27 Penguin Place

New Year's Resolution

2012-01-02T17:57:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year! Here's a picture of me and my girls just after midnight. Katie was REALLY tired and weepy but Abby was pretty perky because she had actually slept during their afternoon nap that day! Both did a pretty good job staying up so late and had lots o' fun!So it's been awhile since I've done anything on this blog! For my first entry in a long while I decided to do a New Resolution's list to get me started again. So here it is! My 2012 New Year's Resolutions!

1. Blog more
2. Loose 10 lbs
3. Complete at least one large quilt project
4. Do not purchase any new fabric for at least 6 months
5. Organize craft area in attic

I think the list is very doable! It mostly focuses on my craft stash because I have a LOT of left over fabric and accessories and I know that I have fabric for at least 2 complete quilt tops sitting up there which is just silly!
I don't quite remember what my resolutions were last year but I know one of the was to lose weight and I'm pretty satisfied with how much I lost last year: 25 lbs! I am almost down to my pre-baby weight and I'm actually pretty excited that I can fit into most of my old clothes and can still breathe! :o)
Last year was full of adventures as I experienced life as a full time pastor's wife and I can say that God truly blesses those who devote themselves to Him! Praying this year will be equally amazing!

Faith and Grace Quilt Fundraiser

2010-11-05T10:33:00.005-04:00

A long time ago I went to college and worked with a great gal named Pam. Pam and I've kept in touch over the years and I was delighted to hear her and her husband are trying to adopt two children from Ethiopia. Pam and her husband Nate Maxwell are a wonderful Christian couple with a home full of love to give! So many people talk about adopting but never actually take the steps to do it, I admire their selflessness; I admire their patience!

As I've been following their story on their website http://our-story-of-faith-and-grace.blogspot.com/ and saw all the things they and other people are doing to help raise funds I was burdened to help! Like my sister-in-law Erin I wanted to use a talent to help raise money to bring their babies home. So I thought about what I could do and it wasn't to long before an idea popped into my head; I could make quilts! Not only could I raise money with it but they would have quilts to snuggle up in during the cold winter months of Iowa and know the warmth of those quilts are not just from the fabric that went into them but the love of their parents and the love of people everywhere that put two children's worth above their own.

So today I am offically launching "Faith and Grace Quilts"! I will making two, twin size quilts and if you feel lead to help Pam and Nate bring their children home you can sponsor a block! For a minimum of a $10 donation I will make a quilt block. Each block will feature an appliqued star and no two blocks will be made of the same fabric. On the back of the quilt I will put your name so they know who helped bring them home! All proceeds will go directly to Nate and Pam. As soon as I have enough blocks I will assemble the two quilts and send them and all the money donated to Nate and Pam.

You can send your donation using a PayPal account to karen@5-mitchells.com or you can send a check to Karen Mitchell; 3622 State Route 29 S; Noxen, PA; 18638 and I will send you a thank you card with a picture of the block you sponsored! Mark your payment as "Faith and Grace Fund" and be sure to include your name and address so I can send you a thank you!

If you have any questions you can e-mail me at karen@5-mitchells.com! You can read about Pamand Nate's journey at http://our-story-of-faith-and-grace.blogspot.com/ . Let's help Pam and Nate bring their babies home and wrap them up in quilts of love!

There Once was...

2010-04-23T15:21:00.003-04:00

In honour of National Poetry month I give you the first poem I ever wrote. It was an assignment in my fourth grade English class, we were supposed to copy poetry on pretty paper and make a book with the final poem being our own composition. My teacher told us what ending sound we got to use (I got "og") and set out other criteria such as length and subject matter. So here it is folks...

The Dog in the Bog

There once was a dog,
Who tripped over a log
Because of some fog,
And fell into a bog
And met a frog
Whose name was Nog.

Nog liked the dog
Whose name was Pog.
So Pog and Nog,
The dog and frog,
Had tea in the bog.
And the bread did not sog.

The End

Pure GENIUS I tell you! The poem ended there because I had run out of "og" words and I had already cheated and used a couple words twice! I originally had plans for a hog to join their tea party but it just never worked out! As you might be able to tell I had only a vague idea of what a bog was. I remember thinking it was some marshy black squishy ground that you could fall into and where there just might be secret boggy rooms and such.
So go read some poetry (I suggest Whittier) and think deep thoughts since my little poem probably isn't very inspiring! Unless of course you ever get lost in a bog and the thought that you just might trip on a log and end up having a tea party with a very nice frog keeps you going!

2010-04-22T16:14:00.002-04:00

Two years
but someitmes it feels like yesterday
Two years
but sometimes it feels like ten
Two years
My child has been in the prescence of God...
And I wonder, What is she doing right now?

I imagine her singing with the other saints around the throne of God. I see her in my minds eye in a beautiful white robe with flowing blonde hair and blue eyes that are happy. After St. Patrick's Day this year I became incredibly grumpy. My loving husband pointed it out and after some poor excuses I finally said, "These next weeks are when our baby was still with us, it is a hard road for me to walk ."

After that I decided to try not to remember so I woudn't become to grumpy or sad but in my dreams I heard a child's voice beg "Do not forget me mommy" and I would weep. One particularly bad day I wrote this:

Shadows

I walk through shadows
And tears blind my eyes
From the grief of my heart ache
That pain that never dies!

The darkness it would take me
But for You by my side
Draw me close, be my Light
In Your arms let me hide!

As a child I need You Father
To clear my eyes of tears
And bear me through the shadows
Taking my grief and fears.

I know You'll not leave me in darkness
For in shadows there is a Light
It shines from You my Father
And leads me through this night.

Still I tried not to dwell on it, to wrap oneself in misery and wear it around like a cloak is wrong. I pushed thoughts of it away refusing to think to far ahead to that day we found out we lost her.

But it seemed as if God had other plans. People I barely knew or knew very well mentioned it to me and though I tried to not show it inwardly I drew back like I had been slapped. I do not talk about my baby casually, not even to my husband and here were people mentioning her in an offhanded manner. How dare they mention her like that! Didn't they realize my baby died within me? Didn't they know I still cry when I hear her name? Didn't they know the date was coming, the day I looked into a screen and saw nothing?

Of course they didn't know, they had no experience like that to even know at all and I kept those thoughts to myself knowing they did not mean to bring me pain. But I wondered, how long Lord? How long would I hurt for my baby ?

I realized in days since that perhaps I was focusig on the wrong thing when I tried not to dwell on what happened. I was trying not to be sad but not replacing it with anything else. Last night I held my Erik when he woke up crying and I rocked and sang to him, "You are my sunshine" for I have always felt God gave me Erik who is like a happy beam of sunshine to help heal my broken heart.The I thought as Erik made me happy because of his smile and happy attitude perhaps I should think of the things that made me happy about our little one while she was with us. Be grateful and joyful for the time that God gave us, the joy it brought and I wrote this

Thank You Father

Thank you for life, You gave me to bear.

Thank you for dreams, that made the days sweet.

Thank you for love, that was mine to share.

Thank you my Father, for giving all this!

Thank you for joy, that comes from despair.

Thank you for hope, that comforts my soul.

And thank you for You and how much you care!

I have tried to focus on the joy and yes it is tinged with sadness and I still cry but I hope I am growing and am starting to look back with a smile at those 12 weeks of my life. These verses in Job have helped me, "For He wounds, but He binds up; He shatters, but His hand heals". God leads us through our lives and sometimes He breaks us for reasons we don't understand but he doesn't leave us in our brokeness.
Psalm 94:17-19 "If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in silence. When I though' "My foot slips," Your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul."

Two years but any moment now I might see her and my Lord Who never leaves me and brings me joy, comfort, and help in everything.

Chasin' Rainbows

2010-04-01T13:03:00.014-04:00

It was a rainbow kind of day...a prism in the kitchen caught the sun and threw rainbows all over the walls. Erik spotted one and chased it into the hallway!Caught it!You need sunshine to make a rainbow...good thing I have a sunshine boy!

A couple days we went outside to enjoy the nice weather. It might look like Erik is chasin' his sisters...

But if you look closely Abby and Katie are drawing rainbows!Sunshine Boy is always full of smiles for mommy!Time to be on the move again!Where will this next chase lead?Another rainbow?No rainbows but sometimes sidewalks can be fascinating and just plain fun to crawl on especially if you get to crawl over chalk pictures! Two happy days that started with a rainbow chase and ended with creating rainbow pants!

Those were pretty good days!

Slower Would be Better!

2010-03-12T10:46:00.012-05:00

It's hard to find time to do everything you want to do. I have at least one hundred things I plan to do everyday, from the necessary like washing dishes, to the fun like taking the kids on a walk, to the just for me like working on a puzzle. But time goes so fast that by the time the kids are in bed sleeping the day is over and most of what I meant to do remains undone. My girls have begun to feel the passing of time and comment at the end of the day whether or not that day had been long or short, usually they conclude it was very short and I agree.How often do we hear or think, "Where did the time go?"

Wasn't it just yesterday that my baby was only 2 weeks old and small enough to be in a bassinet bundled in a receiving blanket?When did he get to be 8 months? Did I fall asleep for a couple months? I think I just blinked and there he was big enough to be sleeping in a crib, sitting up, scooting, and babbling!A few days ago when I was doing school with the girls I found a stash of Christmas projects in the craft bin I had meant to do with them. They had waited for almost 3 months for those particular projects to be on sale at Hobby Lobby and were so excited when they finally were and I had forgotten to let them make them! There just hadn't been enough time!

I have dozens of projects planned for almost everyone I know but there doesn't seem to be enough time to finish the ones I've already started! This year I want to make the girls quilts to fit their big girl beds and Christmas quilts and of course there's Erik's quilt that Joel designed and the original pattern I designed for him as well and...the list goes on and on and there doesn't seem to be enough days in the year to get it all in!

I know in a few years when the kids are older and there are no more diapers to change I'll have more time on my hands. I know that someday they will be gone, busy with their own lives and there will be stretches of weeks, even months when I won't see them and then it'll feel like I have too much time. That thought makes my heart ache and I don't want more time like that. What I want is to only need 4 hours of sleep instead of 8, think of how much I could get done with four extra hours in a day! I don't want to rush through my children's childhood, I just want time to slow down...the days to be longer.

I blinked and Erik is 8 months...if I blink again will he be 5? Just yesterday my little girls were pretending they were ice skaters performing at the Olympics; if I blink twice will Katie be getting married? Will Abby be starting off for college? What can the solution be? Put bricks on their heads and sew my eyes open and use lots of eye drops, or hook myself up to an IV filled with caffinated energy drinks? Probably not! I just need for a minute to hold more than 60 seconds, that's all!

I know there are other women out there who feel this particular pain! We can never do enough to truly satisfy that longing to give our children that beautiful childhood we want too. There are so many things we meant to do to show we love them, to make their days special. We feel the days slipping by, we see our children getting older and our arms ache to hold our babies for a just a little longer. We beg time to slow down so we can live in that moment for as long as our hearts want us to. While we really wouldn't want our babies to remain babies forever we do wish the sweet moments at least would last a little longer.

Motherhood's Time

Slow the sun up in the sky,

So this time won't pass me by!

Take the night and make it long,

So I might sing them one more song.

For time is passing much to fast

And childhood it does not last.

The bud will bloom and birds will fly

And soon my baby will say good bye!
.

Oh time take up your hour glass

And do not let the sand grains pass.

Make this moment last a day

So in my arms my child can stay.

School Days

2010-01-07T14:16:00.006-05:00

Sometimes Katie asks me questions that I wasn't expecting for a couple more years. When she was 3 1/2 due to her questions we discussed in detail the different aspects of heaven, angels, and the Trinity. After that discussing other subjects hasn't really been as complicated but like today it was still kind of hard!

During this quarter of school I decided that it was time for the girls to learn the proper names of the coins and the dollar so they would stop calling them all quarters or as they pronounce it "torters". So I had them get out their piggy banks and pick out a penny, nickle, dime, quarter and a dollar.

They had fun examining them and discussing the ways they were different then after practicing their proper names and how may "pennies" each one equaled I had them glue their money on to a piece of construction paper; except the dollar, we used sticky tac on that because we wouldn't be able to get the dollar off the paper otherwise and in our house a dollar is still a lot of money!

I had them write the amount each piece of money was worth and as Katie was writing she paused, looked up at me and asked, "Why?" Why are they worth that much money mommy and who decided it?" Abby blissfully colored on trying to make the "baby" 'c' with a stick through it.Have you ever tried to explain Fort Knox and the process of how money came to be to a 5 year old? It's pretty great, I think I said "ummmm" about 2 dozen times as I struggled to think of words she would understand. After processing this she examined the dollar closely and said,"Mommy! This looks like it was made with a stamp!" I was very proud of her at that moment since I hadn't explained exactly how they made dollars just that they did. So we discussed in the next few minutes about the huge stamp presses and special paper that they use to make dollars.

She also posed such questions as, "Why is the dime the smallest if its worth more than the penny and nickle?"and "what are they made of" and of course, "Why is the penny the only copper one?" Oh yes and then she asked why the coins from Canada looked different and who decided how they looked and how much they were worth...hmmm...good question!

Bliss

2009-11-23T22:45:00.019-05:00

This is a blog about bliss. For Erik bliss equals someone to smile at! And he shares this bliss with whoever sees him!Such a smile is irresistible!For Katie and Abby bliss equaled a pile of raked leaves on a nice autumn day! Making "leaf angels" is as fun as creating snow ones! Leaf fight! Unfortunately I had to put a stop to throwing leaves since they both started to gag on leaf bits which does not equal bliss!Bliss is getting a beautiful candid of your daughter... too bad my leg is in it!!! Maybe my SPFP who has an awesome photo shop program could fix it for me! :)Even a slightly blurry picture of your offspring can fill your heart with joy! So beautiful!Katie's cup of joy is overflowing with bliss at this point! Happiness is just a pile of leaves away folks! I remember the complete joy of jumping into a pile of crunchy leaves with wild abandon...so simple... no money spent, not much to fix up but the happiness it produces is so great! Waiting for Daddy to come tearing 'round the side of the house to jump into the pile of leaves...resisting the urge to jump before he does...seeing Daddy jump in the leaves and roll around...
then getting to run and jump with him...bliss!
And to cap off a perfect day of bliss Katie found a lady bug! My pretty daughter, how I love to see her lopsided smile! Maybe they'll remember getting presents, maybe they'll remember elaborate birthday parties but I remember the best, warmest memories of my childhood came from simple joys of play; moments that could not be created with money like discovering how leaves feel when your in the middle of them on a beautiful autumn day!

Shepherd

2009-11-13T15:41:00.002-05:00

Novemeber 13th 2008 was my baby's due date. Hard not to think of what might have been. Last night I just wanted to hold my baby, knowing she is in heaven was not enough; for just a moment I gave into the selfish wish to have my baby with me, here, now. Then with tears and a sigh I put away that thought, I wouldn't want to tear my baby away from God's arms, not really. Then there is the paradox of if we had not lost our little Dee we would not have had Erik and he is my sunshine. Some things we cannot understand, how such a blessing can come from sorrow and loss and would not have come without it.

Still I think what my girl would have been like today. One year old, probably petite and blonde like Katie and Abby, with round cheeks and sparkling blue eyes. As I ponder all these things I think of what my Daddy told me when we first lost our baby. One day when I get to heaven there will be my beautiful child with blonde hair and blue eyes running with open arms to hug me. A beautiful thought that brings tears to my eyes but comfort to my heart.

I wrote another short poem to honour my little one and to put into words what I've felt these past few days. Not sure if I'll write a poem every year, not sure if I'll need to but for now I do.

Gentle Saviour full of love

hold my child for me tonight!

Though I'd never want to take her

from Your Heaven's sparkling light;

How my arms still ache to have her

rock her close and hold her tight.

So my own Gentle Saviour

Hold her close and me tonight.

It has gotten easier, most days now I am fine but then today comes and I break down like it happened that day. In those moments I throw myself at my Saviour's feet and beg for comfort. Yesterday the lines from a song came to my heart...

"Saviour like a shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, For our use Thy folds prepare:
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are;
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus, Though hast bought us Thine we are."

I need His tender care and am so glad that I am His and He has promised to take care of me even when I walk through the valley of shadow and nothing, nothing can separate me from His love! Promises that I wrap myself in to fill the pain and emptiness left by this life! So though I feel sorrow and loss I can say I am blessed; for what is this life and its pain compared with His love enfolding me and His promise of heaven and an eternity of bliss?

Wise Solomon or Foolish Mother?

2009-10-29T15:40:00.006-04:00

Yesterday the girls were playing when a fight broke out over a doll. A year or two ago Joel picked up a couple sets of rag-style dolls cheap at K Mart for the girls. Katie and Abby adore these dolls and divided them up between themselves based on favorite color of dresses, hair, etc...ownership had never come into dispute before. The source of their argument when I intervened before they woke up the napping Erik was this: they couldn't remember whose dolly this was since her dress was a redish kind of purple. Katie was sure it was hers because the dress was almost red but Abby insisted it was her dolly because it had been from the beginning when Daddy had bought them.

I was about to take the dolly away and put it up somewhere for awhile which is usually what I do in such cases, when Katie said she had an idea that would solve the problem and I quote, "Abby, we could have mommy cut the dolly in half and I could have one half and you could have the other! Then we could fix them up and sew on NEW halfs with buttons and things! See Abby?! That would fix it!"

My internal thoughts thought, "Weird. Did Katie hear about that Solomon account where the two mothers brought the baby before him because both claimed to be the mother? It wasn't on any of her Sunday School papers, hmmm...."

I turned to Abby to tell her we weren't going to cut up the dolly but paused when I saw her. She was cuddling the dolly to her chest and her eyes were sad. As I watched she gave it a hard hug, kissed it, and then held it out to Katie. Her voice was soft and sad as she said "Here Katie. You may have my dolly. I do not want her to be cut up!".

That gave me a "wow" moment as you can imagine! It was like the Bible story was unfolding before me and the "mommies" had given me the answer I did not know ,exactly as they were supposed too! Abby the true "mommy" would rather her baby go with Katie and be whole and well then for her to be cut in half and ruined. Amazing!

Katie was about to take the dolly when I swooped in and scooped up Abby in my arms for a big hug. As my roll had turned into Solomon's I declared that Abby may have the dolly since she proved she was the true owner by her response to Katie's suggestion. Katie looked confused for a moment then shrugged and went off to play with something else. Abby hugged her dolly tightly and said quietly, "Thank you mommy! I did not want her to be cut up because I do love my dolly so much!"

I had to blink back tears (as I am now) as I gave her another hug and put her down to go play. I am always amazed by the things my girls do and this small moment in their lives that reflected the Bible account of the wise Solomon made me smile. Did Katie hear the story and decide to put it to good use thinking somehow she would get the doll in the end or did she truly think that her suggestion was a fair one that would solve the problem? All I know is that Abby's tender little heart wouldn't allow her to hurt someone else (okay the dolly isn't a real person but still...) when a little self sacrifice could save them!

I'm not sure what this story says about Katie though...wise as Solomon...foolish as the mother? Good manipulator or good problem solver? Hmmmmm...Well, then again they are only 5 and 3, maybe it doesn't mean much at all except to say that little people can surprise us at every turn with their funny ideas and unexpected maturity!

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I have to go hug Abby again!

PJ Party!

2009-10-23T11:02:00.010-04:00

This morning I decided to try and get a picture of the kiddos in their footy pj's because they are just so cute in them! It's really hard to get three children to sit still and smile at the camera! I didn't get any "perfect" pictures but here are some that were cute!

I love this picture! Erik sticking out his tongue makes me laugh!

This picture would have been perfect if Katie DIDN'T HAVE HER HAND IN HER FACE!!!

This one is pretty nice though the girls have crazy hair!

Abby and Erik looked so nice in that picture where Katie put her hand over her face that I just photo shopped her out! :) So there are my cuties all warm and comfy in their pj's!

A Touch of Love

2009-10-16T13:46:00.012-04:00

Today (October 16) as I went around making the beds I got thoughtful. I've pulled out the quilts since the weather has turned cold and looking at them (besides making me feel like taking a nap) made feel all cozy, warm, and sentimental. One time when I was teaching a friend of mine how to quilt a gal came in, looked at all the stuff spread everywhere and said, "I just don't get quilting! Why would you take a perfectly good piece of fabric, cut it up only to sew it back together again?" I've thought about that question since, I mean really, why would you do that? The time of women saving the not-so-worn bits from worn out shirts and dresses to piece together a quilt so as not to waste a single scrap of anything has past. Most of us can go to Wal Mart and pick up a blanket cheap (I won't go into my rant about the quality of said Wal Mart "Quilts" though I must say the workmanship stinks!) and aren't stuck out in the middle of no where with no stores or money.

After much pondering I think I've finally come up with an answer. Sure it might seem pointless to cut up fabric and put it back together even if it does make pretty patterns but that's not really what quilting is; at least not to me.

I quilt sure, because like most people who do I enjoy the beauty of the fabric, the orderliness of the pattern, the pleasure of creating but that's not really why I do it. The reason, I've come to realize is Love.

I can't always be with the ones I love. I would love nothing more than to hold my little ones all night long but I can't. So in place of me I put a quilt I made especially for them, a touch of my love to warm them through the night, to comfort them when they don't feel good, to remind them of the person who loves them more than words can express.

This is also why I don't like making quilts for money, I'll do it but its not the same when its going to a stranger, I find I don't even enjoy the process as much because it doesn't have the same meaning.

I like to consider the personality of the person I'm making the quilt for. For Joel I made it as manly as possible and Incorporated lots of moose. For Katie of course there's always a lady bug somewhere and for Abby something round and happy.

I also like designing quilts and for each child I made a special block just for them. I tried to incorporate their personalities, something that would make me smile and think, "Yes, that's definitely that child!" I haven't made any for our kids yet, save one, I plan to wait until they are in their "big kid" beds before I do (SO Katie and Abby will be getting theirs in the near future). I did design and make my lovely niece one when she was born which was very, very fun!

The one I have made is just a block but then my baby will never have "big kid" bed so there is no reason to wait. After we lost our baby I felt so much sorrow; more than I thought I could ever bear. But that pain could never diminish the love I felt for our tiny baby who I could never hold or wrap up in a quilt during a cold winter's night. I wanted to design a block to express the joy of having our baby no matter what the circumstances, to try and bring across to the viewer the splendour of God's love and the glory of the place where my little one went. I call it "Joy and Glory" and I made it with all the love in my heart. Though it will never touch my baby I can hold it and somehow it comforts me and I feel God's love for me and for my baby.

So just a peak into my thoughts today and if you happen to have a quilt made by me, little, big, or in between what I'm really trying to say is ... I love you!

What I'd Rather be Doing...

2009-09-22T12:12:00.002-04:00

What I am doing: laundry

What I'd rather be doing: sleeping

Why: Because while sleep would be blissful there is no magic laundry fairy that comes during nap to wash, dry, fold, and put away the piles of dirty laundry lurking around my house...not even when I'm sick! Stupid fairies that don't exist! Why can't you be real? Why? WHY?!

What I will be doing: planning out what I will teach the girls in school next week

What I'd rather be doing: Sleeping!

Why: Because while sleep would most certainly make me feel better I have undertaken a serious and real responsibility to educate my children and there is no lesson plan fairy that comes during nap and writes out what to teach in bright, pretty colors! Again, why aren't you real oh fairies of wonder?!

What I will be doing: Unpacking

What I'd rather be doing: SLEEPING!!! (do you detect the pattern here?)

Why: Because I am tired of tripping over half unpacked boxes and not being able to find my horde of crochet hooks and hearing my husband go around mumbling about how he can't find the charger cord for his razor or his favorite shirt which he really, really wanted to wear! Oh and because there is no magic unpacking fairy that comes while you nap to unpack and organize your stuff!

What I will be doing: Cuddling my baby and reading to my girls before tucking them into bed with hugs and kisses! Listening to my girls prayers where they confide in God all their little plans for the next day and dreams for their future days!

What I'd rather be doing: Nothing else in the whole world!

Why: Because even though they are a handfuls that make me sleep deprived and frazzled they are my babies and I love them! AND I am glad there are no magic take-care-of-your-kids fairy that comes during nap to do all the things that make motherhood wonderful! (Author's note:Laundry does not make motherhood wonderful so I'm open to the whole laundry fairy thing!)

THE END!

No Oops III!

2009-08-19T18:34:00.002-04:00

Success! For the last three nights Erik has kept down formula! Yay! After the last formula fiasco I remembered that Carnation made formula with "comfort proteins" which turned out to mean that it was broken down so babies who had a hard time digesting formula would not have a problem. I was still hesitant to buy any, formula is expensive and it made his tummy so upset but decided to give it a whirl since I was barely making enough milk to satisfy the boy.

The first night he had a bottle at 9:30 with 2 oz formula and 4 oz breast milk. He drank 5 1/2 oz and fell asleep at about 10:30. I went to bed at 11:30 but didn't get to sleep right away, I kept listening for the sound of spitting up. Eventually I nodded off and didn't wake up til about 4 which is his usual 2nd bottle time but he was sound asleep so I went back to bed. Well, he stayed asleep until 6:30 and didn't spit up at all, not even a little bit! I was happy but cautious, I wanted to wait until he had had it a couple times before doing the happy dance of joy.

The second night he had the same mix of bottle and fell asleep about the same time. He slept soundly (so did I!) until 5:30 had another bottle (no formula) and went back to sleep until 9:30. I was ecstatic! I had gotten a total of 8 hours of sleep! I was so awake and perky I didn't know what to do with myself!

Last night he had the mixed bottle again but then did his naughty trick of being wide awake til just after midnight. I stumbled into bed at 12:30ish with a splitting headache and couldn't get into a good sleep. Erik waited until 6 for his next bottle (formula and mommy milk again) and I went back to bed after he had fallen back asleep but my head still ached terribly. I awoke at 9:30 with my head pounding but no baby crying. Erik was snoring blissfully away, he had kept his milk down after two servings of formula! Yay! If my head didn't hurt so much I would be doing the happy dance right now!

Now that the pressure is off from being the only source of food for my son I'm making lots more milk :) which Joel rolls his eyes at. Stress makes mommies dry up though as many new mommies can attest too but he still says I'm silly for being such a worry wort. Of course he's right, I do tend to worry; like daddy like daughter I guess! So now besides my headache which has managed to survive Tylenol, Motrin, 2 mountain dews, and a cup of coffee I am a very happy milk-producing mommy who is looking forward to the idea of at least 6 straight hours of glorious sleep! Thank you Carnation and the beauty of comfort proteins!

Spotted Abby

2009-08-10T10:29:00.003-04:00

Sunday morning Abby woke up with a dozen or so red spots on her arms, legs, hands, and face. around the red spots there was a faint white ring. After investigating her bed to make sure there were no spiders and since they didn't look at all like chicken pox, measles or any of those childhood rashes we decided it must be some sort of reaction to something she ate or had been exposed to. I dabbed some benydril on them and we raced to church.

This morning she has a half dozen new spots and most of the old ones have gotten bigger. We've racked our brains to see what new thing she had been exposed to and remembered Friday and Saturday we decided to let her try yogurt since lactose intolerant people can generally handle yogurt. There has been nothing else new she's had or been exposed to that we know of. Soooooo long story short it appears our Abby might have an actual milk allergy instead of just intolerance.

Now comes the fun-fun stage of testing our theory which includes waiting for the hives to clear up, giving her a big dose of yogurt, and seeing what happens. Milk allergies are stinkers in that they don't necessarily show up in allergy testing, blood or skin, so its generally determined by exposure. Yay us!

As soon as we get insurance (we're waiting while they go over our paper work) we're going to take her in to talk to the doctor about our findings just to be sure. Sometimes hives just happen for no reason that can be determined and it could be just some fluke thing that floated by and made her break out. Hopefully time and testing will tell!

The Days of Great Burning and Spillage!

2009-08-08T14:24:00.003-04:00

The past few days have been a little crazy here in Karen-land. It started out with Fish sticks. I know, weird intro but it really did. As I was dishing out fish sticks for dinner proud of myself for fixing a main dish, veggie, and starchy side I knocked the baking sheet against the inside of my forearm. It hurt but I do that all the time so I didn't think much of it. I ran it under cold water for a minute and sat down to eat. It kept hurting though past my normal burnt arm time and it got worse but I ignored because there was Mommy stuff to be done. At bedtime, I was horrified to see that the faint red mark had turned into a 2 inch blistered oval-yikes! I guess my other scars were lonely and wanted company or something. That was the first burn incident.

Around 4 o'clock in the morning when I stumbled out of bed to feed my son I heard loud thumping noises coming from the porch which could only mean one thing-raccoons! The house we are currently staying in is in the country and the coons love to come out at night and frisk about in our garbage. We have a "locking" (ha!) lid on our trash can and I think they take that as a personal challenge. Now Joel had already chased away these raccoons right before bed by deluging the big one with left over warm water used to heat Erik's bottle but the big one had returned, I could tell because he was still pretty wet! I chased them away, fed my son, and went back to bed. As I curled up to go to sleep I heard the thumping again but figured it just wasn't worth it, as I was warm, comfy, and half asleep.

The next morning I peaked out on the porch to see what damage the coons had done. When I saw the carnage I actually screamed, I really didn't think two raccoons could do so much damage! Our lovely "locking" trash can was tipped down the stairs and garbage was spilled across the steps and yard. I had left small garbage cans half filled with bleach soaking on the porch and they had spilled those too. The splatters of bleached wood made it look like some violent crime had been committed on our front porch! I figured the only way to salvage the porch was to try and bleach the rest of it too, it looked that bad! That was spill incident #1.

So I got dressed, dumped the rest of the bleach on the porch (which is by the way about 15 ft x 5ft) and swept it around with a broom. I didn't have enough bleach to do the whole porch however so it still looked pretty bad (in case anyone is worried about the state of our porch we got more bleach last night and I finished the porch this morning !). I cleaned up the garbage and then filled the small trash cans with pipping hot water to rinse off the bleach. As I heaved the extremely hot water on the porch I realized I had made a painful mistake, the water crashed against the porch wall and came hurtling back toward me and my bare feet. As I hopped around squealing Joel pocked his head out the door to laugh at me, naughty man! That was burn incident #2

Now for burn #3 and spill incident #2! I decided after all the hard work of cleaning the raccoons mess up I deserved a break. I fixed myself a nice hot cup of coffee (can you see where this is going?) and grabbed a cereal bar. As soon as I got settled into the big blue chair that is not ours one of the girls called me so I hastily placed the mug and bar on the upholstered arm of the big chair and went to help. After I solved the girls dilemma of whose crayon box was whose I went back to the chair and threw myself in it, then I remembered my coffee but it was to late! I heard it go splashing down the side of the chair and cringed, however I didn't feel any pain and my thoughts went like this, "Oh! Well, I was expecting that too hurt really bad, after all that coffee was really- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

Yep, you guessed it, I took out the chair that is not ours and my backside. When Joel, who had come to my aide, realized I had managed to not burn any part of me except my behind he burst out into very helpful laughter. Thank you dear, your constant amusement at my self inflicted injuries is very uplifting! :)

That night grandma invited us over for pizza dinner so I decided to shower to make myself presentable (I smelt vaguely of coffee and bleach). After my shower I dried my hair and decided to curl my bangs and so came about burn #4 which is not quite as bad as burn #1 but worse than burn #2 or#3. And yes Joel laughed, a lot.

As I type this I kid you not, I just heard Katie's pipping voice announce that Abby has spilled the trash can that caught the water from the leak in the ceiling, in her room, on the carpet, where we walk. Now you must excuse me while I go clean up spill #4 which will hopefully end the horror of the days of great burning and spillage!

Oops II

2009-08-01T08:59:00.007-04:00

First as before, here are some cute pictures of the girls with Erik. We did a special photo shoot so Joel could have a picture of them to go on his debit card. The credit union is experimenting and offered to put any picture we wanted on a card for free so we said sure, free is always good!

Here they are giving the boy some smooches! :)

Now for oops II. Erik was back to his normal self so I decided to give the sensitive formula a whirl. I'll just give you the tally of things he took out with his amazing urping ability: 7 burpcloths, 2 onesies, 3 blankets, two nightgowns (mine!), 1 pillow (also mine!) the couch, himself, and me. Sigh! Good thing he's so cute!

Oops

2009-07-27T12:11:00.006-04:00

First here's some cute pictures of the girls holding Erik. Abby especially likes to hold him and make sure all his needs are met. If Erik starts to fuss Abby immediately gets his binky, blankie, and tries her best to bundle him up with binky in mouth! Super cute!Now for the oops. I'm nursing Erik but as he is the slowest nurser on earth I switched to pumping and giving him a bottle to speed things up. Well, the greedy little guy is eating more than either of the girls and I started to fall behind on milk production. So I decided to make his night time bottles stretch by doing 2 ounces formula with 3 ounces of my milk. So late Saturday night he had his first bottle, he didn't seem to like it as much but he got down 4 ounces. Second feeding came early Sunday morning where he seemed to have a lot of gas and did not want his bottle but he drank 2 ounces. I was a little worried but thought maybe the mixed milk was a lot more filling. Then his right-before-church bottle came along. He drank 3 ounces and when I handed him to Joel so I could get the girls dressed he promptly urped it all up all over Joel and Joel's comfy chair.

We made it to church though Erik was very grouchy and kept spitting up. I coaxed an ounce down him during the service but he urped it up as soon as we got home. Then came the day of him drinking small amounts of milk and urping it up all over his outfits and Joel. Somehow poor Joel was always the one holding him when Erik decided to empty his tummy. Poor Daddy!

Sooooo...after lots of coaxing, back pats, changes of outfits and cuddles Erik is starting to act normal again. He isn't up to his normal milk consumption yet but he's half way there and hasn't urped anything for the last two feedings. We're praying that he isn't going to lactose intolerant like Abby but even she didn't have that strong of a reaction to formulas when I tried to give her some. For right now I'm making enough milk (sorry if this TMI for some of you!) since he isn't drinking as much now but if I fall behind again we'll have the fun task of going through the "sensitive" formulas to see if he can keep those down.

Other than that things are going well out here. The girls are enjoying having their own rooms and Joel and I are enjoying that they don't keep each other awake at night anymore! The girls have already made "best friends" at church with other little girls their age and Katie has a devoted admirer who loves to stand by her and just gaze upon her beauty! I had a hard not laughing when he came up beside us and was just happy to look at Katie. She glanced at him a couple times as if she was trying to figure out what in the world he was doing and then she fell to staring at him. Ah young love! :)

Baby Erik

2009-07-24T18:17:00.013-04:00

Here is my long over due blog entry announcing the birth of my son Erik Benjamin Mitchell! Isn't he sweet?! He was very pretty because he didn't have to get all sqished on the way out. Notice the lack of cone head! While Erik was getting cleaned up, measured, and weighed I was stuck under the blue tent getting sewn back together. Erik turned breach a day or two before I went in to have him so I had to have a C-section. All I have to say about that is NOT FUN! Women who choose to have a C-section because they think it will be easier are CRAZY! Sure there's no pain beside the numbing stuff they put in your spine but the aftermath is horrific! Plus little Erik was naughty and swam away from the doctors so they had to cut a "T" into my uterus to get to him making it impossible for me to deliver naturally... way to go Erik! :)

So as not to scare anyone who someday might have to get a C-section I will say my experience was a bit more nasty than usual because I am very sensitive to strong medications so for the next 6 hours or so I shook, threw up, was freezing cold but also sweating. Joel said they put an inflatable blanket thing on me that was filled with warm air...I have no memory of this. Here I am finally able to hold Erik after my shaking subsided. I had to wait 6 hours to hold him which was terrible but I was reassured whenever I swam up through the drug induced fog to see Joel holding him and on one occasion giving him a bottle. Joel told me I talked to my Dad during my out-of-it time but I really have no memory of that either...sorry Dad!The next day Joel's parents brought the girls by. They had been by the night before to see us but I was still so out of it that they saw Erik in the entryway behind the curtain so they wouldn't be traumatized by a shaking half-comatose mommy. The girls loved seeing Erik and didn't want to leave his side!I pumped some milk so Joel could give Erik a bottle before he went home to be with the girls. Aren't they sweet?!Aren't I a pretty pretty princess? The hospital food was gross, even for hospital food and I had a mouthful of it there...ick! I was ravenous because they had me on a liquid diet a full 24 hours more than they were supposed to (apparently the day nurse did not get that memo and I was stuck with juice and watery sherbet...yuck!) and all there was to eat was swill! Well, the spice cake was good but besides that it was swill!Here he is all ready to go home! I had him on Sunday and they kicked me out noon on Wednesday! I was happy to be going home, (I cannot sleep in hospitals!) but a bit alarmed at how fast they showed me the door...I suspect my insurance had something to do with it!

My little guy weighed 7lbs 12 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long and was born June 14th at 12:22 pm. He has since grown like a weed and is very good boy who sleeps six hours straight at night! I must go for now...more pictures will be forthcoming but my son needs to eat!

Baby Doctor

2009-05-12T10:35:00.003-04:00

Today was my "Baby Doctor" appointment and I'm pleased to report that I am 1 cm dilated! I'm not ready to go the hospital or anything but I didn't dilate with the girls at all until at least the 37th week so I'm two weeks ahead of schedule! Yay! I had my final ultrasound last Thursday and the baby weighed approximately 5 lbs 8 oz, so he's on target to be about 8 lbs if he's born on time which is bigger than both the girls (of course that wouldn't be too hard of a challenge!). My OB chatted pleasantly about when he would induce me if I didn't go by myself (I haven't yet!) and the very nice man said he could deliver on my due date no problem or even a week early if I wanted too, I think I love him!

Since the baby is bigger than the girls and very, very active my OB has high hopes that I will go early all by myself. Apparently wiggly babies can break their water better than laid back babies and this baby is way more active than either of the girls! Katie liked to try and stand up in my womb and Abby packed a good punch but this little guy is all over the place kicking, punching, rolling, and sticking his feet up into my ribs and stomach. I only had a touch of heartburn with Katie and hardly any with Abby but with this guy I'm popping Tums every night to keep the acid down! At least all that extra calcium is healthy!

So, even though I'll still probably have to wait til my due date it is exciting to think the process has begun and I'm in the final phase of pregnancy! Yay! Soon I'll have a little bundle of joy to cuddle and moon over! The girls are very excited too and literally jump up and down with excitement since we've passed Mother's Day which was the last "big day" marker ( since Thanksgiving we've had a list of holidays to check off before the baby could come to help Katie and Abby grasp how much time would pass) until the baby's due date.

One of the awkward results of having two inquisitive little ones is the fact that they are well informed about pregnancy (at least most parts of it!) due to their endless questions and are willing to share information about it with perfect strangers. We went to Outback steakhouse for Mother's Day (yummy yummy Bloomin' Onion!) and while we were waiting for our table Abby shared everything she knew about pregnancy and birth with the nice lady who sat beside us. She included the last step with big eyes and sweeping hand motions of how the baby was "going to come out of mommy's pee-pee!" which fortunately the lady thought was cute and endearing! Gotta love little kids frank honesty and lack of embarrassment! I'll share more about Mother's Day later but for now I have to scamper and clean some more! I think I'm into the nesting phase, yesterday I scrubbed out the fridge, the girls coloring table, and the walls around their coloring table and still felt twitchy because there were just so many more surfaces to scrub! :)

First Moments

2009-04-22T16:11:00.006-04:00

A year ago today we lost our baby. It is a day I could not forget, a moment of sorrow I will always remember, that moment we were told our baby was gone. I do not like to talk to people about emotional things that will make me cry, (ask my husband, he has to practically twist my arm to get me talk when I am deeply troubled about something) even on this blog where there is some ambiguity I find it hard to express deeper emotions.

Since I was a little girl I have written poetry and when my baby died I wrote a poem and published it on this blog as my way of expressing a part of what I felt that day. Today I wrote another poem trying to capture some of my thoughts about things I wondered about my baby when she was first ushered into God's presence. I only had about an hour to work on it while the girls watched a movie and had multiple interruptions due to my little ones thirst or other small things of that nature so its a bit rough. The first two stanzas don't rhyme and I didn't fully develop the theme I was going for; perhaps I'll polish it up one day but for now I suppose it will do.

First Moments

What was it like when you took your first breath
Not here, but in heaven?

What did you see when you first opened your eyes
Not here, but in heaven?

These things I wonder on this side of death
where I never saw your face or heard your first breath.

I thought you were there, growing inside me
When really you were gone where I couldn't see.

Your very first moments I did not hear, could not see
My arms never held you, your first sight was not of me.

But God saw each moment, He planned them for you
First breath, first sight, all the firsts you would do.

And one day when I pass through heaven's pearl gate
I will no longer need to wonder, no longer to wait

I will see you running, running toward me
I'll know your face, hear your breath and I finally will be

There for a moment, one that is new
The first time your mother's arms ever held you.

Catch Up

2009-04-06T11:17:00.001-04:00

I've been neglecting my blogs lately but I do have a good reason for those of you who actually read my blogs,like them, and care: I fell on my bottom. :) I was going to do a really long explanation of the traumatic experience but my backside hurts too much to sit and type for that long! So I'll sum up...2 weeks ago the girls left a book on the stairs. Early that Sunday morning (around midnight) I hurried down the stairs to use the bathroom and did not see the book but my foot made up for my blindness by being kind enough to find it. I went flying and landed with a terrific crash then bumped down a couple stairs just for fun I guess. Poor Joel came running thinking I had broken my leg and I thought I had broken my bottom, the whole thing! It always amazes how much falling on your bottom on stairs hurts...if you recall I fell on our porch stairs a year ago and got a very impressive painful bruise but that bruise was higher up almost my lower back, this owie was squarely on my tailbone area.

We went in to the maternity ward at the hospital Monday morning after I called my OBGYN nurse who scolded me for not going in right away, apparently falling on your bottom is considered a :trauma" when you're pregnant. I got hooked up to the baby monitor which records the baby's heartbeat and movement and Joel took the girls back home until he could locate a sitter. The nurse informed me that I would be there at 4 hours for observation. They knew that the baby and my uterus were perfectly fine about 5 minutes after I got hooked up but I still had to stay for the whole 4 hours...grrrrrrrr! The worst part was that I had to lie on my back which meant I was on my poor sore bottom the whole time!

Joel got back after about 2 hours just as I was getting my lunch which had originally gone to the wrong lady who was also being monitored who wasn't supposed t0 eat because they were considering inducing her. I was very cranky at this point and when I finally did get my lunch I was very upset that they had forgotten my roll ( I LOVE rolls!) especially when I saw that the lady who had gotten my original tray had one and she hadn't even eaten it!!! I didn't say anything though (well, I did to Joel who just laughed at me) because I didn't want to get a roll garnished with spit or something.

So after 4 bottom-wrenching hours I was finally released. We picked up the girls and swung by Starbucks for a treat. There was a McDonald's in the parking lot next to Starbucks so I also got french fries and an ice cream cone; my husband is very nice too me! We got home just before 5 all exhausted but Joel was happy he at least got to skip an entire day of work, except for the pay part. :)Since my flight down the stairs I've discovered exactly how much is connected to your tailbone and how painful a bruised one is! I'm getting better now but I can't even stand without it hurting, or walk , or sit, or sleep really! Last night though when I layed on my left side my bottom did not hurt for an entire hour! I wanted to do a happy dance but that would have brought tears to my eyes so I just smiled into the darkness and patted Joel who mumbled something about not snoring and continued to snore softly as he slept. :) My husband is cute!

So, I haven't been blogging becasue I can't sit for more than 5 minutes without having to get up and walk around a little to ease the pain. This morning I decided to grit my teeth and type as fast as I could since I know there are people out there who worry about me when I don't have any contact with the outside world! oh, on a side note...Joel got me one of those inflatable doughnuts to sit on which works pretty well. Katie and Abby are fascinated by it and I've caught Katie wearing it on her head like a tiara and sitting on it to read her books; silly girl! :)

Valentines Day

2009-02-17T11:33:00.013-05:00

Valentines Day this year was fun and busy! We managed to snag a sitter (we actually had to share a sitter but the girls got to go over to Baby Chase's house so they were happy!) and made plans to go to Olive Garden for a relaxing dinner of never ending salad bowl. Joel had the entire day off work so we tried to sleep in a little but the neighbours had other things in mind and woke us all up at the normal time. So we tumbled downstairs in a sleepy but exited tumble to see what presents we had received.

Now in our family its our tradition to give each other a little something for Valentines Day mostly because its my second favorite holiday and I love giving presents to my husband and little ones! Abby got 2 monkeys, one form us and one from Katie and Katie Rose got a very pink pony from us and a bear with a pink rose (her current favorite flower) from Abby. As usual Abby would not smile for the camera but she did do her 'monkey face' and in the second picture they decided there was a monster on their bed and needed to scream! Here's a shot of Katie cuddling her pony which she named "Red Heart" while she sleeps! Abby finally gave me a big smile and even though her monkeys aren't really in it I thought it was a pretty cute shot! Joel got me a dvd of "Casablanca" one of my all-time favorite movies! We weren't able to watch it that night which was what Joel had planned but we did watch it the next night. That is such a good movie! I was particularly pleased with the gift I had found for Joel this year. After months of not being able to decided what to get I came upon the big idea which I must admit was not my own. My dear Sister Puppy Fairy Princess In-Law had gotten my brother a classic Nintendo for Christmas and since he loved it so much and his taste is a lot like my husbands I decided I would try and get one! So I surfed around on Ebay until I found an unit that seemed cheap enough to be affordable but cost enough to atctually work...bonus was it came with a storage case and 3 games including the original Super Mario Brother's game and Duck Hunt! Joel was very excited when he opened his eyes and saw it! He plugged it in right away and we had a nice walk down memory lane as we remembered the silly things we use to do with the game or where the special treats were. The girls didn't quite get the point of it all but Katie decided she liked it after we told her the point of the game was to rescue the princess at the end!

Around noon we decided to take the girls out for a special Valentines lunch at Panera Bread, which the girls love to eat at as much as we do! Since it was Valentines day they got to take their presents in with them, normally we do not allow any stuffed animals or toys in any shops or restaurants. Sadly, Abby forgot her monkeys in the van so Daddy became super Daddy and went out and fetched them for her while we stood in line.

After feasting there we decided to go to a couple other shops and then trek out to Wilkes Barre to the Eddie Bower outlet and Barnes and Noble book store. Joel found a nice laptop holder/briefcase/satchel thing and I enjoyed looking at around at all the nice clothes I could not fit into for at least another five months!

We came back home and Abby had a nap while we watched a movie and then it was time to go on our date! Yay! We dropped the girls off and then it was off to Olive Garden! After being cut off by a very rude lady who stole our parking spot we finally found another parking spot and hurried into the restaurant with dreams of Caesar salad dancing in our heads.

We had a to wait a few minutes in line to get our names on the seating list and found out the wait was 80-90 minutes. We just shrugged and smiled, we had no children with us and we were together so what was an hour-and-a-half wait? After ten minutes of standing I felt like I was going to pass out but fortunately at that moment the couch opened up and I pounced on it. The next hour passed relatively fast while Joel and I had fun "people watching", chit-chatting about general stuff, and gazing affectionately into each other's eyes! :)

Exactly 85 minutes went by before we were shown to our table and then the feasting began! I love Olive Garden's Caesar salad, it is sooooooo yummy! Joel had some shrimp dish and I had a chicken three cheese gnocchi dish that was veeeeery yummy! Because we had no children to order for we got an appetizer and separate drinks, amazing! It was weird eating out and not having to chase crayons, draw Val, cut up food, and mop up spills! My food was actually hot when I started to eat! We had a really nice time and the girls had fun at their little friends house too so the night was a success!

Joel had Monday off so it was a true 3-day weekend for him and we spent most of it playing the Nintendo or bargain shopping. My skills have vastly improved since my first go at Mario where I died in level 2! This morning while taking a chore break I actually beat the game, which is something I've only done once before! My approach to the hard levels is to run screaming through them until I die or reach the end, this time I reached the end! Katie jumped up and down and clapped when she saw the princess and even Abby got excited!

So we had nice relaxing fun weekend, the only thing bad about it was the baby deciding he needed to reinstate mommy's morning sickness that had finally disappeared a few days before. What a nice Valentines Day gift from my son...hugging the porcelain thrown while hurling my breakfast in as my hubby puts "hideous sounding ways", gotta love being pregnant!

A Bouncing Baby...

2009-02-04T10:37:00.005-05:00

Warning...this entry tells the gender of our baby so if you want to be surprised read no further!!!

Yesterday afternoon I had an ultrasound...Our baby really was bouncy, wouldn't stay still long enough for the poor tech to take pictures and get measurements so we were there quite awhile. Katie's eyes were glued to the monitor for the first twenty minutes and then she commented that it was taking "such a long time!" and started to get a tad bit impatient. Abby was interested for a few minutes and then grew more concerned about the cup of water she had left out in the waiting room and mentioned it every few minutes. Both girls got a print out of the picture above which they studied and kept close to them at all times!

Eventually the poor man did get the information he needed and then it was time to see if we could find out whether we needed more pink in our house or blue! The baby was feisty and kept moving and kicking and punching, at one point we saw Baby Pumpkin wiggle his/her little baby fingers! Then, when we were about to give up hope the baby decided to give up and gave us a full frontal flash! Triumphant, the tech announced that the baby was a ... boy!

At first Katie was disappointed and cried a little because she wanted the baby to be a girl. On the way home she cheered up when I told her she could pick whatever boy thing she wanted for the baby, she decided on a "baby soccer ball"! Abby was a tiny bit upset to find out the baby was a boy but she shrugged it off pretty fast and got excited about finding a binky for the baby. Joel and I are of course very excited! After Joel got off work we raced to the mall for a celebratory dinner and small baby boy shopping spree. We found a couple of cute outfits (on sale!) and Joel decided our general theme for the boy would be doggies. I had a ladies meeting at church to go to and then when that was over we drove out to Target to register because I (and perhaps Joel) was too excited to wait another night! The girls had a blast picking out things for the baby! We had forgotten how many things a baby needs but it was fun to look at all the stuff and pick out boyish patterns! Joel found a super cute bull dog stuffed animal which we bought as the baby's first official toy!

Sadly, Katie did not find the baby soccer ball and the binky section at Target was decimated so I guess we have to go shopping again this weekend! Oh no! :)

So let the invasion of blues and greens in our house begin!

Happy Mozart's Birthday!

2009-01-27T10:47:00.004-05:00

Today is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Birthday! Yay! As many as you know he is my all time

favorite composer! As I write this I hear the soft strains of his music coming from my girls room. Katie can work her CD player quite well and the CD she picks to listen to most of the time is "The Mozart Effect; Mozart for moms or moms-to-be". It's also the CD I've played for them as they go to sleep each night since Katie was born (with the exception of a CD 'Mozart for Relaxation' and a Christmas CD for the month of December). So here's a quick salute to Mozart!

Last night we were watching some tv and munching on some gummy bears when there was a reference to Mozart's work. I'm not sure how many people would have recognized the nod but it made me bounce up and down and exclaim happily! So here's the reference- the whole episode was about this guy trying to find the restaurant that made the 'perfect burger' that he had eaten the when he had first moved to NY eight years before. So finally his friends get fed up with him moaning about it and start out on a quest to find this burger shop.

At one point they think they've found the place but he takes a bite and says "No" and then he goes into this explanation about how wonderful this burger is and as he starts in I comment how much it sounds like Salieri in the movie "Amadeus" as he describes a particular piece of music Mozart had composed Serenade for Winds, K. 361(this happens to be my almost favorite piece of Mozart's work). Then that exact piece of music starts playing in the background and his speech is unmistakably Salieri's just with burger vocabulary stuck in in place of music! It made me laugh so hard!

Anyway... Here's to Mozart-a crazy (literally), happy drunk who somehow managed to write the world's most beautiful music that has endured through the ages! Well, God does use the

foolish things of this world to astound the wise!

Confessions of a Tired Mommy

2009-01-21T14:18:00.011-05:00

I am tired. Do you know what mommies do when they are tired? Well, I'll tell you what this mommy doesn't get to do-nap. The whole "Nap when baby/child naps" never flies at our house, does it in any home anywhere really? This is the #1 advice I've gotten on how to survive mommyhood and now I want everyone who ever told me that to come to my house. When they arrive I'll point them in the direction of my children and dishes, run up the stairs, slam my bedroom door shut, lock it, and then bury myself in blankets until I don't feel tired anymore which could quite possibly not be for another 18 years.

Of course most of the reason I never nap is because of my brilliant, tireless Katie Rose. That petite little angel stopped napping around the time she turned 2. A month or two before the big 2 she only napped every other day, then it was every two days and then by the big day she decided she would just skip the next 3-5 years and go right to no napping.

Now before any of you get alarmed Katie goes to bed at 8:00 pm and generally wakes up between 8-9 am so she gets plenty of sleep at night. I can make her lie down during the day but it is not worth 2 hour battle for maybe, maybe a ten minute snooze and then we have miss cranky pants for the rest of the night followed by 2-3 hours of laying in bed keeping sissy up.

So anyway, mommy had a hard night last night. I had disturbing dreams all night (I've told 2 people who was featured in them and they both agreed it was horrifying!) couldn't get back to sleep for almost an hour after having to go potty for like the 10th time that night and then the neighbours woke me up at 7, sigh!

I tell you all that so I could get to this...what happens when mommy is tired! After dragging myself out of bed five seconds after I got back in it after seeing my hubby out the door to work I escorted our afore mentioned non-napper downstairs for breakfast. When tired Breakfast = living room picnic in front of an episode of Curious George while mommy makes coffee and splashes cold water in her face.

After eating (what did I eat? I think maybe it had something to do with oranges...hmmmm) I get small one #2 out of bed and give breakfast to except now George is over so I break my own rule and let the children play with Katie's alphabet snowmen that are for school time only which I had meticulously cut out, colored, laminated, and cut out again the night before. We now have 3" snowmen scattered all over our living room.

I really don't have much memory what happens in the next hour or two, I know I did two loads of laundry at some point and I washed a sink full of dishes. Well, at least I was productive! For lunch I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bananas and we had another picnic in front of "Martha Speaks" and "Word World" and I battled with mommy guilt for allowing so much tv as I fixed myself a much yummier ham, cheese, and pickle sandwich.

As soon as I sit down the girls decide they do no want banana's, they want fruit snacks and I who am more interested in quiet than nutrition at this point let the naughty little ones have them. Not just one bag, two bags and then a cookie! I did make Katie drink her milk though, yaaaaaaaaaay me!

After being subjected to puppy-dog-eyes and earnest pleading I break down completely and let them watch "Dragon Tales" which doesn't have anything bad about it except the show gets on my nerves... a lot! To solve this I leave the room and print off things for Katie's lessons in school. I assume the program is over when I hear screaming coming from downstairs that went like this: "MOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYY! ABBY HAS MY SNOWMAN AND SHE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE IT BECAUSE HE HAS A RED LETTER ON HIS TUMMY AND SHE KNOWS THE RED LETTER ONES ARE MIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAABBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

After taking a moment to sob quietly I run downstairs tell Katie to share and find out that the "A is Abby's letter because Abby starts with A but its red not blue and Abby has the blue letters not red and besides I need it to make my name so the snowman really is Katie Rose's not Abby's so-" at this point I cut Katie off and because again I just want quiet I find Abby a snowman with a blue D which is "daddy's letter" so it becomes special and thus satisfies her need for a special letter. I suppose I could have just scooped up all the snowmen and put them out of reach... O well.

Right now the girls are playing with my bedroom door, something they are not allowed to do. I could let them learn the hard way why this is a rule or I could be a more gracious mommy and remove them from the finger-pinching situation. I am sooooooooo tired I'm about to keel over onto the keyboard but you know I guess I love them or something because I'm going to make them stop. Or maybe I don't want to deal with sobbing, bruised fingers, and band-aides if I don't stop them...hmmmmm...where are all the gypsies when you need them?! I'm sure I could make a wonderful profit on our girls cuteness.

Oh joy! It's Abby's nap time! But as you know this means really nothing except the house will be a little quieter. Oh and nap time means school time at our house. I hope I can find all the snowmen. Or maybe we'll have a holiday and she can just make words by herself with the lettered snowmen while I pass out on the couch...or I could pop in "Wall-e" and drift off to the sound of clips from "Hello Dolly". Why? BECAUSE I AM SO TIRED I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT I ATE FOR BREAKFAST!

Okay, I'm done complaining now...I know my babies are completely worth it, I mean just look at them!

Seeing their little smiles and twinkling eyes makes it all worth it, especially when dressed up like cute monkey princesses and ladybugs. :) I may be sleep deprived and half crazy but I do love my little ones and can hardly wait for the third one to join the craziness! Now to go find that Wall-E dvd...

Kickin' Back!

2009-01-17T11:13:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I had an appointment with my OBGYN. The visit was went wonderfully! When the doctor put the microphone thingy on my tummy to get the heartbeat Baby Pumpkin took personal issue with it and started kicking! He/she kicked so hard the instrument bounced right of my stomach! The baby's heartbeat was good and strong and of course he/she was very responsive to outside stimuli which is a very good sign. :)

I thought I had imagined half of the "kicks" I felt but now I think most of them must have been the baby. It is incredibly easy to get little Pumpkin started! All I have to do is lie down and put my hand on my lower stomach and off he/she goes! Last night Joel felt Pumpkin kick for the first time! Aren't babies fun?!

During our trip to MI the baby would kick along the seat belt until I repositioned it and whenever I lay on my left side the little one kicks the mattress for all he/she is worth! I think we might have a little soccer player in there!

The "he/she" thing is getting kind of old so you'll be happy to hear I have an ultrasound scheduled for February 3rd where (God willing!) we'll find out if the baby is a boy or girl and then I'll be able to use the appropriate gender! Yay! Last night we were at the mall looking for dress pants for Joel and I saw the sweetest baby outfits! I had to resist buying any even though there were some really cute yellow ducky outfits! I suppose I can wait two and a half weeks before buying anything, maybe!

So that was my happy news...Baby Pumpkin is healthy and strong and having fun kickin' back!

We Made It!

2009-01-12T14:10:00.002-05:00

Well, We rolled into our driveway last night, or rather early this morning at 12:10 a.m.! We had a wonderful trip and I hope to post some pictures soon but for now my avid readers will have to make do with this very short post! Here are some answers to the questions I've had recently-

My morning sickness is starting to fade, I only throw up once everynow and then...

The girls and Joel have colds but are on the mend...

Yes, I got completely spoiled while I was in MI, my in-laws rock!

Joel's parents and 2 brothers were there in MI plus one of the brothers girlfriends.

The afore mentioned girlfriend is awesome!

We will hopefully find out the gender of our baby in about 3weeks...

Yes, I am actually enjoying getting the house cleaned up after the ravages of packing!

I got lots of cool stuff for Christmas including a much wanted biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder and new pots and pans which I was equally excited about!

Until next time... :)

Christmas Presents

2008-12-29T16:11:00.024-05:00

This year Christmas was really fun. Of course to me every Christmas is wonderful but this one came with some extra gifts! The girls have been terribly excited all month long, the were literally bouncing with anticipation! Katie wanted a Wall-E toy with all her heart and Abby wanted monkey slippers. After much searching I found monkey slippers at the mall and Wall-E on Ebay. Things were good even though I felt so very icky! The Christmas cantata went well at church, I sang in the choir and was in the play and managed not to get sick or fall down through the entire thing! The Christmas Eve service at church was beautiful and Abby (who decided she wanted to stay with mommy and see the candles) was well behaved although she did almost scorch her eyebrow. she kept blowing out my candle and one time got a little too close, but its okay, she could benefit from a little more respect for fire!

We got the girls home by reminding them we still had to open presents! We raced home and the girls ran to the living room all aglow with the Christmas spirit. Last year Abby wasn't certain what she was supposed to do and even Katie was hesitant but not this year! They ripped into their presents squealing over each one! We saved the Wall-E and the monkey slippers for last and poor Katie didn't know we had set them aside. She looked close to tears when she though the presents were all gone and said in a very sad voice, "But Mommy! There was no Wall-E!". Then of course we made a big deal of pulling out one final gift from under the tree and I think this picture I got of Katie sums up the utter joy of receiving the perfect gift!

Here's Abby trying on her monkey slippers!

Here is Joel with his favorite present. Our camera was making everything very bright but if you look close you can see that it is a very special edition of the Lord of the Rings books altogether in one volume as Tolkein originally intended them to be. After they played with their toys awhile we put out milk and cookies for Santa and an apple for the reindeer and sent them off to bed.

A wonderful Christmas came a little while later when my dear friend Shanna called to tell me some great news, her and my brother-in-law Nathan were offically dating!!! This has been our secret (well, maybe not so secret) desire for a very long time! I bounced and squealed all over the kitchen and then had to sit down before I lost my dinner! Congrats you guys!!!

It was 10:30 before the girls finally drifted off to dream of sugarplums so I was expecting them to sleep in the next morning. We had no such luck, they were up bright and early at 7:30. We managed to get them to stay quiet until it was 8:00 and then we all tumbled downstairs to see if Santa had come. Unfortunately I had to make a detour to the bathroom and Joel had the unhappy job of holding the girls back while I grappled with morning sickness.

When I had finished up we continued on to the living room where the girls cheered that Santa had come and then jumped up and down while Joel took down their stockings. On the top was our traditional orange which Katie so adored that she just sat with it smiling happily and telling us how much she liked it. Abby meanwhile had looked at her orange, given it a sniff, showed it happily to me for the picture,and then dived into the rest of her loot. We encouraged Katie to look at what else was in her stocking and after a minute she put the treasured orange down. There was much squealing as they discovered princess candy canes, ladybugs (Katie), and monkeys (Abby), and many fun assundry items. That cookie was the only Christmas cookie we could find with no milk in it, I was very proud of finding it! So we had a nice relaxing day where the girls played and Joel put together their kitchen from Auntie Shanna. It had something like 70 screws and Joel decided he didn't like Shanna very much anymore :) It went together beautifully though, is very sturdy, and the girls are having lots of fun with it!

I laid down for an afternoon nap (which is such a luxury) and my favorite Christmas gift of all came...the baby kicked! five little fluttery taps! This was the first time I felt the baby kick and it couldn't have come on a more perfect day!

That night we had a birthday cake for Jesus that was supposed to be red but came out kind of hot, dark pink. We lit one candle and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then ate some except for Abby who got strawberry sorbet since the cake had milk in it. When we were talking about the cake at dinner and how we were going to have it for Jesus' birthday Katie got worried and asked where Jesus was. I explained He was in heaven and then Katie asked if how we would get the cake to heaven. I completly misunderstood the question (Katie pronunciation of "cake" does not sound much like the word cake) and went through a brief explanation of how we get to heaven. Katie listened politely and then looked very confused. She then asked if we could take the cake with us which Joel then finally understood. There was much laughing at our mistake and then we explained that Jesus wouldn't come down for His cake and we couldn't take it to heaven but it made him very happy that we were celebrating his birthday with a special cake. This satisfied her and she enjoyed the rest of the night. :)

One of my favorite parts about Christmas this year was how much the girls loved hearing about the nativity. We have a little cloth manger scene that the girls play with and the baby Jesus was the most beloved piece (he looks like a peanut with eyes). We got a special children's book about the first Christmas which the girls loved to have read to them every night by Daddy. The best moment was when Katie announced that she "loved Baby Jesus soooooooo much!" to which Abby quickly agreed.

With all this thinking about baby Jesus it of course, led to some more deep Katie questions at bedtime. We've had discussions about Jesus before (ie what does heaven look like, what do angels look like, What does Jesus do in Heaven etc...) so a lot of it we had already talked about. The past few weeks Katie has been really trying to connect baby Jesus to grown-up Jesus, to Jesus who rose from the grave and is in heaven. I enjoy answering her questions, though it is sometimes hard to put it in terms she would understand and I don't want to scare her by talking too much about death. On Christmas eve she really seemed to understand how no one but God's son could rise from the dead, she seemed to connect Jesus the man to also being Jesus God. It's such a special privilege to get to explain the wonderful story of Jesus our Redeemer with my daughters! As their mother I get to be there to guide them ever closer to God's love and saving faith which is something I never quite get over the awe of.

Which brings me to why Christmas is so important to celebrate...its the beginning of Jesus' story on earth, the first step in the plan for our redemption. While santa is fun, stockings, and other extra curricular Christmas activities like gingerbread houses... the most important part is to remember we do all these things to make the day stand out, to make it special, so we won't forget the most amazing gift ever give-Jesus! So I will close now with my favorite Christmas song. I love it because it tells the whole story; from Christmas 'til when Jesus calls us home!

Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

Thou didst leave They throne

And Thy kingly crown

When Thou camest to earth for me,
But in Bethlehem's home

Was there found no room

For Thy holy nativity;
O come to my heart Lord Jesus;

There is room in my heart for Thee!

Heaven's arches rang

When the angles sang

Proclaiming Thy royal degree;

But of lowly birth

Didst Thou come to earth

And with greatest humility;

O come to my heart Lord Jesus;
There is room in my heart for Thee

Thou camest, O Lord,

With the living word,

That should set Thy people free;

But with mocking scorn,

And with crown of thorn,

They bore Thee to Calvary!
O come to my heart Lord Jesus;

There is room in my heart for Thee!

When the heaven's shall ring,
And the angels sing

At Thy coming to victory,

Let Thy voice call me home,

Saying yet there is room

There is room by My side for Thee!

And my heart shall rejoice Lord Jesus,

When Thou comest and callest for me.

Heart Beat

2008-12-17T13:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had another OBGYN appointment. After my usual quality time with the loo I woke up the girls and rushed around getting ready for my 8:10 am appointment. As we rushed out the door I forgot to grab my morning banana which usually chases away my nausea, this is an important point for later. We actually got to the office on time and I was promptly called back. My blood pressure was good as was my bodily fluid sample but I hadn't gained any wait, I had actually lost 2 pounds. The nurse assured me this was fine since I had such horrendous morning sickness but I was still a bit nervous, I've never lost weight during any of my pregnancies before.

All during this pregnancy I have tried very hard to be optimistic, rely on God and His strength and not think my last pregnancy has anything to do with how this one was going to go. Still, the butterflies would flutter about as I waited for my OB to find the baby's heartbeat. It took him awhile to find it, probably one whole minute which felt like an hour to me as I laid there. And then the breathtaking part, the fast rhythmic beating of a little heart. Tears pricked my eyes as I listened to my baby's heart beating away and my OB beamed at the world in general (My OB rocks!). He said according to old wives tales the baby's heart beat is in the range that means its a boy. We joked happily for a few minutes to the tune of the unique whooshy-whooshy sound of a baby's heart then he wrapped up the appointment.

After my OB left I took a moment to praise God for the health of our baby and all the He has taught me about depending on Him for everything. In a month I'll have my next checkup and in 6 weeks another ultrasound where, God willing, we'll find out if I'm carrying a boy or a girl. Katie is the only one routing for another girl and has gone from the name Sarah Jane for the baby to "flower". We can't decide on a girls name either but have a boy name all picked out.

After we left the doctors office Joel was kind enough to take me to McDonald's to get my favorite breakfast sandwich-a sausage egg Mcmuffin. My husband is infinitely patient with my all day morning sickness and only grumbled a little about being late for work as I threw up in McDonald's parking lot. My tummy had been empty too long and I hadn't had my banana to tame the ickies. Poor Joel! Ten minutes later I was munching on my egg mcmuffin (the wonder of pregnancy, you can get sick and be hungry ten seconds later) and chattering to Joel about the baby and Christmas and whatever else happened to pop into my head.

The rest of the day was rough though. I threw up everything I ate and Joel had to get Draino on his way home from work, and more banana's, after I promised to stop throwing up in the sink. Today I feel a bit better, Joel bought me some vitamin water with lots of vitamin B in it which helps my tummy and of course I have my banana's.

Last night we had a tragedy; Val was missing! It was sad! Katie had to go to bed without him for the first time since she got him when she was 7 months old. She didn't fall asleep until ten o'clock, I felt disgusting, and Joel tried to clean up the living room while keeping his sanity. Today we threw ourselves into the Great Val Hunt of '08. I had this secret fear that I had thrown him out with the trash which had just gotten picked up. Then an hour into our hunt Abby's excited voice came from my bedroom, "I found Val Mommy! I found him!". Oh, beautiful words! Our house has now returned to a more normal state, the girls are playing happily, Joel has no homework tonight, and I've only thrown up once! Yay!

Here's a shout out to my niece/nephew baby Sprinkle who's gender is no longer a mystery! Congrats Art and Erin! Love to the everyone!

The Joy of Nausea

2008-12-03T11:24:00.003-05:00

Now that I have announced I am pregnant I get to fill you in on all that's happened in the last three months! I feeeeeeeeel iiiiiiickyyyyyyyy!!! Yep, that about sums it up! My poor dear husband has put up with waking up to his wife vomiting, coming home from a long day of work to his wife vomiting, and being greeted on his birthday by his wife, you guessed it, vomiting! I've always had bad nausea when pregnant but this baby is making me sick with a vengeance! With Katie I had morning and evening sickness, with Abby morning and some evening sickness, with this baby I have all day sickness! Baby Pumpkin is determined no food shall stay in my stomach for more than an hour! They say the worse the nausea the healthier the baby so little Pumpkin must be the healthiest baby in the world!

However my OBGYN and I have foiled my little ones plans! Did you know there is a lovely pill out there that stops nausea? It's wonderful! It was developed for people undergoing chemo but also works for all nausea and is safe for pregnant women. Hallelujah! Down side, they cost a lot of money at $10 a pill. :( Upside, I got some for free! Yay! Last night after taking a magical pill I prepared and ate two helpings of taco salad with Italian dressing, yummmmm!

So as you might have guessed we're all hoping for a boy except Katie who is absolutely convinced the baby is a girl and we are going to name her Sarah Jane. After I had my ultrasound Katie wasn't as sure the baby was a girl. After looking inently at the picture of the baby she said,"I guess the baby might not be a girl mommy.". I guess she was expecting to see the baby dressed in pink or something :). The ultrasound guy was really nice and printed a picture of the baby for both of the girls. They were so excited! When we left the office the girls showed the picture to everyone we met and exclaimed, "Look! this is our baby!"! They were too cute!

Here is a hopeful difference between how I felt when I was pregnant with the girls and how I feel with this baby. With Katie and Abby I preferred sweet food over salty, with this baby the thought of sugar makes me gag! I want salty food, especially if its spicy! If I could eat at Taco Bell everyday I would be a very happy pregnant lady! The couple gals I've talked to who have had boys said they too craved Taco Bell! Here's hopin'!

Another fun thing about this pregnancy is that I already had to switch to maternity clothes. With Katie I like to think I was showing at 5 months but Joel just laughs at me. I showed a little earlier with Abby but with this baby my muscles have already given up. On Sunday I wore a maternity outfit and everyone who saw me gave me that "Oh! You're pregnant! Yay!" smile. The florist at our grocery store (one of the girls favorite people) saw my tummy and asked me when I was due. It's very exciting to be able to follow my tummy around at only 12 weeks!

Along with all the excitement and new discoveries about this pregnancy there is the worry. I think I held my breath for the first 10 weeks until I heard the babies heartbeat. I was very nervous for the ultrasound, though we had heard Pumpkin's heartbeat. The last ultrasound I had was when we found out I had miscarried. There was nothing worse then instead of seeing my babies toes and tummy I saw nothing but black. On the way to Pumpkin's first photo shoot I prayed the entire time! When our baby did pop up on the screen I was so relieved and happy! I am trying to take it day by day and purposely think positively. I know I can trust God, He is always faithful. I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow but He does and that does bring comfort. It's also very comforting to know how many people are praying for me and our little baby. Our Christian friends encouraging words have been very uplifting; our church family is wonderfully supportive!

So Joel and I have a boy's name all picked out but were stumped on a girl's name. I think we've used up all the girl names we mutually liked and now all that is left are the names only one of us care for. Any ideas? Remember, Joel and I prefer traditional names with significant meanings and also we like to name babies after relatives we admire. We are not into the Hollywood names like Helicopter Inspektor, or Peaches, or Apple, or Sunday or any other fruit or days of the week! Have a happy day everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T19:49:00.005-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! So far we've had a very nice day! I cooked 2 pumpkin pies yesterday and made a chocolate pudding pie. We had a married couple over and they were nice enough to make a bunch of side dishes so I wouldn't have to do a lot of the work! The turkey came out great,though I almost forgot to take it out of the freezer to defrost it. The only thing I burnt this year was the supposedly easy buns that you just pop in the oven and brown. I blackened them , but only about half so it wasn't too bad!
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The girls had a very time playing with our guests, the hubby of the couple is great with kids and made sure to do his part to get all of their extra energy out! Katie had a giant Wall-E that Joel had made her out of big Lego's which was the center of their play. Our guests left an hour ago and in a few minute's we'll be watching the Snoopy Thanksgiving special which we are all looking forward to!

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So here are some things I am very thankful for...
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My beautiful girls who are so smart, happy, and unique!
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My dear husband who is patient, loving, and smart!
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Friends who are there for you when you go through terrible times.
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My brother who never fails to call and cheer me up!
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Of course the usual roof over my head and food in my tummy.
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Our little baby, Deidre Jael, who I carried for 10 weeks and will love forever.
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God's strength and love that carried me through the hardest tragedy of my life.
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My children's laughter and compassion.
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And most of all the little miracle that God has blessed us with and is growing right now inside me... say hi to Baby Pumpkin!

That's right I'm pregnant! I had an ultrasound on Joel's birthday (the 25th) and our baby has a strong heartbeat and is growing at a normal, healthy rate! I will be 12 weeks along tomorrow and my due date is June 15th. Praise God for His goodness, mercy, and strength and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

ObambamaLlama

2008-11-07T16:23:00.002-05:00

Okay so I've managed not to blog about the election til this very moment but I felt I really needed to get my opinion out there, mostly so I'd stop pestering my poor husband with it! ObamabamaLlama, which is what I call Obama for no other reason other than I think it sounds funny, is the president elect.

Stink.

We're all going to die.

Run away, run away now.

Perhaps we could all move to Alaska and go hunting with Palin and discuss how unborn babies have a right to life...

Projects and Pets!

2008-10-21T14:06:00.015-04:00

I've been busy these past two weeks, or rather I've kept myself busy. I am still trying to get all of my half finished craft projects done and I'm determined to get most of them done by Christmas! I wrote myself out a nice schedule going all the way into the first week of December. I like schedules and lists! I like crossing of an accomplished task, it just makes me happy down deep! I started this list two weeks ago and had gotten a little behind due to needing lavender thread and having to make fresh stencils for the top stitching on a quilt I'm working on. Last night I got all caught up while Joel read to me from an excellent series "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" which I am enjoying so much I just had to mention it! So here are some things I've finished up this week!

First up is Abby's birth record. Like Katie, I had a hard time finding one that fit Abby's personality but then while browsing through a craft catalog one day I found it! Joel agreed it fi\or Abby's personality exactly! We especially liked that all the animals have the sound they make by them since Abby called most animals by their sound when she started talking!

Here I have to break off from completed crafts to show our two new pets! Sadly, my nose and skin had become extremely sensitive to our guinea pig Starbucks so we decided it was time to find him a new home. After a couple months of no success an very nice lady called and he went home with her that night.

I told Katie and Abby about it a couple hours before she arrived so they could get used to the idea before it happened. At first Katie was inconsolable but she calmed down when I told her the lady had a guinea pig that Starbucks could play with. This idea charmed her and she agreed that it was better for Starbucks if he could be with someone who could pet him. Abby didn't seem to mind that much but when Starbucks was loaded up in the ladies car she burst out crying and tried to climb in with him! I hugged her while she cried and we waved goodbye and blew kisses. She felt better later on that night and became happy that Starbucks had another guinea pig to play with.

Since we were now petless Joel and I decided to get the girls some very inexpensive Goldfish as a replacement pet. We went Wal-Mart got a fish bowl and let the girls pick out two fish. Katie chose a white one which she named "Blacky" and Abby chose a gold one which she named "Fred". Here's Katie with the new fishies!

I didn't understand why Katie named her white gold fish "Blacky" but if you look very close you can see that the tips of his tail are black and his bottom lip though you can't see that in the picture. If you can't see the black tips don't worry, you're not going blind, it's just really subtle!Here's Abby checking out the fishies! We're not sure why Abby chose to name her fish "Fred", we didn't know she knew that name! I love that my girls are constantly surprising us and making us laugh!Here's another finished project, a quilt for Abby! Katie has two quilts I made and Abby only had one so I decide it was time Abby had a second one. Joel picked out the "snowball" pattern and helped pick out the fabrics too.Here she is modeling it! She wouldn't give me the cutsie-oostie smile I wanted until I let her pose the way she wanted to...which I have learned is the best way to get that one-in-a-million shot! Of course the dumb computer refuses to load these two pictures any way except sideways!Katie wanted her picture taken with her newest quilt too so here she is with her latest cheezy pose which she is also doing in the above fishy shot!So that's it for now! I'm in the process of doing a lot of other projects and soon I'll have more to show you! Until then remember Christmas is only 64 days away! :) Yay Christmas!

Lady Bugs and Pumpkins

2008-09-16T12:27:00.039-04:00

Since my last blog entry I've been working on getting some of my many craft projects completed. I've also been very busy with seamstress jobs from the college students who attend our church and from some other people. Also doing preschool everyday takes up a lot more time than I thought it would but I'm enjoying every second! Below is a picture I found online that I thought looked just like Katie! Katie was delighted by it and actually thinks the person who drew it, drew it of her! She racks her little brain trying to remember when she was looking at ladybugs on a brick wall! :)

Since i've been in the crafting groove I thought I would share some of my finished projects with everyone! One day while I was working on hemming a pair of pants I let the girls play with my fabric scrap tin. Katie (while happily sorting my scraps) found a quilting magazine that I had been looking at and squealed with delight when she discovered a snowman wall hanging quilt on the first page. She decided that I needed to make it for her and picked out the fabric she wanted to use for it while I continued hemming. When I had finished the pants I checked out the wall hanging in the magazine.

Unfortunately the pattern was not in that issue. It was a picture of a wall hanging a subscriber had made from a pattern in their magazine from three years back. Katie was very disappointed so I decided I would just make one up. I helped her pick out some more fabric and then decided to go with a 'snowball' block of three different sizes. It especially pleased me that the block I was going to use for a snowman was a snowball! Anyway...

I got it put together by bedtime complete with buttons that Katie picked out from my button collection. She had very concrete ideas of how she wanted her snowman to look and supervised me the whole time! The next day I finished up the snowman and got it all top quilted and here is Katie with the finished project!

Here's a cute picture of Abby watching Curious George while I quilted!

And another one! I don't know why but I thought she looked really sweet sitting there with her soccer ball! :)Here's a closeup of the front of the snowman wall hanging. I was very proud of myself for not having to buy anything new for this particular project! I felt very frugal, like I had returned to the roots of quilting when women made quilts purely from scraps leftover from making clothes. It made me happy anyway! You can't really see it in the picture but the white I used along the bottom has little snowflakes scattered across it like the blue background fabric I used. The white fabric I used for the snowman had white swirls all over it that kinda looked like swirling snow! Those kinds of details always satisfy some deep part of me that's crying out for the world to think and be clever and it made Katie very happy too!

Here's a shot of the back. I used blue flannel for the back to make it nice and soft. Katie was delighted that there was a snowman on the back too!

And now I will take a little time to brag about my little daughter! School is going amazingly well. Katie is very smart and is never stumped by the "big idea" or logic projects. I thought she might struggle with the "only color the one that is different" papers or "color the spaces with dots onw color and the ones without dots another color" or "color only the things that you would put in a backpack to take to school" but she didn't even so much as blink! She dived right in and hasn't made a mistake yet! What a smarty! Here she is doing the "color the spaces with dots orange and the spaces without dots blue" picture.Perfect!I think Katie might have artistic leanings. She loves to draw, color, and paint and is so careful about it! That particular day we were learning about the sun and earth so I traced two big circles and let her paint them, one for the sun and one for the earth.She was very concerned about not mixing the colors and painted very carefully! I think she did a pretty good job making her earth resemble the earth! Here she is painting a butterfly sun catcher. This art project is very inexpensive and there is such a variety out there that I thought it would make a good art project. Katie adored it and took to it like a duck to water! May I remind you that she painted this entirely by herself! She chose the colors and had complete control over the paint brush which included rinsing it off. The only thing I did was to fetch fresh water and make sure she didn't put the brush in her mouth which she tends to do with her writing utensil whenever she sits back and thinks about what she's going to do next!Here's a picture of a couple of bookmarks she colored when we learned what month it was. I am just amazed by the detail, especially in the smiley face one!Here's what Abby did while Katie was doing her schoolwork! Both the girls love to sort through my button collection!And here's a sample of Abby's artwork!Unfortunately Abby became so rowdy and distracting during school we had to move school time to when she naps. This gives us at least an hour of quiet and has worked out much better!

And now back to my craft projects! Here is Katie trying out her new ladybug pillowcase I made her! The weather turned cold early this year (Last year it got up to 100 degrees during the first week of Oct!) so she's in her new "sleepy princess" pj's.

Abby, instead of being a nice little girl and getting into her pj's decided she wanted to lay on her pillow (I made that pillowcase awhile ago out of some fabric my mom sent me)and smile for the camera too!

I finally finished Katie's Ladybug quilt! This has been a work-in-progress for 2 years! My dear friend Shanna bought Katie some fabric squares of various colors with ladybugs on them. Since the colors were so varied and the amount not enough to make a quilt top all by themselves I decided to go for the "Postage Stamp" pattern. I cut the blocks up into fours and used a pinky-lavender color in between to offset the busy patterns. After I got the top done I wasn't quite sure what to do with the borders, I really wanted to bring the pink in the quilt out more but as Joel and I discovered they don't make much pink ladybug fabric! So I settled for blue fabric with red ladybugs on it that matched some of the blocks used in the top. I put off finishing it because I just wasn't satisfied with using the same blue for the back. I looked around JoAnn's whenever I could and browsed through the fabric on Ebay. Then finally I found it! On Ebay I came across pink, flannel ladybug fabric! There was 2 yards and it was listed actually cheaper then I could get it in stores even with shipping! I was ecstatic! Here's Katie trying out the finished quilt with matching pillowcase (as already seen above) I made out of the leftover flannel!Abby, of course, wanted her picture taken too! I did make the top sheet she has there for her last year and the small miniature quilt done in purples I made before she was born! Whenever she has an accident and her pillow is in the wash she uses that little quilt as her "pillow". I love the ideas that my girls come up with! :)What a saucy little smile that girl has! :) I love the way her eyes just twinkle at you!Here they are cuddled up on the couch the next day! It was a chilly morning so they decided they needed to snuggle while they watched "Curious George" on the public station.Here are some more little things I've made the girls. The little snowman and hat sachet ornaments came from a school outing we had. Katie was learning about trees and how they make seeds, pine cones, leaves etc., so we went for a walk to collect things that trees make. We found a bunch of fragrant, dried pine needles that the girls thought smelled "sooooo good" and in a moment of inspiration I had the girls gather them up so I could make them each a sachet. Since Christmas is just around the corner (yay!) I decided to make them into Christmas ornaments and let the girls look through my Christmas fabric stash and choose their own fabric. Katie chose snowmen (one of her very most favorite things!) and Abby chose the above santa hat fabric. I lined the fabric with quilt batting so the pine needles wouldn't poke through (this had greatly worried Katie) and trimmed it with pretty trim and buttons. Since I have recently done a lot of babysitting and mending for people I used some of my profits to buy more crafty things! I bought the above ladybug cross stitch kit and stitched it up one afternoon while the girls played outside (I sat on the front porch to stitch it so don't worry, they weren't unsupervised!). The original pattern said "Love Bug" but Katie and I didn't really like that so I changed it to "Lady Bug" which made us both happy!

I purchased the below pillowcase and stitched the pumpkin and vines. I made one for Katie and one for Abby. I like to do seasonal things for everyday house stuff to make everything a little more fun and interesting!On a shopping excursion to JoAnn's I found a lovely bin of fat quarters which contained lots of Christmas fabrics. For those of you who don't know a fat quarter is approx 18"x22" and you can get four of these from one yard of fabric which makes it a quarter yard but its not a regular 1/4 yard (which is 12"x"45) so its called a "fat" quarter. Anyway... they were only a $1.29 a piece so I let the girls pick out one each. Surprisingly, they both picked the same fabric print! I made pillows out of their snowman fabric using fabric I already had for the backs which I again let them choose for themselves.
Here is the back of Abby's! I bought a half yard of that sheep fabric about 4 years ago because it made me giggle but never found a project I wanted to use it in. I was very happy when Abby chose it, it made her giggle too! Katie chose a gingerbread men fabric for her pillow back. Lastly, here is a picture of the girls out on our back porch. The night before we went to the Farmer's Market and had picked up a bunch of pumpkins and gourds for the girls to add to their collection of pumpkins we had gotten at our local grocery store. Katie surprised the vendors at the market by naming all the different varieties of squash correctly which made me glow with motherly pride! She was so charming that she got a little pumpkin for free! Abby beguiled them all by saying "Thank you" so sweetly that it brought tears to their eyes! Katie and Abby love their pumpkins and Katie declared September 30th to be "Pumpkin Day" and I wrote it on the calendar to make it official! The yellow spaghetti squash was a part of last night's supper but Katie and Abby didn't mind (This was actually our second spaghetti squash and we had gone through in school the explanation of how people eat squash and pumpkins) and absolutely love the salted, baked seeds.

So that was our busy month of September full of ladybugs, pumpkins, pillows, and school!

p.s.

I'm not sure why but the wrong date is on this entry! Today is October 2, not September 16th!

Katie's School

2008-09-02T11:55:00.021-04:00

Monday, September 1st, Katie and I embarked on an epic journey: school! That's right! I decided to put my college training to work and do a bit of preschool with Katie. All summer we've kept our eyes open for deals and bought a few things here and there to try and make her school as real as possible. We found a little card table at Big Lots complete with four cushioned folding chairs, which we thought would make a good desk. We got a bulletin board and I colored all sorts of decorations and then lamented them with my small laminator that I bought with saved up babysitting and Ebay earnings. We even got her a globe! She was so excited when Monday finally came around! I got her dressed in her brand new "school" outfit and after breakfast we were ready!Here she is with the ladybug puzzle we bought for school! She checked out her other supplies for the day and got so happy she had to do a little dance!Our first class of the day was Reading and here she is writing the letter 'A'. She was so excited! She had a hard time learning how to make an 'A' mostly because she had already devised a way of shaping them by writing an 'H' then putting a hat on it as you can see from the picture below! The last 'A' on the first row she did herself but for the rest I guided her hand.After she practiced for awhile it was time to learn what sound the 'A' made and color some pictures with the letter 'A' in them.

She was very proud of her new "big girl" markers and loved coloring with them!You might be wondering what Abby was doing this whole time well, at first she was still finishing her breakfast and then while Katie colored she got to play with my dry erase board. She was really good at getting the caps on and off the marker and wiping the board off with a Kleenex so I went back to Katie.Which resulted in Abby needing a bath!While Abby soaked Katie and I resumed classes, it was time to learn how to write the number '1'. Katie found '1' much easier and soon had mastered the number!

Which made her super excited!I circled her best '1's and let her pick out a star sticker to put on her paper since she had done such a good job!

After practicing her number 1 she got to color a picture of 1 doggy!Which, of course, she was very excited about!Then for our last class of the day we started the ladybug puzzle to exercise that smart brain of hers! She put together two pieces while I took Abby potty and was very good at knowing where the pieces went!This is how far we got before we needed to take a break. Katie did all of the ladybug herself and most of the border.We finished it later that day after Joel got home from class.Here's a display of Katie's hard work! If you look on the my number book you can see that Katie wrote her name! I thought she needed help and helped her write the 'K' , 'a', and 't' before I believed her insisting she could write her name herself. I underestimated her and she could write the rest of her name quite well by herself. She got a little confused where we left of however and wrote two 't's but she fixed it by writing an 'i' over top! Katie did very well in her studies and seems to really enjoy her first taste of school! I am so proud of my little one!

I'm Alive! I Think! Maybe.

2008-08-25T15:51:00.005-04:00

I thought I'd do a really quick blog just to let all the people I know who actually read it, that I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth! I haven't been on the IM for days now and I've tried to keep up on e-mails but I think I've failed miserably! Here's the reason I have been out of touch lately: I'm sick! I've been struggling along for about 2 weeks now with a headache, sore throat and ear ache but have put off going to the doctor because I had a new patient appointment scheduled for today and I wasn't going to pay $50 at the walk in place when I could go somewhere else that my insurance covered for only $5!

So I waited, and waited. I noticed a big, white spot at the back of my throat which I fondly named "Bob". Bob was soon joined by "Phil". Phil was joined by some smaller friends but I decided not to name them because I was alarmed by how many friends had showed up and thought if I named them they might not go away.

Thursday was bad! My mild headache exploded into a migraine and I wanted to physically remove my ear and throat and get new ones that didn't hurt. My wonderful husband got me Tylenol and a nice iced coffee (caffeine helps headaches) and tried to keep the girls entertained while I quietly died on the couch. Friday and Saturday I felt a little better and then Sunday morning I woke up feeling worse and Joel woke up with a sore throat and migraine so we stayed home from church. I really didn't want to teach Sunday School with a frog in my throat! Just imagine the croaky whisper,"Okay kids (wheeze, gasp)today were going to (sniffle, sniffle) learn how Nehemiah rebuilt the wall (hack, hack)..." not pretty. Did I mention during all of this Katie had 2 bloody noses and Abby had multiple accidents? It has not been fun at our house!

So today I went into the doctor with an armful of forms for him to fill out for my Asthma prescription that I get through Merck's program and a "please confirm this person is not crazy and has all their limbs" form for my Driver's Permit (I know, I'm naughty, I still don't have my license!) and a good deal of optimism that my sore throat was just allergies. Wrong-o! I had an infection in my ear and throat so I got a nice prescription that I really hoped the pharmacists could read because I didn't even recognize my own name! The doctor was very nice though and didn't grouch at all when he had to fill out the forms. He joked about how dumb PA is for having doctors fill out the forms for a permit and how stupid the hours the DMV kept were which made me happy! He also gave me a month of samples of my asthma medication which made him my favorite doctor ever!

I've never been so thrilled to have medication before in my life! My throat will finally stop hurting! Yay! Hopefully by Wednesday I'll be back to my old self and ready to get back into the swing of things. Until then I apologize for not being on the IM, for missing birthdays (Sorry Grandpa Pete and Opa! And Happy Birthday late!) and my general grumpiness and/or lack of enthusiasm!

I Love...

2008-08-23T09:37:00.021-04:00

Today as I was going through my amazingly huge amount of pictures, I was struck by how many of the pictures just made me smile. I was once again amused by the differences of my girls and how I love them for their individuality. So today I thought I'd share few out of the many that things I love about my girls.
I love...

... Katie's unshakable faith and optimism! Now I am an optimist but even I did not believe that the flower Katie is holding would grow. This Spring the girls and I planted flowers and some veggies in pots for our back porch. Katie chose a bright pink Morning Glory and carefully planted it while chattering away about how she was going to water it everyday and it would be so pretty (that girl cannot be quite to save her life!). All went well until one night we had huge rainstorm and Katie's pot was under am overflow spot on our drains. The water poured down so hard that the half the dirt was completely gone from the pot and spread all over the porch.

I was certain there were no seeds left but Katie was sure her little plant would still grow. I gently warned her not to expect any plants to grow and it was okay if she wanted to buy some new seeds but she would not be swayed, her response was, "It's okay mommy, I still love this plant and it will grow if I water it!". So everyday Katie watered it faithfully and I watched with growing sadness as nothing came of it. She would sit by the pot and chatter to it and give it hugs while assuring me that someday it would grow and make a pretty pink flower that would be so big!

I thought of secretly planting seeds in the pot after she was in bed but decided against it, I don't like cheating in any form and didn't want a false accomplishment for my daughter. Still, I was very troubled by the whole thing and wanted to keep my daughter from heartbreak. One morning, 2 months later, I walked out onto our porch and to my utter astonishment there was a small ,green seedling in Katie's pot! I called her and she came running. As soon as she saw her little plant she did her happy dance and then embraced the pot. She was happy but not at all surprised as I was!

Now Joel and I remained doubtful that the seedling was actually the flower that she planted. We thought perhaps a bird had knocked some birdseed in or a weed had taken root but to our continued surprise that plant grew and I knew once I saw the mature leaves that her morning glory was indeed growing.

A few days ago the first flower bloomed and my very small daughter taught me a lesson about unwavering faith even when no one else believes! ... looking out at my clothesline and seeing the wonderful proof that I have children even if it does mean that my Abby May has had a milk incident!...the simple things that make my daughters happy! My girls love autumn! They love pumpkins and scarecrows and different colored leaves so when the store started putting out their fall wares I decided to make the girls their very own pumpkins (because its cheaper and I enjoy making things). So we went to JoAnn Fabrics and I let Katie choose which orange fabric we should use (didn't she do a good job?!), Abby helped me hunt through the bargain bins until we found the little felt leaves, flower, and acorn.

Katie handed me the pieces as I sewed them together and Abby helped me stuff them . The girls chose which leaf, flower or acorn they wanted and watched to make sure I glued them on in the correct position. Abby's is the sunflower pumpkin and Katie's is the acorn pumpkin. These little guys continue to delight the girls and they take them to bed each night and insist on taking them in the car whenever we go anywhere!

...Abby's continual surprises! After our tomato plant seeds were planted Abby decided to add some bird seed when I wasn't looking! I thought I had gotten all of the extra seeds out but found out later I hadn't! this beautiful little sunflower and the unknown green plant with little white flowers is the result! Now when ever I see its cheery face I think of my Abby May who is equally pretty and cheerful!

...My girls affection for little people and their cheezy "EEEEEEEEEEE!" grins!...Abby's impish smile where she seems to be saying, "Yes I'm naughty but don't you just love me anyway?!"

...their unending affection for their beloved "Baby Chase"!...their tenderheartedness! Here they are trying to comfort Chase!...the way they want to make sure everyone is happy! Here they are making sure Chase is properly entertained! Katie decided to blow bubbles and Abby got him a bright basketball to play with!

...living with two princess' whose femininity is a lovely thing to behold!... that I can tell at first glance which side of the room is Katie's and which is Abby's! ...that Abby is a sporty princess who always puts her hat on backwards and piles on the bling!...that Katie is a dainty princess and is always as graceful and delicate as she can be!...that my girls love me even when I don't give them what they want; make their oatmeal too hot, too cold, or too sticky; can't handle another round of The Lady Bug Game, Chutes and Ladders, or Candy Land; forget to let them take out the recycling; step on and break a beloved toy; don't keep the house as clean as it could be; forget that its lunchtime...well the list could go on and on but they love me anyway because I am their mommy!

Finally, I love that every morning I wake up knowing the Lord has blessed with two beautiful little girls, a wonderful husband, and the hope that one day I'll get to see my little baby who was only with us for such a short time but is still so much a part of us!

August

2008-08-14T13:09:00.019-04:00

I like how this years August is going. The weather is in the mid to high 70's. It's rainy (which I like) but also we have gorgeous breaks of sunshine. Everything is green, I look out the window and can't help smiling. If this is what "Global Warming" is like I say bring it on! We have some great, loud thunder storms and the girls cheer for every peal! Seriously, they love thunder! Everything is going well, even the calendar picture was nice! My brother Art always bemoaned the fact that the month of August always got the most ugly picture in the calendar and he was usually right! But for the big 29+1 birthday my calendar at least had a beautiful, serene shot! Happy Birthday Puppy!

More good things about August this month include but are not limited to...

I won Katie a giant Nemo stuffed animal out of a claw machine on my first try! The girls had gotten their usual doggy toy from the toy machines in the front of our grocery store for 50 cents(I shamelessly bribe my children with the allure of machine toys to make them behave while we grocery shop) and I decided that since Katie had been such a good girl, and I had a dollar left in quarters, and since there was a Nemo that she had been eyeballing for awhile I would give the big claw machine a whirl.

I got the claw perfectly around him but I was nervous over his size and weight and could not believe when he stayed in the claw after it lifted! Then I saw that a thread from his smile had gotten hooked on one of the claws and realized he was going to make it all the way across!

Oh the excitement! Oh the adrenaline rush! Oh the surge of victory! I had won!

The claw opened to give us our prize but to my horror Nemo did not fall! He was still stuck by his smile! I decided there and then I would not be cheated out of my victory! I shook the life out of that machine until that toy came dropping down! Katie pulled it out, hugged the massive Nemo to herself and giggled! Abby jumped up and down shouting "Memo! Memo! MEMO!" while people smiled fondly on us all! It was a very happy moment!

Abby's hair is long enough for pig tails to stay in!Sweetest little 2 year old in the world right there!My in-laws visited along with my brother-in-law Tim!

I realize that for a lot of people a visit from the in-laws isn't so great but I love my mommy and daddy-in-law! They're great! The girls loved having so much time with them and my mommy-in-law insisted on doing all the dishes! Bless you Mamika, bless you!

We harvested the first fruits of my tomato plants. These three little 'matos were enjoyed with a sprinkling of sugar on them for us girls (Joel still thinks that's gross! Weirdo!) and plain for my hubby. May I just say that these little heirloom tomatoes were delicious! Joel and I were shocked by the yumminess of them! oh and for some reason my site would only load this picture sideways!

Is it a bird?! Is it a plane?! No! It's...the Good Year Blimp! It flew right over our back porch and the girls were very excited about the whole thing! Katie wanted it to land so she could get a ride on it because, "I've never been on such a big balloon mommy! That would be so much fun!". It took some time for Katie to be convinced that the big balloon was actually called a blimp. Seeing the little plane underneath it is what really convinced her but it also made her want to ride it even more because, "It has been so long since I've been on an airplane mommy! Weeks and weeks!"! When the blimp came around the second time Katie was convinced she could get it to land on our porch so she could have a ride. She waved and jumped up and down while shouting, "Here Bwimp here! Come down here so I can have a ride!" She was very sad when it flew away for good! She actually shed a few tears!

Gas prices has gone down about 60 cents in the past few weeks. While that hasn't made gas actually affordable at least its now affordablish, kinda.

Last night I got a super cool shot of the moon through the trees. It was much more beautiful in real life but the camera did a pretty good job capturing it.I couldn't decide which shot I liked better so I did both!Of course the days haven't been perfect. Both the girls came down with stuffy noses and fevers during my in-laws visit and Abby did have an accident that required my shampooer. I'm very tired from staying up late, the chores aren't magically down by Brownies in the night, Joel got a pay cut, our toilet seat busted off, our vacuum caught on fire, and my hair dryer broke but hey, at least its nice out! God in His mercy has smiled on us!

Joyce Kilmer Park and Goodbye NY!

2008-07-17T12:04:00.026-04:00

After our viewing of the strange "Thoth" man we headed toward what we hoped was the exit of Central Park. I couldn't help getting a few last picture of the pretty architecture around me!I gave the camera back to Joel as we got close to an exit and he got a few great pictures of the NY skyline!

Here's the view from about where we parked. The big, gold, shiny Trump Tower hotel was just behind us but I didn't get a picture of it!

Our goal was to head to The Bronx next to see the Joyce Kilmer park and as we went along the buildings got more and more Gothic!

Here is our first glimpse of Joyce Kilmer Park! For those of you who don't know, my maiden name is Kilmer and I've been told we are somehow related to Joyce Kilmer. He was a hero of mine growing up and I was inspired by his poetry and modled some of my own after it when I was a teen. We actually passed it by once before Joel realized that little park was the one. I was fairly sure it was but apparently Joel didn't hear me mention in the traffic next to the NY Yankees stadium when a game was about to start. So after getting all turned around and shooting off in the wrong direction we had to stop at a gas station because Abby had desperately needed to use the bathroom since leaving Central Park and just couldn't hold it a minute longer!

After I got her cleaned up (if you recall she had some issues regarding her bowels which she was still suffering from at this point) which involved actually dunking her little bottom into a sink full of warm water, and then we were back on the road!

Sadly, we couldn't find a place to park anywhere due to the Yankees game but Joel patiently circled the park a couple times so I could at least get some pictures!

Now would be a good time to share with you the poem he wrote entitled "Trees" which has led to his fame!

"TREES"

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

That is a really nice poem I think! It's happy and light and has a clever ending that always makes Joel chuckle! I've read a lot of Joyce Kilmer's poetry and its all refreshing, kind of a 'tip your hat at life, grin, and wink' feel to it. I think perhaps he was an optimist. Anyway, He died during WWI in a fox hole which lead (so legend has it) to one of his fellow officers to jumping out and killing 8 Germans with his bare hands because of the outrage he felt at the world losing such a man. So I thought that a good American poet who gave his life for his country deserved a plaque of some sort explaining who he was in his own park. Maybe there was one that I simply couldn't see from the road but here's one that everyone could see quite clearly!

Notice the bright red sign telling dog owners to clean up after their dogs? I understand the necessity of such a sign but for Pete's sake, at least put it somewhere else not right under the sign for the park! Show some class people! So I took another picture and cropped it so it would look how it should look!I managed to find a sign that didn't caution dog owners but no plaque!The park did seem very nice though it was a little small and people seemed to be enjoying it!It's a nice, bright, green spot to relax in the middle of a busy, dirty city where people could come and look at all the splendid trees. Here are the buildings on either side of the park. They were very ornate! Then it was time to try and find our way out of the city! I found more interesting muralish/stone work thing to take pictures of!Here we are under the elevated train! It was rather scary driving under there and having to turn off the road between the giant supports of the bridge! We got cut off a couple times too!The Bronx got scarier and scarier as we went along and at this point we made sure the doors were locked up tight!

After doing a three point Uie in the middle of traffic and thinking we took two wrong turns we somehow navigated out of the city and onto the George Washington bridge.As the sun set we left NY and had to make a pit stop in New Jersey where Abby added to the smell by needing another fresh change of clothes. Fortunately we were the only ones in the rest stop because Abby had done a really, really fowl smelling job and I had to use the sink to clean off her pants because I was not taking that odor back into the van! Finally Abby dozed off and we were all relieved since she had decided to cry for most of the time since we left Joyce Kilmer Park!Katie nodded off soon after and we had a quiet trip the rest of the way home!So that was our trip to NY city! I have edited some of our happenings while there because there is simply not enough time to write it and I didn't want to bore you with too many details! Joel and I might go again someday without the girls and see some more things at our leisure. I thought Christmas time would be fun to which Joel responded, "That would not be fun!"! I'm thinking snow in Central Park and he's thinking icy NY traffic, frantic Christmas shoppers, and perhaps hypothermia! :)

Next I'll blog about the 4th of July or perhaps Katie's birthday party! I'm sure you're all holding your breathe in anticipation! :)

Central Park!

2008-07-16T14:52:00.034-04:00

After we parked we walked to the entrance of the park which of course I took a few pictures of! Except when were in the car Joel had control of the camera and I had to ask to take a picture of something but when we got to the park he relinquished control of it to me! So, I took lots, and lots of pictures because its in my blood or something (my brother and I can fill up a memory card faster than a person can sneeze!) and didn't have to constantly annoy my husband with my "OOOOO! Look at that! Get a picture of that Sweetie!" followed by much gesturing and please, please, pleasing!Anyone recognize that particular statue featured below? I had to take a picture of it because its the one that the Prince in the movie Enchanted posed on while he is searching the crowds for Giselle. It was a very exciting moment for Katie and I when I spotted it! Here's a beautiful scene that some schmuck managed to get his head into! I didn't crop him out so I could have proof that New Yorker's aren't as concerned about getting out of the way of your picture as some people are in other cities. I suppose its because if they did watch out for cameras they would never get where they were goingThis was one of my favorite areas of the park. Everything was damp so all the bark was dark and the leaves were so bright green that it took your breath away! Also the humidity took your breath away because it was so thick you could barely breathe but at least it wasn't hot!The Statuary was astounding in the park! I took so many pictures of beautiful moldings! Joel just rolled his eyes at me whenever I would stop and obsessively take pictures of a particular pattern that caught me eye which was practically all of them! Shanna and Joel would abandon me as I snapped away until I came to my senses and scampered after them!

Here are some shots of the beautiful fountain also featured in the film "Enchanted" which if you haven't seen it you really, really should!

Here's Joel! There were lots of people there because there were two guys performing over to the side. I think it was a tumbling act or something, I was too busy taking pictures of other things to notice!

I think the birds really add something too the picture! Everywhere we went in NY there were pigeons, lots and lots of pigeons! They were so tame you could have walked up to one and kicked it! In fact I almost ran over a few with our stroller which delighted Abby!

At this point we released the girls from the bondage of being strapped into their strollers! We figured it was a good safe-enough place to let them run around! They loved looking at the fountain! Katie even recognized it as the one for the movie!

Here's Katie smiling... Abby smiling...and Joel smiling!

I love this picture of Shanna and I! Joel did a great job taking it! We both smiling and look great! I never look good in closeups!

Ohhhhhh! Don't we look Sweet?! :)The girls weren't so enthusiastic about posing. There were so much more interesting things to do like...

chasing doves! Katie thought that the dove was just a pigeon until I explained to her that white pigeons are called doves which she thought was very silly!

Katie got quite close to that bird! If she had been bigger I think she might have caught it! :)Anyway, she had fun trying! Abby had fun running after the bird, Katie, or just plain nothing!Things were so ornate in the park! That picture below is of the base of a telephone pole! I suppose everything was that way because everything was so old. I wish people still built things like that! It is my opinion that ,when possible, even ordinary, necessary things should be made beautiful! I suppose that is why I like quilting!

This was taken under the bridge that Joel was standing in front of a few pictures back. The murals were beautiful as was the ceiling but I couldn't get all of the walls because there was a bum sleeping on one of the benches. I have seen a few bums before but there were quite a few more around NY! Of course some of them might have been people with homes that were just catching some Z's on their work break or something.
And now for the moment my brother has been waiting for! Thoth! god of...ummm...American Indian...Aztec? Something! He was so strange I had to take his picture! Apparently he had a documentary done on him that won an Oscar. I had no idea at the time otherwise I might have asked to get my picture taken with him. Then again, maybe not. I don't know If I would actually want him to touch me!I will leave you now because I have to start dinner but I still do have more pictures of NY!

New York, New York cont...!

2008-07-15T10:58:00.019-04:00

Okay, here are so more pictures of New York city! There were taxi's everywhere! I've never lived in a place where I have seen more than 1 taxi at a time and on one street in NY there were dozens! It was like a sea of yellow and each speck in the sea wanted to cut us off! I took a picture of that particular taxi because of the advertisement on the top. My opinion of how classy NY was went down after seeing that. Honestly, a musical?! What in the world?! Now my husband is not one to let people nose their way in front of him but he had to back down to most of the taxis as they will simply ram your car if you don't let them in! Still, we felt he was doing good and holding his own until a rickshaw cut us off! A rickshaw! Sure it was powered by a guy on a bike but still! Wow! Here's a picture of Madison Squares Gardens! All of these pictures were ,of course, taken from the van by me! It was really hard getting a good shot what with the rain, the windows, and sporadically moving traffic and all! Here's a picture of the Post Office! That cool postman's motto is chiseled across the front of the building, the one which apparently our postman has forgotten all about!

Here's the New York times building! I got these shots from pointing the camera straight up and hoping I got it in the picture!

I'm not sure what building this was but it looked kinda cool and was very shiny so

I took its picture!

I don't know what this building was either but I also thought it looked kinda cool so I took its picture too!There's the Chrysler Building! I know that one for sure because of a certain very silly musical that Joel has! For those of you who can't quite remember when in the movie its referred too here's the line,"I'm supposed to look like the Grand Duchess Anastasia but I think I look more like the Chrysler building!". And it's true, he did! :)Some pictures I took (like the one below) are just some shots of beautiful/interesting molding and/or sculptor stuff on the buildings!

Grand Central Station! Unfortunately traffic was moving fast at this point ( and there was a bridge right in front of it that we went under!) so I couldn't get a very good picture of it!

Just another pretty building whose architecture was beautiful! Oh, and Park Ave!

This picture I took especially for Joel!I have often heard about how people grow gardesns on the top of buildings in big cities and I finally saw some! If I lived in the city I would totally do that!Here was our first peek at Central Park! We had better luck parking here and actually found a free spot near an entrance to the park! You will have to wait until my next entry to see the beauty and strangeness of Central Park becasue once again, its lunch time at our house! :)

New York, New York!

2008-07-14T11:06:00.034-04:00

On the 5th of this month My Dear husband, little girls, and the always fun Shanna decided to go to New York city to check out the sights.
Here is the entrance to the Holland Tunnel which was cool in a nerve racking kinda way. We decided to pull off the road at the Burger King that was just before the entrance so we wouldn't have to worry about finding someplace to eat in the city. So with our tummies full of chicken and french fries we headed off to the tunnel.

I am mildly claustrophobic so when I saw the actual tunnel I felt a bit panicky but managed to keep fairly calm by giggling hysterically and/or shrieking quietly to myself. :) I probably should have never watched that Stallone movie where this tunnel collapses!
Here we are exiting the tunnel and our first look at New York!
This beautiful little church was tucked in between two huge buildings! It was so cute I had to take a picture!

Here's another beautiful building we passed on our way to find somewhere to park. We hoped to find a spot to park for free on the side of the road or with a minor toll for which we were armed with lots and lots of quarters!

We eventually had to give up and park in a parking garage which took advantage of their situation and charged $38 for 3 hours! We knew New York was expensive but wow, we didn't know it was that expensive!

Here is a picture of an interesting mosaic that was on the corner of the street where the parking garage was. It's a good thing it was so distinctive because we couldn't remember where in the world we parked until we spotted it!

Here she is! The Statue of Liberty! As you can tell from the pictures it was a very drizzly day and very foggy but we were still able to get some good shots of her!
Here are we girls! It was so great having Shanna along! She's fun and an extra set of adult hands is always nice when taking the girls out to busy, big places!Shanna took this picture of us and she did a great job! I think we might all be smiling and the statue is right in the middle! :)We opted not to wait 2 hours to take the ferry to Ellis Island and decided just to walk around for awhile and see what we could see! While we strolled it started to rain fairly hard and after a few vain attempts to stay dry under the eaves of buildings we decided to just get wet and not worry about it!

We walked around oooing and awwing at buildings like the gawky tourists we were and then we came to the site of the Two Towers.

We managed to get up on a walking bridge to get a clearer view. There's no monument or anything yet, it still looks like a horrible mess but they did have some beautiful murals up of what the towers looked like before the tragedy. I was personally very glad to see they hadn't turned into a tourist trap with tacky key chains and postcards for sale!

The building right next to the bridge had some beautiful moldings all over it! I was constantly surprised the whole trip how everything was so big and shiny and then there would be a beautiful old building with gorgeous architecture tucked in between the skyscrapers. That was my favorite part about the city! Look! Squirrels and roosters! The girls really liked seeing those!I was having a great time looking at all the pretty scroll work when we came to the end of the bridge and saw this-It was quite shocking! Just a huge dirty pit where the towers once stood! Such ugliness next to such beauty! But then if you looked up you saw this-I know I'm a deeply religious person (meaning I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died for my sins and rose again and I try to live in a way pleasing to Him)and this site might not inspire such feelings in a unbelieving person but seeing the church spire rising above the ruin really lifted my heart and restored some peace and hope that had been shaken by stark reality of what happened that day in September! This world is a terrible messed up place but there is hope in Jesus and that made me smile!

Here's a picture of us girls! You can see the man behind us with a box on push cart.

Everywhere we went there were men trying to sell us rip off purses and wallets and they carried them around in boxes like that or all bundled up in a bed sheet. Joel explained to us the bed sheet was so if a cop saw them they could simply scoop up the sheet and run! Apparently this is common in Brasil as well!
Here's a cool shot! Everywhere you turn there a spectacular building peaking out at you from odd angles!I couldn't resist getting a shot of this street sign! It calls the street a canyon and that is exactly what it feels like only with buildings instead of rocks!
Next stop Trinity Church which was featured in the movie "National Treasure" which the clue "Here at the wall..." led them too!
Here is a monument in honor of the soldiers of the Revolutionary war that was in the graveyard attached to the church. The church was beautiful but most of it was closed off from public viewing understandably so since it is still a working church! Here's Joel posing with the famed bull featured in many movies however we resisted getting his picture taken at the other end (which is really featured more in movies I think!) unlike some college guys who were having a good time posing in various comical ways at the back end of the beast! You'll have to ignore all the other people getting their picture taken in the shot as well. There was quite a line built up there and you had to dash in, smile, and dash out again unless you wanted to get trampled!There was one guy who stood there forever posing dramatically for a head shot for his acting or professional portfolio or something. Honestly! No one is going to take you seriously posed in front of something that has become the joke of Hollywood! :)

The bull is on a wedge in the middle of a very busy street and this is what we saw when we raced back to the sidewalk! It was a little unnerving!

Here's some pretty buildings. I love how all the streets curve around, makes it so interesting. I love bends in any path, always makes me curious to see what lies around them!We walked back to the parking garage and claimed our car and after giving up our entire life savings to get it we were out driving in the NY traffic again! On this particular road we thought we were going to die! Now we are used to narrow roads with cars parked on either side as that's how everyone parks around here but wow! That was the most narrow road I've ever seen! I thought for sure we would lose both our side mirrors!
And now I must close and post more pictures later because it is lunch time here and my girls are hungry!

The Nasty Adventures of the Lactose Intollerant and My New Best Friend!

2008-07-01T12:00:00.010-04:00

It all started Sunday night. We had some friends over for dinner and I let the girls stay up late to enjoy their company. I put Abby to bed and ignored her crying because she usually cries for a few minutes every night anyway. About twenty minutes later I took Katie up stairs for bed as well. At the top of the stairs I stopped, I could smell something and it wasn't a good smell either! Then came Abby's little voice,"Mommy, I poopy!". Groan!

I turned on the light and saw that she didn't just "poopy" she had made the carpet a new color by her bed and in font of the gate. Ick! I stepped over the mess, put Katie to bed, and gingerly picked Abby up careful not to let any part of her actually touch me! I assured Katie I would be back in a few minutes to clean up the mess then took Abby directly to the bathroom. I cleaned her up with some paper towels and then put her in a nice, bubbly bath. I went out and apologized to our guests for the smell but they didn't seem to mind. After all they had lived in a dorm for 4 years! They did soon leave though since one of them had to be at work at 6 AM the next day.

After they left the real work began! While Abby soaked I scrubbed out her nightgown and panties. I washed the floor and then the sink. I grabbed the roll of paper towels and a scrubbie sponge and set off for the nightmarish chore of cleaning up an Abby mess that had been brought on by someone feeding her a milk product. Katie was already asleep when I went up, she must have been really tired because she generally refuses to be in a room that Abby has pooped in until it has been entirely cleaned up!

I scrubbed away and tried to think happy thoughts to distract myself. I then stripped Abby's bed and got a load of wash going. Then I washed Abby. I got her all dried off and in new pj's and then it was off to bed again at the late hour of 10:30! Happily she went to sleep right away! unhappily she woke up at 7:00 the next morning! After such a late bedtime I was hoping for at least an 8:30 wake up call!

This was not Abby's first accident and the state of our carpets was starting to distress me. It's one thing to clean up a normal accident but Abby had had milk which meant (I apologize ahead of time to any of you who have weak stomach's or are easily grossed out!) that her bottom had been turned into a brown fountain!

When Joel got home I talked to him about renting a carpet cleaner but we weren't sure we wanted to spend that much money for a one time deal so I let the subject drop. However my mind was quickly changed when Abby decided to let some things of her own "drop" all over her bedroom again! The poor girl could not control her little bowels and the carnage was extreme! After dinner she had three accidents which convinced Joel that we needed to do something drastic!

I looked up carpet cleaners online while Joel decided how much we could spend. After looking at how much it would cost to rent we figured it would be more worth our money just to buy one especially since Abby would probably be making more horrifying messes in the near future! We found a nice one that wasn't too expensive at WalMart and set out.

Abby had an accident on the way there! Fortunately this time it was just #1 so I cleaned her up as best I could and we hurried into WalMart to grab a new outfit for Abby and the carpet cleaner. We found a cheap outfit and new panties quick enough but then came the impossible task of locating the cleaners. Our WalMart had just rearranged the entire store and the employees ran when they saw us coming so we were left to our own devices. Even though the website said they had one in stock at that location they didn't have a single model, just the soap solution! GRRRRR! What is wrong with Wal Mart?!!!

We bought Abby's outfit and a small treat for Katie, who had been on her very best behavior all night and deserved a reward for not adding to Mommy's and Daddy's stress level! We then hastened over to Target after I had put Abby in her new outfit which turned out to be way to big even though I had bought it in a size smaller than she usually wears. I hate WalMart! Do they do things like that on purpose? I can just see the employees in the back rubbing their hands together and laughing maniacally while they plot how to confuse and frustrate their costumers!

Anyway, at Target Abby had to go to the bathroom a couple times while we looked but I was happy she hadn't had any accidents. We located the cleaner we wanted but sadly they were out of that model. However the employee that helped us did not runaway as I approached her but answered my inquiry with a smile! We decided to perhaps get a small carpet cleaner since the big one we wanted wasn't there but while we were looking at them Abby said she had to potty again.

So while Joel and Katie decided on what model of carpet cleaner we should get Abby and I trekked off to the potty for the 4th time since entering Target a half hour before. We got to the bathroom where Abby informed me, "I poopy mommy." in a matter of fact voice. I replied, "I know honey, we're at the potty now so you can go poopy." To which she responded, "No mommy! I poopy in my panties!". I checked and sure enough, she had! I helped her out of her panties and shorts which of course in the process of stepping out of she had stepped squarely in the poo. At this point I kinda just wanted to sit and cry but I hazarded on!

I got her cleaned up (Thank heaven Target had a good drainage system in the floor and an endless supply of sturdy but soft paper towels!) put her on the potty and then began to scrub out her panties. After I had them cleaned up I wrung them out as best as I could and wrapped them in paper towels. Her shorts only had only a small spot on them so I carefully rinsed out the spot. I noticed a bit on the tag so I decided just to rip it off. Mid rip I had this thought, "Hmmm...these aren't the sturdiest of shorts maybe I shouldn't have...oh NO!", the tag came off it left a big hole in its wake! I had a strong desire to scream at this point but instead I just gave a crazy little laugh and plunged on.

I dried the shorts off and put them back on Abby who was very worried about her pantiless state. I assured her we would get a fresh pair as soon as we got home as I put her shirt back on. I was thankful that the Walmart clothes were way big because it covered up the hole the tag had left. So HA Wal Mart! Your attempt to make my life miserable failed! FAILED! HAHAHAHAHAHA! :)

I cleaned up the bathroom then we set out to find Katie and Joel. Joel had picked out a model and after rolling his eyes and sighing over our bathroom adventures we chose a soap solution and made a hasty beat to the check out. Halfway there Abby announced, "I have to potty mommy!". So it was back to the bathroom but fortunately she made it to the toilet this time. We made it out of the store without further incident and I got Abby all buckled into her wet car seat. I had put a small baby quilt on the seat so that she wouldn't be completely soaked by the time we got home.

Halfway home we heard a distressed, "I have to poopy! I poopy! I POOPY!!!" and then sobbing. At this point my reaction was small, after all the car seat already needed to be washed as did the outfit she wore and her own little person, so really she hadn't added to my work much at all! We got home and Joel took in Katie and the new cleaner while I gathered the soiled Abby, car seat, outfit, and quilt. I mopped up Abby and put her in the tub while Joel put Katie to bed. I gave Abby a quick scrubbing and then got her into bed as well then I tackled the laundry. I scrubbed and scrubbed my way through the pile and then sanitized the bathroom. Just as I got done getting the tub to shinning perfection I heard, "I POOPY MOMMY!" from the direction of the stairs. Would the poop never end?!

So I got Abby, cleaned her off, scrubbed her down in her third bath of the day, changed her sheets and put her back to bed. After I got through that batch of icky laundry I made sure I was all clean then I slowly went up the stairs and peeked into the girls room not sure of what horror would greet my eyes. Happily all I saw were two sweet little girls snoozing away in their pretty, albeit stinky room.

I trudged to our room where Joel said how sorry he was I had to deal with so many icky messes. I gave him a small smile then set about folding the regular laundry I had done earlier that day. Then I went downstairs for some cold lemonade, changed the calendar since the next day was a new month, and burst out crying.

I suppose I was merely exhausted from the previous week of VBS and late, late nights not to mention the unending soiled laundry and carpet scrubbing! Anyway, this morning I woke up ready to try out the new carpet cleaner and I was fairly chipper since Joel's alarm hadn't woken me up and the girls were still asleep. I went quietly downstairs, helped Joel get his lunch for work, and then went back to bed since the girls were still sleeping. I had just drifted off when I heard a small Katie voice say, "Mommy, I don't feel good." followed by a small cough, and well, you can guess what happened next!

So I cleaned her up, got her settled on the couch, turned on 'Curious George' and set about gathering her soiled bedclothes. I put her pillow in the wash, and then put Abby on the potty. Fortunately Abby was clean as was her bed! Poor Katie threw up once more and then seemed to feel better and ate a bowl of dry Cheerios while she watched 'Clifford'. I got her pillow in the dryer, started another load of laundry and then got my carpet cleaner out to play with.
Wow, is that thing amazing! I love it! It's a small, hand operated one but it works great! I did the carpet in front of the couch first because that is where Abby has had a few #1 accidents and plus that area always gets extra dirty from every day stuff anyway. I was slightly horrified when the water that got sucked out of the carpet resembled hot chocolate in color and consistency! I was happy it did such a good job though and did the kitchen carpet by the stove next. That water was only slightly yellow. Then it was time for the girls room. I put in the soap solution that is made especially for kitty and doggy messes ( I figured if it could take of doggy poopies surely it could handle Abby ones!) and tackled the girls room.

If I was slightly horrified at the color of the water after the living room carpet was cleaned you can imagine how I felt when after I was done with carpet by Abby's bed and the water was black! Black! I did that area twice just to get it extra clean! Then I did our bedroom carpet where Abby had decorated the floor with markers and Katie had spilt some milk awhile ago. It's shocking when you realize the carpet that you thought was grey turns out to really be light blue!

Abby's made a few messes since then but fortunately they've been in the toilet and Katie seems to be completely recovered. So it turns out Abby's ickies weren't only from milk (I know it was partly due to that because I had given Abby a small piece of cake and the church nursery workers confessed that she had had Cheezits) but also a stomach virus which they probably picked up from Joel who had been sick the weekend before which explains why Abby's reaction was so violent! Yikes! I'm glad I never got sick!

So though I had a nightmarish couple of says I did get a really cool new cleaning toy which makes OCD people like me on cloud nine with happiness! It just might be my new best friend! I can hardly wait for the next mess to clean up!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-06-27T13:09:00.035-04:00

Well, today is my 28th birthday! We celebrated last night since tonight is our VBS closing program and since I was a teacher I kinda have to be there! My wonderful hubby did another theme birthday for me. This years theme- Mozart! Last year was Wallace and Gromit! :) Mozart is my favorite composer ever so I was really happy! I got the movie "Amadeus", a cd of all the music used in the movie, a biography translated from German in honour of Mozart's 250th birthday (which is January 27, 1756) and a Mozart "action figure"! The action figure is so fun! It's a little Mozart guy that's about 6" tall and comes with a paino stool. On the back of the box are all sorts of fun Mozart facts and quotes like how he wrote his first symphony at the age of 8 and a quote,"Nor do I hear in my imagaination the parts successively. I hear them all at once. What a delight this is! All this inventing, this producing, takes place in a pleasing, lively dream. " which just shows how crazy gifted the man really was!After I opened present we went out to Panera Breads which happens to be one of my very most favorite restaurants! Usually we go to "Cooper's" which is a semi-famous seafood place because you get a free meal on your birthday but since it wasn't technically my birthday I couldn't get anything free! Since we're rather poor our pocketbook couldn't take a full price meal there so we opted for Panera Breads which was yummy too and we had a good time.

We swung by the store on the way home to pick up some snackies and toilet paper and then we headed home. We did a quick birthday blow out the candles bit and then Abby ate the cherry off the cake and Katie got a small spoonful of frosting. Then it was bedtime for the girls and a late night viewing of Amadeus for us!

I think the caffeine in the caramel latte I had with dinner kept me awake because I had terrible insomnia at bedtime and Joel and I chattered away at each other until 1:30 am! This morning I felt really tired but I chugged some Brasilian coffee with lots of sugar and was ready to face the last day of Bible School!The kids were wound up! The naughty ones were twice as naughty and even the good kids had at least thoughts of being naughty! One kid I wanted to string up to the rafters by his toenails! As a whole though we had good bunch of kids! I had some special kids that I am particularly attached too and want to take home with me! I had forgotten how much I like grade school age children!

This is what the kids had to pass everyday to get in! I'm usually up there too but of course I was the one taking the picture! The pirates were rather grumpy and tired this morning! Especially Pirate Steve (Otherwise known as "Bones" during skit time) who worked the night shift and would come directly to Bible school when his shift ended!

After you get past us pirates you cross through our "dock" which Katie is "on"! Then into the pirate ship where you are greeted by my whining child who only wants to be held all day by mommy!

Here's a closeup of the paper we painted and hung up too look like the side of ship complete with port holes!
Here's one of our regular attending kids dressed up as "Bumpo" the pirate! I completely forgot it was my birthday until someone mentioned theirs was the next week. The kids were delighted when I told them and immediately started guessing how old I was. One girl guessed 14, one17, and another 19! I was flattered! One girl got it right but said she originally that I had turned 14 until she remembered I was married and had two kids! That girl is a smart one all right! Then I told them how when I was 22 I was mistaken for a 12 year old at the pool and was only charged the child fee instead of the adult one! We all got a good laugh out of that! I shocked one of the parents too when they found not only Abby was mine but Katie as well! He thought I was 16! I'm sure I'll really like that when I'm 40 and everyone thinks I'm in my early 20's!
Here are some pictures the kids! The boy with the little girl on his lap (I think its his sister or cousin) was the one who brought the most visitors and therefor got to "pie the pastor" at the end of the day! The girl with the parrot was one of my special girls! She was spirited and bit hyper but not in a bratty way! She also really threw herself into the singing which we all appreciated! Here's everyone practicing the songs for tonight's program! We actually had about 10 kids missing today so if they come tonight hopefully we'll all fit on the stage! Here's a closeup of Katie holding the hand of a little girl who adopted katie as her little sister!Here's a picture of Abby! She might look like she's smiling slightly but really she's mid-whine! Here's Katie singing and doing the motions! I was shocked that she did sing since last time she was on stage with other kids who were supposed to be singing she wandered off the examine the large potted plants after investigating the microphone that was on the pulpit!After singing we found out the top three kids who brought the most visitors. The reward was they got to pie the pastor on the last day as I mentioned earlier. Then we found out who had brought the most offering. We, of course, had two teams boys and girls. It was a close and heated competition all week with the boys winning on Day 2 and Day 3! But the girls pulled ahead by $5 on Day 4 and then today we found out the final totals and the girls won by 7 cents! I think its because on the way out the door I grabbed the dime Katie had found at the store last night to add to her offering and if it hadn't been for that dime we would have lost! Of course I'm sure other people have similar stories but I still hold that Katie's dime saved the day!

Here are the boys lined up and ready to go!
The first one just grazed Pirate Steve's shoulder.
the next boy got him right in the ear! That little boy was one of my favorites because he was like the perfect kid ever! Not in an annoyingly sweet way, he was just fun, well mannered, and desperately cute with a little impish grin!
the last kid really nailed the our pastor!

He got him so good that the pie pan stuck to his face!

The boy whose fuzzy blond head keeps appearing in the pictures was another one of my fave's! I wanted to take him home with me and keep him forever! He was one of the boys that at first we thought might make trouble considering him and his friends names were "Butchie" and "Griffin"! They turned out to be two of the nicest kids there!The reward for bringing the most offering was throwing water at the pastor to rinse him off after he got pied. Here's Katie with her cup of water!Katie wasn't quite sure about flinging water at a person since its generally forbidden at home but after everyone else she threw her water with only a little encouragement from me and another teacher!Unfortunately my batteries died at this point so I didn't get a picture of Katie actually throwing the water! Since the guys still had a lot of pie on them we all got to throw water balloons at them to help clean them off!

That was the end of the day! Of course we'll all meet again tonight at the closing program where I hope to get more pictures of Katie singing and quoting the verse of the week! So far its been a really fun birthday!

Calling All Hero's!

2008-06-25T13:45:00.016-04:00

This week our church has been doing VBS! Our theme is "Calling All Heroes!" which was made by Veggie Tales. This curriculum features the "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" and is based on the movie that recently came out with them trying to be heros. The whole thing is really cool and we're all having a blast! I'm in full pirate dress and I took a shot of myself so you can at least see my head thingy and earrings. I also have a red sash but I couldn't get a good shot of it by myself! The night before VBS started I tried on my pirate costume and of course the girls wanted to get dressed up like pirates too!

Katie was trying to pose nicely but Abby had other ideas in mind like singing... or sticking out her little belly!Silly Abby May! Look at that naughty smile!

Of course getting dressed up like pirates led to the wanting of their best friends to get dressed up!

This is about as much of a naughty smile that Katie ever gets!

She couldn't hold onto the naughty look for very long! She had to go back to sweet and enchanting!Here's Chester!This picture came out all fuzzy but it was too cute not to include!

Here Abby is singing again! I think she looks angelic and sweet almost like she's taking a solemn pledge or something!

Just so you don't mistake her for a perfect child here she is winking cheekily!Here's Katie posing with the crafts we did today! I love that the kids get to make "Jack Sparrow" headbands! Katie does a great pirate "Arrrrrrrr" which is just too cute to see!Here she is studying her pirate treasure chest! I'm one of the craft teachers this year and its great fun though very, very hyper! The kids are really wound up! I love watching Katie make her crafts! She's very good at stringing beads and gluing things! She's kinda of a loner and focus' just on her craft but during song time and game time she talks with the other children and plays nicely!It's kinda hard to see because the ink ran but Katie had me draw a ladybug on her headband! I must admit I wasn't a bit surprised when she asked me or that almost everything she chose was pink!So today was day 3 and no one is dead yet! Our songs are very enthusiastic, designed to take out some of the kids energy before they get to their teachers! One song simply is a happy pirate tune where you go "Arr, arrr, ar, ar, ar, arr! Arr, arrr, ar, ar, ar, arrrrr!" over and over again! The kids really like that one! I'm going to take pictures of our church to post because our auditorium looks really cool! We papered the bottom half of all the walls in brown paper and then painted on lines and nails to make up "boards". We have real masts complete with sales going up the center of the aisle and a pirate flag on the stern. We even have a ship's wheel and portholes! It was fun decorating but it was even more fun when the kids walked in and saw it all!

So Friday night is closing ceremonies and I hope to get lots of fun-fun pirate pictures of everyone to share with you!

Shrieking in the Rain!

2008-06-19T10:10:00.008-04:00

It's been raining here a lot lately! Not as much as the Midwest but we've had a nice thunderstorm almost every night for the past two weeks. These pictures are from the first storm we had when it was beastly hot and everyone was feeling a bit cranky. As soon as I heard the pitter patter of the rain I told the girls to go get their suits. We changed in record time and I released them onto the back porch. Abby had never played in the rain before but she took to it like a duck to water! Katie had been wanting to play in the rain since the last time she did it last summer! Of course I couldn't exactly let her run around in the rain in the middle of December! They were so happy! They ran around shrieking gleefully and trying to catch raindrops on their tongue! It relieved a lot of stress and it was just plain fun!I can't remember what Abby was pointing at here. I think it might have been a truck. Anyway, she was so cute I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Here Abby is posing! I of course had to take a picture because as I have explained before Abby is not one to stand still and smile for a picture!

I think this picture captures the pure joy of the moment!Katie and Abby both thought I was the coolest mom ever to let them play out in the rain in their swim suits and I have to admit, I felt pretty cool letting them! I'm really not cool though, I just have a few kinda cool moments now and then!

Oh The Strangeness of Me!

2008-06-18T12:36:00.003-04:00

So today as I was fixing the girls lunch my train of thought made me realize anew how strange I might be. I thought perhaps to share with you my thoughts so you could decide for yourself!

As I fixed the girls lunch I had a normal if not a little self-pitying beginning thought of "Wow, wouldn't it be nice to have someone fix me lunch everyday! I could just sit and watch as they made me a peanut butter and jelly or ham sandwich." but then strangeness took over as my thoughts continued. " Hmmm...but then they might cut it wrong, or not cut it at all! Then the sandwich would stare up at me all whole and weird! What if the person did cut it in half but not diagonally!!! That would be horrible! Sandwich's must be cut diagonally! If its not its best just to throw it out to the birds and start over! Well, its best that I just do it myself then!"

While the girls ate I stitched a little on the quilt I'm making for a friend. I'm not sure quite how my thoughts got to this point but I was sadly thinking of how I can't wear flip flops because they give me horrible, painful blisters. I thought about how I gave it an all out try right before I got married and ended up with blisters all along the top of my foot and between my toes. It was so bad that Joel bought me a pair of soft moccasins on our honeymoon so he wouldn't have to carry me piggyback the whole time! That thought led to why I can't where flip flops:I have no space between my big toe and the one next to it.

These thought were relatively normal but then they plunged into what I suppose would be considered odd. I was once again frustrated by the fact that besides the big toe and pinky toe, toes don't have official names like fingers which led to this inner dialog; "Why aren't there names for toes?! There are names for all our fingers! Thumb, index or pointer, middle, ring, and pinky. Of course the thumb really isn't a finger but it still has a name." This led to a rabbit trail. "Why is the thumb not considered a finger? Because its apposable? Why should that matter, poor thing? I bet it wants to be a finger! Who decided it wasn't?! Dork! Hmmm...My pinky is the same size as my thumb! That's funny, I wonder if anyone else's are? Maybe I'll ask Joel when he gets home."

Then back to my original question."Poor toes! Suffering through life with no names! That's it! I'm going to name them! Let's see, Big Toe is fine it is after all big. Hmm...the next toe will be 'ring toe' because that's the toe I like to wear rings on. The next one can just be middle toe, and the next, hmmm...well I can't name it 'ring toe' like the ring finger on my hand because I don't wear rings on it." Here I paused and considered if other people wear rings on that toe or the one I had just designated as ring toe then decided I didn't care. If they wanted it named that then they should have taken the trouble to name toes first! So I continued...

"I suppose third toe will do although it really should be fourth toe since the big toe isn't opposable and is considered to be a toe and not a thumb. It's kinda boring 'fourth toe' but it will do for now. Of course pinky toe can stay 'pinky toe', its cute! Right! So we've got Big Toe, Ring Toe, Middle Toe, Fourth Toe, and Pinky Toe!" That was when some part of me that had been unfulfilled was deeply satisfied and I smiled to myself while I wiggled my now named toes!

So there you have some of my perfectly normal thought lines! At least I think they're normal! However, when I ponder such things out loud I get bemused looks, "You're weird!" comments, and/or laughter.

Whenever Joel asked the question of me "Why are you so odd?" I generally would answer, "Because I was left to myself too much.". I think it might be true. After I gave up trying to tag along with my brothers there was just me to play with. I amused myself by reading, making various crafts, tramping about in the woods and seashore, listening to music (mostly Mozart and Andrew Loyd Weber's Phantom) and singing. When I was little I told myself stories and acted some of them out when no one was looking. I loved overly dramatic stories and fairy tales and adored Disney movies.

When I got a little older (9)I fell in love with poetry and read volumes of it. I took to writing poetry myself when I was 13 and actually got three poems published by the time I took off for college! When I was a teenager I also started writing my stories down on paper though to this day no one but me has read them! I would stay up 'til four in the morning scribbling away until I passed out on my manuscript! A few times I actually woke up at my desk with a piece of paper stuck to my cheek! As a teen I did make some good friends in real life but my best friend was as bad as I was about poetry so we didn't exactly keep each other grounded in reality! After the 4th grade I was mostly schooled at home so I had no peers to check my behavior and was allowed to live in a bubble of make-believe! I might have been as bad as Anne Shirley!

I tell you all this to conclude that if I start pondering out loud why port holes are called port holes since they are not just on the port side of a ship and so forth to keep in my mind I was a strange child so its only natural I should be a slightly strange adult! I like to think I have grown out of most of peculiarities but then I catch myself daydreaming up a particularly dramatic and silly story or as today pondering on why toes don't have names and I become aware of my general oddness. I haven't even touched on my driving need for symmetry or making sure the things I do end on an odd number. My particular favorites are 3,5,9, and 27. However its just greedy to take 27 cookies so I settle for 3! I hate the number 11 even though its odd! Pretentious number! See, there's the weirdness again! I just had too much time on my hands and it led to the deciding of which numbers are nice and of what gender (11 is a boy)!

Wow, I might be weird!

Daddy's Day!

2008-06-18T11:29:00.004-04:00

Joel's Father's Day celebration actually started on Saturday. After he got off work I told him today was going to be a day o' fun and we set out to visit his favorite stores. We went to the "Loud Store" (That is what I call Best Buy because the music is always cranked up so loud and there are a million and one large screen TVs also going full blast!) in search of the perfect Beethoven CD but did not find it there so it was off to Borders! We love going to Borders Books because well, we love books and they have a nice children's section with no Thomas the Train set up. I mention this because the Barnes and Nobles that is farther away has a Thomas the Train table set up and it is murder getting the girls to leave it! It turns my generally well behaved youngsters into little psycho emotional messes that throw embarrassing fits of absolute sorrow and heart-brokenness! Anyway...

At Borders Joel not only found the perfect Beethoven CD but also a book that sounded like it had good potential. Since Joel has been a huge Tolkien fan since the age of 8 finding other satisfying fantasy is difficult, I mean how can anyone compete? So far he's enjoying the book he got as it is written in the style of C.S. Lewis with some Terry Pratchett thrown in for fun!

I had to make a quick stop in JoAnn Fabrics to find some fabric to finish Katie's much loved ladybug quilt and Joel agreed to go in amicably enough. He was really happy when he spotted some fun blue fabric with Hebrew letters scattered all over it on the clearance rack! Suddenly JoAnn's became the best store in the world with endless possibilities! I insisted we get some of it as a Father's Day treat and said I could make a really big pillow! This made Joel very, very happy because last year Katie had taken out his big lounging pillow when she had the stomach flu and he had missed it ever since! So we picked out some jean fabric to back it with and when we got the fabric the cutter gal (thanks Melissa!) gave us an extra 30% ( I think, it might have been more) off the last of the last bit of fabric on the bolt if we took it so of course we did and got an extra good deal!

So we left the store armed with over two yards of Hebrew fabric, two yards of dark blue jean fabric (which had turned out to be on sale! Score!) and a big bag and a little bag of pillow stuffing. I also found some ladybug fabric for Katie's quilt and the perfect fabric to use in the quilt I have planned for Abby so it was a really fun shopping day!

After we got home and the girls were in bed I started in on the pillow. I like pillows, they are fast and easy, only four seams! I had washed the fabric out earlier in extremely hot water since the fabric was a pretty dark blue and then had dried it so I was all set to go! I ironed the fabric, measured and cut it to 30"x30" which we agreed would be a nice size but too ridiculously big. I cut the jean to match and got it all pinned and sewed within a half hour. When I went to turn it right side out I realized something horrible, I had sewn the jean wrong side out! It wouldn't have been so bad except I had sewn all the seams twice to make them extra sturdy since the pillow would be used to sprawl upon! I started to take out the seams but I couldn't find my seam ripper so I was going at it with a needle and a pair of scissors. After a few minutes I decided it just wasn't worth it, there had to be another way to fix it! I thought for a minute and then I cut off the 1/4" seams, turned the fabric to the correct side and resewed it. Joel said I was very clever to think of it since a 1/2" off the pillow would hardly make a difference but I was still distressed over my mistake! I mean I've been sewing for years! It was such an amateur mistake! Here's a picture of Joel with is loot!

On a side note I read about a gal who made a beautiful quilt and top stitched the whole thing by hand but when she took it off her quilting frame she discovered that the back fabric was wrong side out too! Yikes! At least mine was only a pillow! I weep for that poor lady!

The next day after church we took Joel to Outback where he got a nice juicy steak (medium rare)and a bloomin' onion. The bloomin' onion was really more for me because I LOVE those yummy-yummy things and never pass up a chance to order one when were at a place that serves them! I gave him his final present (a leather perpetual calendar) when we got home and he got to relax and read his book for awhile before the Bible study he does at the assisted living apartments. I had planned to have the leftovers from Outback for dinner but I had forgotten our doggy bag at the restaurant(I am such a ditz!) so we went out to Long John Silver's for some fake seafood! Although Joel did say the seafood is actually tasting more real these days! I got a chicken sandwich from the A&W side of the restaurant as I didn't want the night to end with me going into anaphylactic shock!

So that was our fun-fun Father's Day! Joel is having a fun time using his pillow and I've promised him a quilt made out of the leftover fabric in the "Star of David" pattern but I warned him I wouldn't be able to start it for a long, long while. He doesn't mind, apparently just thinking of what the quilt will look like while lounging on his massive Hebrew pillow is enough to make him happy! :)

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-14T14:13:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is Father's Day! I know a lot of great fathers but today I want to talk about the father of my little girls! My husband is great! I know, I'm in love with him so of course I think so, but really, he's so cool! I love to watch him with our girls! When he leaves for work in the morning they rush to him for a hug and kiss. Abby waves and says "Bye-Bye Daddy!" at the door long after he has left! When they hear the door knob rattle they rush to the door shrieking happily "Daddy! DADDY! DADDY is home!!!"! They love their Daddy so much! He reads to them and plays with them and cares for them. He does all sorts of things with them but most importantly he sets a godly example for them.

I can't tell you how important it is for a little girl to have a good Daddy. Generally speaking a girls daddy is the one who sets up for her what to expect in a husband. I am so thankful that my husband displays characteristics that will give the girls a good example of what to look for in their future mate. As his wife I am happy and blessed that he is such a good man so if you don't mind, I'm going to brag a little.

My husband is funny! He has a dry, sarcastic sense of humor that always makes me laugh! My husband is smart! When I say smart I mean genius! He has a 4.0 right now in seminary and even though he's probably the smartest guy in the room at any given moment he doesn't let everyone know about it. He's fun to talk too, his mind is full all sorts of interesting facts. It's great when I say "I wonder why..." and if he doesn't know he comes up with some really great ponderings! My husband is well read and it is so nice being able to discuss literature without getting a blank look and a "Huh? You mean Scrooge didn't write 'The Christmas Carol'?".

My husband is a gentlemen! He has great respect for me and shows it by opening doors for me, pulling out my chair, and asking my opinion on major decisions. Give that man armour, a sword, a horse, and plop in mid evil times and he'd know exactly what to do! After a veiwing of "Sleeping Beauty" I got to thinking, "Would my boy fight an evil dragon to rescue me from certain doom?" and my answer came without a second of hestitation,"Yep! You bet he would!"

My husband is sexy! I see him grin and I melt! I won't go further into why I think my husband is the most handsome man on earth for the sake of those who are not my husband and are reading this! :)

My husband is romantic! He thinks about what gifts he's going to get me. I love getting presents for him because he never fails to surprise me! He knows exactly what will please me best which means he actually takes the time to listen when I'm talking!

My husband is strong. I'm not talking about just physically (although I will pause here to say that when he helped some people move last summer when all the men were exhausted and saying how heavy and hard the work was my boy was barely breathing hard and looked like he could still run a marathon!)! When on that terrible day we found out we had lost our baby, he was there when I couldn't stand up. He held me and the girls close while we waited in the hall for the nurse to tell us what to do next. When my world had fallen apart his strength kept me together. When I needed to cry but didn't think I should he let me. I think it was when I couldn't even walk without his help that I realized I never ever had to worry about my well-being when he was around. I never had to doubt that with all the power that was in him he would keep me safe and cared for. He makes me feel special and beautiful and loved!

The best part of all that is did you notice how in that last paragraph how much he resembled our Heavenly Father? My husband strives to be Christ-like, he was strong for me because he was strong in the Lord! My husband loves the Lord and is constantly in His word! He loves learning about God and loves teaching others about God! He is one of the most godly, smart, wonderful men I know and he's all mine! Sorry ladies, this ones taken! :)

So Happy Father's Day my dearest! I apologize for anyone who feels like gagging after this entry! What can I say? I love my husband!

Once Upon A Dream

2008-06-11T13:55:00.007-04:00

Today Katie finally got to see "Sleeping Beauty". As I have mentioned before Aurora was Katie's favorite princes even though she had never seen the movie. I've been waiting to rent it for her for a couple reasons. One, there are some rather scary scenes in it. Two, she's is still pretty young to follow the plot, and three; our VCR was broken and the only copy our grocery store had was a VHS. Happily for Katie our VCR randomly decided to work again and after testing it out on some Veggie Tales videos yesterday I told Katie that we could rent the Aurora movie. Katie went crazy with excitement and talked of nothing else all evening. We swung by the store on the way to church and picked up the copy plus a few snackies. Katie was beside herself with joy! She was a bit disheartened when I told her she would have to wait 'til the next day to watch it but took the news well enough.

This morning when I went in to get the girls the first thing she said was, "Mommy! Now I can watch my Aurora movie!!!". I told her she had to wait a little while longer but first thing after breakfast she settled down to watched the long awaited "Aurora movie". She made sure she had her Aurora doll and had on a pink dress that was very similar to Aurora's and armed with some pink frosted animal crackers she anxiously awaited while I popped it in. Happily our VCR didn't eat it and after I fast forwarded through the previews (Katie just couldn't sit through such long non-Aurora things!) the old tale opened up with a glittering story book and of course, the narrator.Katie was transfixed! She loved every minute of it! I had forgotten how much I loved that movie and enjoyed watching it to. I had the remote within easy reach in case any scene with Maleficent should scare her too much and I opted to skip past the small part where her imps are moshing around a bonfire, I never liked that part as a child. I watched Katie carefully through the end the movie but apparently mean ladies who change themselves into black dragons and spit green fire after calling all the power of hell to them doesn't phase dreamy almost four-year olds at all. However mean ladies who slowly walk to the dungeon to have a talk with captured princes make them nervous! Anyway...

Katie sighed happily when Prince Phillip finally reached his lady love and gave her true love's first kiss and hugged her dolly tightly too her. Even Abby giggled and looked dreamy-eyed at this happy ending! Katie now adores the movie and wants to watch it again and again and keep it forever. I explained to her we have to return it in a few days but maybe if we ever see it in a store she can buy it with her piggy bank money which seemed to saitsfy her. So our morning ended on a happy note and I have sung myself hoarse after granting Katie's many requests of "Sing the Princess Aurora's song one more time Mommy! Pleeeaaaassee!!!". Surprisingly Abby is the one who picked up on the tune of the princess' song and has gone around singing happily to herself "...once upon a dream!" as she dances around in circles! Too cute!!! Here's a picture of her hiding while I tried to get a picture of her twirling!

Here's one of her twirling at the end of the second viewing of the movie! It came out a little blurry but doesn't she look sweet?!Of course I shouldn't be surprised by her behavior! I remember dancing around singing to myself that very song when I was a child! After all that was my favorite movie when I was a girl! I, of course, never sing silly love songs while I spin around prettily now that I'm all grown up! Just don't ask my girls or husband about it because they will lie shamelessly!

So here's to true love and true love's kiss that conquers all! :)

Random Fun Stuff!

2008-06-05T13:41:00.017-04:00

So there was so much random, fun, and cute things that the girls did this past week that I just had to blog about it! Abby is fully potty trained but occasionally she does have an accident during nap time so I usually put a Pull-up on her to make things nicer for everyone. A couple days ago (Tuesday I think)I forgot and the picture below was the result!I think has amazing talent when she wets the bed! She not only got her dress and sheet but Chester, Curious George, and a doll blankie too! I'm just happy we hadn't bought her a new pillow to replace the one that she took out last time she had an accident! Poor Abby always gets the cheapest pillow we can buy because she also has the talent of when she has a #2 accident in her bed (generally brought on by her sneaking some of Katie's milk) she destroys her pillow in a very disgusting fashion. It's generally not worth it to try and wash it. Silly Abby May!

Below is a picture of Chester, Abby's beloved doggie stuffed animal that she picked out herself with her birthday money from last year. Chester is almost as precious as Val but Abby isn't quite as psychotic about him as Katie is with Val!

Abby couldn't bear to leave Chester out on the laundry line all alone so she went out and gave him lots of hugs until we left to go shopping.Abby was in a posing mood that day so I got some great shots!More hugs for Chester! I just love the dreamy expression on her face!

Our main goal in going out was to find Katie a bathing suit that she liked but was also decent. All the shops we regularly shop at for clothes (Wal Mart, K Mart, Target) had suits but most of them were two pieces and way too sexy looking to ever go on one of my daughters! I cannot stand the way some people dress their girls like they were in their twenties! Little girls should not look sexy! Anyway, We found one that Katie loved (she adores Princess Aurora though she's never seen the movie) that was fairly decent. I would have preferred a little skirt but at least its a one piece that had a nice high back! It was pretty cheap too as all the Disney stores are having a huge 40-60% off sale!

Abby decided that if Katie got to pose again then so did she! Cutie!

We also hit the book store in the mall where Joel picked up a copy of "The Simiarillion" (which was our second goal of the evening) and we got a set of nursery rhyme books for Abby since she's really started to be interested in reading and she didn't get anything at the Disney store. :) We also had to get litter for the Guinea Pig and we popped into the Eddie Bower outlet store that we discovered last time we were in Wilkes-Barre. That shop is amazing! You can find killer deals there unlike some "outlet" stores where its really not too much cheaper, its just not in a mall! Last time we went I got a $50 sweater for $4!

Anywho, I got a soft, fuzzy jacket for this fall (my jackets all have broken zippers) and Joel found a pair of shorts. Here's a picture of Joel reading the girls Abby's new books. If you look closely you can see Katie's Princess Aurora doll that she got with money she had saved up in her piggy bank. She bought that doll last time we went to the Disney store. That is now her second favorite toy, Val of course is still #1!

The next day we got a package in the mail form Uncle Artie and Auntie Erin! There were lots of fun things in it but Katie's favorite was the ladybug wind twirly thing and the outfit she is wearing!Here's Abby wearing the cute skirt and holding a penguin book that was also from Uncle Artie and Auntie Erin. She wasn't in a posing mood that day so I had to snap a picture fast as she ran around giggling! They both (and me too!) loved getting all the goodies, good job Uncle Artie and Auntie Erin!I was in a "get projects done" mood that night so I whipped out some flannel fabric that I had gotten at JoAnn's as a remnant with the intent of making it into a pillow case for Abby. Three seams later Abby had a new pillow case! The remnant was just the right size! I love making pillow cases there so easy and when you make them yourself they always fit your pillow and are way, way cheaper! Here's Abby trying out her the pillow case! Also you can see her "Snow White" dolly that she got at the Disney store when Katie got her Aurora. For some reason Abby really likes Snow White even though we've never seen the movie. Katie has her outfit in her dress up clothes and its the one Abby always wants to wear! Maybe she really like blue and yellow! :) Abby also used her piggy bank money to buy the dolly. Someday I'm going to blog about their piggy banks, the girls are so cute when they put their allowance in!
And lastly here is a picture of the first fruits of my back porch garden! Joel let me get all sorts of supplies this Spring so I could have a little vegetable and flower garden out on our back porch. I was so pleased and happy that he let me buy whatever I wanted (within reason) and I had such a fun time planting and tending my pots! For veggies I just got radishes and tomatoes because those are fairly easy to grow and Joel really likes radishes, and tomatoes are VERY expensive out here!

It's been rainy and warm the past few days so I decided to check on my babies and see how they were progressing. To my surprise two radishes were ready to be pulled! I excitedly pulled them and showed them too the girls who were also delighted that something yummy had come from mommy's garden. I took them inside, answered the phone which had started ringing, and turned around to see what the girls were up to when they came bursting in from the porch both carrying a freshly pulled radishes with huge grins spread across their faces. I quelled the reproachful words that sprung to my lips and instead thanked them for being helpful but told them not to pick anymore unless mommy said they could. I couldn't bear to scold them, they looked so proud of themselves and I hadn't told them not too, plus the radishes were edible just very small. Small radishes are more spicy anyway which is how Joel likes them! So here is my first pretty, pretty radish of the year!
And that is the end to very fun, fun, silly-willy couple of days! Oh yeah, we also had Baby Chase again this morning which was very, very fun too but I resisted taking any more pictures!

Baby Chase!

2008-06-01T16:18:00.017-04:00

The other day (May 31) we went to church to begin decorating for VBS. We're doing Veggie Tales the "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" curriculum so we are endeavoring to turn the upstairs of our church into a pirate ship. It was great fun, so far we papered the bottom half of the walls in brown paper and began painting board and nail outlines and got a pretty nifty stern up. We also got sails up and coming soon... masts! It's going to look great! The girls had a great time downstairs watching Veggie Tales videos with the pastors kids and running around but the real highlight of the day was what or I should say who we got take home...Baby Chase!
Baby Chase is five months old who along with his parents attend our church and his mommy and I are good friends. His daddy also attends seminary and Joel and he get along too. :) The girls never just call him Chase its always Baby Chase! Anyway, Chase's mommy had to go to work so we got to take the little darling home to play until his daddy was done with his schoolwork at the library. I told Katie and Abby about this the day before and they talked about his visit almost every minute until he was snugly buckled in our van. Abby was especially delighted and only strayed from his side once because she had to take a nap and this was under great protest!
Baby Chase was a very good boy and seemed to enjoy the girls constant presence. What guy doesn't enjoy basking in the adoration of two beautiful girls right? When he played in the swing my girls made sure the music was playing and the swing was going and of course that he had all his toys and his binky and a few of their toys. If he cried they patted his tummy, gave him his binky ,and sang. If he smiled they announced to the world that "Baby Chase is SMILING! OOOHHHH!!!!! He is SO CUTE!!!". When he burped Katie giggled and said "Excuse you Baby Chase!".

Baby Chase also seemed to really like Joel. If Joel walked by Baby Chase would whimper and fuss until Joel picked him up. Baby Chase would smile and gaze adoringly at Joel and grab at Joel's cheek (I think he liked the stubble!)! Baby Chase fell asleep on Joel's lap while Joel was playing a computer game, too cute!!!

Baby Chase's daddy came to get him after dinner and Katie was a little sad but she said "bye-bye" and blew him a kiss without much fuss but Abby was inconsolable! She cried "BABY CHAAAAAASE!!!" and reached out her arms for him while tears streamed down her little cheeks! It was a very sad scene! I think she thought Baby Chase had come to stay! She talked about him for the rest of the night and the only thing that consoled her was that she would see Baby Chase again tomorrow at church.

Ever since Baby Chase was born the girls have had a fascination for him. I'm not sure exactly why they love him so much but every time they hear a baby cry their hopeful voices ask, "Baby Chase?!". He's the topic of a lot of conversation at our house. Katie is always asking questions like, "What do you think Baby Chase is doing right now mommy?" or "Does Baby Chase eat real food yet mommy?". Abby has named their baby doll with the blue pj's 'Baby Chase' which delights both her and Katie!

So here are some more pictures from the wonderful visit from the amazing Baby Chase!!! This first one is of Abby checking out Baby Chases changing pad.

Here she is again checking him while he slept to see if he needed anything.

She decided that the music should be playing for him while he slept and turned it on.

Baby Chase woke up! The girls immediately rushed over to see him!Here's Abby hugging him, I love his expression in this shot!

Here's Abby "reading" to him from my Sunday School teacher book! He was vastly entertained!After Baby Chase left the girls decided they needed to try out the swing! They both have their "naughty smiles" on!

Do Not Stick the Flag Up Your Nose!

2008-05-28T14:35:00.003-04:00

We made it to Michigan and back again safely and had a wonderful time but I'm going to blog about that later. Today I want to talk about the things that we say as parents that we never would have thought would be uttered by any human being in the history of the world such as my title. Yesterday as we waited to check out at the grocery store we saw a nice display of little American flags for 97 cents a piece. We both agreed this would be a fine time to teach the girls about how to respect the flag and all that good stuff so we bought two. We also bought flag window clings for the girls to play with. So we were all feeling patriotic (though Joel couldn't resist saying how much cooler Brasil's flag was!)and when we got home we gave a little speech on how to treat the very special flag; don't put it on the ground, don't poke each other with it etc,. They were pretty good with them and then just before bedtime naughtiness ensued and I found myself saying, "Katie, Abby, Don't put your flag on the ground, don't poke each other with them, and DO NOT STICK THE FLAG UP YOUR NOSE!".

Of course as soon as those words left my mouth we all burst out laughing though Joel tried to smother his guffaws behind his book! I discovered that if you laugh while your trying to discipline your child it completely ruins all effectiveness of said discipline! For instance as soon as Joel and I started laughing after the flag/nose incident the girls immediately stuck the flags back up their little noses! Sigh!

Another fun thing that I have said to the girls is "We DO NOT sing the poopy song in public!"! The girls picked up this very silly song from one of Joel's programs that he occasionally watches while I'm fixing dinner. The youngest character, to cheer up their babysitter, sings a song while doing a cute little dance that goes like this "Poopy, poopy, poopy, poopy! Poopy poopy poopy-poo!" After our fun picnic on Memorial Day we went to the mall to go shoe shopping for Joel. The girls love shoes so they were pretty worked up being surround by hundreds of pairs of shoes in so many fascinating colors! I was desperately trying to keep them in some sort type of order when Katie, while bouncing up and down on a chair, suddenly starts to belt out the "Poopy Song". Abby decided to join in but only got out one "Poo" before they were silenced by my "mommy look" and my terse "We DO NOT sing the poopy song in public!" I'd prefer that they not sing the poopy song at all except there's a little part of me that loves how adorably cute they are bouncing up and down and singing it!

Then there's the time I exclaimed "Abby DO NOT LICK the carpet!!!" while on the phone with my brother. The apple pie I had been making had fallen off the edge of the counter and landed face down on our kitchen floor so there was a reason she was licking the carpet but still, EW! In fact I have to tell the girls not to lick many different things as one of their favorite games is to pretend their doggies! After I have scolded them for licking the walls, their toys, or each other Katie generally replies with "But mommy, I am a doggy and doggies lick things!" at which I am hard pressed not to laugh because after all doggies do lick things and in Katie-land that justifies her licking things too!

Some other fun things I have said include "Abby do not color on your sister!"; "Abby, DO NOT eat that! Ever!"; Abby don't kiss the guinea pig's nose!"; "Abby don't put that hotdog in your shirt!"; "Katie don't play peek-a-boo using your skirt!"; "Abby don't eat the dandelion!"; "Abby don't make Katie eat the dandelion!"; "Abby don't eat that crayon!", "Katie don't feed crayon's to Abby!"; "Katie don't chase Abby with your vacuum!", "Abby do not eat that ladybug!" "Katie do not pick your sister's nose!" and on and on it goes! Sometimes its really frustrating having to scold the girls for these very weird things but most of the time I just want to sit down and laugh!

Baby in Heaven

2008-04-29T10:13:00.004-04:00

Baby in heaven how my arms ache to hold you;
Kiss you and cuddle you close to my heart.

Baby in heaven how my ears want to hear you;
Soft sighs, happy coos, so sweet and so dear.

Baby in heaven how my eyes long to see you;
Tiny hands, little toes, every small part.

My baby in heaven O how I love you!
My arms feel so empty, my eyes full of tears.

But baby in heaven I know that God holds you;
Gently and tenderly close to His heart.

And baby in heaven someday I will see you,
Hear you and hold you, hold you so near!

We're Going to Save so Much Money!

2008-04-21T12:19:00.004-04:00

It has been officially two weeks since I decided to go ahead and let Abby potty train herself. If you recall I said I would and hold back my joy until she made it a week with no accidents. Well, this past week Abby has had only one accident and that was my fault because sometimes I am not a perfect mother! Yesterday I used our last diaper for Abby at naptime and now we're down to just Pul-ups for when were out in public and naptime/bedtime and panties for at home! We are going to save so much money! At least for the next 6 1/2 months!

Abby even has managed to stay dry at night! I've been thinking about not putting a Pul-up on her at night but I really hate doing laundry and it would be just my luck the night I decided not to put a Pul-up on she'll have diarrhea or something! Did I mention I hate laundry? I really do! I don't mind loading it or anything I just hate the endless folding and putting away part!

I am so proud of little daughter! She even went for the nursery workers at church yesterday! My eyes tear up just thinking of it! Both my girls constantly amaze me! They are both smart and charming, at least most of the time, they are also normal little girls who tend to do naughty things but we still love 'em!

So we're going out to Michigan for a visit with Great-Grandma, Joel's parents, and all the uncles the first week of May and I feel very sorry for my husband. Between me being pregnant, and two little girls with itty-bitty bladders I have a feeling we're going to be stopping a lot. Poor guy! At least he'll have yummy yummy Grandma treats to munch on when we get there! I know I'm looking forward to them!

P.S. We got the collapsible potty chair in the mail a week ago and I love it! It is the single best invention for small children ever, EVER! :)

The Amazing Abby May!

2008-04-14T11:03:00.007-04:00

Well, Abby has been going potty like a big girl for a week now with minimal accidents! I just can't believe the little girl potty trained herself in a day! I cannot take any credit for it! She probably figured it out by watching Katie but still, I've never heard of any kid potty training so fast, seriously, it was ONE DAY! Now she has had #2 accidents in her bed because she wouldn't keep her diaper on at naptime but that hasn't happened for a few days now! She even tells me when she has to go when were in public and takes great delight in going in the public restroom! Poor Katie has a fear of foreign pottys, mostly due to the attomatic flushers that don't see her because she is so small and go off when she's still sitting on them! When it happened to Abby she thought it was funny! Of course she also thought it was funny to reach in the potty and touch the hose that squirts out the sanitizer! I made sure we washed really, really well after that particular incident!

So I ordered Abby a special collaspable potty seat for when we're out in public (for those of you that don't have little girls let me tell you it is very hard for them to go with no potty chair without dribbling all down their legs and on their pants!) and her very first package of Pul-ups for car rides, public places, and church and big girl panties! We let Abby choose which panties she wanted and she picked some frilly, "Curious George" ones! :) She loves Curious George which is funny since one of my nicknames for her is "George" because she is so curious herself!

My little baby is growing up so fast! The only thing she has left from her baby days is some baby fat!It's a good thing we have another itty-bitty baby on the way! I'm not ready to leave babyhood yet!

We're Hungry!

2008-04-08T12:18:00.005-04:00

I saw that phrase on a maternity shirt a year ago and now I wish I had it! I am sooooo hungry! Ravenous! My poor Husband can attest to it as he has gone on a couple of late night Burger King runs of late. Now I don't buy into the whole you can determine the gender of your child by what you eat because I craved completely different things with Katie and Abby. With Katie I couldn't get enough Strawberries (which I hate!) and Braunschwager. Abby I wanted salad (anything that had large quantities of lettuce!) and green apples. With this little one I want beef! Beef, beef, and more beef! For those of you who don't know I can't really handle more than a few bites of beef at a time unless I want to spend some unfun time in the bathroom. However the magicalness that is pregnancy has suspended my beef intolerance and I can now gorge myself in the yummy, greasy, perfectness of it! On one of Joel's Burger King runs they got my order wrong and instead of a Whopper Jr I got a burger with three patties, bacon, and a special sauce. It was divine! I ate most of it (I shared a little with my dear husband) and didn't feel even the slightest tummy twinge! MMMMM! Just thinking of it makes me want one, or maybe two!

I don't remember being this hungry with the girls. Maybe I just don't remember but I know Katie gave me the worst morning sickness and my appetite just wasn't there for the torturous five and half months of throwing up! Same with Abby, although the morning sickness only lasted four and half months with her. With Baby Cabbage I feel disgustingly sick but also ravenously hungry! It's not really fair! I say pick one baby! As soon as my tummy has digested a small amount of my last meal I feel hungry enough to eat a bear! I've heard that women pregnant with boys eat more who knows!

We've also been teased that twins are on the way! If there are two babies that means the amount of food needed doubles too, right? Joel actually got pale when the girls were talking about it at church! I wouldn't mind twins at all (I LOVE babies!) but I don't think our checkbook would! I have an ultrasound scheduled in May so we'll find out soon enough!

Until then I'm enjoying dreaming about the little one growing in my belly and how amazing and miraculous the forming of a child is! I remember with Katie thinking as she was born, "I can't believe they let us do this!", it was so mind blowing to actually see a real baby come out! The first thing I said was, "It's a baby!" I don't know what I had been expecting, a puppy?! Right now my little itty-bitty baby has a heart beat and her brain is already working. She is approximately 1 inch long and weighs 2 grams (same weight as 2 M&M's!).This week her fingers and toes will will form. Last week she looked like a baby manatee now she looks like a teeny-tiny human baby! So much happens so fast! This is one of those things where God really amazes me! :)

Katie has added Baby Cabbage to her nightly prayers. It brings a happy tear to my eye to hear her sweetly pray, "Please keep the baby safe; please help the baby to grow and big and strong, and please help me to be a good big sister!"! A little while ago we bought a little Eeyore wrist rattle for the baby because I really wanted to buy something that I could cuddle but its hard shopping when you don't know if the baby is a boy or girl! Fortunately Winnie-the-Pooh characters are great for boys or girls! So now I have a nice soft baby toy to cuddle and dream on! :)

Well, its almost dinner time so I must close! I wonder if there's any beef in our freezer? :)

Abby Breezy Bum

2008-04-07T10:52:00.003-04:00

My Abby May is an adventure! If something shatters she is the first little person that pops into my head! Now Katie can do plenty of mischief but usually only as a follower, Abby is the criminal mastermind! Example: It never occured to Katie that crayons and markers could be used on anything except paper. The first time I gave Abby a crayon she decided walls, doors, toys, and herself were also great options to make pictures on! Katie tried it once and then was upset because the mark wouldn't come off the toy box while Abby loved that the marks were now permament!

So I really shouldn't have been surprised one morning when I found Abby in her bed, with no diaper in sight, sleeping on a puddle! Abby has decided that she is done with diapers! She takes them off almost as soon as I put them on no matter how much I punish her! I'll be doing the dishes and the little thing will run by giggling madly,unencumbered by her bulky diaper. Now her little bottom and chubby-wubby legs are extremly cute but the puddles she makes are not! Below is a picture of Abby from Saturday with no diaper in sight!

Abby has expressed an interest in the potty for the last couple of months but I had been putting off potty training. She's still so young that I didn't know if she would understand completely what she was suppossed to do, plus I feel disgusting since I am in the middle of terrible morning sickness! I really didn't relish the thought of sitting in th bathroom with her for hours on end! My nose has become as sensitive as a doggies and bathroom smells I really can't handle right now! I did do a trial run a couple weeks ago and set Abby on the little training potty and kept her there by reading her all the books in the house until she pottied. though she did go potty it kinda frightened her so I thought we'd wait until after our trip to Michigan in early May.

Apperantly Abby has decided to take matter in her own hands. She's decided to potty train herself whether I help her or not. Yesterday, she refused to wear a diaper and sat on her potty every fifteen mintues or so. She actaully made it to the potty twice, the other times she dribbled her way to the potty and had no more pee left to put in the potty which tramatized her greatly! She does not like peeing on herself!

So by mid-afternoon yesterday I gave up and let her run around with no diaper and helped her run to the potty whenever she said or shrieked "I potty!"! Abby has always done big motor skills early but I didn't think she'd beat Katie with potty training or that it could go better then it did with Katie who stayed dry overnight the second night of training and learned to go #2 in the potty the very first day and has never had a #2 accident and only half a dozen #1 accidents!

This morning I found my dear little daughter with no diaper on but her bed was dry! When I found the diaper it was dry too! Could it be this easy? Did my daugter just potty train herself in a day? Am I that lucky? Has God chosen to smile upon my poor nauseous existence? Are we going to have actaul spending money if we don't have to buy diapers? It's too much to take in! I'll hold back my joy until she lasts a week! Until then I'll sit back and enjoy watching my little breezy bum girl as she runs for the potty!

Baby Names by Katie

2008-04-02T11:04:00.003-04:00

So the other day it occured to Katie that we should name the baby. Now if you know my Katie she generally names things for some physical attribute like "White-White" the doggie who has two white patches. I was really looking forward to what she would come up with but first we had to have a conversation about gender.

Whenever anyone asked Katie if she thought the baby was going to be a boy or a girl she would reply"Just a baby!". Apparently in Katie-land babies aren't boys or girls, just babies, until they reach the age of 2 or so and then become "big girls" or "big boys". When I asked her if Abby was a girl she looked unsure, then finally said "yes" but she didn't look convinced! So I explained to her that babies are boys and girls too. I mentioned the little baby at church who was a baby and a boy at the same time and little Bethany who was a baby and a girl too! She took this all in and thought about it for a few minutes before accepting the idea. Then we got back to discussing names.

I asked her whether she thought the baby was a boy or girl and she said "girl!" becasue she wanted another "Sisser"! So I asked her what girl name she thought would be nice for the baby. She exclaimed with great happiness "Katie Rose!" and then did her happy dance! I tried not to laugh and then told her, her name was very nice but the baby should probably have a new name so we could tell them apart. She accepted this and then fell into deep thought. After a moment she got a big smile and shouted "Lady Bug!" and then burst into a fit of giggles! That girl is obsessed! Lady Bug Mitchell. Hmmm...sounds like something a movie star would name their kid! Maybe she could be friends with Apple or Coco!

And Baby Makes Five!

2008-03-24T10:33:00.002-04:00

On St. Patrick's Day we received a very big surprise! We found out that I am pregnant! :) This baby comes as a complete surprise but we are very happy! To be silly we call the baby "Baby Cabbage" since we found out on St. Patrick's Day. Before we knew if Katie and Abby were boys or girls we called Katie "Little Bit" and Abby "Pooka"! :)

So I am five weeks along and my due date is Novemeber 13th. I am happy to have a baby not in the summer! It was a little bit miserable being the size of a whale in July when I was pregnant with Katie and Abby! Hopefully we will have a nice, cool autumn for my expanded waisteline unlike last October where the temp was in the 90's!

We told Katie and Abby about the baby that night and they were both delighted. Katie pats and kisses my tummy on a regular basis and prays for the baby every night! If you ask Abby what is in Mommy's tummy she immeaditely replies "A Baby!" in a very sweet, excited voice! Abby loves babies and is a little mother by nature. She is always carrying her baby dolls around all wrapped up in blankies! There's a little baby at church whom she adores! She hardly ever leaves his side in nursery!

After we found out I was pregnant my behavior over the past few weeks suddenly made sense. I had had an upset stomach at night, I was a bit more snippy than usual (poor Joel!), and I had been craving beef, ice cream with chocolate bits in it, and bread 'N butter pickles! :) Now we're thinking of baby names and where exactly we're going to put our little bundle of joy! I've rearanged the girls room again and I think I can squeeze the crib in at the foot of Katie's bed. It will be a tight fit but I like to think of it as just being extra cozy!

Though I haven't gained any weight my jeans are already feeling tight! I guess my muscles are just too tired after two babies to try and stay firm for my third! I can hardly wait until the baby is big enough to start kicking! I want to see Katie and Abby's reaction! :) When we first told Abby and Katie the baby was in mommy's tummy Abby immeaditely lifted up my shirt for a look and then was very disappointed! Katie wanted to know why the baby couldn't come out right away so I told her that the baby had to grow nice and big first and then God would tell the baby when it was time to come out. This answer seemed to satisfy her and then she talked a little bit about when Abby was born and how she got to go to Matthew's house which I think was more exciting to her than Abby's birth!

I hope the baby isn't too modest and we'll get to find out if the baby is a boy or girl as soon as possible! I didn't keep any of Abby's baby clothes so we have to start from scratch! I noticed there aren't many gender neutrel baby clothes in the stores recently so unless the baby wants to wear three outfits of white with greenish trim he/she had better not be shy! We found at out Abby was a girl at my first ultrasound but little miss Katie did not tell us she was a girl until ten days before she was born! She had a lot of yellow outfits with ducks on them!

We have a boy name all picked out but we're not sure about a girl name. We thought we were set on Emily but then we decided we didn't want Emily, partly because it tramatized Katie to have the same name for the baby as one of her beloved trains! :) So we're open to suggestions! We tend to favor classic names, and we like to be able to shorten it for a cute nickname. Unlike some guy on Facebook I won't say I'll name the baby "Bruce Wayne" if I get 500,000 people to visit my site or "Batman" if a there are a million! People are crazy! Crazy! That poor kid has to go around with that name for the rest of their lives!

I feel like I'm rambling but I guess its because I'm so happy and so many things are running through my head! Not to mention my brain is now going to my baby and I didn't have much leftover from my other two babies! :) I thank God for the little miracle that is growing in my tummy! Babies are such a blessing! Yay for babies!

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

2008-03-14T11:17:00.008-04:00

Saturday was National Quilting Day so Happy Quilting Day a few days late! To celebrate this wonderful day I checked out a few books on quilts from the library to read up on some of my favorite styles of quilting.

One of the books I got is called "A Joy Forever". It is about the life and quilts of famed applique quilt designer Marie Webster who was born in 1859. She quilted during the "arts and crafts" movement of America where Victorian style was rebuffed for early American style which was more "rustic, simple, and honest". This book was fascinating to read as it included little tidbits of history along with her designs. Here's her picture!

My taste in quilting really follows that of Marie Webster. Her quilts are beautiful. simple, and yet exquisite! I have always liked simple quilts, not that the patterns were necesarrily simple but the colors used. I like a good clean look, not too much clutter, not too much use of heavily patterned fabric. I really hate to see a quilt that has so much business in the fabric that you miss the quilt's design entirely. The quilts pictured below are hers and you can see the poem at the bottom of the first one which became her motto.

I first learned how to quilt from my mom. One of her favorite patterns is the "Log Cabin" and I remember helping her make countless numbers of them growing up! Now my mom doesn't enjoy handsewing so she just ties her quilts off with pretty yarns which is fast and gives it a more country look. I love handsewing however so I learned how to handquilt on my own. I remember spending hours pouring over books and looking at quilts to discover exactly how those tiny stitches were made!

I love making a quilt! I love looking through patterns and chosing the exact right one for the person I'm making it for. I love chosing color themes and sketching out the quilt. Of course one of the best parts is going to the fabric store and hunting through all the pretty bolts of fabric to find just what your looking for! I even like the washing, drying, and ironing of the new fabric! It's just exciting! The only part I find a little tedious is the cutting out as it does tend to last forever! There is nothing more staggering then realizing you need to cut out 0ver three hundred 2" squares! I love sewing the pieces and seeing the quilt form under my hands! And then the best part, when the top is done and I get to put it all together because that means the most enjoyable part is about to begin, the top stitching!

Now, with modern technology you can top stitch your quilt in a day or two using a very large, very expensive machine but I really think that takes the fun out of it! I know I'm weird but even if I had one of those machines I probably wouldn't use it!

I love looking at the different patterns to use for the top stitching! I'm especially fond of knots and feathers! However, I do not like the all over squiggles that just go everywhere with no ryhme or reason that has become popluar. The top stitching, I feel, should enhance your blocks and show case them, not cover them up! Grr!

I can't really explain the satisfaction and happiness that working my needle through the quilt gives me! I find it to be very calming! All those little stitches in a row, there is something very happy about the whole thing! Then when the very last stitch is put in and you get to make one last "snip" to cut your thread, not much compares to it! Then all that is left is the binding and then your quilt is done! Joy!

I hope to pass on this love to my girls and I think I'm already succeeding! Abby loves to sit and page through my quilt books and magazines. Both girls love to play in my fabric scraps and make blankies for their babies. Katie is always suggesting some quilt pattern that I should make her next and they both love going to JoAnn fabrics! I'm just happy to be able to teach them to make something that can bring joy to themselves and others! :) There's nothing like curling up in a nice warm quilt that was made just for you! So Happy Quilting everyone!

Finally Done!

2008-03-12T11:25:00.007-04:00

This morning I finished a cross stitch project I have been working on for over three years! It's just one of the things that got put on hold for other bigger, more pressing things. So here is a picture of a cross stitched birth record for Katie all nice and complete! I still have to get a frame but we can do that this weekend!

I actually found the pattern when she was about six months old or maybe eight. I had been looking since we discovered we were pregnant but I hadn't found one I liked until I saw this pattern. It actually was supposed to be done in more gender neutral colors but I changed it to be more girly! It was a lot of fun to make and Katie has been watching me work on it with a great deal of excitement over the last week. I was determined to get it done before the week was out because I just ordered the perfect cross stitch birth record for Abby!

All the little animals are supposed to be buttons which was why I picked this pattern. I love buttons! I have a button collection which the girls and I have a fun time getting out and playing with every now and then !

I thought I might post some other cross stitch projects that I've done along with this one. I use to cross stitch a lot more but it is very time consuming and I like quilting a little better! I also like designing cross stitch patterns but have yet to stitch any that I have made! This one I actually started and finished before I was married! Originally I was going to give it to our church to put in the nursery but after I had purchased all the supplies and started on it the nursery had already been decorated which included a cross stitch picture! So I decided that I would make it for my future children instead and I worked on it while Joel read to me in our free time. This started our tradition of him reading to me while I work on some stitching project which we both greatly enjoy! Some of the books he read to me while I worked on this picture were the books by James Herriot which is fun since two of his books have the titles of the little saying in the picture! This next project is a cross stitch quilt I made for Katie. Right now its hanging up in the girls room above Abby's bed. Joel saw it in one of my craft magazines and liked it so much that I ordered it as his gift to our baby! It took me a long time to finish, I started in April 2004 and finished it just in time for Katie's first birthday (July 2005)! We call it the "Butterfly-Binky Quilt"!

This lovely cross stitch picture was not made by me but by my old friend Jamie S.! I think it was for my sixteenth birthday. I still love it and now it sits on the girls dresser and they love looking at all the kitties!

So now I can cross off Katie's cross stitch on my "Project To Do list"! There is hardly anything more satisfying then being able to cross something off a list; except for maybe making a list! I dolove nice long lists! :)

Jo-Jo's!

2008-03-11T10:54:00.007-04:00

One of Katie's and Abby's favorite things to do is draw and color. So on a regular basis we search the internet for ladybug coloring pictures (for Katie) and bunny coloring pictures (for Abby)and print them out. Yesterday I found a ladybug counting chart that Katie took great delight in! So while Daddy did homework Katie colored ladybugs and Abby drew in a "biboe" (Abby calls all books and notebooks "Bibles" and "biboe" is how she pronounces it!).I love this picture of Abby! Her little toes look so sweet! Abby does not like to keep her socks on. It's not that she doesn't like socks, she just loves to take them on and off and she must have stash somewhere because every now and then I'll notice that she's wearing mismatching socks one of which I haven't seen for months! Abby insists on having her socks off for bedtime and Katie insists on having socks on! Sometimes I think Abby takes her socks off at night just to be contrary to Katie!Look at all the pretty Jo-Jo's! Now if you notice the ladybug counting chart is numbered incorrectly. I do not know if our printer just freaked out and printed it wrong or if the person who designed it was a moron. I didn't actually notice until Joel pointed it out when Katie showed it to him. I must correct it before I print out another one! I meant to use it to teach Katie her numbers!

Katie was so very proud of her ladybug picture that she insisted I hang it up by her bed. After I had hung it up she said "Now I won't be afraid of the dark mommy because I will see my ladybug picture!"! Not sure why the ladybugs help and I didn't realize she was scared of the dark but I suppose if it makes her feel better than thats just fine with me!

Joel and I were discussing last night how obsessed Katie is with ladybugs. Last year we did a ladybug themed birthday party for her and this year we were thinking of doing Thomas the Train but Katie has said she would like another ladybug party but this time with ladybug cupcakes so there will be lots of ladybugs!!! She talks about it almost everyday! As we talked about it we remembered that when Katie first saw a ladybug she was scared to death of it! She found it at the base of our stairs Spring of 2006 and screamed "bug! Bug! BUG!!!" So I took up the poor little bug and threw it in the trash. Katie then ran over to the trash can, looked inside and shrieked "Bug! Bug! BUG!!!" until I removed it from the trash can and put it outdoors. She watched the door carefully for about an hour to make sure the terrifying thing did not come back indoors!

I remember I told her that ladybugs were very nice and they would never hurt her and then a few days later we went looking for some out on our back porch. When we spotted one Katie crouched down to investigate and then decided she loved them. So it was love at second sight!

Thank God for Me!

2008-03-08T11:02:00.006-05:00

A little over a month ago we started Katie saying bedtime prayers along with Daddy reading her and Abby a Bible story(He's been reading Bible stories to Katie since before Abby was born!). The Bible we use is an older copy of the one pictured above which is an excellent Bible story book for little ones! The girls are getting this new addition for Easter!

So the first time Katie prayed I had her repeat a very simple prayer that went something like this..."Dear God, Thank you for Abby, thank you for Daddy, thank you for Mommy. Please help me sleep well, please keep me safe, and please help me to be a good girl. I love you. Amen!". Katie was delighted with the prayer and soon added more to it. She not only thanked God for her family but all her favorite stuffed animals. So after she thanked God for us she continued "Thank you for Val, thank you for Sparkle that Daddy gave to me. Thank you for Pinky and thank you for Snowflake and thank you for White-White...".

We also added other people to her prayer like "Please bless Uncle Artie and Auntie Erin". So then the other night after she thanked God for us she said "and thank you for me" very casually and went on into her list of stuffed animals! I had to supress my giggles while Joel laughed quietly in the hall! I love to hear her talk to God! Lately she has also added some things that happened in her day. The other night she told God that "Abby spilled water on my stuffed animal but it was okay because mommy dried everything off." :)

Katie loves her night time routine of Daddy reading her a Bible story and then praying on mommy's lap and she will not go to bed without doing it! I hope that sticks with her for the rest of her life! It's such a joy to start the girls in good Christian practices and to see Katie become aware of how real God is!

Along with prayers and Bibble story time I try to add God in our everyday conversation. Generally its just me saying "Let's thank God for this" but yesterday I said something that confused them a little. The girls were having a fight over who the ladybug that Katie had found belonged to. Abby said it was "Abby's Jo-Jo" (Abby calls lady bugs jo-jo's because Katie's favorite lady bug toy is named Jo-Jo.) but Katie said it was her lady bug. On and on they went until finally to end the fight I said it was God's lady bug which I figured they couldn't argue with. After Katie's immeadiate response of "Oh! He's God's ladybug?!" she seemed very deep in thought and after a few minutes said "I think God wants me to have His lady bug!"! After that whenever Abby tried to touch the lady bug Katie would exclaim "Abby that is not your lady bug that is God's lady bug!" or "Don't touch God's lady bug Abby!". So much for ending the fight!

So after dinner (this whole thing took place while we were trying to eat dinner) Joel and I explained to Katie that everything belongs to God and He gives things to us and wants us to share those things. She seemed to accept this and Abby was allowed to touch God's lady bug. They haven't fought over any ladybugs today so maybe the little lesson sunk in. In any case at least Katie is thinking about God! :)

Once again from the Land of the Sickies

2008-02-27T16:12:00.005-05:00

Well, some of you might have noticed my lack of contact with the outside world. The answer is simple, my family is diseased! We were hit with another flu bug last Wednesday and still haven't recovered! It started with Abby and Katie having a very bad case of diarrhea. They seemed to be better late by Thursday but then early Saturday morning I heard poor Abby May throwing up in her bed. Abby has never thrown up for real, so I now consider her to be officially out of the baby stage!

I was secretly feeling poorly myself but I pulled myself up by my mommy bootstraps and put on my nursing hat! Four changes of bedclothes later she finally was able to keep some very watered down apple juice in her tummy. So then it was Katie's turn. She never actually threw up but we had many many trips to the bathroom! The laundry really piled up and wouldn't you know the dryer decided to be on the fritz! It now takes three+ hours to dry anything. So I strung up a clothesline in the kitchen and did the laundry the old fashioned way!

Joel was feeling terrible Sunday morning so we all stayed home from church and I ran around washing laundry and trying to make everyone comfortable. Monday Joel stayed home but Katie seemed to be fine and Abby May also seemed to be on the mend.

Tuesday morning Joel went off to class and I went back to bed being very, very tired. I told Katie she and Abby could play quietly in their room while mommy rested. (Don't worry, I had the gate up so they couldn't escape!) I never quite fell asleep, something didn't feel right. Abby wasn't making any noise. Now of the two girls Abby is the noise maker, especially in the morning! If Katie hadn't been making any noise I wouldn't have even blinked! So I got back up to check on them and became very worried to see Abby just laying on her bed staring off into space. She was breathing normally and was responsive but Katie told me she hadn't gotten out of bed yet which made me worry even more. Abby is not one to stay in her bed when she could be out of it! I checked her temperature to see if she had a fever but it was only 96! So I bundled her up and gave her some apple juice and cheerios to see if that would perk her up. She ate and drank well enough but just didn't want to play. So her and I had a cuddly morning and gradually her temp rose to a more normal level.

Joel stopped by the store after work to pick up some pedialite and a few other things we needed and came home with a headache. All this while I had been trying to ignore my increasingly upset tummy. We had a simple dinner of bread (Joel had picked up a fancy loaf form the bakery) and I also ate the peanut butter candy bar he had gotten for me. That turned out to be the breaking point for me! Joel put got the girls ready for bed while I lost it in the bathroom sink! (For those of you with weak constitutions I apologize ahead of time for the nasty descriptions that are coming!) Let me tell you peanut butter candy is not fun to throw up!!!

The girls did not like my absence from their bedtime routine so I made a quick appearance and then had to visit the sink again! Joel was a very nice husband and after he had finished his homework he read to me from the book I had given him for Valentines Day to take my mind off my icky tummy and terrible bone aches. He even fixed me some peppermint tea in a real tea cup! Of course I threw it up ten minutes later but at least it tasted better coming up then peanut butter, chocolate, and maple and brown sugar oatmeal! I tossed my cookies again around two in the morning but actually got some good sleep after that.

I did not make my poor husband stay with me while I got sick. Apparently it disturbs him to hear me "Shouting vile things into the toilet" (his words, not mine!). I never knew that I threw up loudly or that was any other way to throw up until I married him. When he tosses his cookies he coughs politely a few times, gags a bit, then is done. I let loose with all I've got and wake up the neighbours! I really scared him the first time he witnessed me ralphing! :)

This morning we both felt wretched but Joel managed to stumble downstairs and get the girls breakfast. I let them eat in their room because I couldn't stand up for two minutes in a row and I really didn't want to deal with the smells and sounds of breakfast! So while they had a blast eating in their room we stayed in bed. A few minutes later the power went off. So poor Joel got out of bed again and went to talk to our landlord (they live in the front part of the house). Apparently the whole area was without power but ours came back on pretty quick because most of the workers at the electric company live here in Taylor. It's a nice little town! So we spent most of the morning in bed while the girls played in their room and then Joel played a little on the computer while I slumbered away. Them I decided we should probably feed the children again and we all went downstairs.

The girls had dry cereal for lunch (I wasn't taking any chances on any food with more flavor) and Joel and I had Gatorade. We watched some 'MacGuyver' while we "ate" and then I put Abby to bed and Katie in the tub. Katie is an amazing little girl who will be perfectly happy in the tub for hours on end , so I sat on the couch and listened for any drowning noises while we watched another 'MacGuyver' episode and she played. I started to feel better after Katie was done with her bath and Abby woke up. Now the girls appear to be completely better and Joel and I are getting there! Hopefully we'll all be back to our healthy selves by tomorrow! :)

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T11:52:00.011-05:00

Today is my second most favortie holiday! I love Valentines Day!!! I have since I was a very little girl! I loved making valentines to take to school, I loved making the special little bags that we taped to our desks to hold all our valentines! I loved the parties, and the candy, and the happy-happy-joy-joy feelings!

Valentines Day is even more awesome when you have a Sweetie to share it with! Joel has good present sense, by that I mean he can really zero in on what gift will make me squeal the loudest! This morning he didn't have to be at work until 10:45 so we had a little Valentine breakfast. I baked cinnamon rolls and made coffee and we exchanged some presents. Katie was very excited about everything and kept telling everyone "Happy Valentines!" even the guinea pig! We got the girls each a Beanie Baby (Katie's was a bright pink frog that she named "Pinky" and Abby's was a ballerina duck that Katie named "Princess") and with some money that Grandma Perry sent for the day (thanks grandma!) the "Curious George" movie.

I got Joel a book "The Black Arrow" which is one of his all time favorites. He has a copy of it but it is very old and well used and he has been lamenting that it was falling apart for a couple years now. So I found a copy of it on e-bay. I love E-bay! I like the book too, it has a little romance in it so I thought that would make a nice present. Joel really liked it and its going to be the next book he reads aloud to me. Right now he's reading me a series based on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I love that my boy reads to me! :)

This year Joel totally outdid me! The naughty boy got me three presents! It was like Christmas! He got me "Emma" on DVD, "Persuasion" also DVD, and the book "Becoming Jane". I squealed nice and loud! As soon as Abby goes nappy-night-night I'm popping in "Persuasion" and having Jane-Day! I have been looking for that copy of "Persuasion" to rent for awhile but could never find it! I thought it looked really good and Joel said the reviews said it was very close to the book! Yay! I think I can persaude :) Joel to watch "Emma" with me tonight after we got out to dinner. He does not particularly enjoy Austin movies (nobody's perfect I guess!) but he will watch "Emma" because it is humourous and he loves "Miss Bates" character! Happy Day!

Now with all this love in the air I have to mention my Katie's first little romance. There is a boy at church named "Matthew", he is five years old and he is the pastor's son. Ever since we first moved out here the two have been inseparable! The picture is of them hanging out having a milk break not too long after we first moved out to PA.

A little while ago when Matthew had to leave Katie while we were visitng at their house (I think he had to change into his pj's or something) he got down on one knee, took her hand in his and said earnestly "Katie, I have to leave you know but its okay because we love each other and someday we'll always be together! Okay?" Ah young love! :)

When ever we go to church we are greeted with "KATIE!!! KATIE!!!KATIE IS HERE!" followed by Katie squealing and giggling and shouting "Matsew, Matsew!" (she can't quite pronounce Matthew yet!). Katie gets very sad when we have to leave Matthew and usually sheds a few tears in the car and tells how much she misses him! When we went to their house recently for a super bowl party Matthew remarked to his mommy while helping Katie take her coat off, "Isn't she pretty mommy?" :)

Recently Matthew has said he is going to marry Katie. He's told his mommy, he's told me, and on Sunday he told Katie. He told her casually while we made name bracelets during Sunday School (I teach their Sunday School class and they are my only students) and she seemed okay with the idea. After church when they said goodbye he picked her up in a big hug and twirled her around and around. Katie's hair was flying in a golden cloud all around her as she giggled and Matthew grinned at her! It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen!

So I decided it was time to have a chat with my daughter about Matsew. Now I know she is only 3 but I was curious to see what was going on in her little head. So Monday afternoon we had a conversation about her friends and who she loves. She told me she loved Matthew very much, that he was her best friend. I then asked her who she was going to marry when she grew up and she said "I don't know Mommy." Then she paused and seemed to search the depths of her heart. After her moment of reflection she looked up at me and said "I think I'll marry Matthew mommy." I told her she could if she wanted too when she grew up but she didn't have too if she ever changed her mind, it was a long time before she would be grown up enough to get married. She looked slightly insulted at this and assured me she was going to marry him. I then asked her what she thought getting married meant. She said it meant she got to live at his house and play with him all the time and have babies. :)

This morning I told Joel about our conversation and when I came to the part about me telling her she didn't have to marry Matthew she interrupted me and said "But mommy I want too! I am going to marry Matthew!"! Joel and I tried very hard not to laugh as I reassured her she could when she grew up if she still wanted too.

Like my brother said in his blog although Katie is very young I want to give her a good Godly foundation of how to treat boys and how boys should treat her. I also want these kinds of talks to be normal so when the time comes when she is old enough to have a boyfriend she won't feel like she can't come to me to talk about it. I plan on being a very nosey mother when it comes to boys but I hope my girls will be comfortable talking to me about it because those talks have been a normal part of our relationship. Now I remember being a teenage girl, and I know there are things that they will not want to talk about but by God's grace I hope to establish a basis of trust and ease so that when we do talk it won't be too weird! :)

So my Katie has had her first marriage proposal at the age of 3! Pretty good! My first wasn't until I was 6! At least thats the first one I remember! I had lots of proposal's and confessions of love through my childhood and teenage years (including a confession written in a book I had loaned a boy that read 'Dear Karen, I love you. Guess who?') and I'm sure Katie and Abby will too! Of course the great love of my life is the man I'm married too! He's smart and fun and treated me like a lady while we were dating (opened doors for me, carried my book bag, etc...)and makes me feel like a princess! Plus he's got a killer grin and nice blue eyes! :)

So Happy Valentines Day everyone! Go hug your Sweetie or if you don't have a Sweetie a nice big, skishy stuffed animal will do!

OUCH!!!

2008-02-13T10:26:00.002-05:00

This morning at a few minutes past nine I realized the garabage had to be taken to the curb. Our front neighbours (and landlords) are usually kind enough to do this for us but not in bad weather. As it had snowed all day yesterday and rained all night long I figured I would have to drag the cans to the curb myself. The garabage men usually come around nine so I hastily threw on my coat, scarf, and shoes and ran out the door with some broken junk that I wanted to go out, in my hand. As I ran to the first step I thought, "wow, the ground is all covered in slush!" and as I flew through the air I thought, " nope, its covered in ice!" By the time my brain caught up to what was going on with my body it was too late to catch myself, especially since our stairs have no rail. I remember thinking "stink!" and then there was lots and lots of pain!

At first I just layed trying not to scream, then I realized the only people that could come rescue me were the garabage men . Garbage men aren't my ideal choice for a rescuer. If I had to choose from all the the people who came to our house to perform a public service, I think I'd rather have the crotchety old Irish mailman! At least he hasn't been handling garbage all day! Plus I was in my bright pink penguin flannel pj's and I have a fear of being caught outdoors in my pajama's! So undignified! So I crawled whimpering and gasping up the stairs and through the door thinking how Joel was going to have to take a day off work because I had just broken my entire body and that would make him very cranky!

The pain was pretty bad, I thought I had at least broken my leg and perhaps my arm because I couldn't move either of them. I laid in the hallway, buried my head in a pile of clean laundry and screamed for a bit until the pain receded then I giggled. For some inane reason I laugh when I'm in extreme pain. Anyway, I heard Katie come pattering into the kitchen so I put on my brave face and assured her mommy was okay. I then decided to try and move and ascertain the damage. I wiggled my fingers and though the tips hurt I knew nothing was broken and was relived, I moved my right foot and though it hurt terribly, was very happy I could. Slowly, I stood up, put weight on my leg, and then whimpered. My bum hurt REALLY bad! I checked out the tender area and was alarmed at the puffiness. Now as my husband loves to tease me about I don't have much of a bum. I've had complaints from people whose laps I have sat on that it is very boney. So while most people wouldn't be worried by a puffy behind it made me anxious!

I limped over to the mirror to take a gander. I had a nice red bruise across the right half of my lower back and nice big round one on the top half of the right side of my backside. I realized then this was how older people broke their hip and was thankful I was not old and my bones were relitively strong. I have fallen down a lot in my years and have not broken one yet! I thanked God that He had spared me and thought about the injury my poor gaurdian angel must have sustained! I probably squished him really good! :)

Katie was very worried about my owie and suggested a Hello Kitty Band-Aid to make it better. I thanked her for wanting to share her special band-aids but told her my owie was too big for one. All this while Abby had been gated into her room because she had thrown a little tantrum during breakfast and had been put their until she could improve her behavior. I was going to go get her when I realized that the garabage still had to be taken out. So I changed into jeans (ouch!) put my shoes, scarf, and coat back on and went back outside. This time I carefully descended the stairs, almost fell anyway, and then skated down the driveway to the curb to see if the garabage man had come yet. No one else had their garabage out and the only person attempting to clear away the ice was our across the street neighbour. Now this man is amazing, he's almost eighty and is more robust then most twenty year olds! He'll shovel anything in any weather!

I decided that it simply wasn't worth the struggle removing the two grabage cans from the ice and then pair skating with them to the end of the drive so I skated back to the house and crawled back up the stairs. I did manage pick up the trash that I had flung in the air when I fell.

I went upstairs and got Abby down then went to check out my poor bottom that still hurt terribly. While I was grimacing at it Katie came up and said "I'll make it feel better mommy!" and gave me a nice big kiss! Not to be outdone Abby came up and gave it a good smack with her little hand. Fortunately for Katie her kiss landed on my lower back but Abby May hit my bruise square on and I had to smile instead of cry and say "Thank you girls, that made mommy feel so much better!"

I then limped to the phone and called my hubby because I wanted to whine at someone and get some sympathy. After assuring him I didn't need to go to the emergency room he commiserated with me and then we had a good laugh!

So now I can hardly sit, or walk but I am otherwise okay. Honestly, I think my body's warning system that something is wrong might be too good. From all the pain of the fall I thought I had broken the entire right side of my body! All that for just a sore bum! Yikes!

O The Wonder of Tea!

2008-02-11T12:34:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning feeling nasty. My head ached, my legs hurt, my chest hurt, my nose was stuffy, and I had that strange buzzy feeling in my head. I laid there hoping the girls would sleep in and Joel's lunch would magically make itself but to no avail! At the usual time Abby's little voice came floating from across the hall "Kaydeee?" and then Katie's voice "Abby!". There was a short pause and I prayed desperatley with all my soul that they would simply flall back asleep but then came the giggles and the sisterly chit chat. I tried to ignore them while Joel got up to shower but then Katie's slightly paniced " I have to potty!" came through my groggy thoughts. Sigh! So I forced myself from the warm blankets and tottered to the girls room to begin our day. I think Joel's lunch made sense, I can't exactly remember what I put in it. Brownies and instant oatmeal I think. Poor guy!

After I kissed Joel goodbye I took some Tyleonol cold and settled the girls down in front of "Curious George" with their breakfast. Then I went to the kitchen to do my morning routine because if even a mommy feels like dirt she's still the mommy and has to keep the house in some sort of order! So I washed dishes, made coffee, put in a load of laundry (Monday is laundry day), cleaned the counters and floor. I drank the coffee but even though it was tastey it just didn't hit the spot! I wanted something different to drink; hot, comforting, and yummy...what did I crave that coffee just could not satisfy? Tea! I dug around in my substantial tea collection and found what I was looking for: some nice green tea with echincea and lemon, yum! I brewed myself up a cup and sipped it nice and slow! Perfect!

Of course once you have a perfect cup of tea you want another so after a little while I brewed myself a cup of my all time favorite tea- Lemon Blossom by Stash. Heaven! I think that particular tea is absolutely perfect, just what tea should be! It doesn't need sugar or honey, its tart and refreshing while soothing and relaxing! Yum! In my opinion a good cup of tea can make everything better!

I don't just love tea itself I love everything that goes along with it! I love tea pot and tea cups, crumpets, scones, and little doilies. Someday I want to get a tea cart! I have a small collection of tea pots and tea cups which decorate the tops of my cupboards! I always drink my tea in a real tea cup, I just love the rattley noise the cup makes against the saucer! If Joel makes me tea I insist that he does so in a tea cup, once he was actually going to make it in a coffee mug! I made him stop and get my tea cup! It probably was a little bratty of me but I was sick at that time and didn't really care too much! My poor husband!

Right now I'm sipping another cup of green tea and though my head still aches and my nose is a little stuffy the tea has made me relaxed and happy. I suppose the Tylenol cold I took might also have something to do with that but I like to think it was simply the good hot tea and the nice happy clinky noise my cup makes on my saucer! Tea might just be the world's perfect beverage! I'll end with this picture of tea and a lovely explanation about how tea makes everything better written by some fellow in the UK.

"It's funny but in the U.K there is one thing that can solve a million different problems. Your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband etc etc has just left you, never mind, have a nice cup of tea. You've just crashed the car, just been mugged, been stuck 9 days in traffic, didn't get that job, lost your favourite watch, deleted work on the computer, buried the dog, fell over, broke a bone, have a huge spot on your nose, missed your favourite TV programme, didn't get that phone call, have an ingrown toe nail, have strange hair sticking out of your ears ... then don't worry, I'll go and put the kettle on and make us a lovely cup of tea. Then you will feel lots better. :o) "

My New Machine

2008-02-06T16:14:00.001-05:00

So yesterday I broke down and bought a new sewing machine! My husband made me! I've been coaxing my old machine along for months now to get it just to sew a simple seam and I knew the end was near but didn't want to spend that much money on a new one! However, I have been trying to sew a baby quilt for a new little baby in our church and it had been doing tolerably well though I had to baby it with much lifting of the presser foot and other little time consuming things but then it up and quit on me. If I attempted to sew anything the bobbin and top thread would snarl all up in a big ball and then suck the poor fabric down into the bobbin casing where it would then eat it. I let it rest, tried fabric that wasn't as thick but it just didn't want to be a sewing machine anymore, it would rather be a very big paperweight!
Now I have tried my best to save my poor machine, its seen a lot of sewing projects in it history with me! I bought it the summer after my freshmen year and have sewn four full size quilts on it, eight baby quilts, a few minature quilts, a couple lap quilts, countless potholders, and many other little projects and of course my bridesmaid dresses. Most of the quilts were also topstitched on it which is very hard on a machine! It wasn't a high quality machine when I bought it so I knew it wouldn't last forever. It was a Walmart $150 Brothers on sale for $125 with no bells or whistles but I had a very personal and tender attatchment to it! I had dusted it, oiled it, let it rest, read it stories etc... but to no avail, it was time to let it go!

So Joel took us girls out (he had a half day at work) and made me get a new machine. I got a nice, shiny Singer (which is a step up from a Brothers although Brothers is a good brand) for $180 at WalMart because it was about $50 cheaper than if I had bought the same model at JoAnn Fabrics. It's a very basic model but I'm not into machine embroidery which is what you pay for if you go the next step up. I would not mind getting a $500 machine or more like a Bernina but that simply isn't in our budget! Just typing the word Bernina gives me shivers! It's an awesome machine! Like the cadilac of sewing machines!

Anyway, after I put the girls to bed Joel helped me get it out of the box (how do they get it packed in so tight?!) and I got to play with it. It was easy to get all set up though I didn't bother with the automatic needle threader (if something takes five steps to do to replace something that only took one step why would anyone bother?) and got some scrap fabric to try it out on. It sewed beautifully without sounding like it was about to explode and take the whole neighbourhood with it! I even played with the embroidery stitches (I prefer hand embroidery, in my opinion it looks better, and I just like to handsew!)because they looked so nifty and I really wanted to push all the buttons!

The foot pedal takes some getting used to. It's pretty finicky, you have to press it down very slowly and if you go to fast it just doesn't do anything. I can get used to that as long as it doesn't eat what I'm sewing! So today I made real progress on the baby quilt and felt weird not having to use all my tricks to make the machine go! So thanks dearest husband who made me go and get a new one! And here's to my old machine that I loved like a small child!

Beloved Books

2008-01-30T10:06:00.000-05:00

So my dear brother blogged about books and inspired me to blog a bit about them too! I love books! I love curling up with a classic on a rainy day all wrapped up in a quilt. I love reading books to my girls, especially fairy tales. I love that Katie already shows a love of books and will sit and "read" for hours on end! I especially love old books. This comes from my general love of old things. I remember the very first old book I "rescued" from out local thrift store when we lived in Port Hadlock, WA. I was fifteen years old at the time. The book was titled "The Canada Book of Prose and Verse" published June 1935 and I still have it! It is very tattered but I love it! After I had boughten in I took it home and loving erased all the marks within its covers. It is a school book so there were a lot of pencil marks in it. There are still ink marks that bug me but I cannot remove those without hurting the book so there they stay! I still read through this book on occasion when I'm in the mood for some poetry. My favorites from this volume include "Who Hath a Book" by Wilbur D. Nesbit, "The Day is Done" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Ships of Yule" by Bliss Carman, "Locinvar" by Sir Walter Scott (I just have to mention here that this poem is parodied by 'Monty Python' and instead of our knight stealing away the bride he steals away the groom. Joel laughed heartily once I told him what the poem was originally and I was simply proud that I knew of the poem to begin with!) "Bannerman of the Dandenong" by Alice Werner "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth, "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer (of course!), "A Handful of Clay" by Henry Van Dyke (this is a short story), "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae ... to name a few!

My next featured volume is "Whittier's Complete Poems" published in 1894. Whittier is my favorite poet and I was delighted to discover this volume in the same thrift store! It was previously owned by Francis B. Smith, January 15, 1929, Seattle. I don't like marks made in books but I do love inscriptions, it really gives the book more personality! I like knowing where a book has been and if it was a treasured gift! Some of my favorite poems include "Maud Muller", "The Yankee Girl", "The Call of the Christian", "On a Sundial for Dr. Henry I. Bowditch", "At Last", and "The Mystic's Christmas". Of course there are many more but I will not bore you with too long a list! :)

These next two books my brother Art gave me for my 18th birthday! Here is the inscription on the first blank page "To Karen Kilmer; Happy 18th Birthday! June 27th 1998; From Your Brother, Arthur Kilmer". These were published in 1910 and I treasure them because my brother gave to me! They were among the few volumes that I could not bare to part with and made my suitcase very heavy with when I traveled by train from Washington to Iowa to attend college! These books have many of my favorites including "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfrod Lord Tennyson "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe, and of course many Whittier poems.

Here is another one of my favorite books that I took along with me to college. It is not at all old (published in 1993) but I love it because my brother Art gave it to me when he visited me during the summer after his freshmen year (1999). He also gave me a blue candle holder with the book which I still have! This book also happens to be my favorite book and whenever I read "Pride and Prejudice" I read this copy!

This next volume was also given to me by my brother Art (he feeds my fetish!) and was published in 1906.

He sent it to me to read along with him so we could discuss it. I had lots of fun reading it, its kind of like "A Christmas Carol" only not at Christmas and much longer! :)

This next book is my oldest. My husband bought it for me for my 27th (golden) birthday! It is a volume of Psalms made into poems by our English standards. It is very cool and I have carefully read of few of the Psalms and it is very well done!

So those are a few of my favorite books that I own. I have a list of books that I read every year beginning on January 1st. They are as follows... The works of Jane Austin, "Little House on the Prairie" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the "Emily" series by L.M. Montgomery, "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine (if you have watched the movie and not read the book you have been cheated from a lovely fairy tale! That movie was an insult!) and the "Elm Creek Quilt" series by Jennifer Chiaverini. I fiddle with the list every other year or so, taking some off and adding others, that sort of thing. This year I might forgo the Elm Creek quilt books, at least the entire series, I might just read the first one which is the best anyway.

My favorite book is "Pride and Prejudice". I have read it once a year since I was 18! My least favorite book is "The Jane Austin Book Club" by Karen Joy Foster. To quote my brother it was "Quite possibly the worst book I’ve ever read. I feel like less of a person for having read it. It diminished me somehow.". I am sad the author and I share the same first name! For some reason this book has become very popular and there is even a movie in the works! Have they read the book? It is simply a load of trash! The basic premise is that a group of women and one man get together each month to discuss one of Jane Austin's works. I found the "Jane Austin" theme a poor excuse for the author to go off on her own tangents and try to create a modern day, character driven novel that would not have had any success without having Jane Austin's name in the title. I suppose my viewpoint is tainted by the fact I have morals and do not enjoy reading about her character's different "encounters" with the opposite sex (bad and good ones) or the same sex and dirty thoughts about school boys! If you have not read this book DO NOT READ IT! I innocently picked it up off a library bookshelf thinking "Oh goody! This book must be great if its about Jane Austin, my favorite author!" and happily devoured the first chapter before the horror of what I had gotten myself into dawned upon me. I read on hoping the author would redeem herself but it was not to be! I felt sullied by it! Plus I do not think she had a good understanding of Jane Austin's characters and I was insulted by some of her conclusions! I could go on but I will refrain!

One of my favorite modern day authors is Gail Carlson Levine. She takes classic fairy tales and makes them her own by putting original twists on them. My favorite is the afore mentioned "Ella Enchanted", the prince is truly charming and our main character "Ella" is fun, smart, clever, and engaging. She also dabbles in languages and though not as well done as say Tolkien's languages (the man was a linguist and knew a billion real languages so I guess it's not fair to compare!) it really made her world seem more real. Joel has boughten me two of her volumes about "Neverland" fairies and I love them! I plan to read them to the girls when they are old enough (which is part of the reason he got them for me)! Her short stories "The Princess Tales" are really fun and would be great to read aloud to my girls as well! "Fairest" is also very good and though "Sisters of Bamarre" has a very slow start it has a fantastic ending and I love the character she gives to her dragons! I often think of her as a feminine version of Tolkien who writes for young adults.

Some more of my favorite authors/stories include Dickens esp. "Great Expectations", and "David Copperfield"; "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte (who I like to think of as Austin meets Dickens); the "Anne" series by L.M. Montgomery; the "Elm Creek Quilts" series by Jennifer Chiaverini (although there is no proof that quilts were used in the underground railroad its still a good read as that is not the only plot line); "Emily" by Candice F. Ransom (This one is about a girls coming of age and while its a newer book by an author who is not famous, its a pretty good read!) The LORTR trilogy, The Hobbit, the Similarian (actually all his works!) by J.R.R. Tolkien (I love his poetry!) Now I have to stop here and say while the movies done by Peter Jackson are great they don't quite do the books justice though they come very close! I'm still mad about the whole changing of Faramir and Sam and making Gimli a little too silly but I guess nobody's perfect! At least the sets and wardrobe were awesome! Okay, back to my list! The "Narnia" series by C.S. Lewis ( the first movie was pretty good, I'm looking forward to Prince Caspian!) ; James Herriot's books about his experiences as a country vet in England, "Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie, "Kidnapped" and "The Black Arrow" by Robert Louis Stevenson, "Around the World in Eighty Days" by Jules Verne...as you can see I could go on and on and on!

If you notice most of my favorite authors are older, and that is because it is getting harder and harder to find a good, well written, CLEAN, modern day book! I do not know why authors feel driven to include inappropriate scenes between their characters, even if they are happily married it is not okay to write about what goes on in the intimate part of their relationship! I not only speak of secular authors, Christian authors often dabble in this too. I have all but given up on the "Christian romance" genre, though not as explicit as some secular authors they come awfully close and while I do not mind an occasional kiss between characters some really push the envelope! Not to mention the plot is poor, the characters unrealistic or so pathetically stupid that you just want to beat them over the head until they show some sense! Also I hate the inevitable misunderstanding that most authors feel their characters must have. The girl sees or overhears her love interest in an unflattering interlude/confessional and mistakes it for unfaithfulness or treachery and then turns on her boy, whom she has just sworn to love ,without waiting for an explanation. This plot pitfall has been done a thousand times over and I'm kind of tired of it! Honestly, If you love the boy you would give him a chance to explain!

I do enjoy some of the Amish stories that have come from this genre but I think its starting to get a bit overdone. It was nice to see some time and thought put into them!

I don't want to end on a bad note so I must say that a well written word can make a day worthwhile! And now for some final thoughts: Books should inspire us to do great things, to better ourselves, not bring us low by base thoughts and immoral behavior! Books should entertain and uplift our spirits! If it is a tragedy it must have a point! An unhappy ending can be just as satisfying as an happy one if done right (though like most people I prefer a happy ending!)! When I read the line "once upon a time" I get shivers!

I hope my ramblings about books has made some sort of sense, sometimes I do tend to go on! :) I will close with a poem that I mentioned at the beginning of my entry. I think it expresses what a book can be perfectly! For some reason my computer will not put the appropriate spacing between the lines of the poem, hope its readable!

Who Hath A Book

Who hath a book

Hath friends at hand

And gold and gear

At his command;

And rich estates,

If he but look,

Are held by him

Who hath a book.

Who hath a book

Has but to read

And he may be

A King, indeed;

His kingdom is

His inglenook.

All this is his

Who hath a book.

-Wilbur Dick Nesbit