The Gingerbread House Saga

Just To Be Clear...

2011-08-29T10:37:00.001-04:00

...my new blog is here!

http://searshouseonhill.blogspot.com/

It's where all the cool kids hang out!

Happy Birthday to...

2011-08-26T22:27:00.004-04:00

The Gingerbread House Saga!

I've been blogging for 3 years today!

Here's my very first post!

In that time we've:

Started homeschooling
Done some laundry
Had some birthdays
Had some first crushes
Ate some chocolate
Gone to some high school musicals
Made some gingerbread houses
Shoveled some snow
Hosted a Fresh Air Fund kid
Lost some teeth
Gone camping
Changed from an-old-lady-car-driver to a I'm-STILL-too-young and cool to drive a-minivan-driver
We played some baseball
We've visited Canada
We welcomed a new little monkey (Shoey, just to be clear) to the mix
We've said hello and goodbye to a stray pitbull
We've visited Virginia
We've played some soccer
We've moved to a new town
We've survived the chaos and have enjoyed every minute of it!

Go here: to see what the next 3 years holds

The Mama Files: "Idle Hands Are..."

2011-08-24T16:09:00.004-04:00

So our fall is filling up really fast....like lightening speed. I love and hate it all in one!

I'm pretty excited for the MOPS crafts I'm planning to do this year (obvi.). *Note to self: raid Mom's fabric stash for more material ASAP*

We have soccer for 3 kids (I assist. coach for 1)! Which is crazy, but, like I recently told a friend "the kids play soccer for me and little league for Marc". So it doesn't really feel like THAT much of a chore carting them around.

I just got home from a meeting for the art classes I teach at a local private school. One class is 9 little girls grades 2-3, which is exciting. Another class is 8 little boys (and 2 girls) grades K-1, which is frightening. Hopefully we all make it through alive!

And off course there's the regular life stuff- cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc.

I've recently come to terms with the fact that I'm never going to be the lady that has a perfectly cleaned and organized house. There's just so many other things I'd rather put my time into. I'll just have to settle with a semi-almost-halfway picked up house.

Thank goodness we now have a house that can be that way and I don't feel like I'm drowning in housework/laundry/children! :-)

Happy *almost* fall!

A Fun Fact About Me:

Fall is by far my favorite season and I think it's because at lot of the clothes are orange and brown!

Sweet Progress

2011-08-21T21:08:00.003-04:00

I had a VERY productive weekend! YAY!

It started on Friday when I went to Joann's and found absolutely NOTHING that I wanted to create curtains for my living room out of. But, things got better once I played soccer with a lot of the ladies from my high school team (ah, memories!) and had a bonfire at my former coach's house.

Then, we had a fun Saturday morning of Youth soccer (I have 3 players this year) and I came back to do TONS of lawn work while Shoey napped!

Finally today I cleaned boxes out of one spare room and organized the other spare room (We have TWO spare rooms! How cool is that?!) so that one of my brother-in-laws can stay with us while he's home on break from college.

Now to just find some fabric for those curtains...

I hope the rest of the week goes as well!

The Gingerbread House Saga, continued.

2011-08-18T15:53:00.000-04:00

New Plan:

I haven't gone into this before now because it's such a crazy unbelievable story and I wanted to know the ending before I explained it all. Well it doesn't look like I'm going to know the ending for quite some time, or maybe this is the ending, who knows.

Anywho, 8 years ago our county went to Marc's grandfather and told him that he had rights to his deceased sister-in-law's house. Assuming he really did have rights, he came to us and asked if we wanted to buy it. In August 2003 he signed it over to us and we bought it from the county, for really cheap.

Now when we went to sell it in June we found out that Marc's grandfather didn't have rights to it after all. As it turns out it should have gone to her side of the family not our side. So now we have had to contact all of her heirs (all 18 of them) and try to get them to sign off on it. So far we've gotten 7 to do this and we are still waiting on the other 11.

Since it's taken so long our buyer has withdrawn their offer which is completely understandable.

So now the only option we have left is to rent it out until we get this whole mess sorted out.

I have mixed feelings about this whole situation and have decided that all we can really do is just go with it. It's just another bump in the road.

2011-08-16T15:05:00.002-04:00

This built in cabinet opens on the other side too! It's huge and useful and I love it!

How Am I Spending My Day, You Ask?

2011-08-15T14:25:00.003-04:00

Oh just pulling out 537 of these little buggers from my bathroom windows.

*okay so that might be a slight exaggeration, but it is taking forever.

2011-08-13T21:21:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to figure out the best way to photograph the porch. There's really no way to capture it's amazingness. I've never EVER lived in a house with a porch, it's AWESOME! And one day I hope to be able to have enough time to actually sit on it.

2011-08-09T16:03:00.004-04:00

I haven't started on painting yet in fact I haven't even made it to the store to BUY paint yet. I started looking online for color scheme ideas and got distracted. I've decided I'm going to paint the woodwork in my 2 bathrooms...wait for it....WHITE! Boring I know but I want to keep the feel of the upstairs bathroom really clean because it's a small room with a big tub. I'm not entirely sold on what I want to do for the down stairs bathroom yet. It's really odd because it's this big room that has a toilet, sink and now washing machine (and eventually dryer) in it. It also has a big open double doorway (yes my bathroom downstairs doesn't have a door on it yet) and 2 big double windows. The reason this room is up in the air is because we haven't decided on what we are going to do for a shower yet. At the moment I'm thinking about just putting an add on shower on the claw foot tub and then keeping the downstairs bath just a half bath. But then again that's just my idea today who knows what I'll come up with tomorrow.

Are You Ready....

2011-08-08T16:15:00.003-04:00

for a week full of blog posts?! I'm down to one child (plus a babysitting kid) for a whole week! Which usually equals boring. Maybe I'll paint something! I doubt jacking up the house would ruin a trim paint job in both bathrooms. Now to decide what color...stay tuned.

2011-08-07T22:30:00.000-04:00

2 for 1

2011-08-07T00:57:00.004-04:00

Look at this sweet little BLUE eyed girl! I can't believe she's going to be 1 in a couple weeks. Her favorite past time at the moment is trying to eat out of the dog's dish (just playing in his water is fun too). She's a bundle of energy and determination, but I love her for it!
Isn't this giant heating vent (register?) cool?! I love it.

Check Out Some of the Crafts We're Making in MOPS This Year!

2011-08-03T15:25:00.003-04:00

Don't ya wanna come?! :-)

To Do List:

2011-08-01T11:36:00.003-04:00

Rearrange the girls' room (I have a feeling this is going to be an on going thing).
Paint a bench.
Start packing my 3 eldest for camp.
Buy a new pair of black shoes for my SIL wedding.
Order my second batch of curriculum
Laundry
Dishes
Clean the bathrooms
Reschedule an appointment for Gaius
Unpack my bedroom (yeah, it's still not even close to being done. I also want to rearrange that room too)
Finish reading this book : Just Do Something, By: Kevin DeLong
Start running again
Come up with a couple more ideas for my MOPS group.
Install baby gates on our stairs
Sleep

*So far I've gotten one thing done so far today, let's hope this afternoon is more productive!*

Date Night

2011-07-28T12:27:00.002-04:00

Marc and I went to the Clayton Opera House last night to watch "The Moth". It was really fun, but WAY out of my comfort zone. There was a fancy smancy reception at the beginning that you were supposed to eat crazy food (pataté) and mingle with crazy people (socialites). But the storytelling was phenomenal, and my husband's company is always a plus. So all in all it was a really fun date night! Oh and by the way, the town of Clayton is absolutely beautiful!

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Blog...

2011-07-25T22:18:00.003-04:00

....for an excerpt from Marc's facebook.

So my evening?

Return from a great night of VBS.

Leia finds a bat upstairs. I am terrified of bats. After 45 minutes of sniveling and acting very un-manly in front of my wife I charge and dispatch said bat with one blow. Bash my knee to the point I can't bend it now in my again very un-manly retreat because of the aforementioned fear of bats.

30 minutes of convincing my children that is safe to sleep in their own beds.

Now Gaius woke up so worked up over the bat that he just deposited to contents of his spaghetti dinner on the floor.

I love being a dad. What would I do with my evenings other wise?

Holy Hot Weather!

2011-07-22T22:08:00.003-04:00

(photo by: Leia)

It.is.hot.

Not that I'm really complaining, it's been sort of fun going swimming at least once a day all week. It's funny how your priorities change when it's 102° out. :-)

Leia turned 7 yesterday. She's pretty excited about it. We gave her a camera for her birthday. Actually we gave her my old camera, I figured it made more sense because we already had the extra battery, sd card, and camera bag. Plus if she drops it down the stairs it won't matter as much. She loves it, she's been taking pictures of everything (174 pictures to be exact)! She's funny too because she wants to know what every little setting is. I also saw her with Shoshannah on her lap showing her what all the buttons mean. It made me smile. I love how kids take pictures of the most random things. Like the TV, or our kitchen food cupboard. :-) Who knows maybe I have a budding photog on my hands.

We have our very first birthday party in our house tomorrow. It's exciting and a little stressful. I'm ready to get this baby (the house) jacked up so I can start on some of my painting projects. Oh yeah, and my bedroom is still mostly in boxes..I should really get to that soon too. I've decided I want to learn how to tile. I want to lay a tile floor in the kitchen and upstairs bathroom. I have a friend who knows how I'll have to ask her for lessons. We'll see.

TTFN!

2011-07-15T11:48:00.002-04:00

These two monkeys are down right NUTS today.

It COULD be the donuts and chocolate milk I gave them for breakfast.

But I really can't see that much of a difference.

2011-07-14T12:05:00.002-04:00

Ironically this light now has 1 energy efficient bulb in it and it looks completely out of place.

2011-07-13T12:49:00.003-04:00

Things I'm still getting used to:

Tall ceilings. Reaching things without a stool has been a normal part of life for well 10 years, not anymore.
A zillion stairs. I never understood why people wanted an upstairs and downstairs changing table. However, after hauling my 20# baby Sho up and down the stairs several times a day I now understand. It's a workout!
Having neighbors. So far I've met the man who lives straight across from us and his landlady who lives next door to him. Both are very nice. But on our first night here a neighbor had a party which ended in a huge fight and the police coming. :-/
Not being able to hear every little thing that is going on in the house. Which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because now my night-shift working husband can get some uninterrupted sleep. A curse because now I can't just yell to my kids I actually have to go and get them to talk to them.
That this big beautiful house is really ours!

Now onto organizing Gaius' room, also known as the "toy room". If I don't post in a few days, send out a search team. :-) Just kidding!

2011-07-12T11:25:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple things that happened while I was MIA last week.

Shoshannah started full out crawling(not just army crawling), which made unpacking rather difficult.
Paul turned 5, which made him so happy because "now he's older than Gaius." Competitive much? :-)
Marc and I had our 10 year anniversary. Which we spent unpacking boxes. Our new house was a pretty large and grand Anniversary present, don't you think?!

2011-07-11T12:51:00.003-04:00

I have loved old houses for as long as I can remember.

And this house has so much antique charm that I can't even stand it!

I'm so shocked, awed, and thankful that God blessed us with this really big "want" .

I wanted to show you all a couple of my favorite things that came with this house, but I don't want to seem boastful so I think I'm going to space out the pictures.

Keep an eye out for more of my "favorites", coming soon...

**New Blog Coming Soon!**

2011-07-10T21:44:00.000-04:00

Bye, bye birdies :-(

The Robin's Nest

2011-07-08T15:03:00.005-04:00

It was no small task getting Mama's (or is it Papa's?) photo.

[S]he is very quick and skittish!

Moving pretty much took over my life for day 10 and 11.

"Robin" is venturing out!

FYI

2011-07-03T16:53:00.003-04:00

Posts will probably be non-existent for a bit. No internet for an undetermined amount of time. But I do have a couple ideas in the works.
I hate moving!!!
I love my new house!!!!
At this moment most of our furniture is in our front yard waiting to be loaded.
I'm exhausted!

See you on the other side! :-)

2011-07-01T22:10:00.001-04:00

These babies are growing like weeds!

New House Discoveries:

2011-06-27T22:12:00.002-04:00

There was only 3 little eggs when we found this on Thursday! My guess is there will be 3 chicks by tomorrow! If I believed in signs I would say this could be a good one! :-)

The Mama Files

2011-06-27T14:03:00.001-04:00

I'm not so sure I'm fond of this whole crawling stuff!

The End.

The First Look:

2011-06-23T20:43:00.002-04:00

Box Mountain

2011-06-22T14:34:00.001-04:00

Relocating Soon

2011-06-21T22:13:00.002-04:00

So remember when I couldn't wait for baseball and school to end so that my life would calm down?

Yeah no such luck.

My schedule is jam packed this week.

There's this little thing called a house closing scheduled for Thursday!!! Along with a t-ball pizza party, flowers to pick up for a wedding, Paulie to watch, and absolutely NO naps in sight.

I'm both very, very excited and completely stressed just thinking about how things need to

fall into place.

When exactly did my schedule turn into my mother's? :-)

Is this not AWESOME?!

2011-06-16T21:10:00.002-04:00

I love it!

Check out this Etsy Shop for more awesomeness!

The Gingerbread House Saga

2011-06-16T08:23:00.004-04:00

I have 4 blog drafts that I've started and just couldn't bring myself to post. The Gingerbread House selling story has really turned into a full fledged SAGA! I'm still waiting to see how it all plays out. The key points are these:

The Gingerbread House is still sold, it's just going to take a little longer then expected to close on it.
If buying a house for back taxes seems too easy it probably is.
The internet has an AMAZING amount of information on it.
I {heart, heart, heart} my church family
Everyone needs a Will! Seriously! Go out and get yourself one!

To be Continued...

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-08T09:58:00.000-04:00

Friday Five Moving Edition

2011-06-03T22:45:00.004-04:00

Our box pile has really grown, hasn't it? BTW don't worry this picture looks much scarier then it really is. All the boxes are completely stable (but I did move her after taking this!).

This is my "garden" this year. There are tomatoes, impatiens, a sunflower, and snap dragons. We'll see if anything actually survives.

These 2 are from Marc's Grandfather's property, which happens to be ALMOST butted up against the backyard of our new house!

2011-06-01T21:51:00.002-04:00

"Can I eat daddy's pizza? You know, so he doesn't have to do all the work of chewing!"-Xavier

How considerate of you Xav! :-)

9...Already!

2011-05-31T21:36:00.004-04:00

Nine Months

Fun Facts:

LOVES Cheerios

The cutest baseball spectator ever

HAPPY

*I know I say that every month. But she really is the happiest baby I've ever seen*

Ready to take off!

*she's doing the hands and knees rock*

Professional Attention Getter!

Spoiled

Gorgeous

Lovely

Sweet

19 lbs. 8 oz. (62%), 29½ inches (96%), 45 cm head (45%)

The Mama Files: Paint

2011-05-26T21:59:00.005-04:00

So I have ideas coming out my ears for the new house.

***Hurry up lawyers!***

I'm a person who can visualize things very very easily (it was passed down to me from my mother). In my head I have my first 2 smallish painting projects all figured out and I am itching to get in there and get to work (instead of this boring job of sorting and packing boxes).

Have I mentioned I'm very goal oriented and not very patient?! :-)

I WAS thinking about painting the dining room beige, don't worry I came to my senses before any paint was purchased! I don't want to ruin all my fun (the big reveal!), but I will tell you this; one room is going to be purple and one orange! :-) Are you scared?! Now don't give me that "you're painting what black?!" look! You'll see, it'll be great! I can't wait to show you...it could be a while though. (Sigh) Hurry up lawyers! I'm ready to move!

2011-05-26T12:27:00.001-04:00

Proud? Mothering Moments

2011-05-25T13:29:00.000-04:00

1:15 pm "Mom, can I go outside?"- Xavier

1:16 pm "Mom, can I go outside?"- Xavier

1:17 pm "Mom, can I go outside?"- Xavier

1:17 pm "Xavier! Stop pestering! You are like a fly! I want to swat you!!!"- Me

2011-05-24T13:11:00.002-04:00

The Start of Something New

2011-05-22T15:22:00.001-04:00

Our tentative closing date is June 17th, but our Realtor says it could be as early as June 10th. THAT IS 2-3 weeks from last Friday!

Yikes! I have so much to do!

Hush Little Baby- The Leia Version

2011-05-21T17:25:00.003-04:00

"When that charming bracelet breaks, mama will buy you a stuffed animal.

When that stuffed animal breaks, mama will buy you a ring.

When that ring's stone pops out, mama will buy you a teddy bear.

When that teddy bear's stuffing comes out, mama will buy you a whole basket of toys.

When that basket and the toys all break.

You're still the sweetest baby in town."

"We so Excited!"

2011-05-20T00:23:00.001-04:00

Notice her 2 big teeth?!

*If you follow me on facebook, you may be asking yourself "How many more references can she possibly make about Rebecca Black's song Friday?!".

The answer- at least a couple more! :-)

Whoo-Hoo Wednesday!

2011-05-18T15:05:00.004-04:00

Korleen's thoughts on packing

I'm SOOOO glad I'm not pregnant this May!
Marc says- Oh, just throw stuff in a box and move it to the other house, no biggie!
Beth (Marc's sister) says- Label every box as clearly as possible, for example Garage Left Corner and list what's in the box.
I think I'm going with the woman who has moved at least 7 times (I've lost count) in her 5 years of marriage
When someone asks you for rights to their well, and you have no use for it anyway, just let them have it! (okay, I know this doesn't really pertain to packing. But it's a good life lesson anyway).
We have a lot of stuff.
Marc and I agree- This is the last time we're moving ever! (We'll see if God has the same plans).

P.S.

We only have a tentative closing date so far, so I could be jumping the gun a little. However, it's pretty much a sure thing. Our new well only needs to pass a water test (the old well passed with flying colors, figures!). But the buyer is very cooperative so I think they will work with us even if it doesn't pass the first time.

The blog post I was going to title Manic Monday....until I realized today is Tuesday

2011-05-17T21:24:00.004-04:00

OOPS!

So What's New?!

2011-05-13T16:41:00.003-04:00

Have I mentioned we play a lot of Baseball this time of year?! :-)

Xavier certainly is the cutest 1st baseman I've ever seen though!

This is just a picture of Chub because he's cute too!

We took a trip to Howe Caverns! So. Much. Fun.

"Praying Hands" stalagmite

We have a new (don't get me started) well THAT IS within our property lines! Yipee!

And with that the week is over.

The great World Wide Web

2011-05-05T23:05:00.006-04:00

I thought maybe you would like to see what websites I check everyday

Woot -Also woot kids, there's a link to it on woot.

Babysteals -There's also links to kidsteals and scrapbooksteals on this site.

Facebook -because it's one of my main sources of communication. Sad? I don't know. Seems kind of the norm now days.

Maybe Matilda -This one makes me want to dig out my sewing machine everyday.

Remodelaholic -So many ideas, so little gingerbread house.

Yahoo -Email...and actually their little news reel thingy always gets me so I end up reading random things like star gossip or current events. *how else am I supposed to know "who wore it best"?*

Blogger -Sometimes to write something, sometimes to check comments, always to read various blogs I enjoy.

Youtube -I usually end up watching it for various tutorials that I love watching. Or listening to music.

Pandora -I go on here when I have a sink full of dirty dishes to wash.

The end. :-)

2011-05-03T00:02:00.001-04:00

Some people think that you should hide (shield?) kids from death. I'm not one of those people.

Marc's grandfather died yesterday. His 94th birthday would've been this coming Friday. He used to (up until February) drop by our house bearing all forms of gifts, such as donuts and rotisserie chickens. In fact he is the very man that made the purchase of the Gingerbread House even possible. A few years ago Xavier sent Great Grandpa a letter about how to get to heaven, which helped to soften his heart to Jesus. So my family has many ties to this man other than just blood relation.

I've been fielding all forms of heaven related questions. Some I could answer, some I couldn't, and some I sent to Marc.

"Mom, if I pray and ask God to tell Great Grandpa something will he do it?"

"Mom, is Great Grandpa going to see God or only Jesus in heaven?"

"Mom, how old will Great Grandpa be in heaven?"

"Will he wear clothes in heaven?"

"Great Grandpa will be really happy to see his wife again, huh?"

These are all Xavier quotes. Leia's question mostly consisted of what would happen to Great Grandpa's farm, and where all of his animals were (he hasn't had any since before she was born). Gaius just asked me if Great Grandpa died and then went off to play.

All of their responses are a great window into their souls (and age).

Xavier is my big hearted, caring, first born. Who cares deeply for everyone's soul.
Leia is my tender hearted, animal lover (she cries when she see the abused animal commercials).
Gaius is 4.

My strategy for dealing with difficult situations for my kids is to let them take the lead. Whether or not it is effective is TBD. I answer the questions they ask as simply as possible and if more information is needed then the conversation continues. Lots of times the simple answer is enough...at least for now.

Being a mother is definitely an interesting ride, that I wouldn't trade for anything.

8 Months (and 2 days)

2011-05-02T12:06:00.003-04:00

Favorite New Feature: Two teeth

Favorite Form of Transportation: Mama's hip

Favorite Foods: Bananas, peas, and chocolate

Least Favorite Activity: Long car rides

Favorite New Trick: Giving big slobbery kisses

Favorite Toy: Any choking hazard

(For Example: paper, rocks, crayons, tiny toys that don't belong to me...)

Friday Four (Because I couldn't come up with a 5th)

2011-04-29T12:04:00.003-04:00

And......it's cold again. *pout*
We found out yesterday that our well is not on our property. Which in turn creates a complication for selling the Gingerbread House. Hopefully our neighbor will just give us the rights to it without incident.
It's finally the "Royal Wedding" Day. Thank goodness! If you know me you will know that I LOVE weddings (I've decorated for I think 7, soon to be 8). But all the media frenzy over this is even a little much for me! Some of my first impressions where.

Kate's dress was completely boring (but I sort of loved it).
Morning coats on guys look totally snappy, in a good way!
I LOVED all the hats, even the weird Lady Gaga-esque hat Princess Beatrice wore!
I loved Kate's bouquet, it was so small and simple (my all time favorite combo).
In all honestly I actually liked Pippa's dress better then Kate's

Little League opening day is tomorrow. Let's hope this year blankets and coats won't be required for the spectators for too long.

Gaius' Second Favorite Song...I think.

2011-04-26T10:37:00.004-04:00

"Do you like that song?"

"Not really....yeah! yeah really"

2011-04-25T15:55:00.007-04:00

When Shoshannah wants to go from sitting up to being on her belly she just flops over, it's actually quite comical to watch. However, it's taken quite a bit of coaxing to get Leia to allow Sho to do this.

Leia- "I'll just be Shoey's chair"

Me- "Leia let her go, she has to learn how to do it by herself. If she falls she will learn."

Leia- "Okay I'll just to this:"

*Sorry for the poor picture quality. I forgot my good camera at my mom's yesterday*

2011-04-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

Friday 5

2011-04-22T16:32:00.003-04:00

Spring is officially here (someone, please alert the weather)! I know this only because my children have had baseball practices all week.
We unofficially took a week off from school. There was literally no time to get it done. Thankfully we are coming to the end of most of our school books!
The countdown for Marc's week of vacation is on- 3 weeks! We don't have any big plans, but not having to run my kids to EVERY practice/game/prayer meeting all by myself makes it sort of like a vacation for me too!
Our dogs missed us while we were away and now will not stop digging giant holes outside our front door. Kind of sweet but not so great for "curb appeal".
Something exciting is potentially happening...(Don't you just love a good cliff hanger?!) :-)

Highlights from Lake Anna

2011-04-19T20:27:00.007-04:00

The house. was. huge! (8000 sq. ft. to be exact)

BTW this was the room we stayed in which also happened to be the toy room. No matter how clean I left it, it would end up looking like this by the time I entered again. :-(

So. Many. Cousins all under one roof! (I barely saw my oldest daughter the entire time)

Xavier caught a fish (without bait) all by himself and even took it off the hook and everything.

My cousin Nick purposed to his girlfriend of 5 years! (She said yes)

My 3 little nephews are all VERY early risers and that big house was very echo-y.

Shoshannah got her normal excessive amounts of attention. AND was a little grumpy because she cut a tooth two days before we left and I'm pretty sure she has another one coming in soon.

Marc and I tried kayaking! It was super fun!

We raced and I lost because my husband shoved me into the weeds with his paddle (dirty cheater!) :-)

They had a sandbox which was brilliantly located on a small cliff next to the water. So the kids enjoyed building sand castles in the, much safer, horseshoe pits instead.

This is my brother's 2nd largest fish of the weekend. 15 minutes before we left he caught a 29" Carp using a kiddie fishing pole.

We also had a little "adventure" getting lost in Virginia's back country for 1½ hours, in the middle of a thunderstorm, with an eighth of a tank of gas.

We survived!

2011-04-18T10:54:00.003-04:00

I can't wait to look at and edit the rest of the pictures I took while on vacation! The house we all stayed in was AMAZING! The weather was gorgeous! We came home to snow. :-(

But I wanted to give you a quick update on OUR house situation. We had one showing over the weekend and the people are coming back this Thursday to take another look. The people who looked at it last Wednesday called me up (they actually go to our church) and asked to come and look at the back of our property where we tie our dogs out while the house is being shown. So hopefully we'll have an offer very soon from someone!

2011-04-13T17:45:00.002-04:00

Another successful showing!

My Realtor says "We'll see who gets an offer in first"!

Sounds good to me!

Maybe I will come back from vacation to a sold house!

Pray. HARD!

2011-04-13T13:05:00.001-04:00

My bff from high school just had her first child!!!

YAY!

I'm so excited!

I love babies!

That is all.

Update-ette (a.k.a. a baby update)

2011-04-12T20:14:00.004-04:00

Another interested buyer!!!

The showing went well.

This buyer really likes our house,

but as always we will see if anything becomes of it.

I haven't heard if the man from last week has made a decision or not.

I don't mind having a couple interested parties!

On Your Marks, Get Set, GO!

2011-04-11T21:48:00.003-04:00

Our week just went from a little crazy to COMPLETELY NUTS!!!

The man that looked at our house last week is supposed to make a decision and let his Realtor know tomorrow! As I have already mentioned we have ANOTHER person looking at our house tomorrow evening. NOW we have someone else looking at it Wednesday afternoon. Good grief, I guess everyone really was waiting for Spring to look for a house.

So there's all THAT happening. Plus, Leia has her (hopefully) last foot checkup tomorrow. Along with all the chaos involved to get a family of 6 ready to leave for Virginia on Thursday. Then my normal stuff. Yes, I live a crazy, hectic life!

In other news, today was 81°! Yes, you read that right. Eighty-one degrees in NY, in April!!!! It was lovely!

Now it's time to get back to the dishes.

iAdios

A Tiny Update

2011-04-10T21:09:00.004-04:00

We still haven't heard anything about the person who looked at our house last week. BUT now we have another showing (different buyer) this Tuesday! Yay! Prayerfully at least ONE of these guys wants it.

**A Perk: this time I don't have to clean like a mad woman!**

Life According to G.

2011-04-09T15:25:00.003-04:00

Gaius- "Can I go to the store and buy something?"

Me- "you don't have any money"

Gaius- "Please can you give me a 5 dollar?" (trandslated: $5 bill)

Me- *laughs* "No..."

Gaius- "Pa-wity Pa-weeeeez?!" (translated: Pretty Please)

Are We There Yet?

2011-04-08T11:09:00.003-04:00

I'm hoping I hear something today about our house. However, I'm beginning to realize that in Realty it's not a 5 day work week so this might not actually be "the end of the week".

Our Realtor is amazingly accommodating to crazy schedules though and I know as soon as she hears ANYTHING she'll let me know!

Stay tuned!

Daily Nuggets:

I'm confident that I WILL have all the laundry done by tomorrow! *happy sigh*
I have 2 out of the 4 children packed for our vacation next week!
We recently bought a Pet Containment System. Chub has it down pat, Rufus- TBD. Can I just say, "Yay! No more deer bones in my yard!!!" (well obviously I can say it since I just did!)
My house is still moderately clean. Go kids!
I haven't had time to run at all this week which makes me sad.
My poor husband has been working CRAZY hours. I've seen him MAYBE 4 hours this week. :-(
The weather hasn't been too stinky lately! In fact we're going on 3 sunny and warmish days in a row! Whoohoo!!!

So much for "Wordless Wednesday"

2011-04-06T11:48:00.005-04:00

(Look! Our grass is starting to turn green!)

The showing went well! The man is very interested but he wants to check into a few things (like the cost of putting a metal roof on the house and garage) before he makes a decision. I received rave reviews from the visiting Realtor about our super clean house though! It was definitely an added bonus since you all know how much work we put into it.

Now it's time to tackle Mt. Washmore and start thinking about packing for next week's trip. I'm looking forward to 70º weather!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-06T04:48:00.001-04:00

Life According to G.

2011-04-05T20:46:00.006-04:00

Gaius has been HILARIOUS lately. First of all his speech and vocabulary has improved by leaps and bounds in the past 2 months. Here's a couple gems:

"Mom, I wish I was a cat" (after getting scolded for crawling around under the chairs during a church service)
"I wish my name was Justin Bieber"
"Is it almost Christmas?" (upon seeing the snow covered ground this morning)
"I wish I was 14" (I, on the other hand, do not!!!)
"When mommy dies I'll be big and have my own kids" (Xavier and I were having a discussion on inheritances at the time)
Random things Gaius has named recently

Baby Chick- Cheesey Popcorn
Hamster toy- Pink Bubblegum, then changed to Sparkles
Little Pheasant toy- Tom
Chihuahua toy- Choo Choo The Wow Wow

So that's my crazy, goofy, guy in a nutshell. I'm sure there will be more to come.

2011-04-04T21:27:00.002-04:00

The showing is being pushed back a day. It'll make tomorrow morning not so crazy. But it also means I have to keep everything perfectly picked up an extra day, oh well. I really hope this is THE person!

Al.Most.Done

2011-04-04T16:21:00.003-04:00

My children do not seem to be getting the whole

"Keep the house as clean as possible for 2 days" thing.

One child thought it would be a good idea to drag some of the toys from the basement up to play with today. One thought bringing all their toys out of their room to the living room would be fun. And one is extra klutzy and has spilled almost everything he's touched.

Oy vey!

I just hope this buyer tomorrow can see the potential. Because I'm doing my best to swim against the current, but ONE mom can only do so much.

To Do List:

2011-04-03T16:53:00.003-04:00

Clean my bedroom- check
Clean Leia's bedroom- check
Clean the Boys' bedroom- check
Clean the bathroom- check
Clean the basement- check (there's always more that can be done down there. But I stopped because I started having an asthma attack, so I think it's good)
Clean the back room [porch]- check
Clean the garage- check
Clean the yard- check (this is the same story as the basement, minus the asthma attack)
Clean the living room- half a check
Clean the kitchen- no check
Clean the front porch-check

I think we're in good shape for Tuesday (that is as long as the kids don't undo everything tomorrow). Phew!! Now let's see if we can stay awake for evening church service. :-)

***A special thanks to Grandma J and Grandpa R for sitting the 2 youngest so that we could get so much done!!!***

Here We Go Again again

2011-04-01T10:52:00.000-04:00

I'm cleaning like a mad woman this weekend along with grocery shopping, a MOPS seminar (I'm taking over the crafts portion of our program next year), church, and regular life. Because our house is being shown on Tuesday!!! Yay!! I feel like December was SOOOO long ago. I'm afraid to even hope this time. Goodness gracious this whole living in limbo is not for the faint of heart!!! Or at least it's not for me, I like to have things planned out. I guess we'll see what becomes of this.

In LOVE with this song!

2011-03-31T21:41:00.001-04:00

7 Months (Already)

2011-03-31T00:05:00.000-04:00

HAPPY

Healthy

Toothless

Fruit and Veggie Lover

Hip Rider

Sippy Cup Sipper

Finger Sucker

11 Hour Night sleeper

People Lover

Jump-a-roo Jumper

Full Belly Laugher

Hyper

Curious

Adorable

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-30T12:05:00.001-04:00

The Mama Files: Projects

2011-03-29T22:32:00.003-04:00

I'm such a bad blogger. *sigh* If only there were more hours in a day.

I have all these little mini projects vying for my attention lately. I'm not a fan! I'm trying to prioritize my time.

Here's a list of things we're doing right now (and by we I mostly mean ME).

Getting ready for a vacation in Virginia to have a family reunion with most of my dad's side of the family (my children have never ridden in a car for longer then 3 hours before :-/).
Cleaning up the yard
Praying for a little itty bitty heatwave
Gearing up for Baseball
Purchasing footwear for nearly every member of our family
Planning the decorations for a wedding I've been hired to decorate
Laughing at Shoshannah's crazy super funny and hyper antics
School, school, and more school
Running (both literally and figuratively)
laundry and dishes

And here's the list of things I WANT to be doing

Re-tiling my bathroom ceiling
Sleeping
Laughing at Shoshannah's crazy super funny and hyper antics
Photographing things
Running (literally)
Organizing my basement
Eating bon bons and watching mindless television (do Bon Bons really exist? Cause I've never seen one and I have been a Stay-At-Home-Mom for 9 years now! I thought they were supposed to be one of the job requirements.)

Happy *almost* Hump Day!

The Dirty: on Diapers

2011-03-23T13:53:00.004-04:00

If you follow me on facebook I'm sure you've noticed that I have been experimenting with several different brands of diapers over the last few months. Unfortunately diapers are very subjective and my opinion will not be the same as other's in the "diapering business".

These are my conclusions:

Huggies™- AWFUL!!!! I might as well have been putting Shoshannah in training pants. She would soak through these EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And apparently she pees quite often (like every hour or less).

Luvs™- Not much better than Huggies. She would pee through these within 2 hours. Which did not bode well for nights at all. BUT, I might try giving these another try since Shoshannah was on the top end (2# from it) of the weight limit for the size. Plus, the super cute monkey on them is, well, super cute!

Top Care™- Gave Sho a terrible rash! 'Nough said.

Pampers™ Cruisers- The best I've found so far. She does manage to pee through them at night a few times a week. But at least it's not EVERY diaper change. Unfortunately they are one the most expensive. But I think a full night's rest and empty laundry baskets are worth the extra cents!

Diapers I still want to try: Target brand, and Luvs™ in the next size up, Pampers™ Baby Dry. I just hate paying $7-$10 for a pack of diapers when I'll know the verdict by using approximately 3 of those diapers.

As you can see I based most of my above opinions on leak value. But I will tell you this Huggies were fairly soft, Luvs and Top Care are very paper-y, Cruisers where soft and thin.

***Side Note***

I have found that my ALL TIME favorite wipe is the Luvs™ Sensitive. They are fairly inexpensive, super soft, and gentle. I can only find them at 1 store, Family Dollar. At least it's a store that is in my area.

Daily Nuggets:

I rarely get very sick, but when I do LOOK OUT! I came down with Strep Throat on Monday. It was awful. Thank goodness we have lots of family near by, because I had to call in the reinforcements. After getting an antibiotic I'm feeling much better.
I LOVE my new camera! I still have lots to learn on it, but so far it's amazing!
Leia's foot is healing great! She can start putting weight on it! However, talking her into doing so is a bit of a challenge.
Shoshannah is a crazy little monkey girl! I'm thinking she's going to be very active when she is more mobile. When I lay her on the floor on her tummy she moves her arms and legs like she's swimming. (Hm, I wonder if she could swim if I put her in water?!) :-)
I'm gearing up to put on a new picture theme on our church website! The hosting site we use is launching some new things the beginning of April and I'm excited to make some changes!
Apparently Marc and I talk about promoting our church in our community a lot. Because the other day Xavier says to me. "Mom, do you think if I make a Little Big Planet [video game] world of our church it will help promote it?"
Gaius has been super stoked to not have to wear snow pants when he plays outside! He tells me so every time he's getting ready to go out to play.
Perhaps my next blog won't be completely baby related. Yeah, probably not.

Toodles!

The Mama Files: Truth

2011-03-20T14:13:00.005-04:00

Because of my children's ages I've been dealing with truthfulness quite often lately. I was recently disciplining one of them and explaining how important it is to be someone people can trust. When I received the one question children seem to love to ask the most "Why?" My example to this particular child was. "First of all God tells us to be truthful, even if we know we're going to get in trouble because of it. But also I want you to be truthful so that I know I can trust what you say."

This made me wonder, am I a person that is completely truthful and whose word can be trusted? I like to think that I am, but in all honesty sometimes my passive, easy going nature gets in the way. I do not like confrontation AT. ALL. Sometimes I find myself shying away from saying what I know to be true, either spiritually or morally, because I'm afraid it's going to change my friendship with someone, or because that person is going to get mad at me, or simply because I don't think that person is going to listen to me in the end.

But you know what? That's not really my problem, is it?! I'm not responsible for someone else's reactions. I'm only commanded to give them all the facts.

Ephesians 6:11-20

v. 11

Put on the whole armor of God (belt of truth v. 14) that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

v. 19-20

...that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

I was recently at the grocery store with Shoshannah and the cashier struck up a conversation about how old Sho was, etc. She then went on to tell that her best friend was pregnant and due at the end of the month. She then continued to tell me that her friend was only 16 and a junior in high school, so she would be missing out on a lot her senior year. All I said was "Oh, that's too bad". While on my drive home I was thinking about what I could've said to the cashier but didn't. I could've said "Wow, you need to be really understanding to your friend this coming year. Because she's really going to need someone that's there for her when she can't reciprocate the kindness" or even simply "I'll definitely be praying for her, she's going to have a hard road ahead of her". But instead all I said was "Oh, that's too bad".

I don't want to be a person who has to say "I should have said" anymore.

There's Just Something About Date Night...

2011-03-19T23:28:00.005-04:00

The "Super Moon"

That:

Renews your spirit
Reminds you why you love your husband
Rewards all your hard work from the past week

What's In My Diaper Bag

2011-03-18T16:26:00.004-04:00

A couple of my friends are getting ready to have their first babies. So, I just thought maybe you'd be interested in seeing what I carry in my diaper bag. It's nothing earth shattering or anything. (Mostly it just gave me an excuse to play with my new camera!)

I have a Lands End Do It All Diaper Bag. (the older version) I Love it! It opens like a Dr.'s bag so it's stiff along the top and stays open! Plus the light colored lining makes it super easy to find stuff!

This is the changing pad that comes with it! It's large and has 2 zippered pockets that you can fit a couple diapers and wipes in. So if you don't want to bring your whole bag into the store you don't have to!

Diapers, wipes and rash cream.

A change of clothes

Toys! I don't usually carry this many, but Sho and I have been going to various events lately that requires her to sit quietly with me and toys help with that.

Bib, formula (it's in the green container), spare bottle, plastic spoons (which I JUST put in today because I had to feed Sho her baby applesauce using a straw like a spoon last night, it sort of worked)

These are actually in there to keep Gaius occupied when we're out!

Receiving blanket, and wet clothes bag (my bag came with my diaper bag!)

This is my wallet! I think the print is kind of ugly, but it's super duper convenient. I move it from my purse to the diaper bag when I need it and the strap is very handy to run into the store with when I have 4 kids in tow. It's by JuJuBee, and it's really great quality. I got mine from BabySteals , they're on quite often.

Other things I sometimes carry:

Nursing cover

Moby Wrap

Pacifier

Plastic bags for disposing dirty diapers

Sun block

Sleeper

Burp cloth

Isn't She Lovely?!

2011-03-15T17:04:00.003-04:00

(The camera, not me!)

Daily Nuggets:

There's grass...in....my...YARD!!!
We're having Chicken Pot Pie for dinner and I'm excited! :-)
I can't wait for bedtime so I can have a chance to really play with my new toy!
Sometimes it blows my mind how God gave me exactly the perfect husband for me! I couldn't have planned it better myself!
Here's Gaius' and my lunch conversation

"Mom, who made me?"

"God did!"

"I know! Who made the soup?"

" I did."

"No! God did."
"Well, yes..."

"God PROVIDED it!" says Leia, 6.

It's Here! It's Here! It's Finally Here!

2011-03-10T21:17:00.003-05:00

My camera that is! And it's technically not HERE, it's at my brother-in-law's house (I think). So it's just in my general vicinity but I'm still excited!

In other news:

Here is what the inside of my UGLIFRUIT looks like! It was really very tasty (a little sour, but I think it wasn't perfectly ripe). On the label it said to eat it sliced in half like a grapefruit, but next time I'm peeling it like a orange and eating it that way.

I HATE croup!!! My head knows it isn't as bad as it sounds and it's just baby laryngitis. But my heart never believes it. Shoshannah is still incredibly happy even though she has a pathetic cough! Unfortunately she isn't sleeping, poor little baby girl,,.and me!

My kids literally ADORE their baby sister! I wish I could remember and document all the little kindnesses they show to her all day EVERYDAY. I hope they always feel that way about her! It turns my heart to mush watching them love on her!

This weather is REALLY starting to wear on me! In the next 10 days it isn't predicted to get above 45° and it's supposed to rain/snow 7 of those days. :-( Come on already spring! Is this the longest winter on record or what?!?

I have been offered a couple new opportunities for this coming fall. I really want to do ALL of them but I'm trying to decide if I really can handle that much on my plate.

I'm SOOO ready for a vacation! Five more weeks and counting.

And now it's time for bed...I'm SO ready! Here's hoping for a full night's rest!

Twins 73 Months Apart

2011-03-08T22:20:00.002-05:00

Isn't the resemblance crazy?!

Shoshannah is about the same size Leia was at 4 months.

But they are definitely cut from the same cloth!

Gaius' Bucket List:

2011-03-08T13:21:00.001-05:00

Go to Taco Bell
Go to Wendy's
Go to Build-a-Bear

Something New

2011-03-07T12:39:00.003-05:00

I've decided to expand our palettes by trying one new food every week. This is what I picked up this week. Can you guess what it is?

Everyone liked it except Gaius.

This Glamorous Life

2011-03-07T10:47:00.002-05:00

A completely lazy, uneventful weekend! (Quadruple like!)
Two kids signed up for baseball/teeball
One bathroom closet completely organized!!!
LAUNDRY!
Too much Angry Birds
A little Sudoku
A few sibling quarrels resolved
Lots of snow melted....and then some returned to us. (Oh NY you kill me!)
Income taxes filed
The HOPE of spring's arrival renewed
One very excited and sassy 4 year old moves up in Sunday school ("Mom you've got to get your booty moving or we're going to be late for church.")
Correction for said 4 year old
2 very good sermons that I really needed to hear (plus a Sunday school class).
One afternoon nap.

So begins another week.

How was your weekend?!

2011-03-04T09:15:00.003-05:00

Leia to Gaius (who wouldn't do what she asked him to do)- "Oh! I hate you!"

Me- "LEIA!!"

Leia to Gaius- "Oops! I meant to say I love you!"

Half a Year

2011-03-01T17:30:00.004-05:00

I'm confused when Shoshannah's 6th month begins, was it yesterday? Is it tomorrow?

Oh well! Here's the important stuff:

14 lbs 3 oz.

26 inches

Wearing some 6-9 months clothes

Sitting up by herself briefly

Likes to watch TV (yuck!)

Likes baby oatmeal, rice cereal, and bananas

Still has a gorgeous gummy grin

Is fixated with her tongue (obvi.)

Sleeps for at least 10 hours every night

Super easy going and happy

Hilarious

Rolly Polly

Holy 2011 Batman!

2011-02-28T10:40:00.003-05:00

This would be a picture of my Leia's foot from last night!

So far 2011 has given me several new opportunities to hone my mothering/waiting room waiting/staying calm and composed in a difficult situation skills.

I'm not loving it!

The whole year CAN'T keep going this way, can it?!

Welcome to The Second Installment of "Weird Womens Wear"

2011-02-25T18:00:00.003-05:00

I was going to link this entry to one I put on sometime last year that featured a maternity unitard. But I couldn't find it, in fact I couldn't even find the unitard online anymore (apparently not a big seller?!?). Anywho, this is what I found for sale on the web today for the low, low price of $13.99!!! Don't all go logging on to Modcloth at once! Happy Friday and Your Welcome!

A Prayer From a Four Year Old

2011-02-24T20:23:00.003-05:00

"Dear Lord,

Thank you for my mommy.

Thank you for my daddy.

Thank you for myself. *giggle*

Thank you for Xavy.

Thank you for Leia.

Thank you for Rooie (the dog).

Thank you for Shoshannah.

Thank you for Shoshannah's *something I couldn't understand* *giggle*

Thank you for my stuffed animals. Amen."

Daily Nuggets:

Shoshannah finds slap-stick humor HILARIOUS!
Leia can be bribed with Frosties! I sent her to bed with a tissue and the drive to get her loose tooth out. (It looks completely disgusting right now, because it's so loose it's sticking straight out).
My kids came up with a game tonight. It's called "Dance Tag". It's kind of genius! Move over Bieber!
I'm so over winter! Here comes another snow storm.
Xavier started the Hardy Boys series. Eighty-plus books should keep him busy for a while...one would think.
Chub has brought back to "the pack" a whole deer spine and a head. It's gross.

The Party!

2011-02-22T18:29:00.003-05:00

Happy *late* Birthday Gaius!

Speaking of a blast from the past...

2011-02-19T10:43:00.003-05:00

I think this coat used to be a favorite of my brother's and his friends (dare I say their wardrobe staple!?) when they were teens. It's now for sale in the women's department at Old Navy.

The old becomes new????

Back to the Bullets

2011-02-17T22:49:00.003-05:00

Shoshannah rolled from her belly to her back and then to belly again tonight. It only took the lure of a pair of scissors and a roll of packing tape to get her all the way over. *Don't worry, Xavier picked it all up before she got there*
I feel like I'm too busy lately, like my life is running me instead of the other way around.
Marc has been working crazy hours, which is good for our bank account but not good for our family. :-(
I'm still waiting for my camera...
I watched my first live runway show from fashion week today!...via youtube. It was still exciting! It was Naeem Khan, and I actually liked some of his stuff.
Xavier wrote a paper for school about why he likes to read books. "I like to read because it fills my head." I like to read because of that too! I think he's read 4 books this past week!
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but I cut almost all of our TV time down to nothing (4 hours per week). I LOVE it! My kids read books and play with their toys now! I didn't think I was letting them watch THAT much before. But they hadn't been playing like they do now.
Today Paulie and Gaius came down the stairs dressed in Leia's tutus. They wouldn't let me take a picture.
Gaius really wants to name a baby "Mean-O". I told him someday he could when he was a daddy, his reply was "But daddy's dont' have babies." Yeah! I kind of doubt any woman is going to let him name a child she is carrying that name either. Sorry buddy!
We had to reschedule the birthday party last week because of the funeral. So now it's this week. I need to make a cake.
Leia is finally getting more confident about her reading. Before this week she wouldn't even try to read by herself. Now she's sounding out everything she sees. It's so weird how kids do that. Xavier was the same way, suddenly something just clicked! And thank goodness, I was seriously starting to doubt my reading teacher skills.
Today was beautiful!!! Please please please let spring be here soon. I'm itching to get out there and pound the pavement. Right now I couldn't even if I wanted to because the snowbanks are taller then me and the people from my town have a hard enough time not running me over when they can see me. *seriously! I've almost been hit 3 times. And I'm following the pedestrian safety rules!!*
Last but not least, I think I'm close to halfway through the youth group pictures! I scanned some of my favorite ones today! They were of a canoe trip we took on the reservoir. I have a lot of crazy memories from that trip! Like when Marc was basically picked up by a girl in our youth group and shoved through this 6 ft. tall man-made twine web to no one waiting hands, like there was supposed to be. And how my best friend got hypothermia because her sleeping bag got soaked during a rain storm, I guess she ended up sleeping in a tent with Marc (which i guess he felt very uncomfortable about). But I stayed up and played cards with a bunch of guys, and one of them told me I had pretty eyes. Which I'll never forget even though it freaked me out then and still does a little today. Crazy, teenage memories!

And here it is way past my bedtime again. Well g'night and pleasant dreams!

"What have you been doing with your life" you ask?

2011-02-15T23:05:00.003-05:00

My former youth pastor just brought us up a whole bag of old pictures. So I've been working on scanning and uploading them to facebook. It's been super fun seeing everyone's reactions to their old, younger, sometimes skinnier selves. Now I'm remembering things that I haven't thought about in years. It makes my heart happy!

Yup! It's February.

2011-02-10T12:32:00.004-05:00

Hello mounds and mounds of white fluffy stuff.

The playhouse is buried (you should see the roof)

**All photos courtesy X.S.**

We had sad news yesterday. I man at our church passed away very unexpectedly. It's times like these that I am reminded just how much I consider my church family a real family. For some reason God keeps showing that to me over and over lately.

I honestly do care deeply about every single member of our congregation.

I don't know if it's just this church, or the part of the country we live in, or if people feel this way and just don't talk about it. But I do think feeling close to 150+ people is rare.

This man was actually a founding member of our church, which is kind of amazing in itself.

And he will most definitely be missed, but by no means can I begrudge him his early place in paradise.

See you soon Uncle Tom!

Happy 4th Birthday Gaius!

2011-02-08T18:56:00.005-05:00

Here's a sneak peek into Gaius' birthday celebration this weekend (because lets face it who knows if I'll actually get any good shots at the event)!

***Note: These are all actual things he requested to have at his party.***

Costumes

Checkers

no he doesn't know how to play

Chocolate Cake

with mint chip ice cream, and strawberry ice cream, and chocolate ice cream, and...

Chocolate

any kind, he's not picky!

Gummy Bears

And away we go...

2011-02-07T12:50:00.000-05:00

Leia and Xavier *in tag-team fashion*- "Gaius! You have to be a Christian to get to heaven....don't you want to go to heaven someday? Don't ya? Don't ya?..." (etc.)

Gaius *while looking at me like a deer in headlights*- "I don't want to be a Christian. I want to be a Mama's boy."

Multi-tasker By Nature

2011-02-04T21:31:00.003-05:00

As far as I know this was not a taught skill!

I've also never seen any of my boys trying to feed "Sho-ey" this way.

Hey! It works!

The Tale of Two Conversations

2011-02-01T16:26:00.004-05:00

Me-"So Gaius what do you want for your birthday?"

Gaius- "Underwear!!"

Me- "What? You just want underwear?"

Gaius- "Yes, Cookie Monster underwear and lots and lots of toys!"

**************************************************************

Leia- Mom why do you make me take care of the dishes?

Me- Because it's good for you. Plus, someday when you have your own house you'll already know how to do it.

Leia- Yeah, but I think I'll just make my kids do it like you do.

my Meanderings

2011-01-31T23:13:00.008-05:00

I got yellow on this quiz. Which is strange since I love yellow. It's my favorite color in summer! Is it weird that I have a favorite color for each season?

Spring- green

Summer- yellow (the brighter the better!)

Fall- a tie between deep red and burnt orange

Winter- grayish-purple.

I wrote a really REALLY long blog post last week (I think I spent 4 hours on it). And then blogger messed up and wouldn't let me post it. It's still saved (the unedited version) in my drafts folder. But I dont' think I have the heart to re-edit the whole thing again.

I love my kiddos. Being a mama is my most favorite thing in the whole world! Even when I feel like I'm spread too thin, and I don't get any sleep, and I'm cranky, and life is hard. I still really honestly love it! It's hard to explain.

I've decided to let my hair go back to it's natural color. Imagine my surprise when there was some gray mixed in.

I think it's truly sad that people my age just give up on their marriages for no good reason.

I'm obsessed with the beauty community on youtube. There's a couple gurus in particular that I love! It's kind of a waste of time, but it's an enjoyable waste of time.

America is spoiled ROTTEN!!!!! 'Nough said.

I enjoy my husband's company...I wish I saw him more. We have very different schedules. He works the 5pm-1:30am shift (and there's usually overtime), so when he's all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I'm either about to pass out or already there, and vice versa. It makes communicating difficult sometimes. Especially when you need to talk without little ears being around.

I CANNOT get ahead on my household chores. I don't know what my problem is...oh wait, yes I do. Home Schooling is taking ALL.DAY.LONG lately. Seriously we start at 9 and don't get done until close to 4. It's ridiculous!

I downloaded Sudoku onto my Blackberry and now I'm obsessed. I can solve a puzzle in about 10 minutes. Which coincidentally is about the same time it takes me to feed Sho a bottle.

I need to start going to bed earlier. For some reason I'm always wired at 11pm, and Shoshannah likes to get up at 5:30-6:30am. It's not working out.

I've recently started preparing some power point presentations for my husband's Sunday school class for him. I'm not going to lie, it's kinda fun!

I painted my nails a really cool color at MOPS today (it was spa day) and now I need to go out and buy a bottle of this polish.

And that is all...for now.

The Gingerbread House Saga

Just To Be Clear...

Happy Birthday to...

The Mama Files: "Idle Hands Are..."

Sweet Progress

The Gingerbread House *Saga*, continued.

How Am I Spending My Day, You Ask?

Are You Ready....

2 for 1

Check Out Some of the Crafts We're Making in MOPS This Year!

To Do List:

Date Night

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Blog...

Holy Hot Weather!

The Robin's Nest

FYI

New House Discoveries:

The Mama Files

The First Look:

Box Mountain

Is this not AWESOME?!

The Gingerbread House *Saga*

Wordless Wednesday

Friday Five *Moving Edition*

9...Already!

The Mama Files: Paint

Proud? Mothering Moments

The Start of Something New

Hush Little Baby- The Leia Version

"We so Excited!"

Whoo-Hoo Wednesday!

The blog post I was going to title Manic Monday....until I realized today is Tuesday

So What's New?!

The great World Wide Web

8 Months (and 2 days)

Friday Four (Because I couldn't come up with a 5th)

Gaius' Second Favorite Song...I think.

Friday 5

Highlights from Lake Anna

Update-ette (a.k.a. a baby update)

On Your Marks, Get Set, GO!

A Tiny Update

Life According to G.

Are We There Yet?

So much for "Wordless Wednesday"

Wordless Wednesday

Life According to G.

Al.Most.Done

To Do List:

Here We Go Again *again*

In LOVE with this song!

7 Months (Already)

Wordless Wednesday

The Mama Files: Projects

The Dirty: on Diapers

The Mama Files: Truth

There's Just Something About Date Night...

What's In My Diaper Bag

Isn't She Lovely?!

It's Here! It's Here! It's Finally Here!

Twins 73 Months Apart

Gaius' Bucket List:

Something New

This Glamorous Life

Half a Year

Holy 2011 Batman!

Welcome to The Second Installment of "Weird Womens Wear"

A Prayer From a Four Year Old

The Party!

Speaking of a blast from the past...

Back to the Bullets

"What have you been doing with your life" you ask?

Yup! It's February.

Happy 4th Birthday Gaius!

Multi-tasker By Nature

The Tale of Two Conversations

*my* Meanderings

The Gingerbread House Saga, continued.

The Gingerbread House Saga

Friday Five Moving Edition

Here We Go Again again

my Meanderings