Day 64...My Firstborn

My firstborn in nine.  I am still amazed by how quickly time goes by.  This boy grabbed my heart even before he was born and he holds it still.  In so many ways, I've grown up with him.  It seems like yesterday I was a scared nineteen year old looking into the face of this tiny baby.  He is no longer a tiny baby.  He is an amazingly smart and funny child.  In honor of his special day, I'm posting more than one picture (and, yeah, I didn't take the one I'm in...)

 

Day 61, 62 and 63

Day 61...

This little girl loves her daddy very much.  I'm not sure what this deep conversation was about, but they were both riveted...

Day 62...

The boys loves his dog.  Her eyes look a little crazy but she's really very sweet...and a little slow, if you know what I mean.  And she loves her boy...

Day 63...

Day 60...Her First Tricycle

For Christmas, we got Baby Girl a tricycle.  She isn't tall enough for it yet.  So her brothers push her around on it.  It is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.  Then they leave it parked in the middle of the patio.  That part isn't so sweet, but, hey, kids are like that sometimes.

Day 59...Lovely View

Sometimes I'm not so fond of the city in which I live.  When I look out my back door and see this...

The number of plastic bags stuck to stuff in this town is ridiculous.  It makes me sad. 

Day 58...Books, Books, Books

This morning I caught Oldest Kiddo shoving stuff into his backpack.  It was obvious that his bag had way too much stuff in it, so I made him stop and take some stuff out.  He decided he could live without these books for the day...

Day 57...Chicken Pot Pie

Today, I attempted Chicken Pot Pie for the first time.  I used this recipe from the February issue of Southern Living.  The store didn't have any leeks so I subbed in a couple stalks of celery, a shallot and a bit of garlic.  It turned out ahhh-mazing.  Look, mine even looks fairly similiar to theirs...

Day 56...More Middle Kiddo Style

Middle Kiddo has quite the unique style.  As proof of this, look...

The kid is wearing a pearl-snap western shirt and wranglers (items generally worn with boots) with Converse sneakers featuring the Grinch.  I don't dress this kid.  He does this himself.  At least he has the confidence to pull it off...in other words, he specifically told me, "Mom, I make this look good."

Day 55...Toy Box

My hubby is super handy with tools and stuff.  Many moons ago, he built me a table.  He built Baby Girl a toddler bed.  Most recently, he built me a toy box.  (I say "me" because it will not leave my house with the children because, um, hello, it's mine.)

Day 54...One Big Skillet

I am so super excited.  I got a new skillet.  It is a 15" cast iron skillet.  When I use it on my stove, I'll have to turn on two burners.  Yep, it's that big. 

Day 53...Right at Home

Sunny has made herself right at home over the last few days.  She's a cat so basically she does what she wants.  She does a lot of this...

Day 52...Self-Portrait

Everyone needs a good self-portrait every now and then...

Day 51...What I'm Reading

I'm currently reading On Writing by Stephen King.  It's fantabulous!



On the subject of Stephen King, I also highly recommend The Green Mile.  Awesome read!

Day 50...Newest Family Member

No, I did not have another child.  The kiddos and I took a trip down the Humane Society while Hubby was out doing something or another.  We came home with this...

Her name was Sunset but I think that's kind of a dumb name (sorry, if you have a pet with that name, then I think it's lovely and I just didn't want to steal your idea).  So, her name is Sunny.

Day 49...The Zoo

We visited the zoo today.  The kiddos loved it...

**Please note that these are not my actual children.  My kids are slightly less hairy.

Day 48...Mad Face

I really don't know what he's mad about.  His brother probably did something horribly mean to him.

Day 47...Cute Face

Isn't this just the cutest little face?!  Um, yeah, just don't look too closely at her nose :)

Day 46...Love

The oldest kids have gotten to an age where they find me embarrassing.  Apparently, yelling "I love you" after them when they get out of the car at school is not cool.  So, flashing the peace sign at each other has become our secret "Love ya" sign....

Day 45....My Little Valentine

My little Valentine really likes fruit cups...

Day 44...Freckles

Doesn't he have the most adorable spinkling of freckles on his little nose?  And let's not even get started on those eyelashes...

Day 43...Blondie

I really love the light behind Baby Girl's hair in this pictures.  Makes her look a little more angelic than she really is :)

Day 42...Oh, Who Knows...

Who the heck knows why I took this picture.  I was bored waiting on water to boil, so I got out the camera.  I know the excitement in my life has you all jealous.

Day 41...Look, Mom!

Middle kiddo is a little comedian.  We were outside playing and he suddenly yells, "Look, Mom!  I'm missing a tooth."  Goofy child lost the tooth like a week ago, but it still made my heart stop for a split second.

Day 40...Almost 9

This boy is almost nine...he reminds me of that on a daily basis...

Day 39...Pretty Red Coat

Sometimes Baby Girl isn't a happy camper...but at least she's sports some classic fashions...

Day 38...She Loves Her Bubbas

Baby Girl is a sweetie pie.  She loves her brothers more than anything in this world.  On the way to the playground this morning, I snapped some pictures of her holding their hands...

Day 37...Backyard Baseball

Just to warn you, I'm still having fun with the edits.  Today I took this picture of Oldest Kiddo playing baseball in the backyard.  He would toss the ball up in the air and swing at it.  Watching him swing and miss (sometimes swing and hit) reminded me of that Kenny Rogers song...

Day 36...Random Old Pole

Today, Oldest Kiddo had his last basketball game of the season.  It was at another location about an hour from where we live.  Along the way, I got bored so I started taking pictures of random things.  I thought this one turned out pretty nice...

**Obviously I had a little fun with the edits on this one.  I love Picnik!  This particular photo reminds me of something I would find in an old stash of my grandfather's pictures.

Day 35...Look Mom! A Trophy!

Middle kiddo played his last basketball game of the season tonight.  After the game, the team had its pizza party and trophy thing.

Day 34...Cold Day

The kiddos are now out of school not because of the snow but because it is so darn cold.  We are an outdoor kind of family so boredom is quickly setting in.  The kiddos have been playing video games, but even that is starting to bore them...

Day 33...It Snowed

Overnight, we got a lovely little snow....about an inch, maybe.  Of course, everything closed down.  But the mountains looked pretty...

Day 32...How We Hold the Couch Down

This is our three year old miniature pinscher, Ella.  She holds down the couch for us.  She also is really good at barking obnoxiously.  We love her...



Day 31...Special Vase

When hubby and I got married, we received a vase as a gift.  It's crystal and not very big.  For a lot of years, it sat on a shelf and collected dust.  When Oldest Kiddo was in kindergarten, his teacher had the class make flowers for Mother's Day.  One Veteran's Day, Middle Kiddo brought home a little flag on a wooden stick.  Oldest Kiddo also made me a butterfly.  When Middle Kiddo was in kindergarten, I volunteered in his classroom and they made me a flower.  Over the years, all of these things have ended up in that vase we got as a wedding gift.  It might not look like much, but it's a very special vase...

Day 30...What's For Dinner

Tonight for dinner I tried out a new recipe for roast.  It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself...

Day 29...Pretty Toes

Today was a big day in Baby Girl's life.  She got her toenails painted for the first time.  They are a lovely purple.  She is very excited and shows off her pretty toes to anyone who will look...

Day 28...Ironing

It's my least favorite chore.  I'm a serious burn hazard.  (I can burn myself on a cold oven.)  Ironing and I have never been good friends.  But I do have a pretty ironing board cover...

Day 27...Favorite Books

When I was a kid, one of the first series I read was the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  My favorite in the series was the first book, Little House in the Big Woods.  I used to have the whole set but I'm not sure where they've gotten off to.  So I decided today that I would get the first book and later I'll buy the others...

Day 26...Nightlight

My kiddos have this cool nightlight in their bathroom.  It's a underwater scene with a light that gradually changes colors.  I've always liked that it isn't an overwhelming amount of light at night.  Anyways, it was kind of fun experimenting with the different settings on my camera.  Here's one of my faves...



Day 25...Sunflower Seeds

My hubby loves him some sunflower seeds.  Seriously, he sits in his chair and crunches on the things every freakin' night.  Baby girl loves them too.  The other day I discovered that one of the local grocery stores sells them in bulk.  Yep, that's right.  I can now go buy sunflower seeds by the pound.  My hubby is a happy man...

Day 24...Gotta Love Organization

Right after Christmas, I got these new storage containers for my kitchen.  I loved them so much that I went and got another set of them.  Today, I organized the kids' snacks into the containers.  The snacks now take up way less space and are much easier for the kiddos to see...

Day 23...What I'm Cooking Up

Last Thanksgiving, I decided to attempt brining the turkey.  It worked out so well that I've decided to give it a while with the chicken we're having for dinner.  Here's the flavor combo I'm experiementing with: brown sugar, thyme, rosemary, sage and a bit of red pepper flakes...oh, and a bay leaf...

Day 22...My Child of Many Faces

This one is always making faces when I try to take pictures of him.  Little does he know, all those funny faces are more fun to share...

Day 21...Don't Give the Baby Chocolate

Or more specifically, don't give the baby chocolate covered espresso beans.  She'll end up looking like this...

Day 20...A Unique Style

Middle kiddo has quite a unique style.  For example, these are the shoes he wears for basketball...

Day 19...This Child

This child can make me laugh and cry.  She can turn my living room from sparkling clean to tornado alley after a F5 storm has hit.  She can turn a hard-headed, tough guy into putty in her hands.  And she can do all of this in about 3 minutes...

Day 18...Back to School

I took the fall semester off because there was entirely too much chaos in our world.  (We moved twice last year.)  Today, I go back to school.  My trusty ol' backpack has a hole in it so I am using my back-up.  I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate since my school's football team got their butts handed to them by the Razorbacks.  But, truth is that I'm always gonna be an Arkansas girl...