Two Blues and a Pink

Coming and Going

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

I’m sure y’all are wondering on what is going to be moved over to the new blog and what isn’t. So today I am going to give an idea of what is switching over.

Of course the following are moving with me:

And I’ll be introducing a new category:

Saturday Snapshots will not be moving over. Saturdays have just gotten too hectic to guarantee a post. However, I will be doing this:

I’ll still be posting other things like rants, holiday recaps, and cooking stuff, but they aren’t getting their own fancy category tag (these listed can all be easily found under the “Found on the Blog” section of my new blog). I’m actually not too sure if I will post as many recipes anymore though. At the beginning of the year we’ll be starting a 6 week meal plan that we will rotate through the year, and most of the recipes on it aren’t of my own making.

I’ll be back later with a little on the whys of the move.

coming soon

2011-12-21T00:53:00.001-06:00

ooooh….
someone will be moving to a new blog.

*gasp*

Sunday Scrapbooking (12/11)

2011-12-11T15:31:00.001-06:00

Just one today. It never fails, I get sick – I don’t go near Photoshop. So this is a page I actually got done today.

made with Sweet Shoppe's 2011 Cookies 4 Kids Templates, Julie Billingsley's Brighten the Day, and Heather Hess' The Blockhead font

Saturday Snapshots (12/10)

2011-12-10T21:44:00.001-06:00

What? You think I forgot?

Pfft. I never really forget… sometimes I just don’t ever get around to posting it.

And these… I didn’t forget, I’ve been battling the cold from hell all week… oh and I lost my voice too. And Bella has been battling the same hellish cold all week.

Anyway…
Here is prompt #4.

Decorating the tree

2011-12-05T11:08:00.001-06:00

Rule number one for Christmas tree decorating…

If you are big and pregnant – don’t sit on the floor and help your kids decorate the tree if your husband is taking pictures, you’ll end up mostly just looking fat in all of them.

Rule number two for Christmas tree decorating…

Even if they were just washed, if someone is taking pictures of the tree decorating for your December Daily pages, don’t wear a pair of pajama bottoms you wore once that week already.

Sunday Scrapbooking (12/4)

2011-12-04T12:19:00.001-06:00

Well, let’s just get right to it!

made for the November 29th Speed Scrap over at The Lilypad; made with Things That Matter Most a Lilypad Collab and the Candy Corn preset from Sabrina Dupre's Halloween Treats Presets

made with Garland Templates v3 by Amy Martin (50% off SOSN 11/30), Peace On Earth by CD Muckosky (50% off SOSN 11/30), and Star On Top Collab by Amy Martin and One Little Bird

…and now… my list for yesterday’s prompt:

Saturday Snapshots (12/3)

2011-12-03T12:15:00.001-06:00

I meant to post yesterday, but for once I actually had plans and a life outside of the kids, so I never got a chance to. Sorry. lol

I’ll have mine for you tomorrow. lol I’ve gotten to #8 and am so beyond stuck.

December 1st

2011-12-01T11:11:00.001-06:00

I absolutely can not believe that it is already December. There should be some way of not getting shocked every year when this month starts, but it never fails, the start of this month always takes me completely unaware. I mean seriously, how is another year almost gone?? I swear it seems like just a few days ago we were having our 10 PM New Year launch with the kids to welcome in 2011. Just whoa.

On another note… look who showed up at my house last night:

Yup, that creepy elf is back for another year. I do not see how some parents get super creative with him every single blessed night, we have trouble just finding somewhere new to hide him every night for the kids. This year we are going a little different and he’ll be bringing the kids part of the Nativity story each night. I figure this way we’re teaching the kiddos while they have some fun. Unfortunately, we were all running so late this morning that we completely forgot to have the boys look for him before leaving for school. Ooops.

This month I decided to try something a little different. I’m sharing these prompts over on the Digital Scrapbooking board on Justmommies, and over on The Lilypad forums too, so I figured hey, I’m already thinking them up, sharing them, and having to actually hunt the stuff up for them, I might as well share on the blog too! What this basically is an every other day prompt that will carry through until Christmas – though not all will be Christmas themed, some will be year end wrap up types too. There are twelve prompts total, and each one asks for a list of twelve.

Just keep calm…

2011-11-30T23:42:00.000-06:00

close your eyes, turn around, and run far, far away from the scale.

I know this weight was done at the end of the day – which as my exercise fanatic husband will tell you is a no-no – BUT that doesn’t change the fact that I know it’s not that far off, meaning…

I have already gained more pounds than I am weeks pregnant.

I don’t want to hear any “Oh, I weigh that much not pregnant!” or similar. The actual number isn’t the focus here, the amount of weight that I have gained is.

I went into this pregnancy with only one thing that I was dead set on; not gaining 40 pounds again like I did when pregnant with Bella. At the rate I’m going now, I’m not going to have to worry about gaining 40 pounds, I’m going to have to worry about gaining more than 40 pounds.

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

I think I could go cry now.

We got snow yesterday.

2011-11-29T07:04:00.000-06:00

And you didn’t.

You can blame it on global warming if you like. That’s what I’m blaming.

Getting ready for baby… 4 months in advance.

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

I am not a very neat or organized person. I’ve never even really wanted to be one. My mom…. she is very neat and organized. Like obsessively so. (Though she will deny it – trust me – I’m the one who had to live with her.) My penchant for “piles-o-crap” (as she calls them) drives her crazy. If I can’t find a spot for something, or I plan to get to it at a later time, I organize it into a pile with similar stuff. Like in the hall in front of our bedrooms… there is a pile-o-crap for every room next to the door. There are also piles on either end of my couch…. and in the kitchen under the coat rack… under the coffee table (though this one is really John’s fault)… and lets not even touch on my room at this time. (And John would probably say that I should add in that my bookcases are just really tall piles-o-crap…)

I also really, really, really hate to fold clothes. I put it off until there is no more sitting room on my couch. My couch is big enough to handle me, the boys, and Belly all at one time – more often than not we’re lucky to have room for just two of us.

So see…. I’m not a messy person… I’m really not. I pick up and clean every day. But all these piles-o-crap and the mountain of laundry kind of ruin the effects of cleaning.

Wondering what this has to do with getting ready for Mason?

Ever since I got pregnant my energy has taken a hit. I mean it does every time, but this time it’s been even harder. No, as some will point out, it’s not because I’m home all day with a 2 1/2 year old. Ryan was about the same age when I was pregnant with Belly, and as I tell everyone, if I can keep up with toddler-Ryan while pregnant, toddler-Belly should be no problem. I think, that it’s partially because we have so much to do now. There are now two older kids to get to activities – and to get through homework. I cook more. There’s like double the laundry. More commitments to the boys’ school. I acted as my mom’s chauffer for most of this pregnancy as well. Plus, John actually expects more out of me now since I am a stay-at-home mom, and no longer a full-time college student.

Oh, and a 2 1/2 year old and a large idiot dog. (That’s said with love by the way…)

And another oh, we also have these very distracting things known as cable and internet at our house too. It used to be I could only get online while I was at school… now I can get on whenever I want.

What all this comes down to is that the condition of the inside of my house isn’t exactly, um, nice at the moment. I consider it a good day if Belly and I don’t spend the day on the couch watching Netflix, HGTV, or Nick Jr.

This is where my obsessively organized mother steps in.

My mother has offered to come in on her days off work and to help me get my house into a manageable level of clean. Right now, I look around, see all I need to do, and I just give up before I even start. It’s just so much and no one in the house has been willing to help. And I know if I don’t do something now, before Mason is born, it’s only going to get worse and worse after he’s born. So, she’s going to help me deep clean, de-clutter, and organize. In return I have to come up with a house-work schedule and stick to it.

And it all starts this week.

I’m kind of scared.

Sunday Scrapbooking (11/27)

2011-11-27T11:03:00.001-06:00

Preparing for Thanksgiving and The Lilypad’s release of their Document Your December (TLP’s version of December Daily/25 Days of Christmas) products has made this past week beyond crazy. Oh and lets not forget to add in stuff from Amy, Karah, and Kaye that they were releasing. Oh and the boys… we can not forget that the boys were home all week. (Trust me I tried, forgetting was impossible.) Surprisingly… I actually got pages done.

First let’s talk Document Your December. I’ve tried this before… shared it on here before… and failed with glorious results. I figured that the stress of building a page at the end of every day was just too much. Yeah, I tried doing templates, I tried sticking with just one kit. I tried editing my pictures and coming up with the journaling the night of, and scrapping the next day. None of these worked for me. I always ended up getting so behind and just giving up. This year I decided to build up some really simple 8.5x11 templates and then using 3-4 different sets of products and building myself quickpages (completely premade pages that have blank spots for photos and journaling) with them. I still haven’t finished them all, just the first two sets.

Here’s my cover for it, and two sets of example pages.
made with No Peeking Papers, Pocket Stuffers, and Little Pockets No. 3 by Valorie Wibbens; Tape and Stitches Christmas by Fruit Loop Sally, and Daily Party Flags by Amy Martin

made with A Christmas Collab by Michelle Martin and Fruit Loop Sally, December Doovers by Kaye Winiecki, Word Bits: Clustered by Tickled Pink, Daily Party Flags by Amy Martin, and Winter Wonderland by Michelle Martin

made with No Peeking Papers, Pocket Stuffers, and Little Pockets No. 3 by Valorie Wibbens; Tape and Stitches Christmas by Fruit Loop Sally, and Roundabouts by Amy Martin

Now on to the other pages from this week…

made with December Doovers and Dear Santa by Kaye Winiecki; and Sketches: Spacey Mega Goodies Bundle by Amy Martin

made with Star On Top by Amy Martin and One Little Bird, and Tag-a-long Element Pack by Karah Fredricks

And lastly… TLP’s 3Ks have released the most adorable collab ever. It’s just perfect for those Elf on the Shelf pictures you might be planning to take, but even if you don’t rock pictures of the creepy little dude, it’s still perfectly cute for pages about if your kiddo is on the naughty or nice list.

made with Santa's Little Helper by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield, and Kaye Winiecki; and The Stuffed Font Box by Heather Hess

Saturday Snapshots (11/26)

2011-11-26T10:37:00.001-06:00

23 Weeks.

Today I am thankful for…

2011-11-24T21:18:00.001-06:00

Today I am thankful for my ever-growing family.

Even if most of them are on the crazy side.

Oh yeah… THIS is why I hate being pregnant.

2011-11-22T12:29:00.001-06:00

None of my kids wrote that.

Though with Zach’s habit of writing me angry notes I’m really surprised he hasn’t written me a similar one yet.

That note is from here. I found it on Pinterest and it seemed pretty dang appropriate so I figured I needed it today too.

Over the past few days I have been reminded why I don’t like getting all pregnified and stuff. Yeah… there’s the whole puking, exhaustion, migraines, and pains… but now I remember those aren’t on the top of the “Why I Hate Being Pregnant” list.

This would be why I tend to do stupid things when pregnant, for example, dumping John when pregnant with Zach – that was definitely caused by this current situation. Oh and yelling and cussing at my art theory professor in college… that was caused by this too.

It’s these stupid hormones.

I am just not built to handle all these crazy hormones that go through me. I turn into a monster that resembles Trish. I yell… I yell a lot. Oh and scream too. And cuss even more than normal (which is already a ton). And that filter that doesn’t work 100% of the time anyway, you know the one in my brain that says “DON’T SAY THIS OUT LOUD!” yeah it’s just gone. Factor in some bipolar-esque mood swings, and crying that starts over being out of something like eggs and you get me. I hate feeling like this. I’m a happy person dang it!

Now lets add in the boys who are home from school for Thanksgiving for the entire freaking week.

Oh and all those new chores and rules John implemented for said boys. You know, those ones that they don’t want to do, and that John isn’t here to enforce.

Lets also have Zach channel his inner prepubescent 12 year old girl angst and anger.

And we can’t forget Miss I’m-testing-you-and-your-boundaries Belly.

I hate school breaks.

And I hate pregnancy hormones too.

Crock-pot Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-11-21T20:10:00.001-06:00

Tonight I promise you easy… easy like a sunshiney day easy.
((you know… I’ve never really understood that phrase… but I digress…))

Crock-Pot Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
serves: um… at least 6 lol
cook time: 6 hours total

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts	2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
2 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth	1 Can Mixed Veggies
Noodles (amount/type of your choosing)	1 1/2 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Thyme	1 Tbsp Parsley

Directions:
1. In an at least 4.5 Qt crock-pot mix in the two cans of cream of chicken soup with one and a half cups of the chicken broth and the spices. Stick in the four whole uncooked breasts. Let cook for about four hours on high.

2. Remove chicken from crock-pot and roughly cut it up. You don’t have to be all fancy like.

3. Before replacing the chicken add in your water and and the rest of the chicken broth. Mix it up well. Add your noodles in too. And you can put that chicken back in now as well.

4. Cook on high for 30 minutes (or until noodles are al dente). Then turn your heat to low. Let cook for an additional hour and a half, adding maybe a 1/4 cup water if it seems needed.

5. About 30 minutes before serving add in your undrained can of mixed veggies.

Voila!

Easy and yummy and perfect for rainy, foggy days.

Sunday Scrapbooking (11/20)

2011-11-21T18:33:00.001-06:00

I have actually gotten a TON ((like loads)) of scrapbooking done, but it’s almost all December Daily base pages…. so you don’t get to see those yet. lol

Here are the few you actually DO get to see.

made with: Sketches: Spacey Mega Bundle by Amy Martin, Beary Christmas Digital Stamp by Kaye Winiecki, Christmas Is Here by Kitty Designs
For information on how to digitally color in stamps and doodles see this thread in The Lilypad Forums

made with: It Is Paint v2 by Amy Martin, My Yesterday {Kit} by FruitLoop Sally, various Finishing Touches brushes by Karah Fredricks (photo mask), and the Candy Corn Preset from Lightroom Presets : Halloween Treats by Sabrina Dupre

made with: Sketches: Spacey Mega Bundle by Amy Martin and Nutter by Kaye Winiecki

And doesn’t that picture of Ryan in the last page just scream Mario to you? lol

Saturday Snapshots (11/19)

2011-11-21T18:19:00.001-06:00

Yeah, yeah, I know I’m late.

Fourth place out of his whole den baby.

Yesterday and Today

2011-11-15T13:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I spend a good chunk of my time working on this:

It’s going to hang in a frame over one end of Mason’s crib. I love how it turned out, but I won’t lie, it took a nice long while to get it all looking exactly the way I wanted.

Today I’ve been trying to keep up with Belly, do some very minimal cleaning, and I had to get out in a freaking storm to go to my mom’s, pick up a permission form for my sister, and then take it to her school. ((Ugh I hate driving in the rain.)) Since my little sister is as nitpicky about my clothes as Zach is ((they both think I have no sense at all on dressing myself presentably)) I decided to let Belly dress herself for the visit to the school. ((lol)) She picked out black leggings with thin metallic stripes, a hot pink tutu, a blue skateboarding shirt, and an old dinosaur sweater of Ryan’s. I love how Belly never lets me down when it comes to outrageous outfits.

She also needed to play in the rain some too.

Sunday Scrapbooking (11/13)

2011-11-13T12:29:00.001-06:00

It’s a good thing I didn’t post this last week since I didn’t really do any actual scrapbooking this week…

made with Sketches: Spacey v11 by Amy Martin, Miles by Kitty Chen, Magical Splatter 3 by Kitty Chen, also made with the following alphas by CD Muckosky: Markerific (Peek-A-Boo) and Teeny Type Too (I feel you)

made with 7:00 PM Paper Pack by Amy Wolff, Hodgity Podgity Mega Bundle 2 by Amy Martin, Expecting by Valorie Wibbens, You're Moody by Lauren Reid; alphas by CD Muckosky: Markerific (Mason Spencer) and Free Spirit (boy). font: LD Telegram

made for the November 2 Speed Scrap @ The Lily Pad (free template by Amy Martin as part of the speed scrap) made with: A Hopping Halloween Collab (The Lily Pad+Oscraps)
(witch feet from Valorie Wibbens' Hocus Pocus)

Saturday Snapshots (11/12)

2011-11-12T22:07:00.001-06:00

Sunday Scrapbooking (10/30)

2011-10-30T10:54:00.001-05:00

What to do? What to do?

It’s been two and a half months since I have shared any pages, and most unfortunately… I have been busy making pages. lol So…. we come to my dilemma. There is no way I am just posting them all… that’s 32 pages. And I really don’t want to just link all those pages up either. Do I just not share any except my favorites from last week? Or do I share my favorites from the whole time????

I think what I should do is post my favorites from this week, and then I’ll link up thumbnails of my favorites from the rest of the time. Sound good to you?

made with Label It Up and A Midwinter's Flight by Amy Martin; Autumn Lane by Emily Merrit, A Stitchy Mess by Valorie Wibbens; and Don't "Leaf", Pumpkin Pickin', and An Open Book - The Collection by Karah Fredricks

made with Sketches: Spacey Mini v10 by Amy Martin, A Piece of My Heart Mini Kit by Karah Fredricks, and Fingerpaint Frenzy and Random Type by CD Muckosky

made with Boogly Eyes by Jacque Larsen, Clippings [define: halloween] by Lauren Reid, Orna(mental) Alpha Bundle by Allison Pennington, Calendar TidBits by Jenna Desai, Autumn Lane by Emily Merritt - background paper, and Splatterific 12 by Karah Fredricks

(made for the October Template Challenge @ TLP) made with When Nerds Rule the World by Emily Merritt, Penelope Alpha by Lauren Reid, Teeny Type Too by CD Muckosky, DJB Shirley by Darcy Baldwin (font), and Journaling Bling by Jenn Barrette

And clickable thumbnails of my favorites from my absence:

Saturday Snapshots (10/29)

2011-10-29T11:12:00.001-05:00

((shhh… I actually didn’t take a single picture last week except for my tummy shot, so this is actually from last Saturday at the Lowe’s Build and Grow workshop))

3 handfuls and a spoon.

2011-10-24T12:47:00.001-05:00

We have a pumpkin carving rule in this house – Mommy and Daddy will not do this grossness alone. So we developed a rule of three handfuls and a spoon. The rule says everyone must take a handful out of the first pumpkin’s guts, and then two out of their own. They also have to help loosen the insides with spoons. If they don’t – we don’t carve their pumpkin. It’s pretty simple and straightforward and we don’t bend it for anyone. For example, Zach almost didn’t get to do his pumpkin last night because he was absolutely refusing to stick his hand in any pumpkin for any number of times.

And yeah… in case you couldn’t figure it out – this is all leading up to pumpkin carving pictures. lol

Drawing the faces to go on the pumpkins:

John carving the tops of the pumpkins. I swear, *I* did the first pumpkin. Me, not him. He even took a picture – and I guess he must have deleted it… But I swear I’m not lying. He took over because he said I took way too long.

GUTS!

Oh lookie, a few pictures of me looking all top-heavy and chubby thanks to bad angles and position. Why is it no one can take decent pregnancy pictures of me???

Now the finished pumpkins! (order – Belly, Ryan, and Zach)

And… the kiddos!

It’s a…

2011-10-20T09:07:00.001-05:00

Though I honestly think everyone must know by now since I’ve been trumpeting the news since I found out yesterday….

And there was absolutely no doubt about it. As soon as the doctor put the wand on the goo on my stomach our son’s junk was right there on the screen. The doctor said “Well, that was easy. Do you know what that is?” My response (looking over at John) “That’s John losing a bet to me and Zach.”

We looked at the baby for a while, but really the ultrasound was more just to check to see the gender and the heartbeat (since I can’t really or consistently feel the baby yet). I go back again November 9th for my really long in-depth ultrasound to do all the organ measurements and such.

Here are the two ultrasound pictures we got (though they aren’t too great). One’s the money-shot, the other is an upside down profile. As well as… the baby’s name!

And me as of first thing this morning:

So it’s been a month.

2011-10-18T09:17:00.001-05:00

And this time it’s not my fault for not posting.

See it all came down to this dilemma for several weeks in a row. Did we want cable/internet or did we want ___________. Usually groceries, paying house note, or buying tags went in the blank. So see, not my fault, we were being, like, good responsible parents and stuff. Friday John went and got it all turned back on, which was awesome good since I forgot how much regular channels suck. Oh and I did severely miss getting online on my computer (with it’s awesome huge screen) and actually being home during the day. (I’ve been spending my days at my mom’s on her laptop. lol)

So how about an update?

The boys have been good…ish. lo. For some reason they are both having some serious school issues this year.

Ryan’s behavior at school makes his normal over-excited and active behavior in K4 seem tame. The boy has seriously moved his clip almost every single day this year. And to make up for the days that he doesn’t move his clip, there are the days every 2ish weeks where he moves his clip two to three times in one day alone. We’ve been going crazy trying to figure out how to get that boy to behave and listen to his teacher in class. I am seriously dreading parent-teacher conferences next week. ((gulp))

I got called in to meet with Zach’s teacher two weeks ago. I won’t go into why, but it wasn’t very nice. She very politely hinted that we might consider getting him tested for ADD, since we’re getting Ryan tested for ADHD, plus, of course she taught John and knows he has both. I very strongly told her no. One year of bad, bored, and easily distracted behavior is not enough to me to get him tested when he’s never shown even the slightest signs of it before.

They were on Fall Break last week and completely and utterly drove me and Belly bat-poop crazy. That’s my own fault though for letting them spend the weekend before at my Dad’s. They always come home from there acting as if they have no manners at all.

After a month long break from the blog it would be awesome to come on here and post that Belly is now fully potty trained.

Well, she’s not.

She knows what to do, almost never has accidents when wearing underwear, but she still won’t pee in the potty, she just holds it in all day, or if you try to make her go on the potty she screams, cries, and then has an accident when you take her off the toilet. I know it means she’s just not ready, but I would like to call “LIAR” to all those people who told me with the boys that potty-training girls were so much easier.

She’s finally learned how to say her name. It’s so cute hearing her say it. She pronounces it “Buhwa.” And speaking of cute… everything is cute. Literally. It’s her new word. I hear all day long “Buhwa cute. PIG cute. Fwog boots cute. Zachy cute. Mommy cute. Scahwet cute. Sip cute.” I think you should get the point. Cute is getting pretty dang old. You know what else is getting old? These two questions “Where’s….?” and “What’s that?” She thinks it’s hilarious to ask you those about the same thing 20 times in a row.

All in all though, she’s doing pretty dang good.

I’m now a touch over 17 weeks!! And… tomorrow morning I go in to the doctor’s to hopefully find out the baby’s gender!!! That means if you tune in tomorrow not only will you see the gender announcement – which by the way is totally cute – you will also get to see the new baby’s name, AND see the blog’s new name!

Mommy-wise, I’m feeling OK. I’ve finally stopped puking, but the heartburn is getting worse. The headaches are getting a little better, but I’m already starting to have troubles breathing. And to top it all off if I stand up and do for more than about 15 minutes I start getting some serious pains. Oh and I’ve also gained 13 pounds already. ((gulp)) But seriously, it does feel like it’s going a lot better right now. I just wish I could really feel the baby already. I’ve only felt two strong kicks. Mostly it’s still barely feel-able flutters, and sometimes a pressure like the baby is leaning right up against the inside of me.

Well, that’s about all for the update right now. See you tomorrow for the baby’s gender and name.

Recipe: Super Easy Fried Chicken

2011-09-15T19:04:00.001-05:00

Not too much going on here. Well, that’s a sorta lie. Nothing big just that the pregnancy migraines have returned. Oh joy. I haven’t even been in enough of a good mood to go with the story and picture idea. I’m pretty nonfunctioning when I have migraines. I guess it’s because I’m such a big baby when it comes to any sort of headache since I rarely get them when not pregnant.

Well, I’m still all headachy but I just ate the most delicious chicken ever, and it was like so easy to make for fried chicken. You might be thinking “But Trish, I would think fried chicken is already easy to make?” You would be wrong. lol It’s messy, and you tend to get burned while making it. (At least I always do – I get burned a lot while making it) I can’t take full credit for this recipe, my mom was the one who told me how to do the actual cooking on this. The rest is me. (Though if you’ve ever made fried chicken some is like “duh…” lol)

Before doing anything – make sure that your chicken is completely thawed.

What you’ll need:
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast or tenders
3/4 cup flour
4 tbsp seasoning of your choice
vegetable/cooking oil
1 egg

1 large cast iron skillet/frying pan
1 small circular cake pan
1 large mixing bowl
paper towels and a surface to dry the chicken on

What you’ll do:
1. Pour enough of the oil into the frying pan to have about a 1/2 inch of oil in the pan. Stick the pan in the over and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. While the oven heats combine the flour and spices into the cake pan. Mix thoroughly so that the spices are evenly mixed in with the flour.

3. Whisk your egg in the large mixing bowl until the white and yolk are all mixed together and then add your chicken to the bowl. Stir them together until all the chicken is coated in egg.

4. Doing one tablespoon at a time, stir in 5 tablespoons of the flour/spices into the chicken and egg.

5. Once the oil and oven are heated remove the pan from the oven. Take your chicken and coat it in the flour mixture and then place the chicken in the pan. Put the pan back in the oven.

6. Cook the chicken for 20 minutes flipping the chicken after each 10 minutes. If after 20 minutes the chicken still doesn’t seem golden or isn’t fully cooked continue cooking and flipping the chicken at 5 minute intervals.

7. When the chicken is done take it out of the frying pan and let it drain for about 5 minutes.

There you go! There’s mine and my mom’s recipe for easy fried chicken. Enjoy!

#1. The order things are done in.

2011-09-12T23:33:00.001-05:00

Trying out a new idea for days I have nothing to blog about. I actually did something similar last year when I went to Arizona and scheduled my blog posts.

Him – “Why is Auntie Katie getting married if she just had a baby?”
Me – “She didn’t just have a baby. Elizabeth is almost one now.”

Him – “So why is she getting married?”
Me – “Because most people actually get married before they start having babies.”

Him – “But you and Daddy didn’t get married until after we had Bella.”
Me – “No, we got married after we had Ryan. We had to make sure we liked both of you enough to get stuck together with you and take the chance there may be more one day.”

Him – (quiet for several minutes while thinking) “Huh, I guess y’all like us then.”

12… Parks… Sleep

2011-09-08T08:24:00.001-05:00

This is going to be a short and sweet little post.

12 Weeks Pregnant… and I’m up almost 8 pounds. *gulp* I totally don’t get it. I’m watching what I eat, exercising for 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. I am going to scream if I gain 40 pounds again with this pregnancy.

Belly and I went to the park yesterday. I was so happy it has finally cooled back down for us to actually go anywhere and play for long amounts of time. Now if my new zoo card would just get in already we could finally go back to the zoo.

OMG, how sweet is this?? Sunday night (since the boys didn’t have school Monday) the boys used their bunk beds to build a fort on Ryan’s part. Then they cuddled in their together and watched tv and slept. There aren’t too many “Awww” moments with the boys together anymore.

It’s a sandstorm! It’s a sandstorm!

2011-09-02T08:41:00.001-05:00

We I told the boys about the baby the other day.

I had to just go ahead and tell them without John (who kept putting off and putting off when we should tell them) because my youngest son – Ryan – greatly offended my sensibilities.

We had all just gotten home from picking the boys up from school and I was hot and uncomfortable in the clothes I had to squeeze into to wear. As soon as the kids were in the house I went straight back to the back of the house and changed back into my comfy clothes. Ryan walked in as I was putting the shirt on and he then proclaims that I am getting fat. I was like, uh… no. And he was all “Oh yes you are! You have a tummy like me, you aren’t all skinny like Zach anymore.” Obviously I could not let my son think I was getting fat. Of course I had to decide to tell him and Zach what was up.

I sat the boys (and Belly since she wanted to be included) on the couch and brought out the ultrasound pictures. I started with Zach first.
“Zach, do you remember what these pictures are?”
”Uh, aren’t they pictures of your tummy?”
”Good. Do you remember what was in my tummy last time we got these pictures?”
”Bella, right?”
”Yup, that’s right.”
”So…. those are new pictures of Bella in your tummy??”
”No Zach, because Bella is most obviously not in my tummy anymore.”

I moved to Ryan next.
”Ryan baby, do you know what these are pictures of?”
”Uh…. oh, I know!!”
”Really? Well what is it?”
”It’s a sandstorm!!”
”No babe, it’s not a sandstorm.”
”Yes, it is! I know it is. It’s a sandstorm!”
”No, it’s really not.”
”You’re just wrong mom.”

Obviously my plan was not working.

I pulled both the boys closer to me and pointed to the baby-blob in the ultrasounds. I used the semi-clearer not so close up one and asked the boys:
”Do you see this? This blob? If you look really close it looks like it has a head. And you see these bumps on it right here? They look a little like teeny tiny arms and legs. So this long part would be like the actual body. Can y’all see those?”

The boys both said that yes, they could see all of that so I looked at them and said:
”Now think about all of those parts we just talked about and tell me what you think this is a picture of.”

And they then answered – at the same time:
”A new baby?” – Zach
”A sandstorm!” – Ryan

Once I finally convinced Ryan that it was indeed a baby, and not in any way shape or form a sandstorm, he was so excited. He’s going around telling everyone he knows that we’re having a new baby and he’s going to get a new baby brother or sister. Zach is still holding out judgment, but he says he’ll be just OK so long as we don’t make him share his room with the new baby too.

Of clips and breastfeeding and sleeping alone.

2011-08-30T09:35:00.001-05:00

First off, sorry again for the sabbatical. I guess I just really need to find new blogging time, and I promise to get back to normal soon.

mmmmmbbbbb (<---that’s courtesy of Belly, shouldn’t have walked away with the computer on lol)

Ryan has had some trouble adjusting to school, like some serious trouble. I know it was hard for him last year too, but this year seems to be almost impossible. In the few weeks he’s been back in school he’s only not moved his clip 4 days. All the other days he’s moved it at least once, and at least once a week he’ll move it 2-3 times during the day. He’s already been put in the seat away from everyone else. I’ve still not met his teacher yet. I’m really thinking I should.

(Oh and of course Zach is almost always perfectly good at school. sigh. If I have to hear that boy bragging to his brother one more time about how he didn’t move his clip I may scream.

I keep having dreams about breastfeeding. I think deep down my heart is saying “But Trish!!! You know you want to give it another go! You love breastfeeding your babies!” Seriously out of the past week, 5 nights I’ve had dreams about it. Right now, I’m still on the fence about it, I just can’t make up my mind what I want to do. I also think the dreams might be triggered by the fact that not only have I already gone up a cup size, but my chest has that sore, deep achy, full feeling they get when I do breastfeeding and it’s almost time for another feeding. The next part of this post probably factors in pretty heavily in the dreams too.

A certain little girl is refusing to sleep alone. As in flat out refusing. She won’t even try. She lays on the floor between the gate across her doorway and her door. She wouldn’t end up going to sleep until like 11 or 12 at night. The past few nights I’ve just been giving in and putting her in bed with me when I go to bed, and she ends up going right to sleep. When John comes to bed he’ll either put the sleeping Belly back in her bed, or just leave her there between us.

We’re pretty sure the reason that Belly has been wanting to sleep with us is because she doesn’t like being in her room all alone – especially since everyone else in the house gets to share a room with someone else. Huh, guess it’s a good thing she’ll be sharing with the new baby come March.

Added to Belly sleeping in our bed with us, Ryan has also been coming and getting in bed with us at about 3 in the morning every morning and spending the rest of his night sleeping curled into me. I told John that we have to do something about this, because there is no way that me, him, the new baby, Belly, and Ryan will all be able to sleep in bed together.

Are you the type of blogger…?

2011-08-23T18:09:00.001-05:00

Are you the type of blogger, who when you have something exciting to post about, but can’t share the news yet, that you just don’t blog?

I’m totally that type of blogger.

I’ve been sitting on some news for a few weeks now, but was waiting to share it here until I announced it everywhere…. and I made that announcement today via Facebook (after actually telling certain family members first lol)… so I can now share the news here too!

I’m having a baby!!

You might remember that not too long ago I talked about how I was so done, and so done with people telling me I needed to have another, well obviously that didn’t quite work out. lol After the initial “Oh ****!” reaction, and once the news sunk in with John we decided to be happy and excited about the news. Really, I mean unless I just want to be angry the next several months there’s nothing else to do. lol

I’m feeling pretty so-so right now physically. I don’t have constant all day everyday morning sickness like I did with Belly and Zach, but I do have all day nausea that doesn’t take much prodding to have me puking up my guts. I’m also beyond drained physically by the end of the day. Add in the always fun heartburn, constipation, and emotional mood swings of the deranged and you get a pretty good picture of me right now.

We haven’t told the kids yet, we’re still working out how. But all of our family and friends seem to be really happy for us (for once).

Oh and I guess I should add that I’m due March 23rd.

Sunday Scrapbooking (8/14)

2011-08-14T18:51:00.001-05:00

I actually woke up this morning and realized that I didn’t have a single page to share this week. This week has been tough on me physically with exhaustion, Belly being a two year old terror, and having to walk every day in the heat to pick up the boys. I was hoping to get a page or two done this weekend, but have been gone both days all day. So as I much as I didn’t want to not post this two weeks in a row, I was thinking I would probably skip this week.

Then I came home from taking my mom grocery shopping (which is an all day ordeal – lol) to an email.

A few weeks ago those of us on Studio Rosey Posey’s team were asked to make a page for Studio Maya’s Frank & Alice Post Script Collection. There is a great story behind this collection and if you want to read it you can read about it here. Well, I got the email today that it was now up in the store over at Scrapbook Graphics, so tah-dah! I have a page to share. lol

And finally, here’s the page:

Saturday Snapshots (8/13)

2011-08-13T10:29:00.001-05:00

And a note to self – before you start cussing at your picture, because you can’t find your picture, make sure you've actually saved it anywhere first.

Too much too quickly

2011-08-12T21:46:00.003-05:00

photo from here via Pinterest

Seriously. I am worn the duck out.

So many of you might not know that I have basically been car-less since May when the boys got out of school. My tags went out in June, but right before they went out we got a letter saying we did something wrong with the insurance on the van and now it was no longer covered. We were in a conundrum. What to take care of first? Well, John was set that before anything, we should straighten out the mess with the insurance. Turns out we would end up just having to get new insurance on it… yay for spending a lot of money! ((sarcasm)) After that chunk we had to wait a while before we had a week go by where we had $80+ to spend on new tags.

Finally, I could drive my van again!

Or not.

The one time I got to finally drive it, it was to go pick up John who had gotten a flat, and was already apparently using his spare. ((cough – my spare from my van)) A closer inspection of the remaining tires showed huge wear on them, one looked like it was about to go any day. Now John needed four new tires. Yeah… new insurance on the van wiped out most of our emergency money and it would be a while before we could afford new tires. ((especially when some idiot goes and spend $130 from his house-note week check on a new headset to play Black Ops with – but we won’t get into that right now)) So John had to drive my van to and from work.

Yesterday we got a huge blessing because of my younger brother’s crappy driving. He’s about to go off to college, so my parents put four brand-spanking-new tires on his van. He’s a crappy driver as yesterday he got into his 4th wreck since he got his license in March. Meaning the boy has now totaled a second car. ((shake head)) My step-dad told John he could have the tires off my brother’s van for $300, just to pay him back as he can.

Now I really can drive my van again!!!

Now I don’t want to. lol

I literally spent almost all of today driving my younger brother around, then my younger brother and sister, and then the boys. I wish my van was in the Trish-can-not-drive category again. I’m sure once Monday comes around and I don’t have to walk with Belly to the boys’ school to pick them up again I’ll enjoy driving again. Right now, not so much.

The first day of school

2011-08-11T08:45:00.001-05:00

…several days later. lol

The morning went pretty smoothly at first. The boys both got up and going well without much arguing or fighting. Zach wasn’t going in until later (because of his doctor’s appointment – turns out he has swimmer’s ear), but we still had him get up and get ready with Ryan. I even had them go outside together before taking Ryan to school to get pictures.

Yeah the pictures pretty much followed that theme of silliness. lol

Zach said his first day was really good. He said his teacher seems really nice, and apparently her first year teaching she taught John’s 5th grade class. She’s pretty excited to have Zach since he’s the first student she’s had who is the child of one of her former students. Two boys from his Cubs Scouts group are in his class, which he is pretty happy about since none of his friends from his class last year are in class with him. He also loves that his class gets TWO recesses during the day, and during one of them they get to (finally) go on the big kid playground. There is one change he doesn’t particularly like right now. Since our financial forms still haven’t gone through he’s eating breakfast at home, and apparently that means he has to wait in the gym until 7:30 instead of the cafeteria which is what he’s always done before. I told him this would probably go back to normal once he starts eating breakfast at school again.

Today is actually only Ryan’s second day of Kindergarten. Kindergarten classes follow the same staggered schedule as the K4 classes the first week of school. The first three days only 1/3 of the class comes in, then on Thursday and Friday 1/2 comes in. He went his first day Tuesday with his third, and today he goes with half. He can’t make up his mind if any of his friends from last year are in his class. lol Sometimes he says his friend Caleb is, sometimes he says he’s not. I told him not to worry about it yet, he’ll know if any of his friends are in there on Monday. He says he made a new friend named Cannon. In his words “It’s Cannon, but not like what’s on a pirate ship, but like the human kind.” lol He told me his teacher is really nice, but not too nice, apparently she did get mad at the class once. He was pretty proud of himself for not getting in trouble, he was even able to get something out of the treat box.

Why, hello blog!

2011-08-08T21:57:00.003-05:00

(sickeningly sweet baby talk voice) Did you miss me? Yes you did! Yes you did you silly little blog!

Sorry for my completely unplanned hiatus. I have two main times during the day I blog, Belly’s naptime, and later later at night before bed. Well, my internet has been going down everyday around naptime, and I’m totally not making it to even 10 pm most nights. Thus there was a lot of “Oh I’ll just go to bed and blog tomorrow”s going through my head that were never actually getting followed through.

Is my internet better now? (le sigh) Who knows. Right now it is, but that is never any consolation. And the only reason I’m even up right now (cause my body and brain are screaming “BED”) is because John is still at the gym. Figured I’d might as well take advantage of this time to blog.

Last week was hectic. I can’t exactly pin down how, but I remember it being very hectic. Plus we had to go and meet the the boys’ teachers last week. We got to the school only to find out Ryan’s wasn’t until 1… no the teacher and school never sent home anything with that time. John ended up going back with Ryan at one, and yes, if you’re thinking “Ha ha ha! I bet you learned absolutely nothing about the teacher from him meeting her!” you’d be right. His summary “she seems OK.” Did he warn her about Ryan and Ryan’s… err… outgoing behavior? No. Because why would he want to ~~frighten~~ prepare her?

the boys getting ready to go meet their teachers - and yes Ryan does have a boo-boo on his nose lol

Consider that as last week’s snapshot. lol

I had two sick kids today. The consensus was that Zach and Belly’s pukes were due to the fishsticks they ate for dinner last night. Huge brand new box now in the garbage. Yes, Zach did miss his first official day of Second Grade because of it. He’ll be late tomorrow because he has a doctor’s appointment for an ear infection. Ryan’s first day of Kindergarten is tomorrow. He’s not sure if he’s excited or not.

Belly is great and good. Other than being sick with Zach today I don’t really have anything new to say about her. lol

Last week’s pages thumbnail style. Just click them to see them bigger.

Well, that’s all for tonight. (as far as I can remember…) I’ll be back sometime tomorrow with how the boys’ first official day of school went.

Saturday Snapshots (7/30)

2011-07-30T21:52:00.002-05:00

A very very late edition, but hey, it is still Saturday for a little over two hours technically so… neh.

and while you're here...

Inspired by Pinterest

2011-07-28T09:44:00.001-05:00

When I first joined Pinterest one of my friends pinned this idea that just had me going “Holy heck Batman! I can do that! I have to do that! Ryan would flip and be in heaven if I did that!”

So… I finally did it. ((yay me!))

Here’s the original: (directions in some language that I absolutely can’t read here)

Isn’t that so freaking cool??? And I mean almost every single pair of Ryan’s jeans have holes, my boy is tough on his pants. Last night I took the following pair of pants, and then gather up some felt, and some bleached and stained khakis.

After about 2 hours (I was also making dinner during this time) and several stabbed fingers and a lot of cussing, I ended up with these!

Lastly, a close up.

Ryan absolutely LOVES them. He can’t wait for the weather to cool down so that he can actually wear them.

Dance-y, dance time with Belly

2011-07-27T12:45:00.001-05:00

Pictures courtesy of Ryan.

Please forgive the cruddiness I exemplify today. lol

Life

2011-07-26T11:32:00.003-05:00

Life is kind of on the crazy side right now. Things are all upside-down, sideways, and twisted around.

But we’re adjusting.

Yesterday I was going crazy from the chaos of all three kiddos. The boys were home and in one heck of a mood. Thus, as always, putting Belly in a wild mood as well.

attempting any sort of housework that didn't involve following behind my three ~~monsters~~ kids was pointless, attempting to fold my massive pile of laundry on the couch - double pointless

Belly and Ryan had several epic battles of who would control the crayons, I'm still finding crayons scattered all over the house

The only things I will mention about naptime yesterday are that a. DISASTER. and b. For some reason Belly decided it would be a good time to strip completely butt naked and utterly destroy her room. And I do mean destroy.

My mother had pity on me and all three kiddos ended up sleeping over at her house last night. The boys are off with her on some church day of fun and outings thing. Belly is spending the day chilling out with her Aunty Hammy. Which leaves me in a house so quiet it’s almost creepy. lol I should be taking advantage of this time to clean, clean, clean. Instead I’ve just been being lazy. I think the most I feel like doing is finally tackling the pile of clothes on the couch… and that’s mainly just so I can stretch out on it and watch some Netflix.

And on a parting note, I would like to share that I found out today on the Mom Blogs site (it’s basically a directory of mom-based blogs broken down by topics) I’m listed in the top 10 blogs under scrapbooking. Yay me!

Sunday Scrapbooking (7/24)

2011-07-24T15:18:00.001-05:00

Just two this week.

made with mle Card's Lovebots and Simple Print Stamped Alpha
Layout of the Week over at Scrap Orchard: http://scraporchard.com/forum/showthread.php?33237-LOTW-July-22-Brotherly-Love-by-MommaTrish

made with Valorie Wibbens and Emily Merrit's Platform 9 and 3/4 and Lauren Reid's Aurora Alpha

Saturday Snapshots (7/23)

2011-07-23T08:36:00.001-05:00

1, 2, 3… CHEESE!

2011-07-19T10:19:00.002-05:00

well, Belly's being cute...

OK... this time, nobody look

Hey, it's an airplane!

"Wyan, Zachy wick me!"

"Mom just take the picture!"

Elbow in the forehead meet foot on the hand.

Harry Potter 7.2

2011-07-18T12:00:00.004-05:00

picture from here

So I’m a Harry Potter junkie.

That makes me better than silly Twilight junkies, because, hello, Harry Potter is way better than Twilight. lol

I started reading the Harry Potter books when I got the first one when I was in 7th grade. I got it for like Christmas (or maybe my birthday – they’re close enough to get the presents mixed up when remembering lol) from my grandparents. Even then I loved reading and I loved reading books that had to do with magic. (For example the first chapter book I ever read was The Worst Witch) So Harry Potter was a perfect fit for me. I instantly loved the books and as the movies came out I instantly loved them too. To be completely honest, I still love the book and the movies. lol I was like silly excited when the last book came out… even though I was like 21 or 22. John even got me a box set of the books for my birthday this year. Before that my sister and I had the whole set broken up between us that we passed back and forth. By the time I got my box set (she got a box set also for Christmas) the books we had were pretty raggedy from years and years of reading.

As the final movie drew near I went back and forth between excited about seeing it, to being sad about it being the last. I wasn’t one of those weird super-depressed fans, but yeah, I am sad that there won’t be any new movies. It's been a tradition for my sister and I to go to the midnight premiers of them, and that wasn’t about to change this time. We almost weren’t able to, and we were both crushed, but John pulled through so we were able to go. Our theater had 5 screens open for the midnight premier, and all 5 were definitely needed. The first to we tried to find seats in were already packed. We ended up waiting in line for a seat in one of the rooms that another movie was finishing up on.

I’ve loved all of the movies, and except for some big changes in the last few, I thought they stayed pretty true to the books. With this last movie I was totally looking forward to the big fight scenes… and then I saw them… and then I got pretty pissed. They took away parts, and added parts to the fight. I mean they changed it up a lot and it really didn’t need any changes. The fight between Harry and Voldermort… stupid. I hate what they did with it. They also left out the part where Aberforth explained about what really happened with him, Dumbledore, his sister, and Grindlewald. They left out the death scene of Fred. They completely changed up the way Neville killed the snake. I just thought the changes were nowhere near as good as what actually happened in the book.

That being said, I still did love the movie, but as John said, I would have loved it almost no matter what, seeing as how it was Harry Potter. The truth is, even though the changes did disappoint me, the movie didn’t. I know a LOT of people just go see the movies and never bother reading the books, and if you’re one of those people you won’t be disappointed at all. If you’re one of the book lovers like me, well, you’ll probably be a little disappointed, but if you’re anything like me, that won’t keep you from liking the movie.

Sunday Scrapbooking (7/17)

2011-07-17T11:35:00.001-05:00

If it wasn’t for the fact that I had 2 pages that I couldn’t share last week I’d only have one page to share this week. On top of that, they’re all only creative team pages. Computers have not been my friends these past couple of days. I’ve been battling some killer headaches. They make it feel like my brain is pushing against my skull and I can also feel it pulsing in time to my heartbeats. Smells make it worse. Light makes it worse. Noise (of course) makes it worse. Moving makes it worse. Belly and I are spending most of our days in the dark living room laying on the couch watching tv on a very low volume. Plus I feel pretty sick too. So, sitting at the computer just isn’t happening. lol

Anyway…. here are the pages!

Like I said all of this week’s pages are creative team pages… and yes… I am finally on a full time team! Both of these kits were released this week in Studio Rosey Posey’s store over at Scrapbook Graphics.

made with Studio Rosey Posey's Amazing Artist NEW at Scrapbook Graphics

Both of these pages were made with the same kit:

made with Studio Rosey Posey's Shabby Sun and Fun NEW at Scrapbook Graphics

Saturday Snapshot (7/16)

2011-07-16T11:28:00.002-05:00

So we got a cute little inflatable pool… my mom and step-dad went and got a real above ground pool. lol (sigh) We are no longer the kids’ favorite place to be. For one short while we actually were, but real pool trumps inflatable pool. Here are some cell phone pictures from when John and I went over to drop Belly off, pick up my sister, and eat dinner there on Thursday.

John swimming with Belly. Yes, she's naked.

Ryan. He's very proud that he can now swim, and hold his breath under water for 13 seconds.

Zach sitting on his best friend's shoulders. (Jared is a very tall 10 year old)

That night John and I took my sister to the midnight Harry Potter premier, I won’t tell you about the movie yet, I’m waiting until Monday that way even if I accidentally post a spoiler at least I’ve given y’all some time to go see it first.

Oh yeah, now I remember. (Scarf Post #1)

2011-07-14T13:28:00.001-05:00

So a few months go I decided I would make my sister a scarf for her birthday. She’s one of those weirdos (like Zach) who actually like scarfs. Me, I can’t stand them. Anything I wear that sits to close to my neck makes me feel like I’m choking, or gives my throat that tight feeling like I’m about to throw up. I kept putting off starting, thinking “Oh her birthday isn’t for X months/weeks. I have time.” Then it was two days before her birthday and not only had I not started, I hadn’t even picked out a design or gotten any yarn for it. Then it took me forever to do those, trying to find the perfect matches that would be best for her. Last week I finally got the yarn, and finally decided on a pattern… only a week after her birthday. I got right on to making it, but had to start over a few times since the design of it was something still sort of new to me.

Now it’s a week later and I already feel like I’ve been working on this scarf forever. In reality I’ve only gotten 6 of the 50 inches needed done. Since I’ve gotten the design down it’s finally moving a little faster, but even then I’m only averaging to get 1 repeat done an hour. Each repeat only equals about 2 – 2 1/2 inches, thus it’s going to take me about 20ish repeats to finish it. I’ve been working on it for an hour each afternoon, but if I ever want to finish this I’m going to need to try to squeeze in an hour at night also.

I really love the yarn I picked for the scarf. The scarf I made her for Christmas was made from a yarn that lightly faded back and forth from a really pale pink to a sort of dusty rose color. I wanted this one to be more colorful, plus I wanted it made of a lighter yarn since we have way more hot months than cold, and she will wear light scarfs in the warm months too. I decided on a self-stripping sock yarn, but was rather worried about it at first. I was afraid that the stripes would end up all out of whack and it would just look splotchy. However, the stripes are coming out really well so far. I’m glad I decided on self-stripping instead of doing them on my own, because I think doing color changes would be sort of awkward with this pattern.

Well here it is so far. The tape measurer is out as long as the scarf will be.

And a close up of the design.

The design should show up a little better when I finish the actual knitting and then block it.

Conversations with Ryan

2011-07-11T12:21:00.001-05:00

How old are you?
(hold up 5 fingers) Five. When I’m 8 I’ll be big. Because I wish I was 8. Because I wish older. Because I um want to be big and not be bad.

Tell me about what you were like as a baby.
Uh when I was a baby I had brown hair and I was white and I was bald. Wait no, I mean I just had brown hair. And I could not crawl. I liked to swing, and fly, and play in the sprinkler and get in the pool. I was a bad baby. Wait no, a good baby. I was good because I didn’t want to be bad so I did good stuff.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a army man, because I like army men, because they get to use tanks and guns, and those are awesome. And I want to be a firefighter, because I like firefighters and armies. I wanted to be a shark, cause I like sharks, but you made me a person not a shark.

What do you think school will be like next year?
I don’t know. Uh, maybe normal. I’ll go in an older grade. I’ll get lots and lots of homework and learn more. I’ll be good and not move my clip. I promise I won’t hit or bite anyone.

If you could have one super power what would it be?
I’d go through walls and have a bat lair like Batman, only with a boomerang and can walk through walls. Or be Nightrider. I’d save people from bad guys, like Joker or Penguin or Cat Woman or Mr. Freeze or Clay Face. But my name would be Batman, because I’m going to be Batman, Batman’s not going to be Batman.

Sunday Scrapbooking (7/10)

2011-07-10T11:35:00.001-05:00

I actually got 5 pages done this week, BUT can only share 3. So let’s get right to them!

made with Nanie's Designs' Sassy Starters Strips Vol. 1 and Lauren Grier's All I Was Meant to Be andFaith True's Water Color Alpha and Emily Merrit's Whale of a Tale Alpha

made with Bears Garten's Here Comes the Sun, Penny Springmann's All Worn Out Photo and Paper Overlays, and Libby Pritchett's Border Basics - Rounded Corners font - CK To Do List photo action - Toy Camera by On the Spot Studio from the Simple Sweetness set

made with Erica Zane's Bluebird font - CK Elizabeth

Saturday Snapshot (7/8)

2011-07-09T10:01:00.001-05:00

All I want…

2011-07-07T15:54:00.001-05:00

All I want for ~~Christmas~~ summer is my two front teeth.

Ryan has now lost TWO teeth. He lost one on June 26th and then lost the other one on Monday the 4th. His is very happy with his impressive hole in his smile. lol

Backyard summer fun

2011-07-06T09:12:00.001-05:00

OK, this is the post I said I was going to put up Monday but never got around to. lol Friday after work John got an inflatable pool for our backyard. It was a surprise to all of us since he hadn’t mentioned this to anyone. The boys and Belly went out and got in it Saturday and Sunday. They all loved it. By Sunday even Belly was really playing it it. Splashing and getting all of her wet. The downside was that it was so hot. Like arm pits sweating even though you’re sitting in really cold water hot. John ended up getting the sprinkler and angling it so that it would spray over the pool and cool the top of them off also.

As always I have a gazillion pictures to show off from them in the pool Saturday, but I am going to try to greatly narrow it down for you.

Fireworks at the park

2011-07-05T12:10:00.001-05:00

As always we went to the city park last night for fireworks. Seeing as how last year I got so many cute pictures, and the boys had so much fun, when I let the boys do the picture taking I decided to take both of our cameras last night. That way I was guaranteed to get at least more than 20 usable pictures this year, plus, like I said, the boys could take their own pictures also. BUT since we did take two cameras I now have 76 usable pictures so I’m going to greatly narrow it down for ones to post with this post.

We walked to the park (as always – we live close enough to walk, and the walk is hugely better than the hassle of trying to park). Once we got there we met up with my step-dad and sister (and my younger brother for a very brief moment lol), then we all went over and sat with Ryan’s best friend Zada and her mom and dad and cousin, Terrik. The boys had a ton of fun running around and playing with Terrik and Zada.

Belly LOVED the fireworks. I thought she enjoyed them last year, but oh man, that was nothing compared to this year. She was yelling “Whoa!!,” and covering her eyes and mouth, and screaming and clapping in delight.

Now, PICTURES!

Sunday Scrapbooking (7/3)

2011-07-03T07:52:00.001-05:00

Good morning! Unless your like me, then congrats on not bashing heads when 2 of your 3 kids started coming in your room at 5:30 am to wake you up and kept it up every 5 blessed minutes. If you’re like me, pat yourself on your back and enjoy your coffee.

Yeah, in case that was a little too subtle for you, I’m in a pretty piss poor mood today. But lets not keep us from checking out this week’s pages or from me sharing a little news.

Last week I mentioned I was so happy because of some good news I got… so are you ready to hear the news??? ‘Cause I’m ready to share it. I got added as a contributor to the website Me So Scrappy. (taking a moment to bow to your applause) I am so excited. I actually have already started, I was officially added on the first, and have done two posts there. (You can see them by clicking here and here)

Now, for this week’s pages! I did 5, but only love 3.

I finally got around to scrapping some of my favorite recent pictures of Ryan.

Made with Zoe Pearn's C'est La Vie

The next two are where I wanted to try out a style that is rather different from my usual. I must say… I really like it!

Both were made with kits by Jazzmin Designs; the first was made with her Boys Only kit, and the second was made with her Spring Fever kit. (Scroll down to the bottom of this link to see the first of these two pages featured on the Gallery Stand Outs blog)

To wrap this post up, my boys are both home again. My step-dad brought them back yesterday afternoon. My mom’s uncle was hospitalized and she drove to Texas with her mom to be closer to him. Monday I’ll have some photos to share of John and I playing in the inflatable pool we got in the backyard with all three kiddos.

Saturday Snapshots (7/2)

2011-07-02T12:55:00.001-05:00

I think I’m crazy and my daughter is cute.

2011-07-01T11:27:00.001-05:00

Before I get into my adorable daughter and our newest potty training update, I have to tell you something. I think I might be slightly crazy. I have weird and random dreams a lot. Sometimes I dream about weird ways my day will go when I wake up. I’ve had dreams about getting horrible rejection letters from calls I apply to. I dream about whacky conversations I have with people online. I also tend to dream about just stupid things in regards to John and I.

Last night, I had a dream that I woke up this morning and had like 100 hate comments about my blog post I did yesterday about not wanting any more kids. I mean they got nasty, and some people were even saying I shouldn’t have the three I have since I didn’t want them. They were threatening to come kidnap my kids, and were going to hurt me. All sorts of crazy things. So I woke up this morning at 5, ran to my computer, turned it on, and went and checked my blog. Of course, there were no hate comments. lol After that I went back to bed, and thankfully, had no more dreams.

Now for a potty training update!

I’m not really sure we’ve had all that much progress to be honest, even though I’ve been steadily on her about it all week. She’s down to only one accident a day, but it’s not because she’s using the potty more. Because she’s not. Not even drops. She sits there, talks, plays, sings, does everything but actually go. Instead what she’s doing is just holding it all in until like naptime when she gets a diaper put back on. She only naps for somewhere between 1-2 hours, but when I get her up her diaper is completely soaked. Even the outside is wet. So, like I said, I’m not too sure if that’s actual progress or not.

And lastly, a few more cute pictures of Belly from playing out in the rain on Tuesday.

I would like to go on the record.

2011-06-30T09:05:00.002-05:00

(image from here)

I would like to go on the record and tell everyone… I don’t really want to have anymore kids.
I love my three kiddos more than life itself, and could not possibly imagine my life without them. With that being said, before having Zach I was on the fence of if I wanted no kids, or just one kid. 75% of the time I was leaning more towards no kids. Then after Zach I was convinced I didn’t want anymore kids, ever. After I had Ryan I was convinced two boys would be good, it’d give them each someone to play with, but I absolutely did NOT want anymore kids. Then I got pregnant again and had a miscarriage. After that I thought maybe in about 5 years I could have one more, John thought this was a good idea too. He said we could try every few years until we had a girl. I said we could try one more time, and he better hope his sperm cooperates and gives him the girl he wants then. By the time we came to this decision it was like May or June and we were in the final stages of buying a house. By August I was freaking out in our new bathroom staring at the test that said “pregnant.”
If you know anything about my pregnancy with Belly then you probably know that it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Of my three pregnancies I carried to term, hers was by far the worst. And yes, that is a pretty big part of why I say I don’t want anymore kids. But really, growing up, as a child who was 6 years older than her next sibling I had to help a lot with taking care of my two younger siblings, plus help with both sets of younger step-siblings my dad went through, and help with all the babies and kids my mom watched. I knew being a mommy wouldn’t be all fun and sweetness, so I never dreamed of one day being a mommy. I dreamed of getting out in the world and getting away from the responsibilities and hassles of children.
Now, I’m 24 and the mom of three kids. My baby is 2 and we’re working on potty training. Yeah, she’s a fussy, bratty two year old, but she communicates semi-understandably, and is fun. (Be honest, infants are sweet and cuddly but not so much fun) Both of my boys are mostly house broken and both in school. At this stage in my life a lot of my friends I had in school are getting pregnant or have little babies. A lot of moms who say they are done start feeling weepy or wistful when faced with pregnant friends or new babies. They may still say they are done, but inside they whisper “Awww, I want.” Me, not so much. I go “Man I don’t miss being that big,” and “I so don’t miss newborn poop,” things like that.
Unfortunately, everyone seems to think it’s time for me to have another kid. My relatives now seem to think I’m old enough to have kids and be excited about being pregnant… but I don’t want to. They had three other chances to get happy and excited. Ryan desperately wants a baby brother. Belly is on a baby-obsession kick. And John gets a little wistful look when babies get mentioned. The only person on my side is Zach who has threatened to move out if I have another baby.

OK, I’m a hypocrite. Sue me.

2011-06-28T09:19:00.001-05:00

I’ve been a member of online groups for a while, the longest being my association with the forums on Justmommies.com, where I’ve been a member since May 2007. I’m also a member of various digital scrapbooking sites as well. On these sites I’ve developed many friendships, some spanning the whole time I’ve been active on those sites.

As a stay-at-home mom, who lives in a very rural area, and is rather young (compared to the moms of the boys’ friends), I get pretty lonely. Most of my friends are either all working, have moved away, or are just starting out on the mommy-frontier. Having online friends has a been a blessing.

Now all these years John has always made fun of my “computer friends.” He doesn’t think I shouldn’t have them, and he’s not as patronizing as some husbands are about online friends. He understands that as the years since high school have passed that I lose more and more of my real life friends, and that this is a way to keep me from going bat-poop crazy. BUT this doesn’t stop him from making fun of me for getting so involved in the lives of people who I have never physically met. He really thought it was really funny as I texted one of my online friends with updates to share while I was in labor with Belly.

Since John got Black Ops for Christmas he has been enjoying the online playing of it most every week night. He used to play primarily just with my brothers, but has been slowly, but surely, expanding his friends on there. Recently he has taken to playing with the same two guys over and over, even talks to me about these two. Generally when he plays I listen to my IPod, but last night I had already turned it off and was getting ready for bed when I hear John talking to one of these guys… about me and the kids. I tapped him on the back over and over and whispered “John, John, John” until he turned his headset to mute and looked at me. I asked him if he was sure he should be telling some random-make-believe Black Ops dude about our life. This is when he gave me that annoying look “do you really want to go there?” look and then pointedly looked back and forth between me and my computer. I explain to him there’s a world of difference between my group of trustworthy online family and friends and his random make-believe Black Ops friends. At this point John said I should probably just go to bed before he decides to call and cancel our internet in the morning. I wisely shut up and went to bed.

I can you hear in my head now.

2011-06-27T08:45:00.001-05:00

…and for the record getting on to me never does any good.

I totally never posted my Sunday Scrapbooking yesterday. I kept thinking “Dangit! I only made 2 pages, and I’m actually not crazy about either one so I’m just not wasting my time.” But, um, I made three pages last week, and I kinda really like 2 of them. lol So… I’m not sure what I was thinking yesterday. I think my brain was too eager for the start of True Blood Season 4 yesterday to make much sense of anything else. As it is now Monday, and we did discuss this some Saturday, I am too much a creature of habit to actually do my Sunday Scrapbooking on Monday. That would just be… wrong. lol But I will post small clickable versions of the layouts, so if you want to see them you can.

Next, I got some pretty awesome news this weekend, but I’m not sure if I can share it yet. It has to do with scrapbooking, and no, I still haven’t gotten accepted to any full-time teams yet. I do have a few months of guest spots coming up though. I have the rest of this month through the end of August with SuzyQ Scraps. August I’m guesting with Stolen Moments. September I’m guesting on The Lily Pad’s site team. Finally October I have a guest spot with another designer, but since she hasn’t announced who/when her guests are I don’t know if I can tell who.

The boys went back to my mom’s Friday night. While I loved having them home, and miss them terribly again, I wasn’t too sad telling them bye. lol Of course they were pretty awful while they were here. They always are when they go and spend any real time at my dad’s; it’s like we have to reprogram them. Then when we finally got them back to the way they are supposed to behave it was time for them to go.

Last piece of news, John got his septum re-pierced. He originally got that and one of his tattoos done right after he turned 18. When he got the job at the shop he’s at now he was told it was OK to have, it just had to stay flipped into his nose, since he didn’t interact with customers. Then about 3 years ago they started sending him on part runs, and picking up and dropping off cars and it had to go. He decided since he was promoted again (a few months ago) to a full-time auto-body repair technician (fancy name for the guy who gets the dents out of your cars lol – OK he does a lot more than just that but still…) and has virtually no interaction with customers that he would get it re-done. It looks so funny now because before he had it stretched, and they didn’t give him a size option on the piercing so it’s this tiny metal thing in it now. He told me I can’t take any pictures of it till it’s stretched some more.

Not a piece of news, but I did my first actual attempt at drawing in like 4 years last night. The odd sketch to plan out stuff or to help a boy with school work doesn’t count. I drew a cartoon version of my favorite picture of Ryan from Friday. Oh the glasses are because every superhero needs to protect his identity. lol

Saturday Snapshot (6/25)

2011-06-25T13:56:00.001-05:00

Since I never got around to posting the pictures I meant to yesterday of Ryan and Belly playing outside I’ll just post them today under the snapshot… which means this should technically be “Saturday Snapshots” but I’m too much a creature of habit to rename it. lol

Even though they are home

2011-06-22T10:22:00.001-05:00

Life is not all good, especially for the Belly.

Belly has missed the boys horribly. She hasn’t enjoyed this time of being an only child. She loves having the boys around. Ryan plays with her, and Zach pampers her… usually.

Since they’ve been home they’ve wanted nothing to do with her. Each time she tries to play with them, or hang out with them, they just tell her to leave them alone. They don’t want to play with her, they don’t want to sit and watch tv with her. They don’t let her watch her shows. To her, right now, life is pretty sucky.

I feel so bad for her since she has missed them so much, and them being home isn’t as wonderful as I guess she thought it would be. She’s spent much of the time since they got home crying or throwing fits. It breaks her little heart that they don’t want to play with or be around her.

As they are five and seven I can’t completely blame them for not wanting to play with their two years old sister who doesn’t understand the rules of their games, does more destroying than playing, and watches “baby” shows. It doesn’t mean that the way they are treating her isn’t also bugging the crap out of me, but like I said, I can understand.

Life with the boys home isn’t too great for me either. They are fighting like crazy. Constantly complaining about this, that, and everything in between. Plus, causing the Belly to be in a horrid mood. Despite all that I am glad they are here. I hope once they are done with the room cleaning they’ve been working on since yesterday their moods will improve. Hey, a mom can hope.

I had a dream…

2011-06-21T09:44:00.001-05:00

Well, maybe more of a weird nightmare/dream. lol

I dreamed last night that we had moved into an apartment, which is weird enough since there’s no way we would ever move all 5 of us into an apartment. Belly and I were out walking around, it was fall, and we were enjoying the weather and seeing our new environment. Did I mention we had also moved up north? The northern accents that surrounded me were my hint about that. lol
We ran into a couple of other moms who had little girls around Belly’s age, and we stopped to talk to get to know our new neighbors. Being close to and making friends with my neighbors is something I’ve always wanted desperately. I grew up in neighborhoods where neighbors were always close. You hung out with them, were friends with them. And it wasn’t just the kids who were friends, the adults were too. So, this is something I’ve missed the most since we got our house. Anyway, as I was introducing Belly and myself one of the ladies was like “Oh my God, you named your daughter Isabella? Why would you give her such a shallow materialistic name?? Children’s names should have meaning, not be based off of shallow girls in silly books.” I’m standing there trying to defend my daughter’s name. Explaining over and over that she is not named after the girl from Twilight, but they just aren’t believing me, they’re standing there smirking, and saying they just don’t want their children playing with Belly. I’m getting frustrated and explaining over and over again that we didn’t get her name from there, and the more frustrated I get the more southern I sound. Then the ladies start in on that, saying how I sound like an uneducated southern hick. They’re saying how I should take my shallow-redneck self and just move back down south.
I woke up then.

Can you tell I might have a slight complex about my daughter’s name, and the idea of moving up north? lol

On a happier note, the boys came back home yesterday, and even though they’re already fighting and being fussy I am glad they’re finally home.

Sunday Scrapbooking (6/19)

2011-06-19T09:47:00.001-05:00

First things first… Happy Father’s Day to all my readers and the men in their lives!

Next, wow… I only have two pages this week. After a few weeks of having so many I feel like a loser this week. lol Not quite sure why I only have two this week. I’m not even entirely sure I’ll have many next week; the boys will be home all week, and recovering from spending the weekend with my Father and step-mother. (It always takes a few days to get them to remember the way they are supposed to behave after going there.)

But let’s get on to why we’re here…. this week’s (cough *two* cough) pages!

made with Jazzmin Designs' Sunkissed elements and papers, Lauren Reid's 300 Days of Summer Papers and Emily Merritt's Whale of a Tale Alpha

made for the Easy-As-Pie Template Challenge #13 on the Shabby Shoppe blog
made with the Shabby Princess' Giggle Box, Goose Bumps, and Hopscotch
tag alpha - Lauren Reid's 300 Days of Summer alpha

Saturday Snapshot (6/18)

2011-06-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

Zach’s birthday dinner surprise

2011-06-16T23:31:00.001-05:00

We got to my mom’s house yesterday to pick up Zach to take him out for his birthday. He was pretty excited… until he got in the car and we told him the plan was to go to Starbuck’s and the bookstore. That kind of deflated his excitement some. lol He gradually began to warm up to idea, talking about what books he wanted and such. He then (very innocently) says:
”Hey Mommy, isn’t GameStop next to Starbuck’s and the bookstore? Maybe Daddy and I can go in there and look around while you look at books.”

Sneaky butthead is going to ruin our plans! lol The plan was we were taking him to GameStop. That was part one of the surprise and he basically guessed it!
We get to GameStop and we told him he could get a new game for his Gameboy (it’s a rather old one… lol one of the original Gameboy Color ones from way back in the when Pokémon was new era. Hey… it was free from my brother and works.) Zach looks skeptical at this and reminds us that new games do not work on his old Gameboy. We told him it was OK, someone told us it would work, and if not, we could always return it. He picked what we knew he would, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. We get back to the car and John tells Zach (since he didn’t bring his Gameboy) he should just “look at the game and imagine your playing it.” When Zach says he can’t imagine playing something he hasn’t played John pulls out a case and tells him to go ahead and just put the game in there for now.

Inside the case is a new Nintendo DS Lite.
His reaction, and I quote, “NO WAY!!! Is that what I think it is?!?!”

Gosh my boy is handsome.

After that we drove into Memphis and took him to Incredible Pizza for dinner. None of us had ever been there so it was a new experience for all three of us. It was a ton of fun, especially since there weren’t a whole lot of people there since it was mid-week. We got the buffet and one one-hour unlimited game card, whole cost was only about $20. Between (mostly) John and Zach we ended up with 556 tickets. Of course they did sort of cheat. One shooting game had a glitch you could point at the floor and fire all ten shots there and it would just spew tickets at you. None of the other guns in that game did it. John and Zach took full advantage of the glitch. Here are some of my favorites from all the pictures.

He said it is officially his best birthday ever.

sob Happy 7th Birthday to Zach! sob

2011-06-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

(you can read his birth story here)

Birthday plans for the birthday boy:
morning – VBS
afternoon – cupcakes with friends
night – birthday dinner and surprise

Be on the lookout sometime tomorrow for a follow up about his birthday surprise.

I’m missing my boy-os.

2011-06-13T08:56:00.001-05:00

picture from here

I’m really missing my boys this morning. I mean don’t get me wrong, I always (mostly) miss them when they aren’t home with me, but it hasn’t been like melancholy, sigh-in-loneliness missing.

Unfortunately, today it is melancholy, sigh-in-loneliness missing.

I think my brain and heart are just being contrary. See, the boys won’t be coming home at all this week because they have VBS this week, and well I don’t want to get up and take them when I know my mom is going to be going anyway. (It’s odd. This is my first time in six years I haven’t worked VBS.) I had really been looking forward to seeing them both. Before we remembered VBS we had planned for Ryan to come home last night, and then Zach to come home tonight. But… nope. VBS. I bet if I knew they would be coming home this missing wouldn’t be so bad.

I miss them. I really, really miss them.

Sunday Scrapbooking (6/12)

2011-06-12T12:56:00.001-05:00

Running a little late today so I’ll just jump right in!

made with Designs by Lili's Wish Upon a Star

there’s a ton of credits. lol Just click the image to see them.

made with Lauren Grier and Kristen Cronin-Barrow's Just Like Dad Collab

made with Amy Wolff's Calico Cottage, stitches and tickets from Sahlin Studio's A Spring Day elements, alpha from Traci Reed and Heather Roselli's My Other Loves

Saturday Snapshots

2011-06-11T10:02:00.001-05:00

Potty Training via Facebook

2011-06-10T10:54:00.001-05:00

Today’s potty training attempt status updates.

9:00 am:
Wish us luck, we're trying underwear this morning.

10:01 am:
Doing morning housework goes very slowly when you're stopping every 10-15 minutes to make a 2 year old spend about 5 minutes on the potty.

10:30 am:
Bella emptied one of her buckets she holds her kitchen stuff in and peed in it... while still wearing her underwear.

10:42 am:
OK obviously she didn't get it all out in the bucket. She just ran to her kitchen looked around, then started crying and yelling potty. She already had a big puddle on the floor. After that she said she wanted a diaper.

So she made it almost two hours in the undies, our goal was 2.5 – 3 hours. (or until lunch basically) She was doing pretty good, though going only just a very teeny tiny bit (if at all) each time I put her on the potty. We decided to try because lately she comes to us telling us “Tee tee, tee tee!” but she’s always wet when we get her to the bathroom. Warm diaper wet so that means she just went. Thus we decided to try underwear. She was so heartbroken when she had her accident that I let her just have a diaper again. But hey, at least we tried.

This princess…

2011-06-09T21:58:00.001-05:00

drives her own get-away car.

Prince Charming can walk his sorry butt home.

A Murphy kind of day.

2011-06-06T15:03:00.001-05:00

I know everyone has these day. You know the ones where absolutely all that can go wrong will go wrong. (You know Murphy’s Law) Like I said, we all have these days, but I swear no one has them worse than parents.

You know why these days are so much worse for parents? Because not only is everything going to go wrong for us, undoubtedly it’ll all go wrong for our kids too. (can we say headache?)

Let me tell you about the day I’ve had so far, and it’s not even over yet.

Woke up – Huge headache. Stupid allergy headaches always get me this time of year. Normally it’s only 30ish minutes of pain and irritability, then medicines kick in and I become semi-human again. Today… I wake up and find out I’m out of allergy medicine and headache medicine. I try to counteract it with coffee and quiet. Then Zach wakes up. Zach also has a raging allergy headache and is determined to make Belly and I suffer through it with him. You might ask, “Trish, why not just go to the store and get more medicine?” I’d have to tell you it’s because John has yet to go and get me new tags for the van. I was tempted to walk to the gas station up the street from me to get some, but alas, it was just too darn hot already.

Before Lunch – All morning up till lunch time I had to deal with Zach and Belly. Normally, it’s not too bad a combination, even with a headache. Zach with a headache hugely changed my opinion on that. Belly wanted to play with and be with her brother, her brother wanted nothing to do with her, Belly tried using brute force to get her way, Zach acted like a baby. This went on all blessed morning. I thought I’d get a reprieve. My mom was supposed to be getting Zach and taking him and Ryan to the library. She kept waiting for my sister to get up (she wanted to go also), but by the time she got up it was too hot to go in my mom’s air-conditionerless car. Thus, more fits from Zach.

Lunch – Zach did not want what we had for lunch, thus Belly didn’t want her lunch either. Lots of fits again.

Naptime – Zach spent the whole time coming in and out of the back of the house, even though he was supposed to be laying down with a movie and a cold compress on his forehead. Since he kept opening and closing the hall door Belly stayed up, which completed shot down my idea of attempting to get in a nap.

Now I have two tired and grumpy kids. John calling me from work in a bad mood. And to top it all off Belly apparently had a large poop during her naptime and attempted to clean it up herself… with all the clean shirts in her dresser. To think, I still get to do cleaning, and laundry (thanks Belly), and folding clothes. Oh yeah, and about 3 more hours with fussy kids.

Sunday Scrapbooking (6/5)

2011-06-05T06:32:00.002-05:00

I don't really have any funny or informative story to go with my pages this week. I literally spent most of my days this week on the couch watching Netflix with an extremely clingy, fussy two year old. We went out and played some during the mornings, then watched tv most of the day (since she wouldn't nap), and then I tried to regather my sanity when John got home. Didn't really leave a whole lot of scrapping time.
Also, I'd like to take a moment to say hi to some of my new followers, and to my fellow digi scrapping followers, thank you so much for some of the sweet comments I'm getting on my pages in the galleries from y'all following the pages from here to there. Y'all are the awesomeness.

OK here are this week’s pages!!
made with Penny Springmann's Your Song font - DJB Emily F by Darcy Baldwin, quote - Dr. Seuss "Oh! The Places You'll Go"
made with Julie Bilingsley's Stars in Her Eyes

made with Julie Bilingsley's Home of the Brave

made with Karah Fredricks' Splatterific 3, Sahlin Studio's This Moment, and Jennifer Barrette's Mademoiselle Papers (lift of Keela's John's Puddle for the June Scraplift at the Lily Pad)

made with Kate Hadefield's Pirate Doodles (retired), Karah Fredericks' Finishing Touches, Faith True's Watercolor Alpha, Darcy Baldwin's Story Telling Accents, and Jenn Barrette's Journaling Bling

Saturday Snapshots (6/4)

2011-06-04T14:06:00.001-05:00

Her car runs on bubble power… doesn’t get much greener than that. lol – Click for full size.

Interviews and Flashbacks

2011-06-03T15:03:00.002-05:00

First off, I’d like to share and interview I did with Mr. Zach today. In case you didn’t notice by the ticker on the side, he has a birthday coming up. (on the 15th of this month – less than 2 weeks away) Last weeks Flashback Friday was on Zach’s 3rd birthday at Disney World, this week’s will be on him too. (scroll down to see it) As a matter of fact, next week’s Friday post will also be about him. lol
Now, I should offer fair warning, Zach refused to get dressed for the interview, so he’s in his boxers. Thankfully, except for the one time he raises himself he just looks like he’s shirtless.

(Oh, he came home last night and Belly went to go do sleepover at my mom’s.)

As the picture says this was taken in May of 2004 (I’m almost 99% positive it was taken then) and I’m about 8 months pregnant with Zach. I felt like I was huge and fat, but after 2 additional times of getting that big and pregnant I know now that I was tiny while pregnant with Zach. Anyway, in that particular picture I’m sitting in John’s old truck in the zoo parking lot. We were waiting for Momma and my siblings who we were meeting at the zoo. I had a favorite pair of maternity overalls that I wore a lot during the end of my pregnancy, but since I was so small when I got them by the time I was 8 months pregnant (tummy grew a ton in like 2 weeks) even the largest tummy setting on them felt tight when sitting, and I often took to undoing them and sitting with my tummy exposed when I wore them. John took this picture and it’s my favorite out of all pregnant pictures I have of me from any of my pregnancies.
If you want to join in the Flashback Friday head over to the blog Christopher & Tia: The Documentary of Us and join in!

What’s up with the boys.

2011-06-01T21:09:00.001-05:00

Last Wednesday was the boys’ last day of school before “90 Days of Summer Vacation.” No, they don’t really get 90 days. lol This is something Zach has gotten stuck in his head over the past couple of years, that he has now also convinced Ryan of. I think really it’s only like 70. Maybe.

It’s tradition here that when not at school, the boys are at my mom’s. I would like them home more often. Not saying I don’t enjoy just having Belly all day, but well, she’s two, as much as I love her, the boys offer more fun and excitement. (Though her daredevil attempt to get over the gate in front of her door today did off a brief unwelcome bit of excitement… ) This year John and I set down the two nights rule with the 90 Days of Summer Vacation. Each boy has to come home for two nights in a row once a week. They don’t have to spend both of those nights here together, but at least one of those nights both do have to be home. I think I’ll like this plan. Plus, no matter how much my mom enjoys having the boys there, I think her and my step-dad will enjoy a few nights without them.

Since school got out Wednesday, report cards came home. Zach did really good. He got all A’s and a C in Spelling. He was pretty down since you don’t get a ribbon for all A’s and a C. The C was only two points shy of a B, but since he’s always been on one of the two honor rolls he was upset. And of course he was promoted to second grade. Ryan is still only on a + (Master) and – (Developing) grade scale, and he did, well, OK. lol He got – on all of the conduct listings… His report card didn’t say if he was promoted to Kindergarten or not. I know he already passed the Kindergarten test, but I know if you do the K4 program they also base it on if you are “emotionally mature enough.” I pulled out Zach’s old K4 report card, and sure enough it said that he was promoted. For like 3 days I was in a panic-y flurry worrying he wasn’t getting promoted before John told me just to email his teacher. lol She emailed me back within the hour and told me that he did indeed get promoted.

So, I just felt I should update on why I might not be posting to much about the boys for a while. It’s not because I play favorites with Belly… it’s because they aren’t home.

Sunburns and Waterslides

2011-05-31T21:25:00.001-05:00

Belly doesn’t like water.
Belly doesn’t like playing in pools, or sprinklers.

Belly does like rain.
Belly’s mom is ok with turning on the sprinkler, squishing Belly in bathing suit, then taking Belly outside to “play in the rain.”
(Belly’s mom is OK with the occasional lie to her child)

Belly loves to slide. Belly now loves to slide in the “rain.”

Belly loves to swing. Belly now loves to swing in the “rain” also.

Belly loves to drive her car… well, yeah I think you can get it on your own now. lol

Belly has also decided she loves her Mommy in the rain as well.

(Yup… Mommy is in a bathing suit too. Necessary when playing with a 2 year old in the “rain.”)

Mostly, Belly just loved and going and playing in the “rain” today. She was begging me all of the rest of today to put her swimsuit on and go back out. I told her we will tomorrow.

Sunday Scrapbooking (5/29)

2011-05-29T10:10:00.001-05:00

I have a ton of pages again this week! lol About half of them are because this weekend on the Digital Scrapbooking board over at Justmommies we are doing a Scrap-A-Thon. We do one of these ever 3-4 months. They run from Friday morning to Monday night, and it’s basically to have a weekend of scrapbooking. We run challenges, speed scraps, and at the very end we award points and we give out prizes. We’re right in the middle of it right now, so expect a lot of pages next week too. lol

On another note, I’ve been offered a guest spot on the store creative team for The Lilypad in September! I’m very excited and honored, and can not wait.

Now… for the pages!

made with Krystal Hartley's The World is My Oyster, Dani Mogstad's Vintage Garden Fairies (retired), and Scrap Kitchen Designs and Krystal Hartley's The Very Thought of You Collab (retired)

made using Dani Mogstad and Shawna Clingerman's It's A Guy Thing; outline alpha - Shawna Clingerman Kickstart alpha; tiny alpha - Zoe Pearn's Teeny Tiny Type; mat/stitches - Libby Pritchett Border Basics - Rounded Corners; font - DJB Coffeeshop Espresso by Darcy Baldwin

made with Zoe Pearn's You Rock!; fonts: DJB With a Little Help from My Friends and DJB Skritch Scratch both by Darcy Baldwin

made with Kristen Cronin-Barrow's Over the Rainbow; alpha from Dani Mogstad's I Like Love You'

Here are the rest of this week’s pages, just click to see them larger and to see the credits on them.

Saturday Snapshots (5/28)

2011-05-28T06:00:00.001-05:00

linking this up to: The Paper Mama “Self Portrait” Challenge

What I’ve been up to knit-wise ((PLUS other stuff lol))

2011-05-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

adding in a few hours later – technically we should call this the never ending blog posts since I seem to keep coming and adding this, that, and a pool table to it. I promise I will try to remember to add every single little teensy tiny bit this time. lol (but I can make no real guarantees)

Part I:
So, other than a baby hat I made for my cousin’s wife in the beginning of April I have not made anything new. (Note to self – message cousin’s wife to find out if she can send me a picture of said hat) After I finished the hat I got it stuck in my head that I wanted to try my hand at lace… and I was having no luck on it… at all. Then one night I had a light bulb moment. I’ve been using the chart version of the patterns, because, as everyone told me, once I learned to read them they were soooo much easier than reading the actual word patterns. But I noticed something the other night, all the patterns, the row numbers, were odd. When I finally realized this I re-read through the notes before the pattern and realized I wasn’t adding a plain knit row between the ones the pattern showed. God I felt stupid when I saw that. lol
Now that I figured out my stupid mistake I’m working on a new hat. (Shocker I know. lol) I’m not sure if it’ll be for Belly or not yet. I’ve combined two patterns on this hat. One is from a toddler/baby knit hat book. It’s for a plain rolled edge hat. The other one I’m using is for a fern lace wash cloth. (It’s pattern #2) It’s combining beautifully, but I just couldn’t get a good picture were the design shows up well, but here’s the best one I got:

I’ve got the fern pattern repeating twice on each needle, and the stitches are spread over 3 needles, so it repeats 6 times on the hat. I’m half-way through the first set of the repeat.
If you want to check out other people’s craft endeavors check out this Crafty Friday post on Home Sweet Farm’s blog. (Click the icon below to get directly to the post.)

Part II:

I am joining in on the Flashback Friday fun this week over on the blog Christopher & Tia: The Documentary of Us.

We went to Disney World for a week in June of 2007. It was a tradition that when a grandchild turned 7 my mom’s parents would take the whole entire family to Disney World. Well, in 2007 my cousin Danielle turned 7 and so off we all went. (And by all I mean all 15 of us)

Florida in June is so flipping hot. *panting from memory of heat*

It was the first time John, the boys, and I ever went and did vacation stuff as a family. Zach was turning three on the trip and Ryan was about 18 months. These are not the most ideal age to take little ones to Disney World… in the middle of the freaking summer. (or at any other time to be honest) There just isn’t much they can do at that age, and taking turns waiting in line while the other adult waits with the kids isn’t much fun either. But the boys enjoyed some of it.

I think our (as in my little family – not the whole) favorite part was when John and I took Zach out to do Character dining for dinner a few nights before his birthday. He had a blast. All the characters were from Winnie the Pooh, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was one of his favorite movies at the time. Then to make it even better all the people sang happy birthday to him. He was in three year old heaven.

After the dinner was over we hung out at the park for a long time and stayed and watched the parade. I have to think that will be his hand’s down best birthday party ever.

If I don’t get sleep soon…

2011-05-26T14:52:00.001-05:00

If I don’t get sleep soon I may do something crazy like set my house on fire.

You do not consider being up on and off all night as part of life with a 2 year old. At two the boys let me sleep all night. Belly… yeah not so much. We’re up and down with her at night trying to get her to sleep, because she’s constantly waking up, the past few nights we’ve broken down and put her in bed with us. That doesn’t actually help any, it just keeps both John and I from getting any sort of real sleep.

And now… now, she is not napping, and she is in a foul, foul mood.

This picture just ain’t great.

2011-05-25T22:22:00.001-05:00

So it’s at moment’s like earlier this evening while I was trying to take pictures of my darling Miss Pudding looking out our backdoors at the raging storm that I wished I could find my freaking battery charger to my camera. I’m not quite at the desperate point of just buying a new one yet. And honestly, since we got a smaller family friendly point and shoot camera now too, I’m nowhere near as freaked as I would have been. But as much as I’ve been enjoying this newer smaller one, it just didn’t do me true tonight. I’m not a snobby camera snob. I use a point and shoot camera…. a very nice fancy one albeit… but still, it’s just a regular old point and shoot. I’m no snobby photographer, or hell, even a plain old regular one, just a mom who takes a gazillion pictures of her kids daily and likes to have the nicest pictures I can get.

I took this picture with my camera 2 years ago:

And I took this one tonight with the family camera:

Seeing as how I’m not a professional photographer I feel no guilt or shame in saying thank God I know my way around Photoshop so I can edit it to this:

(and before anyone asks… yes I’m a sucker for high contrast photos. lol)

Being grounded sucks

2011-05-23T12:32:00.001-05:00

There’s one thing I’ve learned as a stay-at-home mom, when your child is grounded, so are you. This means groundings at my house are the very last resort. And I do mean very last.

It’s so boring.

We can’t go anywhere, or do anything fun. I have to be mean and keep up with the stipulations of the grounding. I don’t want to make Ryan stay in his room. I don’t want to tell him we can’t watch movies together, or play games. I don’t want to be stuck in the house with him while Belly and Zach go out and play.

But I have to.

See, here’s why Ryan has to be grounded. In the last two weeks at school Ryan moved his clip NINE times. Yes, nine. One day he was really ambitious and moved it three times. Remembering to follow certain school rules has been pretty hit and miss for him. Things such as staying in his seat, not talking in the halls, not playing in the bathroom, those are things he’s struggled with all year. Apparently he has decided now that he’s just not even going to try. Thus, the grounding.

What does his grounding entail? Well, let’s see he’s been grounded from TV for the past two weeks. Grounded from playing outside most of last week. Grounded from the Game Boy for a week. Having to clean their room by himself. Has to help do laundry (as in wash, fold, and put away clothes with me). And finally, being grounded to his room, with only 2 toys, coloring supplies, and books, since last Wednesday.

Being grounded sucks.

Sunday Scrapbooking (5/22)

2011-05-22T08:27:00.001-05:00

I’ve got SEVEN pages I could share this week. But, I don’t think I will share all seven, maybe just four or five. I’ll link the rest of them at the bottom so, if you want to, you can see them also.

Before I share my pages this week I have some sad news (dealing with scrapbooking) to share. I decided that it was time for me to step down from the Shabby Princess Pre-Team. It wasn’t an easy decision at all, I love working with SP and the other ladies on the team. But after a year I felt I was ready to try my hand at applying to other teams again. I actually started missing the energy and pace needed to keep up with multiple designers at once. SP was lovely about all of it, and as I told her, she is hands-down the nicest designer I’ve worked with.

Now… this week’s pages!

made with this week's Product Spotlight on the Shabby Shoppe blog, CLEMENTINE

made with Kristen Cronin-Barrow's Here Comes Trouble (lift – loose copy – of my friend Kellie’s layout Stay Little)

made with Gina Marie Huff's Every{DAY} Life the Kit

made with Sahlin Studio's This Moment elements, and Grunge and Valorie Wibbens So I Never Forget Page Protectors

The other pages from this week are 32 Songs, My Belly Pie, and So Beautiful.

Saturday Snapshots (5/21)

2011-05-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

Can’t you tell he’s so impressed by his uncle’s high school graduation ceremony?
lol

Despite what my mom always said…

2011-05-17T08:34:00.001-05:00

A neat bed does not make for a neat room.

Sad part, that’s actually pretty clean for their room.

See, it’s gotten to the point where I refuse to clean up the boys’ room. They’re big enough to do it themselves. They spent all of last Thursday cleaning their room (as they do every Thursday or they can’t do sleepovers on the weekend) and then since Ryan was grounded Friday I made him clean it up some more by himself. They both did sleepover last weekend, but came home a few hours on Saturday while my parents went out somewhere and in those few hours they destroyed their room again.

Yesterday I washed their bedding and remade their beds, thinking, hey even if the room is slightly on the messy side, having neat beds will make it look a little better. Or at least that’s what my mom always told us growing up.

Yeah… it still looks messy.

Sunday Scrapbooking (5/15)

2011-05-15T06:18:00.000-05:00

Got four pages to share this week! And surprisingly pages for the boys outnumber the pages for Ms. Pudding.

First up is a page for my girl from when we were gardening Monday.

made with Jenn Barrette's Grow Something Good

Next up are all pages on the boys, and all from a set of pictures I took Tuesday.

made with Lauren Grier's Not What I Expected, Darcy Baldwin's Story Telling Accents, and Jenn Barrette's Journal Bling

made using Shawna Clingerman's Carefree and Traci Reed's Slip-Ins Vol. 2

made with Jenn Barrette's Boyish Charm, Grow Something Good, Adventures in My Backyard and Traci Reed's Slip-Ins (bubble wand, bubbles, and chalk from Shawna Clingerman's Carefree) This page is actually a lift (loose copy) of my friend Kellie's layout Slip and Slide

Saturday Snapshots (5/14)

2011-05-14T10:38:00.001-05:00

Today we…

2011-05-10T23:45:00.001-05:00

Drew with chalk.

Threw a fit.

Went to the park.

Played in the tunnels.

Learned to climb up to the slide alone.

Got stuck on the slide because we went to high up.

Played with a bubble wand.

And chased said bubbles.

Jumped off things we shouldn’t.

Drew with some more chalk.

Raced in the backyard.

Swung too high on the swings while standing on the swing.

And we did other important non-fun stuff too.

OK… I lied. We didn’t.
But I did cook dinner.

Mother’s Day, Surprises, Shots, and Flooding

2011-05-10T08:43:00.001-05:00

(The title isn’t in order. lol It just sounds better that way.)

I hate surprises.

Because of that, when John called me Friday and told me that all three kiddos would be doing sleepover – whether they wanted to or not – at my mom’s I was on the suspicious side. John doesn’t make plans for the kids to do sleepover; he makes plans for the kids not to do sleepover. I tried calling my mom to find out what was up and she had no clue.

Saturday John woke me up at 8 am. He said we needed to get up eat, and get ready for an early day. I’ve mentioned this several times before, but I doubt anyone appreciates the depths of what I’m about to say. I. Am. NOT. A. Morning. Person. Expecting me to get up and do anything is, well, stupid. lol Despite what John and my mom kept telling me about cheering up, that I was in for a surprise, I remained in a bad mood. I kept that bad mood up when the first part of the plan got cancelled due to rain, then in a worse mood when I first spent an hour in Taco Bell then an hour in Walgreen’s as John tried to kill time.

We eventually arrived downtown and that is when John sprang his surprise. For Mother’s Day he got us tickets to go see Spamalot. (He knows I’ve wanted to see it since it came out) I felt so bad for being angry at him a good chunk of the day, especially since I know there is no way in hell he would have ever gone to see it just because he wanted to.

We figured while we were downtown we might as well go see history as it’s happening. We walked over to the walking bridge thingy that runs next to Riverside to see the Mississippi flooding. It was just astounding seeing it then, even though – hello – I live here, but the fact that it’s even higher now after just a few rain-free days blows my mind.

I’m far enough from rivers (which is not that far lol) that the main thing I see near my house is flooded crops, but even so this picture was about a 10 minute drive from my house. (It’s supposed to be a cotton field)

Told you I was getting a lot of rain.

We did Mother’s Day at my mom’s. We cooked out, had lots of dessert (seriously, my mom made strawberry shortcake AND banana pudding just for our family, her and my step-dad, and my two younger siblings), and just hung out. I got some pictures of the three kiddos together while we were there.

And lastly… Monday.

My poor boy had to go and get his last shot before his kindergarten registration could be completed.

I think it’s so silly that I have to go and register him at a school he already goes to, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. I’m not worried about him getting in since they do the kindergarten test every 9 weeks as their 9 week testing. (To see how much they’ve learned each quarter) And technically Ryan has had passing grades on it since the first test. Last time he took it he only missed one thing, recognizing the lower-case letter m.

He was sooo big during his shot. He didn’t even whimper, though he did give the nurse a glare that should have evaporated her to dust when she stuck him with the needle. She made up for it by giving him a band-aid covered in piranhas and a new red toothbrush. He is very happy to know that he isn’t due anymore shots for the next 6 – 7 years.

Sunday Scrapbooking (5/8)

2011-05-08T12:44:00.001-05:00

Just got one for you this week. Sorry. lol It’s been a busy and uncreative week for me.

Well… actually that’s a slight lie. I got two done this week, I’m just not going to be able to show you the other one for a nice good while.

made with Valorie Wibbens and Jacque Larsen's Happily Ever After collab; alphas all by Shawna Clingerman
journaling font - Darcy Baldwin's DJB Boy V Girl
(This page was also featured on The Gallery Standouts Blog. “Finger Pointing: May 4”)

Come back by tomorrow for some pictures and stories about Mother’s Day.

Saturday Snapshots (5/7)

2011-05-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

(taken with my phone during today’s picnic on his class’ field trip)

An early Mother’s Day note.

2011-05-05T08:34:00.001-05:00

I found this sitting on my desk this morning after taking the boys to school, and despite the occasional poor spelling, it just melts my heart.

(“My mom makes my frafret (favorite) food. I llike (like) my mom becus she is nis (nice). My mom helps me weth (with) my homewrke (homework). I love my mom.
from Zac
to mom”)

A big girl “bed”

2011-05-04T11:00:00.001-05:00

After one unsuccessful attempt at getting Belly out of a crib in January we hadn’t tried again. I say unsuccessful because after listening to her cry for just a little while John vetoed the idea saying she obviously wasn’t ready and we’d try again after she was 2. My mother is giving us my little sister’s beautiful old bed, but we need to get it soon since they don’t really have room to store an extra bed somewhere. So I’ve been preparing Belly’s room for the removal of her crib and old dresser (she’s getting one from my parents also) and getting it cleaned and organized for a child who will now be able to get out of her bed whenever she wants.

I finally finished yesterday before naptime so to prepare Belly for the new bed I went ahead and took the side off her crib. (it converts to a toddler bed) She did really good with it during nap yesterday. No screaming or crying, and she even took a nap in it (albeit a very short one). With confidence I went ahead and kept the side off at bedtime also… seeing as how John didn’t know it was off, and would be busy at a Cub Scouts meeting with Zach when the time would come to put Belly to bed. She did… OK. She wouldn’t stay in bed, and kept getting down and playing. Right about the time it came for me to put Ryan to bed (about 20 minutes before John and Zach were due home) Belly started the screaming and crying. I put Ryan to bed then went in with Belly to calm her and try to get her back in bed. Yeah… nothing I tried worked. I got her calmed down, but she refused to lay down on the bed. I could get her to sit and cuddle with me on it, but even when she started dozing the minute I would lay her on the bed she started screaming. I was going a little crazy, and to make matters worse, John was due home any minute and if he heard her screaming he would postpone the switch again.

Finally I remember something from when Zach was switching from a crib to a bed. Zach spent that first month sleeping on the floor next to his bed, because he also screamed and cried at the idea of sleeping on it. I pulled out Belly’s sleeping bag, laid it on the floor right next to her bed, put her pig and favorite baby on it, along with her pillow and favorite blanket. And she laid right down on it. I laid next to her and then when John got home (after giving me a “Oh my gosh… really?!” look) laid down with us. We both stayed with her for 15 minutes then John got up and told her it was time for her to go night-night. I stayed with her for another 15 minutes hoping she would go to sleep. I kept pretending I was asleep to try get her to understand it was time for her to sleep. Unfortunately once she decided I was asleep she got up and started playing quietly. I walked over kissed her goodnight and left her room. But… she didn’t scream or cry.

Around 10 we finally stopped hearing her playing and so we peeked in… and she was laying on her sleeping bag, finally, asleep. I started to take a picture, but John told me not to push my luck with the flash.

I did get a picture of her this morning though when I went to get her up.

Here’s to hoping that tonight goes semi-well also.

A 6 Year Old and a 5 Year Old’s Views on Genetics

2011-05-03T15:06:00.001-05:00

A conversation between Zach, Ryan, and I on the way home from school.

Z “Mom, today I learned that I’m made of parts of everyone in my family.”

me “Really? Did you learn what it was called?”

Z “Um gen-something. But you know what it is, right?”

me “Genetics.”

Z “Yeah! My teacher said we’re made up from parts of our family we live with. Like you and Daddy and Ryan and Bella.”

R “What about Scarlet? She lives with us.”

Z “Nooo. Scarlet’s a dog. People aren’t made from dogs.”

R “Well, I want to be made out of part of Scarlet, not you.”

me “Technically, you are only made out of pieces of…”

Z “Ryan, you don’t get to pick who you’re made of!”

R “Uh-huh and I pick not to be made out of you!”

Z “No! You can’t do that! We both have brown eyes like Daddy so we’re made out of him.”

R “No! I have different brown eyes! Not your brown eyes!”

Z “And I have red hair like Mommy so I’m made out of her.”

R “Wait.. what about me? How am I made out of Mommy?”

(see Zach look over at Ryan)

Z “Huh, you don’t have red hair so I guess you’re not made out of her.”

R “MOMMY!! Zach said I’m not made out of you!”

Drip, drop. Jump, stomp.

2011-05-02T09:47:00.001-05:00

Rain, rain, rain.

You just gotta love the spring here, it’s either fluctuating between being in the 50s to mid-80s, or it’s raining. And it rains a lot. Technically we still have another month to go and there’s flooding already. Not to mention the tornado warnings and watches. Oh my gosh…. it feels like I spend at least 6 out of every 7 days under not just a tornado watch but also a warning. I think I should just record the city’s sirens and play them constantly all day in hopes of desensitizing myself to them so that they hopefully quit giving me raging headaches every time they go off. (Cause a raging headache is just what you need under stressful situations)

Potentially dangerous weather aside, my grass is getting sooo tall. In the past 3 weeks it hasn’t stopped raining long enough for our yard to dry out so we can cut the grass. My backyard is getting scary tall. Who knows, give it another week and I should be able to lose Belly and Scarlet in it.

Speaking of Belly….
I would love to tell you a story about my daughter’s contrariness. Miss Belly has decided she hates hates hates baths and showers. She stands rigidly and screams “GET OUT NOW!” at the top of her lungs the whole time. Try to put her out in the backyard with the sprinkler she stands where it barely reaches her then starts screaming if she gets too wet. HOWEVER… my daughter absolutely loves playing in the rain. Light rain to huge storms; she loves being out in it. She’ll stand at the backdoor begging to go out in it.

Yesterday after the latest of our many tornado warnings finished I let her go out to play in the light rain and puddles. She had so much fun splashing and jumping and stomping in the puddles. We had some spots that were 4 – 6 inches deep, so the puddles and mud were plentiful. We were out there for like 45 minutes when she decided to pick some slugs up and bring them to me. (Not a shocking thing for her to do since she loves to hunt for and bring me worms) Unlike with worms, this mommy will start going “Ewww! Gross!! Put those down!!!” to slugs. And instead of putting them down, my lovely daughter looked up at me smiled, then proceeded to rub the slugs into her hair and laugh her head off. (ewww…) I had to bribe the girl with chocolate to get her back in the house so I could wash her hair.

And no… I was too busy being grossed out by the slugs to take any pictures of them. lol But I did get a bunch of her splashing in the puddles. Here’s my favorite.

Sunday Scrapbooking (5/1)

2011-05-01T11:00:00.001-05:00

Wow!!! Can you believe that today officially kicks off MAY?? This year is just whooshing by.

Well, onto this week’s pages, which are very few. lol I was kinda busy with other things this week.

made with Jenn Barrette and ScrapKitchen Designs' Shabby Sweetheart

made with Jenn Barrette's Adventures in My Backyard

Saturday Snapshots (4/30)

2011-04-30T10:41:00.001-05:00

A before and after addition!

I’m working on the decorations for Belly’s room. Not sure if I’ve ever shared pictures of her room, but it is bright bright crayon green and yellow. Nothing matches it. lol Well, Ryan’s Sesame Street bedding does, and, truth be told, the room was painted for him originally. This gives us the problem of the fact that no girl room stuff matches it, so for a lot of the decorations we plan to just repaint them white. For example, her big girl bed is a twin sized gorgeous antique white iron bed we’re getting from my mom, and we’re basing the rest of her decorations off of that. Our goal is girly-elegant. Not froufrou, but elegant, kinda Victorian. Oh… and pigs. lol My baby loves pigs, so my mother (who also loves pigs) gave us her calendar from last year to use in the decorating. It’s full of nothing but black and white pig photos. These are going to be a big chunk of the decorations. We plan to buy a ton of mismatched frames (preferably cheap and or ugly colored ones) then spray paint them white, then put a sparkly gloss top coat on them. That way even though they’ll be all different shapes and sizes, the color and sparkle is the same, and the theme of the pictures are the same. We also plan to get some wooden letters and decorate those the same, and we got her some hooks that I painted yesterday also. I started working on them yesterday, and I’m not too thrilled with the actual frames (I only had $20 and had to pick up the spray paints also so it didn’t leave me much for frames), but I do love the overall effect.

Now, finally the snapshots! (Before, after, and close up of one of the photos)

A week of Facebook

2011-04-28T23:05:00.001-05:00

So usually when I don’t post a ton during the week I give you a long update going in epic details, but… I’ll be busy cleaning tomorrow (as I’ve been saying for the past two months BUT have to get done) because I have to get Belly’s room cleaned out and ready to move her new room stuff in. lol This be what I’ll do instead, I’ll sum my week up in Facebook updates.

so I'm watching Eclipse... and yeah, so far it's just as stupid as I remembered.
Know what sucks? When I go to lay half asleep Belly down for her nap and she starts crying in the most pitiful way saying "No night night. Daddy." over and over.
It's OK body; I completely and unequivocally hate you too.
Crap. I just realized not only did I not send Zach's spring break journal with him to school, we forgot to do the stupid thing.
I hope if I get hit by a tornado that my house lands on a witch. If it doesn't I will be epically disappointed.
Head... today I hate you.
Grabbing a quick lunch then heading to the grocery store. Apparently waiting for a break in the rain is pointless.
Stupid Spring Break journal. Stupid. I want to see his teacher turn in a journal about her spring break.
So after our shower Belly did a ton of pee in the toilet... then while helping her wipe... I accidentally dropped my glasses in the toilet.

For the record, the stupid Spring Break Journal did get done, and the glasses are now cleaned and sanitized.