blogoversary, blogaversary, blogiversary.

however you wanna say it, it's been an entire year since i started this babbling of mine. i can't believe it!! i've gained SO many friends that i never even 'planned' on. there have been so many of you who bless me with your comments of sweet words and encouragement and even more so prayer!!

the past year has brought the birth of dustin, a thyroid cancer 'scare', mean comments, a haiti fundraiser and of course yesterday's reveal of my news and oh so much more!! for those of you who've been around since forever...thanks for sticking with me. and for those of you who started some place in the middle or have just jumped on board. thanks! sometimes knowing i'm writing and people are actually reading makes it a little bit more worth it. although like at the beginning when no one really read it, i didn't care either!! :0) i just like to ramble.

the lady who we raised stuff for for the haiti trip recently emailed me some pictures. with her permission i'm sharing them with you today!! I've also included her emails to me::

The Haiti baby granny was mighty glad to be a recipient of some of the diapers. She is fortunate enough to have a mattress, that she and baby sleep on while several other youngsters sleep on floor. Their mom is in Dominican Republic working to send money home to Haiti.Now the baby won';t be peeing through on her mattress---phew!The twins are near and dear to my heart as we saw them while we did hurricane relief work last September. They had almost drowned and we came back to their temporary tent city to give them antibiotic injections each day. Mom was frantically trying to pull them from the water during the flooding, so sever pneumonia. AS you can tell, she tries to use little underwear on them. I am sure when the pee through for the day they go naked. You can tell they are somewhat malnourished. I was glad to see them again and see a success story.

Some more lovely Haitian children----precious in HIS sight and who were the recipients of your generosity.Thanks so much again. I will keep in touch with your blog. If you feel so inclined, please pray for details for me to return to Haiti this summer with my 17 year old daughter. She is interested in Dietician/nutrition and we may be able to work with a feeding program/nutrition for malnourished kids. God needs to make several provisions, which no doubt, HE can do.

it's so fun for me to see those pictures and know that I had a part in helping them out a bit. and like becky said please keep them in prayer about going back to haiti!! ohh how fun!!!

comemmorating my first year of blogging i have a little gifty gift to give you. well one of you. so here it is. it is a yummy smelling *grapefruit fresh* partylite candle. i actually used to see partylite and my friend still does. i L.O.V.E their candles. and that smell and that cute little jar!

so here are the 'rules' to winning.

1. one entry: tell me your favorite moment on my blog for you. recent story, old story, i don't care! i wanna know what made you laugh. or cry. or just smile. :0)

2. another entry: tell me why you read my blog. i'd love to know what keeps you coming back!

3. and yet another entry: follow me!!

please leave three different comments so i can use random.org to pick the winner.

the winner will be announced next tuesday. because i'll be way busy til then. :0)

thanks again guys for such a great year of blogging. i can't wait to keep going!!

and ps. i have a few other cloth diaper giveaways to announce soon as well. we'll see what later today brings or tomorrow it'll be!! :0)

i'm going to be...

...an AUNTIE!!

sorry it's upside down. and you can go check out my sister's blog for the details!! it's so fun to be able to think about having a little niece or nephew. amelya and breigh's vote is boy.

and don't forget to check out my post below of pictures of my sweet little kiddos!!

blah blah blah blah blah

morning. well it is here. and it is now. so that's what i'll say!

ummm. oh yes. yesterday was the dress rehearsal for the girlies dance recital. it all went so well. except for the fact, i thought it started at four. and it really started at four THIRTY. oh well. i'm just glad my mom and sister came along too. and in my 'defense' there was another dad and his kids there shortly after four as well. so at least i wasn't the only one super early.

we got to video tape their practice run. amelya did so wonderfully!! it was beautiful to watch and she did all the moves. i didn't know if she would or not! there was one girl who stood there and sucked on her costume the whole time. this is also one of the girls who never participate in class because her and her sister are too busy sucking their thumbs. and after looking at the pictures her sister also didn't do much of the dance. i do not understand how their mom can be okay with that. wait. yes i do. she drops her kids off at dance and rarely watches them, so she maybe doesn't know that they don't do anything. someone should tell her. oh yes. amelya also showed off her lady-likeness and ate her boogers while on stage. see at one point they have to plug their noses. well she did that. felt some snot and then ate it. it's all on tape. so it'll be a fun video to share as she gets older!!

breigh's went wonderful too. except we didn't get it all on tape. they started as we were walking in. so of course with three other kids to bring in none of us were ready. amy did a great job catching most of it. and my pictures turned out only okay. so hopefully saturday i can get more. and better ones.

oh yes we can buy dvds of the show. for thirty dollars!?!? argh. that's ridiculous. so we'll see.

i was so proud of my girls up there. they did fantastic. i was nervous. i'm still a bit nervous because saturday the auditorium will be FULL! but i don't know if they will realize that anyway. so we'll see i guess. it'll be fine. because i'll pray about it. and pray for and with them. and they'll realize with jesus on their side-it's all good.

i'm loving my new camera. i did a 'photo shoot' with amelya and breigh yesterday. and took pictures at dance. so i'll leave you with loads of pictures!!

amelya during our photo shoot. this one was my favorite of her!
even with boogers she's a cutie!! :0)

what they did until the rehearsal started!! :0)
breigh posing!!

amelya posing. look at her get up on those tippy toes!

dustin chillin' in his carseat. but i must post pictures of him too!!

caitlyn. she wouldn't pose for me at home. but would sit wonderfully for me at the school. which means. whoo hoo. cutie pie pictures. this one was my favorite. and look at all that hair she's getting!!amelya concentrating hard on stage!!making her momma proud. a semi decent picture of breigh. i'm nixing the bow for the performance though. they have to do a sommersault. and it fell out after that and she was all worried. but still cute nonetheless!!

so there you have it. so darn adorable!! today is story time and mcd's day. tomorrow and friday i have no plans. and friday night is amelya's first recital. then saturday morning we'll rush around to leave the house and get to the recital by eleven fifteen. it's all good.

so have a great day. and peace out!!

pictures!!

so here are some pictures i took with my new camera, the nikon d90, for those of you who missed it. :0) breigh was my most willing model. and i didn't have the chance to do a photo shoot today because of dustin's dr's appt and then after i took the kiddos to once upon a child. and scored major good deals. ((once upon a child is an awesome consignment shop with kids clothes)) i got some shoes for all four of them. i paid TEN BUCKS for a pretty much brand new pair of nikes for amelya. she says they help her run fast. lol. i'm usually a stride rite 'snob'. but with our budget have stayed away from there. i love stride rite though. anyone have outgrown shoes?? :0) so here are my pictures. then i'll share some more fun info....
breigh had an 'owie'. which was really nothing. but she was proud of her band-aid.

breigh was silly today at mom's group.

amelya. loved her cookies. this was taken in 'low lighting' i love how amelya doesn't look like a white ghost!!

breigh posing on our steps this morning.

this is caitlyn last night. she climbed up on their desk. so of course i had to try out my new camera before taking her off!!

i must say...i L.O.V.E. my new camera. i'm so glad we got it. and i cannot wait to continue taking pictures!! it's so fun. so so fun. i'm thinking about taking a class too. that way i can learn more. and become better at taking photos. and we'll see where god takes that. i'd love to do it 'professionally'-ish. if that makes sense.

so dustin had his six month check up today!! here are his stats::

Dustin at BIRTH: 8lbs 7ounces and 21 inches long

Dustin at SIX MONTHS: 16lbs 14ounces and 27 1/2 inches long

so he has exactally doubled his weight and has grown over six inches in six months. so crazy. i'm glad he slowed down in his length though. he only grew 1/2 an inch since his four month visit, from his two to his four month he grew over TWO inches.

alright. well i'm tired. so i'm off to relax on the couch. tomorrow is the girlies 'dress rehearsal' for their dance recital. the recital is friday night and saturday. i cannot believe it. i'm super stoked though! have a great night. and 'peace out'. :0)

20,000 times three.

so i don't know what happened. but THREE of you have pictures of my 20,000th hit. i'd like to think i'm oh so popular and you were all refreshing it and happened to hit it at the same time. i doubt it's because i'm sooo popular. it just 'happened'. but regardless of that you all three have proof, and even though you're all from wisconsin i know that you weren't together yesterday. sooooo. the 'winners'. TWO of them don't even have a blog. lol.





ONE of them is my sweet cousin emily. ((ashley, because i know you read this too, you are also a sweet cousin, you two can fight over who is sweeter later)) anyways. emily is in college going for elementary education. i think she will make a fabulous teacher. my kids love her. once they warm up to her...and emily is loads of fun. and paulina wore kelly ripa's penguin lined dress yesterday to the boat show is on television. no one but emily and a few 'select' people will understand that. but i HAD to. :0)





TWO. is one of my close friends melissa. who also doesn't blog. but i have sucked her in to the wonderful world of stalking. i should form a club. melissa is a great mommy to two little girlies and has a baby on the way. she finds out soon what this next baby is!! my girls love her girls and i love having adult time too. she is one of the two mommies who trek to mcd's with me every week after story time. oh and she loves hu hot just as much as i do. yummy.





THREE. actually HAS a blog. stephanie is a mommy to one little 'sweet pea' and has another bundle of joy on the way. i'm excited for her, as her two babies will be close in age like our kiddos are. it is fun to relate to other mommies in the same situation! stephanie is from wisconsin too. and lives relatively close to me! i'm hoping to get to meet her in real life too!! plus she has a cute etsy shop! she makes nursing covers, baby taggie blanket things, cloth diapers and cloth wipes. go check them out. i keep he hawing around with the diapers. i just love the patterens!! :0)





so yay to you three. now. i said 'maybe' you'd all win something. but i am in a predicament. what to give you!?! here's an idea. since two out of the three of you are pregnant and have cravings, what are you craving?! i know i always craved some sort of candy or something. so let me know what you're craving and i'll send it your way. with in reason of course. let's say a candy bar or something...lol. and emily. because you're in college, what do you crave. i know i lived on cheetos the one year i was in school. so i know college kids crave junk food too. so ladies email me your choice and your addresses. and i'll get them out to you!





oh and miss ~stephanie~ who is also from wisconsin, and someone i've actually MET IRL! had 20001. so i thought i'd just mention her. she's been known to get numbers one before at mckmama's blog. and she's been talked about on mckmama's blog. so she's sorta famous!! :0)





this week is my blogaversary or is it blogiversary. eitehr way it's been one year. crazy. i don't have anything huge planned for this week as far as giveaways go. i don't think. i'm working out details of a few giveaways though. so stay tuned. speaking of giveaways ~*michelle*~ is having a giveaway. she extended it til wednesday. it's a cute resuable shopping bag. you must have it. so go sign up!





one thing before i go. i got a camera!! i had some gift cards from my birthday. and best buy is doing no interest for a year and a half! so we went there. got educated. walked around. prayed around. and shaun said YES!! so i got a camera. except it isn't the one i had already picked out. it's still a nikon. but it's a step up from the d60 i wanted. the guy said *who does not work on commission* that the d90 was definitely better and worth the investment. he was very educated and answered all my questions honestly. so here is the stock picture of my new camera!

i played around with it last night. it is SO nice. and i can not wait to do a photo shoot with one my kids today!! lol. and i'm hoping to eventually take pictures of other people's kids. and then maybe my investment can make me some. :0)

well that's really all i have today. i have to get ready for mom's group. it's eight. and one of the four kiddos are up. we may be rushing around!! :0) oh well. have a super great day. because it's always a great day with christ!!

20,000...

okay so i'm SO close to the 20,000 mark. who hoo. just an fyi...hit it on the head. and maybe you'll get a suprise from me!! that's that. i'm off to get ready for church and enjoy this beautiful rainy day god has given us!! (i'm a farmer's wife...farmer's enjoy rain when we needed it this badly...i even got all excited to see the hay all green and taller...) and i can't resist. peace ouuuut. :0)

flashing back and das not funny friday

well in celebration of my dustin's six month birthday i thought i'd share a picture of all four of my kids at that age. there's my amelya!! we got her pictures taken at the picture people and entered this photo into a 'cute baby contest'. she didn't win!! boo hoo.

breigh breigh. this picture was taken at sears. and after they took it we realized, duh! we have one of amelya...hence began the tradition. diaper picture. on black. at six months.

caitlyn. oh so adorable!! they turned her the other way. mainly because i didn't know. and i was getting really irritated at the girl taking the pictures, which were again taken at sears.


and here's dustin. which is a flashback to yesterday. so it's all still flashing back. some just shorter than others!! and oh yeah...pictures taken 'mommy a la mode' i don't know where i came up with that. and i was not covered in ice cream. oh well. it's my term now. don't copy it. :0) lol.

to join in some more flashback fun head on over to this site!!

and i've been mia in the das not funny stuff....so i'm back this week with few goodies:::

we were at our local pizza place this week. breigh wanted quarters to go play some games. i explained to her that she was not getting any quarters from me. there were two cute little 'grandma ladies' walking by...breigh says " her have quarters..."
that's because my mom, who really doesn't look like a grandma (she's almost 45), always will give them quarters when they ask. i told breigh to go ask her if she wanted to, but she didn't. and i can bet safely the lady probably would've given her a quarter. lol.

while at walmart this week i bought the girls hats. don't ask me if they needed them, i have a hat fetish. besides they were cheap. at any rate while putting it on when we were leaving amelya goes "we can wear these hats to grandma's.....when we don't take baths"
what is funny about that is every time my mom is on third shift she showers before work, thus during the day she wears a hat. and amelya must have caught on to my mom saying something about not showering and wearing hats. too cute.

breigh has shown minimal interest in the potty this week!! whoo hoo. because she is my putzy child i've placed a toilet seat in the living room. plus i've heard others have done it. so while on the potty seat i told breigh to go potty she says 'my little potty is broke' while pointing to herself. then after she gets off the toilet it was bed time. she tells me 'i fall asleep on the toilet' lol. i don't know where she comes up with this stuff. but she's cute and funny.

wanna join in more das not funny fun?? click on the button below:


thanks for all the comments on my vlog in the post below. shaun is still making fun of me as well as my sister for the whole peace ouuuuuuuuuuuuut. comment. oh well. it's me. i'm a dork. :0) so that's that. we have a busy day ahead today and tomorrow. and it's shaun's weekend to work. yippee. have a great weekend. and peace ouuuuuuuuuuuut. :0)

VLOGGING

okay. so here it is. enjoy. :0) the lighting is funny but enjoy. as much as one can. ;0) and if you didn't read my post below you must do that as well. k? k. it's settled. :0)




okay. so i showed shaun this. he completely thinks i'm crazy. he should've known that by now!! and he totally laughed at me. and says that i never say peace out. but really i don't usually say it. i type it. yep i am a dork. now you just know it's official. and sorry the lighting really is bad. oh well. :0)

rant about biggest loser and my 'mommy-ness'

i know i haven't done a biggest loser review in quite awhile. well my friends. i can.not. and will.not hold back! argh.

ron. that's all i must say. totally beyond a doubt lost any respect i had for him. surrrrrrrre you didn't write kristin's name down. buttttttttttttttt you totally told your son to. and in turn. vote her out. oh you mastermind you had a hand in her demise! argh. i do not like that. i think sure it's a game. but seriously!?! then play it with out lying my friend! if i can still say that. argh. okay i am so upset about that.

BUT kristin looked great! and i wish i would've known when she spoke, because i would've gone to see her. she's from wisconsin too! that's how i could've gone to see her so easily.

i still cannot believe what ron did. surrrre he's looking out for his son. but seriously. and i hope that mike doesn't win. he's too confident. okay i kind of hope he wins or filipe. but NOT tara or helen or ron. nope. not a single one of them. i think tara has a crummy attitude most of the time. and well i just do not like that. helen. i don't know there is just something about all that crying that drives me nutso. i about died last night when filipe was trying to shake the thing more. and ron. well he lost all my respect last night. so i guess filipe it is. and you can bet your bottom dollar mike will be gone if he ever falls below the yellow line now! duh. let's be confident without advertising it. hello?!

okay that's enough. sorry to rant and rave. i was and still am visibly irritated!!

on another note. i may be up for the forgetful mom of the year award. dustin is six months old today. wanna know when i remembered? yesterday. um. how dare i!? forget something so special. wanna know what else? i didn't have his appt written down either, and had to call and see when it is or was. it IS on monday. 'whew' mainly i cannot believe that SIX WHOLE ENTIRE MONTHS have gone by since i gave birth to my baby boy. here he is then::

and now.

seriously. who said he could grow up? and be so darn cute? :0) don't you love his outfit? i do. shaun doesn't. he says it's too preppy. ack. what do boys know. well i'm sure dustin will not wear something like that when he gets bigger, only because shaun doesn't dress like that. but in my defense it does have a little moped on the shirt. isn't that like kind of like an automobile? no. didn't think so. :0)

ohhh looking at that 'right after birth' picture just makes me wanna have one. what are we doing to prevent that? um. kind of nothing. well sort of nothing. i'm 'ready' for whatever happens. shaun is then left up to decide if he is too. if he isn't nothing happens. if he is something happens. or the other way around. depending on how you would like to read into that. :0) my blog. my info. deal. :0)

so we'll see. because ultimately GOD is in CONTROL! so that's how i roll. and really whatever happens is god's perfect plan. because it is perfect. yeppers. so that's all i really have for you now. peace out! ((actually i did a 'vlog' and i'm trying to load that too. maybe you'll see it in a bit)) :0)

orange for stellan!

we're wearing orange today. and it will probably be the only time i'm ever on mckmama's blog!! here's our picture!!

as you can see amelya and dustin were relatively cooperative. breigh and caitlyn just wanted to finish eating breakfast! mean momma made them wait!

as i type this mckmama just said stellan is out of surgery. now we wait and see til she posts! us stalkers huh?!

while we wait here are some super cute pictures!! the girls got their dance pictures back today!!

there's my amelya!! i asked her why she didn't smile with her teeth?! but she didn't answer me. oh well. still SO DARN CUTE!!
and my breigh breigh. who is always serious looking. but isn't she the sweetest!?!?

my girlies together! i got a key chain of this as well. except it's more like a small hardcover book size! well not that big. but big enough. shaun says he won't be putting them in his pocket! lol.

shaun came to dance today! i was so excited. it was there last day of dance and the girls were super excited for daddy to come. shaun enjoyed watching them. and of course enjoyed the breakfast at the restaurant after too!!

i have been looking at all the orange pictures on mckmama's blog! it's so cool to see them all! it's even cooler to 'know' some of you guys by seeing your pictures. it was fun to be like 'oh oh oh i KNOW THEM!!' sorry. i'm a big dork like that.

i also noticed mckmama totally flew by the 9 million mark?! can you believe NINE MILLION! and i'm getting excited about 20 THOUSAND. ha. i'll probably never see ONE MILLION much less NINE. insanely crazy that is.

but a good crazy. you know. like insanely crazy that she is reaching that many people with the love of christ. now granted one million of those hits may be mine. but still eight other million hits were there. wow. to impact THAT many people with the gospel. i hope out of my 20000 hits one of you have gotten that from me too. well actually i hope all 20000 hits have shown my love for our savior.

yep. OUR savior. he came to save ALLLLLL of us. how awesome. how loving. how perfect.

things aren't always easy. no one said they would be. all i know is i'm saved by the blood of the lamb. my sins are washed away by the blood of the lamb. king of kings. lord of lords. the great i am. i will wait. i will wait. i will wait on you. now i have a worship song stuck in my head. i cannot find the words to it all. but it has those in there. so if you know it, you're now singing it aren't you!!?! :0)

seriously though i've tried googling it and cannot find the song!! argh. i've searched SO many lines of the song and cannot find it. sorry.

so with that. i'm done. well actually since the kiddos are all napping and amelya is chilling, i'm going to go work on a blog makeover for myself. :0) toodles.

baby dedications

yesterday was the baby dedications!! everything went well!! here are the pictures!! pastor mike dedicating dustin! so sweet. we had church out in the garage. it was drywalled and revamped and now our church. the basement has become children's church!!

caitlyn had no desire to go by mike. so shaun held her!!

our super cute family!! do you love the outfits?!?! i do. especially because i got them ALL for 44 dollars!! at THE CHILREN'S PLACE. retail value: 137 dollars. whoo hoo. love me some clearance!! i have never noticed just how much the kiddos really do look alike! and do you like how they go in order, A B C D. :0)

my dad and dustin. my dad was always hesitant to hold amelya...then came breigh, caitlyn and now dustin. he has no qualms over holding him. until he poops or cries. :0) i just love the look on dustin's face and my dad's. so precious!!

i just love the pictures! the family picture turned out so cute! i wish i could save it for christmas cards. do you think i could just mail it out now and say happy early merry christmas? yeah, i didn't think so either. but it sounds like a superb idea doesn't it?!?

i don't have much else to say. i have diapers that need to be washed and supper that needs to be thought of. i should really start this whole 'menu plan monday'. maybe that'd get me out of a rut of trying to think of something for supper at five thirty. good thing shaun usually isn't home til well after that. shaun's taking off a few hours tomorrow morning to come to the girls' last dance class. next week is the rehearsal and then next weekend is the recital!!??! i'm SOOO excited for that. i also am excited to have another day with nothing to do. it'll just be mom's group on mondays and story time on wednesdays. and there is only a month or so left for story time as well. ahh summer brings relaxation. well not really. i just don't have to rush out of the house on time.

you know like this morning. i had a poopy diaper on the floor and caitlyn stepped in it. and had poop all over herself, the chair and carpet...about five minutes before we needed to leave! oh dear!!! and yes i know i should just pick the diaper up right away!! no need to tell me that! and i'll probably make sure they're picked up from now on...or at least away from caitlyn!!