New Haircut

I got my hair cut today for the first time in 18 mos. I look absolutely gorgeous. Seriously, check it out.




Aren't you jealous? It's amazing what a hair cut can do!

Poetry by Carlye

Last year before the Princess Ball


My beautiful little girl has been writing poetry, and here is one of her first original works, unedited. Enjoy!


Carlye

Carefuel, cute, respectful
Daghter of Cari and Carl,
Lover of reading, basketball, and brothers,
Who feels happy, shy, normal,
Who needs water, food, shelter,
Who gives love, flowers, apples,
Who fears wolf, spiders, snakes,
Who would like to go to Hawaii, have it all, be rich,
Resident of my home, near the creek.

17 dresses

My beautiful daughter attends a Princess Academy class every Wednesday. There are 4 classes in Princess Academy, and it ranges in age from 4 yrs to 5th grade. Throughout the year the girls perform service projects, memorize scripture, etc, which all goes towards them earning a tiara at the end of the year. The girls are presented with these tiaras at a very formal Princess Ball just for them. They, along with their mommies, daddies and grandparents are invited to attend - but NO siblings are allowed (unless they attend Princess Academy as well). They dance at the ball and then sit down for a very formal banquet. This year, Nani and I took Carlye to buy her dress for the ball.

We had no idea what we were in for.

That child tried on 17 dresses.

17!!!!!

And then, she didn't even pick the beautiful pink Cinderella dress with the full skirt, she picked a straight black dress with a white sash.

"sigh"

The plus side, though, was that her dress was $49.99 marked down to $29.99. Still a hefty price, but I was willing to do it just to get out of JCPenneys.

Then, when they rang it up it was $9.99!

I guess I did like the black dress better after all.

Today

Today Noah wore his hoody backwards so that he wouldn't get his face wet. When we walked out into the rain, he would cover his face with the hood and hold my hand. He said it worked great.

He is also brushing his teeth at least 3 times a day. "Mom, isn't the touch and brush wonderful!"

Curling up with a good book

A few days mornings ago I was enjoying one of those rare, almost endangered moments, of curling up in our bed enjoying a good book. About 5 minutes after I started reading, Noey came in to "cuddle" and Nathanael followed closely behind. I didn't mind, I love cuddling with my boys, so I wrapped an arm around each and continued reading. Normally, they sit quietly. Not so this day.....

"Wow, Nanael, those letters are little." stated Noah, in awe.

"I know it. Look at how big the book is! She's read one hundred and seven, no one hundred and seventeen pages. And there's still even more. That's a lot." Nathanael responded.

"Huh, does she go this way (hand motions to the left), or this way (hand motion to the right)?" my youngest inquired.

"Everybody knows you go this way (hand motion to the right), Noah. She's gonna read a lot of pages before she's done."

"Yeah. A lot of pages. Our books don't have that many pages, do they? Well, mine don't. And I've got pictures. Don't you like pictures brother?"

And so it continued. In less than 2 minutes I was laughing so hard I couldn't have read if I wanted to. So I've still got a lot of pages to go!

The Picnic

Today, our kids have a school holiday. Today is also the day that we are starting our bathroom remodel.

By the way - Do you have any idea how much junk can accumulate in a bathroom over 13 1/2 years? Let's just say, it's mind boggling!

Sooo, we sent our kiddos outdoors to explore and enjoy the beautiful weather, and my hubby and I have spent the day cleaning cupboards, emptying cabinets, and moving stuff. And we aren't even close to being finished. I have piles of junk dispersed throughout our bedroom and onto our bed - insuring that we will NOT be getting any sleep until I have finished going through everything. Carl is in the process of tearing out our counter tops, sink and bath tub (we get to keep the toilet for now!).

So when our children came to us, presented us with the amazing turtle shell that they had discovered and asked us to go on a picnic "in this beautiful spot where the sun is peeking through the trees" (said Carlye), our first instinct was to just say no.



But, after thinking about it for a few moments, we decided that we should go ahead and go. After all, how often do your children invite you on a picnic?



Carlye found a blanket while Nathanael made the PB & J and Noah helped us "get things done faster." Carl and I threw on our water boots, left our bedroom, bathroom and closet in complete chaos, and followed the kids outside.



And we are so glad that we did. We listened to the birds, watched our kids try to catch minnows, and felt the wind and sun on our faces.



And we realized how blessed we are. We are blessed with 3 amazing kids, who would rather play outside exploring the creek than stay inside on a pretty day.



Kids who believe that empty turtle shells are treasure, and actually WANT to go on picnics with their mom and dad.



And, of course, incredible fashion sense.

My Beautiful Baby Sister

Okay, so I have three beautiful baby sisters - all of whom are my best friends, but today happens to be the youngests birthday, so Happy Birthday Pam-a-lamb! I love you, and hope you have have the best day ever - even if it's without me!

We are in trouble

I have always wanted to be the mother of at least one little boy.

We were incredibly blessed with two.

I don't think I was completely aware of what it was - exactly - that I was praying for. Since I had three little sisters and a whole slew of girl cousins, boys were something of a novelty to our family. Now, I know EXACTLY what I was praying for.

Fancy garbage disposals.

Seriously. I mean, when you watch how much my very slim and very tall husband can put away (he's 6'6" and just barely over 200 lbs) it is impressive. What hadn't occurred to me is that my boys, his flesh and blood, would one day eat as much as he does. And that day is quickly, quickly approaching.

Today, we went out to eat for lunch. My boys devoured their entire kids meal, along with part of ours and a couple of side orders. When I pointed out to my hubby that our boys were rapidly out growing their kids meals he informed me that we wouldn't be going out to eat anymore.

This made me laugh even harder than how much my munchkins had eaten. Why? Because one year my New Year's resolution (of sorts) was to eat at home more often. His New Years resolution was to make enough money to eat out every meal and never have to do dishes again.

How times change......

WoW!

A certain mechanical wonder has taken our home by storm. It is none other than the amazing and incredible, as seen on TV, Touch 'n Brush Toothpaste Dispenser.

"Mom, I gotta have that!" Noah informed me. And, after weeks of him espousing all of it's amazing abilities, we actually (miracle of miracles) stood in line next to one today in the check out line at the grocery store.

"Mom, look at this! We gotta buy it. Less mess in the bathroom...." he implored, pulling out the big guns - my abhorrence of all things sticky.

And, I must admit, after seeing the toothpaste disparaged counter top this morning, I was incredibly tempted.

"We really gotta have this, Mom. It is so cool. Look at the picture - IT STICKS TO YOUR MIRROR!"

As I stood in line pondering the situation, I decided that I would easily save the $20 in cleaning supplies and toothpaste within the first week if I bought it (and if it works!), so I told Noah to grab one. He was ecstatic.

"Mom, can I skip school today so we can go home and put it up right now?" After being told that he would have to wait at least 4 more hours to install his precious prize he was very disappointed, but coped well, since I allowed him to hold the box the rest of the way to school.

At the end of the day, as I was leaving to bring his siblings to piano lessons, he was attempting to assemble and hang our wonderful new contraption.

We discovered it later, very securely attached to the cabinet door in the bathroom, right where he could reach it.

We moved it to the mirror, and began to clean up the toothpaste that had been squeezed all over it while he attempted to put in the toothpaste. "It says to pop in your favorite toothpaste and it's ready to go." he quipped.

Now, the only problem is deciding who gets the super cool toothbrush that came with it.

"I should get it," Noah informed his siblings, "I begged for this. It's 'cause of me we even got it."

"NO!" shouted the other two, "It should go to Daddy cause he's the boss and that's only fair!"

It is currently residing on the dining room table, waiting for it's fate to be decided.


And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCUS! I am so proud to have such an amazing guy as you as my oldest nephew. I love you and I am so proud of the amazing young man you are! Happy Birthday!

Huh, Did you know that I don't like any of that?

I am a healthy eater. I always have been - I believe in large part because I was taught to eat well as a child. I love fresh fruits and vegetables, I don't really like much meat, and I'm not a soda drinker. My only weakness food wise is cereal - and boy is that a weakness! I can devour an entire box of Golden Grahams during one episode of of Criminal Minds, but I digress.

My husband, however, is not a health eater. He says that he is, but his cholesterol is close to being too high, which means that he needs to cut down - even more - how often he indulges in that double bacon cheeseburger.

My children are healthy eaters, as well, and they love fruits and most vegetables, venison, fish, etc. But, since they are our children, they eat what is put in front of them. Which almost always has something processed or made with white flour. So, Carl and I decided that we want to eat more healthy all around, and we have started weeding out even more of the junk in our house, and eating much healthier meals.

Last night, I made chicken kabobs on the stove. I skewered zucchini, yellow bell pepper, mushrooms and chicken, seasoned them with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and Spike seasoning. Then, I steamed whole grain brown rice and asparagus. It was DELICIOUS! After the meal my meat and potatoes husband said the he even liked it and Nathanael said that he loved it.

Carlye, however, sat down, stared at the table and said, "Huh. Did you know that I don't like anything that you've put on the table?" When Noah sat down he began to cry.

Being the horrible, mean parents that we are, we have a rule at our house that everyone has to taste everything. You don't have to take seconds, you don't have to devour it, but you DO have to taste it. And actually, this is how we got our youngest to finally taste lima beans. By the way, those are his favorite vegetable.

It did not work so well, however, last night. Noah sat at the table for 30 minutes after all of the rest of the family was finished before he even thought about eating the zucchini. And the table was cleaned and dishes were done before he actually swallowed it! And then, we still had the yellow pepper to go.

It was a fun evening. I felt valued and appreciated, and so happy to have fed my family a yummy healthy meal that they all enjoyed as we laughed and visited around the dinner table. It's hard to have such a perfect family. Really, it is.

Coupla Three Things

So, as always, I have learned a few things this week. First, and most importantly, I have learned that you can forget just how blessed you are to be having your house remodeled/finished while you are having your house remodeled/finished. I am ashamed to say that something about people banging on all of four of your walls from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 6 days a week can make you a very ungrateful and inhospitable person. I am SO THANKFUL that we are blessed enough to get to do this - and I KNOW that I have an amazing hubby, so I don't know why occasionally the dust and disarray and the fact that Emmaline is stressed beyond belief and barking at everything that moves, gets to me, I really don't. But, I confess sadly to you all, at times it does. Of course, since I am such an amazing person this is only a rare occurrence, and for sure not a once or twice a day thing.

The second thing that I learned is that 8 degree weather in Texas is actually kinda fun - probly 'cause we don't have to do it for more than a few days at a time when we do it. Our creek was frozen enough this morning the kids got to walk and play on it, and icicles were everywhere!

Oh! And Carlye finally had her Narnia birthday party last night. We had Mr. Tumnus' Tea (Hot Apple Cider), Turkish Delight (mine bombed, so I replaced it with Christmas Dots! Ha-ha!) and Pizza. We built a wardrobe for everyone to walk through, complete with coats, fir tree and snow, and even had a lamp post in our living room. Since we couldn't have a pinata, we passed Mr. Tumnus' parcel - every time the music stopped someone was able to unwrap the box. It was filled with lots of little goodies (thank you Christmas clearance!), and the final prize was a copy of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It was fast, furious and crazy, with over 16 kids, but Carlye had a lot of fun, and that is, of course, what matters.



*MOTHERS BRAGGING RIGHTS!* Carlye has been nominated for a class at school called Caesars English. We are so excited! From what we understand she gets to start learning Latin and how it affects our language and other such stuff. Okay, so I don't really understand, but I plan on talking to her teacher soon. Way to go, girl!

Something to make you laugh:

Today, Noah was wondering aloud while we were driving. "Momma, I wonder why I haven't gotten the chicken pox?! I've actually been around lots of chickens (news to me, but hey) and Grace and Nathanael were just around dogs!"

Over and Out

The chicken pox had a good run at our house, and are now on their way out - much to the chagrin of my daughter. She has had Carl and I look at every bump, red mark, scratch and raised spot of skin that has shown up or thought of showing up on her body. And, oddly, is always horribly devastated that there aren't any real spots there. Nathanael has absolutely LOVED having them, especially since he only has a few, they've quit itching, he never had a fever, and overall his horrible behavior was caused by the fact that he had cabin fever and NOT from feeling badly. He has loved the attention, the sympathy and the extra long vacation. And Noah has liked having someone to play the Wii with. So, overall, the end of this illness will be a blessing to Carl and I both.

My little sister did her favorites of 2009, so Carl and I have decided to do our list as well. We have a horrible memory, and asking us to remember things from the last 12 months is nothing short of cruel and unusual, but here's what we got right now:

Best on the Big Screen:
For adults - The Blind Side, Avatar
For kids - Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs

Best on the small screen:
Adults - Big Bang Theory or the Mentalist
Kiddos - Almost anything on Animal Planet (Carlye says iCarly)

Best in Book Stores:
For adults - I'm really not the best to ask, I mostly stick to old books and Christian authors, Ted Dekker, Beverly Lewis, Lori Wick and Tracie Peterson (I do like Shannon Hale, though - thanks Pammy!)
For kids - again, the old stuff, Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie, Hank the Cowdog, etc.

Best music -
For us - The Revelation Song by Steven Curtis Chapman and anything by Brad Paisley or Celtic Women (I'm so well rounded!)
For the Kids - PureNRG

Best in Food:
The breakfast buffet at Hyatt in the Hill Country - seriously, it's good! They have the best egg white, asparagus and white pepper omelet!

Best in activities:
Sleeping, Watching Movies and Running for Carl and I - oh and getting a massage!
Bicycling for the kids
Rockbox for the whole family!!!

Best Sports to watch:
Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs

Best in Everyday Fun:
Swimming at moms when it isn't cold
Eating caramel popcorn and watching a movie as a family when it is cold
I say going to the zoo, but Carl says not so much

So, there's our list. We reserve the right to change our minds at any point and time - seeing as we have bad memories and all.

2nd post of the day

Carlye made dinner tonight. Spaghetti and meatballs, lima beans and garlic toast. Good job, sis!

Ya know

You know what I really enjoy?
Christmas vacation and having my kids at home.


You know what I just realized that I really, really, really enjoy?
My kids going back to school after Christmas vacation.



You know what I really don't enjoy?

Little boys who have the chicken pox and don't go back to school after Christmas vacation and are whiny and cryey and antagonize their brother and sister and think that if someone smiles at them they are doing it to be mean.


Yep, don't really enjoy that so much.

My new kitchen

Here are some before and after pictures of my kitchen. But first, a little story.

13 1/2 years ago two people were married. They decided to build themselves a house, but they knew that God wanted them to do it debt free. So, first they built the frame for a bedroom, bathroom, laundry room and a kitchen (with no plumbing - yes, I went to the bathroom outside), and moved in. Whenever they could afford to, they would finish a room or begin a new one. Their oldest daughter slept in the newly plumbed bathroom as a baby because her room wasn't finished until she was 18 mos old. Her little brother slept in the laundry room until he was old enough to safely move into her room, without risk of being 'mothered' to death! We have lived without water, heat, air conditioning, and a kitchen. Carl and I slept on a fold out couch mattress on the floor during one of my pregnancies. And yes, ladies and gentleman, I have had to run outside in the middle of the night when I was sick because of lack of plumbing. We have sacrificed in many, many ways. I wore 'hand me downs' from my sister in laws, and didn't go shopping (I kid you not) for anything other than groceries for almost 2 years. We have shared one vehicle while working two jobs, and driven older vehicles because that was what we could afford. Heavenly Father always took care of our children, and they lived in beautiful hand me downs, that seemed to always find their way into our hands. I even ran a very successful in home daycare out of our 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom no living room or anything other than a kitchen and closet home. We have had Christmases with nothing, and Christmases where others blessed us so much we cried. Together, Carl and I have been through more than any other couple I know. We have fought and been angry, and occasionally asked 'why us?,' but more often than not we have loved and laughed and been content to follow what we knew God wanted us to do. Having my house remodeled is something of an ending for me, so I view it in a very bittersweet way. We laid the wood floors in our home together, painted the walls, and hung the sheet rock. Every inch was and is a labor of love. When we painted the first walls our children were still years from coming, and now as we finish this home we know that our family, too, is finished. But with all endings come new beginnings, and I look towards the future and all that this new chapter in our lives will bring. So maybe now, when you look at these pictures, you'll see the life and story behind them. And this house that is truly our home.

Christmas Day

Life has been so crazy that I forgot to post pictures of Christmas day! It was a wonderful day, full of much needed rest and blessings and love.

Christmas morning at our house:


Nani's Christmas tree:


Yummy breakfast at Nani's:


Cousins pic in matching pajamas (Cassie lost her red top!):



On a completely unrelated side note, Carlye is in an absolutely amazing mood, and so fun to be around right now. You see, we had to cancel her birthday party for this evening. It looks as though my vaccinated middle son has come down with the chicken pox, so he can't be around all of the other vaccinated children 'cause they might catch it, too. Of course, being the compassionate, mature and understanding child that she completely understands and is not mad at her brother at all. Carl, however, is thrilled.

You see, there has been a lot of drama this week surrounding the floor in our kitchen. To make a long story not as long:

Carl and David laid the wood floor - Carl sanded floor - then Carl stained the floor with a high dollar water base so none of us would get sick from the fumes - floor didn't match dining room and laundry room wood floors - so Carl sanded down the wood floor again - stained wood floor with really stinky oil based - entire family woke up with headaches - Carl stained floor again and we all spent the night at sister in laws house - came home and saw spots on floor - some of water base stain had soaked deeper into the wood than Carl had originally thought - Carl sanded several areas on floor again (going through many, many, many pieces of sand paper because oil based stain is practically impossible to sand and a huge pain - Then, with much joy and happiness upon his face, Carl stained the floor again - it finally looks right, but needs at least 2 more coats. All of us are so smiley and happy right now.

It's been a really fun day so far, and I can't wait to see what the rest of the day will bring!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010! I have never really been a resolutions kinda person, simply because I feel as though new beginnings can come at any time - not just on January 1st. As a result of this I've set all kinds of goals for myself at all kinds of times, and I'm just stubborn enough that I almost always finish them. However, I have set a couple of goals for myself that just happened to fall in conjunction with the 1st of January.

1) Read the Bible through from cover to cover

2) Run a marathon in May or June, and then run the Rock 'N Roll Marathon in SA next November with a qualifying time that is or is at least close to that necessary to qualify for the Boston Marathon (reach for the stars baby!) - of course, as long as my knee doesn't exit my body before hand

My kids set some goals as well. Here are theirs.

Carlye - Stay on A honor roll all year and read the Bible when I get mad

Nathanael - Be kind to my friends at school, obey my parents and listen to God's rules and be nice to my brother and sister

Noah - getting more Wii games, have game night with my family

Carl's had a bad week (wood floors in the kitchen haven't gone so well - more on that later), so I'm not sure he would appreciate being asked about his New Years Resolutions right now. If I were to guess, though, I would say they would involve finishing our house, going on another hunt to Colorado and bagging huge mulie and elk - or going to New Zealand to hunt red deer. I can't be too sure.