catching up

with two deaths in the family, mega meet work picking up, and just life in general, i haven't had the time, energy or thought process to put into this blog...here's hoping that that changes soon!

though next week i'm starting 'day care' here - and by that, i only mean i'm adding one kid to my bunch - the 6 week old baby of Jason's co-working pharmacist...i agreed to take him on when they were having some issues finding a day care they liked, so i'm giving a trial run until school is out...molly is BEYOND thrilled that 'baby peanut' will be here to 'bite her toys'...we'll see what she thinks after the first week!

so for today's blog entertainment, enjoy this KQOTD:

while watching Backyardigans this morning...

me: what are they doing?

porter: they are taking the pizza to tyrone, but he's going to get angry cause it's not what he wants.

me: oh, so you've seen this one before?

porter: yes, a really, really, really, really, really long time ago....

....like last week.

one word

Type only one word answers

Where is your cell phone? Desk
Your hair? ponytail
Your father? courageous
Your favorite thing? hugs
Your dream last night? morning
Your favorite drink? chocolate
Your dream goal? impact
The room you are in? office
Your fear? future
Where do you want to be in 6 years? content
Muffins? please
One wish list item? peace
Where did you grow up? home
The last thing you did? facebook
What you are wearing? comfy
Your pets? several
Your computer? addiction
Your life? extraordinary
Your mood? contemplative
Missing someone? always
Your car? posh
Favorite store? ikea
Your favorite color? greenish
When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
Three people who email you? kate, tara, amy
Three of my favorite foods? sushi, ice cream, cookies
Three places I would rather be right now? bed, london, hawaii

first born

here's another facebook Q & A - of course, all my facebook friends are now getting a double dose, too...because these blog posts all go to my facebook page ....good grief. ah well.

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
no

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
yes - for 8 months

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
terrified

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
no

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
23

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
home pregnancy test, followed by a test at the health center

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
jason - duh

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
no

9. DUE DATE?
first it was the first week of november, then changed to nov. 29 i believe.

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS
tons - for four months

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE
whoppers and most things from taco bell

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
'bad' foods and throwing up every day

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
female

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
no

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
almost none - too much throwing up - i think it was less than 10 lbs...and after she was born, i weighed almost 15 lbs lighter than when i started my pregnancy

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
yes - my mom hosted one at my house

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
i knew

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
not really - other than doc was worried about my lack of weight gain, but the baby kept growing, so he wasn't that concerned!

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Mecosta County General Hospital (now called Mecosta County Medical Center)

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
I think my water broke around 11:30pm and she was born before 3AM

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
jason - had to stop a couple times in the parking lot because of contractions - it was awful

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
jason and my doc and a nurse - but because it was Thanksgiving weekend, we had a ton of visitors the next day, including my brother and his wife, both sets of grandparents, my aunt and bff

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
Natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
too fast of a labor for an epidural that i desperately wanted - i think i got a shot of something - and tylenol after - whoopee.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
hmm - i think 7 lbs. 15 oz..i'd have to check (is that bad??)

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN
Nov. 28 - 2:49AM (the saturday of Thanksgiving weekend)

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Lillian Marie

31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
9 years

random things

well, if you're not on facebook, you probably haven't heard of the random things...

but i posted mine back in december (back when the list was only suppose to have 16 things on it, but now it's up to 25...)

and i thought today, hey, there's lots of people who read my blog that aren't on facebook...so why not read my random things here??

and i'll probably post some of the other 'notes' here, too...those of you in 'both places' - sorry you're getting a double dose.

so here's my 16 random things:

1. I love cottage cheese - but basically only the Meijer brand - small curd.

2. I used to be addicted to Diet Coke...but I'm not sure I actually feel better now that I gave it up (for the most part).

3. I can obsess like nobody's business. About just about anything. I probably should be medicated.

4. I never thought I'd be a stay-at-home-mom.

5. I've been to Disney World more times that I can count and I still get verclempt walking down Main Street USA.

6. Someday I will design and make a really killer gingerbread creation.

7. I have a very large collection of JFK memorabilia.

8. I never thought I liked to read until I found Harry Potter, Edward Cullen and any book by Phillipa Gregory.

9. I have very few 'real' friends. (you know who you are!)

10. I have a very strong desire to adopt internationally. I've had the desire for as long as I can remember (for a long time I was going to adopt a 2 year old Korean boy named Peter...he didn't really exist, that's just what I wanted...).

11. I think I spent the better part of my college career battling depression - I just didn't know it.

12. I could not live without my laptop. I wish I could...but I can't.

13. I wonder and worry about what it will be like to be the parent of a teenager (let alone 4 teenagers at one time!)

14. I think Ben and Jerry are some of the smartest men on the planet. As is Jon Lasseter.

15. I was disappointed when i couldn't find any Cap'n Crunch Christmas Crunch in the store today...there's still more than a week until Christmas - so help me, I better be able to eat my Christmas Crunch!

16. All four of my grandparents were still living when I was 30 years old.

neglect

despite the fact that my facebook status gets an overabundance of updating, my poor blog here has been neglected as of late...i do have great stories and pictures to share...hopefully i'll get back into the swing of being over here more often now that we're really back into the swing of things, and all signs of the holiday season are distant memories...

i have a little gem to share today - a KQOTD:

Mommie : you know what?

Molly: what?

Mommie: I love you.

Molly: I love you more.

Mommie: You love me more??

Molly: Yeah....(pause)....it's on TV.

Project 365

so i started a new scrapbooking project this year, along with a couple of my friends...project 365...a picture a day for a year. i have been doing quite well with it (remembering to take them almost everyday!), and thought that at the end of every month, i'd share a few pictures that i took.

here's my selection for january

the back end of my van after a typical trip to the grocery store...

making breakfast for maya and her friend on the morning after their first sleepover

my first pot roast


porter at dance class


lilly and molly doing what they do best - being together and watching tv

teddy bear

several years ago, for christmas, my grandparents decided to buy everyone in the family (that's their seven kids, spouses, grandkids and spouses....) fleece items from old navy. some were pull overs, some were zip ups.

i still wear mine.

as does jason.

one time grandmoth mentioned that she loved seeing jason wear his because he looked like a big huggable teddy bear.

grandmoth hugged jason the first time she met him. at the grand rapids brewing company for my dad's birthday dinner.

he remarked later that it was a very memorable experience for him, not coming from a big family of huggers like i do.

later he remarked that it clearly wasn't as special for grandmoth as it was for him, because he discovered that she was just a 'hugging whore'...

ah...those hugs...that almost squeezed the life out of you in the best way.

it's been two years that she's been gone. jason wore his fleece today. i hugged that teddy bear for her.

sweet dreams

Show all

getting something right

You know you're doing something right as a parent, when your child discovers this nice letter (complete with homemade snowflakes) tucked into her backpack. It's not signed, but she has a pretty good idea of who it's from.

Dear Lilly,

You really are a great friend. You are my best friend ever! If I could have any one as a best friend I would pick you!

kqotd

so, it's been awhile since i've posted a kqotd...not because there haven't been any, but sometimes, unfortunately, i simply forget them before i get a chance to post them.

today, however, i have two gems to share, both from molly...

on wed, dec. 31st as we were opening gifts with my parents. molly opens a set of puzzles that have babies on them. the one on top is a baby's face. she turns it over to see the one on the back:

"oh, it has a chocolate one..."

tonight, jason takes molly to get her pjs on...and we're, of course, encouraging potty training...

j: "hey hon, can you come upstairs for a minute" in a very animated voice...
i enter the bathroom...molly is turning around to try to look into the potty

m:"my butt not working"

(since she'd already finished 'tinkling' in the toilet and couldn't show me anymore!)

it's her first time going in the potty! wahoo!

happy new year

i vacuumed again to today to attempt to drag confetti and streamers into every other room, instead of every room, for the next week.

martini time

grandmoth would have been 80 years old this week. and three years ago today was one of the hardest of my life. and molly is 2 1/2 years old.

for those that i love and miss so much...i will drink a martini today.


(picture taken on new years eve, 2002)

new look

finally got rid of that 'summer' header and now i have a nice festive look to the blog...so those that read this through a feed...go check it out .... my services are for sale!

getting old...

so...this week, for the first time, i saw a doctor because i was having some annoying 'symptoms' of something and wanted answers...so i went...and then i had, like, lab tests...and all those things that people who are 'getting older' have to do. and today i got my results...and wouldn't you know, i require medication.

i suppose i shouldn't complain too much, as it is the necessity of medication that supports my family, but still...i just never thought it would be me.

oye.

finally...

one month before he leaves office, he finally does something right...

(from the associated press)

The president said that on the one hand, the government has a responsibility not to undermine the private enterprise system, yet on the other hand, it must safeguard the broader health and stability of the U.S. economy.

"If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy and liquidation for the automakers," he said.

"Under ordinary economic circumstances, I would say this is the price that failed companies must pay," the president said. "And I would not favor intervening to prevent the automakers from going out of business. But these are not ordinary circumstances.

"In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action."

so many blog posts on the brain...

i swear i will share them....daily december and 80th birthdays and trips to great wolf lodge...why can't christmas be another month away???

twilight

so i finally broke down and started the twilight series...i'm about a 1/3 of the way through the last book in the series...and i'm probably just as addicted as most others (well, maybe not as much as the teenage girls...)

i'm interested in seeing the movie, but just wasn't sold on robert pattinson as edward (who also played cedric in the harry potter movies - which i wasn't sold on him in those movies either)...

until i saw this picture from this month's vanity fair photo shoot with the twilight cast:

and then i turned into paris hilton and was all like...dang...that's hot....

kid council

so several months ago, we're enjoying a nice family dinner when one of the children mentioned that they would like to make another family trip to great wolf lodge . we have been twice before, with the last trip when molly was only a few months old (her first trip to a pool...all the pictures of which were lost in a laptop crash...ah well).

anyway, i digress. the conversation continues about how difficult it is to go away sometimes, with the distance, and the expense and possibly missing school. we propose something 'to the council' - we will take you to great wolf lodge if you would like it as your christmas gift - no other gifts, just the trip.

after pretty short deliberation at the dinner table, they all reach a unanimous decision - they want the trip. we tell them that we will re-visit the topic in a few weeks to make sure that this is still their desire.

a week or two later, we discuss again. yes, their vote remains the same. and thus, as parents, we began the process of the 'christmas surprise'...

we book a room at a pretty good rate...we discuss with teachers...we deflect future conversations saying that we don't know if it's going to work...we talk to swim teachers....and choir directors....and secretly pack the kids and even load the van to the near top.

it's saturday morning - just like any other and we tell the kids to eat breakfast and get dressed...we have some errands to run (like Christmas shopping) so we're all going out...

we pile them in the car and remarkably, no one notices that the back of the van has suitcases in it...we successfully distracted them with our new GPS unit and by putting on a movie..."it's going to be a bit of drive to the one store we want to go to..." we say, "so sit back and relax..."

porter asks if we can go to the toboggan run later...we remark that we don't know if it's open yet, but maybe, if they're good while we're shopping, we can go to the community center pool.

we drive and drive. they ask where we're going, but only about 3 times. we're nearly to traverse city (2 hours of driving later!) when we stop for lunch, telling them that we're almost to the store, so it's best if we eat first and then we can get the shopping done. so we eat...and we climb back into the van...with just 5 miles to go.

I'm in the left-hand turn lane...into the resort. lilly reads the sign..."great wolf lodge?!??" and she and maya look at each other..."WE'RE GOING TO GREAT WOLF LODGE???!!?!?" and they say - no wonder you said we could go to the pool this afternoon!

and we pull in and say "merry christmas"...

i never thought in my wildest dreams that they wouldn't have guessed we were going within the first hour of the trip. but they didn't - and their surprise when we arrived was totally worth it.

we got our fill of the waterpark.





we enjoyed story time and the 'snow' in the lobby.

we had sugar cookies and milk delivered to our room as a 'sleepy time' snack.

and we ate out at some of the kid's favorite restaurants.

they loved the trip, and the fact that they got to 'skip' of day of school to do it.
quality family time - what the holiday season should be all about.

(ps - they'll still be getting some gifts on Christmas, too...but they don't know that yet!)

capes

enjoy!



PS - for my aunt sue (and ben) - did you picture this when you gave porter that collection of superhero pajamas??

conspiracy

got this from another blog i read...and it rings so true that i thought i'd share...



even our own 'kid council' voted for no gifts this year (though they are getting some...) in lieu of a family trip...

we are doing fewer gifts. and we'll be making some great memories on our trip. and my charity of choice this time of year is heifer international.

now don't presume i'm thinking we're like the model non-commercial christmas family - cause we do have three different trees and did buy a whole new set of icicle lights by the case this year...but we're on our way...

join the advent conspiracy.