Labor day Meme

This one is all about your labors....as in delivery...as in having children. Being as all of our kids were adopted...this should be fun :)



How long were your labors?

#1 & #2- Congrats! Its Twins! Only 2 1/2 years apart....forget hours baby...we are talking about months.....10 months of dossier prep, translations, and immigration all followed by 10 months the Haitian side paperwork, translations, and immigration.

#3- 30 days dossier prep, translations, and immigration followed by 4 months of the Haitian side paperwork, translations, and immigration (yeah we learned from our mistakes the 1st time)



How did you know you were in labor?
Labor = work...obviously you have never put a dossier together........

Where did you deliver?
not too many moms can say this one...."At the Airport"

Drugs?
yes please

C-section?
You bet...we flew in the coach section both times

Who delivered?
#1 & #2- I delivered them myself thankyouverymuch

#3- decided to take the easy way out *cough cough* and let Lori do it....


If you would like to join in head over to Shannon's and leave your post!

Yard Sale Saturday!

Yeppers...yesterday it was A YARD SALE DAY! We headed up to a community wide yard sale we go to EVERY year. There is one place where I ALWAYS get Katharine new pants...brand name items for just a few bucks. Needless to say, I had a small heart attack when I pulled up and saw that there were hardly ANY tables there....*gulp.*

I walked around and to my delight

I found Kyle a shirt (he was just the right height).

After my glorious find I skipped 'round the table

to find pile after pile ..could he wear them? Yes he was able...

As I sang with glee I continued to search

and what did I find? New shoes for church

I leaped through the air from sale to sale...

As you can see..no, I'm not frail..

smiling gleefully at every turn...

I found new ways to read and learn

increasing my collection of Mark Twain

And books about weather to learn about rain

I passed by the antiques and many pool floats

but the sight that caught my eye were the glittery pink winter coats

I noticed deal after deal that made my pocket book sing.

The Brand new boots I bought will make Maddie's heart ring

As I danced through the streets I found spider man and sonic shirts for a boy

that would certainly make my sons heart jump with joy

As I found item after I item I said" No! This can't be!

A brand new dress for $2! you see?"

After 6 hours of shopping I had come so far,

But it was time to head back to my heavy packed car...

I sang and I danced..I got such a deal...

it was now 1:00...time for a meal?

As we headed back home...we thought of the day...

And the deals we received for such little out-pay........

Maddie and her "do"

So after her pancake pics (she was obviously NOT in her best form) I thought to myself... "self, you need to take pictures of her hair when her hair is done...that way people know that you do ACTUALLY do her hair "lol so anyway..here is my big girl sporting her new "do."

Maddie and her Pancakes

Who wants a pancake,
Sweet and piping hot?

Good little Grace looks up and says,
"I'll take the one on top."

Who else wants a pancake,
Fresh off the griddle?

Terrible Teresa smiles and says,
"I'll take the one in the middle."

~Shel Siverstien~

Too funny!

Check out this post from Shannon....there are some really good Haiku's written by readers about "going back to school". Being as I have a 1st grade boy...........I bet you can tell which one made me just about fall off my seat laughing!

Take a look at THIS!

I am by no means a photographer...I can get come pretty good shots of the kids every now and then BUT more often than not it takes about 45 minutes of positioning, crying, fighting,and many "stop that"'s, and "get you finger out of your nose"'s. Needless to say it doesn't happen that often....




Sooooooo..several weeks ago we went on The Belle Of Louisville with Katharine's girl scout troop. This was a trip where siblings and friends were allowed to come. Noah, Maddie, and Maria went along with us on this AWESOME trip. Well, last night I received a call from Katharine's troop leader...she had taken a FANTASTIC picture of Noah and wanted to know if she could share it. I said ABSOLUTELY! Her photo's are fantastic...its hard to believe that some of those are photos as they are so "perfect." Of course, I think the most perfect picture is of Noah..so here it is folks...the pic of my awesome little one :) Go and spread your love...tell her how cute Noah is and what an awesome job she did!

A katharine funny.....

As Katharine was standing there talking with our preacher and his wife, I couldn't help but listen in and get a chuckle.....

Peggy: "I like your shoes! I like red" (her shoes had red stripes on them

Katharine: "I like red too...I think red is my favorite color"

Peggy: "Red is a good color. It would be one of my favorites too."

Katharine: "whats your favorite color, Tom?"

Tom: "I would have to say Brown, though I don't wear it that much."

Katharine: "Well your in luck! You like brown and I just so happen to be brown!"

Tom: " That must be why I like you so much"

:)

Look at my boy go!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??? We certainly are! Here are some pics from the 1st practice tonight....GO NOAH GO!

Noah and his buddy Blake Noahs Coach showing him to throw
Noah tossing the ball
Noah making a run for it!

Thank you Connie!

I just wanted to say Thank You to Myfriendconnie over at Smockity frocks. Without her help from this Frugal Friday post I would of never figured out how to start changing things around over here! Thanks Connie! Now to figure out how to get those cute little buttons on the blog!

Not finished yet....

Well I am not finished yet but what do you think? I would love to hear from all the readers...with any "luck" there is a poll on the left side of the blog. Please tell me what you think! Also feel free to leave comments as to what you think could "enhance" the blog.

Menu Plan Monday

Breakfasts:

Cereal

grits

Pancakes & syrup

Eggs and Toast
Biscuits and Jelly

Baked oatmeal

Lunch:

Pigs in a blanket

Grilled Cheese and Carrots

Bean, rice, and cheese burritos

Tuna salad and carrots/celery

BLT's and Cottage cheese/celery

Lunch meat and cheese sandwiches w/ carrots & celery

French Toast w/ eggs

Dinners:

Pasta salad (Monday is dance night so we need something on the go)

Chicken wings w/ corn and brussel sprouts

red beans and rice w/veggies

Pancakes

Homemade Pizza

black beans w/rice and sausage

(Sunday night is always FFYS)

Excuse the mess....

I am going to be re-vamping within the next few days so please be patient and excuse my mess!

Holiday World!

Hey all! Yesterday we headed out on yet another adventure...this time...Holiday World! We had a good time but the park was uber crowded :( I was hoping it would be down a bit since it seems that most of the state has already started school...Not so! Some of our friends were able to go with us yesterday too! They have 3 kiddos (12, 9, and 3, ALL BOYS!) and so all our kids together had a blast.

Noah-grins as always :) The Family by the end of the day

Kyle and maddie riding together

Maddie and her bud Landon

Maddie and Landon again

I don't know who this child is..and if I did I would say she got her attitude from her FATHER

Landon
Maddie

Meet the newest member of our family.........

This is Jordyn , um Jordan the 7 week old cat. She He came into our home last Sunday after answering an add in the paper. Ms. Katharine had been begging for a cat since Claira was killed many moths ago. She not only wanted a kitten, but she wanted one to be hers. So after months of begging, we relented. We answered and add in the paper for free kittens. I took her down so she could pick out which one she wanted. The poor thing was covered in fleas and had a bloated belly. On Tuesday I did lots calling around to see who had the best prices on medicines and vaccines and such. The place where I had taken Claira too wanted twice as much as two others in town. One place only had afternoon appts and that just doesn't work around here. The other place that was equally as "cheap" (*cough*) is where we have gone for years...but sometimes you have to wait FOREVER for an appt. Even though we are waiting until next Tuesday (which is not bad) they went ahead and let us bring her him in to be weighed and pick up some wormer. This is where we found out that our "she cat" was now a "he cat." She now has a kitten to call her very own. Part of her chores every morning is now to make sure he is fed, watered and litter box cleaned. She also has to pay me $1 every time we buy cat food (when you only get $8 spending money every month $1 is a pretty big chunk!) and every time we need to take the cat to the vet for shots or whatever she owes Kyle a minimum of 3 hours work time in the garage...so this is not coming "free" to her. She has yet to complain (and probably wont as it is not her personality) and has already "paid" for her 1st visit by working 3 hours this week.

A time and a place....

So as Jone Menke is laid to rest today, the majority of the community is mourning, but yet filled with a sense of pride.



Yesterday was my day "out on the town" so to speak. I took Kyle to work, did some errands, met up with a friend to do scrap booking, back to pick up Kyle for lunch, take him back to work, then shopping, hair cuts, and more shopping. As Kyle and I were eating lunch almost directly across from where the young soldier would have his visitation, we watched helicopters and such flying around and landing on the grounds of our high school (keep in mind we are small town, this doesn't happen...ever ). We saw several unmarked cars around the area along with several military personnel. We knew this was big....important. However what Kyle started to talk about next blew me away. Protesters...of the war...many of them...were expected to be there for the funeral. What? Don't get me wrong, I am not saying people don't have a right to an opinion. There are opinions all over the place out there. After all that what freedom is about right :)? We are able to form our own opinions, and express them, thanks to what? freedom. Great, have your own opinion....but lets have some smarts about it....



Kyle also told me that there were already protesters at the grounds where his funeral will be held (the burial will be on the state hospital grounds where Kyle works about 1/4 mile from his shop). Seriously? Is that really the time and the place? Please let them have their own opinion, express it all they want, but is the funeral the time and the place to express these? The funeral is not for the dead, but for those who are left behind. I am sure that the mother who is burying her son who was just killed in the war will instantly change her mind and welcome the protesters with open arms lamenting on how right they(the protesters) are (catch a slight roll of eyes here). Let this group of family and friends bury their loved one.....let them MOURN their loss. Let them focus on that for just this ONE day. Apparently this is too much to ask of some people.



What is their agenda anyway? They have to get something out of it or they wouldn't do it. Is it publicity? Is it debate? Is it just because it is enjoyable to "stir the pot" so to speak? If they were truly concerned about this family and how they have been effected...they would find another time and another place. But that's just my 2cents.

A sight I have never seen before......

Today I was headed up to the vets office (more on that later) when I hear on the radio about the Madison man, Specialist Jonathan Daniel "Jon" Menke, who was being transported from North Vernon for his funeral tomorrow. There were hundreds of people lined along the side of the roads waving American Flags. As I approached a small intersection there were fires trucks with their lights a blazing, along with 2 huge cranes hoisting a HUGE American Flag above the road. The American Flag could be seen for miles down the road. It was amazing. While on one hand, I am so thankful for the men and women who have served/are currently serving, my heart aches for the boys parents. Such a mix of emotion! It was certainly a sight to see.

Menu plan Monday

OK not such a great week...but we are being extremely frugal for the next few months while we try and save up for Holiday World, Katharines birthday, Vacation, and of course Christmas :) Many people ask how we do it, but we keep our food budget at around $125 every two weeks.

Monday- breakfast- grits w/butter, lunch-tuna salad, dinner- Tonight is back to dance and we will leave here around 4:45 and not get back until 8:30. Dinner tonight will be something you can "grab and go." Had I planned better it would of been something like "pasta salad" but alas, we are having PB&J's or Grilled PB with carrot sticks and ranch.

Tuesday-breakfast-bagels, Lunch- pb&j, Dinner- Yummy! Waffles! We LOVE waffles for dinner!

Wednesday- Breakfast- eggs and toast, Lunch- BLT's w/cottage cheese, Dinner-Chicken and Dumplings

Thursday- Breakfast- biscuits and jelly w/fruit, Lunch- Lunchmeat and cheese, Dinner-Wednesday's leftovers made into chicken noodle soup

Friday-Breakfast-peanut butter toast, Lunch- grilled cheese, Dinner- Thursday's leftovers made into Chicken casserole (don't you love how 1 whole chicken for about $3.50 can make 3 meals for a family of 5???)

Saturday-Breakfast-baked oatmeal , Off to Holiday World!

Sunday- Breakfast- leftover baked oatmean, Lunch-Tyropitta From my new Gasparilla cookbook! , Dinner- FFYS (fend for yourself).

Olympics

Is anyone else glued to the TV???? Sorry Michele...I don't think the book will be finished this week as I have been obsessed with the Olympics.



Did you catch the men's swimming relay last night??? I was SO hoping we would win as France thought FOR SURE they had it in the bag :) hehe :)

Car show and a real find!

Last Saturday we headed down to a car show here in Madison. They closed off all of downtown and there were cars everywhere....including my father in laws and my brother in laws (formerly kyle's car). My brother in laws Pontiac is in rough shape body wise but he has been working on the engine and it is running again so at least it made it to the show. My father in laws car was looking fantastic and all he really has left to do is the interior (kyle will be doing that). One thing about these car shows...many of the people pay to have their work done (which we are grateful for as many around here are turning to Kyle for their vehicles) but Kyles family does their own work...so when Kyles dad won the award for "Best Street Rod" they had an extra little "something" to be proud about. Of course after he won the award Kyle and his brother both were making comments about "Gene Caswell's car, completed by South Hoosier Hot Rods..." I found it rather cute. So while the men were doing their manly thing by walking around and staring at cars...we women did our womanly thing and went into the old antique shops and drooled looked at Vera Bradley's.







While in one of these shops I found The Gasparilla Cookbook! That probably means nothing to most of you, but I tell you I about flipped my lid when I saw it. I will be trying some recipes over the next couple of weeks from this cookbook ( one to be used this week). Terri you will have to see this! It even has recipes for Cuban Sandwiches (and the sauces) along with DEVILED CRABS! Excuse me while I go drool all over myself..............

We will never EVER feed the birds..EVER again

While on a run for hubby's business today we decided to go to the zoo. The zoo has a cute little splash park as well as all the animals and playgrounds so the kids tend to love it. I usually bring about $5 and let the kids pick ONE activity to do. They can ride the carousel, ride the train or tram, feed the Lorikeets, feed the girraffe's etc. Today they chose to feed the lorikeets...now lets rewind....................

4 years ago (before Maddie came home) Kyle and I took Noah and Katharine to the Newport aquarium and went in to see the Lorikeets. The moment we went in there Katharine screamed at the top of her lungs. The birds were touching her...the birds were landing on her....the birds were......well......stuck in her hair. Yes you read that right...there was a bird stuck in here hair. She absolutely REFUSED to go into the area with the birds since then. So color me surprised when she said today she wanted to feed the birds.......now come back into time........

Katharine was so excited! She did not want to hold the cup of nectar but she DID want the bird to land on her. I had Noah hold the cup and was able to get a bird to land on Katharine's arm and she let him drink the nectar from Noah. The whole time Maddie is sticking her arm back and drawing back quickly as she is NOT sure what to think of this whole situation (she has never been in here before because of a freaked out sister, remember?). They then trade where Maddie is holding the cup and Noah is holding the bird. The bird then climbs on my shoulders and crawls up my head and scratches on my head....*insert laughs of children here*. The bird goes back to Noah and Maddie is still sticking her arm up. She gets her arm close to the birds feet and....yep...the bird bit her. She starts screaming...jumping up and down...yelling "I DON"T LIKE BIRDS!!! THEY BITE ME!!!!! HE HURT ME!!! I DON'T WANT TO SEE A BIRD EVER AGAIN!" and the screaming continues...all the while she has now freaked out the bird and it has decided to fly back up to the to of my head and try to hide. The lady in there say "would you like me to get him off of you?" So I said No lady, I have a screaming kid who is now afraid of birds and mommy can't even lean down to pick her up because a freaked out bird who obviously needs some Valium has decided to make a nest on my head. Please let it stay! "Yes please." So now I get to take my little girl who is jumping up and down showing her bite to everyone that would look (it was hard not to when there is a 4yo screaming at the top of her lungs "LOOKY MOMMY DA BIRD BITE ME!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW). While the lady is trying to shoo the bird off my head......I am so glad I do not have a picture of that one..........

Road TRIP!

Last Sunday a friend of mine was talking about having to go to a conference and everyone that was supposed to go with her backed out :( She was not pleased that she was going to have to drive to some placed called "Fishers, Indiana." I said "Oh I know how to get there..I have friends there :)" She laughed and said "Ya wanna go with?" I replied with a "yeah! Why not? I have to bring the kids though..."..........."No problem!"......................We had all the arrangements down. We left the following morning at 5:45 (ack...gag) and headed out. I dropped her off at her class and the kids and I went to do some window shopping and then to meet up with Lori! We had a great time! The kids got to play together at a little splash park, Brit was able to get some reading in, and we sat there and gabbed. I left to pick up my friend and then we headed to the hotel to check in, then off to the mall and dinner! After the girls ransacked Libby Lu we did some other shopping and headed out. We stayed up chatting for a good while having some GREAT discussion (mostly spiritual) before heading to bed.


The next day I dropped off Brandi and headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim. Lo and behold our pool was busted but there was another hotel across the way willing to let us use their pool for the meantime. The kids and I headed over there and while it was tiny, it was clean and pretty (when I say tiny..I mean the deepest the part of the pool was 4ft and it could of fit into my living room). There was a hot tub right next to the pool and so I climbed in the hot tub while the kids played in the "big" pool. Now keep in mind, this is a SMALL area. If I was sitting on the edge of the hot tub, I could turn around and my legs would just about touch the pool...that's how close they were. While the kids were playing, I pulled out my copy of Persuasion and was reading. A man who looked like he worked in maintenance at the hotel came in there and pointed at Katharine and said (quite rudely) "how old are YOU??" she replied "8." and then he turned to Noah and said "And how old are YOU??" he replied "6." He then went on to tell the children to "get out of the pool" as they were NOT allowed to be in THAT pool without a parent there with them.....um hello? I know he HAD to see me...I am not a little woman roughly about 10-15 feet away from the kids...and the ONLY other person in there....add in the fact that my swim suit is almost a neon blue and hello.....I am obvious. I raised my hand and said with a smirk smile on my face "Excuse me...I AM there mother" The next thing I heard was a bunch of "I am sorry ma'ams" and "I didn't see you there ma'ams" and "Is the music loud enough for you ma'am?" *sigh*

After that we ended up at Maggie Moo's and then picked up Brandi ready to head home..It was SO nice to go away just for a night and have a "girls" night :) It was almost like being on vacation with the Sheplers and Lori and I would just "pretend" our kids weren't there LOL (While all the while munching on Hot Tamales...the candy ya'll..............)

11 Years.......

For the way you provide for our family....I love you



For the way you protect me.....I love you



For the dearest friendship I could have.....I love you



For showing Christ in you....I love you



For being gentle and patient with me.....I love you



For making me laugh.....I love you



For being the greatest father....I love you



For helping me learn to laugh at myself.....I love you



For having a tender heart....I love you



For knowing when I just need to be held....I love you



For the last 11 years......I love you





Happy Anniversary to my best friend...............