My weekend

Since you are all dying to know what I've been up to this weekend, let me catch you up. I spent all day cleaning my house on Friday because we were having our neighbors from down the street over for the first time. They have 2 kids that are the same age as Einstein and Bam Bam. As you know, cleaning a house with small children at home, is no easy job. Seemed like Bam Bam un-did everything that I had just set in order. I am always so excited to have people over to my home until about 4:30 in the afternoon, when I start to feel the crunch of getting everything done. Then I wonder why we don't just meet at Mc Donalds. It somehow gets done, although not always to the standard that I would like, and I am always glad we made the effort. I made homemade pizza for our neighbors, and got a little help by buying pizza dough from a local grocery store that sells great pizza in their deli. I got that tip from some cooking show. It cut my prep time by a lot. I also made a pumpkin spice bundt cake, and this salad. Everything was really yummy, but the kids didn't care for the cake too much. Oh well, more for me. The kids played really well together, and I enjoyed getting to know our neighbors.

Dh and I had a fancy wedding to go to last night. I was really excited because it was a free date night. The wedding was at a fancy hotel. After the minister announced Mr. and Mrs. "so and so" for the first time, 2 minutes worth of fireworks went off. Did I mention the ceremony was out in the garden? It was a surprise to me too. The invitation didn't mention it, or I would have brought a sweater. I wore my black dress that I showed in an earlier post. Dh wore a suit. It was fun to get all dressed up. The reception was very nice. I had Escargot for the first time. It was one of the appetizers. It tasted like sauteed mushrooms. They had all sorts of delicious cheeses, shrimp cocktail (one of my favorites), and New York Strip steak. The diet went out the window. Come to think about it, the diet has been suspiciously absent ALL weekend. Back to the grind tomorrow. I will post a picture of dh and I, but we forgot our camera, so we had to use our cell phone. I was excited to dance, however, the dance floor was occupied by a 50ish aged "lady" (I use that term loosely) who was wearing one of the shortest dresses I've ever seen. She had her own little party going on by herself on the dance floor. No one else dared to join her. It was quite entertaining though. She seemed to really enjoy the open bar. She did dances I've never seen before.
Today, we went to church. I LOVE my church! I don't know if I've ever LOVED a church before. I know we are right where we are supposed to be right now. Our pastor is such a g: ood communicator and teacher. You can view the sermon here by Monday. I am always so blessed after a service. He pulls things out of the Bible in a way that really makes me think. It isn't the same old regurgitated stuff that one might normally hear. Then our neighbors came back over and we watched all the kiddos play outside. It was a gorgeous day. I think it was 75 degrees. I go to San Francisco this next Friday for a cousin's wedding. All of my dad's side of the family will be there. My sister is going with me and we are leaving the hubbies with the kids for 4 whole days. I haven't left Bam Bam yet. I am a blessed woman to know that dh can handle it. It helps that his parents live 3 minutes away. But he is great with them. Not many wives would be able to say that they are comfortable leaving their kids with their husbands for so long. I HAVE to get some new shoes before I go. I am a weird girl and do not love to buy shoes. I usually wear black flip flops all summer long, and then black or brown boots in the fall. I do have a few dress shoes too. I will let you know what I find.
All for now.

This is what "Happy" looks like to me.....

Apron on, cooking dinner, back door open where I can see all 3 boys playing sweetly with each other; their giggles almost drowning out the old-school Rich Mullins music I have blaring in the house. A cool breeze blowing in just as dh walks in early from work (early for him, anyway). He is smiling and looking devilishly handsome. He gives me a kiss and then heads straight outside to scoop up a youngen who squeals with delight in his daddy's arms. Baby is chasing dh, screaming, "duh--dee!" Dinner is now on and Einstein actually eats the okra I fixed and asks for seconds. Everyone helps clean up kitchen. Baby goes night-night, and we sit and watch, "Pete's Dragon." with blankets and pillows in the family room. Mommy gets some "brain dead" time at Target getting cookies for Lancelot's school carnival tomorrow, and somehow I end up in the makeup section, drooling over aisles of makeup. Back home now, movie is almost over, cinnamon cake cooking in oven (whipped that up right when I got home...also for carnival), and 30 quiet minutes to read new blogs. Life is good!

4 year old in the Hiiisssouuuse!

Today is Einstein's 4th bday. I can hardly believe he is getting so big. He had his party on Sunday at a local Pumpkin Farm. It was one of my favorite parties that our kids have ever had. It was very unique. During our hayride, we stopped and fed some cows bread. It was so funny to see the kid's reactions when that big, black tongue came out. EEEWWW. There was a great corn maze (see above pic) at the end of the party. The kids wanted to "lose" the adults...and they did. I thought we were going to have to have a rescue party come in after all us old folks. He has been a bit spoiled today, and is starting to act rotten. First, he got to go eat breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa at "The Pancake Store" which is a local breakfast place that isn't really called that, but Einstein thinks that's its name. Then daddy took him out for a special "Dude's Lunch." And tonight we are going for ice cream after dinner. Hopefully he'll sleep away the rotten.

On a different note, I am still doing Core, and doing it quite successfully. I am loosing a little each week. I love eating this way. It is healthy eating without feeling deprived. I give myself one cheat meal a week. I am not exercising though. I think I am going to freeze my gym membership for the umpteenth time. I just don't use it. I would do better to just use dh's home weights and walk or bike every now and then. The thought of dragging the kids to the gym and then working out there makes me want to crawl back in bed. Too much work. I know, laziness at its worst. But it is the truth. It has to be fun. I love riding, but it is hard to get out to do that too since we don't have a seat for baby on my bike.

Today mil came over and helped me get all fall clothes out of the attic. That was a job, as you most know. She is a work horse. I am exhausted. We ended up organizing each child's closet.

Sorry for the boring post. More later....

just cuz he's so cute.....

What should I look like?

I know it is long, but read it anyways..... Colossians 3 (taken from The Message) 1 -2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. 3 -4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. 5 -8And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. 9 -11Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ. 12 -14So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. I have been struggling with the question, "What does a true follower of Christ look like?" My mil was telling me about her Sunday service at her church, and how the above text was the focus. The pastor was talking about True Holiness. He was basically saying that too many times, Christians replace true holiness with made up religious rules. I admit, I've done this. It is easier to live by rules, than search out the real heart of Christ. Jesus was one of the most Anti-religious characters in the Bible. He was not put off by sinners, nor was he offended by them. He was constantly offended at the hypocritical religious leaders, though. I want to see the world through His eyes. I want to be salt and light to everyone around me. I want people to see Christ living in me, and be drawn to Him. I have never done this type of post. My devotional time is usually private. However, I wanted to write this one out.

my latest project

Here is a picture of the finished lamp. After spray painting it with this aged iron texture spray, I rubbed some brown wood stain over it to give it a brownish hue, since that is what color the shade was. I think it turned out great for $1.50 lamp, and $9.00 Walmart shade. What do you think?

This was my day --ramblings....

Sorry for the bullet point ramblings, but I don't have any catchy thing to write about today. Just a lot of little "life" things. *The scale is not moving. Ugghhh. I am on Core and have been since the Sucky diet ended. I have been reading the msg. board on the WW Core site, and everyone assures me that this is a way of eating healthier and not a diet. The weight willl follow. Several have told me that it took a couuple of weeks to start to see the scale move. And then, it just kept coming off. That is what I am hoping for. I love eating and cooking this way, so I'm not about to quit now. I HAVE to exercise on a more regular basis. I have a gym membership, but it is such a chore to get my 2 younger kids there. They like it ok, although I have been called on the speaker to come get Bam Bam who was exercising his demons out that day. I wish I could ride my bike more often. I could ride more if I got a baby seat for the back of the bike. I am terrified that I would fall with him on there. Any suggestions? Anyone use one of those trailers? * I was in Wal-Mart today looking through the clearance isle for a lamp shade. I will post a picture of my project soon. My sister found me a brass swing arm floor lamp at a garage sale for $1.50. It works, but has no shade. I also dont' like brass. So I am spray painting it with this textured paint. The shade is super cool and I got it for $9.00. Anyway, as I was looking, the baby wanted out of the cart because he saw a toy on the shelf that he had to have. I wouldn't let him out, so the fit started. Mind you, he is only 14 mo., but he is having fits that sound more like a 2 or3 year old. I ignored it, because I was almost done looking. I was probably only in that isle for 5 minutes total. This lady (SHREW) walked by and rolled her eyes at me while she said in a loud/RUDE voice, "Geez, give your child something to hold or something. That is ridiculous!" Then to make matters worse, an older guy walked by right at that moment, heard the whole thing, and gave me that "Bless your heart" look. I got all red in the face. It took all I had to talk myself out of chasing after that woman and asking her, point blank, what she thought I could do for a baby having a fit?? I realized that I could not do this since my 3 year old was looking sweetly up at me. I just swallowed my pride and finished my trip. I ended up carrying baby most of the way while I pused the cart with one hand. Pathetic, I know. I did NOT let the other two act like this. I guess it is training time. I so did not want to be the mom who lets the last one get away with more than the others. Gotta jet. DH just got home from band practice, and I am ready to watch some TV.

Gross dead fish and bike ride...

God gave me 3 boys but I am SOOOO not into bugs, frogs, and dirt. My inlaws took my 2 older boys fishing today at the park. Today is the first time they have ever caught anything. When they got home, they came running into the house yelling, "Mommy, look what we caught!!!" Then they shoved the Ziploc bag of dead fish in my face. They were so proud. I marveled at their fishing talents then discreetly made sure the dead, stinky fish were going with grandma and grandpa.

Then, dh wanted me to go on a bike ride with him. We enjoy doing this together, but can't very often without kids. Well inlaws said they would sit with kids, so we were off. Dh is really into this now. I am proud of him. It is a great way for him to stay in shape and often takes the boys with him. We plan to get a basket seat for bam bam for my bike, and make it a regular family thing. I haven't ridden in so long, and dh was determined to make me "push through the pain." I tried my best to keep up with him. At one point I thought I was going to be sick. He said this was my body lying to me to get me to stop. Once I pushed through that, I felt great. At the end of our ride, a 50 something year old guy rode up with the total biking outfit. I was breathing pretty heavy and feeling strong until he said he had been out since 7am and was just finishing a 98 mile ride. We did 13 in 58 minutes. We did stop a few times for drinks and air. Here is the picture of me right after the ride. I look like I am in pain.

Mama needs some help up in heera!!!!

Dh just got 2 older boys to bed, baby went down about 45 minutes earlier, and I just got done cleaning the kitchen after dinner. I am pooped. When I say pooped, I mean mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. I don't know what is going on with bam bam (14 mo. old) but he just seems to go from happy to screaming in a millisecond, and then he screams until you figure out what exactly he is wanting. It doesn't matter how productive my day has been, at 5:00 pm, all HELL breaks lose at my house. Dh doesn't get home till 6:30, usually, so we don't eat until around 6:45. The baby acts like he is ready for bed at 5, but I can't put him down then. He has had to adjust to just one nap a day in order to be up in enough time to pick up Lancelot from school at 3. I love to express my creativity in the kitchen, and have this vision in my head of how it could or should be. I always try to hold off tv until that time period, so the kids are out of my hair (except baby who is usually screaming at my feet). But even then, I play referee for the two oldest who are playing ninjas WHILE they watch tv, and inevitably, one of them gets kicked in the head, but what do you expect when you are playing ninjas???? How do you like that run on sentence? I am so tired, I'm not even going back to correct it. I have burned more things in the last 6 mo., than in my whole life. I never get the table set like I want it; it always looks so thrown together. Dh and I always said we wanted meal time to be a time of communicating and connecting, but I my nerves are literally so shot by the time I sit down, that I don't even taste my food. I just sit there thinking about how long it is going to take me to clean the kitchen. Dh has bed duty after dinner, so I don't mind doing clean up, usually. We have everyone clear the table for me, which helps. Dh thinks I should just feed baby early and put him down at 7. I guess he is right. I want us all to eat together, but it just isn't working right now during his phase. DEAR GOD, I HOPE THIS IS JUST A PHASE. You would think that because I have gone through this 2 times already, I would know that it IS just a phase, but I don't remember going through this. On top of that, it is such a beating to get my kids to eat their food. I am no short order cook, and I am committed to eating healthy meals. I don't make them eat salad yet, but they do get the same things we eat. My oldest prayed that I would make more pizza and french fries. hahaha. Any advice to get through this would be appreciated. I am starting to dread mealtimes, which breaks my heart.

Need new clothes

musings of a housewife had this great blog on fashion must haves. I really need to get serious about updating my very shabby (but not chic), dated wardrobe. For the past 6 years I have not really wanted to spend much money or attention on clothes because I knew I was still going to be getting pregnant and losing baby weight for a few more years. Now that I am out of that phase, I feel like getting my wardrobe in order. I need to have appropriate outfits for the different occasions in my life. I still have small children with sticky hands, so I will probably not spend a lot of money on expensive, impractical clothes. I did find a great little black dress at Kohls and it is machine washable. I thought it was going to be hard to find a dress that looked good, but this one hides what needs to be hidden and accentuates my curves.



This dress makes me feel a little like Audrey Hepburn. Now I just need the right jewelry and shoes. Any ideas????

I am going to be seriously cleaning out my closet in the near future. If it is stained (like most of my clothes) or doesn't make me feel good when I am wearing it, it goes to goodwill. I may be left with 5 items, but this will FORCE me to buys something new to replace it. When I am out I may see a beautiful sweater or something but think to myself, "I don't need that because I have that one black sweater in my closet all ready." However, I never wear the one in my closet because it is itchy and the sleeves are too short. Can anyone relate???

Hallelujah the diet is over!!!

Well, the 7 day diet was over yesterday. I had dessert 2 nights in a row because we were at someone's house. And then last night we were at MIL's house and she made sandwiches. So even with the deviations, I still lost 5 solid pounds. Not bad. The last 3 days of the diet were totally easy. I will probably do it one more time before my cousin's wedding in San Francisco. I think the best part is that this diet helped me to mentally jump the eating bad hurdle. Now I am back to eating off the Core food list on Weight Watchers which is just no processed food, and lots of whole foods. The Core diet seems like heaven compared to the strictness of the other one, so I feel really confident. I am also trying to drink all of my water each day. I tasted a diet DP the other day and it tasted so gross. How did I drink those as much as I did?