Prayer Request...

A quick note to pray for little MckMuffin. You can find out what's going on here at my charming kids. THANKS!!

A Thousand Word Thursday - Christmas

The kids are entertained with Legos and Princess Dresses - I am stealing 5 minutes for myself. Amongst the piles of shredded wrapping paper I found my computer.

Merry Christmas to you all! Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and all the love He gave us. In the spirit of the holiday, I wanted to share this photo, it kind of brings tears to my eyes because it's so darn cute. Here's the background. We spent Christmas Eve at my SIL's home. Her 3 kids are in their beginning teens and when she suggested they all sit together and she could read "Twas the night before Christmas" they laughed. Auntie T finally got her chance when our family and my other SIL's family came with our much younger brood. Auntie T was tickled to read to SOMEONE who would appreciate a good book. They all sat and listened and loved it!




If you would like to see more photos worth a Thousand Words, visit Cheaper Than Therapy.

Not Me Monday - #1

Not Me, Not Me - I would never....well maybe. See what else others didn't do at my charming kids!


I DID NOT join Twitter this weekend to further chain myself to the internet. I mean, I have friends other than e-friends, right?

I DID NOT get to spend several hours with the in-laws, and get a few B-day gifts!

I DID NOT surf the Best Buy parking lot on Sunday before thinking I could wait to get Pink's new album (I DID NOT just call it an album - old much?). WAAAYY too many last minute shoppers to haul four kids into the store for one purchase. And I DID NOT just contemplate herding four kids into Best Buy in -20 degree weather to buy a Pink album.

I DID NOT accidentally come across what my DH is giving me for Christmas.....

I also DID NOT have to e-mail a friend to ask for her twin sister's last name and husband's name just so I could send her a Christmas card when I should darn well know that info!!

Finally, I DID NOT give up my tree decorating rights just to let the kids have a good time, no matter how much I wanted to spread out the cluster of ornaments 3 feet or lower (the top 3 feet are bare - and I DID NOT leave it that way).

(And I DID NOT let PM decorate JC instead of the tree)

Fragment Friday - Hmm Hm Hmm Hmm to me!

Fragment Friday - all the stuff too small for it's own post, too good to throw away!
You can see many more fragments at Half Past Kissin' Time!

"Happy Birthday to me, I'm one hundred and three,
I still go to pre-school, AANNND I miss my mommy"
"My mommy's at work, she married a jerk " (not really - it's just the song, mom!)
"She hired a monkey to do my homework!"

I learned that from a bunch of 1st graders last month. Appropriate for today I thought, since I'm 29 (for the fourth time) today!
~~~~~~
I was actually giddy that we found AM's iPod this week. It ended up being in a spare backpack since the end of August. Santa was actually preparing to buy her a new one. The Easter bunny was quite disappointed, though, that the last one had not even made it a full year. Whew!!
~~~~~~
When JC spits up, PM says "uh-oh DRIP!!" and gets freaked out
~~~~~~
MD has been walking around the house lifting two 3lb hand weights with his shirt off. He'll pause every now and then to tuck his feet under the couch and do some crunches. He says he wants to get really strong and have square bumps on his belly.

A Thousand Words Thursday - Home

It's once again A Thousand Words Thursday - go to Cheaper Than Therapy to see even more!

This photo was taken as my husband arrived at the airport after an 18 month deployment to Afghanistan. He is being greeted by a very good friend (that story is at least another thousand words) from another National Gaurd Unit that was not deployed. The photo really does say it all.....

Wordless Wednesday - Thematic Photographic

Thematic Photographic's theme this week is "bright" -this theme photo stuff is right up my alley and perfect for Wordless Wednesday. The rules are here at Written Inc.

Totally Talented Tuesday

Thanks to Dee at Two of a kind, working on a full house we bring you Totally Talented Tuesday! I have 2 nominations for Totally Talented Tuesday ~ The first is my just-turned-five-year-old for his fantastic skills at building all things Lego. Here is his most recent Lego creation, a robot. It moves his head, arms, and 3 legs and can curl up into a ball (he demonstrated). I am so in love with Legos, they are truly a "smart" toy!

Second, I have my 3 oldest for their wonderful cookie decorating skills. Even though the recipe for icing I used was totally runny, they made the best of it and decorated a pile of sugar cookies. The kids helped make the cookies the day before and couldn't wait to frost them!!

Mission: Monday

Prize giveaways and more - just visit Dirty Socks & Pizza or Halftime Lessons for the rules and accept your mission!

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

In case anyone is interested - it is currently -11° F with a wind chill of -35° F. It's no longer snowing, but the total was 9½ inches!! School has been called off and they just re-opened Interstates 29 & 94 this morning. I haven't gone outside yet, but if I want my mail, I'd better shovel the walk so she can get to the door. SO glad I don't have to drive anywhere!

x x Santa wuz here x x

Santa made it to our little town this weekend. We went to see him and of course have a picture taken. I wish I had taken my own, but seeing as there was a professional already there to take pictures I thought it would be rude. BUT then everyone else did it. AND this is what I ended up with.


Its a photo of the photo, but you can see the quality I'm having issues with. I'd sure like to know how to get that gig. The guy had all the tools, even a light meter, but seems to have no settings on his $2000 camera but "auto". The flash he set up was too direct and should have been diffused. To top it off, they print on the spot with a high quality (but still desktop) desktop inkjet photo printer. I did another organization's Santa photos last year (filled in for a colleague) and no one complained about having photos mailed to them. I understand the need to have them now, but as a client would forgo STAT photos at the sacrifice of quality. Maybe that's just the photographer in me talking.
Anyway, while we waited, we had hot cider, a volunteer read children's books, and there was a big table full of coloring and activity pages. Santa gave each kid a bag with an apple, a candy cane, and a handful of chocolate. JC got one, too (thanks Santa!). PM refused to sit on Santa's lap but at least held it together and stood by him for a photo. MD told him he wanted an Indiana Jones Sound Whip, AM an iDog. PM gave him a cold stare. JC did not deposit any bodily fluids on him (you're welcome, Santa!). I did manage to coax PM into a timid "thank you". Then JC was hijacked by Mrs. Santa (ok, not really, just one kid's grandma). She walked him around the entire time.

The girls and AM's BFF "J" catch a story. "J"'s family showed up right after we had our picture taken. They were planning on next going out to a Christmas tree farm. I wonder how it went, the temp was in the single digits and the wind was gusting to 30 miles per hour. If you watch the NATIONAL news, nearby Fargo made an appearance for the fantastic 40- F temps this morning as a big storm rolls through. The cold started yesterday, the snow late night. I'm fairly certain I can't get my car out of the driveway today. I even got a personal call that church was cancelled. Not sure if that was because of my job there, or if a group called all the regulars. Given the forecast I had already made arrangements not to be there, anyway. Good thing Santa showed up yesterday, I'm pretty sure even magic reindeer freeze solid when left on the roof in this weather!

Friday Fragments

As prescribed by Half-Past Kissing Time - All the stuff too small to be a post, too goo to discard...

PM, 2, seems to have a saying of the week. It's recently been "what goin on!?" shouted by her dolls when they talk to each other. Is this her idea of how adults carry conversation?

MD ran out of Pull-Ups last night so I was forced to let him sleep without. I woke him at midnight and carried him to the bathroom, he went. He was dry in the morning. Is this all the effort I need - are Pull-Ups a crutch?

I need to post some photos of MD at gymnastics.

AM came home with a note about Girl Scouts starting. As far as I know there hasn't been a troop in town for some time. I'm actually very excited about this. I was toying with the idea of calling and trying to get something started here. I'm glad someone did!

Stupid Kinesio Tape left a rash again on PM. I'm officially done with the stuff, sadly. I was really happy with what it was doing for her. I wonder if there are alternatives.

It's almost 5 am and I'm up. Jackson is back to bed, so must I be.

Good Night!!

A Thousand Words Thursday

This is my first Thousand Words Thursday. It is a chance to put up one of the many many photos stored here on my computer, one that is worth a thousand words. I'm digging in the archives today, but in the future will try to have a recent photo to post. This idea comes from Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy. So here it is...

A typical day at the Fraase home.

Wishes for the new year...

Just getting a head start. Here are a few things I am thinking about, I invite any reader out there to add to the list:


1. to slow down and not always wish the kids were older, they will be all too soon
2. to be funnier (I'm just not witty - that's hubby)
3. to excercise my brain more often - read, toss the calculator, do number puzzles, learn new vocab and use it (will this help with #2?)
4. loose an appropriate amount of weight, or just feel better about the size I am (ha!)
5. read longer books to my kids (AM loved Pippi Longstocking)
6. dress up for my husband (as it turns out, pajama pants are not so cute every day of the week)

there we go...it's a start. Any suggestions?

I finally caught him smiling. JC Chunky-Boy Fraase almost 3 mos

I'm It....

I've been tagged by the Rambler at the Ramble Room -

The rules are to list 6 things that make me happy:

1. Food made especially for me because they know I'll like it (my husband does this!)
2. Listening to my kids talk to each other when they are getting along and think I can't hear them
3. Talking to my husband about anything, because it so rarely happens without numerous interruptions
4. My baby looking up and smiling at me while they're nursing
5. Talking to my best friend for hours
6. Having a drink with my husband and/or my rowdy family members (aka the "loud" family)

I'd like to tag:

Jen at Life Is Chaos, Give Me More

Now I'd better get back to work, taking care of other people's newborns. Can that be a favorite, too?

Constraint Therapy, Kinesio Tape, and AFO's

PM finished up her first round of constraint induced therapy in October, now I can stand back and see what we have accomplished. She has much improved motor control with her right hand and definitely more strength. PM is now more willing to use two hands to do two-handed activities rather than struggle with one. I posted the rest of the videos I had of her therapy HERE. She is also willing to wear the "clam shell" constraint during the day or during her therapy without complaint. Sometimes she doesn't want it off at all. However, I think she'll benefit from a second round perhaps in the spring. The reason I'd like to do it that soon is that she turns 3 in June, then there is a strong possibility that her state medical assistance will run out. Our insurance pays first, but so far the state has been able to cover the overage. It would be nice to get as many services in before we're on our own. At night, or any time she starts to get tired she tends to curl her right hand up in that little fist again. I don't expect CIT to work miracles, I know she will always have a deficit, but I can see that it helps. The fist has been happening more often during the day, so the clam shell has come back more often for full days. I just wonder when do we have full potential? Will over-using the constraint method eventually slow her expected progress in the "good" hand? I have decided to give the Kinesio tape another go now that winter is fully upon us. It will serve as a gentle reminder to keep her wrist up and open those fingers. My hope is that the dry, cold weather will keep her from getting the rashes she got this summer from it.



She will also be due for new AFO's before spring as well. Her little toes are peeking over the edge of the plastic and I was told to look for spots on her leg that may indicate they no longer fit. PM got the first set of AFO's in April, so it would be pretty good if she makes it a full year before upgrading. It will be several years before she will be out of AFO's. Her biggest hurdle is that her right knee still hyperextends any time the AFO is not on. She needs to build up strength and train the leg not to snap right back into that position. That will take time. Eventually the high AFO she has now will get shorter and shorter until she no longer needs them. In the mean time I was given several pairs of shoe specifically designed for use with an AFO. They belonged to my friend's sweet girl Caroline. The problem with regular shoes is that they are not nearly wide enough and you end up buying regular shoes several sizes larger than the foot...can you see PM tripping around in AM's shoes? Big shoes kind of defeat the effort of helping them walk better.

On the lighter side: MD went to Santa's Village with his preschool. I asked him who he saw there..
MD: (flatly) Santa.
Mom: Who else? (they each got a children's book signed by the author)
MD: (more animated) Mrs. Claus! (turns to AM) She's like a girl Santa!

Busy Busy

Sorry I've been ignoring this blog somewhat. I've been trying to get all the Christmas photos done. It's nice to have the business, but I think it's at the expense of my house. I'm not a fantastic housekeeper, but it has been particularly disaster-like around here. Trying to get the kids to help is like pulling teeth. What I need it to have Steve tell the kids to do stuff, they listen to him on the first try instead of me following behind them "clean up, clean up, clean up!" He says I need to channel my inner Drill Sergeant.

I am excited, however, that my sister-in-law asked me to do their photos this year. I've only been married for 8 years and a photographer the entire time, but this is the first year any of my in-law family has asked for Christmas cards. I also did one for my new cousin...it's funny to have cousins the same age as my own children. The Iversons and Fraases do produce some very cute kids, tho!

My Niece and Nephew

My sweetie pie cousin

Thanksgiving coma

Here we are, Black Friday, and I have elected to sleep in rather than get up at possibly 3am to drive an hour into town and wait an hour in line and shop for the elusive deal. No thanks, it's cold out. Some crazies have been camped in actual tents in front of Best Buy since Tuesday. I figure with the money they could have made from Tuesday to Friday at a JOB they could have purchased whatever it was they were waiting for at full price, slept in a bed, pooped in a real toilet, showered and NOT miss Thanksgiving with their family. Seriously, people!!

Anyway, Thursday was nice, and as unplanned as ever. We survived the in-laws nicely, after a quick go-round and accusations of guilt tripping, dinner was wonderful. JC was nice enough to sleep through the entire dinner and I ate hot food for the first time in a while.

My largest disappointment was by far the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Well, not so much the parade as the coverage of it. I was excited to let the kids watch it this year because they would actually take an interest in the floats and balloons and bands. I was SO frustrated at these announcers who wouldn't SHUT UP long enough to focus on the parade as we watch numerous interesting pieces drift by behind them!!! WHO THE HECK CARES what the chick from Guiding Light makes for dinner???!?!? Shut your yappers and get back to the parade!! Between the crappy unfunny announcers and the stupid off-street musical acts, there were about 3 floats shown in one hour. The most interesting things were the comments about the history of the parade that popped up right before each commercial break. Had I known another station was also airing the parade, I would have changed it. Alas, we needed to leave to the in-laws. After that it was all football. Maybe next year, in the mean time pass the turkey leftovers!

New look (again)

I was having a little fun with backgrounds this morning. I love playing with photoshop. Since I chose a new background, I needed a new header to match...I think it looks pretty good if I do say so myself :) I crammed a few more photos on there as well, but they're so tiny its hard to see. As I type MD and PM are chasing eachother around the living room. It's nice to see MD playing with PM rather than finding things that piss her off and continuing to do them. I hope they will some day get along as well as AM and MD do....

As the weeks go by

Oops, a week goes by pretty quickly. I can't believe November is almost over. I've been taking so many pictures and making Christmas cards that I really haven't had time to post this week. You'll have to go to my studio blog and check out the super cute photos of other people's kids. Of course MD and PM always want to jump in and take a turn...as a result I usually have a few shots of my kids mixed in any given session...like this:

or this:
or this:

MD started gymnastics last week. He loves it, he doesn't stop moving the entire session. He said his favorite part is hanging from the bars. AM wasn't too happy having to sit on the side and watch. She really wants to participate, too. I may have to give in and let her join as well, although I think she'd be better at Tae Kwon Do. I want to find a gym she and I can join TKD together. I miss martial arts and would like to get back into it. I loved competing, too. I think AM would really enjoy it.

There's not much else going on this week. MD has all of the last week of November off for Thanksgiving from pre-school, AM only has Thursday and Friday. We start cleaning I guess. We're hoping to have Daddy's parents here for food Thursday. Maybe if I can't get the house scrubbed by then we can talk them into a buffet :)

Flunked

So much for NaBloPoMo, I made it a week before I skipped posting... Apparently we can join any month, November is just the "big" month. My excuse is that I worked for the first time this weekend since having JC. It was nice to get back to work, a lot of things have changed in 8 weeks. And a lot have not. I got very little sleep, due to poor planning on my part, but I was ultimately on call Sunday night anyway, so I have almost caught up. Because I work nights, I took just the baby with me and left Daddy with the big kids. I had homes lined up for him and they all said he did well. At least as well as I hoped he would. One time up at night, feed and sleep. I still went to church Sunday, did my thing, and tried to get home quickly. After last week's fiasco, I was early. I had nothing go hugely wrong, and my pastor even came back before the service and apologized for the comment about the noise. He said he didn't know it was my kids and that they're great. He was sure it was another troublemaker and the comment was actually directed at them. That was nice of him! More people than usual did offer to help with the kids this week, though! I forgot to pack regular clothes, so I also went to church in my scrubs. No one said a thing.



It's my wonderful Husband's birthday today. Happy b-day, hon, even though you said its no longer yours. It's MD's birthday today, too. Legos are the coolest gift this year. Instead of cookies or cake, we sent him to school with Batman fruit roll-ups. Happy 5th Birthday, Buddy!!

MD's Lego penguin.

Binkies and Birthmarks

I have been trying and have run the gamut of pacifiers. None of my other kids took one, I don't know why I expect JC to take one. He manages to get a little thumby in his mouth once in a while and I'd rather stop that before it starts. (but its oh so cute) You can take away a pacifier.... So I've tried half a dozen different shapes and sizes. He sort of likes the hospital Soothie, but still gets ticked off when there's nothing coming out of it. He'd rather nurse/bottle feed until he literally explodes, gushing goo everywhere. Then he takes a nap.
Tonight I tried the Playtex version of the Binky with the flat top ("most like mothers' breast" - huh? also, it appears to be ribbed for his pleasure). He will grudgingly accept it. He actually whines and sucks at the same time as if to let me know he'll take it for now, but he's not fooled. Mmmm-mm0mmm-gwaa-mmm-mmumm-gwaa-mum-mmmgwaa!





I've also been keeping tabs on his little birthmark. It has become more red and defined, but it is still not raised. I had one on the side of my nose, it took years, but did disappear. JC's cousin has a larger hemangioma that is raised. She's now almost 7 and I guess its slowly going away. I understand they can run in families. I'm not too concerned, its in an easy-to-conceal spot, and he's a boy.

To My Husband on Veteran's Day

I never really had the chance to tell my husband upon his return from Afghanistan "Thank You". Perhaps he knows I meant it, but that's not the same. So, thank you. Thank you for sacrificing not only yourself but everything you hold important in you life to do what you feel it is your responsibility as a citizen and soldier to do. Thank you for giving up sleep, comfort and often health to protect us, your family and your nation. Thank you for coming home to us even though you left friends behind. Thank you for waiting two months to meet your little girl for the first time. Thank you for changing yourself forever to stand up for our country. Thank you for being a hero in your families eyes, your children's eyes, and in the eyes of those whom you've never met. Thank you for doing what you could to make this a safer world for people you may never see again. Thank you for your continued love and faith to me. I know that what you've experienced may never let you be the person you were before. Thank you for being willing to accept those changes, good and bad, on our behalf. I love you, now and always.
Mel

Homecoming Day 2007

zOMG....what will not be on my kids' Christmas list

I saw this commercial last week on Nickelodeon several times. This week it was mentioned on The Soup. Holy crap, here come Tini Pupinis. Seriously, are parents actually buying this crap for their little girls?? Its bad enough your eleven-year-old dresses like a prostitute, but her puppy?? I swear they actually say "you're such a ho!" at 22 seconds....listen!!



I was truly stunned by these toys. My mouth hung open *gasp*. Is this what we have come to?? Slutty dogs for kids to play with? Yes, please, lets dress innocent dogs up like ho-bags. Really? I thought the Bratz dolls were bad enough. I have fortunately missed this boat as Aria wants nothing to do with dolls or Barbies, never has. Dinosaurs, dragons and legos are way cooler.

Why do Sundays drive me insane??

First, a story. Yesterday Daddy heard MD kicking the screen door (from the outside, so he was in effect kicking it more closed) a habit he learned from us as we have to kick it open when the moisture swells the door frame. MD could not get in. Daddy opened the door to find MD in full snow gear playing outside and now ready to come in. He also found PM. PM had on bare feet in AM's large shoes, pants and a sweatshirt. She was freezing and crying. We have no idea how long she'd already been out and we assume she followed MD when he went out to play. It was about 32 degrees. Had MD not been kicking the door we could have left her out there for hours. As it was her hand was bright red and ice cold. Her left hand was in the clam-shell thingy so it stayed warmer. Her toes were pretty icy also. I wrapped her in a blanket and sat next to the space heater while she cried that her hand hurt as it warmed up. I am scared to think what would have happened if Daddy had not heard MD. I see how easily something like this happens, we are by no means negligent parents! Last winter a 2-year-old from the area was found frozen to death just outside his parent's home. They figure he got up at night and managed to let himself out. It's terribly sad, heartbreaking. PM was fine, but 10 more minutes would probably have meant frost bite on those little fingers.

They look pretty benign, right?

As for Sundays. Grrr... I have a job at church. I run a computer in the back that displays slideshow style lyrics for hymns and stuff during the service. This post has recently fallen entirely into my lap as my friend who worked it with me has decided to leave the church. With no trainees I can't be late or miss a service. This morning I was late. Well, not actually late, but close enough to not allow for things to go wrong, which they did. As I displayed lyrics to songs full of misspelled words (ugh! how embarrassing when everyone knows its me back there alone, no one to blame) my 3 biggest kids are tipping crap over behind me and whispering to me as loudly as they can. The pastor even made a comment about the disturbances, although I'm not entirely sure it was aimed at me and the kids or at all the people who ignored us and should have helped me out. I can't run this show by myself and wrangle 3 kids at the same time. My husband works nights and hasn't been to church in ages...just me and the kids. I could feel my face burning with embarrassment as I displayed poorly spelled words and tried to pretend the computer was slow when I didn't change the slides on time..... I am so crabby by noon its all I can do to load the kids in the van and go home without leaving them along the roadside. I had a beer when I got home. It's noon, right?

Stinky Baby

I missed my chance to sign up for NaBloPoMo this month. The rules are to post every day in the month, but being the slacker I am its already day 8 and I should have looked into it earlier. So I will try to finish out the month in preparation for next year.



It turns out JC is still a crappy breastfeeder. I have never bottle fed a breastfed baby so much. It's all breast milk, mind you. Perhaps I am just making it worse, but the kid will not starve under my watch! I stuck it out the first week, nursing him around the clock, barely sleeping. He never acted satisfied and it seemed my milk took longer than usual to come in. In reality, I think he just doesn't have a good enough suck, and he's lazy. I can STILL let him nurse for 1-2 hours, then pump 4-6 ounces and bottle feed. I'm a big ol' pacifier!! I've been offering him the breast every day, but he's still not getting it out. I am sure his latch, positioning, tongue are all correct. I've breastfed 3 others, I help new moms at work all the time. I'm stumped. In the mean time, the bottle arrangement seems to work. My Medela Pump in Style is worth its weight in gold....gold sheets, that I can sleep on due to a well fed baby.

Halloween and beyond..

Halloween was so nice it was sort of surreal. Who trick-or-treats in 60-ish degree weather in ND?? My entire childhood we made costumes specifically designed to fit over a snowsuit and boots. IF you were lucky. The unlucky kids wore their costume underneath and then wondered why they bothered dressing up in the first place. I imagine those people opening the door and handing out candy wondered the same, or perhaps assumed there really was no costume on anyway. They didn't care it turns out, they just wanted to hurry up and shut the door again before their furnace kicked in for the ump-teenth time that evening. The last time I remember a Halloween this nice was when I was in high school. A group of us, in an effort to save the world one penny at a time, trick-or-treated for UNICEF. We wore sweatshirts and rollerblades and went door to door asking for spare change. Some people believed we were hustling them (even though we had the official UNICEF cardboard change boxed), others were nice and gave us not only paper money, but candy for our efforts.


It was P.M.'s first time out and about. She did well and caught on faster than M,D., who still is more interested in checking out the carved pumpkins and Halloween decor than actually knocking on doors for free candy. We went with another family with whom A.M. has a best friend. The big kids were usually a block and a half ahead of us, while M.D., P.M. and I brought up the rear, occasionally skipping houses to keep up. Another thing....who lets the kids pick from the bowl??? Speed it up and hand it out!! M.D. takes ten minutes deciding which morsel of chocolate is best to his liking at each stop. Usually he takes something, then changes his mind and ALSO takes the other thing. Sneaky. Maybe this is intentional...

We carved pumpkins the night before with our neighbors. Her family has a big garden with pumpkins that do not cost $3.99 each. I did not purchase any, stupid stores!!! We had fun scooping pumpkin guts out on to paper lining the floor. I was tempted to place J.C. INSIDE a pumpkin for a picture, but the thought of cleaning orange guts off his cute outfit changed my mind.





On another note:

Sunday.....heard from the back seat of the car screamed quietly in mock fear from a plastic robot:"Ahhh, we're going to crash into the Bowflex store and the pumpkins are attacking the tomatoes and I'm sick of this Imperial March song!!!!" some day I will write a book of all I hear from the driver's seat.

On one more note:

I voted. I am unhappy with the outcome. I will say I told you so later.

Helping A Friend

To all my friends and family, please join us in helping our friend Cole. His mom, Leanna, has opened an account for Cole through iGive. It costs you absolutely nothing to join and over 700 online vendors participate in donating to Cole's special needs school fund. I was amazed at the list of vendors I know I'll shop online at (even LEGOS.com!!) especially with Christmas coming.

Go to Cole's site to learn more: http://caringforcole.blogspot.com/

I really hope you'll help out!


Mel

Okay - one more!

Aria got a new knit hat. It was from a friend at church, meant for her daughter but it was too small. It fits Aria perfectly and the color is just right!




I have this travel mug with 3 kids on it. I've been having fun in the studio, now I need to order a new mug!

I had to share...

This was a photo I took of J.C. last week, it was just too cute not to post....

CIT: Week Four!!

P.M.'s cast came OFF this week! You can read all about it on her caringbridge site. She was not a happy camper! There are several therapy videos at YouTube as well.


We went to the corn maze this week. For those of you that have never seen one, it is an entire field devoted to a GPS made maze. You can only see the entire picture from above:

Our church friends went as a group. We had a really fun time, and the weather was wonderful! Only a few of those nice days left, it sounds like....

M.D. in the corn-filled sand box, making corn angels I believe. (P.M. managed to get a corn nugget wedged in the fingers of her cast, I dug it out with a sucker stick)

Evil P.M.?

M.D.

A.M.

In the maze with several kids from church.

P.M. had the best seat in the house.

Their catch phrase is "Get Lost" in the maze. We made sure we did!! Thats what happens when you let the kids navigate. I guess you can use the GPS on your cell phone if you have it. Each of the 15 checkpoints had coordinates! At many spots there were games the kids could play and win small prizes or candy from the workers. It was really fun! We had hoped all the walking would wear out the kids, it mostly just wore out the adults!