whatever

thinking on this today...

it's a hard message.
scary.
makes me feel uncomfortable...and want to cry...
but mostly it makes me want to stand up on the balance beam...

i saw this on jody's blog a week or so ago.
she is returning from africa.
she got to see water4christmas' results with her own eyes...face to face.
she is standing on the balance beam.

rainbow cupcakes

i hope it didn't seem like i was complaining in the previous post...
i wasn't.
it just seemed like a really full day...physically/emotionally/mentally.

many of you asked how i made the cupcakes.


it is easy!
but time consuming...halfway through i thought "why did i decide to do this?"
they are so pretty it is worth the time. 
i saw these made somewhere...and i can't recall who made them...so smile if it was you...you are smart!

i used white cake mix made according to the box.
(i was making these for school treats too so i used three boxes of cake mix...)
then split the batter into 6 bowls.
then added icing colors to each bowl seperately. 
you could buy them here....or walmart or hobby lobby or michaels.  
gel colors are different than the little droppers...much deeper and a more true color is achieved. 
next i lined my cupcake pan with paper liners....(wishing i had these...)


i used my small scooper to add batter to each cup. 
i started with purple and did less than a scoop in each one...then i did the same with blue...then green
and so on.

it used up all the batter and it worked doing it that way.
i wasn't concerned about it being centered or perfect...just did it in order and figured it would work 
out to look like a rainbow or at least like tie dye.

 
they took 15 minutes in my oven.
 

frosting recipe is in the sidebar...and so is the rainbow cake.  :)

happy baking. 

my friday

woke up...made coffee...made talby's sack lunch...started a load of laundry.
drove the kids to school...had  a big arguement over being selfish at christmas in the car...bummer.
came home...got out of my pajamas...more coffee...check email.
walk annie to school...then realize if forgot my disks i was going to drop off.
walk back home and decide to bring waffle on a walk with me.

ugh.
he is so hard to walk.  
we made it 10 minutes...then i dropped him off at home and went on walking for 15 minutes alone.

vaccuumed, dusted, mopped my bedroom...made a gi-normous laundry mountain on my bed.
went to pick annie up from preschool...stopped a wendy's for 2 free jr. frosties.
annie watched tv and i picked up the kitchen.
kids walked home from school at 1:00 (early release) 
1:45 lauren calls and says "uhhhh....were you going to pick me up?"  
i thought she had try outs but it was a different day...oops.
go pick her up...sit 10 minutes waiting on two trains.
Al comes to fix a problem with our furnace.
he leaves and i start on the laundry mountain.
start to feel very sleepy so i lay down on the laundry mountain....i fall asleep for exactly 1 minute 
someone slams the door downstairs causing frames to wall off a shelf and break.

NIIIIIIIICE.
now that i am wide awake i go downstairs.
craig walks in from work earlier than usual (always lovely to see) we say hello.
i finish the laundry...he goes to get pizza....three girls arrive for talby's sleepover birthday party!
we eat pizza...i make cupcakes...the boys leave for a football game.

open presents...
jump on the trampoline in the dark...




played barbies....
frosted their own cupcakes...added a pound of sprinkles on each one.




the girls start watching Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs...
they make it halfway through before they leave to play more barbies.
annie finally loses it and has the biggest tantrum of the evening and i take her up to bed.

she cried for 15 minutes because she wanted to "be with the girls"  it was heartbreaking.
clearly i should have found a place for her to go for talby's sake.  

at 10:30 i took a shower...
at 11:15 i told the girls again to go to sleep.
at 11:20 i couldn't keep my eyes open anymore....

at 6:05 AM this morning there were 4 little girls giggling again.
where's the coffee? 

birdie skirt

do you remember this mama?

she is a friend from church...sometimes i even get to teach her son in my sunday school class.

jenae has opened an etsy shop.
it is full of really cute handmade kids' clothes.
adorable.

annie got the birdie skirt and loves it.
i love it too.

we did a little five year old photo shoot in it and i have to show you.

that skirt is just so cute!
i love that orange bird.  






we found a lady bug.


such a happy skirt...for a happy girl.

jenae's shop is called winneyandbea.
how cute is that?
sweet sweet sweet.

some more of her beautiful goodies...

 

                                             

a reversible dress?!!
caterpillars?
swans?
weiner dogs?
just the cutest stuff in her shop.

go over to visit winneyandbea....buy something cute for your kids...
buy a christmas gift for your niece or nephew...or your grandchild.
you will be so happy you did.

five

this is an account of annie's fifth birthday.

annie found this note on her door and started asking who made it for her.
i could tell sean had so she went to him and asked "sean...do you love me?!"  
he answered..."it's your birthday so i made you a card."
he was not going to say he loved her.
but his actions spoke it.  and he told talby "i used that because it's her favorite color"
i was smiling while listening to this hall way conversation still in my warm bed...6:45 AM.

annie is now five years old.
that is crazy.
and hard to have my baby be that age.

we took her two best buddies micah and eliza swimming...at 10:30 on a tuesday morning.



i felt just like i was back in my daycare days.
when lauren was this age i used to take her and my daycare kids (other 3 & 4 years olds) swimming.
then we'd have to get all dried off and dressed...that was what reminded me...3 times over.

 

annie chose wendy's for her birthday lunch.  
she started with pizza hut...changed her plans to sonic....then decided on wendy's 20 minutes before.
for the frosty.
which she only ate/drank half of anyway.
we took our happy meals to the park and ate on the top of the slide.
then the three of them played a game which consisted of screaming for help and running from "the boss"
weird.
but it kept them busy for 45 minutes.


a birthday card in the mail....with money...SCORE!  thanks great grandma!!


micah gave her some paint and it was the first thing she wanted to do when we got home.
 
 



new shoes.




i think annie was relieved to have her birthday over.
the pressure and excitement she was putting on herself for a month was exhausting her.
she told me so many times that she was "five now"..."ready for kindergarten" and "really big"

but she's my baby.

sniffle sniffle...my baby is not even close to a baby anymore.
pass the kleenex please.

cloverleaf

i have wanted to go to cloverleaf for a long time.
i saw them in country living a few years ago.
i thought the only one was in Ardmore, OK...but kim discovered there were two!
one right in oklahoma city.
 

"get in here"
there was pink everywhere.

it was a cowboy meets shabby chic boutique...with a little crazy thrown in for fun!








glitter everywhere.
pumpkins covered in glitter...glitter letters...even the floor was gold glitter!
 

mama-licious....HA!


you know if i ever did decide to start decorating the house for halloween...
i think a life size glitter covered skeleton would be where i would start.


look at that display jacket.  
is that from a marching band?  a nashville cowgirl?  i am so curious...it's decoration, not for sale.
but it's so cute!
and a  yellow and turquoise mushroom?

love this stuff.

kim and i kept coming back to these.
we loved them.
beautiful boots embroidered and colorful...made to feel like you've had them forever.
if only i had a spare $438.



i didn't notice that lamp until i was posting these pictures...it's pretty!
i liked the birdhouse art in the background.
and all the pink girlie books.

 


now i want pink poodle statues for my front door.



i seriously want to make this.
i know i could.
but what a fun gift to pick up for the girl who has everything....


kim ended up with gorgeous earrings that look fabulous with her eyes.
i picked a big chunky necklace that said it was "vintage".
cool.

if you are close to OK City you need to go to cloverleaf.
and bring $438 and get me a pair of those boots...size 8...please.

and i know that the Ardmore, OK. store is much bigger adn more full even...hard to imagine.
so i want to go there someday too.

SO MUCH FUN!

where did october go?

we finally got to carving our pumpkins at 5:00 on halloween.
better late then never.






craig was cleaning the gutters....
 
halloween costumes were figured out last minute again this year...like always.
annie was the classic lion (circa 1999).                    talby scored a costume from the thrift shop.
  

sean repeated his skeleton from last year.  
he wants to be scary & i keep saying no..this is as scary as i can handle - a skeleton tee & face paint.

we hit the streets to trick or treat.
the neighbors were just coming out...so much fun to watch the kids see each other all dressed up.

our block had 3 witches, a cowboy, yoda, tinkerbell, a lion, a giraffe and the skeleton dude.
 

seven pumpkins...so messy...but so worth it when you see them all lit up together....love it!

where did october go?  
how is halloween already over? 
 

our house is now bursting with candy like everyone else.
just before bed annie said "mom...i'm gonna save this and eat it ALL tomorrow after church"
oh my.

happy birthday chicago jenny.

today is her birthday.
she is getting really old.

chicago jenny does not read my blog.

i know!!!!

you read that correctly.  
chicago jenny...my best friend...the woman who helped me birth my babies....who took care of my kids when i was too hungover sick...the friend who has been to see me in kansas 5 times...

does not read my blog.

it's not clear as to why she doesn't read it.

maybe it's because she thinks i am too happy on the blog?  (i do complain a lot to my friends in real life)
maybe she misses me so much that reading the blog makes her sad? 
maybe she knows that in real life i talk/laugh/joke about s*x (it's true!)
          and it bugs her that i don't on the blog? (my grandma reads this blog jenny...)
maybe she thinks i am so funny in person and the blog is no comparison????
maybe she wants to be mentioned in every blog post? 
maybe her internet can only get facebook and can't open my blog?
maybe she can't read?
maybe she thinks i don't play sequence well enough?
maybe she can't stand the all-lowercase-letters-rule i have here?
maybe she's mad about the photos i posted of her in the gown from thrift store?
maybe she thinks i am boring?
maybe it's because she is a chemist and only likes to read blogs about chemistry?

i guess maybe it's because she works a few different jobs.
and her husband is always making her go go go to all kinds of fun places.
and she is involved in the school and committees
and she has a big extended family that she spends lots of time with.
and she reads books.

and MAYBE it's because we are already best friends without the blog...she just doesn't need it.
 
but i hope today (after or before her sister's wedding) she will see her
happy birthday blog post so you can all wish her a happy birthday 

and i can tell everyone, including her how much i love her.

happy birthday jenny! 

PW...she rocked.

my friend kim emailed me a few weeks ago and asked "want to go meet PW?"
to which i responded "uh...YES!!!"
we picked a date...arranged our babysitters...she scoped out oklahoma city for shopping...and we did it!

we were way giddy about meeting THE pioneer woman.

we were shopping for clothes and craig called my cell.
c: hi...are you having fun?  where are you?
m: trying on clothes...yes having so much fun.
c: what time is pioneer woman?
m: 6:30...what time is it now?
c: 5:15.  you aren't there already!!?!  are you kidding?  you drove all the way there and you aren't waiting in line yet?
m:  good point....we'll go now.

craig saved the day.

it was across the street at full circle books.  (very quaint bookstore that i would love to spend time in)
we arrived at 5:30 and we were at least #100?  or higher.
what dorks that we didn't go sooner!

that is a sign behind me...i am not wearing a green and yellow bonnet...i promise.
(by the way...how cute is kim?! so cute!) 

we got comfy in line and there we stood...and stood...and stood.
we had nothing to do but talk, good thing i like talking! 
we met the ladies in line with us.


mickie on the left and amy on the right...both from oklahoma...but kansas natives.


this was the line behind us...going on a long long LONG way...

finally at 8:40
yes...3 hours later...we made it to Ree.

it was worth it.

she was just as she appears on her blog...and that was just what i wanted to know.
kind eyes.
super personable.
easy to talk to.
beautiful voice.
just like i thought.



and i didn't even cry!
i was worried that i might...i just never can gauge my emotions...i can't control my crying!
so thankfully i didn't.

she posted her OKC book signing today.
those girls (with the leopard cardigan) were right behind us!
you should have heard them squeal when Marlboro Man appeared in the hall way!  
hysterical.

her family was there...kids, sister & baby, MM and more.
i enjoyed seeing that her boys did exactly what my boys' would've.

 
it was a great night.
kim...thank you for being so spontaneous and willing to go.
i learned so many cool things about you yesterday.

and i don't know what to cook first!

if you go to see her in your area...
1. get there early.
   (go early & grab a stack of books, a coffee and plant yourself in front of her table.) 
   we heard the first people were there at 4:00...for a 6:30 signing.
2. bring snacks in your purse.
3. don't forget your camera.
4. wear comfy shoes....seriously.
5. get a babysitter.  i was glad to not be one of the moms holding babies all that time.

I LOVE PIONEER WOMAN...could you tell?

the news team (watch it here) set up right beside us to get their shot.
they started filming the long line starting at us...so we aren't shown.
i dared kim to jump right out at the camera man as he was walking for his shot of the crowd.  
she said no.
the girl they interviewed was just in front of us.
i'm glad they didn't chose me..."I loooooove pioneer woman...i just LOOOOVVVVE her...i really love her"
and then i would stare into the camera like a deer in headlights.  
then i would start crying.    

we got home from Oklahoma at 1:00 AM-ish.
24 hours ago.
i am still beaming.  
i have a pioneer woman glow all about me. 

i can't wait to try my first recipe. 

for reals....

oh yes i did meet her...in the flesh...last night!

i will tell you all about it
after a morning nap and two more cups of coffee.

i can't stop smiling today.
{{{sigh}}}