INTRODUCING!!!

Kristy's new blog. I'm thrilled that she has joined the ranks of bloggers. I'm looking forward to reading stories about the kids and getting new recipes!

And Finally, Embarassing Moment Caused by Children #457: Today we were in the drive through and the man in the window was quite large. From the back seat I hear, "That's a big guy!" I just ignore it, no reaction on my face, and in my head I start praying that it stops at that. Then, unfortunately, since I didn't seem to hear her the first time her volumn level increases and she says, "Biiiiiig guy, a biiiiiiig guy! TOOOO big!!....". Well, I have been wanting a healthier lifestyle and I will never go through that drive through again.

EDITED: Her blog has been made private so I'm removing her link.

Cinderella, Cinderella

I wonder if I could find a book about Cinderella cleaning the master bathroom. I did not set Kendall up for this picture, I was cleaning up tonights post-Kate's dinner mess and Kendall really wanted to do it.

Also, took this tonight during our bedtime routine.

I Need a Nap

Remember this trampoline in the middle of our street? Well, we had some pretty severe wind last night and this morning when I left the house I saw the same trampoline looking like this. I kind of feel sorry for them but it is hilarious. Maybe they should just get one of those old school little trampolines that were the aerobics craze in the early 90s. That way they could keep it indoors.

So we met my new friend and her kids along with my best pal Jennie and her kids at Noah's Ark today. The kids had a lot of fun. Noah has some competition because both of Debbie's little boys were all over Kate.

Looks like lots of you are interested in a health challenge. I've received the following sites for ideas: Discovery Health's National Body Challenge, FitDay, SparkPeople, Live Healthy AmericaI'll look through them when I get the chance (September when Kendall starts school, ha!) and either suggest we all join as a group (?) or pull the best features from each and start our own? I don't know give me some time to check them out.

We Did It, We Did It

We have a preschooler!! Brian got in line at 6:15 (wind chill of 7!!!). The girls and I took his place at 7 (we were inside by then). I thought that we would be there until 9 waiting but the director came in early. We were the 2nd sign up! I took an enormous bag of toys but Kendall played (ran) with another little girl so I didn't need it. They just threw and kicked a little ball that I grabbed out of the car at the last minute. Figures. Oh, I think I mentioned that the 3 year olds have to be potty trained. Well, as soon as the director got there we took our spot in line and were waiting for our turn and Kendall says, "I have to go potty" What!?!?!? Luckily I turned in our paper work and ran to the bathroom with her. To sit there and do nothing. Oh well, it's progress.

Since Kendall expressed interest in Cinderella I also picked up "Snow White in New York" thinking that we could introduce some modern princesses too. I don't want her to think that every princess has to be rescued by a prince charming. However, I started to read it to her today while we were waiting but had to stop because it had phrases like, "Her mother was dead" and "Queen of the Underworld" , "Take her down and shoot her" and "Crowds of people stood in the rain and watched Snow White's coffin pass by". Oh my goodness! Maybe we'll pass on this one for awhile...or pass on it forever.

Good Thing I Mopped

Note: I do take pictures of Kate while she is out of the booster seat.

Stay At Home Mom-itis

By 9am the beds were made and the hardwood floors were swept & mopped. Shortly after I was showered and dressed and the girls were also dressed. Right now both girls are sleeping after having had a little bit of play and exercise time. But I can't sit and relax and appreciate the sparkly floors because I can't stop thinking about the master bath that could use a good scrubbin'. Is it just me or do other Stay at Home Moms feel like they have to keep moving and feel guilty if they just sit and relax? Maybe it has nothing to do with my 'occupation' but instead an obsessive compulsive personality?

Here is Kate and my future son-in-law Noah. Below is a video(!! if it works!) of Anna and Kendall at the Pirate Ship. At the end watch how they band together to gang up on the other little girl. They aren't violent they just stare at her until she feels uncomfortable and runs away. Couple o' bullies in pony tails is what Jennie called them.

Getting Bigger

I have consumed a disgusting amount of calories in the past week (think pizza, starbucks, cookies the size of my head, creamy noodles, m&ms, pizza again...). Feeling kind of sick just thinking of it. Even though I say that calories don't count during your birthday week I don't think that my thighs got that memo. Anyway Kendall is napping right now so I started prepping tonight's dinner, Chicken Vegetable Soup. I appreciate that a whole chicken is a fraction of the cost of pieces of cleaned, dinner-ready chicken but after this experience I may become a vegetarian. I had to clean and cut the chicken in half. There was gurgling & bone cracking and gagging & nearly crying (those last two were me not the chicken). I'm not looking forward to the whole removing the chicken from the bone part. Vegetarianism is looking pretty good at this point.

Anyway, is anyone aware of any healthy eating challenges online? I'm not really looking to lose weight just encouragement or accountability in healthful living. If you aren't aware of one is anyone interested in organizing or participating in our own? Any thoughts? Email me or leave a comment.

Whoo Hooo

**Note that this car is PARKED***

No more gloomy here, I just heard from the director at the preschool where I want Kendall to go and they have spaces available in her age group for next semester (and only her age group). I'm so excited, we can walk and ride bikes to this preschool so it will be fantastic. The only catch is that they require their 3 year olds to be potty trained but we have until September so I think that we can have that done in 8 months!

This morning we had to drop off a movie at the library. Our town is pretty small and our library is very small so there aren't many people there usually. Today as I pulled into the parking lot I noticed that it was pretty crowded. I opened the door for Kendall, she put one foot in and yelled at the top of her lungs, "HI EVERYBODY!!!!". I tried to 'shhh' her but I was laughing too hard, luckily everyone thought it was cute. Today we checked out a book and movie about "Cinda-winda" commonly known as Cinderella.

Grounded

I hate getting behind on here because then I feel like I have to catch everyone up and it stresses me out and then I put it off even further. I had a great birthday, thanks to all of you that sent such nice birthday wishes, cards, gifts, emails, calls...!!! I am so blessed.

The BIG thing that has happened from the last post is well, I did something really stupid. I always get the kids in the car before I open the garage door because I don't want to expose them to the cold unnecessarily. Well, yesterday we were all loaded in, I jumped in the car, pushed the button, started the car and started to back out...and heard a loud crunch. Evidently the door wasn't completely up. I had no idea what it was, I didn't even think that it was the garage door, I thought maybe a neighbor kid left his bike behind my car. I figured it out though and went inside to confess my sin. Brian handled it well, my man of few words became a man of one word, "okay". I know he was pretty upset though. I had to leave to pick Kendall up so Kate and I left and before I got home Brian had gotten the door back on its tracks and it looks fine. I don't think that the 'untrained' eye would even spot the bent part. My car however didn't fair as well and has some pretty nasty scratches on top. I'm hoping that a good wash/buffing will help, but we'll see. So that's it folks, I've been grounded from the computer. Well, not really but I've been a little gloomy.

Kendall has picked up on another thing that I say, more then once she has said to Brian, "How are you doing, honey?" She called him HONEY! We really crack up over that.

One Last Thing

You may not find this nearly as funny as I did but here are emails that have been shooting into my Inbox at an alarming rate today. Today Brian received an email at work about "being green". In an attempt to give Nathan, our recycling guru, a bit of a hard time he sent the following email to Jennie, Nathan, and me:

Nathan, thought you might be interested in this statistic from the
bottom of the message: On average, 475 sheets of paper per year could
be saved if an office worker reduced his margins from the default setting of
1 in to 0.50 in.

I also heard about another statistic,
published in the Progress Report on S family Spending: On average, a
scrap-booker can save $150 per year in fancy paper by reducing
margins to
0.01 in and placing only one trinket/fastener within each 3-in radius.

Jennie:

Wow, Brian. You really know your stuff! I could tell by your use of the
phrases "fancy paper" and "trinket/fastener". Have you considered getting into a
side business with your wife? Maybe whipping out a few greeting cards in your
spare time?

Brian:

You might call it "whipping out a few greeting cards" - I prefer to call it
"scrap night with the guys." Nathan, you gonna be at Archiver's tomorrow
evening?

Jennie:

He is SO there. He'll be the one wearing the "craft apron".

At this point I could stand it no longer and had to chime in:

You think Brian is joking but I saw him tonight making an Excel spreadsheet
that had all the layouts he wanted to make. There were columns for paper type,
“embellies” (embellishments), and adorable quotes to include on the page. He
packed up the rolling tote bin that he picked up at Michael's tonight.

Jennie:

I knew it. This weekend Nathan kept getting into my supplies. He said he was
just "organizing" but later I saw some brads fall out of his pants as he walked
by. I think I saw some glitter in his hair too. Nathan's new "laptop bag" sure
seems to have a lot of pockets..... p.s. While reading this, be sure to
insert "air quotes" as needed.

Today's Story

Well, Lorie beat me to the post about our dancing night. Find the story and pictures here.

Look what my hubby brought home tonight! Obviously he wants me to have a muffin top.

Something else that is cool. Check out this very cool Everyday Life photo book that Ali Edwards designed for Shutterfly. It's a super classy scrapbook for people that don't have the time to scrapbook. I love it, I think that the everyday life photos are brilliant, read the list of everyday photos she has. I printed it off and have already started taking them. Here is one, it has my Mandarin Orange Spice tea and a scrapbook page that I'm working on.

Inspire

About to leave for Bible Study but I had an idea for a quick post. I have a file of scrapbooking things that inspire (both a paper file and a computer file). Here are a few things--not that I have made that are inspiring me right now. Enjoy.

GASP, another non-Kendall and Kate post. I may start getting threatening emails from the grandparents soon.

Quickly...one thing that Kendall says that I love! She calls Kate "Sweet Pea" as in, "I'll be right back sweet pea" or "You're okay sweet pea". I also love that I went upstairs last night after the girls were in bed and I walked past Kendall's door and heard singing. Love that, she is really in to singing right now and just goes from one song to the next creating her own remixes. For example... Jesus loves me, this I know, Jeeeee-sus loves me this I know, Jeeeeeeee-H-I-K-K..."

The Chick's List

It's been awhile since we had a Chick's List so here is a list of current favorites:

We've been cleaning a lot today so we'll start off with favorite cleaning product (exciting, I know). Mr Clean Magic Eraser makes my least favorite cleaning job (the glass shower door) more manageable.

Next (and this is not for the weak of will power) is my current favorite ice cream. Someone told me about this awhile ago and I just recently tried it out. Hagen Daz, Dulce de Leche ice cream. "A delicious combination of caramel and sweet cream, swirled with ribbons of golden caramel." Oh, I just love it, I can't resist it and I may have to go buy more now.

Following the sinfully delicious ice cream is a favorite pair of work out pants. Found at Target these C9 Champion stretchy black pants are super comfortable with a waist that is high enough that I don't worry about exposure when I work out. They are cotton so I don't feel sweaty in them but they are warm enough that I don't have to wear sweat pants over them to run from the car to the gym. I can't find them online but here they are with my favorite 'wear to the gym' jacket. It's Banana Republic, fitted, zip up with cute little pockets.

Favorite magazines. Plural because I love magazines. Scrapbooking: Creating Keepsakes and Simple Scrapbooks My style tends to lean more to the Simple Scrapbook style but my favorite scrapbooker (Ali Edwards) writes a column for Creating Keepsakes so I would get it for that alone but they always have inspiring stuff anyway.

General: Real Simple Beautiful type, beautiful layouts, beautiful photos, interesting and helpful articles.

Child related: Wondertime. All of the above beautiful comments apply to this magazine as well. It really appeals to me on a visual level but the content is very helpful for this stage in my life and best of all a subscription is only $10!!

Moving on, current favorite bibs (aside from my own of course) Super Bib from One Step Ahead. We go through about 300 bibs a week, maybe that is an exaggeration. Each meal requires a new bib but these are great because you just wash them off in the sink and hang them up and they are ready by the next meal.

I could do a lot more but I'll just include one last one. Favorite online shopping site for artist work is Etsy. All kind of homemade goodness going on here in all kind of price ranges. Jennie and I each bought the others Christmas presents from here. But, we have yet to exchange them (my fault) so I won't tell you what we got each other.

Quote

Conversations from tonight as we drove home from the gym:

Kendall: I'm thirsty, can I have my cup?

Me: Oh, it was all gone so Lorie threw it away for us.

Kendall: NO NO NO Wor-wee (Lorie), that is not nice, that is ours!

5 minutes later

Me: Kendall, I love you very much

Kendall: I love Lorie

Me: Lorie threw away your cup.

Style Guide

Just hanging out at home today, you know, folding laundry and stuff. Since Lorie is holding the rest of my photos hostage the scrapbooking has ground to a halt. Dani picked them up from Wal-Mart for me and I just haven't made it to their house to get them. We went to story time at the library this morning and now we're just hanging out at home. Kate is trying out the uber-hip style of dress and jeans, she looks pretty urban chic if you ask me.

Kendall is ready for summer, she wanted to wear her "slip-slops" today. I wish we could but we had to wear knee high furry boots instead since it snowed last night.

Time for naps now!

Also Happening Today

Brian went on a jog with Kendall today, they looked so cute all bundled up. Kendall told Brian that he looked like an elf.

And the price of scrapbooking: Actually, I could tell you the exact cost of one of my pages because that is one of the things I do as The Paper Chick but the personal cost for me is a huge pile of laundry to fold. Hey, at least I paused long enough to wash it!

Since everything is out on my desk already...

I've done two more. I'm actually making a mini book with all the pumpkin patch pictures but I created a page for the scrapbook too.

And a picture of my favorite basket-o-stuff, some yummy scrapbooking supplies. Sick of seeing these yet? I'm sure the Grandmas are ready for more Kendall and Kate pictures/stories.

Feelin Scrappy

Ever since my crafting extravaganza around Christmas time I have been in a bit of a creative slump but I'm back in the groove now and the creative juices are flowing. I think that it helps to have a messy desk. Although Kendall is like Brian in many ways I think she is like me in that she likes to spread her craft supplies all over the desk. Here are a couple more pages I did today.

A Little Fun

Since installing the Site meter we have been visited by 1,500 people from 25 US states and 15 countries!! Hello Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Spain...




Site Meter also shows what search words were used in search programs like Google to reach your site. Here are a few of my favorite:

“shoes or boots or heels or sandals or stilettos we switched"

“with her socks off”

• "trampoline static hair"
• "giving instruction from paper"
• "Volvo at Wholefoods"
• "Has landed chicken"
• "Eviction Notice Paper"

We just got home from church and Panera, both girls are napping now. I did one more Kate scrapbook page but I want I feel like it is still missing something so I'm not prepared to post it yet. I'll do more soon and do another big scrapbook page posting.

Evidently Kate likes steamed broccoli. She is finally eating again after a her little hiatus. This morning the girls took a bath together and just kept CRACKING each other up. I love to hear each of their little belly laughs. I also love those little thigh rolls.

Scrappy

It turned out to be a fairly early night. The girls left by midnight but I got a few pages done. We had a lot of fun and we may have sore abs tomorrow from laughing. Here is what I did, the lighting is bad since it is so late so I don't know if the pictures will be good. I think that I'll keep the momentum going and work more tomorrow night. I have more pages of Kate that I want to do. Actually, I had planned on making two other pages tonight, I ordered pictures and went to Wal-Mart to pick them up along with a few snacks for the night and forgot to get the pictures!! Bummer. For the "Strinkler" page I used what I had written in my blog post from the day. This is a great resource to have when I want to remember everything from a specific day.