monday mind dump...

Well, now that I've spoiled you all with frequent posts, I suppose I shouldn't stop now.  I'm laying on the couch, watching a rerun of Grey's Anatomy, with all of this garbage running through my head.  I thought maybe if I wrote it out I would be able to sleep, sort of like my nightly therapy.  Feel free to skim or skip, I have no idea if this will make sense or not.  Bullet points is what you get today/tonight...and maybe if you are good a picture or two at the end. (Edited to add:  apparently this is mostly a Christmas related post)

• I'm seriously stressing about Christmas this year.  I have no idea what to get the kids.  They are only 5 and 2...shouldn't this be easy??  Brianna really wants the Rapunzel Doll that the squirrels (or whatever) braid her hair...is it terrible that the only thing I can think is that the hair will be ruined and tangled about 10 seconds after she gets it so it is really putting me off from buying it.  Even though it is pretty much the only thing she has consistently said she wants.
• I love the idea of the Vtech V-reader for Brianna...but the more I think about it the more it feels like a racket to me.  Buy the system (which isn't cheap) then you have to buy the "books" because if you only have 1 she'll get bored and not use it so then the whole thing is a waste.
• I love buying gifts for others, I love finding a good deal or something unique that I know the person getting is going to love.  My sister frequently emails me asking me to find something for her.  I am her personal shopper..and I love it.  Does anyone actually want to pay me to shop for them...I think it might be my true calling :)
• I hate cleaning...I mean seriously HATE it.  I constantly tell Bob that I would be the perfect housewife except for the cleaning.  I love to cook/bake, I love being with my kids (most days :)  But I lose serious points on the housewife status on the cleaning.  My mom suggested I find someone who hates to cook/bake, but loves to clean and swap with them.  (Now you see where I get my brilliance!) Do I have any takers?
• I need a new vacuum cleaner.  I cleaned this weekend (yes, that is why you guys had snow, because it rarely happens) and essentially had to vacuum the house with the stupid hose because the vacuum wouldn't pick anything up. 
• I DO NOT want a vacuum cleaner for Christmas.  Apparently I'm still a kid and like to get things for Christmas that are fun.  (a vacuum cleaner does not fall into my fun category...see above).  I like to get books, DVDs, etc.  I think it is mostly because we live on a pretty strict budget (for the most part).  We don't just go buy things because we want them.  If I want to read a new book, I go to the library and wait until it is available, we rent DVDs from the library or redbox for $1 (and even that is rare).  To me, a Christmas or birthday present should be something you want that you wouldn't buy for yourself, a treat if you will...a vacuum cleaner to me is the opposite of a treat.  Am I the only one who thinks this way?? 
• My husband is Mr. Practical, pretty sure he just read that above, shook his head and thought of 10 reasons why that statement above is completely illogical, he also thinks I'm insane...but loves me anyway.
• My in-laws brought me over an extra sewing machine that they had because of a recent post.  I tried it out...lets just say the score is now sewing machine-1 -- Amber--0.  But I'm giving it another shot tomorrow.  (PS. Thanks Bob and Nancy!!  You guys are great!)
• The most complicated thing I cooked/baked this weekend was monkey bread.  (see--cleaned this weekend and read as "I spent a long-ass time cleaning my kitchen and did not want to dirty it)  I am ill-prepared for meals this week.  I hate that, it makes me feel behind already.  Tomorrow I need to make my meal schedule and grocery list.
• I watch an insane amount of crappy reality TV.  I should be embarrassed or ashamed...but I'm not, I love that junk.  Real Housewives, 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom...they are my crack.  I just can't quit them!
• Last weekend while driving to IA with the kids I saw the most amazing sunset.  I remember thinking when I saw it that sunsets like that one are one of the million reasons I love IA.
• I think it is hilarious that 12 years ago I couldn't wait to leave IA and never live there again.  Now, there is no place I'd rather raise my family.  Funny how time changes things. 
• It seems like lots of my friends are pregnant or just had babies recently.  I feel old and outdated, I mean, my oldest is 5.  It also gives me a bit of baby fever.
• My husband probably just fell of his chair while shaking his head NO after reading that last one! :)
• I've been thinking about Bryce's birthday cake for about 2 months now.  I think I know what I'm going to make, it could be cool or it could turn out like crap...tune in early December to find out! :)  Maybe I'll take some pictures of what my kitchen looks like when I'm making a cake...I am not the *ahem* neatest person while I bake and decorate.
• If any of you still wonder why I can't sleep at night take a look at the above list.  This is only a small portion of what is running through my head and even after writing this all out...I'm still not tired and my mind is still running wild.
• I almost forgot...I promised you pictures.  My reasons for actually making myself go to sleep so I can function tomorrow and not be a grouch! :)

amazing giveaway...

There is an amazing giveaway going on over at Greening Sam and Avery right now.  Get over there, check it out and spread the word!  Even thought I really want to win this giveaway, I'm posting tonight so that you, my lovely readers, can have as many chances to win as possible.  But I'm sure you all already know about this, right??  Beacause you ARE reading Greening Sam and Avery daily, RIGHT??  If you aren't, what are you waiting for??  Get going...NOW!!

mean mommy...

I am at the end of my rope.  My children will NOT pick up their stuff.  (This post is mostly about Brianna because I know she understands what is expected of her)  I ask nicely, we try the jar thing, I give her one thing to do at a time so she doesn't get overwhelmed.  The other night I was done trying to reason.  I got a big black garbage bag and picked up every toy on the floor and put it in the garbage bag to throw away. (Just so you know I have threatened her with this, it wasn't as if this came out of the blue).   Brianna sat there sobbing, begging me not to throw her stuff away, and still she didn't try to pick anything up.  she was inconsolable by the time Bob got home.  I took the bag in the garage to wait for garbage day.  I felt horrible the whole time I was doing it, but I wanted and needed to prove my point.  I couldn't cry or show her any sympathy.  (Although I did cry later when I splashed boiling water on my stomach as I was draining pasta for dinner...sobbed actually, and it had way more to do with "throwing away" her toys than the pain of the burn).  I am just afraid that this isn't going to get through to her...that she has too much "stuff" for this to really affect her in any significant way.  I guess we'll see what happens, but days like that one make it really suck to be the mommy, to know that while you try to do everything you can to protect your child from pain to be the one actually causing them pain in order to try to teach them a bigger lesson.

new project...

I found the cutest superhero capes online and thought, I can do that (well...with some help from my mom!).  So a Christmas idea was born.  My kids along with my nephews are getting reversible superhero capes for Christmas.  I worked on the emblems for the capes over the weekend and I am super excited to see the final results. My mom is doing the actual sewing of the capes because I don't know how to sew, but really want to learn, I even have a sewing machine on my Christmas list.  We'll see if Santa gets the memo and brings me one! :)  Here are the finished emblems...what do you think??

bluff lake...

After our relaxing weekend at Riverside we decided to take mom and dad to Bluff Lake as a thank you (as if having dinner with 4 kids 5 and under is a good thank you!)  The food was yummy as always and the kids had a lot of fun feeding the ducks.  (this post is mostly to share pictures because what is there really to say about all you can eat chicken and shrimp but yum?) :)

riverside...

Angie and Nick had plans to go to Riverside Casino to celebrate their anniversary.  They asked us if we'd like to go with them, so we decided as an early Christmas present to ourselves we would go.  Mom offered to watch the kids so we could have a relaxing weekend.  We headed there on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday.  After we got there we hung out in the room for a while, made ourselves some drinks and played some cards.  We eventually went down to eat some dinner and hit up the casino.  Unfortunately, Friday night I left the casino having lost about $4 (Bob lost $10).  I am not joking when I tell you that we were all sleeping by about 10pm on Friday night.  Saturday the boys had planned to play some golf and Angie and I were set to do some shopping and pamper ourselves with manicures and pedicures.  After we got back to the hotel we went back down to the casino where I won $100!  WooHoo I was so excited.  Angie and Nick insisted on taking us to dinner to thank me for watching the boys so we got dressed up and headed down to the restaurant.  The food was incredible, we were all stuffed by the time we left.  Bob was too full to even try the dessert (so you know he was full).  I think we again were asleep by like 10pm  (we are nothing if not exciting!).  Sunday we hit up the casino again before we left where we lost half of the money that I won the day before, but hey we still came out ahead so I was just fine with that!  It was a great weekend and so fun to spend some time with my sister and Nick.  Thanks again for letting us tag along guys! :)

Happy 7th Anniversary Angie & Nick!!

we're going on a bug hunt...

While in St. Louis at my sister's I figured it was the perfect time to use the prizes I won for the August Challenge over at Greening Sam and Avery.  The kids were all very excited to go on a bug hunt!  They were a little frustrated at first because they weren't catching anything (since most of the bugs we were finding were crickets).  But after I caught a cricket and they got to take a look at it, they excitedly started looking for other bugs.  In the end we really only caught a cricket and a grasshopper, but the kids loved looking at them and pointing out the eyes, etc.  I don't really know much about bugs but I told them what I knew.  They had a blast!  We didn't end up taking our walk to collect leaves and identify them with the other prize, so that will have to wait until spring, but the kids enjoyed looking through the leaves and pointing out the differences.  Thanks Greening Sam and Avery for such an amazing prize!!

a week with my nephews...

After our eventful trip to get to my sister's house, the week with the boys was a breeze.  The kids were really very good and I had so much fun actually getting to spend time with them.  We played outside a lot.  Swang on the swingset, played Simon Says, freeze dance, had races, played hide and seek and went on a bug hunt (which I will be telling you about in the next post).  We also made cupcakes, I made applesauce, put together puzzles, played games and did lots of Halloween crafts.  Brianna and Bryce loved spending time with their cousins.  While we were away, Bob spent all of his free time at work.  Which is a big bummer but he had the time he needed to focus on work without feeling guilty that he wasn't spending time with us.  I'll leave you with some pictures of our week, we didn't really do anything special but it was fun all the same!

the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad car ride...

I was going to just throw this in with the post about my week with 4 kids, but thought this trip deserved a post of its very own, so here it is!
The kids and I traveled to my sister's for a week to help her out and watch the boys.  The trip to St. Louis started out a little rocky.  I've never driven that far with the kids by myself before so I was a little nervous.  I switched around my client so I could go there in the morning and hopefully get on the road early with the kids as to avoid some traffic and get to St. Louis before it got too dark.  Bob and Nancy arrived to watch the kids and I left to go to work...or I tried to go to work.  My car wouldn't start.  Awesome way to start my day.  I ended up taking their car to work.  I had planned on being done with work in a couple hours so that I could be on the road by 12 or 1.  Can you guess what happened?  I ended up working until 2:30, then it is a 30 minute drive home.  I knew I was going to be pushing it to get on the road before rush hour started, especially since after I got home Bob's dad ran out to get and install a new battery for my car.  We ended up not getting on the road until about 4:15.  I knew this was going to be trouble, but I didn't know how much until we started driving.  It took 2 hours to get to Joliet (which if you know where we live usually takes 1 hour at most).  When we finally got out of some of the traffic and construction I looked back at the kids and Bryce threw up.  Awesome.  So I pulled over, got him cleaned up as best as I could and got back on the road.  Then Brianna had to go to the bathroom, so I figured we might as well stop and get some dinner  even though we were only beginning the trip.  As we got our food at McDonalds I was carrying everything and trying to make sure the kids weren't getting into anything and 2 (full) glasses of pop fell off the tray and all over the floor.  I felt stupid and terrible and apologized 1000 times to the workers.  We finally settled down to eat and got back on the road.  Thankfully, after that the trip was very uneventful.  We got to my sisters about 11:30...7+ hours after we started out, for a trip that normally takes between 5 and 5 1/2 hours.  It was a long afternoon/night...but we made it.  And I am happy to report the return trip home took us 5 1/2 hours and we made NO stops the entire time, the kids were angels in the car (I had to keep checking to make sure they were actually my children!)

late night wonderings...

I was just scrolling through my google reader (which I love using...but is solely the cause of me rarely leaving comments on blogs, because most of them I never have to click over to the actual blog, I can read it right from the reader screen...and yes I know that is lazy, but I do comment when I feel compelled to or just to say hi, I just don't do it as often as I should) ANYWAY...as I was scrolling through my reader I read this post and it made me think harder about something that has been bothering me a bit lately.  As I've been posting all of these catch-up posts and flipping back through the blog I realized there are a handful of pictures of me.  I started to wonder if all of my time behind the camera is keeping me separate from what it is I'm trying to capture.  I want to remember the good times, the laughs, how little my children were...but when they look back at the pictures I've captured of their lives...of our lives, will they wonder where I am?  It makes me sad to think that they may, at some point in their lives, wonder if I was present.  I always put the camera down and participate in whatever we're doing, but when they look back at pictures to help trigger those memories...I'm not there.  I feel strongly that it is important to capture our lives, I just wish I was able to be a part of the moment that I'm capturing.  Does that make any sense?  Does anyone else feel like this?  Do you have a suggestion/solution, because I'm all ears!   

pumpkin patch...

We headed out to the pumpkin patch with the kids again this year (it is sort of becoming a tradition and I love it).  See I'm not a huge Halloween person (I know, I know).  It is fun to get the kids costumes, but I don't look forward to it...they are expensive, and it is hard to find a costume that everyone can agree on...plus have you seen the girl's costumes??  They get shorter and skimpier every year...why in the world do I want my 5 year old to dress like that? Anyway, I'm not a Halloween person, I wasn't even as a kid, of course trick-or-treating was fun and I enjoyed the candy, but it just isn't my holiday.  I do however love fall and all things associated with fall...the changing leaves, pumpkins, the cool air.  Fall is my favorite season.  All of these things make me love the pumpkin patch.  This year Brian and Mary met up with us at our favorite pumpkin farm.  The kids are getting old enough that they have started to love going on rides and we even went on our first hayride!  We all had a great time and it was a beautiful day (although a little chillly).  We were so glad that Brian and Mary came along with us!

apple picking...

On a rare weekend at home we decided to take the kids to an apple orchard and pick apples.  The trip started out fun, but the kids tired of it because a lot of the apples were too high for them and we really had to search to fill up our bags with good apples.  In the end though we had a fun afternoon as a family and got some great apples that I made apple crisp and applesauce out of.  Besides baking bread...is there really anything better than the smell of cooking apples? 

the beauty of different...

I've been reading chookooloonks pretty much since I started reading blogs.  I found her through some links (as been known to happen) and I got hooked by her incredible photos and her inspiring and heartfelt words. She has recently published a book and I am so excited to check it out.  Head on over to her blog and check out the giveaway she is doing.  Although you will lessen my chances to win, I hope you'll participate and spread the word about this book, because sometimes we all need a reminder how beautiful different is.  The new book The Beauty of Different is available from Bright Sky Press and Amazon.

emily and scott...

My friend, Emily, from high school got married on September 18th to Scott, a great guy who puts up with all of our craziness!  The wedding was beautiful, and we had such a good time (although some of us drank a bit too much, but I won't mention his name).  We stayed in Dubuque after the wedding so it was a great kid-free night out.  There was lots of laughing, talking, drinking and dancing.  Congrats Emily and Scott!! Can't wait to see you guys again!

trick or treat!

Wishing you a happy and safe Halloween! 



pumpkins...

(skipping ahead to the pumpkin carving so I could post it before Halloween)We finally got a free weekend to decorate our pumpkins!  We decided to paint them again this year because  it is easier to let the kids loose with paint than try to supervise kids holding knives!  I did carve my pumpkin, and even Bob ended up painting 2 of them.  Bryce decided to paint himself in addition to the pumpkins, but we all had fun.  Check out our creations!