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!

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?