Bubbles, Bubbles, Who's got the Bubbles

Well, Wednesday's over and so it the optimisim.
Last night my kitchen sink backed up and today the Plumber came.
We didn't notice that the dishwasher hadn't properly drained due to the back up.

SO... This is my one-person-at-a-time kitchen today!



So Fun!
p.s. love this plumber...so good, quick and reasonable! REALLY!

Feeling Better Already

http://spillyjane.blogspot.com/2007/11/piggy-mittens-are-here.html

I'm on a quest for optimism. I found a great idea here, that I'm going to "Borrow".

It is (if you don't feel like linking)....

Things to LOVE this week!

I think Hump day is an appropriate day for a post like that, don't you? SO...

Things to LOVE this week...

Sturdy shovels

Warm Mittens

Play Dates

Clean Air

Soup and Yummy Bread

Little Arms that don't reach all the way around you but still squeeze just as tight

Some Warm and Fuzziness

It's such a cold and somewhat lonely day. Thought we could all use a little LOVE! EnJOY

Great Quote, thanks Shauna

After hearing of the passing of the prophet, I feel solace in knowing that he has returned to his wife that he cherished dearly. With Shauna's help, we found a great quote from Marjorie Hinckley that sums up their lives together as well as how I want to live mine...

"I don't want to show up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed with long perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon with mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want there to be grass stains on my shoes from mowing Mrs. Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and I really lived!" (Marjorie Pay Hinckley)

YEP!

101 Things

Random Facts
1. I can't 'comment' and talk on the phone at the same time.
2. I have three kids: Tag, Thatcher and Talia
3. I gave all my kids "T" names, my grandma did it and we copied.
4. I have had EVERY job under the sun, just about! (now, that's another post!)
5. I Suck at bloggin'
6. I am a good gift giver
7. I have horrible spelling
8. I'm tired
9. I hid in my room from mid '86 to mid '88 (fun teenage years!)
10. I have a son with Epilepsy
11. CTR is my initials backwards
12. Dave is such a good example to me
13. I am a Morning Person
14. I enjoy grocery shopping...even with my kids
15. I'm too young to have been married for 12 years!
16. Firm believer that everything has it's place
17. I am a great singer...alone in my car...with the radio cranked up louder than my voice
18. I actually don't mind driving a mini-van
19. I get horrible nervous giggles, runs in the family
20. I haven't framed any pictures of my baby yet...bad mom, I know!
21. I have sort of a mean sense of humor

Loves
22. Dave
23. My kids
24. My Family
25. My friends
26. You!
27. My poochie
28. My cozy little house
29. cotton candy
30. cookies fresh from the oven
31. cookie dough
32. kaleidoscopes
33. collecting things
34. good food
35. eating out
36. sitting in the shower (my thinking place)
37. the smell of my sweet kids right out of the tub
38. the smell of Dave
39. the smell of Rain
40. Rain
41. rainy days with nothing to do
42. Rain boots
43. empty laundry baskets
44. bloggin'
45. blog stalkin'
46. polished toes
47. bare feet
48. my tattoo
49. Going to concerts, especially the BareNaked Ladies
50. BareNaked Ladies (they deserved their own slot)
51. Getting mail, even if it's junk
52. My birthday
53. my kids birthdays
54. Purple
55. Super Nanny
56. The power of prayer
57. My kids laughter
58. Having friends over for lunch
59. YOGA
60. Movies in the theater
61. Musicals
62. Whitefish Lake, Montana
63. Hand-Me-Downs
64. Playing games; board or computer
65. That my 'Loves' list is longer than my 'Hates' list

Hates
66. Inversion
67. Scary movies
68. When my cell phone battery runs out
69. Hair hanging in my face
70. A messy purse
71. Emptying the dishwasher
72. Epilepsy
73. Ironing
74. My love of good food
75. Painy legs
76. My man hands, yep
77. When my clean floors only last 10 minutes (see number 2)
78. Having my picture taken
79. Confrontation

Wishes
80. To be a nurse
81. To have a better memory
82. To have ALL my pictures magically organized in cute books
83. healthy happy kids that never fight with me or each other
84. Lots of babies for Kam and Kyle
85. A place to display my kaleidoscopes
86. better self esteem
87. this body
88. Like... 100 more square feet in my kitchen
89. Some sort of style...I got none!
90. To go back to Budapest, Hungary
91. To be a better mom
92. To be a better Wife
93. To be a better Friend
94. To be a Better Blogger!
95. To be a better Camper (Help Darby!)
96. To watch the sunrise from a mountain top
(I'm so doing that this spring, anyone wanna come?)
97. To somehow repay my Mom for ALWAYS being there
98. To somehow repay Karolyn for being my Go-To person
99. For more exercise
100. For one whole night's sleep

101. That you'll do this too, if you already haven't!

Thanks, Kam, that WAS fun!

January Blahs!

I keep hearing that my friends out in Bloggerland are struggling with their kiddos and not loving the weather. I heard it here and there, over here and again right there. . . . Well, let's have some winter fun! There are great ideas here and there, over here and again right here! C'mon get busy making memories that you can post, right Andrea? ;)

There, I'm done Naggin'!

(Really, I just wanted to do one of those Linky posts!)

Happy Birthday Dave!

TODAY is Dave's birthday! My sweet husband is old-er today! He is such a good dad and husband! We are so lucky to have you in our lives!
We Love you!

Tell me how YOU do!

My Dad sent over this fun little geography quiz! I am truly addicted! (I can't spell, but I think geography is fun, I get weirder by the minute!!)
EnJOY!

I want to Play!

Natalie posted a Close Encounter of the Seventh kind and I want to play too. I feel like my blog is all about the goings on of my kids (which is all I really am these days) but sometimes it's nice to find that lost person I once was. Anyway, if you care, here we go...

1- I am constantly annoyed with this or that and think "Oh, that is for sure my biggest pet-peeve" but 5 minutes later I have no idea what annoyed me. We'll call it my sick version of optimism.

2- While I wouldn't consider myself a pack rat, I do have a hard time getting rid of things. One of the kids just might grow to like that toy... or we still have all the pieces.... or if it was "IN" in 1989, there's a good chance it's on the way to being back in style, so I should keep it! It drives my sisters CRAZY!!! I think of it as..."Use it up, wear it out, make it do or DO WITHOUT!"

3- Baking is my therapy! My sweet friend Karolyn learned this week that there AIN'T nothin' a good batch of cookie dough can't fix!

4- I get the chills every time I drive over train tracks. It's so weird, it's like Natalie's mirror thing or Lisa's being scared of her own basement, stemming, also, from bizarre childhood games.

5- I'm reluctant to write this, but, I'm a Helicopter Parent. I disguise it with being the super classroom volunteer and being so glad all the play-dates are at my house. I think all the time about ways I can better let my kids spread their wings, I just NEED to be more proactive! Resolution #73.

6- I can get terribly impatient with crowds, even my own family. I'm the first one out the door from get together. I'm not sure why, I usually am enjoying myself, just need to Get!

7- I HATE confrontation. I instantly feel inadequate in expressing myself! Odd, because I am a fairly direct person, just ask Amanda, who probably hates that she asked for potty training help! Okay, #74.

Well, next up close post I should really try to focus on my positives! You first Natalie (not that your list was negative, just want to hear what you do BEST, besides Bloggin'!) Kam and Shaun, you gotta get in on this one too! Infact, anyone who reads this...

Tell me why I Like you!

I was just trying to do something fun with my kids!

So, it's early day and Friday and a mellow one at that. AND, being a mom, I thought I'd take the kiddos out for a fun, little snack to close off this busy week.

We had a coupon for a free one of these! So we headed on over.

I walk up to the counter and told them that I'd pay the difference to upgrade to the large size and then I want it poured into three small cups (No, I'm not HIGH MAINTENANCE, or anything, just want what I want, when I want it!)

Suddenly, there's a high pitched ringing sound and the cashier looks at me and says "The upgrade is on us, our register just broke." Right, THANKS!

Our smoothies arrive. The hand off - To Tag, it's good!!! To Thatch, we miss the connection... all of a sudden there are smooshed fruits and ice and juice going EVERYWHERE. She hands mine to me. Now, I've been a Mom for 5 1/2 years and I'm pretty good at the whole balance baby in one arm, purse on the other, leaving me, like, ALMOST one handed. Anyway, my smoothie hit the floor and covered my kids. Right at that moment...Tag sticks his straw into his too hard and pokes a nice sized hole in the bottom of the cup.

The ringing of the register seems to be getting louder to me at this point and I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. The poor 18 year old worker is frantically making us another one while I use their entire napkin supply to clean up.

We left as quickly as we could with our second unpaid for round of drinks. The people that arrived just seconds after we did had not yet been helped. That horrible ringing is growing still and I don't think there is a clean inch of flooring in the store.

The poor smoothie girl had this terrible look of pity and I could practically hear her beg me not to ever come back...

I hear ya!

They Grow So Quickly

From this sweet face.......





To This one in one day!

Oh, the Things they SAY!

Lately Thatcher has been entranced by a picture on our mantel of our wedding. He thought I was a princess until I explained what a BRIDE is.

Today we have a couple of friends over and Thatcher wanted to show them the picture. He climbed up on the couch, got their attention and said, "This is when my Mom was a Mer-Mom, no wait...when she was a broad, yes, a Broad!"

Thanks, Thatch!

Typical Man

She's all done up and...He's all wide eyed!

The irony is that the snow-girl is our neighbors, right across the street. Whitney lives there and Tag has had a crush on her since the day she moved in. Sorry Melanie!

Just the FIVE of Us!

We had a Rockin' New Years Eve... Just the five of us. Dave and I made it to Midnight (the first time in 6 years! WAHOO!).



You gotta LOVE Thatcher slow dancin' with ...himself!

Such Good Family

It was so fun to see all you Laitinen girls today! Sure hope those of you that aren't BLOGGIN' join us soon!
Love you all!
(forgot my camera, RATS)

Of All the Things They Got...

they play with the boxes MOST!