It's Been a Long Time!

It's been a long time since anyone has posted! Is everyone still doing well since we were together at Christmas? I know that school is just getting back up and going for the sisters in Oklahoma and I trust that is going well. Are both of you considering getting back to Iowa after this school year is over? I have today off with no prior plans - sure does feel nice for a change! It has been deeply cold here for so long, but today promises to be a little better. Then they say there is MORE snow coming! Oh, well, I guess it is Iowa, after all! The next 2-3 weeks will be quite busy for us with preparations and activities surrounding a candidate coming to our church for pastor. Now that my husband is a deacon and pulpit committee member, we are in the thick of all the planning. We will be hosting a banquet on Valentine's day for the whole church. Deacons and wives are doing all the food prep and serving. Then on Saturday of that weekend there will be a late day "meet and greet" time followed by another light meal. Then on Sunday it will be a full day of the candidate speaking at every service including the S.S. hour. We feel hopeful that this man will be a good fit for our church. Well, I feel like going and soaking in the jacuzzi for a while and reading a good book. I love the feeling of no pressure to do anything in particular! Love you all, The Tickle Bug

Good Evening, Everyone!

It has been a while since I have written anything, so decided maybe it was time to do so.  We are looking forward to Christmas with most of the family being able to attend.

Grandpa was supposed to return to Iowa City today for the biopsy, etc., but the weather last night did not sound good at all, and it has been terribly cold today, but sunny, so probably could have made it, but, we neither one felt good about it and we certainly didn't want to jeopardize Delana, since she was going to do the driving.  We appreciate her changing work schedule so she would have been able to go.  Next time, which will be after January 1st, we will probably just drive out the day before and if necessary, stay the second night too.  They had his biopsy scheduled for 3:45PM and we were supposed to be out there by 8:00AM.  This sounded crazy to me, but, guess they wanted to do it all in one day.  I'd almost rather make 2 trips and not have such a tiring day for Dad.  Oh, well, we'll see what happens later on.

Are you all done shopping?  I am pretty much done.  If I get back to Pella, will look for one more thing.  I did get the Christmas cards out  earlier, which is a first for me.  I don't enjoy that job, but, do enjoy the cards from other people.

Sounds like Sarina and Stephanie have really been bombarded with exams this week.  I'm sure you both deserve a well earned break.  Will look forward to seeing you both soon.  Also, Eric, Rich, Denice, Jamie and Kendra.

We did have a little snow here last night, but, more out toward Eastern Iowa, which is where we were headed.  Supposed to snow again on Friday sometime.  Didn't tell you the high for today was 8 degrees.  It is back to 4 degrees already at 6:30PM.  Oh, good old Iowa weather!!!!  I'm sure Denice & family will really enjoy the weather, if it is this cold.  Hopefully, it will be nicer then.

Well, Wheel of Fortune is about to come on, so will sign off for now.  Keep warm and if you are driving, please drive carefully, and those flying we trust all goes well there too.  Will be praying for all of you.

Love to all,
Mom/Grandma

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Hello Family!

The snow has come in Oklahoma. We got a few inches on Thursday so exams were cancelled on Thursday and Friday so now we have double the exams next week... ha. As much as we love the freedom of snow days... the double workload that follows isn't always as much fun.

I second what mom said about Thanksgiving! That was so fun! I loved the craft so I'm looking forward to the next one! It was so fun to play with Payton and Micah, they have gotten so big! Hopefully we can see their little faces again at Christmas.

We took some photos in the snow yesterday for the Christmas Card from our college house. So I will be getting those in the mail to you all soon. Here is one of the pictures from our cold adventure.
Any interesting news on the Iowa home front?

I better get back to studying now. Love you all! Enjoy your day :)

Sarina

Post Thanksgiving Note

It really pays to get on this a little more often - it always takes me a little bit to remember all I have to do to even get to this point.
We really enjoyed Thanksgiving Day with everyone - thanks to Darla for hosting that one!!  You did a great job!  Now we are all looking forward to all the Christmas things going on - the calendar is filling up believe it or not - between family and church things and both of our other jobs we will be partied out by the time it is over with.
Everyone needs to be prepared for some fun on Christmas day - I have several games planned and am working on another craft for those interested in that.  I am so excited that I have this friday through Sunday off to, of course, go shopping and then get some other things done as well.  I have a ladies activity to fix food for on friday and then a member of our church passed away and her memorial service is on saturday and need to fix some food for that too. Always something - but I would be bored if there wasn't always something.
As I was sitting here I realized that Eric had told me that they would be leaving Japan on Wednesday so that means he is probably in transit as I am writing this.  Can't wait to see that guy in not too many more days!
Have a great week everyone!!

Delana

HELLO FROM THE CULBERTSONS!!!

I have to apologize...I have not been keeping up with all the action on this new blog! I was happy to hear it was created two months ago but then never checked back in until now. And wow, y'all been busy little typers!

Anyway, just FYI, I added myself (Danandanna@gmail.com) as a contributor to the blog. So I can easily, conveniently, and quickly write a blogpost on this blog while logged into my OWN blog. Plus, at the bottom of this post, you'll see "Danandanna" as the author. I like to be correctly identified.

Technology these days...I tell ya! :) They just think of everything!

So here is a quick recap of life at "Casa de Culbertson" as of late:

• Dan started his new job at Iowa State University - he's still in training for this first month, but then his schedule will be consistent. He always has Saturdays off now! And we have been researching our insurance and it's true! State benefits are awesome. :)
• Payton has KinderSchool everyday except Tuesdays from 8:30-11:30 am. She loves it and she is learning so much. She never ceases to amaze me with her maturity. 
• Payton likes to eat and snack all the time. Groceries are getting to be expensive to keep everyone with full bellies!
• Micah is fighting a cold right now. The kids' daycare has been a breeding ground for sickness. So it's always going to be a battle this winter season, I suppose. 
• I have a lot of vacation time to use before the end of the year, so today, for example, I took half a day off from work. Although, I'm still "working" because I am monitoring my email.
• Dan's car - the Pontiac Grand Am - wouldn't start Monday morning. We had to have it towed to a repair shop and have the fuel pump replaced. That was an unexpected and rather expensive repair that suddenly landed in our laps. But we're glad for quick service and thankful to have relatively reliable cars!
• My job is going well - it's the same ol' same ol' stuff that I did pre-kids. So it has it's stressful days. Luckily, I work with about 5 other ladies that do the exact same thing I do, so we can share in our woes! :) The worst part is having to drive to West Des Moines from Ankeny every day, which is about a 20-30 minute drive. 

We're looking forward to the holidays this year! And seeing everybody! Dan is excited to actually have TIME OFF for a change. It'll be the first time in our 7 years of marriage that he hasn't had to work on or before Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Ok, the children won't let me have any more peace and quiet so I need to conclude this post before they take over the keyboard and start typing things like: akjsdhfklhjasdfkjhasdf;lhjasdf;lkjasdflkjasdflkj

Love you all!!!

Anna

Fall Leaves in OK

Hello Family!

 I like this return of the Tickle Bug! I'm excited to have Thanksgiving at your house! That will be fun. I've got some catching up to do with a Ms. Amy. I feel like I haven't seen that lady in a while. I'll be looking forward to seeing her and you and EVERYONE! Steph and I are both excited to be home for awhile.

Sounds like Grandma's house is full of surprises these days! We will have to play some Rook when we are all together for Thanksgiving! We will show them guys who they are dealing with! I hear you all got some snow up in IA?! Dad sent me a picture, it was real pretty! Down here, it was 73 ish that day it snowed for you guys... but since then it has cooled off quite a bit. I hear it is supposed to warm up this weekend again. Eek, I'm not ready for the cold. I'm a baby when it gets cold... hehe.

Grandma: It would depend on what specialty I chose within the title of 'nurse practitioner' on whether or not I would be on call. I'm still contemplating some different options so we shall see. I was thinking about going to grad school in the fall but... we are doing a financial peace type of bible study at church and tonight he was talking about the snowball effect and living wisely now so you can benefit from your wise choices in the future... and I was thinking 'maybe, I should pay off my OBU loans before I go take out a ton more for grad school'... so I don't know. I'll keep you updated.

We should take some fun family pics over Thanksgiving while everyone is together! And then even more over Christmas when Eric and Denice's family is in IA too! Woot woot!

 I hope your haircut went well Darla! It's always a nice feeling to get all trimmed up.
Momma, did you find any good buys will you were out shopping on your day off?

Love you all,
Sarina

 ^ Here is the reason for the title of this blog. We took some Roomie pictures yesterday while the leaves are still pretty.....kinda.

"Tickle Bug" strikes again!

It was so nice to see Aaron last week and get everyone under one roof at the same time! We had such a good time together during his very short visit. The weekend before that I babysat the two cutest kids in the entire world! We also had a good time together while mommy & daddy got some much needed R&R. The time changed that weekend and I still feel like I'm not quite adjusted. Today my husband and I both had our yearly physicals (fun, fun!). Looks like we're both okay but need to get more exercise (yuck!). I'm looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving at our house. I will be getting back to some of you about what you can bring. That day will be here in just 2 weeks - and then it's Christmas! Where does the time go?! I have a haircut this afternoon, so I better sign off for now. We'll see most of you real soon! The Tickle Bug (P.S. I am enjoying everyone's posts.)