4 Years

Dear Elaina,
Finally! You are four years old. You have been waiting so long for this momentous occasion.
You have had a very good year as far as learning is concerned. You are almost through with your reading lesson book and you have finally mastered (basically) drawing inside the lines in your coloring books. You have fihured out how to use the mouse on the computer and you are now learning a little about using the keypad. You are trying to convince yourself that you are brave on your big-girl bike but I can see the hesitation in your eyes.
I can't believe how quickly you have reached this age. I never knew how grown up the age 4 is until I became a parent. It's totally different coming at it from this viewpoint. It seems like I should still be changing your diaper. Although to be honest I do still wipe your bottom a lot. :)
You are still so sweet but just here lately you have been having a little bit of attitude. Usually, all it seems to take is a gentle reminder and you are back to being your pleasant self. I am learning I can trust you to follow orders and to make sure others follow the orders as well!
You have a strong desire to learn to cook and believe me, I will maximize on that!!! You are the kissiest child we have and I love that. You are always coming up and kissing whatever body part you can get your mouth on.
You are a blessing to us and make a wonderful oldest child.
I love you Elaina Ceridwen.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday, Claire! (revised)

My sweet Rachel Claire,

You are 3 now. Almost a little lady. You have become so much easier this year. (Unfortunately, Eily is right on your heels with the terrible two's.) Right now you are picking up the house for me. What a sweetie.

You are learning your letters, have finally mastered your colors and are fully potty trained. It was a big year for you. You also ride your tricycle everywhere and you LOVE swimming lessons. Your hair has reached your chin so you more like a girl. :)

You can really have an ugly mouth but we are working on how to speak nicely and we are working on your ability to get along with others.
You give the best hugs and have the most delightful way of expressing yourself when you talk. I could watch you talk for hours and never once get bored. This year we will start on your school and I look forward to seeing you learn new things but dread the drama that is bound to happen. You have practiced putting diapers on Pooh Bear for quite a while now and the other day you diapered Eily while I was getting Elaina out of the bathtub. What a nice surprise! You have always been my "mothering" child."

I love you, Rachel Claire and I hope that I do you right as a mother. I hope I can nurture your soft, loving side and help it to be your most dominate personality. You are truly special and I'm so blessed that you were given to me.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's a new week

I didn't get one birthday post up last week. Unless you count the poop post but I do not consider that a proper birthday post.

I will try to get a post or two up today amist all the other little things I have planned. I like days at home that are just puttery. Putting about here and there doing this and that. Maybe not getting dressed until 9 or 10. Maybe eating breakfast for lunch and then lunch for afternoon snack.
I want to get all the laundry folded. I want to call Best Buy and get some computer things resolved. I want to make a quick run to the grocery store. I want to cook a good supper for the family. I want to straighten up our home. I want to read The Christian Pathway. I want to get Elaina's reading lesson done. I want to give the girls a bath and brush their teeth. I want to get two one more birthday posts post written. I want to mow the back yard. I want to get caught up with my Pampered Chef stuff.
But it doesn't matter if this all gets accomplished or not. It's a puttery day and that's that.

Make a point today to have a happy morning!
Ceridwen

If you have a sensitive gag reflex you might not want to read this one

This has been the worst day of my life. Ever.
Elaina did wonderful on her reading lesson. I have almost finished deep cleaning the entire house and I made a huge dent in my pile of unclipped coupons.
So what made this day stand out as the worst?

While Elaina was doing her reading lesson, Claire and Eily were in the dining room eating choclate chip cherry granola bars. Eily came into the playroom and handed me a choclate chip out of her granola bar. I ate it.

It was poop. Actual poop.

I had changed her diaper just minutes earlier and the substance in the diaper was made up of little round balls. (She will be eating rasins for her next snack.) Apparently one very small ball fell out of the diaper without me noticing. Eily found it. Eily shared it.

I have to quit writing now and go throw up.

(No one tell Jason, ok? He'll never kiss me again. And I can't say I'd blame him.)

It's my birthday!!

I woke up this morning with an upset stomach. Something I ate yesterday is not happy with its new surroundings.
Claire woke up the entire family by throwing a big fit during the night so I am very tired.

But Elaina made up for everything. This morning she wanted me to make a list of things to do. I was too busy groaning over my tummy and said no so she said she would make her own list. And for the very first time, she sounded out her words and wrote them on a piece of paper.




























The top work looks like pk, but it's not. She started with the bottom word: "P","i" (the "i" is fancy) and then a "k" that is really a "n" but I didn't tell her that. She isn't skilled at drawing "k's" yet.

Then she hit the bottom of the paper and had to write the next word above the first word. She started with the u (that looks like a "k") and once again ran out of room so she just wrote the "p" in front of the "u". Are you still with me?

The end result: pu pik, which translated means "Pick up."

Suddenly I'm seeing her go off to college!! :)

And you smell like one too!!!!!!!

It's the start of one of two annual Birthday Weeks at our house!! Lots and lots and lots of birthday posts will be coming your way. Claire's birthday is Tuesday, my birthday is Wednesday and Elaina's birthday is Friday. Then there will be the post about the joint birthday party that was held at Check E. Cheese last week. But it has to come at the end.

Becuase I said so, that's why.

I'm sorry to say...

There will probably never be an Uncle Josh, Little Bit and Dixie, Part 2 because making up a post on blogger that has a numerous amount of pictures makes me want to go hide in a corner, curl up into a ball and suck my thumb. And if you believe it (or even if you don't), I did suck my thumb this afternoon. I was pretending to be Claire's baby because she was in distress that Elaina had quit playing with her. It slightly disturbed Claire but even after all these years, it comforted me. There is nothing like a good thumb suck.

Back to the post. You won't be missing much. It was basically going to be some pictures of dog running and stick throwing and canine drool. I will post a very few pictures of the girls from that night that I thought were funny.



This was Eily rejecting Dixie's approach.

















Something's interesting...
























Something's hilarious...
























Something's wrong with this girl. :)


















Disclaimer: Elaina dressed herself.

A Solicitation

Does anyone want anything from Pampered Chef? I have a customer/friend that needs a few orders added to her show so I am trying my best to help her get them. The soneware and metal bakeware are 20% off this month so now is the time so stock up! Plus, Christmas is coming up and Pampered Chef items would make a great gift! If you want something just email me at jaybeksacran@gmail.com and I will get you the information that you need. Thanks everyone!

Every night it is someone else's turn to have the stomach bug. Tonight will either be Jason or Eily. Jason is showing the most promise.

A tale of a girl and her three microwaves

My first microwave was the size of a Tupperware container. It warmed many a wonderful thing for us. It helped Aunt Rachel make us toffee bars the weekend we found out we were expecting Elaina. Aunt Rachel had issues with its cooking abilities.

My second microwave was the size of a normal television. It could have held the first microwave and then more. It was old and as far as I know is still going strong. It was made very well.

My third microwave is just right. And boy, can that sucker heat! Time will tell how well it holds up.

I was and still am thankful for all three. They were all gifts and each played an important role in our household.




Sometimes the little things suddenly appear large.

New Hair

I cut and colored my hair last week and these are the only two pictures I have that somewhat show what it looks like.

This is basically the cut. I normally have sweepy bangs but in this picture I have them pulled back.

Showing the red.

Uncle Josh, Little Bit and Dixie, Part 1

You have no idea what I went through to get this post to look like this.

You should see the size of the handle on my maple syrup bottle. You would have to have a hand the size of Barbie's to use it.

We went to Uncle Josh's house last night to meet Little Bit and Dixie.

I want to take them home with me. They are completely adorable. At first the girls were a little hesitant to pet Little Bit but then Elaina warmed up to him and became quite brave.

She even let him kiss her.

Claire stayed a bit iffy for quite a while but at some point before we left she decided they could be friends.

Eily had a mixture of terror and obession with Little Bit. She didn't want to touch him but she didn't want to be more than 2 feet away from him. Right before we went outside she started petting him on her own and even got in a kiss or two.

Part 2 coming soon.

My brother-in-law, Tommy, got married this summer. Here are a few photos that the photographer took at his wedding.

A correction

My Swagbucks referral is
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Ceridwen

Girls!

The LBD Shop

A confession

I satrted listening to Christmas music this morning.

Possible changes on the forefront

We have someone coming to look at the house this afternoon. Yesterday, our realtor called and said they were wanting to come look at it that afternoon and I freaked and told them no way. It was somewhat messy but that is easy to reverse. It was the laundry that was the problem. You can't hide laundry from people who are checking every nook and cranny of your house. What was I going to do? I had to be at The Growing Kids Sale in a few hours and the mountain of laundry seemed to be mating and producing new clothes by the minute. I called a couple of people and offered them groceries in exchange for labor but no one was able to take me up on it. My sister-in-law, Ashlie, calmed me down and helped me to see that it doesn't have to look perfect here when someone comes to look at it. The fact that I have laundry around isn't going to make or break a sale. And do you know what? It is almost all done. I have the last load in the washer, the house is clean and I don't have to mess with the outside because it is raining. All that panicking for nothing.



I really liked this picture until Adam asked if she was showing him a booger. Now that's all I can see when I look at it. (And it wasn't a booger.)
















I like this picture of Jason. It's so very him.

According to Parents Magazine

These will be the top names in 2019:

Girls:
Lila
Peyton
Lucy
Violet
Aubrey
Amelia
Piper
Ruby
Juilet
Harper

Boys:
Miles
Rowan
Lincoln
Eli
Jude
Cooper
Wyatt
Ryder
Lucas
Henry

An Ad

Looking for unique personalized invites or announcements? Check out Paper Culture and save 30% off your order with the coupon code SAVE30NOW. And if you look over on the right side of my blog at my green Juice Box Jungle you'll see a fun & FREE e-card to email or share on Facebook featuring a dragon and a message you might relate to.

Oh my aching back!

The original Green family. L-R

Adam Green (34), Leah Moseley(24), Mark Green, Sarah Irby (19), Pam Green, Rachel Jones (30), Rebekah Sacran (28), Joshua Green (32)

Every day I have been telling myself, "Just get through this month. You can do it. One day at a time. Don't panic." Usually, September is an exciting month for me. It's my birthday month and now that I've had chilluns it's the birthday month for the oldest two as well but instead of being exciting and fun-filled, it has been the month of weddings and births and lesson plans and church meetings and travel. Now, these things can be fun and I'm not complaining about them in general, it's just that I have a great new plan for our days here at Christy Lane and I can't get life to slow down enough to implement it. It involves chore lists and allowance and school and exercise and readings and play dates and so many other wonderful, wonderful things.

My youngest sister, Sarah, got married last Saturday. It was fun but I'm glad that it's over. Right now she and Brad are in the Bahamas. Jason and I went to the Bahamas for our Honeymoon. In January. It wasn't the smartest choice we've ever made.

The young wedding party L-R

Allison, Jacob,(Twins belonging to Adam) Eli(Rachel's oldest), Michael (Adam's oldest), Audrey(Adam's youngest), Elaina, Claire and Lillie(Leah's)

This coming week I have a hair appointment and chiro appointment and I have to complete my lesson plans. Thursday night starts a weekend meeting so I have to get the lesson plans and all the cleaning/laundry done by Wednesday night.

The only reason I am telling you everything I have to do this week is because I cannot think of anything to write and I'm just filling space.

I'm going to bed now.

Goodnight.

Swagbucks

If you remember, I mentioned that I won the last contest prize by using SwagBucks. It is a search engine like Yahoo or Google. Basically,it randomly rewards you with points just for doing online searches. I always use it when searching and I have already accumulated 19 more swagbucks since the last contest. You can cash your bucks in whenever you have saved enough for whatever prize you want. I like the starbucks gift card and the target gift card but they have lots and lots of different prizes with lots of different point values.

SwagBucks has a new toolbar that came out this month and if you download it to your computer you get a free swagbuck every day for the entire month. Also, if you are joining up for the first time you will get three free points. If you do this please use my referral code and help me earn more bucks! The more points I earn, the more giveaways I can have!!

Here is my referral code if you don't want to use the link above:
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Ceridwen

Happy Searching!
Ceridwen

Kids

Yesterday I rearranged half my house to give the girls a playroom complete with a fairy hut. Where did I find them this morning? Curled up in my bed listening to their new Dora Ipod and nowhere near the playroom.