tOdaY

Ahh, today... what was it? I guess you could say it was interesting.

Molly tagged along with me for "double nursery duty" this morning, which simply means I was nursery lady for the 9:30 and 11a services. Mol hasn't been going in the nursery anymore, she has been joining the boys for JAMS time instead. She's growin up! But she did so well, I know it's a long time to be there and she was great. Even with the naughty boy who is on everyone's list and the twin babies who cry 45 minutes of the hour service, we survived.

After that we came on home where Erk was prepping the porch for the vinyl. Yep, our porch has windows now! It's temporary for the winter (maybe next winter we'll have it all windowed in and finished) but it's great. So practical and will block the elements from making the cement floor slippery and heck, it blocks the wind!

While the men folk worked (Erk's buddy Jay came to help), Mike, Molly and I went to the grocery store for a few needs. Jack opted to stay home. So we got what we needed, visited with a few different people we saw that we know and headed out. Well, we get about 20 feet into the parking lot and next thing I know, the cart I'm pushing with Molly in the front and Mike standing on the back goes straight up in the air! I mean end over end straight! HOLY CRAP! Mike fell on his back and whammed his head, my shin is killing me and I'm wondering what the heck just happened. I yell "MIKE!" and he comes right to my arms and starts to cry. We pushed the cart outta the way of traffic and stood in an empty handicapped parking spot. I checked him over, he said his toe hurt, but otherwise he was fine. Didn't hit his head too hard (I'm so glad, I had an ER visit flashing thru my mind thinking of Florida this past March). We get to the truck and I piece together and ask Mike, sure enough, he had put his foot in front of the wheel in front and whammo, it stopped the moving cart and up in the air it went! As I loaded our 4 or 5 bags into the back of the truck, I realized how grateful I was that Molly didn't fall out and get hurt. SHEESH. What an ordeal!
u> Once home and the porch was done - we ordered some pizza.

I love this one of the kids eating in the family room (we were watching football).

and Molly and Daddy snuggled :) So cute!

So that was the day. Now my eyes and head are telling me to get to bed but yet I can't seem to quit. I must - I must quit! Sleep well! Hope you have a great start to the week tomorrow :)

Doesn't Bother Me

"I sure do like those Christmas cookies, sugar. I sure do like those Christmas cookies, babe..." Ever heard that Christmas song? One of my favorites. By George Strait. I'm lovin' the music on, I love everything Christmas. It doesn't bother me one bit that things seemed to get an earlier start than usual this year either, I love it!

Today the kids and I went bowling. We had fun :) Only played one game, but that took an hour so it was plenty. Mike got throwing the ball so hard that one of the times it bounced out of our lane and down the gutter of the unused lane next to us. I was ticked. I kinda jumped in his stuff, all the while knowing it was an accident, but from there on out he realized he'd better chill out a little and bowl for real (not like he does on the Wii). From there we went to lunch at Logan's. Mmmm... only one ranch dressing hit the floor, ohh and a chicken tender, but otherwise we did pretty well. Then off to the craft store to get some ornament making supplies (and the kids each wanted one of everything and anything Toy Story 3, football, or princess) and on home.

Once we got home, Mol and I laid down for a nap while Erk and the boys played some hunting video game for a while and watched football (real manly :). Then Erk made a delish supper of venison tenderloins and all sorts of goodies and afterwards the kids and I made the ornaments. A very nice day for sure. Now the house is quiet and here I sit...

We could go bowling

Molly started off with shoes but they hurt her toes, so she finished up in socks
Mike

Miss Mol

Jack getting ready to show us how it's done (the lighting is really bad in there so pictures didn't turn out so well!)

Ohh, when we got there at 10:06a, the door was locked. I thought that was strange (had just checked online to see the time they opened and I coulda sworn it said 10a). So we backed away from the door and I contemplated moving around our plans for the day when this older woman walked up and I told her the door was locked. She said "well it better not be. I was told they opened at 10!" Sure shootin, she got her son to give her his cell phone and called the alley. Of course we could hear the phone ringing inside with no one there to answer it. She motioned behind her with her pointer finger out and when it was time to leave a message, she said, "Excuse me, you have 14 people standing outside your door, you told me you open at 10!" and hung up. WOW did that lady have some gonads. Is bowling really that important lady? Two seconds later the owner pulls up in a vehicle we recognize from around town and asks, "do you ever have one of those mornings?" Poor dude. Those things just happen, ya know? Too bad crabby lady never has one of those days! SHEESH.

Turkey Day 2010

look at that feast! and crowd! good times :) (what the heck is with my expression? and I look like I'm going bald! AHHH!)
I asked Mike how the "Paula Deen" pie recipe I used turned out... (seems to be a theme in pictures with Mike, he has a mouth full!)

Gramma and Dad AKA Mother and Son

Molly looking for black friday deals

the table is set and ready for some eatin'

caught ya Jack!

the turkey carver (Erk) cut his thumb! Uncle Dick showing some techniques for good bandaging :)

Erk (in a pretty apron) surrounded by spectators

Hey all! How was your Turkey Day? We had a nice one - for sure. Nice to be with fam.

Mom and Dad L, I hope you both felt well enough yesterday to celebrate!?

Here are some pix from our day yesterday. It's funny, of course being on this side of the camera, I'm not in any pictures. Except for the ones Dad took, and as you can see, for whatever reason, I looked scared/shocked/I have no idea what I was doing. HA!

My MRI is today at 12:15p. Erk is gonna run me down there (or we'll probably drive) and the kids will play at Nanny and Papa's for a bit.

1-2-3-4-5

Why in the world do I keep getting calls from 1(234)5? Honestly, that's how it shows up on my phone. No one is there. What is this? Sounds like the combination on my luggage (Spaceballs) :)

I went to the doc a bit ago for my headaches. I'm glad I went. Without a doubt, the worst part was stepping on that darn scale! Argh! Don't ya hate that?!

I don't typically see this doctor, although he is my primary. He is the kids doctor, Dad's doctor, Erk's doctor and was Meg's doctor. That's great - he's a great guy, but I don't like to go see him for my annual physicals. It's weird. I just can't do it. He checks my kids for colds, I don't wanna sit there in a gown! So I still go to my old OBGYN for those visits. Call me crazy, but hey, he (my OB) delivered 2 of the 3 kids and I can somehow deal with it. Ok - I guess I'm getting too graphic here - ANYWHO...

So seeing the doc today was weird. I was the one sitting on the wax paper covered bed thingy. He went thru a slew of questions and all, and ended up prescribing me a migraine medicine as well as an MRI. He just wants to make sure my brain is in there :) Nahh, he just wants to make sure everything is ok up there. Especially since the headaches have been in these past few months. I have no prior history of migraines. So... we'll see. There was some discussion over the MRI with the titanium piece in my right ear (from my ear surgery 2 years ago), but it sounds like it'll all work out.

I'll keep ya posted!

UPDATE! I go Friday a little after noon for an MRI.

Daddy and Jack

Cute boys!

Silly Kids

tonight at dinner we were surprised with a balloon animal makin dude.
Jack with a ram.

Mike with a sword (and a full mouth of hotdog).

Molly with a butterfly.

These 3

Bedtime was fun tonight - I smiled as I sang the A-B-C's with Molly. Her little 3 year old voice ringing out, not pronouncing her X's right. So precious. What a gift our kids are. So truly. Thank you Lord for each of these 3. They are so special.

This morning I woke up just kinda feeling like I needed some time to myself. Just some peace in the valley, time to regroup. We went to church and out to lunch with Nanny and Papa, then on home. Erk isn't feeling so good, he took a nap and the kids all headed up for quiet time. Quiet time proved to be Ernie time :) It felt great to have some time to dink, do whatever floated my boat and then when all came back into the norm again, I was ready for it. My patience restored and I gotta tell ya, Jack snuggling on my left shoulder during Toy Story 3 was priceless. Great family time. Good stuff.

And so I'm here thankful for today, for this evening, for our family. Praise God for the gifts He gives. Like Ivor said at church this morning, we will "thank Him now" :)

PS sorry to hear you guys have the crud now, Granny and Grampa :( I hope you get feeling better and for the infection in Dad L's leg!

I quick took this new pic today while the kids were outside :) It's pretty cute, isn't it?

The boys are so RARE, so wild today. Now they are watching football (Jack knows the sport pretty darn well) and they are excited to have some cake tomorrow :)

That About Sums It Up

focused
curious

goofy

A Piece

Making some supper - boys are upstairs in their room in trouble - Molly is sitting on Daddy's lap watching football. A nice Saturday evening, well, except for the trouble part.

Not much else going on... We haven't gone anywhere today - well Erk did to pick up his deer meat from the processor. Ohh and he ran over Molly's tri-cycle when he pulled out. She wasn't overly thrilled to see it in the trash :( Oops.

That's probably about it. I'm making a chocolate cake for Erk and I to enjoy after the kiddos go to bed, they've had enough chocolate today. Don't worry, we'll save them a piece for tomorrow :)

Better

Doing better today - folding laundry, trying to do some domestic work :) Hope you have a great day today!

One of those days...

I'm feeling just kinda blahh right now. Seems to have been a crazy day. Started with a headache - so I took some goods - but ever since then my hands have been shaky and I've had a stomach ache. Thinking it may be time to talk to my doc about my headaches. Seems I get some bad ones these days - or at least they head into the "bad catagory" if I don't do something about them.

Also had issues to deal with today and things like that aren't fun to mess with. Nothing major, just some things to iron out. Sometimes being all grown up ain't easy, is it!? Gee whiz!

I hope your day has been better than mine! Love ya :)

Beth - she's hysterical!

I had to copy and paste these from my pal Beth. She is SO FREAKING funny! She had this on Facebook yesterday:

A few truths about deer hunting:

1. Hunting clothes are NOT slimming.
2. A squirrel sounds like an elephant when you're listening for deer.
3. If squirrels were deer, you'd have a freezer full of venison.
4. You must not eat or drink too much while hunting. (bathroom issue)...
5. No matter how much makeup you wear, your nose will turn red.
6. ANYTHING in the woods can look like a deer if you stare at it long enough.

She is a hunter! The only chick I know who can pull it off and look cute! HA! So rare!

A Day Late

I'm feeling like my talk with the kids yesterday was effective... today.

They are doing "quiet time" and so far I don't hear anyone. Yesterday was a different story. I had to yell up the stairs more than once, had Molly lay down in bed with me, only to go up and again give the boys a 10 minute speech on respect and consideration for others. So far they are playing in their own rooms, respecting the fact that Molly is asleep and Jack (who is home sick from school today) needs some r&r.

He has sucha runny nose, I just couldn't see him keeping up with it at school. The germs - the kleenex. Wasn't a pretty mental picture. That and the 7:30am wake up call I did to him and he said he wasn't ready to get up? Umm, that is not like him. He is an EARLY riser by nature. So all 3 are home and quiet and I'm wondering what I'll do with the next 45 minutes. Hmm, perhaps wash windows? Perhaps not.

Booth

Our dealio last night was fun. I meant to mention that in my short little post below. Never having done anything like that, we really didn't know what to expect, but it was good. We decided that a good opener with ladies who approached our booth was, "are you a scrapbooker?" That seemed to open the door to see if they are scrappers, what it is we do, and if not, then we keyed more on our holiday card display to show them that we'll be printing Christmas cards this year :) We met some other ladies with booths around us... Ruthanne with neat necklaces she handcrafts and Jennifer the MaryKay lady with too much foundation on who kept checking herself out in the reflection of the window behind us. We also figured out that the whole "U shape" at the end of the room where we were are all from the same town we are. So TMF (too much foundation) lady suggested we host a holiday show in our own town before the holidays. Great idea - but don't ask me to coordinate it lady! We'll see if we hear anything. A good experience and if nothing else, we handed out some flyers and ate some Herseys kisses :)

Watchin

Watching 'The Pursuit of Happyness,' what a great movie. Jack is in our bed down here (he "drew" tonight as his night to sleep with me) and Mike and Molly are up in her room, supposedly sleeping. Although Molly has come down 4 times now. Turd!

Faint

What the beak!? Last night after the kiddos were all tucked in bed (which was quite a process cause Mike slept with Molly in her bed, I pulled Jack's mattress in on the floor so he could get in on the sleepover action, only to be asked to put his mattress back on his bed 10 minutes later so he could sleep - Molly was talking) I came downstairs figuring I'd get "my work" done.

See, with the "holiday show" we are going to be at tonight - at a nearby town library :) - there was a lot of last minute stuff pending.

I plopped down to work on my laptop and my faint headache started to pick up some steam. I wanted to keep working, so I did - even though my head was telling me I'd better go to bed. It hit 8:58pm and I couldn't look at my computer screen anymore. I had to call it a night. I figured taking some Tylenol PM and my amoxicillin from my recent gunk would help me sleep and I'd be fine. So I take those pills and head upstairs to check the kids. Mike and Molly are so sweet sleepin' next to each other, Jack all snuggled in his own bed. Then I realize, I'm not seeing straight. Things weren't in focus...

So I come on downstairs and make sure the doors are locked and I'm gonna puke. I swear I was gonna puke. I went straight to bed. The only light in our room was the clock and it seemed like the sun was shining directly into my eyeballs. I put a pillow over my head, my head was throbbing. I laid there not able to close my eyes cause my eyes would move and that made it worse, so I opened my eyes and stared in the darkness. What was I gonna do? I wasn't able to sleep - but could I take more medicine when I had just taken all of those? I couldn't take it anymore, I got up and nausiously walked to the bathroom where I lingered over the "head" figuring I'd lose supper. I took an Excedrin Migraine and wobbly as I was, headed back to bed. I literally rocked myself, back and forth, trying not to move my eyes. I believe I did that for somewhere around 45 minutes.

Next thing I knew Molly was in my face telling me she needed a kleenex. I didn't wanna move - although I felt the headache was gone and I could possibly rest on the back of my head now (when the headache was going on, I couldn't). I just told her to get in bed with me.

This morning I was woken up by Mike telling me it was ""7:01 Mom, when are you gonna get up?" The headache was gone but I swear to you my skull was still sore! Like I had been hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat last night.

As the day has worn on, my head has started to clear up, although it's still sore. I'm not wanting to look any direction quickly or bend over with my head beneath my heart for fear the headache will return. Sheesh louise - migraines are not anything to mess with! (ohh and in case you are wondering where is Erk? he's up at Don's cabin for deer hunting thru Tuesday - figures, doesn't it??)

Tonight the holiday show is from 7p-9p. We aren't sure what to expect, we've never done one of these before but are hoping to get our name out there. We'll be with MaryKay ladies and Lia Sophia, so who knows, if nothing else we'll meet some new ladies and hopefully come away feeling like all of our work has paid off :)

Some of our Cards

Here are a few of the "Holiday Cards" we will be printing (thru our bizz) this year! We have 10 different designs actually. REALLY excited about this - hoping it'll help our business grow :)

Mol is sitting here eating some toast and I'm trying not to be on my laptop all day! Feels like a lot to get done today, but no worries, we just took some time to sit and watch the Smurfs!

Mikie as a "chicken"

Well, Mikie's acting class performance today was wonderful. He did great :) I dare say he memorized his lines the best in the class? Perhaps I'm just a proud momma! He really did great!

I was puzzled by how to make the chicken hat part of his giddy-up then today it hit me. Why not get some red gloves to pin to his knit hat? So Mol and I ran to the store and got a pair of gloves and safety pins and wa-la, a chicken hat (that is functional, now we have extra gloves too).

Mouse in Mike's "lid"
using one of his feathers as a mustache :)

Daddy, Jack and Molly (it was cute to watch her try to get into the

same position as the boy next to her)

Hey chicken man!

Potted Shower

we got to see Tony yesterday for lunch!

Hello and happy Monday to ya! Molly is insisting on sitting on my lap right now and that makes it kinda tough to type :) But she's cute and only gonna be 3 for a short while so for now, it'll work.

What a beautiful day outside. WOW. I just swept out the leaves in the garage, got the truck washed today and even cleaned the windows on the inside of the truck. Bye bye dog nose prints and kids handprints, at least until later today ;) We also got me a trim on the ol' hair today, something I've put off fearing she'd cut too much off. But she didn't, just got rid of the bad ends.



Ohh and funny thing today too - so yesterday our water heater quit. Nice, I know. We managed thru, I even took a cold shower (NOT recommended). Today I couldn't do it - I saw Erk heated up some pots on the stove for his "shower" so I did the same. Too bad the water was a little too hot. So I stood there mixing the faucet water with my potted water and managed to clean myself up. Mike and Molly were so curious about the pots and how that all worked, I didn't have much privacy. Anywho after that whole fiasko, Erk called to ask me to check the breakers, wouldn't you know, the water heater's breaker was tripped! So yeah, it was a simple fix (for now). We'll have to keep an eye on it I suppose...

Ohh, now Mikie is playing a video game that needs some of my mad skills.

GO State GO!

Erk took this with his phone yesterday - the boys first ever Big Ten football game!

Road Rally

the clues (I believe there were 30 total), they were hard this year! but we managed to get them sorted out, some were left to our "own interpretation." it was a riot! i truly enjoyed the time spent with 4 other ladies (and we BEAT THE GUYS team!)
one of the clues mentioned an airport - we thought we'd have to go a city over but then i remembered the tiny one not 2 miles from our house :) we were pointing at an airplane, kinda hard to see i know

mom hooked us up with a jar of jelly!

we had to try this pic a few times. the first camera wouldn't work so we were all piled up, so then we switched to mine - i'm so glad we did so i can have these pix!

some dude drove by us here at the pool and just gawked!
too bad this one didn't really turn out! one of the clues made us get chocolate for the person who coordinated the road rally! so we had to quick stop back at church to drop it off by 6pm. when we pulled in at 5:59pm, our pastor was trying to pull out and shanna (the pastor's daughter who was driving our group) - she laid on the horn and motioned to her dad to MOVE! HA! he looked shocked and put his car in reverse so we could get around him. HILARIOUS!

in the back of a police car! HA! the clue was "i can't believe we all fit in this" - funny thing is the guys team got in a police cars trunk for the same clue!

Plop 'Em In

Hey there - coming to you live from "feel like poopville." I keep thinking I'm feeling better but then I get another headache and my sore throat rears it's head and I'm back to feeling this way. So, I think I may need to call the doc for some drugs for me tomorrow. I don't wanna let this get too far ahead of me and end up like I did in Iowa 2 years ago with a bleeding ear!

Other than that - let's see - ohh, this morning was fun. Met with an amazing card designer at Starbucks who we are gonna team up with this holiday season :) She makes the most amazing cards that people can simply plop their pictures into. So through our website, we are going to sell her designs and print them. FUN! We are really excited, a great way to diversify. So if you are in the market of making your own cards (digitally) or would like to make one online - lemme know! I can hook ya up!

In place of Shawna's and my meeting this evening, we are gonna talk on the phone. I don't feel up to driving and it being a late night. And this way I can see Jack, Mike and Mol :) They are at my folks. Mol's been there since 9a - the boys since Papa picked them up from school. Days like today make me wonder what it'll be like for real when they are all 3 in school!

Ohh and Erk's dad had surgery yesterday - all is well, please pray for a speedy recovery!

More Than Half

look at that Snickers PIE!
Mol checkin' out the dam

Hey there! The kitchen light dimmer must be turned all the way up cause I feel like I'm being interrogated right now! :)

Mikie puked last night. Twice. The first time on himself, the floor, the couch and lucky Daddy who's lap he was sitting on. Yeah. The "mind over matter" instinct had to kick in so it would get cleaned up. Erk sat there like a statue as I wiped him off! HA!

So far today Mike seems ok, he started with some toast and we waited a while. Then he wanted some oatmeal so he had some. I just hope I don't get to see it again.

Yesterday Mol and I woke up feeling pretty good. Much better than the night before, that's for sure. So we did a little cleaning and odds and ends and headed to vote. They even gave Mol a sticker that said "I voted" and she put it on upside down. We had a few people that we saw after that comment on how she is a little too young to vote :)

From voting we headed to the Post Office to ship an order, then opted to take a walk around town. While we were by the dam (and still had an hour to kill before picking the boys up from school) we grabbed some dessert. Not just any dessert, a huge piece of Snickers Pie. WOW, was it good. I may have eaten a little more than half myself :) An older woman sitting at the restaurant we were in stopped us and said she had been watching us out the window as we walked by the dam. She was really cute with Mol. An old dude on the trail told me "if she ever catches up to her shadow, gimme a call, I wanna be her agent!" Nice folks.

So we'll see how today goes. So far two kids who don't mind egging each other on and food is staying in stomachs where it should. Jack seems to be feeling just fine as he headed off to school this morning. He didn't at all mind getting to stay up later last night than his bro and sis :)

WIDE

I've been awake since 3:30am.

Yep. That was the time when Molly came down crying. I assumed (you all know what that does) she wasn't feeling well. So I scooped her up and put her in bed next to me, only to feel her pants which were soaked with pee. Oops.

I quickly sat up and took her in the other room, where I pulled down her soaking wet seemingly skin tight pj pants and undies. Upstairs we go, new jammies, back in bed. So I come on down and wouldn't you know it, my eyes are WIDE open. With no immediate chance of them closing.

I think about life, think about the dates Erk and I went out on back in the day, the jobs I've had, getting my wisdom teeth out and having a bruised face for a job interview, etc. It's 4:35am... Then it's 5:00am... then it's 5:14am and I must have begun to close my eyes, well until Mike came down and whispered some looooooooong story. I wasn't following his train of thought and first assumed (there's that word again) he was sleep walking. Nope, then I hear "glow stick" and "I didn't mean to, it just came out..." and I am WIDE awake and headed upstairs.

I'm yanked.

Jack is on the steps coming down to "lay on the couch." It isn't even 6am yet! I tell Jack to head back up and go look in Mike's room. His 2 quilts on his bed have glowing spots.

I'm even more yanked.

I rip the bedding off his bed (it should be noted that he is like a sweat box when he sleeps, he likes a lot of blankets and then proceeds to sweat his little head off - literally, weird I know) and spit out some words of heated advice and head down the hall. Molly's door is open? I just had closed it. I close it again. Check on Jack and remind him (also heated in my words) to NOT come downstairs until after 7am. I leave his room and Molly's door is open again!? Bean. Ahh, Bean. She knew I was mad and was looking for a place to hide out :)

So back to bed some time after 6a only to have the ol' alarm go off soon there after.

When I closed my eyes to pray before I ate my bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats, I prayed for an over abundance of patience today.

#3 is on night #4

Well we have a sicky here, officially. This was night #4 that Mol has woken up crying in the night, her ear hurts. So we go in this am to see the doc. Kinda threw a monkey wrench in our plans, but it's all good...

Hope you are healthy and have a good one :)

Was that box of Milk Duds necessary before 8am, probably not but they tasted ohh so good!