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! 

its delish!

 
ian enjoyed eating his second cup of ice cream. the first cup fell on the ground. imagine that! 

its the birthday girl

elise just celebrated her birthday. and what a great time we had! she got to open presents, and we went and ate ice cream & all kinds of good stuff. i think she had a really nice day. 

it a girl thing

here i am with my two sweet girls. i sure do love my kids! 

a family photo

 

the blue suit

here is ian in the adorable "old-fashioned" outfit i bought for him for the blessing. it wasn't a big hit with the menfolk in my home this weekend. since they decided it was too girly, i told ian it was a tarheel suit & showed him the kite on the front & he fell in love with it. he didn't want to part with it! =) 

the fab four

here we are together again.... 

here is merry grace in her blessing outfit. her cousin julian was born about six weeks after she was born & he was blessed sunday also. they look so precious! 

the whole family

what a good-looking group we are!