Warning : Pompeii is Not for kids.

We were learning about maps..I was on the couch under a blanket, freezing...she stood on a chair.
It just wasn't working. I wanted to sleep.
Who cares where Guinea is, we're not traveling there.

It's the kind of cold where your eyes water and mascara is pointless and a bad, smeary idea.
That's what I have this week.

So after math, with my head all stuffy, I lowered my teaching standards to Netflix.
I resorted to a documentary on Pompeii....History for the day. :)
Lunch was over and it was raining outside. It seemed fitting.

I talked the movie up. Told them how great it was going to be.
Told them a little about Pompeii.


The documentary said 43 minutes running time. Perfect...for a nap. Ha!
I pushed play. The kids started talking to each other. I said stop and watch the movie...
...This is school! *cough*

They stopped for a second and then started giggling about something and chatting quietly.
I have a cold. I want quiet. Don't they know this? Everyone needs to just be quiet.

So the queen pushed pause and made it very clear to the people of the court.....

"Listen. You HAVE to be quiet! I want everyone to focus and pay attention to the movie.
THIS is for school. You need to learn.
If you want to talk, you can talk and wash the kitchen floor together. Okay? Got it? Good.
Now QUIET!"

The room fell silent. Everyone faced forward to watch the educational masterpiece.
Play resumed.

Now...one would think a documentary about Pompeii would be safe, right?
Well, here's the conversation within seconds of pushing play....

Man on the TV: "She believed s@x was a gift from the gods and you should have as much $e# as possible. It doesn't matter the gender or the age...$ex, &e# S@X...."

At this point mom is fumbling to push the button that skips chapters as S@x is said another 800 times.
Mom sounding "fake" dumbfounded: "Hey...how did the movie skip forward? Oh well..let's watch."

Thinking the next chapter would be a bit more G-rated..I mean, it is a documentary on a volcanic eruption after all.....we watch as the scene opens with paintings of bedroom practices of all genders with all genders. Mom abruptly stops "safe" documentary on volcanic eruption.

The point...
1. Don't watch Pompeii on Netflix with your kids.
(I did go back and watch scenes from the next couple chapters and it seemed to be okay, it's just the opening scenes, but sheesh! Not for kids that are paying attention!)

2. If you have a bad cold, just turn on Cheaper by the Dozen in the first place,
and scrap history for the day. No one will die. I promise. :)

Also..did you guys hear about the law they're considering passing in Spain? I think it's a great idea.
Can you imagine if they passed something like that here in the States?
What would all the spoiled kids of America do?

Happy Wednesday.
XxOo

Losing Freedom, Brie and Truffle Fries...Yes there's a connection. Sort of.

Since the beginning of Jeff and Liz....we've had babies and kids at our feet..
until recently....and we've loved every second of it!
It's what we wanted...we wanted to raise a big family, and do it while we were young.

Even with little ones we always took time for "us".
We have always tried to keep our marriage alive and well. It's important.
{and I like spending time with my husband, it's one of my favorite parts of life!}

Now that our kids are old enough...we don't need a babysitter,
we have the freedom to run out spur of the moment for coffee, dinner or a quick jaunt to the store.

It's been nice. We entered into a new phase....that will soon be an old phase.

Last Friday evening as we were driving into the sunset....
on our way to THIS incredible steakhouse,
it dawned on me what this new little baby is going to do to our freedom! Bye, bye. Ha!

Starting this fall we will be a little tied down. and that's okay.
We're excited for another little person to join our family.
It's been 8 years since we've had a baby along for date night....he or she better like Starbucks.

Things in our little world of doing whatever we want, whenever we want will be changing..Soon.
We'll still be going out, we will just have infant company.
Which is better than teenage company when you want to be alone.
Babies don't have opinions about your conversation. They just care about clean diapers and being fed.

Now..back to our dinner at the steakhouse.

The restaurant is inside a big old house.
A beautiful big old house with an incredible staircase and a beautiful set of bells going up the wall.^^^
(I wanted to ring them...)

The food? Oh my...
Have you ever had truffle Fries? I didn't either...until last week.
French fries fried in truffle oil and then dipped in a truffle mayo dipping sauce.

My other favorite?
An appetizer simply called ~ The Brie ~
Baked brie cheese, panko crusted...served with grilled bread and a tomato basil sauce on the side.
To. die. for...well, maybe not actually die, but I definitely would go back just to get a plate of it!

And all the windows surrounding our table made for a beautiful view while
the sun set and a romantic feel once light disappeared.

Or maybe it was Jeff all dressed up in a tie that made it romantic...at any rate, it was lovely!

Now I'm hungry and our usual Friday night pizza doesn't sound so good in comparison.
Yeah. I know...first world problems. I should be thankful for any food I can eat! and I am.

Hope you have a wonderful, wonderful weekend.
Any exciting plans? We have a birthday party on Saturday and church on Sunday.
XxOo

Eight Unimportant Things and Bill Cosby.

We substituted a pretzel recipe for pizza crust...it was really, really good.
{unless you are crazy and prefer thin crust, then you won't like it}
I am so ready to plant in my garden and fill my window boxes with flowers...just a couple more weeks.
I don't like sewing...my girls love it. Thankfully they have my mom and sisters in the family!
Why don't moon pictures ever turn out? I know it's me...I'll have to learn how.
I love the way the sun shines in early morning.
My kids are blessed to grow up with so many cousins.
I love that my boys pump gas for me. It's sweet.
I'm happy to be married to the man that I am. He makes life great.

We're listening to Bill Cosby right now....to russell, my brother, whom I slept with
I've heard it a thousand times and it seriously gets funnier every single time! Our kids love it too.
If you don't know what I'm talking about....you're missing out. You HAVE to listen!
XxOo

Easter

We finally had a beautiful, warm weekend here and it happened to fall on Easter weekend!
It made for sunny egg hunts and sandals for the first time this year.

Saturday we drove down to Jeff's parents to celebrate Easter with his family. ^^^
{all the cousins minus one who just had her wisdom teeth pulled}

Sunday we went early to church for a sunrise breakfast and service.
Late Sunday afternoon we went to my parent's house where 300 eggs were hidden.
Yes, 300! Everyone didn't realize how many eggs everyone else was filling and bringing.
The kids had a blast.

Now today I am dealing with saying no a hundred times to candy....(and not just to the kids, but me! ;)
I hate sugar, but I love it, but I hate it, but I love it!

And I'm mad at my sister in law for making the most incredible triple layered carrot cake.

Grr...why'd she send it home with me?! Why did I agree to take it? I should know better, I really should.

I love my family so much. So thankful for my life.
Happy Easter. He is RISEN!!!
XxOo

Just a little bit of Sunday and Monday.

It was a rainy, rainy Sunday afternoon yesterday.
We decided to color Easter eggs...something we normally do Easter weekend.
Since next weekend is going to be busy, busy, busy and Jeff's work schedule is cRaZy...
we changed our little tradition.  Turns out it was much more relaxing this way.

Sunday nights at our house are usually set aside to go over the sermon we heard in church that morning.
Jeff preached yesterday on the significance of Palm Sunday, so we went over his sermon. :)

This is the second year we used brown eggs for dying as opposed to white.
(although we did have a few white)
I love the colors so much more! They are darker and richer looking.
Not that you can tell from my picture. Ha!

My sister is now a mommy of three little boys under the age of three!
Meet my new little nephew....Sawyer Burke.
He is the Sweetest! Cutest! I could give him a thousand and one kisses.

Little Sawyer made me want my own baby even more.

Fall seems so much further away than it already is.
Not that I'm willing to give up summer,
but I really hope October gets here soon!

14 1/2 weeks.
Photo by Sam in my Monday morning cleaning/teaching/take a nap skirt.

The sky spent the day snowing here. Bummer after our 79 degree Saturday.
Soon, soon warm weather will be here to stay....for a while at least.

Hope your week was off to a good start.
XxOo

I can't believe I finally did it.

I've written about my girl's bedroom in the past.

It's probably the most discouraging room in the house.
The girls are good about doing chores in the house,
but when it comes to their bedroom, they just don't keep it clean!
No matter how many times I help them put away and organize,
it always goes back to the same old mess!

Clothes all over the place..mixed with toys and dolls and a collection of priceless artwork from cousins and pieces of jewelry and rainbow loom bracelets and googly eyed stuffed animals and hundreds of glasses of water from the night before and single sock balls and the other shoe we can't ever find....You get the point, right?

It's a combination of laziness and too much stuff with no place to put it all.

Well, last week I was feeling better than I had been in a while. I decided we (the girls and I) were going to tackle their bedroom. So I read an inspirational story from this mom's blog, to get us motivated and in the mood to purge and clean and organize. :)

We started cleaning. I was putting things into piles and sorting...the girls were helping, but not helping.
I had them carry the Lego's out to the hallway where they began to play.
I called them back into the room.
I had them put away clothes. They started playing with stuffed animals.
I told them to stop. They did...until they were distracted by a sticker book found under the bed.

This was about the time I finally lost it.

For so long I dreamed of doing what this mom in the story had done.
After multiple threats over the past two years, I finally did it! I emptied their bedroom.

It made sense. Simplicity and freedom of excess is exactly what my girls needed!

I am NOT a lover of clutter...
it overwhelms me and I could clearly see it was overwhelming my daughters.
They couldn't keep up or manage their own things. It was too much.

So I sent them downstairs for garbage bags and we pulled empty bins out of the attic.
I told them we were doing what the mom in the story did! Everything was going!
I was expecting tears. Or at least a look of shock. They did neither!

They were excited. They told me they wanted a clean and empty room.
They grabbed garbage bags and started filling them. They put the important things into bins.
THEY WERE HELPING ME! No complaining. No distractions...just helping!
Seriously, non-stop working!

Toys, stuffed animals, the thousands of pieces of jewelry...we even got rid of the dresser!
Everything went.

When we were finished, their room consisted of a bed, a small bench that has a bookshelf under it,
a crate with a lamp and a jar of roses they dried from their Granny on it and a small basket of stuffed animals.
That was it. That IS it!

Everything that was in the dresser went into little canvas totes on a shelf in their closet.
Important toys are packed away in the attic. Everything else is gone.

They told me thank you at least ten times that day.
They told me they couldn't wait to go to bed so they could sleep in a super clean room.

The next day their oldest brother painted the room...colors of choice, light pink and white.
They wanted to keep all their horse decor on the walls.
 It feels so bright and airy and simplified. I love it. and so do they. :)

Today they even said they LIKE to make their bed now!
If you're wondering whether or not to take all your kids toys away...the answer is Yes!
Your kids will be so much happier. You will be so much happier.
XxOo

The Christmas tree went up in flames.

It feels like I am finally entering back into the land of the living.
I still get sick at night but I feel so much better than I have for the past couple of months.
"Hey Mom, you're awake a lot more"....each of my kids has told me separately.
I'm glad they noticed I was missing...and back again.

I've been catching up on things like deep cleaning and actually cooking normal meals!
I'm not exactly sure what my family ate through the months of February and March...
...but they're all alive and seem pretty healthy. ;)

Today is gorgeous! The nicest day we've had since last fall.
Windows are open. We cancelled school.
Instead of Presidents Day, Columbus Day..etc, we take off beautiful days in spring.

My boys have been outside working all day. We finally burned our Christmas tree. Ha!
We also took our Christmas lights down from the house...I know, I know.
Don't judge....things have been a little disorganized around here.

{My first "flowers handed to me by a child" of the season...}

I don't think I've ever dreamed of summer more than this year.  I can't wait.

I have a roast and carrots and potatoes in the oven.
Biscuits need to be mixed and baked, so here ends my blog for the day.

A song  for your afternoon.
XxOo

We're SUPER famous models now.

Early Saturday morning Jeff and I got to play " the lucky couple".
We were taking advertisement pictures for this lovely resort.

I want to live in the great big old mansion we were shooting in....it was Gorgeous!
They said no. Go figure.

I've never been dolled up by others before.
I've never had my make-up applied by anyone except myself!
I asked the make up artist to come over every morning...she said sure, but I'm thinking it may get costly.

Wedding fashion details can be stressful..but not for this fake bride.
The lovely ladies in charge chose everything....
....my dress, my hairstyle, my jewelry, even my lipstick color.

They took me outside of my always-wear-your-curly-hair-down little box...
I never wear my hair up the way it was styled, and I never wear berry colored lipstick.
I was pampered.

It was a blast and that beautiful cake tasted SOOOO good! The frosting was amazing.
I would like to eat a piece right now!

Here are a few photos I stole off instagram. :)
I enlarged them....sorry about the grainy quality.

The most handsome fake groom ^^^ever!

The picture does not do the table set up justice.
It was a gorgeous brunch spread with so many pretty, pretty details!
I'm sure the professional pictures will be lovely.

Playing wedding for a day was fun. Especially since I had such a great groom to work with. ;)
Happy Evening to you.
XxOo