I Hate Cars

Well, maybe not all cars - just ours, or maybe just GM.

In 2001, I inherited a 1982 rust-red Chevy Cavalier station wagon from my younger brother. In the three years or so that we had it, it broke down only once; I had to replace the starter, if I remember right. We upgraded (and I use the term upgraded VERY loosely) to a 1992 Ford Tempo which broke down EVERY week. First it was the fuel pump, then the power steering, then the alternator, then a water pump, as well as a few others I can't remember. Thousands of dollars later, and after getting sick of fixing it, we bought a 1995 Ford Escort. The transmission went out about a month later. We forked out $700 to get a new transmission, which also went out about a month later. We sold it for salvage and bought a 2002 Saturn which never broke down, but we had to sell it less than a year later anyway to pay for flights for residency interviews. We then bought our infamous 2002 Pontiac Montana minivan. It ran pretty well up until three or four months ago when the intake manifold gasket started leaking. We had it replaced, but now, just months later it's leaking again. When the van originally broke down, my parents felt so sorry for us that they actually drove an old mid-90s Buick Park Avenue all the way from Utah to Ohio. It lasted a month before we forked out a few hundred dollars to a mechanic that couldn't figure out what the problem was. We sold it and bought an '02 Ford Escort which is suddenly having major front axle problems. As soon as our mechanic is done with the van, we'll be trading him for the Escort, and hopefully, we'll be back to two running cars. If not, here's my new dream car:

Memories

Bryan: "Has anyone seen the memory card?"


Logan: "Yes."


Bryan: "You've seen the memory card? Where?"


Logan: "Upstairs on the table."


Bryan: "No. I've looked there. It's not there."


Logan: "Yes they are!"


Bryan: "I was just there. It's not there."


Logan: "YES THEY ARE!"


Bryan: "The memory card?"


Logan: "YES!!!"


Bryan: "Okay, show me."

Birthday Bash!

Last Saturday, we celebrated the birthdays of these three - The Birthday Boys - Bryan, Eric, and Chris.

(It was Hudson's 1st birthday party too, but he was taking a nap.)

I baked Bryan a Chocolate Turtle cake with plenty of caramel and nuts. Looked pretty good...

...until it tipped over in the fridge.

Oh well. Luckily the birthday boy is very easy to please.

Bryan and Hannah

There were lots of yummy treats for all.

This birthday boy just finished overnight call at the hospital. It's okay Eric, we all understand! Plus, it was extra cute with sleepy Ainsley in his arms.

It is so fun that these three friends have their b-days within a week of each other so that we could celebrate them together! Kimberly suggested we do it again, five years from now...in Hawaii. So put in on your calendars, friends:

March 2014 - Hawaii!!!

Can't Get Enough of This Little Face!

Okay, one more shout out to my talented friend, Sarah, and her beautiful work! These are some of the adorable portraits she took for Hannah's birthday last month. Just Gorgeous!

This is a classic Hannah face - scrunching up her nose when she laughs.

Thanks again, Sarah! I love them! Sarah's website is: http://www.sarahpalfreyman.com/

They're So Cute...When They're Asleep!

Logan has to sleep with at least 10 stuffed animals every night. He calls them "my fwends." Infamous Kitty has been missing recently. Logan told me sadly, "I lost Kitty. He was my best fwend." Lately, he has insisted on sleeping in his "sports hat" too.

A little while ago, when we were painting the boys' bedroom, we moved Logan's toddler bed into the master bedroom so they could sleep while we painted. We told Andrew he could sleep in our bed, but when we peeked in to check on them, we found they came up with a different arrangement.

I often like to peek in on my kids after they've fallen asleep. They are so quiet and peaceful and I am reminded of their innocence. Sometimes I find something funny to laugh about and take pictures of, but more often it's a reflective time. Sometimes I feel sadness for how fast they are growing, and I feel regret for my shortcomings as a mother. But I always feel so much gratitude for the opportunity to be a mother and whisper a quick prayer of thanks to my Father in Heaven for trusting me with His sweetest spirits.

What Have We Done?!

On Saturday, Bryan sent me to the store to pick up some light bulbs. When I returned I found...well... I'll just let the pictures do the talking on this one...

Bryan claims he had no intention of demolishing the bathroom when I left the house. Hmmm...

In his defense, we did talk of maybe updating the bathroom when we saw how how well his sister, Deb's, bathroom remodel turned out. Well, I guess we're committed now.

During the demolition, Logan came to me and said, "What is that noise?! IS THE HOUSE FALLING DOWN?!"

Nope. Just the bathroom.

Hannah's New Hair-Do

How is it that moms of girls seem to just know how to do their little girls' hair so cute?! Did I miss that class at the hospital? "Parenting 201: How to do your baby girls hair (when she gets hair) so she doesn't look like an orphan everyday." I clearly took too much time at the breastfeeding class. Anyway, I guess I'm going to have to figure it out.

Today I thought I'd try a -do that my cute little niece, Paiton, wears. I found out it's not as easy as it looks on a squirmy one-year-old. This seriously took me thirty minutes and two start-overs. That's not going to work. Especially on Sunday mornings with 9 am church. So, all you hair-savy mommies of little girls, you got any tips for me? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have to say, she did look pretty dang cute though!
Thanks again for the darling bows, Deb!

Last Winter Post (Hopefully!)

Today I stumbled upon these sledding pictures from January that I forgot about. I figured I'd better hurry and get them posted since Spring is right around the corner (yes, I know it's wishful thinking).
We have a perfect sledding hill right down the street from our house. During the snowy season, Andrew and Logan beg us almost daily to take them sledding. They can't get enough!

Around sunset when Bryan and the boys returned, I started getting everyone ready for bed. After a while I noticed that it was pretty quiet and Logan was nowhere to be found. We searched the whole house, calling his name, and finally found him in the kitchen.

That CANNOT be comfortable! I guess all that sledding wore him out!

Great Lakes Science Center

Last weekend, we went to the Great Lakes Science Center for a Cleveland Clinic housestaff family activity. It included a fun make-your-own sandwich bar and ice cream sundae bar, admission to the Science Center, and an IMAX movie, Coral Reef. We all had a great time!

I think the balls were a favorite for everyone!

"What did you put in my hair, Mom?!"

Hannah and Mommy

Ready for the movie to start.

Bye-Bye Binkies!

We are on DAY 3 of NO BINKIES for Hannah! She's been down to binkies at nap times only for a few weeks, but once she got over her cold, I decided it was time to go cold turkey. She loved her binkies so much, so I was prepared for quite a fight. She protested a little at first, but now she doesn't seem to miss them at all. I guess she was ready too.

You'd think I would be thrilled to get rid of the little things, right? One less thing to carry with us everywhere...no longer having to crawl under her crib in the dark, searching for the darn things...But they are all still sitting in a bowl in the cupboard. I almost threw them away today, but something stopped me. It's like I feel like I'm letting go of the last of her babyhood, and that makes me sad.

I guess I still have diapers...

Dr Seuss Would Be Proud...?

As you may know, I babysit part-time for two of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet, R & G. I mean, I am really lucky to have these two! When they come, I try to always have a craft to do with all the kids. This week to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, we made Cat in the Hat hats. I was pretty excited about this one, so I took pictures.I started out by cutting out the center of a paper plate for the hat brim. I then cut small slits in the top of a paper lunch sack, put it through the paper plate, and taped it to the plate for the top of the hat. I stuffed it with newspaper to hold it's shape, and then let the kids go to town with the red paint (I gave the littlest guy red crayons instead).

As always, the kids were wearing big old paint shirts to protect their clothes, but sweet R reached down under the shirt and wiped her paint covered fingers all over her darling, brand new BabyGap khakis and white socks.

Okay, this is the part where I made a really stupid mistake. I picked up Hannah in one arm and sweet R in the other arm, made sure the other two were safely and contentedly playing, and then dashed down to the laundry room to try and save the pants! The bottle of red paint was up on the counter, out of reach of little G, but apparently not out of reach of Logan. When I returned from cleaning up the first disaster, I found the second one.

The story from Logan went something like this: After I rushed out of the room, Logan decided his hat needed more paint, so he reached up for the bottle of paint, squirted some on his palette, and then set it down on the table. Little G then grabbed the bottle and squirted it all over the kitchen floor. When I found him, he was sitting in the paint (also dressed head to toe in BabyGap, mind you), driving a Hotwheels car through it. Pretty ironic that gave him crayons instead of paint to color his hat to avoid the mess, huh?!

Now that I think of it, it's really quite appropriate: "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" making a crazy mess in the house while the mother is away. Hmmm...sound familiar?

I ordered the kids into the living room, and Hannah screamed in her high chair, while I wiped down little G and the kitchen. This time, I dragged all four kids with me to the basement to wash G's clothes. All I can say is, thank Heavens for washable paint! With a lot of Spray-n-Wash, scrubbing, and a trip through the washer, everything came out (I think. I still need to scrub my floor with bleach. Pink grout just doesn't look that great in my kitchen).

When the hats were dry, we glued strips of white paper around the hats to complete the Cat in the Hat look.

Logan insisted on making this face in every picture!

The hats turned out pretty cute and the kids seemed to get a kick out of them, but I'm not sure they were worth the aggravation. I think we are going to take a break from the paints for a while.