Recycling

My darling son Dominic is actually a little bit of a germaphobic. After having learned about recycling at school, he has decided now months later that he doesn't want to drink out of water bottles because other people used them. I tried to explain to him that it is melted down with other bottles in high temperatures that kill germs and made into new plastic bottles. He doesn't want to hear about it. He is right and I am wrong. What shall I do with him. LOL.

FFF Black and White

Dominic loves his baby sister

Gracie Noelle 12 1/2 months Old

I thought I would jump on the bandwagon with Mr. Linky and the Favorite Photo For Friday. Of course I am doing this a day late. You can get all the details at Kiss the Frog 4 Me .

Help!!!!!!

How in the world do you stop kids from tattling? If I hear one more time, He's looking at me, I am going to lose it. They did it constantly on vacation too. I know they are cute and all but this has got to stop before this momma goes bonkers!!!!! I welcome your advice.

Seeing old Friends

One of the evenings that we were home we were able to connect with my best friend from high school. Deb has an adorable little boys named Ethan. Kiarrah had a great time playing with him as did the boys. We went to this awesome Kids Kingdom Wooden Playground in town. What a mess they all were when we left. What I love about my friendship with Deb is that when we see each other it is like we never had space in between our visits. Please keep her and her son in prayers. They are going through a divorce.

Bathtime Bliss

I thought I would take a break from the mundane housecleaning and share more of the happenings in our household with you. Wednesday I usually do a heavier cleaning which is a little funny because in the evenings on Wednesday I have a houseful of teenage boys in my house for a Bible Study that my husband teaches. They couldn't care a less what my house looks like. Lucky for me they always clean up after themselves and are very respectful. Believe me, if they weren't I would be handing them the vacuum. LOL.

Anyways, if you remember a few months back I wrote about Gracie hating baths. She would scream horribly during them sounding like a cat in heat. While we were on vacation we had a change of point of view. Me Ma gave her a nice bath in the tub with a cool whip bowl and a bath puff. She was unsure at first but handled it after she settled down. A few days before that we had gone to Lake Michigan. We had given her a cool whip bowl with water in it to play with in the sand. My mom repeated that activity in the tub and she had fun. Now baths are pleasant. In fact I gave her one this morning with Rey's help. He played with her while I was cleaning up. She used a bowl and her little squirt fish.

2nd 1St Birthday Party

While we were in Indiana, we threw Gracie another 1st Birthday party with all of our family. My sister has a huge park size backyard with a pool so we invited everyone over for a cookout and party. My brother in law made some yummy BBQ Pork and we had hot dogs and burgers for the kids who refuse to eat that. My cousin Robyn made delicious Mac and Cheese, Grandma made a Pistachio salad and brought homemade dill pickles (they are too die for. I have the recipe just need to try and make them sometime). We also had a hash brown casserole that I made and a fresh fruit salad mom made. Aunt Karen brought garlic toast , a cheese spread( I need to get that recipe) and a pasta salad. Jaimee brought a veggie pizza appetizer that is made on crescent rolls. There were other things but this is just food that people don't seem to make in Jersey. They are comfort foods to me. I love good home cooking. I just wish I had kids that loved to eat.

We got Gracie a chocolate cake that had rubber duckies on the top of it and she got her own little cake to dive into. You should have seen the expression on her face when we put it and her on a towel. I don't think she knew what to do first. She thoroughly enjoyed it and her diapers for the next few days proved it. I never saw so many shades of green and blue. We had a tough time keeping Mindi's Dog Halley away. Of course Gracie wanted to share with her too.

She got some really nice clothes for the fall. She will be quite the little fashion plate.

The kids enjoyed swimming and playing with their cousins. I loved catching up with everyone.

Gloomy Monday

Well, we are back from a wonderful refreshing vacation. We spent a lot of time with family and friends and had a lot of outdoor fun. I wish I could say I feel de-stressed but as soon as we pulled back into Jersey I got a knot in the pit of my stomach. It looked so dirty, ugly and crowded. You have to remember that I was looking at green all week and open space. It was so weird to look out of my parents window and see our car parked out front with maybe a handful more of cars. You didn't have to circle around a hundred times trying to find a parking space. Traffic to them is 10 cars at a light. I miss the BLUE skies, green lawns, hearing the crickets at nights, and just everyone being friendly. Everywhere you go people say hello to you and smile. I have already gotten so harden by the East. I seem to rarely smile when I am out and about. I realized it a lot while on this trip. I think I was more aware of it because people would smile at me and I would realize that I wasn't. I must have looked like such a mean grumpy person. I really am not that way.
I am sorry that this post is such a downer. I had decided a long time ago that I wanted to be completely really in this blog and not hold back. I seem to wear my emotions on my sleeve anyway.
The kids have said several times that they miss their MeMa and Pop Pop. In fact Rey cried several times on the trek home because he was sad and missed them. Kiarrah too. She said it again this morning. I miss them too. I miss all of my family. I need to get out of this funk.
I will post more later hopefully with lots of fun stories and pictures from our adventure.

From the Bend

Hey, Hope everyone is doing good. I have a few minutes on my moms computer while Gracie is napping and the kids are terrorizing the neighborhood and thought I would say hello. We are having an awesome time at my mom and dads. The kids are outside from sun up to sun down getting a lot of fresh air. It has been really good for them but has taken alittle adjusting. Rey has been raging alittle and I think it has to do with change. He is having a good time but we are out of routine.
Today we took the kids to the zoo and tonight my sister is going to watch them while Jim and I go out to dinner with my grandparents and parents. Yea!!! Free Date night. My kind of date.
I will be sure to post tons of pictures when I get home.
BTW LB I got your email and was so extremely excited. For some reason I can't respond from this computer but will when I get home. Would love to catch up with you. I had tried to locate you once before.
TTFN

A Dominic Funny

Kiarrah really enjoys playing store with Dominic. She is quite funny and it doesn't last for long because Dom hates to be bossed around around. The other day Kiarrah asked Dominic if he would play beauty store with her and he just wasn't in the mood. He didn't want to upset her so instead of saying no he told her " Let's just pretend your store is closed today" HAHA

Ode to Life

Finally everyone that was sick is on the mend. Dominic has been complaining of a sore throat this evening so we shall see what tomorrow brings. With all of his sensory issues just getting a little hoarse big time bothers him. Speaking of Dominic, I can't believe how big my little man is getting. He is so tall. Where did my baby boo go? He is so siked about our trip to Indiana. He always has such a great time playing outside and seeing his cousin Sean. He also goes nuts over the dogs. The poor kiddo loves dogs but with his allergies and Asthma, no doggies for us.

Tomorrow is my guys 40th Birthday. I must say he still looks hot for being 40. I am so blessed with an awesome man of God that loves us so much. We might not be rich money wise but we are in love. I love him even more than that day we met back in 1991 when he was cheating off of my Scattergories Game card. We had gazed into each other's eyes and it was love. What is funny is the fact that still to this day we love playing board games. Anyways enough mush for now and I want to keep this G Rated Happy Birthday Babe. I love you my Pooh Bear!!!! Just promise me that you won't go through a midlife crisis and get a motorcycle and change me in for 2 twenty year olds.

FFF a Day Late

Birthday fun at Taylor Park. It is nice to go to a park where the swings do not have spray painted graffiti on them.

Mr. Handsome.

Quiet Saturday

Well, Baby girl is still not doing well. She has a double ear infection now. Does it ever end? I just feel so bad for her. Today is going to be a quiet day. The baptisms were called off and will be next weekend instead. Jim just took the three older kids to see a movie. Now the house is quiet so Gracie can get some sleep. When the kids are home, they just don't let her sleep because they are so noisy and always fighting.
I am going to work on some INO kids crafts and clean this house up some more.
Hope everyone has an awesome weekend.

HiHo HiHO off to the Dr we go....... AGAIN

I will be off to take the baby back to the Dr. today. She is just not herself and was up A LOT last night. I am totally lacking in the sleep department even though I headed to bed early last night. She is now so congested and I think her head hurts because she keeps pulling on her hair.
I am really discouraged because tomorrow is a huge deal. It is the church Baptisms up at the lake. It is supposed to be an awesomely fabulous day of fun along side the joy of the baptisms. I want to be a part of it but if she is still under the weather I can have her out in the heat all day and around people when her resistance is low. Please pray that she gets rid of all this gooey gunk.