May pics

Ellery's thoughts on kids

We're discussing children and being a mom and how many kids she's going to have. Follow the conversation:

E: When I'm a mom, I'm not going to have any kids.
M: Well, sweet pea, in order to be a mom you have to have kids.
E: OK then, I'll have 100.
M: That's an awful lot of work are you sure you want that many?
E: Nope. (pause) Are we going to have more kids?
M: I dunno...should we?
E: Yes, but let's tell daddy.

Everest here he comes

Do you think he's hungry? I was pretty proud of myself to actually catch this one on camera. The first time it happened I was shocked. Then relieved that he hadn't tumbled backwards and knocked himself out on the tile floor. Then surprised at how quickly he did it. Like he'd been practicing (although he's yet to figure out how to escape!) Then wondering where my camera was. All these thoughts fly through my head in a split second (yet it takes me a few minutes to type!?!?)

Anyhoo...we have a climber. Molly did this too, so really, should it be so surprising to me? Nope. He climbs anything in site. Including our bathroom cabinets. The other day, I walked by the kids bathroom and the water is running. Huh, that's funny, the girls are outside with dad, did one of them leave the water on? I turn the corner and here he comes walking out of his room saying, "Uh-oh" and is soaking wet. Head to toe. So is the bathroom counter, floor, towels, mirrors and wall. Amazing what that child can do in just a few seconds! (I was warned about boys, but little did I know... :)

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mom's out there....I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day. May this be a day all about you. Enjoy it. Remember what a blessing it is to be a mom. Thank your mom and love your kids!!!

My solution to holey knees

What is it with kids and putting holes in all pants, tights, jeans, leggings!?!? I've started cutting off the pants to make them into shorts, which extends their life a tab bit longer...especially if you live somewhere with longer summers! I use to patch from the inside with fun material so you'd see a circle or square of material through. I just played with a fun new toy and now have made some cute patches.

I'm going to be selling them in my store. I've hand cut most, but boy does the die cut machine make this so much easier!!! The butterfly is the first of many to come. Now I just have to sell, sell, sell so that I can buy more dies! If you're interested in some, let me know.... bugaboogifts@gmail.com

Short shorts

Usually, to hasten the morning routine, I pick out the kids clothes the night before. On the mornings the clothes aren't laid out, the girls get themselves dressed...like this morning. Molly keeps coming to me with choices, and I keep telling her to just get dressed. She came in wearing a pair of shorts and told her she'd have to change. They were too short for school...even for Kindergarten there is a dress code! She says, "Mom, they're called shorts. They're supposed to be short!"

How do you argue with that??? (I still made her change.)

Just a snack

Another tidbit from Ellery:

We were driving home from an evening event where she had left with cookie in hand. In the car, she asked if she could eat it. I answered yes. A few minutes later she asked if she could have a big marshmellow when she got home. I answered no. She told me that it wasn't fair because she wanted dessert. I asked her what the cookie was. She said "just a snack."

April pics

Caught with her hand in the cookie jar

I've never really used this phase before, but today...it really happened. I made cookies for Joe last night. Those of you who know me, know that I don't bake. I don't even pretend to bake. I don't enjoy it. I don't have the patience for it. And...I always screw it up. Except for cookies. Chocolate chip ones, to be exact. That's it. Oh...well, occasionally, I change it up a bit and add butterscotch chips or white chocolate chip, or heck...get wild and crazy and do all three, but that's it. (And they are pretty darn yummy!!!) But, I digress. So last night Joe begged for cookies and I made them. Actually, he begged for them the night before about 5 minutes before I was going to bed. Last night he got his cookies. Today...he might notice that there aren't a whole lot left, and it wasn't me!! While Ellery was eating lunch, I came upstairs to write a quick email (mistake #1). I had doled out the usual lunch and since she was almost done, I thought I'd give her a cookie for dessert as long as she finished her lunch. The cookie was placed on the counter next to her bowl of fruit (mistake #2). I ran upstairs a few minutes (mistake #3). When I came back down, all I could see over the counter was a quick movement of a hand, pulling away from the stove, coincidentally where I had put the cookies on plate wrapped with plastic wrap (mistake #4). I walked into the kitchen to find her running around the island to hide....cookie in hand. That child is getting much faster. I chased her around the island a few times (slower than normal because I'm a bit sore from boot camp...which is a whole other post) and sadly could only grab her by the hair (no one was harmed, I promise...she thought it was funny that mommy couldn't catch her!) Anyway...she fessed up to eating the cookie I had given her (note: BEFORE she finished her lunch) and taking more. How many more??? I have no idea. All I know is that plate is much emptier now that is was last night. Now Joe could have eaten some for breakfast, but I'm betting Ellery took more than 1 cookie!

My Little Man

Love him!

What comes after a million???

Joe and the girls were in the car the other day and they were talking about numbers and sequencing, like hundred, thousand, million, billion, etc. Well, Joe asks Molly, "what comes after a million?" She looks at him with this funny look on her face and says, "a million and one!"

March pictures

The Hampster Wheel

No we did not get a hampster, mom. Like I really need more to pick up after? It's just don't you ever feel like you're on the wheel? You know...running and running and walking and running, but you never seem to get anywhere? (I guess it could be my treadmill, too!?!?) Anyway...I'm in a rut. All the way around. House, kids, work, crafts, exercise, life...just a rut. I clean a room, I walk into another room to clean it, I go to put something back in the first cleaned room and somehow its messy again. How does that happen?

On that note...must update later...life has happened here...BRB...

Baby Zandee

I have wonderful news today. My dear friend Kristen and her hubby are expecting! YAY!!! We are so excited for you. It's been a long wait and I know you will make wonderful parents. We gladly welcome you to the wonderful world of parenting! Here are just a few tips from a somewhat seasoned parent...

1) Take pictures every month of your pregnancy. Regardless of how you look and feel now, you will want to look back and see your pregnant belly!

2) Start stocking up on diapers now. They're expensive and you can never have enough.

3) Now and when the baby comes....if people offer help...take it!

4) Sleep when the baby sleeps.

5) Get a great diaper bag. Not too little, not to big. Enough to fit diapers, wipes, change of clothes, burp cloth, bottle and a toy. You will be carrying it for a long time, so make sure its cute.

6) Don't buy the matching quilt to the bedding set unless you plan on hanging it on the wall. You'll end up using receiving and minky blankets anyway.

7) When you make up the crib, layer pad, sheet, pad, sheet, pad, sheet. This way when the baby spits up or poops through, all you have to do is pull the top layer and not take the mattress out of the crib to change it. (Which is not easy to do.)

8) Buy a pack of white wash clothes at Costco/Sam's and have them stashed all over the house. Perfect size for burp clothes, cheap, great absorbency, and easy to bleach.

9) It's your baby so enjoy every minute of it. They are small for such a short time. You can never give them too much love.

OK...so that's it for now. Hee hee, I can't wait to see pics of you preggers. Congrats you three! =)

Thoughts from Ellery

Driving to school this morning:

"Wow mom, what a beautiful day." (It's cloudy and overcast). "With the birds singing....and....the clouds.....wait a minute....we need the sun to have a beautiful day. Maybe its not so beautiful."

Thoughts from Ellery

Really, I should just start a whole new blog about "Thoughts from Ellery." These tidbits of wisdom seem to come almost on a daily basis. I love it. She makes me smile all the time! Well, her 4th Birthday was on Saturday. Some friends stayed over after the party and we took all the kids for a bike ride/walk around the block. We passed by another friend's house (Aubrey) who was cooking dinner and could see us out her kitchen window. Aubrey knew we had had Ellery's party that day, so she asked Ellery what she got for her birthday. Ellery answered, "presents" and kept right on riding.

Molly's race

All weekend Molly's been complaining about going to school today (Monday). She keeps saying she feels like she needs to stay home. Come Sunday evening, I finally get out of her why she doesn't want to go. You see, they're doing that Presidential Health thingy. You know, you remember, the see-how-far-past-your-toes-you-can-stretch thing, and the how many push-ups and sit-ups you can do, and the timed running thing??? I remember. I loved it....but then again, I was pretty athletic way back when. =) So, I guess in P.E. today, they were doing the running part and Molly didn't want to do it. She thought they had to race for a mile and was telling me, "that's an awfully long time to run." So...when I picked her up today, she was pretty excited. Not only did she run the whole distance (which turned out the be a 1/4 of a mile), but she "won." Meaning she got the fastest time out of the whole Kindergarten. It wasn't a race at all, but she was excited that she still came in first. I was pretty surprised especially since she's one of the smallest kids in the class. I guess those short little legs can motor pretty fast...unless I've asked her to do something...?

Another scrapbook page

We've had a busy few weeks here. I've helped throw a baby shower, Ellery's 4th Birthday party, the girls started swim lessons, an eardrum rupture and 3 separate ear infections, one night of no sleep for mama, coffee spilled on my carpet (no connection to the no sleep), the pool pump almost broke and I'm sure there's more, but my point...What picture do I post??? The one of the page I completed last night! Hey, a girl's gotta have priorities, right? Well, here is page #6 for the year. I'm aiming for 52 completed pages this year. Yes, I know, that is a HUGE goal for me, especially since I haven't scrapped in over 18 months, but I'm going to make it. Right now, I'm only 9 pages behind....ok, so maybe that's a lot but each page seems to take sooo long right now. There is a learning curve right? I mean, at some point I have to get quicker??? Oh well...I'm having fun! =)

This is page #6. It's my pregnancy with Ellery. Notice there are no pictures of me? Well, that's because the only ones I had were that of me 9 months preggers, sitting on the couch the night before my C-section. Not pretty. You see the mat the ultrasound pics are on? There is actually a hidden pocket behind it. I sewed 3 sides of the mat and all the other ultrasound pics are tucked away. I also used my foam stamps and acrylic paint for the first time. Love them. Will be using them more. A lot more. Anyway...enjoy!

Ellery my brain-child

It's been warmer here lately, so we've been wearing more summer-type clothes. On our way to school the other day Ellery says, "Mom...you and Grady and Molly and I are all wearing short sleeve shirts. Everybody is wearing short sleeved shirts.....except for the people that aren't." Chemical Engineering, here we come!

Musical Beds

We've been playing musical beds at our house. Or at least the kids and Joe have. It seems, by morning, that the two children that can escape from their beds, have. The final location changes a bit...sometimes our bed, sometimes the couch, sometimes the floor, sometimes each other's beds...you just never know where they are going to end up, but most likely, it isn't' their own beds. Sometimes Joe moves around with them, or ends up in one of their beds. I, however, will rarely give up my spot. It's my bed. It's comfortable. I paid for it. I'm sleeping there.

Well, one early morning I was awoken by a little person in our bathroom. When she finished and climbed into our bed she was a little upset. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "there is no spot for me." I answered back, "yes there is...its up in your bed." "I don't like that spot," she replies wiggling down under the covers. Well, you lucked out this morning kiddo, cuz I'm too tired to argue with ya!

February pics

Sadly, this is our only picture for February. Notice the huge load of dirt in the driveway...that was our second load so imagine what I was doing all month instead of taking pictures! :) Hey, but our backyard is coming together!!! Finally! My favorite part...the piggies sticking out. My least favorite...the clean up of the boy, the clothes, and my carpet. But did the girls (and Joe) ever have fun burying him!

Never a dull moment around here...

All of you that have or have had little children in your home know that life is full of surprises. Surprises like tough questions that are asked where you have to think on your feet, finding toys in random places, kids saying things at the most inopportune times, your babies getting sick and trying to clean up with only your shirt, and, of course, other bodily functions. Yes, I left that one for last because that's what happened to me today.

Silly me for trying to get a little work done while Grady's awake. Tax season is in full swing, and I'm trying to stay ahead of the game...and get our own personal tax return done. I got a little caught up in entering donations and zoned in a bit...too much, I guess. When Grady was at my office door for a second protesting about something, I should have taken it a bit more seriously. After finishing the page I was working on, I went to find him. I walked out my office door, and what greeted me? Poop. On the floor. Assuming the cat did it, I went to find out where Grady was. He was happily playing with a toy in the playroom...naked. Where's his diaper? I still have no idea. He's not talking and I can't find it. The first thing I did was make sure Grady didn't play with the poop. Clean hands...Phew! Next...back to the changing table to get him covered again...and this time dressed. (I didn't quite get that far after his bath.) Get TP, put poop in toilet, wash hands again, look for diaper...nowhere. Put Grady down for nap, look for diaper...nowhere. Oh well, it'll show up sooner or later. Meanwhile, I hope I don't step in a puddle of pee.

Now, back to those donations...

P.S. Found the diaper. Grady so kindly put it in one of the toy bins in the playroom.

Cat food? Really?

I'm sure you can already guess which one of my children this post is about! Yup...Grady. I come around the corner and guess who has the cat food bowl in his hand and is munching on a handful like its chex mix. I can't imagine it tastes very good and kinda hurts my feelings when I know he won't eat the very edible food I feed him, but cat food? Really??? Oh well, at least its the high protein kind!

Ellery's thought of the day

When discussing her nap, she says, "Mom, I'm not going to take a nap, I'm just going to rest my eyes."

Craft-n-Chat

Well, I am frantically preparing for our first open house. Jennifer and I are starting some crafting classes which will be held at the Amazing Transformations Studio: Tri-County Tech Center in Bartlesville, Incubator #4. Our open house is Thursday, Feb 19th, from 6-8. (For more information, contact Jennifer at jennifer@atredesign.com) Anyway...trying to get a handful of "example" crafts done, which means that my office is a complete disaster! There is fabric, punches, paper and buttons EVERYWHERE!!! No joke. And its all on top of tax client stuff and normal life stuff! Yikes!!! I have got to get a grip....SOON! =)

Pictures of the crafts to come...I promise! =)

What did I do today?

First off, thank you very much for asking! Well, where do I start? After I got kiddo #1 out the door, and finished getting ready and the rest of us headed for the car. I couldn't get the doors open, so after checking inside, I confirmed that my gut feeling was right...dead battery. We were heading to MOPS, so I called a friend, with a van, headed to the same meeting, to come get us. (Thank you, Jill!!!) After the meeting, she carpooled us back home. For all her trouble, I figured the least I could do was feed all the kids. So we got them fed and busy, so we could go try to jump the car. Quick question...why is it when you need a man, they are no where to be found? Not one single guy. No utility truck, no neighbor, no couple perusing homes...nada. After reading the instructions (yes, I'm one of those) on both the car AND the jumper cables, Jill and I got to work. I called a girlfriend/neighbor (thanks, Aubrey) to have on phone, just in case. After all, there are 4 small children inside my house and both moms outside dealing with electricity and batteries. (Somewhere in the booklet it did mention that the battery could explode...) Here we go, positive, positive, negative, ground, start engine, idle, attempt to start engine.....nothing. Disconnect. And again...and again...NOTHING! To make a long story short...the Honda dealership sent someone out to jump it and I took the car in while Jill stayed with the kids. Turns out my battery was just at the end of its short little life. While the car had consumed too many hours of my day yesterday (and Jill's), there is some good news...everything was surprisingly free of charge due to the warranty (that never happens to me) AND they had the car in and out in less than 15 min (also never happens!!!) Love Honda of Bartlesville!!!

A little "funny" for the day...

One of my girlfriends sent this in an email...it was too cute! I'd love to give credit to whomever wrote this, but alas, I have not the information (so if anyone does, leave a comment so I can post. =)

Based on "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff
If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Now...where did my muffin go???

Can we say "temper tantrum" with two capital T's?

Oh......my......goodness. Too funny! First off, we've never had a kid throw and all out temper tantrum (believe it or not!) Maybe that's why I found this so funny? New experience? I was having a really hard time not laughing at him. So, I hear Grady downstairs just pitching a fit, and went down to see what was the matter. He was face down on the carpet kicking and screaming. He'd occasionally look up, scream, face in the carpet, kick...over and over. I turned to ask Joe what happened (we're still not really sure)...he thinks its because he got his ball stuck on the other side of the baby gate!?!? (My guess...T...I...R...E...D!) Anyway...no calming this kid down, so we just watched him for about 10 minute (I was debating getting my camera, and for once didn't!) I finally went over and picked him up, and he quickly quieted. I grabbed his bottle (yes, he's still drinking milk from a bottle) and pacifier (and yes, he still has his paci) and he wanted nothing to do with either which is a rare occurrence...that is until it was HIS choice. Then paci in mouth AND bottle in mouth. This kid is pretty good at multi-tasking, as long as it involves a paci. He can scream with his paci in his mouth...he can eat with his paci (although most times he takes it out and sets it in a certain spot on the counter so as to not dirty it)...he can shower with his paci...and now, apparently, he can drink milk out of a bottle with his paci in his mouth.

Anyhoo...if this is any indication of what this child is going to be like going through his "two's," I just might have my hands full. Sweet as sugar most of the time, but man...he's got a bit of a temper, I guess!

Bye Bye Nanna

After a week and a half trip, we (the girls and I) took Nanna back to the airport today. Not a problem until we started to close up the doors after we got Mom and her bags out. I think that's the point the girls realized what we were doing....saying goodbye.

Ellery
"Mommy...I think I'm going to cry. Nanny's hurting my feelings 'cuz she's leaving. Nanna's broke my heart." After a few tears, she put her thumb in her mouth and that was that.

Molly
She WAILED for almost the entire 45 minute drive home. As if that didn't get old fast within the confines of the car, it was interspersed with the following thoughts said randomly through the tears:
"Oh, Nanny."
"I didn't get to play with Nanna today."
"I miss Nanna"
"She's at the airport now."
"I was laughing when she was here, but now I'm crying."
"I don't want her to leave."
"I'm not crying because I'm tired, I'm crying because I miss Nanny."
"When will she come back?"
"I always miss her when she leaves, but I don't miss her when she's here."

Halfway into the trip Ellery turned to Molly and yelled, "Molly...stop making so much noise!" (Amen, sister!!!) Mom...you are already missed...by all the Gallagher gals! Sadly, I agree with Molly, but am able to control myself a little better...most of the time! =)

January Pictures

What is in your hair???

I've heard that part of parenthood is retrieving items out of your toddler's body. Apparently, kids like to stuff things in their ears and noses. We've made it almost 6 years incident free...until the other night. No ER runs (surprised?), no tweezers or pliers involved, more so just a "huh?" You did what?

Sweet, sweet, Ellery.

So, we wake up the other morning and the hair on one side of her head is wet. I'm thinking...gosh, I know she went to bed with wet hair, but it's not dry yet? Maybe she just sweated...a lot... last night!?!? Anyway, as I go to brush her hair, I notice that its looking a bit greasy, not wet. So I ask "hon? What is in your hair?" She nonchalantly tells me that her ear was dry and she put some lotion on it. "You did what" I ask, assuming I heard her incorrectly? Nope...I heard right. Dry ear...lotion...you know...the usual. Late, after a good shampoo and a nap, I realize that whatever she put in her ear, is still there. Greasy hair again. Oh well, I think, I probably didn't get it all out with the baby shampoo; next bath, I'll use mine. Next bath comes and goes and when her hair dries and she sleeps...more grease. OK...so what's really in her ear? After talking about it with her again, it turns out that she used a Q-tip and Vaseline. (Yes, we had the Q-tip talk, right after I put them out of reach...but that's another post.) Apparently, she remembers me using Q-tips with the Vaseline. When we were all sick, the kids had such dry lips, that I would put a little on before bed, using a Q-tip so as to not spread germs. Also, you clean ears out with Q-tips, right? So...dry ears, Vaseline, Q-tips. Nuff said.

Oh...and hear hair is still greasy. Vaseline does not come out very easily. Any tips???

Grady is finally starting to talk...a little

Well, talk is a relative term. I can understand him...most of the time...(usually because I have just said the word over and over and over. Although, now that I think about it, he's probably just copying me to get me to be quiet. =) Anyway, bottle, chooch (our word for pacifier), balloon, bye, are some new ones. There seems to be a "B" theme in his limited vocab. We're still doing a bit of sign language and he put "more food" together the other day. What? words that revolve around food? shocker, I know!

How to get money

We lose pacifiers around here like they are disposable. Instead of buying more I'm bribing the girls with a quarter for each paci they find. They are showing up randomly and I'll hear the girls shout, "Mommy...I get a quarter...I found one!" This morning, Molly found one and after her cry of excitement, I told her I'd have to find a quarter for her. She says, "just get one from daddy. He makes money." "Oh really," I replied? "Ya," she says, "he does something for the company and they pay him." I was trying to decide how to respond when she says, "or at least that's what he told me."

Sitting like a lady

We're at dinner tonight and Ellery is bouncing all over the booth, climbing everywhere and hanging off the back, so Joe requested that she sit down. Ellery say, "I'm not wearing a dress dad, so I don't have to sit like a lady!"

Here are my first two pages of 2009...well of 2008 AND 2009 for that matter!

These are the fruits of my hard work. 2 Evenings. Wow...I must get better at this, because at the rate I'm going, I might get Grady's 1st Birthday done before he graduates high school. I'm going to aim for getting 1 page done a week. They all won't be as time consuming as this one was...I hope. At least since these apply to all my kids, I might save myself some time a color copy them. Do you think Grady will mind the pink??? These are are family trees. This is something I had planned on doing when I started Molly's book. My girlfriends in Bellingham laughed when I showed them my outline for Molly's album. Title page, pregnancy, baby showers, birth, firsts, etc... Hey, I wanted to make sure I included everything, after all it was my first baby book. Here I am 5 1/2 years later and barely up to her 1st Birthday. Ellery keeps asking where her book is, I keep telling her I'm going to start it next. I suppose I should at least GET the book, maybe throw in a picture or two so she has SOMETHING to look at! Grady, well, the only reason he has anything is because my dear friend Amy scrapped him a handful of pages as a baby gift so that all I'd have to do was plop some pictures in. Have I done that yet you might ask? Nope!So, here I am, finally taking some time for one of my loves. No more dreaming about layouts. No more organizing embellies and filing pretty papers. I going to use them! (Can you tell that I'm on week one of a New Year's Resolution? Hear the excitement in my words? Check back with me in March, let's see how many pages are actually done...especially since tax season has begun...!)

What? Me? Scrapbook???

Why yes, I did. Tonight. For the first time in almost 2 years (don't get me wrong, I've done a few mini-books, but they were all gifts) I'm actually working on my own scrapbooks! YAY! I'll try to post some pics of the complete pages when they are done.

A Conversation...

Molly was having a rough morning and her listening "skills" weren't exactly top notch. As Ellery and I were walking up the stairs with me hollering at Molly (once again), Ellery turns to me and says, "Molly's not being very good. I guess she'll have to have a conversation."

Molly's big haircut

We did it. After 5 1/2 years, Molly got the haircut. It was overdue, but we were waiting until her hair was long enough to donate to the Locks of Love. Molly wouldn't let me do it, so I had to take her to my hairdresser to have it done. Since then, every time I comb her hair she says, "Kim does it better."

The Hutch

Let's just start off by saying that my husband has blocked my computer from being able to get on Craigslist. When he hears me say "I can do that" or "I can fix that" I'm sure he just rolls his eyes. (Could it be...just possibly...that I say that about everything!?!?) Anyhoo...Joe was out of town on business and I was perusing (read: wasting time) Craigslist looking for a few items...twin headboards, a dresser, a table, and a buffet/hutch. Well...I found one. They were only asking $200 OBO (of course I OBO'd them...and they took it!), I thought that was a pretty good deal. So when Joe got home, we grabbed an old friend/neighbor who has a truck and he and Joe headed to go check it out while I loaded the kids and went to the bank for cash. We just jumped in the car because it was supposed to be a quick 20 min over, so I figured we'd be home well before snack and nap time. Boy, was I wrong. After driving for well over a hour, we finally turned off the highway onto to some back country dirt roads. I was getting a bit nervous. The kids were already starting to whine and Grady had fallen asleep. This was not good. To make a long story short, the whole trip took over 3 1/2 hours, the kids were starving and tired, the guys had sacrificed their Saturday morning...and some of their afternoon, but...I got my hutch!

This is what it looks like now after some paint, glaze, new hardware...and LOTS of elbow grease. The top doors still need to be finished (I'll post pics when I get them on), but I love it!!! Joe thinks we should sell it...for more money of course! =)

Now I just need to find a dresser....

Just the way you are

My sweet, sweet girl Molly. Love her. This morning was the first morning for our crazy-get-out-of-the-house-by-7:45-or-be-late morning after vacation. I'm in the bathroom, trying to pull myself together and look somewhat presentable before I get the kids up. Molly pulls herself out of the cocoon of our warm bed (yes, you read that correctly...no matter what we do, ther are two children in our bed by morning...on Joe's side) and walks into the bathroom with her eyes still full of sleep. She quietly watches me try on headband after headband (me, hoping that somehow the way my hair looks will distract from the no makeup and bags under my eyes) and says, "Mommy, you are beautiful just the way you are." Did I say how much I love her? With that, I decided to take a cue from my 5 year old, tossed in a bobbypin and the morning began...

Grady's new words

He is talking...finally...but not much. He's got the basic Mama and Dada, but like to say "ta" (cat), "cho" (shoe), "cheese" (well that's self explanitory), "choose" (juice), "ba" (can be ball or bottle) and of course a lot of screams and grunts....which I'm very good at interpreting!

What happens when I'm stuck at home sick...

We have been hit terribly by colds and flu and who knows what else. As these germs are slowly making their way through our family, we've barricaded ourselves in the house as to not infect others. Since my F-I-L was here and I had help with the kids over Christmas break, I decided to tackle a few projects that have patiently waiting my attention. Here is one of them... This sign is about 12' x 7' and currently hangs over the window in our kitchen eating nook. I've been trying to finish this for months and am so excited its finally done!!! With some paint, patience (drying time in between coats), sandpaper, antiquing glaze, and vinyl...voila!

New Year's Eve 2008

So the end of 2008 has come and I'm sitting here in my office (craft room, really, but we call it "mommy's office"), getting ready to put the older kids down for the night and trying to decide if I'm going to spend the rest of what use to be fun-party-night-but-now-I-can't-keep-my-eyes-open-past-10:30-night trying to refinsh the hutch, or cleaning out my office. Wow...we have really turned into parents of young kids, huh?

Anyway, New Year's always seem to be the time for resolutions...change...starting fresh...a clean slate. Last year I vowed to set weekly resolutions, change 1 thing (big or small) every week, that way it didn't seem to overwhelming all at once. It worked really well until about April, when we caught a really bad cold and that took me down. (I type this as after two weeks I'm still recovering from what seems to be the worst cold of my entire life.) I think I might try this method again. Not that I need a new year to make changes, but it seems like a good time...plus...its tomorrow. =)

So...this year I'm going to take a little more time out for me. Like reading. I really use to enjoy reading, now I can't keep my eyes open long enough to get through a paragrah, or the guilt that there is a load of laundry begging me to fold it gets to me and I can't enjoy the book. I'm also going to set aside scrapbooking time. A hobby that I love to do (daydream about, really) but haven't done one bit since we moved 17 months ago...way too long to go without. And who knows, maybe I'll even take a few moments once in awhile to paint my fingernails. But mostly, I'm vowing to make the most of everyday. Enjoy my kids...my husband...my family...my friends...my wonderful life.

Happy New Year's to you all!!!

December pictures

Snow Day

Yes, we had a sprinkling of snow, an inch or two maybe, and the schools are all cancelled. As I did not go out today, I cannot attest to the road situation (yes, I'm aware there are more things that go into cancelling school then a few roads), but Joe said they were fine. See, we come from Alaska (Joe does anyway, I just lived there for 5 years), so this light dusting kind of makes us laugh that school was out. Didn't matter anyway, since Ellery is sick and Goggy (Joe's dad) just got here last night so the kids were happy campers playing with Grampa and I had a babysitter!!!

How did we find out that school was closed you might ask? Well, WCS has an emergency alert system. They ran a test a week or so ago, otherwise I would have been a bit urked. You see, our home phone rang at about 6:23 this morning. "Who in the world is called this early," were the words coming out of Joe's mouth...right about the time my cell phone rang, then his cell phone...you get the picture. Luckily I knew that the world was not falling apart, but it was just a little snow. (Neat system in the event of a real emergency!) In addition to all our phones ringing at the crack of dawn, I got a text and an email, as did Joe. We're covered....and awake.

New carpet???

So I'm tidying up a bit today, mostly in my office. It seems that with my sisters wedding invitations, guestbook and thank you cards, our massive trip, and the holidays, I've been a bit neglectful of my office. This is supposed to be a creative space for me (oh, and a place where I can do some accounting occasionally...hence office), but lately its been, well...a place for all things without a home. Paperwork, toys that need glued/taped, magazines, scrap paper, kids drawings from school, the umpteenth project I've started...you get the idea. Anyway, today I lifted pretty much everything off the floor and put it on every inch of available desk surface (except for that one box I've been meaning to get to since we moved...yes, its still in the original spot the movers put it in the day we got here, yes I know we've been here almost 16 months...) So, since I can now see the floor, I decided to vacuum. Nothing is going back down on the floor. I must take care of it all and put it where it belongs. It might take a month to clear off my desk, but I will do it.

My point...well, after I had vacuumed, Ellery walked in and said, "Mom...where did you get all this carpet?"

Note to self: keep floor clear...less to trip on.

November Pictures

Good Girl

This morning, Ellery and my dad (Poppy) were upstairs with my parents dog (Coby). My dad was petting Coby and saying the usual "you're a good dog" while talking to him. Ellery was sitting with him and he turned to her and said, "and you're a good girl, too." Well, Ellery thought about that for a minute and said, "No, I'm not a good girl." Poppy asked her why not? Ellery answered, "because I don't always listen to my Mommy."

Our ostrich

Grady is an ostrich. His motto..."if I can't see you, you're not there." It's actually kind of embarrassing sometimes. Like when we're at the store and some wonderfully nice Grandpa looks at him smiling and says something about what a handsome young man he is; Grady just turns his head away and looks the other direction. Or I'm at the post office and nice lady says what a cutie-pie; Grady's cue to look away. "If I can't see you, you're not there." Well, we're up here in Alaska right now, Joe's whole family is here at his dad's house, just hanging out and having fun. We've been here for a couple of days and Grady's been doing the head turn a lot. (New people...to him anyway.) Joe's brother Jim (currently referred to as "Silly-uncle-Jimmy), cousin Chris, Pat and I were all chatting about how Grady does the ignoring head turn thing. Well, aunt Karen came up to Grady (who was in his highchair eating) and said good morning, and what do you know...head turn, pause, peek to see if she's still there, head turn, wait, peek, head turn. Big time ignore! The thing is...he doesn't make a big deal about it, just turns away. Doesn't say anything, doesn't cry, just the head turn. My Ostrich.

This is what I did yesterday in my "free" time...

I made this shirt for Molly. Love it!!! Well, I didn't knit the shirt, that came out of her drawer...I just added the flower to it. I bought the polka dot fabric for a onsie that I sold on etsy and I thought...ooohhh, sunflower. Perfect. The yellow fabric were some scraps that I had in my scrap bin. (See...packrat...comes in handy!)

You see, now that Molly is in kindergarten, I realized that keeping her clothes free of rips/stains/tears/holes/paint is nearly impossible! She is going through the knees of her tights, ripping and staining shirts, and tearing holes in the knees of her pants. I decided that I'm tired of buying nice clothes for her to ruin. Instead I'm sending her to school in jeans pants and t-shirts. But plain won't do, so I'm going to add a little something to the plain shirts you can get from Target. They come in lots of colors, so I'll have a lot to pick and choose.

Anyhoo...because I need more to do, I'm thinking about selling these as well, along with other shapes that I've collected...holiday stuff like Christmas trees and ornaments, 4 leaf clovers, pumpkin and candy corn (a bit late for that!) and your everyday things like butterflies, flowers, and birds. Now I just need to work on some boy stuff! =)