josh is 8!!

Today is little man, Joshua's 8th birthday. He was a bit sad this morning, because he couldn't find his bakugan toy. He perked up during breakfast, even though we still didn't find his toy. The wee Wardlings +1 and I went out and bought his class a snack and took it to him this morning. We got to school @ the perfect time, because his class was lining up to head out to lunch. I loved seeing Josh @ school today. Josh is such a sweet fella. He is truly a child without guile.
Joshua wanted a vanilla cake, with vanilla icing. So, Joshua...very simple and plain.
We have looked and looked for these bakugan toys...all the stores are sold out. I was heart broken yet again today to find nothing when I went to look for the bakagon figures. Clyde saved the day when he stopped in a store, on his way home from work, and they had them. Josh likes the little ones, but this big one is cool. Jacob was such a spoiler when Josh was opening his presents. Clyde had hidden the bakugan, telling Jacob that it was a secret. After Josh opened his other gifts, Jacob says, "Hey Josh, I know where your big bakugan is!" What a turdlet!
Josh got a few cards with a bit of green in them as well today from Bubbie and Pop Pop, as well as Mee Maw. Thank you, Thank you! He also got phone calls from Auntie Maylee and Edvis and Company.
I do not know if you remember last school year when I found a rotten banana in Joshua's backpack. Well, that little stinker did it again. I put a banana in his backpack for snack last week. I asked him, when he came home from school that day if he ate it, to which he responded yes. I usually do not look in his backpack (he brings out his notebook and HW and puts them on the table to do it in the afternoons. Then he puts his stuff back in his backpack etc. etc.) This afternoon, he said to me, "Mom, there is a rottened banana in my backpack." This time, I made him clean it out. It was gross too. It was all in the bottom of his backpack, on his folder, squished in between the pages of his notebook, on the pages of a school book, & on his manilla Monday folder. Alright already...lesson learned, no more bananas for Josh's snack! I get it!!
Happy Birthday Josh!

obama-rama

Yesterday afternoon, Clyde wanted to take us downtown to see a piece of history. Obama was in town and so he thought it would be memorable for the Wardlings to see/ hear a Presidential candidate. We didn't get there in time to actually see Obama, but we could hear his speech from our van. We watched a part of it on tv, before we left. Clyde was determined to get a t-shirt for his t-shirt collection. We shopped from our car and bought a t-shirt or 2 from these fellas here on the curb...what curb-side service!
As we drove through down town of the Emerald City, we caught a glimpse of the crowd, as they were leaving. Look @ how many people were there! There was an estimated 18,000 folks present for the rally.
This is great! On the same day as the Obama rally, there was a McCain rally just a few blocks away. What courage of these people! There was a McCain/ Palin poster as well as a Nader/ Gonzalez poster @ the Obama rally.
On the drive home from the rally, from Costco, and Garden Ridge, this is how the sky looked. It was so dark and gloomy. Bits and pieces of the sky were bright and cheerful, where others looked like this:
Penny gave up and fell asleep before 7:30 last night. She hadn't had a nap and was simply exhausted.
Earlier in the day, before Clyde got home from his class, I had stared organizing the boys' clothes. I have saved a bunch of things in a variety of sizes. They had a bit of a fashion show for me as I determined what fit and what didn't. Since I have rotten, horrible allergies, my eyes began to act up. They were red, swollen, runny, and itchy. My right eye was nearly swollen shut. I had taken my zyrtec before we left for the rally and it kinda worked. Once we were home from our errands, I had to go upstairs and finish the boys' room. There were clothes all over the bed and others in boxes that needed to be put back into the closet. My eyes began all over again. They were red, swollen, runny, itchy, but to the point that I couldn't see very well. Libby asked me, @ dinner, if I wanted another zyrtec. The medicine is a 24hour thing, but it didn't last that long yesterday. Seasonal allergies are the pits! ( I didn't document the red eyes...I looked like Rocky Balboa after fighting Apollo Creed. Scary!)

old school kicks!

As the seasons change, it is time to dig through all our saved clothes in the attic. It is amazing how much I have saved. I am so grateful for hand-me-downs and for the things that have been gifted us. (Have I mentioned that I love having an attic?!) These two Wardlings feet have been growing and growing lately. Yesterday we went shopping, from the attic. In the big box of shoes that I have saved, I found these beauties. Auntie Maylee got these shoes for our boys one year for their birthdays. Josh was thrilled to get his and wore his, til his little toes were crammed in the top. We have brought the lovely old school kicks back to life. Jacob can wear Josh's old ones and Penny can wear Jacob's old ones. They are a bit big on both of them, but not too big that they will trip in them. They were proud to sport them today!

Today, we didn't have Blaklee. We used the one less child to run and do some errands, mainly Christmas shopping @ the mall. I hate the mall now. Usually everything I need comes from another store, however, I noted the sale on jewelry @ JCPenney, in Sunday's paper. They have advertised, 50% off their sterling silver jewelry, with an additional 15% off. It was worth the trip. Since, we are out and about earlier than the mall opens, we went to Costco to get gas. Their gas station opens @ 6:30am, so I knew that I could still get gas, even if the store wasn't open. When I drove around to pump the gas, I found that the pumps were closed. What?!! I stopped and read the note attached to the pumps. Apparently, with the hurricanes and fuel prices, Costco was unable to buy enough fuel to keep the pumps open. I am hoping that this is simply temporary. I drove around to the gas station beside Costco to buy our gas. There they were out of the 89 grade of gas.
Isn't this a crazy time to be in? Gas prices are now $3.75 + per gallon. It makes me angry each time we have to put gas in our cars. This is insane!

sick pigeon

Saturday morning, around 6ish, Penny started throwing up. It was so sad. She had slept with us the night before, due to the sleepover pals that we had @ the brown house, for Jacob's birthday party. It was so sad to see her so sick. She was miserable on Saturday. We tried getting some breakfast in her and that was a big mistake, which ended up all over a towel. She just wasn't herself. I was afraid that it would come out the other end too, so we put a diaper on her. She wore it, but didn't use it! She remained on the couch for the majority of the day. She has this new Harry Potter thing, so we put in one of the films and she watched it for a bit and then dozed off, so I thought. I went to change the channel and she woke up, "Harry Potter!" So, I flipped the channel back and she dozed back off. Once the film was over, she wanted to listen to another one. She was just miserable. She is feeling a bit better today. She wasn't feeling well enough to go to church yesterday, so we had a bit of a quiet day again.
Saturday, Clyde was a super-dad! When we realized that Penny really wasn't feeling well, we decided to get our other children and our guests out of the house. We opened the windows and made sure to sanitize everything. I stayed with Penny, did laundry, dishes, moped the floors, and cleaned up. It was our Saturday to clean and set-up the church building, so Clyde took the kids, all 7 of them, to the church. They washed the windows, set up the chairs, cleaned up bathrooms, etc. Then he took them all to McDonalds for lunch. All the boys got happy meals with the new batman lego toys. We don't do happy meals anymore, so that was a real treat. After lunch, they headed to lowes hardware, to pick up some random things for our house. Our drains in the tubs have been clogged and no liquid plumber stuff has been able to eat through my hair. So, he got a magic wand thingy, some draino, and some ant killer. When will those little suckers die? Then, he took the kids to the Halloween store and checked out all the new Halloween costumes. They checked out everything! I think that a few of the costumes scared the younger boys, as they talked about it when they got home and then again yesterday @ lunch. The afternoon wasn't finished yet. He then took them to a discount store and got a few groceries and other things. Once he was home, he didn't stop. He cleaned the drains, made dinner, made lunch for yesterday, AND some cheesecakes. Clyde was truly my hero on Saturday. I began to not feel 100%, and when Penny went to bed, so did I...9:30.

Last Sunday, Clyde invited the Eshiet's over for lunch for this Sunday. It was nice to have them over. Penny still wasn't 100%, so she wasn't quite as bubbily. She just watched the Eshiets with curiosity. Jacob gave one of the brothers a prayer rock and the other brother (Ben) a piece of bark. It was a nice afternoon! Clyde made a yummy lasagna and the cheesecakes were a hit.
Clyde is too awesome for words! He is a super-dad / husband hero!

the birthday jedi

Our Jedi Jacob turned 5 yesterday. He started the day with a phone call from Aunt Maylee, which he loved. Once the kids were on the bus and we had Blaklee in our possession, we took Clyde's car to have the oil changed. The mechanics took, what felt like forever to get it done. Once the car was all lubed up, we went to a birthday party for a little girl in our ward. When we were invited I hesitated, because how weird it must feel to go to a birthday party, on your birthday, for someone else. He flipped flopped for the week, until he came to the conclusion that he wanted to go. After the party we still had an errand to run, which I completely forgot about, until we were back in our driveway with 2/3 of the children unbuckled. I apologized to the kids and they were really cool about getting back in the car.

Last night was alot of fun. We had some friends over to spend the night...a big slumber party. The party group had a fun time playing with Uno and more importantly each other.

Josh and Jacob are sharing this birthday present from Bubbie and Pop Pop. They were more than thrilled! (Josh's birthday is in 9 days.)
Here is our gift to the birthday boy.
He picked out his cake...all sprinkles. Cake sprinklie, as well as the icing.
Yet another birthday for our Jedi.

We realized later that we kinda had a Japanese theme happening Friday night. Our friends are gettting ready to move to Japan. Jacob got legos, from Japan, a wii game...from Japan, and then we later watched "Speedracer," a Japanese film. Cool huh?

mama said there'd be days like this

Wednesday morning, our primary presidency met for a meeting, @ our brown house. Once the meeting was over, Cheryl and I were chatting in our driveway and out of the brown house comes Jacob. As I looked closer @ him, I notice this on his face. He had drawn a smiley face, over his mouth. All I could do was laugh. The lines look like scribbles, however, when he isn't kinda smiling, the lines did it for him. What a goofy goober that boy is!
Then I noticed the lovely artwork on his leg. This is quite impressive, if I say so myself. He had to have drawn it, while looking @ it upside down. He said that he was giving himself a tattoo. Hmmm...They all wanted to share in the happiness of the morning. What a silly group. They have decided to be best friends this week, which has made for a pretty good work environment. There still has been screaming. When isn't there screaming? The screaming which is ear piercing, has been coming from Penny. I think that she is so frustrated with not being able to speak her thoughts and ideas, that they best way she can do it is by screaming. Signs or no signs, the screaming must end!

jedi masterpiece

Yesterday was the first day of Speech, outside the home, for Penny. I'm not too impressed with the facility or the reception of people. The speech gal, Ms. Leslie was nice and I hope that Penny does well. We'll see her again another time this week.
Clyde found this little notebooks on sale this past week. He grabbed an entire box of them, thinking that they would make the perfect drawing book during sacrament. Jacob drew this masterpiece:
He drew himself, Josh, and Clyde as Jedi's as well as the tall "wishionary." How creative!
Clyde gave me a bouquet of flowers for my birthday, along with those rockin' shoes in which I wear all the time. Aren't the flowers beautiful?!! I am working on some Christmas things and using this yarn. It is so soft. I do think that I am a smidge allergic though. When I first started the project, I got one of the most wickedest colds I have ever had. I had cleaned the girls room and gone through some things in the garage, so it may have been a combination of everything, but the yarn was the topper. I have since used it and no problems. Maybe I am now immune to it. Let's hope so, there are many things to come from this beautiful peony, alpaca yarn.

adieu, adieu to you & you & you

On my Birthday, we stopped to pick up this wayward turtle. The Wardlings were afraid that he/ or she would get smooshed. We have been the gracious hosts for a week now.
Sunday was the day to set monsieur Tuck free. We had fun with you, watching you stretch out your neck, gobble down roma tomatoes from our puny vines, and swim in the bathtub. til we meet again... adieu!

alright already

I did it...I read the great Twilight series. I finished the last book last night. So, within the past 7 days, I read 3 & 4. I am so glad that I didn't get into the series right away. Let me explain...I think that the wait between books would've driven me nutsy. As it was, I was able to order book by book from amazon.com and have the entire series @ my bidding, resting comfortably on the book shelf. I had a few things that needed to be finished up, like: secret projects & bridal party alterations to complete before I could sit down and read. I actually had 3 of the 4 books, before I began the series. I obtained the 4th book a week after it was released and thanks to a 20% off deal and a $10 gift card that we had in our possession for over a year, I was able to buy the book for under $5. That was cheaper than amazon. Have I mentioned that I adore amazon.com?
Now onto the books. I really enjoyed the story! My Mom had introduced the Twilight books to me several months ago and was curious to know, in every phone call if I had started the books yet. I found myself totally engrossed with the story. I turned page after page with thirst, if you will forgive the word, to know what happened next. I have to say that in some parts, I wanted a bit more to happen, mainly in books 1 & 2. That may be the Harry Potter fan in me though. Big things always happened in that series. (Harry Potter will have to be another rambling because I am quite angry with the releasing of the 6th film or lack there of this season.) Once I completely finished up, I wanted there to be more. I didn't want the story to end. This may be a series to read way more than once...dare I say...classic?! I am anxiously awaiting the serious Girls Night Out with the release of the film, now in November. :)!!

quiet day

Today has been a dark and gloomy day. The perfect day to sit down with a blanket, some chocolate, and read a book.(* On a side note, Clyde is reading a book and he told me a part of it that was really cute. There are 2 angels , in heaven talking and one of them says to the other one to try chocolate when he gets to earth. The other angel asks what it is and the 1st angels says something to the affect of, "satan invented it...you'll love it." I thought that was cute.) I am on the last book in a series and I wanted to read as much of it as I could today. Today was also our quiet day. I don't know if I have mentioned quiet days or not. It is the day that we do not have any tv on...at all. Actually this happens more like 3-4 times a week. I have noticed that when the tv is on, the little Wardlings + one are at each other's necks. They argue and fight over the silliest things. I have learned my lesson and have eliminated the extra noise. It works miracles. The children can, for the most part, keep themselves entertained. I was hoping for a more quiet day than what I actually had. They didn't mind playing with each other, if I was right beside them watching them, but if I had something in my hands, like a book, some knitting needles, it tends to draw them in to argue over the same necklace when there are 3 of them, or want the same crayon etc. etc.. Once I get to a row that I have to count on, or a good part in the book, all heck breaks out. What impeccable timing on their part. What is it with children? They are all fine, until the phone rings. That was our day today. Jacob +one didn't nap either so it made it hard to focus. They were sent to bed, but didn't sleep. I told them both, when they got up, that they owed me a nap. They both agreed and I will hold them to that agreement.:)

We also had Penny's speech teacher and education teacher come today. If the first one is late then it throw off our rhythm for the day. Penny started to whine and cry when she saw her speech gal. It was so crocodile tears. I had to be a bit firm with Penny and I think it may have stunned our speech gal. I wasn't harsh, but I was firm. Saying,"No, you are staying here at the table and working with your teacher. I'm in the other room and you are fine," as I went into the living room. After that she was fine and made a bunch of new sounds. We start an additional speech program next week. She is going to be one busy little girl, working hard to get her sounds out. Some sounds and words have started to come out, but unless you have Penny-ese then it is still hard to understand what she needs or wants. She signs most of these, in conjunction with saying the words, but if you don't know the signs then it makes it even trickier. This is one of my concerns as she is moving up into the world of primary. Once in sunbeams with other children who are way more verbal, I can see it going a few ways. 1- being that they make fun of her or are short with her, making negative comments and/ or b- that she won't say anything at all. We have a spectacular sunbeams teacher, one with whom I have loved with our previous 2 children, but as it happens there were a slew of of children born the same year...something like 11 in our ward and then we've had a few move ins. It is going to be a really big class. I just don't want Penny to fall in the cracks. Mother bear, I know.

yurtle the turtle

Sunday on the way to church, we saw a turtle on the side of the road. The Wardlings were all disturbed because they were afraid that the turtle would be smooshed. Clyde stopped the van and picked up the turtle to rescue it. It was meant to be too...Clyde is wearing his turtle tie...how funny.
As breakfast was cooking Sunday morning, the boys were climbing the walls, literally. It was funny because it just reminded me of my childhood. My folks' house hallway upstairs, it wide, or narrow enough, that we could shimmey up it. We would climb up the wall, to the ceiling, and then drop to the hallway below with a gigantic ka-thud. My Mom would yell up @ us to stop all the time. Looking back it was a funny thing to do, maybe not to my Mom, but it is a funny childhood memory.

lullabye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhN7SG-H-3k
So, after reading a friends blog, I found a link...a link for Edward's lullaby to Bella. This version was my favorite. If you want to be surprised, then don't listen. :)

yippee, penny's 3!

What a busy 3rd birthday our Penny had. It started bright and early and it didn't stop until a little over an hour ago. Erin had a dr. appointment this morning, so we all accompanied her to that. After the appt. we took Erin to school and since we were so close to my folks, we stopped by. Mom threw Penny a birthday party. She had cake, pizza, and all the diet orange crush the kids could drink. We had a fun time checking out the horses, freeing turtles, and playing around the house, that we possibly could.
Once we were back in the Emerald City, I tried to get the Wardlings +one to take a nap. They resisted, since they took a cat nap on the drive home. They were a bit cranky to say the least. Penny's cake this year was made up of left-overs. Mom was so kind and bought her one for the party we had @ her house this morning. Then we had left-overs from my cake yesterday. It turned out great. She didn't mind @ all. It was just perfect! (Well, except that we used all the candles on Clyde's cake, & buying a pack of candles simply slipped my mind. Good thing we had these tea candles to replace the birthday candles. whew- :)!! )
Penny was so thrilled to get these candy bars from Blaklee and her family.
Our present to our sweetie- pie were 2 more Signing Time DVD's. She was so happy. Seeing her face was just priceless.
Here the birthday participants are enjoying their chocolate and red velvet cake. What a great 3rd birthday.
Happy Birthday to our Penny, we just adore you!

they say it's your birthday...

It's my birthday too. That's right folks, today is my birthday. Since today is also Sunday, Clyde and I celebrated my big day with a date last night. We had a gal from church come over and sit with the Wardlings. We then headed out for dinner. I wanted Clyde to try Jason's deli, the deli that some gal pals and I went to on one of our girl's night. It is a great place. Then we cruised Friendly shopping center for some us time. We happened into an outdoor shop and I just fell in love with these shoes. I had seen them before and I loved them then, but last night the love just grew and grew. Clyde got the clerk to bring out my size and I tried them on and the fit like a glove, a glove I tell you. Clyde said that I was so cute trying on the shoes that he knew that would be my birthday gift. Once he paid for them and we left the store, he asked where else I wanted to go. I told him immediately that I wanted to go to the car and put on my new shoes. I wore them for the rest of the night, just in heaven. Aren't they adorable?? Ahhh...shoes!!
Today was nice. We went to church as usual. It went alright. I got a new visiting teaching route, with no companion. What's the deal with that? Clyde baked my birthday cake before we left this morning for church. Then this afternoon, when we got home, Libby iced it. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Who could ever go wrong with chocolate? Clyde, Penny, and I took a peaceful nap together and when we woke up, it was cake time.
I told the Wardlings that all I wanted for my birthday was a clean house. We spent yesterday day, cleaning, mopping, washing clothes, folding clothes, etc. etc. The house looked great. I love the smell of Murphy's oil soap. We washed the banisters with it, the doors, everything that we could, we did. Josh gave me an awesome gift. He sang me a song, "My Country tis of Thee." What a great 29th birthday...for the 3rd time. :)

'votes for women'

My Mom sent an email to me yesterday with these pictures attached. This is why I vote. I vote even if I do not agree with either party or their candidates. I vote because so many fought, for years, to give me the right to voice my opinion. The right that they didn't have. NJ women had their right to vote revoked after 6 years, which they had to fight to regain.
When I saw this picture I was reminded a song from "Mary Poppins." The mother of Jane and Michael comes home from being @ a sufferage meeting and begins singing 'Votes for Women!,' as Katie-nana leaves their house. A line says, "she's been clapped in irons again. No more the weak and sub-servant we..."
Votes for Women!

polish woe's

I have been searching for years for the perfect shade of nail polish. I still haven't found it. I do not like to have polish on my finger nails. I hate it actually. I do not like the way that it feels on my hands and I have never liked the upkeep of it. I wash my hands too many times within a day to wear it. However, I like it on my toes. I buy several shades of polish a year and they just aren't right. I like the red family of colors, but sometimes they just don't work. I cannot find the right red. There are the fire engine reds all the way to snazzy cranberry's and deep plums with every shade in between. In the summer my skin is too tan for the lighter shades of pink, and in the winter, it is to light for the bright reds. See my dilemma? I decided to treat myself to a bottle of polish yesterday. (I was getting the oil changed in the van and had 30-40 minutes to kill.) I walked up and down the aisles to compare and contrast the shades that I kinda liked. Then when I placed the bottle to my skin, it looked terrible. It either made my skin look pasty or green. Gotta love the olive skin tone. I am either green or yellow. Not the nice pink of other's skin...green or yellow! When I find that perfect shade, I am going to purchase every bottle that the store stocked for my stash. Why is this so difficult? For crying out loud, it's just nail polish!

mad dash jammin'

This morning was a mad dash to the bus stop. The Wardlings hadn't packed their backpacks last night, so they were scrambling for their stuff. We hastily jammed to the bus stop, which is on the corner of our block. We made it with about 3 minutes to spare. Seriously, this is how they look @ the bus stop.
We noticed that everyone was wearing flip flops. How cute are their widdle toes?!

goodbye yellow brick road

I have wanted to paint our downstairs bathroom since we first saw the house. It is an obnoxious big bird yellow. It is so yellow brick road, that it hurts your eyes first thing in the morning, yellow. I like the color yellow. I like it so much that I painted our living room yellow, but a much softer yellow. Not this bright, fluorescent yellow. Today was the day to change it. I have debated for months what color to paint it. I originally thought that I wanted it light pink on the top of the chair rail and a light brown on the bottom. Then I re-thought it. Instead I chose to do it a neutral brownish color.
This is the bathroom this morning:
And this is the bathroom this evening.

I really like it. It makes the bathroom look so much better. It does make it a bit darker above the throne, so I'll have to come up with something to lighten it up a bit more. I thought that I could get my pink into the bathroom through accessories, instead of paint. I'm still not 100% finished. I need to re-paint the chair rail white. It just needs a fresher coat. I also need to do a few touch ups to completely cover the yellow. It took more paint than I had originally thought. Overall, I am quite pleased with myself.

I didn't tell Clyde that I was planning on painting the bathroom today. As I said, I wanted it to be a surprise. He had a class tonight, so I wanted to make dinner, as another surprise. I made a chicken pasta salad thing. It actually turned out nicely and all the Wardlings ate it very well. When Clyde finally noticed the bathroom, he said that he smelled something, but just figured that it was my dinner. What The Poop!! My chicken pasta smelled like paint?! 1-That doesn't say very much for my cooking, or b-Clyde's sense of smell now does it?:)

labor day

I cannot believe that it is already September. Where have the previous months gone? This was a very quiet Labor Day holiday for us. I went to lay Penny down for a nap this afternoon and I bet I was asleep before she was. Clyde and Jacob took a nap together too. I was awoken by the kids telling me that Maylee had arrived. Penny and I got up and I began our hot dog lunch. Once Clyde had awoken, he set up our volleyball net that Cheryl had given us as a housewarming gift. We love it! The Wardlings were outside all day today. They played bad mitten, volleyball, & tennis. Anything that required a ball to play with, they played it all day long. Maylee was a good sport too. She played with the Wardlings while I made lunch. What a good auntie she is! A friend Holly and her children also stopped by to say a quick hello.
Clyde had a project to complete over the weekend. He had to make a collage based around a quote from Rebecca West. "It is sometimes very hard to tell the differences between history and the smell of a skunk." This is what he came up with. He stuck mainly on the political side of that quote. I think that it turned out nicely.
After the collage was finished and our Maylee had left, it was back outside for some more volleyball.
After prayer tonight, Penny hung around for a minute to chat with Clyde. I love tender moments like these!