"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." - On Running after Ones Own Hat-All Things Considered-G.K. Chesterton
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
I am doing something I would have never guessed I would ever do in a million years. All for the love of my little Daisies(have I mentioned that I am the leader of a Girl Scout Daisy troop?).
I built a vermicomposter. And what is that you ask? Basically, you keep a bunch of worms in a bucket and feed them your compost, then after a while you collect their poop to use as fertilizer. OCD and red worms are so not a pleasant combination. Thankfully splitcat has no squeamishness with worms. I did manage to feed them last night. But I will confess to several shudders of horror at the grossness of a clump of worms.
The twins continue to wear me out. They are currently enjoying our Friday Munchkins(donut holes) and Scooby-Doo.
That is all.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
"Under the table and dreaming"
He was trying to poop(he must be a little stopped up, he does this thing where he bends over as far as possible to help things along--he's done this since he was a baby).
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Gullible is under "J" in the dictionary
A few weeks ago, just as I was getting everyone settled in after school, I hear a blood-curdling scream, then heart breaking sobbing. Thinking he had fallen down the stairs or lost a limb or something, I ran to see what was the matter. I wish I knew exactly what he said, but he was crying so hard all I could make out was that he somehow managed to get pee on his arm, so now he was going to die. It was hard not to laugh. He really thought he was going to die. I explained that if he was lost in the desert with no water that he could actually drink it, so he would not die because it touched his arm. He was very quickly reassured. So my hope is that his aim will now improve and he will quit dousing the bathroom floor.
Sunday, we had a good time messing with him. After lunch, he said, "I have a question." My reply was "I only answer questions between 2 and 5pm." I was in another room at the time, so when I walked back in the kitchen, splitcat informed me that P had gotten out of his seat to check the clock in the kitchen and since it was only 1:45 he went and sat back in his seat to wait.
The best though, was when he asked about St. Valentine for Valentine's day. It was around 5:15pm when he asked. So splitcat told him that St. Valentine would be at our house at 5:30pm. P wondered how he would get in. So we told him that he came in through the toilet. We encouraged everyone to use the bathroom before 5:30 rolled around, because that would just be awkward. Then I told them that they would each be given a toilet scrubber, and they had to go scrub all the toilets really quick, because he came out of whichever toilet was the cleanest and if he was pleased with how clean it was, you got an extra surprise. P and E both fell for it. We had a good chuckle over it.
Now for some sweet twins stories.
This weekend all three boys were roughhousing and W got over excited and bit P. He was sent to his room to contemplate his behavior, and for him, was surprisingly docile about it. He usually lasts about 5 seconds in time out. When at last he emerged he went straight to P and said, "I'm sorry" and gave him a hug. No one had told him to apologize, and getting a coherent sentence out of him is usuallly an exercise in frustration. So it was very sweet to see that he does understand what apologizing is about. Even P was surprised and was very sweet about it.
Today as we were getting out of the car after school, I took a load of stuff into the house then went out to get the twins. They like to talk to the neighbors dog while they wait for me to unbuckle them, so I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, but right as I went to get M out of his seat he was going, "Go away, go away, get out of here." Then he noticed me and smiled and said, "I wasn't talking to you Momma, I was talking to the puppy." His language skills have seriously blossomed lately. As we were walking in the house he remarked on how "breezy" it was outside.
On Saturday, when we ventured out into the snow I asked him if he liked the snow. His response was, "Oh yes, it's very beautiful."
Speaking of snow. I think this is one of the best snows we have had in a long time. Here are some pics.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
First-from September, this is the sort of mischief my boys like to make. My entire bathroom(which is pretty small) was covered in water.
Why sleep in your bed when there is a perfectly good hallway to sleep in? These days they are sleeping in the living room. Their room gets really cold at night and Baby M gets scared if the door is closed. We've had to start locking our door at night because Baby W sneaks into our bed in the middle of the night, on my side, and gradually takes over. It makes for a very uncomfortable night of sleep. M has been waking up every night between 2 and 4 for the past few weeks. I'm not getting enough sleep. I've never figured out why he won't go back to sleep when he wakes up. W just settles right back down and to sleep when he wakes up.
Friday, February 05, 2010
One of my biggest obstacles of late are the little dudes. They have learned to open the gate at the top of the stairs and follow me where they are not allowed. They keep sneaking down and destroying their older brother's Lego projects, which gets me in trouble. So they are currently in time out in their room. Hopefully they aren't destroying too much. They have become extremely destructive lately. All of my walls have now been written on.
Another thing distracting me is the Playstation 3 we purchased just before Christmas. I bought Splitcat Fallout 3, and we are both pretty addicted. I keep telling myself I am going to quit, but it hasn't happened yet. It didn't help that we now have a much nicer television to play on, and its all in my bedroom. If I sit too close I get motion sickness. It's beautiful.
Netflix. Why did we wait so long? Now we just need to hook up the wireless modem so we can stream straight through our PS3 into our room. I should be receiving the original Muppet Movie today.
Crafting. Instead of posting more pics here, please feel free to visit my Flickr page(bookmarked on the right). I have been participating in swaps on Craftster. It was fun, but I am taking a break.
Working. I have gone from 3-4 babies to 6-8 babies seemingly overnight. Several of the new babies have never been left before, so they cry alot. Yesterday my shoe was christened with baby puke. Thankfully, I wasn't wearing my Converse.
I have a new habit of photographing my shoes. I'm not sure why. But it's fun.
I also finally learned how to download actions in Photoshop Elements, so that is fun. Here is the first one I did.
I've been exploring photography at bit more lately. I am enjoying it. (again, feel free to peruse my Flickr page, I update it a little more than I do here)
Lastly, I was inspired by one of my swaps to do retelling of a classic fairy tale. Perhaps I will share more on that later. Splitcat and I had fun working out the plot one night over milkshakes at Steak-n-Shake.
I guess that is all for now. Peace.
I almost forgot, the boy turned NINE!! How in the world did he get so old? There was much cake and Lego. His nice uncle gave him his old PS2 since ours was dead and splitcat and I took over the PS3. So now he can play all his old games again. That made him quite happy. He's a lovely boy. He has a delightfully odd sense of humor, he's really cute, and everything I always hoped for in a son. Although I still miss the days when he was a baby, I really enjoy getting to know him as his own person. He is still young enough to think it's okay to tell your mom that you love her. I secretly hope he never thinks otherwise.
I'd better go let the hoodlums out. Seriously, they are making me crazy. Just another year and a half until they start school. Of course, then I have to keep up with 4 sets of homework and four kids whining about not wanting to go to school. I guess every age has its challenges. But I am not sure they can get worse than the age of 3. I'll post something happy about them soon. They are really cute and now that they talk, they are pretty funny. Their latest favorite movie to watch is the new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Baby M dances along with the Oompa Loompas.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
The Advent Season
We try to keep it very simple, most nights the kids get a small piece of candy or toy. I knew it was an important part of my children's lives when P. told me he was making an advent list. He wanted some new Heroscape figures. That is exactly what he has been getting. The girl is a little more difficult to buy for. She loses small things or they end up in the babies mouths. She got a golden dollar last night and a Indiana Jones Lego mini-fig tonight(the one that is a girl). The twins just get a piece of candy. It has been really nice to spend a few minutes all together every night thinking of the birth of our Savior. P. seems to understand a lot more this year, even in the excitement of getting a present every night.
On Sunday night we had a tree decorating party and a pre-Advent reading to prepare us for the first night. I was touched by the reading and prayer that splitcat gave. Then I found out he wrote it, so I received permission to post it here. I hope you like it.
Bible Reading: John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginnning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
Most Gracious Father and Bringer of Peace, we ask for humble spirits as we prepare for this season of remembrance of your gift to us, Your only Son.
We pray that we will not be distracted by earthly gifts, but will continually give "glory to God in the highest" for the Saviour who was born for us on Christmas Day.
We ask that this Christmas tree will be a reminder of your unbounding love for us and that
-the green of the limbs will be a reminder of the evergreen life that you bring into our watered hearts.
-the beautiful ornaments will remind us of the daily wonders and blessings that you grant us everyday.
-the angel at the top of the tree will serve to remind us that you forever watch over us.
-the wood of the trunk will remind us of the wood of the manger in which the baby Jesus lay and the wood of the cross on which He hung for us.
--the lights will remind us that in Christ is life and that life is the light of man, your light shines in the darkness, and that it was the Word of God that spoke the light itself into the world: "Let there be light." (Oldest child lit the Christmas tree at these words).
Monday, November 02, 2009
I just discovered something sort of fun. Last week when I was looking at my flickr stats, I found that someone had used one of my embroidery pics as a sample on their website. Since the pic linked directly to my flickr account, I did not mind. I thought it kind of cool. That was one of my favorite designs from my summer tea towel swap.
Tonight I was looking at the blog for the Embroidery pool I belong to and found myself quoted Here. I thought that was kind of fun.
My embroidery skills have vastly improved. Did I ever show you my new shoe? I've only finished one so far.
In other news. Splitcat and I took a very needed weekend away to Highlands, NC.
We saw lots of waterfalls. It was really beautiful.
I am busy getting rid of stuff. I have 4 bags waiting to go to the thrift store. I have already dropped off two garbage bags full and a box. I gave away 2 full bags to different people. And that is just in a few days worth of cleaning out. I have 3 big totes to go to my parents for storage. And I have swapped out summer clothes for fall/winter. And caught up on the laundry. Now the trick will be to stay caught up.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Apologies
Mostly, I realized there are almost no year two photos on our flickr accounts and didn't want to bother with uploading them.
So let's forge ahead to year 3. Very recently, in fact.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Twins Turn Three
32 Weeks---Can you believe I went 5 weeks past this. Man, I was huge!
Mom and Baby A
Boys in hospital
Crying
So small
A bit bigger
First Christmas
First Christmas
6 months
The Beach--right around their first birthday
First Birthday
So there is year one in a nutshell. Tomorrow, Year 2.
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Pox-redux
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
I asked him to cut the back a little too short so it would take longer to grow in. It will be exactly how I like it in about a week.
So. Anyway. How's it going out there? I wish I had something more entertaining to blog about than my hair. I could start one of those blogs where you put a picture of your daily outfits. Because I dress so well.
I could blog about potty training, but then I'd have to think about potty training. Which I am not a big fan of.
The twins will be 3 soon. That will be a good thing to post about in a couple of weeks when it is actually their birthday.
I could blog about how I am now obsessively hoarding coupons and scouring sales ads for deals since I now have to actually follow a budget. Doing good so far. Saving money. Lost a few pounds from not eating out every day. So that's good. I got free toothpaste the other day. It was on sale for $1 and I had a $.50 coupon that was doubled. Free is always good.
That pretty much uses up all my ideas. so. bye.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Singing Saturday
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
ALICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's the trailer for the New Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton
Thanks Hanna for the link.
I have to say I don't care if he mucked about with the story. It's Tim Burton. And Johnny Depp(though I don't really expect anything new from him). And Helena Bonham Carter. And spats. Alice is wearing spats. I have been planning on making some, now I must before everyone else. Totally geeking out.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Singing Saturday
Saturday, June 27, 2009
P goes wild
He gets his moves from his dad. And I was afraid he'd just stand there doing nothing. This was taken with a camera, not a video camera, but I think you'll be able to see which one is mine.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Birthday
The kids are at VBS all week, so I had a nice quiet morning to myself. I got to take a shower and no one knocked on the door or walked in. then I had a lovely nap.
My children wanted to give me a party so splitcat grilled me some steak and potatoes, I embroidered, and the kids played in the sprinkler. (see splitcat's flickr for photos. I'm too lazy and tired to upload them right now.) Then we had cake. The babies love cake now. So it was a good day.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Miscellaneous Miscellany
Friday night I attended The Fray concert at chastain. I had a lovely time. The opening band was called Jack's mannequin, they were also quite good. The only downside to the show was that it poured. Like, at some points it was raining so hard I couldn't keep my eyes open. My wallet, which was inside a bag, wrapped in a towel, was still wet on the inside on Sunday. It took until tuesday for my shoes to dry out. There was also a beautiful lightning show. Sure, sitting in a big stadium in a thunderstorm is not the brightest of ideas, but I didn't want to go home. I'm glad I stayed.
Saturday I got to go to the birthday bash at my local Bare escentuals store. I've been wearing their basic makeup for a couple of years, so I wanted to expand. I had my makeup done and got some free samples. It was fun. Then saturday night we went to my niece's birthday party. The babies behaved tolerably well.
Sunday was my day in the nursery at the church where I work. I am working every other Sunday for a while. I get paid. After last sunday I am not sure I get paid enough. There were 4 workers and 10 babies and we had to have help. They all screamed and cried the whole 2nd service. I think we ended up calling 5 moms to get their babies. We never do that. It was bad. Sunday night we had cake and ice cream for my sister's birthday.
Isn't my life exciting?
Also, an update on the ants in my car. They apparently loved my car. Even after I cleaned it out somewhat. Last week I went to get my diaper bag out of the car and it was full of ants. Then when I went to get M out of his carseat I glanced down and saw hundreds, if not thousands, of ants. They had laid eggs in my van. It was so gross. So I spent two hours in the heat and humidity vaccuuming my car. Thankfully all of the rear seats come out.
The humidity has struck. I hate humidity. The only good thing is that some of our drought restrictions have been lifted, so my kids can play in the sprinkler 3 days a week.
I guess that is all for now. I need to go finish my next embroidery for my craftster swap.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Summertime
I can't totally blame them for the Post Office Fiasco.
I am doing a swap on craftster that requires me to mail out something approximately once a week. I didn't make it the day I was supposed to go because there was a thunderstorm. So I decided we'd best go after breakfast the next day. It wasn't raining, snowing, sleeting, or anything. I tell the older kids first thing that we have to go to the post office sometime after breakfast. This is not met with much applause since it would cause P to miss some of his precious videogaming time. So as it rolls around to 9 I tell everyone to go get in the car.
Here's where it gets ugly.
There were (gasp, shriek, scream) ANTS in the car. This happens every spring after it rains for several days. We live on what is probably the largest anthill in the world. But they are not fire ants. They are just those little teeny tiny ants that like to eat sugar(there is plenty for them to eat in my van). This is not the first time my children have seen ants, and really, there weren't that many. But for some reason, P is "really creeped out" by bugs lately. So it's 9 in the morning and my oldest child is standing in the middle of the yard shrieking while I get the babies buckled in. After some time I convince him to get in the car. He's not happy about it, but he does it. Now it's the girls turn. But instead of shrieking in the yard she stands in the middle of the van sobbing. Which freaks Baby M out, so he starts crying. P, who has seen the light by this point helps me convince her to sit down so we can get there instead of having to sit in the antridden car while she cries. No one's happy, but at least we are finally driving down the road--I'm laughing hysterically, because otherwise I'd be crying. In the back of the van I can hear them talking about the general unpleasantness of the situation. Then in a very matter of fact tone, P says "This is why I don't travel."
Meanwhile, my entire extended family is on vacation, in Orlando(they are going to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens). I am wondering if I will get a vacation this year. splitcat is taking the student govt kids on a retreat to Blue Ridge where they will go rafting down the Ocoee. It's not exactly a vacation. but it's mountains, and i am not chaperoning. i need more mountains in my life.
The twins will be 3 in August. I will be 34 soon. very soon. How can they be 3 already?
okay, enough with my rambling. I'm going to bed.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mother's Day-updated
Okay, so I actually had a fun-filled weekend of festivities.
On Saturday, I went to Mittie's Tea Room with my mother, grandmother, my sister and her 2 girls, and my girl(plus 3 American Girl Dolls). We didn't actually have "tea," but Mittie's makes some of the best chicken salad ever. We had a lovely time. Since my mom called ahead to let them know we were coming, we had a little sun porch all to ourselves. It was very nice.
All Dressed up and Someplace to Go
Saturday night we dropped the kids of at a Parent's night out at the church where I work. The high school kids were trying to raise money for camp. So splitcat and I went to Five Guys where I had a hot dog and fries. We sat outside and enjoyed the cool spring breeze and the 80's music coming in over the radio. Then we went to Brandsmart and wandered around. We picked the kids up early because it was already way past their bedtime. Thankfully they had a great time.
Sunday, I took the kids to church while splitcat went on a run with his brother. Then home to try to nap. Then to the in-laws for more Mother's day celebrating. A good time was had by all.
So it was a very busy weekend. I also have a busy week ahead with projects due for P and a costume to make for E. I'll be glad when school is over.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Yes, I am a mean mom. Actually, they found some of the girls ponytail holders and asked me to put them in their hair. They have one at the back, too.
Here is the hailstorm we had a couple of weeks ago. I was picking up the girl at ballet when it started. This was the worst hail we have ever had. There ended up being a little more than this.
That is all.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
A new way to sleep and other miscellany
I ran downstairs and told splitcat to get his camera. We all trooped in and out and they just kept sleeping. When we finally woke them up M's first words were "knees hurt." It's probably a good thing I went in there. His knees were completely locked.
We had a lovely Easter weekend. Two family get togethers with lots of egg finding fun.
Today I went to the Big Shanty Festival in downtown Kennesaw. They had a civil war renactment going on, so there were random cannon shots. Cannons are loud. It reminded me of when I lived in New Jersey and the National Guard would have a tank in the 4th of July parade that would shoot blanks. Anyway. I was interested in seeing what people were selling in the arts/crafts part of the festival. Lots of dog leashes, handmade baby things, semi-precious wire-wrapped jewelry, pottery, and a little bit of actual art. I bought a print for P. with a space theme which was met with not much enthusiasm, but it is a signed and numbered print, so maybe one day he will appreciate it. The girl went with me(and her grandma J met us) and she got to have her face painted and hair done(I'll try to remember to put up a pic when it gets loaded on the pc). I found something cool for my mom for mother's day. But I'll probably give it to her on Monday because I can't wait. My m-i-l bought me a really pretty pottery bowl(but I won't get it til Mother's day because, unlike me, she can wait to give people their presents). It was not very expensive because it was a student piece from the parks and recreation class.
On Wednesday of this week, my brakes went out. Thankfully, I was in my neighborhood, driving very slowly because something didn't seem right when I backed out of my driveway. It is a strange thing to have no brakes.
Splitcat has taken up running. Today he ran in his second 5k. He improved his race time by 2 minutes.
My boss decided to have an 8 week summer session at the mmo. The mothers were practically giddy with glee. I think I will be working. Most of my babies are planning on coming. I am getting a new baby on Monday who is only 8 weeks old. It will be nice to have a newborn again.
Did I ever mention that we rearranged all the kids bedrooms over spring break? P and E now have their own rooms and the twins are in the bigger bedroom. They have much more room to play. I removed the sides from their cribs(as you can see in the above pics). I think they are finally actually sleeping in their beds, or at least W does. The first couple of weeks they would sleep on the floor. M liked to sleep behind the door. It reminded me of how P used to sleep behind the door when he was little. We finally settled into a night time routine with the twins, and that has helped them at bedtime. It was pretty awful there for a while. But now we have a very involved routine that requires hugs from each member of the family, two stories-each has to be read by both parents, being rocked and sung to, then hugs, then crying and wanting more hugs. M is the best at attempting new delaying tactics. I keep waiting for him to ask for a glass of water.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Monday, March 09, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Singing Saturday on a Monday
I heard this song for the first time this weekend at the retreat I was serving on. It sort of became an unofficial theme song for some. It was written and sung originally by John Mark McMillan. Watch here for the story behind the song. Here is a link to the lyrics. (I've been listening to more of his music and I really like it)
Truly there is nothing greater than the Revelation of His passion and love for us. His love is devastating, and like she says at the end, If you have encountered the Father's love, you will never be the same.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Last week


