And then they had to go peeeeeeeeeeeeee

So after a long day of walking, drinking, eating, whatever, the kids had to go potty... Mikayla didn't find the right one the first time!!



The second time she did...



But only after her sister pointed out that she must be a boy...



What a giggle that was!!

A day of fun at Emma Krumbee's Apple Orchard

We wanted to do something fun and untraditional for the kids this fall, and by doing something that families traditionally do, we achieved that!

Emma Krumbee's is a farm (conglomerate) that has apple orchards,strawberry fields, and a scarecrow festival that people out here love. We have never gone. For several reasons, kids too young, Davin's allergies to bug bites, Camryn's shunt stuff, her broken leg. Well this summer has been a turning of events for us, so we thought we would give it a try. The kids first played on the Tractor they have on display. They had a blast climbing and playing hide and seek!

Cam looks worried, doesn't she? (blinded by the sun!)


Elli playing Hide and Seek! (In the engine, sounds safe!)


Davin was Mr. Canttakemyphoto (and a real party pooper for the first hour)


Mikayla was trying to pose as much as possible (How did I get a ham? No! Seriously!?!?!?!)


At least the girls were willing to pose with the pumpkins... (read post on MR. Canttakemyphoto and funny stinker face poses)



All in all it was a good time, we even got some great shots of the kids picking apples (when we finally go there, note to self, don't bring more than one person with ADHD at a time!!!).



And of course, Davin the party pooper!!!






Then the kids realized they could climb the trees, not just pick from them... (rolling eyes here)





Davin really didn't want his picture taken, so he decided to be a shadow...



Then we found another Tractor to play on...


Again, Davin being a stinker, trying to run away...


I love this picture of her...


And I think this one of her and Dan turned out nicely too, I just wish she was looking at the camera.


And onto strawberry picking we went....


Believe it or not, he was a huge helper for this part, I love this picture. I can't explain it. My mom isn't looking, you can't see Dan, but the look on Davin's face says so much to me.



Then we needed to go inside to cool off, the kids were so flushed..

BRAIN FREEZE!!!


Cam drank the whole water bottle herslf, had the ice cream, and had a sucker after!


Another sneaky shot of Davin!


And then shortly after this when Cam and I felt like crap, we decided to go home and the kids missed out on the pony ride!!! So we left with three cranky kids and one screamer... Elli can be heard for miles, have I ever told you that??? Can't wait for next year!

Sheeeewwww Bug, Don't bother me!

As I was trying to get some house cleaning done on Saturday morning while Dan took Mikayla and Davin to Volleyball and Flag Football I noticed this bug on my window. I thought it was a grasshopper, but apparently it wasn't. It had almost frog like feet that were rounded on the toes and clung to my window. I just couldn't get him to bugger off. I tried hitting the glass, slamming the front door, waving a newspaper at it, but he just couldn't bring himself to wander...
So I figured, he's not hurting anything, I can come back to my window and windex the outside later, so I mosied on... Much to my dismay, I noticed that everytime I walked somewhere to get something, do something, or bring something somewhere I felt like he was watching me. Now those close to me know that I am arachnaphobic, but apparently I am afraid of bugs as well. So after a half hour of trying to get him off my mind, I took a picture and the girls sang Shheeeeewwwwww Bug, don't bother us... then I took my newspaper and gently encouraged him to vacate the premisis.




The funniest part??? I have two bucks (MR. Eight and MR. Ten) on my walls in the stair case that I walk by at least 100 times a day and they are still there. If that isn't love for my husband, I don't know what is!!!

Three Peas in a POD

Last Friday night the girls were an absolute riot! They were full of energy and sleeping just wasn't in the cards at 7:30. So we popped some popcorn, put in a movie, and all hung out on the couch. Well....that is, until the cute music singing parts come on and then they dance like crazy. As I tried to pull out the camera as quick as I could, I just wasn't fast enough. This was their "Look ma! I'm stranglin'!!" pose. They are at each other's throats at 7:30 am, in each other's way all day, but at night, after they have had a chance to feed their brains, their souls, and their tummies, they really can be quite cute!

A Boy Who obviously needs brotherly companionship...

A long time ago when Dan and I first got together we knew we wanted a larger family, but we never really agreed on the gender thing. I, of course, wanted all boys, I had 3 brothers, loved growing up with less frill. Dan grew up with three sisters and already had two nephews so he wanted to see girls in his family. After we had Mikayla and Davin gender seemed more important to me than to anyone else. I always invisioned baseball, football, hockey, jeans, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. When we went to Elli's ultrasound knowing it was going to be our last, the word hamburger was hard to swallow. I thought about how Davin wouldn't have a rough and tumble friend, he wouldn't have someone to go outside with and just wrestle to the ground with all his might. Yet I never thought that a sisterly bond would be work either (later I find out this can be worse, no really, it can!) So when we found out we were pregnant after Elli turning 6 months old we were floored, but then I thought, could this be Davin's little brother? As time went on, I really believe it was. Then the discussion of CP and possible brain issues was so alarming that the gender seemed trivial. When we later found out she was in fact a girl all the thoughts of Davin playing outside by himself made me want to cry. Where was his playmate???

Well when we walked into Stacie's and saw the puppies, we knew we had to have one! And since everything in our lives seemed to be so unique, we needed to find unique again. Maisy, the only all black terrier in the group! Davin loved her! He was so caring and gentle and so excited to have someone who wanted to play with him as energetically as he could only keep up with. They are like two peas in a pod! Davin even takes her downstairs to do laundry with him! So when another litter showed up at Stacie's, Harley just had to be ours! Scrappy, yet sweet, energetic, yet cuddly... she was the one. And to this day, Davin still loves his rough and tumble girls...

Purple is my favorite color!!

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

At least I am consistant!!

3 WEEKS!!!

Camryn has made it three weeks, I am so excited!!!!!!! We have some medicine readjusting to do, but the fact that we haven't had some kind of hospital run in 3 weeks is such a nice break!!!

We hope to increase her meds sometime this week, we hope to regain control of our lives as well. The interruptions to our lives have been so hard to cope with. Out house needs so much repair (just major upkeep) and I don't know how we would do it without a break in the AMB rides...

Today is a day I could ship my son off to boarding school though. I don't know what his deal is, he almost has sociopath behavior because he doesn't care if he hurts others by making them late, getting in the way of what needs to be accomplished, he just plain doesn't care. How can this be? He was the most compassionate kid up until June or so. I just don't understand it. Today we have a standing order, I am leaving at 8, he's not allowed to come unless his list of things to do is complete, do you think I will have to leave my child behind? (Just until I drop the others off at school and come back for him ;) )

I can't wait to scrap this weekend, hopefully I will have more cards to show you than you can stand, LMAO!

7 years...

Today marks 7 years. Seven years of loss in my eyes. Hopefully some days soon it will stop. Even though I understand why we are committed to our country, I still have thoughts that why our country went was based on lies. It just saddens me to think about those who have lost, and worries me to think of those we might lose. The terrorism didn't end that day, and it didn't start that day, but why we live in terror has some new attributes. I hope this will resolve before too many suffer...

Do you remember where you were that day??

I was at home, nursing my son, then 6 months old. My daycare children were asleep in their beds and for some reason, Dan woke up late, took a while to get to work. After the computer systems crashed (because they were linked with stuff in the WTC) he was told not to come in anyway. It was probably the only time that my family was together through such a tragic event. Dan, Myself, Mikayla, and Davin. Sitting on the couch, holding each other close, staring at the TV in disbelief and wondering who we knew was on the inside. Wondering if we knew someone on that plane. Horrified to know that the next attach could be anywhere...

Please hug those you love today, call this National let those I love know I love them day.

Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyy IIIIIInnteresting!!!!

You Are Psyche!

Eternally in search of purpose and insight. You're curious and creative with a total sense of wonder. Totally empathetic, you pick up on other's moods easily. Just be sure to pamper yourself as well!

What Goddess Are You?

Another day of school

Good Morning Everyone!
Just another morning with school on the agenda. I thought this time of year would give me more time to get things done, but it doesn't help that month end is the during the first week of school. We were trying to think of ways to get the kids involved, but not overwhelm them (ok, ourselves) and we think we found the compromise!

Mikayla-Volleyball from 9-10 on Saturday
Davin-Flag Football from 10-11 on Saturday
Elli-Soccer from 3:30-4:15 on Tuesdays

All the while thinking how wonderful we were being to try and arrange all of this, we missed something. Now Camryn, they don't really have anything for her age group here, and aside from that, the two things they do have, she is not allowed to do (contact sports)so we didn't sign her up for any activities..
You would not believe how sad she is over this (ok, we couldn't believe it) and it's all because of her peapod (Elli). Camryn and Elli have done everything together until May of 06 together and 90% of things together since then. This year, Elli goes to a new school, no longer goes to Stacie's with Cam and Camryn looks like she feels lost without her partner in crime. Then we sign up Elli for an activity that Camryn is not allowed to do. And also don't sign her up for anything, so she no longer has something of her own as well. Preschool also hasn't started (they start next week) so I know this further makes her wonder why we are treating her differently.
So... what CAN we do? That is harder to figure out than we thought... How do you sign up a kid for something that you don't know can even go to? We might just have to do spur of the moment things with her on a weekly basis so that we don't overcommit. I would love to see suggestions if you have them, please leave them in the comments section.
Thanks!!!

So much for some serious scrapping time...

But I did manage to get these done for Saturday night...


I love the skittles... Can you see them??? I hope that they like them!
What do you guys think?

"Your Fired!"

It's amazing!



Just two years ago, we were struggling with Camryn's shunt, this was her wearing her first home EEG. We were trying to figure out how I was going to work from home, how we were going to balance everything with special needs children, and how we were going to make sure we fit time in for sleep as well. We found a wonderful lady named Stacie, an Ex-RN, who with three children of her own, two of which were the same age as two of ours, agreed to take on our two little ones. At the time Camryn was 2 and Elli was 3. They were nothing short of a handful and Stacie took that challenge head on. She worked tirelessly with our girls and their goals through the summer of 06 and helped me regain my sanity. It was wonderful. The girls have done amazingly well and Camryn has been in the best hands possible during all of the strange medical issues we have had. It's been so helpful to know that we can leave and feel like our girls are with family. There is no Thank You big enough we can give her, I just hope that she knows how much we appreciate everything she does for our children, and more so, our family. So to see these pictures now and see how far the girls have come, I know that we couldn't be here, if it weren't for Stacie (and Scott, Cathy, Terry!!!) I love how happy they all look :)



This picture was taken on Elli's last day. Stacie had joked that it was the day she was fired so much, that Elli confirmed it for her! In the most lovingly way possible...
"You're Fired!!!!"