Sister and Brother...

Liliana LOVES her siblings, especially when they are itty bitty babies like Garrison is now! She enjoys picking them up, feeding them, playing on the floor with them, and cuddling them! Garrison always gets excited when Liliana goes to him. He LOVES all of his siblings but Liliana is his buddy! Tonight she was standing at the kitchen island with him on her hip. She was trying to get my attention and tapped her hand on the counter. After she tapped her hand, Garrison started tapping his hand. As I turned around to ask Liliana what she wanted, they were both tapping on the counter. It was so very cute how Garrison was imitating Liliana after each tap. Moments like these remind me of how fast they grow and how much the younger children want to be like the older ones in all they do!

9 Months...

9 Months ALREADY! GEESH where does the time go. Garrison is growing so fast! Although the doctors like to remind me different! Yes, everyone, its true... I have small babies! Once again, the drs are having Garrison tested for a variety of "things" just to "be on the safe side". I am not against them testing and screening for anything out of the norm... but given that ALL of my children were born small, stayed small, and still are small makes me wonder why they continue to expect me to birth and raise football players!!??!!
At Garrison's 9 month visit he weighed in at 15 lbs 7 ounces and was 26.5 inches tall! He is doing more than the average active baby does at this age. He sits unassisted, can pull himself up to a sitting or standing position, and he is even walking along furniture. His new favorite thing to do is stand at one piece of furniture and try to reach a neighboring item. Sometimes he will take those few steps to change furniture locations while other times he falls onto his padded little behind and tries all over again!

Put To Work...

My "hobbies" are just those until the husband NEEDS something made for work. Then it becomes MY work! The time was approaching for Marc's yearly district manager meeting. Marc LOVES having out of the box ideas for his presentations. I applaud him for trying to find the fun in all he does when it comes to his work.

This year's meeting had a theme... race cars. I won't go into the details, instead I will tell you about the out of the box projects I had to complete. First was the large flag that had to have the district number in the center with motivational words around it. Second was a mini flag for each store complete with their store number attached. Third was a folder which needed 1 car along with the specific store number on it!

All fairly easy tasks but definitely a little time consuming! Thank goodness I had my cricut machine, xyron machines, scrapbooking supply of endless paper, and sewing machine. Together they made life much easier while I completed all these projects!

The Comfy Chair...

Thanks to Aunt Jeneen, my children fall asleep much easier these days. Well not really but the chair does make all that sit in it, very very very sleepy!

Can We Eat...??

Tonight at the dinner table we had one of the most interesting conversations as a family ever!! Every night for the last few months, Dillon has been fascinated with what type of animal we are eating if we have a meal containing any form of meat! Tonight was no different, but for some reason after we concluded that our dinner contained cow, the conversation took a very strange turn! Liliana lifted her head and asked "Can we eat horse?" Marc and I quickly responded with a firm "NO"! Dillon then said "But we can eat buffalo, right mommy?" Liliana chimed in and inserted her opinion "Yes Dillon, we eat buffalo, remember buffalo burgers from summer!". Dillon wasn't happy that his older sister answered a question that was asked to someone else. He began to ask about all the different kinds of animals that "we can eat"! The ones listed tonight were alligator, sheep, deer, snakes, scorpions, crickets, worms, pig, and spiders. After discussing which ones we could eat, which ones we DO eat, and which ones are off limits, I inserted a disturbing comment (well disturbing to Liliana) "Papa Bing hunts deer and his brother butchers the meat up and then they eat it." Liliana looked at me like I was from Mars. Her body then shivered all over and the sound "ILACK" came out of her mouth. Dillon and Ava looked at Liliana confused. They didn't understand what the word butcher meant! The conversation ended with Liliana saying that if we ever visit Papa Bing she will NOT be eating deer.

That Barbie Is KEEPY (CREEPY)...

Uncle Jarrod, this blog is for you...

Ava decided it would be fun to play with her 3 ft tall "my size" barbie. Typically this barbie hangs out in the corner of her closet next to the dress up area. Today was different, she wanted to bring the barbie out into the loft playroom. I was sitting on the couch looking towards the hallway, when all of a sudden, I saw the hair of this 3 ft tall barbie making its way along the half wall. Ava, finally appeared with her barbie! I asked Ava why she brought her barbie out of her closet and out of her room. Her response was "Uncle Jarrod isn't hear so she won't be creepy anymore." I then asked her why Uncle Jarrod thought her barbie was creepy. Her response was a long one...

"Mommy, my big barbie cares (scares) Uncle Jarrod. HAHAHA He tays (says) what ta (the) heck ten (then) tays (says) tat (that barbie cares (scares) me when he is here! Member (remember) when I got tis (this) barbie for kismas (Christmas) and Uncle Jarrod was here. He doesn't like my barbie cause shes keepy (creepy). HAHAHA Uncle Jarrod is so funny"

After telling me all about what Uncle Jarrod thinks of her barbie she went off and played with her barbie. She made her sit and then stand up. Then all of a sudden, Ava let out a chuckle and said "Mommy look my barbie can do pits (splits)! I know that would keep (creep) Uncle Jarrod out!"

Its funny how she remembers these bits and pieces of conversations she had over a year ago!
See Uncle Jarrod they are always thinking of you even though you are far away right now!


Now to laugh a bit...Later that evening I decided to snap a picture of her barbie sitting on our family room chair to post with this blog and within seconds Ava was begging to have her picture taken with her "big barbie". (Ava is my picture freak, she loves to smile and have her picture taken, no complaints here!!) I didn't realize until I uploaded the picture that she was holding onto the barbie with one hand on the "behind". OOPS

Great Grandma Feed Me...

Oh how I LOVE moments like these especially when my camera is handy!! Today Great Grandma came down from Scottsdale (about an hour north of us) to visit! After arriving it was soon time for Garrison to eat a little lunch! Great Grandma was quick to ask if she could feed him! Garrison may be a picky eater but isn't all too picky with who feeds him, thankfully! I was able to capture this picture without disrupting his feeding. Even though we see Great Grandma less than we would like to, Garrison seems to enjoy her company! As he should, she is an awesome (great) grandma! We are so blessed to have her in our lives!

Search And Find...

Liliana LOVES search and find books. Her Grandma LOVES search and find books. This equals LOTS of time at a kitchen table looking for items TOGETHER! Neither of them can ever get enough of these books. I just had to take advantage and snap a picture!

The Fisher Price Cow...

For the past 8 years, I have saved almost all the kids infant toys. Each year after a child turned 1 yr old, I would pack up the infant toys that were in good shape, knowing future children would have them to play with. Lets be real, babies don't do much to ruin, trash, or break toys when they are that young! Just before Garrison's birth, I had Marc get the bins down from the shelves to sort through. There were 2 really large bins FULL of infant toys. Needless to say, we didn't buy any new toys for him. Why would we buy new toys for him?... these toys are practically brand new and in excellent condition!

Today Garrison discovered the fun of "The Fisher Price Cow"! The FP Cow was one of the first toys we bought Liliana! Liliana was about 8 months old (Garrison is the same age now). She really enjoyed playing with this toy, as did Dillon and Ava! I must admit, it's one of my favorite infant toys to see the kids play with. Its a cow head with a mirror on the body and two large wheels on each side. The toy is meant to be pushed and pulled but always remain in a vertical upright position. When the toy moves, infant music plays.

Its fun to see that 8 years later, this toy is still a favorite.

Pretzel Time...

Marc got the itch to make homemade pretzels. If Marc and I are similar in any way, shape, or form its when we itch to do something... we jump in and do it! So later this afternoon, Marc got all the ingredients out and began making the dough. The kids quickly jumped right on in, adding ingredients to the bowls, mixing up the dough, and helped make a big mess all over my counter tops! Later that evening the dough was ready to be rolled and baked! The kids were right there at the counter waiting to roll out their own pretzel! Ava decided she wanted to make a letter "A", Dillon wanted a basic pretzel, and Liliana wanted the letter "L". The pretzels turned out pretty tasty and the kids went to bed with full tummy's!

What A Good Big Sister...

After hearing the question "Mommy can I please feed Garrison?" over and over and over again... I broke down and let Ava feed Garrison some banana yogurt baby food. Its been very interesting feeding Garrison these last couple months. He has become a very picky eater and I still can't figure out why. I had tried feeding him banana baby food many times and never was successful. Then along comes Ava. She puts a chair in front of his high chair takes a nice size scoop of banana yogurt food on the spoon and Garrison opens nice and wide as she feeds him! It was cute because every time the spoon approached his mouth, Ava would open her mouth imitating what Garrison was expected to do! My jaw was wide open in shock! I watched as she fed him spoonful after spoonful. I was baffled. Why was he eating this flavored food from Ava but not from Marc or myself? He finished the entire jar and was still looking for more food! Needless to say, Ava bragged to everyone how she got Garrison to eat all his food.

I have since been letting her every so often help feed Garrison his baby food!

I Haven't Forgotten About You...

Oh my poor, poor, poor blog I haven't forgotten about you but with a computer acting up, research into family history, two kids to shuffle to and from school, two other kids to keep occupied day after day, sewing projects galore, and a wedding to plan in just under 3 months time... I am just a tad bit busy! I will hopefully have my computer back up and running soon and post a couple blogs or more to catch everyone up on our busy, crazy life. Until then...

Naptime AND Dinner...

For some strange reason, my children seem to find it easy to fall asleep pretty much ANYWHERE when tired enough! Tonights location for Ava... The Dinner Table. After getting all the children their plates, Marc and I were still in the kitchen getting our plates together. While pre-occupied doing that Ava decided to put her head on the table ... and well ... as you can see she fell fast asleep.

I decided to leave her just the way she was and not to move her right away for fear of waking her up.

After about 5 minutes of sitting like that, she ended up laying spread across 2 chairs still fast asleep! Once I snagged a picture, I moved her onto the couch where she stayed asleep for many hours.

Mandy And Her Present...

Ahhh another cousin is officially legal to drink any and all alcohol available these days! Mandy officially turned 21 this past month! As a family we planned our birthday get together in honor of her and Jason (Marc's other cousin who also has a birthday in August). Typically I give them a small Target giftcard inside a card. This year, seeing that Mandy turned the big "21", I saw it fitting to buy her some alcohol. (Yes I did check with her parents to ensure they were ok with this) After seeing Erika's blog (another cousin of Marc's), which had a picture of a wine bottle bag made out of fabric, I thought that would be perfect for me to make for the bottles of alcohol! After 10 minutes at the sewing machine I was finished! They were so simple to make and turned out so nice! I will have to remember to make these more often when bringing or giving alcohol to someone!

Thanks Erika for the inspiration and idea!

Jason's Cake...

Jason is Marc's cousin. His birthday was back in August but as a family we decided to wait until the beginning of September and celebrate it with Marc's other cousin Mandy (whose birthday is in late August). With school and sports starting up scheduling a family get together to celebrate these two birthdays became quite the task. All worked out and the party date was set for Sunday Sept. 6th. Erin (Mandy's sister) enjoys baking and offered to make the cake. Last year she made the cake and Jason was a bit upset that he had to "share a flowery cake" with his older cousin. So this year I was asked to make him a small sports themed cake and Erin would make her sisters cake! I decided to make a football cake. Its actually a pretty basic cake. The bottom is a double layer square cake and the top is an oval cake carved in the shape of a football! The bottom is covered in green fondant with 3 dimensional grass piped around the football and the football is covered with brown fondant with white piping for the football lace and lettering!