HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!!

Greetings Family and Friends!

2007 has been quite a year for the Lamberson Family. We have so much to be thankful for! This past year was filled with so many great moments, highlighted by the soon to be arrival of another Lamberson! Haley is thrilled to soon be a "big sister". Mindy is scheduled to deliver a precious little girl January 4, only 2 weeks away!

Our year began with the passing of Joe’s brother Hank and the loss of Mindy’s Aunt Marsha. As we look back on the lives of those we lost, we are so blessed with the wonderful memories of their kind and caring spirits. We miss them dearly, and know their spirits will be with us, always.

Mindy continues to be as busy as ever with her in home daycare. Her days are filled with countless joys (and challenges!) as she cares for Haley, Thomas, Georgia, & Kiersten. She is going on 3 years now. There is never a dull moment here on Raintree Drive! Haley is also attending pre-school twice per week and loves learning new songs and spending time with her new friends.

Haley continues to amaze us every day. She loves gymnastics, her My Little Pony collection, and anything to do with being creative. She is always looking for blank paper anywhere in the house so she can color, draw, paint, or cut (she cuts better than Dad, by the way!) She’s also very excited for the arrival of her little sis. Several weeks ago she came running down the stairs as she was trying to get a handle on how long it would be till baby sis arrived. She asked Mindy very passionately "Mom, when is the baby coming?!?" Mindy explained that after Thanksgiving, and Christmas, the baby would soon be here. She thought for a second, looked Mindy right in the eye and shouted "I can’t wait that long!" It was priceless!

Joe has been with Principal Financial Group for 3 years now. He took over managing the national sales desk in March of this year, and really enjoys his job. It helps when you have a great team to work with. He currently manages 16 consultants. He’s traveled quite a bit this year to the various regions the sales desk supports. His trips included Chicago, Orlando, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Boston. He doesn’t anticipate leaving Des Moines too often next year. As much a Joe loves to play golf, his highlight came this summer when he played in his first pro-am with Champions Tour member Vicente Fernandez. Vicente was a pleasure to meet, and their team was a respectable 19 under for the event. They finished in the top 15 groups.

We also took our first "real" family vacation to Yogi Bear Campground in the Wisconsin Dells. We spent a week camping, swimming, eating cotton candy, and hugging Yogi and Cindi Bear about 10 thousand times. The theme for the week was Chistmas in July, so just imagine the sight of several hundred tents and RV’s draped with X-Mas lights in the midst of the summer heat. Haley loved the campground, and spent most of her time sliding down the many slides at the campground waterpark. She cannot wait to go again next year!
We are grateful for the many blessings we shared in 2007.

We are so thankful for all of you in our lives, and we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season. We also hope your 2008 is filled with many great memories.

All our Love,
Joe, Mindy, & Haley

Happy Holidays.......to you!!!!!

The last two weeks we have managed to make it through 3 inches of snow, Thanksgiving, shopping on Black Friday, and painting the nursery. I'm not really sure how, but we have managed.

Last Wednesday we were blessed with 3 inches of soft, white, fluffy, beautiful, accident causing, slip on your ass snow. Being the crazy 8 month pregnant woman that I am, I was out shoveling away, until my husband came home and started yelling at me. It was fun to play in for about 2 minutes and then I was done. Thank Goodness for Daddy and Grandma, both got the pleasure of bundling up and building a snowman.

As for Thanksgiving, it was nice and relaxing and uneventful. We had a lot of great food and great company....all 8 of us. Haley even ventured out and ate turkey......NOT!!! She had a feast of macaroni & cheese, carrots, and she did really eat some pumpkin pie without crust. (You go girl!!)

Once again, I decided to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, in search of the most "perfect Christmas bargain." The mall opened at 12:01am, but we decided that it was crazy to go that early so we went at 1:00am instead. *SMILES* We knew there would be bargains at some point, but we had no idea that 35,000 other people would have the same idea. It was actually humorous. There were so many people we couldn't even find the free coffee, which is what we went for in the first place. Needless to say, we got our bargains and got the hell out of there in search of bargain #2.....KOHL'S where we stood in line for an hour listening to a group of drunk 20 somethingers singing Christmas carols. I truly thought that this could be the end of someones life.....if not mine than definitely one of theirs. We found some great items and then headed to target which opened at 6am. By this time I was about comatose and I think the little one inside of me wasn't sure what was going on either. I went out for breakfast, slept two hours and then went to a doctors appointment, where my blood pressure was the best that it has been. Usually it is low......I guess the moral of the story is go shopping early in the morning or all night in our case.

The nursery is coming along. I will post some pictures in progress. It is fun having another girl, yet being creative to make it different than Haley's.

We are all doing well and hanging in there. Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and hope the next few weeks are filled with lots of joy and fun.....not chaos and craziness.

FOR ALL THE WOMEN OUT THERE

You may need to stop at the women's restroom . . . So be prepared!

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupiedFinally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern 'seat covers' (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR! ), yank down your pants, and assume ' The Stance.'In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold 'The Stance.'To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, 'Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!' Your thighs shake more.You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail .Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet. 'Occupied!' you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, 'You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get.'By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting.You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, 'Here, you just might need this.'As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, 'What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?'This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with a public restrooms (rest??? You've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

Thought that the girls would especially enjoy this, but hey if your a man reading it, at least you understand!!!

FALL WHAT?!?!!?!?

There is no way that it is already November 14th and next week is Thanksgiving, plus we are having a baby in 8 weeks. AAAHHHHHHHH!!! That is crazy!!!

We are getting nervous and excited all at once. We haven't even touched the baby room. Isn't it funny how when we found out we were pregnant with Haley her room was ready when I was 4 months pregnant. Now I am 7 months pregnant and the crib is up and that is about it. We are hoping to paint over Thanksgiving weekend so I will put some pics up of the room. We are doing lime green and pink with white circles I think. Who knows?!!??! I am going to be creative and whatever happens happens.

Haley hit a milestone today in gymnastics.....she jumped onto the vault and into the pit all by herself.....no help. The pit is about 6 feet from the top of the vault. This is very big as she usually freaks out before she jumps off the vault and usually needs help jumping into the pit. Go Go Go my little Shawn Johnson.

I am in disbelief that THanksgiving is next week, but excited that the mall is having Rockin Shopin Eve which means the mall will be opening at 12:01 am the day after Thanksgiving and I actually have some crazy fool that is willing to go with me.......my friend Marcy who else. We don't seem to ever buy a lot, but watching the crazy people is worth it, let me tell you!!!!! Plus they have FREE coffee. I am going to Minneapolis this weekend to do a little Christmas shopping and since I haven't even begun to really shop it should be fun!!! Plus it is just the girls, my mom and my sister and I. If there are any requests at all and your reading this, I suggest you email me with the details. *SMILES* Otherwise you are apt to get......speedos w/jingle bells or maybe even x-mas socks.

We are busy busy busy as everyone is this time of year. I am glad that we can at least keep in touch. Enjoy your week and I'm sure there will be something after Thanksgiving.

Mindy, Joe, & Haley

HALLOWEEN 2007

Happy late Halloween!!

We have endured another year of school parties, scary stories and many,many, many treats!! Haley was a Kitty Cat Ballerina this year. She wouldn't wear the whiskers or nose make-up so she pretty much just enjoyed wearing a pink and black TU-TU!!! It's amazing at the ripe age of three that life is really about simplicity and nothing else......oh except ME...ME....ME!!!

We have decided that this blog is the best way to keep in touch with everyone, especially with the baby coming. We hope that it will make pictures as well as updates much more proficient. Time has become a commodity and it seems like if I can at least update once a month or holidays and special occasions, then I will surely continue to have SOME friends and hopefully our families will at least know that we are well and kickin'.

Joe is continuing to manage the National Sales Desk with Principal and I am still doing childcare. I have three other children besides Haley. Haley is still involved with Gymnastics. She is waiting in line of about 350 kids to be the next Shawn Johnson. (For those of you who don't know, she is the next up and coming gymnast from W. Des Moines, IA. She just won the Worlds and is hoping to lead the US OLYMPIC team in 2008 and still trains at Chows where Haley goes to gymnastics.) Very exciting for the little old rural IOWA!!!!! See....for those sceptics, IA can produce fine, athletic, smart, fun, happy, intelligent, and very amazing people who can accomplish anything they want to if they want it bad enough. (SMILES)

Haley is also going to Preschool two times a week and is loving every minute of it. She is in the same class as her best buddy Thomas and I am amazed every week with what new knowledge she is bringing home. This week her new trick was copying DOT TO DOTS on our copy machine. I think I will start a "Haley" Quote of The Week. She is so damn funny.

For now, we hope all is well with everyone. I am really going to try hard to change things up on this page so please check back often. Plus, you don't really want to miss the quote of the week right?!?!?