bonfires!!

It's usually the kind of thing I associate with Fall, but in our fam, it's an all year round kind of thing. The kids know the drill, when they get word that it's Bonfire Night they all run for the kitchen getting out everything we might need for the meal that usually goes along with the fire. So about that fire...many of you know that Nate is very much an Outdoors-man kinda guy, so you might think he's down on the ground next to the firepit with a stick and flint or somekind of earthy way of gettin our bonfires going. Sorry Nate it's time to get it all out...lets be honest...the man pours gasoline ALL OVER the wood and tells the kids to take cover as he throws a match in. You can feel the heat all the way to the front yard as the flames shoot up all at once, the kids LOVE it! Makes me so nervous that someone is going to come away from that with no eyebrows or worse. Oh well we've got fire and I guess that's all that matters.
So last night we planned for Pizza Firepies. For those of you that might not know what they are here's the deal...You need Firepie Irons ( can get them from W*l-Mart or any sporting goods store) spray them with cooking spray and place your bread down in them. Fill it up with whatever sounds good to you ( or your kids). Of course this one is all pizza fillings, but we have made them with ham and cheese, peanut butter, chocolate, bananas etc. Set them down into the fire...oh wait...

this might happen if you leave it for too long or it gets too hot too fast...oops, Nate ate this one.
So we move them back away from the hot coals and onto the hot stones, worked MUCH better this way...


Quickly after the Firepies are eaten Clayton is usually the one who busts out the marshmellows and graham crackers. The boy is in a state of pure joy at this point.

For some reason last night as Logan was going over with us the *recipe* for Smores, he was telling us it was *Graham CRAPPERS* that needed to go first, then the chocolate then the marshmellows. Crappers...hmmmmm...nice...

A little trick we like to do is place the graham CRACKERS and the chocolate on the stones next to the fire while the marshmellow is being cooked to your liking. This melts the chocolate a bit and also crisps the crackers...YUMMMM!


Now everyone has their favorite way of roasting their marshmellow, Madelyn freaked a bit when her's quickly caught fire and she was yelling at ME to blow it out. Later she remembered that she did in fact like hers on the burnt side. Logan is a more patient man, to the point that his first two were left to themselves and I watched them slowly melt right off the stick in the fire, small tagedy there for a moment, but the bag full of waiting marshmellows got him calmed down enough to head on to the next attempt.

Here's how I like them...melty, dark brown toasted marshmellows pressed between the warmed chocolate and crispy crakers...PURE BLISS!!!

Now here's the thing that might set our Bonfire Nights aside from your average bonfire...we basically have a dinner theater. The kids have been working all afternoon on their one of a kind performance. The rush through their meal and then JUMP ( bad combo for me)They manage to keep their food down somehow and press on through the show. Each kid has their own unique style, Emma a bit over the top, I know shocker to ya.

Madelyn was calculated down to each step across the trampoline ( again I'm sure your shocked at that too)and if we happened to have turned our heads even for a second the show was taken again from the top.
Somehow she managed not to break anything!

Logan was up next, again you might not be too surprised to hear that there wasn't so much the jumping with his performance as there was SPINNING and TWIRLING...at least he got his fishing hat involved.


So here's what we have discovered, one can really tell alot about themselves during a trampoline performance. If you'd like you can come over perform for yourself ( or who ever would like to watch) and discover your personality! Like for instance...Nate's last performance ended with a flip off the side and landing to where it was clear he was making sure we were not going to have any more children. My last performance it was clear that I indeed had FOUR children and after about three jumps I had to run inside and change my pants :)

LOVE antique shops!

If I had a million dollars I have to admit that a good portion of it would be spent antique-ing. I love blending the old with the new, I love items that might tell you a story if they could talk. When we lost Nathan's grandparents we were blessed to be able to adopt many vintage items from their home. I love knowing where these items came from and how Grandma used them. When I purchase things from a vinatage or antique dealer I have no idea what the story is behind the items, but I wonder...
So this past Memorial Day weekend my sister and I jumped on the opportunity to hit the antique shops outside of Logan, Ohio. As we walked up to the front porch area, the feeling of pure bliss takes me over. I can't tell you how much I LOVE looking at vintage stuff. I guess to some it's stuff or even worse junk, but I look past the flaws and see it's potential! Jess and I saw ALL KINDS of things from a vintage framed Wedding document from the 1930's to a Original metal Star Wars lunch box which was priced correctly at over $40. Oh well.
I was on a mission though, had to stay focused. I was DESPERATE for something to keep my jewelry organized. I already have a great way to display and organize my necklaces. My dear friend Lori and I made these last year and they are PERFECTLY up and away from little hands


Now my earrings, bracelets and rings on the other hand were drowning in each other on my nightstand ( which is a vintage piece from Grandma...I think I might be refinishing it soon...more projects!) I had a draw full of craziness and it layed ALL OVER the top...it was MADNESS! What a shame, as my Grandma would say.
So back to my shopping...I needed something to help with this situation, and I was overwhelmed. I wanted something glass or ceramic and it needed to have some sort of dividing going on.
Well then came the vintage jewelry, it was calling to me! I found a FABULOUS etsy seller that takes vintage jewelry and recycles it into new pieces. LOVE this idea!
So I came across a brooch, some beads and later found a necklace...oh that have SO MUCH potential

You'll have to wait and see what becomes of this :) By the way...this was a grand total of $11...the best part! THEN this little $5 ring jumped on my hand and I couldn't let this one go...I stinkn' LOVE IT!!!

Geez, can you see how distracting this process is??? I came here to find something to PUT my jewelry IN, not buy MORE jewelry!! I found some small glass dishes, I wasn't in love yet, but on the right track. It was crunch time, we had gone through EVERY booth and I wasn't in love...I was discouraged until I saw this beauty...it was YELLOW! So happy! For $14 this was PERFECT...ok so nevermind that it's a deviled egg serving dish. It's got the little places for my earrings...perfect! I wonder what sweet little hostess displayed her family recipe deviled eggs on this dish?? Did she have a yellow kitchen? I wonder.... I found a yellow glass dish that fir PERFECTLY in the middle for my bracelets and another glass dish for my rings! I was in love for sure!!! So here's they are...in their new home with a whole new purpose. Now I just need to refinish the nightstand! Cause I need another project!

My new blanket...Think Big

I've been crafting Chubby Baby Blankets for several years, my little guy still loves on his through out the day and has to go to bed with them both at night.

Here's Clayton and Nate sleeping in the airport in Miami last Summer on our way to Trinidad

They are backed with Minkee...soooo soft! Moms comment all the time that they would LOVE to have a big one for themselves. So a while back after recieving 2 baby blankets for his twins

a friend asked if I had ever made one for the mom. His wife LOVED their babies' blankets so much he knew she would love to have one for herself and asked if I could make one for her for Mother's day. I was very excited about this idea and totally went for it. Soooo......Here's the Momma's Blanket ( decided that using the word Chubby with this one may not go over so well with moms)







Wanna give it a try...It takes 1 yard of your middle fabric, 2 yards of the edge fabric and 2 yards of minkee for the back. Plan on using a TON of pins, you need to pin it every 2 inches so the minkee won't slide around. I am beyond excited about how the Momma's Blanket turned out. I think my friend will be thrilled. Now I want one for myself!

What they love and I can't stand...Forts!

So it was the last day of Easter Break and it was a nasty day...of course it would be, we live in OHIO! I can't remember who came up with the idea first, but once the word leaked out, no matter how softly it was spoken, it was out...LETS BUILD A FORT!!
I know that this was something I totally loved to do as a kid. I remember lining up every chair we could find in the house into the dining room to make the fort as large as humanly possible. I remember going around to each room to gather up every blanket we could use to provide us with the *Best Fort Ever*. I know the joy this process brought me as a child.
So WHY is it that blah, blah years later, I find myself on the opposite spectrum of the love of forts.
Hmmm...Maybe it's because the timing for the fort building is ALWAYS poor. Let's do it when the house is all clean, beds are made and blankets are neatly folded in the hall closet. It's almost like a beacon goes out from with in the fibers of the blankets to the children...*must build forts NOW!!*
BTW...this is a VERY similar beacon to the one that goes out when mommy quietly sneaks off to use the bathroom. It's a beacon that adults do not have the ability to hear, but I know it's being rung through out the entire home and yard *Mom is in the bathroom...GO FIND HER, give her NO PEACE!* Oh yes, it's the same beacon. If only I could find where it's origin is, where is that thing located? No one seems to know and when I question the kids about it they are in complete denial! Is there somekind of oath that they have sworn to? What would happen if they told me? Anyway, moms get no peace when in the bathroom...EVER!
Back to the forts... so Monday one of the kids brought it up and I was WAY overpowered ... 4:1. So I caved and the process commenced. It's amazing the process of pulling, yanking and dragging such soft cozy blankets can be SO LOUD! They ran up and down the hall, coming up with amazing strength to pull heavy queen-sized blankets 12 times their size with such ease. It was strangly effortless and somehow when it's time to put them away the super-human strength shown here vanishes.
The girls quickly claimed the large dining room table as THEIRS and No Boy Was Allowed in. They added pillow after pillow and it was now a haven of comfort. They decided a friendly game of Monopoly was the BEST thing to do while *Forting*.
The boys were left to their own and with the lack of experience they were at a loss. I'm not sure how, again super-human strength took over and out of the garage appeared an old heavy square card table ( which belonged to sweet Grandma & Grandpa Gessaman- the table has got to be as old as I am, at least!) Their blankets were all over and around it as it became * Sooooo much better than the girls* and of course the appropriate game was chosen to be played under it *Battleship*...perfect!
The Forts lasted for hours...seemed like days for me. And as the evening approached the Big Mean Mommy commanded that they be DESTROYED. The crying and wailing was heard for miles and miles I'm sure. It was pain that seem to peirce their souls. It seemed like it must have been the equivalent of requesting them to murder a puppy.
At this point the process of puting the blankets away was a task that was seemingly unachievable to all involved.
Around this lengthy time of unresponsiveness I believe the words came out of my mouth * That's it!!! No more forts for FOUR months!!!*
You may laugh, I about did. Four months?? Four months. Where in the world did I get four months? Usually if one of our children loses a privilege for making a poor choice it's for a day, a week....but I've never even used a month. All of a suddden I somehow think *this* act of rebellion should result is a FOUR MONTH hiatus. Who knows what I was thinking. Regardless, it was a good motivation to move the cleaning up process along as badly as I may have felt about the severe time punishment.
This is where I was quite bewildered with the absence of the prevoiusly seen *Super-Human Blanket Pulling Strength*...it was GONE! Logan was bearly making it out of the Living Room dragging his comforter was apparently the hardest task this poor boy was EVER asked to do. The repeated falling onto the ground was becomming quite humorous, I caved and helped. The Mean Mommy DID have a heart and the joint folding ended the adventure. So in August, I'll be posting another Fort Story...but NOT before then!

I don't wanna go to heaven!!!

About 5 years ago I heard this come out of a child's mouth for the 1st time...and it was my child!

I was in a panic. Who would say that?? I'm thinkin' what did we do wrong? We talk about God and Jesus all the time...good things. We talk to Him, tell Him we love Him.

So one day riding in the car ( that seems to be when all the good topics come up), Madelyn and I were talking about Great Grandma G, and that she will be in heaven because she loved Jesus. I kept going about the details of heaven from the discriptions in the Bible.

What a COOL place! Doesn't everyone wanna go?!

I kept looking back in the rear view mirror, excited to see the face of pure joy and bliss on my firstborn. As I kept talking about the people in the Bible that would be there too, I noticed there was NO sign of happiness at ALL. Strange, surely this is appealing to her.

Finally I asked her...Madelyn what do think? Would you like to have Jesus in your heart? He loves you and wants you to be with him someday.

Before I could go on she firmly and loudly said " I DON'T WANNA GO TO HEAVEN!!!"

I about drove off the side of the road! There isn't a manual for this.

"If child answers "no way, not interested" then proceed to section C for further guidence"

Nope, no handbook on this one.

I didn't know how to repsond. I could tell she was getting more upset, I needed to come up with a brilliant response quickly.

All kinds of thought were running through my head...MY child is REJECTING Jesus??? HELP!!

What in the world have we done???

So I asked her...."Madelyn, WHY don't you want to go to heaven???" Really not sure what the answer would be...

"Momma, I like it HERE"


*********FAST FORWARD to TODAY***********


Another interesting conversation in the car with Logan...with Easter right around the corner, we was showing me a craft from school about the empty tomb. So I asked him..."Where is Jesus, he's not in there?" Logan quickly said, "He's in heaven" This response had a little untertone of "DUHHH MOM" to it.

So I asked him" Is there anywhere else that He lives?" Very sweetly this time he says "In my heart Momma".

We talked about why He wants to be in your heart, why He loves you so much and why He wants to have you come into Heaven and be with Him forever when it is time.

I realized I needed to choose my words carefully. He confirmed that with "But I don't wanna go NOW!"

Ok, so my kids seem to be happy *here*....that's good :)

Logan ~ 5 years old






Madelyn when she was about 4 years old. I love her smile...her eyes dissappear :)

my $200 pedicure...oops

As most things do, my impromtu pedicure with close friends started out so innocently. Can I just tell you that this is my SECOND pedicure of my life! How sad is that! Now I know why...





I can't say that I didn't enjoy it, in fact there were moments of pure bliss. The massage chair was amazing, the pounding, kneading and beating were heavenly; not so much the shaking (I'll tell ya why in a moment).





The sweet girls ( and one guy) who work there were smily and kind. Even though I'm convinced that they do talk to each other in their beautiful soft spoken language about how nasty this lady's feet are and how they wish they could wear a mask, but adding one on now might look suspicious. So they might be encouraging each other to press on as they shave away the dead skin, and just breath through your mouth. No really, my feet were *that* dry...but I do have to say they weren't stinky. I did make it a point to take a foot bath before I went. I had to shave my negleted hairy legs ( sorry Nate). I would hate for the sweet girl to have to deal with the jungle and have her hands overly exfoliated because I haven't shaved my legs for 3 days (okay, more like 6-ish). Seeing that this was only my 2nd pedi, I hadn't remembered that they do wear latex gloves. However if I would have forgo-ed (btw, why does Chris Harrison ALWAYS use that word on his note about the fantasy suite? always!) my weekly shave and left my legs as-is, I believe she would have had to upgrade to the garden gloves, maybe even the Roofing Glove.











Ok so onto the pedi it's self... it was 4 of us together, a GNO (as HM would sing/say). We each upgraded to the SIGNATURE PEDI...nice. Some of us also opted to add on a $3 fee to have them shave off the dead skin...SCARY! With this procedure there are extra tools invloved, some are a heavier version of an emery board and then there was what was used on Jan's feet. Basically it was a hand held cheese grader...any Fresh Parmesan Cheese with your Salad??? When the girl SHOWS you the skin that she has removed from your foot...you know it's a big deal.





I'm pretty sure there is a chart in the back room there, a dead skin chart. She was quite proud of herself, I belived the manager had to verify the official amount before it was charted, I think I saw him glance over for the acknowledgement nod.





During this procedure there is a level of torture that is going on as well. Lori was losing it as the ticklish spots were shown some attention. She had the one guy working there and he had us in stitches...so funny!!! When my girl got out the heavy duty emery board I know felt what Lori was feeling, it was about sending me out of my chair!!! Seriously, this was a form of torture...it was a combination of pain, pleasure and MORE PAIN!





Here's the thing, I have a *BAD* foot, ok, more like a *BAD SIDE OF MY BODY*...my left side. I have a missing sinus cavity on that side, I believe that ear is lower than the other, a closed fal.tube, minimal knee cartilage and then my thing of beauty...my BAD foot! My skin is HORID, cracked, broken open (now I'm being reminded of that detail) and my big toe is only connected at the base (it's been previously removed). So there ya go, fun facts about Amber you wish you didn't now know.





As she is getting herself stablized on her low rolling stool ( I think she had to lock in the wheels at this point) she dove into my DEATHLY DRY heel. She moved her way up to my big toe. At this point the flinching and the face squinching that I was trying to hide was noticed by Jan's girl. She asked me if it was hurting...with a smile on my face I tried to be brave but she quickly said something to my girl which made her stop and look up. I don't want to make her feel bad, I mean I had a feeling she had already been discouraged because she was now behind on the *Dead Skin Chart*...if only she had her own cheese grader!





Well it was too late, the pain was there, the skin was broken open and geez was it BURNING!!! I kept telling her it was ok, but really I was wondering if they offered an epidural at any time during this part. I guess not, so I jacked up the massage chair to distract me. Liz informed me that the chair might be too much , maybe I should just look up at the beautiful clouds that were painted on the ceiling and listen to the Karen Carpender song that was playing for us. I believe Lori's guy said he had requested it for us. DOES HE THINK WE ARE THAT OLD???!! So much for his tip!





Suckered into a another added on fee, I had my girl paint a little flower on my big toes. It's cute, a nice visual reminder of the pain I am STILL feeling as I have my left foot lathered in Neosporin and in a sock. It hurts to walk!!!





But here's the kicker of my SIGNATURE Pedicure adventure...just after I got settle into my stinkn' hot foot bath, figured out the remote for the massage chair ( do I want pounding, kneading, rolling, twisting or turning... on my legs, lumbar, middle back or shoulders...GEEZ TOO MANY OPTIONS HERE!) worked, I gently placed my cell phone in my lap.





Oh yea, you can figure this next part out. Since I choose the Medley Message, the pounding, kneading, rolling, twisting, turning and shaking and shimmy-ing came ALL AT ONCE. The girations send my phone into a nose dive for the scalding foot bath...KER-PLUNK!!!! I just starred at it as it hit the bottom. If I dove in after it, the skin of my hands might have melted off. It was a quick moment that seemed like minutes as my sweet girl took the risk to set her own life aside and go in after it. She had a moment with it, rubbing it, trying to stimulate life. But it was too late, the damage was done. It gave one last vibrate and gave up.





So there it was...that was the BEGINNING of my SIGNATURE Pedi, I should have known this wasn't going to be cheap. I'm off to the phone store with my $2.50 Old Navy flip flops on showing off my little flower, hopefully my left foot will stay in, all this Neosporin makes this quite slippery...I can see it now...my adventure to the phone store...

Who's idea was this anyway??? :)

Never a dull moment...

***DISCAIMER...for those who haven't read my old posts...I don't care much about my spelling, I WILL have errors and large run-on sentences. So read on, and love me anyway***


God knew I needed girls before the boys came along...easing me into this parenting challenge, thank you Lord. When my girls were the boys' ages ( 5 & 3) life was simple, easy, loving. They loved being with each other played for hours on end with never a arguement. They would giggle in the other room, and I knew that there was nothing to worry about. They just didn't get into trouble. I think ONCE Madelyn may have unrolled the entire roll of t.p. That was the extent of her mischievous behavior. And she would never dream of trying it again, too risky.

Now jump forward 5 years ( wow alot has happened in 5 years), and here were are knee deep in TESTOSTERONE! Logan and Clayton can't keep their hands off of each other, and no it's not for hugs or tickling. They MUST wrestle, they MUST tag, they MUST push, they MUST grap each other's clothes as they run by each other and as one falls, they MUST laugh. You can see it in their eyes, it's in their blood, something deep with in them is driving this behavior.

So my full-time job is keeping them ALIVE. I have heard the screams from the other room, and there are some screams you just have to run to. Only to find Logan in a half-nelson ( my Dad used to coach wrestling) with Clayton's face smashed into the carpet and someone I believe gets close to losing conscienceness with most of the take-downs.

So here's the thing, I don't have brothers, this is not normal behavior to me. But there are times that something inside me says "just let them do it" WHAT??? let them do it? Is this right? Seriously, I want them to survive each other!

So here's what they have come up with lately ( again, things the girls would have never thought of or attempted)

**** Logan has been found to be standing up on a high stool that he has quietly carried in to the bathroom, PEEING !!!! (btw, the sound is quite loud from that distance which is why I thought I better go see what is going on in there)...sorry no pics of that one. You can visualize I'm sure.

**** Clayton recently was enjoying his fishy crackers and thought it would be fun to see if one could hang out of his nose...*look Momma*, and yes, I had to get a pic of it.

**** The mystery Coke Can issue is still under investigation...last week the kids' toilet was running, so I took the back tank lid off to act like I knew what to do. Low and behold...a Diet Lime Coke can was stuck in there blocking the thingy from closing down on the other thingy. Hmmm no one has yet to fess up on this one. Further interviewing is in process.

**** And here's another bathroon ordeal...why do boys have so many challenges revolving around the room itself, it's contents or what *should* be going ONLY in the bathroom. Anyway, my computer/craft room is located directly below their bathroom. The kids have discovered that when they are upstairs they can head into the bathroom and yell down into the vent when I am in my room working. It's the cheap-mans' version of the home intercom system. And yes, I yell back up to them, works pretty well actually. Well one day I was sewing and I could hear Clayton up in the bathroom in the sink *making soup* he calles it. This *cooking* CAN be harmless I'm sure for some, but most of the time when I yell up what are you doing and he responds *making soup!!!*, it's not ever a good thing. This particular time, he leaned down over the vent and I could hear that he took the vent off...then I heard him say * WANT SOME WATER MOMMA??!!!* , before I could answer back *no thanks* I heard the Niagra Falls coming my way. And so the Megga Slurpie Giant Gulp cup used in the bath was being poured down to me. My following response and bolt up the stairs really didn't do any good. It was done.

***Clayton today was doing something I felt was quite harmless in comparison. He found a little measuring cup for Logan's daily allergy meds. Clayton was licking all around the inside of it, I guess I feel like I need to pick my battles and I had to not make a big deal out of it *please go put that in the sink when your done *cleaning* that out for me Clayton*...*ok Momma*
We had a good 15-20 minutes of quiet time while he entertained himself with the medicine cup. I heard him slirping and sucking it in as the cup would *magically* stay on his mouth. Again, thinking this was cheap, harmless fun for him...quiet for me. Think again Amber...
So after lunch I was cleaning off his face, it just wasn't coming clean. As I looked closer at the purple lips he was sporting, I could see now that his entertainment had now providing a lasting memory. I giant self inflicted HICKEY all over his lips and mouth.
I quickly grabbed my camera, snapped a shot and sent it off to my sister who is a nurse. Just had to ask her if I should be concerned about this meaning he has a cardiac issue :) After hearing her gasp, I told her what he did...her response...* YOU CAN NOT TAKE HIM OUT IN PUBLIC LIKE THAT!!!
Oh but I will, and not only that, I'm documenting yet another adventure that my boys take me on...in a funny way, I'm loving this crazy ride, there is never a dull moment.


Here's Clayton displaying the results from his harmless afternoon entertainment, and of course the pic doesn't do it justice. It's SO BAD!
Logan has graced us with his presence at his fav place to eat pancakes ...Bob Bevins. Here's his creation ...a butter & syrup pancake sandwich. Super fun to clean up after!

Clayton showing us a fun place to put fishies...

Here are the girls...oh the drama they hold, I'll save their stories for another day....