Hard at Work

We are loving the sunshine and warm breezes today. A trip to the beach is once again creeping into my thoughts. Sadly it will be awhile before we can go. This weekend we have friend commitments, next Pampered Chef commitments, the week after that Ohio commitments (including birthday fun). After that is Easter. Hopefully by the weekend after Easter we will be once again on our way to the beach.
Here's how the kids have been enjoying today.
My pretty feet.

Wordless Wednesday

Here's my front door. I think it turned out great. What do you think??

Stylin

I took a quiz the other day at Sproost.com. It was a little decorating style quiz. You rate 16 rooms at one of 5 choices from "love it" to "hate it" with "just ok" being in the middle. At the end it will tell you what decorating style you like.
Here is what style I am according to the quiz. I'd say it's right on for me. 60% Nantucket Style. And 40% Cottage Chic Style.
Here's an example of the Nantucket Style.
This is how that style is described. Oh how you love the beach! Who doesn't, right? And so your dream home is either perched in your favorite beach town, or you've brought that favorite beach town into your house.

And since your true inspiration is the sea, the colors and textures in your home are the same that you would find at your favorite beach: white, light beiges and grays of the sand and driftwood, a variety of blues for the ocean and sky, and greens and vibrant blues of the sea glass� but the key is white! Your space should feel light and airy and give off the mood one has when at the beach: laid back!

Your furniture is comfortable and the layout is cozy. The more it reminds you of actually sitting on the warm sand, the better! And what do you do at the beach? Hang out with family and friends - and your home is just an extension of this play place. And though the space is filled with large white furniture, it somehow manages to feel both durable and casual.

Here is an example of Cottage Chic Style.

And here is how it is described. Who says that cottages can't be modern and chic? Who says that they have to be floral and cheesy? Not you!

You love the carefree spirit that the cottage interior inspires, but you are also serious about your appreciation for modern art and hip treasures. You love old and new alike, and love to highlight them all to expose the uniqueness of each. What better way to show off these treasures than with a light background?

Go take the quiz and tell me how you rated. :) And thanks in advance for sharing.

Fun With Camera

We got a new digital camera at Christmas and I've been playing with some of the settings. Here are some fun'ness'.

This is Awesome

Isn't insurance great?? This is Grasshopper's prescription that we got yesterday after a little trip to the ER. Thank God for Nathan's awesome insurance.

Lunch

A couple of Sundays ago we went out to lunch with our new friends Jessica and Aryeh. They were interested in trying a little burger joint that they had heard good things about. Jessica is a teacher and her students love the food so off we went to Andy's.
We got a booth for all 8 of us. No small trick. Jessica and Grasshopper shared the end of the table. I wrangled Little Peanut and JM. AJ sat between Nathan and Aryeh.
It really was good food. We had fun talking and playing with the kids toys that came in their meals. Here are a few pictures from out little outing.

Which is It Really?

*UPDATED!! You have to watch the video at the end.

Something that I missed about being in the South was the absence of one of my favorite fast food places. My children had never tasted its goodness. My husband had never even been to one. When we moved to NC I was so excited to find one in our town, right down the street from Target. (that's a whole other post)
On the first available day we had JM, Little Peanut, and Grasshopper made their first trek with Mommy to this great establishment. There was some discussion over whether or not they were going to have cheeseburgers and they couldn't understand why that wasn't an option. :)
After their first bite they were sold. Now everytime we drive by it they ask if that's where we're going.
It was several weeks before AJ and Nathan could go with us. Nathan of course was skeptical. I mean really, how good can it be? Boy was he impressed. And that's saying something. He let me know that we would definitely be going back as a family.
According to my children, AAA (pronounced by them Triple A) is their favorite place to eat. Some how I think they mean this.

The First Post

from my new laptop. Pictures, details, and more posts to follow. :)

Ears, Hats, and Jammies

This week AJ's school is featuring one of his favorite authors. The one. The only. Dr Suess. AJ's favorite book by him is Horton Hears A Who. Yea for AJ it was one of the books featured this week. We do like the movie but we were reading the book awhile before the movie came out.
Here are a few pictures of AJ this week as he came home from school.
This Dr. Suess hat is awesome. Here are his Horton ears.
Jammies was the last day this week. Tomorrow is yet another Teacher Work Day....hokey pete.

Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday in the car after Little Peanut fell asleep Grasshopper was holding her hand. If she was awake she wouldn't let him do this.

Toile Tuesday

Here I am finally posting. (computer struggles....don't ask....laptop coming soon) I took the children with me today shopping for very specific material for curtains. Success!

To tell you about my lovely purchases I'm joining Toile Tuesday over at Pretty Organized Palace.
Here is what is going to become the curtain for Little Peanut's room. The pink and white toile is actually a remnant that I bought at W*lm*rt a couple of years ago. I knew I would use it but wasn't sure when. I picked out the striped ticking today. I'm excited to see it all finished.
Our living/dining/kitchen are all open and connected. We have a cathedral ceiling as well. The two windows, one in the living room and one in the dining area, let it lots of light and I don't want to cover them up so I'm only planning a valance for the two rooms. Our entire home is white walls with white windows and white cabinets. I have some touches of light purple in the kitchen and dining area with some pictures that used to be in our old house. Here is what is going over the windows. I'm very excited about the material. Now I just have to work up the courage to actually cut the material. Sewing should be no problem because it's just straight seams. It should look similar to this valance but I'm going to add the black ribbon for some punch. Wish me luck. I hope to have this done before the last Tuesday in March so I can add it to the last Toile Tuesday.

News Flash...

I'm home. The encounter was really great. It was nice to visit with ladies from church and get to know them better. For those of you who have been to Cleansing Stream Retreat it was very much like that. The differences were not big. With regard to hitting the major issues it was not as thorough as CS. We did have small group time though, that I really enjoyed. We were able to pray for specific things with the different members of our group and in that way I enjoyed it more than CS. This coming weekend Nathan is going to the same thing only for the men. He's really looking forward to it.
As to the hint I gave on Friday. We adopted a cat. :) Her name is Miracle. She's 3 years old and all black. She's fixed and update on her shots. She's very affectionate with us if we're actively paying attention to her. If we wander off she hides until we're ready to love on her more. It's kind of weird. Nathan is happy to have a black cat again and I'm just waiting for her to adjust to us. I still very much miss Dirk, Al, and Scrappy.
Without giving details, God seems to be bringing about a very specific opportunity for me to serve. Right now Nathan and I are being patient and waiting for the door to be fully open and clearly marked. We don't want to rush. I am spending my time researching and asking lots of questions of those who have gone before me. We would appreciate your prays for wisdom and God's guidance. Is that vague enough for you?
Tomorrow I will be joining in Toile Tuesdays at Pretty Organized Palace. I'm looking forward to lots of toile. I've got very specific plans for our little house.

Off for the Weekend

I'm heading out on a women's encounter with the ladies from church. We're leaving tonight and will be back on Sunday afternoon. Since I still need to pack and get my house ready I'm going to turn the computer off. :) Have a great weekend everyone.
While I'm gone here's a hint for a big surprise coming your way on Monday.
It doesn't involve my reproductive organs....so don't guess that.

Wordless Wednesday

Got to Love a Cement Slab

When we were considering moving I told Nathan that I wanted our new house to only be one story. So much orneriness (yes, that's a word) went on in our old house because I was upstairs doing something and JM was loose downstairs or vice versa. Our stairs were so creaky that they could hear me coming and it wasn't very often that we caught them in the act of orneriness. Not to mention all the squeaky floor spots that Nathan and I pretty much had mapped out mentally. How hard is it to close a sleeping baby's door when the whole threshold of the door is the sqeakiest spot in the house.
Here in our sweet little duplex everything is one floor. I. Love. It. I can be in the kitchen and see them in their room, the bathroom, (we're working on learning to shut the door when you are going potty), the living room and even outside. Our house is built on a cement slab. There is no crawl space at all. All the water pipes run through the floor and come up just were they are needed. One sad side effect of this is that I'm limited to wear I can put the t.v. because I can have Nathan drill a new hole in the floor for me to move but the great side effects overrule this one.
THEY CAN'T HEAR ME COMING!!!!!! ha ha ha (read diabolical laugh). There are no creaks or squeaks anywhere on the floor. I love it. They are coming to understand that when they are doing something they shouldn't mom is going to stick her head around the door and bam! They are busted.
Case in point. They other day I had been busy folding laundry and heard some interesting noises coming from the boys room. I came in and JM and Peanut were using the bed clothes as parachutes and jumping off the top bunk. Very reminescent of this blog post involving Indiana Jones. Needless to say, I put a stop to that but they've tried it several more times. I'm praying we don't get any broken bones from this rock hard floor.
All in all, I'm really loving our new little house. Now we're off to get material for curtains for the kitchen and the living room.

All the Pretty Princesses

So I watched the Oscars last night. :) Nathan was falling asleep on the couch and it was to early to go to bed so I turned the tv on and realized I was just in time for the Oscars. Coolness.

Just as the show was beginning Peanut came in and got on the couch with me. All the boys in the house were asleep. So she and I cuddled up and watched all the glam.

I must say I'm not usually a big movie/Oscar watcher but this year seemed different to me. Hugh Jackman did an AMAZING job with the opening number. I didn't know he could sing. or dance. or both. Anne Hathaway was beautiful and what a lovely voice.

Peanut couldn't get over all the beautiful princesses, she called them. I loved how 'vintage' the actresses looked this year. All of them were really elegant and in 40's-50's style hair dos. There wasn't really a dress that I saw that was ugly. One of my favorite things that they did this year when presenting the awards for best supporting actor/actress and best actor/actress they had five past winners come and announce them. I just loved the 'generational' aspect of it and how they were commenting on the actors/actresses being nominated. It seemed to make it more special for those being nominated.

My favorite actress of the night must really be a toss up between the lovely Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz. They were both just beautiful and poised and both thought they were going to faint at the podium. :)

Wall-e, Peanut's favorite character of all time, won Best Animated Picture. She was so excited but I don't think she understood what was really happening.

I really wanted to post some pictures of the princesses but People magazine online won't allow the pictures to be saved. sniff. sniff. Maybe next month Peanut and I will post our favorites.

I do have a few movies that I think Nathan and I might want to watch.
Most importantly Peanut and I had a blast snuggling and ooohing and aaahing over all the Princesses.

Guess What?

I saw these yesterday on the side of the interstate on the way home from the store. (picture swiped from the internet)

Thursday Thirteen

Mike and Sarah were here for a visit last weekend. We had a great time with them and were sad to see them go. Here are 13 pictures from this weekend.
JM is feeling better.
The kids ready for bed.
Sarah and AJ.
Tool Girl.
Playtime.
Mike and Grasshopper.
Mike, Peanut, and Grasshopper.
Julia.
Handstand Grasshopper.
Photo Op.
Bathtime.
Bathtime.
Saying Goodbye.

Apparently We Overlooked Something

...and I got to see tonsils. Charming let me say.

Two weeks ago I got a letter from AJ's school saying that he hadn't had a physical this year and was behind in his shots. I was really disturbed by this because his old school had told me they would forward his physical from there with all his records and I had already taken in his shot record for them to copy. In true institution fashion the school threatened suspension if it wasn't taken care of.

When we moved down here I knew I needed to find a doctor fairly quick because of Grasshopper and not knowing when his next attack would come, but I'd been putting it off. I talked to a lady at church and she recommended a doctor that actually wasn't that far from our house. I did some searching online and found that our insurance is accepted by his office. I called and explained the situation as clearly as I could asking them to get us in ASAP. And that day was today...during school hours.

I loaded the 3 little ones in the van. Drove to the school. Unloaded the children. Signed AJ out of school. Waited for him to come to the office. Loaded the children back in the van. Drove to the medical complex (read big enough to be a university hospital system) wandering around until we found the correct building. Peanut was already crying at this point.

I knew that I was going to have to fill out a bunch of paperwork because AJ was a new patient. We finally got in the building and I made the kids sit down. I checked AJ in and was told to wait.

Peanut proceeded to fill her pants. (she's been struggling lately). It stunk really bad. I knew I couldn't leave it so I took her to the bathroom and changed her. AJ and JM were fighting when I got back. Grasshopper was trying to fall on his head. The receptionist finally called me up and gave me all his paperwork. I get back to my seat and JM and AJ have to potty. I told them to go together. Meanwhile Little Peanut is crying.

They call AJ's name. sigh. They boys are in the bathroom. I hurry them up. Holding Grasshopper, Peanut's hand, the clipboard and pen, the diaper bag, and my purse I asked AJ to carry the coats. We finally get to the exam room and I plop down. At least now they are contained.

Peanut filled her pants again. I changed it. Again.

The nurse took him for his height, weight, hearing, and vision check and I had a little talk with the others about behaving. AJ came back in and got stripped for the the doctor. While the doctor was examining AJ he realized that AJ was behind on some boosters that he needed. Thus the threatening letter. He had the nurse check if our insurance would cover it. PRAISE GOD they do!!!!

AJ heard me say, "Let's go ahead and do them while we're here." and immediately the water works started. He cried the 10 minutes the nurse was gone getting them ready.

Princess filled her pants again. I changed it. Again.

They asked me to hold his hands down while they 'shot' him. He screamed so loud and so long. His tonsils are nice and pink I can report. After the shots he had to have his finger pricked and pee in a cup. They thorough at our new doctor's office. JM was bummed he didn't get to watch AJ pee in the cup.
By now I was more than happy to pay our copay and herd the crying whining crew to the van.

We drove home and everyone took a nap. Including me.

Next time I'm going to find someone to watch the others.

Sigh.

The Unfortunate Projection

For the last couple of days JM and Little Peanut have been under the weather a little. Mostly laying around, not eating much at all, and several nights ago JM threw up. The side effect of this is that we've watched more t.v. than they are normally allowed. And although I know it's coming back to haunt me they are creatures of habit and watch the same 2 movies everyday.
Last night we thought it was just about over. Peanut had a fever yesterday and we decided to stay home from church. Boy was that a good idea. We got all the kids washed and in bed. Nathan was just sitting down to watch an episode of Dirty Jobs, which oddly enough was about a diaper cleaning service, when we heard Little Peanut coughing. Nathan gave her a breathing treatment and put her back in bed. As the Queen Whiner she was back asking to sit in Nathan's lap so there they were cuddled up on the couch when all of a sudden....

An Unfortunate Projection-

all over Nathan's white work uniform and all over her. He rushed her to the bathroom as lots more flowed. After much wiping down and changing of jammies we had her back in bed, only to repeat 3 more times in the next 20 minutes. She finally did get a full night' s sleep. She seems to look better this morning so we're hoping that it's over because we have company coming this weekend and we don't want them to get sick.
And really, if I have to watch Wall-e or Shrek again I think I'm going to have an unfortunate projection.