New way to do Christmas lists?

Polyvore is a unique, easy-to-use web-based application for mixing and matching products from any online store. Items are pulled together into a visual set of products that can be shared with anyone. Each product within the set is then linked back to the online store where it is available for purchase.
"When we buy something, we're not just purchasing a product, we're imagining how we want to look, feel, and be viewed by others. We are seduced not by individual items, but how items are put together to create a certain mood. Whether it's the cool sophistication on a store mannequin or the chic elegance of a spread in Vogue magazine, there is a tone to soft goods, such as clothes or furniture, that speaks to us only in the context of the entire ensemble. Advertisers have always valued the role of eliciting an emotion or telling a story in order to win customers, yet this vital component is completely missing from the online shopping experience."
For more info

You should really watch this

14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Childlike dancing all over the world, it's touching. Makes me think that even with all humanity's differences, we really are more alike than not.

http://www.vimeo.com/1211060?pg=embed&sec=1211060

Really really tired

He didn't nap as much as normal today (there was an oh so fun filled trip to the library today and he stayed awake for that instead of napping) so he was very tired. After a yummy (to him) dinner of apple & sweet potato he just couldn't keep his eyes open.

Dinosaur Hunter

The kids have been spending a lot of time in the backyard lately. Timothy likes to dig in the dirt and particularly in his Grammy's garden. He also plays with cars and rides bikes. Justin rides bikes and also digs, but lately he's taken up a new hobby. I think it's so adorable that Justin's been digging for dinosaur fossils. Every time he finds a bit of plastic or hard dirt or whatever he comes to me to ask if it's a dinosaur bone. I'm not sure if I should pretend it is or answer honestly. When he gets a couple years older, if he's still interested they make some really neat dinosaur excavation kits. I think that would be really interesting to do with him. I love having children with varied interests, it expands my knowledge and interests as well.

Happy Birthday Justin!

I meant to post this earlier, it's after midnight, so technically it's not his birthday anymore, but..... Hard to belive, four years ago I was home at fountain hill for only a few hours now, with my second child, my first boy.


Messy face and all, I love my Just-Invincible! Happy 4th Birthday Justin

Another blog

Just found this blog again, the one I stole half my name from(cause it was just too perfect). I enjoy a lot of her stuff, she has a great sense of humor. When she writes about her mom it makes me cry. I'm including the following post because I found it too funny. But there's more on her blog if you like her style. (I recommend the one on trying not to join the PTA).

Clean-up on Aisle 4! Crazy lady peed!
May 7, 2008
I know better than to go to the store late at night. The check-out staff is down to one or two or you are stuck with the horrid U-Scan piece of torture. But, alas, I had to go pick up things that they kids simply HAD TO HAVE by morning.
However, apparently I chose to check out at just the wrong time.
You see, the checkout stand right beside me had big drama going on. And by big drama I mean, there was great dispute over a 35 cent coupon. Was it a double coupon? A triple coupon? Can we take this? Oh the severity of the situation! It took 4 checkers and an assistant manager to try to figure out the problem.
Which of course was of great interest to the woman checking me out. She did not care one bit that I was standing there. She was so focused on the BIG DRAMA of the coupon issue, she heard nothing I said to her.
Our conversation went about like this (as she only looked at the other checker and not at all at me)

Checker: Do you have your club card?
Me: You are holding it.
Checker: I can wait.
Me: Sure here you go. See! Right there in your hand. I am so good! Score! (Sarcasm beginning to hit a high point for me.)
Checker: (while oh so busy fretting over the coupon caper DRAMA): So, ma’am, did you find everything you needed?
Me: Actually, no. I couldn’t find your bathrooms so I PEED on Aisle 4.
Checker: I’m sorry. Did you need a raincheck for that?
Me: Nope. Totally took care of the situation then and there and feel much better now.
Checker: Good. Glad we could help.

That was really our conversation. Now, the line was about 7 people deep and the woman behind me was about to literally wet her pants laughing. All this time the checker was oblivious.
But really? Totally worth the laugh to mock her. As I left she gave the standard, “Come again!” to which I replied, “Didn’t come the first time, but here’s to hoping for the next time!” She just nodded at me and told me to have a good night.
Gotta love that customer service!
Posted by Jenn

?

The other day I caught Justin trying to put a single cheerio in Jacob's ear.

New Mantle

Edit: Yes, that's a mirror on top, it has a shelf on top of the mirror and tow round shelves on either side. The trim matches some of the trim on our banister. Tom is thinking about building it out of the wall with oak and putting some sort of heating underneath it then. The other option would be to cut a hole in the wall. We have been talking about adding a fireplace for a long time now, so it is exciting for both of us.



We got a new mantle curtesy of our (old) next door neighbors. They lost their house after their mother died, couldn't afford the payment anymore. They're still coming by to clean up and somehow Tom managed to convince them to give us their mantle, which was original to the house. This is exciting for him as he is trying to restore as much as possible back to original.

He grew a tail

Friday afternoonTimothy decided to be an animal (I"m not sure what kind) and inserted a tail. I kid you not, he put some tissue paper inbetween his cheeks and streaked through the house that way. Laughing like the little imp he is, the entire time!

(Note: that is strawberry on his backside, not something much worse)

Strawberry Picking at Seiple Farms

I've been wanting to go strawberry picking since I first found Seiple Farms and saw their sign saying to come back in June. This year I finally made it, thanks to my Mom. I was a bit nervous about going with all four kids, I didn't know how they'd handle it. But it was a lot of fun, and they did very very well, all things considered. We were up late the night before, because of the girl scout picnic, and then got up earlier to get ready to go to Seiple Farm. Fresh picked strawberries are delicious!!!

More strawberry picking

Leanna enjoyed it while we were there, but by the end, she was just too hungry and it was very hot. She picked the majority of our strawberries (we went home with $15.00 worth).

I love that action shot of Justin. He had just sprung up from sitting. It reminds me of those cartoons where the character points, and then runs off in the direction they pointed.

The twins

I was asked, again, if Justin and Timothy were twins. They're not even Irish Twins(they missed that by about 4 or 5 months). But the shirts help here. I just think they're really cute pictures! I should note that it was very very sunny out.

Strawberry faces

Although I kept telling them not to eat the strawberries, there was no stopping the inevitable. Another mother joked that they should weigh the kids before and after picking. Leanna was the only one who listened, largely because she was very busy finding strawberries.

Even babies love strawberry picking!

Jacob got his first taste of strawberries(I know they're highly allergenic, so he hadn't had any yet. This seemed a good opportunity to let him try them). Not surprisingly, he LOVED them. I kept a close eye on him, but they were juicy enough that he didn't have much trouble sucking on them. I had to pull still green ones away from him, he didn't seem to mind the taste of those either. Note the juice and seeds all over his face and shirt by the later pictures!

h

Hazelnuts-the nut case

Linked is an article on nuts. Justin's a huge fan of almonds. I was interested in this portion:
(See, so really I'm just self-medicating when I drink hazelnut coffee!)

HAZELNUTS
Why: Hazelnuts have the highest nut level of folate, a B vitamin known to reduce the risk of birth defects. Research indicates that it, along with other B vitamins, may also lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, and depression. Hazelnuts contain moderate levels of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, all of which can help lower blood pressure.
How: Add roasted hazelnuts to asparagus with lemon vinaigrette. They also go well with sweets, like granola yogurt parfaits.
One ounce = 21 nuts 178 calories, 4 g protein, 17 g fat

Does this mean that we Gen-Xers are more highly evolved than the rest of you?

Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Love in the House

I'm going to highly recommend this book: Love in the House:Filling Your Home with the Greatest Commandment by Chris and Wendy Jeub.

I read it in a day, it was such an interesting book. It's only 140 pages. It's about a family that was featured in a tv special, they have 13 kids, but the message of the book can be applied to any size family. I hesitate to say this, but it was like reading a sermon. I know, everyone thinks, oh it was boring, but not at all. An interesting and enjoyable sermon, their focus in on God and his will. Even if you don't believe in God or like me, you aren't entirely sure what you believe about God, it still holds as good advice for raising a family. The overall message is that children are blessings, we make life harder than it need be, and that filling your home with love is more important than people realize. I know that sounds like something everyone knows and applies, but read the books and you'll understand. It really gave me food for thought.

birth control

This is an interesting idea, I copied the whole post here(It's also linked in the title) because it's a short one. What he says makes sense to me, anyone agree?

Large families are best birth control
Posted in Catholic and Protestant, Church and state, Democrats, Faith and Politics, Gay Marriage, Marriage, Republicans by admin at June 20th, 2008
The news from a Massachusetts high school is that as many as seventeen female students may have had a pact that resulted in their becoming pregnant while in school. There is a flurry of response to this from a psychologist who suggested that the girls wanted to know they were human in a techno world to a Planned Parenthood type who railed at the predominantly Catholic school district for declining to provide birth control in the school.
I won’t bother raising the question of hoe school dispensed birth control pills would have helped girls who made a pact to become pregnant.
My wife Becky, mother of our eight children, suggested this explanation: that girls who grow up in small families with few or no other children, might become pregnant for two reasons - one, because there aren’t enough babies around. They desire to be close to a baby, like most people do. They long for that real human connection with a baby that they can share their lives with and that share some of their characteristics. Two, they don’t understand the extent of responsibility having a child is - precisely because there are so few babies around them. So, in their minds having a baby is like getting a puppy or kitten.
Becky went on to say that she thinks large families are the best teen contracpetive. First, the girls have babies around them, not their own, their little brothers and sisters. She was number two in a family of five and she had three babies beneath her to cuddle, play with and practice being the mommy of. The genius was that she could hand him back to her mother when she ran out of ideas or was overwhelmed. By the time she’s in her teens and could get pregnant, her older siblings are married and having baby nieces and nephews. Secondly, she knows first hand the mamouth resposnsibility that having a child is. She observes her mom (and Dad) working long days, sleepless nights, harried schedules, sickness, diapers, puke and all the rest that comes with the glorious gift of human life.
Our girls each have seven siblings, and all but one has cared for babies (and she’ll hopefully have a few nieces and nephews to take care of). They’re high in demand as baby sitters in our neighborhood and at church. They each know what a wonderful joy, and what hard work a baby is.
Yesterday one of our teen-aged daughters said, “I want to have babies, but I want to get married first. And before that, I want to finish my education and explore the world and do the things I want to do. Then, I’ll start looking at getting married and then I’ll have my children.”
I told Becky that she has really great insight: a large family is the best teen contraceptive there is.

Girl Scout picnic-playset

There was an old rickety playset that they let the kids play on while they set out the food. There was only one other girl who came with her Dad. We watched the horses do some dressage and jumps and walked around a little bit. We grilled food in foil. Justin and I tried bannana boats-a bannana, split down the middle, with pieces of chocolate and marshmellows inserted. Then you wrap it in the foil and grill. It smells like a smore, and tastes very good!

Girl Scout picnic-horses

We went to a farm for a picnic for the last "meeting." It was beautiful there, like our dream for where we would like to live. Trees and grass and lots of land and animals.

Happy Birthday!

Leanna is 7 today!! My beautiful baby girl is growing up so quickly!

Happy Birthday!!

I love my shampoo vacuum and big boys

Yesterday Timothy wore underwear all day long. He did wet them a little at the end of the day, but only enough to remind him he had to go to the potty. That's a first for him. Sometimes he'll want to wear underwear, but he can only last a few hours.


(Of course we did have a rough start yesterday. Both Justin and Timothy thought it'd be really funny to pee in their room. We'll just say that Mommy and Daddy didn't find this so funny.)
(And the night before that we had a poop incident in their room as well. That was only involving Timothy though.)

(Did I mention that I really really love my shampoo vacuum? I do! I was somewhat reluctant to buy one as I had heard that they really don't work well. But I am pleased with mine, it has removed many poop and marker stains from white carpet, even throw up on two occasions!! )

A bunch of pictures

Tom's birthday card from Maree', opening a few presents (Webkinz and Justin's camera). Leanna's big present-her kid tough camera-didn't arrive until today. I was so dissapointed. That's the longest wait I've ever had on ebay.

Silly string and 3D chalk and paint

Leanna got the 3D chalk and paint and it is pretty cool. You go through it very quickly though.

A bunch of pictures

pin the tail on the donkey