Why?...

do kids do this?


What makes the thought of going to sleep in her bed so terrible that this child will stay awake for two hours past her bedtime... crawl rather quietly into the hallway... and then promptly fall asleep in a fully lit area? It's good that I take photos of moments like this. I can remember the sweet stuff. Especially when I want to hang them upside down by their toenails.

ETA: It's now 11:45 pm and my four year-old is STILL awake and trying to sneak out of her room. What is going ON? I'm tired... why isn't she?

Grateful today for these things...

• The subscription to Wonder Time magazine that my sister got for me. Love that magazine... it's a super cool alternative to Parents and other parenting magazines like that.
  
• Hannah feeding Gabby dinner tonight so I could finish making dinner for everyone else.
• Ally (the dog) didn't chew up anything today. BIG accomplishment for her.
  
• The way Lexi climbs up into my bed and pulls my arm out so she can roll right onto it. It's a little ritual for us now.
• The way Gabby bounces in her little duck tub. She bounces up and down on her little bottom like it's some kind of trampoline. So cute.
• Taylor helped me clean up toys tonight before bedtime. Without arguing. HUGE step for her.

Taylorisms...

My Taylor never ceases to amaze me with the hilarious things she says. (At least I think they are hilarious... maybe others don't. That's ok. It's my blog, so I can post what I want, right?) Today was no exception... we were driving Hannah to soccer practice, and she sees a pizza delivery car (you know, with the sign on top?) She says... "Hey Mommy, there's a car with a triangle hat on his head!" At first I had no idea what she was talking about, but sure enough she pointed and I saw it. Another incident from today: spring has brought houseflies... much to Taylor's dismay. She asked me repeatedly for the "flyswhacker" so she could "whack those pesty flies." And I'll share just one more... the girls wanted peanut butter crackers for their snack. Taylor was quite insistent that her's needed "lids." That girl cracks me up.

Finally...

Well... I finally have a blog header! It took me long enough...LOL. For curious minds... "Off we go like a herd of turtles..." is something my grandmother used to say whenever we would go anywhere when I was a kid. It really seems fitting for my family now, though. It takes us FOREVER to get anywhere.

Quick post tonight... I have two kiddos who are sick. Lexi has a double ear infection. I found that out when I rushed her over to our neighbor's house (she's a doctor) because Lexi's fever was 104.1. What started out as a simple cold about 4 days ago has now just knocked out my poor little girl. She's so fussy and whiny, which is so unlike her. She is the most easy-going child I know, and she seems to have a really high pain tolerance. The sad thing is, if it hadn't been for the fever, I wouldn't have even worried about anything more serious than just a cold. She hadn't been pulling at her ears at all. I had no clue that's what the problem was. Hopefully, all of the other girls can just stick with a cold and not move on to any secondary infections. Hannah and Taylor are already complaining of sore throats, and Gabby already has the cold. I would like to hope I don't get it, but my throat is already starting to feel scratchy... yuck.

Anyhoo... I hope all two of you who read my blog are doing well! Bye for now!

We're mobile...

It's official... Gabby is now mobile. She picked the first day of the year to crawl. She's been inching toward it for a few days, but mostly just kinda scooting along. Today, though... she crawled several feet to get to the toy she wanted. Thank goodness my house is already child-proofed twice over!

On a side note, I'm going to participate in Project 365 this year. It shouldn't be too difficult, because once my dear sweet husband leaves, I'll be taking a ton of photos to send to him every day anyway. Here's my first photo of 2008, the Gabster right after she crawled to her toy:


On a scrapbooking note, Two Little Pixels is having a sale. According to Sharon and Megan there won't be too many of them, so if you are so inclined, head on over there by January 15 to pick up some good stuff!

Ringing in the new year...

So I know I need a new blog header... I will get to it eventually.

Tonight I am pondering Ali Edwards' concept of "one little word." You can read more about it here. To be quite honest, though, I'm not really pondering... the word came to me pretty quickly.

For most people, the new year symbolizes renewal and hope... a clean slate... things along those lines. That's what a new year typically symbolizes for me. This year won't be typical for me. I already know that 2008 will be, perhaps, the most challenging year I've ever lived. My husband is deploying (AGAIN!) and will be gone for a few days short of the entire year, not to mention a few months of 2009 as well. So while I know this year will be so hard, I've also chosen a word that I think will help me get through it.

Embrace.

Here are a few of the definitions of the word on dictionary.com:

• to take or clasp in the arms; press to the bosom; hug.
• to take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly: to embrace an idea.
• to avail oneself of: to embrace an opportunity.

It's going to be a tough word for me on a daily basis, but I'm realizing that I need to embrace this deployment to not only make it easier for me to deal with personally, but to make it easier for my girls to cope. And although I'm quite sure I will not be able to always receive it "gladly"... I'll receive it nonetheless, because fighting it will only make it that much harder.

So that's my word. Kinda takes the place of resolutions... I'm not really into those. I'm sure I'll be plastering it all over the walls of my house to help me remember.... LOL.

Happy New Year, everyone. May 2008 bring you all you could ever wish for...

Run! Don't walk...

Here:

Click on image to go to the store!!

Seriously... awesome stuff. You won't regret it. If you love Sharon's and/or Megan's designs, you HAVE to get their grab bags. FULL of yummy goodness! I'm still pinching myself... wondering if I'm dreaming... how awesome it is to be creating for the two of them! Check out my "pixel chick" blinkie on the side!

And here's a layout I did with some of Megan's stuff... (one of the items is in her grab bag!)

Click on the image to see credits.

OK... off to spend some time with the family... and maybe get another layout or two done. Maybe my mojo is back.

My mojo has left the building...

Scrappin' mojo, that is... I just can't seem to do a layout that I'm 100% happy with lately. I actually finished one yesterday that I'm about 95% happy with, though!

Click on the image to see credits.

You'd think after almost a month of not writing anything, I'd have something exciting to say. Fortunately, I do, but I can't give you full details... yet. But I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. It'll give me another reason to blog... LOL!

To all of you celebrating Thanksgiving today, have a wonderful and peaceful day with your loved ones. To everyone else... have a terrific day!

Mmmmm... I'm hungry!

(Click the image for credits.)

LOVE LOVE LOVE these cookies that Caleb makes with the girls. They don't last long in our cookie jar, for sure! This layout was made with Sharon's Simple Sets #24. All I had to do was drop my pictures in and type up a few words, and voila... finished!

It's after midnight, so I better get to bed. Little girls will be waking up before it even gets light outside. You'd think they'd sleep a little later when it's dark in the mornings, but no... they have the most accurate internal clocks on the planet. Lucky us!

It's finally feeling like fall...

So I'm going to blog as if I just blogged yesterday... like it hasn't been forever since my last one. Caleb's sister and her family just left yesterday after a week-long visit. It was so fun having them here. They have two little boys: Seth is just about the same age as Taylor (three weeks younger than her to be exact) and Elijah is about 6 months younger than Lexi. Fortunately all 4 kids LOVE LOVE LOVE the movie Cars, so they played together all week long with Lightning McQueen and all of his buddies. I'm kinda bummed that they had to leave, but I had plenty to do today to keep myself busy.

I swear... I HATE switching out clothes for my girls. You know... packing away all the warm-weather clothes and unpacking and hanging all the colder weather clothes in the closet and/or putting them away in the drawers. Maybe the problem is that with four girls there are just SO. MANY. CLOTHES. I spent at least an hour just switching out Lexi's clothes. She's two. I did Hannah's last week. It was much easier because she's eight and can help. So now I only have Taylor and Gabby left to do. Tomorrow. If I drag it out any longer I will absolutely lose what's left of my mind.

On a totally random note, Gabby started solids a couple of weeks ago. Caleb has been asking me everyday when he can feed her something other than rice cereal. I let him feed her green beans today. He was so excited. For some reason he loves being the one to feed our girls new things. It was so cute.

OK... going to bed now. I meant to post a layout, but I told myself I was going to bed at 10, and it's 9:59. So I'll post one tomorrow. Or in a week. Or maybe a month... LOL!