We're Having a Wii Bit of Fun

A few years ago, Liz told me that my nephew, Taylor, was going to get a Wii and that he was going to go stand in line for it so that he could be sure to get one. When I heard that, I thought, yeah...whatever. It's some new technological entertainment gizmo that I'd never have any contact with, kind of like all the other gaming systems out there. I was happy that he was happy, but I figured that he was just doing the teenager thing by getting all excited about this new system.

Not long after that, Dylan, our nephew from Utah, brough his Wii to Oma's house one summer vacation and taught us all how to use it. With so many relatives in the Weinhardt family, I actually never had a chance to play it, but I did catch a glimpse of all these kids, teenagers and a few young adults huddling around the screen. I guessed it was a 'young cousin' kind of thing to be doing.

A few years later, my friend Julie bought a Wii and told me all about it. Yeah...whatever. I figured she was just trying to pretend she was back in her teenage years by getting in on this Wii craze. THEN - - - she invited me and our friend Connie to come over and play a few games of bowling and tennis with her! There we were, three moms taking turns playing Wii Sports together while we made our children sit on the couch behind us and watch! (Now I realize the torture we put our little ones through, but at the time, it just seemed the most reasonable thing to do. To keep everyone from fighting, you know.)

Julie doesn't know this, but ever since that day I have secretly wished that she would invite me over again so that I could play with her Wii. I had fallen in love with it, but she was the only one close enough that I knew that had one. I waited and waited. I have been there many times since, but she never offered to let me play and there was NO WAY I was going to let her know that I really, really wanted to play it again. I WAS a forty-something-year-old woman, you know! I didn't want her to look down on me for wanting to come to her house just to play her Wii!

Well, last night she invited me over TO PLAY HER Wii!!!! Seriously! She specifically invited me to play on the Wii! She was so sweet about it, too. We played a few of the new games that she had, and then she said the most considerate words ever, "What do you want to play, Martha? We can play whatever you want!" Oh joy!!! I chose tennis, and then bowling. And then more tennis and then more bowling. I could have kept going, but it was getting late and I remembered that I was a wife and mother and that I had to be up early the next morning, so I left. I left, not knowing when I would ever be able to play bowling on Wii Sports again. Sigh.

Moving along to reality ....

Today I spent the morning at a friend's house, helping her out as she and her family have been extremely ill the past three weeks. She has been in and out of the hospital several times since just before Christmas due to a blood clot that was found in her lung. Her daughter and her husband came down with pink eye and the other daughter caught chicken pox and the flu right before Christmas! This poor woman needed someone to come give her a break! So I spent the morning at her house cooking and doing laundry for her (why is it always easier at someone else's house?!), and as I was leaving she said something that was equally as sweet as Julie's comment the night before! She said, "Martha, would you like to borrow my Wii for a month? I'm not allowed to do anything strenuous for six weeks and I'm the only one that uses this, so rather than have it sit here, do you want to borrow it?"

WOOHOO!!!! Trying not to show too much exaggerated excitement, I told her that that would be wonderful and that I would love to borrow her Wii for a month! The two of us had tried to do Wii Active several months ago, but life got busy and we both quit, but NOW I can start it up again! At least for a month, that is.

This afternoon, I brought home this glorious gift and have been able to use it as incentives and rewards and just plain old fun for the entire family! Christopher is getting pretty good at bowling, Stephen and Daddy are playing baseball together. Timothy and I are challenging each other at tennis and bowling and we're all having loads of fun! After the boys went to bed, Fred and I played tennis together (he creamed me) and then bowling (I wooped him, as he said), both games several times. It will be sad to say goodby to this monthly gift of a Wii, but for now, we're just loving it!

And that is why we are having a Wii bit of fun right now!

2010 - Here We Are!

Ten years ago we were worried about Y2K. Ten years later, and so much has changed, yet so much remains the same. Those thoughts are too deep for me to deal with right now, so instead of making this a thought-provoking, heavy duty post, I'll just keep it lighthearted.

Here are some quotes from the kids already on this first day of the year:

Christopher is sleeping soundly upstairs during a much-needed nap. I tell Stephen to sneak upstairs and get his socks so we can go sledding outside. Stephen creeps ever-so-quietly up the stairs, gets to the top and turns around and SHOUTS, "Mommy! I sneaked up quietly just like you asked!!" So much for that much-needed nap.

As we're sledding outside, I am starting to freeze so I tell the boys that since I don't have any snow pants, I'm going in. I warn them about being careful and to bail out if the sled gets too close to the fence and to watch out for each other, etc. I tell them that they are each other's partners today and that if someone gets hurt, the other must run in immediately to get help from Daddy or me! Stephen says, "I really hope Timothy gets hurt bad because I can run like the wind! I can get help for him really fast. I hope he gets hurt." (Thankfully no one got hurt and no one had to run like the wind.)

Timothy asked for a snack. I gave him some candy-coated sunflower seeds. He said, "I think I would like about three of them, or maybe 2,000." (Because those numbers are so close?!)

We're filling out our new 2010 calendar and I tell Timothy to put a birthday sticker on September 15. "Why?" asks Christopher. "Because that day is your birthday and Timothy's!" I tell him. "Can we have cake NOW?" asks Christopher with such elation! Watching that bubble burst was sad and comical at the same time.

Happy New Year to all of you! May you enjoy the little treasures of life as you interact with God's creation of humanity all year long!

Christmas Preparations

My little helper, Christopher, always HAS to help when I start the baking! This is HIS section of the counter with HIS rolling pin and HIS dough and HIS cookie cutters and HIS cookie sheet! When he starts trying to take over MY side of things, I conveniently put him on washing duty and he's equally as content.

Of course we had extra help as we were making chipa with Ruth and Anita for Anita's class project. I'm not sure why the girls are so happy and the boys have such sour looks on their faces, but we ALL had fun that night! And the chipa was fabulous as always!! (Maybe I'll make some more today, come to think of it. We need something to warm up this kitchen anyway and I DON'T want to make another cookie for a long, long time!)

Mr. Creative

This is Timothy. Timothy is also known as Mr. Creative or Mr. Mess, depending on what he is making at the moment. Here he is being a scuba diver. Please notice his flippers. What a kid, I tell you! He is constantly making new games, cards, costumes, and messes. I just love him!

The Sunday School Christmas Program

Well, it's over. The Sunday School Christmas program is over for this year. I'm happy and sad at the same time. This is my last year as the coordinator (I kind of hope) and even though it was extremely stressful this year, I will still miss being with all the children every Sunday, morning and evening. It's not like I won't ever see them again since I'm scheduled to teach again in two weeks, but it will only be with my 3rd and 4th graders instead of the 3 year olds up through the 12 year olds.

The highlights for me from this year's program:
* The tiny tots' poem, "Wise Men Travelled From Afar". It had hand motions and the kids really got into this little piece (Christopher LOVED it!! Ask him to do it for you, and he'll readily oblige!).
* The excitement in "Go Tell it on the Mountain" from the Tiny Tots and the Primary Choirs (ages 3-8 combined).
* The amazing handbell choir that accompanied the Junior Choir on several pieces. The sounds just resonated throughout the sanctuary and brought tears to my eyes.
* Simon's solo. THIS was my ultimate highlight. "The Lord Never Closes His Eyes." This young man beat the odds last night as he had a major headache and was so worked up before the program that he couldn't even walk in with his choir, but sat in the foyer on a chair sobbing because he wanted to sing so badly, but couldn't. I was distracted by other details, so once he went into the restroom to calm down, I moved on to the next "issue". Before I knew what was happening, I looked up and saw Simon standing in front of the microphone at the front of the church and singing with such a beautiful voice, a piece that had me truly in tears standing in the back of the sanctuary. That young man blew me away with his voice and the words of his song, and with the emotion that he put into it despite his overwhelming nervousness. Well done, Simon! God was honored by your gift last night!
* The cooperation of the directors of the choirs, the pianists, the handbell choir, the guitarist, the helpers, etc, etc, etc. It could not have been done without the help of everyone.

Still, I'm thankful that it's over now. One less stress that I have to deal with here. The Lord's name was lifted high last night and many parents, grandparents, neighbors and other family members watched and listened as their children told them the story of the birth of Jesus, some hearing it for the first time. And that was the point of the whole evening.

The Silence

I thought I'd better touch base here and explain the silence of the past two weeks before you all start to worry. You should all know by now that when there is silence on this end, it just means that things are busy ... or else there are computer problems. This time it was a little of both. My sweet, computer-driven husband installed some type of anti-virus on this old laptop that would cause everything to snag and hang and eventually crash. It has become quite frustrating, so we finally just took it off. Now it's just old-age that is slowing things down. Old-age of the computer, that is! I'm still a spring chicken, you know!

Things HAVE been busy around here, too. The Cookie Kitchen is in operation just about every day. I'm so thankful that we have orders to fill, that I don't want to complain, but seriously, I think it was much, much easier to do this volume of cookies when the boys were younger and didn't care what I was doing in the kitchen! Now they want to help EVERY time they hear my mixer going or the trays banging on the counters. Christopher runs in to see what I'm doing, and in that time, Timothy has already run to wash his hands, pull up his stool and is yanking a Home Depot apron over his head. They want to help sooo badly, but I lose time, cookie dough and patience when they want to help. I was in a hurry the other day to get some shortbread cutouts made and they insisted on having some dough for themselves. I gave it to them, but I was constantly barking at them to quit coughing, sneezing and spitting at the counter! I finally threatened them that if they kept it up, I'd make them roll their cookies out on the floor! One look at the expressions on their faces and I realized I had made an inappropriate threat! I took that one back awfully quick! When they help me, they have their own dough, their own rolling pins, their own cookie cutters, their own trays and their own half of the island. They love their responsibilities so much that I can't take it away from them, but I usually have to end up doing a second batch to make up for the loss after they are in bed. THAT is why I have no time to blog!

I was hoping to get some pictures downloaded, too, to show you what I was up to last weekend, but being technically ignorant, I don't have those downloaded yet. I was at the Christkindel Market downtown Kitchener, working in the Belgian Waffle Wagon! What a load of fun! I think I have lost all feeling in my fingers and toes as a result of the cold (our booth was outside), but it was great! I was exhausted and behind in all my work around here, but as always, God provides for us in the best ways! I made more money in those two and a half days than I have made in ages! AND I got to get out of the house and work with adults!! Despite the cold and the exhaustion, it really was loads of fun and if I have the opportunity to do it again, I will jump at the chance!

So that's some of the silence explained. The rest has to deal with the issues we're still having with the business and the bank. It's far from over. The stress is still great and the waters are getting murkier (is that a word?), but I pray for wisdom for Fred ALL THE TIME! He's got some tough decisions to make and he needs the Lord's wisdom for sure! We don't know how this nightmare will end, but we do know that God loves us and has proven Himself faithful over and over again! He's dealt with much bigger issues than this in the past, so this is nothing for Him!

I'll try to be a little more conscious about posting, but I can't promise anything. Until Christmas, those cookies are taking priority! Can you smell them? I have about 95 of Ingrid's Jam Prints waiting for me to deal with them. I'd better go!

I Need to be Thankful

Today was not the easiest day to be thankful for me. More junk has shown up regarding Micro-Aid and what should have been a done deal almost two years ago now. Phone calls in the afternoon caused my stomach to churn and my eyes to leak, but I'm thankful that even during this time, God is giving me reasons for thankfulness!

* The boys have NO clue what is going on in the "big" world. They are so trusting of their father, that he will provide for them, that he will fix everything, that they are safe with him. I am thankful that my Father can do all that and more! (If only I didn't understand all the "big" world stuff, though!)
* The support group that we have that is bringing this situation to the Lord in prayer. At the moments that I feel so overwhelmed with it all, a peace will come over me and I KNOW someone just prayed again!
* That all of tomorrow's responsibilities out of the house for Fred and for me are all taking place around the same time and in the same part of town. This sure helps for a one-vehicle household because carpooling tomorrow will be perfect!
* Some of our after school babysitting kids are going to be leaving this week until after Christmas. Ok, I'm just a bit thankful for that because we need a break from them sometimes, but I was wondering how we were going to supplement that income, as it is my grocery money. Well, God provided with another occassional child whose father needs a babysitter for the exact time that the other children will be gone! That's reason for thanks around here!
* For my dishwasher ... enough said, right? Whew! It's a blessing every day!
* For God's mercies that are new every morning. May He grant us many new mercies tomorrow!