Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Silly girl!


I was trying to get a picture of her pony tails but she insisted on hanging her tongue out for it while trying not to giggle. Her new thing is to run for pj's as soon as she realizes it is dark outside so I didn't get the picture while she was dressed cute too. Oh, well. Isn't her hair getting long? I love it!

On a separate note, I'm so glad I've been able to entertain so many of you with my last few posts. It even brough a couple of you out that I haven't heard from in quite a while! Take care everyone...
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Really now,


I think we've had enough snow! This is the Pacific Northwest for cryin' out looud! Normally we are lucky to see an inch or two for a few days a year. This snow came down Sunday morning and the boys were excited that it was good enough for rolling into balls to make a fort. It hadn't all completely melted when we woke up this morning. As I was listening to my alarm/radio they are talking about more snow! When the boys came in I told them to open the window. Nothing. Not even five minutes later as Caden returned I hear, "MOM! It's snowing!" At the moment it is beautiful and almost as much as Sunday morning. But enough already! Isn't it almost time for spring? Now I'm just hoping the school doesn't decide to send them home early! Yes, this is enough to have caused a delayed start at least had it started just an hour earlier.
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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Gung Hey Fat Choy=


Congratulation's on your wealth and prosperity! As horrible as things are right now for so many, we are still abundantly rich by most standards!


Last night we had a little Chinese New Year celebration here at our house. It wasn't a huge crowd but just about right. I had fun getting decorated for it and although I didn't do much it looked quite festive and the kids loved it. As expected, there was a ton of food too! All in all it was a fun evening that was topped off with the kids watching Annie (now there's a new tradition for you!) There are a couple more pictures on my mom's camera that I will download as soon as I can but for now, I have these.

Guns and Roses?


Ok, I admit it. We let our kids play with guns. Not only do we let them play with them we even let them pretend to be shooting each other! And Caden in particular happens to have an entire arsenal in his bedroom! Wooden guns, Star Wars guns, Civil war guns, Nerf guns and even a few swords. His favorite activity is to play war and he asks us daily to play it with him. Admittedly I'm not very good at playing war and try to avoid it at all cost. When Trace was born I thought maybe I should follow political correctness and not allow guns. I gave it a half hearted attempt until Caden came along and was about 18 months old. Then it all went out the window one afternoon at lunch time when Caden very carefully (and quite artfully I might add) bit his soy butter sandwich into the shape of a gun and was shooting Trace across the table! So by the time Paige joined the family we had full fledged, mini, future NRA members in our house. I should have known she'd join right in! She has now become Caden's regular partner in crime (or crime fighting). I couldn't resist the chance to get them in action yesterday!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Facebook, craigslist and other randomness...

Apparently Facebook is pretty popular. According to an article I read the only people without a facebook account are the ones who are afraid of it.(Seriously?) Reality is that I'd never even heard of it until a few months ago when a friend mentioned to Rick that he should open an account. Once he did, I was fascinated by the people who were contacting him. So simply out of curiousity I opened an account too. It has been interesting. I find it fascinating that no one ever writes more than a couple of lines to someone else. I mean someone you haven't seen in 20 years says something like, "it's been a while! Your family is cute." OoKaaay. Asking what someone has been up to might elicit a response like, "you know, not much." No, seriously, I don't know. That's why I'm asking!! Then everytime one of your "friends" writes to someone else it shows up on your board too. I'm not sure everyone is interested that one of my friend's kids needs a haircut, but they get to find out anyway. Then you have the people from your long ago past. The ones who have changed so little. The ones for whom it is all about image. You can pick them out easily by their info page where it lists their activities. Working out, boating, mountain climbing, traveling the world (probably complete with a list of the countries they been to), oh yeah and maybe attending an event of their children's. My activities list includes, um nothing. I have three kids and a husband! We attend church and I feel are pretty grounded. Nothing makes this much more clear than reading about the seemingly empty lives of past schoolmates. Do they think they are empty? Of course not that is why they spend so much time bragging on facebook! I seriously have better things to do and am so glad that life moves on. The people I've met in recent years actually have lives I'm interested in hearing about. And they actually seem to genuinly care about my life. I find the whole facebook thing really interesting and amazingly juvenile. It pulls me a little too close to those high school days. But it does remind me how far I've come. How much I've grown. And what is really important!

Pulling carpet at Nana and Papa's kept us busy and away from home most of the weekend. The boys helped some but also had fun with their DS's and Paige's Mr. Potato Head. We got almost all of it up and were pretty exhausted. I was amazed that over twenty people responded to my craigslist posting to give away the carpet! Even more amazed that only one person actually showed up. Apparently craigslisters are notorious for being no-shows. From my experience they are also kinda scary people. Honestly I've not done a ton of buying or selling on there but the majority of people I've delt with were a bit on the odd side. It always reminds me why you shouldn't be by yourself when making a deal! And everyone "sounds" so normal in the e-mails. Makes me really wonder about the ones who don't seem normal in their e-mails!
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One last bit of Christmas. Because of the icy weather on Christmas Eve Aunt Millie and Uncle Larry couldn't make it off their hill to join us. Yesterday they stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's with a little something for each of the kids. BOOKS! Yeah! Paige has a new Princess book and is thrilled and each of the boys loved their new ones too. Thanks so much Aunt Millie and Uncle Larry!
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Dryer lint. I'm good about cleaning my lint trap. As a kid I saw our neighbors house on fire from a dryer fire, so I'm good about cleaning it. Not so good as far as turning it off when I leave the house though. Seriously, I'd never get my laundry done if I didn't occasionally leave it running! Yesterday, for some unknown reason, I decided to actually look down below the actual lint trap itself. What I saw was rather surprising and prompted me to get Rick's "cool pincher tool". I have no better name for this tool (I'm sure he does) but it has prooven invaluable in our home. Many small toys have been retieved from the penny jar and other small spaces over the years with it. It is a flexible, long tool with a button on one end and when you push it it pushes out a little metal "claw" on the other end. Releasing the button causes the "claw" grab. So there I was on my knees in the laundry room pulling lint from the dryer and wondering why the makers don't make it easier. Why is it that you can only get to the lint trap? They warn you all the time about cleaning the lint and what a fire hazard it is and yet they close off all access to the areas it collects in! What's up with that? You can't even reach a vacuum hose in there! You'd think they might have come up with something better by now. Unless they want your dryer to eventually catch fire so you'll replace it. Maybe that's it, it's a conspiracy!
I guess that's enough of my randomness for today. Hopefully I haven't bored you too much!
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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Behold the mighty wrestler!


Well, ok maybe not. Trace had his first official match last night. He was so nervous he was shaking! The first kid he was up against was not even a fair match. Supposidly the other kid had never wrestled before but he had Trace flipped and on his back within seconds everytime! I know it was really frustrating and discouraging for Trace. The second time around though was a much more even match even if he didn't win it. I thought for sure he'd say he hated it and never wanted to do it again. Nope. On the way home he told me he had a lot of fun and really liked the matches better than practice. Who knew?

Caden won't be having matches this year so he had a regular practice with Dad coaching. Papa went along to watch and I guess told him you aren't supposed to smile in wrestling! Caden loves it so much that he just has and ear to ear grin the entire time! Again, who knew?

Not much else happening these days. Always something to keep me busy but nothing noteworthy! Yesterday Rick and I pulled carpet out of my parents house in anticipation of the new coming in a week. See? Nothing noteworthy.
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Saturday, January 10, 2009

Prayers for Abby

Obviously I have a heart for adoption and the adoption community. I've been following a couple of blogs recently regarding two little girls battling cancer. The week before Christmas both families were given news that their daughters might not survive. Both girls are undergoing yet another round of chemotherapy. Abby will be starting the toughest round yet this coming Wednesday (14th). Her doctors describe it as he_ _. There is a strong chance she won't survive this and her family is aware but asking for prayer that God might move mountains on her behalf. If you have time to look through her blog, please do. If not then you have the basics so please say a prayer for Abby, her family and her doctors. Let God give her little body the strength it will need to get through this time!

Thanks for understanding my occasional requests on behalf of these precious children who have already been through so much in their lives!

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Ok, Ok here it is...

Gooey Butter Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick softened butter
1 egg

Mix and press into a greased 9x13 pan. It will be really thick - just keep mixing it.

1 8oz pkg softened cream cheese
1 stick softened butter
2 eggs
1 lb powdered sugar (save a little to sprinkle on top once it cools)

Beat together well and pour over cake in the pan.
Bake 325 for 40-50 minutes (until entire top is turning golden)
Don't over cook it is supposed to be gooey!
Let it COOL unless you want a burnt tongue! :)

Sunday, January 04, 2009

So what have we been up to?


Well judging by the pictures, not much. And pictures don't lie. Since we've been home and essentially housebound for almost three weeks I've gotten into baking a few new things. So far they were all a hit. Some oatmeal/strawberry jam cereal bar type thingies that were wonderful. Then I got the great idea to try out bagels. I found a very explicit web site and found it wasn't all that difficult. I don't think my water was warm enough for the yeast though and they came out a little heavy. Oh-well no one complained! On Friday I obtained a recipe from someone in Illinois for Gooey Butter Cake. I remembered loving it there but had forgotten just how much I loved it! From what I understand it is a mid-western favorite and wasn't something I'd ever had until moving to the Chicago area. Well let's just say that my tongue is now burnt from my impatience and unwillingness to wait while it cooled! My birthday is in another week and I think that is what we will be having. Both boys have requested it for their birthdays (9 & 10 months away), and my dad has suggested it for his in March too.
I've also had the time on my hands to play a little with Paige's hair. Of course that happens when you don't get showered until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. This picture is a little dark but she had double French (fry) braids with matching bows at the base. Pretty cute if I do say so myself!
School starts tomorrow (Yipee!!!) Of course it would have to start snowing again this evening. I told the boys that I would personally drive them to school in the morning whether it was cancelled or not! I swear I've never seen it snow so much around here in my life! Enough already!
So what have YOU been up to? Send me and e-mail or add a comment... please.