Sickies.

You probably think this is a post all about my children and the swine flu and how tired I am and how much I'm missing my husband right now.

But it's not.

Today we skipped church. And designed.

I had the kids draw pictures of monsters. We picked our favorites and made them into stuffed animals.

And then named them Sickies.

Because my children are sick with the swine flu and I'm tired and I miss my husband terribly.

by Tyler

by Jared

by Evan

by Mom for Anna

I think we found a new family pastime.

That Little Turkey

Because of this...
And this...

With a little bit of this...

I just had to go with this...
It made sense to me.


And does this look like the face of a child who would be sick only a few hours later.
He must have had the ham.

The World. The Moon. Deep Thoughts by Andrea Handey.

I don't know why, but I think 4 am visits by my daughter declaring, "I have to go potty!" are somewhat endearing.

And then when I realize that she has a fever, I ball her up and put her in the bed next to me.

And love every minute of it.

Morning 2. 3 am.

High fever and labored breathing.

Not really endearing.

But to be able to hold her heating pad body in my arms and swipe the sweaty hair from her face as I monitor her breathing patterns and pray my heart out for her, I am reminded of why I signed up for this job.

And even though I am beyond exhausted,...

I love these mommy moments.

I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Or even the moon.





Sniffle. Sniffle.



I've been so excited about going.

I even have flair.










(courtesy of Rob's co-worker. Thanks, Michelle and I hope you have a VAMP-tastic time!)

But I can't leave my baby in the middle of the night when she needs me the most with a 15 year old kid asleep on my couch.



Anyone want my ticket for the midnight showing of New Moon?



Whaaaaaa!

Help, please.

The great Denise of Denise Beatty Photography took our family photos while we were in Massanutten (photos will be shown soon).

I especially loved the photos of the kiddos...

But I'm having a hard time deciding which to print of Evan...

#1

#2

#3

You can vote on the side bar or leave a comment.

Thanks for your help!!!

We're back...

And what a perfect way to unwind from our mini vacation then to sit inside all day away from the cold rain. Couldn't get better then this!

Happy to be home. Going to enjoy my time with my husband before he leaves, again.

Here are just a few highlights from our trip to Massanutten...

Shenandoah Caverns.
Route 11 Potato Chip Factory. We love Salt and Vinegar chips. And Habanero.
Geocaching.
Swimming.
Indoor Waterparks.
Arcade, unlimited play for everyone for only $9.
Horseback riding.
Mini golf.
Family pictures.
The Balloon Freak and stuffing 8 people and 7 large balloon things into the minivan and then driving home.
Late night game night. Shhhh...
Not eating out, yet managing to gain lots of weight.

It was a fun trip. I love being away from the everyday life. But still love my everyday life. And happy to be back at it.

And can you believe how nicely this group of kids clean up. This is a once in a lifetime shot.

Happy DSD!! Choo-Choo

Are you here to celebrate Digital Scrapbook Day??

If you're following along on the ScrapMatters blog train, then you should have just come from LuAnn's blog.

And I've got a little frame cluster for you for FREE. It was made using the new ScrapMatters Design Team collab "A Slice of Life." This fab kit is free with a $15 purchase!!

Download HERE
(download available until Thursday 11/12)

Thanks for stopping by! And tell Maria I said "Hi!!"

Dental Dilemas...again?

After our last dental visit, I posed the question "How do I help my kids become better flossers?" I received several suggestions and took none of them. HAHAHAHAHA. Really, I just kept doing what I was doing. I'd occasionally remind them to floss. Sometimes I'd help the little ones floss. And a few days before their dental visit, I pestered them to no end.

It must have worked.

No cavities. Great brushers. And even better flossers.

And while we've got flossing on our minds...

A little modern art from our youngest flosser...

Reduse. Reuse. Recycle.

Halloween was a great day. I think there should be a law passed...making Halloween always on a Saturday. All of our crazy Halloween fun was all last weekend. So yesterday was all about having a stress-free day. WooHoo!

We were invited to go to Cox Farm for a birthday party. Rain was looming in the forecast. The ground was muddy. And I had visions of Anna's tulle costume being torn apart, so we pulled out the kids costumes from last year and revisited Star Wars!!


We had our traditional Mummy Dogs for dinner and the kids headed out for a rainy evening of Trick or Treating with friends.


Sigh...another Halloween has passed. Now to start scheming up ideas for next year!!

I love Halloween.

Just a little NUTTY!

This is why I cannot leave her unattended and why I can barely squeeze a shower in.

This is also why I love her so much.

She is so tasty.

I love peanut butter. Preferably with chocolate, though.

Surviving AND Thriving

Seriously. What happened to us? You'd have thought we fell off the face of the earth.

Right now we are in the midst of probably our busiest weekend of the year. And we're taking it all in stride and enjoying every minute of it.

Last night was our annual Spooky Dinner. The tradition started years ago on Halloween night, but the kids were so excited to go Trick or Treating that they forgot all about the whole eating thing, so we moved it up a week.

The kids look forward to this every year and get so excited about planning decorations and the menu (and signing off cubscout requirements in the process!!) and choosing the perfect costumes.




And now we're off, busy preparing for the Primary Program on Sunday and the Church Fall Festival tonight. Just call us "Busy."

Halloween Sneek Peek

Our family usually dresses up as a theme for Halloween...

2009 Star Wars
2008 Ninja Turtles (and lady bug and bug catcher)
2007 Road and Road Worker (also a skeleton and ghost and a random octopus)
2006 Pirates

And usually the theme revolves around some kind of obsession of our childrens.

Here's your clue...(The sweet kiss is not a clue, just an added bonus)

Any ideas? (No cheating if you already know) This is a tricky one to guess by just these costumes.

Say It. Mean It. Show It. I Love You.

From Elder Holland's stirring testimony of the Book of Mormon and Elder Hale's sweet testimony of the Savior, I came out of General Conference weekend feeling completely uplifted!

But it was Elder Bednar's words that left me the most inspired to do better and to be better as a person, parent and spouse.

So much that I commissioned my friend, Delilas, to make me some vinyl wall art..."Say it. Mean it. Show it." And "I Love You" underneath. Now to decide where in my house I would want to display it...

And I made a digital scrapbook layout...
And now I can constantly "show" my children how much I love them...It's a little banged up and a little worn out looking, but I love it and I love who it reminds me to be. And I'm finally putting my stamping tools to use!!

Exciting!

I didn't think anything could get more exciting than this day, today...

A preschool field trip with cows, corn, and kids!!! Exciting!
But this just might top it...30 minutes and counting!!

Wordless Wednesday Memories

Wordless Wednesday

These are the facts...

We said our goodbyes to Rob.

We hopped in the car to get to church early to set up the Primary room.

I wasn't paying attention, reached to grab something and ran into the curb.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Turned around, asked a friend to bring half of my kids to church.

Rob put a spare tire on the van (minutes before heading to the airport). He ROCKS!!

Made it to church on time to set up.

Sunday started off crappy and didn't really get much better. Sigh...BUT...

Saturday was awesome! Spent the morning shopping and eating with Denise. Spent the afternoon at the Car Show with my family. And rocked the night away with the Beatty's. Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Dancing and jumping around at the Harris Pavilion.

Eating cupcakes from the new bakery, Oh So Sweet Treats. Yummy!

Old Town Manassas Car Show

Super Wall-E and his sidekick Super Anna.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Happy Sunday

We hope your Sunday is going better than ours.

I'm such a copycat!

So I "know" this gal who crafts up a storm. Her name is Katie of The Polka Dot Pig. And she made the most adorable "Literate Pumpkins". I just had to make them, too!

They were so easy and fun to create. Best news, too...I went to the used book store and they had a FREE bin of books outside the front door. I bought a few new spools of ribbon (because I can never have enough ribbon) and here you go...
Aren't they so cute? Let me know if you give this little project a try!

This is AWEKOME!

I know Evan's speech problems are nothing to laugh about, but I just can't help but to love how he expresses his excitement...

"Evan, did you like school today?"

"It was wicked awekome, Mom!"

(Can you tell he's excited to go??!!)

Makes my heart melt every time.

Holy Smokes! Who is this kid? And where has my baby gone?