I'm 29...again!

I know! I know! I know what you are all thinking (well, not all of you, but, some of you!) And you know what? I don't want to hear it! If you came by looking for birthday giveaways, then just leave now! ;-D

It is difficult for the type of person I am to do the same thing two years in a row. I cannot repeat the giveaways from last year's birthday, because, that would just be too ... well, predictable.

Oh, and let's get this question out of the way. What number is it? I like to say that this year, I'm celebrating THE 4TH ANNIVERSARY OF MY 29TH BIRTHDAY, or, my 29th birthday, for short!!

So, how does one top a 10 day span of giveaways?

Um, she doesn't.  Actually, I'm gonna spend the day away from the 'puter :-O and spend it with those cuties from the pictures on Monday!

I'll be back tomorrow (or Monday if the partying is too much for me) with some birthday fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Daddy's little helpers...

Notice the toy chainsaw? :-D

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Its the Tiny Talkers turn:

This summer, Elle has really taken an interest in the nail polish on my toes. She's been eagerly anticipating when it is her turn, asking, "Mommy, will you please paint my pony tails?"



"You mean your toe nails?"



"Yes," she answers with smiles of glee!



*******

At the dentist yesterday, Quintin was finished and came to where I was sitting with Elle in her exam room. As he rushed into the room, he told me "P and O are loose!" It took me a few seconds to realize he meant his two bottom teeth! WOW! He's soon going to lose his first teeth!!



******

Quintin and I were talking about a toy he's had since he was a baby.  Elle asked how old she was when he got it.  I tried explaining to her that she wasn't born yet and she thought she understood when she said, "Oh, I was in your belly then."  I told her no, she wasn't in my belly yet, she was still with God.  Just like that, she quipped, "Yeah, and I don't remember what He looks like!"





Oh, I love these kids!!!



To hear what other Tiny Talkers are saying, visit Mary.

Where did the time go??

WOW! This is my 400th post.



So, now I'm gonna list 400 things about me.



Are you ready??



Just teasing.



But, you know I could do it though, don't you?!?!?! ;-)



We had a great holiday weekend - even if it did rain most of the time. Since we were in need of the rain, we weren't complaining!



Saturday night, we didn't have anything. I had been wanting to get some pictures taken of the kids so we headed to the mall.



I wanted an 18 month picture for Colin (even though he is 19 months today - he was 18 months when it was taken). I also wanted a 6 year picture for Quintin, my yearly picture with the kids and a family one.



I left without ordering the picture of me and the kiddos but will head in today sometime. It is for T's desk at work. The picture of just me and the kids didn't turn out as great as I had hoped, but I think the rest turned out great - especially our family picture!



We weren't planning on doing any of Elle, but she jumped right in after the boys were done, ready for her turn, so we let her go ahead!!

Click to see our pictures from last summer.

Happy Monday!!

I even surprised myself

Remember this?

Its now this, this and this.

I added a decorative border around the bottom of the top to pull out more of the burgundy.

Our plans for the weekend included going up to T's family's cabin. But we've decided to stay home. We were hoping to get the kids up so we could do some of the "camping" things we didn't get to do since we missed our church's family camping weekend last weekend. But, there will be other weekends.

We'll be swimming at T's sister's house tomorrow night and sneaking home before the fireworks begin to put our children's nerves ears at ease.

And Sunday night, we'll be spending time with my family at my parent's house. We are even going to try to do THIS on some t-shirts.

Also, I must acknowledge Sew Sensible for her Faith Double Layer Dress Top and Boutique Bottom patterns I used for Elle. And Nanoo's Designs for the Betsey/Joey shorts I made for the boys!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

I just can't help myself...

8 Weeks and Gum Etiquette!

Last evening marked 8 weeks since I've had any pepsi/soda. I did take a sip of T's root beer float last weekend just to see if I missed soda. The verdict? Nope!

I've picked up another habit to replace the soda...but I don't think it is as bad or unhealthy. I've started chewing gum more often - helps to keep me out of the snacks.

I've learned a few things that I feel are blog worthy and I hope they help someone. 'Cause I worry about you all, and I want you to take good care of yourselves. (So you can be around in 10 years....to still be reading my blog! HAHA)


One problem with chewing gum is that your mouth may be open more. I have found this not to be good when:

--mowing the lawn on a windy day with a mower that blows the grass out the back. At about face level. And you continually turn around into the spray of grass. Not fun.

--Feeding an 18 month old. Who likes to throw food. And has good aim.

--Changing diaper of 18 month old. 'Nuff said!

--Driving with the car window down.

--Working in the kitchen. Making meals, cleaning dishes. Etc.

--Playing with 18 month old who has a fascination of putting fingers into other people's mouths.



OH! And there this is the whole other side of gum chewing.

Why you shouldn't chew gum when you are working out...

And don't get me started on why you shouldn't swallow gum!

"A cheerful heart is good medicine" Proverbs 17:22

Happy Monday everyone!

OOOhhhhh!!!! If you haven't been by Just Mom's yet, stop over to see one of my newest fun projects!! Click here: Just Mom's Musings

A Tale of Two Days

At one point last month, I was working hard to get the rest of the upstairs housecleaned (or, what I consider housecleaned...please don't come with a white glove!)

I wanted to clean our bedroom, bathroom, closet and a hall closet. My goal was to get it done by a specific Friday.

Was someone famous coming? Was I hosting a family get together?

No, the plumber was coming Friday morning to work on our shower. (If you came looking for excitement, you won't find it at this house, folks!)

There is an access panel to our shower in the hall closet. I knew he'd probably need in there and the closet was pretty much untouched since move in day 2 1/2 years ago. I can sum it up in one word: PILES!

I spent most of Thursday morning that week cleaning. Thursday afternoon, I got a call. The part had not arrived, they needed to reschedule...UGH!! All that cleaning...All for naught...

It was now scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Back up to Friday, I found out I won a cookbook at Soulemama's blog. It was a random contest - BUT, there were over 1100 comments on the giveaway post! And I won!! I was psyched...so psyched I forgot about the bathroom frustration.

Tuesday morning arrives and the earliest of the plumber's time estimate was still 30 minutes away. The kids were still sleeping and I was in the bedroom closet, putting away Monday's laundry. We can access storage space from our bedroom closet and I needed to step out to put something above the garage.

That's when I heard the noise.

I could hear a truck running...

My first thought, 'Its the plumber.' My second thought, 'Oh no, I'm still in my pajamas.' I quickly ran to the window that overlooks the driveway and saw it was a Fed Ex truck....Phew! Close one!! I figured I could tend to that later.

I finished up in the bedroom and heard Colin stirring. I walked into his room and heard the doors from the other bedrooms. Okay, everyone was awake...then their doors went shut again...they weren't ready to get up. Not a big deal...UNTIL, I saw the plumber's truck driving towards the house. AAAHHHH - at least I had changed!

I told the kids to hurry up and get dressed as I quickly dressed Colin. Colin and I booked it down the steps to get to the door. At this point, he had already pushed the doorbell and the dog was going crazy!

I let him into the house and showed him his work area. I managed to get the other two quickly downstairs for some breakfast....

While they were eating, I remembered about the delivery truck!! YAY!! It was my cookbook! I set it on the counter looking forward to when I could sit and enjoy it...later...much, much later.

The plumber was finished before lunch and the day was all well and good.

It came time to put the kids up for their rest time. So, what is a Momma to do with a new shower head that creates an amazingly crazy spray of lovely water and a new cookbook? Well, she goes and takes a nice, long, relaxing shower and then curls up to dig into her new book!

This book, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper is more than a cookbook. Yes, it has delicious sounding recipes and incredible photos, but it has stories and much more. I haven't gotten to read it all yet, but I've enjoyed the few minutes I got to read it that afternoon.

5 things I'm lovin' right now...

1 - waking up to the sound of rain (even though it didn't last long)

2 - a shower after working out

3 - looking forward to spending some time in the woods this weekend (even though we won't be able to stay and camp with the rest of the church families)

4 - Dreams of the chocolate chip cookie dough blizzards I had on the boardwalk last week

5 - Three wild and crazy kiddos asking me if I'm getting off the computer soon!

6 - My new header!!! (I like to break the rules sometimes too, Just Mom!!!)

What are you lovin' right now?

Wordless Wednesday

A few birthday pictures...

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Last week, we spent the week at the Jersey shore with another family and their three girls. Quintin enjoys playing with their girls, but there was some confusion in the "girl-lingo" and we'd hear him say things like, "Mom, I want to wear my two piece today."

Elle was eating a Fruit Roll Up with these tongue tattoos. You put the roll up against your tongue and it leaves a print. Here's Elle asking me, "How does my tongue look Mom?"



And here is Colin. His bib says, "Color Me Happy" and his face says, "Color Me Oreo!"

For more Tiny Talk, visit Mary at Not Before 7.

My baby is 6!!! :-O

Where has the time gone? And who can I speak with about slowing it down?

This young man is 6! Say it ain't so!!

I asked Quintin last night what he'd like me to make for his birthday supper. I should have known the answer. My lil' pirate wants Pirate Stew!

Separating work and vacation....not!

You can take the man out of the quarry,

but you can't take the quarry out of the man.

He's informed me that his is to scale. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

Siblings....Friends!!!

{PS - While I do not enjoy including words on my WW posts, I've found I must so as to appease the bloglines monster people!)

The ocean and "baby pool"

The ocean for the bigger kids....and a baby pool for the little ones!!

2 for 1

Its a 2 for 1 weekend here!

Sunday is, of course, Father's Day....but it is also our 12th anniversary. I know I've mentioned before that we dated 5 years before getting married, but just writing that we've been together for 17 years blows me away...that is more than half my life now. Crazy!

I wish a Happy Father's Day and a Happy Anniversary to the best-est guy in the world! God gave me a wonderful gift in a man that loves me for the crazy person that I am. A wonderful kind of love with his whole heart. And he loves our children just as much!

I love you T!

Happy Father's Day & Happy Anniversary!