Among the Mess

Move over Martha

2011-07-30T19:12:00.001-05:00

This is how you make supper & desert at my house!

I also made my first ever made from complete and utter scratch pie tonight! I’m so proud of myself……I’ll tell you if it was actually edible later, because it’s in the oven as we speak. And yes, I know I got a little fun and funky with the top!

What's in your purse?

2011-07-27T11:45:00.001-05:00

There are times when I think to myself, I need to downsize my purse, just carry less. After a bit of bickering on Joel's part I finally decided to take a look at what was actually in my purse!

Much to my surprise I found many odd things in there! We all need to cart around socks, silly bandz, empty plastic Easter eggs, empty unused ziplock baggie, and of course a camera in there, right?!?

Tell me, what's in your purse!

Wordless Wednesday-Summer fun

2011-07-21T00:29:00.001-05:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Scrumptious Pull Apart Bread

2011-07-18T14:57:00.001-05:00

This week the kids have been attending a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our local Lutheran church. This is the second year they’ve attended. Last year they did a BBQ afterwards and this year they had a breakfast before!

I’m really not that great at making breakfast foods. It’s just not my cup of tea. I actually quit making cinnamon rolls from scratch because they always tasted like rocks! Joel’s mom makes AMAZING to die for rolls and mine just can’t stand up. So I really was in a situation on what to make for this breakfast.

I hopped on face book and asked my friends what to do. One of them suggested I make this Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread.

*Photo courtesy of : Joy the Baker*

It looked so yummy and so simple. And it was just that. I decided I was going to use my bread maker to make up the dough which worked out perfectly once I realized my machine had a delay function! I threw the ingredients in the machine and set it for 7:30 am. When I got up the dough was ready, and it didn’t take long to get it thrown together in the oven!

Since I didn’t have the pan size called for I improvised and just put it into two loaf pans. Not thinking of blogging about it, this is the only picture I got of the process! I did end up making up a quick cream cheese frosting to drizzle on the top, which really just brought it all together! It tasted so yummy, and was half gone! I’d call it a total success. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been craving it since Sunday!

Our Family…..

2011-07-16T21:50:00.001-05:00

has 10 members.
consists of 5 humans.
consists of 5 pets.
has 6 males, and 4 females.
has 2 dogs.
a cat.
a rabbit.
a fish.
and now lives all under one roof!

Staying afloat!

2011-07-14T14:37:00.000-05:00

Man, I did so good for a while at catching up and getting back on track with blogging. Seems I get a full work week in and I loose track of my time. Things like being on the computer and blogging don't seem quite as important as snuggling up on the couch with a good movie and my kids. And well when you can't find your card reader it makes it hard to dump pictures onto the computer! :(

I will be back on here next week with some more updated posts, and a review/giveaway for sure. How do you "big" bloggers do it? A blog post every day? AND some of you are full time WOTH mom's! KUDDOS!

A quick winner post

2011-06-29T21:56:00.001-05:00

I had full intentions to make this a longer post, but it seems mother nature has another idea. We’re all doing fine in our neck of the woods, just a few more ball games left in the season! I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s supposed to actually get HOT tomorrow. Like 102 degrees hot! So I’m sure we’ll be spending more time in the pool. So sad the thing has been up for a month now with only about 30 minutes of swim time for the kids. It’s been a chilly start to the summer, and with ball we just haven’t had much time.

Alright, my headache is starting to get the best of me so I’d better get the winner of the Boogie Wipes package posted!

Lucky #3 is :

Rough few days

2011-06-22T22:01:00.001-05:00

Wow, as I sit down tonight to write this post I have to admit it’s not one I figured I’d write.

When Joel got offered the chance to switch to 3rd shift I thought it would be great for our family. Amazing in fact. He would be gone while we slept, and there when we all woke up. He can run on little sleep most of the time and so I knew we’d have him in full swing participating with us by lunch.

It’s true that he’s run on little sleep the past 4 days. But I’m totally worried about him. Constantly. Worried that he’ll be to tired to do his work and get hurt. Worried he’ll be too tired to drive home and fall asleep at the wheel. Worried the kids won’t be quiet enough for him to get some sleep. Just plain worried.

He’s been a real trooper. The kids have been ~~not too bad~~ good for the most part.

Me, well I’m doing okay. I feel horrible most of the time because I’m not letting him get enough sleep. And to say this is easy, would be a lie. I’m not used to having my husband home all day. Every day (normally) I look forward to 2:30. I then have a purpose to get stuff done, and have the house in order. The kids and I are used to having our days, and having daddy get home at 2:30. I forget that he’s here. I forget that I need to check with him before we make any plans.

We’ve been fighting quite a bit this week. It’s been tough on our marriage to say the least. This has tested us.

In the last 4 days I’ve realized this is NOT a blessing. This is NOT something I want full time. I want to have something to look forward to every day.

As I was writing up this post Joel text me. After a bit of confusion on my part I called him. I was blessed to find out that starting Monday he’ll be back on regular hours. I’m THANKFUL! Not only for the fact that we’ll have our routine back, but thankful because earlier tonight my dad informed me of his hours for the next few weeks. You see, my dad works at the same factory Joel does. My dad’s last day of work will be the 1st of July until the 14th of July when he returns.

I’m saying extra prayers tonight, and thanking God that he is looking out for us. He realized I couldn’t do this another week but at the same time he realized we couldn’t do this another week. Financially and martially.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T22:22:00.000-05:00

Well Father's Day is already almost over and I'm just now getting around to posting! Seems that's how it goes!

We had a great day. It started with Joel getting to sleep in, since he stayed up most of the night. We then headed out to church where we attended the blessing of a new parish hall. The hall is beautiful! We're so blessed, our children will have a safe, nice place to attend catechism and learn about our lord! It was a nice lunch with great friends!

After a quick trip to town for a new coffee pot (I accidentally broke it last night) we came home and took a 3 hour nap! It was so peaceful. Thankfully I was thinking ahead and super was cooking while we napped!

posted from Bloggeroid

Ramblings

2011-06-19T00:42:00.001-05:00

It’s 12:10 am as I sit down to write this up. It’s crazy that I’m still up. A few months ago you would’ve found me on my computer every night, but here lately I’ve been in bed and asleep by 9pm! It’s nuts!

The reason I’m awake? Joel starts 3rd shift (10:00pm-6:00am) tomorrow night, and so he’s trying to get used staying up all night. Thankfully this is only a two week shift transfer. My guess is I won’t be sleeping much the next two weeks either so I might as get used to it. The plant he works in makes mufflers for cars, and you see it’s about that time of year when the “new” models come out (2012). When this happens the car manufacturers don’t have very big orders so thus there isn’t much for Joel to do at work. He had the option of staying on 1st shift (6am-2pm) and possibly not having any work for two weeks (which means not getting paid), or go to 3rd shift and have hours to work. Thankfully he choose the obvious thing for our family.

Sadly I wish I could change and rewrite that last line to say that he chose to stay on 1st shift and we decided to take a two week long vacation. Unfortunately I can’t. We’re just not in a position to do that. If I were to take a vacation though, I’ve already decided it would be at least a couple weeks long. It would include a visit to my mom in Canada, as well as a stop in Michigan to visit a long time online friend (we talk almost every day….in fact my husband thinks something is wrong if we haven’t talked in a day!), a visit to Ohio to visit another bloggy friend, and a visit to Wisconsin to visit yet another bloggy friend. Too bad we couldn’t just pick a middle point and all move there! LOL

The reason for my absence here this week? Crazy work schedule. Thankfully Joel has been a champ at figuring out what’s for supper. I think I’ve only had to figure it out and cook once this week! Not to mention we’ve had ball games 4 nights a week for the last couple weeks. Thankfully this week is our last week of ball. Then just tournaments and we’re done for the season!

I realize that last paragraph sounds like I hate ball season. It’s not so much that I hate ball season, it’s that I hate running. I’m not a big fan of being gone 4 nights a week, and trying to figure out what’s for supper. What can we make easily. Joel and I coach Dahrran’s baseball team, it’s been so much fun to watch them “get it” as the season has gone on. MacKenzie has a great coach and has helped her learn. She still has a long way to go, but she’ll get there!

It’s now almost 1am, and I’ve finally decided I’m headed to bed. Joel is up watching some odd movie that I probably have no interest in. :S Oh well!

Ever have a moment?

2011-06-13T09:33:00.001-05:00

When you wish there was someone in the room just taking pictures? Or to even be a “fly on the wall?”

I had one of those moments on Saturday. We’d just gotten home from a long day at softball tournaments (well Joel and the kids were at them, I was at work until the last game!) and everyone was cranky. Joel and I laid down on the bed with our legs dangling over the sides. In came the girls, soon MacKenzie had made her way on top of me to cuddle. For no reason whatsoever Kaitlynn started to cry, and all she would say was “mooom-mieeee.” Eventually I got her to crawl up on to our bed and climb on top of me (after some persuasion to MacKenzie to move.)

It was one of those moments when I KNEW everyone was going to crash within moments. I summoned Dahrran into our room and told him to lay down. Within 5 minutes everyone was asleep except myself. Even Joel was snoring. I laid there and thought to myself, it would be so awesome to have this moment on film. To just have us all as a family, and laying here.

I then decided I wasn’t going to let this moment go. I slowly worked my way out of the pile and took a picture. I was laying there underneath Kaitlynn. Such a precious moment!

Happy Birthday MacKenzie!

2011-06-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

Since I’m all sorts of behind on blogging I figured why not catch up in order! When Dahrran got into school we decided we weren't going to do big parties for EVERY birthday they had while in school. We set the rule at one big party in Kindergarten, and we would go from there on the rest of the years. Thankfully Dahrran hasn’t asked for anything but sleepovers since!

MacKenzie wanted to take everyone to Chucky Cheese for her birthday, which would’ve been an okay thing except the closest Chucky Cheese is an hour away. Which still isn’t bad except the fact that there are 7 girls in her class and my car only holds 6 passengers (besides myself). So we settled on bowling instead!

She wasn’t quite sure at first how to get started, but with a little help from daddy she was well on her way to being a great bowler!

This is a super blurry picture but it captures most of the moments when each of the girls would get it all the way down the lane!

Since the bowling alley we went to only had one set of bumpers there was a lot of laying around during turns!

I got the idea for MacKenzie’s cake from Family Fun Magazine! We improvised some and I’m glad I did! I’m not sure the kids would’ve eaten the coconut on the cupcakes!

I love that these girls are already friends. There are a total of 24 kids in MacKenzie’s grade, and only 7 girls! (one was sick unfortunately the day of the party) Hopefully they’ll grow even closer as the years go on!

Even Kaitlynn got to come to her “sisters party” and she loved every minute of it!

Wordless Wednesday!

2011-06-08T10:05:00.000-05:00

Aunt Bridget came and help the kids dye eggs this Easter. She loves coming to help them dye eggs but it’s been a while! (go ahead check out that blog post, I’ll wait! You’ll want to see how cute the kids were!) While she came up to dye eggs, she also got the chance to take them to the Easter Egg Hunt. Last year we were so proud of MacKenzie. She wasn’t afraid of the bunny, but this year was another story! Completely afraid. :(

We did lunch at our house again this year, (seems to be my holiday to host!) For Easter my dad got the kids Alpha & Omega, so we all sat around and watched movies and napped afterwards. Such a peaceful day!

Spring Game Fun

2011-06-07T08:27:00.000-05:00

We’ve taken the kids to other spring football games in the past, and kind of decided the last couple of years to not go. This year we’d thought about it, but just decided to not go again. That was until a lady Joel works with offered him 5 tickets. We really didn’t have anything planned that day except hanging out at home so we thought why not!

MacKenzie wasn’t really excited at first to go to a football game for her birthday (oh forgot to mention it was scheduled for her birthday!) but when we told her we had decided to go out for supper she was all about it.

The week leading up to the game was cold, rainy and even threatened snow in April!!! But thankfully come game day it wasn’t too bad. By the time the game started we were sitting on our coats! I’d made these super cute dresses for the game, and they did get to sport them for a while! (even though I don’t really have decent pictures of them, hopefully it’s a post for another day!)

We also decided to just get a motel in Lincoln with a pool for MacKenzie’s Birthday…….but of course by the time we got to the motel BOTH my camera’s were dead! :(

Happy Birthday miss MacKenzie!!

Hanging out in the sun!

2011-06-06T14:34:00.001-05:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Waking up

2011-06-03T11:32:00.000-05:00

So lately I've been having a hard time trying to be a great wife, mother, daughter, and sister. It's been rough. I know the person I want to be, but I'm lazy. Simply put. There are visions in my head of who I should be, really who I want to be. I would love to be the mom/wife who is up before the household, has a load of dishes in the dishwasher, has folded a load of laundry, has another one started and when her kids wake up is ready to help them begin their day.

Instead, I'm the mom who is still in bed a good 20 minutes after her kids have gotten up. Every.Day. I could set my alarm and hit snooze for an hour or more, even though my alarm clock is across the room and I have to get out of bed to push it. Who am I? It is true that I'm more of a night owl type of person. Ask anyone in my family and they'll tell you about how I could stay up until the wee hours of the morning and then sleep until noon or later the next day. It's not healthy I know, but it's who I am.

Have you ever come to a point in your life where you truly wonder who you are, and what your purpose is on this earth? I'm having a moment like that here lately. I have good intentions of being a great wife, but I need to stop being so damned lazy. That might actually help with my self esteem as well......cause I could really use to not be so lazy. The pounds I've packed on since the kids were born is crazy. Sure I'm comfortable in my body, and I really think some days I look good. But is a hot and sweaty mother really who my kids need me to be? ......this usually happens after walking down the upstairs, and to the basement with a load of laundry....for cryin out loud!

I guess what I'm asking is: How do you get motivated? Any exercises programs you use? (I have Zumba for the Wii, and love it, but hate doing it when anyone is around) How do you wake up???

Kaitlynn’s Spring Program

2011-06-03T08:55:00.001-05:00

Kaitlynn’s program was held on a different night than the big kids programs. They did cookies and a gathering afterwards and it was kind of nice! We LOVE LOVE LOVE Mrs. Rockenbach. She’s so sweet, and she’s amazing as the kids teacher. We even got to meet her before school started last fall when she came to the house for her “home visit.” I love that they did that, Kaitlynn wasn’t quite as shy to go into her classroom on the first day of school.

And of course I couldn’t leave you without a video. I love videos these days. They let you in on a little bit of our life. There is a part where we all bust out laughing, you can hear MacKenzie, as well as the camera shakes some! Enjoy!

Boogie Wipes Review & Giveaway

2011-06-02T05:08:00.000-05:00

I was recently contacted to review Boogie Wipes and graciously accepted. Kaitlynn has a runny nose 10 months out of the year. It’s not uncommon for me to be wiping her nose constantly. Even though we no longer cloth diaper, I’ve always got a stash of cloth wipes in my purse so I can catch a runny nose at any given moment. We were sent a 30 count package of Great Grape Scented wipes along with 3 individual packages in each great scent, Great Grape, Minty Menthol and Fresh Scent.

Anyone who has ever had to wipe a child’s runny nose knows the battle. There are usually tears involved at my house! Boogie Wipes is an amazing product that can help you battle! We love Boogie Wipes because they’re moist, and can get any of the crusties left behind by regular tissues. I’m a picker mom. You know the type. The one that picks their child’s nose until you get every last crust off of their poor little face. Kaitlynn now doesn’t mind getting her nose wiped because she knows that I’m using Boogie Wipes!

What makes Boogie Wipes different? Their website says,

Boogie Wipes are made with natural saline to dissolve boogies (mucus) caused by the common cold, allergies or otherwise booger-filled kid moments.

Extra soft, alcohol, phthalate and paraben free, Boogie Wipes are available in Great Grape, Fresh Scent, Magic Menthol and Simply Unscented. Recommended by pediatricians as a gentle, effective alternative to a dry tissue.

How do they differ from a baby wipe?

Made with natural saline to dissolve mucus
Hypoallergenic
Alcohol-free
Moisturize with vitamin E, aloe and chamomile
Fun scents
Phthalate & paraben free

My favorite part other than the fact that their moist is that they can handle the job. The wipes are sturdy and do not fall apart at all, and one wipe handles most jobs! I also love the fact that they come individually wrapped so they’re easy to throw in my purse! Another great thing, they were invented by moms! So not only are you going to love them, you’re going to LOVE them!

Since Kaitlynn is in preschool all day I’m not able to be there with her to constantly get the crusties off her face. She usually comes home with boogers stuck all in her nose, and the battle ensues. The moms behind Boogie Wipes have come up with a great solution to this. The came up with the teacher/daycare provider kit!

The Teacher kit includes : a poster with Save the Sleeve pledge guidelines,
50 Boogie Wipes samples, 50¢ OFF coupons and 2 classroom canisters.

After using these wipes I’ve become a firm believe in them. I’m planning on buying at least one teacher kit for Kaitlynn’s classroom this fall. More than likely I’ll get two!

Buy it:

Head over to the Boogie Wipes website to buy any of their products. Also, be sure to check out Achooz, the adult saline nose wipes.

Win it:

The generous ladies at Boogie Wipes want to give one of my readers something! Winner will receive : 2 30-count packs of Boogie Wipes, 2 $0.50 off coupons, 9 sachets (3 of each scent – Great Grape, Fresh Scent and Magic Menthol), 2 Achooz sachets (fragrance free and Cool Mint)

Be sure and leave your email in the email address field so I can contact you if you win!

Mandatory Entry

Visit Boogie Wipes and leave a comment below with one thing you learned from their site.

The above entry is mandatory. If you would like additional entries, you may do any or all of the following (and leave me a separate comment for each telling me you’ve done so):

Submit this giveaway to any current online giveaway Linky’s: Unlimited extra entries! You’ll get one entry per site you submit it to; the site’s linky must be new within the past 7 days. You can also submit to online contest listings/forums. (Leave the site you submitted it to and the date in your comment)
Like Among the Mess on Facebook and leave me a comment with your name. (ex. JoAnn Smith or J. Smith)
Like Boogie Wipes on Facebook and leave comment on their FB wall saying that you entered to win Boogie Wipes on our blog (tagging us!) then leave a comment here telling me you’ve done so
Follow Boogie Wipes on Twitter and leave your Twitter name
Follow Among the Mess on Twitter and tweet exactly the following:I just entered to #win a Boogie Wipes package (http://bit.ly/jW03vw) over at @amongthemess @BoogieMom #Giveaway You can do this once per day, just leave a separate comment with your Twitter ID and a link to your tweet in your comment.
Join the Boogie Bunch

Contest Details: Contest ends on 6/15/2011. Valid email address is required. All entries without a valid email address will be disqualified. Winning email notification must be responded to within 48 hours or that winner will forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected. Winner will be selected with Random.org. Winner will be notified via email.

Disclosure: The product mentioned above have been given free of charge from the company in exchange for being featured at Among the Mess. The views and opinions expressed were 100% my own and not influenced by the company.

Spring Programs

2011-05-31T08:57:00.000-05:00

Dahrran and MacKenzie had their spring programs on the same night this year and it was so nice to be able to head in for one night! For MacKenzie’s part of the program they just sang a few songs, sadly I didn’t get any video of her program! Dahrran’s program was called The Bear Went Over the Mountain.

Dahrran had the part of a fox! His friend Dawson was a raccoon! Dahrran’s awesome teacher Mrs. Fowler!

MacKenzie with her great teacher Mrs. Wiemer!

There is at least one of them in any given picture that is upset over something!

And just a little video for you of Dahrran’s speaking parts!

A little bike riding

2011-05-29T21:55:00.001-05:00

Dahrran has been one child who could care less if he had a bike to ride or not. He was almost 4 before he even learned to pedal the thing! He learned just last year how to ride without training wheels, even though the whole summer before one was broken and he was getting by with just one. It was something about the security of having them on that made him feel safe.

MacKenzie on the other hand is a little dare devil. She would ride super fast with her training wheels on and stand up. Dahrran was starting to get to big for his bike and so we decided yesterday to pick him up a new one. MacKenzie declared this afternoon that she was going to try riding Dahrran’s bike today, even though yesterday we offered to take her training wheels off. I knew she’d be a natural at it, and after only holding on to her for about 5 feet she was on her way. (Dahrran would FREAK if we even said we were going to let go!)

Here’s a little video I got of her second time riding without training wheels! :) She now has graduated to Dahrran’s old bike and has passed hers on to Kaitlynn! It was a win win, because Kaitlynn was going to need a new bike this summer too! Now if I could only break down and buy myself a bike!!!

Emerging from the Craft Room

2011-05-09T12:32:00.001-05:00

I got a wild hair last week to redecorate/paint my craft room. We were set to do a whole makeover with cabinetry and all. Have you priced cupboards and countertops lately??? OH MY! For the space we were wanting to put in cupboards, I figured we’d spend around $500.00, but hopefully less. Little did I know! We chose the cheapest cabinets and by far the cheapest countertop and still ended up with a bill of $750.00 for a 54” space. CRAZY! It consisted of 4 total cabinets.

After a humbling trip to Menards we decided to just forget the cabinets. Instead I decided to paint and just buy a white table to put up. I also decided to do a chalkboard wall, which Joel wasn’t exactly pleased with the idea of. As much as I said it wouldn’t happen, my children have managed to write on almost EVERY single wall in my house. No matter how many coloring books they have (believe me there are probably 10 for each kid!), they’ve managed to get a wall. I decided why not let them have a wall in the house they can color on and NOT get in trouble?! Plus I figured if I inform them this is the ONLY wall they can color on, and if I catch them writing on any other walls they’ll be in trouble. It could work……

So I spent most of the day painting on Saturday. I’m pleased overall so far. We left one wall white after getting three of the walls painted. Of course it’s going to need a fresh coat of white paint because it’s a wall the kids have managed to mark up. Watch for pictures to come soon. That is if I ever make it back upstairs to blog again. Someone want to come organize for me?

Happy Birthday Dahrran

2011-04-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

I’m a little behind on the blogging bandwagon, but that seems to always be the case around these parts! In an effort to be a better blogger, I’m going to sit down a few nights a week and just blog.

We celebrated Dahrran’s birthday by having a sleep over again this year. They seem to have a little more fun when they’re in their own surroundings. We did take them out to the farm again like last year, thankfully this year we didn’t come home covered in Mud like last year!

These boys will be friends for life! Dahrran had three of the four over last year, and has since added the fourth. They’re all great friends. Dahrran has had sleepovers with two of the boys as well. I love that he has a great group of friends already!

The kids have been asking for Nintendo DS’s for about a year now. They really started asking for them around Christmas. At the time we decided it was best if we didn’t have to buy 3 of them at one time. We decided birthdays would be best since they’re all spaced out. Poor Kaitlynn though will not get her’s until August!

And just a little walk down memory lane if you want! Birthday’s past.

An Igloo

2011-04-26T20:03:00.001-05:00

MacKenzie’s teacher has this project every year where they have students bring in milk jugs (empty and rinsed of course!) to school so they can build an igloo. It’s such a great activity for the kids to get to learn about recycling. As the igloo starts to fall apart they take them to be recycled. The kids love having something they can play in, and they get to learn too.

This project is something great, and would take quite a while if you tried to do it alone, but it’s a great teacher resource! Total cost of project is hot glue sticks to put it all together! :)

Bowling – a Date night

2011-04-20T07:59:00.000-05:00

Joel and I don’t usually do “date” nights. I mean we’ll go out for supper, and then come home. To me that’s not really a date. It’s supper, which I would’ve had to fix anyways. I love going out doing “something” instead of just sitting down for a meal. So a moth or so ago when we were trying to work on things we decided to go Cosmic Bowling, basically the lights are off except the fun, funky black lights. Everything glows and it’s really fun!

There are pink balls, green balls, all these funky colors and they all pretty much glow in the dark. Unless you find a regular ball instead (like Joel did!) He has to be the difficult one! :P

Most of the games ended up like this one. You wouldn’t know it but I was beating him by almost 40 at one point! He always comes back to kick my rear!

While we were out I tried to get cute pictures of each of us. His all turned out good, most of the pictures he took of me turned out like this. Not ONE of them was a good shot of my face, most of them were blurry. Oh well. At least my butt looked good in those jeans!

In the end we had a great night, and even ended up with a decent picture of us together!

Overcoming this feeling

2011-04-18T08:00:00.001-05:00

If you’re new here you might not know that we’ve had a miscarriage. Only one, so please don’t feel overly sorry for me there are moms out there who truly know the loss. We’re just amatures when it comes to this whole thing. We have friends who’ve had multiple losses and have no kids yet. So I don’t really feel that bad for myself. I mean come on, I have 3 perfectly healthy children what more could I ask for.

But yet there is this sinking feeling every time someone else tells me they’re pregnant. I get angry. Upset. Anxious. And then the joy sets in for them. Some how the feeling fades away and I become happy for them. But until that feeling passes I put on a happy face and tell them Congratulations. It’s just how I deal.

I don’t want to deal anymore. I want to be. I want to truly be happy for them when they tell me, excited for them. After all it’s been over a year, shouldn’t I have moved on by now. Though when July rolls around I know I’m going to cry. We should’ve been celebrating our sweet little baby’s first birthday. Instead we’ll carry on, and get through the day.

What’s harder almost though than knowing someone else is carrying a baby, is the face Joel gets when he finds out. It’s pure disappointment. He wants another baby just as much as I do. The baby we lost was one that brought us together after a rough patch in our marriage. The loss brought us closer. We’ve struggled to figure out where to go from here since, but have finally found a common path. One we want to head down together.

So tell me, how do you over come this? Will I feel like this, until we complete our family and have another baby? What if that day never comes? That is the real question.

Family Pictures

2011-04-15T13:19:00.001-05:00

It’s hard to believe that I’m just now getting around to printing these pictures. Seeing as they were taken almost a year and a half ago. I just never found the time to edit them back then, and when I did, I couldn’t figure out what I liked.

I sat down about a week ago and edited them all. I have another window project that I completed a while back and I realized I wanted these pictures to be in it. So today I ordered them from Shutterfly. Nine 5x7 photos cost me under $10.00 WITH shipping! I was so amazed at the deal I figured I’d better get them up before I change my mind again.

Made with Love by Caty – a giveaway

2011-04-14T07:47:00.000-05:00

Along my blogging journey I’ve come across so many cute little etsy stores and WAHM’s out there. They all are so talented and I wish I could create some of the things they do! Today I’d love to introduce you to Caty from Made with Love by Caty.

After having her daughter in May of 2010, Caty realized how the added expenses of a new baby can really add up fast. So, she started out making nursing covers, reusable nursing pads, reusable wipes, burp clothes and diaper wipe cases/carriers. Her shop has since expanded to carry hats, and booties as well. These are ADORABLE!

Up for Grabs is a pair of booties from Made with Love by Caty for boys or girls sized 0-6mo or 6-12mo! All you have to do is fill out the form to be entered!

Giveaway ends April 20th at midnight CST.

Be sure to scroll clear to the bottom of the form to click submit, or your entries will NOT be submitted.

Wordless Wednesday – A living room redo!!!

2011-04-12T22:57:00.001-05:00

Last fall we decided to FINALLY do what I’ve been asking Joel to do since we moved in. Tear up this UGLY dirty carpet. (honestly it doesn’t look nearly as bad in these pics as it truly was!) I love it and wouldn’t go back for anything….though we do need to get a big area rug to put in the middle yet. One of the last pictures shows how we survived in our dining room as a living room for a little over a week! It was scary to say the least!

Terrific Under Ten Tuesdays

2011-04-04T10:49:00.001-05:00

For the last couple weeks I’ve been crafting away in my garage. I’m loving every minute of it, except for the waiting for paint to dry bit. It takes time to do these things, but they’re also bringing me joy!

I have a love for old windows. LOVE. The bad thing is I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do with one when I get it. I may have a slight idea, but nothing that will make me want to just go outside and start working on it. This can be a good thing and also a bad thing. Good because then I don’t just jump into some project and end up hating it later. Bad because they can take up a lot of space, and when you have a slightly larger than two car garage, space is valuable.

About a year ago we had a friend that was moving, and had these two rather large windows. When I asked her if I could have them, she said she didn’t care, but the look I got from Joel was Priceless! I had NO idea what I’d do with them. Fast forward a year and I’ve come across Kindra’s blog and had an epiphany. Why not make it a mirror!

I was on the hunt for Mirror Spray Paint. I found it on Amazon, but it was a little pricy. Come in $30.00 credit I got when I signed up for their credit card (two years ago! Totally forgot I had it!). I also got a great deal on Groupon (great site for daily deals!) for Vinyl wall lettering $30.00 worth for $15.00 and I had a $10.00 coupon just for signing up!

I started by scraping off the old paint on the existing window and sanding it down. I then applied two coats of black paint that has been sitting in my garage waiting on my dining room chairs to give it some love. I then sanded it down again to give it a more aged look. After bringing it in the house though I realized that I’d have liked it a bit better if I’d sanded a little more. (oh well right!) I then covered it with a coat of high gloss polyurethane that we had left over from our hard wood floor redo (which you can somewhat see in the picture). I still have to ad a way to hang this mirror/window, but my dad gave me a cute chain that will look nice along the top.

Total Cost for this project:
Window : Free
Mirror Spray Paint : Free
Vinyl Lettering : $3.83 ($5.00 + $6.50 for shipping, divided by 3 (purchased 3 decals total!))
Black Paint : Already in my garage waiting for my dining room chairs
Polyurethane : Free (leftover from our hardwood floor redo!)

What we’ve been up to

2011-04-03T10:55:00.000-05:00

It’s been crazy in this house. Just when I think our lives have slowed down enough for me to blog again, we’re never in the house. It’s been beautiful outside. (Well, other than the little cold snap we had for 5 days where it didn’t know if it wanted to snow or rain.) Today is another beautiful day outside except for the fact that it’s only 40, and the wind is blowing like crazy.

All school year we’ve been lucky enough to get away from being sick. NOTHING all school year. Until last Thursday. Kaitlynn started with it, and MacKenzie came down with it yesterday. It’s the kind of bug that last about 4 days, and Dahrran and I are on day one today. Day one makes you feel bad, but not bad enough you can’t move. Day two is bad enough you don’t do anything. :( I’m really dreading tomorrow. Because Day 3 is puking. So tomorrow I’ll feel crappy enough to not want to move with a puking MacKenzie! (Maybe by putting it here it won’t actually happen!!!!!)

My grandma has been in the hospital since last Wednesday. She isn’t doing well. This is the grandma that we’re super close to. The ones my kids know well, and only live less than a mile from our house. I was taking it rough at first but I think I’m doing okay now. I know there comes a time, but I’m not ready.

Other than that we’re not doing much. Adding to our cow herd on a weekly basis, though that’s about to slow down with only one left to calve. I’ve got plenty of pictures, and if I’m feeling up to it maybe I’ll get our cattle blog updated today. :S We’ll see!

Hanging out on the farm

2011-03-18T16:49:00.001-05:00

With the weather getting nicer the kids and I have been going along with Joel to do chores more often. We also have had our share of haybale climbing and tractor rides. Can I just say that I love spring? Or more the impending of it.

posted from Bloggeroid

Get your craft on!

2011-03-16T20:06:00.001-05:00

Let’s just say I have a bit of craft envy going on. You see there are these blogs that I love to read. I dream. I dream of the one day making my house look as wonderful as theirs are.

You see there is just one problem. I’m not creative. Seriously not a creative bone in my body. (okay so I can sew, but really these ladies I’m about to showcase have tallent, serious tallent!)

One of the projects I actually have the nerve to try is this one, from Kindra. Except I’m using a large window that was given to me. I was so excited to find the Mirror Spray paint on Amazon so I could have it shipped instead of driving to Lincoln just for a can of paint. I’m sure I could’ve found it cheaper, but oh well. Not dragging everyone out was totally worth it for me!

Oh so cute!!!!!

I cannot say that I have anything in the works for this next example, but I would LOVE if I did. It’s so cute, and I wish someone would just make one for me! Shelley is so talented, and I LOVE her work!

(click on the picture for full directions!)

Another thing I’d love to do is this makeover of my laundry room. Although it’s in the basement, so it probably wouldn’t look as cute! :( Maybe our next house….a girl can dream right? If we did, I would totally do this project by Sausha, she has a way with furniture.

I TOTALLY want this for my laundry!

Show me your projects! I love all things that are a little bit not so “modern.”

Wow, it’s been awhile

2011-03-10T15:02:00.001-06:00

Yes it’s true we’re still alive here in the Cast household. We’ve been super busy with well, nothing really. Just life I guess.

For the last 6 months I’ve been working 3 part time jobs simultaneously. My house has gone to the wolves, and it was a fend for yourself kind of household. Within the last month I was recently let go from one of the jobs I love due to lack of funds. It didn’t really hit me how bad the economy is until then. But it’s been a blessing in disguise. I’ve had more time to work on the relationships that mean the most to me.

Since December Joel and I have been having a hard time being husband and wife. We even separated for a while to figure out who we each wanted to be, and to be sure that we still wanted to be with each other. Most people wouldn’t put this on their blog, but I feel why not. It happens all the time.

Thankfully we’re back on track to working things out, and back together. I wouldn’t recommend separation to everyone, but if you’re at your final straw why not try it for a while. It will either make you realize how much you truly NEED the other person in your life, or will just reiterate the facts that you’re better off apart. We’ve both done a lot of growing, and Joel has found his faith again through all of this.

So back to blogging I’m a coming! Be ready, I’m going to be a better blogger…..you know now that I have a little more “free” time on my hands! :)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2010-12-29T21:52:00.001-06:00

Since I didn’t get any Christmas cards mailed out this year I thought I’d go ahead and post the pictures that I would’ve used had we actually mailed them. Christmas kind of snuck up on me, and I didn’t really get a chance to get much of anything done. I didn’t put up my tree until the week before, and it probably won’t come down for a while. I just don’t have the time! :( Anywho, on with the pictures!

Here are the kids with their Teachers. The AWESOME ladies who take care of them during the day. I couldn’t ask for better teachers. Dahrran had MacKenzie’s teacher in Kindergarten, and so we were overjoyed when we found out M was getting her! Kaitlynn’s teacher is new this year, but it such a sweet lady. Dahrran’s current teacher is super nice as well!

And then there is this one….This is MacKenzie’s “boyfriend” L. She talked him into wearing his suit, (even after his mom couldn’t!!) so they could dance and look cute together! She’s quite the charmer that’s for sure!! On another note, L’s mom made the girls dresses!

Oh, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled with M’s hair either!!! But that was before I found this website! Check it out if you have a little girl!

Aww shoot….

2010-12-23T19:47:00.001-06:00

Might as well call me Betty Crocker.
Guess what we made today?

Sugar cookies! :) Just in time for Christmas.

And just to prove I’m no Martha Stewart……I give you the “mess”

And that my friends is CLEAN!

*If you look hard enough in the first picture you’ll see the sinks of dishes as well as the stove that is fully full of crap!! Not to mention the other crap that is all over my counters! :) *

Have a Merry Christmas!

What I’m working on

2010-12-17T15:57:00.001-06:00

So the last few posts have been quite the downers. Sadly that’s just who I am this Christmas. It’s not for lack of wanting to be in a better mood, it’s just not who I am right now. All I want for Christmas is someone to come clean and decorate my home, and THEN for it to stay that way over break so I can enjoy the time with my kids. Sadly I don’t think I’ll be getting my Christmas wish.

In other news, I decided to make crayon rolls for the girls’ stockings. I’ve had a few people ask what they were. Needless to say I’ve educated some of them. But at the same time, I realized I LOVED making them, and so I took a few (16) orders….might be in over my head, but I LOVE IT! :)

There they are. I love making them. So I picked up some more fabric today. Let me know if you need one. (Oh, and these two need new homes…they were just my prototypes, and the ones I’m making now are bigger and more what I was going for!)

Big Ole Pitty Party

2010-12-11T19:26:00.001-06:00

I’m having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit this year. Not sure what it is. Joel is gone tonight, and it’s hitting me really hard that we don’t even have our tree up and it’s the 11th of December. I don’t have shopping done. And after looking over our accounts, it’s going to be hard to finish up this week like I’d hoped.

I keep thinking about our miscarriage. Why I’m not sure. Probably because we’d talked of looking into adoption or foster care around Thanksgiving, and haven’t done more since.

I miss my mom. I hate this time of year because she’s not here. The last time she was here for Christmas was 6 years ago. We have plenty of family that loves us, and we get to see around Christmas time, but there is something about having your mommy home for Christmas.

Joel isn’t home tonight. I’m not missing him because I know he’s having a good time. And the kids are actually being angels so what the hell my deal is, is beyond me. Just a a big ole pitty party I guess. I have so much on my to-do list, and nothing is getting done.

Seriously, anyone who knows me IRL can come over tomorrow and help get me in gear to get my tree put up, and cookies made. And maybe help time slow down for just a little bit! I’m overwhelmed!

….testing….

2010-12-08T08:59:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone. Seems I always end up writing these types of posts when I’ve been gone for a while. I know, a while is a bit much this time. I don’t think I’ve gone this long without blogging before.

I’m in a funk. You see I’m not sure what happened. Okay so I am, Life Happened.

We’ve been busy. But there are TONS of moms who are just as busy, if not busier than I, and find time to blog. I guess part of my problem is I feel like I’m ignoring my family if I sit in my office and blog all night. Because let’s be honest here. I’m not a morning person.

I haven’t forgotten about my blog, I’ve tried to write this post many of times:

Oh how I miss you. I miss my friends that blogging has made, I miss that I don’t get to share my family with the world. I miss how easy it was to just tell you all the little things. There are a lot of things going on in my life right now. And crazy enough, it’s simpler now than it was when things were really rough. But I still have neglected to come here. I’m not sure why. For fear that you’ll all look at me in a different way, or that I won’t get it into the words that I actually want to say. I feel lost. Lost at blogging, lost as a parent, lost as a wife, lost in life. I’m so tired of people thinking that I should be someone I’m not. I’m not perfect. I never have been. But the part that’s the hardest is, I think I should be perfect.

That was just one of the many blog posts, during my darker days. Now that Christmas is right around the corner I’m glad to report that I’m trying to be more positive. I’m trying to be a better mommy, wife, blogger, friend. But not all days are sunny and shiny.

Please just bear with me, as I come back to this journey of blogging love. Because really I DO miss you all!

A Baseball Game – Warning Picture Overload!

2010-09-23T15:29:00.001-05:00

We took the kids to their first ever baseball game back in July. I won tickets on the radio for us to go. When I was playing “the game” to win them, I didn’t realize they included throwing out the first pitch at the game! The kids were so excited when I told them. And of course I won 6 tickets (since we’re a family of 5) so we took Aunt Lindsey along!

Of course we arrived super early, but even half way through the game the seats weren't filled. :(

With Dahrran getting to throw out the first pitch we were down on the field . The kids had a fun time watching the players warm up, and even prepping for the game.

What we also didn’t know was that Curt Tomasevicz was going to be throwing out the first pitch. You see, we in a sense….”know” Curt. He grew up and was raised in a town that sits about 15 minutes north of where we live. My grandma was his 4th grade teacher!

Dahrran got to hold his gold medal, and he was so excited! Curt is such a nice guy. (Not related to the baseball game, but just to prove how nice he is. My grandma is in a nursing home, and has been since November of last year. A couple weeks ago Curt was giving a speech at another local high school, in the town where my grandma is at, and he stopped in the nursing home to visit her! So pretty cool in my book! We had the kids’ pictures hanging on the wall with Curt in them for her, and he signed them both! I thought that was pretty neat, such a nice guy.)

Dahrran did a good job, it bounced before it hit the plate, but he didn’t feel quite so bad when Curt’s didn’t make it there without a bounce. We joked with Dahrran afterwards that if he wanted to pitch some day he’d have to practice, practice, practice!

MacKenzie also got to do something fun! She got to participate in one of the “side games” they hold during inning changes. She got to race Homer, the team mascot, in a bone race! In the first picture you wouldn’t know she was scared to DEATH of him. That’s why he’s hiding his eyes. He was so sad!

She won, of course. And finally warmed up to the fact that it was just a person in a suit.

Then comes the 7th inning stretch…okay so this was probably only the 3rd or 4th inning, but you can tell they were “OVER IT”! We had such a good time though!

And of course ONE more family picture to end the night!

* A BIG THANK YOU goes out to 106.3 KFRX, and the Morning show for the tickets! We love listening to the station, and had such a great time!

Sickies

2010-09-14T21:10:00.001-05:00

I’m sick. The girls have been sick. But not the pukey kind. The stuffed up runny nose, watery eyes kind.

You know. The allergy/hayfever kind. UGH.

The girls were doing great with them, except for coughing all night and keeping me awake. Which totally bogged down my immune system, and now I’m the one who’s coughing all night.

I was supposed to go out to Husker Harvest Days again this year with Joel tomorrow, but I’ve decided I’m staying home. You’d better believe that once the kids are on the bus, I’m setting my alarm for 10:30am and going back to bed!

And since I cannot blog without leaving you all a picture. Here’s one from our trip to the State Fair. They have $5.00 wrist bands for the kiddy rides, from 12-5pm. So it’s a great way for the kids to ride rides!

Kaitlynn turns 3

2010-09-12T22:02:00.001-05:00

Our sweet little baby turned three last month. THREE. How can it be that she is three already! I know the first year was kind of a blur with everything that happened, but it hasn’t been 3 years. Has it?

Maybe it has. She’s grown up so much in the last few months. Talking all the time. She’s now a bossy little girl, who can tell you what she wants, how she wants it, and when she wants it done. Usually it’s NOW. She is also our lover. I thought MacKenzie was lovey, but this girl is even more so. Her favorite thing to do is cuddle up and give you kisses. But she’s feisty too. Don’t let her charm fool you. If you don’t give in to what she wants, you’re in trouble!

She can turn on and off the charm in a New York minute! And unleash her wrath as needed. She’s already stomping off, and slamming doors when she doesn’t get her way. At the same time though she's the one who will come up and tell you “I Love you” out of no where. And share anything with you just because.

The girl loves Peanut Butter M & M’s but not the blue ones. Something about them I guess. She will eat us out of house and home if we let her. But some days you’d think I was feeding a mouse. She’s tall, skinny, and has so much energy. She loves her sister, and they are the best of friends. Our first cloth diaper baby, that showed me the way to be “greener” in our lifestyle.

She’s become so independent. Started Preschool. And now has so many friends I cannot count. When you ask her about school she will tell you “There are Two Kaitlynn’s in my class.” Although she is not a morning person. This girl loves naps. One day we took a nap at 9:30am, just because. Such a girlie girl as well. Loves her nails painted, and to be told she looks cute!

Happy Birthday sweet Kaitlynn!

First day of School

2010-09-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

Last year at Kindergarten round up the teacher did a neat thing where they planted a sunflower with the kids. They then told them that when the sunflower was taller than they were, and had bloomed it was time for school to start. They also got to bring home extra seeds “just in case” and we decided to plant them all. We ended up with 3 sunflowers out of 4, which I didn’t feel was too bad.

They got HUGE. Taller than our garage. The one that is all drooped over was the one they planted at school. The one she is standing next to has bloomed and it’s flower is stuck under the edge of the garage.

I’m not exactly sure everyone was awake for this picture!

Then there are the traditional close up/full body shots!

My big 2nd grader

My sweet Kindergartener

And my adorable preschooler

And of course one more group shot for good measure!

Headed to the bus.

I love these shots. They all did so good!

Bus driver is great. “Turn and Look at mom.” And of course them all waving. THIS is the moment I broke down crying. I was fine before they got on the bus. When it drove away I bawled!

Gods plans

2010-09-07T00:13:00.001-05:00

I was working on the pictures of the kids first day of school when I came across an email in my work inbox that pointed me towards a blog of a mother who lost her 3rd baby. As I got reading her blog, I came across videos of . oh forget it. I cannot find the words, so I’m just going to put them up here.

I remember reading Angie’s Blog a year or so ago. I found it when another blog that I read had linked up. I remember feeling so sad for them and their loss, but never thought the loss of a child would happen to me. I didn’t think that I would ever have a miscarriage.

I’ve been struggling with religion lately. And where I belong in it all. I know God exists, I believe he died on the cross for our sins. But I don’t “know” God. I know the basics of religion, and what I believe. On the same note, I’ve never really read many stories in the Bible. I’ve never honestly taken a deeper look at all of the things God can do.

You see Joel and I are different religions. Which really in all honesty of the picture shouldn’t matter. We both believe in God, and all of the basics, but neither of us truly know God. Joel’s family is pretty strict on going to church, and such. That’s what their religion is all about. Mine on the other hand isn’t quite so strict. We’re about teaching the stories of God, and singing praises.

I’ve had a rough time in all of the strictness that comes with Joel’s religion. So I thought taking a class to better understand it would do me some good. And it did. But I’m still at a loss. I don’t feel comfortable. It just doesn’t feel “right.” For me. (that’s the big thing here)

At that same time, we’ve been sending Dahrran to CCD once a week for the last 2 years. With us not going to church much in between. Maybe once every few months. We were doing good for a while, until I decided it didn’t feel right. This year he will be taking his first communion.

Joel and I got in a disagreement this last Wednesday because I was treated rudely by a member of his church, after talking with her about when CCD was to start. She basically told me that it was our responsibility to get the bulletin & then we would know. IF I was going to church there, then I would have gotten the bulletin. BUT since it is not my church and I have NOT been going there, how can I get the bulletin?!?!? Needless to say I told him he needed to start taking them, and deal with it if he wanted them to remain going to CCD on Wednesday nights. (which he did)

Where does this bring me? Why am I rambling. I don’t honestly know. I just know that God brought me in a direction tonight, and he wants me to figure this out. I just don’t know what he’s saying exactly. Sometimes I wish he’d just spell it out.

I cried. For the loss of my baby. For the strain this (religion) has on our marriage. For feeling lost and empty. For the longing of knowing God on a more personal level. For being the person God made me to truly be.

Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Mowing the lawn

2010-09-06T09:51:00.001-05:00

What’s your take on mowing the lawn?

Personally to me it’s something that should be done on a regular basis, along with trimming too. As soon as the grass starts to look shaggy, it needs to be cut.

Sadly this is NOT what happens at our house. Usually what happens is we get to it when one of us decides that it HAS to be done….as in we might get a notice from the Village if we don’t get it cut. (okay so it’s never actually been bad enough to think about getting a notice but I’m sure our neighbors are talking about it!)

Last night I mowed the lawn. For the first time in.a.month. The front lawn didn’t look to bad, and it only choked up the lawnmower once. Inside our privacy fence was another story though. There was ~~weeds~~ grass that were taller than the lawnmower. Let’s just you could’ve lost a small child back there…..I’m surprised I didn’t find one!

Please tell me I’m not the only one that totally let’s the lawn go at the end of the summer. Only to curse the whole time I’m trying to get it “back in shape.” It’s so embarrassing, that I didn’t even take pictures! Because that would mean I would actually have to admit that it got that bad!

No I didn’t fall off the face of the earth

2010-09-04T12:20:00.001-05:00

I promise. But for all you enemies out there….you can keep thinking I did, and keep on partying up!

We’ve been busy. I know that’s what I always say. But it’s true. And well I haven’t exactly been in the blogging mood. Seems I got a bit down for a while, and just didn’t know what to write. But either way I’m back to stay.

I’ve been such a bad bloggy friend as well. Only reading a handful of blogs, and missing the others. So I’m going to try and play the catch up game. If I don’t leave you a comment don’t feel left out. I’m going to read each and every update on my blog “MUST READ” list! If you’re not on the bottom of my blog, and would like to be, please leave me your blog address in the comments. I want to make sure I get everyone. I know there are a few blogs that I just keep forgetting to add!

As for what’s been going on in our lives. Dahrran, MacKenzie and Kaitlynn started school on August 18th. Yes, they all started school. Yes I cried like a little baby. It was a sad day. I called my mom afterwards and just sat there are cried. She made the comment that it was quiet here, to which I replied…TOO Quiet, and started crying again. I do have pictures, and will probably make them a Wordless Wednesday post soon!

Also I picked up another part time job…..not sure if I posted that in my last blog or not. (and well frankly I’m too lazy to actually go look!) It was supposed to fill my time for when Kaitlynn was in school, just a few days a week. It’s turned into a 15-25 hour a week job. I’m not complaining, but it does take up my time. So therefore at the end of the day I feel like I’m not getting anything done.

Our laptop died. It started acting funky, and then when we were babysitting our niece and nephew Joel accidentally stepped on it. Yes, it was partially my fault, and I’ll take the blame. I saw it laying on the floor, and knew he was about to walk that way carrying the playpen. But I figured he was the one who put it there so he’ll remember…..well he didn’t. It worked for a while, until of course the power cord went kaput. So we finally decided it was time to make the purchase of a desktop. It’s been 6 years since we had a desktop, and sadly I miss my laptop. BUT I like the fact that hopefully this one won’t get stepped on. But this also means that I don’t have our pictures transfered over. Thankfully I was able to get them all on jump drives before it crashed for good. Slowly I’ll get them posted!

There you have it. I’m behind, playing catch up, and hope to be a better blogger! Hope to see you all around soon! OH before I forget. I have a few more Favorite Fluff Friday’s coming up…….so watch for those in the coming weeks. (yes Kaitlynn is potty trained, and yes I’m SO far behind on these reviews.)

Girls Rule

2010-07-12T20:02:00.001-05:00

BOYS DROOL

Yup, his sisters beat him up. No Kaitlynn doesn’t get a binky anymore. (except when she finds them)

Now you see why CPS would take my kids away. When I say my house is trashed, I really mean it! It’s not always that bad, but 75% of the time it’s that bad! :(

Why does it have to be so hard?

2010-07-01T11:35:00.001-05:00

~~Alternately titled : I want my Mommy. or SERIOUSLY. or I’m about to have a nervous breakdown.~~

Things are rough right now. I’m stressed. I’m done. I’m snapping at my kids. I don’t like who I am.

My due date was July 6th. Knowing my history, and the fact that I have c-sections. I should have a baby in my arms right now. Why does this have to suck. Why do I have to have an empty womb, as well as an aching heart? I know some people would say, “Just get over it, and be thankful for the children you have.” Believe me. I’m thankful. I love those kids dearly.

At the same time I long for the baby that is with God. I long to know if it was a boy to complete our family or another girl to dress up pretty. I just want to know. Would it make it easier. Probably not. But would I feel better knowing. Yes. Or not. I don’t know. It’s not something I can answer at this point.

That’s not the only thing on my plate. My step sister is getting married on Sat. Yes, this Sat. July 3rd. I’m helping out so much. And everyone is so stressed. I’m worried about how things will turn out for her. Honestly I think I’m more stressed about her wedding, than I was my own.

Probably because mine I KNEW the day of, there was nothing I could do to change the way things played out. With this wedding, I know I can change how things play out if I’m in the right spot at the right time. I can help her if she misplaces something. If the flower girl looses her basket (which Kaitlynn better not) I can help her find it. I can help. My own wedding I was helpless.

There is so much to do yet.

My boss called today. Not the diaper store owner (I spent all day there, which was marvelous btw but that’s another post for another day!). My “real” job. The one that I do on the weekends. She basically told me that I HAVE to come in today after Joel gets home from work. Because she needs to go home and clean her house so her kids can come over.

I have 3 people staying at my house Sat. night. My house is TRASHED. Seriously. If CPS came over, they’d take my kids away, I’m sure. Well they probably wouldn’t because there is food in the fridge, clean clothes in their drawers, running water. You know. But still.

Guess what I’m getting at, (if you’re still here) is why does life have to be so hard? This isn’t even the most of my problems right now. But those things I’d rather not go into detail about for the whole world to see. I’m just tired of being stressed. I’m tired of things being so hard. FOR ONCE I’d love to just get a break. Where I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to have to handle any given situation. Things would come easy. Not that I don’t want to have to work for things.

I’m just tired of working so hard to get so little.

Hopefully the next post will be back to your regular scheduled picture viewing.

Wordless Wednesday – The Mud Puddle

2010-06-30T04:29:00.000-05:00

*Kinda Wordless * You have know the story behind these pictures. MacKenzie was with Grandpa on a “camping” trip, off to a bird swap meet. I was mowing the lawn when I saw Kaitlynn slowly heading closer and closer to the mud puddle that had become out in front of our house where we park. Each time I made a pass that way towards it I would tell her “Don’t go in that puddle.” Each time she would give me this little grin, but stay away. Finally when I was getting closer to being done and was always up front, I decided why not. Why not let them be kids and just have fun.

Kaitlynn stood next to the puddle and gave me the “PLEASE?!?!?” look. I told her to go ahead, and then I headed in the house where Joel was. As we were standing in the doorway he asks me “Did you see your daughter?!”, to which I replied… “That’s why I’m in here dear, I’m grabbing my camera.”

I think the pictures tell the rest of the story. Boy did they have fun!! Kaitlynn asks on a daily basis, “Mud Pies??”

The Baseball Season

2010-06-29T07:47:00.000-05:00

Joel was the head coach this year for Dahrran’s baseball team. We had a rough time coming up with 10 boys because the coaches last year pushed a few families away. This year was all about having fun. It wasn’t about winning and loosing, it was about playing, learning and having fun. We didn’t win a single league game, but we did win one tournament game that was just for fun.

Joel also had some great help this year as well. We had a couple help us out that we didn’t know all that well before, and have now become great friends with. It’s amazing how that happens! We also had a great group of boys, who all have great potential for next year!

Here’s just a few of my favorite pictures from the season! Since I was in the dugout doing books I didn’t get as many pictures as I did last year, but I still got some good shots!

Love Like Crazy

2010-06-28T10:09:00.001-05:00

Today is my grandparent’s 57th anniversary. I hope some day that Joel and I are married that long. My grandparents are a great example to me. Yes they have the days when they bicker at each other, but what couple doesn’t. Grandma has been in the nursing home since November. Grandpa has went almost every day. To feed her, to talk with her, to just sit there.

This was on Dahrran’s Birthday. Grandma was having an off day, but I love the fact that the kids know their great-grandparents!

Take a look at this video. IT’s my favorite new song! I LOVE IT!

Cousin Bailey

2010-06-27T10:25:00.001-05:00

You may remember I wrote about Bailey here. She’s such a cutie, and our youngest niece. The girls love her to death. Any time they come over or we go over there the first thing the girls do is beg to hold her. One day my sister-in-law was having a rough day because Bailey was being extra fussy. The girls and I weren't doing anything so we went over there to play and hang out.

Jennifer & Roger had an appointment that evening so I figured we’d bring Kendol and Bailey back to our house. The girls couldn’t get enough! Kaitlynn would make a great big sister some day. But until God decides it’s time for us to have another baby we’ll have to wait.

YES! I get to hold her!

10 fingers

Finally a smile!

This one is from a week or so later when they came over for a while.

Campfires with Grandpa

2010-06-21T23:29:00.001-05:00

These pictures are over a month old but I feel so bad for never getting them up here. There will be a lot of back blogging going on, but I’ll still use current dates. It’s just what happens when you fall behind. I honestly thought I’d blogged this, and then realized when I went looking for the pictures that I hadn’t! :( Shame on me! Excuse Kaitlynn’s clothes. She was in a phase where she HAD to dress herself no matter how small the clothes were.

Grandpa had to redo a bunch of barbwire fence after all the snow we had this winter and so there were plenty of trees to be cut down in the fence line. Needless to say he’s been lax for the last 20 years on the fence and there was a LOT of repair work to be done.

They went out in the “Christmas” trees and gathered pine cones.
The “Christmas” trees were planted when I was app. Kaitlynn’s age. So they’re not really “Christmas” trees anymore!

Did you miss us?

2010-06-18T23:46:00.001-05:00

I’ve had my computer back for about a week now. Life has hit us with full force here lately, and I’m struggling to get back into the swing of things. I loved not having a computer. I hated not having a computer. (only because the same time the computer cord went bad, the Direct Tv box went bad) We were outside as a family, we played together, we talked. I loved it. But I have a job, online which requires me to blog, facebook and tweet. A job that I love, but after being away for so long, that takes time.

Just like blogging here. I love it, but lately I’ve gotten so lax it’s not even funny. I’m not sure what happened to me. Taking pictures has also taken a back seat. I used to download about 200 pictures a time every couple days, weeks at the most. The last 3 months I’ve downloaded about 200 pictures per MONTH! I feel HORRIBLE. I hate that I don’t have them there for my kids.

Since I realized that fact a little under a week ago, I’ve already got 200 pictures for the month. And I’m working on more. I’ve just decided I need to get my camera out more often. My kids need these memories. Just as much as I do. I need to get my mind off of things. Baby #4’s due date is fast approaching and it sucks every time I see someone who is hugely pregnant. Someday the wounds will heal but for now they’re fresh and open. Maybe getting past that date will just make it easier.

We’ve got a lot coming up in the next two weeks. Two weeks from tomorrow my step sister will ~~make the biggest mistake of her life~~ be getting married to a great guy! And we’ve got a lot to do between now and then! I just can’t believe it’s that soon already. This weekend is her bachelorette party, and we have some fun things planned.

If you’re still here thanks for reading. I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things soon. There are TONS of pictures to blog about!! Okay so you know that isn’t true if you really read this whole post. But there are lots of different things we’ve done that need blogging!

Away!

2010-06-05T13:08:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone!! Just thought I'd let you know my computer is completly dead and I'm waiting on a replacement power cord. So if you don't see me on twitter/facebook/bloggin then you know why!!! Hope to be back on the bandwagon soon!

I’ve been Tagged

2010-05-30T13:35:00.001-05:00

I’ve been tagged by three separate bloggers in the past couple weeks! I love making such good bloggy friends, and I love it when they give me awards. Sometimes I’m not good about responding. Today I want to get them all into one post, and tag some more great bloggy friends!

*Sadly I cannot find the other two nominations! I know who they were, I just cannot find their blogs….and well Joel is chomping at the bit to get cows moved today! I’d better get a move on so I don’t upset him! LOL So if you tagged me, please please let me know again in these comments and I’ll dedicate another post to it!!!! *

Jess over at Welcome to the Zoo tagged me with this lovely award! You might remember I helped Jess out a while back by getting a bunch of cloth diapers donated and mailed out her way! She’s such a sweet lady!!

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

First of all Thanks Jess! You’re such a sweet mama and I’m glad to know you! I’m glad we’ve become friends! I’ve decided I’m going to share 15 things about myself, and then tag 7 mommies!!! Mainly because of time constraints I’m doing it this way!

1. I hate doing laundry. Well not so much washing/drying just folding. I also hate to put it away. It’s not uncommon to come over to my house at any time and see a basket of laundry or folded laundry just sitting on my floor. In fact there are two baskets sitting in the living room now, and folded laundry just sitting there! :(

2.I love baseball season, and Joel is coaching. Which means I’m doing books. . . I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to books! OOPS! I’m getting there though! Joel just laughs at them!

3. Sometimes I schedule my blog posts. Really I don’t know if I’d ever blog if I didn’t schedule things.

4. This blog post was interrupted mid way because Joel woke up from his mini nap, and declared that it was time to leave. NOW. to move cows.

5. Yes we have cows, No we do not live on a farm. Unfortunately. Hopefully soon though.

6. I love watching Food Network. I wish I could cook like that, I’m sure I could if I tried, but I don’t try. Plus some of the things they make I know my family wouldn’t eat.

7. I also love watching HGTV and all the design shows. I wish I had a $2000 budget for every redesign I’d love to do! Sometimes I secretly think I could do it for way less!

8. I’m a horrible housekeeper. Oh wait we kind of discussed that in number 1, didn’t we?

9. The reason I’m a horrible house keeper? My friends live in my computer. My sanity lives in my computer. I get on the computer to get socialization. I know if I actually got my housework done I could make real friends outside my computer…..Don’t worry Joel and I argue about this all the time, so don’t tell him I actually admitted that. (BTW Joel if you’re reading this, which I’m sure you are….just totally ignore this one!)

10. I love to cook, but can only do it if the kitchen is clean. Want to know when my kitchen gets clean? Yup right before I cook it…

11.Secretly I’d love to have a clean house. I go to bed thinking of ways I can be a better housekeeper, better wife. Sadly when I wake up though those ideas are gone.

12. Why do all these random things have to do with cleaning….probably b/c my house is trashed and I know it! :(

13. I love to read. Books. But not steamy romance novels. Nope I like Jr & HS fiction. Why I have no idea. I can’t seem to read slutty novels or even science fiction novels.

14. I can crochet…..but I hardly ever finish anything. I’ve only ever finished 3 things. A blanket for Kaitlynn…..(that I started for MacKenzie), and the hat & sweater I did for my niece.

15. I also love to sew! But see number 14.

16……….I know I said I’d only do 15……but I forgot to tag people! :( OOPS!!! See how forgetful I am!

I’m going to tag these amazing blogs, not only because they’re my friends, but because I love reading what they write!
Katie from Katie Talks About
Amanda from “popp”ing out one letter at a time
Melissa from My 2 Blessings
Gayle from The White House
Joanna from Baby Gator’s Den
Kelli from Betters Days Ahead

Cleaning house……or not

2010-05-27T07:19:00.000-05:00

I’m so bad at cleaning up things it’s not even funny. Whenever I find a new website that I like I throw it into my bookmarks menu. There are some folders, but usually I’m in such a hurry to get moving that I just throw them wherever they go. IT’s bad. Really bad. Like to the point where I NEEDED a link, and can’t find it! :(

So I’m going to spend the next few hours just organizing my tabs and bookmarks! Please tell me I’m not the only one who needs to clean house on their computer?? Oh yeah & I need to get pictures put on to CD’s as well! My computer is running so slow it’s not even funny!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-26T05:16:00.000-05:00

Catching up.

2010-05-24T12:46:00.001-05:00

Baseball season officially is underway. Which means we’re going to be busy for the next 6 weeks or so. Even more busy than we were last year because Joel is head coach for Dahrran’s team.

So what have we been up to the last two weeks? Well let’s see. My step brother graduated from High School, which I baked cakes for. Dahrran had his last day of school, and so trying to entertain them all has been a challenge. We’ve had a bonfire at Grandpa’s house.

Here are just a few pictures from Graduation day. Jake is the last of us kids to graduate! We’re so proud of you bud!

I promise to catch up on the blog, and get back to regular programming soon. Hopefully this summer doesn’t kick my behind. I’m going to cherish every moment. Next fall Dahrran will be in second grade, MacKenzie will be in Kindergarten, and Kaitlynn will go to preschool 4 days a week 1/2 days! I won’t know what to do with myself!

Carry on, back to your regular scheduled blog reading now.

Nifty Nappy Giveaway Winner

2010-05-22T17:52:00.001-05:00

I’ve taken days longer than I’d expected to get this winner chosen, but now I give you winner number 414.

Carolena is a super sweet new blogger with a cute little girl named Elenore. You’ll love all the pictures on her blog!

Congrats Carolena, you have 48 hours to respond to my email!

A little update on us!

2010-05-14T23:36:00.001-05:00

So this week is Graduation week at our house. No I do not have children graduating, but I do have a step brother graduating High School. He is the last of us kids to graduate high school. So I’ve been a busy beaver this week. I offered to bake cakes for graduation, and I didn’t realize it would be such a task.

I’ve used 8 2lb bags of Powdered Sugar in two days. We bought 4 bags to begin with, and I figured it would be enough. As you seasoned cake experts now laugh at me! We then bought out the little convinces store. I then ran out again. Dad brought over what he had. I ran out again. So this after noon we went back to get a couple more bags. FINALLY I am done making cakes!

So since I didn’t get around to closing the Nifty Nappy Giveaway, I’m going to leave it open for another week!!! Why not? Plus I’m not going to have time to post tomorrow as tomorrow is graduation, and on Sunday I’d like to just relax! It will now end Thursday May 20th.

As far as everything else goes. We had our last calf born the other night. It gives us a grand total of 2 bulls, & 4 heifer calves. 3 black, 2 red, and one smoky grey. So that ends calving season…….and begins/continues breeding season! YAY!

My house is filthy! Worse than the pictures I posted before. There is CLEAN Laundry everywhere. My step sister is in town and before she can even go to bed tonight I have to get 2 loads of unfolded & 3 loads of folded laundry!

So I’d better get my but in gear. It’s 11:34. I’ve been awake since 7:30am with only 3 hours of sleep.

Wordless Wednesday – OR NOT

2010-05-12T06:53:00.001-05:00

Cloth Diapers for a friend. I know I haven’t posted this yet. And I promised an email to all the mama’s that helped me out, with pictures. But I’m sorry this is going to have to do!

Jessica is a great mom to two beautiful kiddos. But just a few short months ago her life changed. She was called to be the caregiver for her two small nieces. Did I mention she has two kiddos, and her oldest is only 4? Her nieces are young as well. This mama has 4 little kiddos under the age of 4 living at her house. She’s one strong mama.

One night she mentioned that she’d love to be able to cloth diaper both girls to help save on their diaper bill as well as save some of the trash going into their can. This is when my brain child was born. I decided I was going to put a box of diapers together even if I had to send her all my diapers.

Thankfully there are a ton of great mom’s out there on Twitter & they answered my call on #clothdiapers search! I asked them to send one diaper they wern’t using and I would send them all on. Some mama’s were able to spare 3 or 4 diapers! In total we were able to get her 18 more cloth diapers, as well as some wipes, fleece liners, and a gift card to Top to Bottom Baby Boutique.

Bottom Row of Diapers, Top row of Diapers

My sweet little helper!

The total Loot.

You can read Jessica’s post here on her box.

Thank you to all the ladies who helped me out!!!

Katie Sanchez
Chanda Pressley
Andrea Campbell
Renee Tower
Joanna Stepka
Jessica Quick
Kaylyn Buckner|
Shannon Story

Ten on Tuesday

2010-05-11T21:05:00.002-05:00

1. Where did the weekend go? Seems like it was just Friday! Seriously! On Sat. Dahrran and I hung out and cleaned carpets. It feels so good to have the living room carpet white again!

2. I’ve never gotten around to blogging about Dahrran’s spring program. He did so good. He actually had a speaking part & didn’t forget any of it! We were so proud of him. I took a video of it with my phone but you couldn’t hear him so I decided I wouldn’t put it up! His lines were “Betty bit a bit of bitter butter. Bleck! A crow flew over the river with a rump of raw liver.” So if you can’t tell they were tongue twisters!

3. Picture of Dahrran with his teacher. Miss Densberger. She’s such a sweetheart!

4. I’m also behind on blogging MacKenzie’s 4th Birthday! Want to know something else? We haven’t really had a party for her yet. I feel bad about it, but things were just so crazy around her birthday that we celebrated with Joel’s parents and here at home but not with my dad/grandparents yet. What kind of mom does that make me. It’s been a month now! :(

5. The girl wanted a Barbie cake for her birthday. She was just in luck because one day when we were out thrift shopping I came across the pan for a couple bucks. Plus, this was super easy to do! I feel there will be plenty more Barbie Cakes in our future!

6. I kind of feel bad for not including any pictures of Kaitlynn in this 10 on Tuesday post.

7. Just to be nice. I’ll post a few of her….but maybe I’d be nicer if I didn’t!

8. Cold hard proof of what it’s like when I try to get pictures for Favorite Fluff Friday’s posts. Kailtynn in her Tot Wraps cloth diaper.

9. Kaitlynn is cuddled up on my lap right now. This is night number two when she is awake and comes down wanting to cuddle. Usually fussy because she can’t get to sleep on her own. I hold her in my arms and within
10 minutes she is asleep. I just don’t want to get in the habit of this. Although I tell myself one day I won’t get this so I’m going to take it while I can…what would you do? Put her back to bed, or just cuddle her to sleep?

10. A cute Picture of the kids together!

Happy Mother’s Day

2010-05-09T05:54:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother’s day to my mom, my mother-in-law and my step-mom.

Crock Pot Chicken

2010-05-08T12:09:00.002-05:00

You can’t tell me that doesn’t look delish! A friend was nice enough to send me this recipe a while back and I have to say I’m in LOVE with it! It was so yummy. With or without noodles. Here you have it. The original instructions are on the website. I’m just going to put what I used

Cream Cheese Chicken

This is what I USED:

4 Frozen Chicken Breast

Pampered Chef Crushed Peppercorn & Garlic Rub

(you can order this from me)

2 cloves of garlic pressed

2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

Chicken Bullion granules mixed with water to make 4 cups.

Block of Cream Cheese (add last)

Instructions:

Put everything except for the cream cheese into the crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred. Shred the chicken with two large forks or I used my Pampered Chef Mix & Chop (LOVE THAT THING!!!), and mix in the block of cream cheese. Switch the crock to high and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is fully melted.

Serve over pasta. I cooked it then added it straight to the crock pot and mixed in some fresh grated parmesan cheese. SUPER Yummy. We serve this with peas & Garlic Bread!

Favorite Fluff Fridays – Nifty Nappy Cloth Diapers

2010-05-07T12:40:00.004-05:00

Welcome to this week’s Favorite Fluff Friday! Are you a fitteds girl? I wasn’t. I was a strictly pocket girl. That was until I decided after starting this Favorite Fluff Fridays adventure. I decided to really give you my true favorites I needed to try all different types of cloth diapers. We also were having some night time issues (all you diaper mama’s know what I’m talking about!) and all of my twitter friends told me I needed to try Nifty Nappy Cloth Diapers at night.

In came Nifty Nappy. Like I said all my twitter #clothdiapers (search it in twitter just like that if you want to find other mom’s that cloth diaper) mama’s told me that Nifty Nappy fitted diapers with her woolie wraps were the solution to our night time problems. After looking over her website, I settled on a package and decided I should check with Joel first.

Late one night I asked Joel if I could purchase some new diapers just for night time use. He said sure whatever. Little did he know I was actually going to be buying 5 diapers and 2 wool covers. Wool is another thing I had absolutely NO experience with. I didn’t even know anything but the basics (it was waterproof naturally).

I ordered my cloth diapers and waited for them to come. It took them a little longer than normal because Vilate was out of fabric to make the Nappy Inserts, but she was great about emailing me to let me know they were on backorder. When they finally arrived we had to try them out! The very first night I put one on Kaitlynn before ever prepping it (note: this is not recommended by Nifty Nappy) cause well I just had to try it out! We used it with the woolie wrap and I was pleasantly surprised when Kaitlynn woke up completely dry and didn’t smell like urine at all!

These diapers are great! And paired with Nifty Nappy Woolie Wraps they’re bullet proof! I love wool! It is the best cover over a fitted diaper! We occasionally use them over a pocket diaper at night just for extra protection. Vilate also is great at helping to save the planet. All of her woolie wraps are made of upcycled wool sweaters. This means she goes to local thrift stores and finds sweaters that might have other wise been thrown away if they weren’t sold, and then makes them into woolie wraps.

They are also a one size cloth diaper. Which means they will fit babies from roughly 8 pounds up to 35 pounds. To test this theory out I decided to put one on our sweet little niece. Now her mama isn’t on the Cloth bandwagon yet, and no matter how hard I try I can’t convince her it’s just as easy as disposables. I also didn’t really want to wake her up because we were in the middle of a little photo shoot, and mama didn’t want nude pictures, so I put it on over her diaper & onesie. But you can see how well it fits a newborn. Bailey was only a week old in these pictures and it fits her really well! She’s right at 8 pounds, and I think if I’d had her diaper off I could’ve got an even better fit.

And as you know by now I cannot show them to you on Kaitlynn. She will not sit for pictures! :( As much as I try. If I try to get a picture of her just running around, she see’s me then runs off. I was hoping I’d had some pictures on the computer from when we got them, but I must not have taken any. We truly love these fitteds. Nifty Nappy Fitteds were our first fitted, and have opened my eyes to the world of fitteds. I love these diapers!

BUY IT:
Nifty Nappy Fitteds retail for $22.00
Woolie Wraps retail for: $25.00

WIN IT:
Vilate was kind enough to offer up a $35.00 gift card to her website!!!!!

MANDATORY ENTRY:
Head on over to Nifty Nappy and let me know what your favorite fabric is as well as what fabrics you’d like to see (themes/prints/solids you name it)

Extra Entries:
(one per entry unless otherwise stated, leave comment for each)
Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect
Subscribe to my RSS Feed
Grab my button (bottom of the blog)
Follow me on Twitter: @amongthemess
Follow Vilate on Twitter: @myniftynappy
Follow Vilates Blog
Become a Facebook Fan of Nifty Nappy
Grab Vilates Button for the Website
Subscribe to Nifty Nappy’s Newsletter
Tweet this giveaway: Be sure to include @myniftynappy @amongthemess & #clothdiapers (once per hour)

Contest Ends Thursday May 13,2010 at Midnight CST

I was NOT provided a diaper for this review, all statements above are of my own opinion & were not swayed by the offer of a gift card giveaway.

Children’s Museum – Field Trip

2010-05-06T07:58:00.000-05:00

We went on the last field trip of First Grade last week. It was a rainy cold day and at first I didn’t know if we’d get to enjoy the park for lunch or not, but the clouds parted and we were able to have a nice day. First up was the Children’s Museum, and then the park for lunch, and then off to the UNL Dairy Store where we got a tour as well as sample ice cream!

The tunnels were closed off when we first got there but as soon as they opened up, all the kids headed straight for them!

Dahrran was chased by the girls.

Dahrran loves the water whenever we go. And then there is Dawson & Dahrran two farm boys at heart!

Dahrran’s class minus one student. This is the whole first grade with both teachers. There are 11 kids in Dahrran’s class!

On the bus ride home. Daylee & Dahrran. She was a rabbit he was a penguin.

A fun weekend!

2010-05-04T10:19:00.002-05:00

The weekend went way too fast, but it was so much fun! We had a great time just hanging out. We hung out at the Naturally Green Expo all weekend. I have to say I was not impressed at all! It was rather dull. They said there would be thousands of people and at the end of day one they hadn’t even gotten rid of their 500 free gift bags! :( I’m not sure where it went wrong. I can say that there wasn’t really any advertising in front of the building to let you know it was there. I drove right past it on Saturday when I headed down there. It honestly could’ve been a great show if they’d actually got people in the door!

I did get to talk with a few mommies about cloth diapers. Just not as many as I’d liked! We were able to inform a few grandma’s though. One of them even informed us her daughter was still using pins & plastic pants! We couldn’t believe it. So we sent grandma away with a Snappi and a Thirsties cover in hopes that she can convince her daughter to use them. There was also another grandma there who informed us her daughter was using pocket diapers, but wanted to buy her some prefolds. She came back the next day and informed us her daughter was too good for prefolds & bought some diaper pins instead for herself!

All in all though I had a good time hanging out with Jess. We went to a great Mexican place with the best Margarita’s as well as the best chicken taco salads! I so want to go back. Maybe I can convince Jess to bring me one when I crave one now. . . Or not but still! YUM!! I’m not sure if it’s a local just to Omaha place or what, but I LOVE IT!! It was nice to get to hang out with the girls & not have to worry about kids the next morning. I’d do it again in a heart beat!

Here is just a little sneak peek of the outfit I made for our new niece. I will have more pictures later as I edit them but I wanted to show you the little sweater/hat combo! Let me know what you think!

My sister is coming home this weekend to stay! The first time in MONTHS!! I love her but she hasn’t stayed the night with us in a long time! I miss my sister! This just means that I need to get the 5 loads of laundry that are sitting on the guest bed folded and put away! I’ve been doing good at getting laundry washed but I need to get them folded! Anyone want to come help??

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I know I haven’t drawn a Favorite Fluff Friday winner yet from last week. Nor did I get the new post up. Sadly, I think Favorite Fluff Friday will be coming to an end soon. Unless we have another baby I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it!! Kaitlynn is going to be potty training soon, and so I’m looking more for cloth trainers. If you know of someone who makes great ones I’d appreciate if you’d point me in their direction! It’s getting harder and harder to change Kaitlynn’s diaper as well as to take pictures for Favorite Fluff Friday’s!
Without Further Ado I give you the winner of the Favorite Fluff Friday Tot Wraps winner!

Comment number 64 belongs to a great mom! Kelli has become one of my good friends and I’m so excited for her!

Go on over check out her blog and give her some loves! She’s a SAHM to two beautiful kiddos! Landyn & Lilly are just 15 months apart so she’s got her hands full but is doing a wonderful job!!!

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That about ends this post! I’m hoping I can catch up on Laundry enough to come back to my computer and catch up on blogging! I miss all my favorite blogs. I’ve lurked on a few lately but haven’t had the time to comment! Just know I’m thinking about you all & wish I had more time to come leave you some love!! Hopefully this week!

Busy Weekend Ahead

2010-04-30T23:53:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven’t drawn a winner for the Tot Bots Giveaway. Maybe tomorrow, but I doubt it! You see I’m headed to Omaha for a weekend away. It’s going to be so much fun. I get to hang out with an awesome mama, as well as tell everyone about the amazing world of today’s Modern Cloth Diapers!!!!!!! Plus did you notice I said away….that means NO kids! I’m going by myself!

Bet you didn’t know I was excited. It’s been the first time I’ve been away from my kiddos/husband since Thanksgiving. I love my kids, but at as any mom knows sometimes we just need a break. So Joel will be home with the kiddos all weekend. I’m hoping my house is clean when I get home….but I doubt it! LOL I did try to clean as much as possible before I left, but that consisted of the girls’ room & closet, as well as my room/closet. Such a slacker I know. There is clean laundry though. I’ve done probably 10 loads since Tuesday. WHERE does it all COME from???

In other random news. I have a bunch of pictures on my computer to blog about, including Dahrran’s Field Trip, and a few from a little session I did with our newest niece… Oh did I forget to mention she was here?? I did! oops… Any who Bailey Anne joined the Benes/Cast family on April 21, was 21 inches 8lbs 10oz. She’s such a cutie! We spent the day over there on Wednesday just helping/hanging out!

I also crocheted a sweater and hat for Miss Bailey. I’ve gotten so many complements on it that I’m thinking of making custom orders as need be. I’m not sure I’d want to actually open a Etsy store or anything, but they are uber cute! Esp. the hats! LOVE THEM! Now to just get motivated enough to make them for the girls.

Okay I need to get to bed. It’s almost midnight, and I’ve been up way too late this whole week. (Plus, I still have to pack my bags yet, just don’t tell anyone!) Have a great weekend!

The Fort

2010-04-26T00:29:00.001-05:00

Daily the girls ask me to build them a fort. Usually they try themselves for a while but then fall short, and always come begging for me to make on. Sometimes I tell them to fix it themselves, but other days I just give in and make them one with the few blankets they bring down. Usually too small, but either way we make it work.

Its so much fun to hear them giggle and talk amongst themselves. I love the bond these two girls have (when they can get along). They’ll grow up knowing the love of a sister, and that makes me smile.

Usually when I try to get pictures of them in their fort, they hide under the covers. If I’m lucky I can get a good picture. But usually they just giggle while trying to hide from me. So instead I take pictures of their cute little feet, and remember someday I’m going to miss this!

Your Questions Answered

2010-04-24T17:13:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for asking some fun questions! I always like these types of posts because it gives you just a little more insight on who the person is behind the blog, and the pictures. Even though it’s taken me forever to get them answered I didn’t forget!

The dog. Well the dog…is Jackson. Jackson is a 5 1/2 yo Chocolate Lab mix. We’re not sure what he’s mixed with, and we’re not even sure who/what his parents were. Jackson came into our family about 5 years ago now. He wasn’t quite a year old, and we adopted him from our local humane society pet shelter. He was house trained and for the most part has been the best dog. The kids love him, and he’s great with them as well.

Life on the Farm….well since we still live in town and haven’t been able to get our house sold, life on the farm isn’t happening. But I know what you meant Gayle. We still have the cattle on my dad’s farm & are waiting the birth of two more sweet baby calves. We’ve got 4 calves on the ground 2 bull calves and 2 heifer calves. 3 are black 1 is red. We did have our first set of twins this year. Joel has been wishing for twins since we got our first cows 7 years ago! We’re hoping this summer we will be able to get our house sold. Although we’re not sure where we’ll go at this point because we don’t have any future farm prospects at this time.

The day I wrote this up , Farm life got interesting. We had a first. A backwards calf. So I decided to snap a picture of Joel. He then asked if I was going to Blog this! LOL Yup, dear here it is!

If I could go visit anyone, and money/time wasn’t an issue I’d go visit all my fellow blogging mommies that I’ve made friends with! You’re all so nice that I’d never want to leave anyone out. Also along the way I think I’d have to go visit my mommy up in Canada. We don’t get to see her but maybe once a year so I’d have to say I’d go spend quite a bit of time there too….

….now someone win the lotto and share with me so we can all meet up! :)

For Easter we went to DH’s family on Palm Sunday. Easter Sunday, the kids got up early found their Easter baskets from the Easter bunny, and then found all the hidden eggs through the house. The kids and I got ready to head out to church. Joel wasn’t able to go with us this year because about an hour before we needed to be leaving he got called into work. He had to go in for about an hour, and then was back home. We then went to visit my grandma who is in the nursing home right now. After that we hung out for a while, and then went to my dad’s house for supper. Nothing big and exciting but we did get to see family!

My favorite thing about spring are the flowers and the new life that is emerging! The temperatures are beautiful! My favorite time of the year is the spring and the fall. I think it’s all the changing of colors that is the best!

Favorite Fluff Fridays - Tot Wraps

2010-04-23T00:21:00.003-05:00

FAVORITE FLUFF FRIDAY’S IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Yes I’m super excited. I’m sorry I was away for so long but it wasn’t my plan. Honestly! So, on with the show must we go!

This weeks Favorite Fluff Friday is brought to you courtesy of Tot Wraps. What you haven’t heard of them yet? Oh my goodness. You are missing out! Tot Wraps are the brain child of Krysta, a homeschooling, cloth diapering, work at home mom to 5 (yes I said 5) kiddos! The youngest being 6 months old!

Krysta was nice enough to send us out the Dream Diaper, one-size, hybrid all-in-one in black and purple. I couldn’t believe this diaper was an All-in-One diaper! It was so trim and soft. The tabs are stretch and so you can get a great fit every time. Not only is this diaper an All-in-One, but it has a pocket opening for those super heavy wetter's to use over night. Krysta also sent us a Dream Diaper Insert as well. We LOVE to use this diaper as an over night diaper with the Dream Doubler Insert in place.

Features of the Tot Wraps Dream Diaper™, one-size, hybrid all-in-one include:

A wide fit-range in a single diaper—trim enough to not be bulky on a 7 lb newborn, yet large enough to fully cover a 40 lb toddler. There’s no need to invest in multiple sizes of diapers, saving you both time and money.
Two rows of closure snaps for optimum leg and waist adjustment. To obtain a perfect fit, simply snap the closure tab in the leg row (bottom row) of snaps where the leg fits comfortably. Then snap the tab into the waist row of snaps where the waist fits comfortably. It doesn't matter if the same snap placement is used for both the leg and waist.
Easy pull, stretch tabs have plenty of grabbing area and a gentle stretch. Making changes easy, and wearing comfortable.

No complicated folds, flaps, snaps, or attachment parts.With only one pair of rise-adjustment snaps this diaper is easy for anyone to use. Long-lasting, easy to use snap closures mean no hook ’n’ loop diaper chains and the closures will last the life of the diaper.
Gentle clear elastic around leg and waist openings plus the lack of top-stitching allows the diaper to comfortably and gently stretch to fit almost all diaper-wearing children and eliminate red marks.
A colorful, waterproof polyester PUL outer that rolls in on the legs and completely edges the inner diaper for a leak-proof, one-piece diaper.
A soft, absorbent inner and Zorb™ soaker holds up to 11 oz. of liquid, handling even the average toddler-sized mess without adding any doublers or inserts. The comfy cotton velour is drier to the touch than other absorbent fabrics yet still stays moist enough to let children know they are wet to aid in potty training. Some styles offer organic viscose of bamboo velour or stay-dray micro fleece inners as an option. Maximum absorbency won't be reached until diaper is washed at least 5 times.
Large interior pocket opening allows you to easily increase absorbency for naps, trips, heavy-wetters, or overnight use. Insert will agitate out in the wash, so there is no need to un-stuff before washing. The pocket opening also ensures thorough cleaning and shortens drier time to about an hour.
Hourglass-shaped Dream Diaper™ Inserts are optional since you won’t need them for normal use. Folding on stitched fold line allows insert to fit smaller rise settings.These can be inserted with the larger end toward the front for boys, or toward the back for girls. For nights instead of stuffing the pocket, try laying the insert in the diaper white side up. The stay-dry fabric on the white side will wick moisture away from your child's bottom, keeping them dry and comfortable all night long.
Thinner than a wet disposable so it fits well under any clothing, even jeans and Onsies.

I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures of this diaper on Kaitlynn. I love it! But Kaitlynn does not love my camera. I have pictures of her in it, but she’s crying because I decided to clean up her boogery nose before taking any pictures. We then refused to let me take them and thought we would cry & not look at the camera the whole time! If I get some good ones of her in it, I will post them in a heartbeat! (Plus the ones I do have of her crying are on my camera yet, and it’s late! Dahrran has a field trip tomorrow and I want to get this posted. I knew if I didn’t do it tonight it wouldn’t get done!)

BUY IT:
Dream Wrap OS AIO diapers sell for $18.00-$20.00

WIN IT:
Krysta was nice enough to offer up one of my lucky readers their very own Tot Wraps Dream Wrap OS AIO diaper!!

MANDATORY ENTRY:
(must do or none of the other’s count)
Head on over to Tot Wraps and let me know what product is your favorite and why.

EXTRA ENTRIES:
(please leave a comment for each one that you complete or it doesn’t count)
Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect
Follow me on twitter @amongthemess
Tweet about this giveaway (include #clothdiapers, #giveaway & @amongthemess) (once per hour)
Sign up to Tot Wraps Yahoo Group for updates (3 extra entries)
Tell me what your favorite night time solution is for diapering (as many as you have)
Name one thing you learned about Tot Wraps that I didn’t write in this post. (limit 5)

Just Cause I can Entries:
Become a fan of Top to Bottom Baby Boutique on Facebook
Become a twitter follower of @toptobottombaby
Become a follower of Top to Bottom Baby Boutique’s Blog
If you are comments number 1, 18, 26, 33, 63, 89, or 112 get 5 extra entries

Disclaimer:
I was provided a diaper to review. In no way did this sway my view of this diaper. I truly love this diaper, if I didn’t I wouldn’t include it in Favorite Fluff Friday’s. Contest will be open until Thursday April 29th.

10 on Tuesday

2010-04-21T00:02:00.001-05:00

1. This is going to be quick because there are random thoughts running through my head right now and it’s already 11:33pm! It’s been such a long week, and it’s only Tuesday!

2. Two sweet friends text messaged me yesterday making sure I was alright because we’ve just been running so much this last week that I wasn’t on twitter all weekend! It felt soo good to just have friends who know when I’m not around, and that’s totally not like me! I love getting to know people on twitter and the adult interaction is amazing. Just the friendships I’ve made are amazing!

3. On a last minute whim I decided on Friday night that I was going to head out to Earth Day Omaha to meet up with Jessica Quick from Top to Bottom Baby Boutique. I figured heck why not! I’m so glad I did. Jessica is so sweet. I mean I knew she was, because of all of our late night conversations, but she’s even sweeter in person! I had promised Joel that I’d be headed home around 4pm because it was a 2 hour drive home. Come 6:30 I was still in Omaha helping Jessica pack up! At that point Joel told me that Kaitlynn & I were on our own for supper. So I decided I needed to go see the Diaper room over at Jess’s house. Jess was nice enough to give me the grand tour of her house and neighborhood. Since I was on my own for supper, we decided to head out for supper then too! It was so much fun!

4. Just a few pictures from Earth Day Omaha. You can see more of them here.

View Full Album

5. Dahrran had his first baseball practice tonight. It was so much fun & he had fun! Joel is coaching this year, and so that is a huge step for them both. Last year was a trying year to say the least and so we’re hoping for a more laid back learning, having fun, type of year!

6. Joel’s been working so hard to just get us enough kids for a team. Thanks to the coaches we’ve had for the last two years we’ve had a lot of families leave our town to play in other towns. He got the call last Thursday that we were going to have just enough kids to play. He was so excited, and I was excited for him as well!

7. I’m so far behind on blogging right now I’ll never catch up!!

8. So who misses Favorite Fluff Friday??? I DO! I feel so bad because I haven’t had the time to get them up and posted! So as of right now I’m not sure if I’m going to run a couple together or what I’ll do! But what I do know is that I’ve got 3 great products in the line up, with a couple more in the future!

9. Part of the reason I’ve been away and not blogging? It’s been beautiful outside! We’ve spent quite a few days at the park. In fact just this weekend we went 3 days in a row.

10. Joel came down stairs just a few minutes ago. He didn’t look pleased that I was still awake, and on the computer! Which means I’m off to bed! Night all! :)

Happy Birthday MacKenzie Wylene

2010-04-16T12:32:00.000-05:00

Today my baby girl turns 5! WOW, where did the last 5 years go?

MacKenzie,
You were our surprise baby. Not as much as a surprise as your brother was, but still a surprise none the less. When we found out we were pregnant with you, we were in the midst of planning a wedding. A wedding that would be one short week after your due date. So we moved the wedding up, and prepared better for your birth when that time would come. Of course if we’d known you’d decide to make your grand entrance almost 2 weeks before your due date we may have just kept the wedding date we’d chosen.
Either way, you’ve made a huge impact on our lives. Starting off with those beautiful brown eyes! I’ll never forget them

You have a love for everyone. Even if you’re over enthusiastic and I have to tell you to slow down.

I cannot believe how much you’ve grown.

From pooh bear, to Dora, to Hannah Montana, my baby is growing up! I cannot believe she turns 5.

Now, maybe I should go print pictures so I can START* her scrap book! Bad mommy!

*And yes I did just admit that I haven’t printed pictures from her birth…at all!

**If you promise not to think I’m a horrible person, I’ll admit that I haven’t printed from Kaitlynn’s birth either….or her whole 2 years! :( I’m so bad. There are only a few printed pictures of Kaitlynn in the house!

Wordless Wednesday – Fluffy Style

2010-04-14T17:27:00.000-05:00

Some Random Fluff Pictures from over the last two years as we’ve Cloth Diapered.

Fluffy Hanging on the Line

Yup, she’s stuck like that!

We had a blow out, in a fancy restaurant. Yup. She walked out in just fluff.

We play outside in just Fluff…cause that’s how we roll.

And eat Doughnuts in nothing but Fluff.

Cousins in the Fluff. (yes I put him in fluff, I cannot convince his mama:( )

Just some of our Stash….which sadly most of this is sitting right now. I need to just list them on Diaper Swappers, but haven’t had the chance. There are 10 Bum Genius, 2 Fuzzi Bunz, and a few other diapers that I’m willing to sell or trade. Something you’d be interested in? Let me know. Hopefully SOMEday I’ll get them posted! LOL

Thanks for Stopping By! This blog post is brought to you in part of a Wordless Wednesday blog hop from Top to Bottom Baby Boutique ‘s Blog. Go on over check it out. We’re looking for suggestions on what you’d like to see! Feel free to leave a comment here or there to let us know what you’d change!

10 on Tuesday

2010-04-13T18:55:00.003-05:00

1. Went back to the dentist today. They took x-ray’s and found that there were bone fragments still in the socket where they pulled my wisdom tooth. They cleaned it out and he said it should be good to go now! Let’s hope he’s right. Cause I’m done with this stupid thing.

2. Dahrran is growing up too fast! He has his school program on Thursday night, and has TWO speaking parts. I’m excited, but I know he is nervous. He also has TWO birthday parties to attend this week. One tomorrow night, and another on Sunday.

3.
Along with all the other things I’ve had on my plate lately, I started a new job. A job that I LOVE! And the best part, I can set my own hours, work as many or as little as I’d like, work in my pj’s or get all dressed up, and I get to promote Cloth Diapers! What am I doing? I’m the new Social Media Coordinator for Top to Bottom Baby Boutique, an Omaha based cloth diaper store. Jess is great to work with. I’m in charge of promoting Top to Bottom Baby Boutique via twitter, Facebook and their Blog (which is in the design process and totally my baby!). I’m so excited to be doing something I love! And the fact that I can do it from anywhere is great too!

4. Just a little insight on what it takes to get 27 kids to sit still long enough to get pictures snapped. That includes 8 mama’s plus grandma trying to get at least ONE good picture! (FORGET IT! I'm done! Lost the picture because it looked goofy, and now I can't get it to upload again! Guess it's telling me to just get off the computer and clean my house!)

5. Windows Live Writer is pissing me off today….so I guess this is a 5 on Tuesday instead!

6 degrees of blogging

2010-04-12T13:09:00.001-05:00

Here are the rules
:
*Start on your blog and clink on another blog's link. Keep clicking through to another blog until you get to the 6th blog.

So I started on my blog and clicked on :

1.

She’s having a special event going on…but hurry today is the last day to enter!

Then I went to:
2.

From there we ended up here:
3.

And here:
4.

Finally we end here:
6.

Go read about this family. They’ve had some trials over the last year, but hopefully are headed on their way to a better “normal”. I’m reading now, hoping and praying that such a strong mama can keep her spirits up for her kiddos!

What we’ve been up to.

2010-04-12T12:13:00.003-05:00

I know I’ve been a slacker. But to my defense it’s spring….and I LOVE spring. Spring/Fall are my favorite seasons. To top off the fact that it’s spring, it’s not raining…yet at least. So we’ve been outside cleaning the yard, and just enjoying the nice weather.

I’ve also had a few projects under my belt. There’s this one….where I helped a fellow Cloth Diaper mom out, and then this one….where I’ve started making my own Cloth Wipes for other Cloth Diaper mom’s.
I’ve also been slacking on the Favorite Fluff Friday event. I do have 3 reviews in the process…..and they’re ALL diapers! So soon there will be another fun Favorite Fluff Friday review going on!

We’re also looking to put our house back on the market. Anyone who’s had their house for sale knows how much of a pain this can be. And to do it with three kids is even worse! I’m trying my hardest to get it clean enough to even list. Over the last few months we’ve just cluttered everything up, and so I’m in the process of spring cleaning!

An update on my tooth....I got ahold of the doctor and they prescribed a prescription. I've taken it all, but there is still gunk leaking out of my tooth. I feel like I have a huge zit in my mouth! :( I do go to see them tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully we'll know more then.

I hope you all haven’t left me! I promise to answer any questions you had for me, and if you didn’t get yours in yet, go ahead and leave them here. I plan to post them on Thursday this week, so get them in! :)

Our Easter – In Pictures

2010-04-07T10:08:00.004-05:00

Easter at Grandma & Grandpa Cast’s house

The kids with cousin Rylyn. Rylyn & MacKenzie are 9 months apart & the best of friends!

The Easter Egg Hunt

All of our nieces and nephews on Joel’s side. There will be one more added here in the next couple weeks or so too!

Our town’s local Easter Egg hunt.

MacKenzie down right refused to take pictures with the bunny, but after a little coaxing she went right up. I was surprised she even gave the bunny a hug. This is HUGE for her! We’re so proud!

Easter Morning.

They know they have to get their picture taken every time before they’re allowed to go down the stairs.

The goodies. Puzzles, bubbles, fruit snacks, Alvin & The Chipmunks Squeekquel, sidewalk chalk.

Sniffing her chocolate!

What would you do?

2010-04-05T08:40:00.001-05:00

UPDATED: I tried to call them….got the answering machine, called the number that was on there, no answer. So I went ahead and called back to the office and left a message. I figure the ball is in their court now, and we’ll go from there. Joel was mad because I hadn’t called them yet when I talked to him. So guess we just wait and see now!

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Remember how I had a wisdom tooth pulled way back in February? Well remember how I had problems with it dry socketing? And then how it got infected? Yeah. Well that tooth, or shall I say hole in my mouth, because after all the tooth wasn’t bothering me before. It just needed to come out because it was partially through the gum & down the road it could’ve become a problem.

Fast forward 6 weeks from getting said wisdom tooth pulled, and wake up one Easter morning with a HUGE cheek. To the point where DH was making fun of me because I look like a chipmunk….I’ll agree I did! But it’s a Sunday so you just deal with it, it doesn’t hurt so I’m fine.

Come today. I call the dentist office to see if I can get in to get it looked at or to see if they can at least call me in a prescription because it is leaking pussy gunk into my mouth. They’re CLOSED….for the Easter Holiday. UGH. But you can call them at home if it’s an emergency.

Do I call? It’s not really an emergency, cause I’m not in pain. I just look like crap! What do you do? Call them at home, or just wait till tomorrow? Let me know…I’m going to call them before noon if you all think I should!

Katydid Cloth Diaper Winner

2010-04-01T12:12:00.001-05:00

Wow, I cannot believe how good these giveaways get. With each one it seems like we’re getting more and more entries. I love it! I love hearing from you all, and seeing my inbox over flow with comments is nice too….With further ado:

Kayla is a new mommy of a sweet little girl. She’s also new to the blogging world and has quite the cute little blog going on at Money Sew, Monkey Do. GO on over and give her some loving. If you post a comment on her blog you’ll get an extra entry into our next Favorite Fluff giveaway!

Kayla, you have 48 hours to get in touch with me! :) I’ll need your address so I can mail the diaper out!

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In other news, it’s super nice here. Like 30 degrees above normal. So you can tell we’ve been outside quite a bit in the last couple days. Of course I’ve been cleaning up dog poo, but we’ve also been getting our yard back into shape. I love it, I love being outside.

Since I’ve been knee deep in leaves, brush and well sand when I find time. My camera has been in the house. I don’t have many “blog worthy” things and so I guess I’m going to be asking for your help!

It’s been a while since I did one of these types of posts. So I think it’s really time for another one!

****************

Ask us anything!
Anything at all.
Want to know my favorite supper to make?
Maybe the one food each of my kids won’t eat no matter how hard I try?
Or maybe you must know what my favorite color is?

So there you have it. I’m leaving this open until Tuesday April 6th. Leave a comment on this blog and let me know what you want to know. Or if you’d prefer to email me that’s fine too! :)

Memo

2010-03-30T22:02:00.001-05:00

Dear Jackson,

Did you not get the Memo at the beginning of winter?

I know I told you.

We have a strict rule at our house. You know the rule. But you seem to break the rule all the time.

Honestly. It’s getting old.

Pooping on the small patch of lawn that houses my clothesline is a HUGE no-no.

Come 'on! You know the rule!

So, don’t say you haven’t been told. I am warning you publicly.

Sincerely,
Cleaner up of ALL dog poop, and not that just left where I have to walk to hang clothes!

And yes, I know my Christmas tree is still up….in this picture! But then again this picture was taken in late January! I promise the tree is now down and stored away. Although I did just take a strand of Christmas lights down this weekend! :(

Favorite Fluff Friday – Katydid Cloth Diapers

2010-03-26T00:00:00.004-05:00

I was lucky enough recently to purchase some sweet Katydid diapers off of Baby Half Off’s website at an awesome price. I came across Katydid diapers a while back when I was looking for new diapers. So when I saw them for a discounted price I didn’t waste anytime and picked up 3 for myself!!
Katydid diapers are a one size pocket diaper that has three rise adjust settings with two rows of snap closures. Something else that Katydid diapers have that most diapers don’t, is their newborn side snaps. Katydid diapers feature a waterproof outer layer with a micro fleece inside as well as two Microfiber inserts!

When we first got these diapers, I couldn’t wait to try them out. Sadly to admit, I’m the type of person who doesn’t follow instructions very well (don’t tell my husband I actually admitted that, oh wait, Hi honey!) and so I’m also the type of person who doesn’t wash her diapers before I put them on Kaitlynn. Unless it’s bamboo or a bamboo insert. Here I am off track again!

Any who, if you read that last paragraph you already guessed that I didn’t wash them before I put them on Kaitlynn. They did awesome! No leaks and I let her get them pretty wet! DH even decided we should put her in it overnight. I said whatever, if she leaks you’re changing the bed sheets (she’s on the bottom bunk!). The next morning she woke up dry, she didn’t leak. This is from girl who is SOAKING everything here lately at night. I only used one Microfiber insert!

Also another thing I love about Katydid diapers are the newborn side snaps. I know you’re thinking but they say newborn. If you have a skinny daughter like mine, those newborn side snaps come in handy! We’re constantly having wing droop with all of Kaitlynn’s diapers, and with Katydid we don’t have the problem. The only problem I could see, is if we had another baby that was supper skinny like Kaitlynn, there are only one set of snaps to over lap with. With Kaitlynn we are met in the middle. But since I don’t have a baby to try them on, I can’t give an accurate review on that aspect.

Katydid diapers come in 4 cute colors. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one in the Twilight (dark blue) color anywhere else! To me it is the most beautiful color!!! They’re all so bright and cheerful.

BUY IT:
Head on over to Katydid’s online Store or search for your favorite retailer.
Each diaper retails for $17.95 with two inserts

WIN IT!!!
Since I got such a great deal on the Baby Half Off website I bought one diaper extra incase I liked them!

One lucky reader will get the Sea Spray OS Katydid diaper!

Mandatory Entry:
You must follow my blog. This is a follower only giveaway!!

Extra Entries:
*Leave a comment for each, one entry unless otherwise stated*
Follow me on twitter (amongthemess)
Follow Katydid on twitter (katydidcloth)
Tweet about this giveaway, be sure to include @amongthemess, #clothdiapers, @katydidcloth (1 per hour up to 5/day)
Follow Katydid on Facebook
Let a friend know about this giveaway & Be sure they mention you (2 extra per person)
Comment on any other post (2 extra, be sure to comment here where)

Just because entries:
I’m totally in love with our new Online Diaper Boutique in Nebraska, and so I want to show her some love! Jessica from Top to Bottom Baby has started a new blog, and has a giveaway going on right now for HARD ROCK!!! from Rockin Green.

Enter the giveaway going on at Top to Bottom Baby Blog (5 entries)
Follow Top To Bottom Baby's Blog with Google Friend Connect (2 entries)
Become a Fan of Top to Bottom Baby on Facebook (5 entries)
Become a follower on Twitter (5 entries)

Fine Print:
This giveaway ends April 1, 2010. I was not provided any compensation or product from Katydid, all opinions are my own & honest. The product being offered up for giveaway was purchased by myself and will be mailed by myself.

Wordless Wednesday – Kaitlynn’s First Dentist Appointment

2010-03-24T15:01:00.001-05:00

She was so relaxed! Have I ever told you how much I LOVE our dentist! They’re GREAT!

The Hard Subject

2010-03-22T20:40:00.001-05:00

Ever have something you don’t want to talk about, but know deep down you have to talk about it? Yup. I’m having one of those HEY WAKE UP and talk/listen idiot! Life is here, and it’s smacking you in the face!

What the hell am I talking about? Work. NOT being a SAHM anymore. Something I don’t really want to do, but it’s finally possibly the right time in our lives for me to go to work Full Time. You see I work part time, every Saturday morning I put in my two hours at the Post Office. I LOVE what I do! Honestly I love it, I love the people, I love the challenge of finding people and connecting them with that long lost card from Grandma. Did I mention that I love the people and interacting with them?

You see there is a chance for me to go full time in July 2011. By then Kaitlynn will be almost 4, and headed to preschool in the fall. BUT for me to get there, I’ve got to put in full time hours for less than full time pay. I need to find a full time sitter that won’t charge me an arm & half my right leg to let me drop the girls in at a day or two’s notice! Because really that’s what’s stopping me. . . .

Or so I thought. As Joel and I were talking about it tonight, I realized. That’s not what’s holding me back. Heck look, I did it for 6 weeks, and then another 6 weeks, and then yet another 6 weeks before I was finally able to stay home full time. That’s when it hit me that it wasn’t daycare that was holding me back.

It’s the possibility of us having another baby. Possibility. You see because right now I’d love to believe that God has another baby in his great big plan for us. But I’m not certain. Uncertainty is what holds me back. I deeply WANT another baby, I would cherish one with open arms, even if that baby wasn’t physically/mentally healthy. I just long to hold another baby, MY baby in my arms.

At the same time, it’s time. It’s time for me to get a job, and help support my family. Times are hard, and jobs like this don’t come along to most people. Straight out of high school, with no college education, and I could make MORE than my husband. Who by the way went to College for two year, earned his Associates Degree.

For the last 7 years I have been a Stay at Home mom. I’ve welcomed 2 more babies, cried over the loss of one, and well enjoyed every stinking minute of it.

But we’re in a time when the Economy SUCKS. And that’s nicely put. Along with whatever the Obama new healthcare bill will do to us, I’m scared. I’m scared for where our family will be in 5 years. Because in 5 years I’ll have a 12, 10, 8 year olds. Two ALMOST teenage girls. We all know what that will mean. Name brand jeans, shoes, hair & makeup.

We’re at a point in our family life that we could really benefit from a two income family. We could save, actually save money, instead of living paycheck to paycheck. We could pay for our children’s college…and YES I do insist they go to college.

So I’m torn, what to do. Because really if I go for this job, I’m probably going to say good bye to the hopes of wanting another baby.

What would you do?

Sale Day

2010-03-20T05:56:00.000-05:00

Today is the day. The day Joel has been waiting for since January 2, 2009. You see this is the day we see if our cattle are worth something to anyone other than ourselves. If you’ve been around this blog since the beginning, you will know that we once had a similar day a few years back.

Today we will find out where Wall-E will find a new home. Where he will make some cute little Gelbvieh Babies.

Good bye to our sweet little pet!

To the one we could lead on the trailer with an empty bucket!

Good bye sweet W01 – Wall-E

The Diaper Sprayer Winner

2010-03-19T10:48:00.003-05:00

Seems the girls caught whatever it was that I had the beginning of the week. MacKenzie was complaining of her tummy hurting last night before/after supper, and then spend part of the night throwing up. Kaitlynn seems to have diarrhea and is overly clingy, cranky and just plain whiny.

I have to admit our house was a complete mess earlier this week. With me being sick our house doesn’t get picked up like it should, laundry & dishes pile up. Which all means that I spend a whole day trying to get it all cleaned back up! I spent the majority of yesterday cleaning, and didn’t even get the winner posted of this giveaway. A few of you realized I never closed the comments and were able to sneak a few comments in there later on in the day. Usually I like to type up my reviews the day before I post, so I have the time to go back over them. Yesterday it didn’t happen.

Just to prove my point….here is the mess! I don’t have after pictures…maybe I’ll do that today, just know it’s spotless! YAY! I love a clean house, I even did a bit of spring cleaning and took the curtains down….they’re not washed yet, but oh well. There are plenty of loads of laundry to do today. The dishwasher is already running, today I’ll give it a break. It ran 3 times yesterday!!

And just a cutesy shot of Kaitlynn, jumping on the couches of course. She knows I don’t like it, but she seems to be the one who is always doing it……and getting away with it! But I didn’t admit that.

So if you all can’t tell I’m sad to admit that we’re not going to be having a Favorite Fluff Friday Post today. With Kaitlynn being clingy as all get out, it’s not happening. Typing up this post has been a complete challenge. I’d better get the winner announced.

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Since my comments quit numbering after 200, you’ll see it says 98. Yup that’s 298.

Andrea is a mommy to two little girls and a baby BOY on the way! Go on over to her blog, check her and the little's out!

*Andrea, you have 48 hours to get in touch with me or I’ll choose another winner.

Better Basket Blog Hop

2010-03-19T01:28:00.001-05:00

Annie from Mama Dweeb is participating in the Better Baskets Blog Hop and tagged me as well as urged me to help out! For every blog post written today and linked up Hershey's will donate $10 to the Children's Miracle Network! Every year we try to help any small charities we can so I thought what a better way to help out. We aren’t usually able to donate much, but every little bit helps. I am really hoping that I can raise at least another $50 for them – are there at least 4 other bloggers that will participate with me?

I am giving this basket to 10 other bloggers and I really hope at least half of you can do a short post for Children’s Miracle Network. I realize this is short notice (I just found out minutes ago, and well it’s almost 1am) so if not, just enjoy this beautiful basket and know that I thoroughly love and enjoy your blog!

1. My 2 Blessings
2. Keep Calm & Carry On
3. The Land of Marie’s
4. The Nut House
5. “Popp”ing out One Letter at a Time
6. Through Jenny’s Lens
7. Little BGCG
8. The Rev & The Missus
9. 3 Guys, a Girl & a Prim Place
10. Welcome to the Zoo

Take some time to browse these great blogs if you have a chance! They are all sweet mama bloggers and I love reading what they write, but I treasure their friendship more!

So, how can you get involved?

“HERSHEY’S BETTER BASKET BLOG HOP RULES

* Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.

* Create a blog post of giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you
can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want – from just one other blogger to an unlimited number

* Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.

* Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them
a Basket.

* Leave your link at http://betterbasket.info/bloghop/
where you can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop and more
information about Better Basket with Hershey’s.

* Hershey’s is donating 10$ per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog
Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written
by April 4th, 2010).

* Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the
donation. ”

Wordless Wednesday . . . A day at the Children’s Museum

2010-03-17T05:42:00.000-05:00

The see through elevator leads you to the most magical places.

My little Postal Employee’s!

And then we’re off to the moon.

There was face painting.

Along with dressing up.

Finally the big “obligatory” picture in the big chair!

A Special THANKS to Aunt Bridget who came along!

And one more of my new haircut….cause well now it’s really growing on me! :)

Guest Post Diary of a First Child – Why Reusable?

2010-03-16T08:57:00.001-05:00

Hello all, seems I’m a bit under the weather again. Yesterday I wasn’t exactly feeling the best, but sucked it up and took the kids to their dentist appointment. It was that time of the year again when we have to get their teeth cleaned. It was even Kaitlynn’s first trip to the dentist!!! Of course though I was still having problems with my dreaded wisdom tooth, and so I had them look it over. Of course the stupid hole is infected and I’m now on antibiotics! On top of that I seem to have caught some sort of flu bug, and so now I’m just hoping that I get over it before anyone else gets it! It’s not fun!

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Meet Luschka, she’s an awesome mama who lives in London with her husband and 5month old Daughter Kyra. Luschka feels passionate about all things natural living, as well as Cloth Diapers. She writes about it all on her blog Diary of a First Child. Go ahead and check her out, and leave this awesome mama some love!

Why Reusable? A Mother Makes the Choice

I had always planned to use cloth diapers. I hadn’t really thought about it, about the logistics of it, but I had always thought that was what I would do. I even put a starter pack of trial terry squares on my baby shower gift list. Instead, I received 996 disposable diapers. Yes, I counted them.

I remember sitting on the floor in my living room arranging disposables by size and being overwhelmed by the sheer volume that roughly six months worth of diapers took up. I imagined, say, three times that amount for my baby alone and felt appalled at the sheer mass of space we would be taking up in our landfill. Then I thought of the four babies on our block, and actually felt quite distressed.

And that doesn’t even take in to consideration the millions of trees cut down to produce disposables every day. Nor does it include the toxins that return to our waterways after they have been made.

My desire to use reusable's goes beyond my eco-conscience, though. I take special care not to bathe my daughter in anything containing Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (which sadly cuts out most ‘baby’ products). Instead we use lavender essence in her bath water, and saffron oil to moisturize her.

Why, then, do I want to put diapers made up of chemicals such as Sodium Polyacrylate (the stuff that makes it absorbent and which has been linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome in women who used tampons prior to 1985) on my baby? We have no idea what the risks of this are, because no studies have been done. And that’s just one of the potentially dangerous chemicals.

A further reason to at least look at reusable is financial. Yes, the upfront cost is a real problem, and has certainly hampered me from making the switch. But the cumulative cost of disposables is far higher (unless you’re buying the super-leaky supermarket own brand variety that we had two bags of!). In addition, there is a relatively good resale value on second-hand diapers. Although cheaper than buying new, it seems most parents make a fair bit of their money back by selling used diapers on parenting forums.

But, having no reusable's, and bags upon bags of disposables hidden behind couches and on top of cupboards, I decided to use them up while I explored the world of reusable's. And wow. What a world. I had no idea how far we have moved on from terry squares! The diapers available, the different types, brands, colours and styles are amazing.

Although it is quite difficult knowing where to start, there are plenty of web resources available to give a helping hand. The best one I have found is from Fill Your Pants. This site is definitely worth a look.

So, as I set off on my journey of discovery with reusable diapers, I hope to end up being one of those mothers who never look back.

Mommy & Me Monday

2010-03-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to a fun new Meme hosted by Krystyn. Where you’re encouraged to get back into the pictures with your kids. If you’re like me, you know how few pictures you have of just you and your kids. I try to get in at least one picture every time I pick up my camera, but it doesn’t usually make the “cut”. Here is one of Mommy & Kaitlynn this weekend at the Children’s Museum. It also showcases my new haircut. I wasn’t sure I liked it at first, but it’s growing on me now!