Snow Angel

What is this picture? It's a snow angel. It is very hard to see I know, but Brandon made me the snow angel and asked me to get a picture of it. He loves to make snow angels and show me. And I love the magic in them. As a child making the snow angel being aloud to lay on the ground and wave your arms and legs is such a special treat. Slowly as they get older you see these little things less and less often. I seem to appreciate these little loves of life and childhood more and more the older my kids get. It's hard when your kids are little to appreciate some things that they do, but as they get older you miss them. I miss my children finger painting, I miss the smell of play doh, and I miss them wanting me to read them stories with pictures at bedtime. So for today I'm enjoying my snow angel that was made with love.

Lipstick Jungle

Normally I don't even talk about shows that are on tv because I usually don't watch regular shows, however I really like this one. Lipstick Jungle is on NBC on Thursdays at 10pm. I only sat down to watch it because Brooke Shields is one of the lead actresses and I really like her for so many reasons. The show is about three powerful women and the ups and downs they go through. The show is definetly for grown ups. I am very curious to read the book now though. Now these women have a powerful position in their career. How do these women relate to average me? I don't know they just do. If you guys check out the show let me know what you think. If you miss the episodes you can catch them online.

Snow Days

We have had a lovely blast of snow here in Ohio for the last two days straight which of course lead to two snow days from school. One snow day is always fun, day two the kids start fighting. Yesterday they went sledding with their dad down a hill way out back. They make sure this hill is cleared from trees, stumps, brush, etc. every summer so that when winter comes there is their perfect sledding hill. Today was a lot colder out so they didn't want to stay out as long, and I wasn't about to let them with wind chills in the under 5 range. They did go out for a little though. The kids cleared off the walk way for the bus stop tomorrow, and I loaded the car with bags of stuff to give away from the spring cleaning we've been working on inside. I learned a new setting on the camera today the "snow" setting. I kid you not. It does make sense since the snow is so super super bright that the camera would need a different flash setting. All in all it hasn't been bad snow days. The kids enjoyed it very much. PS......Brandon does have gloves on he took them off for this brief second to get the snow out of one. I knew if I didn't address this picture that would be the only thing everyone would focus on in this post.

Eclipse

Last week we had an eclipse. Around our house special star nights or meteor showers or in this case an eclipse is a big deal. We don't have any special telescopes so it is all by what we see outside with the naked eye. It was great!! We watched it off and on all evening and Maddie took a picture right before bed. I thought it was pretty cool. I think why these things are so cool for our family is because ever since we moved out here all we do is watch the sky. The sky is so different out in the country compared to the city. It almost feels like you can reach out and touch the stars. They are brighter, bigger, more life like for us now.

And then there was two

Thank you Stephanie for finding a special Camp Snoopy glass for me. I really really appreciate it. Stephanie is Dave's sister who reads the blog often and kept me in mind when she ran across the glass for me. I couldn't have been more happy when I seen the glass. The children of course are not allowed to touch the new addition due to their track record with my glasses. That takes the count to two now. I will still keep my eyes open for others, but I am delighted to have two again.

Happy Birthday Wendy!

The older wiser Pooh. Today is her birthday and being the big sister I am I'm going to take a moment and reflect on this post. Pooh has grown so much. She has three beautiful kids that she has and is nurturing each and every day. When Pooh had Sierra it changed her life completely. Along came Sienna and she changed some more. Sienna was so different from Sierra, and Pooh adapted a little more. When Levi came it changed Wendy again, this time it brought her years of wisdom and knowledge over night. Pooh rolls with the punches of life and doesn't let things get her down. She is one of those people that learn from life and brings each experience with her and grows from it. She is a special person and even a more remarkable sister. I love you Pooh. Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is Pooh's 32nd Birthday!! This post is more about the Pooh in her younger years. She had lots of energy, loved her some Miss Piggy, and had hair styles of many many many configurations. She has always been a kid that would cry over the sad movies and tried to avoid such ones as Old Yellar, and Bambi. She didn't care much for rules, but she always knew how to make any situation a fun one. Pooh has changed and grew up so very much since those early years. Happy Birthday Pooh!!!

Raising a Boy...part 100

Let me tell you why raising a boy can be so challenging for me....because I'm not one!!! My son is starting to get older and it gets harder and harder for me to figure out what is going on in his little head sometimes. Okay let me just get right to the story. He gets his sports magazine every month or week or something. This magazine is great for him on all kinds of levels. It keeps him reading about things that truely interest him sports. He will read this magazine from beginning to end. This time the swimsuit edition came in. (I was unaware he would be getting that one) I felt I couldn't ignore it, and I should say something to him about it. Let me just say this was a hard one for me. I let him know all kinds of things about women and men etc. Then I tried to lighten the mood a little and asked him if he had ever seen women with bathing suits like that at the local rec pool. He said no. We spent the rest of the conversation giving examples of real women and bathing suit models. I've spent so much time with the girls letting them know that they don't have to look like women in a magazine to be beautiful. Both of the girls are beautiful and are strong women. Now I must try to teach my son that a girl is beautiful because of who she is not what she looks like. I feel like I've got work to do with this child. It's weird teaching beauty to your son and it's almost like I have to teach him backwards. I think it is extremly important to not avoid these topics with our sons but take that time to talk about the hard subjects.

My Candy Bar Substitute

I know I've mentioned the pineapple before, but I think it needs to be mentioned again. Those of you cutting back on the sweets (yes there is a few of you) here is a thought. Fresh pineapple is the sweetest most devine piece of natural delight I've ever tasted that is allowed in a health diet. Here's a few facts for you...a HALF of a candy bar (like I would only eat half) has 3x the amount of calories fat grams, etc that an entire cup of fresh pineapple has. Now for those of you watching ww points that is 4 points for half a candy bar, and 1 point for a cup of fresh pineapple.

The Coolest

I had to make a post about this. Madeline's science experiment is on air pressure and this is one of the experiments she used to show how it works. A hard boiled egg peeled sits on top of the glass vase, she drops matches in the vase and puts the egg on top. The air pressure pushes the egg down in the vase. It was super cool to watch. She's worked really hard on her project, and I'm super proud of her. I do need to mention that Emily's son Evan who is in first grade had already done this experiment. Em said it was one of the experiments that came with his chemistry set. (She's raising a little Einstein over there.)

Quick update

Here's an update on the little things going on in our life. Brandon is still in his basketball season until March. He is doing a lot better, but I don't think he will do it next season. Only time will tell. He made it to the spelling bee this year and was delighted over that fact, but he got out early. He completely missed what the word was. He says next year he'll ask for a sentence to verify the word. Baseball is around the corner for him, and he's already wanting to go to the batting cages when he's not practicing basketball. Madeline has signed up for track. Yes you heard me right (I'm not even going to comment about this yet.) Track starts in March. She is seriously thinking about skipping softball this year. (We'll see) She is fighting through her grades this quarter. I've never seen her grades this far all over the map. She also was in the spelling bee, but purposely got out first. Her reasoning was she didn't want to look bad towards the end of the contest with really hard words, so she switched up an 'or' for an 'er'. (Sometimes as a parent you take a really deep breath and count to ten before you even tackle this kind of reasoning with your kid.) I received a clean bill of health from the gyno. The family doctor not so lucky. Just a cholestrol problem still hoovering over me that I will continue to keep an eye on. Started looking for a job in my field there are no current positions at the local hospitals but this can change daily. I'm still plugging away. Have a great weekend everyone, and for those of you that get the three day weekend enjoy it with the ones you love. For those of you angry at the ones you love enjoy the weekend anyway.

She's Back!!!

She's back!! The witty undeniable Wendy is finally back on line. Like I've said before if anyone can find a way to get high speed internet to an unreachable location it would be Pooh. Welcome back Pooh...I can't wait to hear about all your non internet experiences. (I know it's just me, but it feels like Pooh being back has somehow put some balance back in my little world.) I know this is an older picture, but in honor of Pooh I thought I'd post a picture with a little more sunshine and warmth. She's not a winter person.

Wishing you all warm nights

Here in northeast Ohio we have had bitter cold temperatures, blowing winds, flooded roads, iced over roads from the floods, and we are expected to get a heavy snowfall in the morning. I wish you all warm nights. Sometimes a warm blanket, a hot cup of cocoa, or a nice warm fire can ease the stress of the day away. I'm not complaining about the weather, but I am looking forward to spring.

Dieting, Exercise, Good Health...Oh My

Out here in chubby girl land dieting, exercise, and good health come up all the time. I would love for this to be one of those posts that I'm giving everyone some pearls of wisdom...it's not. There are so many different diets out there now a days, if you are thinking about a diet think about some of your weakness points and try to find a diet that can work with those. Exercise is always a question to think about bottom line start out slow and work up to those marathon runs. Good health is usually a top reason we diet or exercise. Follow your doctors advice about your sugar, or sodium, or whatever the situation is. Now here comes the closest advice I can give you to a pearl of wisdom...laugh. Laughter is what makes the world go around. It relieves stress helps with the health concept. Laughter burns a few calories, and it just makes life better.
All of this being said I want to express some deep thought for a moment. As a chubby girl I ask myself how did I get here, because quite simply put if I don't figure out that I'm bound to get back here in chubby girl land. I've come up with this one I like food I truely appreciate a good meal. I try to figure out exactly what is put into a good meal and how it was made. Two I'm not a huge fan of exercising. And the last thing is I really feel that even if it is a season I was meant to be a chubby girl. Sometimes being skinny doesn't make us better people on the inside. I love myself more now than when I was 18 and skinner. I appreciate all people I'm not judgemental of their outter beauty. Sometimes you've got to walk through a valley before you can get to the top of a hill. Love yourself and be good to yourself and others around you. (picture is from an email I recently received.)

Madeline's Banquet

Last night was Madeline's basketball banquet. It was very nice. All the parents did something for the girls. The board behind the coach was something I threw together. The coach received 14 pink roses, a picture plaque, and matching t-shirt with the girls. The girls received an engraved plaque, memory book designed with special pictures to each of them, a super cool t-shirt, and the privelage of being treated like queens all week since the conference title game. It was a very special night for the girls and they all were smiling from ear to ear. That is hard to accomplish with 14 teenage girls at the same time. The group picture Maddie wanted me to point out that most of the girls in the back row were wearing heals that's why she seems to be one of the shortest in the row.

Priorities

Priorities....take a look at the refridgerator picture. You will notice that Pooh has her friend's picture and their child's picture up, but none of her own children and family. I can only hope that those pictures are in the family photo album already that's why they are not up on the fridge.

This is a picture of the huge cabinet in her kitchen that swings out into the dining room. (Just thought I'd share that with you)

The last two pictures is of Sienna's party. Sierra (she is wearing her spirit necklace she received in cheerleading last week for the most spirited out of her squad) sharing candy, and Levi holding a sucker, magic wand, and his sister's crown. Sienna was nice enough to share it with him for a few minutes.

Sienna's Birthday

Orginally I wasn't going to be able to attend Sienna's party due to Bub having a game on the same day and time. Brian was home and was able to take Bub to the game and be the supportive parent while I took Maddie to the party to celebrate with her cousin. Sienna was the belle of the ball. Princess theme all the way she was on cloud nine. Turning 4 is a special age especially when you have a crown to wear. Sierra enjoyed the candy, and Levi enjoyed the balloons. I'll post more on this later. Happy Birthday Sienna!!!

Weekly Wendy Update

Since Pooh is not able to connect to the internet world yet I thought I'd post a couple pictures of her new house and give you a little update. Pooh's family seems to be settling in nicely to their new surroundings. This house is huge. There isn't a better way to describe it. The pictures I have doesn't do it justice. Let me try to give you a run down. I think this house use to be some kind of plantation type house. (Lots of extra entrances to rooms that I would have to say was some kind of extra help's quarters etc.) The ceilings are very high, in order to change a light bulb they have to climb a regular ladder not just a step stool. There is a living room, dining room, play room, huge extra room with doors that I think Wendy is going to use for her computer room, kitchen, two separate pantry rooms downstairs. Full basement. Upstairs is bathroom, 4 bedrooms, and a large 5th extra room down the hallway that I think at one time was extra helps room. I say that because out of this 5th room is a set of stairs that leads into the kitchen, and in this room is an older laundry chute in the middle of the room. Upstairs is also an extra set of stairs that leads up to the attic. There are porches around the house, not not not a wrap around porch. Separate porches that are around the house. (Hope you can visulize that) Wendy & Dave with some help from mom have somehow unpacked and had the house ready for Sienna's party in a week. I'm impressed. Other than Pooh being very tired she is doing well. The kids all like their new house, and Sierra is getting use to the bus change. This is the first time for the little ones with moving, and the first move Sierra can remember, so it is taking a little adjusting.

It's A Boy

It's A Boy!! Heather & Casey found out last week the beautiful baby they are about to bring into the world is a baby boy. Everything from the ultrasound showed that the baby was healthy. I personally and selfishly wanted them to have a little girl, but God seen best to give them a boy. Congratulation Heather & Casey!!!!