A loverly Autumn treat...a scratch and sniff post.

dressed
Undressed and ready to eat...

My good friend, Donna, made these for us...a spicy harvesttime treat. and it makes your house smell spectacular!

Ya take one spice cake mix

Then ya take one can of pumpkin (not the pie filling, since the cake mix has all the spices you need).

Then you moosh them all together, stirring the mixture up very well and put them in cupcake tins, preferably with the little muffin papers, so you don't have to scrub your cupcake tins (right, Donna??)....

You could add just about any sweet treat to these goodies but take them out of the oven (after cooking them at 350 degrees for at least 15 minutes, watching them, of course) and put a nice sized dollop of cool whip on top and oooooooo the smells and tastes. My cousin walked into the house while we were baking them and said it smelled like autumn in our house...it is so stinkin' easy too...you will love it because it's not too strong either way in the spice cake or pumpkin department. I don' t usually like pumpkin flavored stuff either. nor does my lovely sister, who gobbled one of these bad boys right up...you go, B. (you are growing up, my dear) :) ;) :P

all right...just wanted to share this with you all! wish you could smell it right now! chow...

Molly Photo session....

being admired by Levi...stickin' her tongue out at him...ha!
gotta love those baby blues...
She had just gotten done pitching a fit here...
loves getting ready for her bath...
sheer chubba perfection...

~It's a perfect day for taking photos. It's cloudy, chilly and we are just taking care of business in the house. Molly has gotten a bath today as well as, as much quiet time with her momma as she could want...which makes up for the last two days of sheer craziness. She's still doing the only wanting to nurse laying on the bed bit...not too convenient when we are out and about...

~She is so darn cute. Hope you enjoy the photos of our little darling.

~Hope you all are doing well and enjoying the return of fall...as my dear friend, Heather, so eloquently put it, "I love fall and summer is holding it hostage"...well, no more, dear Heather...you and I can breathe now!! Yah!! sweaters, long sleeved shirts, light jackets, here we come!! I am so darn happy about that! time to go put on some Nat King Cole! light the apple cinnamon candles. Make the spice cake/pumpkin muffins that Donna introduced to us yesterday...Those Rock DONNA!! I need to go take a picture of the last one before we eat it...I'll blog it and then y'all will want the recipe!

Thankfulness....

I've warned you about how nostalgic I can get this time of year, so here we go...a little dose for your Thursday!

The top pic is of my kids with their friends, Damiano and Luciano...we met them thru Mount Pleasant soccer 2 years ago...and their mom, Carolyn, a good pal of mine, is in the next pic with Miss Molly. We went to one of Damiano's jr. varsity football games last week (when it was blistering hot in Oct) so I snapped a few shots of the fun and festivities. We are thankful for our good friends!! You guys ROCK!! Thank you for the many fun and special memories! (Notice in the group pic, that Levi is lifting his shirt...dorkenstein. :))

Melanie got to have her good friend, Alisha, aka Lish the Dish, spend the night last Friday. She got to endure the hottest soccer games in history with us!! She is wonderful with kids and has one of the best attitudes I've ever encountered in a nearly 14-year old girl!! You Rock, Alisha...we are thankful to have you and your family in our lives.

The next pic is of our dear Molly...she took a nice little snooze on the futon this morning. She is a beauty, if I do say so myself...in my next post, I will share some pix of her when she awoke...Levi was there to greet her and asked me to take some pix of the two of them...they are pretty cute. She is such a bright spot!

The last pic is the view from our upstairs door...the new porch will be so nice!! David and the boys have done such a nice job!! It totally changes the look of our house! Wouldn't it be nice with two big pots of mums by each brick pillar? yeah, I thought so too. all righty then...

I guess I need to get going and get some stuff done so I can post again later on today. Hope you all are having a wonderful day. O yeah, I didn't get ANY pix of my cousin and her babies...I'm such a loser...it was constant chaos when we were all together. Maybe next time?? with babies, time is a definite matter. one could be crying, one could be happy and then it would switch. what can ya say?

Bye.

I know, it's been a while...

my adorable sister
one of my adorable nieces, Phebe!!
Happy 3 month b-day, Miss Molly!!
just a little blast from the past...can't believe how
fast time is going....

I have gotten some comments from all of you loved ones...I've been MIA but now I've returned. The weekends hit around here and I don't get on the computer much.

Today's post is a potpourri one...the one of the little girl in the green jumper is my little sis...and I thought it should be on here, for she was such a cutie...she looks so forlorn and little. Funny thing is, she resembles her 3-year old daughter, Piper, in this pic, which is new to me. The second pic is my niece, Phebe, who lives way too far away from all of us!! Andy, I want to squeeze your kids but they are just too far from me. She is adorable and needs some Aunt Laurie lovin'.

Sorry for the randomness of this post...newborn Molly pix are on here in honor of her 3-month birthday (which, when I started this post, it was still Oct. 9)...I can't believe my little daughter is 3 MONTHS OLD...she is so precious! and getting so big, starting to notice her hands, and reach for stuff.

My cousin, Dawn, Aunt Lanie, Laynee, and Taylor are all in town today...so hopefully I will have some pix to post of all of our baby girls together! I might not get on here till Thursday, though, because we have speech club, horse club and visit time tomorrow...I shall return. Thanks for checking in on me, though I am not sure who the anonymous comment is from...clue me in. Is it you, Andrew?

Ok, love and peace to you all...sloppy blogger is signing out!!

My Studly Men...

E. is quite handy with power tools....
so ya can see just how big these pillars really are..
Will being a goof ball and fake stabbing himself...
He didn't help, he just got eaten up by 'squitoes...

Well, hello there again! Just thought I would get some pix up on the porch work that has been going on. It has changed the look of our house quite a bit. It's kinda hard to explain exactly what the porch will look like. It will be considerably larger than the one we had on here...it's depth is to the brick pillars, which will have a limestone ledge on each one with a cool angled pole up to the new roof. most of this work will not be done till next year. if we do not hit a recession, that is. eventually that will lead into a breeze way ( I think, David changes it often) and then onto a garage!! this new deck will also lead out to the pool someday.

These pix are of my guys working on it last night...they got started on the decking. We are so impressed with the detailed work that the bricklayer (Josh) did...he spent a great deal of time making sure these pillars were JUST RIGHT. very particular! He did an incredible job! I didn't post the pic I took of David hugging the pillar. It's pretty funny but unnecessarily embarrassing. maybe another day.

Needless to say, eventually this porch will be spectacular. When someone else buys this house. I just don't have it in me to decorate efficiently. Martha Stewart has left the building. o well.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Precious Molly

so pretty, so happy
sitting up with some help
trying to sit up...not yet, kid!

Molly is getting so big...This is probably the last time she will get to wear this outfit, not that it's too small but hopefully because it will start to get chilly. Not this week though...supposed to be above average temps...have I mentioned just how over summer and heat that I am?? I know that seems complainy but I am so hot all the time. Can't believe that it is autumn!! Where is my chill??

Anyway, back to my chubby baby...she makes the cutest sounds, squeals and coos. I love this stage of childhood...she is so bright and cheerful in the morning or upon waking. (wish we could always stay so cute in the morning). She is 13 pounds + but has the littlest feet...she is just such a joy to everyone of us. I think I'm enjoying this last baby so much more also because she IS my last and I'm just a bit older now and maybe not as freaked out. dunno. (I definitely think I'm more uptight now than I used to be on a lot of things but that is for another post/day)

All righty then...I'm outta here...gotta go feed the crew now...

School Pictures

Will
Ethan
Melanie
Molly from da hood
another Levi pic, even though I posted his
"school" pic already...see Friday 9/28 post

Hi there!! Hope you had a good weekend. Can't believe it's yet another Tuesday! This past Friday, I took the kids' unofficial pictures. I truly believe I will have to re-do a few of them though...it's hard to get a genuine smile from E. and Mel was doing something funky with her peepers. You will see in Molly's picture that she is throwing out some gang signs. where she learned those, I will never know. Will's hair is all just big and feather-y...he is such a man!

I began this post on Sunday evening but lost it somehow...so now I will complete it and try to post again later on today. I am not all that excited with how my kids school pix turned out. I also got some cutesy pix of Miss Molly trying to sit up (yup, sit up) on my bed...she has pretty good head control and thinks she is a big ol' girl...it's kinda cute. I find that when I take pix of her, she is just not as cute in the pics as she is in person..I'm not just saying that either...(ok, I AM partial but c'mon really)...

Mel's fair goldfish from over 2 years ago died today...I would've taken a pic of it but the water in the bowl was foul and dirty..it was kinda sad because the poor thing kept trying to eat or swim but it was on it's side and kept going down...it put up a valiant effort to stay alive but I flushed it while Mel was somewhere else. Ok, I've spent too much time writing about THAT! (I've been trying to "off" this fish since we got it...)

Ok, I'm off to do some math with Mel, make sure the boys are understanding their work, find Levi and make sure Molly's head isn't getting cranked in the swing! I lead a charmed life! running on 3 cups of half caff coffee...peace out!

Random Friday stuff...

Mischievous Miss P

Non-chalant Miss Nora

"Big Mol" aka Molly Moo...the 13 lb. girl
Hangin' in their baby seats...
one of Levi's "school pictures"

Hi there, it's Friday. A lovely one at that, and I'm stuck in the house. not really but I'm trying to get a bazillion things done for the day. My kids are working on their school nicely and helping me with the cleaning in between. it is also supposed to be "picture day"...and all I've gotten done so far is Levi. I guess that is somewhat of an accomplishment! for a loser. (me) The picture of Molly and Nora in their seats was taken this past Wednesday, when B. and I went to get our hair "did". Will was with us and watched them for us in the times when Beck or I were getting fixed up...the girls will love these pix someday, don't ya think? I surely hope so. I think it's so funny that we have babies together...whatta special event in our lives!! glad we get to share this, B.

Tonight, my kids, my sis, her baby and I are going to our former church (it's currently her church, my former church I guess) to see Ken Ham. He is the guy that started the Creation Museum that we visited 2 weeks ago. It is always good to hear him speak...

Really a pretty uneventful day...there are so many things I could blog about, like our new porch, the tattooed dude that is doing the block/brickwork on it, our swampy pool, my 13 pound baby girl and stuff like that but instead, I will just post a few pix for ya. Hope this finds you all having a wonderful Friday and a positive outlook on your weekend. Peace out!!

Nostalgia...how I love thee!

It may be hard to tell but Will really has a Molly expression on his
mug in this nearly 13 year old photo....David is doing his
best lumberjack impression!! this is how he holds all
our infants...arms length!! love you, hon!

couldn't you just eat these kids up??? Dec. 98....o man!
E. and Mel and their matching eyes...2003
Classic Will...strong, silent E. can't believe my boys

aren't 3 and 2 anymore!! 5/98
Spidey and Tickle me Elmo...11/98

I have my big boxes of random and seriously unorganized pix out (yet I do have some of my photos organized)...and stumbled on these irresistible pix of my oldest 3 kids...I'm gettin all mopey because they are NOT these small, completely dependent kids anymore!! These pix are making me hurt today. (I told you I was going to get nostalgic, it's officially fall).
Will has always had the same happy little face, even now with pre-teen acne and facial hair...E. has always had those soulful eyes and strikingly adorable face...now he is going thru his awkward 11 year old boy phase and worries all the time that all the girls "like Will"...but watch out world, when E. breaks thru, he will not only be strikingly handsome but big and manly to boot!! He doesn't believe me. I simply can't imagine them getting any bigger than they are now...but it's a comin! Soon, I will have two big ol' kids with deep voices and long legs!! Yikes!! I do feel so safe though!
Ok, gotta go feed Fatty Patty but wanted to post these so y'all could see why I might be a nostalgic fool...my kids are growing up right before my very eyes and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Cherish the days you have...for before you know it, life changes, sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad, sometimes ya just don't know. I'm glad that I have someone I can trust in to help me through uncertainty and doubt...kinda like right now.
Peace to you all....

Rootin' around and found these old pix...

awwwwww....if only...July 1998
fall 1998
summer 1973...34 years ago...man, I'm old!!

I was digging thru some pix tonight...on a mission to find a picture of Melanie in the same outfit that I had on Molly the other day, and I found these blasts from the past...I love Will and E's faces...they are priceless! Also, I can't believe how much Molly and Melanie look alike...it's eerie. They even have the same mannerisms...Molly is as girly girl already, as Mel was!!

The other baby, obviously, is me...this pic is from the summer of '73...and I love that my daughter's have some of the same features. my kids resemble me. a little. I'll hafta find my 7th grade pic...strangely, it reminds me of Will for some reason...though he isn't wearing a pink shirt or a beaded necklace much these days...I think it's the eyes...I'll have to find it...

I didn't get the school pix taken today, and for a good reason....David called me and ended up coming home at 1 today. He did to our downstairs floor what he does every day in professional places...a process called vitrification. I will have to post some of the pix on here...it looks and feels so nice, shiny and clean!! So hopefully we can take the school pix tomorrow.

On that note, hope all is well with all of you...love and peace.

Pray for my parents...my dad is on strike (he is in autoworker)...he even gets to go picket...isn't that cool?? Now that would be a blog entry...can I go with you, Dad? G'night!!

disclaimer: this entry is really rambly...sorry about that. I got up at 5:30 this morning...

A few more scrap pages, Levi cutie

Looking back, my scrapping was so scrappy...not that it's
much better now but I've grown.

Thought I would post my page also. o to be young again. dig the '90's hair
Couldn't resist putting this up as well, since Levi's page is way old
Hi there!! Hi Mom and Dad...sorry it has taken me so long to blog again...(I have heard about this more than once since my last post...mom and dad check it every morning before he leaves for work...pray there is no GM strike) Here I am!! On today's posting, you will find Levi's scrap page as well as mine. These pages were made well over four years ago and it's funny to me, looking at the stuff I scrap now, how I've changed. my style is still bohemian though.

This pic of Levi at the bottom is one of my all time favorites of him. This is his preschool pic from last year. He is so unimpressed! I could just snatch him up and chew on his fuzzy little ears. Check out the honkin' big eyes. He comes by them honestly, though neither his father or I have particularly large eyes...others in our family do!! (Hello Mom, Beck, Natalie, Melanie...etc.) Gotta love those peepers!! A funny Levi story, so I don't forget it...we say delicious around here often (I guess) but he has picked up his own version "Delishlish"...he will say that when he is enjoying his food and it really is cute...now all of us say it too. so if you hear us say it, you will know what we mean. Tiny is talking so well. sometimes it amazes me the things he comes up with.

Today is supposed to be a record high heat day even though it will be the first full day of autumn. isn't that nuts? 91 degrees. I've gotta get outta this place. I need some cooler air. Also on tap for today, I hope to take the kids "school" pics. So if I do...I will post them. yeah. sure. I guess I should go. I set the kids' alarm and heard it go off about 20 minutes ago and no kids are moving around down there...have a super de dooper day y'all!!

Ethan and Melanie baby pic bonanza, Will Big Hair...Mom spooky eyes too...

Lovin' my momma's beautiful peepers!!

Ethan definitely inherited my mom's big, haunting eyes.
Mel has some striking peepers as well!! Will Big Hair (his Indian name) with Molly

Big Bow (her Indian name)...

I couldn't resist...here are E and Mel's pages from my momma's book, as well as a recent shot of Will, so you all out there in cyberspace could see why this momma is all melancholy about her firstborn....he is as tall as me, if not taller with feet that are definitely larger than mine by now. He is sporting some hair on his upper lip as well...and I just can't handle these kids growing up so fast. Anyways, you can also hopefully see how adorable E. and Mel were...(you still are, kids)...E. has my mom's haunting eyes, which I will post on here next (I think I will add the pic to this post) because she has some awesome peepers. Melanie is a rarity in this family, a truly gentle, sweet girly girl.

Ok, that's it...I promise. My late night cup of joe has kicked in and out now. g'night folks! Levi's page will be on here tomorrow!