Remembering

I remember what I was doing a year ago today. I remember talking to Laura after she had been with Grandma and writing down every word she said because I didn't want to forget a thing.

Things I remember that make me smile

Tootsie Pops
Dr Pepper
shopping with Grandma

**Collecting flowers at Grandpa's Grave site. I remember the children started picking flowers after the burial service and a woman walked up horrified to Grandma and said "Aren't you going to stop them?" her reply was "Joe doesn't need them and the kids will always remember" I do...I always remember.

I don't know if Laura and Krissy remember this, but we were with Grandma at the Hilldale house sitting in the living room talking. She went around the room and told each of us something she admired about us. For Krissy it was her beautiful red hair. With Laura it was her beautiful complexion and olive colored skin. When she got to me, I held my breath wondering what she would say about me. She said "Jennifer, I have always admired your eyebrows. They are perfectly shaped"
My reaction was "WHAT???" Every time I look at myself in the mirror I always giggle and think...Yep, they're perfect!!

I asked her once if I could name a daughter Lila. She told me don't do it...it's not a very pretty name. What I now know, is she already had a granddaughter in her back pocket. She knew that Becca was going to name her daughter Lila, and she didn't want to hurt my feelings.

Getting the speech at the Pit "When we are at home, I am your Grandma. When we are at work I am your Boss...now, get to work"

Watching Murder She Wrote
The smell of Lotion
The feel of her hands

Sitting in church next to Grandma as a child, I found out that Grandma didn't sing the hymns. She would only mouth the words. When I asked her why she didn't sing, she told me she enjoyed listening more than singing.

Playing with her locket, or pearls, or whatever jewelry she was wearing when sitting next to her in sacrament meeting.

I remember so many things. It makes me smile to think of her bossing around Grandpa, Uncle Frank and Jason. I miss her, but know she is so much better off.

Jason's birthday was Sunday, he would have been 35. Happy Birthday Jason...I love you, and I miss you.

Christmas Morning

Our Christmas

Our Christmas was so nice...probably one of the nicest we've shared as a family. For once Chris was home with us for all of the preparations. Christmas Eve day we had Jason over and the kids literally ran through the house and outside for 4 solid hours (glory days). Grandpa came and picked up Jason (he had to, Santa was coming that night), and the anticipation of Santas arrival was terrible. We took silly pictures of the kids and made more "Elfyourself's". What a riot that was...they wanted to watch that over and over again.

Our dinner was homemade chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and corn. YUM!! And then we got bundled up and went in search of Christmas lights. After spending about an hour driving around through Forsyth, it was now time to go home and open one gift. The kids always get the same gift to open every christmas eve...brand new pajamas. One of the photos of "Our Christmas" has Patrick and Megan standing in front of our tree, back to back wearing these new pajamas. Then just a little nip of hot chocolate...brush your teeth and time for bed. But before we crawl into bed we have to check to see where Santa was last spotted. So, off the kids run to the computer to check it out.

At 2:15am Patrick woke up and Chris put him back to bed saying "Yes, Santa came but you need to get more sleep. 2:30am and then 2:45am...and finally Chris crawled in bed with him and they both went to sleep. About 7am I felt a little body crawl in and snuggle next to me. I rolled over and it was Megan. She smiled up at me and said "Morning Mama did you have good sleep?" The question we ask each other every morning. I told her I had...and then I said "So, did you check to see if Santa came last night" She was up with a shot!! She ran as fast as she could and checked out the tree. Patrick and Daddy got up and the unwrapping began. It is amazing how quickly children can unwrap presents.

At our house the kids get several presents from Mommy and Daddy, and Santa comes and leaves one present for them under the tree and always fills their stockings so nicely. We eat a quick breakfast and then head over to Grandma and Grandpas for more present opening. Grandpa always smokes a clod and a ham and makes barbecue sauce. YUMMY!!! We tried doing breakfast, but everyone likes the BBQ better.

My brothers were heaven sent with the presents they purchased our children this year. Money was tight and there were things the kids wanted, and like Angels my brothers made sure they purchased things for my kids that they knew they would love. John and Jessica got Megan a tinkerbell scarf, hat and blanket (Megan is huge into Tinkerbell), they got Patrick Batman slippers (too small so we took them back and Patrick chose a hulk mask to go with his hulk hands) and an awesome batman shirt (he loves it). Uncle Josh bought Megan Tinkerbell the movie and Patrick a zero gravity RC Car (he had been telling us for weeks that was what he wanted, but I had already invested in a electronic drum kit). Uncle Nate was so sweet. I had told him that Patrick really wanted to bonus disc to Kung Fu Panda - the Furious Five. He bought Kung Fu Panda and gave Patrick the bonus disc also buying him Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D (also on his list that we couldn't afford) for Megan he got her a Tinkerbell remote control flying toy. So Tink has been flying all over the house. It was a wonderful Christmas and I love my brothers desperately for making it so nice for my kids.

By 1pm Patrick is begging us to go home. He had everything he had asked for and more and now he needed to play with it. We loaded our bundles in the car and headed home around 3pm. It was a wonderful time at my folks house. Grandma purchases things through out the year and so the kids had a bounty from Grandma and Grandpa. But Patricks favorite gift from my Mom was a Transformer's Chess Set. He loves playing Chess and now he has a really cool chess set with Transformers on it.

It was a fantastic Christmas...the time we spent as a family was incredible. I loved having Chris around. The anticipation was more than the kids could bear. Chris read them the Christmas story and told them why we celebrate Christmas, and it was good. I love my family so much and appreciate everyday the love and support they give.

We packed up our tree yesterday (it's fake) and put all of the ornaments and lights away in anticipation of next years celebration. I will miss Christmas...but I am excited to move on to the new year. My new years wish isn't for more money (although that would be nice) or for more stuff (I have entirely too much), but for the patience to enjoy the little things while they are happening.

Happy New Year!!

Megan and Rhino

So in one of my posts it showed Megan with her little toy that she calls "Rhino". We had gone to the thrift store a month ago and she brought me this plastic bag full of little stuffed toys...there were 5 little animals in there and the bag was $1. I thought hey 20 cents an animal isn't bad, so we bought it. In the bag was this little hamster looking character, and she immediately started calling it "Rhino". When we got home she started hunting through the house looking for Rhino's "ball". I thought cute, she thinks its the guy from the movie and went about my business.

About 10 minutes later I walked into the kitchen and found the splenda packets all over the counter, but I couldn't find the splenda container. I thought well maybe it was knocked off the counter and rolled into the dining room. No, wasn't there...so I kept on looking. I finally stopped at Megan's bedroom door because I could hear something being rolled across the wood floor. When I opened the door I saw where my splenda container had gone. It was now Rhino's ball.

This poor little container has been stepped on twice and I have had to repair it. Even when I took pictures of it, Megan was angry that I distrubed Rhino when he was in his ball (she has quite the imagination). Anyway, I thought you all might get a kick out of it.

Preparing for Santa's Visit

Well...my children have convinced me that we had to prepare our christmas cookies for Santa tonight instead of Christmas Eve. They pleaded their case by saying we could have bad weather and what if the power went out. How would they ever be able to bake cookies?? So, we made our sugar cookies, and hopefully we will have some left for tomorrow.

Patrick's Batch

Megan's Batch

Mommy's Batch

Well we had to have chocolate chip cookies!!

Country Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Elf Dance with Bessie

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Disco Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Patrick's Photography

Every year we set up the tree and I have all of these window clings that I put on the windows. The children love them. This year, they decided to put up the window clings while I was getting the tree put together (we have a fake tree, Chris is allergic to a real one). Anyway, Patrick took pictures of their handy work. I used to be very controlling about where the clings went, how many you could stick on a window, where the icicles went on the tree...Now, I just don't care. It is there Christmas too. As long as they feel it is beautiful that is all that matters.

I never know how Patrick catches his sister in these action photos. This is right after they have decorated the tree and she was running and getting her fairies to put into the tree. Because of course all fairies would love to live in our Christmas tree.

Our Christmas star. Patrick and Megan were arguing over who was going to put the star up. Luckily, I have two other star ornaments that I only pull out if there is this particular argument. So, Daddy gets to put the star on the top of the tree and each child gets to place a star ornament. Really saves on the confusion. This is another example of what is important to a 7 year old.

Patrick took this picture of Megan. She insists that all of her fairies be photographed. Then she oohs and aahs over their beauty.

Patrick loves taking pictures. He has his own camera, but insists on using mine because it takes better pictures. We love his enthusiasm.

Metting Santa 2008

Our local grocery store "Country Mart" had a Santa tonight. The kids were very excited to get to tell Santa what they wanted. Megan had a little stuffed animal rodent in the pocket of her petal pinafore. The first picture is of her trying to get "Rhino" out of the pocket. She thinks the little guy is from the movie "Bolt" She carries him around talking about his "ball". If you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about.

I recently cut her hair. I was just going to trim her bangs, and as soon as I was done she said "Mom, what about this" and held out her hair. I asked her how she wanted it...like Briar Rose, or like Tinkerbell. She chose Tinkerbell. We had been at my Mom's house the night before and the kids were going to spend the night the next night. When we met up with my Mom, her jaw dropped and she said to me "What did you do?" I had also cut my hair shorter than Megan's. All I need is scissors and time. Anyway, she looks adorable.

Okay, "Rhino is out of the pocket and ready for his picture with Megan and Santa.

Patrick is seven and becoming very aware of everything around him. Oh, how the magic starts the fade every year.

I am almost done with all of my christmas gifts. It seems like every year I have one or two that I have to sew and they always come down to the wire. But, I always have a hard time deciding what I want to make. Anyway, we are almost ready for Christmas...the count down has begun.

Merry Christmas All

Reversible Safety Cape

Chris asked if I would make a Christmas present for his friends son (they live in Samoa). I said sure, but honestly couldn't think of what to make a 4 year old. Then it hit me...Superman cape. I thought let's do one better, let's make a reversible cape one side batman and the other superman. COOL!!

I looked on the internet and saw directions for a safety cape (love it) that means there will be nothing tied to their neck. Which makes me feel better knowing my son and how he would leap off of furniture when he wore a cape. Anyway...instructions were super simple and I followed them making a template (gotta love butcher paper). I modified it a little bit by making it shorter and by covering the elastic for the arm holes as well as making it reversible. Making it in my opinion super cute.

Batman Emblem

Superman Emblem - it came out awesome!!!

I bought some fusible web on paper from the thirft store a year ago for 50 cents. It is awesome!! I can now make the cutest appliques. The Superman was difficult cutting out, but it was worth it seeing how good it looks. The Yellow is Cord fabric for both the superman and
Batman emblems. I then used a simple red cotton to go on top of it. For strength I stitched around each of them.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!

Today is Chris' Birthday. I usually end up making Pajamas for Birthdays and this one wasn't any different. I made the pajama pants and then Patrick picked out a picture of a dog, so I made an applique and applied it to his shirt. The kids loved it. Now they want Pajamas with a dog applique on them as well.

Chris was home early today, so we made his favorite Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. YUM!! The kids picked out a birthday cake mix and frosting. They picked out a Butter Chocolate Fudge Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting. It was a lot of chocolate, but yummy all the same.

Here he is modeling his birthday present.

Trying not to laugh as Patrick asks why we can't have 41 candles.


Patrick took all of the pictures...our little photographer. He kept telling Chris to do things...look over here, smile, stand here. Such a funny kid.

They ate my cable

Before you go all mushy for those angelic faces...read my blog...AAAAGGGGHHH!!


Okay, so I get up on Saturday November 22nd and Patrick says "Mom, can I play on the computer for 20 minutes". "Sure." I say and go about my business. A few minutes later he comes back and says..."the computers broken". "WHAT!!!" So I run into the computer room and I have no internet. I try all of my usually ex-tech stuff and nothing is working. I then call my cable company (cable modem) and they tell me I probably need a new modem. But they can't come out until Monday between 1 and 5pm. "WHAT???"

I had no idea how dependent I am on the internet. So, jump to Monday...3 cable guys show up...(one of them heard it was my house and decided to stop and say hi) there is nothing wrong with my modem. So we start looking outside. My dogs ate the cable line...again (they had done this 6 months earlier). The guy who came by and said hi was the last guy who fixed my dog eaten cable. My dogs managed to eat on the line that was attached to my computer...how very thoughtful of them. Anyway, I am back on line and very grateful. In those short 2 days I had two sales in my etsy shop for patterns...and I hate not delivering on time.
Anyway...I think I am just ranting now about the whole...dog ate my cable thing. But, I can't help it. I really missed my internet.

No dogs were hurt in the writing of this blog....and to top it all off, the cable guys gave my dogs a treat! Bad dogs...if you eat that cable again...we'll give you beef jerky next time.

It can't be possible....But it is...it happened again!!!

Okay, it happened again. Saturday November 29th, I wake up...and the TV, phone and internet are out. I think what happened some freak accident. NO!!! It was my dogs. They chewed through the cable again. I was beside myself. I called MediaCom and told them the situation and they said the earliest appointment they had was on Monday between 1 and 5pm. AAAHHHHH! So, I go outside and tell the dogs they are bad dogs. Only to discover they left one line intact.

The TV in the living room worked. HOORAY! So when we weren't watching TV I would disconnect it and connect our cable modem and wireless router. We were able to use Chris' laptop.

When the cable guy showed up (same cable guy as last time), I answer the door and he says "So, they ate it again." YEP!! They really love eating cable in the morning. Oh well. After he repaired the damage he said that he might stop by next Monday just to make sure the dogs didn't eat it again. HAHAHA, okay...please!!

Anyway, no harm no foul.

This is just my continued saga of the dog eaten cable.

Sorry this is so long...but I just had to get that off my chest.

It was the Spooktacular at the Dickerson Park Zoo

Every year our family goes the the spooktacular at the Dickerson Park Zoo. The zoo is decorated with hundreds of jack-o-lanterns and there are booths set up for the kids to trick or treat. This year we were able to take Jason with us. He had so much fun...we told him that he is going to have to go with us every year from now on.

The kids just had to have their picture taken underneath this spider. We are in the reptile house trying to warm up. Jason loved the snakes and spiders. We had to tear him away from them after a while so that we could keep trick or treating.

After we go to the spooktacular we always hit McDonalds. The kids are always hungry after walking so much and they would never turn down McDonalds. We had a great time!

Patrick and Megan's matching outfits

I am going to have the kids pictures taken, so I made them these matching outfits. Well the pinafore and the vest. I love this fabric, it just screams fall to me. Anyway, I am also going to make them a matching vest and pinafore in a christmas fabric as well, so we can have a costume change. Aren't they too cute.

Megan's Birthday Outfit

Megan has a new outfit that she got for her birthday. Grandma Gaines sent her this adorable outfit along with a Polly Pocket toy. Love Polly Pocket. And, of course the outfit is adorable.

It finally happened. Patrick lost his first top tooth

Here he is, just seconds after the tooth came out, and on closer examination he already has an adult tooth starting to come in. He can't wait until the tooth fairy comes...he is expecting a big pay off.

Forgive the silly face, Patrick hates flash photography. He anticipates it and this is an example of the faces that we get. Anyway, we are so happy for Patrick and can't wait to see what the tooth fairy brings.

Costume number 2 is done...yeah!

Here he is, Patrick as Batman.

We really didn't get a good picture of the cape, but we wanted to show it. He looks extra cool with his utility belt. He is ready to fight crime.

Patrick wanted muscles on his costume, so I put up some on. We love touching them...they feel awesome. We are now completely ready for Halloween. YEAH!!

Everything but the mask was handmade by me. I loved creating this outfit for Patrick. We used a flannel fabric since it is so cool in the Ozarks for Halloween.

How Hurricane Ike hit the Ozarks

This is a bad picture, but here is the tree before it fell. If you look right past Patrick, you can see the base of the tree covered with snow.

Our neighbors across the street had this gorgeous 100+ year old tree. It was probably one of the most beautiful trees I had ever seen. But, on the night that Hurricane Ike hit the Ozarks that tree was blown over by the winds.
In this picture you can see how it toppled the fence. It was completely covering the entire fence. Our neighbors are very industrious and that next day they were already cutting and burning up the tree.
You can see in this picture a dark spot in the middle of the tree. That is because it is hollow. Which is probably why it came down in the first place.

Chris and I had heard a huge crack at about 3:30 in the morning, and it felt like something had hit our house. So we got up and started looking around. It was so dark that you couldn't see across the street. The next morning when I looked out front, I knew what we had heard. Our neighbors confirmed it. Oh, what a night.

One costume down...one to go.

Okay, so it is that time of year, when I have finally nailed them down on what they want to be for Halloween. This is Megan's third change...At first she wanted to be Cinderella (again), then she wanted to be Alice in Wonderland (bought the material, and I was going to cut it out last week when something inside of me said don't)Anyway, went out to Walmart to buy dog food when she saw it....a tinkerbell costume. She was enchanted. We went to Grandma's house on Saturday and scoured "Kerry's House of Fabric" for just the right color. She had it in fleece (which works great in the midwest because it is usually cold for Hallowen)and it is also great because I don't have to finish any of the edges, but the only problem was there was only 2/3's of a yard. AAAAHHHHH No Problem. I create my own pattern adding a white sparklie top thing and ta da, we have tinkerbell. Of course she will also be wearing cotton rights and I am going to make shoe covers out of the rest of the green fabric with a white poof on it. As soon as she put it on she demanded to know where her wings were. We found an old set of wings that I had made for her a few years ago and those will work until I can get the new wings made. Grandma gave us this beautiful sheer fabric that is several different colors. Megan calls it her rainbow 'terial.

I guess you could say she is thrilled with the results.

Baby William came to visit

Megan just loves William...She asked Uncle John if she could keep him. She then handed Uncle John her bunny Fluffy and said "You keep Fluffy, and I'll keep William...okay?"

She is such a little mom, if he spits up she is right there with a spit cloth to clean his mouth.

Patrick loves William, but doesn't understand why he needs to cry. He'll figure it out.

I've opened a store on Etsy!!

Okay, I have said that I was going to open a store forever...and I do mean forever. But, I have finally done it. I think that I was inspired by Ivy. If she can do it, so can I. My store name is BaabaaMoos. For those of you who know us, you will know that when Patrick was born we called him Baabaa head, and when Megan was born we called her Moo. So, in honor of my beautiful children, my store is named BaabaaMoos. I am so excited. I am waiting patiently (NOT) for someone to buy some of my wares, and hopefully it will be a successful venture. Here is the link to check my store out... www.BaabaaMoos.etsy.com Hope I did that right.

Happy Looking.

Jen

Our Night with the Springfield Cardinals

A friend of Chris' gave us tickets to the Springfield Cardinals game. The kids had a blast. These tickets included an all you can eat hot dog buffet with all you can drink soda.

Can you say kids and Daddy heaven?

Here's Patrick with his first of 3 hot dogs. He was so excited.

When Megan woke up this morning, the first thing she said to me was:

"Mommy, we are going to eat lots of hot dogs today, right?"

Although we didn't make it thorugh the entire game (just the 7th inning stretch) we had a wonderful time. It was a great memory and we even got to meet the Springfield Cardinal mascot.