Putz

I went to our montly Calendar Girls meeting last night (where we scrapbook from 6p-12midnight) and thought this page turned out kinda cute! Miss Mol and her popsicle. Today I'm a little pooped! I didn't sleep all that well and after going to bed at 1am, I think today would be a perfect nap day...

Jack is watching some tv, Mol is playing with Little People here in the kitchen and Mikie went with Erk to the farmer's market in town. They like to putz, those two :) Mikie came with me this morning to let Chloe out - we were both in jammies (he even had his robe on) and we stopped for some maple syrup. Ahh, who cares. Like me with messy hair and a pale face, or don't like me, doesn't matter :) Of course Mikie doesn't care either... Jack? He'd have to have a collared shirt on and matching shorts.

Not much on the agenda for today - Erk is gonna take the trailer in to get the awning fixed (it got dorked from the heavy rain our last camping trip) but other than that, it's nice to have a clean slate. That and a nap - ohh, I think I already mentioned that :)

You can do it Mousie!

Mikie trying to show Mousie how to ride a bike :)

hard work like that calls for a popsicle...

Mmmmm...

Motor Boat

The boys are watching some tv for quiet time, Bean is pawing at the storm door to come in, the front yard sprinkler just turned itself on (kinda weird - but this new "timer system" works pretty well) and Molly is zonked. This morning ended up a little busier than expected, but it was all good!

After taking Jack to school, Mikie, Mol and I headed to Erk's work to pickup a digital scrapbook page order that needed to be delivered this morning. It was fun walking into Erk's work with the kids in tow, they don't get to see Dad at work very often. It was nice to see Marlo too, she said she just had her last chemo treatment yesterday. YEAH! Here's to hoping all of that crap is behind her :) She's sucha nice person.

Off we headed to drop off the order, then on home to wait a while for Jack to get off the bus. In the meantime though, I called the doc's office to check Mol's ears. She's been crabby on and off for over a week now, started with a fever for about 3 days, and she's been grabbing her right ear. Well, they could get us in at 11:45a. Too bad that's the time Jack gets home from school too! So I called the school and said I'd be picking him up at 11:15a. We did and off we headed to the doc (wouldn't you know everything looks good, he said it is probably her 2 year molars - not that I wanted there to be anything wrong, it just makes ya feel weird leaving there :) and from there we grabbed lunch. I get sucha kick outta these 3. They are somethin' else...

Ohh, and we got Mike and Camille's wedding invite today in the mail. I was so excited, I chucked the rest of the mail on the truck floor and quickly opened the pretty envelope :) VERY NICE! Love the colors.

Well, I suppose I'd better go tell Mikie for the third time to quiet down up there. He is "driving" a boat around on our bed while Jack is watching tv. He likes to make the boat sounds but gets a little carried away!

Sheesh

Hey everybody! It's me - nope, I haven't disappeared! It's hard to keep everything updated :)

We just got home from running a few random errands. We went to Subway for lunch and then headed to Walmart to see how I could spend my handy dandy gift card (thanks again Auntie Jane). When we got into the truck leaving Subway, Shawna pulled in! The timing was crazy! So we chatted for a bit and then I backed right into the minivan that was parked behind us. OOPS! I got out to see that no damage was done and none was to either vehicle. SHEESH. That was embarrassing!

From there we headed to Walmart to dream. The boys were wanting this, that and the other and Mol didn't wanna keep in the shopping cart. But we managed to all get some new flip flops and other cute stuff. Then we headed for home. I was so determined to keep Molly awake and that was successful, so now she is down for a napperoni.

I'm just kinda blahh today - don't ya hate feeling this way? Maybe it's feeling some stress for what all we need to do to our website, it's gonna be a big job to revamp it.

I am excited that my dear pal Michele is coming up tonight to see us!! It's been too long!

An Afternoon at the Lake

Hanging at the lake...
Jack makin' waves :)

Hi Mikie!

We sure had fun at the lake yesterday. We headed over to Mom and Dad's after naptime - we got to see Uncle Bob, Aunt Julie, Uncle Dick and Aunt Gill. What a nice visit!

enjoying the boat ride!

time for some tubin!They had fun until the tube started to go under and Jack fell off, then Erk bailed to get Jack and Mikie got scared! They had fun though -

Workin'?

Ok, I've tried for 2 days now to upload this video to show you guys. Let's see if it works today!?

Graduation

Mikie hugging his preschool teacher as he receives his "diploma" :)

Mikie and his teacher

What a nut!

It was fun to watch Mikie at his little ceremony :) Before we know it, he'll be wearing a cap and gown :( Nope, don't go there! He's so funny. He was clownin around the whole time up there in front of the audience. He's sucha ham. Cute kids...

Afterwards we went to a nearby park and had a picnic. Jack and Mol came too and Mol was EVERYWHERE. There is no stoppin' her on that slide. Fortunately it's not too big, but she saw the older kids run down it and thought maybe she could try it. Fortunately she didn't.

And today the kids have been at Nanny and Papa's, so I headed to have lunch with Erk (mmm, chinese food) and then did some clothes shopping. Today was NOT the day for it. I went in the fitting room 3 times with different stuff, felt so freakin fat and ugly! Either too tight or too frumpy. I did get a few things, but nothing to write home about.

Have a great evening! Since we had a "small oven fire" last night, Erk is picking up pizza on his way home. Great, more CRAP to eat, no wonder I feel fat :)

We Live on Memory Lane

Mol playing in our old doll house (take you back, Meg?!?!)
a few of the great finds in that big old box

we can't forget "Lemon Merenge" who breathes lemon scented breaths when you squeeze her belly!

I'm not sure if it's allergies or what, but my head is about ready to explode! I have a pounding headache, runny nose, snot drippin in the back of my throat (I know, nice mental picture, but you know what I mean).

We ran a few places this morning to drop off digital scrapbook page orders and then headed to Nanny and Papa's for a nice boat ride and lunch. Before we left there, Papa and the boys climbed up into their attic (which Jack said "feels like Florida" cause it was on the warm side) and got down a HUGE box of toys. AND Meg's and my old doll house. Both are here now and it's hilarious! Memory LANE!! A bunch of old Cabbage Patch dolls, naked Barbies (how do they all end up naked?), a cash register, stuffed animals, even old Little People. What fun. Cracks me up to see the kids enjoying this stuff. Right now Mol is busy in the doll house (built by Santa many many years ago).

Recent Happenin's

nice drivin' Mikie!
Papa, Jack, Papa Loo and Mikie

Ari and Molly chillin' out the other day

Ohh, she found me! Morning breath and all - there I was sleeping on the couch -

Hi there! How we doin? I haven't been on here in a few days, whoopsy! So here are some recent pix of the happenings...

Tomorrow I bet there'll be some cute ones to share - Mikie's closing ceremony and class picnic (yep, we are going to head to that, he really wants to play with his buddies one last time). I'm not sure how many kids in his class will attend the same elementary school? I know of one little girl who will, but she will be in Kindergarten (not DK) - maybe Maria will be in Jack's class? That'd be fun :)

Mol found a ball
Mikie's last day of preschool

Bean... you are NUTS

Nanny and Jack sharin' a moment :)

Saturday

Reagan :)
This was so cute... Grampa pulled the kids behind his tractor on Saturday. They took turns being pulled in the wagon. Wouldn't you know my camera died while we were there!?

Jack's turn!

Tumbling Down

I'm daydreaming and double clicking! Here I sit - the boys just came in after playing outside for a long time, now I hear them upstairs making truck and car noises. Funny dudes! Mol is napping and I must say, I could go for one today too! Ahh, but I could every day :)

Today was Mikie's last day of preschool. Hard to believe it. He's done?? His closing ceremony is next Tuesday and there is a picnic afterwards, but perhaps we'll do a quick celebration lunch out with the grandparents? He was so excited before school today, he couldn't even stand still. Dancing, jumping, wobbling :)

While he and Jack were at school, Mol and I did some grocery shopping. I tried a new trick today, no grocery list! I basically write the same things every time I shop, so I thought I'd wing it. I'll let ya know in a week and a half how I did!

Ohh, and Jack fell down the stairs when he got home from school. He went up to get some cars to take outside and I was outside with Molly. I heard a rumbling sound inside the house but had no idea what it was until I heard him start crying. Just as I was about to run in to help Jack, my dad pulled in with Mikie so I asked him to keep an eye on Mol so I could see what the beak happened to Jack. He's ok - hurt his butt and forehead, but no bruises. He was about 1/2 way down when he slipped and the bucket of cars went tumbling in front of him. Poor kid!

That's about all for me. Ohh, our website is having a HUGE sale tomorrow!! We have had a great amount of people contact us about it. Here's to hoping our website works tomorrow and doesn't crash or something crazy like that. We get to see Erk's cousins and extended family tomorrow for the day, can't wait! I just hope people aren't having to call Shawna and I with problems with the site :( Pray! If you don't know the name of our site or are interested in taking a peek, email me. I don't like to give the name of it on here in case of, well, you know how I am about privacy! Ohh, and as I've mentioned before, we have a blog for our bizz with cute stuff too, I'd be happy to tell ya the name of that (should you really even care) - just email me!

Have a great Friday - I'll let ya know how tomorrow goes! Come on ORDERS!

New Look

I thought maybe it was time for a new look :) I like these free changes you can make.

Dad and Pa Loo just stopped over to pick up the boys to take them into town to walk around for a bit. I think they may check out the dam and even get some ice cream. Crazy kids (all 4 of them :)

Mol is playing with the globe here on the table. The boys brought it in from the garage so I could show them where Australia and England are since we've made contact with ladies from there for our website. We're branching out!!! Pretty exciting stuff. We feel so blessed with the way things are moving right along!

Now Bean is whining at me cause she wants to to back outside. She was just out there! WEIRDO. Hope you've had a good one!?

The Latest

Hey there! How we doin' today? Mikie is watching Toy Story and Mol is staring at the inside of her eyelids :) Jack will be getting off the bus soon and Bean is naked. Yep, naked :) She got the ol' shave-a-roni today and looks nude. Ahh, that much less dog hair laying around and tucking itself into balls of fur under the end tables!

Today went a little crazier than planned, but ya never know how things will go, do ya? I've been having some pain in my throat/jaw/gumline/ear only on the right side for 3 days now. I thought it was a bad sore throat at first, but then the pain in my ear was really bugging me too. What the beak? Monday night when I went to get the kids from Granny and Grampa's, I found I had a hard time talking. When I got home, I tried to eat a banana and couldn't even open my mouth that far. I heated up the heating pad thingy we put in the microwave and took some Motrin. I was able to fall asleep relatively pain free. The next day (yesterday) went pretty well until later in the afternoon, I had pain again. Last night? Going to bed, the whole side of my face was killin' me! I couldn't sleep - had to get up and get the heating pad - Motrin - and still lay there in pain. Erk got home late last night from Arizona (a quick trip there for work) and he could tell I was in pain too. So today I made the call. Well, I had to start with my OBGYN's office :) HA! My OB is still my "primary doctor" so I had to call to see what they thought I should do. Do I call the dentist? Do I call my ENT? They recommended my ENT, start there. So I did. They actually got me in today at 11:15a, which is unheard of.

Of course 11:15a came and went and it was more like 12:15p before I saw the doc - but still. Nice guy (not my normal ENT) and after looking in my ears and nostrils and throat, he scratched his head a tad. Fortunately, not redness or swelling, both of my ears are perfectly normal (Praise the Lord!) and then he grabbed the sides of my jaw and had me bite down. My jaw clicked. He had me do it again. Jaw clicked again. And again. I have TMJ! So after a $45 copay and getting some literature on the matter, I went to head for home. Only the trip home wasn't as quick as I would have liked. I left the truck headlights on and my battery was dead AGAIN! So here came Erk to my rescue, jumped the truck and on the road I was. I stopped at a place I haven't pulled thru since Jack was in my belly - and ate what I did back in the day. Vegetable beef soup, grilled cheese and a small Coke :) I sat there and read my new "book" on TMJ and learned a thing or two. Apparently I need to lessen my stress (riiiiiiiiiiiiiight) and try to get more rest (that'd be nice) and stop biting on hard things like ice (shoot, I love ice!) and perhaps quit biting my fingernails (ARGH, now you're pushing it).

We'll get there. I'm just so thankful it wasn't something wrong in my ear or like a tumor or something. You know how the human mind works, we get thinking all worse case scenarios!

Ohh, Toy Story is done. Gotta run. BYE!

Camping was...

a blast (as you can see). A tad on the chilly side, but oh so great to get away. Jack is so funny about his clothes, he is very particular and you'd think you asked him to wear a snowsuit when you want him to put pants on. He braved it here and there with shorts, but at those freakin' cold times, gave in and wore pants. Mikie really had fun riding his bike all over the place. He went out in the strong wind and cold to brave the elements :) Mol stuck pretty much inside, but when outside, watch out sand! She'll throw you, eat you, crawl on you and swish you all around! She loved the sand (as was evident in the bathtub).

Pretty sky Friday night...

Erk cookin' it up Saturday morning - after that we headed into town for a carnival...
Mikie and I as we were about to go on his first "roller coaster" ever :) I know, I look 1/2 dead, but that's a beautiful thing about camping!

Love this picture - Erk and the boys on the "Himalaya" ride - Jack thought he was gonna puke!

Ohh yeah, watch out! Elephant ear baby!
we all enjoyed it just a tad :)

Molly taking time to smell the flowers (wearing Jack's hat)
Cute of Daddy and Mikie

A try at a nice shot, but no one really wanted to cooperate...