First post of the NEW YEAR!!!

I wanted to try doing a photo of my kids each month this year and was hoping to post on the first of each month but alas that didn't happen as it is already the 3rd and I didn't get a picture of the kids today. I will shoot for tomorrow and pretend it is the first :)

Just a recap of our break! Christmas with my dad and siblings on the 20th, water park for 3 days, Christmas Eve with Jeff's family, Christmas day spent most of the day at home except for when we took the kids sledding, day after Christmas with Jeff's extended side of the family. Then just chillin at home playing with all the new stuff. New Year's Eve party at our house with families from our Sunday School class. We rang in the New Year kid style at 8pm! New Year's Day was spent at our friends house with my in laws and a bunch of people from church. Then it was over was too fast!

I didn't make any new year's resolutions but I really do want to get into shape and tone the body God gave me. I'm sick of seeing flab! haha It isn't about weight loss as I don't think that would be healthy for me to do that, just want to tone up a bit!

Getting ready for school this morning wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it was still pretty rough! Tonight we went to our friend's for dinner so it was a verily late night for the kids and I hope it won't be bad tomorrow morning.

Check back to see a picture of the kids...

Ok so let's pretend that this is the first of the month picture. I actually took it on the 5th because on the 4th the batteries were dead and I had to charge them over night.

The kids eating breakfast!

Unsure?!

I have no idea where this blog post is going to go! I have so many ideas I want to write about but not sure what is going to actually come out. I think what ever pops in my head will be what spills out onto this post! Consider that your fair warnings of the randomness that is to follow ;)

My oldest brother is going to be having another baby...number 7! I am a little shocked but not really. It will be my brothers 4th biological child. I'm excited about another baby but not really sure how I feel about them actually being the ones having the new baby. Their youngest just turned 1 in September. There is a lot of stuff with them but I really don't feel like taking this post in *that* direction! I think I will just be happy for a new bundle of joy.

I am kind of sad about this Friday. We have 3 leadership teams for the Jr. High ministry. Jeff and I are on team one or as we lovingly call ourselves Team Luke. (No we don't have anyone on our team named Luke) This week our team is planning the night. We are doing a Harvest theme. Jeff is doing the gym games that will have something to do with carving pumpkins and making scarecrows. He won't give me anymore details than that. The down stair games are going to involve eating apples from a string and candy corn. Then snacks are going to be apple cider, pumpkin something, apple and carmel dip. The reason I'm not going is that Peanut got invited to a friend's birthday party. It is at a place we have never been to so I am excited about checking the place out. I just can't be in two places at once. I really need to figure out how to clone myself!

Speaking of birthday parties why do they always happen in twos??? It seems that lately every time we get an invitation a second one comes. Though they are never on the same day! Like for instance we have the one on Friday night and then we have one on Saturday. These are also both convenient because the whole family is invited. In Nov we have two on the same day just at different times. The first starts at 3:15 until 5pm (for Red only) and the second one starts at 5pm (adults only). They are about a 40 minutes drive from each other. At this point I think I am going to go to the second one alone (it's my friends 30th) and Jeff will just have to take Red to the other one party and I will need to get a sitter for the over lap in time until Jeff gets home.

Ok I think this is the last thing I want to write about. My house smells so yummy today! I made granola and brownies from scratch! I haven't even started cooking dinner yet. Homemade soup on a day like today is just awesome. It doesn't take long to make either :)

Wondering

How do these women make money blogging? I want to get in on this gig but HOW??? I just read this one mom's blog talk about how her blog was a full time income for her family and it allowed them to pay 100% cash for their first home. Where do I sign up? Ok seriously, though I get some random emails from people wanting to put ads on my blog is that what they do? One was for some oils and such...hmm not sure I want to go there! I don't need or want that kind of traffic. I'm thinking I should find a job that Peanut can come with me like I had at the YMCA about 5 years ago. The making money at home on a computer just seems so appealing to me but where to begin or even how is the biggest question I have. Any one out there know the answer? Please help this mama out. Yes I am blogging at night because my hubby is at church doing his Deacon/Elder thing. Just something I have been wondering about I should email the ladies at 5 minutes for Mom. Though I don't know if I want to be *that* busy either oh the dilemma!

Moving along...I have gotten a few emails about my menus. I figured if I have gotten more than one email about it other people might be wondering too. Well I make most of our food from a cookbook called Eating Your Way to Health by Doug Kaufmann. The baked goods are mostly from http://www.scdrecipes.com/recipes We really like the lemon poppy seed muffins but make sure you put the honey in it because they don't taste so great with out it! I also was going to leave you with the recipe for Chicken Fajitas, are you excited???

Marinade:
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste

Salsa:
tomato chopped
half an onion chopped
1 tbsp fresh lime
1 fresh chili pepper thinly sliced (optional)

Vegetables:
1 green pepper sliced
1 red or yellow pepper sliced
the other half of the onion sliced
1 clove garlic minced
olive oil

Marinade the chicken, I usually do it for a few hours before hand. Prepare the salsa. Saute the vegetables until they are tender. Make yourself a fajita! We used spinach shells, yummy. We also added brown rice and mozzarella cheese.

Visitors

We have been busy these last few weeks with some out of state visitors. My sister in law and her two boys ages 4 years old and 6 weeks came to visit. They are staying with the in laws. It has been fun to see the baby and let the cousins spend some time together. Somethings that stick out in my mind since they have been here are as follows. Wednesday Peanut and I went to pick them up for a McDonalds play date. It had snowed about 10 inches. Well the driveway was shoveled all but the entry way. I tried getting in and got stuck. A truck pulled up behind me and was not going anywhere because I couldn't move. He offered to help get it out of the snow. Then he pulled out his snow blower from the back of his truck and proceeded to snow blow my in laws entry way. My father in law was outside when all of this was going down but his snow blower had just broken which is why the rest of the snow wasn't gone. It was just an interesting situation but God provided this man at the right time and I am so thankful. That same day I got to hold the baby in his sleepy wrap for about 2 hours. I loved it. Thursday we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for some fun. My sis in law had never been, EVER. It was a fun time even though the baby had a blow out of poop!!! Today my older nephew went to Red's Valentine's party with him. When the party was over I took him home and Peanut, Red and I stayed for awhile. All four kids napped and Virginia and I talked. It was really nice and relaxing. When my older two got home I was shown a picture on my husband's phone of GG's art project with a blue ribbon. She had won first place in her grade. I know I am a little biases but it was really a good drawing. Also the kids came home with Valentine's balloons they had bought for J and I. It was so sweet of them. They secretly took money to school out of their piggy banks. Oh speaking of piggy banks. On Monday I had an errand to do at the bank and Peanut was with me. She kept calling the bank a piggy bank it was so cute.

Sorry in advance!

I have a bunch of thoughts going through my head so this post maybe a bit ramble-y, I have gotten a few emails and such about our story as I haven’t put a whole lot of details on my blog. I am currently working on going through some of my older posts to see when we first started getting sick. As I blogged about it without having a connection between the toxic mold and our sicknesses.

Wednesday I took the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry. I took them out of school for the day and I was hoping that they would sleep in a bit but instead Red woke up at 5:45am because he had wet the bed. He wouldn’t go back to sleep after that and from the living room couch proceeded to make his grunting noises that he makes when he doesn’t want to do something,,,ie sleep. He ended up waking Peanut up about 6:15. So instead of getting to sleep in I got up earlier. Oh well. We ended up getting a little lost on the way there as mapquest gave us wrong directions. Though I do feel better the family we were meeting there got the same directions from mapquest and so got lost too. I just called my dad-in-law and he got me to where we needed to be. It was such a great day. For one, it was only gas money + parking (16) so pretty affordable. They had a live science experiment set up and the kids loved that. We also got to see a chick crack it’s way out of an egg. It only took about 30 minutes of watching the egg :) They climbed the rock wall, played the video games, did the car and ski/snowboarding simulators, played in the water area and got soaked! It was a wonderful day. I have pictures but they are trapped in my camera at the moment and who knows if I will get them on here ever. Ha.

I am also getting excited/nervous about my upcoming trip. I know that the kids will be taken care of while I am going that isn’t my concern I just want to make it back to them in one piece. I know it is even a horrible thought to think about but at the same time it could happen. I am writing a letter for each night I am gone for each individual kid to read before bed. J did that when he went to Canada and they loved it. I thought I should do the same thing!

This Weather...

I've been trying really hard not to complain about the coldness that is this winter but I am so ready for warm weather and the sun beating down on my face and back. We have been teased with warmer winter a few times and it is really making my sinuses act up. I'm been either stuff up or completely runny. That is about all I want to talk about weather.

Last night at church J played on the worship team. It was really cool to see him up there praises God and making the music for us to sing too. I am so thankful that he learned how to play the guitar I bought him almost 3 years ago for his birthday. The kids love singing praise songs and Peanut dances every time he starts to play, so sweet. Thank you God for the gift of music, may we honor and glorify you with our lips!

today is Tuesday right?

I don't believe I mentioned this but yesterday I moved all the Christmas presents in our room to make some room for the crib mattress to go in the corner so that Peanut will have a bed of her own to sleep in. She has been waking up for 2 to 3 hours a night for the last 2 weeks and we are both exhausted. Well last night she started out in her little bed until about 1am. Then she woke up and instead of walking to our bed she started walking through the house crying. I got up and got her to bring her to our bed. I quick nursed her (I know I was backsliding) and then handed her over to J's side of the bed. She quickly went to sleep and slept the rest of the night!

This morning after taking the two older kids to school Red, Peanut and I went to our friends house to play. Her oldest turned 4 at the end of October so he is about 7 months older than Red but they usually play pretty well...except for today. They had this love/hate relationship they basically hated each other the whole time we were there until I said it was time to go. Then they clung to each other for dear life. BOYS. We were the first to leave because we needed to get to Peanut's doctor's appointment.

At her doctor's appointment Red was a holy terror...I thought about making the appointment for when he was in school but that would be in January and I wanted to get it done so I went today. Since she was a new patient I had so many papers to fill out and Red was climbing on the wheelchairs and playing with the drinking water and bringing Peanut down with him. So annoyed. I even told him at the beginning when we got there if he could be a good boy I would take him out to eat for lunch. Well that didn't happen. Ok back to her appointment. The doctor checked her motion in her hips and he said that looked good. She showed him how she walks and then he had her get an xray. That pretty much freaked her out. They had me take her diaper off and lay her on this cold metal bed and then hold her chest and legs down. The xray showed that everything looked good. The doctor wants to see her in 2 months just to make sure everything is the same or better. That is so good to know that there isn't anything majorly wrong with her hips.

As for me I have decided that I need to start working out. I am so active in the summer and I feel good during those months and then it gets cold and I shut down most phyiscal activity. I did a 20 minute work out today and will probably be really sore tomorrow but tomorrow I'm going to do 30 minutes. We'll see if this helps me. Just wanted to document when I started this journey.

Well going to go serve dinner that just got done and then it is family movie night with Babes in Toyland! Oh yeah couch snuggle time :)

This may not make sense!

Well I had my ultrasound today and she is still a she ;) Also she is not head down so I'm praying she turns by my next appointment or I will have to take serious measures to get her to flip. They estimate that her weight is a little over 4 lbs...she might be a big one! As for me I only gained 3 lbs this past 4 weeks so much better then the 10 I gained last month, bringing my total to 23 gained to date.

Moving along, it is now day 10 I believe in the potty training of the Red-man. This morning was the first morning he woke up and his pull up was completely dry! I was so excited. He has also had one full day of no accidents, which I believe was Sunday and none so far today. He tends to have accidents at night when I am by myself and I am at exhaustion point and have let my guard down. I am very pleased with how well he is doing. The only rewards he has gotten are hugs, kisses, high fives and a lot of praise too!

Yesterday was a fun day we went to the library in the morning and got the kids reading rewards and then after dinner, which we did picnic style outside, we went to Culver's for a free kids sundae. Then we went to the department to bring daddy one. I was feeling energetic so we walked over to the fire station which is right next to the police department but it is a huge brand new building. J came with us and they gave us a grand tour of the fire trucks, ambulance, sleeping quarters, living quarters, kitchen, training room and weight room. I think it was because J was with us because I've never gotten to see all of that before.

GG was being funny and took one of Monkey's streamers that had come off his door and taped it to her behind. Then ran through the house telling everyone she had a tail. She's goofy. But today she proved to be a great help! While Red was taking his nap I needed to get the 7 loads of laundry folded and put away. It probably would of taken me his whole nap but she helped fold and put away which I think cut the time almost in half.

Back to the Daily Grind

Well Spring Break is over and the kids went back to school today. They only have about 7 more weeks of school before summer recess so that is very exciting.

This morning I went to get the 2D ultrasound done on my heart. I will know if everything is ok in about a week. I'm trying not to worry about it and lay it Jesus' feet for the most part I am able to do that but then the what if's start to creep in and I have to shut them down quickly! It's nice to know that I am in God's care.

Today right before gymnastics I went outside to get something and Sherry was showing a house a few doors down. I heard her voice and I knew it was her! She came over and the people she was showing the house to, I knew as well! They came and looked at our house not that we are selling. But we've been trying to get Sherry to come look at the house for about 6 months, just funny how it turned out.

Red News: Now this is probably only exciting to me but I'm going to share anyways. Yesterday Red had diarrhea and a clear runny nose, so I looked in his mouth and he is getting two new teeth. Well after the second diaper of diarrhea his little butt was sore looking. I was going to be giving him a bath after dinner which we were right about to sit down to eat so I put him in big boy underwear to eat. Before I put them on him he says, "potty" so I took him to the bathroom where he peed in the toilet. Then we put the underwear on ate dinner. After dinner he was running around the living room waiting for me to be ready to put him in the bath tub. All of a sudden he runs up to me "poop poop potty" remember he had diarrhea so we ran to the potty. I took off the underwear and put him on the potty. He peed again and then he diarrhea pooped in the potty. It is clicking with him. I think he is ready to really start potty training. The only problem is Jeff and I are leaving over night soon and so I think I will wait until we get back to fully start the process. I am praying he potty trains as fast and as easily as the other two did. That would be AWESOME :)

My how the time FLIES!

I haven't updated for a couple reasons:
#1 It has been beautiful outside and so we haven't been home much!
#2 I am feeling so much better so I am playing catch up with housework and enjoying the weather outside :)

But trust me it isn't because lack of material to write about...just off the top of my head I could have written a whole entry about the night we met my dad for dinner and it started storming on the way. The van started shacking, I thought it was just the rain making it do that then I look down and see the battery light on. Have you ever had the battery light on your vehicle turn on? I thought that was so strange. Needless to say I am in the van with 3 kids all by myself and it is pouring rain outside. I called my dad before he left work and I picked him up and he came with us in the van. I felt safer with him there. Don't ask why! The van is now fixed, hopefully.

I could have talked about the many walks and parks we have visited over the last few days! All the silly things that happened at those parks...like GlamorGirl having this 2 year old follow her around like she is the "Queen of the Park" or me turning around to see Monkey peeing in the tree, with his pants down by his knees and his little tush hanging out for EVERYONE to see, just to name a few!

Or I could have written about Red's puke-capades yesterday. Yea, he got grandpa good at church and the floor. He got his car seat good too. He seems to be fine today?!?! I don't know what the deal was. All I know is I slept like garbage, we pulled the toddler bed mattress out from under our bed for Red to sleep on. I didn't want him in Monkey's room just in case he puked, who wants to wake up a sleepy 4 yr old to tell them we have to change the sheets on your bed?! So every little move or cough from Red and I was awake watched J check him then go back to sleep and then repeat.

Oh wait, look I did write about all of that fun stuff! Just think there was more but I will leave you with this for now and hopefully I will get back into writing.

Randomness...

Saturday GlamorGirl went out with my parents they took her to Rainforest Cafe to eat lunch and she really enjoyed it. Then they went shopping and this is what she came back with...


It is a Princess wig. She looks so funny in it because she should not be a blond, but she really likes it! I even tried it on but took it off before anyone could take a picture :) Then GG and I went to her friends bowling party and we had a fun time. Yesterday after church we hung out with some friends. We went out to eat for lunch then went back to their house to chill. The kids had a blast and so did us adults. We didn't get home until 6:15 so it was a long day!

The kids have gymnastics and then it is back to the regularly scheduled programming around here. Ok one more random thing...we got our taxes done! Yay, bring on the refund check...you got to love kids.

Saturday

I am more awake right now then last time I posted. I thought I would tell you a little more of what GlamorGirl's class did on Friday. We went to a nursing home and visited with the grandmas and grandpas there. The kids made gifts to hand out after they sang to them. GG gave her gift to a grandma named Hazel. I could tell she was scared to talk to them so I got down on her level and started talking to GG about somethings that we could tell the grandmas. We ended up talking to Hazel and Vivan the lady next to her. By the time we left GG wasn't scared of the *old people* and was wanting to give them all a hug. It was a good experience for her and I am glad I was there to help in the uneasy situation for her. I didn't bring my camera so I didn't get any pictures :(

Last night we went to an Irish Pub and had some really good food and I even got a mixed drink with dinner. The owner came and sat with us for about 10 minutes which was nice. J goes in there while he is working sometimes. Then we went bowling. That was so fun. I won the first game 115 to 108 then J won the second game 171 to 103. I was happy that I broke 100 both games!!! Then we headed over to Starbucks and got drinks and talked for along time. Our date lasted 3 1/2 hours. It was a great time. Our babysitter, Jess, brought over cookies to make with the kids. When we got home there were cookies that they decorated. I really don't want to lose her as a sitter.

Today we have been cleaning, the kids each got hair cuts and baths, J and I started going through the Christmas presents already bought to figure out who we have left to shop for and if the kids need anything else. I believe we are half way done so that is a good feeling. Right now I am trying to decide if I should take the kids to Wal-mart or wait until Monday when they are in school and if we should go to church tonight.

Whirlwind of thoughts.

As I sit here ready to post I can't decide what I want to talk about first! I think I will talk about the funeral. As weird as this may sound it was really an interesting learning experience for me. We don't really get together with Joe's (dad-in-laws) side much, I got to meet so many of J's relatives. I also got to learn more about my father-in-law as a child with pictures and home videos. Of course, it was a little stressful with the kids but we were complimented on how well they behaved during the service...even though they were bugging the heck out of me. They weren't talking but they were very fidgety. I know they were board but there really isn't much *fun* things you can do at a funeral. Hind sight being 20/20 I wish we would of stuck to our original plan and took them to school instead. They were absolutely amazing during the wake but it wasn't so structured. Another cool thing that happened was the gospel was presented by Joe. Today the kids went to school for the last time this week. GG got a new reading book. I was so impressed by her yesterday she read the word "everything", that is a really long word! Monkey got homework today...he is learning to write his last name. On the homework was a website and I went on it to print out some more pages for him to practice on. That site was absolutely awesome. The kids and I played on it for awhile. It had so many things on it I bookmarked it! Tomorrow J has the day off so we are planning something special. Then I put the kids down for their naps and started messing around with a website for pictures. I have some pictures on it. I am having a hard time keeping up with the kids each having their own sites. So I think I am going to go this route instead. I was thinking for awhile of putting pictures on here but I just want to keep it a journal.

Warning I have alot to write about...

Yesterday was very busy...in the morning Red and I had Bible study. Then we got the kids and ate lunch, headed over to GG's doctor's appointment. Then home so GG could do her homework which we had just enough time. Then back in the car to get J from school and off to get GG's pictures taken. Then to Dinorex! That was a lot of fun and their pizza wasn't bad. I think next time we go I will definitely print off the coupons for getting the wrist bands. Then home, bath, bedtime routine and then to bed. In more detail GG's doctors appointment...just to get an idea of what a little peanut she really is she weighed 38 pounds and was 42 inches. I had them weigh Monkey too and he was 36 pounds. I couldn't believe there was only 2 pounds difference!

Two nights ago on GG's birthday I tucked her into bed and told her about the day I gave birth to her, it has become our tradition and she LOVES to hear about the day she was born. So I was telling her and she says. "Did I come out of your butt?" I said, "No". After I was done with her I got out her scrapbook and J and I sat on the couch looking over all the pictures of her as a baby. We talked about what a joy and blessing she has been in our lives as a baby and now as a big girl, who can do so much stuff. It has been so cool and neat to see her grow up. And she is still growing. I remember for about the first 3 weeks of her life I would just lay in bed and watch her sleep. J would always tell me to go to sleep but I caught him watching her sleep too. I still go in her room and watch her sleep!

Last night was about the 4th night now that Red has had a hard time sleeping because he is sick with a runny nose and it makes it hard for him to breathe laying down. So we have to hold him. J knew how tired I was because apparently when I get too tired I become spacey. The last few nights J has slept with Monkey so that he can sleep, which I recommended because it is no good if we are both sleep deprived! Last night about 2am Red was crying and it was probably the 3 time he had woken up since 10pm. J came in our room and said, "Why don't you go get some sleep in Monkey's room and I will take Red." This was ok with me because he wasn't even interested in nursing. I got 2 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It was amazing! That is what I love about J, he does things to help me without me even asking for it. I was completely prepared to get no sleep but having that sleep has totally helped. Now I told you Red is sick with a runny nose. His newest thing is if the snot is running down and we don't get to it in time, he curls his tongue up and starts licking it. It is very gross but really funny to watch! He has also started to point at things. I think that is so cool when they do that, because you can say things like, "Red's number..." and then he holds up his one finger. Also I think it was yesterday J was talking to Red and all of a sudden Red said as clear as day, "Hi Dada" we looked at each other and said, "Did he just say 'Hi Dada'".

And last but definitely not least is Monkey. He has been himself just cracking us up. He was in his room playing the other day and I walked in to see what he was doing. He had buzz lightyear on one of his dinosaurs, riding it like a horse. I swear I have *never* met a kid with more imagination. He can turn anything into something else and entertain himself for hours. Most nights I have to carry him out of his room to eat, which is funny because he LOVES to eat!

Laundry Boy...

Red is usually attached to my hip as I bend down and get the laundry out of the dryer or put the clothes in the washer. Well he has gotten BIG! So I invented a new way of doing laundry with Red aka Laundry Boy. I sat him in the clothes basket and started putting clothes around him. He got the biggest kick out of that. Then I called the two older kids to come and see him and before I knew it all 3 of the little ones were laughing historically. I only wish I would of taken a picture but I'm sure there will be more opportunity for that considering I do laundry everyday!!!

This morning Red and I went to our playgroup that is growing and I'm so excited. I dropped Red off with J and went to get the kids from school. When I got home I felt so sick to my stomach. So after lunch I put the two boys down for naps and I turned on PBS for GG and I tried to take a nap too. But I felt so yucky that I couldn't fall asleep. So when Red woke up about an hour and half later I got up too. I think just being still on the bed and laying down helped, because I feel a little better.

Last week J had asked GG's teacher about a computer game that we want to get her for Christmas. It turns out that we need to get a higher grade. So J is going to get Jumpstart 1st grade, which she will learn in school the second part of this year. It was a toss up if we should get the 2nd grade so she could use it longer but I figure that the boys will get to use it too. I just hope she doesn't get bored.

So the Ark performance was great on Sunday. It was called Christmas: Where, When, and Why? It took place on a tree farm and these kids were looking for peoples favorite Christmas stories...where, when and why. The main character was named Tanna and she had a brother named Daniel, like as in Daniel in the lion's den. My favorite line was when he says to Tanna "Don't hate me because I'm biblical." Anyway on the way home J and I were talking about trees and I asked if he thought we would ever get a real tree. He said absolutely not and I'll show you why when we get home. Then he showed me a website called wimp.com and it had a real tree that caught fire and it only took 48 seconds for the whole room to be filled with smoke. It only took like 15 seconds for the whole tree to be burned. At playgroup we talked about who has their Christmas tree yet. Everyone but one girl because they get a real one. She was telling us that her dad was saying that they get the trees from China, because they are pretreated there. It was a joke of course but it was funny. Her dad has a fake tree!

J told me today that he only has to work 4 hours tomorrow for a training and it is from 8 to 12 so he will be home tomorrow night. I am so excited. I love when that happens. Tonight he is going to pick up some subway and bring it home for dinner because he didn't get a chance to get groceries this morning because of court. I'm down with that ;)

It is 1pm and it is the quietest around here. GG is doing homework and the boys are sleeping. On the topic of school the other day I gave GG 3 green beans to eat for dinner. I didn't know that J had already given her 4, she looks at me and says, "If I eat those I will have eaten 7 green beans." I told her, "I only gave you 3." She says, "But daddy gave me 4 to begin with." So I asked J and sure enough he had given her 4, I just couldn't believe how fast she knew what 3 + 4 was! I had to laugh right now she is doing her homework and this is what you would hear if you were here! "So you can stay and play" or "Come again another day." The right ones can stay and the wrong answer come again :) And that is *the girl*. Now you would have to know J to understand this but he is a nut. He got an email with a "car commercial" in it. At the beginning it tells you while they filmed the commercial the saw a ghost by the car and that you can hear the camera guy talking about it if you turn the speakers way up. At the end of the commercial this lady jumps out and screams. J shows the kids as they are sitting on my lap, I know what is going to happen and so does J but they don't. It was hilarious...they both jumped and GG started shacking. J played the video back for them slowly and showed them that it was a lady dressed up in makeup. Then he shows them a screen that has black and white checkers and a ball in the middle that is also checkered. You are suppose to stare at the checkers for 20 seconds then you will see something special. Well it is a big fat nake butt farting. The kids laughed and laughed at that one. Monkey aka *the boy* loves those types of things and has asked to see more, he really does have his dad's sense of humor!!! Red has learned that he has hair :) He has always loved feeling my hair and GG's but the last couple of days he has figured out that he has hair on top of his head. It is funny to see him open and close his hand so he can feel his hair. He is such a gently baby. He is also getting very close to rolling...my world is about to change. And that is it for *the baby* . I have a sad note to add: I don't think the kids are going to get to be m&m's because J hasn't been able to get the customs done. I am hoping that maybe in the next couple of days he might be able to do them. Tonight I think we might go get some pumpkins to carve, that is if J isn't too tired. If not today then tomorrow for sure.

As I sit here ready to post I hear the giggles of Red in the other room as he plays with his daddy. It brings a smile to my face :) Here is a little update on each of the kids. Red has done a lot of first. He went down the slide for the first time, swung in a swing for the first time, and is getting his first tooth. What a busy little man! Everyone always comments on how good of a baby he is because he is a great baby. He really has no reason to cry because all of his needs are met before they get to the I'm going to cry to get some attention stage. Plus, his big sister and brother are very entertaining to him. When they are at school you can tell he is looking and listening for them. Of course, when we pick them up from school they are all so happy to see each other, GG and Monkey hug and then they both give Red a kiss as he gives them the biggest gummy smile. Now to Monkey, he LOVES school now and we have a hard time getting him to leave. We figured out that the reason he was having hard time was because he thought that the same kids that were in Mrs. Sherry's class last year would be there this year too. It threw him off when it was a whole new group of kids. But now he is making friends and even has a little girl in the class that likes him. I swear there is something wrong with my children...they are too young to have boy/girl friends! On to GG she prayed last night for a baby sister. It was really cute. She said, "Dear God, Thank you for today and the wonderful world. Thank you for my brother Monkey and my baby brother Red, I love them so much. And I would like a baby sister next time my mommy has a baby. Amen." It was funny and sweet. The other day we went to lunch with a boy from GG's class and his twin brothers who are in Monkey's class. That was a lot of fun but on the way there GG says, "Mommy I know who I want to marry." I said, "really?" GG, "Yeah Jacob I." That was the boy we were having lunch with so I told his mom when we got there and she said there conversation on the way to the restaurant was...Jacob, "Mommy can I kiss GG?" the mom "NO!"...Jacob, "can I hug her?" the mom, "NO! no touching her at all!" See there is something wrong with them very wrong :)

It is sometimes overwhelming when I get the chance to write on here to remember everything that has happened! I will try my best though. On Friday night my dad came over and took us to the movie Herbie. It was a really cute movie and great for little children. GG was clapping and cheering it was funny to watch her. After the movie when we were in the car GG said monster trucks are big but God is bigger. I love that she can grasp that concept. Saturday we went to the mall and I got some new clothes and then we went out for lunch. We had coupons to this new place and it was really good food. Plus the restaurant has free ice cream on Saturdays so that worked out good. When we got home from that J took both the kids and they put on a play. J was the narrator, GG was the princess and Monkey was the worrier. It was really cute and funny. J even recorded it so we can watch it again when the kids get older!! Yesterday was church. Today was grocery shopping. The kids and I stopped into to school and we got to talk to Mrs. Sherry. I am so excited she is in charge of the preschool next year and that she is Monkey's teacher. She is such a great lady. As for this week I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow it will be 6 weeks since Red was born, can't believe how fast that has went. The kids have their sports class in the afternoon. Wednesday we are going to my dad's to have a playdate with the kids' cousins. In the afternoon I might either go to a playgroup or the AH library not really sure yet. Thursday Red has a doc appointment and Friday J and GG have a dentist appointment and if we don't go to the library on Wednesday we will go Friday afternoon. Then Saturday J is off so we are going to go to camp Awana and see Liz for the day then church on Sunday and we are going to go swimming at the free pool by J's parents house. So our week is pretty full and hopefully it will be fun.

Ok so this is a run down of our weekend! J took Saturday off so that he could go to the Auto Show with a friend. The kids and I were going to get together with his wife but their phone got knocked off the hook so I couldn't get a hold of her. The kids and I didn't let that get us down...we went to McDonalds for lunch and to play. It is always a nice thing to get out of the house in the winter and I don't have to make lunch. It is a win/win situation:) The kids did a great job again this week with all of their jobs/responsibilities so their treat was to go to Toys R Us and pick out one toy. I wasn't really sure how that was going to work since every time we go in there they want every toy!!! But it went surprisingly well, I just explained to them that we were going to walk around the girl section first and then the boys. I told GG I wanted her to see all the toys before she chose one. We walked through the kitchen stuff, my little ponies, strawberry shortcake, polly pockets, baby dolls and accessories, barbies, and then the dress up stuff. She actually waited until we were completely done to say she wanted to go back to the polly pocket section. They had many items to choose from so I helped her out and picked out 4 for her to pick from. Otherwise we would of been there all day:) She didn't object and picked one that had a boy and girl with a car, clothes, shoes, skateboards, and helmets. While she was looking at the polly pockets she was having a hard time deciding if that was really what she wanted. She was thinking about maybe getting a prince barbie doll for her princesses, but ended up with a polly pocket. She came home and spent over an hour playing with them. That is actually what she is doing right now! I am glad she decided on the polly. Then we went to the boys section and walked around. I found a dress up police officer kit and firefighter kit, they were really cute. I held on to the police one while we walked around some more. Monkey really liked the isle of Home Depot tools. They were really cool. I found a tool box with tools in it that I thought he could play with when J fixed things around the house. After looking over all the boy toys I gave Monkey the choice of the police officer kit or the tool box. He choose the police officer kit! It came with sunglasses from the 80's, a vest, badge, binoculars, handcuffs, keys, a watch, fake tickets, a cell phone, and a megaphone. He really likes his toy too and I can't tell you how many times I have been "under arrest" since we have gotten home from that store!!! So needless to say the kids and I had a great time just walking around that store and spending time together. I also started a mental list of Christmas presents...hehe ;) Oh yeah they weren't in the cart while we walked around and they did great. I wanted them to be able to pick the toys up and really look at them. After about 2 hours (which only seemed like 20 minutes) of being in that store we came home. I can't wait to go back to Toys R Us either, so I bet the kids want to go back soon too. I told J this Easter they will be getting a toy in their baskets and no candy, this means another trip to Toys R Us for me. Since Valentine's day I have realized that they eat way too much candy so I am going to be cutting their sugar down majorly. This is partly my fault since I have a serious sweet tooth. It probably has something to do with the fact I was born on Halloween?!?! Anyways, when we got home J was back and we made plans with Jason and Kristy as well as Chett and Megan to go out for dinner. We went to my favorite place Jimmy's, yummy! Then we all came back to our house. GG showed off her new toy and then played in her room before bed. Now you have to know GG to know she really likes this toy, because we have company over and she isn't entertaining them she is in her room playing with her polly pockets! Then she went to bed and Monkey watched a movie while we adults played Black Jack. I have never played before and it was really fun. Jason had gotten a poker table for Christmas with cards and chips. So he passed out chips and we pretend played for pretend money. Jason was the dealer, it was like we were in Las Vegas. We played for 3 hours!!! It was a great time and Monkey went to bed before everyone left. He must of been tired because he usually can't fall asleep without one of us with him but he did last night! So that was our Saturday.

So far today we went to Sunday School and Church. Went to my in-laws for lunch and then came home. J is working a hire back, which means they asked him to work on his day off. I told him to take it because he is off Monday and Tuesday so we will still get to see him plenty. I think this is the longest post I have written in awhile!

I feel like we (I) have accomplished so much. I cleaned out my car and vacuumed it and we have done tons of stuff with the yard. J and a neighbor cut down about 6 trees and 5 bushes. Then we had to move it all to the edge of the street. We also bought some tools to use in the yard so we don't have to keep borrowing other peoples! We have so much to do in the yard still but it has come along way. The next two days both J and I have them off so we will hopefully be able to get a ton more done. Tonight we are going to sit down and get a game plan for the work that needs to be done. Other than that we went to church today. The kids got to play with their friend Alyssa. Monkey has started wearing underwear now and is doing pretty good with them. I love owning a home! It is so much work but it is all worth it :) We are getting excited and ready to go on our vacation to WIU. We can't wait to see all of our friends. It is a much needed vacation for us. Well I am going to go be with my family and watch the Olympics! Have a Go(o)d night...if you go to our church you will understand that! If you want to know about it email and I will explain it to you ;)