She's Doing The Thing She Thought She Couldn't Do

Amy is still without the Internet, or without her computer as she puts it, until next week. So here I am again, hijacking her blog!
On the appliance front it's down to the oven/stove and washer and dryer that they are living without. The washer and dryer are at the house but they are waiting for the "gas guy" to come and put the gas line in for both of those. Her laundry is getting to "red" or whatever the highest terrorist level is these days. That's where it's at. On the other hand she is getting pretty savvy with her cooking abilities. We all know she was savvy with those to begin with but now it's getting to a new level!
The kids are surviving but anxious to get back into some kind of a routine. She's got Evelyn making grocery lists, Sam is living it up wearing sweatpants (no clean jeans) and Max is cutting her hair. That's no joke, you read that right. They are a hair cutting family, after all. So it should come as no surprise. They start the training early. Amy was working on putting a desk together when he got a hold of some sheers and saw his mother badly in need of some texturizing and, well, took matters into his own hands. When she went to inspect she couldn't find the spot he cut, he must of done a bang up job then. That's what I say!
So that's them in a nutshell. Oh, and don't email her as her email doesn't seem to let her access that anymore. Believe me, I've tried hijacking that too.
Peace Out. K.

A Little Bit of Blog Hijacking

I've never hijacked anything before. I think hijacking your sister's blog is the way to go.

Kimberly here, Amy's favorite sister. I've taken over her blog for the moment. Because I can, because I'm her favorite sister and because, well, she's busy.

Very busy, in fact. The week before Thanksgiving they up and sold their house and then up and bought a new one. Things have been a bit crazy since then and her poor children fall asleep whenever they get in the car to go anywhere. I'm only half kidding about that one.

We are so excited for this big and new adventure for them. It has all happened so fast and is slightly overwhelming. As I'm sure you can imagine. For now they are without a washer and dryer, a computer (well they still have a computer but no desk to put it on and nothing that will connect it with the world), a microwave, an oven, a dishwasher and up until yesterday a fridge. But things are slowly coming together and I'm quite sure (if she does what I tell her to, which is sometimes) she is taking lots and lots of pictures. So hopefully soon she will fill us in on everything new and fun.

In the meantime I might have to try hijacking this bad boy again. It's quite fun. I highly recommend it.

See? Look! They are alive and well. And so excited they can't even open their eyes.

He belongs to this blog. He drives his mother crazy but you have to admit, he is dang cute!

Thought....

"Work is an antidote for anxiety, an ointment for sorrow, and a doorway to possibility. Whatever our circumstances in life, let us do the best we can and cultivate a reputation for excellence in all that we do. Let us set our minds and bodies to the glorious opportunity for work that each new day presents." ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf~

Black Cat...

Rick has a cold and was snoring up a storm last night, so I ended up on the couch. This morning Evelyn and Sam came out to greet me. Sam wanted to snuggle with me and Evelyn stood at the side of the couch and held my hand. It was actually very nice. Apparently there has been a black cat hanging around outside our house. Evelyn looked out the window this morning and said, "That black cat is still in the neighbors tree, I wonder where he came from." To which Sam replied, "I think he fell off of a witches broom." (true story, I do not lie.)

Halloween Part 2

Sounds like a horror movie doesn't it. I think there is a movie by that name, but that doesn't have anything to do with that I am going to post about... Halloween to me is a little kid holiday, at least the Trick or Treating part is. I can't stand when big kids come to my door and this year I had a lot of that. My aunt gives the big kids Dumb Dumb's and everyone else gets chocolate. I should have done that this year.
I'm going to tell you about one of these big kids and I want you to tell me what you would have done in my situation. Two boys came to my door, one being around 12 I would say (which in my mind is the cut off age) and another boy that had more facial hair then my 31 year old brother! (Which I know isn't hard, but come on!) I put candy in the 12 year olds bag and then the Facial Hair kid holds out his hands... no bag, no costume. I told him no. He didn't have a costume or a bag, so he was out of luck. The rest of the night, every time the door knocked I excepted it to be Facial Hair kid back to beat up the mean lady who wouldn't give him any candy. My thinking is, if you can grow that kind of facial hair, surely you can get a job and buy your own candy. So tell me... what would you have done?

Halloween

Happy Halloween! We didn't have any kind of theme this year. What ever fit, they wore. Evelyn wore the costume that I wore when I was her age... one of Susu's saves. Sam was Batman and Max was The Pumpkin. Being The Pumpkin has become tradition at that age. They've all been The Pumpkin. While I was getting Evelyn ready, we had a little mishap. I had her put a sweatshirt under her top and she got too hot and threw up. She hadn't had any candy yet, so I knew it wasn't that. I'm just hoping it was the heat. She was fine the rest of the night.

Recipes to Share...

Just wanted to share the links to a few things I've made over the last 6 months or so, probably more then that...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Pizza Casserole
Herb Crusted Salmon
Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Chocolate Pudding Pie
Shredded Pork (like Cafe Rio)
Raspberry and Jam Muffins
(I have tweaked these a little. I'll have to find my paper with the tweaking on it and share my tweaks.)
Arroz con Pollo
Baked Donuts
Zucchini Alfredo (really good with grilled shrimp)
Caesar Salad (we LOVE this)
Best Ever Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake

If you haven't checked out foodgawker, well you need to. If you like food, you'll find something you HAVE to make. If you only like to look at pictures of food, you'll find plenty of those too. Here are a few things I would like to try-

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Turkey Bean Pumpkin Chili (I think I might try this on Halloween.)
Pomegranate Creme Brulee
Bananas Foster Tartelettes
Mexican Pulled Pork
Chicken and Vegetable Chowder (or maybe I'll make this one on Halloween.)
Kneaders Bread Pudding with Vanilla Cream Sauce

Camping Trip...

I realize I have been a horrible blogger lately. I thought I had better finally get the pictures up from our camping trip over Labor Day. It was eventful. Someone, who shall remain nameless (it wasn't me), forgot the tent poles. We all slept in the back of the truck under the canopy. Thank goodness it didn't rain in the night. It did rain, by rain I mean came down in buckets, when we were on the river. Not my finest hour, but we made it to the end and were even on speaking terms later that night. lol!

Give Away...

I just found the blog The Frugal Homeschooling Mom and she is having an awesome give away! Go and check it out. It isn't just for HS. This would be great for anyone who wants to help improve their kids spelling and vocabulary.

Ladies Man...

Evelyn taught Max this trick a few months ago and I finally got it on video. Every time he does it, it makes us laugh.
He's just so stinking cute!

Could It Be...

Max peed on the potty last night and this afternoon. Sam wouldn't even go near the potty at this age. So I'm hoping that means Max will potty train before he is almost 4! Could be wishful thinking, but a girl can dream can't she?

Vacation Pages....

I have been remiss in posting about our recent vacation to California. I have done a few pages about some of our adventures. So I thought I would at least share those...

27 July...

Dear Evelyn,

I can hardly believe you are 6. It took us so long to get you here and now you are starting 1st grade. Not being able to have a baby seems like a lifetime ago. Before you came you had a talk with your brothers and made sure they were on board to follow you quickly. It seems like just yesterday we were on our way to the hospital to start our new journey as parents. Labor was long for the 2 of us, maybe that's when you were talking to the boys (and anyone else that hasn't come yet). Aunt Kimberly told Susu that she would call her as soon as she heard crying... it was mine she heard, not yours. Even now, writing this, the emotion of that moment when you were born comes back to me. Thank you for coming to our family. You are truly a joy to your dad and I.

Love, Mom

Happy Birthday Max!

Today you are 2! I can't hardly believe it. Where has the time gone? Right this moment you are in your room not taking your nap. Big boys don't take naps, just babies. Couldn't you stay a baby a little longer? You are growing up so fast and it is fun to watch. Just yesterday at the store, clear as day, you said, "Want apple juice." So apple juice we got. Happy Birthday Little Man!

Mad Riding Skills...

For Sam's birthday we got him a Big Wheel. One of the good, old big Big Wheels. We knew he wouldn't do a 2 wheeler without a fight. A month or so ago, one of the neighbor boys came over on their old little 2 wheeler. He is way too big for it and it was funny to see him on it. I asked him if Sam could give it a try... and away he went. If only we had known, we would have got that for his birthday instead of the Big Wheel. Knowing how Sam is about things, we knew we had to seize the opportunity and get him his own bike. So about a week ago, Rick took Sam to get a big boy bike!

New Front Yard...

Last summer we, well Rick, ripped everything (minus the tree in the corner bed and the burning bush in the bed in the middle of the yard) out of the beds in the front yard. They just needed help. On Monday Rick went and got new plants. So after I was done with work, he dug the holes and I planted. We ended up doing a lot of rose bushes, a row of lavender and a couple of euonymus. We think it came together nicely and hopefully everything will live!

199 Days...

That was our school year, 199 days. We started 1 August, 2008 and finished 27 May, 2009. Wow! There was good, bad and the ugly, but in all it was a good year. We were all learning something new. Evelyn as the student, me as the teacher. I am so proud of all that Evelyn has learned and accomplished. I know I wasn't always the nicest or easiest mom to deal with as we started this new adventure. We used K-12 for our curriculum and it was the perfect thing for us to start our homeschooling journey with. They sent us everything we would need. We would log in every day to look at our lesson plans and log our attendance. We really haven't stopped doing school. Evelyn does better when we keep at it, even just a little. I decided for 1st grade (that sounds weird, my baby is in 1st grade), we are going to do our own thing though. Now that I have a year under my belt, I decided I wanted to try out some different things. Thanks to some great friends (who's brain's I constantly pick) I found several different curriculum to try. The big box came a few weeks ago and Evelyn was eager to dig in. I got a few things for Sam too. I had never really done much with him, but when we were at my parents in February, I printed up some worksheets for him. He wrote his name like a champ after just showing him once. So he has started his handwriting book and math book. It should be a fun year.

Day Out with Thomas...

On Memorial Day, we took the kids up to Heber to ride Thomas the Train. They were so excited, especially Sam. He is our train loving boy. He can spend hours building tracks and driving his trains. There were several little activities that the kids could do, build with Legos, listen to a story, check out all the train stuff in the gift shop. There was also a family band and Max is our dancer. He can get down and boogey! We walked out of the gift shop, he heard the music and started to shimmey! I couldn't get the camera out fast enough to really catch him in the act, but here's what I did get.

Still in the Middle of May...

Once we had Max in the boy room, it was time to start working on the girl room. She was so excited to have a fancy girl room. When we were in California in February, she saw a canopy at Ikea that she had to have. She kept talking about it. So shopping we went. We picked up the canopy and looked around to see what else we could find. Dangerous place, that is. We found a few things, namely a chair. I wanted her to have a comfy chair that she could sit in and read. Everything is smaller scale there, so it was the perfect size for a bedroom. We found a slip cover that matched perfectly. I had found some flowy dark pink curtains at Wal-mart and some polka dots for the wall at Target. All in all I think it came together quite nicely. She loves it and that's want matters most.

Some Time in the Middle of May....

We decided that it was time for Max to make the big switch to a big boy bed. Not that he was too big for the crib, that could take years, or that he was climbing out (never had one of those). It was just time for a girl room and a boy room, so he got the boot. The crib came down- that was a little weird. It had been up for 6 years. It came down and he moved into Sam's bed. I moved the changing table into the boy room, at the end of what had been Evelyn's bed. Wanting to avoid another tube of something being emptied on their bedroom carpet, I moved Sam into her bed. It would have been too tempting for Max to have access to things on the changing table. I pulled the guardrail out of the closet that has been swallowed by all things baby and away we went. He's done great. Our kids have never had a hard time transitioning to a big bed. They also never get out of their beds at this age. (I know, convenient.) He can climb into it, but doesn't seem to realize that he can get out of it too.

They've all been that way...

Very Behind....

I realize that I am very behind in my posts... so I am going to try and do a little catch up. Bear with me...

If You are in Need of a Dress...

Today the kids and I went to Costco (dangerous place, it is) and they had some really great dresses. If you need a new summer dress, check these out.

Don't Mess with Max...

without body armor!

Thank goodness Mason is a good sport.

Changes Are Coming...

This crib had been up for 6 years...

{craziness i tell you}

Had to Share...

Today is NSD (National Scrapbooking Day). I have been searching for some goodies. In my search I came across this and had to share.

Learning Site...

I saw this site on a friends blog and can't wait to check it out. They are offering a giveaway from The Itty-Bitty Bookworm, so I thought I would throw my hat into the ring. I am always looking for great school ideas. Thanks Jenna!

Fashion Advice...

This evening, Evelyn was invited to go to a play with her Grandma. After dinner I had her wash hands and brush teeth. (I forgot to double check that one, I hope she did it.) I told her she needed to tuck in her shirt so that we could put on her cute heart belt. She had on a t-shirt with hearts on it. (KK, you know the one.) She looked at me with disgust and said, "No, that will look nerdy!" I tried not to laugh as I reassured her that she wouldn't look nerdy, but fabulous. Is it a bad sign that my 5 1/2 year old doesn't trust my fashion sense?

He's At It Again...

This morning I was cleaning out the fridge, Evelyn was doing her math, Sam was playing trains and Trouble (see previous post) was in and out of the kitchen. At some point during my cleaning, he came into the kitchen with a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush. His face was covered with it, as was the bathroom floor. (At least this time the mess was on an easily to clean floor.) I have decided that he is going for some kind of record... Let's see how long it takes to make my mom crazy.

Trouble...

Trouble is what he is... Maybe it's a third child thing, I don't know. I don't think my sister was Trouble, she was the Chosen child. Chosen children aren't Trouble. Anyway... He has been the first to climb on top of the kitchen table... I know big deal, but the others didn't do it. He's the first (and hopefully last) to burn his face with Greased Lightening. Apparently he wasn't happy with the current condition of his baby soft face. He is the first to bite, and swallow, the tips off of markers.

This afternoon, when I should have been star ting dinner, I got a phone call. The big kids were watching a show, Trouble got bored with it and went in the other room. Back to the phone call... it was a customer who needed to reschedule an appointment. As I was talking and walking down the hall, I thought... It's awfully quiet, I wonder what Max is doing. Right then and there, I should have stopped and gone to look for him. Instead, I went downstairs and rescheduled the appointment.

When I came back up stairs, I found Trouble in the big kids room, along with an empty bottle of shampoo . The big kids are taking swimming lessons and today they showered at the pool so that we could run errands. I had asked Evelyn to put the things in her backpack away. She forgot and I didn't follow through... Which leads us to our current mess.

I put him in the tub to contain the mess, he was covered in shampoo. I pulled out the carpet cleaner and filled it with hot water and set it to the rinse cycle. And rinse I did. The carpet and him. (Him in the tub, not with the carpet cleaner.) The water container on the carpet cleaner was filled with bubbles in no time. I emptied it and let things rest for a little while so I could make dinner. After dinner I went over it again, and again, and again... You get the picture. I finally decided I had better let it dry overnight and access the damage further in the morning.

This is definitely one of the those...thank goodness he is cute moments.

Recent Pages...

I go through slumps of not scrapping at all, then I tend to get a little crazy! Here are some recent ones.

Easter...

Here are a few pictures of the kids (and Rick) on Easter. Try as I might, I couldn't get a good picture of the 3 of them. Once we went outside for pictures, Max wanted nothing to do with any of it, he just wanted the ball. Basketball has become his passion... can you have a passion at 21 months of age?

Food Storage Ideas...

I saw this on a friends blog and wanted to pass it along. Who couldn't use help on their food storage?

Another Speed Scrap...

Ginger had another Speed Scrap tonight, such fun! My sister and I did it, hopefully she will post her layout on her blog (hint, hint).

Speed Scrap...

Tonight at Gingerscraps there was a speed scrap. I used a picture of Ruth and I. We have a bond, that girl and I. It started when we were in California and has continued even though we are a few states away from each other.

I did cheat a little and used a photo that her mom had already edited.

New Pages...

I haven't scrapped for awhile... just haven't had any creative juices flowing. Here are a few I did today...

p.s. I didn't date the binky page because I am doing it over a year later. I mention the date in the journaling.