If you're happy and you know it, things will break

  We had a crazy weekend.  Sunday morning, Shawn woke up feelimg pretty lousy. We decided that he would stay home. I sent him downstairs to get clothes for Lily.  Instead he called me downstairs to witness the fine mist spewing from our water pipe.  I took the kids to church and Shawn spent the morning replacing pipe.  And, to add insult to injury, he sat down to watch a little tv and the tv died.  When we turn it on we get a thick white line and nothing else.  For me these are unhappy occurances, but for Shawn, what a great day.  He got to play with a blow torch and he gets what he finally wants, a new TV. (I've been telling him that he could not get a new one until this one died....)

The new tv is on it's way

Do you hulu?

My brother just told me about this site: www.hulu.com where you can see your favorite movies/tv shows on line for free. This is a totally legal site and has many shows/movies. They may not all be appropriate for your family, so look at it before you tell your kids. They have Top Chef and Mad Men (only 1 episode of MM) so Shawn and I are quite happy. I hope you find some favorite there as well!

Driving in a small town

I had to run some errands this afternoon. On my way to the post office I saw Dawn driving the opposite direction . I beeped but she didn't hear as she was talking to one of her children. A few minutes later I stopped by Vanessa's house to drop off a check. (And as a good friend always does, I made the check out to her even though her husband picked something up for me, thank you Eric). As I pulled in her driveway I noticed that Eric was already home- which is quite early for him. I also noticed that her garage was magically opening. When I looked out my window I saw why- she was trying to come home. So after I gave her a check I started heading home. Vanessa's family lives just a few blocks from mine so less than a minute later I saw Shawn drive by on his way to meeting for the City Council. As I approached our home, I noticed another friend parked in my driveway. He was dropping off roast beef from a "tasting" where he works. As I said thank you to him, Shawn called my cell phone to tell me to thank as well. Driving by our house he noticed our friend (and the roast beef) and wanted to make sure and say thank you. All this happened less than a mile from my house- I bet none of you have this kind of thing happening in your small town- but if you do share it, because it's so random it's kind of funny. :)

More pics

Some more pics of the girls. As I am blogging this, Lily just walked in with a handful ofchips behind her back. I told her to take her chips bak to the kitchen. She replied, "what chips?" I said, "the ones behind your back." "I can't see any chips." Lily said. Then I replied, "But I can." She ate them quickly.

Great pics

Our friend Ashley is a fabulous photographer. We have loved everything we've seen her do and were excited to be able to get a sitting with her. Her are a few of the fabulous shots she took. What makes her shots incredible were that it was raining for a lot of the shots and Lily hasn't learned how to do a natural smile, which meant a lot of times Ashley was trying to keep the 2 older girls "at the ready" while she got a smile from Lily. Thanks again Ashley, you did a great job!

The Pretend Sleepover-and a bath

Lily took a bath last Saturday. I came to check on her and discovered that she had added some "extras" to her water- including brand new bottles of conditioner and shampoo and my facial cleanser. It was not a happy discovery. We were happy to discover how wonderful 8 little girls could be. They

were delightful if a bit loud at Lily's pretend sleep over. They enjoyed pancakes and cupcakes, making crowns and the newest barbie movie. Shawn and I enjoyed that they all went home at bed time. Lily has beenm trying to have sleepovers like her sisters for quite a while. This one was perfect.

Camping

We went camping last weekend. It started off a little scary since it was raining, but by the time we had the tents up and the fire going the rain had stopped. We had Shawn's dutch oven chicken and potatoes for dinner and his fabulous pancakes, bacon, eggs and potatoes for breakfast. The whole trip was a ton of fun. The highlights included when Shawn scared all the kids (there were 7) and Lisa and I were laughing so hard at the kids screams- until her husband David did the same thing to us! We stayed up way to late and had so much fun. The only scary part was the next morning when the kids took another hike. They never came back. After about 90 minute Lisa and I got nervous and started looking for them. It turns out that the took a 3 mile hike to the zoo. Charlie had mentioned the zoo and I gave her permission to go all while I was not paying attention. We were relieved to catch up with them- and especially proud of C who called from the zoo to say it took them awhile to get there. Unfortunately she called my cell phone which was dead. So the kids were fine and the only thinh hurt was my pride. A family pulled up to the zoo as we were leaving. They took one look at Lisa and I- unshowered and frazzled and the 7 children in tow and wouldn't park their jaguar until we were well out of the parking lot. They seriously had their car 1/2 in the space until we were gone. Also a special You rock to Shawn who cooked all the food and set up our tent and walked to the bathroom with me at 3 a.m. He said he wanted to make sure we all had fun so we'd go again. I can't wait to go next year! Thanks to the Peters for coming with us and for bringing great food. It was so much fun.

First Day of School

Charlie and Emily went back to school on the 2nd and Lily started on the 8th. It's a very exciting year as Charlie started middle school, Emily has the elementary school to herself and Lily (and me) have just started preschool. Here is how everyone looked on their 1st day. I didn't get pics of C and E before school, so C has wet hair as she has just finished swim practice.. They all had great 1st days

Labor Day

We went to the Labor Day picnic that our church has every year. It was a tn of fun. We hung out with a lot of friends as the kids played. In the end, Lily must have had the most fun as she was the most dirty. Check her picture and all the dirt on her face!

The Pint size Powerhouse

Charlie had her 1st swim meet yesterday. The swim team consists of swimmers from grades 6-12. We were of course concerned about the the wide age range, especially when Charlie mentioned that they made up a nick name for her because of her size. I ask the name bothered her. she said, "No, not really, they call me the Pint sizePowerhouse-" how can any one complain about that?

Just Say No

I have been working with a couple of women to put together our school fund raiser, "The Walk-a-thon". At our PTC meeting on Tuesday, one of the women asked me if I would be able to write 2 letters. 1 to go on the envelopes the kids take home and one for each teacher. I thought about all I had to do this week- especially with Lily and I both starting preschool and said "No." I was so proud of myself. Then, after someone else volunteered to do the letters, I volunteered to staple the 431 letters to the envelopes if they could get the letters to me by Wednesday. Wednesday night I got a call. They were changing the prize levels and the letter was no longer accurate. All the information that I had given the principal needed to be replaced with new information and I would get the letters on Thursday. Still willing to be supportive, I said "Okay, just have the person who did the letters call me so I know where to pick them up. Today, I got a call from someone else telling that they had changed the levels again and I would need to get another new letter. That person had no idea where the letter would be. When I finally tracked it down this afternoon, imagine my surprise at finding out how they had "fixed" the letters- There were 500 address label stickers with the correct information on them and 1 put together as an example in case I couldn't figure it out. There was of course no note and NO ONE had actually asked me if I was willing to correct these mistakes that I never made. 6 hours later, the letters are ready to go out and I've perfected a very loud NO!!!!! for the next time someone asks me to do anything.............