I think she hears us AND she is laughing!

Brad is not a fan of road trips. He is not a very patient driver to begin with but anytime I plan a trip I try to find something close because he doesn't like to be in the car more than an hour. Two hours is really pushing it.

Rightfully so. As a kid, his vacations consisted of trips to Kansas or California to visit grandparents. Apparently these trips were not fun.

I, on the other hand, love road trips. There is something so peaceful about staring out the window for hours looking at God's creation. Even if it is cornfields for hours on end. I have fond memories of family vacations to Florida, driving through the night, and spending time with the family.

When we go somewhere as a family, I love the relaxing drives. Well, I love it until we get close to our destination and we need to find exactly where we have to go.

We have a Garmin that is a few years old. I love how she tells you where to go and gives you an estimated time of arrival. Unfortunately, she is not always the best at giving us the correct directions and it ends up with me and Brad yelling, turning around a million times, and trying to figure out exactly where we are supposed to be.

It always ends with Brad saying, "That thing is going in the garbage as soon as we get home."

I of course nod, knowing that I will not be throwing it out and our next trip we will play this fun game again.

We've had trips to Chicago where we keep losing satellite and she keeps saying, "Recalculating."

Brad: Where do I need to turn.

Me: I don't know. Just a second.

Garmin: Recalculating

Brad: I need to know where to go.

Me: I know but she's not telling me.

Garmin: Turn on ____.

Me: We needed to turn on that street.

Brad: You need to tell me before we get to the street.

Garmin: Recalculating.

You get the drift. And I should probably add a lot of exclamation marks and I'm not really sure how to add frustration.

Then there was the trip to Iowa. We missed the street we needed to turn on and she told us to go to the next street and it would bring is around in a circle. Well, it did not bring us around in a circle. It brought us to a dead end and we were pulling a trailer. Not fun to try and turn around.

Then on our way home from Iowa, she brought us a completely different route. We were on a time crunch and then she just turned off on us. Thankfully, my phone helped us a little and a quick stop at a gas station to ask directions.

This past weekend, Brad and I took a trip to Indianapolis. We were cruising along just fine until it was time to get off the highway and drive 2 miles to our hotel.

Me: Take a right. Now take a left.

Brad: This is weird. This is a subdivision.

Me: I know but that is what she said. Maybe it takes us through to the next street.

       Nope, dead end.

There was some landscaping and then we could see the street we needed to be on. We turned around.

After finally figuring out how to get to the other street, going through an Industrial area, we finally got close to the hotel. And because we don't like to do anything easy, we passed up the street to the hotel and turned around once again.

We figured out the next day that at the first right she had us take, we could have gone straight and it would have taken us directly to our hotel.

I am convinced that she can hear us. She purposely brings us the wrong way and then laughs at us as we fight and try to figure out how to get to our destination.

Can't wait to see where she brings us on our next trip!

The Most Amazing Cupcakes!!!!

A couple months ago our family went to visit some friends out of town.

It just so happened that we went a couple weeks after my friend celebrated her birthday and since she is weeeee bit older than me, I tend to give her a hard time. Seeing that I seem to be surrounded by people younger than me, my poor friend must take this abuse from me. Thankfully she is a good sport! (I feel like an old lady using that word but can't think of a better word.)

I brought her a nice bag filled with goodies for OLD people. Things like a nice housecoat, rollers, denture cream, arthritis rub, and a rain bonnet. I can't remember what else was in that bag. Give me a break, it's been a couple months! Unfortunately her husband videotaped my gift presentation, so I'm sure it will all come back to haunt me some day!

But after being a little mean, I did make it up her by giving her something nice.

Enter........our shared love for peanut butter.

I made her the MOST amazing cupcakes! Actually, the cupcakes were good but the frosting.......out of this world. Who wouldn't love peanut butter mixed with a lot of butter and then add some powdered sugar. I could have eaten the whole bowl!

WARNING: These are very dangerous. You will not be able to get them off your mind until they have all been eaten.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup smooth all natural peanut butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Frosting
6 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter, natural
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whole milk

For Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine milk and vanilla in a small bowl.

Combine baking powder, flour and salt in another bowl.

Beat butter and sugars in a bowl until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and blend until smooth. Slowly add peanut butter.

Alternately add half of the flour mixture and milk mixtures, mixing slowly, until all is incorporated.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Put into lined baking cups. Recipe says it makes 12. I actually got 16.

Bake for about 22 minutes or until golden brown.

For Frosting:

Combine sugar and salt in a bowl and combine milk and vanilla in another bowl.

Add Peanut butter and butter in mixer. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Alternately add sugar and milk mixture until fully incorporated.

If you want your frosting thinner add more milk. If you want it thicker, add some more powdered sugar.

Spread on your cupcakes and enjoy!!!!

Note: I am one to fudge on some the ingredients but on this recipe I did exactly as I typed it, so I am not sure of the outcome if you don't use Whole milk or natural peanut butter. I figure the natural peanut butter made them healthy. Right?


On a different note, what fun is a trip without a good game of find the dead cat and throw him in a corn field.

 

 

 

And, yes, I just posted about cupcakes and a dead cat in the same post. This blog is going downhill fast! Sorry about that.

Finally - The Derby Pictures

After many hours of trying to figure out how to get pictures to post from Windows Live Writer into blogger, I have given up. Or at least I am taking an extended break and moving on with my life. That will teach me to try and make life a little simpler.

Since I'm a little wierd, I feel like I can't blog about everything that has been going on in June until I finally finish posting about what happened way back in the beginning of May.

For those of you who don't remember, I tried posting a bunch of pictures from the Derby at the Arlington Race Track that I went to for my friend Kelly's Bachlorette Party. The post showed up but none of my pictures did. So until I can figure out a way to get pictures on my blog without going through blogger and their issues of downloading pictures taking FOREVER, you will get less pictures and bad quality (of pictures that is, maybe writing too...you decide).

My first post gave you a lot of pictures. Here is the shortened version.

We had 10 women dressed up with fabulous hats, riding in an awesome limo, sipping champange, and heading to Arlington Race Track.

We had a great time eating, drinking and watching the races.

This is Kelly and I.

And here is Kelly a week later as a beautiful Bride.

 AHHHHH! Now I can move on and share what else we've been up to. You're sitting on the edge of your seat, aren't you? It's exciting stuff.

There are good birds and then there are just plain crazy birds!

These are the good birds. They come every year and swim on top of our pool cover. They are nice. They are quiet. They hang out for a little while and then go away. We enjoy their presence. The kids named them Brad and Melissa.

Then there is this bird. 

Last Thursday she was flying around with her mate. I pointed them out to the kids and we all admired the 2 cardinals.

Then she took a turn for the crazy.

 

She repeatedly rammed herself into our sliding glass door. That was Thursday morning. 

I left for work, came home in the afternoon and there she was, at it again. 

Friday morning she was back. Now I first wanted to assume that she was being a submissive wife. Her husband told her to do it. She listened. After she did all the hard work of breaking through he was just going to follow her in.

But then I noticed that HE was no longer with her. He knew she was crazy too. 

It has now been 5 days and she still hasn't given up. Although, I did see HIM again today. 

 

She has pooped all over my railing and deck and has messed up my windows. 

Hopefully one of these days she will just give up. Until then, I will listen to Crazy Bird hit my window repeatedly throughout the day. (And just so you know, closing the curtain doesn't help.)

More Bits and Pieces......

Here are some of the things that have been going on the last couple weeks.

1. The 'i' on my keyboard keeps sticking. A little annoying to keep seeing words without the 'i' and then I have to go back and fix it.

2. In all of my organizing I found an old cassette tape. I had it sitting in the kitchen and Amanda asked me what it was. Our conversation went like this:
Amanda: "What's this?"
Me: "A cassette tape."
Amanda: "Can I watch it?"
Me: "No, it plays music like a CD."
Amanda gives me a puzzled look: "But can I watch it?"

3. Started exercising last week. I also started that same day with 2 donuts and ended it with 2 cupcakes.

4. The kids also started chore charts last week. They are definitely my children. Just being able to cross something off their list is motivation enough.

5. A couple weeks ago I was in the grocery store with all my kids and there was a table set up to enter to win a $100 gift card. I filled out the entry form and Isaac asked what I was doing. I told him that I was trying to win Free groceries. He says, "Or a DS."  To which I replied, "They don't sell them here." As we were walking away the kid (by kid I mean teenager) working there told me he had a DS in his car that he doesn't play anymore and we could have it if we wanted. It was pink. No one seemed to care. There wasn't a charger, so after spending $10 for a charger my kids now have a DS. Just so you know, my boys cry if they have to sit on a pink booster seat in the car but for some reason the color of the DS is not bothering them. They are happy to have it!

6. Do you ever have it that you hear one of your kids in bed coughing like crazy but as soon as you walk close to the bedroom to see who it is, it stops. Stand for a while waiting. Nope. All done. Walk away. Coughing starts again. Repeat.

7. My week has consisted of sick kids, my garage door breaking, and my van needing repairs beyond its worth. We will be bringing it to the junk yard this Saturday. She has been good to us for 7 1/2 years but it is time to say goodbye. We will be starting the search for a new vehicle. I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad about this.

More Bits and Pieces

Last week I posted a list of some little tid bits of happenings in our lives around here. I kind of enjoyed doing that and thought I'd continue it. Of course last week when I posted I said that I would probably remember a couple more things as soon as I hit publish and of course I did. So I am adding those this week as well.

1.) My sister-in-law sent back a box of clothes that I let her borrow for her daughter. It was nice to reminisce as I went through the box. There were even a few sleepers that I had let her borrow from when my kids were babies. Then there were some clothes that I felt my girls just got out of and she was already sending them back.  They were size 3t and 4t. I guess it's been longer than I thought. Sigh.

2.) Speaking of clothes.....Amanda has been growing out of all her shirts. Alex says, "Mom, you better go to the thrift store and get her some new shirts." I love that she said thrift store!

3.) Last week I told you that I enjoyed Madonna's Superbowl half-time show. Then the next day I saw in the news that MIA had an obscene hand gesture during the show. First, I have no idea who MIA is and second, I totally missed this gesture.

4.) The other day I asked Brad what was in the mail. He told me nothing. I then found a 30% off to Kohls. How is a 30% off to Kohls NOTHING?????

5.) Brad got switched to the midnight shift this week. We are enjoying having him home in the evening with us. Isaac hasn't complained about going to school at all this week. Brad is getting used to the sleeping schedule. I am getting used to having only 4 hours a day that someone is not sleeping in this house, I am also getting used to him being around after the kids go to bed. It may sound weird but for a year and a half now I have been used to being by myself those couple hours and getting a lot of things done.  The kids have decided that dad is nocturnal.

6.) Speaking of nocturnal.....they also told me last week that they don't want a hamster because they are nocturnal. Oh good because I was almost ready to go out and buy one of those disgustingly furry little things.

7.) I have 29 socks in my laundry basket that are missing their mate.

8.) Yesterday I ran into a mom of 2 1/2 yr old triplet girls. They were screaming and just generally not happy. I felt for her. I know how much work it takes to get them all out and once you are out you have to get your errands done no matter how crabby they are. Thankful that I could talk with her for a little while and be an encouragement to her.

9.) Yesterday I got my chalkboard paint. Watch out walls!

Where Do I Go With All The Things Swirling In My Head

So now that I am taking a little break from Facebook I have no where to share all the fascinating things that are happening during my day and that are swirling around in my head. I thought about going to Twitter (I have an account but never really got into the whole Twitter thing) but that would kind of defeat the purpose, don't ya think? Cut down on time on one social media site to just move to another?

But thankfully I have my blog and so now I will just have to do an occasional post on all the little random things. Of course some of you may know most of this since I have taken up texting it all to you as well.

So here goes:

1.) Thursday night I went upstairs to color my roots (not that I have gray hair or anything) and when I told the kids I was going to do this Isaac says, "Yep, you don't want old hair." (This actually is a lot funnier if you know Isaac and how he says things.)

2.) Got this new mop from Norwex. You can use it dry or wet. Alex & Isaac were fighting over using it. They nicely took turns and I overhear them say, "We should do this everyday!"  BEST MOP EVER!!!!!

3.) I really enjoyed the Madonna half-time Superbowl show. I told Brad it was the best one ever, he did not agree. Of course I must say that I can only recall seeing 3 halftime shows in my life and one of them was the Janet Jackson debacle. I really like that I could just sing along to all the songs....took me back. Sigh! And props to her, she looks really good for her age and didn't even look like she broke a sweat.

4.) I forgot to tell my kids to shower for 4 days and so they became the stinky kids that everyone was trying to stay away from. Whoops! Don't worry, they have showered and are now clean. Phew!

5.) I went to my sisters house the other day and she pulls out her headband holder to show me. It was a jar. Really? I kept looking at it thinking "you didn't even do any cutting or pasting." Seriously!? A jar!? So, if you need a headband holder you can either pull out a Mason jar or you can make my Ultra Cute Headband Holder. (Actually, the jar is quite genius just don't tell my sister I said that.) Just wait til you see my next craft that I'm working on!

6.) I added a "Pin It" button to my blog so now you can pin anything you see here. I hope it actually works. If there is anyone out there that actually wants to pin something of mine please let me know if it worked!

I'm sure there was probably a lot more but I can't remember and of course as soon as I hit "post" I will remember. I'll just have to save it for next weeks list.

Family Photos - Your Opinion Please

Back in November (at least I think it was November) we had our family pictures taken by a friend of mine from high school. She just started her own photography business and I think she does a great job. 

My only problem is choosing!

Yep, it's months later and I still haven't ordered my pictures.

I did buy a Groupon in December for a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas. I was thinking the other day that I wish I had someone here to help me pick which one to have put on the canvas. Then I remembered all of you and hope you will help.

Below are my 3 choices. Which one do you think would look the best on my wall?

 

Footprints Photography by Valerie

My girls headbands were made by my friend Michelle. She did a great job with them! 

I'm A Winner and A Little Game (The 2 are not related)

Yesterday I received an email that I thought was spam and made it into my inbox. Thankfully I clicked on it before deleting it! It was an email telling me that I had won a $50 gift card to Ruche. I had entered a giveaway on a blog a while back and I guess I won! I am very excited because there is a lot of cool stuff. Problem is that there is so much that I love that I'm not sure what to get. It is going to take me hours to figure out how to spend my Free money! If you have any suggestions please feel free to share. I'm thinking I'll stay away from clothes since only about 1/10th of what I try on actually looks half-way decent and do I want to keep. There are a lot of cute shoes and accessories. I was maybe thinking a cute apron to wear while I make all my Pinterest recipes.

Now onto the game which has nothing to do with me being a winner.

If you don't know much about me, you might not know that I am Dutch (of course my husband would argue this saying that I am not 100%). I also grew up in a large Dutch community. Some of you may think this is odd and didn't even know that such a thing exists but it does. So the way I grew up was very normal to me and I thought we were the norm. Until I got older and met other people that weren't Dutch. I then learned that we have some peculiarities.

So..........the other night I was having Bible study with my Church Small Group Ladies. In our group we have 2 Dutch girls (I am one), we have one girl married to a Dutch Boy, we have a girl from Texas, a girl from Kentucky, and Tuesday night we welcomed 2 new girls into our Bible Study. Kentucky girl was not there that night so she missed out on the fun game we played.

After our study we were talking and asking the new girls a few questions about themselves and the conversation turned to Dutch people and we said how we make fun of the Dutch sometimes just because there are 2 of us that are Dutch and 1 married to someone Dutch and so we just like to laugh about some of the things we do.

One of the new girls says, "I used to work with someone that is Dutch and she used to make fun of herself too."

Me and other Dutch girl say at the same time, "What is her name?"

Can't remember if it was Married to Dutch Boy or Texas that says, "This is what they do."

Yep, this is what we do......we play Dutch Bingo. It's kind of like that celebrity game that all actors lead back to Kevin Bacon or something like that. I'm not good at that game, I'm good at Dutch Bingo.

This is how you play........one Dutch person is talking to another person and they find out someone they know is Dutch and they figure out how they are related or know someone who is related to them. It's kind of hard to explain but you get the concept.

Here is how it went down the other night:

New Girl says the last name of the Dutch girl she knows and it happens to be the same last name of the other Dutch girl in our small group and my grandma's maiden name. Crazy, huh?

We then realized that there are 2 people with that same name so we had to figure out which one she knew. So she told us the girls mom's name. After figuring that out, we explained how we both went to school and church with her when we were young and she also lives a few miles from me.

Of course, in this game there is much excitement and laughter when you realize that you both know this same person and what a small world it is.

And that my friends is Dutch Bingo!

Sometimes it's not that easy but for some reason we always find it fun to play!

Something I feel that I must share and Some Goals for 2012

I just feel like I really need to share that the other day I went to Old Navy.

Yep, that is very interesting I know but it gets better.

I was returning some pants that I had bought for Brad but he didn't really like them so I had to find something in it's place. I searched the whole store trying to find something for someone else in my family but found nothing. I then found this rack with clearance pj's for ME!

They were super cheap!!! And you know how me and cheap get along.

Well, I got them home and tried them on. I have to tell you people, these are the most comfortable pj's I have EVER, EVER owned. To add to that they are the most comfortable articles of clothing that I have EVER owned!

I could live in them!

I could become the housewife that is always wearing comfy clothes and you never see her dressed up. Of course, I would still wear makeup and do my hair. I'm not out to scare y'all! (Yep, I used y'all....been hanging out with my Texas friend Kristin a lot lately)

I really would like to go back to Old Navy and buy every last pair!

Yesterday I did not get out of them until after the kids got home from school and today I changed because I had to go to Walgreens. Ever since I took them off I've been thinking about what time it's acceptable to put my pj's back on. Really, they are that awesome!

OK, we've dwelt on that long enough....let's move on. (That is my lame attempt at a transition to a new subject.)

It's halfway through January and I realized I had not yet posted anything about it being a New Year. The first week of January Brad and I sat down and wrote down our goals for the year. I am not going to share them because frankly they are boring. Important but really quite boring and I'm sure you don't want to hear about them.

BUT..........

I have some much more exciting goals for 2012 that I would like to share with you.

1.) Chalkboard paint. This is going to be the year of the chalkboard paint! I've wanted it somewhere in my house for years now but this year it is actually going to happen. I already have all the places I want it planned out. And to answer your question.....yes, I will post pictures when it finally happens.

2.) Organize!!!! I am generally pretty organized but every year I like to reorganize. I start but never quite make it all the way through. This year it's going to happen! My goal is to even get the dreaded cabinet in my living room that I shove all kinds of pictures and random little things that I want to keep forever! So far I have the boys room done and most of my office. I spent time today shredding a ton of stuff. I got a couple boxes ready for the thrift store and have a pile of things to sell.

3.) Pinterest. I need to start making more of the things that I pin instead of just continuing to pin. Yep, you can look forward to pictures of that as well.

4.) Read. As I went through my bookshelf today I was going to get rid of some of the books that I have never read. I decided, why not read them first. Brilliant, right? or at least I will be after I read all the books. My goal is going to be to start reading all the books on my bookshelf that I haven't read as well as reread some of the really good ones. If people would just quit writing books for a while it would be really helpful so that I could get through the ones I have instead of being tempted to buy new ones.

5.) Decorate. I want to finally get this house decorated. Of course goal #1 and #3 will help with this.

And lastly, if you are wanting to know who one the Norwex cloth you can go to that post, it has been updated with the winner. The winner has been contacted.

I am now off to take a shower because if you take a shower then you have to change your clothes and that makes it perfectly acceptable to put your pj's back on even though it is only 6:40.

What's for Supper

Today was just one of those lazy days.

Started out by sleeping in. Then I drank lots of coffee in my pj's.

When I finally got out of my pj's, I put on sweats.

And I'm not really sure what I did after that.

I remember making the bed, wrapping some presents, doing a lot of pinning on Pinterest and trying to figure out what food I will be making and eating Christmas weekend.

Since my family loves gourmet meals I did go all out on supper. I aim to please!

It ended up being a good one. My daughter who eats like a bird actually had seconds.



Gift Giving Style

Yep, that's right. There ARE different styles of gift giving.

If you've been reading my blog for very long or if you know me at all, you know that I am frugal, tight, cheap....whatever you want to call it.  Of course this spills over into my gift giving.

I like to get the most stuff for the amount that I am spending. This doesn't mean I spend less, I just try to get the most bang for my buck. If I am going to spend $50 on a person, I like to get $100 worth of merchandise for that $50. This means coupons, sales, Black Friday.

It is no fun at all for me to simply go and purchase a $50 item and give it to a person. Not a big fan of gift cards either, I give them on rare occasions.

Please do not ask me for expensive items that I can't get on sale. Somehow it just pains me to buy them, like it's going against my principles.

In receiving gifts, I have the same concept. I like to know that you got a bargain.

One year my sister and I both got each other the same winter coat, different colors. Plus, since we both got it so cheap we were able to buy each other more. Of course, she somehow hit a better sale on the same coat and I ended up getting more presents from her than she did from me. Although I was a little down that she got the better deal, in the end it actually worked out to my advantage. Ha!

Now, my husband on the other hand........completely different style. He is not as frugal as I am and he doesn't use coupons. He is not going to be looking for the sale and he certainly isn't out on Black Friday. But he is a very generous person and that defines his gift giving style. If he is to buy you a $50 item, he will probably get you 1 item and it will probably cost more than $50.

He really doesn't know how to buy cheap gifts.

This is also a bonus if you are me.

Here is how it works in our house:

I want a few items that I could use but probably won't go out and buy for myself. What I get is something extravagant that costs a lot of money. No sales or coupons involved. One year I asked for just a basic watch. I told him I just need it to tell time, please don't spend a lot of money. I got a Movado watch. Well.... it does tell time. And really I do love it.

Over the years I've gotten a coach purse, the watch, a SLR camera (before digital), a DSLR camera, a Thomas Kinkade painting, diamond earrings.

Then Brad usually asks for something that costs a few hundred dollars and what does he get from me. Some piece of crap that I got on sale and had a coupon for.

Honestly I don't remember much of what I've gotten him which means it all must be pretty bad. Last year he got a Blackhawks jersey, one year a Garmin GPS. That's about all I can remember.

This year is different. Brad is not getting anything on sale or that I used a coupon for. I'm trying, it pains me but I'm trying. No crap giving here.

Just trying to keep it all in perspective, it's not about the presents right? At least that's what we tell the kids!

Anyone want to share your gift giving style? or maybe the best gift you've ever gotten? or maybe the worst? I would love to hear!

A Shoe Problem

I've never really thought of myself as a shoe person.

 I'd hate to see what my kitchen floor would look like if I actually thought of myself as a shoe lover. As you can tell, I am pretty boring when it comes to shoes. Lots of browns and black.

Sad thing is, I couldn't get all the shoes in the picture.

A List of Random Tidbits

If you are looking for deep content around here lately, sorry. The heat has gotten to my brain (as well as old age) and my mind is working in sarcastic mode lately.

Just thought I'd share some random things going on around our house lately that you probably don't care about but hey, you're the one who came here. I'm not making you read this stuff.

1. I am a mean mom. I make my kids eat tacos for supper, make them go to swim lessons, and they have to pick up their own toys.

2. On our way to swim lessons tonight Isaac says to me, "Mom, I don't want to go to swim lessons because I'm going to do bad."

Me: "No you won't you've been doing so good, I'm so proud of you."

Joshua: "Mom, you don't need to tell me that because I already know I'm good."

Nice. I guess I don't have to build up his confidence.

3. After fighting with Isaac to eat his taco, I didn't feel like fighting with him when he started crying at swim lessons and was a nice mom and let him sit out. It happens once in a while.

4. My pool which has gone from green to cloudy to clear and back to cloudy, is clear once again.

5. It's too hot here to even swim.

6. Thankful for air conditioning after it broke twice on us but thankfully someone took pity on us and fixed it QUICKLY!

7. Cold Stone Chocolate Peanut Butter Perfection is definitely perfection and I don't even want to know how many calories of it I have consumed. Yet just typing it makes me want to go get the quart out of the freezer and finish it.

8. My husband is currently sweating his butt off in a hot factory. Thankful for him and that he is off doing that for us while we sit in the air conditioning.

9.  I was just interrupted by an extreme emergency. Alex had a bleeding paper cut. I tell ya, it's always exciting around here.

10. For every 10 library my books kids read, the library will give them a reward. For some reason, high on all of their "must-have" list is a little plastic magnifying glass. Really? That's what you want?

11. While sitting at swim lessons tonight I read an article about introverts and extroverts. We are pretty much a family of introverts. Just thought I'd include that in case you wanted to know that exciting tidbit about our family.

12. I feel like I should give you more but I got nothing. Just thought I should have an even amount of points because I like a nice even number.

If you have made it all the way to the bottom of this list, congratulations! You just wasted 3 precious minutes of your life that you will never get back.

Exciting News!!!!

I'm sure you all saw the title of this post and can't wait to find out what this is all about.

I hate to disappoint you but...................It's exciting for me, maybe not for you.

My blogging started a little over three years ago and I don't know how many times I've had people ask me about just having my posts sent directly to their by email.

Maybe three.

Well I am so excited to make those three people happy.

I'm a little behind when it comes to computers. I used to be good with technology but since having kids I just don't have the time to devote to figuring stuff out.

Well-------today I figured it out. You can now go to my sidebar and sign up to have my new posts sent directly to your email. 

Aren't you excited?

Once you've done it, could somebody please tell me if it worked.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

And sorry to disappoint about my not-so-exciting news that I found exciting but you are probably bored with and wish I would just end this post and quit talking about it.

Next maybe I'll link my Facebook and Twitter accounts to my blog. But I wouldn't want to get too crazy!

Who Did It? UPDATED

I have two daughters.

One looks like me but her personality is much like her father's.

The other daughter looks more like her dad's side of the family but her personality couldn't be more like mine.

Now that you know that and if you know me and Brad at all, whose backpack do you think had this special suprise in it at the end of the school year?

UPDATED---For those of you who don't come here from my Facebook and saw the comments about who's apple this actually is, I thought I'd share. This was found in Alex's backpack and she takes after her dad. When asked to clean out her backpack, she actually left this in there. Thankfully her brother found this or it would have been there until August.

That brings a whole new meaning to "Science Experiment" and "Disgusting!"

You Know You're a Mom When.....

............your centerpiece consists of Smencils.

(If you're not sure what a Smencil is, it is a colored pencil that is scented.)

Spring Break

Last week was spring break for us. We did a whole lot of not very exciting things.

We started out the week with my sister coming over for coffee. We pretended that we were in Florida, with no kids and if we stepped out the door it would be 85 degrees. It didn't work very well.

Monday night I found my kids jumping off the top bunk of the bunk bed with backpacks on and into a pile of blankets.  They were parachuting. I have to admit, it was quite genius. I did have to tell them to stop though because I have was having visions of me sitting in the ER with all 4 of them when they were supposed to be snug in bed.

Tuesday we went to a friends house for lunch and then karate at night.

Wednesday I had to work, so they got to hang out with dad.

Thursday, Brad took the day off and we went to the Children's Museum. I had a Groupon there that we needed to use up (I love Groupon!).

The girls and I painted some beautiful flowers and we all went into the wood shop. Alex made the thing with the bottle caps on both sides, the boys sawed a piece of wood with dad, and Amanda made the square thing. She decided she could use it as a picture frame. Maybe for a tall, skinny person. Uncle Scott?

Thursday night Brad and I left the kids at home and headed out for dinner with some friends.

Friday the boys went to my sister's house to play with their cousins so me and the girls did what girls are supposed to do when there are no males around.

We went dress shopping.

I love dress shopping with them. We each had our own dressing room and the girls came out modeling dresses for Easter. I came home with 5 dresses and 3 shirts for myself. This week, I will be returning 4 dresses and 2 shirts. I'm about ready to give up on clothes shopping. One of those things that I feel like I waste a lot of time doing and get nothing accomplished.

Friday night we watched 3 boys while their mom and dad went on a date. It sure is busy when you have 5 boys in the house.

Saturday I decorated a cake for my nieces 1st birthday party and then we attended her party that night.

I just loved her little tutu.

See, a whole lot of nothing. As uneventful as it was I enjoyed having Brad home for a long weekend, having the kids home and sleeping in. Now it's back to alarm clocks and schedules.

My Fergalicious Feet

When it comes to fashion, I'm usually pretty plain.

Or as my sisters call it.....Classic.

It's their nice way of telling me I'm boring.

The nice thing about it is that my clothes can last me years because they don't go out of style very quickly.

This fall I decided that I wanted a pair of skinny jeans and a tall brown pair of boots. You know since skinny jeans have been around for about 4 years now, I figured it wasn't a fad and I could join in. Besides, I have skinny legs, I might as well embrace this fashion trend.

Of course a couple months after I got my brown boots I noticed that the buckle was ripping the leather. So I brought them back to the store.

I won't bore you with the details (since I've bored you enough already) but last Monday I finally got a gift card in the mail to go buy a new pair. If you haven't noticed, this is not prime boot buying season. There is barely anything left because all the sandals are starting to come out.

So armed with my best worst shoe shopping partner ever, Isaac, we set off in search of a new pair. I tried on many pairs but none fit just right. Finally, I found a pair in the clearance section that would do and they were way cheaper than my first pair. Which means I get to go back later and buy another pair of shoes. Bonus!

We headed up to the register and as I stood in line, I looked at the box.

Fergalicious by Fergie.

I almost went and put them back. This plain jane can not be wearing Fergalicious shoes! But the clearance price was so good, so I went against my better judgement and got them.

I now have Fergalicious feet and if you see me out and about some time wearing tall brown boots and I randomly start busting out in awesome dance moves.....you know that those are my new Fergalicious feet. 

Blizzaster 2011

Here are a few pictures from the huge snowstorm we had this week.

I'm not sure how much we actually got, but it seems to be at least 2 feet.