Dec 2, 2009

A budding photographer

When I got my new beautiful camera, my old little digital one got shoved into a drawer. I didn't want to get rid of it because, well it was 200 bucks and thats just wasteful!


I was rewarded for my frugality today when I wanted to take some pics of the stuff I am selling on Craigslist. (yes this link does take you right to one of those items...shameless, I know) I didn't want pictures that were huge, since they take FOREVER to upload. 


So I hunted for my little guy and proceeded to photograph my things.  All went well until...I discovered there were a few more pictures on it than the ones I took. Looks like The Boy found my camera and thought it was pretty cool. Here are a few of his masterpieces. ( I took the liberty of naming them for you...)

Rice Dream Alone
        




Sister -Unawares 




Self Portrait




Jumbled Ribbons in a Drawer
(could there be a deeper meaning here?)




Dog Down




Mothers Secret Shame





Geeze Mom It's 5:38, Where's dinner?


Aren't they impressive?!


I guess I will have to find him a camera of his own. Maybe I can find one on Craigslist! (yes, another shameless plug)

Nov 20, 2009

Who's team are you on?

*This is a post about New Moon. if you are sick of hearing about anything Twilight you might not want to continue on....just to let you know* ;-)


As I was reading the Twilight series I couldn't decide who's "team" to be on. I loved the romantic aspect of Edward's personality, but of course there was that whole "he could bite me and suck down my blood at anytime and I would be left a soulless living dead, but perfectly beautiful, woman" thing going on with Edward that I somehow couldn't decide if I liked or not. 


I was definitely drawn in by the crazy, rough side of Jacob's werewolf-ness---- plus I like my men to be warm, not stone cold. Jacob's kind of young though....you know, for a 26 year old housewife of three kids. Thats just cradle robbing. 


So what was a girl to do? How could I choose?


Last night I went to see New Moon, still undecided:


Edward?





Or Jacob?



Watching the movie with about 100 other screaming teens made me see the light: 
I'm sorry, but no contest......Mr. Muscles wins,  hands down.
Thanks for the grrrrrreat night Taylor...maybe we can do it again sometime....go team Jacob rawr!


*Disclaimer: I am VERY happily in love with my husband...I only joke. ;-)

Nov 16, 2009

Aspiring breakers

 Ever seen this?







Now check this.....
(please excuse my high pitched encouragements and off key singing. Also, Im not great at getting my digital camera to focus....it hates me! ) ;-)





She's got some pretty sweet moves right? 



( By the way, the 2 year old in the first video's name is Jalen Testerman, and he's grown up now. Check him out on Ellen. Pretty freakin awesome for a 7 year old...)

Nov 11, 2009

Personal Discoveries

Growing up I loved to write. I would create all kinds of stories and my teachers always appreciated and encouraged them. In fifth grade I got to read my D.A.R.E. essay in front of the whole school, it was just that good. (why do I always sound like I am bragging? I am so not...) I took poetry classes in Jr. high and high school and filled notebooks full of teen angst riddled lines, a few of which I used as a way to communicate to my parents my feelings of depression and sadness. (bet you never felt that way as a teen, huh?) ;-) English was always my favorite subject.


After I got married and started having kids I totally stopped writing. I guess I felt like I had nothing left to say. I had no more anger, no more sappy love/hate relationships and heartbreak to dedicate pages of poems and stories to. The medium for which I wrote was no longer applicable. I felt like my outlet was gone, and it has been a huge hole in the puzzle of who I am.


When I started this blog, I did it mostly as a way for my family to stay up to date with our happenings. Post a few pictures here and there, write a little blip of what we were doing at the time. I had no idea it would be a way for me to re-connect with myself. I started writing more, adding details and funny quips, remembering how good it felt to create a story, to lead others down the path of your own mind with words.


So why am I going on about some sappy moment of my life? Well, I was reading through some old posts today. Usually I feel like my posts are lackluster, with rushed and confusing bits and pieces and points. However, as I was reading a few of them, I decided they were pretty good, that I was pretty good. Perhaps I have found a new inspiration, writing about my kids and family and things that are funny or important. It doesn't have to be depressing to be deep or meaningful. Being able to go back and read about moments of my life has been an incredible experience I never thought I would have again. This blog is a lot more important to me than I realized. Thank you for reading, you few and faithful followers.


(Want to check out what I am talking about? Well then, click here or here....or even here! And if you can handle it, be sure to check out this one!)







Nov 10, 2009

Roses are red...

And our toenails are too!
















The Man took The Boy to a free "Try Hockey" night at the local skating rink. (which he LOVED by the way, but the cost to actually play hockey for realsies is
exorbitant!)

So us girls stayed home and had a nail painting party. Little Girl picked out the color. Do you like? I was surprised at how well Baby Girl sat while I did hers. I really shouldn't have been though, as she is COMPLETELY obsessed with anything girly. Definitely a complete opposite from Little Girl, who is just now, at almost four, starting to appreciate dress ups and nail polish.

Little girl also asked if I could paint
her fingernails. I made her promise not to eat it like she normally does and she picked out a nice sparkly pink. The next morning it was gone, consumed in the night. I knew it would happen. So gross!!!!

Nov 9, 2009

A new bundle of joy

We have a new member of our family

She is soft

pink

and the kids really love her

We are happy to introduce:

*Mehgan*


She's a Britax...not that I am bragging or anything..


So the time had come for Baby girl to get a new car-seat. Although this should be fun and exciting, anyone who knows my husband knows he is a cheap skate. He has a hard time paying more than 5 dollars for anything, and I mean ANYTHING! (I LOVE you, you frugal man you! ) So the prospect of finding a good quality booster for 5 dollars or less was somewhat daunting, as you can imagine.

I started looking online at places like Craigslist hoping to find a super cute, girly car-seat for a really killer price. No dice. Craigslist in the town we live in is really quite pitiful.

Next I searched under google for "cheap, and by cheap I mean cheap so my husband will say yes to buying it, cheap car-seats...preferably in a somewhat girl-ish color." Nada. This search request lead the internet to shut itself completely down with a declaration of , "sorry lady, your s.o.l.!"

So, with a heavy heart and hopes set to low, I set out to find a cute car seat in a normal price range for what we had previously purchased our boosters for. I also mentally prepared myself for all the begging and pleading and favors I would have to do for The Man. ( BTW..so exaggerating here people..)
I managed to find one that was relatively cute, in a decent under 50 bucks price range that would fit her all the way up to 100 lbs. I felt pretty good about it until I showed it to The Man and he promptly declared it to be ugly. "What?!" I said, "It is so not ugly, its brown and pink...and cheap! What could be more beautiful than that?"

Well, after a few days of showing to him over and over, pointing out its highlights and playing down its low-lights he still thought it was hideous and announced that he would take it upon himself to find something better. Well, I laughed in my head...an insane little laugh, for thats how close this car-seat stuff came to making me a nut case... and handed over all searching to him.

A few hours later he was no further along than I was, but by some miracle the tedious searching of quality car seats had convinced him to spend some money...and more than just five dollars! After I picked myself up off the floor ( you know...because I fainted) I quickly searched for a Britax car seat deal. If any of you know, Britax is number one for car seats (and ridiculous in price, hence the never owning onebefore) and I have always had fantasies about using one...or my kids using one I mean *cough, cough* I ended up at a site called Albeebaby.com where they are having a HUGE sale on car-seats. (Its still going on!) I got Meghan for a rockin deal...which made me happy, and in turn makes The Man happy ( whether he likes it or not) and ultimately having a new car-seat makes baby Girl really happy!



Truthfull, she probably could care less, as she has no clue what is going on. She is kind of in love with it though, she couldn't stop climbing in it the few days it was in the house! ;-) So here are some pictures of her in her new big girl, front facing booster.











My other two kids had WAY more fun playing with the box for a week!

Jumping back in


Well, obviously I haven't been great at blogging lately. I think I am so backed up on posts that I didn't even know where to begin! So I have decided to just start from right now and then sprinkle in things that I wanted to blog about that have been a long time past. ;-)


Sep 15, 2009

Summer time seclusion

So obviously I haven't blogged for a while. This summer I decided to take a break and re-focus.
A few things happened financially which prompted this mamma to head back to school. I took two online classes and I absolutely loved them. It was super stressful for a while, but ultimately worth it. I had forgotten how amazing it felt to use my brain.

Growing up I hated school. I never put much effort into it- beyond showing up and turning in the occasional homework assignment. My lack of commitment was proven by the 2.9 I graduated with. This in turn convinced me that I had no talent in the educational field and I decided to skip out on college.

I'd say if I really believed in regrets, that would be my biggest one.

I now know, almost 10 years and three kids later, that it was an experience that would have shaped and matured me in a way that I wouldn't have believed. I would have had direction, purpose and drive, instead of the floundering around, wondering what I was doing here that I did for a very long time.

*I would have learned how to manage my finances:
I had my account closed and my debit card cut up by the bank when I was 19--right before I got married.

*I would have learned how to cook meals:
I made a dinner for The Man when we were dating that left him coughing and sputtering in pain-we laugh about it now, but then...

*I would have learned to love myself:
I always felt like I had to have a new guy every week. And if I didn't feel like people thought I was pretty, I was losing my worth.

*I would have learned confidence in my own decisions:
Anytime anyone ever asked me what I wanted to do, or where I wanted to go, I would reply, " I don't know...where do you want to go?" I would always end up somewhere I didn't really want to be because I didn't want to make a wrong choice.

*I would have learned that I really was capable of putting in hard work and getting good grades:
This summer has shown me that when I put my mind to something, I can accomplish it. I pulled off A's in English and Classical Mythology, but it definitely wasn't easy!

Even though I chose to stay home and not attend college after high school, I don't think it was a wrong decision. Being a wife and mother is an experience I would never trade and I have learned a lot of those previously mentioned life skills along the way. (I don't know if The Man would agree in some of those areas, Im still not the best cook!) Confidence, direction, purpose-these are all wonderful rewards of the life I have chosen to live.
I would like to think that the experiences I have gained from raising children and living a life of service are far more rewarding than the experiences I may have had in college. In a way, I feel I am more prepared now to be able to handle the life of a student than I was then. Even though its hard, it has been absolutely worth it.

So any of you mammas out there contemplating returning to school, I challenge you to just do it!

(ok, so this post wasn't supposed to go this direction..but hey, I just went with it. Look for more posts of our adventures from this summer and a few of recent "firsts" for a lot of us around here!)

Sep 3, 2009

Things I learned this summer

*Kids, husbands, households and online classes for mommies don't make for good blogging.

*School isn't as scary as I had always thought.

*Don't ever visit CoeurdAlene, Id. It sucks you in and you stay for two months straight.

*Housework fairies do NOT visit you while you are out of town. The Laundry refuses to wash and fold itself. The toilets do, however, seem to still get nasty somehow.

*Buying a summer long pool pass is only a good idea if you actually plan to live the summer in the town where the pass was bought.

*Little boys love slugs. In fact, they like to wear them as accessories, sometimes 10 at a time. These slugs can only be found at grandmas house, so we must visit often.

*who needs a pool pass when you have large sled and a few big totes. Fill em up and its hours of fun...for free!

*Living out of suitcases really sucks.

*We love our grandparents.

*Its always nice to come home.






May 7, 2009

Mothers Day Interview

Since its mothers day on Sunday I thought it would be funny to interview the kids and ask them a few questions about me, their mommy. (vain much?) ;-)

1. I really love it when:
TB: my mom hugs me
LG: my mom puts me to bed

2. My mom likes to:
TB: Play with me
LG: eat

3. Mom always tells me:
TB: I love you
LG: what to do

4. The best thing she does is: 
TB: kiss me
LG: put me down for a nap

5. It makes her happy when: 
TB: I hug her when she is sad or I say sorry when I make her mad.
LG: when I wake up

6. My mom loves to relax by: 
TB: getting a massage
LG: sitting on the couch

7. I like it when: 
TB: she cleans my room for me
LG: she puts on a movie for me

8. The best thing she cooks is:
TB: Mac N Cheese
LG: food

9. When my mom shops she likes to buy: 
TB: no sugar
LG: a costume

10. My moms favorite household chore is:
TB: to help somebody
LG: mop

11. My moms favorite tv show is:
TB: Biggest loser
LG: cartoons

12. If she could go on a trip, she would go to:
TB: Grandma and Grandpas house
LG: get costumes

13. I love my mom because:
TB: She buys me and cooks me just cheese pizza..and macaroni and cheese.
LG: I want a pineapple

I think The Boy was trying to butter me up and Little Girl was trying to tell me she was tired! It was so funny to watch them think really hard about their answers. I love these kids! 
Happy Mothers Day!

Apr 3, 2009

Peanut...peanut butter...

And Jelly!!

Yesterday the kids and I were cleaning up the house and The Boy mentioned to me that he wanted to learn how to make lunch. Well, I thought that was a great idea so I asked him what he wanted to make. This was his reply:

The Boy:  "I want to make lunch."

Me: " I know you want to make lunch, but what do you want to have?"

TB: " lunch."

Me: " ok then.... what do you want me to show you how to make for lunch?"

TB: " you'll see."

Me: " well, hun..I can't really show you how to make it, unless you tell me what it is you want first."

TB: " Oh, ok. I want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

Easy enough!  So off we ventured to the kitchen. We found all of the right supplies and he went right to work getting two pieces of bread and picking out the kind of jelly he wanted. I showed him how to use a spoon to scoop it all out, since he isn't quite proficient enough with a knife yet. He learned to do the jelly first so we don't get peanut butter in the jelly jar and kill our little sister and then I tried mightily to help him spread it all out. Like I said, he and the butter knife weren't working so well together. He is also as stubborn as mule, where he got that I don't know ;-), and would really let me help him. He persevered and completed the sandwich and was so proud of his accomplishment!




Of course, Little Girl could not be left out, as she is even more stubborn than The Boy, if you can imagine. She got to pick out her jelly too and instead of peanut butter is was regular butter. She used the spoon though and that worked well for her.  She was quite excited to have done it herself and I love the huge smiles they both had when they were done.


It always feels great to work hard for something and achieve it. I am constantly surprised at the milestones my children arrive at before I am even ready for it, or think they are. I try to encourage my children to be self-sufficient, to learn to do things on their own. To be responsible and aware of their choices. I love seeing them grow. 

And yes, it pains me a little too. I sometimes wish they could stay tiny forever. I often find myself squeezing infant girl to my chest, holding on for dear life, willing her to freeze in time. I can't get over the way she smells, or talks or breaths.  I am afraid minutes, hours, days, years from now I won't be able to recall the way her hands grasp my fingers, the rustling sounds of her crawling across the floor, or the way her face lights up when she sees me. 

I do remember one night, right after Little Girl was born. The Man had just taken The Boy up to bed and I was reading a book I had received on children, though now I can't recall its title. In the back were a few pages dedicated to nursery rhymes and lullabies and as I read one that spoke of little ones growing up, of tiny hands becoming children's hands and on to adults, I couldn't hep but sob. Sob for my little boy who was getting bigger everyday, who would never be small again. Sob for the inevitable fact that he would one day be a man and leave his home, and me. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried and cried. 

Looking back now, it may have just been an influx of post-labor hormones, or sleepless nights. Whatever the case, I do know that with each child I have my love for every one of them grows. I don't think I have the same traumatic outlook on them becoming older. I am excited to see them doing new things and becoming their own person. I look forward to what the future holds. I will continue to encourage them to learn, and grow. I know that no matter where they go or what they do, they will have the influences of their parents in the back of their mind telling them that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.  And no matter what, they will always know how to make a good PB and J.



Mar 28, 2009

One more, just for good measure...

A while ago The Boys hair was getting really long. I kept asking The Man to cut it, but it just wasn't happening. I threatened to cut it myself, which is a pretty scary proposal...still nothing. 

So I decided that if his hair was going to be long, and no one was going to do anything about it, than I could do whatever I wanted with it. 

Here is the result:

I liked it!  But for some strange reason, shortly after these pictures were taken, The Man decided to finally cut it off. I'm sure I don't know why....;-)


Lets here it for the boy

Yesterday, after I had put up all those posts, I got a comment from one of my friends pointing out that I only blogged about my girls. Its true, I think I have a lot more pictures and stories about them than I do about The Boy. Maybe its because Little Girl has such a big personality and is always doing something crazy and Infant Girl is now reaching all these mile stones and I can't help but pay attention. 

The Boy is pretty quiet and soft spoken. He is also at school a lot of the time and I can't catch all the things he does there. 

Having said that, I LOVE my son. He is the best little boy ever. I hear a lot of horror stories about little boys and how crazy and into stuff they are. I have friends who's sons sound a little nightmarish. ;-) 

But not my guy. He is kind and thoughtful. He is courteous and loves his little sisters. He is always asking if he can help me make dinner, or do the dishes or sweep and mop. He tells me he loves me all day long. He isn't really too rough or rowdy. Though he can hold his own in a wrestling match with dad. He would just sit and have me read to him all day, or play his video games if he could He likes to be outside and is always looking for new friends. He is pretty sensitive and gets his feelings hurt kind of easy. But don't let his sweet countenance fool you. He doesn't let any one mess with him and if your doing something he doesn't like, he'll let you know! ;-)

He likes to be goofy. I can't hardly take a normal picture of the kid, he sticks his tongue out or scrunches up his face or opens his mouth as wide as it will go. 
He's always got a joke for you, his favorite is the interrupting cow knock knock one. He's got it down pretty good and has made up a few other interrupting things as well. He is constantly showing me his " new cool moves" where he flips around or does a spin off of the couch. He is an amazing super hero! He always wants to save me. In many ways he already has.


Sure there are times when he gets angry and pouts or fights with Little Girl or doesn't like what I have to say. He is a normal little kid after all. But at the end of the day, he's the best little man I could have ever asked for.

Sometimes raising little girls can be frighting. The thought of them as teenagers is something that lurks around in my mind as one of my biggest challenges to come. But I have never had those thoughts about The Boy. I am not afraid of what he might do or become. I am excited to see what the future holds for him. That might be unfair, but I can't help it.






Mar 27, 2009

Your gonna get slapped..

With a ton of new posts! We have been out of town for a while and I have a ton of pics that I needed to get up on here, so don't get overwhelmed!! ;-)

a video for you!

Infant Girl just started crawling yesterday. I have been encouraging it for the last two months and now that she is somewhat mobile I wonder what the heck I was thinking!! She is constantly getting herself stuck under everything. ;-) I am trying to get a good short video of her crawling to post on here but for now here is video of her at my sisters house in Rexburg. She was on the floor and then the next thing I knew she had pulled herself half way up onto her knees with the coffee table!                   


    

French braid = harder than I thougt

Growing up in Utah has given me a ridiculous affinity for super poofy hair. Its kind of ridiculous actually and I have pics where my hair is literally reaching for the ceiling. When I moved to Idaho I got made fun of because my bangs were so huge! ;-) I still love my hair to be big and I would probably fit right in in Texas. But the down side to loving poofy hair is that I never did anything else with it. It was usually always short and even if it was long I still ratted and sprayed. So I have NO IDEA how to do any thing else. For me its not such a big deal, but when it comes to Little Girl its kind of disheartening! I don't think a three year old would look so sweet with a rats nest on her head.  Its usually just in a pony tail or  straight down, and if anyone knows little girls, having hair straight down tends to get tangly and raggedy pretty quick. 
Anyway, the other day I decided to try something I have been wanting to do for a long time. 

A french braid.  

Now to many of you this may be no big deal, but to me it was harder than I expected! How do hold all three strands and pull up new ones and keep it tight all at the same time!? 

It took me a while, and Little Girl was super patient ( other than a few "OWs!") but the end result turned out better than I expected. With a little practice it might turn out great one day!







 

So proper

I caught Infant Girl sitting so quietly with her fingers laced together in her high chair. She does this fairly often and I think it is so cute!


A budding stylist

Little Girl has always been into hair. When she was a baby she would be calmed by running her fingers through anyones hair. The only way she would stop crying in nursery was if the leader sat her on her lap and let her twirl her hair though her fingers. As she got older she thought it was funny to mess up your hair and she would go at it with a vengeance. But lately Little Girl has been into  "doing my hair". I put it quotations because its not so much " doing" as it is " pulling and ratting". ;-)  but she loves it, so I cringe and bare it. 

We have a large tin of clips that usually go into her beautiful blonde locks, but she has been obsessed with putting every single one of them into mine. And if I am not a willing participant, dad is the number two choice. Its pretty funny.

And one for Infant girls hair. It barely stays in! I will have to get some pics of all the clips in dads hair. Ha Ha!


A few good pics

For some reason my digital camera is crazy. It doesn't focus, it blurs when someone moves a hair and I am constantly turning off the flash because it uses it even when there is plenty of light. I hate that flash! 

Needless to say I rarely ever get a good picture of infant girl because she is so wiggly. For some reason though, this day she happened to sit still long enough for me to get a few good ones. Plus, she was actually smiling so that is a definite bonus!