Little Guy 8 weeks....

Do I need this?

As I was mixing my cream cheese with my little hand mixer the other week and the motor was whinnying I thought "is there a better way?". Do I need a real MIXER to enjoy all my kitchen duties? After reading reviews at amazon for this baby you'd really think so...so please, anyone that has one of these let me know why it is so great? And quickly. It is on sale for 169 after rebate and at Sam's regular price is 269, down from 299 for usual retail. Mother's Day is coming up after all.....

Anxiety Inducers

GERMS. Poor kids have to wash their hands all the time. It adds up when they come to and from the park all day and wash after each trip. They wash after coming home from the store, church, (if I don't get the hand sanitizer to them first, which I usually do) and school. During winter, they often don't dry their hands well after washing, as you see Isabelle's poor dry hand above.

The doorbell! I hate not knowing when someone is coming by and I'm not ready for it! Especially solicitors...btw, I really want a new door. This allows for not enough privacy. (and it's sideways in the pic)




Mess! I need to have my house clean or my head goes crazy. (this picture was not fabricated, sadly)

Okay, I just revealed a few of my anxieties. Will you tell me some of yours?

Easter Sunday

Anika's fun hair


Is's


Their most natural picture


Olivia feeling like a big sister next to Sam


a great way to keep hair in ponies


Olivia's hair is an idea from hair blog, someone's helpful fun hairdo styles for girls. Isabelle's and Anika's are my own creative attempts. It teaches them patience and pain tolerance as they sit there and let me tug and pull. Thanks for letting me show off my hair art. Now if only I could learn to oil paint!

Your Trip to Rome!

Roman Colosseum,Pantheon, Michelangelo's "Pieta", ceiling, your 5star hotel, St. Peter's Basilica

For all of you who voted for Rome (the winner!) Here is a cyber-vacation on me. I personally voted for Paris. Why Rome over Paris? I would like some comments on your preference, please! I mean, Rome looks great and all, but it seems like it's almost too much old-ness and artifact. Ancient buildings are cool and famous and whatnot, but you would feel like you'd have to go to them all on your romantic getaway, which would take away the romance. Would your husband want to go see all this culture eye-candy with you?

And where were the gondolas? I really wanted a picture of those.

www.rome.info for the pics.

Thanks to me for your little bit of culture lesson for the day!

What I read on the Elliptical

Don't try this one unless you want a semi-interesting read. Like real law, this is more paperwork than quick and suspenseful action . Grisham develops several characters, but not well enough to connect with any one in particular. I skipped pages and missed nothing. Read if you are passionate about the misdeeds of chemical companies and their money spent funding political candidates. Read also if you prefer realistic endings to happy ones! Me: I prefer The Firm! I miss the old Fun Grisham.

This one is coming out in a few weeks! I have read all of MHC books and I love a few of them, but enjoy all of them.
This will be a quick fluff read, I'm counting on it. I have it on reserve at the library.

Why Me?

Out of all the pints of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream in the world, why did I have the one that DIDN'T have any brownies in it? I am an ice cream snob and even though Ben and Jerry's is high quality I don't want to eat ice cream that doesn't have fun chunks in it. That's boring! I got Russell's at the same time and HIS had brownies in it! He offered to switch but I wouldn't have any of his goodness; I wanted to feel wronged. Needless to say, I will be on the phone with B&J soon to tell my sob story.

Taking a Nap with Dad

Olivia can be a hard one to put down for a nap when no one else is sleeping. So on weekends, Russell usually wants to take a nap anyway so I encourage him to take one to help out Olivia. This is the usual scenario after Olivia tucks Russell in in Isabelle's bed:


Her bed lies empty


No need to be quiet while loudly
playing with Barbies, because....


Dad is oblivious and peaceful.
At least someone is getting some rest!

sidenote: to give Olivia some credit, she does often get in her bed after playing for 15-20 minutes and goes to sleep. Occasionally we are unsure if she has had a nap or not but as long as she's in there by herself for a while I am happy!

No Wheaties Served Here!

Isabelle's breakfast this morning included the rare
addition of marshmallows. I told her if she went back to
bed last night she could have marshmallows on her cereal.
I know- a bribe from a tired and desperate mum.

What is this yummy array of goodness? Well, at our house Russell loves his Chex. It started out with adorning it with a little sugar, which is reasonable, and later on it developed into a chocolate milk with Chex obsession, and now it's just easier to squirt on the Hershey's Syrup all over and try to hit every square piece. Now Russell is free to eat his cereal however he chooses (I really like chocolate milk and mini-wheats) but we have kids. And kids model us. Why do they have to eat what we eat when it's yummy but not when it's yucky (veggies)?

A little skin-

The babe is getting cuter! I like the profile shots because they show the cheekage that is a result of being sedentary and eating every hour or two. As for me, well, I had to get a picture of me because today I actually did my hair (do braids count?) because I had to open the door for the cable guy who was coming over. Reasons to primp! Such a sweet little boy.........we got his clear side. He has a little problem with acne right now. Might be from all the chocolate his mom eats?