A Prayer Request ****UPDATE****

I have a young cousin, she is in her mid-twenties, married with 3 young boys. Ages 8, 3, and 1 years.

She has been in the hospital with double pneumonia for a week, with improvements only being noted as of yesterday.

She is very sick.

She could definitely use some of your prayers.

***UPDATE***

My cousin is doing so much better as of yesterday. Her SaO2 was as low at 80% for awhile, even with Oxygen being delivered. She is now above 90%, talking, eating. Lungs are clearing.

Just doing SO much better!

Got the Quad!

So, after a saturday of visiting a new TJ Maxx store, browsing the $ tree, and taking the kids to 'Bounce' for a couple hours...it was home to show them the big surprise!

And, were they SURPRISED! I really thought that Drew, and The Boy would be most interested. Not so much my little Lulu. But, I was SO wrong! All the kids, including little Lulu were lovin' it! D took Lulu around the yard holding on to the handle. Drew was fearless! The boys did pretty good, but D did help them. And, good thing, it came with a control that D can use to kill the engine if he thinks they are going too fast, or getting in trouble. It didn't work so great initially, and he eneded up coming to the door covered head to toe in mudd after one of the boys revved it up, and D couldn't get the control to work, so he held on the back of the quad to keep it from crashing into the back of the house, all the while the wheels were still spinning out grass and mud straight at him! It was a mess. WISH I had a pic of that! So much for D reassuring me, "Oh...it's not gonna hurt the lawn!" Ha!

Honestly, now, I am just so paranoid that one of them is gonna break an arm, leg, or neck falling off that thing! I would be mortfied!!! So, it goes. No matter how careful I try to be, or try to make my children be, eventually, something will happen to atleast one of them.

A New Toy!

D is on his way out to make a larger purchase. He is bringing home one of these...

The kids have absolutley NO idea! They are gonna have soooo much fun with this in our backyard! And, the cousins will love being able to come and ride as well!

Well, off to a day of BOUNCE with the cousins!

THRILLING NEWS!

I have been trying to find an old high school friend for over a year now. We were very close. I really wanted to get in touch with her.

Well...I received a message from her sister via classmates.com, and so I asked her about Christa. Turns out, she has been living in her parents home, in the town we grew up in, for a long time now. I have DRIVEN past that house thinking, wondering if she still lives there, or her parents do. Thinking of stopping to say 'hi'.

Her sister also passed along to me her cell number, so I can call her!

This is such a nice thing to occur for me. I can't even describe how elated I am!

Any Suggestions???

I am avoiding driving d/t I SIMPLY DO NOT WANT TO PAY FOR ANY MORE GAS THAN I HAVE TO HAVE!

And...it has done nothing but rain, snow, rain some more all of this week.

I am so tired of cleaning up messy rooms full of toys, doing laundry, and doing double the dishes.

I am at a loss of what to do with 4 kids of varying age indoors today!

Augghhh!

Throwback Thursday? & Lincoln Logs!

My sister is a sort of pack rat, not a hoarder, but very much an avid collector of ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. She recently went through a lot of stuff that she wanted to finally get rid of. Among it was a treasure trove of our old NKOTB stuff. If you have no idea what I am talking about, I mean, New Kids on the Block. We had tapes, dolls, T-shirts, pillowcases, a storage chest. She gave most of it to my girls.


Things are turning so retro in the schools these days, it's like a late 80's early 90's flashback when I enter her school and see what kids are wearing. Outside of the fact that boys haircuts mimic the Beatles. But, I see neon colored leggings, ballet flats, fishnets, stonewashed denim, shirts with holes, tons of old rock band tee's, etc. The girls make up too. I don't allow my dtr to wear much in the way of make up but, a lot of the girls are again wearing blue, or green, or pink mascara. Nail polish in every color you could imagine. My dtrs fave's are dark sparkly purple and green.

Anyway...getting back to my real point for doing this Throwback Thursday...my dtr insists on wearing all 4 of the NKOTB T-shirts to school now...regularly. Now, I would imagine that she will be the only, if not one of the very very few girls that will have had access to such an item in such good conditon at that. It just cracks me up. If I am thinking right, I wore one of them back when I was either just at her age, or another year older. I LOVED Joe McIntire. He was my dream. Ofcourse it was all current for me back then, and for her now it is just a 'cool' thing to have and show off at school. I can't wait to hear what her teachers say, I'm sure a lot of them are near my age, and probably also had a crush on one or more of the NKOTB boys.

Now on to the little ones...
My MIL recently brought over some Lincoln Logs. In fact, it was in exchange for one of that Boys christmas presents that ended up being a real flop. She got the Ranch themed one, it came with horses, cowboys, a cowgirl, which was quickly discovered by Little Lulu. I helped them build it all up yesterday. They were so excited!

But, I quickly found that they both had completely different ideas of exactly how the blocks were supposed to be played with.

While Lulu immediately took the cowgirl & had her ride the horse to the ranch, get off the horse & then made her go in each little house or barn...


The Boy became upset that all the blocks had been used to build the Ranch when he needed them for making a race car parking lot, and his little Muck truck needed some to scoop up!!!

Oh, the minds of little boy & girls!!!


Needless to say...it all ended up being demolished during a knock down drag out brawl for logs.

Rainy Days are here!

RAINY SPRING BREAK! RAIN RAIN AND MORE RAIN! Just infuriates me!

Got some word signs I had ordered for our living room. Just put them up this morning. I love them! They are so nicely made, and look great on my wall with all the pictures I put up finally. I got them here.

Went clearance shopping with my beloved cousin, Mel, and she has this amazing little routine she does in Target. She knows exactly were to go to find any, and all clearance. I think she should make a map, and market it. We found some after easter goodies for so cheap! Burts Bee's chapstick, 2 in a pack, for 2.74. One is mine, one is for the Drama Queen. Some mini Bob the Builder diecast vehicles, a 3 pack for 2.49, a Dora the Explorer bubble set with a whistle to blow the bubbles, surely Lulu can really blow the bubbles with this, it was only 1.49! And, her dtr had on the cutest flower top with a springy skort, ofcourse she had gotten it at the Target Easter Clearance isle, so I found the same for my younger girls for $5.49, each entire outfit!

Also found a sidewalk paint kit for the kids to do once it dries up, it too was on clearance. And, Leah found her Baby Alive that she kept asking for, already on clearance! Ahhh, I ♥ Target!

We also took the kids swimming at a water park, they had a blast! Leah is scared of the water for the most part, but she did okay, she kept around the stairs in the toddler area. Dunked a couple times, but came up fine. The Boy was all over the place, along with his cousin. They were WILD! The girls all played in the wave pool most of the time.

We braved Chuck E. Cheese's after our swim. That place is insane! Especially being spring break. Too much noise, and too much searching. Our pizza got forgotten, and we both hollered at the manager. It's hard to enough to round up 6 kids from playing arcade games, let alone get them to sit and continue waiting for a pizza that never came! We ended up with free icecream for the kids. Did not equate for our troubles, but it did make the kids happy.

Now...what to do today?

A Princess Party & An Egg Hunt

Having the boys birthday so close to mine, and so shortly after christmas was overload in and of itself. But, having Lulu's birthday day before easter this year, well, THAT IS OVERLOAD!

This child was anything but cooperative over the last 2 days.

My home is full of little beasts. BEASTS! Thanks to all the sugar! Lulu was found yesterday hiding in a corner of her room, eating all of the chocolate she could smash into her mouth. When D opened her door, she yelled out, "NO! Go out, I'm playin'!" Yeah, right...the ring of chocolate around her mouth told a much different story. Seems to be it might be an annual thing for this little lady...just look at her telling Momma off in the camera at the mere age of 1 while eating her 1st chocolate bunny, lol.

That boy seemed to think the easter egg hung was a special event reserved for his high-ness. With every egg that Monkey Girl or Lulu found, that boy screamed in terror! "Look at me! I don't have anyfing!" or "NOOOOOO! That was mine!" It never failed.

Not only would Lulu not allow me to put her easter dress on her, she insisted on wearing her new princess nightgown all day long. ( THANKS MEL!) Even out in the wetness, rubber boots and all, to hunt for eggs. Hair wild, no pretties! She was big fat ball of FIRE!

I was the host, or rather hostess this easter, and spent pretty much all of my day in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I loved making dinner for everyone, trying some new things. But, it just baffles me at how you can spend a whole day cooking, only to serve and be done with the meal within 30 minutes, kids, I'll give them 5 minutes, and then be off to clear the table and wash dishes...remaining IN THE KITCHEN. Not my idea of a grand 'ol time. But, dinner was very good, and I think everyone enjoyed it. I cooked a ham coated in brown sugar, citrus roasted asparagus, maple glazed new potatoes, and some very yummy orange-raisin bread from scratch.

We ended the afternoon playing with a balloon. WHAT? Yeah, kids blew up a balloon, and we all ended up somehow gathered in the living room tossing a balloon around. EVERYONE! Kids loved this. Especially the boy, and Lulu...after she finished with one of her many tantrums.

Why does a holiday always bring out the worst in a child???

Now, I am cursing at the skies for the torrents of rain all day yesterday, only to have had beautiful
blue skies with bright shining sun the day before, and, you guessed it... TODAY!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Heavenly Bread...

A little over 2 weeks ago, my Mom gave me a ziplock bag full of this dough. She called it Amish Friendship bread. I was a bit unsure about whether I wanted to take it, and a bit confused as to what it really was, or what I was supposed to do with it. Well, I took it, and 10 days later, I made the most amazing bread I have ever tasted! The kids loved it, and D thought it was the best bread he'd ever had.

This little bag grows, and grows. You add milk, flour, and sugar to it 2 different times, and it continues growing. Before you make your bread, you create 4 more ziplock bags full of 1 cup of this dough. You keep one, and give 3 away. You will be making bread every 10 days as long as you keep a starter. I have now given away 6 bags. D took 3 to work this morning to give to his MAN friends he likes it so much. If D is willing to bother talking food or cooking with his coworkers then you know he's impressed.

Last night, I cooked my 2nd batch of this bread. The portion remaining for you to bake creates 2 loafs. My house smelled heavenly! D even stated at one point, "They should make a candle that smells like that bread." The kids came running once the aroma hit thier little noses, wondering 'what's that smell?' They knew what it was, and they could not wait to have some for dessert. I tell you, it's amazing! You will never taste something so good. It's sort of like a coffee cake, but at the same time, muffin like. Just so delicious, mouth watering. Especially when it's right out of the oven!

I would love to offer up a starter to anyone that is interested in receieving one and trying it out for yourself. The next time that I will be creating starters will be March 31st. Ten day cycles. I will send the instructions via email so you will be able to readily print copies for whoever you give a starter to after you've made your first batch. Just leave a comment, or email me.

POP BEADS!!!

Look what I found for Leah Dee for her birthday this saturday! In fact, I think I and the other girls will have just as much fun playing with them as Little Lulu. There are tons of them in the container! So fun! I remember playing with these as a young girl. What a classic toy, and so great that they decided to start making them again.

Remember these Melly Mel???

Throwback Thursday~Easter '04

Wow, how those girls have grown. That easter, the boy was just a baby, the girls had an amazing easter egg hunt set up by my parents, and sister. They filled plastic eggs with coins, some quarters, dimes, nickles, pennies. The girls thought they were so rich after that hunt! Heehee. I can't believe how much they have changed since then. Grace is looking so much older, so much more grown up. And, Drew is no longer that little giggly girl, she is so serious, so active.

Just look at that boy....how I miss that baby!

Wordless Wednesday~My Latest Addiction

Sell your Life???

This is just so utterly intriguing to me. Really, so brilliantly CRAZY. Simply insane. But, is it so? Or is it quite sane? I know I could never, nor would ever do such a thing, but to someone that is so unhappy, it may be a very valuable option. Given your life is desirable to others...How 'bout you? Would you do it?

Ian Usher is offering up A Life 4 Sale

NO JOKE, this is the real deal!

A Self Portrait in Truthiness...

MotherBumper, a fantastic lady, a hilarious blogger that I read daily has dared us ladies to post a picture of our bare nekkid faces in the morning. I kept forgetting, as I have children in my face from the moment I 'fall' out of bed, no time to grab the camera. Gotta luv MotherBumper for posting this challenge. What sick sick person would want to see so many women presenting thier early morning nasti ness to the world???

Okay, so, this is the 'nekkid' me at 6:30am. Just after rolling out the bed to start making the days school lunches, pre-coffee fix, pre-teethbrushing, pre-PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING!!! It's sick, so sick. I can't stand it. Okay, I take that back, but OMG I look like a puffer fish! THIS is what a 31 yo Mom of 4 looks like after a short nights sleep during which the 4yo attempted 3x to climb into my bed (starting at 1:30am) , only to be escorted back to his own with a growl. A crib is truly a wonderful thing...why did I take it down?

Wanna see some more Nekkid-ness???
Check these bloghers out! Just so you know...I'M NOT THE ONLY CRAZY ONE HERE!
Her Bad Mother
Sweetney
Breed 'em & Weep
Missus Mamalogues
Mrs. Flinger
Izzy
OTJ
Blog Chocolate

He's Marking His Territory

Okay, so with this renovation, the couch that was partially in our bedroom for fear of the children ruining it, was completely moved all out to the living room once carpet was laid. D has been 'lost' ever since. He went out and got a recliner, (free on craigslist) and is slowly re-staking claim to his MAN-SPACE.
I got home from work last night at about 11pm, and I see his recliner with TV tray at it's side, empty beer can with camo insulater around it, and his boom box plugged in beneath. Okay now. Granted, a man needs his SPACE. But, I was all for the idea that once he planted that last and umpteenth seed, HE LOST HIS RIGHT TO STAKE HIS MAN FLAG!
Even D has repeatedly stated how he really wants all the work we've done to turn out nice, and really look good. But, then he goes and slaps a 'free' cat scratched recliner in the corner of our bedroom, AND a boombox that has paint splattered all over it, AND an old scratched up wobbly TV tray for his beer!
Testosterone no longer has much of a place here D....JUST GIVE UP!

Pick Pick Pick & A Pink Princess Morning

So, my parents come over last night, bring dinner, and visit. Came to see the work we've done on the house. And, what does my Dad say? The plain cream colored table cloth that I so adore, suddenly became to him nothing more than a 'white sheet'??? Okay. It does resemble. However, I am not done yet. I still plan to get another sheer or decorative one that is either plastic or fabric to go over it for added 'umpphhh!', you know? And, seems to be the picture that I loved, actually a Lotus NOT a Lily, is not on anyone's list of favorites either! BOO TO YOU! It's MY house. Ha ha HA! My Dad hates the color we chose to paint the walls as well. I just told him whether he likes it or not, it's not going anywhere. Dad, why do you have to pick pick pick like D???

The older 3 went home with them last night, leaving me with only one sweet Leah Dee this morning. And, sweet, I mean SWEEEEET! A morning full of princess movies, sparkly dress ups, and pink pancakes...hee hee! BTW, my resolve to the pink pancakes was merely to add chopped frozen strawberries which leached red into the batter when mixed. Waa-laaa! PINK PRINCESS PANCAKES HAVE YOU. (I'm feeling so Martha Stewart right now, lol!) Such a strange calm with only one child in the house. And, the sweetest one at that;-)

Have a Happy Sunday...I'm off to read the paper, and enjoy some more coffee...then off to work!

Stumbled upon this site...YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! Grab a kid, and make your own virtual flower garden!

Random

A couple newer artists that I am diggin right now...Check 'em out on YouTube

Vampire Weekend
The Spill Canvas

But, still love that DMB

"Family Fun" Day

Today, we made some yummy French Breakfast Muffins, that the kids LOVED! Also, we had a blast making jelly bean bracelets...THEN...we made little blue fish soaps, and strung them on some twine. This was Beau's favorite thing. He made one larger fish to keep in the bathtub, the others are small, and will go to the camper, or family. Very cute, and so easy! I got all of these ideas from my family fun magazine. Just a few of the many things I planned to do, yet never got around to.
I even found a great page of instructions for making a giant hula girl cake, Drew wants it for her birthday. Busy day, now I've gotta go clean up...auugghh!

If I was a woman in the 50's...

Growing up, I always dreamed of being someone other than myself. At one point, I wished so badly that I was Wonder Woman, yet, found Marilyn Monroe to be so beautiful. I love the classic pictures of women in the 50's. LOVE THEM! They were so pretty, so shapely. Not the skinny mini movie stars today. One I loved was Carmen Miranda. Her 'tutti frutti' hat, and the dress, and her dancing the tango, samba. I always wanted to look like that, dance like that, to have the hispanc, ethnic clothing. I remember wishing my Grandpa in Mexico would send me a 'senorita' dress, or 'flamenco dancer' dress. I never did get one. But, I made one for my dtr when she was 10 for halloween. So, in blog browsing, I came across a neat site that allows you to place your face in a random picture. I chose Carmen Miranda. Not sure the pic I had works too well, but I didn't think should make myself into Wonder Woman, since she is so busty, unlike me...lol. This so unlike me, anyway. Laugh all you want...just for fun. I know it looks goofy!

A Girls' Night Out & Tubtime Troubles

Last night I took the girls skating, Drew took along a friend, and Grace, the one that states, "MOM, I don't skate!" actually agreed to go along, and skate with Mom! Ha! She may deny, but she loved it. She started out extremely squeamish, very slow, so dramatic. By 1/2 way through the time we were there, she picked up the speed, and was going strong. ( I also drew in by requesting a Shania Twain song to be played!) Drew, again, won Limbo, yet, seemed to be falling constantly. Go figure. I brought home an aching ankle, but I'm sure it will quickly pass. It was fun getting out with just my girls. D kept the little ones home, and they ate popcorn, and watched the Bee Movie, which Leah recited portions of to me once I stepped in the door. So cute! I think he enjoyed the 1/2 time too. Me with 1/2 the kids, him with 1/2 the kids. LOL. Gets so crazy sometimes, it was so nice to go and not have the little ones slowing me down, or holding me back. I am finding that I can still skate quite well. Grace even wants to have her upcoming 13th birthday party at a skate rink. It think it would be a great idea for 13 yo girls.



On another, more challenging note. It has become so terribly difficult of late to give the little ones a bath. I have held off much longer than I usually would, just because I cannot stand the struggle that I have been having not just with Leah, but also now with that boy. They scream something terrible whenever it is time to wash thier hair. Now, that boy never used to do this, not sure if it has something to do with regression, seeing little sister do so. But, I can't stand it!

I had to give in and give them a bath this morning, and they even tried climbing out long before I got them washed down, and hair washed. I am not mean, I talk calmly to them hoping it will calm them down and trigger cooperation, but sometimes I get so frustrated that I do raise my voice. Being a Mom of 4, I have given so many baths, and I have never had any of them behave as Leah Dee does about getting her hair washed. I am at my wits end. Nothing calms her. I just have to force her under the faucet, and do it as quickly as I can during her hysterics. Any suggestions or tricks you might use, would very much be welcomed. Check out the video below, see it for yourself.