a list of thoughts

1. I have a major headache, and it's positively not from a lack of caffeine.

2. I'm hoping that the supper fairy shows up at my door tonight with meal in hand. If she doesn't, we just might be having Cap'n Crunch for supper.

3. I used to think it was really hard to have three kids. Then I started doing daycare for Nolan and realized four was hard, and three was easy. Then I lost Nolan :( but added three more, and then I thought that four was easy, and six was hard. And this week I added another baby. So now I think that six is easy. And when it's just my three??? piece of cake. (til after 8:00 when i turn into an ogre.)

4. Brielle smiles when I discipline her.

5. Steve got a fix it ticket for our tail light on the car. We thought we could fix it with a new lightbulb. It didn't work. We had to bring it in, and $655 later...

6. The only good thing about a six hundred fifty-five dollar bill is that I pay for everything with my GAP card, and then I get free dollars in the mail to spend at Gap or Old Navy. So at least I might a free shirt out of the deal.

7. I lost my license. I had to renew it, and then they give you a paper one good for 30 days, and mail you your real new one. And I got it in the mail. That's all I know. And it's a MAJOR inconvenience.

8. At the end of the day, the very last thing I feel like doing is making supper. It's something I've always hated. Some women think I'm lying when I say that I don't get ANY enjoyment out of making a meal for my family. But I'm not lying. I don't like any single part of it. And it's only gotten harder since I started doing daycare. (See #2)

9. The fact that Steve won't have a job in a couple weeks is a really strange feeling. It's almost like we can't even deal with it right now because he just has to wrap this thing up 'nicely'...the only problem is that all his employees are quitting, so he has to do their work at work, and his work at home. And there's no time to do anything except survive.

10. Lillian starts kindergarten on Monday.

11. I wish I was the mom you read about on facebook that begs for more summertime with their kids. But I'm not. I'm ready for school. I'm not gonna lie.

12. What is with this HEAT!!!!

13. I'm planning our ten year class reunion. My kids are NOT allowed to even THINK about being senior class president. I won't allow it.

14. Josiah's latest quirk: refusing to wear shorts that don't have a snap/button. Add that to refusing to wear anything but his "handsome flip flops" or his "handsome bike shoes," crying when he thinks he doesn't look good, and asking at random times if his hair looks good. I think he's got a future in fashion of some sort.

15. I'm about to go downstairs to tell the kids it's time to clean up. If you listen closely, you just might hear the whining and complaining and begging for help.

16. There are about 80 million things I should have done instead of write this post. But when your brain is so crowded, you do what you gotta do.

quick a minute

so, today I put Brielle's hair in a ponytail. Like, a real one. a ponytail. and it reminded me that the first time I did it (last week or so) I took some pictures. So while the daycare baby sleeps and before the big kids get here, I thought I'd post some pictures of my big girl.



and in this next one I love how you can tell she thinks she's pretty hot stuff with a ponytail...



she still needs a flower or something (which can be found in abundance here) :) to keep her hair off her face, but I just think it makes her look SO OLD!

camping x2

Man, life is busy. I barely have time to blog these days, unless it's a quick picture or two. But we've gone camping these last two weekends, and I want to make sure to document that. OH, and we went a couple weeks before that, and celebrated B's bday, which I still don't have posted on here.

okay, so quickly, before I run out of time, here are some of my favorite pictures from the last two weekends. I only had my camera for one, so I have to steal maria's facebook pictures for the Round Lake ones. Thanks maria! :)

ROUND LAKE, MN with my aunt, uncle, and cousin (and maria, tyler, and hazel too)






STANTON, IA with Maria, Tyler, Hazel, and Mel













alright, now I have to find some time to first find and then post pictures of Brielle's party. I'll have to save that for another day...

miss laya

See this face? I get to see it almost every day. But today she is screaming. all day. So I found these pictures to remind myself how cute she is in "real life," as opposed to whatever today is. And I thought I'd share. :)

before I forget

so, I've had these videos for a couple weeks now, but haven't had a chance to put them up (or haven't TAKEN the chance anyway). Turns out that now the monkey bars are no big deal, and Brielle doesn't even say 'you're welcome' instead of thank you like that anymore. but before I forget about those days, I thought I'd post the videos. Don't expect to be too entertained, but for the sake of this digital scrapbook of sorts, I had to include them.






and oh my...

going into the "videos" folder where these are stored, I found a few gems that must be posted as a little trip down memory lane. look for that later. :) were my kids really that small and cute??? I can hardly believe it.

that day and this day

that day...



this day...



and the funny thing, is that the "this day" picture was actually not this day, but yesterday. and it's a good thing I took those pictures yesterday, because the "that day" picture looks more like the reality of this day. Miss B was up all night crying, screaming, not herself at all. I knew she was coming down with something, and sure enough, today she's BURNING up. so hopefully she'll kick this so we can have a fun birthday weekend.

pretty as a princess

My kids love dress up. They have a grandma that buys them costumes when they go on major sale, or at garage sales, or whatever. So we have a little dress up area in the play room, and every day it gets destroyed bc they all want to wear costumes.

But the favorites are always the princess dresses. Because doesn't everyone love to feel like a princess?

the princess shoes (who cares if they don't match the dress, or even each other!)...


the princess dress...



complete with all the princessy deatils...


and the pretty hair.


See? everyone likes to feel like a princess!

I heard giggling in my room the other day, and found these two up to no good. :)


They loved it, and thought they were HILARIOUS. I thought it was pretty funny too, but mostly just can't get past the fact that Josiah is such a cute little girl. :)