Photo Hunters

This weeks theme is long. So here I am pondering what sort of pictures do I have that can be described as long. And I decided on a picture of a bridge that's close to our home. It's not the longest bridge in our area but I think it has some of the most character to it. Up until about six or seven years ago it was still in use. The scary part was that it was a one lane bridge. So when you would drive up to it you would check as best you could that no cars were coming from the other direction and if it was clear you would drive as fast as you dared to get across it. It was always a short adventure that felt much longer to get across than it actually took. But since school buses had to use that bridge (built around 1887), they decided to build a new "overpass" right next to it. Now the "Old Alton Bridge" is just a park for us to go walk around in if we want to. The kids love going there.

So here you can see what the LONG reinforced boards on bridge look liked. You can also see some of the LONG steel bars that make the shape of the bridge. (Sorry I know there is a technical name for these things but I don't know what it is and didn't just want to refer to them as the red thingies).


Here's another view of Old Alton Bridge.

I guess the days of driving across this bridge are LONG gone now but not the memories. Those will stick around for a LONG time.


So there's my take on this weeks theme. For other views on this week's theme visit TNCHICK.com or PhotoHunt

Packing Stinks

Let me just tell you that I truly hate packing. Whether it's a suitcase for a short trip or just reloading the diaper bag. But truly, the worst of it all has to be packing for a move. I detest it so much that I try to do as little of it as possible. I'm trying to talk Hubs into believing that we are suddenly rich and we should just hire professional movers to come and pack us up. He's having none of it though. No sirree, not my man. My man is way to manly to let someone else come in and pack up our prized possessions (and I use that term very loosely). Nope, my man wants us to pack ourselves up and then he wants to move us himself.

My manly man is out to kill me with packing. I did the very least packing I could possibly do during the day. You see in my world, tiny little elves, fairies or gnomes (I'm really not sure) come to pack up all our stuff while we sleep. So when Hubs gets home from work I proudly show him my two boxes of packed items. Hubs loves me to much to really tell me what he thinks of my two boxes but I can see it in his eyes. But I am not to get off that easy. No, not me. My sweet manly man starts to pack after he has been working all day. Then naturally I feel guilty so I start to help. During all this late night packing my four wild indian children are running around like crazy. Meanwhile I keep trying to convince him that really we should hire movers, all to no avail. So I keep on packing.

And just in case you don't know it... Packing Stinks.

Nap Time dilemas

I don't know when it started exactly or why. But A. is having some serious napping/bed time issues. I'll lay her down and she will scream and cry for at least an hour or more if I let her. It truly has just gotten so frustrating for me. But it's even worse when my one and half year old doesn't get a nap. So just pray that we both get over our nap time/bedtime issues. Because obviously mom has some issues also otherwise this wouldn't frustrate me so much.

Wordless Wednesday

Hangin' With the Big Kids

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Catching My Breath

Ok, after the whirlwind of activity of the last few days, it's time for me to catch my breath. My mom was here this past weekend so we got to spend some fun time together. We were able to also get a lot of the kids present shopping done with out them being with us. Huge help for us. So thanks for that, Mom!

Then as some of you know, we have been looking to get a bigger house for over a year now. We have patiently been waiting for the right one. We put offers on two other houses but backed out because they just weren't exactly what we both wanted.

Well, Sunday we got a call to go and check out a new house which was almost finished being built. So we packed up and went to see if it was something we wanted to see inside of. And it was. So Monday we toured the inside of it and loved it. It isn't far from our current home so my children won't have to change schools and they can still see their friends easily enough. So all day yesterday we (and by that I mean me) were on the phone getting all the details hammered out. We signed the paperwork last night and we will be closing on our new home in two weeks.

So now we are in the process of getting our current home listed so we can either lease it or sell it. Hopefully everything will go smoothly from here on out. We are just going to be super busy trying to pack up and finish all the rest of the shopping needed.

Hopefully my sanity will remain intact. Well at least the little bit of sanity I had left anyway.

Busier than

a one legged man in kickin' contest. I promise to be back soon. Once Hubs has finished running me ragged. All is good though.

Happy Trails

The kids and I went out for a walk this morning. Only they specifically asked if we could go somewhere with a path or a trail. I agree but am thinking to myself "Where in the world do they come up with these things". So we went for a little walk along in an area I've been meaning to take them to for a while now. I was just waiting for it to cool down enough so the chiggers wouldn't be so bad. They were very excited to be able to walk through the wooded areas along the trails.

They were super excited to find a tree with a tree trunk that was hollow enough for them take turns hiding in.


They liked being able to walk across the bridge and being up high.But there all time favorite was dropping rocks into the water from way up high and hearing them splash into the water.

They spent a long time trying to decide who made the biggest splashes with their rocks. I think they decided it was a tie.
And now they are happily back home playing with one of the many sticks that somehow ended up in the van. You have to love it when the stars align just right for a nice morning out.

Wordless Wednesday

One of the views from our apartment: Merikoskik, Oulu, Finland


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Welcome to Scroogeville

I've been informed that I may as well be Ebeneezer Scrooge. My children told me this. Why? Because when they were outside yesterday they noticed that we are the only house without any Christmas decorations or a tree up yet. They went down the block looking at all the houses and came back and said that "Eveeerryone has one but us" (just insert your favorite whine here).

And so the torture has begun. When are we going to put our tree up, what about the lights on the house? It's not that I don't put up our decorations early every year, I do. But this year I decided not to do it the weekend over Thanksgiving. Mainly because it would give me one less week of Baby A. pulling on the tree. I am now regretting it. The kids have been to the store with me and know I have new decorations, so they want them up NOW! I keep telling them to be patient we will do it this weekend but patience and my children don't get along very well.

Best Before Date

You know how any food product we buy has a best before date. Well I must admit to being one of those people who doesn't really pay much attention to it. Unless it's milk. I'm always checking that date. My Hubs on the other hand does check the dates on food. Which means he is always throwing stuff out. He looks at me and tells me "It's gone off" to which I always reply in my sweetest voice "Where did it go?". Just drives him crazy...I love to drive him crazy.

So this weekend Hubs decides that he can't find anything in our pantry. To him it was a disorganized mess, to me it was marginally organized chaos. I knew the general area of where something should be and usually found what I was looking for no problem. So Hubs decided to clean out the pantry and organize it.

He brought in the big garage trashcan and got to work. He organized, sorted and every now and then asked me a question. We decided that we could probably give all the baby food away since we don't use it anymore. We (notice how I count my comments from the recliner as help)tossed out two big bags of old food, stale chips and whatever else he saw.

In the process he found my most favorite chocolate bar ever. It's called a Geisha and I can only get it when someone brings it back from Finland for me. It had gotten lost somewhere in the land of macaroni and cheese. So for me, the entire process was now worth it.

The only problem was the best before date was past. Oh what to do, what to do. Well I decided to go ahead and keep it. It is chocolate after all and it's my most favorite chocolate bar ever and no one is going to Finland anytime soon to bring me back some more. So it got put back into the now half empty and very organized pantry where it wouldn't be lost again.

But it didn't stay there, instead my Geisha bar started to call my name, begging me to come and open it and see if it had gone white yet. Because once it had then even I would have tossed it out. So I opened it. And it wasn't all white looking. I still had hope. Would the hazelnut filling still be good? I decided to try it and see. And just as fast I took a bite, I spit it out. The hazelnut filling was old. So I had no choice but to face the fact that my last Geisha bar was most definitely past it prime. I'm so sad, my surprise find was not worth eating and even more humbling than that is that now I must tell Hubs that yes he is right, I really should be more aware of the best before date.

I can hear him laughing now.

Photo Hunters

This weeks theme is hot. So I thought of all the different things that are hot for me. With all the cooking going on in my kitchen yesterday I had tons of hot things to choose from. But then I would have had to stop cooking to take pictures and there was no way my family was going to let me get away with that. So it was after we were stuffed and sitting in misery on the couch watching football that I finally decided on this weeks photo.

I was freezing cold but couldn't light the fireplace since the pilot light hasn't been lit for the season. So I decided to just light a bunch of candles instead. And while it did give me the flames to watch it really just wasn't as good as a big fire. But I really hated to ask my poor Hubs to get up and light it since we were so full. And honestly all any of us really wanted to do was to suck our thumbs, curl up into the fetal position and take a long nap. So for my choice for this week, I settled on a couple of the candles that were lit last night as we tried to recover from the gluttony of our Thanksgiving dinner.


So there you have it, a very long commentary and one little photo to go along with it. For other views on this week's theme visit TNCHICK.com or PhotoHunt

On your Mark, Get Set **UPDATED**

GO!!

I've given thanks, eaten way to much and enjoyed my family. So today I get to go buy new clothes to fit my bigger body and not enjoy the crowds of other people out shopping. I wouldn't be going except I saw the cutest shoes in the ads yesterday. I was overtaken by the urge to have them. They have taken over my every thought and I have even dreamed of them in my pumpkin pie induced craze. So if you see a crazy lady in the shoe department with a definite sugar/turkey hangover. It's not me. It's one of the other millions of ladies out in the stores today.


Since I know your truly wondering what shoes would possibly get me out into the stores today, I thought I'd post a picture. So without further ado let me present my Skechers. Aren't they lovely?

Wordless Wednesday

Some Thanksgiving colors to warm your front porch.

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Free Christmas Music

The nice folks at Provident Music label are graciously offering the bloggers of the world a chance for a free copy of Michael W. Smith's new Christmas CD. All the details are on this site--but you have to act VERY fast. Only the first 150 qualified bloggers will get a copy. So hurry up and go check it out.

Simple Plans

Since we aren't going anywhere for our Thanksgiving holiday and it will just be us at home, I get to be the cook. Not a big deal really. I've done the big meals before for just our family and they always turn out pretty good. But I decided that I wasn't going to go crazy cooking a ton of different dishes this year. Why should I when it is really just me and Hubs that eat the leftovers. So I bought a small turkey and plan on doing just a few sides. Nothing to big. But since my kids do love to eat in the dining room I am still planning on letting them use the good china and crystal ware (at least the big ones). I see no sense in saving it for when they get bigger. I don't get to use it enough as it is. And the kids feel very grown up when they get use the same plates as grown ups. I'm not saving the pumpkin pie either. Hubs and kids are welcome to cut a piece anytime they like. The sooner it's gone the better off my weight will be. So that's it for our simple plans, how about yours?

Some things never change

Hubs and I were laughing on the drive home from church yesterday. Why? Because it became obvious to me that some things just never change. Back in the day, when we were young we would get our high school yearbooks. And we would spend the next few hours pouring over all the pictures in them. Trying to find all our friends and anything else that would matter. Then we would spend the next few weeks trading the yearbooks with our friends so that they could sign them.

So why did this trip down memory yearbook lane happen. Well it's because we got our new church pictorial directory. So on the drive home I started to flip through it and look at pictures. I'd say to Hubs, "hey look here is so and so, what a cute picture" or "hey look this is the funniest expression I've ever seen a baby make" to which Hubs would just look at me with this strange expression. That was until I showed him our pictures. It's the same picture we have at home but for some reason it looks much worse in the directory next to all the "cute" pictures. He just shook his head and said great another cue ball pictures of me (he shaves his head bald by the way). Then he goes on to say that our oldest son Z. has the cheesiest grin ever to which I have to agree. He also needed a haircut really bad. Bad planning on my part when we took the picture. But we rescheduled it so many times it was a wonder we even got it done.

So we got to talking about how similar our church directory was to a yearbook. It's a really bad picture of us for everyone to see and keep for as long as they have the directory. So anytime anyone needs to put a face with our name they are bound to go "oh my" when they find us. I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels that way but in our case it truly is true. The only difference between the two is that this time I'm not going to get my friends to sign it for me and tell me to "Stay Cool and Never Change" because let's face it, after looking at that picture that is exactly what they are going to be wishing I would do...change, seek help, something please.

So yep, some things do never change. Bad pictures in driver's license, yearbooks and church directories are pretty much a guarantee in our household.

Photo Hunters

This weeks theme is I Love ____ (fill in the blank).

This was both an easy one and a hard one for me to decide on. There are so many things that I love. I love my family of course. I love coffee, which makes dealing with the youngest members of the family easier first thing in the morning. I love ice cream. So you see that was my problem, to many things to pick and chose from. But then I was reminded about how fast my kids seem to be growing up before my eyes. And so I decided that what I really love is being there for some of the milestones that we parents get to enjoy. Here are two that are just from this week alone.

The first time they learn to ride a bike without training wheels.


The first pre-school presentation that your child is in.



Hope you enjoyed my take on this weeks theme.

For other views on this week's theme visit TNCHICK.com or PhotoHunt

Best Turkey Ever

Tomorrow is the big turkey lunch that my son's school has to celebrate Thanksgiving. When Z. realized this he got so excited and declared that it was the best turkey ever.

Now me being me, I had to question him. How can he possibly think this since he eats my turkey every year also. Doesn't he know the turkey they serve him in the school cafeteria is probably some kind of compressed processed meat. Quite unlike anything we have on our Thanksgiving table. But Z. being firm in his declaration of his school turkey, says mom it is the best turkey ever. It's juicier. What! My nine year old has suddenly developed a sophisticated palette and says my turkey is not as juicy as the cafeteria variety.

What else can I do but throw up my hands. So I remind him how one day when he fondly remembers his mama's turkey he will suddenly realize how much he is mistaken. But for the time being I think I do know who has the best turkey ever. It's me, and he is asleep in bed now dreaming of his turkey lunch tomorrow. And just for the record my turkey is juicier.

I'm Five and I play Basketball

That is the new greeting you get from Hoss nowadays. He will tell anyone who appears to have a pulse and has even eyed the fence post lately.

He told the man at the grocery store, he told the lady at the register. He ran up to the fireman and paused just long enough to say "Hi Fireman" before he launches into his I'm Five and I play Basketball. He tells anybody who will listen.

This is because he has his very first basketball practice tomorrow night. It's his first time playing team sports. He has always been a spectator at all of his big brother Z.'s games. Now he realizes that it's going to be all about him. And in a family with four kids, lets face it...that's big time. We get to take him to practice and we all get to go watch him play his games. He is so excited that he can hardly stand it. He has been practising for over a week now at home and feels ready to go make lots of baskets at practice tomorrow night. That's pretty big stuff if your five.

Might as well be homeschooling

I've noticed a trend with my fourth grader lately. He goes off to school for eight hours a day. He comes home and he and I will work on various homework assignments for at least another hour and sometimes even two. All so he can do well on his TAKS test in the spring. I am doing so much proofreading and editing of his writing that it feels like I am in the fourth grade also.

So when I stop to think that my son is essentially doing school work for a total of ten hours a day, I often think homeschoolers have it right. They can spend what I hear is on average about four hours of true school work in the morning and the rest of the day is filled with other activities. Then I realize this is me we are talking about. There is no way I could ever be a homeschooling mom. I don't see myself as having the patience to deal with all that it truly would it entail. So where does that leave me...I guess back in the fourth grade doing a bunch of editing.