Getting Something Done

I didn't have to take the boys to soccer today because their fields were still wet from the 1 inch rainfall we had yesterday. They were disappointed, but YAY for me! DH still had to take DD to her practice because her fields were actually still open. I spent the night scrapping my kit assignments for Scrapaddict and trying to keep the little man from eating my paper or choking on a stray mini-brad. The older boys forgot their disappointment when they got to play video and computer games instead.

Since I can't show the pages I'm working on yet, here are some pages I finished last week. These first two are from our Disney World trip last year.



The pictures on these pages are from our trip to NJ/NY two years ago. I finally finished scrapping this trip!




Tomorrow we have DD's Daisy Scouts Investiture Ceremony. I'm not even sure what that word means, but it has something to do with putting a pin on! :)

Weekend Pictures

I wanted to update everyone with pictures of all of the kids.

This is a picture of DS#1 with his braces off. I still need to find a "before" picture of him. His upper front teeth were much more prominent and crooked. Of course, he's changed so much anyway since that time. His jaw is starting to get more square, he's starting to get acne, etc. My baby is growing up!

This is DD in her Spring soccer uniform. She's all smiles because my Mom did her hair in about five different long braids and she is feeling mighty fine. :) (Just in case you were wondering, I photoshop'd out the name of her school that is on the front of her jersey.) DH said that she was playing really well at her game yesterday. She used to fall back at the back of the pack but now she is really running after that ball.


DS#2 looks so intense in this photo. I don't know if you can see it, but his shoelace is untied. This is so typical of him! He got a little too excited about the fact that his team beat the other team today 11-0 so he was doing a little bragging. We reminded him that his older brother lost 0-11 yesterday, so he needed to tone it down a bit.

Last but not least, here is a picture of DS#3 being given a yummy fudge popsicle by my mom. He was just laying there in a reclining position allowing his "slave" (aka his Lola) to feed him. He was even "allowing" the chocolate to run down his chin, which she promptly wiped up. What service! :) He ate that whole thing, by the way. Yes, he is a bit overindulged! :)

The Braces Are Off!

DS#1 got his braces off today! He looks so different now that I can actually see his teeth. His top front teeth look much less prominent than when he got his braces put on. I'll have to find a "before" photo to compare.

What was the first thing he wanted to do after he got his braces off? He wanted to eat caramel! His Papa didn't bring him any, but he did take him to his favorite sandwich shop (Schlotzky's) before taking him back to school. I brought him some candy from my stash at work--Twix, Milky Way, and some Dove Milk Chocolate with Caramel. I think I suffiiciently spoiled him. ;-) DS#2 couldn't understand why DS#1 was allowed to eat all of that candy as an afterschool snack and he kept asking if he could have some too. Sigh--I just couldn't get him to understand. I'm a big caramel fan too, so I understand completely!

It was rainy and gloomy all day here. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow when there is better lighting.

Future Ice Cream Mouse Jr.

First some background for those of you that haven't heard the story. When DH was small, maybe around 5 or 6, he would sneak into the kitchen at night, take a spoon, and eat some ice cream right from the container. Sometimes, I guess he would accidently leave the spoon in the ice cream and the next day his mom would exclaim that the "ice cream mouse" had been there. One time, his little sisters caught him. He said that he told them he would give them some ice cream too if they promised that they wouldn't tell on him. Well, I guess they promptly ratted him out the next day and he said he was SO mad!

DS#3 has already made it clear that he LOVES ice cream. He recognizes it now. He'll see me with the cup that I use for ice cream, or an ice cream cone and he comes up to me with a happy grin on his face. Tonight, it happened to be one of those fudge popsicles. He just sucked and sucked on that popsicle, pausing only to swallow. I wiped the chocolate that was trying to drip off his face during those pauses. When it was gone, he just looked surprised, like he was wondering how that happened. He actually didn't fuss today, but usually, when I feed him tiny bits from a spoon, he gets very upset when it's gone. He screeches quite loudly, in fact! Once he saw his brothers having ice cream and they had to leave the room so he would stop screaming!

Yes, I can see it now, a future ice cream mouse in the making! ;-)

Most Difficult Soccer Season

Yesterday, the kids played their first soccer games of this season. The Fall soccer season was busy enough, with some of the games being played simultaneously but at fields across town from each other. This Spring season will be the most difficult one to date. The reason is that now we have a very mobile baby that is no longer content just being held. He wants to be on the move! I took this photo yesterday. It is warm enough now that he can wear shorts, but that meant that his knees were uncovered. It was pretty hilarious watching his little butt with grass all over it bobbing atop his skinny little legs moving in a crab-like crawl. When he wasn't on the go, he was content pulling out grass and picking up rocks.

DD had her game at 11AM on the NW part of town about 30 minutes from where we live. DS#2 had his game at noon on a field NE of the city about 30 minutes from where we live but in the opposite direction from DD's game. "Luckily", DS#1 didn't have his game until 4PM and he was able to help me entertain the little man. During DS#1's game, I had a more difficult time because there were more dirt patches on his field and I really didn't want to put him down on that. He kept screaming and trying to hurl himself from DH's or my arms toward the ground to indicate that he just wanted to be put down. Luckily I found a patch of grass to put him on and he was again content to pull out grass and pick up rocks.

Today, we "only" had one game. However, it was quite windy and there was so much dust and dirt flying around at times. We were still able to set the baby down and he actually played with DH's blue soccer ball, pushing it forward and "chasing" it--very cute to watch. He also tried to get into other people's stuff, but most of the time he was again content to pull out grass and pick up rocks.

Here is a photo of DS#3 yesterday. This is the face he gives me when he sees me with the camera. Isn't he a ham already? :)

Oh, and FYI--DS#1 is up to DH's eyes (in height). It won't be long...

Feeling A Little Sick

This time it's not in the way I usually mean. I can't discuss the particulars, but we just found out that the five-year-old son of some friends was abused at his school--by two older students. We are completely shocked and horrified that something like this could happen, and we feel so powerless to help right now. At the request of his mother, we're waiting to see what will happen next. I'm sorry for the downer, but this news has preoccupied DH and my thoughts today. Please keep this poor boy in your prayers. :(

All About DD

This morning, DD and I went on a Daisy Scouts outing to the zoo. One side note: when we drove up to the zoo, she was so proud that she could read the word "ZOO". First, they put together a paper sack with a picture of a hippopotamus on it and glued another picture of a hippo onto a clothespin. The purpose was supposedly to use the clothespin to pick up trash (so they wouldn't get their fingers dirty), put it in the paper sack, and then throw it all away. DH remarked that this seemed "very girly" to make something just so they wouldn't have to get their hands dirty.

The next part was a presentation about animals in general, with an emphasis on hippos. It was actually very informative, and DD seemed very attentive, but when I quizzed DD later when we got home (the same questions that the presenter had asked at the end of her presentation), she needed a lot of prompting to get the answers right. One question was how wide a hippo could open it's mouth. DD replied, "4 inches". She always seems to get the measurements wrong. The answer, of course, is "4 feet". Another question was what hippos mainly eat. She just said she "couldn't remember". The answer was "grass". This just made me wonder if she was really listening!

After the presentation, the "teacher" took everyone on a short 30 minute tour of the zoo. I thought it was interesting that DD always tried to stick close to the teacher. Even when everyone else was trying to see the animals, she would stand right next to the teacher, as if she wanted to make sure that she didn't get lost. She never raised her hand to answer any questions, although she did say a few answers out loud with my prompting.

This evening, DH took DD to the Father-Daughter Dance at our gym. Even though we told her that she could wear one of her Disney princess dresses, she refused and instead wanted to wear the dress in this photo. She also said she wanted to wear a black bow, and she wanted to wear her pink sparkly shoes. When it was time to get ready and DH told her that they might be late. She simply stated, "We don't have to be on time." DH laughed and told her that she is becoming a "true young lady." I am assuming that this crack wasn't targeting me directly. After all, DH did grow up with two sisters. ;-)

They both had a lot of fun (DH even told DD that he only got dressed up for Mama and her). DD got to make a princess hat, she got to have nail polish and lip gloss applied, and she got to dance. She was exhausted when she got home! I was so proud of DH because he took the camera and took several pictures. He even took a video of DD dancing. At one point, he said he tried to teach her the hand motions to the song "YMCA" and then took a video, but she mostly just twirled around and moved her hands over her head nonspecifically. I'm sure she will tell me all about it tomorrow. For tonight, all she could manage was "yes" and "no" answers. :)

Hope the Weather Changes

Thank goodness it's been mild weather here recently. We'll most likely pay with a super-hot summer, but for now it's been worth it.

I have to take the baby with me to soccer practices. Last night the older boys both had practices at the same field. I usually drop them off so I can go "shopping" with the baby. It's much easier coping with the baby indoors at some store (usually a nearby Hobby Lobby or Target) than in the car for an hour and a half. We didn't do anything like that last night.

DS#3 fell asleep in the car on the way to practice. After I dropped off the boys, I kept driving since I was afraid that the little man would wake up when the car stopped. I made the excuse to get myself a mocha frappucino at the Starbucks Drive Thru. I didn't need anything at Hobby Lobby or Target, so I went to a nearby scrapbook store that I haven't been to in years and parked. I thought that when he woke up, we would go inside. Well, after a half hour, he was still snoring away.

I went ahead and went back to the boys' practice field since I thought I might as well wait there. He slept until there were only about 15 minutes left to practice. That's when I took him out of the car. I couldn't get a close parking spot and I didn't want DS#2 to think we weren't there. This is where I was glad it wasn't so cold. It was cool and breezy, but it was tolerable. I put DS#3's hooded jacket on. At first he made the motion to remove the hood from his head, but then he left it. I don't know if he was chilly or he was still tired--maybe a little of both.

I walked around with him cuddled close to me. Usually he tries to escape and crawl on the ground. He stayed huddled under my jacket. I just enjoyed these moments because I know they won't last. The poor thing probably hasn't been sleeping well. My parents always told me that I was "always sick" as a young child but then later, DH would say that I had "super human immunity". Well, this one has been congested for the last several months. He can barely nurse because he can't breathe and eat at the same time. I hope that this means that he won't be sick so much later in life. For now, DH has to torture him constantly with the suction bulb. When do babies learn how to blow their noses, anyway? Despite the mild weather, I hope the weather changes so that maybe whatever is causing this allergy-type stuff passes.

Eight More Pages Done!

I've been getting a lot of scrapping done, which makes me happy. These are some pages I did this past week. Most of them are quickies, but they still satisfied my need to be creative. The first four here are more pictures from our NJ trip in 2006. I only have a few more photos from this trip left, thank goodness!


This one is for one of Catherine's Monday Challenges at Scrapaddict.com. I was supposed to use one photo on a two page layout. I stitched together two photos I took of a double rainbow on the first day of our Disney trip last year.


This next one uses photos from DS#2's first soccer party, when he was in kindergarten. Oh, how time passes quickly and how little some things change!

This one uses some really old photos that were taken almost six years ago. Look how small my nephew, DS#1 and 2 are!

Tomorrow I'll try to get some recent photos off the camera and into this blog. I'm sure my in-laws are needing their baby fix since DS#3 isn't on any of these recent layouts!

Valentine's Day Prep

I haven't had a chance to upload photos yet of today's school festivities, but here are a couple of photos of the treat bags that DD and I made. The bag on the right was part of a set of bags that we bought from Michael's. The kit came with the bags, the foam stickers, the ribbon, and the plastic bags inside to hold the candy. As you can see DD went a little overboard with the tiny foam hearts. The first ones she did barely have any decoration because I was trying to ration the stickers so she would have enough for all of the bags. The last ones she did don't have a lot of stickers either, because she used so many on some of them. Needless to say, it took her FOREVER to finish these bags! These were for her class at school.

I made these bags myself. I figured that it would take less time, but it still took me a few hours. I used some old papers and ribbon, at least. I didn't realize until after we had given them away that I had forgotten to put her name on the bags. *SIGH* These were for her Daisy troop.

So, I got to use my scrapbooking stuff but I didn't do any scrapbooking!

Pinewood Derby 2008

DS#2 won the Pinewood Derby today!!! I didn't get to see it. :( They have a pretty high-tech system and unfortunately, they were having computer problems. After an hour of this, I had to leave for DD's Build-A-Teddy Tea party for Daisy Scouts, so I totally missed all the races! DS#2 was in the first heat and they re-ran that heat eight times before I had to leave. DD believed that DS#2 won EVERY race, because he won every race that SHE saw! :) They finally fixed the glitch but they didn't start the actual races until just after I left. :(

Yes! DH cut the block of wood, but DS#2 sanded it, painted it, and decorated it. He deserves all the credit! Oh, and the medal is for being first place in his Den. The trophy is winning first place over all!!! He told me that he lost only one heat in the whole competition, and that was to the "family winner". (They have a "just for fun" race for family members' cars.) He won the other three heats for that race! I was told by one of the other moms that he was VERY excited at winning the big trophy. I believe it! DH and I are so proud!

Overscheduled

Tomorrow we're a little overbooked. Here's what our schedule looks like:

9AM Funeral - Our neighbor's handicapped DD just passed away. :(
11AM-1PM - Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby - DS#2
2-4:30PM - Build-A-Teddy Tea Party - DD with the Daisy Scouts
4:30PM - End of Season Basketball Party - DS#2
6-9PM - Birthday Party at skating place - DS#1

At least DS#1 has decided not to go to the skating party. Apparently it's for one of the girls in the 7th grade and she only invited three boys. One boy's mom said he couldn't go. One boy didn't WANT to go. There is no way my son will enjoy being the only boy at this party. DH told him to tell this girl that he couldn't make it because of his brother's party and his mother being on backup call. I just hope I don't get called in!

NJ Vacation Pages

I'm still trying to finish off these old photos from 2006. The first two pages have photos from our day trip to New York City. We visited Toys 'R Us in Times Square and FAO Schwarz. I took lots of photos and now I'm doing lots of pages. The second three pages have photos taken at my cousin Jonathan's wedding. We'll be going back to visit in May for the wedding of another cousin. I can't wait!




Update on my sick children--DS#2 still had a fever tonight. He'll be going on day 4 of this illness. DS#3 is going to daycare tomorrow. He's still not nursing like he used to, but he's still eating solid food and he has no fever and seems to be doing okay otherwise.

Day Off?

At work, they sometimes call the day after you take in-house call a "day off". Unfortunately, if you are very busy that night then your whole next day is spent sleeping and generally recovering. That was my day today--I was exhausted! DS#2 and DS#3 were both home today, which complicated things more. Usually DS#3 is in daycare on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He didn't have a fever anymore today, but he was still not drinking/nursing very well, so he stayed home. That just meant that I would try to feed him, struggle with that, and then end up having to pump anyway. DS#2 did have a fever and he was miserable, unlike DS#1 and DD last week. Let's just say that my day finally got a little better when I was able to take a short afternoon nap.

Tonight DS#1 and DD both had soccer practices on fields that were a good half hour apart--at least. So DH took DD while I took all the boys. When I dropped off DS#1, I went to Michael's craft store because it's easier to deal with the baby in a store than in a car for an hour and a half.

One interesting thing to note was that I had taped a bunch of scrapbooking shows from QVC yesterday, and since I couldn't really do anything else anyway (especially with the baby being so clingy), I was just sitting in the living room watching that all day. DS#2 even started looking at one of my scrapbooks while we were watching. So, when we were at Michael's, DS#2 kept pointing out products that he had seen on the taped QVC shows. I kept hearing, "Look Mama--there's that (fill-in-the-blank)." I thought this was hilarious. He even expressed interest in doing his own scrapbook pages. I love this hobby so much that I would definitely love sharing it with him.

We were only at Michael's for about 15 minutes (still had another 45 minutes to go before picking up DS#1) when I noticed that DS#2 really started to "slow down". I knew I had to get him home to get him some more medication. He looked absolutely miserable and I realized--wait, why am I taking this sick boy driving around? Luckily, DH was able to leave DD's practice early to pick up DS#1 and I just took the two younger boys home. DS#2 took some ibuprofen and went straight to bed. I keep hoping that his illness will go away after a day or so (it's already been two days) like his siblings. Let's hope that getting some extra sleep (he did nap today also) will make him at least feel a lot better tomorrow.

Baby with a Fever

My poor baby! He's being hit harder with this fever than the other kids. He got up to 104 today and he was just burning up! :( Luckily, the fever finally broke some time this afternoon and he was playing this evening, but we hope it stays down tonight. We had a bad experience with DS#1 having a febrile seizure at 16 months of age when his fever got up to 106, so we get a little nervous (especially DH who was with DS#1 when he had the seizure). DS#3 hasn't been nursing as much so that's something we're watching, too.

On a lighter note, we were watching the halftime show at the Super Bowl tonight. The baby started bouncing to the beat--very cute! I tried to take some video, but of course he would stop doing it then.

DH made some chili even though the weather was warm today. He started making chili for the Super Bowl a few years back when we lived in Illinois and we had a Super Bowl Party. It was just us today. We agreed to not have people over until we can redo our living room. We were going to look at flooring tomorrow, but that depends on the baby. I really hope he gets better soon!

The Sickies

After being so good at blog updates at the beginning of last month, I have been so bad recently. One reason is that this week has been full of sick children. On Tuesday (1/29) DS#1 came home from school with a fever of 102. He "didn't feel well" and aside from looking like he didn't feel well, he ate normally and acted normally after he had some ibuprofen. Still, we couldn't let him go to soccer practice that night. Besides, it was cold and windy out and we didn't want to make whatever was causing the fever worse. He didn't have a fever on Wednesday morning, so he went back to school.

On Wednesday afternoon after school, DD started lying down on the sofa all covered up in a blanket saying that she felt really cold. She didn't even want to get up to eat, although she did eventually. She had a fever of 102 also. We were supposed to go to a Daisy Girl Scouts meeting--really only the fourth one since we decided to join. Well, this is the second of the four meetings that we've missed. She was SO disappointed, but what else could we do? She still had a fever on Thursday morning so she stayed home from school. She acted normally otherwise.

On Thursday evening, DS#1 again had a fever, to 101 this time. He missed soccer practice again. Everyone seemed to be better on Friday. Today, DS#3 had a fever to 103! We think he is teething too, so he is following in big brother's footsteps. DS#1 used to always teeth and have something else simultaneously so that he would have fevers to 103 almost routinely! *SIGH* That is not an experience we want to repeat with this one.

Today was also busy, but in a different way. It has become a Saturday morning routine for me to make banana pancakes and turkey bacon for breakfast. DH and the kids all love it, so what else is a mother who wants to spoil her family to do except oblige? This morning I was experimenting and added some cocoa powder to the batter since they all seem to enjoy getting chocolate pancakes when we go to IHOP for breakfast. I guess I shouldn't have bothered, because they either said that there was too much banana or they said that they preferred it when I just added chocolate chips to the batter.

After breakfast we headed to DS#2's last basketball game of the season! Woohoo! Can you tell that I'm happy that we don't have to have Monday evening practices from 7:30 to 8:30 anymore, especially when DS#2 usually goes to bed by 8PM? After the game I started making cupcakes for DS#2's "Blue and Gold" Dinner (Cub Scouts). I didn't have too much time after that and then we had to go to the Dinner. When we got back we had to get everyone ready for bed. I can't believe that the weekend is supposed to be restful?!!

Okay, that was a rather long blog entry. I'd better stop there. I'll try to upload some new photos in the next couple of days and update here again. :)

More Pages and a DS#3 Update

It's been a while since I posted. I've been busy with the Scrapaddict "Winter Blahs Crop". I actually got lots done! Here are the pages I've completed since the last time I posted. First, some more Disney pages with the first one being my title page, and the next two with photos taken at Disney Hollywood Studios:



These next two uses photos from a trip to NJ for my cousin's wedding in July 2006. They just had a new baby girl! (Note: you can click on the scrapbook pages for a bigger picture.)



As for my own baby news, DS#3 has been standing "taller". That is, he will stand up very straight at DD's play kitchen, for example, and stretch himself even more in order to reach something. He hasn't been taking too many steps along furniture, but he will now sometimes only hold on with one hand and he doesn't just plop down on the ground. He makes a very controlled descent down to the ground, if that makes any sense. Oh, and one other change is that he now crawls on his hands and knees instead of the army crawling he's been doing for four months! I know I really need to post some photos, but I've been holding back with downloading photos from the camera until I have time to edit them at the same time. There just isn't enough time during the day for everything I want to do!

Lots of Princess Pages

Scrapaddict.com has been having a week-long crop and I'm getting so much done. The best thing is that I'm getting a bunch of my Disney photos scrapped! Here are the last four Disney Princess pages--I'm finally done with the Princesses, at least for this trip anyway! These were all done with Scrapaddict sketches and old kits.

My Little Obsession

I have been really happy with how many layouts I've completed this month. Scrapbooking is really quite an obsession for me and I feel good when I'm indulging in my obsession. Unfortunately, I also feel down sometimes when I'm NOT indulging. Why is that? I have no idea, but I hope I find out soon, because otherwise, DH is not going to be happy with me. If anyone out there has any ideas, please share them with me. :)

These are two pages I did yesterday and today. In the first one, DD is only two years old. In the second one, she is five and thoroughly enjoying herself at Disney World. I try to remind myself every day how lucky I am to have such a wonderful DD. Sometimes it's tough when I'm grouchy and she is just chatting on and on about nothing--like tonight. I should be happy that she's healthy enough to talk incessantly, right?

I think that's all I'll get done for tonight. DS#3 was not kind to DH and me last night and I'm beat!

Baby Fix

I haven't posted new photos of the baby recently, so here are a couple. In this first one, he is peeking around the corner of the sofa so he can see me. He LOVES playing peek-a-boo! DH took this photo, and he's really proud that he did. I'm slowing training him... ;-)

This is a photo I took the other night. DS#3 was fussing so badly, but I was giving his dear sister a bath and getting her ready for bed. DS#1 is so good with him and held and sang to him until he fell asleep. The baby looks so adorable here, doesn't he?

Golden Arrow update: DS#1's teacher emailed DH back about how he had made an error with one of the quiz grades. The short story is that his average in that class is "95" and not "93" for the quarter, so he qualifies for the "Golden Arrow".

Gold and Silver

Today, DS#1 got a "Silver Arrow"(As and Bs on his report card) instead of the expected "Golden Arrow" (straight As) and all because he got a "93" (you need a "94" to get an "A" at their school) in ONE class. DH and I are a little upset because we can access their grades online and we didn't see this coming. DH has emailed the teacher in question to ask him how he weights his grades. I can't help but think--wow, this is a good problem to have, isn't it? I mean, missing an "A" by one point is disappointing, but to be that close is still great, isn't it? DS#2 missed an "A" by a tenth of a point last quarter. That was downright heartbreaking. Today, he got a "Golden Arrow"--one of only two boys in his class. That was really cool to see that. :)

DS#3 has been roaming around the house a little more. He is getting better at playing by himself. Just a little while ago, he was roaming around the kitchen area while DH and I were having a conversation. DH was walking away when we suddenly heard DS#3 crying--a distressed but somewhat muffled cry. We had to laugh, though, when we realized what had happened. The pantry door tends to be open most of the time, and most of the time DH or I shut it without even thinking about it. Well, DH shut it as he was walking away and apparently, the baby had crawled in there to check it out. Poor baby! He probably got a bit frightened when it got dark in there all of a sudden and he couldn't figure out how to get out! You've got to admit, though, that it's a little funny. :)

Nursing Woes Revisited

No one has had to listen to my "nursing woes" for a while, so I'm just going to say a little on the subject. Everything relates back to the hard time I had with my firstborn. One of the things I worried about then and now is running out of milk. I'm not worried about my milk stopping; I'm worried about not keeping up with my baby's needs and ending up using formula. It's not a bad thing to give formula to baby, but it's just that I worked so hard pumping at work and all of that sacrifice in time and energy and having to end up giving formula would make me feel like I failed and that all of that wasn't good enough. Why am I talking about this now? Well, we're down to the last ziplock bag of frozen milk. I have 9 packages of frozen milk, 5 ounces in each, between the baby having only my milk and his having to have formula instead. Ack! DH says it's because he drinks more from a bottle and that DH mixes some of it with the rice cereal. All I know is that I'm falling behind...

On a happier note, I've completed 12 layouts this month! That's more than any other month in the last year and a half! With the Winter Blahs Crop at Scrapaddict.com this coming weekend, I should be able to complete a few more by the end of the month! I'm very happy about being able to get some creative things done! Here are three layouts I've done the past couple of days that are using one of the upcoming February 2008 Scrapaddict.com kits.

This is one using photos of the older kids meeting their little brother at the hospital for the first time.
This one uses photos from the kids' Valentine's Day parties at school last year.
This is an old photo of DH and kids from four years ago. Yes, the weather that January was pretty mild, too. Aren't they a good-looking bunch? :)

First Ice Cream

Here I am putting my blog to good use again. I used a couple of my June 2007 entries for the journaling here about DS#2's eighth birthday. After DS#2's basketball game today, I tried to give him a kiss on the cheek. He tried to run away as usual, but I grabbed him and I was trying to hold him, but he was strong enough that I couldn't bring his face toward me. I did manage to kiss the top of head, anyway. :)

DS#3 got his first taste of ice cream today. I took the kids to Baskin Robbins after dinner. I put the Jamoca ice cream in a sugar cone in front of him and he automatically opened his mouth. I dabbed some on there, he tasted it, and then he opened his mouth again. When I was slow about giving him some, he let me know how impatient he was by screaming at me. I took some photos and even took a video. I told the kids that I was going to show DH the video and he would probably say, "That's my son!" We got home, I showed DH the video, and he proudly said, "That's my boy!" I haven't had time to upload and edit any recent photos, but hopefully tomorrow I'll post a photo of my ice cream loving baby! :)

I was tagged!!!!

By Jen.

Seems the idea here is to answer all the questions and then add one yourself at the bottom, then tag some people. :)

1. Name your 2 favorite scrapbooking topics: My cute kids and how lucky I am. :)

2. What are the 2 best places you've been to? Disney World and at the top of Keystone Mountain

3. Name 2 things you do every day: Nursing my baby and watching TV

4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you: I am married and the mother of 4 children.

5. 2 places you wish to visit: Hawaii and Washington, D.C.

6. 2 things you may not know about me are: I hate confrontations and I've been pregnant 7 times that I know of.

7. 2 nicknames you've had at some time in your life: Lanie (my family's nickname for me) and Mel (everyone else's nickname for me that I don't like too much but that I don't try to correct anymore)

8. Name 2 of your favorite drinks: Chocolate milk and orange-pineapple juice

9. Janet's question: What are 2 interesting (in a good or bad way) jobs you’ve had in your life? I've really only had four jobs. The one that I have now (and those of you that know me know what it is) is pretty interesting on a daily basis. Besides that, I've only been a receptionist at a family friend's medical office, a medical records file clerk, and a lab tech (for a summer in college). I don't know if those would necessarily qualify as "interesting".

10. Cheri's question: Name 2 resolutions you've either already broken or 2 that you've kept so far: Well, I haven't exercised at all recently, but I have scrapped more pages, so I've got one broken and one kept.

11. Jen's question: If you could be any age you wanted to be what would it be? I would be at my present age, because I have all the experience of previous years that have made me the person I am today.

12. Melanie's question: What is your favorite holiday and why? I just LOVE Christmas! I love all of the family time. I love the decorations. I love the meaning of the holiday. I love that I get to celebrate my birthday right beforehand! *WINK*

And I am going to tag...
Anita
Pam
Laura
I can't think of any more people that might actually read my blog that have their own blogs, but if anyone else wants to, please participate! :)

LOAD Challenge Page #8

I finally finished this page! I started this at a crop at the end of December. It really only needed the journaling, which I took from some previous entries on this blog. It still looked plain, though, but then I came up with this way to do the title. The title itself was from a title challenge from Scrapaddict.com a while back. The journaling talks about one busy Saturday in September and also details how busy our weekly schedule was, mostly because of soccer. With that, I am done for the night. Yay! I got to scrap! I feel so much better now! :)

Longing for Creative Stuff

I've blogged every day this month, so I couldn't let tonight go by without saying a little something. I just wish I was still doing a layout a day like I've been doing for the first week of this month. There's just something about exercising my creative side that makes me happy and satisfied. I hope I can get some more pages done this weekend.

I booked our flight to Denver for Easter Break tonight. I got a decent deal on a non-stop flight and I couldn't pass it up. Non-stop flights are SO much easier when traveling with small children. It'll be so fun to visit the mountains again. The kids are pretty excited about going to ski and play in the snow. We haven't been there in about 3 years, so DD doesn't really remember it too well, but the boys do. DS#3 will get to wear the same snowsuit that DS#2 and DD wore at about a year of age. You can get a lot of use out of those things if you only use them once every three years or so!

That reminds me, maybe I'll need to do one of those "connections" layouts that my friend Catherine always talks about where I show photos of the three kids in the same snowsuit. Ooh, now that sounds like a cool idea. I love that creative stuff!

Nine Months

I don't have a layout done today because I'm working on a lecture that I'm giving tomorrow. I just wish I didn't get so nervous every time I give one of these things! I'm sure it's because I never feel like I know what I'm talking about. I'm going to have to change that one of these days...

For the good news, DS#3 is NINE months old today! He had a routine appointment with his pediatrician today. He is apparently dropping off the chart as far as weight--he's only 16 lbs. 13 oz. which his siblings all reached by about 3-5 months. He is definitely still growing, though, since his height is up to 28 1/2 inches (about 50th percentile). His head circumference is 44.5 cm if that means anything to anyone out there. The doctor isn't too worried yet, since he is still growing, but he did discuss allowing him to eat fatty foods, even ice cream! The kids heard that and they all want to feed him ice cream. DS#3 is also meeting all of his milestones, like babbling and getting into things, pulling up, etc. By the way, that's new--he is pulling up by himself on furniture now, not needing assistance from anyone like he was before. It'll be just a matter of time before he starts walking along the furniture. Just tonight he crawled into the office into my scrap area and started pulling at my bags of kits and trying to open my drawers. Uh-oh!

I'll try to get some new photos up on the blog tomorrow!

...And Then There Was One

At 4AM this morning, DS#1 comes in to tell DH, "Papa, I threw up." Ugh! At least he was old enough to do it in the toilet and clean up after himself. So, we started with all four kids at home this morning. DH went ahead and took the baby to daycare because we paid for it anyway, and at least we wouldn't have to worry about him. DH is the only one that hasn't had any symptoms--yet.

DS#2 said he got sick twice, although we didn't see any evidence of it, but he didn't eat so well this morning and he actually took a couple of naps, so he obviously wasn't feeling well. DD spent breakfast time in the bathroom saying that she felt like she was going to get sick, but she didn't. She felt well enough this afternoon to go shopping at Target with me. She's such a little shopper. Sometimes I feel like I've had enough of her constant chattering and constant asking for things when we're out shopping, but today I really appreciated having the company. :)

Here is a simple page I did today using photos from December of 2002 when my oldest son got this huge gear bag with his new weapon package from karate. I wanted to see if they would both fit in it, and as you can see, they did. These photos still crack me up!

Hit By A Truck

I had to work yesterday and it was a particularly busy night. I feel like I've been hit by a truck, I'm so exhausted! Fortunately, the baby has been keeping things down and I was able to nurse him to day, but unfortunately, he still has some of those containment leaks and also DD started the throwing up yesterday. Today after school, DS#2 was telling us that he wasn't feeling well. I think it may have been the power of suggestion (either that or the way my body is reacting nowadays to being so tired) but my stomach was feeling queasy today, too. So tomorrow, we'll have two possibly three kids at home. Sigh--so much for a "day off"!

This page isn't particularly inspired, but the grandparents might enjoy photos of DD. I'm sure they'll want to read an excerpt from the journaling. I asked DD what she like the most about soccer and she said, "Being on the bench." When I asked why she didn't like running around, she replied, "Because I get hot." There you have it--a kindergartener's perspective on soccer. :)

LOAD Challenge Day #5

This is just a simple page with our Christmas Card Photo. The actual newsletter didn't fit well with the scheme of the page, so I adhered a copy on the back of the layout and I put excerpts from the newsletter on the front of the layout. This challenge is killing me, but I'm getting pages done and that's making me happy. :)

Oh Poop!

I told DH that he is never allowed to say that he is worried that little man hasn't pooped in X number of days. I think this was Day#3 or something like that, but now he has officially pooped three times and all three were containment leaks, including one that was up his back and on our bed!!!
Poor thing is just miserable! :( He has also been throwing up everything. I'm glad that I only fed him some rice cereal and not something orange or green earlier today. He did manage to hold down some bananas tonight, followed by some Pedialyte. I nursed him tonight about an hour ago, so hopefully that one will "stick". Poor little guy! :(

On an upbeat note, the "little guy" on this layout scored today at his basketball game! He had two out of his team's three points. We're very proud of him!

LOAD Challenge Day #3

I don't know if I can keep up this pace, but this is a page I did last night. The photos are from 2004 when my oldest was only 8 years old. My, how time flies!

On other news, we went to DS#2's basketball game tonight. The baby desperately wanted to crawl on the floor, so DH let him, even though we knew that the floor was probably dirty. The baby became intrigued by the area UNDER the bleachers, however, and that was just in its own category of uncleanliness, so we spent the rest of the game carrying the little man instead of letting him crawl around like he desperately wanted to!

Last Two Pages from 2007

These are two of the four pages that I started at a crop on the 21st of December that I went to with my friends Jen and Amelia. I finally used some of my 2005 Scrapaddict.com kits. I just now got a chance to scan and upload them after finishing them last week. I actually started two more, but I haven't had time to finish those. Little man has been quite clingy today, and I've barely had time when he hasn't been in my arms or on my lap since I got home from work.
The photos on the first page were taken at Disney World this past September. DD was simply thrilled when she got a chance to take a photo with Snow White. She was all about the princesses on that trip!

The photos on the second page were taken a few weeks ago when my DS#2 shot two free throws and those ended up being the only points his team scored during that game. So, his team didn't start out very good, but it's amazing how much they improve even from week to week.

Layout-a-Day Challenge (LOAD) Day #2

I did this page yesterday. I'm not entirely pleased with the lighting in the pictures, but it's a learning process for me. Improving my photography skills is something I really want to do this year. My journaling talks about how I fixed DD's hair on the spur of the moment on New Year's Day and how I love being able to play with her hair. I'm lucky to have a daughter with such great hair! :)

A Page A Day

I just signed up to do a Layout-a-Day Challenge for the 31 days in January at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Am I crazy or what?!! Here's the page I did very late last night before I knew I was even going to do this challenge. It's a simple page with all of the kids' handprints stamped and a photo I took yesterday so I can see how big they're getting over time. Wish me luck!

Happy New Year 2008!

Today was a fairly lazy day, at first. DH and I got to "sleep in" until around 7:30 or so when DS#3 woke us up. After feeding him, he was wide awake and all smiles. It helped a little that his big sister was there smiling back at him. I made banana pancakes and turkey bacon for breakfast. The baby officially loves banana pancakes! I'm going to have to double that recipe every time.

After breakfast, we played more Wii games. I think the kids and I are addicted, and it'll be hard once school starts back up and the kids' electronic time is limited. We're all rather competitive and we keep wanting to improve so that our scores are better than everyone else's. :)

We then went to the mall for lunch. It was packed! You would think it was before Christmas! I was amazed when I realized that the last time I was at the mall was before Thanksgiving. Anyway, we had to get the kids some new pants--khakis for DS#1 (the ones I bought for him a month ago are now too short), jeans for DS#2 (the ones I bought for him this past summer have holes in the knees and his other ones are too short), and jeans for DD (who is very skinny and very hard to fit, even with the adjustable waist jeans). We were successful for two out of three. I'm afraid we are going to have to start buying pants at department stores for DS#1. He is too big for the kid's stores and too small for the men's stores. Oh joy!

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent cleaning and putting away things, although the kids did get to spend some time outside on this very beautiful day. DH did lots of laundry and the rest of us did lots of folding and putting away. After dinner, we got to play some board games, Harry Potter Scene It and a new game that DH just bought called Drakkon. DS#1 knows the HP books AND movies inside and out, and he almost always wins at HP Scene It--and he did again tonight. The new game was a bit confusing at first because the players actually "make" the gameboard as they go. We all seemed to enjoy it, though, so I think we'll be playing that game again.

We went to a neighbor's house around 8PM. It's so nice to have nice neighbors. Some of the neighbors were setting off fireworks and were generous enough to let my kids have some, too. They had lots of good food and it was fun to socialize with them for a bit before going home to feed the little man and get him in bed. It wasn't so easy to get him asleep again, and I decided that he will be going to bed on time no matter what tomorrow! I got to take my shower and get ready for bed in peace, at least, and I finished just before the repeat of the ball dropping in Times Square. The rest of my family was still outside, so I spent the first few minutes of the New Year alone. It was short-lived, of course, since everyone came home soon after midnight. We were amazed at how well the kids held up. We'll see how they hold up tomorrow. We'll see how well DH and I hold up tomorrow!

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!