Our Oven Fiasco

So, a couple of weeks ago, our oven stopped working. It was acting a bit strange previously (the main oddity was the light would spontaneously flash when the oven wasn't on and you couldn't make it stop) and one day, it just shut itself off while warming up. One number would show in the display, but nothing else was lit and pushing the buttons showed no results. We tried unplugging it, and when we plugged it back in, not even the clock came back on. We made a change of dinner plans that night. The next morning, it spontaneously came back on - but still wouldn't heat up without shutting down. We called someone to come look which took a few days. When he came, he was certain it was the board, ordered us a refurbished part, and scheduled an appointment for one week later. The part came, he came at the scheduled time, put it in, and things were looking good. The light was working as it should and it was starting to warm up. Then, it shut down, but the display was a bit different. After doing some major troubleshooting, he determines that the refurbished part was defective and orders us a new one. The appointment is set for a few days later. This time, a new guy comes. He puts in the part as I have seen before. It looks like this time is going to work. It warms for longer than the last time. I am talking about baking cookies in celebration. Then, the beeping starts. An error code has come up. He calls it in to see what exactly this code means. After a short discussion on the phone, he asks me to tell him a bit more about what behaviors the oven has been demonstrating lately. He then tells me that code is specific to a DIFFERENT part, which would also explain the strange stuff that had been happening before. Because this "membrane" which connects to the control panel will function intermittently, I now have a sometimes working oven. After all of the fun that we have been through, they are going to absorb the cost of the new part and come on Tuesday to put it in. It has now arrived via UPS, please say a prayer for me before Tuesday afternoon ;)

Samantha's fourth birthday

Samantha's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we let her open her presents just after we got home from church. I told Jeff I might make the kids dress up for opening presents from now on since she looked so cute in her Sunday clothes ;)Lady and the Tramp - one of her new favorites.

The Barbie that Priscilla just had to get for her sister - although I suspect it was because she anticipated playing with it.

Natasha was an eager participant in the festivities. With her first birthday and Christmas behind her, she now understands what gift opening is all about.

Samantha's first camera - a Hello Kitty digital camera. Priscilla has probably gotten more use out it so far, but Samantha has managed to take a few pictures.

Her hair looks a little wild because we did the cake after her bath. I can't believe she is already four - where did the time go?

Christmas 2008

It has been a rough winter for us health-wise. It seems someone has been sick every week! That is why the girls are pictured here standing in front of our last-minute ten dollar Christmas tree. Yes, they do get quite eager to unload their trees two or three days before Christmas. We just couldn't seem to get out to buy one until the week of Christmas. I didn't spend a whole lot of time putting on ornaments, knowing I was going to take them down again in a few days...

Natasha with Grandpa. She loves her "papa."

Samantha loves her "Puppy in My Pocket" and "Littlest Pet Shop" stuff.

The girls were wild about these dogs in a handbag :)

Barbie Mariposa - the one thing Priscilla particularly wanted.

The obnoxious singing penguin that Grandpa picked out. Oh yeah, he sings and waddles very loudly along our wooden floors. A truly vile toy, but she does love it. Grandpa can choose them.

Natasha's first birthday

These pictures were taken on November 11th, her actual birthday, so posting this leaves me only a few months behind...
It is hard to believe that our littlest girl is over a year old now :( Natasha was a little hesitant with the opening of the gifts at first, but her sisters were more than willing to lend a hand and she caught on quickly.
Cake, however, was not such a foreign concept to her and she was eager to have her share of it.

Snowman

The weather sure changes fast in Michigan! Just a few short weeks after taking pictures of the girls on the front lawn in their T-shirts, we have enough snow to put together a snowman. It took about all the snow we had, though. Jeff is the lucky one who has taken on the task of keeping up this annual tradition. I prefer to watch from the warmth of the house and take a picture when the deed is done.

Twilight

A group of us ladies met for dinner and then went to see Twilight the weekend it came out. It was so fun. Of course, I had already succumbed to temptation and saw it at 12:01 Friday morning with Charity, but I enjoyed it even more the second time.

Melanie and Shannon

Elaine, Me, Charity

Tori, Melisa, Melissa

Jen, Jeannette, Holli

All of us.

Warm November

Just thought I would take some fun pictures of the girls while we had such nice weather. Early November and we were all outside without jackets!

The big girls LOVED playing in the leaves, but Natasha was not as thrilled with it. I was able to get a few shots where she didn't look angry :)