My header pic is Chloe on her 1st birthday. I never got the pics posted, but everytime I see this pic it makes me smile.

Sorry for the depressing post. You'd think I was pregnant if you were around me much. Hopefully things are going to continually get better. The boys are getting over their double ear infections. I got 2 good nights of sleep in a row. Although a couple of the pipes were frozen this morning, they unthawed without bursting. So . . . we'll see how things go.

broken mirrors

I've decided that the bad luck that I had stored up from all the broken mirrors in my past has unleashed it powers on me the last two weeks. I'm too tired to type more. Not even sure if I just made sense. I'll write more tomorrow.

Ethan just watched his "abc movie" as he calls it. After it was done he told me that he did a good job. :o)

cough remedy

Anytime Ethan gets a cold it goes straight to his chest which effects his asthma. He coughs and coughs. Which is what he has been doing the last 3 days or so. My mom told me to put Vicks on his feet before bed and leave his socks on. So I did that last night and he didn't cough a single time. I was pretty impressed. Just thought I would pass the wisdom on. :o)

Uncle David and Ethan

Ethan thinks that Uncle David is one of the best things in the world. If you want to get him excited about something just tell that he gets to see Uncle David. Pretty sweet, I think.

Ethan's timid version of the abc's

I was going thru my computer and found this video that I took a couple of months ago. Normally this song is sung at the top of his lungs. :o)

Baby Jake's dedication was this last Sunday morning. Ethan got some cheese time with Molly. I swiped this from Julie's blog. She has a couple of adorable pics of Jake if anyone is interested.

This has been a crazy week. I started my drive back from KS on Monday and got home Tuesday night around 8:30. Wednesday night Joey had dress rehearsal for the GBS program. Friday I cleaned house to get ready for company from MI, and went to the program. After the program I realized that I didn't have any food in the house for our guests so Faith and I went to Papa John's around 10:00 to get a pizza. (This story does have a point) After we ordered it I remembered that I was out of diapers and milk so we ran over to Kroger. (Not literally) Anyways . . I loaded the groceries in the car and Faith pushed the cart over to the parking space beside the car. We went back to Papa John's and waited about 10 more minutes on the pizza. Got it, drove home, pulled into the driveway, and reached for my wallet . . . . which wasn't there. The last place I remembered seeing it was in the grocery cart. Great moment of spazzing!! So I drove frantically back to Kroger ignoring speed limits and most stop signs, and pulled up beside our cart and my wallet was no longer in there. One reason I was so frantic was cuz my family had given $130 cash for gas money to come home on and it was still in my wallet. So ... (she continued her long drawn-out story) . . . I ran into the store (literally) and looked for the security guard. He wasn't in his regular spot. I then went to the customer service desk. There stood the guard and another person going through my wallet trying to find a phone number. And . . . . drum roll . . . . nothing was missing from it. *sigh* I almost burst into tears right there on the spot. The guard said some guy came in and handed it to him. Considering the area of town the Kroger was in, well, let's just say Somebody was looking out for me.

By the way, KS was good and I have a couple of pics from when I was there, but I believe all 3 children are currently pooped so that will come later.

Happy Birthday!

To my blog! I just noticed a couple of days ago that it's been a year today since I started this. Nobody probably cares but me, actually I really don't care that much . . so new subject.

I took the kids to a WIC appointment today and they were weighed and measured. Ethan weighed 38 lbs. and was 40 inches tall. Joel weighed 34 1/2 lbs. and was 38 inches tall. Chloe weighed 25 lbs. and was 29 inches tall. The lady told me that Chloe as 4 pounds overweight. Give me a break. If she's anything like her mother . . well, enough said.

After that appointment I took the kids home for naps and set Joey up with the Xbox. (just kidding he knows how to turn it on all by himself) Then off to an hour and 1/2 long oil change. That's just ridiculous. After 10 minutes mine was the only car in there. Somebody was getting paid for nothing if you ask me. But I endured because this just puts me one step closer to leaving for KS on Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well . . enough rambling. As soon as the cherry pie (thank you Sara Lee) comes out of the oven I'm gonna wake up the kids and go to Andrea's (my SIL) house for supper. Hope everyone has a good night.

Chlo-bo

Chloe was very excited to go on the plane with Mommy to KS. Actually, she had no clue. I think the smile was for the bag of food that I had just gotten out of my bag. She's so like her mother.

Salute

I don't remember what was going on the other night, but Joey tried to get the boys to salute. It didn't quite happen. Especially for Joel.

Baby Brenna

Joey's sister, Andrea, had a baby on September 12th. Chloe looked SO big next to Brenna. She's no longer my little cuddly baby. But . . I will continue getting my baby "fix" from Brenna and Jake, and quit thinking about little tiny sweet cuddly babies.

He wanted to wear this while we walked through the mall. Need I say more?

Fashion?

Guess who wanted to get dressed by themself. . It seems we have some work to do in the style department.

Here, Mousey Mousey

This was mousey number 3 or 4. Can't remember. He was actually kinda cute in a helpless sort of way. Anyways, just thought I would share my joy.

Woohoo!!!!

I have a computer again! I feel like I've been trying to play a Bach prelude without having my pinky fingers.

A few things have happened since "the coma". My little girl turned one. I'll upload some pics from that later. My father died so Chloe and I flew out to KS for a week, and I got to see lots of fam I hadn't seen in a while. And . . . I've caught eight mice in my house since moving back in. Disgusting, I know. I don't know of any more holes in the house that aren't plugged, so hopefully I've seen the last of these little boogers. If not, I have about 10 traps set throughout the house. I will be victorious. Sorry to go on and on, but I feel very passionate about keeping rodents in their place. Although I will say one more thing. As punishment for trespassing in my house I put the trapped mouse outside and watch it slowly die, and eventually Mr. Cat from next door comes and takes it away. Heh heh.

Crash

To those who bother reading this blog my computer has copped an attitude and will no longer turn on. Since I'm practically computer illiterate who knows where we'll go from here. If anything major happens in your lives feel free to call me about it cuz I'm not gonna make it to the library very often. Toodles

Dear Mr. Obama:

I swiped this from Sarah Fry's blog cuz I wanted you all to see it.

A month or so ago my sister-in-law, Andrea, came to visit for the day, and while she was here we decided to takes professional pics of the cousins. You would not believe what all we had to do to just get the top pic. I can't wait until Brenna (Sept. 15) and Jake (Oct. 15) make their appearance! (Notice that Ethan is the only one with shoes on, and on the wrong feet at that. He and his shoes have a loving and smelly relationship.)

Dumb!

I was driving by a church the other day and their sign said something like this:
"If God had a refrigerator your picture would be on it."

July 4th

We spent July 4th in KS with my fam, and had lots of fun although it was unbelievably hot. That day is also the birthday of one of the cousins thus the reason for the pinata.

Ethan's 3rd birthday

This is extremely belated. Ethan turned 3 on August 2nd. Being the totally disorganized mom that I am I didn't plan a birthday party ahead of time. The day of his birthday I felt bad so I invited the fam to go with us to Chuck E. Cheese. We had lots of fun. Here are some pics from that night.

bLOGworthy

I noticed that the boys were too quiet one day while I was upstairs packing for a trip. This is what I found. Disgusting!!! It's a sweet potato by the way. What's worse is that Joel was holding a wet one with a bite out of it. I won't think too long on that one.

Little Bunsters

The boys have had a blast in their pool this summer. As you can tell I just so happened to be out of swim diapers on this particular day. :o)

Carrie!!

It's hard to believe that Carrie is done with high school and leaving in a couple of weeks for college. It makes me rather sad. *sniff*

Don Pablos Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

We had a little pre-wedding party for Heidi where we ate an amazing amount of chips and salsa and laughed enough to burn up all those calories. (In RuthAnn's case the laughter wasn't such good medicine.)

Woman Driver

Chloe's first time on the truck. Her "Am I good looking or what" shirt is thanks to G'ma Jewell.

Blooming Musician

Ethan has a sand toy that he goes around and blows/hums into it just like his daddy does with his baritone.

Funky hair

The boys were combing their hair crazy ways at Joey's grad party. The mohawk was the fav.

Grrrr

So much for that. Clutz that I am bumped into the crib and woke up a kid before I could even lie down. *sigh* It was a really good thought.

Wow!

This is my 10th post for the day. I am glowing with pride. I have more to come. I know. Shock and amazement. This was very tiring so I think I'm gonna sneak in a nap while the kids are down. Not really, but I'm still gonna take a nap.

I was amused by this pic cuz it looked like the kids had no faces.

This was a yummy cheesecake!!

Daddy's little copy cat

We took this pic to celebrate not being pregnant anymore. (At least that was my sentiments) The last time that we were together we were all pregnant.

Daddy's girl through and through.

Dandelions

This was taken some time in May. Ethan absolutely loves to blow dandelions except for the few times that he accidentally inhaled. Then it would fall my lot to "clean" his tongue.

Friends

I am blessed with a special circle of friends whose friendships I can count on lasting a lifetime. Heidi is one such person. I couldn't ask for a better friend. I miss her SO much since I've moved back to Cincy.

This is another pic of Ethan's day at King's Island. This time with his shirt on correctly. He rode this ride multiple times.

Okay, so this post is going to come in chunks.

This is my man who finally graduated from college. It's so nice to have the hours of reading behind us.

Please Have a Seat

If I am uninterrupted this blog will be lengthy while I play a little catch up. Big "if."

Here are some pics from the last few months of our lives.

As you can see from the above pic. Life has been rather eventful. The white substance covering my son's body is water proof Desitin. He had a white film covering his body for several days. On another occasion he tried concocting his own hair gel from sunscreen and more desitin. :o/

Ethan went to King's Island for the first time the beginning of the summer and had a blast. After I took this pic I realized that Ethan had his shirt on backwards. (Thanks to Joey)

I swiped this pic off of Kristy's blog. It would have been great if Ethan would have quit playing with the Play-Doh.

Joey doing one of his favorite things in the world. In case you can't tell he is trying to catch a football. I say trying because he missed it and ended up doing a belly flop. :o)

All the cousins playing together. I'm not sure what was going on there. They were so fun to watch.

We took some time out from unpacking our house to hang out with Joey's fam. His sister Andrea came down for the weekend for his sister Carrie's high school graduation. Andrea's daughter, Sophie, is sitting beside Joel. They had a great time playing together this weekend.

I have yet to get my computer set up, but once I do I'll have several pictures to post.

Stealing Some Posts

If you would like to see a couple pics of Chloe and of Joey in his grad gown go to my sister-in-law's blog. kratcliff.blogspot.com
Cheap, huh?

Moving

Just wanted to let you all know that Joey and I will be moving back to Cincinnati the end of this month. It will now be even longer before I post pictures and say anything worthwhile on here so . . . . just a heads up.

Recipes

I went to a workshop the other night that was about productive playing with your kids. It was pretty interesting. The thing I liked most was the packet of recipes they sent home with me. Here are two of them . . .

Kool-Aid Play Dough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 packages unsweetened Kool-Aid
2 T alum or cream of tartar (optional)
2 T vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water

1. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, Kool-Aid, and alum.
2. Add oil and boiling water
3. Stir
4. Knead when cool enough to handle.
5. Store in sealed container


Shaky, Shaky Ice Cream

3/4 cup milk
2 T sugar
a few drops vanilla
small ziploc
big ziploc
ice
salt

In small ziploc put milk, sugar, and vanilla.
In big ziploc fill halway with ice and pour quite a bit of salt in.
Place little ziploc inside big ziploc.
Seal and shake for around 5 minutes until ice cream is frozen.
Eat!

We made this one at the meeting and it was pretty good, but I'll probably put more sugar in next time. :o)

Joely-Bird

I thought that Ethan and Joel looked so cute sitting with their popcorn on their laps all ready for the movie that I totally forgot about the fact that Joel is allergic to corn. Let's just say that we reaped later. (Please excuse the disastrous shape of my house.)
Joel also got his first haircut recently. I was ready for a fight cuz Ethan has to be held down and screams the whole time. Joel just sat there and hardly moved a muscle. Thank goodness for at least one laid back child.

Joely-Bird

Ethan Charles

Ethan has become a terror on anything electronic in our house. It seems my whole life is now password protected from my son. He figured out how to switch from his user name on the computer over to mine, and he would switch back when I came into the room. Crazy kid!
Here are some pics of him from the last month.

My Techie

Chloe's Life

These pics are some I've taken of Chloe during my long absence. :o) She's almost 6 months old and sitting up by herself. She likes to jabber a lot especially while daddy is trying to preach. Last Sunday he gave me a look while she was loudly saying, "Da da da da da."

Chloe's life

Sinking

Very sorry for the lack of updates on my life. I am currently trying to keep my head above water and not quite succeeding some days. I will post soon.

I just wanna take a moment to brag on my wonderful husband. First off . . . isn't he cute? :o)

Hubby

I was up a good part of the night with Chloe last night so this morning he let me stay in bed and got up with the kids. At some point in the middle of a terrible dream where I was running around my chiropractor's office frantically looking for my skirt that somehow disappeared (there are a lot more details, but I'll spare you) . . . anyways . . I heard a far off voice that ended up being Joey's asking me if I wanted pancakes. My first thought was, "Are you kidding me? I'm sleeping!" But thankfully I opened my eyes before saying anything. He was standing there with a plate full of pancakes and a big glass of milk. I couldn't believe it! So I ate breakfast in bed. Can't remember the last time I did that. Halfway through he came back up with the milk to make sure I had enough. When I was done he took my plate and let me sleep for another hour. Next thing I know it's 11:00 and he is waking me to tell me he has to get ready for work. That was my kind of morning. Thanks, babuh!

Joel was an angel this year in our children's program. I thought he was adorable. When it was time to go up to the platform he just took his sweet little time, waved to his daddy as he walked by, then decided he would rather go help the pianist who was playing background music. He was finally herded up to the platform after much laughter from those around him.

angel