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.

Birthday

Today was my birthday. I am now 34. woohoo?

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.

Miscellaneous Miscellany

Had a busy weekend last weekend.

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.

Summertime

Even though it's not officially summer by the calendar, summer is nonetheless here. Everyone is out of school, but I start back at the mmo tomorrow. After a week home with everyone, I am glad I have a job. I love my children immensely. But.... When a simple trip to the post office that is only about 3 miles away takes way longer than it should, the mere thought of taking them all to the park or somewhere, anywhere, is not so fun.

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.

Mother's Day-updated

My husband is outdoing himself this year in the present department. First, diamonds for christmas, now, the only other thing I wanted--A new Serger!! Here it is. It has lots of positive reviews at Amazon and other places. I've got to go, but wanted to spread the good news :)

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.

Since my life is pretty boring here are some pictures to keep you entertained








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.

A new way to sleep and other miscellany

When I went to get the babies up from their nap on Easter Sunday this is what I found.






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.

Bubbles

My friend Dana sent me this video on Facebook, and I had to share. If you don't have chik-fil-a where you live, this song sums up how many of us feel about it. I can't tell you how many times I've craved it on a Sunday(it is closed so the workers can go to church).

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.

Last week

This is what I saw when I went to get the twins up. I knew Baby W(the curly one) had gotten out of his bed because I heard him at the door. I thought they were fighting through the crib bars. But no, he had climbed in his brother's crib to try and take his toy(a little toy electric piano).

After I took the last picture I saw something strange in the viewfinder. What's that on the wall? Why, it's red crayon. And yellow crayon. Little stinker W had put crayons in his pockets. And decorated his wall. He can't help himself. When he gets any sort of writing utensil he must write on the wall.

Fun times

WooHoo

Guess What?!?

My Converse made it to Craftster's Top Picks of 2008 in the Shoe category!!!!!!

Some small changes

I just wanted to alert everyone to the changes on my sidebar. You can now easily access my other blogs..and see if it's been updated since the last time you checked it. Also, the blogs I read links are updated as people post. I like this new feature on blogger.

Here's a view of the sky when I went to the bus stop today. I am going to try to take the camera(not splitcat's new one, the old one) with me when I walk to the bus and see what I can see.



It's been a very weird weather day here. It would pour rain for about 30 minutes, then the sun would shine very brightly, then rain, the rain and sunshine at the same time. It was almost 70 degrees yesterday, today the wind is howling around my house and it feels in the 40's-50's, it may be warmer without the wind. These clouds were going by really fast.

One Resolution Down

Well, I've fulfilled one of my resolutions. Unfortunately it's not the clean house or the dishes. However, I have learned something new. Inspired by this post at Hanna's Life is Cool, I went armed with coupon to Hobby Lobby and spent my Christmas money on a quilling kit. I have always wanted to try quilling, just never have gotten around to it. So here's what I've done so far:

These cards are all from the starter kit
















This is my first attempt at design. It's supposed to be an "H" It's not glued down, so it's a little wonky. Plus, Baby M destroyed the right half of it after I finished this photo. The colors are all off, too. It is off-white, pink, a melony pink, and red. Quilling is very difficult to photograph in my dungeon, um, I mean living room(It's in the basement with very poor lighting)



This is supposed to be an "O," but it looks more like a backwards "Q." The scale is also wrong to go with the H(my goal is to spell HOPE), but I like the overall look of it. It's actually orange and yellow.


An attempt at quilled jewelry. This is actually black and white.


So, I've accomplished one thing on my list.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to my readers.

It is New Year's Eve. Where has the year gone? I don't remember much. It's been a long year. I am ready to start new.

I am currently alone in my New Year celebrating. Splitcat has gone to his sister's to be with his family. I was also invited, but I would have no fun because I would spend the whole time chasing the twins and trying to avert meltdowns. So here I am, home, the kids all in bed. I've got the Morningstar New year's conference on God Tv playing and I've caught up on all my favorite blogs. I don;t know when Splitcat will be home.

We had a very nice Christmas. The girl got her American Girl Doll(Felicity). Then she also got a wardrobe for all her doll clothes from Grandma J, I also got her a tea table and chairs for her dolls, My mom and Grandmother gave her doll clothes, and my dad made all the girls beds for their dolls. My nieces got bunk beds and E. got a four poster with a trundle. He made them from the crib all 4 of my sister's children slept in. Splitcat got his little girl her first real jewelry-a necklace with her birthstone--it will live in my jewelry box to be worn on special occasions.

The boy got a camera. I looked at just about every camera out there. I wanted to spend about the same amount as I did for the girl. There were a few cameras in my price range, then when I went to the American Girl store to get the girl's doll, I wandered into Wolf Camera. They had a bunch of cameras on clearance, and I was able to get him a Canon Powershot. It is an older one, but is still selling online for quite a bit more than I paid. He loves it. I was a little worried. He really likes that he can take movies with it. I am hoping to start him a photo blog to encourage his creativity. It's been a rough school year for him. He also got some other random things.

The twins got a little kitchen set and their own vacuum cleaners (from grandma J) and some other toys from my family

Then, in a fit of madness, I bought a Wii. I shouldn't have. But I did. My mil got me the Wii fit. We all are enjoying it.

Since splitcat bought his camera and that was part of his Christmas, I bought him a few random things.

When he asked what I wanted I told him I didn't really need much. Some new striped knee hi socks would be nice. Or just some money so I could decide later(I want to get new dishes). And I wouldn't mind some diamond earrings. I have very sensitive ears, and I can't really wear earrings more than a few hours unless they are gold or silver. So I have always wanted a pair of simple diamond earrings I could wear all the time. I think I've been telling him this since we had our first Christmas 13 years ago. So I guess you know where I am going with this. He bought me diamond earrings. I was very surprised. They are princess cut(square) in white gold. And large enough that you can see them, but not too big. They are just right. He didn't know I bought the Wii(and a bunch of games). In a fit of buyer's remorse I offered up my earrings for return. After all, I was the one who overspent this Christmas. But I think I've changed my mind. I'm not giving them up :). For many various reasons they are nearly as meaningful to me as my engagement ring. But there's going to be a bit of belt-tightening around here for the next few months. Which is good, because I really need to stop eating out. Oh, and I also got a pack of Twizzlers, Fun-Dip, and Chocolate Covered Cherries(all my favorite candies). I got a little bit of cash from my mom and grandmother I am going to save for my dishes if I can ever find some we both like.

So that was Christmas

So what about this New Year. What are my hopes and dreams for me? In no particular order:

To have a clean house. All the time.
To leave the wilderness, or at least see the light at the end of the tunnel.
To attend the Blue Ridge Writer's Conference
To finish revising my novel
To spend more time with my daughter
To read and study my bible more consistently
To be a better wife
To be a better mother
To learn at least one new thing
To get new dishes(I really want these, but I've been told we are too old)

But what I want most is to be a Light.

I do not know what this new year holds. I know some struggles from the past year will roll forward with the clock tonight, but that's okay. But I am choosing to leave some of my own personal struggles behind. Some are not worth the attention and others can only be solved by letting them go. I choose to look forward at this new year with hope. I know that no matter what happens in the world this year, I can say, "It is well with my soul."

Edit: Splitcat came home around 11. When we went up to bed around 12:02, the girl came stumbling from her room wondering what all the noise was for. People were setting off fireworks in our neighborhood.

Singing Saturday

Because I have nothing better to do, I am starting a new tradition of posting new songs I like, thus, Singing Saturday. This may only happen once, since I have a terrible time remembering anything past 2 seconds ago.

So for the inaugural edition here is a new band from Sweden called First Aid Kit singing a cover of Tiger Mountain Peasant Song by Fleet Foxes. First Aid Kit is comprised of 2 sisters who are both still in their teens. I stumbled across this totally randomly one day and was struck by their voices and harmonies.

No Soliciting

Would it be rude to put a sign in my front window that said

NO SOLICITING
Please do not knock on my door or ring my doorbell unless I am personally acquainted with you. Chances are, someone in this house is asleep right now, and it won't make them very happy if you wake them up, especially if it's the lady of the house. I have no desire to buy a vacuum cleaner, or any magazine subscriptions. I really have no desire to become a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness. I don't need any free estimates or brochures about free estimates. Please, don't waste my time or yours.
Have a Nice Day.

Splitcat recently purchased photoshop elements. I feel like I have a new toy. Here is one of my first experiments. I changed the background, took out all the color, then colored parts of it. Don't look too close, it's a little messy. But it looks okay if you keep it small. :) I have always wanted to be able to colorize b/w photos. So I am experimenting alot.