Where the Wild Things Are

look what i found (liz)

2010-08-04T13:14:00.005-04:00

man, I get distracted easily. i totally meant to upload these the very next day. Yes, i realize that was over two weeks ago. Yes, i'll try harder next time. Maybe when the weather gets too cold i won't mind sitting in the dark basement as much. Oooo! Or maybe when my husband buys me that new ipad i know he's got up his sleeve. What? Yeah, i know. It ain't happenin' any time soon.

So, these are pics i found on my iphone. Unfortunately, i've stopped toting around a "real camera" as much since i have one on my phone, so the quality is poor. They look great on my teeny little phone screen tho!

This is Lizzy and her neighbor friend, Lilah at our garage sale at the beginning of June. (i finally got rid of ALL my baby clothes!)

Piggy tail braids. Man, i've been waiting for these.

Lizzy's friend, Wes.

Oh, and yes, thank you for asking: i did make her dress. ;)

This is her "yittle pool". The boys take swim lessons at this community pool and there is a kiddie pool there. She loves it.

Look what i found! (boys)

2010-07-20T07:53:00.007-04:00

I wondered where all my summer pictures had gone. You know where they were? In my back pocket the whole time. I had over 400 pictures and video's on my iphone and didn't realize it. I know i reach for it a lot. ok, a real whole lot. Especially when i want to capture a silly moment in the middle of Costco or the boys climbing a tree in the backyard of my mom's rental house. 400 pictures is a whole bunch of moments i'm glad i caught. And, i normally wouldn't have them if it weren't for the phone. I'm thinking i need to trade D phones since his camera is so much nicer than mine. I'm fairly certain he won't go for that. Right, honey? I, personally, think it's a great idea.

This was at a bbq place in Florida from the beginning of June.

i get this look a lot, in case you were wondering. It's his, "Really, Woman?" face.

Evan and his friend, Brayden at backyard Bible club last week.

I've got tons more. But breakfast is calling. No, more specifically: Lizzy is calling for breakfast.

Books I've read- march-june 2010

2010-07-14T14:16:00.004-04:00

I realize most of you could care less about what i've read. Well, could care less about books in general, i suppose. But i happen to know that a couple people do care. So if you don't, just skip this entire post. It's the books i've read over the past four months. And please forgive the spelling errors. I wrote all this on my iphone and don't feel like editing. :)

Books I've read- march 2010

Just Henry **** 703 pgs.
By Michelle Magorian
In post WWII Britain, Henry has to deal with rations, a stepfather he can't stand, an annoying half sister, prejudices everywhere and an overpowering and demanding grandmother. To deal, he goes to the cinemas. Henry loves movies and realizes he wants to make them someday. When Henry finds he has a natural ability to take pictures, what he finds in some of his developed pics sets off a string of events that not only changes his past, but also how he feels about his future.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't a fast read, it took me about a week and a half to finish, but the author gave so much detail about what the characters lives were like in 1949-1950 that I was surprisingly intrigued. I usually prefer mysteries (which this ended up having plenty of), lots of twists and surprises (ditto) and I didn't think it would, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Barbarian **
By Lynne Ewing
(this is the first in a series)
Obie lives in LA with two of his friends.
They seem like normal guys, dealing with high school stereotypes, girls, parties, music-- but they are Renegades and are on the run from bounty hunters who want to capture them and send them back to Nefandus where they will be enslaved.
It was just ok. Not worth it to read the rest of the series or it's female counter-part.

The Summer I Got a Life *****
By mark fink
Andy and his brother Brad don't exactly get along. But they have one thing in common- they are both looking forward to their family vaca to Hawaii. But plans change suddenly and instead of an island paradise, the boys are shipped off to The Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin to stay with a crazy aunt and uncle they hardly know. Despite this, it turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to Andy.
I LOVED this book. It was hilarious (I laughed out loud several times and even laughed til I cried once!). It was sweet too. It's written by a guy who produced Full House, Saved by the Bell, and Growing Pains. He's written another YA novel, Stepping Up, that I would like to read. I adored his writing style.

Among the Hidden **1/2
Margaret Haddix
Luke is a third child. And that is bad. Against the law, actually. He has to stay hidden in his family's attic. He used to be able to play outside with his brothers or help his father on their farm, but a new subdivision is going in and rich people are taking over their neighborhood. Luke has never met anyone outside his own family but when he notices lights on and curtains moving in one of the new houses when no one is supposed to be there, he is determined to see if it's another third child. Maybe he's not Alone after all.

I liked this one ok. It's the first in a series of eight, I think. I got online and read a summary of the rest of the series. It's cheating, I know. But I really didn't want to take the time to read the rest of it.

The Hunger Games *****
By Suzanne Collins
North America no longer exists. A new country, Panem, was built out of it's ruins. The Capitol is filled with rulers who govern all of Panem and are harsh, uncaring and cruel. Each year, one of the twelve districts in Panem are required to Randomly select two 'recruits' to participate in the televised Hunger Games. They are a sick, twisted version of a reality show where all 24 'recruits' are forced to fight to their death. Last one standing wins.
Sixteen year old Katniss, steps in to take the place of her little sister. The story follows her throughout The Games.
I LOVED the book. In fact, I've already ordered the second one. The third is due out this summer. Collins blends action, suspense and romance perfectly.

The Iron King ****
By julie kagawa
Meghan's little brother is kidnapped and she finds herself looking for him in a world she never even knew existed. Faeries, satyrs, ogres... Should all be in childrens stories, but Meghan has to accept they are real. She realizes quickly that the world as she knew it is gone, her best friend, Puck, isn't who she thought he was and Prince Ash, who wants to kill her, is way more appealing to her than he should be...

I'd give the first third or so of the book about 3 1/2 stars, but the last half or so 4 1/2. I really enjoyed it. The sequel comes out in august and I can't wait to see what happens.

Wondrous Strange **1/2
Lesley Livingston
Kelley is an actress who lives in NYC who meets Sonny Flannery. He guards the Samhain gate which connects the mortal realm to the Faeries Otherworld. Kelley doesn't believe in all this faerie garbage but circumstances surround her until she has no choice but to believe in- and maybe even become a part of- the Otherworld.

This book was borderline lame. It was mostly predictable, even from the very beginning, the romance was barely there, characters weren't developed well, and... Did I mention it was predictable? And, not that this has anything to do with it really, but I hated the name Sonny on the main guy. It didn't seem to fit him at all. Ok, to be fair, he wasn't developed all that well so I don't really know him, but Sonny. Really? That's what old grandmothers call the little neighbor boys who bring in their mail for them. Not this tall good looking Janus who protects mortals from the nasty creatures from the Faery world. Ok I'm done. I didn't like it.

Shiver ****
Maggie Stiefvater
Grace has an obsession with the wolves that live in the woods behind her house. Ok, just one wolf in particular- the one with the yellow eyes.
Sam lives two lives. In the winter, he lives with his pack watching the girl but in the few previous months of summer, he gets to be who he really is-Sam.
The two finally meet but as winter approaches again, Sam struggles to not change back so he can stay with grace, and the precious thing they've found in each other.
I enjoyed this one a lot. It started out strong, lagged a bit in the middle but the ending was good. I'd read the sequel, linger, that comes out in July. I'm curious to see where she takes it.

Need ****
Carrie Jones
Zara's stepfather died a few months ago and she just can't seem to get her feet back under her. Worried for her daughter, her mom sends her to Maine to stay with her stepgrandmother, betty, hoping a change of scenery will breathe some life back into Zara. Too bad it's danger that's replaced the pain. A man is following Zara, calling her name, trying to lure her into the woods. Young men are disappearing. megan, the popular girl, hates Zara from the get-go, and these strange occurances all seem to be related.
Nick, Devyn, and issie- zara's new friends are determined to help her figure out what's going on. Too bad they know more than they're letting on....
This one was great. I love the narrators personality- it carries the reader through the entire book. She's witty, sarcastic, practical. I was hooked from page one and had a hard time putting it down.

Wake *****
Lisa Mcmann
Janie gets thrown into other peoples dreams. It can happen any time someone falls asleep- English class, study hall, at her after school nursing home job. She can't control it and it's getting worse, happening more often and, frankly, ruining her life. She can't tell anyone- who would believe her anyway so she has to deal with it on her own. But the dreams are getting scary and the people in them are begging her for help. But it's their dreams. She can't help them. Can she?

I couldn't put this one down. I loved the style- short blips of days, no chapters. Loved it. Hooked from page one.

Rash ****
Pete Hautman
It's 2074 and the US had now become the United Safer States of America. It is a nation obsessed with safety. Everything dangerous is outlawed- football, alcohol, tatoos, guns, big dogs, french fries. People get sent to prison for the simplest of crimes, including road rage.
Bo, a sixteen year old with a dad and a brother already in prison, realizes he has a bit of a temper problem and finds himself with a three year sentence. Although prison may not be as bad as the crazy society he just left...

I picked this book up knowing the author catered to mainly teenage boys. It was full of farting, football, and anger issues- but I really enjoyed the authors writing style and his main character. I was a bit disappointed with the ending, it was abrupt, but I'd read another book by Hautman.

Tips on having a gay (ex) boyfriend
Carrie Jones ****1/2
Sucks bad when your boyfriend of two years decides to tell you he's gay. Sucks even more that he left for for some dorky band geek who seems to have lost the ability to buy pants that cover his ankles. Belle's giving herself one week- and one week only- to wallow in self pity. Her old friends and some new friends help her not only figure out what the heck went wrong, but who she really is.
Loved this book. Finished it in one Saturday, couldn't put it down. It's funny, it's sad, it's sweet, it's about friendships, old loves, new loves. Loved it.
Carrie Jones is great. I read Need by her and loved the writing style so I decided to see what else she wrote. Glad I did.

Fade (sequel to Wake) ***
Lisa mcmann
Janie and Cabel are undercops in high school. Their new assignment is to find out whuch teacher is a sexual predator. Janie uses her abilities as a dream catcher to slip into teachers and students dreams and see if they tell her anything. It seemed like an easy assignment at first but soon she and cabel both realize they are in over their heads.
This one wasn't nearly as good as the first, Wake. It was still a fast read, but it lacked something. Can't quite put my finger on what though. Not sure i wanna read the third one.

Tried to read Cirque de Freak By Darren Shan
But I didn't like the writing style. It was really juvenile. Liked the movie, thought book would be better like they usually are, but not this time.

Books I've reAd- April 2010

Beautiful Creatures ****
By Kami Garcia and Margaret stohl
Ethan wate has lived in south carolinas small town of Gatlin his whole life. Nothing exciting ever happens and he's determined to get out after graduation. Then a new girl shows up. Everyone immediately hates her since she's the niece of the towns shut in, macon ravenwood. These people hate anyone or anything that is anything but normal in their eyes.
Ethan is drawn to Lena and not only cause she's beautiful but because he's been dreaming about her, about losing her, long before he even met her.
Ethan funds himself pulled into a world He never even knew existed.

I really liked this one. It was a sweet live story, but with plenty of drama and suspence. There is a sequel, beautiful darkness, coming out in October. I want to find out what happens to Lena and Ethan. :)

City of ashes **** 1/2
(second in The Mortal Instruments trilogy)
Cassandra Clare
Clary discovered there's a whole other world she never knew about in the first book...a world of vampires, warewolves, faeries, warlocks, demons and the shadowhunters who hunt them all down to protect the humans, aka mundanes. And not only did she realize what's really out there, but she's a shadowhunters herself and she never knew since her mother hid tons of secrets from her.
Now that she knows who she really is, she has to help her new shadowhunters friends, including her newfound brother Jace, hunt down Valentine who has stolen the second Mortal Instrument.

After the nasty surprise in the first book, I was hesitant to read the rest of the series. A friend read them and told me to keep reading. Glad I did. I could hardly put this book down.

City of Glass ***1/2
(third in The Mortal Instruments series)
Cassandra Clare
Valentine now has two of the three Mortal Instruments in his possession. If he gets hold of the third one and uses the three together to raise the Angel Raziel in order to get one desire, the lives the Shadowhunters now lead will be changed forever. If not destroyed entirely. Clary and Jace and the Lightwoods have travel to Idris in order to do everything in teir power to stop him. And try ti save Clary's mother in the process.

The first half of this book was really good but I felt like it started to drag towards the end. The nasty surprise in the first book did righten itself in the end, which was a relief...trust me! ;)
I really enjoyed the series. Great suspence, drama, romance (albiet a bit wierd at times!) liked it.

13 reasons why *****
Jay Asher
Two weeks after a classmate commits suicide, clay jensen finds a package on his door step with no return address. He's surprised to find a set of cassette tapes with sides labeled 1-13. He quickly realizes it's from Hannah Abbott, the girl who killed herself. According to Hannah, there are 13 main reasons she killed herself, or thirteen people to be more exact. She wants all 13 of them to listen to the tapes and pass them to the next on the list or the tapes will go public and all their dirty secrets will come out. Clay honestly has no idea what he did to hurt Hannah, but he's has no choice but to find out.
This book was unique and very well written. The author alternates between hannah's narrative and clays reaction so we get to know them both very well. It's tragic, but I couldn't put it down. Loved it.

Dreamland ***
Sarah dessen
Caitlin's big sister runs away right before she's due for her freshman year at Yale. Caitlin and her parents are shocked, her mom more than any of them. Her sis leaving is the first in a string of events that makes Caitlin spirial downward and the worst thing is that no one even seems to notice.

I enjoyed this one. It was shocking with the topic it dealt with and I had a hard time understanding the main characters feelings cause thankfully I've never dealt with what she went through. But it was well written. I'd try another book by Dessen. She's got a ton of them.

Project 17 ***
Laurie Stolarz
Derik is desperate to get out of taking over the greasy restaurant his parents own. Danvers state hospital may be his ticket out. It's an old mental institute that is about to be knocked down. If he can find s group of people and do a film, like a reality tv show, for a chance to be on tv, maybe he can get outta his town. So six teens break in to the hospital to make the film, but it quickly turns into something nightmares are made of.

It was a quick read and I enjoyed it. The characters weren't all that developed though so it was hard to get to know them. Then the end just kind of was wrapped up and predictable.

Love (and other uses for duct tape)
Carrie jones ***
(sequel to tips on having a gay ex boyfriend)
Belle is finally over losing her boyfriend to another guy, but it's the trusting issue she's having problems with. She's having a hard time believing her new boyfriend, Tom, isn't going to just up and leave her like Dylan did. Add to that a serious problem her best friend is going through, seizures that have started up again, and a dating mother, and a next dour neighbor who dad is s using him, and belle has a lit of things to work out.

I liked this one but it wasn't as good as the first one. We got to know belle well, but she seems ti not really know herself (which I guess is a theme in the book). It got a little whiny at the end and then just ended abruptly. The whole book was leading up to two big events and it ended before either of them worked themselves out. Frustrating.

Girl, Hero
By Carrie Jones
I picked this one up cause it's by the same author who wrote Tips on Having a gay ex boyfriend (whch I liked) bit I only got 15 pages in or so before I stopped. It was weird. The main character wrote to John Wayne. The dead actor. Like the whole book waS journal entries to him. Like, she wondered what he did on his first day of high school, etc. It was too weird.

Keeping the Moon ***1/2
by Sarah Dessen
Colie has never fit it. First she was fat and the subject of ridicule and fat jokes then after she lost the weight a nasty rumor was started and she couldn't get out from underneath it.
She's shipped off to spend the summer with her aunt and what promises to be the worst summer of her life becomes life changing when she learns what it means to have her first friendship and most importantly what she learns about herself.
I thought I wasn't going to like this one at first but I really enjoyed it. I'd like to read some current stuff from Dessen.

Eighth grade bites **1/2
(the chronicles of Vladimir Tod)
Heather brewer
Vladimir is half human, half vampire and an orphan being raised by his pseudo-aunt. He not only has to deal with typical middle school stuff- bullies, being in the shadow of his best friend, Liking a girl who may or may not even know he exists...but also having to hide capsules of blood within his sub sandwiches, being the only one of his kind with no one to turn to for advice, a crazy new teacher who may be trying to kill him AND the mysterious death of his parents three years ago. That's a lot of stress for a 14 yr old.
This is the first in a series I've come across several times, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It was ok. I almost quit reading it two or three
Times. Plot was ok, A bit predictable though. Characters were developed ok. Vlad the best, of course, but the others not at all really.
I think I'll cheat and look up summaries on the other books. :)

Soul Enchilada
I didn't even get far enough in the book to figure out the plot. I sure couldn't figure it out from the book jackets description. I got three chapters in (now, granted they were short) but the only thing that happened so far was the main chick took her car to the car wash. Really. That's it. I gave up.

Tantilize *1/2
Cynthia t. Smith
Quince's parents left her a restaurant in their will and with her uncles help, she is determined to see it succeed. They do a remodel of the restaurant and come up with a vampire theme in order to stand out but it's bringing in all the crazies. Their head chef is murdered violently, people in town are disappearing, quinces best friend Kieran, who is part- werewolf, is acting strange, and the new chef is a little weird.

It was borderline awful. The plot was odd (a vampire themed restaurant run by a 17 yr old?!), the emotions and personality of quince were not developed (she is turned into a vampire against her will, her uncle turns out to be a bad guy, then is later killed and she barely blinks an eye).
I met a librarian the other day a d she recommended this one, Soul Enchilada, and nation by Terry Prather and her first two recommendations were not so good.

The maze runner ***1/2
James Dashner
Thomas wakes up in a dark elevator with his memory wiped clean. He is forced into the Glade, a place surrounded by 40 foot walls, a crazy unsolvable maze and deaDly creatures. He's not the only one though. The glade is full of boys, all teens who also woke to find themselves there one day. They live a well ordered life, each with their own job and their main objective is to solve the maze a d get back home...whatever that means.
Their lives were relatively normal until Thomas arrived. He's different somehow. Then the next day, the glade receives it's first girl. Thomas doesn't have memories of her, but knows they are connected somehow. The rest of the Gladers are suspicious of them. Their appearance has changes the Glade forever.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the main characters. It kind of reminded mr of Lost a bit: they find themselves in a strange place, stranded; they are all strangers forced together; they have to figure out why they were all sent there; gotta figure out how to get home; lots of unanswered questions until the end, etc.
There is a sequel coming out in October. I'm curious to see what happens to Tom, Teresa, Minho, and newt.

Books I've read- may 2010

The Dark Divine ***1/2
Bree Despain

"Grace- daughter of the local pastor- always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came back covered in his own blood.
Now that Daniel's returned, grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother.
as grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the ones she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul." (books jacket)

I enjoyed this book but didn't love it. It was a good plot line, different. I wished the brothers story had been followed, maybe tell the story from two perspectives.

Gone ****
Michael grant

One minute everything Is quite normal in Sam's life. He's sitting at school listening to his teacher drone on and the next, the teachers gone. Poof. Into thin air. And it's not just a cute practical joke. Every adult, every teen over the age of fifteen is gone. Like they were never there.
then the bullies step in wanting to take control. But the high school bullies are nothing compared to what's coming. Sam, along with Astrid, Edilio, Quinn, and some others have to step up and protect not only their town but their lives, cause something terrible is coming to take over.

I really enjoyed this one. It's got suspense, terror, gore, romance, great character development, unique plot line. Loved it. Sequel is called Hunger. I'd like to get it.

Ruined **1/2
Paula Morris
Rebecca is sent to stay with a family friend in new Orleans while her father is on a business trip. New Orleans may as well be another country. Everyone is focused on "old money" and lineage. If you're not one of the original families in new Orleans, you may as well be invisible. That's what Rebecca is. She has no friends until she meets Lisette in the cemetery one night. Problem is, her friend isn't alive. And the fact that she can see her at all may mean that Rebecca isn't who she thinks she is.

This one was just ok. I ended up skimming over several pages of details about new Orleans. I wanted to see what happened- it was quite predictable and a bit abrupt at the end.

Incarceron ***
Catherine Fisher
Incarceron is a prison. A prison that can think for itself. It keeps watch over every thing and everyone contained within it's walls. And only one man has ever escaped, although many wish to.
Finn is a prisoner who has no memories beyond three years ago. He believes he came from Outside. Not many believe there is an Outside but when he meets Claudia, who claims she's from outside Incarceron, she says she CAn help him escape. But escaping from Incarceron isn't going to be easy.

I enjoyed this one. I really wanted to find out what happens at the end but I was disappointed for some reason. I'm trying to pinpoint why. Maybe cause there were unanswered questions (hence, the sequel, Sapphique which I don't think I'll read), maybe cause there was absolutely no romance in the book? Or maybe cause Finn's (the main character, mind you) character and personality gets a bit overwhelmed and pushed aside by Claudia at the end. I wanted him to take charge. He was just kind of pulled along. Ah well. I guess my questions will remain unanswered.

Plan b ***
Jenny O'connell
uh, i guess i forgot to wrote this one down. Can't even remember it now. See, this is why i do this.

The book of Luke **
Jenny O'connell
Emily is always the nice girl. But it seems to be getting her nowhere. Her family rips her out of school in the middle of her senior year, her boyfriend breaks up with her the day she moves, and to top it off, her dad isn't even moving with them. And she's supposed to smile and accept all these changes? Nope. Emily is done being nice. It's time for payback. Only she doesn't see the path of destruction she's about to leave in her wake.

It was ok. I had a hard time believing that a few minor changes could make someone act like this character did. She admits it was uncharacteristic of her, but I think some of her actions were a bit extreme, especially for a former nice girl.

Books I've reAd- june 2010

Downsiders ***1/2
Neal Shusterman
Talon lives in an entire secret world under new York city- and he's not the only one. Men, women, children, have been down there for a hundred years. They are forbidden to go "Topside" but when Talons sister gets sick, he has no choice. He needs some magic pills the topsiders use to cheat death. There he meets Lindsay, who is as curious about his world as he is about hers. Their chance meeting could change the way Downsiders think- and could also lead to it's total destruction.

I really like Shusterman's writing style. His ideas are unique and delivered very well. The characters are developed, mysteries unfold, plots thicken... I liked it.

Daniel X: watch the skies **1/2
James Patterson (audio book)
(second in series)
Daniel follows Number Five (alien on "the list") to Hollisworth, a small town filled with nice, hardworking people who have suddenly turned zombie-like. Daniel, along with help from his imaginary friends (Joe, Dana, Emma, ---) have to figure out how to defeat this guy. Problem is, Daniel has never faced an Alien this high up on The List. Number Five is powerful, mean and sees humans as playtoys meant for his own amusement. Can Daniel save Hollisworth and it's people before it's too late?

I feel like this one as I did about the first one: it was ok. Entertaining. I needed an audiobook for me and D fir our way to Florida that would be appropriate if the kids heard it too. It was.
You can definately tell it was for a younger audience. A few gaps in plot (ie- "why doesn't Daniel just shoot him now and be done?") but it did it's job- we were entertained.

The Vampire Diaries ***
The awakening and the struggle
LJ Smith
Elena is her towns golden girl. Popular, beautiful, leader... But when a new guy comes to town and seems totally disinterested in her, she vows to do anything it takes to make him hers. She just has no idea what she's messing with though. Her life is about to change forever.

I watch the tv show on WB, so I was curious about the books. They are very different from each other. The tv series took the underlying or and it's main characters and rewrote it. For the better, in my opinion. I'm enjoying the books, but I like the pace (slower) and the tv characters more. Which is odd since I always like books better than the movies.

The Vampire Diaries ** 1/2
The Return and Dark Reunion
LJ smith

Elena is now a vampire and is dealing with her new life and also some terrible dark Power that's come to Falks Church (it's mystic falls on tv). Can she, Damon, and Stefan come to a truce and with together to save the town and it's people?

These two were a bit predictable. Especially dark reunion. Disappointing.

Destin, FL

2010-06-24T10:47:00.005-04:00

These are some of my favorites from our Florida trip a couple weeks ago. We never driven that far with the kids and they did great. It was a 13 hour trip. And it wasn't terrible. Really. Dustin got a little fussy a couple times, but he got over it. Eventually. ;)

We stayed in a really nice condo in the Sandestin Resort. It was great. We had two bedrooms, three full baths, a full kitchen, living room, dining room, and a huge balcony.

Kids preferred the pool. But at least they can say they've been to the beach. And i've got pics to prove it!

There are more pics on my Facebook page.

i know this last one is a bit fuzzy (the humidity did a number on my camera) but it's the best pic i have of the three of them. Happy. Looking in one direction.

Nate at Five

2010-06-20T20:33:00.015-04:00

I can't believe my little man is five already. He will be in kindergarten in the fall (well, if you can count August 11 as "fall"), can read every single book in the first level of our Hooked on Phonics set, is adding and subtracting in his head (he's pretty fast too...doesn't get it from me), is extremely analytical, asks tons of seemingly random questions at the oddest of times (several of which i had written down in my phone but his little sister deleted it. Was so upset. And, just for the record, she hasn't touched my phone since), is an instigator and a pesterer (shush...it's a word in our house and he totally gets it honestly and NOT from me), acts like he's not paying attention but usually is (and i use "usually" loosely), is very loving and loves to cuddle, only has to be asked to do something two or three times before it gets done (go with it, it's an improvement), gets sidetracked very easily, lets Evan do most the cleaning, loves to be read to, lets see...what else? He's hilarious. Unintentionally sometimes. I think it's his delivery.

At dinner one night:
"I wish popperjohn cheese (Parmesan) was a drink and i could drink it. Or it was in a big ball and i could take a big bite."

Driving in van:
Nate: mommy?
Me: yeah?
N: do I have to get married when I grow up?
Me: uh....no. Not if you don't want to.
N: (perks up) good! Cause I don't want to!
Me: ok. But you may change your mind when you get a bit older.
N: (scoffs at me) nope. Don't want to.

i had a ton more but someone deleted em. Grrrr.

Nate's Fave's @ Five:

Movie- Toy Story 3
Show- Monster Buster Club
Color- Blue
Breakfast- "Waffle-cheese-sausage-sandwich"
Lunch- "Turkey, ham, cheese, string cheese, chips with ranch dressing" (it's what he was currently eating, btw. i think normally he would have said a turkey and cheese sandwich)
Dinner- Fried Shrimp
Restaurant- Olive Garden (ravioli and bread sticks)
Icecream- 1.) Vanilla
2.) Strawberry
3.) "yellow" (whatever that means)
4.) peanut butter
Drink- apple juice and strawberry lemonade
Book- David Weisner's The Three Pigs (this has been his fave for a couple years now. It's a really cute book. Weisner is one of my fave's)
Game to Play- Candyland
Toy- Buzz Lightyear
Friend- Bryce
Game to play with bro- Bakugan
Thing to see/do at Children's Museum- carousel
Place to Go- MyGym

Bday pics taken in May. Red shirt ones in June.

Great Wolf Lodge

2010-05-30T15:34:00.013-04:00

I cannot make my text start at the top. So not worth the effort.

So, i realize it's been over a month since i've posted. it could be cause it takes blogger an eon to load pictures. or that i can't stand the computer chair. either way, i'll work on it. Especially now that i moved the computer and i can sit on the couch. Can we say "lazy"? ;)

Anyway, we decided to go to Great Wolf Lodge on Nate's bday weekend a couple weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. Very tiring.
Here's the lobby. They have an animatronic (i'm just about positive i didn't spell that right) show every night. There were so many kiddos packed in there we couldn't actually hear enough of the show to figure out what the main character was whining about. Maybe being lost in the woods? Maybe water up his nose? I dunno.

Kids loved it though. It's cool in theory.

Aunt Donda went with us (PTL!) so it's was a 3:3 ratio. We took turns keeping Little- Bit happy (and, trust me, it's no easy task...especially on Day Two).

This was beginning of Day Two (i didn't take my camera in the water part the first day). So this is Nate's birthday! My baby is FIVE!

And this is how Lizzy started out the day. Unhappy. Guess that's what happens when you miss a nap and stay up late making your brothers laugh since you're all in the same room. Hmmmm...

LIghting was horrible inside the park, but i did get these few shots. This was Ev's favorite part. He must have done it at least 10 times.

Nate's fave part was the kiddie hot tub. Go figure. He also loved the "family ride"- a raft ride all four of us could go on. Both boys were a lot braver than i thought they'd be. But when Nate and Dustin capsized at the end of a tube ride, Nate was done with the slides.

We're nearing the end of Day Two here. Can you tell he was worn?

And she finished the day much like it started. And was like this pretty much the whole time in between. Except for the hour and a half me and her were on the lazy river. She was happy then. We went round and round and round....and round.

Great fun. I think we'll wait til she's a couple years older until we go there again though. And Disney...and Kings Island...and Holiday World. I think when a nap isn't required for one's happiness then we'll talk about it again. ;)

A Snippet

2010-03-22T12:18:00.005-04:00

After dinner last night Dustin ran out to get us Steak and Shake milk shakes (bad, i know) and i was cleaning up the kitchen. Each kid was doing their own thing and i had to grab the camera for some reason cause it struck me as interesting. You may not think it is, but i do. And it's my blog. ;)

So Nate was sitting at the table. Alone. Still eating. As usual. His baked beans were stone cold by this point. Seriously, the rest of us had eaten, moved on to other activities. I mean, the kitchen was already clean. And still he sits. Uncaring. Unbothered. Whatever.

Reminds me: wanna hear another conversation we had the other day on the way to school? It must have been Friday. i think the best convo's are in the van with this child.

Nate: Mommy?
Me: yeah?
Nate: Actually, i changed my mind about what i want to be when i grow up.
(notice the "actually"? Remember how i told you a couple posts ago that sometimes it take several minutes for him to respond to a question and sometimes days? Yeah, well, we're talking a couple weeks ago this time)
Me: oh yeah? What do you want to be?
Nate: A snail. I want to be a snail when i grow up.
Me: (chuckling- do you chuckle?) A snail?
Nate: You wanna know why?
Me: (i have a very good idea already, son) tell me.
Nate: Cause i'm sooooo slow sometimes!

Yes, you are, Son. Yes, you are.

For example...when you eat. Or poop. Oh my gosh, he makes his daddy look like a speed pooper. And if you know his daddy, trust me...that's saying something.

All that to show you this:

All by myself (are you singing the song? i am) and not caring one iota. And for the record, he ate every single one of those stone cold baked beans. i won. kinda.

So, to continue my "snippet" we're moving into the living room, where we will find my sweet oldest baby reading a book out loud to himself. Yeah, he's cute. He's reading Dr. Seuss. Who doesn't love a little "Wocket in my Pocket"?

And, if we move around the corner to the little bathroom, we will find the littlest Sappling. Reading as well. Although with a little...um...different outcome.

"Go poopoo, go peepee, Mommy!"

You go girl. :)

There's my snippet. All together, yet doing very different things. Dunno why i thought it was funny. Well, in all fairness, seeing a two year old reading on the pot should be funny, or at least amusing to anyone...but i, of course, had to take pictures and share. So there ya go.

Questions They Ask

2010-03-17T14:53:00.003-04:00

I have to share two of our conversations with you. And no, the picture has nothing to do with them, it's just cute. Ready?

Nate and i were outside yesterday waiting for Ev to get off the bus. He's digging in the dirt and scoops up some worms as is very excited, especially since in church on Sunday morning my friend Beth got it in her head she needed worms for her lesson. And you know what it had rained overnight? Yup. Worms. I'm talking worms like you've never seem worms before. ALL over the parking lot. (we get out of the van and lizzy halts in her tracks: Snake, mommy!!!!! SSSSSSSSSSSSSS!--- that was a bonus conversation you're privvy too). Boy, i wish i'd taken a picture. Anyway, she grabbed some and the kids thought they were way cool. Anyway:

He spots a poor causality in the driveway, the poor thing is long gone. i can tell that from my perch near the garage.

Nate: Mommy, another worm!!!!
Me: oh, i see it. (i pause while he inspects it very closely) I think he's dead, buddy.
Nate: (processing) He could be asleep.
Me: yeah, i suppose he could be...but i think he's dead.
Nate: (processing...he does this a lot...and sometimes it takes awhile...like days...to come back to a question, but he's fairly prompt this time) Do worms take naps?
Me: (stumped) Uh. Well...uh...i guess?
Nate: He could be taking a nap.
Me: (i'm totally gonna leave it at that) He may be. You're right.

Later that day...

A little background: Evan had taken his sunglasses (yes! we needed them yesterday!) up to the crappy park at the end of our street. And using "crappy" to describe this park is nice, trust me. The equipment is falling apart and it's way too big for little ones like Lizzy to be on, but that's not even the main reason i don't like it. Instead of mulch or rubber pieces under the equipment, it's got those tiny little rocks. You know, the ones that get in your shoes and the kids underwear and the dust from them ensures that they have to have a bath even though they just had one that morning... ok, done. i don't like it. But his friend from school was up there so i conceeded.

This is what i find out ten minutes after the fact: Evan had asked his friend, Sam, if he looked cool in his sunglasses. Sam apparently told him no he thought they were ugly. (nice, right? kid's not earning points in my book, thus far) Sooooo.....instead of just taking them off or shrugging it off or setting them on the picinic table or putting them in his pocket (are you gettitng the point? there were several options here) He buries them in the rocks and loses them.

i bring the two little ones up with me to meet Evan after we cleaned all our paraphanelia out of the cul de sac and see Evan digging all in the rocks. He confesses. I'm not happy. But i help him look. I even go to piles he claims he was nowhere near.

We don't find them. I tell him it's time to go home and eat and i guess they're just gone.

He's sad. I'm unhappy.

But i make pancakes and sausage. That makes everyone happy right?

So we sit down. Evan says the prayer. He thanks God for our food and adds at the end: "God please help me find my sunglasses."

After we sit down, i tell him it doesn't matter what that kid thought of him. i tell him i thought he looks good in his glasses, Nate thinks he does. His buddy Brayden had just told him, "i think you look cool in those glasses!" I tell him the only thing that matters is what God thinks.

He was quiet for a couple minutes while we started to eat.

Evan: Does God control us?
Me: (last question i expected) No, God lets us make our own choices.
Evan: (nodding in understanding) oh. (slight pause) How does He make our skeleton move?
Me: (where's daddy when i need him?) God made our bodies so that we can make them move by ourselves.
Evan: (i guess this was a good enough answer) oh. cool.
Nate: (finally piping in) God made us!
Lizzy: (waving her fork filled with pancake in the air for emphasis) God made da fishies!!!!!!

They listen! They really do! Well, sometimes. ;)

And, for the record, Dustin took Evan back up to the park after dinner and found those silly glasses. Thank you God for paying attention to the little things. :)

Lizzy Talk

2010-03-09T08:17:00.003-05:00

A typical conversation with lizzy, 29 months: (3-5-10)

She was just waking up from a nap:
Me: hi! You wanna go outside and play? (it's actually 44 degrees and sunny today)
Cici: yeah!! (gasps) poopy!
Me: did you poppy?
Cici: yeah!
Me: why didn't you use the potty?
Cici: owd-no. (I don't know)
Me: alright, well, let's change you and we can go outside.
Cici: tay! On my toat, my shoes, my hat pay wif Buh- Buh and Nate? (okay. I can put on my coat, my shoes, my hat and go play with Evan and Nate?)
Me: yep.
Cici: yah!
(I'm putting her panties and pants back on at this point)
Cici: oh! Weh- gie, mommy! (oh, my panties are riding up my crack, mom!)

I love her. :)

Books I read- February

2010-03-04T11:10:00.001-05:00

Books I've read- feb 2010

The door in time **
Baccalario, pierdomenico
An 11 yr old set of twins move to Argo Manor, a huge of mansion with lots of secrets. They, along with their 13 yr old friend Rick, attempt to discover the mysteries the previous owner, Ulysses Moore, was trying to hide.
It was just an ok read. I wanted to finish it to see what happens, but am not interested in reading the rest of series.

Stealing Death by Janet Carey
I only got 8 pages In this book before I lost interest. Firstly, it's set in old times, which I'm not a big fan of. Secondly, it uses names that are hard to pronounce, which is frustrating, and thirdly, it mimics old native American practices that I'm not versed on. It was confusing already, and not in the 'i wanna keep reading to see what happens' kind of confusion. But in the 'i just don't care enough to find out' kind of way.

The Knife of Never Letting Go ****
Book one of the Chaos Walking trilogy
By Patrick Ness
A 13 yr old boy lives in a village of all men. A germ was released when their ship landed in New World and not only killed all the women but left all the men able to hear each others 'noise'- their thoughts, their dreams, their nightmares, their lies....
Todd, the boy, has realized he's the last boy in Prentisstown and the mayor is after him for some reason. He has no choice but to run... And along the way discovers that everything he's ever been told is a lie.
This book was great. So many questions and mysteries left me not able to put it down. It ended just when it was getting started it seemed! Would love to read the second one and third which comes out in May. I also found a short prequel online on the authors website that shows us a little more about Viola before she meets Todd.

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/show/feature/New-World-intro

Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
Book one of The Gatekeepers series
** 1/2
a teen has a choice- a juvenile detention center or some government foster care program. He chooses the latter and finds himself in the middle of a town full of crazy people, roads that lead nowhere and evil. He has to figure out what is going on and why the whole town seems so interested in him.
The first part was better than the second. It got a bit too weird there at the end.
Not interested in rest of series.

City of Bones ***1/2
Book one of The Mortal Instruments trilogy
By Cassandra Clare
A young girl, Clary, discovers suddenly that she can see how the world really is: full of demons and things from the Under World. She soon realizes that there are also Shadow Hunters who fight these demons to send them back to whatever evil world/ dimension they came from. When her mother is kidnapped she has no choice but to team up with these shadow hunters In order to get her mom back.
I loved this book until a nasty surprise at the very end. I wouldn't have seen it coming from a mile away and it made me look at the author's name again and say, "what were you thinking?!"
Apart from that it was a quick read and I really enjoyed it. Not sure I'll read the other two in the series simply cause of that nasty surprise, which totally affects the rest of the series. I would have given it four stars had it not been for that.

Midnight for Charlie Bone **
By Jenny Nimmo
Children of the Red King series, book one
Charlie finds out he can hear people in photographs and his grandmother is so proud, she sends him to Bloor's academy, a school for the gifted. He soon realizes that other classmates have mysterious powers too and they'll have to work together to solve the mystery of one of them.
I realized after I started this one that I'd read it before BUT since my memory is so terrible at times, I reread it cause I didn't remember what happened. It was good, but the kids started out very young- only ten. I like books meant for a little bit older audience. I checked out the second in the series so I will read it to see if the kids get older like they do in HP.

Charlie Bone and the Time Twister **
Book 2 in the children of the red king series, by Jenny nimmo
Charlie finds a relative at school- only he's from 1916. Henry Yewbean has been sent forward in time and there are some evil people at Bloors Academy that want him to disappear again. Charlie and his friends have to make sure Henry stays safe.
I'm done with the series. There are 6 more books, but Nimmo isn't a great story teller. She's not holding my attention anymore.

Watersmeet **** 341 pgs
by Ellen Jensen Abbott
A young girl is deemed an "outcast" in he village simply because her skin and hair color aren't ideal. She is berated by peers and adults on a daily basis. When the towns leader comes to convince them to rid the land of everything that isn't a blond haired blue eyed human (including the centaurs, fauns, dwarfs and all outcasts) only abisina can see him for what he really is and flees to find the father she's never met. The adventure that ensues is one of excitement, danger, friendship and the realization that everything she's been brought up to believe isn't necessarily true.
I really enjoyed this book. I had a hard time putting it down, and those are the best kind of books! There is just the right amount of detail and I rooted the main character on as I went. The author left it wide open for a sequel and I would totally read it.

I went to the library the other day! I'm 465 pages into the 703 page book, Just Henry (the fat one in this pile). It's actually taken me about a week to get this far. Not a fast read, which i prefer (i love it when i can't put one down!) but it's intriguing enough for me to keep on truckin' and find out what happens.

Conversations to Remember

2010-03-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

We were pulling out of the parking lot of Walmart on Monday morning. It was just me and the two little ones.

Nate: Lizzy? Do you want to be a monster when you grow up?
Lizzy: (no hesitation) Yep!
Nate: You do?
Lizzy: Yep! Raaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

Snaggle-Tooth

2010-03-02T12:50:00.002-05:00

I've been dreading this day. Seriously. I guess cause it's just further proof that he's growing up and no matter what i say he refuses to stop! ;)

His front two teeth have been loose for awhile. His left one getting looser and looser by the day. So last week, i took a last pic of his cute little baby teeth, just in case.

Good thing i did too, cause Friday it started bleeding, but was still a little too snug for me to yank (without some serious pain and screams, that is). But Saturday it came out with barely a tug and no blood. He was so excited. You'd have thought i'd just told him we were going to Disney World or something!

And Saturday....and Sunday...and Monday in the carpool line... he kept telling me he couldn't wait to go to school and show his teacher that he'd lost his tooth. "I'm going to be the only one on the tooth chart for February, Mommy! No one else lost a tooth this month!!!!"

Oh, it's the little things, isn't it?

And, unfortunately, that other one isn't too far behind. He's going to have one serious gap in his head!

Snow Days

2010-02-10T11:06:00.009-05:00

We got about 5 or 6 inches last week and got another 4-5ish over the past couple days. Boys played while i scraped the drive way. Course i got it clear just in time for 3 or 3 more inches to fall. Go figure!

Happy 50th Birthday...ChaChaCha!

2010-02-09T10:30:00.003-05:00

Cici's Song, An Original :)

2010-02-04T17:32:00.002-05:00

I Pae-Pae, Mommy!

2010-02-03T20:22:00.002-05:00

We tried potty training a couple months ago, to no avail. She just wasn't interested. So, i gave it a go again about three and a half weeks ago and after two days, she got it! We have a little potty in the kitchen that we could take to any room with us so she could go fast. We only had to do that a few days and then she just started going to the kitchen by herself.

Potty Box of Entertainment includes books, legos and her candy jars for motivation. :) (Side note: they are no longer needed...well, most the time anyway.)

She prefers the "dummie-boe's" instead of the "neminems"--whose child is she?!

Nate seemed to think that he needed proper payment for going to the potty too. I informed him when he was learning to use the potty, he was properly compensated for his efforts too.

Is this not great black-mail fodder though?! And, no he's not really using the pink girly potty.

See, his pants are on.

So, three-four weeks later, at 28 months she is officially potty trained! We even leave the house with "pa-ey's" (panties) on. I bought another little potty and leave it in the van, just in case. Trust me, it comes in handy!

I can't remember how long it took the boys to hold it at nap and through the night (she's still not there) but considering she's 8 months younger than the boys were when they finally potty trained, i'm totally not worrying about it! ;)

Good job, Baby Girl! (YES! She's still our baby. She'll always will be our baby, no arguments! ;) )

Books I Read- January 2010

2010-02-03T09:04:00.006-05:00

I know most of you could care less, but this is more for me to keep track of what i read. If you know me at all, you know my fave books are the Harry Potter series. Young Adult books appeal to me much more than any others. I even took a Middle Grades Lit class in college (where we read the first HP book) and it was totally my fave!

Anyway, i saw a preview in December for the Percy Jackson movie coming out in a couple weeks. I knew it was the first of a series of books and told D i would love to have the first one for Christmas. I LOVED it! We ordered the rest of the series and have both finished them. No, they aren't as good as Harry, but i still really enjoyed them. I just love it when i get a book i can't keep my hands off and this series was one of those.

After i finished them, i got on the Percy Jackson website which lead me to Rick Roirdan's site and he has a list of books he recommends. If you liked Percy Jackson, then you may like...

So, i made a list and went to the library. Most of these came off that list.

I have a terrible memory (guess that's why i can read the HP books over and over!) so i thought i'd write down the books and a short synopsis so i can remember what i read.

Maybe i should rank them. ***** Five stars is the best, one the worst.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series ****
The Lightning Thief
Sea of Monsters
Curse of the Titans
Battle of the Labyrinth
The Last Olympian
By Rick Roirdan about demi-gods battling for control of Olympus- really enjoyed them all. Finished entire series in a week and a half.

Daniel X by James Patterson ***
Daniel is an alien hunter and defends earth from bad aliens who want to destroy it. The first in a series. Was good. Wouldn't mind reading the second one.

Maxium Ride by James Patterson **
Five children were genetically enhanced in test tubes and born to humans. They have wings and can fly. Patterson has two adult books that feature the same characters. I really enjoyed the adult ones, but not this one. Fairly predictable. No interest in rest of series which surprised me since i usually love anything Patterson writes.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz ** (and a half) - book one of the Alex Rider series.
A 14 yr old boy is forced to spy for the government. He finds himself over his head, but does his country proud.
I enjoyed it but not enough to read others in the series.

Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz ***
First of two in series
I started reading this one and was floored by it's similarities to Harry Potter, right down to the description of Uncle Vernon! But it was written in 1988. (first HP came out in '98, I think). I kept exclaiming out loud to Dustin every time i hot another similarity and he finally did a google search and apparently I'm not the only one who noticed the similarities. According to the website, Horowitz decided to stop his Groosham Grange series in fear of looking like he was the one stealing ideas from Rowling. He wrote one more, then stopped. I liked this book and would like to read the sequel.

Witch and Wizard by Patterson ** (and 3/4's!)
A brother and sister find out they have magical powers but that makes them fugitives and 'extremely dangerous' in the new government regime that's taken control. They are hunted, along with most young teens, whom the government fears.
Good book, it left off and will obviously be accompanied by a sequel. I may read it. I'm not anxious to get my hands on it or anything though.

Quantum Prophesy: The Awakening (book one in a series) by Michael Carroll ***
I usually don't read science-fictiony type books, but this one caught my eye. It's about Superhumans who were wiped out ten years prior to the books start. The Superhumans offspring, once they reached puberty, realized they have the powers their parents once had. Two friends are hunted down by the same men who made their parents powers disappear years before. They have to stop it from happening again.
I, surprisingly, enjoyed it and would like to read the next one in the series.

Christmas

2010-02-02T10:17:00.011-05:00

Yes, i've been MIA. Yes, i JUST transferred these pics off my camera and into iphoto. And yes, i'm making a challenge to myself. One post every day for the rest of the week? Think i can do it? Yeah, i know, we'll see!

Hard to tell, but Evan's big present this year was his very own desk for his room. I realize this isn't the most exciting gift for a six year old to receive, but very practical and that makes his mommy happy. He was doing his homework at the kitchen table and his siblings were seriously distracting him. Now it's in his room and he loves it. oh! and i finally bit the bullet and worked on decorating their room. Oh! I'll save that for another post! :)

Enlarge this picture. Yes. They both got bb guns, courtesy of my dad, for Christmas. Where do you shoot them in suburbia you ask? Got me! Guess we'll have to just visit Dad more often! :)

I made them each a monster. This one is Evan's. I thought i took a pic of all of them. Hmmm...i'll have to look for it.

Christmas 2009
Evan 6
Nate 4 1/2
Lizzy 2

Blonde Baby

2010-01-08T18:34:00.004-05:00

"Where'd that blonde hair come from?" Complete strangers ask me all the time. They take one look at mine and Nate's medium brown hair, Dustin and Evan's dark brown hair and then at our blonde hair, blue eyed baby girl.

"Well," i usually say, "My mom has three blonde sisters and most of my family has blonde hair."

And when we were down in western, Ky for Thanksgiving, i made them all go out in the cold so i could get a pic to prove it. :)

Revised Version...

2009-12-24T16:58:00.006-05:00

Cousins, Disney World, October 2006

Cousins, Christmas, December 2009

Baby Nate, Christmas 2005

Big 4 1/2 year old Nate, Christmas 2009

Last warm Day

2009-12-10T16:31:00.002-05:00

This was a couple weeks ago. It was soooo nice outside and we decided to go to the park. And apparently half our town thought it was a good idea too!

Not so nice today though. There's a thin layer of ice on the ground and with the windchill it feels like it's 3 outside. Yeah...THREE DEGREES. We'll keep our hiney's in the house, thanks.

Bye Bye Moles

2009-11-17T11:23:00.005-05:00

A year or so ago, i noticed Evan had two moles in odd places. One was on the palm of his left hand and the other on the bottom of his heel on his right foot. The next doc appt he had, i asked about them and since they were in odd places and the color was weird on them, we were referred to a pediatric dermatologist. She said they needed to come off but we could wait until after sports season was over (since he wouldn't be able to run for a week or so). Anyway, he had them removed two friday's ago. Dustin went with him and he said it was a good thing i didn't cause i would have cried too!

They numbed him with a topical cream and send them away for a couple hours (they went to see Where the Wild Things Are, but had to miss the last bit of it) and came back for the shots. Which were apparently awful. D said Ev "screamed like a banchee". But after that did really good. :)

He had two stitches in both sites and after the first day we had to keep reminding him to stop running, stop wrestling!

Stitches came out yesterday and the plastic surgeon said it was a good thing we got them out cause they contained abnormal cells. Dysplastic nevus (i think) he called them. But he got them all so no worries. He did however recommend we take Ev in to the dermatologist again for a full body scan for more moles, just in case. Lizzy earned herself an appointment as well cause she also has a mole on the bottom of her right foot. (i had one on the side of my right foot growing up. it was removed right before we got married in 2001 and contained no abnormal cells).

This is right before we got the stitches out. He was nervous it was going to hurt. Or they were going to come at him again with those awful needles. They didn't...don't think he believed me until it was over though!

And he got a cinnamon cookie and a peanut butter cookie fresh from the oven last night for being so brave. :)

Tye Dye shirts

2009-11-10T09:15:00.006-05:00

We made these shirts last year with our neighbors and they still fit this year! That made me very happy. ;)

October 2008

Butt shot.

October 2009
(if i was smart i'd have angled them where my neighbors truck wasn't in the background. Ah well.)

Self Portrait, by Nate, age 4 1/2 (well, almost)

2009-11-06T13:45:00.003-05:00

What mirror has that child been lookin' in? We need to market em and sell em! ;)

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T14:15:00.007-05:00

Lizzy has a basket full of dress up clothes. Does she wear them? Nope. My mom bought her a cute little witch costume complete with hat and she has three or four princess/fairy dresses. But she wasn't too happy about any of them. So, since she doesn't really like them anyway, i decided to dress her as one of her dolls. I've been wanting to try to make her britches like her dolls anyway, so i did. She was totally cranky that night (she got really mad at us about 5 houses away from our own cause we wouldn't give her as much candy as she wanted...the fit escalated and D had to take her home) so the pictures are awful. I've got a few more i took the next day. I'll have to look through them and see if any of them turned out. This is the best i got from Sat night.

The moon was full and gorgeous Saturday night!

Nate refused to be the pirate i wanted him to be. He's gotta be a superhero! He wanted to dress up like black spiderman just like last year, but i wouldn't let him. Black batman was in his costume box and sufficed.

Evan told me last year on Halloween that he wanted to be a ghost this year. So, i went out the day after and found him a ghost costume, 50% off. My kind of deal. We added some smudged eyeliner to create bags under his eyes and "scars" and i took one of the black nets off the front door and wah-lah! Ghost!

More pictures from that night are posted here.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-27T15:43:00.002-04:00

We tried a new pumpkin patch this year and really liked it. And this would be a really cute picture if Nate didn't resemble a demon-child. Seriously, what's it going to take to get a good family photo?!

There are a whole lot more pictures posted here on my facebook page.

Facebook can load a whole album of pictures in the time it takes blogger to load two. Really? Seems like blogger would have done something about that by now!

"Mommy" by Evan

2009-10-23T10:40:00.002-04:00

Maybe I'm scared. Or mad. Or maybe he thinks i need a chill pill. Dunno. I just found this pic he made months ago (i think he was still five) and i'll have to ask him when he gets home from school. His explanation will be interesting, i'm sure. :)

Fall Pictures

2009-10-20T17:20:00.002-04:00

What...three posts in one week?! Can u tell the desktop has been moved out to where i can access it? Bout time! ;)

You've GOT to check out these pics my friend Beth took for us. They are fabulous! Thank you SOOOOO much Beth!

Click here for slideshow.

ROBOT

2009-10-17T17:05:00.004-04:00

Nate and Lizzy are looking through Lizzy's set of Wizard of Oz toys.

Nate picks up the tin man.

Nate (in a robot voice): I- AM- A- ROBOT. MY- NAME- IS- SILVER- MAN. I- HAVE- A- COFFEE- POT- ON- MY- HEAD.

He takes out the wizard.

Wizard to "Silver Man": Why are you talking like that?

"Silver Man": CAUSE -I- AM- A -ROBOT!

Lizzy: No! (and hands him one of the girl toys)

Nate to Lizzy: No, Lizzy i don't want a girl one!

He puts Wicked Witch in box and zooms it around the room.

Lizzy: No! (cries)

Mommy: Nate, take back the box. She was playing with it too.

Nate: But, i'm pretending the witch is flying off in a spaceship.

Mommy: Oh, well in that case... (kidding!)

Lizzy, Age two

2009-10-15T14:29:00.003-04:00

My friend Beth snapped these pictures the other day. We met her at the Indianapolis Museum of Art the day before and Beth took a TON of pictures. I haven't seen any of them yet but Lizzy was being a turd-bucket (don't tell her i said that!) and so i'm fairly certain we didn't get any good ones of Lizzy. The next day, however, i took Lizzy over to Beth's house to get some pictures of my dolls and Beth disappeared with Lizzy for a few minutes. Next day...i see my favorite pictures of my baby ever! :)

There are a couple more on my facebook page (they take too long to load in blogger!)

Heard around our house

2009-10-08T17:50:00.002-04:00

Setting: Dinner, our house

Evan (to entire family): i can tell you a riddle. Why did the chicken cross the road?
Nate (serious as a heart attack and right on cue): cause he needed to poop.
Me and Dustin busted out laughing cause he said it in the tone of "duh, why else would a chicken even contemplate crossing any road if poop wasn't motivating him?"
Nate grins really big, unaware that what he said was so funny.
Evan: (ticked that his spotlight was stolen): I didn't think that was funny. It's cause he wanted to get to the other side.
Dustin: It was funny.
Evan: well, i didn't think it was.
D: you said that already.
Evan: It wasn't funny.
Dustin: We heard you. And we thought it was funny.
Nate: cause he had to poop! [Giggle]

Setting: Kitchen, about 30 minutes later

Evan was looking at Nate's dinosaur picture he had covered in dried pasta.

Ev: That dinosaur is really cool.
Me: Yup. Nate did a good job, huh?
Ev: Yeah. I sure hope dinosaurs don't die.
Me: they're already dead, dude.
Ev: Oh, yeah. They're instinct.
Me: Extinct. The word is extinct.
Ev: Oh, extinct. [Silence for a couple beats] You mean like garbage stinks?

I explained what the word means.

Oh, and the other day...

Setting: Driving nate to school in van.

Nate: Mommy? Didn't that sign say stop? S-T-O-P. Spells stop right, mommy?
Me: Uh-huh.
Nate: well, why didn't you stop?
Me: [cringe--caught!] I like, totally paused! (no, i didn't say that, but that was my first thought!)
Me: Uh, yes nate i should have stopped.
Nate: Well, then why didn't you?
Me: Cause. Uh....well. Uh, i should have come to a complete stop and i didn't. I'm sorry. I'll do better next time.
Nate: ok.

Next day:

Nate: Mommy! that was a stop sign.
Me: [Oh, good grief!] Sorry, Nate.

Later that same day:

Nate: Mommy? Stop sign.
Me: (grrrrrrr.) Sorry, Nate.

I don't think i've driven since. ;)

And, yes...that is the reason i failed my driving test the first time.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

2009-09-17T14:57:00.006-04:00

Oooops. it's been so long since i've posted, i loaded them upside down. Ah well.

My baby turned two last Monday! I know, i can't believe it either. She is so sweet, funny, lovey, and downright fantastic! ;)

She got her first pair of cowboy boots. "Eeeee-Aaaaaaa" (Yeeeee-Haaaa, in case you missed that)

Meet "Zaaa". She just looked at this picture and said, "Cee-cee's Zaaa!" Translation: "Lizzy's Zella."

Big bros helped decorate her cake. We went with a "buh-fie tae" (you know, a butterfly cake)

She's talking up a storm. Mom and i started to write down all the words she could say these days and filled up and entire page and a half before we stopped! She's even got sentences going on. When we got into the car the other day, just the two of us to run errands, she asked "Whaa Naaeee is, Mommy?" (we're still getting used to Nate being at school three days a week.

There are more pictures on my facebook page.

Oh, and at her two year doc appointment, she weighed 24 pounds (10-25th percentile), was in the 50th percentile for height and was in the 90th percentile for her big noggin. (i dunno the numbers off hand.)

The Other Two...

2009-08-20T07:03:00.008-04:00

I realized the last two posts were about Evan, so i thought i'd add some pics of the other two...

She had her first pedicure by Gran before we went to Natural Bridge. And loved every minute. Did you know she's a girly girl? ;)

The boys found a little caterpillar. They were too cute with it. They took turns letting it crawl all over them and then...

NAte took it for a little ride in the John Deere.

HE's in there, i promise. I think he's trying to climb up the side, actually. Don't tell Nate! ;)

Lizzy and Kai watched...

Gotta get the kids up and Ev ready for his 6th day of first grade! :(

Happy Sixth!

2009-08-17T10:38:00.012-04:00

My little man turned six three weeks ago. We had pancakes and sausage for breakfast...

Apparently our singing has much to be desired...

And he had his first sleepover. His good friends from across the street came over and we decorated frog cupcakes (Evan's choice).

This is Evan's three-eyed frog. :)

We sang to him, he blew out his candle, tried one of the gum drops that made the eyes and promptly chucked all of his birthday sausage pizza. Happy birthday, Son. Yes, i was angry. Especially since this is the second birthday in a row where he hasn't gotten to eat any of his birthday cake. Last year, he wanted me to make him a green snake cake (which too forever, but the way) but then refused to eat it because it was green. (oh, yes, i was angry then too). Next year, he's getting a plain chocolate cake with no frills. He'll definitely eat them w/o puking. Well, i suppose it's always a crap-shoot so we'll see.

I liked them. Too much. ;)

After presents and eating, the boys got comfy in the basement and watched Charlotte's Web (nice, uplifting choice for a party). Wasn't my idea. Theirs all the way.

Lizzy even watched some.

They all did really good. Stayed up til about 10:30 and then (all looking like Zombies) crashed in the boys' room. And i didn't hear a peep until 6am. When they all decided to wake up!

In the first day in the first grade...

2009-08-12T21:09:00.011-04:00

Evan did great today. He wasn't too happy about being woken up this morning, can you tell? But other than that, he was good. No vomiting in the cafeteria (woo-hoo! seriously, it's been an issue lately.) Made some friends (he can't remember their names), likes his teacher (mommy does too!), rode bus home with his buddy across the street, had ice cream with friends this evening. It was a good day for my little man.

They're praying: "please, help Evan not puke" (i'm kidding. That's what I was praying!)
This was the first time he rode the bus to school. He jumped right on. No biggie. And our neighbor (a big fourth grader!) offered to walk him to his classroom. So sweet.

The little ones sat on the sidewalk and waited for the bus to come back around the block. It literally goes around one black and is full. He's on for about 10 minutes in the morning and 4 minutes in the afternoon.

There are more pics on my facebook page.

Believe it or not there is another new post below!!! i know, it's crazy.

Natural Bridge

2009-08-12T15:16:00.012-04:00

These are a few random pictures from our summer vaca to Natural Bridge, Ky. with my mom. We went three weeks ago and had a great time. There are more i'm uploading to my facebook page, if you want to check it out (link at the bottom of post). They should be loaded soon.

Baby is crying and i desperately gotta clean the kitchen before my baby gets home from his first full day of school!!! More later.

I was not happy about this by the way... kids loved it!!!!

There are more pictures on my facebook page.

Water Babies

2009-07-13T07:46:00.004-04:00

These kids LOVE the pool! Lizzy will climb out and say "jum" and jump in over and over...and over!

Isn't her little 'Kini cute?! Thanks for letting us borrow it, Aunt Bekah! We've gotten lots of compliments on it. :)

"The Guys"
These are the boys' good friends and neighbors.

The boys are taking swim lessons this summer from our friend Jill. Who is very good at what she does. And so patient. Seriously, each boy has taken two session of swim lessons at the Y over the last two summers and in just three 30 minute sessions with Jill, they know more than they did with 12 weeks of lessons. Really. Hopefully, they'll keep getting better and better cause they sure do love the water!

July, already?!

2009-07-05T09:28:00.009-04:00

ok, so i can't believe it's already july! Where did june go?

yes, i've taken tons of pics. No, i obviously haven't posted them, but here's some from this weekend. My mom came up to see us and the kids had a great time! We haven't seen our families in several weeks. Crazy.

Lizzy never goes to anyone (including her daddy) if i'm in the vicinity. Not so with Gran (aka Dawn). In fact, i sat on the other side of the table all by my lonesome! What's up with that?! ;)

This is at Maggianos, by the way. Only the best Italian place i know! Oh, yum!

ok, so this was at a cookout thursday night, but was so cute i had to sneak it in. The boys went to a backyard Bible club all week in our neighborhood (i'll try and post pics) and Thurs evening, there was a block party. Lizzy hadn't eaten lunch and downed two hotdogs and an entire bag of cheetos. I have no idea where she puts it. You should have seen the massive quanity of food she ate at Maggiano's yesterday. Girl loves her some Italian.

Friday night (there's not even an underline function!!!!!!! how does blogger manage it?!)

we went to carmelfest. And encountered the worse "magician" i've ever seen. He was horrible. Boys were moderately amused though, so we stuck it out. ;)

Disclaimer: i did not fix her hair! :)

ok, so small update, but update, nonethe less. Gotta get ready for church. Underline again?! Whatever.

Cute, Yet Terrifying

2009-06-18T09:03:00.002-04:00

So, i've been trying to tell my husband this story since Monday. Yes, that means we haven't had time to actually sit down and talk this week! How sad is that?

i figured he may actually have time to check my blog. You know, on the toilet at work or something. Tons of time to kill there. ;)

Setting up the story: Nate finds the breast pump under our bed. (shut up. i know, it's been there for almost a year w/o being used. Sue me.)

Nate: Mommy! Look what i found!

Me: Oh, good (dusting the thick layer of dust off and rolling up the cord) i'll take it upstairs and put it away (it's still sitting on the ledge upstairs...wanna come help me clean? i didn't think so)

Evan: (sitting on bed, watching) What is that, mommy?

Me: you don't remember? (we had this same conversation at least fifty times while i was nursing her) it's for mommies to get milk out for little babies.

Evan: Oh. (contemplating...) When are you going to have another baby, mommy?

Me: (choking on toothpaste) Uh....we're probably not, Son. Um, unless God decides otherwise.

Evan: oh. (squeezes eye shut and clenches hands together and says out loud) Dear God, please help Mommy have another baby. Aaaa-men! (looks up, extremely proud of himself) You think that'll work, mommy?

me: (sending up a quick prayer of my own) He's just kidding, Lord! Really, he is. ;)

Me: (to evan) Well, i guess we'll see, baby. (then i quickly changed the subject!)

AH! How scary is that?!

There. D, that's the frigthening, yet cute story i've been trying to tell you all week. Worth the wait, right?

St. Louey

2009-06-18T08:21:00.021-04:00

A couple weeks ago, Dustin had a meeting in MO and the kids and I tagged along. HE dropped us off in St. Louis for a night, drove to his meeting in Piedmont (which was in Podunk, he said) and met us back the next afternoon.

St. Louis is a great city for kids. The have an amazing children's museum called The Magic House. It was super cool. We spend about three hours there and still didn't see everything.

This was Jack's magic beanstalk and was three stories high! Nate wasn't a huge fan, but the other two loved it.

Come on now, that's just cool. I think we could have played with this for an hour straight. That's D's face. :)

They had an exhibit of the three branches of government. Evan's the supreme court judge.

And now they are in the oval office. They of course had no idea. We'll have to work on that.

Our friend and pastor is from St. Louis and recommended Ted Drewes frozen custard. Great idea, by the way, Tony! i had to take pics of the kids enjoying it.

He was serious. It was good stuff.

We went to the arch one day and didn't go all the way up, but played on the grounds. We met two twenty-somethings who were taking Gumby cross-country and wanted to take a picture of the boys with him for their blog.

There is a museum of western expansion at the base of the arch. It's free! and actually pretty cool. Hard to believe, i know. I have a picture of my best friend from middle school in front of this exact wall from our sixth grade trip. You know 19 years ago! AH!

These guys weren't there when i was though. They are animatronic (sp?!) and scared the beegeebies out of the kids at first. They go off by sensor and tell their story. I was fascinated. The kids eventually got there too. You know, after they figured out they weren't going to climb down and hurt them.

And the St. Louis zoo was the best zoo i'd been too! And...it's free!!! Again, LIzzy only lasted til about 2 oclock and we'd only seen about a third of the zoo. Such a great place.

Evan insisted i take a pic of him with every snake we encountered! We spend an hour in the serpant house alone!

They also have a Build a Bear in the zoo. We had coupons so we let each kid pick out an animal.

LIzzy had to choose between the parrot and bear. Lizzy-Bear won out.

Evan went straight to the sting ray.

And NAte wanted the turtle. His name is Turtle. ;)

Kids were worn out. It was a long week, but nice to spend time with just us!

This was mid-day by the way. This doesn't happen very often any more!

Baby blues

2009-06-11T11:28:00.002-04:00

i would love to make this black and white with just her eyes in color. You figured out how to do that yet, beth? ;)

there's another new post below.

First Day and Last Days

2009-06-11T10:34:00.005-04:00

I'm so behind. i can't believe June is almost halfway over!

The boys had their last days of school last month and i took pics to compare first day/last day.

Nate's first day of 3's preschool.

September 2008

Nate's last day-
May 2009

Evan's first day of Kindergarten
August 2008

Ev's last day-
May 2009

Where did this last year go?!?! I thought time flew when they were babies. I think it's just getting faster. I keep telling them to stop growing. They won't listen. ;)

May Highlights iV

2009-06-01T07:55:00.009-04:00

My turn!

These are the little Gap shoes i found at a garage sale for 50 cents! Just her size! So cute on her little feet.

I've always wanted some windchimes. So i bought some! They sound so pretty. I love listening to them through the open window.

I forgot about these. My mom came up for mothers day and Evan decorated her chocolate cake all by himself.

It says, "HAPPY MOTHERS Day"

The lines are snakes. (he's currently obsessed with them. Bet if i got him a real one, that would disapate real fast!)

ok, back to me. :)

I bought this at a garage sale over a year ago for $2. It's been sitting in the guest room collecting dust. The other day, when i was kicking their backpacks around the laundry room floor for the thousandth time this year, it dawned on me that i had the perfect solution sitting up there. (i never claimed to be the smartest crayon in the box!). D hung it in the laundry room and they are no longer on the floor! Oh, happy day! (yes, it's the small things.)

AND.... the pile o papers, mail, magazines, kids drawings, etc, etc, etc that usually covers this entire section of the counter is GONE!!!!! i finally sucked it up and invested in a storage solution. I love it! And my counter is clean!

And, we planted a garden again this year. These pics were taken a couple weeks ago and my plants are bigger now, but you get the point. We planted 3 tomatoes (heirloom), four jalapenos, one red chili, one banana, two red bell, two yellow bell, and nine bunches of romaine.

ANd, since my little window herbs were never enough last year, i bought bigger pots this year. CIlantro, oregano, basil, parsley, green onions, and BEkah brought me some mint from her garden. LOVE it! There is something so satisfying about growing my own produce! Oh, and i've got pumpkins, sunflowers, spinach, poppy's, and gourds that have to go somewhere too. They are currently in a little greren house on the back deck.

I'm so excited.

May Highlights III

2009-05-27T14:25:00.012-04:00

Lizzy's turn!

Can you tell she picked out her own outfit? ;) And yes, that's the Rose-Hulman baby hat we've had for years. Where she found it, i don't know.

She's showing me her belly. "Da-ba" (everything she can't say is now "daba")

I made the skirt, by the way. It was the first attempt. Second one is much better! ;)

I got a great garage sale find the other day. Didn't even know i "needed" it! I got a fisher price doll house complete with furniture and five sets of dolls (including a blond babysitter!), a camper with boat, and a pink VW Bug for $25. So excited. This is Ev helping me wash it all. And of course, whatever buh-buh does, she has to do too.

Notice, the boys are enjoying it too. But...forget those silly dolls. Look who's in the bed.

And lined up in the camper i found this...

Her other new fave toy? Is mommy's new fave toy. I downloaded a game for her and unfortunately she's figured out how to navigate away from the game and froze the whole thing up the other day. D said she's no longer allowed to play with it. i agree. She doesn't.

And this is her new best friend, Mr. Milk Carton. (yes, i've since thrown it out!) she dug the empty carton out of the trash the other day and toted it around all afternoon. Even out to play on the swing set! ?!?!?! Whatever.

And this is Dressy Daisy. OK, well she's not wearing any of her "dressy clothes" but who cares. I found this "outside stroller" at a garage sale for $2. "Bobby" loves to come out and play with us. It's so funny how differnt the boy and girl mind-sets are even at this age. The boys are behind her playing with water guns. Here's Princess pushing her baby around. And picking out her clothes. Too fun.

May HIghlights II

2009-05-26T10:36:00.010-04:00

Kindy 500

Evan's school has the Kindy 500 every year. The whole school plus family comes out to watch the kindergartners participate in tricycle races. They divide the kids into groups of 3 and are numbered into "heats" (Ev was 32! we were there awhile. ;) )

He said they practiced at school several times beforehand and he won two times!

And they're off! He so well- we were afraid he'd quit and cry (like some other little boys did) but he didn't. He finished the race...third...but he finished right behind the other two! Go Ev!

He only has three days left of school. My baby is almost a first grader! Ah!

May HIghlights I

2009-05-21T14:07:00.013-04:00

Darn blogger. Won't let me place stuff where i want it. Grrr. The picture above is from May 2008. Ok, now read this...(and don't ask me why it's blue and highlighted. I didn't make it either on purpose.

Sooo... i'm WAY behind! I know. May has been crazy so far. So, i've got 900 pictures to unload from my cameras (no, i'm not exaggerating) and i decided to start with the biggest event- my baby boy turned four on Saturday! Seems like just yesterday i was in labor with him (for three days, no still not exaggerating) and now, all of a sudden, he's not a baby anymore.

It's been a big year for him. He's gone from looking like a toddler to a AHHHHH (why's it bold now?!)

let's try again... better. ...little man. He's 38 pounds and is loving everything Star wars. (Don't ask me why. I wouldn't dare let them watch the movie. Not yet, anyway.) He still loves his Cars cars, just not as much as he used to (in fact, i found two brand new in the box at a garage sale the other day for $1 each! He was so excited). He loves mac and cheese, sandwiches and chips, chocolate cake, trix cereal for breakfast (nothing like a bowl of sugar to start the day), loves his "lightsavers" (he bought a second one with some bday money) and loves to watch movies. The new current fave is Bolt which he also bought with some bday $$).

Back in February, his preschool teacher told me he started to withdraw in class. He'll sit on the sidelines and watch the other kids. But will participate other times. There's no real consistency to it. We've taken him to see our doc and we don't really know what's up. I would never have known anything had changed if she hadn't said anything though. Everything is business as usual at home. Wierd, right? Doc didn't seem too concerned. Said it sounds like maybe a bully in class or something, but gettitng Nate to talk is like talking to a doorknob sometimes (don't tell him i said that! ;) ). Anyway, i think the summer break will be good for him. He loves his teacher and will have her again next year. I'm just praying he has a better time. His last day was today and we had a picnic at the park. While we were at school, he didn't sing any of the songs or do the motions to "Going on a Bear Hunt" (his fave) but just played with his "Let's Go Krogering" sticker. But when we got to the park, he was fine. I think it's just hard for me to switch gears. Evan is pretty outgoing and LOVES school. Nate...not so much. Two different boys. Two different personalities. Hopefully he'll grow out of it. Or maybe a certain kid won't be in his class next year.

Wow, that was beside the point. Sorry. Back to his bday.

We decided not to do big parties for the kids this year. They've had a big party every year up to this point and it gets expensive! And now there's three of them. So, we decided to fix his favorite foods, bake a cake, have some presents and hang out at home. It was great.

May 2009

He took a birthday treat to school last Thursday. He wanted (surprise!) Star Wars cupcakes. So, i got online and found some pictures and suggestions. A couple people had bought those candied reception sticks. You know, the ones you can put in coffee or hot chocolate? Well... i didn't realize how stickin' hard they'd be to find! I went to Walmart, Michael's, Party Tree, Cracker Barrell, Marsh (our grocery store) and nada. I called three other places before i finally located some on the other side of town. Ok, so it wasn't that far and i got some goodies at William Sonoma while i was at the mall!

But, the little suckers break so easily! I broke six or seven of them and was about to give up scraping the chocolate off when a friend suggested putting them in the microwave for a few seconds. Duh. Took a while, but it worked. i was orginally going to put two lightsabers criss-crossed on each cupcake, but after an hour or so, i was done. I did 21 cupcakes. That was enough! And he loved them, so it was worth it. :)

Saturday, he helped me bake his chocolate cake with chocolate icing that he requested. Yeah, there were some egg shells in it, but that's ok. ;) Everyone likes a little crunch in their cake, right?

He liked it too.
My best friend from high school and her kids were in town visiting and we grilled brats, sausages, i made mac and cheese and had those big spirally cheetos he loves and cake for dessert. It was a good birthday.

He got to go to Target with his Daddy (just the two of them) Saturday morning and use his bday $$ to pick out a transformer Star Wars ship and Bolt. I had also ordered him a new backpack and matching lunch box (yes, there were only two days left of school this year, but his other backpack broke and he will take lunch to school next year and they matched, so how could i not order them both?!). And he got this massive water gun that we got out yesterday. It entertained the child for two hours straight. Thanks, Bek! ;) Oh! And i bought him two "no sleeve" shirts. HIs fave.

Happy Birthday, My Four Year Old!

Show Me Your Guns

2009-05-11T09:40:00.005-04:00

Look at those strong boys.

Baby girl can't be left out. She wanted up on the counter too!

And look! All three are happy and smiling at the same time! Happy Mother's Day to me! ;)

I was awful about taking pictures yesterday. Shame on me. Could be cause i had my gardening clothes on, no makeup, etc! YES! I got my veggies in the ground. I'll take a pic. They look so happy.

My wonderful husband cooked us homemade buttermilk pancakes, sausage, and cheese grits. YUM! Then my gran and grandad-larry came up (in larry's new Herbie! So cool!) and Dustin grilled jalepeno poppers, sausages, burgers, we made broccoli casserole, herbed potatoes and Evan and i made mom a chocolate cake. There's a pic on the camera upstairs. He did a great job decorating the top and BOY was it yummy! Then we planted my veggies, heard about our neighbors trip to Disney (yes, i'm jealous) took baths, watched the Amazing Race Finale and went to bed. A GREAT day! :)

More Easter Pics

2009-05-06T09:45:00.008-04:00

i can't make blogger let me type at the top. So finicky sometimes.

There are more easter pics underneath this post.

Baby went straight for the shoes. Go figure.

Then the bunnies. Low maintenance bunnies, that is. ;)

And nothing says "Happy Easter!" like the light saber a boy's been wanting for a month! ;)

He is still toting that sucker around everywhere it goes. He clips it to his pants or yesterday he got an old Lightning McQueen backpack out and is carrying it around in there. A good $5 investment, I'd say. :)

Easter PIcs...Finally

2009-05-06T09:21:00.012-04:00

I had a hard time getting the three of them to look up and happy at the same time. These are the best two out of...oh....15.

Evan was entertaining Lizzy so she wouldn't get up and leave. They were stomping their feet. Nate didn't even have shoes on. I was desperate to get a pic while Liz was in one position. ;)

"Eh?!"

After church, D went out and hid eggs while lunch cooked. It was Lizzy's first egg hunt. She finally got the hang of it. And then it all stopped when she figured out there was actually candy inside the eggs! Forget finding the rest of them!

Um, guess who found the most? Bet you can't! ;)

Forgot to take a family pic. Daggone it.

She said...

2009-05-02T08:11:00.004-04:00

ball!!!! (NOT "meh"!) Oh, it makes a momma proud. ;)

She's also started saying

up: "uh-uh"

down: "doooow"

door: "door"

milk: "nooooow" ??

mommy

daddy (she calls us from her bed or from the other room, "maaaaaMEEEEEE!!!!" "daaaaaaDEEEE!"

If one of us gets her in the morning she asks where the other one is, (it sounds kind of like) "wah daddy?"

juice: "jew"

drink: "dee"

eat: "EEEEEEE!!!!!!"

hot dog: "dah-dah"

cheese: "chee"

barbie: "bah-bee"

baby: "baby"

Diaper: "diah-puh"

peepee: "peepee"

poop: "booboo"

booboo: "booboo"

book: "buh"

read: "eeeee"

outside: "ah-i" (long i)

Elmo: "Ah-Mo"

Brother: "buh-buh"

Dog: "Dah"

Kai: "Die-EE"

potty: "bah-be"

banana: "nana"

Knee: "knee"

eye: "eye"

mouth: "mowh"

AND Dustin finally taught her how to nod her head yes (instead of saying uh-huh and shaking it no in response to every question we ask her) !!! Yah!

She's trying!!! The boys were talking way before now, so i was a bit worried (but she's a third and doesn't really have to talk! so not too worried) but now she's definately trying to communicate and if she can't figure it out, she just speaks babble, mostly throwing the word "diah-puh" out there. ??? So cute.

Sorry no pictures. They are on the desktop downstairs. I pulled my stupid back out Sunday and it's still not feeling good. I've been in bed most the week. Poor Dustin. :( He's been taking good care of us though. i smell breakfast cooking now, and MAN it smells FINE!!!

Thought it was time for an update though. I've got some really cute easter pics to post. Soon, i hope!

Have a great weekend!

Did you know...

2009-04-27T06:31:00.009-04:00

i love garage sales? Well, a good garage sale, that is. Ever since the weather has gotten springy (finally!) i've gotten the fever.

What makes a garage sale a good one?

everything has to be neat and extremely well organized
i want to be able to walk up and immediately see what they have to offer-no digging through tubs or piles o clothes
nice, gently used items-no stains, tears, weird smells, etc.
ideally more than one garage sale in an area (more options, make it worth your time)
no smoking!

i love to find a good garage sale that has exactly what i'm looking for: gently used name brand children's clothes for less than 2 or 3 dollars. Ideally $1 or below! Last year i stumbled across a couple that had TONS of girl Gymboree outfits in just the right size for this summer for $3 each. Come on, it's hard to beat that!

Up to this point, i have held on to everything baby. I'm talkin' everything. I still had the swing, the exersaucer, the kick and drive gym, the boppy and...you guessed it: every article of clothing from Evan popping out to Lizzy's 12 month stuff. A couple of my neighbors and i decided to have a garage sale this past weekend and get rid of it all. i pulled all the bins of clothes out from the basement, the boys room, and LIzzy's room (there was too much to keep in one place!) and this is what my living room looked like not this past friday, but two friday's ago (yes, it took me all week last week!)

And after a week of sorting (i have a small garbage bag full of stuff that was stained or torn to either give to goodwill or toss), folding, separating, washing, organizing, finding enough tables, phone calls, fretting, waking up at 4am cause i realize i forgot something and climbing over this mess in the garage...

We were ready. My neighbors, Sonya and Rita put some of their stuff out here too. so NO...not all of it is mine. I promise! One whole table is Sonya's! Oh and one bin of hanging clothes that we put up on sale day. ;) Yes, the rest is mine.

It was a beautiful day. Thank the Lord. BUt a bit windy. The clothes kept blowing off the tables. So all the sorting and putting together pieces kind of had to be redone...oh...15 times! We got smarter and put the tables in the garage Saturday.

i thought we'd get about $250 for both Friday and SAturday combined. We made $650! AND we still have a ton of stuff. I think we're going to try again in a couple weeks since it's all already organized and ready to go. It's worth a try. With my neighbor's stuff too we made nearly $1000 dollars! Nice, right?

Best news of the day? A nice teeny bopper and her little sister stopped and asked about the bunny (who just happened to be enjoying the sunshine. On the curb. Where everyone could see her.) And with Grandma's blessing, they packed her up and took her home. Grandma told me she used to have a bunny when her daughter was small so she was familiar with their needs, etc. and when i asked what happened to the bunny..she told me she had to get rid of the male rabbit cause he wouldn't leave their small female dog alone. That's your point to ponder for the day. ;)

So, KC will hopefully get the attention she needs now. She needed someone to love on her and pay attention to her. NOt just feed her and clean out her cage. The girls were really excited so i'm sure she'll be much happier with them.

Link

2009-04-16T15:11:00.002-04:00

I was looking for coupons online (that's a whole other post for later!) and stumbled upon this website. They have the cutest dresses for us and little girls! SOOOOO cute. Check it out.

Shabby Apple

I'm thinking i could make a couple for Lizzy. Hmmmm....

Sapp Family Weekend

2009-04-15T08:29:00.011-04:00

So instead of actually going on a family vaca this year, we opted to go to Louisville for a weekend and hang out together. It was cheaper and easier since we have quite a large brood of children.

I got some seriously crappy pictures this weekend for some reason. I'm usually better, but here's the best of the worst.

This is Nina, Deuce and Aimee (D's bro and his wife) littlest one. She will be two at the beginning of May. And is talking so well! Like complete sentences. Lizzy can now say dowwww peeeee (aka down please) does that count as a sentence? ;)
Aunt Donda cooked some mean omelets one morning. Yum! That sounds great right about now.
Raisin Bran or a big ole omelet? Duh.

Everyone but me a Lizzy stayed at Deuce and Aimee's. We decided we'd sleep better if we headed to my mom's at night. Liz still didn't sleep well but i'm sure we slept better than we would have. So, one night we went over to "Aunt" Bekah's house (they have a farm) and met their new pig, Ms. Emma Lou Bacon. Emma Lou even wagged her tail when Uncle Barrett rubbed her back! Lizzy kept calling her "da" (Dog) she sure acted like one. Bekah seems to think she's going to turn Ms. Emma Lou into meat when she gets bigger. Barrett has other thoughts. I'd rather not be on a first name basis with my plate o' bacon, thank you. I'll keep you posted on that turn out. ;)

Lizzy's first encounteer with a horse.

And Baby Case. He just turned one. He's soooooo cute! I talked to Bekah this morning and he put all his mommy's dirty underware in the toliet and was playing in the water. I asked if she took a pic. Too bad she didn't, cause that's great blog-fodder!

Anyway...back to the family weekend. We took the older five kids (did i mention that Aimee and i have seven kids between the two of us? One eight year old, one six, one five, one four, one three, and two ones--yeah i know, you should see them all together. It's a mad house. They love each other so much. If you can get past the noise level, it's really quite sweet.)

Got side-tracked. Oh! We took the older five to see a live version of Dr. Suess' Go Dog Go. How was it, you ask? It was like Dr. Suess was smokin' himself a little somethin'-somethin', added a little music and invited his not- so- good-actor friends over to partake. Does that give you any clue?

The kids loved it though. Although Roman (who was sitting in Dustin's lap) looked up at him at one point with this incredulous look on his face and said, "Uncle Dustin? That's just weird."

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up, Ro-Ro.

I know, the pic is terrible. i told you all the pics were awful. I thought i'd broken my camera! I panicked. Gave it to Deuce (the Almighty camera god) he took one look and turned it off manual focus. Whew. Guess it really is time i learned how to actually use my camera.

After the uh....show...we went to the Spaghetti Factory (yum!) and the next day Aimee and i took all seven kids to a birthday party at the Louisville Slugger Museum. Dustin, Deuce, Gail and Donda went to see a movie. In a nice, quiet theater. No, i'm not jealous at all!

Let's just put it this way...we're lucky we came out of the place with all seven kids in tact. We were worried we were going to lose somebody. It was really crowded and there was seven of them. Did you know that they each have different minds and at any given time can actually head in seven different directions?!

This is during the tour. They were watching tour-dude make a bat. Or something. I couldn't really hear. But this one is a cute picture.

They wouldn't let us take pictures inside the factory part, but at the end of the tour they gave each of the kids (who were about 15 minutes past their attention span zones anyway) a small weapon...i mean a mini Lousiville Slugger bat. Like, they actually placed these in the kids hands. I gasped (cause i wasn't anywhere near them) and said, "Aimee! Take em away!" Seconds before a renactment of Skywalker's and Vador's last duel played out right before our very eyes.

i obviously didn't catch that scene on camera, but did take a pic of the weapons sitting peacefully in the stroller (at least we got some use out of the stroller. It's not like my daughter sat in it at all.)

This is random. We had pizza and cake before we left to go meet up with the rest of the family for pizza (you catch that?) and Maia was helping lizzy cut her pizza. So stinkin' sweet.

If this tells you anything about the party.... they were concked (how would you spell it?) seconds after we left downtown.

We ate pizza at the Pizza King in southern IN (which was super yummy, by the way. Their pizza is like giant tostino's pizzas) and headed home from there. The kids had a great time and slept the whole way home!

I'm working on the other pics. But i gotta go exercise now since the kids are asleep.

just kidding...

2009-04-14T15:42:00.001-04:00

there were almost 400 pics on the little camera too!

That makes a grand total of... over 800 (i'm not adding it up...my human calculator isn't here) pictures to upload. iphoto is still thinking and i gotta get Ev so it'll have to wait. Sorry!

I know...i know

2009-04-14T15:21:00.003-04:00

i'm soooooo behind! I'm currently uploading 463 pics off my big camera then i'll get the other 200 or so off the little one and we'll be back in business! it'll only take blogger 365 days to load them all. ;)

We've had a lot going on the last couple weeks i guess. Last week was the boys' spring break and since the trip to Chicago i was hoping for fell through (you know, the whole husband having to take a month off for some kind of surgery or something) i decided to pack up and take the kids to Ky to see my mom for the week. We had a great time. We went to the Louisville Zoo (which is 50 times better than the Indy one in case anyone cares) and then to the Newport Aqarium with Gran and "Aunt" Bekah (my best friend from high school) and had a lot of fun.

I've got a ton of pics from last week, from our "Sapp Family Weekend" a couple weeks ago, and like 200 from last Saturday for the Extreme Home Makeover reveal here in Indy. Oh! And Easter. How could i forget that? No wonder there's 600 pics i need to upload.

I'm working on it.

Almost a Toothless Wonder

2009-04-03T15:30:00.007-04:00

So, my baby has his first loose tooth. We were sitting at dinner the other night and he said he needed some floss cause he had something stuck in his teeth (his daddy is a flossin' fool for those of you who are flabbergasted that a five year old even knows what dental floss is!). I told him to just take a drink and it should come out. He kept complaining. D went to check it out and noticed the adult tooth already coming in behind the not-so-loose baby tooth. (that ain't gonna come out with any amount of floss, Hon!)

No surprise, Mommy freaked out. And not cause the big tooth was already coming in...cause the big tooth is coming in very crooked!

I called the dentist and made an appointment. We went in two days later. I had the whole bag packed: snacks, diapers, wipes, leapsters, extra batteries for said leapsters, books, sippy cup, water bottle...i was prepared to be there while Dr. Dentist figured out what was going on in my little man's mouth.

We waited in the lobby for all of 4 minutes (while the salt water aquarium entertained all three kids), they sat Ev down in the chair (where he promptly told the assistant he wanted to watch TV.) She turned Dora on and Doc immediately came in, took one look, and told me that was normal and it should straighten itself out as his jaw gets bigger. "Should?" i asked, incredulous that he wasn't going to call in the troops or anything. "Yep, it should" he shrugs. And leaves. He did tell us to have a nice day though.

Hmmm...i'm not all that convinced. Luckily, Ev and i had our regular dentist appt for the following week. (And NO i could NOT just have waited until then...) and he said the same thing again.

The pic of his tooth is a few down, sorry-i loaded them wrong.

And these pics i took the other day when we were outside. He was complaining that there were no pics of him on the blog, so here ya go, Son! This one's for you! ;)

His teeth have shifted in the two or three weeks i've been watching. There seems to be more room already. Now, if he'd just let me pull that little one out...

Yeah, right!

Lizzy @ 18 months

2009-03-31T10:51:00.007-04:00

This one needs a brief explanation: I was cleaning out my underwear drawer and throwing them on the bed. I turned around and realized she was using them as necklaces! She got about 9 pairs on before she flipped out and wanted them off.

At 18 months Lizzy...

is 21.2 pounds (10th percentile)
is at 50-60% percentile for height (i don't have the number with me)
has a huge noggin. It's in the 90th percentile!
is trying really hard to talk: uh-oh, ta-da, buhr (bird), pooooo (poop), dudu (is Evan's horse, Doodoo), she'll moo like a cow, num-a-num-a-num (is "i want something to eat or drink" and has been known to mean, "i'd like that toy please, brother"), buhbuh (brother), buh (bus-she loves to wait for the bus to deliver Evan to us in the afternoon-she runs up and gives him a hug), Dada (last weekend when he was alone with them, she finally figured this one out. D's so proud), Mama (she's been saying this for a long time, but i'm not bragging or anything), she has words for Gran and Grandma i think Gran is Dan and Grandma is Mah-mah (but she emphasises the first "mah"), meh is still bath and ball, she's really good at repeating the right number of syllables, but not the right sounds. I'm sure there's more, i just can't remember right now. She's trying, that's all that matters. Her bros were talking well by now, but i can't compare, i know. oh! She calls her blankies "dada" cause D always plays the "where's Daddy's bankie" game.
loves to help. She took the vaccuum cleaner hose right out of my hands the other day and "vaccuumed" the floor.
Has a temper. The boys never threw fits like this one. Again, i'm not comparing or anything... ;)
Does NOT like to be belted into the grocery carts anymore. Or the stroller.
will run the total opposite direction i want her to go if she's in a parking lot. Joy.
LOVES her bros.
Will watch Sesame Street. She actually watched about 40 minutes the other day! Oh, she says "momo" for Elmo. She has a stuffed Elmo that she loves. She'll watch some other shows too, but not for long periods.
loves her baby dolls (she'll bring me her blankie and a baby and wants me to wrap up baby. Then she'll tote her around and love on her. I've GOT to get it on video), balls, stuffed animals, shoes, her disney princess jammies (yes, already--she points to each one and wants me to name them)
doesn't eat much for a day or so then will go to town. She loves pasta and is a HUGE banana fan. Oh, she says "nana". And in turn has trouble pooping. We have to slip a laxative into her drinks. OH, she loves milk too. I've been buying her organic whole since she quit nursing. I think i'm going to switch the boys to organic 2% just to be on the safe side.
loves to be outside. Thank God spring is here. Now if it would just stay warm!
will pat her diaper (oh, she says diaper and it is pretty clear) when she poops or needs a change.
pees so much at night i sometimes have to change her in the middle. Jammies too.
loves to pull every single wipe out of the wipe bag if i don't catch her in time.

Oh, there's more, but i desperately need a shower! She's so fun and so full of love and personality! I can't imagine our family without her!

Diana Elizabeth Sapp
18 months old

AZ

2009-03-24T15:14:00.010-04:00

i left for my Arizona trip (to visit my friend Amy) on Friday afternoon and had two travel companions with me...

here's the view from the airplane. I had a great window seat right behind the first class so i had tons of leg-room. I was shocked when we started descending and all i could see were mountains. Very different from IN!

Then, when we entered Phoenix, all i could see were strip malls and houses, very neatly lined up, as far as i could see. No land! Crazy!

As a side note, i got sandwiched between two people in a middle seat in row twelve right over the wings on the way home and my knees were literally wedged against the seat in front of me. For 3 and a half hours. No fun.

Here's Amy. We met when we worked at the same school before either one of us had kids. They moved out to AZ almost four years ago, right before i had Nate. I got to see her for a little while while i was preggo with Lizzy, but that's it in four years! We spend hours on the phone every other week or so, but it was so nice to see her face to face!

Here's her four year old daughter, Mia. She really liked her prize, my traveling companion.

The other doll went to little Brooke. She's eight months old and such a good baby! She hardly ever makes a noise. I decided it's cause her big sis makes enough for the both of them! ;)

They have cacti in their front yard, so i had to take a pic. I'd never seen a real one. Well, unless it's about 3 inches tall and in a pot.

This is in their yard too. A bit on the phallic side though, don't you think? ;)

And their flowers are blooming. Of course they are, it's already getting up to 90 there!

And yes, i did finally get that margarita i've been craving since January of 08. It was so good. :)

D and the kids did great. I'm not even sure they missed me! (well, D did. He had to take care of them for 3 days!) but the first words out of Nate's mouth were "Where's our prize?"

Lizzy just shook her feet (strapped in her car seat) and smiled.

I thought at least Evan would be excited to see me. And he didn't let me down... entirely. He yells, "Mommy!"comes running with his arms out stretched, screeches to a halt in the middle of the cul-de-sac (he was at our neighbor's house) and said, "what's our prize?!"

So much love for mommy. ;)

Then and Now

2009-03-19T13:13:00.007-04:00

March 2008

March 2009

Six days...

2009-03-18T17:24:00.003-04:00

Four dumps...

and two near vomit-ous experiences later...

we have a gem.

If you have no idea what i'm talking about...read this (i made the link brown on purpose)

And yes...it is the actual gem. Boy, the things i'll do for a blog post.

**there's another new post below this one***

The Case of the Neglected Raggedy Ann

2009-03-18T13:35:00.009-04:00

Crime Scene Investigator Report

Case Number: 04-9083
Offense: Rag Doll Neglect
Victim: Raggedy Ann (made by suspect's gran when suspect's mommy was suspect's age)
Date of Offense: February 26, 2009
Suspect: Diana Elizabeth Sapp
Location: Suspect's kitchen floor
Motive: Piece of cheese
Investigator: Mommy
Complainant: Mommy

Report: On the 26 day of February 2009 at approximately 5:30pm, the complainant was fixing dinner for her family when she turned around to find this appalling scene. She decided to do some investigating. It couldn't have been the two boys who could care less about the victim (although they do find it hilarious to pull down victims pants and leave her that way--see Case File 04-0982) because boys were in their room. That leaves only three options: 1. The Dog 2. The Rabbit and 3. The Girl. Using her very high aptitude for reasoning, complainant's initial report lists option number three as the offender. It has been reported that the suspect loves to drag the victim around and ditch her whenever something better comes up. That something better in this case was a piece of cheese. Victim was taken to the couch, via mommy-ambulance and assessed at that time. Victim was treated and released for minor injuries. She's a bit shaken, but kept a smile on her face the whole time. Suspect shows no remorse. It is a cause for concern. Further evaluation is recommended.

Warning: Crime Scene Photos

Snapshot of Suspect
Street Name: Big Cheese

Report by: Mommy, CSI
Reporter's final comments: Don't let that innocent face fool you. Suspect is considered armed and extremely cute.

Extreme Home Makeover

2009-03-16T10:50:00.003-04:00

Extreme Home Makeover is coming to Indianapolis! Now, normally that would be exciting info in and of itself, BUT our good friend Scott is one of the head-honchos doing the build! He works for Estridge (the company doing the house) and has been working his booty off getting ready for this. Please pray for him, his boss, Paul Estridge, and the entire company as they work so hard to pull this off for a deserving family here in Indy.

Here's a link to Estridge's Website so you can see Mr. Estridge announce it to the company (this morning, i think) and you can read their blog and sign up to volunteer if anyone is interested! Our home is open if someone wants to come up and help. ;)

Oh, if you watch the announcement video (the second one) our friend Scott is the one in the blue shirt and tie. :)

We're sooo excited!!!

New entry

2009-03-14T10:30:00.001-04:00

Check our four new faces at Rags to Britches.

"Uh-Oh"

2009-03-12T15:37:00.004-04:00

The boys each have a jar of "gems" that they earn for good behavior. They get so many, they get a prize...you get the idea.

Lizzy loves to play with them. She'll dump them out, put them back in, sort out the clear ones, carry them around, etc. She has never tried to eat them.

Until today. Successfully.

We were in the kitchen, and i was trying to get lunch started. i caught her with one in her mouth, took it away, told her "no-no. yucky." Was i smart enough to take the rest away? Of course not. All of a sudden, she started freaking out. I knelt down and she was trying desperately to claw her tongue out (ok, not really, but kind of). She wasn't choking, or coughing, just screaming. i immediately knew what had happened. I called the doc and for the first time ever a nurse picked up right away and doc was thankfully standing right next to her. He said as long as she wasn't choking, having trouble breathing or swallowing, all we could do was wait it out.

Nurse said since it was smooth and heavy, it should have no problem working it's way down and out.

So.....add "Feces Analyst" to my resume.

Moments i Live For...

2009-03-11T08:50:00.004-04:00

A nasty sinus infection knocked me on my butt since last Thursday, but i'm feeling moderately a part of this world again so here's a post!

These are some of the moments i live for. When i hear sweet giggling drifting into the kitchen, i peek around the corner (you know, just to make sure the dog isn't wearing socks or anything...) and this is what i see. Two little siblings loving on each other.

You obviously can't tell from the picture, but she loves to sit on our tummies (any old tummy will do) and bounce. It's great. Especially after Mexican food. But, thankfully, Evan thinks it's hilarious. That's what she's doing here.

I'm so thankful they love each other. It makes me smile. :)

Behind the TImes

2009-03-10T17:35:00.001-04:00

Ok, so apparently i really need to start watching the news a bit more...er...at all.

Who in the world is Nadya and WHY oh WHY does the chick have FOURTEEN kids??!?!?!?!

Improv Shepherds Pie

2009-03-02T17:52:00.002-05:00

So i had a bunch of potatoes that needed to be used, a pound of ground turkey, and some carrots whose sell by date was yesterday. I got in my head that i wanted to do a Shepherd's Pie. Have i ever made one before? Nope. Did I have all the ingredients listed in the 5 recipes i found? Nope. So, i made one up.

Dustin comes home just now, "Wow, it smells great in here." He peeks in the oven and sees the perfectly browned peaks of my pie. "Is this that garlic recipe you were looking at the other day?"

"Nope."

"Did you find another recipe?"

"Nope. I wung it."

"No recipe?"

"No. Does that worry you?"

He shrugs it off and sits down to a pile of Shepherd's Pie and garlic bread.

"Hey, this is really good."

"Did you doubt my ability?"

"Of course not!"

Hmmm......I'm doubtful ;)

So, it's a do-over in this house and i needed to write it down before i forget.

Improv Shepherd's Pie

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
1 pound baby carrots
1/2 cup frozen peas
4-5 medium Idaho potatoes (Idaho makes the best mashed potatoes, in my opinion)
1/2 stick + 2 Tbsp butter (not margarine)
1/4-1/2 cup milk (i used lizzy's whole milk)
2-4 tsp (to taste) minced garlic (i use the refrigerated kind)
1 tsp (or more, if desired) McCormick's gourmet burger seasoning
salt
pepper
paprika

Fill large saucepan with water. Place on stove over high heat to bring to boil. Peel and cut potatoes into quarters and place in water. Boil until soft, about 20 minutes.

Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. While butter is melting, cut baby carrots into halves or thirds. Place in skillet with 1-2 tsp minced garlic. Coat carrots with butter and cover. Let carrots saute/steam for about 20 minutes or until tender.

Add beef or turkey, burger seasoning, another tsp minced garlic, and some salt and pepper to carrots. Cook meat until no longer pink. Add peas. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until peas are tender.

When potatoes are done, drain and place in mixing bowl. Add 1/4-1/2 cup milk (to desired consistency), 1/2 stick butter, about 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper (to taste). Beat with a mixer until there are no lumps.

In a 13x9 inch casserole dish (mine is an oval, but about the same size) place the meat mixture and cover with potatoes. Use spoon to form several peaks with potatoes, if desired. Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until potatoes start to brown. If desired, turn oven to broil and broil about 3-5 minutes to really brown the potatoes.

Serve with salad and garlic bread.

Yum!

Comfort Food

2009-03-02T09:16:00.003-05:00

*There's a recipe for dessert BELOW this post that i started before i posted this one*

Since it's still so stinking cold outside, i thought a recipe for some great-warm-in-your-belly- comfort food would be helpful to get us through the last weeks of winter.

This is from my aunt Melissa and i have no idea where she found it, but i'm sure glad she did!

Chicken Poppyseed Casserole

*2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crumbled
*3-4 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (i slowly boil mine over medium to low heat for 20 minutes or so)
*2 cans cream of chicken soup (cream of mushroom or a combo of the two works too if that's all you have on hand)
*2 Tbs poppyseeds
*1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine (butter is better)
* 1- 8 oz carton cream cheese, softened
* 1-2 cups broccoli, if desired (i'm thinking a cup of broccoli negates the calories in the butter!)

1. Melt margarine or butter in saucepan on stove. Pour in poppyseeds and crackers. Stir to coat and set aside.
2. Mix rest of ingredients (except chicken) in a separate bowl. Stir in chicken.
3. Line 13 x 9 inch casserole dish with 1/2 cracker mixture. Pour in chicken mixture and top with remaining crackers.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

This is one of our fave recipes, BUT the leftovers aren't great (the crackers get soggy) so cut the recipe in half if it's just serving 2 or 3 people)

Strawberry Stagecoach

2009-03-02T07:32:00.005-05:00

(Photo of actual dessert taken by my friend Beth)

A friend of mine had her birthday this weekend and we (D and i ) attempted to make her favorite dessert, the Strawberry Stagecoach from Tumbleweed. i think it turned out pretty good. I combined two different recipes and did the strawberries on my own (all i did was add sugar) and then doubled the recipe. They were wolfed down, so they must-a tasted pretty good. So, i thought i'd share. This is a great spring time recipe. Maybe if we all make it-spring'll come faster? ;) I'd even take above freezing temps at this point. The wind chill is 1 degree this morning. Bleh.

Biscuits from scratch

3 cups all purpose flour
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Toss with a fork to combine. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or a fork until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas. (Or pulse several times in a food processor.) Combine the cream and vanilla in a liquid measure. Make a well in the center of the flour and and pour the cream mixture into the well. Mix with a fork until the dough is evenly moistened and just combined; it should look shaggy and still feel a little dry. Gently knead by hand five or six times to create a loose ball.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it into an 8-inch square, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment or silpat, cover with plastic and chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Heat the oven to 425ºF. Remove the dough from refrigerator. Cut the dough into 9 even squares and spread them about 2 inches apart from each other on the baking sheet.

* i took a detour from the recipe at this point and "rolled" (or dipped, i guess) each biscuit in sugar (the stagecoach is sugar coated) and then baked them. *

Bake until the biscuits are medium golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. *i only baked mine about 13-15 minutes. When i baked my test biscuit following the orgianl recipe's baking time, it burned ont he bottom. May have just been my cookie sheet though. I think i'll put them on parchment paper next time, then bake. *

Makes 9 biscuits. (Adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine, July 2003)

Sweetened Whipped Cream

For 2 Cups whipped cream:

Beat 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 2 Tbsp granulated or powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla in chilled medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.

(from Betty Crocker's Cookbook, Bridal Edition)

Strawberries

2-3 pounds strawberries

1/2-3/4 cup sugar (to taste)

Cup top off strawberries and thinly slice. Put in medium bowl and toss with sugar. I lightly mashed them with a wooden spoon to make more juice. Let sit in fridge about 20 minutes before serving.

Rags to Britches Updated

2009-02-27T19:38:00.001-05:00

I posted a couple entries to Rags to Britches this week. FYI.

Confessions

2009-02-27T15:10:00.003-05:00

When Evan was Lizzy's age, i was always perplexed at friends who told stories of their little ones climbing on everything. The thing that flabbergasted me most was their renditions of turning around to find their cute little innocent one year old ON THE DINING ROOM TABLE!

"Oh," i remember thinking, "how in the world can they let their kids get all the way up there without noticing?!"

Yeah, that was me being incredibly haughty i guess! Turns out, Evan was just NOT a climber.

Turns out...this one is!

This is her "backing up" into the chair after being fussed at to get down (after i had taken pics first, of course).

i tried to stop her by making sure all the chairs are pushed up all the way. That worked until this week. Ya know, when she figured out all she had to do was pull the chair out first. Imagine that.

And yes, she usually has clothes on, i promise. She does not enjoy a wet shirt. Can we say "High-Maintenance"? I have NO idea where she gets it.

She may be ready to climb Mt. Everest, but she's definitely not ready for a big girl cup. ;)

My Little Artist

2009-02-26T13:01:00.003-05:00

Nate brought a self portrait home from school the other day.

Looks just like him! :)

Nathanael 3 1/2 years old

Very Odd Coincidence

2009-02-25T10:44:00.003-05:00

Just had to share:

The phone number we've had for the last (oh, i don't know) 4 years ended in 0932.

I got a cell phone about a year later that ended in the digits 0239. I still have it. That was hard enough for me to keep straight.

We got a new phone number recently. I was typing it out today cause i was changing my itunes info. D was looking over my shoulder and we both gasped/chuckled at the same time. We hadn't realized it, but it ends in 2390.

I mean seriously, what are the odds of that?!

FUN or YUM?

2009-02-24T18:14:00.004-05:00

I've gotten brave and started letting the rabbit out during the day. With the dog out too. At first i let KC out only when Kai was put in our bedroom. Ya know, just in case.

But, they seem ok with each other. Kai was very interested at first, but just ignores her now. Rabbit just totally ignores dog period. She's not scared of her at all. Anyone else think that's odd?

KC even went after Kai when she went down the hall. Brave bunny or dumb rabbit? I still haven't figured it out.

Lostpedia

2009-02-23T12:24:00.002-05:00

I know there are a couple of you who are Lost fans too. A friend of mine told me the other day that there is a Lostpedia. You know, like Wikipedia, but it summarizes EVERYTHING about Lost.

If you watch the show, this may be a great resource if you find yourself as lost (really, no pun intended) as we are.

Just type in who or what you're confused about (um, No you can't type in everything at one time!) and it MAY shed a little light on the subject. OK, maybe not, but it's still interesting.

And then on the other hand, who in the world took the time to do all this?!?! Seriously, it's all a bit much for me.

Lizzy

2009-02-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

17 months ago...

Messin' Round

2009-02-22T20:50:00.003-05:00

I downloaded a trial of this program. I'm thinking i love it! Too bad it's $50 bucks a year. :(

My Little Cinderella...

2009-02-21T12:19:00.003-05:00

...minus the rags!

Yesterday was the first time she wore her fairy princess outfit i found at a garage sale last year. I put it on her months ago and she hated it. I got smart this time and put a shirt and sweats on underneath so the tulle wouldn't itch. Viola! Instant princess.

And how did the royalty in our house decide to spend her morning? She helped her mommy do chores. Notice she's inspecting the dishes to make sure they're clean. Then licking all the tops to the sippy cups to make sure they still work. And she took the vacuum right out of my hands! Then she needed a blankie break.

Thanks, Princess Elizabeth! What a helper!

17 months old

Just so you know...

2009-02-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

Rabbit turds and purple trix are NOT the same thing.

Computer Nerd in Training

2009-02-20T08:04:00.000-05:00

Look, Ma!

2009-02-19T10:38:00.002-05:00

All four in the same room!

No, really. If you know me at all...this really is a miracle that i know where they all are at the exact same moment in time.

Won't last long. But i had to take a picture to commemorate the moment.

30 Years Ago Today...

2009-02-18T11:52:00.004-05:00

there was a snowstorm. No really, hang with me.

My mom went into labor and Dad wanted a heavier car to drive the hour to the hospital in the snow, so he went to the funeral home (i promise, i'm not making this up) to borrow my family's dark blue car (no, not the hearse, that really would have made a funny story, huh?). I guess i should include the fact that my grandparents ran the funeral home. Does that help at all?

When they got there, the doc my mom had seen all the way through her pregnancy wasn't on call (it was a sunday) and so a different doctor walked through the door. The same doc that delivered her! He had also delivered mom's friend Jill who was a nurse in training and needed to witness a birth. They told the doc this. His reply? "Oh @*%$. It really is time for me to retire!"

Dad said the doc hummed "How Much Is That Doggy in the Window" the entire time (mom has no recollection of this, go figure--she was a bit distracted) and when i came out Dad said, "That boy you promised us sure is missing a few parts, Doc!"

I heard all these stories from both my parents this morning for the first time. I had to record them before i forget. Maybe (you know, when i get around to it) it'll make a great scrapbook page.

And i definately need to scrap this...

My aunt Beth is a photoshop wizard and sent me this yesterday. How cute! And check out the mullet i was sporting? Trendy, right? ;)

Check out Beth's website and blog.

Thanks Aunt Beth, i love it!!!

CheeriOOOOOOOO

2009-02-18T09:49:00.004-05:00

I sat down on the couch to read the boys the library book Ev brought home yesterday. I got two whole pages in when...

toddler curiosity interrupted.

Half the box all over the place. And so proud was she.

My first instinct was to take the box away. But then i thought, "Nah, give it back and take a picture first." Duh. Gotta keep the blog up. ;)

She's shaking it out to make sure she got em all.

K9 vacuum to the rescue! Who needs a mop?

Kidding, Beth! ;)

You Gotta Try It

2009-02-17T07:28:00.002-05:00

For the last couple years, we've gotten together with a few friends to celebrate Christmas. My friend Bekah makes this killer breakfast casserole that it so yummy! Another friend is having some people over for brunch to celebrate her daughter's first birthday this weekend and asked for advice and this is the first recipe that came to mind. I was typing it out for her and thought i'd share with everyone.

Southern Living's Brie and Sausage Breakfast Casserole

1 8 oz round of brie (bekah uses more than this)
1 lb ground hot pork sausage (use mild if needed)
6 pieces white bread slices
1 c grated Parmesan cheese
7 lg eggs, divided
3 cups whipped cream, divided
2 cups fat free milk
1 Tbs chopped fresh sage OR 1 tsp dried rubbed sage
1 tsp seasoned salt
1tsp dried mustard

1. Trim rind off brie-cut into cubes
2. Cook sausage til crumbles
3. Cut crust off bread slices and place evenly in bottom of 13 x 9 bkng dish
4. layer bread, sausage, cheeses
5. Whisk together 5 eggs, 2 c whipped cream, milk and next 3 ingredients
6. Pour over casserole. Cover and chill at least 8 hours
7. Whisk together 2 remaining eggs, 1 c whipped cream and pour over chilled mixture.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until casserole has set

Cinnamon rolls or monkey bread on the side make for a nice healthy, well rounded brunch. Oh, and i guess you could serve fresh fruit too. ;)

New Blog

2009-02-16T15:10:00.000-05:00

Check out my new Blog, Rags to Britches.

Look at the Talent!

2009-02-16T14:05:00.006-05:00

Yes, yes. She's playing AND singing at the same time. I guess the video camera would have been more effective, but i grabbed the regular camera like i always do. Ah well. Maybe next time.

"You're bothering me, Woman." Is that what you see on her face too?

And add "able to climb onto the piano bench all by herself" to her list of talents. She certainly is a little monkey.

The Great Flood

2009-02-13T12:33:00.005-05:00

ok, so it's not really that bad!

yesterday morning, i discovered a puddle of water in the office doorway. i kept looking around for the cup of water that had commited the crime. And then (Duh!) it dawned on me that the basement had flooded.

D checked the storage area and sure enough, the sump pump wasn't working. Half the storage area was wet, as well as half of the office. But the two halves weren't connected. Weird, right?

So, long story short, we called a plumber who was so backed up they couldn't be here until 1 ish, so we did what we could with our neighbor's wet vac (including me lugging bucket upon bucket of water to the rear of our property-fun, fun) and we thought it wasn't that bad until D stepped on a damp stop in our new (gasp!) area.

I called another neighbor to help me move furniture and turns out another neighbor got in on it and knew what he was doing. He took out the sump pump, realized it wasn't the problem, but a frozen pipe was. He told D to heat it with a hairdryer and it worked. The water stared draining (yah! and no plumber fees!) but the damage had been done.

We got a restoration (insurance approved) company to come in and they got here around lunch time yesterday and they discovered that the water had actually gone around the entire perimeter of the basement. The "perimeter drains" had thankfully kept most the water away from our furniture (which would NOT have been covered by insurance-- we need to update our policy) and so they had to move all the furniture and take the pad out from the living area and the office. That's why the new carpet only felt damp. When we finished the basement last year, we upgrated the pad and it had soaked up a ton of water--totally ruined.

There are anout 8 or 10 fans and a dehumidifier that ran all night and will need to run until Monday. They think the only causality we suffered was obviously the carpet pads, and one of the two desks in the office. The particle board (in the cheaper furniture) soaks up water and the veneer surface prevents it from drying out, so it will have to be tossed.

An assessor will come out next week, assess the damage, submit the claim to our insurance, then the restoration people will come back out and replace the carpet pads.

It could have been soooooo much worse! So, praise the Lord for that.

And in the meantime, this is the disaster we have to deal with for a couple weeks. And unfortunately it's our main living space. We had no idea we had this much stuff down there. Wow.

Here's my new sewing table. Stuck in the middle of all that mess. :(

And here's the link to the post from last March when we finished the basement. It's Done!

All 3 @ 16 months

2009-02-11T10:16:00.002-05:00

Mr. Frosty

2009-02-09T13:18:00.005-05:00

The weather dudes said that is was supposed to warm up significantly in the next few days, so Saturday Evan and i went outside to build the snowman he's wanted to build since the first flakes fell. When it first snowed last week, the snow was so powdery there was no way a snow man would have stayed together, but it was perfect Saturday.

Lizzy watched from inside while i ran to get the camera. Daddy and Evan were having a snowball fight.
I bundled her up to get pics of her in the snow in case it's the last snow of the season (here's hoping!) and she did not like it. At all. See the last picture.

So, here's Mr. Frosty. Evan named him. Not too bad for my first attempt in years, huh?

Too bad all that was left was a little snowman booty the next morning. :(

She stood there and cried til i came to rescue her. So much for being a snow baby.

In My Own Little Corner

2009-02-07T12:57:00.012-05:00

So a quick update... Dustin is doing better. I see improvement each day. We went by his office yesterday morning to drop off dishes from the wonderful meals his coworkers provided us this week (seriously, i've never had so much food in BOTH my fridge's at one time!) so it was good for him to get out for a bit.

Nate is better too. Antibiotics are wonderful, huh?

I called the doc on Wednesday for Lizzy. She was miserable and glued to my hip and thankfully they just called her in some medicine so i didn't have to take her in too. I think she has strep AND the stomach virus Nate and Ev had. (oh, D caught it too). She's also making baby steps. She slept all night last night for the first time in over two weeks. PTL.

So, on another note...my mom came up that first week D was home from the hospital and i had told her D's idea about making me a crafting/project area in an unused corner of our newly finished basement. We searched online and my scrapbook mags for ideas and then went to home depot and found this unit on sale! We had to go to a couple different stores to get all the pieces (since they were on clearance they were running out) and Mom bought me the whole unit for my upcoming big 3-0.

A couple neighbors came over and helped mom and i bring it in and put it together (D can't lift anything more than a gallon of milk for another two weeks!) and i added some decorations to it and...

I LOVE it!!!! I brought ALL my scrapbook supplies and sewing stuff to the basement (it only took about 50 trips! ; ) ) and organized it all. I know where everything is...i don't have to crawl over stuff in the guest room closet to find my stamps anymore. It's great!!!

Oh, and now i can watch HGTV while i work on a project. Come on, it doesn't get much better than that! ;)

Oh, and i found this basket at a garage sale this summer for a buck and had it stuffed in The Dreaded Black Hole (aka the guest room closet) and realized it was perfect to hold the fabric for Lizzy's quilt. Well, until i start it anyway. It's in the corner of the cubby hole for the desk part of the unit.

Awesome, right?

Update II

2009-01-29T16:40:00.002-05:00

I know it's been a few days, sorry. Soon after my last post, they took D for that Xray and said he could leave. That was about 2pm and we didn't get home until about 6pm. It took forever for them to bring a wheelchair for him and then the snow started and roads were really bad.

This is the next morning (Wednesday, i guess). I think the total snowfall was around 6 inches or so. Kai loves it--she frolicks.
Lizzy didn't go out,but loves to wear big bros old snow boots. I called her Pippi all day, by the way.
Evan and i went out to play. this is the first time he's actually enjoyed playing in the snow.

He "helped" me shovel the cars out and clear the drive and one of our neighbors came over with her snow blower and helped. So nice. I took them some fresh baked chocolate cake that night. Yum!

The first snow plow came through and made this little pile in my neighbors yard.

Then two more came through and made this sucker. The kids were climbing up and sliding down.

And on top of D not feeling well (he still feels like crap and is moving very gingerly), Nate has had a fever for three days and hadn't eaten much for 5 or so. I thought it was a virus i'd heard about until he woke up yesterday with this rash all over his body. Red and splotchy all over.

Mom and i took him to the doc and sure enough, strep throat. (he NEVER complained about his throat hurting, i swear!) So yes, i feel like i've neglected him. He's on antibiotics now and actually ate three (very small) meals yesterday so hopefully he'll be better soon. I just pray the other two (or especially D) don't get it. That would really add insult to injury.

Thankfully my mom has been here all week. I would have literally lost my mind if that wasn't the case. The baby has been up two or three times during the night all week, Nate woke up three times. So, we're going on not very good sleep.

We're on the mend though.

We have to get out and run some errands today and i'm going to leave a sick Nate here on one couch with sick Daddy on the other. Talk about a photo op. ;)

Python

2009-01-27T10:30:00.002-05:00

It's 10:30am on Tuesday and the chest tube just came out! It's been in since Friday around 1pm.

The Xray they did at 7:30 this morning looked good and they gave the nurse the order to yank it out. And that they did. They braced him for it and pulled. Holy Moly. That tube was at least a foot long.

"Ow!" yells Dustin. "Was that in my foot?! i think i just gave birth to a python."

Doc has ordered another Xray this afternoon and if things look good he can leave today. If not, they'll keep him until tomorrow.

He says it's sore, but does feel a little better.

Yah!

Update

2009-01-26T11:21:00.002-05:00

So, I'm sure most of you have been updated by now, but i'm sitting at the hospital with time to kill, so i'll go through the whole story again. ;)

For the last couple weeks, Dustin has had a hard time breathing. We assumed it was his asthma medicine not doing its job. It got worse and he made an appointment to see his pulmonologist (sp?) today but Wednesday it got so bad, he moved the appt up to Thursday afternoon. He went in about noon and called me half hour later and said they were sending him straight to get an Xray. Soon after that, he called back and said they wouldn't let him leave and were admitting him into the hospital because his left lung had totally collapsed. i guess i should add that he has had blebs (air pockets on his lung) before and they have burst when he coughs causing numo thorax (sp? aka-a hole in his lung) but it has never actually collapsed before.

I was at home with two sleeping little ones and one at school so i couldn't leave to be with him immediately (who wants to be at the hospital by themselves?!) so i called his mom and got no answer, called my mom, no answer and called his sister who said she was on her way. I got a neighbor to come home from work to sit with the kids and get Ev off the bus so i could go on and go cause they initially said surgery would be the same day.

They decided to wait to do surgery until the next morning since he'd just eaten lunch. So i got him dinner and hung out with him. In the meantime, Gail had gotten to the house to relieve Tony of Sappling duty and Donda and i traded places-i went home, she came here for a bit to keep D company.

Gail and i went back up to the hospital Friday morning (which was Gail's bday, by the way. What a way to spend a birthday, huh?) and they finally took D back for surgery about noon. They told us it would be a 30-40 minute procedure and about an hour in recovery. SIX hours and three different rooms later, they tbrought him back in. The surgery had gone well, but they were having a hard time getting his oxygen levels up. He was miserable (no surprise there). They had found a silver dollar sized blister on his left lung that had burst with his violent coughing. They put in a chest tube and re-inflated the lung and put some "sterilized talcum powder" in it (or around it i guess??) that would make the lung attach to the rib cage so that hopefully this will never happen again. Doc said there is a slim to none chance this would repeat itself. We're holding him to that. ;)

First night i stayed up here with him and he slept most the night (thank you, Mr. Valium) and he had a rough day Saturday but doc had warned that it would be the worst day. Gail and i traded places Saturday night so that i could get some sleep (they didn't bring me a cot until 5:30 in the morning) and see the kids (two of them didn't feel very good). They switched his pain meds and the new drug gave him the shakes really bad. So he didn't sleep very much that night. The third pain med worked better and he's been feeling better since then.

He still has the chest tube in though. He had an Xray yesterday morning and doc said it looked good. Took another one this morning and things look good, but there is still some air and they want to give it another day with the tube in to give the adhesion some more time to work.

So...we're still here. He's taking a nap now and me and his bro both have laptops in our laps. How dorky are we?! ;)

Hopefully, the tube will come out tomorrow and they said he may be able to go home after that. i guess they have to monitor how his body reacts when the tube comes out and determine if he can leave or not.

It's a waiting game (did you know i'm not good with "not knowing" ???)

Our friends and family have been great. Our small group divided the boys up yesterday and my friend Rebecca came over to keep Lizzy. Our small group typically meets on Sunday nights so the guys came up here to sit with D and the girls went to my house and cleaned it. How great is that?

Our friend Beth is at the house with the kids right now while my mom drives up here to stay with them so i can sit with D. Deuce is going to leave around dinner tonight cause apparently a blizzard is on it's way to Ky.

So, it's been a rough week, but he's doing better now. We really appreciate all the calls and well wishes and cookies and balloons and everyone who is helping with the kids. It's so nice to know that we have such a great support system to lean on.

I'll keep you all updated. :)

Shelley

From Rags to Britches

2009-01-21T16:39:00.008-05:00

This is my second attempt at a boy doll, and i am pleased. The first attempt is fine, but a little dorky looking (NO, i will not post pics!). But don't tell Evan--he likes it. I think i will have to make him another one though sometime.

I'm calling this one Ringo. Nate doesn't like the name, but i told him until he comes up with a better one, it's sticking! :)

Evan and i picked out buttons yesterday at Joann's and i did my first hand sewn face. The boys are easy-no eyelashes to deal with. We'll see how that goes with the next girl. I like his little smirk.

Nate seems to like him too. He's taking a nap with him right now. Oh! And i made him little cargo pants! They have working pockets and everything!

This isn't a new doll, just new pants. Dustin came up with the name, "Rags to Britches" and so i thought i'd try to make pants for all the dolls to come in.

i think i like them.

Like the nap hair? She just woke up and is showing me a marble.

The New Girls

2009-01-18T13:48:00.002-05:00

This is Phoebe sporting her summer attire. She's ready for it to warm up too.

And this is Maggie. She's larger than Phoebe at 19" tall (the little dolls are about 15" tall). She is wearing a homemade outfit too! (yes, i'm proud of myself, can u tell? ;) ) Black fleece plants and a trendy retro top with purple ribbon accents. Oh! And she even has black shoes on (non-removable--i'm not that good yet!)

I made Evan a boy doll i'll have to take pics of and Nate wants one now too. So i guess that's next on my list, but i've got this cute flannel that i want to make Maggie a nightgown out of.

I'm lovin' it!

Brief Interviews

2009-01-17T07:12:00.006-05:00

I asked the kids some questions yesterday just for fun. We've been "trapped" in the house all week because of "extremely cold temperatures"--Evan's school was even canceled yesterday. When D and I woke up yesterday, the actual temp was -14 degrees. Come on, that's COLD!!!!

Please ignore the mess on the table behind him. I've got my sewing stuff back there.

You can click on the image to see it larger. He wrote down the answers by himself.

I'll translate if you need it:
Favorite color? "Brown" (he wanted to put rainbow, but i told him to just pick one color. Anyone ever seen brown in a rainbow? ;) )

Fave book? "The Drumr Boy" The Drummer Boy (his new Christmas book--it's a really sweet story)

Fave movie? "The tree little pigs" (it's a leapster video--i never would have guessed he'd put this one. i thought he'd put WallE or Cars or something like that)

Fave show? "wrod wrld" (World World-on PBS, i think)

What do you want to be when you grow up? "a goost--BOO"

Fave toy? "Buzz" (he never even plays with his Buzz Lightyear anymore!)

Fave food? (no surprises here) "MACKURONE" (do i really need to translate that one? ;) )

Evan Kenneth
almost 5 1/2 years

Like Nate's "nap hair"?

I asked Nate the same questions:
Fave color? "blue"

fave book? "Toy Story"

Fave movie? "Toy Story 2"

Fave show?
Nate: "Toy Story"
Me: "That's not a show"
Nate: "Word World"
Me: "Really? i thought you liked Super Why better." (he always asks for that one)
Nate: "oh yeah. Super Why!"

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Nate: "i want to be a...a...vampire! (Pause) Actually (pronounces every syllable separately "Ac-tu-ually") i don't want to be a vampire. i want to be ...i want to be... Actually my favorite color is green."
Me: "So, if you don't want to be a vampire when you grow up, what do you want to be?"
Nate: "I'm thinking." (goes off to play)
Evan: (whispering to Nate) "i know...you want to be Buzz Lightyear!"
Nate: (still playing) "No." (he's a man of few words)
Me: "Are you still thinking?"
Nate: "Yes."

And apparently we were done with that question. I never got an answer!

What's your fave toy? "Buzz" (duh)

What's your fave food? "ravioli"

Nathanael Jonah
3 1/2 years
I know--it's below freezing and the baby is naked?! Bad mommy? well, i tried to explain it to her, but she pitched a Lizzy fit and was tugging at her jammies. I tried to ignore her and redirect attention, but the child wanted her clothes off and wasn't having any of it. And she was all smiles after i took them off. Stubborn? Yes. Guess who she gets that from?! She did bring me her bros socks though. Stylin' huh?

I asked Lizzy the same questions. No, she didn't answer, but her bros answered for her:

What's Lizzy's favorite color?
Evan: "pink"

What's her fave toy?
Evan: "cubes" (the stacking/counting math manipulitives of Evan's)
Nate: "barbies" (she barely plays with them--i'd have to say her baby dolls)

What her fave food?
Evan: "i know! Ravioli!"
Nate: "Not ravioli-uh-a sandwich!"

What's Lizzy's fave outfit?
Evan: "A dress- a dress!"
Nate: "princess!"

What does LIzzy like to drink?
Evan: "Milk! Is milk a good one? i always think of good ones!"

What do you think Lizzy wants to be when she grows up?
Evan: "a princess"
Nate: "a princess"

She already is! ;)

Diana Elizabeth
16 months old

Sew what...?

2009-01-14T15:24:00.003-05:00

i totally have a new hobby. In fact, i think i'm obsessed. Yes, it's taken me 29 (almost 30!) years to figure out that i love sewing. It's not a surprise since my grandmother, and all her four girls sew, but i never really knew how until Christmas. Yeah, i've made a few quilts, but they were just straight lines--no curves, and definately no set in sleaves!

Well, one night at Christmas, mom and i went to the walmart ("the" is required in Ky--did you know that?) and stayed in their fabric department til about 10:30 looking at patterns. We bought one, mom modified it (it was too big) and she showed me how to follow a real pattern and sew a "real" doll.

Then she came up later that week and taught me how to sew doll clothes. I even did a set in sleave all by myself!

This is Mary, sporting her Mennonite attire in a basic blue check with a small detail of white baby rickrack at the bottom.

(ok, so it's a left over table cloth from my best friends wedding--it was a trail run--we didn't want to mess up any real fabric!)

And..my fabric for my quilt came in the mail yesterday! My mom has two patterns with her i need to get. A sage toille and a pink toille. So, i've got all my patterned fabric, but i need some solids. Thoughts? The green dot will be the border all the way around (about 8 inches) and the rest will be cut into strips to make squares. What solids should i pull out? And how many? I'm also going to do a small border next to the dot before the squares start and i think that should definately be solid. I was thinking the cherryish/pinky color in the fourth fabric from the bottom.

i'm open to suggestions! :)

16 months

2009-01-14T14:53:00.006-05:00

Lizzy is 16 months old today. I was really good about doing these posts the first twelve months but, shame on me, i haven't since. So, here's an update!

At 16 months lizzy...

is 21 lbs 4 oz (with winter clothes on)
got her first big booboo at mom's house at Christmas. Mom and i were playing with her on the bed and she fell into the headboard and cut her eyebrow. She barely even cried. In fact, i didn't even know it was bleeding til i turned around with her in my arms and mom noticed. We almost took her to the ER to get some of those liquid stitches, but daddy ran out to get something like it from the store. She's good now. i think putting the medicine on it hurt her more than the actual injury!
can show you your eyes, mouth and nose and says mouth "meh" (surprise) and eye "ah"
says banana "nana"
says bunny, baby, barbie and brother "baba" except she says them differently. Her bunny "baba" is more high pitched.
Bath, dog, ball are all "meh" (along with mouth)
"mama" she's had down for awhile
"dada" she can say but he's usually "baba"
she has said dog "da" twice but changes back to "baba" ???? Even though we get really excited when she says it with the d sound. (doc said not to worry, she'll figure it out--boys were early talkers, so i'm having a hard time not comparing)
loves to take "meh's" (clarify-baths) and will run to bottom of stairs to go up to their bathroom
loves to be naked and even took her shirt off in her crib the other day! Boys didn't figure that out til they were two or something (i'm comparing again, i know)
understands almost everything we say (thankfully she can't spell yet unlike biggest bro--we're going to have to learn french or something!) and will throw soemthing away for me if i ask or will put something back where she got it, or will find blankie, brother, etc.
takes one nap after we drop Ev off at school at 1pm. If she takes an earlier nap she won't take one later. Makes for a long afternoon!
still loves shoes. It doesn't matter whose shoes, as long as they're on her feet. She even had a fit at Christmas cause Dressy Daisy's shoes (in the pic above) wouldn't fit on her foot. She threw it across the room!
Speaking of, she can pitch the queen of fits if she doesn't get her way--look out!
is a climber--how many times can i catch her on the kitchen table?!
we have finally stopped nursing. This is day 4 without it. It was a joint decision. ;) She wasn't really all that interested and since my hubby surprised me with a trip to Disney for my 30th (yeah, you heard it--i said it!!!!!!!) in Feb, we decided to go ahead and wean. It makes me sad, but it was time. She was ready. And hasn't even acted like she misses it or anything. That means it was time.
will copy anything her big bros do. Tongue clicking, funny noises, twirling around the room, etc.
totally ignores bros when they are playing boys stuff (swords, batman, whatever) and plays with her babies. She got a stroller for Christmas and loves to push it around the house. It's precious.
is a little ham. She loves to make us laugh. And then she'll do it again, laugh at herself, and keep right on.
is a little angel. This house wouldn't be the same without her!

Diana Elizabeth Sapp
16 months

Got A Light?

2009-01-11T20:20:00.003-05:00

New Project

2009-01-09T14:39:00.006-05:00

Yeah, i've been going project-crazy lately. I think I'm driving my husband bananas! BUt, like my grandmother said today, "One project leads to another, which leads to another..."

I've been on a doll kick and i have lots of pictures to take and share. BUT i've got another proj. in the works now! I want to make Lizzy a twin sized quilt (you know, to put on her imaginary twin sized bed ;) ) Soooo...i love the pottery barn style quilts, so i took two or three ideas from them and sketched out one i'm going to make. Yes i used math and everything! ;)

The quilt will be something like this one...Pottery barn style

And i found some fabrics i fell in love with and ordered today. I wanted to share (for those of you who are interested, of course)

Purple Bird

Red Bird

Funky Tree

Blue Bird

Stripe

Blue/Red Polkas

Main Green Polka- i know this is a purse but it's a pic of the pattern. I love it. i think it will be the border around the whole quilt

My mom and i also found some toille that is perfect for LIzzy's room (her crib bedding is toille and i added some accents of it around her room) at Walmart (of all places). I looked for some here at our local Joanne's and they didn't have any. So mom went and bought some of that for me so i can incorporate it into her quilt too.

I'm so excited! I also want to make some pillow shams and throw pillows that match (did you know you can get free patterns online?!) and i want to make her a couple dolls with matching dresses (hence, the one project that leads to another...)!

Ambitious, i know. But i figured if i start it now, i may actually get it done by the time the child actually has a bed it will fit on. :)