Yay yarn!

I had a great idea after Christmas last year. I was going to MAKE Christmas stockings for the kids. I found a pattern that I liked and thought I could do, printed it out, and bought all the yarn.
The best part being that I had an entire year to make them.

Ah mmm. Yeah.

Okay, so I started them a couple of weeks back...
It's one of the reasons I haven't been blogging (in fact, I am trying to do this one from my phone)
There has also been a ton of kids things going on ~

I think it took us a week to get the tree and decorations up.

So I have been working on stockings. And I am still not done...

Thanksgiving, as seen by my iPhone

We had a very fun and relaxing Thanksgiving ~ The kids and I went t the zoo the day before
with Stella and her kids, plus Kelly's friend Bailey.
We watched the lemurs eat their Feast for the Beast and checked out the reindeer

and when we came home, with Paige's help, I made the Pumpkin Pies, Poppyseed Cake, the Sweet Potato Pie and helped watched Mike make fresh Cranberry Sauce.

On Thanksgiving Day, Mike made two 20 lb Turkeys that he had brined -- BBQed one, stuffed them both with his mom's Stuffing and did the Mashed Potatoes, Gravy and Spinach Souffle.

I did remember to take a few pictures with my 'real' camera (I'll post later), but since there were 4 of us with new iPhones, we were all taking pictures with them and sharing them with each other --

The 'big girls' helped the little ones make Thankful Cards and Hand Turkeys ~

The BBQed bird came out really pretty!

and then there was Football

yikes! October

October is always so crazy busy and this year it seems like it started last weekend! Kelly had a few Kindergarten friends over -- they played
Knights and Princesses kill Dragons
(Paige, her friend Meagan and DJ were The Dragons)
I am pretty sure they had a blast ~

Next weekend we are having a little party for Mikey's birthday. He is turning 2!
Paige also has a soccer game later that day --

Mikey's birthday is the 5th, we will have cake after dinner, and maybe take him to the zoo while the big kids are in school.

The following weekend, Paige has a soccer game and has invited her team back to our house for pizza. Should be fun! (yes, that IS what I said, the whole team and their parents)

Mikey has his Well Baby and I even have a doctor appointment later that week.

Oh -- and Mike turns 40 on the 12th!!!

Paige has practice SSAT's the next Saturday and most likely soccer, but we don't have the rest of the schedule yet.

Oh, and she has an orthodontist appointment the next Tuesday.

And the following weekend, she is going to go out to celebrate her birthday with a couple of friends. Haven't decided where yet... House of Air maybe?
(and soccer)

Paige's birthday is the 24th. She will be 14!!!
(can you believe it?) Cake, etc.

Then we get to Halloween!
Where we have a huge block party
and every kid we know shows up here ~

Throw in the regular things:
(not counting taking them to and from 3 different schools and making sure they are fed and clean)
swim lessons for Mikey
soccer practice for Paige
hip hop for Kelly
Breakthrough for DJ
Summerbridge for Paige
and
swim lessons for Kelly

And just when will I get a chance to blog?!?

our Labor Day

Well, actually, we started on Paige's room the weekend before this last Labor Day weekend. She almost has two rooms -- there is the back part with all the windows, kind of a sun room and then the front part. We moved the bed from the back area and changed all the furniture around. We reorganized and re/hung things on the wall.
We turned the back part into a TV watching area --

I think the studio apartment I used to have was only a little bit bigger!

When we realized she'd need more room for books, we headed to Ikea and Mike put these great bookshelves together ~

DJ's room took us a bit longer, or at least it seemed like it...
We had to (once again) clear out a bunch of toys, but we then also decides to rearrange the room a bit.

Here you can see the door that also goes into the back part of Paige's room. Mikey was so happy running between rooms while all of this was going on!

  

{live every moment}

This weeks Live Every Moment photo challenge is ~ Smile

I had to hunt a bit, but I found the one of DJ at Halloween in 2007, when he was all gappy and toothless. (well, even more gappy)

I think this is my favorite Halloween costume ever!

my cards

mother's day

Yes, I know I am spoiled.

I already have my Mother's Day present this year.
I picked it out.

I have always loved "mother's rings" and have always wanted one, but didn't want to get one and have to add to it -- now that we are done having babies (yes, really), I have been looking at them.
The kids birthstones are garnet, amethyst and two opals or pink tourmaline. Hmmm. I don't really want to wear that much pink...
and do I add mine, peridot (which I love) and Mike's? That would be more pink.
* we are super busy in October!
Well, now I've realized I didn't really want a ring necessarily, but I do want something that represented our family.
So I have been looking at other things too, like necklaces. And I have always loved charm bracelets. I haven't been searching all that much, but I have been looking around for a year or so.
I really like the things they have at red envelope but haven't been able to decide on anything.

Then I found lisa leonard designs and I found what I wanted!

I have a charm for each of the kids and one with "mike & carol"

I am supper happy with it and have been wearing it every day! I have told them all not to get me anything else, but I know that will never happen, since I do LOVE getting all the cards they make for me!

I tend to get really spoiled on Mother's Day.

Last year I got my Kindle and my father-in-law took me to see

The Eagles!!!!



Mother's Day was such an odd day for me when I was a kid, but I never really thought about it until I became a mother. My own mom was 'there', she was just doing her own thing.

The second half of 1st grade I was at John F Kennedy elementary school in Stockton, California. It was near my grandparents house and I would walk home to their house after school.

(which is in itself crazy, right?)

I was a super shy kid and it has never been easy for me to make friends. So when the class was excitedly making their Mother's Day art projects, I was just sort of sitting by myself. At some point, the teacher noticed and although I don't remember what she asked me, or even what the art project was, I do remember asking her if I HAD to make something for my mother.

When she let me know that I didn't have to make something for her, I asked if I could make something for my aunt Connie.

I was SO disappointed when she told me that I could, only "if she was a mother" that I felt like I was going to cry.

(thanks Michelle, for not being born yet!)

I think she saw how upset I was getting, because she then explained that I could make it for my grandmother. I'm sure I was relieved at the time (and the teacher too) but I don't remember. Like I said, I don't even remember what the project was.

I do know that this is how I have always felt about my mother. I never felt mothered by her. Lucky for me, I did feel adored by both my grandmothers. I had aunts that loved me and took care of me. I don't know who I would be now if it wasn't for them. They were the ones who first made feel special.

They were the ones who first spoiled me.

Now I have my own little family to take over the job.

colored eggs

Who doesn't love coloring Easter eggs?

It seems like I always forget how much fun everyone has doing this.

We used to move the kitchen table outside to do the eggs, and when Kelly was three, we were moving it to the deck to pull up the rug and she asks all excited, "Is it Easter again?" It was about 10 months later, but it sure made an impression! How does a three year old remember something almost a year later unless it was super fun?

With Paige's help, we decided to try and make the eggs as vivid and colorful as possible. No pastel for us this year!

Now that they are older, they give up on trying to use the little wand about half-way though the eggs.

But still like to show me every creation ~

It was even more fun for Mike and I this year, since Mikey was in on it too -- it's not his first Easter, but it's the  first year for coloring his own egg!

Like this?       

              Yay!

An artist?

I remember waiting for the Easter Bunny with my cousin Kendra when were about 4 years old. We were in the living room of her house and peeking out the curtains wanting SO bad to get a glimpse of him.

We waited and waited.

We never saw him...

I also remember being in the back yard of my grandparents house for a big egg hunt with a bunch of the cousins. The older boys were getting all the eggs and taunting us with how many they had (Ken, Mike, and even John!) so uncle Mickey was pointing out ones for us that they had missed. :p

 

Our hunts are never that big of a deal.

For a long time it was just for the two kids -- and usually it's in the house because the weather is bad.

We never have it first thing in the morning.

More often than not, we reuse the baskets from the year before, or the ones that Papa Bruce and Aunt Nancy send (thank you again, they love them)

The big deal for our family is coloring the eggs.

After the hunt, we have egg salad sandwiches for lunch ~

Happy Easter!