tuesday....

it's tuesday.
after a 5 day break.
it kind of feels like friday.
although, i have spent the last two work days in a conference.
an awesome conference.
the best one, maybe, that i have ever been to.
that's a big deal.
but my rump is sore.  from sitting on it for hours on end...
i have had a headache for a week...not consistent, just on and off.  my mom assured me that it is not a tumor.
more then likely a barometric weather headache....a little too much wind.  maybe a little too much life.
either way, more then likely, not a tumor. 
that is good.
even though it is only tuesday....i feel like i have been through the mill.
adam had a little go around with his chronic issue called 'gout'. 
a wife's worst nightmare. really. it is.
it caused me to have a sleepless night on sunday night. (he is fine...a big dose of the special toe meds...everyone is good to go.)
that is not.a.good.thing for this gal.
i have been blessed with children that sleep and for the past 3.5 years have been getting a hefty nights sleep.
you throw in a ringer and it sends me to the looney bin.
dry heaves and all. just plain ugly.
adam hired another employee yesterday.
she started today.  and did great.
business is booming. like scary, pinch yourself booming.
i get nervous and superstitious and then just remember to shut my mouth and be thankful.
christmas tree goes up this weekend....
gifts are almost all done. (thank you, Lord)
adam decided yesterday, (november 28th mind you)
that he really should throw a holiday party for the business....
after smiling, that 'good wife smile' i managed to say,
'well, i think that is a good idea.'
he found a place today (our favorite place) and i am in charge of the menu.
easy. 
(did i forget to mention that i have been speaking to him about this since early october??????)
this has been a huge sara whine session, and i'm sorry.
sometimes, that is  just how it goes. 
all in all...life is good. just busy.
different.  full.  not the norm.  but maybe the new normal. 
and, i just need to get used to it.
period.
~chat soon.

3 days in review...updated

Wednesday...
we made pilgrim hat cookies

first you have to separate the yellow and orange m & m's

you need some fudge stripe cookies (or generic ones...like i bought...)

icing

and peanut butter cups...i forgot the original picture

push gently on the pb cup on the bottom of the cookie

one of my students brought these darling cookies to class on Tuesday.

i decided we HAD to make them.

after you separate the me &m's...and eat a few...

you put a dab of icing on the bottom of a Reece's pb cup (after you de-wrap them)

then place the cup on the bottom of the cookie.  press just hard enough so the icing spreads out.

then a little dab of icing on the m & m (or directly on the pb cup) and 

VIOLA! you have a pilgrim hat.

they are quite tasty if i do say so myself!

 Then we made the traditional wednesday before thanksgiving pecan pie.  we needed to make two pies. perfect two girls. until i realized i only had enough corn syrup for one pie. lovely sara.  so we made one and called adam to bring home another bottle of corn syrup when he was on his way home from work.

 after that was nap time.
kate woke up from her nap and was not quite right.
she was complaining of a tummy and back ache.
she laid on the couch for awhile...
i checked on her several times.  i asked her if she needed to go potty.
she said yes. (whew, i thought...nothing to worry about.)
until.....
she sits up and starts WRETCHING!  all over the blanket, pillow (decorative, of course) couch cushion, and ME!
super.
after finding anne in the fetal position in the laundry room, hosing myself and the couch off, throwing the pillow away, and bathing kate, i realized she ATE TOO MUCH RAW PIE CRUST! lovely.
no salmonella.  just a yucky tummy.
okay fine.  we went on with the night with no more trouble.
praise the LORD!
On to Thursday....
We have Adam's family for lunch and my family for dinner.
Yum. Always so much too eat. I love it.
Adams cell phone rang, he gave it to me, it was my mom.
"Are you all doing anything tomorrow night?"
Weird, I thought.  We don't usually plan ahead and odd that she was calling during Thanksgiving, but no big deal really.  Then it hit me...SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH SOMEONE!!!!
yep, i was right. My Aunt Linda, who happened to be celebrating her birthday on Thanksgiving, was taking a morning stroll, and took a spill...she had almost definitely broken her arm.
Thanksgiving for my family...was postponed.
Bummer.
I hated not being able to see my family,I hate even more that Aunt Linda was hurt.
We spent a lot more unexpected time with Adam's family, which was relaxing.
We will have Thanksgiving at Aunt Linda's very soon...
I took almost no pictures, I was busy visiting, and helping.  (and sipping delicious holiday drinks. ;) )

sweet anne with the love of her life, cousin devon

This is what you call the...sara, will you bring the tripod for a family picture? we haven't had one in several years...oh sure. no big deal.  only to find out that PHIL is completely out of focus AND the amount of light caused the room to look very foggy in the picture.  Hopefully a certain sister's father in law will do some photoshop magic and get this all in tip top shape. 

better.  i didn't have it on the tripod.

the only proof we ate

don't you think he is thinking 'if only my wife let us have another baby'. ;)  

 Black Friday...
we don't do shopping on black friday.  i don't snub people that do. it's just not my thing.
i did however, get up early, and do internet shopping, in my jammies, with no crowds, traffic, or noise.  it was nice.
then i took the girls to the zoo.  it was a beautiful day.  i couldn't resist.  we had a blast.

beautiful fall day

the baby elephant kenzie.  born at 100 pounds. makes my 10 pounders look like mice! :)

couldn't find her...couldn't remember what she had on for a spit second...then i found her on top of the slide.

lovin' the jungle gym.

 We got home, put Kate down for a nap and then Anne and I went out and did the Christmas lights on the front bushes.  She played sidewalk chalk and helped me untangle lights.  I tell ya....she's the best! :)

I almost forgot about this part....

Last night, we went to my mom and dads.  We had fried chicken, and some of the sides we had prepared for the original Thanksgiving dinner, that wasn't.  It was a blast, we laughed, ate, played bingo with everyone, and let me tell you folks, that game gets intense! :)  Good, bad, otherwise, it has been a weekend filled with things to be thankful for.
Today, taking the chicks to see Arthur Christmas....thought we would jump start the holiday spirit!

thought for today....

He who can give thanks for little will always find he has enough.

~Anonymous

*perfect thought for today*
happy thanksgiving to all.
~chat soon

a story about calendars....

Have you ever read Memories on Clover Lane?  She is really a cool chick.  Have I ever met her in real life, well no.  But, I think I would really enjoy her.  I visit her blog often.  I should put her on my favorites list...but for some reason, I want to keep her to myself.  Isn't that strange.

Yesterday, I read her post about calendars.  I cracked up.  I save my calendars.  Most of them.  Especially, since I have had the girls.  I relish them.  They are a living journal to me.  Every New Years Day, I sit down with a brand new calendar(and a headache, either from too much fun the night before, OR the schedule that is about to commence) I love it.  I write down birthdays, anniversaries, things I marked in the 'future' section of the calendar to be put in the upcoming year...man.  i love a new calendar.

Sometimes, when I am cleaning, I run across a calendar and I sit, for a very long time, (to avoid the cleaning) and read through each month, each day, and relive the time.  Weird. I know.  Some of it is good....some of it is bad.  It's cleansing for me....before we had the girls, and were thinking of making a family, i became neurotic (who knew?!) and would track my temperature (on a chart....if you can imagine) to see when i would ovulate...i would map this out with a fine tooth comb.  guess how long it took me to get pregnant with anne?  well, we didn't techinally try, i don't think i finished the calendar tracking....before i knew it i saw a double line!  weird. then, when the chicks were babes I would write down the weight of their monthly appointments, if they slept through the night, if they liked pears, when they started the sitter.....(a side note....i kept a super tedious calendar on anne, her whole first year.  when my sister had ellen, she wanted me to refer to the calendar, which i often called 'the manual'....guess what?  IT IS NO WHERE TO BE FOUND!....i turned this house upside down....i think it got tossed in a adam new years resolution cleanse.)  luckily, i made her scrapbook before the calendar got...tossed (gasp).

I found it interesting how Sarah marked weight gain and pregnancy milestones in her calendar.  I did the same thing.  Sometimes the days weren't happy...but they were still days I/we lived through that have made us who we are today.  I love seeing her post, because it was reassuring to me.  It proved that I should NOT get rid of those ding dang calendars, no matter how much space they may take up.  Someday, my chicks will come across them....one of the girls, (kate) will say OHMYGAWD....MOMSAVEDALLHERCALENDARS!  and the other one (anne) will get misty eyed, and read through each page. 

My mom has been giving me this super cool thick calendar for the past two years.  each week has a motiviational message on it...it's just cool.  i know in this day and time it is not super cool to pull a paper calendar out of my purse....but it works for me. If I used the phone calendar, I wouldn't be able to turn the pages on the first of January and see all the beautiful blank pages and time that is ahead of me.  I know, it works for some, but for this old conservative, weirdo, i like my paper, thank you very much! :)

In the end of this long, silly, post, I guess I am just justifying why I save those silly calendars and have never parted with one SINCE the one that got tossed, accidentally.  I love each and every day, be it good or bad, we are dealt the hand....it's all in what we do with it.

On that note, enjoy your day before Thanksgiving duties.
~chat soon!

hysterical

this weekend, i was hell bent on getting 'the christmas card picture'.
i really wanted a family pic, but i figured, that no one who gets the cards really cares about how adam and i are aging, and widening...they just really are entertained by the girls.
i got them dressed and once again traipsed to the backyard.
it was a windy day. i mean windy.
i prayed HARD that it would be an easy job.
the first picture i snapped was this one....

 seriously, if i wasn't as stinkin' conservative as i am, i would totally use this one as our christmas card picture.
but, i can't do it.
i think it very well, could be my favorite picture EVER!(but, i think i say that often...)
my word, if you don't laugh from the gut on this one....something could be wrong.
~chat soon!

Halloween

This is late...but remember, I have been without this fun little thing called the internet!
I have mentioned before, I will say it again....Halloween just isn't my favorite day.
Maybe it's my profession, maybe its that fact that I'm not a fan of people with covered faces...
who knows.
This Halloween was the first that the girls went trick or treating, and we had to work the next day.
It was not the best plan in my head.
We carved pumpkins on Sunday.
Adam had been working all weekend. We had it in our mental schedule that we were going to carve the old pumpkins on Sunday so we didn't have to quick do it before trick or treating....
Well, it was nearing dinner. He wasn't home yet, it was still light, and I wanted to carve them on the deck.
I said, "WHO IS READY TO CARVE PUMPKINS!!??!"
The girls came running. I grabbed the biggest knife we had and started in on the first pumpkin.
Suddenly I hear,
"Sara Louise, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU ARE GOING TO CUT YOUR FINGER OFF!"
I have always alarmed Adam, well, my mom too, with the way I handle a knife.
None the less...Adam came to the rescue and carved the cutest darn pumpkin family.
He even added glasses.
So cute.
It was, all in all, a good Halloween.
Our neighbors joined us, and Katie and I somehow won the agreement to sit and hand out candy (and drink wine) while the men took the girls trick or treating (they have 2 chicks also) it was a win, win. well, for the females anyway!

the end of october...

can't wait.

hey sara.  next time someone takes a picture...stand up STRAIGHT!

so proud of herself...she can now ride something but the couch!

feeding the goats. alone. first time. huge deal.

love this. she is always a hot shot with the goats...but i think her eyes tell a different story

who are the girls?  they are all grown up.  cute enough. but surely they aren't mine!  I'm still a new mom!

we are so lucky to live where we do.
i don't think everyone agrees with that. but, we have so many options of things to do with kiddos.
kates birthday weekend, adam was hunting in south dakota. the girls and i went to church.
it was a beautiful day, i got the girls home, coaxed them to change clothes and said.
SURPRISE! WE ARE GOING TO GRANTS FARM!
after the shrieks and screams we loaded into the car and spent the better part of the afternoon at the best place to spend a sunny, Sunday.
they were open one more weekend for the year.
it's one of our favorite places to go.
we had a blast.
just a blast.