Thursday, August 30, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #17 (Favorite Pictures)

Many of you will remember my Wordless Wednesday post of all of the film that I needed to have process. Well, I sent in 18 rolls of film to Kodak Gallery & have enjoyed looking through the pictures that I had taken. I am posting my 13 favorite pictures from the rolls of film:





1. Brotherly Love-my close friends and family know that CWH & GLH has a love/hate relationship. This picture is a one of a kind picture. It is priceless. I ordered 4 copies of this picture and also cropped it & ordered it in a 5x7 size to display in my home. This is the second day of school (GLHs Kindergarten year & CWHs 3rd grade year). They are in standing in our driveway waiting for the school bus.










2. SJH the Fashion Queen- you just got to love this child's fashion sense. She had just taken a bag of trash to the corner for trash day. She had these purple snow boots that she loved. She would always pick them out when I would ask her to get her shoes on!




















3. I want to go to school, too! GLH is pouting a little. I had taken CSH & CWH to their first day of school & she kept telling me that she was big enough to go to school too! She is sitting on the steps in the gym here ignoring the fact that I'm telling her it's time to go home!




4. I got a couple of photos of SJH sleeping in very strange spots & positions. Here she feel asleep in front of the kitchen sink.











5. Here she is sleeping on both the couch & loveseat.








5. Easter morning picture of the four kiddos. The girls were sporting their new pink shades! Dress to the nines!




















6. As I was going through the pictures-just about every picture of GLH she is posing! This is her first day of preschool. Don't you just love how she has her foot up! Her foot popped! (from Princess Diaries!)
















7. First Day of School playground pictures. This was SJHs first year of school. Big sister showing her the ropes!








8. My 2 Boys-here they are waiting around for us. This picture was taken at the girls recital.
















9. Not sure what GLH was up to...but she was stripping off her clothes at a CWHs soccer game. Don't you just love the head of curls!














10. SJHs Luau Birthday Party!










11. CSH and Greatmaw! These pictures are really special!


















12. Another great pose!

13. CWHs first soccer game!



Honors English Writing Assignment-CSH


My oldest had a writing assignment this week. They were assigned a time frame & they needed to write a poem about that time. Connor was assigned 8:00 pm. Here is his poem:

8 P.M.
by Connor Hollrah

8 P.M.
The wind dies down to a light, serene breeze and the wolf howls at the moon.
8 P.M.
The sunset clashes orange and pink with the transforming blue to black sky.
8 P.M.
The young child is ready for bed, while the old child is finishing put off homework.
8 P.M.
The athletes celebrate with friends after their last minute win.
8 P.M.
The old man returns from work and collapses on the sofa to watch late night television.
8 P.M.
The quiet hour with crickets chirping speeds by like a racecar.
8 P.M.
The wind dies down to a light, serene breeze and the wolf howls at the moon.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Tackle It Tuesday (Playing Catch Up!)


I have been rather busy the last couple of weeks & I have let a lot of things pile up around the house & on my desk. Since the end of July, I have been busy scheduling soccer games & getting the CMSL league up & running. We just completed 2 weekends & I have a couple of weekends where we don't have any league games being played because of local tournaments. So no assigning referees or scheduling issues. This week, I have a lot of items that I need to catch up on so my Tackle it Tuesday will be a list of things that I need to get done this week....it would be really great if I could get them done today BUT I do need to leave the house & do a few errands. Here is what needs to be tackled:
1. Put laundry away.
2. Re-organize the boys room.
3. Wash sheets & freshen all linens.
4. Put school paper boxes away-right now they are sitting in my LR in front of the front door...what a welcoming site :-(
5. Return trash can.
6. Go through shoes in basket by door & put in proper bedroom.
7. Clean upstairs bathroom (wow! I can now differentiate between upstairs & downstairs!)
8. Go through cookbooks on sideboard table in kitchen.
9. Prepare my 3 freezer meals for the Freezer Chicks.
10. Enter remaining MYSA registrations.
11. Update referee information on new program.
12. Clean Master Bedroom.
13. Clean GLHs Bedroom.
14. Clean SJHs Bedroom.
15. Take camera to Columbia Photo.
16. Email regarding audio tapes-transfering them to CDs for Christmas.
17. Update calendar for Mom-add soccer games etc.
18. Mop floors.
19. Dust.
20. Start packing up items from garage sale.
21. Clean out car.
Well, this is a start...I have a lot more things that need to be done. I don't want to overwhelm myself even though I have already been there and back!
Check out more projects at 5 Minutes for Moms.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Two New Toys!



I had a post about 13 Things I Wanted for My Birthday, well, this week I got 2 off that list! My digital camera all of a sudden decided it didn't want to work anymore (I think it might be that I need a new battery-I did some research & the batteries are only good for a couple of years!) so last Thursday I bought a new camera. I wanted a camera that would fit easily in my purse for snap shots. My other digital camera is too bulky & won't fit in my purse. I bought a Nikon Coolpix L12, it a 7.1 mega pixel camera. So far it takes beautiful snap shots. Used it for the first day of school
pictures.


My second toy is a photo printer. I was standing in line at Office Depot last night & in the clearance section they had a printer marked down for $29.00. The original price was $99.99. It is really cool, I don't need to hook it up to the computer to print pictures. What's also great is that today I actually printed pictures that I took today! Over the last couple of years, they stay on my digital camera and I don't share them with family & friends. This might jump start me to start working on my scrapbooking goal!

My next purchase is going to be a Nikon Digital SLR. I really need something for action shots. This camera has a slight delay & it's good for taking sports or dance pictures. I have one picked out & my next paycheck will go to that purchase!

First Day of School Pictures

Back-to-School

My four kids started back-to-school today.

It's a bitter sweet feeling. I am excited that they will be in school each day so I can reclaim & reorganize my space after they have been home for the last 3 months. But we did have a great summer & I will miss hanging out with them each day.

CSH (orange)-started 9th grade this year. He isn't at the High School yet but has spent the last 2 weeks with the high schoolers at soccer practice.

CWH (white)-started Middle School today. He is a 6th grader and was rather excited about his new school and making friends.

GLH (green)-She is in 3rd grade this year. I noticed this morning that she is quite the "Queen Bee" around her school. Everyone was rather excited about seeing her this morning. She loves being with her friends and was excited about school this morning.

SJH (brown)- This is her second year of school. Her last year of Unit A and our last year with Mrs. Steitz. Mrs. Steitz has been our teacher in Unit A with all four kiddos. We will really miss having her as a teacher! Syd didn't want to go to school last year. This year, she was saying the same thing. But this morning, she whispered to me while she was playing on the play ground that she was glad to be back at school!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Monday Menu Planning (Week of 8/20)


I'm back! The last couple of weeks have been really crazy around my house. I have had work (scheduling soccer for Fall season for 90 teams), a bathroom installation, HS soccer practice (2 practice sessions a day), dance camp & sick kids! So any plans that I would have had over the last couple of weeks were thrown out the window! School is starting tomorrow & I hope to get back into my routine again!
What are we having this week? First, I need to plan a major cooking session because the Freezer Chicks meet last Friday to exchange their food for August-I haven't cooked anything! So one day this week, I need to cook my 3 meals.
Monday (soccer-both boys & back-to-school night): Sloppy Joes, Sweet Potatoe Fries & Salad
Tuesday (soccer-Collin): BBQ Jerk Chicken, Rice & Salad
Wednedsay (soccer-Collin): Meatloaf -one of my freezer meals I need to make, mashed potatoes, green beans & salad
Thursday (dance, Purple/Gold Soccer game & soccer-Collin): Farmer's Casserole, Fresh Fruit & Salad
Friday (leave for tournament in St Louis):
Saturday & Sunday-tournament in St Louis
Check out Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Coming soon....a 25 cent sale!

Many of you know that I have been cleaning out the garage & attic and having several garage sales to get rid of the accumulated clothes & items that we have been packing from house to house & storing in the attic. I have had 4 garage sales over the past four weekends. Next Saturday will be my last garage sales with the items that I have in the garage. I want to get the garage reorganized so I can start parking the vehicles in there again & also create another spot where I can start going through the remaining items up in the attic. I still have a pretty full attic even after I pulled down all of the Rubbermaid boxes (35 to be exact!) with clothes in them a couple of weeks ago. I have decorating items that I'm no longer using, Christmas decorations (I have 3 or 4 different color schemes!), more books and lots of other things. They were packed away so many years ago, I'm not sure what's up there!

Anyway, I will be boxing the items up (kids clothes) and taking them to my grandma's in Sedalia. She lives on a main street (we live out just past the city limits & we don't get the traffic that houses do in a subdivision or in town) & will be having a garage sale before winter arrives. I was planing on sending the leftover clothes to my sister's place of employment in Sedalia any way. She works at a women's abuse shelter & I plan on taking the kids clothes to her to give to the women & their children who arrive with no clothes or very little. BUT before I take everything to Sedalia I will have ONE more sale here in Columbia on Saturday, August 18th. If you know anyone here....let them know. I have girls & boys clothes, lots of boys clothes! The girls have been really picked over...there are lots of nice outfits still but not quite the amount compared to the boys. I plan on having a 25 cent sale on everything this weekend except for some items will remain at a different price. I really would like to get rid of a lot next Saturday. In fact, I will be listing it in the newspaper as a 25 cent sale!

Check my blog tomorrow...I plan on posting pictures of the tables of clothes & the progress of my bathroom!

Friday, August 10, 2007

A New Bathroom!!!!

Most of you know that our four bedroom house only has ONE bathroom, since we moved in 5 years ago, we have been wanting to put a bathroom in downstairs. My brother-in-law (hubby's brother) is a plumber and we thought...no problem, we will get Jayson up here one weekend & get that bathroom installed. He has been so busy that he hadn't been able to help put it in! Tuesday night at 9:00 pm, he calls Sean & says, "Empty out the space where you want that bathroom & I will be there tomorrow morning to start installing it."

Okay....the room is full of storage. It's not cleared out. I have 3 more soccer schedules to complete. It's 9:00 pm. Oh, I should also mention that we were at the hospital at the time-Sean was on call that evening & we took one car to a soccer meeting & he got called in. He had another 1 1/2 hours worth of work to do! I loaded the kids in the vehicle & took them home. I worked until he called me to come & pick him up. At 11:00 pm that evening, he was moving everything out of the closet/storage area....or shall our new bathroom.

The pump system is installed, the shower is installed, all the plumbing is installed, the vanity counter top is installed. All that's left to do it, install the toilet, the sink & sheet rock the walls!

We are so excited to have a second bathroom....I will post pictures after it's completed!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #16 (Things I NeedTo Get Done B4 School Starts)


Thirteen Things I Need (Want) To Get Done Before School Starts:
My four kiddos go back to school on August 21st...wow, where has the summer gone? I have gotten some things accomplished this summer that have been on my to-do list since LAST May! The biggest thing is...
Cleaned out the garage-now it needs to be cleaned again but that's because I have 6 tables set up with my garage sale goodies!
I have had 3 garage sales....will probably have a few more before I pack it all up & take to some areas places for donations.
What do I need to get done before school starts?
  1. Clean out the kids sock & underwear drawers.
  2. Finish school supply shopping...first I need to check what we have "in-stock" from last year.
  3. Get soccer schedule for scheduling referees on a spreadsheet.
  4. Find a stand-up shower for our bathroom downstairs.
  5. Find a vanity for the sink.
  6. Have ice-maker fixed.
  7. Clean out car.
  8. Organize the girls dance shoes.
  9. Cook & prepare quick & easy after-school snack foods for the kids (Connor will have soccer everyday after school & the girls will have dance 2 nights a week & they need something that will get them through until dinner time.)
  10. Put Fall activities on calendars.
  11. Cancel hotel reservations for my annual Ohio trip.
  12. Clean off items on computer hit by lightning & take to have checked for insurance claim.
  13. Clean my bedroom....

Check out other 13 Thursdays here.