Natalie, where's the penny? (and other excitement)

This week Natalie swallowed a penny. She had been playing with it and then she started to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she told me, "money, mouth, gone". Which is Natalie for I ate a penny! After determining that she could still breathe we took her to the ER to see what they could tell us. Natalie had her first x-ray and I got to see the penny in her stomach. The doctor told us to expect it to pass in a day or two, so Jared and I had the joy of being on poop patrol. All week Natalie has been talking about the money in her tummy, even though it's gone now!

On Monday we made another trip to Ikea to purchase some furniture for the empty room downstairs. We had done our shopping online first so we knew exactly what we wanted to get. Jared worked a mid shift Sunday night so as soon as he got home (around 8 am on Monday) we got in the car and he slept while I drove. For those of you who have gone to Ikea before you know that you have to assemble your furniture when you get it home. At the store it's all packaged in boxes. We got all our packages and headed out the car and loaded them in, but the couch wasn't fitting. I went inside and got a couple of employees to help us get the couch on top of our car and then we tied it down with some twine. It was a long drive home at 45 - 50 mph on the autobahn and a big contrast to the previous week when we drove 120 mph! But now that room is finished and it's been a nice place for us to sit and read. Having that room finished also gave us the motivation to hang up the rest of the pictures!

So, here's a picture of the room all finished. The table is in the foreground, the piano is off to the left, and the new couch and loveseat and in the background. We are so glad to finally feel all settled in.

That evening we celebrated Madison's eleventh birthday. So for just a bit, I want to tell everyone how wonderful she is. Maddy is an awesome person. She always wants to do her best in everything. Madison's attitude towards the people around her is that it doesn't matter how you look, it really is what's on the inside that counts. That's probably why she is so kind and always willing to help and be friends with everyone. Madison is never afraid to share her testimony (or as she calls it, her testimonies). She's a great example to her sisters and to me of living and sharing what you believe. She always tries to do the right thing and I hope that never changes. For her birthday we did the usual cake and presents. Madison's absolute favorite dinner is Spaghetti Carbonara so we had that, but it might just be Jared's least favorite dinner. Maddy and I made her cake together - white cake with white frosting.

Lots of people have been asking to see pictures of our house here in Herschberg. Since we are all finished hanging pictures and buying furniture, I took some photos. This first two are of the front of the house and the foyer.

Upstairs we have a family/computer room and two bedrooms.

The kitchen is the smallest room in the house, other than the bathrooms! We had to be creative with where to put things, and all of our food is in the basement because there's not even a shelf for food in the kitchen. The master bedroom and another bedroom are on the first floor as well, but I didn't take any pictures of it, sorry!