More House Pics

Here's a couple more:

This is the side of Amber's room. Again, not the cleanest, but it's her job to keep it clean and sometimes she's not the greatest at doing it....

The toy side of the playroom. This used to be Amber and Jade's room, then it was just Jade's room, and now it's the playroom/craftroom/movieroom.

The movieroom side. The black curtains do a great job blocking light when closed properly.

The messy craftroom side. I'm really not the neatest when I'm currently working on a project.

I was tired of the girls dumping all their crap on the floor when they walked through the door after school, so I put a special school stuff hook in the hallway for them to hang their stuff up. Much better!

I still need to take pics in Jade and Paisley's room, but first I have to finish cleaning it. =) Oh, and my room and the guest bath - which is mostly painted now.

My Silly Girls

This was yesterday morning. Amber's dressed for school playing with her cat, Jade's in her jammies cause she stayed home from school.....again, and Paisley joined in at the end to try and snatch Jade's dog. Nice.

Random Pictures I Haven't Blogged Yet

Hahaha! I like coming up with really awesomely (I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong - this is totally a word!) specific titles sometimes. It makes me smile. Anyways, here's the "random pictures I haven't blogged yet". Just for YOU! =)

Jade showing off her puzzle

Paisley being Paisley. Oh, child.....

I've started braiding Pie's hair. The other day I put in two little braids. So cute! But tricky cause she's not very patient.....

This is funny. While babysitting my friend's kids, David went and picked up Little Caesar's for dinner. The oldest 3 were in the playroom, the littlest 2 ran to the table and sat up. Well, Paisley sat up "Paisley Style". We called the oldest 3 to dinner, they ran out, grabbed pizza, and ran back to the playroom. The little ones sat and ate at the table. Too cute!

Paisley and Lucas taking a co-ed bath. lol They had fun.

Poor Sick Jaders

We've all had a cold/cough the past few weeks, but nobody has had it as badly as Jaders. She was the last to fall sick, but the only one with an alarmingly warm fever. Amber had a mild low-grade fever for a day or two, but nothing like Jade's got. She woke up Sunday morning quite warm and just got worse yesterday. Despite all my efforts and even medication, her temp didn't drop from 103 until around 4:30pm. She missed her class Valentine's party and spent the day feeling pretty terrible. David gave her a blessing with the help of our home teacher right before bed and her temp stabalized around 100.4 through the night. This morning she woke up at 101.1, but it quickly heated up to 103.2 again. It's dropped back down to 100.3 as of 20min ago, and hopefully it won't get any hotter.

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was mostly good. I didn't get pics of the girls with their presents, but oh well. Amber and Jade both got a mug filled with chocolate heart candies and Paisley got a cute pink hippo with a handful of chocolate candy as well - which she ate before breakfast. David made special Valentine pancakes for breakfast, and surprised me with flowers and candy when he came home from school. As I truly wasn't expecting a thing, it was a very sweet reminder that he loves me. The only hitch in the day was Jade being so sick. Poor girl.

What I've Been Up To

I have been keeping myself busy redecorating the house for the last couple weeks. I've had permission from the landlord to paint since the beginning of 2010 but haven't had much motivation/time/willpower to actually do it till now. I started in the living room, expanded down the hallway, then into the kitchen, and switched colors for the family room. Technically, I don't think I'm supposed to paint a real color anywhere, but it's subtle and fresh and if I absolutely HAVE to paint it back to stupid boring white before we move, I guess I'll just do it. But hanging out in the family room makes me happy! So happy, in fact, that I've actually been keeping the house cleaner than I normally would. Like, clean enough that if we had unexpected company, I wouldn't feel embarrassed one bit. I've started painting the guest bath, but haven't gotten much done in there cause I'm not absolutely in love with the color. I've been forbidden to buy any paint, so I've been mixing colors I have from when we painted out house in Buckeye for our tenants. (yes, we rent our house we're living in and own the house we're renting out - trust me....it makes sense) I don't plan on painting the bedrooms, but that could change so we'll see. The only room I know for sure won't be touched is the master. And the only reason it won't be is cause the furniture in there is just way too big for me to handle on my own. That should tell you a lot. Cause I move our piano, big screen, couches, desks, beds, bookcases, etc all the time. Well, not all the time. But I move them. 100% by myself. But I can't move my own bed or dresser. So redecorating in there is not possible. Anyways, part of Amber's bday present from David and me was a "new" bed. She got upgraded from her twin to a queen-sized bed. She and Jade have always looked forward to the weekends cause they get to snuggle on Friday and Saturday nights. And now that Amber has a queen bed, there's no more shoving, kicking, or blanket-pulling. Awwww.....peace! lol

The beautiful picture wall. The shelf is to house my blog books that will be printed.

I keep the laundry room door open to help hide the dvd's from Paisley who's obsessed with pulling them off the shelves. lol Also, it helps me keep the laundry room clean as anyone passing by can see into it.

I'm not done hanging pictures in here. I'm waiting for a couple to be printed at Walmart.

Can you see Crook? He's sleeping in his favorite spot. And yes, I know I need to wind the vacuum cord...

My children have the same problem putting their music away as I always did/do.

Though not particularily clean at the moment, Amber loves her new room!

Vegetable Garden

I am building planters for a raised vegetable garden this year. In fact....I'm starting them next week. I have to finish sewing a dress for a lady in Canada first, and then it's planter box time. I'm quite excited about it. I've wanted a garden every year I've been married and for one reason or another, it's just never happened. But it IS happening this year! For sure. Nothing stopping me. So the first chance I get, I'm headed to Home Depot for some lumber and a bunch of nails. And then I'm getting dirt from somewhere......not sure where yet as I have no truck for hauling so it'll have to be pre-bagged. And I don't know where to find earthworms or ladybugs either. But I know these both help plants grow. Hmmm....I'll have to figure that one out. Anyways, I'm planting broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, peas, green onions, bell peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, yellow summer squash, zuccini, eggplant (maybe), strawberries, and blackberries. And I have 2 avocado pits starting in my kitchen. Those will go in pots so I can bring them inside when it's too hot/cold for them outside. And eventually, my garden will be just as pretty and fruitful as this one:

Name That Baby Round 2

K, guys. Round 1 proved harder than anticipated. lol Not even David got it right his first guess! So here's round 2. Which baby is which?

Sleep-Walking with Jade

So, I've always been an active sleeper. I am constantly talking in my sleep, I sometimes hum, and I used to sleep-walk as well. I remember waking up as a child and not knowing where I was. It was terrifying sometimes. I also have very, very vivid dreams. I remember this one - I was maybe 9ish and we had a cockatiel named Kelly. I was dreaming that Kelly was my best friend and she was snuggling me in bed. And then I woke up. But since I was in bed in my dream and in bed when I woke, I couldn't tell where the dream ended and reality began - and I frantically started looking for Kelly in my bed. Couldn't find her. And I started panicking. I remember throwing all my sheets and blankets off my bed and searching desperately through them. No Kelly. Finally I got smart and snuck downstairs (this was a biiiig deal cause it was the middle of the night and there was a pretty strict rule about being out of bed at this time) to check Kelly's cage. Lo and behold - the dumb bird was still in her cage! Another time I had this wild dream about spiders in my room and I had to offer a sacrifice to the queen spider to make them leave. I left my blanket in front of my parents' door. Nice sacrifice.....I know. Anyways, at about this point I finally woke up. The last time I remember sleep-walking was when I was about 18 and living at a friend's house. I woke up with my car keys in one hand and my other was turning the door knob to the front door. Scary. I have no idea where I was planning on going, but I'm sure glad I didn't get there! As for sleep-talking, it happens too frequently to get into. I'm totally unaware when I do it. David just tells me about it if it's interesting enough. Well, it seems I've passed my sleep crazies on to all three of my girls. They ALL talk in their sleep. And at least the oldest two have quite vivid dreams. Don't know about Pie yet....she's too little to tell me. So far, Jade is the only one who sleep-walks. She's done it since she was quite small. I'd wake up to her screaming bloody-murder to find her trapped in a closet. One of the funnier times was a few months back when David and I were watching a show on tv and Jade walked through the family room into the kitchen, opened the fridge (no reason to do that - only water after dinner and the water's on the counter....), stood there for a minute or so, wandered into the living room, then came back into the family room. We were watching her and giggling quietly and finally decided we'd better wake her and find out what she was looking for. So we tried to wake her, but it didn't work. David thought maybe she was looking for the bathroom and he took her there. She just kinda stared at him with this goofy look on her face until he helped her pull her panties down and sit on the toilet. I guess at this point she woke up and started crying. No idea why she would cry about sitting on the toilet. Anyways, she finishes, Dave helps her with her panties, and took her back to bed. The next morning we asked her about it and she didn't remember a thing! Well, the other night she did it again. Dave and I were again watching tv when Jade came out and sat right next to David. I looked at her to tell her to go back to bed, but she had this crazy goofy smile and her eyes were blank. She started giggling and stuck her hand in David's face. By this time, he and I are just laughing cause she's being soooo weird! Jade pushed David till he was laying down then lay down next to him. It took several tries to get her legs up and the whole time she's smiling that goofy grin and giggling. The second she got her legs up, her whole body just relaxed, her eyes shut, and she started snoring. Hahahahaha!!!!! To wake her up, David rolled her off the couch - gently - but she didn't budge! We called her name and for a second her eyes opened, but they were still blank and her crazy grin came back on her face. Then it relaxed again and she was "out". It's always so entertaining when Jade sleep-walks! This pic was obviously taken after her body relaxed. I couldn't find my camera till it was too late. I think next time I'll be faster to grab it. Gotta capture that blank crazy smile look she has!

Amber's Dessert

While reading the February Friend, Amber found a no-bake cookie recipe and decided she wanted to make them for dessert. So she gathered all the ingredients - used chocolate chips instead of raisins (that's my girl!) - measured and mixed everything up, and we all enjoyed eating them. Pretty soon she'll be making *real* cookies for us all!

Sweet Baby vs. Naughty Baby

Sometimes I think Paisley has dual personalities. She's got a little angle on one shoulder and a little devil on the other. Cause she can be the sweetest, most obedient, happy toddler one moment, then do a complete 180 and become a total monster! She'll climb on EVERYTHING she knows to stay off of, she'll randomly attack any cat or sister she passes, she'll throw the first thing she sees at anyone, she grabs cell phones and runs away with them, etc. And she does all this so dang CHEERFULLY!!! Like she's pleased to be so naughty! What a turkey...... Here's some proof:
Sweet baby -

She was sharing her cup with her cousin

Naughty baby -

She finished her food so then climbed up onto the table and proceeded to devour her sister's. She was also throwing spaghetti at Amber.....and you can see more spaghetti in Jade's cup.

Amber's Totally Awesome 9th Birthday Bash

Is this title long enough? I dunno. Maybe you can let me know....

Last Saturday was Amber Smamber's 9th birthday! I can't believe she's 9 now! I think I say that every year, but every year I still can't believe she's survived this long. lol Amber has gotten so old this past year. She's pretty much outgrown toys in general. She's into clothes, makeup (which she's NOT allowed to wear to school or church!), jewelry, shoes, her psp, and craft stuff. She's reading books like The Boxcar Children, Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary books, the Magic Shop book series, etc. We've been reading the New Testament every night this year and the only words she even hesitates reading are some crazy names and cities - most of which even I have a hard time with. Amber is full of fun and is a very, very good big sister. She's sweet and kind and says funny things. She and I clash pretty regularily - which is probably pretty common - but she's also very quick to apologize for her attitude and gives great make-up hugs. Another thing I like about her is how willing she is to try new things. Yesterday she made dessert using the recipe in the February Friend all by herself. And it was yummy! I love my sweet Amber! Even though I'm in denial about how old she's getting.....