Punxsutawney Phil has spoken...And the forecast is: Six more weeks of BIRTHDAY?

That's right folks, Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter BIRTHDAY!

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/08 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here Ye!

On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day (aka Ande's and The Jib's Birthday), February 2nd, 2008; Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter BIRTHDAY it will be!"

Okay, he didn't QUITE say that, I took a little bit of "artistic liberty" with what he said...(hey, the media does that all the time, don't they?)

Yeah, right about this time last year, I was begging the doctor to just PULL HER OUT ALREADY joyfully pushing my giant headed beautiful baby girl, The Jib, into the world. I had actually gone in on February 1st to be induced (a full week before my due date) because I had extra amniotic fluid and the doctor was a little concerned that the baby was getting to be pretty big.

My husband, Ande, had joked with my doctor about making it so that I didn't actually have the baby until February 2nd, which just so happens to be Ande's birthday. I was not amused. However, apparently God thought The Jib would make the best birthday present EVER for Ande, and she ended up not making her appearance until 11:11am February 2, 2007. She weighed in at an impressive 8lbs 13oz and was 20 inches long. She is the biggest of all of my babies - she outweighed her Bubber by 7oz (although he was 22 inches long), Bug by 14oz, and Puckey by 1lb 7oz. Nans isn't biologically mine, but it seems like Ande told me she was around 6lbs or so, so The Jib outweighed her by at least 2 lbs!

This is The Jib "fresh from the oven". Her poor little lips look like they got stuck in the "Scream Extractor" from Monsters, Inc. Poor girl.

I'll have to post a picture of the birthday girl later today - she got up at the crack of dawn this morning (so she could tell Ande Happy Birthday before he went to work this morning) and is now taking a nap.

All I can say is "hooray!!"

Check out Nate's blog for the newest update...Please also pray this morning for a boy named Daniel. He's having surgery this morning and if it works, it could help change his life.

I posted a fun and informative post last night, you can check that out below...

How they got their nicknames

I was asked how the kids got their nicknames, so I will try my best to explain...I'll start with The Jib...

The Jib is (almost) a year old. When she was born, my husband and I thought it would be cute to call her "Jillybean" as a nickname. Puckey, who was 18months old at the time couldn't say that, but she COULD say "Jibby-Gee", which was what we called The Jib for a while. Then it got shortened to "Jibby", and finally, "The Jib". Not really sure where the "The" came from, but it sounds cool, kinda like she's in the Mafia or something. (Not that I condone criminal activity, but you have to admit that some of those guys had some pretty cool nicknames) Occasionally she is referred to as The Jibinator, Jibernathy, Jibsworth, or Jiblet as well.

The Jib Then....

And Now...

Puckey, who is 2 1/2, started life being called "Monkey" because when she was born she was all long limbed and hairy. Even her little ears were hairy. She was SO stinkin' cute! Little did we know that her nickname would also indicate her LOVE of climbing. She climbs everything. One day, after she started talking, she informed my husband and me that she was "Puckey". So she's been Puckey ever since. There are variations, such as Puck-ster, Punkinator, Pucksworth, and Puckey-pie, but mostly she's just Puckey. (Although if you ask her now, she'll tell you she's a dinosaur)

Puckey Then...And Now...

Nans, who is 9, has been called Nans by my husband for years. When she was really little, she was Hanner-Nans or Hannah-Banana. Nans was just the natural progression (plus I think SHE likes it a little better than the other names.) My dad calls her Hannah from Savannah. She is also referred to as "Sissy" by Puckey.

Nans Then... And Now...

Bug, who is 10, started out being "booger", because she always had her finger in her nose. Then she developed an intense interest in bugs. She was always catching bugs and playing with them. To this day, she's not really bothered by bugs. (I, on the other hand, only like ONE bug - HER!!) She is also called "Sissy" sometimes by Puckey, but more often she is called "Ashwe"

Bug Then...And Now...

Bubber, who is 13, got his name because we wanted something cute for Puckey and The Jib to call him. (Ande's mom called her brother "bubber" when he was born, and it's pretty much stuck ever since. He's known as Uncle Bub now...) Before Puckey and The Jib came along, he was Bud or Buddy. We wanted a special nickname for the babies to call him, though, because he really loves his baby sisters (whether he'll admit it or not is a whole OTHER story).

Bubber Then...

And Now...

I guess, all in all, my kids have pretty decent nicknames. It's better than the one I had when I was a kid...Pooper. Yes, you read right. Apparently it had to do with a diaper incident when I was just a baby. My dad, in all of his dad glory, used to LOVE taking me to the mall and if I happened to run into someone I knew he'd yell something like, "C'mon, Pooper, we need to get going!" Yes, it was fun being 16 at the mall with my dad.

This is my dad and my Great-Grandma Lula (Full name LulaBelle, yeah, she was from the south) in 1980 - check out my dad's mustache!! (Watch out Tom Selleck)

My dad is king of the weird nicknames. My cousin Ted was (and always will be) Mathilda. Why? Who knows. My aunt decided that my dad had cursed Ted by nicknaming him Mathilda, though, when he ended up marrying a girl named Hilda. What a pair! (Hilda is a lovely woman, by the way, who has made Ted quite a happy man and a daddy twice over!) Then there's my cousin Samantha - AKA Yosemite Sam from Alabam. Yeah, my dad's an odd one...but he's pretty funny. One of my favorite things about my dad is that he sends each member of the family a Christmas card, and on Ande's, he always signs it, "With Love, Ron Martin" Ande and I have been married for nearly 5 years. He signs my brother in law's card the same way. My sister has been married for 15 years. I guess he just wants to make sure they know who the card is from?!?!

These are my parents (on the left) and our former neighbors on Halloween 1981...yes, my dad is dressed as "Ronna Summers" Classy, right? Apparently that year they decided cross-dressing was the way to go - the lovely cheerleader's name is Dave. Notice the sweet wall decor - SO 70's!! I wonder if my mom still has that stuff...it went GREAT with our verigated GREEN shag carpet.

Well, hopefully I haven't bored anyone to tears with this. Thanks, Devin, for asking!!

Oh, and as a special request from Ande - "Hi, Aunt Pearl!!!" (Grandma says she reads this blog, so we wanted to say hi)

Exciting Sundays at the Kirby House

My family takes the whole "day of rest" thing pretty seriously...this is my house at 7:00pm EST...

The Jib

Ande and Puckey

Bubber

Yep, Bug's awake, but I think that's only because she was hungry and eating dinner....And you can tell by the look on her face she thinks I'm a little weird.

I hope Ande realizes that he's going to get to stay up with the kids when they wake up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep...LOL

I got tagged by my friend Amanda - check out my other post below!

Okay Amanda.....

Since you tagged me, and listed me as being most likely to respond, I didn't want to disappoint...so here goes:

THE MISSION:

1. Post the rules and link to the person that tagged me, which is Amanda from Lutz Family Blog (she and her husband Brad used to go to our church before they moved to OK)
2. Share five random/weird things about myself.
3. Share five places that I "want to see or want to see again."
4. Tag five random people and link to them...and let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, without further adieu...

Five random things about me:

1. I can write upside down and backwards in print and cursive (that's from years of practice writing notes on the paper of the person sitting behind me in school)
2. I graduated when I was 17.
3. I have secretly always wanted to be a dancer.
4. My second toe is longer than my big toe on both feet. (Apparently an inherited trait, my mom has the same thing, as do some of my kids)
5. I once walked 19 miles in steel toed shoes just because I was stubborn. It took 6 hours.

Five places I want to see or want to see again:

1. Hawaii - never been there but I'd like to go.
2. Yellowstone National Park - my dad took us when I was a kid and I'd love to take my kids.
3. Alaska - I've heard it's just beautiful.
4. Italy - for the food.
5. Ireland - because that's where my dad's family is from.

Five random people I have to tag:

1. Heather from Rice-A-Roni-ville - hopefully she'll humor me....
2. Michelle from My Semblance of Sanity - because she seems so nice....
3. Jules from Z's life - because her name is Julie, too....
4. Melany from Viata Mea - because she's my cousin in law and as such just has to participate...
5. Hmmm...who to pick for number 5....well, since Amanda didn't pick her, maybe her mother in law Cindy from 12 Arrows will oblige me?!? Please?

Okay, I did my duty, Amanda....LOL Hopefully I won't get any hate mail from the 5 I asked to participate.

Please continue to pray for Nate, Tricia, and Gwyneth, along with the Avery Family, and the Stanfield Family. Thanks!