Cold Weather and Catastrophy

It's cold outside. Although not as cold as some places. A favorite blog I like to visit of a mom with three boys, has temps in her area around -28 degrees with a real feel of -52. I don't know why they say "real feel" when at temps that cold, you really can't feel anything.
So what's a mom to do when it's that cold out and you have a house full of rambunctious boys?
Anyone?
A. get silly
B. get creative
C. go crazy??
D. get crazy glue???
E. Pray!

After considering the above options, I have decided I am way too cranky and hormonal at this time to successfully accomplish option "A", and probably also "B". Option "C" looks pretty good from here. I'm all out of option "D". That leaves option "E". This would be the best one. God's Word tells us to "pray without ceasing". This is actually very easy, and takes very little effort. You can also do many other tasks while praying at the same time! This is great for those of us who LOVE to multi-task! That's me!

On a lighter note.....what do you do when you are about to be hit by a piece of steel the size of a small bus, filled with radioactive jet fuel, approaching at alarming speeds? Hmm. Let us ponder this.......
The newspaper on Monday stated that there is such a piece of metal (a spy satellite), that has "fallen" out of orbit and is hurdling towards the Earth. It is said that it could hit the Earth sometime in February or March. Where? Noone is certain. Great. The good news is that other satellites have fallen to Earth and done relatively little damage. That's good. The bad news is if the radioactive "stuff" inside should come in contact with people, it can be of great consequence. Not good.

Well, God's Word also tells us not to worry. Again I am back to option "E" and I am sure today and the next and the next will be just fine. I'm thankful for every day the Lord gives me and my family. Even if it is cold.

Party people in the house!!

Saturday we had a little "friends" party for Kevin. His birthday was on the 17th, but we had to arrange for a good weekend date for the party. All together we had about 8 kids ( including ours) and 8 adults. It was nice to get together with some of our friends! Here's some pictures from the Big Bash!

That's right, you guessed it folks......MORE CARS! I think we may be having cars birthday parties for a long time! That's ok with me. ROCK ON RADIATOR SPRINGS!!

Ramblin,Ramblin,Ramblin.......

If everything in life made complete sense, how much fun would that be? Here are a few "ramblin's" from the little men this week....

"Mommy, there are consequences in cows!"-----really?
"I don't want to brush my teeth with a stinker!"----is that right?
"neenah-nana"----translation: Mr. Noodle has a banana.

Joke of the day, and my personal favorite: If they are called "seagulls" because they fly over the sea, then what are they called when they fly over the bay?

Bagels! Wooooh! Gets me every time!

Much love from all of us! Have a great day!

MARCH FOR LIFE

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary March For Life in Washington DC. Thousands of people gather every year to try to send a message to our lawmakers to overturn Roe-v-Wade, which currently makes abortion legal, and to uphold the sanctity of human life. I went for the first yr with a group from our church. It was a long bus ride there and back. The Lord smiled down on us providing clear weather. It was very cold but the walking kept us warm. The crowd marched from the Mall up to the top of the hill between the Capitol and the Supreme Court, where we stopped to pray. It was a wonderful and moving experience.
As we were ready to leave, it started to sprinkle a bit but the sun was still shining, we turned and saw a brilliant double rainbow! What a fantastic finale! Thank You Lord.

The wheels on the bus go round and round....

Round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows!
Well, Kevin is getting over his bout with pink eye, but Sean has it again! Ryan seems to be fighting it off pretty well, along with Jeff and myself. We called the dr and asked for more drops just in case we start showing signs in the coming days.
I am trying to keep up with the laundry, continually washing sheets, and towels, and blankets, etc. Trying to wash away our eye troubles! We are feeling a bit cooped up. It is too cold to play outside, a balmy 20 degrees. There is not nearly enough playdoh in the house. Oh well, could be worse!

Here's a cute video for your enjoyment! It cheered me up! Don't worry, be happy! :)

Huggies!

Hard Day?

Manly stuff...

So when we started this blog, I figured I (Jeff) would be the one doing most of the posting. Ha!How mistaken I was. As you all know, my beautiful young bride has shown herself to be quite the accomplished blogger! Now it's my turn! In manly news...

Last weekend, I cleaned off my work bench. I added a pegboard for tool storage, and what was once a cluttered pile of tool mess has turned into this...

Voila!

Also, for Christmas, my parents gave me a gun cabinet. Here it is...(Thanks Mom & Dad!!)

Such a manly basement!!!

I also set up an area in the garage to hang my tree stand (bow season is now over :( no deer this year), my bow and arrows, and a deer. Hopefully I'll use the deer hanger next year. I would post a picture of that, but it's too cold to go outside right now. Maybe later...

GO GIANTS!!! BEAT THE PACKERS!!

The Eyes Have it!

Disinfect as I may, I am still defeated. The dreaded "pink eye" has struck again! Kevin now has a yucky case of it, and we are keeping a close eye on Ryan. Get it? Every time we look at him we think we see more pink, but then I look again and I am not so sure. My mind is playing tricks on me. The dr will be calling in drops for Kev and Ry first thing in the morning. Hopefully we can finally put this thing to rest..........
we'll keep you posted.

Breathe Deep

Sean has had his fair share of sickness this winter to say the least and it is still ONLY January.

During Christmas he had Bronchitis, immediately followed by a pretty nasty sinus infection. Only a week after he was off the antibiotics, he was afflicted with "pink eye". This was especially fun, since Jeff and I had to hold him down to administer treatment. One of us would sit on his legs while the other would hold his arms and pry his eyes open, so the one sitting on him could squeeze in the drops.

Whatever picture you may be imagining right now is probably accurate.

So today's Dr visit was because he seemed to me to have bronchitis again, but the dr doesn't seem to think so.

FYI: Mothers don't like it when dr's tell them something different than what they think is wrong with their precious child.

So.... the Dr. has ordered some breathing treatments to see if they "do it". Okee dokee!

Here is a picture of my sweet Seanie. As soon as I turned the machine on, he picked up the mask and covered his face with it. So happy to oblige! He stood in the livingroom for the entire time just having a blast!

Aaahhhhhh!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!!!

Kevin turned the big 04 today! We can't believe he is 4. How did this happen? If he is four years older.....that means we are four years older too! Rats.

Well, he was a very happy birthday boy today. We had a busy day, but managed to have a few surprises here and there, and some "present time". Here is a sampling of what he opened...

New CARS pajamas! And some new Radiator Springs friends! We can't stop til we have them all! Hee Hee! Anyway, We are so thankful for Kevin and can't imagine our life without him. He is a sweet and kind angel, full of generosity and Love. He has a very big heart, and is without a doubt a most precious gift! Plus he gives good hugs and he is a dynamite dancer to boot!

WE LOVE YOU KEVIN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Love, Mommy,Daddy,Ryan & Sean

Because I'M THE MOM!

NUFF SAID!

Oh, what a beautiful mooorning!

It seems that in our family of 5 only one of us is actually a "morning person". That would be Ryan. The rest of us usually get up feeling a bit, shall we say, "crusty"?
Today was a bit of a rough go, as it tends to be on school mornings. Here is a tasty tid bit of the excitement which ensued BEFORE 7am:

5:30 Sean up.
watched a little Elmo: "flowers, bananas & hair".

6:00 made Sean an egg, which when done cooking, did not want.

6:15 Ryan and Kevin up.

6:30 poured cereal for boys: Ryan's choice: frosted shredded wheat. dry. (I know)
Kevin's choice: cinn. toast crunch w/ milk

6:40 Sean crying and whining. won't stop. I don't know what he wants. he doesn't know either. I think it wouldn't seem so loud, if only I'd poured that first cup of coffee....

6:45 Kevin joins the whine/cry, as he has dripped a small drop of milk on the table, (since he scrapes the cereal off the spoon with his teeth which is inducive to dripping). Because of his crying he is now choking/ gagging on a cinnamon swirled, sugar crusted toast square. At the same time Sean is still crying and now Ryan is asking repeatedly for a drink. ( I guess the dry shards of hay finally got to him).

6:50 Everyone ok? good. poured some cereal for Sean. It seems all he wanted was what his brothers were having. cereal. ok.

6:55 Terrifying shrill screams of fear and pain are heard from the living room, as Daddy attempts to remove the splinter in Ryan's pinkie finger in a most efficient, yet somewhat speedy process since he will have to leave for school shortly and still has not finished getting dressed, making his lunch, shaving his face, and warming up the car...

7:00 Daddy kisses everyone and runs out the door. Things start to calm down a bit. The door opens....across the kitchen I hear: " Is there an ice scraper in here anywhere????"

Hmmm.......

I'm sure the rest of the day will be much smoother sailing. right?

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us REJOICE and be glad in it!"

Why Boys are more BETTER Than Girls!

Vive La Difference!

1.Boys don't have to sit down every time they "go".

2.Boys can go to the bathroom in the woods.

3.Boys can climb trees better.

4.Boys are better tractor drivers than girls.

5.Boys can build better forts than girls.

6.Boys are way more cooler!

7.Boys don't cry and feel sorry when they kill a fly.

8.Boys were created first!

9.Boys get to blow up more stuff!

10. Boys are proud of their odor!

11. Boys don't take two million years to get ready.

12. Boys don't need to ask for directions!

( Excerpt from Dr. Dobson's "Bringing Up Boys" )

Mommy, what can we do that's fun???

Don't really know what came over me, except maybe I just needed some good blog posting material! Here's the result of some fun with shaving cream on a long mirror on the kitchen floor......






Thankfully it proved very easy to clean up, on both floor and child!

Rainy Day Torture

This is one of the reasons why it is the crazy bus. I definately did not make enough coffee today...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POP POP!

Today is Pop Pop Bill's Birthday! Currently he and Grandma are on their way toFlorida for a few weeks of R & R! Here is a happy birthday send off for you Pop Pop!
We Love You!

Wake me up!

Ahhh, give me that sweet morning cup o' coffee! Good to the last drop!


My New Year's Resolution for 2008 was " To drink more coffee and eat more chocolate". Although, the coffee has yet to be"hot", and the chocolate is most always eaten in secret!
-Danielle :)

I'm Melting!........

Well, we have had alot of fun the last two days sledding in what little bit of snow was left! Here is a picture of our snowman when he was first built after the storm over a week ago...

The weather has been a bit warmer, and we were out having fun! Especially today (Mon) it is in the 60's. we were sledding in a t-shirt! Now look at our poor snowman today!

I'm sure tomorrow he'll be reduced to nothing but a puddle with eyes. The rest of the week is said to be very warm, so i think we had our last bit of snow fun today!

New living room colors

In response to a comment on our super fantastic new living room color combo (chosen, of course, by Danielle) here are before and after pictures of the colors.

BEFORE (plain, bland, blah gray with wood trim. you can see the trim in the reflection in the mirror) These are pictures from Christmas 2006

AFTER (color, sweet color! great job oh awesome wife o' mine!)

The colors are: spicy cayenne, pumpkin butter, and the trim is swiss coffee. All Behr paints from Home Depot

3 walls are pumpkin butter

The fireplace wall and the hallway outside the LR are spicy cayenne

Special thanks to my Dad for helping with the paint job.

A Sad Day

Well, it is time. The tree must come down today. We got it the weekend after Thanksgiving, and it has survived rather well and has been a good tree! Before we remove the ornaments and bring it back to it's original "undressed" state, I figured I would put up a picture of it for one last moment of glory. *sniff*

Angels

"All day, all night, angels watchin over me my Lord. All day, all night, angels are watchin over me.
Sun is setting in the west. Angels watchin over me my Lord.
Come now child, and take your rest, while angels are watchin over me."

Daydreeeeming

Ahh, this morning I awoke to a quiet peaceful day. The sun was barely up, but at least we had slept in more than usual. It must be a holiday? No. It's only friday. While rubbing the sand out of my eyes, I walked into the dining room, and felt what seemed to be more sand underfoot. Surely I must be at the beach. Suddenly I could feel the warm sun and hear the waves crashing....

Then I woke up. It was really toys crashing in the other room. The sand underfoot was the million crumbs I had forgotten to sweep up yesterday, and also after clearing my eyes, it seemed the floor had a bit of....snow? no, it was those crazy white dots from the FLOAM they had played with.

A strange smell came drifting through the room, but alas, it was not the aroma of a freshly poured Pina Colada, but rather My beautiful 18 month old's first accomplishment of the day.

Ahhh. It is a great day. I have a Mops meeting today! So after we make some more crumbs from breakfast ( which I will not sweep because I will be in too much of a hurry to leave for mops), we will have fun with friends, come home, have a great lunch ( with more crumbs), and then play with some more playdoh and floam.

Life is good!

Happy New Year!!

Here's a big shout-out to my peeps in Illinois! Whoop-whoop!!

This week has been filled with playtime! With presents strewn about the house, we don't know where to begin...

Here's the Lincoln Logs (one of jeff's favorites)

This is "Frontier Junction"

This is "Marshall Stone". Howdy Partners! There's a new law man in town...

Looks like the Marshall has a pretty sweet ride...

In other news...

Recently, Sean has earned the nickname "Sean-zilla" for his mad skill in the art of destruction. Especially destroying things that his older brothers have built and don't want destroyed.

For your enjoyment, here is a Seanzilla sequence...(imagine little tiny people running out of the block building shouting "AHHHHHH, SEAN-ZIRRA!!")

here's the approach... here's the swing....

Here's THE DESTRUCTION!!!!

Also, we had one last snow for 2007. Here's the view from the front deck at Casa de Colarusso.

We hope you had a great Christmas and may God Bless all of you in 2008!!