Too much PBS?

it's happened again. emily has been influenced by tv -- again. this time it's not about dora, but cindy. i've blogged about it before, but allow me to remind you emily is a PBS fan - well, really, a tv fan.

saturday night dan and i were getting emily and ethan out of the bath (by the way, when should we stop bathing them together? it's soooo convenient) and emily busted out into song. it was this sweet, melodic cindy lauper tune. i looked at her and laughed and asked her what she was singing. she got embarrassed and stopped. i thought about it, and it was "true colors" by cindy lauper. i thought, where in the world had she heard that song? i asked her to sing it again for dan and she started singing -- i see your true colors shining through, dah, dah that's why i love you, so be afraid too let them slow it, your through colors are beautiful like a rainbow. i told her she did a good job, it was beautiful. i asked dan where in the world had she heard it; he knew -- PBS. it's the lead in commercial to Curious George.

i guess it could be worse, but now we've got ethan running around singing james brown and emily running around singing cindy lauper. and when i clean i crank up favorite 80's bands; van halen, def leppard and bon jovi. i guess we will have to wait and see what elliot's taste in music will be. i'm hoping anything but country...

Mr. Oscar

okay, so i'm also one of those girls who cry when others win awards, medals and such. i'm the idiot who watches the olympics and cries when someone wins the gold, i'm the one who cries when someone wins an oscar, a beauty pageant, etc.

i stayed up 12 minutes past my bedtime tonight to watch jennifer hudson win the oscar for best supporting actress. i just knew she was going to win, and staying up late was worth it. i loved her speech because it was not one! she started off by saying -- look what God can do! -- almost all people who win awards thank Him, but i choose to believe she meant it. you gotta know the other actresses who were nominated were not happy about losing to an american idol reject.

anyway, just letting you in on a little more of me. i guess i'm tenderhearted, or maybe need medicaiton for mood swings...

Back to me.

well, now that cutesy cloths is almost online, i don't have to bore anyone anymore with pictures of the terribly cute things i've been sewing. i hear your collective sighs of relief. so, back to me.

i'm one of those girls. yes, you know the ones. the ones who just don't give a flip about being nice anymore. i don't know what happened. really, i don't. i used to be nice, but now, not so much. i think i miss that girl i used to be, because now, i think my friends expect me to tell it like it is. i have two friends who say they like having me as a friend; they always know where i stand.

take this for instance. for a whole year there was this mom at MDO who parked at the curb while she brought her ONE child in. rain or shine, she's parking her minivan at the curb. meanwhile, here i am struggling with my three children, parking where we are supposed to. so one day i just got sick of it. after i came out she was still there, so i left her a note. here's what it said -- what makes you so special that you think you can park at the curb? why don't you park in a space like the rest of us?? -- just like that. well, she's never, not since september parked at the curb. now, did i just do what everyone wanted to do, or am i just a meanie? several months later i was dropping the kids off and commented to the assistant director some idiot mom had been parking in the handicap parking space and how it was ticking me off. the director overheard me and she told me to write another note!!

i'm not sure what's been going on with me, but lately i just don't want to put up with everyone's crap anymore. i have enough to deal with in this life. park in a space, jeez.

really though, y'all know what's still going on. i don't want to be that mean woman; i want to be so filled with God's love that it can't help but overflow. it's just not that way right now. i was driving to the store yesterday and got behind a kia sedona at a red-light. i stared at the back window and wondered how in the world chris flew through it. anyway. some days i can't help but think about what would have happened if he would have lived.

i'm sure after reading this you're screaming for a picture of a bag! sorry! and also, the cute ad on the front page of cutesycloths.com is magnolia alley's handy work. thanks, mag.

Look what's almost ready for business...

www.cutesycloths.com

there are some things we need to work out. so don't go ordering just yet! :) maybe next week though!!!

let me know what you think, and how to make it better. my web design team (dan) has been working very hard!

Emily's first sleep over

well, not really, but she thought it was.

last thursday we got an email from our youth pastor asking for help with the upcoming D-Now weekend. he needed host homes and drivers. i really felt led of God to call and volunteer our house. we have the perfect set up for something like being a host home. there are 5 bedrooms upstairs and two full baths. dan and i are downstairs so i did not feel like they'd be invading our space at all! all weekend i felt an eerie sense of calm about the whole thing. i did not even stress out about having to clean up, etc. i had a lot to do, but i just dropped everything thursday and took care of what i needed to do. i never worried once they were here. i just tried to stay out of their way!

those girls were crazy. it had been a long time since i'd heard a bunch of giggling girls. they giggled about the boys next door, they giggled about our astro's neighboor, they giggled about everything!! not long after they were here we figured out having this age was perfect for our house; they had fun playing with emily's toys!! i think we'll do it again next year. in fact, some of them told us we'd have to because they wanted to come back.

three funny stories about the weekend:



saturday morning ethan (almost 3) came downstairs with his face all scrunched up saying -- i can't brush my teeth!! we asked him why and his reply was -- there is too much make-up in emily's bathroom!! he was not joking, he was really upset with those girls! the leader, ally went upstairs to emily's bathroom to help him move the make-up. she came back down a few minutes later, laughing, saying the only thing on the counter was a tube of toothpaste! i guess he'd been hearing about make-up and he just wanted to make sure it was not going to be left in his space!! also, all this week i had to hear about "those girls" and how they ate all his cinnamon rolls...they are super precious to him and he was not happy about them being gone!

dan cooked supper for them on saturday night. he had two pounds of beef and two pounds of chicken to make them fajitas. i helped him get everything ready, then i went upstairs to put the baby down. when i came downstairs, the fajita meat was GONE! i was only up there for a few minutes! i had a meatless fajita. and, just so you know, they pretty much ate us out of house and home. i'd never seen girls eat so much!



they were outside having one of their sessions, and i went out to take some pictures of them (when they were finished.) that morning i'd warned them not to get on the hammock -- i told them it had a bad case of dry rot. well, before i could turn around some of them were piled on the hammock asking me to take their picture. i did -- right after the hammock busted! they all came crashing down, on the bar mind you, HARD. i laughed. served them right. i'm sure their behinds hurt them all day long. right after it happened one of the girls came to me and said she'd pay for a new one. i think they thought i was going to be mad at them! now i have a really good excuse to get a new one.

so anyway, dan and i had fun. we just kept seeing this same scene but 5 years down the road -- emily's real first sleepover!! emily, ethan and elliot all had fun too. emily was entranced with the girls, she let them dress her and fix her hair. they also played with her and ethan, which they of course loved! it was almost like we had a house full of girls interviewing for a babysitting job!

My baby Elliot - not so much anymore!

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elliot turned 9 months old yesterday. he seems so much older than 9 months! he's walking in his walker, climbing up the stairs and generally just trying to grow up. dan and i were quite shocked, when at 6 months he started pulling up and standing. sunday he followed emily claire all the way up the stairs. he's done things our other two babies never did, like hurling himself out of his crib and his exersaucer. i guess it's true, every baby is different!

i think he's just so ready to be a big boy so he can play with the other two. but i wish he was a little behind developmentally. i don't want to give birth again, so i need him to stay a baby for a little longer! :) he's a very sweet boy, always smiling & he's a happy boy too. he will pull your hair/face towards his and slap a slobbery, open mouth kiss (yuck!) right on you! he also loves to be hugged. sometimes he'll put his cheek to yours, it's very sweet. he's so much a part of our family now, i can't remember times without him. dan and i joke all the time how much he's had the shaft compared to the other two. the other two had their pictures professionally taken when they were babies; not elliot!! we could never get ourselves together to take him. sad, i know. but i've made up for it by taking candid shots. but he did have a birth announcement, thanks to www.magnoliaalley.com (sorry, i could not help the shameless plug!)

also, i've totally weaned him. yea!! actually, he weaned himself shortly after Christmas. he would refuse to nurse. he just did not want it anymore. i was happy, but a tiny bit sad! i know what you are thinking, i WANTED him to drink bottles...but i can't describe the feeling of nursing rejection! :) he's totally happy with his bottle though. when he sees us making it up he gets just as excited as he did when he was ready to nurse. for almost a month i pumped, but man, that was for the birds. so he's totally on formula now. i think i have enough similac coupons to get him through until he's on whole milk. :)

it'll be okay, and i'll be okay. but i will say this time around nursing a baby was the absolute hardest. if i would have had thrush twice with emily like i had with elliot, there would be no way any other children would have been breastfed. maybe God did that on purpose! :) and also, just so you know, i have thrush AGAIN and he's not even being nursed!! how in the heck does that happen?!? maybe it will be on it way when my milk dries up. but in the mean time i'm having no fun with it! i was sorta okay with it as long as i was nursing, but puh-lease! he's weaned!! so, anyway, needless to say i am glad the whole having milk is almost over. i'm looking forward to selling my pump! know anyone who needs a good one?

so anyway. my baby is growing up!

Tee shirt says it all...

ethan loves to color on things. himself, the walls, furniture. good thing he found this instead of the sharpie that was right beside the chapstick...


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Recent TV viewings

okay, so i was not thrilled about the 3 month hiatus of lost. i mean, is that not a great way to lose viewers? i think all shows should be like 24; have a late start of the season and go straight through to the end. but anyway, i will like watching 16 episodes in a row though. but to me, wednesday was NOT worth the 3 month wait. i expected more reveals and more plot progression. i'll keep watching, but jj abrams, you are on notice. the season better get a heck of a lot better. this is the only abrams show i have watched. i guess my expectations have been too high. oh well.

dan has been watching the office for a couple of seasons. i did not watch last season, and i've only watched a couple of episodes this season. well, i watched it last night and it was freaking funny. the only other episode i've seen that i can really remember was one where there were two party planning committees...girls, if you have not seen that one, it's lol funny. i actually laughed so hard dr. pepper came out of my nose. anyway, i don't think i'll be a regular watcher, but i may sneak a viewing in every now and then. why do i like it? i guess i like the way it's set up to be some mockumentory.

on to survivor figi. i noticed there is a lot of diversity in the cast this season. good. i'm glad they mixed it up like they did last season. i was a little bored of watching a bunch of white people with a couple of token minorities. i'm just saying. will it be as good as last season? i hope.

for ang & dana: girls, if they are in figi this season, it's only a matter of time before they get to djibouti. we MUST try out for that season...it's our destiny.

We are surviving!

i don't know how any germs are alive in this house with the massive amounts of lysol that has been sprayed around here!! almost every surface, toy and wearable item has been bleached, washed in hot water or sprayed down. with the exception of a little clutter, our house is super-clean. the grandmothers came in for a visit too. while one grandma had kid duty, the other either cleaned or did our massive amounts of laundry. we could not have gotten through the last days without their help. a nice lady from church also delivered us some homemade chicken and dumplings! yummy!! after almost a week of doing it on our own, it was nice to have some help.

elliot stayed in baby jail -- A LOT!!

emily and i are well now, and ethan is on his way. elliot and dan managed to escape the virus -- yea! elliot and i are sick though; we are suffering with some kind of upper respiratory thingy. if it's not one thing, i guess it's another. but we are all glad the stomach thing is almost OVER!

ethan, chilling out watching monsters inc. for the 10th time that day.

during all of this, we had the kitchen textured and painted. it was an experience. we found someone on craigslist who did the texture work for us, and dan and the kids painted the kitchen.

actual quote from ethan -- look mom, i'm painting the time-out corner!!

i also found time to sew a little! the unborn baby blake needed to spit up with style! :)

hopefully we can get back to our normal soon. the kids will be out of MDO this week, so i'm sure next week they'll be ready to have things normal again. thanks for the prayers!