An Award!

I've been nominated for the Sugar Doll award by the lovey Arley! Now I am to share ten things about myself....hmmmm...

1. I play the cello, flute, and bassoon. I wish I could play the cello like Jacqueline DuPre.

2. I used to be a nanny in a suburb of Chicago. I was there for a year but before that I had babysat for them and the rest of their family whenever they came up to their cabin in a small town about 15 minutes from here. On the night before I was suppose to leave the mother accused me of having an affair with her husband thus ruining a close relationship of more than three years. And no, we did NOT have an affair.

4. I'm married with three children, which is pretty obvious if you've looked at this blog.

5. None of my children were planned and were in fact a HUGE surprise. Each one more of a surprise than the last, which is funny because we should have known after then first one how babies were made!

6. After the birth of my first child I had a nasty time with post-partum depression. Thankfully my husband forced me to the doctor's office and she immediately started me on a treatment. With my next two pregnancies she has been right on top of the problem and although I have had some rough days I've not had a repeat like the first. My doctor and my husband saved my life.

7. I love to knit. My grandma taught me the basic garter stitch when I was very young. Knitting is a stress reliever for me, plus I love to make things for people. My next big step in knitting is going to be socks. Socks are made with 3 to 5 needles depending on the pattern. I am determined to master those darn socks!

8. I love to read. I recently found books written by the Yarn Harlot. She writes about knitting. So now I have a way to combine my two favorite things! I am also reading 3 books about women interned in Japanese internment camps during World War 2.

9. I also love Tudor history. Love to read any books on the subject and will argue my case for Anne Boleyn and why she is not the evil women that everyone made her out to be.

10. This may make me absolutely crazy (literally) but I wouldn't mind having a fourth child. Keep in mind that Gavin is 5 months old and DOES NOT sleep through the night. One more...and then I am done. DONE!
I hope you enjoyed those 10 little things about me. I nominate everyone one of the lovely people with fantastic blogs that I follow. I can't wait to hear about you! And Arley, thank you for nominating me and writing such nice things. I am so happy to have you in my life even if it is just in Facebook every day! You amaze me with your strength!

Irene's First Hair-Cut and Other Tales

Irene got her very first hair cut the other day. Yes, she is just two and a half months away from her third birthday but my baby girl has never gotten her hair cut. Her hair has always been very sparse and only a couple of times have I just trimmed her bangs to keep them out of her eyes. We were shopping at Wal-Mart and stopped at the salon. Irene was afraid of the cape and refused to wear it. Other than that she was very good. The picture above is of Irene the day we had to drive to Traverse City for Gavin's doctor appointment. She looked adorable in her skirt and with her hair braided. During the car ride she decided that she did not like her tights and proceeded to rip a hole in them. Then she took out the braids in her hair. I was not happy. I had to take her into the doctor's office looking like that!
Before we left for Traverse City, Henry and Irene had been playing upstairs in Irene's room. At one point Henry came downstairs and told Mark that they had opened a window. Mark didn't think much of it at the time. We live in an old house with old windows. And the windows should have been locked.
As we started to get the kids seat belted in the car Mark glanced at the side yard and noticed toys in the yard. Apparently the kids really did get the window opened and had been tossing toys and papers out of it. That night Mark checked out the windows. The kids are no longer able to get them opened.

My pretty girl with her new hair cut!
Gavin weighs 14 pounds now!
Our MOPS group is selling chocolate crosses for Easter. It raises money send members of our group to retreats.

Well...I've been sitting here not writing. My birthday is Thursday and as a gift my mom gave me seasons 1 and 2 on DVD of Life On Mars. Life On Mars the good UK version not the joke American version. I've been watching the first episode with my husband, he has never seen it before! So I must end now. Cheers!

Wow...

My husband surprised the heck outta me tonight in a very good way. We had a rough day with the kids. They were beyond crazy. After finally getting them in bed my husband turned on a song he found on YouTube. He said that he had been looking for it for days and that every time he hears it on the radio he thinks of me. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?! We had a rough six months and yet there is no one I'd rather go through it all with than Mark. Granted there are days that I could happily run him over and nights that I put up the "cootie pillow" between us in bed, but he is my rock. Always.

Here is the song...


I've been feeling so yucky from this cold and having him say this to me was probably the greatest thing ever.

I love you, Marky! And you're still my one.

Gavin's First Taste of Cereal

I have caught the nasty cold that the children had so I have not felt up to blogging about anything. However, I wanted to share pictures of Gavin's first taste of cereal. He enjoyed it and laughed a lot while mostly pushing the cereal out of his mouth with his tongue. He is four months old now and has gotten so big. Unfortunately he still doesn't sleep through the night. He is up at least twice. I am not sure what to do for/with him to get him to sleep.

Laughing, laughing while oozing cereal :)

My Knitting Blog

I've started a blog about my knitting projects. There is not much on there yet but I am hoping to add more. I am hoping that fellow knitters will join me and share their knowledge. I am a beginner and there are fifty million projects I want to do but I am sooooo in need of help. There used to be a Stitch-n-Bitch group that met here in town but I don't know if they still do. I'd love a group like that!I've also joined the knitting Olympics which is explained on the other blog.
So come join me and share your projects and any tips/ideas are greatly appreciated!

And This Is Where I Knit

Valentine Goodies

On Friday Irene, Gavin and I dropped off Henry at school and went grocery shopping. After we stopped at the variety store that sells all kinds of crafting items and yarn. I was looking for some yarn and needles for a new project I am working on. We made out well there and on the way back to the car we passed a candy store. I am not sure how long it has been there, since the summer I am sure. We have never been in it...how is that possible? We stopped in and checked out all the candy. They had these adorable mice. Kinda pricey but too cute to pass up. They are made up out of two milk chocolate covered cherries with slivered almonds for the ears. I think they are so cute! I bought one for Hen and one for Roo. They assured me that they were delicious. Mommy got the big peanut butter cup :)

I'd like to thank God

I'd like to thank God that the children and I made it home safely last night. We had to take Mark back to Grand Rapids after having him home this weekend. We actually had a great although lazy weekend. We drove down on Saturday afternoon to pick up Mark. The time we were suppose to be there got pushed back two hours which made me a little cranky since I wanted him home NOW! We left Grand Rapids right away instead of staying for dinner. We stopped at Brann's Steakhouse about half an hour down the road. Their sign said "immediate seating" but they lied! We had to wait about 15 minutes. Of course 15 minutes with three kids is 15 minutes too long. After we were seated the kids were pretty decent. Henry order the children's steak and ate it all. Irene had mac and cheese and hardly ate any of it. Mark and I were actually able to eat and enjoy our meal. After dinner Gavin and I popped into Barnes and Noble while Mark, Henry, and Irene went to Toys-R-Us. Then we met back up and finished the hour and half trip home.
Sunday...what did we do? Not much. It was a lazy day. We were all kinda pooped out and relaxed at home. I really can't recall our Sunday...am I getting old? What did we do????
Monday Henry had school. It was nice to be able to take him in. My friend Ann's sister usually takes him in for me. Her daughter is in his class and she knows how difficult it is to take three kids in and out of the car. Plus I needed to talk to Henry's teacher about school next fall. I signed Irene up for the three year olds class that meets twice a week. I wasn't sure if I should sign Henry up for preschool again or if he should do the young fives class at the public school. He is the youngest student this year in the four year olds preschool program. I'll spare you all the details of where his birthday falls verses appropriate age for kindergarten and blah blah...basically his teacher and I decided that Henry will do the four year olds preschool program again in the fall. Then when he starts kindergarten he'll be older instead of the youngest student AND he'll have more experience with numbers and letters and should be at the head of the class instead of behind. He'll also be in the morning class which has more students in it. He'll have less one-on-one with the teacher and get a more accurate classroom setting. Right now he is one of six students and while I think the one-on-one time is just what he needs for his first time in school I think it will help him if this next year his class size is larger. Does all that make sense? It does mean we'll be paying two tuitions every month but I feel it is worth every penny.
On Monday we (or rather Mark) did our taxes. It went surprisingly well. Not getting unemployment for all though months, and having to sell some of my jewelry just to get by, may be made up for this tax time. And of course having Gavin...my little tax deduction ;) According to Babytalk magazine 2009 was a better year to have a child because of the higher deduction amount given. Quite frankly...I feel we deserve any and all money we get back. We had to beg and plead to get what little assistance we did and we never received unemployment and there were times when I thought Gavin would be born on the side of the road since we wouldn't have had enough money for gas to get to the hospital. Whew! Those were some tough months!
Tuesday morning we knew Mark would probably be going back to work. I made breakfast for us all and then Mark and Henry took the car for an oil change. Henry got a kick out of it since you don't get out of the car. Mark rolled down his window so he could see and hear everything. When they were done they picked up Irene, Gavin and me and we went for a little ride around town. After lunch we packed everyone up and heading back to Grand Rapids. We went to the mall and discovered that we forgot the stroller. We had to pay $7.50...YES $7.50 to rent a stroller!!!! What an obscene amount of money for a stroller rental! I don't feel we spent enough time at the mall to get our $7.50 out of that stroller. We did have a delicious dinner at a place called On The Border. Mark and I had a very good burrito made with shredded beef. Henry had a corn dog and ate the entire thing. I was very pleased since he eats like a bird and he was so well-behaved. Irene...yeah...the usual.
We drove Mark to his truck after dinner. I was starting to get worried about the road conditions. The weather had been wet and kinda snowy and it was already dark and cold. And this brings me to where I started this post...thanking God that we made it home. The freeway had not been sanded/salted and it was slick. I was going very slow as was the car in front of me. Then a tanker truck decided to pass me. Yeah...not my idea of fun! Then cars in front of us started jumping on their breaks. Cars everywhere in ditches, crashed into each other. Police cars and tow trucks lit up the road with their lights. I was frightened and we were creeping down the road at 25 miles an hour instead of the posted 70. I called Mark (yes I know I shouldn't have been driving and talking!) he said to turn around and come back to his truck. We made it back to him and we all went to Toys-R-Us. Why the toy store? Basically to amuse the kids and give the road commission time to get out and sand the roads. By the time we left again it was almost two hours later but the roads, while not good, were better than they had been. I still drove slowly and it was 10:30pm when we got home but we made it safely.
The kids are all overtired this morning and Henry actually told me he was too tired to go to school. Since he loves going to school I can only assume he really is too tired. I am tired too and wouldn't mind not having to go out in the snow. I guess we'll wait and see.
Even though our weekend with daddy ended a bit dramatically we did have a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.