Wanna get dirty????

<---me and Cindy after getting stuck in the neon.









<---after we drove the truck through the field.






<--yeah. I kinda like him.






<---dirty little neon.







Since the neon is pretty much done we decided to take it mudding. Mudding, in a neon you say? Yep. Sure thing.

Okay. I have a kid that needs a bath. More later.

More punkin's

<---happy pumpkins








<---scary pumpkins








<---cute kids carving pumpkins. Shirtless of course.







<---getting all the "ick" out of the pumpkin.

P.S.

And yay to Vanessa for commenting.....I was starting to think that nobody was reading this thing..... :)

the pumpkin catch part 2

<---proof. They can be nice and sit together. Although not often.








<---go figure. Chase is more interested in the painting on the pumpkin than standing straight to take a picture.









<---Riley is SO big!












<---- I WANT this pumpkin









<--the whole fam. Why am I the only one looking at the camera???







I told Riley several times on Saturday that we were going to the pumkin patch on Sunday. Sunday morning we get up and she says "Were going to the pumpkin catch!!" So cute, and its kinda stuck now!!!

So we had fun at the "catch". Took lots of pics. We saw a "worry" worm (woolly worm) and we played in a maze. Riley took her camera and took pictures of the bunnies that she saw. They were both super good, and we now have two big pumpkins to carve! I think that we will try to tackle those tomorrow night, after daycare. Derrick is off tomorrow, so it will be easy to just drag him in and make him carve with us! I think that they will both really enjoy the carving this year!

Not much else to say here. We have been keeping busy, doing random things. I am working on an afghan for christmas, and waiting for my new yarn! I am making a blue and green blankie for Chase and a green and pink one for Riley. The boys that come here for daycare both have "bigabees" (their blankies) so I think that Riley and Chase will be super excited to get bigabees of their own! I just hope that I get them done in time!!!

Alright. Its almost 11. I have to get to bed. Derrick and I are having mouse issues, and I know I will have to get up super early to check and make sure Derrick takes care of the traps! Ick. I hope we kill them all. Sorry mom.... :( But I really HATE mice. They are so cute, but SO destructive.

The pumpkin catch.

<---- Okay. These are out of order. Dont look at this one yet.

<---Hey!!! There is my sister!!!!!





<--- chase in the maze. Looking for his sister....

Okay NOW look at the 1st pic...







<---chicken. There were roosters too. And every time the roosters crowed, Chase would scream at them. Hilarious!







<--- my little sunflowers....





<--- my sweet girl. Looking innocent as ever. Looking innocent isnt the same as being innocent, let me assure you.










I have more pics, so I am going to do a second post.

What my kids do on Sundays....

<---mmmm. Froot Loops out of the box. Dont worry we have a "special" box reserved for this that we dont share with anyone.

<--- Riley: Let me show you how to work this thing Chase-y Chase: I dont care about the freaking remote. Hand over the fruit loops.


<--- too much sugar in the AM.








I dont have much else to really say! Things have been pretty low key around here. I feel like I should change my blog name to like the boring adventures of a daycare mom or something. I would much rather it be low key, but still. It makes me look boring in the blogging world.

Derrick is trying to put the heater in. Okay, right now he is asleep on the couch, but its naptime, so there isnt much he can do. Once the kids get up, he will be working again. We cant run the vents under the floor (we will be putting new flooring in and the old is much lower than the new) so we are going to have duct work running across our floor for the next couple week. I dont care. GIVE ME HEAT! Its not freezing my any means, but I have really poor circulation in my feet and hands, so I get cold really quick.

Okay. All the update for now. I want to work on a page while the house is quiet.... :)

And...

oooohhh. much prettier colors!!!

Huh.

Did you know that you can change your blog name?? I think that this fits better.... :)

okay. a real update.

I know that I have not "technically" updated with any real info lately, so here goes.

Actually we really don't have a whole lot going on. I am still at home, doing home daycare. Its a lot of work and a lot of balancing with four (sometimes 5) kids here all day, but its really a lot of fun. I get to see my kids interact with other kids, and I get to be with them all day! And I even get to sneak in a load of laundry now and then, which is really nice. Derrick pointed out to me that our house is cleaner than ever before, so thats a nice plus too!! :) I miss the people that I worked with, and I think thats a given. Its hard to leave the people that have been there for you through so much! But I have kept in contact with people in the department so its not like I went away forever!! It sounds like Carle is having some problems now, so I think that this was the way to go for sure! I really would like to have one more fulltimer, but there just isnt a ton of interest in the area right now. I figure people have their kids settled and in the summer it will probably pick up some.

Riley is doing well. I have a scrapbook page planned for her for certian things that she is saying now. Things like "It's my pickup" (its my hiccup) and thats my cupsi (her drink). She has so many hilarious sayings and looks that its hard to mentaly capture them all, let alone catch them on camera.

Chase is.....well Chase is Chase. My little man. Full of attitude and energy. I swear the kid fears nothing. Today I caught him trying to get into the bathtub. By himself. He has a ball with Peyton here during the day. He is a very active member in playing chase and the kids usually pretend he is the monster and run from him. he loves this. He is so fun at lunch time, eating all his food the fastest and begging to get out of the highchair so he can get all the best toys first. Love this little cutie.

Derrick and I are still working on the addition. I think that at this point, the porch is done. Next spring we will add our railing, but other than that the siding is up and its all finished. Now all the work begins. The issue is figuring out what to do first and when in order to displace as many people as possible. We are hoping to get one of the bedrooms finished in a week so that the kids wont have to sleep in our room for long. Because of the daycare, space is an issue for sure, as we need to make sure that we have adaquate spaces for sleeping during naptime. Hopefully with all going well we can finish the far bedroom in a week and have the kids moved back in and then we wont have disrupted people for very long. so, people (and you know who you are!!!!) expect a phone call that week for help. I will have beer..... :) And we will order pizza hut. We never have pizza hut. Okay scott, the pizza hut comment was totally for you. :)

OOoh! I almost forgot Sarah Palin is supposed to be on SNL tonight. Hold please, I need to find the channel.

Okay. I am trying to think what else to update with, but I guess thats about the extent of it. I ordered some new pics and they came this week, so I really need to do some scrapping. For anyone that orders online prints, artscow.com has a fantastic sign up special. Shipping is high, but for 400 (or is it 600??) free prints, I can eat a little shipping. And the print quality is FANTASTIC. And they come from hong kong, which doesnt really support the US in anyway, but its kinda cool to get a package from Hong Kong.

Okay. I need to buy some yarn for Chase's blanket I am making him for christmas....

I promise, I will TRY to update more frequently.

And Aunt Vanessa. I almost forgot. Derricks mom is always talking about how much Riley looks like you. Tonight in the tub I was washing her hair, and she looks up at me and says "mommy, I like Aunt Essa?" priceless.

And Aunt Chandra??? Dont feel left out. She asks about you CONSTANTLY. Call us soon, I know she would love to chat with you!!!!!

<---cutie in a cornfield.







<--- I love this. I am going to play around in adobe with this one later today















<----mmmm cotton candy. Riley and I would live off this stuff if we had too!! Okay even if we didnt have too, we would still do it.











<--- want a soda?? Normally my kids dont drink a lot of pop. But this was a special day. And he was so dang cute with is.






<---mmmmmm. Soda.










Sorry for the picture only post, just trying to get things uploaded to share. More later....

a post of pics....

<--- you know how it is. Some days you just want to sit in a dump truck. With your sisters fairy costume on. No biggie, right?







<---yep. thats pretty much what I do. All day. Cant beat this job.










<--- riley and the goats at Woolly Worm.

<---yeah. You know you have wanted to do it too. Dont lie.





<----Arrrgggg. Pirate








<---funny little pirate







<---what do you see in there???





<---Chase. Being Chase.







We did Rileys party tonight! We had a lot of fun, and she got a lot of super cute and fun things! I think that she will enjoy everything!

But now? To bed. Just wanted to make sure that i got these posted tonight...

Updates....

<----what our house looks like during the day.... and that's pretty tame





<--what happens when you let your sister put a hat on you. Can you see his eyes?






<--free ride












<-- Dad...this is for you. Riley juggling. :)











Everything is going really well here! I am closing in on my third week of daycare!! The time has FLOWN by! I love it! I love being here with the kids, and the two that I have here are so sweet! We all have our moments, but the more we all get to know each other those moments are fewer and fewer.

Today is such a crappy day! Its raining, so the kids are camped out on the couch watching a movie. I promised them that they could get out sleeping bags and have popcorn with a movie after nap time. Usually we get to play outside at some point during the day, but its pretty obvious that's not happening today. Oh well. We will figure something out!!

Riley's birthday party is tomorrow. It supposed to be rainy, so we will see how it goes. I don't think that we have many kids coming, so we should be fie to be inside. I think that's how the whole weekend will be, inside!

Okay... duty calls... :)

Zoo Crew

<--- don't you want to keep him?? To bad. He is all mine.







<--- goofing around with mommy











<--impressed with my photography skills? Don't be. I am just lucky.






<--- I see you!!!








<-- my little zookeeper.









We took the kids down to the St. Louis zoo today! Stupid one that I am, I didn't charge my camera battery yesterday. I figure I have had the thing for a year. I have only charged it twice. I should be good to go, right? Nope. And if you are familiar with my camera (digital rebel xti thank you very much) you know that I actually have to take the battery out, plug it into the charger, plug the battery into the wall, and then I am good to go. So I was pretty much screwed at the zoo today. I got pictures of the rhinos. The elephants. The hippos. Some sort of bear dog. And then Derrick was taking a picture of Riley when he looked at me and said those fateful words "the battery is dead." Life goes on, but it still sucked. And I refused to pay 15 bucks for a disposable camera, when I knew I wouldnt be happy with the pictures! Such is life. But let me tell you, there was the most adorable baby giraffe. I would have taken that thing home. Seriously.

Wednesday was my last day at work! :( It was so sad, and so hard to leave everyone. Its like 6 years of all the same people gone! I dont think that its quite set in yet, that I am not going back. Sarah summed it up best when I left Wednesday. She looked at me and said "I feel like I should tell you to call me when the baby gets here." I have left for two maternity leaves, so leaving for a period of time is familiar to me, and all the people that work with me. So it feels similar, yet I know its final. I love the people that I worked with, and I am thankful for the friedships that I have formed. I will truly miss seeing them everyday, more than they will ever know. Sigh.

Tomorrow is my first day with our new daycare kids here! Riley is beyond excited. I made the mistake of telling her "P" (we will call him that since I dont think that I should plaster someone elses childs name all over the internet without permision) was going to start coming over on friday. It would not have been such a bad thing to tell her, but I told her Sunday. So guess what we have talked about all week???? She got up from her nap on Sunday, and was hysterical because P wasnt here. She will be so excited when she gets up tomorrow and he is here!! I am really looking foward to this change, and this new chapter in my life! I think that it will be crazy, and I think that there will be moments where I want to pull my hair out, but I also think that this will be one of the most rewarding experiences that I will have.

Okay. Off to clean up the scrapbook room. I did a stamp camp last night, and came home, unpacked my bag all over my desk. And then did nothing else. Its a hot mess.

Feeling Crafty....

I decided to make cards for the upcoming Woolly Worm festival in October. I know its only August, but I am a creative procrastinator, so I decided to start today. I want to have a huge amount of cards to bring with me, so I know I have to get going... Anyway, these are the four that I did today. I would have scanned them separately, but that would have taken time. And you know, the more time I spend scanning, the less time I have for stamping....

We played it pretty low key today. We hung out at the house all day, until about four and then we headed to Champaign. I really wanted a paper piercer to use on my cards, and it couldn't wait until Monday. Never mind that we have been home 3 hours and I have not touched it yet! But I have surfed the internet to figure out how to make scratch and sniff cards, something that I am going to demo at my next stampin' up open house!

Back to work...

Ready???

<--- radar. Don't you just want to keep him??







<---yep. She is mine.





<--- I love that she scrapbooks.









<--- my little construction worker.







<--sweet boy. Can you believe that he is one? How does this happen????




So I finally uploaded my pics. 211 of them to be exact. I have to admit, I am scared to do it, and still might save them on the other drive as well, cause it just freaks me out. I cant help it. I am a freak.

Big news on the home front. I put my notice in at work this week. Probably the hardest, best decision I have ever made. I am going to be staying home with the kids and taking in a couple daycare kids during the day. Not only is this going to be better for us financially, but it will be better for me emotionally, and so much better for the kids! I cant wait to spend my days with them (and three other little ones eeek!). Riley has already made grand plans including the park for when mommy stays home. I am so excited to not have a 45 minute commute every morning and night, and will be glad that I don't have to hurry through the evening routine anymore! I am truly blessed to have a supportive husband who supported me whole heartedly through this process! He is pretty brave too, considering that he is home at least one day during the week!!

Chase had a very happy birthday! I really can not believe he is one! It totally shocks me! I wish he was little again! He started walking on the 30th, and has really been putting steps together these past few days! He can get pretty far with his "waddle" as Derrick calls it!

Riley is doing well. She is getting very possesive over her things with Chase, which leads to much fighting. I think that she is learning though if she doesnt make a big fuss over things, then he will eventually back off and leave her alone. She really doesnt have a high level of patience though, so its a little hard for her!

OKay. Thats all for now. Off to bed....

PS. Radar isnt our dog. He is Matts. However, should Matt ever decide to leave him here, that would be okay. In fact we might just steal him. Yes, we can get him a little cameoflauge bandana and he can run off with us. No one will ever know little bandito. Yo quiro taco bell.

PPS. Matt--we almost bought him a shirt tonight. I love Walmart.