Wednesday, September 29, 2010


so, a few days ago i did my much anticipated target trip. My orthodontist is an hour away, which is a drag but gives me a real reason to go to a real town. (compared to here, anyways). I can also hit target, starbucks, and hobby lobby. The kids actually need some winter clothes, so it was guilt free. well, except the pumpkin scone. is it emotionally unhealthy that the instant i walk into starbucks i simply feel better about life? it also helped that i only had one child with me. Anyways, pumpkin scone + %50 off all fall decor at hobby lobby + clinique gift time + being allowed to get the kids some new clothes = a happy me. and i needed that encouragement, as shallow and short lived as it was, because around the time i headed home, the wrenching pain from my braces started up and is still going strong. I had a cartload of slimfast at the grocery store and i felt the need to qualify to the checkout person that i just had my braces adjusted, i wasn't doing a liquid fast because i wanted to. not that they care what kind of diet i do, i'm sure.


so the other day, patrick got me a gift. just for no reason, except he saw it and knew i needed it and it would bless me. (it's the recipe book holder, up there). and it sure did bless me! saving me counter space when i'm cooking and protecting my recipes, sure, but knowing that he was thinking of me like that! i was very impressed.


i love my children! (not that i wouldn't rent them out for an afternoon to, well, anybody!)


david and des came for a quick visit last week, we didn't take many pictures because we didn't do much,, but they did get to spend time with the kids. they're actually praying about a job opportunity over by wichita. they helped out so much with our house over the summer we were glad they were able to see the (somewhat) finished product.


so, Hannah started out a really difficult baby then got easier as she grew up. charlie was an incredibly easy baby, but he's making up for it these days! last night was the first time he's slept through the night in i dont' know how long. we're down to one nap a day, but he doesn't sleep for long at all and wakes up so cranky, and stays that way till bed time. so, if he wakes up too early, the afternoon is looooooong! there isn't really anywhere to go, either. we used to go to the playplace at the mall, the train table/kids section at barnes and noble, various parks and nature areas, even toysrus because they have alot out to play with. i'm not complaining, we just need to come up with some different ideas for when we have bad weather and cranky children. patrick is going to have the basement finished really soon, and that will be our play/preschool room. anyways, all that to explain the picture: it was raining, but we went on our walk anyways.




charlie opening his birthday present from nana and pop pop.


he just loves it. and so does hannah. she always try to steal it away from him.

of course the box is also fun to play with.

so, i got my harvest table in plenty of time to celebrate, well, harvest! in case you missed the post awhile ago, patrick made this table. his grandpa vic and david had done it before him, so he thought we needed one to, and we love it. it is so nice to have so much room at the table. you'll have to come see!
we love fall: pumpkin bread, apple cider, scented candles, sweaters (hopefully eventually. it was 85 today), decorating. i love every season, but we're ready for fall. we've both lived in much warmer climates for quite a while, so this will be a change.
so my mom will be here next week, and lar is also coming to celebrate charlie's party with us. i'll try to post again before, i've done quite a bit of prep work already, and we're going really simple with the food, so i'm hoping it will be low stress. patrick especially is hoping it will be low stress!

Friday, September 17, 2010


apparently my life is flying by because i thought it had been only a few days since i update, and here it is, almost 2 wks. this is just a little example of how much hannah, uh, helps me out! she loves to climb in charlie's crib and play with him, so often in the morning or when he wakes up from his nap and is crying, she'll go entertain him and i'll get a few more minutes of productiveness. i guess it's actually productivity. anyways, she loves dumping everything out in one huge pile. but then when it comes to picking it up. . . ! there's a giant trash bag of toys sitting in the closet for that exact reason. the toy jail is full these days. but then i think, if she can keep herself so amused when she's missing half her toys, can i just go ahead and take the bag to goodwill?


now that's what i call pizza dough!


i can't get over her pose here. the eyes and everything, her finger on the pastry brush. like she's doing a cooking show. when i have the patience for it, i love cooking with hannah. there's alot she does already, like peel garlic or pull the herb leaves of the stems. and, apparently, brush oil on the pizza crust.


"Alright guys, i'm all ready for my first haircut. let's get this show on the road!"


"uh, i'm sorry, what did you say was going to happen? he's going to come at me with scissors? yeah. . . "


"well, i can see your point. it is getting kind of long around the ears. but only if i can play with this nifty brush."


"careful now. my do is important! i dont' want to lose my reputation with the ladies at playgroup"

"alright, alright. i'm diggin it!"
mommy thinks he got a little carried away with the razor, and should have stopped after the scissors. but he's a boy, it'll grow back fast!

my next batch of supercharlie food: quinoa, lentils, butternut squash, collard greens, and beets.
if only we all ate like that! (right, patrick? :-)


turns around to see if i'm watching. . .



and yep, he's going for it! i can't believe he's big enough to reach the doorknob. and that type is so much easier to open. patrick got it for me because he knew how my hands are always full, and it's helpful to just use an elbow to open the door. but i forgot it's also alot easier for the crisplings.


so, we finally had a cool day. that would be, something under 100. ok, maybe i'm exaggerating, but just a little, honestly. i had a hot chocolate craving (more specifically a starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate craving. alas, they don't even make that anymore). so i decided we should start a tradition of making hot chocolate on the first real fall day of the year. i would love to say it was all happily ever after, but our milk had gone bad. we didn't know this until after we wasted the time and ingredients making it. does anybody know if raw milk goes bad faster? or is it because it's whole, as opposed to the skim we used to get. i don't know, but we never get through the gallon before it goes bad.


she's getting so strong! this adorable outfit was made by Grandma (my mom).


i mentioned how much she loves puzzles. i got her a new one to challenge her a little bit. we did it together, but i really only helped with the border. she is learning so much these days. the other day we were talking about food, and i mentioned protein, and started listing different protein sources she eats. she piped up with, what about eggs, mommy? i said yes, eggs too. are you learning your food groups? she says, yes, in homeschool, just like my letters! (that isn't something we talk about specifically much, because the word school just isn't that important at three. but apparently she already knows what's going on!)
also heard around town:
  • mother and daughter and baby are in store. mother is on phone with mother in law, and distracted by son in cart. mother periodically loses daughter, and calls to her. daughter responds, loudly enough for other shoppers to hear: "mommy! don't bother me!" (it's unfortunate that rebellion can sometimes seem so cute, isn't it?)
  • H has a certain CD called animal songs, from the cd display at walmart. it's one of those things she begs to listen to ALL. THE. TIME. i simply must have a break occasionally. instead of expressing myself appropriately, i have been known to yell, in response to begging, NO! because i am so sick of your animal songs cd. sooooo, other day I make chicken pot pie. i thought it was the best chicken pot pie ever. i used leftover gravy, maybe that's why. anyways, H decided she doesn't like it. i tell her to eat more. no, she says. are you full? no, my tummy's sick. oh, you don't feel well? no, i'm just sick of this food. just like you're sick of my cd. whoops.
  • daddy and H are talking before bed. H refers back, all in a jumble, to numerous convos H and mommy had throughout the day. relating to babies, nursing, marriage, and for some reason the 2nd coming of Jesus. (not sure how that related, but anyways.) H tells daddy she is going to get married to a boy, and we don't know his name yet, but Jesus knows his name. she then tells daddy this boy will give her babies. (now those weren't even my words, so don't think i'm getting all scientific on her already.) he will also have blonde hair, blue eyes, and be able to do this (insert picture of Hannah making fish face here.) You mean he'll kiss you? (i ask because mommy and daddy do like to kiss, even in front of children. gasp!) no, not kiss, just fish face. she will also have a pink and purple wedding ring.

my charlie man is such a climber. he can't walk, but he climbs up anything he can. he gets in hannah's rocking chair and stands up. (we have all hardwood, so i don't like this stunt). he climbs up the slide, as far as he can. he speeds his way all the way up the stairs. on his way to the rocking chair or horse, actually. i can't believe i have a preschooler and a toddler, not a toddler and a baby. (a toddler who just got himself 2nd degree burns on 3 fingers, from the oven door :-(. he really doesn't seem like a baby any more either because we're pretty much free of each other in the nursing dept. I wasn't tired of nursing, just the stupid supplementer. so, no more mixing up formula. when i get sad thinking about moving on from that stage, i just think, hey, no more corn syrup solids for charlie! (if you don't know the whole story i understand that sounds confusing. just roll with it. i'd be happy to explain later :-).
oh, if it weren't blurry, this might be the sweetest picture ever taken of any 1yr old boy. i love how intent he is on his tractor, a birthday gift from grandma loretta and grandpa alvin. whenever i get it out for him to play with, hannah swipes it, though.
next week david and des are coming for a few days, then mom and lar are coming the weekend of charlie's party, then dad and bunny the next weekend. i'm really excited about the company! we kind of get bored here :-) so, whoever comes, can you bring me a pumpkin spice latte? :-)

Thursday, September 09, 2010

the simple life


so it's a good thing we has "Western Fun Days" (or something or other) recently, or i'd have absolutely nothing to put on the blog! no six flags around, so this was our outing for saturday. nearly free, it only cost $2 for the whole family to ride the train :-). the kids are so easily entertained right now, so they had fun. yes, even just riding stick horses!


i love that little lip thing he does. he's such a goober!


of course we had to do the provided photo shoots.


charlie's first train ride






for some reason i think charlie actually resembles me in this picture!


my 2 boys. . .


but, he does have a sister! hannah got a princess outfit for her birthday, which surprisingly we don't have a picture of yet. she loves putting the tiara on charlie, and he'll leave it on for quite a while. she is in love with princesses. for some reason, specifically Snow White, Tinkerbell, and Ariel. (she has not seen any of these movies, especially little mermaid, i have no idea where she got these names or why she is so attached to them.) she is set on calling charlie "Tink", as a nickname. How she even got the idea to shorten it, i'm not sure. but it's kind of cute, maybe it'll stick :-)
Charlie turned one last week, without much fanfare. (we're waiting for his party) But he needs at least a shout out, i think. my sweet boy, getting so big. he only takes one nap a day, and we only nurse at bedtime. he is so affectionate, if i'm ever on the floor, he crawls right over and gets on my lap or climbs on my back. we've started to read books before his nap, and he pays attention really well. he loves playing in the fridge and the dishwasher, the toilet, the cellphone, the recycling bin, climbing up stairs (he is so fast all the way up to the top), and many other things. i realize most of those are hazardous to his health. in the morning, when we're eating breakfast and he hears the stairs creak, he gets so excited because he knows patrick will be coming around the corner. he just loves to dance, all with his arms. whenever he hears any kind of music, he gets going. he knows how to wave, say bye, and we're working on blowing kisses. he also claps and gives high fives. he eats like a pro football player. especially fruit, the boy loves fruit. he loves his family, if hannah's not around and i say her name, he'll start looking around for her. at the playground, even though he can't walk he crawls all over the place in the sand, and climbs up on whatever he can. loves the slide, and the swings. i am so in love with him, and i kiss him every chance i get because i know in not too long i won't be able to be physically close to him, not like hannah. he's making me completely re evaluate how i feel about boys. i can't wait to be his mommy as he grows, becoming more boy every day.

hannah is getting so big too. she built this lego castle all by herself. she's also really into puzzles, and books. we are taking a less structured approach to preschool than i planned originally. she is, after all, only 3. we do have workbooks and such, but we don't do them every day. instead, i just make sure i spend a good chunk of time (as long as her attention span is!) reading, doing puzzles, doing crafts, legos, or something else and we learn as we go. I just want to expose her to all kinds of avenues for learning, and being with her all the time, it's easy to reinforce things in different situations. reading recipes, for example: she can pick out nearly all her numbers.
we are starting a new phase in our lives, called "getting out of debt". (creative, i know :-) obviously it's something we've always been working towards, but we've recently simply had enough with credit card payments. so, we're taking some drastic measures to accomplish this. I am selling my violin, which has been really difiicult for me, even though i rarely play it. my dad gave it to me when i graduated high school, and i never imagined i'd sell it. i know it's just a thing, but it represented so much more to me, it used to be such a huge part of who i was. whenever i get too sad and want to change my mind, i remember patrick leaving aviation for us, and i'm encouraged. not by him being sad as well, but that even though we make sacrifices, even ones we really struggle with, like sometimes giving up our dreams, God knows how we're feeling and I know He can replace them with other dreams or bring them back in some way, eventually filling that emptiness with peace and excitement for the future, even if it looks different than what we thought. This would be a good time to sign off, as i usually try to leave the personal reflections to other bloggers! anyways, three cheers for dave ramsey! wish us luck :-)