I'M PUBLISHED!!!

...well, in a very unofficial way anyway...

Kevin had my blog printed into a book for 2009!

He keeps telling me, "Babe! It's your first book!! You're published!"

Bless his little heart.

While I am no true-blue author...it is pretty fun to have the blog in my hands...on paper...in a book.

This just might be my answer to crapbooking...I mean Scrapbooking.

I have some mom-guilt that just might be defeated with this printed blog thing...unfortunately, I have 15 years of movie stubs, maps, pamphlets etc. etc. that were intended for crapbooks...turns out, if you don't compile it all in a cute book, they are just crap. But here we can have a day to day memoir of life with the Littles and pictures to boot!

Woohoo!

So, my dear blog readers... if you, too, would like to print your blog into your very own book check this out:

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook

or this:

http://serv.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html

Lunch Time Funnies

Today has been a very busy day with me on the phone lots trying to iron out insurance and billing...yadda, yadda, yadda...

Needless to say the kids have been 'keeping themselves busy' and were ready for some focused Mommy time at lunch.

Miss Conversationalist has an 'ah-ha moment' as she sings her latest hit "Grilled Cheese". After singing the lyrics (ummm....grilled cheese, grilled cheese, grilled cheese) She stops and says, "Oh! That's why they call it 'GRILLED CHEESE'...because it is GRILLED and it has CHEESE!!"
I respond, "You're SMART."
She replies, "that's K Mart smart."

(giggle. giggle.)

Starts her next song, "there's smart and there's K Mart smart...there's smart..."

We move on to talk about important things like chips and salsa and whether or not we like white cheese or yellow cheese better...(c = yellow cheese, e= can't know it's cheese. In case you were wondering.)

Then she asks me, "Mommy, why have you been on the phone ALL DAY?"
(I could ask myself the SAME question)
"Well, Mommy is working on grown up stuff. Like how to pay our Dr. bills. Dr. bills are expensive so it takes some figuring out."
Very seriously, "Dr.s should not be so expensive, because they are NOT very nice to us. They give us shots in our BOTTOMS!"
"Very good point."

Things He is Saying to Daddy

So...Eli is tugging at Daddy's heartstrings...BIG TIME...

Just this week, he has snuggled into his Daddy and said,

"Daddy, you are my speciaw, speciaw guy."

and a couple other times,

"Daddy, I really, really wuv you."

(sigh.)

It's a Step in the Right Direction...

Have been hearing myself say, "it's a step in the right direction" a lot lately.
Celebrating the little things that will hopefully...someday...add up to some big things.

Super Kids

I. Know.
It almost physically hurts my heart when I look at them...
They truly are Super Kids. Super cute. Super funny.
And that is Super Angel Pup or Brownie or whatever her name is on this particular day...
And the super powered egg whisk.
Naturally.

My Word

So, I think I have finally come up with my word for the year...

It has taken me a while...I'm kinda goofy about stuff like this. My perfectionism comes out like a lion when I try to think of ONE THING to call something.

For example, I have this thing about names. I. Love. Them. I love thinking about them for other people's children, pets, businesses, houses...but when it comes to naming MY children, MY pets, MY year...I am a mess of confusion...how can I possibly narrow it down to something I will be happy with FOREVER!!! (I know...the DRAMA!)

But, I think I have it.

May 2010 be the year of TRANSFORMATION.

I have some things I am working on...working through.

Personally, I need some transformation mentally, spiritually, physically...

And to be quite honest, I am not feeling up to the challenge. But I NEED this.

Thankfully, I serve the ONE Who IS up for the challenge and He is in the transforming business.

So this year, may I lean more on Him than I ever have and may we (Him and I) work together to find TRANSFORMATION.

My verse:

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders. and he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

I want to allow Him to be ALL these things in my life this year...ALL YEAR.

I'm Kicking You to the Curb!

You mocked us.
You were supposed to smell all fresh and Christmas-y...and you did for a couple weeks.
But then, you started smelling like vomit.
You put up a good fight.
You protested that you should be allowed to stay until Valentine's Day as trees before you are rumored to have done.
You poked me with your porcupine quill needles.
But I conquered you!!
All. By. Myself.
I usually wait for reinforcements of the man-of-the-house variety...
Not this year.
It was just you. and me.
Oh, you will taunt me for days, weeks, maybe even months with your stray needles...but they will only serve as a reminder that I WON!

Goodbye, you dry and brittle, stinky tree...

I'm kicking you to the curb!

Quite Possibly the Happiest Snowman This Side of Atlanta...

I'm not kidding, folks, we do not waste a single snow day in this family.

Kevin and Chloe were bound and determined to build a snowman...I mean snow-woman. But you see, the snow was too dry. It hardly made snowballs. Kevin's first solution was a spray bottle. He would spray a small section of snow and make a small snowball...well, this idea snowballed (ha ha...I'm so punny) into the need for watering cans. (as you can see behind Chloe in the first picture.)

So the two painstakingly watered the snow (we're talking 20 + gallons, people. Don't hate 'em tree-huggers...they were making a memory) and rolled and rolled and rolled and rolled and rolled and...you get the picture.

Their hard work paid off! Below you will see what I believe to be the Happiest Snow-woman EVER!

We have heard from a trustworthy source (our good friend Tim, who drives all over town fixing every one's heaters) that we had the ONE AND ONLY 3 foot snow person in town.

We all have been dismayed as to why the local newspaper has not stopped by for this momentous occasion.

Family Fun in the Snow

In attempt to squeeze all of our snowy winter fun into one weekend...here we are again, playing in the snow!

All of us

(well, half of Eli and Sammy)

Isn't this a great picture!

These two were literally wrestling in the snow and loving it!

Around the house on a snowy day...

We were excited that our Christmas decorations were still up for the snow!

From our living room window.
(Can you tell from this picture just how dry our tree was. Fire hazard anyone??)

Cause I'm artsy like that.

All lit up.

IT'S SNOWING!!

First few minutes of the snow.

(I. heart. this. picture.)

Trying to catch snowflakes on our tongues.

Ice skating on a frozen mud puddle.

This guy doesn't get much blog time. This is our dog, Sam.
He was just as excited about the snow as we were!

Adorable children in accumulated snow!

(Side note...we MAY be one season short of a good fit for Chloe's winter coat and snow pants)

Snow angel!!

E's first snow!

How Georgians handle snow...

Of my faithful followers...a good amount of you are not Georgians...I would like to give you a quick peek into how we handle snow way down yonder in the Peach State.

Starting on a Monday...rumors begin to fly that there may be a possibility of snow on Friday. At this point every heart starts to flutter like a 6 year old in the excitement of the possibility. All responsible adults begin their treks to the piggly-wiggly to stock up on bread, milk and hot chocolate. As the rumors continue to be confirmed by The Weather Channel, it seems that all our excitement and preparations will pay off!!!

On Wednesday, we find out that there will be an 'early release' from schools on Thursday, because, you know, it MIGHT snow. (The sarcasm is hard to hide...I AM from the Midwest...I mean it snows A LOT in Northern Indiana thanks to all that Lake Effect weather.)

Low and behold, as predicted, around 3 pm on Thursday, it DOES start snowing! Facebook is slammed with "IT'S SNOWING!!!!!" by all of us southerners. (All y'all know it's TRUE!) And then we spend 20 minutes bundling our children and ourselves up to go play in it for 10 minutes.
School is cancelled due to icy roads on Friday and again on Monday. Seriously. A 4 1/2 day weekend because we received almost an inch of snow in some places. (To be fair, the roads were very icy...Kevin used an extra bag of sand to sprinkle on the hill in front of our house because cars were having trouble getting up and down it.)

But, wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

We do not know what to do with snow.

* Our snow adventures will be documented in the following blogs.

Hold Onto Your Hats...

My computer had a near death experience.

It was touch and go for about a week.

But thanks (HUGE THANKS!) to our friend James it is back in the land of the living!

So hold onto your hats...

We have a lot of catching up to do!!!

Who wouldn't eat this??

In a rare moment of lunchtime creativity, I put these cute little guys together for our lunches.

Aren't they cute?!?!

I mean, who WOULDN'T eat these sweet treats?!

If you have been around this blog for long...you know EXACTLY who did not eat this.

I am not naming names but, just in case, I'll give you a couple hints...

Their name starts with an 'E' and ends in a 'LI.'

Heeeeyy 2010!

Well, tomorrow marks my one year anniversary of starting this blog...

Woohoo! Yay, me!!!

I DID IT!! I somewhat consistently blogged a year of our lives...

SA-WEET!!

It has been a lot of fun...I enjoy scrolling back and reading what the kids were up to over the year...(does that make me a big word that means overly interested in oneself??? I can't think of the word right now and my Mom's thesaurus is at her house...I do not own one myself because she always had one...maybe I should get one...)

Anyway!!

I has been fun, and I think I am going to keep it up...

Been reading other blogs and a couple have prayed about and decided on a word to describe the upcoming year.

I. Like. It.

Have actually been thinking it over myself...have not come up with my word yet...but I plan to and well, that is where most good things start.

So... "Heeeyy, 2010, whas yo name??"