100 Things...

Do you think you’ve really lived so far? This is a list of 100 activities–some I have experienced (purple), some I have not (regular).
Started your own blog
Slept under the stars
Played in a band
Visited Hawaii
Watched a meteor shower
Bathed in a river
Been to the Taj Mahal
Walked on a glacier in Alaska
Caught and held a snake
Spoke in front of a big crowd
Bungee jumped
Had a whirlwind love affair that broke your heart
Found an arrowhead or fossil
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Rescued an animal
Ate sweet breads, glands or tripe (not sure what these even are….)
Seen Mount Rushmore in person
Grown your own vegetables
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on an overnight train
Had a pillow fight
Hiked to base camp on Mt. Everest
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Built a snow fort
Watched an animal being born
Gone skinny dipping
Learned a foreign language
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Seen a total eclipse
Stayed up for more than 24 hours
Trained a dog to do cool tricks
Been on a cruise
Seen Niagara Falls in person
Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
Seen an Amish community
Can drive a stick shift car (not very well)
Won over $1000 in a raffle or lottery
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Been serenaded (in the VFW hall by my husband and brother-in-law)
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight
Broken a bone
Started your own business
Quit a job because you were totally unhappy
Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the Eiffel Tower
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Kissed in the rain passionately
Played in the mud
Gone to a drive-in
Been in a movie
Visited the Great Wall of China
Joined a prayer group
Taken a martial arts class
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
Gone whale watching
Received flowers for no reason
Donated blood, platelets or plasma (once, in high school and never again)
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
Bounced a check
Flown in a helicopter
Saved a favorite childhood toy
Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Eaten caviar (and really like it!)
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Seen the changing of the guards in London
Broken something extremely expensive
Been on a speeding motorcycle
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book
Visited the Vatican
Got a tattoo
Been to a coffee shop in Amsterdam
Seen the aurora borealis in person
Read the entire Bible
Visited the White House
Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life
Sat on a jury
Met someone famous
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one
Toured the UN
Hiked to Machu Picchu
Swam in the Indian Ocean
Conversed with someone when neither of you spoke each others language
Dirty danced
Been stung by a bee
Acted in a play
Had more than 5 surgeries
Threw a surprise party for someone

Once a kid always a kid.

I don't know if you can see him, but Travis is on a sled going down our street. Last night he drove all the way to the towing lot to clean out the van, (only to be turned away because they forgot to tell him what paperwork to bring) he then came home, shovelled, and decided to try out the boys' sleds. He is happy to report the sleds work and there is plenty of ice on our street.

Snow Days

What are 3 boys to do when there is too much snow on the ground to leave the house, and you don't have a vehicle to leave the house (if you wanted to)? You climb into your car seats and read books! I love that my boys can have fun doing almost anything.


Toby even got in on the fun of car seats in the living room!

We were a St. Louis snow casualty.

We were hit head on last night. Our van is totalled. I have 4 carseats stacked in the middle of my living room floor, 3 kids home on a snow day, and I'm trapped.
We were sitting at a dead stop waiting to turn left into our subdivision. A car turned left in front of 3 lanes of traffic, cutting an SUV off. That SUV, swerved to miss the car, and hit our van head on. Now we get to play the waiting game. We already called our insurance company, that was a 2 hr adventure. Now we have to wait for his insurance company, we can't do anything becasue on the police report it states that his policy # is "pending" that means he didn't have his insurance card on him.
What can you do? Pray!
Pray this goes smoothly.
Pray we get a rental fast.
Pray we find a new minivan that we can afford. (mine was less than a month away from being paid off)

Our Sunday morning home.

Maddox is sick. He's sneezing, coughing, has a fever, and is all around not pleasent. Yesterday Travis and I discussed what we were going to do today. In exchange for him missing game night at church so I could have girls' night with one of my friends I agreed (willingly) to stay home this morning with Maddox. I was going to keep Liv home too, since it would be easier on Travis. I was glad I made that decision. She is now coughing as well.

She got the all important memo of how to spend a sick day, sleeping! And yes, she is 5 months old and still sleeps best swaddled. Thank goodness I have a great mother-in-law who makes blankets so I can get them big enough to swaddle her.


Maddox thinks the best way to spend a sick day is in his jammies at the kitchen table drawing and coloring, and talking to himself.

Saturday at the mall.

Saturday we had to run to the mall to do some returns and exchanges. While Travis was exchanging a watch the boys found a perfect place to sit and watch the merry-go-round. I'm not exagerating when I say they sat there for 20 minutes. It took Travis twice that time to decide on a watch, but that's a whole different post.

Creative play.

Apparently it's really boring and sad when both of Maddox's brothers are away at school. He took some of their favorite animals and some of his and decided to play in the corner of the kitchen.



When I asked him if he wanted more space, he said yes. I left the kitchen to tend to Olivia, and came back to get him and build him a fort in the living room, he found a fort of his own, under our kitchen table.

Our weekend away

I had such a great time with Erin this past weekend. The boys loved being around a different house, playing with a dog that wasn't theirs, and meeting new people. I loved just being with Erin, it was perfect. Really, it wasn't, the older 2 fought all weekend long. Next time I'm going without them.

At one point I was bathing the 3 boys, Erin was working on something, and we had to put Olivia up and out of the way of the dog. Well, the most logical place was the bathroom sink. She was within arms reach of me.


The boys, Shiloh, and Olivia enjoying eachother.


A brief moment of Cooper and Nelson not fighting, not running, and not talking back. Those moments were few and far between this past weekend.


No Trip to Paducah is complete without a pit stop in Metropolis, IL. Maddox was really excited about seeing Superman until we got there. He would not go near the statue! I was thankful that I could get him in the picture.

It's a Happy Friday!

1. Free Lattes at McDonalds
2. Free coffee drink (of your choice) at Oberweis Ice cream.
3. Early Dismissal day, that means Cooper and Nelson go to school together this morning and come home at 12:30.
4. Maddox has Mom's Day Out. He will be gone from 9AM-2PM.
5. Olivia and I have hrs of just girl time to run errands and get ready for our trip.
6. I don't live in Chicago where it's even colder, Sorry She, I don't envy you.
7. I get to go on a trip with my kids tomorrow morning, Paducah, here we come!!!!!

F.Y.I.

A special one for Aunt Sheila and Midwest Ortho

Olivia enjoying her toy that Aunt Sheila gave her for Christmas.

Play-Doh.

I'm often looking for things to entertain Nelson and Maddox with mid-morning. This morning, I pulled out the play-doh that I have been hiding from them since late October. I was amazed at how long they stayed in one place, Maddox set a personal record. I'm thinking it's coming back out after school while I make dinner! Ah, the idea of 3 boys in one place, not fighting, not watching TV, and not asking me questions ever 3.5 seconds. Travis will be thrilled to walk into the kitchen to the smell of dinner and the odd silence of the boys.


Nelson showing off his creations.

Monday...

I don't usually like Mondays, but today is an exception. I have a lot to look forward to this week, so today seems like an exciting day to me. The boys have a 1/2 day on Friday, so once I bring Maddox to school at 9 AM, I will be alone with the Little Lady until 12:30 in the afternoon. Right now I have a kitchen table full of clean, folded clothes, and 3 bags packed for my weekend away with the kids.
Today is going to be the warmest day of the week. I feel like I need to take advatage of that and get all of my errands finished before afternoon naps.
Travis is going to be alone this weekend, I want to get laundry finished and the house clean so he has zero distractions, it leaves him all that time to accomplish my honey do list.

I want their lives!

My dogs (and kids) have it so rough! I want to lay on something soft and squishy for hrs on end.

The OTHER big brother

I love Wednesdays and Fridays in our house. Those are the days that Maddox goes to Moms Day Out (or in my case, Moms Day to do Laundry without "Help"). When he's gone in the mornings and it's just Nelson and Olivia I get a lot accomplished. Nelson is a pretty self-sufficient, independant kid. It goes un-noticed a lot because Cooper is such the big brother, he sees needs and meets them before they even arise. I'm finding Nelson is a very good big brother as well. He loves just holding Olivia and talking to her! There are a lot of times that I will hear him, ask what he said, and he'll just tell me he was talking to Olivia, I'll walk into the living room to see him on the floor next to her chair and showing her his gameboy or his Star Wars action figure. It's really cool to see.

Wow, twice in one week.

I made a resolution to do more "adventure" cooking. This means finding new recipes or making them up with what I have in the house. I have don't both this week! Let's hope tonights is as big a hit as the one earlier this week (FYI tonight's came from a cookbook, the one earlier this week was made up)

http://www.crazycookingwomen.blogspot.com

Back to normal.

We might have a biter on our hands... Olivia spent the majority of the evening chewing on her baby's hand.


Olivia showed off for Toby, sitting up and playing with her toys.


Maddox took a really good nap, in his new big-boy bed.

Last day of Christmas Vacation

It is definately time to get the boys back at school! Cooper and Nelson go back tomorrow and Maddox heads back on Wednesday. The picture below is how the 3 of them usually are.


This picture is a good depiction of what the last 4 days have been like!


Even Olivia is completely over having her 3 brothers home every day, all day long! Her smiles have disappeared. I'm hoping they come back once the chaos is gone.