this one's for you Ada!!

Congratulations!!! Best wishes on your Wedding Day!!

Life List

This was on my friend Dawn's website and I thought it cute. The bold are the things I have done...the non bolded (is that a word?) are the things I would like to do.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (does school band count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train-
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Happy Birthday Grace

Today is gracies 3rd birthday...Happy birthday to you!!!

Gracie's first Haircut.

I took grace for her first hair cut today. She was just so scraggily i couldent stand it any more. Also she is starting school next week so i figured she needed to be presentable.

BEFORE

Sitting so still... I am going to start telling her she is getting a haircut when i want her to sit still.


AFTER

That's no moon.....

It's a space station!!!

Eddie's 5th birthday cake

Dough Boy (or Girl)

On any given day, if you stop by my house unannounced, you will probably notice that it looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy exploded in my kitchen. People walk in to my house and say "oh it smells so good in here". Honestly i dont really notice unless i go away for a while. I almost always have something baking, it kind of drives my kids crazy because they can never have any of the yummy stuff i make. But any way i digress...back to the Doughboy.....actually Doughgirl....







This is what happens in our house when it gets quiet an i look around and think..'where is Grace?'

Vacation Blog Part 1

I have been real busy since we got home about a week and a half ago so i haven't posted anything about vacation. I am going to post mostly pictures because i am not much for typing/storytelling. Needless to say we had a great time, but it is great to be home.
At the lake in McCall.

Eleanor being a monkey in the car.

At the Oregon Coast.


One of the 4 cakes i did while i was there

Grandpa Bob and the kids, ready for October fest.

On our way home

We are on our way home to Texas. I am looking forward to getting back to real life, believe it or not. On our trip back we decided to spend an extra day in Salt Lake City. Tim and the kids have never been to Temple Square and I haven't been since i was a kid. We really enjoyed it. The 'new' conference center is impressive. I took some pictures and will post those on another day.

We sure have enjoyed this extended vacation. The kids have been as good as can be expected in the car. Jody did a vacation by the numbers a while back and i may copy her when we finally get home.

Modern Day cattle Rustler

One of the fun things we have done on our vacation is drive up to Little lake outside McCall, ID. We drove up and had a weenie roast with the fam and on the way home..... we drove through some forested area, where there were cattle grazing. Some of the heard strayed on to the road. My brother Mark, when we wouldn't let him get out of the van to chase them, resorted to his own methods.

Missing me yet???

Hi rabid readers!!! I have been and still am out of town having a wonderful time in the great northwest. My internet usage has been intermitant so i just thought a brief update would be good. I am almost exatly half way through my LONG vacation. We are really looking forward to daddy comming in 3 weeks and were really surprized to hear the news from the Round Rock Ward. Things are going to be so different when i get back!

I hope to post some pictures next week, my parents internet is down until the 26th so i cant really upload very well.

Because i like to read.....

I found this on another blog that i read and thought it was cool..

Here's how it works:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline (or mark in a different color) the books you LOVE - mine are with astricks
4) Reprint this list in your blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

The premise of this exercise is that the National Endowment for the Arts apparently believes that the average American has only read 6 books from the list below.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
*2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
*4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
*8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
*11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
*16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
**33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
*39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
*42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
*58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
*73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
*99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


Probably a couple more of those should be in italics, I wont commit to reading anything right now. I have a hard enough time finishing one book for book club every month.

More grocery cart woes

(i should rename my blog 'Alison's Complaints')

Today is Monday so the kids and I went grocery shopping. Some people think I am crazy for taking all three of my kids to the store with me and think I should go when my hubby is home. Since those times are now few and far between, I feel even more justified in taking my kids with me. Any way, they go with me because it is what we do on Monday mornings and I figure if they cant sit still and behave them selves while we shop they will never make it through kindergarten. I hit a record low today, spending only $30 because we are using up the stuff we have before vacation.

After HEB, which was pretty uneventful, we headed to Randalls. In the past couple of weeks I have had to look for the Blue 3 seater carts to put my kids in. for whatever reason they always seem to be parked on the other side from where I come in. So I went hunting today, assuming that I would find one on the other side. Alas, no blue carts or car carts. I don't like the car carts anyway because grace climbs out of them and/or hangs her head out the side making it impossible to drive. Today I would have put up with that because the alternative is exactly what i had to do today. I put Eleanor in the seat, Grace in the basket, and Eddie walks. It's a good thing I want getting my usual haul ( I only ended up spending $4.xx).

We started around the store, Eddie running ahead, Grace trying to climb out, and Eleanor trying to do whatever Grace was doing. I rounded a corner and right in front of me was a woman with a blue cart. I wanted to ram her with my cart full of kids. There in her 3 seater cart was one chubby 7 YEAR OLD girl. Come on now, seriously?????? I was practically wrestling an octopus so that this big kid could relax while they walked through the store. I was so angry that I got all distracted and couldn't find anything.

As we were checking out Grace happened to grab a comment card. You better believe they are getting a comment from me about not having enough kid carts.

(If you were the lady with the blue cart and you happen to be reading this, or if you are guilty of this yourself, I apologize.....wait, no LEAVE THE BLUE CARTS FOR THE POOR SOULS WHO NEED THEM!!)

Free meal with a side of fat lip

We went to Ikea tonight for Kids eat free night. I dropped Eddie off in the Smaland at 4 05 and wandered around for a while. When i went back to pick Eddie up about 40 minutes later the attendant said "Eddie fell on the stairs a few minutes ago and cut his lip. It bled kind of alot at first but stopped quickly and he said he was okay" Aright.... he is the kind of kid that would have them call his mom if he was really hurt so i figured he was okay. While he was getting his shoes on i took a look. YIKES!! I checked his teeth to see if any of them were loose and he said his teeth didn't hurt. He was able to eat a whole bowl of mac and cheese. he had some trouble drinking out of a cup, his top lip is pretty bruised, I can only imagine what it is going to look like tomorrow. I took some pictures, mostly because Tim is working in the evenings so it will probably be healed by the time Tim sees him on Saturday.

On a side note... I never thought i would say this but... I love The Wiggles. They used to really bother me but one of their tapes is a great work out :)

Kids eat free...

on Wednesday nights at Ikea! Now that the hubby is going to be working on Wednesday nights we are going to get some free meals.

Here are the details. From 3 to 8 pm on Wednesday nights in the restaurant, not the cafe by the check out, kids 12 and under eat free. They have a little area with a movie playing too so after the kids scarf down their food you can finish your meal while they enjoy the movie. We went pretty early last week, i think we got there around 3 30 and Eddie played in the smaland while the girls and i did a lap around the store. Then we picked Eddie up and headed for the restaurant. there wasn't even a line to get food. so for about $8 (i had the salmon and it was pretty good) we got 4 meals. I even ordered mac and cheese for the baby.

Maybe we'll see you there!

Grace is learning to talk. She has started to string some things together but i cant get her to talk to Gandma or anyone else on skype, so here is a little example for everyone.

Happy 1st birthday Eleanor

Cakes

Here are a couple more cakes...It has been a busy month.
Parker lives across the street from us and he turned 3 the other day.
Kim lives next door. She turned 7(I think) and requested a cake with pink and orange.
This one is Eleanors Birthday cake. It is iced in Raspberry Whipped cream.

Summer fun

It is like 100 degrees here every day so we have been getting some use out of the slip and slide. Eddie is almost even brave enough to actually slide.

Black and white wedding and baby boy shower

Here are a couple of cakes i did in the last two weeks. I have two more coming up this weekend that i will post next week.

A to Z

I've been tagged for the first time ever. Thanks Robin!!!

A- Attached or Single: Attached
B- Best friend: Tim
C- Cake or Pie: i make cakes but i prefer pie
D- Day of choice: Monday
E- Essential item: Coupons
F- Favorite Color: Red
G- Gummy bears or worms: Sour Worms
H- Hometown: Salem, Or
I- Indulgence: Dark Chocolate
J- January or July: January
K- Kids: Eddie (4), Grace (2), and Eleanor (1 on the 29th)
L- Life is incomplete without: Food
M- Marriage Date: June 16, 2000
N- Number of siblings: 7
O- Oranges or Apples: Both
P- Phobias or fears: Scary movies scare me
Q- Quotes: "A life lived in fear is a life half lived
R- Reason to smile: Getting a good deal.
S- Season of choice: Spring
T- Tag 3 times: Juliana, Ted, and Mark
U- Unknown fact about me: I have never been out of this country unless you count Canada a couple of times.
V- Very favorite store: HEB and Randalls. Really any place I can score a deal.
W- Worst habit: Dr pepper
X- X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound
Y- Your favorite food: Dr. Pepper
Z- Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Going Tube-ing

Grace had tubes put in her ears today. The procedure was really quick, she was only away from us for about 20 minutes. Also, we had it done at Tim's hospital so we got some special treatment. I am really glad it is over and hopefully this will be all we have to do. I plan to have her hearing tested again after the post op visit, mostly for my own peace of mind. She is back to her old self, Crazy as ever.

Finding the Joy

Recently I was having a hard time finding joy in my life. I am sure most every one has been there at one time or another. I let my self get so far removed from the joy that the things i really do love actually started to be annoying. So i just wanted to point out a couple of things i have re-discovered in the last week that bring joy into my life.

Eddie- I am sure most 4 year olds have minds like a steel trap and hearing like an owl. His attentiveness and negotiation tactics crack me up. The other night he was refusing to eat his dinner and he kept saying ' I want another meal!' (he ended up going hungry, in our house we eat what is on our plate) He is great most of the time about playing with his sisters.

Grace- Maybe the sweetest and brightest girl i know. Since she is having trouble communicating we have had a rough time lately. The doctor says we can resolve her hearing problem next week and then she should be able to speak soon after that. She doesn't miss a trick though. I could be talking about babies in the other room and she will bring me her dolly. I suspect that when she is able to talk she wont stop. Ever.

Eleanor- or nee-nor as she is more affectionately called. She is at that age where babies start to be more independent but they still need their mommies. She crawls off to play by her self and can be totally happy for minuets at a time.

Garage Sales- I have had some good finds in the past couple of weeks, I'll post more on that later.

Vacation- 9 weeks till a nice 6 week long vacation. Unfortunately my biggest joy wont be able to be there for most of it.

Tim- My hubby is the biggest joy in my life. I cant believe i forgot for any amount of time how incredible he is. Seriously, my day gets better when i know it is almost time for him to come home, and not just because i want a break from my kids anymore. He is a wonderful daddy and husband and we are really going to miss him when we are gone this summer.

BTW Thanks to my sister Annabelle for her visit. It was WAY fun!!!

Seriously?!?!?

So i remember hearing about this woman in Arkansas who had her 17th child just after i had Eleanor. Here is her big announcement on the today show this week.

I no longer feel overwhelmed with my 3. Pregnant with #18 can you imagine??

6 Week Follow Up

We went back to the audiologist today to have Graces hearing retested. She has been on Zertec and Nasonex for the last 6 weeks in an effort to clear the fluid out of her ears so they can test her hearing.

The first thing the audiologist does is a tympanometry If that is not normal than they dont even proceed with the hearing test. The test showed that Grace was flat line in the right ear and a mole hill in the left ear. A normal ear has peaks.

The next step in our hearing adventure is going to the Ear Nose and Throat doctor. I asked a lot of questions today. The audiologist was very helpful and said that the ENT doctor is pretty conservitive and may try something else before putting tubes in her ears. We will be seeing him on monday and hopefully we can make some more progress.

When i think about this whole expirence I reflect on the fact that if i had just accepted that she didn't talk and never called the ECI we never would have thought to have her hearing tested and never would have discovered the fluid. At the same time I am tired of going to the doctors office.

You know when you sit down to type a blog because there have been ideas bouncing around in your head??? And then you sit down and ....... nothing. So a funny picture for all of you to enjoy.


Grace is in that transition period where she really kind of needs a nap but if i make her take one she wont go to bed at night. She ends up falling asleep in strange places...like the baby's seat.

Busy day chicken

This is one of my own creations and since it turned out so well the other day i thought i would share. You may need to adjust if you have a smaller crock pot than mine.

potatoes, peeled if you prefer, and cut into chunks
carrots
onion, cut up
chicken pieces, i use a whole chicken cut up.

put the vegetables in the bottom of your crock pot and place all the chicken pieces on top. Sprinkle garlic salt, pepper, and oregano over all of it. Add i can of diced tomatoes and about 1/2 can of water. Cook on high for 4 hours. If you want a thicker sauce when you pull the chicken out mix a little cornstarch with water and mix it in. then let it cook a little longer. the great thing about this recipe is 1) it cooks while you are at church and 2) you can adjust the amount very easily by adding more chicken and vegetables if you have a bigger family.

thanks Meleah!!!

Some of you may know the Super Talented Meleah. She took some family photos of us about a week ago and here is the result.




Thanks Meleah...you are awesome!!!

Extreme Home Makeover: Our House!

So far only paint but new floors coming soon!!!

Grace and the Marker

this morning i was sitting on the couch holding a sleeping baby and i thought to myself....'Grace is being really quiet, i should go check on her'. I ignored the thought because i wanted the baby to sleep a little bit longer. Big Mistake. A few minutes later Grace came back into the room and i noticed she had blue marker on her hands.


So i started looking for the evidence.

Clearly this wasn't hanging on the wall and hasn't been for many years. I found this in my room. I still haden't located the marker.

next in the baby's room, a dvd case. i happen to know hairspray will take permanant marker off plastic so no big deal.







I found this in Eddies room, next to the marker. This also was not a terribly big deal because there wasn't a pillow case on it. Also it belongs to the kids and they dont care, right?






on my way back to my room i discovered this in the hallway. Again i thought i had dodged a bullet since tomorrow night we are pulling up the carpet in the hallway and the living room and putting down laminate. Then i walked back into my room.....


thank goodness for the Magic eraser!!!

another wonderful time waster

here is another way to waste time online, as if we needed another one. it's a site called netwinner. You play games for points and then cash in your points for gift cards when you earn enough. I have been playing for a week and have earned 3000 points.

All you do is play games like Banko, which is like Bingo, and they also have Money Wheel. They are so easy that you can actually have them running in the background while you are doing other things. You can play 10 Banko cards a day and get 100 spins on the money wheel per day.

When you sign up for Netwinner, make sure you verify your email address with them or you won't be able to cash out and get your gift cards! Verifying your email with them also will enable you to be alerted if they have special double point days. These will make great Christmas gifts.

To verify your email with them, log in then go to the "my account" tab. Once there you will see your address information and to the right a "verify email" tab. Just click the link and follow directions to verify.

To sign up click here.

Magic Bean update

I think they are coming along rather nicely. Pretty soon we will have some green beans to eat. they started out like this on march 25th

do i have something on my face???

After dinner of sloppy joes for grace and sweet potatoes for eleanor it was just too cute. to me they really look nothing alike.....

bread how to

I have been surfing other food related blogs and I have been inspired to do a how to. Since bread is my forte.... here we go. Feel free to use your favorite bread recipe with my steps.


Step one: Mix warm water with yeast and sugar. Allow to ferment and 'bloom'. It will become very frothy.


While your yeast is blooming, place all your dry ingretients in a bowl. Pour you oil/butter in and then pour your dry ingredients in all at once.



Make sure the salt doesn't hit the yeast mixture directly, it will kill the yeast. Just give the dry ingredients a quick stir before you pour them in.


Start to mix with a wooden spoon, adding more flour as you need it.


Turn the dough out onto the counter and kneed until it forms a nice smooth ball. It should take about 5 minutes.


Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and grease the top. I use pan spray and just spray it all over the top.


Let rise until double in size.


Shape into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan.


let rise until double.


bake.

Baby Shower and first birthday.

Last week i did a first birthday cake that turned out pretty nice. I just winged it from a discription of the invitation.

this week i did one for a baby shower. I got the inspiration for this one by doing a google image search for 'pink and brown baby shower cake'.