new fav

picnik

Edited

Original

So my friend Beth turned me onto this awesome new Free website! I love what I can do with the pictures! Thanks Beth!

I love My Big Brother

Ali loves to climb into Dash's bed. Now that she can get up there on her own, I feel a bit better about her climbing up and getting down. It is the standing and running and plopping that scares me. She is good, like Dash was/is but it still makes my mommy heart jump. Ali loves to be where Dash or Sammie are. When Dash and Sammie take their naps, Ali gets to play in the livingroom while I snuggle them. Lately, she will grab her boo(books) like the big kids, climb into my bed next to Dash to wait for me, just like Dash. She lays back on the pillow and even tucks her self in. Whenever she is tired, she will climb into Dash's bed and do the same thing.

A Curise Ship Host

Today I had Dash's school conferences. This was my first time ever, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was 15 minute slot with Ms. Melinda. She had all good reviews for Dash. There were two areas of mention, but necessarily of concern. They both had to deal with his attention span. She said that sometimes during story time he gets figgity. I asked who he is sitting by and she gave a name I was waiting to hear. When I see this other boy, I can see why he doesn't like him. This boy is very antsy and seems as though he is craving attention. Ms. Melinda also said that Dash has improved in this area since she filled out the sheets 2 weeks ago. So, I am not worried. He's a BOY!! She was also saying that he is a very smart boy. He knows everything already that he needs to know by the end of the school year. He can count to 20, and we are working on higher. He just needs to be reminded that it is thirty, not twenty-ten, and the same for each new set of 10. He can write his name and other words written on the board. This is the biggest thing I have seen school teach him. He knew how to write his name before school started. He now asks me how to spell something and then writes it out(not necessarily in the correct order, but somewhere on the page). He also has shown that he can read a bit and spoiled Ms. Melinda's lesson plan for the day. Ms. Melinda went on to say that Dash is funny kid. She said that some days he says some pretty random things, that her and Ms. Jessica quote for the day to give themselves a good laugh. She also said that he is not one that they need to direct for play time. He is pretty good at finding something to do on his own. He will even then go around asking everyone if they are doing ok. They call him the Cruise Ship Host, I was like, "oh, you mean the game show host that he is" That's what we call him. She said, yeah totally! She also said that he is one that will tell other kids, "we don't say that" and then come to her and tell her, and she goes, "yeah we don't say that". I'm glad to know that this is not something that is just saved for me. He is really good at making sure others are following the rules. He does this with me and Sammie A LOT. It was nice to hear what she had to say. I am very glad that we put him in 4k. I think this was/is a learning curve for both of us for next year when is at school for 4ohrs a week. I am very proud of him and his achievements! Great Job Buddy!

Chocolate?!?!?!?

Is this the missing link? As some may know, I have been dealing with sleep issues with Sammie. All those that I have talked to know that she gets one glass of chocolate milk a day. It is their afternoon snack while they watch their show. It wasn't until this week that it dawned on me that it was the chocolate milk. Monday, Sammie and I had an awesome morning. We had a solid 1.5 hours of one on one time(the lack of is a reason we had thought of the behavior). She was pleasant and awesome til post nap(which was a solid 1.5 hours~a rarety) milk and show. I have seen a different girl the past two days in the afternoon with no chocolate milk and no chocolate treats(potty treats), so we will continue this trial for another 1.5 weeks and see what it does.

i love you

This is a phrase you don't hear out of Sammie's mouth all too much. So when you do hear it, you really take it to heart. Today out of nowhere she told me that she loved me and then later and randomly kissed me several times.

Questioning Dash

Last year this interview was floating around Facebook and I choose to not ask dash, but then I found it on a friend's blog. I knew then that Dash(3) would not know what those questions even meant. We did it tonight, Dash age 4 years 7 months. Still he didn't know what some of the questions meant, but I typed exactly as he said!

1. What is something mommy always says to you? call

2. What makes mommy happy? Doing my things

3. What makes mommy sad? Didn’t do my things
4. How does your mommy make you laugh? Umm, tricky ones
5. What was your mommy like when she was a little girl? Hmm, like ali, Sammie the baby
6. How old is your mommy? I don’t know
7. How tall is your mommy? Measured me with his hands
8. What is her favorite thing to do? To get dressed
9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? Go to sleep
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? happy
11. What is your mommy really good at? dash
12. What is your mommy not very good at? sammie
13. What does your mommy do for her job? For dash
14. What is your mommy's favorite food? Mmm, um, you like mac n cheese
15. What makes you proud of your mommy? Mmm, um, God and uh, uh, colin(dash’s friend)
16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? Silly face, with new like this pointing to hair on Wii
17. What do you and your mommy do together? Field trip(today to the play room gallery in Delafield)
18. How are you and your mommy the same? 10
19. How are you and your mommy different? 7
20. How do you know your mommy loves you? 9 8

My favorite special is the number 76asdfhhhljotkor5(suppose to special like daddy~5) Sammie is 4 andrew is 3 4343(mr the king)

To Think....

I don't know why I thought about this, but in just over a year, I will be potty training my baby! Only 15 months of diaper buying left!!!!!!

Army Bells

Last year, I thought a good use of our time was to ring the bells for the Salvation Army. We rang every Monday at the mall. Me and the 3 kids :) We did this for the 6 leading up to Christmas. I really wanted to make this a tradition for our family to do this, 3 hours for one day every week for the 6 weeks leading up to Christmas. However, this year I am having a hard time finding a time of day that best fits our family's schedule. I am bummed, but I know that we can try for at least one shift this year and as the kids get into school, we can aim for weekend. Either way, the kettles are out as we are down to just under 6 weeks until Christmas. When we were leaving Walgreens yesterday, Dash saw the bucket and was excited. He reached up to the sack that holds the bells and started ringing them. I asked him, do you want to ring the bells again this year? "YEAH!!" How awesome it is to see he wants to serve God(although he fully doesn't know that) in an awesome way. A sacrificial way of giving up "play time" to ring some bells. I am now going to be more determined to find a slot that works for us! It may just mean dropping Ali off at a sitters house and the three of us go. Or finding a day that Ryan is off and the 5 or 6(Abby) of us go. It is awesome to see the hold that God has on Dash's heart, now I just need to teach him how to listen to God.....something that I need to work on for myself.

Cuz God made skirts that way?

My go to phrase for explaining things to Sammie is, "because God made it that way." So the other day she had noticed that her skirt had shorts under and proceeded to tell me that it was that way because that is how God made skirts. she is too funny!

Drive Thru

I think that it is evident that I go through the drive thru often. Dash knows that at window 1 we give our money and at window 2 we get our food.  So much so that he was sitting in his "truck" at the table and wanted me to hand him his food "thru the window"

Cabin 2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

Words

Ali's current list of words

Mommy
Daddy
Dash
mme(Sammie)
kitty
puppy
birdie
Abby
Ali
All Gone
Juice
Cheese
nnnnuunnnn(all done)
this
nu(nuk)
down (while holding arms up=up)
down (while pointing down=down)
mo(more)
thank you

Owie

Mine

mmmmm(M&M)
under bed~i have heard this 1 or 2 times as she went to look for her nuk under bed
no


she can sign for more, please

Life Change

I have decided that the scale is getting to be out of control. The number that appears when I stand on the scale is reaching numbers that I didn't hit until my last trimester of pregnancy!

I have started running, ok, I have only done it twice. But I have it worked out that Monday and Thursday nights along with Saturday mornings I get to go out for a run. I started this last week Thursday. I have also given up eating past 7 pm. This one is very very difficult for me as I am usually really hungry around 8:30/9. So starting today I have allowed my self 2 pieces of toast from 7 til bedtime. Something to cut the edge. I have enjoyed my two times of running. I am quite proud of myself for getting out there. I have always been one that is easy to give into "excuses" and have gotten out there and done it. It is very helpful to have my MP3 player to tune out the headtalk. I look forward to seeing what these changes will do for me.

Trick-or-Treat

Jorge, Maddie, Maddie's Cousins, Dash, Sammie, Ali, Ryan
2010 Trick-or-Treat Crew

Dash went as a football guy, he was gonna wear his Driver jersey, but left the house in his old Favre jersey. Sammie dressed up as Blue's Clues and Ali went as a Ladybug. I was a bit annoyed with trick-or-treating this year. Apparently, I am the only one that knows the rules. If the porchlight is on, then you knock, if no light then no knock. Well there were pleanty of houses that had lights on and no one answered and vise versa. Also, I was the only one in our group that knew this answer so it made it difficult for me to teach to the kids. Oh well, I guess it really isn't that big of a deal, but it sure did bother me! The kids had fun and got lots of candy.

Pushy

I think that sums up how I have been with the grant process this past month. I have been pushing things when God is clearly saying "no" to make it work so we can get the job done. I have not stepped back and actually listened to God, I have had my own agenda and obviously it doesn't line up with his! Please continue to pray for my patience and listening ear. I am afraid of the money running out, but have been told not to worry. I am afraid that we are going to have to pay to bring our house up to code. I am afraid that this isn't going to happen. I have the basement all planned out and would like it in action now, but I really need to wait on God.

Abby and Ali

Ali has learned some new words today. She said her own name this morning and then this afternoon, she called Abby by her name

Big Steps

Ali is making some major steps in her life. Last week we gave up her bedtime bottle. I have been weaning her from it for sometime now, but quickly pulled the trigger last week when she didn't even drink an ounce from it. That was Sunday night, Monday we went with no bottle and I have not given her one for over a week before bed and there have not been any problems.

This week, Monday, November 1st we are giving up the daytime nuk and using it only for sleeping. Day 1 went pretty well and Day 2 went ok. She didn't take an afternoon nap so I gave in when she found the nuk and just let her have it. This is a process for both of us :)

Mack Truck

Several months ago while I was shopping at Kohl's Dash found a Lightening McQueen truck that looked similar to this. However it was $18! I could not justify getting him this expensive truck just because he felt that he needed/wanted this truck. I told him that we would figure out a way to save some money for him to earn this truck. Honestly, I thought he would forget about it and he did for a month or so. Then out of know where he asked to get the truck. I said we are working on a way for him to earn it. Dash and I had this discussion a few more times before Ryan and I were able to figure out a good system. So about a month ago we started saving for our Mack Truck by earning tickets. He had to earn 150 tickets by doing chores around the house. If he did everything without anything extra, he could earn himself 42 tickets per week with the opportunity to earn more by doing extra things. He was gun-hoe for the first 2 weeks, week 3 we were gone so week 4 he was a bit dull and had lost interest, until we were at Wal-Mart and saw the truck for only $10! That's right only 80 tickets. I knew he had 106 at home so I said he could get it! He was ecstatic. The biggest drawback was that it was the one that is pictured above, not the Lightening or Chick Hicks or Mr. The King. Our Wal-Mart in Waukesha actually closed tonight due to our super center opening tomorrow morning, so last night when we were shopping Wal-Mart didn't have everything we needed, so we went to Target. It just so happened that we were in the toy department and found Lightening McQueen Mack Truck! We soo got that one and then are going to return the other. He is sooo excited for this! I am soo proud of him and myself. Him for earning, me for not giving in to buy it for him.

Sharing

Tonight we had some friends over, Gretchen and Kenny, to watch the new release of Toy Story 3 which came out on DVD today! Well, when we went to leave, Kenny came outside with Dash's big black semi truck. Since I let the other kids bring toys, what really is another toy in the van. So, I was planning on letting Kenny play with it and then when we got to his house to leave it in the van.

So we when pulled into the Weber's driveway, I hear from the backseat, "Kenny, you want to take the truck to your house?" Dash offered to let Kenny borrow the truck. I was/am astonished! He willingly, with his own idea, thought to let Kenny play with his truck! I was so proud and impressed with my big boy. He then as we were driving away from their house, asked, "mom, can I have 2 trucks(meaning the lightening mcqueen mack trucks like the above post)"