One of Those Days...

I've been working on this large children's alphabet for several days now. I was really getting things close to being wrapped up when I discovered Lily drawing all over it with a fine point sharpie marker. How did she get a marker? It was me. OK? IT WAS ME. I left it laying there right beside it. I was close to tears. I put her down for a nap, 20 minutes later, she starts crying and I go check on her and she's taken her diaper off, sat down on her pillow, and pooped and peed on it. I love her. I really do.

Happy Halloween!

Meet Troy Bolton... if you don't know who Troy Bolton is...you've been living under a rock!

Queen Mrs. Frisbie and Troy...
Pink Puppy...
She kept walking around, telling everyone, "There's a puppy on my head..."
Don't get too close to this prisoner..he's dangerous.
The kids made a hauling tonight. We went through 8 bags of candy and all the miscellaneous candy that I could dig out of the back of my cubbard. I'll be better prepared next year. Lily was totally into the trick or treating. When the people opened the door, she would yell out "peek-a-boo!" Close enough! She was also one of those kids that when you give them the freedom to pick out their own candy, they keep putting more and more into her bag. Her dad kept telling her, "just pick one, Lily" Then the people would say, "Oh, she's so cute, let her take some more!" I'm not sure what her brothers thought of that! So much candy was eaten today. Noah actually had the nerve to ask what we were having for a bedtime snack. We all groaned at him. Bring on the diarrhea!!!

Halloween Fun!

Pumpkins.

We were all impressed with Jackson's amazing scooping capabilities. "Mom, take a picture of this!"

The finished project. Jackson named his 'cyclops'. Noah went with the "scary/sad pumpkin" and Lily's is in the middle.
Lily was pretty interested in the pumpkin 'guts'. It took her a while to get warmed up.
This was her initial reaction, though...these tears were a result of a pumpkin seed falling onto her dress. DRAMA!

Man Of Many Talents.

Attention! Attention! I Have A Complaint.

I don't consider myself to be a very complain-y kind of person. Usually, I don't sweat the small stuff. When I DO complain, it's usually over something really stupid like the following...Last week, I went through the drive-thru at Walgreens to pick up Lily's antibiotic. I paid with my debit card, and then the lady passed the medicine back through the little window thing. I asked her where my debit card was and she said, "Oh, it's stapled inside the bag with the medicine." I thought that was a little weird. So, I had to sit there and open up the bag, dig down for my card to put it back in my wallet. A little annoying...but no big deal. Last night, I'm back at Walgreens to pick up my allergy med. This time, I'm watching the gal to see what she does with my card. This time she picks up a special envelope-like thing, puts my debit card into the little envelope, SEALS it, then staples it to my bag. What the heck???? Now I have two more barriers to go through just to put my stinkin' card back in my frickin' wallet! Have they had cases of run away cards? Have they gotten lost in that 8 inches it travel from the window to the car? I'm sorry. I apologize. It Really. Really. Annoys. Me.

Living With 2 Brothers Means...

You walk around with Nerf darts stuck to your butt.

HELP!!!!

I need some suggestions for a business name for my artwork. I'm in charge of making the new business cards for our upcoming show and I think that it is all a ploy to get me to come up with a name for myself, which I have dragged my feet on for a long time! I'm bad at these things...it's so permanent...I need help. I'm thinking about incorporating the word 'green' in it somewhere because, well, I think that's obvious. Although, I don't want people to think I'm 'all eco-friendly' because...I'm not. Help. Any suggestions would be great. Mom, you are not allowed to use the word 'fire' or any variation of the word 'funk'. That's all.

Noah-ism.

Last night at Will and Sam's birthday party, Will had just blown out his candles, when Noah began asking Will what he had wished for. After a couple of failed guesses, he said, " Did you wish that you were my brother?" Such sweetness. He loves his cousins so much. Of course, Jill and I were quick to pawn off the "brother duo" on each other! Naah...we'll just keep what we got!

Noah And His Heavy Backpack.

I'm not sure, but some of this might be a little "theatrical". You be the judge. By the way, I was parked a block and a half away and watched him do this the entire walk to the car. People were graciously stepping over and around him. That's why I had my camera ready, because it took him about 15 minutes to get to the car!

New Blog.

Hey, check out the link to the right, Things With Wings Art Journal, it is another blog that I started with my mom and sisters to record our art, inspirations, deep thoughts (ha!), etc. Please feel free to leave comments!

Funny.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

I am off to Kansas for the weekend. Have a great one!

Run, Don't Walk To The Nearest Wal-Mart!

Fellow bloggers, yesterday I spent the best $9.72 of I've ever spent. I almost feel guilty about it! 2 discs of genius!!! I have so many wonderful memories laying on the living room floor with my sisters, belting out the tunes from our Bee Gee's album. I've wanted this for a long, long time...

Did I mention it's $9.72???? As I opened my precious purchase, I found this....
Good Golly... those are some good lookin' HAIRY men!!! I was laughing out loud. Lily thought I had lost it. I'm sure you are all thoroughly confused how I could post this and the last post within mere hours of each other. Welcome to the ups and downs of emotionally- challenged stay- at- home mothers! Did you know you can do 'The Hustle' and fold laundry at the same time? You can! And you don't even have to be good at it...your 2 year old will think it's great! A word to the wise...have your diet coke handy, all that falsetto singing is killer on your throat!

This Is What I Needed Today.

Hopefully, this will bless you today, like it did me. The last couple of days has been those times when I worry about tomorrow instead of living today. God is working on that with me. I go to this verse often and love how The Message bible translates it.
Philippians 4:6-9
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious- the best, not the worst: the beautiful, not the ugly: things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Puppy On The Potty.

Today, Lily came up to me all excited and said, "Mommy! Come and see!" She took me upstairs where she had pulled her potty chair out into the hallway and said, "Puppy's going potty!" You know what my next question is, right? If you can verbalize this to me with no problems, why oh why, will you not sit on the potty?!?! There's got to be a way to use this to my advantage!

Give Kids A Tube...They'll Play For Hours.

Thanks, Mom.

So, we're out at the pumpkin farm today, and as we're waiting for our turn on the hay rack ride, Joe starts trying to take our picture. You know, by holding out the camera and pointing it back towards us, but he was having a hard time getting us centered in the camera. We then began laughing at our attempts, because there was like 4 adults standing around next to us doing nothing. So, we pass the camera off to mom and we just want to take the time right now to thank her so much for taking such a high quality picture that we will cherish for years to come. We might even blow it up, frame it, and hang it above our fireplace. Thanks, mom! We owe you one!

Fun On The Pumpkin Farm.

The Grands and Max. He was a trooper all day long. Max, I mean. Don was too.

Silliness on the hay rack ride.
Kids and Cousins. Once again, Jack claims he's too old for this 'funny business'.

They look like little men in this picture, standing around in deep discussion and inspection of a rotten pumpkin.
Little ones on the cow train.
Noah would have taken this little one home if he could.
We heard lots of, "Why can't we get a kitten?" "NO WAY", says their father. Been there, done that. End of discussion. He was a cute little furball, though. Unfortunately, they grow up to be a CAT!
Noah was only a little bit nervous. I think he has white knuckles.

This might be just a tad bit preplanned. I will give her an 'A' for effort, though.

Waiting patiently for our turn. This is where Will said, "I don't think this day could get any funner."
Lily was obsessed with the goats. She kept going back all day. She fed them and petted them. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her squatting beside the fence talking and whispering to them. At one point I looked over and she had her finger pointed out and a baby goat was sucking on her finger and she had a big smile on her face. For a moment, I became a germ phobe monster mom and had a flashback of our shigella sonnei outbreak last year, but I held back and let her have fun as I got my antibacterial wipes ready.

This little stinker is supposed to be watching a magic show with the rest of his family, but instead, has snuck in his radio so he could listen to the Iowa game. He actually at one point threw his arms up for a touchdown, and slapped Jackson on the back. Can you imagine what would've happened if he had missed the one and only game Iowa will win this season because he was picking pumpkins?!?!? Ouch.

And here's a little doozy I'll leave you all with tonight. This is one of those pictures that speaks volumes. What it's saying...I'm not sure. But I love the look on Lily's face in this picture! We had a great time. A little drizzly, but we didn't let that stop us!

From My Sweet Noah.

Sweet Noah made me these yummy pop-tarts today to help me feel better. I especially like the cherry with sprinkles. Yum!

That's My Girl.

As many of you know, I am an AFV freak. Love the show. Tonight, Lily was really getting into it. She was actually standing in front of the TV, scolding them. "NO JUMPING! You got be careful. You get owwie." Now, the question of the day is...If a 2 year old knows it's not a good idea to jump off a roof onto a trampoline, why doesn't the 50 year old with the mullet know it?

Stupid Survey.

Do not take any online surveys entitled, "What part of Fall are you?" It was made by the same people that made the "What color orange are you?" survey. (Which I thought was pretty accurate, which is why I did this one!) So, I answer all my questions and my results are this- "You are like the changing leaves. You're pretty, but will soon be dead." What??? Why would you do that to poor unsuspecting people such as myself?? No more surveys for me. Although... I did wake up feeling like I swallowed a cactus. I know I had a fever off and on throughout the night because I woke up with the fever hairdo, where your hair is all clumped and stringnasty. I think I got whatever Lily had this week. Why do kids play right through it like it's nothing and adults are hit like a truck? Is it because we're old? I suppose my days ARE numbered. Ha, Ha. Please pray for me and Lily that we would get over our crud. Because I WILL be going to the pumpkin patch on Saturday!

"Who Is That Guy?"

I got out a few fall decorations last night. I set this guy up on our living room end table. Lily was not too sure about him at first. She kept asking, "Who is that guy?" She would nervously walk up and say, "Hi, guy!" in an obnoxiously funny sort of way. I think she thought if she was cute and adorable enough he wouldn't try anything funny.


After she warmed up a little, she began making pumpkin faces at him.
This was a pumpkin face that turned into a yawn. Bedtime!

Fun New Blog.

I found a fun new blog today. It's at http://facesinplaces.blogspot.com/ It's hilarious. Some of them are so cute, and I seem to run across these a lot and now someone has devoted an entire blog to it. It reminds me of when we moved into our house on 11th St. and in the backyard we had a huge maple tree that looked like it had eyes, a nose and mouth on it. Noah was just little and it scared him because he said the tree kept looking at him! Anyways, just some light reading to brighten your day.

Girly Girl.

I am amazed at the differences between my boys and little Lily. As she's talking more and more, her sweet little personality is coming through, and oh, is she different from her brothers. Today, she came across her little bunny laying on the floor. It was one of those magical times when I happened to be in the right place at the right time to hear this precious little conversation. She scooped him up and said, "Oh! There you are bunny! Did you fall down? You alright? It's O.K." and patted him on the back. Such sweetness. No cherry bombing him into the next county or trying to tie his ears in a knot. It was a truly girly moment.

What's In A Name?

I know that all of you that read this blog sit around and eat bon bons and watch your soaps all day in your PJ's while surfing the internet for random surveys. So, here's another one...
This one is entitled, What's In A Name?
1. Your rock star name: (your pet's name + current car) Cookie Eclipse ...sounds a lot better than Cookie Grand Caravan, ha, ha.
2. Your fly girl name: (1st letter of first name + 1st three letters of last) L-Mac
3. Your gangsta name: (favorite ice cream + favorite cookie): Chocolate Oreo
4. Your detective name: (favorite color + favorite animal): Olive Labrador
5. Your soap opera name: (middle name + city you were born): Elizabeth Ft. Madison
6. Your star wars name: (1st 3 letters of last name + 1st 2 letters of first name) Macla
7. Your superhero name: (The + 2nd favorite color + favorite drink) The Purple Pop
8. Your nascar name: (first names of your grandfathers) Don Sherman
9. Your stripper name: (favorite scent + favorite candy) Floral Snickers
10. Your witness protection name: (middle names of your parents) Marie Sherman
11. Your TV weather anchor name: (5th grade teacher + city that starts with the same letter) Virginia Vancouver
12. Your Bond girl name: (favorite holiday season + favorite flower) Autumn Lily
13. Your cartoon name: (favorite fruit + item of clothing you're wearing right now + ie or y) Peach Pajamie
14. Your hippie name: (what you are for breakfast + favorite tree) Oatmeal Maple
15. Your Rockstar Tour name: (The + favorite hobby/craft +f avorite weather element + tour) The Painted Snow Tour

Well, that was a major time-waster. Don't let the survey fool you...I really do have a life.
Sincerely, Floral Snickers

Million Dollar Pumpkin.

This is what Noah made at Matthew and Kaylee's Birthday party. You can't go wrong with lots and lots of gold spray paint and lots and lots of silver sprinkles.

Noah Wins The Question Of The Day Award.

Noah: "Mom, is it possible to become a zookeeper, but not be the one that has to pick up the big poops?"

Shopping With The Girls (and Max).

I just got back from a fun shopping experience with mom and Jill. We just had Lily and Max, so it pretty low stress. Jill was on a mission for some post baby clothes. It took some doin' to convince her that wearing certain items of clothing and jewelry in general was not "playing dress-up". I think we found some good deals. Mom DID make Jill tell her husband, " That first new van payment is probably not going to work out." Good thing he found that funny. I found a few shirts and made mom buy a few shirts. She actually had some fun shopping tonight and said, "Maybe I should start trying things on when I go shopping" Duh! Lily found some Dora colorforms. She was tickled pink. We ended the night with a pitstop at Donutland. You can't end it any better than that!

2 Good Days.

I have just the most amazing two days of creativity. I don't know what the deal is. I had lots of art ideas and then Lo and Behold they actually looked the same in reality as they did in my head. That doesn't always happen, you know. I know God has given me a gift, but don't always feel like I can connect with it, so that I have something tangible to show for it. I have also been really down lately with the blues of some sort. I think maybe God is just giving me some hope and inspiration to let me know He's still there and hasn't gone anywhere.

A 2-Person Tent Is Not Made For A 6 Ft. Man.