7 days till the 31st, Fireproof and dissections

Only one week left until Allie's due date! SO. EXTREMELY. EXCITED. I guess you can tell.
I had Biology class this morning. We "dissected" 4 different flowers and 9 different kinds of fruit. I don't really think it qualifies for the title of a "dissection" because they aren't animals, and it isn't gross. I'm relieved that we've left kingdom Animalia for at least a little while. I was getting sick of dissecting a new poor animal every week. But, I must say, the ones we've done so far haven't been as bad as I thought they would be. I actually touched our dogfish shark with my bare hands. I know, I know, I live on the wild side.
Has anyone seen Fireproof? I know you have, Grace, because I watched it for the first time with you. Anyone else? I LOVE it! My favorite part is when he *spoiler* bashes the computer up and replaces it with those beautiful roses and that sweet note that says "I love you more!" I think I started crying. I know I started crying when he's *spoiler* apologizing to Catherine at the end. He is an amazing cryer! (okay, that's not even a word.) Mrs. Maurer and I agree that we've never seen anyone in a movie cry like that. I guess Sam in LOTR is pretty close, but not quite. Then again, I've only seen a very select handful of movies. ;) So, if you've seen this wonderful movie, let me know what you think! If you haven't, go to your local McDonald's or Cub and get it from redbox for a buck. It's by far worth every single penny. Plus, EVERYONE in the movie is from Sherwood Baptist Church except Kirk Cameron, who is a Christian professional actor.
Okay, this post was very odd and random, but hey. That's me. I have to read twenty pages of Plato in the next 30 min before my class. Better hurry. Bye!

Baby!

No, Allie hasn't had her baby yet. :( But tomorrow her church is giving her a baby shower, and we get to go! I can't describe how excited I am for him to come. I don't know if I've ever been this excited for something to happen before. I guess Allie and Ben's wedding and Scott and Emily's wedding come close, but babies are my favorite thing! And there's going to be a sweet, soft, cuddly, cute baby boy here in this very house! I just can't wait. He's due on the 31st, but Allie thinks that he will go late. Her prediction is that he will come on the 3rd or 4th of April. Oooohhhh! I am SOOO excited! Well, I have to go. Bye.
~soon to be auntie

Wii Fit

We finally have all of our stuff! Yesterday, the movers brought back everything from our living room and dining room. (It all had to live in storage while the workers put our house back together after the "flood".) Anyway, now that our stuff is back, we have our T.V.! And now that we have our T.V., we can set up Wii Fit. I'm so excited. We all pooled our Christmas money in order to get it. It looks so fun! None of us have actually ever played it, but we have watched commercials for it and it looks like a blast. We don't have it set up yet, but when we do, I'll post some more about it. And maybe, just maybe, some pictures. =D

p.s. I just did spellcheck, and it didn't recognize the word "Wii". How old is the spellcheck on blogger? It needs to get with the times, man! kidding.

Erin Airs What's Happening

My sister Erin just became part of the blogger world yesterday when my dad helped her set up her very own blog, Erin Airs What's Happening. It's very cute, and I'm sure she'd be thrilled if you leave a comment, or become a follower. In fact, it wouldn't hurt if more of you became followers of MY blog. ;) So go ahead and click the link. It won't take but a couple minutes of your time, and it will make the day of a certain 12-year-old girl that much brighter.

lemon meringue pies

I love lemon desserts. They're so fresh and tart and yummy. Two weeks ago, my mom and I were on a kick for lemon meringue pie. We had frozen store-bought crusts in the freezer, so the hard part was taken care of. All I needed to do was to make the lemon curd-like filling and the merengue. We got the recipe from America's Test Kitchen (it's free to sign up...the only drawback is the multitudinous emails you receive...I still highly recommend membership! All of the recipes that they have aired on television are free!) and it turned out great. It took me all day to make, however. Okay, maybe "all day" is an overstatement. A full 2 1/2-3 hours, though. But boy, was it worth it! Here's some proof:

I made a double batch in order to have two pies. =D

I meant to take more pictures after we sliced the pie, but that didn't end up happening. Oh well. It was yummy! You'll just have to take my word for it, or drop by and let me know ahead of time. I'd love to make one and share it with you!

New van!

Yep! We bought a new van a few days ago. I can't write much now, but it is a 2004 Toyota Sienna(SP?). It is so nice to have a car! It is a very pretty, sort of brownish-gray--I'll try to post pictures later. Thanks for praying!

It's not over yet...

Last week, we went to Cambridge to stay with some friends to escape the chaos of our ceilings being ripped out. The girls and I stayed until Saturday when my dad picked us up. My mom and Keith stayed until Thursday afternoon, and then Keith stayed with some other friends until Saturday night while my mom stayed home. Well, shortly after my Dad returned from picking Keith up, he was surrounded by three of his daughters all talking at once (that often happens in our family) trying to tell him that someone had crashed into our car. Yes. Our beautiful mini-van. She has gone, after nearly one year of faithful service, to the big lot of pavement up in the sky. We will miss her.
What happened was that a lady had left her van running, unlocked, while she went into her work building. Some guy stole the van, and the lady called the police. Anyway, the officers started following him (he was going way over the speed limit, which is not the smartest thing to do in Minnesota in the winter) and I guess he lost control. He came through our yard, hit our tree, went out of the yard, pushed (crashed) our car across the street, skidded, and hit our poor baby again. He totaled her.
One of my first reactions was gratefulness that my dad and brother were inside the house and safe. Had they been two minutes later, they could easily have been seriously hurt or killed. God spared them. It was not their time to go.
Please pray that we can find a new car quickly. Also that my dad will not be stressed out in trying to do so. The Lord has sustained him so far, and he has succeeded in maintaining a cheerful attitude throughout all this hardship by God's grace. Thanks.