Monday, November 30, 2009

Jentzen: "Look Mom...there's Daddy's work!"

Me: (with the knowledge that Nathan has never worked in this area, and he's currently a student) "What place?"

Jentzen: "Right there!"

Me: "That blue building with the yellow sign?"

Jentzen: "Yeah, Daddy works there!"

Best Buy...Jentzen thinks Nathan works at Best Buy. No other comment necessary.

Sunday, November 29, 2009


Little sad faces are the cutest aren't they? She was a little upset over the malfunction of her shirt...see the button.....

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

My baby girl turned 1 yesterday! It is quite shocking to me that one year has gone by and I still feel like she was just born. I have no words for it. Watching her grow has been the best, but at the same time I would go back to the beginning. Even the middle of the night feedings...I would do it all again in a heartbeat, knowing I would get to have a newborn again. Keira is the sweetest thing...I can't wait to see her personality come out in the next year...Take a trip down memory road with me...you might need a tissue (well at least I do!!)

Sleeping great from one, and she has ever since...she was my earliest sleep through the nighter at 8 weeks.All the kids were enamored with her...they would always make sure they knew where she was and what she was doing.
And then when she actually started responding...they really had fun.
The older 3 would constantly compete on how many times they could make her smile.

I love the faces they pull when they don't know they're doing it!
Obviously she played her first card game of her life in the first year!
Sitting tall, chicken legs and all :)

Almost a crawl but not quite yet.
And then she was off...and has been cruising ever since. She is a quick one. She tucks her head down and goes as fast as she can every where she goes. The head down thing has gotten her a few bumps on the head!And again what would 1 year of life be without a little cleaning?


And the famous Oatmeal Fudge Bar was a must have!
She, as well as the other 3 have found a new favorite activity. Keira jumps in and the kids zoom her around the house in her little wagaon. Keira is now fully walking, still crawling if she's really in a hurry. I have a new little neice, Kate, who was born a few weeks ago. It's wild to look at her and then Keira and think that all that happens in one year. What will the next year bring? Who knows, but I can't wait to find out!


Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Minnesota Fun

We wouldn't truly be Minnesotan until we have been to the park when winter coats and hats are needed. When little fingers get so cold that monkey bars are not possible. No matter how cold it is outside, they still want to go to the park. And if I really let them have a say in it...they would be out there in their swimsuits running through the sprinkler at 40F. I wish I was adventurous as they are...we lose some of that in our old age. My trick is to tell them we are going early enough in the day when I'm not tired and before I have looked to really see how cold it is. Then they hold me to it. I told them, I don't have a choice.

So here we are, hats and all!!

Monday, November 23, 2009

The kids LOVE to make their own sandwiches. So they all (minus Quaid...he doesn't like to get his fingers messy) went at it one day. See the difference in quality? I found it somewhat interesting. Granted Ava is a year older, but still, it isn't easy to spread peanut butter on soft bread. So the above is Ava...below is Jentzen...

I think it's because Ava is a girl! Her lucky husband is going to have perfect PB&Js!!
And poor Quaid in the background...he was a little upset because he was making a turkey and cheese sandwich and he ripped his bread a little bit and it wasn't "perfect" so he didn't want to eat it.

So I guess I see my misson...lots of time with Jentzen in the kitchen...I want my boys to be able cook!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Who's Who?




Lately everyone has been saying how much Keira looks like Ava. At the start I didn't think she looked anything like Ava. I guess I have been noticing it a bit lately. So I thought I would pull out some pictures and see.

Pictures way back from Ava when she was 1 is much easier to find now that I have gone through and organized all my pics. They are now divided into pics of each kid and then further by each year. I decided that I don't scrapbook, never print any pictures off, and don't add many of them to my blog, I wanted something for the kids to have. So Shutterfly saved my day. I am printing off photobooks of every year for each kid. So I have done 2008 so far and am going to move back. So now each kid will have a whole series of books...one for each year. And for those crazy scrapbookers out there....WAY CHEAPER and WAY LESS TIME!!

So what do you think? Are they sisters or what?

Ava is about 3 weeks older. Keira better get hooked up with some Rogaine and soon!!

Monday, November 16, 2009



This weekend my friends Jess and Michelle came for their tri-annual visit. Jess lives in SD and Michelle lives in Wisconsin so lucky me lives in the middle and doesn't have to drive. We started making our visits "crafting" weekends. We all pick something we want to make and well...we just sit and craft, after a few hours of shopping and eating of course.


This time, we decided to go to Hobby Lobby in Mankato. I've never been there before and was super excited to go. It was all I dreamed it to be. I could have spent hours there! Until I was a little disturbed by their inventory. All I really NEEDED was some paint for my canvas craft I had planned...but then I found something like these:

HOW PERFECT!! I could hang one with each of my kids letters in our entry for their coats. Yep, I NEEDED them!! So I looked, Yep, there's and A, and a J, and a K, and a.....and a....P....then an R...WAIT!! There was no Q. NO Q!! yes i know it's not the most popular letter, but really.


So I found my friends and were waiting in the checkout line and I explained my problem. They thought there would for sure be a Q...because after all, Who would ever need a Q? It wasn't that there just wasn't a Q in the Q bin, there wasn't a Q bin at all! It went from P and right next to that was R. So I looked at a different style. Same thing. And yet another style. SAME THING!! They had 4 different sets of alphabet wall hooks...not one of them with a Q bin!!


HOW RUDE!

The ones in the picture above are weathered with a rusty beach look...not really what I wanted.

So now I was on a mission...I wanted those. I figured there must be skads and skads of people who sell them online...so I went to browsing around for them. Nope, not as many as I thought. There are tons of letters to hang on the wall, but not so many that are coat hooks...I did find these which I loved:



But they only come in red...and guess what letter is not on their letter list....Q!!


Searching JC Penny brought up the lingerie section...I guess the word "hook" was most closely related with a bra hook??



And then I found these on someone's blog....PERFECT...I LOVED THEM! So I opened the link to their website:

KAPSTOCK means coat rack in whatever language they speak in the Netherlands. Dutch I think? Yeah so I was rummaging through the site to find something in English. I did somewhat find how to custom make your own lettering but this is what it said:

Generate your Letter Coat Hooks Price
Your Finished Letter Coat Hooks
Characters chosen: Q A J K
Price: £345.52 (exc VAT)

I honestly don't know what money they use there but pretty sure that's a lot of money for some coat hooks....and shipping...yeah that would probably be a lot!

So I continue on...if anyone can find what I'm looking for...I would be eternally grateful! And poor Quaid...I have a feeling he's going to be dealing with the "missing Q" situation all his life...and Jentzen...we'll he's going to love that special little Z in his name too :) Ava and Keira...count yourselves lucky!!


Thursday, November 5, 2009

I heard a quote once and I LOVE it!!



"If you don't like the painting, don't blame the canvas."



Isn't that great? Have I mentioned that before...if so sorry...



I think of that all the time when my kids are doing something that's not really my favorite quality of them. Is there some example I'm giving? Is there something in me that they're seeing, copying, following after? We had this little event happen the other day that leaves me remembering...I'm not the only influence in my house...



N: "Jentzen?"



J: "What!!"



N: "You say "Yes Daddy."



J: "Yes Daddy?"



N: (went on telling Jentzen something....)



K: (quick thinking) "Hey Honey?"



N: (in the same loud rude voice as jentzen) "What??"



And he stopped...he knew...We both laughed...



So if you see my kids doing something a little off...it's totally Nathan!!

I love lists. I love making them, I love being organized, and even more so...I LOVE crossing things off the list.



And if you're wondering, yes I am one of those who will put things on the list that I've already done, just so I can cross them off. Dorky I know...but I know I am not the only one out there that does that.



But recently as mom of 4, I've learned that I have to be as productive with my time as I can and the time it takes to acutally sit down and write out a list is somewhat wasteful. So I've taken to the talent of mind-listing.



Yep, that's right...mind-listing. In the morning I mentally make a list of all things that have to be done that day, approximately what time I will do them that day, and remember them so I can mentally check them off my list, so even though it's not physical pen and paper...I have still checked them off in some form. I know, talented isn't it?



During the morning hours before the kids get up, I carefully tiptoe all around the house straightening up the leftover out of place things from the day before...all this while mind-listing for the day. So by the time the kids get up (which happens to be really early these days thanks to Day Light Savings...they still haven't figured out that they need to stay in bed for another hour) I am all ready with my plan of action.



So the other day it was about 3:30 in the afternoon. I was frantically scanning my mind-list. There must be a mistake. Did I lose my list? Did it get deleted? My list was empty!! I walked around the house, just walking around scanning everything I saw to see if it would reboot my mind-list operating software. It was 3:30...I still had 3 1/2 business hours left for the day until closing time...and yet there was nothing to do??

Laundry was done, kitchen was clean, dishes were done, kids were schooled, dinner ready to go in the oven. Sure there were a few things around the house that needed to be done...but I knew they were already scheduled on a future mind-list, so they could wait.

I must have looked silly, just wandering around my house...That NEVER happens...I'm always cramming about this time of day to get everything checked off that list by closing time. A mind-list left unfinished is just something that should never be done!!

And then I look and see my precious Ava honing up her mouse skills on the computer. And then it hit me...game time with Ava (she needs it every day...sometimes twice). So I am really excited about this next part.

She is always begging me to play games with her...all day long every day. Which is fine by me...I love to play games too. But there are other things that need to be done. So we set times of the day that we are going to sit down and play games. We had already done that for the day but I thought...a mother with nothing to do...PLAY GAMES!

Me: "Hey Ava!"

A: "Yeah?" (while keeping one eye on the computer screen)

Me: (super excited) "Do you want to play cards with me?!?"

A: "Well I kind of want to finish this."

Me: (drop jawed) "What??? You always want to play games with me!!"

A: "Yeah, but I want to do this more."

I was feeling a bit rejected! Really? Trumped by some computer game!!

(Don't worry, I found something to do...I started a puzzle :)

Fast forward to 5:30. I'm in the kitchen getting dinner from the oven, plates out, forks out, dinner dished up so it could cool, Keira's dinner ready....busy busy busy.

My sweet Ava comes up to me in the midst of this....

"Mom, can you play a game with me now?"

"Ava, not now...I'm getting dinner ready, it's dinner time."

"Yeah but now I want to play!"

;;