pink elefant

a pumpkin patch & 2 bucks

2009-10-20T10:47:00.006-04:00

so i took the boys to this sweet pumpkin patch in north collins on sunday. we had so much fun! we grabbed the wagon and searched the pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkins... we got 2 big ones (for daddy & mommy) and 2 smaller ones (obviously, for clay & carter).

how cute are these two? seriously...

they HAD to get a picture in front of the big john deere...

opening day for archery was on saturday, and gerry got this 4 pointer!

i'm not sure who was more excited about the deer... carter went to the garage and got the hand sanitizer and kept saying "the buck needs some soap! the buck needs some soap!" apparently he found the blood on the gutted deer to be a bit too "dirty" for him!

and then yesterday my brother in law dave got an 8 pointer in the woods behind our houses... here he is, proud as a peacock, with little baby dave... looks like there is going to be a LOT of venison in the family! :)

carter columbus...

2009-10-13T12:45:00.009-04:00

so, here is chippy with his newspaper hat and rolled up piece of paper... i mean, here is carter columbus! they learned about christopher columbus last week at carter's school and he was all about it! he came walking into the garage and exclaimed "LAND!" and a few minutes later, my personal favorite, "I FOUND AMERICA!" i just about peed my pants laughing...

this weekend was october fest in ellicottville... christiane and i enjoyed the festivities!

and it was dave's birthday...

and after a VERY long weekend, this made me literally laugh out loud...

getting ready for fall!

2009-09-28T10:26:00.016-04:00

so we were out at nanny and poppy's this weekend and we painted some pumpkins... or as carter calls them, "pine cones".

gracie loved painting...

chippy was LOVING the painting!

clay made a "scary spider" on his...

and as a sidenote: this is one of the pieces of writing that was in clay's writing folder at open house. the top one says "The buck is fiting (fighting) in the thickit (thicket)." the second one says "The snak (snake) is slithring (slithering) under a bord (board) in the day." you don't think he spends a little time with his dad do you??? :)

my baby is 3 today!

2009-09-18T08:33:00.003-04:00

so chippy is 3 today... although he keeps demanding that he is 13! here he is yesterday at school with his mouse hat. he told me "mithith pat helped me make thith nithe mouth hat" (mrs. pat helped me make this nice mouse hat)

i looked up in my car today and saw this and couldn't believe it... i can't believe it was 3 years ago!

first day of school

2009-09-10T13:14:00.005-04:00

so i have been m.i.a for a while... i apologize. we were quite busy this summer! i will try in the next few days to post some summer pictures.the boys started school yesterday. clayton is now in 2nd grade, and carter started preschool yesterday. some cereal and poptarts started out the day.

ready to rock the first day... carter's backpack was so big it almost knocked him off his feet!

chippy rang the door bell and waited to be let in... see how big that back pack is? (or backcack as he calls it)

and here he is in the middle of saying "cheese" (that's why he looks angry in the picture) with his teacher mrs. mary.

well the outcome of the day was this:

clay- told me that his teacher is the best in the school. no real reason why, apparently she just is.

chip- loved school, ate macaroni and cheese, had pretzels and juice, and made an apple with two leafes (i love when he says it- sounds like leaf-is) and took a good nap with his fongefob fairpants blanket. he's so damn cute!

hopefully today was as much of a success as yesterday! :)

busy summer so far...

2009-07-18T23:14:00.009-04:00

so this summer we have only done a tiny bit of boating... because the weather has not exactly cooperated... this weather needs to get itself together... I WANT TO BOAT!!!

GARDEN UPDATE: here is the side of the garden gerry planted...

and here is mine! i can taste those green beans already! :)

i bought myself a (pink) fishing pole, and actually got myself a fishing license!!!

the same day i got the license and pole, we went down the street and fished in a friend's pond. i became incredibly competitive with clay when he told me that my stupid pink pole wouldn't catch any fish... he won, 11-9. i was pissed!

and i got a new tattoo... it is the letters c (clayton) g (gerry) and c (carter). most people do not see the g... it's a kinda funky font. i love it! and it's pink! (once it heals it will be)

we went to see kid rock at darien lake...

needless to say, we had a good time! ;)

the people building the house across the street from us demolished our mailbox... but by the next afternoon, the trucking company had fixed/remade it and it was as good as new!

and tonight i have been super busy... i fixed the light/fan in our room

and i made some sticky buns (courtesy of barefoot contessa)

mmm... oooooooooooooooooooh yeah! i have eaten 2 already!

and then i got 22 of the 100 key fobs done for my girl courtney's wedding shower august 1st. as soon as the rest of my supplies come in, i will whip out the rest!

now, i'm going to relax and watch "marley and me"... and probably eat another sticky bun! ;)

keeping my fingers crossed!

2009-06-30T23:13:00.007-04:00

so we made a garden... and i just want to say, for the record, i worked my arse off! for real! i'm not exactly a very "labor intensive" kind of gal... to say the least. i shoveled so much topsoil, i am surprised i could even move in the morning!

gerry and clay built the garden box...

and then we had 2 yards of topsoil delivered...

and we definitely only needed 1 yard. hence all of the shoveling... at least clay has a nice fresh pile of dirt to add to his dirt bike jump... yeah, he really needed that jump to be bigger YIKES!

here is the finished product! 2 different kinds of green beans, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, and some cucumbers. i'm not sure who is more excited about this garden...

on a different note, we took the kids to the zoo today and became members again... grace and carter were too damn cute!

clay LOVES taking care of baby dave... he thinks he is so old and so cool!

then gracie pushed her brother in the stroller for a bit...

here's to many zoo trips this summer!

proud mama!

2009-06-29T00:12:00.002-04:00

so we got a note home that on clayton's last day of school, he would be receiving an award during their award ceremony. now, i'm not going to lie... i kind of thought it was going to be some kind of "participation award" that every kid got. but it wasn't. my baby won an award (along with 5 or 6 other kids) for "most improved"! i was such a proud mom... i cried like a baby!

so here we are, the end of yet another school year... clay will be a big 2nd grader next year! now if only we could give him a "most improved" award at home... :)

a quickie for father's day (you and your dirty mind!)

2009-06-22T11:40:00.002-04:00

so i hope everyone had a fantastic father's day... clay, gerry, his dad, and his grandfather (spike) all went on their annual father's day camping trip at highbanks... chippy is a titch too high maintenance still to join them, but gerry says next year. chip and i hung out all weekend... too bad it rained most of it! we were trapped in the house all weekend, which is no good... especially if you know my son! (***remember the fish tank incident?***)

here was chippy on sunday once it finally cleared up... why is mud and dirt so much fun? i just don't get it...

good ole spike won the fishing tournament that they had... such a great man! and proud as a peacock to be with his boys this weekend!

and here is clay (in the orange) and nick on the boat... it's so funny, gerry's best friend growing up, greg, and his son nick were camping too. seeing clay and nick is like seeing gerry and greg all over again! kind of scary! :)

a few random happenings (plus a video!)

2009-06-15T09:45:00.003-04:00

so here is my sister in law christiane and me. not sure why i posted the picture, but i did.

here is clay (at the in law's property) riding his dirt bike down the gas line...

carter and grace chillin at the camp fire... complete with their blankets and juice

eating a little birthday cake

clay's school play "this land is our land". SO cute! i cried... so did gerry... and his dad... and his mom...

he was a wolf, and a train conductor. we had a video camera, but it died just as they started. :(

he was so excited about this play that he was counting down all week...

he really looks enthused doesn't he? ha!

icky boys

2009-06-09T12:28:00.004-04:00

so perhaps i'm too "girly"... but boys are gross. plain and simple. how is it that they can spend hours and hours searching for, and playing with, such gross things like frogs, toads, worms, snakes and salamanders? eew!

they're so lucky that they are so damn cute though...

chip was SO PROUD that he was holding the frog...

side note: there are only 4 more days of classes until exams. i can NOT wait for this year to be over! I NEED SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dirty hands...

2009-06-01T09:28:00.005-04:00

so this weekend was an outdoor weekend at home... yard work, yard work, and more yard work! i helped weed and edge. then we took a little trip to canfield's landscaping and garden center for some flowers and mulch.
i planted some allysum (i LOVE the way it smells) in a few spots and hope they spread.
our tree (which has been a mystery for years now as to what kind it is) is a cherry tree of some sort! this year we finally have little berries starting to grow!
cute pink flowers...

these stargazer lillies will be SWEET!

gerry's favorite, the impatiens

more friggin impatiens... every year i want to get something new. and every year we end up with more impatiens... too much shade in our yard :(

and i planted a couple of hostas to go under my hydrangea tree... clay got rocks out of our back yard and made a circle and mulched. he was SO proud!

and then chippy and i took his idea and spruced up our mailbox with some rocks and mulch.

at this point, my hands are almost clean... this girl isn't exactly used to getting her hands dirty! :)

happy memorial day!

2009-05-26T09:42:00.006-04:00

so we went camping this weekend at highbanks... we had so much fun! the kids ride their bikes ALL day! we go to the playground, go for walks, ride bikes, go on the boat, and fish. ok, so that's what the kids do... we hang out and drink beer and eat by the fire!
clay thinks he's 35... and thinks he can drive the boat better than ANYONE!

carter wanted to "drive da boat like my brudder!"

we really need to break chippy of the binkie...

gerry, loving life on the boat

chip has his own chair and likes sit at the fire like a big boy...

and here is the new shower... we have been going to highbanks for years now, and they finally got new bathrooms. we were a bit excited! the showers are super nice now!

x games?

2009-05-11T09:32:00.002-04:00

so this is what we did friday after school... hung out in the yard while my children ran around like motorhead animals. clay had his backpack on with a bottle of water in it "just in case i get thirsty when i'm riding". i tried to explain to him that he would be in the yard, and if he was thirsty, he could just go inside and get a drink... apparently that wasn't cool enough.

supernanny, where are you???

2009-05-06T09:43:00.003-04:00

so this is carter at clay's swimming lesson on monday... gerry was mowing, so i had to take him with me. this should not have been a problem... it's only 45 minutes! yeah, well he flipped out when he realized that he was not allowed in the pool... and the biggest temper tantrum EVER ensued. seriously... he is out of control.

but he's so damn cute... rockin his run dmc shirt

here is clay last weekend at a friend's pond... he thought he was babe winkleman! he came home telling me all about all the fish he caught...

and here is my display at canfield's landscaping and garden center... go there and buy your mother's day stuff... :)

a busy, busy night!

2009-05-01T21:58:00.003-04:00

so i have been quite busy... i got 3 aprons made this evening! why am i in such a tizzy to get these made you may ask??? well let me tell you...
my brother in law and sister in law (gerry's sister and her husband) currently own a landscaping business called canfield's landscaping. they have recently purchased and fixed up a former nursery/garden center in hamburg... it used to be called the water valley nursery, but it is now called Canfield's Landscaping and Garden Center! this is SO exciting!!! what is my point and how does this relate to me making aprons you may ask? well at Canfield's Landscaping and Garden Center, i will be selling my stuff! they will be carrying my key fobs, wallets, checkbook covers, traveling art kits, bags etc. as well as my new creation... the gardening aprons! my sister will be selling her handmade jewelry there as well.
i just think that these aprons are the cutest! they make me want to start gardening!!!

ok, so i probably won't start gardening (eew! dirt, worms, bugs, snakes etc.), but maybe i will start wearing one to cook! or perhaps i will just wear one just cuz it's cute...

so anyhoo, my point is this... if you live in the buffalo area and you are looking for some plants, shrubs, flowers, garden supplies, jewelry or sewn creations, stop by! Canfield's Landscaping and Garden Center is located on Route 62 in Hamburg NY between the Village of Hamburg and beautiful ole Eden! come check it out! =)

beach pics... then i'm done with vacation posts

2009-04-30T12:45:00.005-04:00

so yeah, my kids are playing in the sand with a coors light can.

brothers...

i have no clever caption.
clay HAD to get a boogie board... he thought he was the man!

chip loved it too!

clay used this sand pile as a dirt bike jump... i know, shocking...

clay's favorite thing to do was to try and fight the waves... he never won

chip just ran and ran and ran...

and this is the picture that i sent to my friends and family wishing them a happy good friday (as it was snowing at home!) yeah... i'm mature.

pool pictures

2009-04-30T09:08:00.003-04:00

so the date on this picture is a bit off... but oh, to be at the pool again...
and this is why chip started swimming lessons yesterday...

NO fear of the water...

clay LOVES it too... they cried everyday when we had to get out.

yeah, i don't have much to say about the pool other than it was warm and i wish i was still there.

a busy weekend (kind of told backwards)

2009-04-28T09:41:00.005-04:00

so i actually made something again! here is the gardening apron that i made yesterday (thanks to tina's tutoring). there are 3 big pockets on the front, and you can wrap it around and tie it in the front, or tie it in the back... whatever you choose!

here is the palm tree apron i made for my aunt in florida... she loves palm trees!

this is the new rag quilt (that tina also tutored me on) that i made yesterday for my girl ann's new baby. i was a little scared of this project in the beginning... but it turned out to be SO easy! i LOVE the way it turned out and i can't wait to make more! the back is the polka dotted flannel...

this is the front...

we spent some time out at the in law's house... it was so HOT out there! i chased the kids around while the guys were installing the lawn... wow was THAT a project! there were tractors, weird rake contraptions, and a bobcat running all day saturday. sunday there was the hydroseeder going... it was quite the project, but i can't wait to see the results!

apparently it's frog season. the kids caught a zillion of them! chippy was checking them out in the bucket... yeah, he's rocking grace's boots!

here are some of the "double frogs" that the kids caught... uh, yeah.

clay had a birthday party on saturday at chuck e cheese... he thought he was SO COOL! he spiked his hair and was rocking some cologne...

after school on friday when i picked up the renegades, i decided it would be a good idea to take them to tops. it was actually not too bad... notice i bribed them with cookies.

gerry changed my oil after school on friday as well... carter was "fixing mommy's car).

and here is a school paper clay brought home... notice it says "this is a picture showing how i get to school". apparently his bus driver is a maniac!

some more random pictures...

2009-04-24T09:21:00.004-04:00

so how cute are these kids? they can be evil, but at least they are cute! this was at dinner one night in john's pass (near madeira beach). we ate at a restaurant right in the marina. while we waited for our dinner, gerry and i took turns walking the kids around to check out the boats.

look at that brotherly love...

this was the day that there was a tornado... not a hurricane, a tornado! i woke up in the morning and saw on the news that there was a tornado warning... i asked my aunt if this was common. she let me know that NO... she had never heard one before! just our luck! didn't end up being a big deal... it ended up being a good day to relax and chill out. the boys were watching a movie on their dvd player...

they have these little steps for their weiner dog to get off the couch... carter thought that these steps were the coolest. it was as if they were made for him to sit and watch tv on... or so he thought!

clay got $20 from his nanny in his easter card to spend on vacation... he bought this sweet bull shark tooth necklace.

and here is gerry with zoe the weiner dog. she LOVED gerry... she would sit in his lap and "sing" to gerry...

this is a picture that i got from dee (our babysitter) one day... we were missed :)

the aquarium!

2009-04-23T10:00:00.003-04:00

so we spent a day at the aquarium in tampa... it was sweet! here are my boys and my aunt jo at the stingray touch tank.

clay thought he was steve irwin with the stongrays... believe it or not, I actually touched them too. it was pretty cool.

i believe that fish is a redfish. ironic huh? it's not red!

see the moray eel in the tank? they might be my least favorite animal on the planet. they creep me out. i hate them.

i think that this was the only picture that chip would (sort of) pose for. he was quite the "difficult" little animal... and continues to be ;)

what a vacation!!!

2009-04-22T09:22:00.001-04:00

so, i have so many pictures from vacation that i think i will break them down into separate posts... sound good? good.

let me just say that this vacation was AWESOME!!! the boys were great in the car... we drove straight through both times (23 hours total) and they never complained. we left at 7pm both times, they chilled for about 2 hours, then passed out for the night. when they woke up in the morning, we put on the dvds and they chilled some more. when we stopped, they didn't complain about getting back in the car (although i occasionally did). they rocked.

now that we are back, we are working on potty training... he loves peeing. oh yeah, and at my aunt's house (who we stayed with) one day gerry was packing up the car to go to the beach, and carter came to him naked and handed him a diaper... he had taken it off, pooped in the neighbor's yard, and brought the still clean diaper back to gerry and told him that he had pooped... gerry wasn't happy to have to clean up after our dog- i mean carter. i think of it as, at least he doesn't want it in his diaper anymore! one step closer to potty training right?

this was one of our pit stops...

chip likes driving things...

this is how i felt coming home from vacation. didn't want to come back.

peace out cold weather...

2009-04-03T09:17:00.000-04:00

so i got a pedicure and some new shoes... vacation here i come!

dora dora dora the explorer!

2009-03-30T09:39:00.005-04:00

so we celebrated gracie's 2nd birthday yesterday. don't look too closely at dora's face... the cake sunk in a bit and her nose and mouth are a bit jacked up. oh yeah, and once i got to the party and looked at all the decorations, i realized that dora's bracelet is supposed to be yellow, not white. after i pointed that out, i got teased for messing up the bracelet (only because my family knows how obsessive i am and how the bracelet mishap would really bug me).

i made some cupcakes too- these are REALLY messed up. i was completely out of patience by then and just slopped them together. and carter kept sticking his fingers in them... the whole time i was decorating the cake and cupcakes, carter kept coming in the kitchen and saying "mom, what you doin?" i would tell him "making a cake"... to which he would respond "you makin a cake mom? oh." this conversation happened about 47 times... hence the completely out of patience.

grace sat on nanny's (wheelchaired) lap for the cake... and cried when everyone sang!

look at how thrilled she looks...

carter was eating his cupcake by the fist-full!

gerry became the jungle gym afterwards...

sidenote: clay built his jump up a little more on saturday... here he goes!

green and brown

2009-03-26T22:46:00.004-04:00

so i actually DID get some stuff done tonight. and apparently i have been a big fan of the green and brown combo...

and i am just absolutely LOVING these key fobs... i just hope other people are loving them as well. i made these tonight once i put the brown thread in my machine.

and then there is this material. it's really cute, but VERY thin. this bag turned out like crap. i need to figure out something else to do with this cute stuff.

well, i have one more bag that i cut out this week to put together. and if i can make another 2 or 3 tomorrow night i will be pleased. wish me luck at this show on saturday... whatever money i make at this show will buy me vacation clothes. and chubby girl needs some new clothes! :)

oh yeah, and by the way, i started reading the twilight series 2 weeks ago. i can NOT stop reading! i'm half way through the 4th book... it is SO GOOD!!! i feel like a 15 year old. but seriously, they are REALLY good... and i'm not typically a vampire kind of girl. if you have not read them, read them. if you think that you are too old, or too cool for these books, read them. the movie? it was ok. i honestly expected edward to be better looking though... anyone???

boring post

2009-03-26T10:00:00.002-04:00

so i have a craft show this weekend with tina. i have not done very much to get ready for this show. i cut out 8 bags the other night, but have yet to put them together. between my mother in law still being out of commission, getting ready (mentally and physically) for vacation next week, and trying to get through the twilight books, i have been just too doggone tired to sew. yeah, i said "doggone". i decided last night that it was time to get something accomplished... so i made 18 key fobs. still haven't made those 8 bags i cut out... although i did put the straps together. that's it... tonight i WILL get those bags made. i have to. stay tuned for a post of cute new bags tomorrow! :)

a busted leg, mardi gras, the first bonfire, and a few days off

2009-03-18T22:45:00.005-04:00

so this past weekend we attended mardi gras in ellicottville. this was the snow bar/band at holiday valley. the boys skied, the girls hung out, we headed to the (lame) parade, and then downtown for a bit. it was not as fun as i had expected though... probably because our other third was absent. friday evening, my mother in law had an accident and ended up in the hospital with a busted leg. my sister in law spent the weekend in the hospital with her, which kept her from the fun and festivities. in case you're wondering, my mother in law is doing ok, but she has a long road of recovery ahead of her.

here is chippy, rocking my old sunglasses and some chocolate...

clay is rocking another pair of sunglasses and some beads... he thinks he is SO cool!

then, on monday, we celebrated the beautiful weather with the first bonfire of the season!

the boys were SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!

clay roasted a zillion (very stale) marshmallows.

chip just ate them raw.

tucker even came out back to join in the festivities!

here is the hubby and i...

since my mother in law was M.I.A. we had no babysitter monday, tuesday, or wednesday... so i had to stay home with chip. i got my car cleaned out though (thank goodness!- i think things were beginning to grow in there!)

chip worked on riding his 2 wheel bike...

we went for a little walk in the woods...

and in true stead fashion, the dirt bikes came out... grace loves it almost as much as chip! :)

tubby time!

2009-03-06T09:44:00.003-05:00

so my kids LOVE the bath tub. if i allowed it, they would stay in for HOURS! i'm not going to lie, many evenings i will put them in the tub and go about my merry way... do the dishes, do some laundry, or (usually) go on facebook. well santa claus brought them some bath tub crayons in their stockings and they LOVE them!

and of course they draw dirt bikes...

this has to be my favorite though... it is a picture of clay doing a flip on his dirt bike, over the big hills... and apparently it is in the u.s.a. too funny...

fish guts

2009-03-02T11:10:00.003-05:00

so this weekend was dedicated to ice fishing. although it certainly was not myself who was ice fishing... on saturday, gerry and clay went out on lake erie for a bit, then gerry went again on sunday. here is the bucket of perch he came home with on sunday... they didn't have much luck on saturday- too cold!
the boys watched gerry filet the fish... at my kitchen table.

apparently they found it fascinating... i found it disgusting.

clay had a good idea... when gerry showed him the egg sac in one of the fish, he suggested we put the eggs in our fish tank and "grow some more fish!"

i know i've said this before, but this REALLY IS my favorite purse EVER!!!

2009-02-28T23:39:00.004-05:00

so my babysitter (and good friend) dee is having a purse and jewelry party next week. i'm a little nervous. i'm not exactly confident about selling my stuff... it's awkward for me. oh yeah, and i haven't sewn in a LONG time! so i decided (at 5am when carter decided that it was officially time to wake up for the day) that today was the day to get stuff done. i went to joann's to get interfacing... and some new fabric (cuz that's just how i roll). i then stopped at the gym and headed home to get to work. as i was driving through eden, i passed the eden sewing center. i have been in there a few times before... and i always stare at this joel dewberry fabric. well, today i guess i was feeling inspired, because i stopped and bought a yard of the coveted fabric. it was $15.99 a yard! i almost crapped! i will say that it is a thicker, more durable kind of material, but still...

when i got home, i got to work on some bags for dee's party... last year she sold as many st patrick's day bags as i could make! a month or so ago i had bought a crapload of st patty's fabric for her and her cohorts. so i sat down and made 3 bags (that you will see a few pics down). once i was done with them, i decided it was time to get down to business.

i absolutely LOVE this new bag! 3 pockets on the inside... a big one, a medium sized one, and a pen pocket. did i mention that i love this bag?

then i decided to make a wallet to match (as seen in the first picture). i love this bag.

this is one of the st patty's fabrics i got. i like it... it's pretty and not so IN YOUR FACE as many of the holiday type fabrics are. subtle shamrocks...
and here is what i made so far... a tote, a messenger bag, and a little purse. i think they're cute... i need to get some green ribbon to jazz them up a bit though.
well, stay tuned for some more craft-type blogs in the near future... i have a LOT of things to make! :)

a warm up!

2009-02-25T21:47:00.005-05:00

so let me wish you a happy ash wednesday... is that inappropriate? i'm not going to lie, i'm not a church go-er. not that i have any negative opinion on those who are church go-ers, i just don't happen to be one. i'm just not sure if it is socially appropriate to wish people a "happy ash wednesday"... but hey, since when am i socially appropriate, right?

well, we had a bit of a "warm up" today. by warm up, i mean it was like 43 degrees outside... that sure seems like a warm up these days... pathetic huh? i hear it's supposed to get even warmer tomorrow... perhaps we will hit a whopping 47 degrees? one can only hope!

so during our warm up today, my boys were frolicking outside for a while. yeah, clay is riding his bike... in the snow. hey, what can i say, that's how we roll out here in eden! just wait til i post the "ride your tractor to school day" pictures in a few years... no, i'm serious, they have that here!

wanna know how else we roll out here? this is clay standing on the snow mound that has been used all winter as a snowmobile jump. it is quite a bit smaller now than it has been, but it still does it's thang. yeah, and it is definately located RIGHT NEXT TO MY DOOR! why not right?

and i'm not sure about anyone else's kids, but this little plastic car? apparently it is the greatest toy EVER! this was left at our house by the previous owners when we moved in... clay LOVED it. now carter LOVES it. also, any other kid who comes over LOVES it! clay still tries to get in it sometimes! ps, carter's face is covered in melted m&ms and he couldn't be happier!

and the aftermath of the outdoor frolicking??? they were pretty much broken! they stuffed their faces and then turned into zombies on the couch!

st. patty's day is right around the corner and this girl has a LOT of sewing to do. that is my plan for the weekend... get my sew on!

blah.

2009-02-23T13:52:00.002-05:00

so, i'm sick. so is carter. and as of this morning, so is clay. blah. i am not feeling witty or funny.
on a separate topic... i want nothing more right now than for carter to become potty trained... and he wants NOTHING to do with it. i even bought him some mickey mouse underpants... he doesn't care. the only time he has ANY desire to go on the potty is when we are putting shoes on to walk out the door for work in the morning. and even then, he really doesn't want to go, he just wants to flush the toilet and play. UGH!!!

and here is chippy's new thing... he gets the binoculars out and says "oooh... lookit! big BUCKS!" he and gerry were watching a hunting show when he discovered the binoculars... it's all over now!

and now any time he sees anything camouflaged, he yells "big BUCK"...

that's all i have for today. blah...

the great flood of 09

2009-02-13T13:54:00.002-05:00

so that is lake stead that was in my backyard. check out that branch/limb that fell in my neighbor's yard! i don't know how it missed his house! we have never had even 1 drop of water in our basement... until yesterday.

we were bailing water with anything we could find until we got hooked up to a generator.

power was out for 12 hours... came on for an hour, then went back out for an hour. it was NOT fun. it was cold, and awfully boring! carter could NOT understand why nothing was working... "mommy, tv broken!" i heard all day.

this pretty much sums up our day...

do NOT try to understand... (random pics of the weekend)

2009-02-11T21:38:00.008-05:00

so i guess i amuse myself too much. when i was packing to get ready and getting all of my liquids into their appropriate sized, airplane acceptable containers, i decided to give myself a chuckle. so this is how i labeled my containers. i don't know... i just like to amuse myself.

this was laura and my first lunch in chicago. boston blackie's... delicious! we got some of the best, and FASTEST burgers ever! along with our fabulous burgers, we ordered a pitcher... but it was TINY! when the waiter brought it over, we instantly started laughing... before we could even say anything, he laughed and made a joke about how little the pitchers are. i don't know... we thought it was funny.

kimmy and i at the deep dish pizza place... god i love that girl!

laura and kimmy in the bathroom at borders... those are little plastic wine bottles in their hands... they had them stashed in their purses.

mo chugged that wine like a champ! next to the toilet...

mmm... mojito! too bad they made me sick later that night.

kasey did NOT enjoy her non-alcoholic drink... that's what happens when you're pregnant for girl's weekend!

kimmy LOVED her sangria though!

ah, the ginormous guess? sunglasses...

ok, so laura and i got a really big kick out of the "caution falling ice" signs that were EVERYWHERE!!! so we decided to amuse ourselves... i told you i amuse myself!

kimmy kinda looks like betty boop or something!

mo is terrified of the falling ice!

kasey's face is classic! she really was not loving the idea of being so foolish... i think it was the non-alcoholic drinks!

sweet view of the city from the hancock building

kasey, mo, kimmy and i on the 95th floor of the hancock building getting our view

laura and kasey...

look! mo is "magically" keeping the bottle in the air! (yeah, it's ANOTHER plastic wine bottle!)

notice 2 things... the tag still on her shirt, and her magical capabilities!

i had a bit of a belly ache form the mojitos, and kasey was beat from being pregnant and chasing us around all day... she and i stayed in while the other girls went out. mind you, they had been drinking plastic bottles of wine.

this lead to the arm wrestling. ps mo is a twig. laura is a former gymnast. i received a call at one point in the night where mo exclaimed "i arm wrestled laura twice... and i lost. but i'm drinking her under the table!"

girl's weekend lovin

this might be my favorite picture of the weekend...

kimmy was trying to talk to kasey and i on the phone, and i'm not sure what happened to mo's eye! "mo, what happen yo eye?"

and here we are... crazy, fredonia, drunken mo. my god did i miss that girl!

notice laura passing out as this picture was taken. mo was telling us all about how she got those beads from michael phelps. come to find out, it was actually a swingers party that "michael phelps" was at... i'm serious. the best part was mo telling us "they kept trying to convince me of something, but i'm not sure what it was". classic.

kimmy actually laughed so hard that she LITERALLY peed her pants. i blame the twins she had in her belly a short 10 months ago... i think she blamed mo for being so damn funny. ps, look at laura... and there are my toes. kasey and i laid in bed and just laughed at the girls when they got back. too funny.

sporadic pictures? yes. best weekend? yes. do i want to go back again this weekend? yes.

i have always been friends with guys more than girls... until i met these crazy girls. i love them. i love their guts!

chi town

2009-02-09T10:14:00.008-05:00

so the night before i left (after the fish tank incident) for chicago, my boys were VERY clingy. clay, who normally could care less if i'm home or not, told me "no, you can't go to chicago. you need to stay home". i asked why his father can snowmobile and hunt for full weekends and that's no problem, but he had no answer for me.here we are... kimmy, kasey, mo, laura, and me. we had SO MUCH FUN!!!!! we did a lot of eating, drinking, talking and walking! i think i walked 47 miles this weekend! chicago was experiencing near record high temperatures, and we were loving every minute of it!

i'm not really a sports fan (duh) but it was pretty cool seeing wrigley field. the houses surrounding the field had bleachers on their rooftops which was pretty sweet...

the stores there were unreal...

the magnificent mile might be the coolest place ever!

this was at the corner of the street out hotel was on... what a tease! i just can't fathom how people can actually buy stuff there!

we didn't eat or drink here... but if you have ever seen the movie super troopers, you will understand why i HAD to take this picture...

we did eat (and obviously drink) at a place called finn mccools... super sweet! they had these table top beer things... 8 pints for $15! can't beat that with a stick! here is mo demonstrating the glory of table top beers!

laura was equally impressed...

laura and i were glamming it up in the guess? store... ps, people spend a lot of money on these huge, silly glasses!

a view of (part of) the city from michigan avenue

night time view of (part of ) the city from the john hancock building's 95th floor.

and while mom is away, the boys will play... or ice fish on the pond. not to be confused with the 100+ idiots on lake erie who separated from shore and drifted out and needed to be rescued...

my favorite purchase... i love hoodies. this one REALLY rocks though... can you see the extra pocket on the front pocket? it's for beer. and it's insulated. how flippin cool is that?

i will post more of the funny pictures in a day or 3... i still have to get laura's pictures. for now, this is a (mild and politically correct) overview of our weekend... it was a blast! can't wait for next year! :)

short and sweet

2009-02-04T19:46:00.004-05:00

so THIS is why i need girl's weekend now more than ever...

as i got ready this morning for a very special "aunt" of gerry's funeral, carter did this. i looked in the living room and he was sitting there, quiet and sweet, watching tv. so i decided it was safe to run the straightener through my hair quick... and 4.7 minutes later when i finished, this is what i found.

these were the toys in my tank... enough to fill the bathroom sink! and don't forget the 31 cents!

it is 6:30am yet???

girl's weekend in chicago!!!!!!!

2009-02-03T22:23:00.002-05:00

so this picture is a bit deceiving... these are NOT the girls that i am going on girl's weekend with. these are 2 of my best girls, kelley and courtney. this was taken last weekend after courtney's wedding-shower-planning party. she is getting married in september (and i'm the fat girl in the wedding). i'm not sure exactly what is going on with my hair in this picture... but i did go back to blonde!
well, i am leaving thursday morning for girl's weekend in chicago and i can NOT wait!!! i will be back on sunday and will post whatever pictures i can... :)

MONSTER PRRRRRRRUCKS!

2009-02-01T14:25:00.003-05:00

so i took the boys to the monster truck/dirt bike show on friday night. gerry was snowmobiling, and apparently i was going for the coolest mom ever award... i'm not going to lie, i had a pretty good time! i bought the "cheap" seats, and we ended up dead center in a box! my boys were so excited that they were actually speechless! who knew that was possible???

carter is yelling "CHEESE!" they were so cute... carter kept randomly yelling out " GO MONSTER PRRRUCKS!" and every once in a while he would bust out into an air guitar solo... clay and i laughed our butts off every time he did that!

clay's favorite... "the general lee"

they did a little kid quad race... clay could have crushed those kids! we need to get him started racing this summer- i can't believe i just said that i WANT to get him started racing!

we found alyssa (litta as carter calls her), my cousin, my babysitter, and my boys favorite girl on earth! she's so sweet and caring, and yet she rips on a dirt bike... if they were older, my boys would probably fight to marry her (if she wasn't a relative too of course).
"the prowler"
and when we finally left, my boys were completely broken... clay was folded in half snoring...

and chip passed out before we were even out of the parking ramp! it could be because he never napped all day... "no nappy! monster prucks!"

i'm a plumber now.

2009-01-30T09:37:00.005-05:00

so here is a really long story short. i came home from work yesterday to a sink that was leaking water out of the cupboards. this is why... a plastic knife (circa 1990 i think) was stuck in the pipe.

this is the hole the knife left in my pipe. i forgot to mention that gerry was at a school union negotiations meeting and was completely unavailable. my dad was a maintenance man, i could figure this out, right? well, i made a phone call or two and got a little advice and decided that i was going to impress the hell out of gerry and fix this myself.

clay thought this whole thing was hysterical and kept taking my picture... for this one he told me "mom, look REALLY mad"...

look at me... all confident in my skills as a plumber. so i packed up the kids, and off to the hardware store we went. now, my BIG mistake happened at the hardware store... i listened to the older gentleman working there are bought the parts he told me to buy. i brought my rusted, busted pieces with me, and could tell from comparing them that i was not getting the right parts. i gave him the benefit of the doubt though... for all i knew he could be a plumber himself! well...

i had to cut the one pipe because it was far too long...
yeah, i had to cut it a few times... i finally got the right length, but as i thought in the store, he sold me the wrong parts. i will say, gerry was THOROUGHLY impressed (as was myself) at my attempt. after getting the correct part (which i'm pretty sure is the one that i had originally thought) gerry fixed it today and all is well.

now, the boys and i are off to the monster truck show tonight... the boys are so excited they can't even focus. i on the other hand... wish me luck!

i am NOT a copycat!

2009-01-26T22:07:00.004-05:00

so my girl tina, over at polkadotbug, just posted an ADORABLE picture of her girls in the bathtub. it just so happens that i took a pic of my little hellians in the tub tonight! there is really no point to this post, other than i have a cute pic of the boys to share.

and then there is bean... when chris sent me this picture my immediate response was "who does she think she is? olivia newton john?" i LLOLed (Literally Laughed Out Loud- not to be confused with the incredibly overused LOL... i LLOL when i LITERALLY laughed out loud) when i got this picture...

if you are easily offended... DO NOT READ THIS POST!

2009-01-23T09:22:00.003-05:00

so there is a new requirement at my school where the teachers must have a "word wall" posted in their classrooms, showing current vocabulary. the social studies teacher that i work with is a man... and therefore has TERRIBLE handwriting, as well as a COMPLETE INABILITY to spell words correctly. so i did him the favor of writing his word wall on the side board in his room. his last period class took it upon themselves to "edit" the word wall as seen above.

RECONSTRUCTION- was kept the same (i don't think they could think of anything clever)
PARDON- became pucky (not sure what that is)
BLACK CODES- became black cooch (no explanation necessary)
IMPEACH- became sweet peach (again, no explanation necessary)
CARPETBAGGERS- became "T" baggers (this one almost made me pee my pants)
SCALAWAG- became swag (in front of swag it says booty got... booty got swag)
SHARECROPPING- became sharecrotching (my other favorite)
TENANT FARMING- became ant farming (not that funny)
INFRASTRUCTURE- another one they couldn't touch...
SOLID SOUTH- became dirty south

call me immature... this is STILL making me laugh...

please empty your bladder before watching this video

2009-01-20T21:17:00.003-05:00

so lets face it, for those of you who know me... i'm not exactly an "athlete". i actually feel like i have to put the word in quotes because it is so amusing.

notice the form in this picture! i almost look like i know what i'm doing!

and then there is this video. need i say more?

omg... my baby is 7!!! (tomorrow)

2009-01-20T09:52:00.006-05:00

so clay is going to be 7 tomorrow. i'm thoroughly disturbed! we celebrated his birthday sunday at my in law's house on the hill... even though clay had decided that he did NOT want a birthday party. "mom, i do NOT want a birthday party." "so should i call everyone and tell them not to bring the kids out?" "uh, no... well, then i don't want a cake." "so you don't want the dirt bike cake that you begged me for? then i guess i will take the new dirt bike toy back that was going to go on the cake." "uh, no. i guess we can have a cake."
this is not like my typical million-frosting-star birthday cake. just a regular funfetti cake, green frosting and crushed up peanut butter oreos for the dirt. then i took a (washed) dirt bike toy and squished it on there... the "mountain" came with the dirt bike toy.

not one of my best... but he loved it!

we spent the day frolicking in the snow... skiing, snowboarding, sledding, tubing and snowmobiling.

the really long hilly driveway served as a fabulous slope!

clay all geared up in his new xmas helmet...

and we christened the new jacuzzi tub (not that way you sickos!). the kids LOVED it! they didn't want to get out!

stay tuned for pictures (and possible video) of me snowboarding. yeah, that's right... i snowboarded. i apologize if you just split your pants laughing... :)

my sewing center!

2009-01-09T09:42:00.002-05:00

so here it is... my sewing center! it only took me 2 hours to put it together... that's not bad, it was actually quite complex! when i opened the box and saw how many parts and screws and hinges there were, i'm not going to lie, i was a little nervous. but it went together easily... i LOVE putting things together actually. it's funny, gerry is a technology teacher, yet i am the one who always puts everything together and hooks up all electronic devices.

this is it all opened up. when it is not in use, my sewing machine hides on that bottom shelf, out of the kiddies reach!

the right side keeps my scissors, thread, buttons, patterns (that i don't ever use), other various tools etc, and that middle shelf? that is all the projects that i have already cut out but need to put together. notice that shelf is so full that stuff is almost falling out of it. :(

then the left side supports the side table part, and holds all of my ribbons, velcro, snaps etc.

i LOVE my sewing center! it's so sweet! i love having things organized... and this is the perfect thing to keep me organized. yeah, this is a rather boring post, but i had to show off my sewing center! :)

happy 2009!

2009-01-05T08:40:00.006-05:00

so we spent our new years eve back out at the in law's house... so much fun. cute headbands... check. really annoying clapper things that the kids immediately broke... check. mardi gras beads that the kids LOVED... check. enough food to feed 47 armies... check. i love new years!

i seriously think that i ate enough food on new years eve to feed a family of 7.

the kids wanted jen to read to them... all she could find were some martha stewart magazines and consumer report magazines. they didn't care though!

my sister hollie... and some of our food. mmm, i'm hungry again just looking at it!

my sister in law christiane rockin the headband

jen is also (excitedly) rockin the headband... and i'm not sure what hollie is doing!

madeja kept telling clay to take off the headband because he looked like a girl... so clay snuck one on his arm and i took this picture- clay almost peed his pants laughing!

the girls celebrating... not sure why we are gripping christiane's arms like that... perhaps it was to stabilize us from all falling down! ;)

on new year's day we all went tubing at holiday valley. SO MUCH FUN! i'm not going to lie, it was a titch scary at first, but it was a hoot! from left to right is clay, heffay, christiane (we called her chuck, short for woodchuck- look at that hat!), dave, jen, gerry, and me.

then on friday we had a girl's night at my girl kimmy's house... these are her gorgeous twins isabella and jenna. they might be the cutest little girls i have ever seen (that aren't my niece of course)!

my favorite bag i've ever made

2008-12-30T23:32:00.003-05:00

so i was really aggravated today. i went to return some gifts at the mall, and although i made out like a bandit with the returns and rebuys, i wanted to choke some of the nasty people in the stores. IT'S AFTER THE HOLIDAYS PEOPLE... LINES WILL BE LONG... HAVE SOME FRIGGIN PATIENCE WILL YA??? ok, now that i got that off my chest...
i was looking at purses and bags today... i didn't really like ANY of them! i guess i'm a custom bag snob now! so i decided to try out a new bag.
it's made out of canvas with a cotton quilted lining. i decided to try out a separate bottom and sides, as opposed to my typical all one piece style. i am VERY happy with how it turned out. it was a titch difficult figuring out how to make the lining fit, but it all worked out in the end.
there are 2 magnetic snaps (to keep thieving hands out!) and 2 regular pockets on the one side, and a large pocket and a pen pocket on the other side.

i now love this bag.

holy exhaustion batman!!!

2008-12-28T22:37:00.006-05:00

so here was our tree christmas eve night before we went to bed... we were up wrapping until 12:30. at 3:00am clay came into our room and told me that his stocking was overflowing with presents! he was SO excited... we on the other hand were not so pumped. he climbed in bed with us and i'm pretty sure he just lay there awake until carter came in at 5am. he was not pumped for christmas, that is just what time he likes to get up. neat huh? well, by 6:30am we were done opening presents, done getting everything out of the packages (with the 47,000 twist ties, screws etc that keep them on the cardboard). we got ready, packed up, went to my sister's house and then headed out to the in-law's house. we were planning on staying 1 night... and ended up staying 3!

i'm happy but sad to report that i really didn't take many pictures this year... we lived the memories instead of freaking out and trying to capture them on camera.

chippy was a little overwhelmed at first...

clay, on the other hand, was a pro!

clay just wanted to tear into the "real" presents... and carter was just really excited to have m&ms! "oooh! lookit mommy! emmies!"

clay thinks he's so cool... he got an ipod shuffle
and yeah, as has been clear in the past, we are rednecks... i got gerry a blackpowder muzzleloader.

at nanny and poppy's new house, clay and his uncle dave sat and put together the spongebob submarine legos set...

and carter got the smart cycle... i forgot to get batteries for it, so for now he and clay just think it's a dirt bike!

then carter got a cars bed set... he is SO excited about it. now what are the chances he will start sleeping in a bit later than 5am??? i sure hope the bed set is THAT exciting!

as for me, (among other wondrous things) i got a fabulous sewing center... i think i will put it together tomorrow. oooh... i can't wait to get all my stuff organized!!! :)

what exciting gifts did YOU (or a family member of yours) get???

ho ho ho!

2008-12-24T17:05:00.002-05:00

so carter (for whatever reason) flat out REFUSED to sit with clay for a picture. this is what i got... i think he gets his stubbornness from his dad... yeah right!

clayton...

and carter.

merry christmas, happy hannukah, happy kwanzaa, happy new year, a fantastic festivus and whatever else you may celebrate! :)

some of my favorite ornaments...

2008-12-16T17:15:00.007-05:00

so i love snowmen... and i just think that this ornament is so cute. i'm sure i'm not alone in this tradition, but i get gerry an ornament every year.. .i bought this one for him a few years ago.
i have some really cute pink ornaments from my mother in law...and of course some elephants... i actually have 6 or 7 elephant ornaments. this one is my favorite though. i got it from joycie and willard (who are/were like another set of grandparents to me) a few years back.
this is among the many kid-made ornaments with their picture on it...
and of course we have a john deere tractor ornament (actually we have another one too)!

then we have some proof that i am a child of the 80's with my care bear ornament...

and cabbage patch kid...

and strawberry shortcake- although this one does not smell :(
then we have jolly old saint nicholas... on a snowmobile

and who DOESN'T have a camouflage wearing, shotgun toting santa claus?and then the ornament that proved to me that we really ARE rednecks... the santa claus made out of a shotgun shell. yes, i'm serious.

so after a long day yesterday... clay and i decorated the tree... he is such a ham!

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree...

2008-12-15T22:21:00.005-05:00

so here we go... it's christmas tree time. here is our usual scenario...

gerry cuts down a tree
the tree is so big that he needs to cut it down a few times until it fits in the living room
he gets aggravated trying to get it to stand up straight
he puts the lights on
clay and i start hanging the ornaments on the tree
clay gets bored after 13 minutes and i finish alone.

well, things are a bit different this year... gerry cut down our tree like normal, only this time it was a bit smaller than usual. it still has a bunch of pine cones hanging on it! (and ps, they kind of look like turds... yeah, that's right. i said turds.) it's rather skinny... i'm pretty sure we will NOT be hanging all our ornaments this year- they won't fit!

for the first time since i have known gerry, he puts the lights on the tree... BEFORE he plugged them in to make sure they all worked. and what happened you may ask? the top didn't work, and neither did the random strand in the middle. oh boy was he angry! of course i started (inappropriately) laughing and snapping pictures... i think clay may have been more angry than gerry that i was taking pictures. he kept yelling "mom, you CAN NOT take pictures of the tree when all the lights are not working. mom, do NOT take that picture!" i'm not sure why he was so mad about it, but he was... which made me laugh even harder.

so gerry gave up... i decided that i would give the lights a whirl. now, i will admit that i can be a bit stubborn at times... and i talk a lot of crap sometimes. so i took down his lights and began stringing my own white lights. i talked crap about how easy it was to do lights... and yeah, i ended up with 2 or so feet of tree left and no more lights. so i had to redo it... i continued to talk crap as i redid the lights... and i think i was quite successful :)
by the way, i got this super cute tree skirt last year from old navy and i love it. it's square, and has cute sequined flower-ish designs on it. i love it.

and then here is clay... he disappeared into the basement after i kept laughing at gerry's light job. when i finished my (second) lighting of the tree, i called down for him to come see my great job... and i called for him... and i called for him. i assumed he was "not hearing" me because it was bed time. i was wrong... he was passed out. oh well, hopefully he will be a little more help tomorrow night while we decorate... stay tuned for pictures of my favorite ornaments! :)

bad decision...

2008-12-15T10:34:00.002-05:00

so i decided to do the buffalo for africa craft show on sunday. it was ok... didn't sell too much, but i had fun. this morning when i walked in my bedroom and glanced at the tv, i saw coverage of the event... and saw my fat head standing there at my table. EEKS! anyhoo, i had debated between doing the buffalo for africa show and the buffalo indie market. i decided against the indie market, because the crowd hasn't been all that big lately. then what happened sunday??? the indie market was HUGE! it figures...

anyway, all of the stuff i have been killing myself to make recently is going to be going up on etsy... any day now. i need to take pictures and get it up on there. sorry this is a boring post... no pictures or anything. i'm just kind of aggravated by the boatload of stuff that i made and didn't sell :(

holy accomplishments batman!

2008-12-13T00:16:00.012-05:00

so clay has been home sick for the past 2 days... which means i was home sick with him for the past 2 days. to be honest, i haven't felt all that great either... as expected with the germs floating around my house (and work!) so anyhoo, today i just couldn't sleep all day like i wanted to. as crappy as i have felt, i probably really SHOULD have slept, but i didn't. so i decided to do a little sewing... which turned into a LOT of sewing!

you can't really see the size of these, but they are little mini totes. they are adorable little purse sized bags... i just think they are the cutest!

then we have spongebob, cars, and thomas the train bags...

a few more traveling art shows...

and a few bigger purses... ok, i have to admit, the one on the left i made 2 days ago... but everything else here i made today. TODAY! 7 bags and 3 traveling art shows... i'm so impressed with myself. oh my goodness, i almost forgot... i hand sewed buttons on the covers of 8 wallets too.

as a side note, i have been watching a bunch of movies lately while i sew. last week i watched "step brothers" which i can honestly say is now in my top 3 funniest movies of all time. i watched it 4 times in 3 days... no joke. it's hys-frickin-terical! i also watched "baby mama" which was decently entertaining... pretty predictable, but whatever. tonight as i sewed i watched "fred claus" which was pretty good... anything with vince vaughn i will watch. and i'm finishing watching "this christmas" as i type... very cute. it made me enjoy chris brown more than i ever had before... my goodness can that boy sing!

anyhoo, just trying to get ready for the buffalo for africa show on sunday... wish me luck!

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

2008-12-07T23:01:00.003-05:00

so we went out to franklinville today to have a day of fun in the snow... good gravy it was cold out there! carter and i played outside for MAYBE 13 minutes. it was really chilly! i was trying not to be a weenie about it, but when i asked him if he was cold he said "yeah." and then i asked him if he wanted to go back inside he said "yeah!" i was SO glad! the radio out there said that the temperature was 13 with a wind chill of -4!now clay and gerry on the other hand... they did a little sledding. the driveway out there is 1/2 mile long... they made it REALLY far!

for some reason, after the kids were really overtired and trying to thaw out, we then attempted to take our annual christmas pictures. this is always an incredibly torturous event. there is always 1 kid that won't cooperate... today it was carter. we had clay carter and david in their matching (adorable) sweaters, and grace had on her cute red dress. carter would NOT stop sticking his fingers in his mouth, fish hooking his cheeks and sticking his tongue out... it was really pretty funny. but we didn't get any good pictures. we will give it another try this week... but this just might have to be another year of separate pictures. oh well... my question is this- how do families with numerous children pull off the group photos where everyone is not only looking at the camera, but are sitting nicely and looking adorable? HOW DO THEY DO IT? WHAT IS THE SECRET? anyone???

i've been tagged...

2008-12-06T01:13:00.005-05:00

so tina tagged me... am i'm not happy about it. what happens when you get tagged??? first you are supposed to take a picture to post just like you normally would. next, you are supposed to take a step back and get a picture of the full surroundings. how embarrassing!!! my LIFE is a big enough mess... you can only imagine my sewing area! it's ok though... i can take it... and i WILL get tina back for this!
here is my first picture... 3 new traveling art studios that i was able to get done tonight. i have 3 more cut out... perhaps tomorrow???

and here you go tina... my mess! i will point out a few key items... see that iron? i NEVER iron my clothes (or gerry's for that matter... that is his job!) but i need it to make my checkbook covers. uh, what else... there is the obvious stack of fabric to the right of the iron. that would be a stack of new bags that i cut out tonight. the pink gift bag holds the scrap pieces of fabric that i just can not throw out. to the left of the pink bag is my ribbon container (you can't really see it). oh yeah, and on the right of that pink bag is ANOTHER stack of cut out bags that need to be put together. then there is my good ole sewing machine... it was a cheap-o, but it rocks! i can sew through so many layers of fabric that it's crazy!

so folks, those are my pictures... now i must tag 2 people. i'm going to tag josie from whom i bought this traveling art studio pattern, and the new girl. the new girl is a blog that (i'm not sure how) i happened upon a while back. it cracks me up! i feel as though i unknowingly write it in my sleep or something... we think A LOT alike! :)

well girls, it's your turn now! let's see some mess please!!!

bring on the redneck comments...

2008-12-03T22:01:00.002-05:00

so i did something new tonight that never in my life would i have ever thought i would do... (get your mind out of the gutter you sickos!) i helped gerry cut up his deer.

now don't misunderstand me... i had no part in the skinning or quartering or anything like that. where i stepped in was once it came into the house looking like something you would buy from a butcher, i helped cut it up. as gross as i thought it would be, it actually was quite interesting... i felt like a surgeon or something.

now don't panic people... i will not pick up a new hobby of butchering. i promise! actually i have a plan to get a TON of sewing done this weekend before the buffalo for africa show at my alma mater... oh yeah, it's next sunday the 14th at frontier high school from 12-4. just in case you're feeling the need to shop!

birthdays, thanksgiving, surprise party and just plain ole chaos!!!

2008-12-01T12:37:00.008-05:00

so i had quite the busy week/weekend... last saturday the whole family went out for dinner to celebrate all of our birthdays... spike's, christiane's, gerry's and mine. here is nanny with carter and grace... poor woman couldn't even eat! the kids would NOT get off her lap! clay thinks he's super cool taking care of little baby dave...

then carter had to follow in his big brother's footsteps...

then we had thanksgiving dinner at my house... and not to toot my own horn (i said toot) i must admit that everything was delish! friday morning my sister and i decided to brave the stores and do a little black friday shopping... ok, so we went out at noon and missed most of the crazies. i have to say, we got some REALLY good deals, and for once in my life, i'm pretty darn close to being done shopping! :)

saturday was the long awaited surprise party for my girls... my sister hollie is turning 40, and my sister in law christiane just turned 30! old ladies... ha! it was a LOT of fun... although i am glad it's over. jen and i have been trying to plan this party since august... and it has been REALLY difficult to not mention it to either of them. i can't even tell you how many times i almost slipped!

well, the buffalo for africa show is next weekend and i have a LOT to get done between now and then... i guess i have a busy weekend ahead of me!

oh yeah, and gerry got another doe... yep, another dead deer decorating the tree in my side yard. eew!!!

it's been a while...

2008-11-26T06:21:00.002-05:00

so i have been m.i.a. for a bit here... i wish i could say that my absences has been because i have been making so many things... or because i have been busy xmas shopping... or pruning my money tree. actually, i'm not exactly sure WHAT i have been so busy with. i have THOROUGHLY cleaned my entire house (which took 2 days). i cleaned the fridge, the cupboards, reorganized the kids toys... i was really on a roll. now, my mom is in town and staying at our house... and i have been thanksgiving shopping... and recipe searching. i will be making my very first thanksgiving dinner tomorrow! i just need to realize that although i have WATCHED a bunch of shows on the food network, i am not an actual CHEF from food network. i hope i don't get carried away! well, i will update and let you know how it all worked out... in the meantime, it's my birthday (not as fun anymore) and i have to get ready for work (boo!!!)... happy turkey day ya'll! and don't forget the TRUE meaning of thanksgiving... EAT TIL YOU EXPLODE!!! ;)

UPDATE

2008-11-16T21:10:00.002-05:00

so, just a productivity update for ya'll... since friday i have made 100 hair bows, 8 wallets, 6 checkbook covers, and 2 traveling art shows... all while watching both boys and running the house alone. i have a bunch more art shows and 2 more wallets cut out... but a sudden, and TERRIBLE cold has halted my productivity :(

my goodness have i been productive!

2008-11-15T23:59:00.004-05:00

so i have been unusually productive today... my sister in law and i packed my in law's house for a few hours, while the kids ran around terrorizing the place. we each had our ipods on (to tune the kids and my mother in law out a little) and just went to town. i'm happy to say that other than clothes and kitchen dishes, they are completely packed and ready to move!
once i got home, and got chippy in bed, i started sewing.
this is the traveling art show pattern that i got from mr monkeysuit. i am SO happy with how it turned out! it is supposed to have a pack of crayons on the left side, and an activity book on the right... i will be buying those to fill these soon. it was super easy and fast to make... i just think it's damn adorable! and then i finished off some more checkbook covers and coordinating wallets...

yeah, i made 8 wallets and 6 checkbook covers tonight. i'm a little obsessed... now that i have finished all of the checkbook covers and wallets that i had cut out, now i will obsess on the traveling art shows for a while.

on another note, for those of you who care... carter was up AGAIN last night! he woke up and came down to my bed at 2am... and was up until 4 something. once he went back to sleep, it was only until 7:30. needless to say, i'm going to bed. zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!

bows, bows, and more bows!

2008-11-14T23:31:00.002-05:00

so instead of going to bed at 8 o'clock (as i should have) i stayed up hot gluing bows... a lot of them! my fingertips are killing me, but they are really damn cute!here are some of the christmas-y bows

and here are a bunch of different ones... i have a bunch more to make. i HAD to finally go to bed though... hopefully chippy will sleep tonight.

tomorrow i will (hopefully) be attempting the traveling art show pattern that i bought from josie at mr monkeysuit. i'm REALLY excited to give it a try... good night ya'll

oh yeah, and i just want to give a shout out to my schmidty... ps, you're an ass! :)

for real...

2008-11-14T10:34:00.002-05:00

so i'm still going on virtually NO sleep... but i'm NOT complaining anymore. i am NOT going to complain about the fact that the steroids that carter is on to help him breathe at night is also keeping him up all night... i'm NOT complaining.

instead, i'm sharing this picture... "Anti Monkey Butt Powder". seriously, this is real stuff! i saw it yesterday in rite aid as carter and i wandered around waiting for his anti sleep medication... i mean breathing medication. it made me giggle... and continues to do so. so tonight when i'm still up at 2:30 with a kid who is WIDE AWAKE from his medicine, i will think of the anti monkey butt powder and (hopefully) giggle. :)

things happen in 3s :(

2008-11-13T10:42:00.004-05:00

so this post is very atypical, i need to bitch for minute. although i have been doing a bit of sewing (mostly wallets and checkbook covers) i have no pictures at this point in time. it has been a CRAZY week!

first let me say that the ellicottville beer and wine fest was great! it was more spread out this year and i enjoyed a plethora of delicious beers! the only negative was the cup. yeah, i said cup. the past 3 years that we have gone, you got a sweet glass to use for tastings, and then bring home and remind you of your fun all year long. this year, you got a cheap little plastic cup... it was so lame!

then there was veteran's day... like a moron, i scheduled carter's 2 year check up, an eye dr appointment for me, and clay's dentist appointment. i ended up running around all day like a chicken with her head lopped off. then my sister called because my brother in law had an accident and hit his head in the garage... i then acquired her kids for a bit (which TOTALLY fires clay up!) he's fine, but it was a little hairy for a while there.

school was crazy yesterday... a LOT of substitute teachers= crazy kids! then last night carter had a little cough... which once he went to bed developed into a NASTY croup. yeah, so we ended up in the emergency room until 2am while he got a shot of steroids and a breathing treatment.

then, clay missed his bus this morning... WILL IT EVER END??? which brings me to this weekend... opening weekend for shotgun. UGH! all i know is that gerry better get a BIG deer this weekend and make it worth while!

ok, i'm sorry... i'm done complaining. but things happen in 3s... i'm just wondering if clay missing the bus was the 3rd thing, or if i should be looking out for something else! :(

quite possibly the worst pictures ever... but i'm too excited! and this post is ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!

2008-11-08T01:13:00.006-05:00

so i discovered a new project... check book covers! after picking carter up from the baby sitter's house today, we went to get him a haircut. seriously, i LOVE when his hair is longer... he has such fabulous curls. but he really looked like a mad scientist! his hair was completely out of control!

anyhoo, after his haircut, he and i went on a dinner date. he was so good... he had a hot dog, i had a burger and some delicious french onion soup. ps, i LOVE french onion soup and have decided that i have to give it a whirl and try to make my own (one of these days!) well after dinner, we were a hop skip and a jump (and a 47 second car ride) from tina's house. so i called her (as i pulled in the driveway) to see if she wanted visitors...

so after carter and i sat at the dinner table with them as they ate their dinner (which i was too busy to ask exactly what it was... you never know at their house, andrew cooks up some interesting stuff sometimes!) i took a stroll into tina's craft room. i drooled... a lot! fabric... bags... little girl's dresses... bibs... key fobs... and check book covers to name a few. well, the check book cover seemed far to easy... so i had to check it out.

tina emailed me a link to a tutorial... really i just needed the measurements- they are THAT easy!!! so what did i do? i came home and made 5 of them! these pictures suck (gerry has the real camera with him at our property JUST IN CASE he gets another deer) but you get the idea. i'm so happy with them... they are easy, and i think really damn cute! so then i (obsessively) cut out 6 more, along with 12 matching/coordinating wallets.

by the way... i'm going to be selling my stuff at an event at my former high school in december. sunday december 14th (the day after my mom's 59th birthday!) there will be family fun day held at frontier high school. they are having games, movies, crafts for kids to do, food, and vendors! my sister (selling jewelry), tina and i are all going to be vendors there... it is to benefit buffalo for africa. check out buffalo for africa, and stayed tuned for more details about the family fun day... i need to go to bed now.

here is chippy after his haircut... he looks so old with short hair!!!

oh yeah, and tomorrow is the ellicottville beer and wine festival... yeah, needless to say, i'm SUPER excited! :)

crappy pictures... and who has NOT seen pulp fiction???

2008-11-02T13:44:00.005-05:00

so last night was a hoot... but do you know how many people have not seen pulp fiction? i had no idea! the people who have seen pulp fiction knew my costume right away and gave me big time props... other people would say, "what are you?" when i told them they would say, "oh i never saw pulp fiction" to which i replied "seriously? who HASN'T seen pulp fiction?"

anyhoo, how creepy am i in black hair? and lipstick??? i am SO NOT a lipstick wearer... it was a strange and annoying feeling. so yeah, i got a sweet wig from "that hair store on bailey" thatso many of my students told me to go to. it was actually a pretty good wig, people thought i had dyed my hair! yikes!!! it was definately a strange feeling though... i can't imagine wearing those things all the time!

my favorite part (and the favorite part of people who knew what the hell i was) was the red marker spot and the syringe. i used one of the syringes that i use for the kid's medicine that you get from the pharmacy... i had intended on gluing it to my chest, but didn't think super glue was a good idea- nothing else would hold. so i just crammed it in my... storage compartment. :)

these are our friends greg and dave (really brothers) as the blues brothers... ps that is greg's real hair on those chops... you can't see them too good in these pictures, but they were hysterical!

and here are my sister (a gothic fairy) and sister in law (a red devil) whooping it up on the dance floor... my pictures suck because they are from my phone. i will post better pictures if any of my peeps have any...

and then on a completely different note, here is clay. he was out at our property hunting with his dad and his poppy. he got all camo-ed up to go in poppy's treestand...

just as a footnote: if you notice how flippin fat my face looks in that top picture, just know that it is NOT just the camera!!! i am right now at my lifetime highest weight... EEKS!!! and tomorrow starts the big fight. diet and exercise start tomorrow... for real! i plan on losing 10 pounds before my birthday (novemeber 26th). i'm serious... it's getting disgusting! so, from here on out if my posts seem a little crabby, that's why... i'm crabby when i'm hungry! :)

a mummy and a giraffe

2008-10-31T21:32:00.004-04:00

so trick or treating went very well tonight!!! last year, clay was totally overstimulated and didn't want to trick or treat AT ALL! what ended up happening was that gerry and i got thoroughly aggravated and practically dragged him house to house. last year's halloween=NO fun!
then there was this year... the boys were so excited and loved every minute of it! since we live in the boonies, we drove into town, parked the cars, and walked around. clay was loving it so much he actually said "this is great! i wasn't thinking with my brain last year!" he is too funny sometimes...

here is his mummy costume... it looked awesome when he went to school today. then he jacked it all up at their "dance party" and took all his cheesecloth wrappings off... and left them in his desk! thank goodness i had bought a bit more yesterday "just in case". so his mummy wrappings are not what they were supposed to be, but oh well... i need to learn to relax a bit.
chippy was a giraffe... a costume my mom made for my nephews a few years ago. he was too funny... he would run up to the houses, get his candy, turn and show me what he got, and exclaim "lookit mom mom!" he would then run back to his stroller, climb in and wave bye to the people who just gave candy. it was so flippin cute!!!grace was a lady bug... too cute! she wasn't a huge fan of trick or treating... she went through spurts of excitement, followed by fits of rage. but she looked so damn cute! can you even stand the pigtails? i LOVE them!

oh yeah, and notice the candy bag? i made it in 13 minutes before we left because i realized that i had never gotten/made them bags! duh!

well, tomorrow night is the night... all i have to do now is find a white button down and figure out how the heck i'm going to get my needle to stick to my chest. oh yeah, my anonymous commenter was right... mrs mia wallace... pulp fiction. :) just wait til you get a load of me tomorrow!!!

why is 97% of everything that happens in my life chaotic???

2008-10-28T20:32:00.006-04:00

so eveything started out great... clay and carter were helping dig out the guts of the pumpkin and everyone was loving life.i went to work on our pumpkin... a silly face, a spider and a bat. all was great in the stead household.and then we put the (fake, battery operated) candle in and turned off all the lights... and carter started crying. by no means is he afraid of the dark, if that's what you're thinking. he just took one look at the pumpkin and started crying... hard! i'm not sure what the issue was... and clay must have found it amusing because he kept saying "look at the pumpkin carter! look!" and carter just cried louder and harder. i don't get it...

so here it is... our pumpkin and my crazy (shirtless) kids!

***FYI- an anonymous commenter guessed correctly... i'm rockin the pulp fiction costume. and by the way, i look SO FLIPPIN CREEPY with black hair! good call commenter! nice work! :)

exercise next week???

2008-10-27T10:02:00.004-04:00

so i never got the basement cleaned this weekend. BUT the halloween costumes for clay and i are in the process! saturday afternoon clay and i set out to tackle party city in search of a costume for clay. well, there were a TON of people in the store and clay bugged out a little. he didn't want ANY costume, and he just wanted to leave. as we ate lunch, we discussed other options... and came up with a mummy. now, i really wanted to find him a costume that i didn't have to make... carter is wearing a giraffe costume that my mom made for my nephews a few years ago, and i was loving the idea of not having to make clay's this year too. no such luck. so we headed to joann's and then the mall. we got 10 yards of cheesecloth at joann's and a white turtleneck and sweatpants at the mall. now i just need to find a white hat...

as for my own costume... let's see if you can guess. i will wear black capri pants, a white button down shirt, red lipstick, and a black wig cut like a bob with bangs. i will give you 2 clues. 1. it's from a movie and 2. the movie involves a (kind of) famous dance scene. now i know what you're thinking... dancing??? it's not what you think. guess will ya? leave me a comment guessing my costume. you won't win a prize or anything, it will just entertain me! :)
oh yeah, that picture above... that was clay's super cool outfit he wore yesterday to hang out and *watch the bills game. i just found it funny... camo shorts, a maroon sweatshirt, a camo vest (that is reversible orange) and his barn boots... he gets his fashion sense from his dad.
and a little props for my brother in law dave... this is his first year hunting, and he got this button buck with the bow. i'm very proud of him! he says from now on he will only shoot a "trophy buck" :)

*ok, so we didn't really "watch" the game... we ate. bread dip, taco dip, and the most fabulous crab legs ever! :)

some pictures...

2008-10-23T09:46:00.002-04:00

so carter has suddenly decided that he no longer needs to sleep at night... especially in his own bed! last night, gerry put him to bed (he was asleep) and a few minutes later he came strolling down the stairs ready to hang out! i was in my room playing on the computer when he came in and said "hey mom!" he then climbed up on my bed and kept yelling "tickle mom! tickle!" like an idiot, i played with him and tickled him for a while... that's when we snapped this picture. then (all fired up) i gave him back to gerry to try to get him to sleep again. yeah... i need to do something about this!every morning, clay goes to my sister in law christiane's house to wait for the bus. he is there 45 minutes or so every morning... so he eats breakfast and brushes his teeth etc there. well lately he has been OBSESSED with making scrambled eggs. he makes them every morning at her house (and at our house on the weekends). i think it's the excitement of cooking on a stove (a no-no for kids) and being like dad (who usually cooks big breakfasts on the weekends). well, this morning i got this picture of clay... he is now teaching grace how to cook eggs!

notice he holds down her other arm so she doesn't stick her arm in the fire! someone needs to tell him he's 6 (and a half) and not 36!!! such an old man...

well, i have a lot to do this weekend... clay needs a costume, i have some halloween bags to make, and i am cleaning out my basement so that christiane and i have some place to exercise... these 5:15 am walks are getting VERY COLD!!! :)

hope this isn't too graphic for you...

2008-10-19T22:02:00.003-04:00

so here's just a little shout out for gerry... he got his first deer of the season! saturday morning started bow season, and he got this doe sunday morning. i'm not sure who was more excited, gerry or clay! carter seemed a little confused... he just kept staring at it in the back of gerry's truck. well, this is good news... the pressure of getting a deer is now gone. now we will have to see how many more he gets this year!

mmm... candy!

2008-10-17T23:05:00.004-04:00

so i'm not really a big fan of your typical "holiday" material... but then i found this. it's nice and subtle. the orange and white stripes on the black fabric... then i found the ribbon. the black with silver sparkly spider webs, and the white trick or treat ribbon with the candy corn. i think they are pretty cute.
so i made these trick or treat bags... i cut out 7 of them. now let's just hope people want to buy them! :)

can you tell i'm tired? i can't even be witty and clever (you're probably thinking, "uh, hello? you're never witty and clever!"). i apologize... i need to go to sleep now.

neighbors...

2008-10-16T10:13:00.002-04:00

so, my neighbors rock. on both sides. to our left is our crazy neighbor murph who clay pretty much thinks is his best friend (even though murph is a 51 year old man). murph (as well as clay) has NO IDEA that he isn't 6 1/2 like clay is. they hang out, shoot hoops, stack fire wood etc together. if we are eating dinner and clay sees murph going through the back yard to do fire wood, clay will jump up from the table and yell out the window, and assure him that he will be out to help as soon as he is done with dinner! on our right side is carol and tom. typically, carol and tom leave mid october to travel down south. so far, they are still in town... i don't think they can get enough of us! ha!
anyhoo, my boys have realized in the past few months, that if they go over to carol and tom's and knock on the door, someone will open the door and give them ice cream! originally clay would go over, knock, be let in, and whoever was there would promptly get the ice cream, and put it in a styrofoam cup with a plastic spoon, and then he would be on his way back home. well carter quickly caught on to this neat trick. soon afterward, you would see them both disappear from our yard and head next door... they would stand at the door, knock, and be let in. now they have a whole system down... carter gets the spoons, clay gets the cups, while carol or tom gets the ice cream. once they have their treats, they say thank you and come back home. carter must REALLY love the ice cream though... he must say thank you to them at least (no exaggeration) 13 times on his way back to our yard. he takes a bite, walks a few steps, turns and waves and says thank you... takes another bite, walks a few more steps, turns and waves and says thank you... it continues on. it's too cute! well this picture is them with their ice cream yesterday... i was raking the leaves that clay was supposed to help with... thanks a lot clay! :)

i think fall is my favorite season

2008-10-14T19:58:00.008-04:00

so don't get me wrong, i LOVE the summer... tanning, boating, beaching, bonfiring, beering etc. there is just something about the fall that i adore. what do i love about the fall you may wonder? the colors, the smells, bonfiring, beering... ok so it's not too much different i guess! i just love the look of fall. here is our pond at the land...
well this past weekend was chock full of excitement... not only was it our 7th anniversary, but it was also fall fest in ellicottville. my girl jen and i went into e-ville saturday afternoon to do a little "crafting". well it just so happens that this is our first year without having to drag either of my children with us... let's just say we somehow ended up in the ellicottville brewing company's beer tent. weird how that happens! :) all i know, is that even though our "shortcuts" to and from e-ville didn't work out all that well, we DID find the BEST parking!!! (right jen?) as for our anniversary, we spent sunday night at the black dog lodge in ellicottville. it was great! we went into town that evening and ate at tips up cafe... it was delish! i highly recommend both places... the black dog lodge was an awesome bed and breakfast...

this is phillips road, where our land is located...

and this is our creek... by the way, do you say creek (rhyming with week) or creek (rhyming with sick)? just curious... i know for myself it all depends on the size. for example, growing up we walked past a crick every day on our way to and from school. it was a crick because it was never deeper than our mid calf, and only about 3 feet wide. at the land, i consider this a creek. although it doesn't look very deep or wide in this picture, it actually is... looks can be deceiving.
then there is the house my in laws are building... it's still a work in progress. good gravy is it going to be sweet! the window at the upper left is our family's bedroom... the one on the other side is christiane and her family's. we have our own sweet bathroom up there too. i'm thinking that camping is going to take on a WHOLE new meaning next year when we are staying in there as opposed to our rotting out camper!

now fast forward to today. i actually had to stay home today with carter who has been sick since saturday. when the medicine kicks in, he's fine. when it wears off, he is a BEAST!!! i'm afraid clay is coming down with it too...

but anyhoo, we went outside for a bit today... the boys LOVED the leaves... clay was kind enough to pose for me.
carter on the other hand wouldn't stop running and jumping... hence the action shot!

my anniversary

2008-10-10T00:13:00.004-04:00

so i guess it's not MY anniversary, it's OUR anniversary... we will be celebrating by going out to dinner, and spending a night at a bed and breakfast. i'm so excited to actually sleep a night without one of my kids coming in and asking me a million questions. more importantly, i will be so happy to not be woken up at 6 am with a dirt bike on my face! so anyhoo, i got this really cute turquoise shirt and matching necklace to wear to dinner. of course this meant that i needed to make myself a new purse to match!

so here it is... a cute cotton floral on the outside, with a quilted cotton lining. i'm really diggin this fabric!
then, for my inside pockets, i made 3. a big one on one side, a smaller one on the other side, and a cute little pen pocket. i decided to start making a pen pocket in there because i am sick of searching in my purse for the pen that sits at the bottom of my purse. i have to say, i love this new bag.

now i REALLY need to start making purses and bags for OTHER PEOPLE!!! ugh! i will try to work on it this weekend! :) happy fall fest ya'll!

try not to laugh...

2008-10-07T12:23:00.005-04:00

so i have gotten really fat. i mean it. i currently weigh more than i did when i was 9 months pregnant. people say "oh, you just had a baby!" yeah, too bad i had a baby 2 years ago! and i already lost that weight... i just happened to find it again, and more!

anyway, my point is, my sister in law and i have decided that we need to start exercising. she actually DID just have a baby 8 weeks ago. so anyhoo, we are going to make a workout area in my basement for when it gets really cold outside... we have a treadmill, an exercise bike, and an ab chair thing that my brother in law bought off an infomercial to make us skinny. but gerry won't move any of the equipment into my basement until it is clean... he lectured us as if we were children. i'm getting off point again... anyway, so we have started walking in the mornings. when i say mornings, i mean 5:15 in the morning! it's really damn early! but it's the only time we have to do anything... i blame having kids on this!

so, suffice it to say, that it is REALLY dark outside at 5:15... especially out where i live! i never noticed before the lack of street lights we have until we started walking at the crack of dawn! it is also interesting to see how many other people on our street are up at such an awful time of day... must be all those farmers! once again, i'm off topic! so christiane decided to bring her dog with us for "protection". her dog is a sweet little girl who is pitch black and not all that "protective"! we are constantly tripping over her leash because she blends right in with the dark! also, chris decided to bring a light with us. this ghost lantern in the picture is the light she decided to bring so cars could see us. yeah, it's about as bright as a tea light candle... and the batteries aren't all that great! she also has one with a pumpkin that we occasionally use... it also is not the best light source ever!
then there is the fashionable outfits we sport... yesterday i couldn't stop laughing at chris... she was rocking the black capris, black socks, and white sneakers. it was so cold this morning that i was wearing a tank top, t shirt, long sleeve t shirt, hooded sweatshirt, and fleece vest... and i was still cold! we really don't have to worry about getting kidnapped, that's for sure... the sight of us would scare off anyone!

well, we are going to keep it up... it's not only exercise, it's also a nosy person's dream! we are getting good scoop on the doings of our neighbors... not to mention the fashion show. ha! we thoroughly amuse ourselves...

laptop bag!!!

2008-10-02T09:06:00.002-04:00

so i'm super excited about the bag i made last night! all day long at school, i go from class to class with my students. i have no classroom of my own, or even a desk to call my own... therefore i carry all of my crap with me everywhere i go. i don't know about anyone else, but i don't travel lightly... i carry a TON of stuff with me, just in case i need it. crap in my bag includes my (school provided) laptop. the school also provides a (horrendously ugly and boring) carrying case for this laptop. the case does not provide ample room for my other stuff (like my snickers bars, baby wipes, multi-colored pens, and notebooks) so i have been struggling. and ps, i work in a high school... just picture me with my heavy, awkward bags trying to get from class to class down the hallways, which are full of children who are 2-3 times my size! it's not pretty! well i will struggle no longer!
now i have a sweet new bag! it's lined with a thicker, quilted cotton... the shoulder straps are padded (to comfort my delicate little shoulders), and it has 2 nice, big pockets to store my candy bars... i mean pens :)
a magnetic snap keeps it closed... by the way, i have had this fabric for quite a while now. i have been hemming and hawing over what to make out of it... because i love it. i think this was a good choice!

on another note... clay lost ANOTHER tooth last night! if his teeth don't start staying in his mouth, i'm going to be broke!
and here is how weird my kid is(he gets it from his dad i think!)... he decided that he didn't want to put his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy last night. so he dumped out what was left of the mouthwash, "cleaned" the bottle out, put his tooth in, and filled it with some water so his tooth wouldn't "dry out". yeah, i have no idea why... i asked him a few times for his reasoning, and he really had none. so i went with it. he was amazed this morning when the tooth was gone from the bottle and there was $1 under the bottle for him. i'm kind of afraid of what he will come up with next!

well folks, (and by folks, i mean tina and vicki... because i'm pretty sure those are the only people that read this blog) i am happy to report that i have finally listed 2 bags on etsy... we will see how it goes. for now, i have some serious sewing to do... i'm hoping to do 5 bags a week. christmas is coming and hopefully someone out there will like my stuff enough to give it away to someone (and not someone they dislike!) ta ta for now! :)

ok... this is a 2 part-er

2008-09-29T22:53:00.006-04:00

so is it bad that i'm a just a titch amused by this??? as i was walking out of school today, i received a phone call from clay's school. it was clay's teacher that was calling to tell me that clay got into trouble, not only in gym... i mean phys ed... but in the classroom as well. he won't stop making motor noises in the gym... now let me tell you, his motor noises are enough to make you want to rip out your ear drums. i was not happy to hear this... we JUST got him to stop making those noises in the regular classroom!!!
but then the REAL issue came out. clay said some bad words in class today. he said the "f" word and the "sh" word. now this is not what i was amused by, by ANY means... frankly i'm FURIOUS about this. i do take a good amount of the blame, seeing as how i have a bit of a potty mouth... but he's not stupid. he knows better.
anyhoo, other than being grounded for a week (which is an ETERNITY for a little boy who is 6 1/2!) he was instructed to write letters of apology.

the brown note is to the gym... sorry, phys ed teacher- "i am sorry for making motor noises. i will never do it again." the red and green is for his teacher- "i am sorry that i said swears. i will never do it again." underneath is a stack of letters to all the kids sitting at his table when he decided to blurt out his obscenities...
it wasn't until he went to bed that i saw this... i think it's OUR letter of apology perhaps. not only did he make it, but he hung it on the fridge for all to see- "i am a bad boy."

now don't get me wrong... i am VERY upset that he is getting in trouble in school, and that he has such a trash mouth. what i found amusing was his "bad boy" picture that he made and inconspicuously hung on the fridge.

now, for part 2- i made 2 bags tonight!

first we have a care bears bag... lined with muslin
with a nice sized inside pocket
and then a super cute sparkly princess bag...
the tiaras actually have some subtle sparkles on them...

i have a bunch of stuff cut out and ready to put together... these 2 bags were sewn together in a little over an hour all together. now i just need to keep it up and make a few every night! i think that's it for now... :D

you mean we AREN'T 17 any more???

2008-09-28T23:01:00.003-04:00

so i have 2 words for you... girl's night!!! yeah, that's right... all of the boys in my house (with the exception of good ole tucker- my cat) headed to the southern tier for the weekend. i actually considered joining them for a second... then i came to my senses! "no, no... you guys go... i'll stay here... i can get some cleaning done..." YEAH RIGHT! as soon as i heard they would be gone i fired out the emails and texts to all my ladies. we have our annual girl's weekend coming up in february... we needed some practice!
barber and laura decided to smoke some cigars... seriously girls? cigars???
mindy is not a typical attendee of these girl's night/weekend functions... i was afraid that we might scar her for life. (not really) surprisingly enough, she not only handled us, but she added to us as well! (not sure if that's a compliment toward her or not!)
laura became a little "sleepy" as the night went on...
and then there is the best game EVER... it's called "how much crap can we pile on laura as she sleeps without either (a) peeing our pants laughing or (b) waking her up". i'm telling you, if you ever have the chance to play, DO IT!!!

my goodness do i LOVE my girls... on another note, i went to joann's today. uh, yeah... i got some REALLY cute stuff! i'm excited to get at my sewing machine again! it's getting to be that time of the year when people start (psychotically) xmas shopping... i want to be ready! :)

a 2 year old on a quad??? am i crazy?

2008-09-23T22:22:00.004-04:00

so carter's birthday gift from us (or should i say his re-gift from us, since technically it was originally bought for clay) is the quad. clay was 2 1/2 when we bought the quad brand new from the dealer. they looked at us like we were NUTS!!! now those of you who are saying "well letting a baby drive a quad like that IS nuts!" just relax... there is a control on the quad that makes it go slower than those (lame) battery operated cars. and just think, we can make it go faster as he gets older! anyhoo, he LOVES the quad... unfortunately his new helmet is a titch too big, so until we get him the right size he is rockin a bike helmet.

i'm not sure what makes this clip funnier... carter driving, the sight of gerry riding on the back, or clay running next to them in his dirt bike helmet. boys are such strange creatures!

the cutest gift for a kid EVER!!!

2008-09-22T21:47:00.004-04:00

so carter's gift from my mom and my sister's family was a massive gift certificate for build a bear. for those of you who have never been to build a bear, let me just say, WHY DIDN'T I COME UP WITH THAT IDEA!!! it's so damn clever... you pick an animal body, stuff it, and dress it. sounds simple enough right? well let me tell you that they have every kind of outfit you could want, as well as every accessory you could possibly want to go with it. it's an indecisive person's worst nightmare!!! if you have never checked it out, i suggest doing so.

choosing the animal was simple enough... carter wanted the monkey. i showed him all the bears, dogs, elephant, turtle, and bunny that they had. he LOVED the monkey! stuffing it was cute, carter had the hand pump that operates the stuffing machine...

the lady did all these cute things with him... you pick out a heart to go in the monkey. carter then rubbed the heart on his ears so the monkey will always listen, on his tummy so he will never go hungry, on his knees so the monkey will always know if he "kneeds" him etc. super cute. then he stuffed the heart in and she sewed it up.
he named his monkey "ahh ahh". ok, so i'm not sure if he really understood the concept of "naming" the monkey. when i asked him what he wanted the monkey's name to be he smiled and said "ahh ahh" aka, his monkey noise.
can you believe i actually found a motocross outfit for it? like i said, they have EVERYTHING!!!
we made ahh ahh's birth certificate and off we went with ahh ahh safely in his "condo"
on the way home carter showed ahh ahh his new dirt bike toy (i could choke you jen!) i now LOVE build a bear and will be back again... especially since i still have a chunk of money left on the gift certificate! maybe ahh ahh will get a halloween costume!

another year...

2008-09-22T08:47:00.008-04:00

so we celebrated carter's 2nd birthday on sunday... his actual birthday was thursday. he is in LOVE with mickey mouse clubhouse... hence the cake. he is also in LOVE with the cake... as i type this, he is looking at the picture on my screen, touching the screen, then licking his fingers and saying "mmm mom!" oh yeah, and he and i both enjoyed it again for breakfast this morning!
after an almost catastrophe (one of my bags of party stuff got left at party city... i almost cried. then my brother picked it up on his way to my house and all was well with the universe) the party was great! it was typical family chaos... we are a really loud bunch of people! jen actually thanked me for letting her finally experience one of the family parties she hears so much about! we may have finally completely frightened our neighbors though...
i decided to add a video clip because 1. i have never done one before and wanted to try it. and 2. it will give you a taste of the chaos that i call my family...

and then there are his gifts... a dirt bike/snowmobile helmet is a normal gift for a 2 year old right???there was a plethora of other toys... trucks with trailers, quad toys, play dough, tractor toys etc.
then there was jen and heffay's toy... a dirt bike that makes dirt bike noises. i told jen that this would be what woke me up this morning... she thought i was kidding. i wasn't. i woke up this morning to this dirt bike toy being revved up on my left cheek. boys... such interesting creatures!

we had so much fun yesterday at carter's party... thanks to everyone for everything! i am home with him today (i must have gotten a little "sick" from all the cleaning and preparing i did this weekend!)

now i need to get myself back into sewing again (i say that a lot don't i?) but for now, we have dirt bikes to play with...

***********************************************************************************

ADDENDUM!!!

as i was sweeping/mopping the kitchen floor, carter was VERY quiet in the living room. he had been playing very quietly with his new presents so i didn't really think much of it. then the smell hit me. i guess he's on his way to start potty training because he took his diaper off BEFORE pooping... but he pooped all over the floor. as if that were not enough, he then decided to smear the poop ALL OVER MY LEATHER COUCHES!!! did i mention i just had my carpets cleaned on saturday???

let me just say that i'm so glad i took today off to hang out with him (sarcasm).

quick update...

2008-09-17T10:03:00.003-04:00

so crazy pants lost his other front tooth... he and his brother were pretending to be dogs and were crawling around in the living room. clay tried to bite carter in the leg and oops! his other tooth fell out! let me also point out that they got their hair cut yesterday... so now the school pictures will be complete with a haircut and both missing teeth...

move over x games...

2008-09-15T08:21:00.006-04:00

so as you can see, clay cut his hair this weekend. he said he was mad that his brother ripped his art project he had been working on. so apparently the solution to that anger was to cut his own hair. now don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that i wish he had cut his brother's hair, but wouldn't that make more sense??? oh yeah, and guess when school pictures are... FRIDAY!!! guess who is getting a haircut this week (probably a buzz cut)...
then there is carter... he also needs a haircut. i have such a hard time cutting his hair though... i LOVE those curls! as you can see in this picture, he apparently also needs a bath! he was loving life yesterday running around in the yard and playing with the hose.

look at the eyes on grace (stella)... don't let her sweet little face fool you though!

and then there is this sweet little guy...

so this week thursday is carter's 2nd birthday... just wait til you all see the cake i have planned!!!

i'm so greedy

2008-09-10T10:01:00.008-04:00

so i actually accomplished another bag last night! ok, ok, so i made it for my big fat selfish self... but anyhoo, i still made something right? my machine was sounding a little overworked going through all that denim, but she pulled through like a champ!

not too much else to say! school is back in session and is STARTING to get into the routine of things... clay is a big 1st grader, and his teacher has reported that he has been awesome!!! i'm so glad... he's been a titch mouthy lately. i think he gets it from his father! ;) does anyone out there have any good back to school stories? is anyone out there actually reading this blog?

well folks, i'm gonna keep on keepin on... i have a lot of sewing planned for this weekend... let's see if it happens!

did i really say that???

2008-09-09T13:15:00.003-04:00

so yeah, we are rednecks. i know this picture is kind of blurry, but the gist of it is this... clay is holding a dead squirrel. gerry and clay were SO excited sunday to go squirrel hunting... they got all camo-ed up and headed out into the woods behind our house with gerry's 22. now don't let me fool you... i know NOTHING about guns, the only reason i know they took a 22 is because clay told me over and over again that "we got a squirrel with my dad's 22!" as a side note, i find it so funny that he always refers to gerry as "my dad", i am "my mom", carter is "my brother". it's cute... anyhoo, he was so excited that when he woke up the next morning he told my sister in law, as he waited for the bus, that mom was going to cook his squirrel for dinner... any parent knows that sometimes you say things to your kids that you NEVER in your life thought you would ever say... this was one of those times. i had to crush his hopes and dreams and tell him "we will NEVER eat squirrel buddy".

miracles DO happen!

2008-09-07T22:20:00.006-04:00

so i actually did some sewing today! gasp! it's a miracle! and i will tell you what, as i sat there stitching away, i remembered how much fun it is. it's very relaxing (sort of) and mind erasing. i sat there, watching the *mtv vma's and making the bag that i was supposed to make a month ago for gerry's little cousin's birthday gift. oops! sorry lex!

i love this denim i used... and i added a little pleat type thing in the front which i think is pretty cute. the denim has a little stretch to it and is softer and not as tough as regular denim... BUT it seems as though i should have washed it first...

hopefully this has now inspired me to get sewing again... i have LOTS to do! :)

*i have to say, that i am thoroughly enjoying this year's awards... i am finding lil wayne strangely attractive... and t.i.? forget about it!!! ;)

for those of you unsure of who in the world i'm talking about (yeah tina, i'm talking to you!)

this is lil wayne (i think it's the tattoos that get me!)

and this is t.i.

is it seriously september???

2008-09-02T22:08:00.005-04:00

so today was the first day back to school. how was it you may ask??? i can answer that in one word... disorganized. that's all i'm going to say about that.

we had a fabulous labor day weekend at the land... aka last weekend of freedom. really i'm happy to be back to work... i need the structure and schedule. you know who else needs that structure? that would be clay... who by the way lost his front tooth! (notice the mud on his forehead!)

how cute is he? every time he smiles or talks, i giggle! he starts first grade tomorrow. yeah, FIRST GRADE! i'm not sure why, but first grade seems 47 years older than kindergarden... not sure why, but it's freaking me out!

on the sewing front, tina and i decided to skip this month's indie market... thank goodness! i have done NOTHING!!! i need to get on it. can anyone motivate me???

did i say i was back in the saddle? i think i lied!

2008-08-23T12:22:00.006-04:00

so i guess my saddle isn't attached to my horse... i have done NOTHING when it comes to sewing. the problem is this... i am finally having my summer vacation and i'm trying to cram everything into 2 weeks! let's see...

we went to the fair... clay wanted to eat everything he saw! "can i have some cotton candy?" "can i have some pizza?" "can i have some ice cream? " can i have some pop?" etc. you get the picture. carter just sat in his stroller in amazement of the complete over-stimulation... he just pointed at everything and gasped "look at that!"

we have been boating and beaching a bit... clay climbs on the boat, jumps off, climbs back on, jumps off... ALL DAY!

and of course there is the tube...

carter likes to take a more simple, natural approach... skinny dipping in the pond at our land clay the snake wrangler... also at out land. i wish i didn't know that there were snakes like this living under our camper!

and then there are grace and tre... (actually no one seems to call him anything other than baby right now... we will see what happens!) she seems to like her brother so far. she kisses and hugs him... only occasionally does she dislike and want to maim him! :)
so that has been my last week or so... doesn't get much better than spending time with your family... well, ok, it could get a little better if say, gerry and i were far away on some exotic beach sipping margaritas... but you get the picture!

one more week then back to reality... and hopefully sewing!

i'm back in the saddle again!

2008-08-11T22:14:00.004-04:00

so tina convinced me. it is time to stop being so lazy and start sewing again! she keeps making all these fancy new creations... lamp shades, new style dresses, crayon rolls, ruffle bottomed pants... and all this with a lame wrist! check her out, she has been a busy little girl!

we were talking and she asked what i thought about doing the september indie market. i hemmed and hawed (get it? hemmed? bad joke.) because i haven't made anything in so long. i still have some bags, belts, headbands, wallets, and barrettes... but as for anything new? nada.

as i talked to tina trying to decide what to do, i looked into my sewing bins. i found about 13 bags that were already cut out and just waiting to be sewn together, as well as a crap load of fabric that has never been touched!

needless to say i think i've got the itch again! last night i cut out 7 more bags! i have a few more kids bags to put together... sponge bob, cars, care bears, mickey mouse and a cute princess one with tiaras. i am going to do some more denim bags, although this time i am going to line them with some colorful fabrics. i will be doing some more wallets too... frankly i think they are awfully cute! they're very functional too! mine is stuffed with store discount cards and works great!

well i guess this means you should stay tuned for some actual craft blogs in the next few days! oh yeah, and tina and i are going to share a table at september's market... that way neither of us need to have a ton of stuff done... just enough to fill half a table! :)

now, just for a few pictures...

gracie LOVES her new brother... so far! let's see what happens when the newness wears off!

clay... being clay! by the way, he is heading to the track tomorrow to see what it's like to ride his dirt bike on a real track... might this be our ticket to the x games someday? if so, he better remember who birthed him and show mama the money!!!

carter (or chippy (short for chipmunk) as we call him) was LOVING his spaghetti tonight! lately he suddenly is eating things he normally would never even look at let alone eat. but he STILL refuses to even try watermelon, which drives me crazy!!!

TEN POUNDS!!!

2008-08-06T23:17:00.003-04:00

so today was the day... my long awaited nephew was born! my goodness i feel like my sister in law has been pregnant FOREVER!!! well, she kind of has been! grace is only 17 months old... anyhoo, i'm happy to soon have my "good times" partner back. i love all of my friends and have a great time with them... but there is something about christiane that can't be duplicated! i love that girl!

so here is the proud papa getting all scrubbed up for the c-section... get it? "scrubbed up"... yeah, i know it's not funny.
look at that face! david martin canfield the third! 10 pounds, 21 inches, born at 11:58am today... i'm sorry, did you realize i just said 10 pounds? i can't even think about it... it makes me shudder!
and here is the proud family... christiane, dave, and trey. by the way, did i mention that i renamed their baby a few months ago? dave wanted his boy to be a third. chris has known that forever and was fine with it. i just wasn't sure what we would call the new guy... dave? no, his dad is dave. david? no, it sounds too formal for a little baby. davey? no, it's just... no. so i decided that i will call him trey since he is the third. chris likes it... dave? i don't think so much.
oh yeah, and don't forget about trey's big sister grace... and his two big "brother-cousins" as clay calls them. he always says that grace is like his sister, but she's his cousin too. this apparently makes her a "sister-cousin". hence trey's label as a "brother-cousin". seriously though, how sweet is that? anyhoo, here they are... the big sister and big "brother-cousins"... they look like a bunch of renegades!

who knew i was psychic?

2008-08-04T22:45:00.007-04:00

so i have been tagged by tina. being tagged means i am supposed to write 7 things that people don't know about me. i find this a titch difficult seeing that the only people who really read my blog are my friends and family but... i will do my best!

oh yeah, and by being tagged, i now have to tag 7 other people... not sure i have 7 other people to tag but i'll try!

so, first i will tag heather from dooce... i know this is a long shot but, what the heck! she is quite possibly THE funniest person i have ever read in my life! but, she's kind of a blog-guru so i'm not sure she will have the time for this crap... read her blog though... she's HYSTERICAL!!!

then i will tag misty from ourhouse... she made me the super cool pink elefant box of goodies that i won.

next i will tag picklesanddimes... this is a new blog i have discovered that is also really damn hilarious.

then i will tag my little monkey... she won my pay it forward... by the way, i will be sending your gift asap i PROMISE!!!

then there is my cousin kelly at irish aria.

my sewing teacher vicki at hollyhocks... she's ready to birth twins any day now, but maybe she'd like a little something to keep her busy!

last, i will tag the new girl... another blog that makes me laugh.

so i actually have 7... who knew it?

anyhoo... my 7 little known facts...

1. i have a really weird memory linking songs to occasions... for example, every time i hear that "angel" song by shaggy i think of an incident that happened (QUITE a few years ago) with my sister in law and a friend at a local bar... i won't get into it, but let's just say that we were kicked out and some fists were thrown. this brings me to my second little know fact...

2. i am not tough. at all. BUT if you heard my mouth when i get going, you would think i was mike tyson under this blonde hair! i really am such a weinie that it's kind of pathetic. if i stub my toe or get a paper cut, you would think that the world was ending! but oh boy can i talk the talk! i have actually had grown men admit that they are scared of me!

3. i have absolutely NO money management skills. for real. any suggestions??? i'm open to any advice!

4. my girl tina who tagged me originally scarred me for life from playing sports. way back in the day i was on an opposing t-ball team... i was playing short stop and she hit a line drive that blasted me in the ankle. ever since then i have been afraid to play any sports.

5. i have ripped on tina about that story forever!!! she doesn't remember it... so she says! honestly, as i said in #2 my ankle was fine... i'm just a baby! BUT believe it or not, i was actually a fairly good gymnast in my day... from age 4 until 14 or so i did gymnastics. the people at my gym wanted me to start competing, but my friend that i went with wasn't good enough to compete and i didn't want to do it alone so i stopped doing gymnastics. what a tool i was!

6. until i hit junior high i was FRIGHTENINGLY shy! yeah, i'm serious! everyone called me "velcro child" because i never left my mom's side.

7. i have videos from 8th or 9th grade where i profess my love for my now husband. i am obnoxious and giggling, with my big glasses and braces saying "i love gerry stead. some day i will marry him. i LOVE gerry stead. some day i will be mrs. gerry stead." also, at my mom's house, there are probably 47,000 places that say "i heart gerry" written on the walls of closets, written on desks, written on basement walls, etc.

who knew it? maybe #8 should be that i just realized that i was psychic in 8th grade! :)

i have a winner!

2008-07-28T23:28:00.005-04:00

so i have a winner for my pay if forward contest! and the winner is... hangel from my little monkey! her pet peeve???

"How to narrow it down? My pet peeve is people who get in line in front of you at Subway and order like 15 subs for different people and need to pay for them separately."

who doesn't agree with that? as for the prize? i will have to do a little chatting with her to find out her likes and dislikes before i make/buy her prize.

not to take away from the excitement of the contest, i do have a few cute photos of my boys... and when i say boys, i mean my children AND my husband!

oh dirt bikes... i really hope that clay can someday repay me for all of my breakdowns i get watching him on that damn dirt bike! and does gerry help? NO! he buys him a bigger dirt bike! and then rides my baby around on it... ON THE DIRT BIKE JUMP!!! i don't know who is worse! clay, who thinks of NOTHING other than dirt bikes, carter who makes constant dirt bike sounds, or gerry who is constantly thinking of other jumps/ tracks he can build for the dirt bikes!

kinda blurry... but clay is jumping his honda 50

and gerry and carter are jumping the sukuki 60.

THERE IS TOO MUCH TESTOSTERONE IN MY HOUSE!!!

PAY IT FORWARD YA'LL!

2008-07-23T22:32:00.002-04:00

so since i was lucky enough to be a winner winner winner from misty's pay it forward contest, i am now compelled to host my own. (don't worry misty, you didn't guilt me into it) for those of you who have NO IDEA what i'm talking about it goes a little something like this...

i won a cool random gift from misty
i am thankful for the gift and feel as though someone else would love a cool random gift
i have a contest on my blog and give away a cool random gift to someone else
the winner of my cool random gift feels compelled to pay it forward and host a contest to give someone else a cool random gift.
and so the cycle continues...

get it? easy enough right? if you want to enter and don't have your own blog to pay it forward on, that's fine... we can figure it out!

so, if you want to enter, here is what you need to do...

leave me a comment telling me your biggest pet peeve

that's it. my contest will close on monday july 28th at 9:00pm. entertain me folks! i have so many pet peeves it's scary! HOW ABOUT YOU???

i won! i won! i won!

2008-07-22T19:51:00.006-04:00

so i never win anything. ever. seriously, never. any idea how excited i was to find out that i won the pay it forward contest from misty at ourhouse? if you have no idea what i'm talking about, check out swistle. she encouraged droves of people to host their own pay it forward contests.

when i found out i won, it was as if i had won the lottery! i had no idea what i won, or who the person was that i won from! it was very exciting... and i must admit, i have been checking the mailbox like a freak the past few days... and finally today THIS came in the mail...

the box was so cute that i didn't even want to open it... but i did. quickly. as excited as a kid on xmas! oh the goodies!!!for me, some yummy smelling lotion and perfume, fabulous candles, and super cute picture holders.but misty didn't stop there! she threw in some books for my boys (they have audio cd versions too!) it turns out that she and i both have 2 boys right around the same age. oh yeah, there were cool stickers in there too, but they disappeared before i could snap a picture. why are kids so damn fascinated by stickers? i don't get it. don't get me wrong, i collected plenty scratch and sniff and garbage pail kids stickers when i was young...

so, i just want to extend a HUGE thanks to misty... i (and my boys) love everything in there!thanks again SO MUCH!!! and if anyone is wondering, her blog is hysterical... check her out!

now, as for hosting my own pay it forward contest... i would do it in a heartbeat. my only problem is that i really don't have all that big of a reader base (except for you tina, andrew and vicki! ) not that i wouldn't love to give one of my 3 readers a gift, but i wouldn't have to hold a contest for it! is anyone out there other than them reading this? should i do a contest??? anyone? suggestions?

big weekend!!!

2008-07-16T23:33:00.003-04:00

so i really have not too much to say... i am sitting in bed staring at my computer trying to get tired. i can't believe that i am actually TRYING to get tired! the thing is, we are leaving tomorrow morning for the illustrious jamboree in the hills and i CAN NOT WAIT!!!

a large part of our crew headed down this morning, and gerry and i are hitching a ride with our good friend madeja tomorrow morning.

just an fyi- this weekend will be a weekend of craziness! that's the beautiful thing about the jambo... but it's a kind of an organized craziness. i will do my best to take a few blog friendly photos to post when i get back on monday... i can't promise anything!

all i have to say is BRING ON THE SUNSHINE AND KID FREE/ RESPONSIBILITY FREE WEEKEND!!!

*** COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC***
there is a designer named Sandi Henderson whose blog, P ortabellopixie informed us all of a giveaway. it is a fabulous quilt made out of her fabrics from her Ginger Blossom line. i want it BAD!!! go to Old Red Barn if you would like to check it out and try to win it too... just know that if you win it, i WILL steal it form you! :)

ahh... summer time!

2008-07-09T20:28:00.003-04:00

so for the 4th of july weekend, a whole slew of us went camping** at our property in franklinville. it was a GREAT weekend! beautiful weather, awesome fireworks, good friends, and some reaaly great bon fires! my boys ADORE going to the land... clay swims, fishes, rides his dirt bike, and hunts for critters ALL DAY LONG! many times i can't even get him to stop and eat! carter is a little mud obsessed these days... see that gorgeous pond*** in the background? he was happy as a pig in poop playing on the beach and watching the older kids catch fish. although he was very content sitting on his bike riding back and forth through the mud. as you can see... if you look close, you can see his mouth making the motor noises (that he makes ALL THE TIME!!!)

in that gorgeous pond are some beautiful coi and some delicious perch! my nephew garrett was so proud to catch a bunch of perch! my father in law showed him how to fillet the fish, which my mother in law later fried for everyone. my good gravy was it delish!

on a different but similar note... on tuesday we took the boys to wendt beach in angola for a few hours. clay barely took a breath! he was a swimming machine! jumping waves, flipping underwater, doing handstands, one-handed handstands, no-handed handstands??? (he's weird ok?)

carter had never been to a beach and seen waves before. for a long time he stood at the edge watching VERY carefully and trying to figure it all out. he was a HUGE fan of the seagulls! ( if you ask clay what mom thinks of seagulls, he will promptly tell you that "mom says seagulls are rats with wings"... am i wrong?) well toward the end carter decided that he was ok with playing in the water up to his fat little feet... any waves that came up higher, he was NOT fond of!
in conclusion, it was a great 4th of july weekend, and a great day at the beach... our next mission? taking the boys on the boat this weekend... i'm crossing my fingers for good weather and good behavior! ;)

** i have a hard time really calling it camping... my in laws have a gorgeous camper with running water, a septic system toilet, electricity, and direct tv. now don't get me wrong, the rest of us rough it more, but the in law's camper is always a few steps away if need be!

*** i don't want people thinking... eew! a pond! it's so not a typical pond... it's super clean, clear, warm, and fresh. by fresh i mean that it is constantly being fed pure spring water from the many underground springs that we have on our property. listen, if you know me at all you will know i'm not a "let's go swim in that pond" kind of girl. i'm a "let's swim in that squeaky clean pool that i know is practically sterile". just an fyi.

life in the country... i LOVE it!

2008-07-02T21:10:00.007-04:00

so typically gerry does all the flowers at our house... ok he does all of the "outside" work. but this year, i was given the go-ahead to go to the farmer down the street and buy our flowers for the yard. gerry ALWAYS gets red and white, and i'm allowed to get pink flowers for the BACK yard. well this year was different... i was in charge! i packed up my boys... clay on his bike and carter in our big double stroller. we hiked the mile down the road to pick out our flowers. since clay and i were making the decisions, we picked all pink and purple-ish flowers! the picture below is our stroller going home... 2 hanging baskets and flats under the stroller and in the special mega sized storage part. *****

here is one of the friendly horses on our road... they come right to the fence and let you pet them... they are GORGEOUS!
well, today was the planting day. gerry left to mow, we went off to the store to get potting soil etc. after MANY hours, we planted 3 and 1/2 flats of flowers! here are a few...

and a few more...
here are all the empty container and tags that clay "collected" so he could take them this weekend and show everyone. not sure what the allure of them is, but i'm also not 6... and a HALF! i have to say, clay and i typically butt heads a bit... we are VERY similar and both VERY stubborn. he was SUCH a good helper today! he was so proud of every flower we planted. he kept telling me how gorgeous and beautiful all our flowers were. he's so sweet! when he wants to be! ;) i told him that i would pay him if he worked really hard. he asked what i would pay him with... when i told him love, he looked at me like i was on crack! i assured him i would pay him with dairy queen and everything was all better!

carter LOVES the wagon... every pile of dirt we had to take back in the woods and dump, he HAD to ride the wagon back.

how disgusting is this??? I NEED A PEDICURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and in closing, this weekend is 4th of july. this is the weekend when a whole big clan of us go to our property in franklinville and PARTY for the weekend. we swim in the pond, fish, hike, ride atvs, drink, chill by the bonfires, drink, eat a lot, watch AMAZING fireworks, and drink a little more.

so, i mentioned swimming... this means we need a bathing suit right? well, this poses a problem. i'm so fat right now that all of my bathing suits are a JOKE to even think about. so i made a quick stop today and tried on a bunch of suits. now let me just say that i had carter with me. i tried on about 10 bathing suits (while trying to keep carter from running free, which would make me have to chase him out in the store in the bathing suits- EEKS!) i finally settled on this one.

ok, i know what you're thinking... a bathing suit with a skirt? why not just wear a one piece with a skirt? i'm not that old yet. it's still a 2 piece... the top isn't too bad... the skirt, well, what can i say? i'm getting old and chubby folks. i'm working in it ok?

happy 4th to everyone... have fun, be careful, and don't blow any phalanges off with fireworks! :)

*****ADDENDUM- yeah, that's a coors lite can in my stroller... it's a LONG walk to the farm and back! ;)