things I am lovin' ....

1. My Tater girl's pig tails... her hair is sooo long(has not had a hair cut yet in almost 3 years!). unlike her older brother who didn't have one in 2 1/2 yrs because he had no hair! LOL So her piggie tails are so long, that I loop them up and tie them in little buns.. got the idea from Chasing Fireflies catalog(one of my faves). her hair is just so cute with these blonde little ringlets in the back that I hate to cut them for fear they won't come back. I do however love the little bob.. so maybe right before or after her 3rd bday , I'll do that.. (and it will help with pool time hair this summer as well !)

but then I went and found this site.. and makes me NOT want to cut her hair. If you have a girl, you should totally check it out!

2. my Beckham baby up on all fours!! yep.. he is a mad man crawler now... all over the place.. he is so much happier (if that even could occur) now that he has freedom to roam. He goes where ever the other kids are.. he follows me down the hallway, into the kitchen.. though I always "hear" him coming, b/c he whines a bit.. lol


and he'll crawl to get something and then resume his favorite sitting position. ahh. SO cute!

3. My Big rock star, faux hawk wearing 5 year old!! Gosh, I can't believe how big he is looking.. yet at the same time , just bursting with that child like innocence. LOVE him.. soo much. He is quite the little student too.. need to do another post about his P/T conference from this period. makes a mama proud, thats for sure!!!

4. the warmer temps we have been having(except today, rainy, cloudy, and brrrrr.) you would think it was winter.. well guess it is IN.. so we could have snow in April!! but we have had some nice park days, and I am excited to see all the bits of green popping up in my yard!

5. My fearless wonder..... love seeing how different she is then her big brother at the same age. I just can't get over how cool it is to be a mom to each one of my kids.. to see the uniqueness in each one of them.. and their personalities emerging and likes and dislikes , etc, etc.

6. My pudgy little one embarking on a new kind of food. Peaches. um, yeah.. as you can see not sure with the first couple bites.. ( I make my own, so they were probably pretty tart) but by the end, he was starting to get used to it. As of now, he eats peaches, pears, banana's , applesauce and tonight he tried blueberries. I mix it all with baby oatmeal and he eats this a couple times a day (if I remember) , sometimes its only once!

7. and I found a new favorite on etsy. yep. totally blog hopped about a month ago, and came across a girl ( who I later realized was a real life friend of a friend of mine, and the way I found her was she followed a blog of a very good friend of mine.(but they don't even know each other! ha.. the magical , fabulous blogging world!). .. anyway.. she makes these adorable necklaces. I knew I had to have one. totally my style.

...and then the package arrived...

how cute is that? and she threw in a cute little bracelet, which my baby and my daughter fight for each time I wear it!!




and here is a shot of the necklace...

go here and get yourself one. I am going back for at least 2 more for summer!!




8. My little lady all accessorized. seriously, we can't leave the house to even go get the mail, without her grabbing her purse, her GASSSES, (of course there is a bow on her head) , but of course..

and usually a necklace and a couple bracelets.

here is my little diva sporting her new pink jelly shoes for summer...

she wants to wear these every day!

and what do you know... just shy of it being a 'top ten' LOL

guess I should have taken a picture of the tv.. because it s MARCH MADNESS and that is one of the things I am really loving lately! Andrew even took 2 days off last week (conveniently starting the day after St. Patty's) to go to BW3, or wild wings, or Bdubs. whatever. the wing place , ya know..

to watch hours upon hours of basketball.

and what do you know, our Boilermakers are still in it! Sweet Sixteen , oh yeah! we are just a little pumped around here, though it could come to a crushing halt Friday night when we face Duke.

we'll be cheering hard in our Black and Gold!!

oh, and so here is

#10..( insert picture of my mom) She has been an incredible saving grace and a wonderful grandma this week.. see we're on our spring break, and after the first half day, I was about to go bonkers, so she called and invited Brig to come stay for a few days!!

He thinks she hung the moon, and he is calling and reporting all the fun, sweet treats, and extra special things she is spoiling him with. yayyy for grandmas. =)

and I am able to sleep til 9 am or after (today.. it was 9:30) and also getting some quiet moments to get some work done.

So leave me a comment will ya, and let me know one thing that you're lovin' right now!!

spring: I am loving it !!

hope you are all enjoying the sunshine .. now if my yard could just magically get spruced up for spring planting, I'd be even happier!! =)

way cool !

So you probably have heard me talk a bit about the awesome church we attend.. seriously. its such a breath of fresh air.. challenging, convicting, amazing, encouraging,engaging, spirit led... and just a whole bunch of other cool stuff.

anyway.. about a month ago, our pastor friend Whobbie (ok, its Robbie, but that is what Tatum calls him) announced in our life group and then on a Sunday morning, that he really felt God was prompting him to call his people to pray. LOVE the authenticity he brings.

LOVE this. and by this he doesn't just mean.. email your prayer request and then silently pray for someone (if you happened to get around to it.. kinda praying).

serious prayer people.

This is one of the things that we were introduced to at Clear River, and have sensed a strong void in our lives ever since. We have been praying about it(Andrew and I) , and talking to some good friend who are gifted in this type of prayer ministry..about the fact that we really wish somehow NV could bring this amazing intercessory type of prayer to its people..

and guess what? Its here.. taking baby steps, b/c it does take a lot to get used to. but ahhhh. it feels good to the soul' I tell ya!

and so, back to the whole point of this post which is to share with you something really cool that our Pastor is doing. They call it Northview40.. and its forty days of prayer. We all got these nifty little keychain thingys that list each day and what do pray for. SPECIFICALLY.
so how fantastic is that the entire community of our church is potentially praying for these same things at the same time. GOD IS WORKING!!

and so we also have a blog with prompts and places for people to share what is going on in their lives.. go check it out here.


Feel free to adapt any of these days to your daily prayers... and if you want to come check out our church.. you're welcome any time =).. and this week is baptism, which is super cool.. so if you haven't felt the holy spirit moving in your life lately.. its a great chance to do so!!

all about Beck

been busy taking so many pictures of other people's kiddos, that I have been really slacking on the baby updates of my own sweet kid !
I can hardly believe that Beckham turned 8 months old on Wednesday! He totally partied like a rock star. He ate an extra bowl of cereal that day.. lol. I was so wanting to get him started on real foods, like I did with the other two at this age, but , well, life just didn't slow down for me to mash up some peaches for him.. I think he'll be alright until this weekend to try out his first real food =).
here is a quick re cap of the last few months.... the evolution of his first BIG milestone: the ROLL. he actually is an over achiever and decided that going back to front was more his style. Did this for the first time back in November.. at 4.5 months.

and then right before he turned 6 months he sat up for the first time. Life has never been so exciting for him! He spends hours in the center of the room , surrounded by toys, and gets (literally) caught in the middle of the chaos that surrounds him as his brother and sister go wild.

Obviously, I have been slacking in posting these monthly pictures, but I have been taking them.. (and usually right on time !)..lol.

I have the finished scrap book page all worked up in my mind. Speaking of.. this weekend is dedicated to a scrap marathon of getting HIS book up to date. Printed off a bunch of his pics, and hopefully they will be easy to put on paper. oy. I always say that. I am so much better at saying then doing. But, my husband is backing me on this one. I just feel like I am spiraling out of control with this scrapping stuff.. and need to get a grip.

and 6 months also brought us to that lovely, and messy experience with the mouthwatering taste of nothing more like chalk. well, he didn't know quite what to do with his tongue, so that gave us a few problems..

(why, yes that is a silver spoon in his mouth..lol.. and a beautiful silver porridge bowl.. all my kids have their own silver spoon, and entire set of silverware given to them at birth)

He still looked cute and clueless...

and such a polite little dude.. um, no thank you, I have had enough.

and he really has. I pretty much have tried it again a handful of times. Just when I think of it, and the other kids are not around reaking havic (to distract him). We really have to focus to be able to eat. He does not take after his mama in this area.
Plus, his Ped says that breast milk is the only thing he needs until a year old. I am so laid back with this kid it isn't funny. Not like I wasn't with the other two.. but seriously, we are realllly laid back with him. He is not missing out in the food department. Remember he was 18 lbs at his 6 month check up. The kid is doing fine.... But he certainly taking an interest in food. Every time I have something, he starts smacking his lips and reached for my fork. So it is time. I am writing it here on the ol' blog.. so that means I have to give him peaches so we have pictures on Monday right?

ok, then.

and here is just a cute shot showing off his baby blues.. I grabbed some fabric after a session and did an impromptu session with him at 7 months.

and here is Mr. B looking all cute at 8 months!

things he is doing right about now....

-sits up , rolls over, sits up again

-scoots all over the place. the kid has no boundaries.. although he almost always ends up stuck under the couch, the rocker, or the Lazy Boy. When there is constant whining.. we now exactly how we will find him.

-eats an occasional bowl of rice cereal

- exclusively nursing. will maybe take an ounce or two from a bottle as a last resort

- belly laughs all the time

-loves to watch his siblings play

- loves to play with his own toys, anything that rattles, any stuffed animal

-puts everything in his mouth

-sleeping thru the night(finally!) in his crib. on his back, but lately is flipping over once awake and playing with all the stuffed animals in his crib

-is wearing 6-9 month clothes

-loves his car seat and will most likely fall asleep 5 minutes into being in it

-has very potent , and frequent farts

- likes to be held

-is a total mama's boy, and cries every time I leave the room

- is getting up on all fours (and rockin')... it won't be long now...

-is a very, very happy baby.. probably the most out of all 3 (and the other two, were extremely happy and content)

-lights up our lives every day, and brings a ton of joy to each one of us

and with that... I am off to a funeral, a date night and a busy, busy weekend. Come back on Monday to check out my scrap pages!

every day should be full of love:

and that is precisely why I did not post our valentines post in a timely fashion.. who wants to give in to a hallmark kinda holiday anyway.. (yep.. that is totally the reason.) this picture above makes my so happy. like busting with joy kinda happy. my little girl is playing with other girls. I pretty much pulled away from the full schedule, play date and lunch dates every day of the week, dinners with friends, hosting parties, shopping trips,mom's groups, bible studies.. you name it , I was in it.. pulled out of it all in the last two years. God has taught me some valuable lessons through out all of this.. but now I am kinda lonely. and selfishly, I realize that my anti social skills will weigh heavily on her social skills. and I want the best, most happiest of times for my baby girl. (and my husband would like me to find a happy medium to my lack of "do nothing" life that I have become accustomed too.).. but really, folks.. its just safer this way. =P

OH... back to the picture.... we met some friends at chick fil a a couple of Friday's ago.. and my little girl had a ball with her "new" friends. My friend has a little boy her age, and they get along great.. but this was just to sweet to watch a pick up game of ring-around-the-rosy.. right there in the middle of chick fil a play land. AWE.

*****************************

on to sweetest day.... (yeah, i know there is another day for that.. but this really should have been renamed for obvious reasons!)

exhibit A. made some yummy red velvet cup cakes for my lovies.

made some pink heart shaped rice krispie treats for Brigham to take to school, because he just happened to be "top dog" on the 12th.

made these super cute "pink tornado" cookies for Brigham's class party on the 13th.
We had a little Earth Science lesson, when he discovered the pink tornado, and decided to ask a zillion questions about the scariest natural disaster I know of.

I got to drop the littles off at grandma's so that I could actually go in and help with Brig's party. This is the 3rd party I have been able to help with, and I just love being a part of his class and seeing what his every day looks like!

so this was one of their games during the party.. make the biggest tower out of candy hearts.. fun was had by all, that is until it got a bit nutzo as the towers came crumbling down with a vengeance.

Brig taste testing the cookies....

and then the eating thru the holiday continued on Sunday... woke up and we skipped church.. (it was a holiday after all, and I am pretty sure JC would have understood that we needed to spend some extra time doing "what marriage was intended for".. to celebrate...

and then we got up and I sent A to the store to get stuff so we could make this:

of course we went with everything heart shaped... the kids love it..

and of course pink milk...

this is the first year in our marriage that I did not make heart shaped meat loaf..

My mom watched all the kids and sent us on a date night (er afternoonish getaway).. my hubby took me to the theatre. It had been a long time since either of us had been and we stood at the counter guessing at what any of the movies showing at that time would be about.. really had no idea about any of them.

well, we picked a winner. OH. MY.

So as we exited Dear John, I leaned to my hubby and said "I don't know who that guy was, but he is my new favorite. no man should be allowed to look that perfect".

and thanks to Facebook and a quick google search, my hubby has now downloaded every movie that Channing Tatum has ever been in.

Whew... besides the fact that his name is a bit odd.. he is everything as bit of perfect.

oh, and the movie was soooo good. for a chic flick, even Andrew liked it as it had 3 surprise twists in it. so yeah.. highly recommend it. Go get you a date night..

we also realized that we are very old. because the next day was President's day, and no school, every high school kid was there with their sig other .. and the college kids were there in groups. it was actually a bit amusing.

anyway... we went on to enjoy some great Italian dinner and then home to get the kids.



oh, and the kids got to open all their cards, and a few goodies that we got them, and a big bunch of goodies that grandma gave them. I love it when they come home with boxes full of every novelty "heart" item, for which I now need to find a home for. oy.

Beckham is starting to read... yay!!!

and then the kids were in bed, and my romantic guy brought me in these yummy things.

and a mudslide. what a combo right?

and earlier he was late coming back from the store, and after I voiced my dissatisfaction with that, he walked around the corner and revealed the source of his tardiness.

he had ordered these earlier in the week, and had to go all the way down town to get them.

I decided I would forgive him =)

and then he brought this into me as well.

my hubby is the best. I don't say it enough.. but I really and truly think God knew what he was doing when he brought us together that crazy drunken night in Ohio..

and three kids later, I love him more and more and he is more thoughtful and treats me way better than I ever feel deserving of.

thanks for making my heart day so awesome.

and I hope that you all were able to spend your heart day filled with your someones special.

snow days:

tend to make you go a bit stir crazy.... and do things.. well.. I guess being stuck inside for 3 days made me realize just how fast my kids are growing up....

yes, I know what this looks like. he is five. and folks.. its just bubbles in the bath tub. I hope its a loooong way off in the future before we have that talk about using a similar looking contraption..lol

and my darling daughter is 2 and a half going on fifteen... seriously.. walked in and caught her catalog shopping from the new hanna andersson spring line.. and of course she has tight grip on the remote.. as its her show. or no shows.

( her only saving grace that she is still my little girl is the finger up her nose and pink sippy cup!)


and my little dude. doing what he does best. and lately (as of the last month) showing off his new trick. Yep. I haven't even posted about him sitting up. He started right before his 6 month bday. I had a whole post of pics edited too.... =(..

(this is one of my favorite outfits that Brigham wore.. its a hedgehog line from Gymboree)

and just a quick snap shot of my cuties all playing well together.

We were ALL ready to go back to school on Thursday (even if it was after a 2hour delay).. actually I quite enjoyed the slower pace to getting out the door that day, but I lost some valuable time to get stuff done.

wait , who am I kidding.. the delay just gave me an extra 2 hours to sleep!! =)

Brigham loves school so much, that it really was the worst news, when I had to tell him school was cancelled each day. We tried to keep busy with projects, but it still seemed to be a bit much.

I will never comprehend why (or how ) a mom would want to home school. After the second day,

Andrew came home and jokingly, said "so have you decided which homeschool group you're joining? a big fat HA.

well.. I am off to watch LOST.. and perhaps I'll post again about our Love day festivities..

I don't lie.....

and here is proof !!! lol I know many of you thought I was just blowing smoke when I said that I had been scrapping!! No really, I have been here and there, and the mess around my scrap table is proof enough. But since I'm not going to show you that disastrous looking space, you'll have to believe some of the end results: a page from Fall (2008) for Tatum's book

and YES.. Beckham has his first page for his album!! gosh, he did just turn seven months last week, so its about stinking time. I have a goal to whip up 5 pages a week for his album.. I know his will (sadly) not be as bulging as Brigham's(first baby) or Tatum's (first chance to use all the girly stuff)
. BUT I still need to have his complete by his first birthday. At least I have all the pictures.. just need to print them out. I think I am actually going to scrap them in time line fashion..

WHOAH. If you know me.. than you know that is a foreign concept.

need proof?

right here... this is one that is for Brigham's 3 yr old book. um, yeah..
just wanted to go back and make sure certain friends, and events were in there..

and this was for his 4th birthday.. (and I haven't even scrapped his 4th bday yet! LOL)



this was his PreK Christmas program last year. So not totally that far behind.. lol

and his PRE school graduation

Tatum's first Easter... right before she turned one. Luckily, I do almost have her first year finished.. just a few more random pages to stick in there!

here is the first page of her First Year Album

Gotta love this page. I know I scrapped one of these for Brig too.. those little exersaucers are a mom's saving grace for mobile (or almost ) mobile little ones. Mine would jump and jump and jump, til they just conked out! She was about 13 or 14 months old here.

Took this picture last April and I just loved it. Was inspired by Darcy's page to do one like this. Thought it worked great with this pic of Tatum.

And so there you have it.. I still have 3 pages that are in progress. and a whole heap of photos to get onto pages..

I am totally random. I get that. My pages, years, events.. all sporadic. That is just how I roll.

But I often wonder if it his hindering my speed???

So for all you scrappers out there... how do you do it?

Scrap in Order, By Kid, or totally random like me?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...



Well, we are enjoying a snow day.. there have been stories read, spankings, valentine garland made, and tears, and cookies made, time outs, and games played, screaming, cartoons watched, I'm Sorry's......

its 5 o'clock somewhere right??

awesome!

Pretty stinking excited for this guy, and the Saints, and the city of New Orleans!!

the Colts had their time and they are a solid club, I am sure they'll get another turn again soon.

This is just a really happy ending.. and how about baby brees?? is he not the absolute CUT-EST thing??

Hard to believe I hung around this guy during my college days. He was (not the typical college FB player, believe me.. lol) .. a class act then and so deserving of this W and MPV award!!

Congratualations Saints!!!

its been a week...

so I guess I will try at posting again. well, the absence is due again, in part to the fact that blogger is not playing nicely and does not wish to post my pictures.. and as my husband says " a post is worthless without pictures."..

thanks hon... I (the picture taking queen) do know that, and that is why I have not posted lately.. its been so frustrating to not be able to upload anything. ugh.

we had an awesome weekend full of fun with friends and family. celebrated my birthday again at my 2nd most favorite Mexican restaurant.. My first love, (of course) is Little Mexico. but since everyone in my family loves that.. its not much of a Happy Birthday Treat to me.. eh?

so once a year I get to drag my family ( mostly my husband) to PEPE's.. I get the same thing. (since I was in high school) and pig out on chips and salsa. and I got the most amazing strawberry colada. I seriously, could have sucked down 3 or 4 of those. Andrew said we need to pick a night of the week where we just make drinks. I * Like* that idea!!=)

Brigham was totally excited that clapping and singing and sombrero wearing was involved. I however, didn't care as long as there was fried ice cream. LOVE that stuff.

got some scrapping done the last few days too, which I did take pics of and they are all ready to show.. just waiting on blogger.. or (admittedly it could be our lousy router).. just waiting until next week to get a new one! YAY!

I had 3 photo sessions last week and am busy editing... fun stuff I tell you. Got something fun to share hopefully in a few days.. stay tuned.

in the mean time.. I'll send you to a place where there ARE in fact pictures.. lol

drum roll........................ introducing......................................

my new website !!

I have been live for a few weeks now, but kept forgetting to say anything on here.. my calendar is filling and I am so thrilled that I am meeting new people. My head is just spinning with ideas for the future. I can not wait.

So go check it out.. and I'd love to hear what you think!!

i will blog, even if..

the powers that be (ahem.. blogger, or our stupid interweb connection. ugh) seriously, tried several times yesterday, and again today... and nada. zip. I had several things to blab on about, much of which have been back made promises. . that get swept into the shadows of more pressing issues... (seriously my life is full of blogable moments/situations/days/weeks/etc) however, due to the said interweb, and said blogging service, I am not able.
perhaps its a time of day thing? perhaps if I would actually get out of bed with the rest of the world is(have not done this in almost 6 years) up, then the powers that be may allow me to get a post in, before those of you that go to that work thing all day, go and busy up the Internet around here..

and so, I wish to thank my husband for totally surprising me (sucker) with his little blog move last Friday.
and thank you to all my wonderful friends and family, who filled my inbox, mail box(yes, can you believe that birthday cards to actually still make it thru snail mail?), the phone calls, and the face book.
nothing makes you feel the love like over 100 birthday wishes!!
(anyone have a self esteem issue?... create a fb account! LOL)

we celebrated well, and I probably gained a few pounds back... will share more, when I actually can post pictures.

so I will leave you with the ONE picture, that was able to get thru the vices..
a peek at pretty much what we have been doing for the last couple days... staying bundled up and warm inside!
I also have 2 sickies, and a two rooms to get ready(yes! the bunk arrived.. I am slightly thanking Kittle's for delivering a month early(or 1.5 months late from original date promised?)
at any rate.. I am not going to attempt to blog again b/c of that is going on, but will try and update tomorrow...
thanks for stopping by..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hi cyber people of the interweb, this is Elizabeth's husband Andrew. I am cyberjacking (that sounds dirty) Elizabeth's blog to send a special birthday request. Today Elizabeth turns ##, doesn't that sound old! ..... but not to worry ## is the new ##, so really only ## at heart. Anyway, about that request. Please leave a comment on this post wishing E a very happy birthday. Thanks