Happy 9th Anniversary, Babe!

It rained on our wedding day, so I guess it's fitting that rain is predicted at some point on our anniversary! A little rain didn't stop us then, and it has yet to stop us 9 years later. Here's to us! XOXO

Comfy Floor??

I guess our laminate flooring is more comfortable than it looks!

Quote of the Week

backstory: After Connor walked face-first into a spider web Friday night, I was telling the boys how it had happened to me one time when I had walked outside to feed our dog when I was much younger and still living with my parents. I told the boys that from that point on, I kept a small stick just inside the door that I would wave around in front of me when I was going out the door in order to knock down any spider webs that might be in my way.

Saturday, Jared came in from outside with a stick in his hand, with his dad following him into the house. Jared set the stick down, then turned to his dad and said this:

"Daddy, I'm going to do what mama did in the old days..."

THE OLD DAYS?!?!?

Whine Whine Whine

My back has been aching TERRIBLY the last two weeks. The muscles keep spasming, which pulls everything out of alignment, and screws up my neck, which makes the right side of my neck (from the base of my skull right on down the curve into my right shoulder) ACHE as well, which then also has been trigging some pretty severe headaches. I hesitate to call them migraines, but they're INTENSE.

If that's not bad enough, I think I might have carpal tunnel syndrome. I don't have any tingling or numbness, but I have totally unexplainable PAIN in my right wrist when I flex it up or down, or grip a door knob and turn it to the right, or try to fold my arms across my chest (which I never realized I did all that frequently until I keep hurting my hand in the attempt to do it before I realize what I'm doing). It's not tender to touch, but it hurts pretty bad to MOVE. I haven't fallen on it, bonked it on anything, or anything else along those lines. It's been about a week and I plan to give it about another week, and if it it still hurts, I will go get it checked out. It's even hard bearing weight, like picking up Connor, or carrying in a heavy bag in that hand. As if I don't have enough problems right now; I don't need a gimpy hand on top of it!

Also, the puppy STINKS. I bathe him frequently, and as soon as he's spent anytime outside, he stinks again. GAG! He's lucky he's so dang CUTE (and easy to bathe!). Febreze and Glade's new furniture and carpet spray have been my good friends lately. Charlie doesn't spend time in the carpeted areas, or on any of the furniture, but just having a FRESH smell in the house makes certain that the DOG smell isn't the leading scent in my home!

I have laundry from Monday folded and waiting to be put away, but haven't been home or free long enough to do so. Now I have all the laundry from Thursday waiting to be folded and then put away. I'm hoping tomorrow mid-day will be my chance to catch up on some housework!!

Alright, sorry to bore you with my gripes, but a gal's gotta vent sometimes!

1st day of 3's Preschool

On Tuesday, Connor had his first day of preschool in the 3's class. It's CRAZY to think that he's even old enough and READY! When Emily started the 3's class, she was my eldest and she seemed so big and grown up, and it didn't feel as weird sending her off to school. Connor, being the youngest, just seems so LITTLE! (while I use huge font to stress the word "little" ha ha ha!). Will I ever think of him as anything other than my baby?? *grin*

Clearly, he's not enjoying himself AT ALL, and clearly isn't making any new friends whatsoever, and I'm pretty positive he doesn't like his teacher either. YEAH RIGHT!










Look out world, here comes Connor!

Fun Times!

Here's the kids having a GREAT time at the annual fair in our area last night:


What? Not a real picture?? I guess I can't fool YOU! But this is what you get when mom is too busy keeping track of everyone to remember she even brought the camera in the first place! ha!

The kids rode TONS of rides, a roller coaster, for example (Connor was big enough for one of the coasters in kiddy land, J was big enough for both the coasters in kiddy land, and Emily was big enough for one of the BIG coasters, which she rode with our neighbor girl and LOOOOOOVED!!!!!)


We bought the kids cotton candy (Connor wanted all pink, J and Em wanted mixed):


My mom had given the kids each $20 (like she does every year--thanks mom!), and while in the past we've typically just used it towards the ride passes we buy that let the kids go on all the rides, all day long, this time, we gave them free reign and let them choose how to spend it.

Connor picked out a bubble gun, which also lights up and flashes while spewing bubbles everywhere:


Emily picked out a glowing butterfly necklace and a crazy pink headband that lights up:


Jared picked out a stuffed dog with Charlie's coloring, that came with a red leash and harness (the leash is stiff, so you can "walk" your dog, and he's obsessed with it--PS and the leash/harness comes off and can be used on other stuffed friends in our possession...):


They had a really good time, and are already bugging us about when we get to go again next year! The only real bummer of the whole afternoon/evening/night (we stayed LATE!) was that they changed the minimum height on one of the rides, which made it so that Emily wasn't tall enough...EVEN THOUGH SHE RODE IT FIVE TIMES LAST YEAR, AND IS SIGNIFICANTLY TALLER THIS YEAR THAN LAST YEAR. It was her most favorite ride last year, and she was quite devastated to discover that she was a good three inches too short by the new limit. Thankfully, she got over it as soon as we hooked up with our neighbors!

And yes, I know I dropped the ball by not having real pictures to share, but I must get an A++ for creativity and effort, right??? *grin*

Quote of the Week

"Never my mind." ~Connor~

I love it!

My brothers have names

Here's another entry from Emily's journal last year!


I thought it was so funny that she pointed out that her brothers have names!! It also reminded me of the Disney movie, Mulan, where the leader is asking for her name, and she says, "I have a name, and it's a boy's name, too!" LOL

Dust if you must!

I got this email as a forward from my mom this morning and wanted to share:

Remember...a layer of dust protects the wood beneath it.

'A house becomes a home when you can write 'I love you' on the furniture.'

I used to spend at least 8 hours every weekend making sure things were just perfect - 'in case someone came over.' Finally I realized one day that no one came over; they were all out living life and having fun! NOW, when people visit, I don't have to explain the 'condition' of my home. They are more interested in hearing about the things I've been doing while I was away living life and having fun. If you haven't figured this out yet, please heed this advice. Life is short. Enjoy it!

Dust if you must ....... but wouldn't it be better to paint a picture or write a letter, bake cookies or a cake and lick the spoon or plant a seed, ponder the difference between want and need?!

Dust if you must, but there's not much time . . . . with beer to drink, rivers to swim and mountains to climb, music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain. This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind, old age will come, and it's not kind. And when you go - and go you must - you, yourself will make more dust!

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.

The beginning, or the end?

Dan came into the TV room last night about 9pm chuckling to himself and suggested I go talk to Connor (who SHOULD have been sound asleep, having been put to bed at least 45 minutes prior). I asked for a little heads up and was told that he had heard Connor talking in his bedroom, so went in to remind him that it was BEDTIME and that he needed to be quiet. Apparently, Connor very excitedly said something along the lines of, "But dada, I used to say "quirrel" forever and ever, but now I say "squirrel"." And supposedly he "pwacticed and pwacticed at 'nastics (gymnastics)" and that's how he can say it now.

In case you don't remember me mentioning it before, Connor doesn't say "s" sounds at the beginnings of words where the s is followed by another consonent. So spoon would be poon, spicy would by picy, squirrel would be quirrel, and so on. We've "pwacticed" with him for several months now on adding in that s sound, to no avail. "Connor, say sssssssssss. Now say sssssss-poon. Now say spoon." "poon!" It's created confusion from time to time (like when I got on Jared's case for supposedly taking a toy pot away from Connor at the little kitchen set we had, when, in fact, Connor was upset about Jared taking his SPOT at the kitchen set...). It's created amusement from time to time (like when he's hollering for a "big poon wif peanut butter on it...). It's also been the little quirk that just made Connor, CONNOR.

I headed back to his room to hear for myself, and sure enough, squirrel is now squirrel, and school is school, and spicy is spicy... And sure enough, "he pwacticed and pwacticed at 'nastics."

I guess it's the end of the quirky missing S's, and the beginning of a lew level of speech and growth for my little guy. To tell you the truth, as much as I've worried that the quirky speech would hold him back in school if it persisted too much longer, I'm kind of loath to let go of that "baby"-ish part of him! At least we still have the wonky "R" and "L" sounds at the beginning of words (he can say Emily and Jared perfectly, but poor neighbor Lilly is Willy, and neighbor Ryder is Wyder). I suspect in time, those quirky letters will correct themselves as well, and I will cheer and be thrilled and be proud of all his "pwactice", but I will forever think of it as the end of something that's HIM before I think of it as the beginning of something else. My "baby" is growing up, and I don't like it! *grin* (PS I was so proud of him that I half-laughed, half-cried, and made him show off his new still for far longer than I should have considering the time of night it was... I just already miss the funny wording he's used for the last year.)

And just because I think it's hilarious, I have to comment that out of ALLLLLLLLLLLLL the words he could have been "pwacticing", he chose SQUIRREL???? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Connor's gymnastics class

**be warned, proud mama bragging here!**

Connor recently had his first day of gymnastics, and he LOVED it! He's always been our little monkey boy (climbing, tumbling, swinging from bars, etc), so I think this will be a perfect fit for him until he's old enough to qualify for enrollment in some other activities.

One portion of the "station" rotation was for the kids to hang onto the bar, hold a bean bag between their feet, then swing their body so that their feet were outstretched, then drop the bean bag into the hoop on the ground. Sounds simple enough, but most of the kids were really struggling with it (couldn't get their legs outstretched and still swing forward, or couldn't hold the beanbag between their feet, etc). Along comes Connor, who grabs the bar with his hands, grabs the beanbag with his feet, then swings himself forward, body nice and straight, toes pointed, and drops the bean bag in the hoop like an old pro! I was SHOCKED!


And in case you're wondering if it was a lucky fluke...NOPE! He did it three more times before the instructor moved him to a different station.

Another station was where the kids had to hold onto a bar, then walk their feet up the "wall", then tip their heads upside down (building the process of eventually flipping their legs up and over the bar). Many of the kids had trouble keeping their feet from slipping on the wall while walking up, or they lost their footing while trying to tip their heads upsidedown, etc. Along comes Connor, who monkeyed up the wall like nobody's business, then tipped his head upsidedown without issue


Towards the end of the session, he was really concentrating HARD on what he was being asked to do. This fish face was plastered on almost the entire last half of the class. I'd say that's some serious concentration! LOL!!

Quote of the Week

backstory: Jared put on one of the dress-up outfits we have for the kids, then informed me he was going to wear it to the costume party at Gram's house (they have a Halloween party every year). Since I'd just purchased him a SWAT costume to wear for Halloween, I was prompted to ask him, "I thought you were going to wear your SWAT costume for Halloween?"

his reply: "I'm not talking about trick-or-treating! I'm wearing the SWAT costume for trick-or-treating. I'm talking about the COSTUME PARTY. You know, where people gather at Gram's house, and they all wear costumes? YOU KNOW?"

Yes, child of mine, I'm fully aware of what a costume party is! Sometimes I'm convinced there's a much older mind trapped in my five-year-old's head. Where people gather at Gram's??? He's hilarious!

No fat tummies here!

Connor got ahold of Dan's hydration pack, and the headphones Dan wears while practicing his drums so he can hear his ipod better, and was wearing them around the house over the weekend. I asked Connor, "What are you up to?" He answered, "I'm "eckercising" so I don't have a fat tummy when I get bigger." So then I asked him, "What are the headphones for?" He said, "So I can hear people better when they drive past me."


He's a goof!

"Wookit our cwubhouse!"

Says Connor, as he's preparing to sleep next to his brother in the make-shift tent/clubhouse I built for them last night using four of our dining chairs and a large blanket (Emily was at a sleepover at a friend's house and the boys were all bent out of shape that they didn't have something special to do...)

Mixed Emotions

This picture makes me extremely happy and quite sad at the same time:


Heidi turned 9 years old this year, and partway through the summer, we started noticing that she's really slowing down lately. Runs to get the ball, but takes her time bringing it back. Takes breaks after only a few throws. Lays happily next to us instead of harrassing us to throw the ball and licking the heck out of us (not saying she doesn't EVER do those things anymore, but not persistantly like she used to, even just a few months ago). So while it makes me extremely happy to see Connor get to enjoy laying in the yard next to his dog, it makes me quite sad to know that it's because she's getting older. Connor LOVED laying there with her and hugging on her, etc. And I enjoyed watching him enjoying it. But it was still in the back of my head that normally, she'd have been licking his face like CRAZY and throwing her ball on him or something. LOL



Em and J were at school and CJ had his doggies alllllllll to himself!!

Let's just say...

...Charlie isn't a huge fan of his new sweater! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! I put it on him and he just stood there. Wouldn't budge. Wouldn't chase a ball, wouldn't come for a treat, wouldn't head towards his bowl freshly full of food, EVEN when I added some canned food to it (his favorite thing to eat, but I'm cheap so he doesn't get it very often...LOL).


After a few minutes of standing there, refusing to move, he finally just flopped down


Best pictures I've gotten of him so far! ha! Usually he's too fast and wiggly to get much of anything but blur. Dan said that Charlie's brother Pete doesn't slow down for a split second and I should give the sweater to him instead. Then Corey and Vicky could get some peace! ha ha!

Charlie did eventually warm up to the idea of having it on, but only barely. I suspect after a few more tries, it won't be so bad. I'm not looking to dress him very frequently anyway. Just on soggy, cold days when we need to head outside for potty breaks...

PS While hunting up free patterns online, I found some of the most hilarious things that people have knit for pets, including a ski mask for a cat (?????) and a long sleeved turtleneck! LOL! I'd LOVE to see someone TRY to stuff my cat into a ski mask and/or a long sleeved turtleneck. They'd be torn to shreds!!!!

Somebody's growing!

You can see that his face has gotten more of the brown hair over the black hair on it now, and it's gotten much longer, but the bulk of his body is still very black. Both of his brothers are showing signs of the "steel blue"/silver color hair coming in at this point (Sparky has it over his entire body, but still has the black tips; Pete is getting it on his head). Charlie is still the smallest of the three brothers, by quite a bit. We'll get his official weight this week at the vet, but he wasn't quite 3lbs a few weeks ago when we were in, and Sparky just weighed in at 4.5lbs and he's quite a bit larger than Charlie, so I suspect we're sitting under 4lbs still. LOL

Charlie is MUCH more active and animated and is really taking an interest in fetching toys and playing tug-of-war. He hasn't quite grasped the concept of letting go of the toy he's fetched, so we generally have to have two things when we play with him. We throw the 2nd thing as soon as he brings the first thing back and he drops the first thing to run for the 2nd. Not a perfect system, but works out okay! He is also big enough and brave enough to have figured out that he can just jump over the bin we had blocking the doorway from the kitchen to the diningroom (which leads into the CARPETED livingroom), so we had to dig out the ol' baby gate again. It's old and doesn't work well (doesn't want to wedge tightly into the doorframe), and unfortunately, pretty sucessfully blocks children as well, but it's better than letting Charlie get into parts of the house where he's not currently welcome! ha!

The kids have really been enjoying Charlie. He tolerates their over-love very well, and when he's truly had enough, he comes running for me. The kids know to leave him alone if he's come over to me. He's very playful, which they enjoy, and he's not big enough to be an issue if he's jumping around on them during play. He's a little nibbly, but backs right off, and never does it hard or meanly. We all enjoy watching Heidi (our black lab) and Charlie play together. Heidi is very gentle with him, but doesn't let him be a total pest either. They play a funny game of chase, where Heidi will run for a short distance, then Charlie will start tearing around the yard in fast circles while Heidi stands and watches. Then Charlie realizes she's not running with him and he'll head back over and nibble at her toes and jump around at her as if to say, "Come on old girl (she's 9), keep up!" LOL!

I'll be happy when he's house-trained, but am greatful for the easy clean-up of Pergo flooring for now!

Hard to believe he's already pretty much doubled in size!!

oh, and Dan convinced me to knit the little booger a sweater, which I've almost completed (not a perfect fit, but having never knit one before to know how much the pattern needed to be adjusted, I'd say it's not half bad!), and will share pictures when I'm done. He'll need a better one now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing (gotta give myself projects, you know!)

JCPenney Portrait Studio

I took the kids on Saturday to get their picture taken as a group, and I'm sooooooo pleased!






The kids had a BLAST doing this one and the next one!




I think she's got the kids in the wrong order for the correct saying, but it's cute anyway:


See J's crazy eyes??? Cracked me up; I had to get a small copy for the laugh

1st day of Kinder

Jared had his first day of Kindergarten this week. I've been dreading it all summer; the whole idea of another one of my "babies" entering into "big kid" school is enough to make me want to curl into a ball and bawl my eyes out. Now that's not saying that I haven't been excited for this moment as well. It's another milestone checked off a list that I hope takes another 95+ years for him to complete. It's a step further on his road to becoming a contributing citizen to society, a step towards becoming independent of me and starting his own life. It's exciting and new and I'm excited for him to get to experience it. I'm excited to share with the world the little man I've enjoyed so much these past five years.

I cried on the drive to the school Wednesday afternoon to drop him off for his first day (they normally go full day, but the first day of school, the class was split in half for easier transition, and Jared's half of the class went in the afternoon), but I reassured Jared that they were happy and proud tears. I was FINE the whole time I actually walked into the classroom and dropped him off, and FINE the whole time he was gone that day. I was even FINE the next morning (Thursday) as he got on the bus to ride to school to be gone for the day. I was FINE all morning. I was FINE FINE FINE until my husband very sweetly called from work (something that RARELY happens in the first place!) to say he'd been thinking about me and hoping I wasn't having too hard of a time with J being at Kinder all day. Que the tears...

Just yesterday, Jared was my tiny newborn baby, whom we almost immediately dubbed our "serious old man". He always had this wise and knowing look about him, and I used to desperately wish I could see what was going on in that head of his. He was a charmer right from the start, and sensitive, almost to a fault. He amazed me by speaking up to 4-word sentences at 18 months old, singing the full ABC's into a microphone in front of a crowd a month after turning two, and knowing all his letters and most of their sounds by age 3. He started learning how to ride a bike without training wheels shortly after turning 4 (mastering it before turning 5), and he can spin an elaborate tale at the drop of a hat, and reduce a room full of people to hysterical laughter with his funny observations and phrasings. He's a perfectionist, a go-getter, the best right-hand-man you'll ever find, and he's got a good eye for the ladies (*grin*). I'm jealous that I have to share him 9am-3:30pm, four days a week! Someone else gets to hear his hilarious sayings, someone else gets to see him shine... I knew when he was born I wouldn't be able to keep him forever, but I had hoped this day wouldn't have come quite so quickly. He's ready. I'm not!

J-man, spread those wings and soar the world twice over, gaining experience and knowledge to help you thrive in life, but always remember that your mama is right here cheering you on, and is so very proud of you. Keep up the GREAT work buddy, and enjoy the flight.






As excited as he was to get to school the first day, it was great to see him just as excited to jump off the bus, accept some balloons and a lollipop, and run for home!

Every so often...

...I like to pretend that I totally ROCK! I went and bought balloons for all the kids at the bus stop, tied Tootsie Pops to the strings to keep them weighted down, then gifted all the kids as they got off the bus to celebrate the 1st day of school (including a younger sibling who ended up not coming to the bus stop)!





(and we'll just assume this cancels out the fact that I forgot to pose Emily for any 1st day of school pictures, right?)

Photo Booth Fun!

We took the kids to the Pacific Science Center over the weekend, to celebrate the last weekend before school starts. Connor would NOT stop obsessing over the photo booths, so I finally just bit the bullet and posed individually with each kid:

Recent Crafts

I knit this sweater set for a fellow blogger's grandson-to-be at her request. It was the first knitting project I've been paid to do, and it was very fun! Made me wish my boys were babies still. I love this little set, but have zero desire to do them big enough to fit my boys at their current sizes!


This set was a gift for a girlfriend's new niece


This was a card I made for that same girlfriend for her birthday


And this is the card I gave along with the pink/purple sweater set (the darker color is actually a bright pink. The color showed up weird in the picture!)


And this card is a spin-off of the card I made my girlfriend. I really liked it, but it was going to be for my mom for HER birthday, and she likes the up and down style cards better than the sideways ones, so I fiddled. Now I'm not sure which one I like best!