sixty nine inch legs

it was really nice and helpful of allie on saturday to rake up a giant pile of leaves.

ethan thought so too, and wasn't intimidated by his pajama wardrobe one bit while he jumped...

and jumped....

and even dove.

a few minutes later, allie comes in to tell me that she thinks ethan has grown a lot lately, his legs seem especially long. which i'm thinking to myself is ridiculous because he's kind of small for his age.

then i looked outside, saw the sly look on ethan's face and giggled.

it was all taylor's idea. and all of taylor's 5'9 body.

sometimes i worry about ethan being the tail-ender in this family and spending his days without other playmates around him.

other times i think he is the luckiest kid in the world to have three much older sibblings who enjoy entertaining and making him laugh so much.

camouflage

this studdly guy, my youngest brother brandon, turned twenty-eight last saturday.

he celebrating his birthday during his first weekend at boot camp in fort knox, kentucky, because he joined the army. that's right, i said JOINED THE ARMY. at first when he told me his plan, i really questioned his sanity. then, i realized, it's something he just feels like he needs right now in his life. something he just needs to do. and i respect that. i mean, who can argue with that?

we had a big family party on the saturday before he left as a sort of send-off to one of our favorite people.  lots of silliness ensued. (more photos  and videos coming later)

 we also had brandon and my parents over for a little family dinner on sunday, we laughed, but we also cried, because seven months is a long time.

lucky for us, we found out that he gets a two-week break from boot-camp over christmas, so that made it a little easier to see him off at the airport.

i think he'll be wearing his camos next time we see him though, so we might have a hard time finding him.

love you little bro.

take care of yourself.

the big trade in

happy big guy birthday to little E.

we've been talking about this big guy birthday for months now - mainly me trying to explain that his birthday is after taylors,dads, moms, allie's and halloween. and him telling me what kind of toys he wants as presents. also, that four year olds don't have binkies, and that on his birthday he would need to throw them in the garbage in exchange for his gifts. sort of like a toddler version of the "cash for clunkers"  ya, i know, we are the meanest parents ever.

except, he did fine. took the whole bowl of binks out to the garbage can and pitched them in one at a time.

(i can't believe i'm posting a photo of my disgusting garabage can.)

he was excited actually, he even did that funny little dance he does when he sends the cars down the little garage track. he got to the last one, gave it one last suck for old times' sake...

...and then pitched that one too.

i was most worried about bed time, but i just got him tucked in, and other than that it took a little longer to settle him down, so far so good. thank goodness we still have blanket - blankets don't affect your orthodontia bill.

but i think he thought it was worth the trade in-

for the woody and rc car from toy story that he's been asking me for since he saw it at the disney store in JUNE! he's nothing if he isn't persistant. at least he knows what he wants eh?

love this little guy.

happy birthday little e. you've made the last four years a lot of fun for our whole family.

i love you.

resistance is futile

first, i saw the puppy sweater.

and i tried to resist.

the cute little shoulder buttons.

the brown patches on the elbows.

oh man.

and that cute spotted puppy kept looking at me.

you know, with those puppy eyes?

he wanted to give ME that paper i just know it.

he wanted me to take him home.

i picked it up.

put it back down.

picked it back up.

then put it back down for good.

"too much money" i told myself, although it broke my heart a little.

i almost made it out of there without it.

and then....

i saw the matching hat.

oh that little puppy beanie!

and after that it was all over.

you see, i have a weakness for hats.

especially little boy beanies.

can you blame me?

the littler cheering section

ethan loves going to the lacrosse games, he's usually part of the cheering section. i pack perfectly good snacks for him, but he mooches kristy's snakcs because hers are always better. he loves having his own tiny little chair to carry and sit in. thinks his chair is the bee's knees.

saturday we played at an elementary school, with a playground, so of course, he wanted to hang out there instead. i could only get him to focus on the game and eating kristy's snacks for so long before i had to let him go play. you know, i hear the playground is a good place to pick up chicks.

ethan: so, uh, do you come to this play ground often?

cute little girl: oh ya, i come here all the time, it's like, my FAVORITE hang out!

ethan: cool.

cute little girl: but i also really love clothes, check out my darling tights and hair.

ethan: cool.

cute little girl: oh my gosh, this wind is like, totally destroying my cute golden locks!

ethan: ya, that's why i wear a hoodie.

cute little girl: um, who is that with the camera? is that like, the paprazzi?

ethan: no, that's just my mom.

the cheering section

for the past several weeks, lacrosse has taken over our saturdays. besides the fact that i haven't had time to paint allie's bathroom, it's really ok with me, i know cheering on spencer is a worthy time investment. the painting will ALWAYS be around, but spencer will eventually leave the nest. it's been a few years since either of my boys did any sports, at least the outdoor kind of sports where you bring your own chair and cheering section. it's something that i've fallen back into naturally, i had forgotten how great it is to sit on the side lines in all kinds of weather, and yell like crazy for my kids.

from a cheering section perspective i have to say that lacrosse is one of the more fun sports i've watched.

it's pretty exciting, and i seem to have a hard time not yelling, so i do, a lot. usually too much for rich. things like, "get him!" or, "hit him with your stick!" or my new favorite, "forget the stick, use your body!" i wonder why rich doesn't like to sit with me? heck if i know.

spencer is definitely enjoying himself, although one of these days i need to photograph his bruised and beaten body the day after a game. despite the bruises, i mean, battle scars, he is loving this new sport of his. the timing has been perfect for him, he has needed this outlet in a big way and it seems to be a really perfect fit for him.

it's only his first season ever playing, so he's still trying to pick up the skills, but i see a lot of potential for him to be really good. he's such a natural athlete, tall and thick and super strong. he gets that from me of course.

one BIG bonus of being part of lacrosse this year, i get to sit next to kristy and alternate chatting and cheering for our athlete sons. just like old times.

 it's crazy to me, to think that EIGHT years ago, this scenario is originally how kristy and i met. spencer and kyle ended up on the same soccer team in kindergarten, we chatted and cheered way back then too, and we've been friends ever since. lucky for us.

so i can paint another day, for now i'll be the cheering section. it's way more fun than painting anyway, and when the game is over i don't feel like i want to burn my clothes.

yum

i spent more than half my day in the kitchen today, which is really one of my favorite places to be. at least, it is when i'm feeling creative. and today i was, so i really enjoyed myself. allie had requested white cupcakes with strawberry frosting for her birthday. what? i've never made strawberry frosting before, but i consulted with janae and decided to make a cream cheese base, minus the vanilla, and then puree strawberries in the blender to use in place of milk.  they turned out FANTASTIC!

i have to say, these are maybe my favorite cupcakes that i've EVER made, they were so, so yummy. unfortunately, i never follow a frosting recipe, so next time i crank these babies out, i'll be sure to keep track of how much of each ingredient so i can post it on blogger moms cook. until then, you'll just have to enjoy the pretty photograph. of course, it was not just these cupcakes that kept me in the kitchen. i helped lauri with a primary cupcake project and made dinner early because i knew the evening would be hectic.

as a side note, i also baked cheesecake flavored pie filling (pudding) in the middle and i think i will continue to experiment with this, it was pretty good i thought. and i am loving the giant round tip i found yesterday at orson gygi for piping the frosting mostly because it makes it look like a pile of whipped cream on top, so cute. aren't they gorgeous!? YUM.

for my muffy girl

happy happy birthday alexandra girl!

helpful

funny

hard working

smart - she's a 4.0 ya know

(say this like you're from fargo ya know)

kind

zaney

creative

talented

friendly

darling

...just to name a few things that i love about her.

i am just so crazy about this sweet young lady,

who is as lovely on the inside as she is on the out.

have a wonderful fourteenth birthday allie!

oh my gosh. i can't believe you're fourteen!

i LOVE you muffy girl!

(a bushel and a peck and a hug around your neck!)

thou shalt not covet

but i can't help it.  i'm dying for one of these right now.

and one of these, so that a certain little toddler can ride along.

what do you you think?

doesn't this look like fun?

photo pose

this is ethan's "photo pose" lately whenever someone points a camera at him. his tongue is out, trying to imitate kung fu panda po while he's having acupunture, and his fingers pointing at random things. the photo doesn't capture the sound effect though, a kind of "uuuhh?" noise like po makes. why does he feel compelled to pull this face when he see's the camera?  funny guy.

distraction

we did a ton of yard work last saturday, i'm sure our neighbors were singing hallelujia behind their closed doors. the kids were awesome, i don't know how i will ever be able to manage all that needs to be done without their help. ethan had several jobs too, but his attention span is shorter than the older kids. somewhere near the end of our weeding party, we lost him, and the older kids, to this:

sometimes, distractions are a great thing.

easy peasy

did you know, that you can wrap fabric around a frame and hang it on your wall and voila! you have beautiful canvas art?  it's true. and pretty inexpensive. especially considering that i just saw something like this in the pier 1 catalogue, each block was $30!! whatever. make them yourself for about $10.

these are the blocks that i made for my bedroom:

and these are the super cool ones that i made for ethan's room. i love that they fill up so much empty space on the wall - and that they hang so straight and perfect thanks to karrie's awesome laser level. thanks karrie!

the photos just don't do them justice, they are so much cuter in person.

 i have an idea for using old photo frames fro the DI without the glass to make a collage of little ones on allie's wall. i'll let you know how it turns out. easy peasy, just the way i like decorating to be.

more than you really want to know

i'm long over due for an addition to my 100 things about me list. so here we go.

1. i've always longed to visit the redwood forest, i think i need to see it in person because the photos are so stunning i don't really believe what i'm seeing.

2. i love to collect plates, especially salad size. i finally bought plate hangers and hung my collection on my kitchen wall. they make me so happy!

3. i feel baddly that i am NO help to my kids with their math homework. poor rich. he's their hands-on tutor and only hope of any help.

4. tiny sample bottles of perfume are one of my favorite things.

5. i have the world's best girlfriends. seriously.

6. i think i'm a pretty good cook, but i am a TERRIBLE cookie maker. it's just not my thing.

7. i try not to make my bed before i've said my prayers in the morning. then when i see my unmade bed, i remember to pray.

8. i found out tonight that i'm going to be camp director again next year. i wonder what the record is for consecutive years is? my biggest fear is that the girls will be disappointed when they hear it's me again.

9. at camp this year, i won the "dancing queen" award because of my late night partying in the cabins. it was the most fun i've had in a long time.

10. i found out this summer, that i love twitter. i don't really follow anyone on it, i just like being able to give short little blurbs about my life without the pressure of followers or comments. and i am obsessed with making each entry exactly 150 characters.

11. loving bananagrams lately.

12. i'm finding that driving lessons with taylor are not so bad. i'm more patient than i thought i would be, maybe because i remember how nervous i was at that age. of course, we haven't left the parking lot yet...

13. i recently got my nails done, a birthday gift from rich. they are too fancy for my plain jane self, but i love how feminine they make me feel.

14. i love cherry dipped cones from dairy queen, but only when they hand them to you fresh out of the dipper and the shell is still soft. once it gets hard, it's just not worth the calories.

15. i am needing a creative photography project right now. any ideas?

16. feeling TICKED that all the tickets for the midnight showing of new moon are already sold out. all the screaming fans made the mediocre twilight movie so entertaining. it just won't be the same without them.

17. i stopped drinking diet coke. i'm kind of scared to put that one in writing.

that's enough for now.

then and now

every time i remember to take a photo of kitchen with the cabinets all painted and hung, it's a total mess and i put it off for later. well, here it is about two months or so later, and apparently, my kitchen is never clean. so i'm posting the photo dirty dishes and all. just to remind ya'll what the kitchen looked like when we bought this money pit, er, i  mean house, a before photo.

green wall paper, and lots of it, brass light fixtures that made it impossible to talk to someone across the counter, super dry wood cupboards that looked like they needed a big drink of water, and of course, the gross floor. bleh. so here we are today.

new cherry wood floor, sanded, primed and painted cupboards with updated hardware, new lights that stay on the ceiling where they belong, and of course, no more wall paper. 

so there is still lots to be done, i have more plates to hang, a lot of touch up painting to be done, and i'm coveting some new butcher block style counter tops, but over all, it's finished and i'm THRILLED with the results. it was a loooooong processes and a ton of work, but worth it for sure.

ready, steady, GO!

ever since the first day of sunbeams caused such separation anxiety in the toddler, i've been feeling a little bit nervous about what pre-school would be like this year. with the older kids, i waited until they were four before i sent them, but ethan has such a hard time in the fall when everyone goes back to school, that i figured starting him earlier might be fun for him. and let's face it, with no little people in the house, he can definitely use opportunities to practice his social skills. so, in getting ready for school to start, we've been talking a lot about it, how fun it will be, his cool new backpack, singing songs, his great teacher, new friends, you get the idea. so yesterday, was the preschool open house, a good way to gauge his anxiety level since mom was invited to come along.

i started to feel less nervous when:

he marched on in like he owned the place. was THRILLED to see miss laurie and ran to give her a big hug. headed straight for the puzzles. went nuts over the big bucket of animals. dug in the sand with a new friend. tested out the slide.found a treat in the treasure box. and told miss laurie, "see ya tomowo fow pwe-stool!"

and he did.

today when i dropped him off, he waved bye to me on his way in not caring for a second that i was driving away and leaving him there.

so i'm starting to think, maybe i should try the "drop and drive" approach with sunbeams. what do you think?

for my honey

happiest birthday to my wonderful husband.

(this photo is an oldie but goodie, one of my favorites.)

if everyone were as kind, and peacemaking as rich, the world would be a better place.

i'm such a lucky girl, and i'm thankful every day for this sweet man in my life.

happy birthday babe, i love you tons!

now if i could just think of some awesome gift for you...

gLeek

hi, my name is wende, and i am a gLeek.

(no, not a fountain of spit.)

i am in
L-O-V-E
with this new show!

cheesie?
absolutely.
(but in a fantastic sort of way)

if you haven't seen it - check it out!