My Cabin

32 years ago my parents moved back to Cedar. I'm not sure if it was at that time or years before that when my Dad decided he needed a cabin, but a few years after moving back to Cedar my folks bought some land up the canyon and my Dad commenced building his cabin. From the day they purchased the land my Dad has spent endless hours up there working, playing, building fires, and pretty much relaxing. The cabin has always been his escape.

I don't have a cabin, nor do I have any plans to build a cabin here in Indiana, but with Melissa's blessing I now have a place where I can escape. As you can see in the pictures I've got my shed with all my toys. Next to that is the garden. Next to the Garden is the fire pit (currently it is under a pile of branches that were cut from the tree) where the dutch oven cooking takes place. Finally we have the deck in all it's glory. All I need to do now is perfect my karate skills and find a self conscious teenager to nurture while he sands and stains the deck.
The slideshow shows the backyard as it was when we first toured the house to now. We've come a long way since then.

Budget man strikes again.

Here's another wonderful video about the federal budget.

Random Pics

About 3 weeks ago Spencer was screaming for help. I race downstairs to see what is wrong to come to find this. He explains that he was trying to swing in Kami's swing and got stuck. Needless to say, he wasn't to happy about me taking a picture of him before I helped him out.

The Purple Pickup being used the way it was intended to. Notice how low that back tires are riding. That is because there are 6 bags of cement in the back. It is amazing how many boards you can fit in and on top of a van!!

Jacob found a pretty cheap rate on the hotel he stayed in for his day trip to Nebraska. Unfortunately, it was cheap for a reason. Here is the dirty towel that was left in his room from the previous occupants. I guess housekeeping just isn't what it used to be.

Kristian thoroughly enjoyed the sidewalk chalk that both of his grandma's sent him for Easter. If you look closely you can see that he also figured out how to use it as war paint as well.

A Few Finished Projects

I still have an entire room full of project's I am working on not to mention half a house that still needs to be painted and updated but here are some of the latest completed projects that can be checked off the list.


First - Making Jessi a Belt


Jessi is so long and skinny that finding pants to fit her is not an easy task. We also have been given quite a few pair of really cute pants that I want her to be able to wear. So I decided to make a belt. Just 3/4 yard of ribbon, a bit of Velcro, and about 5 minutes and ta da!! You have a belt that makes my 3 year old very happy!! It makes me happy to as I don't have to see her cute little bum cheeks every time she bends over and the Velcro makes it so I don't have to assist her in getting her pants down every time she runs to the bathroom.





Second - Kamryn's Crib Quilt


So remember a few posts back when I said I was working on a new quilt to match the new crib sheet and bumper pads that I had made. Well it is done and I love it!! This is my first quilt that I made without a pattern. I just cut up a bunch of squares, and rectangles out of all my scraps and just started piecing it together. At first it was a bit difficult for me as OCD in me really likes to know where I am heading with a project. I pressed on though and by the end of it I was really starting to enjoy the total freedom in it. I then used the leftovers to make a binding and for the first time ever, free-motion quilted!! I am not perfect at it by any means, but I loved quilting it. It was so much fun and I just love the look of the finish product. Have I mentioned I really love this quilt.







Third - Job Charts for the Kids


I have wanted to make job charts for years!! Every time I start on one I get frustrated that it looks more like a spreadsheet than a kids job chart and delete everything I have started and give up. So the other day when Jacob's cousin's wife (say that 3 times fast) posted the cutest job chart that she had made on her blog I decided to pick up the project again. She had a link to a "template" that you could download and print. I thought great!! This really is going to be easy.

Well it wasn't that easy but it was fun. I quickly found out that you had to have Photo Shop to open the template so I talked to my good friend Becca, who happens to have Photo Shop, and set up a play date for our kids and us. Wednesday we ate lunch at her house and then began the project. She opened the download and I was shocked to find that the template consisted of black and white boxes. I asked her where all the colors and cute stuff went and she explained that a template is just the layout and the fun part is filling in the layout with all your choices. I was very fortunate that she had tons of cute digital scrap booking stuff and is very talented at photo shop. So anyhow, we had a great afternoon with 7 kids running around while 2 moms tried to keep everyone happy and create a digital masterpiece. I would say we were very successful!! Aren't they just great!! Thanks again Becca!! You are the greatest!!

2 Months Today

Kami is officially 2 months old today. She is growing and changing so quickly. She now weighs 11 lbs 10 oz and has moved into size 2 diapers due to the roundness in her middle section. So cute!! She has found her voice and loves to coo at just about everything. She is still pretty even tempered but has discovered how to have some serious fussy moments. Not our favorite. She has started to lose some of her "new toy" appeal to the other children. They aren't so quick to want to give her back her binki, throw away diapers, bounce her in her chair or help give her a bath. It was bound to happen. What it all boils down to is that we love our little Kami and are so glad she is part of our crazy little family (which isn't so little anymore.) And for the Grandmas, here are some of her better shots over the last month.

She isn't as much a fan of bath time as the rest of ours but we get by.


So I just noticed the "peace sign" in one hand and the "hang loose" sign in the other. Apparently our daughter is going to be the laid back peacemaker of the family.

Classic cross eyed. She does this all the time.


She has recently found her ears and likes to play with them. A lot.


I almost caught the smile that proceeded this grin but the flash took to long. Ah well, the grin is pretty cute too.


Does she look like she is posing? Too funny!

Mother's Day!!

So I would have liked to post this on Sunday but the day was kind of full and I am just now having time.

First off, Happy Mother's Day (2 days late) to all of the mom's that read this blog. A special Happy Mother's Day to our mom's Christine and Barbara!! We love you two and don't know what we would do without you.

As I said, our Mother's Day was a little busy. Jacob had a meeting Sunday morning and then worked on finishing up his talk. I got the kids fed, and ready for church. We decided we were going to go a bit early (earlier than normal that is) as we were blessing Kamryn and I wanted to feed her right before so that she would be happy. We both managed to finish our intended duties and got in the car on scheduled time to head to church. This is where the plan started to fall apart.

Kamryn screamed the whole way to church, and I mean 15 minutes straight. I decided this was probably just because she was hungry and ready to eat and that everything would be just perfect once we got to church. We arrived and I made a bottle and started to feed her, unfortunately she continued to cry. After 2 ounces, fighting me the whole way, she gave up and just decided to fall asleep. Church is starting and I am starting to freak out.

Why is it that no matter how much you plan, things never quite go as planned. I quickly said a few prayers that this little random cat nap would last through the blessing and she wouldn't wake up and decide she was finally ready to eat. About 3 minutes before the blessing Kamryn woke up and I really begin to panic. Jacob keeps reminding me that if she cries, she cries. No big deal but I am still stressed. The time came and Kamryn was still awake but randomly just starring around. Her dad gave her a wonderful blessing and she was a little angel. She looked quite adorable as well (Thanks again Emilee and Bonnie for your help in altering the dress.) As soon as it was done I took her back and she quietly finished her bottle. I am so grateful for tender mercies that can keep an infant content on an empty stomach.

The primary kids then sang a Mother's Day song. It is so fun to have children old enough to sing in church. Spencer actually sang as well. Normally he stands and waves (or makes the Texas "hook em" sign). Jessi is still a little shy to sing on stage but she sings enough at home to make up for it.

I then found myself on the bench again alone with 4 kids as Jacob gave his talk. I was once again, very grateful that they all behaved so that I could actually listen to Jacob's talk. Jacob informs me that this about his 4th time talking on Mother's Day since we have been married. He wouldn't mind the trend ending but I like it. He gave a wonderful talk on the importance of Women and payed me a very nice tribute at the end. (that is why I wouldn't mind the trend not ending, I am selfish that way).

After church my Mother's Day part of Mother's Day began. I was sent up to take a nap while dad and the kids made dinner. I was out like a light and the next thing I knew there was a wonderful dinner at the table and peanut butter cookies in the oven. Heaven!! The meal was great and the dishes were done while I sat at the table. Again, Heaven. Spencer made me a wonderful Mother's Day card and we spent the rest of the evening playing together with little to no fighting or winning and talking to our mom's.

Thank you to my wonderful family for making such a great Mother's day for me!

Manny being Manny

Up until this weekend life was pretty good for Dodger fans. Aside for the blip that was the end of last season this is the first time in the past 10 years or so that I have opened up ESPN.com and gone straight to the MLB section. Things were going great. The Dodgers are the best team in Major League Baseball. Their hitting is awesome and the pitching has me thinking of 1988 all over again. Things were looking pretty good in Dodgerland. Then Manny does something stupid.

All Dodger fans knew it was only a matter of time before Manny had issues. We were only kidding ourselves when we said that his Boston past was behind him. He has changed. He cares about his teammates and his team. It was all a fascade. The worst part about the whole thing is that baseball is a ruined sport again.

Ever since McGuire, Sosa and Bonds became tainted in the public eye baseball has been trying (or at least putting on a show to make us think they are trying) to clean up the game. Now with Roger Clemens, Andy Petite, A-Rod, and Manny all dirty there really isn't any respect left in the game. Is there a person out there who can look at Albert Pujols' chiseled frame and keep the idea of steroids out of their mind. Is that fair to Albert? Certainly not, unless of course....

So what now? What should be done? Is a 50 game suspension punishment enough? If you had no morals and you were told that you would be suspended for 50 games for taking a banned substance but by taking the banned substance you could up your numbers and secure a $45 million salary over 2 years would you take the drugs? Consider that Manny is still under contract and the 50 game suspension amounts to a little over $8 million. Assuming he doesn't dope up again he still got $37 million out of the deal.

Is the current system discouraging high school kids from using steroids? No way. If anything it is encouraging kids to dabble in the dope. Why not? It's a gamble to get caught anyway and even if you do get caught you say sorry serve your suspension and be done with it having made millions in the process. Even the second offense is just 100 games.

I say kick them out. Suspend them for life. If Pete Rose can get banned for betting on baseball why not ban those players who are cheating with drugs. I've known since middle school that performance enhancing drugs were a way to cheat so don't tell me any of these athletes are unaware of the effects of the drugs they are injecting in their bodies. The powers that be could end this now. Test everyone, from the minors up to the majors. Make it public and those who fail get banned. That's it, get them out, end of story. Is it really that hard?

International House of Perfection

Yesterday was a hard day for me and the kids. We attempted a trip to a new library (ours is closed now) and it flopped. This was the start of a downward spiral. We tested each others bounds, teased, fought, yelled, and all in all pushed each other over the limit several times. By the time dinner came around everyone was frazzled so Jacob wisely suggested that we go out to get something. I, still being in a bad mood, replied with my usual bad mood statement of "Whatever, I don't care". So after two quick errands Jacob asked me where I wanted to go for dinner. Once again, I give the classic response, "Whatever, I don't care". The kids started requesting Burger King or McDonald's and I quickly decided that the last thing I need right now is to go sit in a stinky play land and eat food that just didn't sound all that good at the time. So out of nowhere, I decide we should go to IHOP.

Jacob looks at me questioningly, and asks, "Are you sure you want to go to a sit down restaurant right now?" I reply "Ya, I just don't feel like fast food and the kids do okay there". Understatement of the Century!!

Our little eat out was a Golden Experience and one that I will cherish for the rest of the week. We arrived to find about 4 other cars in the parking lot and begin to be hopeful that the service will be fast. We are immediately seated, in the booth of our choice, and get our drinks. Jacob is happy to find that it is Strawberry Festival at IHOP and he can get Stuffed French toast that isn't Cinnamon Raisin flavored. Jessi is also ecstatic to find that it is Strawberry Festival and that Mommy and Daddy will let her order the huge double decker pancake with Strawberries on it that come with Hash browns and Eggs. Mommy and Daddy are ecstatic to find that it is the same price as the kids meals and is so large that her and Kristian can split it. Spencer gets his normal Silver 5 and I decide on a burger that strangely enough didn't sound good 5 minutes previously in the car, nothing like an egg on a hamburger to make it sound good again.

We order and everyone is happy with their choices. We spend 5 minutes waiting for our food. In this time the kids actually enjoy coloring on their menus and eating croutons from mommy's salad. Heaven!! The food arrives and they can't shovel it in fast enough. 15 minutes later we look around and every plate is cleaned spotless. The bill comes and it doesn't break our eat out budget for the month and we all load up to go home. Kamryn slept through the whole thing!

On the drive home Jacob and I contemplated our successful dinner. There was absolutely no fighting, winning, and/or crying. There was no waste (something that drives us crazy when we go out to eat) and everyone went in upset and came out happy. IHOP will now be know as the International House of Perfection in our home.

You Go President

I'm not an Obama hater like so many out there, but I do believe he has a knack of spinning things to make himself look well connected to the rest of us poor saps. This is a video about his budget cuts without the spin.