lila

we did have one minor mishap in our planting yesterday. on monday we went to the store and picked out some seeds, some gardening tools and other stuff. i let elise pick out a carton of petunias (six plants) to bring home for herself. there was one blossom on the whole carton--a dark pink bloom with white stripes. she promptly named this plant lila. she really became attached to it, carrying it around in her jacket to protect it from the wind before we planted it, and having me baby-sit it while she played on the swings. that afternoon we finally found a great spot for lila and began planting the plants. as we were doing it, milo was trying to grab the plants from us. i kept popping him and telling him no & it seemed he had gotten the picture. just as we got them all firmly in the ground i looked just in time to see milo bite off lila's blossom. i said, "oh no, milo!" and grabbed the bloom out of his mouth. elise stopped dead in her tracks, burst into tears and sobbed, "lila" as she cradled the chewed up flower in her hands. she cried and cried and cried, while i tried to comfort her--explaining about the other flowers that would bloom and so on and so forth. she calmed down some, still snubbing a little, though. finally with one last heart-wrenching sob, she sent lila off into the breeze and cried, "good-bye lila." it was absolutely one of the most pitiful things i have ever seen. today seems better & maybe when lila blooms some more, everythings will be fine! who knew the trials that little petunia would bring?

spring planting

i love spring! we've had beautiful weather this week & yesterday the kids & i got out in the yard for some spring planting. we planted some seeds--mostly flowers, transplanted some azealas & shrubs, and dug up some beds for more flowers. the kids helped some & played on the "playground" some and did their own things, too. we finished off the day by watering our newly planted things and i got to spray the kids down too. they loved it, as did i! i'd say our planting was a success!

magic markers

as you can see, ian's letting his creative juices flow, creating lots of nice body art. i remember elise doing that. once she hid in the closet, barricading the door with a stood, & colored her legs almost solid black! one of my favorite stories was of a child who colored all over the screen of the brand new big screen tv with black permanent marker.

ian's morning marker adventures.... 

ian's afternoon marker adventures... 

escapades in the ctr-5 class

i teach the ctr-5 class at church which is for the kids who will turn 5 this calendar year. several people have warned me about this particular class with comments like, "there are a couple of handfuls in there" and "they're really breaking you in with this class, aren't they?". they are a handful & they're a little rowdy & by noon when it's time to leave i have mental exhaustion from the constant string of, "sssshhhh...fold your arms....use your quiet voice.....please don't touch him....ssshhh....be reverent....don't touch her....sit down...listen...." you get the drift. some of it however, is just the age. here are my twilight zone moments from today's lesson. as i began to tell them something about jesus' life & ministry i look over at one girl who has started crawling around the classroom on all fours. i tell her to get up in her seat and she says, "but i'm bambi". so i tell her that she can be bambi as long as she can do it sitting in her chair. sounds like a great plan, right? a compromise? you might think that, but as soon as she gets up in her chair & i resume the lesson, i look over to see her LICKING HER LEGS! she's a deer! that's what they do! so for the rest of the lesson it was a battle of wills between a teacher who could barely control her laughter and a girl who thought she was bambi. in the end i'd say it was a draw.

out to eat

today we did something that we dont' do all that often. we went out to a sit down restaurant to eat a meal. we actually don't eat out because we like to eat at home & we'd rather spend our money elsewhere, but after today's bull-roping event, i'm reminded of another reason that we don't eat out too often. elise has always (okay, usually) been awesome at public venues--movies, restaurants, church, grocery store...you name it. ian, on the other hand, is a different animal. here's a rundown of how the meal went
1. we sit down, girls on one side of the booth, boys on the other.
2. ian begins climbing on the table to get to me.
3. cory & i change seats so i can be beside ian
4. ian begans shaking salt all over the table. while i clean that up he beging licking the ketchup bottle.
5. ian throws his straw in the floor & spills water out of the straw hole in his cup. while i clean that up he grabs the pepper shaker and sprinkle down the table.
6. ian gets out all the packets of nutrasweet and throws them across the table at elise. (he has a good arm and good aim for an 18 month old)
7. elise hollars as ian pelts her with more packets while cory and i scramble to confiscate all stray packets.
8. elise crawls under the table to escape ian and sulk b/c her spaghetti is "taking forever".
9. ian crawls on top of the table to get over to elise and/or the extra nutrasweet packets on the seat beside cory
10. i pull ian back and don't "let" him crawl on the table. he cries and hits me--i tell him no, he does it again, cory takes him over to his side, elise crawls under the table to me, ian cries b/c he can no longer get to me b/c he's in trouble.
11. "finally" the food comes--elise gets sauce on her new shirt, ian eats all the spagehtti with his hands. he wipes his face, his shirt, his pants, cory's jacket, the booth, and anything else he can get his hands on with spaghetti sauce. it was so bad the waitress brought us wet wipes.
12. cory & i shovel every last bite of our meal down, b/c daggone it we came here to eat a meal & we're going to eat it & enjoy it!
13. we order an apple crisp for dessert. ian slings ice cream and the yummy crumb topping around the booth.
14. we leave the place in shambles and congratulate ourselves on such a successful family outing!

the wooden spoon

apparently a wooden spoon & a blender don't mix, as i found out the hard way tonight. i was chopping ham & onion in the blender (since ian kindly misplaced the lid to my favorite chopper) for ham croquettes for supper. i was having trouble getting them chopped like i wanted--the blender was not nearly as effective as my little chopper--so i thought i would try to push the ham down so it would catch the blades. it seemed like a good idea in theory, but in reality--not so great. the ham & onion got chopped alright, but as you can see from the picture, so did the spoon. then, not only did i still have to get my ham and onion chopped, but i had to go through it and pick out splinters of wooden spoon from the mixture!

the mangled spoon... 

Logan, Ethan, Adam, and Kristen in Raleigh

similarities & memories

i remember when i was little that i loved inspector gadget. i created fantasies involving or revolving around inspector gadget and crew. one thing in particular was code maps. i began a collection of "code maps", or as they are known to non-spy people, public restroom paper towels. every time we went somewhere that had those three-fold paper towels, i had to take at least one home with me. the brown ones were the best, but all were good. today i took milo to the vet for more puppy shots and stuff. while in the exam room waiting for the vet, elise entertained herself by picking out brochures from a wall filled with them. the topics discussed in them ranged from traveling with your pet to salmon poisoning to feline immunodeficiency. this is a typical occurance whenever we're out. at the pediatrician's office we come out with a stack of brochures about sids, vaccination schedules, medicine dosages, and car seat safety. at the library we come home with multiple hand-outs about toddler time, wake county's book of the month, local senior activities, and tax information. and the list goes on. i'm not quite sure what elise's motive is, i remember why i carried loads of paper towels home from public bathrooms, but for her i'm not quite sure. either way, the similarities are intriguing if nothing else.

birthdays

yesterday was ethan's 22 birthday. (happy birthday again, bro.--as if you were actually reading this to know) i was thinking this morning about memorable birthdays. growing up we always got to pick the menu for the night of our birthday dinner. with ethan i always remember the time he picked something like pancakes and cole slaw for his meal. one time that i really remember was when i was little wanting a blackberry cheesecake instead of a traditional birthday cake. i thought it was the best thing ever! i also remember several birthdays as a teenager, my 16 and having lots of friends over for a cookout and games and stuff. i think it was that birthday that mama & i were decorating the cake. i can't exactly remember what we put on it, but the decorations were so atrocious that we had to scratch the whole cake and start over! birthdays are just the best! it's just a day when you feel special--when the world (or at least your little world) stops and takes notice of what a great person you are. it's like being queen for a day!

another first

we've been so blessed with the health of the kids. it really dawned on me this afternoon after taking ian to the doctor with his cough & runny nose. turns out he has an ear infection--our first one with either of the kids! elise will be 4 in may and has never had one & ian is 18 months & this is his first. so we've passed another milestone on the way to becoming fully indoctrinated parents!

pre-easter

cory's parents were going to be out of town for easter next weekend & wanted everyone to get together this past sunday. we decided that our house would be the best, with our swingset in the backyard for the kids to play on--weather permitting. so yesterday the whole barnett clan met here after church for a wild easter party. first off you have to realize that while our house is a perfect fit for us, it is not a huge house. so we had 11 adults and 9 children congregating in our little piece of heaven. we had lots of good food--turkey, roast beef, chicken salad, fruit, green bean cassarole, baked beans, veggies, salad, rolls and more dessert than you could figure out what to do with! after everyone had their fill, several people hid easter eggs in the backyard for the kids to find. each egg was stuffed with candy, so that was a treat! after the egg hunt, most of the adults watched carolina win their ncaa game to make it to the sweet sixteen. the kids played outside--running, playing, riding--and getting good and sugared up from the candy. girls far outnumber boys right now, so their was a lot of doll playing taking place. it is so fun to watch all the cousins play together. victoria is 8, dallen 7, kyleigh 4, elise 3, emmy 3, ericka 3, marleigh 2, ian 1, and charles allen 4 months. (the louisiana cousins katie and sarah grace are 3 and 1, but couldn't make it to our party). it's neat that even though they are different ages and have different personalities and all that stuff, they're family and they have a great time together. it was a blast--also known as 6 hours of utter and total chaos! it really was a lot of fun. what a great family!

something delicious

i just tried something delicious for the first time. while out with ethan, we got to talking about sonic & how good their food is. he mentioned how much he loved their cream pie shakes, something he had tried on his mission. it just happened to be convenient f0r us to swing by sonic =) and elise, adam, & i shared a chocolate cream pie shake. wow! it was great! ethan says the coconut is the best, but they also have banana & strawberry. i'll have to try them all and get back to you on my favorite! i pretty much like everything that sonic has. i have never tried anything there that i did not like. cory & i used to like to go there back when we lived in albertson. they have great fresh fruit slushies (i like lemon and lemon-berry best), their blt is good, their wraps are delicious, their toaster sandwiches rock....need i continue? and to top it all off they have come out with a great new set of commercials featuring these two guys in a car. they are soooo funny. i could totally do an infomercial or something for sonic! all offers can be sent to kristen@ilovesonic.com.....

odds and ends

it's germ central around here. pretty much everyone has some variation of the same bug--cough, stuffy head, runny nose, congestion, sore throat--you know the drill. me and the kids are staying with my family this week while cory's at a conference. it's actually turned out pretty good that everyone is sick. almost everyone was home today, so even though we felt crummy, we were all together. ian has been hit pretty hard by the whole thing. he's usually the happiest, most content little guy, even when he's sick. but this cold has gotten to him. he's been the grumpiest, fussiest, non-sleeping thing i've ever seen. maybe tomorrow will be better. tonight the kids are finally asleep. i was sitting here looking at them a minute ago, snuggled on the air mattress--elise on one side, curled into a little ball with her hands tucked under her cheek, milo stretched out on his back hogging the middle, and ian sprawled on his back, snoozing quietly on the other side. they're picture perfect. and i just want to pick them all up together and hold them and snuggle them and love on them. of course i can't, because they would all wake up and be extremely unhappy about the rude awakening, and the spell would be broken. i would like to think that even though i can't show them the feeling in my heart right now, that the kiss i blow them will settle upon their little heads and they will snuggle a little deeper into the covers. and even in their dreams they will know that they are loved as much as any children were ever loved...

cameras?!

as you may have read from my gymnastics post comments, we've been having camera trouble. for a while now we've had a digital camera & a 35mm camera. the digital i used mainly for emailing & computer stuff (and occasionally for a great picture i would print it out). the 35 mm i used for my scrapbooking stuff. well, over christmas i took my 35mm up to mt. airy, obviously, to photograph the kids opening their presents. after christmas day i never saw it again. i had just finished a roll of film that was still inside the camera that had ALL of christmas morning on it. we've looked everywhere--in mt. airy down here--and it didn't turn up. after we moved and there was still no sign of it i decided it was really gone for good. so a few weeks ago i bought another 35mm camera (just a fairly inexpensive, basic "film" camera). i didn't even have a battery for this camera yet, when daddy called last night to inform me that he had found my camera in the couch cushions! so now i have three--yes, three--cameras. one more & each member of our family can have one to use! this doesn't seem so bad in comparison to my mom--the camera queen. i think she must have at least, oh, six? i guess the camera collecting gene runs in the family!

how 'bout a little privacy?

this morning i'm getting ready and doing the "morning routine" when i turn around and see ian walking around dragging my bra behind him. i followed him with the camera ('cause he did look cute) and sure enough he got it on, more or less! just another example that your life is not your own once you have children, and apperantly neither is you bra! (or anything else within reach!)

look what i got! 

those things are tricky to figure out! 

he finally got it on! 

gymnastics show

this saturday was elise's first gymnastic's show, and boy are we proud of her! i don't think i could be any prouder of her if she became the next mary lou retton, than i was this weekend. this show was a big accomplishment for her and she did superb! we got started off for the show with elise decked out in her new red leotard (complete with sparkles) & her hair braided to a tee, with matching red ribbons tied at the bottom. we got to the show & got to watch elise march out with her group, salute, and do each event. she did forward rolls & cartwheels on the floor & a routine to "the tummy tango", casting and loops on the bars, lots of jumps on the trampoline, walks on the beam, and jumps at the vault. she was fabulous! it was so much fun to watch for her big ta-da at the end and clap our little hearts out. yay elise!

yay! trampoline--one of elise's favorites! 

getting ready to do a cartwheel 

elise pushing up on the bars, with a little help from miss jodi. 

elise walking on the balance beam 

elise holding her trophy from the gymnastics show. miss francine & miss jodi sure are proud! 

perspectives

i was noticing the other day how much your perspective changes. for example, when you have your first child you find how much you took for granted doing everything by yourself, whenever & however you wanted. i suddenly realized after having elise that i could do just about everything i had done before, only now i could do it one-handed, holding a baby. shopping, cooking, cleaning, all took on new meaning. it makes me wonder why in the heck i couldn't get more done before i had her. then just when i was getting comfortable, i had ian. then i realized that i could do everything i had done before, only now i could do it holding a baby and keeping tabs on a toddler. the funny thing is, that now if i only have one of the kids everything is a piece of cake. where before it was so much more difficult, now after taking care of two kids, watching one is soooo easy. the other day, elise spent the afternoon at cory's new office (yay cory!) and i just had ian. we went and got ice cream, took milo to the vet, cleaned out and vacuumed the van, and made a couple of other stops that i has been putting off. and it was sooooo easy! the same is true if i ever go shopping with just elise. it's like nothing. it's really not so much in how easy or hard the task is, it's just what your perspective on it is!

Kristen, Adam, Logan, Ethan - Having Fun in the Snow!

let it snow

i love snow. i loved it so much that i was afraid when i moved down east after getting married that i would miss out on the snow each winter. but that hasn't happened. each year since we got married in august 1999, we've had at least one good snow! some have even been 8-9 inches so we've had some great ones, even the year we lived in wilmington. i feel like Someone is watching over me, sending me a little present each winter to remind me of home. this winter didn't look so good. it has only snowed once significantly and that just happened to be right after christmas when we were still in mt. airy! so we missed it! i was afraid with the season so far gone, this might be the year we didn't get any. but then a surprise snow storm hit mt. airy this weekend while we were up there visiting. sunday night around 10 the snow began to fall--a wet, heavy snow. we slept on an air mattress in the living room floor and turned on the outside lights so that everytime i woke up i could see the big flakes falling. it was so cool! we woke up to a solid 5 inches on the ground. elise, who has been praying for snow off and on since before christmas was thrilled. we went out later in the morning to play and had a great time. elise & ian ate half the yard with grammy helping them only eat "clean snow":-) we did a little sledding--elise & ian loved that. they had a blast going down the hill. i even tried the snowboards. adam was pretty good, and even though he had warned me that it was tough, he had made it look so easy that i thought i could do it. i did okay going down--until i fell off and landed on my face! between the jarred head and the bumps and bruises from the subsequent 10 falls, i was on a roll! i actually made it all the way down once without falling! i'm not sure it was worth it, but it was fun! adam didn't fall at all, i don't think. ethan did good when he did it normally. he kept trying to do new tricks, like get a running start and jump on it before he went down the hill or he and logan tried to "double snowboard" which worked about as well as the running and jumping did. it was fun to watch, though. the boys had a snowball fight which was pretty rough. mama wanted a picture of the four of us kids but she barely got them in in between one or the other of them pounding the other with a snowball. we had a great time playing and then went in for hot chocolate and them mama fixed a wonderful lunch of bacon, country ham, biscuits (some homemade sourdough ones by daddy) and eggs. it was a perfect snowday!

it's hard to imagine you could get that hot in the snow... 

the boys had an intense snowball fight...so much so that they got hot & kept taking off layers. i was beginning to wonder if it was "strip snowball fight". 

ian loved the snow. even by the end when he was cold & wet, he didn't want to come in! 

elise had a blast in the snow. she loved eating it & sledding! 

everything was beautiful & white 

the snow was so heavy & wet. everything was covered. 

milo & cheese 

we don't need another dog for milo to snuggle with! he's got elise's stuffed dog cheese! 

here's ian and milo. they have a little different relationship than do elise & milo. from a distance this may look like another cute & cuddly picture. but if you take a closer lok you can see ian has milo in a chokehold & milo is bearing his teeth! :-) b 

lisy was just in a silly mood! she got tickled at me taking pictures of her and milo in the laundry basket! 

elise planned this arrangement for her & milo to watch cartoon in. if you look really closely below elise's face you can see a itty bitty bit of fur. that's milo cuddled up with her.