spaghettios alive

my add has a name

2012-01-30T05:54:00.000-08:00

I'm a scanner.   I read a book about scanners.  Not the computer kind.  The human kind.  A scanner is a kind of person who likes too many things to pick just one.  They have a really hard time picking a major in college.  I started as music, switched to Art, got accepted into two Art programs, switched to architecture, quit that after a day considered English.   Ended up dropping out of college after a 2 year degree and haven't gone back.  (except to take piano lessons and join a performance class) Worked for the IRS for 5 years, taught piano for 8-10, and besides that have had three kids.  I taught myself to knit and crochet.  Danny taught me how to thread a sewing machine and I learned to sew.  I learned how to use a pottery wheel but never continued with it.  I like to paint but only do it on occasion and most of them involve sitting at the kitchen table modeling how to paint a rainbow with fluffy white clouds, green grass, and possibly a family of kittens or puppies.  I produce art for 2 demanding art critics ages 8 and 4 with a relentless need for rainbows and hearts and flowers. 

So if you are a scanner this is what you should do, ahem, as the title of the books says "REFUSE TO CHOOSE"  So I can free myself from the external pressure I imagine on myself to make something of my life and just enjoy all the random hobbies and interests I've had.  One idea they say is make a huge list of everything you want to DO....because scanners are DOers not see'ers.  I totally relate to that because I've never felt that excited to "see" something but the thought of producing something makes me a little giddy....so here are some things I want to do....

crochet flower headbands

sew more dresses for my girls

sew harvey bowties with matching vests

 learn to knit socks

make animal hats for the kids

sell some crafts on etsy

make more cloth diapers and sell them

get ceritified to be a doula (and if I like that persue becoming a midwife or nurse midwife)

teach Eva to read

read books to ALL 3 of my kids

keep running 

print off family pictures

paint something cool for the kids rooms

read more about investing

buy real estate

become warren buffett

buy a new chair 

line the backs of my bookcases with scrapbook paper

make felt animals 

make a recycled wool sweater wreath

make polymer clay stuff

crochet more birds in eggs

I know I can't do it all at once but that's a good reference list. and if you too feel like you have attention deficit disorder you could be like me........ a total pathetic loser. hahahha. no you too could just be a scanner and it is totally acceptable for you to never be able to finish a project or focus that well because it's HOW your BRAIN WORKS!

because what else is there to do in january?

2012-01-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

so after being a bit of a tomboyish kid (think every christmas I wanted sports equipment, like a basketball one year, ice skates (not really tomboyish but still sporty, a tennis racket with a ball that I would bounce the ball on endlessly, a remote control car another year...)   I used to play basketball with the old men of my ward after youth on wednesday nights at age 12-13 and I loved it.  I was already my full 5 foot 6 and I felt huge and strong and would shoot 3's as well as a 12 year old girl can.  Adolesence hit and I don't know what it was....I think it might have been related to the fact that I have always been "well endowed" and I got kind of freaked out of running or moving too fast in public.   Besides the normal mockery of junior high and people telling me I ran weird I became less sporty and  through highschool I never really played sports. Then young adulthood  (and by the way....Danny proposed to me by putting my engagement ring in a tennis ball while we were playing) hahah.  and then 3 babies and my version of excercise was pushing a double stroller through the neighborhood.  It is quite a workout.  So in my heart I've always felt like I have something athletic in me  and now drum roll please...................................... I'm learning to run!  And I'm going to run a 5k in the spring!!!!!!!  I know that sounds pathetic to all you athletic running people, but seriously, I've NEVER run.  So I'm starting slow.  I'm on week 4 of the couch to 5k program.    It's pretty awesome because I actually am running and I'm not feeling like I'm going to die or pass out or anything.  the bonus is 5 pounds are history!  Also you only have to run like 3-4 times a week which is good if its hard to find time to excercise.  So now I just have to pick my first race and my goal is just to finish it.  In less than an hour.  A half hour would be awesome.  

and here's a link. So if you are like me (grab a good sports bra) and start it TODAY

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

virtual vitamin d

2012-01-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

we went to florida in december and it was soooo nice. I'm totally moving down there every winter as soon as I can. Snow is good but sunshine and sand beat it any day in my book. Although we haven't had snow much either in ohio........

we stayed in new smryna beach and it was quiet but close to everything.

Harveys "butt butt" That's what he calls it.

I'm trying to figure out my camera.....I just have a oldish sony cybershot. I blurred the background a little on that one. That's what I was going for.

After the initial freak outs about jelly fish...I think we overwarned them not to step on jelly fish. They thought every piece of plastic on the beach was a jellyfish and they were like screaming non stop the first day or two. salt water reminded everyone of salty popcorn and the salty air made everyone feel healthy. I think it cleared out my head. I am so an old person in my heart.

the foot shot. I have weird toes and they're hairy. but check out our pool.

martha stewart is my nemesis

2011-12-08T20:31:00.001-08:00

Martha gets on my nerves. For one WHY DOES her picture have to be on everything she produces? I keep thinking she is about to retire and then no...she has a new line of simply beautiful home decor at kohls or something like that. I'm kinda sick of her simply sweetly perfect home decor. Because if you looked at my house right now...it's not simple. There is a layer of little people on the carpet, there is clashing stockings hanging on the mantel, I have throw pillows that were made by 8 year old girl scouts,( and it looks like possibly color blind girlscouts) My serving ware is primarily from the goodwill or from the day I was married. It doesn't coordinate. I don't have a tiered cupcake stand. There are things that just aren't up to marthas standard. Oh and today on the view they had Martha showing how to make simply perfect holiday desserts. She wouldn't give the recipe. All the ladies on the view were like trying to get the recipe from her, like these chocolate cookies, and one of them said "So how do you make those chocolate cookies?" and Martha said "It's dough! You make them from dough!" with this really exasperated look on her face. Like we all thought you made cookies from concrete or something. Then in the same day in the dentist office I was reading some magazine and it said "Entertain Martha's way" where it then went "Entertaining made perfectly simple." She continued....something like this "When I want a simple christmas gathering I whip up about 20 of my favorite simple dishes, such as soup, and invite all my friends over for a lovely gathering in the kitchen" 20!!! She seriously said 20 and I am not kidding. Who besides someone with a hyperthyroid disorder whips up 20 pots of soup for some friends to come and eat in the kitchen? So I've had enough of her simple holidays. I'll take some messy, chaotic, disorganized holidays. And my christmas tree with the top missing lights and all the ornaments from the bottom moved to the top because i have a 1 year old who likes to rearrange glass ornaments. Or step on them. Or throw them. He even bit one. And it broke and his lips bled. He's okay so don't worry.

2011-11-23T04:40:00.001-08:00

getting used to this new blogger layout is INSANITY!!  I couldn't figure out how to publish anything.

The past couple days I've been LOW on energy....I fall asleep at like 9 o clock.   I was staying up till like midnight for like a couple of weeks and now maybe its catching up with me.  Also I feel like maybe my hormones are firing up.  When I nurse a baby I don't have a period and so I feel totally hormonally free for like a year or two.  Then PMS comes back and hits me like a truck.  So that means one thing...time to have baby number 4.  I'd rather be puking for 4 months than having a period.  Also I know that we have another baby boy in our future  I totally just need to pop another 12 pounder out.  AWESOME.  hahhaha.  That makes me so tired just thinking about it.   Maybe in a year or two. 

So in my energetic state I was getting christmas all totally squared away.....which meant I shopped online for like a week straight. 

 wanna hear what the dotson kids are getting?

Harvey is getting a stuffed john deere tractor that makes noise.  He found it at the toy store in Childrens medical center and tried to steal it.  All the ladies who worked there were like giggling with joy.   He's also getting a robotic bird and a pull back car and a wooden hammer with a ball thing that pops through a slide thingy.  

Eva is getting a doll with brown hair and brown eyes.....all their dolls have blue eyes and she is always wanting one with brown eyes.  And a polly pocket car and craft kits and hmmm wooden cookies with frosting and sprinkles...they are so cute!  

Addie is getting a doll wheelchair and crutches and casts.  I know she is going to love it.  Its for her American girl doll and she is constantly wrapping their arms in toilet paper to make it look like they have casts.  Also a rubber ball making kit, polly pocket car and I need to get her something else but I don't know what yet.  hmmm.  Oh yeah, I sewed them both some clothes for their babies. 

So now I just have to shop for relatives and I'm done!!!!  Because we are going to FLORIDA for Christmas.  Addie is afraid she is going to get left at home and have to fend off robbers because she's watched home alone too much.   I think it will be fun, we're going with my parents and staying on the beach so it will be a nice break from everything.  

I like to get all the shopping done early because my favorite parts of Christmas are all the things that don't involve gifts like going to see lights, and going to hear the Christmas devotional, and watching my kids perform in the church nativity (Addie is Mary this year) and delivering cookies. Some years we plan a big service project but I haven't dreamt anything up yet...hmmm. Maybe something in Florida? I found out our church owns 1000's of acres in florida! They produce a ton of food there, have a working cattle ranch, and orange groves, and wheat fields, and corn fields. They use the food for the church welfare program. The church's welfare program is so awesome! It would be fun to see if we could go tour it for Christmas. Anyways, enough ramblings. Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends! I'm thankful for all of you!

November baby

2011-11-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh I love Fall! Today was so beautiful.....yellow leaves, blue skies, mmmmmmmm. oooooh. Hhahahha. that reminds me of me and Steph...sometimes when we are in weird moods we'll call eachother and not say Hi just start groaning into the phone. A groan is a thousand words really. who needs a conversation when you can moan and groan for a while . We said when we're old we'll just call each other say "UGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH" then hang up.
Last night we went trick or treating with the kiddos. Oh Harvey was so cute...he trucked up to the door like he had been doing it for years. But he wimped out after about 4 houses so then Danny took him home and he fell asleep. Trick or treating in the suburbs just doesn't have the same kick as trick or treating when we lived in Dayton. One reason is NO ONE really trick or treated in Dayton. It must have been some unwritten rule. Sure they would schedule the night....but no one would actually go door to door. Except us. We would wheel little Addie Lou in her stroller door to door and everyone would look down the street, see no one and dump the whole bowl in her bag. We would get some serious candy. Although some people would get way too excited about halloween and put like fake dead bodies everywhere and fake blood and we would try to avoid the scary sex offender houses....with the big obese man leering down from his porch. Yep. Just keep walking. Then I compared it to my many years of trick or treating in P. hill. Tiny town, we all dressed up till we were 18 because we had marching band and had to play in the halloween parade. I really cant remember what I dressed up as but mostly I think it involved trucker men, or just working a mullet and a flannel shirt. Or an afro and a tie died t. shirt.
So I really don't get why every adolescent girl I saw last was wearing fishnets with a bikini top and a tutu. And they had some hormonal hooded sweatshirt wearing boy tagging behind them. UUUUGGGGGHHHHHH.

2011-10-17T04:15:00.000-07:00

hey I am writing on here but Harvey is trying to sit on the keyboard so this will be fun. Awesome he just ran to the front door to try to see the dump truck. Men are easily distracted I've found. Especially 1 year old men. Harvey went to nursery for the first time on Sunday . He has slept through church since the first day he went at like 6 weeks. We would strap him in the stroller, take 2-3 laps around the dark gym, and he would be out for the entire 3 hour block. That's how its worked up till yesterday. I was playing the piano for the primary program. I dont' know but that is probably one of the most torturous days of the whole year is practicing for the primary program. It doesn't help that I've been in Primary now for like......9 years I think?
I enjoy kids. That's why I have 3 of my own. So it all works out. anyways, Harvey was awake so Danny took him to nursery and he said he didn't cry and the only thing Danny heard when he walked away was Sister Wade saying 'Harvey don't eat off other peoples plates" which made me laugh imagining Harvey digging into other kids snacks. And thinking of him being big enough to understand english. I've been busy wrestling him to the ground so he doesn't constantly throw things away in the trash. He threw my brand new shoe away I'm sure of it. It went missing and I've found my CELL phone in the trash, Addie's shoe, and my hairbrush, and huge things like a huge toy firetruck sitting on top of the trash can lid.
I've let my piano students earn "piano bucks" all summer and they all got to pick out of my piano store. Which was mostly candy. I couldn't think of anything more exciting. But then Eva raided the piano store and stole almost all the candy and hid it somewhere in her room....all I know is she has a serious stash of candy somewhere and whenever she wants any she just goes to her hiding place and finds it.
time out for women was really awesome! I went with my mommy and my sisters. We had a great time and heard (and met) Mercy River. And I met Brad Wilcox who I've heard speak since I was a teenager going to EFY. He is really hilarious in real life too. I'm definately going to try to go again. Also a shout out too my friend (won't say her name) who I saw there and she told me she is secretly expecting twins.....so it will make 7 kids total! She is my hero!

new post

2011-09-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

Yep I'm here. Summer time is bad blogging time for me. Who wants to sit on the computer when I could be outside at the pool or playing with my kids. Also my old computer died so we had about a week transfer of shopping and setting up. Summer was good but incredibly hot. We went to Michigan for a week but spent the rest of it at home. Danny went back to school at the beginning of August. Addie decided to go to school. It was harder for me than her. I cried like a baby the night before she left but she acted very non chalant about it all. She get's herself on the bus every day and does her homework without help and has made some friends she talks about. So today Addie is home sick with a cold and the three kids are watching scooby doo. My friend is having a baby and I'm giving her a baby shower so I'm making food all day. Crescent rolls have CRISCO in them and I'm not talking just one or two spoonfulls like a FULL CUP! Crescent rolls should be called fat rolls...but I need it to make veggie pizza. The vegetables disguise the lard filled crust....HAHHAHAHA. Veggie pizza is a total oxymoron. What if I tried to make the whole world obese by selling them on the veggie pizza diet? That goes along with what danny and I were discussing the other night. Because he's been working out and trying to lose his belly as he says and I was like " if it's the end of the world you might be able to LIVE off the fat in your belly." and he was like "I don't think that's a good food storage plan" and I was like "WHAT IF you just tried to get really fat and then when everyone else in the whole world dies of starvation you are a lean 165 lbs and you can claim everything in the world and make yourself KING of the world???" I don't think it's that bad of a plan personally. I got a big old bag of llama wool I'm learning how to process. It's actually alot of work processing llama wool. First you gotta fluff it, then you gotta card it...which is a rickety machine that i use at this place I've been weaving at. Yes I'm weaving too. I'm going to make the llama wool into a rug. So then you card it...the machine is in the basement of the weaving store and you are surrounded by fibercrafts from years past and it's overloaded with old wool and spinning wheels and it really feels like a psychotic person could be lurking behind a shelf of red died wool or a freaky old woman ghost could show up sitting on a spinning wheel in the corner. So I try to think about other things while I card the wool. But it does take forever so my mind starts to wander. I've had to take a break the past couple of weeks because Addie is getting baptized at the end of the month, so I'm planning that and I'm making birthday presents for my niece and nephew and the baby shower and I'm doing coop preschool with Eva and I'm trying to work out everyday and I'm trying to just be all around awesome. so far I'm succeeding. Yes I am.

I told the witch doctor I was in love with you

2011-06-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

.here's my baby and my nephew, Malachi...summer is in full bloom round here.
hanging outside with cousins is on the daily to do list
learning to walk at the ripe old age of 14 months.....he's so dreamy.....
answering the families request to make donuts...These ones turned out awesome and I made them from scratch so I was prideful about it.....but we downed about 2 dozen in a day or two so that's definately not something we will do weekly or we will end up being as round as donuts.

nighttime ramblings

2011-06-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

(the day I threw out piggie, Addie's pig hand puppet from when she was a baby....I bawled)

up because I woke up to a warm shower. Yes a certain 4 year old woke up, crawled on me in bed, and proceeded to pee on me. She continued to sleep through that event and I said "Hey Eva wake up you just peed. " She woke up and laid down on the couch in our room and fell asleep again. pee and dreams. Awwww sleepy. So far a good summer is happening. The kids are loving their new trampoline, and we have a cheap odd lots pool arranged for summer jumping/splashing fun. I said I was going to work with Addie and Eva all summer on academic type subjects but that's going quickly out the window. We are all too lazy for anything structured. Maybe in a couple of weeks. My head hurts! I'm tired. Lately I've felt slightly ambitionless......happy just to go through life and ride the wave as I tell Rachel. Just ride the wave. But maybe I should be plotting some great thing for me to accomplish. I think mothering is taking all my umph out of me and I just have kind of a zzzzz happy feeling. Kind feels like a dose of novacaine has been injected through my whole body and whenever I think about some goal I'm like...maybe in ten years. Danny is such a sweet husband. Telling me I'm doing awesome and great, look at our kids, they are happy and healthy and learning. 11 years ago (last month) I met a short curly headed guy I couldn't completely distinguish from 2 other shortish dark haired guys at church. I just knew he was the cute one with a bald roommate. I love that guy.....sigh. Goodnight blog.

end of school year

2011-05-26T06:42:00.000-07:00

I set an arbitrary end of school year for Addie. It's Friday. We have had a good school year because I have really cut back on the busy work and just focus on what I think is important. Math mostly, handwriting and writing, and reading whatever she wants. We occasionally read "Story of the World" and we check out non fiction from the library for science or just talk about sciency topics with Mr. Dotson, most ridiculously awesome science teacher ever :)

So I promised her she could once again ( she had them done when she was 5 and screamed every time I tried to clean them so I just ended up pulling them out and letting them close up) get her ears pierced as an end of school year prize.
I looked at her ears and realized one of her old ear holes wasn't totally closed up. So I talked her into letting me poke a needle through it and stick an earring in. No tears either. Then I was like....I dont' want them to use a gun that's supposed to be bad for their ears. So I called a bunch of piercing places and they all said they wouldn't pierce a kid. So then I called Norma Jean. She was on the internet advertised as a piercer. We ventured to her shop which included a large amount of realistic looking baby dolls, a tanning bed, and MANY MANY wigs. Behind me two young guys in suits walked in (I thought they were missionaries but no name tags ) and were like..."We need a wig"
She of course didn't hesitate..."I'll be right with you boys" and she pulled out a hot pink piercing gun....shot an earring into Addie's ear (no sanitizer ) and handled the fellows in need of a wig. I recommended the cotton candy pink wig. They nodded thoughtfully. We walked out 10 dollars poorer but with a happy and gun pierced 7 year old.

two years ago

2011-05-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

this was my Addie (in the middle) ......I love Lena's helmet and Dane's spiderman pajama shirt. And looking at old pictures I realized I'm going to miss Addie's silver capped front teeth like crazy. One of those things that you just don't realize it's even happening until it's too late and they are long gone. Addie has best friends in her cousins and that's a blessing. I only had a couple of cousins and we only saw them maybe twice a year. Not that we didn't live it up. We swam in the Holiday Inn pool at Christmas and ate pizza and then spent summer sunning on my grandma's beach and drinking root beer out of emptied out beer cans. These cousin relationships are more day to day....phone calls just to sit on the internet and play a game together, fighting, teasing, chasing, and laughing with inside jokes and crazy plans. All these kids!

he's a lover and a biter

2011-05-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Happy mothers day to you too! I told Addie Harvey is a lover not a fighter and she went...Oh no he's not. He's a lover and a biter. true true. I mostly carry on this blog for my own record keeping as it's not really a blog hot spot.......I just wanted to say how awesome it is to be a mom. I NEVER KNEW. I truly love it and can't imagine anything I'd rather do....except occasionally get a bath without little friends hopping in but I know someday I'll be alone in a bath and being alone is seriously overrated. Every night I just say a prayer of gratitude for the blessing of being surrounded by my sweet little ones.

I feel like this is what life is about...this is it and it is truly awesome. Biters and all.

I see the SUNNNNNN

2011-05-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

It is finally sunny and it has boosted my mood tremendously.
We are loading up our kites and blankets and heading to the park.
This month has been one of a bit of spring fever moodiness for all of us.......
we just need to get our hands in some dirt and get some natural rays of light instead of watching Rapunzel on repeat and hanging out in the stinky indoor playground at the Y. Not that the stinky indoor playgruond didn't save my sanity many a day. But it's May 5th no less and that's reason for a FIESTA so it's gonna happen that way gosh darnit.

The happy things in my life lately......

Harvey is still my baby being a snuggly nursing wonder and he is my dreamboat!!

Addie and Eva were caught lying in bed this morning holding hands and whispering about what they were going to surprise me with for Mothers day :)

Danny always knows what to tell me after a dark sunless day to make me laugh and feel happy again........

My sisters are my best friends and I get to go out with them and my mama for a mothers day night out tomorrow.

I read a book called "Hectors search for Happiness" I need to add a rule of happiness...."Too many days without light can make people unhappy"

big week ahead

2011-04-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

It's Harvey's 1st birthday!!!! It's been a year and he's still being a little baby wanting me to carry him everywhere (all 27 lbs of him) and not walking...but crawling like a champ and saying "Hi!" "bye" "Addie" "Mama" "dada" "dog" and "ball". yes he's brilliant I know. oh and "butt butt" That's the code for diaper change. Also Danny and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary. Which means I got married ten years ago and I was just a Bubby 20 year old. It's been 10 years of PURE HECK. Jk jk. We are trying to figure out what to do for our day of luuuuuv. We thought about going away somewhere but then we'd have to take Harvey with us and I could just imagine Harvey swimming naked in a heart shaped hot tub the whole weekend. Which we would have to take him because not a night has gone by in this whole year without him putting down at least a gallon of mama milks. So I'd probably try to leave him, he'd scream the whole night, and I'd wake up with mastitis. So We might just have to go to the Danberry and get chipotle. Sounds soooo romantic and fun. Just kidding. I think we're going to take a hot air balloon ride and sing Wind Beneath My Wings and have a picnic in the clouds. Sounds good huh? Also Addie has an apointment in Columbus with someone who basically has a cure for CMT in her back pocket. She is a big researcher at OSU neurologist and she's done all this research with a chemical called Neurotrophin 3. So far it looks really promising and I'm going to tell her "give me that stuff or ELSE!" or I might bribe her with a bucket full of the play doh poop we've all been entertaining ourselves with over the weekend. If you want to find out more about what we are dealing with here google charcot marie tooth or hereditary peripheral neuropathy. Also it's a week of spring break fun so no school for Addie or Danny!!! yahoo.

I have absolutely nothing to say

2011-03-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

except Congratulations to my sister Stephanie on her sweet new baby boy Henry!!! He's such a sweetie

He's a bundle of love and since he's the third boy is getting tons of manly attention from all his older brothers. Steph is my hero and she did beautifully with this little guy.

what happened at the mall should stay at the mall

2011-03-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

what happened at the mall was Harvey and all the cousins and his sisters were all playing on one of those mat play areas. Also known as e coli and germ central. Harvey being a new crawler and cruiser was enjoying surfing around the playland things. Which involved alot of mouth on mat action. But me being the proud mother of a newly exploring 11 month old thought it was no big deal. Also because he is always either licking or sucking things that shouldn't be sucked on. Like the metal aisle divider thing that is at the library. On the floor sucking on it.
He also enjoys licking the windows whenever he happens to be near one. I can relate being a slightly orally fixated person. I always liked putting my tongue on strange things like the fly swatter and then feeling the other side to feel how bumpy my tongue felt through the little mesh holes. then someone would point out what fly swatters were for and yeah gross.

so that inocuous visit to the mall ended up with my little guy blowing biscuits for a good 5 days.
And a trip to the E.R. because he seemed dehydrated with everything coming out both ends as "they" say. I think it was something called the rota virus. Which they have a vaccine for but I opted not to get it because the old rotavirus vaccine made kids intestines prolapse or something like that and I figured they should have more time checking this one out before I use my kids as guinea pigs.

just as Harvey started to recover I saw Eva sleeping on the couch. My mommy radar started going off and when Eva woke up I asked her "Are you feeling ok?" All she could get out was a "NO!" then puke. that went on for the next 5 days.

So now Eva has finally gone about 36 hours with no puke and oh my gosh. I feel like I just won the lottery.

the feeling is in that winter will end

2011-02-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

we are all healthy but playing doctor has become a popular pasttime
Eva showing her baby picture on her 4th birthday...
my baby girl is four!! She got a sweet bike and tap stick. (chap stick)
We have braved this horrible winter and I'm feeling that only good things are to come. I did feel like 2011 was pretty much a bust but I'm changing my tune and I'm feeling positive vibes about this year
messy baby in the high chair pic...gotta have it. So February...bring it on! I'm ready!

2011-01-26T05:13:00.000-08:00

I made a new header and it is the pinnacle of my graphic design skillz.
We finally got well enough to get our booties out of the house yesterday. the girls have needed it so bad. They have been at the stage where they just keep telling eachother "Don't touch me and don't look at me!!' Where do they get these horrible things to say? I know I was probably the perfect non fighting angel as a child. riiiiiiiiight.
We went to story time and they built houses out of frosting and marshmallows. Then we took Addies friend with us to the indoor playground and then she came over. And Addie yanked out her other front tooth in the midst of all this.
So now Addie has no front incisors anywhere to be seen and I'm thinking every tooth Harvey grows in Addie loses one. Some cosmic tooth trade or something.

2011-01-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

So we are all sick. Except Harvey and Danny. But all the females are sick. Is it horrible to get annoyed when your kids are sick? It's like I just want to force health on them. We've watched so much tv we are all going to have our eyes pop out of our head. And I've warned Eva over and over if we watch way too much TV our eyes will probably pop out of our head and Chilly will probably eat on of our eyes when it rolls across the floor. So watching too much tv is extremely risky. So our possibilities for January have been reduced to possibly be healthy enough to leave the house. Possibly not have to buy more kleenex boxes. possibly be healthy enough for us to celebrate Eva turning 4 at the beginning of February. And all I have to say to my family who is going to Florida in like 3 weeks is........I wish you the best time in the world and you won't once think about all of us sad souls sitting in snow and sickness and sniffles. I wish you joy and warmth and health. no sarcasm at all.

Wilhelm Kempff plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata mvt. 3

2011-01-08T04:13:00.000-08:00

2011-01-08T03:48:00.000-08:00

found this old picture of Eva sitting in a a cloud of stuffing...

I kind of like January. It's long empty stretch lends the mind to all kinds of possibilities. Like yesterday the girls were begging me to take them ice skating. Sure! Why not? Then I thought about the fact that it was 20 degrees out. And I have to carry a baby.....and Addie and Eva both would need alot of assistance. So that never happened. BUT it was a possibility. Instead we spent the afternoon building a "contraption". Picture this: An orange balancing on a tower of blocks. Behind it is a trash can. In front of the tower are a huge line of dominoes. Behind the dominoes is a slide made out of books. Behind the slide made out of books a ball is teetering on the edge of a chair behind that another slide and at the tippy top of the book slide is a crazy wooden wheeled dog. The dog went down knocked the ball which started rolling which knocked the dominoes which knocked down the tower which would make the orange fly into the trash can with a flourish. It was epic.
It really didn't work either.
I told you January was all about possibilities.

I had some nice piano moments last night playing Beethoven Sonatas. The kids and Danny were watching G Force in the background. I wasin my own world. I love the moonlight sonata. The WHOLE moonlight sonata. It's way awesome. Anyways, if that isn't a good day I don't know what is.

christmas pics

2010-12-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

I am

2010-12-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

the worst gift wrapper in the world.
My gifts are wrapped. They all look like someone with one prosthetic arm wrapped them. but probably someone with a prosthetic arm would take more pride and still wrap the gifts better then me. Mine look like a lazy demented person wrapped them. I think it also goes along with why I stink at quilt making. I've been working on a quilt for 2 months and the more I do it the more insane and crazy I feel. Hire that job out.
Well since no christmas cards are getting sent out this year....here is my true/false christmas letter.

Hey friends and family!
Another GREAT GREAT GREAT year has happened!
So awesome! Totally fun! lots of vacations! (actually none) Went to Europe (nope) Traveled to Asia for a month (didn't do that either). Got awesome Sushi there! Totally awesome! Okay I'll go down the family list.
Danny quit teaching and he won the lottery! I know the lottery is totally evil but still he happened to find a lottery ticket on the floor picked it up and we won millions of dollars. Sold our house in Dayton and now are soaking it up in a hot tub in our mansion. But we were still very charitable and gave a bunch of money to charity. And actually we donated a ton to homeless people. Actually homeless people are living in our house and there is one in the hot tub next to me right NOW!
(the truth: danny is still teaching and loving it, started a gifted program at UC and is just being the awesome dad and husband that he always has been)
Me...Well after giving birth to the sweetest tiny little 6 pound baby (now you know that's a lie) I started training for my iron man which I actually WON in Hawaii last summer. Pretty awesome. Next I ran the Boston Marathon and won that too. So now I'm just decorating our 180.000 square foot house with greenery and homemade recycled vintage ornaments! Love being green!!!
I'm so green that I actually have been dumpster diving and stealing peoples trash and recycling it into beautiful hand painted wallpaper It's all made out of plastic kroger bags. But it looks gorgeous and I'm being featured in 3 magazines.

(put my life on the line and had a 12 pound 1 ounce baby who since that day in April absorbs 95% of my time with the girls soaking up the other 5% But I have started doing yoga and trying to work out occasionally plus teach piano and keep up with that )

Addie is studying abroad at a private school for super talented musicians and she is playing some Beethoven Sonatas at the Schuster. She also is swimming across the panama canal and playing her violin for homeless people in her spare time.

(addie is 7, a dr. seuss reader, poem memorizer, piano player and sister wrestler)

Eva is in the circus and is juggling to Save the Earth . She is one talented 3 year old.

(eva has a super jumping on one foot talent and can write Eva and Mom and she specializes in baby brother take downs)

Harvey is actually already walking and he started a free baby tap dance show that is raising money for dead dolphins or those being threatened by those wishing to kill dolphins. He also paid ransom for some dolphins that were being held hostage. He's just a very special 8 month old!
(Harvey is kinda crawling and is the fattest yummiest baby that we all like to snuggle)

Hope your family is as awesome and amazing and wonderful as mine and if it's not well I feel so sorry for you.

Love always,
The Dotsons

the church of stop shopping

2010-12-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

I watched a strange documentary about some people who decided shopping was evil and made "the church of stop shopping" and they go downtown New York City and cast demons out of cash registers and like de-demonize the metallic stripe down their credit cards and stuff. Anyways Mickey Mouse was supposedly the anti-christ.
I kinda can feel it. I went to the mall with the kids because they told me they would tie me up and steal my keys and drive themselves if I didn't take them there. I couldn't find one thing to buy. And it was horribly crowded and people were giving dirty looks to eachother and lots of stuff stuff and more stuff. And suddenly I was just like....I don't want one thing in this whole mall. So we walked around....checked out Santa, rode a tiny train, played with a sad puppy in the puppy store and left.
So my family might all be disappointed this year because I can't seem to find anything anyone might want or need. I'm going to become the crazy aunt who gives homemade knitted hats with santa on them and stuff....my gift giver has just given up on the retail world I guess.

here she is....

2010-12-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

our illustrious tree courtesy of Addie and Lena and Eva. It's a little heavy on the decor down low but I think I like it that way.
harvey has been helping rearrange ornaments as well. He's trying so hard to crawl but he ends up in a down dog position. then he gets really frustrated and starts screaming. I'm like...Breathe in breathe out you're not going to let your chakras flow with all that tension. sheesh.
Eva and Addie are feeling the Christmas cheer. Where they can rearrange the nativity set every day and hold baby Jesus hostage and fight over who gets to be Mary in the christmas play. They are wrapping up old toys and Eva is whispering what they are in my ear...even the gift she is giving me. One of my own necklaces....."Mommy it's YOUR necklace! SHHHH!"
Today my car is in the shop, we are locked up in the house cleaning out closets and the girls are posting "No boys allowed" signs everywhere. With the exception of babies and daddies.

my sisters are gonna kill me

2010-12-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

couldn't let the holidays pass by without a couple sisterly gems....love you two!

was that good steph?

Eva self portrait! no boogers :)

enough princesses for ya? I was watching a friends kids and we had a girly/princess nutcracker dancing fiesta.

happy frickin chickin day

2010-11-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

We had not one of those sad, abused turkeys for thanksgiving.
That's just such a shame to eat a caged up obese, lard fed, fat turkey.
So we were privileged to eat a vegetarian,skinny, free running, joyous turkey. Who truly lived a beautiful happy life. Until his head was viciously chopped off.
but I think I can tell he was happy. till that moment.
Because I feel very happy today. I think he was on prozac actually. But that means he could have been a suicidal turkey and that would not be good at all.
That leads me to the thought......are animals ever suicidal?

2010-11-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

I was just grinding my teeth so it appears. according to dr. shaw who is my farmer/dentist.
I guess I have stresssssss thats coming out in chisseling my molars into flour all night long. I just wish it didn't involve the demonic headache of death.

headache of death

2010-11-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd complain for a moment. I have had for the past couple days the HEADACHE OF DEATH.
I don't really feel sick otherwise. No fever no aches, chills or sore throat really. Just the HEADACHE OF DEATH.

It feels the worst at night and the morning. It also seems to move around my face like a strange creature crawling around my head trying to get out.

I'm thinking of some story I heard a long time ago that involved a guy who went to South America and he had some parasite sit on his head at night and burrow into his scalp and lay a bunch of eggs. Months later he too had a HEADACHE OF DEATH. He awoke to large centipede looking things emerging out of his scalp like a horror movie. I'm praying it's nothing similar to that whatsoever.

The only two things I can narrow it down too are seasonal sinus infection type thing or possibly a tooth that has turned demonic in my mouth and is shooting pains of death through my head. It's that bad.
I'll post the results later.

I know.....

2010-11-13T03:10:00.001-08:00

I've always been kinda a keep it all too myself kinda gal. But as I've gotten older I feel like I am who I am and people can take me or leave me.
I just want to share somethings about my beliefs and why I believe them.
I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Saying that reminds me of the song that Addie sings in Primary which you really couldn't call singing...more yell/screaming.
Had a slight wakeup call because recently a close friend decided to leave our church suddenly and she took her name off the records and everything. Made me discuss alot of things with her and other friends and got me really thinking and praying.
Here is what I know.........
Jesus Christ is my savior and redeemer. He loves me entirely and has helped me through a ton in my life. When I felt all alone he was there for me and I've felt forgiven for my sins through his atonement.

I love the Book of Mormon. I made a goal recently to just read everyday until I felt like the spirit had told me what I needed to know. Everyday I learn something new or feel like a truth is impressed upon me. Sometimes it is just one verse...sometimes it is many. I have felt the spirit tell me it is a true book and not a man made book but one that is a historical account. That has given me a knowledge of things that I can't go without. Although I enjoy certain Bible stories and also get alot from and read the New Testament I feel the BOM is what helps me on a daily basis. I've always been a reader since I was a kid. I feel like the spirit teaches me through the written word.
So therefore if the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God
then Joseph Smith was truly a prophet
then The Church of Jesus christ of Latter Day Saints is true.
That's how my testimony is founded/based on and I often go back to my personal testimony. Is the book of mormon true? Has the spirit witnessed this to me? And I say without doubt Yes it has.
There are so many things I don't totally understand. There are many things that are controversial in our church history and some could be true some might not be. I've heard probably all of them.
I have the knowledge of Jesus Christ as my savior, and the blessings of the priesthood, and the awesome opportunities to serve my family and in church and the world. Although I know no man or woman is perfect I know God is perfect and he will forgive us for our shortcomings as we repent.

So that is what I know.

let it be known

2010-11-11T07:19:00.001-08:00

for posterity and all that Harvey said his first word.

heres the story:
I've been slightly psycho about not leaving him since he was born. I guess with number 3 I just realized how fast they grow up and I just like taking him with me everywhere. It feels good to know he's not crying to nurse and I guess all those mommy hormones just keep me feeling high with my little guy. It really does feel like a drug or something. Anyways..not that I would know about drugs. well except vicodin (childbirth HELLO!) and ibuprofen and the occasional crack pipe. Just kidding. but anyways
this takes us to yesterday. I was running out the door to go to a primary presidency meeting and the girls were staying with danny and I was throwing Harvey into the car and Danny was like..."Let me keep him!" I was like...."Ummmm he might need to nurse!"
"Oh he'll be fine! He eats food! He's good! Go!"
So I left and I knew he'd be fine because he is 7 months old.
So they fed him and played with him and when we rejoined together they all announced "Harvey said his first word!!"
"No way!!!"
"Yep" all three verified he truly spoke his first word at 7 months. What a genius I know.......
The girls all were like "DA-da-da-da-da-da"

but guess what my boy said???

MA MA!!!!!!!!!!

enough love

2010-11-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

my poor boy...

you little nut

2010-11-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

It's November 7th.
I feel melancholy. Harvey is 7 months old and the chiropractor says his lower back is very tense. My poor boy already has tension from his short life.
Eva has been battling eczema.
Addie's best friend quit coming to church and she's very sad.
Danny's muscles just aren't what they should be. (actually I was just staring at Danny and decided to put that in just to see if was reading this blog)
I had a head lice fake out where I was sure I had head lice and I put poison all over my head, then drenched my head in olive oil, then stayed up half the night searching for lice eggs and bugs which I never actually found.

Chilly smells like she's been rolling in dead animals out in the yard and I can't bring myself to give her a bath.

The good things are: Eva doesn't seem to care she's battling eczema and she has a really cute voice that says stuff like "once upon a pime" and "Fop it!!"

Addie just got a cute haircut and she keeps wiggling all her loose teeth.

Harvey's lower back muscles are doing a great job holding up his brutish build.

I think Danny's cute just the way he is. no need for bigger muscles.

I'm lice free.

Chilly is almost 10...only 5 to 7 more years of her smelling like a dead animal.

YAY

fall is happening

2010-11-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

my baby's gone

2010-10-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Harvey: weight 20 something pounds

Eva: weight 20 something pounds.

Scene of the crime: Family room. Harvey was sitting innocently at my feet as I browsed the internet. 10 minutes pass. I no longer hear the snuffling snorting of 6 month old boy. Harvey is missing. No one is here except Eva. Well Addie but she's occupied. That means that Eva somehow kidnapped Harvey. Which is physically impossible since they are about the same weight.

I start a manhunt. Well babyhunt. I locate the young man on the other side of the house. Don't know how he got there..but he looks happy. He's sitting in a blue toy bin. Eva is pushing him in it.

I return to the internet.

after

2010-10-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

I took these the other night while we were cleaning up. It looks like a nice little house now huh? The scary has gone bye bye. I should go get some more pictures...the girls liked it once it had carpet they kept playing house in the empty bedrooms. So tonight Danny has a couple people coming to look at it...we just need to pray for some sane people without pitbulls (the girl coming tonight) and an actual job or source of income try to come live here. Although the neighbor across the street informed me he has a shotgun and if any funny business goes down he'll just start shooting. Very reassuring.

so here are the pictures

2010-10-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

it looks great doesn't it? just kidding. These are the before pictures of our rental house...it's a real looker isn't it? Well...Danny has been "da man" and has worked his hiney off and the after pictures will come soon. Although most of what he did is stuff you can't really see because it's like rebuilding walls and st So this is our soon to be for rent house. Or we might sell it. We don't know yet. I'm going to go in and take some "after" pictures this week. So....you don't know how glad I am to not see those orange walls. Those were disgusting. And the outside only looks a little different...I think we're going to plant some bushes or something. anyways....this nasty home is why I've been single parenting for 6 weeks.

can't fail to mention

2010-10-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

I'm the mother of a 7 year old. I'm as proud as can be. Look at this Adelaidy! I sure do love her.

happy birthday to me

2010-10-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

happy birthday to me...happy birthday to me....happy birthday dear me. happy birthday to me. oh and danny. Plus steph and Aaron. oh yeah and Nathan. And Natalie. did I forget anyone??? And unlike most years where we are bundled up in sweaters for our birthday we were hanging out on the beach. So now I'm 30. .....oh yeah.

tired

2010-09-18T03:44:00.000-07:00

Having an under 1 year old child makes for some awesome sleep. Actually I think having an under 100 year old child probably makes for awesome sleep. But I'm sure that first year is the orientation to bad sleep every parent has to have...so when their child is 16 and missing at 2 :00 a.m. you are primed and ready to jump out of bed and call everyone on the planet to find out where they are. So with nothing else to do but make eyes at Harv at 6:00 a.m. I decided to come on here and check on the blogging world. Which is a small world since most everyone I know that used to blog quit when facebook started up.
So I've been tired for at least 2 days....I think I'm grinding my teeth at night. I keep waking up with a weird pain in my jaw and it's on both sides so I don't think I have a toothache.
Yesterday once about 4:00 hit I was SOOOOOO tired. Danny has been gone from pretty much sun up till 11 at night. So I'm flying solo on all the chores around the house and manning the 3 youngsters. Mom has been coming over and saving me. Yesterday she bought me dog food which was a whole trip to the store I didn't want to do. Also she brought all her apple tree apples and made me an apple crisp in my kitchen while I laid on the couch with Eva and zoned out/slept. It turned out really good and got me through the evening. So now another day begins and the two girls are up and out of bed.

2010-09-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

happy birthday dane!!!

We're heading to your chuckee cheese celebration in a few short hours.

What's up right now: Harvey's in the laundry room sleeping.
The girls are on the couch reading books.
Danny's at the rental house getting it fixed up.
I finished teaching piano and now I'm going to make my children some food.
I could possibly be the worst piano teacher in the world.
Today during piano lessons Eva decided to turn on the keyboard on full volume and not turn it off..I had to crawl under the piano and drag her out. That didn't stop her and she headed right back and started it up again....I threatened to lock her outside. That stopped her mostly. Then the phone was ringing non stop. I kept thinking...why don't I turn my phone off? All the while my little 6 year old student is waiting patiently. She finally starts playing and the cell phone rings AGAIN and I have to answer it because it's my next student and they'd been trying to call for two days and they for some reason weren't able to hear my messages. So I answer the phone and FINALLY have peace to listen to my student play. By then Harvey wakes up and starts crying and I think she was burned out and she just quit. Poor thing. I need a piano studio SOOOO BAD!!! Or I need a door with a lock on it so my children can't come in. Or I just need to send them off with someone during lessons.
that's all!

my boy

2010-09-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

my boy is rolling over!!!

and he's scooting on his belly!
(harvey age 4 months)

No back to school for us Dotson's. Addie's doing 2nd grade at home again and I am feeling peaceful and happy about it. It was her choice truly and I'm up to the task. I have to give myself alot of pep talks about this since having 3 kids does seem like I am drowning in little people sometimes. The funny thing about 3 kids is that I cannot imagine only having three permanently. With 2 one more seemed really scary. Now that I have Harvey I feel like I will definately have one more and it doesn't scare me. Although it would seriously scare me if I was having number 4 like right now. Then I would freak out! But nope...not yet. anyways, since we are homeschooling we aren't starting school until the day after labor day...the day EVERYONE on the earth should start school. But since I can't change the world I can change my corner of the world. I've been reading The Well Trained Mind to inspire my organization with homeschooling. Naturally I would be a total unschooler but I'm fighting that urge because after reading this book I truly believe there is alot of good things that take discipline to learn and it is worth it in the end to teach my children in a way that they can maximize their potential and ability to learn. But all that will happen NEXT week because as of right now they are fighting over the cell phone and tackling eachother like crazed cats. So the vision and reality once again diverge....

day in the life

2010-08-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

woke up
watched Eva sleep. She looked kinda dead. I put my hand over her mouth to try to feel the air coming in and out. She was alive.
Harvey woke up doing his normal leg lifts. I don't know why right when he wakes up his legs go straight in the air but that's what he does and it's pretty cute. Danny and I watched him bench press a toothbrush.
Addie woke up and made us raspberry muffins from a mix. House appraisor knocks on the door just as Eva pours half the gallon of milk on the counter.
Soak it up with a towel as I tell him to show himself around.
pick up toys.
Wait for my piano student.
Keep waiting.
Teach piano and realize she doesn't know any of the note names. whoops.
Drive to the farm (carriage hill). question my choice of ponytails...I feel like a 3rd grader.
Walk around the farm. Meet a very sweet lady and daughter working at the farm. She shows us how to make a quilt on one of those old foot action sewing machines.
Play a quilt game. Basically you take a quilt and make up a story about where each little piece came from..like "this is a piece from the dress you wore when you were a brand new baby..and when I smell it it still reminds me of you when you were born"
Chase the chickens.
Buy candy and commisserate with the candy store lady about the sorry state we're all in with how undisciplined children are and how you can't even yell at neighbor kids in your own yard or their parents will sue you.
Sit outside and realize Harvey has just blown out a weeks stash worth of poo. I had no wipes. Went into the public bathroom and realized the mess extended to under his armpits and even up to his hair. it was intense. Clean him up in the sink and dry him under the hair dryer.
Throw his clothes in the stroller and carry him naked in the sling. I luckily did have a diaper.
uhoh.
BABY

its funny it takes two days for me to post about a day in my life
CONTINUING
left the farm with cleaned baby.
drove to goodwill outlet and met mom. Saw a man that looked like crocodile dundee dude...
was given a small flashlight lovingly from a homeless looking man rooting through the bins.
FOUND SOME SWEEEEET DEAAAALS!!!
Drove home
found Danny playing frisbee golf in the park.
we all ate leftover noodles and chili.
ate my sister Steph's homemade apple pie.
boxed up ebay stuff to mail.
3 in bed.
goodnight.

2010-08-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

went to the circus when it was like 100 degrees out. the kids had a good time and we got to sit in the very front row.
harvey was only a little amused. I kept pouring water on his head too
mom was about to die of a heatstroke or shoot someone...I don't know which one first but she still let her little graddaughters crowd her and sit on her lap. good grandma.
and so we are whiling away our summer..... loosing front teeth, watching scary clowns, swimming, and stealing vegetables from neighbors gardens. I didn't do any such thing (gardening) this year.....but I miss having big tomatoes and zucchini and squash. And corn. It's all I want to eat. Rachel I need some of yours!
Addie's lost her first front tooth and she looks extra special without. I think I'm just going to secretely knock out her adult tooth when it grows in so she eternally has a gap in her mouth. But then she'd probably just look all billy bob without a front tooth. It would quit being cute when she's 20 something.
BYE

chilly stinks

2010-07-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

I'm hot.
this house is full of drywall dust
chilly really stinks.
I skipped our outing today to the water park because the girls didn't want to go.
Harvey is sweating on my chest sleeping.
girls are throwing balls at eachother across the room.
I taught piano all morning.
considering teaching piano in the students home instead of my own.
too many squawkers in the background.
I want to research charlotte mason homeschooling.
We put an offer on a house...but don't know if it will work out or not.
I'm going to shampoo the living room carpet because someone shook chocolate milk all over it.
Stephanie is pregnant! I was the first to find out....(well besides Aaron) and I'm so excited for her and glad it's her and not me. I'm blessing her with the gift of a 12 pounder. Just so she can experience it.

come on to my house

2010-07-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

come on to my house. I'm gonna give you CANDY. come on to my house to myyyy house I'm gonna give you CANDY.
I have no clue where that song is from or if I made it up.
But I will give you candy if you come to my house.

We are house shopping. looking for a new slum house to purchase. Don't worry we will be slum/ghetto lords. It's Danny's new goal.

Today we looked at house number 1: 1920's 3 bed 1 bath with a NIIIIICe yard, but needs a roof, new kitchen, new furnace and a.c. and that's almost all. well not including cosmetics. BUT is only 19,000. And it's on a cute little street and the neighbors were nice. I talked to the girl.

Number 2: a good street in a semi shady overall neighborhood. This house had a cool upstairs apartment with a 2 layer deck. but it stinks like an animal died and rotted and their is no floor and the basement is loaded with mold. 30,000

Number 3: Over by our other house this is a lovely ( I feel like a real estate agent) cape cod. It's actually not lovely...mint green and the bushes are as tall as the house. But it has a newish furnace and the roof looks okay. But it has a huge ramshackle shack in the back with power running to it that makes it look like it was used to grow da drugs or something. Also on a decent street. This one is only 16,000. But it has mold in the bathroom and needs all new interior stuff.

Stephanie said we are currently looking to buy vermont ave and we're going to have to work up to park place.

The last place had a typewriter in it and pea green carpet too. It was awesome.

The girls are just holding their noses and whining to leave. anywho....what else can I write about? this summer just WONT
QUIT. I swear.
okay I'm done.

boys vs girls

2010-07-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

I'm spending time with my little nephews tonight along with the girls and Harvey.

When I gave birth to a girl A GIRL!!! The thought of having a little boy was so foreign to me. I pitied all the poor mothers who gave birth to boys first because having a girl was the biggest treat in the world. Like a humongous icecream sundae with loads of whipped cream, and a huge cherry on top. covered in gummy bears. With three flavors of icecream. and hot fudge.(can you tell I still haven't been eating sugar?) That was having my Addie.

Then I had my second girl and I felt the exact same way!

And then I found out (number three) was a boy. Danny yelled an outloud "YES!!!" and I smiled kind of but I was afraid. Boys. Legos. Cars. Dump trucks. footballs. buzz cuts. Mullets. For some reason really bad boy haircuts kept popping in my mind. Attention deficit disorder..hyper.

biased ya think.

I was still a little afraid all the way till I saw Harvey. Upon viewing my 12 pound chubby ,squinty eyed grunting boy my heart leaped and all I could think was "A BOY!!!! I'm the luckiest woman in the world. " and that was like getting a HUMONGOUS mango ritas frozen custard. So now I pity all the poor unfortunate mothers who had girls and can't put a bow tie on their tiny little bald baby man.

3 on the 4th

2010-07-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

3 months today!!! So I will take tons of mommy liberties by smooching his chubby cheeks and feel free to squeeze fat thighs to my hearts delight. This was last night at the fireworks in Dayton. We went with our neighbors and their granddaughter and my mom.
The downtown had a cityfolk festival which I'm not sure what that means but there was a ton of puppetting people with their works of art like the one above.
of course another picture of the 3 month birthday boy. Happy fourth!!

its all good

2010-06-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

this is 3 weeks of no sugar. Well I guess I broke that rule once maybe but I'm doing good with it. No sugar to me is like eliminating a huge food group. I mean gummy candy is actually it's own food group, then sugar and desserts have their own category. when I was younger a trip to the meijer bulk gummy section was considered dinner...because well you had the gummy strawberries, the sour worms, the sour bears, the gummy fish. It was a buffet of gummy delite. So after like 3 days of having chills, sweating, and shaking I'm feeling like a new woman. But being Mormon means I have even more things forbidden from my diet, like all coffee products, (even mcd's frappes) all tea products...well except herbal tea but it depends on the kind..I only like the fruity kinds anyways. So if you're a word of wisdom abiding mormon you get into sugar because what else gives you the buzz? well...now I have no way to get my high and I've decided marijauna is so much healthier and way relaxing. JUST KIDDING.

I'm trying to eat mainly whole grains, lots of veggies, some fruits, and meat that isn't preserved with nitrates. So aren't I special. And the occasional left over chicken mcnugget. And french fries. oh yes and pizza. So this diet of mine may not prove successful but I do feel better.

oh and I've started doing yoga at home. youtube fat burning yoga and you will get a killer workout. I'm going to shed my baby chub because I certainly gathered alot of it this time.

My question is why is Ohio so hot and humid? The other day I thought a bug was crawling down my back and it was just sweat. It grossed me out. We've had a good week with almost zero pictures because I just don't take my camera anywhere.
We are out and about and Harvey and Malachi have discovered eachother. Katrina and I were sitting at the Y letting the kids play when we realized we were both holding the little men on our laps and we were like..."They need to be introduced to eachother!" So we had them face eachother and Malachi had his mouth hanging open so wide and his eyes were shocked looking and Harvey was smiling and talking and laughing. Harvey kept talking like he was really waiting for Malachi to respond but Malachi just kept looking stunned. It was cute.

anyways I predict a great friendship between the two men.

fodders day

2010-06-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

(my niece lilia and eva)

Happy fathers day to my dad and my danny.

Dad -you have so much energy for my kids and I do love you for it. growing up you were there to tell a weird joke or play pig in the backyard. Your strange humor and lots of hugs and treats galore make you YOU. We all think you are the best.

Danny- You and I get to share equally all this crazy love we have for our children. Laughing about them together and watching you play with and teach the girls is a blessing. Harvey smiling just like you brings tears to my eyes because I know he has a great example in you.

okay enough mushy stuff. now I'm writing a recipe for large group family fun.....

a, pick a major holiday....preferably one where people like to go out to eat...mothers day, fathers day something like that.

b. decide that night you will go out to eat with your entire, exremely large and kid heavy family, to a very popular moderately expensive, nice restaurant. That is located at "The Green" which is a phony feeling fake downtown, outdoor mall, that is constantly packed with people. Not only that they had a really loud 80's cover band with a lady belting out tunes for 4 hours.

c. eat at restaurant. This involved me nursing in a packed lobby with the server telling me to nurse in the family bathroom which didn't actually have a chair inside it. It was so tiny it just had a toilet and a trash can. I wonder where she thought I would sit.....add about 2000 more trips to family restroom because all 600 of our toddlers needed to go non stop. leave restaurant.

d. beat through throngs of joyous fathers day celebrators to go see a movie with all the children. Unfortonately it didn't start for 40 minutes so we had to keep all the children safe (as we sisters traded child abduction stories we'd read or heard about). Enter movie theater and realize there are no seats left. All 1000 of us leave and start telling off the movie theater girl while the kids are crying loud enough to create a sonic boom. don't know what that is but..trust me....its loud. Then wait another 30 minutes to see the next showing. This was Toy story 3 people....there would be a riot if this didn't happen.

e. watch movie. 3-d didn't totally impress me but hey...it was cute seeing 8 kids lined up wearing the glasses. nurse baby in movie, pass out loads of lollypops, leave movie with crying baby....fall asleep in lobby.

and by the way....Rachel I love you happy happy birthday.

we're living in brazil

2010-06-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

thats what danny and I keep repeating over and over to eachother. Now neither of us have actually BEEN to Brazil...or even south America. BUT in our view of the planet...Brazil must have weather just like we are having. No where else...Just Brazil.
Now we live nowhere near Brazil...just in the midwestern world of Ohio where people purchase Cincinatti reds onsies for your baby boy.
Harvey is just your everyday midwestern man.
And Eva is your average midwestern yogurt in the yard eating summertime 3 year old.
and Chilly is your average midwestern rat terrier.....Anyone want a dog?

once upon a time

2010-05-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

there were three little girls who loved going to the farm. Everytime they went, the farmer would let them go in the chicken coop and pick out some eggs. Everytime they picked out eggs they would cradle them lovingly in their hands, or in the hood of their sweaters, until they would usually crack. And then all heck would break lose. Then the little girls mommy, or grandma or whoever, would go find the farmer and demand more eggs immediately. Then they would be at peace once again. Because these were not just any eggs. They were special eggs that could possibly contain a baby chick.
So then the mommy in a moment of chick hatching excitement devised her own incubator because yes, she is that brilliant. It involved an old cardboard box, a thermometer, two lamps, and that's about it. Well the farm egg loving family pretty much tossed the eggs in the box and forgot about them for quite a while.
Until, one day, while getting ready for bed. There was a chirp. And the little girls ran to see what happened. Because this wasn't their first set of eggs....this was their third set of eggs and the mommy had pretty much given up all hope that her homemade ingenuity would ever produce anything more than a rotton egg....so they looked in side...and...............
here she/he is.....Cookie Flower dotson
an angry little chick who is quite aggressive but he was a survivor. Anyone want a chicken?

its a quarter after one

2010-05-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

I hate that song!!!
and truly its way later than that.....Harvey had a 2 a.m. run in with hunger and has been dining ever since. It's now 3:55. ow owwww. Sometimes I forget how tiny he still really is...only 6 weeks. He has never seemed like a true newborn to me and I sit here and admire his dark blue eyes, business man hair, chubby curled up legs and furrowed brow. Danny and i like to call him "the bishop" because of his intense stare down and serious expression. I am thinking of a year ago...I couldn't sleep and spent time browsing the internet. I don't remember where or in what context but I saw the name Harvey written at the end of a sentence. And I remember thinking..."I'm going to have a boy named Harvey." and that was about it. I actually went to bed and told Danny.
When I found out about 2 months later I was pregnant the girls said..."It's HARVEY!!"
and insisted that the baby was absolutely a boy and not a girl.
Now sometimes I try to think of the other names we considered for him during pregnancy...nothing seems to remotely fit. And I think...He has always been Harvey I guess. I just needed a clear message on that because I don't think I would have thought it up myself.
ohhh sleeping baby. nighty night.

2010-05-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

All this having a baby biz has really rocked my homeschooling schedule. I would say I started slacking a bit about 3 weeks prior to the event. We still have been trying to keep up with Math and handwriting. She also reads alot everyday. But right now her education involves a bit more diaper changing, lullabying, and carrying Harvey, who is almost half her size, around the house. Addie is working like a full time nanny around here and her energy for her little brother is intense. There is never a morning when she is too tired to hop right out of her bed when she hears him crying, run to his bassinet, change his diaper and clothes, and carry him to me. Today she sat rocking him in her little rocking chair, while I mopped and vacuumed. I think all of this baby loving energy helps offset the stress of Eva, who is loving in a more viscious baby smothering way. She will rock his baby swing with him in it with a look of insanity on her face. She also has felt like fighting about everything she can think of, mostly it's her wanting to torment someone, like putting her foot on Addie's chair, or deciding whatever Addie has is the best thing in the world. I'm trying to give her a large dose of love to hopefully counteract her middle child negativity. Today she sat on the couch looking really sweet and I said, "Eva give me a kiss!" So she gave me the biggest smacker and then yelled "We're MARRIED!!"

I really hope though everything feels easier this fall.
Addie expressed some interest in going to public school. It made the wheels start turning in my head...well okay. She would be fine. She's a smart kid, and she might enjoy it. She could use some more practice with seperating and being a bit more brave.

then I have this whole other line of thinking that is like....What will she be doing at school except sitting around at a desk. We'll miss all those hours together. Someday she'll be grown up and those are hours we can never get back. She is such a good helper now. Why should the school get all the best years of my kids life? She'll be in one room and one building every day of her life. She'll miss out on our trips to the farm, and museums, and long browsing sessions at the library, time to just play outside without a time line. Time to swing. Time to read. Time to draw and paint. I have many friends that told me they started homeschooling because their kids got off the bus at 4:00 watched t.v. for an hour, ate dinner, did homework and went to bed.

So I don't know what to do.

whats up

2010-05-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

my super men at his schools annual burrito eating contest...harvey was the star
here's the handsome prince on his blessing day.....
gotta love a bow tie
his hands are attacking him again
horse break
everett is so cute
k

BYE

2010-05-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

sitting with Katrina and Nathan at the park today we were watching our youngsters run up and down the plastic play equipment. Kat and I had our babies in tow, perched on the bench, soaking up some vitamin d. I want to add there is nothing like having a sister have a baby along with you....it's like a mirror. We see eachother going through it, see our bodies grow, give birth, and then admiring together the work we accomplished this past year. It's messy and it's not always perfect or fun and there are no pretenses. I guess we aren't much for pretenses anyway. But it is somehow so easy and comforting.
and it was very comforting when Eva and Lilia decided they desperately needed to use the restroom and Nathan bounded at top speed to get the baby potty they had brilliantly remembered. Addie decided she REALLY needed to go too and for that I want to thank my brother in law Nathan terry. Thank you thank you.
This particular park has no indoor facilities and last time Katrina took ALL THREE girls....two of them being mine, and helped them use the porta potty thingy.
Those portapotty's scare me to death. Last year I had a total I KNOW I AM A MOM moment when Eva, sat on the portapotty at a public park, and I had a weird vision of her falling into the murky yuck below. And without even analyzing the situation I knew I would immediately jump down into dark hole and save my child from the stinky well. I think it would be some kind of instinct.
So why didn't ma jump in the well to save carrie on little house on the prairie? that's my question of the night. Good night.

after the birth

2010-04-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

of all three of my youngsters my hormones are a mess for a while.

I am just sad....don't know why...but I am.

babies makes me cry, older kids make me cry, the thought of my children going to college someday makes me cry, the thought of them getting married makes me cry,
kids fighting makes me cry
annoying chilly dog makes me cry
the fact I got an epidural and didn't have a perfect easy natural waterbirth makes me cry
Harvey's blue eyes make me cry
and Eva's big brown eyes make me cry
chicken soup for the mothers soul is like postpartum torture.
the fact danny told me to get the baby out during labor made me cry....but that was until he told me I had the story wrong and I already got the epidural when he said that...I was blaming him for my epidural.

men playing frisbee golf in my backyard even made me cry.

But It's clearing....I can feel it.
soon only the worst of stories will make me cry and I won't have this super sensitive soul. It will be back to normal and I'll remember it again only when I am experiencing it again.

2010-04-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have to take some credit for Nat's lovely dress. A friend had helped start a wedding dress store and we went to check it out because they were selling off everything. There weren't many dresses there but I kept seeing this one which was a long antiquiey lacey thing and I made her try it on. She ended up buying it and altering it a little and she looked GORGEOUS!
The happy couple couldn't get any cuter.....it reminds me of our wedding 9 years ago from the 7th. We celebrated it this year by bringing home our new baby boy :)

I was only partially present (locked away nursing a 12 day old baby and all) but I did snatch a couple pictures here and there.
my handsome wedding date

here's to many more april anniversaries!

harvey honeymoon

2010-04-22T16:56:00.001-07:00

I remember hearing someone say the first two weeks of your baby's life you are on a "babymoon" where you literally fall in love with your new child. My hormones are baby love raging. I am weepy with tears of joy for this new nice guy in my life.
isn't he the most handsome thing you've ever seen?
he was sooooo worth it!
mommy + harvey = truuuuuue loooooove

Harveys birthday

2010-04-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

was on Easter. I thought the moment would never come. I swore I'd have to be induced....but then at 12:00 I woke with contractions. It's like a bell rang or an alarm went off in my body or something....could ve range earlier that's for sure. At first I thought the alarm was just telling me I forgot to put out the Easter baskets for the girls. So I attended to that first. But then it was unmistakable labor. I couldn't sleep....so I read. I read until 6:00 when it felt like my water broke. i woke up Danny, called my mom and dad, and the girls woke up and immediately found their baskets. On the way to the hospital we passed by a prostitute I think and hit every pot hole and that really hurt. I was sure I was probably totally dilated, ready to push, pretty much done with labor. So I got there and I was only a 5. So we walked around, laughed at the nurses while they tried to blow up the humongous inflatable birthing tub thingy, I took a bath and read a wimpy kid book, bounced on the ball.....tried all my tricks. Still no Harvey. So around 3 o clock I had my midwife check me and I was still only a 7. So I kept at it...I went in my huge inflatable tub and I started to feel like maybe this was going to be a really long night. So I got the epidural. Which turned into a spinal and now I have a killer headache. but anyways.....that was around 5 or 6. I was getting really tired. Harvey wasn't moving down...he was floating up high. I can't really remember what happened for the next three hours. At 9 o clock I was totally dialated but he was still really high and they couldn't get him going south. Luckily the Dr. who delivered Addie and Eva was there and he came to save my midwife who was pretty much out of ideas. He helped me out with the vacuum and around 11:15 Harvey Daniel was born with a huge ball on his head from being sucked out and a knot in his cord. As he was emerging everyone was yelling "HE"S HUGE!!" so instead of me holding him and loving on him...I got to hold him for a second, and I wondered if he could open his eyes enough to see...he had alot of fat on his face. Everyone swept him off to the scale to check this enormous baby's weight and he was 12 lbs 1 ounce!!! I could not believe it. OUCH. He was the biggest baby my dr. had ever delivered. So I (with my sore abused body) got the prize of largest baby. And that prize is extremely sweet. He is a mellow man...I kinda got that feeling during delivery. He had a long pretty torturous labor and he was like perfectly stable, with no meconium, and when they pulled him out after 2 hours of pushing he didn't cry, he just grunted like he was slightly annoyed. So here is the little man who has stolen my heart and Danny said he's not jealous at all because he's in love too. now just to recover from it all....

I decided to add something to this a full 22 months later. Giving birth to such a beautiful, big boy was truly one of the joys and prides of my life. I did use hypnobirthing with Harvey and I think it was one of the reasons I was able to feel so calm and relaxed throughout labor. Recovery was no harder with him then with the girls. One of the cool things was how he slept. He slept 20 out of 24 hours a day for like the first three months. And for the four hours he was awake he was all smiles and sweetness. He still is a relaxed, healthy, sweet almost 2 year old. And he is still big but not enormous. About 30 pounds. I regretted for a while that I didn't get the totally unmedicated waterbirth I had with Eva,(she was 9 pounds) but have come to peace with it and feel the epidural was what I needed at the time to cope with the long, intense, labor.

laaaabooor

2010-04-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

I never wake up at night unless someone is throwing up on me or crying. I guess it's the lot of an exhausted pregnant woman that Nothing will wake you up except tragedy.
BUT I think my newest puker might be coming soon.
It's almost 1 and I've had some pretty good contractions...
so now I'm going through my music and gathering a book to read and writing down every important number.
oh and don't forget makeup, hairstuff and a bra. and something to wear home from the hospital.
And a camera.
I think my little boy just really didn't want two extremely sad sisters on Easter since I fell asleep at like 9 and danny went to bed and neither of us remembered to help the easter bunny out. I have to speak in code because some little eyes read my blog.
Anyways......it's been a while since I felt a contraction so I better go back to bed. Maybe the only reason I had them was to get my lazy bod out of bed and finish business.
come on....I want an easter baby!

still waiting....

2010-03-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

for my baby boy.
i do have some wonderful options to get the fire of birthing burning.....

a) take castor oil and get diarhhea for hours

b) take an herbal remedy like blue cohosh and get horrible never ending contractions

C) attach myself to a breast pump which also sounds painful

d) pitocin (been there done that hate it)

e) get a weird water filled catheter blowing things up down there

today I feel like I'm getting to that point where I'm desperate....I'm tired. I'm just wanting to have this baby. Danny says I have to get to the point of desperation where I'm up all night praying fervent never ending prayers that I will go into labor. that's what I did with Eva. I couldn't sleep so I just was like laying and moaning and praying. So I guess I need to have schedule an all night prayer athon tonight and hopefully I can negotiate with God enough to let me have this baby.
What can I promise to do? I will do 100 percent visiting teaching for the REST OF MY LIFE!!! I'll read the scriptures to my kids every night before bed.
I'll personally find homeless people and take them in. Well maybe not. that could be scary.
anyways......pray for me!

how long can you put a boy in leg warmers?

2010-03-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

because those are just really really cute.
I just got a pair that are brown with cars on them and I stare at them with a strange passion.....I just want to see my little child in some leg warmers is that too much to ask? But knowing me and my pregnancy longevity he will be fully one month old before he emerges into the world.
Why do I have to bake babies sooo long? Yes I know my due date isn't for 2 more weeks. And I usually go almost 2 weeks late. So I just need to be patient and continue to be sleep deprived because of the large kid suffocating my breathing capacity for another month until I can be sleep deprived because of a nursing crying little guy for another 12 months or so. Sleep deprivation is just part of my life now and I can't hardly remember ANYTHING. I think it's the long term effects of lack of sleep. I just have no memory for names, dates, events, I can hardly remember to feed the children 3 times a day. That's all I can do. Anyways
BYE

2010-03-01T09:15:00.000-08:00

We went to the art museum last week...the girls got themselves dressed up and we picked up Lilia and headed over. It is slightly scary taking 2 2-3 year olds to an art museum. We practiced at home though....I kept telling them, if you touch the art it will go " BEEEP BEEEP BEEP BEEP" so we did that about a thousand times. Then I said a security guard would carry them out. Over all it went really well and Lilia walked really cutely with her hands behind her back the whole time.

and they played in the kids area for a while. I've been pretty tired lately and lazy. I am not getting any huge things accomplished (except growing a baby) and keeping the two youngsters alive. Sleep is horrible, and I keep having weird hot flashes, and this guy is kicking, and moving and rolling around constantly. I think he already has ADD or something. That's really horrible to say. Anyways, I want a maid, a chef, a nanny, and hmmm what else...someone to give me endless feet rubs. That's all I need right now. Danny can log about 10 minutes in the feet rubbing department but that's about where it ends.

3 year old party prep

2010-02-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday we are celebrating Eva's 3rd birthday and the whole day is totally busy...I teach piano all morning, Addie has ballet, and then I'm helping with a primary activity with the kids at church. At 4 about 20 family members are coming to join us in celebration.
And Eva has laid claim on every element of this party. In fact she has requested that she not have a party at all just a cake "ALL BY MYSELF!"

so this has been our preparation day

assemble 8 treat bags for the kids

result: find Eva clearing out the treat bags about 2 hours later eating all the chocolate out of them, surrounded by trash and wrappers.

bake a birthday cake

found her and her cousin Lilia had dug out large chunks of the cake. I wondered why they were so quiet..ACK!

blow up balloons

she sat and popped balloons until I had to hang them really high from the ceiling and got into a screaming fight with Lilia because they both wanted the pink balloon.

found the birthday candles

she ate two of them.

SO in an effort to just end the day right we went outside to build a snowman.........
this snow is not snowman snow! it's way too fluffy and deep. So instead we watched the stars come out and swung in the dark on the swings in snow suits. I kept warning them if I fell down in the snow I probably would never ever get up again.

and I told mom I'll probably need another cake mix tomorrow........if she feels so inclined to deliver one to me...THANKYOU!

Meet my new nephew

2010-02-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

Malachi Mark .........his birth was one that won't be quickly forgotten. Katrina had a long labor and was truly amazing. She had him "epidural free" and it was something that a pregnant about to give birth woman should think twice about attending. The girls were there with me, and mom, and Nathan's parents and we all ate junk food in the living room area and waited, and waited, and waited for the little guy to make his appearance. But he was taking his time and in a strange position. Katrina was really super woman! Every person who gives birth does it in their own way, and has their own ways of coping and being. She did it her own way and she was a tough cookie. I'm so proud of you Kat!
Addie and Eva were in love with him and talked about him all night and the whole next day. They are currently begging to go see them today.
and he was born in a blizzard. The trees are all snow covered and it has made the whole world look crystalized. It's cool.

2010-01-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling better...besides the fact that Eva decided sleep is for the birds...she wakes up every morning (if you can call it morning) at 3-4 a.m. and is pretty much up for the day. Requesting food and drink, and running the halls, with chilly behind her. And Chilly's nails are so long they sound like someone typing on the wood floor.
I hate trimming dog nails! They are so thick and creepy....I don't think we've cut her nails in like a year. But they look okay. I think she bites them or something.
I have babies SO on the brain! I'm so excited for Katrina to have her baby boy...because I feel like it's a precursor to my baby being born. I'm just baby crazed right now. I've knit him 3 hats, I want to make him some swaddling blankies, and I got an itch make these cute onesies that have a piece of material cut into a tie that you sew on. I saw them on etsy and I was so there.
I've read 2 of my natural childbirth books...and I'm just EXCITED!
Now I just need someone to sew my car seat a new cover (RACHEL!!!!) and we are ready to go.
I just have like 2 months left....I'm all signed up to go to the natural birthing center of our hospital. It's pretty cool...it's like the only one like it in the whole state. No I.V.'s or monitoring....or drugs.
It's where Eva was born and all those memories.

I'm sick

2010-01-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

I've had to be humbled because I've become vitamin crazed person lately.

I totally thought I had sickness beat. I read some alternative health books, and listen to the health guru (who tried to rip off my sister but I digress) and I've been healthy (well besides pregnancy induced nauseau) for many a month now.

So I take about 3-4 grams of Vit C. every day
about 4000 iu of Vitamin D.
I've been taking echinecea and also my prenatal.

But still with all my healthy pill popping the dark cloud of winter sinuses has descended on me. And I feel very LOUSY today and have all week. Oh and not to mention I even poured hydrogen peroxide in my ears because it's supposed to kill viruses.

It feels weird but it actually is kind of addictive in a way.

So now I'm going to try Katrina's magical sinus rinse and

put hot compresses on my face.

something else strange

2010-01-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

we went to the newport aquarium with a friend and her two little boys. It was our first time so I was glad to have someone be our driver since I wasn't sure how to get there. It was a pretty cool place, it had ALOT of sharks, and shark rays, and you could even TOUCH the sharks which the kids loved.

There was even a huge scale you sat in that would tell you what kind of shark you weighed the same as. So I sat in it...ignorant me, to see what kind of shark I weighed the same as. Little did I know it also broadcasts your actual weight in NUMBERS above the scale on like a scoreboard thingy. So I sat in my large ignorant bliss while people walked by soaking in my own personal weight....which by the way I won't tell to anyone....right now. Except maybe Danny. Because I wanted to tell him I weigh more than he does.

There are also alligators, and loads of fish...with a tunnel of fish you walk through....
instead of taking my new camera I had the kids bring the old camera. I told Kelly (the girl I was with) this old camera stinks but I know if I bring my new one something will happen to it.

So then, we went into the jellyfish room, which was my favorite room, and Eva took the camera to take some pictures and I turned around for a minute and she set it down on the bench she was sitting on. I walked around for a minute and then went back to get the camera and it was totally gone. Someone stole our old camera! So we asked around and it was officially gone.

so the old camera will have to rest in eternal peace with some lucky criminal who will be able to take cruddy 5 megapixel pictures, with a scratched up viewfinder, and a flash that is crazy bright. ENJOY!

I smell smoke

2010-01-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

My mom and I have a mutual hobby of thrift store shopping. We meet up, scour out all the sweet stuff, and always leave feeling satisfied with whatever loot we're carrying out.

Now the goodwill has a bad habit of overpricing stuff, so I've discovered the goodwill outlet.
This is the thrift store for all the people who are too cheap for even the goodwill.

Everything is in huge dirty bins, the smell is one that can't be replicated,(not a good thing) there are people that set up camp there all day and eyeball anyone invading their space. The girls call it the "crazy store" because you hear glass breaking the whole time. But we always find some treasure to take home and it's all sold by the pound so you can get stuff really really cheap.
Although
Our thrift finds haven't always come to a good end...like yesterday.

At the goodwill my mom had spotted an older (not sure how old) stainless steal four slice toaster. For 1.99!

So it was a done deal. I threw out my old grimy toaster we got 10 years ago and I plugged in my shiny new beauty. Then yesterday as I was toasting the morning toast....well..I got distracted. I started reading something, then I was watering the plants, then I was staring aimlessly out the window...when I looked around me and the whole room was filled up with smoke. Addie and Eva came running in saying..."Something stinks!" I started staring at the ceiling, not sure where the source of the smoke was coming from, then I ran into the laundry room thinking the furnace blew up or something, the whole house was getting smokey. I still couldn't figure out where the smoke was coming from...so then I started staring down the garbage disposable....Makes perfect sense...the garbage disposal is on fire...in the mean time I throw all the windows open and I turn around and see the toaster ON FIRE!
I grab an oven mitt, and throw two flaming pieces of toast out the window into a heap of smoking snow.
But joyfully I was able to save the toaster. I cleaned it up and it's now toasting fine again.
So all is well that ends well!

2010-01-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

SNOW!
and I haven't left the house in at least 3 days.
I'm hibernating.
But today I will leave the house because
we have overdue items at the library and I need a good book to read
and I have to take Addie to girlscouts and its our turn for the snack.
my goal: do not leave the house until February
But if I must I must.

New thought: I love being able to stay home with the youngsters.
Sometimes I think back to the early days of being home when Addie was a newborn.
The days stretched so so so long and I never felt like I was doing anything except
sleeping, and feeding a baby.
I had my whole day mapped out by what horrible daytime TV show was on.
I don't know when all that changed.
But I really love it now...and can't thing of anything I'd be more happy doing in the world....
I always feel like it's a fleeting moment with them...and if I don't have it in my mind no one will.
I truly don't know if anyone else will remember what Eva looked like with fuzzy warble hair flying in the wind, dancing in circles to music. Or the sound of their chirping high voices as they play pretend together.
Or them crowding on my lap for me to read them a story which Addie doesn't want me to read because she already knows how to read and Eva wants to turn the pages before I'm done.
It all makes me very happy and anyways....being with my girls will get me through this big, fat pregnant winter I'm sure.

watching old home videos

2009-12-27T16:26:00.000-08:00

and I noticed we mostly take videos on birthdays and christmas. My daddy o gave me the best Christmas gift ever! He had taken a bunch of our old family videos and my sisters videos and all of OUR videos and put them on one external hard drive thingy. So we have one place to save our movies and we can watch them all at home.

So Danny and the kids and I have been relaxing away our Sunday watching videos we took when Addie was a tiny baby. It's amazing how seeing your child on video is so much more real than my hazy crazy memory.
I'm hoping I'm like Brother Harmon in our ward. Danny is his home teaching companion and he is this amazing woodworker. He has a huge shop and he has helped Danny build my christmas gift of built in bookcases by the fireplace. He is this tiny old man and as sweet as can be. He has absolutely no short term memory though. But he has a very vivid long term memory. He will tell Danny all these stories about how he met his wife and took her to disney land on their first date, and how he had a huge workshop at his old house, and how he started building things because during some war they were rationing everything. I'm hoping as I get older the details of my life start to come back as vividly.
We went and visited him 2 nights before Christmas as he was watching "This Old House" and he welcomed us in and showed us all his wooden cars and trucks and birds he's built and then I played his old organ, from a book of folk American songs, that was sitting in his living room which he says he plays just for himself. He had a huge grandfather clock sitting behind him. On his fireplace mantel was a picture of him and his wife, and his son, who was his wife's son that he raised as his only child. As we talked he told us the story of when his wife died. And he cried....and we sat with him. The girls wiggled and marveled at the carved blue jays and cardinals. Then we had to go, and said goodbye, and he walked us out....

Today at church as Eva sat on my lap and squirmed and chatted, she stood up on my lap and looked to the very back of the church and said really loud...."HI BROTHER HARMON!" and waved.

I didn't have a camera but I hope I always remember that little moment in his home.

home baked christmas pics

2009-12-22T07:44:00.000-08:00

This week has been relaxed with no school and lots of family time. I'm looking forward to all the Christmas events coming and want to wish all my sweet sweet loves the bestest, merriest happiest, loveliest christmas EVER!

whats goin down at da dotsons

2009-12-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

playing with friends
gum drop garland of death

daddy taking eva out for the evening and she felt very very special
bread and cookie baking
tree trimmed!!!

fire crackling.....

i gotta new camera but I don't got pictures

2009-12-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

sixteen miles on the erie canal....

a horrible elementary school song stuck in my head!

I've been feeling better. A couple of weeks ago pregnancy hormones were waging WAR on my body and I was crying like almost everyday.

I got through that. Now I'm just a little sappy and emotional but I do have things I really want to complain about....

technology: Why do we use a virtual homeschool when I seriously have a hatred of technology. Addie keeps wanting to get on these little class sessions with other kids and every time I go to do it I have some huge technical difficulty. She always has the saddest look on her face while I grumble and mess with the microphone and break into a sweat.

Also my cell phone which was a FREE phone handed down from Steph started leaking battery acid everywhere and our cordless phone needs a new battery too. So I've been disconnected from telephones for like 4 days. People are always saying "I CAN NEVER GET A HOLD OF YOU!" I tell them to just come over and knock on my door because there is probably some reason I'm not answering my phone.......like I'm trapped with children crawling all over me, or I'm not home, or my phones are all exploding with toxic gas. There is a really good reason I promise.

Besides my technology complaints here is some more things I'd like to do away with.....

1. Twilight(yes I'm a hater)

2. the christmas shoes song (it's just wrong)

3. the christmas song about some guy running into his high school girlfriend in the grocery store (it has nothing to do with christmas except for the very end when they play like aud lang syne)

4. inflatable christmas decor (my children LOVE those with a passion and every time we see one ask why we can't get some in our yard)

things I need more of:

1. gum drop garland that is pre strung

2. snuggling and reading stories by our christmas tree

3. someone to do all the rest of the shopping and wrapping for me
( I am officially the worst present wrapper in the world! oh wait...danny is worst I'm second worst)

love you all!

thanksgiving

2009-11-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

here is the entire Larson Family, thanksgiving was delayed because of plagues of pink eye, strep throat, swine flu and who knows what else. We still managed to get together and celebrate a couple of days late. hooray!
decorating our christmas tree...and here is the best news...I got to retire my kodak easyshare and let it rest in peace as the designated kids camera and we got a new Sony I dunno what's it called...but it's a huge improvent. My christmas is now complete!
I just liked the raspberries on this yummy concoction Rachel made....
Here are the two cutest nephews in the world! Except for Dane of course...
our humongously long thanksgiving table! I'm so glad Rachel has a huge house to have family get togethers in.....we usually host a family event about 2 times a year and we all are eating on folding chairs and the floor!
Eva's brown eyes are chocolicious!
Oliver again! I need to put some pics of the rest of my neices and nephews on here. We had a good time but it flew by, we celebrated two birthdays, watched Nathan Terry prance around in glow in the dark footy jammies, and ate ate ate until we could eat no more. I'm on the celery, fat free ranch, and lettuce diet until I have this baby! I swear I'm going to break 200 this time. ACCCCCCKKKK!

some recentish pictures

2009-11-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

the day we found out we were having a male child.....I ate the meatiest breakfast EVER and eva colored her nose red for the celebration
Stephanie and Everett...sorry for my strange flash!
Child Labor numero 1: Addie frantically sewing on her sewing machine
Nathan's lookin' FIIIIIINE

the last of the fall flowers..........................
Child labor 2: Our pizza parlor...if you order a pizza from us you will get child labor but they are mastering the art of crust making. the secret ingredient is Eva's flyaway hairs..yummy.

thanksgiving again

2009-11-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

Hey family peeps

I'm really very hungry for the biggest thanksgiving feast ever. So I'm gearing up for some seriously intense thanksgiving delights.

MOM: I want your rolls like right now. And I want mashed potatoes and stuffing.

RACHEL: I want your jello with raspberries and blueberries in it.

Stephanie: I want some huge crazy pumpkin pie dessert thingy with crunchy stuff on top or something like that.

ME: I want my broccoli salad.

KATRINA: I know you can't bring a single thing because you are working that night...I just want your cute little pregnant bod there so I can look even HUGER and FATTER as I wolf down mounds of food.

Every one else is pretty much off the hook. I know Mark will whip up some special "man food" probably and who knows what Dad will sneak in his pockets for all the kids.

I just want you all to know to please me you have to do your part. And I know you will do your part because you DO NOT want to see my wrath. GOt it?

our night

2009-11-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

Let me get one thing clear...and open to the public.

My children nurse way past what most normal children do.

I didn't set out to be a boob nazi or a la leche leaguer or any kind of activist.

Actually I thought in my brain when I had Addie....I bet when they start to get teeth they don't need to nurse. Teeth=chewing food.

right? right?

wrong!!

I didn't set out to sleep with my kids.....I had a little crib set up, with handmade bedding.....and I never once used it. Never once!

I feel like a freak of nature a bit. All these little babes in the world soundly sleeping in cribs and I have mine nursing practically allnight.

And I'm not bothered by that. I think it's the lazy person in me. I avoid conflict, and once Addie and Eva were born I realized they would scream bloody murder every time I tried to make them sleep alone or limit the nursing thing. So I became a peacemaker and said..."What the heck...it's alot easier just to let her act like an ape ..she's happy, I'm happy...peace!"

so Addie nursed a LOOOOOOOONG time. Long enough to have a negotion for the whole process to be resolved peacefully. I'll leave that at that.

Eva is still nursing. And I'm not really bothered. Pregnancy does chemically change things a bit but overall I'm okay. she just does it occassionally. Until lately...until the past couple nights. When she feels desperately hungry at the wee hours of the morning.

Lately, she wakes up at 3 a.m. wants to nurse, until I ask her if she's hungry, then she nods her head. And she says...."I WANT CEREAL AND MILK!" So I go get the girl food. Then she feels perky and wants to read stories, and I say "No no no I'm really tired." Then she wants to turn on the lights. Then she starts talking alot how she wants me to do "cacka" which is some german thing my grandparents and parents did to our hands...like a little game. Then she wants me to do "This little piggy" on all 20 of her toes and fingers. Then she wants me to walk my fingers up her back and act like my fingers are little people walking to the pet store to buy a puppy. This was a game I invented once when I really really wanted her to lay down and relax.

So, me, pregnant and all, am very relieved when after this whole charade, she rolls over, and falls asleep. And if she nurses a little bit at that point...I don't even care.

And this all should end very soon...especially at night...because in April we will be having a baby boy! I can't have 2 of them at me at night that's for sure.

blackmail pictures posted

2009-10-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

OF course I'd post a non scary picture of MUA what do you expect?

BUILD A BEAR ....the joyous place where you can buy your teddy bear clothes that cost more than what you pay for actual human clothes ...

black mail picture # 1.

Rach, you kinda look like you're casting a spell on someone.

cute eva picture break

blackmail picture # 2

this was part of our joint October birthday celebration...my camera stinks :(

and last but not least blackmail picture # 3

and finally a neutral non offensive picture of Eva's baby maple tree...it lost its red leaves and looks a little puny but I have to include a fall esque picture right? right? there ya go!

2009-10-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

things on my mind:

1. holiday guilt: What would really happen to my family if I refused to take them to an autumn pumpkin patch this year and blog about it.....would I get struck by lightning? would the children have to go to therapy? would the grim wreeper with a jackolantern on his head come a knockin' and do us all in? just curious about that one. What If I became morally opposed to pumpkins? They're of the devil!!!! I'll just scream that and run every time I see one. Or I'm tired of inflicting pain on poor defenseless pumpkins. I'll tie myself to a large prickly gourd plant and cry hysterically any time someone comes to pick one...."DONT YOU SEE THEY ARE HURTING!!!! JUST STOP ALREADY!"

2. Our version of homeschooling is kind of light on the schooling part lately. You mix pregnancy hormones with the urgency of accomplishing anything productive and bad things happen. Yesterday I ended up sitting on the floor of our designated school room in tears while I colored an elaborate scene in the book Addie was supposed to be working in. I just was tired of everyone yelling at eachother. So I colored and cried. And Eva kept bringing me loads of toilet paper wadded up tissues and Addie colored me a rainbow with a flower and wrote a heartfelt note about how it was my birthday Saturday and she was so sorry she made me cry but she just really needed Eva to give her the paper. Then we all hugged and we were all okay. Happy joy

3. My life seems mysteriously simple but also incredibly exhausting right now. I can't really line the two up...should be very simple....but it's making me so tired. I also love wallowing in my sorrows if you can't tell. I'm not the type to hold it all in. I have to vent. So there I did it and I feel oh so better.

4. I love Danny. He is awesome. Danny deals with 50 kids every day so he totally has his bad days too so when he comes home he is ready to play with and love just being around 2 sweet little girls. I never knew the way our children would make our love grow but I can't imagine not having his energy and excitement for our own little world we live in. He's so excited about our 3rd he tells EVERYONE! Sometimes we watch Addie and Eva as they are asleep and we just like stare at them and giggle and smile like we won the lottery and have the secret to the universe. the secret is our family is the greatest joy in the world and no one can take it from us.....it's ALLLL ours!

so anyways I better head to the bed.... I love you all my family and friends. see don't I cheer up once I vent? That's just how I work!

2009-10-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

these girls don't get enough high fructose corn syrup in their diet..........these are way too delightful to them.

I remember loving capri suns so much I would down a whole box of them in one day.

I remember loving every disgusting thing that my mom would never buy......pop tarts,
any little debbie product,
chips,
frozen dinners, pizza rolls, hot pockets. ( I can't get that comedien guy saying "hot pocket" out of my head whenever I see those)
fast food
and airheads, laffy taffy, any kind of gummy, all forms of chocolate, funyons (that is a hilarious name for a food product) and pretzel sticks at the pool.
anyways
It seems like my blogs have been about food alot lately.

So basically....the past month the only foods I could stomach were these disgusting childhood favorites. I didn't want juice...I wanted capri suns. I didn't want homemade pizza I wanted a disgusting frozen pizza roll.

BUT the clouds have parted and angels descended and I have emerged from the first trimester and I truly, really do feel much much better. And my cravings for spaghettios have left me and I am so so so happy about that.

Dedicatory Addie Birthday Post

2009-09-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

                                   Addie turned six today and I look back at my one year old blue eyed baby.  Addie didn't walk until 18 months this was one of the first times she really stood up....

the strange outfits I put on her lasted until she wisened up at about two and started dressing herself......(i like dannys expression)

here we are today on the day of her birth

I never realized that my childrens' birthdays would be more important than many days....but they are.  I think about that September sunny day Addie was born  (really exhausting and difficult) and the moments we had when she was first born....she was really alert and I remember exclaiming about how beautiful she was and how I loved her so much as she stared at me with furrowed eyebrows.  Addie's always been my serious girl, taking in the world before jumping in, watching and waiting but always happily so.  She's never been  moody and she is my  sweet, pure love.  Physically,she's tiny but she has a wise, big, spirit in her.

happy birthday!!

cell phone talking...a newfound hobby

She's become a reader, and a writer, and is all business everyday as she files her papers, and writes every color she can think of, and spells out long journal entries and makes her business calls to her cousins.

I need a new camera!!!

2009-09-09T05:33:00.000-07:00

That sweet, fine and lovely camera I got for cheap at Sam's club six years ago...well it just ain't what it used to be. The screen is foggy...there are flecks everytime I take a picture and it looks like snow is in people's hair. I know this is an affect the professionals strive for......but.....I need one of those awesome new digital cameras with like 30 megapixels that makes EVERYONE look like a professional photographer just by tilting it a funny angle and zooming in. I also want it to take video too....soooo I guess I need to start hunting on the net.

So until then expect some crappy pictures!

This month has been difficult...if you haven't been able to tell that from my posts. I just am so sick of feeling like I am dying of cancer. I'm very, truly, extremely happy we are going to have a new baby shortly but this is the hard part for me. I would seriously rather be huge with back aches, and hemmrhoids,(how on earth do you spell that) and unable to go from a sitting to standing position than this early pregnancy junk. So I called my Doctor and said...."I feel so sick can you please help me!!" and they said...."Eat protein and a carb every two hours!" And then I said...."I'm throwing up my proteins and carbs!"
and then they told me to drink milk! That is like asking a vampire to eat garlic or something. BAAAAAAAAD! Milk, water and juice are really hard for me to drink. So I am basically always dehydrated.
So the nurse said..."Well we can call you in a special medicine that might help."
and I was very relieved....but the paranoid side of my brain was like.....OH NO this is going to make my baby have some bad deformity! So I asked her if it would make my baby deformed
and she was like "NO! We wouldn't tell you to take something that would do that."
and I was like...."Right of course." But inside I'm a little suspicious.

So I took it last night....I didn't think it helped for a while...but I got through the evening without throwing up...I even ate some bread and sat at the table while everyone ate dinner.

So I guess it works a little.

what's coming up

2009-09-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

That sounds disgusting I know....I blessed this pregnancy with my first episode of puking tonight.
I feel horrible, I look horrible, I pretty much feel like this baby is the boy in the bubble and I'm the bubble and I don't do much but protect it from all harm for a while before letting it out of the bubble. But this bubble isn't a happy bubble. anyways bad analogy.

Today while I was having school with Addie I heard a message on my answering machine. It was from the Drs. office I go to saying that I should call them back because they have my test results. I had NO idea what test results they were talking about. I've been to this dr. when I had the girls and they never call about test results.....as long as they're normal. Then I remembered they took like 3 containers of blood from me. And I started to panic....The baby has trisomy 18 and its not going to live past birth! What am I going to do? How can I bury my own child the second it's born? What kind of casket should I pick out? Or it could have down syndrome..or it could have spina bifida or something..... I started crying and ran down the stairs to get the phone and call them immediately.

As I was on the phone the nurse paused for a really long time and she was like...."You have a UTI so I'm calling in a prescription for you."

"I do???" I was almost ecstatic....."But I don't even feel like...any weird feelings....like I don't feel like I have a UTI....are you sure?"

"Yes" she said. "We're sure. Now where do you want your prescription sent to?"

My mind is a fragile and troubling thing right now.
I need that sign....Stay calm and carry on....

20 things that make me sick

2009-08-26T08:37:00.001-07:00

1. tomatoes (WHY??? I love tomatoes...it's tomato season.....yet I can't even handle making eye contact with one of those guys)

2. bananas (strange)

3. anything fried (for the best)

4. cheese (BAAAAAAAAD)

5. milk (even on cereal....)

6. lettuce

7. cereal except fruit loops

8. noodles

9. sauce

10. butter or bread

11. cucumbers (I had a grand idea to make cold cucumber soup a couple of weeks ago.....unfortunately it all got poured down the garbage disposal....just the thought now doesn't make me feel calm)

12. onions

13. salsa

14. dog food (the smell...although when I was pregnant with addie I was falling asleep while the t.v. was on and I saw a commercial for what looked like some very gravyful beef and I said..."Danny that looks so good!" it was a dog food commercial!!!

15. juice

16. chocolate (how could my body go this wrong???)

17. ramen noodles (for the best right?)

18. anything with meat (excluding chicken pot pie...I ate that last night and for some reason wasn't bothered)

19. peanut butter

20. any food that emits any kind of odor

so for the list of foods that don't currently make me sick..........

1. yogurt

2. peaches

3. chicken pot pie

i must reveal....

2009-08-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Addie started our second year of homeschooling........................as Addie and Eva and I spend the day driving eachother a little nutty i wonder what possesses me...........

We went to wegerzyn gardens......

My Eva isn't going to be my baby forever........a new one will join us in about 7 months!
(decided to let it all out because I need sympathy. I feel really horribly sick.)

Addie's journal

2009-08-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Addie started writing in a journal and she will sit in the corner of the couch penning her thoughts and eyeballing me over the top of her journal. I of course was curious what was in the journal.....
and now I'm publishing it for all to see!

I am 5 mi name is Addie.

I lake mashrooms.

I love Eva and i love mommy and i love daddy.

dogs and cats are my fafrit animols.

my vacashin was fun.

we whent to the stor and I got new shos and eva got sadals.

I wont to go to the dentist. I'm going to the detist this munth.

eva is my sister we play.

me and lena play we have fun.

at chrismas i want a camra and i want a fone.

i'm the crazy mom

2009-08-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

yesterday Rach and Steph and Katrina and all 8 kids came over to play. We went to wegerzyn gardens....it has a pretty cool childrens garden with a waterfall, and a stream, and a sandbox and lots of amazing plants. I ran into some other mom's I knew when Addie was a baby, and I ran into our old story time lady who was at the dayton library when we lived in Dayton. There were only about 3 kids who went to storytime and we were religious about it so we got to know her really well before she left and started driving the book mobile. Anyways that was a tangent....

It's great getting all the cousins together because they have a ball. They were running wild all evening outside. I'm glad they will have all these memories together. So anyways, about once a year I have Lena and Dane have an unaccompanied overnighter at my house. They are all still kinda young and they all want to sleep in the same bed. So I put them to bed but Dane was bouncing like mad and I kept having to fix his bed so he didn't fall down the crack by the wall. After they settled down, they all 3 wanted me to rub their feet, then their backs, then they wanted me to tell them stories. I was getting a tad on the tired side......I was like...Okay. Once thei r were three princesses, Brenda, Carla and Anastasia. (the 2 first ones kinda sound like factory workers). They lived in a huge castle that was made of glass. And there were no doors and no windows. They couldn't bounce a ball in their castle because it would shatter. Everyone in the whole village would watch them while they ate dinner, played, and took baths. They got sick of it and they decided they were going to smash their castle down and so they did. THE END. the story of a tired mind.

They finally fell asleep around 12:00 and I went to bed and read for a little bit. At 3 o clock I heard some voices. Nooooo!!! Then the voices kept getting louder and louder until they were shrieking and bouncing. I remember being at slumber parties as a child and at some point in the night a very angry parent would come storming in and start yelling threats that if we didn't stop we were all going home. I would always think in my mind "wow what's wrong with them??" So I became the crazy mom and I stormed in there and I caught Dane in the midst of a huge pillow fight. And I said "YOU GUYS ITS 3 in the morning you are going to wake up Eva if you don't sleep you all are going to be too tired to play in the morning and I'm going to have to take you home!!!!" then I stormed out.

I felt like the mean mom but that was the last sound I heard until 7 a.m.

our getaway

2009-08-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

we escaped life for about 4 days and spent some time together in a little cabin on Lake Huron. It was pristine and much needed escape from everything. It was just the perfect little small town, with a park with crazy plaster animals, little shops and restaurants and just a quiet spot to relax.
We went up to my grandparents on Hubbard Lake and I didn't even take any pictures. It was good to see my grandma and grandpa and breathe in the pine tree air. We went to a great aunt's 50th wedding anniversary and the kids danced in their dresses to the live folk band and we stayed at the illustrious alpena holidome and swam in the pool to our hearts content. So now back to real life......danny's slaying 5th grade dragons and I'm watching lilia and the girls as they turn the house into a scary doll paradise!

2009-07-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

we had danny's dad's viewing and funeral yesterday and today.

it was kinda hard and we are happy that part is over with. danny gave a talk at the funeral and he did a really great job. I don't think I could've done that myself but he pulled it off. I played the piano for it and it went fine.

Alot of people came to the viewing to support Danny and he was surprised and really happy they came. Friends from school and old friends from the Dayton Branch and new friends from the ward...... Thank you to everyone who has helped him and all of us during this time.

The kids do not seem to get it really and I guess that's just how kids are. they are too little still, I think. Eva did say "Bye papa Jack" as we were walking out so maybe she gets it in her own way.

The things I've thought during this....

you never know when or how someone's life might end and the worst feeling in the world is to put things off until it's too late.......

there are always going to be good things and bad things about anyone and it's probably always better to think of the good things, especially with family.

how good it's made us feel that so many people have called us, and made us food, and just been there for Danny.......I don't think we ever really knew what people need when someone dies and now I think we have a better idea.

one little thing I wanted to get up and say at his funeral but I didn't do it........

Jack was this tall kinda scary guy........people would say he was a "man's man" but his appearance was a bit of a facade because he was really a gentle guy. He had crazy farm cats that would come around his house and he would always act really annoyed with them and kind of yell at them...but then around the front of the house he would always put a plate of cat food with a stone in it so it wouldn't blow away in the wind. Then inevitabely the cats would have kittens...which would really seem to irritate him. But he would prepare a whole little box for them...then if the cats were bad moms he would keep carrying them over to wherever the mom was. I remember he made a whole house for the cats with a carpet in it around the back of his house so she had somewhere to put her kittens. But the whole time he'd be grumbling and complaining about it a bit and telling them what to do...."Look at that mess you've got yourself into!! You need to take care of your kittens!"

they live in the country so they have mice and cats......one christmas eve we were over helping them decorate their christmas tree and having a nice little time when Jack saw a mouse running through the living room. It got cornered against the wall and instead of him killing it he made Danny hold up this huge long rug so they could guide it out the front door and try to scoot it out. This took like 5 crazy minutes and then danny was the weak link and he raised the rug up too high and the mouse ran under and slid under the bedroom door. His dad was like..."Danny!!!"

anyways just a story I had thought of.

dannys dad

2009-07-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

died in a car accident last night. He was known to our kids as Grandpa Jack. Today Danny is going to try help make all the arrangements with his brother and his dad's wife, Vicki. We'll miss him alot. He was a farmer and a retired factory worker. He ran out mega-dairies, helped his neighbors, cleaned the local church, mowed a bunch of peoples yards, attended a one room school house in darke county as a child, and lived on the same property he was born on.

On fathers day he proudly showed us his new flat screen T.V. and he just bought himself a brand new car.He was the kind of person that never sits down. He always had chores going on and he came from the mindset of use everything until it literally falls apart, and then just duct tape it back together. On fathers day he was out in his straw hat that was duct taped on the top...and I said..."Danny get your dad a new hat PLEASE!!!" But he loved that hat and I think he probably had a bunch of new ones hidden away somewhere but the duct taped one felt the best.

Danny is doing okay...it's weird having someone close to us die suddenly. I've never really experienced it before. We do have confidence that his spirit is eternal, that he is in a different place and that it is part of our eternal plan to take this step. It has brought Danny alot of peace and comfort.

2 year old examination

2009-07-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

a sparkler examination

a baby cousin examination

car sleeping examination

cousin examination

whiplash examination.

the foolish man built his house upon the sand.....

2009-07-10T07:56:00.001-07:00

This months been a woozy doozy! I've been flat drunk for weeks......on summer loooooove baby.

Why do refeerences to alcohol just make me laugh....never having had a single sip my whole life i think I have a fascination with the weirdness of being drunk. I also have had the life long knack of acting drunk with no alcohol entering my system. Once 10:30 hits I'm as tipsy as if I was tossing back a tequila.......I guess I have had alcohol if you count Nyquil....or my dad's stash of "near beer" that has like .01 percent alcohol. That stuff is just NASTY! whoever invented that must have been a convert to the church because you have to have a serious hankering for some certain flavor to let that enter your body.

alcohol was not even what I was going to blog about.

I was on facebook and I saw a bunch of pictures of Newton...........Newton or Newtin as it's pronounced in these parts is where I went to school from K-12. One building. I never left that same building for any grade. It's not a private school just a small farm community that could support one small school. My class had about 35-40 people in it. By the time I graduated there were only about 7 male class members attending school at the building.

anyways the building is getting tore down this year. I believe soon I need to ask Nathan. I'm kinda sad about it...it just feels like a childhood home getting tore down. There are communities that seem to value their old buildings, renovate them, make them beautiful again......people do it with homes. In many older cities the old renovated schools are the center of the city and something they enjoy caring for. but oh well...I'm not going to chain myself to the front of the building while the wrecking ball is swinging down or become some terrorist and stalk the p.hill politicians.

so in dedicatory rememberance I would like my kids to see where I went to school. take a couple pictures. And say goodbye to where I spent 16,380 hours of my growing years. and maybe I'll write more about my memories someday. But I don't know where to start. And I can't do it now while I've got Eva in my lap napping and the large to do list of today ahead of us.......but maybe someday I will.

viruses and ect.

2009-06-23T20:39:00.001-07:00

our computer has been virused by something. It's a big pain because it keeps opening up stuff I don't want opened..and shutting down,,,and the kids want to watch tv on it and they can't because it always has obnoxious pop ups.

and now Addie also has a virus but a real one that is making her feel horrible. Poor girl!

we have watched Enchanted every SINGLE DAY since the start of June. At first I thought it was cute and a little funny. Then I thought it was actually very good acting....NOW I stare at that movie as if it holds the secrets to the universe....when I hear the daily...."HOW DO I KNOOOOOW IF HE LOVES ME?" I ask myself that question. Then I get my answer...he will sing a song with words meant just for me...YES THATs HOW I WILL KNOW!!!!

It is a marvel that movie....and for some reason Addie and Eva are convinced the guy she ends up with is really her dad. I'm like..."Well they're in love right?" NO ITS HER DAD!!! Well.....then why doesn't she go off and marry the prince? BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO BE WITH HER DAD!
which is actually quite sweet that they think the whole movie is about her dad and her finding eachother..and a little confusing. I think I need to hide that dvd.

2009-06-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Addie had her last day of her first year of homeschooling.. IT wasn't really a whole year but she finished all of kindergarten in 4 months. My thoughts and feelings about it so far are these..... I'm still figuring out the balance of structure and non structure. Like I want to have a bit of a schedule so we're not just sitting in our pajamas watching t.v. all day and at the same time not so many activities that it's stressful and overwhelming.

I haven't totally embraced the "unschooling" mentality...even though I do agree with many of the ideas....I just feel like I'm falling somewhere between "unschooling" and a structured school day.
We are using Ohio virtual academy which gives us LOTS of lessons, ideas, and the whole structure...so I've kind of been spending times on the things that she is interested in and seeming to need right now, and spending less time on things I don't think matter as much...like who invented peanut butter.... and if you know that then hooray.

Once danny got chewed out by a kindergarten teacher in Dayton public schools because supposedly no one knows who invented peanut butter...he was like..."Hey I love peanut butter!" and she was like..."his name is GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER and he went to blah blah blah college and he invented blah blah balh"

I'm sure he was a wonderful man......I think he invented marshmellow cream too.... anyways......I feel like this is definately the right thing for us and it has been cool following through on what I was feeling inspired to do.....

I've been playing piano (chopin and brahms are making me happy right now) and we've been outside alot and spending time with family and danny's almost done with the cabinets and we are ready to have a looooooonnnnggg summer.

a quickie

2009-05-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

a quickie post before my students get here...it's saturday. joy of joys.
anyways....

the cvs lady seriously has it OUT FOR ME!!

I frequent (love that word) the CVS on the corner about once a week because it's really close to my house so I'll get the random stuff I haven't bought there...like a pound of gummy worms or a gallon of milk or whatever.

The check out lady is this 60 ish gray bobbed lady who wouldn't smile even if someone was tickling her armpits I'm sure.

but she is out to get me...

One day I went to check out and she would not come to the counter even though the whole CVS was empty and she stood about 5 feet away from me organizing the grocery cart full of sale candy. So I stood there just staring at her for like 5 WHOLE minutes before she felt the need to come check me out and this was after I like....coughed and walked past her a couple of times.

I just thought maybe she didn't really see me. So the next time I went in...I did the same thing. I waited at the counter while she looked at me out of the corner of her eye while she finished like organizing the gum rack.

then I asked for stamps and she was like ..."Okay." So I bought my stuff and went out and looked for my stamps and she never even gave them to me.

So then I had to run back in and tell her she forgot my stamps and she totally squinted her eyes at me like I was telling a lie and asked to see my receipt.

Two days ago I walked into CVS. I give her the eyeball(not literally) as I buy 3 packs of gummies and I once again need stamps. (why don't I just start paying my bills online like every other person on the planet?) She rings me up. Then I swipe my card and I'm like..."Wow stamps have really gotten expensive." Because my bill was like $19. And she was like...Oooh Maybe. Then I looked at my receipt and it had a People Magazine on it for like 4 dollars. I ran back to the counter once again and I said.....I didn't buy a magazine! And there she was holding a people magazine and reading it!

That lady totally tried to make me buy her magazine. She didn't even look ashamed she was just like....Whoops. And then she had to re enter everything.

. But I kind of want to go back just to see what she's going to do next..hmmm.

I fell off my tuesday streak...

2009-05-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

happy 2nd birthday lilia.....

I've fallen off the boat writing on my blog on tuesdays.
We had a good time celebratin' and I had a really funny picture of all the MEAT at this picnic that was enough to make your stomach turn. This was the picnic of all meat lovers picnics. Oh and here is a picture of Addie with our first salad of the year from our garden.
I still don't believe Nathan terry did the macarena on the inner tube. Hmmm...maybe next time i will be able to witness that feat.

Mark my words Lilia and Eva will be best friends for liFE! they are so cute together I can just see them being old women together rocking in rocking chairs.

2009-05-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

the sky is so blue it looks purple almost.....what would that color be called?

Tuesday is my new update the blog day.

I feel like I just don't totally mesh with adulthood. It's like the two of us...me and being an adult are awkward together and we just have to live uncomfortably together for eternity.

not that I'm wanting to move to my parents basement, or start clubbing, or start a garage band or something. I just always feel like a kid walking around in large adult size shoes.

and I have the habit of sticking my FOOT in my mouth because I speak before the brain turns on. SO I was helping a friend check out a free piano her neighbor was giving away.

Now this was in an empty house and It looked like a realtor was there so I didn't know this piano had sentimental value to anyone. So I looked it over and played up and down it and said....Well it's about a hundred years old and the sound board is kinda cracking but you have nothing to lose. And if you play it for ten years you can always have a sacrificial burning in the backyard when you can afford to buy a new one.

at that the lady gasped and was like..."Oh please please don't. this was my aunt's piano and she just went into a nursing home and she loved this piano. I just want someone to love this piano."

whoops. I felt bad....."Just kidding of course....oh no. I've definetely seen way worse pianos...I've had way worse pianos..and this one well....she's a beauty. A really beauty." As I scooted out the door.

hopefully they still give her the piano.

then I had to go sign papers to refinance the house.

we stopped by the library and Addie realizing we've read every single "Froggy" book and every single "Junie B. Jones" book. So now we're looking for a new series.....

something funny was Eva praying over lunch today. She has been independently saying prayers ALL THE TIME. It is so cute...she always has her eyes open and she looks at whatever she is praying about. So she was like...."Please bless the noonoos (noodles) Please bless Addie's Noonoos (noodles) Please bless the water, please bless Addies water, Please bless the (staring at the peaches) I no know....Please bless Addie's (staring at the peaches) I no know.

Those were the highlights of this May day.

I