friesenfam.net | Friesen family blog

June 23, 2008
by janette
2 Comments

and the winner is…

Baby Evan Friesen arrived on Saturday morning…making the winner of the baby date guessing game…Stacey!

Okay – so when I saw Stacey on Thursday and told her I was being induced on Friday if I didn’t have the baby that night, I’m guessing she didn’t remember what day she had…because that was her day – either that or she was secretly thinking – “I’m gonna win this sucker!”

All I’m saying is if she’d have entered a date in the library pool…she’d have beaten out Matt for that prize as well!

Congrats to you Stacey…I’m working on finding an appropriate prize!

look for pictures of the new arrival in the next post!

June 18, 2008
by janette
0 comments

it just makes me sad

This is the scene in Waverly these days…as the clean-up from the flooding begins…

drywall, kids toys, wood furniture, couches, and whatever else you can name line the streets waiting to be picked up and hauled away.

We are so fortunate, and it seems we keep learning lessons in humility as we watch others clean up and try to do our best to help. Some people say the offer of help is enough. We wish there were more we could do.

This is a picture of Kohlman park. Its right on the river. We were amazed at all the sand and silt that got moved around. Water is a powerful force, thats for sure…it looks more like the beach these days than a park.

And this is a picture of the school affiliated with our church…I know several teachers who teach here. One said “there was so much more we could have saved.” I suppose this is always the feeling you’ll have. You know what they say about hindsight.

The businesses of town were hard hit too. We’re hoping most re-open. We’ve heard of some that will have new locations…and some that just aren’t coming back. This is Dell’s Diner. Their food is amazing. Granted, we haven’t been there in roughly a year and a half…but you can only have so much of a good thing.

Its hard for me to see all of the destruction in this town. I wasn’t here for the floods of 99, and while Waverly isn’t my hometown…I’ve been in or near it for 12 years and feel connected to it and the community here. And what an amazing community it is. My heart hurts for the town…but deep down, I know Waverly will come back from this…its just hard to see right now.

June 16, 2008
by janette
1 Comment

those birds make me crazy

Nathan and I have been “container gardeners” for a few years now…we usually try our hand at growing one thing in pots on the deck. Really, its all we can handle. We’ve had moderate luck with tomatoes – even growing them from seeds one year.

This year, we decided to try strawberries…figuring that we wouldn’t get any this first year because thats what the lady told us at the WalMart garden center. Apparently, little did she know…because we are getting a few strawberries – small ones,…but they’re there.

My dad was here one day doing some light home repair and says to me “you just wait…when you’re getting just about ready to pick that strawberry, you’ll say – I’ll give it one more day to get a little redder, and then I’ll pick it and that day, the birds will come and eat it…”
Well, what do you know…we got the first one…but it looks like we weren’t as lucky this
second time.

Was it a bird…we may never know…but the strawberry – gone. Perhaps we’ll have better luck with the next one. You may find a picture of me guarding it day and night in my next post! I can just see it now…me, on the deck, flashlight in hand, ready to scare off the birds.

June 9, 2008
by janette
1 Comment

birthdays and more birthdays

Its no secret that I just had a birthday – the 30th. I’m glad to say it passed without being terribly monumental. Nathan did take me to see a movie the night before the actual day…which is something we don’t often get to do…and he and Ellie got me nice things. All in all, it was a good celebration.

Some of our friends decided they wanted to take us to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate my birthday…yes, my birthday. I think Ellie wound up having the best time…her and their 9 and 10 year olds…but Nathan and I did squeeze in a few rounds of mario cart…i smoked him the first time…but he came back with a vengeance and beat me the next two rounds to take the series. Grrr…I guess this calls for a rematch!

Here are some photos of Ellie at Chuck E Cheese…and one of her and Daddy – Daddy is such a trooper.

We also went to another birthday party on this same day…for one of my friends’ little girls. She turned one. It was a great party – Ellie got to eat cake and ice cream with one of her friends from school…notice the little punk trying to steal my ice cream. She should know better!

June 7, 2008
by janette
2 Comments

some summer fun

The other night while Nathan was mowing the lawn…Ellie and I decided to have some summer fun of our own (notice how I grouped mowing the lawn into summer fun!!! That is probably because i don’t see myself doing much of it this year.)

We started with bubbles…

and progressed to blowing the fuzz off dandelions.

Now…Ellie doesn’t seem to get the hang of blowing things – like bubbles…or fuzz of dandelions…she always blows up – note the hair. We’re working on it! She finds it hysterical that i squeeze her cheeks which makes her pucker when she blows…

We live on what I consider the most fun lot in our part of town! Reason…we are pretty much the only house that doesn’t use true green chem lawn or something of that nature to rid ourselves of weeds and dandelions. It gives Ellie something to do. We often tell ourselves that we moved in just to make all of our neighbors look good – something tells me, they probably don’t see it that way.