Safety

I have been reading other blogs with deeper thoughts and more transparency, but me, not so much.

I have a difficult time letting down my "wall" and sharing emotions. It is safer to be vague.

I like to be safe.

Sometimes...

Sometimes...

*I organize the dirty dishes in the sink so it doesn't look like there are so many dirty dishes and then I can wait a little longer to wash them
*I leave a little toilet paper on the roll so I don't have to change the roll
*I leave a small piece of cake in the pan so I don't have to wash the pan
*I put the laundry through another fluff cycle do I don't have to fold it right away
*I kick crumbs or dirt under the couch so I don't have to vacuum
*I ignore a small bug in the house so I don't have to kill it
*It is easier to throw something away than to put it in its correct spot (ie: paper clips, rubber bands)

Just so you don't think I am lazy, I don't do this ALL the time...just sometimes.

10 Years!!

Jerry and I celebrated our 10 Year Anniversary yesterday! Wow, 10 years!!

He has always been amazing at planning mystery dates for me and once again, he proved to be successful! Jerry planned out two days of fun and relaxation for us and the only detail he told me was that I had to wear tennis shoes and we had to leave the house promptly at 8:00am.

Our day began with Jerry taking us to a three hour zip line tour through the mountains!! It was more than amazing! Absolutely beautiful.

If you look closely, you can see Jerry in the middle of the zip line.

After our zip line adventure, Jerry planned a picnic for us on the top of a mountain. Romantic! We heard thunder in the distance and saw lightening but we decided to make the hike anyway.

From the top of the mountain, storms surrounded us, but we did not get a drop of rain. Again, beautiful!

After our picnic, we hiked down the mountain and drove to check in at our hotel for the night. We stayed at a fancy, historic hotel called the Grove Park Inn.

We went out to dinner and a movie that night and then after sleeping in the next morning, we enjoyed a relaxing day by the pool in the sunshine.

Someone must really love me! :)

It was an incredible few days with my best friend!

It's That Time of Year Again!

It's National Donut Day!! Time to celebrate my favorite food!!

Actually, the truth is, we don't have any donuts in the house. For real. No sugary fried goodness sitting on the counter tempting me to shove them into my mouth.

I still prefer to spell the word donut instead of doughnut.
I enjoy the cake donuts over the yeast raised ones.
Not a fan of donuts with nuts.
Not a fan of cream filled donuts.
Jelly filled donuts are ok (they are my dad's favorite).
If had to choose white icing over chocolate icing, I choose white.
I don't like to share my donuts.

So, I guess I will celebrate with the rest of the country from afar.

Cheers!

A Mother's Day Tradition

Seven years ago, my father-in-law started a tradition. Every year for Mother's Day, he would take all four of us girls (two of his girls and two of us 'in laws') shopping for a new dress. All four of us looked forward to this day; time with our father-in-law and time with just the girls.

I remember the first time we all went dress shopping: my father-in-law paced near the dressing room, trying his best to be patient with all of us and we went in and out of the dressing room about 50 times.. and then we needed shoes to go with the new dress so we had to go to the shoe store...and then we needed jewelry to go with the new outfit so we had to go to the jewelry store...and then we were all hungry from shopping so we begged to go out for dinner. :)

We all laughed nonstop and my father-in-law would roll his eyes but really he was loving spending time with all of us girls on our yearly 'date.'

Today, was Mother's Day dress shopping day.
I was sad.
I miss them.
I have been fighting back tears all day. I am glad they had fun but I wished I could have been there to laugh too. I am glad they all got fun new dresses and I wished I could see the dresses in person so I could tell each of my sisters that they look beautiful.

I am blessed with such a great family, that not only is family but are friends too.
I miss you Dad DePoy
I miss you Jenny
I miss you Janelle
I miss you Sara.

On a side note: My father-in-law sends me money so I can go shopping to get a new dress too! Yay!

Dr. Seuss

The other day I was reading to Ambria before nap time. She picked the book "Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog."

The children's book poses a bunch of questions like, would you rather be a cat or a dog, would you rather be tall or short, etc.

I paused when I got to this question: Would you rather be a window or a door?

This is quite a thought provoking question.

Thank you Dr. Seuss.

Two Blogs

I enjoy posting on my other blog Raising Three Girls better than Sticks and Stones. My thought with having two blogs was one for parenting/kid/mom stuff and the other blog for any other things that don't fall under any of those categories.

I am finding that because I am a mom
and that is what I do
and how I think
and how I live,
it is difficult for me to separate those thoughts.

It is challenging for me to decipher the difference between who I am and what I do.

A Little Unsure

Sometimes making a decision is a little difficult for me, big and/or small decisions.

I need to make a decision and be ok with the choice I made.
I can't worry about the choice I made and wonder if it was the right decision.

Not sure if this makes sense, but I am making a decision to post this...and then I will ponder if I should have posted it... :)

I'll Huff, and I'll Puff, and I'll Blow Your House Down

Today has been an extremely windy and blustery day outside, our house is rattling and shaking, and I can almost feel a slight breeze through the closed windows. Ambria and I made an adventure out of going to get the mail and trying to not get blown away! We laughed...

Due to the windy weather, I was thinking about posting a status update on facebook about feeling like the big bad wolf was outside trying to huff and puff and blow our house down, and how it isn't going to work because our house is made of bricks...but then I thought about it more and how people could read into that simple status update. (Because that is what people do, whether their thinking is true or not).

Wow, there are some major parallels with that fairy tale and our life right now. The 'big, bad wolf' will not be able to blow our family, our home, our house, our life down, because it is built upon The Rock. The bullets of criticism and rocks may hurt or attempt to harm our family, our home, our house, and our life, but they will not destroy.

I do recall that at the end of the story (in the version we have on our shelf), the wolf gets killed and the protagonists wins. And I do recall that at the end of the Bible, the good guys win!

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine
Let it shine
Let it shine

Sorry for Not Posting Lately

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. Find out why when you read Oh the Joys of My One Handed Life on my other blog Raising Three Girls.

P.S. Sign up to "follow" my new blog along with this one so you can find out when I write something new for your reading enjoyment.

North Carolina Snow

Michigan Snow

Ironic, but for the second year in a row, we were in Michigan while North Carolina got a record snow storm. Last year, we missed a storm that caused our house to be without power for five days, and this year, we got over 9 inches of snow at our house. I guess we are just lucky that we missed out. We'll have to see what next year brings.

I got a new DSLR camera for Christmas so I had fun playing around with it.

Christmas 2010

We celebrated Christmas a few times, once at our house in North Carolina, once in Holland, Michigan with my family, once in Muskegon, Michigan with Jerry's family, and also Christmas morning with just our girls. We had such a great time and it was wonderful to see all our family and friends back in Michigan too. Here are just a few of the many pictures from the past month (I had a difficult time choosing which pics to post).

Decorating our tree

Sisters working hard

The Perez cousins

(we got to meet our new nephew, Ian. He was born

in February, but we hadn't been able to see him yet).

Ashlyn's First Christmas

Marcie, my sister-in-law, meeting Ashlyn for the first time

The Perez Family

Up to Muskegon to visit the DePoy's

Christmas morning

Mariah loved to sweep by the fireplaces. She was up at

4:45am on Christmas morning and decided

that besides checking under the Christmas tree,

she thought she should sweep too.

Ashlyn found a baby doll in her stocking

ALL the DePoy cousins

(now this was a difficult picture to take)

Baby Rant #2

Here is the second chapter of my baby rant and a follow-up to Baby Rant #1 from back in August.

For the most part, the comments from strangers thinking that Ashlyn is a boy (despite the color PINK everywhere on and around her) have faded. I still hear an "it" every now and then, but I just politely smile and move on or answer the bystander's question with "SHE is five months old."

UNTIL yesterday.

We had a fantastic family day out and about and the girls were all dressed up in Christmas dresses. I went into the restroom to change Ashlyn's diaper and a lady was swooning over us while I changed Ashlyn. The lady says, "Oh, how handsome! What a precious baby boy!"
BOY?! Are you kidding me?! Ashlyn has EARRINGS and has on a DRESS and has a BOW in her hair and since you are looking, lady, her diaper is OFF and I only see girl parts here.
I just smiled and didn't comment.

To this stranger's defense, maybe the black and white and red dress threw her off and maybe she was TRYING to give Ashlyn some privacy and not look while I changed her diaper and maybe she didn't see the earrings and/or the bow. BUT STILL...UGH!

Oh well, life goes on.

My three girls in their pretty dresses

Making Christmas Cookies

I decided to try making Christmas cookie cut-outs with the girls this year. This is the first year that I have made Christmas cookies without my mom, so it was a bit of an experiment. Well, they turned out great and we had a lot of fun making them. The girls really enjoyed using the cookie cutters and they had fun frosting and decorating them too.

Not only was this a baking experiment, but it was also a challenge for me not to freak out over a messy kitchen. I am a bit OCD. I really just tried to enjoy making memories with the girls and kept reminding myself that I can clean the kitchen later. I did ok with this task.

Getting started

The MESS

A MESSY little baker


Ta-da! The finished product

The First Snow

We got a light dusting of snow yesterday but then the snow picked up a little in the evening. Yup, you guessed it, our first snow day! We have about 4 inches on the ground and the girls are more than excited.

These pictures were taken when the ground was barely covered, but the girls didn't care.

A Successful Thanksgiving Dinner

I touched a RAW turkey!!

This was a big Thanksgiving for me...I cooked everything myself! For the past 30 years, my mom made the turkey and all the trimmings, but this year was different.

We just stayed at our humble abode in the mountains and enjoyed Thanksgiving Day with just the five of us.

All the food turned out great, nothing was raw or undercooked or rotten or moldy. Thanks to my mother, a great teacher, whom I watched from a distance for many years. (My older brother and I would always fight about who got to baste the turkey--ha, this year, I GOT TO DO ALL OF IT!)

The hardest part of the whole day...touching the RAW turkey. Gross. No one told me I would have to do that. I NEVER touch raw meat (yes, I am weird). I truthfully thought to myself, "maybe I will put plastic bags over my hands" as I just stood and stared at this raw, slimy thing. So, I just did it.

I am trying to erase those images out of my head. Just gross.

I TRIED Collard Greens!

...and I didn't like them. We have some new friends that have quickly become really good friends and we hang out with them at least once or twice a week. Well, he is a vegetarian and she is a vegan, which means I am trying and/or being exposed to many new vegetables. So far, I have tried squash, different kinds of beans, zucchini, collard greens, mushrooms, and probably more stuff that my friend hasn't told me about because she just chops it up really small and mixes it in.

You see, this is all new to me because I only eat "normal" vegetables like carrots, corn, potatoes, and lettuce.

The verdict? I am still alive, so this means all these new vegetables ARE really edible!

I Got Sucked In

If you read my post below regarding spending money on MYSELF and get something just for ME that didn't involve kids or babies or toys or spit-up, well, that didn't last long. I saw another magazine deal for 3 years of Parents magazine for $5.99 and I couldn't pass it up. So, there you have it, now I have one magazine for recipes and other womanly whatnot and such and one magazine about boogers and diapers and how I can be a better parent. I guess it is the best of both worlds...maybe.

Now I have to FIND the time to read TWO magazines each month. Not sure if that will ever happen.

I Have a New Blog

Don't get your panties in a bunch, I am still keeping Sticks and Stones, and I will update it often. However, my new blog focuses more on parenting, or lack there of. It is a more in depth glimpse of our lives as we journey through the ups and downs of raising three girls.

It is called Raising Three Girls
http://raisingthegirls.blogspot.com

Ashlyn's Voice

Here is a conversation I had with Little Miss Ashlyn.

I love her to pieces! (even if she didn't keep her promise...)

Disclaimer: If you don't want to hear a baby coo/babble for over 2 minutes, then don't push the play button.

Milk.

A blog post about milk? Why, yes it is. I am not sure if this is blog-worthy, but milk can bring up all sorts of interesting topics.

1. The expiration date! This is one unwritten rule that 99% of people will abide by.

2. The smell. Even if the milk is a week from the expiration date, most people will still smell the milk before they use it. And for sure, everyone smells the milk the day before, the day of, and the day after (whoa the day after is pretty risky) the expiration date.

3. The milk percent. Most people have their favorite and some people are die-hards about not drinking any other percent than their favorite preference. I usually buy two gallons of milk, 1% for me and 2% for Jerry. If the 1% is gone, I will sometimes use the 2% but Jerry will never use the 1%.

4. Our local grocery chain packages milk in YELLOW gallons. This took me some getting used to and most of our visitors that come from other states, think that these gallons are orange juice.

5. As you can see from the picture (yes, as stated before, we have two different kinds of milk in the house at all times), the 2% milk has a picture of a girl on it and the 1% has a picture of a man. My girls will only drink the milk from the gallon with the picture of the girl on it. They call it 'the girl milk.' (Living with girls is a whole separate blog post or novel really).

Milk discussion is over.

I Officially Feel OLD

I saw a deal today on a website: a 2 year magazine subscription, 34 issues, for $4.99, and I just couldn't pass it up. I had to think twice, because my MOM reads this magazine and if I read it, then that must make me old, or not stylish, or not hip, (insert your own word to describe a stereotypical mom/grandma). I am not saying that my mom is not hip, but you get the idea.

What was the magazine you ask?.....







Yup, like I said, I feel old. It isn't a subscription to In Style or Vogue, but WOMAN'S DAY!

This means a few things:

(1). I actually spent $4.99 on MYSELF. This is rare since I love/am addicted to buying/looking at toys and/or clothes for the three girls. I tend to find myself in the bright pink toy aisle or children's clothes section of each store. Jerry wants me to spend money on myself, but instead, I just choose to wear the old, faded, out of style clothes I had since I was a freshman in college and spend the money on the girls instead. (maybe he is trying to give me a hint...)
(2). This is the first magazine I have gotten that is NOT about babies, kids, toddlers, toys, educational parenting, how to avoid fevers, the best baby products of the year, the fears of labor and delivery, the horror stories in the delivery room, and how to get spit up stains out of my clothes.

You see, this is a monumental purchase is so many ways.

This $4.99 is a big step in my life. This $4.99 may change me forever...

An Honest Prayer...(a comical, but embarassingly true exerpt)

Dear Lord
Thank you for this beautiful fall day that you created, thank you for my wonderful family
('did I get out Mariah's school clothes, I think I did. She is almost out of clean pants. I need to do laundry tomorrow')
Thank you for our health and that everyone is feeling better. I pray for ___ who is having health problems and ____ who has some important doctor visits this week.
('Jerry needs to call the doctor. We all need to get our flu shots. Last week's doctor appointment with Ashlyn was horrible. I am glad Ashlyn's legs are feeling better from her shots. That appointment was on Thursday. Survivor was on television the night before. Oh yeah, I forget, who got voted off? Oh yeah, and it was nice to relax on the couch tonight and watch Amazing Race. I have to do laundry tomorrow')
Zzzzzzzzzzz.