Build a Bear and Train Ride

Yesterday it rained all day, but that was just fine. It was still beautiful and the only thing we needed to do was go to Build a Bear. We prayed for a beautiful day for today because we had plans we couldn't change and it was a wonderful day!!! Thank you God!!!!

Here are some pictures from Build a Bear.

Mason got a dinosaur. He calls him Dino Charge. It really is cute! He dressed it up in a scrapbooking outfit and cleats. (LOL)

Aussie got this bear, which he calls Sparkly. He saw this fairy outfit and said it was PERFECT! Then he looked around for pretty sparkly shoes.

Ashley got this heart bear. Her name is Polka. She looked and looked to find just the right outfit. She had a hard time, but finally picked out this Sleeping Beauty outfit.

They just LOVE their furry friends and they are already talking about the next one they are going to get.

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Today today today- What a wonderful day!

We got to take a train ride!

We drove to Cleveland to take a train ride. It was really cool! We took the train to see Stan Hewitt.

They had a beautiful butterfly house.

I LOVE this pitcure of Mason. He laid in the middle of this butterfly chair and said, "I'm a Butterfly!"

This is my parents. I think this is a beautiful picture.

This is at the end of the day with some pretty tired kiddos!

Here we are waiting for the train to come back and take us back.

Such FUN! And now I need to go put the kids to bed.

fishing and zip line

This is a picture of Mason wearing my brother, Mark's marine hat.

What a fun day! Today the kids learned how to fish and each of them caught at least 2 fish. I don't ever remember actually catching a fish when Iwas little. They were so excited. The boys really got into it, but Ashley was the first to catch a fish, then Mason then Aussie.

Austin pulled his fish out of the water and grabbed a hold of the line and just held his fish up so proud.

Ashley on the other hand didn't want to be anywhere near it. Here is a picture of her running away from it. We asked her to hold up the fish she caught and she said, NO WAY NO NADA!

Here Ashley and Gramma are sitting at the top of the hill watching the the boys fish. It was such a GORGEOUS day! The weather was just perfect!

We got to see a BIG groundhog. Dad trapped it and then took it up the road and let it go. Apparently, they are not very nice for yards.

We got to go on a boat ride today and go get some delicious ice cream! Each of the kids got to drive the boat a little.

Then when we got back home the kids got to open birthday presents. They got some littlest pet games and they love them. And Ashley got a Barbie horse. It actually eats the little plastic food, don't worry it doesn't come out in an awful way.

And then they got to go play at a nearby park. And their favorite thing was the zip line!!! All of them took turns on 2 lines and then another family came up to play and when they came the kids decided to go together on one.

Tomorrow we go to Build a Bear.

It was a long drive

We are here in Ohio! ( Long long 12 hour drive) We had numerous times we were asked when we we get there. My response: 3 more movies, etc.

Yesterday was an insane day!

We went to Target to get some last minute things and ate popcorn there. While we were eating, Mason's 2nd tooth fell out. And I mean literally just fell out in his hand. We were all excited for him. It's really cute to see the other kids get excited for him too.

So anyway, on top of frantically trying to get packed and ready to get up early and leave for vacation, I had to play tooth fairy again. I got the same picture off the internet and wrote another note. When he woke up he was so excited and announced the SAME tooth fairy came again. I don't know where they got the idea that there are several different tooth fairies, but I think it's sweet.

I was able to fix Ashley's dress so she can walk in it. She was being very stubborn in trying on the clothes for me, so I'm guessing (with a more educated guess) that it will fit the time. I also made her a purse to go with it. She loves the purse and wore it to Target. She wanted to buy a wallet for it.

I cleaned and I cleaned. And I put mounds of clean clothes away, packed for 4 people, fed them dinner, put them to bed (really late), stopped the mail, etc. etc! And I went to bed around 1:30. Then I actually got out of bed at 6:00 this morning.

The kids were SO excited about traveling today that they got up and got dressed on their own and was ready to go before Greg and I were. We actually left the house a few minutes before 8:00- That's pretty amazing!

So here are a few Aussie stories from today:

We just drove over the border and Aussie is looking out the window at the trees and he says, "It sure is beautiful in Kentucky."

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Aussie was talking about how some people drive other people crazy.
Aussie: Dad, does anyone drive you crazy?
Greg answers then asks him if anyone drives him crazy.
Aussie: Well, Mom does
Greg: Well give me an example of how Mom drives you crazy
Aussie: Well she messed up our room
Me: (Laughing and knowing what he was talking about) But I cleaned it up and your WHOLE room without any help.
Aussie: But you messed up our room. You should have asked us for permission.
Me: Well I kind of did. I just took off everything you had on the table so we could give it to that family who needed it. And I DID clean it up.
Aussie still going on and on about how I messed up his already messy room.
Greg: So does anyone else drive you crazy?
Aussie: (thinks more than a second) No- Just Mom!
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We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch today. As we were walking into the restaurant Aussie says, "What do they speak in Kentucky?"
Me: Ummm...English

I told the server what he had said and he got a kick out of it. He said he was going to tell his wife that tonight. Then he asked where we from and I said Tennessee and he said he was from there too. So I told him that I would have to go back to the table and tell Aussie that he was from TN too and that's why he could understand me.

OK it's been a long day on little sleep so I'm going to bed! Goodnight catch you tomorrow.

Busy busy busy!

So very busy today! (Sorry for the bad pictures) Yesterday I whipped up this dress for Ashley out of a valence I got at Goodwill. I saw this fabric out of the corner of my eye and went over to it and asked Ashley if I made a skirt for her out of this if she would like it. And she said, yes. Unfortunately I made it too small! She walks like a Geisha in it. I wanted to fix it today, but I didn't have the chance. Hopefully I can fix it tomorrow, but I have SO many things to do tomorrow that I'm just not sure how everything is going to get done! I do have to say that I am proud of myself for doing a pretty good job without having any type of pattern. I do wish I could take a sewing class at some point.

This is a picture I forgot to share. Mason put his tooth in this envelope for the tooth fairy. Greg and I thought it would be MUCH easier to find than the little tiny tooth, that Mason said he was going to sleep on and wake up and see the tooth fairy. I'm so thankful for that envelope. However, it WAS very difficult p-u-l-l-i-n-g that envelope from under his head! We always tell our kids that we are the tooth fairy/ Santa Claus/ Easter Bunny for our family. But they still wish to believe in the fantasy, which I personally like. I made a little letter from the tooth fairy and left it for him with some quarters. I pulled a picture off the Internet of a fairy. And all of them were so excited that they knew what the tooth fairy looked like. Ashley said, I hope when I lose a tooth I will have the same fairy. LOL!

So today- Steena came over to see what type of work she has in store for her. We went to Wal Mart and bought some bookshelves. And we started on the craft/office room. Maybe I should take some before and after pictures. Not that I want ANYONE to see this mound of a messhole! But to show just what an amazing job she can do! (I filled up the refrigerator with Dr. Pepper for her.)

I am ECSTATIC about her being here while we are on vacation! I know it will be so amazing to come home to a more organized/ clean home. I know she won't be able to get everything done, while we are gone, but I know she will get a lot done and it will be a joy!

Michelle O.-- to answer your question...Steena is a friend I met in college and she has a real gift for organizing. I don't know if you saw what she did with my garage a year ago but it is great! You can check it out here. She works her tail off! She is a hard worker- not just someone who gives advice, but does it! She really thinks about what you would use most often and what you wouldn't and finds just the right spot for it. She is all about functionality!\

Okay, I'm off to bed- tomorrow will be extremely busy!

giving

Today was a good day!

This morning I talked to the kids about a family that lives around here whose house burned down. They have 10 kids and all of their toys were lost in the fire. I told them to think seriously about this and I asked if I could give away some of their toys and I named some specifically.

They were so tender hearted! We gave a lot of Legos, blocks, train table, etc. And both Ashley and Austin picked up some of their things and wanted to give them to them as well. (nice things- I was surprised)

So today we took the toys to where the family is staying. The kids got to meet each other and they were so excited to get the toys.

Austin said something like, we got to give toys to people who needed it and we made some friends too. I think God likes it when we do that.

Also- the family had one set of twins and THEY said, OH wow I don't know what it would be like with TRIPLETS. I said, well you have 10 kids! They said, yes but there is definitely more difficulty with two of them at the same time, I can't imagine three. OH do I feel vindicated with that statement if I ever needed to be vindicated! I've had SO many people say they had twins and one real close so it felt like triplets. I just nod my head and smile.

Tidbits

I am so disappointed!!!!! My Chick-Fil-A is not going to be doing the $.99 meals any more on kids' night. What will our family do on Tuesday nights?

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Yesterday Aussie put together and interessting combination of clothing. I told him that it didn't match. And he said, "I think it matches. I think it looks good. I think I look EXTEMELY handsome." Well OK then wear it.

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Today Ashley said, "Mom I don't know what happened. I used to be really good at matching clothes and now I'm not. I just don't know what happened."

(Whoohoo I'm glad she realized it.) I took a lot of time today putting outfits together that match. I need to find some kind of organizational way of helping her. Then tonight my friend, Steena suggested that I take pictures of the clothes that go together and hang the pictures up on the inside of her closet door. I just might do that.
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Yesterday, I got to go over to my friend Doris' house and I scrapbooked one layout. I haven't gotten it out of my car yet to take a picture of it. But it is so nice to be able to do this. The kids play with her son, while we scrapbook. They got a bit roudy though, so I don't know how many times we could actually do that.
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Today I got to go pick up some fabulous hand me down clothes for the kids. I get so excited when we can do this. Most of it is winter clothes that I have to put away until winter. But Ashley and I just love to look at each and every piece of clothing as we pull it out of the bag. Ashley gets a little upset when we have to put something a way for later. She got a pink fur coat and she just wanted to use it for a blanket, she was so excited.

The boys get a little jealous when there is more clothes for her than there are for them. But I was really excited to see some pajamas in there for the boys. Their pajamas are getting really small on them- so wooooohoooo! Aussie practically changed his shirt in the car. He put on a long sleeve shirt and said, this is my favorite shirt.

I'm glad they get excited over clothes!

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So whats next? I've been doing a little work. I'm trying to get in at the very least an hour a day, but I'm averaging 2 hours a day. Anyway, I have a sweeeeet barter going on. I am transcribing tapes for cleaning/organizational cleaning. I am so very excited about this. I just can't function in this house. It is such a mess. I really need things not just clean but in a place.
So things are looking up!

It happened!

I loved the conversation Mason and I had this morning.

Mason: I'm going to tell everyone I have a loose tooth.

Me: Well, it's not loose anymore. You've already lost it.

Mason: No I loosed it.

Me: No actually we say you lost your tooth.

Mason: No, I'm gonna keep up with it!

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Can I just say, this little tooth is so cute? It is! Just a perfect little baby tooth.

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Guess what? He has another loose tooth. This one is wiggly, but I think it might be in there for a little while longer than this one did when we found out. He is so excited! I've got a jealous little girl though, who thinks she will never lose a tooth. I bet things really get crazy after the tooth fairy comes tonight.

Saturday cookout

Mason still has his tooth. It is so loose and yet it is really stuck in there. He is so proud though to be the first with a loose tooth. The other two are handling it really well. I'm sure they will get jealous when the tooth fairy comes though. So what is reasonable these days for the tooth fairy to leave?

Tonight we went to a cookout with some of Greg's workmates. The house we went to had a gorgeous back yard and it was landscaped beautifully. They had a little waterfall set up with a few fish in it. The kids got to feed the fish, which was a real treat for them. The owners pulled some toys out and the kids played with this gun playing "freeze" tag. It humored me because they would pretend to shoot and say I got you and that person wouldn't argue they would just freeze.

Oh and another big hit there was the foosball table.

My batteries bailed on me, so I didn't get many pictures there. I did get a few though.

Loooooose tooooth

I'm so tired. Why is it so hard to get up from this chair and go to bed? I'm falling asleep as I type you would think it would be easy.

I just wanted to say that we are really excited around here. Mason has a loose tooth.

He was so cute. On our way to the Y, he said, "Hey I think I might have a loose tooth." I turned around to him wiggling it. I was really tickled that he said, "I think I might", when it was really moving. He is so excited and wants to tell EVERYBODY!

Today I took Ashley to the dentist and asked if he felt any loose teeth. This was BEFORE Mason's announcement. And the dentist said, "No they won't be loose for another 2 years." I was a little confused and I guess he could see that on my face and said, "They don't usually lose their teeth until they are around 6 years old." I looked at him and said, "She'll be 6 next month." She is tiny. I guess he thought she was 4. Anyway, he told me the first teeth to come out are usually at the bottom. So when Mason made his announcement I knew it was loose by him just pointing to it and before he even he even wiggled it. (Right place, right time)

Alrighty, Must sleep! I'm sure I'll get some pictures soon!

SISiversary happenings

Well hello everyone!


I'm so glad I don't have to be anywhere today. I need this day to relax and try to get back to normal (whatever normal is).



SISiversary was so wonderful!!!!


So you won't get scared by the ugly layouts below...I'll put these layouts first. These are layouts I completed or started at the convention. I'm looking at them now and thinking I need to journal on them.





I got there Friday night and there were 12 make-n-takes. We had a schedule of which table to go to. Then on Saturday you could sit with anyone you wanted.





The make-n-takes were cute and fun. It was mainly fun to meet all the people that I have been chatting with online and putting a face with the name.





They had karaoke on Friday night and I would have sung, but they didn't have any songs that I knew. A lot of it was country. They had a big book of songs, but somehow that got lost before the event- too bad.





Saturday was so fun. They had classes that you could sign up to go to, but I hadn't signed up for any of them. But in the main ballroom where everyone was scrapping, they had challenges every hour. I did all of the challenges. I don't know if I can remember them all but here are some of the challenges I created:


This one we had to scrapbook a layout with the title of an 80's music song.


This one we were given a bag of stuff and this bright yellow paper. We needed to use everything they gave us and we could only use 3 items of our own. Yes- I realize it is REALLY UGLY! But I still had fun.



This is a round robin we did. I just love round robins!




We also did a challenge where the person scrapbooking is blindfolded and you tell the other person what to do and you don't have much time to complete it. I don't have a picture of that.

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This challenge was called Bossy Scrapbooker. You had to scrapbook everything she said. So the first rule was to use cardstock, then something round, something from the person beside you, a two word title, something turquoise and a hand cut star.

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Then they had a challenge where the first 4 people to sing a song and entertain them for at least 30 seconds would get a prize. Guess what? I won this one. The first person got up there and sang row row row your boat. Then I got up there and sang Patsy Clines, "Crazy". I got a standing ovation (well from one table at least). I was such on a high after that! I went back to scrapbook and about 10 minutes later, one of the girls got up and said, "we have a request, we want Chelle to come back up and sing another song." Hello? This only happens in dreams right? Oh my goodness, so I grabbed a couple of girls and we sang "I've got chills" from Grease. If I had known words to songs I could have sung and sung. But I have a really bad time remembering song lyrics.

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Then the last challenge was to create something with clouds on it. I made this ugly little pillow. (That is supposed to be a cloud LOL)

I'm sure there is much more- Oh yes there is, but I'll scrapbook about Sunday in another post.

Have a wonderful day and sweet dreams!

Still sleepy

I'm still pretty tired from my WONDERFUL weekend.

I'll have to blog about it on Wednesday.

But just a little bit...They made me feel like a STAR!

SISiversary this WEEKEND

The hair looks a little bit better today. Thank goodness I haven't had any more meltdowns from Ashley.

Here's the latest layout that I have completed.

I am excited, I get to go to SISiversary this weekend. It is a scrapbooking event that starts tonight.

I told Greg that I would get home late. That it ended at 1:00AM and then starts again 8:00AM tomorrow. Greg told me to call up a friend and see if I can spend the night in that area.

(Kind of late notice huh?- Um...hello friend...I was just wondering if I could sleep on your couch tonight...and um I would be getting in around 1:30AM...that wouldn't keep you up or anything would it?) LOL! ~ Greg even volunteered to call one of my friends. ~ He is such a NICE husband.

I know all my girlfriends are laughing and I know my husband is reading this and saying, "What? I want you to be safe."

Anyway, I'll see what I can do!

Talk to you probably Monday!