Would you like a side of fat with that?

So during my parents visit here in Pa, I did what I do best...EAT! I would have been crazy not to take advantage of the opportunity to go out to eat since we rarley eat out on our humble income (thanks mom & dad). So I have had a whole week worth of stuffing myself beyound all belief and indulging in every sweet, high calorie, full of fat, food that was put infront of my face. My menu was as follows

Day 1- lunch: Massive polish dog with all the fixin's compliments of costco
Dinner: Believe it or not, I actually cooked it. Not too unhealthy
Dessert: To die for chocolate custard sunday from Zwahlen's

Day 2- lunch: your classic philly cheese steak from Paradise Pizza
Dinner: Tierra Colombiana so nummy! I ate enough food there to feed
a 3rd world country. Dinner was followed by a tres leches.

Day 3- lunch: last nights left over and I still didn't finish it all.
Dinner: Mcdonalds #2 ...supersized. Dessert: We got a Rita's it is italian ice sandwiched between custard icecream...SOOO GOOOD!

Day 4- breakfast: we ate at the Shady Maple smorgaspord. Good Amish cookin'! If you ever visit here this should be high priority. We actually didn't
need to eat for the rest of the day.

Day 5- Dinner: I make a killer roast with carrots and potatoes...another thing you don't want to miss if you ever visit us.
Dessert#1: strawberry short cake .....Dessert#2 killer chocolate brownies

Day 6-lunch: stuffed ham and cheese preztel from Immergut in intercourse PA...get your minds out of the gutter...that's actually the name of the town. They also sell shirts that say "I love Intercouse" let me know if you want one. Dinner: We ate at Applebee's, I got their Oriental chicken roll-up with fries...mmmm. Dessert: Yet again, another run to Zwahlens for a little taste of heaven.

Day 7- the last day thank heavens...lunch: I had a fat burrito from Qdoba, also very tasty.

So I don't know how much weight I've gained over the past week, but what I do know is that I've sworn off eating...for at least an hour or two.

Rock on!

This is for all you rockers out there, if there are any.

ROCK ON!

Macie hasn't quite picked up on the "rock on" yet,

but she can say "CHEEEESE" like a pro.

You gotta love the kids. They are the cheapest form of entertainment...never a dull moment whenever they're around.....now that I think of it, a dull moment would be quite welcomed.

Uncharted Territory

We new it was bound to happen sooner or later...the climbing phase.
I've been trying so hard to not let her find out that climbing

was a talent that she was capable of.

So on to the new adventure of trying to keep Macie off of every

piece of furniture we own.

She had been eyeing that fake fruit for some time now.

Unfortunately it wasn't quite what she had expected.

But she was still happy despite that fact that the "fruits" of her labor were unsuccessful.

Kalebs failed attempts 3 years previous, exact same age.

He was also unable to eat the fruit but he was not completely unsuccessful,

He went strait for the bag of pretzels instead.

Empty

You'd think I would be use to it by now, the empty pit in my stomach I get whenever I have to say good bye. I had to drop my parents off at the airport today and I have decided that it is harder to be the person left behind then it is to be the one doing the leaving. It's not something I'm going to lock myself up in my room for two days and cry, it's just sad to say goodbye. Usually by the time I get home from the airport I get too preoccupied with my children to stay sad. On the other hand, sometimes it's nice to be able to get back into my routine with the kiddo's. That means being lazy in the morning, hitting the gym in the afternoon, and making sure the kids are still alive by the time Nate gets home....boy, I think I need to get a new routine.

Day trip to Gettysburg

Saturday we woke up bright and early to go eat breakfast at Shady Maple, which is a smorgasbord of goodness might I add. After we finished stuffing ourselves beyond all belief we took an hour and a half drive to Gettysburg (I think we needed that long of a drive to let the food settle). I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about our little outing to Gettysburg, but I am pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually liked it. I've always wished that I could be one of those people who enjoy site seeing and visiting historical sites, but sadly I'm not one of those people. Considering all that, it was still was a very enjoyable experience and I would definitely recommend going to other people and I would possibly even go again sometime. The kids had a fun time. Kaleb especially loved the visitor center which had hundreds of old guns, swords and canons. He did a great job reenacting his own little civil war with his pretend guns and swords. All I would of had to do was put jar down next to him labeled "TIPS" and we would probably have enough money to pay for gas home and dinner for the family. After the visitor center we went on a car tour of the battle ground which was also pretty neat. I would say the only bad part about our little outing was the kids having to sit in their car seats for the majority of the day.

More fun with G-ma & G-pa!

I have found that the days are all starting to blend together. But I think I am still able to get a few details correct.
Friday we were going to take a trip to the temple, but unfortunately it didn't work out. Instead we spent some good quality time with Grandma & Grandpa which I think can be just as good sometimes. Any way, we ran a few errands and then we saw Shrek the Third. I dropped Macie off with a friend so we only had the two oldest. Abrie loved it and sat still the whole time, Kaleb on the other hand was a challenge. He first complained that they needed to turn the lights on because it was too dark. After he got tired of saying that he kept wanting to go play on the steps, after he was bored of that he came back to sit. Then he discovered that if he hurried and slid off the edge of his seat the seat would automatically spring up and shake making a very loud noise that was audible to everyone. So if you can look past all that I would say the movie was great. Later that evening, when Nate came home, we grabbed some McDonald's and headed for the park. This was more up Kaleb's ally being able to run wild and free and not have to sit still. I would say it was a great day the kids were able to make some great memories with their grandparents that they will never forget.

Grandma & Grandpa

My parents arrived late Tueday night, their flight got delayed due to bad weather. We ended up getting home at about 3:00 in the morning. Abrie and Kaleb woke up at about 6:15 because they were so excited to see Grandma & Grandpa and I don't blame them because grandma & grandpa love to spoil them. My mom, so far, has had a new outfit every morning for the kids and also a toy. My dad takes them out every morning on walks and to go play. So between the gifts and the attention my kids are in heaven. Yesterday, we went on a outing to Elmwood Zoo. You pay a lot of money for not a lot of zoo, but I guess you can't put a price on making memories now can you.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

We LOVE our dentist! (mostly because he's our dad)

So the Abrie and Kaleb had their first trip the dentist today, they call him Dr. Dad....but I call him Dr. Love ;) The morning started bright and early which was not welcome after the long night I had with kids. Abrie woke me up at 3:00 saying that she needed to go potty. So, I remove Kaleb from on top of me. Some how he managed to sneak in bed without my knowledge, which explains my lack of sound sleep from 12:00-3:00. Any way, so I take Abrie potty and all of a sudden she decides she needs to throw up. So I make her a bed in my room and climb into my bed, after taking Kaleb to his bed. Then Kaleb decides he doesn't feel well. So I bring him back into my room and make a bed for him on the floor. Finally at about 4:30 I was able to get some sleep. It's a wonder why we have a two bedroom house when lately it seems that all we really need is just one.

Excuse the tangent...now back to the kids first trip to the dentist...the kids were super excited to see Daddy's "preschool" as Kaleb calls it. Nate had been preparing them for this trip for quite some time with role playing the dentist here at home so they were all prepared to open up wide. To my surprise Kaleb didn't scream at all. That is a good sign since Kaleb is known for his random burst of yelling and screaming. I sat by the chair and helped Nate out by holding what they call in pedo. "Mr. thirsty" I personally call it the "spit sucker". I think Nate should definitely consider hiring me when he has an office. I think I've found a hidden talent. All in all it was a great visit and I think Nate felt pretty proud showing off his two little kids I don't blame him they are pretty cute.

Out of the mouths of babes

Hopefully this will put a smile on your face. Or maybe this is something only a grandma can really appreciate.

Abrie and Kaleb have been saying the funniest things lately. The other day Abrie and I were watching TV and a pro-active (acne med.) commercial comes on. Abrie is staring intensely at the screen...

Abrie: " mom, you need to get you some of that!"
Me: "Oh really, I do?"
Abrie: "ya mom, you do"
Me: "why do I need that?"
Abrie: "Because it would make you beautiful"
Me: "am I not beautiful right now?"
Abrie: "Well, you kinda are beautiful, but this would make you more beautiful"

I guess it really didn't help that I had a massive zit, as if it were a giant bulls eye, smack dab in the middle of my forehead.

We were at church when Abrie leans over to me with a confused look on her face...

Abrie: "mom, why do we have more than one bishop?"
Me: "honey, we don't have more than one bishop"
Abrie: "uh huh mom, yes we do. We have bishop Hood and bishopric"

We were getting ready for a make-up soccer game and I had just finished getting her little socks and shin guards on then Abrie says to me..

Abrie: "mom, aren't you going to do my make up?"
Me: "No hun, you don't need make up"
Abrie: "ya huh mom, I do need make up"
Me: "why do you need make up abrie?"
Abrie: "Because we are going to a make up soccer game!"Now there is Kaleb. You never quite know what is going on in that little head of his. This is a prime example. We were having a family night and we were talking about be kind to our brother and sisters and friends. Nate and I were doing some role playing with the kids. We started first with abrie...

Nate: "Abrie, what would you do if some one wanted something you had?"
Abrie: "I would share with them"
Nate: "that's right, very good! Ok Kaleb, what would you do if you were playing outside and someone was being rude to Abrie?"
Kaleb: (with a mean face on)"I would go outside and I would say Dylan I'm gonna hit you, and then I would hit him hard!"
Me & nate: ".....Umm ,...."

Again another family home evening. I'm beginning to wonder why we try. We are probably doing more harm then good. We were talking about the good Samaritan...

Me: "Abrie, what could you do to be a good Samaritan?"
Abrie: "I could stop on the road and I could help the man."
Me: "that's right, and Kaleb what could you do to be a good Samaritan?"
Kaleb: (again with his mean face) "I could pull out my guns and I could shoot him .." as he pulls out his fingers and makes pretend machine guns out of them accompanied with the sound effects and everything.and again,
Me & nate: "....umm,...."

...so little time

I have had this blog for several weeks now and I haven't posted a thing. Partially because this is all so new to me and partially because I have no time...or so I think. I tell myself I have no time to do things, yet I find myself finding time to sit around and do absolutely nothing. Now that doesn't make much sense does it but, then again, that's how my life is. I won't let myself do things that I really want to do like scrapbooking 3 years worth of pictures, for three kids might I add, until I accomplish certain tasks like actually cleaning my house, which is a never ending job...don't get me started on that. So, I don't clean my house because sometimes it gets just too overwhelming because as soon as I mop the floor I have to clean the bathroom and as soon as I clean the bathroom I have to do the laundry and as soon as I do the laundry I have to mop the floor AGAIN and the cycle continues. So what do I do? ...Nothing, but in my defense I did find time to write my first blog. I guess the laundry will have to wait to be done another day.