Snow Day

Today it is beautiful and sunny. It is doing amazing things for my spirits plus my sweet husband let me sleep in, really late! I have been up a lot in the night with a pukie child and a baby that feels the need to be awake every morning at 3 AM for absolutely no reason.

On Tuesday we had a beautiful snow day. Here are some pics from our day:

Hope there is sunshine in your world today. The Lord knows I needed it!

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night...

I don't know about you other fellow bloggers, but I plan and think, and think and plan about my next blog entry. Often I have so many thoughts in my head I just give up, completely overwhelmed and never post.

Today I had not intended to blog about the mail. I have a great entry forming in my head about a recent book I read. I must admit I'm slightly fearful that I won't be able to do it justice. So instead of stressing over writing the "right" words in this rather melancholy week, I thought I would discuss something that makes me happy. (Snow and ice, while fun for a short time, often send me into seasonal depression, I'd say I'm in the throws of it now!)

The mail man makes me happy. I love to see that little red, white and blue truck pull into my cul-de-sac. I know he must think me crazy, for as soon as he closes that little black door on my mail box, I'm out in a flash checking the contents. Sadly, I don't get a whole lot. Mainly just junk. I actually enjoy getting bills because I love to pay them. (Am I a total dork or what) I just love the feeling of knowing that all are bills are taken care of and there is still plenty of money in our bank account (thanks Dave Ramsey!). Today the mail man came to me loaded down with packages and mail. He's not the friendlest guy in the world. I often smile and wave and ask how his day is but he's much to busy for me (guessing he's not from the south).

Gabe and I tore into those two packages like a couple of kids on Christmas day. The first was this:

It's a "Quillow" from Comfort Silkie, the final gift for the birthday boy. Gabe LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, his "silkie blankie". He's had his silkie blankie since he was a baby. He loves that thing. He loves to lay on it, cuddle with it and smell it (which I find humorous because I honestly don't think it smells like anything, it must smell like home to him). Before his birthday he was concerned about one day losing his blue silkie. We discussed him possibly getting another silkie for his birthday.

"What color would you like, Gabe"....he thought for awhile "I would LOVE a red one, Mommy"....and then thought for a while longer...."actually (his favorite word) maybe we should stick with a blue one, I KNOW they are super soft and silkie"

Well in spite of his wishes I decided to go ahead and order this red one. It has his name embroidered on it and the large blanket folds into a nice neat pillow. This is a picture of him modeling the blankie with the pillow flap on his head (what a goof ball):

Thank you Gigi and Papa for his new blankie, he is in love.

The second box we received today was this:

I follow quite a few design, homemaking, crafty blogs. When one of them suggested buying a vintage scale I jumped at the idea. I had been thinking about getting a vintage scale and reading about her new scale pushed me over the edge. Impulsively, I went to ebay, and found this little number. I felt like I was predestined to stumble on this thing HELLO "My Old Kentucky Home" made in "Louisville, KY". Well now that I have it I don't know what to do with the silly thing. This is why I don't buy clutter inducing items. I don't have an artistic eye and most things just lay around just waiting for a yard sale....oh well....at least it only cost me $23, shipping and all. Any suggestions??

This Will Have to Do For Now...

A lot of people took a lot of pictures of the Gabers turning 4.  Once I compile them all I will have to post them.  For now, my dear friend Nancy always makes a sweet collage to commemorate the day.  I suppose this will have to do for now:

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Monster Trucks

Back in December we received a catalog from Oriental Trading Company. Gabe had NO idea what kind of party he wanted to have so I had him flip through to aid in his decision. He decided on a Monster Truck theme. I have to say I was a little surprised. Last year we did Finding Nemo (also his choosing), where has my little boy gone. Fish to gigantic car killing trucks seems very drastic.

For each child's birthday I try to make a special cake to go along with their theme. I'm certainly no pro but once again I'm delighted with how things turned out. Normally I don't let the boys see their cakes until the day of, but I simply did not have the time to make this cake while Gabe was sleeping. Gabe is thrilled with the results, check them out:


Excuse his messy face! He enjoyed a lot of icing. More B-day pics to come, stay tuned!!

Sprouts?

As children we were given the luxury of one "yuck food".  My brother hated cheese, a rather tricky yuck food.  Mine was carrots and my sister's, yellow squash.  The details of a yuck food were as follows.  Every child gets to choose one and only one food that they NEVER had to eat.  The choice was made very young (I'm actually thinking my Mom made the decision) and the choice could never be changed. There were plenty of other foods on my yuck list that just had to be swallowed, sometimes whole and with a giant glass of milk but carrots never had to grace my pearly whites.  Brussels sprouts were one of those "other" foods.  I can literally remember staring down the three little cabbages on my plate.  Once I think I managed to sneak them into my napkin before Mom noticed but then felt terribly guilty and never did it again.  Even my Dad hated Brussels Sprouts night.  What can there possibly be to like about a vegetable that literally smells like someone has "cut the cheese" if you catch my drift?  

Well once again my friend Nancy has gotten to me.  She was pretty sure, if prepared correctly, that I would grow to love and actually enjoy these veggies (funny my Mother has been telling me this for years but I never believed her, sorry Mom).  Last week, while doing my bi-monthly commissary trip, I stumbled upon a fresh crop of Sprouts.  Oh what the heck I said to myself.  Why not give it a try.  After sitting in the fridge for almost a  week I finally got ambitious and found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com:

Shredded Brussels Sprouts is DELICIOUS.  But then what could be wrong about anything mixed with bacon, bacon drippings, butter, pine nuts and seasoning salt.  I made two servings and finished them both off with a side of fresh grape tomatoes.  Yummy!  I have been instructed by my husband to only make these when he is out of town...guess he couldn't get past the inevitable stinkiness...but boy were they good!  

I *Heart*...

I *heart* wiki sticks. The boys are so creative with them. An added bonus is getting them with the kid packet at PF Changs. YUM!!

I *heart* wood burning stoves. When that thing really gets going we can get our house to 76 degrees. So nice and cozy.

I *heart* paper bug models. These are from Chick-fil-a. Aren't they cool!! The one on the left is a Honey Bee the right is a (squished) lady bug.

I also *heart* babies in baskets....my pictures of that were somehow erased...boo...

Books

I remember hearing once that reading increases ones vocabulary.  This is intriguing to me.  Is there a certain quality of book that must be read in order to accomplish this goal?  Will any ol' book, magazine, or pamphlet do?  

Regardless, throughout the years I have attempted to satiate my thirst for knowledge and a stuffy vocabulary by reading, and reading a lot.  Despite my four children I would like to still be able to hold my own in an adult conversation!  In my quest for learning I thought this year I would take the time to blog about each and every book I read, good or bad.  

You will probably laugh as I start the year with this book:

In between giggles you can now see why I question the quality of vocabulary building books.  I am a wee bit embarrassed to admit I'm reading these...but if you know anything about the "Twilight" series of books you know that I'm hooked, this is book three!  I was intrigued by the vast number of people reading them and when my girlfriend Nancy finally succumbed to the trend I had to try them out.  Let me preface this "review" by saying these are not great works of literature.  Stephanie Meyer will never be the "Dickens" of our time.  That being said, the books are a decent read.  My only problem so far has been the dynamic between the main characters.  It REALLY bothers me that they are so wildly obsessed with each other, really to the point of stalking.  There is no way I would let a teenage daughter of mine read these books.  I cannot imagine the unrealistic expectations of boys they would walk away with.  No man can ever live up to a storybook character, but we women tend to forget that.  I could feel myself being mildly frustrated with Greg while reading the first book...thoughts of "why can't he be romantic" or "why can't he love me like that" bombarded me.  I'm almost 30 and have been married for almost 9 years, if those thoughts are in my head they will surely be in the mind of any high school girl!

As I sign off here, I'm heading over to buy the last title in the installment.  As batty as these books have been driving me I do enjoy them.  Maybe the next book I read will be a little more vocabulary expandabling!

How to Get a Fantastic Christmas Picture

A lot of people have asked me how it was possible to get a good Christmas picture with four ornery little boys. It's actually easier then you think!

First I highly recommend Children's Place:


I managed to get all the boys "tops" for under $90!! And don't they look cute! I must confess I steal clothing ideas off of manikins. I'm the poster child for "What Not to Wear" and would pass my dorkiness onto my children if not for Store Marketing!

Second you need a fantastic photographer. Here's mine:


Third a nice camera:


Fourth, this super awesome tripod:

Plus it doubles as a kid's play toy when not being used for photography! The boys make it into al sorts of creative things.

Fifth, super handsome subject matter:


Sixth, PATIENCE and I mean A LOT OF IT!!! We probably took 100 pictures that day. For our family, saying "PICKLES" instead of "CHEESE", seems to help in inducing award winning smiles.

Seventh: Having a graphic designer in the family never hurts! Thanks little bro!!

Just hoping next years photo turns out as good as this one! Happy New Year!!