Rambling Ellie

Getting so big!

2009-05-01T13:25:00.001-05:00

Why do they grow up so fast?!?!

What are we allergic to??

2009-05-01T13:21:00.002-05:00

This has happened with spinach dip and with potato salad. And it's just her cheeks, she's perfectly fine eating the stuff...but YOU try to keep food off of a 21 month-old's face!

Princess Piggy-Tails

2009-05-01T13:20:00.002-05:00

Can she get any cuter?

Marching in March!

2009-05-01T13:17:00.002-05:00

We celebrated March with a Marching band! (the girl on the left is one of my daycare girls)

Lucas got his first shiner!

2009-05-01T13:16:00.003-05:00

The neighbor boy "accidentally" hit him in the face with his CAST...nice.

Great big brother!

2009-05-01T13:14:00.001-05:00

Lucas is giving Abby a wagon ride in our backyard.

Isaac is a monkey!

2009-05-01T13:13:00.002-05:00

You would think he'd be scared after his friend broke an arm, but I can't keep him out of the trees!

Lucas @ the dairy farm!

2009-05-01T13:07:00.003-05:00

Lucas went to the Ropp Dairy Farm with his preschool. We toured the animals...a pair of Alpacas, Tom the Turkey, and lots of cows. The kids got to milk a heiffer, play with a 3-day old baby, and bottle feed some of the other little ones. They also took us on a hay ride and showed us how they make cheese from the fresh milk!

Hunting for Easter Eggs at Grandma Cindy's farm!

2009-04-29T21:25:00.001-05:00

It was frigid cold and windy...but Abby was so excited that she found eggs!!!

baby smiles!

2009-04-29T21:18:00.002-05:00

I think Maddy was about 2mos old here...

Such a good big Sissy, holding the baby!!

And we've had enough!!

It's been a while!

2009-04-26T21:08:00.003-05:00

I've been slightly busy and kinda forgot to post on here...sorry! So, to catch you up to speed...well, I had a baby! If anything else important has happened, I'm too sleep deprived to remember! Madelyn Alice was born on Feb.2nd. She was 8lb 13oz and 20.5" long. She was (and still is!) supremely healthy, she's growing like a weed and tipped the scales at 14lb 3oz at her 2mo checkup! I won't bore you any further...all you wanted was a picture anyways, so here ya go, in no particular order...because the baby is screaming and I don't have the patience for this formatting:

Field trip to the Apple orchard!!

2008-12-15T16:19:00.002-06:00

Here's Lucas searching for the best apples!

Lucas and the daycare girls feeding the goats.

Lucas checking out the turkeys!

New curtains!!

2008-12-12T21:48:00.002-06:00

Here's the "before"...our lovely lace curtains hanging on the cheapest of cheap white pocket rods. I'm sure they would have lasted just fine in a house without kids and dogs, but my crew managed to shred the lace and pull the pocket rods out of the wall! It was definately time for an upgrade! And considering these lace ones came with the house, I was very happy the day they all went in the trash!

And here's the new curtains! I know they look a little strange b/c they are so short, but with kids and dogs, they need to be short!! As much as I love the long, floor-length curtains, they just aren't practical in my house.

The 20 week ultrasound!

2008-12-12T21:40:00.002-06:00

In case you didn't know yet...SURPRISE!! Yup, we're expecting number 4 due Feb. 3rd! February is coming faster than you might expect, I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant, so this ultrasound photo is from 13 weeks ago!

If you really want to try and guess what the baby is, the top-left ultrasound picture is a gender shot, but unless you're trained at these kinds of things, I doubt you'll see much more than baby's femur bones!

I included a baby-bump picture from around 20 weeks. I'll get a more current one in the next couple of days....you will be surprised how much the bump has grown in the last 13 weeks!!

Lucas started preschool!

2008-12-12T21:36:00.003-06:00

He goes 3 days per week for about 2 hours per day. The little girl he is standing with is one of my daycare girls, they go to "school" together.

Flag Football!!

2008-12-12T21:27:00.003-06:00

Isaac played football last fall...I have a bunch of pictures, but my camera doesn't do *zooming* very well, so they're all from really far away! I can't even make out which kid is Isaac, so here's a fun picture...I think Isaac is the 2nd from the left. His team is wearing the black shirts. And yes, that's Jason coaching (white t-shirt & jean shorts)

Lucas liked to dress up in Isaac's uniform from last year....he claimed that he was going to cheer Isaac on, but much of his time was spent sitting in a chair, being lazy!

Abby was a great cheerleader too...when she wasn't trying to run on the field!!

And no day would be complete...

2008-12-11T21:38:00.002-06:00

without trying to start a fire with an acetylene torch!! No, it didn't work...you can't burn green wood! I tried telling them that, but you know men and fires....they tried their darndest!!

The final resting place....

2008-12-11T21:30:00.003-06:00

of the Springy Dingy Thingy!! At long last, the Springy Dingy Thingy has a home...and it's not in my driveway!! It sat very lonely for over a year in my driveway and it's finally in the ground...without further ado, here's the Springy Dingy Thingy....

You wouldn't think so, but the hole actually ended up being about waist-deep on Isaac...it took a couple of hours, then again it would have taken much longer if it weren't for Papa John loosening up all the dirt for the boys! Lucas & Isaac were such hard workers!

And here it is, in it's final resting place! I think we've all agreed that it will forever stay right here....our grandkids will be playing on it!!

Punk Rocker Baby!

2008-12-11T21:24:00.003-06:00

It was bath-time...what could I say??

It's official...I'm lazy!

2008-12-11T20:53:00.006-06:00

So my camera has been broken...and that's been my excuse for not blogging...but I just went and looked in my computer files and I have pictures from August thru November, so there's really no excuse. I'm just lazy. I'm going to be super busy the next few days, preparing for Christmas (because again, I'm lazy and I've waited until the last minute) but I will try to post more on here so you'all can see the kids!! :) (and I apologize in advance for the formatting...I have been working on this one post for the better part of an hour and it still looks crappy, sorry!!)

Here's a few from our August trip down to Georgia...This first one is the boys in the back of our new minivan (an '08 Honda Odyssey that I absolutely LOVE!)...we were just taking off from Illinois and they were armed and ready with their binoculars!

These next few were taken at Rock City in Lookout Mt., GA...it's a small tourist attraction built by a couple back during the great depression...they arranged stone paths winding in and out of some natural rock formations. It was a long walk, but we all had a great time!

This was a very scary ledge to be standing on...very high up, with nothing underneath!

Daddy & the kids at the top of a long, steep rock stairway.

Mom & the kids walking thru "Fat man's squeeze"

This was a scenic overlook area, there was a sign nearby showing how you could see 7 different states from this one vantage point!

We were able to see North & South Carolina, Tenessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, and of course we were in Georgia.

The mountain was about to collapse...thank goodness the boys are so strong!!

Abby again!

2008-07-24T08:44:00.005-05:00

She is loving Lucas' new carseat, lol!! She can inherit it in a couple years...Even though she just turned 1, she'll be rear-facing until she reaches 35lbs, the highest weight of her convertible seat, as is recommended by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) "it is best for her to ride rear-facing to the highest weight or height allowed by the manufacturer of her car safety seat."

Here are a couple of videos that show why it's so important to keep a child rear-facing as long as possible. The 20lbs and 1yr. guideline is just the bare-minimum required by law...I'd prefer Abby's spine to stay in 1 piece if God-forbid we were in a bad crash. (just click the text)

The importance of Rear-Facing
Child Seat Safety

It's a BIRD, it's a PLANE...

2008-07-24T08:40:00.002-05:00

It's SUPER-ABBY!!!

Lucas got a new carseat!!

2008-07-24T08:33:00.003-05:00

He finally reached 39lbs and is almost out of the old one, so I ordered him this new one. This is the Radian65 by Sunshine Kids. I like that it's so skinny, I will be able to fit 3 carseats across the back of the minivan, and that he will be super safe up to 65lbs (or 53" tall.) And he likes that he has a new carseat w/ "Spaceship foam!!" (it has EPS side-impact foam) It also has a super-strong steel-alloy frame, which supposedly makes it the strongest carseat in the world!

BLAAAHHHHHH!!

2008-07-24T08:31:00.001-05:00

She's got a thing for her tongue...it's always hanging out, lol!!

Silly doggy...

2008-07-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

This is how Lucy lays on the floor..goofball!

It's Bath time!!!

2008-07-24T08:21:00.003-05:00

Abby used to absolutely HATE water and all things bath-related. She would scream and cry the whole time she was wet. She turned a corner a few weeks back and has decided that she LOVES water! Here she is waiting to get in the tub...

And here she is splashing!

The 1st Birthday!!!

2008-07-13T13:52:00.004-05:00

Here's the birthday girl chowing down on some potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw, and mac & cheese!
And here she is ROAR'ing, lol!
Abby smooching her papa John!
And making a mess of her chocolate cake (not such a good idea, huh dad??)
And the crazy boys decided to dress up....they're WEIRD!!!

Abby is a little Fashionista!!

2008-07-13T13:45:00.003-05:00

Can she get any cuter??

Let's Play Ball!!

2008-07-13T13:37:00.004-05:00

This turned out to be Isaac's last game of the season, it was a sudden-death elimination tournament. Here's Isaac JUST after he hit the ball.
Here he is taking off from 2nd base.

And that's him in the yellow (behind the guy in the red shirt and camo shorts) scoring a run for his team! The final score was 5-8, they lost by 3 runs.

Floatilla!!!

2008-07-13T13:27:00.004-05:00

Every 4th of July, some members of our HOA put on an event to remember. It's called the Floatilla! They have a logo printed on t-shirts and glasses..the whole shebang! It's not widely publicized, so you have to know someone that knows someone, but this year we were invited by our neighbors. About 30 pontoon boats tie up together across the lake and everyone has one great big day-long party. There is live music on the beach, grills cooking the most delicious food, and plenty of fun to be had by all! That's Jason and Lucas on the silver floatie...they were headed to shore to find a restroom.

Here's Isaac swimming with his school-buddy. They were little water-bugs the whole day!!
Here you can see all the pontoon boats tied up to our right...there were just as many tied on the left side, we were pretty much in the middle.

Cici's tour!!

2008-07-13T13:19:00.002-05:00

We went to Cici's Pizza for a tour...the boys got to see where the pizzas are made, walk in the walk-in cooler (BBRRR!) and try their hand at making pizza!

Isaac decided he was *too cool* for pictures, but Lucas is a ham-bone as always!

And of course there wasn't a bite left when they were done!! MMMmmmm!!!

Why is everyone on the ceiling??

2008-06-30T08:35:00.002-05:00

Another new trick from Abby...she never ceases to amaze, lol!!

SO BIG!!

2008-06-30T08:34:00.000-05:00

This is Abby's new trick!!

Tooth #4...and another $1 from the tooth fairy!

2008-06-30T08:32:00.003-05:00

Isaac yanked out his 4th tooth on Friday!! They've all been on the bottom so far...we're wondering when the top 2 will come out!

The goofy big brothers!!

2008-06-30T08:30:00.001-05:00

Why are boys so WEIRD?!?!

Turning off ESPN!!

2008-06-30T08:28:00.004-05:00

Abby's figured out how to get daddy's attention...turn off the boob-tube!! And she thinks she's just SO cute!!

Pickles??

2008-06-30T08:27:00.002-05:00

I thought she LOVED pickles!! Guess not so much anymore??

Abby LOVES the tunnel!!

2008-06-30T08:25:00.004-05:00

Isaac and Lucas never tire of luring her thru the tunnel with her favorite toys!! Now that she's crawling, the tunnel is her new favorite thing!

Peek-A-Boo!!

2008-06-30T08:23:00.001-05:00

Abby's new favorite game!! She just laughs and laughs!

CHEESE!!!

2008-06-30T08:21:00.001-05:00

Look at all those chompers!! They're deadly!!

2008-06-06T14:40:00.002-05:00

left the house at 8am, had a 9am appt. to get my car fixed (finally)

Get there at 8:50, they only have written down that I need my rotors machined, nothing about the door that won't lock. So they'll "Try and squeeze me in" An HOUR later they come tell me that it will be close to $300....WTH???!!!

the estimate on the phone was $85 to have the rotors machined, I have a 6yr, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty for the door lock, right?? Well, the door lock isn't covered under warranty...it'll be $110 for the rotors and $85 for the door...um, NO You told me $85 for the rotors...oh, ok...it'll be $85 for the rotors and $85 for the door.

OK FINE, do the work.

Car's done after 2 1/2 HOURS of walking the kids around inside the dealership. They don't do loaner cars anymore b/c in the last year, 3 people have totalled the loaner cars...2 didn't even have insurance. Fine, we're done, I pay $165 and we leave.

Stop for gas, that's another $65....and guess what??? I can't lock my door.

Go to the bank for $20 so I can buy lunch...it's already noon and we're all starving and cranky. I call the dealership back and "Oh...it might be a module going out?? We'll have to make an appt, how's next Wed?" OMG! I have to go BACK to this godforsaken place w/ my poor kids for another 2 hours?!?! fine, wed. is fine...we'll go back wed. JUST FIX MY GODDAMNED DOOR! (btw the rotors work beautifully and I can now stop on a dime w/o feeling like the steering wheel is going to jump out of the car!)

So we go thru McDs...I ordered a #5 w/ GRILLED chicken & rootbeer, 2 cheeseburger happy meals w/ NO PICKLE, apple dippers and choc. milk for one...fries and white milk for the other. I pay, she gives me the wrong change (I should have kept it, she was rolling her eyes at me that I pointed it out to her when I was giving her back 60c!)...I get the food and I can feel the heat in both kids' bags...both had fries. I call the girl back to the window, hand her 1 thing of fries and ask for apple dippers...she gets them, as I'm sitting there, I realize it's a girl toy in the bag...so when she gets back, I ask for a boy toy....she goes to get them...I quickly glance in the other bags, the cheeseburgers have the receipts taped to the top denoting that they are without pickle...so I get the boy toy and pull up...shift to park so I can hand Lucas his food (he's in the 3rd row and I'd rather not try and throw it to him while driving, lol!)

We're all set and we go off to get Abby's birthcertificate in downtown Peoria. "MOOOMMMMmmmmm there's PICKLES!!!!!!" (said as if there were fried grasshoppers on the sandwich) OMG..."ok, fine I'm sorry, I asked for no pickles...you heard me ask?? yes, I asked... I'm sorry there are pickles, please pick them off and set them on the wrapper" catastrophe averted.

I reach into the bag for my fries...they're upside-down. nice. who the heck puts fries in the bag UPSIDE DOWN??? I'm sure you all know I worked in fast-food for 8 YEARS...NEVER once have I put a customer's food UPSIDE DOWN in their bag. UGH! fine, whatever...I eat the fries...they're cold by this point...but there's not much I can do about that. then "MMOOOOOMMMMMM I have Pickles TOO!!!"

UGH!!! Can anything else go wrong?? "please do NOT throw your pickles on teh floor of the car, set them in your napkin" ok...done w/ my fries, time to eat my sandwich! Guess what I got?? Yup, a FRIED chicken sandwich.

thanks McDonalds. You've officially ruined my day.

So I choke down my greasy nasty sandwich and we arrive without incident at the courthouse. I find a parking spot front and center, but upon closer inspection I realize that the meter only goes up to 30 minutes. I have to be fast...no problem, I can be fast! We race down the steps, the door to the clerk's office should be right there...the sign says "EXIT ONLY" Now mind you when I say we race down the steps, I mean I drug 2 boys and a stroller with a baby DOWN 15 stairs. Guess where we have to go now??

UP said stairs. YAY.

We stop and ask a friendly grandpa-looking man for directions, he *thinks* the door is down the building AROUND THE BLOCK. OY VEY! So we run down to the other door...of course it's the court house so we're all but strip-searched for bombs and illegal contraband...b/c you know those women w/ 3 kids, they're dangerous! We finally get in, there's not even a line! Things are looking up! I politely ask "I need a birthcertificate for my daughter please?" She has me fill out the form..."It'll be $13.50" I grab my check-book. "I'm sorry ma'am, we only accept cash" ....I'm just completely deflated. We were JUST at the bank. And our bank is 10+ MILES away. I had checked the county website this morning, it said nothing about *CASH ONLY* ...though I admittedly didn't look too hard. I give up.

So, we leave. it only took us 7 minutes...there was still 23 minutes left on the meter.

Abby is CRAWLING!!

2008-06-02T21:33:00.003-05:00

She has been moving and scooting both on her back and on her stomach & elbows now for quite some time. She can get wherever she wants in our house (aside from the gated stairs!) She loves playing with Lucy's food and water, apparently Iams makes a pretty tasty blend (BLECH!!) and water is always fun to splash in!! Her older brothers are Johnny-on-the-Spot though and keep the dog's dishes up on the counter when they see Abby approaching!!

In the past week or so, Abby has been getting up on her hands & knees and rocking...back and forth, back and forth, and then PLOP, she's back down on her belly doing the military crawl on her elbows! Here's her first hands & knees pic, and yes it's hot enough in Illinois in May to be nekkid!!

Isaac's new carseat!

2008-06-02T21:16:00.005-05:00

If you didn't already know, I will go ahead and tell you. I am a closet carseat safety NUT! I figure the most dangerous thing I do most days is strap my kids in a 2000 lb. weapon and go cruising, putting every last ounce of my trust into all the other drivers out on the road. Ok, I'm not really THAT paranoid...but I do try to keep my kids as safe as I can!

The current laws in Illinois are fairly strict, requiring a rear-facing carseat for infants up to 20lbs and a carseat for all kids under 80lbs and 4'9" (generally 8 years old). I have done some research and because my boys love NASCAR, we all know that the 5-point safety harness is the safest!

This is Isaac's new carseat. It is a Graco Nautilus and it will keep him harnessed until he reaches 65 lbs. or 57" (at which time he will be in a booster until I feel he's safe enough to sit in a regular car seat-belt) Isaac **LOVES** his new carseat!! He thinks it is very comfortable and he just loves laying his head on the little side-wings for a bit of shut-eye! Lucas is quickly outgrowing his carseat, so he will be getting a new carseat too, stay tuned!!

We've been BUSY!!

2008-06-02T21:08:00.003-05:00

I am so sorry for not posting more! We've been busy!! I'll try and catch you up in a hurry! Isaac was in 1st grade, I say "was" because his last day was TODAY! He's now a "2nd grader" OMGosh! They did a little singing program back in May, it was about 1/2 an hour long, this is a picture from it. It's really hard to see him, as we were pretty much as far away as you could get! I need a new camera with a better zoom feature, but since that's not going to happen, this is the best I can do!

Isaac is the boy in the middle that's facing sideways! That's right, I didn't even get a decent face-shot of him!! All my long-distance shots are blurry :(

The entire program was a dialogue between the kids (divided into girls & boys) and the school's principal. It was about a naughty gingerbread man that thought he could run away from everyone, in the end a sly fox ate him for dinner! Poor gingerbread man!!

Abby playing in the grass!

2008-05-06T07:42:00.003-05:00

She's not so sure of the grass and really tries hard not to touch it...unless she spies a tasty morsel, then she's all over it!

Lucy made a new friend!

2008-05-06T07:38:00.003-05:00

His name is Juan Pablo Sanchez....and he likes to follow Lucy all around! He can't quite get a grip on that soccer ball though! Strangely he thinks he has a little Latin Lover in him....and he thinks Lucy should be his girlfriend! (yes, he humps her leg!) Maybe we should call him Ricky Ricardo?? LUCY!! You gotta lotta 'splainin' to do!!!!

Abby's new skill!

2008-05-06T07:36:00.001-05:00

She can sit up from laying down, all by herself!! YAY Abby!!

The Power went out!!!

2008-04-25T22:57:00.003-05:00

so, like 2 hours ago our power flicked off, then back on...ummm, OOOooohhh-KAY
...then off, then on, then off, on, off, on...we started unplugging stuff so nothing would break!

Then off....and it stayed off. Well, if you've seen the weather at all, there are some crazy storms coming thru our state, it's been raining off and on for over 24hrs, everything is saturated, puddles all over my yard, it's more like a wet sponge actually...and we have a basement. For those of you w/o basements, they fill with water in conditions like these, unless you have a sump pump running every 15-20 minutes to drain your sump hole.

Well, sump pumps don't work without electricity...so I started to bail water. By flashlight. It was PITCH BLACK in our house.

Not knowing when the power would come back on, and full-well knowing that the last time our power went out, it was for a VERY long time.... my dear husband went off to the gas station (thank god they have generators and their pumps were still running!!!) for gas for our generator (thanks Papa John!!!)

I stayed home and continued to bail water. Probably upwards of 50 gallons, it was coming in just as fast as I could bail. By flashlight. It's still PITCH BLACK in our house. And since there is no bathroom or any other type of drain in our basement, when I say BAIL water, I also mean I carried it upstairs by the 5-gallon bucket to dump it in the kitchen sink. It was still POURING outside or I would have taken it out, but I didn't feel like being cold and wet.

We'd never even unpackaged the generator since we got it for Christmas, we were lucky last winter w/ no power outages. So, it doesn't have wheels or handles and the thing weighs like 80lbs....more when full of gas *snort* ...yes, we filled it first, and then moved it...we're idiots!

So I poured over the instruction manual by candle-light while my husband continued to bail...by flashlight. And after a very long time, we felt we were knowledgeable enough to start it up.

We got it running, then plugged in the sump pump...EUREKA, it worked! I swear it took 15 gallons of water out of the sump hole in 13 seconds....would have taken me another 10 minutes to bail it!

We high-fived and were so happy at our accomplishment when WWHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUPPP The power came back on. Go figure.

Guess what Lucas did today??

2008-04-25T08:43:00.002-05:00

He learned to ride his bike with NO Training wheels!! He is 4 1/2 years old and such a big boy now!! He still needs a steady push to get going, so I get to follow him around b/c he stops to smell the flowers all the time! I'm certainly getting my exercise! And notice he's wearing a fancy new "Cool-Dude Helmet" thanks to Aunt Mary's prodding, now his little noggin is safe!

Spring has sprung!

2008-04-25T08:33:00.003-05:00

Well, spring has finally sprung!! The cabin fever is officially over! We have lots of flowering trees in our yard, and the bulbs are starting to sprout! The boys have a vase on the kitchen table and they are allowed to each bring in 2 flowers per day, I'd like to keep at least a couple of flowers out in the yard!
I have no clue what this beautiful yellow flower is.....oh, and YES Dandelions are BEAUTIFUL flowers too!! :)
I would like to get my garden going again this year. I need to barter with the neighbor and have him till it for me! 2 years ago when we did the garden, I baked him some zucchini bread, maybe he remembers?? :)
This is a tree in our back yard (that's the neighbor's house and garage) and it has HUGE beautiful flowers. The petals will fall off in a month or so and all that will be left is leaves, there is no fruit whatsoever! I have no clue what kind of tree it is, but it sure is pretty!!
This is our apple tree, no flowers yet, but you can see the beginnings of them!

Abby's room Part 3...she's moved in!

2008-04-18T07:39:00.002-05:00

These curtains are going just as soon as we find a suitable replacement!

Plenty of toys already!

And here's the finished door, closet, and light fixture.

Baby Jail!!

2008-04-16T20:58:00.004-05:00

Daddy snapped this pic, he thought it was super cute! This is the only way I can get a moments peace to do a little laundry, it's Baby JAIL!!

Guess what Isaac did today??

2008-04-16T20:49:00.003-05:00

He cracked an egg ALL BY HIMSELF!

And look!!! NO SHELLS!

Abby's Bedroom Part 2!

2008-04-14T21:54:00.006-05:00

This is the door to the hallway....and Lucas w/ his new "SCARY" face...he's so scary, eh?? He's such a goofball!!

I wanted to post these on Saturday but we got a little busy. These pics are of the trim which is completely finished now! I will get some more pics up tomorrow, we are almost completely done and Abby is all moved in!!

A few pics of the kids...

2008-04-10T21:02:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd add a few pics of the kids....

Here's the boys being goofy...well, this is how they NORMALLY are!!
PEEEK-A-BOOO!!!

CHEEEEESE!!!

Lucas is boycotting!

2008-04-10T09:14:00.004-05:00

We're all working our tails off to get this room done, and what does Lucas do?? He snuck off to watch SpongeBob!! He's decided that he wants his room back. He's tired of sharing with Isaac. Except he wants to keep the bunkbed to sleep in, lol!

This is the master bedroom...it's next on the demolition list! I can't wait to get rid of that dark faux-panelling above the curtains!

In the bottom right corner, you can see the yellow bins, those are full of Abby's toys! And there is a piggy bank and a pink lamp on the floor behind the books, those are waiting to go in Abby's room too!!

We've got PAINT!!

2008-04-09T21:24:00.004-05:00

We're getting somewhere...we've definately got paint. Lots of bright, bubble-gum paint! It's fun. Definately not a color I ever would have thought we would have in our house, but this is what happens when your husband goes paint shopping by himself! So, what do you think? I keep seeing this color pink w/ a bright, lime green (Thanks Lisa, lol!) and I really love it! I'm gathering ideas, but the husband gets the final decorating "Say-so" as
this is his little project room.
The big crack in the ceiling will eventually be covered by ceiling tiles. We're trying to find some cheap, yet pretty ones. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!! The ones we found (and didn't even *LOVE*) at Menards were $17 EACH...I about crapped my pants! We only need..oh 45 of them! All of the trim will also be getting a nice coat of white paint, that's next on the list. We also need some ideas for the closet. I'm leaning towards just painting it white and installing some shelving. We kept the old door, I want to paint it white, then put a frame (pink or green??) on it w/ the inside of the frame done in that chalkboard paint. Maybe some magnetic paint somewhere too...just because it's fun!

Abby is getting a bedroom!

2008-04-08T20:53:00.000-05:00

Poor Lucas was kicked out of his bedroom last summer. He was happy to go, it meant that he got to sleep in a bunk bed with his big brother, and he was doing something nice for his new baby sister. And the room has sat empty ever since! It's become quite the dumping grounds for all our unfinished projects, or things that just need a new home. So, we finally cleaned it out and started in on the walls a couple of months ago...funding of our little project ran dry, but we are finally back at it! Here are some "before" and "during" pics, I will get more "during" pics up as we finish, and hopefully some "After" pics before too long!

The "Before" pics are from 2 years ago when we first moved into this house. We put both boys into the master bedroom (more space for toys!) and we took the smaller upstairs room. The scary bears were too much for me though, I tore them down before I could sleep in there!!
This "During" pic is of the pink primer. You can also see the new white door frame behind my hired help...er, I mean husband. We bought a new door for the room and will continue replacing doors and trim as we go. You didn't think we would use the same trim, did you?? It's HIDEOUS!!!

Quite the cute little helper, eh? And Lucy is peeking out from under the ladder!

WFD~What's For Dinner? Italian Wedding Soup!

2008-04-08T20:23:00.001-05:00

I love to cook...well, let me clarify, I enjoy cooking when I can actually cook. It becomes a bit of a chore when I'm also cleaning, washing dishes, disciplining boys, calming down a baby, all the while tripping over a dog or cat. I like to try out new recipes, so I will try to remember to take pictures and add the recipes with pictures as I make new foods!

Tonight I made Italian Wedding soup from a recipe I found on recipezaar.com. It was quite simple, the hardest part was forming all the little meatballs. It was yummy! Almost as good as the Campbell's canned variety! You can find the recipe here: http://www.recipezaar.com/14061

Pickles and Applesauce

2008-04-08T13:20:00.000-05:00

This is the cutest video of the cutest baby in the whole world!

I'm Ellie

2008-04-08T13:11:00.000-05:00

I'm a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, and a friend. I am a chef, a cleaning lady, a teacher, a nurse, a peacekeeper, a hostage negotiator (as in "MMOOOOOoooommmm, HE TOOK MY TOOYYYY"). And on the side, I dabble as a plumber, electrician, and painter. I am 28 years old and I am a stay-at-home-mom to 3 little rugrats. Isaac is 7 and in 1st grade, Lucas is 4 and Abby will be 1 in July. We are always busy, always going. When I have time to sit, I enjoy horror movies, surfing the 'net, and I've been known to read a book or 2. We're currently remodeling our house, piece by piece as we are able. I'm sure you'll see many pics of it in the months to come.