growing Up!

I have been married for 12 1/2 years. And not once in those 12 1/2 years have I ever had a bed set that actually fit my bed. My family tells me that I am the master of making do. It's not that I don't want my house to look cute and organized. I just severely lack the Time, money, and taste to do it properly.

So for the last 12 1/2 years I have been using the "single" size comforter I picked out as a 16 year old when re-modeling my room ( that was 17 years ago ). To cover my queen size bed. I would simply lay it horizontally across the bed and then fold the sheets back to line up and give the illusion that the blanket was long enough. Such nonsense, I know!
Well, yesterday I took a step into the adult world and purchased a bed set. I had a limited budget of $50. What can you possibly get for $50? How about a 7 piece bed set. Thanks to a Macy's One Day Sale, and a $10 off coupon. Is it the perfect bed set for me? NO, it would of been fun to get something slightly more funky, and slightly less traditional. But it fits, looks 10 times better and was in my budget. Originally $ 240, Macy's had it on sale for $57.99. My coupon brought it down to $ 47.99 and I was on my way home.

Some how I feel so grown up.

The Mark of a TRUE Fan!

How do you decide if someone is a true fan of a particular team, or just a poser? Well I'd say if over half his wardrobe is decked out in Florida Gator graphics, that's a pretty clear sign.

The count so far:

3 orange gator t-shirts
4 white gator t-shirts
6 blue gator t-shirts
2 blue gator polo shirts
1 thermal gator long sleeve shirt
1 hooded pull over shirt
2 hooded pull over sweat shirts
2 pairs of shorts
1 water proof jacket
1 baseball cap

Also pictured here:
2 FATHEAD 4 foot square wall vinyl art, featuring a Gator helmet on one, and the gator head on another.

Not featured in the pic but cluttering space in my house:
1 Gator flag 3 by 5 feet
magnets
pull overs purchased for the children
gator Pj's again for the kids
4 shirts for ME
and a plethora of blue and orange clothing, that do not have the gator head on them, but never the less are the correct color and are stuffed in his drawer.


No one could ever say that Chet doesn't support the things that he loves. And that includes the kids and I. We certainly are blessed.

He's 8

WOW! he's 8. Peyton is 8. Fully accountable and a handsome devil. When did that happen?

Peyton we have thoroughly enjoyed our 8 years with you. You are a kind, thoughtful, compassionate, peacekeeper. We love you so much. I'm sure the next 8 years will fly by just as fast, and then I will have to hand over the car keys. YIKES! let's not rush things.

Footloose, Footloose, kick off your dancing shoes

Every year, several times a year, the local high schools put on dance clinics. Alyssa loves to shake her booty for a day and hang out with friends. BONUS! the kids get to perform the dance they learned at the varsity foot ball game that night.

We like to hit up the Westview High clinic. They do better dances, serve better food, and give out cuter T-shirts.

Alyssa favorite part, getting dolled up for the performance.

It's hard to see, but our little dance diva is standing up and dancing the 3rd from the left.

Alyssa is blessed to have friends that not only do the clinics with her. But she also has friends who come later just to watch the performance and be supportive. Aren't they the sweetest grouping of gorgeous girls?

First day of school

FALL

Oh how we love the fall! " I wish I could send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils", Tom Hanks writes to meg Ryan in YOU'VE GOT MAIL. That is exactly how I feel. Only if someone sent me a bouquet of sharpened pencils, I would throw them into a baggie and send them off with the kids in their school supplies. Save money where you can right?

Our school year started out with ease. The kids had been anticipated it for some time and were anxious to get back. I on the other hand could of used a few more weeks of sleeping in and making lunch at 1:00 in the afternoon. I was so not ready to start the year, in fact I never even bought the kids one stitch of new clothing to proudly display on the first day of school. I think they still looked pretty darn cute , don't you?

The long walk to building and developing new brain function begins!



Peyton took a double take to make sure he was in fact sitting at the right table. Yes son! you read correctly, you are here to stay.

Alyssa got to choose her seat this year. The sign of advancing in age and responsibility. We did however manage to get her to turn around and say good bye to her much distraught baby brother. Then we sneakily snapped this shot.

Then back home with little monkey to a quiet house, Thomas the train, and possibly potty training.

I wish they all could be California days

I wish they all could be California "Days"

Well the sun was shining back in late July

So in the van we crammed and to the beach we fly

We hunt for crabs and starfish under sand and foot.

Then we stop to get an ice cream down in Tilamook.

I wish they all could be California "days"

Sun keep shining

Sun keep shining

Sun keep shining

Sun keep shining

Not for the squimish

10 Years! Some how with 3 children, I have managed to make it a whole decade without having to go the emergency room. My lovely reign of peace ended on Wednesday afternoon.

Of course it would be my youngest that would catapult me into the world of hospitals, casts, and inevitable medical bills. It was what we now call, THE LETHAL SNACK.

Poor Camden was sitting on a stool at the counter eating his afternoon snack of grapes and cheese crackers. He decided he needed a bit more leverage to reach his juice cup. He started to stand up, but instead went tumbling down trying to catch his fall with his right arm.

You see what's coming here don't you. SNAP! followed by mom noticing a very distinct difference in the look of his arm, a rush to pile the kids into the van, and a nerve racking drive through rush hour traffic to the emergency room.

diagnosis: RIGHT SUPRACONDYLAR HUMERUS FRACTURE


essentially, he broke his elbow, which an ER worker kindly told me was one of the most painful breaks you can have. I guess when you break the tip of your humerus bone off and all the other bones below it follow that break to the opposite side of you arm, YES! that probably does hurt.

Camden needed a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon to fix him. So he was transported by ambulance from St.Vincents to Doernbecher Childrens hospital. There we spent the night in this lovely room.

He was brought in for surgery the following morning at 7:30 for his Closed reduction and Percutaneous pinning, followed by a long arm cast placement. In english, they twisted and pulled his bones back into place and then pinned them together, then put a cast on.

camden hasn't slept in a crib in a year, but he was content to stay in one now.

Post surgery snooze. We were released about 5 hours later and carefully made our way home. much to our surprise Camden was very much himself. Singing Thomas the train songs and pointing out every bridge and car. He wants to be out walking and playing and it has taken many snacks and movies and a great deal of convincing to get him to sit still for a while and just heal.

For my wise and always stylish sister

So What do you think Co. What skirt would you choose to make?

The fabric I probably would end up using.

Baby Translator

One of the obvious perks of being a stay at home mom, is we get to see every moment of our children's development. It becomes particularly amusing and exciting when they begin to talk, We listen to them babble on all day long and learn their little phrase manipulations and hardily praise their abilities to tell us what they want.

Intern, it becomes comical when we find others aren't having such an easy time understanding our child. Especially those poor daddies who aren't there during the day to develop the talent of baby translating.

I had to chuckle the other night listening to an attempted conversation between my sweet Chet, and baby face Camden. While I was upstairs cleaning the office, they were downstairs wandering in the Kitchen.

" Dad, elp num num num mulk"

" What's up Champ?"

" num num mulk, elp"

" What do you need Buddy?"

"NAK, dad, Nak, mulk"

( This went on for quite some time, when I finally hear Chet say)

" I don't know what you're saying buddy, where's my translator, Honey! Nancy! where are you?"

I of course come to the rescue, and let him know that Camden would simply like HELP getting a SNACK, preferably some YUMMY MILK.

I haven't had a job outside of the home in 14 years. But if I needed to enter the work force tomorrow, I think I could safely add to my resume BABY TRANSLATOR.

Batman shaves his head

This is what happens when I am being ornery and don't want to cut my husbands spiky, slivery, wirey, sticky hair. He dawns Camden's Batman towel as a smock and cuts it himself.

Lookin good handsome! Maybe when you're finished, you could go into your bat cave and do a little cleaning. Poison ivy is taking the day off.

Oh! Robin wants to know if you're free for lunch.

SEW Storm

My incredibly thoughtful husband bought me a sewing machine for Christmas this year. I am always saying that I want to learn how to sew better, but my old machine just didn't want to co-operate. The tension was always messing up, the foot pedal was finicky, and I could think of thousands of more excuses not to sit down and sew. Receiving a new sewing machine put an end to my grumbling and added a goal for my year. I would learn how to sew this year. I have rather enjoyed taking on this goal and below is proof that I'm not all talk, I've got some action happening too. Here is what I have accomplished in the month of January.

I had bought some rockin 80's fabric with the intent to make Chet some MC Hammer pants. Yes I know they are out of style! it was for an 80's party we were attending. But Chet would have none of that, and so the fabric sat. HMmmm! what to do, what to do? How about make some fun, funky bags for Alyssa. One for Church and one for school.( she informed me recently that no one wears back packs anymore, they all use shoulder bags. problem solved, now she has a shoulder bag too.)

We slowly have been decorating the house and fixing the kids rooms up. In that spirit, I sewed some curtains for Alyssa's room. This picture really doesn't do them credit. The colors are actually quite a bit nicer.

There was extra fabric from the curtains and so an apron for Alyssa was born. I could of ironed it before taking the pic, but oh well, At least you can see that she has been using it.

Peyton was feeling left out, so I made him an apron too. A bit more masculine, BBQ style. He chose the fabric.

Speaking of feeling left out! My poor Camden. The older kids got Bath Robes for Christmas. Camden was so upset that he couldn't cuddle up in one himself. So Voila! a home made robe was born.

And lastly. We were having an issue with hallway lights a night time. Peyton wanted it on, But Alyssa wanted it off and refused to close her door. Using a bit of ingenuity, an old Barbie sleeping bag, and some elastic. A sleeping mask was created, and all parties are now happy.

Giggles

I love the the blunders and phrase switching that children and for that matter, adults sometimes do. Here are a few snippets that have made me laugh this weekend.

1) On Fridays I volunteer at the kids school. Like most moms I spend most of the morning getting the kids ready and so I rarely have time to make myself presentable before heading out the door. Popping on my glasses and pulling the hair back into a pony is about as good as it gets. But this past Friday I made an extra effort and actually put in my contacts instead of my glasses. when I arrived at the school a sweet little boy in Peyton's class came up to me and said:

" Wow, Mrs. Bui, did you get your eyes pierced?"

I had to giggle, and hardily thank him for noticing.

2) We hold family home evening on Fridays at our house. It's what works for us and our schedule. Peyton gave a lovely lesson about The Creation, and even read from the book of Genesis (we've really enjoyed seeing his reading skills take off). At the end of the lesson he posed the questions. "What do we do on Sundays, the day of rest". We each took a turn answering: prayer, go to church, read scriptures, think about Jesus, and then it was Camden's turn to answer, to which he bellowed.

" Watch football"

A wide grin spread across Chet's face, such a proud poppa, and we all had a good laugh. Camden truly is watching and learning from everything we do.

3) That same night we stuck around and played a few games of Hangman on the dry erase board. We tried to keep the phrases centered around our family home evening lesson. Chet thought he was being so smart when it was his turn to create a phrase. He really had us stumped, what started with an F had an L in the middle and ended with a T. We were almost hung, then Alyssa saved us by confusingly guessing with a scrunched nose.
" FILAMENT"
Chet was so disappointed that she had guessed is word. We all looked at each other and laughed, some one had to break the news to him. So Alyssa stated.

" Isn't it supposed to be FIRMAMENT"

He was rather embarrassed that he had been called out by a 9 year old. I guess he had light bulbs and fridge parts on the brain. Maybe he was hungry.

The Lazy Tooth Fairy

Dear Tooth fairy,
I have to say that I am greatly disappointed in your performance as of late. I was only made aware of your apparent lack of responsibility recently.

My sweet boy Peyton, who has lost three teeth in the last two weeks, solemnly walked into the office with a shocking statement. "Mom, I think I know why the Tooth fairy hasn't come yet."
(Gasp!), "Why is that", I asked. " First, I never wrote her a thank you note, and second, I think she is really tiny. Those coins and bills probably get very heavy and it's hard for her to fly."

Now Tooth fairy, I do realize that you are very busy. Besides this night job, you most certainly have a family of your own to take care of, errands to runs, projects to finish and a home to organize. But I would hope that you could make the time to remember my imaginative little boy. A sweet child who never has gotten angry at you for being late, in fact makes excuses for it. And has been waiting patiently for over a week, dutifully checking under his pillow every morning for a simple recognition of a job well done. It did take him 7 years to grow those teeth for you. And I would expect that he will be handsomely rewarded for his patience.

Yours guilty:
The face in the mirror

Little Stud

I can't help but notice lately how grown - up Camden is looking. He is such a stud

My little adventurer is always on the go. He loves to explore his surroundings. Curiosity killed the cat they say. Not in his case. Curiosity made one smart little man.

It won't be long until people are trying to fill HIS big shoes.

Girls Just want to have fun

Flash back! You betcha! Welcome back to the 80's. poofy hair, bright colors, outrageous jewlery, and A few familiar Icons, made this fantasic evening totally Rad. The Ladies of the Quatama Cloggers dance group, of which I am apart, decided to have a little get together this weekend.

Chet made a fine Mr. Miyagi, and I attempted a low key Cindy Lauper

brushing up on our 80's trivia. It was easy to spot the competative with the more mellow, during this mind twister.
Chet took the Cake on the name that tune game. Parts of songs from commercials, televison sitcoms, or cartoons were played. let's just say that it was pretty obvious that Chet spent the greater part of the 80's learning how to speak english by watching T.V.
The men all snazzed up. I think we had like 4 Marty McFly's
And the Women feeling young and free
It was such a great night girls. I can't wait to see what theme we pick for our next gathering.