna did an excellent job with her part; she knew all of her lines and delivered them very convincingly. Maybe I'll have a famous sister someday! : - ) Oh, if you're curious about the box, it was the main prop for the play. Alonna was sitting in it during most of the drama.



Melissa and Karl were supposed to be in the box picture, but they were already headed home by the time I tried to find them for the picture. So, this is them! Good looking family, huh?



And good news! Caleb's a real boy again! He had his appointment with Dr. Ringler on Monday, and it turns out his arm is perfectly healed! Praise the Lord!



Here's the moment the doctor took the splint off. Caleb was a trouper. He got the red plate that night to celebrate his freedom.



On Tuesday, the kids helped me make pizza crackers for lunch. (Basically crackers, sauce, and cheese baked in the oven until the cheese melts.) I did the sauce, but they still had fun. Can you see Caleb's mountain of cheese that he's working on? What a funny kid.



We also made cookies that day. While I made the cookie dough, I gave them their own mixing bowls and utensils to pretend with. They started to get bored, so I put some water in their bowls, and that entertained them for the rest of my cooking time. It was fun, and they actually didn't make much of a mess! Good job, kids!



Ava Joy - what a sweet baby! I've been meaning to post a picture of her for a while now, to commemorate her milestone of being 5 months old. She's getting over her sickness and back to sleeping well at night for us. She's been rolling from her back to her belly for quite a while, but she started rolling from her belly to her back last night. So, now she can go both ways. She still can't sit up on her own at all, but this rolling ability gives her the potential to be mobile!

That's all for now. I actually took over 70 pictures of the kids today. (Good thing we have a digital camera, huh? That'd be way too much film to develop.) So, maybe someday I'll get around to posting a few of those.

Gotta go. Happy Maundy Thursday.

Quick, pictureless update

I would love to post pictures today, but I think it'll have to wait. Our computer has been acting sick lately, so I'm going to do a quick little update before it crashes...

Ava is 5 months old now. She is the sweetest child in the world, I think. (Don't tell our other two, haha.) But she actually has a cold now, which is so sad. She's only been in the nursery twice now; can I still blame the cold on that? : - )

Caleb gets his splint off on Monday, or at least that's the plan. He's doing well with it, though. And his talking has taken off in the past week or two. He's saying so many more words and phrases now - how fun! I guess our pediatrician was right when she guessed he'd start talking more right around his second birthday.

Grace is learning more and more all the time, I think. She's doing such a great job with memorizing her verses for Cubbies - and that's thrilling to me! She's even starting to write letters on her own. She'll be coloring, and just say, "Look, Mommy, I wrote an "S!" Isn't that cool? Oh, she's also doing a great job with potty training. Night time dryness might take a while, but she's pretty much trained during the day. Praise the Lord!

Luke's busy as ever at work, almost too busy. He feels like he has so much to do but can't get it all done.

And I'm also busy, but my work involves cooking, cleaning, and changing diapers. I know, for a fact, that it'll never all get done. Trying to sell the house also throws a wrench in my fire, because it has to be absolutely, perfectly spotless for showings and such. I dare you to try that with three kids under three years old!

That's all for now. Maybe I'll get to post pictures sometime soon. Until next time, take care!