Tuesday.

Our kids have been sick.

It is like they are passing what ever ales them back and forth for fun.
Only it is the opposite of fun.
So what do you do when the crap gets the best of you?
Go to the dollar store for some retail therapy.
Alright, alright, I had a purpose. It wasn't just for fun.
But imagine my joy and eternal delight when I pull into the parking lot of the local dollar store only to notice....

All in the same parking lot.

It was like a white trash trifecta.
The best thing about the dollar store (not including the crazies that come out of the woodwork (I am looking at you teenage girl having a major melt down in the parking lot)) is that you can walk into that store and tell your children that they can have whatever their little hearts desire.
The possibilities are endless.
Strange stale candy that you have never heard of? Check.
Toothpaste? Check.
Hand soap that says it smells like Strawberries but when you take a whiff you are fairly certain it either smells like a chemical that could remove paint (which would be very handy for getting your hands clean), or an old dirty diaper...you aren't quite sure? Check.
So what did the kids choose from the Vast expanse that is the dollar store?

Penny didn't pick out anything for obvious reasons but I would like to think if given the option she would have gone for the see through onesie.
She is trying to keep up with the trends.

We also made Kettle corn for dessert it was yummy.

They Say It's Your Birthday...

You are a year older.

You are the most "liked" person I know.

You are tops in my book.

You are sweet, loving, funny, and thoughtful.

You are smart, driven, and a good provider.

My life would be incomplete with out you in it.

Happy Birthday Blake.

(Picture taken when Gavin was a baby. You haven't aged a bit. I am also fairly certain you still have that shirt hanging in your closet.)

I Am Obsessed With Fungus

Growing up I had a best friend named Louie.

Her Dad, who I lovingly refer to as "Pops", used to sing a song to her.

There's a fungus among us named Louie...

I still catch myself on occasion singing the same tune.

It is catchy.

Kind of like mushrooms.

They kind of grow on you. Baa-Dumb-Cha.

I have mushrooms all over the house.
I got these salt and pepper shakers a couple of years ago.

I liked them so much that I got two sets.

(you know...in case down the road one breaks and I am left sobbing in my pile of salt and glass shards wondering how I am ever gonna find a replacement.)

Actually come to think of it I gave some sets away as an Easter prize that year too.

These little beauties I found at West Elm a couple of years back.
Green and mushrooms? Where do I sign up?

I am fairly certain that I got these ones from Pottery Barn. I almost didn't purchase the smaller one because I thought it looked a little....um....trying to be PG here....male?

But I am so glad I did. I love them and they have appropriately enough found a home on the back of our toilet.

Lastly.
This is, I am fairly sure, is where it all began.
When Blake and I were on our honeymoon in California I saw these little mushrooms at a little roadside stand next to our hotel.
I purchased 3.
Then I thought about it all day and all night. So I went back to purchase more.
(Hence the reason if you look at them some of them are repeat colors.)
Blake and I were newly married so I am glad that we were still at the uncomfortable part of our relationship where he couldn't really tell me what to buy or not buy.
So I came home with 14.
They continue to be one of my favorite things.

I spotted this little fungus while looking around the other day.
I think I may love it.
It is a stool so it is quite large.

Blake and I are on a new budget (the envelope method) and I am plotting how we are going to be eating spaghetti and PB&J's for the next two weeks so that I can have a little "left over" money so that I can buy this.
I know it is crazy to make my family succumb to such torture so that I can have a cute little foot stool decorate our living room but...
Who am I kidding? PB&J's and spaghetti for dinner? My kids are gonna love me.
And I am gonna love our new stool.
Er, Toadstool...
Hardy-har-har. Man I am full of them today.

Nine

I am me.

You are you.

Together we make a pretty great "We".

This is what happens when we have no pictures of us together.
I just got back from the gym and Blake was on his way to the gym.

Such is life.

Our life, together, and I love it.

For You

Blow Your Mind

We have been chugging along at our house.
Laney was sick last week. Nothing that a trip to the doctor and some amoxicillin won't fix.
I am tired.
But...I am always tired.
Penny is 6 months old and should be sleeping through the night.
She is not.
She still wakes up a lot. Sometimes every 2 hours.
We keep talking about how we are going to let her cry it out.
We are weak. Her cry kills us.
If her cry was a weapon of mass destruction I would wave the white flag.

She is growing.
At the doctors on Wednesday she weighed 12 lbs. and 10 oz.

She is grabbing things and putting them in her mouth now.
She especially loves the Nerf gun darts.
(I think she looks like Popeye with this in her mouth.)

Penny is well loved and tortured by her siblings.
I am not sure how torture and love seem to coexist but they do.
I'm researching that.
I'll get back to you.

Canon finds her head to be the perfect blank canvas to work on.

Laney likes to take pictures of her.
Laney is just trying to find Penny's best angle.

Now, this may be more information than you care to know....
But, Penny is a master pooper.
She can blow out a diaper like it is nobodies business.
One time I changed her diaper and there was no poop in the middle of her diaper and yet she had managed to blow out the front, back and out the leg...she even had poop in her belly button.
Amazing right?!

I spend a lot of time during the day changing her clothes.
While baths for cleaning her body would seem like an obvious choice, she hates it.
Loathes it.
You would think that we were trying to water board her.

Even though she makes it so that I don't get any sleep, and she single handedly doubles the laundry I have to clean, we love her.
A lot.

Hananuka (The End)

I am late getting this up.

How is that for stating the obvious?My Birthday was good.
Laney, Penny and I stayed home from church. Laney had a really high temperature so we just laid low.
Blake got me these awesome shoes.
They are two different sizes so I am going to have to wait to wear them until they ship me new ones.
Laney and I made pretzels.
They were good.
Almost as good as Hananuka...
almost.

Another year older and wiser.

Hananuka Day 6

Blake and I going on a date?
Perfect.
Steak and crab.
Perfect.
Someone else putting our kids to bed.
Perfect.

Hananuka Day 5

Friday was a good day.

Blake watched all of the kids on Friday (including my niece Addi that I watch) and including my friend April's two kids so that April and I could go out and do what ever we wanted.
The world was my oyster and I had not a clue what to do.
So....
I figured that it would be good to hit up all of the places I have wanted to go but have yet to visit because of kids or whatever.
First item of business was to hit up Trolley Square and buy some tights.
Second was to go to Decades, a store that sells vintage clothes. While I own nothing that is vintage I can't help but love to look at old things. The problem is most of the time

vintage = expensive.
Not at this store. They had some awesome things...they also had some crazy things but I would say that the majority was more awesome than not. I purchased a skirt.
I am pleased as punch it only cost me $17. Then we went to an Antique store that I have been dying to go to.
It was strange
and it was cold. Very cold inside the building.
It was chalked full of stuff. Most of it was larger items like dressers and armoires.
Imagine our surprise when we were walking along and there on top of a tall dressing closet we spot a lion.
No lie.
He was stuffed but that didn't lower the creepy factor.

The more we walked back into this huge warehouse of stuff the more it seemed like
A) we were not going to be able to find our way out.
B) the walking aisles were getting more narrow and the ceiling was getting lower
C) this would be the perfect place to film a scary movie...no one to hear you scream
D) whoever owed this must definitely be a hoarder.

Much to our luck and eternal happiness we found our way out.
On the way out we saw a rhino.
No lie.
Sitting up on top of a table...he had his front two legs but was missing his back end.

In between his legs was a sign that read,
"Please do not handle the rhino. Thank you."
April said that she was glad she read the sign to not "handle" the rhino because she was about to pick that rhino up and put it on her back.
Crisis averted for us, I can't say the rhino was so lucky.

It is nice to have a day where you can be yourself and not have to be a Mom.
I laughed a lot....
and didn't have to change any diapers.

Hananuka Day 4

Yesterday was busy.
But that doesn't mean it was any less fun.

I am especially excited about this.
I have wanted a good mandolin for quite some time.
Blake informed me that he wanted crinkle cut chips and french fries when he got home.
It didn't happen yesterday but that doesn't mean it won't soon.

Hananuka Day 3

When I wake up every morning normally one of the first things I do is go upstairs to see the treat that Blake has left for me.
It is like Christmas morning as a kid.
So fun.
While I realize that most husbands are not like Blake...
and that some of our friends want to stage and "intervention" so that they don't look so bad (their words not mine)...
I am grateful that Blake is mine, and that he loves me enough to know what will make my birthday great.

What did the box hold?This shirt is so cute. I was excited to wear it.
I put it on, wore it for about 10 minutes and then promptly removed it.
It is cold here.
19 degrees cold.
So I put on a nice comfy sweater.
I will wear this shirt a lot I am sure.
I am just gonna have to wait until it is at least 40 degrees.

Hananuka Day 2

Sometimes....

Laney attacks.

Sometimes feet taste good.

Real good.

Sometimes a dress that was made for Laney by Grandma Miller looks just as cute the second time round.