ANDREW & THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD WEEK!

" P O O R B A B Y "

Well, when it is all said and done, Drew's week was pretty lousy!

Here is a little overview of what his past week was like:

one sick boy
on the 2nd bottle of Benadryl
about half way through the bottle of Dimetapp
went through 4 boxes of kleenex
filled up the humidifier at least 2x every day
sat on the couch for at least 1/2 of each day
lots of DVD's
had to go see the dr. on the weekend
missed a whole week of church
got the red, kleenex burn under the nose
took nice, long naps! ;) (love that medicine!)
listened to the same Patch the Pirate tape probably 20 times
(thanks, Gramma Jo!)
couldn't kiss mommy, daddy or baby jack all week
went through 3 bottles of juice
a diet that consisted of chicken soup, toast & crackers

and in the end...he made it (and so did I)!!! Drew even got to spend the afternoon with Gramma Jo today as a celebration (i.e. make up promise from last week...b4 he got sick!) and now he was so kind to share his sickness with his mommy! Hopefully it will stop here! The Lord was good to give us much needed extra rest & John was a great help as always with the "extra's" that seem to go astray when someone is sick!

Growing Baby

These pictures are actually from last month when Jack turned 2 months. (I know, it's sounds so monumental...and any mom of a newborn knows how true it is!!) So I figured since he hasn't changed too much this past month I'd post them in honor of his 3 month b-day which was sat. the 27th.

THE BUMBO SEAT

I can't wait till Jack is ready to use this! I first saw this on Jenny Muth's blog and we got one for Jack for Christmas. I've tried him on it a couple of times but he's still a bit wobbly on it. I have heard great things about this...for all you mom's out there!

JUST CHILLIN'

Jack has such an easy going & happy personality already. He loves to find Drew in the room and liberally gives his mommy & daddy smiles. He has even started laughing here and there.

BEST BUDS

When I see this picture it reminds me of when Drew says, "I will protect you, baby Jack! I will watch over you!" He is already his little watch guard!

COMFORT

Jack is definitely a thumb-sucker! This was the first time I caught him with his thumb and it has been his (and my) best friend since! Once he finds that thumb, he's knocked out! Although in his attempts, if you notice the position of his hand, he wakes up with many new scratches in the mornings!

STATS @ 2 months:

[weight] 12lbs. 12oz.

[length] 24"

Water, Water Everywhere...

Upon returning home after a long, busy & tiring weekend, there are few things that you want to hear, like: "Honey, I'll take care of the kids & the unpacking---why don't you go take a hot bath" or an answering maching message that might say, "Hey----knew you guys would be tired when you got in so we cleaned your whole house and stocked the fridge for you!" or maybe even, "Hey, why don't you take tomorrow off!!!" But, alas, none of the above will be in the remaining of this story! I was juggling both boys just kicking my shoes off when I heard John call from downstairs, "Um, honey, the whole basement is under water!!!!!" So needless to say, we switched gears knowing it would be a long night ahead of us. So here are some shots of the war zone! It ended up being about 2 inches of water, not all that bad since the water could have only been "dumping" for 3 days at the most. And since we left our heat on and the upstairs door closed it was like a sauna down there! So EVERYTHING was wet!!! We are thankful that it wasn't bad enough to ruin anything truly valuable or sentimental (i.e. the baby books---which no longer will have a place in the basement!). And the insurance will take care of replacing everything downstairs, even the digital camera that was dropped while taking insurance claims pictures! The Lord is so good, even in frustrations like this!!!

THE WET WALLS

THE CULPRIT: a broken expansion tank above the hot water heater. Um, I don't think that pitcher is of much help at this point!!

A broken sump pump didn't help the situation at all!

We'll keep you posted with the New & Improved Neiner Basement!!!!!!

Yarnell/Rauba Wedding

THE FAMILY of 4

We had such a fun time at Brion Yarnell's wedding in PA!!! It was a busy, crazy time but so good to see many of our friends from Northland such as: Stephen & Shannon [Chaney] Conley, Scott & Lindsay Logan, Ricki Blaha, Sarah Gearhart, Emily Yarnell [sorry, Em, can't remember your married name], Stephanie [Totaro] Gardner & of course, Brion! Sorry if I have forgotten anyone! John was a groomsman and Drew was one of the ring bearers, so I had my hands full. But with help from Shannon & Lindsay, things went pretty smooth. Also, this may be the last blog for a little bit [at least with current pictures] since we came home to water in our basement ...and the digital camera ended up in the water while taking "insurance" pictures...and now does not work! No fun...I'll have to go buy some 35mm film...do they still have that out there?? :)

THE WEDDING PARTY

Brion & Carrie with the kiddo's: Michael, Drew [ring bearers] & Ava [flower girl]

The 2 Ring Bearers

Drew & Michael were quite opposite, so they were very cute together. Michael just stood in amazement with his big eyes as Drew ran circles around & around. But in the end they both did a fabulous job!

Ava stood in between the boys and held their hands down the aisle. It worked out really well and she did such a great job. She also looked so beautiful! She is Brion's second cousin.

BRIDE'S BOUQUET
The bodice on her dress is probably the most beautiful I have seen!

BRIDESMAID'S BOUQET: glittery & sparkly

Drew with the bride & groom

Brion was so great with Drew! Everytime Drew saw Brion, he put out both hands and said, "Hold me!!!" In the craziness of everything going on, Brion almost always "gave in" to his request.

3 of the "Quadrivium:" the final hurrah

John, Stephen & Scott

In college, Stephen was fondly nicknamed Superman. So we told Drew that he was going to meet "Superman" at the wedding. Just this morning Drew brought me a little superman toy and said, "Look, Mommy, it's Stephen!"

Mr. & Mrs. Rauba

Carrie's parents are no strangers to us. We were able to stay at their house last year when we came to visit Brion and Carrie for New Years Eve. Mrs. Rauba was like Drew's extended Grandma. I also knew them from years ago. They went to the church I grew up in and I actually babysat for Carrie & Laura (her younger sister) when they were like 4 & 2 years old. It was so funny when Brion first told us who he was dating! I couldn't believe it!!

Just before the ceremony...family pep talk for Drew!

Drew looking as handsome as his daddy

happy jack

Drew praying at the reception

GO VOTE

For those of you who saw the previous post on John's robot and would like to vote, you can link to the voting page by following the link below. All you have to do is a simple signup using your email address so they can regulate who is voting. [totally free and unbinding]

His robot is under the "Scratch Built and Kitbashed Entries" section.
It is called "Q-14 Reconnaissance Robot" and is model #16.

I know he would GREATLY appreciate any votes from you out there!!!
Here is the link: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/contest/contest_vote.cfm
This will take you directly to the voting page.
[to see all entries you can click on home page/yellow contest]
It is up just for this week...so don't delay!

Thanks a bunch!

John's New Hobby

Meet Q-14.

You know how you think you really know your spouse, whether you've been married for 5 days, 5 months or 5 years and then they go and do something totally out of the ordinary that throws you for a loop. I don't know why, but even though I feel like I know my husband so incredibly well, he still manages to impress me now and then!!! This is one of those instances!

I know I won't do justice in explaining all that went into this, but I will try. John built this robot from beginning to end. All that he started with was a sketch he drew to guide him, sheets of plastic styrene, tools and a lot of creativity. This robot may look like a kit, you know the sheet of plastic that comes with 100+ pieces that you have to pull off individually and then put together one by one! But it is NOTHING like a kit in that John made all his own pieces from scratch! This new hobby is called "Scratch Building." You can do pretty much anything to this plastic: cut, sand, paint, glue, drill, carve, etc. The styrene is white, so once the robot was built he used many different techniques to get the metalic & rust look. He was able to enter it into an online contest. Apparently there is a whole community of scratch builders out there. I have a feeling this is the first of many projects John will do!! He loves it and says it is a great stress reliever! You can read his ficticious biography of the robot's creation and purpose for existence & also view his robot here: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/contest/scratch_16.htm

To put it in perspective, the robot is appx. 8" tall.

The "Q" stands for "Quinny" and the "14" was my volleyball/soccer # in high school and college. Kinda cool to have a robot named after me!

The Building Process

The Final Coats

The Finishing Details

New Years Eve

HAPPY NEW YEAR

We had a grand church gathering on New Years Eve at the Bessette's home. Which means there was plenty of food & desserts, some great games going on and a lot of fellowship! The Boardman family was also in town for the holidays and it was so wonderful to be able to see them again. They moved away to Ohio just a couple of months ago. Although it seems like they have been gone forever, it was just like the good ol' days having them around. We miss you guys sooooo much!!! Of course with kiddo's in the fam now, we made it only till about 9:30 p.m. and headed home. But John & I stayed up to watch a movie and caught the NY ball dropping on TV just in time!! [we literally turned it on with one minute left! Whew!]

This is Drew's buddy, Jacob. He is about 8 months older than Drew and they have been great buds since day 1 in nursery! They love being silly together as you can see...they are both 100% boys!

This is Evan Hamilton.

He was in our youth group and is always making us laugh! He is now in CT at Hellicopter school! That's right, he'll be flying in just 2 years--and has already done his solo flight! It's been so neat to see how the Lord has led Evan to this point in his life.

[GIRL TALK]

Seated from L to R: Meredith Hamilton, Mallery Bessette, Crystal Neiner, Michelle Kunzmann & Sara, Me & Jack

A Very Serious Game In Progress

[did I mention the youth pastor won this one?]

These ladies are really up to no good!
Sissy, Michelle, Eleanor, Gramma Ginny & Sophie

Mom & Noreen

A Game of 'Spoons' about to Begin

Meredith showing the kids how to master the video game!

Gramma Jo & Jack

Sara [Jacob's little sister] did so well being up so late!