Furnace Issues

After considering a variety of topics to be the focus of tonight's blog, I have decided to write about our furnace issues. Exciting eh? For the last year-and-a-half or so, our furnace has made loud and painful grinding sounds throughout the day and night. At times, the furnace has decided to randomly shut off in the middle of the night, waking me up at 2 am in the morning with Molly asking me if she thinks the house is cold. As much as I love waking up in the middle of the night to my own self-imposed night terrors (I have severe sleep walking issues), Kennedy jumping in our bed, or my increasing number of bathroom breaks (yeah, I'm old), I have not enjoyed waking up to a freezing house.

As the husband of a lovely wife and father of 2 lovely daughters, I probably should have just paid the overpriced charge to have my furnace fixed by a reputable Heating and Air service. I even had the furnace checked out when the furnace was under warranty... but they said that "nothing was wrong." Okay, not true.

So, in fastforwarding to last week, my dad happened to be at our house and had the opportunity to hear the horrible sound that comes out of our furnace room. He said: "You really need to get that fixed." And for once, he was right (j-k dad). Over the next couple of days our furnace shut off about 2 times per day and I would fix it by repeatedly hitting the on/off switch until the furnace magically stayed on. Luckily, my new best friend Joe (see previous post about my car), who has helped fix many car issues, told me he could fix the furnace by ordering a new part. After finding this part for $225 at a local store, he found it on E-bay for $115 and gave me the following choice: 1) Pay more for the part and ensure that your family won't freeze if the furnace breaks down; or 2) Save $100, order the part off of Ebay, and roll the dice about my furnace not dying while we waited for the part to arrive.

So of course I told him to order the part off of Ebay. For the past two days, God has kept our furnace running as noisily as ever, even though the temperature is below 17 degrees.

For fun, I took some video of our furnace today so you could get the "experience." Also, pray that our furnace lives another couple of days.

Anybody want a new Vue?

Okay, maybe it's not a new Vue, but it could be new to you. Withouth making this story too long, our Vue died about 6 weeks ago, a week after we had finished 5 years of payments. Nice timing huh? Anyway, after we received the estimate to fix the transmission ($6300), we decided to buy a new car (a Saab... I'll blog about this another day... we got a good deal).

I skipped lots of details but that's okay... after lots of drama and the process of finding a new car, we entered the world of Ebay. After I posted our car for sale, I later realized I had posted it as an advertisement instead of a bid item. So... after paying an additional fee to place the car on Ebay again, we were officially in business. We started the bidding at $500 and are now up to $1350. If anybody would like to place a bid of $10,000 or so, please be our guest! :)

If you get bored, you can track the sale at Ebay / Item number: 190271471006.

Good times, stay warm everybody. And pray that our furnace doesn't shut down tonight (another story for another day).

Finally, I posted some of the pictures from our Ebay ad for your entertainment.

Thanksgiving

Is there a better holiday than Thanksgiving? No presents, mulitiple football games, an excuse to eat a 4000+ calorie meal, and an excuse to take a nap? I don't think so...

We had another awesome Thanksgiving this year, spending the morning at my parents and then going to Molly's parents for our 2nd meal of the day. It was a great day, but exhausting.














Yes, I am the guy who cuts the turkey in the house each year. And no, I couldn't find another apron in the house.














Ansley and Toby.




















Kennedy helps Gigi dry the dishes.




















Emily and Kennedy enjoy playing the piano together. Don't you love the look on Kennedy's face? "Come on dad... enough already."

Post-Game Nap

This picture was captured after I got back from the Colts game last weekend. Coincidentally, I am watching the Colts play the Chargers right now.

It was my first game at Lucas Oil stadium, and because I'm old, I needed a napafter the game. Lucky for me (yet unlucky for Molly), Kennedy had not taken a nap for the entire afternoon and couldn't resist curling up next to me for a short nap. Not only did we both take a great nap, but I got to watch more football before falling asleep.

(editor's note: this picture was posted mainly to prove that I don't mind posting embarassing pictures of myself.)

Remember the warm weather?

Remember the days of 75-degree weather? What feels like several months was actually only a few weeks ago (see below).

Secondly, I apologize for the lack of blogs in the recent few weeks. We've been pretty busy and I have basically been a slacker. However, look forward to a future blog where I talk about us paying our car off and then how the transmission blew up a few days later, leaving us with a bill for $6300. Of course we didn't fix it, we are still looking for a new car. Good times huh?

Anyway, God is good and it's encouraging to know that although I have VERY little control of the events in my life, I know that God will give us the strength to deal with any situation that happens. I fully believe that something good can (and will) come out of every situation. So although we have to buy a new car, can you imagine a better time to haggle with shady car salesman?

Stay tuned.

Little Mommy (or Molly)

This is probably not a shock to most of you, but Kennedy is a tiny version of her mother (except that she has blue eyes and blonde hair). Kennedy sponges Molly's mannerisms, phrases, and everything else she does. In fact, they share many unique qualities, such as being obsessive compulsive, having Type A personalities, and having a love for clothes. Tonight I got a glimpse into my future as Molly and Kennedy had a spirited debate about some of the clothes in Kennedy's closet. Like mother like daughter. And I love it.

Like her mom, she loves her babies and loves to take care of them. In the picture below, she is talking to her baby Jane.

Boys and girls are so different. At this age, I was smashing matchbox cars, crafting swords and guns out of sticks, and throwing rocks at everthing.

Pinheads

Tonight was a great night for several reasons (and yes, I love lists for some reason). Also, if you don't know, Pinheads is a bowling/pizza/arcade type of place:

1) We spent time with good friends that we do not get to see very often.
2) I had appetizer food for dinner. Yum. And sorry Ansley for eating your potato skin that apparently your mom planned on giving you for dinner (yes, we have a very rigorous and healthy meal plan for our children).
3) I witnessed Ryan win 200 tickets at the "Deal or No Deal" game. And what can you win with 200 tickets? A gigantic teddy bear? Large quantities of candy? Anything worth more than a dollar? No.... in fact I am sure that every prize item can be found at your local dollar store.
4) We had a "blog" reunion (yes, we are all blogger dorks). And yes, I am one of the few male bloggers Don't question my manhood.
5) Ryan and I took the "high road" and chose to overlook a broken machine, where a door swung open to reveal hundreds (that's right, HUNDREDS) of tickets. I wonder if we would have made the same choice if our kids weren't with us? Hmmmmmm..............
6) We got home safe and sound.














Ansley loved hanging out with Luke. He is a sweet kid and made her belly laugh.





















Can we have some more tokens dad?





















Finn's hair did not let us down. And no, he does not use gel.














Courtney and the boys.

Surprise, it's a "bunny" halloween

As far as Halloween goes, this year was a very good for a few reasons:

1) It was the first year that Kennedy understood the important things about Halloween, such as face paint, staying up late, eating candy for dinner, and being scared by dad's wig.
2) The weather was seasonably warm (high 60's?).
3) I wore my $2.00 garage sale, blue feux leather shoes that Molly swore I would never wear (see below).
4) We found out that Noni scares Ansley with her frog hat (just kidding... at least at first).

We also learned more about the arduous process of picking the right costume. While I was at work, Kennedy's costume went from a princess, to a "kitty princess", and she finally ended up as a bunny (I know, no surprises).




















Who likes wearing face paint? I DO!















Our professional make-up artist works her magic.





















My daughter has years of embarassment ahead of her.















The girls: Noni, Kennedy, and of course, our professional make-up artist, mommy.

Fall is here

Last Saturday I loaded up the family car and headed to the IHSAA semi-state cross country meet at Northview Christian Church to cheer on Fishers H.S. It turned out that the weather is no longer the 75-degree weather we experienced a few weeks ago... the weather was in the mid to upper 40's. Anyway, it was cold. Coooooooooooooooooold.

The pictures below show some of the pictures taken at the meet (and our house after we got back). The day was great until we were driving back from dinner at Molly's parents and our transmission stopped working. It is now sitting at the Saturn dealership in Fishers... anyway, I digress. It was a great day.















I love this picture of Molly and Ansley... especially the reds in the tree to the left.





















I got a workout at the cross country meet with both girls on my back.





















Two cuties... Kennedy and mom















A good view of the finish line

Goodbye dance class

Maybe this sounds bad to admit, but I'm happy that our 6-week dance class experience is over. Through this experience, I got a small taste of the busyness for parents of teenagers, who spend each night carting their kids to and from sporting events, dance classes, gymnastics, youth group, or whatever else their kids are involved with.

Time to get on my soap box for a minute... we are so busy and rushed as a society. In our effort to overplan our lives and keep up with the pace of our society, we don't always stop to "smell the roses" (sorry, that was VERY clique). As a high school counselor, I see this busyness unfold on a daily basis with high school students. In addition to being constantly "wired" by their cell phones, text messaging, the internet, facebook, I-pod, etc... kids are very busy with jobs, hours of homework, and intensive involvement with sports and extracurricular activities. Gone are the days when most kids could play a variety of sports throughout the year. Unless you are a stud athlete, most kids have to pick one sport and dedicate their entire year to improving in this one area. Many kids have personal trainers, club teams, year-long workout regimen's and so on...

Before I got too off topic, I admit that life will be busy no matter how much I resist. However, I try (and mostly fail) to live in the moment and day to be at peace with all of the good and bad that happens. Over time, even the things that seem bad can have a silver lining. We learn from our mistakes, learn humility, and we build character. It's my goal to emphasize God, family, and friends in all that we do. How does that look? I'm not sure. If you have read this entire blog, congratulations getting through my ramblings. I know that God is in control and that he will give us peace if we put our trust in Him. This is important in this crazy world we live in.

Enjoy the pictures below. We took them on the last night of Kennedy's dance class. The bad news is that I need some new blog material in the near future. Any ideas?

A weekend in Ft. Lauderdale

Let me break this down to you... it's 9:30 on a Sunday night and Molly has been in bed for an hour. The kids were in a bed at least an hour before bedtime, and I am fighting to keep my eyes open as I type this blog entry to finish my day. Do I have pictures? Unfortunately, no.

However, Molly and I just spent the weekend in Ft. Lauderdale. Her company graciously invited me down to accompany her on her work trip (thanks AmDoc). In addition to spending 3 nights without the kids, we also had a chance to hang out with Molly's brother Joe and his wife Liz. It was great to spend time with them and we found out that Liz is now pregnant (just kidding). We had a blast hanging out on Joe's boat, except for the fact that I got seasick and we didn't catch any fish (it was still a blast). Another highlight included the Seafood Extravaganza buffet at the Ft. Lauderdale Yacht Club (again, thanks AmDoc). It was incredible.

I could talk about more stories from the weekend, which include a harrowing sprint through Charlotte's airport to make our connecting flight, losing our luggage today, Molly leaving her driver window fully down in the long-term parking lot, our complete inability to follow the most basic directions, Molly almost getting a ticket for a U-turn on the interstate, my lack of proper etiquette (according to Molly) on airplanes and in basic society, and the interesting / disturbing passengers we always seem to meet.... however, I won't. I'm tired and it is now 9:45. I also don't have any pictures for which I apologize. Thanks to our parents for watching the girls and giving us this weekend together... it was much needed. It's good to be home and back with the girls. Adios for today.

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, we made our 2nd annual visit to the local Hancock Country apple orchard and pumpkin patch with the Hitchcocks, Landwerlen's, and Murrays. It might have been the last day of 85-degree weather of the year.

It was a great day to catch up with old friends and find the perfect pumpkin.














Molly and Kennedy find the perfect pumpkin.





















Kennedy and her buddy Elias get cheesy for a minute.















Group photo of the kids and a few parents. Brookie was a little tired...





















Ansley's first wagon ride.