Random Cuteness

I found this paper made by Little "a" the other day when I was cleaning up. At first glance I would have just thrown it away with all the other doodles and random things I find at the end of any given day. Then I decided to read what it said. It was really cute and made me laugh. I thought you might enjoy it too.



Translation: There might be a chance of snow. Tonight will be 65 degrees. There will be a storm in the three coming days. Mars and Pluto will be crashing today. There are always exciting events and offers at your local IKEA store. 49 off (a couch) 56 off (a coffee table).

Slide Show

I posted e's slide show. T says it's too long. But this blog is partly because I don't send my mom enough pictures. So if it's too long, just click View All Images and you can brows the pictures quickly. If you have any problems let me know.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

We've had a birthday! Little e turned one Jan 3rd. I finally downloaded pictures today. We started two traditions for first birthdays in our family. One is is to go to the zoo. It was a bit cold though. I think we'll reschdule for a warm day. The other is a shaped birthday cake.

Little "a" had a frog. It was supposed to be a butterfly made with four heart-shaped cakes. After I baked the cakes I realized that would be *way* to big, so we made one heart into a frog. A frog was sort of the theme of my young adult life. And I had received several frog themed baby gifts. It worked.

(Apparently I have no digital photo of the cake.)

Little "t" had a smiley face. In his first year of life we called him "Mr. Smiles." Besides we had just moved four months earlier. We had all been sick a lot and it was a simple cake.


Little "j" had a "Lightning McQueen" cake. It was really chosen by his siblings. If I had been going by what he liked it would have been an Elmo cake. The race car was really cool though. I designed it myself based on Little t's slippers. Little t still thinks the cake was for him. (Shh, don't tell.)


Little "e" had a Dancing Banana on an I-pod. You know, the one that sings "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time." Haven't heard of it? I hadn't either. It was one of the funny things "T" brought home from OTS. Apparently it is really popular in some circles (Family Guy). He downloaded an app of the funny banana and e loved it. ( I wish I could link it, but I'm not that talented. You'll just have to google it if you want to see it.) She would dance and be silly every time we played it. Soon we renamed the song after her. It was really no question what her cake would be.


Another tradition is, every birthday the kids get to pick a birthday balloon as one of their presents. That has been fun. She also got a dress up skirt. We started calling her the peanut butter princess.


My last tradition is I've been making a slide show for my blog. I've started it, but it's way to late to finish now. I'm going to put it here. Check back. I'll post a note when it's available.

Things I've Done

I got this tag from my sister's blog. It is about interesting things you've done. To participate, just mark in bold the items you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (maybe)
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked (only when my car breaks down)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (thought about it)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (not sure)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (just one so far)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (I've seen it in DC)
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (North Rim)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (my husband did)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (never read Songs of Solomon)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Donny Osmond and Steven Covey)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Milked a cow

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!









Baby's first Christmas. She loved opening presents!

12 Days of Blessings

We are now in our new house. We moved in the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. But there were a few blessings mixed in. The movers came on Monday and unloaded all our stuff. Nothing was missing or broken beyond repair (Blessing #1). Tuesday our car broke down on a major two lane road. (Blessing #2: if it had broken down the week before "little a" would have been stranded at school, if it had broken down one day later we would have been on our way to Wisconsin for Aunt K wedding which was the Saturday after Thanksgiving.) Blessing #3: within 5 minutes of the breakdown someone stopped to see if we needed help. Blessing #4: the person who stopped just happen to be driving a mini van with no occupants and could take me and my three children back to our house. Blessing #5: This kind person happens to have a sister who lives on the same block as us. Blessing #6: The sister came by to see if we needed anything. As it turns out both sister are members of the church we belong to. Blessing # 7: On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, T was able to get our old car out of police impound and towed to a dealership, trade it in for $1000 credit toward a 2004 Hnda Oddesy. That was pretty impressive since everything seemed to be closing early. Blessing #8:We had enough of our kitchen unpacked that I was able to cook and impromptu Thanksgiving dinner for our family on Thursday made entirely of things I picked up at the grocery store that morning. Blessing #9: After canceling our plans to attend Aunt K's wedding we were able to find someone (my cousin Sh.) to watch all four of our kids at the last minute. Aunt K was beautiful and it was so nice to met Uncle J's family and welcome him into the family. I can still feel the glow as a recall everything now. Blessing #9: Although little J was sick on the way home Sunday he didn't have any incidents south of Chi., which was about an 8 hour stretch. Blessing #10: the US pres. gave T Dec 26th off work.

Maybe I should think of two more and title this my 12 Days of blessings between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's pretty easy. Blessing #11: T has a much better job than he had this time last year. Blessing #12:
"Little e" has started walking. She is so grown up. I can't believe she is almost one. With all my planning for Christmas I keep thinking in the back of my mind, what should we do for her birthday. Our family tradition is to have a shaped cake ( "little a" had a frog, "little t" had a smile, "little j" had a race car) and take the family to the zoo (hoping the one year old will recognize some of the animals from the baby books.) I think it might be a bit too cold to go to the zoo in January. We'll have to wait and see.

House Pics

I took pictures at our final inspection. We have 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. The house is still occupied and they are in the process of moving. We will be moving in sometime in the next ten days. Maybe I'll get some good pictures of bedrooms and such later, but here's a few for you to enjoy now.



#1 Front - This style house is called the Charleston, built 1964


#2 Front door

#3 Kitchen
#4 Back yard (you can see the school sign, we're really close to the school.)


#5 Master bathroom

Not everything in the house is updated, but what is done is really nice (ex: kitchen, master bathroom.) We hope to move in by Nov 22nd. Maybe sooner if things work out well.