happy feet

I found these this this morning. I tried to be a good girl and restrain myself - but Rob agreed - they were the last pair and I had to have them. (grin) Oh my kelly green shoes. They'll only go with EVERYTHING in my wardrobe. At least nearly everything. I had almost successfully talked myself into walking away, but payless was having a BOGO event and we had found the cutest brown and pink strawberry shortcake mary janes for Sarah. They were insanely expensive, but this way it was like they were both 25% off. Plus, I just got paid for more Expo TV reviews - so I just used that money to completely and thoroughly justify it for both of us. Every girl *needs* totally cute shoes. I tried to find here shoes online here, but no luck. I'll take a photo later for you, they are to die for. Even Rob said she had to have them!
So we are one step closer to being ready for fall. Eli is nearly there, I have to go through his winter stuff, but I think most of it will work. Sarah has nearly nothing, she's grown so much. But I'm finding she is SUPER hard to shop for, being so round and short. I've returned most everything I've bought for her, and lately with this cooler weather she has nothing to wear. Next week we are going shopping for her, it can't wait too much longer.
We spent the morning out with Sarah, Rob took the day off and we ran to the mall for shoes and a set of 'books of the bible' markers for me. We had lunch at Mama Mia's - a tiny little mom and pop italian place we love in Wood River. It was just a nice quiet paced morning, I loved it.
I'm still really struggling with this cold and not winning, unfortunately. And even more unfortunately, Sarah picked it up, so she's pretty cranky now.
Oh, the other two pictures. One is my new fun hair-do. I got it cut a few weeks ago, and it's ok, but yesterday I discovered wearing it like this and I love it! Also, the hat. Katelyn made it for me - I wore hers at camp a bunch (to keep my hairline from burning again) and she and Rob loved the way it looked, so she made me my own! I love that she signed it!!
Off to play in my studio if I don't decide that a nap is more important. details. :) Happy Thursday!

happy saturday

Used to be Saturday was one of my favorite days. Anymore I'm pretty anti-saturday. Rob generally has to work, either finishing his sermon or worship slides or we have an event. Today we have both. But we did squeeze in some time together this morning and I'm thankful for that.
I've gotten a lot done today, which is good since I've generally been a huge slacker lately. Nae brought over Sarah's birthday gifts, some jewelry, a couple dolls and a barbie car. Sarah was pretty enthused. She put on her tu-tu and twirled for Nae. I, of course, had to take some pictures. Nae and Jim are some of the wonderful people here that love our kids. We are super blessed.
Well, off to get ready for tonight. We have Cribz at Kyndal's, but Nettie's coming here to watch our kids, so I need to hurry up and undig out the living room. tehee.
Oh, and I almost forgot. We were headed to the Christian bookstore and Walmart this morning when we saw an old van driving down the road with an airconditioning unit sticking out the back. Eli says - and I quote - "I wish we had an air conditioner in our car." Ha ha. Rob and I busted up!! I just pictured our Intrepid headed down the highway with a 5200 btu window air hanging out the passenger's side. SOOO wish I had my camera with so you could picture this too, we were just dying, this van was a decrepit old thing mostly rusted out and the driver had the window down despite the air conditioner. I guess it goes to prove the old saying - grass is always greener. very funny.

I made a new photo ticker. Check it out!

isn't this the happiest bird you've ever seen?

Now maybe you'll understand why it had to come home with me to next in my studio, if nothing more than to sing sweet tunes with myMP3 player and me. I know, I'm crazy, but it works for me. And this bird just sang it's way into my heart.
[Seriously though, Heidi Swapp with her pink craziness NEEDS a bird like this. :)]

Hump Day
Wow. Amazing what a little rest will do for a person. I'm still struggling with allergies big time (I guess everyone is) and a headache to end all headaches, but overall my perspective is a lot better. I just need to remind myself how very much I love my life. I love my kids, my husband, our home, our lifestyle, our church. I guess it gets hectic, but I really love it overall.
This week has been refreshing so far. I miss Eli during the day, but it's so stepped back three years to having one child again. I forgot how much easier it was. Sarah and I went to Walmart together this morning and it was so not a big deal! I am realizing, however, how very empty my house will be when Sarah starts school, but thankfully that is still three years away. I can tell that she and I will really enjoy our days together, and I'm thankful for it - having had three years home with Eli alone.
I've got an ever growing to do list. Because it's me and that's how I function. My house is pretty disastrous right now, but I'm just enjoying the slow pace for a bit. I think Rob is getting worried. :) Maybe tomorrow I'll start to tackle it. Maybe not. I'm in no hurry, the mess isn't going anywhere. As long as the dishes are done and the trash is out, that's what gets out of hand.
I do need to get booking on my sunday school class. It starts (gasp) next Sunday - ten days from now. I need to write a letter and come up with a class name. I was thinking 'Next Generation' but Rob thinks it sounds like we are getting ready to take over the church. details. I thought I'd peruse online at some big churches and see what they are naming their thirty something groups. Not that we are all thirty something, we've got everything from nineteen year olds to newlyweds to married with children and married with teenagers. Now I'm starting to wonder if "the Melting Pot" wouldn't be a better name. :) Still praying about it. I'm really excited, we are going to start with Purpose Driven Life, which is one of my absolute favorite books in all the world. Very excited about that.
Tonight I started co-teaching Friends (jr high girls Missionettes) with Tanya. Oh, I'm so excited about this class, we had six girls tonight already. Very fun. I'll be so glad to get some one on one time with these girls and really get to know them. Things are changing at church and I am excited to see the change.
Tomorrow I'm thinking Hobby Lobby. I've been putting together some 'quiet bags' for church and I need some canvas type bags to put all the goodies in. I'm so (sillily) excited about this project. :) Plus there is a tiny pink bejeweled bird at Hobby Lobby that has been singing my name for about a week now! te-hee.
Anyhoo, off to get some busy work done. I love busy work. :)

i pray
This was a lift from something I'd seen on twopeas, but it was originally an ipod playlist layout - which I was totally going to do - but then randomly thought my prayer list might be more interesting. Love the way it turned out. I've been super inspired by these Heidi stamps lately - Lori gave them to me for Christmas. I also really like how erasing my pencil marks highlighted the blue patterned paper. I love the idea of looking back at this list in time and seeing what God has done.

i blog
Part of my new 'i' series. Didn't really mean to start it, kind of happened with i pray and sprouted from there. But I think it's kind of cool. Neat stuff going on here, loving the giant HKS ghost letters. Use my stash with the silver vintage frame. The rubons are the new My Mind's Eye Bohemian line. yummy. I'm telling you Lori, you're going to go bananas over this stuff. The paper is also My Mind's Eye, from their front porch collection. Love front porches. That's random.

I almost forgot..

My dad had an awesome insight last night on the phone. I was doing my usual monologue aobut 'why couldn't I have been driven earlier in life? I would have gotten so much farther..." and my dad gently pointed out that if I had been more driven and focused I wouldn't have allowed myself to meet Rob, to get to know him and to choose that path. Well, geez, that puts it in perspective, doesn't it? Rob's the best thing that ever happened to me.

big day in the Thoreson household
Eli started kindergarten. I had a breakdown. (I tried to blog about it but Mozilla Firefox kept crashing on me) Rob became a Reverend. (not like Joey on Friends - this is the real deal).
So that's the short version. The long is that we did the Eli goes to kindergarten thing. I teared up big and bad on the walk there as we prayed together. I of course, did a quick summary in my mind of the approximately 2007 days leading up to that moment and prayed that I'd adequately equipped him for the journey. I probably would have been fine from there until his teacher decided to read "the Kissing Hand". I gulped back my tears and gave him a tight hug, trying to keep it together until I got home. I'm really kicking myself for not having a plan, a shopping day or something to fill those first 8 hours. Sarah and I just kind of sat there and looked at each other all morning - peppered with Sarah saying plaintively "Where's Eli?" and I'd say "Eli's at school." and she'd say "Oh, Eli at school.". We did that alot. We made cookies. tick tock. We cleaned the house. tick tock. We talked to the ENSR people. tick tock. We patiently waited for Daddy to come home for lunch. tick tock. Nap time finally came around and Sarah slept while I scrapped, feeling much more together after that. 2:55pm came and we trekked back to school to find that Eli had survived. Meanwhile Rob was doing his licensure interview - which he passed and now we are just waiting for that slip of paper in the mail - sometime in October I guess and he's officially a reverend. Pretty crazy. Keep telling myself I'm not married to my mom. :) I think about all the years this has been coming and I think we should have a party or at least drive around with the moonroof open. It's an event.
Anyhoo, Eli's dead tired. I'm tired. Being anxious takes a lot out of a person. But I took some cool pictures - so here you go. And I also am going to share my happy scrappy-ing.

this is for myspace, for Ashley. She calls me Big A, I call her Little A.

Torn
So you can see I'm finding a bit more time to blog with an empty house again. That's nice. I feel more... gathered. hemmed in. I'm really thankful for the down time, I'm going through a lot right now, I wonder how obvious it is.
Sometimes it's so hard being me. I constantly feel torn between being a yp's wife and being a mom and somewhere, deep down, being me. Every event we have, I feel like I'm juggling my kids - and they are getting dropped - hope they aren't worse for the wear. And I feel like I can't spend any time with students. I just feel chained to my kids, which is a terrible way to think about your children. I just don't know how to do this any better. I look at Trish - she was always my ultimate example of yp wife, she seemed like she had such a great balance. I don't know if my kids are just younger or more needy or if I just stress too much. Tonight felt like a disaster, my kids were running everywhere, in and out of the pools (we played blooperball), dirty from head to toe and wet. Part of it was that Rob had to go back to church and do worship, so I was watching my kids and trying to set up the game and trying to connect with our teenagers. I guess it was a recipe for disaster. But I just left there feeling like a complete failure. We went home early, since Sarah was drenched from head to toe and Eli wasn't far behind. Eli meets his teacher at 8am, and refused his nap this afternoon, so it was a good time for us to call it a night. Anyhoo, I bathed the kids, did the dishes while they ate their snack, started a load of laundry, they played while I vacuumed and then I stuck them in bed. Sarah's still singing up there "BIG GIRL!!" but I'm sure she'll konk soon - darn this daylight savings time! I felt semi-productive and now I just want to veg, but I still feel guilty for not being at Matt and Tiff's with APEX.
I don't think I'm ever going to fill the expectations for me, I am so worn out from trying, and still so far from my goals. I'm not even starting to think about what I want out of my life, there's no room in my life right now for any selfish requests. Sounds like whining, but I'm really just trying to problem solve. I need to find a really good babysitter to take the kids during youth events that I can just rely on. I'm going to have to start praying about that one.

"But, Mommy I need to go to church so they can pray for me."
Every once in a while your child says something that sinks right down into your heart and embroiders itself there and you know that no matter how old or rebellious they get, you'll remember it until you are a little old lady in the nursing home. This statement (from my sick five year old's mouth) is that kind of sentence. He was running a 102 fever - thus the picture of him konked out in bed - and I told him he'd have to stay home from church so that he could rest and get better. Gotta love this kid, he's pentecostal right down to his underoos. :)
This page, though surprisingly simple, took so much effort because I kept messing up the stamping. But I love the end result, definitely one of my faves.

Archiver's
A fun page about a trip we took to Archiver's back in May. Love the picture of us in the circle. Cutting out myself was pretty fun too, I need to take more full body pictures of people so I can use this technique a little more often, it's too fun. Love the colors, love the (ancient) KI Memories paper. Just a lot of love tonight. :)

One Strange Bird
This was from a while back, but I love it and hadn't shared it yet. So Sarah, she's totally crazy and anyone who's spent any serious amount of time with her knows it. But we love her. This was a challenge page with Lori - to use black cardstock, ribbon and that little black rub-on bird. All of the sudden I'm into birds. I just follow the trends I guess. Picked up a cute little transparency bird today, looking forward to incorporating into a page in the near future.

happy anniversary Kavin and Char!!
Painfully late, but I've been thinking of you! Had too much fun making your card! Congrats!

The Arch

I did this page a few days ago, but hadn't shared it yet. I love these pictures from our trip downtown with Kimmie a few months ago. Especially the one where Rob is hugging Merriweather Lewis. That's soooo my hubby! He seems so... normal... when you first meet him. te-hee. This was a lift, can't even tell you where from, but it was fun. Love the cut out mailbox letters, this may be a new 'thing' for me, cause I need another new thing.

My Angels

Kind of a funny title, considering the evening I've had with our children tonight. Oh well. They looked angelic in this particular picture. Totally picked the box up and chucked it out the window on this layout. Wings? Crazy cocentric lines? yeah, I've lost my artistic mind. But it was fun. Especially when you add some canvas flowers and rhinestones. I'm all over the rub-on swirl on the bottom - that's new Basic Grey. Oh, Lori, you are sooo going to want to go to the Alton store, she got in a lot of new FUN stuff. Makes me want to scrapbook real bad. :) I just filled my card there too, so I'm up for a seven dollar trip any time! :) Anyhoo, finally used my red lead glitter, now I can justify the orange! Laura was over this afternoon to play - we had a good time, as you can probably see! Boxes are for cowards.

Every Princess Needs A Tu-tu
First off, I need to admit this total lift from Elsie's new book - which (by the way) is amazing. Run out and get it if you don't have it yet! Anyhoo, I was in a funk, this lift got me going. I stepped way out of my box by using purple cardstock (gasp) AND I used old stash - the making memories fabric florals. I love how soft and girly it turned out - it was too much fun to play with.

Oh My Pie In The Face

It's sad to say that I've been working on this page for three days now, but it's true. I started it on Thursday and it's just continued. I'm not sure, but I think I spent an hour and a half sewing those buttons on this morning while watching a movie. But it's fun, I like it and it certainly tells a story.

deep thoughts for a friday night
I'm sitting here waiting for my hot date to show up. He's still over at work. :) I just dropped the kids off with Kyndal, sounds like they are going to have a great time.
We are going to a football game tonight. I so don't understand football. But I love hanging out with people, so it should be fun. I'm just hoping the heat breaks so it's more like a date and less like 500 people in a sauna.
So done with summer. We did it big time this year, the six flag passes and the kiddie pool and umpteen pool parties. I did not hole up in my house - despite the lack of air in our car. But this bird's been cooked. I am tired of the hot hot heat and ready for cool October nights and changing leaves and pumpkins. Anyone else feel this way?
I'm also feeling a little homesick. But that's probably the crowded house talking - when I get stressed I still feel that need to run to Mom and Dad once in a while. Plus I haven't been home in almost a year now, and that's a long time in anyone's book. Trying to figure a way... It's just hard because we are so involved, going home will mean me taking our not-so-reliable ten year old car on a thousand mile round trip with two little people (also not-so-reliable). I can go with Kim, but it gets all complicated with cars and church and life.
We generally make the annual trek to the fruit farm. I'd be sad if it didn't happen, this will be our sixth year. Plus I just miss my family. I've only talked to my dad a handful of times on the phone so far this year, and we spent a couple hours together at my sister's in Champaign back in February. Growing up kind of stinks some times.
I shouldn't say my house is crowded, Lori and Jay left for Sioux City early this am. It's nice and quiet right now. I took a two and a half hour nap this afternoon and still woke up tired. I think I'm fighting getting sick.
Not trying to sound down, I'm just tired. I could really use a good long break. Unfortunately, mom's don't really get breaks - unless they go to France. Ah, france. :) Looking forward to some quality time with my hubby tonight. Wonder what we'll do for supper. Maybe I'll go play in my studio until he wanders home. toodles.

just cause I haven't done one in a while and I'm in that mood.

(should totally be in bed right now. details, right?)
1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?
I've never really thought about it. I've always wanted to live near water. Maybe Lake Michigan??

2. What's your favorite article of clothing?
Gap t-shirts

3. Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex?
Rob. (that sums it up)

4. What's the last CD that you bought?
ooh, bad about cds. Really addicted to limewire. my bad. Probably United We Stand was the last thing I bought.

5. Where's your favorite place to be?
My studio, creating to loud music.

6. Where is your least favorite place to be?
funeral homes. creepy.

7. What's your favorite place to be massaged?
I like it when Rob strokes my hair away from my face. goofy, but intimate.

8. Strong in mind or strong in body?
both. Physically strong and and emotional tank somedays. :)

9. What time do you wake up in the morning?
sometime between 5 and 8 am, depending on my little curly-haired alarm.

10. What is your favorite kitchen appliance?
my brand new shiney stove!!

11. What makes you really angry?
christians that don't act like christians. way to ruin it for everyone!

12. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
I can play an instrument, the flute, but I don't. And I've always wanted to take piano lessons. But I think my massive carpal tunnel might hold me back. :)

13. Favorite color?
I would be much to afraid to offend the other colors! (I *heart* color) Not a big fan of black though.

14. Which do you prefer...sports car or SUV?
SUV only because car seats are a necessity. I really like our family sedan though.

15. Do you believe in an afterlife?
yes, and I'm sure Jesus does too!

16. Favorite children's book?
Tumble Bumble by Felicia Bond. And all Sandra Boynton's books are fabulous too.

17. What is your favorite season?
I love them all for different reasons. But summer in St. Louis is testing my limits.

18. What is your least favorite household chore?
Chores are non-issues. Such is life.

19. If you could have one super power, what would it be?
ability to create more time - to get things done and energy to do things with.

20. If you have a tattoo, what is it?
only if you consider my moles to be God's tatoos!

21. Can you juggle?
children and household tasks is all.

22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to?
Gary Prize. He was just a super wise man.

23. What's your favorite day?
I have to laugh because the person before me said 'sunday, because it's relaxing.' ha ha ha. My favorite is whatever day Rob takes off because I always miss him and I love spending time with him more than anyone else on the face of this earth. And woohoo, tomorrow is his day off!

24. What's in the trunk of your car?
a stroller, four waterguns, jumper cables, a white board and probably several old and crusty cheerios. Why, what's in yours??

25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger?
eh. How 'bout ChickfilA?

My baby turns two today...

I really mean that. Barring any miraculous move of God, Sarah will be our last. And she's two, as of 7:47 this morning. I'm always amazed at her time of birth, since my surgery was scheduled for 7:30am. Seventeen minutes later she's in the world. Sarah is my miracle baby, I didn't blog back then, but we had to fight hard for her and I will never forget it.

There's a much bigger age gap between my kids then we had originally intended. I was thinking more like 2 years than 3 and 1/2. We had two miscarriages between Sarah and Eli and I was really starting to doubt whether we would be able to have any more children at all. When I finally got pregnant with Sarah it took me until the fifth month to really believe she would be born - I had just been a little gun-shy from the two previous pregnancies.

Anyhoo, just wanted to share what a miracle she is. I remind myself every day when she's crabby or pushy or mean. I remember in the quiet moments when I'm rocking her before bed or when I'm whispering prayers over her sleeping curly-haired head. I remember when she's laughing and playing and singing and I remember when she's pitching a fit to end all fits. I remember that I promised God I would never forget. I know how blessed I am to have both my children, and I know that if I had attempted to give birth in another time and place I never would have survived. I am truely thankful to be a mom. Happy Birthday Sarah.

Katelyn's frosting.

This is a random picture, but I'm hosting it here to see if I can put it up on myspace. We'll see if it works! Katelyn eats frosting by the tubful, with a spoon in the van. So I have to tease her. :) Love our girls.

a princess, a tu-tu and a very happy birthday party

Saturday was the big day. Sadly my cousin and her family couldn't make it up for the party, her little boy was sick. But Kim was here and the Camiolos, so that was very cool in itself. I was super excited that my mom's package had come the day before. She had made Sarah a pink and purple tu-tu. Sarah has practically lived in it since we opened it!

Rob and Kim made us a wonderful salad for lunch (while I was decorating the cake w/ mono multi and modge podge - tehee). We did the cake thing and the present opening began. It was so fun to spoil her for one day of the year! :) She loved her kitchen! And all the accessories too.

The rest of our weekend was swamped as usual, but that's alright. I'm really looking forward to putting the finishing touches on my house in the days to come. And we have a dinner meeting tonight with another local youth pastor, so that should be fun and it's steak and shake! mmmmm.

VBS is over.

Whew. Deep breath. Now, I don't say that to say I didn't enjoy teaching. I totally did. I loved our job - 'the half-time show' as I lovingly called it. We did a lesson reinforced by a trick. PR did the tricks and I did the talking, it worked really well. But it was just exhausting on our kids - being up so late every night. So glad it wasn't the last week before school started like it normally is - that would have been too hard on Eli. Now I'm trying to get him back on his normal schedule.

VBS ended with a pie in the face for me, which was ok. Rob was kind. It was a contest between boys and girls - who ever gave the most won. If the boys won, I took the pie in the face, if the girls won Rob would take it. We lost, big time because Rachel gave her money to the boys. the traitor. :) But I chased Rachel down with two pies because she deserved it - giving to the boys bucket and all. It was fun.

Friday was a really great day though. We did the six flags thing with Kim and Lori and Jay and the kids. Everyone had a good time, but it wore them out. I guess we are just used to it. So wish we could squeeze in another day this week since it's their last week open - from now on it will just be weekends. But we have a pretty full week already, so it's not likely.

And I'd sure like to share all these pictures with you, but once again blogger is being moronic and I can't. Grrr.... I'll keep trying because I'm devoted.

Oh, and I got my new oven. Oh my new oven!! I'm in love!! It's wonderful. It cooks consistently and quickly - heats evenly. I can't believe how much more fun it is to cook and bake now, I've used it a ton already.

(update) Ha ha. Diligence pays off. I got the photos up, one at a time, but their up!! enjoy!

new ovens, high speed fix-its and kindergarten

I have a lot on my mind today. We are registering Eli for kindergarten today. gulp. Still not sure how he's five and a half already and telling me unending stories. He talks all the time, as Lori pointed out to me yesterday. Yes, he really does. That is what five looks like, in case you were wondering. Seems like a lot of milestones at once for me, as Sarah turns two next week. We are celebrating on friday and saturday and she and Eli are counting down days to Six Flags - cause we've never been there before! :) Seriously, they still love it as much as they did the first time.

My kitty just came up to say hi, rubbing against my arm and gently meowing. Sarah makes the cutest kitty! She's killing me lately, absolutely speaking in full sentences "I go hi daddy now!" and "I don't like sauce Mommy!". Oh my two-ed-ness!

Lori and Jay took their kids to the zoo this morning, but I stayed home to relish the peace instead. Plus, hauling both my kids to the zoo by my lonesome didn't sound like fun. I figured they could use the quiet too. I've been catching up on paperwork, the 42 pages of required signatures for public school, taking pictures of new scrapbook pages to post and trying to keep my two from destroying each other.

The good news? My antique stove will be a thing of the past shortly. Pastor Ed always joked that it came over on the ark - and at first I thought he was kidding, but now I know how accurate that statement is. It seems like we lose another feature every other day. We are down to two working burners, the timer is gone, the temp gage is finicky at best and the oven itself has never actually cooked anything - it burns the top and leaves the bottom (of whatever) precisely the way you put it in the pan.

So Rob asked me to write a list of what I needed in a stove, since he and pastor are picking it out this morning. At first I just said "as long as it's white I don't care" since my current stove is almond and way out of place in my beautiful red and white kitchen! But then I started investigating online and realized that self-cleaning, large burners, lit oven, a timer and a bottom drawer rather than a broiler are all important too! So I am excited. I told Rob to ask the salesmen about it holding temperature inside consistently - since I love to bake so much. I'm sure he'll do a good job.

Sarah wore princess panties most of yesterday - she had two accidents late in the afternoon, but I thought she did really well for her first day as a big girl.

I'm very excited for the weekend - Kim is coming late Thursday night. We are doing Six Flags all day on Friday and then Saturday my cousin Sara and her family are coming to do a birthday lunch with us. It will be soooo fun. Can't wait to give Sarah her gifts. I love birthdays.

Well, that's about it I think. Oh, except that I forgot to tell you such a funny story from the other day. We've been having some electrical trouble with the dash in our car lately. It will just randomly lose power and then snap back. Well it happened to Rob the other day (and he panicked) so he shut off the car and turned it back on real fast. The instrument panel literally jumped to life, the speedometer jumped too far and wound around the other side, so that the needle was stuck beneath the little needle stopper.

Driving without a speedometer is not my idea of wisdom, so I was pretty adamant about fixing it. I told Rob I thought we could take apart the dash and push the little needle back to it's proper place but we should do it soon before the gear wore from pushing against that stopper. He agreed, but we have been sorely lacking on extra time lately. So we were driving to Six Flags last week and he decided we needed to fix it right then, but didn't want to take the time to stop the car and fix it - as it was already evening and it's an hour drive out there. So we (driving down 270) tore apart the dash and fixed the speedometer, taking turns running the screwdriver and prying the thing apart and driving. It was quite the sight, I'm sure. Our kids thought it was pretty funny. I'm just thankful that we were able to fix it and that we didn't get pulled over. But what a memory! I totally felt like we were in some high drama action movie with someone in hot pursuit and we are jerry-rigging a car. Very fun. Everyone needs a little drama/action in their life, right??

Oh, and one last cool thing. The CEO of expotv.com emailed me and asked me to do an interview with a magazine about why I use expotv. I am super excited about it because I'm way pumped about this website. Here's my latest video, they are giving away $10 paypal cash for every video right now. Such a great deal.

Well, off to vacuum. The exciting life of a stay at home mom. woohoo. -a

catching up??

Yeah, not so sure about that. We've got a heavy weekend - Rob's prepping for his credentialing test on Monday. It makes me sad, because he obviously graduated Bible College - not sure why they have to test them too. I'm praying hard for him because he doesn't have much time to cram between now and then. We are looking forward to a youth pool party this afternoon, I think it will be fun.

Oh, and I need to tell you how awesome Lori is. I was up in the night with Sarah so I didn't get to go garage saling with Lori early this morning - but Lori brought home this kitchen set for us to give Sarah for her birthday. It cost $5!!! So, Lori pretty much rocks in my book at this point. And Jay's making us waffles for lunch. mmmmmm.

Oh my quietness...

the still quiet of only one child, mumbling about video games and the drone of Mario Party 7 in the background. Ten minutes of relative peace. I think I'm in heaven.

Blogging has been on the bottom of the list lately - blogging requires quiet thought and soul searching - tends to not happen in a house with 8 people in it - 4 of which are under the age of five.

I'm doing alright though. I have my moments where I'm tired of tripping over 42 kids while I'm trying to make dinner or fold laundry or just escape for a moment. But I get that way with my own kids. I am really thankful that Rob and I have our sacred space - a quiet place in our bedroom - good for devotions and conversations and just laying down for a moment. We've started doing Sarah's yogurt in our room with us in bed in the mornings and that has been really neat.

I was talking to Kyndal this morning and said our life is like a rollercoaster on a continuous loop. I feel like everything is just bleeding together. I love rollercoasters - but it's not a lifestyle I'd want to keep up, if you know what I mean? Speaking of rollercoasters - I'm begging Rob to go back to Six Flags tonight because the heat has a tiny break and this the last night they are open in the evenings. It would be so fun to get out and ride the Batman and the Screaming Eagle again. Whcich - Eli rode the screaming Eagle twice back to back on Monday night and loved it. He's so cool!!!

My kids are great. Sarah is amazing me, she's so two already. I'm getting things together for her birthday, we are just doing a quiet party at home, but Kimmie is coming so I'm super psyched. Eli is really pumped for school, which I found out registration is next week. He's going to love it, I know, but it's such a milestone.

Rob seems down today, but he's tired and he's one who really needs his space. I'm hoping some family fun time will do the trick. Love the time we spend together doing nothing - it's the best. Well, that's enough for now. Sarah is sleeping and my studio is beckoning me.

I'm posting already.

I have had a post ready to go since saturday afternoon, but due to computer issues I couldn't get it on here - but alas - here it is and worth the wait. I'm going to share some more camp pictures here.

Ah, camp. First off I just have to say I love our girls. We totally have quality kids in APEX. I was sad that more of them didn't choose to go to camp - only because it was so awesome. Three of our girls stayed in my room - along with 8 other campers. I got to know a lot of them quite well.

I could have done without Activity Director's Dream (which I aptly nicknamed ADD). We'd play a group relay game and run around and scream for an hour and a half each day. It was long and hot, but by the end all of my girls were really into it.

I enjoyed the swimming, the surf and turf, especially blooper kick ball. I even enjoyed the long lines for lunch, breakfast and dinner - only because it was great conversation time and a good chance to meet new people. But the best part was most definitey the services. And hanging with my girls. :)

Other than camp? It's been super busy. We picked up our kids on Saturday - made it home ok too. Sunday was super insane - being the last sunday of the month and all. We did camp night at church and it was well received. Yesterday I crashed. Today hasn't been much better, except that Laura came over to scrapbook this morning and that was fun. Now I'm waiting for Sarah to fall asleep so I can lay down for a nap. I'm still wiped from a week of camp.

We are thinking of going to Six Flags tonight for a few hours. This is the last week they are open late at night - and that is our favorite time to go, so we want to take advantage of it.

Well- having issues with blogger and photo uploads. I'll try again soon. Off to nappie.