I think he found my camera...

Flattering.

It's my blog and I'll brag if I want to

Again, I neglected my kitchen today in favor of doing another project.

When I spoke with my mom this morning, she asked if I would do a quilt for a baby boy in her neighborhood. So, I made one!

My housework may never get done!

And it's all thanks to Stacie, who showed me how to make korker bows this morning.

Here's what I've been up to all afternoon!





It started simple with these bows for my nieces, and now it's gotten way out of hand!

I'll be back to blogging when I run out of ribbon. ;)

Jordan celebrates 100 days of Kindergarten!

The kids were all asked to make a poster with 100 things on it for the 100 days of kindergarten celebration.

Jordan and I looked around for something "creative"... we wanted something that nobody else was doing.

Not only did they need to have 100 items on the poster, they needed to be grouped by 10's.

We found a bunch of different plastic eggs, and 10 cute little chicks. We decided to do each size/color in a group, and at the very end have the 10 little chicks like they had "hatched".

Once we were able to sit down and start last night, we discovered that one of the little chicks had gone missing! And with no spare chicks laying around, I needed to come up with a quick fix!

So, Jordan told his teacher today that he had 10 chicks, but one of them ran away only leaving a feather. (The last yellow feather I had in my box too! *phew*!!)

Baby Quilt

I found out on Sunday that a lady in our neighborhood is expecting a little girl at the end of the month. (I didn't even know she was pregnant!!!) My neighbor is having a baby shower for her on Saturday, so I decided to make a quilt similar to the one I made my sister in law in November.

I got all the squares ready to go, and took them with me over to the super bowl party at the in-laws. Stacie helped me lay out the squares, and while the kids were entertained, I made the quilt. (Thanks Stacie for helping! And thanks Linda for keeping the kids busy enough to know I wasn't around!!! The food was great too, by the way.)

Finished product!



Back of Quilt:


All ready for a new little princess!

It's nice and quiet...

Everyone is still in bed this morning. Sometimes it's nice to wake up before everyone and just be alone in the house!

We are still having really rough nights here. Reagan was doing a bit better at sleeping about a month ago, but she is back into her normal routine of getting up all night long, recently about 6 times a night. It's exhausting!

Having Brian sleep with her in her own bed proved to be difficult, and the results were less than fabulous. Especially with his early morning work schedule and then school at night.

Nursing her ALL THE TIME has really been weighing on me the last week or so. It crossed my mind to try and stop cold turkey. (Hey! I need some sleep!!!) But then I read THIS post over on my friend Kerry's blog, and realized that our time is really short. Since she's the last baby in our family, I'll never have this opportunity again. Besides... Jordan and Madison stopped nursing around 20 months, and that's just 4 months away!

So, I'm looking at it all differently now. I'm really going to cherish every little moment I have with her that she WANTS to be with me! I'm going to gaze in her big blue eyes, stroke her bushy hair and play with her chubby little toes. All too soon, she'll gain her independence, and I'll be a thing of the past! She'll realize (like everyone else in this family) that DAD is the cool one to be around! :)

McClinton - that's the ticket...

I've wanted to remain neutral. I've tried to keep my political thoughts OFF of my blog. I've tried! Really!!!

But I've just got to say right now...

MCCAIN?!?!?! John McCain?!?!?!?

What the HECK are these "conservatives" thinking?!?!?

I've got to go poke my eyes out.

What's on your Cranium?

A couple of years ago, we bought the kids "cranium giggle gear" for Christmas. Silly little masks you can change with weird eyes, nose and mouth. It even has a voice changer. The kids love them - although the batteries die way to quickly.

We added the "crazy cap" to our collection this year.


Sometimes Madison doesn't put all the fun eyes and stuff on hers. She puts them on like goggles and pretends that she's swimming.


Reagan would be content to walk around with her alien gear on most all day.


And Taylor? Well, he likes to be the wizard of the family, dressed in the cranium wizard gear.


Do I sound like a commercial?

We LOVE anything Cranium. Game nights are so much fun with the clever games they have.

On another note: I should be getting my new vacuum in the mail tomorrow! The kids are tired of picking up all the little pieces of "stuff" in the carpet! Ours broke SEVERAL WEEKS AGO, and it was a pain staking process trying to decide what new one I wanted. Hooray for Amazon and their cheap prices because I'm getting a vacuum that I can't afford regularly!

I'll be vacuuming like a mad woman tomorrow... and I'm so excited! (Something is so wrong with that statement!)

Never Fear!

We're alive and well... (thanks to the few people that actually read the blog for sending "where the heck are you?!?!?!" emails! I feel so loved!!! ;) )

We had an interesting few weeks of sickness - everyone took turns getting ill. I'm so proud of my family for sharing so nicely!!! *winks*

Just playing "catch up" around the house now, and I'm sure some great stories will be posted here in the near future. I can see you all holding your breath in anticipation!!!

This is how much she likes her new bed:

So. Reagan has never been a good sleeper.

The ONLY time she has slept through the night was when she was like 4 days old. Then, she decided to loose a bunch of weight and I had to start waking her up to feed her every 2 hours. She got into a bad habit... and at now 15 months old, she still wakes up between 4-7 times at night.

I've been getting a little grouchy. I really can't get everything I need done on only 4 scattered hours of sleep at night. So... we decided that the best thing to do would be to get her into her own bed and not so dependant on nursing, and on me.

She does pretty well with Brian in the room with her. (And I'm not complaining about having the king size bed all to myself! ;) ) She's doing better each night.

I've started putting her up in her bed for nap time. She doesn't like waking up with nobody beside her.


In order to get her a bed, we had to switch the boys and girls rooms. The boys have bunk beds, so they would fit in the smaller girl room. Two twin size beds would just not fit in Madison's little room.



The boys are *okay* being in a yellow and purple room. They made me take down the flowers and butterflies, and can live with the purple until our Master Bedroom is complete and we switch rooms around yet again. Madison still thinks it's weird that she's sleeping in "the boys room". She doesn't get that it's HER room now... but I'm not worried about correcting her since she'll be moving rooms yet again when the master is done. ;)

And hey... here's a picture of Madison for you all:

This is what she wears when I vacuum. It's too noisy for her. So instead of tears and hiding in the corner of her room, she opts for the "muffs". Time for a new, quiet vacuum....

Before I forget

Mornings seem to be okay around here despite the fact that Brian leaves at o'dark thirty in the morning. It was really nice back in the day when he was here to help make sure everyone was on task and getting ready for school. I was worried with his new schedule that things would go crazy around here, but we're doing great!

Jordan had a bit of a melt down this morning because I wouldn't let him wear his monkey shirt to school. (We have a family rule that we wear shirts with collars/buttons, not tee-shirts and especially not shirts that are "printed"... we want the kids to look nice for school - look and be respectful. It's been our rule since Taylor was in kindergarten.) Jordan knows the rules, but he is questioning them. Taylor never has - he just follows the rules. Jordan wants to know why it's so bad to wear a monkey shirt to school. I told him if he wore the monkey shirt, he might ACT like a monkey, and we need to have good behavior at school. The tears continued to flow all through breakfast, but we finally compromised and he'll be able to wear the monkey shirt for "field day" at the end of the school year. Hey... if that's as much stress as I'm going to have in the morning though, I'll take it!

Now that the boys were happy and on the way to their bus stop, Madison decided to look at her preschool class photo. She started naming everyone who is "mean" in her class. I told her that they didn't try to be mean, they were just learning.

"Well, they're still mean" says she. "And Jayden calls me a GIRL".
"Well.... you ARE a girl" I say.
"But I'm not ONLY a Girl... I'm MADISON"

You go girl....er, Madison. That's the spirit! You're NOT "only a girl"... you have a very strong identity and personality. We know. We live with it every day. And wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Photos later when I actually find the camera!

Conversations with the 3 year old

Jordan and Madison can be terribly good friends, or worst enemies. The other day it was the later of the two.

Jordan came in crying to the kitchen: "Madison says she doesn't love me!"

Madison: "I don't love you. I only love 4 people. Mom, Dad, Taylor and Reagan. That's it."

Mom: "Madison, that's not very nice."

Jordan: "She doesn't love me! sniff sniff, sob"

Madison: "Well, I just don't love him because I only love 4 people."

Dad: "Madison. That's not nice! And Jesus said to love everyone."

Madison: "Well, *I* never heard him say that."

So, while we work on our "loving each other" skills this week, I thought I'd post proof that Madison and Jordan really DO get along... and despite what Madison says... she loves him. ;)

Christmas afternoon:

He's such an fantastic role model

Taylor badly wanted Santa to bring him a Rubik's cube for Christmas. He did - placed it neatly in his stocking, so it was the first thing Taylor "opened".

Said Rubik's cube was mixed up fairly quickly. Taylor handed it over to Brian, who, in a matter of minutes had it all figured out.

I scoffed because I can't figure out a Rubik's cube if it's been turned twice. But I mixed it up and tried anyway.

I failed. The Rubik's cube was a complete mess and Brian took the thing to fix it yet again.

While Taylor and Madison were out playing in the snow, Brian got to work.



I was busy in the kitchen with Reagan and Jordan was thrilled to be over at a friends house.

During one of my trips to check on the outside players, I notice Brian playing with the Rubik's cube... UNDER A TOWEL.

I pulled the towel off his lap to find THIS:


Yes people... that is the Rubik's cube IN PIECES. He takes the dang thing apart and puts it all back together again.

In other words: HE CHEATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And he had us all amazed at his wonderful talent of getting the Rubik's cube back into formation!

WHAT DID I MARRY?????

It was a Very Merry!

We had a nice storm on Christmas Eve, but braved the weather to get to Grandmas house anyway. (Hey... gotta get the new PJ's! TRADITION!)

Grandma had a great spread on for us and we enjoyed watching "A Christmas Story". (The kids now have a better understanding as to why we have a leg lamp next to our Christmas tree...)

Upon arriving *safely* at home, the kids went outside to spread their Magic Reindeer food. We then left Santa a plate of English Toffee (Brian made it of course), and a carrot for each of the reindeer. Tried to get a great shot of the kids in front of the tree, but *someone* wasn't cooperating.

Christmas morning was delightful! Brian made a great breakfast for the extended family, the kids had everything their little hearts could desire gift wise, and *I* managed, somehow, to sneak in an hour nap in the middle of the day. BLISS!

Here! See our festivities for yourself!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

My favorite project this year: Bows and bow holders for my nieces!






Thanks everyone for a fantastic Christmas!

Christmas Organ Open House

We sat down last night and tried to figure out just how many years this has been a family tradition. The jury is still out, but last night most likely was our 21st year sharing and celebrating with family and friends.




My Mom spends the evening making rolls and keeping everyone happy in the food department. My Dad stays on the organ all evening, playing sounds of Christmas.

My favorite pictures from last night:






It's so nice to see family and friends that we don't see all year, but magically we see at the Christmas Open House. Christmas can now begin now that we've had it!

The kids went right up to bed when we got home. They were exhausted. Brian took the camera into the boys room and took this shot of Jordan with his Curious George:

Someone get that kid some PJ's! (I'm so glad it's Christmas Eve and new jammie night! ;) )

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

'frah-gee-lay.' It must be Italian!

The view from our front window:



And the "leg lamp" in all it's glory inside the house, next to the Christmas tree.




Brian's cousin got this as a gift from a friend, and conveniently they didn't have room in their house for it. ;) I was so stinkin' excited to borrow it this year and display it proudly! The only problem with it is: the "leg" doesn't light up, so it's not as visible from the street as I'd like it to be.

Moo Madi Moo is MOOOOODY.

This is what a grouchy girl looks like just days before Christmas.

You see... we want to open our gifts NOW. She feels she deserves to open them today because she was nice and bought her brothers and sister presents.


If looks could kill...

Man... it's rough being a 3 year old.

Yogurt

Madison didn't like her yogurt, so she left it on the stairs. (Leaving it on the stairway is a logical place in her eyes. Nevermind that the trash can is NEXT to the stairs...) Anyway, Reagan found it and I don't think she's ever enjoyed food so much! Next time we'll try and eat it at the table though! (Which won't be near as fun I'm sure...)

Christmas Tree

On Saturday, Jordan Madison and Reagan decorated the Christmas tree. (Taylor was busy learning how to play solitaire with Brian... card games trump Christmas decorations I suppose.)

Reagan is fascinated with the tree. She moves the ornaments all around the bottom half of the tree where she can reach. When she's having a "grumpy moment", I need to just flip on the Christmas lights and she gets all excited to start reorganizing everything.

Once upon a time, I wanted my Christmas tree perfect... now with the kiddos around, I could care less that the top looks nice and the bottom is all in an ornament frenzy!

We also went over the church for a Christmas brunch. Santa was there and the boys were excited.

Taylor sat on his lap and asked for gamecube games.

Jordan's turn came and Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas.
Jordan: "Surprise me".
Santa: "I don't know what surprise me is!"
Jordan: giggles
Santa: "BOO! Did that surprise you?"
Jordan: giggles
Santa: "Oh I KNOW what you want for Christmas! *singing* All I want for Christmas is my too front teeth!"
Jordan: giggles

Madison wouldn't smile or talk to Santa until the last second before booting her off his lap. She turns and says "I want littlest pet shop and barbies" and hopped right down.

Reagan didn't scream for a whole 2 seconds, but then it started and she will never sit on Santa's lap again I fear.

They gave all the kids candy canes and a small gift. Taylor got some Lego's, Jordan a coloring book and Madison a doll. Madison opens her gift and says: "HEY! I told him I wanted littlest pet shop, not a dolly!!!"

Anyway, here are some photos of the kids on Santa's lap and decorating the Christmas tree. the first photo is a movie.

Enjoy!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!