Christmas Program 2009

Our kids did a little Christmas Program at the school last night.  They did a really good job.

Our little Chloe was the sheep.  She was molting the whole way!  Hysterical.  That right there is the reason that I failed two sewing classes at college.  

Sorry it's so blurry.  She is beautiful!

Bored to death, apparently!

You can't tell they are siblings, can you?

She is smiling here knowing that her Mamma is taking pics of her.

Our little Ben is in the red....ain't he sweet?

Ole' Max

I haven't talked about our child-hearding border collie, Max lately.  Though his name is in the title of our blog.  Besides making massive water logged trails in the back yard, here are a couple of pics of what Max has been up to lately....

He had a bath, and boy was he angry about it.  He wouldn't even look my way!!!!

He played with Ty....ALOT!

 

And didn't even get aggrivated...though he was asking me with his eyes exactly what was in that diaper????

But he sure does love being a part of our family!!!!!!!!

So, here is me trying to take a small nap on the couch....

While my husband entertains the masses....

And here is what they find to do.

and this...

and this....

and then.....

it gets better, hold on.....

hold on, now we are getting to the good stuff....

and the whole time, the couch is shaking from my husband laughing.

What's a pig nose without a roll of tape, right?

And Isaac has seen his own image and likes it!

But wait!  We have more future pig's anonymous!

And they ain't happy about it either!

Until they see how much joy it gives their father, then THE FUN IS ON!!!!!!!

And that was our Monday.  My husband's day off.  I know you always wondered what we do. 

And, just in case you were wondering, I never did get a nap.

Cool blog giveaway!

One of my favorite bloggers is giving away a new computer.  Go here to check it out!  She is often giving things away, thought you'd like to know!

Mean Mommie!

I hope you don't think I am a horribly mean Mommie, but this is too funny not to share.  It all started with Chloe.  She loves my carrot cake.  So, a couple of years ago, her Daddy and I would go to say good night to her and on the nights that she was sleeping, we would whisper ever so gently "Chloe, do you want some carrot cake?"  And that girl would pop up, eyes still closed and say "YES!"  Then we'd have to tell her that we were only kidding ~ see, we are mean!

Today, we were on our way to Target and Ty started falling asleep in the back of the van.  Which I hate because then he won't want to take a nap when we get home.  So, as soon as I saw his lil' eyes close, I said "who wants a cookie?"  Ty opened his eyes, put his hand in the air and said "I DO, I DO!"  Which is exactly what he is doing in this picture.

Am I mean?  Nah.  Ty did get a cookie at Target. 

Open Heart Surgery

Here he is!  My Step Dad.  He survived open heart surgery and four days later wasn't on any pain meds!  He is amazing.  Thank you all for praying for him.  He is home now and resting comfortably. Here is a pic of his leg where they took the arteries from to repair his heart.

Our Thanksgiving Day 2009

Well, here we are Thanksgiving Day.  We had a great time, just us at our home. 

Hope you had a great day too.  After dinner, we went to a park and walked off all the turkey.  There are some pics from that as well.

Snowmen melt my heart....

Ever seen that sign?  Well, my lil' Iz and Ty were waiting at the kitchen counter for their lunch today while I was making it.  So, I bent down and said "give Mamma kisses"...they both did, and continued for about a minute.  Ty kissed me smack dab on the lip and Isaac would kiss me at the same time on my cheeks....my snowmen really do melt my heart!

Oh Isaac!

So, pretty much his life rotates around food. You might find that I write about this one quite a bit.  He's funny.  He is hyper.  He sometimes throws fits. He, of all my children, requires ALOT of my time.

Tonight after church, we just had a simple dinner of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sammies.  LOVE IT!  Well, I put Isaac's bowl in front of him and he said "What's this about, Mamma!"  As though this simple meal was just below him somehow.  He normally eats very well balance meals!  What is going on???????????

A lil' while later, he was walking around singing and Justus said "what are you singing?"  Isaac replys "I singing about Taco Bell!"  Of coarse!  Who doesn't on occasion roam the house singin' of making a run for the border?  C'mon! 

1. Are you a Black Friday shopper?   OH yeah!

2. What was your favorite childhood toy? (Think Easy Bake Oven, Cabbage Patch Kid, Shrinky Dinks, etc.)   Definitely Cabbage Patch kids!

3. Favorite Christmas movie?   Gonna have to go with Elf.

4. What is the "must have" item on your Christmas list this year?
  A long robe.
5. Do you go all out with decorations or do you keep it simple and classy?  All out, no class, just lots of color!

My former Preacher and his wife and their little girl Emily.  What a blessing they have been to me!  They never gave up on me even in my DARK teenage years....sorry about all that Bro. Fielder!  :)

My lil' Iz and Ty sleeping with their favorite toys.  Such sweetness!

Thanksgiving Shopping....

Just got back from Wal~Mart supercenter with all four kids to do our Thanksgiving food shopping. $199 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!! Um, the turkey itself was only 10....how do I go about explaining this to my very frugal husband???? Ha! I just wanted to get on here and commend my lovely children. I got one of those carts with the blue seats on the front for the two babies and then Ben and Chloe stood on either side of me. And away we went. I was so proud of my kids. I said "don't talk to me, I need to think." And so they didn't...well, for the most part. Then we got home, and the three eldest got busy bringing in the load! I came in and checked the internet lest something majorly exciting happened....it didn't. But you never know. And then, we cleaned out the fridge, reloaded, unpacked, straightened the pantry, loaded the dishwasher and all the kids had the first candy cane of the season. I thought it would be appropriate since we bought Thanksgiving dinner today.....And so, off to bed soon, but first, I smell something....I think it might be Ty who is standing beside me. GREAT.

Life....

Wow, I have seen alot of tragedy and heartache lately. I wonder what lesson I am supposed to be learning from it? First, my Grandma died...which really, was a good thing. She had Alzheimers and lived in a care facility for the last couple of years. I am glad she is home in Heaven. Yesterday, after my Grandmother's funeral, my step-Dad had some kind of an attack....he is still in the hospital while the DR's decide what is going on. Last week at this time, I was totally hooked to the computer while another blogger was wondering if her little boy was going to live. He is almost the same age as my Ty and looks alot like him. All odds were against him, but Stellan hit a home run and is alive and well. And then I have another tragedy in my life, which is almost too painful to even talk about. Through this all, you have to wonder, why am I right in the middle of all of this? God didn't give me all these different circumstances for nothing, right? I wonder what I am supposed to learn through this? Maybe it's just simply to pray more for my loved ones. Our Preacher has been preaching on prayer the last couple of Wednesday nights and he said last week "stay close to God, you never know when you will NEED Him." Maybe that is my lesson. Or, as I look around here in the waiting room, waiting for Iz to come out of speech therapy, I see lots of hurting people. They don't necessarily know that I am hurting, but I have gotten a couple of smiles that did my heart good. So maybe the lesson is to "be kind to everyone because everyone is having a tough time." I do know that God has not left his throne, and He is trying to work in my life. I will allow it and almost relish in it knowing that He means it for GOOD. Though I can't see the good in it, He does.

A typical conversation between Mr. Speech Therapy boy and his Mamma...

Isaac ~ "Me hoongry."

Mamma ~ no Isaac, not me hungry, I'm hungry....

Isaac ~ No Mamma, you not hoongry, me hooongry!

Mamma ~ No, Isaac you don't say me, you say I...

Isaac ~ No Mamma, you not hooongry, me am.

Mamma ~ nevermind.

Latest Quotes from the Snow Children.....

Benjamin ~ age 8

Upon being told that we were going to the park after he cleaned his room:

"I love when I clean and it always ends up with a good idea!"

Chloe ~ age 6 (going on 30)

While sitting at a train stop watching a train go by:

Wow, this train is so loud!  It's so long!  It's so "circle~ish".

Isaac ~ upon waking up this morning, discovered that his tummy was a lil' upset, so I sit up in my bed to see my naked lil' man's booty running down the hallway with diarrhea shooting out (much like you would imagine a horse would look like!) all over the carpet.  His little head turning around looking at the mess he was making in utter awe while trying furiously to get to the toilet!!!!!!!!  "What happened Mamma?"

And our lil' Ty.....while he doesn't talk much, we dote on each lil' phrase he says.  Today while running from one end of the living room to the couch yelling "four!  GO!!!!!!!"  I don't know why the number four, but he's so cute it doesn't matter what he says.

And lest you are worrying about the upstairs carpeting, it's fine.  I cleaned it up right away.  And Isaac is fine too.

We have this beautiful old shack out in the field by our house and I have always wanted to do some pics of it.  These are the best I could get of the kids that day.  And our course our lil' Max.  He had to jump in there.

Here are my two little angel boys under the apple tree in the back yard.  Incidentally, this is the same apple tree that deers eat off of...so pretty.

The front of our house all decorated for fall, just in time to take it down for Christmas!!!!

Our house under the leaves!  I absolutely refuse to let Justus rake it up when it is this pretty!

Our little Benjamin who isn't so little anymore.

I'm just gonna throw this out there....

Depression may be setting in! We have been home sick for 2 weeks and one day now.  And it has been just a delightful time.  Though, the past 2 days everyone was starting to feel better, and the weather was in the high 60's, it was just beautiful....and so good to start feeling well again.  Until today...it's raining, and I couldn't sleep last night due to the congestion so, finally at 4 or5 (can't remember), I threw back the covers and got up!  Enough!  We have started taking Emergen~C the last 2 days...hopefully we will be on the mend soon because...


on Tuesday, I am going to Pittsburgh to meet up with some friends for lunch and shopping!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't believe it!  I am so excited!  And I don't have to take even one kid with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  OH MAN!  Come quickly Tuesday!  Chloe, however is jealous, and so she said last night, "well, if you're gone all day, whose gonna take care of the animals?" (Hands on Hips...)  WHO CARES!?!?  I do believe we have left the animals for longer than this before, since I will only be gone during school hours, but she did give it her best shot. :)

Good news on the kitty front.....

We drove to the little farm market where we got Tom from this summer, and his Mommy just had another litter of kittens!  So we reserved one that looks almost just like Tom, and it's his brother, so that helps ease some of the pain in our hearts!  I will post pics as soon as we get him, on the 31st! Any name suggestions?  We have apparently been going with people names for our animals, Sarah, Esther, Max, Tom, etc..this one is a boy too.  I liked Jack, but Justus said no....any ideas?

A day at the park and a au revoir to our mon cheri chaton....(dear kitty)

Do you ever wake up one day and think "where have the last two weeks gone?"  I did that just this morning...we have been sick for 2 weeks tomorrow.  And Chloe woke up with a tummy ache today, having never fully recovered from her flu.  AND!  Our little kitty Thomas J. Willoughby Snow died yesterday.....and Ty and Iz still have snot coming out of their noses, AND!  I still can't hear well out of my ears because of the snot in my head, AND, my throat is scratchy!  When will it all end?  I don't know, but I do know that today, as soon as I can clear the Nyquil from my head, I am going to get out of my pj's (if I am able to find some clean clothes) and head to Mustard Seed and buy some vitamins....I NEVER GET SICK!  NEVER!  I can't be sick.  But alas, I am.....
Now onto the cat..he loves Chloe, and followed her to the truck the other day, hoping above all hope that today was the day she would finally be proud enough of him to take him to school....so, he climbed into the wheel well, thinking that that would be a great way to achieve his goal.  As you can guess, it wasn't.  So, goodbye our little Tommy cat! 

We were driving on the highway the other day and our lil' Chloe shouts out "Mamma, there was a dead penguin on the highway!!!"  Right here in Northeast Ohio!!!!  Hahahahaha.

Happy Sweetest Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been such a wonderful day so far....really. Sittin' here recovering from the NyQuill I took last night with a lovely box of tissues and on occasion, getting up to take care of the children. Though, several "sweet" things have happened to me through this whole sickness.... This morning, Ty was so sick, he nursed and then slept right in my arms. He never does that. I know that was one of my last few glimpses of his precious baby self sleeping in my arms, happy and content after nursing...So sweet. Isaac is feeling better, though he really has wanted me to just "stratch his back" alot. He will come and put his little head in my lap and say "stratch Mamma". Awwww! Isaac is a Daddy's boy thru and thru. I tell him "I love you Isaac" and he always replies "I love Daddy too!" Hehehehe, and he really does love his Daddy! I made Taco Salad for my Sweetie today, it's his favorite. We won't be celebrating big this year, staying at home wiping noses, but one day we will wish for these lazy days where we all sit in front of the tv watching Pooh Bear all day. I am happy and content and almost thankful for the flu as it made me sit and enjoy my children like I don't normally get to do. Ben and Chloe are recovering. Ben is almost all better, just a bit of a cough, and Chloe is still coughing quite a bit. So, they are bouncing off the walls with energy. It's been fun! Happy Sweetest Day!

Date night!

Justus and I try to have dates regularly, but so often something comes up, or no money to go do anything....etc. But last night, we had a free date. Our Science center in Cleveland offers an annual Teachers night. When we first go there we got a box lunch...(not the best food I've ever had on a date, but hey, it was free!) Then we got to walk around the Science center and play with all the cool things there like a bunch of kids! I have never seen Justus so happy! It was cute. Then we got to go to the IMAX and watch not one, but 2 films! OY! I have never been so sick. I guess my tummy has gotten old right along with the rest of me. But, we persevered. Then we stopped by Chipotle on the way home and ordered a burrito to split! And!!!! Guess what? They gave us a free drink! Craziness! We spent only 8 dollars the whole night! See? I am a saver! I should go shopping right now! What a great night with my Honey! I do love that man! I thank God for a husband who is the leader of our home. I have never had to make a hard decision for our family, or even worry about the decisions being made in our home, I know he will do it. I don't have to worry about our finances, he does. I don't have to worry if our electric bill will be paid, I know he will pay it. I did truly marry my night in shinning armor.

Fall Festival at Baumans Farm in Rittman

We have made it a family tradition to go to Bauman's Farm the last couple of Falls for their family festival! It is so much fun. They have a beautiful apple farm, house, barns, and little shop. For 3 saturdays in the fall, they have a petting zoo, hay maze and wagon rides. So, we are still eating apples, a week later....Not sure what to do with all of them, any ideas? We had such a great time. Titus ate off of various apples he found on the ground....OY! I hope they weren't planning on harvesting any of those. The only casualty of the day was poor Chloe. They had a little kiddie ride where the kids sit in barrels and a small tractor takes them around the farm, so we sent all four kids off! HA! Justus and I just sat there on a swing not knowing what to do with ourselves..."what will retirement be like?" About 15 minutes later, here they come, rounding the corner....and poor Chloe looked so upset. You can see her in the picture. There was a bee in her barrell and it stung her 2ce. Then she "stomped it!" She is still having problems with that bite. Poor girl! We had such a great time, and again, any apple recipes are appreciated.