there was this one time...

Next Chapter!

(popping in really quick to say look to the right- new class info added!)------------>

Eighteen years ago a small oddity entered my life.  He had big blue eyes and porcelain skin punctuated by a little dimpled chin.  He was my new brother.  I regarded him with only partial interest, at thirteen I was too old to play with him but not old enough to appreciate what a significant part of my life he would become.

Eighteen years later, there's no mistaking what he means to me.  He is my best mate.  I suppose Tudor Robb became a real person to me about 7 years ago, the first time I saw him perform on stage.  He burst onto the scene and I was blown away.  The kid had presense and plenty of talent.  My chest burst with pride, and that pride has never wavered.  He gets it.  He's classy, respectful, honest and loyal.  He'll make a hell of a husband one day, and a fine father to boot.  But that is then and this is now.  Now, I'm happy to call him my brother and friend.

Tomorrow he leaves for college, and his life, and ours will never be the same.  I'll miss the cheerful greetings he gives from the balcony when I visit home, or the ten o'clock knock on my door for a brotherly chat.  My parents will no doubt miss his daily acoustic concerts, the way he serenades them with song and laughter, the afternoon water polo games, and the constant bustle of energy that hovers about their baby boy.  For thirty-three years my mom has had a child in the house, I imagine the last is the hardest to let go.

But the boy must become a man.  So we bid you farewell, Tudor and pray that God will keep you in all his ways.  We send a person of great character and charity out into a world that is often lacking both.  God bless you little brother, no matter where you go, I'm right there with you!

wednesday, glorious wednesday!

SO happy that it's wednesday. wednesday means that kira has made it home to us..(yay!!!).. that we went to dots for a treat... and what i am extremely giddy about is that after a long 2 weeks...tomorrow, he comes home.

i know that 2 weeks to some is nothing.. that there are couples separated by war for much, much longer... i don't know how they do it. this was the longest we've been apart since we got married and barely talked. it was pretty tough for me.. that's why i ran to mom's house.. that's why i have been updating the blog daily.. that's why i have watched movies every night past midnight because i can't sleep when he's not here. what can i say? i love the guy! i know the kids are going to be excited to see him. especially this one..

a few days ago, while sitting in a shopping cart.. out of nowhere she starts saying, "sisay (kira-sissy)... dada...sisay...dada...sisay...dada" it was so sweet. either she is getting really bored of me and the boys or she just realized, it's been quite awhile since our home was as full as it normally is. and now that kira is home.. everytime kira walks to the front door, elsie is fearful of another departure! aww!

lately, this is how she spends a good part of her days: (lol look at caleb's head upside down behind hers!)

cook, cook, cooking! lots of pretending with the food, her babies, the backyardigans, lots of writing on paper scraps or notebooks. love this stage where they begin to busy themselves... when they begin to lose themselves in their little make believe world. so sweet! cannot believe she is nearly 18 months. so much closer to 2 now! :(

oh and update on the potty thing--- she only asks to go on a few times a day.. i don't ask her unless i am about to put her in the bath... we are still in diapers. i went to target to buy the thick, padded undies.. they didn't have her size.. so i walked out...happily, knowing she doesn't have a choice but to stick with the diapers for now. :)

i got nothin today!!!!!!!!

but this bit of lovliness taken from last month at pinkberry where we got in trouble for taking a picture.

little by little, the people we love are starting to return home from various summer adventures. we like to find reasons to celebrate so i see lots of cupcakes and frozen yogurt in the near future. :) mmmm!

and the return of my battery charger- so i wont have to dig up older photos-- which is actually kinda neat too.. i forget what i have!

she looks soooo small in his arms here.. a great thing for me to see. :)

and caleb is doing muuuuch better. i, on the other hand have been staying up way too late for the  past 2 weeks.. am not feeling 100%. but as long as they are all happy and well.. i'll be just fine.

 

she's all growsed up :(

SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!
GUESS WHO TINKLED IN THE POTTY, NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please don't misread my caps as excitement. i mean, i am happy for her.. but I AM NOT READY. i haven't even been thinking of potty training her. something just clicked today-- she brought me to the toilet (we don't even have a kid potty yet) and pointed to it. i asked her if she wanted to get on and she said, 'ye-ah'. (that's her new word, yeah. not yes. yeah. with a little southern drawl.) i have been through this 3 times already, people. the potty training thing.. not fun! the worse is when you are at target or some big store like that.. and you have to trek from the back of the store to the front to get to their dirty bathrooms only to have the tinkling start 10 steps into the trek. i love the convenience of diapers!! i'm not gonna lie! i am lazy! :) and it's all about me, right?? LOL! besides all that.. i am just not ready for my baby to be such a big girl yet. :(

anyways. kira trained early (before 2).. the boys did not. i know girls tend to train earlier than boys. i remember saying to caleb (3 at the time) , if you start peeing in the potty, i will buy you a lightsaber. and he said okay! and that was that. :) i don't think i am going to be all gung ho about this... if she wants to pee on the pot, go for it.. if not, then fine. that's one thing i know about parenting... it's all a phase.. these things don't last forever. (she says as she currently has her 2 boys and baby sleeping in her bed tonight.) ............... :)
(camera battery died.. no idea where the charger is..... older photo from a few weeks ago)

saturday

as mellllllow.
hung out with my SIL for awhile before she left CA..always so sad to see her go :( she is such an amazing friend...and not just because she hand delivers me a nice vanilla latte first thing in the morning!! she's just a good person. :)
glad she had her camera handy since mine is needing it's battery charged. me with els. she's holding one of my favorite treats. chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

and 'pretty'. elsie's new word of the day. she even put 'pretty' and 'please' together. she is understanding and communicating so much more.. always neat to see your kids grow like that.

and just another pretty. a new pot at grammies house with pretty pretty colors in it. good thing she's got a green thumb.. i don't even bother planting things, i can just go over to her house and appreciate hers. :)

elsie is absolutely obsessed with... (yes, sucking her fingers) cleaning at grammies house. :) she knows where all the cleaning gadgets are and has a field day over there. now why would she just do that there and not at our house?!?!

can you tell i am stretching to find things to post about.. blogging daily is tough! :)

friday..TGIF! :)

chris' sister is in town for a few days... and i was able to have a girl's evening with her and my sweet MIL!

we went and saw nanny diaries.. which was sweet and silly.. not life altering, but a good ol chick flick! and then we went out to dinner and i was feeling adventurous and i ordered ratatouille!  it was very interesting! :) i told the boys later and they thought i was rather cool- LOL.
we chatted for most of the day so i didn't take one pic of any of the kids! here's one of the boys from the other day... and that is not a grungy bathtub-- that's just a grungy photoshop frame! ;)

how can i not include the elf elf? one from our trip to utah :) man i loved those little shoes.. she outgrew them quick!

we miss our big girl so much! :(
sorry-- an evening out with adults.. i don't have any kid stories to tell! :) :) :) tomorrow will be here soon enough, though!

thursday

we did more hanging around the house today. did lots of scrapping that i can't wait to share soon. :)

els thinks that anything you put up to your eye to look through (cell phone, binoculars, video camera) is a camera. a stranger can be holding up a video camera.. not even pointing it at her direction, she will say cheeeeese. :) photographed much? here is her total fake cheesy smile. :)

here is her solemn, 'you-got-one-second-to-snap-that-picture, woman' look:
--she woke up with a scratch by her eye, and there is spaghetti sauce or lipstick near her other eye.. i guess i could have photoshopped it.. but heck.. this is her... grubby but still so cute. :)

i was talking to a few people yesterday who said they couldn't imagine elsie having a tantrum. i managed to get a 'mini' tantrum picture. i wish i was standing in front of her but this one came out of nowhere. i don't even know if she knew why she was mad. lol

grammies new porch swing. how do i know we'll be spending lots of time here?

my SIL is in town for a few days, yay! my camera was about to die so i left her to take the rest of the day's photos. i need to find my charger if i am gonna  keep up with this daily posting stuff! hoping to go see nanny diaries with her... mama needs a breather from the kids! haha- hope it's as good as the book is! ... but are they ever?! :) hope hope hope elsie is a good girl for grampies!!!!! :)

wednesday

nothing terribly exciting today :) lots of resting for caleb so that means lots of tv watched, then mom feels guilty and makes them do workbooks. :)

look at elsie jumping in there like she's just one of the guys! love that! and it appears she is going to be a righty.. sorry chris.. (he's a lefty) and since she sucks her right fingers, and sometimes works with her left hand, we thought she might end up being a lefty! ah, but who knows!
oh and it was a good mail day. new magazines for chris and i...els got the cutest new book (love the simple illustrations and pictures she can relate too... totally getting the series now!)  and some new clips from this etsy store.

i could not resist them--- they've got one of my favorite scrapbooking supplies on there!! AMY BUTLER BRADS! (ha- if you look at the garden projects associated with this product.. 4 of the 10 layouts are mine!) i wuv them. :) anyways,i am sure i could have made these myself.. but then that would mean.. i would have had to give them up! uh, nope.
so that's it. that's all i got for today. els had another tantrum in public. whoa nelly. i am so in for it. those toddler tantrums were so long forgotten.. sigh. let me just put up a cute set of her so that i can be at peace before i go to bed thinking about the tantrums. :)

tuesday

i got a total run for my money today with this one here!

we started bright and early at the doc's office for caleb-- she was not being the most patient little girl. (which i will NEVER understand... first appt of the day and i am waiting over 40 minutes. i was sooo close to losing it!) so i read her the very hungry caterpillar which determined the fate of the next 2 hours. who would have thought that when i got to the page where it shows all the food the caterpillar ate.. she would go completely beserk over the lollipop picture. I KID YOU NOT... for the next couple of hours it was, 'aw-pop... aw-pop...aw-pop'. she would not accept that i did not have one in my bag (she's had one lollipop and that was like FOUR weeks ago!!!) she had a total fit! and would not stop. needless to say, we came home after all the excitement and she got her book, crawled into my bed and fell asleep for a few hours. phew! i'm so throwing that book away! LOL

anyways, that was the one photo i took the whole day. but as i was going through my pics from this month, i came across these 2. she's such the little toddler already... grubby.. just a little rascal.. look at that face in the bw one!

and one of my boy from a few weeks ago. he's not doing so hot, so if you can say a little prayer for him it would be much appreciated. gracias. :)

monday

today we knew everyone would be at work so we hit the beach early! we got a prime parking spot, too! :) here's the little ham:

my boys were good to me.. stayed close and just built sand castles. :)

we love this beach. so much smaller, less crazy, we feel like we are far, far away from the city! :)

and during els' marathon nap, i scrapped! for fun! again! this time, i was scoping out blogs for challenges/inspiration and found valerie's sketches.  me likey!

do you know any other blogs that do those challenge things? i liked the idea of this one but the current challenge was too similar to the way i normally scrap. so will be checking that out again another time. i am on a roll with the daily posts! since we aren't going to the beach tomorrow, i hope i have something to blog about!

sunday

our first try to the beach was at 9am-- it was totally packed already. so we left and we came back around 6pm. it was still pretty busy but we stopped to play anyways. thank goodness mom was there with me... the boys were totally in the water and drifting while els totally wandered around the sand without a care in the world if i was following her or not. good thing her mom is the paparazzi with her. :)

saturday

so nice to wake up to this:
thank god for claritin... so crazy for me to be able to be this close to a cat!

her name is shiloh and els calls her 'shy-shy'. the roles have reversed.. els is so glad to see her and wants to pet her and poor shy-shy is scared to death of her. :)
doing what she loves to do... pull all of mama's photos off her fridge.

sorry, babe- but what do you eat for breakfast when you are at your grandma's house? doughnuts!


ps- im having major yahoo issues today... if you sent me an email, i haven't been able to see it... sorry!

blogworthy? it's such an 'everyday' post

nope, not much in this post. no amazing photos, not an amazing story, lotsa whoops camera settings wise.. but for someone who is checking this blog specifically for things like this... this is their kinda post. :)
after a long car ride down south, someone is beyond happy to see little einsteins on tv. :)

pls excuse the open leg shot. but MAN! look how long her legs have gotten! she seriously did some major growing in the last few weeks. so many of her dresses are tight on her and sniff... sniff... she moved up to a size 4 diaper. :(

very wrong settings... but what a sweet face :)

SOOOO GREAT that i have the table in focus here. HAAAAAAAAAA! my mom recently got a cat and this was elsie's first time around her. this is the 'checking out how close that cat is to me' squat.

and another that shows off how much she's grown. look at those fingers!  sorry, i didn't quite manage to get anything in focus today. lol

one of cam, very excited about something.

bear with me... i am going to be posting like this for a few weeks...maybe even daily.  have i mentioned that most of the really good shots on this blog lately have been taken by chris, not me?? LOL i have been so out of it.

no-hawk! (chris came up with this title LOL)

school's coming up so we buzzed off the 'mohawk'!

it's always a shock at first when we buzz their hair. but chris has been doing their hair since birth (they both came out with a ton of hair) so they are used to it. can't believe school will be here in less than a month! all of the kids will be gone till 3:00-- elsie will be so sad! :(

daddy even cuts elsie's hair. her back curls came back and they were getting sooo long, i had him chop them last night. :( i need to get pics. i did get this one.. i don't know how.. i get the heebie jeebies when i see this.

she doesn't look as thrilled as he did... taken a few years ago. LOL

oh and can i just share this layout? it's for the midmonth garden.

my layout before elsie took a black marker and wrote ALL OVER IT. sigh. :( what a toddler. :)

it's been awhile

and unfortunately for some people, this isn't gonna be too exciting! :) it's a scrapbook post. but i am going to try and post a lot more in the next few weeks.. gotta try and pull out the camera more, been very lazy about it.
so, over the weekend, i scrapbooked. it's been awhile since i scrapped just for the heck of it.. not for an assignment or company.. just me. ok, i lied... i had to get in the groove- so i started with this one is for KI.

it's for this week's challenge.  so go do it! :) i did that one in the car while elsie was sleeping. that was a first! scrapping in the car. we were at chris' office and i brought stuff along for the day, so i thought, why not? ha! 
here's one that is for fun. thanks shan, for the new hobby lobby elsie stuff! :)

and a totally random one. that's me. almost 30 freaking years ago. how crazy is that??! i don't scrap myself very often but came across this picture and just had to.

so there you go. i even made a new folder in my computer that's called 'for fun'--i'm gonna try and add to it at least once a month. :)

he's home, we're almost complete

he came home last saturday :)

daddy surprised him by coming up for the pick up ride... i am so glad too! he was able to get some shots of the campgrounds. this is his teepee he slept in with a few other boys. he said he missed us but didn't get homesick.. that he was too busy having fun. which i was SO glad to hear.. i wanted him to have so much fun. :)

he met some cool friends (which warms my heart because he is such a little introvert) and had such exciting adventures. we went to develop his disposable camera today and i was so pleased with his shots! ya! :) the funniest part was when i unpacked his clothes.. half of them were still folded so nicely, the way i packed them.. i don't want to know why. :P

i am so glad we sent him. he grew leaps and bounds.. in so many ways. we will send him again and again from now on. and on the way home.. singing all the songs he learned.. teaching them to his number one fan. his little bro. :)

catching up...doing a lot of nothing. having rootbeer floats at 11 in the morning. :) staying up way too late and watching war movies.. almost back to normal. :) kira comes home tomorrow. yay!

play nice

i only have 2 kids with me for a few days. it is definitely a strange feeling! like i left one at the store and i need to run back and pick him/her up! ha! i've been wanting to take elsie to this indoor playground for awhile and today was perfect. i love how most of the kids are preschool and under.. lots around her age.. you pay a few bucks and can stay all day and pack a picnic lunch to eat there. and they constantly come around to wipe down toys.. a total must for this germ freak. :)


already a mother hen:

always trying to keep up with the big bro:


elsie was pushed around a few times but since she is so used to her brothers and sisters she totally held her own! what a difference-- when i just had kira, and something like that would happen, it was so devastating.. now i am like, stand up for yourself, els! :) ha!

so play nice, they did. :) i am SO thankful that caleb will still do "young" things with her... he is so sweet to her. i love it. i have a feeling we will be spending lots of time here once school starts.. she will be missing the big guys so much! so play date mamas, come hang out with us here!!! :)

goodness.

so our theme at 2peas this month is digital scrapbooking. while i don't scrapbook digitally exclusively, it's something i can appreciate and enjoy. here's my favorite from the month:
the enlarged photo, the mix of fonts and THE SEWING! all things i normally don't do while paper scrapping. love that digi lets me do that at a click of a button. :)
also, went through photos last night. elsie got a bunch of hand me down princess dresses from her cousin, jaeden. i managed to quickly snap this and when i edited it i was amazed. :) i'm not sure i am ready for princesses again. :) but how could i resist?!

and this. she really is so tiny! she pulled this top out of her closet and at first i thought, that's way too small.. she wore it last year! but what do you know? it still fits!

and i was trying to compare it to older photos i had of her in it.. but they are on my old computer.. so all i could do was find this layout that elsie flannigan made last year when we had a KI photo swap. :) look how little our peanut is! :) and she's 17 months today. sigh. if i could keep stuffing her in old clothes to make her stay small, i would. :)
wednesday today...halfway till my boy comes home. yay!!! :)