Assault Riffle Anyone?

Anyone care to look out their front window and see this?....

I didn't much care for it.

 

Dear Neighbor,

What ever you did, please don't do it again.

Thanks you so very much.

Signed, Your neighbor who prefers not to have deadly weapons pointed at anything from her front yard.



Water Can be Rather Messy

I love a good swim in a pool, a lake, or even the bathtub, but NOT in my kitchen or my basement. Unfortunatety thanks to a broken water filter under the kitchen sink we woke up to a big wet mess a few weeks ago. Initually my biggest concern was the water pouring out of the basement ceiling. I wasn't extremely concerned about the water standing on the kitchen floor because I knew I could get that cleaned up easy enough. I didn't realize that the kitchen floor would soon warp and bubble making it our biggest casualty. Fortunately we were able to have a restoration company come out within a few hours to clean-up and dry out the house. They sucked the water out of the basement then sealed it off to dry. It took 6 days of lots and lots of high powered fans and several dehumidifiers to dry things out but the basement did dry well. Part of the kitchen flooring that warped was removed only to find the original vinyl from 30 years ago. It's purdy!

Could have been much worse. I'll be glad when it's all taken care of. I sure wish I could get new cabinets, counter tops, and double oven out of this deal, but I guess I'll have to settle for a new hardwood floor.



Braces Are Off

After two years and two months of wearing braces Sydney was ecstatic to finally get them off. Looking back to the day she got them on and again today I can't believe the different just two short years can make. Not just in regards to straight teeth, Sydney has grown and matured in so many ways. I love watching her grow. I remember thinking I thought she was so big back then, little did I realize that she would grow several inches taller than me and blossom into such a beautiful young lady/woman.

  



Spring Tease

I hate it when Spring teases me. I am SO looking foward to warmer weather, sunshine, and flowers. It's starting to look promising...across the street anyway.

 

This is my across the street neighbors home. He spent last week pruning his apple tree's. I looked on in envy.

 

This is my front yard on the same day at the same time. Really? I'm still scraping ice chunks off my driveway with NO Spring insight while only a few yards away Spring is well in it's way. What a tease! Can't wait to see my front lawn again! 



10 Year Old Birthday Girl!

Last week Emma turned 10!

I always think of her as older than she really is. Seems like she should have been 10 a long time ago. But 10 she is, and I am fine with that. She's growing up too fast as it is.

Here are a few things about Emma at age 10.

Q: What's the best thing about turning 10?

A: That I'm in the double digits!

Q: What is your favorite book you read this year?

A: Sheep

Q: Name your best friend/s.

A: Kaitlyn, Melia, Annalisa

Q:What is your favorite hobby?

A: Reading

Q: Favorite Food?

A: Pizza Hut Cheese Pizza

Q: Favorite Treat?

A: Anything Minty...Jr. Mints, Oreo mints, York peppermint patty's, Party mints, any yummy yummy mints

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: I want to run a daycare or be a really smart Professor.

Q: What do you think is your best quality?

A: That I always keep trying. I don't give up.

Q: Favorite TV show?

A: The Suite Life

Q: Favorite Movie?

A: 101 Dalmatians

Q: Who is someone you look up to and respect? And Why?

A: All my past teachers, because they have all taught me one or more good lessons in life. And most of them were funny.

Poor Emma had to endure her birthday photo shoot in the midst of a snow storm. It was clear when we left home, but it didn't last long and it didn't let up much. Emma is a trooper. She is fun to take photos of. And I think she is just LOVELY!

Happy Birthday Sweet, Emma!

TWO Cute!

Aftyn turned 2!

Today is actually Emma's birthday but since I haven't yet posted about Aftyn and Zachary's birthday, which was last Thursday I thought I better get caught up.

Let's just get right to the cute baby girl birthday photos...

I can't get enough of her cuteness.

Aftyn, singing a song to the neighborhood.

Aftyn is our little resident sweetheart. She gets us all twitter patted. She can be ornery and she does have some wicked sharp fingernails that she used to her advantage often, but mostly she is just a great little lover girl. She gives the best hugs and kisses. She has become Ken and my nighttime snuggler since she learned to climb out of her crib a few weeks ago. She is hard to resist. She is working hard at talking but it's coming along slowly. She doesn't say a whole lot, but she keeps us laughing all the time with the funny/cute things she learns each day. I'm a little sad that our baby is two. I guess I'll have to let her grow up, but man, she has been one sweet, precious, little angel baby.

Speaking of angel baby...

we have TWO of those... Aftyn & Zachary.

For Zach's birthday we released two balloons up to Heaven. I made a little banner that said " Happy 2nd Birthday, Zachary", but it was too heavy so it will go in his memory box. On Saturday we delivered baby blankets to the hospital where the twins were born. This year we did both girl and boy blankets. By next year my goal is to deliver handmade blankets rather than store bought. Either way it is a tradition that each of us looks forward to.

Happy Birthday Aftyn & Zachary, we love you both so much!



Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time we lived in a very small apartment. While standing in the center of that very small apartment I could see every ounce of living space we owned, correction...rented.

That was not too many years ago, but much less children ago.

Back then...there was no place to hide.

At a single glance I knew where my children were at any given time.

With the arrival of more children came the need for more space. We soon graduated into a duplex with TWO levels. We were moving up in the world. Keeping track of children became slightly more difficult but still doable. No problem. In that home I only lost Todd once or twice and he didn't get far. If you knew Todd back then you would understand that that was very commendable, indeed.

With the increase of even more children came the need for our present home which contains THREE levels. Now I'm not complaining, but for a split second yesterday I yearned for that very tiny apartment we lived in once upon a time.

Why?

Because kids can get lost in this house!

It's hard to know where 8 kids are all the time.

Let me give you an example...

Say...you get a call from the school secretary one day and she wants to know if you are at the school, a little baffled you reply, "No, why"?

Then she proceeds to tell you that your 4 year old whom you thought was quietly down stairs watching TV is in fact actually sitting at the school office waiting for his mother (who wasn't there) to come out of a classroom so he could tattle that his sister hurt him.

Seriously? How did that happen? I didn't take him there and forget to bring him home.
HE WALKED THERE BY HIMSELF!

What was he thinking?

The school is probably 1/2 a mile away. He had to cross a very busy street to get there.
My heart nearly plummeted to the floor. Not cool. Not cool at all!

I had left to go to the school to pickup Todd about an hour before I got the phone call from the school. After picking up Todd I ran an errand and headed home. When I got home I thought everyone was home and doing good. The silence should have been an indication that Daric wasn't home but I was busy thinking about birthday stuff and just glad that I could finish a few things up uninterrupted. In the meantime, before I got home my little tank set out to find his mommy.
Sigh...
I guess I better start roaming each floor more often taking a head count, always remembering that "silence is golden" only applies when kids are out of the house...for now "silence means trouble" is a more appropriate statement.
SO THANKFUL MY LITTLE GUY IS OKAY!