Big Fat Kitty is Soooo Happy

Thanks Dad for updating the pics on the Crafts Page you made for me. It looks great!!!

In the last week or so, I have completed a couple of projects for friends. One was a pastel crocheted baby blanket for a friend's little girl. It is at the top of page 5. I also made a quick little quilt for my friend's new baby boy. My girls are modelling it also on page 5. If you look closely at the blue side you will see a road I quilted on and a primitive car (though it is upside down in the pic)

Page 4 shows pics of Talon's crocheted baby afghan, a zigzag in blues that I made up, and also his airplane quilt. At the bottom of page 4 is a quick little baby afghan I made for a friend in blues and yellows.

On page 3, the first 3 pics are of a pretty pink, green, and white mile a minute afghan I made for another friend. She has 5 boys and this was for her first baby girl, so I picked something really girly :). As you can see, Talon really helped me get this one done. On page 3 there is also a pink and lavendar afghan I made and gave away, but for some reason I can't seem to remember who....hmmm

I have also made some small things, but have no pics of them. I have been experimenting with the peaches n cream brand of cotton yarn (that is what is the easiest for me to get at the local Wally World). I made kitchen washcloth mitts for the girls, which can also double as dust mitts. Made one bath mitt for Eliana with a special hidden pocket for the soap. I have yarn to make one for Tasha, and one for Talon too.

I Got the Dark Things out of my Closet....

No, it wasn't about you-know-what or anything. I was just doing laundry. I washed a load of dark clothes for my husband and I and I couldn't help making a silly joke. Am I the only one who does that? Think something and then write a blog post about it while I am going through my day? I have told you guys all kinds of cool things, in my head, ha ha.

anyway, carry on. I will love you even if you don't laugh at my silly joke.

It's not even 10:30

and Talon the Adventurer has climbed onto the keyboard stool (no hands),

got into my husband's drawer in the bathroom and got out 2 razors,
apparently one for each hand,

and learned how to climb the ladder to the top bunk on The Bed Nobody Uses
(you'll remember we already took the slide off the day he learned to walk)

prayers would be appreciated
on a good note, we did have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast

edited: 10:34 am
He just figured out how to open a marker. That didn't take very long,
apparently only 10 days

Two New Teeth

really great pic from uncle joe's house....my sweet husband Jason, Eliana, Natasha, and Talon

Eliana, Natasha holding Talon on Natasha's birthday

hey, guys, this one's mainly for me, and my lack of record keeping
I guess you guys are the newest form of baby book
eventually it will get back to paper form in the pretty blue book i insisted on getting, ha ha

Baby Big Guy has 2 new teeth, new total is 10 teeth. One molar on the bottom on one side and on the top on the other side. He is using baby sign language fairly consistly if I insist on it. He says please, water, more, eat, up, those kinds of things. I think it is pretty cool

Little One is obsessed at bedtime with cleaning her room, making her bed, etc. She is busy tossing things out of her room as we speak.

Dancer Girl is pestering me to type something on my blog. I guess I will let her type while I get the pics off her digital camera so I can post some....
i love every one.

now some pics:


fun on the stairs at uncle joe's

hula birthday boy

reading on campus

if you tease this girl, this is likely what you will see :)

Two peas in a pod

camping out in the living room


see, i have been crocheting lately. I made Natasha and her favorite baby doll Rosie matching hats. You may notice they also they also have matching skirts (kinda like American Girl dolls)


top of crocheted beret for natasha, pattern was from book my dad got me...see dad i actually used the book

I'm At That Place

where I go ahead and give the baby back his capless dried up marker. It doesn't work anyway. I know, I know, it won't take him long to realize he's been scammed, that he is strong enough to take the caps off the other markers, all that stuff.

sometimes it just does not matter if they lick the spoon and then stick it back into the muffin batter. They are the only ones going to eat it anyway. It doesn't matter if the kids slurp orange juice off the spoon and then stick it back in the pitcher and stir, stir, stir. They are probably the only ones who will drink it. Well, there's me, but I already have their germs. I eat what the baby feeds me sometimes, ha.

Some things do matter to me. A lot. It really bugs me that lots of local factories seem to close, and all those jobs go overseas. It really bugs me that some people in the United States take advantage of migrant workers and cheat them out of a decent wage. I mean, if you are going to hire someone, then hire them and pay them at least minimum wage. Well, and then make them pay United States taxes and social security, too. It bugs me that big corporations like Wal Mart buy products cheap from who knows where and make a profit off of potential child labor and terrible working conditions. You cannot justify treating humans like dirt even if it is better than most of the people in that country or area of the world. To me, you cannot even justify things like waterboarding. I mean, treat people like humans, terrorists or not. Do not subject them to terrible torture, they are human and have basic human rights.

Well, anyway, I have decided (again) to go back to buying as many things as I can that have been produced or made in the USA. It may not seem to do much, but hopefully if I buy locally then I will not encourage child labor and poor treatment of laborers worldwide.

anyway, as you were....

Growing Pains

My son will be 15 months old on September 2. He is, of course, a fairly typical boy. Animal sounds, car sounds, airplane sounds, that sort of thing.

I have always heard that boys are harder to potty train, take longer, etc. Well, not here. So far it is the same as the girls. He has shown lots of interest in potty things at the same age, right after 12 months. For weeks now he will try to take off his diaper if he has to go potty or has just gone (thankfully not with #2). When I change his diaper and he resists the next one, I ask him if he wants to go potty. He usually jumps up and toddles off to the bathroom. He usually doesn't do much while we are there, but I praise him for trying.

I have set him on the potty first thing in the morning and caught his pee, just like with the girls. He was just as happy as they were to say Bye Bye and watch it swirling down the big toilet. The only main challenge I see so far is the boys standing up to pee thing. It would not be a situation at all if there were any potties his size. Or if we lived outside, ha ha. I have seen cutesy things people try to sell, and have been slightly tempted. Things such as the Wee Man Training Urinal. I have read and heard stories about coffee cans, cheerios in toilets, letting him watch his daddy, ha ha. The only thing I know is that he will potty train, no matter how long it takes. As with the girls, there will be no stress or time limits involved. Things will come out ok in the end, they always do.

During his bath today, he showed great interest in a simple bar of soap. After I showed him how, he happily washed his little belly. So cute. I was thinking it was almost time to cut his hair for the first time as I washed his wispy brown hair. It is starting to flip up in the back, just like the girls' hair did.

Yesterday, he had his first raisins. He clearly said, "Yum." He has a small vocabulary of almost recognizable words, some more clearly said than others. As with the girls, the use of baby sign language has helped with things like please, more, eat, drink, thank you. He now has 8 teeth, and is working on some molars, I think.

It is amazing how fast babies grow into children. My first baby is 7 and in the second grade. She dresses like Hannah Montana, and sings True Friend. She has declared long ago favorites Dora and Blues Clues as baby shows. She is not quite a tween, but she sure is pushing hard in that direction.

My second baby girl has declared that she is ready for school at age 4. She practices spelling words, and surprises me daily with her enthusiasm. She works complex puzzles and has the patience and desire to color very detailed pictures. Though her features are still baby-like, as well as some of her behavior, she is growing into such a big girl.

I have much joy in watching my children learn new things and grow. The only hard part is for me, knowing that it will all be over so fast. That I will be working myself out of a job, that they will grow up to be strong and independent people without me. It makes me wonder what the future will hold. What will I be when I finally grow up?

Click at your own McRisk

I know it's not October yet, and too soon in the fall for scary things, but this is a scary game. Ack. You drag what you want into your McDonald's bag then click a button. Instantly you can see what you already knew but never really wanted to know. The nutrition facts. Bag a McMeal. What will they think of next?

for those of you who want hope, read this article of a guy who lost 80 pounds on McDonald's diet. And yes, he ate more than paper and cardboard, ha ha

happy birthday dad

happy birthday to my daddy today!!!!

too bad we couldn't come over for a visit, dancer girl, little one, & long haired daddy are all getting over a yucky cold

we love you very much!!

Kids on Motorcycle

This shows how much fun we had at Grandma Motherkitty's after the birthday pool party. This was right after breakfast on Sunday and my aunt and uncle were getting ready to head off on an adventure.....

Happy Birthday Grandpa and Sister

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love,
fencerboy
14 months

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl

Here is my baby girl on August 5, 2001, when she was one day old. Her daddy loves her soooo much.

Here is my baby girl 5 years ago when she was 2. Wow. She is such a cutie.

Some pics from 2008


In her thinking spot, under her favorite redbud tree

I love you so much, baby girl. You are my sweetie.

Simon's Cat

hey, mom, this remind you of anything?

here's another one, i couldn't decide which was funnier:

Quote of the Week

But it is forever true

that when the storms of life are savage,

it is the tree that bends

with the wind that survives.

Catherine Marshall, To Live Again

Planning and Reading

Hi, it's me. Well, the tupperware party went surprisingly great. Woo hoo. Went to the local fireworks, all the kids loved it, no crying, yay.

My desktop computer bit the dust, however. Thankfully, my dad had given me his old laptop and it has come in handy to check email and play solitaire, ha ha.

Fencer Boy, now 13 months, is keeping us very busy. He is not quite running yet, but man, is he a climber. You remember the day he walked, he climbed up the slide. We took the slide down. A couple of days ago he taught himself to climb on a kitchen chair. Five minutes later he was mastering the rungs on the chair. Now what am I going to do?

Yesterday morning I came into the dining room to see him standing on a kitchen chair, covered in oatmeal. He was, of course, very happy. We had been making every effort to pick up all our food dishes and keep them out of reach, but apparently I had a lapse of judgment, ha ha. I think I had escaped the room to come check my email. Today, Fencer Boy said, Hey, why not climb onto the kitchen table? So every where we go, there he is, climbing up the chairs onto the tables. Here, at the library, in our play room.

The train table looks very short with a big 13 month boy standing on it throwing things to the floor. He even taught himself to climb onto the rocking horse a few minutes ago. I just looked over and there he was, bouncing away.

Thankfully, he is nursing to sleep, so I can type without paranoia. Ha. We have baby gates, we close doors. We sweep the floor every day. How does he still find cat food to put in his mouth? yuck. ewww.

On the crochet front, I am at a standstill. I have one baby project that is 2/3 of the way done, and somehow can't get myself to finish it. Don't know what the problem is. I have this basket of yarn that I keep untangling. Some little boy keeps getting into it and dragging it over the whole floor, around tables, under chairs.

I am also in a last minute push to get the school room organized, finish buying the fall curriculum, and also plan DancerGirl's 7th birhtday party. I can't believe how grown up she is :O, going into the second grade. Getting her library card. At bedtime the other day I asked her to describe herself and she said, Math Girl. How sweet

Little One asks several times a day how long it will be until her birthday. She keeps telling me she wants a bunny rabbit :O. I told her we would see how it goes with the fish first. I haven't told her daddy she wants a bunny. Or the cats, for that matter.

Speaking of cats....I walked onto my front porch yesterday coming home from somewhere, and saw a single red cardinal feather. Isn't it terrible that my first thought was, Man, I hope there is not a dead bird in my house? Thank God. There was no dead cardinal in my house

well, i have got some books to read for the kids' summer reading program. Our program is great, I get Book Bucks for the books I read. Last year I got school supplies and a new crossword puzzle book. What were they thinking? giving me a reason to put the kids to bed early or let them watch more disney channel....just one more chapter, ha ha, then i will go to bed

Tupperware Party

please look around my online Tupperware Party, ends July 1

NOTE: I put a direct link on my right sidebar or click pic above.....

See the one that says MY TUPPERWARE PARTY

Good One

Ran across this post while surfing around today. That's a good one.

I have actually been up a while, and today, believe it or not, I have already had a bath and washed my hair and shaved my legs. And I am a mother of three with really really long hair. What is this world coming to? LOL It is not even my birthday :)

Working on a secret crochet project for Little One. Hopefully I will have it done by Thursday afternoon.

so anyway, I know you are all hanging on the edge of your seats waiting to hear about our new pets. It's not that exciting really. My husband won two goldfish at the county fair. Who knew something like that would make two little girls sooo happy? So there names are Pinkie Pie Fish (that one belongs to the 4 yr old) and the other one is Lava Girl (a more sophisticated name for a 6 yr old). Little One has been begging for fish for a couple of years now. She is soooo happy. We do have several Pinkie Pie Ponies around here so you will have to keep that straight yourself :).

Since she is not soo little anymore, I think I might change her nickname, or is it knick kname, like knick-knack or knock knock....sorry to digress. Anyway, I will be trying out Pinkie Pie for her. Maybe I should just go ahead and use LavaGirl for the other one too.

I know you didn't have much else to do today besides reading my ramblings, ha.
other news, FencerBoy has 5 teeth and is a climber. He eats sticks and rocks. He prefers gravel and oak.

have a good one

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy. I Love You.

Some Day

some day I may regret all the time I sit down and rest while my babies sleep on my lap, but not today

my third child is just over a year old and it seems like the seasons of my life have flown by

who knows if we are done having children, maybe/maybe not

but if we are, then this may be the last baby I nurse

and though he may be like the others and nurse til he is over 2 years old, it still seems like a short time

it still seems like it is almost over

today in some ways it seems to have been a waste of a day

I did get the dishwasher loaded twice, and washed and dried a couple of loads of clothes

I did hang some baby blankets, sheets, and diapers up on the line to dry

I did make some blueberry and banana muffins for breakfast (so the bananas wouldn't get wasted)

I did sweep the floor and bag up the garbage and take it out

I did feed the cats, the fish (another story), and water the tomato plants

I did finally mend/sew the velcro ties back on the tent/curtains for the bottom bunk of the girls' bed (Little One was thrilled, Dancer Girl hid in there making complex plans and drawing for her new club for her friends....Barbies first, dress up next, play school.....)

But it feels so wasteful at times to sit and do "nothing" while you are nursing your babies.

Usually I have something in my hands at the same time...a book to read to the girls or to myself, some yarn and a crochet hook, a crossword puzzle book, a remote control

Not today
Today, when it was time for baby to nap, I just sat and nursed him, and mostly stared off into space (or surfed around aimlessly online...i did do the daily crossword and delete all my spam, ha)

Some day people may tell me I should have done something different with my time
Maybe I should have
It is possible I should not have let the other children watch so much TV today
I do know, however, that I cannot live continually putting pressure on myself to hurry and get this one thing done in order to get the next thing done

looking back, i guess i really did get some things done today

what is it that tells us that we are nothing if we do not accomplish everything?
what is it that tells us that we can keep and manage a hectic crazy schedule like we did when we were in high school?

the things we do for today are good ones

it is like runny/crusty noses
it doesn't matter how many times you wipe and clean it, it still looks like you never did it all

it doesn't change the fact that you have to wipe it again
but just because it gets crusty again doesn't mean you didn't do a good job gently cleaning it before

some people can manage to make it out in public places with all their crusty places hidden and just wiped

that's ok
some day babies will grow up and wipe their own noses

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

Slideshow
Wow. Hard to believe my son is one year old today. No big parties planned, but mom and dad are coming by after lunch. We will watch the little guy schmear(don't know if that is the proper yiddish spelling) his cupcake and icing in his hair, and we will think it is very funny. Of course, he will too.

There is so much to say. It has been a busy year. One finished first grade, and one is four. They are all growing so fast. We will truly miss my husband's dad, who passed away in February. Every milestone that passes is bittersweet.

Baby Boy is now a toddler. He really toddles and wobbles everywhere he wants to go. He still crawls when he wants to get somewhere fast. He likes to sing and dance. So cute. He wants to eat what everyone else has. Always has. Like the others, the baby food I bought several months ago still sits on the pantry shelf. I should have learned by now....

I want to go get him a balloon. Can't wait to see his face. He is sleeping on my lap right now, dreaming happy baby dreams. Even in his sleep he grins that big open mouth smile. I love you, baby boy!

Happy Mother's Day

My sweeties have been celebrating Mother's Day Week around here. It was their idea. They said I should make them chocolate chip pancakes every day to celebrate. I ran out of chocolate chips after the first day :)
Here are some pics they made for me:

from Little One



From Dancer Girl


I also got to watch TV yesterday while they made me lunch: I got a fancy wedge of iceberg lettuce with catalina dressing, with a side of marshmallows from Dancer Girl. From Little One I got lettuce with a side of marshmallows on a bed of sugar, with string cheese. I have to say it was delicious.

Look What Maaaa Kid Can Do! (pun intended)

Well, not only did Baby Boy start walking in earnest today (walking 4-8 steps at a time), but he also decided at bedtime that he would climb up the slide on the girls' bed!!! Don't worry, we were there the whole time. The video we took on Dancer Girl's camera was after he had climbed to the top at least 3 or 4 times. I am still in quite a bit of shock. This means no more naps for baby on the bottom bunk (which is just a mattress on the floor, which I thought would be harmless--not anymore, i guess). He could already climb on and off that bottom mattress. I was thinking of changing his nickname on here to Toddler Boy, but am guessing Baby Mountain Goat might be better (i really probably won't do that, open to suggestions, ha ha). Somebody remind me to find all my baby gates, too! :O Happy 11 months old, Son! Can't wait to see what you will be doing in a month, when you are 1 year old :)

First steps

Well, I didn't want to leave you with a snake to look at, so here is some good news. Baby boy has taken his first tentative baby steps in the last week or two. The biggest one was of course towards his daddy. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera near me at the time. He cruises pretty quickly around the coffee table and the girls have to watch their food pretty closely or little fingers will get it. He has four cute little teeth now, 2 on top and 2 on bottom. He has such a cute big baby grin and you can see all 4 teeth when he laughs. It is hard to believe he will be 11 months old tomorrow on may 2, seems like he was just born. He will be 1 in a month. What a year it has been!!!!

I have also been spending some time daily on dictionary.com doing their daily crossword puzzle. Lots of fun! :)
My mom and dad are coming tomorrow to visit! I am excited! As a surprise I have not told the girls. Safe travels, mom and dad. love you

i will try to post pics soon, baby and girls are soo cute!

Ewww! Don't Use My Camera!!!!

When I walked into the computer room yesterday morning, Sammy Snake greeted me! Let's just say I was a little surprised and screamed like a girl and jumped a couple of feet. After I came back to the ground and saw that snakey wasn't moving, what did I do but go get a camera, because of course I thought you would all be interested, ha ha. This is when Dancer Girl said, "Ewww! Don't use my camera to take a picture of the snake!" (her camera was the closest, so I used it anyway)

Well, long story short, here is snakey outside. All I have to say is thank God my husband hadn't left for work yet!

The battery ran low on the camera or there would be one or two more pics of snakey after kitty got him and turned him into a cat toy.

Spring Days

my spring flowers someone picked for me :)

baby in the grass

celebrating grandma's birthday at grandma's house

dancer girl's egg

the easter eggs

with the eggs

at grandpa's and grandma's house

happy birthday motherkitty

potholder i made for mom, and a dove bar i did not make for her :)


Dancer Girl crocheted this lovely red jewelry set for her grandma. As you can see there is a ring, bracelet, and necklace in this matching set

motherkitty also got a new set of kitchen towels with kitties, and a red rose that you cannot see

Surprise!

Couldn't get to my camera fast enough for this one....girls had helped me unload the dryer while I was nursing baby, and they left the door open. Big Fat Kitty thought the inside of my dryer was a nice warm place to take a nap. :O



Baby Boy also decided he would surprise me and climb on the dishwasher to help me unload it. Big sister stood by while I ran to get the camera. This guy knew he did something funny. Look at that face!

I just noticed Baby Boy just got a new tooth, too, on the top left. It is his 3rd one, and I think the 4th will not be too far behind.

Only bad thing today/yesterday was that he got some kind of stomach bug or something and was throwing up all night, which means I was up all night. He nursed through it and was not grumpy or whiny. In fact, most of the time, he was calm during the night every time I had to change his clothes or mine. This morning he was smiling and happy in between throwing up, napping, and nursing, so I wasn't really worried about him. I was just in quarantine/wait and see mode. Dancer Girl threw up one time this afternoon, but does not seem to have it nearly as bad as Baby Brother, and that is good. Hopefully, it will miss the rest of us. My laundry room looks like Mt. Everest :O, but that is to be expected.

One last pic to remember the week by: