Swingin' down a floor lamp.....

Samuel & Callie use their imagination and a floor lamp and practice their fire-fighting skills! I just heard my two kids fighting over who was going to be the fire fighter. I couldn't believe my eyes when I glanced over and discovered them standing on the love seat and sliding down the floor lamp! That explains how the lampshade got broken last week! I've heard about kids swingin' from the chandelier, but I guess Thomas kids swing down a floor lamp! :) I snapped some pictures to share with you all and have told them that their NOT aloud to do that any more!

Love is....

The following is a poem written by my mother a few years ago. She wrote it with my brother and I in mind. I read it for the first time a few weeks ago and meant to post it on Valentine's Day, but didn't get around to it. "Thanks, Mom, for such a beautiful poem!"

Love is...

Love is...saying, “I Love You”

When you hold him tightly in the church pew.

Love is...cleaning the sticky fingerprints,

And fixing the tricycle dents.

Love is...allowing her to help with the dishes,

And burying the three goldfish.

Love is...eating popcorn together,

On a day with rainy weather.

Love is...soothing away the tears,

From all the hurts and fears.

Love is...saying, “I was wrong”

And singing his favorite song.

Love is...going on a picnic,

And cleaning up the mess when she was sick.

Love is...helping with his science fair,

Showing your interest and care.

Love is...baking some chocolate chip cookies,

While discussing the birds and the bees.

Love is...always just being there,

Providing lots of love and care.

©2004 Jeanne McIntosh

I was caught.....

Alright folks! They say confession is good for the soul. I was caught dancing tonight! I just finished watching Beethoven's Big Break with the kids. We had homemade pizza a movie tonight. Yeah, I know, it's a school night. But, when the Netflix movie finally arrives in the mail box.....and you've been anxiously awaiting its arrival for a couple a months....you certainly don't want to wait until Friday! Okay.....moving along. How many of you love the movie credits? I don't, but I love the movie music that goes along with the movie credits!!!!! Oh, yeah! Can you tell I'm in quite the hyper mood tonight?.....maybe it's because I have been sewing, cooking, cleaning (half-heartedly) & teaching music lessons for the past 2 days, or it simply could be because I really need to get out of the house!!!!! I jumped up from my cozy spot on the loveseat and started dancing along with the music! All 4 of the kids jumped up and danced along me with. We were having a great time jumping, bouncing, shaking it all over the living room floor. I glanced over and noticed that the living room drapes were open. Now, we have a VERY large window in our living. In fact, one entire wall of our living room is windows. I have been told by my husband that he can see into our house from the parking lot of a little strip mall 2 blocks away! I moved to the windows to close the drapes and what do I see? The neighbors at their back window looking toward our home! Oh dear!!!!! I'm sure watching a 30 year old woman dance around the living room with her 4 kids provided them with lots of laughs tonight!!!!!!!!!!! Who knows...maybe they video taped us and we'll end up as one of the next America's Funniest Home Videos! At any rate....we got our blood pumpin', heartbeat racin', & maybe even burned off a few of those calories from the pizza! Now....let me at that Cherry Cheesecake.................

For a good dose of reality, walk into your child's bedroom!

Definition of Mess:

n. a disorderly or dirty accumulation, heap, or jumble: left a mess in the room.

Folks, THIS is what I walked into on Thursday morning. I knew that my 3 sons' room was bad, but didn't fully realize how bad until I took a quick tour around all 4 walls of their room.

Toy cabinet---all the pieces to 101 different toys jumbled together.

The Legos, lincoln logs & laundry have gotten seriously out of hand. Don't ask me HOW they were getting into and out of their room.
The closet---toys, games & clothes all in disarray. You can't even open and close the doors anymore!
Now before anyone gets depressed by the next group of pictures, PLEASE let me assure you that I am NOT doing this to brag about the fact that my boys' room was clean (as perfect as this woman could do it) for exactly 2.9 minutes!!! I get rather depressed when seeing blog after blog of this person and that person showing off pictures of their perfectly clean houses and their childrens' perfectly clean and beautifully decorated rooms. I just thought I would share some more realistic pictures (above) of what the typical child's room looks like! Now maybe you've come across some magical secret way of getting your bedrooms to look immaculate at all times. If so, PLEASE share it with me! It took me 9 hours to accomplish what is pictured below!!!!! Of course, I then treated myself to an entire half of a large East of Chicago Tower. Boy, was that good!

I moved around ALL the furniture by MYSELF. You should have seen me trying to take off the mattresses from the top bunk (so it would be lighter to push/pull) across the floor! :) I'm never in the mood (or just don't want to wait) to move furniture when Duane is home. So, I have learned the secrets to moving around very large and very heavy pieces of furniture! I actually enjoy changing around the house so that Duane comes home to a NEW place sometimes! :->

This is Samuel's little corner. All his construction toys, etc....are in his bookcase. He's suppose to put them away after playing with them. We're still working on that! :)

The closet doors can FINALLY shut. The desk is moved and the laundry basket is full of clothes begging to be washed! That can wait for another day......

Seth's Surprise for Mommy

Seth went to a birthday party last Friday at Painter's Pottery. Today, his piece of pottery he painted came in and he was able to bring it home. It was a surprise for me, so I had to sit with my eyes closed on the couch waiting until he had it ready for me. I grabbed my camera and took this picture (below) with my eyes closed.

This is the surprise he painted for me. A chip and dip bowl. He painted 2 green peppers on the inside of the bowl. He saved some tortilla chips from his lunch and fixed a snack for me in my new bowl. What a wonderful surprise from a wonderful son!

A Lackadaisical Attempt To Blog

On this lazy Thursday morning I thought I would blog about some kid moments---Some interesting and some not so interesting. I'm feeling rather uninspired and unenergetic today! I am the QUEEN of PROCRASTINATION today!

1. Callie comes and tells me her belly is full. I tell her she needs to finish her food. She replies, "Mommy, wait 'till my poopies come out and then I can eat more food." So sorry if I offended anyone with the previous sentence. That was a direct quote from my 2 year old!

2. "Mommy, do you call me sweetheart?" I tell Callie that Daddy calls her 'sweetheart'. She replies, "I'm Daddy's sweetheart." Later, I made the mistake of calling her 'sweethearts'. It was on my mind. She very emphatically told she WAS NOT a 'sweethearts', she was Daddy's 'sweetheart.'

3. Shopping on Monday, Callie was getting quite restless in her stroller. At the checkout in JCPenny's she says for ALL the world to hear, "Mommy, I'm having a FIT!" What I want to know is why us adults can't tell EVERYONE we're having a FIT and it sound that cute?

4. I'm cooking a wonderful supper for the family. I have a loaf of homemade garlic french bread, slathered with butter waiting for me to pop it in the oven. Callie comes in the kitchen. Mommy, I want some of that, I want some of that. All of the sudden, she grabs the cookie sheet and pulls it off the counter. She was shocked when all she got was a faceful of butter and parmesean cheese! Whenever did she get so tall that she can reach things up on the counter? I'm just glad that the cookie sheet wasn't hot!

5. Both Callie and Samuel have been fighting about WHO is Mommy's BEST FRIEND! Samuel will say, "Mommy you're my best friend!" Of course, I reached out and give him a great big bear hug. Callie sees this and comes running, "No, you're MY best friend!" I give them both great big hugs, and we all end up in the floor. Both of their weights combined can knock me over these days!

6. Can someone please tell me what "feeding paint" means? I was looking through the patterns at Jo-Anns and my 2 youngest children kept saying it over and over and over. I tried to get them to be quieter, but they persisted on saying this phrase with giggles and smiles. I don't think the other pattern searchers were too impressed!

7. Simon likes to get the patterns for me out of the drawers at the store. I will give him the number and he searches until he finds it. It saves me from having to get up and down and also keeps him occupied. Well, there was this older lady looking in the section where he needed to get a pattern. He goes up to the lady and says, "Excuse me." I about died. I had no idea he was going to do THAT. We had a talk about how he needs to WAIT until someone gets through with the drawer before doing that. She gave me a look that spoke volumes of what she thought of my parenting skills, slammed the drawer shut, and left! Oops!

8. I just discovered my checkbook---in the bathroom---beside the toilet----with scribbles all over it! I'll just look on the bright side---I could have found it inside the toilet!

9. Another discovery----shriveled up apple cores behind our sleeper loveseat! Question is---How do I retrieve them and give them a decent burial---in the garbage can? Have you tried to move one of those sleeper sofas/loveseats? The thing is so heavy, I'm sure it's leaving permanent marks in the slab foundation!

10. I'm running out of things to talk/type/blog about. I suppose I'm procrastinating. Why? I need to spring clean the boys bedroom for the 1000th. time! All the ingredients for a recipe for DISASTOR are included in this space. 3 boys, their many clothes, way too many toys, bunk beds, toddler bed, dresser, toy chest, lego stand, desk, toy box, and I won't even mention all the contents inside their closet. My plan today----haul everything OUT of their room (minus the bed-don't think those would fit through the door:>), get rid of ALL toys, clothes that aren't necessary for survival, and start over with a wonderfully clean and organized room. Of course, this will only last for a few months. Then again, who am I kidding?! All the work and organization I'm about to accomplish, will last---let's see---a couple days! Aaargh!!!!!!!

11. I suppose I'll procrastinate a bit more. Last night, our Wednesday night music class at church, started working on a new song. I had the kids playing bells and violins. When we had somewhat master the first four measures, I had them put the instruments away. I noticed one of the boys rubbing his head. I asked what was wrong. He said he had a headache! He thought it was from the bells. Don't know why, but it struck me funny. I guess it does sound like a cacophony in our class sometimes! I guess since I teach 6 out of 7 days a week, I have kind of gotten immune to headaches from sour notes! :)

12. One more....Does anyone know if cows like to drink milk? LOL My daughter comes up and tells me, "Mommy, cows love to drink milk!" I wondered where on earth she came up with that. Later, I realized that for the first time, the 1/2 gallons of milk we bought last week have pictures of cows on them.

13. Well....that's all for now folks!

I survived.....

A TRIP TO CHUCK E. CHEESE!!!!!!!!

A picture of all the adults crazy enough to join us! I should've had someone snap a picture of all 6 of us trying to fit in a spot designed for just 1-2 people!

Simon's total ticket count was 146!
Callie had fun riding all the different kids rids they had. That and climbing up into the sky tubes and 'swinging' down the slide. (That's what she called it)

Samuel absolutely REFUSED to let me help him catch any bumblebees!

Duane & Mike racing! My hubby was the winner!!! He does know how to drive a car FAST while maneuvering through impossible traffic! I know that from personal experience! (I blame that for my white hairs! :>)

Seth hits the jackpot and gets 60 tickets! I tried this game and got 2 tickets!!!

Samuel loved the air hockey game. He would play BOTH sides of the game. He would hit it one way and then run to the other side to hit it back! It was fun watching him!

Callie insisted on riding this almost life-sized horse. Mommy tried to help her steer around the track with very little success. We crashed into walls, trees, etc... She had fun!

All the kids show off their prizes. We only spent $10.00 buying 130 tokens. I fed everyone BEFORE we went so we didn't need to buy food! (I think that's where they make the money.) Seth got cotton candy, air head, 3 tootsie pops, Simon got a giant lollipop & lizard, Samuel got a Spiderman nerf gun & Callie got a giant lollipop & 1 tootsie pop.

2 girls show off their prizes----straws that were glasses. Pretty neat!!

Reviving an old Hobby....

PURSE MAKING!

I guess I can't really call this an OLD hobby. But it's been over 2 months since I have created a new purse for anyone. Tomorrow Seth is attending a birthday party, so Mommy got out the remains of an old jumper someone was getting rid of and crafted the denim purse below. I love making things for absolutely FREE. The only thing involved is my time. I am happiest when creating something new, so I love spending time doing stuff like this!

The purse pictured below is for me! Once again, I used some leftover fabric that my sis-in-law gave me. For the lining and rose, I used some fabric from another sis-in-law's wedding (leftover bridesmaid fabric)! It's been a LONG time since I made a purse for myself. Usually they are for other people. :) I don't use patterns for my purses that I make. I just get an idea in my head, or see a purse that someone else has, or a picture of one, start cutting and creating! It's loads of fun!!!

~Carrie's Collage~

I thought I would do something extra-special for Carrie's B-Day this year. I dug around through old photos and sorted, selected, scanned several to celebrate her 32nd. Birthday! There were a bunch more that I would have loved to include, but I thought better of it! ;) Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Carrie!

Coming up......

You don't want to miss an extra-special post tomorrow! I'm not going to tell you what it is....It's a surprise! You'll have to wait........:)

~Saturday Baking~

~French Bread~

~Honey-Oatmeal Bread~
This is what I spent part of my Saturday doing.....baking bread. I mixed up another batch of Honey-Oatmeal Bread and tried a new recipe for French Bread. Since it was such a gloomy day yesterday, I let the bread rise on top of the running dryer! :) That worked out great! Today, I used one of the loaves of french bread and mixed up some garlic butter and served it with our lasagna. Yummy!! I tried the recipe from pioneer woman "The best lasagna ever"! It was delicious! Thanks, Heather for suggesting it in your comment! Now I'm off to enjoy a Sunday afternoon nap.....Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

A funny story!

The following is an e-mail someone sent my husband. I thought I would share it with ya'll!

THE KOHL'S SHOPPING TRIP~~~~~~~~~~~~
(This is just too funny! This could only be true; you simply can't make this stuff up! Oh, for you who don't know this: Kohl's is a really nice department store.)

Clutching their Kohl's shopping bags, Ellen and Kay woefully gazed down at a dead cat in the mall parking lot. Obviously a recent hit....no flies, no smell. What business could that poor kitty have had here?' murmured Ellen. 'Come on, Ellen, let's just go..'

But Ellen had already grabbed her shopping bag and was explaining,' I'll just put my things in your bag, and then I'll use this tissue.' She dumped her purchases into Kay's bag and then used the tissue paper to cradle and lower the former feline into her own Kohl's bag and cover it.

They continued the short trek to the car in silence, stashing their goods in the trunk. But it occurred to both of them that if they left Ellen's burial bag in the trunk, warmed by the Texas sunshine while they ate, Kay's Impala would soon lose that new-car smell.

They decided to leave the bag on top of the trunk, and they headed over to K & W Cafeteria. After they went through the serving line and they sat down at a window table. They had a view of Kay's Chevy with the Kohl's bag still on the trunk. BUT not for long!

As they ate, they noticed a woman in a red gingham shirt stroll by their car. She looked quickly this way and that, and then took the Kohl's bag without breaking stride. She quickly walked out of their line of vision.

Kay and Ellen shot each other a wide-eyed look of amazement. It all happened so fast that neither of them could think how to respond. 'Can you imagine?' finally sputtered Ellen. 'The NERVE of that woman!'Kay sympathized with Ellen, but inwardly a laugh was building as she thought about the grand surprise awaiting the female thief. Just when she thought she'd have to giggle into her napkin, she noticed Ellen's eyes freeze in the direction of the serving line.`Following her gaze, Kay recognized the woman in the red gingham shirt with The Kohl's bag hanging from her arm. She was brazenly pushing her tray toward the cashier. Helplessly they watched the scene unfold:

After leaving the register, the woman settled at a table across from theirs, put the bag on an empty chair and began to eat. After a few bites of baked whitefish and green beans, she casually lifted the bag into her lap to survey her treasure. Looking from side to side, but not far enough to notice her rapt audience three tables over, she pulled out the tissue paper and peered into the bag.

Her eyes widened, and she began to make a sort of gasping noise. The noise grew. The bag slid from her lap as she sank to the floor, wheezing and clutching her upper chest. The beverage cart attendant quickly recognized a customer in trouble and sent the busboy to call 911, while she administered the Heimlich maneuver.

A crowd quickly gathered that did not include Ellen and Kay, who remained riveted to their chairs for seven whole minutes until the ambulance arrived. In a matter of minutes, the woman with the red gingham shirt emerged from the crowd, still gasping, and securely strapped on a gurney. Two well-trained EMS volunteers steered her to the waiting ambulance, while a third scooped up her belongings. The last they saw of the distressed cat-burglar was as she disappeared behind the ambulance doors....... ......... the Kohl's Bag perched on her stomach!!

God does take care of those who do bad things! (AND once in a while...He allows us to witness it!)

What's on the menu tonight?

Well.....I'm trying 3 new recipes today! A corn-potato chowder (I added some ham to this recipe), honey-oatmeal bread (if the Internet isn't lying, this recipe dates back to the Civil War! :), and blueberry-buckle coffee cake (yeah.....the name is kinda strange, but the top of the cake does form buckles when it is baked!). The aromas floating around my house are intoxicating! I wonder if one can get drunk of the smell of freshly baked bread? :) I don't know if I can wait until 6:00 PM to try it all. I've been having lots of fun searching each morning for new recipes online to try out on my poor unsuspecting family! At least my computer time is productive! :) Last night's new pizza crust recipe was a hit with everyone! Kinda made up for the chicken dish the previous night! :) LOL

To change the subject, my daughter just counted to 8 in Spanish!!!!! Can you tell we watch Dora the Explorer around here? :) Toodles, for now...........!

A Meal that just the GIRLS Enjoyed!

Okay....here are the happy faces sitting down to the wonderful meal that mommy slaved away over for hours yesterday. I should have taken a picture of their faces as they looked at and ate the new recipes. I could have also included a picture of my 4 year-old gagging up his spinach salad! Yuck!!!! I decided to try 3 new recipes yesterday. Some days I could spend all day in the kitchen cooking new things. Well...anyway to make a long story short....just Callie and I thoroughly enjoyed the food last night. And, I threatened the boys with a new and strange dish EVERY SINGLE NIGHT OF THE WEEK if they didn't quit making negative comments about the food! :)

~The honey orange-pineapple chicken~

The boys kept asking me why there were orange peels on the chicken. They just didn't get into appreciating the artistic arrangement of food and fruit on the plate! :)

~Buttermilk Oatmeal-Raisin Muffins~
2 of the boys liked these.
~The spinach salad~

~Upside-down apple pie~

This was supposed to have pecans on it but I used chocolate chips instead. I didn't have pecans and in my humble opinion and person just can't have too much chocolate! :)

Well....on the menu tonight is homemade pizza. I'm pretty sure ALL the members of the family will like it. That is, unless the new pizza crust recipe I'm trying is a flop! :)

All in the day of the life of a cook!!!!

What have I been up to.....

REGINA
Friday I was busy getting everything ready for the winter music recital. The students did a great job and there were a lot of people that came to hear them perform. Saturday was spent trying to get some cleaning done. I also went to a clearance clothing sale and got $97 worth of clothes for Callie for $10.60! I love deals like that. Next, it was a trip to Verizon to check on new phones for us. Duane was really in need of a new one. It's been more than 2 years since the last ones. It was a VERY LONG wait and on top of that it took FOREVER to get the new phones set up! The kids were grumbling and complaining about EVERYTHING! On top of that they were supposedly STARVING!! That surprised me because we had had a HUGE lunch! I had cooked herbed chicken breast, glazed carrots, buttered corn and buttermilk biscuits. Well, as a special treat, Mommy treated Samuel, Callie, & Daddy to some ice cream cones at Deitsch's. They have the most incredible buckeye ice cream ever!!!! Seth and Simon finally used up their free birthday coupons! After going without sugar for an entire week, it was quit a treat! Last of all, after grabbing a few groceries at Aldi, we headed home and made some homemade pizza. Today has been spent working on music for the spring recital, getting everything ready for February's contest for the students, cleaning out one very disgusting refrigerate, scrubbing a bathroom that was looooong overdue, teaching 5 lessons, baking brownies, cooking a roast dinner for supper (I made up for the lousy Sunday dinner), picking up kids from school, doing laundry, altering a skirt for Callie, and now I am taking a much need break while Duane is at a board meeting! Whew.....what a day!

SETH
Seth is learning how to play the recorder at school. I am listening to him play Hot Cross Buns as I type!

SIMON
The two older boys have started something new. On Sunday they usually get yet another piece of candy from church/Sunday school or the candy lady. Well, they have decided to share their good fortune with mommy in the form of a treasure hunt. They give me a piece of paper with a question/clue on it. Sunday's question was, Where is something new?" I had to stop and think. What in the world did I have new!! Simon had to help me remember that I got a new cell phone on Saturday! Sure enough, in my purse, with my cell phone, was a piece of candy.

SAMUEL
Sunday afternoon we sat down to our wonderful meal of hot dogs and macaroni! Yeah....sounds REAL appetizing! I had mixed up some Fruit Punch the day before. The kids had poured it in the glasses. Someone took a drink and said it tasted like water. Well, it looked like Fruit Punch. I grabbed Samuel's glass and took a sip. (I had water in my glass!) Yep...it tasted like water. I turned to my 3 sons and asked if anyone had messed with the punch. My 4-year old, Samuel said, "But, Mommy I was just tryin' to make it enough for everybody." Bless his heart, he had added water to the pitcher to make more to go around! Needless to say, we dumped the rest out! :)

CALLASANDRA
Earlier today I was fixing her hair. I always ask her what hairstyle she wants for the day. The last 2 days she has chosen 2 braids. As I am trying to french braid her hair, she is bouncing up and down, looking in the mirror and singing to herself, "It's all about ME, it's all about ME!" I started laughing about what she was singing. Next thing I know she's singing, "It's all about Mommy, it's all about Mommy!"