What shall we do?

Rob and my brother packed up the boys and headed for a spring camping trip this weekend. They are crazy, I know. It has been so stinkin cold this week and it's not going to be warming up this weekend. I packed more thermals, socks, undershirts and clothes than they will probably want or need but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Em and I had a quiet evening at home last night. She played at Matt's until 8 then she came home and got in the bath. When it was nice and full she decided she wanted a shower instead. I spent the evening going back and forth between three shows...The Apprentice, Oprah who had Seal and Heidi Klum on, and the Access Hollywood/Frasier hour. Because I surfed I have no idea who won The Apprentice, I saw only part of the Oprah interview and I missed most of the Hollywood gossip that usually helps me fall asleep at night. It was actually fine though. By 11:00 I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open. I woke up this morning to the phone ringing at 9:00 and couldn't remember falling asleep. That's a good night.

Today we are going to the Y to go swimming with Matt and Rachel and we are going out to dinner with my parents tonight. The rest of the weekend is still wide open. What are two girls to do?

Her First Official Loss

It happened yesterday. She was at Uncle Kelly's with my mom and aunt. She ate a chip and out it popped.














I loved Andrea's idea about sprinkling glitter by the window. However when I looked through all the craft stuff I realized we were out. I was so bummed but then I came across these colorful stars. They would work right? I sprinkled them by her window and when she got up this morning I asked her if she saw where the Tooth Fairy came in. She said 'how do you know?'. I told her to look for the magical stars she leaves when she flies. Sure enough she found them by the window and thought they were so cool.

We had a great Easter weekend. It started out Thursday night with dying eggs. Matt came over to join us. The process began nice and clean but by the time they were done their hands were covered. They had fun and we have more than enough eggs to make egg salad sandwiches. My favorite.

Saturday morning we went to our park for an Easter egg hunt. A Nazarene church puts it on and they had 14,000 eggs there for 4 age groups. That's a lot of eggs. We decided to go to Saturday night service so we could sleep in and enjoy our Sunday morning. I couldn't believe how packed it was. There were over 400 people in a service that usually has maybe 60? Stephanie sang Lord, You're Holy with the choir and it was awesome! Gave me chills. Afterward was the kids went to their second egg hunt. I tried to get some pictures of the three kids but Austin was less than cooperative due to a sleepover the night before. I got a few good ones of Emily and Tay and then made Austin pose for a few. Doesn't he look happy?

Sunday morning I made our traditional bunny and chick pancakes. I almost didn't make them this year because even thought I love making them I didn't think the kids really paid attention to them. I was so excited when Taylor and Em both asked if I was making them. Guess they did notice. Austin had another sleepover so he could help at the egg hunt at church and came home with my parents. He wasn't here Easter pancakes or for his basket but don't worry, the Easter bunny left his basket on his bed for him to find when he got home. After breakfast it was time to get ready for lunch. I had done most of the prep the night before since I hate rushing around trying to get it done last minute so there wasn't a lot to do. Mostly just vacuum and put the ham in. We had a much smaller group this year which, Rob and I agreed, was so nice. We hosted my parents, Rodger and Terry, Jim and Theresa, and Kris and Melissa. And there were only seven kids. Much more manageable than last years brood. We had a nice lunch and the kids got their third and final egg hunt. Suffice it to say they have enough of candy. More than enough candy.

Now I get to entertain them for spring break. Goody. Yesterday was OK but today didn't start out that great. Taylor went to get the milk out of the fridge and spilled an ENTIRE pitcher of tea on the floor. Bring on the fun.

I haven't done much today

but I did do this.

Find the super easy pattern here.

It was so easy that I'm going to make one out of this too.

I also had to share this picture of Em. She was walking to Matt's yesterday and it was such a dreary day. Loved that she had on her red 'Mrs. Clause' dress and her pink umbrella.

I hope they're not as mean as judge judy

We received our court date for small claims court. May 1st at 9:00. I wish it were a little sooner because I don't have much patience for stuff like this. I just want it over and a verdict handed down. We have to meet with a mediator first at 9:00 and if we can't come to an agreement then we go to court at 1:00 the same day. I feel really good about our case and we have lots of pictures of the house so I'm not worried about that. My biggest concern is that after all this the judge will tell us that the job was done and we need to suck it up and go on. And I will be stuck fuming about it every time I look at the house. Prayers would be appreciated.

Not much else going on here. We are dying Easter eggs tonight. Messy and fun. I am also going grocery shopping for Easter dinner. I have a surprisingly small list so it shouldn't take too long.

hold it one minute

i was tucking emily in and she was wiggling her bottom teeth. she can hardly wait till they come out and she asked me when i thought they would fall out. i said maybe next week. she replies "tomorrow i'm going to have taylor hit me in the mouth so they fall out". i told her she couldn't do that to which she replied "i'm just gonna ask him". now it's not the fact that taylor wouldn't love to take a free whack at his sister, it's the pain that she would be in afterward. not so much from the hit but from realizing that there were still two teeth in her mouth that she thinks shouldn't be there. what am i going to do with her?

answers

*fluffing shirts-rob is tall. he doesn't like me to dry his shirts cause they shrink in the length and then he gets feisty, so i hang them to dry then i have to fluff them in the dryer to get the wrinkles out. not fun. trust me.

*breakfast pizzas-they are sooo not healthy but they are good. Austin has been running late for school so they are easy to throw in the toaster oven and hand him on the way out the door.

1lb. cooked sausage
2 jars Old English cheese spread (this is a processed cheese that is by the Parmesan cheese at walmart. it comes in small glass jars)
1 stick butter(i usually use half)
12 english muffins.

mix cooled sausage, cheese and butter. Spread on muffins and freeze. When ready to eat, bake at 400* for 8-10 minutes.

See..not healthy but when the cheese melts and it gets a little brown on top...mmm good. You could probably add some things to it to make it healthier like scrambled egg or mushrooms. I have never tried it but it would be good.

*I got my hair cut today. She made it a little darker than I thought it would be but she assured me it would fade. It always does. I also went a little shorter than I meant to but my hair grows fast.













*I tried my first all green St. Patrick's Day dinner and it was a hit. On the menu was chicken fettuccine that was dyed green, green salad, green beans, asparagus, pickles, brownies with green frosting and green tea to drink. Yum.

Happy St Patty's To Ya

It's St. Patrick's Day and I have a ton of stuff to do. We are hosting Easter again so that means the whole house has to be cleaned. I have been wanting to do some spring cleaning and I found a complete list of things that should be done while I was blog hopping so I am going to start that today. If I do a little a day it shouldn't be too bad.

I also have a list a mile long of other things I need to do today. A Target run, Lowe's for some fencing, laundry, fluffing Rob's shirts, making breakfast pizzas to freeze, figuring out what we are having to eat on Easter, wash walls, go through linen closet, dust bookcases. I'll just stop there.

We had a pretty good weekend. Low key which is nice once in a while. Friday night I went to a baby shower. Possibly the longest in history. Present opening for almost two hours. It was fun though. We ate a good dinner, got to hang out with the girls and didn't have to put the kids to bed. Oh wait. The boys were at Rodger and Terry's and when I got home at almost 11 p.m Rob and Emily were in our bed watching Sleeping Beauty. When it was over I went to wash my face and brush my teeth and when I came back she was sound asleep. So precious. I love sleeping babies.

Saturday Rob and Rodger took the boys riding and Emily and I ran errands. We left about 1:00 and had to go to Old Navy, Ross, Walmart, the bank, Home Depot and Lowe's. When we got done at Walmart, our last stop, I could not believe that it was 7:00. We had been out for six hours running errands. Poor Emily was so good about it. She stayed right with me and only complained about her feet hurting at the end. I had no idea that it had been that long or we would have been home a lot sooner.

Yesterday Rob went skiing so the kids and I went to my parents for the day. We have been trying to plan a trip for Christmas this year. Just all of us on a trip, no gifts. We wanted Hawaii, then Mexico, we even tried Puerto Rico and everything has been booked solid. The only place we could find was a resort in Northern Mexico. It looked like a really nice place but the average winter temperature is 59 degrees. Not exactly bathing suit weather. Sooo we talked and found a place in Mazatlan for spring break and we think that's what we are going to instead. It's a little longer to wait but it's also more time to save money...and it will be warm. Totally worth the wait.

Last night we went bowling with our home team then out to pizza. And I would like to say that I beat Rob in the second game. Thank you, thank you. I love bowling and when we go I wonder why we don't do it more often. Taylor tried bowling the first game without bumpers and actually did a good job. The second game he opted for them, though. I think his arm was tired. Austin did pretty well too. He's getting so big.

All alone

I am all alone today and was for a bit of last night too. It was fabulous. Austin went with Phil and Taylor Fick out to dinner and to a movie. Gotta love people who want to spend time with Jr. Highers. He had a blast and they are planning a sleepover at the church on Saturday night. They should be just lovely on Sunday. Taylor went to get ice cream with Matt and his family, Rob was in Spokane for the day and Emily went to my parents which means that I had some quiet time. I got to read the new People magazine(my favorite), eat a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich without having to hide it from the kids and play a couple games of Mah Jong. Another favorite. Before I knew it all the boys were home and it was time to get everyone ready for bed but for those fleeting moments the house was mine. All mine.

I went to a follow up doctor appointement yesterday. In five minutes he said my heart sounds fine, the meds are working and he wants to see me again in a year. Wonder how much that cost me.

I am still loving the March tag challenge I am doing. She put up another one that I am going to do too. Actually it wasn't her idea it came from here but it's a great way to scrap the everyday.

My mom and I went to the mall yesterday. I was looking for a purse to carry on our trip. Not too big but big enough for a camera, water, and the ever essential chapstick. We went to Eddie Bauer and she found this bag on the clearance rack. It was last years model so they only had black but the best part was it was only$10. Who cares what color it is when it's cheap.

The other day I was in the bathroom getting ready and I asked Em if she could bring me some water so I could take my pills. She comes back a couple minutes later and says
E-I didn't expect that to happen.
J-What?
E-I spilled some water on the floor but don't worry...I wiped it up with my sock.