The Weekend

Randy surprised me for my thirtieth birthday (that is so weird to write that number out!) and took me to Big Cedar Lodge for the weekend. We took Addie with us and the kids shared time with Auntie Paula and Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great time, even in the bitter cold, just lounging around doing a little shopping.

The front of The Falls lodge where we stayed.

The Christmas tree in our lodge.

The lodge next to ours at night.

The view of the cabins along the river from our room, lit up night.

The beautiful fireplace.

Our view of the lake.

Our room, feels like home :-).

The tub with a view of the room.

The bathroom with a tree in it.

By the way...

I finally updated here.

Happy Birthday Grams!!!

(pictured here with her brother, my Uncle Jack)

Happy Birthday Grams!! Hope your day is filled with lots of goodies and many hugs and kisses from all of the family.

I love living so close to you and being able to spend such wonderful time visiting you. I love that you encourage me in all of my crazy sewing ideas and make me realize they are possible. I love when I get stumped, I can call or visit and you will help me figure it out. I love that you wake up early with my kids when we are at your house so I can sleep in (A treat indeed!). I love watching the kids curl up with you on the sofa to snuggle and read a book. I love that you can still spot good fashion from a mile away and can even sport your own cool jogging suit! I love the way you smell. I love the way you make my house smell when you visit-I never want to change the sheets when you go. I love that God has blessed me with you as a grandmother for almost thirty years, I treasure every moment with you! :-)Lizzie

xoxoxoxo Randy, Liz, Ashlynn, Ryder, Gage, and Addie

Yep, sure do buddy.

In the midst of this freezing weather and winter germ season, my nose is in constant drain mode. Hence Gage's comment to me this morning as I was blowing my nose. Again.

"You got boogers Momma?"

What more can I say?

No really, they don't need toys.

To be honest, if it were up to me, the kids would get very little for Christmas and it would all be second hand. I view new toys like new cars, the minute you open the package they depreciate. It sounds mean to some of you but let me make my case.

Tonight, due to some "behavior issues" they lost their privilege to play with toys in the bath. Instead they had to just sit there with nothing but the two rags I had put in the water to wash them up with.

You know what they did?

As I sat there nursing Adysen, I watched and listened as they turned those two little rags into pieces of seaweed that were floating in the ocean. Then they became dolphins and sharks and fishies and butterflies and crocodiles. After the "ocean scene" they turned it into a "snow scene" and they had an imaginary snowball fight giggling all the while.

Instead, the gift my kids need this year is more of my time. Not the time I spend cooking and cleaning and teaching and disciplining, I'm fresh out of that kind. Just laughing with them, imagining with them and asking them what they would like to do for the day. I'm pretty good and steering away from materialism and often take pride in it, but I can't say I've been as diligent in really engaging my kids and quietly listening to them lately.

That's all they really want and need for Christmas.

Look who's six months old:

Say what?

When moving furniture around the last thing you want to hear goes something like this:

"My teeth! I've been looking everywhere for those!"


When a certain child comes downstairs from being by themselves upstairs, you don't want to hear:

"It's just water momma, it's just water, it's just water momma."


When you have finished decorating the tree and house for Christmas and you are all ready to make those yummy carmel apples you've been waiting all day for, the last thing you want to meet when you ask where all the supplies went is:

A blank stare.


I'll let you guess which kid did what. Due to her age, Adysen has not joined this club quite yet.

Who needs pottery barn kids when you have this:

What you see is real creativity hard at work, well, before she was finished putting it together anyway. If you couldn't guess: that would be a diaper box transformed into her own personal chair.

Pottery Barn Kids has nothing on this girl.

Now all I need is to grab me a sharpie and write her name on it and, presto, it's personalized.

Who needs all these crazy expensive kid things, it's far more entertaining this way!