Chicken Lasagna Alfredo

Well, I've been on a roll lately with making up random meals to use up things we have. Last Sunday, our church had a carry-in dinner in the evening, and I had nothing that made any sense that was enough to feed a large group of people. Instead, I made something up. I figured, worst case, it wasn't any good, and a few people may still eat it (lol). I made sure to get some on my plate when I went through the line to try it out. And to my surprise - and relief - it wasn't bad! I thought I'd share it with you... also, that way I can come back to this later to see what I did, because I'm really good at forgetting things. I did all of this in my big oblong crock pot.

* spray the crock pot lightly with cooking spray

* in a bowl, combine

• 15 oz. canned white meat chicken (drained),


• 1 pkg frozen mixed veggies (I used peas, carrots, corn, gr beans) - still frozen is fine,


• 2 jars of Alfredo sauce (I used Classico...it was very yummy),


• a bit of milk (maybe 1/8 - 1/4 cup),


• Italian seasoning or oregano - no idea how much, I just put it in ??

* cover the bottom of the crock pot with a thin layer of the sauce mix

* lay out 3 or 4 uncooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of the pot

*Spread a layer of ricotta cheese over the noodles

* Cover with some of the sauce mix

*sprinkle a light layer of shredded mozz & parmesan cheese over the sauce

* layer another layer of uncooked noodles, ricotta, sauce, and cheese until the pot is full.

* Put the lid on. Cook on high for 1 hour. Then on low for 4-5 hours.

Why ask why

This conversation was held this morning:

me - 'Meagan, I love you.'
meg - 'Why?'
me - 'Why do I love you? Because you're precious and special and smart and funny and sweet, and because you're my girl.'
meg - 'Oh yea, I knew all that.'

:)



***

Fun in the Sun

I'm starting to get stir crazy for summer! I'm really hoping to be more proactive this year in finding fun things to do with the kids. Last year I was kind of a lazy bum when it came to being creative with them! I know there is a small lake nearby that lets you swim for free...we may look into that this year. And I may take advantage of the free gardens nearby and so forth.


Here's a layout I did the other day that 100% makes me think summer! I used a new kit by Pink Ellie called Aloha. I LOVE the colors in this kit. I've been holding on to these goggle pics of Meagan for a year now, waiting to find a kit that really does them justice. I was so excited to finally get these awesome pics (thanks Grandma...or Tina!) onto a layout.

Journaling: Summer vacation at Grandma & Grandpa's always provides plenty of opportunity for swimming! This year, Meagan had no problem keeping pace with the boys. With her green goggles and her hot pink floaties, once she got in the pool, it was hard to get her out! Summer 2008

***

For those who want to know...

I know a few of you have asked me about baseball/gymnastics schedules so that you can make plans to come up and watch games & practices. I figured the easiest way was to post it here. That way you can't lose it, and I can make changes if needed and not worry about forgetting to tell someone something! So, without further delay, here it is:

Saturday May 9:

• 9:00 am - Baseball practice (S)

Monday May 11:

• 5:45 - Game (S)
• 6:00 - Baseball (I)

Tuesday May 12:

• 4:30 - Gymnastics (M)
• 7:00 - Game (S)

Wednesday May 13:

• 6:45 - Baseball (I)

Monday May 18:

• 6:00 - Game (I)
• 7:00 - Game (S)

Tuesday May 19:

• 4:30 - Gymnastics (M)

Wednesday May 20:

• 6:00 - Game (I)
• 7:00 - Game (S)

Tuesday May 26:

• 4:30 - Gymnastics (M)
• 5:45 - Game (S)

Wednesday May 27:

• 6:00 - Game (I)

Saturday May 30:

• 12:30 - Game (S)

Monday June 1:

• 6:00 - Game (I)
• 7:00 - Game (S)

Tuesday June 2:

• 4:30 - Gymnastics (M)
• 5:45 - Game (S)

Wednesday June 3:

• 6:00 - Game (I)

Monday June 8:

• 5:45 - Game (S)
• 6:00 - Game (I)

Tuesday June 9:

• 4:30 - Gymnastics (M)

Wednesday June 10:

• 5:45 - Game (S)
• 6:45 - Game (I)

Saturday June 13:

• 12:00 - Game (S)

Monday June 15:

• 6:00 - Game (I)
• 7:00 - Game (S)

Tuesday June 16:

• 4:30 - Gymnastics (M)
• 7:00 - Game (S)

Wednesday June 17 (OUR 9-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!)

• 6:45 - Game (I)

Monday June 22:

• Baseball tournaments this week...not sure of the days yet (S)
• 6:45 - Game (I)

Tuesday June 23:

• 4:30 - Gymnastics (M)
• And maybe a tournament game for Sebastian

So, there you have it. If there are any changes, I'll change this post so that it's always up-to-date. The only real change I could foresee is maybe Meagan's gymnastics schedule will be changing for the summer session. Not sure when that starts yet.

***

Number 28 & 29

I have officially finished 29 scrapbook layouts so far this year. That really doesn't seem like a lot, but I guess it averages out to a little over 7 layouts a month, which is quite a bit. Here are #'s 28 and 29! I'll set a goal of 55 for the year, just for fun, to see if I can make it! Something tells me I should be able to pull that off!

Anyway....

The first one is a picture of Isaac and Lucas that I took last year at one of Sebastian's t-ball games.

The journaling says: 'this moment is precious to him - sitting in daddy's lap, reading, listening. in this moment, he has his daddy's full attention. it may seem like a small thing - easily overlooked, even lost, among the daily rush & activity. but this moment should not be overlooked. it should not be forgotten. it should be celebrated. captured. remembered. because in this moment, he is learning to trust. to communicate. to share. to be. in this moment, his life is being shaped. his path is being altered, changed, forever. in this moment, he knows what it means to LOVE, and for that, this moment should be remembered.' (click for credits)

The second page is of Meagan on her first birthday. Can you believe this was almost 3 years ago already! I am constantly amazed at how quickly time passes!

The journaling says: "The big giant box should have been a hint that Shane and Tina had something planned for you. I wasn't expecting to see a giant crushed-velvet bear in the box, but that's what we found! You LOVED it, and kept coming back to it all day!" (click for credits)

***

Burried in baseball!

Oh my goodness! Yesterday was the first day in 2 weeks of attempts that a baseball / t-ball practice actually went off without a rain cancellation. Sebastian's practice was at 5:30; Isaac's was at 5:45.... or so we thought.

So, I took Sebastian & Meagan to one school, and Lucas went with Isaac to another school - because, of course, they have to be at the same time at different locations... anything else would be too easy, right!

I had been under the impression that Sebastian was playing BASEBALL this year - no tee. But when we got there, there was a tee, and at least 3 kids on Sebastian's team that are in kindergarten. I thought, 'Wow! They're a little young to be skipping over a year of t-ball for baseball!" Although I was wondering a bit, I stopped worrying about it at the point when another kid Sebastian's age (and in Sebastian's class at school) showed up for practice.

Well, we got home before Isaac and Lucas did. I figured since they started 15 minutes later, they'd be home within 15 to 20 minutes, right? Nope. It was at least 7:30 before they got home. Hmmm....

And then Lucas spoke up. "Bec, did Sebastian's team have pitching?" Yes, I answered, the coaches pitched. "Oh no! Not Isaac's team! They had a fast pitch machine! And they were running laps, and doing push-ups! And one kid got beamed in the face with a pitch and started bleeding! Poor Isaac just kept ducking the ball!"

Ah ha! Maybe THAT's why I was so suspicious during practice that something wasn't right! The rec league got our boys mixed up and put them on the wrong teams! So we notified the coaches that, as of next practice, we will be switching the boys around to the other team.

*** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Okay, that being resolved, I sat down at the calender to put in their schedules. Let's just say, we are going to have to divide and conquer, or there is NO way! Sebastian will have practices or games on Monday's and Tuesday's mostly, sometimes Wednesday's, and sometimes Saturday's. Isaac will practice / play on Monday's and Wednesday's. One at 5:45 or 7:00. The other at 6:00 or 6:30. (And all of this is complicated just a bit by Meagan's gymnastics on Tuesdays, and sometimes Wednesday's or Thursday's). The season runs through mid-June for Isaac. Sebastian's goes the same, but there's a tournament the week of June 22. Thankfully, the calender on my computer lets you keep a separate calender for each person and view them together or separately. (It's also color-coded by person, so it looks like a big giant coloring book!)

Let's just say that I think by the end of June, we will not be sorry to say good-bye to the baseball season.

***

According to You

Look how much Sebastian has grown! A few years ago we did an interview with him to document things he liked at that time. Back in October, we did another interview to update things a bit, and I just got around to putting the whole thing together on a layout. The kit I used is a new one by Traci Murphy at Funky Playground called 'All About da Funk.' It will be released tomorrow, the 30th.

age: 7

fav color: black

fav food: candy corn hershy kisses & hot dogs

fav book/series: hardy boys

worst food: fish & mint anything

fav movie: flicka

best friend: harley

fav sport: football

fav school special: technology

fav school subject: writing

something you like but don't do very often: fishing

best part of school: fun friday

worst part of school: nothing

what are you good at: drawing & making up stories

fav thing to draw: pokemon

fav vacation spot: cedar point

On the Go

Here are 2 layouts I did with a new kit by Ziggle Designs called 'On the Go.' The 1st one is of Sebastian on the day he was born. Wasn't he a cute little peanut! The second one is of the kids at Cedar Point last year. They got Grandma to go on the speedy race cars. They had a blast!

The Crunchy Ones

The other night, we ran out of pull-ups in our house. What to do?! So, I put Meagan in big girl undies for bed time, and covered them with the plastic water-proof underpants. Let's just say, she's not the biggest fan of the plastic pants. She says they're too noisy and crunchy.

Last night at bedtime, Lucas was getting her ready for bed. First the regular undies. Then the plastic ones. When it came time for the plastic ones, she went into full protest. "I DON'T LIKE THE CRUNCHY ONES!" she cried. Lucas responded, "As soon as you learn to stay dry, you won't have to wear them anymore." When that wasn't enough to settle her, he said, "Besides, your brothers had to wear these too when they were learning to stay dry at night."

Sebastian, who was standing nearby, and who hears EVERYTHING, throws his 2 cents in by saying, "Um, I don't remember EVER wearing THOSE THINGS!"

Thanks buddy, that's a lot of help.

She still wore them.

Today, however, we found them thrown away in the trash can in her bathroom. Nice try girl. It's gonna take more than that to get rid of the crunchy ones.

Slightly less broken...slightly

Well, we got the van fixed. However, now it creaks. So apparently, it still needs some TLC. We'll be looking into that tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon, Lucas took it upon himself to repair the garage door, which eventually involved me holding the big bar that goes the full width of the garage while he tightened the cables... Only I couldn't reach, and I could get my hands around the vice grips (or whatever they were that I was using), so I was practically hanging on the thing to hold it... I'm sure that was quite the sight. Thankfully, there were no cameras around! We did eventually manage to get the garage door back into an operable state. We are no longer trapped in our garage, and Lucas doesn't have to lift with herculean might to push the door up.

We did manage to get more caught up (although not completely) on the laundry piles that were accumulating in every corner of every room in the house (not really, but it was starting to feel like it!) Plus, when we went to pick up the van the other day, we left the windows open, only to come home to a flooded kitchen & bedroom thanks to the storm that blew threw while we were away.... which meant that an entire basket of clean laundry that had been sitting under our window, just waiting to be folded, was DRENCHED! Do over!

So, our last three days have been non-stop doing and going. We've been working hard, and I'm thinking right now it's about time to crash! Hopefully the next few days will bring a bit of rest at some point, although we'll have to find time to squeeze it into our schedule between all of the t-ball / baseball / gymnastics practices! (Sheesh, I'm wearing myself out just typing this! I think we just need a vacation!) As for now, I am DONE for the day. I have a nice cozy bed that is calling my name! 'Night!

Pop Quiz

Tonight for dinner, Lucas & I had hot Italian sausage, while the kids had hot dogs. At some point during our dinner conversation, Lucas asks Sebastian if he knows what his hot dog is made of. Without blinking, Sebastian answers very matter-of-factly, 'Yup. Livers, hooves, and intestines.' So I asked him if he knew what that meant. 'Yes, it's stuff from your stomach, or stuff that's inside your rib cage.' Okay, so I guess he passed that pop quiz. And apparently he is unfazed by the contents of his dinner.


***

Broken

Broken. That one single word describes way too many things at our house right now. Today was a day dedicated to mending the broken. First off, Lucas took the day off of work today, for 2 reasons (other than just wanting/needing a break). First, we had to take the van to get the front end fixed, and I needed someone to go with me to drop it off to bring me home. Even more than that, though, our garage is in need of repair. A few days ago - Wednesday actually - when Sebastian and I got home from his 1st baseball practice of the season (which, by the way only lasted about 15 minutes because it started raining/sleeting out of nowhere), I pushed the garage door opener so I could pull the van in. Only the garage door only opened about a foot off the ground. Then it closed. So I pushed it again. Same thing. Again. Same. You get the point. I thought Lucas must have been messing with me, until I saw his feet and hands appear at the bottom of the garage door. At that point, I realized he wasn't messing with me at all, but he was actually trying to help get the door open. Anyway, the spring had broken. The funniest part of the whole story is that I actually had to call him home from work Thursday morning because I COULD NOT get the door open. Meagan and I were trapped in the garage! LOL!

So anyway. Today, after we dropped the van off, we headed to Bob's for breakfast. Then went to Menard's to look for a spring for the garage door. In the process, somehow, we ended up picking out a screen door for the front door. BUT they didn't have the one we wanted in stock. We checked Lowe's next with no luck. At that point, we headed out and made a few more stops. On the way home, we happened to pass another Menard's, so we decided to stop and see if they had the door. They did! So, we came home with a screen door. No spring for the garage door yet, but a screen door. I must say it is incredible to have such a good cross breeze coming through the house today. I am a big fan of the new screen door!


Going back to the theme of broken....

After hanging the door, Lucas busted out the lawn mower to cut the grass. Can you believe it? The wheel on the mower busted. Aaaah! Still functional, just a flat tire of sorts.

However, today was a milestone day for Sebastian. It was his first time ever that he mowed the yard! He did a few lines going from the front to back. Then it was time for dinner, after which Lucas just finished it up. So Sebastian didn't really do a lot of it, but he seemed to really like it, and said he wanted to do it again. (I think Lucas has been looking forward to this day for the past 7 years!!! LOL)

To wrap up the day, we had a family DQ ice cream picnic. Sebastian & Lucas were the Blizzard Boys. Meagan got a strawberry sundae. Isaac got the biggest boat of a banana split (and ate it all!!). And I got the yummiest turtle sundae in a chocolate dipped waffle cone bowl.... YUMMMM! It was a nice way to wind down from a busy day of fixing all things broken.

***

As Promised....

I am totally operating off of the "Better late than never" slogan right now! Here are our Easter Pictures... only one week after the fact!

We attempted an outdoor photo session. I didn't consider the fact that it was early morning, and the sun was going to be RIGHT IN OUR EYES. No matter where we went, or what angle I faced them, it was just too bright, and they all struggled to keep their eyes open. But I still think the pictures turned out pretty cute...


So as to try to get a few pictures without squinty eyes, I took them all back inside for some pics on the couch. However, by this time, they were all feeling a little ornery, and the silliness ensued. You can see it first in Meagan's eyes, and then Isaac's, and pretty soon, a whole Bunny Ear battle was under way. It was funny to watch, and they giggled so hard I thought for sure Isaac would burst! I love laughter like that...it's infectious!!


The kids each took turns taking pictures of me with someone else. There were a lot of blurred shots on my camera, but a few turned out okay.


Finally, after church, we did an outdoor egg hunt. We only hid and hunted the eggs that we had decorated the day before. Nothing fancy. But it still was a ball! I think it was a good thing we only did a few eggs, because it took a good 45 minutes for them just to find those. And that was with some heavy hinting at times! LOL!

***

.....

I didn't fall off the face of the earth. We've had some STINKY Internet problems - like dropping service all over the place for no reason. It's been VERY aggravating! I think, however, it may finally be fixed. At least it hasn't done it for about 24-48 hours. Hoping our online streak continues!!

I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) to post some pics from Easter. I know the grandparents have all been itching to see the kids dressed up in their Easter outfits.


***

The Process...

Our big excitement for the afternoon was coloring eggs. I bought a dozen eggs for each kid. After cooking them (the first time), one was cracked, so we decided each of them would have 11 eggs instead of 12 (to make things fair). Lucas decided he would eat the cracked egg, so he cracked it open, only to find that the centers weren't fully cooked. Yuck. So I stuck them back in the steamer for a bit longer...hopefully that worked... if not, then we've wasted $3 of eggs... not the biggest of deals I suppose, although I hate to be wasteful.

Anyway, after steaming them all a second time, we began to prepare the coloring tablets while the eggs cooled. We had 3 boxes of tablets - each box had 6 colors. I figured with 3 dozen eggs, it might go a bit faster with more colors going at the same time. So, we decided to do one set of tablets in vinegar (to make bright colors), one set in lemon juice (to make medium colors), and one set in water (to make pastel colors). Sebastian the science kid made this observation about the way the tablets reacted in each of the 3 liquids: they 'explode like fireworks' in the vinegar, they 'fizz like fizzy bubbles' in the lemon juice, and they 'just sort of sit there and don't do anything' in the water. Funny stuff that boy is.

Once the eggs were cool, the tablets were ready, and the table was covered, we moved our show to the kitchen table and got ready to color. I thought the easiest way would be to line them up by color and by liquid base and then keep track of whose eggs were in which cups... I know that sounds a little over the top for egg coloring, but trust me, without a method to keep track, I would totally lose track, and chaos would ensue... 'no MINE was in that blue one!'... you get the point. Anyway, it worked REALLY well, and the whole thing took us only about an hour at most to color and complete 3 dozen eggs. Now we're just waiting on them to dry so they can put the stickers on.

***

Misadventures of the day before Easter

This morning, almost as an afterthought, I decided to double check to make sure the clothes I bought the kids for Easter actually fit. I'm glad I checked, because Sebastian's shirt was huge on him. So, we loaded up in the van, and headed back to Old Navy to make the exchange. For a special treat, and in the interest of skipping a step at home before being able to leave, we stopped at Speedway and got some donuts for breakfast...(Karen, if you're reading this, you can scold me later). We also got the kids each a bottle of milk, which took one of them all of 30 seconds to spill in the van before we even left the parking lot... sheesh. Other than that, there were no real mishaps. The only real problem was that the mall was packed, then Target (our next stop) was even more packed, and the roads were busy. So it wasn't a bad trip, it was just a congested trip. And it seems that congestion and business makes my kids (and probably me too) a little more tense and uptight than normal. So they were kind of picking at each other, and they were melting a little more readily than normal. It was a bit irritating, but we made it through okay. Our last stop (because Target didn't have what we were looking for) was Wal-Mart, which was the busiest of all. We got 3 packs of Easter egg color tablets, some stickers to put on the eggs, and some ribbon (for Meagan's hair for tomorrow, as she has changed her mind on which dress she wants to wear, and we didn't have ribbon to match her new choice...she's such a girl sometimes! Although, I will say, her new selection will match the boys much better than her initial choice - her dress is blue & green, and they each have a blue shirt and a green shirt. I didn't plan that, but I can't say that I mind).

***

Visitors

Yesterday (Friday) we had some visitors in the afternoon. Some friends of ours came over after lunch and hung out with us until about 4:00. They have 2 boys and a girl, although the age range for their 3 kiddos is from 10 down to 2. The boys all play really well together, and Anna and Meagan have a ball together. So they played - everything from Polly Pockets to kitchen, to legos, to sand box, to wii, to sword/light saber fights. It was a great afternoon of just hanging out and kicking back. Love that. Then, last night we went to Applebee's for dinner. It was the 1st time I'd had Mt. Dew in over a week. Yum. Plus, the food tasted extra good last night because I didn't have to cook it!! Love that, too!

***

Playtime

Here are two layouts I did using the Playtime Collaboration Kit at After Five Designs.

Journaling: Meagan, when you smile, your face lights up, and your eyes sparkle with joy. You have the ability to bring such joy and happiness and laughter to a day of mundane happenings. You can lighten a mood with a look or a sweet word or a gesture. It's such a precious gift from God to be able to brighten the world the way you do. I truly hope that as you grow up, you will begin to share more smiles and less sass. You're like a real-life pocket full of sunshine, and I love that!

Journaling: What I love most about this day was how hard we all laughed trying to get our kites to fly!

Spring Break Updates

I thought as I'm sitting here eating lunch, I'd give a quick update on our Spring Break week. The kids have been pretty good, all in all, as far as attitude goes... although Meagan still insists on fighting me on everything. She can be exhausting!

The boys did their trial class of gymnastics, and LOVED it! They both did really well, actually, and caught on very quickly to the skills and such. Isaac's focus was a little all over the place, and he did lots of bouncing around in between turns (he and Meagan are a lot alike in that respect... neither one of them can seem to sit still... ever!). Other than that, though it went really well. They came home and found ways to practice their vaulting and floor exercises in our house. Of course.

We did find an Old Navy that's not too far away from us - maybe a 30 minute drive. So we got the boys each an Easter outfit for this weekend. And the kids saw the Easter Bunny at the mall. We didn't have time to stop to get pictures taken, but the Bunny did give them each an egg with prizes inside... that was worth the 30 minute drive, as far as the kids were concerned!

Bits and Pieces

Let me just start by saying that it is almost 11:00 at night, and all three kids are still awake. Church at 9:00 in the morning is going to be interesting.

Anyway, we survived April Fool's Day with no known pranks....well, other than Isaac telling us that he bought a cow, and then shouting 'April Fools!' before I even had a chance to process what he had said to begin with. That was pretty cute.

Yesterday was the kids' last day of school until the Tuesday after Easter, so I am bracing for a shift in attitude and behavior - you know, the kind that inherently comes when they get out of routine...say, like being awake at 11:00 at night. We don't have any really big plans for break, because I am still working Monday and Thursday, but a few small things. The biggest excitement that the boys are looking forward to is a free trial gymnastics class this Tuesday. They've been asking for months now to join gymnastics, but I haven't been able to let them because of the timing of the beginner boys classes...there's just no way we would make it there on time without the boys missing a big chunk of school every Tuesday...not for gymnastics. But, since there is no school, missing school is not an issue. They're pretty pumped about it actually.

Other than that, we may have to go Easter outfit shopping for the boys - and regular clothes shopping for me, as my pants are all rapidly developing holes in inappropriate places...EEEK! Meagan and I did ran some errands yesterday, and we stopped at the mall to go to Old Navy, only to find that Old Navy no longer exists in our mall. So we ended up making an over-glorified potty break at Barnes & Noble, and then leaving...pretty pointless trip actually. So I have to go online and see if there's an Old Navy still in existence anywhere near us (I'm only hung up on Old Navy because I have $75 of gifts cards that I want to use up).

In other news, Meagan has been making big birthday plans for the last few days. She is having a Tinkerbell party. We have already gotten the decorations, the plates, the cups, and all the other party necessities. She has decided she wants to have her party at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and she wants to have a big giant pizza, or maybe hot dogs, for her food. Really, she just wanted to have cupcakes for her food, but we finally settled on actually feeding people something other than cake. So anyhow, she wants cherry chip cupcakes because they're pink. And she wants green icing with purple sprinkles because her decorations are green and purple. And she has a list about a mile long of things she would like to have for her birthday. That girl is not lacking for a wish list, that's for sure.

Hmmm... other than that, we've been kind of going about life as usual. Lucas is actually not working this weekend, so he decided to work on the van instead. And as for me, I finally got around to getting groceries for the week, so we don't have to survive on the randomness that we've loosely called meals as of lately.... like the night we had a combination of cereal (for the kids), tuna sandwiches (for Lucas...definitely NOT for me), and cheese and crackers (that was mine) ... after which we had completely run out of milk (the reason I didn't also have cereal with the kids), cheese, tuna, and bread. Nice, huh?

Just Married

I almost forgot to post this layout! How could I??? This is one of Great Grandma & Grandpa H.'s wedding pictures... as they drive off into the sunset (LOL). Aren't they cute?!

Credits: {Matahati Designs} - Vintage Charm

M{eagan}

Another Meagan layout using another new kit by Bren Boone - the kit is called Power Crafter.



These pictures are also from summer vacation last year. I may end up using them again on another layout because I really like them!

Fun Is Good

Here's a layout I did over the weekend with a new kit by Bren Boone that comes out tomorrow...'The Best Thing Ever.' These pictures are from summer vacation at Grandma & Grandpa H.'s last summer. Grandma took some AMAZING bubble pictures. I know the layout doesn't do the pictures justice, but I liked all of them so much I had to include them all...thus, they're a little small. Oh well. The quote is from Dr. Suess's One Fish Two Fish. "If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good."

Staying Afloat

Every now and then - maybe once a month or so - the school has a 'swim for $1.00' day. After school, instead of coming home, the kids get bussed to the aquatic center for about an hour & a half of swimming. Last Wednesday was that day for March.

I went to pick the boys up a little after 5:00. On the way home, as they were recounting their adventures and fun, Sebastian said, "Mom, I wish I could swim in the deep end, but I'm not allowed to yet." As I talked to him about it a little more, I found out that one of his friends in his class has passed the swim test to be able to swim in the deep end. Sebastian, however, is great at swimming under water, but cannot swim on the surface very well.

This led to conversation about past swim lessons, and led Isaac to offer his two cents on the matter. "Well, I know how to swim because I learned in my swim lessons. I just move my hands and feet around really fast so they're floppy....it usually works, only sometimes I go under water. But I almost always pop right back up."

LOL! I love that kid. He has such a great outlook on life! I guess it's all in the technique (and in hoping you resurface quickly when the technique fails you!)

Needless to say, I believe we'll be getting them some more swim lessons this spring or early summer. I think Sebastian might be looking for something a little more definite than floppy hands and feet.

Fever in the moring...

Over the weekend, the kids developed a bit of a cough, but this morning, Meagan woke up with a fever. Bummer. Poor girl, when I went in to get her up to get ready for school, she said, "Mommy, I just want to stay in bed and keep sleeping because I feel sick." I picked her up to carry her downstairs (for the sake of making some form of forward progress), and she felt pretty warm. So, while she was nibbling on a banana and some yogurt, I checked her temp. Not bad - around 100 - but it still qualifies as a fever, so no pre-school for her today....which meant taking her to work with me.

We packed a bag of coloring books, Polly Pockets, DVD's, and a few snacks, and headed out. She actually did rather well...especially considering the wide open potential for all things Meagan! We really only had a few moments of Meagan-ness, and all but one of those were pretty typical 3-year-old goodness. For example, she tried to pour her own water from the water cooler...had a little mishap, so we ended up watering the plant in my office with the overspill. Another example...we were having the carpet laid and finished today at the church, so we were laying out these carpet tiles to find where we wanted to place these accent tiles. Well, Meagan wanted in on the fun, so she picked up the tiles and moved them around a few times. The only incident that made me bust out the full-name, mom-is-serious side of me was when she used my PAID stamp and a black ink pen to decorate a check that I was getting ready to mail out. Needless to say, I had to void that check and rewrite it. Really it was no big deal, and it was my fault for setting all of those things out and then leaving her in my office for a few minutes without supervision....really, what was I thinking?

So, now we're home. We had a late lunch, and a late nap. She's upstairs laying down, and coughing like a maniac. I'm not feeling like the cough medicine is doing so much good, so I have a call into the doctor as of now. Hoping for a good rest (although I'm not holding my breath), and maybe a good night of sleep! Also, hoping no one else comes down with anything. Yuck!

tidbits

While our breakfast blueberry muffins are baking (which we're having primarily because we're out of almost every other kind of food), I thought I'd post a few stories that happened through the week.


SHOPPING WITH MEAGAN:
Meagan and I played hookie from story hour. She wasn't in the mood to go, and, truthfully, neither was I...I figured in those circumstances, it wasn't really worth the struggle. Instead of going to the library, we dropped of recycling and then headed to Wal-Mart to get 'a few things' (does anyone else have those trips when you go for two things and you walk out with several bags? it was one of those days for us). I can't even really remember what we went there for, it was so boring, but as we walked past the clothes section, a dress caught Meagan's eye. She grabbed it off the wrack, hugged it to her, and said in the sweetest little voice ever, "Oh momma, it's the most perfect thing ever!" Uuuuh, how do you say no to that? Anyway, as we went in search of the right size for her most perfect dress ever, I realized that they actually had quite a few really cute dresses and clothes priced really cheap. So, we ended up with probably five or six dresses, a pants/jacket outfit, and a Tinkerbell shirt for Meagan, plus bathing suits for all three kids. And a few other things snuck in for birthdays or Easter.


OVERHEARD:
Last weekend, Sebastian went roller-skating again, so Meagan and Isaac were the only two kids around. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day, so we got out the cars (at their begging and pleading) and let them have an open derby in the yard. They played outside all afternoon, and seemed quite happy. But Lucas said he overheard Isaac at one point having an interesting conversation that went something like this:
(In a nice, not-at-all mean tone of voice) 'Meagan, could you just not talk to me for a while. Sometimes I try to get through the day with nobody talking to me, but it's just like everyone always wants to say stuff to me. I just want to be quiet and not talk.' (Is that Lucas' child, or what! LOL)

CLEAN-UP:
Yesterday was the kids' second Friday in a row that they did not have school. Last Friday I gave them the day off to do whatever they wanted, so yesterday I put them to work. For the first part of the morning, they weren't too on-board with the cleaning plan. They SAID they were going to help, but when it came to it, they really just played and tried to look busy. After a little 'talking to,' we had lunch and then continued on with our chores (I had been hoping we would have been done by then, but I had told them that we were going to work until the job was done, no matter how long it took). So back to work we went. I'm not really sure what brought about the change of heart, but they were VERY helpful. They got all the toys out of the living room. Sebastian vacuumed the living room floor, the couch and chairs, and even took the edging tool and vacuumed around the edges of the walls. Meanwhile, I gave Isaac and Meagan a bucket of soapy water and two cloths, and they scrubbed the entire kitchen floor, the cabinet faces, and the closet door. Nice. The also made their beds and picked up their room. Even after we were done and I had released them to playtime, they were still being helpful and NICE to each other. They were sharing, they were helping each other with problems, and they offered to help clean up after dinner!

WHAT DID YOU SAY?:
I don't think I've told you this yet... sorry if it's a repeat. During Super Bowl, I noticed something that struck me as odd. When a commercial came on that caught the kids' attention, they all stopped and watched it....then Isaac cracked up laughing and repeated what he thought he had heard. But whatever he said was nowhere near what had really been said. His repeat words sounded like gibberish.

So the next time I talked with his teacher, I asked her about doing another hearing screening for him. Well, about a week ago, we got a notice from the health department that he had not passed his hearing tests (they did two tests on separate days to see if they get the same results). So yesterday we had our follow-up with our family doctor, who then referred us to a specialist. We go to see the specialist sometime in April. We'll see what happens then.

Catching Flies

I took these pictures of Meagan last summer at the zoo. For some reason (not entirely unlike her), she wouldn't just sit and smile at me. She insisted on making funny faces and sticking out her tongue. What a clown!

Credits: {Ziggle Designs} - Forest Friends, Vintage Square frame; {Katie Pertiet} - between the lines alpha brush set

Conferences

Tonight were parent-teacher conferences for the boys. Isaac's was first, and he got to guide us around the room and show us what he does during the school day. We also talked to his teacher for a few minutes. She had lots of good to say - he is a quick thinker, he participates well, he's learning quickly, and he's always helpful. She also made a note to mention that he sometimes has trouble managing his emotions, and she wondered if we have the same issues at home. YES WE DO. So we talked together about some of the things that we find at home that help him settle down. I really like that she wants to work with us so that we're being consistent in both places. She's a sweet lady, and a great teacher!

Sebastian's conference was right after Isaac's. More good stuff to report. He is 'secure' in everything except time management. LOL - He's MY child!! She said he is a little disorganized in his approach to problem-solving or accomplishing tasks. She said he is always running right up to the last minute. (Again, all I can say is, I have a feeling he learned that from watching me...oops). But, seeing as I am trying to work on my how I use my time, maybe we can work on some of those same things with him.

Now the kids are all sitting at the kitchen table doing scribble art together. It's a pretty quiet and peaceful evening around here...kind of nice really. The best part of it, by far is that they are working nicely together, sharing, talking respectfully, and making projects to give as gifts to each other. I'll take more nights like this any time!

Free Digital Kit

I thought I'd pass this along for anyone who is interested. Scrap Orchard's designers all got together and made this great collaborative kit, and they're giving it away for free! It's gorgeous! You just have to work for it (but only a little...doubt you'll even break a sweat). It's a blog train: follow the links, starting at Scrap Orchard, from one blog to the next. At each blog, you can download a piece of the kit. Eventually you'll end up back at the Scrap Orchard blog, and you'll know you've gotten all the pieces of the kit then.

Click on the kit preview to get to the Scrap Orchard blog.

Up in flames

For longer than I can recall, our microwave has been, shall we say...MALFUNCTIONING. It does all kinds of cool tricks...like cracking things, for example. In the course of the past six months or so, we have cracked the microwave plate (that came with the thing to put in the bottom to set the food on...you know, the one that's SUPPOSED to be in there) and then another makeshift plate we used to replace the original plate. We've also managed to superheat one of our microwave-safe casserole dishes until it cracked all along the side...now it's a goner!

Cracking porcelain and glass isn't the only trick that thing can do! Oh no! It can also burn holes through popcorn bags and paper plates! A few days ago, I made Isaac a breakfast burrito in the microwave, and his paper plate came out with about a 2-inch diameter brown spot on the one side of it. A few times we've made popcorn and a hole has burnt right through the bag, which leads to popcorn kernels ZOOMING around freely inside the microwave.

And it's popcorn prowess is not limited to merely releasing the kernels from their paper bag prison. There's more! Sometimes, it absolutely refuses to pop the popcorn at all...it will go through the entire 3 minute cycle without so much as a single pop. That's a neat trick. OR, It will burn the kernels in a matter of 90 seconds, leaving us with char-corn...the kids have lovingly dubbed that trick 'cow plop' (mostly because it smells THAT bad in our house after the popcorn burns).

Well, last night, Lucas and I were having a date of sorts, getting caught up on our tivo'd shows, and Lucas asked if I wanted some popcorn. My response was, I don't think we can have popcorn because of our dumb microwave. Well, he, being the determined man that he is, decided HE would be able to magically make the microwave cooperate. So, he stood watch as the popcorn popped. From in the living room where I was waiting and listening, it seemed as though, from the fairly constant popping, that he was having some success. However, just as I heard the microwave door open, I heard him say something along the lines of "Aaahh." Turns out he was too slow, and at the last second, the bag actually caught fire. He put it out quickly and managed to salvage about 1/4 of the popped corn, but it smelled like fire, so we canned the whole thing and resorted to tortilla chips and queso dip (although we were slightly nervous about heating up the dip, so we did it on the stove top).

Needless to say, we deemed our dumb machine to be an official fire hazard. Today we took a family outing to Menards and bought a replacement. Tonight we had popcorn for a snack. No burning. No laser beam holes in the bag. No cow plop.

Life is good.

Mismatched

I've been wanting to post about this for a few days now, but haven't had the free time to sit down and actually do it. Tuesday, we were getting ready to leave for story hour at the library. We were all set, with the exception of shoes and coats. I set Meagan on a mission to get her shoes on while I rounded up library books to be returned. It wasn't long before I heard, "Momma, I can't find the other one. Can you help me?"

I turned to see what she needed, and found her with one brown shoe on her foot. The other was shoeless. We looked quickly through the shoe drawer with no luck. I made a suggestion or two as to some other shoes she could wear. She picked one. Not one pair. One shoe. A hot pink one. "I think this one will be fun to wear with my brown shoe," she said. I nearly started to tell her she couldn't do that, and then stopped myself. I realized there was absolutely no really good reason I could offer as to why she couldn't wear two mismatched shoes. So, I simply responded, "If that's what makes you happy." "It does make me happy," she said. That was the end of that. We left for the library...one pink shoe and one brown.

I'd retype the journaling, but it's just a shortened version of everything I just told you! :)

Credits: {Ziggle Designs} - Forest Friends; {Amber Clegg} - Date It stamps; {Katie Pertiet} - buzz brushes; {Something Blue Studios} - worn photo overlays; {Michelle Coleman} - hand stamped alpha

Working on Time

I've not forgotten about my posting duties...in fact, I have a few little things in mind. This, however, is not going to be the time that I post them. I have something else on my mind at the moment.

For the last few months, things in my life have been being rearranged - some very small things, some more significant - from the way I approach laundry to the commitments to outside events, and so on. All of the changes that have taken place, and are still in progress, are leading to one thing: being more intentional and purposeful with my time that I have in each day.

For those of you who know me well, it may not come as a surprise to you when I say that I manage to waste a good deal of time in a day. Without meaning to. But I come to the end of the day, and the time is gone, while the list of things to do is not. Which means one of two things (or a combination of both) : 1) I've got too much in my schedule, or 2) I'm not using my time well. I think it's both. So I've been really thinking trough how I can address this. I'm tired of wasting time. If I have down-time, I want to intend to have down time (in contrast with having down time because I'm being lazy or avoiding something else I would rather not do). I also have to acknowledge that I only have so much time in a day, and I can't do everything, and I can't do it perfectly. So I have to learn to set realistic expectations for myself... a tricky one for me. I've always been a bit of a perfectionist, and it overwhelms me to the point that, instead of doing a 'perfect' job, I do a pitiful job. So, I've resolved to find somewhere in between that works for our family and for what time we have available at the moment.

I sat down tonight and tried (for about the 8-thousandth time) to block out a general schedule day-by-day for the week. Every time I sit down and attempt this, I feel like there's no way I can possibly do everything I want to do or need to do. It's a work in progress... may have to revisit it for tomorrow, but I did enough for tonight.

Anyway, not that this really affects you at all. I just wanted to post it so that I can look back at this later as a benchmark to see where I am in my progress.

Celebrating in small doses

The best part of my birthday was Lucas' coming home from training and finally getting to see him and have more than a 2-minute conversation. The kids were ecstatic to see him again!

Last night our church had an event geared toward married couples. We went to that, and it was a good time! I really enjoyed myself, and so did Lucas I believe. It was a great night all-together, and it was very good to have him home.

Today, the plan was to go out to eat and then go birthday present shopping. We got the first part of that done. We went to Max & Erma's (or Max and Erwin's, according to Meagan), and I got tortilla soup (yum!). However, about half way through dinner, Sebastian turned white as a ghost and completely stopped eating. He was struggling to even sit up, and finally resigned to laying his head down on the table. Truthfully, Lucas wasn't feeling well, either, and we were all relieved to be finished.

So, we abandoned the the rest of our plans and went home for nap time. We'll pick up where we left off eventually, whenever everyone is up on their feet again. In the meantime, I was content to continue celebrating by scrapping while everyone else slept.

Adding to the Albums

A few pages I've gotten done recently that I haven't posted here yet...

Sweet Girl: I took this picture of Meagan on her 1st day of preschool back in September 2008. Everything here is from Pink Ellie Designs - her stuff is so much fun to work with!!

Journaling: a little sassy but oh so sweet!

Expressive: These photos are from Summer vacation 2008 - the day Shane & Sebastian did their dino dig. I love the expressions on his face. He is definitely the kind of kid who can speak volumes with a single look!

This stuff is mostly from the After Five Desings March collaborative kit called Nova Vida. I also used a new alpha from Pink Ellie.

Rain rain go away: Last year at Sebastian's birthday party, we were all outside when, all of a sudden, it started pouring rain. We all escaped to either the garage or the house. Isaac, sat at the very edge of the garage, waiting on his Big Wheel for the first break in the weather so he could go back out and play. He's so cute!

This is Bren Boone's new kit, Paper Rain. The whole kit is gorgeous! I definitely have plans to put a few more of the papers to use!!

Fresh Flowers: Finally, these pics are from Meagan's princess tea party at Julia's house a month or so ago. I loved the fresh (pink) flowers on the table. Makes me long for Spring! Just around the corner, right?

This is Bren Boone's new kit, Spring Fever, and her new Wired Alpha.

Officially 30-Something

Well, today is it...my birthday! I am no longer just plain ol' 30...now I'm 30-something! :)

I've been thinking about it a lot lately - how very blessed I am. It's incredible to me the things I am blessed with at such a young age...

• Seems like, even though marriage is sometimes the hardest thing to do, our marriage is making leaps and bounds in a positive direction... Lucas is my friend; he knows me better than just about anyone; we balance each other; and it seems like, even when we have rough spots, those rough spots work in our favor, opening up communication and bringing us closer together in the end. I'm so thankful for our marriage - nearly 9 years - especially when marriages so often crumble apart somewhere between 5 and 9 years. Very blessed.
• I am momma to 3 of the coolest kids God has ever created! Also 3 of the most unique and challenging! But God has worked through them to make me a better person in so many ways! Without them, I would still be caught in my (even more) selfish, and (even more) impatient ways!
• We have a beautiful home, 2 vehicles, and no real lack to speak of. Compared to the rest of the world, we are (statistically speaking, although it's often easy to lose sight of this) in the top 8% for wealth (just owning a car of any type qualifies you for such status!)
• Going along with that, we have food on the table, and more waiting in the cupboards and freezer. We also have fresh drinking water, and running (hot) water to shower with...you get the point!
• I have an incredible job and such an awesome network of close friends who genuinely care about me, my family, and others.

I could go on forever... not trying to get all sappy... I'm just very aware that, at a relatively young age (yes, I still count 31 as young!), I can say that I have been very blessed, and that my life has held joy and purpose. That is what I am celebrating today!

Icky Sicky...again

Yesterday Sebastian was home from school with a stomach bug. Still home today, although doing much better. Pray for us...we are definitely looking forward to a continually healthy family.

This is just not happiness!

Another challenging day with Meagan - there have been a lot of them lately. I'm just trying to stay positive, and I'm trying to keep a perspective on where she might be coming from. It's been a long two weeks with her, though. I think a lot of factors are playing into the mix: she's been sick and is just coming off of an antibiotic, she hasn't been sleeping well, she's growing (pants no longer reach all the way to her ankles...shorts weather needs to get here quickly!), Lucas has been traveling and she misses her daddy, plus last weekend we traveled which always throws the routine off. Besides that, she is three, and she is female. Enough said.

Today was much the same as the several that came before it: sass, fussiness, grumpiness, and an all-around argumentative nature. That being said, there was a moment this afternoon where I thoroughly enjoyed her right in the midst of all her grumpy glory! We were getting ready to leave for gymnastics. She had (defiantly) gotten her leotard on, and was working on the warm-ups to go over it. She had the pants - those were not an issue. As she was getting her sweatshirt on, though, her wining increased to new heights. I tried to encourage her, redirect her train of thought, and whatever else I could do to get her back to even-keel. Not having it. Finally, I simply asked her, 'Honey, why are you so upset? What is bothering you?'

Her reply (in a cry/shout mix): 'All of this is just not happiness!!'

I cracked a smile, but kept my cool. Not a good idea to laugh at an agitated child (at least in our house).

Me: 'What is not happiness? What's bothering you?'

Her: 'When I put my coat on, my sweatshirt goes like this' (as she demonstrates by shoving her sleeves up to her elbows)!

The smile threatens again...

Me: 'Would you like to take the sweatshirt off and just wear your coat over your leotard?'

She nods. And smiles. Thank You, God!

Crisis averted.

An Enormous Undertaking

Last week while I was in Meagan's room putting some things away, I came to the stark realization that her room was a disaster! We have officially been overrun with all things little girl. All things tiny. With the teensy weensy rubber molded clothes and the even tinier matching shoes. With the countless rubber bands that are so easily scattered to every corner of the house. With dolls and princesses missing clothes - or worse, hair! With stuffed animals and books, and costumes, and jewels, and plastic shoes with giant gems and bows, and beads, and necklaces, and small plastic-molded rings.

So we made a trip to the store in search of organizational tools. I found a hanging blanket shelf thing and some Sterilite containers marked down at Wal-Mart, so I decided to give those a try. However, by the time we got back from the store, we didn't have time to actually do the organizing, so the project was put on hold...until today.

This morning, while the boys were cleaning their room, Meagan and I tackled hers. We gutted the dollhouse, putting all of the people, furniture, and accessories in a storage bin that fits under her bed. We (well, really, I) then moved on to sorting what felt like hundreds of little hair ties back into their rightful container.

From there, we moved on to the closet, which was overrun with intermingled Polly Pockets, Princesses, Tinkerbells, Barbies, costumes, jewelry, books, and accessories. At one point, I began to wonder if we would ever get through it all, but we kept on. And we rearranged and organized everything in her room. She now even has room for her Dora couch to be in there, which she was VERY excited about! She seems to like the idea of having somewhere to sit and look at books and draw pictures...very cool!

Surprisingly, it was only about a 2 hour project!

Run run as fast as you can...

Yesterday was a day of running... at least in the morning. First we ran to the gas station. Then we ran to the bank. Then we ran to the eye doctor. Then we ran home to make lunch. Then we ran to Wal-Mart. The morning was a marathon!

But the pace slowed once we got to Wal-mart. We had finally accomplished everything on our to-do list for the morning. And Meagan was being a trooper about it all. She was (for the first time in a while) being a very good listener, and being very well-behaved and patient in all the stores and doctors' offices and such. So, we decided to take a stroll through the toy department, where she found a LIST of things she would like to have, whether now or for her birthday, she's not picky! *LOL* I did concede to letting her get a little Polly-Pocket-ish Disney Princess... Sleeping Beauty. Of course, since we got something for her, she thought we should get something to surprise the boys with. So, we picked out a small Bionicle for each of them. About $6 each, and they were THRILLED... and occupied for the remainder of the evening.

Last night for dinner, a friend of ours came over with her itty bitty little baby boy! He is SO darn cute! We all just hung out for a while, until about 8:00 when she headed home. The kids laid down for a movie bedtime, and Lucas and I chilled. A nice relaxing ending to a day that started off in a hurry.

Full House (for a Tuesday)

Today was lined up to be quite a busy day, scheduled from morning 'til night. Tuesdays are always pretty full anyway, with library, gymnastics and small group all falling on the same day. But today, we added 2 doctors appointments in the mix, with our first one at 9:20 this morning.

Sebastian has had a junky cough for a few weeks now, getting better and then worse and then better again. Well, over the weekend, Meagan developed a crazy cough that was keeping her up at all hours of the night. So, I made an appointment for her this morning, and I thought I'd take Sebastian with me for good measure, just to have him checked.

40 minutes later, we left the doctor's office with 2 prescriptions in hand - one for each child. And our doctor asked me to keep Sebastian home for the rest of the day, so as 'not to spread the plague' (he's a funny guy...LOL). So, rather than dropping Sebastian off at school and heading to story hour, we eliminated story hour altogether, and headed to the chiropractor. I already an appointment for after library, but we went early so she could adjust the kids too.

Now we're back at home, with an extra family member at home with us for the day. They are both laying down for a nap right now. I'm hoping to get a few things accomplished before the afternoon slips away. Hoping that the nap does them good. I'll try to keep you posted.

Once Upon a Time

Here's one more layout that went together fairly quickly this evening. I used a mini-kit by Bren Boone called The Perfect Fairytale to benefit a digital designer who was recently in a serious car accident. I'm kind of starting to enjoy doing these kind of layouts. It's a fun creating process!

Apple of My Eye

A new FREE-bee kit by Bren Boone (available for download at Scrap Orchard...I'm pretty sure you have to register at the Scrap Orchard forum/gallery, but it's COMPLETELY worth it. There are some fabulous free-bee's by some great designers)

Playing Catch-Up

Seeing as I keep getting comments about the lack of blog postings lately, and the lack of pictures of the kids...

I thought I better go back and get caught up on pictures. Here are pictures from Meagan's tea party (from back in January) and the kids' Valentine's Day parties at school (most of my pictures turned out bad, so I just picked on of each of them). I also put up some pictures of Meagan...about 2 weeks ago, she built a special room in the living room, and took her princesses and the DS in. She spent almost the whole day in her little room being like a big girl. Just a glimpse into the future!

I know this is not exactly what you're waiting for...

I realize that these are not exactly the Valentine's party pictures I had mentioned. But I've had a lot of scrapping to catch up on for CT's, and I sat down and finished up a few layouts this afternoon before they slipped my mind. So, I thought I'd share. I will still try to work on pictures - maybe tonight after church if there's time.

I also realize that my scrapbook layouts as of late have been rather heavily loaded with Meagan, and a little lacking in the boy department. Basically that's because I've had lots of girly kits to work with, and I'm NOT the kind of scrapper who can make girly kits work for boy layouts...some people can. Not me.

This layout is of some park pictures from last August. I liked the series of pics of her going down the slide. Every time I look at them, I'm forced to acknowledge that she is quickly gaining her independence, and will very soon need me for very little. The kit is a new kit by Cucciola, called Color Me Happy. It's available at Sunflower Scraps.

"Dear Grandma, I have fun with you. I wish I could live close to you, and then we could play together every day. I love you. Love, Meagan"

I've been wanting to do something with this picture ever since I took it, but every time I tried, the layout just didn't quite capture what I was going for. Today, I asked Meagan what she would say to Grandma if she could tell her anything. I wrote down what she told me, in letter form. This kit is called Crush and it's by Pink Ellie. It's at After Five Designs. Hope you like them!

Open Book

Here's the layout I did for the latest Gallery Standout growth challenge - create a layout with perspective.

Journaling: In the course of ordinary life, don't lose sight of the fact that you were created to have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance, to the fullest, until it overflows.

Down Again

Blah! Lucas, Sebastian and I are all feeling junky...AGAIN. I am SICK of being sick! This time, it was actually bad enough that Lucas took a 1/2 day off of work (way not like him!). I'm really feeling tired right now, so I'm going to keep it short. I will see if I can find my way back to the blog tomorrow some time and work on getting Valentine's party pictures posted. We'll see how it goes!

Meagan Math

This morning at breakfast, Isaac decided to start up a little math quiz to test my knowledge on some of the things he's been learning in school.

Isaac:
What's 0+0? Zero!
What's 0+100? One hundred!
What's 0+1? One!

Then chimes Meagan:
What's 1 and 1?

Isaac: Two!

Meagan: NO. Eleven (11)! :)

Valentine's Cards

The kids and I went to Wal-Mart tonight and finished getting their Valentine's cards for school parties. Meagan got hers last week while Grandma was here - Tinkerbell, of course! The boys both picked Pokemon cards. Now we just have to find time to get them all filled out and ready before school on Thursday. I think we'll take them to gymnastics tomorrow afternoon, and they can work on them while Meagan is practicing. If they don't get done then, we'll have to be creative with our time and sneak them in a little at a time. Really no other option at this point... again I find myself wondering why I am such a procrastinator! It really never works out in my favor, ya know.

Meagan's #1 thing to be thankful for: a clean bed

Yesterday while I was at the grocery, Lucas took the kids down to the end of the street to play outside in the warm(ish) fresh air. They saw 6 deer and some turkeys. They also found deer poo and the spot where the deer bed down. Besides that, they generally got covered in mud from head to toe. Lucas had to wash their coats when they got back home just so they could wear them to school today.

I think Meagan was a little disturbed by the deer poo, because this morning at breakfast, she felt the need to tell me all about it - she was particular stumped at the fact that the deer sleep in the same place where they 'go.' She said, "Mommy, I think baby deers have to sleep in poop...that's gross.............I'm glad I don't sleep in poop."

I love you because...

A quick layout I did this afternoon...I've been so busy, I've kind of entered into scrapper's block, and I haven't been trusting myself to make anything decent. It felt good to get a layout completed...start dusting off the creative crusties!


Credits: {Pink Ellie} - Crush; {Cinnamon Designs} - With Love; {Amy Wolff} - Love Notes; {Cori Gammon} - Truly Blessed; {Amanda Resende} - Little Monster; {Something Blue} - Worn Overlay; {Amber Clegg} - Date It

Return to Planet Earth

No, we did not fall of the face of the earth...though it may seem like it...we merely took a vacation! Back now, hopefully for more regular posting...here's to hoping!

Well, lots of little things have happened in the last few weeks, but I've not had a free second to sit down and do them justice. I can almost promise not to do them justice even now, but I figured I'd at least get them documented.

Where to start? How about this...

Social Events: Last weekend was the weekend of social outings. It started Friday night, when Sebastian went over to a friend's house to play for a few hours.

Saturday was Meagan's turn. She was invited to a fancy girly tea party at her friend Julia's house. The girls all dressed up in princess dresses. The mommies all dressed up in pretty dresses (which was a CHALLENGE for me, since I only own about 3 dresses total, and they're all spring/summer dresses at that). They drank chamomile and peppermint tea out of tiny little porcelain tea cups (mostly Meagan's set that she got for Christmas...I was glad it was put to good use). They had fruit & veggies and summer sausage and cheese. They had cookies and cheesecake. They got their fingernails painted. And of course, they played princess make-believe games. Meanwhile, the mommies had their own fancy tea party in the 'grown-up room,' where we sat and talked and laughed for a few hours while the girls played.

Sunday then, Isaac got his turn. Before church, we dropped him off at a friend's house. He went to church with Jacob & his family, and they all went bowling afterwards...it was the Super-bowl (since t was Superbowl Sunday, you see). After bowling, he went back to Jacob's house and played for a few more hours before finally being dropped off in time for our family picnic dinner (more details to come).

In Sports: We all hunkered down (I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to use that phrase just now...I must be in a quirky mood...) and watched the Superbowl together. I made chicken wings - BBQ & Buffalo - and popcorn chicken, nachos & dip (that tasted DISGUSTING and mostly just went straight down the drain....but not before Meagan ate 2 helpings...yuck!) and salad, etc. We set up tv trays for Lucas and me, and we spread out a big blanket on the floor for the kids. Of course, thanks to the competitive nature of almost every person who bears our last name, we couldn't just be neutral observers of the football game. Oh no! Our kids insisted on choosing a team to cheer for. The kids all decided that red was better than black, so they chose Red. Meagan found a red bandanna and swung it around her head, cheering 'Go Red! Go Red!' Lucas said she made her own version of a terrible towel. Unfortunately for them, their team didn't win...fortunately for them, they were asleep by that time and had no idea! :)

Also in sports, Meagan got the chance to be in first group at gymnastics this week, which was a HUGE deal for her. Her coach always puts the stronger/more focused/etc girls in the first group so they can set the tone for the others. This week, he let Meagan be in the first group for beam. She was SO ecstatic! It meant a great deal to her, I could tell by the way she was carrying herself. Also, Grandma H. was there to see her be leader, which just made it all the sweeter!

In Career Planning: Yes, career planning.

This week, we got in a little discussion with the kids about what kind of things they like doing, and what they think they might like to do when they grow up. Meagan wants to be a builder (which I can totally see...she is always finding CREATIVE ways to construct things when she gets an idea...for example, she once made her very own throne by using a roll of paper towels, a roll of toilet paper, a dowel rod - stuck through the TP & towel tubes to hold the 2 packages together - and then sat the seat of a broken rocking chair on top of the towel/paper tower...anyway).

Isaac said he wants to be a hunter (for which he got a hi 5 from his daddy). Sebastian then said he wants to be a zoo-keeper. Lucas looked at me with raised eyebrows and said, 'Oh great, one wants to kill animals; the other wants to keep them alive'...this should be interesting!

In Other News: Since I last posted, both my brother and my sister have added additions to their families. Both Brandon & Jenny and Chris & Erica had little girls...Delaney (not sure I spelled that right) and Ginny (or that). I'm not sure when I'll ever get to see them, but I hope sometime before they start kindergarten! Delaney hasn't been feeling well the past few days, and has been in the hospital...please pray for her speedy and complete recovery. I know Brandon & Jenny will be relieved when they get the okay to take her back home.

In Closing: I think that pretty much sums it up for us. SO SORRY I've totally disappeared on you all lately. I've been catching some crap for it, trust me! I am truly working on simplifying life a little so that I have more time to do the things I want and need to do. Blogging is one of those things, so we'll see how it goes!