Wedding Weekend, Part 2

Our handsome ring bearer and beautiful flower girl


My two handsome boys, before the ceremony


Here they are - walking down the aisle. They did so well!



The beautiful bridesmaids...Katie (Erin's roommate) on the left, Emily (sister) in the middle, and Betsey (sister) on the right.


Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Tobin Bolton! Congratulations!


Both Grace and Caleb fell asleep during the ceremony. They were tuckered out!


We transferred Caleb to a couch in a back room of the chapel after the ceremony, and he stayed asleep! It must be a tiring job to have so much attention in one day!


Another picture of the happy couple. Notice what a beautiful day it was outside. The sun was shining and the sky was blue...perfect!


When we got to the reception, the kids were happy to find that each place had a votive holder full of either M&M's or Skittles. Yum! Grace enjoyed these M&M's, and Caleb ate so many Skittles while Luke and I were running around getting organized that he didn't even want a bite of dinner. Can you say "sugar high?"


And she fell asleep again at the reception - while she was sitting up in her chair!


We were worried she might fall off the chair, so Luke transferred her to the floor and covered her with his suit jacket. What a sweet, sleepy girl! Note that during this time, Caleb was running around like a crazy person! We were very thankful for Erin's college friends who were willing to keep him busy with their cell phones! : - )

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. If you'd like to see more pictures, visit Emily's blog and Mom's blog.

Wedding weekend!

We're in Terre Haute, IN this weekend...home of Columbia House, Clabber Girl, Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Go Rose!), and my sister(in-law) Erin's wedding.

But let me begin with some older pictures that I've been meaning to post and now have the opportunity to use the hotel's high-speed.

We had fun with my family when they visited last weekend. And Caleb LOVED Papa's new glasses!


This was a fun dinner we had at home. Luke got out the apple slices, pretzels, peanut butter, and raisins, and we had fun making "people" out of them. This is Luke's guy - he's crying.

This is the girl that Grace asked me to make for her. Do you like her dress? : - )

Now, on to the wedding festivities...Emily and I had the pleasure of doing Erin's flowers for her. This is the coolest boutenniere ever that we made for Tobin (the groom). It's a white mini calla lily with lily grass wrapped around it.

And here's Ava enjoying her time at the flower shop. What a good girl!

These are the beautiful bouquets...Erin's has white mini calla lilies, and the bridesmaids' have orange mini calla lilies.


Last night at the rehearsal dinner - sisters Erin and Betsey - the last night they'll both be Rumley girls.

And the bride and groom...soon to be Tobin and Erin Bolton! We'll be headed to the chapel SOON, and then let the games begin! We'll try to post pictures of the wedding later. It's going to be beautiful!

Ava's 4-month Check-up

She did great today! What a sweet girl. Even though her appointment was right in the middle of nap time, she smiled at the doctor the entire time. The doctor declared that all is well, even though she doesn't yet bear her weight when we try to stand her up. She must just be content to lie down! : - ) For those of you who are interested in the stats, she's now 13lb 14oz (skinnier than I thought - 55th percentile) and 26-1/4in long (off the charts). I'm a little envious of my two daughters being so tall and thin. At the same time, I'm happy for them that they got their daddy's genes!

After the appointment, we got to have lunch at Burger King with Kisha, Tayler, and Logan. What a special treat for us! They are such good friends, and the kids had a blast in the playplace. (I'm normally grossed out by all the nasty germs in a playplace, but this one wasn't too bad, and our three were the only kids playing in it. We made sure to give 'em all a good dose of Purell on their hands when they were done.) I took some pictures but haven't gotten them on the computer yet. Maybe later!

Update on Caleb - The splint is not slowing him down at all, though it does seem to be waking him up at night. Apparently, Luke woke up in the middle of the night and found Caleb in bed with us! I never even noticed him there! (We've been very tired lately.) So, Luke put him back in his own bed. Sheesh! I still don't have his follow-up appointment scheduled, because the doctor's office hasn't called me back yet.

Hope everyone's doing well. See you Rumleys in 10 days!

Dem bones, dem bones, dem broken bones...

I'm not sure what the Lord's trying to teach us right now. Maybe patience?

Caleb climbed himself up on the counter on Thursday morning, and by the time I knew he was up there, he was falling off backwards. It all happened very quickly. He cried a lot, of course, but he wouldn't tell me if anything hurt. So, we went about our day, and he continued to be extremely cranky. He wouldn't eat lunch, so I put him down for his nap. He took a good one, but when he woke up, I noticed that he was favoring his right hand/arm. I asked him to give me five with that hand, and he gave me the wimpiest little five and cried...Poor baby!

So, skipping the boring doctor/hospital details, he broke his right wrist. The orthopaedic doctors didn't seem incredibly concerned about it. They talked about how efficiently kids' bodies heal from injuries like this. So, he's in a fiberglass splint (which is under his long-sleeved shirt in the picture) and has a sling to wear. We'll have a follow-up appointment to reevaluate, and he might have to get a cast. We'll find out next week-ish.

You probably won't be surprised, but this isn't slowing him down at all.

So, who wants to start a pool on what bone Ava will break next year?

Ava Joy Laughing

This should make you smile...Ava laughing at Grace running in circles in the living room:

Re: Promotion

@Dad
CEO -> Senior VPs -> CIO -> Director -> Manager -> Senior Consulting Product Data Analyst -> Consulting Product Data Analyst -> Me (Senior Product Data Analyst) -> Product Data Analyst -> Stall Mucker

@Michelle
You ask tough questions...but now I basically get to do a lot of process analysis and dream up solutions, then find people to do the actual work...sort of. : - )

I do all kinds of automation, scripting, database design, CAD model rendering, Photoshop and Illustator work, web development, etc. I don't get to do the web stuff as much as I would like, thus Rumley Design.

Not saying it is cheap, but you could buy Nate a red plate.

Congratulations, Mr. SENIOR Product Data Analyst!

Luke got the red plate last night, because his promotion and raise are finally official! Praise the Lord! I am so proud of him for his amazing work ethic, his commitment to excellence, and his crazy ability to do pretty much whatever people throw his way. Steelcase loves him - of course not nearly as much as his family does! But we're also very thankful for God's provision for our family in this way. So, celebrate with us!

Imperial Recipe

I found this recipe on the back of my Imperial margarine box, and made it for our communion meal yesterday. It's delicious - and easy! (It's called "S'More Cookie Bars," but I don't think it tastes like s'mores at all. It's more carmely.)

S'More Cookie Bars
3/4 cup Imperial Spread, melted
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 pkg (6oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In 9x13-inch baking pan, combine Imperial Spread with crumbs; press to form even layer. Evenly sprinkle with chocolate chips, then butterscotch chips, then mini marshmallows. Pour condensed milk evenly over mixture. Bake 25 minutes or until bubbly. On wire rack, let cool completely. To serve, cut into squares. (For easier cutting, refrigerate 1 hour.)

I think I'll try milk chocolate chips next time and see if we like it that way.

In other news, Grace is getting close to being potty trained! Praise the Lord! She's in big girl underwear pretty much all the time that we're at home, besides bedtime. She's even been keeping her Pull-Ups dry when we're away from home! YAY! It will be such a relief to only buy two sets of diapers soon! : - )

And Caleb continues to crack us up, all the time. Last night, he was SO excited to watch the SuperBowl with Luke. Apparently he has observed Luke watching sports before, because immediately Caleb started saying, "Nice!" (As in, when a good play happened, Luke would say, "Nice!") We got a little clip of it on video - maybe we'll have to YouTube it so you can see how cute he is. What a little man!

And the Contour is back in business! We had put some money into a sensor for the transmission and fixed a tie rod issue, and almost immediately after that it wouldn't start. So, it sat in our garage for a couple of weeks, and we just decided to live with one car (the van) for now. Well, the amazing Michael Greene from church came over and fixed it. I'm telling you, this guy is like MacGyver, only with cars. We thought it might be the starter, but it ended up being a wiring issue that he fixed. It only cost $1 in materials (which he wouldn't accept as payment). Praise the Lord for always providing for our needs so faithfully!

Okay, I'm sure there's more, but that will be all for now! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! (Rumley family - see you in 18 days!)

Oh, boy!

Grace: When I get married and get a baby boy, I'm going to name him Jesus.

Mommy: Oh. That's a good idea.

Grace: I think that's what God's going to give me - a baby boy.

Mommy: Do you want any girls, or just a boy?

Grace: Just a baby boy. But if I lose him, I'll get another baby boy.

Mommy: Where do you think you might lose him?

Grace: Probably in my closet.

One of those days...

We got up to see Luke off to work this morning, and his car would not start. We tried to jump it, and that didn't work. Since we need the van to make it to AWANA on time tonight, we loaded up the kids (including a sleepy Ava) and took him to Steelcase University for a class today.

On the way, Luke accidentally spilled his whole bowl of cereal in the van, and then Caleb dumped his in his lap.

After we dropped Luke off, we were going to make one stop - to return something at a store in the same neighborhood as the university (where I pretty much never go). We got there at 8:30am. Turns out the store doesn't open until 9am, so I nursed Ava while we waited.

We got home and I popped the kids in the tub, because it's bath day. Caleb pooped in the tub. I pulled him out and sat him on the little potty while I cleaned up. I ran to the kitchen to get disinfectant wipes, and he stood up and pooped on the floor (in three places, thank you). After cleaning up and refilling the tub, they finally got washed. As soon as Caleb was out of the tub, he ran into their bedroom and jumped on Grace's bed. I followed with clothes and diaper - and he had already peed on Grace's bed.

So, I started a load of laundry that I wasn't planning on doing and came down to check my email. The computer locked up and had to be rebooted. Then, as I was starting to dial up, it gave me the "blue screen of death" and restarted again.

And all of this is before 11am...

How has your day gone?

More pictures!

I must be in a mood to share pictures! Here are some more...

This is Caleb, Karisa, and Grace at church this past Sunday. Karisa is a favorite friend of our kids (as is her sister Hannah). Craig - watch out! Do you see Caleb's arm around your little girl?! : - )


Grace and Caleb had their first dental appointments yesterday afternoon. Our dentist's office calls it a "Happy Visit," where they get to sit in the chair, go up and down in the chair, see all the instruments, and get their teeth counted and polished. Grace was such a big girl! She was very brave - even when the dentist came in to look at her teeth. (She said he was the scariest part of the appointment!) At the end, both kids were very excited to get new toothbrushes and a toy from the treasure chest.


I took this picture while Caleb was busy making eyes at the pretty dental hygienist. Not long after this, she tried to lay him back and count his teeth, and he did not like that idea. He cried and cried. That was pretty much the end of his appointment. But he still got his toothbrush and toy.

That's all for now! Have a wonderful day!

A random smattering of pictures...

...from dial-up land!

I'd post some Christmas pictures, but there are so many that I just don't have the patience!


Just after Christmas, we were excited to have a nice little visit from the Buskards. They're now a family of four. Baby Lena Mae was born on Monday, December 17, and I believe she was 10 days old in this picture. (Sorry her head is a little cut off - bad aim on my part!) Aren't they brave to travel all the way from Dayton when the baby was so small? I think so!


Here's the whole Liabenow side of the family at our house after Ava's dedication last Sunday. This is the first picture we've gotten of all of us since our wedding four years ago, I think. We've added five kids to our family since then! Most of the Rumley side was also here, but we didn't get a picture of all of us.


Kathy - we thought you'd like this picture. This is Grace playing the guitar "like Karisa's mommy!" : - ) For those of you who don't know Kathy, she's a wonderful friend from church, and she plays the violin (not the guitar, as far as I know). Ha!


As of January 8 (Dad R's birthday), Ava is now three months old! Isn't she sweet? She's been such a blessing to us with her coos and smiles. She's also been sleeping 11-12 hours at night lately, which we definitely hope continues! We're praising the Lord for His goodness to our family.


Hope all of you are doing well!

Remembering forgiveness

Memories of past sin come at such unexpected times...Mostly when I'm in the shower, since I can think in the shower. (The kids don't usually follow me in there!) Not only are these memories unexpected, but they're also unwelcome. I hate the memories of things I've done in the past. I've repented and been forgiven, and part of me wants nothing more than to forget any of it ever happened. Part of me wants to beg God to take away every memory of my sin.

But then, I realize that although these memories are a consequence of my sin, maybe they're also a gift. Maybe they have a special place in my life - to remind me that sin always has poor consequences. Sin always hurts someone, and sin (in and of itself) never brings glory to God. Maybe without these memories, my propensity toward sin would be even greater.

So, I thank God for His forgiveness, and I praise Him for His sovereignty in allowing us to remember the times I would choose to forget.

Christmas 2007

Caleb got a drumset for Christmas, and is pretty awesome at them already!


He accidentally hit the cymbal with his finger this time.


The family, opening presents...


And more presents...a fun Christmas at the Portage Rumley's.

Pictures!

"Miss Lindsey" from church shares a birthday with Grace, and this year it landed on a Wednesday. So, Lindsey (the sweet girl that she is) bought matching skirts for herself and Grace to wear on their birthday. Aren't they cute?



A smile from sweet Ava...Unless she's hungry, poopy, or sleepy, she has the sweetest disposition. We're thankful to be on the receiving end of lots of smiles and coos these days.



These are the homemade thin mints I made for Christmas time. Simple and yummy!



And this is Luke hiding from me while he eats some of the thin mints!



Much to Luke's chagrin, Caleb found Mommy's makeup. Even worse, he knew where to put the mascara (even though he doesn't apply it too well)!

That's all for now. Merry Christmas everyone!

The state of the Rumleys

Again, it's been forever since I've posted, and this time I won't even bother with excuses!

I always think that once we're back in High-speed Internet Land (i.e. the city), I'll blog all the time. With the way my life is right now, I'm not sure that's true! I feel like my days are passing me by before I have a chance to get everything done that I need to get done! Who has time for the Internet? (Obviously, I'm on the Internet right now, but the kids are all in bed, and Luke's not home from his deacons' meeting yet.)

So, here are the bullet points of our lives right now:

• Grace turned three on November 14. She's pretty much adorable. For her birthday dinner, she requested ham, Teddy Grahams, and blue mashed potatoes. Oh, yes, blue potatoes. It was pretty bizarre to eat those. They looked like frosting but tasted like potatoes, so it was very tricky to my senses. I have pictures that I'll post someday (maybe).
  
• Caleb is saying lots more words now...Please, thank you, Buddy, church...There are more, but I can't really think of them right now.
  
• Ava is 9 weeks old now. She's a great sleeper. She just had her 2-month check-up, and she weighs 12lb 15oz (95th percentile) and is 24-1/4 inches tall (off the charts). She's doing great!
  
• I don't have my Christmas shopping done. I don't have time to shop. I don't even want to shop with the three kids with me. When is Christmas? 13 days? I hope I get done!
  
• I want to contribute to our family income, but I'm not sure how that would work. One of Luke's cousins teaches piano lessons in her home, and another one sells things that she makes (like baby blankets). I'm not good at selling things to people. I don't have any marketable skills like piano-playing. I thought it would be fun to write children's books, but I can't imagine the slim chances of ever getting published anyway. I actually found a children's book I wrote and illustrated for my Children's Lit class in college. It's really cute. I must've been creative back when my brain still worked!
  
• Luke has a big meeting coming up next week with his 2 managers to discuss a possible promotion. He's amazing!
  
• Luke's sister Erin is getting married this coming February. Grace and Caleb are going to be the flower girl and ring bearer. They're going to be so adorable! (Not a biased opinion or anything!) Just don't tell them about it yet, because I'll have to hear unrelenting questions about it for the next 2-1/2 months!
  
• Our fourth anniversary is coming up. It's been a wonderful four years!
  

I'm getting tired and can't think of much more to say. I have some adorable pictures of the kids to post but don't have the energy to try to do it on dial-up tonight. Someday!

Good night everybody!

An evening in the FHBC nursery

Caleb with spiky hair!

Is this a better angle?

Tayler putting the moves on Caleb. He doesn't seem to mind. Oh, puppy love.

Apparently, she even let him borrow her chapstick.

The end.

(Thanks, Shannon, for the pictures!)

Conversation with a 3-year-old

Luke: "What letter does 'God' start with?"

Grace: "G!"

Lacey: "What sound does 'G' make?"

Grace: "Guh!"

Lacey: "Wow! You're one smart cookie!"

Grace: "I'm a cookie?!"


(More updates and pictures to come...soon!)

Tissue paper, church, and fallen leaves

Sorry it's been a little while since we've posted. Life is busy around here, besides the fact that the dial-up connection isn't great, and I can't get on the computer a whole lot. There are my excuses! : - )

Luke's coworkers were very generous and gave us some great gifts after Ava's birth, including a pink puppy just like Grace's lambie and Caleb's blue puppy! She sleeps on it in her crib...Anyway, included in these gifts was a whole LOT of tissue paper! The kids had so much fun playing in it. A friend visited while it was all over the place, and I believe she said, "It looks like your house barfed tissue paper!" This is Grace enjoying being buried by tissue paper.



And Caleb loved it, too! Doesn't he have the sweetest smile?



And this is a picture of Ava's first Sunday at church. She actually made it to two Wednesday night Family Nights before getting to go to Sunday church. (The first time she went was when she was just two days old!) Someone did refer to her as a boy, because her sweater was blue. Never mind the frilly dress! Phooey!



And here is the sweetest picture of our two daughters. It's a pretty clear picture of Ava - so you tell me, who does she look like? (I get asked this all the time, and I have no idea who she looks like!)



Last week sometime (I have no idea when, because I have basically no memory capacity right now. I can't even remember my name sometimes!)...Anyway, last week sometime we spent some time playing in the leaves. Fun!



Smile!



Baby Ava's first time in the leaves.

My boys playing catch. Caleb has a good arm! : - )


Life has been going well in the Rumley household. We're learning to be a family of five, and even surviving the necessary errands. I went to WalMart with the kids (without Luke) and it was great!(Knock on wood.)

Ava had a great night a couple of nights ago where she fed at 9:30pm, 3:30am, and 9:00am. It was glorious. It hasn't happened again yet, but I'm hoping it will soon!

New things in Grace's life...She can sing the whole alphabet song. And she likes to answer the phone. (Just ask Grandma Rumley. She's been on the other end of that a couple of times!)

Caleb is still trying to talk, but now he can say "baby" and "blue" and "ball" along with the old "mama" and "daddy." He must be stuck on the "b" sound.

Ava's awake and crying now, so that must be all for this post. Have a great weekend everyone!

8 days with Ava

Sorry I haven't taken the time to update lately. We've been spending the last week getting used to being parents of three little ones (2 years old and under, might I add). Things are going really well. Grace and Caleb have adjusted really well, thankfully. Both of them love their baby sister. They like to hold her and pat her head and give her toys. It's fun.

So, jump back eight days, and I'll give you the short version of our labor story...

Luke had been praying for a good night's sleep before labor began, and God delivered! I woke up around 6:15am (right before Luke's alarm went off for work), and contractions began. They were fairly light, so I hesitated to even time them at first. But we did start timing them, and they were about 30 seconds long and 3-4 minutes apart. So, the doctor told us to come in to the hospital.

We dropped the kids off at the Burrs' house, and headed to the hospital. By that time, I was sure it was labor. When we arrived at triage at 8am, I was dilated to 4cm. Things were going well. They took me to my room, got me an IV, gave me an epidural, and broke my water. The epidural helped but didn't take away the feeling of contractions altogether.

We waited a little bit, and at 12:10pm, my doctor arrived and checked me. I was dilated to 10cm - ready to go! I pushed for six minutes - and Ava was born at 12:16pm! It was painful, of course, but all in all a very good delivery. Recovery has gone very well, too.

So, there it is! Ava Joy is a sweet little girl. We're working on getting her nights and days worked out, so I'm not getting the best sleep yet. But she's nursing really well, and she's very healthy.

Today she did have to go to the doctor to get her umbilical cord cauterized, like Caleb did. It was nasty. I won't go into detail - just trust me. It was nasty. So, the doctor cleaned it, trimmed it, and cauterized it. I hope the rest of it falls off soon! EWWW.

Anyway, Luke's back at work, and my parents will go home tomorrow. So we'll be back in the swing of things starting Thursday. Yikes! Pray for us! : - )