Where did January go?

House
So we decided to make an offer on the house that we liked in Sioux Center and after a couple of counter offers... the house is ours!!!  I can't wait to get back there and see it again!  We will close on it in a couple of weeks and then it will officially be ours!  It's such a nice house!  We liked it because it was spacious, has 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, a separate office space, a 3 stall attached garage, it's bright (lots of windows) and has an open floor plan.  There is also a ping pong table, pool table, and built in basketball hoop there.  Nathan reminded me that I've always wanted our home to be a place that the boys and their friends enjoy being.  It's going to be fun!  And the house is also only 10 years old so hopefully there won't be a ton of maintenance.  I feel very spoiled!  I'm also thankful that while we are transitioning over the next few months, we don't have the additional stress of attempting to find a house.  It's already done!
I'm planning on painting the boys' bedrooms and their bathroom (since right now there are flowers painted on the walls :) so I've been thinking about what colors would be best.  And today when I was in Meijer I found the most adorable bathroom rug with a monkey on it and decided to purchase it.  :)

Storage Unit
The packing has begun!  We rented a storage unit to put all of the things that we don't need until our move.  Hopefully it will appear to potential buyers that this is a spacious home.  :)  And it's also giving me motivation to organize and begin packing.  I was debating about having a garage sale in the Spring, or else I'll just list the bigger items on Craigs List that I don't want to take with us on our move.  I think that's the next thing on my agenda. 

GMG (Good Morning Girls)
http://www.goodmorninggirls.org/
I started a Bible Study accountability group with some friends reading the book of James.  We read a verse or two each day (Mon.-Fri.), write it down, reflect on it, and then email the group to say that you've done your reading and share some thoughts.  It's been perfect for me!  It's not a huge time commitment.  And since I'm held accountable, I actually do it!  I've found this to be the best way for me to be consistently having a personal devotion time.

Potty Training
Yeah!  I'm beginning to think that I won't be changing diapers for the rest of my life.  :)  Levi picked out new Mickey Mouse underwear a few weeks ago and he's been pretty consistent about telling me when he has to go to the bathroom!  I really hope this continues.

Saturday morning blessings
It was a beautiful thing to walk in the kitchen and see Levi wearing underwear!  Dorian with his pj pants on inside out and his shirt backwards....because he dressed himself!  And Nathan making homemade bagels.  I had to get a picture!

Rodney
What heartbreaking news that we got about Rodney.  He has relapsed, took a round of chemo already and is now waiting another week to have a biopsy to see what next steps to take.  Their family has such a tough road ahead again.  Lord, please give them all the strength and peace that they need to make it through each minute of each day.  You know, I never used to understand why people would say, Lord come quickly.  But I'm beginning to understand and say that same prayer myself.  Some people have so much pain and hardship in this life, it just makes us long for the life that is to come!  Someday there will be no more pain and sorrow.  Lord, come quickly.

Seat belt
Levi is our seat belt patrol.  :)  If we don't immediately put on our seat belt after sitting in the van we'll be reminded from the back seat.  "Seat belt mommy."  And he's consistent.  He notices every time!

Family Fare field trip
Dorian had a field trip to Family Fare last week.  The highlight for most of the kids was that they got to ride a bus there!  I dropped Levi off at Grandma Shirley's house and went along with Dorian on his tour of the grocery store.  He held my hand the whole time.  :)

Smart Kid
Dorian was playing with trains one afternoon.  He connected all of his trains together and noticed that it looked similar to a Stop sign and said,  "Hey, it's like a stop sign.  There are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 angles!"  He has a math mind like his daddy.  :)  He's a smart kid!  Oh, and we met with his teacher for a conference and she was impressed that he knew all of his letters because most kids his age only know about half of them.  We've also noticed lately how great his memory is!  Sometimes I think he has a better memory than myself...that's scary!  :)

Grandpa and Grandma Tintle visit
Grandpa Tintle attended a veterinary conference in Lansing over the weekend.  Grandma came Friday and stayed overnight at our house.  Then on Saturday afternoon we drove to Lansing to meet up with Grandpa.  We went to the R.E.Olds Museum to look at old cars together, went out to eat, went bowling, and then out for ice cream!  On Sunday we each met halfway and ate lunch together in Grand Rapids before they had to begin their road trip back.  The boys had a blast having grandpa and grandma around and ate up all the attention they could get!  :)

Bowling was so fun!  Dorian was able to bowl independently!!!  He did have the help of the bumpers though.  And Levi, well, he was able to do it independently, but each time that he rolled the ball down we were nervous for about 3 minutes that the ball was going to stop before it got to the pins.  We usually tried to give his ball a little extra push so it was sure to make it all the way down.  :)  What a great thing to do as a family.  We'll have to take the boys again sometime this winter.

Blizzard
Supposedly we're going to get a horrible blizzard tonight and tomorrow.  I'm glad that we don't have any commitments.  We'll be hanging out at home.  :)