Great Weekend

Can't believe it's already Tuesday and the end of April at that!

Re-capping the weekend...

*hubby had an all day conference he attended on Saturday

*I decided Sat. would be a good day to paint the bathroom (while hubby was away) When we remodeled from the flood, I painted our bathroom a darker, burnt copper sort of color and every time I entered that bathroom there was just something about it that made me want to hurry up and leave! I am SO happy to report it is now a beautiful ocean breeze blue (yeah I get my beach theme back again) with brown/black floor and white furniture, etc. WOW, what a change, and I LOVE spending time in there now!

{Before}

{After}

*D & T had work shifts, then went midnight bowling with a friend

*Noticed oozing sore with lump on Maisy's back-side. Ended up taking her in (yesterday) and she had 2 abscessed umm, uhh, lets just say 'bottom' glands that he had to pop (ok, seriously not fun) and now she lives with a cone head for the week.

*N hung out with me; helped me clean the office

*Baby-cakes stayed out of mischief (:0)

*Sunday, the sun came out for hubby's birthday and we went to the park as a family and played...SO FUN!!! We enjoyed a delicious birthday dinner and even splurged with 'real' (as my boys put it) cake and ice cream. It was a GREAT day!


Baby-cakes & the birthday Daddy

Catch up, part 2

Just when you thought you were on top of things...you realize how far behind you really are!

Still trying to catch up I suppose.

Having finished his driver's ed course, we thought we'd give Tanner a little bit of driving practice before he takes his driving test! And yes, he literally climbed inside the cart - it was way funnier watching him climb out for sure!

NEWSFLASH!!!!! We are happy to report that the driver practice we gave Tanner paid off. He passed his driving test and I now officially have 2 teenage drivers in the house :0) (yes, this is his 'too cool' look for sure)

Princess playing in the garden at the hospital while we wait for Papa to have his port put in. We were happy it was such an incredibly beautiful sunny day!!!

Okay, so I kid you not...this is where you can find Noah these days!
Abigail: "where is Noah? "
Mommy: "go look by the refrigerator or in the kitchen or in the pantry!!!"
I cannot keep this kid full - EVER. We can eat a hearty dinner and no joke a half an hour later he's starving. Hollow leg syndrome I've heard.

Loving my yogurt!

Abigail is particularly careful - using much care when she draws. She's not a scribbler (as my boys were) or scratcher with her writing utensils. No, she carefully places the pencil/pen/crayon in her hand (left one) and draws.

As you can see here, she's been drawing circles. Not perfect by any means but she's working on it.

My soon-to-be graduate...44 more days

Playing Catch-up

What does a mother get with 3 teenage boys and an incredibly independent 2 1/2 year old???

Behind!!!

Behind on housework, behind on laundry, behind on shopping, behind on schoolwork, and of course behind on blogging!

This is probably one of the most special pieces of clothing that Abigail has ever worn! Any guesses why??

Sweet Princess Abigail in her "new" pajamas...a nightgown! We decided to 'accommodate' Abigail's bedtime routine and give her the option of no pants. Seriously, as I posted before when we would put her to bed with pajamas on she would take them off. She cannot stand pants on her legs (and not just for bed either). We would pin her footy one piece ones so she could not take them off, but anytime she was wearing top/bottom, we would find the bottom on the floor by the time we went to bed.

Having a little snack...we love the popcorn

Okay so, there's a short little story that goes with these next few pictures. Back in October when our house flooded, it was early on in the remodel process and my contractor had instructed me to go to the carpet store one day and pick out a carpet for the house. He basically told me to not come back until I had picked one out and purchased it (the installer would pick it up later).
So off we went (took a friend along for moral support - thanks Patty) to the outlet flooring store to select carpet.
A) Have any of you been into an outlet (or any for that matter) flooring store? If so then you would understand the 'overwhelm' factor of picking.

B) When you only can spend $xx.xx of dollars per square foot, you kind of figure out that the decision will be easy right???
Literally it was the hardest decision I have had to make in a long, long, long time. I first had to decide if I wanted a carpet that didn't show wear and tear or one that was stain resistant? So, Patty so intelligently asked me what I didn't like about the carpet in my house that had been ruined. I told her that it was riddled with stains, afterall I did have children. Thus I had my answer - looking for a stain resistant carpet.

There I stood in this big warehouse with hundreds of rolls of carpet, vinyl, etc around me and I was left with 2 decisions - which color - light or darker! Simple right?!?
I will actually admit that I had an easier time making a decision on toilets when I stood in the aisle at the hardware store with a choice of 50 different types of toilets in front of me. BUT when I am faced with 1 choice I sort of fell apart.

So...feeling like I really didn't have a decision I chose the lighter version. I was told in the showroom that I had made a GREAT choice as this kind of carpet was stain-proof. Ummm, Yeah right!!! No, seriously they told me that the carpet company did an experiment where they carpeted the entire stall of a rhino for 1 month with this carpet brand and after a month of it 'doing its business' they pulled it out and had it professionally clean. Low and behold, the stains ALL came out ~ now I didn't say anything about the smell. Literally all the stains came out. Okay, I said and chalked it up to selling techniques.
Do you wonder where I am going with all this???

Exhibit A: Evidence!!! One said ink pad

Exhibit B: carpet behind computer desk in the living room where an ink pad (magenta at that) had fallen behind unnoticed for weeks. (I actually cannot believe I was smart enough to grab the camera and shoot before and after)

Exhibit C: rag used to clean up ink stain (literally only used a rag and warm water - no cleaner)

Exhibit D: carpet after cleaning...can I just say I'm sold!!!

So, last week we had some really funky weather! We had a few incredible days of hail storms. This one covered the deck - you might even be able to see it falling in the picture.

No Joke...this picture was taken within 30-45 minutes later, which we went onto enjoy a beautiful sunny day.

Capturing the essence of JOY!!!

Brain-freeze...or is it?!?

It's a funny thing about the brain. There are those times when you want to FORGET something so as not to recall the feelings/emotion that comes with it...oh like let's say going to the dentist or having your blood drawn!!!

AND then there are those times when you want to REMEMBER something...oh like what you walked into the room to either tell your hubby or retrieve something and you cannot remember for the life of you why you are there?!? OR lets even say remember the cute and adorable things your kids have said through the years.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been told by my mother, "You've got to write this stuff down, cause believe me you won't remember it later!!!" She's right you know.

I can remember telling her some of the things Abigail has said that have just cracked us up and yet do you think I can remember them now to record them forever?!? Nope

So in a feeble attempt to stay young, I am going to reach into the deep recesses of my mind and try to recall some of what we'll call:

Abigail's Greatest Hits

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daddy: "Good-bye Abigail"
Abigail: "Where are you going daddy?"
Daddy: "I've gotta go to work."
Abigail: "You're going to work?"
Daddy: "Yes baby girl, I'm going to work."
Abigail: "Are you going to push paper?"
Daddy: (with head hung low)"Yes, I'm going to push paper!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~

{Dalton walks in kitchen to find Abigail playing with her lunch}
Dalton: "Abigail, stop playing with your food"
Abigail: {with a puzzled look on her face} "How do you know my name???"
Dalton: "Because we gave you that name silly!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{The boys are having a sleepover, which means they line the living room floor with sleeping bags and blankets for the night. In the morning when Abigail woke up she found them all in the living room sleeping. She quietly (as a 2yr old can be) asks us who "That" (Cody) is?}

Abigail: "Who's that?"
Daddy: "That's Habeeb"
Abigail: "That's Habeeb?"
Daddy: "No, that's Rodriguez"
Abigail: "No, that's not Robridaz"
Daddy: "No, that's Fred"
Abigail: "No, that's not Fred"
Mommy: (seeing that the teasing isn't registering) "Abigail, that's Cody"
Abigail: "No, that's not Cody, that's Habeeb!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, that's for starters. In my quest to stay 'fresh and current' I think I am going to have a running sidebar to add them as they come along - yep that should do the trick. Now I just have to remember to add them to the sidebar ~ this whole getting older thing is for the birds!

Happy Easter

Wishing all of our family and friends a very Happy Easter!