Playing "KETCHUP"

Please excuse my blogging absence.  I've been in kind of a funk lately and my blog has taken a backseat for a while.  I mentioned to Terry last night that I have a million photos on the camera that I need to download.  I told him that I needed to spend a little time in the office playing "catch up".  Addison then asked me why I needed to take the ketchup into the office?  Out of the mouth of babes, right?

We've been busy around our house trying to take in all the local holiday festivities that our town has to offer.  I plan to spend some time in the next week or so getting my blog up to date with a ton of photos.  I will leave you with a few photos from my phone today.....

An attempt to get a photo of all the cousins together on Thanksgiving!!  And yes, It was that warm that my kiddos are wearing skirts and some of the other kids are wearing shorts.

Left to right:  Georgia, Greta, Alexis, Amelia, Oliver, Addison and Lila

Doing a little Christmas shopping.  Addison had to stop and take a photo op with the zebra print hat she found.  She knows Aunt Sandy likes "zebra stuff".

Trimming the tree!  Saturday after Thanksgiving the girls help me put up the tree.  Shortly after they went to bed I re-decorated the tree.  They did a good job but being the control freak that I am....I just couldn't stand all 200 ornaments right next to each other.

Helper...

Lately the girls have been wanting to "help".  They want to help cook, help do laundry, help with the dishes...just about anything.  I try to remember that even though their helping really technically doesn't help all that much....there will be days in the future that I will be begging for them to help me!

Addison helping with the dishes this evening.

Addison was washing dishes while Alexis and I were folding laundry.  After they went to bed, Daddy re-washed the dishes and I refolded the clothes.  :-)

HOMEMADE FINGER PAINT...

The weather here in Indiana has gotten REALLY cold really fast.  I'm always looking for new ideas to keep my super active kiddos entertained while indoors.  While in our basement searching for something I saw the girls house that Aunt Paula had gotten them for their birthday.  Their cardboard house has taken a beating and was barely standing.  They loved this thing but it has definitely seen it's better days.  It's been drawn on with crayons and markers and probably has over 50 stickers on it.  I figured what better way to send it to the dumpster than covered in finger paint.  And what better way to spend a chilly afternoon indoors? 

I told the kiddos that after their naps we were going to paint....to my surprise our finger paint was gone?!?!?  We obviously have some kind of ghost in our house who makes numerous things disappear.  I grabbed the Ipad and googled homemade finger paint.  Every recipe called for corn starch....which I did not have.  I was able to find one recipe that called for kool-aid, flour, salt, oil and water.  It served it's purpose but I will not be using it again.  I will make sure that I have corn starch in the pantry!!

It was rather thick, no matter how much water I put in it.

The girls were excited to paint but kept asking me where the paint brushes were because they didn't want to get their hands messy. 

Here they are hard at work:

After a little convincing....I talked Addison into painting with her hands.

Alexis resorted to painting her hand with the paintbrush and then making "prints".

I thought I had taken a photo of the finished project before it hit the garbage can, but I guess I didn't.  The finger paint was a big hit with the girls but wasn't what I had hoped.  It took more than 24 hours to dry and the color was not as vibrant as I had hoped.  Trial and error, I guess!  The good thing about it was, it didn't stain their hands or their clothing and we all had a great time doing it.

Would love to hear your ideas and/or recipes for homemade items and crafts to do with kiddos!!

Please comment or email me at:  cardinalsfan0718@netzero.com

The Wedding Weekend, Part Three....

The weather the weekend of Sandy's wedding was gorgeous!  They seriously could not of asked for a better weekend to get hitched!  This is the last post about the wedding weekend...I promise!  :-)

Sunday afternoon Sandy and Mike met over at my parents house to open their gifts and count their loot!  My Mom made a small lunch spread but it was too beautiful to sit inside and eat.  We all decided to hang out outside on the picnic tables.  This also allowed for the kiddos to play and run around outside.

Love their "day after" shirts.

My girls did this with their Cousin Luke for hours.  Only to result in me having to run out and by some benadryl for Addison that night.  Her arms welted up with hives.  Nothing major, but the whole process of trying to buy benadryl in the meth capital of the world (my hometown) was enough to drive anyone crazy!

Monday's weather was not nearly as nice.  We had planned on going to a few local parks but the rain and storms that morning did not allow.  Later in the afternoon it did clear up for a couple of hours....just long enough for us to run off some excess energy....

Alexis thought this goat was a riot! 

Love this photo!  The fall colors were so beautiful this weekend!

Feeding the ducks!

Playing on the playground!

Getting kisses from Gramma!

And for whatever reason they thought walking on this ledge was really fun!

We all had a great extended weekend but we were definitely ready to get back home and get back on our schedule.

Congrats again to Sandy and Mike!!!

A Vacation....

People wonder why I say shopping without my two mini-me's is like a mini vacation......

Maybe this photo can provide some insight. 

It's gettting more and more difficult to find room in the cart for my purchases. 



HALLOWEEN 2012...

I love looking back at the photos we take every year of the girls.  It once again reminds me of how far they have come and how blessed we truly are.  Halloween 2008 was the day we got the phone call that confirmed we were officially pregnant.  I will never forget that day or the look on Terry's face. 

*****

This year the girls were hot dog and ketchup. 

A fellow preemie mommy asked me how we decided who was going to be what.  Alexis just kind of decided when the costumes were delivered that she was going to be the hot dog and luckily Addison went along with it.

My pictures this year aren't that great because my kiddos were so excited to get outside and say "trick or treat smell my feet".....yes, their Dad's influence, not mine!

Unfortunately, the weather on Halloween evening was very chilly.  We didn't stay out for too long.  Just long enough for the girls to tell me that their pumpkins were getting too heavy.

Getting ready to go outside! Barely able to stand still for this picture.

The girls were really into ringing the doorbells this year.  I was having trouble keeping track of whose turn it was to ring the bell.

One last attempt to get a good photo.

The Wedding....PART TWO!

PART TWO....Here we go with a bunch more photos....

My handsome nephew Luke. 

Ring Bearer, my nephew Carter...'Lil Cutie!  Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks?

They take their flower girl responsibilities very seriously! 

My nephew Connor...Love this sign idea!  Although I think the rope started hurting Connor's neck after awhile. 

Mike seeing Sandy for the first time coming around the corner.

The handoff!

The entire wedding party, minus the kiddos, in the gazebo at the Chinese garden.

Sand ceremony...

My kiddos with the bride and groom.

My big sister Paula, her hubby Andy and their adorable son Luke.

Remember the last photo I posted in Part one???  I wonder where my kiddos get the idea to make funny faces from???

The bride and groom with the kiddos in the wedding party.

Notice the other side of the sign says "and they lived happily ever after".

My kiddos with the bride and groom again.

In the middle of the botanical gardens are these six random sheep.  While working on this blog I tried to google the meaning behind these sheep, but was unsuccessful.  Anyway, the girls thought that these sheep were pretty cool.  The night of the rehearsal dinner it was fairly chilly.  The girls wanted to play on the sheep then.  I told them that they could play with them the next day.  They didn't let me forget.  Since it was a BEAUTIFUL day, (they seriously could not of asked for better weather) we let the girls play on the sheep afer the ceremony.

Notice the picture of the flower balls hanging from the sheeps horns. This was Addison's idea.  Kuddos to whomever came up with the idea of the flower balls.  Even though the botanical gardens would not allow them to throw flower petals, I think this was easier all the way around. 

One of my favs....Since at the time of the wedding the Cardinals were in the playoffs, the fountain at the botanical gardens were dyed red.  My girlies were seriously intrigued with the red fountain.

Attempt at a group photo.

Again...Making silly faces is kind of a family thing!  This was an attempt to get them to pose for a photo in from of the sign at the reception.  They were tired and crabby at this point.  Allowing them to make a goofy face was the only way I was going to get this photo.

Dancing!  Or should I say spinning?  The girls were literally spinning around in circles on the dance floor.

Again, If you have a weak stomach skip to the next photo....

A little after 10:00p.m. we decided that the girls were about to crash.  I decided we better leave before they had a melt down.  Moments after we got into the car Alexis looks at me and says, "Mommy I dance too much".  I asked her if she had fun and if she was tired.  She responds with "I spin too much, I gonna puke".  I had about 5 seconds to grab the bowl we keep in the car for such situations.   Let me just tell you....the red velvet cake was more red coming up than it was when she ate it.

Right before we left, I wanted to try and get some "generation photos".  It didn't happen with both sides of my family.  We were able to get one with my Dad's side.  Four generations....My Grandma, My Dad, Me and My Munchkins!  Not the best photo in the world but it serves its purpose.  As you can see, my kiddos were minutes from a meltdown.

The wedding was seriously beautiful.  I was skeptical of the weather forecast but it turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day!  Congratulations to my baby sister Sandy and my new brother in law, Mike!!!

The Wedding...PART ONE!

As many of you already know, we traveled to Missouri a week or so ago for my baby sister's wedding.  We left our house to travel to MO on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 and returned home the following Tuesday.  Luckily I was smart enough to take that following Wednesday off work to recover/do laundry.

I may be a little biased, but my girls were probably the cutest flower girls that you have ever seen.  I'm going to let the pictures do the talking rather than type out a big long story.  Let's start at the beginning:

As with all our road trips, we try not to plan too much.  We leave when we leave and we get there when we show up.  I've learned traveling with these two, is always an adventure.  This particular morning we left our house around 11:00a.m.  At about 1:00p.m. it was time for a potty break and some lunch.  The girls had requested that we stop at the "checker restaurant".  No problem!  There is one at almost every exit.

The following evening was the rehearsal dinner.  It was kind of a chilly evening with a few rain drops.  Luckily the rehearsal went off without a hitch. 

Addison was practicing her "tah dah's" after she walked over the bridge.

(photo by Sherry Nuelle--Mother in law of the bride)

After the rehearsal, Sandy's future mother in law hosted the dinner at Joe Bacardi's.  I can't say that I was all that impressed with this place but the fellowship and camaraderie was great.  Sandy and Mike were nice enough to hold the girls for a minute so I could eat. 

Disclaimer:  If you have a week stomach, skip to the next photo...

The girls were extremely off their schedule and adding in the time difference it was well past 8:45 before they had dinner.  I blame myself for not prepping better and bringing snacks.  Addison was so hungry when she finally got some food that she was shoving things into her mouth.  It also was extremely warm in the restaurant.  Everyone had been served, but for some reason I still didn't have a plate.  Addison came over to sit on my lap.  She looked at me and said "Mom, I'm gonna puke".  I had about 3 seconds warning.  I grabbed my Mom's empty coffee cup and Addison let go.  Luckily we were able to grab another empty cup from another table and the mess was pretty minimal. 

The next day was the big day!!  The girls got up wanting to know if this was the day that they get to wear their princess dresses.  They were pretty excited. 

Love Sandy's shirt!

I don't know why, but I absolutely adore this picture of my 'lil sis and my 'lil peanut getting ready before the wedding.  Everyone says Alexis looks like a "mini Sandy".

A few moments before the ceremony was to start, I was able to capture my princesses with Grandpa.

Anyone who knows my goofball sister, knows this is a typical pose for many of her pictures.  I was lucky enough to capture it just seconds before she was to walk down the aisle.

Stay tuned for part two!  I'm weeding through almost 350 pictures.