Spaghetti face I love you.

He had a little help from his big brother in obtaining the leftover spaghetti in the first place..... it was too funny to be mad. I had to scrub my carpet a little bit, but it was worth it. :)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............................

Just can't get enough!

The look of satisfaction. :)

Ten Months

Logan Richard I didn't realize how tired he looks in this picture!

mmmmm.... O'Henry Bars. :)

At Grandma's, doing what he does best. Sitting on the floor and jabbering to anyone who listens and drooling up a storm. :)

My little man is ten months old today. I can't believe where times flies.... in two short months he's going to be one. Love you Logan!

I am.....

I am in love with this pretty little goof.

I am proud of the great job Aaron did on these toddler size bunk beds for Jenna and Travis. They love it! And it's the perfect size for their bedroom right now. Next step: move Logan out of the little crib in the living room and into the big crib in the kids room.

I am my own secret admirer.

I am loving all the sunshine we've been getting this past week.

I love that these tulips make me think spring. I needed a little pick me upper, so I spontaneously bought myself some flowers after bringing Travis to the dentist today. Aren't they pretty? And they're pink. I love pink.

Smiles

Please excuse the booger nose.... it's been a constant battle that I'm loosing all week. Every time I turn around a nose needs wiping. And her messy hair, we can brush it, and all she has to do is take a nap for it to look like a squirrels nest again. She gets that from her mother. :)

I brought this smiley little girl of mine to the dentist last week because of raunchy smelling breath, and a little blister on her gums above her two front teeth. Turns out she's got an infection in her gums. What we think happened is she bumped her teeth at some point
( she just had oral surgery to make them look good and clean out all of her cavities in June) in the fall ( I think it was from jumping on the bed and hitting her mouth off of Travis's head.) and bumped them good enough to break the root on one of them, causing it to get infected at a later date. SO.... now the two front teeth need to come out. :( Her smile is so big and generous right now, I love it. It'll take some getting used to with no teeth on top. She's four, so it'll be a little while before the other ones come in.

It's been on my mind all week, and makes me sad that she'll have a toothless smile. We just aren't having any luck with teeth! We brush them and make sure they're clean, and still they need so much work. I know it's for her own good, and that they do need to come out so her permanent teeth don't get ruined too, but it still makes me a little bit sad. We have until May though, as they aren't pulling them out til then.

Today I Promise

Today I promise to be thankful for the sunshine that brightens our day (it's shining again today!)

Logan learned how to play peek a boo! :) He thought he was pretty clever.

My sister Alanna made this cake for Karmyn's first birthday. She takes orders through the bakery! Copper Ridge Bakery and Bread Co. She does an AWESOME job!

June, Samantha, Isabelle, Hannah and Jenna are all within two years apart on the L side of the family. They all play so good whenever they get together. They were outside at Aaron's parent's playing house and singing Happy Birthday.

My little man. Can you believe he's almost 10 months! And still not crawling. :) He'll get there....he's getting to the stage where he's starting to stick everything he can find into his mouth. Makes for cleaner floors!

Today I promise to try and be a better mom. I feel as if lately I've been a ball of raging hormones and I don't like how it feels. I promise to try and have more patience for my three children who aren't feeling super great. I promise to be a better wife to my husband who gave up his Saturday to go and work for Trey today. I promise to try and be a better me. We have a dinner date, just Aaron and I tonight at the C. Calabria... mmmm.... LOVE their lasagna. I'm hoping it'll shake me out of this funk I've been in all week. Happy Saturday! Hope the sun is shining wherever you are!

Downer Days

The past couple days have not been at the top of my feel good list. If anything actually they are at the other end. Everyone who reads this ( I'm finding out there are more than I thought!) knows I was super excited to go to Minnesota this weekend. Well.... scratch that plan. The kids came down with horrid colds at the beginning of the week, and are still fighting them. Noses like runny faucets and icky coughs. Needless to say, that was a pretty big downer for me. I needed the break from my daily routine, and now it'll have to wait. It's not like we totally canceled out, just postponed it for a few weeks til our original date we planned on. We would feel pretty bad if we got that new baby Riina sick. Sometimes it's junky to have to act responsible and grown up all the time. I'm ready for a day or weekend ( Cannot wait until Green Bay!) where I don't have to be just Megan. I get overwhelmed sometimes. I think this week has been especially hard with sick whiny kids.

Yesterday we went to the laundromat in town to get caught up on our laundry. We were doing OK, Jenna was pushing the boys around in those laundry carts with the wheels and somehow entertaining them. At some point Logan had gotten a hold of his little container of puffs, and spilled them on the floor. I was somewhere between changing loads from the washer to the dryer, sorting clothes and putting others going all the while trying to keep track of three bored kids. I got sidetracked and didn't get them swept up right away. The owner came out and swept them up before me. I apologized for the mess, but just kind of got a dirty look. I don't think she appreciated the Micky and Minnie mouse coloring books and crayons on the floor and the big kids on the counter a whole lot. Can't say I blamed her, but could have done without the dirty look. To top off that fun experience, we ran out of quarters before we finished drying all of our clothes. I am still drying them at home today.

Finally - sorry so lengthily.... guess that's what happens when I don't post for a week- I called Jenna's dentist today about her reeky breath and the little blister on her gums. They made room for her today in their schedule, so I brought her in. She took one look at her gums and said, yep, they have to come out. I was trying to prepare myself for that, but it still hit me like a sack of bricks. I'm going to have a toothless little girl. My mother says she's going to look darling, and I'm sure she's right, but today, I'm mourning her teeth for her. She was eating an apple last night, and kept commenting about how yummy it was. Guess she won't be eating apples with her front teeth. Sigh. So much for the fun weekend we had planned..... and the weekend hasn't even begun yet. Hope yours turns out better than mine.

A Red Lobster Date

Aaron and I celebrated Valentines Day a little bit early last night, as we will be up North on Sunday. We went to Red Lobster ( I ordered chicken as I don't care for fish or sea food. I pretty much went there for Aaron) with Dan and Heidi H. It was really good. I was all up for dessert until I had the salad, their yummy biscuits, and my linguine. It was nice to sit at a table with other adults and carry on a conversation with no kids bugging on you.

Afterwords Aaron and I went to Kohls, where I bought a new pair of New Balance Tennis shoes ( my other pair desperately needed replacing as they had holes in both shoes), a dress, and Aaron got a new shirt. I'm wearing the shoes around the house today in hopes to stretch them out a little bit before I have to wear them to work today. Speaking of work, Aaron started his new ( hopefully permanent) part time job today. He will be working with Dan and his boss doing construction. He's hoping it'll turn into full time work in the summer. That would be SO great. :)

We had a babysitter last night for the kids while we went out and they were so excited. It's a pretty novel idea to have a babysitter at this house. Kiirsti walked in the door and both of my big kids went "She's here! She's here!" :) When I brought her home I asked how they were. She said they were great and that Jenna's not one bit shy. It's always funny to hear another perspective on your own kids.

Tonight we are headed up to my mom's and have two birthday parties this weekend. One for Karmyn and one for Dustin. Should be fun. A quick weekend but fun nonetheless. :) Hope yours is a good one as well!

Vacation

We are going to Minnesota next weekend! I am so super excited. I haven't been out there for two years, and now we get to go and see our new niece, little Riina Claire, and her big sister Maggie. We are leaving Thursday and coming home Sunday. I think I'll have an extra skip in my step for the next week. :)

Those Darn Deer and Pesky Mice

There are a few cons to living in the country, and we are finding them out the hard way. By experience. We set up a bird feeder about a month ago, and have been enjoying watching the various woodpeckers, blue jays and chickadees that come to feed. Well, the other morning, I woke up to find the feeder totally empty and my woodpecker bar (which I had just bought two days before) stripped to the string holding it up on the inside. I thought maybe a sassy squirrel had gotten into it, so I just refilled the feeder. Only to find it half empty when I got home from work that night, and deer tracks all over my yard. Darnit! They didn't touch it the next night, but tonight we went visiting at the neighbors down the road, and came home to deer tracks EVERYWHERE- even right by our front door, I think there were a few scraps of bird food that had spilled when I hauled the bag out to refill the feeder earlier- and an empty feeder again. Anyone have any suggestions as to how I might be able to keep them from eating my bird food every night? This could get too expensive, having to refill the feeder daily.

As for the mice...... ick! I'd much rather deal with the deer rather than the mice. At least they are outside and don't give me the heebie jeebies. I heard some squeaking in my closet last night when we were going to sleep, and Aaron said "Oh we'll just set traps tomorrow." Then right after he said that we heard some major scratching and some really noisy squeaks. We jumped out of bed ( it was one thirty a.m.) and cleaned the house and set traps that night. As of now, we haven't caught any. I did however discover that the mice had chewed a small hole in the corner of my bird food bag, and seed had spilled all over my porch floor. I put that bag in a Rubbermaid tote and shut the lid. Now we just have to invest in a couple of garbage cans and hope they don't try to chew holes in our garbage bags that we keep in the corner of the porch til garbage day. Also, any suggestions as how to catch the mice? We've got peanut butter on the traps right now, and someone suggested mashing sticky candy so they get stuck when they go to eat it and get trapped that way. I'm open to any suggestions! And on that note, I'm going to go to bed and hope I don't hear any noises that aren't supposed to be in my closet.....

Missing You

I miss these guys. See you in a few months! :)

Life is Good Today

So far I'd say February is turning out to be pretty darn good. :) We figured out our two vacations in March, one to Minnesota to hopefully meet our new niece to be, and another to Green Bay with some friends from down state. The latter one is going to be a kid free vacation. I might even be able to get a little bit of shopping in. Thank you mom for agreeing to watch them for the weekend!

Travis is still doing good with the potty training. I just smile every time I see him run around with his Elmo undies on. He's so fired up off his underwear, he hasn't been wanting to put any clothes on because they cover up his cool undies. He told me today "I'll put clothes on tomorrow mom." :) I'm crossing my fingers that this is the real deal. How great would that be to only have one baby in diapers!?

We will be getting our tax return next week and will be able to pay off some more bills that have been hanging over our heads. What a good feeling. :)

And last but not least, the sun is shining here in the Copper Country, the birds are eating outside at my bird feeder, and I have a clean house. Life is good today. Hope it is for you too. :)