Well, my house is clean. I got everything on my list done. The only thing left is Prophet's comforter still drying in the dryer (someone else is sleeping in his bed tonight and tomorrow night). Smart Guy and D.K. are at swim practice until 7:00, and Prophet, Bee, and myself and awaiting the arrival of my little BIL and his family. Most of important of which is my new nephew that I have yet to meet. They live three hours away and the weekend we were supposed to go visit, Prophet ended up getting sick. I can't wait to get my hands on him!!!

Today was another one of those freaky, crazy days. I got out of bed on the run this morning and just stopped a few minutes ago when I sat down to blog while I wait for everyone.

Well, they just pulled in! Later, Taters, I've got a baby to love on!!

Yuck

It's one of those mornings when the television was turned on before 6 am just to see if we still have school or are on a delay. Unfortunately for my children they do have school, and even worse they have to be there at the normal time. You'd have thought that Prophet was having all his Christmas presents taken away from him the way he went on all morning. All we kept hearing was "I bet Cleveland doesn't have school. I be the kids up by the lake don't have school." etc. We currently have freezing rain, and it's really dark out for this time of the morning. It's supposedly going to turn to rain for a little while and then back to freezing rain and possibly snow later. Smart Guy's doing our Meals on Wheels route this morning by himself because I've got Bee's Christmas party at school at 10:00, so it's gonna take him forever to get it done in this weather by himself.

Smart Guy's family is supposed to be coming over this weekend, but I'm not holding my breath at this point. This will be the second year in a row our Christmas with them at our house has been ruined because of the weather! My MIL and FIL are actually here in OH at one of the Amish inn's for a mini-trip. Hopefully they'll be able to travel back home today safely!

Oooooops!

I'm one of those cooks that quite often cooks without a recipe. Most of the time this is okay and works out just fine, but on occasion it doesn't work out for me!! Such is the case today!

I signed up to take the frosting and sprinkles to Bee's "Holiday" party tomorrow. She wanted me to make my cream cheese frosting. So, Monday we bought all the stuff and this morning after everyone left for school, I got the cream cheese and the butter out of the fridge, so it would be soft by the time Bee came home from school around 11:45. I was planning to double the recipe, so when the time came she unwrapped to blocks of cream cheese and two sticks of butter and threw them in the bowl. I started the mixer and she put in powdered sugar a 1/2 cup at a time. After almost an ENTIRE bag of powdered sugar, I realized that it wasn't looking like the frosting that I normally make, it was much too runny. That's when I realized that I must normally use a 1/2 stick of butter and a 1/2 block of cream cheese with one box of powdered sugar. So, basically instead of doubling the recipe, I quadrupled the recipe! I've got enough frosting for the entire top floor of the kids' school to frost a cookie!! It ended up taking two full bags of powdered sugar to make my cream cheese wonder! That's FOUR STINKIN' POUNDS OF SUGAR FOLKS!! That's approx. 9 cups of frosting!! Yikes!

So, if any of you local girls need frosting for anything, find me tomorrow at school or leave me comment and I'll find you and I'll gladly give ya some!! Seriously!!

What I Needed To Accomplish Today and Tomorrow by 4:00

WITH PROGRESS REPORTS

If it has a * by it, it must be done today!!

1. Bake 4 apple cakes.* (DONE)
2. Make 4 jars of caramel sauce (to pour over above cakes, then making them into caramel apple cakes!!*(DONE)
3. Make two 9X13 pans of scotcheroos.*(DONE)
4. Make a double recipe of cream cheese frosting.*(DONE)
5. Put together breakfast casserole for company on Saturday morning.(DONE)
6. Wash every towel in house. (DONE)
7. Dry said towels. (DONE)
8. Fold said towels. (DONE)
9. Put away said towels. (DONE)
10. Make sure all cloth napkins are washed, dry, folded and put away!! (DONE)
11. Strip beds, wash sheets, put sheets back on beds. (D0NE)
12. Clean both bathrooms. (DONE)
13. Sweep wood floors upstairs. (DONE)
14. Sweep kitchen floor. (DONE)
15. Vacuum all carpetting. (DONE)
16. Mop kitchen floor. (DONE)
17. Dust every surface in the free world! (DONE)
18. Set up pack n' play for new nephew visiting this weekend. (DONE)
19. Clean up the playroom in the basement (Bee)! (NOT PERFECT, BUT OKAY)
20. Wrap presents for niece and nephews!! (D0NE)
21. Finish jumpers for Bee and my niece!!
22. Dip a bunch of pretzels into melted candy for boys' party!!* (D0NE)
23. Go to Bee's party! (DONE)
24. Go to the Boys' party! (DONE)
25. Make dinner.* (DONE)
26. Sleep (when? this one is optional for tonight) (DONE)
27. Swim practice, swim lessons, and basketball practice?*(Smart Guy's doing this)
28. Go shopping.*(Again, Smart Guy to the rescue)
29. Take a shower!*(DONE)


Will I get everything done? We shall see!!

Please Pray

I know it's been awhile since I've been on here, so I hate to come with this kind of news, but...

If you haven't noticed the button on my sidebar for Kayleigh Freeman and clicked on it, please do it now. Kayleigh is a little one who was born weighing 1 pound 1 oz. She's over five months old and has never left the hospital. She's been fighting so incredibly hard to live and yet at the moment it seems that she may loose that fight. My heart is broken for her parents who want to take her home so badly. Please pray for them and possibly leave a comment letting them know you were there.

Toothbrushes Are The Best

For anyone that does not know my family and already know this bit of info... Prophet and Bee DO NOT get along. On a good day they put up with one another. On a bad day, there's alot of yelling between the two of them. IT DRIVES THEIR MOTHER (that would be me) ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!A few days ago, I actually banned them from speaking to one another for the rest of the day. The funny thing was that they actually played together that day and didn't fight. They sat and played legos on the floor in the family for quite awhile (without talking). Wierd!!

That being said, Bee was given the job of cleaning their bathroom sink a few weeks ago. She's been doing a really good job keeping it up without being reminded. So, the other night, I realized she'd been in the bathroom for quite sometime, so I opened the door and went in. When I asked her what she'd been doing, she replied, "I was cleaning the sink." I asked what she cleaned it with. With a devilish grin and complete eye contact, her answer was "Prophet's toothbrush." It was one of those moments when as a mom, you know that you can't laugh, but it takes everything in you not to. I of course made her apologize to Prophet and actually give him a hug... oooo, not actual contact.

I think it's time to get Bee in on the "The Sibling Restitution Act of 2004"!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!

Smart Guy brought home a bag of Jonagold apples this afternoon. Check out this very cool apple! It has a perfectly straight line around the center of it!!

Snow!!

Here's what our backyard looked like this morning!!


The neighbors car!!



And it's currently snowing again!! None of it's sticking to the roads though! It's just enough to be pretty.

Tooth #2

Well, Miss Bee lost tooth #2 this evening. It was barely hangin' on by a thread and she was just leaving it there. I finally told her I was gonna pin her down and pull it myself if she didn't just get it out of there. That did the trick. She had it out about 5 minutes later. I couldn't believe how much it bled. You'd think as loose as it was that it wouldn't have bled at all. The permanent tooth for the tooth she just lost actually popped thru about two weeks ago, right behind the baby tooth. It looked really wierd. Those new teeth are soooo big. I keep wondering how all her new teeth are ever gonna fit into that little tiny mouth.

We drove to Mountain Mom and Grizzley Dad's on Friday after school. We were supposed to drive on over and see our new nephew as soon as we ate dinner, but Prophet had an earache and a runny nose, so we decided we'd better not take the chance. So, we ended up just having a very quiet visit with everyone. Mountain Mom cut my hair Saturday morning, and I love how it turned out. It was in dire need of a cut!! I got to spend lots of time visiting with my little sis-in-law who is about 23 weeks or so pregnant. She's under five feet tall, so she's got a very round little belly. Her belly is absolutely perfect. Get this, she's on her second baby and has NO STRETCH MARKS whatsoever! Her belly could be a model, it's so perfect! I know she's rolling her eyes and laughing at me right now as she reads this!!!

Well, it's time to go in and cuddle with my hubby while we watch some televsion!! Goodnight everyone!! This weeks a crazy one, I probably won't be around much, so have a good week!!

Overheard Conversation

This is the conversation I heard from the family room while I was making dinner last night...

D.K. - Get off of his head!

Noise, yelling, general uproar.

D.K. - No,seriously Bee, get OFF OF HIS HEAD!

D.K. & Prophet - EWWWWWWW, GROSS!


You'd think that being the girly-girl that she can be, that gas wouldn't be so funny, but apparently it's alot funnier than anyone of us could imagine! Oh my!

Our Trip to the Columbus Zoo

Last week the kids didn't have school on Friday, so we decided to use our zoo pass and head down to Columbus for the day. We had a really good time, despite the cold and rain that started 30 minutes after we got there! Now, if you know me very well at all, you know that I'm a weather radar junkie (Intellicast rocks), but I kept holding out hope that the rain headed our way was gonna go away. Hey, at least I took an umbrella!!


I adore pictures of my hubby with the kids from behind. This one's no exception. This is the dreariness that was our day at the zoo.



This is Bee sitting next to Fluffy, the 300 pound, 24 ft. long, 14 year old reticulated python. This sucker eats 10 pounds of rabbits once a week. He's the biggest snake on exhibit anywhere! The sign next to him says "Will Hug For Food"! He's an amazing creature!!



D.K. and the giant moose statue. The actual moose exhibit wasn't quite as impressive. Apparently moose are smarter than humans and get in out of the rain, as we only saw one of them out.



Prophet wrestling with the giant bear statue!!



Just bein' goofy!!


Funny story... The Columbus Zoo has quite possibly got the best gorilla exhibit in the world. The outside exhibit is a huge playground and the inside exhibits are split into three huge glass-walled rooms. Since it was raining, all of the gorillas were inside where we could watch them up close. We were the only ones in the building for the first 15 minutes we were there. While I was watching one of the females, I sat down on the wall sorta leaning my shoulder on the glass. Now, gorillas are very human-like (poor things) and they will actually interact with people thru the glass. This female was about 6 inches away from me on the other side of the glass, so I puckered up my lips and put them as close to the glass as I could. She did the same thing. She actually kissed the glass where my lips were. I was totally captured in the moment and then the little devil reaches up and smacks the glass as hard as she could right in my face. I just about wet my pants!! We laughed so hard! It was hilarious. Okay, so maybe you actually had to be there, but trust me here okay!!

Well, I really must go to bed now! If only I were actually sleepy!! Oy!

Here's a Couple of Projects I Just Recently Finished

These are for my niece whose due to join us in March sometime! Yes, my sil reads this, but she's already seen them anyway. I made a towel and taggie blanket for my new nephew and for Grasshopper, but didn't get pics up of them before I gave them away. I've still got 3 jumpers, a towel, and bunch of burp cloths to make in the next two weeks! Can she do it? Well... I don't have much choice!!

The rag quilt. This was the first one I've ever done. Bee recieved one as a gift from a coworker of Mountain Mom's and I've always wanted to try one, so I finally did it. It was fairly simple, but my hand was in some serious pain the day after I finished it because you have to snip all of the seams a thousand times so they will fray and have the wanted effect.


The taggie blankie!!



This is Divine with the towel I made for my nephew at her baby shower. After previewing this, I also realized that Bee has on the jumper I made just for the shower. I was putting the hem in it as my little sil was bathing the girls (hers and mine) to leave for the shower. Yep, nothing like procrastination is there!!



Here's Inkling with Grasshopper's taggie blanket at her blessing a couple months ago. Geez,that seems so long ago now. I miss her!

Just Another Day

It's late and I really need to go to bed, but I'm just not sleepy yet. I know I'll regret not going to bed at a decent time when it's time to roll out of bed in the morning so I can walk to school with the kids so I can work all morning in Bee's kindergarten classroom, but right now I've got things on my mind and I don't necessarily want them to go away just yet. Soooo, I figured I'd sit and blog for awhile. That way no one can start griping that I've gone MIA.

I got lots done today. I spent the morning like I spend every Tuesday morning, in the boys class. I love being in there. I really do. I pretty much do busy work the entire time, but it helps the teachers get stuff done, so that's what I do. I did the behavior charts for both teachers, graded, filed several papers into the kids' folders, hung some stuff on the wall, and chatted with the teachers more than usual because the students were having a lesson about how Wall Street works from a group of accountants who apparently go around trying to teach 4th graders how it all works. Maybe I should have been listening more closely. I mean, if they can really simplify it enough for a 4th grader to understand it, maybe I could understand it. It was apparently a very fun day according to my boys. They even had a pizza party afterwards!!

After I was done in there, I walked the school halls and staircases for about 10 minutes (about three laps from one end to the other with all the steps included for those of you that know the building), and ended at Bee's classroom just as they were lining up to walk outside to the parents. They had a sub today, so I wasn't sure she'd know who I was taking her out of the line, but all the kids yelled "Bee, there's your mom", when I walked up, so she believed them! We walked down, got my coat out of D.K.'s locker and walked home. After she ate lunch, Bee invited the little girl next door over to play with playdough. After playing for about 45 mintues and actually doing a fine job of cleaning up, they decided it was time for dress-up! So they ran around as Cinderella and a bride for about an hour before heading over to the neighbors house to play there while I walked over to get the boys!!

During the afternoon, I swept the kitchen, did about three loads of laundry, vacuumed the downstairs (except our bedroom), cleaned off the computer table (I swear it grows papers), started pork chops in the crock-pot for dinner, and talked to Ruby on the phone for awhile. It's been a fairly productive day.

For dinner we had nice comfy meal to go with the cold, cloudy weather... pork chops slow-cooked all afternoon, baked sweet potatoes with brown sugar and cinnamon butter, stuffing, and green beans. It was yummy! The only thing that could have made it better would have been a pumpkin pie, but seeing how I've been walking like a crazy woman I'd rather not totally undo any good I've done to my thighs, ya know!!

Well, I really should get off of here and go to bed. My mind is going nuts with something I know I have to do. Forgive me for being vague and please don't ask for more info, and no Grandma nothing horrible is going on. I just have to deal with something stupid that I did awhile back... so just call me "Chicken Little", okay!!

7 Wierd Things About Me

Lauren has tagged me! So, I guess I should be a good sport and participate shouldn't I! I'm supposed to tell you guys 7 wierd things about myself. That should be easy...

1. I think leftover chili and spaghetti are fairgame for breakfast. I thought this was normal until I grew-up and left my parents house, now I realize it's more than a little wierd.

2. I've never used a sewing pattern in my life. I just find something similar to what I want to make and hope it'll turn out. I've occasionally had a mystery item in the end!!

3. I've been playing Christmas music for about 3 weeks already, but only when Smart Guy isn't here. He laughs at me and rolls his eyes.

4. I have lived in 7 states during my life. In those 7 states, I've had 17 separate homes. The longest I've lived in one place (other than my childhood home, my parents stayed put) is three years, the shortest 3 months. Ha, and you people thought I was stable!!

5. I've never carried a baby full-term. I've had a 28 weeker, a 32 1/2 weeker, and a 36 weeker.

6. I didn't have an epidural with Bee (the other two were so early they wanted me to have the epi just in case something happened and they had to do a c-section. nothing happened though) and it was an amazing birth that made me feel like one hell of a strong woman. I definitely recommend trying it.

7. The only time of year that I drink coffee beverages is now. I love anything with chocolate and peppermint.


So, are those wierd enough. Hope so!!

Life is Busy

Bee is next door playing with her best-friend, so it's quiet enough to hear the Christmas music in the background. I've got a crock-pot of chili on in the kitchen, so it smells quite comforting in here. My house is fairly clean, so I don't have to feel to guilty about sitting in this chair clackin' away on the keys. I'm completely enjoying these last minutes before I walk over to pick the boys up from school. It gets totally noisy at that point. Then we have homework to get done, swim practice to get to, guitar lessons to look forward too, and Kids Kare Klub to be at. Yikes!! Then afterwards we'll all come home, light the candles at the dining room table and sit down to a bowl of chili with crackers and cream cheese.

This week's been busy. I've been over at the school every morning this week doing something or other. Our book fair is this week, so I worked that twice. I did my normal, every week volunteering, and had parent/teacher conferences for all three kids. Everyone's out of school on Friday. I'd like to get down to Columbus to the zoo (we have a season pass), but don't know if that's gonna happen or not. I'd also like to get over to see our new nephew in PA sometime. I've also got ALOT of sewing to get done in the next three weeks, which will ultimately end my whirlwind sewing that I've had to accomplish the last couple of months because I'll be without a means to sew come Thanksgiving weekend (don't ask), so I have to get all my sewing for next spring done early and hopefully have another machine by next summer (grrr).

Well, I now must walk up to get my boys from school, thus ending my quiet time! Hugs to all of you (yes even those out there I don't actually know about!)!! Have a good evening!

What a Daddy's Girl

This is the pile of candy that Bee put aside for her daddy! There were several more pieces in his stash, which is being stored in one of her purses and hanging on the computer chair for him to dig into whenever he wants to. Apparently I'm chopped liver or something because she didn't feel it necessary to provide Mommy with the same!! Each day since Halloween she has brought me a Reese's peanut butter cup, broke it in half and then given me exactly 1/2 of it! I can't believe she hasn't noticed that her candy (the chocolate part anyway) is slowly disappearing thanks to the pilfering going on on my part!! She doesn't need that much sugar anyway does she? Of course, neither do my hips!!

HAPPY 33RD BIRTHDAY

I don't know if the person this is intended for will ever see it or if she'll care, but I'm thinking about her and missing her alot today. I think about her and all the "stuff" every single day, but with today being her birthday I really want to pick up the phone to call her more than usual.

VOTE

To all of my American readers... please go and excercise your right (or left) to vote today if you haven't already. Our country's depending on it.

Is anyone else having a prob with their comments not coming thru their email? Mine hasn't worked for several days now and Smart Guy says he's having the same problem. Just wonderin' if it's us or if others have the same issue!!

The Votes Are In, The People Have Spoken...

... the students at our school anyway. Obama came out on top 89 to 59!!

Bee's New Do

Here's The Kids Halloween Costumes

Prophet is a wizard.



D.K. is also a wizard, but of the more sterotypical type.



Bee is Dorothy.

More Field Trip Pics

This is how much snow was on the ground when the bus pulled back into town after the field trip. This is October people!! BRRRRR!!



Angela, I thought you'd get a kick out of the next two pics. That's Mady bringing up the rear of the line in both pictures. She's so stinkin' cute!!




This is what Bee's bangs looked like when we took her stocking cap (or tobaggan as my hubby calls it)off when we got home from the field trip. Yikes!!

Bee's First Field Trip

Both the am and pm classes went on the field trip together. They are sitting listening to the teacher give a few instructions before we left.



Getting on the bus in the snow. For many of them this was the first time to ride on a school bus.



You can see how big the snowflakes were as we drove to the pumpkin patch! They were the size of quarters!



Still snowing!



The hayride out to the pumpkin field.



Walking out to pick out their pumpkins.



Listening to a demonstration about how pumpkins grow.



My Bee!



Both the am and pm classes. We couldn't believe both classes stood and quiet long enough for this pic to be taken. I actually had time to take about 5 pictures while they stood there.



Bee holding the bag that contains her pumpkin and her popcorn.



The little one in the middle is Kristi's little girl!



Friend's of Bee's and mine.




Bee and Mommy.



Love that kiddo!!



Between the am and pm class we had four blogger kids there. From left to right... Ang's little girl Mady, Stephanie's little boy Bryceton, my Bee, little one that wanted in the pic, and Kristy's little girl Lilly! Someday we'll have to get a pic of the four of us grown-ups together. Yah, I know cheesy. Hey, I've been called worse...just yesterday as a matter of fact, huh!

The Boys' 4th Grade Field Trip

The entire group listening to a demonstration about pumpkins, potatoes, wheat, and corn, and how wonderful corn syrup makes our food taste. My boys were muttering under their breath about how bad it is for us thanks to the very anti-corn-syrup diet they eat!!



Homemade, warm potato chips!! They were delicious!!



A HUGE room full of potatoes. This room was about 80 feet deep and the ceiling was as high as most gymnasiums.


Watching potatoes loading.


Prophet's landing after sliding down a huge tunnel slide into a corn crib!


D.K.'s landing.




The hayride out to the pumpkin patch.



The young lady to the right of D.K. has a thing for my son, and it drives me nuts!! She declares her affections for him one day and then the next day she totally ignores him and tells him to get lost! Ugh!!




Everyone picking their pumpkins in the field.






After that we went into the cornmaze in the shape of the state of OH. It was the coolest thing. It was actually a map of OH with all of the roads and rivers marked like a map, with signs of info about the "city" they were walking thru at that time.
The young man at the top has become the bane of my exsistence. He's one of the biggest bullies I've ever encountered in any of the schools we've been in. The young man with his head cut off was a perfect angel the entire day. Thank you!!


Walking the maze.


Damage done to the corn when the effects of Ike came thru our area.



Writing info down on their question sheets. They each were given $10 of school cash for each correct answer they had. They then can use that money for extra recess and such. All four of the boys in my group had alot of the info filled out, but D.K. lost his somewhere between the farm and the school! So, he lost alot of cash from the oops! He was not happy.



You can see the I71 sign leading them thru the maze if they followed the map and compass they had correctly.