Saturday, June 27, 2009

Two Days in a Row!

Yes, we're posting for a second straight day because we couldn't resist sharing the following video with you. Lucas and Grace are singing a song that Lucas learned in Vacation Bible Camp last week. Grace is doing her best to keep up. Notice especially the grins she gives to the camera, thinking that she's having her picture taken!

Friday, June 26, 2009

It's Been Too Long

Sorry, gang! At least, I should say sorry to those who look at this blog at all regularly. Obviously, we've been a little delinquent in giving you any juicy morsels at all. It isn't for a lack of things happening! Just the opposite, as usual: busy lives.

Tarren has been busy with school and starting a new job as a nurse's assistant at a nearby hospital (where Grace was born). A couple days ago she found out that she was accepted to a Nursing Masters program at a prestigious medical university in the area which would require a full-time committment over the next couple years (and then another full-time committment to pay for it!). She also has the option of taking it more slowly at a nearby community college, where she would earn an associates degree with the idea of pursuing further education. We'll see what her ultimate decision is.

Our church sanctuary is currently undergoing a partial renovation (lighting, ceiling, sound and video), which has relegated us to worshipping in the church basement the last several weeks. Summertime affords us a little more flexibility with our space since school is out and the building sits unused for most of these weeks. We're looking forward to getting back into our newly-minted worship space.

We spent a week in the Denver area with my sister and her family at the end of May to attend my godson's confirmation. I had the privilege of preaching for that, as well, so it was a little bit of a working vacation. We had an opportunity to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, among other things. I'll add a few pictures of that wonderful experience:






Friday, February 20, 2009

A Message for Anna, Maria and Joel

Lucas wanted to send a video message to his cousins, with whom he spent a few days over Christmas. He really misses them, and he hopes that he might get an email from them. Here's what he has to say:


Thursday, February 19, 2009

A February Post

We had better post something during this month of February to give our starving audience - small as it may be! - a little morsel of our daily existence.

We had hoped that maybe winter was coming to an end, as we enjoyed near-record temperatures last week. However, the Old Man is back today with blustery wind, and the prospect of heavy snow looms bleakly on the horizon. I thought I may get to retire the snowblower for the season, but it looks like I'll need to rekindle it on Saturday morning. At least that's fun!

Otherwise we've managed to weather the winter rather well without an excessive number of trips to the doctor's office. Perhaps the reason for the lagging economy has something to do with the fact that we haven't been spending as much money on doctors and prescriptions lately! I could see how this might seize up the credit markets!

Tarren continues to be busy with school. It's a loaded schedule for her when she includes her other responsibilities, but - she admits - she likes staying busy. I stay busy, too!

Not too much to report on the kids, other than that they remain a source of joy.

Here's a video that we thought you'd enjoy, not an uncommon occurence in our household, with Grace "reading" outloud for everyone to hear. (Lucas also pipes in with his kazoo!) I couldn't allow her to notice me, otherwise she'd stop, so I wasn't able to get as close as I would have liked. Still, you'll get the picture!


Saturday, January 24, 2009

New Pix and Vid

The very latest visuals from the Prange household, including a shot of Grace's daily high-car "gymnastics."

























































A video of our future virtuoso (could be sold for millions some day!):



Our busy, self-entertaining, low-maintenance child:

Monday, January 19, 2009

The Prange post-Christmas report

I know this is a little late, but we just actually had our last Christmas gathering on Saturday at Pete's aunt's house in Milwaukee. We got together with his cousins who live in the area. It was fun to see them and their kids. We always laugh a lot at Aunt Mary's house. I had my first exposure to tator tot casserole. I was a little apprehensive, but it was actually really good. We even brought home some of the left-overs.

Our actual Christmas Eve and Day were spent at our own home, with my family coming to celebrate with us. Lucas participated in his first Christmas eve program and did a great job. He knew most of the words to the songs he was supposed to sing. They had to learn 17 verses of various songs (way too much for preschoolers if you ask me). He stood up front very nicely with his hands in his pockets and was just cute as a button! Lucas also participated in a program with his preschool class (the one on Christmas eve was part of Sunday School). The preschool program was done in the church basement, was very short, but was also very cute. I'll post a picture below.

After church on Christmas Eve, we had one of Lucas' friends over to exchange gifts. It got a little chaotic with the little girls' parents, her grandparents, plus all 14 of my family members in our living room, but the kids had a lot of fun. After the friend's family left, all of the children were put to bed, and the adults attended the candlelight service (minus grandpa, who stayed home with the sleeping kiddos). The service was beautiful and relaxing. We all retired to bed quickly after it was over. One huge benefit to being attached to the church is that there is no travel time involved, and we don't have to bundle up to brave the frigid conditions!

Speaking of frigid conditions, this winter has thus far been brutally cold and snowy. We had a very white Christmas, and last week's temps were well below zero. Brrrrr...

On to Christmas Day....we started the day with letting the kids open some of their gifts, to tide them over until we had time to open more. Then it was time to get ready for church. Grace had such a pretty dress that I had found for her. When I tried to get it on her Christmas morning, she started crying and saying, "Jammies....jammies" (her word for pajamas). She had not been feeling well, and daddy couldn't bare to force her out of her "jammies". We relented, and Grace wore fuzzy pajamas to worship our newborn King. Choir sang, Lucas behaved, and all was well. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating, and opening more gifts. Pete's Aunt Mary joined us later in the afternoon. Dad, Mom, and Kelly's family went home that evening, and Mary stayed a few extra days. We had a lot of fun playing games (especially Lucas who was spoiled by Aunt Mer's willingness to play all day long).

Pete and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 27th with a very nice dinner out. Aunt Mary babysat...and even got to change a diaper! Thank you! We left for Michigan on Sunday afternoon to visit Pete's brother's family. They have three teenagers and had just purchased a Wii for Christmas. Lucas spent the entire trip playing games with his cousins who were very gracious. Pete, Grace, and I got to do a lot of relaxing, and I got to do some shopping (that's just about a perfect vacation for everyone). We stayed until Wednesday morning, then drove back in time for New Year's Eve worship.

All in all, a wonderful holiday season! Back to school tomorrow!