SNOW!!!!

We got snow. Lot's of snow for Ohio.

The first picture is of the three girls when we had our first snowfall. Just enough snow to have fun for a couple of days, then bid our farewell to it...then came more snow!

For Christmas each of the girls received a sled...including Isabella! So yesterday I went out with them and tootled around. The baby even went down the hill a few times in her red sled (with seat belt!). But soon after she was showing signs of tiredness, so she went in to take a snooze. During that time, Carly and Abby went down more hills, in the yard, and even begged to sled through the forest... the bottom forest. Mean mom said no. Why? Because of the creek. I didn't want them to 'accidental' sled into the water. You all know, as well as I, my kids would be the first to do so!

Girls @ OSU

On the first day of their 'winter break', I decided to bring them to work with me. We went for a swim, went to work, then set out on a mission to get free items from Aveda. This was on the way to Aveda. Near the cancer treatment hospital/center, there is a memorial garden- here they have a Christmas tree in the garden for everyone to enjoy. Believe me, it is much more attractive in person than in cell phone picture!

TeMpORaYy FiX

So I came up with a temporary fix for the lack of blogs done. Here goes. I forward a few pictures to Pix Place (verizon) via phone, then save them to the computer and cross my fingers it does not crash in the meantime. Upload the pictures to the blog... save as a draft... and use Henry and Peggy's computer to do the final typing. Our computer still has many buttons not working- including the ever so important, "Enter". Right now I have several blogs in the making and am excited to share. I have to warn you though, the photo quality is not to fantastic... they are from my phone... and I have a 'normal' phone- not some fancy-dancy expensive piece of work. So bear with it! Oh- and if you were hoping for Christmas pictures/blog, it's not going to happen. I have absolutely NO Christmas pictures on my phone! So until later... TTFN (tata for now =))

Bagels, Bread & Muffins!

For Christmas I received, from a friend in Az., the BEST BOOK EVER!!! Thank You Loresa! =) The book is all about making bread and bread like items. My first attempt out of the book was a recipe for bagels. It was a success, but I think with a little bit more practice (and downsizing the portions), I will have them mastered!

Over the holidays I had also made a plethora of mini muffins and banana bread. My recent quest was to make mini loaf's- so I made four mini loaf's of banana bread. I still have an abundance of them (bananas), so I will keep on trucken with the banana recipes!

This is how we roll...

At the store!

These pictures were on two different occasions. But you get the picture. We either have the paci or the blankey. Linus. Gotta love her!

So the left picture I absolutely LOVE! On this particular day, a small little person needed to be changed- so we headed into Kroger (grocery store http://www.kroger.com/Pages/default.aspx)...upon arriving to the bathrooms, Tom noticed that they had a 'family' restroom. How quaint. So guess who used the family potty? Yep, the three of us (Carly & Abby were at school). I have seen the 'I'll Hold The Baby' http://www.diaperdeck.com/babyholder.htm at several other locations, but had never actually tried to use one...that is until now. I will now swear by them! It was the neatest, barbaric looking contraption, but it WORKED!!! I wouldn't go as far as to say that Isabella enjoyed it, but is served as a very valuable tool!

The right picture is Linus, I mean Isabella. For those of you that do not know, this green blanket goes everywhere, EVERYWHERE, with us. Even the market! I have searched and searched to find a replica of it- but I have had no such luck. So hopefully this won't end like the tragic ending of 'woobie' on Mr. Mom. Woobie was Kenny's blanket. This blanket had been through hell and high water (like Isabella's)- well, woobie had been vacuumed, stapled, laundered and eventually burned. Needless to say, we have a woobie in our household and I fear the day it is lost or has to be retired.

MR. MOM - Woobie Clip - Watch more Funny Videos
Here is one of my favorite scenes from Mr. Mom... (this is my number 2 fave movie of all time =)) About 5 minutes into the video is when woobie gets attacked by the vacuum. Poor thing!

Wilson's Fight Against Neuroblastoma

Every year 650 new cases of Neuroblastoma are reported, among children between the ages of 1 & 2, in the United States. Three days ago my friend Sarah was faced with those words, "Your son has cancer". Wilson is the same age as Isabella. In fact, he is 1 day older than Isabella. He was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at the sweet age of 22 months. While he should be playing with his big sister, Carly and playing with cars and puppy-dog tails--he is, instead, in a hospital bed undergoing chemo treatments. Starting today... while most of us are preparing to celebrate Christmas. Please take the time to visit his journal at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/wilson . Furthermore, a group of her friends are pooling together donations to give to the family for expenses (ie. holiday items, medical bills, groceries... you know, life)- if you would like to donate, please respond with your e-mail, and I can send info on how/where to donate. Thank you. And please keep Wilson (and the Braun Family) in your thoughts and Prayers.

Spelling Bee

I meant to add in to that last blog, that Carly was invited to the school district's Spelling Bee.

That's all :)

Exciting world of Werner girls!

So go figure that once the computer died, things happen in our neck of the woods. Well, things always *happen*... but I can't share any of our photo's of the experience, so I have to fake it.

So this week THREE big things happened.
1- Carly's Choir class performed their Winter concert. They sang a total of 4 songs... none that I am totally thrilled about. It was fun though. Tom was kinda sick, so he slept in the car in the parking lot :(

2-Abby performed their 3rd grade classroom's version of "Polar Express". She got to play the part of the boy. Unfortunately we had a meeting, so we were not able to attend. :(
She also brought home her mid-quarter report card... needless to say, she is still a smarty!



3- Then there is Carly.
She has been chosen by the state of Ohio to attend a tour of Canada, over the summer break. She earned this due to her 1) grades/honor roll and 2) her active participation in student government. We are attending the first informational meeting in January. From there we will decide if she will be going. :)

So that is all for now, folks! Hope you all in blog land are doing well :)

Grandma? Is that YOU?

So this is weird. Just roll with me for a minute.

Up until a few weeks ago, Pegs mom had no idea that we were living in 'her apartment'. Well, one afternoon she opened the door to be told that someone was in her space. Peg was with her mother all afternoon and once she left her mom's new place, she got a call. Mom said to maybe find a couple to move into the apartment... well... that is when Peg told her about the five of us living there.

Now fast forward a few days...

Mom had this dresser/vanity that she needed to get rid of. Peg told us that mom wanted us to be able to use it and that it fits nicely in the bedroom. So Peg raved and raved about how great this dresser was. "It's beautiful", "it has a full mirror", "it has three drawers across and three down"... "it's old- but not antique, old". All these wonderful things she had said made us a little apprehensive to say yes to it. But we finally agreed and made room for it.

Peg comes home Friday night with it. Wrapped in the back of the truck. Tom and I began to unload it. Here is where it gets weird. Ironic? A sign? Whatever you wanna call it. I call it Grandma.

He proceeds to hand me the drawers... one by one. I carry each in. By the second round I give Carly this look. Just 'a look'. She glares back with a question about her eyes. I keep moving forward. By the time I reached Tom (outside and in the truck), I am crying. As I passed by Carly with another round of drawers, she says to me, "was that look because it looks like great grandmas?". This dresser, I kid you not, is the same dresser that my grandma had for 30+ years. She passed on 10/09/08... her furniture is still at my aunt Bonnie's house. OK... so continuing on... because it gets better! As he is pulling the drawers out, Tom keeps finding Hershey's kisses. Like a lot of them! A good handfuls worth. We finally get the dresser into the bedroom, when I discover that there is a doily stuck to the bottom of the drawer frame. Grandma use to keep doilies all over the top of hers. THEN come to find out, the only place that we can fit the dresser is the SAME location that Pegs mom kept it (she never once told us the arrangement of moms furniture). THEEEEEEN... Peg comes in with this lamp and says, "mom use to keep this on the dresser--it is one of those three touch lamps, but I don't have any bulbs for it right now". Grandma use to have those types of lamps on her dresser/vanity too.

So. That is my latest weirdness. What do you think? Am I crazy? Because when Abby saw me crying, she asked me, "mommy, why are you crying?"... The only thing I could say was... don't laugh... "grandma just brought us a Christmas present".

I promise, I am not coo-coo. My life is just a little 'different' :)

I apologize for not having a picture... our computer is toast and I am using Henry and Pegs right now :) So I can't exactly upload pictures to there computer! But I will get one up...someday!

WHAT THE HE double Hockey sticks?!!!

 

So the computer is officially scraps of plastic and metal.  No warranty is going to cover this... so until we pinch nickels and dimes from where the sun don't shine... or pull bills off the money tree, this is one of the last blogs until we get a new computer.

See, it all started when I left a cup of joe next to the computer.  Coffee + Toddler + Computer= Disaster!  She dumped the cup (when no one was looking) all over the table.  By the time I noticed, it was too late.  The liquid had made it's way through the hard drive--without my knowledge (or consent!).  The fried computer started out having keyboard issues (see the previous blog errors)... then the day after, the entire machine was on the fritz and the keyboard was completely not working. =/

So as of last night, Tom could not access the hard drive.  He is going to give it one last try today... hopefully we can at least pull the pictures and videos off of it.  That's all I am begging God for!  But my momstincts tell me that it's not going to work... Something about a loud, obnoxious buzzing noise tells me that nothing is salvageable!  

So here's to the end of a great computer and a toddler who ruined it!  LOL!  It's OK though... it was an accident.  Carly feels terrible too...see, she was suppose to be keeping an eye on the baby... but I blame more myself--I am the one that left the darn cup out!  

Best Buy has the same computer on sale now (hopefully for a while), and we are going to try to save for that... but it might be a few weeks :(  So if you would like to contribute to the "New Computer/Lifeline Fund", please feel free too... Best Buy gift cards are appreciated!  LOL =)

The long house

View Larger Map
Now before you go thinking I am crazy, just know that I am not! Anyhow, today I was talking to some women about HOA's... . And it got me to thinking about our house in AZ. So check it out... we bought the house on September 22, which happens to be my late grandmas birthday. We sold the house on February 4. Which just so happened to be 3 years before Isabella's birthday (TO THE DAY), AND when we moved from that house, we moved to another on "Ruth Ave."... Ruth happened to be my grandma's name. Ironic? Fate? What is it? Anyhow- sorry I don't have any other pictures of the house... they are at my parents in the garage. But I should mention that we have a ton of them! We would take pictures of each stage of it being built. We loved the long house! (that's what Abby called it)

Broken Compueter

So I am going to try to do this blog with a broken keyboard... so forgive me if there are misspells and errors! Oh, and I can't hit enter- so this will be one big run on. Oh, and I have no backspace either! Great. Recently Isabella has learned to say "no, no, no, no no" It is really cute and she usually only does it on cue! She also *usually* shakes her finger when saying it. Naturally this time she didn't . O'well! The other video is her getting stuck in the cabinet where swe store the grocery sacks. She managed to pull them all out and crawl in... only to be stuck!PS. In the second video (stuck in the cabinet), she decided to clolor on herself with a green shaprpie... hence the green hand/arm. Also, when I said 'bye-bye', she grabbed the bag and walked away! Silly kid!

I'm no Monkey... or Ape!

We have banana's galore! Tom thought it was necessary to buy four bags of over-ripe banana's. Sure they were only .99 cents... but now we have got to use them before they are totally bad. What better way, than to make bread.

I tried making a loaf a few days ago in the bread machine... something I never do, because it never turns out right... but all logic went out the door that day. Anyhow, it was a total flop. So today I thought I'd do it the 'good ol' fashion way', in the oven. I started out by prepping the banana's, and as I was adding the ingredients, I thought that peanut butter would sound good with one. So I improvised the recipe a little. Here goes:

*** Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip Banana Bananza***

2 large banana's squished

1/2 C veggie shortening

1 C sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 C flour

2 scoops chunky PB with a fork :)

Mix all, well. Then add to greased bread pan. Add topping (aka: chocolate BAKING chips) to bread in the pan. Preheat oven to 350*. Bake 1 hour

Christmas Tree Decorating

TREE DECORATING!!!

Only so much can be said about decorating a Christmas Tree... but I will try to make it fun for you!
We started out with our plain Jane tree... Aunt Peggy screwed it into the base while Gruncle Henry and I held it in place. After it settled for some time, Peggy strung the lights. Then it was go time for Carly and Abby. Isabella slept right through it. She was so wiped out from the afternoon at the farm :( Poor thing!

They each grabbed bulb after bulb decorating it... they started out just doing the front, until there was no room left! At which point they had no choice but to decorate the side facing the window :)
The final bulbs were their 'birth stone snowmen'. Carly has blue for September (Sapphire) and Abby has green for May (Emerald). I suppose we need a purple one for the baby... February (Amethyst)... so if you ever see one, let me know--or maybe just pick it up for us!!! *wink wink*

Carly putting her snowman up :)

Abby putting her snowman up :)

In the following slide show, you will see a couple of random bulbs... two of them are very special to me. Remember that blog last month about the ornament exchange that takes place between the group of woman that I met on-line... well anyways, the first one was from 2008 and was from Tanya in Texas. She sent me a cowboy snowman... boots and all! This year Marinda from Utah sent a bulb that has two sides: one with a Temple and the other side has several buildings from Salt Lake City on it. I can't wait to continue the tradition and hopefully we will be doing this for a long time to come!

Christmas Tree Cutting!!!

http://www.homesteadfamilyfarm.com/

Christmas Tree Picking 2009!!!

Today was the day that we packed up and went to Homestead Farm to pick out a tree. Last year was our first year and it was FREEZING! This year was cold, just not as windy- so it was tolerable. Anyhow, Homestead is conveniently located less than a mile from us and is a hot spot for trees! They are always busy! The main barn is the central heating station for all the frozen paws, and they offer coffee, cider and/or hot chocolate for a donation. They also sale homemade cookies, candy and candles. All the scraps are turned into beautiful decorations, so those can be bought as well. The walls are covered with family photos from previous years- and surprisingly, the girls found ours! See, a Homestead family member asks each payer (of a Christmas tree) if they have been photographed... if not, they take your picture and add it to their collection. I have looked on-line for ours, but no luck :(

Anyhow, before setting out on our journey, the girls loaded up with apple cider... and of course, I forgot to grab a coffee for Tom and I! Then off we all went (Henry and Peggy included!).



We stopped to take a quick family photo while on the hayride to the back lot where they are having us choose from this year. Funny thing is that last year the tractor dropped us off at another section, and we walked to the section we were at this year. OK, maybe that wasn't so funny. Ironic.
The second picture is another family shot, inside the main barn...warming up AFTER picking the tree :)

I just love taking pictures of the girls in this pose. I couldn't resist taking a pic with the tree behind them. (freezing cold I might add)

Let the cutting begin!

After walking around looking at tree after tree, the girls all settled on this tree. Kinda short, very plump and PERFECT!

So Henry went at it!

Mainly because he is so manly and buff!


Then Tom got the duty of carrying it... because he is so manly and buff!

That was short lived though... because he is allergic to anything that grows from the soil, he started breaking out in hives. Not just any old hives... like full on insta-blisters!

Anyhow, we had a great time picking out the tree, and the girls had an even better time decorating it. But more on that to come, later!

Boo in the Pool

Long story, that I'd rather not get into right now, led me to bringing Isabella to school with me. It was that, or stay home and not take the practical exam for swimming...which could possibly bring me down a substantial amount.

So I packed up her suit, towel and lil' swimmers. But big 'doy', I forgot to pack extra regular diapers. Anyhow, since she is not an official water baby (like some babies *clear throat* Dakota), she wore a life vest. I was also worried about getting water in her ears, so this kinda prevented that from happening :)




When we got into the leisure pool area, she freaked (in a happy way). She ran over to the pool in shear excitement. A guard brought over the vest and we put it on. I think that is when the novelty of the idea of swimming began to fade. She tried several times to grab her shoes and dart for the door, but finally I had to put my foot down, and make the plunge with her.

The pool, on the shallowest end, is about a foot. Shallow enough for her to stand... but in that darn jacket, she looked more like a buoy! Poor thing- she was a little agitated. So I slowly crept up to the water feature in the middle of the pool... she was not having that. AT ALL! My final attempt at getting her happy and comfortable in the water, was to take her down to the deepest point (maybe 4 feet), hold on to her, tell her to kick and give her some words of encouragement. That worked... until she saw the basketball and hoop. I let her 'throw' the ball... but you can imagine how far it didn't go. Imagine the setting: Mom holding toddler in 4 feet of water, toddler trying to lift the ball over head (with failed attempt every time) and throwing it (not up) about an inch from your face... only to make a splash. Repeat. And again. And again. And again.

Eventually she kept saying "out, out, out!", so we got out and got her dressed. Theeeeen, she wanted to have fun running around outside the pool area. So she burned off some steam running in circles and eating her 'aps' (apple).

was a very good afternoon with the Kid. She's a keeper ;)

This last picture is a photo of all of the students in my swimming class. If some knew this was posted... I might get yelled at! Hopefully they don't follow!