The Folmans

Ultrasound

2009-03-30T10:36:00.002-06:00

We had our ultrasound last week and thought this picture with the hand on the forehead was pretty cute. And, we found out that we are having.....another boy!! Ben's genes are apparently not stronger than the Metzger genes still since we are following the girl-boy-boy pattern that nearly everyone seems to follow to the T.

August 9th is the due date so we are halfway there!

A Note for Dad

2009-02-05T22:57:00.004-06:00

Sophia is learning to read and write in school and wrote this note to Ben last night to make sure that he remembered not to make her lunch. I thought it was so cute I had to put it in here. I think I was still learning the alphabet in kindergarten and she's sounding all these words out by herself!

If you can't read it, her words say, "Dad can u dont mayk lunch bkuz I am gonu hav a petsu prde. Sophie"

Interpretation: "Dad, can you don't make lunch because I am gonna have a pizza party. Sophie"

I've been slacking...

2009-02-04T13:18:00.005-06:00

After reading a friends' blog this morning, I finally decided it's time to update mine again. Since it's been nearly 5 months since my last blog, I decided to put a few highlight from recent months on here. Of course, there were a ton more that I could have put on but I couldn't spend the whole day doing this.

This was on my 30th birthday. Ben took me out to dinner and then back home to "get the kids" but he really had planned a surprise birthday party for me. I was actually really surprised which was awesome because somehow I always seem to find out his surprises before I am supposed to.

Ben and Caleb on a hike at Hartley Nature Area. I can't wait for this weather again!

My parents came up for a weekend last fall and we had lots of fun taking pictures by the lake.

My dad and the kids.

Our new addition! We got our first dog, Riley the Monday after Thanksgiving. He was 5 months old at that time and has been quite an adventure! The kids can't get enough of him.

We might be nuts, but on the same day we found out that I am pregnant with our 3rd kid!! I am due August 5th. We saw the movie Marley and Me the other night and halfway through I leaned over and told Ben they had the same life as us...minus the swimming pool and huge houses! Mostly the crazy dog and adventures of parenting!

Baking Christmas cookies in December. They loved the frosting.

And of course the sprinkles too.

I am not sure if it's possible anymore for Sophia to get her picture taken without doing some kind of funny pose. She's like a Hollywood teenager inside a 5 year-old Duluth kid's body.

Caleb turned 3 the week after Christmas and I made him a motorcycle birthday cake. He had been talking about wanting a motorcycle birthday party for months beforehand and now has next year's party planned already.

Don't tell Caleb when he's a teenager that I actually put this picture online! I was on the phone with my mom one day this winter and the kids both came down the stairs in Sophia's leotards. I couldn't stop laughing. Caleb was still all boy though...he thought it was hilarious to pull the leotard up in the back and would pull it up like a sumo wrestler every time it started to slide down.

"Look Mom it says, 'ho-tel!'" That's exactly what he said. This was at a hotel we stayed at for a conference in Mpls. in January.

Sophia and my sister-in-law Karna at her baby shower. Hopefully she will have her baby any day now! She will make grandkid number 18 for my parents!

I had to put this photo up. This is what Sophia does with her clothes nearly every night before she goes to bed...accessories and all, so that everything is ready for the next morning. I don't know where she got that from but it definitely was NOT me!

I think that's all for now but I will try to update this more often.

First Day of Kindergarten

2008-08-25T07:41:00.003-06:00

We just sent Sophia off to her first day of Kindergarten! She woke up at 6:30 asking if it was time to get up yet. When I told her it wasn't and that she should go back to sleep for 20 more minutes she just laid there and asked every 5 minutes if it was time to get up yet, until I finally said yes! She was VERY excited!

A Day at Gooeseberry Falls

2008-07-25T13:42:00.003-06:00

We spent the day at Gooseberry Falls State Park yesterday and had a great time. The weather was absolutely perfect for taking lots of pictures!

Sophia took this one. She's our photographer in training.

Caleb and his new leash...er....harness. We bought this before we left town yesterday because he's just wild enough to run to the edge of a cliff and then decide to jump off! It's very cute, with a little monkey on the back, and he did really well with it. And no, we didn't ever yank on it to make him go where we wanted. It just meant that we had to actually run with him everywhere. You can see the tail hanging off the monkey; that's the strap we hang on to.

See? He really liked it!

Our little model, posing for the picture.

For some reason Sophia decided she didn't want to be in the picture of the whole family so she's hiding in Ben's arms.

Mmmm...Mom's Camelbak. For some reason that water seems to taste better to her than the water in her own water bottle.

Caleb the explorer.

There's the monkey on his back.

Searching for agates...or pretty much any rock they like.

Summer Fun

2008-07-25T13:06:00.006-06:00

We've had all sorts of adventures this summer so I am finally updating my blog. These are just a few fun pictures from the summer so far.

My nieces and Sophia in all my bridesmaid dresses from my brothers and sisters weddings. Gotta love those poofy sleeves!

Sophia's last day of preschool! She was so excited.

Ben and the kids at the lake for Father's Day.

Cheering for Uncle Tom who was running Grandma's Marathon.

Sophia and Caleb saying "Goodbye" to their friend Gwyneth. She's moving to Belfast with her mom and dad, our good friends Wes and Lesley, any day now. We will miss her dearly. Of course we have a plan in place for how to get her back to America when she's older so she and Caleb can fall in love and get married.

My parents at one of the stops along Seven Bridges Road in Duluth.

The boys going on a boat ride. Doesn't Caleb look just like Ben in this picture?? Except the hair color of course!
We went up to a camp called Luther Dell for the 4th of July. A bunch of people from church were there for a family camp weekend but we were just there for the day. Caleb pretty much jumped off this end of the dock all day, yelling for us to watch each time!

Our 6 year anniversary. We borrowed a couple of kayaks a friend of ours made and took them along the lake for an hour or two. It was absolutely perfect weather and tons of fun!

All dressed up at Enger Tower for a wedding rehearsal Ben was doing.

This was before the wedding. Aren't they cute?

All the 3 to 5 year-olds (plus Caleb) at a day camp we did at church last week. They all got to have a turn sitting in the driver's seat. Caleb and Sophia couldn't stop talking about it.

This week

2008-05-09T12:54:00.009-06:00

I got some great photos of the kids this week. I think they capture each of their personalities very well.

My favorite picture. Sophia is all princess at heart.

I don't even remember what was happening here!

Caleb sporting his new shades!

A kiss from Caleb!

The Past Few Weeks

2008-04-28T19:59:00.004-06:00

I thought I'd post a few photos that I finally downloaded tonight. We've had some fun adventures. The only thing we don't have pictures from was one of the most fun things we've done recently. Ben surprised me last night and got a babysitter overnight so we could go stay at the Edge, the waterpark hotel in Duluth. We had an absolute blast playing in the water with no kids! This morning, Ben picked up the kids so they could play there for a couple hours too and they had a great time, well Caleb was terrified but he says it was fun! Unfortunately, we forgot the camera. Oh well. Next time.

A couple weeks ago we stayed with Ben's brother Micah and his family for a night while his mom was visiting from Texas. These are Micah and Nichole's kids. I think Caleb almost looks more like these two than he does Sophia!

Sophia's new talent.

Caleb's look of pure joy in his new toddler bed he got from his cousins.

Caleb and Grandma Jane.

A bunch of people from church helped clean up some parks last week for Earth Day. We ended up going to Brighton Beach to do it. Sophia loved it and Caleb mostly threw rocks in the lake, which is just fine. I think this photo is probably one of the only pieces of garbage he picked up.

This is another picture from the beach clean-up. As you can see, that's Caleb's new smile. He is quite the comedian.

Sophia practiced jump-roping tonight while Ben installed a stereo in our new car. It was very cute.

Caleb's Turn

2008-04-09T20:06:00.004-06:00

Caleb got his turn at a haircut on Monday. I was trying to give him just a little shorter trim than normal and it turned out really bad . Apparently, I can only do one style of haircut. So I finally gave in and asked Ben to take the clippers to the top of Caleb's head and all his blonde hair. I was a little sad at first but then when Ben was rinsing his hair he discovered that it looks really cute spiked up so he now uses "product" in his hair! He really enjoyed the photo shoot after and has been telling everyone about his haircut all week. Oh, and yes, I know he's wearing his Mater and Lightning McQueen shirt again. He would wear it every day if he could!

Science Museum

2008-04-02T08:51:00.003-06:00

We took a little trip to the the Science Museum in St. Paul on Monday morning after spending a relaxing night at my brother Matt and his wife Karna's house. We hadn't brought the kids there before and we all had a great time. Here are a few photos from the day.

Sophia and her skunk friend doing the news.

Who knew that a fan facing upward could be so exciting? The kids could tape together all sorts of different stuff and then stick it in this thing and watch it float up in the air. Caleb loved it!

Dinosaur bones. Also Caleb's favorite part.

Sophia, Ben and a woolly mammoth.

We caught Caleb right in the middle of yelling, "DINOSAUR!!!!"

Easter

2008-03-25T16:34:00.002-06:00

We had a great Easter on Sunday! We woke up in the morning to a couple inches of snow on the ground! Then, instead of our 5 regular services at church (Saturday and Sunday) we had one huge one at the DECC, the convention center in Duluth. It was crazy busy...there were close to 200 kids checked in and over 1,100 people at the service! It was a lot of fun. After that some friends invited us over for a great Easter dinner at their house.

Before we ever left the house the kids got to enjoy their Easter baskets for a little bit. They were excited to have chocolate before 7am!

A picture of our Duluth day. Sophia wore a wool dress coat and pink flip flops for Easter! Don't worry; she wore boots outside in the snow.

New Do's

2008-02-20T22:35:00.002-06:00

Sophia and I both got new haircuts last week. It was the first time I took Sophia somewhere to get it cut and she loved every minute of it!

Isn't it cute? She especially liked when the lady blow-dried her hair. I don't even own a blow dryer!
Posing for a camera.

Both of us with our haircuts. I wasn't too sure about mine at first. I went to some fancy salon and on the first cut I knew it was going to be shorter than I asked for. Apparently, she didn't realize how much my hair would curl up. I'm getting used to it though and I like it now.

Jen's Mom's 70th Birthday Weekend

2008-02-20T22:19:00.006-06:00

We had a surprise birthday party/weekend for my mom in the Cities a few weeks ago. All of my brothers and sisters came home for it which is a rare occasion. It was tons of fun and she was really surprised!This is all the grandkids who made it to the party along with my parents. My nephew Aaron made these shirts. It's a picture of my mom with a baseball hat on and flashing some kind of gang signs! Gangsta Grandma!
A failed attempt at another photo. The whole weekend was like the paparazzi was there.

Sophia, Megan and Renae - her cousins.

My entire immediate family! Yes, I do know all of their names! I can't believe how much I have been asked that question.

My sisters, Kathy and Terri and me.

Thanksgiving and such

2007-11-30T09:28:00.001-06:00

Our picture-perfect apple pie.

The first annual Metzger family Gobble Wobble run/walk! Sophia rode on Ben's back while he ran for the majority of it but I couldn't keep up with him to get any pictures!!

Everyone vegging out after eating a ton!

Ben and the kids all bundled up. It's freezing here right now!

The Guitar

2007-11-30T09:21:00.000-06:00

Some friends from church gave Caleb and Sophia this guitar a couple weeks ago. They have been non-stop musicians since then.

I love Sophia's face in this picture. She looks so pathetically sad that Caleb has the guitar and she doesn't!

Here's a little glimpse of our red kitchen too. It used to be a horrible yellow. The cabinets will someday be white.

Halloween!

2007-11-07T18:55:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos from this year's Harvest Party at church. We had tons of fun!

Caleb was Elmo!

Sophia was Gabriella Montez from High School Musical.

Elmo and Cletus. Once again, my lovely husband dressed as Cletus for the Harvest Party. This time he was a construction worker. His personality completely changes the second those teeth go in and the glasses go on. If you've never seen it, you are missing out. I didn't know when we got married that Ben had split personalities!

Gabriella enjoying some pop...a very rare treat!

The whole family. I was Emma Mae, Cletus' pregnant wife....no, I am not really pregnant!!!

High School Musical

2007-10-31T07:29:00.001-06:00

This is a story Sophia narrated over the past week with the help
of me, Ben, and some different babysitters she's had (Liz and Alison and Luke).
I thought I would share it with you.

High School Musical
by Sophia Folman

Gabriella and Troy went skateboarding. Then they had tape on their shoes so they could jump and not lose their boards. After that, they sledded because it was snow time. And then, when the snow starts to melt, they take a run.

They ran for four miles. Then they rested and had a snack. After resting they went home for hot cocoa and dinner. Then they cleaned up the mess.

The next day they went outside and raked up leaves and jumped in them and raked them up again.

They went shopping and bought a new laptop.

I love when they kiss. They had a good weekend. They went to the grocery store and got a hundred stuff.

Dear Gabriella and Troy, I hope you have a good night at the grocery store. "How did you get out of the grocery store in the middle of the night? It was locked," their friends asked. They unlocked it because they had keys and then they went out and locked it.

They walked, walked, walked, walked and then Gabriella and Troy went to Troy's house. Then they swimmed, swimmed, swimmed in circles until they kissed. And then Troy and Gabriella swimmed home.

They rided horsies and the horsies were wet but they were holding on so they wouldn't fall off. Actually, they were on the same horsie and Troy was hanging onto the horsie and Gabriella was holding onto Troy.

Sharpay and Ryan walked two miles and they snapped their fingers for their show. And then they got to Sharpay's favorite store which is called Awasha. At dinnertime they went there and then they went shopping and then they stayed there all night. Ryan put his arms with Sharpay's and they made a big circle. Then they snapped until 5 in the morning. They they were singing "blah, blah, blah." And then they clapped. clapped, clapped until 4 in the morning because their mom and dad wouldn't let them out of their bedroom. They shared a bunk
bed. Ryan and Sharpay ate breakfast by theirself early in the morning because their mom and dad said they could.

Then they went, "cute, cute, cute, cute," for 42 days. Ryan and Sharpay got their eyebrows pierced. It felt funny.

Bolton (Troy) climbed rock. It was bigger than a house. When he got to the top, he crawled back down just like a baby. Troy held his arms out and jumped and Gabriella jumped into his
arms. Then Gabriella climbed up the mountain and climbed back down again and then she caught Troy. Then they both went, "snap, snap, snap" for 32 hours.

Troy dressed up as Mickey Mouse and Gabriella was Minnie Mouse for Halloween. They went to McDonald's and had sandwiches and treats. They also went to the Harvest Party. There, they jumped and had fun. They were still dressed up and they went to Troy's house. They danced and sang on the couch. Then they went, "blah, blah, blah, blah." Then they fell asleep on the couch. Then they woke up and jumped in the air and would catch each other.

When they were at school and they went to the gym they played a game called Splash. Then they went to the library and checked out a book called, "High School Musical 2." Then they went to Troy's house and got Troy's dad's truck and went to Gabriella's house and then went back to Troy's house and gave his dad's truck back. Then Troy walked to Gabriella's house because it wasn't that far. Then they played a game called, "Troy, Gabriella, Troy, Gabriella."

Troy and Gabriella flew, flew, flew to places called Horse Horse.

The End

Our Vacation

2007-10-23T15:47:00.001-06:00

We took a little vacation to Bayfield, Wisconsin a few weeks ago to camp for a few days. It was a blast...for the most part. We got there on a Tuesday night and I entertained the kids in the car while Ben set up the tent in the pouring rain and then we went to town for dinner. Wednesday and Thursday were beautiful though. We went to Madeline Island, checked out the shops in Bayfield, picked apples and attended the apple pie contest to sample the pies before the AppleFest. Then, Thursday night Caleb woke up coughing so bad he couldn't breathe and Ben had to take him to the ER. The doctors there thought he had pneumonia; another doctor here thinks it was croup. Either way it was very scary. So, we got up first thing Friday morning, I entertained the kids in the car while Ben took our tent down in the rain and we went home and vegged for a few days, watching High School Musical over and over and baking. These are a few of the photos from our trip.

A couple more photos from this week

2007-09-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

Our little model. Notice the hair blowing in the wind!

Caleb having some ice cream his Aunt Karen bought for him.

Sophia and Caleb at Carnival Thrillz. We went there tonight with some friends. It's this place in Canal Park where you pay a few bucks and there is a jumping castle, slides and other stuff for kids to play on. They have to wear socks in there and Sophia ran off of the mats onto the tile floor, slipped and smacked her face on the floor 20 minutes after we got there. The poor girl got a bloody lip and bruised her gums pretty badly. Two of her teeth are a little loose from it.

She's a trooper though. She screamed for a solid 10 or 15 minutes straight and then decided it was time to play again. If you click on this photo and look at her smile you can see, it doesn't look quite right!

Caleb on the back of a car at Thrillz, having the time of his life.

Sophia is 4 (going on 14)!

2007-09-03T19:52:00.001-06:00

Sophia turned 4 last week and she celebrated all week long. My brother Steve and his family came up and spent the night at our house last Sunday and celebrated her birthday with us Monday. We had a great time and even went up to Gooseberry Falls with them for a couple hours. Then, on Wednesday she had a party with her friends. The theme of the week (not just her party) was princesses and she wore that dress (a hand-me down from her cousin Megan) for about three days in a row!

The birthday girl!

Sophia and her cousins Sebastian and Lily.

Making a crown at her princess party.

Random Photos

2007-07-27T13:35:00.000-06:00

Here are just a few photos from the past couple months. I could have put lots more up but didn't want to bore you. These are some highlights.

Sophia and her cousins, Bronte and Renae in Canal Park.

A bear outside the chocolate store in Canal Park. Caleb really loved that bear!

Sophia and Ben's first kayak ride in Lake Superior.

Caleb and I at the end of our first kayak ride in the lake. As you can see, he really enjoyed it. It took him five minutes to fall sound asleep in the kayak.

Sophia at Enger Tower. Some friends got married there last weekend and Sophia and I had a little photo shoot after. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding!

The house

2007-07-27T13:21:00.001-06:00

I finally had a few minutes to download the last two months worth of photos onto my computer and thought I better update the blog. Sorry it's been forever. I have some photos of the house for those of you who have been wondering how it's coming along. With lots of help from family and friends we were able to get a bunch of projects started and/or completed before we ever moved in. It was a huge blessing because since we moved in it has gone much more slowly... Here's some of the work. I'll post more as we continue to do work...especially whenever we finally make it into our bedroom!! Please, don't ever paint the trim in your bedroom pink, especially without cleaning it first!

The new fence. They did a great job. I think it's the straightest fence in Duluth!

My lovely husband!

Sophia's room. The canopy lasted about 3 days before being ripped out of the freshly sheet rocked ceiling during a temper tantrum. It sure was cute for three days though!

The safer way to let them help!

Caleb's room...we still need a carpet remnant and the green doesn't look quite so neon in person!

Our house

2007-06-12T12:49:00.000-06:00

Here's a photo of the front of our new house. We close on it this Thursday and then will start digging in on the work that needs to be done. We are excited. The grass/dandelions were a foot long at least but Ben and a friend spent the morning working on it and it is getting better already!

You got it.

2007-06-12T12:47:00.001-06:00

So it wasn't that difficult...but our hair does look really similar from the back doesn't it??

Pop Quiz!

2007-06-09T20:46:00.000-06:00

My brother Don and his kids are visiting this weekend for Bronte's soccer tournament. We went down to Canal Park today and got this picture of me and my nephew Aaron. Your job is to guess which head of hair is mine and which is Aaron's. He does have quite a nice head of hair for a 14 year-old boy!

One more thing...

2007-05-17T19:11:00.000-06:00

I had to save this for a different post. A couple days before we left for California we made an offer on a house and it was accepted so we had the inspection the day before we left. During our whole trip Ben was on and off the phone with our realtor, the banker, plumbers, etc...negotiating and finding out info on the house. After dealing with a whole bunch of stuff we decided today we are for sure getting the house. They have accepted our counter-offers and we sign the papers tomorrow. The closing will be June 8th! We will stay in this apartment until the end of June so we have a few weeks to do some work on the house and get packed up and move.

We are really excited! The house needs work but it's going to be a great house for us. The funny thing is, it's only three blocks away. Since we have been married we have only lived within a 6 block radius. We used to live at 7th and 7th, now we are at 10th and 10th and we will soon be at 7th and 10th - right in the middle! It makes moving trucks very affordable since they charge by the mile!

California!

2007-05-17T18:27:00.000-06:00

We got back from California on Tuesday night. We spent about 9 days there and we had a blast! The first four days were spent near Anaheim (home of Disneyland) at a National Vineyard pastors and leaders conference. The conference was really good and they planned some free time into it so we could hang out with people and see some sights. This was good since we had Sophia and Caleb with us. They had childcare and fun stuff planned for the kids during the conference so they really liked it too.

When the conference finished the rest of our staff went back to Duluth and we stayed for some much needed vacation. We went to Disneyland on Friday and then to San Diego from Saturday until Tuesday. We got to see some great beaches, SeaWorld and the San Diego Zoo. We all had a great time!

When I downloaded my photos off the camera we had 541! Don't worry, I've only put a few highlights on here.

Notice Caleb's finger in this picture. Contrary to what the picture shows, he really loved Mickey Mouse. All day he would see him on stuff and scream, "Me Mouse, Me Mouse!!"

This was the "Shamu Rocks" show at SeaWorld! It was probably my favorite thing we saw on the whole trip. This guy surfed across the whole pool on the whale's back.

A day at the beach. Of course the water was never actually warm enough to swim in!

At the zoo!

Sophia has been working on this sucker all week long. I think it was the highlight of the trip for her!

A Career for Sophia

2007-04-30T08:51:00.000-06:00

It was beautiful weather here yesterday and we went down to the lake for awhile last night to enjoy it. I pulled out my camera and Sophia really wanted to take a picture of us. It turned out great. I think we have discovered her calling in life! You might actually start seeing photos with both of us in them more often now.

This is a good thing because exactly seven days from now we will be on an airplane to sunny Southern California. Maybe she could actually get some good photos of us at the beach!

And it begins...

2007-04-27T07:01:00.000-06:00

Caleb got his first (of I'm sure many) stitches last night. I had to stay home and get some work done while Ben took the kids to small group with him. The kids were upstairs with the babysitter, Sierra, when Ben heard Caleb start screaming right at the end of the night. Sierra came running downstairs and Caleb's eye was bleeding like crazy. As far as they could figure out, one of the kids tried to give him a hug and accidentally knocked him over into the TV stand in the bedroom they were in.

Some friends brought Sophia home to me while Ben took Caleb to the ER to get a couple stitches. He said he did a great job. He cried while they did the stitches but then sat up, waved and said, "bye bye" to the nurse and doctor as they left.

The poor little guy has no chance really. Ben has all sorts of scars from where he got a few stitches here and there. Every one has a funny story with it....like hitting himself in the forehead with a tennis racket! Caleb just decided it was time to start following in his daddy's footsteps, at 16 months old!

Why we live in Duluth...

2007-04-16T20:16:00.000-06:00

We went for a bike ride along Lake Superior today and it was awesome. It was my first time on a bike this year and Ben's second. It was a beautiful day - sunny and around 45 or 50 degrees. It's warm for Duluth right now, anyways! We started by the lake at Brighton Beach and rode up Scenic 61 (which goes right next to the lake) for awhile. Then we found a picnic table and stopped to have lunch. After lunch we continued up the shore a little until Caleb started to reach his meltdown point and then we headed back. It was a blast! The kids did pretty well in the trailer and each took at least a little nap in there. It was a good reminder of why we live in Duluth. You can't find that good of scenery for a bike ride many places. We even saw a few loons on the lake today!

Easter Weekend

2007-04-09T10:24:00.000-06:00

We just made it through our busiest weekend of the entire year. We had two Good Friday services, an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday and then 6 weekend services Saturday night and Sunday morning! It was exhausting but we had a lot of fun.

Just over a thousand people came to the Vineyard for our Easter services. It was nuts! When we first started coming there was one service and we had around 150 people on a weekend. I can't wait until we get our new building. I don't know how many more weekends like that we could handle. I did manage to get some good photos of the kids this weekend.

Sophia and her good friend Stella posing for the camera.

Sophia and Caleb each enjoyed the Egg Hunt in their own way. Caleb slept in Nichole's lap the whole time. Sophia loves the candy!

We put jelly beans in the Easter eggs and they loved shaking them. When Caleb's broke open and he discovered the jelly beans he was even more thrilled! He ate them as fast as he could.

Caleb's first encounter with the Easter bunny was not a very happy one. He was pretty scared.

Some New Photos

2007-04-02T20:21:00.000-06:00

I just decided that I should finally download some pictures off my camera today. It turns out there were 135 on there from the last month or so. I'll share a few highlights.

After the big blizzard last month Ben and Sophia went out and bought their own snowshoes so we could all go together. Ben got a really good deal; there was so little snow all winter that they were all on clearance.

Sophia loves to dress up.

And Caleb loves whatever Sophia loves. This will be great blackmail one day!

We took a walk on the lakewalk a couple weeks ago when the snow started melting. It went great until I accidentally tripped Sophia on the way back to the car and she fell face first into a puddle!

At least she looks happy in these photos!

Caleb is always trying out new looks. His most recent was the mohawk.

Blizzard!

2007-03-03T09:44:00.000-06:00

We had a huge blizzard here Thursday and Friday. We got almost 2 feet of snow and the winds got up to over 60 mph. Most of the city was shut down yesterday and there were sights I had never seen before. People were snowmobiling up and down our street all day. I even saw a couple of people cross-country skiing and snowboarding down the street toward the lake!

Ben, of course, got up early, dug his car out from under 5 feet of snow and went to work as usual. He did come home a little early, though, so we could all go play in the snow while there was a little daylight. It was great. I finally got to try my new snowshoes in deep snow! They work great. Sophia pulled Caleb in a sled for awhile and then we walked over to the park where she loved how fast her snowpants made her go down the slide!

New Look

2007-03-03T09:38:00.000-06:00

Caleb is working on a new look these days. He's decided that goth is really in for one year-olds.

The Naked Chef

2007-02-28T09:15:00.000-06:00

Goodbye Mullet!

2007-02-28T08:50:00.000-06:00

I know; it's been forever since I posted anything on here. There really hasn't been anything to top my last post (fortunately). Life has been pretty busy around here too. I'm getting over pneumonia right now so I figured rest was a little more important than updating our blog for awhile! Call me crazy.

I gave Caleb and Sophia their first haircuts last week. We decided it was time when Caleb's baby mullet got so bad that our friend Kris walked by him one day and asked him if he was going to play hockey when he grows up. It was definitely an interesting task. We put a video on to attempt to distract them but Caleb did not stop moving the whole time. I was praying that I didn't stab him as I chased him around the living with a pair of pointy scissors. Surprisingly, it turned out ok as long as you don't look too close. Sophia, on the other hand, did great. She thought she was in her own little beauty salon!

A really "crappy" day

2007-01-26T18:59:00.000-06:00

What an exciting day we have had in the Folman household. For obvious reasons, which you will read about, there will be no photos involoved in this post. If you need to see a photo as you read, refer to the expression on Sophia's face in the photo below. It may express a fraction of how this day went.

So, here's the story. This morning started out with an immediate change of Caleb's clothing because he pooped through his pj's. We got that taken care of, the kids ate and Ben went to work. Then, around 10:45 it all happened. Sophia had a temper tantrum, ran into the bathroom, slammed the door and then I heard her playing with the lock. I heard her lock the door so I went over there to tell her to unlock it. She started trying and she couldn't get it. If you've never been to our apartment, it's got all this great old woodwork and glass door handles. Very pretty until you have a 3-year old locked in the bathroom. I had never realized this before but there is absolutely no way to unlock the door from the outside. I kept trying to get Sophia to do it and she couldn't so I ran down and asked my landlords if they knew a way to get it open. They came and looked at it and then called their locksmith friend.

In the meantime, I never explained what Sophia's temper tantrum was about. She kept getting a red face because she had to go to the bathroom but was saying she didn't have to go. I finally told her she had to go try and that's when she ran off. So, there Sophia is, locked in the bathroom, trying to open the door and not to go to the bathroom.

After a few minutes of trying to get Sophia to open the door, encouraging her to try to go potty, waiting for the locksmith guy and looking for other ways to get the door open, Sophia suddenly says, "oh no...I stepped in poop...OH NO, THERE'S POOP ALL OVER ME!!!" She says she doesn't even know what happened but I was starting to think about the mess we were going to find when we finally got the dumb door open.

Up until this point Sophia actually did pretty well. She didn't freak out or anything but now she wanted me to come in and clean her up. She started crying a little at first and then harder and harder. I called Ben back and asked if he could come home (he was working not too far away). I knew Caleb would be waking up soon and whenever we got her out of there we would have a mess to clean up and try to keep him out of.

The locksmith guy came at some point in here and started trying to get the door open but quickly saw that there was no way to do it but break the door. (I could have told him that and if they didn't do it quick I was ready to just call 911 and tell them I needed someone to come break the door in!) Sophia was screaming and crying really hard and Caleb was awake at this point. The guy had to use a sawzall to break the door frame, which Sophia really didn't like. Finally, Ben came in as the locksmith and our landlord were prying the door open through the busted up frame. As soon as the door opened the wonderful odor filled the whole hallway! She was locked in there for almost 40 minutes.

Ben cleaned Sophia up while I kept Caleb from eating paint chips and everyone finally calmed down, thankfully. Sophia calmed down pretty quickly after but each time I talk about it if I chuckle at all she immediately says, "That wasn't funny. Why are you laughing?"

One more thing to top off the morning, as if all that wasn't enough. As Ben was getting some lunch ready for everyone Caleb came in the room and Ben smelled his dirty diaper. He wanted to change him right away so I didn't have to - what a great husband. Well, a minute later I hear him screaming for me from Caleb's bedroom. Somehow the kid pooped through his entire outfit again! Seriously, everything he was wearing was covered. I ended up just giving him his second bath of the day!

Oh...the joys of parenting. I'm going to sleep now. It's been a long, long day.

Nummy!

2007-01-24T14:56:00.000-06:00

Sophia and I made some super delicious chocolate chip cookies this morning and we all had one after lunch today. I think it was the first time I have just given Caleb a whole cookie to eat. He loved it. The chocolate chips were still really soft and warm so it made a huge mess.

Sophia also loved the cookies, of course, and was way into making weird faces for the camera.

Negotiations

2007-01-20T12:42:00.000-06:00

Sophia has become quite the little negotiator lately. After lunch today she asked if she could watch TV and I said no because she had already watched some this morning. She started screaming and crying and then came back a minute later and said, "I know. How about instead of watching TV, I watch Ice Age: The Meltdown." When I said no to that she began screaming and crying again. I let her cry for a couple minutes while I finished cleaning up and then said, "Sophia, do you ever get things you want by screaming and crying?" She immediately stopped crying, laughed and said, "actually, no!" I couldn't help but laugh at that. Then I asked her why this time would be different and she said, "but I wanted it to be different this time!" I couldn't believe her.

She must be learning her negotiating tricks from Ben. We went to Hom Furniture yesterday to buy a much needed comfortable couch. We found a couch we liked a lot and while Sophia, Caleb and I enjoyed some free fresh-baked cookies in the kids' play area, Ben talked to the salesman. He ended up getting the guy to take 38% off the price it was marked. His technique was much different than Sophia's. He mostly stood there without saying much - just throwing in an occasional, "My wife would kill me if I spent that much on a couch." The guy just talked himself down. I was impressed. Unfortunately, it takes 4 months to get the couch in because it was a custom order! Ben figures the wait will just make it seem like we are getting a free couch when it finally comes since we paid for it up front!

As for Sophia's negotiating skills, there's only one way that I am able to spend this much time posting on the blog. She is happily watching Ice Age. I finally gave in and told her she could watch part of it. Of course, she just turned to me a minute ago and said, "Mommy, I'm not watching part of this, you're letting me watch the whole thing." When I said no she wasn't she just smiled and said, "yes, I am." I better go enforce at least one of the things I told her!

Back home safe and sound

2007-01-17T21:13:00.000-06:00

Well I am back safely to the frigid Duluth winter, along with the rest of my teammates. On the last working day of our trip, we worked at the house you see above. If you notice how small the shovels in the first picture look compared to the doorframe you'll realize that the ceiling is about 12 feet tall. After waiting for a team member who was stuck in traffic to return with taller ladders so we could tear down the ceiling, I decided to climb up into the rafters and bust up the ceiling from above. It was probably the hardest work I had done all week. It was about 80 degrees and very humid. I sat on one beam and propped my leg up on the one in front of me. By the end of the day, I was limping around because my butt and my back hurt so bad. Don't worry...I'm recovering fine after a few strategic massages from Jen.

On Saturday we packed up and had a chance to see a bit more of the city before we flew home. We went to City Park, which was absolutely beautiful. I had to take some pictures of the water and trees around the park because they were so green (here in Duluth there's no snow so everything is brown!). Flying home was a bit of a temperature shock. We went from 80 degrees to a windchill of -13!

It was so good to be back and see Jen, Sophia and Caleb. Since coming home, both Sophia and Caleb run to me every time I come through the door and give me great big hugs. It's a great feeling. It's nice to be back with Jen too and I loved being able to share all the details with her of the trip and hear all the ways Sophia and Caleb terrorized our apartment while I was gone.

2007-01-11T21:16:00.000-06:00

Both yesterday and today we went to a different area of New Orleans to work on the house you see above. The new owner is a member of the worship team at a Vineyard down here, which was cool to find out. It was night and day difference between this place and the place we worked at for the first two days. Here it felt much more like a nice blue collar suburban neighborhood where many homes were a long way towards being rebuilt and the neighborhood had banded together in a flurry of activity to help one another in the rebuilding; the first neighborhood looked much poorer and still seemed totally devastated with much work left to be done and no one around to do it. In the first home we started from scratch gutting the home and taking it a long way towards being livable. In this house (above) we did all the final prep work so that it could then be sheetrocked and rebuilt. Both experiences were amazing because through both you left feeling like you're that much closer to helping someone get their life back together.

As a team we talked about what we've experienced so far and how it has impacted us. One team member shared the verse Galatians 6:9-10 where it says, "Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." As we talked about this verse and our experiences, we were physically tired and some of us felt like it was just becoming a "job". But as we shared stories of the people we interacted with, suddenly we realized how good God is and how amazing these people's stories were.

One person shared with me today that as they watched the water flow down the street they put towels under the door. Then, water came up through the floor boards. In 15 minutes it had reached his shins, in 30 mintues it was at his waist and by 45 minutes after the water first began to flow, it was up to his armpits and he had to swim out of his home. He swam next door to his father in-law's place (who was an invalid) and they climbed up to the attic where they waited for rescuers to come in a boat and cut a hole in the side of the house to get them out. Another person shared how when his family called to check in on him, he lied and said he made it out safely and was on the road; in reality, he was stuck on top of a lift bridge with water covering the houses and street below; he stayed there two days before being rescued. All this becomes so much more real when you see it with your own eyes and hear people's stories with your own ears. How I wish I had paid more attention to the news stories.

Today as a group we watched a video on the Mercy Response website (www.mercyresponse.com) that displayed how the water poured into the city as the levy's broke. We identified where we have worked on houses and how deep the water had gotten in that area. The second photo above is of Lake Pontchartrain. This was the lake that swelled as the hurricane filled it with water and contributed to the failing of numerous levys. To stand and look out at it is amazing; it's like looking out at Lake Superior where all you see is water...there's no land in sight, it's that big.

As a team, I think the gravity of the destruction dawns on us in waves and it only encourages us to pray for the many people whose lives are no where near back to normal. Many that we have talked to are just moving back into the city after nearly a year and half. May God continue to provide for everyone's needs and use me in any way He sees fit do do so.

2007-01-08T19:26:00.000-06:00

Today marks day one of gutting homes. We had a "house gutting 101" class before we went out, then we just went out and got to work. When we got the house, there was stuff everywhere–piles of sheetrock and plaster and board. There was not even one square foot of space on the floor to walk. Our job was to take everything down to the studs so that they could begin the rebuilding process–take out all personal items, appliances, sinks, toilets, walls, carpet, everything!

One of the best parts about the work today was getting to interact with the homeowner, her daughters and her grandson. She came into the house to personally hug us and thank us for all our hard work. I couldn't imagine the mix of joy and sorrow she felt as she walked through her house and relived the many memories yet the place was stripped bare. One person on our team had the chance to pray for her too. We were so blessed to see the joy and hope on their faces–they talked and laughed with us for about a half hour. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week holds.

Mercy Response–New Orleans

2007-01-07T21:39:00.000-06:00

Here's a fun new adventure that I'm on that I wanted to share with everyone. Me and a team of 12 other people from my church went down to Kenner, Louisiana to join with the Kenner Vineyard and Mercy Response (an organization formed by the National Association of Vineyard Churches in response to Hurricane Katrina and Rita) to help in the relief effort. We arrived on Saturday and got settled in. Today, Sunday, we got to take some time to tour the city and decided to go to the French Quarter, which was quite the experience.

In the first photo is most of the team standing in front of the Mississippi River. We got to talk to a woman whose house was flooded with nine and a half feet of water–three feet into the second floor!

The second and third photos are right at Jackson Square. The first is a picture of a cathedral there with a monument of Andrew Jackson in the center of the park and the other is a photo of the street right in front of it (notice the tarot reading sign).

We also had the opportunity to walk down the famous Bourbon street and had coffee and beignets (donuts) at cafe du monte. The last picture is of two musicians playing in front of the cafe. They were actually very good. Some of the other shops and stores were a lot scarier than the cafe. Many streets had voodoo shops or x-rated bars...not the safest place to be. In fact, we have had at least three warnings (including from the leaders down here) that we ought not to travel in groups of less than four because the "murder rate is pretty high down here".

Tomorrow we're going to begin gutting homes. The one we'll be going to has not been touched since the hurricane hit! It's mind boggling to think of. We're praying that God will give us lots of opportunity to help in any way we can whether that is through doing demolition work or by simply listening to someone's story or praying with them. All in all, we can't wait to see what happens next!

All alone...

2007-01-06T15:20:00.000-06:00

Ben left this morning for a missions trip to New Orleans for a week. He took the camera with him so if you see any photos on here this week they will be from him, which would be pretty cool. He is leading a team of 13 people from our church down there. They are joining the Kenner Vineyard Church just outside of New Orleans as part of their Mercy Response Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. They will be spending the week gutting homes and trying to help people rebuild somewhat of a life. I've heard that it's pretty shocking to see just how much damage is still left there. It seems like forgotten news. You can click here to look at the Mercy Response website if you're interested in more information about what he's doing.

While he's gone, I am here with the two kiddos solo. So far (all 8 hours that he's been gone) the kids have been abnormally calm. Well, Sophia has been abnormally calm. Caleb would need to be sedated for that to happen but he's been pretty sleepy from his shots yesterday so the stints of hyperness are short-lived.

If you think of it, give me a call or shoot me an email this week. I'm sure I will need some adults to talk to, probably quite desperately by the end of the week!!
Jenny

Phantom Toy

2007-01-06T15:11:00.000-06:00

Funny story...ever since we got back from Christmas we have had these loud phantom toy noises coming from the living room. Caleb got a few really noisy toys for Christmas and we thought it was one of the cars but couldn't figure it out. We would get ready for bed, long after the kids are in bed and suddenly we hear these car noises coming from the living room. It even went off in the middle of the night one night when Caleb woke up and Ben walked through the living room. None of the new toys have "off" switches so there was nothing we could do about it.

So, Ben finally solved the mystery last night. Caleb got this puzzle that has all sorts of transportation vehicles on it. When you put the puzzle piece in it's spot it makes the noise of that vehicle ( car, train, etc...). Ben finally figured out that the way it does that is a light sensor. When it gets dark on the picture because the puzzle piece is there, it makes the noise. It turns out the airplane one is especially sensitive and every time we turn the lights off, if the puzzle piece isn't in it's spot, it makes the airplane noise! Really, who ever heard of a puzzle that takes batteries? It's a cool puzzle though, a little cooler now that we can control it's noises! Caleb loves it. Thanks Christy and Danny!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-02T22:10:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since we did our last post. We left for the Cities after church Christmas Eve and didn't come back until yesterday. It was quite the adventurous week. We stayed with my sister Kathy's family for Christmas and my parents and brother, Nick were there too. We were able to spend time celebrating with my family and Ben's which was really nice.

We spent the week in the cities and then headed up to my parents' house in Breezy Point on Friday, where we stayed for the weekend. A bunch of my family went up there too so it was really fun. We were able to celebrate Caleb's first birthday with everyone Saturday and bring in the New Year on Sunday with a Dance Dance Revolution competition followed by some great cheese fondue (and some other great snacks) and a slide show of a bunch of old family photos. Unfortunately, the show started in about 1960 and we just barely made it to the beginning of my life before the slides had to be put away to see the ball drop! That's ok though. It was fun to see what my family looked like before I ever entered the picture. Apparently there were a lot more zoos and amusement parks before I came along!

I think I would be here all night if I tried to post all the great pictures from this week so I will stick to the highlights.

-Jenny

Ben's stepsister, Christy, gave their dogs a workout by pulling the kids around in the sleds. Sophia didn't want to do it but Caleb was all for it.

Ben's brothers kids, Breanna and Kalista with Sophia and Caleb. It was fun trying to get four kids under 4 to cooperate for a photo!

My parents with most of the grandkids that were around on Christmas. Caleb was already sleeping.

Sophia and her cousin Sebastian. Sebastian just turned two but they are about the same size. I thought this picture was really cute!

By Thursday afternoon both kids had pinkeye and Caleb had an ear infection. I have no idea where they got the pinkeye from but it cleared up by the end of the weekend. Everytime we go to the cities we end up bringing someone to urgent care! Don't they look terrible?!

Sophia got to try out her new cross-country skis and I got to try my new snowshoes out at my parents house Saturday. Unfortunately, by Sunday most of the snow had melted and we don't have much here!

I know he's crying but Caleb really was excited about his birthday cake. He just loves to eat so much that he can't handle the cake being a whole foot away. He wanted to dig right in and eat!

Sophia's aunt, Karna, made this poncho for her for Christmas. It turned out really cute. I think I should learn how to knit so I can make stuff like that!

Bentleyville

2006-12-16T10:01:00.000-06:00

We went to a place called Bentleyville last night about a half hour away. Some guy has this love for Christmas lights so he started collecting them and putting them up in his yard. Eventually he opened it up to the public so people can come walk through and see the Christmas lights. They have free cookies and cider. They also have Santa there (for those whose children aren't terrified of him) and you can make s'mores around the fires. The whole thing is free. You park your car and take a school bus to the place and walk through. It's really cool and Sophia loved it - almost as much as Ben. To give you an idea of how many lights there are - they have over 600 snowflake lights put up in the trees.

It was quite the exciting night too. On the way home we decided to try to take a different way back. We ended up making a wrong turn and going through Proctor. Ben was so busy trying to figure out what went wrong that he didn't notice the 30 mph sign. He got pulled over for speeding but we prayed a lot and the guy didn't even give us a ticket! Needless to say, he won't be speeding anytime soon.

a walk in the park

2006-12-08T16:24:00.000-06:00

Today it was much nicer outside so we decided to venture out to Chester Park with the kids for a walk. It was really fun and Sophia and I really enjoyed eating the snow together!
-Jenny

As you can see, Caleb enjoyed himself as much as the rest of us!

So cold...

2006-12-07T11:33:00.000-06:00

...but so beautiful. When I got up this morning it was around 7 degrees below on the thermometer. On my way back from dropping Sophia off at preschool I noticed how awesome the lake looked. I couldn't resist stopping home to get my camera and driving to a couple spots to take some pictures. Don't worry, I left Caleb in the warm car while I took the photos. In case you've never been to Duluth when the lake looked like this, the white stuff is steam because Lake Superior is actually warmer than the air outside! You can click on the pictures if you want to see a bigger view of them.
-Jenny

Baking supplies

2006-12-04T16:45:00.000-06:00

Notice anything unusual on our baker's rack? Caleb has found a new place to play. I probably shouldn't have taken pictures of him because it only will encourage him...but it was just so funny!
-Jenny

Gingerbread Cookies

2006-12-04T16:25:00.000-06:00

We made gingerbread cookies with Sophia Friday night. We had a great time. Of course, after awhile I realized I needed to push the buttons and eyes in for her because they were practically being pushed out the other side of the cookies! The cookies turned out great, though, for our first time making them! It was a really good recipe.
Jenny

Morning Run

2006-12-01T22:58:00.000-06:00

This morning I got up at 6am and went for a great run through Hartley Nature Area–about five miles as the sun was coming up. I saw lots of animal footprints, one rabbit and and scared two deer. It was an amazing morning, with freshly fallen snow. I've recently decided to begin running more regulary and I'm absolutely loving it. I hope that it can continue despite the craziness of having two children and the temperatures falling. And, by the way, no I didn't take a camera with me on the run...I found this picture online, but figured I'd give you a visual.
–Ben

Dinnertime tricks!

2006-11-28T18:22:00.000-06:00

Sophia and Caleb both learned new tricks they were showing off during dinner tonight. Caleb can now say he's "so big." This is a great trick with hands full of pasta sauce. I don't know how he looks so happy though. He's got a double ear infection right now!

Sophia, on the other hand, learned how to make a farting noise with her cup. They both were equally as proud. We won't say which one we were more proud of!

Caleb can walk!

2006-11-26T18:59:00.000-06:00

Caleb learned how to walk this week! He actually has been taking one or two steps at a time for about three weeks. On Thanksgiving, we were at some friends' house and our friends Travis and Melissa came over with their one-year old, Sheinah. As soon as Caleb saw her walking around he started taking a bunch of steps! He still crawls a lot but I'll bet by Christmas he will be walking all over the place.

Gobble Giddy-Up

2006-11-23T11:25:00.000-06:00

Sophia and Jen didn't miss out on the fun either. Sophia got to run her first ever 1/4 mile race. She began by running on her tip toes, but quickly realized this wasn't the best strategy. However, she did find motivation to run after the turkey who was leading the pack. All the kids in the fun run got to have "1" as their race number...way cool.

Happy Thanksgiving

Gobble Gallop

2006-11-23T11:19:00.000-06:00

Well, this morning marks the first annual Gobble Gallop in Duluth. Our friends Eric and Denise own the Duluth Running Co. and organized the race. There were over 700 runners at the event.

I had fun running with and encouraging a couple friends of ours, Jericho and Jackson. Jericho and I came in at 21:06. Not too bad considering he ran the entire race with substantial knee pain, and it was only my fifth time running in about a year.

It was a blast!

"Dow"

2006-11-22T14:30:00.000-06:00

Caleb said his first word this week, besides "mama" and "daddy." He climbs onto absolutely anything he can. Yesterday he was standing on Sophia's chair in the living room. As soon as I went in there and said his name he started saying "dow, dow." (That's "down" in case you couldn't figure it out.) I don't know what my parents did with seven of these little guys! Last week, I came in the living room and he was standing on top of the coffee table with a marker in each hand and a huge grin on his face! Clearly, he learned the word because he hears it more than any other!

Cowboy

2006-11-22T14:25:00.000-06:00

I had a request for Caleb's cowboy pictures from Halloween. Who knew that a baby could look so cute dressed up as a cowboy?

Cotton Candy

2006-11-21T22:13:00.000-06:00

This was last Sunday at our big all church celebration at the DECC (the convention center in Duluth). After all the build-up, it turns out that cotton candy is NOT something Sophia will be having again anytime soon. She took one bite and spit it out!

Newbies

2006-11-21T21:38:00.000-06:00

So we have decided to enter the 21st Century and create a blog. We figure, since we're not that fabulous at keeping in touch with people, we might as well at least have a blog so you can see a little of what's going on with us. Make sure to leave comments!