My Sweet Life...

Daddy Daughter Dance 2012

2012-02-09T14:17:00.003-05:00

So, last night the girls went with daddy to their annual dance. This is Emily's 7th! And Grace's 6th! Could that be right? We didn't have a digital camera back in 2006 for Emily's first dance so you can't see that beauty but...how about a look back at those precious years...

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Pre Christmas

2012-01-01T20:36:00.002-05:00

Well, while it appears no one is interested in what may be a budding pandemic of rabies, I will, as your friend, keep you abreast of any updates (regarding the status of rabies in the United States) that I receive through my email correspondence with the World Health Organization and the CDC. You can thank me later. Now on to more pressing news...
I don't feel that I can properly jump into our Christmas celebrations without first sharing with you our holiday preparations. As you can see from the picture above, we have had an elf visiting our house over the past month. His name is Ben and he showed up on our kitchen counter on Dec. 1st, tucked away sleeping in a tiny little bed-in-a-box. He made a few crazy trips around our home and has since vanished.

Ben coloring on garage floor.

The girls then spent a special evening out with grandpa seeing It's a Wonderful Life at the Debartolo. They always love to get dressed up in beautiful dresses.

And of course Christmas concerts...

Mr. Swihart...AWESOME music teacher

Check out that cute hair!

Our very first time doing gingerbread houses. Thanks so much to the awesome Norton family. Hey Jill!!

And last day of school treats...

And #1 on the list goes to...

2011-12-31T11:08:00.003-05:00

This.

Boo!!

2011-12-19T19:31:00.000-05:00

Did I scare ya? I know you were checking my blog out of habit, not expecting me and then you were like Whoa! By golly, Ethyl...there's a sign of life here!
Ethyl is my new favorite old lady name. Does anyone even know anyone named Ethyl? Am I even spelling it right? Not important, but did you know that Ethylene gas is a hormone let off by certain fruits that causes early ripening? Yep, last semester I was flauntin' my math skillz now I'm fixin' to demonstrate me some science expertisezes.
Speaking of science (and school) guess what!!!!! I got all A's this semester!! I can not believe it! This was my most difficult semester so far. But, with the help of my most awesome friend Carrie, my fabulous (and way good looking) husband Merkle, and my genius mom...I managed straight A's. Maybe I will graduate with honors after all. And I won't have to resort to plan B which was to go purchase my OWN pretty piece of cord from Joann's, pull it out from under my graduation gown and throw it around my neck just as I'm about to go across the stage-which I am NOT above doing! I mean, who wants to look like this on graduation day:

When you could look like this...

Holy cow, Ethyl!! As I'm perusing Google images for graduation pictures I stumbled on this beauty! And I asked myself, "Alice, why stop with some measly cord I could pick up for 2.99/yrd? Let's go for this...

See that chick in the big blue robe with the dark, velvety bands and beautiful blue sash...yeah, I don't know what any of that means but mama wants. Anybody know where I could pick one up cheap and how I can stash that baby on graduation day?

Keeflie Day 2011

2011-11-25T16:46:00.001-05:00

Another great Keeflie Day down in the record books. For myself, it's Keeflie Day #30(ish). Every year, day after Thanksgiving while thousands of shoppers were out pushing their way through throngs of other shoppers, me and my Grandma Kensinger and Great Grandma Miles were down in grandma's basement baking keeflie's by the hundreds. Now, it's my daughters' tradition. The last few years we have been joined by my dear friend Anne and her daughter Grace. I love this picture of us, this pretty much symbolizes my friendship with Anne, she does something goofy and I laugh at her.

Happy Keeflie Day everyone!

Sheldon

2011-11-18T10:21:00.001-05:00

asked Amy Farrah Fowler to be his girlfriend!!!!

This is THE BEST show on TV!!

A Full Weekend

2011-10-31T10:27:00.000-04:00

What a great weekend we had! It started out on Friday afternoon when the girls and one friend each and I went to Notre Dame to watch the marching band practice. That was awesome! They march down the front steps of the Golden Dome and across campus to this roped off parking lot where they go through their entire game day routine. And let's face it, the best part of college football IS the marching band.

Then we headed over to the bookstore at Eddy Street Commons where Grandpa works. Turns out Notre Dame legend Rudy Rudinger was there signing autographs. He and my dad had connected over a purchase Rudy had made a few days prior to this so Rudy asked my dad if we would like a picture with all the kids. Pretty cool, except I didn't have my camera. So...

After we left there we headed over for some Hot Box pizza. Delicious. Then we met up with my dear friend Carrie and her family and we all walked around the campus for a bit. It was great. The whole campus was alive with the excitement and preparations of a home game the next day.

So, Saturday morning Emily had her horse lessons so while she and daddy were off doing that Grace and I did a little shopping for a wedding we were going to later that day. Boy, did we have fun! We had our first ever visit to Charming Charlie's! Oh My Word! We had sooooo much fun! Grace is such an accessories girl! We bought 2 headbands, a purse, a coin purse, and some perfume. What a blast!

Then the wedding...beautiful!

And to top it all off, Sunday was my mom's birthday. Can I tell you how much I love her? I don't have the words to tell you how much I love my mom. She is truly my best friend. She always mends my heart when it is broken. She always listens, without judgement, when I call and rattle on and on about school. She always laughs at my vain attempts at humor. She tells me she's proud of me, that I'm a great mom. She's brilliant, patient, kind, a model of conservative values. And...and this is the part that baffles me...she likes me!! She thinks I'm great! My hero likes me. It simply doesn't get better than that.

Rethinking Things

2011-10-24T22:08:00.002-04:00

Found these beauties while doing some online Christmas shopping for my girls. A sign for those of you young people who don't have children yet to run, don't walk to the nearest deserted island when you have your children, lest they be infected by this ugliness!! And, you can have this picture of feminine beauty for your TODDLER for the low price of $170.00!!!

Seriously, with what outfit do these shoes work? And where does said toddler wear these, the library for story time? ArGgGGHHhh!!! Oh, wait, I know...the rest of the outfit looks like this...silly me...now I remember.

Ya know, I have to say, it's so great raising little girls today. I mean, they really can be anything they want! But, I'm concerened. My oldest daughter wants to live on a ranch with 50 horses, will this outfit work for that? My other little girl shows signs of a budding architect. But, I dunno, maybe we should rethink things. Maybe vampire slut is the right choice for our family. Man, there are just so many choices today. I've said it before and I will say it again: We've come a long way, baby.

Amazing Acres

2011-10-23T21:27:00.000-04:00

After church today we went up to our favorite fall spot...Amazing Acres in Edwardsburg. There is soooo much to do there! Last year the girls loved the zipline but it appears we have become zipline snobs ever since grandma and grandpa put a super fast one up in their backyard. But, there was still the huge slide built under a hill:

A giant 16 ft. spider web thingy:

Gem mining.Your choice, gems or arrowheads:

Photo Ops:

Hayrides:

Cow Train:

Corn Box (the girls favorite activity, by far):

Indoor kid maze thingy:

Ingenious goat feeding system, see that little tiny silver bucket going up to the top? It's full of food that dumps out and slides down to where that goat has his face buried:

Not to mention, a 4 mile corn maze! Mark and Emily made it through almost a mile, but Grace and I forged ahead to the end. It was great. We had a blast. All in all, we spent 5 hours at the Pumpkin Patch today. 5 hours!

PSA

2011-10-19T21:27:00.001-04:00

Years ago when I worked for the best grocery store EVER we were trained thoroughly on customer service, how to make our shoppers want to keep coming back. Well, one of the big things I took away from that training was this. When giving a customer their change, hand them their coins FIRST then their bills. Don't hand them a stack of bills with coins floating around on top.

This afternoon I was in line at a drive through and I saw the car in front of me get handed their change and then I saw coins fall to the ground. Then, when I pulled up the lady handed me my change with the coins floating around on top and of course it's rainy and windy and the coins slide off and onto the ground. When I opened my door to get my coins there was more than $1.50 in coins down there! She'd been dropping peoples money all day. So, just to recap:

1.) Coins

2.) Bills

You're welcome.

I love the conversations I have with my husband...

2011-10-11T09:32:00.001-04:00

Him: Glad you finally got rid of those raw cookies in the fridge.
Me: Have you been eating them...raw?
Him: Yeah, at night with a glass of milk.
Me: Raw?
Him: They're delicious!
Me: What!!!
Him: (arms thrown up in triumph) You can't kill me with a raw cookie!!

What Mark Sees...Yummy!

What Alice Sees...Salmonella.

Hee Hee

2011-10-07T09:05:00.002-04:00

Grandparents Day

2011-10-05T13:40:00.003-04:00

So, my last post had a little anger in it. What can I say? I was angry. School has that effect.

But today? Today was lovely! Today, I got invited by my fully awesome 4 year old neighbor to go with him to his preschool Grandparent/Special Friend Day! It was sooooooo much fun. We read 2 books, almost drew a picture, and got sang to. It made me want to teach preschool! For about 5 minutes. Then I came to my senses. (Anne, I don't know how you do it!)! Anyway, it was so sweet. Afterwards was when I really was able to get a taste of what grandparenthood must be like. We went to McDonalds and then I took him to Martins to buy him a little stuffed puppy! OH! I love that little guy! Thanks for the special day today Braeden!

I

2011-10-03T22:15:00.002-04:00

HATE IUSB!!!!!!!! I HATE GOING TO SCHOOL!!!!! I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT!!!!!!

These...

2011-10-02T21:01:00.002-04:00

I must have...

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE

3 things I saw today...

2011-09-30T08:32:00.002-04:00

1.) A semi truck driver with both hands off the wheel, texting. Made me mad.
2.) An employee at Target with a safety pin stuck through her eyebrow. Made me a.) want to ask why. b.)throw up.
3.) An airplane pretty low in the sky and as it went through some clouds I could see it's shadow streching out in front of it on the clouds! Made me dizzy.

For My Mom...I love you!

2011-09-28T09:29:00.001-04:00

Click each picture to see it bigger...

Happy Birthday to the Joy of my life!

2011-09-27T22:03:00.000-04:00

Well, it was difficult to top last years dreamy party at the horse ranch but somehow we managed.

The girls decided that since Santa had delivered a 90 ft. zip line to Grandma and Grandpa Kensinger's house last Christmas, they wanted to have their party at their house. And as if 3 acres of country life, complete with 1/4 acre pond, trail through the woods, frog catching, gynormous tree swings, pumpkin painting and zip line weren't enough, my dad decided to build a tree house!! That's right, a house in the trees!! It was incredible. It was complete with this awesome little launch pad for the zip line. It is an amazing tree house. The party was perfect. My mom and dad are awesome!

Funny story...the morning of the party I woke up and decided 3 hours before people started to arrive was the perfect time to throw together some indoor party games. So, I scanned PINTREST (my favorite new addiction) for some ideas where I happily found this:

So, I ran (in the rain) up to Hobby Lobby to buy a giant piece of foam board, some balloons and oh how about $60 worth of other stuff for the party that I had not yet purchased! THEN, I had to go (in the rain) to Meijer's to get some darts and candy to stuff inside the balloons and $60 worth of other stuff! THEN, I discovered that I had somehow managed to FORGET the foam board that brought me out (in the rain) in the first place! So, back to Hobby Lobby for that...straight home to pick up the fam...and down to G&G's for the party. Thank you A-dub for getting the balloons to tape (in the rain) to G&G's mailbox to let people know where the party was, since I didn't bother putting an address on the invites!!!! And again I tell you...it's weird to be me.

P.S.As you can see God cleared away the rain for us for the rest of the afternoon. It was the perfect day for an outdoor birthday party.

The next day we continued the festivities with Grandma and Grandpa Merrill at our house for dinner. And of course, the girls with their all time favorite cousins!

All in one day

2011-09-23T17:18:00.002-04:00

So, after the girls and I finished up reading Hatchi I was feeling sentimental about Lucky and decided to go to PetSmart and get him a new necklace with a pretty new tag. On the back I had it inscribed :

That was 24 hours ago.

Today, "Best Dog Ever" puked on the carpets I JUST WASHED LAST NIGHT! After recleaning the carpets I took him in the car to the store. After I stopped at Martins to get cake mix and taffy apples for my two little girls birthday party tomorrow, me and "Best Dog Ever" went to Michael's. When I got back in the car "Best Dog Ever" had completely eaten one box of cake mix and one taffy apple, getting ready to dive into number 2! Then, as if that's not enough "Best Dog Ever" climbed over the fence and out of our yard where I found him amazing close to the edge of the busy road we live on.

We named him Lucky for a reason.

the Amazing Grace W.

2011-09-17T17:11:00.001-04:00

So, Emily had her horse back riding lessons this morning on dear sweet Sugar. The lessons went great. Her instructor said Sugar did really well today, much better than last week. All was great. Afterwards, Emily's BFF Grace W. wanted to ride her. Well, the inside arena was full, the outside arena was full, so we decided to take her out into the open expance of land way out past the enclosed areas.

As we were walking out there I noticed the "inmate horses" in the fenced in pastures were all excited by the fact that one of their own was heading out to the open pasture. But, alas, I am not a horse person so I didn't recognize that as a potentially ominous sign.

So, we get out to the vast open pasture and Grace gets on Sugar and all is well for about 20 seconds. Something, who knows what, but something made those fenced in horses take off running and the second they did off blazed Sugar. With dear 9 year old Grace holding on for dear life. She was screaming and I'm telling you that horse was off and gone, following the trail that apparently leads back around to the barn. Well, once she was out of the pasture and around behind the fenced in area you couldn't see her at all. They just disappeared. So, I ran ~~the what felt like 20 miles~~ back to the barn, jumped in my van and drove as quickly as possible back to where they disappeared and followed their path. All I could think about was the fact that we're no further than a quarter mile from US31. And Sugar was headed in that direction...

When I finally came up to the back side of the barn, there stood a guy from the sherrif posse, our trainer, Sugar and Grace-smiling like she just had the time of her life!!! I couldn't believe it. Sugar was standing there wondering what all the fuss was about and Grace was ear to ear grin. I said "Grace, please tell me you're going to ride a horse again" and she said "of course I am, that was fun!"

This will probably upset some of my faithful readers...

2011-09-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

Oh wait...I don't really have any. 'Cept mom-hey mom!
So I may as well let it all out. Here it is...I'm thinking about renaming my blog to...dum da da dum...College Education is (mostly) a Joke!!!!!! How do you like it? It's fresh and new and controversial, I think it will work perfect.
Here's the problem folks. I am 39 years old. I was born to be a mommy. Emily and Grace's mommy. And there is nothing better in the world than being their mommy and their daddy's wife. I LOVE IT. But, now that my children are growing up and in school Mark and I decided it was the perfect time for me to go back to school and get my degree so that I can do the other thing I was born to do...teach.
I know children. I know how to teach children. What I need is a degree telling everyone else that I can teach. So, here I am at IUSB. One of the general education classes I am required to take is art. Well, sure, why not. I'm going to be an elementary teacher. I should know some art. So, let me tell you about this class that cost my family $700 and countless hours of my life. Today we made paper. Last Thursday we spent 2 1/2 hours making paper. Today we made more. Except it wasn't "we." Because there is only room for about 6 students to do it, the other 10 sat at their seats and talked to each other. The instructor talked about the Blueberry Festival and her book selling endeavors to one of the non-paper making students. And that is how our valuable class time was spent today. Talking to each other about what we did this weekend. This is class #5 and we have done nothing. AND! The paper making we did was not "here is how they did it in the old days" it was let's tear up already made paper, put it into our $16,000 grinding machine, press it under our high tech compressor machine and call it hand made!
Please someone explain this to me.
I am convinced that it is IUSB. I know this can't be happening all over the place. I have to tell you, if I had a kid here, at least in the Education dept. I would be furious to find out that this stuff is passing for an "education."

This is an amazing interview...

2011-09-10T09:39:00.002-04:00

I think we could all learn a lot from this incredible man...

Crank.It.UP.

2011-09-02T09:28:00.002-04:00

Oh Boy...

2011-08-24T10:36:00.012-04:00

Don't call, knock, or even think about us today unless you're dressed very much like this:

Even then, you may want to go wash up after reading this blog.
It shouldn't be long now before some group comes in and yellow tapes off our home for quarantine. On Saturday Grace threw up all night, spiked a high fever and recovered by Sunday. On Monday morning Emily woke up with stomach pains, started throwing up by noon...kept throwing up till 9 p.m. then she spiked a high fever in the night and recovered on Tuesday. This morning Mark woke up puking. He's been in the bathroom now 4 times already.

So, I'm busy cleaning toilets round the clock and fending off germs with my trusty Purell and hoping to goodness they don't scurry up my arm while I'm watching Bridezilla this morning. Man I wish I had a face mask I could wear...

Sugar

2011-08-20T19:36:00.006-04:00

Sweet Brown Sugar got a new harness today...doesn't she look pretty?

Emily got to ride outside for the first time today...she did great! Sugar on the other hand was a bit frisky! Twice Grandma and Grandpa had to shove her back into the ring. We decided that next Saturday Emily will start taking lessons with a trainer named Beth. This women has trained horses that went on to the Olympics. Click here to see the video of her riding today...

Is it me...

2011-08-17T09:57:00.008-04:00

...or do they keep getting cuter?

Behold Day 2:

First Day of School

2011-08-16T08:54:00.011-04:00

Well, after a quick and fun filled summer our girls are back to school. We had a blast shopping for new clothes which is the silver lining around the grey cloud that is the beginning of school. Why is that? I always loved school when I was a kid. The new clothes, my friends, the cute boys...oh no! The cute boys! Oy!

So...without further ado, which may lead to me sobbing all over the keyboard, here are my beauties on their first day:

Dear Father, thank you so much for the gift You have given us in these children. I pray that You will watch over them all the days of their lives, keep them safe while they are at school and away from their mommy and daddy. I pray that You would keep evil away from them and away from their schools. Father God I pray that You would protect their minds and their bodies and their souls from things that are not meant for them. I pray that You would help them to learn all they need to this school year and that they will end the year with nothing but happy memories. Father God, we love You and trust in You only, it's in Your Sons perfect name I pray, Amen.

Ever had a dream come true?

2011-08-13T20:14:00.017-04:00

So, about a month ago my mom and dad, my brother and his family and my dear friend Anne and her family spent the afternoon at the pool. After becoming sufficiently water logged my mom and I were sitting by the pool talking and just for fun I asked her what she would do if $10,000 fell into her lap, no strings attached and she's not allowed to invest it. And without even taking time to think about she said she'd buy a horse and board it. Then she leaned over and in a giddy school girl tone she whispered to me..."Can you keep a secret?"

My mom bought a horse! A horse!

She's kept this UNBELIEVABLE secret for a few weeks so she could make sure the other girls at the ranch would let our sweet little mare into their clique and finally today the family got to meet her...her name is Sugar! And my little mares are BESIDE themselves!

NEW BEDROOM!!!

2011-08-12T10:12:00.009-04:00

Oh! I am soooo excited! So we started redecorating our (hideous) bedroom this week. We've lived here for almost 7 years now and have painted 6 of our 10 rooms. And now it's our turn. I have a vision for the room and in my head it's so pretty! I just hope it pans out...We have a handy man here as I type hanging up bead board. He's pretty awesome. If anyone needs a great handy man give me a shout out. Anyway...here is an embarrassing before:

And the during:

I can't wait to show you (and me!) the after!

One of my Favorite Blogs

2011-08-03T11:25:00.007-04:00

Had this today...

A politically correct Golden Book

My mom and I found a great little stack of Golden Books at a yard sale in Montana for 10 cents each. I was thrilled that one of my favorites was in that stack.

As I was looking through it, I came to this page and had to do a double take. This isn't the book I remembered! This was a 1976 printing, so they must have changed it.

Sure enough, when we got home I pulled out my 1951 copy, this is what I saw and I had to laugh.

BTW...Check out her blog here...it's a good one!

A Great Day!

2011-07-30T21:47:00.017-04:00

Well, the Merrill family had a beautiful beginning to our day. We were invited by our dear friends, the Wierenga's, to watch their daughter be baptized...Funny Story Tangent: So we get to the little beach where Grace was to be baptized and I'm telling you the "beachfront" was maybe 30 feet long and 10 feet deep. Basically, if you sneezed while driving past you would completely miss it. It was really the most lovely spot for such a sweet girl's baptism. So, we all get there, 2 sets of grandparents next door neighbors, us...all in all about 17 people. We barely fit on the beach. But, and here's the funny part...there was a lady with her dog and they were both sitting in the water in the only logical spot for this baptism (there weren't a lot of options). And they were just enjoying themselves. Just a-sittin. and a-splashin. and a-sittin. So, we're all standing there politely waiting and wondering about the proper protocol for such an event. Hee hee, it was sure funny. In the end we just waited and she and Rusty eventually got out.

Anyway, after the LOVELY ceremony, we enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Wierenga home. And then! Dear Anne, offered to keep OUR girls over night! And do you know, Mark and I let them stay! That poor woman has 7 children in her house right now! From 14 months to 13 years old! And 5 are GIRLS!!! Oh, my dear sweet INSANE friend.

So, Mark and I went to order our new mattress during our free time today. I think I had previously told Merkle that the new king sized mattress we were indulging in shouldn't cost more than about $1000. Now remember, we have had the same bed for more than 14 years! And it was bought off the back of a semi, for $300!So, we were "in the market."

(SIDEBAR!!! AND PLEASE NO "SHE GONNA BE MY BABY DADDY BABY'S TEACHA???" COMMENTS AFTER I POSE THIS QUESTION TO YOU.....Does punctuation go inside or outside quotation marks? Email me...)

Anyway so we went to get our new mattress. Anyone want to guess how much?? Too much to put in print.

Then, as if we hadn't just blown all our cash, we decide to go out for dinner and a movie because that's what you do when you don't have kids, right? Yeah, so we saw...dun duh da dun! Captain America!!! Yeah!! It was great! Awesome flicka! Two thumbs up. I cried. And sang the national anthem. In my head, people! I was with Merkle, not my mom.

Ahhh, what a lovely day! BUT WAIT till I tell you what I'm gonna do tomorrow!!!!!

MACLove

2011-07-24T16:41:00.006-04:00

Well, I just finished my Summer II class. Using Computers In Education. Before going into this class I was sure it was going to be another fluff education course. This class was anything but fluff.
My Professor, Dr. Mooney, made Excel more relevant to being a teacher in 30 minutes than the 16 week class I took last semester.

Dr. Matthew E. Mooney was probably one of the best teachers I have ever had. We did projects on the BIG MAC that I had no idea was even possible. Taking this class had me ITCHIN!!! to get into a classroom of my own! I should say though that at least 3 times during the 3 week class I stated that if I were 15 years younger I would change my major. First it was Copyright Law-totally exciting! Then it was Professional Power Point Presenter-did I make that one up? Then it was movie editing. Man, what a blast! And...got an A+!! Hee hee...

McSlowLane

2011-07-15T15:08:00.003-04:00

So the other day I took the girls to McDonalds for lunch. Not our usual one, nooo, we ventured out this time. So, we pull into the parking lot and the drive through line is all the way to the end of the building! Yikes! So, we decide to go in. There is no one, I repeat, no one in line at the counter. Turns out all the people in the drive through must have been regulars who go there often enough to know NOT to go inside.
So, I walk up to the counter very excited to know that since I am the only one there, we'll be in and out in no time. Wrong! It took 12 minutes to get our food. As I stood at the counter, mystified at the lack of, well, anything, I glanced at my receipt which showed what time we placed our order. There happened to be another sucker who had placed an order standing next to me and the time on our receipts was 12 minutes apart!!! When we finally did get our food, two of our drinks were wrong and we were missing an item. When will I learn to cook?

Go ShARkS!!

2011-07-09T21:57:00.007-04:00

So my Grace joined the swim team! How awesome is that?? Check her out at her first meet! Isn't that team suit the best!? And can I say...she's pretty awesome! She did the freestyle and the backstroke and placed 3rd and 4th out of 5! I was so proud of her!

Well, That was Quick

2011-06-18T20:58:00.012-04:00

Cookie is now a momma.
Daddy was setting up his brand new t.v. and the girls and I were playing with Lucky saying "are you gonna be an uncle?" over and over and it finally occurred to me that we hadn't checked for babies in a few hours so Grace ran upstairs and came back down and said, yep, he's an uncle.
WHAT?? Are you serious? She looked so calm, no big deal...yep, the sky is still blue.
So we all four ran upstairs and ...look what we found...

She had three beautiful little babies. One is light brown and white, just like his daddy. One is light brown, dark brown and white, just like mommy. And one was black and white, but that little sweetheart died. So we have 2 perfect little furry sweet babies in our home now. We couldn't be happier...

Funny, while we were ooing and cooing over our sweet little bundles we heard this noise, turned around and guess what daddy is doing?

Oh boy...or girl...or two boys and a girl...two girls three boys...

2011-06-16T09:46:00.020-04:00

So, around the beginning of April my mom got a couple of guinea pigs.
This is Cookie, cute as can be, photo submitted for evidence:

Cookie is son *wink*wink*to Teddy:

So, of course the girls fell.in.love.
Every time they went to Grandma and Grandpa's house all I heard about was Cookie this and Teddy that. Well, the girls asked if they could save their allowance and buy themselves a couple of guinea pigs. After much discussion and warnings about having predator (Lucky, our dog) and prey (guinea pigs) living in the same home and the care that would take, they decided they were up to the task.
So they saved and saved and when they earned enough money, Grandma said they could have Cookie and Teddy and then we could just donate the money saved to Pet Refuge. So today we went and bought $60 worth of doggie/kitty supplies and took them over. Anyway, back to the pigs...

So about 2 weeks ago I noticed that Cookie was growing exceptionally large, and in a weird way too...like a light bulb. The (almost) illegal kind. Check this out...

Well, guess what...yep, we're going to have baby guinea pigs! Wanna see how cute they're gonna be? ***Not Our Babies***Found this picture online...

I KNOW!!! You want to call me right now and beg for one of the yet to be born babies don't you? I will be taking applications for the right family very soon...I will keep you posted.

A thought to put before you...

2011-06-10T10:09:00.005-04:00

So, in my Irish History class I sit next to a young woman who is set to graduate this fall. A couple of weeks ago we had an interesting conversation that I thought I'd share with you, now that I'm blogging again.

We sit behind Sam, who I got to know in a previous class. It was time to turn in our papers and Sam turned and offered to take our papers up for us. Ever the match maker, I said "Sam is a gentleman, and ya know they're few and far between these days." Well, silly me, I forgot that women these days aren't interested in gentlemen.

So, continuing the conversation, I casually offered my opinion that the reason gentlemen are few and far between anymore is because women have so shamelessly lowered the bar for men. Well, she completely disagreed and offered her opinion on the situation. She believes that men have reverted back to their natural state of un-civilized-ness because women no longer need men. That's right my wise readers, she said women no longer NEED men! because...wait for it...women can have babies on our their now. Women have good jobs and can support themselves now.

I argue that she has a FALSE (and dangerous) idea of independence. She thinks because she CAN do something that that then is how it SHOULD be done? So, her plan is to intentionally deprive her child of a father, intentionally deprive herself of a lifelong partner, intentionally deprive her child of a peaceful two parent nest...to choose this life for a child...I sadly believe that my classmate is in the majority in her thinking. We've come a long way, baby.

Here I Go Again...

2011-06-07T09:53:00.004-04:00

Yes, I'm gonna try this again.
This time I will not pressure myself to write huge and meaningful posts.
This time it's okay if what I write is not of intrest to anyone but myself.
This time I will not make myself feel like I need a photo for every post.
This time I'm just gonna write what's on my heart.
Hope you can handle it.

That time of year again...

2011-02-08T17:59:00.002-05:00

Time for the Daddy Daughter Dance at the Century Center. The girls and I had so much fun shopping for their dresses and I was so proud of what they picked out. Behold...

Another year over, and a new one just begun...

2010-12-22T08:37:00.043-05:00

So, here are my obligatory resolutions for 2011:

1.) Blog. I'm thinking maybe every Sunday evening with a recap of the weeks events.

2.) Stay on track to graduate with honors. All A's baby.

3.) Get my haircut. There is absolutely nothing wrong with short term goals.

4.) Attempt flying again. This time I'm seeing me on lots of (legal) drugs and a BiG airplane.

5.) Do better at making sure my kids are ahead of the game. Edjacationaly speaking. Here are some of my ideas I would like to implement, beginning tomorrow:

a.) poem and/or Bible verse memorization each week.

b.) hardcore math fact memorization.

c.) geography memorization.

6.) Learn how to convince myself that I actually Do know what's best for my kids and not to give a cows tail what anybody else thinks.

And now for a recap of some of the Merrill Family highlights from 2010:

Had a great time at the kick off party for Jackie Walorski. We ended up being on a bunch of campaign fliers she sent out.

I love this picture of one of Grace's many creations. She made this bicycle out of pennies while I was reading to her one morning.

Ahhh, breakfast at Krispie Kreme in our PJ's.

And one of our favorite traditions, St. Pats at the Knights of Columbus with the Kensingers and Weirengas.

Easter dinner, check out the folded silverware/napkins!

And Easter with the Merrills...

Another favorite thing we love to do: Kensinger/Wierenga protesting.

Every year we go up to Lake Michigan in the early early spring to play around.

Caught my girls cuddled up together reading.

Grace and Lucky...

The beginnings of cowgirls...

OMGoodness! Springhill Camp is the BeSt!

And of course, camping with Grandpa...always an adventure! And usually a pretty goofy one!

At the rodeo!

This was the BesT 4th of July fireworks display EVER! Beutter park with the whole gang.

And of course the fair. Thank goodness for daddy...mama does NoT do roller coasters!

We got to spend a few days in Chicago this summer. This is Grace and daddy building a little house at the Children's Museum on Navy Pier.

And, time for school to start. This year began a new adventure for Grace, a whole new school!

And check out this AweSome pumpkin patch we found up in Michigan. They had a zip line, gem sifting, all kinds of great fun. We will definitely be coming back here again this fall.

Shopping in Middlebury. Who knew a hardware store could be so much fun?

And finally, waiting to see if Santa came...

Happy Day To My Babies!

2010-09-29T09:43:00.012-04:00

Babies? Ok, so my daughters are now 9 and 7...I will NOT spend this post discussing how shocking that fact is to me. I will NOT spend this post trying to figure out how life is zooming past me faster than a Jimmy Johns delivery man. I will NOT spend this post telling you that I would swear I just changed their sweet little diapers yesterday and how can they be 9 and 7 and...b r e a t h...

OK, I WILL spend this post sharing with you pictures of one of the funnest and most beautiful days I can remember...my sweet daughters' birthday party.

My nephew Ben:

Emily is in LOVE with this horse. If you ever hear her swooning on about "Otis" this is him:

Time to say goodbye to the horses *sniff*

sniff

2010-08-24T09:49:00.003-04:00

Feelin' kinda blue right now.

Last May, as in May of 2009 my sweet girls got their ears pierced. Well, Emily had no problems whatsoever with hers. I think she probably could have changed them the day after having them pierced. But poor sweet Grace ended up with both of her ears infected. It was really a horrible experience. There was blood and oooze and all kinds of nasty things going on with hers the whole 6 weeks she kept them in. So, we let them close up. Now, that was 16 months ago! So, Grace wanted to try it again. Totally her idea. So, we took her back and had them done:

Well, for 6 weeks Grace has taken SUCH good care of her little ears and everyday she turned them. So, today she wanted to change them so badly but she was so scared. Now, let me tell you it is no easy feat trying to get the back off of someone else's earring. So I pulled and when I did it turned out there was a bit of dried up stuff and it hurt like crazy when it came out. She was crying, I was crying. It was turning red. AAAGGHH!! I didn't know what to do. I wasn't about to try to take out the other one. So, I figured I should put this one back in and clean it really good and just keep it in for a few more weeks.

My poor sweet child.

Why is it when your child has pain it wretches your own heart to the point of unbearableness?

Free At Last!!

2010-08-21T16:30:00.003-04:00

So, the last time I posted I was getting ready to take my final in History class. Let me tell you how that turned out!
First of all, at the beginning of the semester our professor passed out a study guide that had roughly 80 topic points on it. It was very detailed in what we were to be studying. After about the 40th point we had our midterm. Basically it was all WWI. I got an A. So from the midterm on every study point was about Japan, China, and WWII. So I spent three weeks memorizing Japanese history from 1870-1945 and the detailed facts of the beginnings of and the results of WWII. So, Monday afternoon we all walk into class and he puts on the board our 3 choices for essay:
1)Russian History 1880's on
2)German History 1870-1945
3)The causes of WWI
Some classmates behind me said "Um, you have up there WWI" to which he said "yes! WWI!" And they said "but it says ONE! WW ONE!!" You see, he's Russian and quite difficult to understand so we figured we were having a communication breakdown. A 411 911 if you will. So, I raise my hand and say "So what your saying is that we really didn't even need to come to class at all the last 3 weeks??!!"
Sidebar: I know what many of you are thinking. Alice, don't you have the desire to learn about these events anyway? And my answer to that is, YES! Which is why I read about WWII constantly. To go and sit for 6 1/2 hours every week and watch 30 year old films is NOT learning.
OK, so I picked essay question #2 since I pretty much have WWII down pat. However I could not for the life of me locate in my brain any info on Germany prior to 1917.
So, After class I walked out completely deflated. Out in the hallway a poor girl from my class was crying! She started yelling at me "Can you believe that c**p!!" Oy!
So, I have been waiting...waiting...finally they posted our grades on line. Alice gets a B+!! Thank you Lord! Not the A I was hoping to get out of one of my favorite subjects but this class has been a nightmare and I am so happy with my grade!! And next semester is going to be a blast! Math (blah), Intro to Scientific Inquiry and...wait for it...Children's Literature! Yes! My specialty. I'm serious.
Let's see, 2 semesters this summer with two Russian professors. Is IUSB trying to prove something? Anyone taking bets on this coming up semester?

ARRRGGHH!!!

2010-08-15T18:37:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm freaking out. Tomorrow is my final in World History and I am utterly drowning in information. I can't keep straight Japan and China and Hitler and Manchukuo and Manchuria and Manthis and Manthat. I've got dates in my head screaming at me but...BRIGHT SIDE: at least their drowning out the voices usually screaming at me.
This class has been brutal and I just want it over. I so wanted an A in this class. I got an A on our midterm. But I felt pretty good going into that. This one has me FREAKED!! At this point I just want to pass. If I have to take this class over I will die.
Summer is over. The girls start school on Tuesday and we have yet to buy one stupid pencil or gluestick. Ok, slightly passive aggressive. "Stupid" was a bit harsh. It's just that this class has been a thorn in my side for 6 weeks and I just want tomorrow to be done. I want to take my daughters school shopping. I want to not drop out of college again. I want to pass this class!!!! Darn it Japan! Why did you have to get involved with WWII, Europe is enough to remember. I simply have no more room in my brain for your imperialistic drama!!!

I have been facially profiled!

2010-08-03T19:23:00.006-04:00

It's been going on for years. But until this morning at 11:30 I didn't know exactly what it was or why it was happening.
Let me give you the 411 (for those of you not in the know, that will be appearing in Street Talk with Lamanjillo under the root word "information") on what went down this morning:

So I'm in a new class that is just for teachers. It's my first class of that sort and p.s.
...I LOVE IT!!!
Anyway, so our professor (who is the shizzle, if I do say so myself) has been telling us stories about her experiences as an elementary teacher. They are hysterical! I find them completely fascinating. So today she's telling us about this student she had one time who had some disorder...COULDN'T TOUCH THE GROUND!!! I kid you not. Totally ground phobic. And I can hear your whispering to yourselves now "Oh No, please don't let Alice get this one." Quit it, I say.
Anyway, so I'm sitting there along with my fellow classmates with our eyes wide and jaws to the ground. She's telling us this poor kid would run into class like a bolt of lightening and jump onto his desk. Eventually she needed to place crates all around the room and into the potty so the kid could get through each day.
Now, I know you think I'm making this up but I assure you, I am not.
So I raise my hand and say "shouldn't someone have told you that this was coming?" My teacher says "ummmmm, no." And then I say "could you find out if the kid was getting help?" And she starts telling me that it is illegal to even ask (which is another story all together) and this my friends, is where the profiling began.
Now, I know that when most people look at me they hear doves cooing in the background and see butterflies fluttering 'round my head. So these "street smart" little just-out-of-high-school-thugs start saying to me "Dang girl, you need to get chureself to some South Bend public skew. You need tasee da re-al world, girl."
Oh. No.
Really? So because I find "fear of the GROUND!!" to be slightly off kilter, I apparently am living too sheltered of a life!?!?!? ARRRGGG!!!
Because I find "fear of the GROUND!!" a little off in left field, I am not living in the real world?!?!? ARRGGGG!!!
Keep Calm And Carry On, Alice! Gonna get an A...Gonna get an A...Gonna get an A...

P.S. Anyone want to guess how many times the word diversity has come up in this education class?

GET SOME NEW STUFF, PEOPLE!!!

2010-07-14T11:57:00.008-04:00

Where do I begin? So everyday I check one of my favorite bloggers to see what she is up to. She used to post almost every day but now, much to my dismay, whenever I check there is no new post! So, I checked the date of her last post to see if indeed it has been as long as I think it has been since reading anything new from her and it was July 6th. So, I checked the date of my last post...June 23! Ahhhh!! What has been wrong with me? And do I have anyone who calls me their favorite blogger? I know my mom and dear friend Anne harass me when I don't post frequently enough but that's like your mom telling you how pretty you are. Though as a mother when I tell my girls how pretty they are, they REALLY ARE! And, let me say to you Anne, and you mom...I adore you both!

So...I just got home from my History class. 3 hours and 20 minutes of history. Now, I actually like history and I find the 2 World Wars fascinating. I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of WWII and am very interested in learning more about WWI. Well, today my professor managed to suck the life and energy out of a room of about 25 people, most of whom are between the ages of 18 and 20. And worst, he managed to (hopefully just for the day) suck the enthusiasm for history right out of me. For over an hour we were subject to a 20 year old film on New Zealands part in WWI. I was thinking to myself the whole time "really, I can't just read about this?" The film was so old you can't hardly understand it anyway and if the sound was any louder you may have been able to hear it for yourselves from the comfort of your home. So, I was sure that it was the worst movie I had ever seen on any war. I was wrong.

The next film needed an explanation from the professor about it's poor quality. Apparently it had been copied from a copied copy copied from a copy. When this film started I kid you not I thought I was going to have an epileptic seizure! The image was nothing but flashing white flashes. Occasionally you would see these flickering black images that you could very infrequently make out to be a person or a horse. Had you been able to understand what the narrator was saying I may have been able to tell you what the images were!!! Really, I got to thinking, there is a lot of good quality stuff out there to use to teach about (fill in the blank) so why...WHY would you use something you can't even see????? And, after taking a head count of how many people were sleeping and how many had escaped, I figured out the answer. This poor man has been teaching this same class for at least 20 years. I know this because I took this class 18 years ago. Anyway, if he incorporated anything new, he himself would have to make up new tests!! That has got to be it. Well, I am outraged! History is fascinating. Don't kill it for people who haven't yet figured out how fascinating it is! Just get a new film!!!!! I'll even write the test for you!
BTW, after I get an A in this class I'm going to check out that horrid film from the library and post a few moments of it here so you can see of what I speak.

Yee-Haw! I've got cowgirls!

2010-06-23T09:23:00.011-04:00

So last week our little girls spent the week, 20 hours worth, at horseback riding camp. How awesome is that??? Bittersweet Ranch...it was a little girls paradise! They rode horses, cleaned stables, played games, chased cats, ate their lunch on a mountain of hay and just plain lived the country life for the week. It was grand. Check out these cowgirls! And don't forget you can click on any picture to make it larger...

This is Emily with her favorite horse, Otis. The teacher, Mr. Jason, called him "bomb-proof" because he is such an easy going horse.

And this is Grace's favorite, Boy. Look at that huge horse! And do you know that on day 3 of camp Grace fell off him, got right back up, dusted the dirt from her boots and got right back on!

At the end of camp each girl got a beautiful medal (no cheapo plastic thing either) with their names engraved on the back and a cute little tee shirt.

Oh! And check this out! There was a newborn horse that week! Check out beautiful Triton:

Fair Warning: This blogpost may contain some language not suitable for young audiences.

2010-06-19T21:18:00.039-04:00

Boy, I hope I can find some humor in the story I'm going to share with you. Maybe it's a little early for humor, you see I am sitting here with an inch long section, actually three of them, of skin scraped off of my forehead. I can't raise my eyebrows or lower them because of the pain. And, the best part of all? They're self inflicted. You see, I got it into my head that I was going to conquer my life long fear of flying. Today. My friend has a son who is a pilot, and a darn good one at that and he wanted to take me flying, to help me. Poor kid...he couldn't have known. And BTW, he is as young as he looks. And that is a Harley shirt.

So I got to the airport and was feeling...alright. Not the best, but I certainly wasn't having the shortness of breath, dizziness, and tightness in the chest that usually hits me every time I hear a plane flying over my head.

After a bit everyone else arrived. We decide to go out onto the tarmac to pet the plane, maybe sit in it a bit. Maybe just get to be friends with it. OK. No problem. It was a little thing. Technically a 4-seater but I remember it more like the size of a tic-tac shaped coffin. The wings were weird and threw me for a loop because they were on top of the plane rather than under the windows like they are on a jet.

So, I get in (THE FRONT FREAKING SEAT WHAT WAS I THINKING???) and we just sat there while dear Mathew (the most mature 23 year old I have know to date) shows me all the dials, tells me this is the safest plane ever made, assures me we won't be going very fast. Maybe 60MPH top speed. So, alright, I think to myself, I can do this.

I
COULD
NOT
HAVE
BEEN
MORE
WRETCHEDLY
WRONG
ABOUT
ANYTHING
IN
MY
ENTIRE
LIFE!!!!!

At first when we got in we had the windows open and a lovely propeller induced breeze was filling the cockpit. I had my arm dangling out the window. It was all pretty comfortable. Even though this AIRPLANE was the exact width of 2 people butts!!! And...did I mention it was still on the ground? And not moving? That was the part I like the best.

Then dear Mathew decides to ruin the serenity I so wanted to wallow in by saying it was time to actually fly. So, he reaches over, CLOSES THE WINDOW!! which immediately locks out any chance of oxygen coming into the cabin. I was struggling to breathe. The whole thing was going downhill real quick. So we're taxiing down the runway and the instant the wheels went off the ground you could feel this soft air under you instead of the hard ground and I. LOST. IT. Now,I don't know if you've ever seen anyone lose it before. It's not for the weak, or the young. I just wanted him to land the STUPID AIRPLANE!!! To please let me out!!!

Now, I will be seeking treatment for this but right now I'm just going to lay it on the line for you. I wanted out of that plane. I wanted out more than I wanted to live. I can't explain it to you, I can't try to make you understand. I don't know that I need anyone to understand. Maybe I do, I don't know. All I know is that discovering this little factoid about yourself while 1000 feet in the air is a pretty scary place to be.

Now let me tell you how thankful I was to have in the backseat and coming in loud and clear on my headset was the intrepid Becky Callender. As I'm begging our dear pilot to land the FREAKING AIRPLANE Becky is chattering away to me all about scrapbooking supplies...all to keep my mind busy and my hands off the door. Becky, I don't know how the whole thing sounded and looked from your vantage point but I would love to be a fly on the wall when you tell your version. Except of course flies fly and I will never again be making that mistake.

SO, after a harrowing 9 minutes in the air we finally got low enough to where I could open my eyes. Right about level with the tree tops. I felt the blessed feeling of ground under us as Mathew maneuvered a flawless landing. I also started feeling a bit of pain on my forehead and noticed what turned out to be skin and blood under my fingernails. Turns out I was busy clawing the skin off my face in an attempt to keep myself from jumping. Why I'm smiling here I don't know, except that...wait, what's that I'm standing on? Oh yes, THE GROUND!!!

Well, all in all it was pretty much the most horrendous thing I have ever attempted in my life. It was by far the most terrifying thing I have ever put myself through. The pilot was great, and I'm sure that by all other measures the flight was great. But alas, it was indeed a flight. And, as my dear friends Anne and Carrie and my wonderful mom said "maybe aviation just isn't for you."

Kindergarten Graduate

2010-05-28T10:01:00.005-04:00

Well, my baby graduated from kindergarten. I'm not sure when or how this happened but dang, she went and grew up! And her daddy and I are so proud of her! Can you hear me talking in a southern accent? I'm not sure where that's coming from...maybe the show Merkle is watching
right now about the Big Foot Creature living in Kentucky!
Anyway, Grace had a great year. In fact her teacher recommended her for the DEEP program at Twin Branch for 1st grade! So we sent in an application and Grace was tested and she got in! Yay! And, she didn't freak out when we told her about going to a different school next year. So 2 different schools next year! Yikes!
Grace had THE BEST teacher! Mrs. Johnson is the sweetest most perfectly fit kindergarten teacher on the planet! I'm going to miss her soooo much!

Now here's momma braggin':

Grace with her first of many diplomas that I'm sure she will receive in her life...

With her I Love To Read Certificate, check it out 1,567 minutes in the month of February!

And, my proudest moment of all...Grace's Citizenship Award. Her teacher chose a boy and a girl from her class to receive this award. I believe she made a great choice!

So how about a nonsensical post for you to consider...

2010-05-14T09:01:00.007-04:00

My Top 10 Least Favorite Songs:

10 through 8. Fill in the blank with any song by Phil Collins

7. Shout by Tears For Fears. I may just hate this song because of the ridiculous name of the band. Tears For Fears? Really? Now that's just silly.

6. Convoy by C.W. McCall. Now if this song doesn't produce images in your head of a denim clad Burt Reynolds, oh dear, or better yet a NAKED Burt Reynolds sprawled out on a bear skin rug...
Eye Bleach Stat!!

5. Dancing In The Street by Anybody really. But for the sake of argument let's focus our attention on this shall we.

4. We Gotta Get Out Of This Place by The Animals.

3. Cherokee Nation by Paul Revere and the Raiders.

2. That Smell by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ok, at first I hated this song because the title is just gross. BUT, upon further review...it is now my favorite song. I think it has a great message and I might suggest it as a college course at IUSB.

And without further adieu. My #1 least favorite song of all time is:

Blue Jean Baby Queen by David Essex. P-UKE! If you are unaware of this truly hideous song and you think you can stomach it, click here. Fair Warning!! Don't do it!! This song provokes feelings of violence in me. I can't explain it but it makes me want to hit the wall, or the speakers, or my husband when he starts humming the first hideous bars just to watch my reaction. And it didn't help when Michael Damien thought he could improve it. Now, if President Obama wants to turn us into a socialist country the only area in which I could support him would be in the banning of this song.
Trust me, it's for your own good America. You'll thank me later.

Da Polls

2010-05-07T19:43:00.010-04:00

So, I got to work the polls on election day. First time ever. I remember kids in high school like getting to miss a day of school to do it and I actually thought, wow, I'd rather be in class than do such a totally geeky thing. Duh...

OK, I obviously underestimated the potential for fun at the polls so many years ago. We had a blast!

So at 4:45 in the a.m. (hello! 4:45 comes twice in a day? whoda thunk it?) Anyway at 4:45 in the a.m. my dad comes knocking on my door. We were in the same polling location, the two of us plus Anne. Yeah, can you imagine?

Anyway, so apparently you are not aloud to discuss politics at the polls lest you earn yourself a class A misdemeanor. This was going to be a challenge for all involved parties. First of all my dad is a die hard conservative and...a Kensinger, so he will argue with you till your screaming UNCLE!!! And Anne? Well what can I say about Anne. Dear, dear Anne. Basically Anne doesn't care what anyone thinks about her. If she ends up in the pokey with a class A misdemeanor it was well worth it to have potentially brought someone into the light. I LOVE that about her. Though when she starts it takes me back to my smoke filled childhood and I begin to get palpitations.

Ok, so Anne and I were at our table with our 2 liberal counterparts, one of whom worked for the Teamsters for 30 years and the other who told us during introductions that she was an animal rights activist. Oh, this was going to be a fun, fun day.

Well, me and my liberal hit it off immediately. We talked and talked and talked. At least until 2:30. So I checked the time, yeah, it was only like 8:00. So we decided to pass the time playing games. We drew up a scoreboard with every one's names on it and got started by seeing who could guess the occupations of our "customers". Then we estimated bricks on the wall in front of us. We played "name 5" for at least 4 hours. Then we had 1 on 1 who could name the most whatever: countries (I won with a total of 40 in 2 minutes), presidents, sports teams, and so on.

Oh, so Anne's lib (you remember, the animal activist) was a hoot. Anne had been talking about her pet rabbit and how she should have brought it along and I mentioned that her rabbit was named George, after George Bush, and do you know Miss Animal Rights Activist said it was a good thing Anne didn't have that rabbit with her cause she'd sneak out back with it and snap it's little neck!!!!

The Polls, it was great. It was exhausting. And by 6 we were ready to go BUT! The polls must be closed properly. And the proper way it must be done is for the Inspector to go out front and shout "Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The Polls Are Now Closed!" Well, guess what? They let me do it! Whoo Hoo!!

Okay, so after 13 hours and 84 voters we were completely zoned out! But wait! Jackie won! We have to go to her victory party! Bear with me here, only a little longer to go.

So me and my dad have this curse. The Kensinger curse. We don't ever want the party to end. Sort of like this blog post. So after following our libs to the county city building in downtown South Bend we decided to head to Elkhart for the par-tay. Well, it was supposed to be at this particular restaurant but we didn't know how to get there so we swung by Jackie's HQ and saw that the "open" sign was on so we thought we'd stop in there. We go in on a victory high shouting "JACKIEEEEE" All of a sudden this older lady comes rushing out of this little office area with her finger over her mouth. Seems Jackie's campaign manager Matt Kirby was still on the phone getting results. And the lady who came out to hush us? Jackie's mom! Then Jackie came out and we got to congratulate her and her husband. Man, it was thrilling! And this was just the primary? Wow, they might want to pull the plug on that "open" sign come November cause me and my dad will be hootin' even more then!!!

Part Duex

2010-05-06T18:38:00.013-04:00

OK, I know you're just chomping at the bit to get to see how this drama will unfold. Well, sit on down and enjoy the show...
So after eating at Ed Debevics we went on to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency on Wacker. $73 on Hotwire!! Yeah Baby!! So we get our key for our room on the...17th floor?? Hello!! I called and requested 4th and below! Fire, people! Hotels catch FIRE! Plus anything above the 4th floor and I can feel the building sway...it's not pretty.
So fancy Chicago clerk lady gives us a new room key for the 4th floor and when we get up to it we slide our key in and the door only opened about 6 inches. It was locked from the inside. My first thought was wow, how did they do that? This IS a fancy hotel. Then we heard the TV and saw the lights on and clothes hanging in the closet!! AHhhhh, the room was already occupied! So we bolted for the elevator, went back to fancy Chicago clerk lady and told her what had happened and all she said was "Oh, let me get you a new room." Really?
Ok, so our new room had no roommates so we took it. That evening we decided to go for a walk up Michigan Ave. It was a perfect night. We walked about 8 blocks then saw a horse and buggy so we decided to take a ride. The driver talked our ear off the whole time. About everything and nothing at all. She at one point even mentioned "pimping out her horse." Glad the girls didn't hear that. That's just the question I want my 6 year old asking: mommy what does pimping mean?

So the next morning we had planned a surprise trip to Navy Pier to see our first ever IMAX movie. And guess what? It was sold out! A 10a.m. movie sold out? The girls handled the disappointment very well. So we hopped on a bus to American Girl. My daughters mecca. They L O V E American Girl. And so do I. The books are fabulous. The dolls are beautiful. The store is pink. What more do you need?
We had lunch there. Well worth it. The AG website does NOT sell it well. I could sell it well. It was the best food we'd had in Chicago the last 2 trips. Mostly because we have to eat at gimmicky places because the kids love it. And that's alright. But it was nice to finally have some good food.

So, that was this years trip. This is turning out to be a tradition for us. Remember last years visit?

Hey Chicago, Whaddaya Say? Cubs Are Gonna Win TODAY!!

2010-05-05T22:19:00.015-04:00

Chicago Trip Installment 1:

So we had a great 2 days in Chicago.
On Sunday we took our girls to their very first ever Cubs game. We got there about 2 hours before the game started and found this guy standing on a corner a block from Wrigley Field with a tiny parking sign in his hand. $30 to park, so we follow him to this back ally behind this row of townhouses and park our car right under the sign that reads : "PRIVATE PARKING. TOWED AT OWNERS EXPENSE." I instantly lost all street smarts I may have thought that I previously possessed and asked the guy how we could know if he was legit and wasn't just stickin' us in someones personal parking spot while they're running to the grocery store. I mean this guy parked 6 cars at $30 a piece and could vanish in the time it would take for the actual owner to just begin his navigation through Cubs fans on his way to get some toilet paper.
Well, anyway, luckily my weak little unintended-but-turned-out-to-be-an-insult didn't result in the guy vandalizing our car just to get me back.

Okay, so we get into the park and begin our assent to our seats. Section 514 Row 9. Yeah, guess where that is. THE VERY TOP ROW OF WRIGLEY FIELD!!! Our backs were up against the fence that holds the whole stadium together. You know which seats I'm talking about. The ones where if you trip over one step you'll fling yourself over the 2 balconies below you and out into center field. The ones where you're in a whole different climate from the lucky saps sitting behind the dugouts. Okay, I will say this though. I did find comfort in the fact that we were so high up there was virtually no chance I could be killed by a foul ball flying at my head at 125 MPH. And after I popped a Xanax I really didn't care about any of that anyway. You can see how much Grace loved our seats. Poor kid was as freaked out as I was (pre-medication):

And guess what?? We got a couple balls autographed by (one of) Merkles heros, Ron Santo. AND...the girls got to run the bases at the end of the game!

So after all that excitement we went to Ed Debevics for some mistreatment and bad food but...hey, you can't beat a good counter dance:

A Middle Of The Night Scare

2010-04-28T16:23:00.004-04:00

So last night I was laying in bed going through my routine of laying in bed for an hour trying to turn off my head and go to sleep. After about 25 minutes I heard a couple little bang-ee sounds and waited to see if someone was going into the potty but no one ever did. So I laid there for about 10 more minutes then thought I should get up and just check to make sure everything was alright.

So I peek into Emily's room and she's not there. I check Grace's room, not there. I check the potty, not there. OK, time to wake up Merkle. So Mark darts out of bed. Snoring to 60 in less than a second. So he rechecks the bedrooms then all the rooms downstairs. Living room, kitchen, family room, dining room, Ethan's room, extra potty. No Emily.

I'm cowering in the corner of our room on the verge of throwing up when I decide to scan the girls' rooms again and when I went into Grace's room for the 3rd time, Emily sat up from under Grace's covers and said "How did I get here?" Yeah, she's a sleepwalker. She got up and crawled into her sister's bed under the covers and disappeared from sight. And didn't even know it.

Yeah, she thought that was the funniest thing. Oh, my heart...

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

2010-04-27T08:39:00.012-04:00

So earlier this spring we received a note in the girls backpacks telling us about sign-ups for softball. Grace sort of wanted to try it, Emily was slightly more reluctant. But, we insisted they give it a try. Now, $250 later we have a couple ball players. And...they love it! Can I say, they mostly love it because of the fully awesome, fully adorable uniforms! Look at my baby!! Look at those knobby knees!! Call a time out, Mommy wants hug!!

Look at Grace on first base! She got a hit!

And look at my Emily. Look at that stance!

OK, so being at the ball park does give me a bit of anxiety (surprise surprise). I hate all those balls flying around. I'm sure one's going to whack me in the head. Well, guess what? Last night, I got whacked in the head. "Oh, Alice, a fly ball hit you in the head?" No, no, no. Something so much worse I wonder how many of you can handle this.

A BIRD POOPED ON MY HEAD!

You know all those slo-mo replays of JFK driving down Dealey Plaza? Yeah, that's how I see it play out in my head. I'm sitting there (in grainy black and white) innocently waving to my girls on the field. Bystanders are leaning on trees, munching on popcorn. The sun is shinning as a shadow, a teeny tiny little shadow slowly glides across the bleachers then BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

I'm hit! I'm hit! The poo splatters down my cheek and onto my pants. Witnesses would later say there was no bird. They saw no bird. Yet the evidence was right there on my face! A quick investigation was launched and the culprit was soon found sneering down from a nearby electrical wire. I glared, he glared, we all glared. It was over. He won. He...won.

Mommy, this is like a 1 day vacation...

2010-04-21T08:50:00.011-04:00

So after school on Tuesday we surprised the girls with our 4th annual Merrill-Spring-Day-At-The-Beach day. We headed up to Silver Beach in St. Joe...is there a lovelier little town anywhere else in the world?...I think not. When we first arrived we strolled around checking out some of the local shops. Of course our favorite was Forever Books and their sweet dog Trevor. I love bookstore pets, dogs especially:

Hey! How did Gracie sneak her blankie out of the car? Ok, so then we headed over to see the shop Grace wanted to check out, The Easter Store she called it (because they had GIANT daffodils in their windows) but unfortunately they were closed. And then we got hungry and had our own little M-S-D-A-T-B miracle. JIMMY on the corner!!

Ok, so time to head down to the water...with a quick stop at the playset.

Emily kept shouting "I'm flying!"

It was soooo cold. Check out Merkle's blankie skirt:

My daughters are such climbers! I admire that about them. Emily just skipped right up that lifeguard tower. And from below it didn't look too high. So, I thought I'd give it a try. Yeah, not a bad climb but the view looking straight down gave me vertigo. Oy!

Do you know at one point I looked over and Emily had her HEAD in the water! I'm surprised she didn't get chunks of ice up her nose it was so cold! That girl can't keep herself out of water!

:)

2010-04-18T15:55:00.004-04:00

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

TEA Party

2010-04-16T11:30:00.006-04:00

So seriously, how much fun was my first TEA party?

It was FULLY awesome! It could not have been more fun. The oncoming traffic on US31 was NOISY with all the honks and thumbs up and waving of American flags as people drove by. Who keeps a flag handy in their car to wave if need be? I'll tell you who...freedom loving Americans! That's who. Yeah Baby!

There were a couple folks who I'm sure accidentally raised their middle finger instead of their thumbs and there was one bright fellow who yelled out his window "Go back down south where you belong you confederates!" That got a good laugh from the crowd. Hey! I say if that guy likes paying taxes so much why doesn't he donate all his extra $ to the government?
.
Ok, but my favorite was the ONE protester who stood bravely across the street with his sign that read: Taxes For the Living, Not For Killing.
And I said oh, he's on our side. He's pro-life, why is he over there on that side of the street all by himself? My mom, bless her heart said he was surly trying to help out by covering that line of traffic. Wow, what a hard worker!
Well, there was still some confusion, mostly caused by the silly hippie peace sign scribbled into the middle of an O. So, me and my mom went across to find out. Turns out no, the guy fully supports tax payer supported abortions to kill innocent American babies! just not middle eastern TERRORISTS!!!! So of course I had to get my picture with him to add to my collection of hippie protester pictures for my scrapbook...behold...BTW, do you think this guy actually has a job and pays taxes? He was actually chanting (all by his lonesome self) "more taxes more taxes" Really?

November can not get here fast enough!! REPEAL! REPEAL! REPEAL!
Get Joe Donnelly and Nancy Pelosi OUT!

Oh, and here is link to the article the South Bend Tribune did. Mark and Louann Kensinger...yep, my folks!

Our Easter

2010-04-11T20:35:00.007-04:00

So...I realize it's been a while. Again. Easter kept us pretty busy. Excuses excuses I know.
But seriously, on Easter Eve, Grace and I started making the most deliciously fully packed with butter and sugar cinnamon rolls you've EVER had from our favorite wife of a cowboy:
Pioneer Woman. We started the process at 4 p.m. and they were finally done at 10. I am so not kidding. Between adding flour and letting the rolls rise we painted eggs with Emily and her friend Leah and made an egg omelet for breakfast at church the next morning.
Then Easter morning Merkle woke me at 5 so we could see if the Easter Bunny came and then get to church by 7:30 for Sonrise Service. Directly after that we went to Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's for some yummy KFC. Then home to clean the house, cook, stuff eggs for the hunt, and then my side of the fam over that evening.
...
Funny story sidebar. Fair warning...it isn't actually a funny story at all.
So we live in a rather duck filled neighborhood. Great place to raise kids, great place to raise ducks.
So the girls and Lucky and I love to walk around our block and about a week before Easter I was walking Lucky alone when a mama duck flew off her nest from under a bush, almost directly into my face (though witnesses might claim a different story entirely). The duck, probably a teenage mother, thought it wise to set up house under a bush 6 inches from the edge of the sidewalk.
Ok, so everyday we walk by and mama duck flies away leaving her nest completely exposed to us. 10 lovely little greenish eggs.
So Easter Evening after a lovely dinner with my favorite people on Earth we decide to walk down to the corner to show everyone the nest. So along with Grandma and Grandpa, cousins and Aunt and Uncle we stroll down and behold...about 6 of the eggs cracked open and emptied out all over the sidewalk. It was tragic. An Easter tragedy. An Easter egg ducky tragedy. There were no ducky remains, just shells. Just sad empty shells.
I told you it wasn't a funny story.

2010-04-09T08:07:00.002-04:00

OMGoodness! It doesn't get much better than THIS!

2010-04-06T17:13:00.002-04:00

Oh man my feet hurt! So here I am at work. I know I'm whinning but it has been a long day!! I worked with the most awesome co-worker though and she helped me get through this day!!

Geek head Brenda hijacked my blog!!

There is a list a mile long I am trying to catch up on...

2010-03-25T11:29:00.005-04:00

Need to get registered for the classes I'm planning on taking this summer,
Worry about said classes,
Signing up girls for summer camp,
Major paperwork regarding an issue I will expand on at a later date,
Planning short trip with family to Chicago in May (trying to squeeze in as many sights as possible in our short time frame, including but not yet limited to Cubs game and shopping at American Girl Store),
Need to still fill out a FAFSA form,
Must get in paperwork (8 pages) for Workforce One scholarship,
Trying not to lose the 100 raffle tickets that are in my care,
Getting girls ready for softball this summer,
VBS craft lady...ME,
Sunday School lesson for Easter (the BIG one),
Easter,
And how to pay for it all...

P.S. Not to mention all the great books I'm trying to read!

I'm Back

2010-03-05T08:49:00.004-05:00

Ok, so it's been awhile since I last posted. I have reasons people. The first of those being...I'M BACK AT PAGES!!!!! I can't believe it! It was not my plan. Go get your coffee, sit back, lower your expectations and let me tell you about it...
So I had been having dreams constantly about the girls I used to work with. You remember. At thebestjobontheplanet job.
Anyway so I finally called said girls and begged them to have dinner with me so I could see their faces again. They conceded. They may or may not have seen me driving miles out of my way to strain my neck as I drive by the new store hoping to get a glimpse of something, anything. They may have been a little afraid. I can't blame them. I was stalking the building. There. I said it. It's true and now it's out there.
Anywho, so we're sitting there having dinner and drinks when LovelyFreida said that Jen (the new owner of PITF) said I could come see the new store. That night! I almost fell out of my chair. We immediately paid our tab and ran out the door. At least I think we paid. KIDDING. Always kidding.
Anywho, I walked in and nearly cried. It is so beautiful! So green. So pretty. So smelly good. I walked around the store stroking the new paper, telling it how lovely it was. I was home again. The next few moments are a complete blur to me but somehow the next morning I was there stocking shelves and getting PAID to stroke the paper! Behold the NEWbestjobontheplanet. (be sure to click on the team button while you're there)
And guess what? I called Workforce One the next day to inquire about my scholarship to go back to school and they said I would still qualify since it's just a part time job!!!
How Did This Happen To Me?
Life Is Good.
Sweet.
Smelly Good.

♥

2010-02-13T19:00:00.009-05:00

So I've know about the girls valentine's day parties at school for a couple of weeks now. And never mind the fact that most holidays do indeed come at THE SAME TIME EVERY YEAR. But, alas, I wait until two days before to fly into panic mode and decide to finally get things started. And truth be told, it may not have even happened then except that dear Carrie called my on Wed. and said "so what are you doing for the girls parties?" Now, mind you it's not like I have a job and 12 kids underfoot. I basically spend my days cleaning the house and reading. Less cleaning, more reading.
So, hearing the sheer terror in my voice Carrie agrees to meet me Hobby Lobby the next afternoon. That's the day before the party. We spend about 3 hours there with me agonizing over what craft to do. After we collect everything I need to make the cute-little-beaded-heart-in a-mini-shadow-box-with-ribbon-for-hanging craft, I glance over and see that stemmed silk flowers are on sale and oh how about we change the whole thing and do bright-pink-gerbera-daisy-flowers-wrapped-to-a-pencil-with-floral-tape-and-placed-into-a-hand-painted-terra-cotta-pot craft. heh heh.
So, I'm happy, Carrie has her stuff for her baby-food-snow-globe craft and we go to pay. Well, at that point I had no energy to go around the store putting away the mini-mountain of stuff I had changed my mind about so I plop it onto the counter and hope that the poor check out girl sees that as job security and happily puts it away for me. We buy what we need and head for home.
At this point it occurs to me that I also have managed to forget to get the girls valentines to pass out so after school we run to CVS and pick through the remains of what I'm sure were really cute cards. Then I come to my senses and decide the only way I can manage to get all the things accomplished that I need to (which did I mention that that evening I had dinner plans with some friends) was to call in my mom. Bless her heart. She comes to the rescue.
Now, because I have no end to the pain I will put myself through for a good craft, I decide to change it all back to the shadow box. So, I rush out the door when my mom arrives and head to Hobby Lobby to return my flower stuff and recollect the shadow box stuff. Oh. Dear. And who should I meet in the parking lot? Dear Carrie out again for the last last minute stuff she needed. Boy did we laugh.
Okay, recounting this story is making me dizzy.
Here's the end product:

Oh, and 20 of these bag toppers for the ♥-shaped
jelly sanwhiches I made for Emily's class:

Adrian!

2010-02-10T12:31:00.003-05:00

Dude! My Monk shops at Wal-Mart!!

Go ahead, ask me how much I love him. I would have hugged him. And stroked his hair. And told him everything is going to be okay. But then I would have remembered he would so not have liked that. So I would have just gone on and on about how he is the smartest detective on Earth and how I am so happy for him that he got the guy who killed dear Trudy and that if he ever gets tired of that Natalie girl my family and I would be happy to relocate and......
I am sooo applying there when my unemployment runs out!

Daddy Daughter Dance

2010-02-09T18:31:00.007-05:00

Well, the girls are off with their daddy for their 5th DDDance!
Don't they look so pretty?

I dabbed a little mascara on each of them and a bit of perfume on their beautiful little wrists and daddy adorned them with the prettiest corsages. They are such lovely little creatures. I just love seeing how they've grown.
Grace told Emily she looked like a "lady."
.
Now let's discuss their dresses.
We have decided that clothing is not going to be a hill we're going to die on. Providing it follows our 4 simple rules:
.
1. It must be modest.
2. No peace symbols.
3. It must not imply that becoming a "rock star" is the best thing my kids should aim for.
4. It can't be something that I know they'll get laughed at for wearing.
.
I'm actually not even going to have a battle regarding clothing. Yes, sitting there in the dressing room looking at them in the more traditional dresses they put on for my sake, I wanted so much to say "I'm paying for it, I get to pick it." But the dresses they wanted followed the rules. While they may not be my taste, they are their own little selves. I'll guide them as much as I can and long for the days when it was up to me. But really, does it matter? They thought they were beautiful and that's what really matters to me.

What I wanted:

What Grace wanted (in all it's stretchy glory...):

Thank heavens they only had it in pink. Which was only half as offensive to the senses as the one pictured above. Emily's was actually nice, and since they only had one size left to pick from it looks like she can wear it to maybe her prom.

Jack-AYYYYY!!!!

2010-02-01T14:27:00.007-05:00

Had an awesome afternoon at the Jackie Walorski Congressional Campaign Kickoff.

I love this picture of my mom and I with Jackie. And that is my nephew Ben and my friend Anne's daughter Grace whose cute little chin unfortunately was loped off in the rush to get this picture.

Just as we were when we went to see President Bush back in '00, Governor Palin and now Jack-AYYYYY my mom and I were hooting' and hollerin' in the front row.

Poor Jackie, I think I attacked her as she came off the stage. I was afraid as it had been with the president that she was going to shake and run. So I grabbed the poor lady and dear, dear Anne got this fully awesome picture!

After the event we were (because we're Kensingers) having a party to celebrate the party. So guess what Lady Dorkness did. I invited the poor lady for snacks after the event. Yeah, there were only 1000 people to shake hands with and then, oh how about you stop by and have taco salad when your done here. She didn't come, even though I might have mentioned to her staffer that I'd clean my toilets...oh dear heavens! Did I tell her that? Oh no!!! Wow, I'll bet Jack-AYYYY's glad to have me on her side. And making campaign calls for her at that. Can you get fired from being a volunteer? Oh dear...

no no no please no

2010-01-27T20:59:00.008-05:00

Oh no! I knew this had to happen sooner or later but oh no!! I have officially received my invite for my...drum roll...
20th high school reunion!! Nooooooo.......

Here is what I looked like then:

And here is me now:

The years have not been good to me. And now in 6 months I have to come face to face with the people I spent my "cute" years with.

ARRGGHHH!!!

What to do?

The Anne and Alice Show! Live from the streets of South Bend!

2010-01-22T18:03:00.008-05:00

So, three years ago my dear friend Anne and I took off for...here:

2007 Right To Life March (please disregard the look of death on my face.
It was approximatly -15 degrees that day)

Large scale march:

We did some interviews:

All in all had a great time.

Today we did it a little smaller scale:

Check out (what should be) my dads new facebook picture:

Is it wrong to say that again we had a great time. I know...we tried to be somber. It's hard when you're with these two. Protests really excite us!

Well, I'm going back to school.

2010-01-15T08:19:00.005-05:00

Again.
I believe this will be my 4th attempt. And my final attempt. This time I'm going to finish.
I'm 37...it's time.
The story is kinda cool. You can pretty much see God's hand smacking me in the noggin. Seriously.
Here it is: So, for over 6 years I basically worked 2 days each week at (thebestjobontheplanet) Pages In Time. I did occasionally pick up extra shifts when $$ was tight but other than that it was just plain old fun for me all those years. And it probably would have continued status quo for...well forever if it was up to me. But, alas, it was not meant to be. I was devastated. Read all about it from my October 3rd post.

Anyway, started receiving unemployment. And it happened to be a nice little sum every week. Well, I got a letter in the mail saying I had been specially selected to take part in this mandatory training informational workshop thing-a-ma-bobber. I was not happy. I was enjoying being at home in the peace and quiet. I don't want to go to workforce one! Blah!

So, I get there and they start talking about CDL training. Forklift training. Coal miner training. And then she said something about them even sending you back to school to obtain your degree. Wait. What? Free school? Okay, I'm down with that. SIDEBAR: when i found out i was going to be unemployed i was brainstorming ways to make some money and writing my own book was one of my better ideas. It was going to be called "Street Talk with Lamanjillo" hence the phrase used previously- I'm down with that.

So, I took a couple of tests, went to some more meetings and now have an appointment with an advisor at IUSB.
I want to be a teacher. I love kids. And they like me. Plus I love charts. And maps. And school desks. And dry erase boards. Okay, seriously, the thought of all those things just gave me butterflies in my stomach!! I can't wait!!!

And, if it doesn't work out, there's always my book!!

Anybody need a laugh?

2010-01-09T08:07:00.004-05:00

So, inspired by my sister-in-law's life saving diet tips, I borrowed from the library an American Heart Association cookbook:

Sidebar: She really did save a life by learning and absorbing everything about healthy eating and cooking. About 8 years ago she and my brother were changing around their life insurance and had to have some blood work done. My brothers cholesterol came back...get this...in the mid 500's! I remember sitting on my grandmas couch hearing this. I couldn't believe it. I love my brother. So, Stacie took the problem into her own hands and saved his life. His cholesterol is now below 200. Thank you Stacie, for that and soooo much more.

Anyway, so yesterday I picked out a new recipe from my cookbook-Beef Skillet Oriental, a stir fry dish. I had to make a special trip to the grocery store to get the stuff for it:

flank steak

sherry

ginger root

fresh garlic

beef broth

snow peas

cauliflower

red bell pepper

I come home, start mincing and chopping (with the help of my mini chef Gracie) trimming and washing. I had to call my dad to find out what the heck to do with ginger root. And fresh garlic. Anyway, in all I'd say the preparation took about 45 minuets and 50 dirty dishes. Then to cook it you had to follow these steps, adding one thing at a time. Okay, so I got it all put in the skillet and we're just waiting for the sauce to thicken at which point I said to Merkle "this is the most labor intensive meal I have ever made."

Okay, sauce isn't thickening. So I reach for more cornstarch to add. Like 3 tablespoons worth. Still not thickening. Alright, well, the rice (brown of course) is done so let's just eat. I take a bite of soggy, overdone cauliflower...AAARRRGGHH!!! Spit it in the sink. Merkle comes out, insists on tasting for himself. I beg him not to. ARRRRGGHH!!! He spits it in the sink. Guess what? Instead of using cornstarch to thicken the sauce, I had been using baking soda!!!! Have you ever tasted baking soda! Have you ever tasted a mouthful? I wanted to call 911. Unreal.

2010

2010-01-01T00:35:00.003-05:00

Good heavens...did I graduate from high school 20 years ago?
This is gonna be a tough year!
I'm going to be 38!
38.
I was just 18.
I'm serious.
My goodness...I met my husband when I was 19.
Does that mean this is the year I've spent more time with him in my life than without?
I like that.
I like 2010.

pre·cious 1 : of great value or high price 2 : highly esteemed or cherished

2009-12-30T15:42:00.000-05:00

So I started to not feel well yesterday. By this morning I had a raging headache. When I finally got out of bed around 9 Grace came out of her room and said, completely out of the blue, "when you get dressed I will snuggle with you." So of course I got dressed as quickly as my sickly body would allow and went downstairs ready for my snuggling. Grace came along and while we were snuggling she told me that was first on her list.
What?
List?
What list?
Her "to do" list she told me.
So do you want to see what the "to do" list of a six year old looks like?

Behold: (click on each picture for a closer look)

And sure enough...I'm #1!!

Then when I went into the bathroom

I found this sitting on the lid of the potty:

And finally I came down to drink my coffee

and found this on the computer desk:

And so I wonder...how did this happen to me? How did it happen that I have living in my house two little girls and a husband that for all the gold and riches in the world I would not trade. And scribbled onto a piece of paper I have something more valuable to me than any other earthly treasure. These are the kind of things that make me fall to my knees in thanksgiving for.

Christmas

2009-12-26T20:53:00.001-05:00

Doesn't get any better than this...

Two little girls sitting at the top of the steps waiting to see of Santa came. Look at the stress on Emily's face. Poor girl. She really thinks there might be a chance he didn't come!
Guess what? He came...

The girls with their totally awesome brother Ethan.
They adore him:

Look what he drew for
me for Christmas...

It was a great Christmas. It has been the tradition the last few years that we spend Christmas Eve with the Kensingers and Christmas Day with the Merrills. It works out really well for all of us. We get to spend a lot of time with each family this way.

The highlight of my day was talking to my Grandma and Grandpa Salas on the telephone. I love my Grandpa's voice. I can hear in his voice how much he loves me. Then when I hang up I'm flooded with memories of them from when I was a little girl. Like cuddling with my Grandpa in the morning after staying the night there. Holding his hand. Always. He is a hand holder and I have always LOVED that. Watching basketball on their tv and wondering why the only books they had were nature books. I remember staying the night there and decorating trick-or-treat pillow cases (to hold lots o' loot). I remember my Grandma's jade jewelry box. And taking a HUGE gulp of what I thought was milk with my pancakes in the morning. It was buttermilk!
Buttermilk! Ever have that? Yikes!
I love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Yay!

2009-12-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

Got my Zhu Zhus!! 2 of them!! Yay!

Okay, who did it?

2009-12-16T21:27:00.000-05:00

So about 3 years ago I bought the prettiest curtains for our living room. They are the perfect color, a lovely sort of tweed. Anyway, about 2 weeks ago my 8 year old said "Mommy, our curtains are different." I told her she was wrong, that indeed they looked very different (from each other) but that was because the light was on right next to the one causing them to look different. Then last week Merkle says, did you notice our curtains are different? Coincidence?
Fast forward to tonight. We had our friends Don and Anne over for dinner and when we went into the living room to have coffee Don says (read: blurts out) "Your curtains don't match!!"

Okay, so for 3 years these curtains have been fine, now all of the sudden they don't match! AND Anne pointed out, in classic Monk fashion, that the "different"curtain also had very crisp pleats, not the older softer ones of the "original" curtain.

Let it be known that as of tomorrow my garage code will be changed. And, I want my old curtain back!

Why?

2009-12-06T17:23:00.001-05:00

Oh dear, ok...my kindergartner learned two new words today:
boobs and hot, as in (being whispered into her ear) "he's the hottest boy in our class."
God help me guide my children.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T08:52:00.000-05:00

Well, how did this happen? What? you say. That's my basement people! For 37 years I have managed to not host a major holiday and then BAM! 4 days before Thanksgiving I get it in my head that I want to do it. And I have to tell you...it was fabulous!

Let me introduce you to my family: In front with his back to us is my cousin Tommy. He's severely autistic. Doesn't speak, never has. Next to him is his mom, my Aunt Maureen, my dads sister. Then my mom, my dads BFF Rudy, my dad, my father in law George, the Grace is sitting on my mother in law, Janet's lap. Then Emily on Merkle's lap. Then my cousins Laura and Bill and Nathaniel, Laura's son.

My parents already had the turkey so they brought it over the day before along with their deluxe roaster thing. I read the directions and Merkle and I got up at 6 a.m. the next morning to wash it (dis-gust-ing) and throw it into the roaster. It was supposed to be done at 12-ish, eaten around 1. Well guess what? It was done 2 hours later at 9 a.m. and completely dried up by 1. I tried to rally the troops for a Thanksgiving Day breakfast but it didn't pan out.

I think Merkle must have put some Xanax in my coffee that morning because I was so calm and relaxed I hardly recognised myself.

China

2009-11-25T20:35:00.001-05:00

Okay, so my dear friend Carrie and I had the most hysterical conversation on the phone today. I laughed so much my cheeks hurt. Carrie wants to go to China. And I want to go with her. She has a friend living there for a few years and we both want to go stay with her for a while before she comes home.
Now, I know what many of you are saying "Yeah right, Alice, on an airplane for 12 hours...yeah." And that's furrrshur. I would rather crawl on my bare knees through all the public bathrooms in the greater South Bend area than spend 10 seconds on an airplane. Though the very thought of either makes me want to vomit.
But, I really want to go to China. I really do. So we decided that after Christmas I would test my nerves with my precious supply of Xanax. On a Tuesday, so Merkle is home, I'm going to take 2 pills and have Merkle time me to see how long it takes before I'm so relaxed I start to drool. Then he's going to watch the clock for signs of me coming out of it. That way Carrie will know exactly when to alert the cardiologist (that we will arrange to be sitting next to me) that I need my next dose.
Okay, so good plans, yes? So I get home today from taking Lucky to the kennel and I say to Mark that I am going to go to China. Immediatly Emily goes up to her room and starts crying!!! And Grace is hanging on me saying "No, Mommy, no please don't go to China. Please Mommy don't go." And Mark is upset with me telling me "You're not going to China."

WHAT??

What's happened?

Come on people, I'm mostly talk. Don't you know this by now? And if I really do plan on going to China am I going in the next 5 minutes? No. Probably not. Please, though, let me have my dream...

Where have you been!!

2009-11-22T20:55:00.000-05:00

So, it has come to my attention that I haven't blogged in awhile...MOM!! I think I'd convinced myself that I no longer have anything to blog about since sending my kids to school and losing my dream job.

There has been a lot going on around here. Mostly cleaning. Here's what I don't get. Who shortened the length of the hour during the day? And why was I not informed? I'm telling you I send my kids off to school, come home, dance around the house to the sound of the angels singing hallelujah and then BAM! it's 2:45 and I have to go get them again. Wha??

So, I guess I should fill in my faithful readers...all 1 of you...Mom, pretend you didn't already know this...my dream job may want me back. That's right, for those of you who didn't already know this Pages In Time was bought and the new owners plan to reopen early 2010. We found out on the last day our beautiful store was open. Our boss had us in early so we could all eat breakfast together. She made a wonderful bounty for us. Egg casserole, little links wrapped in bacon and brown sugar mmmmmm soooooo gooood. Anyway, Uncle Harry the Midwest's premier liquidator mogul told us the store had been bought and guess what?? They want to buy the staff. They'll be here in 15 minutes to meet you. Arrgghhh...do I have anything in my teeth? How's my hair? Is my mascara running down my face? Arrrggh!!

Well, guess what? They were great! Really nice normal looking people. I hope they want me. They couldn't tell us much. Just that they wanted us to relax over the holidays and then email them to set up an interview. At that time they will let us know how many of us they can start with. I feel like that kid at recess..."oh please oh please oh please pick me" And all I can say is please let (okay I'm not naming names) be there. PLEASE!! (you are coming back aren't you ladies?)

Other than that...let's see...the girls had check ups and shots for Gracie. Is there anything cuter than kid size hospital gowns (when they're needed for something harmless):

From my friend Anne's blog...

2009-11-03T20:17:00.000-05:00

Bravery Defined
My dearest friend Alice saved my life from a baby tarantula tonight. I know, I'm as shocked as you are to find out that Northwest Indiana is full of tarantulas, but it had to be. It was the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen! As we were leaving work she threw herself between me and the frightful beast so I wouldn't be attacked. She shielded me from its venomous bite by spraying it with deadly poisonous carpet cleaner. Not only did it not die, it walked away leaving a trail of poison behind. It slowed down and she was sure it was dead so, being the brave friend that she is, she poked it with a stick. She flipped it on its back but it wasn't dead and it flipped back over and started to walk away again! She decided not to play any more games and grabbed the Windex. Everyone knows that Windex to a spider is like sunshine to a vampire (which in fact spiders and vampires are very much alike because they both want to kill people). I ran for my car and locked the doors. I have never seen a truer display of bravery in all my life. I love Alice Merrill.

So I spawned a couple of geniuses...

2009-10-29T19:17:00.000-04:00

...who'da thunk it.

Today was parent teacher conferences. My kindergartner is reading at a 2nd grade level!! I was so proud I could have spit. She also told me that Grace is very well behaved and that she (her teacher) is always using her (Grace) as an example of how to behave. And that she is soooo quiet in class. Oh dear, I thought. We're not talking about the same kid! Crud, and I was so proud.

And Emily had a great report as well. Her teacher said there wasn't much to say since Emily hasn't been in class for too long. But have I mentioned that she was the only kid in her class to get 100% on this big CMA test. It's this language arts test that all the kids in 2nd grade and up have to take. They take a couple each year. She was the only one!!!!

Mama and Papa bear are beaming...

My Mom...

2009-10-23T08:42:00.000-04:00

South Bend Tribune Oct. 23, 2009

Founders said nothing about a right to health care
VIEWPOINT
By LOUANN KENSINGER

I have nothing but the utmost respect for people who dedicate their lives to serving God, so I read with interest the Oct. 2 Viewpoint by Rabbi Michael Friedland and the Rev. William J. Wassner of the United Religious Community, in which they asked: "If indeed we hold 'these truths' to be self-evident that all persons are created equal (and) are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — then would not access to quality health care for all also be self-evident?"

Actually, I'm afraid I would have to say no. The rights enumerated by our founding document refer to what are known as "negative" rights. In other words, these are rights you already own by endowment from the creator. They are beyond price. The only thing government needs to do is keep its hands off. That's why they're called negative rights: They can only be taken away. Things such as food, housing, education and health care are in a different category. They are commodities with economic value. They must be produced by the sweat of someone's brow. I can certainly agree that we should do everything we can to provide these things for those less fortunate, but let's not confuse the issue by calling everything a "right."

I have a question for the rabbi and the reverend: What about the morality of burdening our children and grandchildren with crushing debt? They will already be saddled with a bankrupt Social Security obligation and a failing Medicare system. Why don't we boldly proclaim that every generation has the right to enter life free of economic debt?

A different writer in a shorter letter offered her opinion that government-provided health care is a Christian concept. She cited the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 4, verses 44-45: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need." This is definitely an endorsement of the communal life of a Christian community. But please note: The early Christians did not sell all their worldly goods and give them to Pontius Pilate to be distributed to the community. Big difference.

Actually, most Christians today emulate the early Christians whenever they give time, treasure or talent to any of the numerous Christian charities. Just look at all the schools, universities and hospitals founded by Christian organizations. Just look who is serving in the soup kitchens and in missions around the world.

One last thought: The Declaration of Independence refers not to happiness as an unalienable right, but to the pursuit of happiness. This is a very important difference. No government can guarantee happiness. No government can guarantee full employment. No government can guarantee a chicken in every pot. Our founders were wise enough to realize that. I sometimes wonder if our modern longing for a government that will supply us with all our needs isn't an incipient form of idolatry.I'd like to close with a quote from our first president: "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

Oh My Stars...

2009-10-11T18:13:00.000-04:00

Where do I begin? How about at the beginning. I have been having a love affair with paper since I was about 5. Isn't that right, Mom? Well, the romance is over. We have broken up. I have touched and counted more paper in the past 4 days than I have EVER wanted to in my life!!! Thousands upon thousands of pieces of paper...one by one...and...AND...we had no scanners! You read that right. Our whole data base was lost the day before. We were not able to scan anything. Every wretched piece of paper had to be looked up in our little cheat book Becky so graciously compiled the day before. Every piece. And I'm telling you, thousands.

The pandemonium started on Thursday. When I got to work at 8ish the line was down the block. When we opened the flood gates the people poured in and didn't stop until about 11 hours later when we were forced to lock the door early because of the overwhelming crowds. We continued to check out those people until around 10. The staff stayed to clean up the devastation until about 1:30 in the a.m.. We got about 1/15 of the work accomplished.

I am here to tell you that Thursday line was snaked around the store and those crazy people stood in it for 5 hours!!! They ordered Jimmy Johns. Some of them made arrangements with their "neighbors" to watch each others carts while they took turns going out to dinner and returning to finish waiting in line. There were lifelong friendships formed in line that day my friends. People watched each others children grow up and move away. It was incredible.

The staff was stunned, most of them into delirium. Now, many of you know this already...I do love to talk. It's what I do. But this was too much even for a seasoned gabber like myself. My tongue had blisters on it by the next morning. Most of them from me commiserating with all of our lovely and devastated customers. I'm telling you, our boss hired a massage therapist for us but I think a grief counselor would have been just as useful. I would say every 2nd customer asked the same question..."why?" "Why are you taking my favorite store...why!!" They cried at the counter. They're scared and confused. I can't blame them.

Lots of them brought us food. Cupcakes from Indulgence. Homemade Texas sheet cake, which can I just say is the BEST thing I have ever tasted!!! One loyal PITer bought us all Pumpkin Spice Latte's from Starbucks. We had cookies delivered. Chocolates. Bags of candy from Martins. It was fabulous.

So, I'm gonna have about 120 hours on my paycheck...I'm not made for work like that. I'm not like the other girls at work. They amaze me. I'm weak. A weakling. A softie. I can't go on. Seriously, I think Becky might be a robot. She doesn't even complain. Hey Becky! How many hours have you logged so far this pay period? 200? She doesn't moan, fake fall asleep at the counter...none of those shenanigans.

Oh, one last thing before I go pass out on the couch. So Thursday night, no maybe it was Friday, doesn't matter...this lady comes into the store visibly shaken. Says someone left their

two kids in their car while they came in to shop. And one was a baby in a car seat. Well, they also left their car keys because the older kid tried to drive the car and hit another car in the parking lot!!!! I am sooooooooo not kidding!!!!

Good Night...

Pages In Time

2009-10-03T21:46:00.000-04:00

Eight years ago I had my first child. Emily was born in September 2001. I will never forget the night I decided to start scrapbooking. I was laying there in bed and decided that I would set up a small table in our bedroom and begin scrapbooking our new baby. I hardly slept at all that night. I talked to a friend of mine who told me about this great store right in Osceola that sold scrapbook supplies. I went there that first week and thought I was in heaven. It was about as big as a BP. It was called the Crop Shop and they had scrapbook paper and tanning beds. Strange but...I could not believe all the paper they had. At least 40 choices. And they had these little people die cuts that were soooo cute. And that was about it.

Shortly after that a new store opened in Town & Country and now I was surely in heaven. It was like...3 times the size of my little gas station scrapbook store.

Then in late 2002 I walked into the newest scrapbook store in town, Pages In Time and this time the angels were singing. Everywhere...for as far as the eye could see...paper. Glorious paper. And walls and walls and walls lined with stickers.

My second baby was due to join our family in September of 2003. I had become a loyal shopper at PIT and met and really gotten to like Anne (who would later become one of my very best friends) I had talked to her a lot as a customer and seen her at MOPS with our little babies. Then...she got me my job. I was now on staff at Pages In Time. I could not believe my good fortune.

That brings me to another PIT story...real quick...I also met my other very best friend at PIT. Carrie. She was there cropping and I was sitting behind her and I was crying about something and I turned to her and I said "Can I talk to you for just a minute, I'm really sad." And she did and now she's like my sister.

So anyway... now more than 6 years later it is all coming to an end. My bosses, the Turners, have decided to go ahead and close the store. Out of respect for them I won't go into details about the specifics but I will say that I have good and honorable employers and it has been a privilege to work for them all these years.

It has been a dream job. If I needed more hours, I got them. If I needed to cut back, I cut back. If I worked tomorrow night and wanted the night off, I make a few phone calls and there was always someone willing to pick up your shift. Mark would get off work late sometimes so I bring my kids to work with me. I have been surrounded by my favorite "stuff", some of my favorite people, and did I mention I got PAID to be there!!

I have had some of the greatest conversations with these women I have worked with. I have laughed with them. And goodness knows I've cried with them. I will so desperately miss this place and these people. I will so miss bickering and sparing with Becky. I will miss my Tuesday night girls Sherry, Cathy, and Tammy. I will miss people walking up to me with a sliver of paper with a smidge of yellow print on it and desperately saying "have you ever seen this paper?" and me leading them right to it.

I know that store like my reflection in the mirror. I am so going to miss my job.

Okay, the ball is rolling...

2009-09-30T21:02:00.000-04:00

So the girls are on their way. This morning the girls and I went down to their new school and got a tour and met their new teachers.
Mommy has been doing a great job acting happy about all of this. And I am. But I'm so not. But I am. But I'm so not.
Grace is so completely excited about leaving the nest that she is starting tomorrow. She's a funny thing that Grace. Ever since she could walk she sees no need for me. The only use she has for me is that I can reach the cups and bowls better and quicker than she can.
Emily will start on Monday. And I will be...what will I be doing on Monday? Oh dear...

2009-09-29T17:21:00.000-04:00

Well, a lot going on around the Merrill household. Big changes people. I think I need to have my medication increased.
We are thinking very seriously about sending the little ones back to school. That's right...public school. Which to me sounds like government school which to me sounds like indoctrination which to me sounds SCARY!!!
But, I just don't know if I can do it any longer...I just don't think 24 hours a day with these little ones pecking away at me can go on much longer. It's all day. It's all night. My 2 hour break finally comes at 8pm when they finally go to bed. And I can't take it anymore!!
My heart has been jumping all over the place the past few days. The thought of it on a purely selfish level makes me delirious with glee. Then is washes away to guilt and I can barely breathe.
So, there it is. Mark is almost completely against it.

Quick story...yesterday the girls and I walked down to the corner to collect some sticks to glue to the side of a box to make a log cabin. As we're walking by one of our neighbors houses he says "Do you mind me asking why aren't your kids in school?" I wish I would have said "Do you mind me asking- do you even know my #$@^&*% name" But I politly told him we homeschool to which he said "Oh, so you're the one who's doing that." I AM SO SICK OF VIRTUAL STRANGERS THINKING THAT I CARE ABOUT THEIR STUPID OPINIONS ON HOMESCHOOLING!!!

Wow

2009-09-17T17:22:00.000-04:00

How great are these...

Thanks to my dear friend Anne for talking her UBER-talented brother-in-law into taking my girls pictures. Thanks Mark!!

9/11

2009-09-12T08:41:00.000-04:00

So, for the past 4 or 5 years to commemorate September 11th, my girls and I have visited our local firefighters to thank them for their service to our community. The past 3 years we've baked them our specialty too...banana bread. It's our specialty because it's all we really know how to bake.

And Emily made them all cards...

This year we expanded our visits to 3 firehouses. I only remembered my camera at one...

A HUGE thank you and to all of our county's heros who daily find it worth it to risk their own lives for us.

If You Know Anyone...

2009-09-09T23:29:00.000-04:00

...who can analyze this dream I had...please let me know.

Ok, so in my dream I had twins. A 6 month old girl in footies and a boy...snake. So, I thought I would take my baby snake to the park for some fresh air so, I swaddled him up (he was coiled up in my hand) in a blankie and tucked him away.When I got to the park I unpacked him and Noooo!! I suffocated him! I was panicked. I rubbed his tummy, I was screaming. Then he gasped for air and stretched his big mouth and it occurred to me that I need to feed him. So...I nursed him. That's right. I nursed my baby snake. When I woke up I said out loud: "snakes aren't mammals".

What does it all mean?

W H A T

D O E S

I T

M E A N ???

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2009-09-06T16:36:00.001-04:00

Nowhere Else I'd Rather Be

2009-09-05T08:39:00.000-04:00

I had the nicest day with my daughters yesterday.
We headed out at 9:30 to go to Target and Claires for some window shopping. I was actually trying to get some ideas of what they would like for their birthdays, which are fast approaching. Then we grabbed lunch and went to the library. Fridays are library day. That's my favorite day.

Got this book I've been waiting for for a while:

Sixteen of the world’s foremost photographers traveled to thirty nations around the globe to live for a week with families that were statistically average for that nation. At the end of each visit, photographer and family collaborated on a remarkable portrait of the family members outside their home, surrounded by all of their possessions—a few jars and jugs for some, an explosion of electronic gadgetry for others. Awesome book!

Got the info on that book from one of my favorite websites...The Pioneer Woman. Found here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Picked up a couple new memoirs. To be honest, I should probably find a new favorite genre. Because in the past month I have read the best funny memoir and the best dramatic memoir. I should stop now because from this point on they will all be measured by these two fine books. And they can't possibly measure up.

Whew...

2009-08-25T18:10:00.000-04:00

Well, today was the first day of school for Merrill Academy. I actually woke up at 7am this morning. I could not for the life of me fall asleep last night, I was so consumed with thoughts about today. But I did manage to drag myself out of bed on time and get our first day started at 8am sharp. We went over all of the expectations Daddy and I have for them, we went over the incentive program Daddy and I set up. And, the day went pretty well. Actually, it went great.

We got through all of the subjects we had scheduled for the day. Emily actually asked me if she could read to me. There was $ involved but hey! you do what you can, right? She took notes during history and actually liked the story. Hannibal. Seriously, the guy attacked his enemy with a herd of well trained attack elephants! What's not to like?

Grace did pretty good with her stuff. It's pretty light for her right now. I have to brag on her for a minute. My little 5 year old girl is such an amazing reader! That girl loves to read. She has been loving to read out loud to me lately, which I'm sure you can imagine is like hugs and kisses for me. To see her get excited about reading is so wonderful. I can't tell you how much I love it.

So, on the agenda for the year:
Bible
History (The Story of The World)
Math (Saxon)
Latin (Prima Latina)
Sewing Lessons (Jackie Gentner at Hancock...awesome!)
Swim Lessons (YMCA)
Cursive
Grammer
Handling $$ God's Way
Shakespeare Can Be Fun (Hamlet)
Answers (In Genesis) for kids
Poem Memorization
Scrapbooking (class to be held at my house)
Science
Some various lessons on reading maps, making analogies, christian hero's, that sort of thing.

Pray for us...I'm serious.♥

Tower Hill

2009-08-19T20:02:00.000-04:00

Wow, I wonder how it got that name?

Had an awesome day at the beach with my good friend Andrea and her sweet boys. 4 of them to be exact. And, believe it or not I actually climbed to the top of that wretched "hill". I think I'm going to start a campaign to get some defibrillator pads stationed about half way up, or at least some kind of helio-port at the top to carry off the near dead. Never mind that dear Andrea did it while carrying her youngest. She's awesome.

A view from the top...

and the bottom...

And the whole gang, almost...

Vacation all I ever wanted

2009-08-17T08:23:00.000-04:00

....vacation got to get away. Ahh, the Go-Go's had it all right didn't they?

So, a bit overdue (not unlike every book I've ever gotten from the library), here are some vacation photos...Our first stop was the Children's Museum in Indy. Oyyy, was it packed. Note to self, schedule next family vacation during the school year.

The first exhibit was the Dinosphere. It was loud and had lots of flashing lights and screeching sounds. So needless to say this is how Emily spent all of the dinosphere and most of the Creation Museum:

Poor child. The museum was cool, the girls enjoyed it. Emily's favorite part was the walk through maze up on the 4th floor. Grace liked the dinosaurs the best.

Momma's favorite part was running into friends from church. 3 hours from home and we ran into Jeff and Jodi Toner and their adorable little girl Mallory at the museum. That was a nice surprise...

I also loved the walk through Egyptian tomb:

After 7 hours of that we went back to our hotel , isn't it pretty...

...and on to Caribbean Cove!!! We spent about 6 hours there and about $1000. Just kidding, but seriously, my kids love ski-ball and I can't stop watching them play it so I just kept pouring quarters into that darn machine. There is something magical about watching those little tickets spitting out.

And for the first time, Emily stood under that huge bucket of water that dumps out on the kids heads every 20 minutes or so. Yay!! She loved it!

This is Grace on the lazy river. Is it just mama bear or does she look way too bitty to be going down this alone?

So, a good time was had by all.

When we were done here we went on to the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Now THAT was awesome. I can't recommend it enough. I know this may sound tacky, maybe cliche, maybe (fill in the blank) but honestly, that trip to Kentucky changed my heart. I am so grateful that my husband felt so strongly about taking our family there. But, I must save that story for tomorrow, as I need to get this day started with my little bitties...

Va-cay

2009-08-11T20:21:00.000-04:00

So here we are in Kentucky. You should see this hotel. WOW. It's ultra modern, with a self check in kiosk and everything. The decor is unreal. I can't believe we found this place for just $66 a night. Hotwire.com baby. Anywho, more on that later, right now I must tell you that I have finished reading "I Love You Miss Huddleston" by Philip Gulley. And all I can say is put down whatever you are doing and get this book. now. It is a laugh a minute. Out loud laugh...out loud while you're sitting by yourself next to the pool laugh. That reminds me, the lady sitting next to me at the pool had on a shirt that had "I Put Out" emblazoned across the front of it. I'm serious. And she was there with her kids. Is there anything that would have been appropriate to say to her? Anything that I could have said without getting myself beat up in the elevator later, probably whacked on the head with my own book.
Well, I can hardly wait to get some pictures posted on here from my new fancy camera...come back in a few days.
BTW...I want to move to Kentucky. I even made a list of the pros and cons of moving here. Don't worry Mom, so far the cons have won.

Check Me Out...

2009-08-06T16:18:00.000-04:00

Mama got a brand new camera...

Behold the Olympus Stylus 9000. 12Mega Pixels. 10x Optical Zoom. 2GB Memory Card and a lovely case. Oh and because I got it at Gene's Camera Shop I get a free class on my awesome camera and 144 free prints at their store!!! Love Gene's!

http://www.genescamera.com/

bedtime

2009-08-05T19:56:00.000-04:00

Ok, seriously, here is how my last 45 minuets or so have gone.

7:00 read to girls while they happily munch on blueberries

7:30 girls brush teeth and get ready for bed

7:35 pray with Emily

7:38 pray with Grace

7:38:15 Emily gets up to go into bathroom

7:38:25 prayer interrupted by Emily in tears standing at Grace's door asking if I can come into her room. I say no, I'm putting Grace to bed.

7:39 Emily is now in FULL PANIC MODE screaming her head off. I am not kidding.

7:40 finish prayer with Grace and go into Emily's room where she is screaming that she has something in her throat. We go downstairs to get a glass of water. She is screaming as though she has just swallowed a mouse.

7:42 I am screaming at Emily to for the love of all things drink the water and wash down whatever is causing her so much agony.

7:43 we go upstairs to the bathroom to see if she's going to throw up where she finally tells me she thinks she's choking.

7:44 I perform mini-drama in my bathroom to show her what choking actually looks like and try to convince her that she is not indeed dying.

7:45 I lay Emily on her bed and tell her that if she can stop crying I will come back to her room in 5 minutes.

7:50 I go back into her room where she is looking at a book and looking very very exhausted. I tell her I will come back again in 10 minutes if she can keep herself staying calm.

8:00 I return, she is ok. I ask her to forgive me for yelling at her. We pray together. I told her I'd come back at 8:30 to check on her again. She said she might have her eyes closed but she will still be awake.

Now: I am heartbroken and crying, wondering what to do and begging God to help me. help her.

Camp

2009-08-03T17:31:00.000-04:00

Oh dear...so I just spent my first night at camp. And yes I'm sure this whole story will have some of my friends rolling their eyes as they read but...I don't care. Humphffff to you!

Emily has been going through quite a phase lately. Really nervous, anxious about everything. She has had a hard time lately being away from me. She has this fear that she's going to get sick and throw up in front of someone. The poor child is tormented. But, I feel fairly confident that this is just a phase and that life will return to it's normal rhythm very soon. Until the next phase hits but hey, let me take this one psychosomatic day at a time.

Ok, so yesterday (Sunday) was supposed to be her first time getting to go to camp to spend the night. Now, months ago when we first brought this up to her she decided she'd go but wanted to take a friend. Fine. So about a month ago this new phase is all settled in and I happened to mention camp and she totally freaked. Complete terror. Will not go. So, I make a mental note not to bring that up again. Well, sure enough time ticked on like it has a way of doing and all of the sudden Mark and I are laying in bed Saturday night trying to figure out what to do. And the best we could come up with is that Sunday morning I would ask Kelly, a lovely and kind girl at our church who also works at the camp, if maybe I could come up with Emily and could they just put me up in a cabin somewhere. Kelly says that's fine so Sunday night Emily and Madison and Mom head to camp.

Now, I won't go into the details of the stay. I survived. Emily survived. I was given a lovely air conditioned room and was treated very kindly by many people. But I think I'll just leave that part of the story at that.

But I do want to share the highlight of our adventure together. During swim time Emily was on the deck wrapping her massive beach towel around her head, trying to look like me when I get out of the shower. She was laughing and looking adorable and wanted to look in the mirror so I pointed out the bathroom so she could have a look. A few minutes later she came out with a look of horror on her face. "Mommy, the sink fell off the wall!!!!" Now, I'm sure you can imagine my look of "what!?" She leads me in and yep, the sink did indeed fall off the wall. I asked her if she had climbed up on it and (thank you God) she told me the truth. So I had to go get the dean and let her know. In the meantime Emily is about to melt. out. of. her. skin. That poor child. So after the dean took a very confused look at the sink hanging from the wall, I told Emily she needed to go up to her and tell her that she was the one who did it and that she was so sorry. And do you know that my poor, fearful, and frightened daughter walked right up to her and told her what she had done.

So, you know what!? Say what you want about my poor parenting decisions. Say what you want about "gee, Emily, fearful? Why, wherever does she get that from?" Say what you want about our decision to homeschool our girls, because I've heard about enough about that this weekend too. Say what you want but here is what mama bear has to say...I have one awesome daughter!

crafts.....every....where...

2009-07-29T22:20:00.000-04:00

send....help....

Yeah, so my entire house has been crammed and overflowing with every sort of craft , craftable crafty craft craft thing ever made! I mean to tell you I have double sided sticky tape stuck to the bottoms of my feet, I have 50 milk gallons stinking up the garage, I have toilet paper rolls on every surface of my house and I have pipe cleaners and foam and puff-ball-thing-a-ma-bob-ers and glow-in-the-dark-$10-per-pack-paper and popsicle sticks coming out my ears!! BUT, only one more day of VBS then summer starts!!!!!!!!!!!!YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August is the Merrill Family month. We kick it off on the first celebrating my fab sister-in-laws bday. Then Merkle's is on the 8th. Then...best of all...Merkle has 2 WEEKS OFF!!! Oh, I can not wait. 2 weeks. Yes, we're going out of town. Indianapolis Children's Museum then to Cincinnati for the Creation Museum. Can't wait...

Check that out here:
http://creationmuseum.org/