photo 31

When I straighten the downstairs, I put all of the kids' things on the stairs in individual piles. Generally each pile takes up over half of a step...thereby making it difficult to navigate around them...yet somehow the piles are invisible to my kids. They will avoid the piles for hours...days...probably weeks if I would let them. We have the following conversation on a daily basis...

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Me: (insert kid name here) take your pile upstairs and put everything away.

Kid: What pile?

Me: The pile on the stairs.

Kid: Which stair?

Me The one with the mound of your belongings on it.

Kid: Ooohhh...thaaat pile. I didn't see it.

Me: You practically broke your neck stumbling over it when you came down a few minutes ago. How could you not see it?

Kid: I thought that was (insert sibling here)'s stuff.

photo 30

Renee posted a picture of her freshly cleared desk. It has allllllmost motivated me to work on mine.

photo 29

To say that Hannah was a little excited about her new braces would be a drastic understatement. For years she has talked about "when I get braces". The past two weeks have been spent weighing the pros and cons of each color option and eating all of the foods that would soon be contraband.

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Afterwards, we went to Krispy Kreme for mini-doughnuts. The first thing that I ate after getting braces was an Eclair at Perkins (oh, how I miss Perkins). After Forrest's first orthodontist appointment we marked the occasion with Krispy Kreme and so the braces/doughnut tradition continues.

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I'm happy that she finally got what she wanted. I'm not happy that she's a step closer to grown.

photo 28

I couldn't muster the motivation to repaint the powder room...so I went with plan B.

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Plan B:

STEP ONE- buy tall bushy flowers and arrange in ginormous vase

STEP TWO- remove large candle from small cabinet in powder room

STEP THREE- place ginormous flower arrangement in recently vacated candle spot

STEP FOUR- fluff arrangement until nail holes in wall are covered

STEP FIVE- pat self on back

photo 27

We have spent the last four years cultivating grass in our back yard. Last summer was the first that we actually had a full stand. The past two months of rain have completely destroyed the lawn. I'm thinking we may lay AstroTurf in the spring.

photo 26

I highly recommend this book. I heard about the author on another blog. Which led me to a YouTube video of Kelly Corrigan doing a reading from the book...which led me to buying the book. It was excellent...hilarious and heartbreaking.

photo 25

After morning service we had brunch at the club, followed by a nap and a game of LIFE. (The three cars pictured are Mark, Sophie and Cammie's...Chloe's was too far ahead of theirs and my car was far behind...I didn't spin higher than a 4 throughout the entire game!!!).

photo 24

I feel incredibly content this morning. Everyone slept in (surprising since we had two friends sleep over), Mark made pancakes AND cleaned up the kitchen, Chloe and Cammie worked to straighten up the playroom mess (without fighting), Forrest volunteered to walk to the store for more milk, Hannah worked on labeling AR books for Chloe's class and Sophie finished up her make-up work. Simple things really. Somewhere between the pancakes and the make-up work I remembered that I live a very blessed life.

photo 23

I know that we should probably be working to break his "napping on the furniture" habit...but he looks so comfortable, it seems rude to interrupt his sleep.

photo 22

Sophie came home from school early with a tummy ache. I turned on cartoons or her but within 5 minutes she was sound asleep. She slept like this for 4 hours...

photo 21

Today is the 100th day of school for Chloe and Cammie. To mark the date, the kids had to create a something using 100 like items. Forrest helped the girls make a picture using bag of M&Ms left over from Halloween. (I love the little bee that he drew on this one).

photo 20

While I am not excited about the out come of the election, I am happy that something that would not have been possible 30 years ago has taken place. Since I have typed several follow up sentences and then subsequently deleted each, I will leave it at that.

photo 19

Our church will begin having Wednesday night small groups in people's homes in next week. A friend of mine is one of the facilitators. She has spent the last month freaking out about the state of her house. I have spent the last month helping her fix it...and also reminding her that it is not about how nice her house is, that people won't mind a few undone projects and less than perfect rooms in her house.

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A few days ago we were asked to be facilitators. I have spent the last few days freaking out about the state of our powder room. Someone please remind me that it is not about the state of my powder room and people won't mind a few holes in the wall where an uncle accidentally knocked a shelf off of the wall...and that people will over look the wax stained walls where one of the kids knocked a candle off of the edge of the sink causing molten red wax to spray a four foot section of wall.

photo 18

Look who else discovered that the pond is completely frozen over.

photo 17

We discovered that a very thick layer of ice had formed over the pond. The pond iced over last year too...but only an inch or so. The waterfall prevented it from freezing over completely. This year the waterfall froze too. If you think about, say a little prayer for the fishies that are hibernating at the bottom.

photo 16

Instead of returning all of the Christmas decorations to their home in the loft above the garage door, we just stashed it all in the middle of the garage. We had planned on putting it away "in a day or two"...that was on December 26th. Last night when the weather forecaster said that the temp would be below zero, Mark moved everything to the sides of the garage so that I could get my truck in. Everyone has to scoot sideways to get through the walkways, but that beats trekking out in subzero weather.

*note: As of January 23rd we are still scooting around Christmas totes.

photo 15

I love the Ultimate Frisbee team shirts. Am I the only one that finds this hilarious?

photo 14

Further evidence that Saint Bernards are the cutest and sweetest dogs in all of the canine genus. Winston was napping in the family room while Marley slept by the back door. She decided to join him. When she snuggled in, he woke up. She gave him a smooch and they both fell back to sleep.

photo 13

Today Forrest had his first Ultimate Frisbee practice. This will be his third attempt at the world of team sports.

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His first foray was baseball at the age of 6. While in the dugout waiting for his turn to bat, he was fine. While in the outfield waiting to chase down a ball...not so much. He sat down and began plucking blades of grass and tossing the occasional dandelion over his shoulder. I couldn't really blame him...the ball didn't get hit all the way out to deep right field very often. I thought that the whole scene was amusing. Unfortunately I didn't realize that some parents (and coaches) take 6yo baseball VERY seriously. Baseball was not for us.

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Fast forward two years later. Attempt number two. Soccer. He did great...when he was in the middle of the action. When he had to play goalie? Not so much. Oh, he could block the ball and keep it out of the goal very well. The problems arose when the ball was down field at the opposite goal. He would get a little bored and suddenly hanging from the net in the goal sounded like a grand idea. Did you know that some people take 8yo soccer VERY seriously? Soccer was not for us.

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Here we are, 7 years later. Team sport number three. Ultimate Frisbee. Fortunately, Forrest takes Ultimate Frisbee very seriously.

photo 12

Chloe started piano lessons this afternoon. She is so excited! Now, if only I were having better luck finding a violin teacher for Cammie...

photo 11

When we first decided to adopt a second 200lb dog, we were slightly worried that Winston would be jealous of her. One of our concerns was that they would fight over food. Thankfully that has not been the case. They share this bowl. Winston will eat first while Marley sits next to him and watches. Winston eats his half of the food...somehow dividing the bowl right down the middle. When he is finished, he moves over and lets Marley eat the other half. Occasionally Marley will eat first, and when she does, she shows him the same courtesy...eating only her half...down the middle.

photo 10

Mark and I attended the Carry Permit class today. After 4 hours of lectures and videos followed by a written test, we had to pass a marksman test. The bullet holes in the bottom left of the picture were hit at 45ft.

photo 9

I spent some time at the range practicing for my Carry Permit License. A few shells ejected and landed in my duffel bag. The first time I went to the range I made the mistake of wearing a loose fitting top. A shell ejected and went straight down my shirt. Did you know that freshly ejected shells are HOT? I didn't. Hopping around, shaking your shirt with one hand while holding a loaded 9mm is not proper gun safety. I did manage to keep the gun pointed down range while I ejected the shell from my shirt.

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Before my first trip to the range, my experience with guns was limited to television and movies. I do not recall seeing a shell eject and burn someones bosom in any of the shows that I have watched. It would have helped to know that burning bosoms were a possible hazard.

photo 8

I thought I should post something that gives an accurate representation of how much Winston has grown. He is currently 11 months old and weighs approximatly 150lbs. Saint Bernards reach full growth at 18 months. He shouldn't get too much taller...his weight will increase by another 40-60lbs. His back is a few inches higher than the arm of the couch and his head is above the back of the couch. When in the kitchen, he can rest is adorable little chin on the counter tops... not that he would think of doing so, he is very mannerly.

photo 7

The poor doggies have been trapped in the house since the beginning of December. The heavy rain turned our back yard into a swamp.We let them out to potty one at a time in so that they won't play in the muck. Today, I decided to let them play outside together for a few minutes. After 10 minutes I checked on them and they were COVERED in filth. I think they had been mud wrestling.

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I had to hose them off on the deck before they could come back in the house. Winston has been house broken for several months...so we only have one crate. They had to squeeze in Marley's crate together until they were dry. They snuggled in and napped for two hours. That's the most exercise they've had in quite some time.

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p.s. Have I said that I love these doggies? Because, seriously, I do.

photo 6

Can we say book binge?

photo 5

I picked up "T is for Tresspass" at Target a few weeks back. It was an easy read and I enjoyed it...so my OCD kicked in (of course) and I bought A and B the day after Christmas. Today, I read C cover to cover.

photo 4

Our Bradford Pears finally dropped their leaves the second week of December. For some reason they have already began to bud again...hopefully this is a sign that Spring will come early this year.

photo 3

After breakfast everyone piled into my truck and we went to find a waterfall that Cheri and John had discovered by 4-wheeler. After 40 minutes of driving narrow dirt roads and crossing many a stream bed, we came to the falls. The first time we had to passed it... there were two hunters "guttin' " a "doe" in the middle of the creek... which I thought was rather tacky of them...seriously, can we say "taxidermy"?

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We drove through the "holler" and circled back. The hunters were gone and after Cheri and Michelle took care of "the innards" that were left, Kaeleigh and I took a few pictures before heading back to the farm for target practice.

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*words in quotations are terms that I learned over the weekend...my favorites are guttin' and innards

photo 2

After everyone arrived at the farm we piled onto Gators and 4-wheelers to do some exploring. We rode out to what is called "the new bridge"...it looked rather "rustic"to me...what with all the crumbling concrete and all. Compared to the "old bridge"...which was missing the road part and basically consisted of the cables and the pilons... it was marginally more modern.

photo 1

Tomorrow I am going to Cheri's farm with a few of my aunts, cousins and my sister for a "girls weekend". A few of us plan on doing some target practice so Mark cleaned my gun for me. Isn't he thoughtful?