Catch up - the rule of threes.

So, they say bad-luck comes in threes. Well,... for us, i guess it comes in more than that.

We headed back to Ashland on the 26th - and had an nice visit with my dear hubby's mom. M and I drove separate so that he could bring back the deer feeders and stand, and so that i could head to a baptism at the church on my way back on the 27th. On my way to the church, we got up to Mt. Sterling, and A said she wasn't feeling very well,... i had her grab a back-pack, and she managed to get the toys out of it just in time to fill it with puke. I was in process of pulling over, and we cleaned up as best we could - called my 2nd counselor to see if she was going to make it to the baptism, and then headed to the church to meet her. When i got to the church, the family with the daughter to be baptized were still waiting in their vehicles - i was the first one there with a key. I let them in, and told them i wouldn't be able to stay,... but felt SO bad for them - i don't think the font was filled, and they only had an hour before there was supposed to be a court of honor there also. What a mess. My counselor got there, and i passed off my stuff, made sure she was prepped to sub for me for sharing time the next day (as i wouldn't be able to make it to church) and then we headed home.

Once i got home, i realized that M still had my garage door opener, and i was without a house key. After checking every window and door, I called marke up to check his ETA. He hadn't even left yet. I didn't want to take puke-y kids to anyone's house,... It was too cold to let them play outside, so we resorted to wasting time at the library, McD's, and walmart - cleaning the kids off with clorox wipes and germ-x every five minutes. It was miserable.

M got home, and called me on the cell to let me know it was open now,... but he picked up the mail,... noticed our water bill was three TIMES normal,... and so he discovered a leak in our water pipe coming into the house. The leak seemed to be IN the cement wall where the pipe comes through, so he had to turn the water off at the meter for the night time. He turned it back on for us in the morning before heading to church, where he got the name and number of a plumber. But then, he had turned it off on sunday night, and,... Lo and behold,... C choses that night to get the stomach virus - puke all over, and M had to head all the way down the hill to the meter to turn the water on so we could clean up. What a pain!

He called the plumber on Monday morning,... and he was able to come out half and hour later (NICE!) - but as they dug down to the pipe entrance,... they ran into block and brick. Apparently they had used the 'leftovers' from the retaining wall after it had fallen down 5 or 6 years ago to back fill after we'd gotten the basement wall piered and tied-back. OH - FOOEY! (i'm running out of 'clean' exclamations ;-) Anyway,... long story short - the block and brick back fill had stressed the pipe into the house, the crack was directly in the wall itself, so they had to move our water softener, knock a hole in the wall, replace the pipe... and we're going to patch it and back-fill it ourselves so we didn't have to pay plumber-rates for a lay-man job.

SO,... by now you're figuring i'm through,... that surely NO ONE could have any MORE bad luck. I wish. We'd set up and invited over 4 different families for a New Year's Eve game night at our house,... and the night before - *I* start getting sick, and apparently the virus has either gotten more virulent, or it's now a new strain,... 'cause i've got it coming from both ends. As i'm up hanging around the toilet that night at about 3AM - i hear a loud banging outside, which wasn't too unusual, as it had been a VERY windy night,... however, i noticed the water in the toilet was 'shaking' whenever the noises came. I had M go outside to check it out, and he found that our metal trim from where the soffit meets the siding on the house is hanging off, flinging in the wind - hitting the house and window; we don't have an extension ladder, so we'll have to take care of it later after we either buy or borrow one.

This morning, I called all the families who were going to come over, and canceled our game night - but then also got a call from our branch president, letting me know that he's requisitioning one of my best (and most reliable) primary teachers for another calling, and i'll have to replace her. It was a small thing,... but added to everything else,... i'm about at my limit.

Ce la vie!

Catch up - Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful christmas at home with just the family; the kids got up at a leisurely 7:30am, and we opened presents until breakfast at 9:00am. We had fresh fruit, and homemade biscuits with venison sausage, eggs, and bacon (good stuff!) We continued to open presents one at a time - complete with thanks and hugs until my loving hubby got tired of how long it was taking, and tried to declare a free-for-all at lunch time. I chose to over-ride that option and we finished up shortly after lunch. We spent the rest of the day playing with toys(E regaled everyone with his hulk fists), card games (A LOVES 'blink'), gadgets (D went NUTS for his mp3player) and puzzles(C had lots of fun with her pony puzzle - carries it with her everywhere!)

Before:
(ya just gotta love our christmas tree...)

C - wearing her candy necklace and carrying around her Dora animal crackers

E - really liked his new battery-powered toothbrush

A - stocking time - books and 'blink'

D - posin' (YOU TOO can have this hair style with merely a few twists of the finger)

Catch up... Children's museum

On Dec. 22nd, we headed to the Children's Museum up in Cincinnati - the munchkins had an awesome time with the cousins. And we got to socialize with all the adults (in between tracking down AWOL kids ;-)

C putting together a skeleton

D - the division of water resources

A and J - making it rain

E LOVED the water section (and got TOTALLY drenched!)

Taking a ride after lunch

A and L - Building on scyscrapers

D - getting ready to knock down J's arch.

The Grandparents; helping watch little ones

Gingerbread houses!

On Saturday, my dear hubby took his last opportunity to go hunting for muzzle loader season. No luck,... but he had a good time. So,... with him gone, and all the kids out of school, we just HAD to do some holiday stuff in addition to goofing off and playing around home. We went and got all the decorations and made our own gingerbread houses. We made one REAL gingerbread house, and then made each of the kids their own out of graham crackers. C's and E's didn't last long at ALL! I don't think they even got past putting one or two m&ms on before they wrecked the house and devoured it all. D & A got MUCH further, and enjoyed the activity very much (although D put a MASSIVE amount of EVERYTHING on! - suits his personality ;-)

First Grade Parade

A had her First Grade parade and performance today, and did a wonderful job! They had the opportunity to make floats if they wanted, and A used our kid-friendly stuffed nativity, and put it in a small wagon to drag around on their parade. I had taken E and C with me early to help drop off A's 'float', and get her ready (she wanted to dress as Mary ;-) Interestingly enough, when D did his 1st grade parade, he was a 'shepherd' - so both had stuck with spiritual themes,.. which was NOT the norm! Lots of elves, santas, presents, etc. with only a few angels and one other mary to try to balance things out. D got to come in and watch also, as his teacher has a son in A's class. I kept E and C entertained with snacks, and they did a great job behaving (after i put C in a time-out against the gym wall.)

They sang 4 different songs,... the most impressive was Silent Night, done completely in sign language!

Happy Birthday C-girl!!

We had an AWESOME time for C's birthday! I stayed up late the night before and decorated the cake; she LOVED the cake - being the 'princess' that she is :-)


She chose to have waffles for her birthday dinner, so i made a HUGE batch, and tossed the extras in the freezer for this next week. I managed to get away with only burning one waffle (during gift opening - C just COULDN'T wait!!)






D and A had helped me decorate the dining area - they did an incredible job, and it was MUCH faster than when i do it all on my own!


'course we had the requisite wrestling match between the siblings (always an entertaining time - D had to pry the little ones apart ;-)






A helped to entertain while i was finishing up the waffles by doing a little ring around the Rosy.




Then we FINALLY got to the gifts: new PJs, Glow in the dark bracelets, a new dress-up tutu for dancing, and a Baby-Alive potty training doll. (You can tell what WE'RE going to be doing soon!) The doll came complete with baby food, spoon and bowl, bottle, potty, diapers, wipes, and is completely interactive - the kids were all just captivated (even D and A!), 'course they immediately had to feed it a bottle, and then it had an 'accident' - necessitating changing the baby. I even managed to find an old baby blanket of C's, and showed her how to 'bundle' the baby up. I can tell already it'll be a much-loved toy; i might have to start stocking batteries now! :-)

balloon fun!

D and A helped me to decorate the kitchen for C's birthday (I ALWAYS put up streamers and balloons for them on their special day!) Now,... of course the kids had to play with the balloons,... i fully expect that, and always will blow up more than i plan on using - or allow the kids to blow up more than we need. Then, i send them all downstairs to play with them.

Well,... somehow, E's balloon ended up getting decorated with marker - and you know how marker just will NOT stay on the balloon, and ends up getting EVERYWHERE! Somehow (possibly with a little assistance from the older siblings :-), E ended up chewing on and rubbing his marker-ed balloon all over his face and arms. Even his TEETH were black! He was all-right with the result until I picked him up to show him what he looked like in the mirror - then he started whimpering and almost crying because he thought he was so 'scary.' His reaction was so drastic that D and I were just cracking up laughing at him; i felt kinda bad laughing so hard when he was next to tears - but he was just hilarious! We tossed him in the tub, and he was much happier after getting clean again.

Birthday time!

With my dear hubby out hunting today, we decided to forgo celebrating C's birthday until sunday. However, we still treated her like it was her birthday! I had her 'help' me make the cake mix she'd picked out (pink - of COURSE!) She was in heaven, and loved mixing the batter up with me. Interestingly enough, out of all my kids, even at her age - she is the best at controlling a mixer on her own. When i'm helping her support the weight, she'll even rotate the bowl around herself while she's mixing to get all the sides. Pretty good coordination for a just-turned three year old!

And, we just HAD to TRY the batter!
That's the best part!

Primary Quarterly Activity...

Life had gotten a little stressful this last week; building toward our quarterly activity and other weekend festivities. We did a 'Breakfast in Bethlehem' theme - fed the kids a pancake breakfast, did a christmas 'star activity and ornament - and then practiced for the nativity that the primary will be doing for the ward christmas party. I felt like i delegated fairly well - my 2nd counselor was in charge of the activity and ornament, we tag-teamed breakfast, my 1st counselor had taken care of gathering costumes, and i was in charge of our quick and dirty scenery (bed-sheets with the scenery chalked on them) What we hadn't planned on was the reception planned for that evening had decorated the entire gym (including the last section that we needed.) Even though we had talked explicitly to each person involved in the reception, being explicit as to our needs. Anyway, we ended up using up all our prep-time moving out their elaborate tables and centerpieces into the other 2/3rds of the gym so we could have the kids practice the nativity in the section they'd be performing in.
All went well in the end (it always does), but it was still a bit of a stress; i did manage, however, to slip in a practice with a girl i am accompanying tomorrow in sacrament - i was VERY happy we got to do that, as i discovered several areas where the piano music was not truly centered on the staff - the notes being neither line or space notes but somewhere between; now i have to figure out when i am going to find time to re-write those sections amidst making a birthday cake for C, decorating for her birthday, and planning my sharing time for tomorrow. Oh, and Marke is out hunting for black-powder weekend today - so in between all that, i'm monitoring munchkins.
I think i'm ready for another break.

Christmas in the country

My loving hubby and I actually got to go on a DATE!! *will wonders never cease?* We had an awesome time courtesy of my dear hubby's mom, who had bought us tickets down to 'Christmas in the Country' in Renfro Valley. It's a shame that we live so close, and yet it's taken so long for us to make it down there. We headed out to eat before, and during the show we really enjoyed the live music and humor; it really made me miss performing outside of church. I did have to tamp down my tendency to critique the entire performance and do a running commentary for M, but i managed fairly well :-)

PTO

It was the third Grade's turn to perform for the PTO meeting this month, so after A's dance class, we hurried home, tossed down dinner, and headed over to the school. D seemed pretty excited about it on the way there, but then during the performance he looked like he was singing at a whisper, and didn't smile at all,... ever,... the entire performance. He honestly had this look on his face like someone was pulling his teeth out with rusty pliers! I mean, seriously,... this pic was the best one of the whole multitude of pictures that i took while they were performing. sad.

I asked him about it afterwards, and he said, "there were just so many PEOPLE! I kept thinking my fly was open!" I guess he was just REALLY inhibited. I asked him why he didn't have any problem at the piano recital, and he said, "well, i didn't have LOOK at the people then; i looked at the music." When he explained it that way,... you know,... i could understand completely!

Here's a video,... D is in the red shirt, on the second row, left hand side,... the one doing absolutely NO motions at all!

more sick...

We only THOUGHT that stomach virus was through with us! A was up Saturday night puking, and of course made it nowhere NEAR the bathroom. *sigh* All over her bedding, pillow, pjs, mattress, etc. At least it wasn't on the floor (I really despise cleaning throwup out of carpets - and YES, i have done this often enough to form a STRONG opinion on this! ;-) Dear Hubby and I did a couple batches of laundry, and determined that I would stay home from church sunday, as he had to conduct. That Stomach Bug definitely been going around, but honestly, couldn't we all have it at once and be DONE??!

Piano Recital

My students had a great piano recital Saturday afternoon. Everyone did a marvelous job, and i was SO happy that A, D, and I had practiced how to be a good audience member! I didn't have any problems with them sitting on their own (I had left the two little kids w/ my dear hubby) while i announced, accompanied, etc.

A played Tambourine Party and We Three Kings:

D played Sailing in the Sun and Jingle Bells:

although on this little excerpt, D severely kack-ed the ending (and refused to try for another recording - wonder where THAT stubbornness came from ;-)

After the recital, D, A, and I headed out to dinner at Cracker Barrel for dinner in addition to doing a little Christmas shopping. It was kinda fun just to hang out with the older two, and i'm looking forward to a break from piano lessons (I always give the students the week after the recital off from lessons!)

p.s. don't you love our pudgy 'palmer' hands :-)

Happy Birthday!!

This blog is a special birthday wish to my niece, Dana! I apologize for the lethargy of my loving munchkins; that's what you get when you interrupt movie night ;-)

positives and negatives...

I decided as i was not feeling well, i would set up a video for the little kids, and make the program for my piano recital this weekend. BIG MISTAKE!!

The kids were not very entertained with the video, and decided to go play with the markers in the kitchen. Well,... they did manage to keep the markers in the kitchen (the only place i allow them to color.) However, they made a mess on the floor, and then decided to clean it up themselves, using cups of water and all the hand and body soap from the bathroom, and 1/2 the bottle of dish soap. *sigh* By the time i finished with the program and checked on them, they were skating through a pool of soap and water run through with bleeding marker colors stretching from one end of my kitchen floor to the other.

I tossed the munchkins in the tub, and chose to tackle the kitchen myself. The negatives: i'm out 1/2 a bottle of dish soap and i can hear my septic system yelling at me for all the soap and water dumped down it. The positives: The mess stayed in the kitchen (the easiest room to clean), I've got a VERY clean kitchen floor, and 2 marvelously clean and happy kids (they LOVE baths!)

Service...

D and A wanted a way to earn more dates or outings with the family and with each parent individually; i wanted to emphasize the 'spirit' of Christmas rather than the commercialism. So, we combined the two to create our Service Chart for the month. The little kids only need 10stars, the older kids need 15. The conditions are that the service must be something for someone else, and un-prompted by anyone else (i.e. not from parents' asking ;-) Anyway,... since it's inception, I've been the recipient of the sorting, folding, and putting away of all those socks (my LEAST favorite part of laundry), and of an immaculate kid's bathroom - scrubbed mirror, counters, toilet, and floor. A also chose to make D's lunch for him since he had cubscouts lastnight. I LOVE this idea - we should have done this a LONG time ago!!

sick,... again.

That stomach bug has been making the rounds - it's my turn now. It started yesterday afternoon, so i bailed on cubscouts for the evening, and had my dear hubby take D up for his meeting. They were able to take time afterwards to go to McD's for a father/son date, which was REALLY nice! It's not often that M gets the time to spend one-on-one with the kids; D was really excited about it when he got home. He ran into our bedroom (which he knows is off-limits), but he was just 'glowing' and grinning his head off - and just HAD to show me the toy that he'd gotten. Despite his selective remembrance of 'rules', I really love that boy; he makes me smile. So here's a past pic just for D; my fun-loving crazy boy!

glad they're all in school!

My dear son, D, had a stomach bug on Sunday - it didn't start until late morning, so we'd already gone to church *doh!*, after D spent all of sacrament sprawled out on the mother's floor lounge - dead to the world, we decided we'd head back home. I arranged a ride for myself and the lady i'd brought to church with us (visiting teachee w/ no car), and then sent my dear hubby home with the kids. A was so sad about having to leave that she cried (she's getting quite emotional lately - but was also really looking forward to primary.) The stomach virus lasted through the night and into monday morning - so i kept D home to make sure he wouldn't give the virus to other kids; but about midway through the day i WISHED i had sent him to school instead. Apparently what the little kids and I do throughout the day is 'boring' to an 8-year old. Anyway, i'm glad he's back in school today, and the little kids and I are having fun setting back up the tree (which E knocked over AGAIN yesterday - poor tree.)

sad tree

We put the tree up on Thanksgiving day (my loving hubby's b-day) while my dear hubby was out shooting at the range; the one thing he 'asked' to have for his birthday ;-) Since then, A has knocked it over twice. 'Course she was excessively apologetic, and in tears both times. The first time, i went ahead and used wood-glue, braces, and duck-tape to fix back the top, which had broken right at the juncture. It wasn't perfect; but it was workable. Now,... i think i'll just leave it. Maybe it'll make her think twice next time she goes near it to play with the ornaments; seeing the 'sad' tree that it is. ('course A looks pretty sad herself when you zoom in the image... poor girl; just traumatized.)

Maybe next year we'll get a real tree rather than resurrecting the hand-me-down, missing 3-branches, artificial tree we've used the last 6 years :-)

Hair Cut...

So, I had decided against getting a haircut until later on - maybe after spring when it started warming up.

However,... it was time to get new glasses (it being 3 years since i'd had my eyes checked - and having to re-tighten the screws on my glasses everyday now just to keep the lenses in the glasses!) So, i got new glasses this past week, and went for a more drastic 'look' than i normally go for. With doing such a change in glasses, it just seemed to beg for a hair-cut to go along with. And there just 'happened' to be a haircut place in the same shopping area as the glasses; so i just did it!

Not the best pic in the world; but let me know what you think!

Thanksgiving Weekend...

We had a wonderful time with family this weekend, - my loving hubby's birthday was thursday, and he chose to have Jambalaya for his birthday meal, and pumpkin pie rather than cake; how's that for a non-standard thanksgiving day meal.

On Friday, we got together with family up in Winchester - and had an awesome meal and great time hanging out with extended family. That evening, we headed over to church, and had the privilege of watching my brother baptize his sons; and then enjoy more festivities afterwards (compete with picachu pinata ;-)

Saturday, we enjoyed spending time with my brother's family - and they even volunteered to watch ALL the kids for us so we could go get some 'couple' time. WOW!! It was heaven! The munchkins LOVED spending time with the cousins, and they played tons of games together: card games, a little twister, and just a 'tad' bit of nintendo-type stuff tossed in.

ER!

So, i got one of those phone calls that you dread...

Just before noon, the school called, your child has had an accident.

A was climbing on the dome shaped jungle gym, hanging from her knees - and lost her grip due to wearing gloves, landing directly on her head. By the time i picked her up, at least 20-25 minutes after the fact, she was still in tears - and complaining of major back pain. She has a fairly high tolerance to pain compared to some of the other kids, so, E, C, and I took her to the ER. We were the only ones there, so we got right in; although it still took a while to see an actual doctor. We spent a total of an hour and a half there from start to finish - April finally stopped crying midway through "The Three Bears," and we saw the doctor right after starting "Cinderella." The Doctor checked her out, and said she looked like she just strained it, but took x-rays just to be on the safe side. They came to get her for x-rays at the end of "Cinderella," and when she got back, we started into primary, and christmas songs.

MAN! It can be tiring entertaining munchkins in an ER!! Luckily we made it out with only one mis-hap; popping the ice bag (now more water than ice due to C's handling) on the matress. But i'm happy that we managed not to disturb the other patrons too much in our story-telling and song-singing; although they might not have been too happy to be regaled by christmas songs before it's even thanksgiving ;-) Anyway, A's doing better, x-rays came out fine, and she's likely to only be sore for a couple of days. It's been a couple of years since i'd been in ER with the kids - i hope it's at least a couple more until i have to go again! (The extra kids are MUCH easier to handle in that situation when they're just a little older!)

to cut or not to cut...

So, my standard practice is to get my hair cut every two years. I get it cut fairly short - above the shoulders and below the ears, and then let it grow for two years, after which i donate it all to locks of love (getting the free hair cut for donating ;-) I'm ambivalent myself - i like it both short and long. My hubby says he likes it both short and long.(although he loves it long when i actually take time to 'DO' my hair) When it's this length though, I rarely go through the effort of wearing it down and making it look nice; most of the time i just put it up in a clip.

My loving hubby was still out of town with the kids on sunday, so i actually took time to curl the ends and wear it down for church. I had my daughter take a pic of me when they got home(a little fuzzy, but not bad for a 6-yr old),... and now i'm polling,... do i cut, or not? what do YOU think?

I'm almost thinking any longer than this is just over-kill.

Or maybe i'll keep the length and wear it down for winter, then chop it all off in the spring.

I used to be indecisive, now i'm just not sure ;-)

TOFW - happy days!

I got to have a heavenly weekend - hubby took off work friday, he watched the kids, and i got to go to Time out for Women friday and saturday down in TN with some family and friends. SOOO nice!!! I didn't get any pics as i'd forgotten the camera - but listened to some awesome speakers, was moved by some intense music, was entertained by wonderful performers, and laughed 'til my sides hurt with friends and family. I bought myself some christmas presents, and feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle life again. I wish i could bottle up this feeling and send it to everyone i know!!

Breakfast in Bed...

I've been fighting off a sore throat the past couple of days; today it finally caught up with me, and i ended up ditching on church. C has also been fighting something off - up late night coughing, and running a 103 fever to boot.

Well, D overheard me talking about C feeling sick to my counselors when i was arranging for primary stuff to be covered. So he decided she'd feel better if he gave her breakfast in bed. (Never mind that she spent most of last night in MY bed ;-) Anyway,... D made her a tray of C's favorite 'breakfast' foods - apple juice, poptarts, cashews, yogurt cereal, and little smokies. Then he topped it all off by letting her listen to his second-hand, newly-acquired portable CD player. He can be awesomely thoughtful sometimes!

Voting day fun!

6:00AM - hubby woke me up.

6:05AM - tossed kids in van.

6:15AM - stood in line out in the parking lot in order to get into the school GYM where we vote. MUCH higher turnout this year!!

6:25AM - lots of strange looks at us; two kids in bunny suits with one in stroller, and 2 older, very bleary-eyed kids trying to talk about the candidates INSIDE the voting area. *doh!*

6:30AM - Vote.

6:45AM - kids and i back home; hubby to work.

7:00AM - BREAKFAST - had D make pancakes, A make scrambled eggs, E make toast, and C help us by throwing a tantrum on the floor ;-)

7:30AM - let kids veg. watching TVshack.

Trick or Treat!

We went over to a family in our ward's neighborhood to trick or treat. They had some older boys for D to blast door to door with, and then a wagon to put the little ones in, complete with oldest teenager to pull them around through half of the neighborhood. The kids had a blast, and it was one of the best Halloweens we've had in a while. The kids only made it a little over an hour before they were done, and then we headed in, let them eat candy 'til they'd had enough, and hubby and I got to play some ping-pong in their family room. I haven't really done that since *I* was a kid! Quite enjoyable.
Most of our costumes were re-used and re-vamped from past years, or modified from existing clothing.

D used the camo he already had, and we bought him a small 'army' kit and hat from the local everything-$1 store. He was in heaven with all the little pretend 'gadgets' that came with it - walkie-talkies, compass, watch, head-com set, knife, etc.

A used the leotard from dance class, skirt from her birthday a last year, wings from halloween 3 years ago, and we added in a dollar store wand, and 'hair' piece, and faked some makeup together from a kit i'd bought for pack meeting (to get teal face paint ;-)

E just LOVED being a pirate. We let him wear Sunday clothes, a bandanna i had laying around, added in the batman cape we've used almost every year since i made it for D, added the pirate kit and hat from the dollar place (gee,... i'm not cheap am I?) and then he was good to go.

C always enjoys being a princess, but this is the first time i'd let her wear the wings to be a 'fairy princess.' I made that dress for A the Halloween that she was 3; the older kids really enjoy remembering when THEY wore those costumes.

We had a great night; Happy Halloween to ALL!

2 night pajamas...

The School district we live in changed their policy this year; so an actual 'halloween' party is not allowed in any of the classrooms. However, being creative teachers, and knowing their students are not going to be worth much on halloween day, they've found ways around this dictate. D's teacher is going to be celebrating all of the 'summer' birthdays (D's being one...), and A's teacher has decided to have a pajama party.
So, this created a dilema this year for me,... I'd been wanting to make myself a gypsy skirt out of my mom's old mumu - so that *I* could have a costume for halloween. BUT,... A didn't have a pair of winter pajamas - and has been wearing a pair of D's since he had 3 hand-me-down sets. A, being the girly-girl that she is, just did NOT want to wear D's pjs to her school party. Now,... being the procrastinator that i am, i of course waited 'til the last week on making the gypsy costume, and it wasn't until then that i found OUT about the pajama party. Sigh. I decided my daughter was more important than myself, and since we're trying to be tight on the budget (especially with Christmas coming up,) i decided i'd make her pajamas.
I already had plenty of material that i'd grabbed for $1 / yard back before walmart got rid of their materials, so everything went well, and between last night (staying up 'til midnight after the pack mtg) and tonight (staying up 'til 11:00pm after the library halloween party) i managed to finish her pajamas before she has to wear them tomorrow. Pat myself on the back; i did a GOOD job!

('course if i'd been intelligent rather than stubborn,... i would've just gone out and BOUGHT a pair of pjs for her! :-)

pic frustration... i just can't win.

As much as my loving youngest daughter is a sweet-heart, she can also be a terror. I've been trying for the last couple of days to get some decent pictures of her to hang with the rest (who were cake-walk to get done.) She just won't stay still long enough!! She's not really her smiling self unless she's MOVING! But then i can never get a true focus in on her. If i have her sit down, occasionally i can get a decent smile, but then she's never looking at ME!

The weather has been getting colder lately, so today when we went on our 'hike,' i didn't get any good pics within the first 5 minutes, and everything after that has her little red nose glaring out at me. There is no such thing as a perfect picture; I guess i should just be satisfied that the pictures truly show so much of her cute little personality.