Children's Museum- St. Paul

Some pictures from our trip to the cities this past weekend... more to come tomorrow...

We had MAJOR problems with the dogs next door tonight and this is all I could manage.

so true, so true...

"A government big enough to give you everything that you want is big enough to take everything you have" Thomas Jefferson

We're back!

I can't believe I haven't posted since Wednesday! We left for Minneapolis on Friday and got home last night- wonderful times! Boy, were the kids tired this morning- me too. I'm too tired to upload pictures and edit them and post them tonight so I promise I will do it tomorrow. Promise.

Here is a great quote that my mom sent to me:

HAVE NOTHING IN YOUR HOUSES WHICH YOU DO NOT KNOW TO BE USEFUL OR BELIEVE TO BE BEAUTIFUL. ~ WILLIAM MORRIS 1880

I have been purging and cleaning like crazy lately- all the while asking myself: why do you have sooooooooo much "stuff"????? I don't want to bring anything else into this house for a long time- just get junk OUT! Sometimes I start feeling suffocated from all the stuff, ya know? And don't even talk to me about the loft above the garage, or the garage, or my craft room, ect, ect.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin,
she’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three year old will spill the coffee.
She’ll wipe it up.
Wiping it up she’ll find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
she’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her
she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook.
The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse
that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.
While she is changing the diaper the phone will ring.
Her five year old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her
that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are… if she has a cup of coffee
her kids will have eaten the muffin that goes with it.
– author unknown

Saw this on a couple blogs and thought I'd share it too- so cute!

let's "Walk on the Wild Side"

My kids think this is the funniest thing they've EVER seen. They make me find one after the other on YouTube and they laugh like hyenas through the whole thing.

Fun party day at the Websters!

This past Saturday we head to Matt and Katie's house to celebrate Becky's 30th birthday...

Paul and Bobbie were able to come from Minneapolis too- as always, it was great to see them!

The kids had a wonderful time- they love playing with their cousins any chance they can get.

Jenny made Becky a vest out of duct tape?!?!?! Jeffrey had to try it on. I think it looks great with his Davey Crockett hat.

Jenny is always so creative...

Legos seem to be the go-to toy lately with all the boys. I love legos too- except I vacuum them up a lot on accident. :(

Smiley Isaac- so sweet!

Thanks for hosting everyone at your house Katie! You have way more energy than I ever did at 8 months pregnant! We are so excited to meet the new babe!

Mary Beth got early birthday presents from the Brooks. Thanks again guys- she loves them!

Quite, sweet, little Annie. I love playing with you and Mary Beth- it's so cute with your little strollers and babies! You're going to be a great big sister Annie!

So pretty! You sure love girly-girl stuff now: jewelry, purses, gloves, hats, babies, bows, ect.

Mickey wearing the hat I "made" for him out of a girl's hat. shhhh.... don't tell him that!

I never got a picture of the birthday girl's face! Sorry Becky! But here you are- Happy 30th!

HAPPY 34TH ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!

It's my parent's 34th wedding anniversary today(and it's also the first official day of spring!). Hope you had a wonderful day Mom and Dad- and I wish you many, many more years of love, health and happiness together.

snack update

i thought i'd let you know what became of the snack dilemma we were having at school. all this week Jeffrey has been bringing an apple in his backpack just in case the snack was unhealthy. monday was applesauce so he ate what the rest of the kids ate. tuesday-friday was brownie, 2 rice krispie bars, and a cupcake! so he asked his teacher on those days if it was okay if he ate his own apple instead of taking the class snack. she said he could. so my little 7 year old who LOVES sugar more than ANYTHING voluntarily gave up 4 yummy desserts for a little red apple. we are SOOOOOOOOO proud of him! way to go Jeffrey!

new books!

two of our favorite books arrived in the mail today! the kids are so happy that we finally own them. the Pout-Pout Fish was a book Mary Beth first heard at school and sang a rhyme from it over and over at home when Julia was visiting. so Julia learned it too and they both sang it for days: "i'm a pout pout fish with a pout pout face so i spread the dreary-wearies all over the place. blub blub blub." only Julia(and me and Sarah) was sing germy-wormies instead of dreary-wearies because that's what we all though Mary Beth was saying! turns out she wasn't. the penguin book has great math worked into it and is so funny. Mickey used to take it out of the library all the time- it's one of his all time favs.

my school is a zoo!

have you read that book? if not you MUST- it's so cute. oh, yeah- happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! a sneaky little leprechaun turned our toilet water green and the boys wore leprechaun hats at school all day.

today the zoo came to mary beth's school. they brought a snake, baby snapping turtles, a ferret, a blue-tongued skink, a toad, and a chinchilla. the kids had such a good time! i was having panic attacks about salmonella of course, but what else is new?? i would only touch the ferret just to make sure one of us didn't die from the nella later... surprisingly though mary beth is still ok(except for the horrible cold she has).

do you remember the party planning committee's idea on The Office for a 2-way petting zoo: you pet the animals and they can pet you back??!!?? that was hilarious! the zoo thing made me think of that.

yummy red beans and rice

First off- homework!
Tonight I made red beans and rice for supper and it was a big hit- everyone finished their whole plate and said it was delicious. We ate it with lots of fruit. Here is the recipe(my own variation of different ones I found online):

2 Tbls. olive oil
1/2 c. chopped onions
1/4 c. red peppers (or green)
2 cloves of garlic- chopped
1 can of black beans- drained (I used spicy)
1 can of diced tomatoes(dump the whole can in)
1 t. oregano
1 Tbls. cider vinegar
1/2 t. salt

I just heated up the oil and sauted the onions, peppers, and garlic in it. Then I added everything else and heated on simmer until my rice was done cooking. I started the rice before I started the bean dish. I suppose it simmered for about 1/2 hour(keep stirring). I served it over brown basmati rice but you can use any kind.

The Solace of Nature

"Do not be surprised that the return of the light lifts your spirits. Do not be surprised that warmth on your back calms you and makes you glad. Feel your spirits lift as the sun rises higher in the sky: this is part of you, this snaky gladness, part of who you have been for a million years. Find the warm places; do not expect them to come to you. When you find them, stay there and be still. Be still and watchful. In this quiet, taste the air. Lick up the taste of it. Listen. Listen with the full length of your body against the ground."

{From Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature by Kathleen Dean Moore}

junk food at school

There's something that REALLY bothers me: my kids getting junk food for snack at school. Every year the teachers send notes home saying to send healthy snacks on your child's designated snack day but then immediately my kids begin coming home almost every day saying they had cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, fruit snacks(newsflash: those aren't healthy!), candy, ect. It drives me crazy that I can't control this! At our school the kids don't begin bringing their own personal snack every day until 2nd grade so my kindergartner and 1st grader have to eat SUGAR almost every day for 2 years for a mid-morning snack!!! Would it be totally crazy for me to ask the teacher if my kid can just bring their own snack and not partake in the group snack? I've been telling myself not to be "that lady" but I think it's time. I would NEVER give my kids a cupcake at 9:30 in the morning at home! So why am I ok with it happening at school? I put so much energy in making sure they are eating really great food at home- it just makes me so frustrated that it is all foiled at school. In Bismarck there was a public school that made it mandatory that the snack that was brought could only be a basic fruit or vegetable- I LOVE that! If that is suggested ever at other schools(I've tried) the teachers always say that they can't do that because some families cannot afford to buy them. Bananas and carrots, ect. are not expensive though! The only solution is for me to send our own snack I guess- I'm going to see how that is received with the teachers... just venting...

no good, very bad day

today stinks- i woke up sneezing and haven't stopped since, my nose is running uncontrollably, my finger still hurts, my tummy feels funny, i fell down the stairs at Mary Beth's preschool right on my bad finger, which was holding my keys, and on my bottom, which now has a huge bruise on it, and now John just came up from his office in the basement saying that gallons of water are pouring in(we've never had a water problem in this basement before)!!! plus its raining cats and dogs. there's still about 8 hours left for things to get worse... today is definitely a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

memories... spring 2007

random stuff

no explaination needed.

Getting some "blades" practice in before spring.

Bella sleeping in Amy's laundry basket.

My new perpectual Paris calendar from the Little Brown Pen
http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlebrownpen

LOVE IT!

don't look if you are easily grossed out

this is what happens if you slam a mini-van sliding door on your index finger. this is why I spent my afternoon at urgent care. these are my first stitches- ever. my finger is throbbing- gotta go ice it...

tall-ups

mary beth calls all high heels "tall-up shoes" or "tall-ups". we think this is extremely cute so we call them that too. her first pair of tall-ups were her fancy Christmas shoes from 2 years ago. she insists on wearing them to this day(even though they are WAY to small). she has new ones but they are not as tall-up as the first ones so she doesn't like to wear them. she now has her eyes on a pair of tall-up sandals for summer- she tries them on every time we go to target. i'm not really keen on putting a four year old in shoes that have heels but what is a mom to do?? tall-ups are one of her great joys- i don't want to deny her this. so i'm sure i'll break down and buy the stinkin' tall-up sandals...

these pictures are the original tall-ups: "look, they still fit!"

the spots on her foot are the stamps she gets at gymnastics from her coaches.

oh Bella...

Bella is naughty. there, i said it. here are some things that Bella occupies 99% of her time with: licking food of plates in the dishwasher(obviously), howling, LICKING, jumping up on people, jumping up on chairs, jumping up on tables and the island, stealing our food(ask Sarah), trying to jimmy the latch on her kennel with her claw, LICKING, making weird annoying noises for endless amounts of time when she wants out of her kennel, sneaking down to the basement the first second you aren't looking, LICKING, sneaking upstairs to poop and pee on my white duvet, taking a flying leap into people's arms(uninvited), LICKING incessantly, smelling EVERYTHING, rolling her water bowl across the room when she wants water, LICKING, begging, and looking so stinkin' cute you can't stay mad at her longer than a minute. You know that movie Marley and Me? Well, John and I didn't gasp at any of Marley's antics because we experience them firsthand every day of our lives. In fact, Marley might be better behaved than Bella. sigh. I don't think it's right that our dog is harder to take care of than our 3 kids combined(even when they were 3, 2 and newborn!).

There's only 1 person in the whole world who, despite all of her horrible traits, LOVES Bella more than anything else: my sister Amy. Amy and Bella are bffs, soul mates, and just plain ridiculous. When Amy visits Bella just stares at me like "oh good, my rightful owner is finally here" Oh well, sorry Bella- you'll just have to be content with the stolen moments you and Amy spend together a few times a year...

Amy: Bella says miss you.