Friday, October 29, 2010

This Does My Heart Good

From youngin' to high school, I have gone to Camp Manatawny almost every summer. This church camp helped shape who I am today. I loved going to help out in the kitchen or be a camper two weeks in a row. I went as many times as I was asked or my parents would pay for! I tear up thinking that I'll probably never get to go back since it's so far away in my homestate of Pennsylvania, but a little piece of Heaven was sent to me through email today...and it does my heart so so good. (Thanks Dad!)
The gazebo. So much time spent hanging out with friends & writing notes to put on their clothespins!
The girls cabins. My heart forever goes to Girls Cabin 4!

The boy side...it was always off limits even though we had to walk right past them to Garrett Hall!
Other memories in random order as camper & worker:
  • Baptisms in the pool
  • Praise time before dinner
  • Talent Shows
  • Campfires (Little Red Wagon & going hoarse screaming it at the end!)
  • Cleaning dishes after each meal
  • Gazebo time
  • Pranks!!!
  • CANTEEN! Sprees, Combos & Dr. Pepper. Always.
  • Boys, boys, boys... :)

"Camp Manatawny is great!!"


Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Apparently I am the best pillow. Today Haylie would not take her nap unless she was laying on me. I tried on 4 different occasions to hold her until she was drowsy/asleep then transfer her to her designated sleeping place (meaning not on me!). I am getting to be a softie because she used to be able to fall asleep on her own, but since I'm trying to wean her, I felt like she needed more "Mommy cuddle time" and she will now just stand up in her crib and wail (and I mean WAIL) instead of falling asleep like a good girl. So today we spent lots of time rocking and I caught up on my Berenstain Bears. In the book of "Too Much Birthday", did you know that the 5 & 6 year old cubs play Spin the Bottle? Those Berestain Bears are not teaching good lessons!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Grandma Beat OU at Trunk or Treat

We had a busy weekend! Grandma (Justin's mom) came down this weekend to see us & of course her favorite granddaughter. (I can say that because she's the only girl). We didn't do too much, it was just nice to spend time together.
One exciting thing for the Columbia Cornells was that Mizzou beat OU! Haylie sported her Mizzou bow at church Sunday morning and is proclaiming that they are #1.

Sunday evening after church we attended the Trunk or Treat. I bought her costume at a consignment sale (brand new!) and it was pretty dang cute. She loves being FiFi the poodle.

We only got a few pieces of candy because we don't want to rot our her teeth out.

It was a great weekend and we are so glad Grandma came to town!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

She Will Claw Your Face Off

Caramel is one of the sweetest kitties I know. Until she sees another animal and then she poofs up as big as a puffer fish and gets ca-ra-zy. You might notice in this video that Haylie is laughing in the beginning and then by the end she is in tears. And you'll also notice the nice scratch marks we now have on our window sill. Awesome. Just one of the many perks of having a cat.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Before & After: Laundry Room

On Justin's do nothing day, he decided at 8:15 pm to start painting the laundry room. This is one of the rooms that I didn't care if it got painted until next year, but had already picked out the paint. So he surprised me and did it all himself. I love the color GRAY, but didn't want to paint any of the main rooms this color so the laundry room was the winner. I absolutely LOVE it!!! (It looks blue, but I swear its gray. Also, please disregard our crap.)


One room left to paint in our whole house. Anyone want to do it for us?

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Roadtrip!

My good friend Katie (who will always be Katie and never Kathryn) recently had a sweet baby girl and my mom, sister and I decided to road trip up to Wichita, KS this past Saturday. We graciously left the hubbys at home and took all three kids with us. If that doesn't test ones patience, I don't know what will! On the way up, Haylie started getting restless and talking loudly which in turn scares Evie who gets upset. Then Eli needed to go pee in the middle of Kansas (meaning no public bathrooms in a 25 mile radius) and after stopping on the side of the road, needed to poop. Oh my. We made it to the rest stop and all had a nice & much needed break at "Old McDonald's."


We spent the day just visiting, watching the kiddos, playing on a playground and reminiscing of our childhood adventures. I love, love, love Katie & her sweet family. It never fails though. I never get a picture of us.

Madeline Joy

Sweet Evie

Baby Haylie - we are practicing for Glamour Shots

Coralie - I mean Tinkerbell

The new best friends

A moment of sanity on the car ride up.

Monday, October 18, 2010

4th Anniversary

10-14-10 marked the 4 year mark for us. Justin made arrangements to have my parents watch Haylie and we went out to celebrate! We decided to try a new sushi bar/hibachi, except when we walked in there were no hibachi tables in sight. Ah yes, the cook-it-in-the-kitchen-and-bring-it-out-to-you type hibachi. Wonderful. We stuffed ourselves full of sushi and a huge plates of deliciousness. I should have worn my fat pants.

It was still early after we ate (we ate with the senior citizens) so we wanted to try for a movie. We ended up seeing Life As We Know It and I was bawling my eyes out in the first 20 minutes. It was a good movie, funny at times, but overall a tear jerker. I definitely wanted to go home and hug my baby girl. Still can't believe all that's happened in the last 4 years! Here's hoping for many more!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Relaxing Day


Today is the one Saturday where Erin and Haylie are out of town so I (Justin) decided to have a relaxing day and do nothing. Now, my "nothing" is probably contrary to what most people would consider "nothing", but it's my nothing. The nothing that I was going to do today consisted of fixing our faucet in the bathroom, putting up a hand towel rack in the spare bathroom, changing the oil in my car, mowing the yard, going fishing, and watching football.


The Bathroom Faucet
Problem: The hot and cold handles are not even when the water is turned off. (This is a big deal, right? :p )


Solution: Take the handles off and straighten the handles.


My Bad:
I don't know what I was thinking when I thought this would be a good idea. I got the handles off and realized that I had to loosen a few nuts to adjust the shut off position of the handles. I started with the hot water side. The nut on top was finger loose so I figured it wasn't really doing much. I decided to just loosen it more to adjust the shut off point. Turns out that nut does something very important. It keeps the water from shooting out of the handle up to the ceiling. When the nut came off and the water started spraying out, I thought I was strong enough to push the nut back down and tighten it so water would not continue to shoot everywhere. I am not that strong. I am weak. The water quickly got so hot that it started burning my hands and I had no choice but to abandon my attempt to replace the nut. Hot water is now hitting the light and the ceiling and raining down everywhere. I quickly get under the sink and turn off the shutoff value for the hot water with my burned hands. Of course the shutoff value starts leaking under the sink but what's new. I finally get the shutoff valve to stop leaking.

Crawling up from below the sink I inspect the damage. I realize there is a rubber washer, spring, and plastic piece sitting on the counter. Crud, where did these come from and how do I put them back? I have no clue and no option other than take the cold water side apart to figure it out. I finally figure it out and get both sides put back together, not realizing the handles were in worse alignment than when I started. Who cares? Not me, not at this point. (This is my nothing day.) I turned the shutoff valves back on and they started dripping water. Drip, Drip... Drip. Groaning, and questioning why I even try sometimes, in at last attempt I tighten the nuts on the shutoff valves. They stop dripping water. "Don't touch it, just walk away", is what thought to myself. I did it. I just walked away. I later came back and dried the water off the walls, ceiling, mirror, light, towel rack, the counter and the floor.




Fishing
Problem: None
Solution: Go fishing
My Bad:
After struggling with the faucet it was time to do what I really wanted to do. GO FISHING (I sung it as I typed it). I tried to find someone to go fishing with me but I couldn't. No matter, I decided to go fishing alone. I put on my grubby clothes, sprayed my legs and arms with "Off", and I was ready to go. I grabbed my fishing pole and went to grab my tackle-box... "Where is my tackle-box?" I flipped out! I called Erin, she didn't remember seeing it. I called a couple of people that helped us move and they didn't remember see it. Grrr... So the search began. I literally looked everywhere I could think of. I looked in the garage (where it should be), in the attic, in the shed, in all the closets, in all the cabinets (including the kitchen and baths), in both cars... no tackle-box.


I tore the house apart looking it. In the process I noticed that one of my handguns was missing. Now I was on the search for my handgun. I looked everywhere I could think of. I was thinking, someone robbed us and stole my handgun and my tackle-box. Seriously, that's all someone decided to steal? What a stupid thief. Someone should teach them to be a better thief. --So all those places that I looked for my tackle-box, I looked again for my gun. Did I find it? Not in any of those places I originally looked. I finally found it on the top shelf of a book shelf. With a sigh of relief, I returned my gun to its correct place. Now I begin to think the theory of someone stealing my stuff is just silly. I felt better about finding the gun but I am still obsessing about the loss of my tackle-box. No tackle box, no fishing. Where is the world is my fishing tackle-box? I cannot seem to find it. I want to go fishing!!


The rest of the story
The prior two events have consumed about 5 1/2 hours of my day which started at 8:30 when Erin and Haylie left this morning. I am now convinced that today is a normal persons "do nothing day". I am content with sitting on the porch swing, watching the leaves fall from the trees, eating 1/2 of a chocolate frosted vanilla sheet cake, and watching two teams that I could care less about play football. Life is good. I can't wait for my sanity of Erin and Haylie to come back home tonight! I would be lost without them!

**Update 10-17-10** The tackle box has been located. Guess who forgot it at the lake house?? Thanks Dan for finding it! - Erin

Thursday, October 14, 2010

It's Been How Long?

Today is the day Justin and I got married 4 years ago. Since I'm not a mushy, lovey dovey person, I won't gross you out with mushy, lovey dovey stuff. So instead, here is a list of things about my husband that you might not know...and maybe won't care to but I'm still sharing anyway.

1. He paces when he is on a telephone call. Doesn't matter who he is talking to, he just circles the house and walks all around - never sitting still.

2. The very last thing he ever does getting ready is brush his teeth. He looks ready to me and I feel like we are ready to walk out the door when it always comes..."Wait, I have to brush my teeth."

3. He is very particular about having extra, back up items in the house. He gets frustrated when there aren't 2 back up shampoos or extra tomato sauces for those times when we "just might need them."

4. He has a one track mind. If he has something that he has been thinking about, he won't stop thinking or talking about it until he has come to some sort of resolution. There is no sense in even trying to talk about something else.

5. He is borderline obsessed with giving our daughter a mohawk.

6. He is allergic to cats but he lets me have one anyway.

7. He blows his nose with all the force he can muster. This has scared our daughter numerous times but he insists on "getting everything out!"

8. He loves the Lord and Haylie & I with every ounce of his being. I am so blessed to be married to this guy. He impresses me daily with his energy and zeal for life.

He definitely keeps me on my toes!! That's what makes being married to him so fun!

Happy Anniversary!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Catch Up

It's been awhile since I've done an "Ode to Haylie" so here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks. Haylie has started standing up regularly. One day I walked in to get her from her nap and found her standing in her crib. She might look really excited in the picture but she is in a full blown freak-out. She saw me leave to go get the camera and thought I left her just to stand there. She has had really bad separation issues lately. It drives Justin crazy because she doesn't want him. Ever. It drives me crazy because I can't get a moment alone.
















Just today I took the picture of Haylie and Brixton. Not sure why this picture makes me laugh, but their expressions are hysterical.


Since I was down sick for a week, the next week I


felt I needed to make up for things I had to miss or postpone. We were busy pretty much every day, but it was great. I finally
got some fabric to work on recovering kitchen chairs and make curtains (ahem, assist my sister in doing these I mean.) I can't wait to see it all done!!!! The kitchen decor has been frustrating me because we picked a green color - painted the whole kitchen, decided it was the wrong color but are too lazy & too cheap to re-paint. So we are going to make it work.

I finally decorated for fall in my house and love this time of year. I have about 3 decorations to put out, but I still love them and the warmth of the oranges & browns it brings to my living room. This is my favorite time of year.

I missed posting that Haylie turned 10 months, but I figure if I don't acknowledge it on my blog, maybe it won't be true. It's not real until you blog about it, right?

Friday, October 1, 2010

Friday Finds

Even though this was a week of sickness, I was determined to get out of the house - just for a few sales. I went by a few that I shouldn't have wasted my time on. One sale I could literally name off all items for sale from a drive by. I won't get on my soapbox. Deciding to go to a sale in my parents neighborhood, I hit the motherload of garage sales! This one had so much home decor stuff, I wanted to wet my pants. But since I had my baby with me and only a pocketful of $1's, I had to pace myself.




I stocked up on picture frames and these two lovelies.


I found the mirror underneath a wreath on top of light fixtures. To me, a good garage sale has stuff that I don't have to fix up. Since I don't have the creativity my sister has, I can't wrap my mind around a hidden treasure. So I just like it when I find something that I can dust off and hang!




The lady wouldn't bargain with me but I'll live because I really like everything I got. I told her though I didn't like to pay full garage sale price and she gave me a dirty look. She said "Well this is all stuff that was really expensive." Then don't sell it at a garage sale...



I love Friday mornings!