laura laura faye day!

yep, that's right nataley faye finally got to meet laura faye.... and yes, that is nataleys name sake!
who is laura faye you may wonder...
well, laura is one of my most favorite people in all the world. a dear friend who fully understands the joys of shannon. i have the amusement of laughing with her on a great many inside jokes, she is always an open ear when i want to complain, she inspires me on my sewing creations, and most importantly she is my inside hook up with vera bradley (just kidding).

laura spent the whole day with me, alyson and our five loud, laughing children. she even got to experience the delightfulness of one of alivias princess tantrums.... i seriously think my daughter thinks of herself as a princess, cause she throws huge dramatic scenes every time she doesn't get her way lately... today it was over a mermaid book from laura that she wanted to hold but i have not yet sewn together so she couldn't.
we hit up jo-anns, the quilt store and then of course had to take a carry out trip to yoders. a very fun filled day indeed!

thank you laura for stopping over and spending the day stay at home mommy style with me! i just had the time of my life! :P


this is the beautiful bag that laura brought me today, that super duper excited me! i completely forgot to pull out the camera to get a picture of her and nataley faye... so, this picture will have to do as a remembrance of our day together.... sad, i know!

understanding...

truthfully this has been a fairly different week to say the least.
brian has been home. not because he is on vacation, but because he has come down with the same nasty bug i had last week.
what this means for me?
well, it means that my house is a little messier. my conversations have been cut a little shorter, and i have had one more child to care for. yes, i do believe i have almost lost my mind. don't get me wrong i love to have him home, just not when he is sick. most men don't handle sickness well, but brian tends to be down right grumpy.
i was somewhat relieved to see him off to work this morning, but all ambitions were shattered half an hour later when he walked through the door saying something about them not wanting him to be at work sick.

instead of being the complaining self that i usually tend to be i have decided to show compassion and understanding. because as i have learned kindness goes a long way even when it's the hardest thing to do.

on a bragging note....
i was so proud of my smart little girl today. whenever i pick the kids up from school, the first thing i say to them when we get into the car is "what did you learn about today?". levi has just started to really tell be about his days, down to how many times if any he had to go into timeout. :)
but, for the fist time ever alivia chimed in this after noon. when i asked she told me "ummm, iangles" and held her little hands up to show me a triangle.... it was really cute to me, and a first for her. they sure do get bigger and bigger each and every day, don't they?

latest creation...

this is the outfit i made yesterday for my niece moriah, for her wild west day at pre school.


i do believe i am inspired to make valentines day outfits for my girls now!

gross...

i guess i no longer need wipes, washcloths or vacuums anymore!

SAMS girl..

alright, so i have been thinking....
brian and i decided at the beginning of the year that we are both committed to a "five year plan"...
five years, and we will be out of this house one way or another. with the market and the economy the way it has been for the last little bit we know we are pretty much stuck in this way to small for us home for a while to come. so we have devised a plan, one that gives us the hopes of getting out of here regardless of how the market is in five years.
now, what does this mean for us?
well, basically it means that we have decided to live like we are poor. we plan on saving money any and every way we can to be out of here within five years. with saving our own money we know that we will be able to purchase a new home even if we can't get what we "need" out of the sale of our current home. and i am totally committed. yes, i am shannon, and yes i do love to spend the dough... but, i have decided that i would love to be in "our home" more then anything i could possibly bring into this house.
today, i made the first step. i have always been a SAMS club shopper... well, at least for my photo needs. but today i became a "bulk" shopper. i have arranged my home to the point where i am able to store bulk items. hey, as brian says... every penny saved counts. i was actually shocked at what they had to offer. and honestly i don't think i will need to go to a grocery store for a very long time.
brian has been a SAMS club shopper with the restaurant for a few years now and has always been telling me if i would just walk around the place i would be amazed. and funny enough the excitement in his face as he walked me and the kids through it today made for semi memorable family outing.


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another quick note. i had my first official run in with our dog yesterday. i was busy switching out laundry and i had nataely faye in her jumparoo. i heard her start to scream, like she was in pain. i ran into the family room to see what levi had done to her and much to my surprise i found munky in a full blown attack on her foot. yes, i know she simply thought it was a play toy with nataley bouncing around and all. but seriously, she has another thing coming to her should she ever decide to do it again...
i feel so horribly bad for my poor little girl. her tears were so big, it broke my heart.

shannon... and the day of WHY?

before i even opened my eyes i had horrible pressure in my head....
i got a head cold today, why?

i walked over to wake the kids up for school and saw that both had runny noses...
they were sick and couldn't go to school today, why?

i went to go grab a coke out of the fridge...
i didn't go to the grocery store, why?

in the afternoon i ran to the bathroom, and came back out to small trail leading to my children and a heap of parmesan cheese on my family room carpet...
i forgot to close the kitchen gate, why?

literally, there was nothing to make dinner, nothing....
once again i didn't go the the grocery store, why?

alivia had to go potty, after five minuets i went in to check on her and found her and the floor covered in liquid shampoo...
i didn't go in right behind her from the very beginning, why?

alyson was nice enough to bring our sick home dinner from the restaurant at 6:30, i was most looking forward to my coke...
within two second of it entering my home, levi knocked it off the table, i didn't get even one sip, why?

brian threw in a slice of chocolate cake, and i didn't grab it right and it slipped and fell on the floor...
i didn't look before i stepped back to clean it up and stepped in it, why?



sadly, i don't have a lot of these answers, but i do know this...
although i felt horrible all day, i survived it.
although the kids were sick, they were both still themselves all day, and made me smile or laugh a few times too.
they were both right there during the 45 minuets it took me to clean up the cheese mess, and helped me do it without me asking for it.
brian, chelsea, and alyson were all willing to help me about my dinner situation, they must all love me!
although there was a shampoo mess, both my child and my bathroom floor got a good cleaning, and both smell really good.
brian brought me another slice of chocolate cake, he didn't even know i dropped it and didn't get any, he thought the kids would have eaten it all.

and.... alyson brought me another coke!

check up...

a semi frozen me was up and out of the house bright and early this morning. i always schedule dr appointments right after the kids have to be at school. i mean well by doing it. i have the hopes that i will be swift, and my agenda will be well planned out so that i can run to the appointment and not have too much time to kill before having to pick the older guys up from school. unfortunately, it never seems to go as planned right from the moment i wake up. i feel rushed, and when i feel rushed i get a little on the mean side of the spectrum. today was just the same but we did make it on time to the nataleys first appointment with dr. sourtherland.
i love her! the appointment went so incredibly well. she spent nearly 25 minuets "catching up" with nataley. very kind, very knowledgeable.

nataley faye:

6 months
weight: 16 lbs
height: 26"
head circumference: 161/2"

*she is now sitting up all on her own.
*grabs everything within her reach (her favorite is my hair!)
*she can pass objects from one hand to the other.
*she has started to grab her feet, although she doesn't appear as though she is very flexible!
*she has started babbling with single syllables.
*she is still all smiles, and a joy to be around!
*she has started to cut two bottom teeth (which i didn't think was possible, neither levi or livi cut their first tooth till nearly a year... but they are coming, i see em)


i may as well take the time to "catch up" levi and alivia too.....

levi:

*has more then caught up on his speech issues.
*loves monster trucks, and is anxiously awaiting going to see "monster jam" with brian next month. his favorite truck is "blue thunder"
*he knows the days of the week and months of the year in order.
*he can free handedly write his first and last name, and recognizes every letter of the alphabet by sight.
*he is a closet singer.... he loves to sing, but the second you look at him he stops!



alivia:
*her favorite thing in the world is mermaids, she likes to be called princess ariel.
*she is starting to talk in more complete sentences, her favorites being "no mommy, not yet" and "i can do it myself mommy!"
*she still has no fear. she will do anything levi tells her to do, without the concept that she may get hurt.
*she is pretty much fully potty trained. i still put pull ups on her at night, and they stay dry 6 out of the 7 nights of the week. but she is fully trained during the day.
*she loves nail polish, and body spray.... she makes me help her with them daily!
*she fully dresses herself, and will make you wait while she puts on her shoes... she will never allow me to help her with clothes anymore, even if it will speed up the dressing process!

IM COLD!

that's right! i said it...
and i don't care what you say laura....
this is too cold!
i wish it would snow, that way i could at least get some good pictures out of it.
and let me just state that i am tired of seeing the kids in the same sweaters day after day, yet i refuse to buy any more warm clothes, cause it could be sunny and beautiful tomorrow!

reaching goals...

OK...
before i get into this, i want to take you back through my memory about a month ago. i was at yoder's working pies, and i had a question only my husband could answer... well, i bet i could have found someone else, but i like to torment my husband when i'm on duty. low and behold he was no where to be found, not only to me but no one else could find him either. after roughly a hour of searching high and low and calling his cell phone with no answere in between boxing pies he appeared almost out of thin air. when i asked him where he had run off to, he quickly answered to his "special hiding spot". i put myself on a mission, a mission to find where on earth this secret place could be. the next day, alyson needed a ride to work. i had already been at yoder's and my mother had taken my kids home with my van, so i took brian's car to go pick her up. the second i got in i noticed a yummy smell, and looked over behind his seat to see what it was. there i found a half eaten pecan pie and a whole pumpkin pie almost completely eaten from the middle out. i knew in an instant that his car was his "secret spot".... and that he was never alone during his special moments but had the company of entire pies!
when confronting him on the matter, he briskly shrugged his shoulders and told me that he was trying to put on weight for the biggest loser....yoder's addition. and beef himself up he surely did. my husband currently fits only three pairs of work pants, which means i do even more laundry now!
so, this brings us to yesterday. the first official weigh in....
i smiled to myself after the meeting when i noticed everyone huddled in supportive little groups planning out their plans of attack, while my husband ran over to his children asking "who wants ice cream?"!
anyway, it's going on now. and i'm here to be as supportive as i can possibly be to him. lucky for me i got my fathers metabolism, so weight has never been too much of an issue for me, and because of it i don't usually watch what i eat. however, i do believe that this is the perfect opportunity to finish the process of "going green" in our home. i have been adding more and more organic foods to our house hold for months now. and i'm planning on going nearly 100%... i will never be able to give up restaurant food, i just love it too much.
so heres to the EMRICH GOALS, may we achieve them.... and maybe win some money through the process!

surprise...

it's been pretty cold here, that's all i can say. so much so that finding activities to do with the kids this week has been a little on the though side. for some reason fridays usually seem like the longest days to me. i think because it is the first day the kids are off of school, and it feels like i really have to work hard at finding stuff to do to help break up the day.
today was just like every other friday. there i was at 9 in the morning on the phone with alyson debating what we could do with the kids. living in florida, most entertainment is found out doors, so when the weather is as cold as it has been your choices are certainly limited.
it didn't take us too long till we came up with the perfect conclusion. A MOVIE DAY! i called up mother and she was happy to oblige to watching nataley while we took the big kids to see "madagascar". i decided that because seeing movies in the theater is something we rarely do, i would build it up for the kids, and maybe get some good behavior out of it as well. all morning i kept telling levi and livi they were going to have a surprise in the afternoon if they were good and listened to everything i said to do the first time i said it. levi understood the concept, and made sure that both he and alivia were on their very best behavior all morning long.... we did have one little dog food incident, but levi put a stop to it the second i looked over at him.
as soon as my mom got to the house we were off.....
as we drove i kept asking them if they were excited about their surprise, and their faces beamed! i will say this, i was a little shocked at the amount of people that have enough free time in their day to go watch movies in the middle of the afternoon on a friday! we had to wait in a line that wrapped around the building, and we ended up being a slightly late for the movies start (which makes me glad i wasn't with brian cause he would have made us leave, or see something else).
i was anxious to see how alivia would do. the first and last movie we have ever taken her to was right before nataley was born. we went to see "Wal E" and alivia and i ended up shopping in the mall while brian and levi finished the movie (we shopped for over an hour, to give you an idea of just how short her attention span was).
surprisingly all four kids did really good. i did have to make three bathroom runs, one for levi and two for alivia.... at least she didn't have an accident though.
there are two parts of this days adventure that crack me up.
the first one is this.....
the last time when i had to take alivia to the bathroom, i grabbed her hand and we made our way to the restroom and i had a semi shocked look on my face when i saw alyson and christopher walk out. YIKES! i left levi and lexi in the movie by themselves! i never even saw alyson get up! don't worry they were fine!
the second one is the best....
the moment the movie was over and we were walking back out to our car, levi looked up at me and said "mommy, are we going to go get my surprise now?" when i told him that the movie was the surprise he continued to say "i was a good boy for a movie, AHH MAN!" as ungrateful as it was.... it made me laugh out loud, what ever would i do without that comedian child of mine?

insight...

unfortunately, today was not much better then last night for me. seriously, as soon as i finish writing this i am going to bed in hopes that i will get a full nights rest, and that i will feel refreshed tomorrow. although, it doesn't appear as though that is going to happen. levi has already come out of his room three times for rather random things.... he hurt his head, he needs his shoe put away, did i charge his cowboy truck?....
anyway.
i started a new devotional book at the beginning of the year. rather then doing it in the morning, like most normal people do. i do it right after i get the kids to bed. i am so not a morning person and literally don't get out of bed one second before need be.
the scripture verse for today was definitely one that i needed to hear, and after reading it the first thought that came to mind was that perhaps i should start doing them in the morning. i think after reading it i would have felt a whole lot better about my day and how it went today.

Romans 8:35-37
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written:
"for Your sake we are killed all day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Yet in all these things we are more then conquerors through Him who loved us."

how can i sit and write what this means to me....
this life i am living is so incredibly hard. becoming a mother was the best thing i have ever done! but with this most wonderful gift, i have hit more rocky roads then what seems manageable at times. brian and i often talk about the heartache i face with doing a lot of the parenting by myself. throughout the week brian usually isn't home. it's the kids and me from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep. it makes for rather long, frustrating, and often times lonely days. not only for now but looking at the "big picture" as a whole.... taking the time to realize that my children learn from ME. what a scary thought, and an awesome responsibility!
i think the business of life often times allows me to forget that we aren't just doing this on our own. god is right there! he sees me, and knows exactly what it is i'm thinking and feeling. he knows my concerns, my strengths, and my weaknesses. he watches me on my good days, and my bad one too. always there through good decisions and even when i make wrong decisions, he stays right there beside me. he knows where i am at, and he won't ever leave me, and he won't ever give me something that i can not conquer through him. so, while i seem to be facing somewhat of a rough patch.....
i know that god is still there..... and it is in just knowing that, i can once again say, i shall indeed trudge on!


besides, who wouldn't find a way to keep trudging on with three beautiful faces like this smiling back up at them!

sleep depravation....

i fear my blogging has become nothing more then a means for my whining. all i do is complain anymore. and i apologize for that, and i will try to get better... in the mean time, here i go once more.

last night was the worse night of sleep since bringing home our third child! i say since bringing home nataley because it wasn't the worst night of our life, that record is still held by that (and i still remember, thats how bad it was) thursday night about a year and a half ago. both levi and livia were sick, and between brian and i we managed to get about 20 minuets of sleep and both had places we needed to be bright and early. we had spent the night driving around the streets of sarasota. it's funny how time changes things.... that horrible night so long ago remains a memorable night brian and i shared together. hehe, although, i do believe i would have traded it to one of the many nights brian and i spent simply talking in the yoder's parking lot till all hours of the night before we got married.
it all started out the same as any other night. all three kids asleep by 9pm, quiet, and angel like. i was finishing up a silly game i was playing online and had just decided to call it a night. i took a shower, popped in the first season of greys (i am attempting to watch it over again so that i can kick eveyones butt with the game). all was still till just after midnight, i had dosed off about a half an hour earlier. and then out of nowhere i heard one of those horrible screams come from the girls room.... the kind you know means something is really, really wrong. brian and i both jumped up and ran over to alivias bedside. the screaming did not end till nearly 6 in the morning. since that beastly night nearly two years ago brian and i have worked out a "better" (for him anyway) system. i no longer work, and he has to put in long days so he gets to sleep while i deal with whatever it is i need to deal with. so that the record stands correct, i know how emotions are sometimes misunderstood in writing... our system works for us, i am not complaining about it. if i thought i needed brians help on nights like these he would be right there for me in a heartbeat. i prefer it this way.
so, here is how my night went....
alivia started screaming, after we saw that it was more then likely a bad dream, brian went back to bed while i tried to calm her down. i stayed in her room for about an hour while she cried to the point that she made herself puke in her bed. i changed the sheets and threw the old ones in the wash. gave her a bath, which finally started to calm her down. read her a story, and put her back to bed. all was quiet while i walked back over to my nice comfy bed. before i could even lay my head on the pillow i heard nataley stairing (which is very not like nataley) i think all the early commotion never let her get into a sound sleep. i laid down in hopes that maybe she would find that thumb she loves so much. after about 15 minuets of her fussing, i decided she was going to need some action, i didn't want her to keep alivia up while she was still trying to fall back to sleep herself, so i brought her out into the family room with me. after nearly two hours, and several attempts to lay her back down levi walked out of his room with a tired look on his face and said "mom mom, what are you doing?" i told him it was the middle of the night and that he needed to go back to sleep, to which he immediately started to cry himself. his crying then woke alivia (who is the light sleeper) up again. so there we were, the four of us.... just like every other day, only at 5 in the morning! at that point i was seriously ready to cry. i gave in.... fed nataley, put her back to bed. and turned on a movie for levi and alivia while i slept what little sleep i got on the couch. brian came out at 7 to tell me that the alarm was going off to get the kids ready for school. i did a bad mom thing and decided that i just couldn't do it, i was still rather emotional from the night . although looking back on it now this afternoon, when i am really ready to rip my hear right out. i should have just taken them.... they wake me up, i should wake them up..... right?

spontaneity.....

there are very few things in life that make me feel more refreshed then when brian does something spontaneous with me or the family. somehow he always seems to know when i am feeling a little on the lagging side and always finds a way to cure it and make me feel rejuvenated.... it's like i can breath easy again!
he didn't say a word this morning while i was getting everyone ready and fed to be out the door and on time for church. but the moment we got in the car to head back home, he said "i have a plan for something fun today". when we got home he asked me to run inside and get the kids in play clothes while he ran to go get something. half an hour later we were out the door and on our way to somewhere only brian knew. i know this is going to sound silly... but i was so excited in the car, i felt like a little girl. it didn't take long till i figured out we were heading to myakka park. he had gone to run to subway and picked up subs for us to have a little afternoon family lunch outing.



it was such an enjoyable day. levi and livi were so excited when we got into the park and we let them get out of their car seats and sit up front in the big seat looking for "mamimals" as alivia would call them. we found the perfect little spot to be entertained by a little squirrel friend as we munched on our lunch. and afterwords, we hiked along the path on the lookout for alligators while brian and the kids climbed every tree that looked branchy enough to do so.

you never know what sundays will hold in the emrich home. sometimes we have to run between house to house for lunch and dinner visiting family and friends, other days we sit and do nothing at home after church. sundays are always nice, cause we get to be together as a family, but today however, was quite a charming sunday, and i really did enjoyed it.
i even got to be entertained tonight by "the pajama band". they had fun, and i laughed along! they make me smile! :P

grumbling...

every week, by the time saturday roles around i am broken-down, it's kinda sad really. i have tried to figure out exactly what it is that makes me feel this way and i do believe i have come up with an idea. most people working a "real" job get their days off. but being a full time mommy is just that, full time round the clock monday through sunday 24/7. take brian for example.... he works a lot, but at least he has his days off to look forward to and get him through his days. i have no break, and no hopes of a break for a long time. when i sit down and think about that fact, it is almost enough to depress me at times. yes, i have the days when brian is home... and he is a help, really, he is. but lets face it, i still have to be mommy and do everything for everyone even on those days. hmm.... it has just occurred to me, i have a birthday coming up. perhaps i should request a "me" day all to myself. maybe i'll get my hair done, get a nice massage somewhere, throw in a wax, perhaps even do some clothes shopping for myself. ah, yes i do believe that would be just the bit of anticipation i need!

decisions...

becoming a parent has made me more of a thinker. i really do try and take the time needed to see how the things i do are going to directly affect the well being of my children before coming to any conclusions (like any parent, i'm sure). something i started practicing when levi was born, but even more so the last few months now that i see that the majority of circumstances that come up in my life are now able to be understood by my children, and that they learn through my actions.
my mind has been like a little seesaw the past couple months concerning my pediatrician. fethermans office is amazing. and as far as knowledge goes, he is voted the #1 office in sarasota. seriously, i have never meet anyone in the medical field around here who doesn't know who featherman is. he has been there through some rough times with my children and has seen me though a lot. despite how amazing he is as a person and as an individual doctor. i have been feeling, for a while now, that he is maybe getting to big for his practice. talking to other mothers i have been hearing story after story of similar situations just like my last experience with him and his staff. monday was my last straw. i learned that he has now changed practice policies. if you call, even to make a sick visit to his office and have to leave a message, they no longer have to call you back the same day. they have given themselves a 24 hour call back time.
so, i made the decision.....
it is now time to say "goodbye" to dr. fetherman. i was somewhat saddened when i called to make the consultation with dr. sutherland. but meeting her today has really opened my eyes. she seems so knowledgeable and kind hearted. one of the first things she said (not even knowing at that point who i was coming from), that she intends on being a somewhat small practice. she really feels it is her job to "know" you and your family. she wants to be sure when you call that she knows exactly who you and your children are and doesn't need to pull out your file to remember. i immediately felt a comfort with her that i can't even describe. i went in thinking it was only going to be a "meeting" .... that i wouldn't be making any rash decisions. but by the end i just felt such a peace that this is were my children now need to be. i signed the release form and my children are now officially patients of dr. sutherland. i made nataleys 6 month appointment, and ironically it is the same day and time that her appointment was scheduled over at fethermans. i will admit i do not like confrontation so i am a little nervous to call and cancel all up coming appointments my children have.... such is life i suppose.

a quick note of something i found sweet....
my parents watched my kids today during the consultation. and when i got home my dad was sitting with nataley in his arms on the recliner watching "beauty and the beast" with alivia. my mother was very much ready to go when i got back.... she had to get home to her dog! :P
anyway, my dad was really into the movie and wouldn't let them leave till it was over. he even made a comment at the end...
"thats good, he doesn't have to be a beast anymore". it made me smile.

the power of retaining....

here it is.... all summed up into 43 diminutive CDs. they seem so small now gathered up in the box compared to when you think about all they hold. our life for the past four years. every snap shot i have taken. every birth, party, and special moment my children have lived that i thought was worth capturing.
another job i had been dreading, but knew had to get done at some point. i spent three days and four bubble blowing breaks looking, remembering, tearing up and laughing at the thousands of pictures i have taken since my pregnant belly holding my first born. i'm somewhat relieved and free feeling knowing that it is all done, and now i can start to catch up on their scrapbooks. levi's first year is done, i did it when i was still a mommy who had extra time on my hands. now it's time to start alivia's. although, i am somewhat frightened to go sit in my shed all by myself at night working on it. i might get lonely....
anyone up for a late night crop?

relieved....

what do i usually do when i am in a pickle, or just want to complain?
i call up my dear friend alyson....
and as she just reminded me........
all my pictures are still on my old PC, i never took them off when we got the mac, and wasn't sure if i would like the mac so kept the PC stored in my garage.
YEA!!!!
i still have my much memorable memories after all!
thanks alyson, whatever would i do without you?

remembered... in my mind anyway...

i have spent every extra second i have for the past two days gathering up all the photo CDs i have re-burning them into the way i now keep my photos organized. surprisingly, i have been able to find everyone and group them into the month they were taken all the way up to levis birth. however, i found one CD marked easter 2007 that has a huge almost marbly mark right though the information that was on it. my computer wont read it, i tried cleaning it, calling photo stores and i think i have lost those pictures forever!
because i never print up all my pictures till i need them this means that i have lost alivias first easter photos forever! i know it's something little but.... i'm so incredibly sad about it.
if anyone knows a way, anyway to read CDs after they have been marked up, please let me know! seriously, i could just cry over this!

just another manic monday....

manic monday? never, not in the emrich home anyway. mondays usually tend to be my most favorite day. especially around this time of the year. season has hit, and surprisingly it's just as big as ever... at least as far as yoder's is concerned. brian works mega hours the way it is, but the months of january through april he kills the time clock. i really start to miss his face. but then there are mondays. our free day... the one day a week where we are not running around living our busy scheduled lives. the one day we can just sit back, relax and enjoy the life we work so hard to maintain.
i guess thats what i love about mondays...
tomorrow is back to the craziness that is this life of mine. kids head back to school, dr. appointments, work for brian and laundry for me :)
i think i'll go enjoy the last little hour left of my most beloved monday!

munky....

ah, the things we do for our children... amaze me!
i'll start off by saying this, i do not like dogs! they shed, they smell, they lick, they require too much attention. they are just all around gross to me! brian, on the other hand, is and always has been very much a dog person. and yes, his love goes so deep for them that he even enjoys a good lick on his face! however, i warned brian before we ever got married of the whole disliking of dogs situation. i told him i didn't think i could EVER own a dog....EVER! either he truly loved me regardless of the fact, or he knew this day would one day come.... or possibly, a little of both!
for a few months now my mother has felt the need to buy someone.... ANYONE a dog. they got themselves a black lab about a year ago, and mom is just so in love with this animal. seriously, she refuses to allow anyone call it " a dog". it is like her 8th child, my brother, and her new best friend! it's funny because she never liked dogs while we were growing up, and i do believe that her dislike towards the critters led to most of her children's dislike towards them. and now, when i'm practically knocking on 30 myself she has up decided to own and fall head over heals in love with every dog that crosses her path. hmmm, an odd situation i do believe.
anyway, she was really wanting to get my sister one for their family. my nephew, well..... lets just say she thinks he is the type of boy who needs a dog. connie, however refused to get one for him. she promised my mother if a puppy was ever left on her door step, before it was all said and done my mother herself would be the new dog owner. so, i bet you can guess what happened next....
thats right! mother came knocking on my door. at first my response was the same as my sisters. don't want one, don't need one, refuse to get one. but then i began thinking more and more. and i came to the conclusion after one day seeing my little boy dragging a shoe lace string by his side telling everyone it was "his dog" that my children deserved the right to have a four legged doggy friend. and while my love for dogs my not be great, my love for my children far out weighs my disfavor for the doggy kingdom.


now, that long story brings us to munky....
after calling mother up giving her her long awaited good news, we began the search. the search for the right breed, the right look and the right dog to fit our family. after several long... tiresome conversations between my husband, my mother and my father we came up with the boston terrier. of all the dogs in the world, they have always been the least bit bothersome to me. i think perhaps i feel that they are just so stinking ugly, it makes them rather cute in a weird sorta way. and after reading up on them.... well, they are just great dogs to have around children. we found a breeder and arranged a time for mom, dad and i to go pick out the one we would call ours. there were two girls to choose from, and something the whole time we were there felt like the smallest of the two was meant to be "the one". i had hoped on calling her tayla, i took a quick snapshot picture of her and arranged a time that we would be getting her.... she was still far to young to come home.
the whole time i was at the breeders she kept calling our little tayla monkey.... later, brian looked at the picture of tayla and immediately said she looks like a monkey not even knowing that is what the breeder had been calling her.... and thus munky got her new name!

last night was her first moment home....
alivia was practically filled with glee dancing up and down the hallway as my mother brought tiny munky up the driveway to our door. both levi and livi followed her around the rest of the night, and kept picking her up hugging and kissing her. she had an instant connection to us. didn't cry at all, and went right to sleep last night in her bed. our tiny (2.75lb) doggy is a perfect fit.... so far!
so, i guess this means while i still do not consider myself a "dog person".... i am almost, and maybe one day soon will be a "munky person"!

mimi turns 50!

today was brian's mothers birthday.... the big one.... 50!
it was so sweet this afternoon i was explaining to levi and alivia that "today was a special day. today is mimi's birthday". i asked levi "do you know how old mimi is today?" he looked up at me and said....."mimi is way bigger then me and you mommy, mimi must be 12!" it made me laugh out loud. the thing that cracked me up about it is that he knows how to count up to 30 so what made him think of 12? i continued to ask him... "levi, who is daddy's mommy?" he told me "mimi".... then i asked....
"well, if mimi is daddy's mommy then how old do you think daddy is?" he laughed at me as though i had asked a preposterous question and said... "mommy, don't you know? daddy is 22!" which made me laugh even harder. what witty little people god has given me to care for.

the party was fun and yummy...
but as my husband will tell you, any party with cake is yummy to me! :)

organizational skills!

it hits me every january....
the feeling to redo and reorganize everything in my life. i guess it's the freshness of the new year. a chance to maybe redo things in the house..... to make them even easier to get into, that i love. it hit me harder then ever this week. the need was so great that i even attempted what i have been putting off for years. we have a 30'X30' "shed" in our backyard. in fact, that was pretty much the biggest thing that sold me on this house. the lady who owned our home before used it as her studio where she made ice pageant costumes. after looking at the house i told brian i wanted it..... i would make the rest of the house work for our needs but i "needed" that building for all my many, many crafts! i was elated when we won the bid. i quickly began daydreaming while planning my marvelous dreams and ambitions for my soon to be little haven.
little did i know two months later i would be pregnant with levi, and life was going to kinda take over and there would never be enough time to make my space anything more then a dumping ground for items i couldn't find room for in our home. i have far too much money invested in my most favorite hobby, my first crafty love..... scrapbooking! i still buy all the new stuff when ever i see it and throw it into the abyss known as the shed in hopes that one day, it will strike my fancy and i will sit down and crop all my most favorite memories. sadly, it seriously has been years!
BUT...............................
about two weeks ago my friend alyson had the genius idea to make a family scrapbook doing it month by month every year. the hope is to make the time to sit down at the start of every month and scrap what has gone on the month prior. i quickly became enamored with the idea and decided that i, once and for all, would take the much needed effort to sit down and organize my shed into that dream place i had envisioned years ago.
yes, years have passed, and yes we keeping growing as a family, and yes we keep accumulating more and more stuff...... (in my eyes, far beyond what this home can possibly hold), and because of these little facts my shed can never be exactly what i had always envisioned it to be. we have far to much stuff! part of the space must be used to hold onto the things we don't use anymore but can't yet be trashed. however, it is now (after a full two days of huffing and puffing by both alyson and me) ready to sit down and scrapbook, sew, or do what ever crafty hobby finds me in the future!
all my stuff is labeled, color coded, and sorted out by categories..... i almost can't wait for january to be over, so that all the scapbooking begin!

mother to girls....

i've known how to french braid for like my whole life. but i have not had the need to do it in years, and years and years. not to mention the fact that i am now attempting to do it on a two year old, who cries if i tug to hard, and won't sit still for longer then two seconds! i spent nearly a half hour yesterday attempting to relearn and make pigtail french braids look good on alivia.
french braiding is just a must when you are mommy to little girls! :P