It's apple pickin' time and the "bully"

Okay, so here's what's going on at our house. I have a peach crisp in the oven because I stopped at the Farmer's Market today and bought more peaches. These, to go along with the elderly ones that have been in my fridge for longer than I like to think about. I decided I would make peach crisp to use up my elderly peaches. They still smelled good so I think it will be tasty! I have half an hour until I need to get it out of the oven so here goes...

Laura came home from school yesterday complaining that a kid "Keegan" was mean to her. She said he pushed her and said she talks funny. Of course, my ire was up and I began to envision tripping the troubled lad on his way into school. Today she comes home from school and the first words out of her mouth were that Keegan was mean to her again. He "kicked the leg of her chair" again said she talked funny. She then casually added that he said "I love you" to her. Twice. Hmm, poor unknowing Keegan. Apparently he is fond of her but has a poor way of showing it. Some things are universal I guess. (I no longer wish to trip the confused young lad.)

We have the most gigantic apple tree in our backyard. Every spring it blooms and is just beautiful. Unfortunately all of those beautiful blooms turn into a summer-ful of apple picking-up. For four months we go out every day or every couple days and fill up bags of yucky apples. Jeremy keeps saying we should pick some from the tree and eat them. Maybe we will. In the meantime, he told the girls that he would pay them three cents an apple for every apple they picked up. (Why don't I get paid when I pick up apples???) Laura usually picks up a dollar or less and is bored with it. Lindsay on the other hand, is a workaholic. She picked up four bags full yesterday and earned herself a whopping $9.00 - enough to buy her doll "Lilly" some new clothes today. She is so funny!

I love her!

I'm starting to smell peach crisp and it is smelling delicious. Good, that will make up for the "week in review" dinner we had tonight.

Until next time...

When life gives you lemons...

I finished this layout for Laura's album yesterday. My friend Kristina sort of chided me into working on a little of my own scrapbooking since I don't have any orders right now.

I'm off to meet my friend April at the mall for some girly chat. We're down our two oldest kids so we'll only have two to manage. We'll see how long we all last...

Later!

Me too, I wanna play too...

Following the lead of my sisters-in-law, I am going to share seven possibly unknown and probably useless facts about myself...

1. When I was little, my life's goal was to be a cashier. Maybe department store, maybe grocery store, it didn't matter. I wanted the power to scan and total purchases. I was lucky in life and accomplished my goals early. I was a cashier at Toys R Us for three summers and three Christmas seasons during college.

Imagine my pure delight upon discovering self-check outs at Wal-Mart for the first time!

2. I wish I could dance. I love to watch people dance. So far my learning has progressed to taking 10 weeks of swing dance lessons with Jeremy and some really lame attempts at Zumba (latin style dance/exercise/aerobics). This probably explains my obsession with watching "So You Think You Can Dance". (I also enjoy other reality TV shows, much to my husband's dismay.)

3. I am a little nervous about writing this for fear it may happen but... I have never been pulled over by the police.

4. I don't like going to church. It's not that I don't think it's a good idea. It's a great idea and it's important. We should go. I need that time set apart in my week to worship our Lord and have communion with others. For me though, it is stressful. It's overstimulating. It makes me uncomfortable. I especially hate that time in the service when it's time to shake hands with others. I'm bad at "small talk" and find myself saying stupid things out of nervousness. That being said, I always go to church. The only time I skip Sunday morning church is when me or my kids are sick.

5. I over-think things WAY too much. It impairs my ability to make decisions. Sometimes I think I'm crazy. Seriously, who spends as much time as I do deciding which kind of dental floss to buy or if I should wear the pink shirt today or save it for Saturday?

6. I like buying scrapbook supplies more than I like making things with them. I hoard paper and ribbon. I "save" my favorites because I can't bear to use them. I try to remind myself of my sister's philosophy - use it up so you can buy more! : )

7. I am a little obsessed with true crime stories. I am not picky with how I fill this addiction - watching TV shows, movies, books, etc.

Hope everyone is having a great week! Things are quiet here. Laura is adjusting to full day school and I am getting a lot of scrapbooking done with the house a bit quieter and no orders this week.

The Evening's Vittles

I love to bake! Occasionally I like to cook. Jeremy does a lot of cooking around here too. Tonight I made homemade pizza. I quite enjoy making the dough for the bread crust in my bread machine. I also made this DELICIOUS buffalo chicken dip. Here is the recipe if you want a taste sensation...

INGREDIENTS
2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
3/4 cup pepper sauce, such as Franks® Red Hot®
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS
Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.


Jeremy and I can't stop eating it. See, we had to dig in before I even had a chance to get a photo.

Laura's first (half) week is over. She and Lindsay have definitely been tired. (Laura gets a bit psycho when tired - so hyper that it makes my mind numb.) Lindsay has decided to get up in the morning too. This morning she was up before Laura. I'm not sure what is up with this but hopefully it will end soon, preferably Monday morning. Because we told Lindsay she couldn't sleep in bed with Laura anymore because of school starting, she has been getting up in the middle of the night to sleep in bed with Jeremy and I. She has these tiny plastic animals that she always takes to bed with her. (I know, she's odd.) Well, the last couple of days she has been carrying the tiny animals around in two plastic Easter eggs - you know, the kind you use for Easter egg hunts. Then last night she decided that the animals inside the eggs should be placed in a styrofoam egg carton and taken to bed. I'm not sure how many times exactly I was woken up when I rolled onto the egg carton but it was a lot. I can say with certainty that I've never slept with an egg carton before. I'm not sure that I need to do it again.

Happy weekend everyone!

First Day of First Grade

Here I sit, crying like a big baby. My baby has arrived at school. Her first day of first grade. Her first time of going to school all day, eating lunch in the cafeteria, being away from us for 7+ hours. I am so sad and miss her already. I already sat on her bed and cried and decided I better not stay there. I'm a mess.

I know this is ultimately a good thing. It means she's growing up and another step closer to being independent. It just seems like the years have flown by too quickly. Why didn't I treasure her being little more? Why did I lose my patience a little too often? Why did I feel frustrated so much? I only hope she knows how very much I love her and believe in her. She is a sweet and kind spirit, never wishing bad for anyone. I love that about her and am proud of the little girl she has become despite my failures.

I know she will be fine. She is smart and capable. She will have fun and meet new friends and learn new things. I will be her cheerleader and support. (That means I'll only cry when she doesn't see me. :) ) I will pray for her often.

Bye Sweetheart!

Now, on a lighter note...

My last few days have been ... a bit crazy. On Saturday night Laura bumped her head in the shower (stood up into the handicap bar) and cut her foreheard open pretty bad. (I'm sure you noticed the bandaids in the above photo.) She poked her head out of the curtain and blood was dripping all down her face and body. I felt faint but remained calm. She probably could have used a few stitches but in the interest of avoiding the ER we have attemped to "butterfly" her head back together. It seems to be healing nicely. Crisis under contorl.

Yesterday I needed to run to the post office to mail off some of my most recent scrapbook orders. I ran in and when I came back out to start the van, nothing. It was dead. To make matters worse, I had left my cell phone at home. Of course, the one time I don't bring it with me. I went into the post office and they were nice and let me use the phone. I was praying that Jeremy would answer his cell phone. He did simply because he had reached into his pocket at the very moment I called and felt his photo vibrating. He left work to come rescue the three of us from the post office.

Later that afternoon, Lindsay started puking. Great, just what I need the night before school starts. She seems to be fine now. I'm not sure what that was all about. I'd prefer no more puking.

We found out that our battery was overcharging, giving the van too much power - some sort of battery malfunction. Anyway, it's fixed now for the time being...

I would like to request some less "exciting" days for a little while. Thanks.

Vacation

We had such a nice time on vacation last week. We've been so stinkin' busy since we've been back home that I have only done enough laundry so that I had a pair of shorts to wear. The house should be declared a disaster area. Today is the day though, I must get this chaos under control! First I will leave you with a few photos from vacation.

We left on Friday morning and headed to Washington D.C. We spent the morning of Saturday seeing the monuments. It was A LOT of walking! Lindsay was in the stroller but Laura walked it - she did great.

We arrived in Virginia Beach on Saturday evening. My brother Dan and my sister-in-law Caiti were terrific hosts! They have a big & beautiful new house! We had such a great time with them. Caiti and I enjoyed talking scrapbook and of course shopping for our scrapbook "needs". Dan took us aboard the aircraft carrier where he is stationed, the USS Eisenhower - that was one of my favorite parts of the trip. On Monday we went to the beach. Lindsay was not too impressed after being beat up by the nasty ocean. The rest of us however had so much fun!

My brother Dan - isn't he cute?!

Laura definitely enjoyed the beach!

Lindsay's idea of fun at the beach.

We so rarely get to spend time with my brother Ken and my sister-in-law Valli. Ken works way too many hours for a normal person and of course they live so far away. I really enjoyed seeing them and treasure the time we all got to hang out and laugh together. I was FINALLY able to see their adorable house! Valli is a great decorator. The eight of us spent Tuesday afternoon and evening together and then we spent the night at Ken & Valli's house. We left for home on Wednesday morning.

My brothers and their wives - Caiti, Dan, Valli & Ken. Thanks guys for a terrific time in Virginia! Let's do it again...

Now I'm off to take Laura to get her back-to-school haircut and meet her teacher. Pray for me. I'm having a hard time thinking about her being gone all day. I miss her already!

Blogging?

Okay, so I have jumped on the bandwagon. I still don't text or have a facebook account but here I am blogging away. I'm not quite sure how you begin one of these here blogs but I'll figure it out. I have been putting this off for days now. First, I got all tangled up in signing up for a Google account. When I finally cleared that hurdle, I stressed for three days about what to call my blog. After much mulling and help from friends, I finally made that decision. Next on the stress out list, what to say "about me".

Look at me everyone, I'm flying by the seat of my pants. I haven't planned this first entry out word for word in my head. What if I haven't thought this out enough? I'm really living on the edge. Yikes! I better go get ready for church.

Now that this hurdle has been overcome, look for something a little more meaty next time.