Red, White and Black

 Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Honey is Sweet

And so are you!

Great Grandma's Celebration!!

 How cool is it that the girls have 2 Great Grandmas!! I remember my great grandma lived to be in her 90's and we would visit her often. I miss her.  She passed when I think I was about 9 yrs old or so. 

I am SO thankful that my kids have such a wonderful Great Grandmother here in Colorado and back home in PA! These pictures make me smile!!! Especially the one above because Ella and great Grandmas birthdays are just days apart! How special!

 We had  the party over at Matt and Tinas new place which is just beautiful!!!

In other news, I will be opening an Etsy shop soon and I am very excited! I have been busy making things and am excited to reveal it to you all! 

And just in case you see me limping in the near future- here is the cause- my toenail is basically missing from one of my little toes and it hurts like CRAZY! and I dont know how it happened. weird. 

Also, we watched Despicable Me tonight for family movie night- I am not sure what I think of it... some funny parts, weird looking characters, I dont know. I havent formed an opinion yet. 

After dinner tonight we went to a new yogurt place called PeachWave- super cute and YUMMY!! (frozen yogurt is all the rage here in Denver:) You get to dispense your own yogurt and add your own toppings- they have at least 50!! And they just weigh it and it turns out to be pretty cheap if you get a smaller size! It was funa nd the kids had a blast! And its fairly healthy! Win.Win.Win.

I REALLY need to join the gym. My belly is growing and its not because of a cute little bun in the oven. ugh! Nothing else seems to be getting larger just my stomach. Not fun! 

Did I mention that it was close to 65 degrees today! It was gorgeous- short sleeves and no coat. What could be better in late January?!! I LOVE Colorado!

I think that is all. Thanks for reading my ramblings! 

God Bless and Good Night!

King Size

Bed, that is.

We need one of these! (this one is Matt and Tinas and its awesome)
We have a queen for which I am thankful but it does get crowded every once in a while. I mentioned a while back that the kids kept waking in the middle of the night and coming in to sleep with us. Well, they have since mastered sleeping in their beds, for the most part. 

But NOT last night! 

At dinner, I told Mark about the CRAZY dream I had all which stemmed from waking up at 2am the night before to 4 raccoons fighting outside our window- it was LOUD! I am usually a VERY heavy sleeper but was up all night because of those  raccoons.

Well, wouldnt you know it, I had a terrifying dream where the raccoons got in our house and started clawing me as I slept. I made the mistake of telling Mark about it while the kids were listening. Sure enough, around 2am last night, all the kids slowly woke up and were SO scared because they thought they heard raccoons in our house. 

Poor Sophia was next to me on the end of the bed and I was just about back to sleep when she said, "Mom, I'm really scared still". 

I had a vivid flashback to my childhood- being about her age and crawling in my mom and dads bed  and still be frightened that someone was going to take me right out of bed and my mom wouldn't even know it. I said the same thing and my mom slipped her hand around me and hugged me close.

So, thats what i did to my daughter and she fell right to sleep. 

I wont be telling any more of my scary dreams to my kiddos anytime soon!

Especially if they involve fighting raccoons!

Who Stole the Candy from the Candy Jar?

 The other day, I was spending WAY to much time on the computer basically becasue Ella and Elijah were being SO good (or so thought) I hadnt heard them arguing or crying and I popped my head down their once and they were both engaged in various activites with toys in the playroom so I thought they were just being extra good for me and I continued my computer activities!! 

After about an hour or so, they were REALLY quite so I went downstairs to see how they were doing and low and behold this what I came acoss. They were both siting under the table( like they were "hiding") , the candy box opened with wrappers scattered all over the floor, and sticky goop all over their hands and faces, quietly chomping as much candy as they could get their hands on! 

Of course I reprimanded them and you can see by their facs they knew they were IN TROUBLE! 

Later on that day I tried to get into the downstairs bathroom and they had locked the door so noone could enter. (they werent inside) So, I just waited till Mark got home. He opened the door and I should have taken a picture! The bottle of windex was on the toilet and there was blue water EVERYWHERE as well as gobs of toilet paper and paper towels in the sink, the toilet and all over the floor. 

They were doing some unsupervised cleaning, I guess. 

Mark discovered this after I told him all about the candy story. He offhandedly asked how I had spent the day to which I meekly replied that I was on the internet a lot and not quite involved with the children. Not my proudest moment. 

But a funny story to say the least! 

How can it keep getting better?

I love this guy- even more than when we met many moons ago and even more than when we got married, and even more each passing day. Its true. He really still makes my heart pitter-patter and he still gives me goosebumps when we kiss. Its amazing to me that 9 years later, my love for him has gotten SO much deeper and I love him SO much more- even though I know all his flaws and even though he STILL leaves piles of dirty clothes in the bathroom, even though we have 4 kiddos that are constantly beckoning for our attention and stealing time away from "just us" ... I love him more every passing day. 

Love is an amazing thing!

P.s. Page views of my blog last month- 1,600! You guys are awesome! thanks for reading my blog!!

P.s.s Check out the pictures of Great Grandmas birthday cake under the tab recipes-

I included the chocolate cake recipe which is divine!

P.s.s.s. Have a great Sunday!

Kiss Me

Did I ever mention that I LOVE having a little boy. 

I love it. 

SO much!

He is SO very different than the girls. 

Generally MUCH tougher-

although whenever he gets really hurt-

he runs crying to me and asks me to kiss wherever the boo-boo is 

and as soon as that kiss is planted

(on his finger, toe, head, or whatever body part hurts)

he runs away happy as a clam! 

It cracks me up that my kisses are so magically healing

and warms my heart to know 

that my kisses are still needed,

even for a tough little boy like Lij!

All a Matter of Taste

I asked Ella the other day to change out of her pj's and get ready to go to school. She came down the stairs like this and said she was all ready to go! Ella is the only one of my kids that REALLY likes to pick out what she wears for the day. The twins could care less as long as it is comfortable- no jeans! 

But not my Ella! She has to have a say on what goes on her body. I usually let her go out with whatever she picks (its not worth the battle and she is so proud of her outfits and that she got dressed herself) 

but obviously, not this day- 

just a tad too cold and immodest:) 

I organize all my kids clothes in piles in their drawers with a top and bottom that matches so its easier for them to get dressed- they just grab a pile. But Ella always seems to rearrange the piles pulling out her favorites! I sorta like that she has such a strong opinion about what she wears- it shows her individuality. 

Elijah is a boy so he really cares less and weirdly the twins often ask me to pick out clothes for them. 

So, its nice to have one little girl with her own unique style:)

I love my Ella Bella!