Saturday, July 31, 2010

LOVE having flowers to pick

David called after lunch to tell me Mark needed a place to get ready for some thing they were going to tonight. I was happy to have a reason to clean (for some reason it doesn't bother me to clean when someone is coming over, but can't stand it otherwise) BUT I didn't have much time... and he needed to shower so I needed to scrub the bathroom down. After all, he IS going to be the next Lieut. Gov.... but honestly, I wasn't thinking about THAT at all. I will never see him as anyone other than Darr... the funniest guy I know. We did manage to get everything clean, and I even had time to pick flowers. I feel like they distract from the messes and make it appear cleaner. ha That's a giant peach zinnia in the middle with some limelight hydrangeas and regular orange zinnias.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Rabid?

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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Bieber and Changes!

Abigail, her friend Hannah, and David are on their way to the Justin Bieber concert. Her friend got tickets for her birthday and invited Abigail. I volunteered David to take them :) He'll be in the parent room... they issue arm bands to the kids and the parent and have security that will check them. They spent all day getting ready :)

They went to Claire's and got jewelry and hair extensions

and I did rainbow eye make up. (picture taken before I put the extension on the other side...)

I'm sure they will have the time of their life... and David will be grateful he has an iphone. I told him to download a movie to watch.

levi... I had a bit of a panic... but I knew something else would come up and it did! Got a call that my neighbor's sis in law was taking a different job. I was crushed at first b/c I was soooooooo excited, but I understood. She said she could still watch him Th-F. I asked one of the nursery workers at church if she would be willing to watch him M-W. She said we'd talk, but that it should work. That was great news b/c Levi knows and LOVES her. He actually pushes away from me to get to her when I'm dropping him off. He is going thru a phase where he doesn't want to leave my sight, but will still reach for her. I know she will love on him the entire time he is with her. If he wasn't already spoiled, I'd worry that she'd spoil him :) Then I ran into a former student at Target. I asked her what she was up to and she said was working at Starbucks... but would be working at church if they ever extend their mother's day out hours. So I thought I'd ask her if she was interested in Th-F. She was excited about it and said YES right away. MUCH relief. It has been an up and down whirlwind, but I think I can finally feel settled :)
I'm back to being excited about school starting!
Noah spent a couple nights with David's parents. Abigail spent the night with a friend the other night. Elijah said he "lost them." It was so pathetic and cute. He was dejected and said "I lost them, they're not here."

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Playtime

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Where are we?

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At least he tries

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

I am so strong!

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God is SO good!

I am ever so happy to report that Levi has a place to go while I teach. Sunday afternoon I got a call from a friend saying she could watch him. I'd also heard it might work out for him to go to church. I told my friend I'd let her know. She would be wonderful- but it would be easier on me if he was at church and easier on him bc he is already used to it. So, I was waiting to find out about that. Then that evening, my neighbor Jill asked if I was still looking and said her sis in law might be able to do it. She was going to be living with them and could just walk across the street!
Found out last night she does want to do it! Levi won't have to leave his house. I'm so happy about that I could quite possibly bust :)
Thank y'all for praying. I am so blessed. I knew if God wanted me to teach- my heart would be ok with Levi's care but I had not found anything I was ok with... Until now. School starts in 2 weeks :). And I am ready!
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

(Dallas Cowboys theme)

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Presents!

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Isaac and Joshua

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Happy Baby

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Monday, July 19, 2010

What kind of bird is this?

When he flies his neck stretches out.
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Sailing sailing

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DANIE sailing

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Sunday, July 18, 2010

He loves his Abigail

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I'd've worn her outfit

Only I would have had on a big t shirt (tucked in,bloused out) and a side ponytail.
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Saturday, July 17, 2010

E in a box

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Haircut and VBS project

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Friday, July 16, 2010

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Tiny toad

This was taken yesterday. Isaac found a baby toad.
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Guess who napped at 8pm

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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

My in need of haircut 10 yr old

Happy Birthday Noah! He thanked me for having him.
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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Got a great thing today...
Used to have one of these...

but I don't know what happened to it. When searching for another, I found the Kohler version seen above. Apparently they had it at Home Depot. Off I went... right there in the midst of the aisle was a stack of the "Next Step" brand. Looked basically the same, only cheaper (you can see it here ...that is not my bathroom) Put it on the downstairs toilet as soon as I got home. E has already christened it. The frog potty is THE BEST for a boy. Always had a problem with a boy getting hung up on the splash guard or it being worthless. I like to use the little potties in the beginning... so it is as close as possible... then I move it to the bathroom... and then onto the big potty. E is excited about his new seat. I need a stepstool though... wish I had an IKEA nearby... like how this one curves... The one I have can flip.
STILL do not know what I'm doing with Levi this fall (in uh... less than a month... YIKES) I really want someone to keep him in their home... but so far, no luck. I've heard of some folk, but it would involve me driving pretty far... which means more time away from Levi. So I'm searching for someone closer to church/home/school.
Remember typewriter guy on Sesame Street? In one episode, he types an m for macho... and then a macho guy comes out. It is on the old school Sesame Street DVDs. E was acting like that macho guy when we were at Target today. He was in the cart, I was checking out. He kept saying "macho" in this "I'm so cool" voice. It was pretty cute... only he had on Abigail's purple lace gloves. I should have taken a picture... or video.

Boys in Hot Springs Vlg w/Dad

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It's the little things in life...

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Oooh I can touch this TV

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Cutting with left hand

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Monday, July 12, 2010

Cute E

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Cutie Patootie

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Thursday, July 8, 2010

You Know You're A Mom When

As my Facebook status today, I wrote "you know you're a mom when..." and had several contribute. I thought they were worth a post...

You know you're a mom when:
1 -you eat a sandwhich with one hand and dump a potty full of pee with the other
2 -you walk around singing VeggieTales
3 -you get excited when you get to go to the store alone
4 -you turn on the TV and automatically put it on PBS kids
5 -you say 'it's not poop, it's chocolate' at least once a week
6 -you find cars and crayons in your underwear drawer
7 -when 'Tom and Jerry' is on TV you realize the soundtrack accompanies your life perfectly
8 -before a long trip you ask your husband 'do you need to go potty?'
9 -you have been pooped on, spit up on, and peed on all within three minutes of the last diaper change
10 -you wonder why they don't install urinals in homes
11 -your lunch consists of the kids leftovers
12 -you realize your bathroom was just mopped with toilet water
13 -your choices for writing a check at the checkout counter are red or blue crayon
14 -you can't remember music from the decade your kids were born because you only listened to Barney and Raffi
15 -your favorite part of vacation is throwing a wet towel on the floor and coming back to it clean, dry, and hung up
16 -you were at a playground and heard "mom.... Mom.... MOM!" and finally yelled "WHAT!?" at someone else's kid
17 -you are saved as ____________'s mom in other people's phones
18 -you are thrilled to eat at McDonald's because you don't have to cook or clean up dishes
19 -you find yourself prompting your husband (and others) to say "please" "thank you" and "yes ma'am"
20- when you finally get control of the TV you prefer to put it on one of the high definition 'screen savers' of a tranquil ocean and pretend you are there for the 20 minutes it plays (OnDemand-HD-TV Entertainment-Screen Savers :)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

What's out here?

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Dinner

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what's for dinner?

I love to grill. I love that there is no pan to clean up that has been broiled in the oven and the heat stays out of my kitchen. I want to cook more vegetables on the grill and take full advantage of the charcoals. I use a Weber kettle charcoal grill. Love it. Also want to grill more chicken. I tend to just do beef.
I marinated chicken breasts last week for a couple of days in olive oil, chicken stock, and a packet of Weber tequila lime seasoning. It was surprisingly juicy and tender. Tonight we're having skewered rosemary chicken and potatoes and grilled asparagus. I didn't know how to go about grilling potatoes with chicken... knew the chicken would cook faster than the potatoes. Found a recipe that said to boil the potatoes for 8 min first. So, I'm doing that now so it will be ready for the grill. Things tend to get nuts around here just before dinner (of COURSE). The chicken is coated with olive oil, salt, paprika, rosemary, garlic, and pepper. I think I'll coat them with oil and then just load them alternately with the chicken chunks (thigh meat, so it has some fat to it). We'll see how it all turns out! Tomorrow it is marinated chicken breasts (white wine and herb... another Weber packet thing) and grilled corn on the cob.
We had a good 4th of July. David's brother and fam came up. We haven't seen them in a while. We used to go there,. but didn't go last year b/c they have a pool and I was worried about Elijah getting out. This year David had some campaign appearances he had to make. We went to Balboa Lake for fireworks. They were really good. Nice place. REALLY nice weather. Cool breeze. I felt like we weren't in AR. Afterwards though... we discovered why people take the shuttle. We couldn't take the shuttle b/c we had a double stroller to contend with. They shuttle all the people out before letting a single car leave the parking lot. Even when all the busses were full and on a run to the outside parking places... they didn't let any cars out. So, it was quite a wait in the car with irritated children. But, we survived and it could have been worse. No one was screaming thank goodness, just whining. Levi was ready to get out of the carseat long before we were home though... that wasn't fun. It was after 11 before we got home and no one fell asleep in the car! We had tired children the next day.
Abigail sang in church Sunday. Here is the video...

Saturday, July 3, 2010

$5 mulch?

Ok- so it's not quite $5 per truckload. It is $25 per ton. I don't know how much that is. Seems like when we've gotten it before a truckload was half a ton- but it will vary. You don't have to get a full truck's worth :). Here is the number 888-5806. They have compost too for the same price. You can also call that # and request to have your neighborhood sprayed for mosquitoes (didn't know that). Don't know what is in the spray though, and I have to say... I'd want to know if they were spraying. Wouldn't want my kids out playing when they did it.
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Friday, July 2, 2010

They were bright blue- they aged to this.
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Real hydrangeas on right

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Busy Day

Went to Good Earth looking for ladybugs- they were out. Bought one plant. Went to Home Depot to find some cheap annuals- they were picked over, got a red crape myrtle that I've been wanting instead. I had removed the peach tree so we've had a bare spot for a while. Came home and got busy. It wasn't as hot as usual- wanted to take advantage. Came inside to feed L and I guess nursing following work outside isn't good. My blood pressure dropped. I didn't have enough energy to speak and was afraid to move. Thought I'd pass out. David didn't notice and just said 'you got heat exhaustion' and then went outside to mow. Abigail did notice and went out to tell him I needed him. He helped me lay down and got me water. As soon as I drank water I started to feel better. He said my feet were cold (they are NEVER cold) and I was all clammy. I felt the same as I did when I was 8mos pg with E at Silver Dollar City and got dehydrated, almost passing out. My blood pressure dropped. I took it yesterday and it was 100/60. That's a bit low for me and probably why I've been so tired.
Picture is of Abigail (5') standing between 2 limelight hydrangeas. I planted the one on the left in 05. It was the size of a pencil. I took a branch with roots off of it last summer and planted it. It didn't do much last summer- but it is growing well now. Chopped the blooms off the Endless Summer today... hoping I'll have better luck with rebloom. Its further to the right against the fence. MUCH smaller than the big limelight, same age.
I LOVE having hydrangea blooms around the house.
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Thursday, July 1, 2010

A Day in the Car

I took full advantage of having 2 less children today. We left at about 9:30 to get E a haircut. It was GORGEOUS this morning (I'm sure due to Alex but I was trying not to think about how this nice weather up here is due to not so nice weather down below...). Not too hot and breezy. After the haircut (which wasn't much of one, we're hanging on to those long locks until he has to cut it for school for the dress code) we cleaned out my car (we meaning I, they were along for the ride :) Then to Sonic for lunch. Came home for a couple hours after that... tried to get E to nap but wasn't successful. Decided to go to Museum of Discovery (pictures below). We left about 4:45. Had to pick up the boys at 6 from church... so we drove thru San Fransico Bread Co. and got chicken salad sandwiches. E and A played on the playground while L and I waited in the car. David called about 5:45 to let me know Cherie had called and they were running about an hour behind. SO I came home and let David go get them. L had fallen asleep in the car... I let him sleep and pulled weeds. Decided a hoe would get the job done faster... albeit harder... but it worked. I got the UGLY flower bed cleaned out. Now we need mulch. Or I should say, we need mulch NOW. David had cleared out layers of mulch which was needed... our bushes were drowning. But we haven't replaced it... the weeds are prolific. On the plus side... some perennials returned that I haven't seen in years b/c of too much mulch.
I think I shall treat myself to a trip to Home Depot tomorrow. ALONE :) I could use some more color. Won't get mulch there when I can get a truckload for about $5 from the city... though we don't have a truck. Hopefully David can borrow one this weekend. Though it being the 4th of July on Sunday... tomorrow might be a holiday???

Waitin on the Boys

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Construction

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I want out!

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He found her!

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The boys went with Ms Cherie to deliver stuff to the Baptist Boys Ranch in Harrison that was bought with donations from VBS. A, E, L and I are going to the Museum of Discovery. E and L fell asleep so we're waiting a bit before going in.
I think next week will be 'staycation' week. There are all sorts of things in LR I've always wanted to do. I got a coupon book from a fund raiser that has discounts to the Clinton Library, Arkansas Historic Museum, zoo... and more.
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He looks confused

I showed him the picture on my blog and he said "I want to watch Elijah" He's not getting that it is just a picture... not a video.

Showing E funny YouTube videos

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