24 Olive Street

NCC-1701

Awesome movie! Do people still say awesome?? Well, I do :)

Non-stop action.

I got teary eyed twice. Yes, during a Star Trek movie.

KHHHAAAAAAANNN!!!!!

Oh man, the writers did a great job on this one. They always do. And how they reference different Star Trek movies, esp Star Trek II. Oh man.

And if you're not a Star Trek fan, but still love Sci-fi, you'll love this movie. You might not get all the 'inside jokes' but it'll still be great. I promise :)

Oh man, I wanna go see it again!

And now I need to get to mountains of laundry that have been piling up for days. My dryer decided to die...again...the day my friend was coming into town.

Of course, the only clean towels in the house were the ones sitting in the washer and my now broken dryer.

Sigh.

Wasn't planning on spending 2 grand this week but that's how home ownership goes, isn't it?!

Well, I should say...I'll get to doing my mountains of laundry once the guys actually get done delivering and installing them. Ya know, doing all that hard work gets in the way of all their smoke breaks.

Yeah, not happy. The store will be hearing about it, too.

Double sigh...

Correction...after the washer & dryer were hooked up they discovered the washer doesn't work. Round 2 tomorrow.

Triple sigh!

the last month

We're in the home stretch of the school year. The time of year when I'm the most exhausted.

We're in the last week of soccer games this week (1 practice & 3 games this week)

When you leave your soccer cleats on the front porch you might find an unexpected surprise for a certain toddler that lives here :)

I keep waiting for a time when my older 2 will learn to put their stuff away. I have a feeling I'll be waiting forever...

One more month of regular baseball games (2 a week) and then the playoffs

School field trips, projects, plays (and costumes for mom to hunt down...seriously, doing a play 2 weeks before the end of school is just mean! lol), teacher gifts...all in between trying to play for 2 upcoming shows this summer, getting my garden finished, trying to keep the house somewhat cleaned, & having company twice in the next month.

And my little one will be turning 2 in the middle of all this :) It's definitely going to be a Mickey Mouse birthday...she is in love (seriously, she loooooves her MeeMee!) with anything Mickey or Minnie.

By the way, that rocking horse was a gift for my older daughter from her godparents (also my aunt & uncle) for her 1st Christmas over 10 yrs ago. It's had 3 kids to love on it...and hopefully one day some grandkids to love on it :)

Yeah, I've already warned my friend Becky, who is coming today (yey!!!) that my  house is far from orderly right now. She doesn't care...we've been friends for 25+ yrs. When you've been friends for that long you've seen far worse in each other! haha

Tomorrow we're going out to see this...

Oh yeah, big Star Trek fans :) In fact, that's why she picked this weekend to come out here. Told ya...big fans! So excited!!!

Oh, and did I say I'm doing all this with a hubby that's either out of town or feels like he's out of town because of work?

Just a typical week/month in the Whitlow household...it's all good :)

fondue sunday

Sunday I got 2 of the best Mother's Day presents. The first one - little one slept in til almost 9!!! And the second - the big kids brought me breakfast in bed...donut holes & milk :)

Hubby had been out of town all week and got back Sunday afternoon. I'd been wanting to check out The Melting Pot since we moved here. I had only been there once back when I lived in TN & was so excited to see we had one here!

It was pure fondue heaven!

And a free mimosa for Mother's Day. Yes please!

I should also say that this place is a bit on the expensive side...esp when you're paying for 4 people. It's definitely not a place we will eat at often. But it's definitely one of those places you have to try at least one (or twice!)...esp if you're like me and you love fondue!

We decided to do cheese & chocolate. For the cheeses we picked 2 kinds - cheddar & swiss. The cheddar was a definite favorite...esp with the kiddos. They gave us bread, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower & apples to dip with.

For the chocolate we did smores. Oh.my.heavens. it was good!!! It's amazing how full you get just from cheese & chocolate. And the dippers for the chocolate fondue...strawberries, bananas, 2 kids of marshmallows, brownie bites, pound cake bites, cheesecake & Rice Krispie treats.

Oh yeah...tummy aches all around after! haha Thankfully it didn't make me too ill with my Crohns. But it was so worth it :)

I didn't get any pics of all 3 kids together, or one of them with me. Addie wore her pretty Easter dress & I still have yet to get a good pic...this time daddy dripped chocolate down the front. Oh well...one day!! haha It's cooled off a bit from our 80+ degree temps so we'll head out to the park for some nice pics when it's a little warmer & less rainy :)

Oh, and the hubs bought me a composter for my garden for Mother's Day. Yey!!

almost 2

23 months old

1 more month until she turns 2

ONE

Holy cow!!

She's been such a blessing to our family. I can't even put it into words :)

For this layout I used the Country Lane kit from Noel Mignon. The photo I had printed at 8x12 at Costco...although, I will say, it printed much darker than my original picture. Kind of a bummer :(

The 'almost 2' was cut with my Silhouette using the Lobster 1.3 & Impact fonts.

And just a tip when using the cute wooden embellishments...don't try to lift them off your page once they're adhered. That's what I did because I wanted to move it over a little and it broke :( I put it back together as best I could because I really wanted to use it & didn't have anymore.

And now that I squeezed in a little crafty time while the little one is napping I'd better get to some much needed housework!

beautiful tuesday

Spring is finally here...weather wise. It's absolutely beautiful out. Blue skies. Cool breezes. The sounds of lawn mowers, people working outside & kids playing in the streets.

I will be bringing several of these potted flowers to the Strawberry Festival next month :)

Addie & I hung out in the yard yesterday, I planted some flowers, she walked around transferring mulch & dirt back & forth between buckets & doused herself with water...water that was in a bucket for the dogs that she decided to add mulch to & then tipped all over herself :)

Gotta love toddlers!! hehe

We played, we bbq'd some hot dogs, we ate lunch on the porch while jealous doggies looked on.

It's proper hot dog eating etiquette to remove the hot dog from the bun & eat the parts separately :)

Apparently we needed some flowers on our table :)

Oh, and one more thing before I end this...I found these cute mugs in the Target dollar spot the other day...

Love that Target has a dollar section! I'm sure the mustaches will eventually wear off, but for a buck who cares??!!

Happy Wednesday friends!

the kindness of strangers

Friday started off a bit rough for me. Something was said to me that was upsetting. Doesn't matter who or what, at this point it's not important.

So I set off on my way with Addie to hit some yard sales over in Idaho. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery!

I found a few things and just as I was about to head home I hit one more sale. It didn't look like much but I ended up finding a few treasures, like this basketball hoop for the kids...

My main goal when out thrifting/yard saleing/junkin' is to find treasures to repurpose/fix up/sell. But I always have a running list of the things I'm looking for either for the kids or myself.

They've been wanting a basketball hoop for a while. And while this is a 'mini' version it works just fine for now til I can get a bigger one. They spent lots of time playing over the weekend!

I also found something else at that sale that I didn't really 'need' but Addie seemed to enjoy it...

She loved sitting at this little wooden picnic table and since they weren't asking much I planned on buying it. But the lady who was selling it told me that she wanted me to have it and would not let me pay for it. Her and her husband were the sweetest, he even helped me load up the basketball hoop into my truck. Oh, and I also found another little granny cart to fix up for the Strawberry Festival :)

It's amazing what one small act of kindness can do. I tell ya, it totally changed my mood for the day :)

It's funny that I'm writing about this when just today, first thing this morning, I had to deal with some very grumpy people at the vet when I dropped my dog off for the 'ol snip snip...poor guy :( Apparently they either don't like kids or don't like little ones that can occasionally get upset because they both gave me the nastiest looks that I think I've ever gotten in my 11 1/2 yrs as a parent.

As we were leaving I made a point of saying to my kids (in a not so quiet voice) 'C'mon guys, let's go, we're getting the look of death from those people over there' while I stared them down. The reason I stared them down? Because they were spewing hate through their eyes the entire time I was walking out. My kids were not out of control, they weren't overly loud, my little one just got upset a couple times when she didn't get what she wanted...like when she wanted to go see Mr. T the tortoise :)

Gonna have to go get the scoop on those people from the vet when I go to pick up Tucker this afternoon :) haha

Some days I have no tolerance for overly rude people. Thank God for the good ones!

noel mignon

I'm in the middle of tagging lots of clothes, baby stuff & toys for the upcoming JBF sale this weekend but I wanted to take a sec and share this with you all.

Noel Mignon currently has July-December subscriptions spots open. I've been a kit subscriber/customer/fan of Noel's kits for years. I've always said I think they are the absolute best value for your money. Seriously, her kits are packed!! Anyone who's gone to a scrapbooking retreat with me knows this :)

I know I haven't been sharing a lot of scrappy posts lately (which I hope to rectify soon) but let me tell you her kits have been absolutely amazing. You can head over here to get all of the details.

You can also head here for the facebook page and here for the facebook group for inspiration :)

Now I need to get back to the mounds and mounds of clothes that still need to be tagged...

Wish me luck!!

sunday

Another week has come and gone.

We were teased with some warm weather & then on Saturday it got cold & windy. And today it's like crazy windy!

My tulips are blooming but there are no daffodils to be found :( The leaves came up but I'm thinking they're not going to bloom this year, not sure why.

My tree that I got for Mother's Day last year is blooming pretty pink flowers.

We pulled out Addie's sandbox that I got at a yard sale last year. She looooves it.

Had a few good junkin' trips...always makes me happy!

More baseball & soccer.

Hitting the local nursery to buy some flowers. Still too early to plant but I have them in my little greenhouse. I'll be able to plant them in about 2 weeks. I think tonight we're going to have another frost which is exactly why I can't plant yet.

We're adopting another dog. I went to a local rescue group & took him home last week to see how it'd work out. At first he was a bit grumpy with my other dog but now they're becoming buddies. So he's a keeper :) I'll share more when it's 'official'.

My Sunday mood is usually determined by how church goes. Some weeks are good, some not so good. This week Addie decided she didn't want to behave in church. It's just the age. This is a hard age for church. It'll pass. I keep telling myself that.

I've known people who say 'we don't go to church because my kid doesn't behave' which always seems so silly to me. The same thing goes with 'my kid doesn't behave at a restaurant so we don't go out to eat." I'm a firm believer that if you don't do these things there's no way your kid will ever learn.

We don't have a cry room in our church. And quite honestly, I like it that way. I don't like cry rooms for 2 reasons: 1) it doesn't teach kids how to act in church (usually I've seen people just letting kids run around like they're not even in church) and 2) it doesn't teach the kids that they are as much a part of church as everyone else. At least, that's what I've seen in some churches I've attended but it's not always true for all churches.

But on days like yesterday I had to leave about halfway through. Addie ended up falling asleep in the car. Church time is right around the time that she's getting ready for a nap which is why it sometimes doesn't go so well. But I just can't get up early enough to make it to 9am mass!

Lunch at Tomato Street definitely lightened the mood. Homemade 'playdough' for the kids to play with? A huge chalkboard in the lobby? Brick oven pizza? Yes please!! Even the older kids like playing with the playdough...they were making characters from Minecraft. haha

We've decided that every other Sunday we will go out for lunch after church & we will alternate between the kids & adults.

The rules:

NO complaining about the choice or you lose your next turn.

Mom gets the choice to veto a kid's choice if it's too far/too expensive/etc (although there's not too many places I would veto).

NO fast food (unless it's Jimmy Johns, Subway, etc). We don't really eat fast food anyway so that's not really an issue.

I've put our family on a pretty tight budget but I feel it's important to have some 'fun' time and going out to lunch after church definitely qualifies in our family :)

weekend

That about sums up our Saturday. Soccer, working & playing in the yard.

I picked up some more evergreens at Costco to plant along the back fence...partially to block the annoying dog that's indirectly behind us. One day there will also be a shed back there.

These are seriously a great deal at Costco. They're 5 or 6 ft tall and 17.99 each. When you need a ton you have to go cheap! We have 11 along the back fence and next year we'll fill in between them for a total of 20. In a few years we'll have a nice green 'fence' to look at :)

I also started working on getting my planting beds ready for my veggies. I'm so glad I didn't plant them...on Sunday we got this:

Hail/ice/whatever you want to call it. Mixture of rain & ice. It's the weirdest thing, we get it every spring. And the next morning my truck was covered in ice & I had to pull out the scraper!

I need to keep patient for just a couple more weeks :) For now, the few plants I've been growing & the ones I picked up this weekend are nestled snuggly in my little mini greenhouse.

This was my garden last year...

2 planting beds that were mostly filled with tomatoes & a couple pepper plants. I also had this herb garden that is up on my deck. I find it's easier to have the herbs up on my deck. That way I can just step out when I'm cooking & cut what I need.

This year I plan to add another planting bed like the 2 I already have and then 1 long one along the side fence for corn.

I need to take more pics this year so you can get an idea. I'm basically trying to use the part of the yard that is the least utilized but gets great sunlight. I'm also trying to leave the better part of the yard open so the kids can run & play without worrying about running into the garden.

In hindsight I kind of wished I would have brought our fence up a little further to the front of the house so I'd have more of a side yard for the garden. Maybe one day we'll have them move the fence up.

For now, it's baby steps when it comes to my garden :)

the moments you wait for...

These days our weeks are filled with baseball games, soccer practices & soccer games. I was bummed I missed my oldest daughter's first soccer game last Saturday because I was at Junk Drunk.

As a mom watching your child play a sport, there are moments you wait for. They don't always come. There's defeat. There's bad days.

And then there are 'the' moments, the ones that make you jump up and scream your head off for you kid!

Last night we had a game. And like most we sit outside for half of it and by the time the sun starts going down it's getting pretty cold so we sit in the van while Addie is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my Kindle :)

View from the van :)

Ben was up to bat, last inning, 2 outs, and I think he already had 1 strike. And then...crack! A hit to right field and a home run! As I saw him rounding 2nd I jumped out of the van and started screaming! Oh yeah, I'm totally one of those moms :) And thanks to that home run he was also able to bring in 2 other runners.

These are the moments.

Their team was losing miserably. It didn't matter who had the home run, it was a definite morale boost for the whole team.

We all need moments like these. There's so much bad in the world.  There will always be bad people. Evil. We sometimes focus on it instead of realizing all the good. All the moments. There's a lot of them. We can't forget that.