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 :)

Out of the mouths of babes...

Matthew 18:4 - "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Tonight, after a very difficult night with Priscilla, I put her to bed early. As I listened to her wailing from the other end of the hall, I asked Samantha what she thought had gotten into her sister to which she responded "I don't know." When I asked her if she would ever behave in such a way she said "Not tonight." At least she's honest.

Fall pictures

Fall is probably my favorite season. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the girls on the lawn while everyone was in a good mood and we still had our tiny pumpkins

Barbies in the Attic

The happened several months ago, but I just had to document it here, before I forget more of the details. One of my pet peeves is the post hurricane condition of my girls' room. This only changes on the rare occasion that I go through and take care of the aftermath by putting things where they actually belong. I know that kids will make messes when they play, but is it too much to ask that they pack up a bit of it when they are done? So, for weeks, I had been asking the girls to take care of the Barbie stuff that was strewn across their floor. I would ask them to just pick up some of what they weren't playing with - just some. One day, Natasha comes to the kitchen while the other girls are eating their lunch with an object in her mouth, which turned out to be a Barbie teacup. I was not happy. I went to put it into the container that contains all of the tiny Barbie stuff, or should contain all of the tiny stuff. It was empty. I was more unhappy. I started to ask the girls, once again, to pick up the Barbie things, but upon hearing my own voice say those words again, I lost it. I said "That's IT. I am picking it up myself!" Priscilla realizes this in not a good thing. She pleads with me to allow her to pick it up herself (a rare offer, I must say); however, I am fed up. I tell her "No, I'm putting it in the attic!" Now she loses it. There is much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I am unmoved. The problem is, this task is easier said than done. There is no easy access to the attic, it requires the ladder from the garage. I go get it. There is more screaming as I bring it in. I set it up in the hall and push aside the board to gain access to the attic. Throughout all of this, I am explaining to my oldest the consequences of her lack of action in this matter. I go into their room and start tossing things into a Rubbermaid container, while Priscilla continues to protest. Around this time, Samantha comes to me and says "Mom, ask me if I think you should put the Barbie things in the attic." I decide to humor her. She says "YES! Because I am tired of playing with them." This is one of the only things I can imagine finding humorous in this moment. Now, I have a cheerleader. An assistant even. She is by my side through the whole process, even making suggestions of other things that I might want to consider placing in the attic. "I don't mind if you put my pink baby in the attic." I assure her that I am not really looking for more stuff to put up there, just the Barbie things. She also provides me with lots of encouragement throughout the task "I think this is a good idea, Mom. I think you should put it in the attic!" All the while, Priscilla laments the loss of the Barbies. Samantha stays by my side as I climb the ladder, handing things up to me as requested. Maybe I should have discouraged Samantha's pleasure in her sister's misery, but I was kind of enjoying my one gal pep rally. It helped me. Finally, Priscilla's cries of protest fade as the task nears completion. I promise to return the Barbies when the girls can keep their room in respectable condition for a week or so. Clearly, Samantha is not overly concerned about the Barbies' return. In spite of her strong desire to have her toys back, it was still not enough motivation for Priscilla to keep the room clean enough to get them. After a few months, I decided they were ready to have them back. Jeff helped me to get them out of the attic, and they have returned to the girls' room. For now.

Halloween

I am getting closer to being caught up ;) This was Natasha's first Halloween and because she is the neglected third child, I only have one picture to document the event and she isn't really wearing a costume. Still, I did tote her around in the wagon for a while as the girls went house to house on a strangely warm Halloween night. Of course, the big girls had to have different costumes for the "trunk or treat" at church and our trip around the neighborhood. They were at least content to wear items from our dress-up bin. So, I didn't have to buy anything new this year, although I did pick up a few things after Halloween in the hopes of getting them to wear them next year...

Sisters

I don't really have any clever commentary to add to these, I was just really pleased to get a couple pictures of all three girls together that actually look good :) I usually can't get more than one at a time to actually look at me. Natasha is about 8 1/2 months here.

Better late than never

I am not big on new year's resolutions, but one of my goals for 2009 is to get caught up on my blog and to keep it updated. So, I will be adding pictures from the past several months. These are from our trip up North in JULY!
The girls really enjoyed the trampoline at their "boy cousin's" house. Samantha mostly liked to watch the others from the security of her cousin Kayla's arms.























We also had a great time visiting the beach at Lake Antione which is just down the road from the Larson's home. The girls were twice as safe with their tubes and life preservers.




























Natasha was perfectly content to sit in her little chair, but was happy to be held as well (by Aunt Sherri, here)















































The Herrmann - Ferguson clan








The cousins.










After our visit at the Larson's, we headed to Nevins Lake for a quick visit with Grandpa Al and Sara. We, of course, had to take the traditional do-rag photo on the deck.