sweet as strawberries....

the last two days have been a little on the stressful side...
in a good way though. sometimes the thought of doing things (even fun things) overwhelms me with all three kids. i keep waiting for some sort of routine to "kick in" and have my days be the picture of perfection... well planned out and organized so that nothing ever goes wrong. i kinda feel like i may be giving myself false hope, i'm not sure anymore that smooth running days can exist with three kids three and under unless we are locked away in our home... sigh

the weather here has been what i call perfect. nice warm breezy days with a slight chill in the evening. february is strawberry month in florida. and what better way to spend this perfect weather, last couple days of strawberry month season then to take the kids strawberry picking!




i loaded up the mini van with a packed (yoder's style) lunch and we headed up to the local farm, we spent the whole morning/afternoon playing on the playground, petting smelly farm animals, and picking nice, yummy, big and juicy red strawberries... except for alivia, her favorite seemed to be the green ones, and as i quickly learned U PICK EM, U BUY EM!
levi was amused by all the animals. brian loves any and all animals and levi most definitely got some of that in his blood.
he is now obsessed with rabbits and has been begging to "go back to the farm playground and bring back my black rabbit"....
i think he honestly thinks that brian is going to do it tomorrow with him. yikes!
we packed up our small yet hearty pile of strawberries and brought them home to make strawberry short cake. i chuckled because all the kids talked about while we were picking was how much they wanted to eat their strawberries but only ate the whipped cream off of the shortcake.... levi then told me he no longer likes strawberries, and that daddy told him he didn't have to eat them anymore. which is what i have noticed him doing more lately "mommy said", "daddy said"...



the kids spent the day today doing their most favorite thing, and it's been a while since they last did it so it held their attention practically all day....
playing in the back yard! driving their power wheel, catching lizards and frogs, digging in dirt... just getting plane filthy.
while i scrapbooked.
i am officially all caught up on january YEA!
too bad march starts tomorrow and i will officially be behind again! :(
i finished in just enough time to throw them into the bath and head out to saturday night dinner with my family.

the last two days have been full fun filled, and have more then worn us all out....
the kids were out just seconds after night time prayer, and now so am i!
tah tah...

sisters so sweet...

i've noticed the girls are becoming fast friends these days.



i fear it won't be too long before poor levi is left out! :)

addictions (a habit of activity, often times injurious) TAGGED...

so, i was tagged by my blogging friend...and now have to share some of my many, many addictions...

honestly i have a super, duper additive personality! thank heavens i have never tried drugs... i may have been in serious trouble!

so here it goes....

1~ i have a mysteriously strange obsession with brooms, mops and vacuums. really, i light up every time i see a new kind on TV and then rush out to buy it. i have a old dyson and i'm longing to get the one with the ball. it would be a dream come true! :P

2~ pictures...
i LOVE pictures! looking at them, taking them, professional, mine not mine it doesn't matter! i could sit and stare at pictures all day. and with this obsession comes the great expensive of cameras. i have five of them and currently have one that i have been eyeing to get. i keep one in the car at all times, one at the house and i always have one in whatever diaper bag i'm taking out. i never go one place without a camera and often times drive friends and family nutty with all the pictures i make them pose for!

3~ (i could so totally say target, but i won't because my friend meg already took it) so, i will go with shopping in general. i have a serious addiction to spending money. it doesn't matter what it's for or how much it is. spending makes me happy.... until brian notices the bags that is. i have gotten way, WAY better at this addiction over the last year. but sometimes i still can't resist. i often times break up all the things that we "really" need into several different trips so that i can feel like i'm shopping more even though i'm really not. i guess i kinda feel accomplished when i'm buying something. and target is my store of choice... but khol's isn't half bad either, OH and jo-anns i could spend all day in there! ;)

4~ this one makes me kinda sad. cause over all i find it a waste of time and my life... but, i love my shows! i have said before i am not a huge fan of watching them during the season on TV (with the exception of greys and house) but much prefer them on DVD so that i can watch a straight 100 hours like i'm on crack!
well, maybe not straight through but i will watch like 5 episodes of an hour long show a night though. i can't handle waiting to see what happens next. and i have far to many shows that i am addicted to. greys, house, the office, lost, big love, brothers and sisters, jon and kate.... there are probably more that i'm forgetting but those are the most important ones near and dear to my heart!

5~ i have a POGO fixation. it has been on and off for 5 years or so. they offer these stupid little game challenges every week and you get a badge if you complete it. the badges don't do anything, but i got to have em!
i will leave a game up all day long on the screen and just randomly play a game here and there in between loads of laundry or playing pretend. sometimes i get sick of it and will stop playing and then when i'm back into it agian i get mad that i missed all those badges and won't be able to complete my album for the year... i hate playing catch up. so i try to at least get the current weekly badges every week. POGO could be the best 30 bucks i spend in a year. helps me keep my sanity!
my name is "newemrich" should anyone decide to join my obsession! :P
ps... meg, zuma is on there!


now the tagging....

~ sarfly.
~ chels.
~ erin.
~ and you and you... when you come across my blog!

emrich clan...

i have wanted these stickers since the very first time i pulled up behind a car that had them at a red light.
i asked over and over for them for two christmas now, without my hankering being fulfilled.
low and behold last night while brian was giving the kids a bath and i was straightening up the kitchen i heard a knock on the front door. a little startled at the thought of who could possibly be stopping by at 7:30 at night on a sunday no less i was presently surprised to see my pal alyson.... and in her hand my long awaited sticker family!
i love them, they are just so stinking cute!
secretly, i think god knew that i was going to need something to make me smile last night. because 2 hours after she left i broke my tooth on a blackberry seed! like BROKE broke!
and i was tormented all afternoon at the dentist office today!

madness...

ask me how i spent my day yesterday...
go ahead i DARE you to ask me....

the short version of the answer would be i went absolutely mad. however, i will fill you all in on the in depth detail of my most crazy day.

as usual i have been putting off going to the grocery store for days now... days! by the time lunch rolled around yesterday i could not find one thing to make. i literally mean not one thing. i had parts of things like pb&j with no bread, or buns with no hotdogs. i suppose i could have made pb&j with a hot dog bun but what kind of mother would that have made me?

so i did it! something i absolutely HATE beyond HATE to do. food shopping with three! i hate this task so much so that i purposefully plan a time where i can go without taking any of my children. but, looking at my upcoming schedule for the next couple days i realized that there would be not one free moment where i could this "duty" of mine without little feet lagging behind me. i disgracefully packed up my children and headed to our first stop.

lunch....
i am in no way shape or form a "fast food" type of gal. every once in a great while i get a craving and my children luck out with me and "indulge" in the saturated fat feast. for the record they do get lovely mickey d's more often then i do only because of the fact that my husbands way of feeding his offspring when they are under his supervision is making his way through a drive through.
by the time we got out of the house yesterday it was already after noon so happy meals were about my only option. but the thought of making my way inside of one of those germ holes disgusts me terribly, so we at our so called cheeseburgers in the car.
and then we made our way to get grocery's
publix...
here is the main animosity towards grocery shopping with three. my choices are limited. i can either put nataley in the front of a cart, and let both levi and alivia walk because i need the whole back part of the cart for my food. OR i can push two carts and let levi and alivia ride in one and nataley in the front of the other.... what to choose, what to choose?
i almost always go with the second.
every thing went as smooth as hoped until about half way through when nataley decided she was done with cart riding. for the next 10-15 minuets i struggled as i held nat in one had and attempted to push two carts around the store. i got crazy looks left and right and comments like "boy you sure do have your hands full!" alivia cried out 3 or 4 times saying "mommy, WAIT you forgot me" (i would leave their cart in one spot of the isle as i quickly moved up and down it grabbing what i needed). finally one of the workers saw that i was in need of assistance and pushed one cart behind me the whole rest of the trip. which i really hate. anytime i do "everyday" stuff with my kids in hand i get a feeling of accomplishment when i'm done. i always think to myself on the drive home "i did this by myself, with no help and i'm still here... i am strong!" but after yesterdays outing i felt embarrassed and mortified.
the bag boy helped me to my car and i was off to my next stop.
home....
i had to quickly unload all the refrigerated items so i could immediately make my way to SAMS (get all done and out of the way at once) to stock up on meats and household items. i fed nataley, and she fell asleep on the way to the store. i could tell when we got there that she was still in no mood to be messed with and decided it would be best to just hold her from the start pushing one cart along the way. i find that pulling the cart behind me to be way easier then pushing and steering with one hand. and of course i pulled that darn cart up on the back of my heal and made myself bleed.... stupid flip flops!

by the time i made it home last night it was after five. just enough time to get everything put away and make dinner. i had hoped on stopping by the produce stand, but thought it best to call my beloved and give him a list to bring home.

i wish i could say the horror of the day ended there... but, alivia puked all over my bedroom floor last night and i had to pull out my little green machine. which also ironically set my plans for today. steam cleaning my carpets! they are in dire need.
my boys are off tonight to go see the monster trucks. and alivia is sick and nasty looking today so what a perfect stress relieving thing to do..... how sad am i? i look forward to steam cleaning!

on this my special day...

well, this new year of life for me is off to a fabulous start.
if you ignore the fact that i have caught this horrible head cold that is going around. i'm all snotty and feverish!
but still loved so that's all that counts!

brian had to work all day yesterday and as i'm sure most of us mothers would agree your birthday is just another day with the exception of cake! my mom came over on monday night and brian took me out to a nice romantic dinner just the two of us. it's always nice to spend one on one time with him. and we hardly talked about our kids the whole night. it was the rule brian set when we got into the car. a real life date just like the good old days! :)
we spent the night playing our new Wii. i have been dying to have one. we always have so much fun playing it over at mimi and grandpas house and that was my birthday wish. brian is a HUGE video game fan, and i am a little slow when it comes the the controllers so i never play it. the Wii is a good way to be able to get myself involved in something brian loves with him, with the added bonus that they make games that the kids can play and enjoy too. i must admit i am a little sore which just goes to show that although i may be skinny, i am very out of shape.

alyson met me and the kids up at a park yesterday afternoon and surprised me with cupcakes. it was sweet and kinda and i do appreciate the acknowledgement.
my children are both very specific when it comes to birthday cakes. they have both already planned their own birthday cakes as well as what brian and i are "supposed" to get. i was lucky enough to have a bubble cake brought home to me yesterday afternoon on brian's lunch break. but i have yet to have a piece of it. :(


i ended this special day with my family... they took me out to lovely dinner.
i need to say this though.....
i am always late everywhere i go! except when i am going somewhere with my family. then i am always the first to arrive. i guess that just goes to show you where my sluggish ways came from. however, yesterday i set the all time slow record when i was the last to arrive at the restaurant. alivia has become INSISTENT on buckling her own seatbelt which adds another 10 minuets to anywhere i go now! i'm doomed to be tardy for the rest of my life i suppose.
all in all i tried to ignore the fact that my head felt like it was going to explode all day and took the day to reflect on the love god has placed in my life and how blessed i really am. thankful for another year, and praying for an even better one to come!

L.O.V.E pictures...

here are some of my most favorite pictures form the krystal kay shoot we had last week.
seriously, i love this girl. never ceases to amaze!

a happy ♥ day

in our relationship brian and i have never really been big valentines day kinda people. we have always much preferred sweetest day. mostly because no one here in florida knows what that day is, so it makes it feel a little more special between us. we actually got married on sweetest day for that reason.
with that being said. my valentine worked all day. and while he was the first to hold my heart, he now shares pieces of it with the three beautiful babies he gave me. so valentines day has become the day we thank our kiddies for their love... and what better way to show them my love for them then to spend the day doing what they love to do..... kitchen fun!


that's right! we spent nearly the entire day in our home sweet home of a kitchen. first, we made up sugar cookies and decorated them. then i thought it would be fun to finally use that pizza recipe that my good ole friend sara gave me so long ago. levi was oh so very excited to make his own pizza. he was shocked and amazed that there would be no need for the pizza man to bring us one. he quietly waited the hour and a half it took for the dough to rise, running to check on it nearly every five minutes. and although theirs looked nothing like a circle they thoroughly enjoyed every bite of it!

we ended the day of love with a chocolate fondu extravaganza! strawberries, pineapple, raspberries and all. this was honestly one of the most fun things i have ever done with the kids. both were just tickled to be dipping their fruit plate in hot melted chocolate. i highly recommend doing this as a fun filled night... if you can handle the mess.




at the end of the night when the kids were fast asleep brian and i did share a small special moment. and while this may seem no where near the typical romantic gift it was nothing but romantic in my eyes!
for months now i have been talking about wanting a freezer in our garage. my hopes and dreams, to make meatballs, doughs, soups and more in advance and be able to simple defrost... ahh yes what a dream!
my husband silently heard my complaining! and while some men brought flowers and candy home for their sweeties... my husband brought home a giant, shiny and pretty new freezer! now that's love!
and if you may be wondering....
i made brian a shadow box frame with all the stuff he holds near and dear to his heart from his grandpa levi (our levi's name sake).
~his belt buckle with the letter L on it.
~the tape measure that grandpa had scripted his name onto.
~ a small stone he had always carried around in his pocket. he would rub it in there and actually made a finger print marking on it.

there is love in this home,
there is love in this home!

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we went to the circus tonight. it's funny cause i always get a little choked up when i'm experiencing things through the eyes of my children. their amazement amazes me!
and we had a simply fabulous time.... well, up until levi puked all over brian that is!

busy bee...

honestly, i wish could just run away sometimes...
just for a little while... to have peace and quiet, to not have one thing needing to be done or accomplished for just a few hours would be nice.

i had so much i needed to get done today but my list was completely twisted around this afternoon. i spent the morning making valentines day cards with the kids. i was sure to start this project bright and early because i wanted to make sure they got out in todays mail so that grandparents would be getting them tomorrow. perfectly planned procrastination done only as shannon could do it!


brian and both girls have had runny noses for the past few days and this afternoon i swore i felt a mild grade fever on alivia. seeing as how today is friday i thought it best to go ahead and take both girls in just to be sure everything was looking A OK....
and naturally it wasn't. alivia has yet another ear infection! so, i now have the joy of having antibiotics spit in my face for the next 4 days...YEA!
fitting in their DR. appointment made it so that i couldn't possibly get the cards in todays mail. but thankfully brian came to my rescue and was nice enough to be our "mail man". he said that he would drop cards off to the places they needed to get to in tomorrows mail (and i love him for it!).




levi spent the day with nana and papa. munky had a vet visit and so did my parents dog so they decided they would take both dogs and levi wanted to tag along. i am assuming that everything went well. i know levi had a great time cause he talked about it the whole time he was in the bath tub tonight.


i took full advantage of only having two kids in tote today. after their appointment we ran over to the new produce stand and stocked up on a few things. this seriously makes my world.... the produce stand that is. they have everything i could ever think of wanting and being able to get all that kinda stuff at the restaurant just knocked my grocery bill down to practically $0.... i'm so excited.... it doesn't take much to amuse me these days! :)
speaking of which. as i drove around thinking of what i could possibly give my husband that would have meaning i started thinking about how becoming a mother has changed me. seriously, five years ago a new high end designer bag would have practically made my month (well, my week at least) and now i honestly don't remember the last time i walked in anywhere with enough money burning my pockets to drop on something that does nothing more then hold my lip gloss (that i never even use)!
that thought was made even more clear this evening while i strolled the isles of target looking for little things to put into the kids valentines day boxes. i have been told my brian to make sure that i walk past the "monster jam" toy section anywhere i go with eyes open looking for the trucks to which my son is lacking. levi thinks, breaths and lives for his $3.04 monster trucks. whenever he gets one he stares at the back of the packaging for at least an hour going over which ones he has, and which ones he doesn't and which ones are the "hard" ones to find (he learned that from brian).
anyway, there today as i scrolled my eyes down their selection i quickly spotted "superman".... i say this in all honesty, the lady across the isle from me looked at me as though i was crazy as i jumped for joy. i was so super excited to see levi's most craved one. he talks about it daily with this super sad look on his face because it is so hard to find. and i found it!
yes, this girl who used to be excited about pretty jewerly, handbags, and the perfect shirt was elated to find a tiny little toy for only the excitement i would find in those big blue eyes when he realizes he's got it....
when did this life become so wonderful?
and let me just say...
i felt 10 billion times more happier in that toy isle today then i ever did even once at COACH!

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here are a few pics from school yesterday. i think (and this may sound funny) that valentines day is levi's favorite school holiday.
he was so excited when he went in yesterday morning. he shouted "look friends, i brought us candy!"..... stinking cute!





now i'm off. i still have to make up sugar cookie dough so that the kids have something to put pink and red frosting on tomorrow...
once again, perfectly planned procrastination! ;)

love mail...

i will admit i was the tiniest bit excited when i got the paper last week that levis "homework" was to make the nostalgic valentines day mail box....
hearts, kisses and love was what popped into my brain.... but who was i kidding... we are talking about my three year old boy!
like i said a little while ago levi is obsessed with monster trucks in the current moment. actually, i think my son is a true "redneck" at heart. he loves NASCAR, "monster jam".... and yes, even hunting! which is funny cause his daddy is such a pretty boy, so i have no idea where on earth these thrills that make up levi came from.

i spent all of the late afternoon and much of the early evening helping a pair of little boy hands invent his creation....
turning a garbage bag box into a truck.... although, i know about no such things. i had ideas in my head but my creative child had ideas all his own, and in the end i fought back the urge to be the perfectionist that i am and let his little mind do the creating.
so now we have a red box, with four freshly painted black wheels, decaled all over with "monster jam" and spider man stickers. it was levi's ingenious idea to have the hood be the spot where you put your love letters....
all in all it was a little on the messy side. paint was all over and levi and alivia fought over where the stickers would go.
but, the end product is absolutely perfect in my eyes.
my creation created it after all. :)


right before baths i made up an assembly line.... levi and livi helped put their "treat bags" together. not my favorite task by a long shot.... note to self: never put mounds of candy in front of children and think they will be able to control themselves!


one more quick thing....
i know i am short for time but i'm looking for a good romantic gift for the hubby. something special. for example last year i gave him a "list".
it included stuff like
*making his favorite dessert.
*a night of watching sports in bed (i hate sports on TV and he is never allowed to have them on in our room).
*sleep as late as you want, unbothered by me or the children.

that was by far his most favorite gift i have ever given him... he still talks about it. and the best thing about it was that it was FREE!
anyway, i'm looking for good ideas like that does anyone have any?

birthday catch ups...

i've been a little on the busy side the past few days and i want to take a quick moment to catch up on all that has been going on.
february is a huge month for the emrich side of the family. counting chelsea's boyfriend we now have 6 birthdays that are spread throughout the month. so, we had a joint birthday party for everyone yesterday at todd and mary lous house.

birthdays this month include:
todd (7th)
moriah (10th)
maddy (16th)
me (17th)
kim (25th)
and now jared ( i'm not sure what the exact date is)



i spent the day running around town with kids in tote on saturday getting odds and ends preparing myself for sundays party. i had to make a quick stop at jo-anns which is right across from olive garden which happens to be levi's most favortie place to eat. he begged as we walked out of the fabric store and i gave in and enjoyed my first three to one lunch outing. thankfully it went rather well. nataley is big enough now that she can sit in a high chair (with a bag prop, because she is still a little overwhelmed by it) and levi and livi were well behaved and listened to my every word. it went so smoothly that i think i may add it to the mix of stuff i do regularly with the kids. the only part that wasn't much fun (and this was for the whole day, not just the restaurant) was helping alivia on the potty. now that i'm not using the carrier for nataley it is a little difficult to help alivia with her panties and getting her up and off the potty while holding nat..... but, we survived and i would gladly take it to changing another stinky diaper any day of the week! :)




the birthday party was fun. i need to take a second to say i am so thankful for my family. it doesn't really hit you till you talk to other people who don't get along with in-laws how good it is when you can get along with them. honestly i've grown to think of brians parents as my own (well, second parents that is). and i don't know where i would be without kim and our fun conversations, and chelsea always knows how to make me laugh. i'm to the point where i am completely myself and comfortable around all of them and i love everyone of them!




******************************************************
YODER'S HAS DONE IT AGAIN!!!!


what? you may ask...
they opened a produce store!
that's right! it looks fabulous and is doing wonderfully. seriously, they just keep getting bigger and bigger..... won't be long before they take over the world........ well, at least our little corner of it! :)
and yes...
i brag because i picked out the colors, and brian said they keep getting compliments on it..... "it's my gift" (says mary lou) even though i don't think of it as my gift, just something i love to do!



last but not least....
we finally got to do our pictures today. the weather has been so weird here the past couple weeks that our shoot has been canceled twice now. thankfully today was beautiful! and i seriously can't wait to get them back, i can just feel how wonderful they are going to turn out! krystal kay is amazing! and if you live in the area i seriously think you should give her a try!