So Sensitive

I'm still here...and I'm still plugging away at my November tackling. I know I haven't updated, but I've been quite busy. And I still am. Big things are happening this week. I will update soon, I promise! I'll have half the month of tackles to list, but I'll get them listed eventually!

This morning I woke up to make sure Chip was awake for work. (I'm the back up just in case his clock doesn't work for some reason.) Usually I go right back to sleep. But I have so much to do today I decided to stay up.

I went into the kitchen and began unloading the dishwasher when I heard Ruthi crying. I went to check on her, and discovered she had obviously been dreaming...an unhappy dream...about our cat.

She LOVES the cat, so the thought of anything happening to her upsets Ruthi majorly.
When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "The kitty leaved us!"
The cat happened to be right there, so I picked her up, showed her to Ruthi and assured her the cat did not leave us.

She reached up to pet the cat, but continued to cry, "Franklin gotted her to die!" she sobbed. Franklin is a show about a turtle and his family that she loves to watch. Apparently she was dreaming that Franklin caused Frisco to die.

Again, I assured her the kitty was just fine, and was right there. Then, as she's wiping the tears that are streaming down her face away, she says, "But I dreamed she has a broken paw - she couldn't walk without that!" Poor baby, she was so terribly upset.

By then, she was becoming more awake, and finally realized the cat really was ok. So she loved on her for a little bit, and all was right in her world again.

She is so incredibly sensitive. And when it comes to animals - any animal, she gets really uspet if something happens. She cried the first time she watched The Wizard of Oz, when the witch took Toto from Dorothy. She cried, "But the girl needs her dog!" And it took me a while to convince her that Dorothy would get Toto back.

One of her newest favorite movies is Air Bud. She had seen it a few times, but for some reason had missed the very beginning those first few time. She caught the beginning recently and I heard her crying. She was upset that the dog had fallen out of the back of the truck and was all alone. And I mean REALLY upset! I had to remind her that the boy finds the dog, and that the dog is ok.

She is sensitive about lots of other things too, and gets her feelings hurt very easily. I pray that I'm always sensitive to her sensitivities and can be encouraging and always help her though these things. The joys of raising a girl! And I love it!

By the way...it was about 5:30 this morning when she woke up. I thought she'd surely go right back to sleep. That didn't happen. It's almost 7 now and she's still awake.
She JUST now said to me, "Mom, if you don't get any sleep, you will be tired!" I told her I did get sleep. She looked toward the window where the sun is just now barely trying to come up. She says, "Oh, it's starting to get brighter...I can stay up"! She followed that up with a big yawn. Yeah...it's going to be a fun day. I hope her nap comes early before she realizes how tired she actually is!

Now I need to go get busy!

November Tackling Catch Up

Well, I knew I wouldn't manage to get a post up every day for this tackling thing. So now I will play catch up...as usual!

It was a busy weekend, and I had a horrible headache on Sunday afternoon/evening. So I didn't technically get any projects done on those days, but I doubled up so I have one to count for each day.

So here are the the things I got done for days 8-12:

Ruthi's Room - it was an enormous mess (again) and desperately needed to be cleaned. It is much better now!

Kitchen Cabinets - They got a really good scrubbing. There were a few (especially the ones near the stove) that had begun to yellow and I had not been able to get them clean before. But a soap pad did wonders, and now the yellow is gone! This job spread to my counters, dishwasher and stove getting a good scrubbing as well.

New Light - the light in my kitchen had started acting up, flickering and such. It was over 16 years old, so I decided it was time for a newer, prettier one. I attempted to play electrician and install the new light. When I put the connectors on the wires, they kept coming undone. I was getting quite frustrated, so I called in my hubby to the rescue. He showed me what I was doing wrong. I was twisting the wires together then twisting on the connector. Apparently by doing it that way, I was essentially untwisting the wires! So he showed me the correct way to do it. Oh, and I had used the wrong screws to mount the bracket and it was causing frustration. I learned a lot thanks to my patient hubby, so now when I'm ready to get a new dining room light, I should be able to handle it on my own!

New Faucet - The faucet in CJ's/guest's bathroom was icky. Again, being over 16 years old, what can you expect? It had begun to corrode, and you just can't get that stuff off. So I got another one and played plumber. I did much better with it. It wasn't too much fun being cramped up under the bathroom sink, and I pulled a muscle in my neck, but I completed the task!

CJ's Prints - I finally quit procrastinating and bought frames for the prints I bought for him almost a year ago. I don't know why I kept forgetting - shame on me! But now the prints are framed and hung on his wall. That is the only thing I have a picture of, however, Blogger is being stubborn and won't let me upload it right now. So I'll have to do it later.

I realize today is the 13th, and I only have 12 projects listed so far. It is only 9:30 am, so I have not yet worked on today's project. But I know what I'm going to do!!! So, I'll be back later...or you know...eventually!

Here They Are!

I promised I'd "tackle" getting the pictures up this weekend from our Mountain trip. And I did it! Go me! LOL.

We headed up to Blairsville, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We rented a cabin, and it was very nice. We all enjoyed it so much. Neither of the kids wanted to leave. Everytime we would go somewhere, Ruthi was asking to make sure we were going back to the cabin and not home!

It was beautiful, cozy and had all the comforts of home. Well, almost. It is advertised that there is WiFi. And there is. But it didn't work in the cabin. The only way to get connected was to drive up to the office and sit outside in the car to connect. I only did that once. And that was because I had an email that really needed to go out. It just wasn't convenient for surfing or blogging!

But that's ok. To tell you the truth, I really (suprisingly) didn't miss it too much. I also forgot my phone charger, so I had no cell phone the whole time. And I didn't miss it either! We did have sattelite tv, which was nice, especially that allowed Ruthi to watch her favorite shows.

We did more relaxing than anything, and it was so nice. We rode the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway one day. It's an hour train ride that takes you to McCaysville GA and Copperhill, TN. And I just had to get a pic of the kids with one foot in GA and one in TN. We were stopped for two hours which gave up plenty of time to each lunch and check out some of the shops. Then the whistle signaled it was time to leave. So we reboarded and headed back to the station. It was a lot of fun.

We did a little shopping and sight seeing, but really we just hung out and relaxed, and it was one of our most fun vacations! Chip and CJ took their bikes with the plans to hit some mountain bike trails. But it was entirely too cold. (We even saw snow flurries one morning!) They took a test run just around the roads by the cabin, and quickly discovered there was no way they'd be going to the trails. Just too cold!

We loved being able to have a fire every night, and it made us wish that much more that we had a fireplace at home! Sigh.

There were two decks on the back of the cabin - an upper deck with a table, grill and a hammock; and a lower deck which had a hot tub. We were really hoping to use the hot tub. However...remember I mentioned how cold it was? Yeah...well, Chip and I did not want to have to get out of that warm water and walk all the way back up to the top deck in the freezing cold. And neither of us thought to bring robes. So it was a no go. Though CJ did brave it one night. Guess we are bigger wimps than he is!

The only bad thing about the trip was that it ended too soon. It was so nice and I definitely want to go back. Maybe when it's not so cold next time!

Anyway, as usual, I have tons of pictures, so here they are in a slide show.

November Tackling Day 7

Today's tackle was another smallish project I've been seriously procrastinating on.
A while back, my Mom gave me this cabinet to use. I love it because it holds so much stuff! The doors on the top part are glass, therefore you can see into the cabinet. This is nice if you're placing things in there that you want to be seen.

I however, am storing things in there that aren't so pretty to look at, and don't want it all to be visible. There are three doors, and each one has 8 little panels in it. My Dad had the brilliant idea of putting photos in each opening. I loved the idea and started printing photos and putting them in.

That was months ago. I only got halfway finished. My printer ran out of color ink, and then I just never got around to finishing. Today, I quit procrastinating and finished it up. I'm happy with the end result. Not only does it hide what's in the cabinet, it gives me additional space to have out family photos without taking up any room!

I didn't take a before pic, but here is what the top of the cabinet looks like filled with the photos.


And I went ahead and did one other thing. I had photos hanging on the wall beside where this cabinet is. And they looked nice and centered until this cabinet was placed there. They no longer appear centered on the wall, and it just looks like I hung them weird because they seem to disappear behind the cabinet.

You can see what I mean here:


So I just moved them over, and now they don't get lost behind the cabinet!


I actually intended to move on to yet another project today, but it just didn't happen. But that's ok - I have all month! LOL!

Just Have to Share

I don't make it a habit to post emails I've received, but I received the best one I've read in a while, fitting for this time. It is so true, and I think I'm going to print it out and hang it up so I'll read it every day and not forget!

One last thing before I share it...This is true no matter what, and is important no matter which side of the "fence" you are on!

(Oh - and I changed it from future tense to present tense!)

AFTER THE ELECTION

1. The Bible still has all the answers.
2. Prayer still works.
3. The Holy Spirit still moves.
4. God still inhabits the praises of His people.
5. There is still God-anointed preaching.
6. There still singing of praise to God.
7. God is still pouring out blessings upon His people.
8. There is still room at the Cross.
9. Jesus still loves you.
10. Jesus still saves the lost when they come to Him.

and God approves this message!


ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE?!


Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

November Tackling Day 6

Today's tackle was a fairly easy one. My front closet tends to be a catch-all. Our coats are in there, along with blankets, beach towels and such. But it catches things I plan to get rid of...clothes the kids have out grown, which get passed down to a friend, and things I just don't want anymore.

So I cleaned it out. It looked pretty bad and was getting a bit dangerous to open the door! I got it all cleaned out and the things I no longer wanted to their designated locations. The clothes made it to my friend. I have a friend who owns a thrift store, and the things I didn't want anymore (that were still good) went there. And I also took the newspapers to the recycling bin. The stroller which doesn't get used often, and the bag of summer toys will find a new home out in the barn.

It wasn't a huge job, but it feels much better! Here is the before:


And the after:


On to bigger and better things tomorrow!

Oh, and I plan to "tackle" getting pictures from our trip up on here before the weekend is over!

Tackle Day 5

OK, so I'm back with #5 that I completed today. (If you have no clue what I'm talking about, see previous post.)

A few years ago, we got a new stove. Our old one had a higher back on it. When I had painted, I just reached down as far as I could behind the stove. With the new stove in place, and the lack of the high back, you could see where the paint stopped and the icky wall beneath. Not to mention, you could even see a bit of my previous color of paint. It was not a pretty sight. However, it has remained there...in all it's ugliness for all this time. Until today that is.

I discovered I still had over half a gallon of the paint, so I pulled it out and within no time at all, it looked like I had a brand new wall.

But, before I painted it, I knew I needed to clean the wall. The light over my stove has been out for a very long time. I have no idea why I haven't put in a new one, just really didn't think much about it. Before I got started today, I put in a new light. Wow. I had no idea how much light that was going to shed on the...dirt! The wall took a little bit of scrubbing to get all the splatters off. (They seemed to just blend in before I replaced the light!) Then, to my horror, I looked up. And what I saw underneath the hood of my stove...well, I won't even tell you how bad it was, because I'd be too embarrassed.

There are no before pics of the hood because, well, I wouldn't want to gross anyone out, nor do I want anyone to know how bad it was! And I'm not posting after pics, because if you didn't see what it looked like before, it won't be impressive at all. But trust me...it is! It took some serious elbow grease, and a good bit of time, but it was worth it because it's nice and clean now.

Back to the wall. I painted it and can't believe how much better it looks! Well, I can believe it, but it really does make me happy. And to think it only took a few minutes!

Then my wonderful hubby put up a spice rack and some utensil holders that I bought back in July, but was waiting until I had the wall painted before I wanted them put up.

I procrastinated so long on this, and it took no time to fix it up and improve the look over my stove! Now for the pictures.

Before:
ICK!

After:
Much Better!

Tackle Time

I have been bitten. Bitten by the organization/cleaning/fixing-up bug.

I want to host a girls-night party here in December. So...that is major motivation to getting some things around here done! My list is quite long...some small things and other not-so-small things. Many of the items on my to-do list are things I've been procrastinating on for far too long.

But nothing like wanting to host a gathering will get me motivated to get in gear! So that's what I'm doing. And I'm going to attempt to blog about it.

Why? Because I've been very bad at getting around to blogging lately, and it will give me something to blog about. And hopefully putting it out here for "all the world" to see will motivate me to get even more done. And who knows - maybe it will help motivate someone else too!

So, I'm declaring November my Tackle Every Day Month. That means that I plan to try to tackle something around here every single day this month. It may be a small thing that I've been putting off doing, or a larger task. There will sometimes be photos, but not always.

I realize today is the 5th. I should have began blogging this on the 1st. See...I don't have a procrastination problem!

But I have at least begun tackling already, so I'll share what I've done so far. Then I'll try to keep up with this and blog every day. Though some days I may end up throwing 2 or 3 days worth together. Actually you can probably count on that. You know as well as I do that I won't manage to post every day!

But at the end of this month, I hope to have tons of things accomplished around here!

OK - so far:

1. Cleaned out and organized my laundry "room". I took out things that aren't frequently used and put them out in the barn to free up some much needed space.

2. Cleaned the tops of my kitchen cabinets. I have a very small kitchen and have to utilize every inch of space I have. So I was storing quite a few things up there. I pulled everything down and cleaned the space. Then I cleaned all the things that were up there (It's amazing how much dust and grease accumulates up there!) Then I put most of the things out in the barn so I can still get to them when I need them, but the tops of my cabinets now look so much better. I only kept a few things up there. I didn't think to take any before pictures. And I haven't taken any after ones yet, but when I do, I will post them. Oh, and I cleaned the top of the refrigerator while I was up there. Got rid of a bunch of junk and it looks so much better!

3. Cleaned and organized my scrap area (aka - dining "room"). This was an ALL-DAY job! I moved everything and cleaned behind. I can't believe how much dust can get back there! I re-organized it completely to better utilize my space. I'm waiting for Chip to get the desktop out of here and moved to CJ's room. Once it's gone, I'll be able to finish. Then I will post pictures.

4. Freed up some counter space in my kitchen. Again...very small kitchen, and I need every inch of space. I have several appliances that are used regularly. My coffee maker, toaster oven and microwave have to stay, as they are used pretty much every day. But I moved my bread machine and food processor to my laundry area. They are used at least once a week, but since it's not every day, I decided I could move them where they are still very easily accessed, but not taking up precious counter space. Much better!

And that brings me to day 5. Today. Still a work in progress. It is another project in my kitchen and I will be back to blog it - complete with before and after pics - once I'm finished.

And I'm well on my way to getting lots done! I'm determined this will be a productive month! And I'm going to improve my home!

What are you doing this month? Anything exciting? Tell me about it!

Yes, I'm still Alive

I know it's been forever since I blogged. Life..you know?

And today I've been trying on and off all day to get in here to blog, but for some reason, I can NOT get into Blogger from my laptop. I don't know what the deal is...I can get anywhere else, just not Blogger. So I figured it was down. Then I decided to check on the desktop just to be sure, and I can get in from here. Makes no sense to me. Any ideas?

Anyway...I'm quite busy today, so I'm just dropping in to say hi...and REMEMBER TO VOTE tomorrow if you haven't already!

I don't blog about politics. I don't even talk about politics much to anyone outside of my immediate family. And I'm not going to start blogging about it. However, I saw two things today that were good, so I'm linking to them here. Take a look. And that's as far as my political discussion will go!

Link 1
Link 2


I promise to blog more soon. I have lots of pictures to share from our mountain trip. But I've got to get back to cleaning and organizing for now. I'm on a roll!

28

That's how many miles we rode on our bikes yesterday. Actually, it was a little over that, but I'm rounding.

If anyone had told me at the beginning of the summer that I'd be riding 28 miles on a bike...and surviving, I would have laughed at them!

I was only doing 10 for a while. Then Chip challenged me to see if I wanted to go further. So we did 20. (He and CJ can do much further.) Yesterday we increased it again and went 28. And the really great thing is, our time was better too. When Chip and I went the other day, it took 2 hours to do 20 miles. Yesterday it took 2 hours, 12 minutes to do 28 miles. I even surprised myself! Although, the last 3 miles just about did me in!

It wore me out, but it felt amazing. What a wonderful activity for our family to do together. We are really enjoying it.

I'm glad it was yesterday though, and Chip is working today...my ears are feeling stopped up today and I'm not sure that I'd have felt like going today. And tomorrow, hopefully the rain will hold off until late in the day so we can get a ride in before it gets here. And hopefully my ears will be back to normal. I certainly don't have any time to be getting sick!

I really hope my ears are feeling better in just a little while. I'm supposed to be going to dinner with my friend (who lives next door), my mom and her friend tonight. We'll see!

Now I need to go take care of school stuff with the kids. And I really don't feel like it. Sigh.

Still Kickin'!

My, how time flies! I didn't intend to be absent this long, but it happens!

Things have been very busy, and I went through a little bit of a fog too. When that happens, I seem to go on auto-pilot and kind of lose all track of time. The days just kind of melt together. But the fog has cleared, and hopefully I'm back on track.

I have to admit, I have a new addiction. Thanks to my husband.

I got hooked on Facebook. I had signed up and it seemed too confusing, so I didn't do anything about it. A few days later, Chip asked me if I knew about Facebook, and I told him I had created a page, but had not done anything with it. He had already started building his friends list and was having fun, so I took another stab at it. And I am so addicted now! I have reconnected with lots of friends from long ago, and keep in better contact now with a lot of my friends from church. It's really a lot of fun.

So, for the past few days at least, instead of blogging, I've been Facebooking! But I'll try to get in some regular blogging again now.

I still don't have a camera, so I'm not taking any pictures right now, but hopefully I'll have some great ones to share soon. My parents took the kids to the fair and my Dad took pictures.

I took them over to my parents house on Saturday evening and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with my parents. The kids stayed the night and I spent a very quiet night at home, since Chip was at the station. They left for the fair early Saturday morning (it's a 2 hour drive) and had a blast. Ruthi wasn't sure what to expect, but she loved it. However, she didn't want anything to do with the little kiddie rides, she wanted to ride the bigger, faster stuff! My parents were a bit surprised. She had her big brother to ride with, and they had so much fun.

It was going to be midnight before they got home, so they just went back to my parents house last night, and my Mom brought them home this morning. I was very happy to have them home.

On our day-with-no-kids, we enjoyed ourselves too. It was nice to be super lazy with no one needing to be fed or played with! We had a nice meal at Johnny Carrino's and then went to see Fireproof. EXCELLENT movie! And though nothing tragic happened to any of the firemen, there were still a few times I was cringing, just thinking about my own fireman being in a similar situation. We both really enjoyed the movie. Then we came home to be lazy again, watched another movie at home, and then some TV and went to bed. I got to sleep two nights in a row without a preschooler coming and climbing on top of me!

It was wonderful, but at the same time, I missed it a little bit!

Not a whole lot going on today. We are planning a 20-mile bike trip this afternoon once Chip and CJ both get done with their work. I guess I should do a little work too. For one thing, I need to decide what's for dinner since I haven't planned a menu yet! Aaacckk!!! Guess I need to add that to my list of things to do!

So, I'm signing off for now, and hopefully I'll be back sooner than later!

Happy Blogaversary!

To me!! Today marks two years since I started blogging! It doesn't seem like that long - sheesh! Maybe if I were a good blogger who blogged more often, it would seem like longer.

Hmmm...I wonder if I'll manage to blog more in the next two years than I did in these two? I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Anyway, that is all for now!

My Preschooler

I realize it's been almost a week since I blogged. I had good intentions of posting more pictures last week.

But it didn't happen.

Obviously.

Life has a way of getting in the way of blogging. Such is my life.

I started preschool with Ruthi on the 2nd. Yes, I realize this is the 16th and I'm just now posting pictures. But you are used to that by now, no?

This child has been so excited to do her "coolwork". And she absolutely loves it.
We are only "doing school" 2-3 days a week at the moment. I will probably shift into doing more in the near future...if I can get my act together and keep up with everything else!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our little girl on her first day of school.


She looks so big!



Had to get a shot of her "big girl" pony tail!

Working hard on her circle collage:




We were working on the letter A. As in recognizing it, and knowing what sound it makes. I had no intention in teaching her how to actually write an A or any letters at this point. I had to get up to get something, and as I was walking away, she says, "Mommy! I made an A!"
I casually say, "You did? Wow!"
Then I walked over to see what she had actually done, fully expecting to see a scribble. Instead, I saw this:

That's an actual A!!
I was surprised, to say the least. Good grief, she's not supposed to be growing up this fast!



My camera finally bit the dust. So I will be scarce with pictures until I can get a new one. I still have a few pictures to share. And I've taken a few with my phone, but they never turn out as good. Hopefully I'll have a new camera soon and can go picture crazy again!

Fall is upon us and there are too many wonderful opportunities for photos not to have a camera! Oh HONEY...are you reading this? *GRIN*

Cousins

Labor Day...10 whole days ago...and now I'm sharing pictures.

The motto of this blog? Better late than never!

I'm accepting it. It could be worse I suppose!

Anyway...on Labor Day, we got together at my Parents' new house. My Granddady, Aunt, Uncle and their two grandsons came as well. We grilled (by we, I mean my Dad) hamburgers and hotdogs, ate plenty, and had a grand ol' time.

Ruthi was so excited that Austin was coming, and those two played non-stop. They had an absolute blast.

Chip had a lot going on, so he and I rode seperately so he could leave early, and I could talk until I had my fill. Well, not my fill really, as that never really happens! But he didn't want me to feel rushed to leave, since I don't get to see my Aunt, Uncle and Granddad that often.

So, when I got out my camera to take some pictures of the kids, CJ had already gone, because he went on home with Chip. He had lawns to mow, and he wanted to get as much done as he could.

Therefore, these are missing my 'little' boy. Somehow, I think he's a lot happier about that than I am! LOL!

On to the cutie pie pictures...

Austin & Ruthi



Austin, Ruthi & Jordan


With my Granddady (Their Great-Granddady!)

And those two cutie pies with my Dad.


I wish we lived closer together, because Ruthi really does love to play with Austin. She loves Jordan too, but he's just not her size!

And all too soon, our visit came to an end.

Just as this post has come to an end, though I wouldn't say it's too soon!

Menu Plan Monday

I can NOT believe how quickly the weeks are flying by! Sheesh!
I'm baffled as to where last week went!

Alright, about last week...one night we had a change of plans and I totally forgot that we had a cookout/pool party to go to on Saturday, so we had dinner there. Therefore, a couple of meals got bumped to this week, but we pretty much stuck with everything else.

The Sour Cream Chicken Quiche and the Spinach & Chickpeas (which I can't find the link to) were a hit. Ruthi had fun helping me prepare this meal, and it was cute when CJ told her during dinner that it was good and she had done a good job!

I thought the Tomato Soup was very good. The only thing I didn't like it was, no matter how well I blended it, I still got bits of tomato peel in my mouth, which I could have done without. But the flavor was wonderful. Ruthi liked it. CJ tolerated it once he doused it with hot sauce. Chip didn't eat any. (I prepared it on a day he wasn't home, and he hasn't jumped at the leftovers.)

The Pizza Boats will become a regular lunch in our house. They were a huge hit! (Not to mention super quick and easy!) We actually used hoagie rolls for them, which reminded me of a french bread pizza. I think you could use just about any bread with these and they'd be great!

Also, the corn & black bean salsa was a new one for me and I loved it! CJ liked it too. Chip hasn't had any since he wasn't here yesterday.

Now, on to this week:

Monday:
Breakfast - Yogurt with granola (I tried another recipe and it's really good - I'll try to get it and the other one I tried posted on here soon!)
Lunch - Leftovers/Sandwiches
Dinner - Ooey Gooey Mexican Chicken ~ Refried Beans ~ Chips & Salsa

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Muffins
Lunch - Pizza Wraps
Dinner - Out to dinner with friends

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches, Ramen Noodles
Dinner - Pizza Pasta Salad (I actually plan to serve this warm.) Garlic Muffins

Thursday:
Breakfast - Grits, Eggs, Toast
Lunch - Bean & Cheese Burritos
Dinner - Rigatoni Chicken Roundup, Salad, Rolls

Friday:
Breakfast - Breakfast Leftovers
Lunch - Leftovers
Dinner - Homemade Pizza

Saturday:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Not sure yet
Dinner - Hot Dogs, Mac & Cheese

Sunday:
Breakfast - Cereal Bars
Lunch - TBD
Dinner - TBD

Be sure to visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for more great menus!

You Guessed it...More Catching Up!

I feel like the last three weeks have been like a whirlwind, and I'm pretty sure I haven't slowed down much. After a fairly lazy summer, being busy all of a sudden wears a girl out!

So obviously, blogging has taken a back seat. I'm beginning to accept the fact that there are simply going to be blogging lulls. I'm just not cut out to be an every day blogger.

However, for those family members who check this blog daily to see the faces of my smiling kids, I'm sure they are less than thrilled! Yes, you all know who you are. And I am TRYING. I promise!

So, since I have been a slacker, yet again, I have quite a few pictures backing up. So those of you who are looking for those pictures, this week should make you very happy!!!

The Friday before Labor Day, the kids and I went to see Aunt Edna and Uncle Marshall. I can't believe that they live as close as they do, and yet this is the first time we've gone to visit. We had such a wonderful afternoon, and Ruthi had such a great time, that we will definitely be going for more visits!

Marshall has a fabulous hobby...trains. I had no idea how big of a deal this was to him. Until I walked into the basement, that is. I was absolutely amazed, as were the kids. He has the most awesome set up I've ever seen. It's a world of trains which is incredibly detailed and just, well, fabulous!

I forgot to take my camera, and was so disappointed I wasn't going to be able to take pictures. But it was Edna to the rescue. She let me use her camera, and then emailed the pictures to me. (Thank you so much Edna!)

I have to say though, these pictures in NO WAY do this set up justice. Really, it is amazing, and you have to see it in person to be able to appreciate it. Also, as hard as I tried, I couldn't capture the entire thing. It is even bigger than you can tell in these pictures!









We really enjoyed watching the trains and checking out all the details.

Once the train show was over, we girls headed upstairs. CJ and Marshall went to hang out outside. Edna had some toys and things in the closet, and Ruthi became her buddy very quickly.

They had a tea party and played with pretty much everything that was in that closet. I really believe Ruthi would have sat in that floor the rest of the day playing with Edna if she could have. She found a stamp set and loved it so much, Edna was nice enough to send it home with her. (Thanks for that too, Edna - Ruthi is really enjoying it!)




We finally had to say goodbye and head home. Ruthi wasn't thrilled about having to leave, but I promised her we would come back. They have a great place for her to ride her bike, so we will be bringing it along next time!

CJ really enjoyed himself too. He would be in paradise living there - there are lots of woods to explore - one of his favorite things to do. I told Edna and Marshall that if we had a place like that, I'd probably never see CJ - he'd be enjoying the outdoors far too much to be inside!

Oh, and we also picked Ruthi's preschool curriculum up, which was the 'excuse' for going to visit! Thank you Edna, for letting us visit and have such a wonderful time, and for compltetly entertaining Ruthi!

Ruthi actually said on the way home, "Mommy, Aunt Edna is my buddy!"

And that brings this post to a close. But I'm jumping right on getting another post full of pictures ready!