Daddy's work

Roger works in the sales office for a local Gazebo and shed manufacturer. The kids love to go to his work and play in all of the gazebo's.



This is one of my favorite styles. I don't remember what it's called but I like that it's a cross between a shed and a gazebo. I think it would be a wonderful playhouse for the kids or even a classroom. And the porch is just too cute. Although I don't think I would screen mine in. But, this isn't meant to be a post about what gazebo I would buy if we had a yard bigger than one, it's about the kids. So... moving on....
Nehemiah won't generally take pose prompts from me when I'm waving the camera in his face. But if Joseph says "stand like this" he'll stand just like Joseph. :)
This is Nehemiah's naughty face. He just discovered that this gazebo has an electric box.
"Stand like this Nehemiah!"
This was a neat pavilion. I say "was" because after we were done I think it needed some touching up. Apparently stain doesn't dry on mahogany as quickly as it does on the regular floors that they use.
Yeah. See Nehemiah? When he stood up he took half the floor with him. Well, the stain part anyway. oops. sorry guys.
Another fun thing about Daddy's work? Grandpa works there too!
Need a gazebo? Shed? I know where you can get one at a good price. ;)

This n' That

Hannah's favorite thing to do right now is to wear someone else's shoes. She prefers Nehemiah's dress shoes. There was a mild tantrum when I wouldn't let her wear them out of the house the other day. Here she is proud to be wearing Josephs sneakers. :)

Speaking of proud and Joseph... (how about that segue?)
Joseph had been eyeing a toy at the Reuzit shop. It was a dinosaur robot legoish thing. (quite the toy, heh?) It was $1.50. It was 1.50 more than I wanted to spend on a dinosaur robot lego thing. I said no. He cried. (He got over it) Well, a few days after our first encounter with the dino toy we were back at the Reuzit shop. (It is our main destination when we go for walks during the day) Know what we saw down that little toy aisle? A sign that read "All games 25 cents" Right next to the sign was the dino toy. It was considered a game. Joseph squealed with joy and grabbed it off the shelf with childlike enthusiasm. He paid for it with his own money, which made him very proud. We got home and he spent the rest of the day playing with this thing. It takes batteries (which I luckily had at home) and works kinda slow, but he likes it. I don't think he's played with it a whole lot since day 1. But you know what? A quarter is so worth a whole afternoon of great play. SO WORTH IT. :)

Homemade Tortillas

For Christmas Joseph got a subscription to High 5 magazine. It's a Highlights magazine, for the younger kids. In every issue they have simple recipes to try out. This one for quesadillas is our favorite so far.

(um, had every intention of posting it. But I can't find the magazine. Sorry!) :)

We couldn't quite get the tortillas to roll out into a circle, but they were yummy no matter what crazy shape they wound up.
And you can't go wrong with a quesadilla. You just can't.




and the completely finished picture? I was too busy eating to take it. Imagine melted cheese. A little salsa for dipping. :) yum.

Joseph

These are some pictures my dad has taken of Joseph lately. The ones that look a little "weird"have a special effect added to them. My child doesn't really look like that. :)









Cool? I don't know which one to print out for the wall? Anyone?

Look What Nehemiah Can Do!

Nehemiah can pedal!




He just hopped on one day and started pedaling! He cruised the driveway like he had peddled all of his life. You go boy! :)

Babysitting

Ok, so I just downloaded (or is it uploaded?) the pictures off of my camera and I realized there is SO much I was wanting to blog about! So, I better get started!

I babysat my cousins the other day. They are 3 years old and 4 months old. Joseph plays really well with the 3 year old (Paul). Nehemiah can too, if he's feeling up to it. (He kinda likes sticking to Joseph when others are around) Hannah was having fun with the baby.


2 Superheros!
Nehemiah teaching Paul how to play the Smart Cycle games
After baby Layla finished eating (I dug out Hannah's old Bumbo seat) Hannah decided she would relive the glory days. :)
The boys playing animals
Joseph feeling mighty proud to be holding the baby :)

Joseph is SO good with little ones. He is always able to get a smile. He had Layla giggling. It was adorable!
Hannah didn't care much for holding the baby. Not that she didn't like it, but she was just not sure what to do with her. She thought it was fun to give her the pacifier though. And if she cried (which she really didn't do much of) Hannah was RIGHT THERE to "help"
And this is what Nehemiah thought of the baby. Notice the distance? I wish I could have captured this from a different angle.
He wasn't mean, although he wasn't mean to Hannah when she was born either. He just waited until about her 1st Birthday to acknowledge her existence.
please ignore the hideously mis-matched pj's. I realize I may be drawing your attention to it, but for those of you that noticed it on your own - This is not the norm. I'm thinking there must have been a diaper leak or something that morning to warrant such a crazy combo. I can not stand mis matched pj's. It is beyond a "pet-peeve" of mine. :) Maybe I'll just blame Roger. If he got the kids into pj's that would explain this one.
Love you honey. but it's all your fault. :)

School Work

Hannah loves to write with a pen.
I like this picture. I think she looks cute, concentrating on her "schoolwork" :)
Joseph working hard on his lesson about money.
Whenever we do schoolwork Hannah is right there. She likes to learn too! :)
I'm just noticing the pencil she has here. I'm thinking this was the last time we knew where that pencil was. Hmmm.
Joseph is doing well with Pre-K stuff. I have been a horrible Mom and threatened him with public school if he didn't start paying more attention. It worked. Instantly. Within a few seconds he "suddenly" was able to count twice as high as before. I'd be lying if I said I'll never use that one again. Let's just hope he never calls me on it. ;)

I did it!

I french braided Hannah's hair! It is not something that I will do often (at this age) but I really wanted to see if her hair was long enough for it.
*insert big cheesy smile here*
It is!



sidenote: Nehemiahs hair is long enough for a barrette. Or a Pebble's pony tail.
Not that I've tried. :)

Ahh! It's blood!

If my two boys were any more different they wouldn't even be related. Well, ok they would but, well they would just be REALLY different.
Joseph fell today. Roger was "riding" the shopping cart back to the car. Joseph was hanging onto the side (which I don't allow. ahem. He was with Daddy) Joseph let go. Roger was still riding. Joseph doesn't have any pants left without a whole in the knee. So this fall didn't have any denim to absorb some of the shock. Really, it wasn't a bad fall. A little dirty knee with a pin-size scrape. He did well. For 5 seconds. Then he saw blood. A drop of it. You would have thought this kid got run over by a car. Ugh. Luckily I travel prepared. The diaper bag and the glove box both have first-aid kits. With a gently applied band-aid he was a little bit better. With a threat of not getting to play in the sandbox if his knee hurt to bad he was a lot better... except for the awful hobble of a walk he now has.

okay... now Nehemiah

After playing in the sandbox the kiddos needed a bath. Like BIG TIME. Hoping to get it over with quickly I tossed all 3 in together. (We don't do that much anymore. It's too crowded) Roger ran to the basement to get towels form the dryer. I turned around in the bathroom to get the kids soap. I started to kneel down to begin my scrubbing of dirty little children when Nehemiah began to scream. Now, Nehemiah is NOT much of a screamer. If he cries, he's hurt. I was talking to him and trying to figure out what on earth happened during the nanosecond that my back was turned. Then blood started running down his nose. His lip was bleeding too. Aaaaahhhhhh! I screamed for Roger. 3 times. I was afraid to call again in fear that the neighbors would hear me and come running. I was more freaked out than Nehemiah. He calmed down after a few seconds. He seemed a little puzzled as to why blood was gushing from his nose but other than that he was fine. He's only 1/2 clean now. He didn't want to get back in the tub after he was finished bleeding. Oh well. 1/2 clean is better than not clean at all. :)

SOOOO glad that it wasn't Joseph that fell. (Don't read that wrong. I'm not happy that Nehemiah fell. Wish he wouldn't have gotten hurt.) I can only imagine the tears I would have had to endure for that one. Another Joseph example...
He hurt his leg doing something a few weeks ago. He walked on it funny for 2 days. I was getting real concerned. I talked to Roger and decided I would take the car so I could take Joseph to the Dr. With that Joseph suddenly did a little jig and his leg was healed! :) This boy knows how to play us!

They are SO different. Joseph is definitely sensitive. (Which I love about him, when it's not involving bodily injury) Nehemiah is a tough guy. In bodily injury and other wise. He doesn't like taking No for an answer. He can be pushy (especially towards a certain baby sister) but man... is he ever protective over his big brother. He really looks up to Joseph. I'm so glad, no matter how different they are, that they have each other.

Hannah

This is a normal conversation with Hannah.

me: Hannah
H: huh?
me: Can you come here please?
H: why?
me: because you need to get your shoes on
H: shoes? why?

She is only 1. I'm in for it.

What time is it?

It is 8:45 and all of my children are asleep!

For those of you whose children go to bed at 7:00, this may seem late. Not in my house. We have a goal of a 9:00 bedtime. and thats before books and "one more drink" (I like late bedtimes. It means late wakeup times)

Today was a long day of playing hard and getting dirty. They were all tuckered out.

Can we just sing a little Hallelujah chorus together right now for God bringing us some lovely warm weather?

Snoring all around. It's 8:49. God is good.

Amen.

Call your Mother

I just heard the news. My friend just lost her Mother to cancer. Her sister is sick at home with hospice there daily.
I want to say something to comfort, but what can you say to someone who just lost their mother and is on the verdge of losing her sister? They are all Christians, but the head and the heart don't always work together in these times. Knowing that her Mother is pain free and healed in Heaven doesn't make the pain of missing them here any easier to bare, does it? I can't speak from experience. I just think My mom is too young to die. I'm too young for my mom to die. My world would be shaken for sure if she were to die, say, anytime in the next 100 years! My mother is not a Christian, so that adds a different dimension to the whole thing. This however is not about me or my mother. It is about my friend and the hard times she is walking through. If you think about it, whenever you think about your own mother, say a little prayer for my friend. Names are not important. God knows. And while you are at it, say a little prayer for your mother too.

And even though this is from a Daddy to his little girl, it reminds us how precious life is. Treasure the times you have with the ones you love.



I found this video on another blog. Just want to give credit where it is due. Check Rocks In My Dryer for original post.

Easter Candy

I realized that I didn't write about Nehemiah's little...um...incident.
Allow me to quickly set the stage. It's after Easter. I'm in the kitchen starting dinner while on the phone with Roger. He always calls when he's on his way home from work. The kids were in the living room playing. All was well.

Nehemiah started to scream. I looked into the living room and asked what was wrong. More screaming. I asked Joseph if something happened. He said no. Then it dawned on me. He had been playing with a piece of foil from a chocolate egg. (Do you see where this is going?) I hung up on Roger and checked out Nehemiah's nose. Yup. There it was. A piece of green Easter candy foil.
Nehemiah was hysterical. He was trying to pick his nose, but that was shoving the foil further and further up his nose. Ugh. So... I got out the tweezers and tried to get it out. LONG story short, I sat on Nehemiah. Foil lost, I won. The second I got it out he stopped screaming and said "Oh wow"





This is the "after" picture. The blurry part is the tweezers with the pesky foil. It was about the size of a large pea.

I wish this obsession with his nose would end. Like soon. As I'm writing this he is sitting on my lap with both fingers up his nose. Come up for air buddy.

A hammer?!

***********Update At Bottom***********

I walked into my parents house this evening and was greeted with a rather pitiful "hello" from my mother. My first thought was 'Ugh, she's sick. We should go'. I asked her what was wrong... and to make a long story short this was her answer "A Hammer fell on my nose" A hammer did what?! Yup, a hammer fell off of a ladder and landed smack (OUCH!) on her nose. A trip to the ER showed that she didn't break it (miracle!) but she could possibly have two black eyes by morning. (Praying against that one Mom!) She's probably resting soundly now, as she got some sweet meds at the hospital. The whole thing makes me chuckle just a little. Really? A hammer. Hit your nose? Just sounds funny. I'm warped. I blame my mother. In all seriousness though I am VERY glad that she is alright. And I do think it is a miracle that she didn't break anything. For the hammer to fall... it could have hit her head, her eye!, her cheekbone... but it didn't. It got her nose. Thank you Lord for that.
The moral of the story? Don't forget where you put your hammer.


Updated to add:
My mom is doing better. No black eyes! Her headache is getting better each day.
And just so you all don't think I"m a horrible person for laughing at this whole thing - she laughed while reading this post. We're weird like that. :)

Ping Pong

With no tv the boys have become rather creative with their play. It's much more enjoyable to spend the day playing toys than watching movies. And as you can see from the background in the video, we aren't lacking in the toy department. Lot's of fun! :)

There's A Party Going On Around Here

Joseph asked Jesus into his heart!!!

Oh my heart is just overflowing with joy! Maybe I'll post more about it later but for now I just had to share that. :)

Chocolate

Oh chocolate, how you deceive me so. Wrapped in sparkling foil, covered with a hard shell, hugging a scrumptious morsel of peanut butter! You call out to me with all of your milk chocolaty goodness.
I have enjoyed you for far too long. Today dear chocolate, today it is over. We are breaking up. I know you will miss me. Hershey's might very well notice a dip in profits. My waist line might notice the difference too. That is what I'm going for my sweet chocolate. You see, the idea of eating chocolate standing up and not having to count calories? I tried it. Your fat still crept onto my thighs. Chocolate, why?! Why must it be this way? I will always love you dear chocolate but you must go. Oh wait just one last...
NO! You must go! Farewell my sweet friend.
I will miss you.

There is no denying it...

We have kids.

Roger and I were cuddling on the couch in a rare moment of silence. His face close to mine he says "You smell like peanut butter" I think for a second "I didn't eat any peanut butter" Roger turns his head from next to mine to the arm of the couch "Oh, it must be the couch"
Cracked. me. up.

Joseph's Eye View #2

Joseph got a hold of the camera a few times recently. Here are some pictures from him. (Click here for the 1st Joseph's Eye View)

I'm not sure what I was doing here. Probably trying to convince Hannah that her hair needed to be fixed. CHEESE!
This kid loves to take pictures of himself.
This was one of his favorite toys for awhile. It's some extra Lego pieces. For a few days his "slinky" a plastic Easter egg and this "robot" were all he played with.
Um, how do you like my light? Looks like I need to replace a bulb.
Hahaha, I don't know what to say. Maybe this is his homeboy pose? :)
WhatchyoutalkinaboutWillis?

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I was getting Hannah (18months) dressed and she says "I tute?" Yes my dear you are very cute. Just in case I was lying she went to ask Joseph "I tute?" he laughed at her and affirmed her cuteness.

While outside playing Joseph (5 years) decided to look at the clouds. "Mommy look! That one looks like the mountain where Jesus died and the rock was rolled away!" (I wish I had a picture of this cloud. It did look like the pictures you see of the large rock. Right in the middle of the cloud was a clear patch - where the rock was rolled away.) Pretty cool.
We were running errands and had one more stop... the grocery store. Joseph's response "This place is too grocery. I'm a homeboy" Ok Gangsta Joe. I get the idea. You are tired of errands.

Nehemiah's (3 years) newest thing is to say "That's my name!" It is completely random. If he see's handwriting "That's my name!" Calling the kids to come in from the car "Thats my name!" We're having spaghetti for dinner guys! "That's my name!" goofy boy.
Nehemiah is also into dinosaurs right now. Like big time into dinosaurs. We actually got a good picture of Nehemiah taken at the mall because we were pretending to be dinosaurs. He'll come up to me and growl then say "Oh no! Dinosaurs! RUUUUUN!" It's cute. Or as Hannah would say "tute" :)

For more Tute talk head over to Mary's at NotBefore7. Happy Tuesday!

Yummy

There's nothing like a good piece of chocolate.

Link Worth Checking Out

I've been wanting to share this with you... but I'm kinda bummed. In order to see the whole thing you have to buy the video. :( So, here's the first half. It's powerful - even without the end... we all know how it ends anyway! Click HERE to see it. Really. You want to see it.

My 300th Post!

In honor of my 300th post (I must have a heap of nothin' to say!) I thought I'd do a post about me. I don't think I can come up with 100 things but lets just see. :)

1. I was the youngest of 8 growing up, until I was 14 and my little brother came along
2. he's a teenager now, but I'll ALWAYS call him my baby brother
3. I got the chicken pox when I was 19
4. It wasn't fun
5. I have always loved working with kids
6. I was a nanny for a few months, it was the worst job ever
7. selling knives was better than that nanny job
8. I didn't make any money selling knives
9. I've been to every state on the East Coast except for RI
10. and that's if you count being in a Florida airport as actually being IN Florida
11. I became a Christian when I was 18
12. It (He!) changed my life
13. I've been to Mexico, it was fun
14. I've been to Colombia, it was a learning experience
15. I've been to Brazil
16. It kept a piece of my heart
17. I have lived in New York
18. New Jersey
19. Pennsylvania
20. Texas
21. My first car was an Eddie Bauer Ford Bronco II
22. It was a piece of cr*p
23. I wanted a VW bus
24. It was a piece of cr*p too
25. I have 3 tattoos
26. I used to have my eyebrow pierced
27. I'm so over "weird" piercings
28. I would so get another tattoo
29. I enjoy cake decorating
30. and making chocolate molds
31. I'm a homeschooling Mama
32. I hope to adopt children someday
33. I would love to adopt from Brazil
34. I can't stand being called "mom"
    
35. I prefer Mama or Mommy
36. my kids know this and will torment me
37. My husband is my best friend
38. (even when he bugs the living daylights out of me)
39. I love yard sales
40. and thrift shops
41. and the mall
42. um, I think I just realized I have a shopping addiction
43. I'm running out of things to say, so I think this will end the "about me" post

It's GONE!.... and other randomness

Notice anything missing from this picture?

That's right. No tv. It's in the basement. (but don't tell my kids that) I had enough. There was arguing and talking back and fights over sitting at the table to eat dinner. ENOUGH! TV is in a time out. A long one. They are doing SO well without it I'm thinking we won't be bringing it back for awhile. I'm thinking maybe for Easter they can have it back (we bought them a dvd for Easter). I like some of the movies we have. Nehemiah LOVES the Hermie videos by Max Lucado. Leap Frog is awesome. So are the 2 plug in video games we have - Leap Frog and the Smart Cycle. They truly are educational. For those few things I want a tv. For the other yucky stuff. We aren't even missing it a little bit.


Non tv related stuff.....

Yum! That was a great smoothie Mommy!
Oh dear Joseph. See that little black thing in his hand? It's from a cheap foam visor he received at a birthday party awhile back. He calls is his slinky. He has not been seen without it for weeks. Weeks! It goes to bed with him. It goes to the bathroom with him. It goes in the car and it is the center of his every day play. I always wanted my kids to have a lovey.... I just never thought it would be a slinky.

It's all in the tone

Ok, get the snottiest 5 yr old tone you can stuck in your head. Got it? Now read this.

"What? Why did you say no? It's a brilliant idea?!"
stomp stomp stomp pout pout pout

life with children is never dull. no. never dull

Let's Talk Cake

A friend recently asked me some cake questions and then suggested I post about it all. Good idea! So... here we go. Cake 101.
I must admit it's been years since I made cake from scratch. I do the box thing. I DO make my own icing though. It's so easy, and tastes better than the stuff in a can. This is the icing recipe that I always use - it's for a buttercream icing. If you use clear vanilla it will be pure white, if you use "regular" vanilla it will have a buttery color.

• 1/2 C butter
• 1/2 C shortening
• 4 C powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 TBSP milk

• cream together your butter and shortening. add vanilla. add sugar, 1 cup at a time. mixing well. add milk. Start with 1 TBSP and add 1 more if it's still too thick.

The thick is good for decorating, so if you wanted to pipe "Happy Birthday" on the cake you could take a scoop out and add the milk to whats left. Do you have cake decorating bags? You can also use a ziplock with a small corner snipped off.
Want to give it some pizazz? Ice the whole thing, and see how much you have left. (the recipe makes 3 cups) Separate leftovers into 2 or 3 different containers and use food coloring to make different colors. Using the ziplock (or cake decorating bags) make polka dots. When the icing drys on the cake you can dip your finger in some powdered sugar and smooth out your dots so they don't look piped on.

One of my kids favorite cakes... for Christmas we made Jesus a birthday cake shaped like a giant cupcake. So... like a cupcake we put sprinkles on it. A LOT of sprinkles. So if you have sprinkles that would be a fun way to decorate... and the kids can help. :)

I made cakes when I was young. I remember calling my mom at work and asking her if i could walk to the store to get some cake mix. My first "decorator" cake was a Winnie-the-Pooh cake done for one of my daycare kids who was moving up to the next class. That started me off on a love for decorating cakes! I wish I could show you a picture of that, but it was LONG before the days of digital cameras. I actually have a Polaroid of it....somewhere. :)
I'd have to say thought that my favorite cake that I have made so far was Hannah's 1st Birthday cake. It turned out better that I imagined.




I've made 2 wedding cakes, and they were nice... but I don't want to do that again anytime soon. Foolishly, I have NO pictures of either. So... here you have my favorite cake... so far.
What about you? Whats your favorite cake that you have made? Not the baking type? How about the favorite cake you ever received? I'd love to see pictures!

This is how it works. You post about your cake loving experience on your blog... pictures n' all. Then you use Mr.Linky to link your post my my site.
New to Mr.Linky? It's simple. Copy the URL from your cake post and paste it into Mr.Linky. The key is to copy your specific post and not just your blog name.
Make sense?
Have fun!!

Here is a picture my sister sent to me. This was for her son's 3rd birthday. It's Rocket from Little Einsteins. Cute cake.





*sidenote* I'm never posted with Mr.Linky before. I'm not sure what the "In Other Words" thing is. I had to pick a name from a list... it was confusing.**

Chicken

We were at WalMart tonight. Nehemiah was in a great mood and was dragging me around the store to look at this and that. It was cute. There are Easter things EVERYWHERE. There was a giant matchbox easter egg and Nehemiah picked it up with great joy exclaiming "chicken!" :)

Photo Booth

We were playing on Roger's laptop. The kids love to see themselves on the computer. I don't remember who stuck their tongue out first but it didn't take long before everyone was in on it.

Holy Cow

We were having grapes with lunch yesterday. Joseph had an itty bitty grape and said "holy cow! look at this one!" Hannah picked it up and really studied it. "Cow?" No honey. It is a grape. The english language is a funny thing.

Why 1 Yr old's shouldn't wear white

Note to Self #3

No more Chocolate Cherry Diet Dr Pepper before bed. I couldn't sleep. Caffeine was buzzing through my body. I like sleep better than a caffeine buzz. Besides, Chocolate Cherry Diet Dr Pepper really isn't that good anyway and it smells like a tootsie roll.

My little beggar

Hannah's become a wonderful beggar. She was doing well with the whole weaning thing until she got sick, then we were back to "on demand". Well, now she will grab my face - ever so gently with her sweet little hands.

Hannah: cow (couch)
Me: Why do you want to sit on the couch?
Hannah: boo
Me: You don't need boo right now
Hannah: peese (please) kiss? (then with her hands on my face she gives me a kiss. She pulls back and looks at me...) Two? (then she gives me another kiss) :)
I'm a sucker for two kisses.

Play-doh

What? You mean this isn't what your supposed to do with play-doh?











Um, don't know what to say here. She's a little scary though. :)




What do you do with your playdoh?

Prayer: Update

Well, updating my last post... things aren't going well. This is a 19 year old girl (I originally said 20, I was wrong) who is sick and the Dr's don't know why. Test after test and they are stumped as to what is causing her pneumonia symptoms. They just keep tapping her lungs to drain the fluid (50cc's at the last draining!) PLEASE pray that the Dr's will discover the cause and be able to treat this at the core and not just treat the symptoms.

And as for my other prayer request... my friend from church who's Mother and Sister are ill. Things are still not good there. They need all the prayer they can get as well.


There is POWER in prayer. Thank you for lifting up these (maybe) strangers to our Lord. He is JEHOVAH-ROPHE (The Lord Who Heals)

Another Prayer Request

A daughter of my mothers friend is very sick. She is only 20 years old and is in the ICU for pneumonia. They can't figure out what caused it, she was healthy and the pneumonia came on very sudden. They have had to drain her lungs multiple times in the short time that she has been in the hospital. Please pray that the Dr's will be able to figure out what has caused this, so that they will be better prepared to treat it.