Thursday, August 26, 2010

time to wash the dirty duds!

well today is laundry day.. but since I have officially failed miserably at keeping up this week.. I decided that I didn't want my nearly almost lone post of the week to be a downer.. or a gripe, or complaint, or *sighhhhhhhhh* vent of frustration.. ( even though I have had PLENTY go on this week that would give cause for airing the dirty duds). and so I decided that for this entry of 'laundry day' .. I would just go ahead and wash it clean, (out of mind) toss it dry ( again, try and get it out of my mind) and then neatly fold it and put it away .. (really out of my mind) and go about my business. I may come back, if that doesn't actually work. haa.

We've had a super busy week with school activities and such. My photo sessions are keeping me busy and getting me out for some great 'me' time. I am really looking forward to the weekend... got some fun stuff planned.

so for now, I'll leave you with some adorable pics of my *almost* 14 month old!!!
and to see more from his first birthday sessions.. visit here.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Words on Wednesday

kids just say the funniest things right?
like when we walked out the door for some one's first day of school.... as a first grader-

Brigham " hey mom, you don't have to walk me to the bus stop anymore, because I am a big kid now. I am in first grade and I know all the rules ". BWAHHH. got to love him.

maybe I'll still be walking him to the bus stop when he is 16, b/c of course he won't have his license to drive himself... (I can't even imagine..) so for now, I'll be content and happy knowing that he still gets excited over monogramming his back pack! =) We upgraded the letters for this year, but its still the same pack... bought it big for K-garten on purpose, so he'd get a few years out of it.
at the bus stop Brigham says to a friend " oh, you got a new backpack, I like it.".. girl says "yep", Brig says ", I just have the same one and its ripping a little bit ". I know way to rub it in kid.. lol- and to clarify, it has a barely even worn thru little spot on the bottom corner where he would drag it on the ground. It has lots of life left in it =)

Quote from Brigham as he walks in the door after his first day " oh, mom... it smells like cupcakes.. or maybe cookies... oh.. I bet its my first after school snack, right?"
who does he expect I am , Martha Stewart? well... I tried and on a total whim, made up this giant Reece's (his fave) cookie and frosted it. I know I scored big brownie.. er.. cookie points with him on this one.
And another funny from today.. after school, I took the kids to the library and Brigham starts talking about who he is going to vote for next. I asked him what he meant and he said "
well, remember last year I voted for O-Rock-O-Rama.
yes, yes.. you did...
but he said this year he wants to vote for God.
well.. good choice. and it made me think back to this post.. and how much has changed, or stayed the same.. and awwwww. look at my cutie -head Tater girl.
Can't believe I am getting ready to send her off to school as well in a few weeks.
Well those were some of the words of entertainment in our home this week.. what were yours?

Monday, August 16, 2010

More than Manna....

to be revisited tomorrow! =)


sending off my baby to FIRST grade.. so excited for some extra free hours to hack away at my to do list.. but I have to say I am a bit teary eyed at the thought of him being away for so long again... I am pretty sure I'll get used to it though..



stay tuned for my MTM update!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

laundry day !

Ok, so week two of airing your dirty duds right here.. and you know what ? I got nuthin this week. lol- shocking right? I was thinking that this would be a great place to vent once a week and in turn be a place where my readers can vent if they want as well.. and then I started thinking that I don't want this to be a negative place.. but only a happy place. Mostly in my life, I don't like the complaining, looking at things with the glass half empty, yada yada, you get the idea right?
And then I realized that its human. its normal. that we all have days, weeks, months.. where we experience stuff that we just well, need to vent. So again, this is an open place if you want, feel free to share if you want in the comments.. Thanks Hannah for commenting last week. I sure hope that you got things switched up with your schedule and that it did not put a strain on your relationship. I remember days like that back when I was in the work world. Mis communication can be such a bummer.. (or just plain forgetful ness.. or what ever!)
So my vent this week is on the heels of a lovely family outing that we had a month ago. To this neat little place. I call it my peaceful , happy place. ( yes, even with 3 kids and a husband)
we ventured down the road to a blueberry patch and picked quite the many of these yummy berries. Tatum was all about it...


until, she realized how fantastic they tasted !! the picking and placing into her bucket ceased at that moment.


and then she found a cut out in the rows.. and made a hide and seek game of it !



Brigham was a serious picker too...




He loved it ! Nearly filled up his bucket-


Beck was a great helper as well... from a far....




I am so glad that hubby snapped some of me, since I rarely am included in family events, now I can actually scrap a family event with the 'whole' family. Please don't look closely, as I had just got done working out when we decided on a whim to trek to the patch...














and so HA. I got him back... he is rarely in pics too.. as its all about the kiddos lately..












and they are proud of their loot. And with it we made many a blueberry pancake.. and ate them by the handful. I had great hopes of freezing a bunch and then pulling them out to make muffins, and bread and scones and pies... but a las.. this is where my vent comes in-






I washed them all.. and then stuck a few pounds in the freezer. Well... not such a good idea.. as they thawed , they became mush. The color is coming off on everything, so the kids haven't even wanted to eat them for lunch. they are just turning into juice in the bottom of the bag... so I can't do anything with them..
thinking of a smoothie, or maybe a pie won't be so bad.. any suggestions on what I can create with mushy berries?






But I have to say, these were the plumpest, most sweet and delicious blueberries, I have ever tasted. Next year, we're going to go back every week to stock up. yummm.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Words on Wednesday

Words on Wednesday is what I decided to keep up with ..(hopefully) because my kids are always saying the funniest things (aren't they all?) and well.. I was so good at keeping a little notebook when Brig was little.. I did scrap book pages for thins he said at 2, and 3, and 4.. Even did a page for Tatum and the things she said at 2..(Ok, well I started it.. and if all the words jotted down..)
So I decided I'd take the notebook from out of my car(yes, I finally put one in my middle console, b/c they were always saying something hilarious by golly, and I never had a pen/paper)..

So today's word (quote, funny, Brigism).. actually when he was about two years old, my aunt started saying he spoke Brighamese. It was adorable. And he is STILL cracking me up with what pops out of his mouth.

Me: Brigham , please finish your orange juice
Brig: Ohhhhhhh. but why, Mom?
Me: Because it is good for you, and I said so . that is why (totally never thought I'd be saying that.. but alas. its a daily occurrence!. ha.)
Brig: Well, I don't like the juice because it has all the fuzzy stuff in it !
****************************************************
Here is a cute pic from during our church's VBS. He attended 3 different churches this summer and had a blast at each one of them. This was part of the games.. they had to dip their nose in Vaseline and then go down and get Cotton balls out of a container and bring them back w/o using their hands. You see he is intently devising his plan as he watched his team mate! Miss Ta Ta... is always saying something hilarious. The one of late, is that she tells everyone she has a "spagehetto" bite on her arm.

We are also working full force on potty training.. and the kid is just not getting it. The funny thing she keeps saying EVERY time we change her diaper, or clean out princess panties. is " I not ever going to do it again! "... HAAAAAAAA. makes me laugh every time!

Miss Tatum got to come and visit our VBS since daddy did the sound all week and mommy was taking pictures. She was sure excited when they said she could have shaved ice!


and with that I'll leave you.. feel free to leave a comment of your favorite kid-ism !! We're off to Brigham's school to meet his teacher and register. Oh.. my , I thought this day would never come!!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Tips for Tots

on Tuesdays... yep that is what I decided is going to be my topic.. Let's face it raising our little ones is tough stuff.. and I will welcome any hints to make life easier .. can I get an Amen?

Some ideas may be things that I have found works for my children... other things might be from the bountiful words of wisdom from some of the Mentor Moms from my MOPS group... perhaps others are a quick tip that a friend gave me or perhaps I read it in a book or online someplace.
I'll try and give credit where credit is due, so you all don't think I am some know-it-all-mama-raising-perfect-kiddos-. HA !!



In turn, I will welcome any comments that you want to share with good tips that work with your little ones or maybe you saw it someplace as well..



*** when eating out*****

we are those mean parents that think that even though we are eating out, we still have to eat fairly healthy.. SO our kids RARELY get juice.. they always get milk. On a special occasion, they'll get chocolate milk.

Except Beckham.. after his Dr. visit, we started ordering him chocolate milk every time. In fact it was on a whim, that he pulled out this trick and he sucked the yumminess right thru the straw for the first time a couple weeks ago.


What to do? Keep in your purse one of those vertical little paper punches. Then when the milk comes you don't have to take that foil seal off.. ( I went for years w/ Brig and Tate spilling all over) and the straw fits nicely down thru the hole.

So there you have it.. one little thing that makes our dining out experience less messy !!

Friday, August 06, 2010

Fun on Friday-beach style

We packed up the car and drove 2 hours north into Michigan to our traditional vacation day spot! This was a childhood summer tradition for our family and so we have tried to go with our kids (and grandma) too. Last summer we didn't make it since, Beck was born and the year before we didn't for some reason either... so like in June, we all booked it into our calendar so we knew we could make it!
*poor pic quality warning*... I stressed and debated about whether to bring the big ol' camera to the beach.. and I had really wanted to get good beachy pics of the kids in the (over done, but still super sweet white flowing cotton).. but after submitting to my husband( he does have pretty good ideas once in a while.. lol) and his advice on just going there to 'enjoy the day' and not worry about taking the perfect pictures... I gave in! I am actually so glad I did. His other big reasoning was he didn't really want me to risk $2500 of glass in the sand. and yeah.. totally something I would probably have done.So we took the el'cheapo powershot and I snapped a few pics, but mostly we just played. Grandma tried her best to console Beckham while I was the other kiddos.



We did get some quick pictures right after the big trek up tower hill.



ok, they trekked and I sat in the shade with the baby and the princess. Pretty darn proud of my hubby, my mom and my 6 yr old for making it to the top ! (and back down again! LOL)
once again, trying to include Beck in the family, he wants no part of it !



Tatum spent most of the day here... building and building and getting sand in places that were very hard to get out. she decided it was fun to lay down in the wet sand and make 'sand angles' . Oh, yeah.. that was fun getting the sand out of her head.. (oh wait,thankfully that was Andrew's job!)

Little Beck Beck ventured in like nobodies business until he got in about chest deep. Really he was just coming towards me (and I happened to have the camera in my hand!)




Brigham had a blast and couldn't get enough of the water. I think it was a huge plus that our lake trip came on the heels of our second set of swimming lessons this summer. He was a little fish all over the place. His favorite trick was performing somersaults over and over again, until, he came up out of the water saying "ouch".. I kept telling him he ought to move out a bit deeper. Guess he had to learn on his own. What does a mother know anyway!





We totally thought we left Beck's swimsuit in the van and after three trips to get everything down to the beach, we decided to just leave him in his jammies.


they were beach themed anyway.. lol
He actually liked the water pretty well too, once we got out into it. The weather was absolutely perfect. I remember days where the water was like ice and the sand extremely hot. Or there was the one summer where there were dead fish everywhere.. floating, washed up on the beach. So gross. This was a great day all around.
funny thing too.. we'd been there for hours and were about to call it a day, but TaTa asked grandma if we could go see the boats that were all anchored waaaaaay down the beach from where we were. Anyway, we decided to all go and made our way thru the crowded walking trail along the shore and sat and watched the boats. Course it took us even longer b/c we had to keep stopping and let Brigham aka.. superfish get out in the water and play.
So we're on our way back and my mom pointed out some group of moms with their kids and I looked up as we passed to see Darcy and one of her girls. It was crowded and Andrew and Brigham were a good ways ahead of us, so I didn't get the chance to stop. We used to work together years ago.. ( I think before I was even married?) and then got reacquainted via scrapping and blogging a few years ago. So wild to see someone I knew in a sea of thousands.
Kinda like when we ran into a family at Mammoth Cave.. just looked up and there they were..
So that was our fun for the week.. (amongst other summery things.). We're off to Indy in the am for a photographers get together that I am hosting. There are about 15 of us going. Should be a great time, and looks like it will be just perfect weather!
hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Thursday, August 05, 2010

it's laundry day!

ok, well I didn't do such a great job this first week of August.. ahem.. on my new blogging schedule. (but did you really think I would? lol)... ugh.

Three photo sessions and it is only Thursday. =).. trips to the park. hours at the pool. a fabulous day up at Lake Michigan.

ANYWAY.....I came up with my little list of topics to keep me on track and focused.. I'm just gonna pick up with today, and hubby actually came up with the title for this one.

(because he said, by the time Thursday comes, there will have been something that happened that needs to be vented. ha.) oh, he knows me too well . AND I don't want to put a damper on Fun on Fridays heading into the weekend.


SOOO. Thursday is going to be laundry day. I.E. Airing the dryer vents. AHEM. sharing something that bugged me, made me cringe, made me stew.. (and not the vegie kind)...made me question.. you get the idea right??

AND in return... YOU ALL are free to LEAVE your dirty duds here. This is a safe place. Well, heck I am always a safe place. I have been told my whole adult life that I am super easy to talk to, to share inter most struggles and secrets with.. yep. What is said to me. stays with me. You have my word.(real life folks already know this.. but in case you wanted to venture into a friendship, well you know trust is KEY with ME)

UNLESS its on this blog.. and this post particularly.. because... I want to hear from you! I want you to be able to leave me a comment with one of your 'vents' from this week, and IF you say I can.. I'll blog about it NEXT THURSDAY in conjunction with mine... We may just be able to help each other along. some examples can be frustrating, irritating, funny, things.. stuff your kids did, your neighbor said, your boss tried, the customer in front of you in line at Wal Mart did.. what ever... things going on in your town, your state , your world.. time to share!!

Here goes mine..... actually been struggling with this for awhile now, but in recent weeks have had some situations where it has surfaced again and I just don't get it. Been talking to Andrew about it a lot lately.
The reality that some how in our society it is acceptable or encouraged to 'not' talk to people that you know. People that you are or have been friends with. People that are acquaintances.
Heck I think I talk to strangers more than strike up a conversation with someone that I know from a different path of life or whatever..
This is so frustrating to me. It just doesn't seem right to me. I am an outgoing, friendly person by nature and have always been surrounded by 'friendly' people as well. My husband always nicknamed me chatty- cathy ( in know, so unoriginal.. lol) because where ever we went I would always be friendly, compliment someone, chat about the weather, the kids..etc. etc.

SO now we have found ourselves in this situation of the last 3 years, where the majority of people that we used to be friends with, have dinner with, have play dates with, attend church and school with.. REFUSE to talk to us. YEP. like we've seen them detour their path in the grocery store so as not to have to come within 'talking' distance of us. We have seen them at baseball games and swimming lessons and yet we don't speak.
It is IN OUR nature to go up and say Hi, to strike up a casual conversation with these folks.. but it has never been received well.
.. and so I am left with this constant battle of what my mind says is the right, the normal, the courteous, the adult thing to do.. - which is to say hello, chat a bit. of course I am not saying that we have to act like BFF's or something, but geesh... just because we don't attend the same church, somehow we different now?
Like it was ok, for us to be guests' in their home, share meals, attend bible studies and girls nights, and guys outings AND have them all into our home... but suddenly we are different now.
HMMMM. (well yes, we are different, and that goes with out saying.. thus the reason we are where we are.. ) . but is being different all that bad?

and the battle continues with what my heart says ... and that is that several people really, really hurt us. badly. deeply. and we extended grace, realized people are all sinners, forgave them.. and wished to carry on. I have been told by a very close and Godly friend that I have a lot of strength and courage to carry on. I feel that is what I am called to do. I am not someone who holds grudges by any means. I accept people and so often give people the benefit of the doubt.
Second chances, and third chances.
Again, I am not saying that I am going out trying to build the deep relationships.. but seriously? How do you not even talk to people that you 'supposedly' were friends with at one time.
Boggles my mind.. and so then I am left in the situation, that I am tired of being made a fool. I don't want to move forward with good intentions, using my friendly ways to reach out, only to be laughed at behind my back.
As in.. " do you know who I saw today and she tried to talk to me!! " how dare someone actually be courteous. GASP.

The other biggest pet peeve I have is fakeness. Maybe that is the standpoint these folks are coming from. Perhaps they don't like it either. The problem is that I don't have one 'fake' bone in my body. I am so real. Like raw - real. I am not about a hidden agenda or playing games. I can see this going on sometimes and it just makes me sick. So much negative energy is being spent to what? be miserable? um, yeah.. no thanks!
I need all the energy I can to maintain my house and my family!! lol

Please don't take away that this is just a poor me saga ... because I am SO not about that. I don't like drama and I don't like attention directed at myself. However, just been mulling this idea around lately, that perhaps this is just what culturally we are taught to do. I know that I am not perfect and because of seeing this reaction dozens of times in the last couple years... I too have started to adapt to that way of thinking. I don't like it. It feels strange and awkward to me.

I have pretty much adapted the mindset that if they want to talk , then I'll let them come to me. I am tired of initiating and then being left feeling like a fool-. but then again, I don't think this is the right attitude to take? I bring this up, because I know that there are some of you out there that have experienced this same type of thing. I know one friend in particular saw similar results within a church body. Others have seen it in the work place or even in school settings.

ok.. so that was much longer than I thought.. - feel free to share , I'd love to hear your thoughts, comments, suggestions.. whatever. Spill it !!


LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin