war trophy...

my head is spinning!
it's been that kinda day...
in fact, i just walked in the door about 10 minuets ago and it has been the longest i have been home all day.

i woke up late this morning.
it was one of those "but i'm still so tired" moments...
i heard the alarm clock going off but kinda half slept through it till it had been buzzing in my ear for nearly an hour.
so, that means the kids got good old nutrigrain bars for breakfast on the way to school...
shhh, don't tell anyone!

i came home, took a quick shower and made my way out to target to get some of the household things we were in need of and finished in just enough time to head back to PMO to pick them up.
this should have been my first warning sign as to what the day would be holding but it never even crossed my mind till later. you see, levi fell asleep on the way home from school, he never does that! i woke him up when we got home to walk inside. he made his way bumping into walls over to the couch where he nestled himself in quickly and snoozed for another 5 minuets or so.

i was somewhat relieved, thinking that maybe he would take a little nap i began starting my tuesday chores...
and boy, of all the tuesdays in my married lifetime today was the day they were needed. i have been feeling rather lousy myself the past week and haven't really done much more then the bare necessity of what needed to get done. so as you can imagine i was kinda looking forward to a day at home catching myself up.
and then the phone rang....
"shannon?"... "yeah?"..."i need a huge favor"
alyson husband had her car today and lexi starting complaining that her ear hurt. she needed me to come pick her up and take them to the doctors. being the good friend i strive to be i woke levi up in an instant and we all made our way to the car.
right about this time is when all the commotion began. levi started freaking out...

his ear hurt...
he told me he thought there was a bee in it stinging him!

as i drove myself over to alysons, i dialed our dr's #. this was at 1:30.
i sat in the car with 4 children for the 45 minuets it took alyson with lexi. and we finished with 20 minutes to spare to get us across town over to levis dr.
i am a huge "since i have one child in, i may as well have the other child looked at" kinda girl. nataley has been somewhat snotty for a week or so now. no fever, no real complaining just snotty. but i took her in to have her ears peeked in. and with no surprise to myself the girl indeed had an ear infection.

and then my poor levi....
while he didn't have an actual ear infection. the tube that he had in his ear was "trying" to make it's way out but was imbedded on a "huge hard wax ball" stuck on the ear drum!
tears rolled down both our faces while i held my son in an arm lock grip as they tweezed and shot water into his ear.....
i'm not kidding when i say, 2+ hours later we walked out with a two prescriptions (one for nat, one for levis now beat red pulsating ear drum).

it obviously was a horrible, hurtful procedure for him. but i smiled so big when after he gave dr. southerland a big hug and told her.... (i think he heard her saying she was a little put off at doing it because he is a new patient and she didn't want him to be fearful of coming to see her) but he looked at her, hugged her and said...
"i forgive you, don't worry i'll be back, but not till i'm sick!"
it seriously brought another tear to my eye.

we made our way back home...
and my mom offered to come over to watch the kids while i ran to the grocery store and to drop off and pick up the prescriptions.
and while i had to make two different trips to accomplish both tasks because the pharmacy was already closed in publix when i got there. i came home to all of my mounds of laundry done resting on my bed, only needing to be put away....
seriously,
i have the best mom ever!

levi has carried his little jar with the tiny little blue tube around all evening, showing everyone that crosses his path (even munky, sheba and chesney). it is his 1st war trophy i suppose, and there has been talk of taking in for show and tell next time.

prefect day for the bunny hop....

we made our way down to yoder's bright and early this morning to be one of the firsts to visit the 30lb. live bunny and get some photos done by krystal kay. she was "hosting" a photo event there today.
the set up was rather cute.... hay stacks, and easter baskets filled with chicks.
brians friend jack (who seriously has a wardrobe filled with every costume you could ever imagine) dressed up as a giant easter bunny. i was somewhat shocked at the fact that alivia was scared to death and levi walked right up to him, i totally thought it would be the other way around.
which has me wondering....
how will she be at disney for brians birthday in april? only time will tell i suppose.
it was nice to spend the morning at good ole yoder's. it feels like it has been forever since i have last been there. i was busy catching up with old faces while the kids ran around, petting and feeding little bunnies. there is always a million people there that brian wants to show the kids off to. i always... and i may be weird for thinking this... but i always get that "yep he picked me" feeling every time someone smiles in amazement at this life we have created together.

as usual (even though there won't be that many cause it wasn't an actual "shoot") i am super excited to see what krystal captured. it was nice cause we got some cousin pictures while we were there as well. and that's always makes me happy!
the day was spent free feeling and it was nice to not really think about any stressfulness.
and....
it was super windy! alivia kept telling me she didn't want to blow away from me....
made me smile every time.
the picture above is when we went back to get lunch later in the afternoon. i forced alivia up on the bunny's lap, and levi just wanted his corn dog...
but nataley, she was typical nataley smiling ear to ear!

she's a mover...

i'm feeling a bit better about things now.
i've had a few days to really mull it over and pray. not that i hadn't already concluded to the fact that god is in control and what he wants will happen. but my heart has been given peace about it either way.
my life is blessed and i am thankful.
please continue to keep us in your prayers though.


on a separate note....

little miss nataley faye is now among the mobil.
she has been having at it for weeks now rocking back and forth....
moving backwards.
but this evening she figured it out!

i now literally have three to chase around! :P

mighty to save...

"have faith and believe the unseen as though it already is"

this is what my mother called to tell me this morning.
and this is what i am doing today. believing...
my god sees me, knows me.

and he has a plan, i know he always has a plan.

"oh, taste and see the lord is good:
blessed is the man who trusts in him!"
psalm 34:8

but please pray for brian and i as we are treading unknowing territory.

happy 1st day of spring...

well, yesterday anyway!

spring is my second favorite time of the year. the weather here is beautiful.
it often times reminds me of summer time back in ohio.
nice warm breezy days, and a fresh scent in the air.
sadly, it will be short lived and then our nasty, hot, sweaty, can hardly breath cause it's so humid out days will return once more. northern people dream of them and us locals simply loathe their return.

but lets not worry about summer right now... cause it's spring!

my list is ever growing when it comes to spring activities to do with the kids. seriously, there are so many options.
i look forward to the water fountains, swimming, and beaching. the sky being light till late in the evenings filled with ice cream treats, and strolls around the block.
i love spring!

speaking of strolls, we enjoyed our first last night.
a little different this year, that's for sure. after all, i've added two more to cart around... nataley and munky!
levi is finally big enough where i trusted him to use those walking legs, and i could tell he enjoyed it much better. the girls were happy to sit in the wagon....
and munky...
well, munky is bad at following directions in this current moment so two houses down she ended up in the wagon with the other girls.
45 minutes of "i spy" and fresh air topped with cold ice cream , right off the ice cream mans truck!

hooray for spring!


ps....
it's a little hard to tell, but nataley was sporting her first ever pony tail yesterday too! :P

"i'm sorry mommy"...

no exaggeration...
i think i heard that sentence come out of levis mouth 10 or more times yesterday.
in fact, so much so that i am nearly 100% sure the way it flows off of those skinny lips of his is will be embedded in my memory for my lifetime.

i don't know what it is...
but we are going through a spell. it's almost as if some light bulb has gone off in his head and he has gained the wisdom of a 10 year old. he has certainly learned the buttons to push with me. and it is exhausting me.

i have a bit of a sweet tooth these days....
and so naturally, i keep my a stash of chocolate eggs (the little ones are the perfect size to get my fix) high up on the counter. now, i don't mind if my kids have a taste of candy now and then, but it is by no means the free for all levi expects it to be. i saw him reaching those hands high up on the counter, stretched as long as he could make them yesterday in hopes of of returning with a fist full of chocolate eggs.

i immediately put a stop to it and told him... "NO"
to which he replied... "my dad told me i could"...
then i said... "well, dad isn't here, and i am the boss, i say NO"
he looked up at me and said... "your not my boss!" then he slapped me and ran away!

to say that i was infuriated would be an understatement.
i called brian and he made his way home to reprimand his son.
"i'm sorry mommy, i want to be a good boy" was what i got after a 15 minute talk he and his daddy had in his room.


later on in the afternoon i had decided to clean out the food pantry. powder had spilled off the top shelf about a week or so ago... everything was covered in a dusty coat of sugar and it had been driving me nuts. upon pulling everything off of the shelves i came across a enormous bag of starbursts (must have been from one of brians "SAMS" runs). that stupid bag caused utter havoc well into my evening last night. levi could not control himself. no matter where i moved it, or how high i put it up his little brain found a way to get to it. i pulled sticky chunks out of munkys mouth countless times. till finally, i pitched the whole darn thing and took it out to the trash....
each and every time levi was caught with it he would quickly jump up and say... "i'm sorry mommy"
time outs weren't working.
so finally, my last straw i spanked that hinny of his.
he tearfully looked up and me and told me in these words exactly...
"i will not cry, that's what you want me to do".

i'm telling you, i don't know what to do with this boy of mine!
i can only imagine what teenage hood is going to be like.

and if that wasn't enough to end this "wonderful" day. when i was helping the girls get undressed for their baths levi got into the diaper bag i had from the fair and smothered himself full of sunscreen....

"i'm sorry mommy, i love you".
( seeing as how it was waterproof, at least he was protected by those harmful UV rays last night in his sweet slumber). :)

thank you jesus for this boy you have given me...
who is teaching me unconditional love and patience if nothing else right now.



ps... i had to post my three little shamrocks for st. patties day!

spring has sprung!

phew...
what a weekend!

there is nothing like going to the county fair to show you what.... well, lets just say interesting people live right in your city. yikes!

i am so not your typical fair type of gal, thank heavens! in fact i pretty much despise the start of spring because i know it is coming to town! i don't think i had ever gone to one prior to moving to florida. well, in less you count the IX centers indoor amusement park... was that our fair? i'm not even sure.

anyhow, this fair despising girl was guilted into going to it not only once but TWICE this weekend.
and now that it's all said and done...
well, i still despise it. but i made the best of the situation, and managed to walk away with some pretty great memories.



yesterday morning my s- i-l kim called me up and asked if we could get together with the kiddos. i'm not entirely sure how it happened but somehow we ended up at the fair. several hours later we walked out hot and sweaty with only farmers burn as our souvenirs!
seriously, poor little nataley... red as a fresh steamed lobster!
which brians grandma would be happy to know that i put herb of oil on it and it actually seemed to work. so maybe she has officially made me a believer!


and then today.
i knew it was coming, brian talked about going all week. but the good news is my husband looses interest in amusement parks rather quickly so we never stay for very long.
in the back of my head when our family of five entered gate 4 i was thinking... "i am here with brian...
we won't stay too long shannon, suck it up!".
but then it happened. somewhere in my snotty light walking so as not to bump or touch anything way i found myself smiling with small bits of laughter here and there. and before i knew it i was actually having fun!

fearless alivia loved all the rides. timed levi took a while to warm up to them.
and all of a sudden brian and i were jumping from ride to ride half fighting about who would get to go on with them for the bigger ones, and watched in amazement while they smiled and laughed on the ones they could do themselves. we indulged in all the yummy nasty carni food... which i'm sure we will all be paying for in the next couple days. time flew, and then before we knew it it was getting dark.
yes, brian and shannon...
the couple that never stays to "get our moneys worth" had been at the fair for nearly 6 hours!


we left with just enough time to watch the shuttle shoot up into space as we drove home. and stopped in an empty parking lot to get a better view.

the kids we filthy...
and i still am, which makes for the greatest showers!


so while i may be the girl that despises the fair...
tonight i'm thinking,
"it does only come to town once a year!".

typical car ride...

most every where we go we always end up on lockwood ridge rd.

and from that point on this is what goes on in the van....


levi: mommy, look it's an L... just like levi!

mommy: it sure is. good eyes!

levi: alivia, my name starts with L...

alivia: me too!...

levi: (with slight anger) NOO livia... your name starts with A.

alivia: (very over dramatic) NOOOO me too, me too!!!!!!!

levi: (very angry) NOOOOOOOOOOO (tears) mommy, livias name doesn't start with L, it starts with A. only levi starts with L.

mommy: alivia, levi is right... your name starts with A.

alivia: oh, ok!

and just like that there is peace in the car again!

EVERY TIME... like clock work!

boy oh BOY...

in the whole 3 and 1/2 years of little levis life, we have never once doubted the fact that he is "all boy". balls, trains, trucks and cars have been his whole life. he is constantly reminded to pick up after himself (just like his daddy). and, he tends to be a little on the lazy side expecting everyone else to do "it" for him...
and now, for your amusement i give you a story of this little boys new found boyish entertainment...

last night after dinner levi proudly announced to me that he had to go poop. that in and of itself is quite boyish, but nothing new. he always proudly proclaims every time his bowls are in need of movement.
i quietly told him (just like every other time)... "levi, you do not need to tell me, just GO!" and off he went...
10 minuets passed while i was finishing up cleaning the kitchen from dinner when my boy came in and told me that i simply had to come and see something.
i had fully prepared myself for some sort of creature... a lizard, bug, possibly even a frog. i am called somewhere on a daily basis to come and rescue some sort of critter that has managed to find it's way into our home.
i grabbed the bug box and off i went....

little did i know what his sweet intentions were!
he pulled my hand with a big grin on his face as he rushed me into the bathroom to see how "giant" his poop was!
and if that wasn't enough to clearly gross me out... my son, looked up at me and told me with his hands shaking in a "no" sort of way while explaining to me in these words... "mommy, this poop is so giant... it's cool. we don't have to flush it, not yet."
i looked down at him as though he was crazy and said "we most certainly do!"
and then.....
he told me "well, then we have to take a picture of it. i need to show my dad!"

i don't know what made me do it but i gave into my 3 year olds request.
and to show you how i know this is a boyish thing to do.....
his dad was happy to see the picture!
ONLY IN A BOYS WORLD!

never fear, i will shield your eyes from the "giant poop"!

right down our alley....

i think levi found his new favorite sport today...

i debated for sometime this morning on what exactly i was wanting to do with my children today.
we have had a pretty casual week. the kids went to school everyday and we went to the grocery store (i still get red and flustered when i think about that experience!), but other then that i don't think we've left the house all week. and actually, i feel pretty relaxed. it was nice to have no reason to leave. but, i've now had my "at home" fix and today i wanted to try and find something the kids would appreciate, have fun with and basically get us out of this house.
and although the weather was PERFECT for something out doors, i decided to take them bowling.
we have never been, but have talked about possibly going several times. brian (being usual brian) has always thought it would be a little stressful to do, so it just has never been done.

low and behold today i shannon emrich, mother of three three and under took my gang bowling... all by ourselves!
and we had a simply splendid time!

rather then turn this into some sort of story (because there really isn't a "story" to tell about it, i am opting to plainly share a few things that made this days adventure memorable to me....

~ both kids LOVED it. they took turns nicely the entire time.

~ nataley was smiley and happy and was fine sitting and watching through all 3... yes! they played 3 whole games and would have played more!

~ levi was so overwhelmed with his excitement for his new found hobby that at one moment he actually grabbed alivia pulled her close for a hug and said...."i love you livia!"

~ each and every ball alivia rolled down the alley (after she realized what it would do) she would wave and say "goodbye my ball, see you in the hole" (in reference to where the ball then comes back up).... then when she would get the ball after it came up would say "BALL... i missed you!".....
very stinking CUTE!

~levi hit a spare all by himself....
WITHOUT it hitting the gutter guard! :)

both have been talking about it all night, and have said several times that they want to go back....
which i'm sure we will.
cheap... time consuming... and fun! :P

dun dun duuun....

humiliated beyond belief...

at around 4:00 this afternoon i decided to make a quick run to the grocery store.

i have been really into cooking lately, and finding that i am not half bad at it. i've been on the search for good hearty meals that are fairly good for you and relatively quick to make. i'm almost the "queen of casseroles"... which is what my family loves!

i relish the satisfaction it gives me to not eat yoder's food. after all, yoder's has been such a huge part of my life over the last almost 10 years. and i have concluded to the fact that i have made myself a little too comfortable at the thought of just picking up supper there.

i spent most of the early morning while the kids were at school researching, and filling in my cookbook.... yes, it did have actual dust on it! sad!

i gathered up my list and off we went.

i could have avoided the whole situation had i not needed butter!
butter is bad!
for it was right next to the butter that levi's eyes came across a rather large man. and in that very moment my naive, innocent minded, and unknowing three year old pointed while shouting for all around us to clearly hear "mommy look... that man has a giant belly!!!" people looked... my face and most of my upper body quickly turned a beet red color. i could feel the heat from my complete and utter mortification rising all the way from my stomach pounding into my forehead.

what to do, what to do?
how do i fix this?
how can i make it right?

i quickly looked at the man... "i'm so sorry sir, we have not yet crossed this bridge"
he gave me a look as i wheeled both my carts away down to a more vacant isle.

i told levi to look me in the eyes and quietly explained....
"i'm not angry, i know you didn't know this... but, words can hurt people. and those were mean ones to say"
i explained to him that jesus made people in all colors, shapes and sizes and sometimes people forget that. and sometimes it hurts their feelings to hear that other people think that they are different.

i honestly still don't know if i handled the situation well, i was so taken completely off guard in the moment. it was just the first thing that popped into my head to say to him. i hope it taught levi some sort of lesson....
we all go through it or something like it right?

i know he is a good boy, with nothing but love (and energy) in his heart!

it would be just my luck though that i had to pass that man three other times while finishing my shopping!


onto this evening...

i guess today was all about levi learning lessons.


i made ham and cheese casserole for dinner tonight. alivia requested seconds.
levi is such a horrible eater these days, and i reached my limit of it this very night.

i put my foot down while he cried and shouted "i don't like that kind of ham... NOOOOO"
i made him sit at the table from 6:45 - 9:03, well pass bedtime. he watched his sisters go off to their slumber, still not budging from the plate of food. finally i told him (only because of school in the morning) he could go to bed and eat it tomorrow... but that he WOULD be eating nothing else until he at least tried a bite of the casserole. i told him there would be no story for him, and that he would not get his quiet TV time. finally after 15 more minutes of crying in his bed a puffy eyed boy came out of his room and said "i will eat my dinner now!"

score one for mommy!

argh... what a day, what a day!

three piggies in a tub...

nataley faye upgraded her bathtub apparel tonight.
that's right! she can now sit up and splash her hands and feet in the water with the rest of the gang!
honestly, where has my tiny one gone? time is zooming by far too quickly for me!



she throughly enjoyed herself for over 20 minuets. grabbing every toy that floated her way, and kept reaching for alivia's hair.... naturally! i could see the "it's about time mom! what were you waiting for?" look on her face the entire time.


i had that bath chair with alivia and it still is fabulous to me! and as you can see i can get all three of my little piggies in the tub at the same time!

speaking of the chair. alivia got caught in it tonight. i had brought it in from the abyss shed and went quickly back over to drop off the old one. mere seconds passed before i was back into the family room where i found alivia freaking out and screaming in a teary wreck "help mommy, i go stuck!". and stuck she surely was. it took me nearly half an hour before i got those chubby little legs (which by the way she had both of in one side) out.
right when i had decided to give up trying to bend her lower limbs in ways they should not bend all by myself i thought it best to call in my reinforcement (aka.. my hubby, brian, and daddy). the ordeal had already made quite a sweaty mess of both her and myself.... and then suddenly, her foot popped out!
thank heavens!

***************************************************************

levi almost lucked out on sunday. you see, brian has a hard time saying no to "his boy". and levi kept begging and begging him for a rabbit with those big blue pouty eyes of his. and my husband was almost crazy enough to give into his only sons wishes (as usual). i keep praising god because the pet store was out of bunnies on sunday so my boys settled for and brought home two swimming frogs.
add it to our ever growing list of emrich pets!
we now have:
1 dog
2 cats
2 hermit crabs
1 fish
and now 2 swimming frogs.....
pretty soon we will have our own zoo, and we can make some money by charging people to come visit the animals! ;)