The Penguin

My mom's home teacher, who, by the way is named Pie but that is not part of the story, called to me from across the street tonight and I turned around to see him waving hello, which isn't funny at all except he was dressed as a huge PENGUIN! Yes, the penguin waved to me from across the street and I just about laughed right at him. And to make it even better, the entire family was dressed as penguins running up and down the street and I thought of all you Lisonbees and wished you could see it.

Hello everybody. Meet Sarah Marie Lisonbee. She was welcomed into the world at 2:26am on October 30th. She weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce. She is 19 inches long. Lisa did a great job with the labor. I only had 5 death threats...OK...not really. She pulled my hair a little one time and grabbed my shirt a little tight once, but she did great. It was not as bad as I was expecting...I know...easy for me to say. I mean from the dad perspective. I have a great respect for all of you women that have and will go through that. Birth is a miracle and especially for us to be here after so many appointments with the specialists telling us we might not make it to 24 weeks or 28 weeks. What a special experience. Thanks for all your prayers and support. I can't believe it, I'm a daddy.

Steph's first attempt at being domestic...

Hey guys! Ok, here it is... the finished product (or should I say products)! Brandon is my little vampire (store-bought) and the girls are, obviously, little baby chickens. Their feet are a little dirty in the picture because they've been walking around outside in their costumes. I know, I'm shocked that they are actually able to walk in those things! It's hilarious seeing them walk... they have to lift their feet higher than normal and they wobble too, hilarious!!! Happy Halloween!

Who Dat?

Is this not the best action shot ever?!? We were taping up the house to start painting and here I caught Adam mid pose. It was a haasly task taping up the whole house (thanks dale and steph) and the best part of it is, IT'S DONE. Feast your eyes on this!

So, first off, I thought it only fitting that our house make its debut on our family blog with the photo of our dining room. This is where I spilled the paint at 4 am. No stain. Let's hear it for Adam! (By the way, we don't have any of our art up on the walls so you can imagine that in your minds...I'm sure it's breathtaking)

Here is our entry way/ foyer. The door is a deep red...not as dark as brick, not as bright as crimson. To the left is the dining room and to the right is the living room. Then, to the right past the living room is the hallway to the guest rooms...AKA where all of you will stay when you come out to visit...or where Dale is forced to sleep when he says something brilliantly sensitive like "wifely duties."

Here's our kitchen. The walls are chocolate brown and the countertops are granite. I heart them.

A different angle of the kitchen.

The bedroom. Love it. When you close the door, the whole world goes away and it's an oasis of serenity in there. Have I mentioned I love it??? The blue looks a little smurf-esque in this light and I'm not sure why. It's really like a slate-ish blue in real life but you get the idea.

Here you can see the window seat which is also one of my favorite features. I love how it looks out over the back yard.

You guys should all come out and visit. I hope you will sometime. (If you want to see the before pictures so you can see the horror that was this house before we got ahold of it, hollah. I'll post those babies too!) So, come on. Let me know what you think or what else you'd like to see from our house!

Alright alright...I'll come clean.

So... we started a blog. Adam's family doesn't have a blog that they could all check and when we moved from our old ward in Carrollton, a bunch of the girls that I was friends with had blogs too so I thought we'd start one of our own so that we weren't always bombarding you guys with our lame vacation pictures or stupid stuff that no one back home cares because frankly, I have a tendancy to ramble. So, anyway, if you guys want to check our blog, it's at http://tammy-braun.blogspot.com. Michelle, link us up to the fam blog if you feel so inclined.

As for the house pictures, I knew that Steph was about to post the Halloween pictures and I didn't want to post right on top of her kiddos.

Honestly and truly, I didn't want everyone to feel compelled to read up about and comment on our not so exciting life just because I felt like I wanted to write about it. So, check it if you want but I'll still post the good stuff, the really momentous stuff on the fam blog.

Hmmmm....

Hey folks, check this out. Interesting.

Pumpkin Patch cont.

Here's a picture of Brandon from my camera...(that's why the coloring is bad). This is one of the few that turned out. I thought this one of Brandon was cute! It's of him in one of those little kid-sized houses at the Pumpkin Patch.

Pumpkin Patch pics

Here are a few pictures from the Arboreatum (sp) Pumpkin Patch. The kids had a blast there checking out all the gorgeous flowers and exploring all the little kid-sized houses they had and then finding all the pumpkins at the end of the trail! The weather couldn't have been better, it was such a nice day outside... perfect fall day! Thanks, Tammy & Adam, for a wonderful time and also for the pictures!

Thank you, thank you, thank you...

I just wanted to thank you all for being so socially graceful to me.

It seems that I have the same conversation with everyone I meet and it's making me feel like a science experiment. "Still pregnant?" "I told you you'd go over." "Aren't you mad at the doctors - telling you she was going to slide out and now, this?" "You look like you're going to pop." "No baby yet?" Of course, you ladies who have been through pregnancy can all attest to the absurdity of someone saying, "still pregnant" when you are walking through church with a big belly and no baby in your arms - besides the fact that you're AT church in the first place. But the absurdity is new to me, and all the comments are getting to me. Can someone just tell me that my hair is pretty or ask what I think about the presidential primaries (fyi, I don't think anything about them - but still...).

Or how about this. Sometimes, if I don't answer my phone, I find out later that my mom had to field a call from the caller who thought that maybe I was in labor. My poor poor mom. My sisters started to complain about all the ladies in my old ward asking daily if the baby is "here." I didn't know they dealt with it too. The 13-year-old asked, "Don't they know that we'd probably tell them if the baby was born?" Thank goodness for her social competence.

Oh yes, but to my point. You, of all people, deserve the most to know what is going on with my life and yet NONE of you do or say the things that annoy me. So thank you for trusting me to tell you when the baby comes rather than freaking out if I don't answer my phone. And when you do call, thank you for just checking on us and not saying something about how I look. You are a wonderful group of people....

Stephanie Rocks!!!

OK, you guys should have been at the ward party today. Stephanie made the chicken costumes and they were absolutely adorable. EVERYONE was commenting on them. I think it was particularly eye-catching because there were two of them. The even won a prize in the costume contest. You should have seen the jaws dropping and all of the people giving compliments to Stephanie. She was unsurprisingly modest, repeatedly indicating she got the idea on line and not taking near enough credit for all the work she did on them. Lots of people were stopping the girls and taking their picture, saying things like "I have to take a picture of this for my wife." People were using phone cameras and any and everything they could find. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the costumes and would not have done anything near that nice. Good job Ollie!

This goes out to all you ladies...

So, you have to click on it so that it enlarges but once you give it a good read, it's priceless. It's an article from 1955 and all I have to say is I am up for wife of the year according to this baby. You girls too, right?

Football fans...

These are the stars of the Clovis Buckeyes...Jake and Carter are on the same team and they're so comfortable with each other that they are a great pair. My favorite play so far is Carter playing running back following his lead blocker, Jake, and scoring a touchdown. I wish you guys could see it. It is poetry. They absolutely love football. You should see the look on Carter's face when he's got the ball or when he's blocking. It's awesome.

Happy Halloween!

I love having a porch to put pumpkins on...we spent this afternoon/evening carving our pumpkins. They look fabulous, don't you think? We missed carving pumpkins with Nana and Papa this year...it's usually a big family affair...we were thinking of them though!

Roommates.

You wanted more roommate stories... Well ask and ye shall receive. You know that one roommate that cursed that other one out a while back? Did I ever mention that during that fight she punched a hole in the wall? Did I also mention that she is 6 ft tall and plays for the BYU basketball team? What I'm getting at is that she's scary. Nice nice nice girl...until you set her off...which brings me to my story. Today we have cleaning checks and although I reminded the girls a few times each, I was the only one who decided to participate. I don't know why I was even the least bit surprised when I've been cleaning up after them this entire semester. Anyway, I was up late prepping for it and decided that it was about time for the he-woman's (aka scary roommate's) smelly gym bags to be moved out of our living room. I thought I was the only one home so I opened her door and dragged in one of the bags and I hear "hello?" Dunt dunt duuuunnnnn...I had woken the beast.

Me: "Sorry, I didn't know you were home. We have cleaning checks tomorrow so I was just moving your bags."
Beast: "I'll move them in the morning!"
Me: "Ok well just have them moved by 9 because that's when they're coming."
Beast: "Shut my door!"

A few minutes later she walks out, drags the other bag into her room, does some laundry, and leaves the apartment. After she left I moved her laundry basket that had been sitting in the hallway for about a month into the laundry room and finished cleaning. I was working on a Halloween costume when he...I mean she...stormed in the door, got to her room and yelled, "Courtney I though I told you I would move the stuff in the morning." I thought maybe she was sleep walking before and didn't remember moving the bag in herself so I yelled back, "You did move it...already...." She was like, "NO! MY LAUNDRY BASKET!"

Seriously, I was fearing for my life. I was thinking, if she curses me out it will be the least of my worries. The craziest part of this all to me is that I WAS CLEANING UP AFTER HER!!! I never ask her to clean, I never complain to her about cleaning up after her, I moved a bag into her room and she turned into the chick from the exorcist. I would not be sad if I never had another roommate again in my life.

Oh and just a little fun fact, she likes to turn our heater up to 90 degrees and then when our apartment turns into a sauna, turn on the air conditioning to compensate. My gas bill is going to be excellent this year.

You know you want to be me...

The day begins at 7:00 AM with Carter acting like he's had a few too many Red Bull's already. After I get them breakfast (something different for everyone...)and out the door to catch the bus (then back in the door to get shoes and back out the door and back in the door to get backpacks), I run home to do the treadmill. I quickly (and I mean like 2 minutes or less) take a shower and make the house presentable for the 7 PRESCHOOLERS that arrived shortly after. Three hours of teaching preschool to four crazy boys and three girls, I throw some dinner in the crockpot, make some rice, and run out the door to pick the boys up early from school. Then, we run to the doctor for the first grade physical for Carter (two months late) only to find out he FAILED the hearing and vision tests. I could go on about that, but I'll just carry on. Then, since Carter's teacher only offers parent-teacher conferences at times when Rick is at work, I head off to the parent-teacher conference WITH the children. I find out Carter is doing okay but in need of some serious one-on-one attention in various subjects and will probably have to go to summer school. Meanwhile, Jake is eavesdropping on the entire conference even though he's supposed to be watching malia who, at this point, has managed to unload all the teacher's markers and color all over herself in purple dry erase marker. Lovely. Then, we run home only to find out the missionaries are already here waiting to be fed. GREAT. So, I throw dinner together, feed everybody, and Rick takes off (with the missionaries) leaving me, four children, homework, and bedtime routines. It is 7:00 by this point. Why do I chomp anti-depressants like they are candy? No idea. What is wrong with people. Why can't they understand that IT'S ALL ABOUT ME? Nobody gets it. So Courtney, definitely, you are mother of the year....Please share some of your secrets.

FHE Mom of the Year

This is me and my husband at last week's pumpkin carving FHE. Yes, that guy behind me is flashing his butt...sometimes my kids make me so proud!

Some of our group crowded in one of Belmont's tiny livingrooms. So you probably thought the guy flashing his bum was stupid but I hate to say it gets worse...much worse. The first completed pumpkin of the night had male anatomy carved into it... I'm telling you people, Belmont is where you find the quality guys. You'll be happy to know though that none of my dates have been from my ward let alone my complex.

Me and some of my kids showing off our masterpieces at this week's sugar cookie frosting FHE.

You know those days when nothing seems to go right? Such as when you don't sleep the night before and then you spend twelve hours on campus and then you come home and accidently park in the spot next to yours and come back hours later to find it towed....days like those... Typically in such a circumstance I decide that it would be better for me to stay in bed for a week then get up and face another hellacious day like the one I just had. Thankfully though, I usually wake up the next morning naively convinced that it couldn't possibly get any worse and sometimes it doesn't, sometimes I have days like today. Today I woke up at the crack of dawn, cranked out 5 2 page papers that are due tomorrow, baked sugar cookies that we decorated tonight at FHE, cleaned my house so I wouldn't be embarrassed when everyone came over, studied for my Human Development test and blew that baby out of the freaking water! Then I got to come home and have another successful FHE. Point of the story is...I'm a freaking awesome FHE mom. It turns out that actually wasn't the point of the story, but I just thought I'd throw that in there. The real point is that it was really cool for me to see how making my calling a priority helped everything else run a little smoother.

"Why painting anything at 4 am is a bad idea" - by Clark W. Griswold

Since we moved into our house about 3 weeks ago, I had decided that I was done with having blue painter's tape still up in every room of our house. I informed Adam that I was done with that and so he worked all week after work to touch up and finish up all of the paint. But it was Thursday night and I had just had enough. I just could not take one more day of not "living" in the house so I pranced myself up to the top of the ladder in our living room and dining room to paint the crown moulding and then have the glorious boon of ripping down the festering painter's tape once and for all. And with that, the stage was set.

At first I was just frustrated as all get out. It was me against the ceiling and I was going to win. I calculated that I could paint a full six inches on either side of where I stood on the top of the ladder before I had to get down, take the paint can and rollers down, move the tarp, move the ladder and relocate to exactly 12 inches from where I had been before. The progress was slow but I was on a mission and I was not to be deterred. As it went on, I sort of got this self satisfied grin on my face thinking "boy, will Adam think I'm a rock star when he sees what I've done." (Nevermind that he was in the other room at the time doing touch ups and painting trim because he wouldn't go to sleep while I was up working...no folks, let's not get distracted...this story is all about me, thank you very much) I'm cruising along and before I knew it, I was one side of the dining room wall away from finishing the first coat of that crown moulding. Then, at around 3:45 a stroke of genius hit me. I would go to the garage and get the other drop cloths and line each of the walls so that when I moved the ladder, rollers and paint, I wouldn't also have to move the tarps as I went around to do the second coat. Since we had just put in new carpet so I had to be super careful to not drip.

So, to the garage I went. I got the drop cloths, lined each of the walls and just had that last wall to line before I could get up to the top of the ladder, finish my task and do the final endzone dance at being done with the painting. The momentum was building. It was to be my triumph. So that last tarp had gotten caught a little bit under the corner of the ladder. I went over and gave it a tug and then I heard this sort of rattling sound. I turned just in time to watch the GALLON of paint careening from the top of the ladder and thudding on the floor. It of course landed on the corner so the paint literally spewed forth in the ONE CORNER THAT DID NOT HAVE A DROP CLOTH!!!! You guys, it was SO Christmas Vacation. It was in slow motion and as it fell, I just could not fathom that it was really happening. On my beautifully freshly painted walls, there was a WHITE GLOSSY SPLATTER that went half way up the wall, on the shutters, on the window sill and on the baseboards. Oh, and it doesn't stop there! No sir. There was paint literally pooling on my BRAND NEW CARPET! (Picture Margo from Christmas Vacation with the spilled wine crying "My carpet!" That was me.) No exaggeration: I let out the most primal, blood curdling, horror movie-esque scream. It even startled me. Poor Adam was clear on the other side of the house and came SPRINTING in to find out what had happened.

Lucky for me, he didn't kill me for having scared the bejabbers out of him and then, in the calmest, most unaffected voice, he said "it's OK. It'll be fine. We'll clean it up." Yeah, here's my brilliant method. I straight like sprayed water on it and was mopping it up with a dish towel. What I thought this was doing to help the situation, I'll never know but it was worth trying, right? I can not describe the extent of the meltdown I had at the sight of my ruined carpet. It was a cross between hysteria and a full fledged nervous breakdown. I was inconsolable and not even making complete sentences. IT WAS 4 am PEOPLE!

Good thing Adam is incredibly calm in tragic situations and is evidently capable of keeping his witts about him. He decides he'll flood the carpet and then flush the water over to the tile which bordered the carpet. I watched as he did it and over and over he flushed the paint from the carpet and the water came out on the other side a very very milky white shade. So there I am, whimpering and crying in the corner and mumbling something about being sorry that I wrecked our dining room. And then, even though it was me who had insisted that we stay up until this project was finished THAT NIGHT and after Adam had been up till like 2 am the day before, we all know how this ended. Adam finished the painting and Tams, who incidentally was still hiccuping from crying so hard, went to bed. When I got up in the morning, the painter's tape was down and the carpet had almost dried from the incident which we've now named "The Spill."

AND THEN, our good friend called Adam that afternoon to see what he was up to and he mentioned what had happened the night before. Our friend then says "hey, you know what? I have a carpet shampooer and I'm not too busy right now. Want me to come over?" So literally, on a Friday night, this guy just drops what he's doing and cruises on over to shampoo the Bad News Bears' carpet. I walk in the door that night to find the house in PERFECT condition and Doug was just wrapping up finishing cleaning the carpet. You can't even tell anything happened. Adam had repainted the wall so there was no remaining evidence that I had made such a fiasco of the night (morning) before. So what if I hugged the carpet cleaner maching thingy...you would have too! It's all part of the experience, Lazer Beams. I wanted something to be proud of, right? And that, folks, is why nothing is EVER worth painting at 4 a.m. Consider yourselves warned.

Denver weather

Yesterday, it was 78 degrees. Today...

I hope that doesn't make anyone think of cancelling plane ticktes--it's supposed to be back up to mid seventies by Thursday, I promise!

ODE TO TAMARA

Last night I was thinking about writing a poem for Tammy's birthday to post on the blog. I could only think of two really cheesy lines (I will spare you). I thought I would try again this morning, but I have come to the realization that my brain is just not working like it used to . . . will it ever come back?

But enough about me - let's talk about Tammy. I really can't say enough about the girl, seeing as how she pretty much hooked me up with Mr. Amazing. I know her mostly from our days at law school, so I will report on THAT, and you fellow Tammy-lovers can comment on the other happier times of life. Everybody from law school likes Tammy; she is bright, energetic, friendly, talented and apparently always had treats somewhere in her desk. She always looked really really pretty too. And THEN, there's the way she made everyone laugh. I might still have a bruise from biting my lip hard enough to not laugh at her IM's to me during estate planning class. Oh ya, and she is also good with people, their feelings, remembering important things, etc. (This list is in no particular order - remember my brain problems.)

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tamara (or Tammy, since I'm a now part of the family...).
Hope you had a great day!

Lisa

PS Can you post a picture of the llama with the mullet?

Poop Catastrophe Update

Welp, I've tried everyone's suggestions (thank you to everyone who has offered advice) and I'm convinced now that there is no possible way to "twin-proof" anything. I've come to the realization that I'm just going to have to deal with poop and whatever else comes our way. Ahhh, isn't life beautiful? I didn't realize how good I had it with Brandon - he was like a dream child compared to my two little terrors! Maybe I should've chosen two little devil costumes instead of the sweet innocent spring chickens for this years Halloween! Oh well... it's all part of the experience. Builds character is what I like to believe. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore having twins, but ohhhh man is it HARD work!!! Let's hope I don't end up in a mental institution. I fear that day may be closer than I think!

True love...

Overheard as the kids were setting the table last night.
Carter: Bella, you sit here right by mom.
Bella: How bout if I sit here by Dad.
Carter: No, you're sitting here by mom.
Bella: I want to sit by Dad because he's my true love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I know Dad doesn't usually check the blog but I just thought I'd give a shout out to the man who is half the reason most of us are here. Let's hear it for the Papa Bear. I think most of what I know about being hard working and tenacious I learned from him. What a great example for all of us. Dad is honorable, upstanding and honest. He's super super smart and has a knack for teaching people and for infusing a love of learning in other people. And besides that, I can't think of much I like better than when Dad cracks himself up. He finds himself so entertaining and you've got to respect that. Or laugh at it. Whatevs.

You're the greatest Dad! We love you.

Sassy Pig

Ashley likes to take toys in her bed, and we have a rule. At naptime, she can take any toy she wants, but at bedtime it has to be a quiet toy (one that doesn't make noise). You would be surprised what toys are quiet and what toys aren't. I was putting Ash in bed just now and she was in the process of picking a quiet toy. I suggested a favorite pig puppet and she said, "No, cuz he's sassy." Kind of took me back to the days when the door to the upstairs bedroom slammed shut during Jake's nap and we went up to find the Penguin violently thrown down the stairs...

Sometimes shutting down the freeway isn't so bad

This weekend, a major accident caused the freeway to be shut down so I decided to not battle the insane traffic this morning and play hookey. Hence, I got to be a "real mom" and take Aurora to Lombardi Ranch this afternoon. And here's the kicker, I'm posting this a mere 90 minutes after coming home. For me, that's a major feat. So even thought this isn't quite so exciting as birthing a baby like in the previous post, I'm just an einsey wiensey bit proud of myself. Happy Fall you guys!

Can I get an 8-clap...

for the NEW ONE Lisonbeaker!

Nathan James Lisonbee (Nate Dawg)

Born October 12th, 4:07pm. Weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz, and 19 inches long. He gets the short and fat from my side of the family.

Labor was not too bad, at least pain free which I am a big fan of. I'm feeling very happy, in fact I'll even throw in a :) just so you know how good I really feel. Nate is a very good baby so far, I'm loving it.

Approved by all the most important critics, we think we'll keep him. Bash calls him, "baby bwother," and is possibly the most excited of all. This morning I called the house for Justin and talked to the girls while he was getting ready for church. Ash wanted to know if baby bwother could talk on the phone. Yesterday when they came to visit at the hospital she didn't want to go home because she said, "I will miss the baby bwother!"

How can you not love a kid with chubby cheeks and frog legs?

The Human Cannonball

So, on my way into the office Tuesday morning, I heard something exciting on the radio. You see, Texas is having it's annual State Fair right now and the DJ mentioned that there is a human cannonball event every day at the fairgrounds. I listened intently to the description and the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of a daydream watching my body being launched out of a cannon and my mind had wandered to through following thought processes:

1. That could be fun.
2. I bet I could do that.
3. Surely it takes little to no skill.
4. I'm not even afraid of heights.
5. I bet the hazard pay is pretty good!

When I realized what was happening in my mind, I quickly shook myself from the daydream and came to the stark realization that if it feels like a positive career move to me to crunch myself into the barrel of an instrument once used as a weapon of war only to become the projectile being hurled from such instrument, perhaps that says something about my current job. Just at thought. But take a look at those photos...I really COULD be good at that, don't you think?

POOP!!!!

That's right. Poop. I received a call from my wife today as I was driving home from work. That is not all that uncommon. So, she asked when I would be home. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, except that I was actually leaving at a reasonable hour, thinking it might be a reasonably relaxing night for once. That's when she broke the news.

Earlier in the week, the girls had gotten into the closet in their room. Up til then, they hadn't been able to open the closet, so this was our first experience with TOTAL MAYHEM, TWIN-STYLE. They took some books that mean a lot to me and they literally ripped the pages out one by one. I know, those of the rest of you with kids are thinking "Big deal, kids do that all the time." Not like this they don't. I promise. It was an absolute war zone. I was so mad I could have spit nails.

So, last night, we put on those child-proof doorknobs. Let's just say they didn't work. The girls managed to break through it. And, they got into my bills, my tax returns, destroyed my filing cabinet, spread all of that all over the floor in a now near-unrecoverable manner. If that weren't enough, they went for the wedding album. They successfully removed several pictures. Fortunately, they didn't rip them. They just bent them and "decorated" them, as detailed below.

Yep, I'm going there. Brittany decided she wanted to go au-naturale. She took off her diaper. And yes, she decided to spread the poop throughout the room. That would include on the new area rug, the ottoman, the wedding pictures, the floor, the wall, etc.

So, let me tell you, that was a REALLY NICE SURPRISE. So, in case your day is really nice today, mine was accentuated with some poop.

Spring Chickens

For Halloween this year, I thought I would try and be domestic and actually make the kids a costume. I really hope I'm not getting in over my head and there's no going back now because I already ordered all the supplies I need. Anyway, here's a picture of what the girls are going to be - my little Spring Chickens! I got the idea from Martha Stewart. Wish me luck!!! I will surely need it.

Progress...

This week has been busy for us. We have been preparing the backyard for a patio and grass to grow in. Well, this week, we finally got the patio slab put in. Turns out the patio cover was a bit out of our budget, so that will have to wait. But, we did get grass put in! Gotta love that sod. It's like insta yard. I am so happy to look out my window and see green! We went a little nuts later at the nursery and got some trees...a cherry for the boys, an apple for bella, an avocado for me, and Rick got two birds of paradise and a magnolia. Oh, and we got a Valencia orange...we thought we'd pay tribute to our roots...We will be planting as soon as we can get a hold of a jack hammer. Our soil is pretty much bedrock. Some friends from the ward showed up to help us with the sod and it only took a couple of hours. Now, if I can just keep the kids off it until it's ready to be trampled on, we'll be set! The other picture is Bella's room. It's too hard to get the whole room in there, so I just took a picture of Bella's bed. I made the curtain and pillows...Katie's mom inspired me this summer. I absolutely love how it looks. Now we just need some paint on the wall and a few more accents and we'll be done in there...

So, that's my house improvements for this week. I'm tagging Tammy to get some pictures of her house up...

help!

Could somebody out there enlighten me as to what age it is reasonable to expect a child to stop peeing on the carpet?

BASTA!!!

Alright, I try not to get too worked up about this but this is a family blog and I'll rant if I want to. So, I get my tired bones out of bed every festering morning to get to work "on time" but it seems the stars are stacked against me. Why is it that when I have left my house within a 15 minute window of the same time EVERY MORNING it took me 1.25 hours one day to get in to work, 1.0 the next day, 35 minutes the next day, 45 minutes the next day and then 1 hour and 5 minutes the today. WHY? For the love, can I not get to work on time? Does it even matter that I try to get here on time? I'm going to to say NO! And then why is it that no matter when Adam leaves every day, he gets there in a relatively predictable amount of time EVERY DAY?!! Do you understand how the stars are stacked against me? And for all of you braniacs out there who are going to say "why don't you just leave when Adam does?" well, thank you very much but a. I need to be there earlier and b. after Adam's exit, that's where the traffic starts to pile up...so take that you "fixers" out there. I can't plan to be on time anywhere because even if I leave early enough to "beat traffic" some unlucky soul who also left that time to "beat traffic" had the unfortunate mishap of getting in an accident and so the rest of us early riser/ early leavers have, despite our best efforts, managed to land ourselves right in the middle of traffic rather than beating it and end up getting there later than if we'd left at regular time...(except of course on the days when I leave at "regular time" at which point there ends up being a seminar downtown and everybody who usually works in the suburbs and does not contribute to rush hour traffic has to be downtown the same time I do that day - true story, actually happened). Well, all I have to say is I could live in LA for the traffic I put up with, and at least I'd have the beach and you guys close by to show for it. BOOOOO TRAFFIC!

To all you stay at home moms out there:

This is kinda long but I just read it on a friend of mine's blog and I thought it would be good for some of you guys to read. I really admire you guys. As hard as my job is, you guys could run circles around me. I admire you guys and can't wait for my turn to join you. I hope I'm up to the task. Love you girls!

It started to happen gradually. One day, I was walking my son Jake to school. I was holding his hand, and we were about to cross the street when the crossing guard said to him, "Who is that with you, young fella?""Nobody," he shrugged."Nobody?" said the crossing guard, and I laughed. My son is only 5, but as we crossed the street I thought, "Oh, my goodness, nobody?"

I would walk into a room, and no one would notice. I would say something to my family like, "Turn the TV down, please," - and nothing would happen. Nobody would get up, or even make a move for the remote. I would stand there for a minute, and then I would say again, a little louder, "Would someoneturn the TV down?"Nothing.

Just the other night, my husband and I were out at a party. We'd been there for about three hours, and I was ready to leave. I noticed he was talking to a friend from work. So I walked over, and when there was a break in the conversation, I whispered, "I'm ready to go when you are."He just kept right on talking.That's when I started to put all the pieces together. I don't think he can see me. I don't think anyone can see me. I'm invisible.It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?"

Obviously not! No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.I'm invisible.Some days, I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order,"Right around 5:30, please."

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude -but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

She's going-- she's going-- she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip, and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this."It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:* No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.* These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.* They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.* The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam! He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No onewill ever see it."And the workman replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table."That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrificesof invisible women.

"Air Fighting"... a twin thing???

So the girls have this new thing they do... sometimes when they fight, instead of actually making contact, such as pinching the other on the skin, scratching, pulling hair or even punching, they will pinch the air while giving the other a dirty look or scratch the air while giving a dirty look to the other, or punch the air (you get the picture) and then the other will start screaming and crying saying oweeee and holding on to a part of their body as if they really got hurt there. I'm usually right there trying to break up the "cold war" between the girls and so I KNOW that they didn't actually make contact. I'm just wondering.... does this happen their cousins or is this a "twin thing"???

You know you're in Clovis when...

for cub scouts, you go to the high school FARM for entertainment. Oh yes, we did. The high school is about 1 1/2 miles from us and it is on the same campus as the elementary school. Who knew there was a full fledged freaking FARM ON THE CAMPUS. Seriously. The smell was just unbearable. The high school has the top ranking agricultural program in the state. The Clovis Future Farmers of America places highest in the state every year. If you attend the high school, you have the option of raising your own animal...pig, lamb, cow, horse, etc. and then selling it at the fair for a profit. So, while we were there, there were kids out taking their pigs for walks and a girl out jogging with her sheep. WHAT PLANET ARE WE ON? Who takes their pig for a jog on city streets? CRAZY stuff, I tell you. Those pigs are not just your cute little Wilbur pig either. They were huge. Some interesting facts we learned...pigs squeal as loud as jet engines. They can run a 7 minute mile. Captains of old ships used to keep a pig on board because they thought if they got lost, the pig would automatically swim to the nearest shore. The biggest pig ever was 9 feet long and over 2000 pounds. In the commercial market today, we use 80 percent of the pig for consumption. The longest sausage made was a mile long. (Maybe we could've used that for conference breakfast). When we came home, we smelled like the pig farm. It was in my hair, on my clothes, etc. and I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH THEM!

Egg Roll Recipe

Ok, so here's the egg roll recipe that Dale insisted I post on the blog... he and the kids LOVE it! I'll warn you ahead of time, it has cabbage in it for anyone who hates cabbage - Dale hates cabbage, but loved it in this recipe... anyway, here goes:

You'll need:
3 large carrots, thinly sliced
6 green onions (or more to your taste), cut 1/4" lengths
handful of fresh green beens, cut into thirds
1 whole cabbage, thinly sliced, then cut into 3" lengths
5 chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
Soy Sauce
Cornstarch
Your favorite Seasoning Blend (we used Mrs. Dash seasoning blend)
Vegie Oil or Canola Oil
Egg Roll Wraps (you can usually find them in the refrigerated area of the produce section): (keep the wraps refrigerated while preparing everything else.)
1 egg white

Ok... so, first take the uncooked chicken and cut into bite-size pieces. Put in bowl. Add about an 1/8 cup soy sauce, a few sprinkles of your favorite seasoning blend and about 1 tbsp of cornstarch to the chicken. Mix and set aside.

Next, heat up some oil in a pan. Once heated, take a handful of the cut-up carrots, green beens, green onions and cabbage (mixed together) and throw in pan. Stir-fry for about a minute or so and then put in a collander to drain. Continue doing so, adding oil as needed, 1 handful of vegies at a time til all the vegies are stir-fried.

Next step: Add more oil to the pan and heat up. Once heated, add the entire bowl of bite-size chicken pieces to pan and stir til fully cooked. Drain the pan and add the meat to the vegetables.

Take a sauce-pan or small pot and add about three cups of oil. Heat the oil.

While the oil is heating, take the package of refrigerated egg roll wraps and lay each square down on a counter. Take the mixed vegies/meat and add a small handful to each egg roll wrap. Fold the left and right side over (not overlapping - when we fold ours, the sides don't even touch, seems to roll easier this way). Then fold the bottom up and roll starting from the bottom and ending at the top. Take some egg white and apply it to the fold (it acts as a glue and keeps the egg roll from unwrapping).

Once all the squares have been rolled, test the oil to see if it's hot enough by putting one end of an egg roll into the oil to see if it "sizzles". Once oil is ready, place egg rolls into the oil (we usually can fit about 3 or 4 at a time) and fry the egg rolls til golden brown. You may have to turn the egg rolls over while cooking. When each egg roll is cooked, place in collander to drain.

That's it!

We usually serve ours with steamed rice and soy sauce on the side. Hope you enjoy!