Remembering Grandpa Derryl

February, in the Lehman house, comes with mixed emotion. After just celebrating Ubby's third birthday--four short days later it is now February 27 and we are remembering this day twelve years ago when Matt's dad passed away after a very short but tough battle with cancer.

Derryl was a great guy. I smile when I remember him. He had a very dry sense of humor. He loved the Lord, his family, his friends, he had a real love for education and was a tried and true republican. During this past political season he would have loved to talk with Lauren, Logan, Landon, Lyndsi and Lexi about the election. He would have been so proud to see how interested they were in the whole system.

Cancer has brought our family a lot of sorrow but we have watched cancer give both my dad and Matt's dad the opportunity to meet people and share their faith with them. So even though we have had some sorrow, we are thankful for the chance they had to meet and share with others--touching the lives of, we don't know how many. We are so thankful for the time we had with them and are truly thankful for all the wonderful memories!

Headband

Thank you Vanessa for sharing the headband pattern with me. I looked it up on-line yesterday and thought that looks pretty easy, so this morning before Lauren went to school I made her a headband.

These bands are pretty easy to make. Actually they are so cute I can't wait to make some more! Of course that is good because Lyndsi was asking if I could make her a headband. So I better get busy.

Happy Birthday, Ubby!!

Yesterday was Ubby's 3rd birthday. No huge party this year just a small celebration here at home. A plain cake (which of course didn't want to come out of the pan), a half-gallon of ice cream and 2 presents.

Ubby blew out the candles like a pro. Then after downing his cake and ice cream he ripped into the presents. As you can see he really liked them.

This morning when I thought about blogging about his birthday, I checked out the pictures and thought wow the camera person didn't get him to pose with his presents. We for sure need a nice picture with his presents for his 3rd birthday, so I grabbed the camera and set off to get that award winning picture.

Well maybe for his 4th birthday.

SPLASH!!!!!!!!!!

We took a trip to Splash Universe over the weekend and had a great time!! We received the trip, as a Christmas gift from some good friends of ours.

Here are the smaller kids trying out the slide at the Kiddie Pool. That was a favorite because the water was really warm. Just like bath water. Grandma Cathy was always willing to hang out there because the water was the perfect temp.

This is Lyndsi (sorry picture a little blurry). She was moving so quick!
Here is Boog!! She just complete one of the bigger slides. She wasn't afraid of any of them. She even went on the biggest one with Matt. She only did it once!!

All that swimming sure makes you hungry--us refueling before bed??? I guess you should never sleep on any empty stomach. Just a note we did have popcorn too--not just sugar.

This is Landon before taking another run down the Vortex!!







Logan and Matt enjoying their time away from home.Lauren and Matt tried the double tube and it was a lot of fun. I, of course did all these fun things. But thankfully have no pictures to prove it. We also do not have a picture of Grandma Cathy in the lazy river with the kids. I'm sure she is sad that I could not post a picture of her in her swimsuit. (No wonder she always had the locker key!)

We had a great time, however, had to leave a little early due to the weather up there!

The little ones had so much fun--maybe too much fun?

Thanks to our good friends for a great trip.

A SPRING FORM PAN

I purchased this Pampered Chef Spring Form pan thinking it is exactly what I needed. I used Mom' s pan once to make a cheesecake and was sold. I had to have one of may very own. Now cheesecake is awesome. And it is pretty easy to make. The greatest thing is you can make it ahead and freeze it. If you need a great dessert that can be made days ahead of your event, give cheesecake a try. Now there is one problem, the cheesecake always cracks after I pull it out of the oven. So Martha Stewart, if you are reading this blog "What am I doing wrong"?

The other day I decided there had to be something else I could use my pan for--so I created this ice cream dessert! Does anyone have any recipes for a Spring Form pan? I'd love to try them.

For you

Happy Valentine's Day

love--julie

Love

As I sent the kids off to school this morning, with the girls dressed in pink and 3 of the 4 looking forward to Valentine parties. I started to think about Valentine's Day and love. When you think about love the first thing that comes to mind is the ultimate love:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

When I went to BibleGateway.com and looked up "love", love is mentioned 697 times in the Bible. Wow, God really must want us to know that we are loved.

So with tomorrow being Valentine's Day remember that you are loved. That is better than chocolates or a fancy dinner. God loves you!!

Our new friends

We would like you to meet our new friends. They are our Webkinz. Logan, Lyndsi and Lexi each got one for Christmas. And don't ask where the two adorable Valentine ones came from, it's a long story. But we wanted you to meet our friends and tell you a funny (sort of) story.

For those of you that don't know about Webkinz, they are these cute little animals that you buy and then register them on the Internet. Then you can log on to the Webkinz website and feed, dress and decorate the room of your Webkinz. Well that sounds like fun--doesn't it. Well no one ever mentioned that you have to earn the money to do all this.
Well that isn't too bad for Logan and Lyndsi. But Lexi the only thing that she can do well is spend Webkinz money. So she is always asking for help. Lauren and Landon are very good about helping her log on and they help her earn money. However with them in school a good part of the day she has no one to turn to but me. So (finally here comes the sort of funny story)-- here's how it goes:

Lexi: Mom can you earn me money on Webkinz? (Ok she asked about 10 times)

Me: Of course Boog--I'm not doing anything --anyway

So I start playing a game on Webkinz to win her money so she can buy overpriced items for her stuffed animal. ($85 sunglasses to go with your $25 t-shirt)

The phone rings.

Lexi: I'll get it!-----Hello

Friend: Hi Lexi is your mom there?

Lexi: Yes

Friend: Can I talk to her?

Lexi: No, she is playing on Webkinz World right now--trying to earn me some money!

Well how cute is that! So the lesson we learn from that is: ALWAYS let the answering machine pick up when you are playing on Webkinz World. NO, NO, just laugh- it won't be long before she won't need me to play the games for her.

All and all the Webkinz thing is kind of fun. It is kind of a group activity here. So if you are ever bored, come on over and you can work on earning money for Lexi's Webkinz.

This is Stinky the skunk and Nana the monkey they are loved by Boog!

This is Creamy, the frog and Mocha, the dog. They belong to Lyndsi and she does a great job taking care of them.

This is Shiloh, the dog. He belongs to Logan.

Buzz Lightyear he belongs to Ubby. Buzz is not a Webkinz. Thank goodness. (I don't have time to earn money to feed and dress him too)!!!

FEVER

We've got it---and maybe you do to??

Spring Fever!!!!!!

With almost all of the snow gone and the sun out we feel like spring is just around the corner. But living in Indiana, we know that we could have a couple good snow storms yet. :(

So after a trip to the grocery store. Ub and Boog just couldn't wait any longer---they had to get their bikes out and take them for a spin!!!!

As you can see Ubby found the one patch of snow left. He thought it was great to feel his tires spin. Boog was thrilled she could still ride her bike after a long winter. (I don't think she realizes that winter isn't over.)

The only bad thing about today is:

It's a little windy!!!!!!!!!

(As you can see Ub lost his hat in the breeze!)

We hope you enjoy today too. And remember, if you are wearing a hat----hang onto it!!!!!!!

Pizza Party

Sunday nights aren't any fun at home!!! So we went to Grandma Cathy's for a pizza party. Most people would just order pizza--but that wouldn't be as much fun! We like to make it a real party and make them ourselves. As you can see it was a real team effort. They guys are in the other room--Grandma's kitchen isn't big enough for everyone. The men were afraid they would just be in the way.

This is one of our garbage can pizzas (basically you use what ever is left at the end). Note: There is no pictures of the pizza fresh out of the oven. Sorry we were hungry.

We had a great time eating, talking and playing games.

As you can see from the pictures Grandpa and Grandma Gerber and Uncle Rex joined us. Mike and Mary Dean they too were in on the action. We cannot have a party without Mike and Deanie!!! (Thanks for putting up with us!)


We had a wonderful evening, the food was great, the fellowship was awesome, the memories--priceless!!!!!

Thanks Grandma Cathy--a great time was had by all!!!

Cards

One of my hobbies is rubber stamping! I like to make cards and send them to people. The past couple of years that has been a little hard. With six kids I am lucky to get the mail in let alone send much out except for the bills. But the kids are getting older and I have been finding a little more time to work on this.

It is such a blessing to send a card to a shut-in or someone that is hurting. Even if you don't make your own cards (actually if you bought them you would probably send them faster because you save a step) you can send a card to someone and for around $1 you can brighten someones day.

(just a note--one of the cards my mom made--2 of the cards i made at a workshop at her house)

Remembering Grandpa Rick

It has hard to believe that it has been two years since he left. It was a very cold Monday morning-- when he left us at 7:20 a.m-- the sun was out just like this morning. It was like a sign from God that all was well. We knew that the time had come and Dad had finally won. Cancer had not beaten him--he had beaten the cancer!! He was going home to meet the Lord. We talked about the people that would be there to meet him at Heaven's gate. He was with his Lord all his many friends and family that had gone on before him.

We were so sad to let him go, but he had given us all so much. We are truly thankful for the time the Lord shared him with us. The one thing Dad learned from cancer was that "Everyday is a gift". The last eleven months of his life, Dad spent getting us all ready for this transition. Yes, he prayed everyday for a miracle and he got it. He was healed--perfectly--just not the way we here on earth wanted.

Today I look at the pictures of our last Christmas together or just the things we did in his final days. Landon, Lauren, Logan and Lyndsi have grown up so much, they all have memories of the fun and not so fun times. Ubby doesn't even know who Grandpa is, Boog talks about him once and while. She laughs when she talks about him. That is good! We all laugh a lot when we remember him--Grandpa would want to be remembered laughing not with tears. Grandpa believed in making the most out of every situation--tears were not going to change it!!

I'm sure he would be so disappointed if I didn't share the verse that meant so much to him during his last couple of years:

Fear thou not; for I am with thee:

be not dismayed; for I am thy God:

I will strengthen thee:

yea, I will help thee;

yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand

of my righteousness.

Isaiah 41:10

There would be so much more I could say--so much he taught me. Really valuable lessons we could learn from but that is enough for now. Remember: "EVERYDAY is gift---use it well."

WE MISS YOU DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meet Tina

Tina is our cat. Well sort of, she lives on our back porch and eats our leftovers!! Frankly no one has ever touched her--not even Grandma Cathy (Grandma Cathy is a cat lover). She sees the kids and runs the other way. Could it have something to do with the fact that the girls scream every time they see her and Logan through rocks at her?? We are amazed with Tina she shows up at mealtime everyday!!

When Tina first started coming around she ate out by the pine trees. If we didn't see her we would yell "Tina --come get your dinner" (that is from Napoleon Dynamite-for all you Napoleon fans) and 9 times out of 10 she would come running. Now before we can get the food outside she is sitting on the back porch waiting for supper.

Get on the Bus

It's Monday and after 3 snow days last week--it was time to get "back on the bus". Even though it was a lot of fun to have Landon, Lauren, Logan and Lyndsi home with us all day. It was time to go back. I'm afraid if the weather doesn't straighten up we may never get out of school.


So this morning at this was what we saw:

The sun wasn't even up all the way yet but we were outside waiting for this:

So the bus came--I think the bus driver was laughing at me when he saw the camera flash! I don't know why he would be laughing at me??? Was I the only mother outside on this freezing February morning taking pictures?

Hope you are all having a great Monday. We (Ub, Boog and me) are---we have gotten a lot done but I guess we better hurry because you know it won't be long before we see:

The only differences will be that the sun is up and the kids getting off will be wearing dirty clothes and they will be hungry.

snow much MORE fun!

Sorry about more snow pictures, but after church our neighbor called to see if we wanted to go sledding. We never turn down an invitation to do something! So he brought over a couple of his sleds and we got out the sleigh that Matt built last year!

Today was the perfect day to play in the snow 40 plus and sunny. You got wet but not very cold!!

We must not be feeding her enough?

Sunday afternoon naps?-- No there was no time for most of us to nap. Ubby took a nap while the rest of played in the snow. Hopefully this weeks weather will be better so we have something else to post about! Hope you had a great weekend!