I love Aldi's now...

They have 5lb. sacks of flour on sale for $0.90! Our Aldi's has really improved in the last several years (maybe they all have). I'd steer clear of the imitation Cheese-Its though...they taste like cardboard! :)
I promise I'll post some pictures soon, Mom!

Anna-isms

Daddy, Seth and Ben (my cousins--sorry fellas!) are losin' their bangs.

Do you think I'll ever lose my bangs?!?

Honor Flight

My Grandpa Elmer is a WWII veteran. He was very young (did he even fib on his age to get in??) and was in the Navy on a carrier.

Bob Dole has been doing these Honor Flights for WWII veterans. The stats show we lose 1,000 WWII vets every day. Dad has been trying to get Grandpa on a flight for a long time. He finally did it! They left very early this morning and will have a VERY full 2 1/2 days in D.C. I can't wait to hear Grandpa tell us all about when they get back and see all their pictures. I hope between 2 cameras, they'll be able to get enough ;)
We love you Grandpa!!!

Felio in the News

Remember Felio? The wild mustang my cousin Scott was training for a competition?

Well, he finished the competition and did pretty good! The coolest thing is that Madeleine Pickens (wife of T. Boone Pickens) chose Felio and Scott as one of 2 to basically compete further for the position of mascot for Southern Methodist University!! She has been flying Scott down there to continue training Felio until SMU's homecoming game against Navy on Oct. 17th. Madeleine has been impressed with Scott's training ability and techniques, so it's a pretty cool connection! Pray for Scott (and Amy & the kids!!) as he's training Felio further and is away from his family for 3 weeks in a row (flying home on the weekends). Madeleine said she would fly Amy & the kids down for the game, but since Leah is so little the doctor advised Amy not to fly with her. Hopefully things will work out so they can still drive down there.
Check out the Hutch News article on Scott and Felio!

Daddy's Home!!!

Dora has been replaced in Jacob's heart (well, not entirely...he'll stand and look at anything Dora in the store for a long time!!) :) Aunt Cara & Uncle Terry gave him a Thomas the Train video for his birthday and he LOVES it! It's the first thing he wants every morning...he goes right to the TV and points to it. If that doesn't work, he tries opening the top drawer (where all the DVDs are)! Thankfully, he can't open it yet!

Completely enthralled with the trains!

Binga, that's how I feel about Thomas, too!!! :)

He's a techie :) Binga's phone has a drawing pad tool and the kids love to use it! Anna's been drawing on that phone for over a year. And she never forgets that it's on there!

They're actually watching something other than Thomas!! I think I have the entire hour + movie memorized.

Yes, Anna is sitting in the doll's chair!

I had a beautiful shot right here...perfect natural light, Anna sitting serenely. I wasn't quick enough (and she heard me turn on the camera!) and she vamoosed before I could snap it. Little squirt!!

So instead of a beautiful profile picture of her, I get this blurry one I snapped behind my chair, where she went to hide! Oh well. :)

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DADDY'S HOME!!!!!!!

Jacob decided that next time, he's going with Daddy!

Anna begged over and over "Play wiff me Daddy!!!!" even while he was playing with her! :) She really missed her Daddy.

Anna decided she would go with him next time, too!

So excited!! I've found that the state of my son's hair directly correlates to what his behavior will be like (either in the morning or after his nap). I'm not kidding! Proof positive right here!

I'm Still Alive!

I'm still alive, thanks to MOM! :) It hasn't been too bad of a week but I certainly would have been much worse for the wear had she not stayed!!!
To keep ourselves busy (as if chasing after 2 kids wasn't enough!), I decided we needed to rearrange the living room and Mom decided we should rearrange the kids' room as well! I don't have any before pictures, but most of you already know what it looked like before. I spent a total of $3 :) And that was weeks ago before I even thought of moving things around!
*I don't know why my pictures are posting grainy??? They're not that way when I look at them in my editing program? :(*

Here's looking in from the kitchen. The couch used to be where the TV is; the recliner used to be in front of where the blue rocker is (facing the small window); the bookcase used to be right next to the small window facing the big windows; the TV used to be to the left of the small window; the kitchen set (not in here anymore!!) used to be squeezed btw the couch and bookshelf; the blue rocker and extra kitchen chair used be in front of the big window; the green rocker used to be where the recliner is, facing the small window. (since you all were dying to know exactly how my living room used to be!!! I'll spare the details of where each picture used to be! :))

The hanging above the blue rocker is the one I bought quite a while ago. Mom found the clock for me and the others are from the bathroom! :) And Seth gets a roast dinner tomorrow for helping me move that gargantuan bookcase!!!

That tall lamp (as well as the boy & girl pictures) is from Aunt Betty's and used to be in our bedroom. I really like the couch slanted with it back there. Somehow this arrangement makes it feel much roomier in here. And I'll take all the roomier feel I can get in here!! :)

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Now the kids' room!

Jacob's crib didn't move, but the toy box did! It was in front of the big windows.

Anna's bed used to be flat against this wall, but we pulled it out and put her cubbies/dresser over there, too. It's a little tight w/ the rocking chair there, but it works.

The changing table didn't move either, but with Anna's cubbies moved, there's room for the kitchen set in here now! So now the only toys in the living room is a small basket of little toys (mostly cars/tractors). It seems to have helped to keep the mess contained to their bedroom a little better!

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And YIPPPEEEE!!! Daddy's coming home tomorrow (technically today)!!!!!!!!

A Late Post on an Early Celebration!

Aaron's birthday was Monday, but since he's gone this week we celebrated on Saturday (just a little). He requested an ice cream cake from DQ so Anna helped me pick it out. She said blue is Daddy's favorite color so this is the one she picked!

Happy Birthday!! We love you more than words can say!

He's as bad as Jacob!! :)