Our favorite meal

*Lots of pictures again! My kids are just so cute, I can't help it! ;)*

My kids have always loved spaghetti and Iowa sweet corn. And when I say love, I mean they eat a LOT when I fix this meal! Case in point:

He is a MESS!!!

Don't even THINK about takin' my corn Mama!

Contrary to her face here, she loves this meal (she had 2 helpings!). She was having a little bit of trouble staying awake during supper.

Jacob loves the dishwasher. He very quietly climbed up there tonight. I'm surprised he didn't bust the door!

Oh my stars. Look at that boy! He is so ornery. It makes me tired just seeing that face!!!

And this one's got the sass! She's 3 and already talks on the phone with her hand on her hip! Look out teenage years (I think I'm going gray just thinking about it!)

Telling us all about what she's cooking. She was very persistent about me bringing her kitchen set to the real kitchen so she could cook supper with me. I think she made as big of a mess as I did!!

I'm suddenly very tired... ;)

The men did the dishes tonight after supper. This picture is so precious :)

And Jacob is getting his FIRST haircut tomorrow!!!! I'm excited b/c let's be honest...he's got a mullet (and we don't do mullets in our house). But I'm also sad b/c I know he'll look like a "big boy" after it's cut. Time goes so fast. I really hope he does okay. I think as long as she doesn't use the clippers, he'll be fine (he's not fond of loud noises). In a couple years, I'm sure I'll be cutting his hair (like I cut Aaron's and like my mom cut the men's in our family growing up). But I don't want to try on a squirmy 1 yr. old for his 1st haircut!

Hello Gomer Pyle! ha

This boy was T.I.R.E.D. at lunch today! I was emailing and he screamed, so I turned around to tell him "Use your man voice!" (for the 999,999,999th time today!) and he was having trouble keeping his head upright. Nevermind the eyes...he knew keeping those open was hopeless. But he valiantly tried keeping his head up. I let him bob for a bit so I could get a good video (I don't have a fancy video camera, so I can't post the video on here). He didn't even move when I picked him up (except for his head falling even farther when I moved his tray!). It was quite comical :)

My little mother hen :) Feeding her baby (one of her hundred)

Today was laundry day. Not only did I have a couple loads to catch up on folding, our foster son (foster as in college kid (who happens to be my 2nd cousin) we "adopt" for the school year) brought over about 4 loads of laundry, too! I love doing it for them (3 of my cousins are students here, plus Aaron brought in another one this year!!) So I washed, hung out, dried, and folded clothes all day today! I actually don't mind doing laundry...I just don't like putting it away! Which is why there's a basket full of folded clothes waiting to be put away!!! Anyway, Anna decided she would use Seth's laundry basket as her lounging spot to watch cartoons. I thought she was asleep at first, but she wasn't. Just very comfy!

Happy Birthday

For fear of embarrassing him, I'll keep this brief and mushy-less (well, probably not completely, but I'll try to limit the mush). Today was Aaron's birthday. I figured since I wrote a little post for the other 2 important people in my life, I'd write one for him too. :)

Everybody will tell you what a great man Aaron is, and they're 100% right (most of the time!:D). He's an awesome father, a wonderful husband, and most importantly, he's a child of the King of kings. If you would have told me I'd marry a city-slicker some day, I would have laughed at you. I always had in my mind he'd be a farm boy or better yet a cowboy. But you know what? God knew what He was doing when He put the 2 of us together. Aaron is my perfect "other half"--he makes me step outside my comfort zone and I make him develop some comfort zones! :) I honestly couldn't imagine spending my life and raising kids with anyone else. Okay, I better stop...it's getting a little mushy!

Aaron works so hard, every day, to provide for us. He makes many sacrifices and I don't thank him enough for that. He's wrapped around his little girl's finger and I can't wait to see him and Jacob enjoy sports together (he tries with Anna, but she usually just ends up dancing to the drums--or worse, wants to take a doll and accessories to a football game!!). It warms my heart to see him play with the kids. I keep hoping he'll warm up to babies, but I don't think it'll happen! Maybe we can try one more time, 'ey honey??? :D

Well, I'll stop before I embarrass him (maybe I already have and he'll tell me to remove this post tomorrow!). But I just wanted to tell everybody that I've got a great husband, our kids have an awesome Daddy, and we love him VERY MUCH! :)

Honestly, I'm not sure if Daddy had any less fun than Anna.....

Jacob has some very strong shoulders to ride on (they have to be to carry that tank around!)

Seriously, I'm so proud of him for running (finishing even!) a 1/2 marathon...again!!!

The ads

In case you haven't noticed (they've been there for a while...) I have some ads on my left sidebar. It's for a little revenue, but it hasn't worked yet! ha. I get paid after I get so many clicks on the ads (I think!), but they have to be genuine clicks--so don't go clicking away b/c that will get me kicked off! Anyway, if you see something that interests you, go right ahead and click :) Except if you're at our house, don't click on them from our computer--that gets me in trouble too (I think). That's all, really.
Anna won an ice cream cone today at Warrior Fest. She was very excited and had a hard time waiting (it was a Sonic coupon) to go get it. She also had a terrible time staying awake on the drive over! It was hilarious. Her eyelids were just so heavy!

This is why I haven't posted lately...

*this post has a LOT of pictures...just a fair warning!*

So I've been busy. That's the short answer of why I haven't posted for a while. Let me show you some pictures, just in case you don't believe me...


This is what I did all day on Wednesday--

Count 'em folks...that's FIVE kids ages 3 and under (and Jacob was outnumbered 4 to 1!). Now, I wouldn't mind having 5 of my own kids (Aaron, get up off the floor). And I don't think it would be as exhausting as this day was for me. Here's why: These kids are close enough in age that it's not the same as twins (except for maybe Anna and the other 3 yr. old). The youngest baby is 6 months, the next is 8 months, and then Jacob at 12 months. So one was sitting up but not crawling, one was crawling but not walking...oh wait, Jacob isn't walking EITHER! Plus, when they're not your kids, they're missing their own mama! See the following pictures for proof (and in case the mothers are worried, I promise I didn't let them sit there and cry just so I could take their pictures!!).

She was happy most of the time, but of course, she decided that since the other babies were crying, she might as well join in!

This one was NOT happy at all! And she's got a set of lungs, lemme tell ya!

And naturally, the day I've got 2 other babies to take care of, Jacob decides to be clingy and fussy too!

Meanwhile, the 3 yr. olds were in heaven b/c I wasn't paying much attention to what they were doing (such as emptying the toy box of practically all its contents!)

What's that? Anna's playing with a baseball bat in the hallway? I didn't notice...

These 2 just wanted to be rocked, so I obliged. Is there anything better than having TWO babies to snuggle with?! Give them their pacifiers and one them her blankie and they were content to rock!

Sweet silence of sleeping babes!

Even the big girls took a nap. And they didn't even giggle and talk forever. They were out within 10 minutes!

I wasn't stupid enough to go in Jacob's room and take a picture! That dadgum door is so stinkin' noisy.

Did I mention that we just got back from a long weekend in Iowa on Tuesday night? And that the ENTIRE time we were there, neither of my kids slept through the night?! Good thinkin' on volunteering to babysit 3 extra kids the day after you get home! No, I'd agreed to do that long before we went to Iowa. Besides, how was I to know that Anna's allergies would come back with a vengeance and Jacob would just up and decide he should wake up screaming hundreds (okay, just a few) times every, single night?!

On to Iowa's pictures :) We went up early on Friday (earlier than normal anyway)--Cassie came with us (Aaron rode up later with Jamie) and we stayed an extra couple days after the Daddies went home on Sunday. It was fun, but it was crazy with 3 little ones! The trips up and back weren't too terribly bad. Except I forgot to put Anna's potty chair in the van, so we had to make more than one quick potty stop! It is so much easier to have that chair in the van! It's not easy holding her legs up and staying dry!!!!! Needless to say, I picked up another cheap potty chair for the ride home. Naturally, she only used it ONCE--5 minutes from home! Figures. Anyway, we had a lot of fun up there and Papa & Binga had fun playing with half of their grandkids :)

Aunt Cassie made a venture to the very back to read some books to Anna. She usually travels very well, but sometimes she gets bored of just watching Veggie Tales (unlike Jacob, who becomes a zombie when that movie is on!). So Cassie got back and read books. I think she read one book at least 5 times!

Mercy, he likes Iowa sweet corn! He ate practically that whole ear!

Papa, this is what the formula is! Don't you know anything?!

I'm Soopuh Guhl!! I can't remember what she called the paper around her neck?? Poor girl can't say her "r"s just like I couldn't at her age. It's pretty cute though :)

And then today...well, just look at that boy's face!! He was a little devil today! Ornery as all get-out. Evidently today was "Scream Your Head Off Day". I think I've lost a little hearing...

I'm not telling what time this picture was taken since Anna's still in her pj's...I was instructed to come to the other side of the table and take her picture. One time she accidentally marked on the fridge (it came right off) and she said "Uh oh Mama...I wasn't watching what I was doing!" Hmmm...think she's heard that phrase a few times?!?

Again--he was just pure mischief today!

Have I mentioned that Anna is a SNUGGLER??? No? Well, she is. Has been from the day she was born. I love it! Except when she's sleeping in my bed--then it gets a little crowded! She's in our room on the matress again. The allergies...again. She just wakes up coughing and gagging on all the gunk. Plus we could let Jacob cry it out the first night. He's slept thru since (pretend I didn't say that b/c now he'll wake up numerous times tonight!). I don't know how on earth either one of these two are sleeping, but they're out cold!

So there you have it (and the proof). I've been busy! And now I think I'll go to bed somewhat early. Tomorrow is Saturday! Yippeee!!!!

Fun at "Papa's" Park

Jamie called last week and asked if we had plans for the weekend. So we all headed up to Iowa to visit Papa & Binga. The women and children stayed for a couple extra days (and came up early)...we've been having fun :)

Anna & Jacob at the mall's play-place. They love it and they both just sat there and watched everyone else play! They say that's what I used to do--just people watch (I still do!!).

There's a really nice park close to Papa & Binga's house. Anna calls it Papa's park :) Jacob just likes the swings!

There were some kids playing when we first got there, so of course Anna just sat to the side and watched. Then when they left, she was all over the playground.

Hudson had fun chewing on his Daddy's sunglasses, talking to Anna's doll, and watching Anna and Jacob play...he's a ham, too! :) (isn't he just so cute though?!)

Big sis giving a push. Jacob didn't care who it was as long as he kept moving!

We head home in the morning...should be an interesting ride with 3 little ones! Although the ride up was good--it just took forever! Between potty breaks, feeding breaks, and stand-still traffic b/c of construction, it was about 8 hrs. for us and 7 hrs. for Cassie & Hudson.

And, I got a laptop this weekend!! :) We got an awesome deal on it from Best Buy (it's an hp and that's all I want to remember...all those numbers!!!)--thanks for all the help and expertise Dad!. This will make it much easier for me to do my blogging ahem... Guidepost work on. Plus I feel all young and hip b/c I can take my laptop with me and hook up to some wi-fi at a swanky little coffee shop. HAHAHA

By the way, all these pictures were taken on Dad's new cell phone--those are as good as my digital camera!

Did I Miss the Memo?

You know, the one that said "3 AM, snack time followed by play time at 5AM (and another snack time)". SERIOUSLY.
I told Mom and Dad, this kid is going to put us in the poorhouse (and the looney bin)! Today, he had Cheerios for breakfast, 4 chicken nuggets and a bowl of mandarin oranges for lunch, shared a banana with Sister (among other snacks), a few peas and 2 pieces of Italian chicken tenders for supper, & an entire banana before bed. You'd think that'd be enough to tide him over until breakfast....right??? Evidently not. He woke up at 3am and decided to eat some more banana. After trying for almost 2 hours to get him back to sleep (both Aaron & I) I was about to scream. He won't lay on my shoulder--keeps sitting up. So I just sit there and look at him. He starts signing "dog". I said "Are you signing dog? Good job!!" Then he signs book (same thing from me). THEN he signs EAT! I'm thinkin' there's no way. But he does it 3 or 4 times. So I stick him in his highchair and he chows down on Cheerios and juice. I'm not kidding you. Then he decides it's time to play. At 5 AM. If you know me very well, you know I don't do early mornings...I don't do regular mornings! This is insane.

Don't you know Mama? It's time to PLAY!!!

What? Doesn't everyone wake up in the middle of the night and have a snack??

Follow Me!

There's a fun new item on blogger--Follow Me! :) Add yourself to my list if you'd like (not that I have many readers outside my family!). It's on the left under my blog reads (which I edited so it only shows a few of the ones I read. I read too many according to Aaron) ;)
GO TO BED JENNIFER ROSE! Yes Mother. :D

Randomness & pictures of course! (updated)

• I'm really glad Jacob isn't sick anymore. He's never really been sick before and I don't like it. He had Roseola--scary high fevers, then a rash. Which means he didn't sleep, he was fussy and clingy all day and the high fevers made him throw up. The poor guy was miserable. Let's just say the laundry was piled high and the house was a disaster for 6 days!
• Anna acts a lot like my hyper brother...it's a little scary! ;)
• Jacob really does need a haircut (see picture below of the mullet!)
• I'm really just procrastinating cleaning up the house. And b/c I'm procrastinating, I'm missing out on getting some sleep--why am I so dumb?!
• I'm not liking my haircut anymore. My hair has gotten worse after each kid--it used to be so blonde and smooth and nice. Now it's not really blonde and it's not really brown with a little bit of red mixed in. And it's frizzy and just wavy enough to be annoying but not cute. Blah.
• We're looking at laptops (and going wireless--for my online work I do it will be so much easier)...I'm really sick of comparing prices and features--half of which I don't have a clue what they mean! Dad--you do it! :D
• My daughter is a hoot. And she'll tell you that. She really is, too. I love her. She makes me smile :) See? She's making me smile and she's not even awake!
• My son is very ornery...already.
• Hmmm...I think that's enough randomness for now. I really need to clean up and go to bed. Gracious. But the pictures first..........

They had so much fun watching Daddy mow! Jacob was completely enthralled with the mower.

Anna was doing a cheer for Daddy...this is the millisecond that she sat still enough for a picture.

The mullet. It's so cute though b/c it's getting curly again! But no mullets in this house! Haircut--soon!!! And how about that chub?! I love, love, love it!

Oy. She had a giant sucker at the college football game Saturday. It was windy and she was with Daddy for the 2nd half--bad combo! *meaning Daddies don't understand that wind + long hair = a mess; wind + long hair + sticky sucker = rat's nest!* Look at her hair! She wanted it washed off...NOW!


She is having more fun with the John Deere than Jacob is...for now. Our house is old. And nothing is level. The kitchen slopes to the east, so she would roll down to me and I would push her back. She loved it. Would've done it all day too! So I guess there are pros to having non-level floors! :)

We had a full house for Sunday dinner, so Aaron brought this little table in for Anna & him to eat on. It's still here (there's not enough room, but aren't they so cute eating there?!?). Jacob continually tried to steal Anna's bowl of cereal...and he had lots of opportunity b/c she was all over the map this morning.

They're just too cute:)

Morning 'toons, sharing some Cheerios. Yesterday morning we were all three snuggled up there!

State Fair, among other things

Anna remembers the Bumble Bee ride from last year's fair, so she was very excited to go again! She talked a mile a minute the whole way there, until she fell fast asleep. She did NOT want to ride in the stroller either! :) She had so much fun. Jacob wasn't feeling too hot (doc says today it looks to be some kind of virus), but he did pretty good considering he wasn't feeling good. He was content to look at all the movement and animals and lights!

Watching the pig races! They named their pigs...like "Lindsay Loham" pretty funny :)

THE Bumble Bee ride! She had just as much fun this year!

There's a local exotic animal farm that brings animals to the fair and has a free petting zoo. Anna loved seeing all the animals and even got to feed some of them! She fed the zebra, llama (or alpaca, not sure which was which!), and goats. She tried to feed the giraffe, but got scared when he grabbed the whole shovel! She also got to pet the llama--they have a surprisingly soft coat!

I'm a sucker for horses, so we shelled out the $5 to ride the ponies! She rode Tonto and really liked it...I see horses in our future! YEA!!! Now we can outnumber Daddy ;)

My little cowgirl :)

Hmmm....do we have a future Harley girl in our family?? haha

The HOOOJ trater tire :) She was very excited to see all those tractors and kept saying "It's gween like Aunt Cawa's!!!!!" :) (sorry it's kinda dark--it was getting late by the time we made it over to the tractors)

One thing we will NOT do again--eat supper at the fair. Good gravy. The prices aren't ridiculous, they're outrageous! We paid $3.50 for a HOT DOG!!!!! It was a big one, but forevermore! It's a hot dog. I got so excited when I saw a place that was selling beirocks. I LOVE those things! I figured it would be well worth the $4.50 I paid the lady. Then she puts the plate in front of me--it's TINY! It was good, but it wasn't big enough to pay $4.50 for!! Oh well. And I couldn't get anybody to ride the Ferris wheel with me :( I think it was a little too big and high for Anna to agree to!

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Binga spent a week with us while Papa was traveling for work. He came and picked her up last weekend. Any of you that know my dad, know that he's just a kid at heart and when his grandkids are around, he turns into a kid :) It's so fun to watch (and seems like I remember MY grandpa being like that...). Anyway, he was reading a book to the kids one night. Now, this is a repetitive book ("Brown Bear, Brown Bear") and I'd been reading it to Jacob every night, all week long. Well, I'm a teacher at heart and I just can't help it--I have to read a book word for word and I can't skip parts or make parts up. I just can't do it! Papa, on the other hand, has no trouble making up the story as he goes along (as well as sounds and noises and sometimes even words!)....

Jacob is thinking "What in the world are you saying Papa?? That's NOT how this story goes!"

Anna is wearing her "night hat"--or so she says. She told us that this hat is her night hat and her other hat is her day hat. Where does she come up with this stuff?!

We had to go to KC on Sunday. We rode up with my parents and rode back with my aunt & uncle. Well, I forgot to get Jacob's booster seat/highchair out of Dad's escape, so we were without a highchair for a day (until Kim let me borrow hers while we waited for Jacob's to come in the mail). Let's just say it was NOT easy feeding a 1 yr. old without a place to strap him in!!!!! So lunch was on the counter that day :) He loved it.

We've been having some pretty cool (even cold) weather this week. Perfect weather for football!! :) Can't wait for Saturday's opening game at the college!

A couple days ago was the perfect day for a stroll to the lake. We stopped and got some bread and Anna fed her geese.....

while I fed mine! :)