Here's The Dirt

Photog Blog

2011-01-15T13:54:00.000-05:00

I have changed the name and url for my photography blog it can now be found at 13dreamsphotography.blogspot.com So head on over there and have a look-see!

It's Birthday time again!

2010-11-04T06:39:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to a great Daddy and my best friend.

Love ya bunches.

Feeling Crafty

2010-11-03T07:00:00.001-04:00

I have been bitten by the bug lately.

This project I actually started a year or two ago and pulled out last week because I was determined to finish it so I could hang it up for Christmas this year. I am really pleased with how well it turned out.

One of Jeff's good friends from high school and his wife are about to welcome a baby girl into their family so I decided to make them a quilt. I am no master like my grandmother but I am pleased with how this turned out as well.

Halloweeners!

2010-11-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

Here are our little goblins in their costumes.

Charlie was Hiccup the viking from How To Train Your Dragon, Sariah is the game Twister, and Alyson is a pirate that would make Johnny Depp proud.

Fall Camping Again!

2010-11-01T14:16:00.000-04:00

We packed up the camper, the kids, and the dog and headed out to "Dingo Forest" for some camping fun again. Here are the highlights from our trip.

You might recall from last year that "real men" reheat chicken wings over an open flame. Well apparently they dry their socks over an open flame as well.

We made "hobos" for dinner and they were delicious even though there was an almost mishap when Charlie knocked the fire on top of the packets while they were cooking.

The next morning we went for a short hike to see the "Blue Spring"

I had to stay behind with our rotten child while Jeff went on ahead with the others. This girl thinks that a princess shouldn't have to walk when someone could carry her and I am the only one mean enough not to give in.

We did finally make it to the blue spring and it really is blue as you can see.

We had an impromptu photo shoot where I got a few good pics of the kids.

We had a good time and only wanted to lock the kids up a couple of times and we didn't almost freeze to death like last year.

Although I did come prepared this year for basically a blizzard.

New Fun

2010-09-18T13:14:00.000-04:00

Aly started a Pre-Ballet class at RU and is loving it!

And Charlie and Sariah started swimming at RU and are also having fun.

I am excited for each of them to each learn and grow in their respective talents!

Aly's first day of preschool, year 2

2010-09-09T07:27:00.001-04:00

Funny thing about these shoes. When we went shoe shopping she picked them out and decided to wear them around the store. After a few minutes she was talking about them and it sounded like she had changed her mind so I asked if she wanted to look at a different pair. And she looked at me and said, "No Mommy, these shoe look good on me!" and I just smiled and said, "Yes they do!"
She is so cute sometimes, I could just eat her up!

Watch out world here she comes!

First Day of School

2010-09-01T18:15:00.000-04:00

I really love the tradition of standing in front of the door and taking that "first day of school" picture. This year however I forgot so you get the "second day of school" picture.

(And do we really need to talk about picture quality here? Wow I hope none of you thought I never take crappy pictures 'cause just look at this thing.)

Anyway we are all happy with teachers this year and mega excited for what's to come.

2010-08-18T09:12:00.000-04:00

So I am going to try something new. I am starting a new photo project and blogging about it on my photo blog. So I hope you will join me and follow that blog as well! I will try to post major family news on this site but most of my future posts will be on the Photog Blog. Hope to see you there!

Miss Aly is 4

2010-08-13T11:24:00.003-04:00

We are celebrating with our favorite squirrel this week! Sometimes this girl is so rotten I honestly don't know what to do with her. But most of the time she is simply adorable.
While on vacation the kids watched "The Little Rascals" about 50 times. So Alyson has started repeating lines from the movie. Like here she says "I want to die in oo (you) arms"..."But not right away!"

She also says "Hey Uh-huh does it stink in there? Uh-Huh!"
It's way cute! I love her!
Happy Birthday Squirrel!

Blogger FAIL

2010-05-15T07:13:00.005-04:00

Ok so yes I totally stink at this. My defense? It's a snowball effect I let myself get a little behind and then well, let's see when was my last post again?

Well what HAS the dirt queen been up to?

I recently ran a 5k and it was awesome and hard and I loved it and I'm gonna do it again.

That's right 1st place! (For my age group.) Ahhh! I know I'm still in shock!

And my other oh so exciting news a group of friends and I went on a "photo walk" which was a lot of fun and you can find my beautiful, amazing photos on my photog blog.

Thank you and good night!

ps I can't believe I'm the first one to blog about it!

Hair cuts

2010-01-18T17:19:00.003-05:00

In a moment of craziness I cut everybody's hair (but my own) and while I'm no professional. I don't think it came out to bad!

Sariah took it upon herself to trim her bangs after the haircut so I had to add a little more bangs. They are a little short but overall a cute cut!

And here's Aly! I think it is waaaaay cute but I guess I'm partial ;)

Busy with babies

2010-01-18T17:05:00.004-05:00

Okay, I know, I know long time no blog. In order not to bore you of holidays past we'll just stay current and not worry about it.

The goat herd has exploded once more. We started into the season with around 35 goats and now we are over 50! That's right I said 50. And they were all born in this frigid cold we've been having but alas this year we conquered by turning the old shop into the mother/baby suite. Today though we turned them all out as the temperatures look to stay mostly above freezing! So here's a pic for all you baby lovers (of all types)

All I want for Christmas is....

2009-12-21T13:12:00.003-05:00

Notice anything missing?

About a week and a half ago Sariah lost both of her bottom teeth. I guess you know what Christmas song we've been singing.

8 things that are gr8 about Charlie

2009-12-09T16:23:00.002-05:00

8. All of his nicknames. Chop, Buddy, Eggy, Sir Chops Alot, Prince Eggward, and so on.

7.He can (and will) read to his sisters

6.On his birthday he served his sisters their breakfast because "he just wanted to help."

5.baby goats are one of his FAVORITE things.

4.His sense of sarcasm that could rival many adult's.

3.Everyone knows him as Crazy Charlie and love him for it.

2.He still likes to snuggle sometimes.

1.He is so kind hearted. He thinks of others and their feelings so often.

I hope he never changes.

More than a day late

2009-11-09T18:46:00.002-05:00

and probably more than a dollar short. I guess better late than never though.

Happy Birthday Honey! I really do lave ya!

(Didn't you know real men reheat hot wings over an open flame?)

Camping is for sissies

2009-10-28T06:48:00.004-04:00

At least it is now that we have kids. I have almost completely lost any sense of adventure that I may have possessed now that we have kids and to be perfectly honest, I'm not at all ashamed to admit it. This past weekend on a spur of the moment "Are we sure it's not to cold? Are we sure the kids aren't to sick?" decision, we packed up 3 kids, 5 sleeping bags, 1 dog, 5 chairs, some firewood and miscellaneous other equipment into our 5th wheel camper and hit the road to the Dingo Forest(How it got that name my friend is a long story and I'd have carpel tunnel before it was through so if you want to know you'll have to ask me in person).

So the Dingo Forest is really just a little spot by the Little River in a field. We took the camper which normally at least has a furnace to keep us warm at night considering it was around 40 degrees. BUT the battery went dead almost immediately so we FROZE our butts off. And that's all I have to say about that.

In the morning reinforcements came and we had hot homemade biscuits and gravy. (Thanks Papa!)And after breakfast we fished in the river. Alyson and the princess fishing pole were the only victorious ones catching a feisty little small mouth bass. Then we packed up and came home to thaw out.

The one and only fish

Daddy made hot chocolate

Thanks for tuning in and Goodbye!

Mommy Daughter Date

2009-10-17T14:03:00.003-04:00

Sariah and I went on a special date today to get her ears pierced. First we arrived at the mall and headed straight to Claire's. Sariah picked out the December birthstone aqua marine because she liked the color. I also got a second hole in each of my ears so I went first. After watching me Sariah wasn't so sure she wanted to go through with it but she persevered and cried a little but was happy when she got to go for ice cream afterward.

Spelling Bee

2009-10-03T11:17:00.002-04:00

Every week for spelling homework Charlie has to write the first 5 words on his list in a sentence. This week on his list was the word free. His sentence was "I am roaming free." and yes roaming was spelled correctly.

GQ

2009-09-28T17:50:00.002-04:00

He is so handsome in his new glasses!

The Well and the Mine

2009-09-17T11:21:00.002-04:00

Just read this book and thought it was good enough to pass along. Set in 1930's Alabama in a coal mining town. It follows a family as they try to discover why someone would drop a baby down their well. The ending isn't what you would think and helps to shed some light on the psychology of the time period. I give it 3 1/2 stars anyway. Happy reading!

Alyson to her Poppy...

2009-09-16T14:04:00.002-04:00

"If I had wings I could fly."

Truisms

2009-09-07T07:45:00.002-04:00

I found this list and while some of them I do not relate to at all there are some that resonate with all of us. I've highlighted my personal favorites...

1. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
2. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
3. Bad decisions make good stories.
4. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
5. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
6. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again
8. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
9. Was learning cursive really necessary?
10. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
11. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
12. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".
13. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
14. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot.
15. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
16. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
17. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
18. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
19. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
20. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
21. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
22. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
23. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
24. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
25. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
26. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
27. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
28. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
29. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
30. Why is a school zone 15 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
31. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
32. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
33. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
34. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
35. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

And the're off...

2009-08-31T11:09:00.001-04:00

...to another year of school, and friends and milestones.

the cows say MOO!

2009-08-29T06:59:00.002-04:00

When a farmer plants their crops in different fields it's called crop rotation so I guess when you move animals around it's called herd rotation.
Wednesday in addition to the many errands we ran for school during the day we helped my dad worm the goats and cows and rotated them in the evening. Normally I get quite a bit of amusement from this process. Picture it with me if you will. 35 goats, me, Charlie and my dad and well lets just say goats can be slippery little fellas. Anyway I was going to video this whole fiasco send it in to Americas funniest home videos and win $10,000 but I knew I couldn't help and work the camera so I didn't even take it out there. But the darndest thing happened. It went off without a hitch. So no amusement... for anyone. Darn.

My life is a rollercoaster

2009-08-27T09:26:00.006-04:00

This has been the wildest summer I have ever had in my life! We have spent almost as much time gone as we have home and the blog has suffered I know it has and so do you. But friends I repent! As soon as I get this kids shipped back to school I promise to be a better blogger. And you can hold me to it! I feel in the interest of remembering it all I will have to start current and work my way back to the beginning. If you get confused just know that you are no more so than I myself am.

You have heard of people living out of boxes and suit cases; I am living out of my dining room. Yesterday and today 4 out of 5 family members had to get clothes out of the dinig room/laundry folding room to get dressed. But hey atleast the clothes are clean even if they aren't put away right?

Last week we said our final goodbyes to summer freedom by going south for some time in the sweltering Florida heat. We visited our favorite vaycay spot for some good food, sand and sun, and water, lots of water.

Before we could head out on this adventure there were a few details that had to put in order. Thurs night the 13th Jeff and I headed to King George, Va to do a job for one of his regulars. This was pure Hell. It was 14 hours on Fri in 100 degree humid heat of near impossible work. On this particular job the plumber and excavator(not jeff) were not getting along so the plumber put sewer lines out of the houses and the excavator put sewer laterals up to the houses but neither saw fit to hook them together. So that's where we came in and honestly that's really all you want to know the rest is just mostly whining so I'll spare you.

We came home Sat morning packed up the kids and headed to North Carolina to pick up our motor home (That's been in the shop since early June and STILL isn't fixed! Ugh!) Anyway we got it home and worked out a few kinks. Then left for Florida Tues. evening.

So back to our trip. The highlights are as follows:

Teriyaki burgers at Gators. YUM!

Lots and lots of pool time.

Having a Charger for a rental car.

A day on Boca Grand with an ENTIRE morning on the beach and lunch at The Loose Caboose.

A harbor tour with our favorite boat tour company.

Video games at Harpoon Harry's.

Seeing not 1 but 2 Bald Eagles in the wild. (A first for both Jeff and I.)

And lots of quality time with Jeff's grandparents Papa Jack and Gma Doris.

Today is Alyson's birthday...

2009-08-12T09:42:00.003-04:00

Feb '07

...this is her wish list...

Pink Pony

Diego Go

Pinkie Pie

Squeaker(squirrel)

Chicken

Hotdog

Crabby Patty

Barbie

Candy Cane

Jelly Fish

Shark

Dinosaur

McDonald's

and

Shoes

July '09

I just love her! She's funny even when she's mad and I just have to smile because she lights up every room she enters.

One fine day

2009-06-15T09:58:00.005-04:00

We had a most awesome Saturday! While my dad, Charlie and Jeff worked on the car I set off to do my part and shop for the car. (I guess this would be the part where I say oh by the way Jeff got yet another new toy. A 1938 Dodge dubbed the "Gangster car") So as I was saying while the boys worked on fixing the brakes that are all stuck I packed up the girls and my mom and went to an antique store in search of license plates. I had a GREAT time wandering the aisles of the antique store dipping in and out of the booths unfortunately I only found 1 set of plates that were really expensive and the number is already taken. So I'll just have to keep trying. Darn ;)
Then after I returned from my failed shopping mission I reminded Jeff of a car show and festival at the local lake. And even though we tried hard to get away from the house quickly we still only made it to see a few of the cars at the show. Unfazed we put the boat in the water and set out on the lake. It was great. I was so relieved when I realized how much a year had changed the kids and how much easier trips to the lake would be this year. We stopped to let the kids swim and they did for over an hour! Without fighting, hanging on each other, or hanging on the boat, which is great because particularly the latter is crazy dangerous when another boat passes and our boat slams up and down on the water they aren't under the boat trying to get knocked out.
As the sun started getting lower in the sky we drove across the lake to find a place to eat dinner. I had packed Italian turkey sandwiches and chips. So we got the kids into dry clothes and enjoyed our food while being rocked by the water. Then we watched the sunset shortly followed by a good firework show. We didn't get off the lake until almost 10pm and it made me happy to know that with all of the sleep the kids would miss we didn't have to get up early for school this week ;)

Beginnings, Endings and In Between Things

2009-06-08T10:53:00.003-04:00

Attention everyone I have an announcement to make. With no help from her parents aside from encouragement Alyson has POTTY-TRAINED !!!! And I swear seriously all I did was buy her some panties and tell her that "Panties don't like pee. Just diapers and potties do." I wish the other kids had been that easy. She even made it through our whirlwind car trip to Jersey and back with ZERO accidents. I am so proud of her. And can I just say one of my favorite parts of potty training is the inevitable photo ops of sleeping child on (or near as the case may be) the potty.

Charlie's class had a field trip Friday a week ago and his teacher asked if I would chaperone, which of coarse I said yes to because I love to hang out with him and his friends. They are so much fun. So we headed out to VT for a menagerie of activities. First was the geology museum where we saw lava, rocks, gems, fossils, and bones. Then to the entemology(sp?) lab. Hissing cockroaches and terantulas anyone? A stop at the pond for lunch. Then to the dairy to see the milk straight from the source. The last was probably my favorite since I knew enough that I could actually answer most of the questions that were being asked. (Here is C taking a break at the end of the dairy tour before the bus ride back to school.)And finally to an ending Sariah has graduated from preschool *sniff* and we attended the graduation/end of year picnic. Here she is with her teacher recieving her certificate. It was an intersting event considering almost as soon as we got there it started pouring down rain so even though we were under the picnic shelter we all ended up getting at least a little wet. But it was fun and I am so excited for her she has learned so much and is now finally excited to go to school. So I have to give a lot of credit to the preschool for preparing my reluctant one for this new phase in her life. And a very special thanks to Miss Kris!

Mother's day for me and Mother Earth

2009-05-28T11:46:00.004-04:00

If you want to show Mother Earth you really care plant her some trees for Mother's Day. For Mother's day we loaded up the fam on Sat and headed to a local tree farm so the kids could help pick out some trees for my present. It was very sweet of Jeff (and the guy who owns the tree farm as he normally only sells wolesale and was doing Jeff a favor by letting us shop there). In the end the older kids each picked out an ornamental cherry tree and Alyson picked out a pretty pink dogwood. The pink dogwood is just set to bloom but I'll have to wait untill next year to see my cherry blossoms.

In addition to these wonderful trees we fell into some fairly large oak trees for a good deal and have planted those too. This has been a year for trees and I love it. It has given our place a whole new charm.

He's no Fred Astaire

2009-05-18T20:41:00.003-04:00

What can I say the child doesn't really like to sing and dance but he's still cute all the same.

But hey it's not exactly like he's a black sheep ;) I mean liking to do something and actually having talent are 2 different things. In my case it's a talent issue, so I will keep my singing and dancing for when I'm alone in my kitchen.

Oh no she didn't!

2009-05-14T13:21:00.002-04:00

It's never good to hear your husband call down from upstairs "I think you should come up here!" as was the case Tuesday night. You just might find a two year old on your bed reading a book. What!? Reading a book!? Yeah well that's what she was doing by the time I got there. Apparantly she felt her toes needed spruced up a bit so she found herself a bottle of BLACK nail polish and climbed up on my bed and well you can guess the rest...
...sorry no pictures I was far to tired to find the whole thing amusing.

Bike-a-thon

2009-05-06T06:58:00.000-04:00

Every Fall and Spring the preshool that Sariah is currently attending holds a fundraiser called a Bike-a-thon. The kids bring their bikes, scooters or anything with wheels and for about 2 hours just ride around the parking lot of the school and eat hotdogs donuts and bake sale goods. This year unfortunately Jeff wasn't able to attend due to his work schedule but the kids had fun none the less and took the opportunity fill up on sugar and then have fun burning it off.Sariah did really well navigating her bike around I was proud of her she doesn't ride it often so I thought she did awesome.

Alyson sat on her tirke a couple times but I think with all of the kids she was to overwhelmed to really get in the crowd of bikes.

Charlie never misses a chance to be a clown. He took his scooter to ride but spent as much time riding Aly's trike as he did the scooter.

This Easter brought to you in Technicolor

2009-05-05T09:32:00.005-04:00

Easter started for us this year with our annual Easter Egg Hunt and hayride. We invite everyone we know to come over and enjoy the holiday with us. We had a pretty good turnout this year as it always depends on who is traveling and who isn't. This year we had little cooperation from the weather so the kids endured the wind and cold (a lot better than the parents).

The wagon is all loaded and ready to go!Aly all snuggled up with "Geen". Poor girl was on the mend from being sick all week:( Sariah with her Kool-aid mustache. That's what happens when you are being spoiled at Grandmas house the night before.

Charlie wasn't being to cooperative with the camera but atleast he looks like he's having fun!

After the egg hunt Papa brought out Charlie's pet goat Rusty for the kids to see and pet.

The next part of our Easter celebrations were decorating the eggs. Lots and lots of eggs. I boiled about 5 dozen this year and aside from a few broken ones and some that were snacked on the rest were all for the fun.

Last came the Easter morning loot complete with Peeps and some water toys. (Can you tell we're ready for Summer?)

What do you mean I'm supposed to update my blog?

2009-05-05T09:22:00.004-04:00

I have no explanation for my "blog hiatus" atleast nothing exciting. We have been busy but I wouldn't say unusually so. So please forgive the next few posts that will be a blast from the (recent) past.

A few weeks ago we spent Sat morning helping a girl raise money to go on a mission for her church. She had set up pony rides, a small egg hunt, a trampoline and more and then asked for donations to help her cause. So we went out for the pony rides and ended up staying a couple hours while the kids had fun jumping and playing. I couldn't believe it but Charlie was the only one who would ride the horse. I wasn't suprised about Aly since she is scared of pretty much anything that's bigger than her but I thought for sure Sariah would ride. Sariah spent most of her time instead jumping on the trampoline and Aly just tried to stay out of the wind.I LOVE her crazy hair in this pic.

Sariah and her friend Krystal playing in the sand box.

Charlie on Babydoll.

This is the only "animal" Aly would ride.

"Al-al" and Amber best friends since they were born.

The things we thought we knew

2009-04-13T12:42:00.004-04:00

or lessons on pronunciation from a 2 year old. Incase you've ever thought about purposefully mispronouncing a word especially in the presence of Alyson, please refrain. You might find that you never really knew how to say the word in the first place. For example: If your like Jeff and think that for is fer (because that's how you hear it all day, gotta love SW VA) and instead of saying fork you say ferk then you might hear Alyson correcting you " It's not ferk it's feoke" (pronounced fee-oke)

So maybe we have all fantasized just a little.

2009-04-03T16:06:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Sariah

2009-04-01T14:20:00.005-04:00

My little princess has reached the milestone age of 5 and already she has started soccer and registered for kindergarten. It has definately been a busy month!

Since her actual b-day was on a Monday we decided to have her party on Saturday and loaded a few of her friends up in party tour bus to the Cheese. Ask me why this was a mistake...Oh well since you asked Chuck E Cheese's was PACKED. We had to wait outside for over 1/2 an hour just to go inside. Then we had an hour and a 1/2 limit on our tables that weren't even together. Yeah it was busy. But don't be confused by the complaining a good time was had by all.

We party in style

2009-03-24T09:14:00.002-04:00

So with bike plans on hold for now I have dived right into birthday planning. Sariah is turning 5 on Mon and she is asking for that all importatant right of passage: the Chuckie Cheese's birthday party. In the spirit of not going half-bottomed into any party endeavor we plan...Having little constraints other than a small number of guests, what was once a simple trip to the Cheese now includes 2 sets of grandparents, a few cousins, 1 case of puppy love (note: S's infatuation with our friend Sean who's my age) and 3 little friends. Now how would one cart so many people from here to that distant haven of childhood? Well I'm glad you asked because our little rockstar only travels in style in her very own birthday party tour bus. How about a little party within a party? A private viewing of The Last Unicorn to tie in her theme of Unicorns while on the way up. And decorations to boot.

What do toy guns and bicycles have in common?

2009-03-21T09:45:00.002-04:00

Absolutely nothing except that's what we've been up to lately.
It' s crazy how people look at you when you are buying toy guns for your kids. I am sorry but I am just not convinced that cap guns and Luney Toons 'cause kids to snap and shoot all of the kids at their school. And what exactly is the difference between a cap gun and a water gun? Let's face it the kids are still running around shooting each other. And I just won't get started on gun laws sufficed to say most crimes are commited with guns that were obtained illegally anyway. Now obviously many sad accidents happen when kids get their hands on guns unsupervised but everyone can't be punished because of a few people's stupidity.

ANYWAY on to the bike part of the post. I want a bike and yes it is totally irrational and all of a sudden but I want it now and I'm not going to stop 'til I get one. The only problem is where to get one? How much to spend? What's the best bike to get? Yada yada yada...

Bloggers Block

2009-03-13T09:44:00.002-04:00

Yes even I run out of things to say on occasion. It's not that we haven't been busy with things going on from church activities, auctions, school and sports registrations, and most of all everyone being sick, but I just haven't had any inspiration for blog posts.

This morning when I dropped off Sariah for preschool her teacher said she saw my picture in New River Valley Magazine. I was was like Really? Wow! So I drove to like 3 different stores to find a copy.

Laughter Reallly is the best Medicine

2009-03-09T13:31:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately the past few weeks have been mostly uneventful mostly due to the fact that we have had the the fever/congestion bug that has been floating around. First Charlie, then Jeff and Sariah, now I think I have succumbed to the ickiness. I really hope it doesn't hang around for the projected 10-12 days that I've heard is possible and that Jeff is on day 7 of. It's hard to be the taxi service when you don't even want to move much less get out of bed.

So in any case I've been trying to laugh and stay in good spirits. I've played where's the monter with Aly (her favorite game of late) and soaked up some much missed rays of sunshine. I sincerely hope all of you are well and avoiding the germs as much as possible.

Hello Doll

2009-02-25T07:30:00.000-05:00

Okay I admit it I have succumbed to the pressures of society. Yes I, even I, have been torturing my children with hairbows or "pretties" as they call them. A couple weeks ago Jen was emailed a "hair" blog and showed it to me and I have been reading it quite often in fact and even did a Valentine 'do in Sariah's hair and many different hairdo's off and on for the past couple of weeks. Here are Sariah's Hearts:

And Aly's simple braid at the pinewood derby:

But by far the girls favorite hair stylist is Daddy:

Making my corner of the world a little cleaner

2009-02-24T11:13:00.005-05:00

A couple weeks ago I cleaned up and organized one more spot in my house. This time I decided to tackle the computer desk. It was a fairly difficult task as there is little storage in the actual desk so I made a drawer for one of the cubbies to hide supplies like paper clips and staples and things and then made a matching pen cup with a veggie can and coordinating paper. It was fun and now I don't feel like I am sitting in a stack of junk. I wish I had taken a "before" picture for the full effect but these "after" pics will have to suffice.

The things that keep me up at night

2009-02-23T11:42:00.007-05:00

You may or may not know I dabble in just about everything, a Jill of all trades if you will, and many nights I lay unsleeping simply because my mind is creating and will not rest. Whether or not the things it creates are of beauty or even understanding are completley unknown to me but I guess I will post it and let the critics fall where they may. I was having one such night last night and this is a poem that came all of a sudden that I decided to write down. (I don't always write the things down and in the morning they are gone like a dream.)

Blue eyes, green
Atrocities seen
Wandering
Wondering
Evil eyes Bright eyes
Where to go from here?
Minds eye
Let it lie
No rest
No sleep
I fear

I don't think I could describe what it means and without the meaning it may just sound like babble but I had to give it life it was screaming to be let free.

Another project was brewing last night also. I have this awesome idea for a photo project that I will be posting as it goes along on my photog blog. I am not going to tell what it will be as it will spoil the surprise but be on the look out it, it is coming soon.(I hope!)

Out of the mouth's of babes

2009-02-20T12:35:00.001-05:00

Aly: Mommy I want to go fwimming
Me: Oh it's to cold for that
Aly: I need get my coat

I wake up every evening with a big smile on my face

2009-02-19T15:52:00.002-05:00

That pretty much sums up Aly's sleep schedule here lately.

Nap at 3

Bedtime WHAT's THAT?

10 things to hate about a dreary day

2009-02-18T12:56:00.002-05:00

1. Forced to stay inside
2.(Because of #1) must contend with the mountain of laundry (or other housework)
3.It's cold
4.Sun makes me happy therefor I miss it
5.Wet dog
6.Kids forced to stay inside
7.House gets dirty from mud being tracked in and #6
8.Everyone else is grumpy too
9.All you want to do its eat comfort food (which is fine when you aren't trying to be "healthy")
10.I want to do crafty things (but that would require more of #2 i.e. I can't even see my craft table)

What's a photographer to do?

2009-02-16T14:01:00.004-05:00

This past weeked we all loaded up for a trip to Gma Chris and Gpa Steve's for some down time for Jeff and a fun day at the circus for all. I am so proud of myself the only thing I forgot was Jeff's sneakers (which in my defense he normally changes into for any road trip.)
HOWEVER let me just tell you what happened at the circus. Interestingly enough I don't bring my camera along for lots of family activities mostly because I end up feeling uninvolved in the fun. But not this time I did bring my camera only to find out as soon as I bring it out of the bag it only has enough battery to turn on (which I personally found insulting that it would even turn on) so here I am with my kids 5' away from elephants and NO FREAKING CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!
Not to worry my father in law had his so hopefully I will have pictures to post from him.

Side note: Alyson is afraid of EVERYTHING! She was terrified of the animals (which we got up close to during the pre-show portion of the circus). I am talking shaking, hiding, scared to death the only animals she would even look at were the zebras and only after the throng of people cleared out a little.

I consider myself tagged

2009-02-16T13:45:00.002-05:00

Since several of the blogs I read posted this tag I figured I would participate. This picture is from a folder that says April 02 but is actually from winter 05/06 during the building of our house. This is when the brick was about 2/3rds of the way done because the brick-mason was taking FOREVER!

All dressed up AND somewhere to go!

2009-02-02T17:23:00.003-05:00

Saturday Jeff and I went to the New River Valley Home Builders Association Innaugural Gala and took the Watson's with us. So I got all dressed up to fulfill my job as arm candy. I even got hair and makeup thanks to my friend Kelly. (I love how intune she is with my hair. She always makes it look amazing.)

Photo Shoot

2009-01-30T13:13:00.003-05:00

Occasionally I get a wild "hair" to do something nice with my hair with complete understanding that it will come out looking fabulous if only because no-one is going to see it. Also knowing if I try the same thing when I need it to look fabulous it will with out a doubt look hideous. Wednesday I decided to curl my hair. It looked great and since I am totally vain I wanted to document that I don't always look like I just rolled out of bed. So I pulled out the camera and the tri-pod and then I couldn't get the timer to work. So I let Charlie come in to be my little button pusher. The pictures turned out okay. (I need someone to take pictures of me and I'm just to cheap to actually hire a photographer.) So anyway then I had to take pictures of the kids too. They aren't great either but everyone was getting ready for bed so it just wasn't the best time.

I said I wouldn't do it

2009-01-23T12:55:00.002-05:00

I wasn't going to join facebook but eventually the pull of some far away cousins over came me. Then it all goes downhill from there. I must confess I check it OBSESSIVELY. What's everyone doing? I HAVE to know. What's everyone have to say about what everyone else is doing? I HAVE to know.
But at least some good has come from this MADNESS I love that I have found a friend I haven't seen in years! I mean I gave Sariah her middle name after this girl. She sang in my wedding. I'm lovin' it!

Bet you haven't eaten here!

2009-01-22T10:31:00.003-05:00

Saturday while we were on our way back from tractor shopping we saw a sign for the first KFC or Sanders Cafe. Well who could resist that? It was actually pretty cool. The current kitchen part is like a modern KFC but the rest is original to the resteraunt and parts of it are roped off and set up like a museum. The funny thing is we weren't even hungry because we had already eaten lunch some small town (a 1 stop SIGN town) dive but I'm glad I can say I ate the original Original Recipe.

Who has time for dinner?

2009-01-22T09:21:00.005-05:00

The other night at dinner Alyson climbed up in her high chair and sat down to her dinner with her laptop. I guess she is already into multi-tasking.

Goodbye Moe

2009-01-20T11:54:00.003-05:00

Moe died yesterday while I was writing my post about him. I am grateful that even though he is gone that I got to help him. I hope that I made him more comfortable so that he could know atleast a little happiness in his short life. Bye Moe.

A sad day on the farm

2009-01-19T18:18:00.004-05:00

So as many of you know we sort of have a menagerie of animals including about 34 goats that actually belong to my father. Enter Murphey's Law what happens when you have about 14 expecting goats and an empending cold snap? That's right ALL of them go into labor. In the past 4 days we have had 18 goats born. Unfortunately 4 of them succombed to the cold into which they where born. This would be the first day of sadness. Finding one these precious babies frozen who's head had been covered with grass by her mother. Then seeing that mother cry over her lost baby. Does it stop there? No. Saturday while Jeff and I were buying a tractor yet another one of these births was happening and my dad didn't happen to be here at the time the baby got stuck and was stuck untill my father arrived and helped him along. He started breathing so Dad assumed all would be okay. Then Sunday morning he realized that the baby still wasn't doing very well so we brough him inside where he has been ever since. Things started to look up yesterday afternoon he was actually actively rooting and sucking on a bottle. Sometime last night however he took a drastic turn for the worst and now is barely breathing and almost lifeless. I feel so helpless. I don't know what to do to make him feel more comfortable and I just want him to be okay no matter what happens.

Meet Moe

(sorry about the fuzziness of the picture C took it with his camera)

Resolution report

2009-01-13T08:51:00.002-05:00

No I haven't made my bed everyday but I have more than usual and I have had some other successes. In the past 3 weeks I have organized my garage, pantry, console in my car, and my closet and yesterday I cleaned my fridge which had some sort of extremely nasty slime in the bottom from past spills. So all in all I think it's great and I have so far kept each thing organized which makes me happy each time I look at those places:)

The snow day that almost wasn't

2009-01-08T15:57:00.007-05:00

So maybe your morning went something like this.

7:20 am Kids "It's snowing!!!"
Me "No! Absolutely not! If you had school today you would still be asleep and I would have to drag you out of bed Blah Blah Blah I NEED more sleep go away till 8!"

8:10 am Me making waffles
Kids "Can we go play in the snow yet?"
Me "No you need breakfast you can go out late

10:00 am I look outside notice that the snow is melting rather quickly
"Go get your clothes on so you can play in the snow or it will be all melted."
Kids "YAY!!!"

10:45 am Everyone is dressed we are finally outside. The kids are playing in the sand because the snow is already half-way gone.

11:15 Me "Aren't you guys cold?"
Kids "N-N-N-No"
Me"Don't you want to go inside Aly"
Aly " I want to pay ouside"
Me"Don't you guys want hot choc?"
Kids "okay"

12:00 Snow Gone!

I'm gald they got to play in the snow but why does it take 100 pounds of clothes to do so?

Isn't it refreshing?

2009-01-06T11:47:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you but I like taking down Christmas decorations almost as much as putting them up. Saturday I woke bright and early to get rid of all things Christmas for this season. It all started at 6am with Jeff waking up and me driving him to Dublin to his shop so that's where I started too. I took down the tree and got everything sorta back to normal there and figured why stop there? So I headed back home to conquer not only the decorations but a weeks worth of not cleaning. It took practically all day but the house looked great when I was done. I love the rewarding feeling of a job well done.

Here we are and it's 2009 already

2009-01-02T09:27:00.003-05:00

So I hate New Years resolutions mostly because no one ever keeps them and why can't you say on any other day of the year I'm gonna *blank*. That said I myself have been doing some re-evaluating and have decided that by coincidence of timing I will make my own New Years resolutions.

1. I am going to try to clean 1 thing a day no matter how small so that in hopes this place won't get so grody as often.

2. I want to make my bed daily. It actually makes me quite happy to walk in my room with the bed made so I can see the nice covers and pillows. The whole room actually looks cleaner.

3. On a more personal note I want to thank my husband more for what he does everyday for our family. From getting up so early to being out in all conditions to being the fall guy for all lot of peoples problems he takes a lot from a lot of people and he deserves recognition if nothing else.

I think I will stop there you can only change so much at a time or you won't do any of it so I will leave it at that.
Happy New Year!

Rewind to Dec 8

2008-12-31T11:01:00.005-05:00

I must say before the end of this month a big Happy Birthday to my oldest baby. I love you. You are so smart, you can do anything you put your mind to.

Charlie age 2 my "blue jean boy"

2 weeks before his 7th birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!!!!

Willa and Me

2008-12-30T19:48:00.006-05:00

Willa May 25 '08

My lovely daughters love my nativity set. Now it's really nothing special no family heirloom passed down for generations or anything, it's just the Wal-mart special that looks pretty good, but it is glass and I would really rather that it didn't get broken. So this year I decided; after telling them no not to play with my nativity a hundred million times; to buy them their very own. For a couple years now I have been eyeing the Little People one and that is what I set out to get them. While looking on Amazon I not only end up with that really cute set I also got a cute kid-friendly wooden one. Sounds good right? Enter my really adorable but mischievous puppy and 1 really stupid UPS man.

I'll set the scene for you. It's Friday the day after Christmas and the older kids and I are playing Mario Party on the DS's. Jeff and my Dad are outside working on our new wood shed. Unbeknownst to me the UPS guy comes and doesn't tell Jeff he is leaving the packages on the porch but he also doesn't ring the doorbell...

Sometime later I look outside to see a shredded package in the paws of Willa on my front lawn.

I'm sure you can guess what happens next.

After I go out and scream obscenities at my dog for the whole world to hear and Jeff says if I had known and why didn't he (UPS guy) just tell me he was leaving it, etc. I tell Willa she is unforgiven until further notice. Let's just say we are still just barely on speaking terms.

Now I haven't actually watched the movie or read the book Marley and Me but living with a puppy for the last 8 months I get the gist.

Savannah

2008-12-29T11:46:00.009-05:00

Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving trip. On the way down and back we stopped in Savannah.

We took a trolley tour of the city and our driver/tour guide was awesome. He knew everything there was to know about Savannah and had a lot of fun talking to our kids and asking them questions and getting them involved.

We visited Battlefied Park where a Revolutionary battle took place in Oct of 1779. This is the site where Count Pulaski (namesake of Pulaski County) lost his life.

It is always exciting to me to visit places where our nation was formed and people fought for the freedoms we enjoy today. This was no exception and it was cool to see the original 13 star flag flying over this site where someone of personal interest to me gave his life for a cause that was won in the end.

Top 5 Reasons Why My Husband is Better Than Santa

2008-12-28T19:11:00.004-05:00

5. He looks so much better in red

4. He doesn't want to live at the North Pole

3. He doesn't drink nog

2. His pickup is much more versatile than a sleigh and doesn't have the appetite of ten reindeer

And the number 1 reason why my husband is absolutly FABULOUS!...............

He got me a Nikon D-90 for Christmas. And it's wonderful and I love it and I love him!!!! (sigh)

Hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas!

Through the rush

2008-12-23T08:44:00.003-05:00

Atlast I can breath we have survived all holiday functions and this week we are totally just vegging out. Yesterday we made cookise which I reallly wish I had a picture of because my entire floor was covered in sprinkles. We also went out and bought the absolute last presents we needed and I must say I wish I had been able to get that done last week. Today we are just staring at the t.v. Rudolph, Grinch, and Polar Express to keep us busy.

And yesterday I talked to Jen. It's like a druggy getting a fix now I just feel like I need more.

I checked in on Ian this am (through his blog) and I just feel so blessed to be a part of this Christmas miracle. What a special little boy he is!

Just keep ROLLing

2008-12-19T10:12:00.002-05:00

In preperation for the JWB Christmas par-tay I have turned 128 beautiful dinner rolls. With a little help from a "Friend" for the recipe and one in-tune V.T. during my hour of need I have created a master-piece.

Back to the future

2008-12-17T12:32:00.002-05:00

That's right ladies Charlie and I are going skating tonight at Adventure world! Feel free to come and laugh your butt off. The last time I went skating was back at the Dominion rink. Can I get a heck yeah from the ladies with big hair and rainbow skates?

Next year I'm starting earlier

2008-12-15T06:57:00.003-05:00

355 down 10 to go Perhaps I'll give myself off the month of January then when February comes around I'm starting all the chores associated with Christmas. Maybe I am just far to weak and feeble for the stresses of this holiday.

I am terribly sorry to those of you who feel as though I have been complaining to much about being busy but even in my blog I can think of little else than the million and one tasks to be completed mostly in this week before christmas.

I truly hope next week I can just enjoy the holidays and destress from all of the preperations.

Tagged

2008-12-10T10:03:00.003-05:00

My six quircks:

1.While not nearly as anal as some there is one area of my house where I like everything laying the proper way: my silverware drawer.

2. I can forget things almost instantly. For the most part I am a farely smart person but sometimes I think am in the early stages of alzheimers.

3. When I'm talking I don't finish my sentences, usually because I can't think of the word I want. This even drives me crazy. For explanation refer to #2

4. When I eat pizza I eat it topping first then crust and sauce. I also eat 3 muskateers strangely I eat chocolate first then nougat.

5. I am extremely vain though I rarely wear make-up.

6. I love certain kids music (some Sesame street songs come to mind) and I can be found with it cranked up and totally rocking out in my kitchen.

Thanks Mrs. Madgenious for the opourtunity to bore you all with my secrets ;)

Here are the rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about six quirks you have, only 6!
4. Tag six fellow bloggers to do the same.
5. Leave a comment to let them know.

This made me cry

2008-12-05T16:25:00.003-05:00

I have a youtube feed on my home page and I saw this girl. This song in particular really got to me espeially this time of year. Enjoy!

Random (almost) 7yr old wisdom

2008-12-03T12:54:00.004-05:00

As we are traveling dow the road to my parents house yesterday Charlie notices the dead end sign. So he tells his sisters; and yes I do quote "We're headed for a dead-end. That means we'll fly off the edge of the earth!"
So what I still can't figure out is was he just messing with his sisters or did he totally disregard the 11 +/- century old memo that the earth is really a ball.

It's about time

2008-11-19T07:10:00.002-05:00

that I post something new. For your sanity sake I have been racking my brain about what you don't know about that's going on in my life. I don't want to bore you with motor homes, stress, and snow. Because let's face it you've heard about the motor home, who isn't stressed right now, and everbody else beat me to the snow. So how about Christmas. You may be asking why would I want to talk about Christmas so early. Mostly it's just on my mind. I think I am trying to mentally prepare myself for way to much food (and family) trying to find the perfect gift (without breaking the budget) andmaking sure we, as a family stay grounded during the holidays. Don't get me wrong I love Santa, snowmen, and penguins as much as the next guy but every year it seems a greater struggle than the last to hold on to what Christmas means to me. I love to see the wonderment in children's faces. I love to remember Christ's birth. I love the spirit of the holiday and with the exception of greedy people at the mall and Walmart you really get to see the best people have to offer and for that I am grateful.

Is vacation worth it anyway?

2008-11-13T07:54:00.002-05:00

We are down to the last week before vacation and I am totally going nuts. Tonight I am having a Pampered Chef party (Your Invited!!!) so I have to prepare, clean etc. but before that at 4 I have to go to Charlies p/t conference. Tomorrow morning I have to take care of some family business with my grandmother which could more than likely take all day. Then tom. evening I have to go pick up popcorn for cubscouts then deliver it and have all the $ by next Wed. At some point I need to prepare a lesson for Sunday and find a sub for the next 2 weeks (volunteers?) Monday and Tuesday I am actually doing a few things for myself Mon a litttle stamp time with A and turn in the pc order. Tue a pedicure to have beach ready toes. Wed is scouts like I mentioned. Thur C has a dentist app. at 8:30am. Fri we leave. All this plus not to mention our regular sched of school, laundry, dinner, and cleaning.

Shake your booty!

2008-11-10T16:46:00.000-05:00

Yes it was my 2yr old singing it and no I don't want to talk about it.

My new blog

2008-11-07T06:31:00.004-05:00

Welcome to Radford Re-Ward the place to go for all your needs. If your in need let me know and I will post it up. If your in need of off loading some stuff let me know about that too. Basically I will do the posting while you guys get together on your own. This will be like our very own freecycle.

Happy Birthday Jeff (a day or 2 late)

2008-11-06T07:36:00.005-05:00

Tuesday Jeff turned 33!

Happy Birthday Jeff I love You!

So what can't you find at the library

2008-11-03T18:34:00.003-05:00

As a reward for being good for the g'mas & pas last weekend I took the kids to the library today. Unbeknownst to me it was wildlife day. So we got to learn all about beavers and make our very own piece of beaver poop! (For all you squeamish readers have no fear there was no actual feces involved we're talking Elmer's and sawdust with cinnamon for a nice aroma!) And by the way the grossest thing you never wanted to know about beavers, they eat their own poo!

What's lurking in your couch?

2008-10-28T12:17:00.003-04:00

Today I decided to look for one of Charlie's ds games that had been missing for a while. I was convinced that it must have gone down into no-mans land into the couch. Let me just say this is no mission for the faint hearted. Not only do you find several years worth of dirt and lint (bad enough) you might just pull out a screw driver. Thats right ladies I found a screwdriver and I'm not talking about one of those little eyeglass ones either I mean a normal size screwdriver. Honestly it just never really occurs to me to clean this area of my home. I mean I vacuum under the cushions on a somewhat regular basis I just never really thought to delve into the deepest recesses. But fear not, I have conquered!!!

George and Martha

2008-10-27T15:15:00.002-04:00

Jeff and I flew down to Dallas Fri night to retrieve our motor coach. Therefor changing into our alter egos George and Martha. (I'll let you guess which is which.) You just can't help but feel like you are sixty riding up and down the road in that thing! The trip was fun, I got to add a new state to my list (TX) and flying in at night was AWESOME!! Dallas is beautiful from the air. My friend Shannon picked us up from the airport fed us dinner and let us stay with her. (Thanks Shannon!!!) It took till Sunday evening to get home and I was glad to be home and in my own bed again although the bed in the coach is pretty sweet. We came up through Arkansas (did you know the town Bill Clinton was born in is called Hope, seems a little ironic to me) then through Memphis (also beautiful at night, crossing the Miss.) All the way to home. Now we just have to get ready for our road trip for Thanksgiving.

The Cake (sort of)

2008-10-27T07:37:00.004-04:00

I now have a new favorite gift to give for baby showers. The diaper cake it's so fun and can look however you like pretty, classy, fun, cute. I think I started out with a good one this was definitely in the pretty category.

The 38' road trip machine

2008-10-23T07:48:00.003-04:00

When Jeff and I die people are going to say something along these lines "Well they sure did have a lot of toys." As part of the package deal of owning a busines you get zero home time during the week, the week lasts atleast 6 1/2 days and when you are at home your either to tired to have fun or there are too many projects to do to have fun. So Jeff's solution is to buy toys that force us out into family bliss. Our latest edtition to the "toy" fleet is a 38' Monaco Dynasty. This latest edtition is in hopes of a low stress 14 hour drive to Florida because we have recently given up on flying and Aly screams as soon as you put her in the car for a road trip she will ride around all day around town but as soon as she knows we will be in for an extended time she falls apart. So heres hoping this works. I told Jeff he needs a little floofy dog to ride around on his lap to fully fit the persona. He said he would rather not.

The unscratchable itch

2008-10-21T06:54:00.002-04:00

Just incase you were wondering...the final news on my camera is that it is unfixable so I'm SOL I will just have to buy a new one :(

Whistle while you work

2008-10-21T06:45:00.003-04:00

For all of you coming to the baby shower tonight close your eyes because like all good hostess' I will be saying excuse the mess tonight. What I really should say, because it's the truth is this is the cleanest this house has been...well probably the whole time we've lived here. Many hours were spent yesterday wiping walls, cleaning windows, vacuuming, mopping. I only wish I had a whole team of merry maid rodents to help.

Take A Deep Cleansing Breath

2008-10-16T16:27:00.002-04:00

That's right everybody I am writing this as I am preparing to go to, drumroll please.......................The last soccer game of the season!!!!!!!!!
I like soccer. I really do but I would be lying if I said this wan't even a little bit welcome. Around here any change of pace is nice speeding up or slowing down. You have to enjoy each new thing and time of year because they are painfully short!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I'm overdue! I'm really in a stew! No time to say goodbye...hello! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!!

2008-10-14T08:51:00.003-04:00

Lately I feel like I sound a lot like the white rabbit. I'm constantly telling the kids to hurry up we've got to go we're going to be LATE! It seems like no matter when we get up in the morning we're always heading out the door at the last second. It's amazing how getting dressed and putting on shoes alone can take 10-30 min and there is no predicting how long it will take any given morning. Then Aly puts the icing on the cake when she won't get in her seat and wants to buckle herself. I really try to indulge her as much as possible but some days we just don't have time.

Pink my toes

2008-10-13T13:32:00.002-04:00

One of the things I love about having girls is getting to do "girl stuff" with them. Sometimes they want to do it more than we have time for but when we get the chance painting toes and fingers is one of my favorite things we do together. Another great thing about it is, they sit completely still for me to trim their nails, even Aly! So today Aly says to me "Pink my toes" I love it! Who can resist a request like that?

This is where I would love to enter a picture of 2 lovely girls with their pretty fingers and toes but alas still no camera!

Who throws a shoe? Honestly!

2008-10-10T16:13:00.009-04:00

Monday on our way to soccer Charlie decided to throw his shoe at Sariah hitting her in the face and making her nose bleed. It is one of the few times as a parent that I have been speechless. After I took a few deep breaths, and cleaned up the blood, I told him that TV was gone for the week and that his punishment was far from over. When Jeff got home he told C that he had to make Sariah's bed for the week.

Sorry to those of you who read this post previously it was funnier before somehow when I was editing a typo I hit publish and it deleted the whole post. Computers make me nuts.

A little slice of life

2008-10-09T16:44:00.002-04:00

Being the dirt queen has it's perks and pitfalls. One of the more interesting things about being me is we have our own language. We measure in yards(actual measurement-cubic yards) and tandem(dump truck) loads when it comes to material(dirt) sometimes referred to as suitable fill and stone(gravel). Which is especially fun when it comes to over exaggerating how much of it is in my house. Today I cleaned up an exhorbetent amount of material and stone off of the floor in my foyer. I would say a yard atleast. Another interesting thing about my life is that we don't have a sandbox. We have a pile of suitable fill ranging in size at any given time between 20 -100 tandem loads of dirt that the kids, mostly C, climb on dig in and play around as much as I will let them. Thus why I get to clean up tons of dirt off of my floor everyday!

MINE Mommy!

2008-10-07T10:00:00.002-04:00

What is it with the possesiveness (is that a word?) of kids atleast once every day the older kids feel the need to provoke Aly into a "MINE" competition. The funniest part about it is you would think they would have learned by now they can't beat the master!

The Time Monopoly

2008-09-30T06:52:00.001-04:00

Kids are great. They keep us busy and before we know it somewhere between soccer, cub scouts, music class(thanks M), preschool, first grade and diapers(trying to make sure A got her mention), they grow up. And occasionally when they are NOT wrought with exhaustion you actually get to see this. Our busy evening schedule has thrown poor Aly for a tail spin. Last night, before the 7:30 soccer game that was 20 min away, she was already so fed up with our running that when my Dad showed up to work on the goats fence(the goats can and will be blogged about later like when there is a cute baby or something not now) she laid her head on his shoulder and held him in a death grip. So I made a quick call to Daddy that went something like this "When are you coming home?" "Hmm that late huh?" "Well I'm not asking you to take the girls" "You can take the girls!!!! Great!!! their seats will be in the truck!" Daddy to the rescue! So I got to spend some quality time with C at soccer and the girls got to talk princesses with Daddy and tell his secrets to this new girl that he hired and had to give a ride home.

Hooray for scouts

2008-09-25T07:55:00.002-04:00

C is now officially a cub scout! I am thrilled! I have been waiting for this day since he was born basically. We went to scout night last night and it was great I am like sign me up! I can't tell who's more excited me or Charlie! On a side note though I can't believe how much the stuff costs! But I am thrilled anyway.

Happy Dance!!!!!

2008-09-22T10:48:00.002-04:00

I am finally going to get high speed! We live on the cross roads to nowhere as far as internet is concerned and now today I am going get high speed? broadband? whatever it is! It means I will no longer be left behind! I will no longer miss any of your wonderful life anouncements! Yay!

Just a little rant

2008-09-18T16:10:00.000-04:00

So I admit I often read the comments following articles posted on the AOL welcome screen. Who cares what these people think? I know, it's just one of things we do and don't really know why. Today there is an article about Sarah Palin's e-mail being hacked into. And ofcourse as usual the comments are mostly unrelated to the actual article. Now normally I just laugh off whatever ignorance is being spouted by people with too much time on their hands but on this I have a strong opinion and I feel it must be known. One of the comments says something like "Palin and her husband eloped and 8 mos later they had a baby. Looks like she doesn't practice what she preaches." Now I just have to say that perhaps we "preach" things in our lifetime that we have intimate knowledge of. Perhaps we have traveled down the road of the choice you would rather see others avoid. I hate self rightous hypocrits who can't see wisdom because they are far to busy looking for fault in the wise.

On a side note I have been trying to avoid anything remotely political and I kept this as completely unbiased as possible. All canidates whether we agree or don't agree with them deserve atleast the respect we give any other human. After all they too are our brothers and sisters and were we not commanded to love all others atleast as we love ourselves.

For all you savvy shoppers

2008-09-17T13:00:00.000-04:00

Today at Target I stocked up on backpacks for next year! They have all sorts of styles and colors some for as low as 3.78 I bought three! Of course you can also use them for 72 hour kits, church bags or whatever!

That itch again!

2008-09-16T13:15:00.000-04:00

So week before last I talked with the camera repair shop and they said to expect my camera the next week. I waited and it didn't come so I called yesterday and this is what they said. "Um mam your camera is doing something we nor Nikon has ever seen! We are waiting to hear back from them to see how to fix it." I am like great leave it to me to own the freak camera. So atleast another couple weeks before it will be fixed. Arghh!

Hairbows and other devices of torture

2008-09-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

Some time back while I was at Old Navy I saw a woman with a little girl about 2 years old. The girl was very cute with barrettes and all. It was around nap:30 as I could see the little girls patience had been worn thin, too much shopping just isn't good for anyone. So her loving mother hands the girl her lovey. Now I don't know how your kids do it but mine act like they want to crawl inside their blankets so did this girl. Then she got scolded for messing up her hair! The woman took the blanket away and told her she could have it back if she didn't do it again. This is honestly the closest I have ever come to giving unsolicited parenting advice to a complete stranger. I wanted so bad to say you cruel woman she is tired and cranky and your life would be a lot easier if she could just snuggle her blanket.
Most of the time my kids hair looks like they rolled out of bed and on special occasions they add oatmeal, candy whatever they can get their hands in. Yep those are my kids you see and wonder where their parents are and why don't they love them. I am a firm believer of choose your battles and we have way too many other things going on to worry about pigtails and hairbows everyday. I do on occasion cute it up a bit but I don't worry if they mess it up. I'm usually lucky if it makes till we get out of the car where we're going. Don't be cruel to your kids they don't care if their hair looks like it hasn't been combed since birth.

A Walk in the Park

2008-09-10T09:54:00.000-04:00

So I am trying to get back in the routine of exercising the past couple of days I have worked out with the Wii fit and today a walk in the park. Let me just say it was no walk in the park that trail was STEEP! Especially with a stroller. But ya know what I feel great so it was so totally worth it!

That Same Old Itch

2008-09-04T19:13:00.000-04:00

Just got the estimate for my camera 236.00 and the itch will be scratched. I'm begining to wonder if it's really worth it.

Let me backtrack

2008-09-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

So I guess I am a little remiss since I did not tell you about our trip to the cabin. We had a blast! We actually left a little after lunch time on Fri. and since my present for Jeff was so spectacular I made him open it on our way down, that's right while he was driving. "But Dirt Queen" you say "don't you think that's a bit dangerous?" Well actually we're talking about the guy who drives a dumptruck, talks on the phone, takes notes, and eats his lunch all at the same time if you ask me he was probably bored. So moving on, his present, since you are dying to know was a camera. So know he can take pictures of the jobs all by himself. But we had to break it in on our trip so here was the maiden voyage of the Sony cybershot, which by the way I am fairly impressed with. It has enough gadgets in it's small size to keep me happy and is easy enough to use without having to read the manual.
We arrived at the cabin around 5 and Jeff whipped out his cooking skills and made bbq chicken. Infact we only ate out once the whole time we were there. And that was the Hard Rock Cafe Sat for lunch. For the rest of the trip I had brought food so it was nice not to have to leave. Sat night we had a couples massage in the cabin which was totally awesome except that I had a guy massaging me and honestly it was more than a little weird to have another man touching me like that. We cought up on the important things in our life, we watched movies, we relaxed it was great.