Gobble Gobble!!

Wishing all of you a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving from our Family to yours!!

We are thankful to have such wonderful family & friends like you in our lives!

We wish that we could celebrate with all of you, but know that we are with you in spirit! We love you all, and hope that you all have a wonderful day with your families & friends!!

Wordless (or mostly) Wednesday

Since you are all so competitive, here is a little contest for you:

• The 1st person to guess why I'm doing this wins 50 Points
• and the 1st person to come up with the best caption for this photo wins 50 Points

That's a possibility of 100 points for someones takin'...so let's hear your best guesses!!! Winners will be announced tomorrow!

Why Oh Why???

I just have to complain a little bit...

My bleeeepity, bleep, bleepin', email isn't working...yet again!!!! ARRGGHHH!!! Why, why, why, do I keep getting plagued with computer/email issues?!?!

Does anyone have a typewriter? I think I'm going old school and am going to start blogging and emailing via typewriter or slate & chisel!

Ellie's Here

Ellie arrived safely today and is currently getting lots of love and attention! I sure hope that tag is prepared for the attention it's going to get! 

I'll post a picture tomorrow!

Answered Prayers

Saint Anthony answered our Prayers....our prayers are not always answered in the way that we think the should be but THEY ARE ALWAYS ANSWERED!

It has really been bothering me that we have not been able to find Bella's Ellie...I know we shouldn't get attached to material possessions but when it's something that your child has loved and carried since infancy it's kind of hard not to. Not to mention it's hard seeing your child so upset about it as well so as a mom of course you want to fix what's hurting them.

I have been turning this place upside down since we discovered Ellie was missing, but obviously have had no luck. Yesterday, when I learned that our friend's baby had been born I started the hunt for a gift for him. I texted Adriene to find out where she got her child's lovies to see if that was something that maybe I wanted to get the baby. She immediately called me back concerned and wondering if I was looking for another replacement for Ellie. We both happened to on our laptops while talking and she had asked if did a search online for a new one....which I had and had no luck. So just for fun she starts searching, and then starts asking me questions like: Is it green with pink satin?, Does it have an elephant head?, Does it have another elephant on the blanket part?, does it have the words LOVE ME on it?.....Umm YES to all of that....where did you find it?? EBAY!

At this point my adrenline is now a runnin'....I get on Ebay to where she is and immediatly place my bid, but the auction didn't end for 2 days. I do have a life and didn't think it would be wise to parked in front of my laptop for 48 hrs (although I really wouldn't mind but the knee biters would nag me the whole time). So I decided to email the seller with my woes and see if they would do a buy it now for me. They were kind enough to do this for me and even upgraded the shipping to priority at no extra charge! 

She is on the way! If by chance the original does rear it's head then we'll have a back up...maybe an at home Ellie and a car Ellie!

Thank you Saint Anthony!!!

A New Baby is on the Way!!

It's a BOY!!! Baby Garret Steven was born at 12:47 am. Weighing in at 6 lbs 1 ounce and 19.5 inches long. She only pushed 5 times in 15 mins. and he was here. All are doing well.

Congratulations Paula & Jason...we are so happy for you all and we love you!!!

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10PM (CST)Update: As of 15 minutes ago she was only dilated to 4 and getting an epidural 30 mins from then. I never that that I would say this (having gone through childbirth 4 times) but it's a good thing that her labor is moving slowly so daddy can get there on time.

Here is a little background on our friendship with this couple:

 I 1st met Paula my Sophomore year in college when she was dating a friend of mine "B". We all (Don, Paula, & I) became good friends and remained that way even when her & "B"'s relationship ended. For whatever reason Paula couldn't move past "B" and I KNEW that she deserved so much better...she is a sweet, loving, caring, generous, genuine person. 

Fast forward to the fall of '95, Don had started a friendship up with Jason...Jason was a student trainer and Don was the EQ guy and these two where and are two peas in a pod. Don had introduced me to Jason one day while I was visiting him at the office...I got pretty bored each day after I got off work or when I didn't work because at the time we didn't have children but I was pregnant with Bailey. While getting to know Jason I drilled the poor guy with "the Sherri questions" which include things like: are you dating anyone, what is your type, what are your interests, do you like this, do you like that, etc, etc.. (if a guy makes it through this series of Q&A then he's good to go in my book). Once he passed "the test" I realized that he and Paula had a lot in common so I set them up...my 1st and only set-up and I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself! For their 1st date all four of us went out together for lunch at a local Chinese place and they hit it off from there!!

From that point on we were all pretty inseparable! I have so many wonderful memories from our time with them but one of my favorites was on 1/25/96...they were at the hospital when Bailey was born (not right in the room because I had a c-section). Their love, support, help and friendship meant/means the world to us! Don & I were in their wedding in Colorado June '02, which was wonderful and our little Liv was able to be in it too as she was only 6 weeks old. As I said before, they are also her God-parents as well!

Sorry for the ramblings but I wanted to make sure and at least get some of this story in writing before I get old and can't remember anything (that's seems to happen quickly with 4 kids...LOL). After all, the whole point of this blog was to keep family and friends in touch, and to use it as a journal/timeline of our lives...they are definitely an important part in our journey!

We love you guys and can't wait to meet "little cub"! It's is pure torture on us that we can't be there for you, for the birth of your 1st, like you were there for us (plus I'm sure Jason could use the Luigi's pizza after the delivery like Don did)!!

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6:30PM (CST) Update: She is now contracting every 4 minutes and she corrected Jason's arrival time to 10PM (MST). We are keeping our fingers crossed for them!

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Update: Don spoke with Jason, the new daddy to be, earlier and learned that he won't be able to make back until 9PM tonight (the earliest flight he could catch was at 4PM...not sure what time zones we are referring to). Nonetheless, the docs have tried to slow things down for Paula to hopefully ensure that he's there for the delivery. Please keep them in your thoughts and pray that he makes it there in time.

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I just got a text from a very good friend of mine, Paula (Liv's God-mother), telling me that she's in labor...her water broke this morning at 8am...YEAH!! She is currently dilated to 2cm, so she's probably in for a long day. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are for her and Jason...we/they weren't even sure that they would ever be able to have children!!!

Please help me pray for them for: a safe delivery for both Paula and "little cub" (that's their nickname for baby), that "little cub" is healthy, and that Jason has a safe trip back to them (he is the head trainer for the NHL Phoenix Coyotes and they are currently in NC).

I'll keep you posted as I get more info...

St. Anthony Help Us!!

Update: Still no sign of Ellie anywhere which totally blows mind...our house isn't the most clean and organized but it's not that bad! I have been RACKING my brain since Tuesday to come up with every possible place it could be and of course every little angle I had offered nothing. Finally last night before bed I offered up a cash reward for the 1st person to find it. Cash is a big motivator so we hopefully will have that little Ellie in hand by the end of the weekend...if not I might have to bring a medium to help me out!

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So life is not good right now for the three year old because her best little buddy is missing and has been since Monday sometime. We have searched high and low in this house and can't seem to find her Ellie. Now it's time for some Saintly intervention because I'm at a loss right now and she is bummed out! I will be sad too if we can't find it...she has been loving on it since she was an infant, so it holds sentimental value too!

So here are some prayers to Saint Anthony the Patron Saint of Lost Things....please feel free to say these prayers in the hopes that he can help us to find our baby's best friend!!

Novena to Saint Anthony to Find a Lost Article

St. Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find Ella's Ellie which has been lost. At least restore to me peace and tranquility of mind, the loss of which has afflicted me even more than my material loss. To this favor, I ask another of you: that I may always remain in possession of the true good that is God. Let me rather lose all things than lose God, my supreme good. Let me never suffer the loss of my greatest treasure, eternal life with God. Amen.
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St. Anthony, St. Anthony
Please come down
Something is lost
And can't be found
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Dear St. Anthony, I pray
Bring it back, without delay.
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Something's lost and can't be found
Please, St. Anthony, look around.

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My poor baby is crying for her Ellie as I type (break my heart)!

I Guess it was Inevitable

Yesterday after I picked up the kids I started feeling a little achy, so when I got home I promptly took some Ibuprofen to help ward off what ever evil that might be coming. The Ibuprofen took affect, ah success, and I thought nothing of it until...until I hopped into bed last night and I could feel it coming. It never fails as soon as you turn out the lights the nose plugs up and the breathing difficulty begins...why is that anyway?! I felt the crud all through the night in my nose & throat and then woke up this morning feeling crummy. I really hope this doesn't last too long (as I mom of 4 I don't have time for this), and I sure hoped to avoid it but I guess it was inevitable since Bail had it and Bella has it.

Frustration

For whatever reason, I'm just not meant to have a fully functioning computer....OR maybe I'm just being punished for some random act of horribleness that I have done to someone or something! So, if it is you that I have bestowed this horrible act onto PLEASE let me know so I can rectify it and move on with my life with a working email/internet/computer! AGGHH!!!

Out of the Mouths of Babes #19

Tonight we went to a fundraiser for our children's school at one of the local pizza places in town (a favorite of many). They offered 15% of profits made today for our school but you had to present the form for us to get the discount...they said it was the best turn out for a fundraiser yet -AWESOME!! (Great job Tony)!!

So on the way there there is chatter going on in the car...mostly about everyone's day, and out of nowhere this comes out of  Bella's mouth: "Boys have murses and girls have purses!". We have no idea where or what prompted that but we all got a good laugh out of it.

Kids say the darnedest things!

Big XII North Champions!!!

This weekend the Tigers took on the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames for a very chilly yet victorious game with a score of 52-20. This victory, along with KU's loss, allowed us to clinch the Big XII North Championship Title...for the second year in a row! GO TIGERS!! Our next game is in two weeks (we have a bye this week) vs the Kansas Jayhawks (our biggest rival) at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

Family Photos

A few weeks ago we had our family pictures taken (as most of you could tell by my header) by my good friend Nancy....now that I finally have them on my computer, I wanted to share some of my favorites!

This one needs to be cropped but still cute!

It's a little sunny on Bail & Liv's faces but that can be fixed with software...

I like this one because Don & I are in the middle of a brief conversation (I think he was actually telling me at this point how dumb he felt because we were walking in a row...but we love it after all)and I like the fact that he and aren't posing!
One of my children was very tired at this point, can you tell which one?

Out of the Mouths of Babes #18

The kids and I were in the car just a little bit ago coming home from school. We were chatting and listening to the music as usual. The song "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake came on and we were all either dancing, singing, or both to it...I know not all that appropriate but whatever. Anyway, so the song goes on and at one point in the lyrics a girl chimes in with "you ready?". Bella, with out skipping a beat, says, "Yeah, I'm ready". We all just busted out laughing...it was so funny!

Homecoming Game

Here are some photos of the game vs Colorado Buffaloes...we slaughtered them with a score of 58-0. I don't have any with Bail in them because she took off with her friend Becca for the whole game.

Little diva football fans...

Handsome little man (as you can tell this was before it got chilly...although I had to fight him when it did get cold to bundle up, he thinks he's pretty tough)...

Cute photo of Liv, Bella & Kade even though liv has her eyes closed....

Bella and Kade (you can't see him) were doing push-ups along with Truman

(it also helped keep them warm)....

Homecoming Festivities

The time has come to get caught up in my blogging with past events.

Mizzou's homecoming game was on October 25th but homecoming events go on all week on campus. We don't generally partake in many of the festivities that the campus has to offer but we do go to house decs (decorations) (on Friday night) and the game (on Saturday). For those of you that are unfamiliar with house decs, they are put on by the sororities and fraternities. Each Frat and sorority pair up and create little skits/plays that coincide with the theme that is picked for the year. With that theme, they take the characters from the theme and base there

whole script around beating the team that we are playing that year. This year the theme was

Pixar/Disney movies and the team we played was the Colorado Buffaloes. The kids really enjoy watching the skits and mom really enjoys the people watching and socializing with friends. We went to house decs with are friends the Spiccis, but before attending we got together at our house for some of Tony's awesome chili (heck I even set the table like you find in a restaurant)...we had to warm up before heading out because it was a bit chilly outside!

Pictures:

#1 Aimee & I eating chili & having beverages

#2 Don & Tony eating chili & having beverages

#3 Nico & Tony on their chariot going to house decs (parking is horrendous so we just took the golf cart and gator)
#4,5 & 6 Me (nice double chin...yuck), Aimee, Bella, Bail, Liv, and Sophie on our chariot driven by Don
#7 Our family in front of the Cars backdrop.
#8 Bailey & Sophie in the Onion from Shrek
#9 My table setting

Funny/sassy Bella, OTMB, stories...we were leaving the house decs and the Frat closest to us had music playing. Bella was riding on Don's shoulders and he whispers to me listen to her. I couldn't hear her but apparently she was singing the song that was playing (a top hit...can't remember which one though). I asked her, "Bella what are you singing?" and she says, "I don't know and you don't need to know"! See what sassiness I'm dealing with!

Which Female Icon are You? I'm a .....

So I took this test (idea from Kadi at A Womb at the Innsane) to see which female icon I'm most like and here are my results:

I'm a Marilyn

You are a Marilyn -- "I am affectionate and skeptical."

Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me
* Be direct and clear
* Listen to me carefully
* Don't judge me for my anxiety
* Work things through with me
* Reassure me that everything is OK between us
* Laugh and make jokes with me
* Gently push me toward new experiences
* Try not to overreact to my overreacting.


What I Like About Being a Marilyn
* being committed and faithful to family and friends
* being responsible and hardworking
* being compassionate toward others
* having intellect and wit
* being a nonconformist
* confronting danger bravely
* being direct and assertive


What's Hard About Being a Marilyn
* the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind
* procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself
* fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of
* exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger
* wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right
* being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations


Marilyns as Children Often
* are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn
* are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger
* form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent
* look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel
* are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent


Marilyns as Parents
* are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty
* are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence
* worry more than most that their children will get hurt
* sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

From my point of view it's pretty right on about me, but tell me what you think! Then go take the test and tell me who you are!!

Veteran's Day

I just want to take a moment and thank all of the men and women in the armed forces that have fought/are still fighting for our country! America has had its trials and tribulations, but in the end we are an awesome nation and we wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for these men and women in the armed forces protecting us....so THANK YOU!

Out of the Mouths of Babes #17

Sorry I haven't been around in a week, but I haven't really had much to say (I know hard to believe right). I have several past events that I would like to share with you all but they involve pictures, and I can't download them yet onto my laptop. So, look for them in the near future, but I'm sure you all will get a kick out of this one and it will hold you for a little bit....

I was helping miss Bella get ready for bed last night and she looks over at me in the bathroom and says to me "Mom, you're pissing me off!". Of course it's been 24 hours since this occurred and my mommy brain won't allow me to recall what it was exactly that we were doing that made me "piss her off". But whatever it was was not good in her world. We are in so much trouble with this child!

Ouch!!

My poor baby crashed and burned at recess today...fortunately, I was there with her when it happened! I had to work the school book fair, and then I surprised Liv with me eating lunch with her and attended recess with her upon her request. She was playing on one of the bars doing flips, her hand slipped and down she went, SPLAT, on the gravel. I felt SOOO bad for her and had tears in my eyes...poor baby!

In addition to this nasty scrape, she hurt her belly, got a sore in her mouth and she says her jaw is sore too (believe it or not, it looks worse in person as of right now)...

Our Votes are IN!!!

I have to say we picked the best time to head to our location...we got there at 9am, walked right in, got our ballots, voted and were done all within 10 minutes. I was voter #509 and Don was #510. 

Don's ballot had just been taken...

Don't Forget To...

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!

May the best candidates win (if there is such a thing).

I'm a Big Kid Now!!

Well Miss Liv has had a big couple of weeks! First she loses a tooth, then she gets hair hair cut into a new sassy do, and finally she GOT HER EARS PIERCED!! She has been asking for this for a few weeks and I told her that once Grandpa was in town we would go through with it (Grampie, the three girls & myself headed to the mall while the boys went to the office). There was a catch though: I have told all the girls that they can only get their ears pierced when THEY are ready to take care of them, and she felt ready and was aware of what the actual piercing would feel like. She/they are growing up to fast for us! Heck, I even got tears in my eyes when they pierced her ears because to me she is now that much closer to being a big girl & that much further from being my baby (darn it...I'm tearing up again)!

Before the piercing...she is anxiously waiting...

Her hair is pulled back and ears are marked, just waiting to go...

READY, SET, PIERCE....look at how brave she is and not a tear...

Now for the cleaning....

Look at how ADORABLE she is!! 

Each girl was able to pick out something at Claire's  and Liv"s choice was this cute hat (she loves hats and obviously looks sooo cute in them. I kept calling her "Manhattan" because she looks like she stepped out of Vogue or something)...

Bella's Preschool Field Trip

Last Thursday, 10/30/08, Bella's preschool took a field trip to Peach Tree Farms and I was able to chaperone. For the most part we had a great time with the exception of her little meltdown when I tried to put hand sanitizer on her hands before snack time (it was a bit embarrassing but we got through it and enjoyed the rest of our day). We got to go on a hayride, look at the animals, take many pictures, have snack, pick out pumpkins and watch classmates run through the maze (it's a little to dark in it for her).

Bella & I each got to pick out a small pumpkin, and this is my cute little punkin with her pick...

Posing for mom...

Bella & Mommy...