lent, valentines & things of that nature...

  we are kicking things into high gear this lent around here.

we decided to post our lenten sacrifices up

so that the whole family can see.

the children are enjoying holding the others accountable...

but not so much of being reminded themselves.

hmmm...

the kids gave up tv and all electronics

except for sundays.

and if they need the computer for a homework assignment.

we the parents kindly suggested that one (mandated)

i love it so much when they don't watch tv. they play better, find other things to do,

get more exercise... etc. etc.

i gave up biting my nails and am planning on hitting the gym more often.

and a few other things too.

its going pretty well so far.

 we had some pretty flowers around these parts for valentine's day.

 they looked lovely with the new counter tops in the bathroom....

R very proud of his first preschool artwork..

a valentine painting

valentine banner...

my 4th little flower to wear the valentine smock to kindergarten.

sniff. sniff. time passes so quickly.

R and i had a splendid day with some friends. we went to the children's museum where he got to explore a firetruck & see curious george. he had an "encounter" with curious george...

R accused him of punching him in the head.. a misunderstanding...

soooo...

we decided to check out the valentine making station

then we headed over to the dinosaur museum.

R LOVED it!

we bought a membership.

his responses were so different than the girls' were

back when they were his age.

P loved his new coffee mug i got him.

the kids loved their valentine cookies i got them....

after enjoying cookies, we took the kids to feed the homeless.

they loved it and all wanted to do it more often.

it was awesome.

when we got home, we got the kids settled & had a sitter come over

so we could go on a romantic valentine date.

we enjoyed delicious thai food

and then did all of paul's favorite activities...

make up shopping, maternity bra shopping & wandering the aisles of baby stores

looking at cloth diapers.

he was in heaven ;)

and to wrap it all up....

our dinner club theme this month was

valentine's day.

we made some love stumps, chicken piccata & chocolate decadence.

it was pretty good if i do say so myself.

here are the recipes i used....

chicken piccata

arugula salad

chocolate cake

(we also made homemade whipped cream & topped with fresh berries.

i kinda burned it... so watch the time :)

weight shmeight

the dr. mentioned i had a little weight jump this month.

hmmm....

i have no idea why.

whatever.

so i went to the gym today.

i feel so skinny now.

The professor

parenting and stuff

i was solo parenting last week. 

we survived.

when we found out soccer practice was cancelled, we had a spa night instead. i straightened everyones hair. they liked that. this was the pic we sent to daddy in the morning... on their way out the door to school.

this weekend L & D had soccer games. L's team has been a team for quite some time, so they do fun things like a "make up station"... black under eye stuff... whatever that's called... so they can see in the sun.
R wanted some too.

the games were at the same time... so I was at L's & dad was at D's. auntie sarah & chillen joined us. R liked that a lot. they rolled down the hills, attempted to dump everyones water bottles, etc. darling.

this little girl lost her first tooth. 

it was very exciting.

 all of her sisters lost their first tooth at 4 yrs. old.

she's 6. she was getting a little worried.

i personally was soaking up that adorable baby tooth smile for as long as i could.

we are so enjoying our sweet 6 yr. old  right now.

she has been very cuddly, happy at school, excited for the baby & generally happy about life lately.

it's adorable.

refreshing compared to some of the tween behavior we have been experiencing.

don't get me wrong, the tweens are just as delightful in their own way. hilarious at times.

but at other times..... look out.

i may have suggested that one of my cherubs should possibly go dunk her head in some holy water.

she kindly suggested that i might do the same.

luckily we both thought that was pretty funny.

one last goodbye to the cutest little puppies ever...

 the other day P and I were able to enjoy a day date thanks to my ma. we headed over to chili's. we used to love to go there in college. we would split the single order of fajitas (they were $7.99) add on two side salads (.99) and split the fudge brownie sundae (4.99)

well the prices have gone up a little bit... and it's not quite as delicious as i remember it being in college...

however it was just as fun.
                                                    

i really love this pic from a recent ladies game night at my friend's house. helpful ladies i tell ya.

i have started watching season 1 of downton abbey. i have never been a big fan of period pieces. i can't stand them. but i'm sticking thru it to see what all the fuss is about. it kinda makes me crazy how they are always needing to rest... from what? they do absolutely nothing all day. i only like the doctor so far... cousin matthew. but what's with all the cousins getting married? weird.

those kids and their "comments"

i am sitting at the computer and it is barely 8am. my son is summoning me to come and sit with him as he has his morning movement. i think i'll sit here as long as i can.
so far this morning i have:

 got 4 children sent off to school... fed, hair straightened, lunches and signed papers in hand & carpools finagled

dinner roasting in the crockpot

kitchen cleaned

emails checked

prepared 3 breakfasts for the boy

dogs fed & watered

hose turned off... that i noticed had been trickling all night


so much more to do, but whew that felt like a lot.

i am looking forward to a quick shopping trip with a friend, paully has been gone all week and i am looking forward to some adult conversations... with complete sentences and all.... well maybe.

the little cherubs have been making me laugh lately... here are some quotes from the dears....


little S:

has discovered using "quotations" with her fingers when she talks. this morning she said while eating her cereal...
 i bet bats "wake up early at night"... smiling, feeling very clever for using her quotation fingers.

last night during soccer practice wait time, the kids were playing horse, which meant they were running around the field pretending they were horses. stopping to rest under trees and eat clovers. after recently reading an article about always being on your phone and missing your childrens' childhoods... i thought i should put down my very intense angry birds game and join them.
i overheard them say:
  "mom's huge. let's make her a buffalo. no, let's pretend she's an elephant".

R:

as much as i don't like it, my son has really taken to potty talk.
he loves to twist his little toddler body, squat a little, crank his neck around and say:
"hey look! butt!" then laughs hysterically.

the other day we were cuddling in the bed after lunch. i said oh man, you smell like garlic! he said, no i don't. i said , yes you do, it was in your lunch.
he said "come on!, i just took a shower!"

D:

was having a hard time during the sale of the puppies last weekend. i have to say, they were much better behaved then when my siblings and i were little selling our kittens. we used to hide the kittens when people came over to see them and then say we had no idea where they were. so bad. my sis said she hid some under a blanket on her bed one time. good thing they lived through that.
anywho.. when people were over looking at the puppies, D was playing in the backyard. we were trying to ignore her somewhat hyper behavior. she was running wildly thru the backyard... scaling trees then shouting look at me! LOOK AT ME! then she would dash over to the swingset and throw herself over the bars... upside down and shout mom! DAD! MOM! LOOK AT ME!!! not that bad, but kind of distracting when trying to talk to people about puppies. well when the people would mention one puppy in particular, she would shout out "that one's not for sale!" or "that one is sick" or "that one bites!" anything to prevent the sale of her puppies. they did all sell in one weekend. dad promised they could keep one puppy from the next litter.... if there is a "next litter".


L has said some funny things too, but generally is obsessed with her new ipod touch that she saved and spent ALL of her money on.

S is such a tween is unbelievable. i have been letting her stay up and watch a show with me at night. she is loving quoting the show constantly. it's pretty funny.

merry christmas!

carolling brigade

every year we have a christmas cousins sleepover.

this year we also added a carolling brigade in the evening. we got my dad's trailer, hooked it up to the ol' burb and carted the kids around the neighborhood.

 there was a lot of excitement in the house.

 my sis made hot chocolate galore. we got the kids all hopped up before heading out.

 i think they all had fun.

december randoms

well what do you know? just in case you have those letters.... you can think of me ;)

this child needed an elf costume for her christmas play at school, so by golly we whipped one up. she loved it. i was so glad.

we had a few more bouts of sickness....

once we were feeling better, we hiked a few mountains.

the end.

thanksgiving

my grandma & grandpa were able to come to sunny az for thanksgiving.

it was so special having them here.

the kids all loved the attention and would do anything to get my grandpa to do his big laugh.

i wish they would move here.

 we hosted the feast at our house.everyone brought a lot of food, so it wasn't a big deal. i was bummed that my turkey was dry. but my grandma saved the day by making gallons of gravy.

gravy fixes everything.

it was a beautiful day. until one of the children opened the rv gate and let the dogs out. it was like a scene from a movie. the children ran in terror. my grandma braced herself. the dogs jumped up on the tables and were in heaven eating the food off the childrens' plates. luckily we were pretty much finished eating. it was mayhem.

quick trip to the windy city

pscrubs and i got to have a quick getaway to visit my cousin and her husband in chicago.

it was COLD!! 

they just moved into a huge fancy house, which was awesome. 

we made the most of our time eating, eating and eating some more.

it's pretty much my favorite thing to do.

we found my favorite...gino's pizza. 

paully wanted to explore the polish neighborhoods. so we found an authentic polish restaurant.

soups, sausages, blintzes, potato pancakes, stuffed cabbage and some weird red juice.

it was amazing.

we also went to my cousins' favorite sushi restaurant. paul was more adventurous than i, but i still enjoyed trying new things.

it was a very fun relaxing getaway.

 our wonderful hosts spoiled us.

although part of me thought it just didn't feel right being so close to an american girl store without my little cherubs.

little s's 6th birthday!

my teeny tiny baby girl turned 6.

back in november.

she wanted to have a class party. that in itself was pretty funny, trying to reason with a 6 year old was somewhat challenging... deciding who she wanted to invite and who she didn't.

we decided on all the kindergarteners in her class.

it's montessori, so the classes are mixed ages.

anywho, it was a fun party.

it was a trampoline place.

a good time was had by all.

thx to my sis for making the cake & cupcakes.

i look back and laugh because i must not have been feeling too hot that day.

the kids' hair is looking a little un-tended to and the clothing choices?? well i guess you have to pick your battles when hosting a class party and puking at the same time.

oh well. she had a blast.

catching up

i am going to attempt to catch up. i am still having trouble figuring out space on my blog. it says i have to have a monthly payment and i'm just not digging that. does anyone else have these issues?
i would like to have a one time payment to add more space, but that is not an option. ugh.

why me??? why me???

just kidding, i'm being melodramatic.

hope from newtown

http://pieceofcakeafterthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/12/this-week-in-newtown.html

december blues

ruby finally had her puppies on dec. 8, 2012.

it was a very eventful weekend. my family was just arriving for a big dinner when we noticed ruby acting a little strange. we assumed she would go in to labor in the middle of the night, when the house was quiet. but no, it happened at the craziest loudest time of day. it was just like when we helped deliver patches patches the wonder cats kittens right in the middle of the hallway when i was young. old pro. paully jumped right into dr. mode with rubber gloves and all. i think he was a little excited. after a few hours, she had 7 healthy puppies.

that night was not so fun. the puppies cried all night. we had NO sleep.

the next night was much better.

monday morning rolled around and i snuck big S out early for some dunkin donuts & and early school arrival time. while in the drive thru, i got a call that our carpool was sick & wouldn't be attending school. so i needed to get back home to do another round of school drop off.

i got home, loaded round two of kids in the car, and hit up dunkin donuts again. pulled up to the pick up line & forgot that i had switched cars and did not move my purse. no money.

the guy gave us the donuts anyway. the kids were in awe. donuts for free???!! yay!!

winning? maybe.

they came home from school & D was feeling a little under the weather. didn't think much of it. just fed, cleaned, got her warm & put a nice movie on. she'd be fine.

noni stopped by & somehow got roped into bbsitting for the night. we got a text later that D had thrown up. uh-oh.

we headed home & checked on her. she got up and puked again. we tried to calm her down & get to sleep..... another child stumbled in the room holding her tummy..... " i don't feel good"......

barfed.

they continued to take turns barfing & running to the bathroom (for the other end) all night. intertwined with barking dogs needing to be let out & crying puppies.

another night of NO SLEEP.

"woke up" and got the kids settled. dropped two kids off at school..... not an hour later got a call that one of the said children was sitting in the front office with a garbage can in her lap.

barfed.

3 kids home from school. a tornado toddler with a pretty major runny nose very excited that "the sisters" are home for him to torment.

i am praying that we get some sleep tonite. praying.

a little catch up....

HI!!!!!

i am finally caught up on all my editing and have just a few moments to share with you some funny (to me anyway) and ultra dramatic short videos done by my video person (paul)....

a little love story about our highly trained dogs...






and the highlights of D's soccer season.....


Baxter and Ruby from whoanellie on Vimeo.

D's Skills from Welter Videos on Vimeo.

halloween 2012

we were off to a very slow start this morning....

but that's because we had so much fun last night.

i really wish i would've taken pictures of all the trading that went on post trick-or-treating.

it was a major affair.

it was getting dark by the time we pulled out the camera... so these pics are kinda blurry.

boo.

hoo.

 R was a cowboy, but refused to wear his bandana & hat. he never once forgot about the gun tho.

 L was katniss from the hunger games. she looks a lot like her... people tell het that all the time.

 D was a candy corn witch.

S was an angel.

 cuuuuttttteeeee!!!!!!!!!

S was a peacock.

 moustatch girl, wwwhhhhaaattttaaarrreeeyyooouuudddoooiinnggghhheerree???, and some sort of emperor/goddess/roman.

 awww. the sweetest angel.

the whole group ready to go.

happy halloween!!!!!