The baby....

Every morning at 6am, he is up.

And ready to go.

and, quite frankly, a little angry because no one wants to play.

So, while I make lunches, and breakfast, Daddy takes him to the bathroom and sets

him on the counter while he shaves, etc.

He generally combs his hair.

and Ty is so proud of the "new look."

So, this morning, he came down and:

It's Alfalfa!  

Can you see the little hairs that stick up?

And now, Alfalfa and his puppy are gonna eat.

And smile.

Cause someone finally played with him this morning.

Funny Words from Iz.... (No, he isn't my favorite, he just does EVERYTHING....)

While driving down the HIGHWAY today:

Isaac ~ Mom, can you stratch (scratch) my back?

Mom ~ Isaac, Mommy is driving, I can't reach your back.

Dirty look from little boy...

Mom ~ Isaac, I am sorry.

Dirty look from little boy...

Mom ~ Isaac, Mommy is sorry and I will scratch your back when we get home.

Isaac ~ Otay Mom, I forgive you.

While playing make believe last night with the family:

Isaac ~ "Ok, Ty, you be a pig.

Chloe, you be a cow...

Mom, you be a dog...

and Daddy, you be Jesus."

Hahahaha!  How did Daddy make it all the way to Jesus and I get to be a stinkin' dog?

I gave birth to this kid with no meds.  

OY.

                              

We got to have a lil' fun on Friday night playing in the snow. 

I think this was the first time that Titus really got to get out there and play

He had such a great time!

Ben, who is becoming too much like his father, had just hit me with a snowball and couldn't control his laughter.  He also likes to hide around corners and jump out.  Jerk.  HA!

We covered Izzy's leg up with a bag and sock so he could get out there and go snowing! 

He had such a good time.

I was so worried that his toes would get cold.

But so glad he got to enjoy the outside world for a while.

This kid was having the time of his life...

The result of the playing in the snow.

A girl snowman.  Poor Chloe.  She needed someone.  Since I, apparently, can't produce a sister for her.  

Sorry about that Chloe.

Seriously, I am the luckiest woman alive.

I love shicken!

My lil' Isaac again.

He loves shicken (chicken.)

At every meal while we are eating he tells us over and over and over....

" I love shicken.  Do you love shicken Mamma, Daddy?  Benny do you love shicken?"

It's all we hear about these days.

This morning he asked if he could write on my grocery list. 

I showed him the spot of the folded copy paper that he could use.  

And I wrote his name on it just in case he wanted to copy.

Here's what we got:

And you'll never believe what this is a picture of....

A boy....

A girl....

And after a few minutes of serious thinking....

A SHICKEN!

I have a confession!

I was once a brownie!

And I loved it so much.

So, I had my one and only daughter

put on my outfit.

I thought it would be an honor for her.

I have been anxiously awaiting the day that MY DARLING DAUGHTER

would fit in my outfit.  

And she HATED EVERY LAST MINUTE OF IT!

Little stinker!

Though, she did it and proudly wore the badge of troup #83, or whatever number it is.

Now, it can be safely discarded.

It was a moment in my life I had been waiting for, for a long long time.

And quite frankly, it wasn't as exciting as I had first anticipated.

Most things aren't.

West Side Market

Market

This is where we went today for Family Fun Day!  Oh yeah.  It was really cool.

The first section was all fruits and vegetables.

The next building was meats, cheeses, a pasta booth with all different flavors of pasta.

A pierogi booth!  HEAVEN!

Cookies, pastries, cannolies!  OH MY.  I could have spent my whole day there just looking at all the yumminess!

My absolute favorite buy of the day was some bread.  

They had the most beautiful bread there that I had ever seen.

Someone even had sculpted wheat forms onto the top of the bread.

The one on the right is a garlic baguette.

And the left is an Italian bread.

I think we will eat the garlic one with our meatloaf and taters tonight and then the 

Italian bowl with our Corn Chowder on wednesday.

I am a sucker for good bread.  

I can't help it. 

It called to me, I answered.

      And actually, they were pretty cheap.

I was nominated...

 

by my friend Marisa. Her so sweet!

And so, you are supposed to write 7 interesting things about yourself.

Huh.

I may have to save this and come back with interesting things.

Ok, I guess I will hurry up and think of something.

1.  I have four children.  The first three have red hair.  I don't know how that happened.

2.  I am almost done with my Medical Transcription Schooling and will begin working from home sometime this summer.  So excited about that.

3.  I am desperately in love with my husband.  He is my dream come true.

4.  I am a highly sarcastic person.  I can't help it.  I just oozes out of me.

5.  My Mom passed away 5 years ago from Inflammatory Breast Cancer.  A very rare, but deadly cancer that actually grows on the outside of your body.

6.  I love love love blog hopping!  

7.  I enjoy cooking, baking, etc.  So I subscribed to Paula's magazine, and got it for 3 years and only made one thing that whole time from her magazines.  I am sorry Paula.  Will you ever be able to forgive me?

And now I get to nominate 7 fellow bloggers:

1. Debbie ~ she has such a heart for the Lord and is a great inspiration to me.

2.  Angela ~ my dear friend for many, many moons.  HA!  Love her.

3.  Happy House ~ one of the first blogs that I ever followed.

4.  Jen ~ who I am sure has received this award a million times, I just love her.

5.  Bella~Mella ~ inspirational.

6.  Tara ~ just a beautiful blog.

7.  Resolved to Worship ~ my absolute favorite blog to visit.

And, there you go.

Family Day

About once a month, we try to do a Family Fun Day.  

No work, just go do something fun.  

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Amish Country to a place called Lehman's Hardware.  

I just love this store.  It's much more than hardware.  

And the kitchen section has every imaginable item you could ever need.

And most of it is very Amish influenced.  

LOVE IT!

Check out poor Ty's face. 

He wanted to be held. 

Not put on some stupid bench.

He always wants to be held.

Me and Benny looking at the toys.  You can see the train track that runs around the top of the toy shop.  So neat.  Do you see Titus' lil' head?

Chloe checking out the girlie stuff.  They really have the coolest toys!

Me and Isaac.  Daddy was up top in the clearance section checking that all out.  

Ty, apparently, can't stop looking long enough to give a smile to the camera man!  HA!

I wub him!

Ben looking at the toys.  Ok, so maybe Justus wasn't checking out the clearance.  

He took a lot of pictures.

Ty fell asleep holding on to a couple of toys, on his bedroom floor , in his boppy.  

Oh the sweetness!

Seriously, if I was guaranteed to have more just like him, I'd do it today!

Saturday Night Ritual....

 

I usually do so good at trying to keep my house clean.

Usually.

Especially on Saturday Nights.

My husband leaves for church at about 8 am on Sunday, so that leaves me with four kids to dress, feed, help, discipline, etc.  

ALL BY MYSELF.

Which isn't as fun as you might think it is.  HA!

But, for tonight, I don't care what my house looks like.  

I put the dishes in the dishwasher.

There is no wet laundry in the washing machine.  (That's pretty important, right?)

There is no molding food in various places around my house.  (Thank God.)

And I am going to go watch a movie with my honey.  Yes, it may be a kids movie.  Or a stupid (Oh please no!) Abbot and Costello movie.  But, I don't care.  I am gonna go relax and enjoy.

Hope you have a lovely Saturday evening.

Grief.....

Grief is such a weird thing.  It can be gone for weeks, even months, but like an unwelcome visitor, it knocks at your door, and you have to open and let it in.

Today is my Mommy's birthday.  She died on May 4, 2005.  I knew it was coming, but really hadn't put much thought into it until I woke up this morning and was wondering why I had dreamed such a odd dream.

Every April my Mom and I would go to Virginia to visit her parents.  They had a beautiful house that they planned and built.  My husband and I, while honeymooning, actually got to see some of it being built.  It was a beautiful home.  My Grandpa was most proud of the tulips out front.  And in April, they bloomed.  So, in my dream, we were visiting the people who now owned the house because I wanted to ask the man if he would please take a picture of the tulips and send them to me.  (Who would ever think I'd be sitting here bawling over some tulips?)  And so, this man said "sure".  And we left.

I woke up and kept thinking "why did I dream that?"  And I started thinking about my Grandparents and my Mom, who are all in Heaven now.  Celebrating my Mom's birthday together.  Oh, how I miss them.  There is just nothing like grief.  You can think you are totally over something and then it hits you, a big smack in the face.

I think back on those Aprils in Virginia.  I wish I had savored every moment I had with them.  Instead I worried about silly things, or wanted to be home, or wanted to go shopping.  I wish that I had sat in my Grandpa's lap more, and helped my Grandma in the kitchen more....just to hear her talk.  I wish I had appreciated my Mom more, instead of just thinking "OH MOM" on everything.

I never got to say goodbye to my Mom, or my Grandma.  A couple of months before my Grandpa died, we went to visit him.  He was in a hospital, and we really thought he only had days....I had just had our fourth baby.  He got to kiss them.  I won't ever take that for granted.  FAMILY IS EVERYTHING.  Appreciate them, each and every moment.  You might not have any more moments.

Here is a picture of my Mommy and my Grandma.  Grandma was part Indian, and me and my Mom had blonde hair and blue eyes.  Weird, huh?  They both were great ladies who loved the Lord.

And here is me and my Grandpa.  Sorry it's blurry, it's a pic of a pic.  Ain't he cute?  One of my favorite people ever!  

" I have a goodly heritage!"

Coffee part 2.....

 

I love it.

I am not going to give it up.

It's the only happiness I have in this world at 6am.  

And I mean that as nicely as I can.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Brotherly love.

Here are a couple of pictures from this past week.  

Little Isaac in his little mans wheel chair.  

It breaks my heart just to look at it.

And my husband captured this picture.

They really do love eachother.

And though Ty can't say anything to Isaac, you know that he feels bad for him.  

It's sweet.

Brotherly love....

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

I like to watch hulu while I am doing my treadmill...seemingly, it makes the time go faster.

Well, today, I decided to watch Extreme Makeover!  Hahaha!  And you know what happens during that show?  You bawl!  LIKE  A BABY!  And I know how babies bawl!  I've had four.  So, here I am, culottes on, hair all up and twisted, and sweaty!  Running like a devil on the treadmill with tears and sobs!  HAHAHAHA!   Tomorrow, it's back to the Biggest Loser on hulu!  Though, come to think of it, I probably did burn more calories, what with all the hysterical sobbing!

Coffee....

I gave it up for two days.  Interesting.  I don't know why I always feel the need, or conviction, to get rid of all the vices in my life.  I just think it's kinda silly that I HAVE TO HAVE coffee every morning.  It's ridiculous, really.  I mean, I can't even function without a little bit of it in me.  There is serious anger.  SERIOUS.

I SHOULD GIVE IT UP.

And I did, for two days.

This morning I have a lovely pot of Starbucks Morning blend, half caffeinated brewing as we speak, 
er, type.  Why?  Because, can you really prove to me that there is anything wrong with a slight caffeine addiction?  Can you, huh?  I gave up my Pepsi....isn't that ENOUGH!?!?!

And I love my coffee.  I just wish I weren't so stinkin' addicted to that Peppermint creamer.  Maybe I will try to give that up next week.  Though, I don't know why.  Is that really bad for you?  I mean, I want scientific proof here.

Ok, off I go to drink my coffee.

Hope you all have a great day!