biker kids

okay, so the plan was to sell the 2 little bikes at our garage sale and get owen and grace new appropriate bikes with the money. well, our garage sale was a big flop which we will attribute to the economy (like everything else is attributed to right?), but we decided to still go for the new bikes and have a complete set. now we can go on bike rides in style...they all look great!

to the birthday girl

dearest bonny,

hope you have a great birthday!!! hugs and kisses!!

oz in a box

we just love doing school projects...homework we could take or leave, but when there is a project to do, wyatt (and owen) and i get so excited. luckily, there are plenty of book reports throughout the school year that wyatt can get inspired to be creative.

window words

thanks to deb for a great birthday idea! wyatt loved it and the kids of course want to continue the tradition for future birthdays!

camping birthday party

for wyatt's 9th birthday, we had a "mock" campout for him and all his friends, complete with tents, crafts, a glow-in-the-dark scavenger bug hunt, flashlight tag, and s'mores on the campfire. wyatt had such a great time. he said it was the best party ever! i love seeing my son so happy!

wyatt's words for wednesday

Journal Entry Jan. 8, 2009
"My favorite holiday is Easter. I like Easter because it is around my birthday. I also like Easter because I get to find eggs. Easter is the best holiday ever!"

fish tales

grace got a new fish from gommy. owen got a hermit crab. wyatt opted for no pet as he does not want to have to deal with the sadness that comes along with losing a pet---wonder where he gets that from :)

10 minus 1

well, today is my BABY's 9th birthday. he has grown into such a thoughtful, sweet, happy-go-lucky, and charming little boy. he melts my heart and warms my soul. wishes of all your days during your year as a 9-year old are full of exploring, imagining, creating, and smiling!

wyatt, i love you with all my heart!!

1. favorite color--red
2. favorite smell--
3. best vacation--north carolina

4. favorite book--the fire within

5. favorite food--kid cuisine cheese stuffed crust pizza

6. best day of your life--today
7. what do you want to be when you grow up? artist

8. favorite sport--baseball
9. favorite thing to wear--pj's
10. favorite toy--ALL

11. favorite character--gligar pokemon character
12. what do you talk about with owen at night in your room? stuff
13. best part of being a big brother to owen? good at building legos
14. best part of being a big brother to grace? i can help her do things
15. describe yourself: i am always excited and playful
16. favorite ice cream? mint chocolate chip
17. favorite subject? math
18. favorite animal? fox
19. best thing to do if you are bored? play nintendo ds
20. favorite tv show? bakugan
21. favorite movie? pokemon
22. best part of being 9? i will be taller
23. what 3 things would you take with you on a deserted island?
1. food

2. family
3. DS

a dance with daddy

birthday "baby"

the "baby" of our family is turning 3 today! i cannot believe it! happy birthday to our sweet maggie june!

family dinner

for my birthday, my family took me to the melting pot for a wonderful dinner. we were in our own private room ("the godfather room"). we all had a great time!! thanks mom, dad, heather, chris, maggie, hadley, todd, wyatt, owen, and grace!

lost generation

"This is amazing - as you listen intently follow along with the words forward and backward......

Make sure you read as well as listen. This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old. The contest was Titled "u @ 50", by the AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it."

wyatts's words for wednesday

Journal Entry Jan 9, 2009
"My favorite fish is the Swordfish. I like it because it has a sharp needle. Did you know that they kill their [pray] with their needle. They are very fast."

leprechaun visit

those mischievous little green men visited our home last night. our leprechaun traps failed to catch any, however we did score a little candy. they turned our house upside down and even left the toilet water green, a chair high up hanging in the playroom, and green balloons all over the playroom floor. those silly little guys...maybe next time (owen was already planning for what he would spend his gold on if we had caught one!).

lego club

i have found a secret heaven for the boys! lego club at the library!!! i happen to read about it in the activity guide and thought we would try it out. several of the boys school friends were there as well. it was like a lego dream come true...tablecloths set out on the floor covered in legos and when the librarian said "start" they were all allowed to begin! what could be better!

falling yellow flowers

in our yard there is a stick. a tall stick of a tree. it grows at least two-stories tall and remains all year a leafless, colorless stick. last year, soon after i had come home from the hospital after losing anna, i remember wandering through the upstairs, probably cleaning, or sobbing, or looking for a purpose, and i saw out the windows that the stick was covered in beautiful, bright yellow flowers. everywhere you looked out, yellow splashed the windows. though, as quickly as they came, they fell. i knew that i probably would not see them again until the same time the following year. the stunning yellow flowers did return. i noticed them the other day while cleaning, or sobbing, or looking for a purpose. they are falling now. grace brought one in for me the other day as a gift. a gift from both my sweet girls.

mornings with marlo

this time change...i totally anticipated that i would be getting up later and rushing out the door...but no, my eyes dart open earlier, today at 5:08am. but it is not all just a loss. i come down stairs to a quiet, darkened morning and get some peaceful moments alone. i also get to do two things that with the kids i never get to do. one is play with marlo. during the day, the kids are "taking turns" holding her (terrorizing her is more like it). she sits and purrs and helps me type on the computer. she is just adorable. now she is on the floor playing...she has managed to get a toy under the large rug in the playroom and now she is under it as well. also in these early mornings, i get to actually go on the computer and check my mail. grace is a computer junkie so with only one computer in the house, it typically goes to the strongest willed...in this case grace!

good morning.

wyatt's words for wednesday

wyatt's first semester journal came home from school and he has agreed to let me post some of his stories. here is a story about his future:

"When I'm older, I will live in Largo, Florida. I will also drive a Nissan 240, be an artist, have 3 kids (maybe), and have a kitten."

park time

grace loved meeting trevan and brody at the park! her favorite park was swinging with the boys.

get out of hot water

90% of the energy used when washing clothes is used for heating the water.

Getting out of hot water can save you money—as much as $70/year on your energy bill.

Seventh Generation 2X Concentrate Liquid Laundry Detergent is specially formulated to remove soil and stains in cold water, and reduces CO2 emissions.

take the pledge here and take the quiz to see how much you can save annually. we switched to solely using cold water about six months ago and have not noticed any difference with quality of cleaning.

girls and science

i am ALL for promoting science and math with all children and especially with girls as they are overlooked in these areas. i love to take grace to the science center for the preschool classes. however, i think both of us were a little bored with the "amazing body" class we attended this week. i remember owen was so enthralled with the class when he took it years ago and left with a wealth of knowledge and information. for grace and i this week, it was just a pitstop on our way to the mall...oh well...shopping today, science tomorrow.

in the fast lane

the boys love once the winter/spring weekly track league starts up. once a month, they get to meet up with neighboring leagues for a meet. poor wyatt came in last in one of the races last night and to top it off the ribbon for 6th place is pink. he was a good sport, however said "i just wish i was a little faster. i mean why does it have to be pink." poor kid! grace on the other hand was thrilled...her big brother won her a pink ribbon of her very own...wyatt was not hesitant giving it up.

tornado trail

it seems as if everytime i clean, i complete a room and then when i return to one previously finished, it will have been destructed by this little "tornado" of a child:

so, since the hair bands were all over the place, we decided to play hairdresser. too bad she likes to rip out the bands just after they have been beautifully placed.

saving pennies ($24,000 worth of them)

okay, when todd decided to sell his business of 10-years and start a new venture last year, i decided i was going to cut our spending the best i could to start preparing for a rainy day. here is how i saved us over $2,000 per month (yes month, not year):

first, i went through all our bank statements and categorized each entry into HOUSE, FOOD, BILLS, INSURANCE, GROCERY, GAS, CLOTHES, KIDS, AND MEDICAL. then we began to CUT!! and when i say cut, i mean sever. luckily at the time of my budgeting, our adjustable mortgage was getting ready to be reduced so that saved us $442 a month so that is a big portion of our monthly savings. then i went through EVERY bill and called the companies, no matter how small the bill was, there was a way to get it reduced. our security system brinks reduced us by $15 a month, i changed our medical insurance from a $500 deductible to a $3000 deductible (not my top choice, but had to do it for now) saving us $288 a month, cancelled my twice a month cleaning service, and changed and combined cable, phone , internet. i cancelled grace's weekly classes and opted for just-as-fun and free library and community center classes. instead of preschool, i do a "school" for her at our house once a week--same perks and fun for free. i changed the boys from expensive horseback riding private lessons ($100/month) to group lessons ($40/month) and started them on rec classes/ leagues. i decided to color my own hair ($160 to $4.99 for my last box of color on clearance). a biggie for us was eating out. we really do not consider ourselves a family that eats "out" a lot, but we do like to order in. when i added it up, i was SHOCKED to find it was totally almost $1000/month for dining (and that is not including our $1000/month grocery bill). so we go out to breakfast still on sunday and skip ordering pizza, etc. i applied for a hess card for gas which gives you 10% back and registered for rewards on our bank accounts giving us giftcards for clothing and dining. beer was a big one(and unnecessary one) for todd's expenses so i told him he needed to get that one in check. each time i spend now, i think it through. not going to target is a big one too, and if i do have to go i only get what is on my list. so that is the framework for how we have saved $2000/month---equalling $24,000/year!!!

not so ruby red

did you know that in the original novel "the wizard of oz", that the ruby red slippers worn by dorothy were not in fact ruby red? they were actually silver. since wyatt was in the production at school last semester as the tin woodman, we decided he wanted to read the book at home. he is uncovering many differences such as this...for instance the scarecrow and the tinman were the size of the munchkins. these changes made in the movie, of course, do not sit well with him! but how adorable did he look as the tinman!!

celebrity look-alike

everyone has a list of celebrities that people stop you and tell you that you resemble. my list all do resemble each other (not sure if they resemble me though) and here they are:

#1 julia roberts: yeah, i wish!! this is the one that mostly my family says i resemble. only a mother could think her daughter was this pretty i guess. but, i will take it on my list...still counts!

#2 saffron burrows: i have gotten this one lately...i actually am not sure who she is, but my friend swears i look like her. i guess she was on "boston legal."

#3 elizabeth reaser: this is the funniest of them all to me because when my other friend swore i looked like her, she was on television in a state of amnesia with bandages covering her head awaiting a new face since her had been "torn" off on grey's anatomy last season. any thoughts? who are your celebrity look alikes?

how long can i go?

okay, so after waiting in the wings, whygrow is now on the top page of TopMomma. we will see how long we go. top prize--"hall of fame"; hey i will just be happy with the concession token of a "top momma" button for my page.

"i was in it!"

as a parent, there are times you witness moments of your child's lives that you know they will hold dearly for their lifetimes. for instance, i know wyatt will always remember the day when he

brought his new kitten in for show-and-tell and the time owen was able to use his money from his birthday to have a shopping "spree" at toys-r-us. friday was one of those moments. wyatt's grandpa fulfilled one of his dreams and wyatt's by purchasing his new ferrari and the deal was he was going to drive him to school one day. the day finally came. the plan was, i would drop wyatt off and they would drive together and then once wyatt got out to go to school, owen would get in and drive over to his class. wyatt told me last night, "dylan thought it was cool. when i went into class, dylan said, wyatt a ferrari just drove by and you missed it!" wyatt replied with "i did not miss it...i was in it!" too cool!