Camping Pictures

So... Josh and our two older children went camping for a few days, while Eliza and I just sat around. (YEAH RIGHT! you know me!) Actually I cleaned the entire house (mostly during naps and at night!), and managed to hang out with friends, and scrapbook. Boy it's easier with just one kid! Anyway, I made Josh return for the camera which he'd forgotten, and I'm so glad he did, because he came back with some wonderful pictures that I can't wait to scrapbook! So here are a few, they took a ton! He let the kids take pictures too, which turned out really good actually!

you never know what will happen....

My title is there for a reason. I'm starting a new Stampin Up (www.stampinup.com) hostess club. How it works is I have 10 people, and every month they place an order, (minimum is $15)each month one person is the "hostess" and gets the hostess benefits, and a hostess set. So last week, I only knew I had 5 people interested in the club, and wondered will I be able to find 5 more people that are interested? And sure enough I have, well I have 9, but I have one more person I'm still waiting to hear from, and I'm so excited to start my new group next month! Actually this morning my friend Marie called up to see if I still had a spot open (she made it 9!), so thanks Marie! I'm looking forward to making this a great club since it will be my last one that I'll be doing here. Our future residence is still unclear, but I do know we will be moving, to where I have no idea!
On another church related note, (* anyone who reads this from Norfolk keep this quiet!) I've been in the Primary serving as a first counselor in the presidency for a year and a half, and will be released on Sunday. It was a surprise in a way, but then again it wasn't. I'm looking forward to whatever my next calling at church will be, which I haven't been given one yet. I have a feeling of where I'll go next but I'll keep that to myself for now.
My best friend from High School, Megan and her husband Jon and their two sons Isaac (age 3) and Gabriel (age2) are visiting us from Indiana. So far, they have all gotten along really well. Its been fun having them here, and they'll be here till next week. We're planning a trip up to Busch Gardens tomorrow. We took them to the zoo this morning, and currently all the kids are still sleeping, and its been 2 hours! Its been WONDERFUL! (well Eliza is still awake!)
Last week I got 9 pages scrapbooked, it was wonderful! I doubt I'll scrapbook this week, but I need to toot my horn on this because I felt like I was in such a rut with my scrapbooking, but now I feel like I'm on a roll! I'm going to have to take some pictures and post some of my pages. Well that's all for now folks! I'll post some pictures soon.

just the two of us....

As of yesterday afternoon, it's just me and Eliza. Josh took the older two kids camping in the Shanendoah (sp?) mountains, at the National park. They left yesterday afternoon, so its just been me and Eliza. I have a meeting on Saturday I have to be at, and we didn't think Eliza was quite ready for camping. Its funny how when you have your first child it seems very difficult to manage, and then when you have more you get used to it. Now with just Eliza and I, having one child is a piece of cake!
Its been fun to go shopping, and actually get to look at stuff! We spent some time at Barnes and Noble, and were there for about an hour! (that wouldn't happen with three kids for sure!)
I've noticed as we've been alone, she seems to be more talkative and loud! I think she must miss the noise of her siblings! I don't think she knows how to act when she can actually play with anything she wants to her hearts content and not have someone come by and pick it up! Hopefully she won't get too bored with me.
I do miss Jonas and Maddie, don't misunderstand that, but I'm definately enjoying my time with just Eliza, just the two of us. (you can start singing the song now....)

Before the kids took pictures

I took this picture of the three of them! Sorry about the red eyes!

This is what you get when your kids get the camera!

I tried to post these the other day and it wouldn't let me! I originally pulled out my camera to take a picture of Eliza. I get onto the kids about taking her sippy cups. So I caught Eliza with Jonas's drink, but I never got the picture as Maddie immediately picked her up and she lost interest in the drink! But we ended up having fun taking pictures!

growing a little more each day!

Eliza is 9 months old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! Today I took her to the doctor for her 9 month appointment. She is 16lbs. 6oz. and is 26 inches long. She's gained 3lbs. since her last appointment, and has only grown one inch in her length. She's still small, but still on the growth chart, just on the lower end! lol1 She got one shot, and got her finger pricked (poor thing!) to check her iron levels, and all is well. She's currently taking a nap, and seems to be sleeping well, as its been about 2 hours now! Hooray for naptimes! I'll post some pictures later.

Why??

I've had these thoughts lately, and I thought I'd throw them out there... I really don't need answers..but it's nice to vent!

Why is it that my kids will devour a frozen pizza, yet not eat the wonderful baked chicken breast that soaked in italian dressing all night?
Why is it that the little ants always come to visit me every summer in my kitchen?
Why is it that I can never remember everything I need at the store?
Why do I have 3 bottles of Olive Oil?
Why is it that my kids enjoy taking the toys out, but not putting them away?
Why is bath time not as fun as it used to be?
Why do people feel the need to tell me I have my hands full when I have all three of my kids with me?
Why is it I always get stuck behind the SLOWEST people while trying to get somewhere in a hurry?
Why is it that Wal-Mart always has really long lines when I don't feel like waiting in them, but no lines when it doesn't matter?
Why do people go to Wal-Mart, when everyone tells me that they hate Wal-Mart?
Why is it so easy form me to talk on the phone while fixing dinner, changing diapers, getting sippy cups filled, yet my (wonderful! yet handicapped) husband can't do two things at once on the phone?
Why do 4 year olds seem to think they know everything?
Why do 3 year olds have to be so stubborn?
Why do we eat ketchup with hot dogs, hamburgers, and french fries?

Eliza's new tricks

Eliza is growing so fast! I need to say something about her here otherwise I will forget! Right before we left on our trip her first tooth started poking out! So she has one tooth on the bottom, and it looks like the other bottom one is coming up to join its friend. While on our trip, she learned how to clap her hands. Its so cute to tell her to clap her hands, and then she does it too. What a cutie! Her new favorite thing to do (which is one I really don't like!) is she climbs all the stairs up to our attic, and then sits at the top and cries until I come and get her. This is a new thing she started doing since we returned home. I could put a gate up, but I really want her to be used to the stairs, and master them. If I block her off, then she'll never get good at them. (just how I feel) Luckily they are carpeted!

pictures from the trip

We made it home! And we are now just trying to take it easy! The weather here is extremely hot! It's 100 degrees, but the heat index says it feels like 112! YIKES! So we're just trying to stay cool, which means staying inside. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip!

Back Home again, in INDIANA........

Yes you read the title right. I'm in Indiana, visiting my parents and grandma. It has been a fun trip, and a tiring trip. We arrived last Friday. My niece Molly and I left VERY EARLY (3:45a.m.) yes you read that time right. My kids for some reason weren't sleeping and at 2:30a.m. they got up and I thought, what's the point of sleeping two more hours, will it really help me at all, will I actually feel rested. Obviously the answer to my own questions were no. So I got up fed the kids cereal, since they were hungry. Then I took a shower. I woke up my niece as we were loading the car. So we got to my parents house about 11 hours later. We stopped a few times. The kids were all ready to get out of the car and so was I! My sister Christine and her two kids arrived Saturday. Then my sister Marilyn with her husband Greg arrived with their kids Saturday too. We spent the next few days with the kids getting along, and then arguing over things, time outs and other things that kids do. We did go to the Ft.Wayne Childrens Zoo which is excellent! The kids had a lot of fun. (I will post those pictures when I return home). My sisters and I on Tuesday went to the salon and all got our hair done and pedicures. It was fun. Then we went shopping. Wednesday we went to Science Central. Every evening was spent playing our family card game Mormon Bridge. Thursday Marilyn's family went home, and Christine, Nick, Cami, and my dad went to Cedar Point. I traveled to Muncie to visit my mother-in-law Nori, and my newest sister-in-law Jenny. My brother-in-law bought a 1975 Corvette, it's nice. It's yellow, not my type of car, but I'm sure he and Jenny will love it. The next week for me is very flexible. I love vacation! I am looking forward to seeing old friends.

It's summertime, summertime, sum sum... (Okay I'll stop singing now!)

I know you're thinking, well duh, of course I know it's summertime. But for me summertime means VACATION! And finally my vacation is about to begin. Unfortunately it will just be me and the kids on this trip. Josh has to work. So to help me on my journey to the heartland, we purchased a duel screen portable dvd player. Can you believe we didn't have one before, and that we didn't get one when we purchased our new vehicle last year? I can't either. So I made the decision, and convinced Josh, that for my sanity of those long 10 HOURS in the car with me and three kids (and with my niece Molly who is THANKFULLY riding there with me, but won't be there on the ride home) I will need something to keep them occupied. It came with a remote control with 30 video games, hopefully that will keep Jonas entertained, and Maddie can watch any movie she wants while he plays. I've already started packing, well we leave on Thursday, so I need to! The kids keep asking if today is the day we leave to go to Indiana, and I have to answer no not today. I'll be glad when I can say okay it's time to go!
We now have passes to go to Busch Gardens which also gets us into watercountry USA and we went two times last week!
Eliza is now cutting some teeth, finally! She'll be 8 months old on Thursday. She's just amazing to watch how much she is doing. She has started climbing the stairs, and she loves feeding herself, and that usually means lots of clean-up afterwards, but it's fun. Here's a picture from the zoo a few weeks ago, I will try to add more later, I'm having problems putting pictures up! This is Jonas, Maddie, and Eliza with my friend Jenn's kids Shelby, Savannah, and Emily; they're in their bathing suits because they were running through the fountains. You can click on it to make it bigger! (just an fyi for anyone out there!)

Happy 4th of July

Just a quick post. Yesterday was insanely busy for us! We went to Watercountry USA for the first time! We had a lot of fun, but are glad we bought a pass so we can return anytime we want. It was SOOO BUSY! Can you believe I forgot to take my camera in! Oh well! Maddie especially loved the waterslide in Cowabunga, Jonas thought it was okay. I think he got a little scared. He did really enjoy playing in the water an on the boat in Cowabunga. Then that evening we drove up an exit (really it's only an exit away!) to Busch Gardens and the kids did some rides, and then we saw the fireworks... they were AMAZING! They had them timed to music, which to me is very cool. As I watch the fireworks as they lit up the sky it reminded me how blessed we are as a country that we get to enjoy the freedoms we do, what our ancestors went through for us so we could watch fireworks, and eat grilled hot dogs. I'm forever grateful, and of course having a husband in the military helps this. Here is one of my favorite pictures of him receiving his first salute as an officer. Maybe not a big deal to some, but to me, it was neat. And a picture from the WW II memorial in DC that we went to last month! Happy 4th of July!

Just some thoughts...

Didn't do a whole lot today... and it's now 9:37p.m. and it's so quiet because all three of the kids are asleep. It's very nice. A few months ago my friend Marie and I decided we had so much in the way of scrapboking supplies we would take on the challenge in Erin Lincoln's book
The challenge is to do 100 pages with the supplies you have. Well we started off pretty good, and then I got sidetracked working on a going away project for my friend Melissa who was moving, that I barely worked on my own stuff. Then when that was done I was kind-of ready for a break because I had spent a lot of time working on that. So I decided to not do 100 pages. I'm going to do 30 pages to start. Starting last night. I did two scrapbook pages, and I am not doing them in any chronological order. It's more fun. I know I will never be "caught up" so I might as well enjoy myself and do it however I want. If I'm feeling really brave I might post something I've been working on. I realized I rarely talk about the creative stuff I work on, I do something that is creative as much as possible. I think it would drive me crazy if I couldn't do something that was artistic. I also started reading "The 8th Habit: from Effectiveness to Greatness" by Steven R. Covey. So far it's very intersting to me. I picked it up at the library the other day and started reading tonight. The eighth habit is To Find your Voice and Inspire others to find theirs, doesn't that rock? I think so. Anyway, I'll have to finish the whole thing and then review it, but so far I like it.
Okay, if you read this far I will share something about the kids that happend today! Eliza climbed the stairs! Yep all the way up! She surprised me, I didn't even think she even had a thought about going up the stairs! Boy, did she prove me wrong. And she went up 3 times on her own! (I was behind her all three of those times) The first time though she got up half way when I walked in the living room and realized she had climbed the stairs! Needless to say I was shocked! She is changing so fast, it's amazing! Well it's now 9:55p.m. and I think I might get some rest as I'm having some friends over and we're going to scrapbook... should be fun.

gee, I'm so glad it's raining....

Well it's raining. It's okay though, because it forces me to do the things I've needed to get done now for over a week. The first thing I've really needed to do, mop the floor. So while the floor is drying I'm posting on my blog. (my reward!)
I also have needed to get ALL of my towels washed and folded. When we had company we used a lot of towels, and then all of a sudden I realized we were down to just the few towels that I had washed, YIKES! So my first loads of laundry today are towels and sheets! (I usually put that load last). Then I have laundry to do. And all of my bathrooms need cleaned. I'll probably clean those tomorrow. I've already cleaned the kids rooms, and we moved the train table to the attic, so it's more of a playroom now than before, there are a lot more toys up there now. I realzed though, that my kids have LOTS of toys, and we need to go through them again and get rid of some, or put them away for awhile.
As I wrote that paragraph Maddie ran full speed through the dining room with her Strawberry Shortcake Ball (running away from Jonas) and I yelled stop too late and she slipped and fell straight back on the wet kitchen floor. (ugh!) She's okay, but I think she might have a headache soon.
Did I mention Josh is gone till Friday. He is. He's doing some training somewhere in Virginia with some Air Force guys. So it's just me and the kiddos for a few days. Looks like were off to a fantastic start of just me and them. (note the sarcasim. sp??)
On a more positive note, Eliza has been crawling ON HER KNEES now for a few weeks! It's amazing how fast she mastered the crawling compared to her older siblings. They were pulling on their bellies for weeks it seems like. She didn't do it long, and now is all over. Her favorite place to go is in the dining room, of course the one room without carpet! I think she likes to go there to see what she can eat, cause she seems to find leftover food that hasn't been swept up yet. Yes, I know it's gross and I don't LET her do it, but she finds it. It's much more difficult to kid proof when your older two have tons of little parts to toys, and you don't have to worry about them choking on stuff anymore and you have forgotten that point in their lives. I've been quickly reminded of little stuff, so I am constantly picking up and throwing away little things that I think she'll put in her mouth. She finds things anyway, and I'm also constantly doing a sweep in her mouth. She also started pulling herself up on stuff, and isn't doing it on furniture yet, but I'm sure it will be soon, and I'm still waiting for her to start climbing the stairs. (not looking forward to it!) Well I am being requested a drink from Jonas. I see green koolaid coming his way or some milk. =) I also have towels to fold. (yeah!)

the pictures, finally, had problems posting!

Okay after many attempts at posting these pictures (can I just say AAAAHHH! thanks I needed to scream this this thing) here they are. They are from our trip to Busch Gardens with Joey (aka Will), Jon, Jenny, Me, Josh, Jonas, Maddie and Eliza. Enjoy!

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!

It is SOOOO Stinkin hot here today! I believe my car temperature gauge read 94 degrees. We went to the park today, and were there only a short time before Jonas said, "I want to go home mom."
We did go for a little walk by the water, but Jonas wasn't thrilled. So we got out of there. I thought it would be fun to go to the park, eat lunch, and play for a few hours. We even got stuck in traffic, I think there was an accident, and so by the time we got there I was determined to stay. It didn't happen. Oh well. We did go to the dollar tree, and got two little blow up pools, but they are so small I think Eliza will be the only one really enjoying them.
We have been very busy the past few weeks. It's nice to have family in town, but then when they go it's almost like a release of air. You build up the excitment of them coming, they come and you go, go, go. Then they leave and you can exhale. I miss the excitment of family being in town now. We went to Busch Gardens with Josh's brothers Jon and Joey, and Jon's wife Jenny. We had a ton of fun, but after the day was over I was worn out! I would definately like to go back again, the kids loved it!
I'm going back home to Indiana (sing the song now if you wish) and I can't wait. I'll be there July 15th Unfortunately it will be just me and the kids, because Josh can't take the leave. (they won't let him)
Both of my sisters will be home, so hopefully (crossing my fingers, and I hope my mom reads this too!) I can get my parents or older niece and nephew to watch the kids for me so my sisters and I can go do something together. Its been awhile. Next summer I think we'd like to go with our mom on a cruise with just the girls... hopefully we can work that out.
Today before Josh left for work, he unbunked the bunk beds and we now have Maddie and Jonas sharing a room so Eliza can have Maddie's room. We just don't think the kids are ready to be in the room in the attic yet. After the other bed was in place, Jonas immediately went downstairs and got Maddie's blanket for her. (Isn't he sweet!)
They seem pretty excited to share a room, so we'll see how long that lasts!
Here are some pictures from the past few weeks!

Time out for women... and more!

Wow, it has been a busy busy week! A lot has happend. Josh's folk, and one of his middle brothers (he has 5 of them, and one sister!) arrived on Monday night, and it seems to have flown by. Josh and his dad, and brother got the hand railing for the attic stairs! YEAH! So we now have something to hold on to as you go up the stairs to the attic, whereas there wasn't anything there before. Then they started building us a new deck in the backyard, it's not done yet, but when it is it will be wonderful!
So here's what we did the rest of the week:
Thursday we left for Washington D.C. and of course the kids just had to go swimming as SOON as we got there, but they had to wait since the pool didn't open until 5p.m. So we went swimming, then got cleaned up and then went to dinner. We then went searching for some cards to play some Canasta (the family game of choice!lol!) and found this Super Dollar store. It had just about EVERYTHING! It was very packed and unorganized, but we found some cards. Had I had more time I would've liked to have looked around some more. Friday we went to breakfast, and then went to the temple. Right after we got finished Josh's other brother Jon and his wife Jenny called because they managed to get a military flight to Andrews Airforce Base and would be there at 3p.m. (we got the message at 2:15p.m.) so we booked over there and picked them up. Rented them a car, then went and ate a late lunch. Then saw some sites in D.C. we saw the WW II memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, The Korean Memorial, and then our kids were done. We went back to the hotel and went swimming, had a late dinner and the kids went to bed. The next morning, Josh's mom, Jenny and I went to Time out For Women in Fairfax, VA. It was so aweseome! It was such a wonderful, and uplifting time. The speakers were aweseome, and the music by Hillary Weeks was beautiful! I hope to go to another one again, they have them listed on their website on deseret book
I purchased two books, one of which I already finished. The book Confessions of an Unbalanced Woman by Emily Watts. So good! It's also a quick read (60 pages)!
I also purchased "The Peacgiver" by James L. Ferrell. I thought it looked good, and I had three people tell me (while holding it and looking at it) that it was a good book! I hope they are right!
My sister Marilyn was there so we had lunch with her during our lunch break, and said goodbye, but I'll see her soon I'm sure! I will post pictures later! The kids had a good time, but I'm glad to be home today. Josh's brothers and Jenny are still here with us through this week. It should be fun! So I will have lots of new pictures to post!

pictures from the zoo and party

okay I forgot to post these! Here are some pictures from the end of the year party and the zoo! Maddie and Jonas were refusing to take pictures with their teachers (Jonas with Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Pierce) (Maddie with Miss Merrie Jo and Miss Deb)figures! But this is what I got!
Then there are some pictures from the zoo playing in the fountain!

Some Maddieisms

Maddie is now 3, and when I say it I don't say it as oh what a great age 3 is, I mean, she's 3 and I am already wishing she were 4. She used to be so easy going. She would tell us when she was tired and go lay down and go to sleep on her own. She was helpful, which for the most part she still is when she wants to be, and then other times it's "I don't want to, YOU do it mommy."
Her new thing when we're in the car if we're listening to a cd of mine or the radio is, "what's this song about mommy?"
She also has been asking me what my name is lately, so I tell her, it's Deborah. So then she proceeds to say it over and over, and she's even been as bold to call me by my first name, but I tell her I'm her mommy so she calls me mommy but other people call me by my name. She also is into asking what letters people's names start with. She knows hers starts with M, and Jonas and Josh are J's and Eliza is E. I'm glad she's intersted so she'll be ready when preschool comes around. I've been writing it out for her and spelling her name so she recognizes it.
I had a huge box with random pictures from high school and college in my opening in my desk, and yesterday Maddie pulled out a picture of when I went to prom my senior year. Maddie asked about it, and asked if it was daddy in the picture, and I said no, that I didn't know Daddy yet, and that I would've loved to have gone to prom with daddy since I didn't have that fun of a night with my date that night. And I don't remember what prompted this, but then Maddie proceeded to tell me, "I don't want to grow up and get big." I told her I know, I wish we didn't have to either! Such wisdom from a 3 year old!

Happy 3rd Birthday Maddie!

I can't believe that Maddie is 3 years old! 3 Years ago today she was here! Maddie was born at 8:48a.m. after a very quick labor. It was perfect. I will never forget that the first hour of her life it was just me, her and Josh. I spent that first hour looking at her, and thinking how could I have been so wrong in thinking I was going to have a boy! (we didn't find out, we wanted to be surprised, and we were!)
Jonas was only 15 months old at the time, and because I had a lot of time to prepare for two being so close, I think I was relatively calm. Today we went up to Williamsburg and Jamestown and played tourists. It was fun. Since we had Maddie's party a few weeks ago, we just spent the day today as a family. It was fun! I never regret having two children so close together, it has its challenges, but it has been worth it! And I'm so glad that I have my Maddie, she is definately one of a kind, and free thinker!
Happy Birthday Maddie Mae!

Out on the town...

Yesterday was jam packed!We got up (after I slept in a little bit longer than I should've and Josh took care of the kids for me) and I got lunches made. We left at 10a.m. for the park, when we should've already been there (oops!), but got there quickly since it's so close to our house. It was the end of the year party for Jonas and Maddie's preschool. It's hard to believe the school year is over! It went by so fast! I remember how worried I was to put Maddie in the 2 year old class. I think for both of us it was a good thing. Especially since I knew she would need something when Eliza was born. And I knew Eliza would need my attention. It all worked out. The teachers for both kids classes gave us pictures of our kids they had taken throughout the year, and in Jonas's class they did little pictures with their hands and poems that go with it. It's super cute! While we were at the park, my friend Marie (her kids go to the preschool too with us) asked if we wanted to go to the beach after she picked up her oldest from school, so I said sure sounded fun. Well I should've waited to tell the kids, they were ready to go as soon as we got home. It was 2 hours of anticipation, that by the time we got there, Maddie didn't want to be there at all since she was tired. Jonas had a lot of fun. We were only there a short time, and had to pick up Josh from work, and there was a thunderstorm rolling in. So we picked him up, went home and got cleaned up. We decided to take the kids out to eat at this place called Formosa's which is a Chinese Buffet, that also has Mongolian Barbeque. It's really good, and we like it a lot. Then we took the kids to see the movie "Over the Hedge". It was a good movie. My only complaint is Maddie wanted a drink, and so I had to go stand in line for about 15 minutes (literally, it was forever!) with her and Eliza. It was a lot of fun. The kids actually wanted to watch another movie when we got home, but being the mean mom that I am I made them go to bed. (It was 9p.m. and their bed time is 8p.m. usually) It was a lot of fun, and the kids had a good time I think.
Our plan of action for today: go to the zoo, and the kids have requested to play in the fountains and get soaked! (one of the reasons I knew we needed a membership!)
o when Eliza gets up from her nap, we will drive to the zoo which is 5 minutes away. I will post some pictures later!

se7ens

My friend Gina posted this on her blog and I'm responding, since she asked, so anyone else who reads this, feel free to respond... okay Marie!? (hint hint)

7 things I want to do before I die:
I want to see more of the world, Europe, Africa, China, New Zealand, Austrailia, Japan, you know, the world!
I want to have all of my scrapbooking CURRENT!
I want to have been to every state in the United States (I'm almost there, I'm down to less than I think 15)
I want to go on a cruise with my mom and sisters
Go through the temple with my children
See my children become parents, and spoil their kids and drive them crazy!
I want to do something church related with Josh, a mission, or be a temple worker with him
I want to restore a huge house to my exact liking, and then live in it for the rest of my life.

7 things I cannot do:
I can't write very neatly, although people have complimented my handwriting for some reason
I can't sew
I can't cook gourmet food
I can't eat chocolate chip mint ice cream, I just don't like it
I can't speak another language, other than a tiny and I mean tiny amount of spanish
I can't do any pretty swimming strokes, I mostly doggy paddle!
I can't jump out of an airplane, It would remind me of all of my dreams of falling!

7 Things that attracted me to my spouse:
His eyes
His smile
His communication skills. (first time we talked really was on a 2 hour car ride just the two of us, and I wasn't bored at all! The trip went by so fast and I knew I wanted to talk to him again!)
Sense of humor
His easy going personality
His intelligence, very smart guy this one!
His sense of adventure, and ability to take care of kids, he was the oldest child of 7!

7 Things I say often:
ummm
darn it, or you idiot (when I drive or forget something)I realize I say this too much as Maddie and Jonas started repeating this when we drive places!
__________ (insert Jonas or Maddie) leave _________ (insert Jonas or maddie) alone!
Do you need a timeout?
honey
sweetheart
I love you

7 books I love
Secret Garden (one of the first big books I read when I was younger)
All of The work and the glory books
Harry Potter Series
Jane Eyre
The scriptures (of course!)
Through the eyes of the dragon by Stephen King (one of the few non horror books)
Charlottes Web
Gone with the Wind

7 movies I could watch over and over:
Sixteen Candles
Sense and Sensibility
Dead Poets Society
Napolean Dynamite
Tombstone
Braveheart
The Sandlot

7 people I'd like to hear se7ens from:
Marie
Jenn
Heidi
Suzanne
Marilyn
My mom
Eli

old pics

Okay something got messed up on that last post... all the answers there are mine not Marie's... just read it and then post on your own blog if you have one! lol!
Here are some old pics... one is of Josh and I when were in our Young Single Adult group at church aka YSA and some wedding pictures... I think we look so young, or maybe it's well rested??? LOL!

I've been tagged...

I got this from Marie, and she complained that I should've already done this since I read her blog, a few of the answers were censored for content, whatever that means! lol! This is what Marie wrote on her blog abobut it: I know everyone loves hearing about me! However, I promised I would respond to this one. Although Cindy, I have to tell you, this is the first one of these that has been censored!LOL! My friend Cindy sent this to me and some of the questions she felt needed to be censored. So these are my answers to the questions....

! This is what Marie said:
How long have you been married? 7 years in October, or otherwise known as the 7 year itch!
How long did you date before you were married? we dated 3 months, then got engaged, then got married 5 months later, but when we got married we'd known each other a year.
3)CENSURED
4)How long would you say the "honeymoon" phase lasted, and saying it's still going doesn't count? I think it lasted until we had kids! Josh says it was a big adjustment to have kids since he had to then share my attention! He's a great dad though, and he's gotten used to it!
5) How did he/you propose? He actually proposed without a ring, he asked me at this playground by his grandparents house, we were on the swings, he stopped swinging of course, and asked me, and of course I said yes! He asked me officially a few days later with a beautiful ring! I was very impressed that he picked a ring that I know I would've picked myself, and I still love it! =)
6)Does your spouse send/bring you flowers? yes but only for important occasions, anniversaries, valentines...
7) Do you consider your spouse a romantic? yes, but not overly, thankfully because I think too much would make me want to vomit...
8) Are you? Yes
9) What is your favorite romantic date together? we've had a few, but my favorite was when we were in college and he surprised me with a trip to Indy for my birthday and we stayed at this nice hotel downtown, and went to dinner... I can't remember where now, but it was fun!
10) Do you and your spouse hold hands in public? yes
11) Kiss in public? yes
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13) Does he/she give you a kiss when he/she comes home at the end of the day? yes, and if he doesn't I remind him!
14) Do you have pet names for each other? yes
15) What are they? he calles me Sunshine, I don't really have any special names, I just call him sweetheart a lot, or honey, you know the usual!
16) What is your favorite physical feature on your spouse? his eyes, I love his beautiful green eyes, and I can read his moods so well through them!
17) Do yo have a date night? we like to do Friday night dates, but lately we take what we can get!
18) Do you sleep on your own side of the bed or do you cuddle when you sleep?yes we have sides of the bed, we don't cuddle all night, just a little bit before we go to sleep. It's something about having kids and being held on to all day, after awhile you just don't want to be touched! If you don't understand, sorry!
19) Have you ever been caught with your hand on your spouse's butt? Not yet!
20) How many times a day do you tell your spouse "I love you"?several times a day...
21) CENSURED
22) Have you and your spouse ever been "interupted" by your kids? yes but not walked in on.... just kids crying in the other room...it really stinks!
23) CENSURED----
.24) CENSUREDSo, if you've read this, feel free to be tagged. Why should I be the only one..............................

O

May Celebration Party at Pre-School and Boys camping

This preschool program was a few weeks ago, and the kids get up and sing songs to their parents, then they wrap the May pole. It's a lot of fun. Anyway, Maddie didn't sing she stuck her finger in her mouth just about the entire time. Then she and another friend decided to pull up their dresses and show off their panties since a little boy up there was showing his pull-up! Gotta love those two year olds! Jonas didn't sing, but he at least got up there! I really don't have children who perform on demand, they only do it when they feel like it!
Josh took Jonas, and his friends Connor and Ethan since their dad Ben is serving in Afghanastan (sorry if I misspelled that!. They had a good time I think!

pics of the party

The weather was perfect on Saturday for Maddie's party! We had a lot of fun, and everyone that said they would be there was! I think Maddie had a good time, and got a lot of fun presents too. It was like Christmas all over again in our living room when we got home with taking all the toys out of their boxes! Here are some pictures of the event! Eliza fell asleep in her stroller so she slept through the pinata and cake! (made it easier for me, for sure!) Josh grilled the hamburgers and hot dogs, and we had the usual cookout foods, and I think it was a fun time!

Eliza 6 months old

Took these pictures of Eliza today! She's such a sweetie huh!?

Eliza is 6 months! -Quick post

It's hard to believe that Eliza is 6 months old! She had her doctors appointment today, which has up to this point been stressful to me because Eliza isn't as big as the doctor would like. For the first time though it was a very quick and easy appointment! Eliza is 13lbs. on the dot! She is now gaining very fast! (Last month she was just 11lbs. 9oz.) You're all thinking, she's so small, but really she's just about the same size as her big sister who weighed just 14lbs. at 6months! So I have been trying to stress all along that I have small baby's! (Jonas was only 16lbs. at 6 months) Either way she's happy and healthy! And believe it or not she can spin on her belly, I think she's going to be crawling very soon! Yikes! I better go baby proof the house!

Thursday- New Friends, funny cards, old friends, etc.

Yesterday for the first time Jonas and Maddie met the neighbor kids that live next door, and across the street. (we live on the corner, so they are the neighbors next to us on the same side of the road, hope that makes sense!) The little boy Josiah is 6years old. The kids had a great time playing with him, and didn't want to come inside. We had all the windows open, and they were outside playing, and I hear Jonas say, "I need to go ask my mom". I was so amazed and feeling good about myself, that he thought he should come and talk to me about what he was doing, which wasn't anything major. He just thought he should come and tell me he met a new friend and was playing with him. It made me smile, I really hadn't thought of him playing with any of the neighbor kids because we're never out at the same time, and we get together with their friends from church a lot, and do stuff. So it was a whole new experience for us! Tonight Jonas saw his friend playing and shouted out the window to him, and immediately wanted to go outside. Maddie followed along, they had a good time, and Josiah's older sister who's 8 was there and she played really well with them, and they decided to get each other wet first with squirt guns, and then with filling up buckets with water from the house and chasing each other. I know when I was 4 I remember my next door neighbor friend Shauna who was a little older than me, and I'm sure Jonas will always remember his neighbor friend too.
Today I got a plant and mothers day card from Jonas, the card read: "I love you. I like when you make noise on my head." Happy Mothers Day! Then instead of his name he drew a little picture! Anyway, the noise on his head is me giving him loud kisses on his cheeks! I thought it was too funny that he said that!
This morning we took my friend Jenn out for breakfast for her birthday (and I was so hungry when I got there, but I couldn't finish the omlett it was HUGE!), and I bought her a little plastic tiara that said "Birthday Girl" on it. Maddie saw it and I told her it was for Miss Jenn for her Birthday, and Maddie said she wanted one for her birthday, and I mentioned her birthday was after Miss Jenn's. So on the way to preschool my other friend Marie took them this morning, and Maddie basically told her all about the tiara, and about a nightgown that was too small, but another that fit fine, and It was funny to hear what she says to other people. Maddie is definately more talkative now to people she knows really well. I think Marie was surprised too! I think Maddie is excited for her party too! We got a Dora Pinata today!
Oh and not to leave Eliza out of the day, she I think has decided the only place to nap is at home. Once we were done running around, she was ready to lay down in her own bed. She fussed every time I put her bottom in her car seat, she arched her back and threw a fit every time. (we did some running around today!) Needless to say it was no fun. She's getting so big, and on Tuesday next week we'll go in for her 6 month appointment! I can't believe she's almost 6 months! WOW

Eliza at 5 months

I took this picture last week I think, and I think Eliza looks so stinkin cute! I'm biased of course! I can never get her smiles right in pictures, because she usually opens her mouth up so big! So, here are two pictures I've taken recently, and both are cute! Oh and I'm also putting the one of her laying on the couch with daddy that I took tonight, they looked so sweet!

The invite

Birthday party anyone else going to one? Not me... uh yeah right!

Okay, it must be the time of year for Birthday parties! We went to one last weekend for two brothers who turned 6 and 3, and it was a lot of fun.
Then today Jonas went to his friend Ethan's party, and Maddie had her friend Gabbie's party. So, Josh and I divided and conquered. He took Jonas to his, and Maddie, Eliza and I went to Gabbie's party. Next weekend we get a break, but the week after we are going to be celebrating Maddie's birthday. Yes it will be 9 days early, but because her birthday falls on Memorial day, I didn't want her to not have a party just because of a holiday she doesn't understand. We are having a Dora the explorer birthday party,and decided to have it at a nearby park. I made the invitations to look like the Backpack, and I have been told by the parents of the kids how much their child liked the invitation, so that made me glad. Maddie knew exactly what it was when I made it, so I knew that everyone else would know too. (that was key!)
We're going to have lunch, and play games, and have cake, and that will be the two hour party. Let's pray for sunshine as I have no idea what we'll do for a backup plan! There have been so many times I've actually meant to write on this blog and never do, but I think I've become addicted to reading other people's blogs, so I feel like mine is pretty boring compared to some. I have been reading Ali Edwards blog, and she suggested some books that I have been checking out. I finished the book "The time travelers wife" and I think I'm going to buy the book "52 projects" as I was looking at several different ones she suggested when I was last at Barnes and Noble. Anyway, here's a link to her site and you can go to her blog from there, if you're interested. She has some neat stuff on there. http://www.cafepress.com/aliedwards
OH and here's a pic of the invite I made! And my friend Jenn helped me with the sewing... yes I still don't have a sewing machine, but I think right now I'd just use it to sew on my craft projects! Jenn keeps threatening to have me sew my kids Halloween costumes! Yeah right! lol!