my bladder is full...

words of wisdom from amelya sitting on the toliet. my bladder is full. now i don't even remember telling her she had a bladder, but i must've. she's a funny kid. and a kid who is finally peeing on the toilet. now she has done it at least once a day since saturday! ptl. she wanted to wear a pull up to bed, so i said sure. i figured it was a good 'reward' for going on the potty. and it only took like 15 minutes, instead of almost an hour. so it's getting there. now i just have to get her to tell me when she has to go before she goes. breigh has even sat on the potty too. but i think it is because amelya gets a sticker and gets to color in a special notebook everytime she goes, and breigh wants to as well. it would excellent to get TWO kids out of diapers at one time. i realized today that before i had amelya i had changed diapers every day for four years, minus weekends, then now since amelya has been born three years. so i have been changing diapers for the past seven years. that's a little insane. actually a lot insane....

anyways...we went to the zoo yesterday. had super nice weather too. well not super nice. but it didn't rain. it was just cloudy and the sun came out as we were leaving. it would've been super hot had the sun been out the entire time. the only thing that kind of cracks me up about the NEW Zoo is that they have animals in 'cages/exhibits' that i can see in my yard. like a raccoon. that was amusing to me. but the girls and gage loved the zoo. we even went on the carasoul ride. it was only a buck a person, and a pretty decent length ride too. i stood with the girls..amelya and breigh..on it.

after the zoo we went out to eat at a mexican resturant..margarita's in gb. it was yummy...well for me because i really am a picky eater and they don't put much 'junk' in their food. and it was kind of nice because the staff was 'american' so they understood exactally what i meant when i said i didn't want certain things. shaun says the 'mexicans' cook better. which is probably true for him, because he likes the more authentic flavor. and eats all the 'junk'. me and chantae also had a celebrity siting at margaritas...angela kelly from the local news station was there. you can tell you're a 'stay at home mom' when you get excited about seeing a news person out and about. lol. but we, well i know i was, semi-excited, to see her in 'real life'. we should've gotten our pic taken with her. that would've been creepy maybe...and i am NOT creepy. :) lol...i am a little creepy, but care to NOT share my reasons why. i'll let you think for now that i am as normal as possible.

today was mom's group. then an appleton trip. nothing too major. a busy day though. the girls had fun playing outside when we got home though. they especially like playing in the grass when it doesn't look like a hay field. i like it better too. i took pics outside today and yesterday. i'll see how ambitious i am to see how many i load. our computer is SLLLLOOOWWW. but i do LOVE my new camera...sorry kodak, but i am never buying another one. i've never had so much trouble with one until my last camera...and that's enough. so now i have a nikon. very nice. and the zoom is nice too...worked great for the zoo yesterday. so i'll qut blabbing for now and add some pics. enjoy. and sweet sweet dreams.

amelya feeding the goats at the zoo. she loved them licking the food off of her hand, and was very surprised by the fact that they had teeth. she was also convinced that the goats (and all the other animals) really liked her pink sweater. :)

okay i totally flipped this picture before i loaded it. sorry. my computer is too slow to do the same picture TWO times. so this is breigh...just turn your head...saying bye to the animal. i don't even remember what they were, but this was truly her 'fav' all day. it's the only animal she said hi and bye to over and over again...

me and caitlyn at the zoo...pretty good shot considering i took it myself. the camera was around my neck the entire day, so of course i wasn't in a lot of the pictures. don't mind my goofy weird smile...i was saying...say cheese...to a ten month old i know i know

our family at the zoo...how cute...by the way shaun said to take his picture off of the internet for the whole world to see...i said the whole world won't see it...because the whole world isn't my friend on facebook nor do they all read my blog...boys...

me and amelya and breigh riding the 'pretty sparkly horse' and the alligator or crocodile, i guess i'm not really too sure...but i do i know that the horse was sparkly. :)

amelya playing on the tire swing at the park..at the zoo..they had an nice little set up and it was nice for the kiddos to play and run around instead of being confined to the strollers

breigh swinging at the zoo...

and last but not least...caitlyn at the park at the zoo in the swing...

hope you enjoyed the pictures...didn't take overly long to load..but long enough....but i got the chance to improve my winning percentage on freecell. :o) there's postive's to everything...you just have to be willing to find them. good night. for real this time.

my growing belly

here is a recent picture of my belly taken last night. just to show you that i AM growing. :) and of course then you can see my new haircut a little bit. i've taken two of my belly so far...but i haven't compared to see if it's grown since last month. although i do think it has.

yesterday was a good day. the girls were great going to best buy to get my camera. even though it started raining right as we got there and all four of us got wet! but my camera was there and it is very nice. i also got a new memory card, but i might get myself in trouble with it. it is a 4GB one and can hold over 1500 pictures! but it was on sale for 25 bucks, the same price as a 2GB one. it made more sense to get the one with double the storage for the same price. i'm a deal finder. and i have to take advantage of it that's for sure. i also got a cord to connect my phone to the computer, but it won't work. so it's either my phone or the cord. i don't know. i tried to look at it yesterday, but couldn't get it and just gave up.

we ordered fish for supper last night. yummy. i was craving fish so it was extra good then i think. we also got a thing of cheese curds too. those were even more yummy. grease i guess is the best. :) when i was pregnant with amelya i craved greasy cheese curds from dairy queen, i didn't want the curds as much as i wanted the grease to squirt out when i ate them. gross!! but it was good.

GREAT NEWS!! amelya went on the toliet this morning...AND she peed. i am so proud of her. she sat on there for probably a half and hour to 45 minutes before she went though. but she did go. i was getting frustrated with her not going, but she did it. i put underwear on her after and told her to tell me when she had to go. well we played outside and then she said, mom i need new pink underwear. i said why. she said because she peed. oh well. but i said next time tell mommy so we can go in the house. so now she's wearing pull-ups...the cool alert kind. so hopefully that helps a little bit, and the mess is eliminated a little bit. we tried the pull ups awhile back, but she didn't 'get it' and i wasn't going to spend that crazy money on them to have her not get it. but now she doesn't want to pee on the princesses and make the hearts go away. so we'll see if it works. and because our dresses are in for the wedding we are going to see if we have time today to go see them. that might be a little bit more ambition for her to go potty on the toliet too. and then i can take pictures of my pretty little girlie.

shaun 'knifed' the corn field today. i think he's glad to have it done. breigh was excited to get a ride in the tractor when he took it back to the other farm. she loves daddy's tractor. i think it also got shaun in his 'tractor driving' for a little bit. he misses it i know. and i know he was excited to get in the tractor and in the field. we played outside quite awhile while shaun did that. the girls have fun outside. i have fun too. especially since the older two are pretty independent and i don't have to watch them an inch away. they can play in the yard and i sit with caitlyn on the blanket. it's nice out today, they say it's supposed to rain. we'll see.

it rained last night and amelya woke up for the first time ever because of the lightning. i went into her room because she was calling me and she had her blanket over her head. it was cute. she wanted to come in our bed, but i told her no, and that she could come in if she got up and daddy wasn't in bed. she handled that pretty good. and wanted her princess light on. so i put that on and went back to bed. an hour or so later she was in our room and said she wanted to come in our bed, i told her no again and to go in her room. she did after a little bit and i went in with her and asked if i should shut her light off. she said, yeah it's kinda bright. lol. she's funny. this morning shaun got a phone call early so then he ended up sleeping on the couch after that and at eight when amelya woke up she was in bed with me. which already had caitlyn in it because she woke up at 550 crying in her sleep. so i cuddled her in bed and she went back to sleep til amelya woke us up at eight. it was super nice to sleep in this morning. in bed this morning amelya said, what the world? shaun says that all the time. it was so funny. i don't remember why she said it,but it was funny anyways. yesterday amelya gave me a flower outside. and said, here mom, this one is for you because you are the bestest girl ever. AWWWW. so cute. i love the words that she says and the sentences she puts together.

well lunch is cooking, a late lunch here today. so i'll go and sit with the rest of the fam...til next time...may you be the bestest girl/boy ever in the eyes of someone.

humid and sticky.

gotta love wisconsin weather. it has been sticky the past few days. but a cool front will be coming in this weekend, so that means it doesn't pay to put in the window ac. our summer hasn't been too hot here yet. i remember when breigh was born it was so so hot when we got home with her. i am just hoping for good weather on sunday when we go to the zoo. it looks like chances of rain in the afternoon. but there was a 'chance' for rain last night too...and no rain. so we'll see. i'm looking forward to the zoo, but whatever happens.
we went to an amish fryout last night. it was a fundraiser for their school. talk about good food!! yummy. they had strawberry shortcake...so good...homemade ice cream, that they were making right outside...so good...with so good pie. not to mention the brats and hamburgers they were also making. the ice cream was my favorite i think.well and the bread i ate the burgers on. i am usually against using anything but a bun for my burger, but the bread was SO good. and SO fresh. the only bad thing about it were the mosquitos. they have been AWFUL this year. breigh is all bit up. so am i. and caitlyn got a few as did amelya, and i'm sure shaun. despite that though it was a blast, and i am going to be sure to watch for it next year. some days i think about being amish, not really being amish, but what it must be like to be amish. everything seems so simple. no fancy dancy clothes, or tv, or lots of crazy stuff. just plain and simple. i saw the movie 'saving sara cain', then read the book, not sure which i like better. and it was a super good movie. highly recommend it. but i guess they have their issues and problems just like the rest of the world. it'd just be nice not to have to think or worry about all the materialistic stuff that creeps in.
i got my haircut yesterday. no picture today though, but i'm getting my camera today!! yay!! i got just a trim, kind of i guess, i got my bangs cut a bit shorter then last time, the 'off to the side bangs' then a little bit shorter cut then i got last time too. but i love it all. makes me feel all 'pretty'. it is important to feel good about yourself. amelya said she liked it too. so that was nice. my mom watched the girls for me and i went with my sister to get my hair cut. originally the appt was for her and her fiance, but he has a job and can't get off of work now. thanks grant!! so now i actually have haircuts scheduled for the next four months. impressive. considering my haircut before this was two months ago and the one before that was hmmm...four or five months or longer before that. i used to get it cut every six weeks, then i had the girls and it made it more difficult. i started going to my aunt again after my friend stayed home with her baby. it's nice to know people personally who cut your hair. plus they do it for a good price. my aunt wanted to charge me only 15 for a haircut and some fancy bottle of hairspray. the hairspray was marked at 15 itself. so i payed her 25. because i KNOW she charges at least 20 for haircuts for her 'regular' clients. SO nice.
i don't really know what else is 'new'. the baby is moving around like crazy now. it gets the hiccups a lot. more then any of my other babies. it's so fun. i know i already mentioned the baby moving more, but it is just more and more everyday. i felt a little kick with my hand this morning. YAY! my favorite. i'm sure it'll keep getting stronger every day.
caitlyn has seemed to grow up within the past few days. someone asked how old she was yesterday and i had to say almost TEN months!! what?!? TEN months. she's moving to the double digits now. no teeth yet. pretty soon i am thinking. she's been chewing and has bumps on the bottom gums. amelya was a late teether and breigh was too i guess. so i am not surprised that she doesn't have any teeth yet. but she eats like she has a mouth full. she loves to eat. chicken is her favorite thing too.
our dresses came in for my sister's wedding. yay! i told amelya if she tells me when she has to go potty and goes on the toliet we can go look at the dress today. well that failed. she just peed in her diaper. i don't know what to do to get her to go on the toliet. she knows when she goes and tells me after she goes, but has no desire to go where she is supposed to. i don't want to spank her for not going on the toliet, that's dumb. and really not teaching her a thing. my mil suggested to 'puch' her butt for not going on the toliet. soooo we tried rewarding her with stickers, nope didn't work. i praise her when she tries to go and let her know i am sad when she doesn't go on the toliet and pees in her diaper. i just don't know what else to do. she'll be three and a half in september. and better be potty trained! she wakes up dry every morning. oh man. i'm half to blame because i have been lazy with it a little before. but i worked at a daycare, i know it's easier to change a diaper then pee all over or worse yet the others! now i'm getting sick of changing three kids in diapers. breigh could probably start going too. she has gone poop on the toliet, but only because she has issues and you know she's going about a day before she goes. okay not a day, but at least few minutes. it's getting frustrating, but i don't know what to do!?! so my blogger friends with kids who go potty on the toliet...HOW DID YOU DO IT!!!!!!???? i NEED to know. i need to save money on diapers. it stinks going into sam's and dropping almost 100 bucks on diapers. things we just throw away. help me stop filling the land fill. :O) thansks. well i need to go. speaking of diapers they need to be changed...

two in one day...

well i have nothing else 'better' to do. so i thought i'd plop myself in front of the computer screen. i should be painting the playroom. but i don't feel like starting that now. it's almost ten. shaun is asleep on the couch. he put in way too many hours today. he went in by five and didn't get done until after 630. and he has to go in early again tomorrow. i love how dedicated he is to his family and working so hard for us. i love being able to stay home. and he provides me that opportunity. well i guess god provides for us ulitmately. but shaun has been given the drive to do so.
today was a fun day. we went by gage's house. the girls and him played really well together. it's the first time i can remember them all just playing together and not just playing next to each other. guess they're growing up. not saying there wasn't the typical screaming, but they were very good nonetheless. chantae and i played around on the uppercase living website too. we had fun writing out our kids' names and seeing what looked best. i'm thinking about getting their names for the walls in the playroom. but doing it like 'princess amelya' etc then finding the scripture about god being our king/father to put up too. i thought that would fit. and they won't ever 'grow out' of god. so it would be cool to put it up in the playroom. i have loads of other stuff i want to get from the book too. ahhh!! i just am to in love with it.
we went to my mom's hous after. i walked with amelya and breigh to the new community park that was just built. it was pretty nice. the only thing i don't like are the wood chips. apparently the park is a safety accredited one...but i don't understand the wood chips. amelya fell and scraped up her knees before we left. that isn't safe is it? overall the girls really liked the park. now we just have to wait until 2010 when they finish building the rest of it. there are plans for a splash pad for summer turned ice skating rink in winter and new basketball hoops. it should be really nice. although i have to say it is weird going to a park where my high school once stood. they built a new one a few years back and then demolished the old one. it's so crazy to me to think i spent four years of my life walking to school there every day. i almost miss those days. ALMOST. sometimes it'd be nice to go back for an hour or two and remember how nice it is to be 'grown up' now.
high school wasn't all that bad for me. but i'm glad to be where i am today. i was on the tennis team all four years. i enjoyed that a lot. i actually miss tennis. i bought the girls tennis rackets this year. it'd be nice to get them in some sort of lessons some day. i took lessons in middle school to high school. but doesn't matter. i was in the play one year too. it was called 'help! i'm trapped in a high school' and yes it was as lame as it sounds. my name in the play was isabella broken. my response to the roll call...'not yet'. oh man. i was on the forensics team too. that was fun. i enjoyed my play acting years of it the most. i did poetry the first two...not as much fun. hmmm what else did i do. oh i volunteered in the special education room (CD) i LOVED that and miss working with special needs people. i know that god knows my heart though, and someday he'll place me with them again. i was on homecoming court my senior year. i was really surprised to be voted on it actually. i felt kind of out of place too with everyone. i remember not even knowing the song we were going to be walking in to at the dance. the girl looked at me weird when i said i didn't know it. i was into christian music and had not a clue as to what else was really playing then. it was fun though i guess. i asked a boy who wrote me a beautiful poem in my yearbook that year too. he actually asked me if i needed someone to be on court with he'd do it. well not exactally like that, but pretty much. so i asked him. i was dating shaun and really had no 'boy' friends to ask. i stuck to myself a lot or my girl friends.
shaun got me some pretty flowers too and so did his mom at the dance. that was nice. after the dance shaun took me and two of my friends out to eat. i didn't want to hang out with the rest of the court. so i didn't. i didn't fit in with them and didn't want to go. i was talked in to going to our senior banquet and senior class party. i don't regret going, but didn't have a super wonderful time either. they were all in to getting drunk. big deal. actually last summer was my 'six' year class reunion, my class was so organized!! and it was NO different then high school, except what they were all doing was legal. me and chantae made shaun and nathan go with us. we paid like 20 bucks to get hamburgers and potato chips. and of course free beer...which we don't drink!! they didn't even have soda free!! ahh. we left almost immediately after supper and went mini-golfing...that was fun. some guy who i've seen a handful of times since high school was so wasted when we arrived he hugged me and said to drink a beer. i kind of said...umm i'm pregnant anyway. and he said, that's okay we're all friends here. WHAT!?! boys. well i should say drunk boys. it was a waste of time really. and all of the cliques that were in high school were all the same that day too. a girl in the bathroom was proud to be dressed slutty. her words not mine. we were happy to leave. will there be another reunion? i don't know. will i go? i'll pray about it.
mini-golfing sounds like fun. i think the girls are too little yet. well breigh and caitlyn probably are. we should go though. someday...we're going to the NEW Zoo on sunday. i'm super excited. i know i've already told you that though. but i like to repeat myself. i'm excited to go to the zoo and to use my new camera. that better be in on friday. i'm getting my haircut tomorrow. nothing major...i don't think. i love to get my haircut though. i think i just like people playing with it...and pampering me a little too. my mom is going to watch the girls, so that will be really nice.
i gave the girls a bath today. it's a lot of work to give three little ones a bath at the same time. but they do a really good job and like the bath. i figured i should try and do it before shaun got home from work, that way he could play with them instead of bathing them all night. it worked out good. the girls get so excited when he gets home from work. caitlyn practically jumped out of the swing the other day when he got home and walked back by us. i LOVE seeing the girls so excited to see that 'daddy's home?!?' breigh asks me every morning...daddy work? i almost feel bad to tell her yes. but if wasn't working we'd be living in the cardboard box out on the road. lol. so anyways. i've babbled a long time and my contacts are drying out...time to go wake the hubby up off the couch and go to sleepytime land....have a good sleepytime yourself. :)amanda

giggles in the morning.

right now amelya and breigh are eating breakfast and giggling together. i LOVE the sounds of giggles. especially when they're giggling together. they are starting to even have conversations together, without ME!! i still get caitlyn for a little while i suppose. then all three will be off together. then i'll get this baby. and soon they'll be too big for mommy too. not that any of my children are too big for me yet, somedays it feels that way. whoa...of the sad train!
yesterday my sister's birthday cake was good. amelya and breigh and caitlyn...well me too...all loved it. and auntie amy loved the patriotic looking welcome sign amelya picked out for her. amelya loves picking out gifts for people. i love watching her. she truly thinks about what she should get the other person and purposes it in her heart to find it. i have to direct her a little, but usually not too much. at christmas she wanted to get grandma an angel. we were looking at fleet farm (because i love their selection at christmas time) and amelya found the perfect angel...and the LAST one. we were so thankful and thanked jesus lots for helping us find that angel. what's nice about the angel is that it sits out all year round at my mom's house. it was just an angel looking angel not a christmas looking angel. if that makes sense.
at my sisters house yesterday we looked up the new lia sophia catalog. it looks great. now i'm excited to see the book, and the new jewelry of course. i have a few shows scheduled already for august, so i'm excited. if you want to see it you'll have to check it out at www.liasophia.com/apopp i earned over 200 bucks in gift certificates a few months back, so i'm excited to have to spend much of my own money to get stuff. that's a bonus for SURE.
we only stayed a short while at my sisters. my mom is on third shift this week, so she had to get home and try to sleep a few hours before work. she doesn't like third shift very much. she finds it hard to sleep in the morning after getting home. i think it would be hard on third shift too. good thing she doesn't have kids at home to try and get out of the house, or quiet while she tries to sleep.
today we're going to gage's house. the girls like gage and playing with him. and breigh is getting to be more gentle with him. i think because he is littler then her, by seven months, she feels some sort of authority over him. she has been getting better. praise the lord. i do pray for that. i feel bad when my kids hurt someone elses. i know it isn't my doing, but i still feel bad. and i make sure i yell at them when they do it. they don't just 'get away' with it because we are somewhere else. i am not afraid to yell at or discipline my children in public.
now i won't spank them in public. and really have been trying to validate spanking for 'serious offenses'. but i'm not afraid to spank them either. i got spanked. i survived. i don't hate my parents. i want my children to know that i mean what i say and that i do what i say i am going to do. i see way to many people saying...don't do that or_____. then they don't even do the or. well then don't say it. your children will learn that you aren't going to do it and they can just do what they want. it is frustrating for me to see though. but i cannot parent someone elses kids. and i try to put myself in the parents place. but i still don't understand why they don't do what they say they are going to do.
i'm not saying my kids are perfect and listen to everything i say either. because they don't. but they do know that by not doing what i say there are consequences. whether it be 'taking a break' (time out in our house) or a tap on the hand, or mouth, or a full out spanking. i always make sure i do it 'in love'. because i want them to know that i do it because i love them and try to explain to them why i did what i did and why it made me sad that they did what they did. i let them know how it makes me feel. and that i guess it is okay to feel sad with someone. amelya knows what happy and sad are, so i tell her when she makes me sad, but even so, i make sure i tell her when what she is doing makes me happy.
being a mommy is hard work. but the bestest work i've ever done. there is no way i'd want to go drive somewhere to get paid everyday for someother kind of job. some days i think what it would be like. then i remember working at the daycare and parents who cried dropping their kids off, who called every day to check in on them, who came on their lunch breaks to visit. i don't want that. i want to stay home and be with them. i enjoy getting out with out them, not to 'get away from them' but to get away with me. i still need to keep the me that's inside me too. i also remember from the daycare the parents who threw a fit when they had to come get their sick child. i don't get that. when you're sick you want your mommy, not some lady who also has to watch the rest of the babies in the room. it baffled me then, it baffles me now. i know that people have jobs and it isn't easy to leave the job all the time, but why throw such a stink? oh i don't know.
wow i really thought this was going to be a 'quick' post, turned out longer than i thought. me and my tangents. have a tangent filled day.

whoa baby.

that's how i feel i am starting to look. but in a good way. i like to look pregnant. it just seems that one night i went to bed not so pregnant and the next morning i woke up pregnant. the baby had the hiccups a lot this morning. i LOVE feeling the little jolts of hiccups. the girls got them all the time too. but i don't remember this early feeling them. this baby is up every morning around six thirty. i look forward to it every morning. when i feel it moving around i don't even have to look at the clock to know that it is around six thirty. it is so much fun feeling the baby move. i can't wait until i can feel it with my hand too. i instantly put my hands on my belly when the baby starts moving to see if i can feel it. not yet. soon though i am sure. when i was pregnant with breigh she kicked so hard it freaked shaun out. he had his hand on my tummy and then WHAM! he totally was freaked and didn't touch my belly too much anymore. i have to be honest the kick hurt me too...it was a hard kick...fitting for my little breigh now too. not that she kicks, but she is definitely the more aggressive one of the group.
breigh and caitlyn are napping. amelya is coloring. i'm sitting here instead of doing anything else but sitting here. i have no ambition today. i should. the kitchen needs tidying and the living room needs finishing. i started it this morning. then i decided to read books with the girls and then we played outside. sometimes you just have to let the other stuff wait. which i have to admit, i'm pretty good at it. lol.
i'm itching to get that playroom finished. i am SICK of the toys all over the house. i want at least a room to confine them in a little bit. ahhh! maybe tonight after the girls go to bed i can work on it. shaun's mom and sisters offered to help, but i just want them to call up and see if they should come over. i don't like calling them. or anyone. i'm bad at calling people. i'm even worse at asking for help. i'm the 'i can do it all' type i guess. even if i don't feel like i can, i just do it. because that's what moms do. right. moms should ask for help. especially when people have offered!! and it's been more then just them. i just want the room finished. now i'm whining. sorry.
we're going to my sisters house later to eat birthday cake. yummy. i like that at our ages. i'm 25 she's 23, our mommy still makes us a birthday cake. spoiled? a little i guess. i should get going though. i'll trek out to get the mail and amelya's barbie out of the van, then i suppose i should shower. have a clean day.

now it's spiders. oh boy.

well amelya woke up at three this morning deathly afraid of the spider in her bed. i went in her room with her and took of the sheets and showed her no spiders. she said they must have went outside. and that she didn't like them. i told her spiders eat bugs and that's why god made them. then she laid back in her bed...for about ten minutes. then she was up and yelling mommy. so i got as far as our doorway when amelya jumped into my arms because she was scared again. she asked to sleep in our bed. so we let her. she slept fine in our bed. but now i am just thinking about the last time when snakes were in her bed, it took us a month or even longer, before she'd sleep in her bed. she wasn't in ours, she was on the floor in her room. but lord willing she'll sleep in her bed tonight. poor kid. i feel bad when she is so scared.
this weekend went well. friday night i had scrapbooking. i got a few pages done, which in scrapbook talk is pretty good. :O) it was just me and chantae. so it was nice to talk and scrapbook with her. shaun had a fun night with the girls too. i didn't get to bed til about midnight and was nervous that i was going to have a short night's sleep. but the girls all slept after eight. amelya!! was the first one up. that NEVER happens. so i was so super happy to have a good night's sleep.
saturday brought a day for shaun to work. what did i do? nothing really. which was nice. i picked up the kitchen and gave the girls a bath. then we played outside for awhile. it was nice to just sit and play outside. the girls love to be outside and saturday was a beautiful day for that. shaun's sister came out to burn junk so she played a little bit too. shaun was home by one. so a pretty decent time for a weekend day of work. he cut the lawn/hay field? when he got home. it was SO SO long. i wish i could cut it, but i can't do that when i have the girls too. maybe in a few years when they can play in the back part of the yard i can cut the front then we can switch places. then the lawn may get cut more. it is pretty bad. our neighbor's dad comes to cut theirs. i debated asking him to come cut ours too. lol. at least it get done more. good thing we live in the country, otherwise our neighbors would hate our lawn. i'm not too much of a stickler for that kind of stuff i guess. not that you already couldn't tell by the weeds in the flowerbeds, or what are suppposed to be flowerbeds. i just don't have the time it takes to take care of them. maybe when the girls are older. amelya likes flowers, so maybe even next year. lol. because the girls will be a lot older then and it'll make a huge difference, not to mention i'll have a six/seven month old baby too.
saturday night was the wedding reception. if you want to call it that. i mean there was food and a cake, and a dj, but it didn't feel much like a wedding reception. they've been married a year already and have two kids already. to me it felt a little awkward. oh i don't know. i guess to me what was the point of it. i'm also not so sure if it was as important to them, as it might have been to their parents. oh well. we had an okay time. it was outside and i did not pack accordingly. you'd think after three children i'd learn. but i don't. the girls were really well behaved. even if they weren't 'supposed' to be there. i heard from someone that apparently second cousins weren't invited. well it would have been nice to have that clarified to every one who has kids that are second cousins. i figured, hey it's a casual outside reception thing at the parent's house no biggie. and i knew they were having a meal catered in and you pay for the food regardless of number of people. if it would have been somewhere i knew they paid per plate we wouldn't have brought the girls. oh well. i can't dwell on it, but i would have like to have known they weren't invited. truthfully we probably wouldn't have gone then ourselves. all of shaun's family was invited and my family was busy. that doesn't leave us much room for a babysitter. so we just wouldn't have gone.
the next wedding is in august. which i'm pretty sure we won't be bringing the girls to. only because i am pretty sure they won't be invited. this wedding is the whole ceremony fancy reception after deal. i guess i just find it weird to not invite all the kids. because that's what we did for our wedding. anyone who had kids the kids were invited. i wanted everyone to be there. and i had a few people tell me they came only because the kids were invited. see...pays to invite the children, because then you get to spend time with people who might not have come otherwise. maybe it's just me i guess. but whatever. i like weddings. although i don't like how drunk everyone gets. i'm glad we left the reception when we did. before things got out of hand i'm sure. we don't drink, and really i see no point in it. none. we've never drank either so i guess others may think we're 'different' but that's okay. i like to be different.
so sunday. shaun got done with work in time to come to church so i was excited about that. although we got a later start then normal to head to church. good thing i didn't have overheads this week. amelya has started to come down for worship. she does such a great job, and yesterday was even raising her hands in praises to god. i get tears in my eyes yet thinking about it. i love to see my baby girl worshipping jesus. if it's only one thing i teach my children i want it to be to love jesus with their entire being. everything else will just fall into place after that. how cool.
originally our plans were to go out to eat for breigh's birthday with shaun's family then open gifts at his mom's house. well instead we fried out at his sisters and stayed there. it was a really nice time and breigh and amelya loved playing in the swimming pool she has. it's only a little tiny one. but a pool. plus breigh has been talking about going to the waterpark since leaving the waterpark last weekend. my camera did something stupid while taking pictures yesterday too. i got a cd of the pictures made at walmart. ptl. then i decided today i was going to go to best buy and they were going to give me a new one. i'll tell you about that later.
today was mom's group. it was good. it was the 'normal' three mommies there. we're talking about marriage this month, and staying in it for the long haul. i think everyone comes to the point sometimes about just wanting to 'quit'. but we can't we must persevere because our marriages are SO worth it. giving in to those crazy feelings are exactalloy what the enemy wants. we CAN NOT let him have any more marriages. somewhere they want to make it so in seven years you can 'opt out' of your marriage??!!?? what??!!?? no. that is NOT what marriage is. you're in it for the LOOOONGGG haul. somedays may feel longer then others, tough. god will see you through it. if you're willing to let him.
after mom's group it was off to appleton. i stopped at the 'darboy family resturant' for lunch with the girls. then while we were eating some lady came up to me. this is our conversation:
lady: excuse me.
me: (well i just looked at her)
lady: you have the most well behaved children.
me: thank you.
lady: and they are so cute too.
me: thank you.
then she walked away. i have to admit i almost started to cry. (must be pregnancy emotions) but that was the NICEST thing i have ever heard from a stranger in a long time. i usually get wow they're all yours, and you're having another. i was so blessed by that. and i give god all the glory. it's because of him my girls are so well behaved and because of him i've been so blessed. we have strangers tell us all the time how 'cute' the girls are. it's kind of embarassing actually. once when we were leaving sam's club a lady from the customer service desk stopped shaun just to say that she saw us when we walked in and had to tell us how adorable our children were. i never have done that anyone, even if i think their kids are adorable. i dunno. i mean i'm their mommy of course I think they are adorable. praise god i guess is all i can continue to do.
so best buy. yep, i got a new camera. basically i purposed it in my mind before i went that i was getting a new one. i had the 'insurance' or whatever on it. so i wanted a new one. i have had issues with my camera since i got it in september. so long story short. i got a new one. which wasn't in. and will be in on friday. better be. we're going to the zoo with friends of ours and i can't not have my camera. i'm so glad i 'stuck to my guns' and wouldn't let them mess with me. i usually let people tell me what to do. not this time. whoo whoo. praise the lord for boldness.
after best buy (which we were there for AN HOUR) was the chiropractor. it felt SO good to be adjusted. my sister's birthday is today so she showed us the pretty flowers she got. she got 23 roses from the dr. for her golden birthday. pretty cool boss. although not as cool as mine. lol. i really do like the new dr. she's so nice and helpful. and just a fun girlfriend type of person. that makes it nice.
then we went to bellybeans. they're having a 'everything on sale' sale. so the girls picked out the stuffed blanket/animal thing for the baby. they picked out a duck. so amelya has a bunny, breigh has a giraffe and caitlyn has a bear, and baby d gets a duck. perfect. i also got a few other things. but didn't spend as much as i could have. i LOVE that store. LOVE IT!
then we went to kohl's. to pick out auntie amy's birthday present. amelya has fun doing that. i had the double stroller so breigh and caitlyn went in there and amelya walked with me. the girls were so good. i was SO happy.
finally we got home, at like ten to seven. LOOOOOOONNNNNNG day. we ate supper, good thing there was left overs from yesterday! and then went outside to play. then the girls are in bed and i sat down to finish this. i started it way long time ago this morning. which almost feels like a different day already.
i hope you have enjoyed reading my new 'version' of blogging today. paragraphs. don't get too excited. correct punctuation, capital letters, and grammar are probably not coming next. but i think this will be a bit easier to read for you. :) so enjoy. and it really isn't as bad as i thought hitting that enter but a few more times. lol. so enjoy your night. i know i will. :)

friday.

friday. this week has flown on by so fast. we had a busy day today. i dropped my phone yesterday and broke it. so today i went to sprint. i qualified for the 'new' person discount because i've had my current phone for long enough. SOOOO i got a new phone. a lime green one, with a slide out keyboard. so when i text the few people i do text it will take me not as long. so now SOMEONE TEXT ME! lol. i really have one main person i text, but oh well. i did change our plan though to unlimited texting for both of us. it was only a little bit more extra a month and figured it made sense to do it, because when i'm away from shaun i'll usually text him good night or something. so it'll be nice not to have the extra charge when i text him. the girls were good too while doing that. when we got back to town we stopped at the park and played and then walked up by the water fountain at the bank. they like to look at it, plus the park we went to was right around the block. i did super awesome rummaging yesterday morning and yesterday. got loads of stuff for very cheap. i was even blessed to find a double stroller. now we already have an umbrella one, but i wanted a new front to back one. a new one you ask? why yes, because the one i spent almost 200 dollars on before breigh was born got moldy in our garage. i was NOT happy. so i survived with out one, and have been looking hard for one lately again. and lo and behold i found one. and not only that it's the exact pattern our car seat is! how awesome is god? very. let me tell you. so now i have a new to me double stroller and it matches our carseat. our other one was the safety first version and kind of matched the car seat, but now i got the eddie bauer one and it's the same pattern as our eddie bauer car seat. so excited. and to be more 'weird' about it, it matches our single stroller too! lol. hmm what else? oh we went to shaun's cousin's baseball game last night. i love watching little kids play. his team lost, but played pretty well. then while we were there shaun's sister called and said she was playing volleyball at the place up the road from us. so after baseball we watched 'auntie kimmy' play volleyball. the girls enjoyed playing in the sand when they were between games. so we didn't get home til late, which means the girlies slept good this morning. caitlyn was the first one up at 730, shortly followed by breigh and amelya slept til 830ish. the girls played outside a little this morning too. amelya and breigh made me 'decorations' with chalk on our deck. rain washes it away, i'm not too concerned. plus they were so proud of their work. now this story might have been a little different had it been permanent marker on my walls. lol. tonight is scrapbooking night! whooo hooo!! i'm excited to go scrap and gab for awhile. shaun has to work this weekend. and tomorrow is his cousin's wedding reception. i think we're going. i think the girls are invited. i don't really know. they weren't on the invite, but i know it's just a little thing at her parent's house. so i'm not sure. but other people usually bring their kids too. so we'll bring the girls along i'm sure. i doubt we'll stay for a super long time anyways. long enough hopefully for grandma hoerth cake. gma hoerth cake is the bestest ever!! my suntan is peeling. i hate the scalp peel the most. looks like i'm walking around with some sort of disease of the head or something. i wanna wear a sign and just tell others yes i'm peeling. or even YES they ARE ALL mine. i had like four people ask me that today. okay i think you can tell the girls are all sisters and they look like. oh i don't know. then it's the typical how do you do it? well i do it. i just do. i can't put one back in for a little while longer. i don't know if people just blurt it out or what. everyone usually asks me that too. i'm just the pyscho lady who can't just sit in her house so i take all my kids out to eat at culver's, then go to the sprint store by MYSELF. ohhh. people act like i can't do that or something. they are just children, not monkeys who need to be caged or something. although a cage might be a good idea some days i guess. lol. i'm not saying i have it easy. but it isn't hard either. somedays are crazy exhausting and others are a breeze. now i so couldn't imagine being 40 and doing it! that seems to be the trend now a days. i'd rather be 45 and a grandma then 45 and a mom to a first grader. my mom is only 44 and i know she LOVES being a young grandma. and my dad too. well he's a grandpa not a grandma of course. shaun's mom is only 55 too. so they are all young enough to be wild and crazy with the girls. and of course watch them with out me wondering if it is TOO much for them. well i suppose the girls are playing dress up and need help 'strapping'. lol too funny. have a strapping fun night. :)

just words...

well i posted the long awaited, i'm sure, ultrasound pictures earlier. and of course pictures of the girls. it all went really well yesterday at the mall. i was so proud of them. and now i just may be more brave and go to the mall by myself some other time too. maybe i said. we did the pictures then went and got a snack of sugar pretzels. yummy. then we headed to target for a bit, found some headbands for amelya, three for a dollar!! and she'll wear them. yay! then i let them play for about 15 minutes in the playland. and of course a trip to the mall is NOT complete without a trip to orange julius. i got the new strawberry lemonade one. was pretty good. i LOVE orange julius. and would you believe i didn't even know about the place til i visited my friend out in washington years ago. i was so excited when i got back home and our mall had one too!! yay!! we spent the day by that friend's house today actually. we had a really nice time. and breigh and caitlyn took really good naps there too. then we went to the local ice cream shop for a snack. fit all four kids in the van and off we went. ice cream was good. and so were the kids. i had the new flavor, which is yet to be named. they're having a contest. so i put my name in. if i win i get a free quart of ice cream a week for an entire year! how cool is that?!?! i LOVE ice cream, and who could pass up the chance to get free ice cream. not me that's for sure. my belly has been really stretching lately. i feel like it's getting huger by the second. is huger a word? i dunno. and frankly that is how i feel i am getting. but truthfully i LOVE it. i do. i love walking around a pretty pregnant lady. :P i'm wearing one of my favorite (new) shirts today. it's by cotton glam maternity. i bought it at bellybeans for only like 32 bucks. pretty reasonable. it's so comfortable. so now i've been emailing the owner to see if she can get more of the shirts in . because you can't find the one i want online. how dare they do that. it is SO comfortable. so i'd like more of the same style shirt in different colors. i know i don't NEED them. but i so want them. i know i have an obsession with maternity clothes. i never buy this much clothes when i'm not pregnant. but there is something about the fun cute maternity clothes they have out. i'm in love with the japanese weekend line too for maternity. i really like their line because they have a lot of maternity shirts, that you can wear after and nurse with them. so stylish and totally worth the splurge. most of them cost me like eighty bucks. but i figure i get to wear them while pregnant and while nursing. and i wear them a lot. plus if you wear it eight times that's only ten bucks a time. and i definitely wear them more then eight times. i know i have to justify everything. i spoil myself. then when the babies come i spoil them. bellybeans has great matching outfits for the girls too. that's wear i got their sweaters from for the pictures yesterday. i think i already told you that though. sorry. but i suppose. i should go. okay. okay. i am sure there was more i wanted to write about, but there is this brownie desert thing that has been calling my name since like yesterday...yesterday i picked through the girls' parade candy. :) joys of children. til next time eat all the candy and brownies you want...okay maybe not all, but indulge. :) amanda

pictures

pictures...that's all i need to say for now...

this one is my favorite one of the girls together

another one of the three girlies

caitlyn...nine months

breigh at two years...very serious child :)

and amelya just because pictures...but man does she look SO grown up...

and now for the ultrasound pictures

...boy or girl...you're not finding out...

well our ultrasound was friday morning. it was SO much fun. i don't have a scanner, so the next time i am around one i will be sure to put up the pictures of the baby. shaun and i decided to find out what we're having. but we aren't telling. my mom and sister came along to the ultrasound and then they had to do the 'fun' one, so amy and my mom left the room. after we were done with the 'fun' ultrasound they tech asked if we were sure if we didn't want to know. shaun and i looked at each other and shaun didn't care. so i said sure. yes. so the lady put more gel on my belly and i said, oh i thought you already knew and would just tell us. she said that she was pretty sure, but wanted to be able to show boy or girl. she said when people want to know she likes to show them exactally what they're looking at. so the baby was very good at giving us a butt shot so we could see if there were parts between the legs or not. then i made her print us a picture of the baby so i can scrapbook...it's a >>>>>>>>! now i just have to be sure to hide the picture from my scrapbooking friends who might wanna know. :) you know who you are! the ultrasound was so fun though. the baby kept playing 'peek a boo' and amelya really got a kick out of that. the baby was also moving ALL over. i'm feeling the baby move lots more now too. it is my most absolute favorite part about being pregnant. i love all the jabs and kicks to the belly and ribs. the only thing i don't like is when it feels like they are trying to scratch their way outta there!! i will NEVER forget how that feels. ahhhh. i get the shivers just thinking about it. i had it bad with each one of my pregnancies near the 'end'. and i don't regret finding out. i never wanted to know with the others, but this one i did. so it's kind of fun knowing. except i call it what it is around home, she, he, her, his, and have to be very careful not saying her or his or he or she in public either. i've told some random strangers what we're having when they ask though. so it's nice to be able to tell people who don't know my family. i know that my mom really wants to know, and i know shaun's mom doesn't. so i am going to do my best not to spill it before the baby comes. it's fun too because we have dustin/dustynn picked out for boy or girl. so we can call the baby dustynn/dustin and no one will know what we're talking about. he he he. it's funny that way. amelya said she wants to name the baby bob the builder, she has thought from the beginning the baby is a boy. so we'll see if she's right. although i am not naming the baby bob the builder if it is a boy. i really like dustin/dustynn and am excited to be getting dustynn/dustin. because ever since we started having kids i mentioned the name dustin/dustynn. so we finally get our little d baby dustynn/dustin. do you notice how i keep switching if i say girl or boy first or dustynn or dustin first. you won't know. i'm telling you. part of me really wants to tell someone i know though. but i won't. nope i won't. okay i should say, i'll try my hardest not too. people have tried to get me to react to them saying "it's a girl" or "it's a boy" i think i've done a good job and not reacting. actually shaun's aunt said i was just trying to see her face but she didn't even flinch. nope i didn't. surprising though because she was right with what she said. but you weren't there do you won't know what she said. and you have NO idea which aunt said it. he has 10 of them. ;) this is kind of fun actually. the rest of the weekend went well too. caitlyn finally didn't throw up on saturday, so that was a relief. she only threw up once on friday too, so it wasn't that bad. she didn't enjoy the waterpark as much as the other two did. but we all had loads of fun. the girls are all awake, so i don't want to take the time to post pictures now. but i will try to soon. breigh turned two on saturday. CRAAAZY. she kept saying all day birthday, happy birthday. it was so funny. we had the parade on sunday. that went okay. amelya hated the fire trucks and loud sirens and horns. the boys a little ahead of us kept telling the trucks to beep their horns and they did. but she got over relatively quick. especially when we told her she wasn't getting candy if she wasn't on the curb. we went by shaun's aunt and uncle's house after for a little while. that was a nice time. we saw some of the family we haven't seen in awhile. there is a wedding reception this weekend so we'll see them there too. i think we are going. i don't know actually. it's just around the corner from our house sooo it makes sense to at least go for a little while. shaun has a huge family. his mom is one of twelve. and four of the twelve have four kids, four have three, and four have two. so there are loads and loads of grandkids and great-grandkids. not all of the grandchildren are alive but i figure they should still be counted anyways. and let's see there are three of us pregnant right now too. one of them should be having her baby today actually. then one is due in august/september and then i am due in november. i don't think anyone else is having a baby, but i can almost guarentee that by november someone else probably will be. it's never a dull moment in that house on christmas!! christmas is the only holiday for sure that 99% of everyone is in the same house at the same time. his grandparents have a relatively small house and i know 'strangers' to the family have asked how we all fit in there. but we do. and it isn't too crowded either. plus i think shaun's grandparents love it when their house is full. i think it's a lot of crazy fun too. then after that we went by my parent's house for breigh's birthday with them. she had fun opening gifts and eating cake, and again saying my birthday. we still have to get together with shaun's mom and sisters yet. i don't know when. plus the playroom isn't finished so i really don't want to do it at our house. so we'll see. maybe i can ask shaun's mom if we can do it at her house after church or something on sunday. that'd be nice. or we could just go out to eat at penelopy's for her birthday too. hmmm. something to ponder i guess. i really want the playroom finished though. last week NOTHING got done in there, with caitlyn being sick and stuff. then we were gone all weekend. and now we have that reception this weekend. ahhh. never ending. but i want the girls to have it done. and then i get my living room and dining room back. and i can rearrange the furniture so i can use our patio door again. we put the couch in front of it for winter time. and it's been there since two winters ago!! i know i know. i'm taking all three girls, by myself, later for their pictures. it's breigh's two year and caitlyn's nine months and amelya just because. i have all three of them matching outfits that i am excited for them to wear. i bought the sweaters at bellybeans awhile back and they haven't worn them yet because i am saving them for today. they aren't sweaters but like it. they have short sleeves. i bought them all jeans to wear with them. i think jeans look cuter. i dunno. so i'll have to post those too. i just take them to sears. they do a decent job. and the price isn't too bad either. i'm having them done at three. so by the time we're done it could almost be time for supper. am i brave enough to walk the mall with them all by myself?!?!? we'll have to see. i'll push breigh and caitlyn in the double stroller then amelya will have to walk by me. it'll be fine. i'm a little crazed out by it though. i do loads of stuff by myself with them all the time, walmart, library, eating out, but i have never done the mall. by myself. it'll be fine. it'll be fine. that's all i've been telling myself. and i'm sure it will be. i just have to get the girls to be cooperative for their pictures. that just might be the biggest challenge. so i'm going to go now. have a great day. :)

what a week.

let me start by saying it is 726 and i'm the ONLY person awake in the house. a FIRST ALL WEEK. breigh has been up before six most days this week. making me one tired momma. plus caitlyn has still been sick. yesterday she didn't keep anything down. so i took her to the walk in clinic at our hospital...i know CHILTON?!?! but i was in town aleady at my mother in laws and decided it was just easier. they were very nice and helpful. i took her in probably more out of paranoia. but she just didn't 'look herself', a mommy knows. the poor kid hadn't had anything stay in her belly since tuesday at three in the afternoon. they gave her a suppository to help with her vomitting, so lord willing that will work. it worked last night and they gave me a perscription to go get more. if she keeps stuff down this morning though i may not get it, i'm only supposed to give it to her if she keeps throwing up. praise the lord amelya and i, well and shaun, have not gotten sick. i've been run thin though this week. really thin. i'm exhausted. very exhausted. i don't know how else to describe it. no weeks before this have i gotten this run down. and it's only thursday. another busy day ahead for us too. ahhhhhhhh. but tomorrow is my ultrasound!! super yay!! then we're going to go to the hotel waterpark for breigh's birthday. then saturday is her birthday and then sunday is the parade in town and a party for breigh with my fam at my parent's house. good thing it's not here...i'd have to stay home and do some cleaning. the house isn't as bad as it has been, but needs a good picking up again. i still have to pack...which i should be doing now. instead i'm 'relaxing' in front of the computer. soon breigh will be up and my day will start. chilton has their city wide sales today and tomorrow. only a few of them are today, but considering i'll be a little busy tomorrow i thought i could check out a few today. i do not need too much more for amelya anywho. shaun's mom's neighbor is having a sale and let me look through it last night. and 60 bucks later i got a lot of stuff for amelya. the other day i also went to a friends who is getting rid of girl stuff and spent almost 70 there. i got a lot of winter stuff the other day and lots of summer stuff last night. plus a little vw beetle bug car, by power wheels, for the girls to drive around. they only wanted 10 bucks for it and the girls loved it. and a small bike with training wheels for amelya. for only 10 bucks. i asked her if she wanted it,it's purple, she likes pink. but she did. and she's been doing a great job riding it around. i've noticed the past few days how much she is turning into a little girl and not a little toddler anymore. she's grown up so much. she's a little lady. and talk talk talk. last night some kids in front of us were being sassy and i said they were being naughty and they probably didn't know jesus. my little amelya brought tears to my eyes when she said 'we should pray that they get jesus'. i love it. i truly love it. i said yep we should you're right.....well my breigh breigh is awake. she's talking, not crying, yay, in her bed. so my day starts. may your day have started and be richly blessed. because god is good like that...really good.

quick.

ahhh. breigh is going to be two on saturday. i just can't believe it has been two precious years since she was born. time flies by way too fast. way too fast. caitlyn is nine months already. breigh just said to me momma wash my hands. sentences!!??!! ahhhhhhhh....she truly is growing up. i'm so excited to see my baby girlies grow up. but do they have to do it sooooooooo fast? so puking seems to be done in the house. amelya survived the night with no throw up. ptl. i'm feeling fine. besides being overly exhausted and tired. in twenty years i am going to look back and ask myself how in the world i did all this. and i already know the answer by the grace of god. so i have to go. sticking to the title of quick. period.

where have i been??!!??

wow it's been a few days huh? sorry. and i get all crazy when people's blogs i read haven't being changed for a few days....ahhhh....well we've been busy. and that's why i haven't been on here to do this. friday was a busy day. the girls and i spent the day at the mall with my sister, found a new swimsuit! then i was adjusted at the chiro. i've been having awful headaches and i got adjusted so that would help...and it did!! yay! after that we came home. shaun called and said he was heading to our friend's house with the skidster to help spread gravel for their new patio. as he was getting there he thought his brakes were acting up. then i got off the phone with him. a few minutes later my friend calls and invites me and the girls over, and says shaun's brakes were gone. he had to drive up on their lawn in order to stop, either that or hit a car. i think he made a good choice. so off to the local store to get some new brakes. then when they got back they did the gravel first. shaun has changed his brakes before, so it shouldn't have taken long when they were done....welll...something else was wrong too, i'm not sure what, either way the truck stayed in their driveway til saturday after shaun got done working! it was too late to do anything after they realized something else was broke. so saturday morning i went rummaging. i went by myself to a neighborhood sale. did okay there. then i went to one sale in darboy and found a refrig, stove/sink/microwave, and china hutch set for the girls. for only 30 bucks. they all go flat against the wall so they won't take up a lot of space in their new playroom. it is all they have been playing with since saturday when i got it home. i was so excited. then i went on ebay and saw that people are selling these for almost 100 bucks because they are hard to find...yay!! score for me. i found the girls lots of dress up clothes too at the sales. i think some were old halloween costumes, but score for us, my girls get to use them all year, not just one time. man. i started this before seven this morning...then breigh threw up. twice since then. it is now 830. caitlyn was throwing up yesterday, and not eating. now breigh isn't eating and threw up. but since the last time she did, she's been acting more herself and playing. before she was just sitting on the couch. for those of you who aren't blessed enough to know breigh, she DOES NOT just SIT on anything. she's my go go go go GO girl. :) i'm glad she seems to be feeling better, but we're going to forgo mom's group so we don't get our little friends sick. and i cancelled my chiropractor's appt for today too. and i had pictures scheduled for tomorrow, which i am going to reschedule, because i don't want puking kids. well now it is after 430. what happened between then and now. lots. caitlyn decided to get up eat a little and then while eating her bottle puke it up all over both of us. so i called the dr. because they told me yesterday if she was still puking today to call. well i took her in, nothing wrong. of course, but i figured it only cost me my copayment of 15 bucks, well worth the reassurance everything is a-okay. so after a trek to the dr. and to sam's we needed diapers and formula. i'm finally back home. and exhausted. there has been no more puking...praise the lord. but i feel wiped. i wish shaun could have come with me, but it's not a perfect world. amelya is so far feeling fine, and currently wants to play with her finger paint we bought at sam's. a good deal of loads of colors, paper and a smock for only 988. we also ran to walmart to get a few things we didn't need in bulk. and bought shaun's father's day gift. amelya loved picking it all out. she by all means had to get 'perfume' for him. blue perfume. i actually had to call him and see what color perfume he wanted. i tried to explain cologne...but figured it's all the same really. so now i'm tired, amelya wants to paint, and i should try to give caitlyn a drink of clear liquids. til next time may your kids or you not puke. ;) amanda

you can...

make pancakes without eggs. :) i have been craving pancakes...well syrup really, but instead of drinking syrup i wanted to make pancakes for lunch. we only had the mix where you add milk and egg to it. soooo because we didn't have eggs, i decided to go ahead and try it without. and it worked. they tasted fine. and the girls all ate them up. so now you know. if you don't have eggs you can still make pancakes. we don't usually have eggs. i will buy a dozen and two will get used then the rest sit in there til the next time you want an egg, and lo and behold...they're expired. so yay. i am very well satisfied with my egg less pancakes and syrup (butter flavored of course). later i'm going with my mom and sister, and the girls, to go get pedicures. i'm excited. i haven't had one in a LONG time, at least a month. lol. but i really truly need it. yesterday we had a good day. we went to my friend's house. after we left we went to scoops, the local ice cream shop. yummy.i got a brownie sundae with tin roof sundae ice cream and caramel. yummy. the girls each got pink ice cream. translation:strawberry. but basically whenever we go there they get what ever pink ice cream they have. after the ice cream shop we came home and breigh took a good nap. shaun worked til after six again. we had mac and cheese for supper. i know don't over exert myself. i've already said it, i am not much of a cook at all. i mean it too. today the girls and i picked up the toys and did some much needed vacuuming. i also swept the kitchen. now i sit here. oh well. i have to shower yet too, but wanted to wait and make sure breigh and caitlyn are asleep for their naps before i do. amelya is watching teletubbies. i'm not too sure how i feel about the show, but really i've never seen anything too disturbing and amelya seems to enjoy it. i love summer and the pbs schedule because barney is on after. they usually play newer shows that she hasn't seen, so i think she likes that as well. yesterday amelya fell asleep on the living room floor. it was funny. she was just laying there, then the next time i checked on her, she had covered herself up with a blanket and just went to sleep. it was around 630ish. she stayed asleep the rest of the night and didn't get up until 815 this morning. i was shocked. shaun felt bad though when we put her to bed because he didn't even get to see her at all. i feel bad when he doesn't get to see them, it's nice to know he does too. well i have known he does, it is nice to hear him say it i guess. i'm really excited. our pastor's wife is praying about starting a women's study at church. i've been praying about it for quite awhile and it's cool to see god starting it. we just need to find someone who will watch the children while the study goes on. so lord willing we can start a study soon. having a small church it's nice to get together on sundays, but i think it'll be nicer to get together a different day of the week too with just 'the girls'. lol. there are mainly all girls that attend our church. let's see the boys are, shaun, pastor mike, nathaniel, richard, joe, matthew and nathan. the girls, me, priscilla, tammy, krystle, kelsey, maggie, julie, doris, danielle, sandy, betty, stacy, brandi, and chantae. then for children's church it's my three girls, melody, michael and gage. but it'd still be nice to have a women's study. i think it'd be nice to have a men's study too. i think shaun would get a lot out of that. and it'd get him to 'open' up more to all the other men at church. it's important for men and women to be discipled to. and to learn and grow from each other. and most important to pray for each other. whatever god has. and i am so excited to see what he does have. i truly feel that the world is showing signs of the 'last days' and i think more then ever it is important for us to stick together. i'm not any sort of expert on the last days, but the bible speaks of the earth's birthing pains and such. if you don't think the hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, mudslides etc etc etc aren't earth pains, then i don't want to know what is. i'm excited to know that i WILL not be on this earth for the tribulation that will take place after the rapture. jesus is coming back for those who've given their lives to him. the rest of the earth has to deal with the rest, and the tribulation and the anti-christ. things are going to get BAD. really BAD. and then we'll reign with jesus. now if this all sounds way too far fetched for you, then you haven't read your bible. pick it up and start reading. revelation speaks the most of this crazy time period that is coming all too soon. if you do have questions, i'd like to hear them, then i can get you an answer, because i'd love nothing more then for you, my precious blog reader, to turn to jesus. to fully and completely give your whole heart, mind and soul to him. for john 3:3 says you must be born again. and jesus says HE is the only way to heaven. so if you're not born again of HIS spirit, then how will you get to heaven. the answer, harsh as it sounds, is you won't. i'm not saying this because some man made up some rule. but the bible says it clear as day. some churches pick apart the bible and interpret it in their own ways, but you can not add or take away from the scripture. it is what it is. you can try to be a good person all you want, but that isn't going to get you anywhere. in the end, you're still a sinner. just as we all are. i'm a sinner. but i've been saved by the grace of god and the blood of jesus. he died for you, and for me. and wants you to live for him. so give your life to him. turn your life around. my pastor is not ashamed to say he used to be a drunk. but because of jesus, he has turned his life around, and doesn't drink. praise the lord. he is faithful. but i suppose. the girls are both sleeping and i need to get in that shower. have a grace filled day. a

@------>----------

remember making those 'roses' way back when? i do. so that's why i did it now. :) i could not think of a creative title...so that's what you get. well i have gotten no more done in the playroom. shaun sanded the walls monday night and last night he crashed on the couch after the girls went to bed. so hopefully tonight we'll feel more ambitious and get some more done in there. i want it done, so it will have to involve us actually doing something right? so we'll see. there is always this weekend i guess. shaun also still has to pick stones. like asap. the crops are growing and you don't want them to be too tall and drive over them. it's been rainy a little though, so the fields are wet now anyways i guess. it is supposed to be chilly today, but 80's for the weekend. yay! of course it is shaun's weekend to work, but he had a nice weather weekend off last week, so that's okay. caitlyn is moving all over now. she does the army crawl. neither of the other two did that. so it is funny to see her do that. amelya crawled at 6 1/2 months, breigh was after 9 and caitlyn was about 8 1/2 months. so i think amelya was 'above' average and the other two are normal. well as normal as any of my kids can be i guess. :O) amelya wrote her name the other night. i was SO proud of her. she didn't write all of the letters in a line, but wrote all of the letters on the page after each other. so you just have to look up and down the paper to 'read' it. she was funny though. i told her to write a little 'a' at the end. and i showed her the little a i had written. well she proceeded to write a little a, but a little capital a. it was so cute. i didn't 'correct' her. i figure an a is an a for now. i just showed her what it should look like. it just blesses me so much to see her doing that. i don't 'push' her or 'try' to teach her anything. we just go with the flow and i try to grab each and every learning possibility i can. it seems to be working well this way for now. today we're going to my friend's house. no library time this week. i'm going to keep this short. for some reason i am very tired today. i don't think it has anything to do with taking care of three girls and being pregnant. there has to be another reason. lol....right...have rosy day. amanda

some pink

okay i got some pink lines done today. loads of work to paint stripes and trying not to get it in the grooves of the paneling. i started getting a headache so i quit. maybe i can work on it tomorrow. i was planning on doing it tonight, but shaun worked 14 hours today so i figure we'll rest on the couch after he gets out of the shower. he had to go in at five on a monday morning. yucky. mom's group was a huge blessing today. i had such a great time. my friend i invited awhile ago came today. i hope she keeps coming. it'll be nice to add to our group of 'regulars'. lol. the girls stayed by my mom today so i could paint a little. it was a nice time for them to spend with grandma and papa for a little while. i know they enjoy it. my parents AND the girls. my mom is on third shift this week, so i pray she can get some sleep. i know she struggles with that on third. she just looks forward to next week when she is on second and can sleep more. i'm looking forward to next week too. my ultrasound!! i still can't believe i am almost half way through this pregnancy. it is crazy. we're going to do something fun for breigh's birthday next week too. just haven't decided on what yet. for sure the father's day parade on sunday. that is about all we have set though. and after we'll go to shaun's grandparent's house for a little while and then to my mom and dad's then we'll celebrate breigh's birthday there with them. it'll be fun. then i have to think of a time to do a party with shaun's mom and sisters. well shaun is out of the shower. so i'm gonna go spend some time with my hubby, while he's awake. :) amanda

what a weekend.

yay!! we've accomplished SO much. yet there is SO much to do. on friday shaun's sisters came over and we got the messy room to be CLEAN. everything is in boxes and organized from it. i bought some totes today to transfer some things into that. so my guess was on saturday we could paint and put the carpet in and today we could put the toys in....well those things changed. we decided to tear out two walls and put up completely new drywall up for them. it needed it shaun said, underneath by the windows mold had started to grow. so it was a good thing. we left up the two paneled walls. those walls are fine, and i wanted to stripe them and the lines in the paneling make it perfect for that. amelya picked the colors out. blue, green, purple and pink. we got the blue from danielle that she had left from painting her living room. so we picked up the green, purple and pink to coordinate that. the one wall will then be blue, and the other wall will be green. to kind of make it a little bit less 'girly'. we also bought some cute appliques to put up on the walls when we're done. they're bugs, but girly looking bugs. amelya actually picked them out. and breigh i guess. so today we got all the drywall up and the paneling walls are all primed with two coats. the mudding is almost done. lord willing shaun can do that tomorrow night after work. i also am hoping to start 'striping' tomorrow. oh i'm so excited. even though it's taking a lot longer then i originally thought, we're going to be so so blessed by finishing it and making it look nice right away. amelya and breigh loved helping put up the primer yesterday. breigh had it in her hair and everything. i love being 'laid back' and letting them help. the pefectionist in me has been brought down my the mom in be. yay for that. church was good today. we talked about 'hard hearts' it is kind of nice to hear about. let's me remember how far i've come and how far i've yet to go. tomorrow priscilla, the pastor's wife, is talking at my mom's group. i'm really excited to share her with the other moms at mom's group. i've invited my friend who i went out to eat with the other night too. and priscilla asked her daughter to come. so we might have a 'full house' but i'm very excited to hear what god has to share through her. priscilla is an awesome woman of god and i feel has lots of insight on things. she's speaking on marriage. i pray that our church will be 'big' some day and we can have a mom's group too. right now i'm the only young mom who attends all the time. the above mentioned daughter comes sometimes. and my other friend has started to come and lord willing will come all the time. it's nice to have other young moms and young kids for our girls to play with too. the other mom's at church are priscilla and shaun's mom and one other 'grandma'. then shaun's aunt. who is young but still has older kids. she's only in her 30's so that's young to me. ten years ago i would've called her old. :) how times change. i took a picture of my growing belly the other night. FINALLY. i can't believe that i am 18 weeks already. it has flown by. two more weeks til the ultrasound!! yay! that also means two more weeks and breigh is going to be 2! i can't believe she's going to be two already. she has grown up so much. we've started having the girls pray at the meal times instead of always us. breigh is so funny. i'll say: thank you jesus.
breigh: thank you jesus
me:for this food
breigh: food, yeah
me: and for this day
breigh: day, yeah
me: in jesus name
breigh: in jesus name
me: amen
breigh: really loudly AMEN
she's too funny. we keep the prayer short and to the point at meal time, no sense in dragging it out and letting them lose focus on the prayer. amelya is doing good at praying too and rarely needs me to say everything for her. i want them to be unashamed to pray. which means i need to be just the same way. they learn by example. and i NEED to be that godly example that they need to see. there is so much other yucky stuff in the world they don't need to see. i dug out the workbooks i got for homeschooling tonight. i think it's really time to crack down and get amelya going on those, so in fall i can start pre-k and she'll be a little bit more apt to doing it. she can already write quite a few letters. and she recognizes all of them, well all the capital ones. i need to start working on all the lowercase ones. she knows some but not all of those yet. we have a really fun game from discovery toys called a, b, seas that she likes and it has the letters in it for her. so we can play that and she's learning without learning. i'm going to take the work books to the library to copy so i can use them again with breigh. and that way amelya can practice on the letters as much as she wants and doesn't use up a book doing it. i am going to have three more kids using it after her so i might as well make it last for all of them right? i'm really excited to start the homeschooling adventure. i know people have mixed feelings on it, but not me. i am all for it. and i feel it's the best way to know what your child is learning and to have a little bit of 'control' over it as well. i want my kids to know that god created the earth and we haven't evolved into anything. i will teach them, at the appropriate time, that some people believe that but want her to know that is not how god did it. we have some really good dvds too to watch that prove evolution wrong. so i look forward to sharing those with my kids. i also can keep them a little, well i guess sheltered, from the evil, rawness of the world. i DO NOT want them learning about sex on the playground. i want them to learn it from me. and all the correct terms. i want a relationship with them that allows them to come to me about anything and not feel ashamed about it either. i want them to be honest with me and i will be honest with them. always. i know i've said it before, and i'll say it again, i'm not going to sugar coat anything for them. they will not always win at candy land, and i won't feel bad about it either. they need to know that they are not always going to win OR get what they want. take last night actually. amelya was dead set that i had to cover her back up, after getting out of bed to get 'allyson's horse' (allyson is her baby doll) so shaun went up there and she refused to let him cover her up. after the screaming and crying wouldn't stop i went upstairs to try and help. i told her daddy came up to cover her up so she needed to let him. she cried and said no. i said yes. and i went downstairs. eventually shaun came down. amelya was still crying and wouldn't let him cover her. needless to say the arguement ended when she fell alseep and gave in and covered herself up. she needs to know that i WON'T give in when she cries. she WILL not get what she wants by shedding a few tears. some may call me a mean mom or mean period. but she will learn that i mean what i say, and i will do what i say i am or am not going to do. i think she'll have more respect for me in the end. actually tonight when she went to bed she told me she covered herself up last night. i said yep you did, because you wouldn't let daddy and mommy said she wasn't going to. she didn't say anything, but i know she hears me. i love my baby girls. they make me so happy every day. every little 'stressful' moment is worth every smile i get to see. i wouldn't trade staying home with them for anything. not once have i ever thought, maybe i should just get a job. shaun and i the other day were talking about when he retires. i said i LOVE being retired. he's like you're not retired, you work. i thought it was a very sweet thing to say. unfortunetly no one else in this world has deemed an account worthy of paying me for my 'work'. but i know that i will get paid back eventually. and i do already. with smiles, hugs, kisses, i loves yous, and a whole lot more. but i suppose. it's getting late and i really need to get these contacts out. have a non-drying contact kind of day. ;) amanda