Just a recap

Yep...just wanted to give you the "Low down" on the Birthday Girl's day!...it's been A DAY!

Peanut, Little Munchkin and I made and frosted cute little pumpkin bread muffins with LOADS of chocolate chips for the kiddos in Sweetpea's class...after a phone call from my brother and shoes falling off of Little Munchkin and hearing, "I do it Mommy, my self" a gazillion times...I didn't think we'd actually make it to her school at all...

Thankfully, the school secretary came to my rescue and got us down to the classroom before Sweetpea could officially freak out because her mother didn't show up for her birthday surprise!  Mommy photographer whipped out the ole camera and got lots of pics of her handin' out the goodies..

and of Little Munchkin diving in the MOMENT it was set before her!

Daddy and Popi showed up with a pizza party lunch...exclusively for our little family on an extra cafeteria table!  Then of course, Daddy had to make the rounds because you see, he is Mr. Popular, bein' the soccer coach and all...he's got a little following is all I've got to say!

Once we made it home, we took some time to play outdoors, because goodness, fall is NOT going to stick around much longer and we've got to get out in that sun and fresh air while we can...(plus it totally wears Little Munchkin out and at this point I NEEDED her to take a good  long nap!...

We met Daddy at Red Robin for dinner because that's just a standard thing we do around here for birthdays...they sing to you, you get a balloon and icecream...I mean, what MORE could you possibly want?  (and I do secretly love the bottomless steak fries...oh my goodness, grease in a basket and I'm in heaven!!)

AWANA topped off the evening and then to bed...she was awake still at 9:50pm...she wanted to tell me, "Mommy, in 5 minutes, I will officially be 8 years old!"...she's punctual if anything, let me tell you!

She's EIGHT

The days are getting away from me...they are going by so fast...life is full and fun and exciting and then comes the laundry to dash my spirits, but I'm up again with tickle fights and homemade cookies...

My firstborn is 8 today.

How is this possible? 

I know, duh, she was born 8 years ago...ummm, the earth keeps spinning...come on...

yes, yes I know this...but seriously, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?  I didn't even have a digital camera back then and so I don't have an image to share with you....unless I go digging through the piles photos in  my basement to show you my sweet little one after her birth...I'll share a few from around age 4 and up though...the "through the years" photos...

She's my sweet firstborn...my first baby!  I'm thankful for so many things about her:

*her sensitive spirit...the way she is remorseful immediately after she recognizes that she's possibly hurt someone's feelings or disappointed Mom or Dad

*the way she cares for her younger sisters, how she plays with them, even to the point of listening to the SAME Miss Pattycake songs over and over and over again, just to spend time with Little Munchkin!

*her compassionate heart...how she LOVES us, her siblings, her family and her friends...the heart she puts into her notes to us, her pictures she hangs, the little things she says purposefully to "make our day"

*her desire to do right, even though it scares her, the thought of being alone...she WILL stand strong, even through her tears.

*her hugs and sweet voice when she wants to let me know that she loves me

* her "bright ideas" that usually mean a lot of work for Mom, but in the end, it turns out to be quite fun!

*her laugh and how she tries to make everyone feel like they are a part of what's going on

Thank you Lord for such a sweet little girl...thank you for entrusting her to us! 

Happy Birthday Sweetpea!!!

A Halloween Story

It was a dark night, and the moon was full and bright...(this isn't really supposed to rhyme)

Actually, it didn't really start that way at all...I just wanted a good beginning...and just to set the record straight...it's not really a story either...I was going to try to be all creative and wordy and fun...but, I've had soooo much candy tonight and I think I'm on a bit of a sugar high...so my mind is jumpin' from one thing to the next!  I'll just let the pictures tell the majority of the story...deal?

Okay...so, let me show you how it really began...
It started with these guys...

Oh, yes, the bright idea that I had..."Let's make these cute little jack o lanterns out of oranges and fill them with fruit cocktail, cuz it'll just be so cute, and it'll be so much fun and let's go buy everything right now..."

Let's fast forward to carving Orange #18...not so much fun anymore...once we finished with Orange #22, I was pretty much DONE with oranges...

However, I will be honest and tell you that it did make me a little happy with glee when everyone exclaimed over the cuteness of it all at Sweetpea's party...my cut finger searing in pain from the juice seeping into it was all worth it!

The girls had fun at their parties and I loved being in the classroom once again!

Then came Halloween night (that's where the full moon actually fits in here...got my "setting" a little mixed up, but oh well)  The girls dressed up as Susan & Lucy from Narnia and of course, our sweet little Miss Pattycake!  Little Munchkin walked nearly the entire night...

Now, that may not seem like much to everyone, but we live out here where it takes a good 10 minutes just to walk to our friend's house 2 doors down.  So, it took over an hour and a half to go about 15 houses..she was a trooper...carried her candy basket the entire time too!

All the while, Daddy was fixin' us up something pretty special...

It's called a Swedish Candle...basically, it's a tree stump that's been cut into pizza pieces almost all the way down.  You soak it with light fluid down those slices for about 1-2 hours before hand...then you drop a match down and watch it go...after about an hour, it settles down into a nice glow:

It's absolutely awesome...the heat radiates from it and the glow looks so cool, especially from far away...we cozied up around the firepit and ate some of our candies...it was a perfect ending to our evening...

And we lived happily ever after...THE END.

Yes and No

It's about that time for a little yes and no banter:)

Yes, my husband has gotten onto a bit of a "cleaning spree" with regards to the basement

No, he's not all that happy about it.

Yes, he knew when he married me that I was a pack rat of sorts

No, I do not believe he FULLY understood the depth of my "love of memories" or my "I may need that sometime in the future" mentality

Yes, I do believe he thinks I'm nuts, but,

Yes, he still loves me

No, we do not clean the basement together

Yes, I do allow him to just "pitch" whatever he wants....and

Yes, I go down and search through the stuff he has "pitched" while he's at work

No, he won't let me throw away his undershirts that have holes in them

Yes, we will be discussing this more in depth as he begins to throw out my old varsity jackets and college paraphenalia...

onto other things....

No, my voice has not returned to normal

Yes, I still accept sympathy for this fact and hot Starbucks are welcome:)

No, I'm not taking any antibiotics b/c I was told it was not bacterial, but I am taking Mucinex and,

Yes it makes me LOOPY!!!

No, I do not take it during the day while watching the children...

Yes, while in my loopy state, I happened upon what I deemed a MARVELOUS idea for the healthy snack for my daughter's harvest party at school.

No, I did not think about the time, energy and precision that was involved...

Yes, I continued forward with the idea anyway and now have 21 carved oranges filled with fruit cocktail, complete with spoons for stems sitting in my fridge.

Yes, I smell like oranges.

No, I'm not happy about it.

Yes, I will have pictures for you tomorrow

No, I haven't even cleaned up the mess in the kitchen yet...orange guts everywhere...

Yes, my kitchen smells like oranges too.

No, I'm okay with it...

Yes, I'm going to go now and clean my hands again before my computer begins to wreak of orange juice...of which I actually need to drink more...perhaps that would help my hacking cough...or at least get me some more sympathy from my husband down in the basement who is pitching all my stuff!!!

have a good night:)

Makin' My Way Back...

I'm still not over this...whatever it is...my girls ask me every morning whether my voice is back or not...I think they're getting a little tired of the whispering or the cracking...or should I say "cackling"? 

I haven't felt badly and still no fever...aren't you just loving the play by play of my sickness?  I won't get into details...like mucus and sputum and stuff like that, because, seriously, who wants to wake up to that as a friendly blog read?  I've already got you gagging don't I?  So sorry ...I will continue onto other things...

As a lover of all things photography...you already know I take about a gazillion pictures of my kids...the problem lies when I want to get in the picture with them...for example, a FAMILY picture...we've tried the ole "set the timer and run...wait is it blinking yet?...everybody smile...is everybody smiling??...go back and check...FLASH...shoot...we missed it"...but, that doesn't seem to work so well with us...

So, my dear friend AM volunteered to take a few shots of us right after I was done with my 2 photo shoots for the day on Sunday...I thought I'd post one up here for fun...can't decide between them all for our christmas card...but it sure is nice to have us all together!!!

Sick is coming......

I'm so sorry friends that I've been lax in my blog posting this week...I'm catching something...or rather, I've caught it and now it's just workin' it's way through my system...

I was in denial for the first couple of days...It was like I thought I could WILL myself to NOT be sick...well, around 3am I realized that THAT just wasn't happening and I had to hop out of bed, get myself some ibuprofen and cough drop and hope I could fall back asleep...

I know you are all just beside yourself with curiousity about my symptoms and I am not one to let you down:

no fever
no runny nose
incredibly sore throat
no voice left...nada
chest is tight
chest is REALLY tight
chest HURTS
BIG ole cough in themorning with some interesting rattling
no more coughs all day
tired
sleepy
want Orange Juice and hot tea

I'm pretty much a big baby when it comes to being sick...I can do labor without epidurals, I can grit my teeth through muscle spasms...but, give me a cold and I'm out of commission...

Italian Stallion gave me a medal this morning:  "Here honey, this is your trophy for being the worst sick person"  He gave it to me with a wink and smile, but I get the point...I"m pathetic...I'd rather someone come and check my forehead and sit with me while I lay in bed and moan...He's completely opposite...when he's sick, he shuts the door and won't let anyone in until he's well...he just yells if he needs something, but mostly it's quiet...

Anyhoo...sorry about the absence...I'll be back next week with inspiring words and motivational stories that will thrill your soul a blog post. Have a good weekend and stay warm!

It's Beginning to feel a lot like...FALL...FINALLY!

I feel like we got sorta "jipped" or "gipped"...I don't know how to spell that one...anyway, I feel like we didn't get much of a spring, had a beautiful summer and then we just skipped over fall and headed right into winter...I gotta tell you...it made me VERY sad!

Fall is my MOST favorite time of the year...and not just because my birthday kicks the whole season off in September either...I love the campfires and the jeans & comfy sweatshirts, I love the colors, the smell in the air, the crisp days...and the LEAVES!

I mean seriously, how can you NOT resist the cuteness of your little ones in the leaves?

It just doesn't get better than this!!! 

I can't even begin to tell you the amount of fun we have outside in this fall type weather...which, has finally come I might add...Thank you Lord for sending back the sun for just a little while...I"m not ready to say goodbye for the long winter just yet...

And so, that's about it...Peanut and I made a HUGE pile yesterday.  It looked like this:

We even used a blanket to transport leaves from one end of the yard to the PILE LOCATION at the other end...we worked HARD and LONG...and it was sooo worth it...We jumped and dove and rolled and threw leaves...we had them in our hair, in our mouths, in our clothes...it was GREAT! 

And now, with leaves crushed to smitherenes and still stuck to our clothing that "mom" still hasn't laundered...we await the net day when more leaves will fall and we'll rake some more...because this may be the last hurrah...and we're not gonna miss it!

THE END: