My own little virtuoso

Caden has started taking piano lessons this year due to the generosity of an unnamed benefactor (thanks grandma and grandpa!). From the beginning his teacher has been very impressed with how quickly he is able to learn everything from the key names, to finger positions, to being able to play his songs so well, so quickly. Enough(ish) bragging.

At the beginning of December they had their Christmas Recital. Caden did a great job introducing his songs at the pulpit without any written notes about what to say and then very professionally sat at the piano and played. He did a great job, didn't miss any notes at all. I don't have video, but here's some pictures from that night:

Or, er, one picture. I've been trying to upload pictures to this post for three days and this is the only one that Blogger is allowing. Stupid blogger. Anyhoo... so handsome. Love you, Caden!

On the bright side, I guess I could win an award for it...

Every night at 7pm my ex calls to talk to the kids. He's fairly prompt and has hardly ever missed a day. I know all day long that he's going to call. As the day winds down and the kids and I are getting into our night time routine of dinner, cleaning up, pajamas and bedtime stuff I know he's going to call and I almost watch the clock waiting for it to happen.

Every other weekend my kids go to their dad's house. I miss them so much when they're gone. I purposefully pack my schedule when they're gone so that I know what to do with myself....because otherwise I'm a little lost without them.

But. I forget to call them at 7pm.

What? What kind of horrible mother forgets to call her children?

Wait, wait, hear me out. I think about it in the morning....but it's not time to call yet. And then I get busy. And then I think about it again during the day and make a mental note to be sure and call at 7pm....but it's still not time yet. And then I get more busy. And then I remember at 10:30pm that I haven't remembered to call my kids and that I am THE WORST MOTHER IN THE WORLD!!!!! Which is how I feel. But probably not entirely true. I mean, I haven't eaten my offspring or anything, but still. HORRIBLE.

It happened again tonight. I have since learned that I can set an alarm on my phone to remind me to call them, which I have done....the tricky thing there is going to be remembering to set it when I drop them off for their weekends away. I think that my biggest problem is that it's just not a habit for me to MAKE the phone call. I am in the habit of RECEIVING the phone call, and honestly, how difficult is that?

"Whatever lady; excuses, excuses."

Yep, (nodding) I know. That's exactly how I feel.

Yep, I'm bragging

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

are pleased to announce the grades of their daughter

Valerie

for her first quarter back to school

after a 13 year absence...

4.0

4.0

4.0

That's right. She rocks.

;)

What it's like at our house...

My kids are enrolled in a Sarcasm Immersion program. It's called Life With Valerie For a Mother. What we do in this program is lie to the children all the time about stupid stuff that doesn't matter. They catch on fairly quickly. Let's take for example last night's dinner conversation:

Caden: Where's Grandpa?

Sarcasm Immersion Specialist: Mongolia.

Caden: What's he doing in another state?

Sarcasm Immersion Specialist: Mongolia's another country, not a state. It's kind of up by China.

Caden: Well, what's he doing in Mongolia?

Sarcasm Immersion Specialist: He had to get a key made.

Caden: Oh, I get it, because everything's made in China. Ha ha.


The best part was the 'ha, ha' at the end because it was a completely sarcastic 'ha, ha'. He knew we were pulling his leg, and he let us know in our own language. *sniff* kind of brought a tear to the eye. ;)

My children are learning well.....Thanks Sarcasm Immersion School!

I am thankful I am not cooking this Thanksgiving ;)

So I'm Single Now

Dating at 31 is not so bad. There's a lot of honesty, which makes it easier to weed out the creepy guys. But if you find a good one, it's a lot of fun.

Family Pictures 2009

We had a family photo shoot at the end of September before the weather turned. A very wonderful girl in my old ward did them and charged me a pittance for an entire disc all retouched and making us look our best. Here's a small sample...

Blah. Blah de blah blah blah. Consider yourselves updated.

A quick update...

My classes are awesome. Even the ones I thought would suck are awesome. And as a bonus I got into the ASL class that I absolutely have to have this quarter in order for the rest of my master plan to fall into place.

But I'm unbelievably busy. So, not that the blog's been such a huge priority anyway, but it's getting pushed even further back on the list of stuff that has to get done.

And so it begins

Soooo, school officially starts for me tomorrow. I spent all weekend out at campus taking 'Orientation' for 1 credit. It was lame but at the same time I got to know the campus a lot better by virtue of the fact that I was there for 10 hours a day for 3 days. I'm glad it's over and I'm on my way to the real stuff.

I have to give a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Marilyn who has so graciously agreed to screw up her own schedule to watch my kids while I go to school everyday. I have never been a fan of day care and she is TOTALLY SAVING MY BEHIND. Thankyouthankyouthankyou from the very bottom of my heart, Mar!

I miss my kids.

Mommy goes to college

I'm going back to school to finish my degree. When I was in high school I did Running Start which allowed me to complete my first two years of college while I completed my last two years of high school. Bully for me. The problem was, once I graduated from high school it was time to pick a major. I floundered around for a good year before I finally used my wedding as an excuse to quit. And I was okay with quitting. All I ever really wanted to do was be a wife and a mother. (Really don't want to hear why I'm wrong for wanting that.)

Well, things change. And not always how you think they will.

Fast forward 11+ years and I now have a direction along with three undeniable incentives to finish. I will be pursuing a degree in Speech Pathology from EWU (in conjunction with WSU). I have a year of pre-req's to finish (part time) and then it's a two year program (full time). I also have to get a Master's if I want to actually BE a Speech Pathologist, and lo and behold, EWU also has a Master's program. (Yeah, I know you look more well rounded if you get the master's elsewhere, but I'm living with my parents for free and I can't beat that at this point in life.)

Caden will be 12 when I finish school and start a job. BUT, it will be a job that has GREAT starting salary, is in high demand, and if I can swing working in a school system, I'll have the same hours as my kids as well as summers off. Bonus, I can also pick up side jobs. Plus I LOVE communication courses: they've always been my favorites and this is just the other side of it; communication disorders. AND I get to learn sign language - how cool is that?!

So (gulp) here's to the next five years of college for me!

It's a mini-rant

Are the people shopping on Etsy actually shopping or just looking for stuff they can make themselves?

Because, COME ON PEOPLE. My horses are NOT overpriced. You're not going to find the them anywhere else that look the same because they're oneofakinds.

Sometimes I'm tempted to just shut the whole thing down.

Wahoo!

It's official: I'm an Eastern Eagle!

I called the office of admissions today to find out if I'd been accepted or not and they said that as of today I was officially a student. So congratulations to me!

Now I'm just anxiously awaiting the Communication Disorders department's decision about whether they'll allow me to start on MONDAY (yikes! - this program runs on semesters instead of quarters like the rest of the school) and take the pre-req's concurrently or if I need to do the pre-req's and start the program next fall. There's only 2 pre-reqs that I need, but the program only accepts new students fall quarters, which would mean a year of classes that I don't really need. I'm not holding my breath, but I am crossing my fingers. If you have a second, send up a silent prayer that they'll let me in and hopefully shave that extra year off of my education!

School is Cool. Or kinda hot if you start mid-August...

It's mid-August and you know what that means: BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!!!!

What? Your kids don't go back until after Labor Day? You poor things. Uh, I mean, how lucky for you to spend two MORE weeks with your kids.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY KIDS. But they are bored, bored, bored being home all day with me. And I am apparently the kind of mother that is too lazy, lazy, lazy and poor, poor, poor to take them to do fun stuff all day long everyday. It's not that we haven't done fun stuff this summer, because we totally have. Why, just last week they spent an entire day at Silverwood with Daddy and they had a blast. But let's be realistic for just a moment. No way on Earth would Aile put up with going, going, going everyday. I'm lucky she puts up with it when we DO do something.

And so I (and Caden), rejoice in the happy routine that is going back to school. Today is Caden's first day of 2nd grade. He is lucky enough to go to a small enough school that there is only one class per grade. This means that he already knows most all the kids that will be in his class. Also, this year he has the same teacher from 1st grade because that's one of the things that this school does is cycle the teachers for 1st and 2nd grade. (Next year Mrs. Grant will go back to 1st grade and this year's 1st grade teacher will cycle up with her class to 2nd grade. Get it?)

In light of all the other major changes happening in our lives right now we are extreeeeemely grateful that Caden's school allows parents to 'choice' in from other districts. Hooray for some continuity in his little life!

Oh, wait

Turns out commenting is only a great way for me to get in touch with you if I already have your email address. If I don't it becomes very difficult to tell you what's going on. SO.

Either leave me a comment with your email address in it (yeah, right). OR you can email me at actuallybrunette at gmail dot com and THEN I can get back to you. (Betsie, this means you)


That is all. Resume comments.

Aaaaand, I'm back

I have to start blogging again. Not because I have anything spectacular to write about. No. Quite simply I miss getting email from random people I may or may not know. Gigi, whoever you are, you made my day. Thanks for leaving a comment!

I'm going through some major life changes right now and my biggest problem is sharing what's going on without having to SHARE what's going on. So here's what I think I'll do: If you know me and don't know what's up, you should get in contact with me. Hey! Commenting is a GREAT way to do that. On the other hand, if you don't know me then it's not going to matter whether or not you know the whole backstory to keep up with the current story. Capice?

Yeah, I'm not sure I followed that last bit either. But you could still leave me a comment anyway. ;)

Happy Independence Day!

It was a gorgeous 4th of July! We went to the wading pool in Millwood, played at the park, had lunch and naps and then a great BBQ with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids colored flags, we made a 'jello poke' cake and decorated it with blueberries and strawberries to make it a 'flag cake', and had our mini fireworks display out in the driveway.

We all had matching flag t-shirts ($3 at Walmart), and so we took some cute pictures of the kids (with our camera, so you won't be seeing them here yet), and then a couple of cute family pics as well. The kids did sparklers and pop-its, had baths and were in bed just in time for Mommy and Daddy (that's us) to take off to watch the big display downtown.

Uh, in Spokane it is actually illegal to set off fireworks, so our little display only included things that we figured didn't count because they didn't shoot up into the air. Let me tell you, im-press-ive. Yeah.

But the downtown display was awesome. We found a large patch of empty grass on the Riverpoint Campus of EWU downtown and had it all to ourselves. Then we jogged back to the car and beat the rush getting out of Dodge. BONUS! It was a great night.

Hope all y'all had a safe and happy 4th too!

Some of what we've been doing so far this summer...

Playing peek-a-boo.

Riding in the Big Red Car.

Playing with tops Grandma and Grandpa bought in Greece.Playing the accordian.

Bouncing on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath.
Learning to ride bikes.Just being cute.

Eating chocolate doughnuts. Mmmm, doughnuts.

We also went to HoopFest - the world's biggest 3 on 3 basketball tournament that's held right here in Spokane. While we were downtown we rode the carousel and went on the big red wagon slide. We even took pictures, but of course they're on our camera and we don't have a way to put them on my parents computer. You can obviously infer that these pictures were taken with my parents camera.

You're so smart.

The last thing to mention is that CADEN IS NOW OUT OF SCHOOL. We had his endoftheyear picnic at the sprinkler park in Liberty Lake. It's a lot of food, people, and fun. I'm so glad that school's out!

Oh, so's Caden.

Caden Rides Again

We loved our duplex. We were back off the road and had a nice big yard, and even though it wasn't completely fenced in it was back off the street and so I felt comfortable sending the boys out to play together. Of course I checked on them a lot when I couldn't be out with them, but still. The only thing that was a drawback about the situation is that while we had a concrete pad on which to park right in front of the garage, the whole rest of the driveway was gravel. This was not the most conducive to learning to ride a bike. But Caden did learn. Just with training wheels. And even when he outgrew the little bike and graduated to a bigger one he still had training wheels.

Since staying at my parents house we are now surrounded by nice, wide, fairlytrafficfree streets and so Caden has been putting in time riding around the block. He goes by himself and checks in each time he gets back around. I'd been noticing how little he is actually using the training wheels and so Friday evening we practiced how to start on a bike without sitting on it first. After a few times he had it down, so I coaxed him into taking off just one of the training wheels. After one time around the block he was ready and we took off the other one.

And he did it! He didn't fall once! He was soooo incredibly proud of himself, you should have seen him hugging everyone and jumping up and down. We got a picture of him, but of course it's not uploaded yet. I am so excited for him - it's the thing that everyone says you never forget, and now he's done it. We've been outside a lot since then getting more and more practice in.

Way to go, Caden!

Finally got the picture added!

In Which Ryan GRADUATES

Saturday was a momentous day for our family. We attended Ryan's graduation from Eastern Washington University with a BS in Geology. This has been a very long road for all of us, and while we're still staring two more years of school in the face for his Master's program, it was extremely gratifying to see this particular chapter of our lives come to a close.

We were not the only ones there to celebrate the big day. 2,500 students walked at the graduation for undergraduate degrees (There was a seperate ceremony for Master's students that afternoon). This was also reflected in the amount of traffic pouring into little Cheney, Washington. Cheney lies 6.5 miles from the freeway, 18 miles outside of Spokane. With still a mile to go to the Cheney freeway exit we hit a standstill. We eventually crawled into town and hustled to the stadium where the stands were filled and the graduates had already begun walking in. It all worked out in the end; we eventually found seats, and Ryan found his department and then Commencement began.

Everybody was very brief in their remarks, which was very much appreciated by all in attendance in the hot, hot sun. Among the caveats offered was one by a student who reminded them, "Beer before liquor, never been sicker. Liquor before beer, you're in the clear." Super. The one exception to the brevity were the remarks from a Russian professer from Russia for some award. She apparently didn't get the memo. But then finally, FINALLY it was time for the main event.

I don't know how it works at other schools' graduations but at Eastern you write your name on a slip of paper and hand it to the professor announcing names. Among Ryan's graduating class we had Captain Jack Sparrow, Lakewood's Finest, and Ryan "Rocks" Carter. After the ceremony we met back up and had a quick lunch and then took a few pictures before all the boys piled into the car to head over to Lynnwood for Uncle Brent's high school graduation that night.

That last picture is because we ALL graduated. While Ryan is the one to actually earn the degree we ALL worked hard and made sacrifices in order for him to be able to do it. We are so very proud of Ryan. He is the very first University graduate from his immediate family, and that is a HUGE accomplishment. Congratulations Ry!

We have video of Ryan walking but the file is too big for blogger's maximum size and I don't know how to edit it. If you can tell me and it works, I'll send you a cookie PLUS I'll be able to post the video!

We're Going On A Bear Hunt

My parents have been called as Service Missionaries for our local mission. This means that they work in the Mission Office 35-40 hours a week. It's been very convenient for us since we're living with them, and with them gone most of the day we don't feel like we're in their way all the time.

Bonus for us, they can't go on vacation while they're serving. And since some of their time-share points were going to expire, in an extremely generous gesture they asked if we would like to go somewhere in their stead. So we looked around and looked around for something fairly close by this summer.

HA.

I forgot that you basically have to book these things a year in advance. Especially for summertime. But then, just as I was ready to quit searching - there it was. Time in Yellowstone. Not just time. CONSECUTIVE TIME. DAYS IN A ROW. MORE THAN ONE DAY. UNHEARD OF, I'M TELLING YOU.

So we're going to Yellowstone in July. This is so exciting! I'm thrilled for Ryan, since he's a Geology major. I'm thrilled for the kids, because I semi-remember going when I was young(er). AND, I'm thrilled for me because we are going to see Yellowstone WITHOUT HAVING TO CAMP. No bears in the food/tent/vehicle for us. I will have access to a full kitchen, washer and dryer, and, my personal favorite, a shower that I don't have to share with strangers.

For all you hard-core campers that think this sounds like a cop-out, pthwwwwtp! I don't care what you think. It is totally possible to enjoy nature without smelling like you are.

Plus there's a pool. ;)

My poor abandoned blog. I don't feel like posting anything, and yet I must. A lot has happened since the last post, case in point is Caden's 7th birthday party. But the computer is packed up and my parents' doesn't have the software to upload the pictures from our camera, and so I haven't blogged about it. This doesn't mean it wasn't awesome. Because it was. But you really need the pictures to appreciate it. Perhaps in August, when we have all our own stuff again.

Everything is in storage. The duplex is empty and CLEAN, and we will have our walk-through later this week. Melanie has moved to the Tri-cities, which is good for her and bad for me, and Ryan is closing in on the last week and a half of his bachelor's degree.

Life in a nutshell is busy, full, and stressful/fun depending on who you are.

Moving Sucks

Well.

My parents are off having a fantastic time in Greece and we are housesitting slash babysitting the dogs for them while they're gone. Coincidentally we are also packing up our house and moving in with my parents to save some moo-lah before we make our big trek to Montana this summer. So firstly, we are housesitting, but come June we are squatting.

This is really just great because I love my parents, and Ryan is never, ever, ever home anymore. That's not true. He's home between the hours of 10:30pm and 6:30am everyday, except Sunday, when he's home slightly longer than that. Stupid 21 credits of HARD classes to graduate this quarter.

Also, since there are so many geologists out there reading this, if you know of a kick-a** summer job that pays a ton could you send the info our way, please? Because with the aforementioned 21 credits there has been NO TIME to job search. I'm not actually sure just how exactly we'll move this month, but I have faith that it will happen. Mostly because I refuse to pay rent for next month, plus the extra-motivating factor of our house already being rented beginning June 15th.

So.

Yesterday I spent calling and cancelling cable service, garbage service, phone and internet service, and changing addresses with as many companies that we do business with as I had numbers for with me. At least that part's (mostly) done. Now we just have to pack up 11 years worth of married life and shove it storage for a few months.

Again.

Yeah, it was a fairly long light

I was driving down Sprague the other day (big 5 lane road for those of you NOT from Spokane) and got stopped at a light. I glance to my right and there is a man standing there advertising Dominos Pizzas for $5. He catches my attention because he is holding the sign up in front of his face and he's shaped a little like my ex-BIL Brandon (tall, roundish guy). So I keep watching to see what he actually looks like. While I'm waiting for him to move the sign my gaze drifts down to his right hand, which, bytheway, is holding a lit cigarette.

Appetizing.

Then my gaze drifts right and I notice that his shirt does not quite cover his paunch (read: beer belly) and there's a lovely band of underwear showing at the top of his pants. His pants look like someone took the requisite fast-food-polyester-black-uniform-pant and cut them off into very long shorts. They're the kind of pants the don't have a button or snap but use that little metal hook and loop system.

Ask me how I know that. Go on, ask me.

The answer is because his pants, while zipped up, were in fact, undone. In public. Without a shirt long enough to cover them.

Mmmm, let me get some pizza from you.

I tried to get my cell phone out and get a picture but by the time I had snapped out of my amazement that someone would feel it was just fine to go to work on street corner half dressed with a cigarette, purposely drawing attention to themselves, and was NOT in fact a hooker, the light had changed and I had to go.

This should serve as a good reminder to the rest of us: Always do up your pants. Or at least make sure your shirt covers them if they're undone.

It's about cookies - mmmm, cookies

I like cookies. I think I've mentioned this before. I know I've posted about these particular cookies before and yet they are sooooo good that I am posting about them again. Hey, it's been almost a year. Plus, bonus for you, this time there are more pictures! YAY!!! I know you're so excited and impressed that I bothered to take pictures of cookies whilst I was in the process of making said cookies. C'mon, you know you are.

Aile was having one of her famous fits on the day that we made this particular batch so she got to 'help'. She didn't quite know what to do with it at first, but once she figured it out she was much, much happier.

By the time I cleaned her up she had cookie dough EVERYWHERE, including up her legs and between her toes. Talk about some tasty toe-jam! (yeah, I know that's gross). Don't go leaving me comments about how she could get salmonella from the eggs in the dough, blahblahblah. I ate cookie dough all growing up and I'm fine.

Shut your mouth, yes I am.

Eating cookie dough is one of childhoods greatest pleasures. Also fun for adults. See, good for the whole family.

Anyway, on with the cookies!

Monster Cookies
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 1/4 C packed light brown sugar
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t vanilla
2 t baking soda
1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter (or 1 1/2 C)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 bag (medium size) M & M's
3/4 bag mini chocolate chips
4 1/2 C quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Preheat oven to 350' F. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, eggs, salt, vanilla, and soda. Stir in oatmeal, chocolate chips and M & M's.

Drop by large scoops (like an ice-cream scoop) onto baking sheets.

Flatten slightly with fingers. Bake approx 15-16 min. Do not overbake.

Let stand 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Makes 3 doz.If you make them tablespoon size, bake 8-10 min. Makes considerably more.

Now for all 4 of you that read my weightloss blog you should know that we gave away at least 1/2 of the cookies. Plus, I very judiciously am only eating them when the kids have one (and sometimes not even then) so that I don't eat them all by my lonesome. 'Cause you know, I like cookies.

Silent Saturday

It's a long story but you can power through it

Way back in December my neighbors son was getting married two days after Christmas. His bride had ordered a fake cake (they were serving cheesecakes) but it came smashed to pieces and there was no way that they were going to get a replacement in time. So they cancelled that cake and my neighbor was preparing to make a real wedding cake, which normally wouldn't be a problem for her since she can do anything, but at the time she was sicker than a dog.

I told them that I had a fake cake for my wedding and in fact we still had it and they could use it if they wanted to. So the bride, who I think no longer cared at that point, said go for it. Then my dear neighbor was going to make a small cake for them to cut at the reception at which point I told her that I would just do that. It wasn't a big deal, just a six inch cake with some scrolls on it, all in buttercream. Fairly simple. I'd post a picture but that button has chosen to no longer work today. Even though I already uploaded one to this post. Whatever.

Anyway, a few months later the grooms sister tells her friend whose brother is getting married (are you lost yet?) in April that I do wedding cakes. This couple just wants a small wedding cake to cut and then they were serving sheet cakes - oh so smart. A whole troupe of them came over on Valentine's day, decided what they wanted and I GOT HIRED TO MAKE A WEDDING CAKE.

In - Sane.

I've made a few wedding cakes before but just for family and never for profit. This is a first for me. It's white fondant with a design piped with a shell tip in buttercream and topped with fresh daffodils. I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out and the family was thrilled that it turned out, was there and they didn't have to worry about it. I don't know if the happy couple liked it or not since by the time I left they still hadn't made an appearance and the reception was starting in 40 minutes. Apparently they got married and then went back to their apartment.

I don't think they cared about the cake.

Anyway, here it is, my very first PAID wedding cake. Please don't turn me in to Cake Wrecks.

Too stinkin' smart for her own good

The other day my wonderful neighbor Susan dropped by with an armful of bananas. She had stopped by one of the many fruitstands in Spokane and had bought an entire box of bananas for $3 so she was sharing the wealth.

Aile loves bananas.

So we chat for a few minutes and Susan goes home and I went back to reading my lesson for RS on Sunday. Pretty soon Aile goes into the bathroom and starts having a fit because she's trying to get the step stool that we keep in there out and she keeps getting it hung up on the door. So I got up and helped her bring it out and then shut the bathroom door. I'm unsure about why the door to the bathroom was open in the first place since we don't want her in there. But I digress.

The boys are coloring quietly at the kitchen table and I'm back to studying my lesson when Aile starts screaming. This is, unfortunately, not unusual. I pretty much ignored her since it was just run of the mill frustrated screaming instead of hurt screaming. Believe me, you can tell the difference. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Caden get up from the table and go in the kitchen and the screaming stops. Hallelujah. Caden sits back down.

Then I heard a thunk.

So I get up and head toward the kitchen and this is what I find:

Yeah, in that last one she has actually bitten off a chunk of the peel. I may not have mentioned this before but Aile loves bananas. Can you believe that she's just 14 months and problem solving like that? I'm in trouble.

Aile's pigtails

She may not have a ton of hair on top, but she's no Briaunna. Many of you may not know who Briaunna is - she is my now 14 yr old niece who at almost 2 years was still practically bald. I may be slightly exaggerating. Slightly. ANYwho, since about 13 months Aile's been wearing her hair in two pigtails in back. Everywhere we go people come up and comment on how cute SHE looks. Hallelujah, they can tell she's a girl.

This was our first attempt, I'm better at doing it now. Her pigtails stay in practically all day unless she does a lot of head rubbing - on the floor when I change her, in her carseat, in the stroller when we go for our walk, etc. Okay, pretty much they're cute first thing in the morning and then it's all down hill from there. But like I said, Hallelujah, they can tell she's a girl.

Happy Easter!

Yeah, yeah, I know it's late. We had an Easter egg Hunt at our neighbors on Saturday. Aile had so much fun finding the eggs in the grass. All Caden and Lincoln really cared about was finding the cascarones (not sure if I spelled that right), which are essentially egg shells dyed like Easter eggs then filled with confetti and finished off with a piece of tissue paper glued over the opening. When you find these you get to smash them over someone's head - and EVERYBODY is fair game. We spend from New Years to Easter saving our egg shells so there are always a lot to find. We've learned this from our neighbors in past years and have made it our own tradition too.

Caden trying to sneak up on Mom to smash an egg. The adults got a lot of body hits since the boys aren't quite tall enough to reach the top of our heads.

Lincoln - can you tell he dresses himself? Sweatshirt and dresspants. Very nice. ;)

Here they are in their Easter finest after church. We did our own hunt after church because the Easter bunny doesn't come until you go to church and celebrate the REAL reason for Easter. Notice how happy Aile is holding her two little candy bars. She is definetly a girl and LOVES chocolate.

My little bunny. ;)So sweet.
Hope yours was good!

So very random

Aunt Carleen and Uncle Mike gave Caden a couple of suits when we were visiting last month. Here he is all dudded up. Such a handsome boy. Thanks guys! Lincoln also needed his picture taken since we took one of Caden. Also such a handsome boy!When we had our girls lunch Aile climbed in someone else's car seat - backwards.

One of the games we play on laundry day. The boys push Aile around in the laundry basket or take turns pushing each other around.

Yee-haw!

Wrestling is a nightly occurence at our house.

Soliciting for Advice

I've got this Etsy Store. I've sold a few things and gotten a few looks but it's not exactly bringing in the dough in these economic times. I would like it to do better which brings me to the point of this post. Wait, don't stop reading yet, I'm not asking you to buy anything!!

The other day I got this email from some random blogger via my Etsy Store saying she was a blogger blahblahblah, she wants to promote things that she thinks are cute on her blog blahblahblah, if I want to give her one of my horses for free then she'll play with it (or maybe her kids will) and then write a review of it and then maybe I'd also want to participate in a giveaway to one of her readers.

So basically she wants me to give away 2 of my horses plus eat the shipping on them (which is seriously $10 without them going to Canada, which, bytheway, is where she's from). I've seen giveaways on blogs before and even when I've thought stuff was cute it didn't make me want to buy it if I didn't win it. So already I'm not knocked out with the awesomeness of this opportunity. Should I be?

Then I thought, well, maybe she has this huge reader base. But how do you figure that out? I checked her profile views - I don't know if that's the best way or not. She had 500 hits less than I have, and I'm not even close to being on anybody's favorites list (uh, present company excluded, I hope). And her comments on the few posts I scrolled through were like 5 max.

Am I being stupid and passing up a golden opportunity? I'm just not feeling the love. Honestly, if I wanted to giveaway a horse I could do it on my own blog and not have to do it twice and eat the shipping twice.

So tell me what you think, please. Should I take up her up on her offer? Should I actually do a giveaway here? Should I just continue to stick my head in the sand and hope that something cosmic happens to make them all hot commodities? I just don't know anymore.

And Double Yum!

Go to the Outback Steakhouse. Order the green beans as one of your sides. Just trust me on this one, they are soooooooooooo worth it. Then, try this recipe and see if they taste the same to you:

Steam your fresh green beans for 8 minutes. Blanche them in cold water to stop the cooking (uh, that means dunk them). Drain them and set aside. 5 minutes before your going to serve them saute in 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, and 1 clove of garlic, pressed. Saute 3-4 minutes and serve 'em up hot.

So very delicious, I will be making fresh green beans much more often.

Yum!

You tell me

Am I the only one annoyed by all the ads for singles to hook-up? They're EVERYWHERE! I'm not single, and I don't really want all the skank girls who are posing for the ads staring me in the face with their come-hither looks and their tops popping out of their tops, ifyouknowwhatimean. Nor do I want them doing the same to my husband because, uh, he's married to me and that's gross.

Am I alone?

Shriek of the Week

Bethany and Sharla, I apologize, you were right: girls do scream. And while I admit this it still doesn't change the fact that I. Can't. Stand. It. All of a sudden Aile went from my best baby ever to the author of the most annoying sound in the world. Eeeeeaaaawwwwhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

About a month ago I couldn't get her to stop no matter what I did. So as a last ditch effort at my sanity I gave her a bath. Hallelujah! It calmed her right down. I do feel I should qualify that this event fell in what was one of the worst weeks with her since she was getting in all four of her molars at once. Consequently she got bathed far more often than she normally does.

Since she wasn't having a 'get clean' kind of bath Lincoln wanted to jump in with her. Poor kid just takes showers now - we're so mean. So he put on his swimsuit and got in and played. Those two are such good friends. I'm so impressed that he's so patient with her, especially since patience doesn't seem to be his strong suit at this point in time. 'Cause, you know, he's 4.

Dang I have cute kids. Caden also wanted to get in, but there just wasn't enough room for all of them. I did remind him that summer's coming at some point and then they can all get in the big outdoor bathtub together.