Signs

I wish I could find a blog post I read a while back.... basically the gist of it was that each and everyone of us has an invisible sign hanging around their necks- wishing people knew how they really felt inside.

After a few weeks of going through awful, horrible, ridiculous mistreatment... by the school, by some friends, etc .... I think I can say this would be my sign.

Right now I am at my emotional breaking point. I don't think I've cried this hard in a long time. I can put on a nice face in public- all big toothy smiley grins, and probably nobody would be the wiser. I'm pretty good at that.... but on inside I am crumbling.

There have been friends who have seen the 'sign' and been so sweet to me. Sending little love letters, sending me flowers, phone calls,  etc. They really mean the world to me. I really hope those sweet friends know in the future whenever they need me that I will be there to be their 'rocks' and their shoulder to cry on.... just like they are being there for me right now. 

This too shall pass, I will be stronger in a little while. But right now... I'm fragile, please handle with care.

Scenes from a Sunday afternoon....

On Sunday afternoons we have a mandatory 'Family Naptime'.  All people within the house MUST participate- or risk getting duct taped to the walls.

Today as I was kissing the children and wishing them a blissful nap- I saw all the tell-tale signs that instead of happy dreams, my children were planning a party instead. Alli had a few lollipops unwrapped that she had hidden behind her back, She also had coloring books, and a play computer under her pillow. Maggie had a sack full of popcorn, make-up, and toys hidden under her pillow. Dexter and Miles had all the mischievous grins that goofy clowns paste on their faces at scary children's parties. I knew that if I wanted to sleep with these paper thin walls, that I had to forgo sleeping in my room....... and be the RA- aka: sleep in their room with them.

My question is this: At what age do children stop having the NEED for every thought they have to escape from their lips and stay in their heads?

Dexter was busy singing and hopping. He also wins the prize of being my favorite child..... as he fell asleep first.
Miles kept singing at the top of his lungs- then spouting off things like "De-ter, tookie, dada, bye-bye, little star, round and round" and then he'd giggle and finally saying "YAY!!!!!!" after he would finish his story/song. After an hour Miles finally fell asleep.
Maggie on the bottom bunk was channeling her inner Gloria Gaynor singing in an intense whisper 'I will survive' with movements.
Alli on the top bunk with me kept whispering under her breath different songs all the while sticking her finger in my toes (I hate my feet touched.).

90 minutes after we laid down, I got up, defeated. - I was so tired from trying to fall asleep, but I gave up. Nap time just wasn't in the cards today for me.

Now I know what Chip usually deals with every Sunday while I actually get to take a nap.

I like the Sunday's I get to take a nap much more.....

It's official- they exist.

Miles and Dexter.... and their pregnancy actually exist!..... that's right I finally got them in the scrapbook! Yep. They've been alive for 22 months, but now they officially exist. High five to me.

Tonight Maggie and I had 'Mommy/Daughter Date'...Maggie decided out of all the options she could have picked from (movie, dinner, mini-golfing, bowling, going to Magic Mountain...etc....) that she wanted to scrapbook with me- with the condition that we buy her some stickers. Deal.

I've been at a stand still with how to scrapbook Miles and Dexter's birth. First of all- the boys look the same. It's really discouraging. Secondly, I have a TON of pictures of Miles at the birth, but since Dexter was an emergency c-section that I was rushed into an OR for- thus leaving behind my mom who had the camera..... there are no pictures of Dexter fresh from the womb.......  Only when he was a few hours old. When I was rushed to the OR literally every single person left the delivery room I was in to assist in the emergency situation and left my mom alone with Miles for who knows how long, She was able to take lots of sweet pictures of Miles. They got to have some special bonding time with each other before Dexter came in.  I feel bad for Dexter that he wasn't documented that well.... especially since I can't really tell the boys apart for the first month or so (maybe more :S). And the Third issue was I didn't know if I wanted to make Miles and Dexter two separate scrapbooks or make one scrapbook and when I die, let their wives fight over them. Dilemmas. Dilemmas. The fourth issue is that I haven't scrapbooked in for-eva and my inspiration is just lacking. I'm not feelin' it lately.

I finally decided: #1- if I can't tell the babies apart, nobody else will be able to either. It's a baby. Ta-da. I'll just put who I think it might be on the page... haha.   and #2- I'm only making one scrapbook. I don't have the time or energy to make a scrapbook for each boy. It certainly isn't as easy as it was when I started Alli and Maggie's scrapbooks.... I had less children then.  #3- I don't know what I'm going to do about the birth pictures. I'm still confused.

So anyway, while Maggie was busy scrapbooking her gorgeous pages filled with jewels, stickers, and flowers.... I decided to jump in feet first and scrapbook, at least the existence, of Miles and Dexter.

I'm hoping that with a start (however small it is.....) my inspiration might start blossoming again.

 I think the real problem is that I have so many crafting projects that I don't have time for all of them..... and I get on a kick with one thing and it's hard to switch gears. Currently I'm trying to finish this buckeye quilt. You'd be so proud of how far I've gotten!

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On Wednesday I went to Target with my friend..... The boys decided they didn't want to look up and down isles with us. They had other ideas. Their little nap made my day drag on such .... the boys napped at Target for all of 15 minutes......  and never took another nap for the rest of the day. I NEED them to nap at least 2 hours a day for my sanity. I'm going to cry big alligator tears when they give up napping all together. I can't even think of it without wanting to cry. Naps are my everything.

The worst part was when I went to Target it was 2 hours before naptime was even supposed to begin! They shouldn't have been sleepy in the first place.

Next time I shall go down the TV isle and crank up all the TV's to full blast in order to keep them awake.


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Can you guess which baby is which in the picture??  You've got a 50/50 shot at getting it right :)

What is not in the kitchen.....

Yesterday we talked about what I always have in my kitchen. Today I'm going to speak of what is NEVER in my kitchen..... or never in my mouth to be exact. I really try not to limit my kids by not serving foods that I won't eat. Those nights I'll just eat a bowl of cereal instead.....

It's no secret I'm a picky person when it comes to food. There are so many textures that make me physically gag if I put them in my mouth (baked/mushy fruit aka: pies, in yogurt, danishes, crisps....) which is a shame, as I know I'm missing out on some good stuff! I feel bad about all the stuff I can't stand to eat. Weird..... I know.

So without further adieu, here are the top 5 of what I cannot stand:

1) Eggs. Such a gross rubbery texture. I am not a vegetarian by any means but eating eggs remind me of cute baby chicks. Eggs = good in baking, bad everywhere else. I don't even use eggs when I make French toast because the egg flavor and textures are too bold.

2) Fish/Seafood. It stinks. It tastes bad.... and I kid you not, last time I went fishing when I tried pulling the hook from the little fishy's mouth it CRIED! That's right. A fish cried, and I was only catch and release fishing. It made me cry too.  (Chip is my witness to this. He was there and heard the fish cry.)

3) Mushrooms. A few issues-... #1- the texture. Rubbery. Squishy. Squeaky. #2- Why would you willingly eat fungus... especially when it smells bad?

4) Squash/Zucchini- There is nothing about it that says "yum". I've tried them cooked 1000 different ways and have yet to like any of them. So I think it's safe to say 'yuck'.

5) Nuts. I enjoy peanut butter. I enjoy honey roasted peanuts. I enjoy Peanut M&M's.  But other than that.... I think I've got enough 'NUTS' in my life that I don't need to eat them too. And yes, I've tried a lot of nuts... none of which taste good at all.


So what are your top 'icky' foods? What doesn't get eaten at your house?


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People keep asking about our carpet- wanting pictures and such....  so here ya go... 

 
Poo brown, still waiting for our couch, and proof that Miles likes to eat Dexter's foot. Also showcasing a bite size sample of how crazy my living room gets when the boys are awake. 

what's in your kitchen?

It takes a lot to feed a family of 6-  I feel like I'm always grocery shopping- Even if I go for a big stock-up run (aka: the cart over-flow-eth)... I'm always running to the store a few days later to pick up yet another gallon of milk, or another bunch of bananas....  Let's just say that I go to the grocery store so often that I'm known by name, have quite a few of the employees of the grocery store as my facebook friends, the boys are known as the "Giant Eagle Babies" (so not kidding), and some of our favorite employees have even came up to me when one of the boys is fussing, taken a boy, and walked him around the store to calm him down.  My grocery store is amazing. It offers free babysitting from kids 3-9 years old, and my kids beg to play with "Mr. Adam" on Saturdays when they are bored.  Like I said. Amazing store. ..... I really don't mind going grocery shopping. 

I love cooking. I love baking. I love eating. Luckily they all go together.  Because of this I always need staples around the house. The top 5 must-have-in-the-kitchen for our family are...

1. Milk.- Our family goes through about 6 gallons of milk a week. Sometimes more, but never less. We are milk-a-holics.

2. Bread. We pack lunches every day for the kids. They eat PB &J like it's going out of style.  (When I say WE pack lunches every day... I mean, CHIP packs lunches every day. It's his thing.)

3. Bananas. Chip is part monkey. 

4. Flour. You have a hard time baking cookies, bread, and pizza crust without flour.

5. Cheese. Everything around here is made with cheese. Drippy, gooey, wonderful cheese.

What are the 5 must-haves in your kitchen? What food does your family eat the most of? 

Finding Friends

It may come as no surprise to you, but I have the gift of gab. I love to talk. Talk. Talk. Talk. It's quite possibly one of my favorite things to do. It really doesn't matter who I'm talking to, as long as my voice gets out of my throat that's okay by me.

I also like to make new friends. New people are super fun. Old friends are super fun too.... but I know all their dirt and drama. New people = new dirt and drama. See how fun new people are?!?





Two Saturday mornings ago I was walking along in Target... a random morning visit that I hadn't planned on. I ran into this adorable lady who was wandering the shampoo isle with her two sweet little twins. Twin moms are drawn to twin moms. It's a little known fact. Anyway after some chit chat we went on our separate ways. The entire time I was walking in the store I kept thinking "I need to ask her if she knows about the twin club" (Michelle... you can hush.... and no, I didn't have one of the business cards with me.... lol.) It was nagging at me to find her.

After I checked out, I was heading out the door and who did I spot waiting right by the exit? That adorable lady! I pulled right on behind her and started talking.

Me: So are you a member of the twins club here in Columbus?
NF (New friend): No, I just moved here yesterday.
Me: Really? Where did you move here from?
NF: Utah!
Me: Cool! I'm from Idaho.  Are you Mormon? (I know... I shouldn't assume that everyone from Utah is Mormon.... but she kinda gave off a vibe...lol)
NF: Yes!
Me: Cool! What ward do you go to?

Turns out she meets in the same building that we do, just the next group- We start at 9- she starts at 11.  How fun and random is that?! I joked with her that she must have prayed for friends.... so I showed up. :D

She came with me to my twins club meeting on Thursday- and I can't vouch for her thoughts...., but I really think she's super fun!  I can't wait to get to know her more.

I love making new friends.

(I also need to wear a sandwich board about my twins club..... I seem to meet a lot of twin moms....)

Sea of Green

Did you know that Columbus has the nation's largest population of Irish people?? It even outweighs that of NYC and Chicago. I learned that when I moved here. (It may just be folklore.... but I'll believe anything I hear.)  St. Patty's day is pretty big round these parts..... and there's also an Irish fest in the summer held in...where else.... Dublin, Ohio (one of the suburbs of Columbus).

We decided we should embrace St. Patty's day this year.... so we went downtown to the big parade.It was completely gorgeous outside- in the mid 70's. This spring has been wonderful!  The parade lasted an hour and a half - and the kids each ended up with a paper brown lunch sack filled to the brim with candy, pens, and other goodies. Score!

 Maggie Moo

 Years ago, Chip found these kelly green pants at Goodwill. They sure come in handy.

Chip was trying to get both boys to smile at me so I could take their pictures...... this is the best we got. 

Chip was tickling them to get them to smile. :)

(Dexter by Chip's face, Miles in front) 

 Dashing Dexter

 Miss Alli 

Miles and Mom

....Random parade shots....

The boys especially loved the parade. People would walk up to them from off the floats and hand them lollipops. Miles and Dexter must of thought the parade was a little like Heaven. For surely in heaven, lollipops are freely given.

During the middle of the parade a lady bug flew onto Chip's shirt, and wouldn't leave. I guess this is a good thing. In Germany, ladybugs are for good luck- so I'm hoping since we were dressed all in green we'll have the luck of the Irish- and the Luck of the Germans on our side. 

On the way back from the parade, we stopped at Burger King to get free french fries and green ketchup (aka: dip-dip). Miles was so tuckered out from all the fun he fell asleep with his lollipop stick in his mouth. So cute. 

It was a super fun day. I was glad Chip didn't have to work and could join us for a rare family outing. 

Was the luck o' the Irish with you on St. Patty's day?? 

Learning Opportunity

Being a parent, unfortunately, doesn't come with an instruction manual.   Every situation is a new one to handle- each child needs each situation dealt with in a different manner. There is no flow-chart made to let you know how to handle each situation based on a child's personality.... sad, huh? Will someone get on that?

I read the other day 'Harsh words said can always be forgiven, but they will never be forgotten'. I'm really glad I read that before our little situation happened that we had to deal with.

It would have been so easy for me to fly off of the handle. Ground Alli for L-I-F-E with out the possibility of parole. Spank the child until my hand (and subsequently her bottom) were blistered. You get the picture.

I had to call my mom, call Chip's mom, talk with Chip,  and pray really hard to figure out how to handle this situation. You see, Alli made a mistake and got suspended last week. (We're going to appeal the decision, as we think it was just a vindictive punishment from the principal... more on that later).  Everyone had wise counsel and advice. It's nice to have smart parents :D. But I think the best advice my mom gave was "Use this as a learning experience, try For the Strength of Youth"... (For the Strength of Youth is a pamphlet my church gives out to youth 12-18- although it's completely appropriate for anyone of all ages..... it also makes for some good parenting guidelines.- if you are curious to see what my church's standards are- I invite you to click this link).


I looked up the Dress and Appearance section in 'For the Strength of Youth' booklet- gathered up the needed information, and Chip and I had a really good, and meaningful talk with Alli. It was so much more effective and successful than if we yelled and screamed at her until our faces were blue.

Here are some excerpts from the booklet that we used....

"Your body is sacred. Respect it and do not defile it in any way. Through your dress and appearance, you can show that you know how precious your body is. You can show that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and that you love Him.

Prophets of God have continually counseled His children to dress modestly. When you are well groomed and modestly dressed, you invite the companionship of the Spirit and you can be a good influence on others. Your dress and grooming influence the way you and others act.

Never lower your standards of dress. Do not use a special occasion as an excuse to be immodest. When you dress immodestly, you send a message that is contrary to your identity as a son or daughter of God. You also send the message that you are using your body to get attention and approval.

Ask yourself, “Would I feel comfortable with my appearance if I were in the Lord’s presence?”


Alli realized her errors and understood the way that she behaved was negative towards herself and her standards. It really was a great conversation that we had with her. I wish I could share it all with you. 

Even though there is no manual for raising children, I'm so happy for wise parents, and an even wiser loving Heavenly Father who put in place some good directions on how we should behave. It made the situation turn into something that Alli would be talking to therapists for years about, into something that can be chalked up into the 'lessons learned' category of life'. For that, I am so thankful.

Quite Possibly World's Saddest Day....

Thursday was to put it mildly, a no good, rotten, horrible, bad day.

With new carpet being installed, the boys and I were kicked out of the house for the entire day. I decided to make the best of it- I was going to go to my favorite quilting store!! I hadn't been down there since I was 37 weeks pregnant with the boys- It's about a 40 minute drive away- and I never seemed to find the extra time to go down there. I really missed the store owner- she was the bomb diggity! She was the first person who got me going on quilt block of the month clubs. (genius idea.)  Mary always knew my voice on the phone- even though I wasn't "a regular".... she really knew how to make quilting a magical experience.  And the bonus part of Mary's shop was that it was next door to a scrapbooking store! Holla!!

Anyway, I drove all the way down there, it was pouring rain if you need a visual.....  I got the boys into the stroller, got into the building- and then I cried. My favorite quilt store had CLOSED! What the crap!?! Apparently Mary's stupid-head husband retired and she wanted to spend time with him.  What a pathetic reason to close a quilt store!  Uggg.

But..... her store closing inspired me to start that quilt block of the month I signed up for..... about 6 years ago. I was an overachiever back then (no worries, I no longer have such ambitious stars in my eyes......) and I had signed up for not one, but TWO different blocks of the month..... The first one I finished last year for Chip's brother's wedding gift.  So I came home from that sad experience of visiting an empty shell of what was once my favorite quilting store with a new resolve to finish yet another project that has been loitering around my house for way to long.

Today I actually had the spare minute to start it (Nap time was long. Thankfully)-

It is a Buckeye theme quilt. One day we hope to leave this buckeye state for different pastures, and I thought it'd be nice to always have a piece of Ohio with us, a little memory.... (you know, aside from the birth place of all of our children....)

2 1/2 blocks done- out of 12.....

Now taking guesses on how long it'll take me to finish this sucker....

Maybe we're a meth house?

Every month I live in fear of the police storming down my door and raiding our home- on the basis that we are, in fact, a meth house.

It may be an irrational fear..... but if history has taught us anything- it may come true.....

I heard once that police and power companies monitor the electricity usage of neighborhoods to see if  any one house or another is using an exorbitant amount of electricity- which is grounds to thinking that it may be currently a meth lab.  This may or may not be true. Who knows.

For months we have been receiving notices from our power company saying that we use almost 200% more electricity than any neighbor within a mile radius of us. It always gives kind tips on how to lower our electricity bills- switch to better light bulbs, keep heat/air conditioning at a minimum... etc...  When Chip and I first saw these notices we were like "What?!?!"..... so we switched out the rest of our light bulbs- and try and make a conscientious effort to turn off lights when nobody is in the room.....  We thought, "Hey! That'll do the trick, for sure!"..  but month after month we seem to get these letters that we are hemorrhaging electricity. 

Then we started putting two and two together- .....

1) I stay at home full time.
2) Chip works from home full time.
3) I am a night owl.
4) Chip is up at the bum-crack of dawn working.
5) We have four children.
6) We've been doing non-stop laundry ... as in NON-STOP.... like 4-5 loads a day in a washer/dryer that are older than Adam and Eve.
7) I actually cook.
8) We're kinda electricity whores. Everything we like doing requires electricity- sewing, computers, TV, warmth, LIGHT...

Nobody in our neighborhood has this many children. Nobody in our neighborhood works from home- in fact, our neighborhood is quite empty during the day (nice).......  Nobody in our neighborhood cooks... it's mainly take-out and pre-made meals (Check the dumpsters...).....

It all kinda makes sense....

But still- the worry lingers in the back of our minds.

Do the cops and the electric company have us flagged as a meth house?

If they do..... I'm sure it'll be a jolly good blog post once that all goes down. :)



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You guys will vouch for me, right?

And the ball keeps rolling.....

A few weeks ago we were super worried about Dexter. He wouldn't eat. Anything. He went for quite some number of days without a single drop of food. His rib cage started showing. He had big darn circles under his eyes. We prayed. We took him to the doctor. We didn't know what to do. We e-mailed family and asked them to include him in their prayers.

Prayers are answered. Dexter started eating again. He has started gaining some weight. He doesn't have dark circles under his eyes anymore. He stopped throwing tantrums. It's been a miracle. I'm thankful for miracles.

Dexter's gateway food was......... French Fries! (both regular potato and sweet potato variety)

Okay- so these pictures are of Miles. He was just so much more fun to watch eating fries than Dexter was......

See??....... While still super cute, he wasn't exactly playing for the camera here.

Dexter reminds me of my nephew, Rylan. He loves- LOVES-  dip-dip....aka- ketchup. This kid will eat an entire bottle of dip-dip if we let him.

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I have decided when we move, I'm going to suck at it. I have the hardest time letting things go- and I have an even harder time when it comes to putting stuff away....  I have unearthed old church sacrament programs from the 90's that have no significance at all. None. What-so-ever. I don't get it. Apparently I need to go on the show hoarders. I wonder if they will accept my application...... but so-help-me-if-they-touch-my-scrapbook-stuff-or-quilting-stuff-i'm-gunna-gut-them-like-a-fish-.....

We are still in the process of putting stuff away. Going through bags. Figuring out where stuff goes. Taking many, many trips to Goodwill and the dumpster. I'm feeling a little lighter in my loafers... (ohh wait, I threw those away..... so I'm lighter in my sandals) because of all this stuff I'm getting rid of.  But there is one thing that I'm hesitating to throw away...... (aside from craft stuff).....

 My sweaters. My glorious sweaters. Hanging there in all of their cozy glory. I am a sweater addict. I stopped counting at 35 sweaters..... and I still have over a dozen bags to go through that are in storage. My only regret with owning this many sweaters is that they are all black, grey, white, red/pink, and brown. Why do I limit myself?!?! I must go rectify this situation. I will buy more to cheer myself up.

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Yesterday another prayer was answered. We got new carpet. It's ugly as sin- (poo brown)....but it's better than the old stuff.  We contacted our complex about having new carpet installed a few weeks ago. They seemed to throw the request aside as we hadn't heard back from them.... Then Wednesday night around 5:30pm they call and asked if it was too late for us to clear everything out so they could re-carpet the place Thursday morning. Oddly enough, we also got a call Wednesday that our new couch is in and waiting to be picked up from the warehouse.... so we had just thrown all of our furniture out that day and our place was already empty! (well... there were a few things here....)

I'm just shocked that we didn't have to hound the complex for the new carpet. I'm praying and hoping and wishing that with this new carpet it means what was left of the bed bugs are gone. We aren't picking up our new couch for a few more weeks.... just to make sure no little critter is hiding....

Lawn chairs are awesome. Especially pink ones.

Magical Night

I've written about 100 blog posts since last Saturday.... unfortunately they were all in my head,...... and usually written in those 10 minutes or so before falling asleep each night or while I'm driving in the car- either way, they were H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S, charming, and full of wit. Even I'm jealous of my wit. Ohh the zingers I come up with. I should start quoting me.

But I wanted to take a moment to document a magical night Chip and I had......

It was Wednesday night, Feb 29 (Leap Day).... Chip and I got in our awkwardly tall cozy new bed- that has awesome soft new sheets and a beautiful new bedspread on it (Thanks Gma Bonnie for spoiling us like crazy), we snuggled down into the sheets and then..... we slept. WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN! ....  That's right. It was so crazy warm that our widows were open in FEBRUARY at NIGHT. How wonderful is that?

Our heat hasn't been turned on in over a week.

It's been fabulous.

On March 1st when I woke up- with windows wide open... do you know what woke me up? It wasn't my children. It wasn't Chip. It wasn't my super loud annoying cat...... it was BIRDS chirping. Loudly. So loud that I wanted to throw something at them. They were so annoying- It reminded me of the movie Bambi and I think I even yelled something like "stupid twitterpated birds!" - how fantastic is that? Birdies pissing me off with their loud annoying sounds on March 1st.

I think I'm twitterpated with this weather.