Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Our baby bird eggs hatched- two of them anyway, so we had two new birdies.

I don't know what happened to the third.  The other day I went out there and there was only one little birdy left.  Then Sunday Rob went out and found no one left in the nest.  We don't know if a predator got them since they were so low or the cold nights- it's been freezing cold here the last couple weeks or what.  It's so sad!  I so wanted to show the kids the eggs grow into birds, but we never even saw them get fuzzy and open their eyes.  I wonder if they were really viable to begin with.  It seemed like a long time for them to not open their eyes, but what do I know about birds?
I made a nest in this fun thing I bought from our new Home Goods store.

Love that place!  It was sitting like this and I thought it was the coolest looking cloche and I love how it turned out all springy- with a bird that won't die.

After I got it home, I realized that it was also a cake plate if you turn it over.  So very cool!  Rob wanted to know why I would pay money for something all old and rusty?
I bought this table from a wood furniture place and painted and distressed it myself.

Rob wasn't happy with my distressing it, at first.  He kept saying, "why are you making everything look old?  Believe me, just leave it around these kids for a couple years and it will be plenty distressed!"  In the end he said he really liked how I did it, though.

I also bought this, something blue, at Home Goods.

I love it!
Finally, something borrowed- I borrowed the gum tissue from the roof of my mouth to put on my two lower incisors that had receded so much that there wasn't any tissue left on them.  I now get to eat soft foods for 5 more weeks.  The first few days I looked like that guy on all the movies who is supposed to be a Russian and who will break you in half with his bare hands- you know the guy I am talking about?  My jaw was so square and so big!  Emma said, "it doesn't look that bad!"  And I said, "are you serious?  I look like a man!"  What was really fun, was I had to go to work like that!  Talking was really hard and in the ER, you do a lot of talking!  Now I am feeling much better and the swelling is almost gone.  That poses other problems- I forget!  I had pineapple juice in my smoothie the other day and that really hurt!  Then I tried to chew too much and that hurt and popped some stitches!  Then yesterday I accidentally flossed on one of the teeth.  Today I am going to get that all fixed!  Darn!!  The other bad part is, I figured with all this pain and suffering that I would loose a few pounds- bonus, right?!  Unfortunately, cake, ice cream and milk shakes are all soft.  Must do better!
Oh, and not to forget my other new thing!  The other day was cookie day- I forgot.  I was taking a nap, but the little kids didn't forget- they never do!  They had bought me a present to thank me for all the cookies.

Isn't it the cutest thing ever?  So sweet!  Now, I guess I better go make them some cookies!

Things that are Making Me Smile Right Now!

I finally have flowers hanging on my pegs again. I had to buy them myself, but that's fine. They are beautiful either way!
I finally came up with something that works for my mantel piece without buying anything new. Not that I don't want to buy something new, but it's nice to be able to use the stuff you have and make it look decent! Proof that Emma actually plays volleyball for her Middle school team! I got my camera working, but kept missing any action shots, because I wanted to watch the game. Emma played 2 out of the three games, the whole time. He even let her serve and play all the positions. She got a couple really good hits and a couple good serves!


I saw this stack of soccer shoes in our garage the other day and it made me smile! We should open up a second hand soccer store! You should see how many soccer balls we have!
Beautiful fall leaves! I am not so excited about the crisp Autumn air, but I do love the changing leaves!
I learned to miter on my own! Yeah me! I made this pattern up on my own. It took me about 10 sheets of paper to get the dimensions right. Then I went and ruined it by accidentally not measuring the top and bottoms the right size, which changed the dimensions of the other stuff. I couldn't make them fit right, so I added this triangular piece. It took forever and a day, graph paper and a Google search to finally come up with something that would work, but it did! I am so excited!! Double Yeah Me!

I got Becky Higgins' Project Life kit in my mail the other day! They were on sale for $10 off, because she is coming up with a new kit for Christmas time. I love the idea of just throwing pictures in pockets and having most of the design done for me, but still having the option of creativity! Maybe, just maybe the kids' pictures will get in an album now!
My pretty pumpkins from Micheal's in an apothecary jar. The little reddish thing on the counter is a seed pod that Sam found me. I wish he would find me tons of them and then I would break out another apothecary jar! Having fun listening to Sandra Boyton's Dog train and Philadelphia Chickens with Max! They are such fun songs! Thanks Mom for introducing them to us!
I got this new book from the library. I have had photoshop Elements 6 for quite a while, but still haven't figured it out. I have gotten books before at the library, but they haven't helped as much as this one has! I have only finished the first chapter (problems with motherhood, right!) but I have already learned a lot! I am excited to get into it some more!
And finally the thing that is making me smile right now, is that it's Cookie Day again!! Happy Cookie Day to you!

Cookie Day

This is my children's third week in school, so I guess it's time to write about their first day! Here are all their smiling faces.
Emma has to retake Spanish 1 here, but I told her that she would really know it when she came out of the class and since it is the basis of knowing the language I think it's worth another pass at it. They did say she could walk over to the high school and take Spanish duos over there, but I wasn't so keen on that idea. She also wasn't signed up for Algebra like she was suppose to, but she has decided that if she wants she will take two math classes in High school one year to get her to that goal in the sky of Calculus- (like she cares!- I don't think Math is her love!) Overall, I think she is enjoying her classes and teachers however!
Samuel got a male teacher this year who loves science. The first day he came home telling me about all these physic assignments they were doing. His first assigned homework, in fact, was to figure out how to put 10 small nails on the top of one large nail.
Joseph was given a teacher that I hadn't heard from other people about. Several people had told me that there were some yellers in 2nd grade and had told me several of the non-yelling teachers names. Since I didn't recognize her name, I thought she might be one of the yeller. I called up and asked to have him moved and they didn't deny a thing when I said why. The lady on the other side of the phone referred me to the person that could possibly move him. I told the new lady that Joseph couldn't handle a yeller and it was best to move him now then have me come in a week and have me insist that he be moved. She again didn't deny that this teacher wasn't like that and proceeded to give him another teacher. I would have never done that in my younger years- I am usually not a complainer or a send food back kind of girl, but I have learned to stand up for myself and my family a little bit more, lately. Joseph really likes his teacher and seems to be getting on pretty well. The spelling lists they sent home for the year, though was a joke. I am afraid he will be doing a lot of the same things he did last year.

I saw someone in the blogosphere say that when they moved, they instituted Cookie Day, so they could meet the kids in the neighborhood. I thought this was a great idea, so we decided to do Cookie Day on the first day of school each month.We have done it twice now. The first time we had Peanut Butter chip/Chocolate chip cookies and the second time we did $250 Cookies. The kids love it. They yell and wave and scream, "it's cookie day!" Today they got so excited the bus driver had to stop the bus to make them all sit down before he would open the doors. I think Max enjoys it as much as everyone else! The post office lady even gave him a dollar for being a big helper the first week we did it!
Have any good Autumn cookie recipes for October?