oh beautiful for spacious skies

and warm afternoons outside!

everyone is a little sun-kissed today after spending the day hiking with the martins: stella, jasmine, christie and mathew. davis and allison jumped out of bed this morning asking, "is it time to go hiking yet?", "where's stella & jasmine?" all the kids did great except allison who said she was dizzy and grumpy the whole walk. (the two words she substitutes for tired.) the only way I could get her to keep going was to say we could go back (to the parking lot and car) or keep hiking to go see the chickens. she went for the chickens. on the way back I offered to take her back to the farm with the chickens or we could walk back to car to go to jasmine & stella's house. she opted for jasmine & stella's house. although she did break me down on a couple of hills and get me to carry her.

davis, stella and darby could have all lapped us twice blazing the trail ahead of us and back and forth again. stella taught us not to put our fingers on the chicken wire, that chickens are always looking for food, and gloves do not beak-proof. no blood shed, just a few tears and frightened circles run around the coop. precious stella, we apologize for laughing at your expense.

however, i will not apologize for sharing this story:

back at the martin ranch, the kids were getting ready to eat dinner and claiming their seats at the kids' table (which has two purple chairs and two winnie-the-pooh chairs). davis and stella yell, "I Want To Sit In Poo....(h)!" each time we would tell them to take their seats.

davis and stella reflect on the simple life.

allison and davis touch up on the history of farming.

jasmine and allison hide in the sewing room.

four little wranglers

i heart mac

our newest little bundle is finally here! now only to learn how to use it.

an apple today is much different than yesterday........my first computer in elementary school was an apple iie. my my my how the times have changed. i remember the screen only had two colors to it - green and black. and my one and only game to play on it was the oregon trail. however, it was a cute little computer then too.

songs in my head

where o' where has my little blog gone?
o' where o' where could it be?

well, i'll tell ya - it's on its way to boiling springs in a Fed Ex truck. yippee! not the blog specifically, but our nice, new, tidy mac all-in-one-machine. oh the speed! oh the memory! oh the non-viral computer! oh the new printer and wireless everything! oh boy! oh boy! oh boy! christmas has come again. can you tell i'm just a little wee-bit excited?

i'm backed up on photos to share, and allison's been (literally) backed up. davis has grown up beyond description in the past months into a caring and doting big brother. quite the basketball player, now. and quite the thinker. he remembers that he specifically asked Santa for a black train for christmas instead of the train table he was given. he suggests that Santa made a mistake and will bring him the right, "black train from the magazine" next year. and allison can have his other train. so generous, right? i keep telling myself that instead of admitting the reality.

everyday is either valentine's day or someone's birthday according to allison. it just depends on which drawer she is going through and which gift she stumbles upon. then, it's a shout out "happy birthday mommy!" or "happy valentine's day darby!" too cute.

however i feel i need to shout, "happy new year to all you readers!"....those of you still out there..... can you believe we are already one sixth through 2010? makes me want to sing a new verse to the little diddy above: where o' where has the time & year gone?

2010 (0)

we have no computer. you have no posts.

a blessing

davis, will you say the blessing?

yes.

god is great. god is good. thank you for our christmas tree. amen.

seriously?

.



















cherubs. sweet little darlings. angels. precious. your children are soooooo cute. many of the phrases i hear from random people, people i know and even myself sometimes. but not today. i feel a little guilty sitting at my computer for the first time is ages and writing about my little house of horrors today. oh well, so be it.


we start the day great. our usual routine.....breakfast, dress, book, game, etc. but today i NEEDED to send out our christmas cards FIRST THING! PRONTO! NO EXCEPTIONS! so i try to review the morning's agenda before we set out on our outing. first stop = post office. second stop (if you're good at the uspo) = treat. third stop = play in the snow at gardner-webb. review the rules. "listen to mommy. follow directions. no hitting, spitting, pushing, fighting, yelling, etc." everybody in the car, even darby. okay we are on our way.


we're doing great until it's time to leave the post office. allison wants bubbles. bubbles are hand sanitizer. and i like that the post office keeps a bottle at every cashier..........until today. the bottle at our register is empty. allison throws a fit. falls on floor. mom tries to retrieve bottle at next counter. allison wants empty, purple bottle of bubbles. it's time to go. allison continues to throw fit and yanked down the vertical blinds at the door. (this is where i literally had to catch my breath.) i may have just walked out the door without her if this wasn't the one day when the smallest post office in north carolina wasn't packed full of people. where did they come from? they weren't there when we walked in? so yes, i was the mom that people just stared at as if i was octomom. i'm sure they were thinking, "what are you doing in public with more children than you can handle?" sure, as soon as we get out the door and start loading up into our car, both allison and davis turn to me without being qued and say, "I want to say I'm sorry mom." i wanted very badly to turn to ALL those staring people and say, "did you hear that?! my kids DO have manners and the CAN be polite and sweet and good!!!!" ... they just don't do it in front of others. except when you give them money to put in the kettles.

next year will can there be a salvation army kettle at the post office please?

seven eleven

says allison:

one, two, three, four, five, six, eleven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, eight, nine.....

we are multiplying

our pictures that is.......thanks to no storage limits and no fee (it's free!) our photo gallery is moving to shutterfly.

click on the new link, photo gallery ll, to check out many many many many more halloween photos of our little peeps.

trick or tweet

finally. here you have it. after weeks of infected computer and virus after virus, i'm sneaking online to quickly post a couple halloween pictures.

i find it very ironic that i used to call myself "super chicken!" when jumping in the pool at my grandparents growing up. most people just shouted, "geronimo!" and here i am 30 years later dressing my children up as chickens. guess it just stays with you. now, davis calls himself "super davis!" and allison? of course, "super allison!" much better for the psyche.

a quick summary. davis chases our neighbor's cat down the sidewalk. allison won't keep her 'feet' on. four straight nights of halloween festivities = ruffled feathers by saturday night.

honkshoo

so stinking tired right now. stayed up last night to organize my coupons for harris teeter's triple coupon week until tomorrow. packed up the kids for a trip to ht, walked around the store 3+ times.

first trip- let davis and allison push the little buggies to pick up "light groceries" for their carts.

second trip - switched all of D and A's groceries and traded up for the double buggy XL race car cart. such a love/hate relationship. they are great for pushing around two kids in the store, but impossible to drive and NOT bump into the aisles.

third trip - while standing next in line at the cashier, i realize my debit card and pile of coupons that i REALLY wanted to use are at home. back around the aisles to put BACK everything i just spent the last 1 1/2 to 2 hours picking out while directing 2 miniature drivers. ARGHH.

and you all know, that 1 trip around the grocery store really equals two when you have little passengers with you. either you skip aisles you need or walk right past items on your list. not a fun day. thank goodness for the little extra cash in the wallet to buy the kids their strawberry milks and clams for tonight's dinner. or all three of us would really be ill.

davis decided he doesn't want to nap today although he is walking around with his EYES WIDE SHUT. poor guy.

THIS is why i don't get to regularly post to the blog like a good little blogger should.

and yes, stay at home moms have LONG mondays too.