The Webb's World

i'm still here

2012-02-09T17:09:00.001-08:00

ok, i know i have seriously slacked in my posts this semester. i haven't been overly busy, just not in the mood to try and think of what to type to make my semester so far sound as good as last semester. maybe you should ask my parents, mostly my mom, about how i've been doing. i'm constantly goin off about my classes and the students all over campus. so let me fill ya in...

my bio class is hilarious! i mean it. my professor reminds me of the absent minded professor. he is constantly telling stories to stop half way through to think about what he said, tell us it doesn't really happen that way, then say he made that up, then lose his place entirely, and finally end the story and get back on track to whatever the lesson was on. i've had 3 quizzes (all b's) and one exam so far. we have a quiz every friday during the last five minutes and i have consistently gotten one wrong out of five. the first exam wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. my wonderful professor said his quizzes and exams are all multiple choice, NICE! he also said that the exam looks like the quizzes, so i was sure to study those as well. i got a 21 out of 30... i know, not a great score. BUT, he gave everyone 6 bonus points... the 6 questions that the majority of the class got wrong (i got four of them wrong). i guess this is his curve... so i went from a 70 to a 90! tomorrow i will have my fourth quiz, i think i should study a bit.

my writing class is driving me crazy!!! i hate it and love it at the same time. i hate it because we can NEVER stay on task in the discussions and it seems like a contest for people to make their comments. and can i just tell you how much i am starting to hate the word 'like' and the phrase 'i was gonna say'! i swear every other word out the kids' mouth is like. and 'i was gonna say'.... what did you suddenly change your mind even though you're gonna say it anyways? i don't get it! and let's not get started on the fact that half the girls in the class can't seem to leave their hair alone as they give their two cents. i vented this to my parents on wednesday when i went to get the kids... dad just said "welcome to my world sweetie" as they both laughed. well, i don't have any tests in this class and only one writing project that i got to make up. i let you know about the progress on it later.

my math class is gonna turn me batty. it's online and it is all logic crap. i can safely say that because it stumped my dad. i needed help on one problem and had him look at my paper. the look of confusion was priceless. i was able to explain most of it, but that didn't help him. he said "give me algebra and i can help you, i can't do this logic stuff". so i guess i'm to rely on emailing my professor or calling my math teaching uncle. i understand what i'm reading, and if i don't get it right away i do some of the practice tutorials and soon pick up on the concepts. i didn't do too hot on my first 'paper', got an 8 out of 20. i just turned in my second one and i'm hoping that i did much better. i still need to finish up the web class work... this was a loooooong 'lecture'.

soon my ge classes will be done and i can really focus on the classes i want to take for my 'major'. you remember what it is right.....? archival photography and historical processes, basically learning the history of photography and learning how to restore. fun times ahead!

first week back

2012-01-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

so i have gotten through my first week back at school very well. i thought i would have issues getting a parking space in my favorite garage due to the lateness of the hour of my first class. my class doesn't start until 11:15, but i left my mom's (i agreed to drop off my youngest instead of my mom coming to get her) a bit before 10, pulled into the garage by 10:30ish and managed to get a space. i prayed to be able to get a space and even said "i don't care what level it's on, just to be in the garage is great!" i'm a creature of habit and the champion garage is a habit i didn't want to quit.

monday i got to campus early enough to try and pay my tuition bill, i had grant money!!!! they said my bill wasn't updated since i was no longer full time (3 measly credits) and should wait until friday. ok, i mean, who really wants to part with money.... not me. so off to my class i went....

biology! oh how i do not like you already!!! well, first of all i went to the wrong classroom. i wrote down the room number, but left it in my car. luckily the class hadn't started yet when i discovered my mistake and i was not the only one who said "oops". so in the right room.... the professor said the dreaded word 'chemistry' and i about panicked. i signed up for the most basic science jmu offered.... which isn't chemistry! i was assured that this was more like playing with tinker-toys and there was no math involved. i'm already a bit confused with half the lecture notes, but i can tell you that glucose is C6H12O6 and can draw it out for you. AND i have already had a quiz, 5 questions that were multiple choice.... i was only confident on two of them. sad, i know!

so with three and a half hours to kill before my next class.... that's right, to the library i went. i'm taking an online math course so i spent some time emailing the professor for the information, for some reason it just wasn't ready monday morning. the rest of the time was spent reading for math, emailing, a little facebook, more emailing and then to my last class of the day. during the rest of the week i was diligently doing my math assignments once they were received and turned them in by wednesday afternoon. so far i haven't done a single math problem. that will change by next week i'm sure.

so my third class is a writing course like the one i had last semester. the professor likes to go off on tangents and i'm constantly saying to myself "the point edith!". but she is also a trip and very nice. i have a feeling this class is gonna be easy, not 'easy A', but not so hard that i feel overwhelmed. we did manage to have a pretty good discussion on some key words that will be used a lot during the last class. hooray for me, the class is only two days a week! but there will be a lot of readings.

so the first week is done and i survived. it helps that i only have classes three days a week....

survey says.....

2011-12-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

the verdict is in..... i have passed this semester with flying colors. i was so worried about my history class, i even told my professor early in the term that i would be ecstatic if i passed with a c. well, my ecstatic-ness is on high right now. i was able to view my grades this morning.... (drumroll please)

GCom B+
GHist A-
GWRTC A-
Psych C

which gives me a 3.215 for the term and a 3.362 cumulative. i told my brother about my grades and he said "this is what happens when you're older and goin back". i have NEVER EVER gotten better than a C in any history class, so i was jumpin up and down when my mom just happened to stop by. i really want to see my final exam though, curiosity is kickin in. i had already figured out what i was getting in my other classes, it was just confirmed. my GCom and GWRTC professors used the 'blackboard' feature so it was easy for me to figure out my grade without waiting.
so here's to next semester! i have math, biology, and another writing course. i am so gonna rock the semester!

i be done!

2011-12-14T16:19:00.000-08:00

at least for the semester. with end of the term projects and studying for finals i have seriously neglected cleaning my home until today. well, i just cleaned a bathroom that was going to be used by guests. so now that i have time....

anyways, my communications class was just so much fun. i got a B on my last speech, totally earned it. i forgot a few key elements and that cost me some serious points. but overall, i did great. the final was practically a no brainer, had i gotten an A it would have been a complete no brainer. i didn't stress over it and just went over the study guide. i had two hours to complete it and i was done in 45 minutes.... gotta love computer lab tests. i got an 83, which gives me a B, and that pretty much secures me in the B department for my final grade. i'll know for sure in a couple of days or so.

my writing class had no final!!! we did have a grammar test which i got a C on, out of ten problems i got seven right. better than i thought i would do! i'm still waiting about my revision paper, i tweaked my 'david' paper because i had no desire to delve further into christopher columbus' past. i got an A- on my digital story, the one about my grandparents, only because a few spots the pictures didn't match the narration. it was hard to find enough pictures that worked perfectly with the story.

as for my history.... i will miss that class and the awesome professor. have to admit, little crush on the guy, but that already went away. the class was tough, the tests insane, but overall i had a blast in the class. the final was on a saturday morning and i was very prepped. the only problem was having two hours to write a ton of information. i spent an hour and a half on the first question (the 50 pointer). all during the test the professor and his teaching assistant would make comments and get us all laughing. made the test itself a bit less intense. also, the punk that he can be, the prof decided to announce to the whole class that i was having bathroom issues the day before since i was carrying around a roll of toilet paper.... i had allergies and i ran out of my regular tissue. ten minutes after the announcement, he place an immodium cap on my desk. i gave it back to him and wished i had said the great line i came up with after the fact. oh well, i hope to know my grade before new years... he's slow with the grading.

next semester i have decided, by force, to take it easy. i have three classes, one is an online math class. i was aiming for 4 classes, but that fourth was proving to be difficult to get in. figured i would wait until next semester to take it. but i will have a biology, math, and a higher level writing class. mom is happy that my classes are only three days a week and starting later in the day. i'll still be spending hours in the library in between class time, but two days off is gonna be great. maybe now i'll get some more pictures of my kids up.

one week to go!

2011-12-03T12:02:00.001-08:00

i got my history exam back on tuesday.... totally passed!!! a 92.5 to be exact. when i saw my test the professor actually said "terri, you're not gonna pass out on me are you". i have never gotten a B in any history class. i was thrilled! anyways, two more lectures then my final exam. not thrilled about it being the first one on saturday morning. well, i'll just do what i did for the last one, read my notes every day and pray to remember it all.

my communications class is still fantastic. i was the first speech on the first day back from thanksgiving break. i think it went over well. mom was a bit miffed that only 12 of the mini pies we made were gone. those that had them said "oh, they're so cute" and one guy looked at me with his mouth full of one and gave me a thumbs up. now all i have left for that project is the critique and then a grade. we had our third test yesterday and i got a (sniff sniff) C. i should have known the test was gonna be right after thanksgiving, but i was still surprised when the teacher announced it on wednesday. that only gave me two days to study. at least i passed. a week worth of speeches left and the next week to study for the final on friday the 16.

my writing class has finally eased! i properly stressed over my digital story and got it uploaded to youtube. you can watch it, but please keep in mind that i had a lack of pictures. i know, shocking considering how many pictures my grandparents actually have. but usable ones for my project.... slim indeed. well, it's done and i should expect a grade by monday. all that's left for this class is a grammer gram test (yes, a test on grammer) and a revision of one of my papers. the revision won't take long... just adding a little bit more to my 'masterpiece to master joke' paper on the david sculptures. no final for this class!!!

so, only two finals, a week apart, then three weeks off before the chaos starts again. love it!

my break so far

2011-11-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

so this week i had off from school. but i was still doing school work for the day i go back. i have a speech about how to make apple pies to write up and finish the power point portion. it's mostly pictures, but the outline has to be full and complete sentences. FUN! the other project is a 'digital story' that i'm doing on my grandparents. i have 5 out of 9 paragraphs done, well narration with pictures, which is amazing since i didn't get started (really get started) until last night.
monday was spent watching a friends little angel then takin my kids over to my grandparents to clean their house.
tuesday was my shopping day this week, i was able to get the narration recorded that night (thank you jeppson family for the use of your microphone!).
wednesday was spent getting pictures of my grandparents for my project, figuring out if i was going to take my kids up north, then actually going. jeff wanted the kids with him this year because all of his family was going to be present. i had no problems with that. so, since wednesday night i have been kid free.... NICE!!!
thanksgiving day was spent cleaning my house for a few hours then heading over to my grandparents for turkey. it was nice to only need my phone, license, and what i needed for the food i was in charge of (mashed potatoes). i didn't have to worry about what sofia was getting in to and possibly breaking, didn't have to hear any whining or fighting.... just some fun visits with my family. i was proud of myself for not stuffing myself silly with food. i had one!!! plate full and was done. after everyone went home i helped my aunt janet a little with the fake tree at grandma's. but i wanted to work more on my narration project so i could go out on black friday without guilt.
so this morning i worked some more on my projects. at 9:45 my mom picked me up and aunt janet, mom and i went out. i did pretty good, two of my kids chirstmas shopping is done. i just got home a half hour ago (6:30). now i'm gonna watch a christmas movie while i get the tree put up. i told the kids that we would decorate it for sofia's birthday....

a week of nothing to come

2011-11-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

this is my last week before a nice week off for thanksgiving. i can't wait, but it won't be totally school work free. with two projects due right after the break.... i'll be gettin a bit chummy with my computer.

my communications class is one of my projects. i just finished up my 'this i believe' speech, got a big fat A on the paper part and waiting on the speech grade. my professor suggested i submit my speech to the 'this i believe' website, which i just did, and i'll hear in about six weeks whether they will accept it. i don't know if he made that suggestion to anyone else, but i like to think i was just special enough. next up is the informative speech. when i asked if we could be funny he said "oh please, yes!" so mine is going to be on 'how to make an apple pie'. not many college freshman know how to bake much, let alone a pie. this needs to be a power point, so i have some pictures to take, an outline to write and a lot of practice ahead of me. i have two weeks. oh, just took my second test on friday, got another B... i'm happy with that.

my writing class is the other project. for our third paper we need to write a short narrative. then we need to add pictures to it then upload to youtube. i have the narrative part done and will have the conference on it tuesday. this whole week class is canceled for the conferences and because no one will be here friday before the break. so i have two weeks for this project as well. my only problem is that the program i need to it isn't working right. it's a sound thing. but i'll get my computer-geek husband to help me out and see what we can do. after that, a revision for one of my projects and we can call this class done!

history is just peachy. no word on my test results yet, i'm starting to get paranoid about it. i know i answered the questions pretty thorough, but i'm not sure it's what he wanted. the unknown is awful!!! so far we have talked about FDR and the new deal, all the different groups that fought in WWII and the boarder crossings in arizona (the discussion section). i only have the final left... on a saturday! how did we luck out with that?! anywho...

so i have two of my classes for next semester lined up. a biology class and an online math class. my brain is not really on the smarty-pants side so i went with the 'dumb peoples' math and science. i know where my limits are, so no correction needed for my 'dumb people' remark. i need to get an override for my next writing class and photography because i'm not on the list for the specific majors that these classes go with. those people get first priority and i have to wait, but since i'm not a 'traditional' student i may get a little help. i tried to be nice with my schedule for my mom's sake, all my classes are on MWF and none at night. she should be happy about that.

another week bites the dust

2011-11-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

oh, i have been one busy bee. lots of studying (yes, i do that sometimes) and papers to write. and i finally have an advisor! adult degree program people have to find our own advisors because we are non-traditional students. well, after many "i'm not right for you, try...." i finally have one. she's the ADP liaison and is still baffled as to why i wasn't sent to her from the start. oh well. so my concentration is "archival photographs and historical processes". don't worry, she told me that this can guarantee me a job because some of the classes and internship i would take works with someone with power... she knows people. i am really excited about what i get to do and so is my advisor. now, hopefully this will enable me to get financial aid through jmu!

gcom, communications class, has been fun. we have been working on our 'this i believe' essay, which will be turned into a speech for next week. monday i left early,wednesday and today we haven't had class. my poor professor has damaged his hip (i think) and had to cancel classes. but, no matter what, we will start our speeches on monday! by the way, due to 10 bonus points (taking a test that needed to be taken and the practice before) i now have an A in the class.

gwrtc, my writing class, is becoming intense. mostly cause of the work load, it's not really that bad, it just seems like a lot. we finished up our second paper (still waiting for grades) and we jumped right into our next assignment. this one can be one anything, but it requires pictures and narration. i voiced my "but i can't do this if it requires programs that i don't have" issues, the professor said that i was not to worry. i can download the needed program for free... but that still leaves me with a need for a microphone. details that i can work out later. so it needs to be 5-6 minutes in length and the transcript is due just before thanksgiving break.

ghis, history of course, has been kickin my tail. did i tell you that 70% of the class failed the first exam? yeah, that's right! and i was among the 70%... a big whoppin 47! it soothed erica's hatred of math to know that even mommy fails sometimes. anyways, i was determined NOT to get another F. i studied my notes everyday for two weeks, i even took the notes with me on my shopping days. i was worried that the 50pt question would be on WWI or the new deal, the more recent lectures, which i hadn't been able to study as much. well, the 50 pointer was on the various people in the west... NAILED IT! i wrote so many facts on each group he asked about my hand is still hurting. i spent about 30 - 40 minutes on that question alone. we had 5 10 point questions to answer and i got those too... one or two may have not been answered as fully as he wanted, but i think i got enough down on paper that i will get most points. here's to the power of prayer and preparation!!!! i'll let ya know what i got in like three weeks... yes, he takes that long to grade them.

my kids

2011-11-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

i just love this picture. so, as promised, here are some pictures of my children... yes, they are still around. it hasn't been a particularly busy time, i just have been guilty of a lack of picture taking. i promise to get better, but i'm not sure we're gonna have many picture opportunities until christmas. i do have some on my phone, maybe i'll post those. but until then, you'll have to do with my late-in-posting halloween pictures (and that random snow we got right before it).

my little brother and his wife got these pumpkins for my kids. wasn't that so nice of them? i thought so. apparently there was a huge sale where they went. anyways, i wouldn't let the kids carve the pumpkins three weeks early, so they drew the faces. two pumpkins met an untimely demise by mold within a week or two. aidan's is still kickin though, but still not carved.

my little witchy-poo.... literally! oh, she wanted to dress up as the witch, she just had that attitude everyday for about a week. this was erica's costume when she was 4, best $16 spent! three days later and she's still asking where here "coseum" is.

the hit of the ward halloween party and trick-or-treating the following monday! this was my little brother's costume when he was 4. so it's about 23 years old. it even had working lights on it. sooooo, DON'T THROW AWAY the good costumes. my little brother is expecting candy royalties since he made this cute first (ummmm, nope!)

cap hooooook! well, that's what sofia said she was. the shirt was my mother's, the vest was my grandma's, the gold thing on her head was fabric from a roadshow production of annie.... recycling at it's best baby!

erica was the supervisor while aidan attempted to clear our sidewalk

sofia had to have a turn shoveling the slushy snow... she gave up after one push

8 weeks to go

2011-10-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

half way done with school this semester! i've had three exams, one final, and just finished my second big paper. thank heavens this week will be a nice relaxing one.

my communications class has been so much fun. we've been talking about interpersonal communications and sexual harassment. i know, how can talking about harassment be fun? well, it was. my professor came up with some pretty ridiculous scenarios and we had to tell if it would 'create a hostile environment' or not. most of them got the response "it depends on....". that's what happens when you have me in your class. despite the topic, it was fun. this week we have to write out our second speech on 'this i believe'. it doesn't have to be serious, actually, i think he would prefer fun. anyways, after switching my topic and rewriting my speech a few (5) times i decided to go with 'i believe in everything'. i'll let ya know how it turns out.

my writing class has been fun the past few weeks. i guess it just takes a while for people to warm up. but our big paper this time was to analyze a 'visual' text(s). so basically, get an ad, a picture, a spoof ad, or whatever and find a bigger argument out of it. i thought about the sculptures of david... there are at least 4. the prof said that doing artwork would be tricky, because you would have to be careful not to write too much of what the critics wrote. i took the challenge. 1800 words later and i have the draft done. take note people: when you are doing footnote citations, write those citations in as you write the paper, or you'll spend over an hour trying to remember where the notes came from after. the upside to the week, this class is cancelled for our paper conferences. one class on monday and wednesday! woo-hoo!!

my psych class is done. i don't remember if i already wrote about this, so i'll say it again if i did. i got a c in the class. i studied for the final and only did three points better than the midterm. oh well. i passed and enjoyed the class. that's all that matters to me.

history... FUN! mostly the discussion section. the prof said he likes our section better than the other. i guess we're more fun and have more participation. last week we talked about hawaii and read the book 'legacy of the landscape'. just made me want to go to hawaii even more. we looked at some cool surfing videos, watch iz (famous singer from hawaii) music videos, and even got the professor a little teary eyed... at least i think we did. but it was all good. i haven't looked at this weeks discussion class assignment, but it will probably be just as fun.

i am just that awesome!

2011-10-14T19:25:00.001-07:00

that is what i've been telling people today. early this morning i was wide awake due to a little tot falling out of her bed. (i took one side off the crib since sofia can now get out herself). that was at 5:30, after a half hour of tryin... i gave up and got up. turned on the computer and looked for my school emails. to my happiness, my GCom professor sent me the link to watch my first speech and also sent me the evaluation form. i watched my speech, realized i talk way too much with my hands, and hated the way i looked (a totally girly thing). i actually didn't realize that my evaluation form was sent too, so i didn't read it until after class today. but here is some of what my amazing professor said (yes, i be brown-nosing):

The attention-getting device that you used in the introduction was very effective; it certainly got the attention of the audience. You also did a good job explicitly previewing the main points you would cover in the body of the speech.
Your speech benefitted from the use of clear transition statements and signposts.
The examples that you used and the explanations that you made in your speech presentation were clear and memorable. I wish the rest of the presenters had been able to “follow your lead” in this area.
Since you did use an effective attention-getting device in the introduction, you were able to refer back to that device in the conclusion. The conclusion was effective because you were able to summarize the main points again and provide a way to bring the speech back to the beginning

sooooo, basically i got a BIG FAT A!!!! and yes, i mean big and fat. i was actually 2.5 points away from perfection, i'll take it! now, onto the next speech called 'this i believe'. nothing serious, unless we want it to be. i'm thinkin mine will be on "i believe in NOT counting those calories"... i'll let ya know how it goes.

my writing class was cancelled again today... YEAH! but that just meant i came home earlier and still have not gotten a good start on my paper. i still have some time.

my psych class has come to an end. my mom is doing the happy dance over that one. i studied for the final, really studied. funny thing was, i only did three points better than the mid-term. go figure! my final grade is a c and i am ok with that. wish it was better, but i can live with it and move on. now i'll be home to get my kids from the bus all but one afternoon!

my history class was a bit iffy this week. the discussion section was great. we talked about the book the osage rose... i highly recommend that book (written by my professors advisor from his college days). it had murder, mystery, racism (not so happy), and a happy ending... sort of. i liked it so much i went out and bought it. also because i wasn't finished reading it through the library's 2-hour reserve and wanted to know how it ended BEFORE class. anyways, the class section was my problem. tuesday's class was fine. thursday's class brought up the mormons. of course, transitioning into that topic right after talking about prostitution in the west. lovely right! anyways, the professor got the basics right. well, some could have been better, but more correct that i didn't feel the need to correct him. BUT when he talked about how joseph smith was killed... he got the basics wrong AND I DID NOTHING! how wimpy am i?!?! i was mad and my hands started to shake, but i still said nothing. that actually bothered me the rest of class. i did correct the 'mormons were racist' misconception (it was said that blacks were not allowed to be mormon). he tried to counter it by saying "there are hardly any blacks in utah..." sooooo, yer pernt sir?! anyways, i came home, gripped to a friends voice mail and called my mom to verify some facts then sent an email to my professor. he hasn't responded, so i don't know how he took it... but i'm hoping it goes over well.

so it's close to 11pm.... my floor has finally been mopped and now my blog has been updated. and now, onto bigger and not so fun projects. two papers to write and a presentation to finish. good times!

that awesome!

2011-10-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

and i'll tell ya why, because i rocked one of my assignments this week.

so to start, this week my communications class had to give a 90 second speech from a section of our book. i properly stressed, but not overly, over this. you all know me as a talker, my impromptu speech was close to 3 minutes. well, i scraped many ideas and finally came up with one that would keep me within my time frame. my topic.... gaining and maintaining the attention of your audience, piece of cake for a mom of three right? i practiced most every night, a few times in front of my kids, and timed it. i was never consistently over or under and that was driving me crazy. well today was my speech and i had some butterflies. i even got up EARLY (not really by choice) so i could make myself pretty for the presentation. it confused erica greatly to see me in a dress and not be a sunday. anyways, i made my kids listen to my speech again, a few times actually, and then sent them off to school. out of 8 i was number 7.... and my anxiety level for not screwing this up was sky high. I KICKED BUTT! well, that is, i went for 89 seconds. that pretty much guarantees me an a, but my outline may dock me a few points. i was having a hard time with that part.

moving on. in my writing class we have our new assignment.... write about a 'visual text'. i had so many ideas this morning, i think that's why i was up at 5:30 wide awake! i'm going to write about the sculpture 'david', but all three. the professor seemed genuinely interested, especially when she guessed what i was going to write about. to top it all off, class was canceled today. so while i should have been in class i was eating lunch with a very good friend that i haven't been able to hang with much this year.

on to a sadder subject, my history class. thursday i had my first exam. i did study and i took it very seriously. but my problem was this: i focused on the beginnings when i should have just focused on the last bits that we learned, namely the American Revolution and the Civil War. the professor said "it could be on anything we have talked about in class and in discussion...." so that left the subjects wide open. out of four questions, i probably got at least half points on the first, full points on the next two, and partial (but more than half i think and hope) on the last. i know, doesn't sound too promising. but i think i got some kudos for finding the location where a picture was taken in 1912 at jmu.

my psych class is almost done. one more lecture and then the final. i promise i'll do better on that one. class on monday was a movie "the story of us" with burce willis (back when he had hair) and michelle pfeiffer. our most recent topic was on conflict, that movie covers it all! and very entertaining.

so a good week. i'm glad it's over and i am looking forward to doing just about nothing this weekend. though, thanks to my mother-in-law, now i am the go-to girl for yummy dip and have been asked to make it for a post-baby shower. all good, it's quick and easy. maybe with my next post i'll actually have pictures of my kids

what week is it?

2011-09-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

so, i tell people that school is "fantastically kicking my butt" because i am just loving it. i don't have "friends" on campus (not counting the two professors i go to church with) so i spend a lot of time in the freezing cold library getting my readings done and other school work. you would think that i would bring a jacket or dress better knowing i would be in the library turning into a popsicle, but it's hot enough during the day that walking across campus produces a sweat... not so sweet.

so my communications class is great. we had to do an impromptu speech on friday, which was oh so fun. my reaction to the list of topics when it was my turn was "really, you should keep the 32 year old mother of three in mind when you make the list next time". almost every topic was geared for the young college people that basically live on campus. well, the speech being impromptu meant there was no time limit.... mine was 2 min 48 sec (the average time was a LOT less). what can i say, i'm a talker. our next assignment is a 90 second speech, hardest! thing! ever!!! i am practicing so i don't go over.

my writing class is a little better. the professor brought chocolate one day just cause it was a rainy day (it was dove dark!). we have been working on our first paper, a rhetorical piece, for the past two weeks... or, at least i have. i was under the impression for a week that the first draft was due on the 18th, it wasn't due until the 25th. so i got my paper done by this past friday and properly stressed over my citations and making sure i was not plagiarizing (so many rules!). i had a writing conference with my professor today and she said that it was very well written but i needed a little more "meat" in my thesis. she pointed me in the right direction and now i am properly procrastinating to write this blog update.

had my midterm for my psych class.... i won't go into details, but i didn't do so hot. i went in with the attitude of "i'm living this and it's mostly common sense". yeah, my c+ in the class says otherwise. only a few more classes and i'm done with it. it's a fantastic class, but i won't miss it. too many insights into my life that i wasn't really ready to face.

history! oh my goodness, do i love this class! and that says a lot since i never liked any of my history classes before. my professor is freakin awesome and loves to have fun in class. lots of notes to take and everyone is freaking out over our first test next week, but that's expected. i rocked the 'map of the u.s.' quiz two weeks ago (mucho bonus points for naming the canadian provinces). today, though, we had a map quiz again (apparently we'll keep having them until everyone gets a 100), but this time it included mexico.... 30 states in mexico and i couldn't name one. time to get another atlas...

a week to NOT remember

2011-09-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

i say NOT to remember... cause i don't want to. i didn't have a bad week or a crazy one. it was just full. i had volunteered to be the first discussion leader for my history class (bonus points and kudos will be given) and it was on the salem witch trials. i did all of the assigned reading and then some just to be extra prepared, my partner... not so much. when we got together he hadn't read a thing. can we say miffed?! i really don't know how prepared he was cause as it turns out, though we were the discussion leaders we hardly spoke, the professor did most of the talking. and he has issues when you talk while he is, so we let him.

my communications class is about the same. i give lots of 2-cents worth of stuff to give a new spin on things. the professor smiles a lot at what i have to say.... i'm still trying to figure out if that's a good thing or not.

ugh! my writing class... so not a big fan. we have had two difficult/boring/loooooong readings that we had to 'blog' about (it's on tumblr, click here to see it). the professor insured us that she is putting the hard stuff first and it will get easier. but now we have to start worrying about a 'rhetorical situation' paper. crim-a-nitly, i have no clue what to write about. we do have the option of picking a historical event or something current.... yeah, that helps narrow it down.

my psych class is fantastic as usual. i'm getting some really good insights to myself and my relationship issues (yes, i do have them). the professor loves to catch me off guard to get my stories and examples to enlighten the rest of the class. though this last time was a bit funny, he asked "are you one of those practicing mormons (first class he found out i was mormon when he said he taught a byu) who drink wine?" where did that come from?! i told him that i don't drink or even like the taste of alcohol. then he asked what was my 'romantic drink' (is there such a thing in mormon culture) and i said i don't have one.... but my drink of choice in mt dew. he was 'shocked' because of all the caffeine. i said "uncle (we are told to call him that) i have three kids, i need all the caffeine i can get". the class laughed and i was then left alone for the remainder of class.

so, not too shabby. with little to do next week, other than readings and more readings, i know i will have an easier time of it. on the upside of things, i lost some weight with all that walking up hills and those 60 steps i go up and down four times a day. i have two pairs of pants that were my sister-in-laws. a few months ago i cried cause they didn't fit.... they do now!!! love it!

First Week Done

2011-09-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

ok, so this is my first non-picture post.... this a new thing for me. but so many people have asked me how school is going i figured that i'll just add that info in with the kid's stuff.

my first week went great!!! though that first day was hard on my legs and butt. i have never been on a campus where you go uphill to just about everything. on the upside, great workout; on the downside, i'm all sweaty and gross when i get to class. so i am wishing for an early fall.

i am taking four classes, which makes me a full time student, and i love all but one. they are gen.ed. communications (mostly freshman), gen.ed. writing (again, mostly freshman), us history and (you'll love this) psychology of human intimacy.

the class i don't love, just like, is my writing class... the professor isn't as lively as the others. but her expectations are not insanely high and she is wanting quality over quantity, i think i can do that. my communications class is great, despite my age difference with everyone in it. we're a quiet class, but i help break the ice most days. the prof loves my different perspective. my psychology class is the one i have been looking forward to the most. the title is what got my attention, then i read the course description and said "i have got to take this!!!" a few emails to the prof and i got in with no problems. he wants me in the class for my experience and i told him that i have no issues with being the class guinea pig.

so i thought i would hate my history class, since i am not very good at it. but i changed my mind as soon as the professor walked in. he was wearing a coat and tie, jeans, flip-flops and carrying a skateboard. can we say unconventional?! the man has no issues with cursing in front of students and letting us know his exact opinion of anything. he is intense and expects a great deal out of us, but he also wants us to have fun. i only have his class twice a week, but he requires us to go to a discussion class and he just happens to be the leader for my time. i'm way excited.

so all in all... a good first week. i got my assignments done this week early and have already finished another that's not due until thursday of next week. i think that means i have grown up a bit. what do you think?

Birthday and My First Day of School

2011-08-30T18:38:00.001-07:00

yes! i had a birthday. and if you read my last post (i know, two within a short amount of time, i must be improving) you know that it was on the 23, my kids first day of school. but since they have no money they had to wait until daddy came down to visit to get me my gifts. well worth the wait. there are days i feel old and days i feel really old, but this day i was just worn out from cleaning all day (please don't judge how i look in these pictures... cleaning as long as i did does take it out of ya). so the beautiful and thoughtful gifts from my kids made the end of my day perfect.
which brings me to the next item of business.... my first day of school. yes people, i went back. jmu accepted me with slightly opened arms and i have joined the crowds and crowds and crowds (there are a lot of students there) of kids aiming for the higher education. because svu and jmu don't really see eye to eye, most of my credits didn't transfer... only 38 did. so i'm basically a sophomore..... again. but that is ok. i have been to all of my classes and love almost all of them. i'll keep ya posted about them, maybe. i did get a rude awakening right before my first class. i don't remember what was said that prompted a kid to ask if i was a freshman too, but my response was "honey, my freshman year was in '97". his response "how old are you?". have to admit i left myself open for that one. but it is so true, walking around campus all day yesterday i felt every year of my age. i should have gotten a picture of when i got home.... i am still so sore from all that walking, most of it uphill, i kid you not! i don't even have to worry about getting to the gym now, i can just walk all over campus.

not the best picture, but it shows that my kids got me flowers and a balloon (that says birthday princess) for my birthday. funny fyi: the flowers turned the water in my vase pink, pretty!

big thick envelope means a big card that has sound, good thing or bad? well, this card said that i wasn't old until the fat lady sings....

she sang.... and the kids all laughed at me. i'm not really that old, though some days i certainly feel it.

writing out directions for grandma. thank heavens my mother is willing to watch my kids so i can do this. mondays and wednesdays will be the longest, ALL day on campus. either that or run out of gas goin back and forth between classes (i have long breaks between all of them).

here is my snazzy new lunch 'box'. i was such a geek pickin out all my school stuff, including this. sorry, no justin beiber or unicorns for me. i'm goin for the sophisticated look (but can i really pull it off?)

here i am.... off to face the world of 18 to 21 year olds.... hoping i won't get lost or go to the wrong class

the most expensive sticker i have EVER bought!! and i thought the school was kidding when they said they have people patrolling the garage.... i saw a little gray haired man going from car to car, checking for the proper sticker in the proper place (i'm so glad i can follow directions)

and now there are two!

2011-08-23T16:58:00.001-07:00

happy birthday to me! happy birthday to me! the first day of school just happen to be on my birthday. i was so excited. i got dressed, made the kids lunches.... that's right.... i said kidS! then ran upstairs to "scream" that it was the first day of school and that it was time to get up. erica was already up, but i had to drag aidan out of bed a bit. once he remembered that it was the day he got to ride the bus he fully woke up. breakfast, brushing of teeth, family prayer then off to the bus. sofia didn't want to leave the busstop, but when i said she could pick the movies and play with all the toys.... she ran down the street back to our house yelling "my pick, my pick". at lunch time mom picked me up and took me out for lunch, we left sofia with her great-grandparents. and during lunch (or soon after) there was an earthquake... who knew virginia could have those. we totally didn't notice. when the kids got home from school, aidan was so excited to tell me all he did. he was a bit sad that he didn't have math homework (who is this kid) but moved on quickly. a quick dinner of nuggets and fries and soon it was bed time. now.... what to do with the rest of my birthday....

Erica turned 8!

2011-08-23T16:27:00.001-07:00

oh the joys of having children! i have a hard time believing that my first born, my baby, has turned 8 years old. and that means baptism! i had fun planning and prepping for her big day. friends and family came to help us celebrate and it was a good day. for all the planning that was done i was a bit frazzled when we got to the church, so i forgot the important "before" pictures of erica and her uncle casey in their white clothes. oh well. and since we were able to have her baptism on her birthday we had a nice party at my parents after. lots of food and great company. now that i know all there is to know about planning a baptism, the next two will be a snap!

good morning sunshine! after i took this i jumped on her bed to wake her up (cause i could) and sang every primary birthday song i could think of. don't worry, she was in a good mood

i completely spaced when we got to the church for erica's baptism, so i have no pictures of her in her dress with her uncle casey (who baptized her). but here is her dress, made by her grandma adams.

my niece just loved visiting with her cousins, not to mention my parents house with the large toy room. she was very sad to leave

she just loves being the center of attention, but what kid doesn't. and today (the 23rd) i had the rest of her cake for breakfast, bill cosby would be so proud (hey, it's my birthday!)

grandma webb ALWAYS picks out the best clothes. erica can't wait until it gets cold enough to wear her new jacket.

always a winner!

so my child!

the damage done! though if a certain little boy came (a friend's son) then there would be no cupcakes left.

the newest member of the family, ben, with the oldest member. how great is it that mine and my siblings kids can have a relationship with thier GREAT grandparents

aidan just handed aunt rachel the book and asked her to read it.... sofia couldn't be left out

newest memeber of the parental club enjoying some tummy to tummy time with his son!

too long!

2011-06-07T17:43:00.001-07:00

remember erica's sunflower from last year... if not then click here for a refresher. any-who, it dropped a lot of seeds that i assumed the birds ate. well, in march two potential sunflowers were coming up, then promptly died due to a late snow. now this.... it's already about 8 inches high (that ruler in the picture is only 6") i hope this one does as well as the last one!

he loves him some tractors! he would have drivin this thing around if he could.

teachin her how to do her makeup is gonna be so much fun.... this was just face paint

one tired little miss. i was going to keep her up since she missed her nap time being at great grandma's... oh well

why..... because he could.

her last project for her second grade class. she glued and colored while i used a not-as-sharp exacto knife to cut it all out (i don't like foam board now)

she has discovered the hula-hoop. too bad none of us "older" people can do a demo for her to learn from.... i'll tell ya right now, it's not a pretty picture to watch me try and hula that hoop

new dress and new boots (they may even be on the right feet)

Not Much

2011-04-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

not a lot has happened since my last post. i started my one class at jmu in march, but it's mostly online work. i will admit, having to write papers again is not fun. but i have two people to help in the editing process and they have both said 'not bad for one who hasn't done a paper in 8 years'... i'll take it. we had warm days and expected spring to come, erica's old sunflower dropped enough seeds last summer and some were sprouting. but the harshness of march and some late snow took care of them. i registered aidan for kindergarten and he is very excited to ride the school bus. i went to my old university to visit my brother and his wife last weekend. rachel had an art show and i was looking forward to seeing it. but due to a school wide power outage, no such luck. and can i just tell you, they have a lot of great things at svu now. the indoor pool is gone, but in it's place is a great student union... anyways. here are a few pictures to tie ya down until something big and picture worthy comes along (hint: some people are graduating college next week).

my baby is talented. she went to bed with a sheet on the mattress, a pillow with a pillowcase and pants. first go the pants, then the pillowcase, then pillow then sheet. i don't know how she finds this comfortable!

he watched his older sister for years play on the computer, now it's his turn. every day "mom, can i do playhouse disney?"

this is how you keep a 3 and 4 year old occupied during general conference... you give them lots of paper, markers and children sized scissors!

spring has sprung! and we had all the dandelions to prove it, but the nice man came today to mow them all down.

he felt it was his job to move the gravel and dirt to a better spot. the down side of being at the bottom of a hill after a major rain

you can tell when she likes something.... everything else gets ignored.

totally mezzzzzzmorizzzzzed.... i love educational dvds!

Flat Stanley in Broadway Virginia

2011-03-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

Who is Flat Stanley you ask? Well I didn't know who he was either until my nephew, Ethan, sent him to us. If you don't know the story, what a perfect opportunity to take your kids to the library and find out. But to sum-up: Flat Stanley is a boy that gets squished by a bulletin board. He's fine, but flat as a pancake. He has many adventures because he can slide under doors, fly like a kite and even fit in an envelope. Well, we hosted Flat Stanley for about three weeks. We were very busy during that time and took some pictures of our adventures together. Unfortunately, I was a bit forgetful and didn't get as many pictures as the kids wanted. So here are some pictures and Flat Stanley telling you about them.

Hello everyone, my name is Stanley... or Flat Stanley. I came all the way from Monterey California to visit my friend Ethan's family in Virginia. Did you know that it's about 2,792 miles from California to Virginia? I didn't either. I found out that Broadway Virginia is a lot smaller, and colder, than Monterey. But being a smaller town didn't stop us from having lots of fun. I came at a perfect time. The local mall was hosting something called Read Across America in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, so I got here just in time for that. I got to go to preschool, a chili cookoff, a birthday party, a college class and I even met someone else named Stanley, but he wasn't flat like me. Here are a few pictures of my time here in Virgina.

Ethan's Aunt Terri took us out to dinner before we went to the mall for Read Across America. She forgot to take pictures during dinner, but got one right before we left. Look how happy everyone is. We were all very excited to possibly meet the Cat in the Hat.

I got to see the Cat in the Hat! He looks a little different than he does in his books and he's a lot bigger than I though. Erica was the only one who wanted a picture with the Cat, Aidan and Sofia were too scared.

And I got to see Clifford. Aidan and Sofia were scared of him too, so I stayed with them to keep them company.

Here I am joining Aidan and his friend Harrison in preschool. They have so much fun. Right now we are doing an art project, we used plastic beads to make animal shapes, mine was a fish. I wished I could go with Erica to her school, but after seeing some of the paper come out of her backpack I didn't think I would make it there and back in one piece. Maybe another time.

Every year their church has a chili cookoff. I have never been to one and was very excited to see what it was like. There was a lot of chili and breads and even some jello. The man in charge said the jello was to help the judges, I still don't know what that meant. We didn't have any of the chili being judged because Ethan's cousin Aidan has lots of food allergies and couldn't eat what was there. So his mommy made a special pot, it was good.

Ethan's Aunt Terri has decided to go back to school, and she took me along for her first class. I think she forgot I was still in her purse, but she let me stay once she saw me. It's a small class, but she said that soon she'll get to be in bigger classes.

March Madness

2011-03-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

ok, maybe not 'madness', but march was busy for us. we started off the month with a visit to the mall to see the cat in the hat, did you know dr. seuss would be 107 this year? then the kids had a trip to grandma webb's house while i stayed home to 'rest'. let's see... a chili cookoff, cleaning the chapel (which my kids were excellently behaved), i had my first class, registered aidan for kindergarten.... and the month isn't over just yet. i didn't get a lot of pictures, but i couldn't let this post go picture-less. so enjoy some pictures from the end of february and early march.

not sure what she's doing... you'll need to ask her daddy about that since he took the picture.

seriously... how much do you love this picture?! they were so into 'diego' that they had no idea i took the picture. and that is paint all over their face.... again, you'll need to ask the daddy about that one.

learn letters and numbers, check! learn shapes and colors, check! learning how to use scissors withOUT hurting yourself... double check! they did very good for the first time alone with those sharp things

she so badly wanted to use the scissors too... i'm such a mean mommy.

right after i loaded them up on fatty cholesterol deliciousness called burger king. erica was a happy camper despite not liking mustard on her hamburger.

waiting for the cat to show up. i'll spare you the pictures because they will be in the next post. but my babies were so good just sitting and waiting.

cockroach hockey!

2011-02-22T16:38:00.001-08:00

ok, so there are no pictures of anyone playing cockroach hockey. but we did play that when i was in college. those suckers were huge and no one wanted to touch them. so we busted out our brooms to sweep them out.... then turned it into a game. we were just that twisted.

soooo, i lied. i thought i was going to take so many pictures this particular weekend and didn't. at least i brought my camera! i said in an earlier post that a college friend moved back to virginia with her family and came up to visit, which inspired her to decide to have a reunion of the '3rd floor babes' that lived close by (within a 5-6 hour driving distance). she sent out the emails and we then set the date. she suggested my mom's house (she has to room and considers my friends her non-dna children) and i 2nd it.... then told my mom about it. mom was very excited! one of the girls lived with us for a summer, one we were always giving rides up to NoVa so she could visit her family and the third was in just about every story i told when i was home for vacations. well, they were all in the stories. there were 11 of us that did everything together, but only 6 of us live on the east coast and within easy driving distance. as it turns out, one friend was supposed to come up as a surprise, but that plan fell through. i was supposed to be without my kids for the weekend, but at the 11th hour the daddy called and said he wasn't coming down. oh well, my kids had a 'mommy free' weekend.... so it wound up being ok! there will be another reunion!

we made a special trip (twice because i forgot my keys the first time) to my place to get all my old college pictures. so fun to look back at all the crazy things we did.... and then remember all the other crazy things we did but don't have the pictures to prove the stories.

since i was ignoring her for stories of the old days, sofi decided to snuggle up with the one person that would not ignore her... she let grandpa be her friend for two whole days!

yes, my child is just so lovely! we got them ready for bed at least three hours before they actually went to bed.

once they got off their sugar high (about 10:45pm) they crashed. because we stuck them up in the loft we could hear the snoring. and as far as i know, no one fell off the bed from lack of space.

she crashed first! and since we have grown up a bit... we just take pictures of the sleepers instead of sticking their bra in the freezer.

she woke me up soooo early. not a big fan of it. by now she was hoping my friends would wake up so i would leave her alone.

so engrossed he had no idea i got the camera out.

sunday morning cartoons are just as good as saturday... yes, we skipped church and no, we don't feel guilty.

thanks to my parents i was able to enjoy my friends visiting. they play the role of babysitter so well. (fyi - the 'beans' that go to the game my dad is holding WILL come back out of a child with little effort or pain....)

anyone that comes to my parent's home gets the 4-1-1 on momma's stove. she should get a job as 'aga endorser'... she loves her stove and people always have a ton of questions for her which she is more than happy to answer.

the real reason for the reunion.... to eat nothing but junk like we used to (ha ha ha). good thing i don't have a scale to yell at me anymore, cause i'm sure it would be makin some major protesting noises.

i'm not that tall, just wearin boots. aaaaaand, i look like i'm tryin to hard to make me look good in the picture (which i was). i think we finally got dressed for the day at 3:30 and the girls left soon after the picture session.

this is our favorite.... we call it the 'strangling picture'. i will always have a special place in my heart for these girls!

emma is just like erica... only two inches taller. funny thing is she is two years younger as well. they hit it off, too bad they couldn't remember each others name.

yes, she is wet down the front. no, it's not from diaper malfunction. it's from tryin to steal my friends water.

she wasn't feeling too good the whole day, must have been all that junk food the day before. jeeze, where was her mother?!

a beautiful ending.... sort of. the sky was all pretty like, just wish my kids were to each other once we got home.

Random Stuff

2011-02-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

it's filler time! this is the post i put up between 'major' picture taking times. christmas was the last time and the next will be this weekend. but these pictures were just too cute to not pass along.

yes, that is my 2 year old child 'reading' readers digest. doesn't she look comfy? thanks to my brother i now have a nice and comfortable glider to sit in... now if i could get my kids to stay off!

blast from the past anyone?! my son has discovered and loves the game of 'cooties'. he made the red one and i made the other. we can actually get one game done in a half hour... without cheating!

this game is called 'topple'. but when we play it doesn't 'topple' once! we even played on the not-so-even carpet. i think we'll stick to cooties

the evil... i mean pretty stuff that caused all the school kids to cheer and the parents to groan. now, what should the kiddies do....

i'll tell you what they do.... they watch movies in their pj's. i think they were in them most of the day

takin a nap? noooooooo, waiting for erica to come home and pester her!

waiting for erica to finish homework so she has someone other than aidan to play with

doin the homework. not her favorite thing, just ask her and she'll tell you what she thinks of it

The January Blah!

2011-01-29T16:31:00.001-08:00

ok, so january has been a boring month. it started out with a nice trip to grandma and grandpa webb's house for a late christmas. i took the kids up saturday morning and as soon as we got there they went nuts. they love their cousins, and since they moved to north carolina we don't get to see them as often. we had a great time visiting and, of course, eating. my mother-in-law is one fantastic cook. i swear, just looking in her fridge i gain a pound or two.

so i left around 8pm by myself! a christmas present to me. i like a quiet drive home after a few hours of happy insanity. and after having church at 2pm for a year, i was not looking forward to getting four people and a lesson ready for 9am church. funny though, services hadn't even started yet and i leaned over to my mom and said "i'm bored". she laughed.

a good friend from college has moved with her family back to virginia and came up for a visit one day. too bad i didn't get any pictures. it was great to visit with her and to meet her husband and cute little boy. aidan loved having a new friend as well. the visit soon sparked the idea of a reunion of the "3rd floor babes", i'll get pictures of that when it happens next month.

so other than two visits and some snow, not much has happened this month. which is the reason for a serious lack of pictures. oh wait! did i forget to mention that i have been accepted and will be attending JMU this spring? right now i'm waiting on financial help, but i am way excited. so take a look at what few pictures i have and then just wait until next month.

little maggie! her hair was everywhere, but that just enhanced her cutie-pie-ness.

my nephew andrew got to open the first present. we tried for order... that lasted maybe two minutes.

aidan gets into his jammies as soon as it gets dark. doesn't matter if it's only 3 in the afternoon. he was the only one ready for bed before dinner was even started.

December, so far

2010-12-21T11:29:00.001-08:00

ok, i was all ready to keep up with my blog. i had taken some pictures and was gonna post after each event. but then i had it out with comcast, the devil! we just couldn't see eye to eye anymore so i 'broke up' with them. so, yet again, a long post. early december was packed with events.... sort of. the town had a tree lighting ceremony that i decided, last minute, to take the kids to. luckily the library had an open house at the same time, so while we waited for the ceremony to start we sat in the warm library and had cookies and hot chocolate. i'm sparing you the pictures from that event. then i took the kids to my parents home to help decorate their tree. my funny nephew, carter, came down just for that. then we had our tree decorating. i had the tree up since the beginning of the week, but decided to wait until daddy came home to decorate. still with me? then my little sofia had her second birthday, which we kept very low-key. and finally (i know, too much) we had a special holiday musical that the 2nd and 3rd graders put on for the families. only a few pictures turned out good.... so now, to view!

while waiting for the tree lighting at town hall.... we saw santa! aidan was happy to see him, but he was more interested in his candy cane.

my nephew carter and erica helping to decorate grandma's tree. see that fire, technically carter and i started that. he helped me burn some papers...

he was very careful after his first 'oops'. luckily we didn't give him or the others ornaments that were 'priceless'.

had to throw in a picture of my parents house. it would have looked even better if there was snow on the ground.

don't know what they wanted to do more.... decorate the tree or watch 'the santa clause 2'

i let her put up a few non-breakables before she was off to bed.

i couldn't do this... we had to wake 'he-man' up so erica could put the star on.

the finished product, this day. every day i come downstairs to see the tree looking just a bit different. the kids love to move the ornaments around... and sofi loves to break them.

just after breakfast... she actually snuggled with me for a good 20 minutes. too bad that sippy cup is in the way.

do not disturb the little princess when she is watching 'toy story'. it's her new obsession.

i let erica help make the cake. she still hasn't learned how to crack and break the egg without makin a mess. but she had fun. only two small shell pieces for me to dig out.

daddy gave airplane rides to everyone. but after a while he would only give them to sofi... she's lighter.

this made me nervous, but erica loved doing the piggy-back rides for sofi. and of course sofi loved them.

not a huge fan of the 'candles' (matches, i forgot to get candles) and of the singing. i think the others blew out the 'candles'.

open wide!

eating her cake while erica plays with her new 'jessie' doll. sofia steals erica's doll all the time, so i figured this was fair.

i know... where's waldo. i tried to help this time. can you believe that this is all three of the 2nd grade classes

out of the five songs, she got to do something special for one. i don't remember if it was the kid in front of her or another, but one of them was twirling the mallets like a drum stick any time he could. it was funny!

A baptism, a dress and food!

2010-11-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

november was a quiet one, thank heavens! one of erica's best friends was baptized and we went to that. i wanted erica to see what it was so when it's her turn she'll be more excited. other than that, we just had a nice thanksgiving. like i said, a quiet month. we went to my parents (i will go anywhere i don't have to cook) and most of the family came. it was a beautiful day and the company was great. mom and i laugh at the fact that my brother's family, my mom and dad and i finished the appetizers before any other family got to the house. their loss! my little nephew carter didn't want to leave and erica didn't want to lose a good play buddy, they always have so much fun together. well, after ten hours there i finally took my little crew home and within two minutes of getting into bed, we were ALL out!

best buddies! and so beautiful. they were a little sad that they weren't all in the same class this year (hasn't happened yet). the moms and i agree that might not be a good thing.

"mommy, take a picture". don't know why sofia was all upset.

daddy's home, mommy is no longer the favorite. which means i'm left alone for more than two minutes at a time.

my mother-in-law gave this dress to my oldest back in 2003. i have been waiting for the time that little sofi could wear it. it's still my favorite dress.

talking and watching whatever football game was on. and yes, waiting for the dinner to be done.

the best way to sit in front of a fire! my grandpas had the best seats in the house.

my nephew killian wasn't impatient, he just wanted to play with the forks. a little drummer in training i think.

good food, good meat come on let's eat! and we did! my fav... green bean casserole. my brother puts cheese in it, so yummy!

the only one not sitting at the table. she wasn't too happy this day until much later.

we have never all fit at one table. but this year there was no 'kiddie table'. you took the plate where you wanted to sit.

the damage has been done. and can you believe it... i came home with no leftovers. i could have, but didn't.

October Catch Up

2010-11-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

ok, again i slacked off with the posts. october was very busy, but not really until the end of the month. that last week was brutal! so we went to a museum on one visit with daddy. if you want to feel really small go to the air and space museum in dulles. a week later we had our town's harvest festival. that's where all the "pretty" cars come out and lots of things to buy. well, it was the same day as my nephews birthday so my mom, kids and i didn't spend too much time there. we did let the kids play on the air bounces a little. then we had our busy week. halloween started on the thursday before in our little town. friday we had a special playgroup since my brother and his family came back to visit. saturday we had my grandfather's 80th birthday and most of the family was there. with all the backing, cooking and taking the kids out for trick or treating i was very glad to see the month finally over. i think i survived well enough....

the air and space museum in dulles

my favorite kind of picture.

aidan was in hog heaven. i think jeff loved being able to tell all he knew to him.

why is the flag backwards?! i have yet to get an answer to that.

yes, i can be in the pictures too. we were waiting for daddy, aidan and sofia to come back down from the third floor.

one view from the tower. we picked a good day to go. as beautiful as it was, i didn't get too close to the windows (go ahead, call me chicken)

another view from the tower. in this one you can see our old apartment.... really you can.

watching and listening to air traffic. they loved this.

they like having picnics. so easy to make them happy.

"weeeeeeeeeeeee....."

one of my old nightgowns. she doesn't wear it much since she still takes her diaper off if it's within easy access.

are there really any words for this.... ?

yes! she is drinking the puddle water. i was far enough away that my zoom was at the max. she didn't last long though.....

my belle, buzz and stinker. sofia didn't want to dress up as anything. i had two costumes to choose from and she wanted nothing to do with either. maybe next year.

i hope that my kids get this man for their teacher when they reach 4th grade! aidan wasn't too sure of him at first, but looked for him as we went through the town.

the town had it's own trick-or-treating for the kids. a good way for the businesses to get known.

at the end of "day one" of trick-or-treating. we were waiting to see if they announced the winner of the costume contest, we left too early.

i get this look a lot!

the toy room.... well used!

"but i want the cookies and brownies..." i'm such a mean mommy.

aunt rachel playing catch with my babies. she and my brother are the kids' favorite since they are still willing to go out in the cold to play.

when all the grandbabies get together we attempt a nice picture.... hasn't happened yet! someone is always being a stinker. this time it was my sofi.

me and my siblets. there were so many cameras going off we had no clue where to look and when.

momma and all her siblets. i love how the men are as gray as can be and the women are not.

uncle scott, aunt katy, aunt rachel and aunt lisa braved the roads to take the kids out for the treats. all the kids that live in the mountains drive down to the neighborhoods to go around for candy, so there are a lot of extra cars out.

wanting to go out with the big kids trick-or-treating.... or to just be with me (i took candy duty). take your pick.

sunset over broadway, i know! sounds like a musical.

At the end of a very long weekend! i think i felt like her hair....

September Slacker

2010-10-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

ok! i know i have been seriously lacking in the updates of this blog. i've been BUSY! september was such a hustle and bustle kind of month. it started out with the continuation of school for erica, that's why i put her sunflower picture up. then the first weekend was my uncle's big 50th birthday party. the second weekend had us up to visit great grandpa at his home, my dad's band plays there twice a year for the family parties. the next weekend was a birthday party for a friend's son and then dinner at my grandma's with my great uncle and his wife visiting. we had something to do every week and as of now, october 14, it doesn't look like it's gonna slow down too much. enjoy the highlights!

erica's sunflower..... back when it was still pretty.

keeping away from my uncle's devil.... i mean dog.

right before her banishment

sofia in baby prison, she was everywhere and i only have one set of eyes.

me and my boo!

me and my little man, who likes to be called 'lil bear' now.

daddy's, i'm sorry, grandpa's band. sorry to the bass player, skip, who was blocked by the speaker.

doing arts & crafts.... or erica doing and aidan telling the nice girl what to do for him.

listening to grandpa's band, or 'pop-pop' as sofia calls him.... she's pointing him out and making everyone smile.

had to get one with her wearing my old nightgown.

balls + trampoline = lots of fun for little kids!

"get me out of here mommy!"

a traditional picture.... kids weraing grandpa's boots

doing the dishes with cousin jessica

Big Girl Boo

2010-08-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well, the day has come and gone. It started out with Erica being the only one who could pick the movies we watched. Then, slowly to Erica, her two best friends showed up to hang out. They played, made noises I'm sure only dogs could hear, watched Harry Potter and impatiently waited to go to dinner. I told them "anyone can order a pizza, we're going out". They loved it! I promised their moms that I would bring them home afterward, good thing I gave them a good idea of when, I didn't escort the ladies home until 10:30. They had fun! But right now, I want to go to bed.

Eating a whole bag of doritos, waiting for the daddy to come and babysit the little siblings, and then to get hair and make-up done. I only put on a little eye shadow and blush, but they all wanted their hair curled for their 'night out on the town'.

For whatever reason no one wanted to sit beside me. But that's ok, I got to take some funny photos and video of them. Too bad I can't get the video to upload! You'll just have to take my word for it.

The loot! Her friends got her the perfect gifts. And Grandma got some great things to make her room all her own. Can't wait to get started.

Really tired girls, but too interested in the movie to let those eyes close (it was close to 10 by this picture). I told the moms I would get the girls home some time.... just wasn't too specific.

Random Bits

2010-08-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

Erica started this sunflower at school and brought it home with two weeks left of school. It was only a few inches tall and a pencil was thicker than it was. When we transplanted it I piled mulch around it to keep it from saggin over.....

Can you believe that it's gotten so big so fast!? It's now taller than me... but I guess you could have figured that out since it's as tall as the door.

This is what you look like three days after you fight a battle with the rocking chair and lose. I didn't notice the black eye until it started to heal. She had another bruise on her haid that her hair covered.

This is a happy baby eating dinner, the mess after required a bath.

We got this little visitor after a hard rain. He was just mindin' his own when Erica started to freak out. So of course I took pictures.

He scared Erica, even though he was on the outside.

Peace in the home while watching a movie requires the whole couch.... and their favorite blankets, of course.

She's getting her education on remote use early.

He does still take a nap every once in a while. He's just not always happy when he wakes up. Especially when his sisters help wake him up.

Aidan Turns 4!

2010-07-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

My sweet baby is now 4... a BIG BOY. I thought it would be nice to throw him a party, since he's only had one. It was a 'playgroup' party... all the kids from playgroup and then those from his sunbeam class were invited. The day was perfect!!! I had asked my grandma if I could have the party at her house since mine is too small and I wanted to let the kids play in the water. Couldn't have asked for better weather, better friends or food. The one downsides, I had to borrow a camera so I couldn't get video of Aidan's reactions... PRICELESS!

In the beginning.... my dad played the pool man and the kids wasted no time in getting wet.

The kids loved playing in the water. The temp and humidity were a pleasant surprise, but the breeze made for some chattering teeth.

A Toy Story theme party, gotta love Wal-Mart's party section. So worth every penny. The foil is covering cookie bars, I didn't have any leftovers of those.

Enjoying the food, shade, and PERFECT weather for this kind of party.

More eating shots.

We came inside to open presents because the wind picked up a bit. I didn't want to chase paper down. And indoors was a better option for the camera I was using.

I kept having to tell the kids to back up, they all wanted to see what Aidan got... and then play with it.

Aidan loves to get cards with sounds. I helped his great grandma to pick this out, a Woody's Roundup card with 'Riders in the Sky' singing the theme song. BIG HIT!

Can you tell he was happy? I would have loved to get the reaction on video, but I didn't have my camera. I was glad that I made him open this one last.

I was tryin to show him that Woody talks, he was just too excited to care. He was out of the package real quick.

His rice krispie treat cupcakes! The kids loved them, and so did the moms, but for different reasons.

He's into pluggin his ears when anyone sings, doesn't matter if it's to him or not. At least, this year, he didn't hide under the table.

ALREADY.... Woody is a very dirty man right now. You can't tell just how much in this picture, but he is, trust me. And this was taken only a few hours after the party.

Goffin' Off

2010-07-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

just being her goofy self.... jumpin all over the place.

her first pigtails!!!! i was so excited. it took forever to get them up because, like all babies her age, she just wouldn't hold still. they lasted until we got to church, the had pulled one out by then. it looked a bit silly to leave just one up so i tool it down. oh well, there is always next week.

i'm so glade when daddy comes home.... glad as i can be.... cause that means the kids leave me alone. don't get me wrong, i love my kids dearly, but i love it when they go to jeff to play rough instead of me.

daddy becomes the best jungle gym when he's down for a visit. thank heavens! i'm not built for it and i have the bruises to prove it.

just not fair! why is it that he looks good in almost every picture?

i think sofia wanted a turn.... or she just wanted daddy. i helped aidan take this picture.

just being silly, as always when daddy comes down.

don't know who took the picture, but i like it!

Riven Rocks

2010-07-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

katy called me tuesday night and told me that she and some other ladies from church were going to a place called riven rocks and invited me to go too. of course i wanted too, i had a rotten tuesday and wanted something fun to erase the memory. this place isn't that far, about a half hour drive for me and katy.... but sooo worth the drive. it was just cool enough with the water and shade that it was a perfect day. it's pretty secluded, but we had enough kids to make up for the lack of people. there was another group there and they had some kids that became instant friends with ours, especially when the boys gave the kids fish to hold in a cup. good weather, good company and good food. what more could you ask for!

don't worry, sofia never fell off the rock. but there were also at least four sets of eyes on her... and the other kids too.

ta-da!!! such a skinny-minnie, but i love her anyways (he he he).

we packed a picnic and pretty much started eating as soon as we got there. the kids were back and forth because the lure of the water was great, but so was the growl in their tummy.

just beautiful! i was very happy to have been invited just to see this. it was small, but very much picture worthy.

the big boys were doing some 'fishing' with nets while at the rocks. the little kids just loved watching and helping.

each kid got a cup and had waited for one of the older boys to give them the "spoils". don't worry, no fish was harmed or brought home!

i love these ladies. we had so much fun watching the kids. if the water was a bit warmer we would have gone in deeper than our knees.

she had a rice krispie treat in her hand, i think it's the only food to not fall in the water.

Busch Gardens!

2010-07-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

WOW! all of jeff's siblings were in the same time zone for the first time in years. to celebrate papa-in-law treated us to a day at busch gardens. a slight late start, but it made for an early lunch in the parking lot before we hit the park. 20 people with 9 of them ages 6 and under. it was total chaos, but fun. the kids loved almost all the rides they could go on. a few rides were too scary for them, or so they said. i have such great SILs cause they were constantly saying to me "if you want to ride that i'll watch your kids". we had so much fun despite the "dante's inferno" type of heat goin on. there was one ride that the adults (or most of them) got sick on, it was a 3-D ride. i was so affected by it i had to put my head between my knees. call me a whimp, i don't care. around 7ish, we all kind of split off into our own family groups. hit a few more kiddie rides and then left. i was totally planning to leave no later than 6:30, we left at 10 AFTER the fireworks. the kids were sooooooo tired from such a long day they were totally zonked out before too long. we didn't get pictures of everything we did, but i had to get the kids sleeping.

Slight rest

2010-07-03T06:54:00.001-07:00

we had a busy saturday. i took the kids to the 'burg' for some shopping and then to drop erica off at a birthday party. it was a very warm day and my babies were such troopers. i have learned that erica is bad for my shopping... "mommy you should get both!" (and i did). i was surprised that sofia stayed awake the whole time, that is until we got home.

it was so quiet downstairs i had to investigate. just so cute!

he was tryin to "sleep" too. but he just couldn't resist looking.

i LOVE this picture!!!!! i saw the sun rays and ran back into the house to get my camera. i just might frame this.

Fun at Grandma's

2010-07-03T06:37:00.001-07:00

i finally got my biggest wish!!!! one of jeff's sisters had come for a month long visit and requested to have my two oldest angels (he he he) come for a few days to visit with her two boys. well, when jeff and i talked about when to take them and how long they would stay HE suggested i leave sofia too. knowing how many kids would be in that house i gave my MIL the option of letting me take sofia back. we agreed to play it by ear. i left sunday evening without ANY of my babies. i love my babies greatly, but i really wanted time to myself. i was free to do anything from sunday night to wednesday late afternoon. SWEET BLISS!!!! now before you think my MIL went insane, jeff was there to help with kiddie patrol (or i would not have left all my kids).

she wears her food well.

i hope he was sprayin her.... they had so much fun playin in the water.

i KNOW i packed his swim trunks! and now these pants are lost forever. daddy left them on top of the car to dry and forgot they were there.

i don't know what she is doing, but i think matt is gettin ready to run!

i'm pretty sure i packed a swimsuit for her....

And A Third...

2010-07-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

casey and his beloved rachel were married last year and had a small reception in lexington. then had another earlier this year in her home state of georgia. this was our turn to throw the party. the day before katy and i went to mom's to help with any prep work that could have been done. lots of chopping, frosting, packing and crying (the babies that were being ignored). i put sofia down for bed at my mom's knowing i wasn't leaving until everything was done that i could help with.... i left at 11:30pm. up early the next morning to travel up to NoVa to help set up. a long two days, but sooooooo worth it!

the reason for the season.... i mean party.

b-e-a-utiful! if i had more than one "reception/open house" i would have worn my dress to each one too. just too pretty to not wear it!

the food. after helping with some of the prep i was in no mood for it. aaaaaaand, i stopped at burger king and got a value meal before i got to the church.

the dessert table. katy frosted the cupcakes and made the fruit basket.... i just added my bride doll. (daddy made the cupcake holder)

i can't tell you how many people came up to me and asked "is that you boy under the table cryin?" he was sad cause i put veggies on his plate.

"aunt katy took care of me.... made sure i had food, since my mommy was too busy with visiting old friends" (thank you katy!!!!)

i love my brother and his family! not playing favorites, i love my other brothers and their families too.... i just don't have a picture of them from this party.

he was not playing a game of 'chubby bunny'.... poor guy couldn't eat hardly anything at the party, and what he could he didn't want. i was too far up 81 to turn around when i realized i forgot his food. at least he could eat the marshmallows!

we get together often enough, but never ALL the grandbabies as often as grandma would like. so when we do there has to be a picture...

they're escaping!!!! we tried, but the need to be 'set free' was too much for the parents to contend with.

i don't know how my kids lasted as long as they did. erica and aidan went to bed after 11:30 and were up way too early. the two oldest gave up the fight and fell asleep by the time we hit 66. sofia didn't drift off until 10 minutes before we triangle. and yes, i was driving when i took these pictures, but i was just pointing the camera and hoping to get something.

A First and A Second!

2010-07-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

so this was sofia's first popsicle. i didn't know that jeff had given it to her until i saw the evidence on her shirt and then the pictures. don't know how much she started off with but i doubt it was more than what is in the pictures. then a few days later we had celebrated my niece's second birthday. we actually had that great party the saturday before, but then on her actual birthday we had some cake and ice cream with just family. a nice quiet affair, until the boys started the fighting (as usual).

but mommy.... daddy said i could.... in the family room! goinnnnngggg....

goinnnnnng....

aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnd.... gone!

aidan and aylor wanted to help uncle scott/daddy in the garden, but that just wasn't gonna happen. i just knew they would pull up a plant instead of weeds.

i think i can...... i know i can..... just a few more inches and i will be there...

i did it!!!! told ya, now how do i get down without hurting myself?

look out, the new dare devil is in town!

attack daddy!!!!!! i love how saidee just loves her daddy. all little girls just love their daddys!

what can you say to this.... saidee was being so accommodating on her birthday!

my sweet saidee! she and sofia are like two peas in a pod when it comes to eating chocolate!

i didn't even keep track of how many bowls of cake and ice cream she had. no shame! but i do know that this picture was not taken after her first bowl.

"peeeesss" is about how she says please. i'm pretty sure she did say it to grandma. who could resist!

done with grandma jones...... now for grandpa adams! she didn't sit still too long though.

pretty pictures

2010-06-13T07:14:00.001-07:00

ok, these are not out of order. the first picture was from the back yard.... the rainbow was in the front. i just love the fact that my camera can take beautiful pictures. i was so excited to get the sunset picture without a big white dot i ran around to show everyone. they probably are sick of me showing off my camera.

i love sunsets at my parents house. a nice swing on the back porch to watch them makes it even better.

i was wondering what all the fuss was at first, then i saw the reason. a real rainbow at the end of a rainbow themed party.

beautiful ending! i love where my parents live.

The Day After!

2010-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

we had playgroup at my sister-in-law's house today for two reasons. 1) she asked and 2) she needed help with some pre-birthday party prep. no problems! the cookies were already made, as you can see, but we needed to frost them. then we herded the kids outside to play and let off some energy. they were so wild and just runnin everywhere. as i write this two out of three of my babies are actually sleeping now.... bliss!

before, sofia even stole a cookie before we even knew she was up on the chair.

after! of course this is minus the ones the kids took and the adults just had to test (very good!). it's a rainbow themed party for little saidee.

just waiting for the pool to be brought to the front yard, aylor makes me smile (i'm so gonna miss him when his family moves).

fun time prep work. we did have to eventually take the hose away since the moms didn't feel like getting sprayed (which i was).

i don't know what lee was tryin to do, i'm just glad i got the picture.

i swear.... if you don't watch sofia close you are always just a nano second too late! over half the box came out before any adult could even try to stop it. but....

in came the vultures! they had no qualms with the cereal being on the ground.... extra fiber i say!

she would stir the pool water with her stick, then try to eat it/drink it. that only lasted a few minutes before she lost interest.

the other stick was just too small! at least she didn't try to hit anyone.

More Fun

2010-06-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

daddy treated erica and aidan to the ice cream truck.... right before dinner! alyssa, like erica's chair?

i think there is a picture of me somewhere doing this very thing... butt in the air while pickin something off the ground (mine was a bit more elevated)

playing with rocks while aidan STILL eats his "posicle"

stuffin her face with potato bread. she is my big bread eater, just like me and her great grandma adams!

if you're not watching.... she eat the WHOLE thing!

at least he has a towel on, being like daddy. but he likes to dry his hair and brush it like mommy.

this is how she gets on top of the dresser, pay no attention that she is buck naked! i had to take all the clothes out of the dresser or they would be all over the floor, they are in the closet now.

New Park

2010-06-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

Today we went to the new park in the 'Burg to see what it was all about. Also a great opportunity to really break in the new camera. This park is for children up to the age of 12, but for ALL abilities. How cool is that!! This place was fantastic and just full of colors. It had, what I call, soft asphalt to break the falls and so much to help keep the kids safe. All I had growing up was gravel and big wood chips. We will be going back!

A new wonderland to explore! They both had a hard time deciding what they wanted to do.

She is a climber, didn't matter if it was made for her size or not. She wouldn't get very far before she moved on to something else.

Where did she go?! They have two swings like this for the bigger kids and two for the smaller ones. If I were paying attention I would have caught on to that. Well the swings that were her size were occupied anyways.

Helping his sister out so he could have a turn in the "fancy" swing.

He looks ready for a roller coaster! This wasn't his favorite swing, but he would come back every now and then for a swing.

She found the swing that worked best for her. She kept coming back to this, didn't really want anything else for a while.

No, he didn't think it was a potty.... but the hole was big enough for that little butt of his.

Climbing.... again!

An action shot!!! Aidan loved the big slide, much better than the "baby" slides.

I don't know who's water this is, she just picked it up. After her rest we went for an early lunch to Taco Bell (for Aidan) and Chick-Fil-A!

Make Every Shot A PowerShot!

2010-06-08T10:32:00.001-07:00

Ok, happiness has been bought! Our camera was on it's last legs and was driving me nuts. It would take four seconds or more just to take the picture. Heaven help you if it was an action shot. Well Jeff has picked up on my hints and took it in his own hands and got us (mostly me) a new camera! These pictures are just us testing it out.

I don't usually pose for pictures cause I tend to look stoned. But this one is rather nice, I might use it for my Facebook.

I think she was caught off guard!

Mommy's turn to take a picture, pay no attention to the mess on the hutch....

Back to daddy.

Proceed with Caution!

2010-05-23T06:52:00.001-07:00

Beyond this point there be pictures of.... snakes! On Friday I got to be a chaperone for Erica's school field trip to the Luray Reptile Center. As it turns out it is more of a rescue zoo, as you pass this place the sign will say 'Luray Zoo'. It is a very small establishment but very creepy (to me anyways). The inside has all the reptiles, unfortunately my group was to go there first, and there was a small zoo (mostly birds) just outside. The kids LOVED this trip. A lot of the parents, mostly moms, were having a hard time not being too creeped out. My child was very much braver than me. She couldn't wait to see everything. I'm surprised there were no nightmares as a result. The owner/operator is Mr Mike, a very nice man who is right up there with the Croc Hunter in my opinion. He told lots of stories and gave lots of information. I still have a big fear of snakes, but my respect for them has increased. Still don't want to go near one though. So enjoy the picture show...

On the way. I swear the buses are bigger, i was sharing the seat with these to skinny-minnies.

This is how you get in. The kids in my group wanted to see if the gator had any loose teeth.

One of the few reptiles in the "house" that I was not afraid of, a big headed turtle.

This picture doesn't do this justice, it was freakin huge! could have swallowed a child whole! I stayed away from this side of the room.

"I wanna see the big poisonous snake that my mommy is to scared to have me see..." This was one creepy room for anyone with a fear of the snake.

STEVE! Mr Mike has a huge alligator turtle (I think that's the name) that is sponsored by Steve and Terry Irwin. One of the pictures to prove it, along with a plaque below it. Mr Mike is on the right.

They were all crowded around this window to see a sleeping croc! A show stopper!

Too cute!

Heaven help us.... our future drivers!

Erica didn't want to feed the goats out of her hand, so she put the food in a cup. This goat had a hard time getting the four kernels.

After "feeding" the goats she wanted to brush them. They have to be pretty too...

The kids getting ready for the show, front row seats! Had I known snakes were involved I would have opted for the back row!

Mr Mike brought out two snakes for his "show", a copperhead and a rattler! The rattlesnake would actually rattle on cue! But by now she was done and Mr Mike had to rattle her tail for her, DO NOT try this at home!

I thought he was coming to have me touch "puddin", but he said he saw my camera and thought I wanted to take a picture. Creepy albino something (I forget what kind of snake it was).

SHE TOUCHED THE SNAKE!!!!! She was actually petting the snake, but Mr Mike said that you should not pet a snake like you would a dog, they don't like it. I 'll take his word on that.

At the end of the day, lunch then this awesome playground! The kids were so tired that some fell asleep on the way home, all sweaty and smelly!

Days of Fun

2010-05-23T06:37:00.001-07:00

This is a house, not a mess and not a fort! He made this with his friend Harrison, just didn't want his picture taken.

"Not me mommy.... get Sofia!" Love how he now sleeps without his shirt. Here he was tryin to tattle on Sofia.

And this is what she does, she spills out her cereal then eats it off the floor. It's better than stepping on them and leaving much to clean up.

Both busy at work, both happy and not being mean to each other. They're gonna have fun cleaning this mess up later.

All finished! Every toy that we have downstairs WILL fit on the rocking chair.

If you sneak up very quietly you might be able to get a picture like this... a VeggieTales book, one of her favorites!

She loves to 'read', but she loves to ham it up for the camera more!

What They Do

2010-05-05T05:37:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you fall asleep on the couch during day-light hours. My children feel the need to cover you up, daddy is no exception. Good thing he was completely out for this!

Every Thursday we take my grandma to the "burg" and do our grocery shopping. I get my bag, then grab my girl... well today Sofia had her own bag (an old door hanging). She put her bag on, grabbed a shoe and then looked at me and said "buh-buh". She was so ready to go.

This is the newest thing, take the cushions off the couch and then lay on them on the floor. Every day I have to ask, at least 20 times, to put the cushions back on the couch.

"Moooooooom, I'm watching my movie!"

Look how pasty! The boys had so much fun (and fights) playin in the pool. Aylor got in his swim trunks eventually.

Always eating! Aunt Katy made a yummy treat with chocolate on top, this was Sofia's third I think.

I know! I'm a horrible mother! But it didn't bother her and the next day it was not as bad.

My happy little girl. She was laying on her stomach on the floor, but I just wasn't quick enough.

Playgroup and Songs

2010-04-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

This set of pictures I have little descriptions with them, but I had more time this time. I'm part of a Friday morning playgroup here in Broadway. We usually go to each other's houses, but this particualr Friday we went to an indoor play place in woodstock, so fun and cheap! The rest of the pictures are from various family activities and a school performance.

This was the first and only picture I got of him looking at the camera in the play area. He was such a stinker. Here he was tryin to get his cousin Saidee to play with him. Didn't work.

Only if it were real! Aidan loves the school bus, though the ride was too short for the parents to enjoy it.

50 cents for a whoppin 30 second ride! Oh well, he had fun driving anyways.

"Where'd he go?!?!" I asked him to hide, but this was the best that he could do.

My sweet angel boy gave up his horse so the little boy in green could ride his favorite. The boy's mom told me about this and i got a little teary-eyed cause i wasn't there to ask Aidan to do this, he did it all on his own.

"Moooooooom, leave me alone, I'm tired!" We hit McD's after playgroup, I feel we earned it.

If you can't find Sofia, look in the stroller! I have to keep it folded up instead of "at the ready" cause she could get in, but not out.

Ok, most of you know that my Sofia is the human garbage disposal. If you leave your plate unattended she will attack it! Just ask my grandpa! Well this is after we celebrated Aunt Katy's birthday, I think Sofia snagged about five plates of cake and ice cream, she has no shame!

This is my 'hurry up and wait' picture. All the kids wanted to go up on stage to perform their musical number, but they had to sit and wait their turn. All the pre-k, k and 1st grade performed this night.

Where's 'waldo'? This was part of the whole first grade class. Much smaller than mine way back when.

I was surprised she fell asleep so easy for her nap. I even carried her up the stairs in this position.

Playin patty-cake instead of eatin her waffles, which wound up on the floor anyways.

Right after a good breakfast of..... grandma webb cereal.

Random Delights

2010-04-22T06:01:00.001-07:00

ok, so instead of doing my grocery budget for today... i'm updating my blog. i'm so horrible at it. but i can't upload pictures to my facebook so this is the only way to share the joy of my children. i'm not getting fancy schmancy and i'll leave off descriptions unless it's needed. so here are my babies, most recent (though i have taken more, they're just still on the camera) first.

her jammies, don't think erica did this

The Holidays

2010-03-12T11:30:00.001-08:00

She wanted to be a Monarch butterfly, but by the time I went to get the costume Wal-Mart had sold out. So Erica was a pixi (according to the package). The wings were on for about 10 minutes, they were too much of a bother for her.

Last year Aidan had so much fun and got a lot of candy he could eat. So this year was a no-brainer to let him go out. He had the choice of spiderman or the firefighter. He's still my little super hero!

Thanks to my friend Angie, Sofia had the cutest costume ever! The down side was it was a bit top-heavy and she was always falling over. Cutest little chicken I ever saw!

Before everyone got to the house I quickly got a cute photo of all the kids. I think Sofia was tryin to escape her sister and Aidan just flew into the shot.

"Ummmm.... why are you singing to me and what is that thing on my cake?"

"Ok, now what do I do? If I wave my hand a lot will the hot thing go away?"

I think this is her 3rd or 4th cupcake! She just loved them.

I love this picture. Grandma Adams gave her this baby doll. She sleeps with it every night.

I had the chance to go to Erica's school and help out with making gingerbread houses. You remember those...? Graham crackers and a milk carton and lots of icing. Well the kids did great and it was about an hour of "can i have some of..." before we were done.

So proud of her work. I had to tell her, and every other kid, to stop eating all the candy. If they continued eating the way they did there wouldn't have been any left to decorate with.

I brought it home so it would survive the trip. But will it survive when Erica gets home?

NOPE! She dove right in as soon as she could.

I would have more pictures from christmas.... but I can't find them. I guess Grandpa Webb has them on his camera. But this was too cute. They all wanted to help Grandma Adams clean up dinner.

last years promise.... still not done!

2010-01-14T05:37:00.000-08:00

OK! so i know i said i was gonna be better at updating my page. well that just didn't happen. but i will tell you this, life has been crazy, those in the inner circle know just how bad. i do have pictures, i promise! i have some from Sofia's first time in the snow, Erica's missing teeth, Aidan just being himself.... but with Erica in the computer room now it makes for less time on the computer if i want my sanity check each night. Sofia is into everything now (of course now that Aidan left that stage finally) so it's really hard to be on the computer for more than a quick check of the email and facebook. but i'm working on it.... i will get these pictures up for all to see how cute my babies can be. i just don't know when.

I Am Woman...

2009-10-05T15:48:00.001-07:00

... hear me roar! I was finally done with having to share my room with babies. I told Jeff a while ago that Erica really needed to get out of the room with Aidan and Sofia needed out of ours. So I took action. First I asked if Jeff had any attachment to the insanely large computer desk we got from his friend. When he said 'no' I went to work planning the layout in my mind. It has been bliss having Erica go to bed in her own room (sharing with the computer of course) and not have her yell out "mommy, Aidan is bothering me..." I got Sofia out of my room and I had forgotten how big my room really was, that crib took up a lot of space. So here are the before and after pictures. Unfortunately I started to take pictures after I already started on the desk, there was a big shelf that went over and around the big monitor.

This is what it looked like when I started. By now I had the top of the desk off and in the dumpster and the two bookshelves moved. The smaller one is in my room and the large one... you'll see.

Once the table was down, but not out for the count yet, I was able to get it downstairs but not in the dumpster, tooooooo heavy.

This is the new home for the larger book shelf. Despite having to share her closet with the books and some other things... she has room for her clothes. Cramming three kids shirts and dresses made for little browsing room.

This is what it looks like now! If you've never seen our office and all the crap we loaded in there you really can't appreciate this view.

So there is no space in my room for the computer, but the small card table makes it not seem so large and intense. I have already told Erica that the computer and the brown box are off limits, she's good about following that rule.

And finally, her bed, of course it's made up now. But I was just too excited to get pictures of the wonderful, non cluttered up, room. And again, such bliss having the kids in the rooms they are in now.

Late Again

2009-10-01T17:17:00.001-07:00

So here it is, two months later and I'm just now getting pictures taken to post. I have broken my promise to be better at this. Oh well! Life has been busy, crazy, messed up and then some. So forgive my lateness in this post. I took some pictures of Sofia, which are at the end. She has gotten so big and is soooo close to walking. Can we say baby gates?!

We decided to celebrate Jeff's birthday today since he'll be working tomorrow, his actaul birthday. The kids were excited to help him blow out the candles, I just was too late in snapping the picture.

As you can see, he's maintaining the shorter hair cut. He's soooooo old now! Sofia would have been in the picture too, but this was taken after her bed time.... my sanity values bedtime!

Isn't she beautiful? I know I'm biased... but today was picture day so I made an effort to make her hair look nice.

Eating his "cake" and loving every bite. Just what we need.... a boy full of sugar just before bed.

I have some pictures, somewhere, of Erica wearing this. My niece Saidee has worn these too.

She is always this happy in the mornings, and after a good nap. She must sleep with her blanket, the pooh bear is optional.

These are the jammies that Aunt Amy gave her. The size is for 6mo, so it's becoming a bit small, length wise anyways. But I just had to have her in them before it got too small.

Isn't she just a cutie! She has discovered the stairs and that if not watched, or if the gate is not up, then she can climb all the way to the top in seconds.

Random Pictures

2009-08-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

So cute! And Aunty Laura isn't bad herself (so disgustingly photogenic). But I just love the face Sofia is making

Don't you just LOVE the thumb in the mouth! Just like her momma she is the thumb sucker. She'll even stick it in her mouth after every bite of food. When she cries I just whisper "find your thumb", she does and then calms down.

There are not many pictures taken of me where I look normal. I tend to look drugged. But My SIL Amy took this and I have to say that I look good. Of course my baby always looks good.

Why we didn't do this last year.... Great Grandma Jones made Aidan an "Aidan allergy friendly" cake, one big rice krispy treat. He loved it. He wasn't big on us singing, he decided to hide his eyes. But he recovered in time to blow out his candles.

Grandpa Adams went to the local John Deere store for Aidan's presents. One tractor was from him and Grandma while the other was from the Greats. If you look carefully, one of them looks just like Grandpa's tractor. Aidan ignored his 'cake' to play with the toys.

Erica loves to help Grandpa drive. This was after the party and all the other guests went home. Of course Aidan had his turn to drive.

This is what happens when you have an older sister in the home. You want to play with her toys.... wear her tu-tu.... he wanted to wear it. I know Erica helped him put it on, but he was so happy when he came down stairs. Just an FYI: this won't be happening too often.

Here is my little Sofia, in the same dress that Erica wore for Aunty Amy's wedding in 2004. It's a 12mo size, so it's a wee bit big on her, it was for Erica too.

Here is Aidan getting ready for my cousins wedding. He wanted to put on daddy's aftershave, but he missed his face and mostly put it on his mouth.

My budding photographer, Aidan, took this. I think it's a great picture of my little Boo. Love her haircut?

To observe.... or not

2009-07-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

"What.... what did we do mommy?" Oh I'll show you what the wee ones did. Of course I didn't get mad at them. I just took pictures instead.

Oh the things that can do when the mom is engrossed in a book. Aidan took every stitch of clothing off the hangers and threw them to the floor, he took most of the stuff off the top shelf and they both threw toys everywhere. And if your wondering... the "writing" on the wall was also done when the unobserved man-child had a dry erase marker. That one was daddy's fault (he he he)

This is what happens when you use the wrong pot. And don't pay close attention. I made this for Aidan's nusery snack... turns out it was gross and he wouldn't touch it during snack time. Luckily he teacher made some for him. I tried it when we got home and found out the burnt taste was ALL OVER.

Buildings and Feedings

2009-07-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have finally started my baby on solids. With the way Aidan was with food I was too nervous to start. But so far she likes carrots (which is all over her), green beans, pears and applesauce. And thanks the the Magic Bullet I can make her baby food.

She also likes to "eat" her toys. That's why these blocks are perfect. Good for building AND for stuffing in a teething baby's mouth. And yes, Aidan is sleeping in the background in his 'time out' spot.

Is she going to be an architect? She just loves to build things. Don't be fooled though, she also likes to dance around.

She's just so proud of her buildings that we need to get pictures of them.

Our Fourth!

2009-07-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well we had a great, small, party for our Fourth of July. It was just my brother Scott's family with his parents-in-law, me and my kids, Scott and Katy's neighbor from Blacksburg and our grandparents. Despite what the pictures don't show, Saidee and Sofia were at the party. But the few pictures I got of them when they were awake were not the best. So no showing of the sweeties in this post.

Katy's mom is one smart cookie. She was given the ever hated job of shucking the corn. Instead of doing it by herself she employed the grandbabies. I don't know about you, but I think the mess is worth the lack of time spent on corn.

All three kids liked to play in the tub filled with ice. From getting pieces to eat to dipping their whole head in. By this time we figured we needed to bring out the pool. And yes, there was nothing other than Mt. Dew in the tub, we love to do the dew!

With the well water being freezing cold, Katy and I lugged out at least 12 big pots of boiling water to raise the water's temp. To add to the festivities outside, Duke (the dog) decided to puke up more ham from the day before, bless Katy for cleaning it up!

Oh, my photography teacher would have loved this... fore/background thing. But I just love this picture. Erica looks ready to pounce on the unsuspecting Aidan.

More shenanigans in the pool. Their cousin Aylor was around somewhere. All three had a hard time staying in the pool or keeping the water in the pool.

At the end of the day.... Though it was warm, without the sun it wasn't warm enough after playing in freezing cold well water.

Some Here and Some There

2009-07-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

Some more pictures that I forgot all about. It's amazing what you forget is on the camera until you actually pull it out again.

She LOVES to help and wash dishes. Though she only offers to help when we're at grandma Jones'. But I came home from shopping with said grandma and noticed some of my dishes were "clean". She tried and I gave her the well earned brownie points.

Daddy really is the favorite when he's home. But this picture just shows so much love. And yes, being from a Marine Corp family Jeff got teased all the time about his hair. But now it's short, or at least what I call regulation.

I KNOW! This is down as cruel and unusual punishment. But come on.... who doesn't like a good cry/sad picture? I think she was upset cause we were taking pictures to archive daddy's long hair and she didn't think she was going to be in them. Love how she's cryin as she is putting her crown on (from McDonalds).

Just too stinkin cute for words. Daddy was tryin to take some pictures mostly of Aidan to show to his grandma Waliser. Apparently Aidan looks like one of the uncles.

My boy wonder! Doesn't he look so good?! Yes the picture is old, but he still looks good. Though right now he looks on the not-so-good side because of an upcoming allergy test, had to stop all meds for that. But he's a trooper.

Catch up time!

2009-07-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

So here I am playing catch up. It's been months since my last post. I have no excuse, but three kids will make you forget anything and everything. Unless it has to do with something they want then there is NO forgetting.

He likes me... he really likes me. But bring daddy into the room and I take second place. I have no problems playing second banana, as long as I get the good hugs and kisses at bedtime.

Yes he is sleeping.... no I don't know how he was able to fall asleep. I think he grew sleepy waiting for me.

She has stopped sleeping through the night, but she is still my most peaceful baby. Give her a nice bed, her thumb to suck and her church blanket and she is a happy camper.

I will NEVER get tired of saying how happy I am to have a van! Sweet peaceful drives and the luxury of having their own little bit of solitude, each child has their own seat or row.... priceless!

Aunty Katy makes these hair bands and puts them on her daughter all the time. Well Erica and Aidan wanted to wear one too. I really like Aidan's.

They love to help daddy get ready for work... and sometimes daddy likes to be funny. They were so proud of their 'trick on mommy'. Everything to them is a 'trick'.

All My Bebehs

2009-03-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Too stinkin cute for words!

It's a little dark, but I love this picture. I though of a good friend who is obsessed with Superman when I took this. This is Aidan's favorite hat!

This is an old picture. The bottom two teeth are gone with the new ones growing in AND the bottom tooth on the right is now wobbly.

In Which They Sleep....

2009-03-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

on her side now. She just started to roll over. Pretty much slept like this all night. Don't you love the thumb in her mouth?!

while getting over a bad cold. Aidan was sick this whole week and did nothing but sleep. This was my favorite picture.

just like her brother and sister, hands behind the head. It was a warm day hence no clothes on.

drivin home from the grandparents home. I love when they sleep instead of screamin at each other (for fun or not it's still annoying).

with grandpa all nice and warm. Grandpa just came home from the 'freeze yer butt off' camping trip where it got 11 below. A comfy chair and warm granddaughter was all he needed I guess. (sorry dad)

after cryin over something. he just balled right up and didn't move from that spot for an hour.

watching a movie, this happens often now.

at grandma Webb's at Christmas time. Aidan was just cuddling with Erica and then the next thing we know he is out like a light.

TAG! I'm it....

2009-02-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

So I was tagged by Dana to let the world in on me and my main man Jeff (like there is another). I think some of you already know our story... but just in case you don't remember.... happy reading.

What is your hubby's name?
Jeffrey, but I call him Jeff or Honey or Stud (when I want something)

How long have you been together?
We will have been married 8 years in December

How long did you date?
One month before the proposal (though I think he wanted to ask me after I went back to school) then married five months later

Who said 'I love you' first?
Good question... I think I did, in a round about way. The night before we were talking about relationships (before we were officially dating) and he mentioned something about loving someone back. Well the next night I said "... I'll love you back..."

Who is taller?
Jeff, by six inches at least

Who is smarter?
That would be Jeff, you should see his 'reading for fun' books.

Who does the laundry?
I do it about 98% of the time. The other 2% is when he needs something done and I don't have a load to do.

Who does the dishes?
That would be me!

Who cleans the house?
Me again!

Who sleeps on the right?
Looking at the bed... me

Who pays the bills?
Auto-pay for most, me for the rest

Who mows the lawn?
When we have one, Jeff

Who cooks dinner?
99% me, sometimes (when he's home) Jeff will cook up a little something for us

Who drives when you are together?
I drive when we have my grandfather's car. But if we don't then it's all Jeff. Our car is a stick and I REFUSE to learn to drive it.

Who is more stubborn?
Me all the way

Who kissed who first?
I waited for him to make that first move

Who asked who out first?
These questions are a bit out of order.... We were pushed into our first date (July 4th) by my mother and brother (Jeff's friend), fireworks were canceled due to rain and we wanted to do something. My brother and another of his friends agreed that we should all go see a movie, but then backed out. As we were heading towards the door I hear "Terri can take you home". Jeff did ask me out for our first official date the next weekend.

Who proposed?
Jeff: "blah blah blah... it would be nice if we were married cause then I wouldn't have to go home"
Me: "Yeah that would be nice"
Lots of conversation that I don't remember
Jeff: "I was serious when I said I wanted to marry you"
Me: "I was serious too, but I won't say yes until you ask"...... and the rest is history

Who has more siblings?
Jeff - 2 bros and 2 sis

Who wears the pants?
Depends on whats being talked about, done and needs doin'

We're ALL Here

2009-02-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a primary project we finally have a family picture. I can print more out if anybody wants a copy. Not a bad lookin bunch if I do say so myself (make-up and photoshop help).