Putting our Heads above the Water!

So I'm here...and still alive. so obviously you can image how much unpacking/getting the house back in order I am trying to wade through after being gone 3 1/2 weeks. On top of that I think the weeds took over while we were gone...no joke Nathan said the neighbors probably thing after the way the house looked and not seeing us for 3 1/2 weeks that we were foreclosed on! No...we just decided to let our yard turn into the Shelby Jungle! So I've been trying to find our yard through the knee high weeds (no joke) and of course my allergies are LOVING that! I also ended up getting into something and have a huge rash on my arm. I actually went the doctor to get treated for poison ivy and he said it was just an irritation??? What?? Okay so this is the worst "irritation" I've ever had from a weed? So not only are we unpacking/cleaning out a month's worth of dust bunnies, getting the yard in order, and trying to get back to normal life, but I thought there wasn't enough on my plate so we started the website re-design on my hair bow website that we've been putting off forever! I'm really exited about it but it truly is time consuming switching everything over to the new web host. Even though it's a lot of work it will look so much more professional and it will run a lot smoother behind the scenes.

We are also getting pretty excited at how close our 3rd floor master suite is coming to being finished. The contractor told my husband today that we should be ready for carpet on Monday. Yes...we've heard that more times than I would really like to think about but we are praying that this time is it. Our bathroom is really making some progress this week and it is just awful looking at that beautiful jacuzzi bath tub and knowing it don't work yet!

Nathan has been at his annual 2 week guard all week and he has to be there until Next Friday. He is coming home some nights, but as crazy as it is here trying to get back into everyday life. It doesn't make it any easier that he has to get up at 5:00 every morning to drive 1 1/2 hours to guard and then has other work items to work on when he comes home in the evenings. We're both beat still and need a vacation from the trip!

Maddelyn will be starting swim lessons at the city pool on Monday. She is NOT happy about it. My little princess is a lot like me in that she hates trying anything new and hates water in her face. this should be fun, especially cine they start at 8:30 that morning when the water is nice and not-so-toasty!

I've also been making up lost of new bow samples for our website and our wholesale customers. Of course Miss Maddelyn was happy to model for me while her sisters were taking naps today! Sad thing is that she was born to be a hair bow model! Yeah I did ask her to pose a bit because I wanted some cute pictures for our website but she naturally hammed it up then coming up with her own little poses! Now if I could only hire her out as a boutique model we could get free little girl boutiqe samples for her to try out and get pictures in and even earn some cash too! I know there have to be other mommy businesses that need a little girl to try out their adorable items! Okay...maybe mommy just wants to try out their adorable things??

Yellowstone, Custard, and Rushmore

So I finally am getting time to post today...How is it that I spend hours in the car riding but never seem to remember or get the time to post on my blog?? The girls just loved Yellowstone National Park with all the animals. It was beyond beautiful there and so not what I had envisioned it would look like. There were so many different types of landscapes including: geysers with boiling pools and steam vents, forests, plains with buffalo grazing, and crystal clear lakes with ice capped mountains in the distance. What a variety, but all amazing. There were tons of animals to be seen as well. We saw the most of bison and antelopes, but we also saw elk, mule deer, and pronghorns, mountain sheep, grizzly bears, and black bears! The girls favorites were the bears by far! The grizzly bear was literally 5 foot from the car...not on purpose! Yep, I was like Girls DO NOT ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOWS!!

After Yellowstone our next destination would be Mount Rushmore. We made a pit stop at Little Big Horn to see Custard's Last Stand. What a beautiful area of rolling hills covered in prairie grasses as far as the eye can see.

Mount Rushmore is just as beautiful and majestic as you think it will be. Unfortunately the sun was at an awful angle for pictures but it was still just breath taking. The girls thought it was neat for about .... oh 2.5 minutes until the wow-ness of heads carved into rock wore off. After that running around all the tourists and climbing on the park benches was much more entertaining.

We are now spending the night in Norfolk, Nebraska. Nathan spent several years living here while he was growing up. We will be visiting to some of his old family friends both this evening and tomorrow morning. It really does amaze me though that every time we meet up with a family (old family friends or stangers at McDonalds) who have a little boy Emma has found the new love of her life. Now mind you she is F-O-U-R and already about to commit her father to the nut house with her boy craziness! No matter how much we instruct her that boys/dating/marriage/kissing are only for adults and adult conversations she still constantly says "I'm going to marry him" or "He's cute!" Yeah......really scary! Like my mom said, I'm surprised she's not got a ring on her hand already from all the young boys she's met on this trip! Seriously kid you're going to give me a heart attack in like 8 years! Boy crazy at 4?? What happens when hormones kick in and we hit the du du du (sound effects) P-R-E-T-E-E-N years??? Prayer, that's what happens a huuuuuge amount of prayer!

Quick Update About Yellowstone

So I had this huge blog post wrote out and then I realized that Ihad posted it on the wrong blog! Uhhh! I'm sure my coupon blog followers could care less about us visiting Yellowstone. How frustrating. So I guess I will be re-posting tomorrow while we are on the road. Here are a couple of pictures though to tide you over!!

Baby Hannah's Newborn Shoot

I fianlly had a few moments to post the pictures I took for a friend from church of her 4 day old little lady. Oh how I love doing newborn pictures! Poor little Hannah was not too happy with me when I stripped the tiny 5 lb sweetie down for some diaper pics. Yep...she screamed but we still were able to get a few good ones.

Trip Update

So for all you Ohio Family and friends....this is what the west is like...BEAUTIFUL! Now don't get me wrong Ohio is great and all but how do you compare a cow pasture to this? Don't worry Mom. It's Beautiful but not quite enough to get me to put our house on the market (after all the hurdles we've jumped in remodeling??) and pack our bags to move out here.

I don't have too many pictures to share with you since most of the past few days has been traveling. We did leave Salt Lake to head on to Boise for the night where we just chilled in the hotel that evening and let the kids swim. After that we left for Spokane Washington where we stopped by the White Elephant Store. My father in law said that he and his family had visited there many times while he was growing up in nearby Idaho. This store has contracts with certain manufactures for their "seconds" or basically their non sellable items. These items all looked to be in perfect condition but for some reason the manufacture couldn't sell them. For example perhaps there was a warehouse fire or maybe a semi accident...whatever but the items all looked like any other items you would find in a regular store but discounted. The store was mostly camping supplies and toys but the best was the clearance room. It was like a walk down memory lane with almost all toys from the 80's and 90's still in the packages! Nathan and I were having so much fun and I'm sure the girls were like what's up with them??? They had an original Baby Alive (I had one of those!!), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Nickelodeon Gack, 90's Barbie clothes, and so much more! You know that stuff had to worth something on ebay!!

Last night we took the kids down tot he kiddie pool. This was Elijah's 3rd time in a swimming pool and he seemed to love it. I just hate him getting in and getting all wet with that nasty pool water (with kids with swim diapers on) and then sucking his thumb....blah!!!

We arrived just outside of Yellowstone National Park this evening and took the kids into the park for just a quick peek before dark. In just the short time that we saw Elk, Bison, Pronghorns, and Mule Deer. Maddelyn didn't understand why we couldn't see them closer and where the fences were? I think she thinks it's just a REALLY big Zoo of some sorts? Ok....remember we live in Ohio, all of our animals (cows, sheep, goats, horses, pigs) are fenced in but you can still pet them. We will be spending the day tomorrow back int he parks looking for more animals and visiting the natural springs and Old Faithful.

6 Months!

I really can't believe that our little man is 6 months old now! He has grown up so much in the past couple of weeks. He is now grabbing at everything with in his arm's reach and putting everything in his mouth. He coos and tries to mimic you when you speak to him. He still is the most happy smiling baby that any one could ask for! I did take a few "6 months pictures" on the road but I will need to take a few more when we get home to match the others on the black backdrop with my lights. That little booger is getting harder and harder to get his picture. You have to hold his finders out of his mouth with one hand and then snap the camera with the other hand all while trying to get him to laugh. I guess I get spoiled when Maddelyn just hears a camera cap come off and she is striking a pose for you. Elijah also must have decided that now that he's 6 months old...it's time to knock out a couple of milestones today...he sat up on his own and got his first solid food!! He was all about the cereal at first and was even grabbing the bowl and spoon but after a few bites he was done. Hopefully tomorrow night will go better? He did love it at first, he just was not in the mood. I think the combination of his stuffy nose and then eating thick cereal made swallowing it frustrating for him. I also thew in a few photos of the views on our way to Salt Lake City last night. The photos are mostly of Wyoming.

Colorado and Cute Etsy Shirts

I am finally getting a chance to post today. We had our longest hours on the road today (supposed to be 8 hours but with kids and mommy stopping it was 12!) Yeah and of course being in the middle of no where Wyoming you don't really get great Internet connection on the blackberry?? No surprising though when all you see for about 100 miles at a time are a few Prairie Dogs playing Double-Dog-Dare-Ya with semi's. Yep, LOADS of kid friendly entertainment! No in all reality the kids were great with the DVD player, Odyssey, the BEAUTIFUL views, and of course a super long nap.

These are pictures of the girls in their adorable "Name Shirts" that I ordered off a lady on etsy. Too cute! She did wonderful work and had pretty reasonable pricing on all the items in her store. VERY cute and unique birthday gifts!

Yesterday we took the kids to Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Co. They do have a nice visitor's center, tour, and bookstore but all the fun is downstairs in their remake of Odyssey! For those not familiar it is Christian Kids radio program that has been around forever. Basically it was the "Veggie Tales" for the kids in the 80's and 90's! I think Nathan had more fun than even the girls did yesterday! The had fun playing puppets, climbing through the many neat places in Odyssey, ridding the slide A-Bend-We-Go, eating ice cream at Whit's End, and even being in their own radio recording. Nathan got to read a script and Maddelyn got to do sound effects and then we got a copy of them in the episode before we left that day. What a neat souvenir.

After Focus on the Family we took the kids up to Denver to eat at Casa Bonita's. It's a Mexican restaurant that has lots of live entrainment. There is a cliff diving show, live mariachi band, arcade, old time photos, caricaturist, haunted house, people walking around selling glow in the dark necklaces/toys, a treasure room, and all in this HUGE restaurant.

I just had to share a few landscape pictures from Colorado.

Omaha's Henery Doorly Zoo

Yesterday we took the kids to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. We had a great time but learned one fact to share with future zoo go-ers.....NEVER go to the zoo on the opening day of the College World Series games, right next door to the Zoo, who also share the same parking lot. Yep....even though the zoo's website said they would be "directing parking??" we still drove around like and hour looking for a spot to park. Not fun! But we did get to see some nice tailgaters! The girls loved all the animals and even got mommy to see (well walk by quickly while looking at the ground) the snakes. Yep...no reptile house they were just mixed in with their continent's animals. REAL tricky! Thanks! I seriously have a snake phobia. Caroline was over joyed at seeing the real elephants! While visiting Disney last year she bought a stuffed baby Dumbo as her souvenir and sleeps with it every night. So needless to say she's into elephants (none to the delight of her very much republican/conservative father.) Caroline I don't think has ever seen a real elephant and since we left she has been making elephant sounds...kinda like she's blowing her nose without a Kleenex???) and pretending to shoot water at you with her trunk. She saw one of the elephants at the zoo taking water up into his trunk and then drinking it back out with his mouth. Highlight of her week! Of course she decide to spend her chips on a mini elephant in a purse at the gift shop. Oh the chips is a little reward incentive that we are doing with the girls on the trip. Nathan's parents used to do it with their kids when they took long trips. Basically they earn poker chips for good behavior and lose them for bad behaviour. They can then turn in chips for special things such as taking something form the prize bag, getting ice cream, choosing where they want to sleep that night, choosing where they want to ride in the car, buying a souvenir, etc.

We did swing by Lincoln after leaving the zoo so we could video tape the outside of the Nebraska Cornhusker's stadium...per Nathan's request. He was able to tour the building a couple of days ago on behalf of his job...seeing behind the scenes but he wanted the girls to see it to. I don't think they were too impressed (6, 4, and 2 looking at a place where they play football meant nothing to them) but Daddy wanted them to share in the excitement with him. It's really funny to see Husker shirts at the stores and big red "N"s on the back of car bumpers. It's kinda like there really is a Nebraska fan group larger than my husband, his dad, and his grandpa? Wow! All these years it's kinda been like the die-hard fans on a team that exsits some where out there??? I mean come on when you grow up in Ohio State Buckeye territory it's hard to understand the one...no three people you've ever met in your lifetime that roots for some team that are called Cornhuskers?? I mean a Buckeye is a Nut, but what's a Husker??? It's just wierd seeing that my husband isn't as alone as I thought he was! In all fairness though we are on the hunt for Elijah's first Husker team items.

That night we drove about three hours before getting a hotel just so we could get down the road some. Unfortunately I ended up feeling very sick to my stomach so we did make it to the town we were trying to get to, but the rest of that night was shot and we took our time leaving the hotel this morning. We then traveled another 6 hours to Colorado Springs, Co where we will go to Focus on the Family tomorrow and then drive into Denver tomorrow night to eat at Casa Bonitas, a Mexican Restaurant with live entertainment.

So here are a few Zoo pictures to share....

Omaha Children's Museum

So today we took a break from the road/hotels and the girls and I ventured out to Omaha's Children's Museum while Nathan was in meetings. This was definitely a stretch for mommy and her sanity but I really thought the kids would enjoy it. The girls loved the pretend/imagination room the best where all the dress up, puppets, mini grocery store, water table, fire station, and mini house all were. I couldn't get Caroline away form the fire station and play trucks. She was in full coat/hat/boots driving a pretend firetruck saying "Me firetruck!" Grandpa's firetruck!" How cute! Anytime I couldn't see where she had wandered off to, I'd find her at the wheel of that firetruck. Maddelyn and Emma had a blast playing in the make believe miniature house with some other children. Emma told me she wanted to go with a group of older school children on their bus back to school. Um??? Ok? Maddelyn couldn't leave her OCD tendencies at the hotel. She was having fun playing in the little grocery store where you "shop" for items, check out with them and then put them all back on the shelves so other children can shop as well. Well, I found Maddelyn not just shopping with her little cart like all the other children, but putting everyone else's items away. Yes, she was cleaning/organizing the mini grocery store! It half makes me proud and half freaks me out just a tad! This evening we spent with a family here in Nebraska that used to be Nathan's youth pastors! He also used to babysit their oldest boys when they were both still in diapers and not... 17 and 15. Yep that makes us feel old! Tomorrow we are heading to the Omaha zoo so it should be a great picture taking day.

Road Trip

So the lack of posts the past weeks show how crazy it's been around our house getting ready for our 27 day ROAD TRIP. Yes, you read that right 27 days on the road with 4 kids 6 and under! No we're not trying to get ourselves committed to the insane Asylum...honest! Nathan has to make an extended business trip out west and we are allowed to travel with him since he will be driving! So, over the next 27 days we will be on the road, driving to Washington state and back!

We got on the road yesterday only 3 hours late! We had reserved a Suburban rental car and of course when we went to pick it up they had an Expedition waiting for us. Needless to say they are NOT the same size! After packing, repacking, loading, reloading, and trying our best to get everything we as a family of 6 would need for the next 27 days ready we FINALLY got on the road! We traveled just east of Chicago the first night, spent the night and then traveled on to Iowa yesterday. Nathan of course has been stopping all long the way for business meetings. We had lunch with a political friend of Nathan's and then after Supper last night we took the girls to a baseball game. Nathan had to go for work but the kids and I tagged along. They actually had a blast since our seats were right behind home base. We left just in time to come back to the hotel to swim but, the water had to be the absolute coldest swimming pool water that I have felt in a very long time! So obviously the swimming was cut short!

So after a few more meetings today, we are on the road again to meet with another one of Nathan's political friends at their home for a cook-out. I'm really excited to meet this incredible family that Nathan just thinks is so amazing with their 9 children. He said they are the most behaved kids he's ever seen ....even at a restaurant! Why can 9 kids behave better than just 4??? Our kids heard cook-out, 9 kids, and lots of farm kittens and they were ready to jump in the car! Tonight should be fun.

3 days down and 24 to go!

Give-a-Way Winner!!!!

So we do have a winner of the Hair Bow Give-a-Way! According to Random.com's random number selection, the winner is #12.......

"Amanda said...
I love the gerber headbands! Too cute! I also love the little clippies.. great for everyday use. What great stuff you have!"

Congratulations Amanda! I will be emailing you shortly for your mailing address to get these bows sent out to you! Thank you so very much for all of you who participated and of course to all of our wonderful customers at Sugar Sweet Bowtique!

Hair Bow GIVE-A-WAY!!!!

HAIR BOW GIVE-A-WAY!!!

We are so excited to announce our Summer Vacation Hair Bow Give-A-Way!!! What a great way to start out your daughter's Summer than a prize package stuffed with Summer themed bows valued at over $45.00!!!

To enter our contest simply visit our website http://www.sugarsweetbowtique.com/ and pick out your favorite items and then leave a comment here stating what those favorite iems are as well as an email to contact you with if you are the winner.

You can get a bonus entry by blogging about this give-a-way on your own blog. After doing so be sure to leave a comment on here with a link to your blog post. ***Make sure to leave a seperate comment for each entry**** Each entry counts as your "entry number" and on Monday I will generate a random number. The person whose comment corresponds with that entry will win!

This give-a-way will end Monday night at midnight EST and the winner will be announce Tuesday morning on this blog. The winner will also be contacted by email.

These bows are just a tiny sampling of the boutique bows available on our website http://www.sugarsweetbowtique.com/ our website specialized on making all of your princesses' dreams come true! We are also running our Summer Vacation Sale on the website this weekend so you can pick up some great deals on bows of all types to match your princesses' Summer wardrobe and Patriotic outfits.

Memorial Day, Purple Markers, and Boys????

It feels like forever since I've updated...or maybe it is just that a lot has happened since my last post. We spent the holiday weekend camping with my parents at a local State Park. It ended up that my Aunt's family and my Uncle's family also got reservations that weekend so we had a last minute family camp out. It was so nice for the girls to have all the cousins to play with. We had my 4 as well as my brother's 3 and my Uncle's 3 running around our campsite most of the weekend. With the 2 sets of twins (age 7) our girls had a blast. It is starting to get kinda scary at what these 10 little girls will be like during that pre-teen age! Oh my! Add in the other 2 cousins who visit from Tennessee and that is A LOT of hormones! Maddelyn spent the weekend working on riding without training wheels and learning to tie her shoe. She is doing great with both! I finally said...okay you're six now, this is getting ridiculous. It's time to start learning some new things! Swimming lessons are next! Well, Emma being a second born decided she was going to ask Dad to take her training wheels off as well! She still needs some practice, but did amazing for just being 4. Not long after getting off hr 2 wheel bike, I saw her in a lawn chair trying to figure out on her own how to tie her shoe. Can we say competitive????

Emma also had a little boy run in this weekend. She was making eyes at a little 8 year old play mate of my nephew. Oh my! I over heard her talking to her cousin, so I said.....

Me: Emma, what did you say?

Emma: I'm going to marry that boy someday!

Me: Why do you like him? Do you think he's cute?

Emma: And handsome too!!!

Me: Why do you like him?

Emma: Because he watches me when I do this. (as she dances around)

Me: Do you even know what his name is?

Emma: Let me go ask

Emma: (after running back form asking him) His name is Gace and he's 8.

Me: Emma that's 4 years older than you! That means he was 4 when you were born. That's like You and Elijah!

Me: Emma I don't want to hear anymore about boys until you're 15, and if you do your dad is going to lock you in the camper!

She then walks away and heads back over to watch the little boy play corn hole. She takes turns sitting in a lawn chair that she has pulled up beside him and walking around doing her little dance that she said he watched her do. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! We're in trouble! Those little blue eyes are going to cause us a lot of gray hair I think!!!

Did you know that Crayola's poster makers are NOT washable! Neither did I! Well let's just say that while Mommy was packing for camping last Friday, Caroline climbed a chair to reach the art supplies shelf in the homeschool room. I think she was thinking Sour Grapes Lady (Strawberry Shortcakes Arch Nemesis) when she when with the purple marker??? So needless to say that the child got spanked and then we tried to scrub her down, only getting the first layer off. It was awful funny that she had a white pull-up line under the pull-up! That is definitely a perfectly white panty line! So after Daddy comes home Caroline says" Emma color my belly!" What????? So I call her down and she denies it all. Daddy then looks at her hand and see's a tiny bit of purple eon her coloring hand. He just looks at her and she starts sobbing crying GUILTY! So let's just say that she was in HOT water for not only coloring on Caroline (yes even the inside of her belly button was perfectly purple) but for lying and telling me Caroline had done it and then Caroline got disciplined for it. Funny part is that we had almost the exact same thing happen with a green marker with Maddelyn and Emma when Maddelyn was about three. That's how we knew to check the guilty party's right hand for evidence. Maddelyn was green only on the underside of her right fist. Guilty! It took all weekend for the purple-people-eater to finally fade away!

Here are a few pictures of Caroline modeling some of my new layered boutique bows on my website. I'll be back later tonight to announce a Summer Vacation hair bow give-a-way for our website!

5 Months Old

I can't believe my little man is 5 months old aready! Why is it that this time always seems to F-L-Y by but the last 5 months of my pregnancy didn't? Hmm??? So what's new this month? Elijah has really grown attached to his thumb. We tried to push the binki but once he found his thumb that was it. Elijah is such a wonderful baby, smiling all the time! He is such a joy! He definitely loves to cuddle and is a Mommy's Boy....well don't tell Daddy! All of my kids are Mommy's kids until they stop nursing! HA! He has also really been trying his hardest to talk. He is cooing a lot and blowing rasberries. I thought boys weren't supposed to be chatterboxes like girls are??? He is also trying his best to sit up. Obviously he's too young to sit up by himself but he sure is exercising those little tummy muscles by pulling himself up. His hair is also lightening up quite a bit and has thinned out a bit as well. Sad to say that after his 1st hair cut a couple of weeks ago, his hair is already past his ears again on the sides! So here are his 5 month pictures. It's amazing to see how he has changes each month.

REAL Cowboys

Okay...I know that it's been a week and a half since I last updated. We've been super busy with our annual garage sale. We are so blessed that we sold over $1000 in just 2 days, and the first day it was raining! How good is our God! We've also had a pretty sick little girl. Maddelyn had a bad cold that then turned into a high fever and an ear infection. Poor little thing has been miserable. Now that she has an antibiotic in her she should start feeling better. Tomorrow I am going to a used homeschool curriculum sale at the local Christian school. It is hard to believe that our baby is going to be in first grade. Man that seems so weird. On on hand it seems like Maddelyn has been here forever and on the other it seems like it's impossible that she could be starting first grade?? Man does that make me feel old!

Since we live in Ohio, Mininite and Amish families are quite frequent at our garage sales. Well my little Emma is will say anything to anyone did it again yesterday. An Amish boy was in the garage and Emma says to her grandmother..."I've never seen a REAL cowboy before!" Now mind you he did have a straw hat on and all so I can see where she got it. Thank goodness he didn't hear her!

Conversations with a 4 year old....

So I once again got a tiny peak into how the mind of a 4 year old works, while getting the girls dressed the other morning....

Emma: "Mommy when is this house going to be old?"

Me: "What do you mean? Why?"

Emma: "I mean when is it going to be old so we can move back to Grandma Bobbie's house again?"

Me: "Emma we aren't going to be moving again. This is our house forever now. We just stayed at Grandma's house while we were getting ready to move in here."

Emma: "Well when is that other guy coming back."

Me: "What other guy?"

Emma: "The one who lives here?"

Me: "You mean the one who used to live here? He isn't coming back. He sold it to us so we could live here and then he moved to a new house too."

Emma: "Oh".....(with a frown on her face)

So all of this time she thought we were just house sitting for the other man and soon we would be moving back in with Grandma and Grandpa??? I guess when you spent your first year of life at their house while Daddy was in Iraq, and then another 2 months while waiting on the new house......it could start to look like when you're not sure about things the default is just move back in with Grandma and Grandpa! Oh my!

Hair Cuts and Etsy Finds

Can you tell by the lack of posts that I've had lots of hair bow orders to fill the ast couple of weeks? Good for us...bad for blogging! So this week re-cap: Monday we took all 4 kids to get their hair cut. Yep...Caroline and Elijah got their first hair cuts on the SAME day! Sad when at 2 1/2, your 4 month old brother has more hair than you! Caroline looks like a true 2 year old in her little bob now!

Elijah still has a ton of hair. Our stylist just timmed up the back and front and took the below-his-ears sides up to above the ear. He looks so much older now! My little Man!

Wednesday I took all 4 kids by myself to the library! It was the first time sinc Eli was born that we tried the library and the first time we visited the library here in town. The kids were of course so excited to pick their own books. Even little Caroline carefully chose what 2 board books she wanted to bring home. Maddelyn and Emma were surprised to find out that both of them were able to get their own library card to take out books on. My little kids are growning up!

I seriously just LOVE Etsy! I found the most adorable shirts from a lady on etsy this week! She has just the cutest handmade children's clothing items ever! I'm so excited to get these shirts in the mail. Of course I will have to take a picture of them wearing them for the blog.

I also found this shirt on another lady's etsy store...LOVE it! I haven't bought one yet but I just had to share how cute it was! Thought another blogging mommy want want to snatch one of these up. She also makes shirts that say "Tweet This" for Twitter Moms! Too Cute!! This lady also sells the hand made superhero capes and masks, as well as the baby pouch/slings like I have for Elijah. LOVE my pouch! You can see him in my pouch here (scroll down).

Teaching Frugality

So Emma tells Nathan yesterday that she wants to go to Disney again this Summer. He tried to explain to her that we went last year and after just buying a house we are not going to be able to go again this Summer. She them wants to know why and we explain that it is very expensive and costs a lot of money. My then frugal-learning-six-year-old Maddelyn pipes up and says "Yeah Emma, we used to have money....now all we have is coupons and a debit card!" So wise, now if we can just teach her to take out the debit card and do a cash only budget the Dave Ramsey way we'd be right on track! LOL! I even had her couponing the other day. She had $1.00 to spend if she could behave for me while we did our errands the other day. She new our last stop was Meijer and she could spend it there to get a candy if she behaved through the other stores. Well while at CVS (right before Meijer) I showed her that they had flavored Twizzlers for 75% off at $0.40. I told her that if she bought those now instead of something at Meijer like she wanted, that she could get the candy and STILL have money left over. She was so proud to come home and show her dad that she got a bigger pack of candy than she normally could have with her dollar and she also got money back! Wow, I'm so proud! She's learning a lot about using the resources God has given you to the very best of your ability!

My Last Week Summed Up

So we've been busy little bees around here the past several days! We finally have gotten all the yard work done. Well....as much as we can do until after the weather FINALLY breaks here in Ohio! Just as we think it might finally be Spring here, after a lovely weekend, it is sleeting today...yes and forcasted for snow tonight! UHHHH! My capris are itching to make their appearance! We ended up hauling away 3 trailer loads of brush and tree limbs form the backyard! Yeah! Let's just say it needed "a little bit" of trimming!

We also have been busy getting my hair bow website updated as well as posting a new sale as well You can check it out HERE (Yes, hubby did finally teach me how to in bed my links! I feel like a total dork after 3 years of not knowing how to do it!)

I also have been busy snatching up so GREAT deals on my coupon blog! I update it several times a day with all the amazing deals that I stumble upon!

I just realized that I never posted any pictures of the amazing project table that my husband made me! Ignore the weird glare that showed up on some of the glossy black paint here in my picture?? I had my eye on a table that sells for well way to much from Target and Pottery Barn. My husband said that he would try his hand at making me one instead of forking up all that cash! I am guessing that we saved about 90% by making it! Well, here is what he made for me! Pretty nice huh? We also have on order actual counter top laminate to coat the top of it in as well to make it look more like a store bought piece of furniture. He did such a nice job that he thinks he now should go into the furniture business!

I also thought I would share a few pictures I took while my friend Alicia was visiting with her daughter Emma-lee. These adorable matching dresses were a gift form her mom. THANKS Joye!!! It amazes me how I always forget how hard it is to get that many kids to take a picture...until I actually try and do it! Not too bad though for 5 kids, 6 and under who would NOT cooperate! Let's just say the pictures that we did get were the result of being bribed with candy and a little stuff bunny on my head!

4 Months Old!!!

Tax Day Tea Party

So what is Tax Day without a little TEA?? Of course we took the kids and went to our local Tax Day TEA PARTY! The girls stood there proudly carrying their signs in the yucky, cold mist and even cried when it was finally time to leave. Maddelyn said she didn't want to go! What a proud parent am I! When we asked them later on what we were doing there they said the goverment is taking too much of our money! Yep, so sad that they really have no clue how much in debt they are already at ages 4 and 6! So here are a few pics from our local Tea Paty. I believe the local news channel said there were close to 1000 there in our small town of about 50,000 people.

My NEW Coupon Blog!

So since I've been on the couponing band wagon for a few weeks now I have decided to do a coupon blog as well to help other people find some of the amazing deals that others have helped me find! The way I look at it is that why pay full price for the brands I "normally use" when I can get a competitor's product for sometimes 90% less or even for free? Our family believes that it also is our Christian responsibility to make the most out of what we have been given by God. The more we save/have available, the more we are able to use that to bless His Kingdom. So I invite you to join this stay-at-home-mommy as I find and share some of the best money saving deals out there to help you do the most with what you have been given as well!

Now it still is in the works and needs lots of tweeking...but here is the link. Mark it in your favorites and check back to see it as I continue to develop it and add new deals! I'll be both adding great deals I stumble upon as well as sharing how I use my coupons with the sale adds to show you the math on how to make your money stretch the farthest!

http://raisethemcheap.blogspot.com/

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Meet Daisy and Annabell!

Yep...I never would have guess she was serious, but my mom finally got the pygmy goats she has always wanted! We always thought she was just dreaming (kinda like that Volkswagen Beetle Convertible she wants), but as of yesterday the family expanded to now include two 7-week-old female pygmy goats! I took the kids over last night to have a peak and they were so excited to see them! They are cute but man goats? Mind you they live in a small housing development area outfide of their small town! Mom you kill me! I'm glad you have checked one item off your bucket list.

After the visit with the new goats Daisy and Annabell, my dad got out the tractor to give the kids a ride. I really wonder if he does anything else with the John Deere wagon BESIDES giving the grandkids a ride? Of course little Elijah had to have his first ride as well, but Grandpa held him upfront this time. The kids had a blast playing outside on the swing set and then Grandpa made a small fire for them to roast hot dogs on for dinner. What a wonderful taste of the warm weather that is just around the corner!

Too Fast!

Why do they have to grow up so fast? These were just a few picture I took of Maddelyn on the morning of her 6th birthday, last week. She was on the way out to eat for her Daddy-Maddie breakfast that they always do on her birthday. Man she looks so old in these pictures. She was so proud that her new shirt made her look more like Mommy than she already does. She said that it looks like my shirt...I actually have an outfit very similar to that! Daddy already calls her mini-mommy! It's so amazing how fast they grow!! We are so excited to be heading into the big girl years of diaries, littlest pet shop, crafts, wispering with friends, thinking mom isn't so cool anymore, and all those other silly little things that we never did with preschool aged girls!

Free Princess Movie!

As many of you know I've entered the world of coupons and frugal living! Not only is it a challenge and a lot of fun for me but it is obviously helping our checking account and as many other coupon moms say....the more you are able to save the more resources you will have availale to use for the Kingdom!

So one new deal that I stumbled upon is for a free princess DVD from Fisher Price. Thanks to Bargain Briana for the deal! The movie is totally free (even shipping) and all you need to do is click on the link and enter it into your shopping cart and check out. It says it will arrive in 12-14 weeks but everyone is saying it will get there much sooner. Just thought I'd share!
http://www.fisher-price.com/pages/v6/default/preciousplaces/landing.asp

I am seriously considering starting my own deal saving blog but until then I will be adding some of my favorites that I follow to the side bar. That way you can check out their amazing deals as well. If I find some more great ones like the steal I got on diapers a few weeks backc I will be sure to pass them along!

Slumber Party and Visting Friends

So obviously we've had a pretty busy last 2 weeks getting ready for my best friend Alicia and her daughter Emma Lee to arrive as well as getting ready for Maddelyn's big 6th birthday slumber party. Alicia and I have been having so much fun this past week that well frankly blogging has not been on my mind at all. We spent the first few days getting ready for the big slumber party bash and then since then have been scrapbooking like mad! We went to Columbus yesterday and visited my friend Amy's store...love it! We also ran into a couple of other stores including Trader Joes (found some great CHEAP gluten free foods there!) We've really gotten some good use out of the project table that my dear hubby made for me for my birthday (pictures to upload soon) Lets just say that both of us are scrapping on it with p-l-e-n-t-y of room! Now if I can just convince hubby to put a flat screen TV on the wall in my scrap room we'll be set!

Maddelyn's party was a hit. She even told me afterwards that it was the very best party ever! We ended up having 14 girls for the party itself (mine included) and then 10 spent the night with us, all 7 and under! We had a Barbie Slumber party with all the girliness included. We did crafts, painted nails, ate popcorn, watched a movie and basically all the norm slumber party things. My little girl is getting so big! I thought I would share a few pictures of the night.

Nathan entertained the girls for a bit with a funny sing-a-long. The kids love when he plays for the, It was cute with all 14 girls singing along.

Here is a shot of the girls' dress up room (off their bedroom) that finally has the hooks hung in it. the little vanity set was from Santa (Target) and then we just hang boards and coat hooks around the room. We still need more hooks as well as curtains at the door way that can be tied back when they don't need them closed.

Ohioians!

Because my best friend Alicia is coming from Virginia this next week I thought I would post this ...getting used to Ohio... post. I think all my Ohio friends and family will get a good chuckle out of it as well!


You Know You’re from Ohio When...
You've never met any celebrities.
Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway. I hate that!
"Vacation" means driving through Hocking Hills or going to King's Island. or the State Fair in Columbus!
You've seen all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular.
You measure distance in minutes. Yep
Down south to you means Kentucky. Yep
You know several people who have hit a deer. my brother hit one this year
Your school classes were canceled because of cold. yep
Your school classes were canceled because of heat. I wish!
You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way. 45 minutes and we were like 5 miles from the school
You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day. yep
You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better."
You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July. CORN!
Stores don't have bags; they have sacks.
You see people wear bib overalls at funerals. Sadly yes, but that is all they ever wear
You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the year. um....yep
You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example:"Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with." Sad to admit as a teacher I've said the first one
All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, or grain. melon, bratwurst, corn
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked. yep, not us anymore though after the break in!
You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows. Grandma makes the whipped jell-o salad with marshmallows
You carry jumper cables in your car. most people do
You know what "cow tipping" or "Possum Kicking" is. Been cow tipping with my teacher! Long story
You only own 3 spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup. Haha! Yep and Season Salt!
You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. Every year!
Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow. yep
You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.
You think sexy lingerie is tube socks and a flannel nightie. not sexy...necessity!
The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but requires 6 pages for sports. so true!
You think that deer season is a national holiday. Some schools get the day off!
You know which leaves make good toilet paper.
You find -20 degrees F "a little chilly".
You know all 4 seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction. Funnier than you know! So our construction is a "season" now?? Oh my!
You know what a real buckeye is, and have a recipe for candy ones. Grandma makes them
You know if another Ohioian is from southern, middle or northern Ohio as soon as they open their mouth.
You can spell words like Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas. yep
You know that Serpent Mound was not made by snakes. yep
You know what pop is.
You don't think of Flordia first when someone says Miami.
You snicker when someone is from Tiffin because you think of the State Hospital. HaHa!
Schools close down for the State Basketball Tournaments. Um...yep
You're proud of your state fair, but would rather go to Cedar Point. Both??
You live less than 30 miles from some college or university.
"Toward the lake" means "north" and "toward the river" means "south."
You root for a college team though you've never taken a class there.
You know the proper way to say Lima (Lyma), Berlin (BUHRlin), Bucyrus (Bew-sy-rus) and Rio Grande (Rhyo Grand). Haha!
It’s Interstate, or Highway - NOT Freeway or Expressway.
You know every exit on I-71 And what is at each exit!

You actually get these jokes and forward them to all your Ohio friends.
Isn't it sad? You just said "yup" and "uh-huh" or aint that the truth" to most of these!!!

Happy Kitchen Dance!!

WE FOUND THE B-A-T!!!! And you know where??? My Bedroom! Ahhhhh! So a week and a half after my first sighting I was getting ready for bed (why is it always me? Do they just like me or know I'm a wimp?) and turning on the box fan we sleep with. Well while turning it on I was fooling around with it adjusting the speed and such and as I was walking away I was like "what on earth? Oh my gosh its the bat!" So I then yell and run (Nathan said more like pranced like a deer) across the bedroom floor to get Nathan up. I am yelling "Nathan! Nathan! The B-A-T is on the F-A-N!!!!!" Yes I spelled it? No clue why but I did? Nathan said at least we know you can spell in a time of crisis (even though I can't on my blog! HeHe!) So he jumps up to get it and I dive onto the bed with Elijah and cover us both head to toe in the blankets. Nathan is trying to figure out a game plan of getting it without spooking it when he realized that since we turn the fan backwards so we can just hear it but not feel it the bat was actually stuck to the sucking in air part of the fan. The bat was stuck and could not move! So, he just grabbed up a Children's Place bag and plucked it off the fan. He said it went wild biting like crazy trying ot get out. He then...cough....cough...disposed of it......cough....cough (for all those animal rights activist!) I love all God's creations as well, but NOT in my house!!! So we are just praying that God will direct his creatures to remain out of our living spaces! LOL! The spiders that we come across as we are cleaning up from our huge remodel really don't seem quite as scary as they did pre-bat!!

The other night Maddelyn went to her cousins' Hannah Montana sleepover. We found out that she went up to my brother's fiance that night and while all the other girls were singing karaoke she wanted to know if she could clean the girls' room??? Yeah weird? So Beth said ok and Maddelyn not only picked up in there but she had it cleaned to perfection so everything was in it's own place. She then walked past my brother's room and said "Boy it's messy in there! Someone should clean it up!" (They had moved all the house furniture and such in there to make room for the sleeping bags) She then said "Do you want me to clean it? Yeah I am a clean freak and that still psycho! I am soooo not brain washing her!

Great news....... we are finally in our kitchen! YEAH! We've been living with a college fridge, freezer, and microwave in our formal dinning room since we moved in in January. Yeah frustrating to say the least! So they are still working on some of the decorative trim (getting new trim cut to match the antique original trim), doing 2 more small sections of counter tops, and Nathan has to paint a few more cabinets for me to be able to have the complete kitchen done. We also are waiting to put our new wood laminate (well actually a recycled rubber product from Lowes that looks like laminate but cheaper and much more durable) down until after the 3rd floor master suite is done since the construction workers get up there through the butler stairs in our kitchen. Even though I don't love cooking it has been exciting cooking in our new kitchen with all our new appliances.

I need to run though. I am "trying" to gain control today of the constant construction dust monster that lives in this house. I WILL eventually win this never ending battle!!!!

Back from Tennessee.

Ok, so I know I have been neglecting my blog posts lately, but that is just a small window into how crazy our life has been over the past few weeks. I did return home on Monday from the twelvefridays weekend celebration (crop/classes) in Tennessee. We had a wonderful time and I even brought home an album of 30 FINISHED layouts that the other oh so talented teachers taught over a 2 days span. I wen tot help out and ended up still getting some work done! Woo-hoo! I did not get too many pictures because I was so busy but I did swipe a few from other ladies blogs and such. I do have more pictures of my own but with me not feeling so hot today, I think thse pictures will have to wait a few days. Thanks Heidi and Heather for the great trip! I also met a sweet, sweet lady Amy who was so kind to drive down with me to Tennessee and then ended up being my roommate down there as well. I don't think I've ever met a sweeter person! LOL! So since she owns a scrapbooking store about an hour away form me....that is double reason to drive down and visit her!

The twelvefridays staff that weekend. Heather, Nicole, Me, and Amy. Virginia had already left for home and Heidi was not feeling very well. Say a prayer for her she is having some major back and hip problems right now.

The albums they were working on this weekend. When they left they had a completed American Crafts album with 30 layouts in it. I think that is amazing for 2 days of class and then a crop on Sunday. They were able to do 24 layouts in 2 days of class and then we had 6 additional layouts that we taught as make and takes on Sunday afternoon.

The group of laddies that attended. What a great group!

Us working girls taking a break over lunch in front of the fireplace. Ahhh! So nice!

Virginia Tilley teaching one of her classes. What a sweet girl and doesn't she look adorable in that apron with her little pregnant belly! Another mommy with lot's of little ones. She has a beat by a little bit though with her oldest at 3 1/2 and #4 on the way.

Ladies working on some of the class layouts.

Amy teaching a layout with the layout up on the big screen.

So here is the bat story (REALLLLLY condensed) that I have been promising to you all. I was sitting working on hair bows late one night while Nathan was with work in Texas when I realized I needed another strand of ribbon form the other room. While walking back through the room something darted past my head and I jumped back not knowing what it was. When I turned back to see what had just passed me it was a BAT and it was flying right back at me! I of course screamed!!!!!! I believe the high pitched scream messed up it's whole radar senses because that thing when mad and was diving at my head! Yeah I did not figure this whole theory out until the next day. Well I run into the living room screaming and hide under my baby grand piano. the thing is still flying over my head and I am still screaming under the piano! I finally get enough sense in my head to grab the cell phone on the arm of the couch and call my parents to help. I am sobbing crying when my mom answers the phone and of course she thinks something is wrong with me orthe kids but passes the phone to my dad. He asks if I need him to come and of course I say yes, sobbing. I then realize there is no way I can sit under the piano screaming with it flying over my head for the next 20 minutes while he gets there. When the bat flies back into the other room I decide to dash into Nathan's office and shut the door while grabbing the baby out of his swing on the way. Nathan asked if the baby had been on the other side of the room would I have grabbed him before running into the office and I said I don't know! LOL! Not mom of the year award material! So I then call Nathan in Texas form the office still crying! He asks me where the girls are and I say in bed. he then asks if the doors are closed and I say no. He said that I need to sneak out and get those doors closed. I (still sobbing) say that there is no way I am leaving and he just needs to pray REAL HARD for his kids because I am not leaving that room! Yep, another no mom of the year award! So long story, but he doesn't ever find the bat and I end up staying the night at my parents until he came home. We did though end up covering my fireplace in our bedroom just in case that is how he got in and to keep his friends away. Yet another joy of old houses!!!

March 5th

Maddelyn taking her first pictures with my camera of Elijah in his new pouch carrier I ordered off the Internet.

March 6th

This was the first day that our kids could play outside. They were so excited just to be able to play on the front porch. The grass was still way to muddy to get in the yard but they were just tickled to be outside. Of course another picture of the outside of our house. I can't wait until it warms up a bit more and we get start planting flowers!

Fevers, Smoke, Scrapbooking, and BATS!!!!

So I am still alive. I am so sorry that it has been forever since I posted. We've had a couple of insane past 2 weeks. Just to give you a hint it is now 1:30 am and I am doing a super quick post from a cabin in Tennessee at a scrapbooking retreat for twelvefridays. Ahhhh. hear that??? No toddlers! I love them to death, but YEAH!!!! Mommy got some kid-free (well almost, nursing baby in toe) time with other adults! You can check out all the fun we are having here! http://www.twelvefridaysweekend.typepad.com/

So the past 2 weeks have been insane with all four kids getting that nasty flu virus. I think that entire week and a half that they had it I might have gotten one night that I slept more than 2 hours in a row! The theme of the week was high fevers, deep coughs, round the clock meds, and middle of the night breathing treatments. Fun! Anyone who knows me knows I don't do very well with little sleep, so almost no sleep makes me not a very pleasant person to deal with.

Of course while Nathan was gone on a trip for work last week all craziness broke loose. We had the super sick kids, major hair bow orders that I had gotten behind on while dealing with the kids, a house filled with smoke as I chared some ribbons in the oven, An oh.... a new little B-A-T friend in my house!!!!! Yeah! Great times!!!! I obviously need to head to bed so I will be a "pleasant twelvefriday's rep" tomorrow instead of a sleep deprived grumpy scrapper! So I will have to wait to tell you my: bat diving at my head - me screaming and hiding under the grand piano - dad with a plastic baseball bat and a butterfly net story until tomorrow. I promise you that as hard as you are going to laugh at me it will have to wait until I get a moment to post later this weekend.

Trouble Maker!!

So I had my 4 sick kiddos with me at my orthodontist appointment today. Yes they were all sick but I had no time slot to reschedule and of course couldn't find a sitter. Anyways, as soon as we get in there and the kids all sit down while I am waiting in the exam chair I hear....

Maddelyn: (very loudly) "My mommy doesn't ever wear that thing in her mouth except for a night." (my retainer)

Me: "Maddelyn! Yes I do. You're not even up when I go to bed so how do you know??"

Orthodontist "Do you not wear it?"

Me: "Yes I wear all the time except for when I am eating???"

Orthodontist "You promise?"

Me "Honest I do! I have no clue what she is talking about???"

That little rat got me in trouble!! And to think, he thought I was fibbing and she was ratting me out. Seriously you can't sneak anything by kids....even when you didn't even really do it!

Hellooooo from the Sick Ward!

So I kinda have slacked the past couple weeks with project 365. You know when you take on a challenge like that it sounds wonderfula nd you think...how much time can one picture a day take??? Well with 4 small children it is amazing how little time in a day you really do have to yourself or to do the things that don't directly tie to someone's survival! So I guess I should look at it as what I have is better than no photos at all!

Well we have major sick kids here right now. I have been up with Caroline for two nights in a row. The poor thing is very sich with a nasty virus. As a matter of fact yesterday we had her at the ER again for another fever induced seizure. The last temp I got before it happened was 104.7!!! She is the kind of child that is fine one minute and then spiked feer the next. The doctors said that her littl ebody jumps temps so fast that it just can't handle it and shts down. She is fine though, it is just quite scary for Mom and Dad. The doctor told us that pretty much from now on whenever she gets the slightest fever we need to start giving her meds around the clock to revent this again since we know she has a tendancy to jump temps like this so fast. The last two days we've had her on tylenol and mortin but her temp was still at about 102.5 yesterday and then 100.5 today. Poor little thing. She is just miserable. The other three woke up warm today and the two girls have bad coughs now as well. Great time for mommy to feel bad and to be going on 2 nights of no sleep! UHH! I think we all just need a big dose of benadril??? That won't work though because I have so much to get ready for next week. Only 8 days until I leave for Tennessee for the twlvefriday's retreat! Yeah!!!! I'm getting really excited about warm weather, cabins, and a weekend of scrapbooking with friends, oh and little Elijah as well.

Here are the pics I promised of Kalahai...

February 22 &23

February 26th

After spening the week in PA we returned home to find not only had our kitchen yet again been delayed in getting the countertops in but we still had no appliances adn the countertops were the wrong size and had to be reordered! Yeah! We also found that some how about 1/2 inch (no kidding) of construction dust had settled on everything on the first floor! I think it might part have to do with this plastic sheeting on the new stairs to the 3rd floor master suite is gone and they have been dry walling up there all week. for any of you how know me know that it's very hard to live with all that dust being OCD.

February 28

I spent the evening catagorizing and taking photos of my bow collection tha tI have here at the hose from my craft shows. I have ahd several ladies email about wholesaling with me and several wanted to know what I had on hand and how fast they could get it. I told Nathan it is a definite answer to prayers...but can we pray for the boom in my business regularly so the orders are more consistant instead of slow and then over whelming?? He said you complain when you don't have any and then you complain when they all come in at once. I said I like the orders....just ask god for nice and steady work! HAHA! This is a photo of some of the team spirit bows I had instock.

March 1st

The kids and Nathan took me out for my 27th birthday to Olive Garden and gave me a wii fit for my present! WOO-HOO! Now if I can just get in a habit of using it on a regular basis. All day Caroline has sang "Happy Birthday Mommy!" Melt your heart! The girls woke me up that morning singing happy birthday and giving me a card that Daddy had them sign the night before and hid in their room. Too bad they told me the night before they had a surpise to give me in the morning.

Still Here

Hey guys! I am still around, just haven't had time to post lately. I actually have been on a several day trip with the family while nathan was on a business trip to PA. On Sunday before he left we took the kids up to Kalahari Resort and Indoor Waterpark to celebrate Nathan and I's birthdays. The kids had a blast. We ended up going with 2 other couples from our church so the girls ended up having a couple of other kids they knew to play with. It was so nice to take a mini break from the cold and pretend Summer was already here with the heated pools and water slides and the nice warm indoor water park. Ahhhh and then we headed back out into the 18 degree Ohio weather. It was nice while it lasted though. We found out that little Caroline is a fish just like big sister Emma! She was fearless with the water rides and would try anything we put her on. She definietly is a little sister though and used to having to push her weight around to get what she wants. There were a few times that we cought her bully-ing other little kids on the water slides in the kiddie area! Oh my little tough girl! I have some cute pictures of the kids in the water as well as some of Eli in his adorable swim trunks that I will post soon. I need to run though and get my behind ready for bed. Oh why do I always end up staying up so late??? Oh that's right HAIRBOWS! HaHa!

Life with a Cranky 2 Year Old

So today has been a not so great day with the kiddos. I think there is a vibe that sick mommies put out and their children pick up on so they act much worse then they normally do??? Is it kinda like pheramones but "sickmones" instead??? So obviously it was not my best feeling day and then Nathan was of course not here so it was just me and the 4 little ones all day. We delt with crying kids, fighting, dealing with the constructions guys about exactly what we want for kitchen lights, COLD rain and the post office, snot nosed kids, a fussy baby, and as always ribbon orders to work on. Oh...and I am supposed to be packing and getting school work written out for the next week since we will be again traveling. Oh joy what a day!!!

So what does a 2 year old look like when she wants to be "independent" and has a cold???

She cries because she too wants to try on her new swimsuit.
She cries that she has to put the swimsuit on? (mind you she asked to have it on?)
She cries when she sees me pull out new flips flops becasue she wants them on.
She cries as I am putting them on her becasue she says they don't fit (even though they fit her just fine??)
She cries because she wants to eat dinner
She cries becasue I'm not cooking it fast enough for her.
She cries after she decides her food is not really what she had in mind and want something else.
She cries at every stage in getting her ready for bed.
She cries when I put her back into the bed, again, and again, and again ( I think like 10 times???)
She finally fell asleep at 10:30, 2 1/2 hours after I put her in bed the first time. Oh my!

So hopefully tomorrow will run a bit smoother!!

Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

Here is an update of our past few days. Sorry for the drive by post but little man is hungry....again! The story of a nursing mom! You live in the world of "just fed him" or "he's almost ready to eat." It's one or the other!! So here is my latest Project 365..........

February 13

Happy Birthday Nathan! My sweet hubby turned 28 today. We celebrated his birthday in Sandusky on Lake Erie since we were attending a church leadership retreat. With my birthday just around the corner I am realizing ..... man...we are so getting old!

February 14

Elijah was an absolute peach at our 2 night church leadership retreat. Everyone kept saying that he is just the best baby. No one would believe me that he actually does cry! Well why would he when he was constantly being held??

February 15

The girls absolutely love when Daddy gets out his guitar for them. They sat around last night making up a Tinkerbell song and Maddie and Emma took turns making up verses while Daddy played for them. It was so cute. Even Caroline took a turn strumming the guitar.

February 16

Our little peanut turned 2 months old on the 16th! Wow! How fast those 2 months have gone! I can't believe he is already smiling and as of today laughing out loud! It was cute to get his first little grins in his 2 month pictures. I just love these decals that I ordered off etsy to document his month pictures.

Shoes, Toliets, and a Hole in the Wall

So I am finally getting around to posting this week. I have no clue what we have been doing to make this week sooo busy but it has been? Yes we've been keeping ourselves busy with hair bows, school work, and normal house duties, but for some reason there has just seemed to be so much more of each? Maybe that is party because we are headed out of town for a couple of days for a church leadership retreat so we of course had to do extra school so the girls wouldn't fall behind. I also had extra bows to get out the door since we won't be here and well we've had LOTS of extra set backs with the house this week so in that there has been a lot more construction dust as well. So here is a recap of the past few days with my project 356 pictures....

February 5

So I walk in my bathroom to find this (obviously not swept up in a neat little pile.) So the only thing as messy as living with 4 kids under 6 is living through a remodel. Yep, this pile of dirt covered my bath tub, toilet, and floor from where they put a hole in the bathroom ceiling to run a new heat duct. The best thing was before I found it, I had kids using the potty in there. Great!

February 6

While Nathan was gone on his trip for work, I braved it taking the girls out alone to meet my parents for dinner. I still am so not used to the 4 kids to 1 adult ratio yet.

February 8

My little man was such a little cuttie in his khakis, button up striped shirt, corduroy blazer, and leather loafers in church on Sunday. Gotta love that wild hair. My aunt keeps telling me to just give up and get it. HaHa!

February 9

Okay this momma loves SHOES, especially when they are $2.50 a pair! Okay, they aren't all for my kids but pretty much so. At $6.25 - $2.00 a pair I definitely stocked up for "birthday season" gifts as well. I think we have like 19 birthdays from mid January to early April...most of whom are immediate family that we also by gifts for. It's funny how they all hit at once and then we have this non-birthday time. Weird? So needless to say that is why there are some duplicate pairs in there. We have twins in the family as well. Of course I had to pick up a couple pair for myself as well.

February 10

So Nathan and I went on this lovely date night and came home to this...our toilet in the middle of the floor and a large hole in the wall behind where it used to sit. The workers figured that since they were putting in a new shower base this week (yep the other one broke while trying to take out the old broken plumbing under it from last week) they mine as well just go ahead and fix all the bathroom plumbing right then. This way they would not have us without a usable bathroom longer than we had to. Well it was supposed to be a 1 day process but when we got home from our date the sitter said "The men said DON'T that bathroom....they had a problem" Well judging to the new addition of a hole in my wall I wold say yeah? Funny part is that this bathroom was the only room in the house not getting any remodeling done to it? Hmmmm? New shower base, complete new plumbing, new toilet, new bath tub fixtures, new heat duct (radiator out), new tile under toilet, and I guess now a patched wall??? Funny how that always turns out like that.

February 11

So this is what one finds in the floor of their bedroom when they ask a 5 year old and a 4 year old to help match a basket of socks. Well lets just say I think out of that mess about 10 pairs were found? Oh my! I really don't see the system they were using besides I did see Caroline throwing a handful int he air when I walked by earlier this evening. She must have taught her sisters the art of sock matching.

Too Cute!

This was too cute not to share! I'll *try* to post an update about us later tongiht. It's been crazy busy around here this week.

Hundereds Attend Global Warming Protest

Laws, Layouts, and Potty Training

It seems like I have been meaning to post this all week and haven't! We found out that the new law that was going into effect Feb 9th that would have put all makers of handmade children's items (CPSIA) has been postponed until Feb 9th 2010! They also said that they will be re-evaluating it then as well to see if it is still even going to go through! Whew-hoo! Praise God for answered prayers! This means alot to our family, with having a second income now that we have a new house and a new baby. So...on with selling hair bows!

We had a really nice time at the marriage retreat last weekend. Elijah was just a peach and behaved so well for us. The retreat in Amish country was of course really relaxing (no kids) and it was wonderful for our marriage as well. The kids seemed to have a great time at their grandparents in PA as well.

God not only answered the prayer about that law being postponed so we could stay open, but we've been super busy with new hair bow orders as well! Yep it keeps me very busy and up late at nights, but it is nice to know that we have that extra income. Anyways it is nice to know that we can keep our hair bow bowtique open now!

So here is the photo of the day from the past few days....

January 29

Elijah at the Bed and Breakfast in Amish Country with the Marriage Retreat

January 30
What is meeting my in-laws to pick up the kids in Cleveland without stopping by the Children's Place Outlet. Great deals and I have a coupon! :D

February 4
So it starts! We brought out the potty chairs and pull ups for Caroline today. She's been wanting to potty train since before Christmas, but I just wasn't ready. There was no way I could handle new baby, moving, remodeling, and potty training all at the same time. so we are kinda (kinda not) settled into the new house and Elijah is 7 weeks now so I guess we should get started. The great news is that she has gone twice today and both times she told me she had to go and then actually went! Of course when I ask her if she has to go and then she says yes, it's a false alarm? Oh well, not too bad for her fist day!

I also had to share a few layouts I did for twelvefridays. Man it seems like forever since I have posted any scrapbooking projects on here. That is probably because it's been forever since I scrapbooked! Fortunately though I have been going to a few crops and I will be going to the retreat in Pigeon Forge TN with twelvefriday's in March (YEAH!!!) So it's not quite the resolution I made but better than I was!

25 Random Things About Me.....

Okay so I've been tagged half a dozen times.... so since I FINALLY adm doing this silly little thing from facebook I mine as well post it on here as well.

1. I'm wife of 6.5 yeas to Nathan and mommy to 4 kids Maddelyn 5.5, Emma Grace 4, Caroline 2, Elijah 6 weeks.

2. Our life always has a "theme of the year" 02-Married, 03-Maddelyn, 04-Emma/Deployment, 05-Deployment, 06-Campaign, 07-Caroline, 09-Elijah/New House 10-?????

3. I am a bit OCD...okay MORE than a bit!

4. Even though Ia m OCD I am a procrastinator! I always seem to be rushing to do things at the last minute.

5. Somehow I ended up being in a (maybe causing us to be) a late family. Growing up I hated late families! Uhhh! What kids do to you!

6. We are about 5 into a HUGE house remodel on a big Victorian home. Oh the joy!

7. I don't want my food to touch on my plate and for the most part if it does I won't eat the parts that touch.

8. My bed covers have to be perfectly straigh while I sleep. I literally will get up in the middle of the night to straighten them if they get twisted or uneven. Okay, well maybe my sweet husband will get up for me! HaHa! Maddelyn has the same psycho problem.

9. I LOVE scrapbooking and photography but never have enough time for either. Now that I have a new scrapbooking room in our house I have no reason not to scrap more!

10. I have my degree in early childhood education for teaching kindergarten-3rd grade.

11. I homeschool our older 2 daughters kindergarten and preschool.

12. I am definitely NOT Betty Crocker! I really find little to no pleasure in cooking or baking. I think I fell off the family wagon on that one. My mom and grandma are both amazing cooks? So obviously that is not a genetically passed down trait.

13. For over a year now, I have made and sold hair bows on the internet. God has really blessed this hobby and turned it into a full blown LLC!

14. I have an honest phobia of snakes. I literally have had a panic attack when Nathan and I were out on a nature walk in a natural cranberry bog 2 years ago.

15. I HATE my wrist or inner arms being touched! For some reason it's like nails on a chalkboard for me and I even have problems sometimes wearing bracelets. Nathan knows this and thinks it's hilarious to hold my hand and then rub my wrist with his thumb or so when we are somewhere serious/quiet that I can't get away from him or laugh like in church! Little Booger!

16. In the 8th grade I rode 100 miles on my bike in one day. For real! Anyone who knows this should be laughing out loud at this right now and my non-athleticism!!! It was a school thing we did to rife up to the lake, on a ferry, around the island, and then back to our school again all in one day.

17. I have a cough...cough...addiction to dressing my children. "Hi my name is Mandi and I have a overwhelming urge for Gymboree and Hairbows!" There it is finally out in the open!

18. Nathan and I are the young couple's leaders in our church as well as elders. Yeah...in our late 20's and elders! How does that really work? Doesn't ELDER kinda mean OLDER???

19. I freeze all the time! No fail, if everyone else in the room is hot I am like ice.

20. I really don't care much for chocolate. I love candy but would go for Swedish fish, starburst, or jelly bellys any day over m&m's.

21. Nathan and I were honored to be on of the first people to go into the viewing of President Reagan's viewing in the capitol building in DC. We waited like 10 hours in the hot sun with a 15 month old and me huge pregnant to do so but it was amazing to see his body laying in state!

22. I once spent 3 days/2 nights at Walmart waiting on PS# to come out in stores! Now mind you that not only do I NOT play video games, but I was like 7 1/2 months pregnant! Nathan and I both waited to get 2 of them and immediately sold them on ebay and made almost $1000 on them. I'd say 2 night's vegging in the aisle at Walmart in lawn chairs was worth it!

23. When I grow up I want to own a scrapbooking bed and breakfast.....or be a Walmart cashier...I would even settle for a guide at a historical home?

24. I love traveling. I told Nathan that I would love to spend my retirement traveling. We'll see? That's weird for someone who had ever only be in like 8 states before i met my husband?

25. I love to read, but really just don't find time to read anything lately besides books with pictures and that rhyme! HaHa!

Rainforest Cafe

So obviously I changed things up a bit on the blog. I think it is all the white stuff outside that has had me snowed in the past 2 days that inspired me to go white? We'll see how long I like it???

The kids are in PA right now visiting Nathan's parents (thank you sooo much!!) while we attend a marriage retreat here in Amish country. Our church does three of these over a week at a bed and breakfast. It is our first time but each session only has like 4 couples so it is 3 days/2 nights spent working on your marriage with only the pastor and his wife and 3 other couples. We are so blessed that we have family who is willing to help us out with the kids. Nathan and I would not be able to do 1/2 of the stuff we get to do, if my in-laws didn't offer to keep the kids like they do. Thank you guys so much for that. I have so many other pre-school moms who say they wished they had that as well!

Before I forget, if I can have my friends and family say a prayer. As many of you know, Nathan and I are in charge of the young couples ministry at our church. One of our young couples (who have 4 small children) lost everything they own in a house fire last night. Being a mom myself I can't even imagine what they as parents are now facing. Can you picture telling your kids they now lost all their toys, home, and don't even have an outfit yet to wear to school? No way! Just please keep this family in your prayers.

January 27

So here is my latest photo of the day. I knew when I started project 365 it would be more of a project 150?? LOL?? So as long as I get pictures every few days or so? No, this is not just a pile of laundry ...well it is waiting to be washed. These are all the towns that covered my bathroom and kitchen floor Tuesday night. We had a plumbing problem that lead to rain in my kitchen ceiling from the shower above. AHHHHH! The frustrating thing was I was home along with Elijah when it happened. Nathan had gone to take my kids to Cleveland to meet my in-laws before the big snow storm hit. So I literally called him saying "Nathan I don't know what to do it's raining in the kitchen. No, you don't understand. IT IS RAINING IN THE KITCHEN!" So needless to say our contractor and some of his workers showed up at 9:00 that night to do damage control for me. Praise God! You know how the other day Nathan said our kitchen kinda looked like the Passover?? Well now I have renamed it "Rainforest Cafe" after seeing all the water raining down! The next morning when we had the new kitchen ceiling torn up they found some rotted wood, black mold, and some bare wiring up there. So I guess we should be thankful that it did happen to find all of that before something worse happened like a fire. So we did call our insurance and it will be covered. But, of course this does set us back even further with getting the kitchen up and running while they put all new pipes in, fix the wires and rebuild the ceiling. Oh and more than likely we will also have to go through the county for another inspection....joy! But, like Nathan said, another week and we would have had our new appliances in there, new counter tops, heaters, paint, etc. So it could have been a lot more expensive. Besides that, after getting the news about the family in our church it makes you think...yeah we are even more behind in the kitchen, it is going to be how much more money, and I still am living with a microwave and college fridge BUT we are all still safe and have a home! This is nothing! It is so sad to have to see someone else's troubles before you see how minor yours are int he big picture.

L-O-O-O-N-G Post!

So I am finally getting around to posting again. I was a bit busy this past week with the hair bow business and getting as much made up before the Feb 10th deadline with CSPIA. If anyone is interested there was a winner to the give-a-way on the other lady's blog.

So here is a short sum-up of our life over the past couple of weeks with my project 365. So here is a glimpse in our life.

January 14

Icicles off our front porch

January 16

We always take picture of the babies on their month birthday. Our little pumpkin turned 1 month on the 16th! Wow! It's gone so fast!

January 17

Caroline's Party pictures in the post from last week)

January 19

Yes, that is blood red in my kitchen! It's supposed to be a DEEP country red, but as in any red it is taking lots of coats! As Nathan says, it reminds him of passover??

January 20
We decid to take the kids out for ice cream and then to see a movie that night. We always go to Cold Stone Creamery to help celebrate each child's birthday. Caroline LOVED her strawberry/banana/mango sorbet with gummy bears mixed in! Yum!! (Alicia notice it's not only ice cream for my 2 year old...but covered in gummy bears! We took that picture for you! Bad Mom loading her with SUGAR! HaHa!)

January 21
Elijah had his 1 month check up the day before and the doctor was concerned with him projectile spitting up so much, so we were scheduled for a 6:45 am ultrasound on his bowls and stomach. Praise God everything was normal, but he's still throwing up. Not fun!

January 22

I was taking pictures of my daisy headbands and of course Caroline had other ideas. Let's just say I think I took at least 15 pictures of each band and maybe got one so-so photo! Oh 2 year olds!

January 23

Just some of the newest clips I have added to my etsy store and ebay. They are probably my best seller right now!

We found the most adorable things on etsy last week. This seller makes these cute little labels that you place on your child's onzie to take their "month birthday" pictures. Well of course I already had his 1month picture done but had to take these as well. So, over the next 11 months you'll see several of these pictures. How cute huh?

Of course I had a few extra photos to share. I still had not taken my own photos of Eli in his dedication outfit that my aunt made. We had portraits done but I wanted to play around and take a few of my own.

Here are a couple of layouts I finished up for last month's kit with twelvefriday's kit club.

HAIR BOW GIVE-A-WAY!!!

Hey Guys! I just wanted to announce that we are doing a little contest/Give-A-Way for our hair bow bowtique. It is part of a movement to get the word out about a law that is going into act on Feb 10th and will have a HUGE affect on all children's boutique items! The very basic sum up of this new law (Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act) is that after February 10th all items that are marketed and sold for children 12 and under will have to have lead level testing done on it. So what this means for us as a small business is that we will have to have lead testing done on all of our ribbons, clips, elastic, etc will have to have a 3rd party lab do a lead level test on it. What is even more frustrating is that we also then have to have another test on each completed product line to make sure the complete bow does not have too high of a lead level. We also have to have the products re-tested each time we get a new shipment in. Mind you we carry over 130 DIFFERENT ribbon color alone!!! So we would have THOUSANDS of dollars in lead testing just to have to re-do it all once we re-order our products! Not Possible! So as you can tell, I like many other children's boutique manufacturers are really not sure what to do. Also this new lead level testing doesn't just affect large toy companies (like the legislative people who signed it expected it to). It affect children's clothes, toys, books, school supplies, furniture, bedding, cloth diapers, HAIR BOWS, burp clothes, doll clothes, etc. Basically anything that is made for kids 12 and under. As you can see this affect many small business owner like myself that make things to sell online, at craft shows, or local boutiques. The sad part is that many of these items (such as books and cloth diapers) carry no lead at all anyways but yet they are putting many hard working stay-at-home moms and dads out of business! Isn't the entrepreneurial spirit what America was founded on? So what the federal government is doing...intentional or not...is putting all the small businesses that produce children's items out of business, only to leave the big companies who can afford all these new tests.

So after my little rant.....the Give-A-Way!

Another producer of children's boutique items has started a little give-a-way on her blog to get the word out about CPSIA and what it will do to stay-a-home moms like ourselves. You can visit her blog here http://www.whimsicalwalney.com/wp/ to play along. I am pretty sure that she will be adding other boutique item give-a-ways as the week goes on. All you will need to do is check out her blog and then afterwards stop by my website http://www.sugarsweetbowtique.com/ to pick out your favorite hair bows. Leave a comment on her blog saying which bows are your favorite and then a random person will be chosen to receive the group of Valentine's bows I have pictured above! Also just wanted to let everyone know that we have decided to extend our New Years Sale until Monday, January 26th. Stop by for some GREAT deals and to see some super cute Valentine's Day Bows!

Happy Birthday Caroline!

So today our Sweet Caroline turned 2! I can't believe it's been 2 years already! She is such a joy in our lives and her main goal is to get us to laugh! We decided that this year we would have a Mickey Mouse party for her since she calls all animated characters "Mickey Mouse" after we returned home from Disney. All week long whenever you would ask Caroline who is having a party, she would say "Me! Mickey Mouse Party!!! Balloons, Cake, Presents!" Too Cute!! It went really well and we had lots of people over to the new house. It was kinda nice to feel like we actually were semi-settled in with house guests. Well....besides the tarp hanging in the upstairs hallway where the new steps are being added to the 3rd floor and the fact that we have no kitchen, and when you hear the construction people banging while working on the kitchen. Besides that it felt totally normal! HaHa! Caroline had a blast at her party though! We learned though to have her open her gifts one at a time...through out the entire party for next year! Basically after she opened the first toy she was like forget the rest! We basically had to bribe her to open the next present! She would get "stuck" on each gift and really could care less about the other presents laying on the floor waiting to be opened. Oh the joy of the t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e (and yet so cute/funny) two's!

So I'll cut this short as hubby and I decided to watch a movie together tonight to chill after a week long push to get the house ready for the party.

Congrats!!

I just wanted to pop in and say congrats to my high school friend Elaine and her husband Kurt on the birth of their 2nd son, Micah! Elaine and I were due only a couple of days apart and our boys ended up being born 3 weeks apart! You'll have to check out her blog (to the right under blogs I visit) to see pictures of her adorable little boy Micah and big brother Noah! Congrats you guys!!!

Scrap'n and Snow!

January 9

In the midst of a Ohio snow storm, My hubby was sweet enough to drive little Elijah and I to our local scrap store for Elijah's very first crop night! He actually was pretty well behaved, of course after being held by the fellow scrappers!

January 10

We woke up this morning to several inches of snow! Of course the girls and Daddy had to go out to play! The fun part was trying to locate everyone's snow gear in the pile of boxes stored out in the garage still! Oh my! After everything was located and the girls were dresses, Daddy helped them build a snow fort! Of course we had to get a photo as well of Elijah's first major snow. He was literally out in the snow about 90 seconds! How fast can mommy get the girls to all look at her while she snaps a picture and runs the baby back into the house? Okay... some moms would say 90 seconds in the winter cold was cruel for a 3 week old, but I would say that's part of getting used to being an Ohioian!

Project 365

As part of my New Years Resolution to scrap more I really have been trying to get back into the scrapbooking vibe. Part of this has been getting active again on 2 peas scrapbooking website/message boards. It helps me be creative when I see what amazing work others have done as well as read the posts about all the newest things in scrapbooking. I feel so out of the loop!!! So after reading several posts about it, I decided to start a year long project that I have been reading about. It's called project 356 and the gist of it is that you journal about your year by taking a photo a day. The pictures on other scrap'ers blogs are of course just gorgeous, but I figured if I just shoot an image a day of something that sums up my day, that will work too? Hopefully by the end of the year I will have gotten better at my photos as well? I also know that there is just no kidding myself that I will get all 365 pictures (I'm already missing like 5 from the beginning of the year!) As I heard one scrap'er say though...even if you only take 15 photos a month, won't you still be happy with yourself at the end of the year at how much you have? So I am full swing into the challenge now! I also saw where scrap'ers took these pictures and then also made up simple journaling cards to jot down a note of what each day's photo was about. Then they take these and place them in baseball card sleeves and then in a binder! Of course some scrap companies were selling amazing albums/kits for this challenge but they sold out so fast that they made that company's website crash!!! Yep...a binder and baseball card sleeves will do for me!

The only bad thing about this challenge is that me being the perfectionist that I am......a photo a day kinda easily turns into a photo shoot a day? So yesterday I tried to make my photo of the day one of Elijah since he was 3 weeks old yesterday. Well I kept snapping more and more, trying out different angles, lights, and props. I think I ended up with over 50 photos for my "photo of the day." I really need to figure the one picture thing out! So here is what I have so far....

January 5

I began unpacking my scrapbooking room here at the new house. It's exciting to have my own dedicated room, but now that I have it, it's kinda overwhelming at just how I want to decorate it?

January 6

I know, more than one photo but it was too hard to choose which one to post. I had fun fooling around with different angles and such. I will narrow it down to one for my project 356, but I just wanted to share a few extras! I will probably fool around with editing a few of these too. Just something a bit different for his 3 week old pictures.

January 7
I spent the day venturing out with my 4 small children by myself for the first time! Elijah had another therapy session for his tight jaw (nursing problems) and I had to run a couple of errands and to the chiropractors. Lets just say it was pretty stressful running in and out of stores with them all in a major Winter storm, but we all survived!

January 8

I spent the evening once again trying to organize my new scrapbook room. I just love these little sundae dishes that I picked up at the dollar store for all my odds and ends.

Life as a mom of 4, 5 and under!

Okay..so here is a glimpse of my life with 4 children, 5 and under.....

9:00 am - My 3 little monsters eat an ENTIRE tub of yogurt as well as 3 bananas for breakfast! WOW!

9:30 am - Emma decides that red and white striped Christmas socks are the very best match to go with her navy blue Gymboree dress? I think she gets her fashion from Dad? She also decides that she is a hair stylist and wets down her own hair. I go in the bathroom to find both hair brushes and her and Maddelyn's tooth brushes all in the sink and wet? Hmmm????

10:00 am - I decide to start school with the girls but then realize that the baby needs changed. He messes through his onzie. While in the laundry room dealing with the onzie I decide to put another load in my new washer. As I am taking the clean clothes into our room to be folded I remember that oh yeah...the baby is still laying on the changing table 1/2 dressed! Opps! Thank goodness he can't roll yet! Bad mom!

10:30 am - I realize that I was going to start school again and of course as soon as I sit down to begin the baby decides it's time to eat again so I sit doing phonics while nursing..that's a first!

10:45 am - Caroline decides that school time is the very best time to give herself a make over in the bathroom! If mom's busy she can't say no?

11:00 am - I try to sneak away while they are doing their workbooks so I can change the laundry and find that Caroline has been entertaining herself in the laundry room???? I really don't think I want to know what was going on, but involved baby bottles she found in a box to be yet unpacked, a stuffed monkey that had recently been washed from it's swim in the toilet, and Elijah's blanket from the cradle. She is WAY to quiet when she is sneaking!!!!

11:30 am - I tried to start a new Bible program (Hooked on the Bible) that the kids got from their grandparents for Christmas. I thought it would be best to let Caroline sit in on the story and she thought because we were all in the floor it meant it was time to wrestle??? Um yeah? Funny that today's vocab word was Disobey????

12:30 pm - After School I realized that the upstairs could use a good vacuuming since the new carpet was shedding so much. My children's clothes look as if we have a very short haired puppy in the house by the amount of carpet sheddings they are wearing! While doing this I realize that Elijah is yet again hungry. After his feeding he needs changed again because he just messed through another onzie! Uhhh! That's outfit number 2 and we have not had lunch yet!

12:45 pm - Caroline starts saying that she has to potty so Maddelyn says she will help her get her pants down to sit on the potty. Sure enough she is messy when Maddelyn pulls the diaper off! Uhhh! Maddelyn yells for me saying...she pooped and Mom, her dollar was in her diaper! I run down the hallway and grab Caroline who is bare waist down and by now standing in the hallway. I send Maddelyn for a diaper and wipes so I can keep the mess in one spot. Maddelyn seems to have gotten lost in route so I leave Caroline in the bathroom saying, "STAY HERE!" I find Maddelyn downstairs in Nathan's office holding the dollar and explaining it all to Nathan! UHHH! I grab the messy dollar from her, grab the diaper and wipes and head back to the bathroom. Praise God Caroline is still standing there but covered waist down in mess!

1:00 pm - I finished feeding and changing him and realize that we have no more wet wipes on the changing table. The search begins for the wet wipe refills we had at my parents house???? Yep it's 1:30 and still no wet wipes! Well, I did kinda get side tracked. When I started digging through bags and boxes looking for them of course I had to put some of that stuff away.

1:30 pm - I realize that the reason my stomach is growling is because it's 1:30 and we still have not had lunch or gotten anyone down for naps! AHHH! How did that happen?

So now you know why I think we will still be unpacking about on the 4th of July!!!! On one hand I get about 15 minutes max to unpack a box before another crisis moment happens in our home. On the other hand the more I unpack and sort, the more ammo I am giving my kids to destroy! So it's 2:15 and I finally have the girls fed and in bed. That leaves me just enough time to write this all out and get a bite to eat myself before the baby needs fed again. Oh wait...Emma is yelling? Caroline just spilled a bottle of pop on my bathroom floor? So that's 2 kids back up? How on earth did that all happen. Oh and there goes Elijah starting to whine to eat. This would really be funny if it weren't all true! HAHA!!!!!

Christmas Pictures and New Years Resolutions

So I thought I would share a few Christmas pictures. I tried to get a pretty general overview form the like 500 pictures I took in just a few days' span! the photo above is the fmaily picture we take each year on Chirstmas morning at Nathan's grandparents' house. It's so funny to see little Elijah in typical boy clothes that morning and his sisters in their Christmas dresses. Oh well! That's the differences between raising boys and girls!

We did our annual cousin Christmas cookie party at my gandma's house. These woudl be the kind of cookies that are delicious but because of the amont of fingers that get licked, you wouldn't want to share these with non-family members! As you cacn see in the pictures, there was a lot more eaten than decorated that night! And yes...the one in Caroline's mouth is gluten free!

This one cracks me up! Caroline got a new big girl bed and all the decor for Christmas this year. One of the things my parents got her was a trash can to match the girls' pink bathroom. While we were all in the other room cleaning up the presents mess, Caroline decided to fill her "ice bucket" with ice. Yep...can't blame her! It does kinda look like an ice bucket!

So that was a general overview of our first Christmas in the new hosue and with our baby boy! It went wonderfully and the girls seemed to have a wonderful time! Emma said repeatedly that this was the very best Christmas ever since she now has a baby brother! How sweet!

I thought I would share my New Years Resolutions while I am at it. It helps me stick with them (a bit longer) if i make them publicly known so people can hold me accountable for them!

1. I resolve to scrapbook AT LEAST once a week this year! I really miss scrapbooking! It is truely a way for me to relieve stress and sicne I have been busy building my hairbow buisness, it kinda have been put to the wayside. I figured since I am falling farther and farther behind in my photos and now that I have a new one to scrap.....I better get with it! Besides, I have this beautiful new scrapbook room here at the new house to use (once I get it all unpacked!)

2. I resolve to get the baby weight off! Nathan and I joined the weight loss challenge that our church is hosting the next 12 weeks. I really hope to get soeme of the baby weight off before it's time to break out the Spring clothes! I had lost quite a bit before I got pregnant so now it's kinda depressing how small my pre-pregnant clothes were and just how far I have to go to get back in them! Uhh!

3. I resolve to spend more time cooking this year! As many of my friends and family know....I really don't like cooking. I have realized though just how much money we save when we cook at home, besides how much healthier it is for our family! It is definitely a challenge though because I will be tying lots of new gluten free meals. I would really like to get into the once a month (freezer) cooking as well, but we'll see about that. Now of course this resolution all is depending on my newly remodeled kitchen being completed. So for now I get to just focus on my other resolutions.

4. I resole to do more arts/crafts and field trips with my girls in their school work. I realized that we get caought up in the lesson plans and just trying to get their work done each week and we don't get much time to just be creative and use our imaginations. I really want to get them interested in the arts ans well as visit some interesting places in our area this Spring.

5. I resolve to learn more about photography this year. I really do have a passion for it but like everyting else I really just have not had the time to learn more about it. someday I would love to take a photography class here locally...but I'm not sure if it is a 2009 thing or not?

Happy New Years!!!!

Happy New Years! Sorry it's been a few days since I posted last. We've been a bit busy with the holidays and the baby and all. We did end up moving into the new house this past Monday. We're pretty much still just living out of our suitcases that were my parents house. We have gotten a bit of cleaning done this week but that's about it! We still have this nasty virus running around the house. I think this silly "24 hour flu" has stuck around for about 2 weeks now! We have also had the plasure of Caroline getting pink eye this week! Oh joy!

The baby has been doing wonderfuland was dedicated this past Sunday. His Grandpa David dedicated him at our church like he has the three girls. We were blessed to have 43 family members there and all of them went out to eat with us afterwards. Elijah is still eating and growing like mad! We've had a bit of problems with him being tight jawed nursing so we ended up at a massage therapist for him like we did with Caroline as well. The funny part was that at the first meeting the whole family had gone in to the session and the therapist said it looks to her that our younger three kids are all tounge tied! Yes, it's not a full tounge tie, but that littl epart under the tounge is too long which is probably the reason Emma has a speech problem. It is definitely smething that we don't know too much about right now, but we are doing some research on.

I thought that I would share a few New Years pictures form our party at my parents house. We play the annual bungo game which the kids love! I also posted a couple of pictures of Caroline after she dumped an entire bowl of M&M's on the floor. She just stood there with a total look of shock on her face until we all started laughing and then she lost it screaming and crying. Poor thing! Yes, I know that hse has no pants on in the picture, but what do you do when her jammie pants were in the dryer after an uh-oh and it was a kodak moment right then???? Yep, take a picture anyways andd then post it to the world wide web! HaHa!

I will be back soon to post some of our Christmas pictures.