Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween Pix

Obi Wan (from Starwars)
sweet Candy Corn

3 cute kiddos :)

and G.I. Joe




Granny trick-or-treating with the kiddos -

Mikie's eyes closed - takes after his dad :)

Papa and Mikie
We had a great time out there tonight - my feet are still chilly :) I think everyone's are. It was a brisk night, but we hit more houses than we ever have and the boys were heading to doors all on their own. Seems in years past we've had to go up to the doors with 'em. They're getting old... Molly sure had fun trick-or-treatin' near Granny and Grampa's, but opted to stay in with Nanny once we were at their house.
Once we got home, Erk and I put the kiddos to bed and switched into packing mode. Yep, tomorrow mornin' we head to Iowa! Hard to believe it's been a year since we were there last. We've been really lookin' forward to it - hopefully the kids will be fully cooperative with Nanny and Papa this week :)
Hope you guys had a fun Halloween tonight too!

Thursday, October 29, 2009


Some pics from the other day :)

Mikie... he was wearing goggles all morning yesterday!
the boys had fun pushing Molly down the back hill in the empty swimming pool!

watch out Bean!


Poop on you

Now that the kids are all playing upstairs,
I thought I’d share with you my wares.
But where to even begin, to wind back I wonder,
There was no lightening today, but surely some thunder.
As I was sitting on the couch listening to the boys bicker,
I thought, “today they get a haircut,” maybe even earn a sticker.
Mikie is always agreeable and went ahead first as usual.
Jack’s turn brought fighting, lip and at times made me delusional.
All the while Molly was lurking around and “helping,”
Bean would occasionally walk by with her barking and yelping.
Give Molly a fake haircut and she’s thinks she’s a beauty queen,
All three in the downstairs shower, out comes the vacuum for me to clean.
I notice dry leaves all scattered in our mudroom, so I start there first.
Figuring I’ll vacuum up the hair once that was done, didn’t realize it was cursed.
Vacuum away I am with no light on at all,
A dark spot in the corner needed a repeated vacuum call.
But that didn’t seem to pick up the dry leaves lying there,
That’s when the stench came to eye level and gave me a stare.
That wasn’t a leaf pile nicely packed away in the corner,
But a pile of Bean’s poop brought in by the boys, I became a mourner.
On the light comes to see the poop that’s now everywhere.
And alls I was going to do was vacuum up that stupid hair!
Take a step back and wonder what I’m gonna do,
The inside and belt and all of the vac is now covered in poo.
Out comes the paper towel, caramel apple sticks and cleaner.
The more I had to scrape and dig, the more I became meaner.
Figuring the mudroom rug now covered in tidbits of poop was toss-able,
I hear Mike yell from the shower, “I’m bleeding!” Is that possible?
So I go to check out and almost break my neck on the wet floor,
Mikie sure enough had found a razor and wondered just what it was for.
Making a straight little cut across his chest did he,
Bleeding and soon realizing a razor ain’t for glee.
Clean up his wound (don’t worry I washed up good),
Then get at least a diaper on Molly all wet there as she stood.
Yell up to Jack to help Molly find clothes and get dressed,
Of course, just like the haircut, it wasn’t without protest.
I explain I have poop and blood to pickup that take first gettin’,
He quickly agreed his task at hand is worth getting up from sittin'.
I still have to tip toe through the kitchen with hair all abound.
And my extra caramel apple stick helped in the vacuum to get around.
Wipe down the 4 stacks of feces that remained sticking to the floor,
Roll up the rug, along with my cleaning tools and open the back door.
Out I head into the fall leaves with bare feet and my mess,
Only to step in a neato pile of Bean’s poop, all nice and FRESH.
I stopped in my steps and said, “No this can’t be true!”
But it was, no denying it, in between my toes was poo.
Back in the house trying my “labor” type breathing to keep this mind over matter,
Still with wet kids, hair on the floor and my brain growing even fatter.
“Where is my paycheck?” I remember saying with a mean look,
With the cleaning supplies, breathing and paper towel this took.
To come in and finally clean up the hair that was the beginning you see,
Spotting something on the kitchen rug… what was it? It couldn’t be!
Fortunately it wasn’t really, but chocolate from the day before,
From making cupcakes for Mikie’s Halloween party and what remained was one more.
That had been on the counter since making too many yesterday,
Jack quickly chimed in during my cleaning, “can it be mine?” Umm, neigh.
That cupcake was calling my name and after all that I had just been through,
I can honestly say that I followed the quote today of “poop on YOU!”

Some People Wait a Lifetime...

Last night I had dinner out with some girlfriends - great time - been too long! While we met at Chili's, Erk and I did the "kid swap" in the parking lot and he went to a place around the corner with the kids. Little did they know, it was "kid's night" at the restaurant and some dude was handing out raffle tickets. Wouldn't you know Molly's ticket was drawn and she got to pick a prize?! Since she really had no clue of what was happenin, the boys picked out an American Idol microphone thingy that you can sing along with music.

Anywho, the boys have been carrying it around singing, telling each other what to do, barking out commands. When they started to play their Star Wars video game, Molly got going on the "mic." She thought you have to put the whole thing in your mouth. Well, she got bored and I found it sitting in my lap. What person wouldn't wanna give it a shot? So I cleared my throat and started singing along to "For a Moment Like This" and put my hand out as if I were on the show singing my heart out. Molly saw this as the perfect opportunity to put the booger she had just picked right in my palm. Guess that tells me... I'm not the next American Idol.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

define: RARE

Many of you know my history with wanting to move (into a newer house). It comes and goes, but when it comes, it seems to come on very strong. Well, I wanna move. But we can’t. But I want to. Wouldn’t you know there is a “dream house” for sale? Too much moola, we ain’t movin.

But I can’t help but be reminded sometimes of why I’d love to move. Our toilet in our downstairs bathroom still just doesn’t quite work right. We have a new toilet, been up on the roof, taken it apart – not sure what the beak the trouble is. Anywho – so when ya have to pee, you go upstairs. Such was the case for me a few minutes ago. So I skip every-other-step up the stairs and head into the bathroom. It happens to be just outside Molly’s bedroom and I just laid her down for a nap 5 minutes ago. So I don’t turn on the light, just plop down to take care of bizz.

“Mom?”
“Mom?”
“Yeah Molly, it’s mom, I’m goin’ potty.”
“Mom?”
“Mom? Goin’ poo-poos? Momma stinky.”
This term “stinky” comes from the boys having her say that – it’s hilarious to hear come out of her little mouth.
“Mom?”
“Yeah Molly, I’m still on the potty.”
“Mommy stinky… baby stinky… poo poo diapie… Mikie stinky…”
I finish washing my hands.
“Mom?”
“Mom?”
“Molly, time for ni-nights. Mommy all done.”
“Mom?”
“What Molly?”
“Mommy stinky.”

I come down the stairs smiling and shaking my head as if someone else heard it all go down and I hear Mikie say from the fort him and Jack made this morning,
“I’m a builder, a hawk and a snow monster.”
Jack replies,
“I’m a snow vampire.”
And they continue on playing.

HILARIOUS KIDS!

Ohh, now the boys are in their “ice boat” and “don’t wanna have to jump into the icey water.” Jack can “fly across” and now Mikie says his "hawk skills" are helping him out. RARE!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Road Rally

we got this one all wrong - but we still had fun with the "quicker picker upper"
pulled over, hopped out, snapped a pic in this front yard...

we had to find something "we can't believe we all fit in this"
I had fun at the Road Rally on Saturday night. Bless our neighbors heart for watching the kids :) Erk was afraid it would be birth control for them! Erk was up north hunting thru yesterday around 12noon. The people in my RR group were nice - although our "driver" was a maniac on the road! I'm thankful to be alive! Definately something I'd like to do again (maybe I'll drive this time?) even though Erk has already said he's "out" for the next one. Come on Erk, don't these pix look like fun!?



Friday, October 23, 2009

Interviews October 2009

Tonight, just before bed I conducted a series of personal interviews, one at a time. Below are the first responses made by the interviewees (is that a word?).

What is your favorite color?
Jack: red
Mikie: green
Molly: “dack”

What color are your eyes?
Jack: blue
Mikie: uhh, green
Molly: (she squinted at me)

Who is your favorite person?
Jack: Molly
Mikie: You
Molly: “me know”

Who was the “tin man?”
Jack: This is too hard.
Mikie: I don’t know.
Molly: “I know.”

What does the word “stock” mean?
Jack: Umm, I don’t know.
Mikie: I never really heard that.
Molly: (laughs)

How many teeth do you have?
Jack: I’m assuming maybe 29?
Mikie: (counting out loud with his mouth open) “1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5… 15”
Molly: (opens her mouth as wide as she can)

Where is your favorite camping spot?
Jack: Hungry Horse
Mikie: Hungry Horse
Molly: “damp-een”

What is our next dog’s name?
Jack: Tank
Mikie: Chewbacca
Molly: O’day

Where will you be in 5 years?
Jack: Florida
Mikie: Uhh in another home.
Molly: No.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Jack: Police
Mikie: Police
Molly: No.

What is a “hang nail?”
Jack: What is a hang nail? I don’t know.
Mikie: A nail… it hangs from a wall, right?
Molly: No, I know.

What year were you born?
Jack: Wait, lemme think a minute, 6 years, so that would be 2001, correct?
Mikie: What? July.
Molly: “dune”

Does Bean annoy you?
Jack: No.
Mikie: Yes.
Molly: “yeah”

What annoys you?
Jack: Mike when he’s mean to me.
Mikie: This big hairy beast that is your dog.
Molly: No.

Are you happy?
Jack: Yes.
Mikie: Yeah, of course I am.
Molly: No.

What makes you happy?
Jack: That I get to go to Cedar Point and Don’s cabin.
Mikie: (pointing at me) You.
Molly: “happy, happy birfday…”

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Sugar

Ummm, what you got there Molly?


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Dock Day

Dad and I takin' out the dock... I needed some suspenders to keep them there waders up :)

No Jack Sleeping

I feel like I still have lady bugs crawling on me! Today was such a beautiful fall day. Warm, no jacket needed. My only trouble with it was the freakin' lady bugs flocking to everything in sight. Mol and I were going over to my folks to help get the dock outta the lake this afternoon and I killed a lady bug crawling up my leg inside my jeans and one on the windshield right in front of me. Then it seemed like they covered the inside of the truck, but I guess there were only like 4 or 5. Still!? :)

Dad and I had fun taking the dock out - no rachets dropped, no water levels over the waders so our pants and feet remained dry. A few big bellied spiders said hello but wearing gloves it was easy to squash 'em. While we were working on the dock sections, we saw Miss Mol's top of her head peeking out the basement window (my old bedroom) watching us. She was supposed to be takin' a nap! It was so cute. She finally laid down and conked. We then came home in time for the bus to drop the boys off and Papa came over to help take their bunk beds apart. Jack has mentioned having his bed back to "ground level" so we figured while we were flexing our muscles, may as well PULL one or two more :) So tonight I came up to sit here in bed and found no Jack sleeping in our bed. Jack has been falling asleep in our bed for weeks now - but he seemed to fall asleep just fine in his own tonight. Pretty cute.

Well, with that I'm off to do some work and head to bed. I hope you've had a good one -

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Cute

My conversation with Mikie this morning:

"Mom, I don't feel very good."
"Does your belly hurt? Your head? Your heart?"
"Mom, does your heart give you more blood when a mosquito gets ya?"
"Well, our hearts do keep our blood pumping..."
"I wish there weren't any mosquitos."
"Then what would bats eat?"
"I wish there were no bats. I wish there were no bears. I wish there were no bees. I wish we never had to have our feelings hurt."

Friday, October 16, 2009

These pictures won't change order, but this was supposed to be the second one :) Mikie was embarrassed that I took his picture while he was trying to feed Bean dog in the family room.
Jack had fun making Oh Henry bars the other night. He sure liked that he was flyin' solo on the bakin' front.


What does Molly do all day?




action shot

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Bedtime for Babies

Mol just loves to get all the babies out of her bed and take care of 'em during the day. I thought this was SO PRECIOUS when she went and got the Bible yesterday to read to her babies (who are all "ni-nights" on the couch)...

Our Own Superheros

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Hairs Cuts


I thought I'd show you Mol's little lady haircut :)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Mouse

So it’s about time to head downtown for Mikie’s ear checkup. We scramble to find socks that match, put our shoes on, who needs a coat? – the normal drill. Jack heads out first and I come out behind Mike and Molly telling Bean we’ll be back later. Jack starts yellin’. And carrying on. I roll my eyes as I walk behind the kids figuring it just goes along with Jack’s lack-o-sleep lately. As we get closer, I realize he’s yelling about a mouse. Sure enough, there is a little mouse running in circles in the garage. Under their dump truck, Gator, round and round he went. I downplayed it with Jack asking him why he was freaking like that – “is it on your face or something?” and saying “no” in response to my own question. So I tell the kids to hop in the truck. As I’m buckling Molly into her carseat on the driver’s side Jack says the mouse went under the truck. Well, you’d better BELIEVE I hopped up on the running board, buckled Mol in her carseat and proceeded to climb over her and the diaper bag and misc goodies on the truck floor and climbed into the front seat. I wasn’t getting back out! Was the mouse on my face? Nope. At least I didn’t scream :)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Checkin' In




I just reread my last post - umm, that's an eyebrow raiser :) Funny to read my own words when I was so out of it. But those Ambien sure do help me sleep!

Speaking of sleeping, Molly is conked. Bean is too. I'm dinking around with 17 different things at once. The crayons are dumped all over the table. Here lays my wallet opened so I could get our bizz credit card out to confirm our upcoming food order from Qdoba for our retreat (this weekend already). Jack's winter hat sits 3 inches from me, a field trip sign up form...

Here are a few pix that were snapped last night - they turned out SO cute (if I do say so myself ;) and I think I'm gonna use some for Christmas cards this year -

Saturday, October 10, 2009

La La

Good evening! It's more like almost midnight, so not really evening anymore. I rarely stay up this late but was feeling inspired so I "went with it." As part of a group Shawna and I have been introduced to, we were hit with the idea of each of us webbased businesses come up with a list of 10 Christmas gift ideas. And then we will cross-promote each other by linking each of our articles thru each others websites. Probably doesn't sound like it makes any sense, sorry. I suppose if my hubby were still up - he'd be tellin' me to go to bed! Since I've never drank before, Erk guesses this is as close to "drunk" as you'll ever see me. I guess once I take my Ambien before bed, it can hit me like a freight train or make me plain silly. I feel loopy right now! My eyes are toothpicked open and my body is telling me to go to bed. Erk just picked up a beautiful bedroom set for our bed - comforter, shams, pretty pillows, even a dust ruffle. It looks so nice! We have only used quilts these first 10+ years of marriage, so this is a sorta fun change. Still love the quilts, but don't mind the fancy either ;)

Well, since I'm in la-la land, I think I'd better head to bed. I hope you've had a great Saturday! We sure did - what precious kids we have been blessed with! Many laughs today from the kids - the best sound in the world.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Scrappin' About Supper


this is a digital scrapbook page that was too fun not to share :) this was erk and i last night...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Combo #2?

Today at church we talked about things in our lives and how we may not realize it at the time, but they may come back to help you in the future.

As I scrubbed the trailer’s fridge and freezer just now, I was reminded how thankful I was to break my nose when I was 6. Yep, you read that right. See, since then, I have this “ability” to turn my nose off to smells. I can smell if I want, or switch the ‘ol nostrils to off and use my mouth to breath. To think I wanted to get my nose fixed as a teenager and ended up not. Not only does my nose add character, but also this find feature which allows me to do things like I just did. Clean the trailer fridge and freezer.

This wasn’t the typical end-of-the-season cleaning. Oh no. This was “the trailer has been in the shop getting the awning fixed and there it sat for weeks “out back” with no power.” So this was a moldy, grimy, smelly combo of raw ground beef, banana popsicles, cheese slices, fish and many other goodies. To think, there our trailer sat and smelled all the more every day, only to be brought back home and plugged back in. Now? We have popsicle wrappers and Hershey bars frozen to the bottom and sides of the freezer. Needless to say, those things are thawing out and later I will go out for round two.

I knew it was going to be bad when I went to open the fridge and was met on the door handle with a goo that was a cross between honey and jam. Wasn’t sure what the color was, and I will say it is a color I could do without seeing again. But open the fridge I did and turned off the nose and got to work. Scrubbed, chatted with the boys who so willingly came out to keep me company. Took a while but eventually, white and shiny without black speckles all over.

Next is the freezer. By the way the goo was on the door handle for the fridge, I knew the “secret funness” had to be coming from the freezer. Open the freezer. Nose still turned to off, the boys took one wiff and OUT of the trailer they headed. It appears the goo was the raw beef and banana popsicles hanging out on the shelf in the freezer. Then I saw the fish that had been frozen, thawed and re-frozen. I guess I’ve painted the picture, eh!? Needless to say, now that I’m back in the house and have scrubbed the shelves and all in the kitchen sink in here, I am still keeping my nose turned off on the off chance I may smell like a banana-beef-fish combo, is that the #2?

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Helpin Momma Do Laundry

Lap Dog?

Hey! Looks like I've been outta touch again for a few days! Mikie started it :) The stomach bug that we've all been fighting, that is. Thursday night the poor fella was up hourly pukin, so we took it pretty easy Friday. Over time I felt like poop, now Jack has it and Mol has had some signs. Hopefully Erk won't get it, but you know how these things go! It's certainly running around our house from person to person!

Now here I sit watching GH from Friday and Erk went upstairs to read. He's been lovin' reading lately - I should read too. I try to, but have a hard time sticking with a book. Bits and pieces I can do... Bean dog is asleep on the couch next to me, curled up in a tiny ball that makes (at least her) think she's a lap dog.