sassy frassy

i believe this look says it all! =) 

is this a good idea?

ian was not quite sure it was a good idea to slide down into the pool. he's hanging on for dear life! 

help me get off this thing!

silly willy

these two adorable girls pulled a chair up and ate their popcorn, while pretending to watch spiderman on the side of the refrigerator. now that's imagination for you! 

chocolate heaven

a chocolate cake based on a recipe from daddy. oh yeah...it was good! 

kyleigh, marleigh, emmy, & elise....notice ian's not about to let those girls leave him out! 

daddy daughter

sweet sugar....don't you love the way her little mouth turns up where cory is kissing her? 

the big day!

on may 1st, elise went to her friend madi's birthday party. madi was talking about how she was getting her ears pierced that night. apparently her parents wanted her to start buckling herself into her booster seat by herself. when she had done it for a certain amount of time, she got her ears pierced. i don't think elise had even noticed pierced ears until that moment. but she picked up on it in a hurry. she talked and talked about getting her ears pierced and i kept telling her "no". but she was so persistant. so cory & i discussed it and told her that if she would sleep in her bed for one month, then she could get them pierced. and what do you know?! she did it! she did it without complaining or whining or crying, not even once! this was a really difficult thing for her & she had tried many times before. so i was incredibly proud of her accomplishment & gladly rewarded her with pierced ears. so here she is, right afterwards, sitting on a bench in the mall eating her vanilla ice cream & sprinkles!

 

girls day out

elise & i had such a fun time saturday for a "girls morning out". first we went to the mall to get her ears pierced. she was so grown up about the whole thing & was very brave. then we got some breakfast (and ice cream) at the food court. next we headed to get manicures. i had a gift certificate, so for $9.00 elise & i both got manicures. this was a first for both of us and we had such fun. elise picked out a pretty purplish pink--maybe fushia--color for her nails. i had a french manicure & loved it as well. the lady who did elise was soooooo sweet and nice to her. there were probably 5 or 6 women in the salon at that time, too, and after one of them finished she came over to the girl working on elise & handed her some money. she said, "this is for being so sweet with that little girl right there. that is just great!" then she turned and looked at elise and said, "you are such a good little girl." and then she turned to me and goes, "and you are a good mama." it was just really nice. elise and i sure thought we were fancy! =)

memories

today is the anniversary of grandpa arnold's death. i think about him often, but particularly on this day. maybe its because the date is so close to my birthday, but i feel connected to him, even in his death. i have lots of memories of him, some of my own & some from stories i've heard from grandma delia and mama. i have a tender place in my heart for him, even though i didn't know him for very long on this earth. i know that he loved me. i think he felt about me the way grandma delia does, even to this day. if i had a fan club, grandma would be #1 in it. she thinks i can do anything. she believes i'm the best at everything i do, from scrapbooking, to mothering, to piano playing. i think that's sort of how grandpa thought about me when i was a little girl. he sure was proud of everything i could do. one of my "snapshot memories" of him is of him walking around the corner of the porch at grandma's & i was running along beside him. i remember him lifting me up and putting me on his shoulders and me just giggling. often i think about him, wondering what he thinks of me now, with my own sweet little family. i bet he would love it. i had a neat experience the week before merry grace's blessing. one morning in the shower, i was thinking how neat it was that so many people would be there for the blessing & how glad i was to have both daddy & ethan be able to participate. it just hit me that i wished both my grandpa's could be there, too. immediately as i thought that, i had this one clear image of grandpa arnold & grandpa jarrell, dressed in suits, walking into our cultural hall. all it was was that one image. but it was a very special experience for me. even now, as i type it, my eyes are filled with tears. i'm so grateful to be part of an eternal family. if there's anything grandpa arnold would have wanted, it would be for all of us to be able to be together forever.

odds and ends

my flowers, which a few weeks ago were the envy of my neighbors, (not that i know this for a fact, but if they weren't, they should have been), are now looking rather peaked. anyone know the proper method for pruning snapdragons?

along the same lines, i want to till up to small spots beside the house for a little garden. mainly i'm looking to plant squash, tomatoes, & peppers. i know i'm behind, but maybe there is still time! i also need to get me a good pair of gardening gloves to weed the flowers & veggies in.

i had to get my hair cut a few weeks ago because some of my hair was breaking off. i've never had that happen. i'm still not entirely sure what caused it. but either way, i had to get a trim because of it & i'm not really satisfied with it. some days it looks good & i love it, mostly i just think its too high maintenance and is just annoying and frustrating. i think every day should be a hat day. that's hair for you!

i have six loads of laundry to fold. heaven help us!

i made daddy's bread again. actually cory did most of the making this time, but it was delicious! i think the bread may be my eating downfall. i can't resist it. elise & i especially love it with maple butter spread on top. wow!

that's about all. i'm anxiously awaiting the american idol season finale tomorrow night. how exciting is that going to be?!

our little alfalfa

i'm not exactly sure what inspired this, but cory fixed ian's hair like this. i can't help giggling every time is see this picture! 

bread & butter

so, most of you know that my dad is the bread man. everyone loves his bread. its pretty near perfection in bread. he left me some starter when they were down last weekend & i've made bread twice. both times the bread has turned out really well & i've been quite pleased with the results. i posted pictures below of the loaves i baked yesterday. i mixed up the dough & then cory & the kids kneaded the loaves the next morning. elise actually kneaded one of the loaves with a plastic alligator. ;) but even it seems to have turned out well! cory's uncle and his parents came up yesterday and tasted some of the results & i think the consensus was that it was a success!

bread

 

elise gets a haircut

elise has been asking for months for a haircut. a short haircut. and we've held off...until now. this morning we cut elise's hair, maybe 6 inches shorter. and she absolutely loves it! i mean loves it. the first wave around her hair, it was already almost to her shoulders. i quickly realized i shouldn't have positioned her in front of the mirror because she went crazy over it. she was flipping her hair around and running her hands through it and all kinds of stuff. she thinks its great. and i think its cute too. cory, who was the most hesitant about the haircut, especially liked it. she looks more grown up, but that's what she's doing a lot of these days--growing up. i was quite proud of myself on the job i did, seeing as how i'm not an official stylist. quite the successful morning, i would say!

the flipside

here is elise from the back. lov-e-ly... 

haircut

here is the finished product. doesn't she look fancy! 

American idol

i was too devastated last week over chris' untimely departure to post about it. i thought he was great & was hoping he would win it all. he seemed like a genuinely nice guy & he had some of that good ol' country boy feel. but he also had sort of a sexy, rocker/bad boy thing going on, just a little bit. and he was from north carolina! if i weren't so addicted to the show, i would have boycotted it. i don't know what happened. but i was NOT happy about it. although i think elliott is precious & tenderhearted & i liked him more after this week's show, i couldn't believe he survived longer than chris. while it seemed like there was a strong female vote for ace at one point, in my extremely unofficial poll of my friends & associates, we all thought chris was much more appealing. the finale will not be as good without him there. cory is pulling for taylor--actually has been the whole time. the thing i like about this season, is that i would be happy with either taylor or katharine winning. usually in reality tv competititons, there is one person i love & one person i don't. so i'm glad for that. i don't think i've actually decided who i'm going to root for. i think i'm leaning toward taylor, but as soon as i type that i think, "no katharine..." so i don't know. maybe it just doesn't matter! (now that chris' gone.) i think taylor may have some of that clay aiken charm, with a little more edge. so in that way, i think he might have a better chance. plus, he's unique. katharine, however, is gorgeous & really looks the "americal idol" part. and she is a really good singer. the word is that she might not do as well with the female vote, which i think is petty and silly. but that's a whole other post. i guess now all we can do is wait....

my body is falling apart

okay, i'm pulling an "i want to tell you about my ailments". so here it goes. i think my body is falling apart. i've had some semblance of a urinary tract infection for the last few months. it seems to come & go & the two antibiotics i've taken so far have not cleared it up. this morning i noticed i seem to have developed a sty, yet again. what is the deal with those all of a sudden? so today i went to the dr. to see about my UTI and sty. i had my legs crossed as i sat on the exam table & discussed my situation with the dr. at some point i uncrossed my legs and the dr. goes, "is that a birthmark on your leg?" since i could think of nothing that even vaguely resembled a birthmark, i bent over to see what he was talking about. it was just this big red circle where one leg had been touching the other. big whoop! but thanks for noticing, doc. anyway, he proceeds to ask me if i have bad allergies. i was like, "no, not really. i've never noticed that i do." so he says, "oh, well, you just have really red blotchy skin, like you might have allergies." again, thank you for noticing. he also seemed to think i might have a yeast infection along with the uti. and this is on top of the fact that my hair continues to fall out from postnatal hormones and i think i got food poisoning over the weekend. yep, i woke up monday morning with a bad case of diarrhea. i went to the bathroom 15 times in the course of about 5-6 hours. i pretty much pooped nonstop for about 36 hours. so you can bet i was feeling great from that. so there you have it. i'm just broke down. but i sure had on a cute outfit today! ;)

say cheese!

for my birthday i got a new camera. we'd had our old digital camera for four+ years. and in the world of electronics, that's a lifetime! although not quite as bad as my mom, i certainly inherited her picture taking, so i absolutely adore my new camera. it does so many cool things & has settings for almost every possible contingency. so far i'm stoked over the pictures i've taken. below i've posted some of the fun i've had with it!

snapdragons

this is one of the snapdragons i planted last fall. almost all of them survived the winter. they are so pretty. i can't believe i've never planted any before! 

what happened next?

don't you wonder what happened right after i took this picture? 

the sandbox?

we have a sandbox in our backyard. a real sandbox with real sand. but the kids would much rather play in the driveway dirt they call their sandbox. go figure... 

here, kitty, kitty, kitty....

another cat picture. i think our cat (or maybe cats, in general) is very photogenic. she is just a pretty animal. 

flowers

i love the flower setting on the camera. the close-up and detail is very cool. this is some kind of flower that came up in my box from last year. 

hi-ya!

here is our super-ninja. he's wearing one of elise's necklaces & bracelets. 

elise & maria

elise sure loves this kitty! 

petunia

this is my favorite color petunia. i love the two-tone & the details. i plant petunias every spring, mostly pinks & purples, but they are all pretty. 

random thoughts

1. did you know that "the sound of music" was based on an actual family? i don't know how much is truth, but its interesting, nonetheless.

2. i'm like the modern day princess and the pea. my body feels every spring in our bed--in every bed we've ever owned, actually. no one else is bothered by them, but i always feel like i've slept on a passy or something. now there's proof that cory married a real life princess.

3. we bought laminate floor to put down in our living room. YAY!!! i hate carpet. as mama told me, its like gluing rags to your floor but never being able to clean them. how gross is that? anyway, yay for laminate.

4. i was devastated when chris got voted off american idol last week. i did NOT see that one coming. i think i may have to boycott american idol from now on.

5. i'm addicted to sweets & fabric. i feel compelled to eat every "sweet bite" i see. i feel compelled to buy at least one piece of fabric in every store i enter!

6. the dollar tree is such a fun place to go every now and then. there are so many things you can get for only $1.00.

7. i love to get mail! real mail, email, blog comments...any kind of stuff like that.

i like quizzes

okay, so i'm a quiz addict. if i get sent one, i feel compelled to take it. its a disease, i know, but i can't help it. i liked the results on this one, mainly because i love lilies & consider them one of my favorite flowers. it may not be very scientific or accurate but, daggone it! i liked it!

You Are A Lily

You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist. People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you. You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words. Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize.

What Flower Are You?

and we're off

 
today was a beautiful day for berry picking. it was sunny and warm, but not too hot & there was a wonderful breeze blowing. so the three kids and i headed off for a strawberry patch not far from home. sorry there are no pictures of merry grace, but needless to say, she didn't do much picking. =) besides, someone had to help me take pictures. 

a superb berry picker

 
elise was so careful to pick only big, juicy red ones. and she was quick too! we made short work of her bucket. 

running through the strawberry patch

 
ian's fun mostly consisted of him running way back in the strawberry patch to pick one berry & then running it back to the bucket at top speed. maybe not the quickest way to fill a bucket, but very entertaining! 

i scream, you scream...

 
the kids each got an ice cream cup after we picked strawberries. ian got srawberry cheesecake with gummy bears on top & elise chose chocolate covered banana with oreo crumbles on top. the chocolate covered banana was fabulous & may become one of my all-time favorites!