everyday moments

dance hour

2011-09-08T01:05:00.002-04:00

music: you are the best thing -- ray lamontagne

sometimes you just gotta dance :)

3 boys + 1 mama + cars 2 = fail

2011-08-02T16:05:00.008-04:00

before we get to the whole theater debacle, let's start out this post with what went well today.
safety town!first time visiting. boys loved it. they did really well with the red & green lights. right after that last picture, cash wiped out pretty good. nice big road rash right above his elbow. cleaned that up and he kept on riding :) they lasted a half hour before declaring it was "too hot!" (it is crazy hot today). we stopped to bandage cash up and jagger said "you look handsome cash, the girls are gonna love you now." ha!

so then i thought it would feel good to cool down in a nice air conditioned movie theater. cars 2 is still playing. perfect! they sit just fine through a movie @ home, so this should be even better. we get there, i buy tickets and a small popcorn for each of them, find seats, and we're good to go.make it halfway through previews before there is an explosion of popcorn, like a small bomb went off in jagger's lap. don't even know what or how it happened but popcorn is flying and his drink spilled. awesome. clean up and move down a seat. make it through the rest of the previews and the first hour into the film. they start getting antsy. musical chairs starts. that's ok, i can handle that. then shoes come off. more, smaller popcorn explosions occur. the boys start getting braver in venturing farther away from me. the mama fingersnap is going crazy. slade has to go the the bathroom. no wait, cash does now too. then jagger. instead of waiting for me and the twins, jagger starts to take off down the aisle, trips and slams his face on a step. screaming and crying ensues. pick him up and examine while trying to get the other two to follow me. they are not following me. grumble, grumble. finally get everyone out and to the car. sheesh! jagger has a bump by his eye, but we're all alive. hooray!truthfully, i didn't realize cars 2 was so long, so that was definitely my bad. i'll be sure to look into movie running times next attempt :)

these days...

2011-07-31T18:09:00.007-04:00

- cash's favorite color is green. he believes all green things belong to him. he named his stuffed animal green. if you ask him what kind of food he wants, he says green food (but he doesn't truly want green food).

- since turning 5, jagger has twice tried to convince me that he is now old enough to drive.

- slade sings songs to himself throughout the day. sometimes it's just sounds and other times it's words, but it's always cute.

- jagger comes up with a "good idea" or a "plan" for me several times a day. the good idea or plan ALWAYS ends in him riding his bike. example of a proposed plan: "mama, i have a good idea! how 'bout we go to the library, get some lunch, go home, brothers take a nap, and i ride my bike?"

- the boys love riding their bikes. they will ride happily for hours, even if it's just up and down the sidewalk.

- their favorite movie right now is the iron giant, and no matter how many times i watch it with them, i still tear up at the end.
- nothing is safe from destruction by these boys, as evidenced by this:what am i looking at, you say? oh, let me get you a bigger view:

that's right, the back of my car. where sweet innocent slade tried to climb up using the windshield wiper, which can't support his weight and therefore broke right off. good times!
so i'm looking forward to the day when i can have nice things again. it may not be for another 15 years, but boy, i can't wait!

i want to remember...

2011-07-30T21:00:00.004-04:00

- that my boys are completely and 100% obsessed with superheroes.

- the costumes are worn on a DAILY basis.

- slade generally refuses to answer to his name. he will tell you which superhero he is for the day (or hour, or minute...) and you absolutely must call him by that name.

- we have costumes for batman, the flash, and spiderman, and they rotate through them regularly. one exception to the list is astroboy, which only slade will be, and of which the outfit consists of just his pullup and his "rocket boots" (otherwise known as rain boots)

5 years

2011-07-30T19:44:00.007-04:00

5 years old. how is this possible??

we celebrated jagger's 5th birthday in ohio @ the grandparent's house among family & friends.

i don't think i've ever seen a more happy & excited little boy :)

for months now, jagger has been saying that when the big jagger inside him reached the top of his head, then he would be 5. i'm not sure where he got this idea from, be he stuck to it and if anyone asked him where it was at, he would point to where on his body it had grown. so of course i asked him on his birthday, and it was right on top of his head. i guess he really is 5 :)after cupcakes and presents, it was time to work off some energy running around the yard.

grandpa hooked a trailer to the mower and gave the kids rides.then tire swinging time & playing some catch...

bang! he got me while i was trying to take some pics :)

and then bonfire time, complete with smores

both cash & slade were not so sure bout that big fire :)

cash gives the day two thumbs up

all in all the day was a huge success. jagger was truly beyond happy and he kept saying that it was the best day of his life :)

and of course we couldn't let the opportunity pass of getting a picture of the boys with their boys. the group has grown by one since the last pic in 2008, congrats to jon :)

looking good guys :)

rite of passage

2011-04-26T00:21:00.009-04:00

so...those of you who know my boys know they are a wild pack. always on the move, making a racket, and generally be boys. extremely rambunctious boys. which is why it is so disconcerting when there is quiet. quiet means trouble is brewing.

today there was quiet...

it seems cash & slade had found the scissors and decided to test their barbering skills. feast your eyes on the awesomeness.
let me just say, these two were so pleased with their handiwork. slade had created some really nice edgy bangs and cash, well cash had just gone to town on the top of his head.

oh lord. it's a good look, no?

now, i'm not sure how much help jagger was to the whole production. his hair does not seem to be cut, but he was in the bedroom with the other two. for all i know, he may have been the main stylist. but for the time being, he is off the hook.
i just had to laugh when i saw them, especially because they were so proud (though we had a very serious discussion about not doing this ever again). it's just hair and it will grow back. thankfully there were no scissor injuries! corey was particularly sad about slade's hack job. he has such nice straight hair & it's the first time we've ever cut it short. thank goodness i have boys. we just buzz cut their hair, no big deal.
so, a rite a passage down, right? i mean, all kids cut their own hair. or at least some do. or at the very least, i should not be surprised that mine did :)

two funny videos

2009-10-08T12:57:00.002-04:00

new friends

2009-09-18T18:03:00.003-04:00

i saw these little wooden people on etsy the other day, and i figured i could do that, so i made jagger some new friends.

2 pirates and a boy that jagger says is papa.

he plays with them all the time. when i walked by earlier they were having little conversations...

pirate: "hey, what you doing here?"

boy: "i boy. i happy"
how cute :)

the fate wolfgang escaped

2009-09-18T17:50:00.003-04:00

constantly trying to be ridden by two small boys.

boy, i bet he's glad :)

scenes from today

2009-09-17T19:59:00.007-04:00

black cab sessions

2009-08-26T12:33:00.002-04:00

how sweet would it be to catch one of these cabs?!

check out the site...the black cab sessions

so many more videos to watch. i could get lost for a few hours :)

shave & a haircut, two bits...

2009-08-16T17:58:00.008-04:00

or maybe just some haircuts.

see...we be lazy, and cash and slade had yet to have their first haircuts.

and their hair... it was out of control.

so yesterday we took charge.

corey strapped the boys down in their highchairs with some yummy, yummy pancakes, put on some cartoons as distractions, and started chopping away.

up first was cash. he didn't know what was going on, but he just went with the flow.

first cut

such concentration on the barber's face

holy mess in the back

goodbye curls

who is this kid?

slade, on the other hand, was pretty convinced we were stealing his strength.

he looked rather distressed throughout the cut, and kept trying to swat corey away.

oh no...they found my weakness

that's enough already!

then we decided why not go three for three and cut jagger's hair as well.

no 'hawk this time, just a cut.

corey checking out his handy work

bleh. hair in the face.

i think the kids look great, even if i don't recognize them anymore :)

thanks to papa for being the barber. fantastic job!

when i asked cash if he liked his new cut and if we should keep letting papa be the barber, this was his reaction.

interpret it how you will :)

these brief and shiny moments...

2009-08-11T11:37:00.002-04:00

when all the boys are playing quietly together.

it's rare and ends ever so quickly, but i live for these moments.

when it becomes unusually quiet and i look up to see this...

of course, 60 seconds later, they're fighting as usual.

but man, it was good while it lasted :)

new pants...

2009-08-08T20:40:00.004-04:00

this is how i found jagger when i got him up after his nap...

he was so proud of himself for putting on a pair of pants all by himself.

then he stood up...

hmmm...something's not quite right about those pants :)

or maybe he's starting a new trend -- shirts as pants.

he was very insistent about wearing them around.

he had to hold them up 'cause they were a little big around the waist.

shortly after this picture, we decided maybe it was better to take them off,

'cause the dang pants just wouldn't stay up and he was starting to have

melt downs because of it.

slade found a vhs tape and wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

he thought he was supposed to look through it.

he was trying so hard :)

and here's one unfocused picture of cash, caught sitting on the coffee table,

which is not allowed. and he knew it :)

crazy cool rides

2009-08-06T21:17:00.003-04:00

today we were so happy to see nana & uncle demian for a quick visit while they were passing through town. they brought these new rides for the kids, which were a big hit.

first up is this little green ride. it plays music which cash loves, 'cause he likes to move and shake his little body.

here's that little man sitting on his sweet green machine

next is this fun little tonka truck

when you turn the little key, it vibrates like it's starting up.

slade staked his claim on this truck.and the big winner of the day, was this rumbler ride. the big draw is this button.

push that button, and the thing drives itself. the funny thing is, jagger totally thinks this one is his and his alone, but he's a little bit big for it. when he pushes the button, it very sluggishly moves forward under his weight. so while you're sitting on the couch, here comes jagger, moving so slowly by, with a very serious face, and it takes him like a full minute to pass you. so funny. he's like an old man driving around on an old rascal scooter. as you can tell by this picture, it's very serious business, and apparently takes a lot of concentration.

thanks nana & demian for stopping by! we were glad you were able to :)

and the new rides will provide hours of amusement (with a few squabbles mixed in)!

some fun videos...

2009-08-05T12:47:00.005-04:00

this week we...

2009-08-05T12:26:00.006-04:00

played with trains (note: the floor desperately needs to be vacuumed!)

hid in the toy trunk

introduced the boys to a glorious movie (and they liked it!)

snuggled with papa

read some books

took many naps

goofed around (note: holy cow! those boys need hair cuts!)

stood on some chairs

accidentally got knocked over by mama, therefore getting this nasty bruise

and laughed a lot :)

(note: please disregard the remnants of breakfast on this boy's face)

lunch at the park

2009-06-22T11:46:00.008-04:00

last week sometime, we met papa on his lunch break at a small park near his office. it was a dreary day, but i was happy to get the kids out of the house for a while. here's some pics from our excursion.

the play area is a little pirate ship.

here is captain jagger steering the ship and wearing some snazzy st. patrick's day beads.the kids love the slide.

jagger was the first to go down, beads a-flyin'cash was next, bringing his cup along for the ride.
slade was a little nervous to go down by himself.

jagger is a little impatient behind him.success :)
build-up at the bottom.

after playing for awhile on the pirate ship, we headed down to the riverfront to take in the view. the kids are running all crazy here.
cash and slade taking in the view.
the view
the walk back to the car took longer than usual 'cause jagger insisted on blowing on all dandelions he came across :)

i love mail

2009-06-10T17:22:00.004-04:00

i've said it before, and i'll say it again.

getting the mail is one of my favorite things to do.

even if it's just bills.

i know is weird & quirky, but it's the truth.

today, however, was an excellent mail day because it contained a package.

a package from my friend, jessica.

it's for my birthday (which was a few weeks ago) and was completely full of goodness.

all the fixin's needed for a girls night:

pjs

funky socks

a chick flick

and chocolatey treats. but the best part of all was the card.

not only did it sing to me that i was getting old to the tune of kumbaya, but it included jessica in it.

well, a miniature version.

since she couldn't be here to have a girl's night with me, she sent her twin instead :) heh.
totally made my day.

thanks jess, i love it all!

(and i need to take classes from you and melissa on how to put together the perfect gift and then following through and sending/giving it -- you guys are so good at it!)

the future begins

2009-06-10T13:12:00.004-04:00

have you seen this yet?

corey and i were lucky enough to get a sitter on friday (thanks alicia!)

we did dinner and a movie.

this was corey's pick.

i have to say, having no prior old school star trek experience (i'm only familiar with the next generation), i thought the movie was pretty awesome.

and corey was completely geeked out :)

i think the best part of the whole night was watching corey watch the movie. he was so happy :)

i recommend it, go out and see it!

hot, sticky fun

2009-06-10T12:13:00.005-04:00

it's been pretty hot and humid the past couple of days.

and i'm holding out on turning on the air for as long as i can.

so in looking for things to do to cool off, i decided it was the perfect time to introduce the boys to freeze pops.

jagger instantly loved them.

cash and slade weren't sure what the heck they were and what they were supposed to do with them. and they were a bit shocked by how cold they were. but they watched big brother and soon had it figured out.

i think the freeze pops were a success :)the water table has been such a great toy for the kids.

thanks again, rob, lee, and fam!

slade decided it would make a nice pool and climbed right in. he was pretty pleased with himself.jagger has been punching the water a lot lately. i guess he has a bunch of aggression he needs to get out. i'd rather it be water than one of his brothers, so this works for me.

and cash loves to splash. he just goes crazy, laughing hysterically, while soaking everything in the vicinity. (you'll notice i took the picture from inside, to keep the camera from getting soaked!)
and last week, jagger received an early birthday present from nana. this jump-o-lene has been a huge help in keeping the kids happy. thank you nana!it's really hard to get a picture of the kids in it, they're bouncing around so much. they love it and just laugh and laugh while tumbling around inside :)and the funny thing about this jump-o-lene is that it has one larger hole for the entrance, but the boys refuse to use it. they keep trying to go through one of the smaller ones and then they get stuck. i'm forever rescuing the little rugrats :)

we'll see how long these distractions work, before i have to come up with some new ones.

any suggestions?

happiness

2009-06-10T11:53:00.002-04:00

i love walking into a room and seeing my boys looking at books.

we keep a bunch out in a basket in the living room, so they can browse them whenever they feel like it.

as i said before, i would love for my boys to be readers.

books bring such happiness to my life, i would love for them to share in that joy :)

yogurt

2009-06-01T17:04:00.005-04:00

all my boys love yogurt.

love it.

jagger has been on a yogurt kick. asking for one every morning.

apparently he abandoned this one before finishing.

slade happily stumbled upon it and helped himself.

yum :)

cherry festival

2009-06-01T15:26:00.003-04:00

friday evening we went with a bunch of friends to the cherry festival in washington.

i expected some quaint little street fair.

nope, it was a regular old carnival, carnies and all.

didn't even have anything to do with cherries.

the kids enjoyed the sights, the mama enjoyed the food :)

the best part was the fireworks that evening.

the boys enjoyed them :)

jazzercise

2009-05-24T23:48:00.001-04:00

it's no secret that i need to lose quite a few baby pounds.

i think i found my new workout routine.

what do ya think?

oh boy...

2009-05-23T00:43:00.003-04:00

so i thought yesterday would be a good day to reintroduce jagger to potty training.

the training has been on hold for quite some time, due to all the transitions we've been going through for the past few months, but honestly, i wasn't being real consistent with it for a long while before that.

and boy, can i tell.

jagger did not want to go to the potty at all. he hated that i would interrupt his play time, or monster watching time, or whatever was going on, to make him sit on the potty.

he did like wearing big boy underwear, though.

by 2:30, here were the stats:

peed in potty: 0

pooped in potty: 0

peed in pants: 3

pooped in pants: 1

ugh...and it didn't improve. he did not once go in the potty.

the sad thing is, he was doing so well, at least with peeing in potty, when we first started. it's my lack of consistency that has made him reluctant. boo on mama!

so now that i'm home all day, we're are starting over again.

we will make progress! he won't wear diapers forever, right?!

and i'm thinking i need to go out and buy more big boy underwear :)

(do you think this post will embarrass him when he's older?)

nap time

2009-05-21T13:06:00.003-04:00

have i mentioned before that jagger likes closets?

well, he does.

after we stayed in a hotel room with the kids, we discovered that he especially likes closets with sliding doors.

and as luck would have it, our new place has sliding closet doors.

what a lucky boy :)

he has started to take his naps in the closet.

maybe because it's darker in there. maybe it's quieter. maybe he just feels like he's on a secret adventure.

i have been finding him in there a lot.

i walk into his room and it seems empty, except for the snoring (which he inherited from me, unfortunately). so i walk over to the closet, quietly slide the door open, and find this...

completely conked out :)

funny, huh?

and not to exclude the other two kiddos, here some pics from the other day.

whatchyou talkin' 'bout?

slade, happy and eating an egg.

important things

2009-05-14T23:22:00.003-04:00

this is jagger's new place to store important things.

he has been shoving all sorts of goodies in his waistband.

corey's phone, little toy cars, markers, various toys.

he is constantly asking me to help secure his important items there.

i think it's cute :)

exhausting

2009-05-12T23:22:00.004-04:00

that's what today was. those crazy kids of mine were complete punks. woke up in bad moods that lasted all day and caused them to pick on each other and scream the whole day long. poor corey was at work all day. left at 8:00am and didn't get home until 9:20pm. looks like his tuesdays are shaping up to be long ones.

it was just a long day for all of us.

cooking adventures in the kitchen

have any of you had that chicken & gnocchi soup from the olive garden? i love it. i may even be a little bit obsessed about it. so i decided i was going to try to make it. i found a recipe on the internet that claimed it was similar to olive garden's and got to work.it turned out alright, i guess. definitely not as good as the original. i let it cook a smidgen too long so it was thicker that it should be, and i wasn't a huge fan of the gnocchi that i bought, but once again, the boys ate it up, so it was not a complete waste. i think i'll just stick to the original from now on, though.

also, i am having a hard time getting used to our oven. can anyone guess why?that's right. there are no numbers on the knob. it's a pain. my mom bought me a temp gauge to put inside the oven (thanks mom!) which helps me get in the general range of the temp i need to be at, but it's still a guessing game.

the one cute moment of the day

even though the boys were punks for the vast majority of the day, they did have this one redeeming moment. they were all outside playing on the deck and for once they weren't screaming. so i peeked out and saw slade pushing and pulling cash around in a tiny little lego wagon. they were just so happy and getting along and jagger was laughing and it was a perfect little moment. slade pushed cash around for probably a good five minutes. then jagger decided he wanted slade to pull him around, but cash didn't want to get out and they started pushing and screaming and the cute moment was over.

it was a relief to get them all into bed tonight. after a good night's rest, they'll be refreshed and happy for a new day tomorrow. i'm sure it will be a great one :)

pictures from our days

2009-05-11T22:46:00.010-04:00

hello, hello! good day to you!

did everyone have a nice mother's day?

my boys were kind enough to sleep in and therefore I was able to sleep in. yay!

in fact, i had to wake jagger up at 11:45am, 'cause i was afraid he'd sleep the day away.

when i went in to wake him, this is what i saw.
there is a little boy underneath that blanket. he was funny when i tried to wake him up. i pulled the blanket off his face and he wrinkled his little forehead, with eyes still closed, and pulled the cover back over his head. i had to pick him up and bring him downstairs to get him up. :)

today has been a fairly relaxing day. i decided to try my hand at making a quiche.
i wouldn't say it was a success. the recipe definitely needs adjusted. but the boys gobbled it up, so i guess it wasn't a complete failure.

jagger has been in a monster phase for a while. he's sees them everywhere, blames them for doing bad things (like pushing his brothers around), and has become quite a fan of the movie, monsters, inc. here he is, watching it and thoroughly engrossed.

here is the box of clothes that i was determined to unpack today.i still haven't been able to get the clothes boxes unpacked, and i end up rooting around in them until i find what i need. unfortunately, it is 10:00pm and i still haven't gotten to that box yet. maybe after i'm done blogging...

i was on a reading frenzy at the beginning of the year. by march i had read 22 books since the first of january. i put reading on hold once we knew we were going to be moving and would not allow myself to get sucked into any stories while packing, moving, and then unpacking needed to be done. but i decided to reward myself for making it to this point of the process and i started this book the other night and finished it today.it was pretty good. started out strong, got a little sloppy in the middle, pulled it back together towards the end, and left the story wide open for a sequel.

the boys seem to be settling into a good routine these days. they get up around 9:00-9:30ish and they all play hard for about three hours before they are plum tuckered out. here's cash and slade taking their naps.after they get up, they go right back to playing. cash and slade are quite enamored with the camera and give me some pretty good faces when they see i have it out. except they tend to come running at me full speed because they want to touch all the buttons. cash was asking me the same question over and over, but i couldn't figure what he was saying.slade gave me a nice grubby faced smile.and jagger is still not a fan of posing for the camera so he decided to try to throw water at me to deter me from snapping off a pic.

later this afternoon i filled out a ton of paperwork for the church that was supposed to be turned in last week.actually, we had it partially filled out and i took it to the church to give to corey. but of course i forgot to give it to him while i was in the building and remembered as we were strapping the kids back in their car seats. so i set it on top of the car, told corey not forget to take it back inside, promptly forgot, and drove away with the paperwork still on top of the car. i probably never would have noticed except a cab was honking all crazy at me and i couldn't figure out why. was i going the wrong way down a one way street? then it hit me...crap, the papers! so i drove around the block, called corey, pulled back into the parking lot, and we scrambled around the street and dodged traffic trying to gather up all the papers that were blowing away with corey's info on them. classic us, wouldn't you say? the paperwork i filled out today was to replace the copies that had been run over and had big tire treads all over them. like i've said before, there's never a dull moment with the blairs :)

and this final pic is just all the kids trying to cram into the laundry basket together (with clean clothes underneath!) this evening.it worked for a moment before they decided they did not like being so close to each other and things went downhill. i just picked them up, plopped them in the tub, and all was well.

that's all for today. more adventures will be had tomorrow :)

can i just say...

2009-05-08T16:54:00.007-04:00

i love being home with the rugrats.

naps are pretty great.

i love sunshiney days.

i'm glad i found a job.

i love to hear my boys laugh and giggle.

etsy.com has some pretty sweet stuff.

music makes my soul happy.

so do books.

may is a good month :)

whew! we made it.

2009-05-05T13:12:00.007-04:00

but i honestly don't know how we did it. if it wasn't for the blair fam, mike, rob, and jessica, we never would have gotten the house packed and ready to go. it was down to the wire, and we ended up leaving late and driving through the night. that was tough but we survived. we got in town just in time to meet with the landlady and then the staff from riverside came to help unload the moving truck. what took us two days to load only took them 2 hours to unload. thanks to everyone who helped, it was greatly appreciated!

so now that we're here, we're trying to get things figured out and situated. boxes are everywhere. a lot of stuff will probably stay packed while I just try to figure out what are the essentials. that way when our lease is up and we (hopefully) find a house, we'll be a bit more ready (pray that our house sells quickly!). the kids seem to be adjusting alright. cash is taking the move in stride, jagger is doing decent, while slade, poor slade is a very rigid schedule kind of kid and so he is a bit out of his element right now. it's been a tad rough. it will take a while to get things unpacked (it's hard to unpack with the rugrats running around, demanding attention!) and a routine figured out, but we'll get there and things will smooth out.

next on the list is for me to find a job. pray that i find something that will work with our schedule and pays decent! we've started to learn our way around town, but i am heavily dependent on our gps (her name is penny). i have my priorities though, so i do know my way to target (i heart target) and the local library (i already got a card), so that's a great start :)

my mom has already been to visit, which was fabulous. i'm so glad we are closer and we'll be seeing more of her!

later today i'll be hanging with a friend from church and her kids, so i'm looking forward to that, and i'm sure i'll have some stories to post :) there's never a dull moment in the blair household!

saying goodbye to our house

slade eating a banana and watching 'toons very early in the morning

one of the first places i went to once we got here

jagger playing on the deck

(thanks lee & rob for the water table. the kids love it!)

and so it begins...

2009-04-29T20:11:00.002-04:00

hey there!
we're on the road.
about 2 hours in.
i was a big blubbering mess the first hour.
so many emotions.
right now we're making a quick pit stop at corey's parents.
bathroom break, quick bite to eat, and goodbyes.
only 7 1/2 hours more to go...

hello? is anyone there?

2009-04-27T15:39:00.004-04:00

whoa. i have been a bad, bad blogger this year.

i'll admit to this.

but i have a good reason why i have been absent so much lately.

(prior to the past few months, i have no excuse besides laziness).

do you want to know what it is?

we're moving!

where, you ask?

to peoria, illinois.

yep, that's right, not far from where i started out as a young lass.

after much thinking, discussing, praying, searching, interviewing (and throw in some tears, stress, and excitement, for good measure) corey has accepted a position as youth pastor at a church in peoria.

and i got to tell you he is pretty pumped.

we are so thankful for our church family here. we learned so much about what it means to be in the ministry. our life together basically started here since we had only been married for about 7 months when he took the youth pastor position. and so much happened in the past 6 1/2 years. he stepped up to the lead pastor position, we bought another dog, we bought a house, we had jagger, we bought a minivan, we had cash and slade. whew.

as much as corey has loved the experience he gained from being the lead guy, he is excited to go back to youth. it's what he went to school for and it really is his passion. and i've got to tell you, it takes a special calling to work with kids. those of you who know corey know that he is just a big kid. i mean, he never really grew up.

so we decided that now was a good time to make the move back to youth ministry, while our kids are still small and not established in school yet.

we are excited.

for new ministries to begin.

for new friendships and connections to be made.

for new adventures to be had.

we have been busy, busy, busy. prepping the house for sale. packing. trying to keep the kids from unpacking what we've just packed. saying goodbyes.

we roll out of town on wednesday. i can hardly believe it's here.

so, this post is to let you know what's up. our internet is being shut off tomorrow and it'll be a few days before we're reconnected in illinois. so be patient. there'll be more stories to come :)

jagger testing out the moving truck :)

happy birthday gramps!

2009-04-06T22:25:00.007-04:00

grandpa:

thank you so much for all you've done for us.

we have so loved getting to spend more time with you.

you are barrels of fun!

we heart you :)

p.s. the world loves and needs the comments only you can leave :)

egg hunting/new 'do

2009-04-04T21:27:00.004-04:00

today we had an easter egg hunt at our church. jagger and slade got the concept of gathering eggs right away. cash, well, he would pick up a plastic egg and try to put the whole thing in his mouth, or he would put an egg in his bag, and then try and take two eggs out and put them back on the ground. silly boy.

once jagger realized there was candy in the eggs, his excitement hit a new level. that boy has inherited his mother's overwhelming sweet tooth. i'm so sorry, bud.

after the hunt, we headed home, ate lunch, took naps, and generally just lounged around the house. after papa got home, we decided it was about 5 months past due for jagger to have a haircut. so, he is back to sporting his 'hawk. it's a good look.

i think we've decided that jagger will rock the 'hawk, slade can rock the shag, and cash, if the poor boy doesn't start growing some hair on top of his head soon, well, he'll be rocking the comb-over.

the kids (a list)

2009-04-01T21:12:00.002-04:00

1. jagger calls both cash and slade either "baby" or "ca" (as in cash minus the sh). apparently to him, the name slade does not exist.

2. cash tends to sleep with his feet hanging out of the crib.

3. jagger has started referring to himself in the 3rd person, as in "jagger hungry," or "jagger go night-night."

4. slade says "stinky" every time one of the boys is getting a diaper change.

5. cash has a funny habit of hiking up his pant legs while he is walking around.

6. jagger is all about monsters these days. according to jagger, there are monsters every where in our house (and outside).

7. slade throws some major fits when he does not get his way.

8. as quick as slade is to anger, he is equally as quick to laugh. he smiles often (in between tantrums!).

9. jagger will get up in the middle of the night and make up a bed on the floor in his room with his pillow and blanket. that is often where we find him in the mornings.

10. cash is quite a babbler and sincerely seems to be trying to communicate with you, but it is all just gibberish.

11. slade loves to be held and is quite the cuddler.

12. cash is always getting into something and is always on the go, go, go.

happy spring!

2009-03-20T22:16:00.002-04:00

weekend

2009-03-08T20:44:00.005-04:00

not much happened this weekend. except for the fact that the boys were horrendous. i need warm sunny days so we can go outside. i like that it's warming up, but it's been raining buckets which isn't conducive to outside playing (though that's still much better than snow).

friday night, my husband was kind enough to allow me to leave him with the kids so i could go out with my friend, jessica. she just got a wii, and you all know how i feel about wii's. it's love, pure and simple. so that was loads of fun. then we crammed down some steak 'n' shake and headed to a late movie. i just love that gal, and we have bunches of fun together.

saturday, the kids and i hung around the house all day while corey went to work. they were in terrible moods and it was a very trying day. but we all survived it, thank god, and bed time was the best part of the day.

today, we had church, and yay! a visit from kelly and her new beau, adam. it's always great when we get to see kelly and today was no exception. we chatted and laughed over lunch, and then parted ways. kelly headed off to the hot dog shoppe and we came home, took naps and then corey headed back out to church while the kids and i stayed home. the kids were still in some pretty wacky moods, but the day did have it's moments. jagger has been pretending to be a puppy fairly often lately. he gets a big kick out of it. he was a puppy for a pretty long time today and he finally let me take a picture of him. so here's a pic of him panting:
and cash and slade have been fighting like crazy, but i was able to capture a little moment between the two of them here. they're either sharing secrets or conspiring against me, i'm not sure which.
things got better once corey came home partly because the kids were so happy to see him and partly because it was time to put the kids to bed. cash and slade went down first, and jagger stayed up for a bit longer. which was fine until he went a little spastic, jumped on corey, and busted corey's nose. it's not broken (we don't think), but it was bloody and he's really sore. we'll see if he has a couple of shiners tomorrow. now, jagger's asleep, pizza's coming, and it's time for some relaxing and tv watching.

thus ends our weekend.

random

2009-03-05T21:27:00.007-05:00

entertaining us with his dinner bowl

a couple of steps here and there

my absolute favorite

i think the boys are shocked i've pulled the camera back out :)

in my head

2009-03-04T19:59:00.003-05:00

4 songs and videos that i'm loving right now

thought i'd share. enjoy :)

ask and you shall receive

2009-03-04T18:37:00.003-05:00

i apologize for the extended absence.

we went through a horrible round 2 of the flu. jagger had it the worst, to the point where we thought we might need to take him to the hospital for dehydration because he couldn't keep anything down. but in the end, with lots of prayers, he is back to his old healthy self (or least as healthy as we ever get in this house).

after all that fun, the fam and i decided to take some personal time and get out of town for a bit.

and now we're back :)

so here's what up with today:

1. slade took a few steps here and there. the funny thing is, he actually started walking saturday night. pretty good, too. but i think he must have forgotten it all as he slept, because we haven't been able to get him to repeat his successful maneuvers.

2. cash tripped and fell on his face, giving himself a nice big fat lip.

3. jagger woke up from his nap in an extremely bad mood, and has been yelling at cash and slade all evening.

now, i am going to try and get back into the routine of regularly posting. i've not done it for so long, it's hard to get going again. but by golly, i'm gonna try my darndest. i do so hate to disappoint my fans :)

ears

2009-02-19T19:41:00.002-05:00

just a quick note to let you know everything went well.

i'm bummed that i forgot to take my camera.

tubes went in without any problems.

he's been pretty groggy all day.

we are already noticing little improvements in his speech. :)

so glad we got it done.

whew!

2009-02-17T18:47:00.005-05:00

well, we are alive. i must say that last week was wretched. but now we are past the flu, and things are looking better. corey, slade, and i have moved on to having regular run-of-the-mill colds and cash and jagger seem to be normal. well, as normal as they can get. hmm... what has happened that i need to update you guys on? let's see...

1. cash started walking. thursday. i was home sick, laying (lying?) on the couch, and i thought i was hallucinating because he just walked right across the room, like he's been doing it all his life. i'm shocked. i thought for sure that slade would be walking first, especially since cash didn't ever even want to practice walking with us, but he's been tottering around the house ever since thursday. and you can see on his face that he is just so proud of himself. i'm sure slade will be walking soon, too.
2. jagger is getting tubes in his ears this thursday. we had an appointment with our pediatrician yesterday, and were referred to an ear, nose, throat specialist because jagger (still) has fluid in his ears. we were able to get right in with the ENT doc and schedule the surgery. both the pediatrician and ENT doc believe that jagger can hear (which we knew), but that it's muffled for him and that would explain his speech delay and the strange pronunciations of the words he does say. so i'm glad that we are getting this done. how nice it will be for him to hear clearly! he won't know what to think :)

3. corey is the proud owner of an accordion. it is a birthday present from his parents. tom and terry were up to visit yesterday and brought his birthday present with them. can i just say hilarious?! he was very surprised, and i know there must be a story as to why an accordion, but i don't know what it is. my accordion boy. he's been filling the house with some pretty mournful music, though. he needs to learn some peppy tunes. the boys are super interested in it and it's been fun watching them all play with it together. how many people do you know can say they have and can play an accordion? we take pride in our quirkiness :)

his reaction when he opened the case

the accordion is all it's glory

accordion boy

a plague on our house

2009-02-10T21:46:00.003-05:00

sickness has fallen over the blair household. all blair boys have taken ill.

it's pretty gross. i don't handle puke well. but you don't have an option when you are the parent.

be back when everyone is feeling better.

out.

busy bees

2009-02-08T20:35:00.004-05:00

sorry i haven't posted in a few days. we have been busy busy bees and i just haven't had the time.

here are some pics from the last few days.

jagger looking snazzy after his bath

cash serenading us

trying to get the kids to cooperate for a valentine's picture

slade's new favorite way to stand :)

northern lights

2009-02-04T21:54:00.003-05:00

the silver lining to the bitter cold around here is that every now and then, you get to see the northern lights. by the time we got the camera outside, they had faded quite a bit, but you can still faintly see them in these pictures. not nearly as brilliant as what you would see in canada or alaska, but we like them none-the-less.

as seen from our driveway:

are you ready to rumble?

2009-02-03T21:39:00.002-05:00

cash and slade have started wrestling.

it's not pretty.

but it's kinda funny.

it usually begins over a toy.

slade does the bundy splash on cash.

jimmy "superfly" snuka would be proud.

cash does not appreciate and reciprocates accordingly.

slade usually wins (he's got more heft).

next time i'll try to capture it in pictures.

on a separate side note --

i'll give you a topic:

jagger has taken to calling corey "corey" instead of papa or daddy.

talk amongst yourselves.

cash and his climbing ways

2009-02-02T21:20:00.005-05:00

two facts:

1. cash is obsessed with the computer.

2. cash is quite the climber and everyday he conquers new heights.

today, these two facts came together to bring you this set of pictures.

why hello there!

2009-02-01T20:16:00.003-05:00

Good to see you! In case you haven't noticed, I kinda took the month of January off, blogging-wise, but now, now the blog's back for your viewing pleasure. I am (re)committed to bringing you many pictures of my crazy kids, and the funny stories that go with them. Thanks for being so patient.

happy birthday!

2009-01-28T15:37:00.003-05:00

to my big brother,

one of the coolest people i know,

i hope your day was the best!

happy birthday!

We love you!

tonight, at dinner

2009-01-25T21:59:00.003-05:00

welcome sweet baby!

2009-01-25T17:13:00.002-05:00

a big congratulations to matt & beth

and big brother & sister zach & ali

on the addition of precious baby

lily!

we can't wait to meet her!

but wait, there's more!

2009-01-22T19:55:00.004-05:00

alright, it's been awhile since i've shared any secrets with you guys, so today i'm going to tattle on corey. heh.

corey has a problem. it involves informercials. and the fact that he believes every word they are telling him. see, corey is cursed with insomnia. anyone who has spent a night up knows that there is nothing good on tv during the early morning hours, and more often than not, most channels are showing infomercials. and corey just drinks them in. during those god-forsaken hours, it makes sense that one should have a knife that can cut through a shoe, a concrete block, and then a tomato. remember epil-stop, the hair remover? gave him chemical burn. the ab-zapper? did not zap away those unwanted pounds (surprise, surprise!). the bow-flex that took three years of "easy payments"? i think it was used once and now sits in our garage providing a home to many a spider. metabolife, the pill that was supposed to melt away the pounds? well, they were taken for a week, and then forgotten. it got so bad, i had to forbid him from making any phone calls without consulting me first. not that i can blame him. they can be convincing, with their "old way" shown in black and white, with people in pain and struggling, and then the "new way," with everything so bright and shiny and good. who doesn't want that little improvement in their lives? :)

but we've come up with a compromise. now when corey wants something he's seen in an infomercial, we head to the store and check out the as-seen-on-tv displays. some good stuff can be found there. mighty putty? check. miracle blades? check. the handy switch? check. next on his list: the shamwow! (i mean, it sells itself!) and the clapper plus. i still have to reel him in sometimes, but at least now we don't have to pay shipping & handling! :)

corey admiring the glorious mighty putty

happy inauguration day!

2009-01-20T20:56:00.005-05:00

here are some pics from today.

lately i've been getting a lot of junk mail that includes stickers in it.

jagger loves them :)
cash and slade don't quite get the sticker idea, and think maybe stickers are for eatin'
and cash had some steamed broccoli today, but i'm not sure how much actually made it into his mouth :)

monster

2009-01-15T22:25:00.005-05:00

apparently, when you add gloves that are too big, earmuffs, and mama's galoshes to a mr. jagger, he turns into a monster and WILL ATTACK!

baking w/jagger

2009-01-14T21:18:00.004-05:00

first, i forgot to share this story with you guys yesterday.

when i went to check the boys in for their doctor's appointment yesterday, the receptionist said to me, "you know, we have another slade blair here." this surprised me and i said, "really?! you have another patient named slade blair?" and the receptionist said, "yes, and he's here right now." she said it was so unusual, they were worried they had made a mistake and perhaps had mislabeled a chart. so while we were waiting to see our doctor we met the other slade blair and his mom. This other slade was about 5 yrs old, and actually, he kind of looked like how i would picture our slade to look at that age. similar build, same hair color, round face. his mom said the name slade was suggested by her mother, who heard the name on a folk radio station. how crazy is that?! that our doctor has another patient with the same name and we happened to be scheduled for appointments at the same time!

today jagger and i made blueberry mini muffins together.

1. since he has such a love of all things that spray, i decided to put it to good use and have him grease up the muffin tin for me.
2. then we added water to the mix
3. we had to mix it up really good.
4. mama handled the putting in and taking out of the oven part, then it was time to

5. eat and enjoy!
Yum!

1 yr checkup

2009-01-13T18:00:00.004-05:00

alright, they are growing well. here are the stats.

cash

weight: 20 lbs 4 oz

height: 29 in

slade

weight: 22 lbs 9 oz

height: 291/2 in
as expected, slade weighs a bit more than cash, though i was expecting more of a difference. slade just feels so solid. i was surprised to see that cash was shorter than slade (i know it was only a 1/2 inch, but still). i guess cash just gives off the illusion of being taller with his lean body and long legs. he needs to start eating more though, so he can reach his full height potential! cash and jagger seem to be eating like birds these days. cash and slade also got 4 shots each. that was a little rough, but they got over it pretty fast. cash was the only one that was cranky the rest of the day. now they are all caught up on their immunizations and back on the normal shot schedule. yay!

after their appointment, we grabbed a quick lunch at bob evans, swung by grandma d's to pick up jagger, and we were off to the grocery store. we desperately needed to go shopping and it feels so nice to load up the fridge and pantry again. :) it was after 5:00pm by the time we got home (cash & slade's appt was at 11:30am), so we had dinner, the kids watched sesame street & played, and then it was bedtime.

looking forward to having our tuesday night ichat with jared & charla, and watching some american idol.

back to the grind tomorrow.

and the bad blogger award goes to....

2009-01-12T15:28:00.004-05:00

i know i have been so bad at blogging lately. it just seems like there is nothing happening to talk about. i think i have the winter blahs. we got so much snow on saturday. bleh. i hate it.

he had to shovel the driveway again later that day!

today:

- we danced to some music. jagger taught me some pretty sweet moves. they involve kicking and punching the air, and then squatting down real low :) pretty funny to watch.

- jagger decorated corey and i with stickers all over our faces.

- cash decided to wear a piece of foam puzzle around his neck like a necklace. very becoming :)
- i started sifting through paperwork to gather what i need for tax time. i did horrible at keeping things together this past year. it's gonna be a lot of work to get organized.

- slade was obsessed with my nose. every time he was near me, he would try to stick his finger up it. what's with that?!

- we found jagger hiding under the kitchen table with a box of chocolates he very slyly snuck away without us noticing.

- jagger skipped his nap.

tomorrow, cash and slade go for their 1yr well-baby checkups. they are also getting completely caught up on their shots (since we had missed their 6 month vaccinations). i'm taking the day off to help deal with the crankiness that is sure to ensue. i'm interested to see how much they weigh now. look for their stats tomorrow. :)

andy + tek

2009-01-09T20:43:00.005-05:00

first an update:

still no ring. i have made peace with the fact that it is gone forever. still very sad. we took your suggestions and pulled up the toilet (which led to a slew of other problems & leaks), but it was not there. we got on our hands and knees with a flashlight and checked every nook and cranny. it's not covered under our homeowner's insurance 'cause i opted out of that coverage for i truly believed there was no chance of me ever losing it and honestly, it was not the most expensive ring. the ring can be replaced easily enough, it's just the sentimental value that is irreplaceable.

checking for the ring

on to happier things:

we were able to spend some time with andy and tek before they headed back to savannah. they came to warren and it was a great time. i forget how much i miss andy until he is around, and then it hits me full force. and tek is just the greatest kid. so sweet. we were sad to see them go. pray that they have a safe drive for they are planning on driving all the way back to savannah tonight.

here are some pics from their time with us. we were lucky enough to have kaitlyn visit for a little while today. she's a blast!

poor tek was so tired before they left, he kept drifting off at the dinner table :)

a very bad day, indeed

2009-01-07T14:30:00.003-05:00

today has been a very sad day for me. and this is chiefly due to the fact that i lost my wedding ring. down the toilet. i am so upset and i just can't believe this happened.

the facts are these:

late last night, i decided i wanted to use satin hands from mary kay that my mother-in-law gave me for christmas (and which i love). i usually never take off my ring, no matter how dirty or messy my hands get, but for whatever reason, i decided i needed to last night. and since corey hasn't yet hooked the hot water up on our bathroom sink, i just sat on the edge of the tub to use the warm water from there. i then took my ring off and placed it on the toilet seat cover. why did i place it there? i have no good answer for you. maybe because i was already seated on the edge of the tub and it was the closest in height and proximity to me? i truly can not give you a logical answer. but anyways, i used the products, lotioned my hands and then went to bed, completely forgetting i had taken my ring off.

so this morning, i do my usual morning routine and while i'm putting lotion on, realize i don't have my ring on. panic! remember i had placed it on the seat cover. check the floor, look in the bowl, the back of the tank, everywhere, but it is no where to be seen. so i panic some more. then i wake up corey. relay the story to him. and he says..."i heard it." and proceeds to tell me that sometime last night, he got up to use the bathroom. he didn't turn on the light and when he lifted the lid, he heard it fall, and thought to himself in his sleepy stupor "what was that?," but did not turn on the light to check, just flushed the toilet. and it was gone.

i am quite devastated. i had a good cry this morning. that ring has been on my finger for the past eight years, and i feel naked without it. i just can't believe that 1. i took it off, 2. that i placed it on the toilet seat, and 3. that it is truly gone. sigh.

christmas again!

2009-01-06T19:11:00.008-05:00

yesterday we were able to celebrate christmas with the savannah blairs. it was so good to see andy, kate, and tek. here's how the night went down.

- arrive in mansfield @ 4:30pm

- andy is making a mess in the kitchen. his christmas present to tom is installing some new lighting (under the cabinets and over the sink). corey helps after some prodding on andy's part. all the little boys are enthralled by the tools and the noise.
- after we've been there for a bit, kelly shows up. yay! and she's brought the wii. i was wii-united and it felt so good!

- while the guys are working, the girls watch the kids and chat it up.
- grandpa is good at consoling little boys whose feelings are hurt because their parents told them "no!".
- after some discussion, it is decided that the kitchen work can be put on hold so dinner can be made, the ohio state game can be watched (andy is an extremely devoted fan), and the wii can be played.

- while dinner is cooking, we open presents. jagger struggles with the idea that not all presents are his, and ends up helping almost everyone open theirs.
- then we eat, and i, who have absolutely no interest in football at all, get the wii going. terry kicks my butt at tennis. tek is introduced to the tradition of a bag of chocolate donuts for christmas. he likes. kate gets her hair done.

look how nicely the glow of the wii illuminates their faces :)

- alas, it is time to leave. i have to work in the morning and we have a two hour drive ahead of us. thank goodness it went smoothly this time. we arrive home about 11:45 pm, switch the kids from their car seats to their beds, and then land in bed ourselves.

i hate that it was such a short visit, but i am so glad that we did get to see everyone, and that we were all together. it was highly enjoyable.

two-headed monster

2009-01-02T21:13:00.006-05:00

you know those guys from sesame street?

here let me see if i can find a picture...
ok, here they are:
and here's a little description about them:

The Two-Headed Monster is one monster with two heads. The heads speak to each other in monster gibberish. Since they share a body, they need to cooperate to accomplish much of anything, and their efforts teach us the important lessons about working together.

well, these guys kinda remind me of cash and slade. minus the sharing of one body. cash and slade do talk to each other in gibberish and they need to learn to work together to accomplish much of anything.

here's an example from a couple of weeks ago. corey & jagger are back playing his room when corey hears those two squalling. he walks into the living room to this:

please ignore the mess in the background and the fact that slade is wearing his footie pjs like a cape.

anyways, it seems they had both decided they had a right to be on this little dump trunk but could not agree on which direction to go.

here, it looks like cash is winning the argument.
wait, no, it seems slade is winning.
cash was not pleased with this turn of events and they kept going back and forth and getting angrier with each pass. silly little boys. in the end, they were separated on to two different little cars and they were much happier. i guess we need to keep working on that cooperation issue :)

these two

2009-01-01T18:25:00.004-05:00

love them. love, love, love.

jared and charla were in ohio this week so we were able to meet up in cleveland yesterday and spend some time together.

we haven't seen them since right after the cash and slade were born so it was so good to see them.

we had big plans to walk around crocker park and then get some food.

we first checked out the north olmstead mall to see if they had a buckle store (jared had a gift card).

after one quick lap, we realized they did not, so we headed toward crocker park.

on the way we decided we were getting hungry so after a little debating, we agreed to eat at carrabba's (oh how i love thee).

we get to carrabba's, notice that it is quite full, and ask what the wait is.

2 hours!

forget it. head next door to outback.

90 minutes!

bleh on that. head back to crocker park. stop in brio.

2 hour wait!

next to cheesecake factory. if the wait is over an hour, the next stop will be mcdonald's.

45 minutes. ok. put in our name, get a little buzzer thingy, want to walk around the stores and realize that they are all closed. i thought for sure that they would be open past 6:00 on new year's eve, but obviously i was wrong.

we go into the cheesecake factory and end up waiting about an hour and fifteen minutes before we get seated. but we had lots of good conversation so it wasn't too bad.

food was great. corey had to send his back which was a bummer, but it came back good.

after dinner, we left the cheesecake factory to have some dessert at friendly's. they don't have any near them in georgia and it's been a long time since i have had their sundaes. love the reese's pieces sundae (with extra peanut butter).

mmm....delicious!
then it was time to part. i was so very sad. i miss them so much.

but we each had to go rescue our sitters from our kids.

(thank you sooo much for watching the kids for us, grandma & grandpa d. it was the best gift you could possibly give us. it was so nice to be able to focus on jared and charla and not have the distractions of the kids. we so greatly appreciated it!)

we got home with just enough time to watch the ball drop and then crashed in bed.

jared & charla, we love you and miss you already!

and here are some kid pics:

(from the other night at grandma & grandpa d's house)

Happy New Year!!

bleh day

2008-12-29T18:33:00.003-05:00

mondays. i could do without them.

today started out not so great.

overslept. just barely enough time to brush teeth & hair, wash up, get dressed and out the door.

get into the truck and turn the key. everything lights up then goes dead. great.

the van is blocked behind the truck, so we have to pop the truck into neutral and push it to the road to get the van in position to jump it.

while corey is jumping it, call into work and take my last half day personal time.

he heads off to paintball and i relax a bit before getting the kids ready to go to the sitter's.

feed & bathe the kids, then load them up in the van before i realize i don't have the van keys.

search the house inside out. no luck. call corey. he says he doesn't have them. search some more.

can't find them. call work, tell them i am stranded.

kids are all sick. again. it's extremely snotty in this house. with crazy coughing fits. and very whiny. but we still have some fun.

corey gets home around 4. finds the keys outside in the grass. he must have dropped them when he was switching cars. i can't believe that. they were here the whole time. frustrating.

after that, the rest of the day went ok. except i think i'm getting a cold as well.

i did get quite a few loads of laundry done, so that's a plus.

now i am going to go make a list and get some grocery shopping done.

tomorrow will be better. i just know it.

today they are one

2008-12-26T17:45:00.009-05:00

dear mr. cash,

you are such a sweet, fun little guy. you have a wonderfully expressive face and i love seeing your reactions and emotions play across it. i think you might be an early talker, because you babble all the time and you look like you're sincerely trying to tell me something (and i swear you are already telling me "no!"). you love to point and you point at everything. i've always wanted a cuddly baby and you have fulfilled that wish. i love the way you just curl up with me and we have our quiet little moments together. you are one speedy baby; you break records with your crawling and just in the past few weeks, you seem to have started to really want to walk. you haven't tried it on your own yet, but you love to walk while holding our hands and while pushing behind stuff. well, you more like run, in fact, you might skip walking altogether and go straight to running. :) i also think you might be part fish, you love the water so much. you love to splash and lay down on your belly in the tub and try to blow bubbles in the water. i think i'll sign you up for some mommy and me swim classes this summer. you're a good sleeper. you love to clap. you're great at mimicking. you watch so closely to what i am doing and then you start to do it just like me :) you're a lover, not a fighter. you're a climber. you climb up onto to stuff but are afraid to get down, so we are constantly rescuing you.

i love you. i can't imagine my life without you in it. i look forward to this new year of your life and all the new things you will do.

dear mr. slade,

you're are becoming such a happy kid. you always seem to be ready with a smile these days. i love that. you adore your big brother jagger. you will follow him around and just laugh and laugh at all his antics (that is, until he takes your toys!). you love to walk while pushing stuff. you can do this for hours and it just makes you so happy. you love to ride around on the little dump trunk. i'm impressed with how well you steer yourself around this house. you pick up on how things work so quickly. you just have to see me do something once or twice, and you've got it down. you are a lover of food; you appreciate a good meal :) you love music. you just have to hear the tiniest snippet of music and you are bopping around and shaking that booty. just like your brothers, you also enjoy bath time. you love to be held. you have a bit of temper. the tantrums are a little extreme and i'm a little worried that they might escalate when you hit the terrible twos. you have the best belly laugh. i'm so glad that you are sleeping through the night now. thank you for that! you like routines and loudly let us know you don't appreciate deviating from it. you've started taking toys and hugging them to you while swaying back an forth. it's the cutest thing to see and it always makes me smile. it's like you are just so happy to have this toy in your life :) you're are an adventurer. you like to try out new things and i am seeing your independent streak come out more and more often.

i love you. you have brought so much joy into my life. i know this next year is going to be even better!

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

i can not believe cash and slade are one today. this year has gone by so incredibly fast. I have to admit i was a smidgen emotional today. my babies aren't babies anymore (although, they still seem like babies to me until they start walking). i have always wanted twins, ever since i can remember, and i just feel so blessed with these two. it may be chaotic at times, but i wouldn't want it any other way. they have brought such a richness to my life, and i am grateful.

today we just had a small party with family. corey's parents came to celebrate with us (we missed you kelly!) and it was a very nice evening. cash and slade really, really enjoyed their cake. thank you aunt kelly for the toys and clothes! tom and terry, thank you so much for the special gifts. i was touched at the thought that went into them. i know they will appreciate them and cherish them when they are older. jagger had a bit of a tough time when it came to opening presents. he just didn't get why there was nothing for him to open, since he's been opening presents for the past two days. he did pretty well though. and the babies were nice enough to share. i'm still torn about how to celebrate their birthdays in the coming years. we are thinking of having a "half" birthday celebration in june to kind of keep their special days separate from the holidays. we not sure, but it's an idea, something to think over. what do you guys think? any suggestions?

jagger had to be restrained at first while the presents were being opened

christmas memories part 2: pictures

2008-12-25T20:42:00.013-05:00

Tuesday

checking out all granna's dancing, singing & moving christmas decorations

Christmas eve

trying to pretend that he's not trying to make off with a christmas present

cash and slade were terrified of this green ball. wanted nothing to do with it.

it popped today (my fault) :(

wii tennis

wii boxing

Christmas morning

jagger got a batman tent for christmas which we put up over his bed

christmas memories part 1: words

2008-12-25T19:06:00.009-05:00

i feel like there is so much to say and stories to share, but i don't have the space to share it all so i'm gonna streamline it here for you.

tuesday:

rolled into mansfield on tuesday about 6:30ish. checked out the grandparents' tree and were super impressed with the train that went around the bottom. found candy canes and tried to eat them with the wrapper on. tested out the egg nog. slade refused to sleep and stayed up until 5:30 am.

christmas eve:

everyone up by 9:30am. jagger tries sneaking away presents all morning. kelly rolls into town and adds to the fun. chillax. jagger gets into everything. he escapes out the back door with cash in just their pjs and no shoes (don't worry, we caught them before they could get too far!). corey & tom save the day and the sump pump with some fine ingenuity. finish my scarf. enjoy the blair traditional christmas eve meal (seafood, & i had chicken). stuff ourselves silly and laugh a lot. hear some whale calling. heh. then it was present opening time.

present opening time:

the kids make out like bandits. the best gifts of the night were the oil funnels (for the kids) and the wii magic (for the adults, but kids at heart). jagger definitely got the concept of presents this year and was all into it. i love that. cash and slade liked tearing the paper off too, but were very easily distracted. jagger was right there to help out. i'm gonna have to say i think i'm in love with the wii. i know i have only known it for a short time, but there was a real connection there; something special between the two of us. kelly, please bring the wii with you tomorrow so we can get to know each other better! all gifts were a success. thank you!

play some wii. get quite a workout and break out a sweat. ichat with savannah blairs. load up the car with the goods and the kids and roll out of town. just south of lodi, get a flat tire.

christmas miracle #3:

so we get a flat tire and we have to unload the back of the van in order to get to the jack, when we realize we are missing the tool that lowers the spare tire down from under the van. shoot. now what? take more stuff out of the car and search every crevice. no luck. sit in the van and contemplate what to do. it's 11:30pm on christmas eve. still trying to devise a plan when a semi truck pulls up behind us and a guy jumps out to offer some help. checks his tools and tries a large screwdriver, which works! he chats with corey while they're changing the tire and it turns out he lives right by us. make plans to meet up with him and his family after the holidays. almost cry with relief and gratitude when the tire is finally changed.

finally arrive home @ 1 am. still need to wrap presents, but way too tired so plan on waking early to wrap them before the kids wake up.

christmas day:

wake up at 8:15. realize i made a big mistake and forgot to give the kids their christmas pjs on christmas eve so they could be wearing them christmas morning. duh. all that searching trying to find the perfect pjs. i'll get it right next year (i hope) :) wrap the presents. slade wakes up @ 9:00 so we decide to wake up the other kids, change diapers, put on christmas pjs and go see the tree. yay! santa came! open presents. play with all the toys. manage to break 5 of them before the day is over. boy, these kids are rough. call my fam and wish them a merry christmas. make christmas dinner. eat. have seconds. play with the toys some more. take lots of pictures. chillax some more. put kids to bed.

a very successful christmas!

christmas festivities

2008-12-24T12:17:00.004-05:00

we are in mansfield celebrating christmas eve with corey's family. be back tomorrow with mucho pictures from today & christmas morn. :)

stuff

2008-12-20T23:49:00.005-05:00

- yesterday, corey & i dropped the kids off with lee and fam (thanks!), and headed out to get the shopping done. it was a very productive evening. i'd say we're about 90% done, just a few odds and ends left to get. now it's on to the wrapping!

- did a whole lot of nothing today. needed to clean, but didn't. played with kids and napped throughout the day. the boys and i watched how the grinch stole christmas (old school cartoon version that was a christmas present from my brother matt & fam last year).

- got some good mail today. a christmas card from chester's new family (with picture!) and a package of goodies from jessica. thank you, thank you! good stuff :)

- feeling the need to create something, so pulled out the scarf i had started last year when i pregnant with the twins. trying to remember how to crochet and making lots of mistakes, but enjoying the process.

- miss magen is back in town (just for the weekend). yay! she came over for dinner and is staying the night. tomorrow is our christmas service and banquet at the church and she is here to celebrate with us. i've missed her!

- watching anne of green gables tonight. magen has never seen it before and i can't in good conscience let her go on living without experiencing the wonderfulness of anne shirley. wish jessica could be here watching it too.

- and here is some random pictures from our day:

this hanger kept all three kids entertained for hours!

why do we even buy presents?

watching how the grinch stole christmas

attacking me with his crusty face

cash is obsessed with the keyboard on the computer.

he has an amazing knack for just punching buttons and changing

all our settings.

messes, neanderthal boy, & another christmas miracle

2008-12-18T20:17:00.005-05:00

1. jagger loves to make messes. lot of messes. if something squirts, sprays, or pumps, he will get it everywhere. lotions, air fresheners, cleaning supplies, toothpastes, soaps, paints, shampoos & conditioners, none are safe when jagger is around. i know this from experience. the allure of these magical containers is just too much for him to resist. and though he is banned from all areas that contain these items, he has recently found ways to break through the barriers and wreak havoc (this usually involves him ramming a baby on a little car into the gate and then crawling around it). just this week, he got into my paints (red!) and squirted the table down. thank goodness i caught him early. then today, he got into the hall closet and grabbed the (green) dog shampoo (red & green, hmmm...). into the babies' room he went and proceeded to squirt it all over the floor and chair before we caught him. not sure what to do to keep him out and punishment doesn't seem to be stopping him. little punk.
2. cash. what a fun little guy. he puts up with all the stuff we do to him to amuse ourselves. today it was neanderthal boy. you wouldn't know it to look at him, but the kid has excess skin above his eyebrows. when you push it down over his eyes, he looks like a caveman, and maybe a little bit mad. here for your viewing pleasure, i introduce neanderthal boy.

ok, ok, that's enough!

3. 'tis the season for christmas miracles and we have had another one in the blair household. over a year ago, corey lost his brand new ipod. we thought he had left it at the doctors office during one of my twin checkups and that it was lost forever. well, today it was found! i was dusting the top shelf in our living room and there it was, sitting against the wall, just safe and sound all along (and the fact that it's been missing for over a year tells you how often i dust the top shelf. shame on me!). to say corey was overjoyed is putting it lightly. another christmas miracle! don't good things come in threes? what miracle will be next?!

a list

2008-12-17T18:52:00.004-05:00

1. feeling overwhelming love for these kids today. they may be crazy, wild, crackheads, and i am sometimes convinced they were switched with the someone else's babies at the hospital 'cause my kids would never act this badly, but lordy sakes, i love them to death.

2. received a christmas package (you all know how much i love getting mail!) this week from my brother Matt & fam, and i want to give a thank you shout out. love everything, but especially the red polka dot socks and the boys' pajamas.
3. feeling bad that i didn't get christmas cards out (again) this year. every year i say i'm going to make them, then when it gets close to christmas and there's no way i can accomplish that, i buy some, but they never get addressed and sent out. i have like 3 or 4 different boxes of christmas cards just sitting here, yet i know they'll sit for another year. i'm so bad at that stuff. plus, i wanted to get a picture of all three boys to put in it, but it's near impossible to get the 3 of them to hold still for more than 15 seconds and looking in the same direction (without little screaming faces).

4. corey and jagger watched the polar express completely through today (it was on tv). corey said jagger enjoyed it and i'm impressed that it held his attention. maybe i'll buy a copy and we'll make watching it a christmas tradition.

5. finding it difficult to get this post done 'cause the boys keep coming over and unplugging the computer.

6. wondering why cash and slade seem to have no interest in walking yet. jagger was walking at 10 months, what are these guys waiting for? slade does like walking while pushing stuff, but wants nothing to do with trying on his own. cash could care less altogether (although he does like to "cruise" along the furniture).

7. starting to stress that we have no christmas shopping done yet. none. plan to go out friday and do it all in one fell swoop, but need to find someone willing to watch the kids. need to get cracking on that.

scenes from today

2008-12-15T22:57:00.003-05:00

potato salad is good

fresh from the tub

christmas bedtime stories

a few of the 13 dozen cookies i made tonight

(for the cookie exchange at work).

odds and ends

2008-12-13T21:25:00.005-05:00

1. on friday, lee and her family (friends from church), watched the kids for us while we went shopping and watched a movie (the day the earth stood still). i planned our time out badly and we did not get much shopping done at all. thank you lee & fam! we really, really appreciated it.

2. we hung our stockings friday.
3. when slade is mad, he slams his head on the floor (sometimes repeatedly). he has a permanent bump and black & blue mark on his forehead. i don't know what to do to get him to stop. you'd think the pain would be enough, but apparently not.

(ignore the fact that his face is horribly filthy)

4. we also got the kids a bunch of christmas books on friday. we read them tonight before bed and they were a big hit. i really like the version of the night before christmas we bought. the illustrations are only in black, white, red, green, and gold.
5. i'm looking forward to when jagger understands the idea of santa a little bit better. i'm so ready to use the threat of no presents for bad behavior already. he's been difficult the past couple of days, to say the least.

6. i know i talked about it in the last post, but i am really & truly loving the kids sleeping through the night. it's a christmas miracle!

bleh

2008-12-11T18:19:00.004-05:00

sick. sick, sick, sick. bleh. so tired of it. cash, slade, and i are still under the weather. corey and jagger are sick as well, but seem to be on the mend at least. desperately needing some sun to dry us up. i do have some good news to share, although, i'm nervous to share it for fear i will jinx it. o.k., here it is. all three kids have slept completely through the night, every night, since saturday. and when i say all three kids, i really mean slade, because he is the main culprit for waking several times through the night. cash and jagger have been sleeping through the night for ages now. but anyways, whoo! it's freaking glorious (now, he better sleep through the night tonight!).

and here's your picture of the day. cash likes to climb up on to the couch all the time :)

getting comfy

the way he sits

2008-12-08T20:20:00.002-05:00

i love it. 9 times out of 10, he has his little feet crossed like this.

look at those little piggies. so cute. (don't mind the cheerios on the floor)
he likes the way he sits too. in fact he's pretty stinkin' thrilled about it.

he and i, we get a kick out of the little things in life :)

relaxing

2008-12-07T22:25:00.004-05:00

got up. went to church. came home. took nap. relaxed (or at least tried) the day away.

Freeeeedooooommmmm!*

2008-12-06T16:41:00.007-05:00

* this must be said in your best braveheart voice.

yesterday we dropped the kids off with our wednesday babysitter, jean, and she had them all night until today around 2:30ish. let me start off by saying i have never left the kids overnight. ever. even with jagger, the only time i have ever left him with someone for the night was when i was in the hospital having the twins. so though i was excited to have a night off, i was still anxious. now, i trust jean completely and i wasn't worried about the kids. no, i was more worried for jean. because these kids are crazy. and a handful. and they're loud. and they get into everything. and slade hardly sleeps at night. and jagger spits. and i'm not sure she fully understood what she was getting herself (and her family) into. but in the end we left them with her and we had a great night.

we had big plans to go up to cleveland, eat somewhere nice, maybe do some christmas shopping and see a movie. but it was cold out. and it's even colder in cleveland. and the stores we were going to walk around in are all outside. and penny (that's our name for our gps) died on us. so we headed the opposite direction and went to boardman. after a quick stop to say goodbye to magen (bye magen! come back and visit often!) we went to carrabba's. oh man, do i love carrabba's. it was so ridiculously delicious. if loving carrabba's is wrong, then i don't want to be right. because it is just that good. we checked out the theaters, but there is nothing really good playing right now, so we decided to skip a movie and headed over to mall to look around for a while. at gap kids we bought the kids christmas pjs, but then i felt so guilty about how much they cost that i turned right around and returned them (well, i kept jagger's, but returned cash and slade's). i just couldn't justify spending that kind of money on pajamas, no matter how cute they were. i figure we can get cute pjs for a lot less somewhere else. after a very short stop at barnes and noble (because they were closing), we headed home where we lounged around, watched tv, and then went to bed.

holy cow, was sleep glorious. i think it was the best sleep i've ever had in my life. i didn't wake up until 11:00 today. 11:00! i had forgotten what a solid night's rest was like. boy, do i miss it.

anyways, today i dropped off ali's birthday present at the post office (sorry it's soooo late!), dropped some books off at the library, made a stop by pat catan's, and then came home. corey and i set up the christmas tree (sans ornaments) and then we went and got the kids. jean said they were good, but the night was a little tough. don't i know it. i don't know how to thank her and her family enough. it was so greatly appreciated (any suggestions for a good thank you gift, please leave in the comments!) corey dropped us off and went to work, so the kids helped me put up the ornaments. and by helped i mean, took the ornaments, threw them all over the living room floor and broke half of them. jagger was pretty impressed with the tree. well for all of 5 minutes. then he could care less. he did keep trying to blow out the lights though and that was pretty cute. i can't believe we actually put up a tree :)

trying to decide what to get

everything was so good

this seems like such a bad combination

setting up the tree

snowy, slippery mess on the way to get the kids

cash "helping" with the ornaments

trying to blow out the lights

self portrait, ornament style (while being attacked by cash)

there, we have a tree. now you all can get off my back.

today is december 4th

2008-12-04T23:04:00.003-05:00

7:20am -- ugh... overslept big time. supposed to be at work by 7:00. hate that panicked, rushed feeling. get to work by 8:30.

- feeling a little bit better today, health-wise.

- work was busy, and i was tired (even though i got that extra bit of sleep).

3:30pm -- get home. stayed over at work for an hour and a half to make up the time from being late this morning.

- all kids are asleep when i get home. relax for a bit.

- cash and slade wake.

- make some delicious homemade applesauce.

- jagger wakes.

- think about making some toffee squares. decide against it.

- wish kate a very happy birthday.

- kids play, corey starts dinner. something simple. easy-peasy spaghetti.

- eat. feed kids.

- kids play for a bit, then to bed with them.

- surf the net, watch some tv, blog.

yummy applesauce. not very photogenic though.

slade enjoys it with his wonderfully grubby face

cash perfecting the pout on his sauce covered face

he and slade are experts at wallowing.

Kate's gettin' old

2008-12-04T16:57:00.004-05:00

katie, kate, wheezie:

from all of us in cold, cold warren to you in warm, sunny savannah, we wish you a happy birthday!

we hope this is your best year yet :)

blasted ohio weather! + potty time + sippy cups

2008-12-03T22:24:00.004-05:00

this house is sick again! all of us have stuffy heads and runny yet stuffed noses. aches and pains all over. will we ever be healthy again?! this weather that goes from freezing to warm every other day is not helping. i've decided that all i want for christmas is for everyone to be healthy. on top of the cold, poor slade is having some major constipation issues. not fun. it's been a rough couple of days for him.

we did a whole lot of nothing today. stopped by the grocery store and then just headed home and lounged around. skipped church because the kids and i are just not well enough and we don't want to spread the cold around. i did make a batch of citrus sugar cookies (a bit of oj and orange zest in them) but i am not happy with how they turned out. too dry. haven't taken any pictures of the kids in a few days because they'd be one big boogery cranky mess and i don't need to document that.

don't be jealous of my fancy schmancy icing skills

after starting out well with potty training jagger, we really dropped the ball the past couple of months. we weren't being consistent and were skipping days at a time, but we have rededicated ourselves to the project as of last week. we have a timer that we set to go off every hour. as soon as jagger hears it he yells "potty time!" and heads toward the bathroom. i was very discouraged in the beginning because the first couple of days we started this, he didn't go the in the potty at all (and when we very first started training him, he went every time). I thought we had screwed up big time. but i bought a bag of marshmallows, showed them to jagger, and told him that when he goes in the potty, he gets one (and only one!). so since he has an incentive now, he makes sure he goes almost every time :) he's still not telling us when he needs to go, so i know we have a long way to go, but i am determined to have him potty trained by the time he is 3 (that's in about 7 months). need to make sure i stick with it.

yummy fruit flavored 'mallows

and last but not least, we are weaning cash and slade off their bottles. they only get sippy cups now and we have changed from formula to whole milk (i know you're supposed to wait until after they turn 1, but what's 4 weeks?). big steps. they actually have taken the change really well. they do still get a big cup of milk before their naps and bedtime but then they go right down. i am pleasantly surprised with how well it's going :)
well, i'm off to take some medicine that's sure to knock me out and then to bed.

goodnight.

cookies!

2008-12-02T22:58:00.004-05:00

we are having a cookie exchange at work on the 17th and i decided i needed to test out a few recipes. tonight when magen came over, we made a couple batches of chai shortbread and andes mint cookies. yum! so far, the andes mint cookies are winning as the ones i'll be making, but i still think i need to try a few more recipes :) (so much for portion control! i think i'm gonna have to wait until after the holidays.)

that odd shaped one is supposed to be a polar bear

so minty :)

and so it begins

2008-12-01T20:59:00.006-05:00

the holiday season, that is. corey and i have never been ones to get all worked up about the holidays. in fact, many would say we are down right bah, humbug about it. in the nearly 7 years that corey and i have been married, we have never even put up a tree. we don't decorate in the least, we avoid going out shopping at all costs, and generally just try to ignore all the festivities.

but now we have kids. and it is different for them. true, we didn't put a tree up the last two years for jagger (and boy did i get a lot of grief from a lot of people about that!), but he was too little to care anyways . this year, though, he's noticing everything. in the stores he points out the lights, the trees, the snowmen, all of it, saying "look! look, papa! look, mama!" so this is the year it begins. we are putting up a tree, and stockings, and going to go for drives to look at all the lights. i want to start traditions and bake cookies. it changes things when we are doing it for them.

last year we bought a tree after christmas, so that's a start. tonight we went out and bought the ornaments. i had wanted to make ornaments, but it is just beyond me this year. maybe next year. thank god for target! (i heart target!) we are going with a goldish and silverish color scheme. our wednesday babysitter has offered to watch the kids friday to saturday (overnight!), so i think we will put up the tree then so they come home to it all decorated. it'll be an interesting sight since i only plan on decorating the top half. too many little grabby hands to place any low enough for them to reach :)

i'm also making a little minibook to document the 25 days until christmas (inspired by ali edwards). i have it started but still need to number the pages. that way, i just have to insert a picture and write a little note about what we are up to each day and we'll have a nice little documentation of this holiday season (this daily december book is what i based magen's thank you book on).

i think the tree is all we will do for decorations this year. it's a first step. baby steps, ya know? maybe next year we'll put lights up outside. i'm not even sure what all decorations people do, i'm so out of the loop. i'll be sure to post pictures of the tree once it's up :)

snowy, wintery mess outside tonight

perfect weather for a nice big cup of hot chocolate

the tree topper & some of the ornaments from target

the front cover of the 25 days of christmas minibook

gobble gobble

2008-11-27T23:57:00.009-05:00

wednesday we headed on down to mansfield to spend thanksgiving with corey's family. after i got off work, we left as soon as i could get us packed and arrived in town about 5:30ish. we met up with kelly and grabbed a bite to eat at applebee's and then we all went back to the house to relax. the kids know exactly where the toy box is at granna & grandpa's house and they made a bee-line straight to it as soon as we were in the door.
right before we left, corey threw his back out pretty bad. he couldn't lift anything and it was nearly impossible for him to walk. he had to borrow a cane from his parents just to get to and from the bathroom. after a bit, the pain was bad enough that he let us call our friends dave and tanya (tanya's a masseuse) to see if they could come over and help his situation.
while corey was getting massaged, we chatted with dave and kelly spent some quality time with the boys.
some where in there, kelly made a call to ben to wish him a happy thanksgiving and talk about the song alice's restaurant by arlo guthrie.
the kids were pretty good the entire trip although jagger was quite ornery, getting his hands into everything. at one point in time, he was crying in the hallway for no reason and when kelly and i went to go get him, he turned around and pointed at me very angrily, much like the evil monkey from family guy. still not sure what that was all about.
it's getting harder and harder to capture pictures of that kid. he runs from me when i get the camera out.

after staying up late talking with everyone, we finally turned in around midnightish. i was a little wary about how the night was going to go because the kids have a really hard time sleeping anywhere but in their own beds. we had decided to bring jagger's mattress which we set on the floor next to our bed and it worked perfectly. cash and slade slept in pack n plays at the foot of the bed and they did get up a couple of times each, but the night went much better than i expected.

on thursday, jagger woke up at 7:30, which was way too early for me, so i let him hang out with granna & kelly and i went back to sleep. cash and slade woke up at 9:00am and this was the look i was greeted with when i got slade out of bed.
kinda reminds me of nick nolte's mug shot, don't you think? if he just had a little bit more hair...

the kids ate breakfast and we all just lounged around until it was time to start getting the table and food ready.
grandpa serenaded the kids with some snazzy saxophone playing. they were mesmerized.
jagger kept crawling around under the dining room table and slade would try to follow him, but he kept getting stuck.
then jagger tried dipping into the pies a little early.
finally it was time to eat! cash and slade thoroughly enjoyed the meal, but jagger was needing a nap by then and so he was not as pleasant at the table. and even though it was nice to not have to fight over the mashed potatoes, i was pretty sad that andy, kate, and tek couldn't be there with us.
cash and slade went straight into the tub after the meal :)

once we let the food settle for a bit, kelly, tom, & the dogs and i, took a nice long walk over to fox glen to work some of those calories off.
once we got back, more lounging around ensued. after a little while, i noticed jagger was missing and i hadn't heard a peep from him for quite some time. i yelled for him and he came running out of corey's parents room covered in powder. when we went back into the bedroom, we discovered the "powder" was actually ashes from their wood-burning stove and he had dumped them in piles all over the carpet. here is some of the evidence:

that kid gets into everything, and i know it's only going to get worse when the other two are walking. i just know the three of them are going to conspire together ;)

we were able to get an ichat in with the savannah blairs, which was nice, but not as good as having them here with us. it was great seeing tek walk. we are so looking forward to seeing them after christmas.

at 6:00pm, we packed up the car and headed back to warren, since i have to be at work at 7:00am on friday, but it was a great meal with good company and i took a ton a photos (of which you are only seeing a fraction of). i'm glad we made the trip.

christmas is just shy of 4 weeks away (!) so we'll be back soon :)

randomness

2008-11-23T22:08:00.003-05:00

the fish was this big!

o.k., maybe it was this big.
thug life ain't easy
do you like fava beans? slurp, slurp, slurp

thanksgiving

2008-11-23T20:23:00.005-05:00

tonight at church we had a huge family thanksgiving. it was a great turnout (over 60 people!) and lots and lots of good food. i would say it was a smashing success (to use magen's words). i'm pretty sure it's going to become an annual event. here's a visual of the night:
the setup:
the plating:
the digging in:
the clean-up:

finally

2008-11-22T13:26:00.002-05:00

it seems like the boys are on the mend. finally. i've got to say, it has been one miserable week. so glad that they are getting back to their normal selves. pictures to come soon.

as for twilight. i have to be honest, i didn't care for it. perhaps i'm being overly critical or i just expected too much. the casting was not the greatest. the acting was not the greatest. several times i laughed out loud at how cheesy scenes were. the jasper character reminded me of edward scissorhands. a lot of time was wasted on stuff that didn't matter when they could have been telling more story. so much stuff was done out of order or just not right at all. i know it's hard to make a movie as good as the book, but i feel like they could have done so much better (i mean, look at the harry potter movies. i love them). it was interesting being in a theater full of teenage girls. there was a lot of talking (to the screen) and clapping going on, and i kinda hate that stuff while i'm watching a movie. it's not like it's a play, you know what i mean? i'm glad i saw it, but i have no desire to see it again and i won't be buying the dvd when it comes out. it's a shame, for i do so love the books. i've been checking the reviews and i see my opinion is definitely the minority. everyone seems to be loving it and and i just can't understand why. oh well.

twilight

2008-11-20T16:35:00.002-05:00

tonight! @ midnight. so excited.

2am

2008-11-18T15:45:00.003-05:00

these blair boys, they be sick. again. specifically, cash and slade. it started on sunday. and it is miserable. for us. for them. i swear, it stresses me out when they're not well. doesn't it seem like they are always sick? it does to me. i think all it is is a cold. they are hot. on fire even. and we have been doing everything to cool them down. strip them down to their diapers. cool baths. alternating tylenol and motrin. poor cash is pretty lethargic. he just whimpers and wants to be held. and he's sleeping a lot. slade has a major runny nose to go with his fever. plus he's cranky. way more than the usual cranky. and they seem to have little internal alarm clocks set to go off @ 2am. slade wakes first. screaming. which then wakes up cash. and then that's it, they are up and unhappy until they finally fall back to sleep around 5am. this has happened the past two nights. not fun. and i just feel so bad for them 'cause i know they are feeling cruddy. thankfully, jagger seems to be doing alright. not showing any signs of sickness. yet. i prefer healthy kids to sick ones. so i'm looking forward to the day when they are well. hopefully it will be soon.

big brother is always watching

2008-11-17T15:52:00.004-05:00

this is how we keep an eye on the kids. cameras everywhere!

channel 1: cash's crib

channel 2: slade's crib

channel 3: jagger's room

channel 4: yet to be determined

(notice where jagger is in his room? not in his bed, that's for sure. look at the time, it's p.m.!)

three cheers for good friends!

2008-11-15T21:05:00.004-05:00

today was a good day.
i got to spend some time with my good friend jessica, sans kids.
she is heading south for the winter (4 months!) and i'm trying to squeeze in as much time with her that i can before she leaves.
we decided we had to get her feet beach ready, so it was essential that we get pedicures.
uh, pedicures are glorious.
and then she surprised me with some gifts to "remember her by."
she knows of my love for funky knee socks.
so she hand picked me a pair with special meaning.
it seems that every time we're out together, if i spot anything with butterflies, i tell her that "butterflies are all the rage this season."
and i point out owls everywhere 'cause i like them.
thus creating this magnificent ensemble.
i will wear them with pride (matching is not necessary for me) :)

and then, to top it off, jessica made me this sweet mix cd.
people don't make mix cds much anymore and i think we need to bring it back, 'cause i'm a fan.
next up, twilight movie midnight showing.
oh, jessica, i'm gonna miss you.
send me postcards and make sure you blog!

what in the world?!

2008-11-12T19:41:00.002-05:00

yesterday, when i went to get jagger out of his room after his "nap," this is what i walked into. what is that kid doing? obviously not sleeping. he is insane.

Happy Birthday Ali!

2008-11-11T19:24:00.003-05:00

I wish we could be there with you.

I hope your party was great and

you got everything a little girl could want.

We can't wait to see you again!

practice

2008-11-11T11:34:00.004-05:00

slade has decided to start practicing his walking skills. it involves the dining room table chairs. he pulls himself up and starts pushing the chair while walking behind it, until it will go no further. once he gets stuck and the chair won't move anymore, he gets mad. until we re-situate him and he is able to push/walk some more...

uh-oh! chair's stuck

time to re-situate and start again