12.12.08 "OH NO! NOT THE TEETH!!!"

Ok, so you have all heard the sad tale of poor Bubba's teeth...not to mention the amount of $$$ we have spent to get said teeth fixed. Well when I picked him up from Daycare on Friday he was crashed. He had cried so hard he was zonked. He still had blood all over his face. Apparently, he was running on the playground and fell and hit the slide WITH HIS FACE. Yikes! Of course teeth went thru lip and it was a bloody mess. Bubba hates to have owies cleaned, so they did their best and he cried himself to sleep. (I didn't even get a phone call...but thats another story). Anyway, when i get there the first thing i say is, "Are his teeth ok?!" Now don't get me wrong...i was concerned about the sleeping boy on the floor too..but these are $5,000. teeth we are talking about. They aren't even paid off yet! They told me from what they could see at the time they seemed fine, so i scooped him up and loaded him in the car. He is still sleeping and continued to sleep for the next 2 hours while we started on the gingerbread house. When he finally woke up I had my friend Wendy look at the carnage to check (since i am quezy and dont handle blood and stuff well at all) and guess what? He completely knocked 3 of the 4 teeth out of whack, and one is practically dangling it's so loose! Ugh. Long story short, emergency call to dentist, roads so bad Saturday a.m. (the kind where winter storm warning/advisory scrolls across bottom of all local channels) we couldn't get all the way to Missoula. The dentist on call was fairly sure it would be ok to wait until monday since these are fake teeth and they either stay or will go. Monday we got in to see his dentist, they x-ray'd, no permanent damage. Thank you Jesus. We decided as a team to leave them and se if they would root themselves back in the gumline and recheck in 3mo. If no improvement they can bridge the fake teeth together so he can have function of the teeth. No biting into apples for this little boy. We are back to cutting into slices and eating with the rear teeth. When it rains it pours. He is still his happy little self, and isn't bothered much by it.
Here he is sleeping it off that day it happened, poor baby!

12.04.2008 Katie the Krazy Kat

Our cat is fully crazy. She's mean! A friend recently sent me this video (thanks Jacque!!!) and we just cracked up because i swear it's hidden video of Katie. It looks just like her and ACTS just like her. It's crazy. So enjoy its Katie /aka/ Sparta.


Now that you are done laughing hysterically, and have had your fill of "eye candy" for today...here is the sweeter side of the girl. We still have the highchair out from when DeRell's sister was here with Sadie. I think the cat likes it. Every chance she gets she climbs in for a nap. (Kind of like the sink in the video) She also likes the filing paper bin next to our printer. LOL

12.01.2008 Trim a Tree

Ok, so i did it. Egads. I actually have the forbidden Fake Tree in my house. For those who know and love my neurotic ways, you are probably thinking "say it aint so". Because i said i would NEVER have a fake tree. It's un-christmas, it doesn't smell good, and it's just plain ugly. Well it is! Budget being what it is there is no money for a tree. So i unpacked this lovely (NOT!) pre-lit baby from storage set it up, and put the presents underneath. Oops, forgot to decorate it. It sat for a few days so i could feel sorry for myself (poor me) and then i gave in and let the kids have fun decorating it.

Here is the NAKED tree, it is prelit so the lights came with.

They did the entire thing, tacky garland and all by themselves. It is beautiful. I have learned to never say NEVER and it brought them such joy and it has grown on me (...like a fungus...but whatever!) I still miss the pine smell...but at least my mom sent the annual real pine wreath for the front door so i can stand at the front door and sniff anytime.


Danielle getting ornaments in all the hard to reach places!

Bubba having fun too!

11.28.2008 The Many Faces of BUBBA

What can i say...i LOVE my Bubba! What's not to love? He is the most adorable, doe eyed, extra lovable boy there is. And he loves me NO MATTER WHAT! He tells me all the time, which makes my heart so FULL. Not a day goes by where he doesn't tell me (quite often multiple times) that he loves me. The feeling is mutual little guy. You will always be my little man, the baby, the huggie bear. His very cute personality was out in full force on parade day. So here's some of what i LOVE....

"BRRRRRRRR MOMMY I'M COLD!"

"I'M HAPPY, LOVE YOU MOMMY!"

"THIS IS MY MAD FACE"..then he cracked up after i took the shot!

p.s. Hi Uncle Lloyd & Auntie Darla, I'm wearing my warm Angel's Beanie!

11.28.2008 Keeping CHRIST in CHRISTmas Parade

Living in a small valley/town has it's benefits. For one, people openly celebrate CHRISTMAS for what it is. Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. We don't have a huge mass of atheists picketing or people trying to keep Christ out of our schools and our way of life. If they don't believe, they just don't make a fuss. It's laid back that way. We can have a parade celebrating Jesus and it is NORMAL. So that's exactly what they did the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn't a big or grand (or well lit, for that matter) parade, but the message was still there. It was so dark (and cold) i couldn't get any good pics of the parade...but it was family fun for all! DeRell and Bubba braving the cold...at least we had Hot Chocolate!

Danielle saw her friend Shawnee and sat with her to watch the parade.

A rare photo of Mommy and Bubba - the one taking the pics rarely gets pics taken with HER in them, so thanks Daddy for getting this shot.

11.27.2008 Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Amid the financial struggles, we have our health (yeah! the whole family is doing pretty well), good friends, a roof over our heads and freedom. There are so many more reasons to be thankful! This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Weeks clan (as usual) but at Jack/Susie's house instead. It was fun, and we ate and ate. Shocker. I brought rolls (oooh tough!) and everyone loved them. HA! Here's some photo's of the fun



Chester carved the turkey while Lara, Shenoa and Kiri looked on.



Danielle has been learning (my ear and sight) a few songs on the piano. She was going to try out her skills but her and Colton mostly fought for control of it. Doesn't Erick look thrilled? Diane even taught her 2 new songs today.



We also scanned the ads for day after Thanksgiving bargains, and made our plans. The next day i was up at 4:45 and Erick came with for Black Friday shopping (even though he was feeling a bit sick...probably from overeating) It was fun. I was the only one who actually got up and did it.. out of ALL of my friends!! Sissies! The best part was having all my shopping done in ONE trip and on ONE day. With all the bargains it was awesome.

And finally......the required position for after a yummy thanksgiving meal?! DeRell and DeRell Sr. giving their thanks for a wonderful meal the best way they know how!

11.26.2008 Theater Room WOW!

Who would have thought that a project that started almost a year ago, would somehow be so near completion. It is very exciting to see how far it has come. The goal was to get it done by Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then the end of the year, but finances were/are stretched so tight there just was no money! We have a client that wants to see it so hopefully it will make up for how far we've stretched and reap some rewards. There are still so many in our small town that don't know this is the type of business we do. Here's a photo from when framing began-room inside a room and spray in insulation will help with sound.


After much "discussion" (LOL) and research i lost the battle on color scheme. I really wanted a dark cappachino color but for minimal light reflection it is always best to go with black and greys. We settled on grey and black. The chairs are electric black leather, and i got a light grey burbur (sp?) carpet so at least it didn't end up looking like a cave! The black on the ceiling, tray, and behind the screen area will keep light to a minimum.



Erick has been auch a trooper helping out, he is quite good at electrical and cabling though he wouldn't admit it! Of course, there are motives behind his "helpful spirit"...XBox parties, Playstation3 gaming, Huge screen Movies...yep he's a saint. Here he is pulling down his shirt so there is no photo evidence of crack. The carpet isn't installed yet in this photo - it gets installed Dec. 8th.

November Updates

Wow, has it been a long time since i BLOGGED! Not that i wanted it that way, but as many of you know i have not had a camera. It seems so boring without photos and videos! I just could n't get into it! Well by this weekend that will all change. SO what's new around here?
-Got my hair colored again (dark brunette i am!) Thanks Mom!
-Progress is being made in our new Theater Room at the store
-Started selling "stuff" on ebay to help make ends meet (not alot of "ends meeting" lately) So far we've just sold some business excess inventory, but watch out closets here i come!
-Danielle is learning to play the piano, had 4 songs down within 72 hours
-This past weekend was just Bubba & Mommy time (Danielle gone w/ her teacher all weekend and Erick was at a speech meet in Kalispell) what a wonderful change of pace!
..........and drum roll please..................
I HAVE A NEW CAMERA!!! How, you might ask? Well, after learning to go without ( a new concept for me i must admit) i actually got it as an early Christmas gift from my sister Darla. Apparently she didn't get the memo about adults not exchanging gifts...or just plain ol felt sorry for me. Hard to be a mommy without a camera! Anyway, i think it really must have been that she was sick of cell phone pics that are awful! Whatever the reason, i am SO thankful. I have it charged, the new SD card (4 gig yeah!) in and am learning all about it! It's 10 megapixel..YIPPEE.



So what do you think?! Isn't it beautiful? The box will have to do bcuz it's not like i can take a picture of my camera WITH my camera!

So, nows your turn trusty blog readers....what do YOU want to see a picture of? The Theater room? The finished bathroom? Kids? Cat? Lemme know, it's been so long since i took real pictures I'm excited to take them of just about anything! Post your comment below

11.03.2008 Spider Kids

Monday Night we headed over to "aunt" Wendy's to celebrate her daughter Lindsey's birthday. It was fun and the kids had a great time as usual. It is always a good time when Corey, a.k.a. "Manny" is there (Lindz boyfriend) because he is just a heap of fun. The kids can't help but dogpile on him and pester him. I suppose it's because he is like Goliath to them, he is crazy TALL. (as eveidenced in the photos below) Because of his height advantage, the kids were able to practice being "spiderman" and crawling on Wendy's ceiling. It was HILARIOUS!

 

 

Happy Birthday to Lindsey and Britney Sweeney-you are 20 now...yeah. It was sad with the twins being away at different collages this year...it's the 1st birthday they've been apart. We made the best of it, and the kids sang Happy Birthday to Britney and we sent her the cell phone video of it!

10.31.2008 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Well Happy Halloween everyone. I am happy to report it was not 10 degrees or negative 10 this year. It was a nice balmy 38 so we are thankful. Just incase... Bubba did get a WARM costume this year. He was a Red Dragon (Moo-SHoo actually I think from the Kung Foo Panda movie) Anyway, we trick-or-treated all the downtown businesses then went to Wendy's and 1 subdivision we like to hit again this year. We like it because Mr. Littrell (the Principal at Danielle's school) lives there, and last night we found out one of the teachers from Bubba's preschool lives on that street too. She recognized Bubba's "Trick or Treat" even though her husband was at the door passing out the candy. It was really fun. I got a great pic of Bubba Trick or Treating at the Littrell's - below he is talking with Mrs. Littrell (Rachel)

Danielle decided not to trick or treat (that's 2 years in a row!...it was just too cold for her and she had a bad attitude about not having EXACTLY the costume she wanted) but mommy & Bubba had a great time and got plenty of candy for them both to share. At the "1 candy a day" rule we will have candy till next Easter as usual. Daddy & Danielle passed out the candy at our house, and then she & daddy hit like 4 houses on our street. We filled our trusty cookie jar to the brim with both of the candy haul's. (Not to mention they got quite a bit the night before at the Awana Harvest Party)

Not to be outdone, Erick and his friend Steven were planning to head out to "scare some friends" as well. Erick is not so much into dressing up - he's too old for that apparently. Steven spent quite a long time actually sewing stuff onto his clothes and i helped out with the "makeup" (washable finger paints hahaha) so he could be the perfect zombie. He looked pretty cool. They had fun too.

10.26.2008 Puzzle Mania!

 

This is what is up lately in our house. PUZZLES! The kids LOVE putting them together. We got a few more recently, since winter is coming and we will be indoors a lot more! Bubba is working on up to 60 peice puzzles already - he's only 4 - he just loves doing puzzles all by himself. We got a 750 piece one to do together but it was just too much. We got a 300 piece Pig puzzle that we plan to do together (as a family) in the next few weeks. That should be a bit easier for us and the kids love to have the pleasure of accomplishment when it's done. This is what they did one night with a bunch of the smaller piece puzzles 24-60 pieces. Then we put the boxes on top to get ready to clean them up! FUN!

10.25.2008 Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze

Hallelujah! Ah, there are photos! Not because i got a camera (don't get too excited) but really bcuz DeRell's family is in town and his sister Cathy has hers! I couldn't wait to upload those photos! So the latest around here is...quite a bit!! Most of the house "stuff" got completed for their arrival - thank you ALL who helped out. We have a beautiful main bathroom (the only bad part is 1 of the 3 mirrors were broken in the new medicine cabinet) =(. Friday afternoon and evening we had nice family time, yummy dinner & desssert, etc. Today, Saturday, some of us (DeRell & I) slept in (exhausted from 3 late nights in a row!) and this afternoon headed out to find a pumpkin patch. We ended up at Qwivals (which didn't have a pumpkin patch to speak of but enough for some photo op's!!! ENJOY

 

Missie, DeRell and Bubba pose in the corn maze. Danielle was off running around the maze with Grandpa!

 

Uncle Randy, Cathy (DeRell's sister), Sadie and Danielle

 

The Sikora's pose for a pumkin pic (Cathy, Randy & Sadie)

 

The Coates Clan....Grandpa (DeRell Sr.), Cathy and DeRell

10.23.2008 So much to do, so little time...

Well last nite (Wednesday) went pretty well. Mainly bcuz i was able to leave the shop around 12:30 and hurry home. I got the paint and began painting the bathroom. Then busy Weds came in full force, Gymnastics, eat dinner, take kids to Awana. I came home and got the rest of main bath painted during Awana like i had hoped!

DeRell, Erick & Grandpa got the tub back in the Master (but we have a drip!) so overall a great day. We hadn't been able to get that part to fix the leak, and yesterday DeRell scored it at a Spa Mfg.place in Stevi. Woo-Hoo! Cleaned it all out, tested it, and besides the annoying drip it should be fine. Kids (and DeRell) are excited about being able to use the "big bathtub" again...like tonite!

Kids stayed up WAY too late again (like 10:30! i'm a bad mom i know!) and DeRell and I were up until about 1:30am or was it 2am?! Can't recall-i was on auto pilot. I (by this i mean "we") finished the paint in the Master Bath. It's great to have that DONE. DeRell was a wonderful help both last night & Tues night with the hard to paint spots (i am only 5 foot!!!) so that book must be rubbing off on him!

I couldn't get to bed - i kept thinking about all the things left to do, so sat and wrote out a list of what needed to be done in each room by Friday am. The list took up a whole sheet of paper, multiple columns. Too many "partially finished" items to mention, plus i have to clean. Oh, and Greys Anatomy is on tonite. Thank you DVR - but i am sure i'll be up till 2am again (watching it after i am all done with the other stuff =) hehehehe)

Anyhow another great evening of progress. Looking forward to "completion" of some items and a few checks in the mail hopefully from clients so we can buy groceries for company. Not too big of a request. Have a great day everyone! I'm gonna steal DeRell's camera and try to take some photos, this no camera thing has me batty!

10.21.2008 Tuesday Updates

Well yesterday (Tuesday) went pretty well. The kids behaved/pitched in and we are all doing good at keeping the house picked up & everyone seems to be cleaning up after themselves! Baby steps but it seems like LEAPS! Yay!

We had family dinner last night, and prayed about the events that happened at Danielle's school (it was broken into and all the jogathon money as well as the church offerings from the weekend were stolen). It's hard on children who work so hard to raise money to have it stolen. We talked alot about it and asked that God change the hearts of the very bad people who did this.

DeRell and I managed to get the bathroom Primer up last night for the main bath after the kids went to bed. SO it was a late night, and we slept in late in the morning bcuz of it! Wednesday's chore is to buy the paint for the ceiling/trim as well as the new paint color. I am hoping to have it all painted while the kids are at Awana's tonite.

No bible study for me bcuz of the viewing for Nelda. As many know she passed extremely fast from her Cancer that she just found out about at the begininning of this month. My view is that she was such a loving and humble servant that God spared her the agony and brought her home quickly. She was loved by so many in the entire community-i don't think there is even one church that didn't know who she was and had her in their prayers! She served out her days as a missionary for the Lord - teaching so many and sharing God's love at so many churches and events. She will be truly missed on Earth, but is now in the place we all long to be. I have such a different mindset than so many others i know who dwell in sadness when someone dies. I can't help but smile at the blessing of the believers who pass on... the ones that are singing with the angels and in the presence of our Creator. When we know this as Truth, how can we be sad?? Someday it will be me, or a family member and I just want everyone to have peace. Peace that we are finally HOME when we leave this Earth. Don't cry. SMILE.

10.20.2008 Monday YEAH!

Well it was a good Monday. I am feeling a bit better, the kids well for the most part also.

Danielle won 2 prizes for the Jog-a-Thon event. A prize for having 6 donors and another for collecting over $100 dollars!

Our trust Drywall guy showed up as promised and hand textured the Main bathroom. It looks awesome. It needs to be primed then painted and we should be good for setting the stuff in place to make it functional after a couple of busy nights work.

Our former dear employee (Seana) who left for vacation in California last month came back MARRIED! We are so excited for her, her new husband Josh and their blended family which includes 3 children (Isiah, Israel and Miah). They came to visit and are excited to get back to California and start their new life. We wish them the best and know they are truly blessed!

Financially i wish we could do something for them, but i can't even buy groceries right now. I hope in the next couple of days some checks come in, or my guests will be eating potatoes and whatever comes out of a box in my pantry! The Lord will provide, i know. It's just a scary time...and with the economy - makes me think I should pull my daughter out of private school but the other side of me knows she/we all need that loving, nurturing, Christian environment. And i am sure we will be blessed for making the sacrifice. It's been over a year since things were this bad financially, it's hard to go back to this place - especially at this time of the year. Well, this was a Happy post, so i am going to end it on a Happy Note!

Lastly, i finished the book that was recommended by all the Christian Marriage counselors - The 5 Love Languages. What an AWESOME book! (i'm reading the 5 love languages of Children also and have all the kiddo's figured out...but that's for another post!) Anyway, we had Seana & Josh take the "test" in the back of the book and read "if your spouse's love language is"....so it could help them in the many years ahead. And my goal was reached bcuz i in turn was able to have DeRell take the test (with me prodding "since they did it...it will be fun honey, really!") And i had already last week ranked the 5 I thought DeRell would say in the order i thought. I got his #1 right!!! Yay!!! but the rest were off, which is good for me to know. I also made him read the part about my Love Language ("Acts of Service") so he would know what to do to make ME feel loved. It was an eye opening experience especially because at the beginning i ranked what i thought my 5 were, and by the end of the book and the test i was wrong about myself! LOL Anyway, i am hoping applying some of the knowledge from the book will help us out and reconnect us in the love that we had during the Honeymoon/"In Love" period! So stay tuned!

10.19.2008 Great Saturday, but Home Improvement HELL???

HOW ABOUT SOME GOOD NEWS?
Saturday was AWESOME! My friend April staged an intervention to keep me sane. Her mother (Norma), our friend Judy and April all sacrificed their Saturday to help me clean so I could be ready for company. They were here 8 HOURS. 4 of us, and it took 8 hours....that was downstairs & about 50% of upstairs. It was a "deep cleaning" downstairs-it needed it! We also had to move furniture, etc. All this time D and E were in Missoula. End result of that trip was insulation and drywall for downstairs ceiling (gaping hole has only been there 2 years, why fix now???) new mirrored medicine cabinet for main bath, oh and yippe new carpet for the living room where as i mentioned dog was digging to China. This is all somehow "magically" going to be completed by Thursday evening....lets recap for those who know how the "KING OF 75%" works....am I trying to be positive but come on....
-Texture Main Bath (supposedly happening on Monday)
-Wait 24 hrs then Prime & Paint Main Bath (Tues, Weds???)
-Seal Grout on Floor Main Bath
-Paint and put up Baseboard Moulding in Main Bath
-Install Toilet, Vanity, Sink Top & Faucet, Medicine Cabinet in Main Bath
-Hang back up all Fixtures (towel holders, toilet paper, light, etc.)
-Let's not forget the CAULKING (since that is the root cause of this remodel)
-Hang Drywall on Basement Ceiling
-Tape & Texture Basement Ceiling
-Master Bath sand and texture new drywall patch so painting can be completed
-Finish painting Master Bath (yay its now terra cotta color instead of green)
-Put up 2 fixtures in Master Bath
-Lay Carpet in Living Room
-Steam clean upstairs carpets
-Steam Clean Carpets downstairs
Then all the general cleaning of the bathrooms, Kitchen floor, Laundry etc. All by Thursday? Anyone wanna lay bets on this one? Oy.

I am truly blessed by my wonderful friends. Had they not come and helped i am afraid i would fall into negative nasty blogger heck. They are the bright spot in my life right now and threw me that life preserver when i was going under. Now i have to put on my Christmas wish list one of those cool floor steamer thingies Judy brought over, it is amazing!!! I'll keep everyone posted on our progress. =)

10.18.2008 Health Updates & More fun stuff

Ok, so Friday went well....NOT! First off, i was running around like a chicken w/ my head cut off trying to get all done and take off for the Jog-A-Thon, long story short-stopped back at ofc to use restroom, walked out and locked my keys inside the ofc. No car key, no key to get back in, no neighboring building tenants have spare keys, UGH! So i walked to Danielle's school (no purse or sunglasses-waaa!) luckily it's only 6 blocks. We then walked to Jog-a-thon (4 more blocks) and she did Super! 6 laps, which is like 2 miles. Problem was 10 block walk after (she whined the whole time..i thought that was my job?!) Anyway, dropped her at the Hour Playhouse for a playdate with Reigan (pre-planned) and off to work. Oh, thats right, I am locked out! Well i made the best of it, and walked yet again 4 blocks to the walk-in clinic. Diagnosis, Sinus Infection & Dbl. Ear infection. You can feel sorry for me now-doc was wondering how i was still standing. I told him cuz I'm a mom so i have no choice. Reality is i just wanted to go home and go to bed but i couldn't locked out so no car! Thankfully, by the time i walked back DeRell & Erick had come back from their job and unlocked it. Went to bed early that night, on all my new meds. Lemme check off the list:
-5 day Antibiotic (then i stop for 5 days, then do the 5 day all over again)
-Cough syrup with Codeine (yay baby! Sleep here i come)
-Netti Pot also known as SinuCleanse which i begged Dr. not to make me do as it grosses me out (too bad, do it he says!)
-Yogurt daily to replace good stuff the antibiotics are killing
-Acetomenophine every 4 hrs for ear/sinus pressure
-Zyrtec decongestant to take 1x daily
WHEW!
Oh, Main Bath has had -0- progression in 2 days. Due to genius Mudd idea. Our Drywall guy is gonna hand texture it (Monday) then prime/paint it (Tues.) so this means Weds before we can put in moulding, vanity, fixtures etc. UGHHHHHH.

I think it's gonna be a great day

I am going crazy! 10.17.2008

Ok, so not only do i STILL have this cold (round 2) but can i possibly begin to describe the torture of NOT having a working camera. UGGHHHH. Makes me wanna pull out the trusty credit card and just go buy one. But wait, that would be stupid..who has money to make the pmt on the credit card when it's due? Not me. Not to mention the one i want is at Costco and they don't take credit cards! Ughhh. Updates around here...
1. Greys Anatomy is AWESOME. I'm hooked, addicted, whatever! I added a widget to my blog did you see? Scroll down on the right side bar. Ooooh I am high tech now. **Side note pretty much unsuitable subject matter on the snippet from last night about the female anatomy-definately not PG** Lets hope for a better episode snippet next week**
2. Bathroom is going backwards. I have holes (literally!) cut out of the sheetrock where there were once beautiful fixtures. Some genius decided to re-mudd/texture the entire bathroom then repaint (as if the previous 4 coats of many colors weren't enuf) it. That adds 3-4 days to the chore. Friday people, relatives arriving on airplanes from afar on FRIDAY! Which leads me to #3.....
3. Still no toilet in main bathroom. 4 people sharing 1 bathroom is just plain GROSS especially when u have no spare time to clean it let alone dont FEEL like it from being sick.
4. House is messier and more chaotic then ever. (shocker)
5. Dog tore literal hole in carpet last night trying to eat something that must have been spilled on the floor by one of my lovely children. Seriously people, big hole-size of silver dollar missing all carpet fibers.
6. Cat tried to kill fish on Monday that i happen to be pet sitting for a friend. Thank God it actually came back to life. Fish now sits on office desk away from children, pets, and mortal danger.
7. Camera is still broken - i have missed many a "kodak moment" and just want to scream.
8. I am still sick. Wont go away, likely have sinus infection & ear infection. No time for pesky Dr. 's or clinics.
9. Must think of something good and positive instead of whining for #10.
10. Bubba is amazing and is loving putting together like 60-100 piece puzzles!
11. Danielle raised $135. for the Jogathon at her school today! Thanks to all her family who supported her.
Ok, so list ends there cuz i have to share the hilarious fund raising story. So Danielle is being shy & takes us 3 days to get the courage to get on the phone to ask anyone for money. I (mom) bribe her with "I will give you $5 for each person you call and ask". Apparantly money talks with this girl. She hits up all my sisters. So there's the comedy. I call Auntie Lynnette on her cell phone & Danielle gets on with her speel and Auntie who just balanced her checkbook and must have had a surplus this month decided to pledge $40. (holy crud she hit the motherlode!) Well Auntie Kelly happens to be in the car, so she hands the phone to her...and Kelly (bless her heart) not wanting to be shown up by Lynnette decides to MATCH the $40 pledge!!! Danielle is literally skipping around the kitchen (practically rubbing her hands together in greediness LOL) over this and in her sweet 6 year old voice asks Auntie Kelly "is there anyone else in the car?!"....you see the wheels were spinning in that girls head....1 phone call - 2 people - i just got $80 bucks, maybe there is more on that gravy train!!!! I just about peed my pants laughing. I know it made for a funny ride home for the Aunties. Don't stop there Danielle-go for it! All in all she collected $135. Not bad for an hours worth of work!
Well, i am off to help out at the Jog-a-thon today. Alot less pressure on the kids since all donations were "flat rate" this year and not per lap. But it should be fun. I would take pictures but, oh that's right, no camera. LOVE LOVE!

10.08.2008 Pretty in Pink Update!

OMG! I just HAVE to share this. Firstly, today was picture day at Danielle's school. For those who know and love her you will recall that she DOES NOT do professional pics. (Thus the reason we have no pics of her after the family photo age2-besides the cheeesy home done photo card thingies). Anyway,preschool, Kidnergarten, 1st grade....tears and screams, will NOT get on that chair for the scary guy with big lights and big camera. Well this year, after much discussion the night before & the am, she put on the pretty hot pink polka dot dress (thanks to grandma again!) got on that chair, and smiled! A real school picture. (Now why is it that she can do the spring group photo with class but individual portrait is always a deal breaker?!) I wouldn't even write out the check until she did it! Best $19. i ever spent. She smiled but wouldn't say "pickles"!...what a ridiculous thing anyway! I am so proud of my little girl. Let's hope she's "over it" and we can get on with life.
That's all that is new in Montana, hey, it's a balmy 28 degrees with a high of 50 and chance of snow today. .....oh how i wish i was in California.*sigh*
BTW - ("by the way" for you non-texter/blogger types) Spots has flown the coop (literally it seems and is nowhere to be found). Perhaps he didn't like us so much and was yearning for the outside world..he picked a bad time..it's pickin cold here! We will keep u updated, but we have searched and searched and no toad!

10.03.2008 Blog Hiatus

My camera is broken, and the battery is dead with the charger nowhere to be found! I haven't been able to take any pictures in over a week. I am DYING! What's new around here?.....well I'd love to show you-but no photos! Quite a bit has happened in the last 7-10 days!
-Pressure tank nearly blew up, no water! (fixed regulator all is well now)
-Dishwasher stopped cleaning dishes (had to buy new one which we could not afford)and additionally had to chip out 4 tiles in kitchen to remove old one and add new one.
-Pulled up all tile in 2nd (MAIN) bathroom to verify no mold (none to speak of), sadly as many will attest good intentions last weeks if not months....guess where that toilet is?? (OY! YES on my back deck!)"Oh i swear baby, 2 days max" Well we are on day 6 people.
-Got new tile and vanity for bathroom with no toilet. (still not installed-shocker) Wanna take some bets on when this might get completed? I'm gonna go with 1 day before all his family gets here from out of town later this month!
I'll keep you all posted....but you know how i feel about MORE renovations that never get done. Oh yippee! Can you feel my pain?!
LOVE LOVE

09.29.2008 Memory Lane

 

Is it just me, or does this picture bring warm and happy feelings to you too? I fondly remember these cereals from when i was a little girl! It's sad that they get dusted off, and re-marketed only around Halloween. I saw these on a quick trip to the store, and bought a box of each one. The kids have eaten it and like all 3 flavors. I'm sure they will be asking for it a few months from now...and it won't be around! *sniffle*. So we are gonna enjoy this trip down memory lane one bowl at a time! Count Chocula (my favorite), Franken Berry (yummy) and Boo Berry! YUM YUM YUM

09.27.2008 1st Time Rider

 

Whew, what a day! Who would have thought a simple Pampered Chef party would have this kind of outcome! Danielle got onto Josh's little bike, and BLAM, just started riding it!!! Then she got on her Barbie bike-which we took the training wheels off of over a year ago-and just started to RIDE! No holding on from Mom, Dad or anyone. She just decided to do it...and DID IT!!! Now my little 6yr. old has her independence, confidence, and just rides and rides. It was a joy to watch!

09.21.2008 Big Eyed Bubba

 

One thing i love about my boy is his big beautiful eyes. They are olive colored, not quite sure if they should be called brown or green. Either way, they make my heart melt, and mommy says YES to those eyes far too often.

09.20.2008 Spots on Top

 
As you may or may not know, we have a family pet that is a toad. His/her name is Spots. It is a very friendly frog, likes to be pet, and likes his nice tank. We purchase crickets daily and the kids go hunting for other insect food items for him as well. Here is a shot of him up high...on Danielle's head! Per our research on the internet, it says they can be better pets than even cats and dogs! It could be eating out of our hand literally soon. He's a fun pet and likes to be looked at! Seriously! If we go up to his tank, he turns to us and almost smiles!

09.20.2008 Apple Picking Saturday #1

It's that time of year again, time for the 3rd Annual HCA (Hamilton Christian Academy) annual apple picking day. Each year we meet at the Brion's orchard to pick apples from their lovely McIntosh Apple trees. This was actually the first year Danielle was big enough to "help"-and Daddy and Bubba were off to a clients house. Erick helped out again this year-what a trooper to drag himself out of bed at 8am on a Saturday. I'm still battling this cold and feeling crappy overall but managed to snap some photos and pick some apples. We sell them for fundraising to people who like canning, making pies, and APPLE DAYS coming up! We usually can raise about a Thousand dollars which is great, and the Brions are happy to have their trees picked. It's a big job, they have well over 50 trees.

 

 

Danielle, ever the princess, gets a push from Tim. Her chariot's batteries were dead.

 

Erick joins in the fun! He gets the ones beyond my reach (even with the 8ft ladders!). Still not feeling well, we lasted only a couple of hours. This year the apples are pretty small and quite a few had worms. (Organic no pesticides so those varmits had their fill on the nice big apples!) What a fun Saturday! Now mommy gets to go home and nap! We have another weekend of picking coming up. There are so many we can't finish in 1 day!

We also stopped by to feed the ducks, and picked up some crickets for Spots (the frog)-so an eventful Saturday, but thankfully, back home before 1pm. Ha, still lots of day left to sleep.

09.17.2008 Pretty in PINK

 

Ok, so every Wednesday is "Chapel Day" at Danielle's school. Dress is mandatory! Well lucky for her she has plenty to chose from, and obviously doesn't mind posing for the camera. Her grandma ROCKS! This is a cute hot pink dress with raised polka dots which is too cute. It almost got put back on the rack cuz we had a few others and the total was growing....but thanks to Grandma she got 5 dresses that day. This will obviously be one of her favorites too. We are 3 weeks into school and she still hasn't worn the same thing twice. She has the matching headband (loving those this year) and she also is sporting her Gymboree bracelet style Button watch with multicolored plastic buttons. Adorable! It's good to be a girl!

09.16.2008 Bubba goes to the Dentist

Well, actually, he went to the Dentist last Thursday too for his checkup and we had to make this appt. today to fix the cavity. He was a trooper last week with the xrays and cleaning. We knew he had a cavity, it was visible, poor baby. So we got it taken care of right away and today was the day. He did so well, they gave him nitrous (to relax and calm him) and the topical to numb it before the shot. He didn't even squirm for the shot! He is such a good boy! He now has a crown to match sis- on his back right lower molar. Hopefully now that he brushes much better (3x a day even!) this will be our last. Too much money we have spent on baby teeth!

Here's Bubba with his Nitrous Space Mask watching a movie on the screens they have on the ceiling! No doubt our family has paid for at least one of those over the last year and a half! LOL He's wearing his Veggie Tales shirt from the concert!

Here is Dr. Tiede doing the work. She is soooo awesome and gentle. She has such a wonderful and calming way with the children, i wish she was my dentist!

09.15.2008 Monday -BLAH-

Well that's it. Today sucks. Danielle has an ear infection (she went to the Dr. on Friday) but is responding well to her antibiotic. On Saturday night i started feeling yucky, and all day yesterday, and by today I am full blown MISERABLE. What is it about colds that just make you whiney and mopey? Ughhh. The good news, is that Daddy took Danielle to school for me, since i had no intention of going to work today! I dropped Bubba off late at Daycare so we (I) could take my time. Today was his 2nd day of school (yeah!) and we even remembered his backpack! He picked it out the same day as sissy and has been patiently waiting to be able to start school and use it *awwww*. It's Camo- go figure! He's a boy (well you wouldn't have guessed from the last blog but he really is) I blogged my heart out trying to get caught up and then took a 3 hour nap. Well really only 2 cuz i was so uncomforatble for the 1st hour i couldn't even sleep. I ache, my nose is running like a faucet, i have pressure bordering on a migraine...........whaaaaaaaaaaaa! Anyway, hope everyone's Monday was better than mine. I did get up for 3 1/2 hrs to attend a cooking show ( i shouldn't have gone) that my friend Wendy had bought tickets for about a month ago and i couldn't let her down. I made it an hour or so into the actual demo then had to leave. I went straight to bed. Yummy Theraflu you are my friend!

My precious BIG BOY all ready for school!