Mary Engelbreit Monday

I am the laughter of a newborn child on whose soft-breathing sleep an angel smiled.

***Richard Watson Gilder

5 Senses Saturday

• Sight:
• White tents
• Sandy beach
• Pirate
• King Neptune
• Colorful handprints

Sound:

• Waves crashing on the beach
• Lots of people talking
• Baby cooing
• McKaylie saying, "my stomach hurts"
• vacuum

Touch:

• Soft sand
• cold ocean water
• McKaylie's 102 degree forehead
• squishy taffy
• computer keyboard

Smell:

• Cotton Candy
• Popcorn
• salty sea air
• bleach
• Vance's deoderant

Taste:

• Root beer
• waffles
• salt water taffy
• ham sandwich on Rye
• pickle

Look, Don't Touch........................

My sister sent these stacking dolls to me from Moldova. She lived there for a few years. I love these little dolls (and everything else she sent me). Apparently, Noah loves these dolls, too. He knows they are a "look, don't touch" item in our house, but every so often I'll come into the computer room and find the dolls all seperated and sitting all around the room in various places. When I ask Noah what's going on, I usually get something along the lines of, "they just wanted to get out and play". The dolls wanted to get out and play and Noah was just helping them out! As you can see he's lost half of one little doll, so far. I'm hoping to avoid losing any more. Because, like most of the other "look, don't touch" things in my house, they can't be replaced. I don't know of anyone going to Moldova (Bulgaria, Dubai, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Greece, the list goes on and on) any time soon. Chad keeps assuring me that soon we'll get a curio to put all my "look, don't touch" things, but until then, the little people apparently need to play!

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Since I mentioned my sister, I'll throw a plug in for her, too. She started a website about teaching children to cook. She's really done a great job with it. You should go and check it out!

There's even pictures of my kids! :)

This is all of them.............

Ok, I'm really on the ball, today, so here are the pictures of all the quilts. I let the kids choose their own material and Myshel and Vance decided the design of theirs. I think they all turned pretty nice. It's kind of amazing to see them and know that I did that!

This is Noah's

This is Vance's

This is Myshel's

This is McKaylie's

(I don't have a picture of the back of hers, but it's just white)

Quilt #4.......finally!

Noah is so excited!

I finally finished his quilt. I actually started it early last fall. (I'm embarrassed to admit that) But, now I am done and I can say that I have made all the kids a quilt for their beds. (Myshel actually did most of the work on hers) I might have to gather all the pictures of them and take a look, so maybe I'll post them all later. I'm really happy with how Noah's turned out, I wasn't sure I was going to like it when I started it, but I really do.


He even has a pillowcase to match, like all the other ones!

Nutmeg's favorite toy

Chad teased me about buying another toy for Nutmeg, but this one was worth the 88 cents I spent! (big spender, huh)

At the Beach.........

We worked really hard Saturday cleaning out our storage shed, the garage, inside the van and the backyard. So, we decided to unwind at the beach. The water is still too cold, but my kids waded in anyway. They kept saying, "it's not cold, but their legs were red when they would come out. It was a nice relaxing evening after a hard working day.

Which one are you?

Take the Quiz here!

::L I Z Z Y ::
You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of silliness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

Mary Engelbreit Monday

A smile starts on the lips, a grin spreads to the eyes, a chuckle comes from the belly; but a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, overflows, and bubbles all around.

-----Carolyn Birmingham

5 Senses Saturday

Sight:

• toys all over our little yard
• dust flying everywhere from sweeping out our storage shed
• waves breaking on the beach
• my kids searching for seashells
• Chad smiling at me

Sound:

• the weed eater
• "Hanna Montana" on TV
• Vance telling me all about shooting guns with the scouts
• a lot of whining from McKaylie
• the waves breaking on the beach

Smell:

• fresh cut grass
• dirt
• sea weed on the shore (can you tell where we went????)
• toothpaste in Noah's hair
• sweaty clothes

Touch:

• Hugs and Kisses from Chad
• dirty pots in the storage shed
• cold slushie in my hands
• splintery wooden fence
• sand between my toes

Taste:

• Watermelon slushie
• pizza
• cool water
• Mountain Dew (that one comes up a lot doesn't it)
• marshmellow flavored jelly bean

Cool Stuff................

I love it when people tell me about new things that I can try on my blog. It's just fun to try stuff out. So if you have any cool ideas, let me know!

Maine, it is....................

I was up late last night, as I often am. I decided to check a few things on the computer before I went to bed. I ended up looking at the housing in Brunswick..................again! I've looked at the navy's housing there many times in the last week. It never changes, but I keep going back to look at that website.

I'm excited to go back to Maine, but there's definitely something in the back of my head nagging at me................why did our orders have to change. I might not ever know the answer to that, but I guess I keep looking to find "peace" with it. I'm past being upset, I think I'm just still frustrated about it all, still. We had a hard time choosing orders to begin with. We just didn't know where we were suppose to be. We would pray about it, a lot, I mean a lot. The only answer we felt like we got was that no matter where we ended up, it would be ok, that there was probably not just one place in particular, not exactly the decisive answer we were hoping for. So, when we chose Rhode Island and everything fell into place, we felt like that was our reassuring answer, things were working out, so this must be where we're suppose to go.

Naturally when they told us we weren't going to Rhode Island we felt thrown for a loop. When Maine was available and we were able to take orders there, we were excited, but still in a daze. Rhode Island had been falling into place with every step, Maine's throwing us stumbling blocks. How could this been where we're suppose to be going. That's where our heads have been for the last week or so, last night, I think I was looking for a little reassuring from somewhere.......................I don't know where.

This picture came up on one of the websites I was on. I think it's Prospect Harbor, but I won't swear to that. Anway, when we lived in Maine before, we would see this house every time we came home from the navy base. I loved this house. I don't know why. I must have seen it hundreds of times and it never got old seeing it. I loved seeing it in the winter when the harbor was frozen over and covered in snow and in the spring when it had flowers all around it. When we were getting ready to move I was so sad that I wouldn't be seeing it anymore. Last night when I saw this picture it brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me of all the things I loved about Maine and I went to bed. This morning we got our written orders.

It's Official...............again!

Now, all you navy people out there, don't fall off your chairs, but we got our written orders today! I mean, this must be some kind of record for them. I was doubting we'd have them in 2 weeks, I never guess we'd have them in one. I guess they showed me! So, it's back to work for me, getting ready to move again, this time to Maine!

Mary Engelbreit Monday

I love Mary Engelbreit's artwork. The other day in the Dollar Tree I was lucky enough to find a weekly planner full of her work. A picture for each week of the year. Can you believe it, for $1!!!! So, I've decided that I'll start each week with one of her pictures and the saying that is with it. I'm calling it Mary Engelbreit Monday. (I thought this was a great one to start with considering it's been cloudy here for days and we're not suppose to see much sun until the end of the week!)

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.

***William Arthur Ward

5 Senses Saturday

Sight:

• loads of laundry
• grumpy 12 year old
• a new walmart I didn't know about
• grey skies
• new shoes for my kids

Sound:

• "I'm sorry, I'm late again" from Chad when he got home from work
• giggling from the back of the van
• The Muppet's theme song on my cell phone (that's how it rings when my kids call)
• washing machine
• "I'm hungry" from all my kids at one point or another

Smell:

• the "ship" smell on Chad's clothes
• perfumed shampoo on the dog after her bath (Myshel bathed her)
• flowery air freshener that sprays every 18 minutes
• Chad's chocolate marshmellow bunnies
• seafood in the grocery store

Touch:

• soft pillow that I didn't want to get up from
• lots and lots of clothes that I folded
• glue
• hot water from dishes
• Vance's scar on his neck

Taste:

• cold pizza
• bottled water
• milk
• cheese stick
• Mountain Dew

You just have to read this.................

Really, you just have to go to this blog and read this post. I laughed so hard and then gagged and laughed again! Read it, you'll see!!!!!! You can't pass this up!

EmLouisa

We Were Going to Rhode Island.......................

Ok, I'm sure you've all just been "chopping at the bit" wondering what is going on at our house because of my post last week about everything getting shaken up and frustrated. Here's the short version of it (which isn't so short):

I posted awhile back that we had new orders to move to Rhode Island in June. We've been working on getting everything set for that move. We had arrangements with housing there. We were getting ready to head up there over spring break to make more arrangements and get the kids registered for school next fall, especially Myshel. Everything was falling into place and we were quite happy about it. We were excited about going to Rhode Island and looking forward to it.

Did you notice how everything is past tense??? VERY long story short, through no fault of our own, we don't have those orders anymore. We've spent the last week fighting to get things straightended out and get new orders. We basically knew that we'd still be moving in 2 months, but didn't know where we'd be going, we didn't even have a clue. They could send us basically anywhere. Very frustrating! We spent the week in limbo, feeling like the rug got pulled out from under us.

As of yesterday, Chad was able to get new orders and they're suppose to be set for sure. (we'll see about that) Our new destination is Brunswick, Maine. We're actually pr etty excited to go back to Maine and tried to get those orders before. However my excitement is short lived and brief, because we can't do anything without the written orders. It will still take (with any luck at all) 2 weeks to get them. 2 weeks might not seem like that long and actually for the navy, that's pretty quick, but for us, it means we will have 1 month to set up everything for this move. Oh wait, that means I'll have 1 month, because Chad will be underway 3 of the 4 weeks in May! Another reason for my short lived excitment. I know that we won't be able to get right in to housing there like we would have in Rhode Island and I know that we won't be able to go up there before hand on house hunting leave to get things arranged.

I also know that this must be how things were suppose to happen for us, for whatever reason. I know that in the long run, everything will work out just fine. And possibly I'll look back and say it was all for the best. I know we'll get moved and settled and we'll enjoy being in Maine again. But for now, I am not a terribly, happy person. I'm feeling pretty stressed and overwhelmed. This is pretty ridiculous even for the military!

So, to sum it all up, we were going to Rhode Island, now we're going to Maine. It will all be good.................................eventually!

Easter Family Picture

Every Easter we take a family picture before church.

Here's our 2007 family pic!

Easter

We started our Easter morning by finishing our Resurrection Day Cookies (click to get the recipe) They turned out great. The kids really enjoyed doing it and I think they'll remember the Easter story when they think of the symbolism from the recipe. It also helped us start our Easter Sunday thinking about Jesus Christ instead of the Easter Bunny.

We try to down-play the Easter Bunny at our house and concentrate more on the true reason for celebrating Easter, but the Easter Bunny did come to our house. He hides candy filled plastic eggs for them to find and then fills the little kid's baskets. Once our kids turn 12 the Easter Bunny only brings candy and a gift card. Oh, he always brings a chocolate bunny for each of them, too! He also hides their baskets for them to find and the older they get they harder they are to find. We get a lot of enjoyment out of watching them hunt for them.

A friend told me that she always wraps her baskets in cellophane to keep everything all together, so I decided to try that this year. I've never done that before. It worked pretty good and I think I'll do it next year, at least with the little ones. We had a nice Easter morning with the kids and after church (we go to church from 1PM-4PM) we had a great ham dinner. Yummy!

Vance also recieved the priesthood on Sunday, which made Easter even more special for our family. He was so ready to recieve it and of course, it made me cry! I was and am a very proud mom. All the young men even turned around so that he could give his mom a hug! We have a crazy young men's group! It was wonderful and next week I'll probably be crying while he's passing the sacrament, too. My babies are growing up way too fast! It was a very nice Easter this year. We had a wonderful peace that day, which is what Easter should bring! I hope you all had a great Easter as well!

Coloring Eggs

Chad and I started coloring Easter eggs together before we even had kids and we still color them ever year! It's tradition! The kids each get 1 dozen eggs to color and Chad and I usually do a dozen together. We have lots of fun and it's kind of exciting to see the different eggs that we end up with each year. I also noticed that this year we didn't end up with any brown eggs, from the little ones coloring the same egg over and over again! With 5 dozen hard boiled eggs, it's a good thing all my kids like to eat them!

5 Senses Saturday

• Sight:
• Snow falling (can you believe that in Virginia in April!!!!)
• Kids looking for Easter eggs
• Newly colored Easter eggs
• Chad and the kids wrestling
• The toy isle in the dollar tree (for way too long)

Sound:

• Children giggling
• My van running (yeah!)
• icy snow hitting the windshield
• "Mom, we're going to be late" at 7AM
• Nutmeg crawling around under my bed

Smell:

• Myshel's flowering smelling hair
• Rolls baking
• eggs
• muddy dog feet
• vinegar

Touch:

• Chad's scratchy, unshaved face (for 2 days)
• cold hard boiled eggs
• The leather on the steering wheel in the van
• snowflakes as they hit my face and hands
• my contacts when I took them out at night

Taste:

• fruit for breakfast
• freshly baked rolls
• candy (when we filled Easter eggs)
• deli sandwich
• milk

A Bump in the Night................

The other night I woke up to a loud noise and Noah crying. When I got to his room he was on the floor. He'd fallen out of bed, but he was crying really hard, which wasn't normal for him. There's been times when he's fallen out of bed and not even woken up (a trait he got from his dad). I went and picked him up and saw that he was bleeding. It was dark and I couldn't see from where and he wouldn't let me look because he was crying so hard. I realized that when he fell out of bed, he must have hit the toy box that was next to his bed, right on the corner, I think. I managed to get him calmed down, gave him some tylenol (he told me it was thumping) and he fell back to sleep in my bed. The next morning we saw that he has a small line just under his nose where he hit the edge and a cut where he hit the corner. Ouch! We moved the toy box and thankful, he's still willing to sleep in his bed.

What started bad ended up worse.............

First of all, the van: total estimate $3200 and some change. Well, gee, that's only $1000 more than I was orginially agonizing over. My kids don't need to eat anyway, right?

That was the first blow of the day, the second came later when Chad got home from work. He brought bad news, which, I'm sorry I'm not going to get into right now. I'm sure the details will come later, but not right now. But it was not good, it was something that could end up changing everything we had planned for. (he is not sick or anything like that, he's not getting kicked out of the navy, so don't jump to any of those conclusions, ok, ) It was not something that we want or even considered. We've found it hard to think of anything positive about it at all and it's completely out of our hands. We have no definite answers right now (which is a big reason I'm not going into details) and we're not sure when we're going to get those answers either. I'm sorry to be so vague, but I wanted to put it in here because it was a huge, huge part of my already frustrating day. So, as bad as the news about the van was, the "news" from Chad was far worse. We spent the rest of the day rather numb and very frustrated and we couldn't do anything about it. I hate that. It's such a helpless feeling.

Just My Luck.............

I don't think I mentioned to you all that the day before Chad started getting underway again, about a month ago, my van broke down. It's been sitting in the garage ever since. I chose not to deal with it until he got back for awhile. I just couldn't. I didn't have "it" in me. So, here we are, a month later, Chad's back and we had the van towed yesterday to find out what the problem was. We knew it had something to do with the transmission, which made us worry. Everyone we've talked to told us our van wasn't old enough or have enough miles on it to need a new transmission, but I had my doubts. Our luck seems to lean toward un-lucky.

Well, I got the call this morning. The man said, "do you have a minute to talk about your van?" and I knew it was going downhill from there. We won't have the exact estimate until this afternoon, but we're looking at over $2000 to fix it. OUCH! Like I said, unlucky!