Friday, June 26, 2009

Fun Fact Friday (Except for it isn't actually Friday)

Edited to add:
This was scheduled to post on Friday but for some reason didn't. We were in Indianola for Kate's wedding! More about the wedding to come, but until then please enjoy this belated installment of Fun Fact Friday...

* Before I was pregnant with Madeline I hated mushrooms...now I love them. Before I was pregnant with Zella I hated cottage cheese...now I love it. Before I was pregnant with Violet I hated sour cream...now I love it.

*The first property we ever bought was a 3200 square foot loft above an old movie theatre. It had a ballroom in it with a stage and came with 80 movie theatre seats. It was fun to live there but not really set up for young kids so we moved to a regular house. The thing I missed most is the booth Travis fixed up.

*Travis can do anything. Okay, not anything, but he is one of those people who knows a little about a lot of things and figures things out quickly. Especially home renovation. Neither of us knew he could do electrical work, plumbing, construction, etc, until he started renovating our whole house.

*The girls and I have a dance party in our kitchen almost every day. We turn up the music and dance silly. It lets them burn off energy and keeps me young. :)

*Travis and I came to an agreement a year into our marriage...I would no longer dye my hair black if he would cut his hair short.

*I always have a song in my head. Every morning when I get up I sing "It's a Good Day" by Peggy Lee. Can't help it.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Family Pictures

We had our family photos taken on Saturday morning. It was kind of mass chaos but we got some good pictures. Madeline loves to pose for pictures unless it is a family photo, then she scowls or turns her head away, so a little bribing was in order. I told Madeline and Zella if they smiled pretty for the camera and were good listeners they could get umbrellas. For some reason they both love umbrellas and always talked about wanting one. The girls did a great job! Madeline picked out a black umbrella with colorful hearts and Zella picked out white umbrella with cute penguins on it. Last night when we were praying they both prayed for rain.

I actually haven't ordered the photos yet and I can't decide which family photo is better, the first or second one. What do you think?

Zella looks so cute in this one!




Almost ten years of marriage -- hard to believe!


Madeline modeling one of her poses.



Zella's grin puts a smile on my face.


Baby Violet looking adorable!



We had a hard time getting a picture of the sisters. We'll try again when Violet is older.


See? I'm not the only goofball in the family!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Fun Fact Friday

Fun Fact Friday is back! And only two of my relatives told me how dorky I was so I figure the rest of you have learned to accept that I am: 1. dorky, 2. Don't care if people think I'm dorky.

Okay, moving on.

* I am a fraternal twin. My twin Lisa and I were generally referred to as "the twins" when I was a kid. We often refer to each other as "Twink" or "Twinkie".

* I am horrible at mowing the lawn. I actually haven't mowed the lawn in 9 years. When I was a kid we had a weeping willow tree on the farm. I mowed under it and one of the long branches got sucked in the blade. There was a fork in the branch and it got caught around my neck. I was on a riding lawn mower (being choked by a tree branch) and couldn't reach the brake pedal. Totally freaked me out. I also ran into the barn and swing set slide with the riding lawn mower. My dad never let me mow again.

* You know how they say that women love shoes and purses? Well my husband tends to "collect" three things: baseball hats, coats and pens. I'm not sure he realizes this, but I do every time I try to clean out the closet.

*Travis and I have been to 48 states. (As truck drivers we went to every state but Hawaii (obviously) Alaska and Maine.) We did go to Maine on vacation for our first anniversary.

* Madeline never used a blankie, pacifier or sucked her thumb. Instead she twirled her hair (once if finally grew!). Sometimes she twirls it so much in her sleep that her finger gets stuck in it and I have to try to retract it without waking her up.

* I use way to many parenthesis. Case in point: scroll up to the fourth fun fact...I used a parenthesis inside of a parenthesis. Sadly there is nothing that can be done about this.

More later,
Lori

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Can I really be wordless? Hmmm...I might not be able to resist captions.




Papa reading to his girls.



Zella being a goofball.




Madeline planted a princess garden in her sandbox. She dug up some clove and then replanted it in the sand.



Baby V chilling out in her sun tent. We watched the girls play in the backyard and enjoyed the nice weather.

More later,
Lori

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Baby Violet


See this cute little baby?

This one right here? She had two big milestones. Yesterday Violet rolled over for the first time! She rolled from her back to her belly. She also said her first word, "hi". I know that seems strange because she is only four months old, but both of her big sisters started talking this early too. When Madeline turned one she could say 26 words, and Zella could say 27. I think they might get their chattiness from me. :)

And if Violet would do a little more of this...

Mama could do a little more of this and the world would be a better place. :)

Overheard at Our House

Zella was almost asleep when she suddenly sat up in bed and yelled, "You be the princess and I'll be the pirate. Arrrrrrrrrrrr!" Then she laid back down and went to sleep.

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We went to a picnic on Sunday night at Centennial Park. Madeline loves to pick "flowers" (aka weeds) and there were plenty to pick at the park. She took an empty Coke bottle and filled it with flowers and water. She said the flowers were for God. She held the bottle up in the air for a moment and then seemed frustrated. She said, "Mama, these flowers are for God but he didn't take them!" Too cute.

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We were on a walk the other day and Madeline saw a yard filled with dandelions. She told me the people who lived there must be rich because they planted so many flowers in their front yard. :)

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Madeline has trouble saying the letter V. (She usually calls Violet Biolet unless she really slows down and thinks about it.) So I thought it was funny when she said, "Look, Biolet has a vomit." I couldn't figure out what she was saying until I realized she was trying to say bonnet.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Fun Fact Friday

I am stealing this idea from a funny blog I like to read. Each week I am going to list random facts about myself and my family. I have no illusions that this will actually make me funny, I just thought it would accurately portray what I talk about on a weekly basis to my husband.

* I cannot whistle. I have tried to learn and was even once on a whistle training regimen when I was 14, but I never succeeded.

* In the first apartment Travis and I lived in we had crazy upstairs neighbors named Alice and Spiro. They once threw a pig heart in the front lawn (apparently to feed the birds). We didn't know what it was and almost called the police to report it. But what do you say to the cops? There is a heart on my lawn and I don't know where it came from? Alice saw us looking at it and yelled down, "Don't worry, it's just a pig heart." Weird.

* Before we got our dog Josie (Basset hound Australian Shepard mix) I was not a dog person. (As in I did not like dogs. At all.) I call her the converter.

* I really hate to drive. So being a truck driver and driving for twelve hours a day sucked. Tell me again why I agreed to do that?

* Travis keeps telling me he wants to raise quail in our backyard and I can't tell if he's kidding or not. I mean, I think he's joking, but that's what I thought when he asked me to be a truck driver. Since then I can never tell when he's being serious or not. Or maybe I'm just scared he's being serious. Either way, NO QUAIL.

* Violet is waking up four or five times a night. (This is not funny, or FUN. Just a fact I wish I could edit to...Violet started sleeping through the night and now Lori gets to gain her sanity back! Doesn't that sound better?

I think I'm going to like Fun Fact Friday. Yet another outlet for my pointless stories. :)

More later,
Lori
P.S. My scanner isn't working so no picture of us graduating from trucking school. I hope to get it working soon!

P.S.S. I disabled the word verification so it is easy to leave comments again. You can just post as anonymous.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

We've been really busy the last couple weeks so I have some catch up to do on the blog. Madeline had her last day of preschool a couple weeks ago. She has grown up so much since last Fall! She loved her teacher Mrs. Loeschen. (And so did Zella! I had a hard time getting Zella to leave.)



Her favorite part of preschool was all the new friends she made. She loved it when they got to paint and make crafts. She would get so excited when it was her turn to bring snacks. She learned a lot and gained a lot of social skills. Her very favorite part was riding the yellow school bus home!

Next year she will go three half days a week. Hard to believe she is so grown up!