Monday.

Thought for today....

Consider the postage stamp...

it secures success through its ability 

to stick to one thing till it gets there!

~Josh Billings

dreams of spring...

a few weeks ago, kate was rummaging in one of our junk drawers.
i hear a squeal.
she runs up and says LOOK WHAT I FOUND! 
i look up. it was a tube of sunscreen (like the kind that is in a chap stick tube)
she leans up against the wall (she is naked, except for her underwear) takes the cap off and holds it up to her nose.
she obviously is breathing in deeply and has her eyes closed.
i cracked up and said, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
she said, I'm THINKING OF SUMMER!
soooo cute.  aren't we ALL.
the other night, I tucked her in and she said proudly. "I"M GOING TO DREAM OF SPRING, WE WILL WILL PLAY ON THE SWING ON THE SWING SET...AND RIDE BIKES, AND PLAY,PLAY, PLAY!"
my sentiments exactly!
those little chicks have it all figured out! :)

signs of spring in the back yard! :)

blank.

i have been under the weather the better part of this week.
finally called the doc for antibiotics yesterday.
THEY WORKED IMMEDIATELY!
LIKE MAGIC!
(right MOM!!??)
i'm feeling 150% today.
Adam's birthday was yesterday, I didn't even post about it.  Wife of the year award.
Here are a few random pictures from the week.
Oh, I went to the zoo with Anne on her field trip.
It was the coldest day of the week.
Got up that morning it was 27.  It had been 72 the day before. No lie.
Wonder why I need antibiotics?????

~chat soon!

9 years

I love this picture, I look weird, but on the same hand, maybe that's the way I look when I am looking at him.  Either way, I think its a great moment captured! :)  Thanks Michelle!

9 years ago today, Adam and I were married.
It feels like yesterday, really.

I heard this song a few weeks ago while I was folding socks.

It made me get all choked up.

Check out the video.  It's as sweet as the song.

really big deal.

so...not too long ago, i received a text message.
it was from a  number that wasn't in my phone book.
i wasn't sure who it was.
after a couple messages, i figured out it was from my dear friend julie's husband.
he wanted to give julie a day out with ME for her valentines gift.
how cool????
he also wanted it to be at a spa.
okay, how SUPER COOL?!
adam and jeremy did some organizing and sent us on a 3 hour tour (ha....isn't that from giligan's island?!) to a spa, not too far from our house.
we had the whole sha-bang.
massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and lunch. PLUS NO CURFEW!
we had the.best.time.
i have been talking a mile a minute since i have gotten home.
the biggest deal besides being able to spend 7+ glorious hours with a cool chick, is that the massage gal got my shoulder to work AGAIN!
for two years its been a shoulder of a 90 year old lady.  i had a little spill, and it has never quite recovered.
i am afraid to get it checked out due to the word, repair...surgery...therapy...etc.
i don't know what she did.
but i don't care, the damn thing works!
YAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!
that is a really big deal! :)
the whole day was a really big deal.
i don't usually have posts like this, if you are reading this and throwing up a little in your mouth, it's okay.
just remember, it was a special, well deserved occasion.
i'm the same ol' target dollar rack section gal as i was yesterday!
just with a shoulder that works!  Whoop Whoop!

just a little giggle...i always loved that show! :)

Big day!

Anne Clara's birthday party was today.
This was a really big deal.
Her first party, that included friends. 
We arranged for it to be at Dierbergs School of Cooking.
Awesome.  Awesome. Awesome.
Anne and Adam watch cooking shows on a regular basis.  It was only appropriate.  She invited her little gals from school and our dear friend, Julies, sweet daughter Katy. 
The girls had a blast.  They got to make their whole lunch.  (it was a underwater adventure theme...hotdog octopus, treasure chest desert, and island punch (or something similar.)
Anne got to help make the punch, and mac and cheese by herself. 
Really, too cute. 
I have been grinning all day.
A few pictures in no particular order....

The invite, favors for the girls, and the tag on the favor. :)  (i had fun)

Birthday donuts.

Group shot, harder then I thought it would be. ;)

the food.

all the things the girls participated in.  birthday girl did the punch and pasta solo.  everyone else participated in the hotodog and dessert making.

~chat soon!

making brownies...

 During one of our MANY snowdays, we made brownies.  This was the left over icing, or syrup. I can't remember which one, but it didn't have raw eggs. (that's for my mom!)

~chat soon!

check this out....

If you look close and can deal with the mild disorganization of the sentences you can see that...
ANNE CLARA CAN SPELL AND WRITE SENTENCES.  (read some of the sentences like a list....)
I could have totally cried when I saw this, so I just decided to take a picture of it.
The only work she needed help with was PLAY. (the Y tripped her up.)
She is growing up.
*sniff*

Sunday and sixlets

started out like any other day.

we were moving slow. it was a late night.  we decided to skip church (tsk tsk)...
anne and i worked on her valentines, did some laundry, normal.
i walked upstairs to put the laundry away.
i heard all this weird noise.  i couldn't tell if it was a laugh, or a gasp, or a cry.
Anne?  You okay?
jfalkkkjdfjiadk my nose.
What?
jakdjfaklrjiadjfklmj my nose!!!
I don't understand, show me!
she comes running up stairs and has her finger crammed way up her nose.
the look on her face, was apparent that she had either come face to face with the devil....or shoved something up her NOSE.
it was the later.
she had been eating sixlet candies.
you know, they are those yummy little eraser size candies that are chocolate but covered in a malty type covering....
anyway SHE PUT IT UP HER NOSE AND COULDN"T GET IT OUT!
i stayed remotly calm and said WHAT? WHAT DID YOU DO?
I put THIS up my nose. (showing me the rest of the candy)
WHY? Oh never mind, just come here!
I said BLOW.
WHERE, she says.
IN MY HAND, I DON'T CARE.
she blows. got nothing.
she starts crying.
i say STOP BREATHING THROUGH YOUR NOSE.
finally, i pushed on her nose...all the while she is screaming ITS GOING FURTHER UP THERE!
it popped out right in my little hand.
she sat on the toilet seat and just panted, for i bet, 2 minutes.
i got the giggles.
then i asked...
Anne, why did you do THAT?
i'm embarrassed, she says.
 Why?
because i just wanted to see if it would fit.

NIIIIIIIICCCCCE.
~chat soon.

 

the treasure! :)

giggles with kate...

kate was sick, sick, sick, last week.
a bad cough, a couple bouts of barf, throw in some bronchitis.  it made for a long week. 
by this past monday, she was starting to be on the mend.

she and i were sitting at the table coloring and she started giggling.  she couldn't stop.
what else is there to do, besides grab your camera and click away.
it was music to my ears!

Anne's birthday recap

Here are some pictures from Anne's 6th birthday weekend.
Her Daddy made us all homemade pizza's....mmmmmmm.
Grandparents and the aunt and uncle came.
She had a great time.
Anne got LOTS of BIG GIRL items.  (a big fluffy robe, fingernail polish, make-up) She is still in hog heaven.

 

On her actual birthday, she had only one request...THE BLUE ROOF RESTAURANT. (Culvers)

So after basketball practice and gifts, we headed that direction.

Anne asked Adam for a set of 'stacking cups' a few days before her birthday, thanks to Amazon.com she is a proud owner of a set of stacking cups.  Kate requested that she have 'more yego's' and she of course got a brand new 'homework book' from her teacher momma!  She is in heaven.  I love having a low maintenance chick! :)

~chat soon!

we're alive.

and germ free.
have lots to post about, but nothing really at all.
it's finally friday.
i'm really excited.
big weekend ahead.
things are good.
making a NEW RECIPE for dinner...
will report soon.
~chat soon.

This is Anne...

On her first birthday party day!

On her sixth birthday party day!

Sweet Anne turns SIX today.
That is HUGE to me...
I always project way too far...so of course my mind is saying,  if 6 years went this fast, in 6 more she will be TWELVE! 
OR better yet...
If we are married almost 10 years, in 10 more years, Anne will be SIXTEEN!

But, for now, I appreciate her innocence, her dream filled mind, and everything about her...
~chat soon.

Having SNOW much fun!!!

~chat soon!

the whine.....

south carolina this past summer...i couldn't get it centered with the Polaroid effect-you get the drift.

I have been off school, the.whole.week.
I'm really on the verge of going INSANE.
Its waaay to cold to drag anyone out in.
It's slippery as all get out and I don't want to risk an injury (there is the stick in the mud side of me)
Adam works from our home, so that is always a little tense, when we are in his territory and vise versa.
Regardless, its been kind of a looooooonnnnnnnnnggggg week.
Last Friday, we picked Anne up from school, she was starting a fever.
It ran clear through until Monday. Not one other symptom, just fever.
Okay, so last night when I was getting ready to make Chicken and Dumpling's.  from you guessed it, Pioneer Woman (they were by far, the BEST. ever) Kate decides to UPCHUCK all down my back ( I was holding her, she was really crabby...it all makes sense now.)
Adam swooped in for the cleanup, while I ushered her directly to the tub.
Afterwards, she was fine.
She picked at her dinner a little, drank some milk (don't ask why we gave her that...)
Kate fell asleep on the couch. Done. Adam put her on our bed for a bit and we watched some tv downstairs...
Fast forward 45 minutes.
I heard the percolator...I heard the gulp.... I heard the spew.
ALL OVER OUR BED.
NICE.
Back in the tub, Adam again, cleans up the grossness (he is really awesome, she starts to be feverish...I begin to freak on the inside...I call my mother to see if I can wash my bedspread even though it says to dryclean.  (i really think the chick at the cleaners is saying a silent prayer that I didn't waltz in there with a gooped up bed spread today.  I wiggled it into the machine, and crossed my fingers.  It worked!)
So here we are today. I'm a zombie, she wouldn't sleep alone, but I didn't think we should put her in our bed, again soooo...We (me) laid on a pad of towels in her room...she talked to me most of the night about shadows, teddy bears, throats, where night nights come from, brown throw-up.
It was nice. (sarcastic)
Hopefully, after a good scrubbing, we will continue with our weekend. Barf free.
Don't worry, your pretty little heads...there is more SNOW IN THE FORECAST.
I write this on our 13th snow day of the YEAR!
Really?!
Enough of the whine.
Maybe with a little wine this evening, everything will be right with the world again. ;)

hello, sunshine!

Yesterday, I had a bad case of the blahs.
It was totally associated with this winter weather, and the amount of communication I have NOT been doing with mankind since being stuck inside.  I really marvel at the people that live in Alaska...how can they spend all that time in the DARK?
I like winter, but I love sunshine.
Since I feel 120% today, I think it was all Vitamin D related. :)
~chat soon.

Old Man Winter...

We may dodged the blizzard he threw our way, but his icy breath is knocking us all to the ground.
It's frreeeezing!
Happy Groundhog day.
Happy Birthday, Meghan!  (your a double number, it's your lucky year!!)

 ~Chat soon!