Delights and Debacles

Oliver

2012-02-16T11:56:00.000-06:00

(a lady in Nauvoo Illinois did this for Ed & Stacy. They gave us a copy)

Oliver Palmer

July 11, 2001-February 16, 2012

Oliver passed peacefully this morning around 4:15am.

We will miss this little boy more than words. However, I am thankful that he is not suffering and that he can be at peace. I pray for his family as I know that the road of grieving will not be an easy one. Please pray for them. DIPG is such an ugly monster to steal your child. Pray for research. Pray for a cure. Pray that no more children will have to pass away without answers.

Im honored!

2012-02-14T16:08:00.001-06:00

who knew someone would write a song about my life!!

thanks jean.

i love it.

sadness and life

2012-02-13T20:11:00.000-06:00

it seems as though my heart as been so heavy for the last few weeks. it is miserable watching others that you care about suffer and go through things like losing children or watching their children die. no one should have to go through that. sadly suffering is part of this life. it does not make it fair. but it does happen. it has made me think a lot about our own little family.

i have started looking at my own children recently and wonder how I am doing. (I am not really writing this for any response. More just to journal)

today i was not feeling well. I have been super sick all day and pretty much hung on the couch in between trips to the bathroom. I was watching the girls play together on the floor and just started to think.

i started to wonder how I am doing as a mother. I know that there is always things that we can improve on. but I wonder if they are happy. if they will look back on their childhood, will they have happy memories. i hope so. i think if i were to lose one of them tomorrow, or if they became sick, would what they have lived so far be full of happiness and love. it makes me want to do more. not necessarily run out and spend money on them or anything like that. However I do want to try harder to make more and better memories for them. I want them to life every minute of their life.

i know it is unrealistic to think that we can be having fun every day all day non stop. i do think that you can take the small moments though and make time for laughter, for silliness, for love. there are days like to day when i can not remember laughing at all. when i feel so sick, or tired or just so busy that it seems like their are not enough hours in the day.

what i have decided is that their are never going to be enough hours in the day for it all. for all the chores. for all the errands. for all the love and laughter. so i will just have to change some priorities. i have to stop worrying about what others think so much. worry about if others think i am successful or not as a mom, wife, homemaker.

there is a sign that i have seen in others homes that i love. it says, "sorry my house is a mess, my children are busy making memories". That is how i am going to be from now on. so if you stop by and there are toys all over the floor, laundry baskets waiting to be folded, or other messes please excuse them. i want my children to remember love and laughter, not watching me fold laundry. I know those things will have to happen. I am fully aware that there is no magic fairy that comes while you sleep. I am just going to change they way i do things. when I do things. how i do things. hopefully i will be better.

my heart aches for those i know that have lost or are losing children. my biggest fear is that i would lose one of my children. so i want to make sure that they have no doubt in their mind how much i love them and how happy they make me.

kisses

2012-02-06T21:49:00.001-06:00

well there are moments in life that you just can't take back. they seem to move in slow motion. that was a moment i had on Sunday. garran had to go to church early due to meetings and so I got all the kids dressed and loaded them all up in the van. of course as soon as we get to church, briea informs me that she has to go potty. (we are potty training, so this was an important announcement) I unload everyone from the van and we head inside. Trying to get everyone in the building and through the same door some Sundays is like trying to herd cats in one general direction. I get everyone inside and push my was into the ladies restroom. three of the four go willingly. Cullan however absolutely would not go. he stood firmly in the door way informing me that if he stepped foot in the girls bathroom that he would get cooties.

I told him he could stand right out side the door, but that he had better not move. I get briea on the toilet and Kael is using the other bathroom. Ayla is having fun just wondering around the bathroom. Kael finishes and washes his hands. By this point I am helping Briea off the toilet and getting her outfit back together. She starts to wash her hands, Cullan and Kael are at the door arguing about who has cooties now, and I can not find Ayla. I look in the bathroom stall and there she is, her hands wet from toilet water (luckily clean) and in her mouth. (Yeah I know, insert gagging sound).

I dry her hands the best I can and were about to wash them when I got distracted with one of the other kids. Cullan was holding the door open and out she went. I hear her squeal with delight and hear Garran say "Hey A Babe". I come around the corner just in time to see him get a lovely open mouth kiss from her. He looked so happy. I thought for a minute about not telling him but then he went to kiss me. I said, not so fast. I would not be so happy about that Ayla kiss, since her hands were just in the toilet and then in her mouth! He looked a little queasy and that was how our day at church started!

briea.....helping.

2012-02-04T22:10:00.001-06:00

i told briea the other day that i had to wash their new sheets before i could put them on the beds.

she said she wanted to help. so i told her she could take them to the laundry room. when i went to check on the dryer..(wondering why i had not heard the buzzer) i opened the door to find this.

gotta love how their little minds work!

a date.

2012-02-04T22:07:00.000-06:00

I got to go on a date with him.

I was so excited!

He got to go on a date with me.

He was pretty excited too!!!

It was long over do -

Sweetness.

2012-02-04T22:04:00.002-06:00

I don't know if I already posted this picture or not. But I wanted to make sure. I love that she has rosy little cheeks and that she is snuggling her baby doll.

grief.

2012-02-04T21:42:00.000-06:00

as this is a family journal of sorts, i post things on here that are more for us than my readers. this is one of those times. above is my older sister and mom. we only found her this past August and met in November.

yesterday she lost her only son. my heart aches for her. i can not imagine the pain she is going through. to lose a child is not something i have never experienced nor hope to. sadly i know to many that have or are in the process of it. my heart aches for all of them. i pray daily for all of you. today my prayers are for Victoria. I know this time must be unbearable.

A gift.

2012-02-01T13:37:00.001-06:00

there was a visiting artist at NIU and she did a print while she was here. she ended up leaving the block and so they used it to do a demonstration. Garran thought that I would like one and brought it home for me. Sorry the bottom is blurry. Ayla started to grab it just as i snapped the picture.

now i will just have to frame it and figure out where to put it!

one of those moments.

2012-01-31T10:00:00.000-06:00

she fell asleep like this.

i just love the way she is sitting.

i love that there are toys scattered on the couch.

it's just one of those moments that i love.

just the girls

2012-01-31T09:54:00.001-06:00

now that the boys are in school for most of the day, it is just us girls.

while i miss the boys so much some days, i am really enjoying my time with the girls.

we get to run errands, play, watch dora and read books.

all kinds of fun things.

I just love these girls and I am trying to enjoy my time with them the best i can!

Milk Magic

2012-01-27T19:04:00.000-06:00

I saw this online and thought that the kids would like it.

I was right!

(Please excuse the way I look. I was cleaning all day. I asked Garran not to get me in the shot but he did it anyway. Sigh)

traffic.light.love

2012-01-25T13:24:00.000-06:00

today on my way home from Walmart, I saw what I can only call, traffic light love.

did i see a couple sweetly kissing at a stop light?

no.

did she have her head resting on his shoulder as he drove?

no.

what i did see was a woman sitting in the passenger seat digging up her boyfriends nose with her finger as he sat in the drivers seat just taking it. I mean she was really working hard. I could hardly stand it. I didn't know where else to look. It was one of those situations where you want to look away but there is really no great place to look since you are in traffic and they are right in front of you.

Finally after man handling his head to bend it to the perfect angle to insert her finger in his nose. she stopped!!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

I did not know how much more I could stand.

Then to my horror she grabs his head again and starts digging in his ear.
I was thinking......

seriously.....

how can she do this?

how long is this light?

good gravy!!

finally the green light came to this mans rescue and she released her death grip from his head and removed her finger from his ear, grossly flicking something from it. i felt a little queasy and decided to pass them as soon as possible.

i tell ya, i don't know what i would do if Wal mart or the ten mile radius around it did not exist . my life would never be the same.
ps. i have started a new label for all my wonderful wal-mart experiences. all you have to do is click where it says wal-mart drama at the bottom. sit back and prepare for the drama that is walmart!

the seven year itch.

2012-01-23T10:22:00.000-06:00

Yep, I have definitely got it.

THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH!

Now I am sure you must be thinking what, they seem so happy. Garran and I are just fine. I don't have the seven year itch when it comes to my marriage. I have the seven year itch when it comes to being in school. Garran has been in school our entire married life. And now.....NOW, we can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. 3 more semesters. This is it. He has this spring semester and then one more year....and we are DONE!!! I am sure some people might not understand why I am so ready to be done with school, but I am. I know the job market is in the tank. I know that my husband has choose a path that is not common, but for some reason, I am not worried about any of that. I have a feeling that it will all work out. I know that he is talented and that things will just fall into place. I have no idea when or how that will happen. I just have a feeling that it will.

There is something about being a student, that no matter how long you live in a place, it always feels temporary. Like when people ask you why you moved to the area you answer is always, "oh, my husband is a student". Its never, oh we moved here to live, because he works here or there. I know that we will probably not find a job and stay there for all of Garrans career. I understand that we will probably move. I am just ready to be done with this part of our life. Both the schools that Garran has attended have treated him very well. As in, the professors have worked closely with him to help get his name out there and develop his talents. For that I am very grateful. I just hate the red tape side of going to school. Fees, Financial Aid, Books, Supplies, Ridiculously small paychecks for all the hard work he puts in to what he does. I am just ready to move on. To have a husband that goes to work and comes home. That does not have to be gone till 11-12 at night, sometimes later, because there are just not enough hours in the day to go to class, teach, and work on his own stuff in the studio.

I am ready to be DONE!

And I honestly think he is too.

I am so thankful that he has gone to school for something that he loves. It makes me really happy to think that he will get to wake up every morning and go to a job doing something that he really enjoys. I would hate for him to have to get up everyday and begrudgingly go to work to support our family. I know he would do that. That is just how he is. But I am glad that he wont have to.

So this is our plan.

This semester we are going to try and get him in as many shows as we can to build up his portfolio and his resume. Next semester he will be teaching a printmaking class and they asked him to re-apply to teach another undergraduate class, so he will focus on that next semester if he gets both of those. (they will be very time consuming) and his last semester he will focus on his MFA show. It will be in Chicago and I can hardly wait. I am so excited to see what he does. I am always blown away by his work. So that is it. When i put it that way, it seems like we will be done in no time. Life keeps moving and when it comes to be done with grad school, I am perfectly ok with that!!

Snow Storm = Pictures

2012-01-20T14:05:00.000-06:00

when we get stuck inside because of snow storms...i tend to get restless. so today i broke out my camera. i miss taking pictures. i have seemed to lose steam because i am not that happy with my camera and life seems so busy.

I guess I could come up with a million excuses but i still love the actual act of taking pictures. Luckily i have a house full of cute models to follow around.

Here are a few snapshots I took today.

I know Cullan is missing, he is at school. I wish he was home with us.

The weather outside is frightful, and I dread having to go out into it to get him. I just want us all home safe and sound.

this picture is so breia. in her "pretties", being silly with her wild hair. it just sums her up so nicely.

the next two are some of my favs.

I love her hair in this one.

I just love the sweetness I happened to catch in this one.

umm. yeah. what can i say about this one.

everyday life with littles ;0)

then there is ayla.

she had just eaten. i did not get a chance to clean her up. she moves so much that i don't have as many of her, but she sure is sweet. Look at those eyes, rosy cheeks, and sweet little smile. she just melts my heart.

Doesn't Kael look so grown up in this bottom picture. He looks so much older than 5!

this is typical kael, hamming it up!

Look at those eyes. Kindness and Love!! That is what I see.

ayla and kael.

she is so cute. she loves playing with her older siblings. she tries so hard to keep up with them.

then there is daddy. everybody loves daddy. Look at that cheesy smile on Ayla's face!

everyone squeezing in...well except for cullan. i am planning on taking some pictures of him tomorrow. He is turning into such a handsome kid. Cute does not seem to really describe him anymore.

For Every Mom, But Especially those with Littles

2012-01-18T08:59:00.001-06:00

Every time I'm out with my kids -- this seems to happen:

An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, "Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast."

Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.

I know that this message is right and good. But, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn't work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong.

I think parenting young children (and old ones, I've heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they've heard there's magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it's hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.

And so I think that if there were people stationed, say, every thirty feet along Mount Everest yelling to the climbers -- "ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF!? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD BE! ONE DAY YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN'T!" TRUST US!! IT'LL BE OVER TOO SOON! CARPE DIEM!" -- those well-meaning, nostalgic cheerleaders might be physically thrown from the mountain.

Now. I'm not suggesting that the sweet old ladies who tell me to ENJOY MYSELF be thrown from a mountain. These are wonderful ladies. Monkees, probably. But last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: "Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast."

At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn't find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, "Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you."

That's not exactly what I wanted to say, though.

There was a famous writer who, when asked if he loved writing, replied, "No. but I love having written." What I wanted to say to this sweet woman was, "Are you sure? Are you sure you don't mean you love having parented?"

I love having written. And I love having parented. My favorite part of each day is when the kids are put to sleep (to bed) and Craig and I sink into the couch to watch some quality TV, like Celebrity Wife Swap, and congratulate each other on a job well done. Or a job done, at least.

Every time I write a post like this, I get emails suggesting that I'm being negative. I have received this particular message four or five times -- G, if you can't handle the three you have, why do you want a fourth?

That one always stings, and I don't think it's quite fair. Parenting is hard. Just like lots of important jobs are hard. Why is it that the second a mother admits that it's hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she's not doing it right? Or that she certainly shouldn't add more to her load. Maybe the fact that it's so hard means she IS doing it right...in her own way...and she happens to be honest.

Craig is a software salesman. It's a hard job in this economy. And he comes home each day and talks a little bit about how hard it is. And I don't ever feel the need to suggest that he's not doing it right, or that he's negative for noticing that it's hard, or that maybe he shouldn't even consider taking on more responsibility. And I doubt anybody comes by his office to make sure he's ENJOYING HIMSELF. I doubt his boss peeks in his office and says: "This career stuff...it goes by so fast...ARE YOU ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT IN THERE, CRAIG???? CARPE DIEM, CRAIG!"

My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn't enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn't in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn't MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I'd wake up and the kids would be gone, and I'd be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.

But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here's what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:

"It's helluva hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime." And hopefully, every once in a while, I'll add -- "Let me pick up that grocery bill for ya, sister. Go put those kids in the van and pull on up -- I'll have them bring your groceries out."

Anyway. Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn't work for me. I can't even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.

Here's what does work for me:

There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there's Kairos time. Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Like when I actually stop what I'm doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can't hear her because all I can think is -- This is the first time I've really seen Tish all day, and my God -- she is sobeautiful. Kairos.

Like when I'm stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I'm haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I'm transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I'll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world's mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.

Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.

These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.

If I had a couple Kairos moments during the day, I call it a success.

Carpe a couple of Kairoses a day.

Good enough for me.

By Glennon Melton

littles funnies

2012-01-14T18:30:00.001-06:00

while this might make me sound like a bad mom, today briea tripped and the little dance she did as she was tripping made me laugh. i could not help it. once she landed, she looked at me and said, "girl, don't laugh at me!"

Garran heading up the stairs, "come on guys bath time!" briea charging up the stairs, " wait for meeee! I want to be naked toooooo!"

At the store today Cullan asked me if he could have a quarter to get something out of those machines. I agreed. He got a Chinese looking ring with a heart on it. On the way home we had the following conversation.

Cullan: I think I'm going to try and get krista back. (a little girl in cullans class)

Me: ok

Cullan: maybe I will give her this ring with the heart on it, because I am just a lover.....and well, that's alright.

Me: we'll I'm sure she would really like that.

Then I notice him just looking out the window and I hear him say, (kind of to himself) "I wonder what a kiss on the lips would be like?"

As I was helping Cullan with his homework the other day, this was our conversation. Me: Name 4 things that are slow. Cullan: a turtle, a snail....ummm... A sleep walker???

Kael to Briea: Briea , leave me alone! I'm looking for inner piece!

2012

2012-01-12T19:46:00.001-06:00

turning 30 in 2010 was no big deal for me. neither was turning 31. i could almost feel a change coming. this year, i only have two goals.

1. Do more good stuff.

2. Follow through on my plans. (mainly the ones i have for myself)

I am not yet ready to reveal any of my big ideas, but I will as they become more cemented. I have a good feeling about this year and I am hoping it turns out to be as exciting as I have a feeling it will be!!

feeling helpless.

2012-01-12T19:36:00.004-06:00

it is miserable to see your child look like this on a regular basis.

it is all over her poor little body and worse then this in spots. these are actually pretty mild. This is all over her back and up into her scalp. it is so frustrating when you have doctors that refuse to do tests to help you figure out what might be triggering these sorts of reactions. so i have decided to do the elimination diet. it is something that a few of my friends have told me about. it is basically what it sounds like. you take all major allergins out of their diet. then you gradually add them back in one by one. when there is a reaction, then you know. I have a sneaking idea that one of her triggers may be red 40. that one is a little harder to catch, but I am going to wait till this outbreak clears up and then try it and see what happens. it seems like such an unfair way to tell. making your child suffer through outbreaks to figure out what is causing it but hopefully i can figure it out quickly. I am also keeping a food journal to try and track what she eats in response to outbreaks. That way if it is not a major allergin, hopefully i will be able to figure out what it is. My last hope is that I am going to start giving her flaxseed in small amounts. I have been doing research online and have found that a small amount of flaxseed each day will help decrease outbreaks and the severity of them. I really hope this works. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

to much, to young!

2012-01-10T12:22:00.001-06:00

I am sure that I might get some hate mail about this post. But its ok. I can take it. I have a real problem with this. The other day, we had Nickelodeon on. My kids were not watching, the tv just happened to be on. I sat down to start to flip and this is what I saw.
REALLY?
I know that my kids will be exposed to homosexuality. Cullan already has at school. But I just have a hard time with this coming from what is supposed to be a channel for young children. I feel the same way about sex education. I know that they are going to be exposed to it, but I would like to have the opportunity to prep them. I am just amazed how how many different avenues these different topics are introduced to our children. Needless to say, we will not be watching this channel or if we do it will be carefully censored.

can you feel the love...

2012-01-05T16:48:00.000-06:00

these two were so cute

giving each other hugs and loves!

once again....

2012-01-05T16:27:00.001-06:00

(this mocking face and statement above is exactly how I feel )

once again, here is another reason i should not shop at walmart.

as do most of my recent experiences i was shopping and pushing my cart.

i was moving quickly due to the fact that i was by myself and did not have much to get.

i was rounding the corner by the tank where people fill up their water jugs.

there was a Hispanic family filling theres and other shoppers scattered around.

as i round the corner, i am suddenly enjoying a new vantage point. that is right, the ceiling.

i all of a sudden find myself flat on my back and in what some might say was a good amount of pain.

i lay there for a minute, almost in shock. when all of a sudden a women's face is hovering above mine.

she looks at me curiously and says "honey, did you fall?".

I thought to myself for a minute and thought, nope I thought i would just lay here and enjoy this puddle of water!

i was a little frustrated at how many on lookers there were and the lack of help that i received to get up. so i just crawled over to the chip rack and used it for support to get up. my leg was banged up, and so it hurt like crazy when i put pressure on it. when i finally got to my feet, i felt as thought i should turn around and take my traditional bow, as i usually do after my walmart adventures. but, i didn't. i just pushed the cart off, mumbling under my breath about how much my leg hurt. i am sure the people closest to me probably thought i had hit my head and really lost it. the good news at the end of this story is that i did not forget to get milk. the one thing i went there for. Yippee!

The Death Of Pretty.

2012-01-03T17:53:00.000-06:00

Thought this was a pretty good article. So I will share!!

I want Pretty for my girls and the girls that come into my boys lives!

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-death-of-pretty

Harry Potter New Years Eve

2012-01-01T20:44:00.004-06:00

We had originally planned on being home for New Years, but when our friends the Palmers invited us to a Hogwarts Party in honor of Ollie we decided to stay and have a little fun.

I had spent the day with Stacy and some of our other friends getting some things together and making some plans. Really Stacy had collected all of the stuff. Amy and I were kind of like House Elves just helping to pull all the last minute stuff together :0)

It was so much fun. The kids loved every minute of it. Here is how it went!

(Disclamer-Stacy typed this all out on her blog, so I am totally stealing some of it because it was described so well)

The Harry Potter Party

(as you read the description, it is stacy talking. just so you don't get confused)

The Sorting Ceremony:

Each child would sit on a stool and we'd place the sorting hat on their head and the hat would actually tell them, in a pre-recorded voice, what house they were in. Then they would receive a matching scarf to symbolize their house and the next child would come up. Oliver was first and I placed the hat on his head while Ed helped him lean forward. Of course he was placed in Gryffindor and so I put his scarf around him and he laid back down. Everyone clapped and cheered and he had a big smile on his face. It was so fun to see the kids reactions to what house they were placed in. Too funny! The hat would say one of these three things.

"Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself, but where to put you??? Mmmmm... difficult, very difficult... GRYFFINDOR!!!"

"I know... HUFFLEPUFF!!"

"SLYTHERIN"

Gryffindor - Oliver, Meghan (not me), Kaden, Kael
Slytherin - Jaren, Briea, Cullan
Hufflepuff - Eden
Ravenclaw - Phineas, Ayla (ages 2 & 1)

THE FEAST
After the sorting ceremony we had a buffet set up of all sorts of finger foods. Drum sticks, a relish tray, chips and dip, little smokies, cheese and crackers and of course, Butterbeer. Amy made it with cream soda, Redi-whip, and butter flavoring. It was so good! Some of the little kids couldn't even lift up the mugs because they were so big! Ginormous... as Ollie would say. I wanted to make pumpkin juice, pumpkin pasties and rock cakes, but just didn't have the time. I'm sure we'll do it this week as I have all the ingredients.


Butter Beer

THE TRI WIZARD TOURNAMENT

After we cleared off the food, we set up the potions class on the table where Ollie could see it as well. We had lots of old glass bottles filled with some potion ingredients. For example, white vinegar and baking soda which of course had cooler names like 'goblin pee' and 'crushed dragon bones'. The kids would take turns coming up and helping us add the ingredients. Briea, who will be 3 in March, gasped in amazement when one of the potions started bubbling and foaming up. So funny! Oliver even got to make his own potion.

*The First Task - Successfully brew your own potion. The kids were having a hay day with this! They used their wands, chopsticks, to stir their concoctions together.

*The Second Task - Create and draw your own crest. I printed off a downloadable coloring page off of the internet so they could fill it in themselves. They were excited about it and Eden ended up making two of them.

*The Third Task - Find the Golden Snitch. Since I knew Ollie wouldn't be able to participate in the hunt, I asked him where I should hide it and he pointed to a wall sconce with a candle inside of it. I perched it on the glass that covered the candle. We then told the kids that someone had stolen the golden snitch and Harry needed it for his next Quidditch match so we had to find it fast! They looked around the dining room and living room until Eden finally found it! It was fun watching the kids using their wands to look for it. Meghan had hers out and was using it to peek under Oliver's blanket trying to locate it. "Accio, snitch" didn't seem to work.

After each task I would give them Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts from Gringott's bank (chocolate gold coins) to spend later on. They were each awarded with their very own Tri Wizard Cup, a tiny gold trophy I got from the party favor section of the Dollar Tree. I wrote each name on the front along with the year. They loved it! I heard "I'm a REAL wizard now!" from the kids when they received them!

HONEYDUKES Candy Shop & ZONKOS Joke Shop

We set up a small area in the kitchen for the kids to go shopping and spend their wizards money. Dollar Tree had tons of candy and fun jokes and gag gifts to make it fun for the kids. We got large glasses, magic tricks, fake spilled ketchup and nail polish bottles, fake snakes and cockroaches and all sorts of fun tricks and gags. They could each pick out one thing they wanted from Zonkos and then off to Honeydukes where we had Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (Jelly Belly jelly beans), chocolate frogs and broomsticks, Licorice Wands, Cockroach Clusters (Hersey's crunch bar clusters), lemon drops, pop rocks and all sorts of other goodies to choose from. They filled their bags and their tummies!

Since Ollie couldn't make it out to the kitchen, I grabbed his bedside table and filled it up with all sorts of goodies, like the candy cart on the train that Harry Potter loves so much. I wheeled it over to him, but he still wasn't feeling well, so I just put some things in a baggy for him if he felt up to something sweet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok. it's me again.

see, such a fun night.

here are a few of some of my favorite pictures form the night.

Ayla loving on Ollie. She is usually kind of shy, but she was kissing and loving him up!

this little guys name is Kaden. He was making me laugh. When it was his turn to put on the "sorting hat", he had his eyes closed so tightly and was whispering "please Gryffindor, PLEASE!"

Everyone Congratulating Ollie on making it into Gryffindor!

is this me or Professor Trelawney??

My little Harry.

The Tri-Witch Champs!

I just love these ladies.

They are so fun <3

While this New Years Eve was definitely bittersweet for us, we had a fun time. We knew that this would probably be the last time that we got to see Oliver and so goodbye this time was much harder than others. I cried the whole way back out to my in laws. I have know Oliver since he was still in Stacy's tummy. So to watch from beginning to end is more painful than i have imagined.

I say that knowing that knowing only how I feel as a friend. Please pray for this sweet family. I know that this new year will more than likely hold heart ache for them and that is heart breaking for me.

if you want to read olivers story you can.

wwww.oliverpalmer.blogspot.com

thanks so much friends for including us on this very special new years eve.

it will definitely be one we will never forget!

i took so many pictures that night that there is no way i could post them all.

so i decided to put them in an album if you want to see them.

cards anyone?

2012-01-01T19:57:00.000-06:00

while we were visiting wtih garrans parents we decided to play cards one night.

up and down the river has become almost a tradition since i have known Garran's family.

we play it often when we are together and i think it is a lot of fun. While we were playing, some little girl kept stealing our attention. she was just being so stinking cute, that i had to grab my camera.

i love that her toes are just barley on the table.

you would not know it, but she is giving grandpa that sweet look.

i can just hear her squealing with delight!

i love the picture from above and below of garran's mom with ayla. in the top garran's mom looks so happy and i love the giggly face on ayla in the bottom one!

Please ignore my awesome hair. I think it was kind of late... Anyways. I am rarely in pictures, so I had Garran take one of me with this little cutie.

Visiting!

2012-01-01T19:50:00.000-06:00

while we were in iowa, we of course got together with our friends the Palmers.

We never miss a chance to catch up and visit and let the kids play.

We had a lot of fun. They men folk went to see a movie and then Stacy and I got to go have some girl time. But of course, while the men were away...I took lots of pictures.

Garran and I both had helped Ollie open some of his Christmas cards. Ayla found one that played music and was in love. Ollie was laughing at her dancing and sticking her tongue out to the music!

You can not see it, but Ayla was playing Peek-A-Boo with Finn. They were very cute.

Ollie and Eden.

Such a sweet picture.

I told them to make funny faces. I think Eden did the best!

My kids always love to go to the Palmers for many reasons, but one is because they have a great collection of dress up stuff.

Above: Briea as Spiderman

Below: Spiderman with a little Briea Sass!

Ayla nibbling on a piece of pizza.

Cullan was just trying to be SUPER i think. a little spider man, a little iron man, and a little captain America!

of course Ayla wanted in on the action.

she is a peeping spider man :0)

RaNdOmS!

2012-01-01T15:56:00.001-06:00

This year we spent Christmas with Garran's parents in Iowa. We had a lot of fun and got to visit and catch up. We also got to meet Sam (Garran's brother) new fiance Ashley. They spent Christmas with us. Kael was VERY smitten with Ashley. He would follow her around and try to convince her that she should marry him instead of Sam. He even decorated sugar cookies and told me they were specifically for her. I think Sam might have been feeling a little jealous, but I am pretty sure Ashley is all his!

I had a bunch of random pictures I took while we were there, so i decided just to post them and tell about each one.

ayla playing in the kitchen.

my little bumble bees!

pirate briea

chef cullan

cutie kael

Kael and Bear.

the kids love when uncle sam brings his dog. he is a sweet thing.

our family Christmas morning in front of the tree.

Cullan in his new legos star wars shirt....that he loves!

Grandpa relaxing. Usually he had one of the boys or girls stuck in the chair with him. I think this was one of the few times he was alone. ;0)

ayla being sweet.

sometimes blowing up those balloons can just bring you to tears.

like i said. just some random shots.

but we had a lot of fun while we were there!

thanks grandma and grandpa for letting us invade for Christmas!

still here

2011-12-30T23:53:00.001-06:00

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

We are still here. Just been super busy with all kinds of holiday visits and fun. I will have all kinds of posts after the new year to catch everyone up.

I always seem to fall behind on blogging during the holidays.

So, in case i missed you on our holiday card lists this year...

Here you go!!

Merry Christmas from us to you!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and the most Wonderful of New Years!!!

for my mom

2011-12-20T19:04:00.000-06:00

we had our own little family christmas early because we don't like to travel around with gifts. anyways. i told my mom that their gifts this year were a hit. she asked if i had got pictures and i was sad to say that both my camera batteries were dead. i felt horrible. i only got one picture of briea. so here it is. They all really loved all the gifts from the grandparents. This was such a fun year. The kids were so excited. I wish we could have been with everyone so that they all could have seen the fun expressions on the kids faces.

sick

2011-12-20T18:57:00.000-06:00

once again. sick.

when i get sick, man i really get sick.

for some reason, once i get sick, i just can't stop.

i got to the er around 8:00pm and did not leave until 2:00am.

turns out that i had Gastroenteritis, and it kicked my rear end.

luckily i was not admitted. but it did change our plans a little.

i am feeling much better after getting re-hydrated and some medicine to calm my stomach.

as we speak I'm sipping on my Gatorade and slowly munching on some toast.

i have decided to just take things slowly. i am hoping that will help.

Tonight is the night!!!!

2011-12-16T16:28:00.002-06:00

Tonight is a night that I look forward to all year.

We have a tradition of going out to look at Christmas lights and picking the house that we feel is the best. Then we leave them a little treat in their mail box!

Not only is it fun to leave a surprise for a stranger, I think it is good to encourage people to be festive for the holidays. People seem so bah-humbug as the years go on. I always hear people say, "ah, what is the point", or "it is just to much work". Well it might be a lot of work, but for Christmas junkies like me, I really appreciate their effort. So this is a fun way to let them know!!

I will post pictures later of the winner!!

I can hardly wait for it to get dark outside!!!!

craft-tastic!!

2011-12-16T16:23:00.000-06:00

so my friend showed me how to make these cute little Christmas tree ornaments.

I really loved them. I thought they were simple and cute.

each year we buy or make ornaments for each person in the family, so this year I decided this would be the ornament for everyone.

here are the ones that I made for everyone. mine was already on the tree.

The girls have pink thread.

The boys have blue.

They are not completely done. I still have to attach the ribbon on the top. But close enough to blog about. I also thought about adding a star. We will see.

I had some left over felt and so i decided to do a reindeer.

umm. ya. he turned out a little scary.

garran and I had a good laugh.

i think it might be the green eyes.

anyways, i really enjoy doing fun little stuff like this. I think it is one of the reasons i love Christmas so much. it brings out my crafty side!!

Winter Sing

2011-12-16T16:15:00.000-06:00

The other night, Cullan had a winter concert at his school.

He kept calling it his winter sing.

They were supposed to wear winter or Christmas gear.

Here is my handsome little fella before we left the house.

He looks so festive and all ready to sing!!

Sadly all my videos got deleted, but luckily I had posted this one on facebook.

Hopefully it will work on here.

It was a very cute program.

Cullan was really grooving in one. I am sad that it got deleted.

We had a great time watching Cullan sing the cute songs he had worked so hard on.

Christmas Craft Party

2011-12-11T20:09:00.000-06:00

well the ladies at our church put on a holiday craft party every year. the rules are on the invitation that everyone has to bring some sort of food to share and a craft. it can either be homemade or store bought, but you can not spend more that $10.00.

This year I saw an idea on pinterest. Luckily i had everything i needed except for the vinyl, which luckily my friend becca had.

So my gift was basically free!

Woo Hoo for me!

Anyways, here it is. I think it turned out pretty cute. You can hang it somewhere.

I did not have anything to wrap it in, besides Dora wrapping paper. So i tried to get creative. That did not go over so well. I stuck it in this plastic bag with tissue paper and then made a flower to go on it. not my best work, but it worked none the less.

This year I received a cute Christmas tree made of these white feathers. it is really pretty and I have to keep it up high from all the admiring little hands in our house. ;0)

i enjoy these party's each year. it is a fun time to get to just hang out with some really fun ladies. their are no children and no husbands. just the girls. we play games to see who will get what gift and so it makes for a fun night. This year was the best because i went with some good friends of mine. We had lots of laughter!!

fancy

2011-12-09T11:59:00.001-06:00

this kid never stops making me laugh.

the other day we were sitting on the couch and cullan looked at me and said,

"do you know what this is (see picture above)?"

I said no. He then said, "this is the fancy way to pick your nose!".

where he comes up with this stuff i will never know.

but it makes me laugh!

Who is this Rockstar?

2011-12-08T09:33:00.001-06:00

Just my Husband!!

Garran's futures so bright....he has to wear shades!

(does anyone remember that song. LOL)

anyways, i am going to do some bragging for a minute.

garran had his end of year critique with his professors. they liked the work that he has been doing so much that they asked him to make another set of prints to put in the school archive. then they also told him that next year he will be teaching the undergrad printmaking class!!!!!

Woo HOoo!!

All of his hard work is paying off!

I am so excited to see him do so well.

Here is his website if you are interested.

www.garrangillespie.com

Ginger Bread Houses 2011

2011-12-07T20:32:00.001-06:00

well it is that time of year again.

during the holidays are family has a few traditions that we get really excited about, and this is one of them.

every year we make gingerbread houses and invite the missionaries from our church over to join us.

we figure if they are not going to be home for Christmas, they should still get to do something fun.

Here are the ladies from church. We were just getting started and so I took one before picture.

This was my house when it was all said and done. My favorite part is the fire pit in the front.

Kael and his house. Sadly about two minutes after taking this picture it hit the floor. No fear. We will rebuild!!

Cullan and his colorful house. He is not done and would like to continue on tomorrow. I am not exactly sure where else he might be able to add anything, but I am sure he will figure it out.

Briea is my minimalist. However if you could see inside her house. You would see it is full of candy ;0)

My house again!

Group shot...minus Ayla. She was working her way around the table looking cute and then being handed candy. I think this was even better for her than her birthday.

Garran with his house. I have no idea what this face was about. I think he was trying to be a mobster.

See his snowman met an untimely end.

I thought she did a pretty good job for her first time.

Same with Sister O. They both had a fun time and did not even mind the insane mess that this activity makes of our kitchen ;0)

Last but not least! My little sneaky baby. When Kael's house feel apart, Ayla snagged this piece before any of us could get to it. She was so proud of herself. She is such a little stinker!

my girls

2011-12-07T13:45:00.001-06:00

let me say i love my boys just as much as my girls.

but i just loved this picture.

She's a little bit of sunshine,

She's a smile to light your days,

She will steal your heart and keep it with her warm endearing ways,

She's your precious little daughter,

With a sweetness from above

Who will fill your years with laughter

and your lives with lots of love

christmas helper

2011-12-02T23:42:00.001-06:00

ayla got in the christmas spirit and decided to help me decorate!

no posts.

2011-12-02T23:37:00.001-06:00

i have not posted much lately because since thanksgiving we have been doing a lot of sickness at our house. when we have sickness, we also do a lot of sleeping.

here is the proof!

oh wait, this is just Ayla being cute!

back to sleeping.

here's hoping the sickness leaves us soon so we can be well for the holidays.

This time of year, I always need to hear this.

2011-11-29T20:22:00.001-06:00

this is one of my favorite messages.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T20:17:00.001-06:00

this year our thanksgiving was pretty laid back. my dad came to celebrate with us, however most of us were sick. So Thanksgiving include PJ's, yummy food and sleeping on the couch. Our two little ladies did not even make it to the table. They were sound asleep!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front teeth!

2011-11-25T22:43:00.001-06:00

First tooth lost. November 21st.

Second tooth lost. November 25th.

The first tooth, there were some tears shed. Some blood but great surprise when the tooth fairy showed up the next morning.

The Second tooth, no tears, hardly any blood. So much excitement about the tooth fairy coming.

Why do I feel so old.

Loosing teeth happens to kids, but for some reason it makes it seem real that mine are growing up!!

Friends ;0)

2011-11-22T10:49:00.001-06:00

on our way back from meeting Victoria we stopped to see our friends the Palmers. Unfortunately Oliver is not doing well and we really wanted to see him and let the kids play together for a while.

It was so sweet. Everyone was so excited about seeing each other... including the adults.

The Palmers have a pet that my kids were fascinated with.

Meet Hermione!

My kids thought she was really cool. Well Kael and Briea did. Cullan was indifferent. Ayla would look but that was about it.

She is a strong little turtle. She would try and pull herself out of the box and stretch her neck out so long. I always thought it was funny.

These two were like two peas in a pod. They had so much fun. I love Jarens face in this picture.

Stacy showing Hermione to the littler kids of our group.

Finny really loved Briea's pink boots. He stomped all around in them. I just love this picture. I think he is such a cutie!

Someone had let the palmers borrow a game that Oliver really liked. He had convinced Ed to play with him, even though Ed assured him that Oliver would beat him. It was fun to watch him have so much fun.

Briea was LOVIN all of Eden's baby dolls and Barbies. I think she could have stayed much longer to play and love on her dolls. Not to mention she thinks older girls are pretty cool, so there was that as well. ;0)

Poor Garran was not feeling well at all and was super tired. He feel asleep like this on their couch. I could not resist snapping a picture of him.

Who is that cute thing sporting a mustache?

Ayla saw the older kids playing with these. She brought it over and I put it on her. Of course I had to snap quickly because she proceeded to rip it off. But it sure was cute.

I told Ollie that I need some pictures of he and his family to update our wall. I had not seen them in a while and so I needed some new ones. Ollie is such a funny kid. He started hamming it up. The top one makes me want to sing that Rico Suave song.

These to pictures just make me smile. Oliver has an awesome laugh. It is most definitely contagious. When I look at these I can just hear it in my head.

Of course we took a group shot of all our littles together. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like so I always like to take a group shot when we get together.

Thanks for letting us drop in Palmer Family!!

It was so much fun to chat and catch up!

we are family

2011-11-22T10:04:00.001-06:00

so i have had a secret.

in august i found out that i had an older sister. my mom decided that it was a good time to let me know about her. she had been looking for her for a long time but had not had any luck finding her.

so when my mom told me about her, i told her that i was going to start searching for her too. one month later we found her. This past weekend was the first time we got to meet in person. We had all spoke with her on the phone, but this was what we were really looking forward to.

Here is a picture of my mom and my older sister Victoria.

here is a picture of my mom and my two sisters.

(L-R, Victoria, Mom, Sara)

Along with Victoria coming we had some family come in as well. We met late Friday night and then spend all day Saturday and part of Sunday together. I took a bunch of random snap shots while we were together. It was so great to meet Victoria. She is just AWESOME!!

I am so happy that we found her and that we get to have her as part of our family.

Here is Miss. B sitting at the table chatting with everyone.

Ayla cheesing it up for me.

This is my moms sister, My Aunt Sue.

My brother in law Jeremy, and Kael. They were hanging out under the bar, just having a chat.

Victoria chatting with everyone.

Well this is my grandmothers head, and my mom and sister chatting.

This is just a group shot of everyone sitting around chatting. It was a very laid back weekend. We just enjoyed our time getting to know each other and visiting. It was a lot of fun.

and of course, ready or not...she was loved on by my group. they were so excited to meet her. they chatted with her any chance they got and loved every minute they got to spend with their new aunt!

I am really grateful that we got to spend the weekend with Victoria and I hope we get together again soon!

trip rewards

2011-11-22T09:49:00.001-06:00

I saw this idea on pinterest. You make one for each of your kids. Then you hang them in the car. If they kids are good, their tag stays up. If they are not, they come down. It is a nice visual reminder. Then when you reach your destination, they get some kind of little gift. It could be a piece of candy or something small. The dollar store is great for stuff.

We did this for the first time on our trip this weekend and it worked really well. It helped with whining about not being there and small little fights that happen as the kids start to get restless.

How do you measure, measure a year....

2011-11-18T09:05:00.001-06:00

ten thousand nine hundred fifty days....

moments so dear.

ok i dont know why but "seasons of love" has been stuck in my head.

but hey, i have survived...10950 days.

heres to many more!

someone like you

2011-11-16T15:32:00.001-06:00

I love when he closes his eyes and sings.

It cracks me up every time I watch it.

He is such a funny kid.

daddy's girl...take two

2011-11-15T10:07:00.001-06:00

garran sure loves his girls.

the feeling is pretty mutual.

they light up when ever he walks in the room.

I love that they have such a great dad!

sacrifice.

2011-11-15T09:48:00.001-06:00

i love this guy.

when i look at this picture, i feel really lucky.

this past week, i have seen Garran work so hard. Get up at the crack of dawn only to not get home until one or two in the morning. I know it is not easy for him. I know he is tired. I know he stressed. On top of all that, he will find ways to help me by cleaning the kitchen or starting a load of laundry for me. i just thought i would take the time to say how much i appreciate his sacrifice for our family. I am sadly not one of those amazing wives that has an immaculate home and everything perfectly put into place, with 4 perfectly dressed kids. I have to admit that I think my job is hard as well. Well worth it, but hard none the less. I just appreciate that Garran sees that and even when he is crazy busy still tries to make sure I have a little bit easier of a day.

i recently read a quote that said,

"Never marry a man that you would not want your son to be just like"

I would be over the moon if my boys came out of their childhood with even half of Garran's characteristics.

He is a Great Guy.

I love him.

my guys.

2011-11-11T16:24:00.001-06:00

i am such a happy mama!

I had parent teacher conferences yesterday and today.

we will do kael first.

Kael:

when it came to school work, he got checks in the excellent column for everything. she said he is right on track and doing awesome.

she said he is very kind to others and loves to talk to everyone. she said he shares well and listens very well.

his teacher said he was a joy to have in class and just to keep up what we are doing because he is a great kid!

cullan:

today cullan's teacher showed me his journal pages. I will scan some of them to put on here. they were very animated. she showed me his report card. he got all three's. that is great. three's are the best. she said that she just loves having him in class. she commented that she wished she had more time to listen to all the great things he has to say, but it is hard with 28 kids in the class. she said that cullan was a great example to the other kids of following the rules and being kind to others. she said that it was great to have him in class, because he really helps show the other kids how to be and how to act towards others. i had to laugh when she said that he helped the others expand their vocabulary because he sure knew a lot of words and was always helping other kids with vocabulary.

i hope to have many more conferences just like these!!

baby lover

2011-11-11T16:23:00.001-06:00

no big surprise that cullan loves babies.

he is an awesome big brother.

he is usually at school when i watch this little fella, but today he was home and he was loving it.

kid interviews 2011

2011-11-11T08:48:00.001-06:00

Cullan-6

1. Who is your mom? you
2. What does she do? tell us everything and your the boss
3. Who is your daddy? Garran
4. What does he do? goes to work, and he is the boss of mom and the kids
5. What is your favorite color? green, red, blue
6. What do you want to do when you grow up? teach about the church.
7. What is your favorite breakfast? cereal
8. What is your favorite lunch? cake
9. What is your favorite dinner? cheese pizza
10. What is your favorite snack? crackers
11. What food do you not like? lemons, pepperoni
12. What is your favorite animal? sheep
13.Where do you want to live when you grow up? california, wait i mean close to my grandma and grandpas, because they would miss me.
14. What do mom and dad do when you go to bed?stay down stairs and chat
15. What does daddy say? "It's spanking time!" (Garran teases the boys and usually ends up tickling them or giving them play spanks. Just so you don't think we beat our kids!)
16. What does mommy say? "oh my" and "what in the world"
17. What is your favorite song? 5 little monkeys
18. What is your favorite movie? transformers-animated
19. What is your favorite ice cream? vanilla and chocolate
20. Where is your favorite place to eat? steak and shake
21. Who is your favorite person? my parents
22. Who is your best friend? Vtell, Joanna, Kevin
23.What is your favorite book? 5 Little monkeys
24. Who are your brothers/sisters? Kael, Briea and Ayla
25. Where did they come from? my moms stomach
26. What is your favorite thing to do?have cake, watch movies with popcorn
27. What is your favorite toy? legos, trains, trucks

Kael-5

1. Who is your mom? You

2. What does she do? cooks dinner for me

3. Who is your daddy? Garran

4. What does he do? he thinks its fun to give us spankings (see above note about this comment on Cullans ;0)

5. What is your favorite color? purple

6. What do you want to do when you grow up? help everyone feel better. i want to be a doctor.

7. What is your favorite breakfast? cereal

8. What is your favorite lunch?cheese sticks

9. What is your favorite dinner? chicken nuggets

10. What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks

11. What food do you not like? strawberries

12. What is your favorite animal? bugs bears and horses

13.Where do you want to live when you grow up? here

14. What do mom and dad do when you go to bed? read me a story

15. What does daddy say? Don't let the bed bugs bite

16. What does mommy say? i love you

17. What is your favorite song? twinkle twinkle little star

18. What is your favorite movie? tangled

19. What is your favorite ice cream? chocholate

20. Where is your favorite place to eat? resturant

21. Who is your favorite person? dylan

22. Who is your best friend? dylan

23.What is your favorite book? moostache

24. Who are your brothers/sisters? cullan, briea, ayla

25. Where did they come from? in your tummy

26. What is your favorite thing to do? make pictures for you

27. What is your favorite toy? woody

Briea - 2

1. Who is your mom? mommy

2. What does she do? dress up like a witch

3. Who is your daddy? daddy
4. What does he do? daddy tickles
5. What is your favorite color? umi zoomi
6. What do you want to do when you grow up? be big
7. What is your favorite breakfast? girls
8. What is your favorite lunch? pink
9. What is your favorite dinner? oranges
10. What is your favorite snack? i like snack
11. What food do you not like? kaels stinky
12. What is your favorite animal? horsey
13.Where do you want to live when you grow up? cowboy
14. What do mom and dad do when you go to bed? i don't know
15. What does daddy say? binkies
16. What does mommy say? be nice
17. What is your favorite song? bee song
18. What is your favorite movie? umi zoomi
19. What is your favorite ice cream? chocolate
20. Where is your favorite place to eat? no one can eat your food
21. Who is your favorite person? daddy, and my cousins, and my grandmas and grandpas
22. Who is your best friend? isaac
23.What is your favorite book? dragon
24. Who are your brothers/sisters? Kael Ayla Cullan
25. Where did they come from? that way (pointing to the front door)
26. What is your favorite thing to do? play with my pink car
27. What is your favorite toy? my baby

Ayla-1

Ayla did not answer any questions. But she is super cute. So i put a picture of her up too!

Sammy-Pa-Jammy

2011-11-09T12:34:00.000-06:00

that is what my kids have nick named the little boy i have started watching for a friend during the day.

he comes over here when is grandma is not in town loving on him!!

my kids are in love with him.

they are always excited to see him.

sammy has really taken to sitting in this bouncy toy.

yes i know it is pink, but our last baby was a girl. so i don't think he minds to much.

the kids love to entertain him.

here is a series of pictures i caught that I thought was pretty cute.

"what are they doing"

"who cares! its hilarious"

"distracted....."

"oh wait, hilarious again!!"

Kael wanted his picture taken with him.

I love that my kis love babies so much. it is sweet to see them interact together.

Gobble Gobble!!

2011-11-08T09:44:00.000-06:00

to get in the spirit of thanksgiving coming, i decided to make some turkeys with the kids to decorate our house. I saw this idea on line. it was so easy and I had everything except the bodies at my house. They are just paddle ball paddles from the dollar store. the wooden ones. then i just painted them. We did two girl turkeys and two boy turkeys.

her is our lady one.

here is our male one.

so now we have four very handsome and pretty turkeys hanging on our patty door. I think they turned out pretty cute.

can't help myself.

2011-11-05T18:37:00.000-05:00

today i was feeling crafty.

i have been bitten by the bug. i know i have said ir more than once.

I saw this on pinterest.

so i recreated it.

i added the flower to mine. I thought it was cute.

however i wanted to put it up next to something on the wall and it really needed something that matched to balance it out.

so i found this picture of Nauvoo online and added the words to the the song.

I was pretty happy with this as well.

the last picture is not that great. i took it at night and our living room was dark, so the color is yucky.

if you want to know how to make some, they are super easy.

i can let you know what you need. ;0)

I'm Blue

2011-11-04T22:01:00.000-05:00

today i had got the girls ready to go pick up Kael from preschool.

I told them I had to use the restroom and that I would be done in just a second and that we would go.

In the few minutes it took me to use the restroom this is what I found, as well as a blue wall.

Lizzy was so proud of the face that her sister had painted her blue that she was squealing with delight!

Briea was just as happy.

After I took this top picture, I said to Briea, "What am I going to do with you?". She replied..."give me a bath!"

ARGG!

Here they are after multiple shampoos and they still have blue highlights.

Briea's shirt says it all!

What am I going to do with these two?

trick or treat!!

2011-10-31T23:11:00.000-05:00

this year some friends of ours invited us to their neighborhood to take the kids trick or treating.

they have a really great area and everyone gets really into decorating and handing out candy.

here are our lovely hosts!

Trisha and Philip.

They just announced they were expecting this week and this is how they told people!

super cute!

Briea and her friend Isaac. she loves playing with him. anytime we pass their house (which we do every morning) she will say "go to Isaac house, play?"

Here is Jillian and her sweet new baby Sam.

I get to watch this little guy during the day.

he is such a cutie and super sweet.

he was a candy corn, but it was a little chilly, so he stayed in his bear suit!

i had to snap a picture of this. it made me laugh all night.

when i bought this costume, i thought these were pants. i don't know why it did not dawn on my that they were chaps.

I just kept giggling at Kael's little bootie hanging out while he ran from door to door!

finally, here is our whole crew!

darth vader, cowboy kael, fairy briea, and super baby ayla!

hope everyone had a safe and fun halloween!

school halloween party.

2011-10-31T23:01:00.000-05:00

today was Cullan's school Halloween party.

he was more than excited to wear his costume to school.

here he is before he left.

Darth Vader!

They do a fun little parade at his school so the kids can show off their costumes to the parents that line the streets. Here is the principal leading the way!

Cullan was so surprised i was there that this is the best picture i got. he is standing with his teacher and classmates.

After the parade, they went back to their class for the party.

it started with Ms. B reading them a Halloween story.

then they broke down into stations.

Cullan's first station was the witch hand.

they stuffed gloves with popcorn and then decorated them with stickers and rings.

next up was snack. a cupcake and they got to make spiders with Ritz crackers, peanut butter pretzels and raisins.

after that they got to play pass the pumpkin. this was the station i was in charge of. the kids were so funny. they would try to hold the pumpkin until they thought i was going to stop the music so they could get a prize. i had to be sneaky!!

then the party ended back on the rug with ms. B sharing a fun story about a witch looking for a home that ended up being a pumpkin.

i was so grateful that i was able to spend an hour with Cullan in his classroom today. i enjoy seeing him with his friends and in the classroom.

he is growing so fast. i just don't want to miss any of it.

love.

2011-10-31T22:48:00.000-05:00

i love garran for so many different reasons.

here is one.

after a long week with the kids, briea's allergy craziness and two hours in the car driving back and forth to pediatricians offices, he comes home one day and does this.

i need to run to the store, which i was so tired and dreading, that i asked him to make a list.

i was begrudgingly putting my shoes on, when he handed me this.

i took him up on it!

he is amazing.

he does so much for our family and works so hard.

yet, he still does things like this for me!

he's great!

allergies strike again.

2011-10-31T22:43:00.002-05:00

well allergies strike again.

after visiting with her pediatrician.

she is currently on 4 different meds. (some are creams)

and she is off milk.

almond or rice.

we are going to try a few different things to see what might be the trigger for this.

i hate seeing her suffer!

Fall Pictures

2011-10-29T09:49:00.000-05:00

Last year and this year, I have asked my friend Becca to take some family pictures of us, so that we have something to put on our christmas card.

So about two weeks ago, we went and did pictures.

These are just a few from the day.

I am saving the family one for our christmas card.

So if you want to see our family, make sure I have your address!! ;0)

Cullan

Kael

This is so Briea

Ayla

Ayla and daddy. One of my favorites. She is such a daddy's girl.

Garran and I

Our wild monkeys.

This picture just makes me smile.

It is our family.

The oldest three running wild, and Ayla about to jump out of Garrans arms wanting in on the action.

Their are a bunch more. Maybe I will post some on facebook in an album or something!

PJ DAY

2011-10-28T17:33:00.001-05:00

instead of wearing their costumes to school, kael's class got to have a PJ party.

he was really excited about wearing his pajamas to school.

he asked about it all week.

when i dropped him off at school all of the kids were so funny showing off their pj's to each other.

i love that kael is enjoying school so much and having so much fun!

Pun-Kin Fun

2011-10-28T17:25:00.000-05:00

once again. pinterest is to blame.

i saw this idea on there and thought it would be a cute decoration, but also a cute idea to take to the boys teachers.

all i used was orange paint, black duct tape, and baby food jars.

the ones on the site did not have the tissue paper on the top.

i added that myself. i thought it need something.

so weed added the green leaves and some candy inside.

the boys had fun picking out faces for me to cut out for their pumpkins.

after we were done. we put them in some orange bags and sent them on their way.

i love fun and easy crafts to do with the kids.

we are working on some funky turkeys to hang up for thanksgiving. i will post some pictures when we are done with those.

cuteness

2011-10-28T17:19:00.000-05:00

my friend Ann showed me how to make these last week.

now i am in love.

you can do so many things with them.

sometimes she puts safety pins on the back and will wear them on her sweater or on a bag she is carrying. other times she puts a clip on them and wears them in her hair.

i am in love. I think they are so cute, and so easy.

I made these four last night while watching TV.

I found this fabric at jo-anns for $2.00. you do not need a whole lot to make them. I love cute things that are cheap to make!!

Thanks Ann.

Baking.

2011-10-28T17:15:00.000-05:00

get ready for baking and crafty posts galore.

it is not my fault.

it is pinterest.

that site is so dangerous.

i get sucked in looking at stuff and then have to fight the urge to rummage through my craft supplies or make a run to hobby lobby.

hence the lack of blogging.

i have been busy.

the first thing i did off of that site, were these.

they are blue berry muffins.

they are WONDERFUL!

my taste tester agrees.

they make huge muffins and are definitely not as easy as the box mixes, but they are worth it.

and they only make 12.

which is good.

eating to many could be a serious problem.

Birthday Fun

2011-10-22T11:43:00.001-05:00

Well we celebrated Ayla's birthday last night. I had forgot that I had signed up to have the sisters over from our church a while back. So they just got to join in on the fun!

(I have been sort of scatterbrained lately.)

Here is the birthday Girl!

For dinner we had all of her favorite foods. So we had apples, grapes, cheese, crackers, chicken and tator tots. It was kind of an odd meal, but Ayla seem to love it. After that it was time for the cake.

I know it looks huge. It was really not that big. I used a very small cake pan. The original idea was that it was going to look like a big candle. however, i got behind visiting teaching, and running errands, so this is what I came up with. Its ok. Not my best. But Ayla was happy, so that is what was important.

When we cut into the cake. Ayla got the first piece, and then we went to cut some for these ladies....well the whole side fell off. So I just put it on a plate and gave it to them. It was pretty funny.

Kael waiting patiently for his piece of cake. He is wearing daddy's work glasses that he wears in the shop.

Next was present time. I think we could have just given Ayla the bag and she would have been fine with that. She loves bags. But there was fun stuff inside. It just took her a minute to figure out how to get into it. She ended up having some help from her older siblings.

Ayla playing with her birthday presents.

Briea enjoying some of her party "BLING"! All of the girls at the part go a ring of the cake!

I found these cute little tissue paper puffs online and thought they would make a cute decoration. I think I will use them again for other things. They are pretty in large quantities!!

It was a fun night, with a lot of laughs!!

Happy First Birthday to Our Sweet Lizzy Lu!!

(she did get the traditional birthday song, but we are still having problems uploading videos)

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

2011-10-21T23:26:00.001-05:00

so, I have been bitten by the baking bug.

since I have started taking my cake decorating class, I have started baking all sorts of things so that I can practice decorating them.

the funny thing is, that i have lost all interest in really eating any of it.

so that is good for me!

bad for all my friends that I have to pawn the stuff off on.

So I learned how to make these flowers last night in my cake class.

I love them. I think they are super cute.

I am not crazy about these colors, but I was working with some left over frosting, so I just went with it.

I also made some spooky Halloween mummies to takes to my visiting teaching folks. I am sure they might get sick of goodies soon. I thought the mummies were fun. If nothing else their kids will enjoy them!!

I will be posting more pictures soon.

Next week is my last level 2 cake class. I have to decorate a complete cake.

who knows what I will come up with?!?!

1.

2011-10-21T23:21:00.001-05:00

Today she is One.

I can not believe it.

October is a hard month sometimes.

I have to remember all month that my babies are getting bigger.

Today was fun.

We Laughed. We Played. We Partied!

Happy Birthday Lizzy Lu!

We Love You!

the price i pay...

2011-10-19T23:33:00.000-05:00

i guess this is the price i pay for wanting to put cute fall decorations up in our house! ;0P

I was taking some fall stuff out of a tub that we had and a vase shattered when i went to pick it up.

oh well. a few stitches later and this awesome wrap and I will have a scar with a silly story.

girl time.

2011-10-19T23:26:00.000-05:00

now that the boys both have school.

somedays the girls and i like to have a little fun while we shop!

Wiggle It, Just a little Bit!

2011-10-19T23:13:00.000-05:00

Another milestone has happened at our house.

Cullan not only just turned 6, but he also has his first official loose tooth!

He had just got home from school and I had given him some pretzels as a snack.

All of a sudden he tells me that the pretzels had broken his tooth and made it loose.

I checked it out, and sure enough, his first official loose tooth.

Cullan loves to video things. He makes his own movies all the time. So of course he wanted me to take a video of him explaining what happend with his tooth!

ENJOY!

(well the video would not load. i will try again tomorrow!)

Apple Orchard

2011-10-19T22:47:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday I went as a chaperon to the Apple Orchard with Kael's Pre-K class.

It was a little chilly, but the kids had a lot of fun. I was in charge of Kael and two other little boys. Here they are when we first got to the Orchard. Kael looks so big next to them, but I have to remind myself he is a whole year older than them. He is 5 and they are just turning 4.

Darn those late birthdays!

The first thing that we got to do was go on a Hay ride. The farmers black lab just jumped right up there with us and enjoyed the ride. He was a very sweet dog, and the kids loved having him along.

After the hayride we got to have some apple doughnuts and cider.

They were delicious. Very tasty!!

Here is Kael with some of his classmates enjoying their snack.

Next, we went into the barn to see how the apples were sorted and stored. The farmer showed the kids some of the more unusual apples that he had found recently. They thought that was pretty funny.

Next on our stop was the bee lady.

She talked to the kids about the bee hives they have there and how they make honey.

After she was done talking, the kids got to check out the bees hard at work. The also got to look for the queen who was marked with a blue dot.

Do you see her??

From the bees we went to the petting zoo and straw maze. It was nice because the kids could kind of get the wiggles out and run around. I was happy too. Only because up to that point I had three little boys wanting to hold my recently stitched hand. All I can say is that that situation equals PAIN!

I always think it is funny the faces my kids make in these cut out boards. Here is Kael and J. I don't think any of the kids in the class were tall enough to be the rooster!

We spent almost two hours there and by then the kids were ready to go. It was pretty chilly and they were all really excited about being able to ride the school bus again. For most of them, it was there first time on a bus. These are big moments when you are 5!!

I snapped a quick class picture when Kael's teacher had them all sitting.

I have a lot of respect for Kaels teacher. These kids were all pretty good. But she does this twice a day because this Pre-K is half days. Wow!! I am really happy he has such an amazing teacher!!

Birthday Fun!

2011-10-19T22:24:00.001-05:00

Cullan's birthday fell on a Monday this year. So we picked him up as a family from school and let him go to Walmart to pick out a birthday with some birthday money that he had received. He decided on this neon green Ben 10 Alien watch. He could give you all the details about it. I am not to familiar with it. All I know is that when you spin the dial and it makes noises, you morph into something else. He is really excited, so we were really excited for him.

After Walmart, we got some dinner. Cullan's choice of course. Then we headed home. I had decided to play pin the tail on the donkey for fun but also as a way to give him his gift. This year we decided to just do one big gift. So I had to make the presentation fun. Kael got a scavenger hunt...So I needed something new.

Cullan got to go first. Here he is getting his blindfold on.

They all were laughing and having so much fun trying to get that tail on the donkey.

Here is Kael. I think he might be trying to sneak a peak like Cullan did the first time. We caught on and fixed it so they could not see ;0)

Next was Briea. She did not get that she had to leave the blind fold on after she was done spinning. She would spin, tear it off, and put her sticker on.

Then it was Daddy's turn. The kids always love when we get in on the fun. Especially Kael.

I had a turn, but there are no pictures to prove it. We all had a few more turns and then finally we got to the big reveal. I had Cullan put the blindfold on again and while I was spinning him, Garran went out to the garage and got his bike. After I was done spinning him, he started to walk towards the donkey poster but bumped into his bike instead!

He was pretty excited. He has wanted a new bike for a while. Ayla was pretty excited as well. She was really interested in the bike and even tried to climb on once or twice.

Here is the birthday boy ready to roll!!

I had made all of these big plans to make Cullan a cake while he was at school. However, Sunday night I sliced my finger and ended up in the ER getting stitches. So my hand was really hurting Monday and I decided at the last minute to do a store bought cake.

However I totally got cool points with Cullan for finding him a Power Rangers birthday cake on short notice.

He is very much into Power Rangers right now.

I was happy I could find something that he liked because I could tell he was a little bummed that I was not going to make a homemade cake. Especially after Kael's birthday, and the fun we had making his cake.

Of course we did our traditional birthday singing. You would think with as many birthdays as we have in October we would master all the songs. However that is just not the case. Someday we will get them all right.

Happy Birthday to our AWESOME 6 year old!!

We love you Cullan!

October 17th

2011-10-18T00:10:00.000-05:00

six

how did we get here.

first loose tooth.

kindergarten.

growing up.

i remember pushing you in a stroller, passing other families and thinking,

i can not even imagine you that big. But, here you are.

Big.

the big kid.

the big brother.

we love you BIG time!

Happy Sixth Birthday to Our Most Favorite Cullan in the WHOLE world!

Just once a Year.

2011-10-14T23:16:00.003-05:00

for two weeks every year we have twins.

irish twins.

from october 2 to october 17th, they are the same age.

my two five year olds.

best buds. brothers. my handsome fellas.

A Mother's Love

2011-10-13T23:51:00.001-05:00

A Mother's love is something

that no on can explain,

It is made of deep devotion

and of sacrifice and pain,

It is endless and unselfish

and enduring come what may

For nothing can destroy it

or take that love away . . .

It is patient and forgiving

when all others are forsaking

And it never fails or falters

even though the heart is breaking . .

It believes beyond believing

when the world around condemns,

And it glows with all the beauty

of the rarest, brightest gems . .

It is far beyond defining

it defies all explanation,

And it still remains a secret

like the mysteries of creation . . .

A many splendored miracle

man cannot understand

And another wondrous evidence

of God's tender guiding hand.

Star of the Week!!

2011-10-11T23:24:00.001-05:00

This week, Kael was picked to be "Star of the Week" at his school.

He is so excited. He had to fill out a survey all about himself. That is what the above picture is.

He also got to take in lots of pictures of himself, family, and grandparents to share with his class.

Mrs. M, his teacher, had Garran and I write a letter for her to share with everyone on why we love Kael and think he is such a great kid.

He gets to be line leader this week, as well as snack helper and music helper.

Kael is loves school already. He is super social. He knows everyones name and they all know him.

When we leave or arrive at school he is always saying hello to someone and they are returning greetings.

It is so funny to me to see the difference in him and Cullan.

Cullan is social and has friends as well, but anytime we ask Cullan he never knows names, only basic descriptions. Boy in blue shirt.

Anyways we love Kael and know just how special he is!!

Yeager's Farm

2011-10-11T23:16:00.001-05:00

Today Cullan's kindergarten class went on their first field trip of the year.

They went to Yeager Farms, which right now is a pumpkin farm.

I was not sure if I was going to be able to go or not but thanks to a friend taking the girls I was able to surprise Cullan and just be there when he showed up.

Here is the bus that the PTA reserved for the trip.

The kids were super excited about the bus.

I think they thought that it was just as cool as the pumpkin patch.

At this point Cullan still had no clue I was there.

The bus parked by these cute little apples. I snapped a picture because I thought they were fun.

Here is Cullan coming off the bus. He was not even paying any attention. He completely missed me standing there with some of the other moms. I loved the look on his face when he saw me. I did not get a picture of that, but it was sweet.

This is Farmer Tom and his wife. Apparently after talking to some of the other moms, they are local favorites that have been around for years. They knew a lot of the moms by name. I am guessing from frequent visits each year with their families.

They were a very nice couple.

They had a bunch of cute things that were perfect for pictures. Of course Cullan had no interest at the time. He was with all of his friends.

I thought this one was really cute. I would love to take all the kids back some weekend soon. I think it would be fun and that they would have a blast. Plus I would love to get some fun pictures with all there fun fall stuff.

Cullan waiting in line with his class to go into the play land.

I have to say their play land was pretty cool.

They had all of these fun wooden things for the kids to play on along with a petting zoo and corn maze. Of course as soon as Cullan went in, he made a B-line for the train.

He kept saying "Looks like Ice up ahead", yeah a little to much polar express!

They also had this cool Pirate ship. Cullan loved to pretend he was steering the ship!

There was a castle as well, but for some reason I did not get a picture of that.

I was surprised Cullan wanted his picture taken with this. But he was so cute sticking his little head in there. You could pick any of the animals to be. All of their heads fold down. Guess he felt like being a goat!

After the kids played for a while, Farmer Tom came to pick them up to take them to the pumpkin patch.

Everyone piled onto the "Pumpkinville Express" to go pick out a pumpkin!

This is Cullan with about 1/2 of his class. The other half were on the first wagon. The lady in the plaid shirt is Mrs. Brady. She is a really great teacher.

I had fun meeting all of Cullan's friends and he was busy telling me all about them on the hayride.

Woo HOO!!

The Pumpkin Patch!

I was completely impressed that each kid got to pick out a pumpkin to take home and that they were not those tiny little ones. What you see in the picture is roughly the pumpkins they were picking from. Cullan picked a pretty pumpkin that was nice and round. I had to leave a little early to pick up Kael from Preschool, so I did not get a picture of Cullan with his pumpkin at the patch. Oh well. It was a lot of fun. I know Cullan had a great time and asked when we were going to be able to go back with our family. I was so thankful that my friend could watch the girls so that I could be with Cullan. I have looked forward to being able to doing stuff like this for a while. I miss him now that he is gone all day and this is a fun way that I can get to see him and do fun things with him!!

Wildcat Den State Park

2011-10-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went camping with Garran's parents.

We went to Wildcat Den State Park.

It was seriously they perfect time to go.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL!

We could not have asked for anything better and we enjoyed the company as well.

This was the view from our tent.

This is the kids checking out the campsite and enjoying being outside.

Cullan brought his binoculars.

After we got the tents up and everything organized we went for a walk/hike..

Here are Garran and Ayla before we left.

(I love that smile of Garrans! Swoon!)

Here we all are going down the trails. Of course the boys took off ahead, leading the pack. They kept calling it their adventure. It was so pretty. There were trees everywhere and they were all changing colors. LOVED IT! Have I mentioned fall is my favorite time of year.

Everyone checking out a bridge and the different things that were around.

Like I said, the boys kept running ahead. They were headed down to where the caves were. I mean caves and trails. A boys HEAVEN!!

Of course I was crazy with my camera and had everyone pose for a picture. I try not to bug people to much when we do fun things, but I love having pictures to remember all the fun moments. I don't think anyone minded. ;0)

There was a small channel, I think that is what you would call it. There was not a lot of water, it was mostly mud. But it was fun to look at and check out.

A little farther down the trail we found this cool bunch of tree roots. Garrans mom said something about how they would make a pretty picture. I agreed and everyone climbed up. I think they would have climbed up there regardless, but I got a picture anyways.

After we went for the walk, we came back to camp for dinner. I have decided if we ever have to live in tents, we are parking ours next to Garran's parents. His mom is a pretty tasty dutch oven cook. Much better than I. So we have already staked our claim if we ever end up in tents!!

Even though Garrans mom made some yummy dutch oven apple crisp, they still brought marshmallows for the kids to roast. I think my kids really enjoy the roasting part much more than the eating part. I was having fun playing with settings on my camera to try and get some fun pictures with the camp fire.

Breia was covered in marshmallow by the time we were done, She does enjoy the eating part of roasting marshmallows. She is so stinking cute.

Here is most of our group sitting around the camp fire, just hanging out talking and enjoying the beautiful night.

I tried to get one shot with everyone but me, but it came out blurry. ;0(

The next day we went to a mill that was just at the base of where we went to camp. It was pretty cool to go in and look at all the fun stuff. I have to admit that in my old age, my fear of heights was giving me some trouble. The stairs were so steep and there was not much of a railing. Coming up from the basement my knees were so weak. I wish it did not bother me so much. So I did not go to the top of the mill. I enjoyed taking pictures outside.

Cullan and Kael waving to me from upstairs.

The kids learning about ground corn.

I don't know why, but I told Garran that this picture makes him look creepy. The only thing that helps is that Garran has a baby on his back. ;0)

Look at that team work. Makes a Mama happy!!

Garran doing some sifting. He sat there for a long time. I was surprised at how into it he got.

Kael and Briea found this in the basement. They were pretty interested in it until I said it reminded me of Hansel and Gretel. Then they were not so interested. I had to kind of laugh to myself.

You have to look closely, but you can see Garran, Ayla, Cullan, and Grandpa hanging out the Mill windows. I was up on the bridge at the time with Kael.

I would recommend Wildcat Den State Park to anyone. It was really pretty and the trails were fun. It is right by the Mississippi on the Iowa side.

We had fun spending some time out doors, trying to relax from life, and spending time with Garran's parents. I hope we get to do some more camping. The kids really love it!

I love quotes!

2011-10-06T23:11:00.004-05:00

And i really love this one!

‎"Something kind of Sad

about the way things have come to be.

Desensitized to Everything,

What became of Subtlety"

it's official...

2011-10-04T23:24:00.000-05:00

i graduated from the level one cake decorating class.

i have to say that i do not feel like i really got what i wanted out of it. i know i posted before that the lady teaching the class was very nice, but not the best teacher. i don't feel as confident as i would like, and I still feel as though i will just have to figure a lot of it out on my own.

that being said, here was my final cake.

i decided to do a chocolate fudge with banana cream filling. butter cream icing of course. it turned out ok. there is a lot i would like to still try. however, with three birthdays in October and my new found cake decorating hobby, don't be surprised, if you my local friends get a mysterious cake on your door. Please take it. I really can not have cake in my house anymore. I don't even want to eat it at this point.

oh, i do have pictures of the other cakes that my friends did. however, at the moment i can not find the cord i need to get them off my camera. so when i find it, will post them as well!

i start the level 2 class this Thursday, but with a different instructor. i am hoping to learn a lot more.

i have really enjoyed taking these classes and just doing something fun one night a week.

Celebrations.

2011-10-03T00:42:00.002-05:00

So this year, I asked Kael what kind of cake that he wanted. He said that he just wanted to help make it and that he wanted it colorful. So I decided why not let him decorate it. It is his birthday and kids love to do stuff like that anyways. So I got it started and then he took it over, with some help from the rest of the family.

The kids all got a different color of frosting to help stir.

Kael waiting ever so patiently to have me finish icing the cake.

Briea thrilled that she has a whole bowl of icing she is in charge of. ;0)

time to decorate!

Everyone got to add their own individual touch.

Look at that talent. Little cake designers!

the finished project. Kael thought it was great. That was the most important part. I thought it was a very abstract peice of work. ;0)

this year instead of doing a couple little presents we just did one big one. So here is Kaels new bike!!

I can not find the picture I took of him on it, but he was really excited about it.

of course i had to take a video of our big happy birthday song! i love cullan and briea at the end. they were so into it!

5 Short Years.

2011-10-02T08:25:00.000-05:00

Five short years ago today we had already dropped Cullan off at our "Friendly Neighbors" house.

I left in tears. I don't know if it was hormones or what. I was sad that I would be leaving Cullan for three days. I was scared about giving birth again. All I could think was that if something went wrong, I would be leaving this sweet little boy and Garran. I know. It sounds dramatic, but I am a worrier by nature. Anyways, by now we were sitting in the hospital. I had the nicest nurse ever. Garran and I still had not decided on a name and so we were discussing things and waiting for our sweet baby boy.

I remember wondering how I could love another baby as much as I loved Cullan.

However after my easiest labor of all four, my fears were put to rest.

It was love at first sight.

He was adorable and I could not imagine my life without him, even though he had only been with us for a few short minutes.

And now....

5 Years Later

Here he is.

Handsome, Energetic, Social, Funny, Dramatic, and so full of LIFE!

Kael has so many wonderful characteristics. We love him more everyday.

These last 5 years have gone by so fast. It feels like we were just at the first picture.

We Love You More Than You May Ever Know!!

Happy 5th Birthday

Kael!

Fun Fair

2011-09-30T23:19:00.000-05:00

Tonight Cullan's school put on a fun fair and it sure was fun!

We had a really great time. I have to admit that both Garran and I were nicely surprised at how many fun things they had to do for the kids. Things were very fairly priced and the kids had an awesome time playing all the games and doing all the activities!

We ate dinner there first.

Hot dogs!

The kids were excited about that!

I am about 99% sure this was Cullan's favorite part. They had a couple huge bouncy house things and he spent most of his time playing in those.

Briea on the other hand had fun at the bouncy houses but really loved all the animal stuff. she stayed at the mini petting zoo for a long time.

so did Kael. he has always been my little animal lover. he is very sweet and soft to them. he is always asking if we can get different kinds of pets. hopefully one day we will.

garran tried to let Ayla check out the animals with Briea. I don't think she was having much of that. Briea on the other hand was not afraid at all. She cracked me up. She and this duck were having a mini stare off. all of a sudden this duck quaked and her and she just reached over and pinched its beak closed. she was very soft when she did it, but I could just see her saying, "I don't think so DUCK!"

They also had pony rides.

Guess who was in heaven.

Yep these two kiddos.

We took multiple turns on the ponies.

At one point, every time we went around briea would yell "yee-haw" and wave a pretty wave to the people waiting in line for a turn.

They were so cute riding the horses. I even snapped a little video of them.

after the pony ride, Kael decided that it was time to go do some rock climbing!

here he is getting all harnessed up.

this was a pretty decent sized rock wall for a 5 year old. kael showed no fear. he just hopped right up in line.

Cullan stood with Kael while he waited for his turn.

Kael getting harnessed up by one of the rock climbing students from the college.

Look at him go. He did not make it to the top to ring the bell but that did not matter at all. I was so proud of him for trying something new. I kept telling him what an awesome job he did. I hope he tries those sorts of things more often. I get so excited watching my kids strike out and try new things that they have not yet experienced.

video of kael. Sorry it is sideways and short. i was trying to watch other kids so i did not get most of it.

Cullan playing bags. Guess he takes after aunt sara!

after most of the games we decided to go on the hay ride.

look at these two cuties waiting for the ride to start.

i just love them.

three more cuties.

Sometimes I can not believe how big they are getting.

Cullan took this picture of Garran and I.

I am trying hard to be in more pictures.

more cuteness.

i just thought i would through it in.

while on the hayride we found out that this tractor is famous.

Zach Effron and Dennis Quad are in our town and the two adjoining filming a movie. This tractor was in it. They borrowed it from the farmer. The movie is about a farmer and his son. The dad wants his son to farm, but the son wants to be a race car driver. I found a link to the movie HERE.

Here we are at the end of the night.

Fun Fair Over and we were ready to head home.

It was starting to get really chilly so it was the perfect time.

I am actually looking forward to more nights like these, now that we are officially parents of school aged children.

(sigh, I can not believe i just said that)

almost here.

2011-09-30T22:50:00.000-05:00

kael's birthday is sunday.

he will be 5!

today at school he got a birthday sticker, happy birthday sang to him and he got to share cupcakes with his friends.

all in all, he had a great day!

noodle nunchucks

2011-09-30T22:48:00.000-05:00

well i had just sat down at my last cake decorating class for the level one group when my phone rang.

we had made Chinese for dinner that night, and used chopsticks while eating.

i had finished dinner and left.

garran calls me and says, "hey you might need to come back home.".

i asked what was the matter.

garran said he was not sure what happened. he said kael was sitting in the chair and the next thing he knew he was crying and saying that his face hurt.

he had some how managed to "noodle nun chuck" (that is what our kids call chop sticks, don't ask, I don't know why) but anyways, he had somehow managed to "nun chuck" himself in the face.

so i left class early and took Kael to the ER for him to have his cheek looked at. it was not a very long cut. however it was deep and in a bad place. Garran and I both thought that because of the location it would need stitches to heal and not constantly keep opening.

we were right.

3 big stitches.

i told Kael afterwards that they had to sew him up to keep all his handsome-ness inside. he thought that was funny. he was really brave till they stuck that needle right in his cut. i have to admit that this was the first time i witnessed someone getting stitches. usually garran deals with this stuff. however he had a ton of grading to do, so i went. i tried to not think about how painful it was to have that needle stuck in your cut, but i think i may have tensed up just as much as poor kael did when that needle went in.

oh well. he is doing well, and those stinky stitches will be out next week!

out.

2011-09-30T22:38:00.002-05:00

yep.

100% out!

relatable!

2011-09-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

This comic strip almost always makes me laugh.

Probably because most of the time I can totally relate!

This is what happens.

2011-09-25T23:43:00.001-05:00

When you spend the evening with friends you do not get to see that often but that you know you can always laugh with and have a good time.

We tried to surprise our friends that Palmers for Stacy's birthday, which is tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Friend!

She figured it out, but we still went and had fun anyways. We ate dinner at this super yummy place called "Tokyo". Then we walked around the mall and just chatted. Had some ice cream and ended the night at Target.

I know it might not sound like the most amazing double date in the world, but I laughed so much it was totally worth every minute.

Of course at the mall we had to stop in the Halloween shop. The boys stayed up front and talked while Stac and I looked around.

We found these gems and I could not resist a picture with them.

Thanks for a fun night Palmer's and Hope you have an Amazing Birthday tomorrow Stac!!

B

2011-09-23T00:39:00.002-05:00

time goes by to fast.

she is growing up right before my eyes.

she is talking like a big kid now.

no more one or two word sentences for her.

she is my big girl.

every time I look at her, i see my mom.

of all my kids, she resembles my mom the most.

Memories (for me)

2011-09-23T00:36:00.001-05:00

Tonight I was telling Cullan how much i love his freckles. Then he said "I like your red freckles too". Umm yeah sadly those aren't freckles!

Love moments like this morning. I was dropping Cullan off at school and I gave him a hug and kissed his forehead and told him I loved him. Then he ran off to the playground. He got half way there, turned around and said "mom, I just love your hugs and kisses!".

On the way home from picking Cullan up from school, he told me that they had their first kid meeting today. This is where the whole school meets in the auditorium in the morning to say the pledge and a few other things. Then he says, " mom, did you know we are all made of justice under God?".

Listening to Cullan and kael in the back seat discussing whether IR not this man coming out of the building is Garran or not. Cullan says its not BC garran did not have a hat on when he left. Kael says it is because they have the same color shirt. I guess they have not noticed that the Guy is African American yet!

Cupcakes!

2011-09-23T00:29:00.002-05:00

Week three of cake decorating class. There are only 4 weeks. I have to admit that the teacher is not my favorite. She is a very nice lady but she is not the best at teaching the class. I don't know. She is very nice but maybe our teaching and learning styles just don't mesh.

Of course I have everyone take pictures of their cupcakes at the end of the classes.

Here is Jenny's

Jillian's Cupcakes.

She took an extra one with her cupcakes, just in case I forgot. She is so funny!

Becca's beautiful treats!

Here are mine. Don't say anything about my stupid stringy mum cupcakes. I hate them. They are my least favorite and I really don't ever plan on decorating anything with them.

(Can you tell it's late and I am feeling a wee bit like a 5 year old cranky child) LOL

Last but not least, Trisha's.

And the best part is, they made it home. Last week her cake hit the floor as she was leaving class.

Next week we have to decorate a cake. Pictures to come!!

Im a few days late with this!

2011-09-18T22:46:00.001-05:00

First Day Of School

~Author Unknown~

He started school this morning,
And he seemed so very small.
As I walked there beside him
In the Kindergarten hall.

And as he took his place beside
the others in the class,
I realized how all too soon
Those first few years can pass.

Remembering, I saw him as

He first learned how to walk.

The words that we alone made out
When he began to talk.

This little boy so much absorbed
In learning how to write.
It seems as though he must have grown
To boyhood overnight.

My eyes were blurred by hastily
I brushed the tears away
Lest by some word or sign of mine
I mar his first big day.

Oh how I longed to stay with him
And keep him by the hand
To lead him through the places
That he couldn't understand.

And something closely kin to fear
Was mingled with my pride.
I knew he would no longer be
A baby by my side.

But he must have his chance to live,
To work his problems out,
The privilege to grow and learn
What life is all about.

And I must share my little boy
With friends and work and play;
He's not a baby anymore --
He's in Kindergarten today

cake anyone?

2011-09-18T13:57:00.002-05:00

I decided a while back that I wanted to take a cake decorating class. Just something fun to do where I could get out of the house for just one night a week.

A couple of friends decided to take the class as well.

from left to right

trisha, jillian, becca, and beccas friend. i can not remember her name.

we decorated our frist cake this week. i made everyone take pictures of their finished products.

this was trisha's. sadly it hit the floor as she was leaving class. it really was sad even though we were all laughing!

Jillian's pumpkin.

Becca's corn cake!

Becca's friends butterfly.

Here is mine. I need to work on my coloring of frosting but the design is not to bad for my first attempt!

I am sure there will be more pictures of cakes to come!

The Pledge

2011-09-15T17:08:00.000-05:00

Today I picked Cullan up from school. Of course each day I ask him how his day went and what he learned or what was fun about his day. He said that today they had their first kid meeting. I was not sure what he was talking about at first. However after a little questioning I realized he was talking about an morning assembly they have each morning to say the pledge and go over other school news.

He said that they said something called "The pledge". (Guess we have never gone over that, even though he used to say it every morning in mom school)

Anyways. He was telling me all about the pledge. Then he says, "Mom, did you know we are all made of justice under God?".

I love the way kids hear things sometimes. I thought it was so funny and cute.

sharing

2011-09-13T00:01:00.000-05:00

Today when I picked Cullan up from school, I asked him how his day went. He said that it went pretty well except that some kid threw away his napkin that I had drawn a picture on. He was not happy about that. Then he proceeded to tell me that while he was eating lunch, he started talking to the little boy next to him. I guess the little boy told Cullan that he really liked cookies. So Cullan decided to share one of his cookies from his lunch box with the little boy. After Cullan shares the story I hear this conversation from the back of the van.

Kael: Cullan that was nice of you to share your cookie.

Cullan: Yeah, he just said he liked cookies, so I gave him one.

Kael: Did he say thank you?

Cullan: No

(silence for a minute)

Kael: Well that was RUDE!!

I don't know why but I got a case of the giggles from this. I was laughing the whole way home!

Pre-K

2011-09-12T23:56:00.000-05:00

Here he is!

All ready for his big day at Pre-K.

I was a little worried that he might get shy and have a hard time with me leaving. Well forget that theory. He walked in the room, put his book bag up and said "Bye MOM!". That was it. My job was done. I was so happy that it went well though. His teacher was waiting with him when I picked him up and said that he had an awesome first day. She said he was her big helper when they were trying to come up with rules for the classroom and play ground. (for those of you that know Kael, that should come as no shock.)

He said that he made a friend name Jim and that he got to play on the playground and play with play dough. All in all a pretty successful day I would say!