2012 Family Photo

I tend to take a lot of pictures throughout the year, but pretty much only take a family photo when the yearly Christmas cards are due.  The following are the best of the bunch.  I am actually fairly impressed with these.   We took about 10 as a group and 10 just the kids.  Without fail, there wasn't one picture where everyone was actually looking at the camera, even with family yelling and creating chaos behind the photographer.  But I'll take them.

You know by looking at them that they are ready to run away from all of this crazy picture stuff.  Kembia sort of looks like she is going to cry and Owen looks like he is restraining Moyz.  Truitt looks like this is the most ridiculous thing he has had to do in his short life.  Ava and Owen have that "we're pros at this" look to them.  Their motto- "hold the babies and smile."

Look at Moyz.  Doesn't he have a dignified look to him?  Like this whole thing is beneath me so I am going to look slightly off to the side and tilt my face upward to be all aristocratic like.  

Totally wish we would have been standing in front of a bunch of snow covered logs, but no such luck.  We always seem to not have snow when the picture is taken because if I wait too much longer then I don't get the cards out before Christmas.  And actually, I tried to order some from walmart last night, but somehow in the process deleted my card and ordered blank ones.  I amaze myself some times.  Good thing I was able to call and cancel them.  

Such is life.

Christmas Gift Ideas

I know, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I should probably focus on the current holiday first, but I love Christmas time, the trees and decorations and all that fun stuff.  Plus the presents.  I know I should say that I love giving gifts, and I do, but truly, I like getting them more.  There.  I said it.

It's been awhile since I have done a round-up of cool things that I have found so I thought I would do that for present ideas.  Some DIY and some buy-because-you're-lazy/don't-have-time.

Also, for any family member reading this, you may or may not be receiving something from the list below.  It's up to you to continue on with reading!

1.  Rachel Ray "My Year In Meals"  $16.91 on Amazon

I love her recipes.  Never seen the show, but use her cookbooks all the time.  I am so excited to get this one in the mail.  Haven't seen one of her cookbooks that I haven't liked, and while yes, sometimes the recipes are quite familiar to others, it's always stuff that I never thought about.  

2.  Target Scarves  $14.99

     

I have the first two.  The yellow feather scarf actually stopped me in my tracks, that's how awesome it is.  The color is strange, more of a yellow/pea green, which I know doesn't make it sound appetizing, but it rocks.  Then I saw the second one and had to bring that home too.  The third is skulls.  I have an interesting relationship with skulls.  I love them, but sometimes people wear them in a way that I don't think is appropriate.  This, I think, is an acceptable way to put skulls into your wardrobe.

3.  DIY stamped friendship bracelets

These totally rock.  In fact, I want some for myself, but mostly I am thinking for my nieces and nephews.  You would have to buy all the stuff to do them, but Michael's and JoAnn's always have coupons in their ads.  

4.  The Zoo Calendar

Okay, so this picture is huge, but it is fabulous, and only $5 for the download.  Each month is printed out in color on cardstock.  I think these are gorgeous, and would make a great gift, especially for those who reside in an office during the day, something to look up and see on the wall.  How could you not smile?

5.  Freezer Meals

I know, how unglamorous could you possibly get?  But let me tell you, there isn't a busy mom in this world who wouldn't LOVE to get a few freezer meals.  When the babies got home, our friends and church gave us meals every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week for the first three months we were home.  And it saved my life.  The freezer co-op that I am a part of rocks my world.  I heart so much the fact that when it is crazy and and I don't know what to fix for supper I can just pull a meal out of the freezer, and so will any person who gets this for a present.

6.  State Park Pass

I really like this idea a lot.  It's not something that families generally consider, but really forces people to get out and use their pass and explore our awesome planet.  One state pass allows you to go to every park in that state.  I think for MN it's like $25 for an annual pass.

7.  Magazines

I have a slight magazine problem.  But everyone I know gets a magazine or two, sometimes 14 different ones (no names but it rhymes with mess!), per month.  My all time favorite one to give is National Geographic.  Watch Amazon closely because you can get it for as little as $15 per year. 

8.  Leatherman Wave Tool   $62 on Amazon

I have this in mind more for a man gift, but I actually own this and Chris has multi-tool envy.  This puppy has a crazy number of gadgets on it, including screwdrivers, knife, saw and scissors, plus tons more.  I carry it on me all the time in my purse, cause you never know when you might need it.  And at some point, you will need it.

9.  Survive: Essential Skills And Tactics To Get You Out Of Anywhere Alive  $13.59 on Amazon

Another man gift.  This is actually a very useful book.  Not only does it tell you what to have in your car, home, etc. for emergencies, it also tells you how to survive pretty much anywhere in any given circumstance. Your man will feel much better about himself and ability to keep you safe after he has read it.  I am not joking.  I felt better about my ability to take care of my family in the need of an emergency.  I seriously recommend this book for pretty much everyone, not just for a man gift like I said at the beginning.  

10.  DIY Barbecue Rub  

Appeal to your man's inner desire to grill up a chunk of meat.  Will definitely be giving this one from Real Simple Magazine a whirl.

So there you have it.  A few ideas for this holiday season.  Hope something inspired you!

My kids disgust me

Truitt was walking around the house with a red straw.  For a fleeting second I thought that perhaps I shouldn't let him do this, you know, in case he falls and the straw stabs him in the back of the throat, but I didn't take it away.  Probably I should have.

Fast forward 10 minutes later when I went to go and meet Owen from school at the door.  When I went back to find Truitt and Moyz who were awfully quiet and missing, I discovered them using the straw and drinking from the toilet.

I truly don't have the words for the disgust I feel, so instead, I will just post a picture to show how cute they are.

Truitt and the ER (again)

Hopefully this week will prove to better then last, with a holiday in there, I don't see why it shouldn't.

Last week, Truitt fell out of the basket while shopping at Target.  Moyz and Kembia were buckled in the mega family cart, but at this Target, you couldn't put a baby where they would normally go in the seat.  The leg area was sealed off with red plastic, there were no buckles, and where the baby's butt would sit was the words "for merchandise only".  So I was out of options and in the basket he went.  I thought it would be okay because he was the shortest and least likely to fall out.  Didn't work out that way.

We call the clinic and they said that we needed to bring him into the ER and get a CT scan done.  What?  Ava fell out of a cart 7 years ago and we didn't do diddily squat.  So we decided not to take him and called a Paramedic friend of ours who ran us through some neurological stuff to do with him and stuff to look for and called it good.  Two days later he started bleeding heavy from the nose during nap time.

I freaked.  With head injuries it specifically tells you to call 911 if there is any nose bleeding after injury.  I didn't call 911 but rushed him to the ER freaking out that he had a brain hemmorhage or something equally terrible.

They took it very seriously since the timing of the bleeding after injury.  The triage nurse told me that if children survive a head injury after the first 6 hours they generally don't worry so much, then if you hit 24 all is pretty good, but because of the bleeding they were thinking that he had a frontal skull fracture causing the nose to bleed.  Great, my baby has a broken head.

I'm feeling generally pretty crappy about the whole situation and the nurse's comment about why kids shouldn't go in the basket really ticked me off.  I tried to explain about the cart and that my other kids were in there, but he cut me off and wouldn't let me finish.  At least the ER doc let me tell the whole story so I didn't look like the worst mother ever.

They did a very thorough exam of his head, heart and all that stuff.  And after spending extensive time shining a flashlight up his nose, determined that there were multiple lacerations inside, and thus deduced that it was not related to his head injury, and was in fact, because he is a nose picker.

Not Truitt

Awesome.  So I spent $500 to have a doctor tell me that my son picks his nose.  At least they also said he wouldn't suffer any negatives from bashing his head onto a concrete floor.  And for what it's worth, he has never really picked his nose before.

And then poor kid, a can of food fell out of the closet and on to his face when we got home.

What doesn't kill them makes them smarter....?

My Crappy Week Elegantly Summed Up

Little Animals

While stumbling around the internet looking for cool things and wasting my time while the kids were away for a little bit, I came across this print.



This is a real owl who's picture was taken.  I became obsessed.  There is just something about it, and I found out it came from the site The Animal Print Shop.  This woman takes pictures of real animals and puts them in front of a white back drop.  They are adorable, unique and all that jazz.  (It's hard to call a picture of a carrion bird adorable!)

   

Aren't they so much fun?  Why can't I think of something  like this?  My favorites are the birds.  The prints start at $25 for an 8" X 11", and move steeply up from there, like the next size is $75.  The 30" X 40" is $1,950.  No lie.

I have been able to hold off from getting the small print of the owl for a week or so, but I am not sure how much longer I will be able to.  Something about the eyes just reel me right in.  I would love a humongous print of it, I think all that white would look great with my grey living room, and would work well if I go for "Good Luck Charlie" in the spring, but a large size is never, ever, ever, like ever, (thanks for that song Taylor Swift!) gonna happen.

Good Luck Charlie Home Inspiration

Have you seen the show Good Luck Charlie?  It's on the Disney channel and I saw it this weekend at my parents.  I know, it's a kids show, and it's been around for awhile, but I loved it!  Ava has seen it quite a bit being up at her grandparents, but this was the first time I had seen it and I loved it as much as Ava did.

In fact, I want to live in the set.  Seriously, it is super hip and full of bright colors.  It even had me googling teal cotton fabric to make another set of slipcovers.  You know, after I paint the walls white so all that color can pop!

And when I started googling images, I realized that I am not the first grown woman to obsess over this house!  I came across several blogs who had done Good Luck Charlie posts.  That makes me feel slightly better.  Although now I am sad because the only tv we get is what comes free through the antenna and so I won't be able to watch any shows!  Have to search on hulu or maybe the Disney home page to see if I can view them!

Check it out:



That couch and carpet.  Oh my goodness.  Can I say just how much I love this color?  And that look she is giving her brother is exactly the face that Ava gives Owen, and Moyz and Truitt and even, occasionally, Kembia.




I love, love the staircase.  It makes me want to paint my disgusting stairs into the unfinished basement some terrific hue, I am thinking hot pink.  And that lady on the step stool is the mother, who Ava told me is "like the coolest mom ever, she is so funky".  Now I know what level she is holding me to, and the episode we watched was how the mom was trying to bond her daughter's sports team and they almost got arrested for toilet papering a house at the mother's idea.  I refrained from telling Ava that my high school tennis team did that every fall for bonding and initiating!  You see that picture of a framed bug in the back?  That was the only thing Kembia noticed and kept talking about the bug.  At first I didn't even know what she was talking about until I finally saw it.




Check out the front of the fridge behind the guy in the right.  It has a chalkboard front.  I tried to convince Chris to let me do this before we got a new fridge, but he was all paranoid about chalk dust.  Does anyone know how much that has been in a problem for people who have done chalkboard walls, etc. in their homes?

I'm in love.  Somehow I don't think I could pull of the crazy color casual that they have going on.  For starters, I would have to spray paint most of the items of furniture in my house a different color, and I am not sure what Chris would think about that!  But, my beloved kitchen map has some great colors to go off of, don't you think?

I am thinking teal couch, with the side dressers which are currently black to be painted hot pink, and some kind of colorful, funky drapes at the window, and crazy colored pillows balanced with some black.  Okay, I could totally pull this off!

I promised myself that I wouldn't repaint the living room until Spring and that I would live with the gray until then.  So although I am not a huge user of Pinterest, mostly for lack of time, I might have to start a Good Luck Charlie Living Room Inspiration Board!