My life and what I {heart}

january goals: check, check

2012-02-14T11:01:00.000-06:00

wow, i've been a bit of a slacker in the blogging department. BUT that's because I've been so busy with working on my 2012 goals!

my January goals were:
1) clean out my fridge and freezer really good - done! no pics of it in it's shiny clean organized gloriousness however, because, really, who wants to see my fridge. very boring. (side note confession: i had 6 bottles of mustard in there...?!!?? 3 were expired.)
2) restock my card stash - done! i made 30ish cards to get me started here in 2012. here are some of my faves:

AND I've finished one of my February goals already as well (read "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan)
that leaves me with a big paper pile mess to deal with.... anyone have tips on organizing that stuff and what needs to be kept?

dr. snowman

2012-01-29T17:17:00.000-06:00

we finally experienced some true midwestern winter. our landscape has changed to a snowy playground and thankfully the temps have stayed fairly warm-ish so the snow can be enjoyed. i love that the kids can get fresh air on a daily basis rather than be stuck inside to avoid losing fingers or noses due to frostbite.

the milder temps has provided snow that actually packs together and so dr. snowman has come to life:

the eldest named him. stating he looked like a doctor. (side note: we have never been to a doctor that sports a mustache and smokes a pipe)

miss j has been asking each day to make some "snow friends" for the good doctor. we may need some fresh snow to accomplish this though.

what i missed

2012-01-17T16:10:00.000-06:00

so December was a pretty happenin month in our household.... and i missed blogging about most of it ;)
so a little re-cap is in order:

first up is this girls b-day. she's SEVEN. she is fabulous. she is truly a sweetheart. she is sensitive and caring to the underdog (however her 3 year old sister is NEVER the underdog. ever.) she loves candy and sweets and dislikes green veggies. she loves legos. i made her a giant chocolate chip cookie on her birthday.

then we have miss baby's b-day. she is two. a baby no more (big sniff) she is a darling. sweet and adorable. she talks like she is a grown up in a two year old way (can't explain that very well!) she is hooked on junk food and refuses most healthy foods. she is quiet and sneaky and gets into my sugar pot on a weekly basis. she loves to watch the "12 Dancing Princesses" Barbie movie and dances around with her sister's black ballet flats on.

and then a plethora of wonderful Christmas parties with too many pictures to even begin picking and choosing a few to post. so i go with none.

the resolution bandwagon

2012-01-02T22:49:00.000-06:00

i'm hopping on....

my goal list for 2012:

January - restock my card stash
                really really clean my fridge/freezer
February - stop avoiding and actually read my copy of Crazy Love by Francis Chan
                figure out a filing system i can maintain and take care of the paper mess
March - scrapbook at least 5 layouts
               clean out the storage area in the utility room (i'll have to be sure to take a "before" picture, yikes!)
April - do 2 projects i have "pinned" from Pinterest
         - paint the back porch and steps
May - read 2 novels from my list of "books i want to read"
         - clean out at least 1/3 of the garage (another one to have a before picture of!)
June - run 5 miles in one workout
         - finish the front porch project
July - go "screen free" two days a week (no computer or tv)
       - ruthlessly clean out the girls' closets
August - keep a daily journal
            - clean out another 1/3rd of that garage
September - try to can or preserve something i haven't done before
               - ruthlessly clean out our closet
October -  try 4 new recipes
             - finish the garage
November - actually be organized for Christmas this year and make the gift ideas and to do list
                 - back up my pictures and empty my camera card
December -  make a reusable daily calendar to start in the upcoming year
                - clean out the attic

MAYBE since i posted this on here for the world (or the 10 or so people that read my blog) to see, i will be more likely to complete this list. some are for sure more lofty than others, some will be quick, some require A LOT of work.
or MAYBE i will be like the majority of other "new year resolution" makers and fall right back off the resolution wagon.
MAYBE i will regret the day i posted this
MAYBE i will be so motivated to see things being completed i'll finish my list early
maybe maybe maybe
MAYBE i will
MAYBE i won't

and MAYBE if i care to share my successes or failures i will post each month (or so) on how i'm doing on this list. we shall see.

i leave you with this fabulous picture of my kids:

buh-bye 2011, thanks for a great year!

2011-12-31T20:28:00.000-06:00

a look at a few events from the year:

january = warm pj's and sweaters, it was a cold one.

february = little love bug

march = going a little stir crazy from a long winter

april - all dressed up for a wedding chad officiated

may - we put a backyard in

june - we celebrated this amazing lady's 75th b-day

july - strawberry picking on the 4th

august - all the grand kiddos from hubby's side

september - harvesting from my first gardening attempt

october - enjoying a fabulous warm fall day at the park

november - raking leaves, lots and lots of leaves.

december - merry christmas!

we are beyond blessed. it sounds so cliche' however it is not meant that way. looking forward to see what God has in store for us in 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

I {heart} the blooper reel

2011-12-27T12:38:00.000-06:00

i love it when a dvd has a "blooper reel"

always good for a laugh.

here is our version of a blooper reel from our family photo shoot:

a little argument going on between #2 and 3 about holding hands

miss j is always so cooperative

the younger two are making a break for it

the pics of all 4 on the sled didn't work out so well...

trying again

picture crasher

typical

so many faces

snowball fight

payback

again, stellar cooperation from miss j

after only about 15 minutes out there miss baby was inconsolable sad

not even a kiss from mommy will help. we're done.

the end.

secret superpowers

2011-12-22T15:49:00.000-06:00

so miss j was taking her saturday bath and we believe she discovered her secret superpower.

she called out of the tub in her super excited way:

DADDY DADDY GUESS WHAT?!! MY BUTT CAN MAKE BUBBLES!!!

we couldn't be more proud.

walking in a winter wonderland

2011-12-15T10:52:00.000-06:00

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein

a couple quick projects

2011-12-05T11:37:00.000-06:00

just sharing a couple projects as of lately (and i use that term quite loosely). i seem to be in a bit of a slump. not wanting to do any type of project, not wanting to decorate for Christmas, just not really wanting to do anything apparently.

anyhoo, a set of cards i made (inspired by this on pinterest)

i cut random "birdish" type shapes out of a piece of knit fabric and then traced around it, added legs, beak and eye. these came together quick and i think they turned out pretty cute :)

and the only scrapbook page i have created in months....

it is nothing super exciting. and looking at it now i wish i would have added more paper behind the pictures or something. it all looks rather blah. BUT it was done in like 15 minutes AND it's done (unless of course i rip the pictures off and add more paper).

that is all. i will now continue on in my scroogy-ness, not wanting to do anything ways, but i can scratch off "update blog" off my to do list for today. ;)

did you know i {heart} vintage things?

2011-11-22T23:33:00.000-06:00

i may have mentioned that a time or two.

but in case you forgot i will remind you. i really really realllllyyyyy love vintage things.

it absolutely amazes me how things find their way back to being "cool" again. in the fashion world. in home decor. (do you think wallpaper borders will make a comeback?) i am learning to never say that i don't like something because it always seems to come back around and bite me in the behind. i proclaim i don't like the color purple and lo and behold a year later i have 5 purple shirts in my closet.

anyhoo. just wanted to show off a few things i have found thrifting lately:

a hobnail vase.
( fyi: yvonne & renee this does NOT mean i have given up on mom's hobnail vase, mmm k? )

a darling pink pyrex casserole dish with daisy print (i'm thinking of watching for more vintage pyrex in various colors to stack up on some open shelves in my kitchen)

an Aladdin plaid thermos...

two in this pic: the wire bird basket and an adorable afghan

this little guy is also nearing the vintage stage.... our oldest prays for him EVERY night to "stay healthy and strong" oh how i dread the day he leaves us and we have to break that girls heart. as much as i tire of cleaning up the dog hair we do love him ;)

and related to all this i have put myself on a 30 day spending ban (again... i did this in mid-september to mid-october and apparently it did not teach me anything long term). with the exception of buying Christmas gifts i will be refraining from making any non-necessity purchases. this really should not be so hard, right? right. i need to focus on USING the things i've picked up here and there. following through on all those projects i have in mind. that's the plan, stan! :)

I {heart} Little House on the Prairie

2011-11-14T14:34:00.000-06:00

and so does this girl:

she just finished reading "Little House in the Big Woods" in her class and they had a special day to dress up like a character from the series. after searching high and low for aannnyything that could possibly work we came across my old 8th grade graduation dress. it was huge on her so we belted it up, threw on some boots and called it "good enough" i told her she could be "Nelly" because she was wearing a fancy dress. she wasn't too keen on that idea. i believe she said she was laura or mary in their sunday best.

oh how i loved these books and tv show while growing up. my sister and i used to watch it every day after school. (i loved the part in the intro when carrie is running down the hill and falls over but then gets up right away, so cute. just a random tidbit about me i am sure you are super excited to now know) i am so ecstatic that my girl is getting into these now too.... YAY! :)

they {heart} the park (and so do i) :)

2011-10-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

"cool pictures" gone wrong

2011-10-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

i am reminded over and over again at how different each of my girls are...

i took both of my older girls' pictures so far this fall and in an attempt to get that "cool picture" i copied the idea of the big open frame. with my eldest they turned out great and one of my fave pics of her is one with her holding a frame.

This is what happened with my second.

click on the picture to make it bigger to see it better

oh she cracks me up. what a goof.

we did get some good ones amongst her antics though:

Shout Out to Aunt Renee!

2011-10-18T15:05:00.000-05:00

my fabulous sister (one of them, they are all fabulous) knit us some super soft, warm and adorable hats!

they all put them on before dinner and thought they should keep them on to eat.
warm heads = better eaters i guess?

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pumpkin pickers

2011-10-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

we took a quick trip to "Pumpkinland" a couple weeks ago.

here's the low-down via pictures:

the sun was setting as we arrived and it was beautiful

the older kiddos tried out the munchkin maze

she talked this kitty's ear off and all the other adorable animals in the petting zoo area

they checked out the llamas and goats and mini-pony (baby goats are SO cute! i want one)

then they were off to pick out their pumpkins.
the only rule: you must carry your own pumpkin

the birthday girl picked a pretty big one

this was miss j's pick and her attempt to "roll" it out of the field
(kind of reminds me of those "mighty dog" commercials where those little yappy dogs think they are big tough dogs, ya know?)

she recruited a friend to carry one for her

my first attempt at a group shot of the girls

fail.
so we headed back to the main building to measure up.

Then... one more attempt at a girls group shot:

seriously?!? is it so hard to just get ONE decent picture?

yes. yes it is.

but the picture completely cracks me up (you have to find the humor in life right?) miss baby is out of there as she has her eyes on all the things she can get into, number 2 is rolling her eyes to the heavens, the eldest is not paying attention and miss j is turned around pouting about something giving us a half moon. nice.

happy fall!

2 down 2 to go

2011-10-04T11:30:00.000-05:00

my second least favorite job as a parent (in first place is potty training): teaching them to ride a bike.
which is why i pretty much offed this job to dear hubby. (hey, i do the potty training, so it's only fair right?) i did attempt it a couple times but both of us ended up frustrated after about 2 minutes.

but about a month or so ago girly #2 mastered her bike sans training wheels. YAY!

a little play by play in pictures:

walk bike to top of driveway (downhill is easier for starting, right?)

there she goes!

turn around through the grass

oops, look out for the pine tree

and the neighbor's yard

smile for mom :) so proud of you girly!

i do not {heart} the cone of shame

2011-10-02T22:15:00.000-05:00

so norman got into a little scuffle with the bathroom door. a bathroom door and a 21 month old toddler who must slam all doors she finds open. he didn't make it through in time.

of course it happened as i was literally on my way out the door for coffeebreak.

did you know dogs' tails bleed A LOT? i do now. my kitchen looked like a massacre had happened.

i lost my brain in the chaos of it all but when i found it i finally put the profusely bleeding tail and it's owner outside. so now there is blood all over my deck too.

my amazing hubby to the rescue. he raced home. helped me clean up. took the dog to the vet (without a single blood stain in the van, thank you very much) and got me and girlies to coffeebreak only a half hour late ;)

poor little norman. he had to wear the "cone of shame" as we called it (quoted from the movie "Up" love that movie!) for a week. he ran into everything. he took skin off the backs of my legs several times. miss baby would hold up her hand and yell "no no no-man" whenever he came toward her cause she didn't want to get taken out by the thing.

on a happy note, his entire tail is still intact. they thought at first they would have to amputate the bottom few inches because they couldn't get it to stitch together. they super-glued it instead and then kept him there sedated for a couple days so the bandage would stay on (it flung off whenever he got excited and wagged his tail).

but now the cone is gone and the bandage fell off soon after he returned home. as miss j tells everyone who comes over "norman all better now" :)

life is fine at nine

2011-09-27T13:28:00.000-05:00

my oldest girly girl is 9 today.

i know it sounds so cliche' but my life changed so profoundly on this day 9 years ago i can't even find the words to describe it.

my heart is filled with pride for her. she is a beauty, inside and out. she loves fiercely, is sensitive, funny, creative and genuine. she is full of awesome.

i recall the day she was born, i could not take my eyes off her. for real, no matter who was holding her in that hospital room i could not stop staring at her. she had a head FULL of black hair, sweet rosy cheeks and intense eyes already so alert, taking everything in.

and now she looks like this:

still a head FULL of hair (just not black), still sweet rosy cheeked, and beautiful eyes (slightly different colors) that take everything in.

happy birthday sweetheart!

hey little lady

2011-09-19T13:52:00.001-05:00

miss "thang" has mastered the steps to the point where i am not completely paranoid she will fall and break her head. (we have a treacherous little curve at the top)

and do my eyes deceive me? could it be? these two munchkins are actually BOTH looking at the camera and smiling/looking cute?! at the same time?
amazing.

two dolla, two dolla, whaddya got for two dolla?

2011-09-14T14:57:00.001-05:00

as i mentioned awhile back (here) i have fallen in love with "thrifting" it helps with my desire to go shopping (alot) while keeping us on track in the budget (well, closer to the track instead of vearing waaaay off course over a steep ravine into a ginormous pit. drama much?)

my rule of thumb: if i don't have an immediate place for it in my home and it's not on my list of "things to look for at the thrift store" i keep in my purse then i can't take it home.

this past week i scored a few things that i want to share with you cause i am sooo excited about them that i have to show them off and hubby just doesn't get very excited about these treasures that i come home with. imagine that.

i frequent our local thrift store pretty much every week and this past weekend was also our city wide garage sales.

side note: i am a really bad garage saler. i can't seem to make myself get up early and plan out a route to hit the best ones right when they open, etc... i go when it's convenient (ie: hubby is home to take care of the kids) and i randomly drive around and stop at the ones that look interesting.

anyhoo, on to the treasures:

first, at a garage sale i scored this super cute cotton fabric = $2
2 yards will be plenty (hopefully) to sew a few matchy skirts for my girlies for next spring. (oh and they will be soooo happy to wear matching skirts. bwaaa haa haa.)

next up is this vintage floral sheet set. = $2
i'm debating on keeping it as an extra sheet set for miss j's bed or i have seen some very cute sewing projects with these types of sheets. (more skirts!) i just love the colors. i pondered on this one for quite awhile though. it was at the thrift store and has been there for a good month or so. each time i went in i would look at it, hold it, put it back. this last time it came home with me.

OH. MY. oh my, oh my, ohhhhh myyyyy.

vintage lawn game = $2 (apparently that is my "price" $2? sold!)

my sisters and mom (well maybe my mom will think it's silly) will appreciate this one. we had this game growing up. and here it is. BRAND NEW. (our version as i remember it was totally faded out from being left out in the sun and most all the pieces were missing by the time i was old enough to figure out how to play it)

now in order for this to fall into my rule for bringing it home, i should take it out of the box and actually play it with my kids.

i haven't done that yet. i just stare at it all nicely preserved in it's adorable vintage box and smile.

but i will.

promise.

someday.

soon.

-ish.

and then we will pick it and put it right back in the box very carefully.

there was a whole pile of vintage games in pristine condition for only $2 each. i picked up "racko" too. the box says 1966 on it but i neglected to take a picture of it. (LOVE that game and used to play it with my mom all the time) i made chad play no less than 12 rounds of it the very night i brought it home. guess how many i won?

one

but i still love it.

and one more picture of fabulous "thrifty-ness"

zinnias from my garden = free
blue jar = free from a local thrift store a long time ago (SCORE!)
yummy red tomato from my garden that is now in my tummy = also free

free is an even better price than $2, no?

party here:

about the garden

2011-09-12T12:29:00.000-05:00

i attempted my first ever garden this year. what an awesome feeling when it is planted and there is all this hope and anticipation for what might come. i loved it! :)

i wanted to make some notes on how it went so i can improve next year.
(WARNING - probably really boring post but it's my blog so i can do that, right?)

before i begin, for your viewing pleasure, a little before and after:

the before

the after (from a slightly dif angle)

yay for a yard with grass rather than a big sand pit that has random spots of weeds (i didn't find a "real" before picture that showed the loveliness that was our back yard for over a year, so you will have to trust me that it is much improved)

anyhoo, on to the garden notes.

what i planted: (well actually my mom-in-law planted while i stood there and pretended to be useful)

cucumbers (3 of them from starters): they grew like crazy and sort of took over the section, inter-twining with other plants. i did cover them with milk jugs (bottoms cut off) at first to protect them.
--> next year maybe just one plant since i don't want to make pickles and only 2 of the 6 of us will eat them.

onions (yellow bulb thingys): they didn't make it. they started off great (as in the first thing to come up) and i cut some of the tops and added to my salads in june when my lettuce was growing. later they were covered up by other plants and died off. there were a few small onions that tasted fine, they were just teeny tiny.
--> next year put them all together in one square somewhere "safer" (maybe next to the lettuce)

carrots (from seed): they are doing okay. i didn't thin them well enough so some are weird looking. i'm okay with weird looking though. :)
--> next year just thin better (do it earlier so it doesn't seem so sad to pull out the cutie-patootie little carrots that are growing, ha ha)

beans (pole kind, from seed): they seemed kind of slow to come up but once they did they grew like crazy crazy. however, in july when everyone was harvesting massive amounts of beans i had NONE. no sign of a bloom, nothing. fast forward to september (as in two days ago: sept 10) i harvested my first beans and in another week or so i will have tons.

my late bloomin' beans

--> next year... i don't know what i could have done differently. maybe i didn't water consistently enough?
(i was kind of a lazy waterer)

lettuce (a "salad mix" from seed): filled a whole half of one of the beds = waaaay too much all at once. but it came up great and grew like crazy.
--> next year only plant a quarter of a bed with lettuce and stagger planting times by a couple weeks maybe so it's not all ready and then done at the same time

zinnias (for pretty-ness and having cut flowers in the house and to give away) - these did awesome but kind of took over in some areas (they were partly to blame for my lost onions) i was kind of lazy and didn't cut use them as often as i could have.
--> next year expand the flower options to a few different kinds. if chad builds me another bed i could use one for just flowers

tomatoes (two different types, 8 starter plants around two large cages. i covered them with milk jugs and they grew like crazy at first due to the greenhouse effect from being covered. once they started growing out of the tops of the jugs i uncovered them and used blood meal to keep the bunnies away. their growth slowed way down and i lost one plant to the bunnies i am guessing. in just the last couple weeks i have finally started getting ripe tomatoes. there is a ton on there and i hope that i will be able to can some.
--> next year maybe try to find a sunnier spot for them, maybe they will ripen faster.

peppers (two different types, 1starter plant each): these were too big to put milk jugs on. they never really "took off" according to my wise vast knowledge of pepper plants. (not) i have not gotten any peppers yet, there are a couple growing though.
--> next year, try a different location maybe? maybe a different kind as well.

other notes: the grapevine (already here when we moved) didn't do as well this year. very few grapes compared to the last couple years. need to prune it good this fall and see what happens next year. anyone know anything about pruning grapes? (we maaay have knicked it with some "round up" which maaaay be part of the problem)
planted a hydrangea (to remind me of home... i miss those big blue blooms so much!) but i don't know if it will make it. it was clearanced out and i didn't plant it very quickly and then i think i planted it too shallow and the roots were really hard to loosen up. i plan to mulch it with leaves and maybe put a bucket over it for the winter?

so overall a really good experience for my first official garden. i may just become a gardener yet. my brown thumb has sort of a greenish tint to it.

and for grandma d's sake... a couple pics of some "helpers" who "helped" me pick some things this past week

move over summer, here comes school

2011-08-31T12:07:00.000-05:00

i had one excited child for the first day of school:

1st grade

and one who was not (despite the smile on her gorgeous face):

3rd grade

nerves about new teachers and routines makes her a bit hesitant, but now that we have a good week in she is relaxing a bit and enjoying it more. phew.

these poses above cracked me up. little divas i have got on my hands. my only prompting for this photo shoot was to hold up their fingers indicating what grade they were in.
aaannnd to show that they actually do love each other (below)

and they are off....
(sans backpacks that were brought to school the night before for the open house)

praying God's blessings over you sweet girls for a wonderful school year.

elastic love

2011-08-29T10:49:00.002-05:00

i finally found what i was looking for.

elastic thread. (what? did you think it was going to be something more monumental than that?)

i can not tell you how many times i have checked at wally world for this stuff the past few months. (and it's A LOT cause it seems i am there about 5 times a week, no lie.) scanning the sewing area, meticulously checking the thread display, cause silly me thought that elastic thread would be with the THREAD. silly me, neglected to think about the first word of said product. eeelaaasss-tic. yep. it was by the elastic. go figure.

anyhoo. i have been itching to try my hand at sewing a few projects with this stuff so last weekend (two weekends ago? i dunno anymore) i dusted off my sewing machine and started in with my fabulous new find.

i made all this:

first off the easy peasy t-shirt refashion following this awesome tutorial

i took 2 of hubby's old t-shirts and sewed them in and then cut off the neck and sleeves. wa-la. an 80's inspired "flashdance" t shirt (as my sis told me it looked like, ha ha) super easy, the only issue was that since they were cheapy t shirts was the graphics weren't really centered on the front so they ended up even more crooked when the t shirt was sewed in. no biggie though, i just twist it a little once i put it on and it's all good.

next up was this skirt:

cue fabulous elastic thread

nice and wrinkly huh?

i picked up a 3X t shirt that was on clearance at wally world for only $3, hacked it off under the sleeves and ruched the top with my snazzy new elastic thread.

i followed this tutorial. well, in the long run i did. first, i tried to add a tier to the top of it before i did the shirring because i thought it would be too short and i ended up sewing it together wrong but i shirred the top anyway and did too many rows and then it didn't fit, so i took it all back apart and just followed the tutorial like i should have in the first place. lesson learned. no close up pics cause it is far from perfect!

and lastly i made these two "ruffly" scarves:

the one pictured above is sewn from a remnant piece of fabric i picked up at wally world for just over $1 (see, i told you i was there a lot!). it was shorter than i wanted so i cut it in half and sewed the ends together and after that i sewed two rows with my handy dandy elastic thread to create a ruffly effect. the edges are unfinished and look kind of raw but the fabric was really hard to work with, so i am just gonna "go with it" rather than try to put a seam on it.

for this one, i took an old pair of flannel pants and just winged it. i cut the legs off, and sewed them together and then "ruffled" them. the length is kind of weird so i may sew the ends together and make it an infinity scarf instead. this one i am not so confident about. does it look like i just wrapped a ratty old pair of flannel pants around my head?

so that was my weekend of sewing (along with mending a couple things for my girlies). pretty productive, no?

linking to some blog parties i follow:
Polly Want a Crafter
Between Naps on the Porch
A2Z Tutorials and Tips Tuesdays
Finding Fabulous (friday)
Tatertots and Jello (friday)

click on the links to see some fabulous-o stuff that others have linked up. :)

last shots of summer....

2011-08-25T16:17:00.000-05:00

school has officially started. and even though it's still warm and sunny there is a feel of fall in the air and summer is done. over. kaput. (can summer be kaput?) insert big fat sad face.

i feel a bit ill-prepared for this. i still have some "back to school" shopping to do for my girlies and they are already back to school. it's not that they are going to school neked or anything. they have some shiny new things to wear and all of the necessary school supplies. i just haven't finished my "list" for the first day. no fresh new haircuts, shiny-cleaned-by-a-dentist teeth or new socks.

bummer, huh?

oh well, life goes on. the haircuts will come, dentist appointments have been made, and socks can be purchased at Wally world.

anyhoo, we did get a lot of fun beach time in this summer and made it to the pool, they had playdates and sleep overs (though not nearly often enough according to their standard)

some last shots of august beach and pool time:

safety first!

ignore the blur... there was a smudge on my lens :(

Big Girl Bed

2011-08-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

miss j is long overdue for a big girl bed.

i was dragging my feet cause "if something ain't broke, then don't fix it." (ie: if she doesn't climb out of the crib and she still fits inside of it without bending anything then let it be)

however, it was time. i conceded that a fully potty trained child should have access to a bathroom. and lo and behold, the week i started painting up her new bed she started climbing in and out of the crib.

i broke out my old Holly Hobbie sheets for the occasion :)
(THANK YOU Grandma D for saving them all these years! so happy!) her quilt will be finished for Christmas or her birthday -don't quite remember which is the plan. but it will be SPECTACULAR since my mom is lovingly making it for her. (she rocks like that)

she loves her bed and spends way more time up in her room playing now. she is also quite fond of the new bed time ritual we have started of singing a song and praying with her before lights out. amazingly, she also will still nap without much fuss and i have yet to tell her to get back in bed.

the first night in her new bed:

a dozen cousins

2011-08-17T23:35:00.000-05:00

all 12 grandkiddos from my hub's side were here this summer all at the same time.

of course, grandpa and grandma thought that required pictures.

of all of them.

at the same time.

to put in a frame.

on their wall.

(yep they're nuts)

my camera was supposed to be the one to get the "good" pic.

i'm hoping that someone else's camera captured that illusive, semi-decent picture where everyone is looking in one direction at the same time with a smile, semi-smile, smirk, somewhat decent look on their face.

even so, i love these pictures. because that is where life is at right now, lots of beautiful little faces, looking in all different directions, taking in the world for all it offers, smiling when they want to, not cause someone tells them they have to. (or when their aunts are jumping around like crazy monkey's and hollering like hyenas behind the camera)

those were the best ones

this one makes me laugh out loud. for real. (hey that should be an acronym, lolfr. when something really does make me laugh out loud, not just something mildly amusing that may have made me smile. or maybe it already is but i am so wildly behind the times cause i don't have my own cell phone and am completely inept at texting that i don't know it is already way overused and so last year) it's late, i should be in bed, excuse the rant

side note: i also edited a picture that i thought was pretty good and then realized after it was all done and i was about to edit it again a little differently (ya know, options to pick from) that one of them was missing completely from the picture. hmm. don't think grandpa would like a picture where one of his grandsons was MIA. delete.

a little piece of heaven

2011-08-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

"Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach."- Michelle Held

we do not want you in the zoo.

2011-08-06T23:12:00.000-05:00

out you go. out, out with you.

(can you name that book?)

so we went to the zoo in omaha a couple weeks ago. and this is the story.

these two:

acted like him: (or her? not sure.)

this beauty:

is this girls fave.

we packed a lunch. full of junk food. don't judge.

she was enthralled that we were even adding "junk" to our water

my fave

i may have passed on my love for these guys to them

they posed for pictures:

they humored me by riding the giraffe statue for a photo op:

this one did not find it humorous however:

one of our most favorite spots in the zoo. we could have sat and watched for a long time. difficult to photograph though.

it was hot.

we tried to stay cool.

with sprinklers

and drinking lots of water (even some without "junk" added to it)

and he just is cool

we also ate ice cream to cool off, but i was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures of such things.

it was a super duper day.

full of big cheesy smiles

fun things to do.

and cute things to look at:

the end.

summa time

2011-07-30T12:51:00.000-05:00

some fave pics of the summer so far:

he refuses to be normal in pictures

playing coy, she stood like this forever knowing her aunt and uncle were looking at her

this girl LOVED every ride at the amusement park, especially the ones that would have made me barf

i {heart} strawberries. a lot.

2011-07-26T20:57:00.000-05:00

on the 4th of July we went strawberry picking.

it was hot.

really really hot.

it was fun.

we picked way too many berries (i could not remember how many i picked last year and all i knew is i wished i had picked more at that time) i made 11 jars of freezer jam, 4 large containers of smooshed and sugared berries for icecream topping and then painstakingly froze LOTS of berries whole on cookie sheets and transferred them to containers for smoothies (and then i forgot to close the freezer door and they thawed and then refroze into one large lump. super.) and i still had a whole flat left that i sold to a friend. (mental note: pick 2 large flats next year, not 3)

family pic failure. again.

2011-07-06T11:19:00.000-05:00

a quick attempt at taking family pictures again.

the perfect family shot?

not-so-much. (sorry Yvonne, thanks for trying!) :)

1) pretty close, the youngest 2 are less than thrilled about this picture taking business

2) another close one... the eldest is doing some kind of pose and the younger two are still not happy

3) still no. i give up. (miss j's face cracks me up on this one, ha ha)

i {heart} my mom

2011-06-30T12:13:00.001-05:00

yesterday i had to say good bye to my mom as she was returning home after being in the midwest with us for nearly 2 months. big bummer (saying good bye that is, not the fact she was here for 2 months. that was fabulous) definitely feeling lonely today without her around.

she hit a big milestone while out here and we partied. for her 75th birthday she took us to a local lake resort for a few nights. as many of our family that could, came along.

LOTS of fun.

time went WAY too fast.

my kids entertained AND annoyed.

GOOD times.

entertaining a tired and cranky miss baby

she's teaching my eldest to hide from the camera

another attempt to teach my children how to hide from the camera... didn't work this time, ha ha

fancy nancy party

the last night she was here... this attempt at pictures went as well as our family picture taking experiences

this sis and nephew came all the way from the west coast and we had to say good bye to them too yesterday.
miss all of you SO much!

thanks for great memories! and we look forward to the next time. :D

i {heart} new haircuts

2011-06-16T15:13:00.000-05:00

miss j got her haircut yesterday. super sassy. fits her personality i would say ;)

since she doesn't have the "sit" in her for me to do her hair. (and i don't have the patience to try and do it anyway) we chopped it.

that's 'nuff

graduations galore

2011-06-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

a couple weeks ago was "grad week" here in the midwest. i ate waaaaay to much cake at the dozen + parties we attended. due to hubs being a youth pastor we had lots and lots o parties to attend and HAD to eat yummy food and have two nights out without kids. tough week i tell ya, tough week. ;)

i made the cards for each graduating senior, intending to find one design and mass produce it. however, i discovered two things while making these grad cards. 1) I do not like to mass produce cards and ended up making several different ones, sometimes repeating designs i really liked and 2) I must take the time to stamp cards more often as i really REALLY enjoy it and waste entirely too much time just looking at ideas online rather than actually putting those ideas into action.

a few of the girly cards (way easier than masculine cards!):

and for the guys:

i {heart} summer

2011-06-02T15:05:00.000-05:00

no lie.

it is my favorite season. i love the heat, being outside, the relaxed schedule.

we are officially on our first week of summer vacation. so far, so good. sleeping in, relaxing days, extra hands to put to work (though not without eye rolling and a few whiny comments). this summer's calendar has a few fun things planned and i have lots of ideas rolling around in my head to keep us busy, though i will not speak any out loud in case they don't happen (as is the result of most of my ideas)

as much as the older girls love school, they also love summer vacation too.

first day:

last day:

HAPPY SUMMER!

Spring 11 catch up post

2011-05-25T18:49:00.000-05:00

it's been busy. kind-of. i've actually taken some pictures (but am feeling too lazy to do separate posts so i'm just going to jam them all into one post.) the following are the things that have been keeping us busy these days:

we had our backyard put in. (the day before chad left for seminary for 2 weeks)
for over 1 1/2 years we've been staring at a big pit in the backyard where there used to be an above ground pool. the sand under the pool was packed down so hard from having a pool on it for 20ish years it was like concrete. chad built me two long skinny raised beds for gardening. we are using this method: square foot gardening
watering our new lawn and speaking to it kindly to encourage it to grow as well as planting the garden has taken a bit of time this spring.

soon i will post some "after" pics as the lawn has listened to my kind words and is coming in quite nicely (well aside from a couple trails of footprints where i walked across it after watering it too long... hmm those will fill in eventually right?)

next up: SOCCER

both of the older girls chose to play soccer this year (we are lame-o parents and make them choose one sport/activity to do)

much of the season was crazy cold and was spent spectating from the warmth of the inside of the van strategically parked without an obstructed view.

and SPRING PROGRAMS: only 1 of 2 programs were photographed cause really? they looked the same both times. though in the first program (the one that's pictured) my K kid had a one line speaking part, she may be famous someday now ya know ;)

aaaaaaannndddd a super exciting thing: POTTY TRAINING

yep. miss j is pretty much there. i warned her that once she was 3 there would be no more diapers except for sleeping. in about a week she had it pretty much down. big giant sigh of relief as we cut our diaper consumption down in almost half. her only issue: she has no "sit" in her, so when she needs to, ya know, "sit" for a bit it doesn't happen and she goes flying in and out of the bathroom about 10 times before the deed is done. thus i tried a little "computer" time to keep her sitting. (makes you want to let your kids over to my house to play with our toys, huh?) ;)

and lastly: FAMILY

ummmm, where's the pictures you ask?

huh. maybe still on my camera? nope.

no pics. but my mama has spent the last couple of weeks with me and my girls while chad was gone. what an amazing blessing to have her here. she even made me coffee every day and did my dishes. (yep, me = spoiled) now she is at my sister's house. just a short drive away so i can still run and see her. AND she will be back at our house again in mid/later june to celebrate her birthday.

we also have some extended family visiting the area and they unexpectedly ended up staying longer due to health issues (boo on health issues). so while it is wonderful to see them a little more, we pray they can heal quickly and return to the comfort of their own home.

alrighty, all caught up!

what i hear on a daily basis

2011-05-19T15:03:00.000-05:00

i {heart} miss J

2011-05-11T11:07:00.000-05:00

this girl is so full of life. her smile lights up the room and she does everything with gusto. if i could bottle up a 10th of her energy my house would be spotless each day and all those projects on my list would be finished. she makes me laugh every day. happy 3rd birthday my awesome, super, cool, pretty, sweet girl (she claims that she is not any of those things... "I not awesome. I not cool.")

at this stage in her life she loves to sing (at the top of her lungs of course). her favorite songs: "Jesus Loves Me" and "Old McDonald" she loves her tot church class on Sundays and this past year attended "Little Lambs" class while I went to Coffee Break Bible Study and absolutely adored it. we are working on the potty training thing. i warned her that 3 year olds do not wear diapers except for sleeping and so far we have pretty much held true to that. we have only had 1 or 2 accident free days yet though. she knows how to count to about 12 and can recognize numbers 1 - 10 written out. she recognizes all the letters of the alphabet and knows all her colors. she is still a pip squeak (cause the little bit that i do manage to get her to sit still and eat gets burned off within minutes)

her beautiful smile

perpetual motion

party guests (miss baby looks like she's takin' out g-ma D with an elbow side shot, lol)

the "f" word at our house

2011-05-01T21:24:00.000-05:00

this sweet and sensitive girly doesn't want to say the "f" word. so thoughtful.

so this is her line while conversing over dinner a few nights ago: "so you know, I don't want to use the "f" word cause that's mean, but he's kind of wiiiiddde."

yep. the "f" word at our house? = FAT

;)

Easter

2011-04-26T11:04:00.000-05:00

we had a beautiful Easter day. after a week of rain and cold and even some snow, Sunday was full of sunshine and warmer temps. the sun warmed my soul and i felt such joy in my heart for an amazing Savior, who's sacrifice I will never grasp but can only have a heart of gratitude for loving me so much.

well after church, i decided Easter pictures were a must. all of us. dressed up. at the same time. such an occasion does not happen all that often. i must document it.

a decent-ish pic of all the girlies......

and then the not-so-great, read wildly unsuccessful attempt at a family pic:

the youngest two looking elsewhere and the second dd is pulling a "where's waldo"

hmm, another where's waldo and only 2 of the 6 of us actually looking at the camera

the last attempt... miss j can't help but point at the camera since we are telling her to look at it.
patience had worn thin and it was as good as it was gonna get.
maybe next year. (i wonder how many years yet i will proclaim this until we actually get a decent pic?)

5 things i {heart}

2011-04-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

my lack of picture taking lately leaves me to trying to think of other things to post on my blog.

for prosperity sake (really? probably not) i will note the top 5 things that have my attention lately (well, aside from the everyday stuff like my kids/hubby/house,etc...)

1.) running. (WHA????) yep, running folks. this from a girl who was a self-proclaimed non-runner and would intentionally slow down her pace in high school when running the mile so she would never have to run the 1 1/2 mile. currently i am up to running 2 1/2 to 3 miles a day. so no marathons or anything and i'm not super fast by any means but i feel pretty good about it and love the burst of energy it has been giving me. woot for running! (who knew?)

2.) fashion. shocker to those friends and family who knew me long ago right? not really. my mom teased me about changing my clothes ump-teen times a day as a little girl and i LOVED to shop with her (even just to the grocery store) i have always loved clothes and fashion and shopping. having babies and one income kind of put a damper on that for awhile but recently i have rediscovered my love for fashion and clothes. finding a personal style and feeling comfortable and confident in what i am wearing is awesome! something that fuels my fire for this (a.k.a. something i spend WAY too much time looking at each week) is this weekly blog linky party: http://thepleatedpoppy.com/2011/04/what-i-wore-wednesday-20/ and while i have no plans to participate in such things i do find myself running off to my bedroom to dig through my closet and try different outfits on.

3.) thrifting. this goes somewhat hand in hand with the above. i have discovered the fun of "thrifting" (especially for fun vintage items) but it's a good thing there aren't too many "Goodwill" stores nearby. we would only have beans to eat then since i would be using up our grocery money on all those great finds! this stems farther than just clothes though (actually the thrifting for clothing is a very new practice of mine... i've done it, umm, twice now i think? and i probably still prefer to just shop sales at regular stores) it started with looking for things for my house. i really really really love vintage things. really. my most recent vintage find that i am in love with:
a little floral tea tin by Daher (here is a link to similar on Etsy cause i am too lazy to take a pic of it and upload it: http://www.etsy.com/listing/71953728/pretty-tin?ref=sr_gallery_34&ga_search_query=Daher&ga_search_type=vintage&ga_facet=vintage) it's adorable and came home with me for only $1 :)

4.) Echo Park Paper Co. http://www.echoparkpaper.com/collections/
seriously cute kits for scrapbooking. in the last few months i have gotten the "Walk in the Park" and the "Life is Good" kits but have my eye on several others.

5.) Pretty Little Studio http://shop.prettylittlestudio.com/welcome/
related to scrapbooking again, i came across this company a couple months ago through another blog i follow and totally fell in love. not a big surprise when you see that they are all about adorable vintage images and classic patterns. mmmm, lllloooovvve. and the BEST part of all this??? i entered one of their giveaways and WON! yay me! i won the entire "April Showers" collection and it should be arriving at my door next week sometime. made. my. day. can't wait to use it :)

so that is all for now. time to go hop on the treadmill before naptime is over :)

all grown up

2011-04-13T22:27:00.001-05:00

i think it's official.

my hubby is all grown up.

he is now the owner of a suit. like a for real matchy pin stripe spiffy suit.

the occasion? he officiated his second wedding last weekend.

side note: the first time he officiated a wedding it was an outdoor wedding and more "casual" so he got away with just a tie and white shirt... well, and pants too of course ;)

but let's be real here. a suit does not make you a grown up. it just gives the appearance of being a grown up. i just played kickball with him at youth group tonight and watched him slide tackle one of the students, kick dirt on one of the students and in general just be a total fun loving freak. I have to say, I LOVE that about him. I also think he looks hottt in his suit. Best of both worlds is what I've got ;)

portraits

2011-04-06T23:34:00.000-05:00

confession time....

i really stink at getting professional portraits of my kids. it causes me "mommy guilt." i have a lot of ~~excuses~~ valid reasons for my failure in this area of mommyhood. it's pricey. it's not necessary for survival. it stresses me out to have to figure out a cute outfit, hair done, well napped, well fed all coordinated together.

i thought maybe with miss baby i would be better about it.

i thought wrong. i have only had her pictures taken "professionally" one time. i took her pictures myself at 6 months and last month i decided i had to try again. i don't think i got the one (that illusive perfect shot) i am far from a great photographer and am pretty clueless when it comes to my camera (i even read the manual!) but still some cute shots (after all she IS a pretty cute baby, just sayin)

so is it worth it? do i suck it up and go in and get some portraits taken? do i let it go and try to let go of the mommy guilt?

100

2011-04-04T22:51:00.000-05:00

this is my 100th post. yay me????

in other news:

my husband is the bestest.

he just rescued a bird out of our fireplace.

this bird has been haunting me for over 24 hours. i believed it to be a bat. i strongly dislike bats. really realllllyyyyy strongly dislike them. i had visions of it attacking me in the night. ripping my babies out of my arms. (k, that may be just a smidge dramatic)

BUT it was a sweet little bird.

a mute bird apparently, as it never made a peep giving us the slightest clue that it was not a bat. an icky gross disgusting foul bat.

it just fluttered it's wings trying to escape the dark. sounding like a bat. a detestable bat.

now it is free, thanks to my brave, tennis racket and plastic bag armed hubby.

he rocks.

my world. ;)

that is all

i {heart} vacation (and coming home again)

2011-03-31T13:23:00.000-05:00

we got to go on a little get-away last week. it was so great to have a change of pace and enjoy time as a couple and with good friends. we went to a cabin (a.k.a. huge log house) right on a lake. there was a foot of new snow the second night we were there (thank goodness our friends had 4 wheel drive). we relaxed, played wii, cards, put together jigsaw puzzles and ate good food. but it was good to come home again to see my kids and get back into the routine and sleep in my own bed. i think miss baby gained 10 pounds while we were gone, she is HUGE!

i really didn't take many pictures while we were there, but i haven't been too camera happy at all these days. here are a few shots that i did take:

the view out the door (pretty much this whole side of the house was windows/slider doors so you could see this from everywhere)

this little guy forever paddling a canoe we dubbed "Ricardo"
he overlooked all our card games from above the living area

with our good friends who joined us on this little vacay...
(missing from photo: our other good friends who couldn't make it)

chad and i (ignore my squinty eyes please... sun + snow = REALLY bright!)

i used to make cards....

2011-03-14T13:47:00.002-05:00

once upon a time there was a girl who liked to make cards. then she had 4 babies and stopped making them.

that girl made an appearance last month at my house.

i spent an hour or so the other day stamping again for the sole purpose of making birthday cards (and one baby card) for FUN. one of my goals this year was to start making cards again and make them in advance of when i actually need them. (so far i am 0 for like 10... better late than never, right?) it felt sooooo wonderful to create cards again!

it's been a very long time since i have posted any projects i've been working on. and since i still {heart} making cards i figured it would be appropriate to post such things. to those with recent (and i use this term loosely) birthdays you may just see one of these coming your way in the near-ish future!

so here are a few that i made:

this one is out of my typical comfort zone of cards... the haphazard crookedness is not something i typically do, but i still kinda like how it turned out

the inside of this card (has a bit more "fun-ness" than i typically do)

super duper simple (my go-to style for sure)

the baby card (the sun made a shadow of the popped up accent, looks weird)

a whole basket full of cards!

Now just to get them sent out ;)

linking to:

leg crosser

2011-03-06T13:11:00.000-06:00

another quick post on miss baby. (disclaimer: kinda boring and probably only something that really I think is cute and blog-worthy)

she has this cute little habit of crossing her legs when she is relaxin'. we even saw this on ultrasound before she was born (but i am waaaay to lazy to track down that pic and scan it so i can show you. sorry. you'll just have to believe me) but here is proof as she's eating breakfast. often as she's sitting on the floor playing she'll cross her legs as well as when she's sitting on someones lap. just a little miss baby quirk that i think is super sweet.

hair ties

2011-02-24T12:50:00.001-06:00

miss baby is not a girly-girl when it comes to her hair. she is getting to that scruffy-growing over my eyes-"cousin it" look so i've started trying to put stuff in her hair. she will not keep it in. i've discovered a trick (not completely fool-proof however) is to use 2 hair paraphernalia items... usually 1 "pony" for the top and 1 clippie for the front. she swoops in with a mischievous smile and out goes the clippie (and into her mouth, they must taste nice, i've never sampled though) and sort of forgets that mom was messing with more than just the front of her hair and leaves the pony in. like i said, not fool-proof as she sometimes discovers a bit later the other remaining hair tie and that ends up in her mouth too. turkey.

ooh, and just a tidbit of info... i updated my "playlist" down the sidebar there so there is some new music for your listening pleasure as you read. and i added a new background that blogger already had, it's springy so we will go with it :)

plain jane

2011-02-17T12:34:00.000-06:00

wellll, my "issue" with accessing my blog (as well as other random blogs i have tried to view while surfing the net) continued. i thought maybe, just maybe, it was some type of security setting and that my beloved cherries and polka dot background was the issue. so i deleted it.

and guess what?

here i am.

plain. jane.

BUT i can blog again and until i recruit someone (ahem, piet) to figure out how to fix this, i will remain plain jane. okey dokey? okay dokay (as my mom would say)

moving on.

now that i can't use my computer issues as an excuse for being a slacker i have to fess up. i haven't really taken many pictures. sometimes you just want to live life rather than worry about taking pics and being stuck behind the camera. (at least that is what i am telling myself to excuse my lack of pictures since christmas) i do have a few though. mostly of miss baby (cause we all know how it is with the youngest, right? all the attention, always spoiled, blah blah blah, BLAH. whatev)

i will consider this a little catch up post on miss baby since i don't blog on her every month anymore. however, she is anything but plain jane....

scuse me, i'm on the phone

are you looking at me? cause i'm being cute

she loves this space under the kitchen island where the stools are, like her own little cave or something
(oh yeah, she also still loves her paci)

cutie patootie gettin' clean... she will only stand in the tub, so her baths are quick, not much time for playing cause she stands there and shivers once i scrub her up.

see? back to regular randomness

little issue

2011-02-12T11:24:00.000-06:00

i've been a slacker in blog posts lately... i will blame it on switching over to a newer faster computer. ;)

at this time i can't seem to open my blog on this aforementioned computer (currently on hubby's work laptop). hopefully i can figure out the issue or recruit someone to figure it out for me and i will be back to regular random posts. ;)

carry on.

i {heart} Arla

2011-01-21T14:31:00.000-06:00

We have been back into "normal" life/routine for about a week now. God truly blessed us throughout our time apart as Chad was at seminary for 2 weeks. I was overwhelmed with support from family, friends and our church family. (you know, a good indication that you are majorly blessed is having a list a mile long of thank-yous that need to be written) Chad felt affirmed in his decision to pursue a Masters of Divinity while he was there and really enjoyed meeting his "cohorts" and professors face to face.   I'm still glad it's done though ;)

So anyhoo, back to my topic of this post. Arla.

She was my traveling companion last week when we flew to meet up with our hubbies in Michigan. (her guy is in his 3rd year of the same seminary program) She is the kind of person that is easy to talk to and you feel like you have known her for years after only spending a few minutes with her. She makes you feel like a good friend right from the start. I think she is a super-woman. She works in ministry full time plus some. She has 4 kiddos, 3 of whom are in that "busy stage" of activities and school functions they can't drive themselves to.   She is a crazy crazy busy busy woman. Yet, she takes time to listen to people and love up on them when they need it. She keeps a sense of humor and calm demeanor through it all.   Seriously, she is SUPER funny and laid back.

Now on to my day, last Wednesday.  I told Arla I would leave my house at 5:30am to pick her up. After watching the weather like a nervous nellie I had decided I would leave at 5:20am instead to give myself some time. I set my alarm for 4:20am to give myself plenty of time to get all prettied up for Chad. I hardly slept and saw every hour on the clock. I looked at the clock at 3:50am and then the next time I looked it was 5:04am. WHAT? HOW?  ugh. seriously. I decide that a shower is a must and my plan for 5:20am is not gonna happen. I get ready at the speed of light (amazing how fast it goes when you don't have anybody else to get ready but yourself) and was backing out of my driveway at exactly 5:30am.

When I pick Arla up I am still a bundle of nerves I ask her to drive for awhile, even though the roads are totally fine. She agrees cause she's cool like that. Off we go. After a bit the van starts "bottoming out" and scraping the road. Weird. It happens sometimes when we are loaded down with people in every seat and luggage to the roof, but not regularly. Arla is thinking it's snow/ice built up on the bottom of the van and as we approach a small town she pulls over at a gas station so we can kick it off.

Nope. No snow or ice down there. Just a flat tire. ugh. seriously.   I had prayed REALLY hard for clear roads to the airport but I had neglected to pray for functioning and trouble free vehicles. Lesson learned.

I run inside the gas station to see where their air is and am told they have none. In fact, there is no air for at least 6-8 more miles. ugh. seriously.

Then I remember I have our little air compressor thing in the van but have no idea how to use it. Arla pipes in "Oh I do!" cause she is awesome like that.   She fills the tire and we say a little prayer that it will get us to the airport (which is another 1 1/2 hours away) We make it about 5 more miles down the road and it starts to bottom out again. ugh. seriously.

We pull over on the next exit and Arla proclaims that we need to put on the spare tire. awesome. how do we do that? "Oh, I know how to change a tire, my dad taught me when I was younger." See? AMAZING woman I tell ya! She can even change a tire. On a side note, I am pretty sure my dad showed me how to change a tire as well, however I must have been a bit distracted during that demonstration and thinking that I would never need to truly remember such skills. Lesson learned.

We made good progress and considered signing up to be on a pit crew for NASCAR. Especially considering it was a whole 2 degrees outside. (that would be Fahrenheit and before factoring in wind chill, ugh, seriously.)

Time to get the spare off... at this point I am searching in the back of the cargo area of my van for a way to get to the spare out and not able to see where to access it. Arla in her vast knowledge and smarty pantness says we have to get it unscrewed from underneath. Awesome. We are parked on the side of the road in snow and gravel, it's still dark and it feels like the Arctic tundra out. However, amazing Arla lays down under my van in her heels and starts trying to unscrew the tire. But it's stuck. I try taking a whack at it with the "tool" thingy we have been using (see? i don't even know what that is really called).  Still stuck.

We get back in the van to warm up and start making phone calls for help. A gentleman pulls over and tries to help. He has no gloves and just a light jacket on. (bless his heart he gave his gloves to his brother) He makes a bit of progress but it's still really stuck on there so we send him on his way since we have called the state patrol for help and they are "on their way." As we are waiting for the state patrol to arrive another dear soul pulls over to assist. He takes a look at it and after cussing out the whole "spare tire" being kept under the vehicle thing, tells us he owns a trucking company just down the road and right next door is a tire shop. AWESOME!

We hop in with him and haul the flat tire with to see if it can be repaired (which by the way, had just been repaired two days earlier.) Nope. It's shot. BUT they have 1 used tire that will fit. SOLD!   Mr. Trucker owner brings us back and puts it on for us and away we go. Just a little 2 hour pit stop on the side of the road.

We missed our flight but we were allowed to go stand-by on the next flight scheduled to leave 4 hours later than our original one. We ate a relaxing lunch and reveled in the fact that we had made it to the airport and we were warm and safe.   Flight went great, rental car was still there for us when we arrived and after only one wrong turn out of the airport we made the 3 hour drive to meet up with our hubbies.   (again, awesome Arla drove us through "lake effect snow" with perfect calmness, despite the fact that her traveling companion was hiding her face behind the map and gripping the dash on occasion)

On Thursday we hung out much of the day while hubbies were in class. To make her even more awesome in my eyes I find out that she loves antique stores and thrift stores just like me! YAY. Awesome, awesome day. Antique & thrift store shopping, yummy food, good coffee and amazing Arla for company.

SOOOO, that is why I {heart} Arla. She is the coolest. love. her. girl crush love. love. LOVE. :)

The end.

Hello 2011

2011-01-06T15:10:00.000-06:00

this year has begun with a challenge for me (and my fam). chad started a distance learning seminary program this past fall and twice a year he has to go to Michigan to take "intensives" for two weeks. he left jan 1 for the first round of intensives. happy new year to us, right?

well, so far so good. it is a challenge, that's for sure. but i am surrounded with supportive people and chad is doing well over on his end too. each day passes full of blessings big and small and brings us closer to reuniting.

the biggest challenge for me is the nights. for a long time i have had issues with falling asleep at night and fear. fear of what? when i was young i was afraid of fire, the boogy man, etc... and i would wake up in the night and stand by my mom and dad's bed, staring at my mom until she "felt" my presence as mom's do and let me climb in bed with her. in high school and college i hated being the last one to go to bed. when i went out with my friends i was relieved when i came home and found someone waiting up for me. quite often if i was last to go to bed i would lay awake in fear that someone was going to break in to the house. fast forward to married life. the first time chad left for a few nights our dog Norman came to be ours. chad was in California at a conference and i couldn't sleep at night. i was so scared someone was breaking into our house. by the last day chad was gone i went temporarily insane and went and bought a puppy. (because everyone knows cute little beagle puppies are known for their fierceness and protective skills, right?) well, each time chad is gone i face this challenge and manage to get through it. some nights are better than others. i've tried lots of things, sleep-aids, "sleepy tea," meditation, etc... however, this summer chad was gone on his second mission trip for the summer and i broke down while he was gone. i had two horrible nights in a row. feelings of terror in the night are not fun. i felt so alone and scared. i had a night terror where i literally felt "something" on top of me breathing heavily in my ear. i prayed it away, but that feeling of sheer terror stayed. the next day i was feeling so full of anxiety i could barely function. i asked my mother-in-law if i could come stay at her house. i packed us all up and headed to her house for a few days, running back and forth to my own house to let the dog out and such. i thought once chad was back i would feel that big sigh of relief as i always did when he returned. this time however was different and that feeling of anxiety didn't go away. it came and went. some days i feel completely normal. some days i just went through the motions of taking care of my family, doing just the bare minimum of what has to be done. as time passes the bad days are occurring less frequently i think. i dreaded this trip chad is currently on for months. my mother-in-law promised me she would stay with me if i wanted. (yes, please) my friends also assured me they would stay with me if she couldn't. but i still dreaded this trip. anyhoo, here i am smack dab in the middle of it. i have not spent one night alone yet. i have slept each night without fear thanks to my friends and my grandmother-in-law (who is staying here since she lives right in town vs. my mother-in-law who would have to drive back and forth). i am so so SO grateful to them for their help. but there is a voice inside me that keeps telling me i am a failure. i am weak. if i just had better faith i wouldn't have to be afraid and i could stay by myself. i don't like that voice.

i'm not sure of my point in writing all this. confession? venting? i wish i knew how to get past my fear. maybe that is my reason for writing this. i am looking for answers. for help. for assurance that i'm okay.

for now i will take it one day at a time. grateful that i don't have to be alone at night. blessed by friends and family. trying to be okay with needing help. i try my hardest to live by these verses that I have memorized over the past 6 months:
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
"In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all! The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7

anyhoo. enough about my "issues" (i also have an irrational fear of driving in snow. there. all my confessions are out in the open)

so yesterday (or day before?) i get miss j out of her crib in the morning and she says to me "daddy is missing!" i respond, "yes, he's still at school" she again says "daddy is missing! we need to go catch him!"

funny girl.

a typical moment: mouth open talking, crazy hair, insisting on wearing her hood "hat" all day long, hoarding toys up on the table where her baby sister can't reach them, blankie and "baby" -the garage sale free-box bear that she has attached to, nearby. thanks girly for both driving me insane and keeping me sane each day.

Christmas 2010 in pictures

2010-12-31T12:38:00.000-06:00

an attempt at a picture of the girls in their Christmas dresses in front of the tree.
not one single decent picture.

Christmas Eve... our own little family party

right up her crafty alley

SO excited

this girl was so serious in unwrapping and made sure to remove ALLwrapping before inspecting the gift

this sweet cheeked girl (the one in red) was the pits opening gifts... constantly going after stuff that was not for her ;)

Christmas morning... playing with gifts. miss J calls this her "game"

the new zhu-zhu pet stuff has taken over the kitchen island... eating pancakes for breakfast in new fuzzy bathrobes :)

on the phone with Grandma D

and opening gifts on Christmas Day at the in-laws

2010 - Taking Inventory

2010-12-26T22:02:00.000-06:00

Tonight we had our "Old Year's Service" at church and the Pastor reflected on "taking inventory." It was a great message that encouraged me in several ways. It also reminded me of my goals for this past year and I thought I should revisit those before I adopt new goals (or continue the old ones) for 2011.

2010 goals from previous entry:

1) feed my family in the healthiest way possible for as cheap as possible

the verdict: still a work in progress. i believe this will continue to be an up and down process for us. sometimes i am "gung-ho" and declaring that my family will consume green smoothies daily for the rest of our lives and then other days i have no drive and my kids end up eating boxed mac-n-cheese and the thought of a green smoothie makes me gag. it also seems there is always new information about what is "healthy" and a lot of things conflict with each other. what i do know for sure: fresh fruits and veggies are ALWAYS healthy. I think this fact will make it's way into my 2011 goals.
things i did do for this include:
-religiously reading labels and evaluating if it is something worth buying nutrition-wise
-for months i made my own yogurt. currently on a break from this as the last time i made it a couple months ago it sat in the fridge until it was inedible and eventually thrown out. i plan to start making it again in January as i believe it is pretty healthy (and frugal!)
-i tried to remove as much processed food from our diets as possible. no more crackers for snacks unless i make them from scratch (did this a couple times... A LOT of work for so-so crackers) no more pop for chad and i, little to no high fructose corn syrup, i started making our own granola bars (another thing i have ceased to make for awhile but plan to start up again), i try to use organic whenever possible and "healthier" baking ingredients like whole-wheat flour and sweeteners such as honey or pure maple syrup.
-i read several books (or am in process of reading them cause they are HUGE textbook like books) including, Real Food by Nina Planck, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (hoping to go see her speak in February!!!), The Green Smoothie Diet by Robyn Openshaw and The World's Healthiest Foods by George Mateljan
-i make a weekly menu plan to avoid the "it's 5pm, what do we have for dinner tonight, I'm too tired to make anything, let's just order pizza" as much as possible (still happens though!) which makes us eat a more well balanced diet and it's cheaper.

2) lose the baby weight

the verdict: nope. didn't happen. extreme frustration with this as i feel like my body is rebelling against all efforts i make. pretty much makes me want to not even try. but I'm pretty sure this will turn up in my 2011 goals as well.
what i did do: in the late winter/early spring i started exercising and was up to jogging a mile straight (hadn't done that since high school) but then the bathroom reno happened and i quit. i went through various phases of changing my diet and did a "cleanse." this fall i did Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" and then continued to exercise regularly once I was done with it. we got a new treadmill (though we are on our second new one and it still isn't working properly, ugh!) and i am back to jogging again but my frequency is not as high as it should be.

3) make our house a home (various house projects)

the verdict: another one that will always be in process. but i will say that this house feels much more like "home" than it did a year ago. new projects will always be there though.
I'm not going to list out what i did do, cause honestly, other than our main floor bathroom reno, i don't really remember everything.
Churning in my brain is a blog post that would involve documenting where our house is at now and what i hope to do with it over the next year but we'll see if that ever comes to fruition.

So that was as far as I got on official goals for the year. I am glad that I at least put effort into each one continuously throughout the year even if none of them were "completed." (I don't think 1 and 3 could be anyway for as vague as they were)

This next week, I believe will be spent contemplating what I dare hope for in 2011 ;)

anticipating Christmas

2010-12-24T13:20:00.000-06:00

a few pics of our house decorated for Christmas. i didn't put out very much this year, adopting the "less is more" approach ;)

i made this out of a scrap piece of wood and it took me less than an hour from start to finish (my kind of craft!)

the mantle

the tree... always real. (however this year going out to the tree farm to cut our own was not to be due to a blizzard and then bitter cold temps, so we bought a pre-cut one from a local store)

the bird at the top... growing up we always had a bird near the top of the tree. a little tradition i now carry on in our family.

a few other decorations (the angel on the bottom shelf has since been spray painted white)

our Nativity scene (i had to snap this picture fast as little hands were ready to play)

our baby :)

enamored by the pretty lights

Merry Christmas!

christmas stockings

2010-12-20T12:35:00.001-06:00

whew! i managed to actually complete a project!

i decided on a whim to sew up some christmas stockings. we only had 3 of the classic red and white fuzzy stockings (1 of them being a bit smaller than the others) and since we have 4 kiddos we needed to revamp things a little. originally i envisioned using felt however i had a remnant of white cotton and decided to "use what i have" and came up with these ruffly stockings.

a close up of the top. i added a burlap flower with red beaded centers and red ric-rac as a hanger. both these things are pinned on so i can change it if i decide to change my color scheme. i left the ruffle edges raw to give it a rustic look.

all four stockings "hung with care" and a glance at the mantle

linking to: polly want a crafter

ONE

2010-12-19T16:00:00.000-06:00

miss baby had her first birthday! (and i managed to get a picture of her each month... i only accomplished that with my first and last daughters)

a little collage of her first year :)

and pics from her 1st b-day

opening gifts (what is with my finger looking freakishly long?)

the party guests (my sis and nephew)

new boots!

we're excited for the cupcake!

mmmmmmmmm

cheers!

cutie patootie nephew

showing off her new sweet ride from grandma d ;)

and previously:

at the hotel in okoboji celebrating with hubby's fam

great grandpa and grandma stopped in the week before her big day as well

well, this will be the last of the monthly updates of miss baby. (can i still call her miss baby? yes. yes i can. she will always be that, i believe) big things this past month: she is getting way more steady on her feet and when there is an open door that is usually shut she makes a speedy b-line for it, she transitioned to milk instead of formula without much fuss and is almost off the bottle too, she loves food (hmmm, sounds familiar), she loves music, she loves tv (yikes), and she loves her mommy (YAY!). well she loves her whole family but she loves me best and is a mama's girl. i love you too baby girl. my heart swells with pride as i look at you and your beautiful sweet face. happy birthday and many many more!

six is super-duper

2010-12-18T14:50:00.000-06:00

dd #2 turned 6 this month

a tradition started several years ago with hubby's side of the family is to go to a hotel with a waterpark on the Friday after Thanksgiving. since this always falls near dd's b-day we celebrate at the hotel with that side of the fam. this year we went to Bridges Bay near Okoboji. that place was AWESOME! and much quieter than the hotels in Sioux Falls that we usually go to. so very much fun.

and the pictures:

swimmin' in the lazy river

opening her gifts (miss baby eating the wrapping paper)
she was last in line to open as there are 4 december birthdays to celebrate

grandpa's favorite team... he is trying to coax all grandbabies to cheer for them as well

silly faces... this one cracks me up (check it out, even miss baby is doing the silly face thing, lol)

celebrating on her actual birthday

opening the gift from Grandma D... i love her face on this as she realizes what it is

her BEAUTIFUL quilt! Grandma D is amazing and once again pulls of a gorgeous quilt as a lifetime keepsake

she has always been so expressive... she can not hide her emotions which is great when she is truly excited for something :) here is a long awaited Princess Jasmine "polly"

a few days after her b-day she got to have an all day play date with a friend :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet sweet girl. You continue to bring such joy to our lives. I love how you "notice" everything. You take it all in and remember the tiniest details. You truly care about others and have such a big heart an infectious laugh and smile to light up the room. We pray blessings over you in this next year!

Eleven

2010-11-30T11:58:00.000-06:00

almost caught up!

miss baby is walking... i didn't encourage it but she did it anyway ;) i'm not ready to pass from the baby to toddler stage, however she apparently is. she took her first steps on Halloween and every day after that continued to improve her skills. her personality is really starting to come out as well. she knows what she wants and goes for it. she protests when her sisters bug her or take toys from her. becoming a bit of a stinker as she gets into things even if she knows they are off limits (ie: the fireplace... charred wood isn't poison is it?) our living room furniture is all rearranged daily when she is in there to block off things, i'm sure visitors would think my decorating skills are quite lacking (doesn't everyone shove a coffee table up against the fireplace?)

big sis wants to get in on the picture taking action

thankfulness

2010-11-25T21:21:00.000-06:00

just a little reflection on thankfulness on this day of thanksgiving.

our pastor this morning said something that resonated with me and i have been dwelling on it all day. he said "we should be grateful for dirty dishes..." and i thought, "huh. am i grateful for the dirty dishes that are piled up high in both sides of my kitchen sink at home right now?"

not so much.

but i should be.

because having dirty dishes means that we have an abundance of food to eat to make those dishes dirty.

i am thankful for heaps of laundry because that means we have more than enough clothes to cover our bodies and keep us warm, soft sheets and blankets to sleep on in our comfy beds, and fluffy towels to dry ourselves off after our daily hot shower.

i am thankful for sticky dirty floors to mop because that means i have a strong and safe home that gives me shelter each day.

i am thankful for icky toilets and toothpaste covered sinks to clean because that means i have running water to keep us clean and sanitary.

i am thankful for dust in my house because that means i have "stuff" i love to showcase and entertain myself and family with.

i am thankful for the daily mess in my bedroom of a bed to make and clothes to put away because it reminds me that i have the love of my life to share that room with.

i am thankful for everyday messes, the "art cabinet" that is overflowing with paper, the toy that jams into my foot when i step on it, the sticky spots on my table and smudges on my windows because that means i have been gifted with four daughters who i love more than i can possibly grasp.

i am thankful for my tears and anxieties because it means God gave me a heart and a soul that feels.

i am thankful when i mess up because it reminds me of God's grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

i am thankful for all of God's good gifts (SO many more than i mentioned above), whether they seem "good" or not. it is all in how you choose to view them. my prayer tonight is that God gives me the grateful heart that chooses to see ALL things as blessings.

holiday cards

2010-11-24T12:55:00.001-06:00

as we near Thanksgiving I am reminded that time is beginning to tick on getting my Christmas cards ready...
i considered not sending cards this year. the budget is tight and it seems like an "extra" that could be trimmed. however, i love getting everyone's cards in the mail and seeing how families change each year. with many of my friends this is the one time of year that we correspond. i hate to miss out on that. soooo... i came across an offer from Shutterfly. the deal is pretty simple: write a blog post about their holiday cards showing off some of your favorites and then you get some FREE cards! yay! they have some of the cutest cards:

love the fun look of this one

a great option for me to have individual pics of my girls rather than that illusive perfect family photo ;)

love the pine cone toile on this one

simple and adorable

it's going to be hard to choose! but that is another great thing... i can choose more than one design! now i just need to start taking some pictures for that "perfect holiday photo shot" (or just settle for that real-life-less-than-perfect option!)

they have other great stuff too. some of my faves include:

how fun to drink your coffee from a personalized mug like this!

cutie-patootie birthday cards

hosting a party? how cool is this invitation?

a great gift for a grandparent and can be personalized with everyone's birthdays and other big days

fun stuff!

halloween

2010-11-23T10:59:00.000-06:00

some props for myself:

halloween party starts at 6pm
i start getting everyone ready at 5:30pm with no plan as to what each will wear.
end up with 4 cutie patootie girls dressed as a 50's girl (thanks Daisy and Marissa!), a flower girl (same as last year, struggled with this one cause she has outgrown most of her dress up stuff), a butterfly princess and a miami dolphins cheerleader.
we make it to the ~~chaotic tangle of sugar induced hyperactive kids, strollers, and parents~~ party shortly after 6pm. woot!

good times people, good times. as we were leaving both chad and i breathed a sigh of relief and said "well that's done for the year. a whole 364 more days until we have to do that again." : D

10 months

2010-11-20T11:58:00.000-06:00

miss baby is getting pretty impossible to get pictures of on the chair. chad was nearby trying to help but a decent shot was not to be had. oh well, it is a picture of our reality :)

so since this is over a month ago, i will once again claim mommy-brain as far as remembering milestones for this past month. (hey, at least i got the picture taken) seriously. it all blends in together. she just keeps growing and developing despite my attempts to keep her little. i do appreciate that she will snuggle with me and loves to give kisses (pretty much licking you all over your face... somehow, not gross when it's your own, right?)

i {heart} only one spider

2010-11-13T10:40:00.000-06:00

and her name is Charlotte.

DD #1's class read Charlotte's Web and at the end of it they had "Charlotte's Web" day. The students could choose any character of the book to dress up as. My child chose the spider...

i took 2 pairs of Chad's black socks and stuffed them with poly-fill (i think that's what it's called). i safety pinned them to her shirt. Then i threaded them together at the ends with fishing-wire-type thread and tied that to bracelets that she put on her wrists so they would move with her. it turned out pretty good but by the end of the school day she was quite annoyed with the extra limbs and one of the threads broke as well. apparently it is hard to play on the monkey bars with 4 extra arms. ;)

benched

2010-11-12T15:38:00.000-06:00

a quick little before and after of a project i did this fall

i "acquired" this bench for FREE (no, i did not steal it, i got it fair and square)

this is what it looked like (there was actually more moss on the top of it but i sanded it off before putting it in the house):

and after several months of it sitting in our back porch, looking rather sad i gave it some attention and now it is this:

just a little more sanding, paint on the bottom and then i hit it with some sandpaper again to distress the edges (gonna happen anyway in this household, just speeding up the process)

total cost of project: FREE (yay!)

now i just need to give that back porch some attention... (it reaaaalllly needs a paint job)

linking to: here and here

simple thanks

2010-11-11T09:57:00.000-06:00

yesterday was a first for me as a mom.

i. the mom. the one who cleans up after them every day just so everything can get messed up again 5.6 seconds later. i was thanked for a particular task, that i do believe i have never been specifically thanked for before. you see, i was scrubbing the toilet yesterday and miss j came walking in.

miss j: "what doing mommy? what doing?"
me: "i'm cleaning"
miss j: "you clean potty?"
me: "yes, i clean the potty"
miss j: "oh thank you mommy, you clean my potty, thank you!"

be still my heart. really. my 2 year old just thanked me for cleaning the toilet. maybe now that it is clean she'll be willing to use it. ;)

8 is great

2010-11-07T12:15:00.000-06:00

our oldest turned 8 this fall....

the lucky duck got to celebrate the whole weekend before her birthday. first a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese with 3 friends and her sister, the next day lunch at her grandmas where we celebrated with extended family, and then finally her actual birthday where she LOVED that everyone at school kept wishing her a happy birthday allll day long. (in fact when she went to bed that night she was so sad that the next day no one would tell her happy birthday)

she amazes me. my firstborn. the one who made me a mom. (a priceless gift) i know as the oldest we put high expectations on her and sometimes push her to grow up quickly. but oh my dear daughter please don't grow up too fast. i love how creative you are, always thinking up new crafts and stories to act out. i love how sensitive you are to others around you. you have such a soft heart.

trying out the new roller blades she got from us and sporting her birthday crown from school :)

i love you my sweet girl, may God bless you beyond measure this next year.

9 months

2010-11-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

here is miss baby at 9 months....

not remembering much for milestones. i know her shirts were getting less dingy and dirty and i scrapped the idea of sewing on microfiber cloths to the fronts in order to clean my floors. that must mean she started crawling consistently up on all fours instead of slithering around like a snake ;)

she is a champion eater (at her 9 mo well baby check she was just over 20lbs, so yeah, she's got the eating thing down) LOVES bananas, likes pears, cheerios, those "puffs" (have you ever tried those? gaaag) she will eat pretty much anything but if it is something that is not her fave (ie: anything in the vegetable group) she either waves her hands around, effectively knocking the offensive food off the spoon, or cries between bites, yet still opens her mouth when the next bite comes. it's like she's hoping the next one will be better and then cries when it's not.

she graduated to the high chair (so miss j is now on a regular chair) cause she was "walking" the bumbo around by pushing off with her legs, not so much a safe thing up on the kitchen island even if we are standing right there (one mighty push and she would be a-flyin'). she pulled herself up to standing. and she is just the sweetest, cutest, cuddliest, kissiest, squishiest baby ever. :) (besides my other 3, of course)

a few other pics of her from this month...

i {heart} the classics

2010-11-02T16:13:00.000-05:00

we inherited an adorable red radio flyer tricycle (thanks Ria!)

something i have longed for as they are classic (and work much better than those plastic wheel cheapy trikes)

the girls were quite excited for something new to play with outside and all wanted to play with it at once...

attempt numero uno on all riding at once

numero dos

failed

a little pride and backside has been hurt

these two chase her down hollering for all the neighbors to hear

sadly, i did not get the last shot. they indeed figured out how to all ride at once. doing what those little steps on the back of the trike are for, right? standing on the back, hanging on to the person in front. :)

Labor Day

2010-11-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time. ~Napoleon I, Maxims, 1815

i keep saying i am going to catch up, but i am still blogging about events from 2 months ago. so really, i am going to catch up.

on Sunday of Labor Day weekend Chad gave the message at the Sunday Celebration service to end the "summer" as we traditionally do we got some KFC after church (with my sis and her family) and then headed to the beach for a little bit. (sis and her family chickened out of the beach as the weather was a bit questionable) it cleared up for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. perfection. sunny beach weather for about as long as our youngest can handle being "stuck" in her stroller ;)

this fish ran right in despite the chilly waters

this one played in the sand

this finicky fish decided to make sand castles since the water was chilly

this one avoided nap time and took in the sights from her perch in the stroller

first day of school x2

2010-10-28T10:21:00.000-05:00

sending two kiddos off to school this year. it's bittersweet. i'm not a big fan of the first day of school, because it interrupts my summer. but once they go, i realize how nice it is to have things a bit less hectic at home, and very soon i am wishing my K kid would be going to school 5 days a week instead of 3. funny how that happens. ;)

i am a bit of a dork (i blame my mother who also liked to do this) and put my girls in matching outfits. i love picking out fresh "first day of school" outfits for them and decided that they would be ooooh sooo cute in matching plaid skirts, white knee socks and polos. and they were. except my eldest had a complete break-down a few days before school started as she did not actually want to match her younger sister. they had been picking out matching outfits all summer, declaring each day as "monkey shirt day" or "black day" or whatever else they could find that looked similar. apparently they did not give me the memo that matching in public is not cool. so not wanting to start the school year off with tears i gave in to my eldest and let her pick out something else to wear. oh well, i figure i still have a few years left of putting the younger two in matching outfits :)

yay for 2nd grade!

grandma d was even here to see them off

sigh, the oooh sooo cute outfit on my K kid :)

buddies. in non-matching outfits. (sniff)

haircuts

2010-10-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

whew, done with the grand adventure, next big thing that happened in our household (that i have pictures of apparently, every day has important things though, right?)

grandma d stayed with my sis in rock valley for a week and then came to our place for a week... so we had good family time but apparently i did not take my camera out much cause there is not much from her visit (sorry mom!) BUT i did get pictures of miss j's first haircut:

Before (big sis was getting a haircut too)

during (pretty serious stuff)

blow drying was a bit freaky

big sis all done ;)

all done! (still serious stuff apparently)

the grand adventure home

2010-10-20T15:18:00.000-05:00

ugh, i really should not be on the computer right now, much less updating my blog. i need to be reviewing the lesson for youth group tonight, finishing laundry, reading homework with dd#1, "30 day shredding" and scrubbing bathrooms since babysitters will be here tonight.... oh well. priorities, right?

so real quick, last post of vacation:

my mom rode back with us which filled every seat belt available in our ~~nerdy cargo topped mini-van~~ hot ride. my husband is an AMAZING packer and managed to fit an incredible amount of stuff into the cargo topper, but still there was very little space inside the van. we decided not to push it as hard on the way back and planned to stop two nights instead of just one.

some highlights and memories of the trip:

apparently we were supposed to holler out each major scenic sight as my mom was too engrossed in either her book or her grand kids and stated that she had missed several on the first day ;) WE (hubs and i) however saw each one as we were able to stay in the front seat and not have to climb to the back every 3 minutes to deal with children's needs. YAY for having Grandma D with on the trip! : p

first stop - rest area somewhere past Stevens Pass

map reader...

"What's new Scooby Doo? We're coming after you, we're gonna solve that myster-y..."

lunch stop, Eastern WA

on both nights we went swimming at the hotel

my view of miss baby... thanks baby Ian for sharing your mirror with us! it was very much appreciated :)

aahhhh, it was so peaceful in the van during these times

more peaceful moments

bendaroos from Grandma D = fun times :)

this cookie sheet was THE best thing (i think) that i took along. different magnet sets along with the cookie sheet were a big hit for miss J

pretty much an awesome trip! the first day was GORGEOUS weather, the second day, not so much. it rained pretty much the whole day and that put a bit of a damper on our plans to picnic at rest areas. our stops included a Walmart parking lot and a McDonalds. our hotels were awesome and we met some really neat people the second night who were on a mission trip in Wyoming. the last day through South Dakota was filled with motorcycles and RV's (hauling trailers with motorcycles) since it was Sturgis week. i have NEVER seen so many vehicles in South Dakota at one time in my life! craziness. but kind of entertaining too ;)

so ends the road trip vacation posts. looking forward to doing this many many more times!

shredded

2010-10-15T11:14:00.000-05:00

quick update on the 30 day shred...

i finished it this morning and am a little giddy with myself for actually doing this for 30 days straight. no days off. none. woot!

my results were pretty good... not exactly what i was hoping for but i am still happy with it. i lost about 3-4 pounds (i was REALLY hoping to see more loss in this department). i took my measurements each week and from start to finish i lost 11.5 inches total. most of that was in my waist area and a little bit everywhere else. YAY!

so the plan is... I am taking the weekend off. THEN i am going to start the whole thing over again and am hoping to add a few days a week of doing Leslie Sansone's Walk & Jog as well. I really think i need to add more cardio exercise into this in order to see some more pounds drop.

okay, that is all. ;)

still {hearting} my family

2010-10-07T11:43:00.000-05:00

i really need to speed up these posts if i want to actually catch up to the present time.

so on to the next vacation segment. more family time. we stayed at my mom's condo, the girls were spoiled rotten as is a grandma's prerogative and i would have it no other way, it was a great time.

she got her quilt! it is amazingly beautiful, thanks grandma d!

so big! the 13th grandchild to use this neeeearrrly 50 year old high chair :)

relaxing with a healthy snack. thanks aunt yvonne.

miss baby turned 8 months while we were there... my mommy brain no longer allows me to remember milestones since this was more than one week ago ;)

this was a saturday that the van dalen kids were avoiding chores at home.... bottoms permanently glued to the couch watching scooby doo.

beautiful sunday!

bubbles

the old trike

breakfast of champions... cap'n crunch berries and waffles (sugar anyone?)
i think my dd #1's face is showing signs of sugar overload

my beautiful sisters

ready to travel with the traveling gnome :)

I still {heart} my family

2010-10-05T11:14:00.000-05:00

an evening at Birch Bay...

tradition is that when someone from "a far" is visiting there is a bbq at Birch Bay. this creates an easy way for everyone to see the visitors and less "visits" to make by the visitors as well. (win-win situation, yay!)

almost everyone was able to make it to this particular evening which was awesome. weather was gorgeous too. tons of yummy food and even better company.

i {heart} my family

2010-09-30T11:24:00.000-05:00

we were able to spend a lot of time with my family as well on our vacation, which is kind of a big reason for going ;) i have a bunch of pictures so i will break it down a bit...

time with the van dalens:

we hung out at my sister's house several times.... the girls loved it there and the chance to run around outside and get really really dirty ;)

they met Paris the bunny... (apparently the other bunny, Fred was having some ahem, health issues, and was relegated to his cage)

and general merriment abounded...

the last night we were there my brother in law took them out in the loader to pick blackberries.... yum! (hmmm my sis promised to make some yummy concoction with those berries, wondering if she ever did???) wild blackberries everywhere is another thing i miss about my hometown.

i {heart} vacation

2010-09-20T12:07:00.001-05:00

back to a vacation post...

well the "grand adventure" really is over. now it's lots of fun visiting with family and friends.   many of these events i did not get pictures of because i was ~~too lazy~~ so busy having fun reconnecting with awesome people doing awesome things. ;)

we did manage to get some pictures and of course Grandma D contributed a few [hundred] as well.   ;)

i will start with our visits with dear friends...

we got to see Jason and Darlene and crew several times.... a quick meeting at Lynden City Park of which I didn't take any pictures,  dinner and hanging out at their house a couple times. (which is now their "old" house and have since moved!)

we got to see Mike and Amy and their twins who are only a few days apart in age from our oldest...

and our couples Bible study group we were in (which has expanded greatly with children and vans since we left, lol) had a BBQ/bonfire at Jon and Shelly's farm.

friends not pictured were:

a day trip to Seattle to meet up with Brad and Steph and their little pumpkin about the same age as our miss baby. shopping at Southcenter mall (which has my fave store H&M! yay!) and lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

a morning at the Bender Fields park with Kara and her crew, which got rained out, since Kara claimed she was going to melt ;) (j/k! i know she won't melt in the rain since we have spent many a rainy day outside growing up together)

It is such a blessing to be able to connect with friends and be able to still connect after the years and miles separate!

Next up: family time in Lynden :)

i {heart} being shredded

2010-09-18T10:56:00.000-05:00

quick post.

i am joining in on this 30 day challenge:

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

i am on day 3 of doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout DVD. Every muscle in my body is screaming out at me to knock it off already. but ya know miss baby is 9 months old.... and the whole saying of 9 months on, 9 months off is not applying to me apparently. so i am telling my muscles to kick it in gear and shape up.

i took my measurements the first day and at the end of 30 days i will take them again and report on inches lost. hopefully some pounds lost too ;)

anyone else want to join me?

I'm not sure if I {heart} applesauce

2010-09-14T12:32:00.002-05:00

we interrupt the "grand adventure" vacation posts and skip ahead to my day yesterday.

i spent alllllllllllllllll day making applesauce. the past two years i made applesauce with my good friend sarah but she went and moved to texas on me so i had to go it alone this year. (not near as fun by myself, hence the title of my post)

i make my applesauce in my vitamix. sooooo easy.

my method:

wash apples (i didn't worry about scrubbing them since they had never been sprayed)

chop 'em up (i leave the peel, the vitamix takes care of it all, i also didn't worry about removing too much of the core)

cook 'em up (i had two pots going, in past years we had 4 pots going but i couldn't keep up with that by myself)

strain out cooked apples into vitamix and add sweetener (if needed) and cinnamon if desired

i also make sure there is a little of the cooking water just because i am guessing a lot of the vitamins and nutrients are in there

finished! 29 quart bags to freeze and one jar to eat right away plus one apple crisp for dessert :)

tip: block baby from kitchen so she doesn't get stepped on or get hot apple dropped on her ;)

linking to: Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam